ashbury

Doesn't every team have that to add, as a sweetener? Though, we could throw in Brian Duensing, if he thinks he can find a use for a reliever.

This aged well. ? (As wise Yogi taught us all, in baseball we don't know nothin'.)

Those of us of a certain age will think "Kuenn for Colavito" when the subject of trading away a reigning batting champion comes up. I don't believe Detroit ever regretted receiving the reigning HR champion in return. The situations aren't really that similar, but the concept definitely can work out, if you can find a taker. I'm not sure the term "batting champion" carries the same weight with front offices anymore, though, in terms of what they'd offer.

I've never heard a word suggesting Boras has ethical problems, so any joking I do is based on the premise that he's kind of neutral about everything aside from getting the best dollar value for each client. In essence, my joke was him saying, "meh, you tell me." When we say "Boras", we really mean the big operation he has built. I'm sure he puts in significant time with each of his biggest clients, but surely he farms out much of the work to his subordinates, and when any ethical situations arise he makes sure there are sufficient firewalls between the two handling things for them, and then signs off on the final agreement. If, say, Bogaerts becomes a little irritated by spring that somehow Correa's contract ending up costing him money, he can console himself that it was just the market, and not Boras himself. Or, of course, vice versa. I doubt either will wind up thinking they would have done better with different representation. I think highly of Boras. I think he'd make a great Commissioner, except he would never take the cut in pay.

Levine: "Mr Boras we need a decision from your client, so we're preparing our final, best offer for his consideration. Otherwise, regrettably, we'll have to turn to our second choice." Boras: "Which one are you speaking of? Correa, then Bogaerts? Or Bogaerts, then Correa?"

Comparing to 2022 payrolls, that would put us only #6 in the majors (Dodgers, Mets, Yankees, Phillies, Padres). Dare to dream big! 300! #1!

Treading water, indeed. Plus, I ask myself, who would trade for Polanco? Some bottom feeder team with prospects galore to trade to us? What good would he do them? A top team with World Series aspirations, that thinks he can contribute to that? Are we not trying for that? A team with a bunch of hopeful/unproven prospects, looking for veteran leadership? Wait, isn't that us? So I circle back to believing we trade Polanco only in a tear-down scenario. In which case I trot out my GIF of the guy going nuts and smashing everything on his desk.

I was thinking in terms of where a player would most dread getting traded to. But in terms of general franchise health and from a fan's perspective, it's hard to fathom the failure that this franchise has become. The other teams should be complaining about their share of the lousy gate receipts (my hot button of the week it seems), if nothing else.

Especially since relievers are the most fungible of assets at the trade deadline. Your young guys all matured at once and you now have too many good relievers? Not a problem, sell the old guy you signed last December, for a minor league prospect, and move on with your pennant drive.

It was a different time then. A different, worse, time. ?

As near as I can piece together what must have happened, Florida with the second pick really wanted Jared Camp and was afraid Minnesota would snare him first. So they must have offered Minnesota $50,000 to swap picks - except MLB doesn't allow trading of draft picks so they had to resort to this bit of chicanery, and they opted not to operate simply on a handshake and then pony up the $50K later in some fashion. Kudos to Terry Ryan for keeping a good poker face and still getting the man they probably wanted in the first place. I think it's completely fair to view Santana as Minnesota's actual rule-5 pick.

Oakland comes to mind.

In my small-sample of watching Julien in two games at the AFL in October I was unlucky enough (or forgetful enough) to not recall seeing him suitably tested for his fundamental defensive skills. I thought his demeanor on the field was excellent - very focused and all-business - but that says nothing about his range. He did react well to a lousy double-play throw from Martin, managing to keep a toe on the bag to achieve one out on the play; that's a play a good first-baseman might also make, hint hint. Anyway it looks like Julien's bat will eventually play in the majors, if not already, but the scouting reports on his defense seem uniformly negative and I don't have any of my own rinky-dink scouting insights to contradict that. I don't much care for Arraez as a full-time second baseman either, and I don't know of some other heir apparent if Polanco were gone. Gordon maybe? Trading Polanco would be part of a tear-down in the absence of a clear replacement. Yes, probably he could fetch something in trade; but if the Twins were to decide to move on from him (health or whatever), other teams would have the same rationale, and then the trade return would be lowered. As others have said, the arguments for why another team would want him and give up a great deal of value would be the arguments for why he brings value to the Twins as a player and not a trade chip. As I said in another thread, I think the topic is moot anyway, due to what seems like a pretty strong signal from the team that he's coming back for 2023.

The typical plate appearance consists of several pitches on each of which the batter must make a decision that helps reveal his skill. League average is just under 4. So those 103 at-bats contain a lot more useful information about the batter than do 103 SB attempts (or fielding chances in general).

The best part is that if Zachary approves a trade of Polanco, the Twins' marketing department gets to send him to bed without supper.

Sure, it's great to have a guy who can finish the game, or even be pressed into service for a game or two over a short period if the other catcher has a relatively minor owie. Positional flexibility is always good. But I doubt they view Farmer as a backup catcher, and you do need to have a plan for what-if two of your better catchers are on the actual IL for overlapping periods. That's the break-glass scenario I had in mind. If Farmer turns out to be so adept behind the plate that you don't need a third or fourth guy, well, that's an unplanned bonus I guess.

My one complaint about Jim was his sometimes tin ear for speaking in public. I'm hoping young 40-year old Joe has taken significant lessons in public relations so that when he speaks for the team it can be an inspiration. I want the franchise to be successful, and good PR gets scoffed at but is underrated.

The ability go right up close and take photos is just one of the appeals of the AFL. Spring Training in Ft Myers is similar in that respect. You can go right down to the front row if you're willing to be up the baseline a little, and if your camera is compact enough you can poke the lens through the protective netting, and with just a little zoom you have a photo of the on deck batter's left nostril if that's your thing. ?

For me the ideal 40 man has 3 catchers: a really good one if you can, an experienced backup who perhaps complements the starter in some specific way, and then a young guy who is promising but hasn't established himself but has minor league options so you can stash him at AAA in readiness for when one of the older guys is injured. A fourth veteran on a minor league contract, break glass in emergency, completes the preparation for the season; having that guy as your third catcher is begging for roster trouble since you can't send him back down at will. IMO we're missing the first two guys. It's a leap of faith to think Jeffers is your number one, especially in the absence of another prospect knocking on the door. He's ideally my number three, and let him fight his way back up. The FO is going to have to give up salary and/or prospect capital, to cover catcher next season unless they want to admit they're not really contending.

That 11 am starting time for the third game of the home stand definitely ensured crowd noise would not be a factor. And people do like the seats behind home plate since you don't often get those at a major league game. So that photo just before the bottom of the first does present an unusual look that I didn't particularly notice until I posted it.

The Twins are jointly owned by brothers Jim, Bill, and Bob. Jim has been the managing partner of the Twins, while Bill is better known for working in the movie industry, and Bob seems to have concentrated on overseeing the family's other holdings. They seem to own some things individually and other things (such as the Twins) jointly. I'm sure this is a vast simplification of their approaches to the various businesses. Joe is Bob's son. I doubt very much that he can summarily decide to spend in a way that doesn't show a profit. Nothing in the announcements seemed to indicate a change in ownership share either. I don't think I've ever seen mention of whether the offspring of Carl's three children have some kind of official stake; that may come down simply to the respective will when the three pass away, and if they have unequal numbers of offspring then things may eventually become uneven. For the present, an owner's son now has a highly responsible job in the organization.

Conversely he and his agent will know a lot more about his market value. If you still want him a year from now it could cost millions more.

The incentive clauses in his contract more or less spell out the definition of success for any of his seasons to come.

The Glendale Desert Dogs had several representatives from the Twins' farm system. Denny Bentley, Francis Peguero, Jon Olsen and Ryan Shreve were the pitchers, and the position players were Alex Isola, Austin Martin and Edouard Julien. Here's a few photos from my trip in late October. For two of the three games I was joined by the illustrious USAFChief. Driving there meant going through some dusty desert miles. Here is one of the denizens of the town of Beatty NV where I quartered for the night at the picturesque Atomic Inn. I arrived in time for the evening game on the 27th. Unfortunately the game itself wasn't much, from a Twins fan's point of view. Austin Martin played CF and led off, but his 0-4 ledger was redeemed only by a walk. I don't recall him really being tested on defense, but he handled the routine plays (which mainly involved picking up the ball after base hits). Denny Bentley and Francis Peguero both appeared and neither one really shone - Bentley went 2 hitless innings while walking 4 and striking out 4, while Peguero gave up 3 unearned runs in his inning of work, striking out 2 but also surrendering 3 hits that "didn't count" for earned runs in light of the third baseman's error. I didn't take any photos of that 9-6 loss to the hated Salt River Rafters. Probably just as well. Friday's game was more entertaining, and I devoted myself to snapping some shots. Jon Olsen had a very fine afternoon on the mound, going 4 innings against the hated Surprise Saguaros and giving up only 1 hit while striking out 4 and walking nobody. Olsen's had some bad luck with injuries after his college career and thus is a bit of a late bloomer as a 25-year old at high-A Cedar Rapids, but hopefully may have opened some eyes with his AFL showing. Here he is in a couple of shots. Edouard Julien batted leadoff and played second base. He got a hit and scored, and also later drove in a run. I don't recall any particular plays of note in the field for him. Here's a pretty representative example of his swing. While Austin Martin was not in the lineup, he did coach at first base some of the time. Here he is with his ubiquitous head scarf underneath the helmet. Alex Isola was catcher in this game. He had an annoying habit of lobbing the ball back to the pitcher. I would love to know the details on that, such as whether it was just a temporary expedient for some reason. He did throw out a runner at second base during the game. Here's a shot of his leg kick when at bat. On to Saturday's game, which was an 11 am affair to allow AFL fans to move from ballpark to ballpark and see a triple-header. The hated Mesa Solar Sox won this one 10-3. In this game Martin and Julien hit leadoff and second, and were the double play combo. So I was very interested in watching them interact. Here they are getting ready for their turns at bat. Here they are in the field getting ready for a play. Unfortunately the only interesting play was a routine double-play ball. Martin bollixed up the throw so that Julien was pulled off the bag and did well to get even the single out at second base. No photo of that. Back to the hitting. Here's Julien taking a cut. Were any batters hit by a pitch in this game, you ask? Why yes. Here is one. No damage done, though. Peguero got another inning of work in this game. I neglected to get any photos of him this time either. Unfortunately, he gave up another run on a walk and a hit. So not a good showing by him. Ryan Shreve did not appear while I was there. Well, that was my weekend. A nice excuse for 3 days of great weather instead of the colder snowier conditions in northern Nevada.