DuluthFan

Offering an extended contract to a player who has yet to prove that he can play at the major league level is laughable. While Buxton is a highly ranked prospect, he has not yet performed well enough to be considered more than a pinch runner or late inning defensive replacement. Maybe once he has improved enough to hold a major league job for an entire year. Right now he is only worth a year to year contract at the MLB minimum salary.

Doesn't Miguel Sano live in the Dominican Republic? This is the off season is it not? Can he not go home during the off season? Why do we need to know what he is doing? It's the offseason. There is no one following around Escobar or Santana this off season. What about Mauer, Suzuki or Dozier? What are they doing? It's none of our business! They can all do whatever they want to do. As long as they report to spring training ready to play, how they prepare themselves, and how they communicate with the public during their time off is up to them.

In all of last year's numbers, Nunez was better offensively. If you want pop off the bench then your choice should be Nunez not Santana. Nunez was better defensively as well.

I believe you are confusing free agents declining a qualifying offer and players under team control being tendered a contract for arbitration. Two separate things. Fien is not a free agent yet. At this point he only becomes a free agent if the Twins do not tender him a contract offer (which they did). Had the Twins not offered him a contract, then yes he becomes a free agent.

Escobar has yet to play a full season at shortstop, so signing him to a multiyear deal is risky. He could take a step backwards when given the starting job. There are also a couple of prospects waiting in the minors for their chances. The uncertainty of arbitration?! There is no uncertainty in arbitration. The team and player exchange numbers. They then have time to come to an agreement before the scheduled hearing, which the Twins are very good at doing. Even if they don't come to an agreement, the arbitration board will choose one of the numbers submitted as the new contract. As long as one team doesn't submit a number out of line with what similar players make, there is no risk of overpaying the arbitration player. Check out the above article. There are projections for what the player will make. Unless the player in question is an MVP candidate, All-Star caliber player, he will not break the bank in arbitration. Remember, the Twins have consistently negotiated settlements before arbitration for years now. Lohse (?) was the last player that the Twins lost an arbitration hearing to. Giving a player a multiyear deal does NOT make him easier to trade or make him a better trade target. The receiving team in the trade would have to agree with a multiyear contract that they did not negotiate. A player working under a year to year contract while under team control is easier to trade since the receiving team can choose to negotiate a number better for their team rather than a number good for the previous team. A year to year player can also be cut with no financial hit for future years. Take Jepson as an example. The Twins traded for him to help last year's team. They can now cut him free or resign him. It's their choice. Had the other team signed Jepson to a longer term deal, the Twins would be stuck paying for him even if they cut him. Arbitration is a good thing. It is like a limited free agency, where there is only one team bidding. You get to deal with the player while not worrying about him signing with another team or having him use the threat of another team's offer to force you to pay more. You get to exchange contract numbers. You will see what the player is looking for. You will get a feel of whether the player is looking to cash out to the max or is willing to negotiate a mutually beneficial contract. Look at the players that are arbitration eligible this year for the Twins. Any or all of them could be cut right now. They could be replaced with minor leaguers or newly signed free agents. The flexibility of allowing players to play year to year under arbitration outweighs signing them to multiyear deals when there is no upside to doing so.

So who's got the pink painted nails? Gleeman or the Geek?

1. Publicly blasts management for trying to make the team better. 2. Proceeds to play poorly when he is given a new role on the team. 3. Throws a temper tantrum where he injures his pitching hand. 4. Will be a free agent in one season. 5. Will be coming off an injury with no time to prove health for upcoming season. This is what you want to trade for? This player looks to be bad for team chemistry. He would also have an unresolved injury issue in the only season you have team control and he can walk after that. There is also no clear path for him to pitch in the role that HE wants. Pass.

The Twins are tied for 2nd to last in pinch hit at bats with 35 (Royals 16) and last in pinch hitter batting average at .086. Molitor plays his starters most of the time. His bench players typically play once a week. He therefore has his best hitters in the lineup already when possible pinch hit opportunities arise.

I believe anyone who has been on the 25 man roster prior to September 1st is eligible for the playoffs. This is one deciding factor in the waiver trade deadline being August 31st.

This seems to be a 'check to see what he's got' call up. While he seems to have some good numbers against lefties, Logan Darnell has half the era that O'Rourke has and can do it against both lefties and righties. O'Rourke could become a minor league free agent after this season (if he's not on the 40 man roster).

The ideal roster to end this year is the roster that will win them the most games this year. The roster that ends this year does not necessarily have to be the roster that starts next season. They can make changes in the offseason. Almost every team does. Polanco, Berrios, Rogers, Darnell, and Buxton (based on his few at bats) could all be on next season's roster not this season's.

Moving players up and down is not the problem. It's the players' not adjusting or learning from what they are told or exposed to when they are up on the major league team that is the problem. For all we know of the first Vargus demotion, his improvement prior to his being sent down after his horrible start was Brunanski showing him some things to work on and then the NL park interleague games coming up (no DH available). He was sent down to continue to work on what Brunanski told him to work on. When he came back up and did not show any improvement in the areas he was told to work on, he was again sent down. Santana needs to work on identifying pitches in the zone. He was striking out too much. While hitting better is the goal, it is more important for him to strike out less and walk more. While Arcia hasn't been yo-yo'd this year, he too has things to work on. He needs to cut his strike outs. His demotion this season could also have been influenced by his attitude or willingness to work on what the coaches were trying to teach him.

Molitor finally got his excuse for the 8 man bullpen. Good news, Duensing ERA down to 6.87 from 8.22.

He's not ready. That is what the minor leagues are for, to develop major league players. He needs more time in the minors. Perhaps at the AAA level where he will be exposed to more high level pitchers. Until he is ready, you use players like Robinson, Hicks, Hunter and whatever AAA replacement player is available. You do not want to delay or sabotage his development by puting him in a position where he his in over his head. What this team needs right now is offensive production. He is not providing it right now.

The Twins need to play more games against teams outside the Central Division to get more exposure with the big market teams. Playing the Red Sox will help get their names in front of a more national audience. Dozier and Perkins seem to be the obvious choices. However my underdog, dark horse, just to spite the critics, laughing my butt off, I just won the lottery, screw your analytics, sleeper pick is........ Mike Pelfrey. Assuming he continues to pitch well, of course.

Would love to see one of those frequency maps for all of the over the fence the balls hit in Target field, not just the couple players you featured. It would be interesting to see the overall pattern of where balls land. Any particular seat being more lucky overall?

There are three pitchers with options remaining. May, Milone and Gibson. Gibson has to be considered for demotion as well if he is not pitching well when Nolasco is ready to be reinstated. Otherwise, May is the low man on the totem pole and he can be sent back down.

The reason Hicks is at AAA is because Schafer is a better fielder and hitter than him right now. If Schafer hits anywhere between his career average of .229 and last year's Twins average of .285, he beats Hick's career average. Hicks can stay down at AAA and earn his way back on the team. If Buxton or Rosario skips ahead of him, so be it. Not all prospects and young players can play at the major league level. He may be one of them. On an unrelated topic, It's too bad spell check doesn't work on players' names. The article went from Milone to Malone and back and forth between Pelfrey and Palfrey several times. I wonder if that is something the site could arrange to take care of or if proof reading by the writer is recommended.

Wasn't this topic thoroughly covered in several other threads already? He is under team control for 4 more years. He cannot go anywhere. When he reaches arbitration, he will be paid based on his on-field performance in comparison to other players with the same service time. The Twins haven't lost an arbitration hearing since Kyle Lohse. They have settled or won every one since. If Dozier does perform at a high level through his arbitration years and it appears that he will be too expensive to keep, the Twins could make a qualifying offer when he reaches free agency and receive a draft pick for compensation if he leaves.

Duensing and Milone will not be cut. Duensing is a veteran left handed pitcher who can become a free agent at the end of the year. He will be kept since he could be a trade asset at the deadline. Milone is a starting pitcher with options remaining. He can be sent to AAA for depth. If an injury occurs at the major league level it would be beneficial to have a major league ready/experienced backup that can be called up. He can also be used in a trade later in the season.

You may need to make adjustments to this equation. A double play is more of a team stat than an individual stat. While a shortstop may initiate and participate in a double play, the completion of the play usually involves the fielding of one or two other players. The most common is the 6-4-3 (short to 2nd to 1st) double play. While the shortstop is the initial player to touch the ball in this play, the completion of the play also relies upon the fielding prowess of both the second baseman and the first baseman. You would have to remove their contributions to the play to use it as a stat for just the shortstop.

The Twins do not need to extend either of these players right now. Neither of these players are super star players. They both have multiple years of arbitration under team control available. The Twins cannot lose these players to a bidding war. The point of arbitration is cost certainty. The players will get paid similarly to other similar type players. They are not going to break the bank. If they play extremely well next year, they will get a nice raise. If they don't play well, they won't get a big raise. In the cases of Plouffe and Dozier, it is best to go year to year via arbitration. Another point to consider, if you extend these two players, you restrict your ability to make changes to improve a team that has lost 90 games four years in a row. While it may seem like their positions on this team are solid, if an opportunity arises to improve the team by moving them elsewhere, it will be easier to move a one year contract rather than a multi-year deal.

I guess I put more weight on the next two sentences used to conclude that paragraph. Videos, charts and gifs can provide comprehension and understanding for dry recitation of stats. Had I not viewed the full videos of the two examples, I would not have known the game situations were different. They were presented and described as being similar plays.

Nothing like pick and choosing stats, in this case specific plays. Hunter situation: 8th inning with Tigers up by 7 runs, bases loaded with 2 outs and the base runners running. It looked like he played it safe and kept the ball in front of himself while keeping the force out in play at 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Had he dove and missed the ball the runner from 1st could have scored with the batter advancing to 2nd or even 3rd base. There was a 7 run lead, why risk misplaying a ball in that situation? The Heyward play was made in the top of the 1st inning with a runner on 1st base. Atlanta hadn't even been up to bat yet. The game was still wide open. If he had misplayed that ball, only one runner would have scored. The game situations were totally different.

Once again this is a definite NO! Plouffe is under team control for 3 more years. He cannot go anywhere. There is no reason to extend him for this amount for this many years. There are many reasons not to do a long term deal at this time. A year to year contract approach for Plouffe is the smart move for the Twins right now. While he is coming off his best season, he needs to put together back to back good years to earn a multi-year deal. In case you have forgotten, arbitration favors the team in cases like Plouffe's. He seems to be a good but not great player with some injury history, who may improve or regress in future years. If he improves, yes he will be paid more for it the next season, but if he regresses, the team has the advantage. The Twins do not have to pay him the big bucks until he shows it on the field. He will get what similar players of his ability and service time gets. If he puts up monster numbers, sure the Twins will pay for it later, but at that point it will be worth it. A player with arbitration years remaining has more trade value than a player signed to a contract that may be considered bad in a year or two. If the receiving team wants to pay him long term that is up to them, why make a team take a contract as well? Signing Plouffe long term with the intention of moving him to the outfield when Sano comes up will hurt his trade value. He has put in several years of play at 3B now. He hasn't played in the outfield and has not been projected to be a good outfielder. His trade value is based on his play at 3B, if he is moved to the outfield and struggles it will only hurt his trade value. If in the next three seasons, Plouffe's performance drops off a cliff, the Twins will have to pay off the remaining years of his contract, whereas if he was still year to year under arbitration he could be cut with no money owed. Committing money to Plouffe now for the next several years with Sano almost ready to replace him would be foolish financially. In 2016 Sano will be making the ML minimum salary $500K with Plouffe projected to be around $10 million. That extra money that was committed to Plouffe could be used to sign a pitcher or another free agent. Finally, this is a four-time 90 loss team. No one has earned a multi year deal. There needs to be flexiblility to make improvements in the roster. Committing several years to a player from a last place team while not leaving open the possibility to upgrade that position is bad management. If an opportunity arises to acquire a better player, there shouldn't be a obstacle to making space for him on the roster. This applies budget wise as well.