Oldgoat_MN

Hey Platoon! Does this also qualify as 'faint praise'?

I don't think I like it Tom. Boshers is 28 year old, had a 1.167 WHIP, a 2.84 FIP and 9.3 K/9 last season. If that were as bad as it gets we wouldn't have lost 103 games. EDIT: For those who prefer xFIP, he had the best on the team with 3.38.

I suspect the Twins would have given them enough to sign had they been certain how good they would one day be.

Sadly, this does not particularly surprise me. Our players who appear to have real potential are too far down the leagues to have made much of an impression yet (Javier, Diaz, etc.). Other than maybe Romero, I don't see any SP that looks like a potential ace. Hope the 2017 draft goes much better than the 2008 draft went.

I’m going to try this OPTIMISM thing… Decent chance Berrios will be much more relaxed after his experience last fall and pitching regularly in ST. He was a highly regarded prospect. Let’s see him take off. Tyler Duffey was not terrible the whole season or even part of it. He alternated between being very bad and very good. Might he find some consistency? If so, let’s get him to go with the ‘good’ thing. Santiago and Gibson are both capable pitchers. A good year from both is not beyond possibilities. Mejia is only 23 years old and pitched well in AAA last year. The only SP in Rochester younger than Mejia last season was Berrios. Haley has a great work ethic and posted a 1.125 WHIP in AAA last year. We’ll see where it takes him. When asked what MLB team had the best group of young prospects/ players to fill out a strong bullpen a FanGraphs talking head picked the Twins. Kintzler, Pressley, Shaggy and Rogers all had an FIP less than 4.0. Boshers’ was less than 3.0. Tonkin was badly misused as has been written about here. Perhaps they will start to use him in a way that helps him succeed. If this group performs well then that is where our trade chips come from. Hard to think of our bullpen as a strength, but if they are not overworked it could go that way. Contending teams are frequently looking to strengthen their bullpen at the deadline and in the off-season. No reason not to be optimistic about Buxton, Sano and Kepler getting better. Maybe Rosario and/or Polanco will occur as true MLB talent. As far as Escobar, I cannot believe he suddenly forgot how to hit AND field. Hopefully he comes back healthy. And Grossman can’t really be as bad in the field as he was last year, can he? A Mauer/Park/Vargas 1B/DH platoon has the potential to be very effective. OK, I’m exhausted. It felt kind of good, though

I agree. I don't want Berrios to miss starts due to Gibson, either. And I'm fine with the Pohlads making TONS of money as long as they are willing to spend it when we are only a player or two away from being competitive.

If Green continues to look like the the next Clayton Kershaw you kinda gotta take him. Unless Faedo makes great strides.

Santana started 30 games last year. I believe you're thinking of 2015.

I like your lineup, LA Vikes Fan. At least until Buxton shows he should bat leadoff instead of Polanco because he's constantly on base. Man I hope that happens.

While I am hoping for great things for Gibson this year, it is merely hope. Santiago is younger than Gibson and has had a more productive career. His 'change of scenery' last year was terrible, but we should look at his body of work. I am not under the impression that the Twins would have spent the money on someone better. So I'm also 'hoping' good things for Santiago as well.

I like his confidence and his commitment to working hard. Hope it pays off for Haley and the Twins.

FIFY. And yes, a thinking person really does have to love baseball (no matter how confusing).

Morneau is an odd duck. Last year he actually hit LHP better than RHP. I think he does that kind of thing just to mess with people. Love the guy, and I think that if someone picks him up he could have a pretty productive season for them. Sadly, he doesn’t fit on the Twins roster. I’m glad they reached that conclusion.

Wow. So I was accidentally right? A good day!

DR managers may just have their 'favorites', too. I don't think you can read the stats and believe that 23 year old Jorge Polanco isn't a better hitter than 25 year old Erik Gonzalez. Maybe Gonzalez is a field-first player who just fits the roster better at SS than Polanco. The manager's job is to win ballgames. I suspect MLB teams have little influence in these matters.

Interesting discussion regarding the starting rotation. Probably shouldn't exclude Tyler Duffey, though I don't expect they will pencil him in at the beginning of the season. The Twins have a fairly young group. Santana & Hughes are the only SP candidates who will be 30 or older this season. The unspoken issue I see is that there are really only 8 pitchers we are talking about (by age: Berrios, Mejia, Duffey, May, Santiago, Gibson, Hughes, Santana) with almost everyone certain Mejia will start in AAA and no one clear as to whether Hughes will be healthy. As injuries are sadly common, either Haley needs to surprise everyone or Romero needs to be put on the fast track. Maybe both. We are not likely to get through the season with these 8 starting pitchers and ours is NOT a deep SP roster.

Because he can do everything poorly? So can I.

On second thought... Hughes pitched 59 innings last year. It may take most or all of this season to 'stretch him out'. Move Hughes to the bullpen and see if May can start.

Drop DanSan and add Vargas and I'm right there. I believe that Vargas and his career .834 OPS against LHP (1.262 in 2016) makes the team and is joins a Mauer/Park/Vargas platoon at 1B/DH. Unless something dramatically changes I cannot see DanSan on an MLB team. It's too bad, but he hasn't even had a good month since 2014. FanGraphs predicts Duffey will have a better year than Mejia, but I think you're right.

Chris Carter has been traded by everyone who has had a chance to speak to him, possibly even by teams who did not have rights to do so. Houston let him walk after a pretty good 2015. The Brewers released him rather than taking him to arbitration after an excellent 2016. Something is wrong.

Everyone should have goals!

At least you'd have an excuse. "I have a very long commute!"

A ball player should get $1000 every time he is claimed off waivers. ABW would have had a pretty good off-season so far. It actually might keep teams from jacking these players around with no real intent to give them a position in their organization.

I'm kind of with Otwins on this. He made $5.25 million last year. A guy with a 116 ERA+ is not going to want a cut in pay.

Absolutely! And just to help out, I regularly questions Mike's sanity as well.