Thrylos

3.31 ERA, 1.335 WHIP, 6.1 K/9, 1.5 K/BB Career away numbers. In the NL. Can strike maybe pitchers out and cannot find the zone. Those are really not good numbers, other than his ERA. They are just a notch better than Pelfrey's career numbers with the Mets: 4.36 ERA, 1.458 WHIP, 5.1 K/9, 1.6 K/BB. So you are getting a slightly better Pelfrey.

He is worse than Gibson. Career: 4.58 FIP, 4.31 ERA, 1.485 WHIP, 6.1 K/9 and 4.2 BB/9 and 90% of it in the National League. And max 158 IP in a season. No. Thank. You.

I did a double take here because Stassi has been in the Phillies organization and playing in my home town team for the last 2 seasons. He is a first baseman and had to look and see if he was a catcher (he is not). He throws left so that would had been fun to see...

The core of this team is 23-26 years old. In trying to build a long-lasting competitive team, it makes no sense signing/extending/re-signing much older players, esp. if they are not at the superstar level and the DH position. Rooker will be the Twins' next first baseman, with maybe someone like Vargas (or a free agent you can sign to a 1yr contract) as a 1 yr stopgap. I think that Ryan Eades and Mark Appel have higher probabilities of being picked up than Kohl Stewart at this point. He has not shown that he is close

Wonder whether there would have been such a scrutiny if Jacob Pearce and David Banuelos were IFA and the Twins have given each $1 mil bonus. Because this is pretty much what they did, other than the $2M was opportunity vs. actual cost. I think that these guys come with some critical flaws, but I would venture an educated guess saying that they are better than any IFA available before July, including Atlanta's freed agents bunch. Pearce has Ben Revere written all over him. Similar speed, equally "strong" arm, bit less hit tool, bit more power tool. He also has second base written all over him. Banuelos is interesting. Allegedly he cannot hit. BA has Rene Rivera and Jose Molina as comparables. He hit well enough in college to be a First team All American. Had a .280/.369/.432 career line in college, which is not horrible. His defense is allegedly phenomenal. Started his pro career in ss A ball, which is a bit too high probably. Regardless, he can hit better than Navarretto and maybe Rortvedt Neither is a top 20 prospect for the Twins, but they are top 60 prospects, and the Twins as far as catchers go, had only 2 of those (Garver not included) Great move

Not necessarily. If he starts the season on the DL as soon as he is game ready, he will probably make some rehab starts likely with the Miracle and then with Chattanooga or Rochester. One important point: May has another option left, which can be useful to eg. help him build endurance in Rochester, even if he is not crisp with his pitches and would be a liability if in the majors (where it counts.)

Especially with a new pitching coach coming...

1. Organizational depth. His 40-man spot is as solid as Buddy Bo's 2. I'd love to see the Twins bring up Romero the way the WSox brought Sale and have him build arm strength and consistency in the majors pen. He can be very good 3. Too early to tell, but I doubt it. 4. Of course. Adding them to trade packages to improve them. Better shop them when they have some value than let them walk as a MiLB FAs, Rule 5, or waiver wire picks in the near or far future.

It happens, esp. if they do not have plus to plus plus stuff. Just like Liam Hendiks whose 2.89 ERA, 1.079 WIP, 8.1 K/9, 2.4 BB/9 career MiLB numbers are in the ballpark of Kyle Hendricks's (2.94 ERA, 1.098 WIP, 7.7 K/9, 2.2 BB/9) and Stephen Gonsalves's (2.39 ERA, 1.087 WIP, 9.7 K/9, 3.3 BB/9). For every Kyle, there is a Liam.

And of course the question was for Darish, nor Darvish

This is from Maki's previous jobs at Duke & Columbia: At Duke (2nd Season | 2015-Present): Assistant coach Pete Maki joined the Duke baseball staff in July of 2015 and enters his second season with the Blue Devils in 2016-17, serving as the team's pitching coach. Maki's influence was felt immediately in 2016 as Duke earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, ending a 55-year drought. Duke's pitching staff ranked fourth in the ACC with a 3.79 ERA, while three Blue Devil pitchers -- Bailey Clark, James Ziemba and Brian McAfee -- were selected in the 2016 MLB Draft. In 2016, Duke was the only program with two pitchers ranked among the ACC's top five in fewest walks allowed per nine innings in McAfee and Kellen Urbon. In addition, McAfee earned ACC Pitcher of the Week accolades following a 94-pitch shutout versus then-No. 14 Virginia. In addition to strong starting pitching, the Blue Devils also used a core group of seven relievers who each made 15 or more appearances out of the bullpen. That group posted a combined 2.95 ERA over 146.1 innings, while Mitch Stallings ranked fourth in the ACC with nine saves. At Columbia (8 Seasons | 2008-15): Maki joined the Blue Devils after eight seasons as the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator at Columbia University. He joined the Lions as an assistant coach in 2008 and was promoted to associate head coach in 2012. Pete Maki joined the Lions as an assistant coach in 2008 and was promoted to associate head coach during the summer of 2012. Maki serves as Columbia's pitching coach and recruiting coordinator. The Columbia pitching staff has been a model of success under Maki's leadership. In three of the last four seasons in Ivy League-only games, the Lions have held the lowest team ERA (3.34-2012, 1.89-2013, 2.51-2014), held opposing batters to the lowest batting average (.250, .213, .204), racked up the highest number of strikeouts (140, 153, 158), and given up the fewest hits (151, 123, 119). “First and foremost, Pete is an excellent teacher,” notes Boretti. “I like his style of communication, and he has been a great fit for our program and the young men with whom we work.” Maki previously served as an assistant coach at the University of New Haven from 2006-07. Maki oversaw the pitching staff that led the East Coast Conference in earned run average and strikeout/walk ratio in both 2006 and 2007. In those two seasons, three of his pitchers went on to play professionally. Maki graduated from Franklin & Marshall with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and sociology. During his senior season, he earned six saves as a closer, and posted a team-best 3.42 ERA. He was named the team’s “Cy Young” award winner. “Pete was a very smart player who overcame a lot of adversity (injuries) to make himself into an excellent pitcher,” Boretti adds. “He pitched at the highest levels of college baseball, including the Cape Cod League.” Maki, who hails from Woodbury, Connecticut, graduated second in his class at Nonnewaug High School, and was an all-state academic choice in his senior year. He and his wife, Lisa, live in Durham with their sons (Will and Cal) http://image.cdnllnwnl.xosnetwork.com/pics33/800/PC/PCJYGKSMGFFCIQB.20150720194335.jpg

Yeah. How about this quote: "Looking backward doesn’t sit well with me right now. I felt like I did a pretty good job." And not above, but in the article he continues: "“I don’t think you could say this was performance-based, by any means, because our pitchers have been excelling." Talking about being either dishonest or delusional, and I do not know what is worse at this point... Other than maybe Berrios (who has had his moments of excellence), I don't see many Twins' pitchers "excelling" once in the majors, which is the job of a pitching coordinator. Not winning in the minors.

Good luck competing with Cleveland, Houston, and the Yankees; not to mention the Dodgers, Cubs, Expos etc. with this rotation in a short series or in one game series They need two pitchers better than Berrios to compete and Santana is not one of them.

I think that the answer to May is a bit more complicated, given the back issues that likely arose from his body not being well prepared for / adjusted to a pen role. I understand that this is a new set of coaches and decision makers than previously, which might help him. Another thing that complicates the answer is that we don't know who will be on the Twins roster come next March. If they get 2 top of the rotation arms and keep Santana, there is no space for May in the rotation, unless there is an injury. In the unfortunate event that the Twins do not get enough arms, May better have a spot unless he proves he is not ready. For some reason, I see this as a Santana vs. May situation, because the Twins will help themselves to top of the rotation pitchers. If Santana is not here, May will be in the rotation, if/when ready. if Santana is here, May will be in the pen and used as a spot starter, assuming he is ready. May has an option, which makes things a tad more flexible. Still long enough time to think about it. Come February/March, we'll have more data points.

The reality is that Hughes is owed $13.5 M each of the 2018 and 2019 seasons. I think that the best case scenario for the Twins is to package him along with all their international bonus $ to Otani's suitor who will give them the best breathing prospect back.

Not that I disagree re: Otani's prospects as a two-way player, but you got to add Eric Thames to the list of the people who were good in Asian leagues and continued so in the majors

When Ichiro was in Seattle, the Mariners' owner was a Japanese company. This was true until last year. Now they just have 10% of the Mariners. Not sure how much that has to do with anything

He will spend at least 2-3 weeks there in January between the winter caravan and Twinsfest

Not quite. The coaches who were added last year made a whole lot of a difference. Plus the way the DL was used last year and the way players were moved back and forth to AAA was light-years ahead of the age of Ryan.

Well, Pohlad could have moved the team to the West Coast. This is what it would have taken to sign Otani. He wants to live and play there. Geography did not help the Twins. Nothing that the FO could have done.

It takes two to Tango. Otani was not interested in the Twins...

I think that there is way too much information, including conflicting information out there. Allegedly he is inviting a handful of teams to meet with him in LA next week. We will find out which teams are the finalists. Re: west coast small markets. There really is not such a beast. Seattle is a close to 4 million metro and the headquarters of Microsoft and Amazon. San Diego is a 3 million metro with the highest real estate $ in the country (in the desirable areas). There are teams that fans do not like (Padres, A's), but small markets they are not. Same situation with the Marlins. Miami is not a small market. They just fail to capture it... One more thing re small markets in the west coast: Median household income: LA $55,870, San Diego: $63,996, Seattle: $75,331, San Fransisco: $78,378 (Twin Cities $71,008)

The Braves traded RHP Jim Johnson (former closer for them and the Orioles) for MiLB LHP Justin Kelly who is not a serious prospect

The Blue Jays acquired shortstop Aledmys Diaz from the Cardinals for OF prospect J.B. Woodman who was their #13 prospect before last season according to Fangraphs. Steal of a deal, esp. if Diaz rebounds