Otto von Ballpark

It was previously reported that Santiago would make 3 rehab starts, and this was the 3rd one and he threw 92 pitches. I suspect we could see him back in Minnesota pretty soon, maybe based on Colon's results tonight?

Gibson is being recalled for Saturday's start in Minnesota, so they'll need someone else. Hurlbut or Turley would each be on 5 days rest.

I know nothing about the particulars of the situation, but it is a pretty stark contrast. 2017, pre-bereavement list: 198 PA, .251/.299/.358, 72 wRC+, 7.1 BB%, 11.6 K%, .106 ISO, .272 BABIP 2017, post-bereavement list: 116 PA, .150/.207/.224, 7 wRC+, 6.9 BB%, 19.8 K%, .075 ISO, .179 BABIP

Gibson announced as the starter for Saturday. Presumably Gee will go back down...

A quick Google turned up this: http://www.inforum.com/sports/4229317-dozier-mauer-learn-about-analytics-how-do-best-lineup

I didn't mean to suggest it was all of one explanation or all of another. Maybe ownership said they had $X more to spend, and the FO decided they wanted to save it for potential in-season upgrades. Maybe the FO wanted Garcia or Nova and were denied by the budget, but were allotted enough to get Holland or Neshek or Morton but simply whiffed on those. In any case, this upcoming offseason should be interesting.

I don't think anyone was suggesting malevolence or conspiracy. Just that ownership may have set a conservative budget. Happens all the time, even if we fans prefer different priorities.

Not true at all. You think no MLB team wanted to take Ervin's contract last August? 2/27 with a 3rd year team option for a guy who was one of the best starters in MLB July into August? That's not that much different than 1/13.5 with the same team option for a guy that is scuffling the last few months and his worst FIP in 5 years. And it makes you the only team in the running for 48 hours only. After which the player can't be traded at all. If you are the Brewers, for example, and you could use Ervin, but you also know the Twins are still fringe contenders like yourself and they have a high asking price for Ervin, which do you prefer -- an exclusive 48 negotiating window now, or potentially the whole month to negotiate, with the potential for changed circumstances and asking price? It's a real trade off, and in most situations, teams prefer the latter.

That's not the issue, though. Putting in a claim during August trade waivers doesn't get you the player, and might actually make you less likely to get the player (limiting your negotiating period to the next 48 hours rather than the whole month). Santana at 2/27 with a third year option could have been the best FA SP deal of last offseason, but recall he cleared August trade waivers last year. It's more complicated than just "see player, claim player."

Seth Stohs, any clarification here? Lewin Diaz indeed did not play pro ball in 2013, and his MLB page lists a signing date in November 2013, which seems consistent with that. That would mean he would not be Rule 5 eligible until after the 2018 season. Did he agree to a deal earlier, but it wasn't official until later?

Of the 6 teams ahead of the Twins in the AL wild card race, I'm not sure any could realistically complete a trade for Ervin Santana right now. Yankees - already acquired 2 SP, luxury tax? Royals - already acquired a SP, no prospects, budget? Rays - extremely small budget, have lots of SP anyway Mariners, Orioles, Angels - have very weak farm systems, former 2 already traded for pitchers, Angels already straddling the sell line Given 48 hours to complete a deal with the Twins for Ervin today, I'd put the odds near zero for every one of these teams. So it is doubtful any would feel the need to "block" such an unlikely result. Best play might be to let him go unclaimed, and hope circumstances / asking price changes in their favor over the next month. Over in the NL, most races are decided already. Arizona - already has 5 pretty good SP Rockies Cubs - already have 5 pretty good SP, including one just acquired Brewers - fading, already 2.5 back of the Cubs and 5.5 back of the Rockies Don't see any really likely dealmakers today there either. The Rockies and Brewers could use him, but both also don't seem eager to move top prospects right now. Would they rather have 48 hours to meet the Twins current price, or the whole month to hope the circumstances/price changes? Again, I wouldn't be surprised if someone put in a claim, but I don't think it is guaranteed either. There are a lot more considerations here than just "can I use him?" or "do I not want others to have him?"

The Padres offense has scored the fewest runs in MLB this season. The game was in Petco. I doubt this start has significant meaning. Ervin was one of the most effective SP in baseball July into August last year, yet still went unclaimed by teams who doubtlessly would not have minded being "stuck" with his remaining 2 years at the time. August waiver claims aren't just about claiming every player you want, teams generally respect the asking price of the waiving team when making their claims. If the Twins asking price is still high for Santana, he could very well go unclaimed.

Looks like someone needs to familiarize oneself with emoticons, to indicate humor.

We can't do that with Hughes. With 5+ years service time, he has the right to refuse any outright assignment. So you can expect him stay on the 40-man roster barring release, trade, or retirement. (Blackburn was 16 days shy of 5 years service when we outrighted him.)

No, Polanco was not an "early add" either -- he was added to the 40-man in November 2013 to protect him from the Rule 5 draft, just like Kepler and Vargas that same year. (Polanco's lack of an option this year, as compared to Vargas, relates to him spending ~3 too many days on a rookie league roster in 2010...)

Today from MLBTR: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2017/08/8-impending-free-agent-hitters-with-slipping-stock.html

They didn't need any information from the previous administration to see the weaknesses in the pitching staff, both pen and rotation. Or to see that depth options in the high minors were either sparse or had already demonstrated high volatility. And for high-level MLB FA, they likely brought their own information. It's enough to make one wonder if they weren't under some relatively steep financial constraints. I would hope they would have been given enough wiggle room to add more than just Castro from the mid-level FA tier, but it's possible they were not. But would they have accepted the job under those conditions? From this vantage point, though, I see no reason to parse blame between the FO and ownership.

Pretty sure a Greg Holland signing would have been regarded well. A couple names from my FA SP list posted earlier would have too (Ivan Nova, plus Charlie Morton's increased velocity chief among them). Not that "board support" is required or even indicates the best course of action (which I freely admit as I criticize their actual course of action ).

Not sure about that. It certainly wouldn't surprise me if someone claimed Ervin on trade waivers. But you also have to keep in mind, there is a gentleman's agreement not to claim players unless you are willing to negotiate in good faith. Ervin might fall in a gray area here -- the Twins apparently have stuck to a decent asking price as far back as July 2016, and no one has thus far met it. As far as blocking from rivals, Ervin may not be quite a talent worth blocking anymore either, especially with his recent slump and 2017 peripherals. And upon closer inspection, I am not even sure what rivals would want to block him, or from whom they would be blocking. A lot of division leaders already have huge leads, there's not much for other teams to "block" there. A number of teams have probably already acquired the SP they want. The Yankees and Rays are probably unable to add him anymore, for payroll / luxury tax reasons, even if they wanted to. For whatever reason, Arizona was not very active on the trade market -- would the Rockies feel any need to block them? And so on and so forth. A few teams could certainly use him, but those teams might think it is more prudent to pass on a waiver claim and hope that the Twins asking price comes down over the course of the month. Which is frankly probably how Ervin cleared August waivers last year -- yeah, he had an extra year and $13.5 mil on his deal at the time, but he was also a year younger, without the poor 2017 peripheral trends, and on a heck of a roll late last year. It's admittedly a low probability that the Twins asking price would go down, but otherwise, if a team claims him now, and the Twins don't budge from their asking price over the next 48 hours, he's off the market for good, with absolutely zero chance of that team acquiring him later.

But it's not like Falvey and Levine were new to the sport, or even the league. They were familiar with MLB free agents, and probably already had some in mind for their previous organizations. And it didn't take a full offseason to see that the Twins pitching staff could benefit from some outside reinforcement, beyond warm bodies like Breslow and Tepesch. I'm fine that they kept prospects, Molitor, coaches, scouts, front office staff, etc. for an evaluation period. But it doesn't really excuse their almost complete inactivity on the FA pitching market last winter. (A quick search on MLBTR suggests they weren't even in pursuit of anyone, aside from the warm bodies they signed -- the only other offseason pitching rumors that mention us were scouting reclamation projects Justin Masterson and Seth Maness.)

Not sure if it is in the realm of possible to actually get a player, of any kind, for Colon anymore. Maybe "cash considerations" (approximately the waiver fee?) like Jamey Carroll got us in August a few years back.

You're missing my point, sorry. We ran out of viable starters AND relievers within about a month. With Duffey out of the SP mix after spring training, we only had a 6 deep remotely viable SP depth chart -- and yes, May was hurt, but Hughes ostensibly wasn't, so that's a health wash. And we saw how quickly Duffey became our best pen option, despite a pen at pretty much full health (O'Rourke was out, but I hope to goodness they weren't expecting more from Perk, and don't get met started on relying on Burdi, Chargois, and Jay again). We seem to have under-bought our depth for both SP and RP. To the extent that our offense was pretty well set and had some upside potential, it was pretty odd to do nothing with that pitching staff, even if we weren't going to be aiming for the world series in 2017.

Chattanooga is going all the way, baby! There may only be a couple weeks left of the MLB season after their playoffs wrap up. I suspect we see neither pitcher, but I'd root for your scenario.

I think that was speculation rather than confirmed. Insurance is pretty expensive for pitchers, I imagine. Who knows what they have and what it covers and to what extent. Also, if he officially retired, he wouldn't get any more salary (the Gil Meche situation). He might have to stay on the roster for the Twins to collect insurance? Not sure how a buyout would work either. I suppose if things don't improve, we'll be hearing about these details, but I suspect it might wait until next year.

Calhoun has a 131 wRC+ at AAA, which is relative to league. Not bad for a 22 year old, although it is most promising for that low K rate. Could be a bit of a Victor Martinez type, although he might need more batting average to make that work (or failing that, more power? I won't bother suggesting more defense ). Arcia has a 182 wRC+, so it's no guarantee, of course! To be fair though Arcia is 26 and in his 5th season hitting against that level of pitching or better...