DaveW

Just finished episode 3 this AM, holy ****, this series is infuriating and depressing as it gets thus far, I don't know how it can get worse, but sounds like it does.

Sigh. Every year bob stoops seems to do this to me. Big 12 sucks. One national title in 15 years, I have seen the light!

Escobar is the exact guy you look to sell high on (assuming you can replace him) Desmond would be a great get for the Twins and a clear upgrade to the position. Sign Desmond, trade Plouffe and Escobar for some C and Pitching help.

Santana pitched pretty well down the stretch. He is the guy I am least concerned about.

The only thing I would tell him was he had a spot on the 25 man roster, now whether that spot is a mop up man or a starter is up to him, but he would HAVE to outpitch, perform etc several guys ahead of him if he wanted to start.

Yeah, which is an interesting case in itself, he pitched exactly 145 innings in his 4 years as a Yankee, from 2006-2008 he pitched 45 innings. Terrible "contract" no doubt, but since he was injured like 99% of the time those last 3 years it was just "wasted money" instead of "wasted money, and, oh yeah, this bum is also costing us wins left and right" Which is why in another thread I half joked that I hoped that Nolasco would be named in the Al Jazeera report. The money we owe him is annoying, but it's not stopping us from signing other guys, it might be stopping us from signing some big named guys, but for now, that money is spent. What will upset me is if they give him a starting role and he looks like he did in 2014, so at that point, not only is it a complete waste of money, but he is actively hurting the team as well, sort of a worst case scenario thing. So what I would like to see in order is: 1. Trade him, pick up 50-60% of the salary, hell if you can get a "real" prospect back, or ANY piece that can help in 2016, I would pick up 75%-80% At this point, the money is spent/owed, you might as well try to "get" something out of it. 2.If you can't trade him prior to ST, then let him know that he currently has a spot on the 25 man roster, however that spot is on the bullpen due to other guys passing him by. Give him starts in ST, and if he blows you away, looks good, puts up big numbers AND out pitches Milone, Duffey, Berrios, May then try to trade him ASAP! If not go ahead and give him starts in the regular season (but have a short leash) If he pitches OK in the regular season, then try to trade him as well! Basically keep trying to trade him until someone bites. 3. If he looks anywhere from (ok to meh to terrible) then slot him in the pen accordingly where he won't "hurt you" if he ends up pitching well eventually again, then maybe he makes his way back to the rotation when someone struggles/gets hurt. If not, you keep him in the pen and bite the bullet, keep trying to trade him, but if he sucks and is untradeable at least he isn't actively costing the club ball games.

Agreed, doesn't happen much, but I can't recall a free agent who has performed as poorly as Nolasco. Not the same thing, but this is Nishioka level bad/ineffectiveness! Like you said though, toss in cash and trade him.

That's what I was saying. Though it he continues to suck this year, you have to think about cutting him eventually, no?

Also important is getting those starts back, imagine if the twins go 4-8 during those twelve starts, and then miss a playoff spot by a couple games.... But I agree with the roster spot as well, would hate to give up a Santana or Arcia because we had to make room for Nolasco and continue to make room for him on roster.

I still think that even now the Twins could find a taker for Nolasco if they picked up 50-60% of the salary. Bite the bullet, ship him back to Miami and eat 50% of the rest of the contract. Open up a 25 man spot for any number of young pitchers or potentially a bench spot for one of our position players out of options.

Exactly, he needs to EARN any real "starts" or even "innings" at this point, which IMO means he needs to not only meet, but outperform the Duffeys, Berrios, May's, milones and even the Meyers of the world in spring training. I'm not saying cut him (though I think that would be a good plan) but stick him in mop up until he earns his way back into some real innings. If you get a few months into the season and he still sucks, then you finally cut bait. If he has a 5+ ERA and is still on this roster in June I imagine everyone will be furious. If he doesn't put up some very good numbers in ST (sub 3.75 era minimum) then he should not be considered for a starting rotation spot to start the season at all.

What a freaking steal for the Yankees. If the allegations against Chapman are true though, he is a PoS but the Yanks may get 1.5 years out of him

You take guys like Gibson or Santana (who are solid and affordable number 3's) and flip them for a couple prospects who have front end of the rotation stuff, but aren't "sure things" Remember, liriano was a toss in in a trade, you just gotta get enough lottery ticket type "ace" potentials and one of them will pan out.

Is it wrong that I was hoping that Nolascos name would show up on that Al Jazerra investigation? A well timed suspension or a "phantom injury" would be the best thing to happen to this rotatio. (As it would force the twins to give a spot to Duffey or may instead of Nolasco)

Why on earth would you want to even waste 6-8 starts on Nolasco if he hasn't "earned" them? Those 6-8 starts could sink the team come "stretch time" (assuming the Twins want to aim for the playoffs in 2016 of course) Stick him in the pen, if he by some miracle starts contributing, then you think about giving him a shot at the rotation, but off the bat? No way, he is behind: Santana, Gibson, Hughes, Duffey, Milone, May, Berrios for guys who should be getting looks as a SP these days.

Couldn't have said it better myself. Vikes have an exciting team these days and a new stadium, the Wild are competitive every year and the wolves are actually threatening to be a respectable team in a year or two. The Twins would be wise not to fall behind. Baseball already has an issue attracting younger fans, having a team that won't "go for it" isn't going to help matters at all, especially when the Wild sign guys like Parise/Suter, the Vikings go out and make a bold coaching hire in Zimmer (and build a damn awesome team around him) and the Wolves more or less luck into some great talent, and are just an inevitable Fred Hoiberg coaching hire away from being great to watch. It's sad, with Sano, Dozier, Buxton and company we should be looking fwd to a great year due to some nice signings, but alas, we look like a 75 win ball club as of now. Not. Good.

The extension itself isn't a bad idea, it's that they continue to do this right after guys have career years that are outliers in their overall body of work: Hughes, Blackburn and Suzuki all come to mind. Don't overpay when you don't need to. Wait until they come back to earth a bit so then you can get some decent value.

Yeah, then cap it at like 50k a year for 10 years. Someone that rich (making like 10+ million a year) isn't going to give up their US citizEnship IMO Force people to have a 2.8 or something to continue recieving it

Keep in mind that Kylo had also gotten shot by Chewies crossbow and was bleeding quite a bit, it's not a stretch to think he was fighting at way less than 100%.

Ok so you are saying the Twins and A's are the only two teams who let their GM's stick around this long, again, this isn't good company at this point. We should aim higher then (the 20th most successful team of the last 25 years)

So we are bottom third of the league team in this regard, not good. Can't imagine anyone is happy with that.Nationals are a newish team I guess, but they are literally knocking on the door now, as are the Dodgers, Cubs, Pirates and Blue Jays. Hard to argue the Twins are knocking on the door with the current roster: which puts us down there with cinci, brew crew, Seattle, and Baltimore. Yikes. Also, none of those teams have had any GMs who have gotten 17 years or anything close to it, Beane was the closest. But even he was let go. In fact bringing these teams up and their gms etc in some ways makes the Twins keeping Ryan and the whole front office around this long that much more absurd.

Sadly I think the main reason why the Twins are going with Milone over May is due to money. It's absurd to think this would be the reason, but the Twins seem to have operated like this in the past (See: Pelfrey)

They haven't even been to a world series, the closest they got was 3 wins away from winning the pennant. Even the TWolves have gotten closer than the Twins in that time frame. Let that sink in for a minute.

Ah thanks for looking that up, I definitely think May will continue to improve in that department as well moving forward. Again, Ideally the Twins could figure out one or two of the following: 1. Trade one of Milone or Hughes for a nice RP in return (or a solid prospect) 2. Trade Nolasco for anything 3. Trade Gibson or Santana for a really nice haul. Or include them as a part of a way to get an Ace or future Ace.

I agree, I'm not labeling him at all and I think he can improve, but IIRC it wasn't just inconsistency with May, it seemed like every start he never made it past 6. (Could be wrong) I want May over Milone in the rotation as well, but "ability to go deep" isn't one of the things May has over Milone at this stage.