jokin

As I noted above, the Dodgers essentially gave Dan Haren away and paid all of his 2015 salary, besides- in exchange for some decent Marlin role players. If the Twins would be willing to eat some contract dollars, deals are still do-able.

I think we're barking up the wrong trees here. The last Twins deal with the Nats was Span for (then Class A+) Alex Meyer- they aren't insane enough to ever need Esco as badly as you (tongue-in-cheek) proposed. How about teams that have the luxury to over-value spare parts? The Dodgers gave the Twins something for nothing on the Butera trade. They gave Dee Gordon and Dan Haren to the Marlins for "spare parts" (one of whom was an Escobar comp, Enrique Hernandez). How nice would it be to be debating this spring whether or not Dan Haren should be our 5th SP rather than Milone and Pelfrey?- and not only that.... the Dodgers are actually paying Haren's $10M salary for the Marlins this year. The Dodgers still look like they could use an upgrade in the Util Inf area, and have two aging infielders on the left side that are going to need days off. This article about Juan Nicasio looked intriguing: By contrast to Nicasios' 21.3% K-rate/6.3% BB-rate, the Twins RPs had a combined 17.3% K-rate/7.3% BB-Rate, the worst in baseball by far. Other than Perkins, the only current Twin RP close to Nicasio is Fien with a 19.6% K-rate. And in contrast to the Twins' RP OBA of .262 and OPS of .723, you have Nicasio 's RP numbers in rarefied Coors Field: OBA- .227 OPS- .675 I'm not saying that this is the exact guy to demand- even if the numbers suggest he could be the guy to get you to the 8th inning, plus he only costs $2.3M this year with three years of team control- it's just that the Dodgers can afford to be less cautious about wholesale-priced moves of their well-stocked and easily-replenished assets.

Didn't the Mets balk at Escobar in the offseason? I think all Escobar proved in 2014 is he could be a solid MLB SS for bottom-feeding teams. Irreverent writer Grant Brisbee, who was mentored by sabremetrcian Rob Neyer, was absolutely unimpressed by Escobar's 2014 numbers (He even threw Santana under the same skeptical bus), and probably expresses Escobar's perceived value around most every MLB team. It's hard to imagine anyone with the intention of building a winning team would consider Escobar as an acceptable option at SS (and I'm speaking as a fan of what Escobar brings as a Twin- if the Twins were to get an offer of someone that can clearly make the team better longer-term- say a late-inning bulldog, they have to take it).

An embarrassment of #5 SP-depth riches.

That's a good , and fair, write-up. And that's exactly what I felt about his misadventures in CF, that was entirely on management, sorry, it just felt like a cheap shot on first read. OK. So now since we're in general agreement, what exactly does an above-average utility guy draw in trade? If Esco can bring back a youngish, high leverage RP, don't you have to at least consider the offer, even if you're left a little short in the infield in 2015?

I'm curious, given the Escobar CF video "highlight" you included, exactly where is your level of respect in regards to Escobar? And I'd like to get your opinion, Parker, on exactly what a 26-year old decent utility infielder can command in trade.

I know what he did last year, I'm definitely not a big fan. I'm just wondering about today and ST in general (ie, anything he's doing differently, recovered from his neck situation, pick-up in velocity, etc.).

I realize the Milone is not everyone's favorite for the #5 starter spot, but Tommy-gun appears to have acquitted himself quite well today. Anyone with eyewitness confirmation or refutation?

I thought the days of three catchers in one starting lineup were over?

Thanks for the first hand highlights. This is shaping up as maybe the most significant and exciting ST in terms of portent for things to come, in many, many years.

Not being on the 40 and not getting a (well-deserved) ST invite means he'll still have to "wait his turn" as they sift through the other options. If he continues at the same blistering pace as last year, he'll get a brief promotion from AA to AAA before they finally make room for him.

Pirates have clearly jumped on the Twins-related-to-Orioles bandwagon as the secret key to success.

You got that right. Just a misdirected- and highly predictable- waste of time and money

You got that right. I get the impression that Ryan will thread the needle and move Meyer up from AAA when the first SP slips on the proverbial banana peel.

I just saw the video of the jack. It looks like he two-fisted the ball close to 450 feet. By his own admission, Sano thought it was a routine pop-up- clearly the kid doesn't know his own strength. (He did have an error in the B game, but this kid is clearly knocking on the door to something special, and soon). http://m.twins.mlb.com/news/article/111927786/minnesota-twins-top-prospects-sano-meyer-contribute-in-tie-with-pittsburgh-pirates

I prefer the Theo Epstein method, sign more-talented, shorter-in-supply FAs with upside to short-term contracts- not as short-term stopgaps- but as the means to strengthen the team longer-term via trade or supplemental draft picks.

Here's one, where the Angels (who have no problem paying big bucks for proven veterans to fill a hole) may not only have gotten a steal, but he also comes with the increasingly valuable 3 options remaining. Another one, Todd Redmond, was available for free (twice) on waivers in ST, 2013 (with two options left).

Not too much to ask, but with respect to diet, you've set your expectations way too high. Certain body-types with certain metabolic rates are going to be bigger than "ideal", no matter how much those particular body-type players work out. (I would wager that while Sano has a BMI that would label him "obese", he also likely has a body fat percentage close to or below 12%- or that of a top-flite baseball athlete at age 21). Professional athletes, especially the most gifted ones, come up with 1000s of excuses for poor choices all the time.

Because it's far past time to turn the page on Pelf as a viable option, he never should have been signed in the first place, and worse, re-signed in the second place. It's not about Pelfrey's rights, by all accounts he has fully acquitted himself as a pretty decent guy, but virtually every single contributor in the TD community apparently had/has more insight on what Pelf brings to the table than Twins' management.

I'm struggling with the club's insistence with continuing Pelfrey in the potential role as a 5th starter, he actually might be effective as a one-inning set-up guy.

Here's a meaningless stat-line that you're guaranteed not to see in regular season play this season: Darnell-Hermann-Meneses (@ 3B) on an 8th-inning-ending strike-em-out-throw-em out DP.

The Twins ST pitching roster is so crowded, he didn't even get the ST invite.

There is a track record for success coming from the other developmental direction (Johan, various Cards rookies-relievers-turned-starters, etc.)

Some good news.