Mark G

Personally, I enjoy your give and takes. When I read a story and the comments afterwards, I intentionally look for Chpettit19 and Doctor Gast; two of the most knowledgeable and detailed folks on the site. So when you talk to each other I immediately perk up. Don't ever stop; I don't always agree, but I always learn something.

Personally, I am speechless; I still can't get over Brandon throwing in the word superfluous. Haven't seen that word in years and it proves just how good this writing staff truly is. 😇

What I don't understand, is why we don't just contract Fan Graphs to run the FO and decide all the moves we make. Sounds like a WS in the making. 😉

I like it, but only if we spend the savings on BP help. Between Jax wanting to be a starter, and the health of some of the other above mentioned BP guys, I would want to add an arm or two to back them up. Otherwise, we fill a need behind the plate we may not be able to fill from the farm or from free agency for a long time; it may be a good trade, as you say, for both sides.

That was my first reaction as well. Will Ryan come back from injury the same pitcher he was (or better)?Will Lopez continue injury free year in and year out? And what happens if he goes down for any length of time? What if Duran's drop in zip is a warning of things to come? Will SWR live up to his full potential, or does the league have him figured out? I worry about those 4 (and maybe a couple of more) a tad bit more than I worry about CC, Buck, and MW. And I do agree with those who say Castro may be a possible candidate for a slight regression. But I look on the mound before I look in the batting box when I worry about regression. If a position player or two gets hurt or slumps there are others who can pick them up. I guess I just don't see that as likely on the pitching side if one or more gets hurt or simply has a terrible year.

Yeah, but full of what? One is losing zip on his fast ball, one wants to become a starter, one can't stay healthy, and the rest can't stay consistent. The bullpen is full alright, full of question marks. But, as always, I can be educated. 😌

If we are looking for old time reunions, why not just bring back Morneau? He is only 4 years older than Santana, and we loved him last year. Just make Cory Provus do the telecast by himself, use the TV money you would have given Justin, and all you lose is a roster spot. He can't possibly strike out more than some of these other guys, and he would be on the field as much as Buck or CC. What could go wrong? 🤭

Is it just me, or is anyone else out there tired of being on this roller coaster and want a breather? One year we are overloaded with great corner outfield prospects. The next year it is middle infield prospects. The next year we are overloaded, period, with utility players of every shape and size. This year we are over loaded with pitchers, and none of the fore mentioned is going to carry us. And one of the big solutions is trade one of only two catchers, and a very good pitcher or two. This group has only been here for 8 years; have we seen it all yet, or is there more fun in store? 🫠

Once upon a time, the clubhouse in MLB was like a home away from home. During the season they spent more time there, and more time with the other guys, than they did with their families. So chemistry and being able to get along for almost 8 months were pretty important. Now back in the day, players stayed on the same teams for far longer periods of time than they do today. You came up to the bigs, and if you stayed and had a pretty decent career, unless you were traded you stayed the length of your career on the same team. Again, except for trades and occasional rookies coming up, the clubhouse was pretty similar year after year for a lot of guys. Unfortunately, that was then, this is now. Today, with free agency, options for guys going back and forth to AAA, non tendering for money reasons, trades.......did I mention free agency.......the team turns over players at a much higher rate. Ip so facto, it means less and less whether or not someone is a great clubhouse guy, seeing he probably won't be around a lot of years. Over the course of my lifetime MLB has become just a game only to the fans; it is a business to the players, and loyalty, on both sides, ownership and players, is a rare commodity. How many of us have (or have had) co workers we don't really care for, but we do our jobs anyway? This is just a job to the players, and they have learned to live with the guys they don't care for and just do their job. My long winded point is unless you are looking at another Billy Martin, never knowing when a fight is going to break out, the bad clubhouse guys don't mean as much anymore. If we are going to sign someone, have it be for what they will bring to the field, not the clubhouse, because the clubhouse turns over all the time. From everything I have read, 2 of the best clubhouse guys the team has had were Thome and Cruz, and how many years did each guy spend here? The players hang with who they want to hang with, and just look at it as their work place. I don't spend a lot of time worrying about personality conflicts in the clubhouse. As long as no one is attacking anyone, the players will be just fine with whomever is in the clubhouse.

It was only 2 years ago that the Twins were announcing this great free agent signing of a starting caliber catcher to shore up the position and mentor Jeffers, and never mind that paltry 30 mil we guaranteed him, it was well worth it. Here we are 2 years later willing to take any minor return from whomever is willing to take the last 10 mil off our hands. So.......which do we need more? A catcher, or 10 mil? Why do I think the answer to that question is going to go a long way to telling me how this season is going to go? 🫤

Ba humbug!

Works for me too. But I am kinda thinking that the very reasons it works for us are the very reasons it wouldn't work for Boston. An extremely cheap decent LRP with 5 years of control for a starter making 9 times as much and might go down again at any time, not to mention he will be a FA soon, isn't the kind of deal most GM's make. So.........what else would Boston need to make this work? I just don't picture them doing a straight up deal. But I sure hope they do. 😏

I love it! Let's do it. 2 questions: When it comes to our prospects, they seem to get old by the age 25. How come established players are still young at 32? 🤭 And how are we constantly being labeled the best bullpen in the league? Wasn't that our sore spot last part of last year? 🤔 I still like the trade, though. 👍

One of the hallmarks of MLB for decades now has been the arbitration system. Arbitrators, accepted by both sides, hear arguments from the player and the team about how much a player should be paid the next season based on quantitative measures given by both sides. Supposedly, these arbitrators are experienced and competent; at least we are led to believe that. Seeing that he is going into his final year of arbitration, and the estimates are in the 14 mil range this year (according to this article), multiple arbitrators have determined that, by MLB's own criteria, Arraez is worth what he is making. As salaries go in MLB today, I concur. And I truly believe that any team that wouldn't want an Arraez at the top of their batting order game in and game out needs a new FO. Now, having said that, not every team can afford him; heck, most of them probably can't. But the ones who can will very likely take him until he can't walk onto the field anymore. We pay a catcher 10 mil a year, despite the fact he can barely find the ball with his bat, because he can steal a strike or two occasionally from a lousy umpire. Compare that to the 10.6 mil Arraez made the same year; is the occasional strike worth as much as 200 hits? When it is, I will return to the mother ship and find a planet that makes more sense. As it is, at my age, I won't be here when his name comes up for HOF consideration, so I won't have to witness turning down a multiple time batting champion who hit over .300 most of his career because the hits were "only singles". When Jim Kaat has to wait for the vets committee to vote him in despite 283 wins, a 3.45 lifetime ERA, 16 gold gloves, and even a lifetime .185 batting average for a pitcher; how does a singles hitter, in an era in love with juiced balls and home runs, stand any more of a chance. As I have said many times before, the game hasn't changed, only the people who run it have. And they need to go back to school.

😲

As long as we are getting silly, I say keep Ryan ( I love that haircut too much to give him up), and trade Ober and Lopez to the Yankees for their entire 2025 draft board and all their international bonus pool money for the next 2 years. Just think of all the young controllable talent we could fill the farm with. Just think how good the Saints could be in 4 or 5 years. 🤭

"At the moment, it's young talent they have and money they lack, so perhaps the time is now for such a move". Yes, but this FO is in love with the illusion of having this horde of young talent, and hides behind the excuse they weren't given enough money, so what is the likelihood that they will relinquish said young talent for the above mentioned possible moonshot? Personally, I like reading these articles; speculation and dreaming, if nothing else, whiles away the winter days waiting for next year. But if I am going to dream, I want to dream up something other than a corner outfielder or infielder. If we are going to take a shot at the moon, go for a young catcher with years of control; one who can hit more than his weight (hell, if I am going to dream, have him hit more than MY weight), and throw runners out. One who hasn't had 3 major injuries before his first arbitration year would be nice as well. Stability behind the plate for a few years between him and Jeffers; wouldn't that would be a nice dream. That and one more RP; you know, someone like Clase in Cleveland. But then, this is only a dream.

You put into words everything I was thinking. At what point are we going to have to put an asterisk by every plate appearance the "golden bat" player makes? Or by the season stats? Got 200 RBI's last year? A hell of a boost to your WAR, don't you think? Of course, who would that replacement be? The guy you batted for? I'm sorry, I have to go lay down now, my head is starting to spin. 🤕

Agreed from top to bottom. But, then again, this is a team that let Max refuse to play CF simply because he didn't want to. 🙃 I tend to think that management will let Jax have the same veto power. One can only hope he makes the right call when the time comes.

I am curious as to how much of their international pool money they had to spend on a Japanese model. 🤔

I think your plan is mostly, if not completely, logical and cost effective. I have no beef with it as you lay it out. But........ oh come on, you knew there would be a but, 😉 you are relying on one thing you have little to no control over: willing trade partners. The teams you would be approaching might have completely different ideas of a good trade than you do. And each move you make, from not tendering guys to signing free agents appear to make sense if your trades go through as planned. My question is does the plan change with each trade scenario that doesn't go as planned? I see what I would say is a very good plan A, but I don't think I saw a plan B or C, which is usually where teams end up at some point. Or am I just not seeing the picture in the way you drew it? I do like the detailed thought you put into this, and I think it would improve the team if it all came to fruition. I just worry about the parts we have no control over, be it trade partners or free agents willing to sign here. Thanks for a good article.

Absolutely not. We only trade FOR pitchers coming off a down or injured season. 😉

Exactly. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

So, it wasn't bad pitching, it was bad luck, bad fielding, and a small ball park. Who knew? 🫠

I have said this before, and in my extremely humble opinion it bears repeating. Let me count the ways a manager affects the day to day game: he decides the starting pitcher; not only day by day, but the rotation as a whole. He decides how long he stays in the game and the relief match ups if he takes him out. He decides who plays that day and who comes off the bench. He writes the lineup and decides the batting order. He decides who pinch hits, when, and for whom; or decides not to pinch hit at all. He decides whether to bring the infield all the way in, bring it half way in, put it at double play depth, or leave it back. He also decides what shifts to put on, or whether to shift at all. He decides whether or not to bring the outfield in to cut off a run, or put it back to cut off a potential double. He decides whether to pitch to someone or go the IBB route..........oh, nuts, I have lost my count, so I will leave the rest to you all to take it from there. Bottom line is he has an impact on virtually every at bat in the game, whether it be in the field or at the plate. Of course the players have to play the game, and, in the end, they come through or they don't, but it is the manager's job to put said players in positions where they are the most likely to succeed. The concept that the manager, no matter what the "research" says, has little impact on day to day games is just bizarre to me. And as Jane W so aptly pointed out, the decisions he makes each game can affect how he manages the next game, and the next, and the next......... Rocco manages his statistics as well as anyone else in the game, I guess, and he is a very good clubhouse manager as I have said on this page before. But between the lines, from the first out to the last, the statistics are only another tool in a manager's arsenal; he still has to have the instincts and the feel for how the game is going. He has to go with his gut much of the time, and in that realm Rocco is at best, average, at worst mediocre. I have also said this before here, when you keep the decision makers and let go the underlings who carry out the decisions, the decisions don't change, and maybe it is the decisions that matter more than who carries them out.