singlesoverwalks

Has anybody else brought up this bit of Twins history? https://www.espn.com/mlb/news/story?id=5421810 Capps: 1.9 WAR over 3 seasons for the Twins, then retirement. Ramos: 10.6 WAR over the next six seasons for the Nats, at a time when Joe Mauer had to move to first base. But this is the kind of move you make when ownership says go for it. The Twins did win the division that year. Let's hope they pull it off this year.

I don't mind dealing a high upside 18-year-old for major league help, but could they have found a better pitcher if they'd waited a day or two?

Simple question for you, Seth. When are they going to call up Kaelen Culpepper?

**** it, I'm going to put Either/Or on while watching the game tonight.

Old RD. Father of Ike Davis! I did not know that!

It's like the mid-'90s, except we didn't win the World Series in the last five years.

This was a good call when it was written, and now if you look at the list of remaining unsigned free agents it's just blindingly obvious. It must be done.

I get it. All of the available free agent first basemen are roughly the same, and we have to sign one of them, so just sign the cheapest of them. Makes sense to me.

I think I'm coming around to the view that they should spend maybe $7-10 million on a serviceable right handed hitter who will make them less vulnerable to lefty starting pitchers, like Goldschmidt or Ozuna, and spend the rest on relievers. Walker Jenkins or Emmanuel Rodriguez could catch fire this year. BTW, Rodriguez is left-handed. He should try first base.

Good call, let's do that. Martin is the exact opposite of the traditional first baseman (no power, good speed), but if he could handle the position then the Twins could spend their little smidgen of budget on the best bat they can find without worrying about whether the guy can play first. They could sign a DH like Ozuna or a corner outfielder so Larnach can DH.

Is there any hope that one of our glut of replacement-level outfielders learns first base?

I guess this (tendering Larnach) is a move you might make if you believe (1) you're unlikely to find a player worth keeping on the 40-man roster in the Rule 5 draft and (2) redundancy (AKA "depth") is actually a huge advantage in roster construction because of the frequency of injuries. And also, obviously, (3) you're not going to sign any free agents. So your theory is that when one of your slightly-above-replacement-level players goes down with injury, you're going to have the competitive advantage of not needing to call up a minor leaguer who's not yet ready for the big leagues. Another theory is that if you're going to be a bad team, you keep your good prospects in the minors for as long as possible so they can all come up in a big wave and give you a solid competitive window in some future season. They're "blocked," but really you're manipulating their service time. You stock up on replacement level players and hope one randomly has a career year so you can trade him at the deadline for more prospects. Again, this theory assumes you don't think the Rule 5 draft is worth it this year.

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Instant classic.

I think the front office makes decent decisions given their constraints, but the on-field management is a big problem. Not that we have a perfect roster, but we could have had that wildcard spot. In other words, we need a new manager.