AlwaysinModeration

Two points: 1. Homer Bailey played his whole career with Cincinnati. He was lousy from 2016-2018, posting ERAs over 6. However, his BABIP was 452, 350 and 331 those seasons. This past season was his first season with a new team, first with KC and then with Oakland. He changed his pitch mix, adding in nearly 25% splitters. When he got to Oakland, both his fastball and his splitter were above average pitches. This is notable for a few reasons; one, his fastball had been terrible for the five previous seasons in Cincinnati; two, new pitching coaches obviously had some new ideas for him in terms of pitches and pitch mix that worked; and three, Wes Johnson could have additional new ideas to help him with velocity and pitch mix. The fact that he was targeted by the Twins might mean they think there is some upside. 2. Does Rich Hill get his incentives if they are reached during the playoffs? Might be significant if he isn’t back until post All-Star break.

This seems pretty reasonable, although I would see 25/20/15 rather than 30/20/10.

I definitely don’t see them signing three SPs. I am skeptical that they would even sign two of these guys. However, it seems quite reasonable to expect them to sign one of them, likely either Walker or Wood (my preference, as stated on the Taijuan Walker thread, is Walker). I also think that signing would go nicely with either a Donaldson signing or a trade for David Price.

My initial reaction was pretty negative, but after reading a bit about his numbers and his ability to get lefties out, I’m more optimistic about it.

Thank you. Glad that you could get that take care of.

To elaborate, Price has been very good for a long time, when healthy. Playing in Boston in the AL East is tough. Last year he was unlucky with batting average on balls in play. So some reasons to think he can be better this year. I’d say he’d be worth a flier. If the Sox pay some of the salary, and throw something else in (a prospect would be good), they should go for it. I don’t think he’d be good for all three years left, but he could be for 1-2 years, by which point, the Twins will have several of their prospects ready to move into the rotation.

Roster Resource has the current group (of 19 players) totaling $106.6mm. They will need to fill out the 26 man roster with players, though, so $110 sounds about right as of now. https://www.rosterresource.com/mlb-minnesota-twins-info/

Trading for Price sounds fine to me. Also, maybe the Yankees don’t make the playoffs.

I laughed, I cried.

This line is pure gold: “whatever horrific way in which the Vikings season ended”

I vote plan 1, signing the best pitcher they can, either Bumgarner or Ryu. But I’m sorry to veer off the plan, but I want the next best starter they can find, so Teheran is the second part of the plan. With 5 left, I don’t care what they do, I’m sure they can find some deals at the end of the offseason to add to the Marwin/Sano/Rooker corner infield mix.

MLB Trade Rumors has Strasburg at 6/180 (30/year). How about the Twins offer 5/160 (32/year), maybe with a sixth year mutual option? That would bring payroll to $129. And the rotation would be...better. Also, I’m fine with the Pineda signing. Affordable, short, decent.

I’d be willing to wager a decent amount that Johan Santana, given the perspective of history, wishes he had accepted the Twins’ 5/100 offer. Things could have turned out a lot differently for him if he had stayed with the Twins.

Well, there are six one-loss teams, and four of them are currently ahead of the Gophers in the poll. They would have to climb over three of the four to make the playoff, assuming Clemson and LSU are locks. I also assumes Minnesota would move ahead of OSU if it beats them. The easiest way to leapfrog other one-loss teams is for them to lose. These are the results we need to root for, right? Auburn beats Alabama this weekend Oregon beats Utah in the Pac10 championship LSU beats Georgia in the SEC championship Baylor beats Oklahoma in the Big 12 championship And also, Michigan beats OSU this weekend

All they need to do now is go 1-0 in their next four seasons and they win the national championship.

They play Northwestern and Wisconsin. If they win both, they will play the winner of Penn State - Ohio State for the Big Ten Championship. If they win all three, they will be 12-1 and have wins against Penn State, Wisconsin and Ohio State or two against Penn State. Do they get to the BCS?

I would happily take any two of Strasburg, Bumgarner, Wheeler, Ryu, or Hamels. And if the Twins could only land one, I’d prefer them in that order.

Verlander and Greinke were acquired via trade.

ATTENTION downtrodden Twins Daily regulars! I’m leaving the country. I didn’t think it would have to come to this, but it has. For Monday’s game, I will literally be on an airplane leaving the United States. I won’t get back into the country until the series is over. It’s a work trip. You are welcome. You are welcome in advance for the change in the Twin’s fortunes, and you are welcome for the thrilling come-from-behind/oblivion series win. It’s a sacrifice of great proportion on my part, and frankly one that I am not that happy to make, this being the Twins first division title in ten years, but what has to be done, has to done. Baseball history is full of long-suffering fandoms, unbreakable curses, and seemingly insurmountable odds. The long suffering ends, the curses get broken, and the odds are overcome. There is no clock in baseball. Games don’t end until the 27th out is recorded. Series aren’t over until one team closes out the final victory. I refer you to the long history between the Red Sox and Yankees leading up to the ninth inning of Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS, when unanimously elected Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera had the lead. For a more recent example, I note the Chicago Cubs’ franchise history and century of being the (real) lovable losers. We don’t even need to go back further than Tuesday night, when the Nats, who hadn’t won a post-season series of any kind since moving to DC from Montreal, trailed the Brewers with Josh Hader on the mound. Remember when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? It’s always darkest before the dawn.

Love to start the postseason against a lefty.

Great, great piece, Seth. Great backstory and I like the underdog mentality. I predict Sanchez wins the Silver Slugger too. I hope the Twins go into this series with the Yankees thinking about being underdogs, with something to prove.

So, updating this “how to build a bullpen” thread. Only two (Rogers and May) of the eight guys from the start of the season remainon this bullpen, which helped the Twins win 101 games in 2019: Free Agency - Ryne Harper Trade-Trevor May, Sergio Romo, Zack Littel, Devin Smeltzer Drafted/Developed - Taylor Rogers, Tyler Duffey, Cody Stashak, Randy Dobnak International signing/developed - Brusdar Graterol, Lewis Thorpe

Why didn’t any of the Tigers fans stick around for the celebrations?

Who cares? Twins need to go 5-3 against the Royals and Tigers to get 100 wins and lock down the division.

It seems like he has gone up there in multiple at bats recently with a plan of taking pitches until he either gets one strike or two strikes. With as few strikes pitchers throw him, it is a good way to get a walk, or at a minimum a good way to drive up the opposing pitcher’s pitch count.