ThejacKmp

You never know, it's only been a few starts and he's coming off an injury. The Twins can bring Gonsalves up Sept 1 and go with a six man rotation down the stretch (or skip starts for each starter once to give them a break). If Santana had two or three good starts now (seems unlikely but could happen) you might still trade him. If he's still this bad, then you might have to think pen.

This is not a question. They should absolutely trade him if anyone will take him. Same as with Dozier and Escobar and Lynn. They should sign someone better on a 2 year deal to play 2B this offseason. Hopefully Dozier or Escobar. 2 years vs. 2 weeks. This isn't a tough one

Sometimes I wish we were an NL team. They do such a good job of having guys who can play multiple positions. Look at the Cubs. Bryant can play OF and 3B, Baez plays all three IF positions, Bote plays 2B and 3B, La Stella plays 2B and 3B, etc. The Twins never seem to do that. Rosario's cameo shows he's probably capable of playing a bit of IF, it would be nice to see the Twins pursue that more assiduously in the minors

Or actually lower. He's 32 and makes no sense, just whatever name value he has as a vet. If you're going to get a utility guy, try to go find another Adrianza or 2014 Escobar who is 26/27 and might be ready to develop into something.

Yeah but who has a 32 year old one of those? That's a job for a young guy. He makes Adrianza seem young. His defense is average, he can't play shortstop, and he's 32 so that isn't trending up. I see no reason he'd be useful in this era of three man benches.

Ha. I think if he hit .800 with 50 in two months some other team would scoop him up. And then he'd be suspended for juicing. And bribing pitchers.

That's using the word hitter very loosely there.

Lynn was bad for his first six to eight starts and then largely turned it around. Logan Forsythe has been terrible for the past two years. In the past six seasons he’s had two good years (#3 and #4) and been pretty terrible the other four. He’ll be 32 next season. There’s nothing Logan Forsythe can do down the stretch that makes me want to bring him back. I hope he hits well enough to be traded for a lottery ticket.

Relentless and reflexive negativity (not Number3's first post) with nothing to back it up generally deserves a strong response that accentuates the positive. But note taken. P.S. it's not noble. It's realistic. It's easy to get dragged down in a 162 game disappointing season. Everyone would do a lot better to look at the bigger picture, which is overwhelmingly positive.

Not really. They didn't know the 2019 reliever FA market (especially since reliever performance is so variable). They also don't know that internal guys will develop (though they certainly haven't rewarded any of those guys with MLB time so hard to see how they're so sure there). Maybe they just didn't like Rodney as much once they had him for a year. He is 40+. It'll be fascinating to see what happens with Rodney this offseason. Is his option picked up by the A's? If he hits the FA market, what does he get? it will tell a lot about this decision I imagine.

Is that a bad thing? An insult? I think they're all good things?

Maybe they're looking at internal development and the free agent pool this year and think that Rodney isn't going to be a great value? They also might realy like Chalmers/

It’s nice to have that arbitrary deadline but that wasn’t the way the market was working. Other teams were stalling and the market was very slow developing because the top players weren’t signing. Guys don’t just sign with someone during that period, they wait and see what the market will be. You’re not going to get movement unless someone thinks “Yeah, this is the best I’m going to get.” So you have to overpay (like the Rockies with Holland, a bad contract no matter what he did this year). You would have paid exceptionally more for Cobb had you signed him early because you’d be paying against what people thought the market would be, not what it was. His contract looks rough now at four years and $57 million. Think what you would’ve had to pay if you’d moved quickly. Another year? Another $20 million?

To finish my thoughts for 2018 free agents, the big contracts were Arrieta, Darvish, JD Martinez, Hosmer, Cain, and Upton. The Twins were in on Darvish and it never felt like Arrieta was a match so no issues on the pitching choices. The OF contracts to Cain and Upton look good through a year but I would have reacted negatively if the Twins were not going with Rosario, Kepler and Buxton in the OF this year. I was (and am) excited about all three. I think you can certainly say the Twins would look awesome with JD Martinez at DH (though that contract could be tough by the end) so that’s a place they could have been active. He’d have fit well with the Twins. It would’ve taken knowing the OF was going to suck or being very confident about JD Martinez. Not a lot to blame the FO for - not a ton of great fits and they were likely right to trust internal youth. They should be in decent shape this offseason. 3B is relatively strong (Machado, Moose, Donaldson, Escobar) and that seems a place of need. Though Sano finishing strong might change that (and might move them back towards Escobar at 2B since he could move to 3B regularly once Gordon/Arraez is ready). 1B/DH is a lot harder. With Mauer, Austin and Sano they have some options but Sano off of 3B creates a hole there. The free agent market is pitiful. This is a place that the Twins could use trade pieces or perhaps take another shot on a Logan Morrison type. Might work better the second time? I’m less inclined to move at catcher. Castro should be back and Garver is looking like a nice backup/1B/OF. Next year is a big year for Rortvedt – if he’s doing well in AA next year that may impact the Twins decision making. Same thing with Jeffers at the lower levels. Overall, catcher seems like a place for the Twins to wait another year for more information. You can always use starting pitching. I expect the Twins will be in on that market. Kershaw seems likely to go back to the Dodgers but Dallas Keuchel, David Price, JA Happ, Garret Richards, Charlie Morton, Eovaldi, Ervin Santana, and of course, Bartolo Colon make for an interesting (if not exactly top-heavy) market. I hope the Twins take a similar path to pitching this offseason as last. In on big starters but not getting desperate since they have nice young internal options (Berrios, Gibson, Romero, Pineda, Odorizzi, Mejia, Gonsalves, Thorpe is not a bad crew – though I wouldn’t mind one solid veteran signing). Making some smart free agent reliever moves. And then I’d like to see them go get someone in the infield. Machado seems unlikely but they should be in on him to a point. As a fall back, getting an Escobar or a Donaldson on a shorter deal would be a nice bridge to the next generation.

The Twins get a bad rap on Morrison. It’s a time when launch angles are changing for hitters so it wasn’t crazy to think that he might be a 125 OPS guy instead of a 105 OPS guy. They didn’t pay him like the 125 guy, they paid him like a 105 guy and they got an option for a second year in case he was a 125 guy. Clearly we’ve learned last year was the outlier but it’s mainly been some bad BABIP and maybe some rust in April that’s kept him from being the 105 guy. That guy would have been a nice DH piece in the lineup. I can’t fault them for Logan Morrison signing. The process was sound. I think a better argument can be made for them cutting him loose earlier but that’s a hard call to make. You never know when a guy is going to turn it around and it’s not like anyone wanted to see Vargas up in his stead or more Grossman. And there’s something to be said for sticking with free agents you sign since it sends a message to other free agents that they won’t lose their job if they struggle at first. We’ll see if they get anything for him in August, that would go a long way towards making their commitment to him worthwhile.

Who did you want them to go get last winter? Who were the guys they should have been in on? In my mind, the Twins made some strong moves in relief (and spycake is right that not trusting the young arms is the issue, not the free agents signed as aside from Belisle, the vets were as good as you could expect collectively) and decent moves for starting pitching (went for Darvish, didn’t go too far and then got a solid 1 year guy). After that, I can’t see where they should have been more active. The position players were set and you’d be upset to bring someone in to take a spot from a young guy. Sure Buxton, Sano and to a lesser extent Kepler have had bad seasons but you wanted to roll with those guys because they’re the future. I look at opening day and aside from Polanco being suspended, that’s who I wanted the Twins to have at that position. I don’t see where the Twins should have been more active last offseason in Free Agency.

I think we should add that the down year has highlighted how well the FO prepared for all possible outcomes. They didn't mortgage the Twins future with a bunch of Ricky Nolasco contracts. They knew that if things didn't work out they could pivot and take advantage of the expanded market two wild cards often brings to sellers. They took a shot at making a run this year but didn't mortgage the future. Love it.

I think you know as well as I do that I used those three teams to showcase the “hot take” by Number3. The Twins FO has been lauded by scouts and the national press for its draft the past two years, its free agency signings last year, and its trade deadline maneuvering this year. Anyone who says the Twins are the worst-run team in baseball is showcasing their ignorance. They may not be the best run team in baseball but they’re definitely upper half. They don’t profile to have anyone better than Mauer at DH/1B in 2019. Rooker isn’t going to be ready til mid-season at the earliest (and plays OF as well). Austin might be ready but may also just be a AAAA player. He’s not someone you’re writing in with a pen. From there you’re looking at free agents and I’d encourage you to go look at who is available. It’s not a pretty list. Joe Mauer on a 1-2 year deal makes a lot of sense for a team with a big hole at 1B/DH/3B (precluding Sano moving over) and a need for OBP. Some people just like to be negative. The Twins glass is 3/4 full right now. Lots of organizations would swap spots in a heartbeat. Young marketable players currently up, a beautiful park, a solid regional market, a well-respected front office, and a top 5-10 farm system to augment a team that was in the playoffs last year. This year didn’t go to plan but that doesn’t mean the plan was bad. Life happens.

Yeah, he'll start in AA next year. By midseason he may be in a place where he could cover a ten day DL stint. That's if everything goes well of course.

They're in year 4 or 5 of the rebuild. We all forget they've been competitive in two of the last four years and have the #6 farm system. When I say upswing, I mean when the next wave of talent comes up. People get too focused on the here and now. The Twins have good pieces now and good pieces coming up. Many organizations (not in big markets maybe) would be very happy to be in the Twins position. Glass is 3/4 full folks.

1.) Ummm, have you met the Marlins? The Padres? The Reds? The Twins have their warts but you're just being negative, per usual. 2) The 2016 #1 pick is Mickey Moniak and he's with the Phillies, not hitting in High A ball. I guess the Twins could try to trade for him but he's not that great a prospect so not sure why they world. 3.) The Braves were awful for years. They now are on the upswing. That's the way things go. In two years the Twins will be on the upswing hopefully. Not sure how you want the Twins to somehow fast forward time. Rebuilding takes time.

Need a bigger sample.

I mean, Wilson will be in the same position next year I imagine. Starting in AAA and needing an injury to make it to the majors. So he may never play MLB again but I don't think it says anything about the Twins. Most team's third catcher is a guy like Wilson. Interesting to see what the Twins do next year. Castro and Garver seem like the MLB duo. Is Rortvedt close enough to be the emergency one? I think maybe by July or August but not to start so I imagine we'll end up with a Wilson/Gimenez type.

September 1st. Plenty of time in September.

Nope. You want to see if you can get something back for Morrison, Forsythe, and Santana - all of whom should make it through waivers (Morrison already has). Wilson has value if you bring up young pitching. You want them working with a veteran catcher, not a guy unlikely to play the position in MLB. Reed is under contract next year and is injured. You'll get nothing for him now. He should be held til the offseason, when he'd have trade value (or can be a key part of the 2019 pen).