DuluthFan

But possibly the most accurate for the 2014 season. Sano contributed NOTHING in 2014 since he was injured and sat out the entire season. Buxton's main contribution was a concussion causing highlight reel collision in the outfield. But on the bright side, they didn't lose service time sitting on the DL while on the 40 man roster.

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.

The Twins spent money on the position that they could not fill internally, starting pitching. That is exactly how you should use free agency, by filling positions that you cannot fill with your farm system. While arguments could be made about the prospects almost here, you have to take a look at the track record of pitching prospects and the Twins prospects specifically. They seldom work out. Yes, using your own farm system to fill major league positions is preferable to spending lots of money on free agents, but at some point the positions need to be filled by competent players who can play at that level. The Twins have had a hard time providing them. As far as the position players go, other than the shortstop position, the Twins have had good luck finding players to both field and hit. They are not just focused on finding power hitters. That may be the media and sites like this focusing on the power guys. When the Twins were winning division titles, they were winning with non power players. Punto and Span come to mind. They were succeeding despite the lack of power.

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.

If those are the contract numbers being offered, I would say WAIT. Those numbers are inflated. Dozier is still under team control this year and will not make anywhere near $1 million this year. Next year is his first arbitration year. Unless the player is an all star or a league leader in several offensive stats, he isn't worth that much in his first arbitration contract. The smart play is to WAIT until the first arbitration year to make any huge contract offer. If you wait until arbitration figures are exchanged you will then know what kind of money the player is looking for and you can then project what he will be willing to accept in a long term deal.

One of the reasons Swarzak and Burton got extended time in September was so that they could be evaluated for next season. Yes, you could give playing time to the young guys to see what they have, but you also have to evaluate the fringe players on the major league roster as well. Both Swarzak and Burton could have been brought back for 2015. The Twins were most likely getting a last look to see if they wanted to keep them around another year. Had they pitched well in the final months, they easily could have been brought back or traded. Their salaries would not have impacted the budget too much. They also could have been potential trade chips for the offseason. Now their spots on the roster will most likely be turned over to untested young players. Hopefully they can perform at least as well as the players they replaced.

The Twins are attempting to address their pitching needs. He has to be ahead of some of the pitchers currently on the roster and at AAA. I'm glad they are not relying on whoever was left on the roster from last year to improve. Many of the young players, and this includes Meyer, can start at AAA and be brought up later in the season IF they prove themselves capable. Outside signings don't typically occur midseason and usually get the first shot at opening day roster spots. Now will this player prove capable? I don't know, but the Twins can't wait until Meyer or any of the other pitchers get their MLB shot before signing him. I just hope they wait until AFTER the Rule 5 draft before officially signing him so another player is not exposed to the draft. Although the player will be exposed to waivers after the draft, hopefully most teams will have already settled their 40 man rosters and will pass on the waived player.

The qualifying offer system seems to be the first step in a sign and trade system that is used in the NBA. A team that wants a player that has been offered a QO is 'trading' a draft pick for him. It will only be a short time before an agent realizes that he can work this system to his client's advantage. The agent would not only negotiate a contract with the new team, he would also attempt to negotiate a trade of prospects between the two teams. Once the terms are agreed to, the original team signs the player and trades him to the new team for the agreed upon players, thereby bypassing the first round pick.

In my opinion, the Twins did the right thing at the time in regards to Worley. He just came off a horrible first year with the Twins and was not looking like he could turn it around before the prospects were ready to be called up. Remember at the start of the season he was off the 40 man roster and had several other players ahead of him on the depth chart. Teammates on the AAA roster who were also on the 40 man roster were Johnson, Darnell and May. They would be the first options for call ups if the major league starters needed replacing. There were also Pino, Diamond and Myer on the same roster. Pino earned his way onto the major league roster with a great start at AAA, unfortunately it didn't work out when he pitched for the Twins. The Twins were grooming their top prospect pitchers, May and Myer for midseason call ups and the other pitchers seemed to have no major pitching issues that needed fixing. If Worley would have stayed in the organization, by the time he could have gotten his pitching mechanics fixed, May or Myer could have been ready and he would have been stuck at AAA. Whether or not the Twins had identified the problems with Worley, they could have felt that by the time he was fixed, there wouldn't be a spot for him in the rotation.

The Twins declined Burton's option for 2015. He was not cut from the team so he is still on the 40 man roster. He is still under contract for the 2014 season. The 2014 season is not officially over until shortly after the World Series. He will become a free agent when all of the other players do. As with all other players under contract, he can negotiate a new extension with his current team until then. At this point of the season no other team would pick him up, so cutting him would make no difference.

I find the arguments for a higher payroll ironic. In order to have a higher payroll, some of the young cheap players would not be playing on the major league roster. Santana would not have been called up had the Twins signed a center fielder last offseason. Deduno and the rotation of AAA replacements would not have taken the 5th rotation spot. Colabello's hot April would not have happened. Parmalee would still be at AAA. A free agent shortstop would have thankfully saved us from Florimon's poor season and Escobar's emergence as a starter. If you have been arguing for the Twins to play the young players you have little ground to support your argument for a higher payroll. You can't expect the team to do both. Would a random free agent center fielder have provided the same production as Santana? Santana cost the major league minimum, the free agent several million? Would the Twins have won more games with a $7 million center fielder? If you want the Twins to spend money on free agents that means the roster spots for those young players that you are itching to see 'take their lumps' at the major league level will have to stay at AAA.

Here's a thought. What if Santana's surprise MLB offensive production was because he was NOT playing shortstop. Center field is an easier position to play compared to shortstop. What if his improved performance at the plate was because he didn't have the stress of playing a more difficult position affecting his concentration at the plate. What if by moving him back to shortstop full time, he regresses at the plate. Most players don't improve at the plate that much after being called up from the minors. Most players show decreased numbers at the plate compared to their AAA numbers. It is entirely possible he could regress to numbers below his AAA numbers if he is moved back to shortstop. His defensive ability at short could be exposed as well. It is not certain that Santana is an improvement defensively at shortstop over Escobar. He may one day reach that level, but he is not there yet and may never be.

I do believe the sports media coined the term "Twins Way" back when the Twins were constantly picked to finish in the bottom of the standings during their run of division titles. They had to explain why they seemed to play well with a suspect roster filled with 'piranhas'. A team filled with players who could play old fashioned small ball baseball. Hit & run, sacrifice, bunt, steal, error free baseball, not worrying about their own stats, playing as a team. The Twins Way. There had to be a reason why a team picked to finish last (or nearly) every year could finish first against everybody's projections.

Exactly what I was thinking. It is very rare that a minor leaguer comes to the majors and displaces an established veteran at a position without that veteran being traded. The talk of moving Plouffe to the outfield instead of Sano always irritated me. Sano has to outplay Plouffe at 3rd before he gets the position. The Twins have almost always done it this way. It's the vet's position until they get beat out. Even the call up of Mauer resulted in Przynski being traded away to make room. The same logic should be applied to Santana and Escobar. Escobar is the established vet at shortstop. Santana plays at whatever position (CF) is available until he beats out Escobar.

While this firing alone won't bring fans back, it is a visible sign that that the ownership/front office is trying to address the situation. If no on field management changes are made and the front office cannot lure any top free agents to play here this offseason, they can at least sell the fact that changes were made to address the situation.

Fryar has no options left. If he is to be left on the 40 man roster, he will need to be on the 25 man roster as well. If Pinto is going to be given the back up catcher position, it would would mean the 3rd catcher needs to have options remaining so he could be sent to AAA. As far as leaving players on the DL during the rule 5 draft, I believe all teams must remove players from the DL in the offseason before the rule 5 draft.

A suggestion for your rankings. While the standard numerical listing of prospects that everybody does are all good, how about a ranked list of when those players are expected to be major league ready? And by ready, I mean called up to stay and be productive. A number one prospect in A ball has less of a chance to be promoted to the major league team than a number ten ranked player sitting at AAA. (The Polanco situation being a surprise). And be realistic on your predictions of promotion, this is the Twins system we're talking about. Rushing prospects and skipping levels is not a common occurrence.

According to the article, Santana was projected as a utility player and not as a shortstop. The article mentions Santana's skills as fitting a shortstop but he didn't say he was projected as one. He had trouble making the routine plays. Second base was hinted at although utility player was mentioned several times as well as center field. It appears he has found his position in center field. Besides the Twins already have a starting shortstop and do not have a center fielder other than Santana. Hicks appears to be 4th outfielder material.

The Twins need to make moves early in the offseason to stem the loss of season ticket holders. They need to sign two impact starting pitchers to generate interest in next year's team. Not middle of the rotation signings but top of the rotation players. Of course this will mean the unproven young prospects will need to work harder to break into the rotation, but at this point the Twins can't afford to wait to see if they might be able to play at the major league level. There must be visible proof that the team is trying to improve. A couple of corner outfield sigings would help as well. One for left and one to back up Arcia for when he goes into one of his many frustrating slumps. While he has played OK at times, there is still room for a more consistent player.

I think it's time to stop thinking of Santana as a shortstop and start thinking of him as the starting center fielder for the Twins. He has earned/won the position. The same can be said for Escobar at shortstop. He has also earned/won the position. You cannot play two starters in one position (shortstop). You would then open up center field again while forcing Escobar into a utility role again. Why? You have two positions filled with capable starters. So what about Buxton? What about him? He is not on the team yet. He may never be on the team. He is a highly rated prospect, but he is still just a prospect. Some prospects never pan out. All the talk on Buxton is that he will eventually make the team and play really well. Eventually. Some day. But he still has a ways to go. His 2014 season was pretty much a wasted year and he will have to replay his season at AA. He has not faced any higher level talent yet. He will be at least a year or two away. As for some of the other fringe players on the major league roster, Hicks appears to be headed as a 4th outfielder, Parmalee's position appears to be taken by Vargas, Nunez looks like the utility player, Shafer could be in the mix for an outfield spot.

Another catcher will need to be added to the 40 man roster this offseason. Fryer is on his last option year and would need to be kept on the 25 man roster. His value this year (and last) was to provide a serviceable major league backup while playing the majority of the season at AAA. There are two catchers at AA that are rule 5 eligible and another catcher at AAA that could serve in this role. They don't have to be notable, just able to fill in if there is an injury at the major league level. Hermann has not been playing catcher at the major league level this year, and while he could be safe, there may be other players that can take his place on the roster. Bernier had a decent year this year. He could realistically be rule 5 selected or signed as a free agent to be a utility infielder for a team looking for a major league ready player. Not all rule 5 picks need to be young prospects, they could be players that fill a need on a major league roster. He seems to be ready and could easily stick on a major league roster for an entire year. Also if Escobar sticks as the starting shortstop, there will be a need for a utility infielder (assuming Santana plays outfield or is sent back to AAA).