Beast

Did it hurt the Dodgers to relegate Maeda to the bullpen?  I would say definitely not.  It may have helped.  It showed they’re not screwing around and want to win.
If a player’s priority is not losing their spot to a superior player, I don’t want them for multiple reasons anyway.
Good players want to win.  That’s what hurts the Twins in free agent negotiations.  They’ve largely stunk for 20+ years, with a ceiling of being utterly non-competitive in the playoffs.   Free agents have seen very good teams hamstrung by being passive.  They have seen HOF caliber talents like Mauer and Santa squander their career.  They’ve seen the AL central teams playing in barren stadiums, televised on obscure networks that switch out due to bankruptcy every 3-4 years.
That’s why nobody wants to come here.  The Twins have cornered the market on yawn inducing apathy and hopelessnes.  I’m a huge fan, but I can recognize that they’re one of the lamest professional sports franchises in any sport.
That’s just my take on it.  I don’t know if it’s Maeda I’d move to the pen, but I certainly wouldn’t be scared to.  I do know that burning any of Ober’s innings in AAA is an absolute abomination of roster management.  We’ll be lucky if throws 100 innings this year, and he could very easily wind up being our most effective starter while he’s healthy.

Did it hurt the Dodgers to relegate Maeda to the bullpen?  I would say definitely not.  It may have helped.  It showed they’re not screwing around and want to win.
If a player’s priority is not losing their spot to a superior player, I don’t want them for multiple reasons anyway.
Good players want to win.  That’s what hurts the Twins in free agent negotiations.  They’ve largely stunk for 20+ years, with a ceiling of being utterly non-competitive in the playoffs.   Free agents have seen very good teams hamstrung by being passive.  They have seen HOF caliber talents like Mauer and Santa squander their career.  They’ve seen the AL central teams playing in barren stadiums, televised on obscure networks that switch out due to bankruptcy every 3-4 years.
That’s why nobody wants to come here.  The Twins have cornered the market on yawn inducing apathy and hopelessnes.  I’m a huge fan, but I can recognize that they’re one of the lamest professional sports franchises in any sport.
That’s just my take on it.  I don’t know if it’s Maeda I’d move to the pen, but I certainly wouldn’t be scared to.  I do know that burning any of Ober’s innings in AAA is an absolute abomination of roster management.  We’ll be lucky if throws 100 innings this year, and he could very easily wind up being our most effective starter while he’s healthy.

Burning Ober’s limited innings in AAA is just a gross mismanagement of resources.  You could easily find the innings for him here while keeping him “stretched out.”.  He’s never been someone who goes deep into games.
Bad decision.  Ball guys overthinking it.

Well, as a CPA that leaves with me a bunch of questions.
”Higher than revenues suggest it should be.”  What does that mean?  He needs to define a couple of terms there.  What revenue?  Total revenue?  Operating revenue?
Our payroll is very middle or the road, and we suffered one of the biggest losses?  That sounds like a revenue generation problem, not a payroll being too high problem.
Who the hell can’t figure out how to make money off of a professional sports team over there?  You have a state of the art facility, some highly marketable players, you have a massive geographical region covering 4 states with multiple highly populated areas (Minneapolis/St. Paul, Duluth, Rochester, St, Cloud, Mankato, Fargo, Sioux Falls, multiple cities in Iowa, etc.) that are completely devoid of competition.
Another point: There are a lot of ways to make it look like you lost money on paper.  Depreciation and Amortization - what’s that number?  How much did the Pohlads draw from equity?  How are they recognizing certain revenues (deferring, etc.)?  Do they recognize the unrealized appreciation on the value of the team?  Carl bought the team for $44 million in 1984.  It’s worth $1.5 billion now.  It went up 5% last year.  You have the audacity to tell your fans, who paid for your stadium, that you’re losing money?
At the end of they day - it’s your fault you can’t sustain a middle of the road MLB payroll without losing money (which is disingenuous).  Do your job better.  If the team hadn’t been godawful for the last 15 years, maybe you wouldn’t be “losing money” on a $130M payroll.
You need to sell me the product.  Would Ford motors come out and say, “sorry guys, you just have to accept a worse car than our competitors - were actually putting way more into making them than we should be! - you’re welcome!”  What an incompetent.  If I were a Pohlad I’d have half a mind to have his office cleaned out before he got in this morning.  What a disastrous things to say PR wise.  Things were going fine on the “cheap Pohlad” front, and he just reopened the can.

Well, as a CPA that leaves with me a bunch of questions.
”Higher than revenues suggest it should be.”  What does that mean?  He needs to define a couple of terms there.  What revenue?  Total revenue?  Operating revenue?
Our payroll is very middle or the road, and we suffered one of the biggest losses?  That sounds like a revenue generation problem, not a payroll being too high problem.
Who the hell can’t figure out how to make money off of a professional sports team over there?  You have a state of the art facility, some highly marketable players, you have a massive geographical region covering 4 states with multiple highly populated areas (Minneapolis/St. Paul, Duluth, Rochester, St, Cloud, Mankato, Fargo, Sioux Falls, multiple cities in Iowa, etc.) that are completely devoid of competition.
Another point: There are a lot of ways to make it look like you lost money on paper.  Depreciation and Amortization - what’s that number?  How much did the Pohlads draw from equity?  How are they recognizing certain revenues (deferring, etc.)?  Do they recognize the unrealized appreciation on the value of the team?  Carl bought the team for $44 million in 1984.  It’s worth $1.5 billion now.  It went up 5% last year.  You have the audacity to tell your fans, who paid for your stadium, that you’re losing money?
At the end of they day - it’s your fault you can’t sustain a middle of the road MLB payroll without losing money (which is disingenuous).  Do your job better.  If the team hadn’t been godawful for the last 15 years, maybe you wouldn’t be “losing money” on a $130M payroll.
You need to sell me the product.  Would Ford motors come out and say, “sorry guys, you just have to accept a worse car than our competitors - were actually putting way more into making them than we should be! - you’re welcome!”  What an incompetent.  If I were a Pohlad I’d have half a mind to have his office cleaned out before he got in this morning.  What a disastrous things to say PR wise.  Things were going fine on the “cheap Pohlad” front, and he just reopened the can.

Well, as a CPA that leaves with me a bunch of questions.
”Higher than revenues suggest it should be.”  What does that mean?  He needs to define a couple of terms there.  What revenue?  Total revenue?  Operating revenue?
Our payroll is very middle or the road, and we suffered one of the biggest losses?  That sounds like a revenue generation problem, not a payroll being too high problem.
Who the hell can’t figure out how to make money off of a professional sports team over there?  You have a state of the art facility, some highly marketable players, you have a massive geographical region covering 4 states with multiple highly populated areas (Minneapolis/St. Paul, Duluth, Rochester, St, Cloud, Mankato, Fargo, Sioux Falls, multiple cities in Iowa, etc.) that are completely devoid of competition.
Another point: There are a lot of ways to make it look like you lost money on paper.  Depreciation and Amortization - what’s that number?  How much did the Pohlads draw from equity?  How are they recognizing certain revenues (deferring, etc.)?  Do they recognize the unrealized appreciation on the value of the team?  Carl bought the team for $44 million in 1984.  It’s worth $1.5 billion now.  It went up 5% last year.  You have the audacity to tell your fans, who paid for your stadium, that you’re losing money?
At the end of they day - it’s your fault you can’t sustain a middle of the road MLB payroll without losing money (which is disingenuous).  Do your job better.  If the team hadn’t been godawful for the last 15 years, maybe you wouldn’t be “losing money” on a $130M payroll.
You need to sell me the product.  Would Ford motors come out and say, “sorry guys, you just have to accept a worse car than our competitors - were actually putting way more into making them than we should be! - you’re welcome!”  What an incompetent.  If I were a Pohlad I’d have half a mind to have his office cleaned out before he got in this morning.  What a disastrous things to say PR wise.  Things were going fine on the “cheap Pohlad” front, and he just reopened the can.

Well, as a CPA that leaves with me a bunch of questions.
”Higher than revenues suggest it should be.”  What does that mean?  He needs to define a couple of terms there.  What revenue?  Total revenue?  Operating revenue?
Our payroll is very middle or the road, and we suffered one of the biggest losses?  That sounds like a revenue generation problem, not a payroll being too high problem.
Who the hell can’t figure out how to make money off of a professional sports team over there?  You have a state of the art facility, some highly marketable players, you have a massive geographical region covering 4 states with multiple highly populated areas (Minneapolis/St. Paul, Duluth, Rochester, St, Cloud, Mankato, Fargo, Sioux Falls, multiple cities in Iowa, etc.) that are completely devoid of competition.
Another point: There are a lot of ways to make it look like you lost money on paper.  Depreciation and Amortization - what’s that number?  How much did the Pohlads draw from equity?  How are they recognizing certain revenues (deferring, etc.)?  Do they recognize the unrealized appreciation on the value of the team?  Carl bought the team for $44 million in 1984.  It’s worth $1.5 billion now.  It went up 5% last year.  You have the audacity to tell your fans, who paid for your stadium, that you’re losing money?
At the end of they day - it’s your fault you can’t sustain a middle of the road MLB payroll without losing money (which is disingenuous).  Do your job better.  If the team hadn’t been godawful for the last 15 years, maybe you wouldn’t be “losing money” on a $130M payroll.
You need to sell me the product.  Would Ford motors come out and say, “sorry guys, you just have to accept a worse car than our competitors - were actually putting way more into making them than we should be! - you’re welcome!”  What an incompetent.  If I were a Pohlad I’d have half a mind to have his office cleaned out before he got in this morning.  What a disastrous things to say PR wise.  Things were going fine on the “cheap Pohlad” front, and he just reopened the can.

Well, as a CPA that leaves with me a bunch of questions.
”Higher than revenues suggest it should be.”  What does that mean?  He needs to define a couple of terms there.  What revenue?  Total revenue?  Operating revenue?
Our payroll is very middle or the road, and we suffered one of the biggest losses?  That sounds like a revenue generation problem, not a payroll being too high problem.
Who the hell can’t figure out how to make money off of a professional sports team over there?  You have a state of the art facility, some highly marketable players, you have a massive geographical region covering 4 states with multiple highly populated areas (Minneapolis/St. Paul, Duluth, Rochester, St, Cloud, Mankato, Fargo, Sioux Falls, multiple cities in Iowa, etc.) that are completely devoid of competition.
Another point: There are a lot of ways to make it look like you lost money on paper.  Depreciation and Amortization - what’s that number?  How much did the Pohlads draw from equity?  How are they recognizing certain revenues (deferring, etc.)?  Do they recognize the unrealized appreciation on the value of the team?  Carl bought the team for $44 million in 1984.  It’s worth $1.5 billion now.  It went up 5% last year.  You have the audacity to tell your fans, who paid for your stadium, that you’re losing money?
At the end of they day - it’s your fault you can’t sustain a middle of the road MLB payroll without losing money (which is disingenuous).  Do your job better.  If the team hadn’t been godawful for the last 15 years, maybe you wouldn’t be “losing money” on a $130M payroll.
You need to sell me the product.  Would Ford motors come out and say, “sorry guys, you just have to accept a worse car than our competitors - were actually putting way more into making them than we should be! - you’re welcome!”  What an incompetent.  If I were a Pohlad I’d have half a mind to have his office cleaned out before he got in this morning.  What a disastrous things to say PR wise.  Things were going fine on the “cheap Pohlad” front, and he just reopened the can.

Well, all those wringing their hands over the reasons why the Twins would sign Gallo and Solano now have their answer.

How can Acuna and De Andre have a higher current hit tool than a guy like Julien who put up a higher average against better competition?  Seems flawed.
Future I understand.  But, current is current.  

How can Acuna and De Andre have a higher current hit tool than a guy like Julien who put up a higher average against better competition?  Seems flawed.
Future I understand.  But, current is current.  

How can Acuna and De Andre have a higher current hit tool than a guy like Julien who put up a higher average against better competition?  Seems flawed.
Future I understand.  But, current is current.  

I’m shocked that a bunch of players that are always injured are injured.  

I’m shocked that a bunch of players that are always injured are injured.  

I’m not sure a top 5 overall draft pick with MLB bloodlines turning into a league average bench outfielder at age 27 is a success story.
Ober I could get on board with if he wasn’t hurt all the time.  He’s thrown a total of 361 innings since 2017, an average of 72 innings per year.
I also have a hard time calling a middle reliever with a negative career WAR a resounding developmental success.  He was drafted in the 3rd round, was fairly highly touted, etc.  I think you need a bit more there to call it highly successful.
I wouldn’t call them failures, and they could make further progress.  But, we’ve set the threshold pretty low on this one.

Does it really matter that much if he’s ready day 1 of the season?
They’re going to give Pagan and Lopez absurdly long leashes in high leverage roles again, effectively forfeiting about a dozen games and causing Buxton to slam into the wall chasing 115 mph rockets all over the field in 20 degree weather.
Just play Taylor until they get that out of their system.

I’m not sure a top 5 overall draft pick with MLB bloodlines turning into a league average bench outfielder at age 27 is a success story.
Ober I could get on board with if he wasn’t hurt all the time.  He’s thrown a total of 361 innings since 2017, an average of 72 innings per year.
I also have a hard time calling a middle reliever with a negative career WAR a resounding developmental success.  He was drafted in the 3rd round, was fairly highly touted, etc.  I think you need a bit more there to call it highly successful.
I wouldn’t call them failures, and they could make further progress.  But, we’ve set the threshold pretty low on this one.

I’m not sure a top 5 overall draft pick with MLB bloodlines turning into a league average bench outfielder at age 27 is a success story.
Ober I could get on board with if he wasn’t hurt all the time.  He’s thrown a total of 361 innings since 2017, an average of 72 innings per year.
I also have a hard time calling a middle reliever with a negative career WAR a resounding developmental success.  He was drafted in the 3rd round, was fairly highly touted, etc.  I think you need a bit more there to call it highly successful.
I wouldn’t call them failures, and they could make further progress.  But, we’ve set the threshold pretty low on this one.

I’m not sure a top 5 overall draft pick with MLB bloodlines turning into a league average bench outfielder at age 27 is a success story.
Ober I could get on board with if he wasn’t hurt all the time.  He’s thrown a total of 361 innings since 2017, an average of 72 innings per year.
I also have a hard time calling a middle reliever with a negative career WAR a resounding developmental success.  He was drafted in the 3rd round, was fairly highly touted, etc.  I think you need a bit more there to call it highly successful.
I wouldn’t call them failures, and they could make further progress.  But, we’ve set the threshold pretty low on this one.

I’d go with a 6 man rotation without blinking.  It’s a match made in heaven for this pitching staff.
None of these guys, with the exception of Ryan, has been able to stay healthy. Maeda, Mahle, and Ober will all have innings limitations.  Adding an extra day in between starts can only help some of these guys.
Also, wasting any of Ober’s limited number of innings in AAA is just absurd.  That’s an extremely poor use of a finite resource.
There are some things that could be done outside of the box here as well.  Some of these guys can be used in tandem occasionally.  Especially early on with the guys with the limitations (like Maeda and Ober).  There seems to be this perception that if a certain process isn’t followed their arms will fall off.  

Does it really matter that much if he’s ready day 1 of the season?
They’re going to give Pagan and Lopez absurdly long leashes in high leverage roles again, effectively forfeiting about a dozen games and causing Buxton to slam into the wall chasing 115 mph rockets all over the field in 20 degree weather.
Just play Taylor until they get that out of their system.

I’d be shocked if we saw Lee this year unless there’s a serious injury to Correa or Miranda, or Miranda’s performance falls off the planet.
If someone is needed to play 1B/DH, there’s just so many guys there other than Miranda, and Julien would likely get the first call.
Have they been moving him off of SS at all yet?  

Cleveland is probably saying, “don’t overhype the Twins, who haven’t won a playoff game in two decades, folded like a cheap tent last year, have the most injury prone roster in the MLB by a mile, and who’s only dominant pitcher throws 4 innings a week.”

Cleveland is probably saying, “don’t overhype the Twins, who haven’t won a playoff game in two decades, folded like a cheap tent last year, have the most injury prone roster in the MLB by a mile, and who’s only dominant pitcher throws 4 innings a week.”

It seems there’s a fairly ridiculous semantics battle going on here in which both side are right and wrong, simultaneously.
I think it’s more accurate to say they’re relying on health….of some players who haven’t proven they can be healthy.  They’re banking on Buxton, Kirilloff, Polanco, and some combo of Mahle, Maeda, Gray, Ober to stay healthy in order to have a successful year.  I agree that’s not an ideal situation to put yourself in.  But, every team deals with injuries at some point.  It’s also largely not those guys creating the issue right now.  Gordon, Miranda, Winder, and Henriquez injuries aren’t going to derail the team.  I don’t think it’s that surprising or unexpected to see Buxton, Polanco, and Kirilloff limited in exhibits right now.  
On the flip side, saying “what are they supposed to do about it,” isn’t a valid defense.  They can help it.  They put themselves in the situation.  If you get thrown in jail for drunk driving, and someone criticizes you for being in jail, responding “what am I supposed to do about it, they won’t let me out,” doesn’t absolve you of making the decisions that put you there.  Frankly, identifying players that can stay in the field is part of the job.  There’s an element of luck there (Royce Lewis).  But, when you actively target and trade for a damaged player, you deserve criticism.
Also, “they’ve brought in a ton of depth,” doesn’t hold much water.  Sorry, but if that depth isn’t that good.  If the lineup consists of some utility castoffs from the Reds, Michael Taylor, etc., for significant stretches, the team will stink just like it did last year.  People lost their minds over the Gallo signing.  They did trade for Lopez, but they also gave up a Silver Slugger and batting champion.
I see a lot of issues on both sides of the table here.  My take:  they do deserve to be criticized if this season once again is derailed by injuries to the usual suspects (Buxton, Polanco, Mahle, Ober, Maeda, etc).  I’d even throw Correa in there, they aren’t exempt from criticism if they made a poor evaluation.  If those guys start going down, the replacement level depth (Farmer, Taylor, et all), isn’t saving the day.  But, we’re nowhere near that point yet.  The key guys look on track to start the season.