Kirby_waved_at_me

I would agree with you if signing a player to a one year deal was actually keeping someone from playing on the ML team. I think if anyone loses out as a result of signing a FA outfielder, it's Nuñez or Eduardo Escobar. Santana moves to SS full-time, and one of the two Eduardos becomes the utility infielder. The other player becomes redundant. Hicks (or Schafer) would slide to the 4th outfielder position, remain on the team full time. A one year deal doesn't stunt the development of a player that wasn't going to make the 25 Man roster yet. Aoki is just one possibility, but I think the Twins would benefit globally by improving the left field position. It takes pressure off the center fielders by having a better defender to pair with, it probably creates enough depth to move Santana to his regular position at SS, it improves the pitching staff's numbers by having a competent outfield defense behind them, hopefully allowing the starting staff to go deeper into games and putting less strain on the bullpen. In the meantime, Rosario can develop at AA and/or AAA in 2015. To your point, I think adding a FA Left fielder does aid the development of the prospects, specifically Danny Santana as well as the young starters Gibson, May, and possibly Alex Meyer if they call him up early in 2015.

Seeing the splits, it is encouraging that he's cut down a bit on the strikeouts - putting more balls in play is always a good thing, assuming he's swinging at strikes.

For the 2015 season I would say that Aoki will have a better MLB hitting line than Rosario. I'm not sure Rosario will be called up in 2015 at all. Aoki's OPS this season is .691 - and his career OPS is .736 Hicks this season has an OPS of .606, and a career OPS of .602 Aoki is going to be 33 next season - offering him a 1 year deal would not be unreasonable for a player of his age and ability. Of the free agents listed for 2015, he's one of the better defenders. That's really the only reason I brought his name up. I like Rosario long term (along with Buxton of course and Adam Brett Walker, among others), but for 2015 Left Field should be filled by someone better/more ML ready than the options the Twins have in-house. I agree that the in-house options have more upside, and I look forward to them making the club in the next two or three years.

Toronto is smart to offer it - They will be losing Rasmus this offseason most likely too (even though they have him on the bench quite a bit now). I'm coming around to the idea that the Twins should be looking for defense first instead of an impact bat for LF. Maybe Nori Aoki? He's been in RF this year, part of a very good Royals defensive OF. Rasmus has had a down year defensively, but if the Twins sign him and put him in Left instead of CF, he might grade out better there (can't be worse than who's played there for the Twins this season). If the Twins had the resources and inclination, they should try to acquire Brett Gardner from the Yankees, or Gerardo Parra. Parra's contract will be up at the end of 2015, so he'd be a short term solution most likely. Gardner is probably not moving for anything resembling a reasonable price - the Yankees seem to like him in pinstripes.

I don't see how it could be sour grapes if he's in the playoffs and the Twins are in the cellar again. Maybe a little champagne fueled venting, but I think he's genuinely happy to be back in the playoffs again, and of course when you're doing well at your current gig, it's easy to state that it's better there than the last place.

Yes, if a good to great player makes it to Free Agency, they either were somehow damaged goods or an injury risk OR they want more money than the original team was willing to shell out for an extension. It means that the guys that do become free agents are expensive, risky, or both. The Twins saw that before with Nolasco this year. Hughes was a bit undervalued by the Yankees, I bet they woud really have liked to have him back this year given the circumstances. Hughes is usually the exception rather than the rule for Free Agents, though there seem to be a few of them every year.

I think he's only looking for a one year deal, though, so the Twins don't want him in the short term. If he can sit on the 60 Day DL for a two year contract, that's more in line with their usual additions /snark

Melky is really the only significant upgrade worth pursuing (oh and Yasmani Tomas) The 2016 crop of FA outfielders is more interesting - though it's entirely possible the better names will be retained by their current clubs via extension. Alex Gordon has a player option for $12.5 MM - he may choose to decline that and make more money elsewhere... Justin Upton, Yoenis Cespedes, Gerardo Parra, Austin Jackson, Jason Heyward, and Roger Bernadina will all be free agents, relatively young, too.

The only reason to hope that the Twins will spend on a FA pitcher this offseason is that they were still trying to sign Garza and Ervin Santana after they had spent on Nolasco. I could see the Twins pursuing anyone except for Scherzer and Lester, based on the players they tried to sign in 2014. Nolasco's rough year might make the Twins gun-shy, or the success of Suzuki and Hughes will make them bolder than they've been in the past.

I generally have no problem with a team signing players to the low-risk high-upside minor league deal. It becomes a problem with that signing is made in a position of need and the minor league deal is secretly (or not so secretly) the "solution" to the problem (see Kubel, Jason). It's awesome if a team signs a guy to a minor league deal and he plays his way onto the 40-Man and then the 25-Man roster. It's another thing entirely to have to use that player out of desperation.

Remember that scene in Rocky IV where Rocky goes into the mountains and trains like crazy while Ivan Drago is getting pumped up with the best Russian pharma can buy? Mauer should return to camp with a giant beard and a montage video of him running around the lakes, chopping wood, and doing one-handed pushups with his twins sitting on his back " .298, .299, .300!" There ya go Twins PR department, that first idea's free.

The strategy that makes the most sense to me is for the Twins to target SP that are expected to be better than Hughes was expected to be this season. There won't be a ton of guys that are expected to be better than Hughes actually was this year as a free agent. To the point being made about having a logjam of SP is really only a problem if you have a logjam of Tommy Milones, Pelfreys, Darnells, Pinos, etc. all vying for position in the ML rotation. The Twins can add guys a tier above that list and make the rotation better. The competiton on that list should be for the 5th starter / long man in the bullpen, not for the guy that follows Hughes in the Rotation. I think May should be the #5 behind Hughes, (a free agent/trade), Gibson, and Nolasco (who will hopefully find Correia-level stuff in 2015), but I don't know that the Twins will be willing/able to move that whole list to AAA. I think they have to be ok with DFA'ing a handful of those pitchers to make room for someone better.

I think the Twins 2015 Spring Training will have to resolve a couple items in particular regarding Santana: 1. Who will be the opening day starter in CF? 2. If Santana is not the starting CF, do they hand him the reins at SS? Bonus 3rd item: if Santana gets the gig at SS, do the Twins retain both Eduardos, or will one be traded/released?

That's a pretty fun stat about Grienke and Hicks - Grienke also has twice as many homers as Ben Revere. I'm guessing that if Grienke reaches 500 PA, that OPS will be lower than HIcks.

Ah - I see - yes, that's good news

Night and day compared to what - to the last time Cederstrom was home plate umpire and Pinto caught? Or compared to Suzuki? And was it a positive or a negative night and day?

Here's a list of potential FA Starters, according to MLB Trade Rumors: in ITALICS : I think these guys will stick with their current club/option will be picked up underlined : I think the Twins should kick the tires on these Brett Anderson (27) – $12MM club option with a $1.5MM buyout Scott Baker (33) Josh Beckett (35) Chad Billingsley (30) – $14MM club option with a $3MM buyout A.J. Burnett (38) – mutual option Chris Capuano (36) Bruce Chen (38) – $5.5MM mutual option with a $1MM buyout Wei-Yin Chen (29) – $4.75MM club option with a $372K buyout Kevin Correia (34) Johnny Cueto (29) – $10MM club option with an $800K buyout Ryan Dempster (38) Gavin Floyd (32) Yovani Gallardo (29) – $13MM club option with a $600K buyout Jason Hammel (32) J.A. Happ (32) – $6.7MM club option Aaron Harang (37) Dan Haren (34) – $10MM player option if 180 innings reached in 2014 Roberto Hernandez (34) Hisashi Iwakuma (34) – $7MM club option with a $1MM buyout Josh Johnson (31) – $4MM club option Kyle Kendrick (30) Hiroki Kuroda (40) Jon Lester (31) Colby Lewis (35) Francisco Liriano (31) Paul Maholm (33) Justin Masterson (30) Daisuke Matsuzaka (34) Brandon McCarthy (31) Franklin Morales (29) Brandon Morrow (30) – $10MM club option with a $1MM buyout Felipe Paulino (31) – $4MM club option with a $250K buyout Jake Peavy (34) Wandy Rodriguez (36) Ervin Santana (32) Joe Saunders (34) Max Scherzer (30) James Shields (33) Misael Siverio (24) - Cuban defector Kevin Slowey (31) Carlos Villanueva (31) Ryan Vogelsong (37) Edinson Volquez (30) Jerome Williams (33) Randy Wolf (38) Chris Young (36) Then there's also a guy that could be posted for free agency from his Japanese team, right hander Kenta Maeda. http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseball/24418251/kenta-maeda-the-next-big-nbp-export-now-that-tanaka-has-signed

Speaking of Defense - any chance there will be a list of top 10 Twins Minor League Fielders? Or maybe an internal version of Gold Glove awards for the Minor League System? Pitching, rightfully, is emphasized a lot on TD - but the other key component lacking on the ML club is defensive ability. I'm curious if the experts have some insight into the development of gloves in the Twins' system.

Yeah, not much to platoon on the roster as it is. Maybe Escobar and Santana could platoon at SS - Escobar starts at SS vs. lefites, with Santana playing in CF on those days. Pinto looks a little like he should sit against Lefties. Suzuki is the de facto starter anyway, but maybe his days off should line up when there is a RHP starting.. vs. lefty lineup C - Suzuki 1B - Mauer (Parmelee in a small sample has hit ok - when they give Mauer a day, play Parm?) 2B - Dozier 3B - Plouffe SS - Escobar LF - Hicks CF - Santana RF - Arcia DH - Vargas vs. Righties C - Pinto 1B - Mauer 2B - Dozier 3B - Plouffe SS - Santana LF - Schafer CF - Hicks RF - Arcia DH - Vargas All the more reason to go after a good LF - let Schafer and/or Hicks come off the bench instead of starting.

If there's more than one butcher in the outfield, the result is a bloodbath on defense. Arcia, I agree, will have to prove that he should keep his job with improved defense and plate discipline next year. He is capable of some impressive plays on both sides of the game, so with another season of experience now he should be starting to put it all together for 2015 and beyond. He doesn't have to be Torii out there in RF, just better than he's shown to this point. Left and Center are big problems. Everybody's waiting for Buxton to arrive, but even a "can't miss" prospect is still a risk for injury (as we've seen this year). If he makes it, he'll probably be the star everyone says he will be, but he still has a way to go and a lot can happen in two years. Arcia in RF is likely the only spot that is set at the moment; all I want for Christmas this year is for the Twins to add a ML-Ready starting LF via Free agency or trade. Adding a short term CF (probably via trade) would really help as well. Schafer and Hicks can battle for the 4th Outfielder position.

In this vein, I wonder if Mientkiewicz will be ok with losing for a season or two until everyone he coached in single A makes it up to the big leagues. If he joins the Twins as the manager in 2015, will his expecatations be reasonable given the level of talent on the team? Ultimately, I think that unless Terry Ryan is fired, Gardy will finish his current contract. He may have to grudgingly accept a new Pitching Coach and/or some other fresh faces on his staff next year, but I get the feeling he will stick around one more year. I think if everyone gets promoted with the players in 2015 (meaning coaching staffs move up a level), 2016 is a realistic date for Mientkiewicz to manage the Twins.

I think it's all part of his plan to win comeback player of the year in 2015.

Well, maybe this is a sign that the Twins are taking momentum into game 2?

Good Gibby VS. Bad Gibby:

TQS - any start that Swarzak appears in the game prior to the 4th inning.