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Danchat

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Everything posted by Danchat

  1. The more I've thought over the situation, I've started to consider a Austin/Duda combo. With Duda's .839 OPS against righties and Austin's .846 OPS against lefties, you could platoon the two and Austin could play in LF/RF off the bench if needed. But that would ignore the fact that Duda is starting to age and his play has declined, and Cron is younger and coming off a career high season. But it wouldn't make sense to give up on Austin as I believe his best baseball is ahead of him... arg! I don't see a perfect solution here. Cron did hit .767 OPS against righties last season, so that's not so much of a drop-off from Duda as I thought it would be. ... and now I'm back to square one and going with Cron/Austin.
  2. Will we finally have a big signing happen soon?!
  3. It looks like we have our answer to this question: With the lack of bullpen signings, the writing was on the wall for this one. I can imagine they'll try to work him into high-leverage situations if he starts the season well.
  4. Great article, John. It's weird to see Kepler not bet on himself, but with the way he's stagnated at the plate the past 3 seasons, I suppose it makes sense. But for the Twins, this deal not only becomes a total bargain if he improves, and it makes him easier to trade since they've purchased an inexpensive year of free agency and have a second option on top of that. Now if only we could get Rosario and Berrios to sign extensions like this! Of course, they'll require more money and probably less control of their free agency years.
  5. I don't see any reason to start Lewis' service clock early, let's let him take his time and see how he does. Hopefully he'll be ready by some point in 2020 and we won't need to have him yo-yo up and down between Rochester and Minnesota.
  6. I'm a huge fan of this deal. Buying out one year of his free agency for $7.5M in 2023? Heck yeah! And then $10.5M in 2024 if he goes up for 550 PAs and $12M in 2025? Factoring in rising salaries, that seems incredibly team friendly to me. Now, Polanco still has to hit well and pan out as a player, but I think this is a phenomenal extension that has very little risk attached. At worst he'll end up as a slightly overpaid utility guy. I kinda feel like Polanco is going to regret this deal in the future, as it reminds me of the Denard Span deal that he signed that ended up being very team friendly. More of these extensions, please!
  7. Yeah, no thanks. Duda's best baseball is behind him, and Austin's is ahead of him, I believe, and in a season where the Twins aren't going all in, it makes a lot more sense to try out Austin than Duda. If something happens to Cron, Duda would be a decent replacement for him... but I'd much rather have Austin on the roster.
  8. I think this makes Max more tradeable as he now comes with more years of control. Who knows where we’ll be in a couple years, but this logjam is fine to me. If the rookies come up swinging, we have depth to trade from.
  9. Dude, it’s a minor league deal, it’ll take at least one injury for him to get on the roster. Teams make signings like this all the time...
  10. I said after the draft that he reminds me of Brent Rooker, and I'm still thinking that, but I think he'll end up as a better contact hitter than Rooker will be. I'm predicting he'll have a year in the minors where his power will develop and he'll hit 20+ HRs, but I'm not sure if this is the year.
  11. I don't see Duda making the team unless injury strikes, though I am of the opinion that Austin will be hanging around on the roster. I'm not sure about Nick Gordon anymore... he might end up as a utility infielder with the way things have gone - not great SS defense, power hasn't developed, not great OBP skills... yikes.
  12. Those scouts were in the minority, as most teams considered him a QB. Plus the guy has a dynamic running ability like a returner taking a kick back, and the Ravens did line him up a few times as a WR when Flacco was starting... If Murray falls in the draft, it's going to be about his height, not his skin color. Russell Wilson, who similarly was ignored due to his height, has opened up scouts' eyes on the matter. I do think he'll be a first round pick, but teams will be wary about designing their offense around a short QB.
  13. I highly doubt it. It seems now that he had a Heisman-caliber year at Oklahoma, that sealed his fate as a 1st round pick in the NFL. Murray would be at least 7 years away from hitting free agency in baseball, things will likely be different then.
  14. It seemed like once Mauer had that concussion last season, that sealed his retirement. Plus I’d rather see younger guys play 1B in a season where they don’t seem to be pushing their chips in.
  15. I'm interested to see Duda on the list, he'd make for a nice depth option in AAA. I was high on him a couple years ago, but now he's fallen into the "hits for power, low batting average, tons of strikeouts" archetype that's a dime a dozen now. I like Cron and Austin better, but comparing the numbers between Duda and Cron, they're not all that different. The main difference between the two (other than being 29 and 33 years old) is that Cron had a career year in 2018 and Duda's numbers plummeted in 2018.
  16. The Indians signed RP Alex Wilson to a minor league deal... despite him throwing 3.20 ERA and 1.16 WHIP the past four years combined. He'll make $1.25M if he makes the team... but I really feel like he should be making more money than that. I guess his lack of strikeouts combined with him being 32, and nobody wants to throw money at that despite being worth about 5.3 WAR in those 4 seasons.
  17. I think one problem some of us (me) might have had is we see really good numbers in the minors, so we assume that'll transition in the majors. I remember being excited to see how AJ Achter would pitch with the Twins after a very good minor league career, but he simply didn't have MLB caliber stuff.
  18. Gonzalez seemingly vanished upon entering FA, there’s been almost zero reported interest in him. So... how about a one year deal?! There’s still high end bullpen arms left. Kimbrel is out there and I’d like a guy like Vincent too.
  19. They “took advantage” last offseason and it totally backfired... but I would see if I could land Kimbrel for cheap or get Keuchel on an expensive one year deal. Outside of that, I wouldn’t chase the players who are asking for too much.
  20. Nice, digging up my old posts and using them against me! I probably should be more patient, though I will defend myself with these two points: 1: I didn’t know Gonsalves topped out at 91 and regularly threw pitches in the upper 80s 2: Gonsalves developed a command problem this season, not sure if that will continue So yes, I do think he’ll pitch much better in year two, but he has several issues to address. Anyways, thanks for keeping me accountable.
  21. They should focus on having him learn how to play 1B, as he'll be a poor fielder in the outfield if he ends up playing there.
  22. I understand your argument, but at some point there has to be a balance between stuff and statistics. I was disappointed to see that Gonsalves tops out at 91, doesn't have pitches that can strike out MLB hitters, and also has poor command. It's not that I've totally given up on him, but he looks to be a 5th starter or a decent reliever if things go right in my eyes. He's done a great job in the minors, but unlike Berrios I don't know if his stuff will let him be more than a AAAA pitcher. Conversely, if Duran can put things together, he has the stuff to be a great starter. I could see him being a #2 starter if everything goes right, though mostly throughout his career, it hasn't gone right.
  23. Every team makes a dozen minor league signings or so like this. They're just adding depth guys whose chances will be low at making the team, and some guys will stay at AAA to prepare for a chance at a callup at some point. Nicolino or Collins could be one of those vets who get called up midseason because a reliever is hurt and they've been pitching well at AAA.
  24. Lynn was far better despite his 2018 coming in at around 0.3 WAR in 20 starts despte Mejia netting 0.8 WAR in 21 starts? I don't care about the track record, I want to have the better player pitching out there, and comparing the two, I'd rather have Mejia - plus it seems we forget 2017 was his rookie season! Lynn and Perez have durability over Mejia, but IMO our depth is fine, and I'd rather play the better pitchers with more upside. I think Mejia, if given the chance, would improve from his 2017 numbers, just as we were seeing in his 2018 sample size.
  25. Mejia only got 25 innings because the Twins signed Lance Lynn, thus removing him from the rotation. He did suffer through some injuries, like missing a month at Rochester and most of September, but if it wasn't for Lynn he would have had another 10-15 starts. My problem with Perez isn't depth, but the total lack of upside for a guy who is going to be locked into a roster spot until he pitches his way out of it.
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