stringer bell

A one-of-us two-fer! He spent his entire career with the Twins and he was born and raised in Minnesota. His career was just long enough and he played catcher just long enough to be considered favorably. Good for him!

I wrote quite a bit about Hicks on another thread. He isn't the guy the Twins traded to the Yankees eight years ago by any means. He would be only a fill in for center field, as his defense and leg speed have slipped considerably. As a role player, getting platoon at-bats, Hicks could have value and he has always hit left handed pitching better than right handers. I think he was dreadful the last few years for the Yankees because the Bronx fans turned on him. He had something to prove in Baltimore and was a good role players for the Orioles. The risk is minimal. Minimum salary and no obligation for future years. It only makes sense to explore whether he is a fit for the Twins.

The big test for Torii is whether he’ll stay on the ballot. He is exactly at 5% after 200 ballots and he needs to exceed 5% so he’ll need 10 more votes out of the final 188. I’d say his chances are a little better than 50-50.

Really interesting discussion on Mauer. I do hope Mauer makes the Hall on his first ballot and adds to the St. Paul guys already there. I think the final vote will be decided by 5 votes one way or the other. Helton is only three votes behind Mauer and he is only two votes better than last year.

I have speculated that if the Twins acquire a starting pitcher, he won’t clearly be seen as a top 50 or 60 starter. I would think the guy will be either unproven, an injury risk or coming off a disappointing or unproductive season. Further, I think most teams are placing a high price on pitching, particularly guys under team control. Teams that have no real hope of contending should be a little more willing to part with starters under team control because by the time they expect to contend, guys in the majors will have moved on. In addition, bad teams might have pitchers whose stats look worse because they are playing for a bad team. Maybe a bad bullpen allowing lots of inherited runners to score, perhaps bad defense behind him or instances where the manager had no choice but to let a team put up crooked numbers because there was nobody available in the bullpen. There were four 100-loss teams in 2023. Two of them were in the AL Central and thus would be unlikely to deal with the Twins. The other two teams are Oakland and Colorado. In exploring the pitching staffs for those two teams, my first thought was ugh!, there just isn't anything there. However, in looking a little deeper, I found one guy from each staff to consider. From Colorado, Austin Gomber was 29 last year and pitched 139 innings, he is a lefty, something I think the Twins would like to have in their rotation. In looking at Gomber's home-road splits, he compiled a 3.68 ERA on the road, away from Coors Field. I don't know anything about his injury history, but acquiring the road Austin Gomber for prospects might be something to consider. It appears that Coors messes with a lot of pitchers' heads and adjustments made in the high altitude diminish effectiveness when the pitcher is at a normal altitude. From Oakland, I nominate JP Sears. Similar to Gomber, he is a lefty in his late 20s. He worked over 170 innings last year and while his numbers weren't good overall, he seems to have worn down over the course of the year and perhaps the wearing down was exacerbated by being on a terrible team. His first half ERA was 3.97 with a 1.044 WHIP. and over 8 Ks per nine innings pitched. The walks and hits soared in the second half, so I will speculate he did wear out. He's not a big guy--5'11"180 lbs.--and this was his first full year of the major leagues. Also, I have to suspect that his manager was forced to work him longer in games because of the rest of the pitching staff being pretty awful. The coming season might allow Sears to handle additional work better and the Twins probably would be better suited to conserve his innings pitched. I know very little about either pitcher mentioned other than a quick look at BBRef. For all I know, either or both could already be scheduled for major surgery, but I do think looking for an undervalued asset on a bad team is one way to get value.

I-N-T is the Dagger.

Absolutely the right call. Didn’t work, but they still have a chance to tie.

Dagger? Edit: Not quite.

The risk is about non-existent with only the league minimum in salary and no future years in play. The Bronx can eat you up, ask Sonny Gray, and there’s more than a small chance that the real player is the guy who played for the Orioles.

I don't think their defense is good enough to get past both SF and whoever comes through the AFC, but if they improve their talent on defense in the coming years, they have a chance. They found their coach I believe.

I enjoyed Torii and he was a fine player. Hall of Fame, no.

I think it's hard to make a trade when you don't want to take on salary. A Gray for Petty trade resulted in the Twins taking on over $10M in salary plus costing them a first round draft choice. Comparing to the Arraez-López deal Luis had a lot of value because of three years of team control. To get the equivalent of Gray or López, they are going to have to part with more talent and treasure. I maintain that the Twins will acquire a starting pitcher, but the guy they get will either need to "be fixed (like Alek Manoah)" or who is coming off injury or ineffectiveness.

Respectfully, the Yankee situation was a totally different scenario than a prospective return to Minnesota. Hicks had been a Yankee for more than half a decade and struggled mightily. He went to Baltimore with something to prove and perhaps a chip on his shoulder and performed very well. Nobody wants post-pandemic Yankee Hicks, but the guy who showed up and did his job for the Orioles (and played all three OF positions) would fit well with the Twins.

How old were you in '05?

Honestly, I'm not opposed to this line of thinking. I think the biggest hole then is a right handed hitter who can play corner outfield. It's possible that Martin or Castro could fill that role sufficiently or maybe the lefty hitters develop so that they shrink the platoon splits.

BTW, Purdy has not looked elite today. He's missed a bunch of throws.

I think the Niners pull this out, but Green Bay is (already) a team on the rise.

So, what are you saying? If the Twins need an offensive upgrade, how are they supposed to get it without spending decent money ($5M+) or trading offensive personnel (Kepler, Polanco, Farmer, Vázquez) in which case they'll need an additional player. MLB Trade Rumors said that the current payroll is $124.5M and might be all they will spend. I think the Twins are in a box and getting a guy like HIcks, who (at least from his time in Baltimore) is worth far more than minimum salary is one way to mitigate the problem.

He's "free". The Yankees pay all but the league minimum. I wouldn't want Hicks for the role I described if he would be paid $10M.

I don't agree exactly. If everyone is healthy, Hicks would only start against left handers, but there aren't many available who would be full-time starters and it appears the Twins aren't going to spend to get a position player.

Hicks was beyond lousy in the Bronx, but hit very well for Baltimore last year, which fits since just about everything went right for the Orioles during the regular season. During his best four years, Hicks hit more than decently against right handed pitchers. I don't know how much is left in the tank for Hicks, but the guy who played for the Orioles would be plenty good enough to be a fourth OF, especially against left handed pitchers.

Yeah, it is pretty hard to quantify what an elite QB is. I think most of all, which guys are able to take a team down the field when the chips are down, especially on the road. I think Burrow, Allen, Mahomes are guys that would be good bets in that scenario. Maybe Stroud or Love have grown to that point, I don't know. I'd put all five of those guys and Matthew Stafford ahead of Cousins or Goff, but I don't have numbers to back it up.

Yes, I missed him. He would be an upgrade from Quinlan, although he (Thomas) didn't do much for the Twins.

If that number is US dollars and it’s accurate, it would be the prorated major league salary for his days on a MLB roster. Bubba would make that amount as well and if somehow he broke out, the Twins would have six years of team control including at least one more year at the major league minimum.

As noted, Stevenson will be playing for the Ham Fighters in 2024. In addition, there’s a difference between Stevenson’s good speed and the elite speed of Bubba Thompson. Stevenson is in his 30s, Bubba is 25. There is a much better chance for Bubba Thompson to develop into a decent MLB hitter than there is for Andrew Stevenson.