Thrylos

I think that the '87, '91 and '65 teams (in that order) are ahead in the line as far as team recognition goes...

I think that your definition and my definition of what is a "solid" player is a tad apart Jordan Schafer was a replacement level player for the Twins. Replacement level is not "solid". Ditto Darin Mastroianni, Alex Presley, Clete Thomas, Erik Komatsu, Jason Repko, Jason Pridie, Jason Tyner, and Shane Robinson, etc. The Terry Ryan Twins like to carry at least a replacement level veteran OF on their rosters for some reason. This does not make them "solid". On the other hand, 4th OF for the Royals was Jarrod Dyson who is a solid player I think that Eddie Rosario would be a solid 4th OF for the Twins. All they need to do to make it happen is go get 3 better than him starters ahead of him They got to raise the bar to seriously compete for and through the postseason, something that last happened 25 seasons ago.

Got to define "fine" If you equate "fine" with "they will not burn and rot". I agree 100%. Will they make the postseason? Which is being better than they were the season before. That's probably where I would draw the "fine" line. I don't know. So I am not sure that they are that fine. I don't think that they have improved Centerfield from 2015, unless Buxton learned to hit breaking balls and be healthy and he starts at center. RF? Arcia is better than Hunter? Likely. DH? Park better than Sano? I wish he is. Really. As far as the pen goes, which is their biggest issue, they have not really done anything: - they are still counting on Perkins and Fien who proved that they should not be counted on in 2015 - Burdi and Reed and Chargois might be wild cards, if the cards fall right. - Tonkin had 60+ innings to prove that he is not a major leaguer. if everything works out at the best case scenario (i.e Burdi and Chargois have lights out Spring and both make the team with one as the closer and the other moving Perkins to where he should be -setting up, plus at least one of the 3 MiLB LHPs they signed really works out), they will be ok. But that's really living on a prayer. And teams that are putting the bar as high as making the postseason or (god forbid) winning it all, do not do that. Sure they will not burn and rot....

Nah. The other left was the hand he was throwing with...

And might end up playing at home this season

Former top 50 BA prospect, 30 years old, lefty, never realized his potential, bit of a head case... Sounds a lot like Jordan Schafer, maybe a tad better with both the glove and the stick.

Would love to hear the data that he would use to support this statement, because I bet that it would either suggest that Nunez is better than both (which is wrong), or it would compare apples and oranges (play at 1B vs play at 3B, which is also wrong...)

Milone: Career against LHH: .256/.316/.415, 4.47 FIP against RHH: .267/.311/.434, 4.16 FIP I'd take Duensing (.233/.289/.325, 2.82 FIP against LHH), thank you.

The Reds seem to have a clearance sale going on. They have a pretty long contract with Votto at $25M per season (until 2023, his age 39 season.) Wonder whether they would be interested in swapping first basemen (thus saving 5 seasons at $25M) and throwing in a certain LHRP who got pretty bad publicity, with no other players of $ changing hands (ok, they can have the one who the Twins would have to DFA to add +1 on the 40 man.) I'd knock on their door, just to see...

Not all innings are made the same. I'd rather see the better pitchers in high leverage situations. Here is an example: Glen Perkins 2008: 151.1 IP, 102 PAs in high leverage situations; that was his best season as a starter at age 25 2012: 70.1 IP, 92 PAs in high leverage situations, and the Twins were bad so not many of those 2015: 57 IP, 118 PAs in high leverage situations, and he was bad ho he sat for a while So, May likely will see more opponents in high leverage situations out of the pen, than starting...

You do realize that if there were no Capps, the Twins would had not make that postseason, I hope...

I think that is it more complicated than that: a. We need to know what is the league success rate? If the average is 50% with the top 4 picks, that 20% looks pretty bad. b. "Success" is a gradient that needs to be defined and weighted: Getting the next Johan Santana or Clayton Kershaw, should count more than getting the next Tommy Milone or the next Phillip Humber or the next Sam Deduno. c. Look at it as a piece of a bigger strategy that should provide some fruit. I'd dare to say that the Twins' pitcher drafting strategy in that time frame, 2008- failed miserably since all they have to show is: a mid-rotation starter (Gibson), a few replacement level relievers (Tonkin, Achter, Darnell, O'Rourke,) and a guy who shows mid-rotation potential (Duffey) but pitched only in 10 MLB games. The results (c. above) do not really favor their overall drafting of pitchers from 2008 on. I'd venture to say that they are in the worst 5 teams in drafting pitchers during that time.

And in a perfect world, Park would hit 10 bombs (and he will hit some against MiLB pitchers for sure )

OF: Arcia, Buxton, Rosario, Benson 3B: Sano DH: Park Traded for RP: Plouffe

Analysis of all 4 moves here. I get what Seth is saying, but here is my closing statement from there, which I think echoes what a lot of people are feeling: The Twins potentially filled their bullpen holes with the minor league signings of Dan Runzler, Brandon Kintzler and Buddy Boshers, and their 4th outfielder who can play Centerfield issue with those of Joe Benson and Darin Mastroianni, if everything works out in the best case scenario. But that is a huge if, for a team that is competing...

The bullpen looks a lot like the horrible 2015 bullpen. And one Perkins' health issue away from being the worst in the majors...

Living where Bastardo played most of his career, got to say a huge no to him. He frustrates the living daylight out of people as he can strikeout the side or walk 6 in a row without reason or rhyme. No thank you, I'd rather have Duensing. As far as what the Twins should do with the pen is: a. see what TX wants for Jake Diekman, then b. go and see what the Nationals want for Storen (feel free to include Perkins), and for the cherry on top, c. go buy low on Chapman. Diekman, Storen and Jepsen can hold the fort until he serves his suspension, and the Twins will have him for a full season in 2017 as well, if suspended...

Nah. He is build more like a defensive end. Too big for a linebacker

Even without being a DH and without PED, his numbers are too low for a HOFer. They are lower that Edgar Martinez who is also a DH and never had PED issues. So there is no way he is in.

I will wait to see Sano at the outfield in any game, before I would even discuss additional possibilities... FWIW Mauer played a single game at RF in 2011 and did not look much worse than Dummit, Parmelee, Willingham, or Colabello out there...

I really like to look at WAR as a good indicator of a career. There are others to supplement WAR, but WAR is a good one for a rough cut. My usual cut for HOF is around 75. Here are active career leaders in bWAR (pitchers) (seasons, age) : 1. Mark Buehrle (16, 36) 59.2 L 2. CC Sabathia (15, 34) 54.9 L 3. Felix Hernandez (11, 29) 49.8 R 4. Zack Greinke (12, 31) 48.6 R 5. Clayton Kershaw (8, 27) 47.2 L 6. Bartolo Colon (18, 42) 46.1 R 7. Cole Hamels (10, 31) 44.8 L 8. Justin Verlander (11, 32) 43.9 R 9. Cliff Lee (13, 36) 43.3 L 10. Jake Peavy (14, 34) 38.7 R 11. Jered Weaver (10, 32) 36.7 R 12. Freddy Garcia (15, 38) 35.7 R Jon Lester (10, 31) 35.7 L 14. John Lackey (13, 36) 34.4 R 15. Adam Wainwright (10, 33) 33.4 R 16. Matt Cain (11, 30) 31.7 R 17. Max Scherzer (8, 30) 31.1 R 18. David Price (8, 29) 29.2 L 19. James Shields (10, 33) 28.6 R 20. Bronson Arroyo (15, 38) 27.2 R 21. Chris Sale (6, 26) 26.2 L 22. Joe Nathan (15, 40) 26.1 R 23. Johnny Cueto (8, 29) 25.9 R 24. Francisco Rodriguez (14, 33) 23.9 R 25. Josh Johnson (9, 31) 23.8 R 26. Jonathan Papelbon (11, 34) 23.6 R Anibal Sanchez (10, 31) 23.6 R 28. Aaron Harang (14, 37) 23.5 R 29. Tim Lincecum (9, 31) 22.9 R 30. Scott Kazmir (11, 31) 22.8 L 31. Ubaldo Jimenez (10, 31) 22.5 R 32. John Danks (9, 30) 21.7 L 33. R.A. Dickey (13, 40) 20.6 R Kyle Lohse (15, 36) 20.6 R 35. Madison Bumgarner (7, 25) 20.2 L While there are the following non-hall of famers: Mike Mussina 82.7 Curt Schilling 79.9 Kershaw, Fernandez and Greinke need a good 8-10 seasons to be in the conversation, with Kershaw ahead of the others because the CY Awards and leading the league in a whole bunch of stuff. Here are position players: 1. Alex Rodriguez (21, 39) 118.9 R 2. Albert Pujols (15, 35) 99.7 R 3. Adrian Beltre (18, 36) 83.8 R -------- 4. Carlos Beltran (18, 38) 68.4 B 5. Miguel Cabrera (13, 32) 64.7 R 6. Chase Utley (13, 36) 62.3 L 7. Ichiro Suzuki (15, 41) 58.4 L 8. Robinson Cano (11, 32) 55.1 L 9. Mark Teixeira (13, 35) 52.4 B 10. David Ortiz (19, 39) 50.4 L 11. David Wright (12, 32) 50.1 R 12. Joe Mauer (12, 32) 47.8 L 13. Miguel Tejada (16, 41) 46.9 R 14. Ian Kinsler (10, 33) 46.7 R 15. Jimmy Rollins (16, 36) 46.0 B 16. Dustin Pedroia (10, 31) 45.1 R 17. Matt Holliday (12, 35) 44.1 R 18. Joey Votto (9, 31) 43.4 L and Jim Thome 72.9 Alan Trammell 70.4 Scott Rolen 70.0 Manny Ramirez 69.2 Tim Raines 69.1 The first 3 should be in, Cabrera needs 4-5 good seasons to be considered Ortiz, Texeira, Suzuki etc don't make it. I cannot see even how Mauer and Sano make it. The rest outside of the lists are to young to tell. If you looked at Gooden's first 4 seasons he was a certain Hall of Famer for example... By age 23 he had 29.3 bWAR which is higher than David Price's at age 29. So not sure there are many sure HOFers who are currently active other that the 3 position players I mentioned and one of them will likely not get in because of the steroid situation (and Beltre tested positive for HGH, so who knows?)

Jones vs Dean is apples vs pineapples. Dean is a LHstarter and Jones and RH reliever. Jones competed with the likes of Tonkin, Graham, Pressly, Chargois, and slightly Fien for a 40-man roster spot. Jones competed with Dean as much as he competed with Milone or with D. Santana. This team has a ton of RHRP all of whom are better than Jones. And a bunch of RHSP who can become relievers and be better than Jones. Numbers. And the point is that Dean has a higher ceiling than Jones. Jones has a fatal flaw with him mechanics plus his FB tends to flatten. Lots like Jim Hoey. Anyone crying that he is not a Twins any longer?

Exactly

OK. Pick the best 2 of these 4. All on the 40-man roster, all pretty close as far as MLB-readiness goes. 3 LHSPs and 1 RHSP: Career AAA numbers: Pat Dean: 15-13, 2.67 ERA, 1.137 WHIP, 4.9 K/9, 1.7 BB/9 Logan Darnell: 16-11, 3.50 ERA, 1.378 WHIP, 7.2 K/9, 3.5 BB/9 Taylor Rogers: 11-12, 3.98 ERA, 1.345 WHIP, 6.5 K/9, 2.3 BB/9 Tyler Duffy: 7-6, 2.75 ERA, 1.115 WHIP, 7.5 K/9, 2.1 BB/9 Z. Jones' career AA (highest level numbers) 3-2, 6.00 ERA, 1.556 WHIP, 10.0 K/9, 6 BB/9 comparable to Jones? This guy: Career AA numbers (4 seasons) : 5-6, 3.28 ERA, 1.421 WHIP, 10.4 K/9 and 4.7 BB/9 I'd probably argue that this guy might actually be a tad better, so let's look at the whole career minor league numbers: That guy career minor league numbers: 3.62 ERA, 1.371 WHIP, 9.4 K/9 and 4.7 BB/9 Z Jones career minor league numbers: 2.83 ERA, 1.197 WHIP, 12.8 K/9 and 5.0 BB/9 Jones is better, but he was bombarded in AA, while the other guy's numbers include 5 AAA (2 in PCL) and 4 AA seasons. All in all, I'd say pretty comparable. Jones might just be better, but still has to prove it. Guess the mystery guy? Hint: He played with the Twins for one season. That's pretty much who Jones is if he does not change his delivery and cut down walks. But if he does, will he still throw as hard as he does? Probably not.

Because: a. that way you usually ending up giving less $, since the players you get are in old (and lower) contracts b. Got to give up players in positions you have too many, otherwise they will leave without getting anything back. See Jones, Zack, Guerra, Deolis, Achter AJ, Pinto Josmil, etc Tell me: Would you get a decent reliever if you packaged those 4 say in the 2015 trading deadline, instead of loosing them for nothing in the 2016 off-season? I think so. That's why trades make actually more sense that most free agent signings...