jokin

What's exciting is that both were in great demand around MLB, and the alternatives for the Giants were much worse. Hunter Pence's extension still appears to be a bargain relative to his performance in 2013 and the anticipated rising trend in contracts in general. His WAR from Fangraphs was 5.4 and 4.2 in B Ref (5.0 oWAR)- which makes his 5/$90 seem fairly reasonable relative to the market valuation model. And Lincecum's number, despite his declining status, may very well be the "new normal" for SPs who can still pitch 200 innings.

Plenty of OF in Roc, for sure....but how many others are bilingual? That's 6 outrighted 40-man roster players down or out....only 6?...12?...18? to go?

Parmelee and Colabello don't represent, at least the prospect of, the Grand Canyon in 2014? We have the resources to do both Abreu and the other things that both you and I care to do. The Abreu signing would have merely been Step One on the team re-claiming their legitimacy.

Cuba has 21 that played major league ball in 2013 and Canada had 20, Japan with 13- it shocked me too.

Not according to Baseball Reference- according to them standard rules apply.

I think your source was for opening day rosters, my source was updated to reflect rosters throughout the season and it said that Cuba was 3rd and Canada was 4th: List of current Major League Baseball players by nationality - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Ken Rosenthal stated this concerning the bidding: "Sources: Bidding for Abreu was close and furious. Four clubs bid between $63 and $66M. #WhiteSox’s winning bid was $68M."

Bingo. I'm also not quite sure where John was going with his statement. This is an area of the market for talent that is being exploited around the league with some documented success stories (Cuba ranks 3rd in the number of international active players on major league rosters- ahead of Japan and Canada), and the Twins are nowhere to be found. A team in a desperate situation at the position like the Twins should at least have been in the running- and the fact that the Red Sox were a finalist in the bidding tells me that a team that clearly knows what it's doing- and not just in a dire urgency situation like the Twins and White Sox- ......was doing more than just kicking the tires in this case.

Nope. The deal is directly related to service time and getting money up front should he spend time in the minor leagues- both sides get some protection in this scenario. You have still not provided any proof whatsoever in flatly stating that "he is not going to be a great player." Rather, we simply don't know what type of player he is going to be, but the evidence that we do have suggests that he at least has a good chance to produce at a level commensurate with what a middling first baseman can produce, with the potential upside to produce like Big Papi.

I like his work....another one of us who thinks it's time to take a chance on Yunel Escobar @ SS and actually put a real CF back out on the field in Ellsbury, AND....we have a much more realistic chance on getting this International and this FA than we do with say, Tanaka and/or Granderson.

If I could have a nickel for every time someone said the price went too high on a Free Agent....ah well....It's the price for staying in business- not a bad deal at all, especially when you're replacing the previous first baseman at a huge discount. Since you seem to somehow know in advance the level he will perform at, would you care to share his 2014 batting slash with the Community- so to take away the doubt, mystery and angst the rest of us have in not knowing how- and why- Terry Ryan so miraculously dodged this bullet? Looking at the qualified First Basemen at the top of the bottom half in WAR this year (ie, "mediocre"): Prince Fielder WAR 2.2 .279/.362/.457 (25HR) Salary: 9/$214M Anthony Rizzo WAR 1.6 .233/.323/.419 (23HR) Salary: 9/$70M Nick Swisher WAR 2.4 .246/.341/.423 (22HR) Salary: 5/$80M Justin Morneau WAR 0.8 .259/.323/.411 (17HR) Salary: 6/$80M Here's what his Cuban native contemporary did in 2013, his WAR number (2.3) is not comparable because he plays OF: Yoenis Cespedes .240/.294/.442 (26 HR) Salary 4+2/$36+$32?=$68M? That $68M is a reasonable, low-ball estimate forecasting for Cespedes' last 2 yet-unsigned arb years, in 2016 and 2017 @$16M/yr- and curiously, it's the same as Abreu's contract number. Their respective hitting numbers in Cuba were similar, with Abreu besting Cespedes more often than not. I think most Sox fans will be thrilled if and when Abreu produces numbers superior to those listed above- in the very-hitter-friendly launching pad that is US Cellular Field. Many Twins fans would have been similarly thrilled. And Oh Yeah, about that "long swing"? We've still got a sainted guy who still hangs around the ballpark.....and he literally speaks Abreu's language. Tony-O could have fixed that hitch....muy rapido!

Exactly. Konerko's a class act and potentially a good team mentor, but there are plenty of younger and more able-bodied and productive veterans available in Free Agency that might also provide a leadership role, as well.

Exactly what I commented on in the Twins thread. Just exactly the way the Twins think, hope lightining strikes twice- aging thumper finds temporary new life- ala Jim Thome. Konerko's a great guy like Thome, but is that really the direction a rebuilding team should be headed?

From an old public service radio commercial...."it's misconception mania day". I clearly stated that when the Twins are playing the lottery game....."That's what a team like the Twins should spend for lottery tickets...." they should buy low, Rich Harden was a great example of a guy, who if he had panned out on a make-good minor league deal, would have been a huge lotto winner. Suk is the diametric opposite of that approach- now if Suk ends up signing for one year somewhere between Marcum and Haren range, that would be the other end of the range of the lottery nature of a speculative signing- do we really want to take the chance to relive 3 years of the Twins folly in foisting Blackburn ineptitude on the roster? And I stand by what I said previously, were the Twins to see Suk in his tryout and go all in, that will be The Big Signing. They have to do better. The Pirates hit the jackpot with Liriano on a 2/$7M deal that got even better when Liriano had his domestic difficulties. That's the type of deals that the Twins should be looking for if they want to play the lotto with a small portion of their available dollars. Regarding Mauer, I referenced and reiterated your point exactly in its context relative to your first point. I didn't say that you bashed the contract, it was 4 years ago now that the Twins justifiably extended the centerpiece of their franchise with a proven quality and bankable piece of merchandise in potential HOFer Joe Mauer...... yet they obviously failed to have a clearly-thought-out long-term conception about how to be annually competitive with a Mauer-led team, who the Plan A and Plan B actors would, or could be, to keep the team atop the AL Central, and what it would take to justify the expense of having one top-heavy contract- should circumstances change radically. Clearly, their thoughts concerning taking the risks and doing what it takes by going outside the organization by adding more FA proven quality, and building around Mauer in his prime production years is not even remotely on their philosophical radar. To the contrary, they've been in slow-mo rebuild/breakdown the payroll mode for the last 2 years, with at least 2 more years to come. Now what's so ignorant about that ever-present reality?

While I'd happily take on half of a Puig, is he really half of a Cespedes (offensively)? He had better contemporary Cuban League production numbers than Cespedes. And as Fielder has proven, being a defensive liability at first is really not very significant if he can produce halfway decently at the plate.

Speak for yourself, most certainly not everyone would be up in arms. There is a huge power hole in the lineup right now, and this was a very affordable option for a guy who plays in Cuban baseball like a hybrid of Prince Fielder/Miguel Cabrera- even if his numbers only translate to Cespedes-level production in the AL. And there's more than enough payroll room for pitching acquisitions, Abreu would move the projected payroll bar up to only around $65M.

Uhhh, I doubt that's what they're thinking at all, the Yankees are frying much bigger fish than this one (Cano, Tanaka, to name two). And they're trying to significantly reduce their payroll, besides.

Welcome LIS! Your post gives me hope that at least in some quarters, our education system still teaches proper grammatical usage (only one adjective/adverb misstep on "quick" in your entire post, most of us make worse mistakes in every sentence) and how to convey your thoughts effectively. I have a sneaking suspicion that you'll be writing your own blog some day soon, but please stay around, I suspect you have a lot to offer here!

John- Thanks for coming aboard and expanding on your great work. I didn't mean it to be perceived that I was taking a big shot at you, I was just trying to illustrate my point that every year there are guys who make quantum leaps, seemingly out of nowhere, and suddenly, they look like they actually might belong at the highest level. Thielbar was one....and that was certainly the case with Pinto, who didn't miss a step all season and was poised and ready to make the final jump when the call came. I guess the big thing that convinced me (and kudos to the Twins FO for sticking with him all these years) that he was for real was his performance in the very hitter-unfriendly FSL in 2012- as a Catcher/DH, he was 3rd in the league in wOBA, 4th in OPS, 5th in SLG. Yet, you were hard-pressed to find anyone in Twins Territory who had even heard of him or expected him to do anything if they had heard of him. Building on that great showing in 2013, it appears that his bat and work ethic will more than make up for his catching deficiencies as he eases himself into the full-time pitcture at some point in 2014.

Very affordable to a team like the Twins, who like the Sox, cleared out a ton of payroll room for a signing just like this- and both teams had a clear need for Abreu, but only one of the teams seems to be trying. A definite shot across the bow in the AL Central that the Sox are getting serious about getting back up on their horsey, with the Twins yet again, coming out with the short straw and the mule-end of the Division. This one hurts, folks.

Yes, but Boras' imprimatur on the deal indicates that he isn't really going to waste his valuable time on any old fringy, marginally major league caliber pitcher, is he?

Wow. Shot ourselves in the foot yet again (relative to the AL Central). I guess that means the "all clear" is in place to sign 38-year old Konerko to a Thome-like contract then?

He's been dealing with the shoulder issue since 2009, and he's had good and bad years since then. Getting basically shut down for mop-up relief duty last year should be yet another red flag.

People tend to forget that there are always some players who can make significant moves up. For example, most of the local "experts" had Josmil Pinto in the mid-30s or lower on their Twins prospect list. Sickels himself didn't even have Pinto ranked in his top 23 last year; and now, he appears on his list at #8 and Sickels doesn't even give a hint of admittance on his part that he completely missed on him in his 2013 rankings. Hopefully, things have finally clicked for Ibarra, and encouragingly at a higher minor league level, perhaps a good pitching coach, recent mastery of a certain pitch, or physical maturity (although his underlying stats indicate that at least a part of it appears to be luck), and he becomes an effective lefty reliever option- he then likely could comfortably fit best in your middle category: "minor leaguers who have something to contribute, potentially, in MLB" And Watts and Achter get the same nod, perhaps with more upside.

Uhh, how much do lottery tickets cost? A couple bucks, for the extremely unlikely chance to win millions. That's what a team like the Twins should spend for lottery tickets, not what will likely end up being the biggest FA contract they've ever signed. To continue with your analogy, most lottery tickets are purchased by the poor.... and as any professional trader or gambler would tell you, that's "exactly what they" should NOT be doing... the poor have basic needs that need to be met, just like the Twins do. And then you mixed your metaphors, "some guy named Mauer" was how you should spend your big money on a long-term contract, ie, on proven talent, not on a "flyer".

Shhhh, you're harshing on the Kumbaya meme....we just gotta give Ryan enough time to shut down the remainder of the old floats and scattered horse dung left in the organization from 2011..... and then he'll get the new parade cranked up again, eventually....and honestly, what Twins fan didn't love the 90s (after '91)? Good times waiting for the parade to start was had by one and all......of which I remember most fondly the Twins generous offer of a General Admission 81 game Season Ticket package for $81.....hey, by this gesture at least they tacitly admitted they were offering a AAA product.......good times, indeed.....