Otto von Ballpark

Well, yeah, ultimately I am sure that's their justification for most every move. But in any case, if that was the primary justification, wouldn't a modest two year deal for Mark Lowe give them a better chance to win than Kintzler? Or a couple C prospects for one year of Joaquim Benoit? Lowe or Benoit over Kintzler almost certainly makes a bigger difference in our chances to win than Kintzler over (say) Pressly, but the former you routinely shot down and the latter you now justify because we plan to be contenders? (Setting aside whether there is really any difference in our win chances between Kintzler and Pressly)

Kintzler once had somewhat higher strikeout rates, although they declined each year. Given his 2014 injury, it could settle in closer to 7 than to 5. Still not great or any help at the top of the pen, but not too bad.

More from the Frinkiac... "Torii Hunter And Announcer John Gordon Named To Twins Hall of Fame"

Thanks, but I wasn't doing that.

Apparently the Twins thought there was a proper mix last year, they rostered a Rule 5 pick in a contending year. I don't see any reason that roster spot couldn't go to a rookie again in 2016 rather than filling it instead with another "guy who's been there" for "depth" to quote Seth.

That's fair. I wasn't crazy about the idea of Sano as the everyday 3B, but I really didn't like the idea of Nunez as the contingency plan. I could easily see the position being a train wreck with just one injury or even less (i.e., the Twins not trusting anyone defensively). I'm glad we didn't unload Plouffe, especially given the market.

And it was Nunez's career year so far.

We could just automate this whole thread! Pair keywords from every Twins Daily article title with a screen grab. I just tried it with "Trevor Plouffe and the mid market payroll"

I get not gambling with Sano at 3B -- but certainly he was willing to gamble with Sano at DH, which was the case before the Park acquisition.

They have the same career OBP, true, but more of Nunez's is based on batting average. And then there's a sizable difference in slugging, as I laid out above. And of course defense would have to be part of the discussion. Baserunning was not kind to Plouffe last season, I will grant that. (-7 runs at B-Ref, although that roughly equals his prorated advantage in Rbat over Nunez last year too, which seems strange in Nunez's career offensive year... Fangraphs is a little more moderate on both counts.)

I think "minority" and "super minority" are accurate terms here. Plouffe's career wRC+ is 100, Nunez's is 89. Their Steamer projections for 2016 are roughly the same as those numbers. Plouffe's career low wRC+ is only 90. Plouffe is only 12 months older (to the day -- they are June 15th birthday buddies!). Nunez's career high walk rate is 6.5%, which is the same as Plouffe's career low. Nunez's career high ISO was .149 last year, Plouffe's career rate is .175 (.190 last year). Etc. Then of course there's defense (I notice you limited your above comparison to offense, but metrics suggest a potentially large gap there as well, which most observers would probably agree with). If the Twins moved Plouffe now with even the slightest inkling that Nunez would be a full-time 3B in the near future, they would be pilloried by a large majority.

A. You're disproving an absolute claim no one made ("the Twins never give a chance to the young pitcher") B. Roenicke was a 30 years old waiver claim when he came to the Twins, Thompson was a 28 year old last year who we signed on a minor league deal. As so little care was put into assembling that list, I won't waste any more time dissecting it further.

Boyer, "so far superior"? Did you look beyond ERA? Check his rate of unearned runs allowed and inherited runners scored and get back to us. Also note his current unemployment. Signing Boyer or Kintzler to a minor league deal costs nothing, but rostering them definitely has a cost. You get neither a pitcher you trust in high-leverage work in the short term, nor do you get any kind of option for the long-term. All you get is 50-60 innings of roughly league average run prevention in medium to low leverage relief work. That's not necessarily bad, but not exactly valuable either, as evidenced by the present unemployment of Boyer and Duensing, the minor league deals signed by Abad and Kintzler, etc. If you've got any internal options who could provide roughly league average run prevention in those same 50-60 relief innings, as Tonkin and Pressly have in their MLB careers thus far, you don't need to offer much potential for dominance to have more "upside" than the likes of Boyer and Duensing. Just having years of cheap control and a shred of potential to improve is really all the "upside" you need to differentiate yourself.

Interesting find! For those wondering, it's a documentary following the St Paul Saints in 1996 (the Strawberry/Morris season). Looks like 15 episodes online (you linked episode 2), here they all are: https://vimeo.com/album/2050820

Thanks, will be interesting to see. I'd probably give him a shot at the MLB bullpen too, with the AAA rotation as fallback option.

I don't think the conversation went either way. Seriously, though, offseason conversations are probably a lot more open and general (and cumulative from past seasons/offseasons) than either your example or that of the other poster. GMs probably don't have to solicit offers for a specific player, or ask about specific players, in a given offseason to understand the current market around that specific player. Examples: maybe TR had conversations with the Angels and other teams who had a big opening at 3B but never once brought up Plouffe. Maybe he had conversations relating to Plouffe during the season with teams, particularly around when Sano came up in July, and found the market lacking then. Maybe he told teams then to check back after the season and they never did. Etc. Who knows? However it happened, I'm not too concerned about this specific case. As many of us predicted, there was not much of a market for 3B this winter, generally due to low demand. (Freese is still on the market, by the way, even with no draft pick compensation attached.)

Absolutely agree, although Meyer could certainly show enough in spring training to make the roster (assuming they don't move him back to starter). He scuffled in 2015, but don't forget he had a 10.6 K/9 as a AAA starter in 2014, so he's well above the others in indicators of MLB bullpen readiness. And Rogers, unfortunately, his biggest handicap (no relief experience) isn't really his fault. Yes. Although "stop gaps" implies that any league-average RP will suffice as placeholder in the meantime. Given our pen struggles in 2015, contention aspirations in 2016, and the above-discussed uncertainty around all of our relief prospects, I was hoping we'd aim higher. Jepsen and his one-year deal would have been a perfect high-end "placeholder" to be replaced in 2017 or as early as July 2016, paired with another Jepsen-like reliever acquisition this winter. But I promised my therapist not to discuss that anymore. And Pressly and Tonkin (and O'Rourke as LOOGY) can be capable placeholders, with plenty of cheap future control if needed and even some upside left. Fien too, affordable for 2016 at least. Abad and Kintzler seem more like dead-end options to me, like Boyer, Duensing, etc. Even if they meet expectations in the short term, you're unlikely to ever trust them in important spots or want them back the following year at any salary, so what's the point when you have guys like Fien, Pressly, Tonkin, and O'Rourke? There's enough talent/control in that group, and enough of an immediate need for pen improvement, that simply aiming to tread water with Boyer, Abad, or Kintzler actually hurts you.

Quentin's career wRC+ is 122, darn close to Mauer's career 127. Better than anything Arcia or Vargas have sustained. Remember when folks were excited by Arcia's 2nd half in 2014? 120 wRC+. Remember being excited about Vargas' 2014 debut? 114 wRC+. If we could get that level of performance for $750k, even as just a bench bat, that would be a lot better than "a decent signing." The question is, of course, how likely is that? Not terribly likely given the last 2 seasons, but before that, like Mauer, he was actually well *above* his career average the two seasons prior (145 wRC+ over 2012-2013), so a decent bounceback at age 33 isn't that preposterous. Almost certainly worth up to 2 months of a AAA roster spot to find out (June 1st opt out), which is all the Twins appear to have invested so far. If this was a MLB contract, or even a minor league deal with an April 1st out out, I would be opposed because that would suggest a commitment of spring training playing time and perhaps a premature judgement on Arcia, Vargas, etc. But that June 1st opt out suggests this is not the case, and also suggests the Twins didn't make any undue promises to sign him.

I clearly referenced his stuff and tools in my post, and of course I know he missed two seasons. But he still has to perform eventually, the injury doesn't really remove that requirement. Even disregarding age, Chargois didn't quite do that in 2015, perhaps because of the missed time, but my point is, THAT should be his immediate objective for 2016, not jumping ahead to the MLB transition as some posters are suggesting. Same goes for Melotakis, Burdi, and most of our current relief prospects (with the possible exception of Meyer and Rogers).

My guess is that Sano was, and still is, viewed as a fallback option at 3B. They didn't necessarily want him starting every day there, but if Plouffe was unavailable they would do it, and in that scenario they'd want Sano as comfortable and prepared to do it as possible. Hence the exclusive reps there in the minors. With DH wide open for Sano, this made some sense -- until they signed Park, which is now forcing Sano to a position where he is not likely to be comfortable or prepared soon. I maintain the Park signing is the weirdest part of this whole affair, and unfortunately probably adds some expectations to Park above what his age/contract/history dictate.

Allow me to join the chorus of name mis-pronouncers. Hopefully Dick and Bert have the opportunity to join that chorus early this season too.

I wonder if there is any data on this, using PitchFX and/or Statcast? Where one could estimate the average speed of his bat and reaction time? Target Field got one of the early prototype Statcast installations during the second half of 2013, so it's possible that both pre- and post-concussion data exists for Mauer.

Outside his one "clunker" at AA, Chargois had a 1.237 WHIP, a nice 6.4 H/9 but also 4.7 BB/9 and only a 9.5 K/9. Not a bad K rate, certainly, but a little underwhelming considering his age, stuff, and level. Burdi had an 11.1 K/9 in the same league, Jones 10.0. Among all AA pitchers with 20+ IP, Chargois only ranked 105th in K/9, 114th in K%. And 29% of Chargois's K's came in his final 4 regular season appearances (only 14% of his total innings). Is that a sign of things to come, or more of a brief fluke of match-ups? For example, on August 30th, Chargois struck out all 4 batters he faced, but those 4 particular batters all had above league average K rates themselves, 3 of them as decided non-prospects as old as 28 years old at the time. At the same age of 24, AJ Achter had a comparable 6.9 H/9, 8.7 K/9, and 4.7 BB/9 in his AA debut too (and that's without throwing out any "clunker" appearances). Obviously Chargois has more tools than Achter, but no matter how you slice it, those tools haven't really translated to any kind of extended dominant performance so far. That's the challenge facing most Twins relief prospects in 2016, more than actually making the jump to the majors.

Thanks for the article, Seth. It's fun to finally see these relief prospects getting closer. True, and don't forget to apply this same lesson when discussing the contributions of Boyer and the potential contributions of Kintzler.

Woo-hoo! I apparently did not participate in that thread!