shimrod

After watching this series I'm more than ready for the electronic balls and strikes. As the AI improves I'd suggest letting the computer do the rest of the officiating as well and fire those bums. Will never forget the time in Yankees stadium when the ball landed three feet fair and the umpire called it foul. Incompetent AND crooked, what a combination.

Great points about adding a right handed power bat to the outfield. Yet the Twins haven't done it. Is Rooker that much of a defensive liability?

"Somebody will pay Berrios way more than he is worth" I'm afraid it will be the Twins. I'm not as disappointed in Sano and Buxton as much as the Twin's treatment of both. Sano was kept at third well past the time it was clear he would always be a defensive liability - and let's not even mention the debacle in right field. If Sano had given any indication he'd prepare his body for a premium position it might have been different, but getting down under 300 lbs doesn't cut it. Buxton's handling has already been discussed.

"For a roster that doesn't look so good, look at Baltimore. Former Twin and offseason Orioles' minor league signing Tommy Milone will start the Orioles’ opener against Boston on Friday. Now that is BAD!" If there was ever a season to tank, this is it. Only 60 games and no fans anyway, so you might as well suck and suck hard. Of course it happens when the Twins are all in. I can think of a couple Twins teams when the covid 60 would have been a blessing.

"To shy away from this conversation is to contribute to the widespread apathy and complacency that has brought us to this tragic state." I was going to let this whole topic slide but this sentence from your post says if I don't comment I'm responsible. So here goes... Screw you and your moral preening. As the previous poster said, what am I specifically asked to do? Vote democrat? Minneapolis has been doing that for over 50 years, how's that working out for you? Am I supposed to quit my job so a minority can have it? Stroke a check to my black neighbor? Hold my kids out of college to open up a spot for some deserving young person of color? More to the point, exactly what are you doing besides running your mouth? A member of my family, an elderly woman, was murdered last month. Found beat to death in her looted home, car and cards missing. Two suspects in custody, with a DNA match, and they look a lot more like the Minneapolis victim than the murdering cop. You going to hold society responsible for that one too? Shall we have a conversation? I can assure you of one thing - I understand the race of two murdering thugs says nothing about anyone else I'll meet today, or tomorrow, or ever. I'm not holding a race, or a society, responsible for the actions of two individuals. It's a despicable act to say the actions of one depraved individual reflect on anyone who resembles him. Racism is alive and well, and you are a fine example. You want people to take a look in the mirror? You first.

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"Should they bolster the staff at some point? Absolutely. But at the very least, the FO can afford to be patient and not move out of desperation... at least not yet" Let's not wait until we're desperate...please. As for trade assets, I've seen two perspectives presented. One says there's no telling which prospects will turn out to be actual MLB talents, odds are against all of them, therefore the prospects should be retained. Another says we have a log jam at OF and rule 5 will prevent us from keeping everyone, trade prospects from positions of strength for MLB talent at positions of weakness (pitcher, infield D). I'm on board with the latter proposition. I agree it's difficult to tell who will transition from prospect to proven MLB player. However, the only way to find out is to promote them and see what happens. Barring multiple injuries we don't have room on the roster to try out everyone and see who makes it. The FO should make a decision who they want to keep and trade for pitching. I applaud the Donaldson acquisition. It would be a shame to squander it because the pitching doesn't hold up.

I've been highly critical of the FO, and I'd like to state now that even if this goes south on them, due to injury or other factors, this was the right move. It makes a statement about the teams future direction and will, in my opinion, make the next FA acquisition easier. I would also like to address the offseason/trade deadline pitching issue. It should be noted our staff will be weakest at the beginning of the year, due to suspension and rehab. Every game counts, and if we wait until the deadline it may be too late. Let's start the year with a bang.

I've been highly critical of this off-season. The Twins had plenty of cash available and failed to improve the team. If you're striking out in FA, however, this is a good plan B. The money's available, spend it. We may not be any better in 2020 but 2021 , 2022, and 2023 are looking up.

If the team can't find a FA or salary dump trade, absolutely extend Jose. If, that is, he's interested in sticking around. Jose strikes me as a competitor who wants to win it all. To date the FO has given no sign the organization is interested in trying. We seem happy to tread water and hope for a miraculous confluence of overachieving prospects to keep us in competition for the central title and another lottery ticket in the playoffs. As a famous Minnesotan once said, you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.

I believe the contention that the Twins offer for JD was not competitive. What to do next? We still need to improve the starting pitching. If we wind up with more than we need they're trade bait, that simple. Twins should target a salary dump pitcher that comes with minimal cost in prospects. Demonstrate the talk about spending to improve wasn't BS. Will they do this? Hell no, I think they were lying. I am coming to think the FO expected they'd never have to make good on that promise. By the time the "window opened" the base salary would be higher through arbitration and perhaps an extension or two. FO would point at that and say the impact spending window had passed. Unfortunately the team got ahead of the expected schedule. 101 wins later the fan base is expecting action to back up the talk. So spend the money on pitching. It's not too late to trade and there are teams looking to dump expensive pitchers. The pitchers may not play to the contract but even if they don't they're better than what we've already got. This team can and should be improved, it will only cost money, and at the end of the season the owners will still have made millions in profit. It may be a few millions less than desired but hey, if the team excels and goes deep in the playoffs it may even be a profit booster. Do it.

"but I am fine with not breaking the bank to sign a 34 y.o. 3rd baseman for 25 mil a year for 4 years." So am I. But only if that money is spent to improve the team somewhere else. If the alternative is ownership pocketing that money, screw it. Sign the man up. The FO needs to understand (and probably does), the more you upgrade the talent the higher the cost of improvement. Improving the bottom-feeding team we fielded in the 90's was easy. As the talent level rises the price of improvement grows, and it's not a linear function. The FO had multiple options to improve this team at the beginning of free agency. One by one we've seen those options go to other clubs while we sign cheap, aging and injured lottery tickets. Now we're in a position where improvement will cost us prospects instead of dollars, which is antithetical to the stated desire to obtain sustainable success through internal development. The FO said when the window opened they'd spend on impact talent. The failure to do so either marks a failure of the FO to perform or admission the FO was lying when they said they'd spend. Based upon the history of this team and the known proclivities of ownership I expect the latter explanation is correct.

Amazing to me the club won't sign top tier players to multi-year contracts because they're in their low to mid thirties. Might decline by the last year of the contract, you know. Meanwhile, we're happy to give multi-million dollar contracts to late thirties and forty year old vets (Cruz, Hill). Neither of whom are top tier talents. The excuses are just that, excuses. This club is cheap.

"It is frustrating to me when so many people seem to think that the only thing that matters all winter is how many dollars they are spending." That's not what we're saying. The point is, money is the one thing this team has in abundance that can be used to add talent without a negative impact to the rest of the team. Why trade prospects when you can spend money while keeping and developing said prospects? It's not a choice between spending in free agency OR internal development. The team can and should do both. As someone pointed out earlier, Cole didn't cost more than this team is spending on has-been's and injured veterans. Adding one or two top-tier FAs while aggressively promoting internal prospects seems preferable to buying a truck load of damaged goods hoping for a couple diamonds in the rough.

If I recall correctly the Twins were headed for contraction until a judge made opening the books to public scrutiny a condition for breaking their Metrodome lease. That brought the contraction move to a screeching halt. I expect a look at the books would have revealed that ownership was raking in a fat profit and the payroll limitations were completely self-inflicted. That was before the taxpayers built Target field. There is no excuse, none, for not spending to improve this team. The "impact" FAs are gone. It's time to trade for a salary dump starting pitcher. I'm all on board with hoarding prospects and internal development. If we take on enough salary we may even get prospects back. The Twins owe the fanbase an "impact" move and it doesn't have to cost anything in prospects or prohibit future growth. I don't begrudge ownership a return on their investment. I expect ownership receives a solid return on investment even if payroll spending goes substantially higher than current levels. And considering the taxpayer money provided to this franchise a substantial profit should be enough.

Romo was on the team at the end of the year. Just as with signing Pineda and Odo, that's simply staying even. Clippard remains our only improvement.

"and have added to the point they are better now than when the season ended." A few days ago you asked why there was so much pessimism about the Twins off-season. This may be where the disparity lies. I for one do not agree the Twins have improved the team (yet) this off-season. We replaced a decent catcher with a backup catcher. Added an aged, injured, pitcher who may or may not produce and is guaranteed to miss the first couple months. Swapped back-end starters (Gibson for Bailey). Added a reliever (reminiscent of last years Blake Parker signing). Where have we improved? The only thing we have going for us is the vaunted "payroll flexibility". Absent at least one more significant move we're no better off than last year and arguably worse.

Rose colored glasses indeed.

"All the talk of 'aggressive' pursuit of 'impact pitching' was, to this point, a blatant lie." Now you're catching on. To quote "Animal House" (minus the expletive), "you (screwed) up... you trusted us" Not the first time either. Remember how increased Target Field revenue would go to payroll? That was a good one.

They won't pay the rate for proven talent and they don't seem comfortable trading prospects. As a plan C this doesn't look bad. Sign all the damaged goods and hope that 1 or 2 pan out. We may still have a shot at contending for the central division title. This plan also maintains the organization's premier goal, "financial flexibility". We've learned this vaunted flexibility is far more likely to be diverted to the owner's bank accounts than used to add talent and wins, but that's the way ownership rolls. I expect they're still trying to recoup the small portion of the stadium that wasn't bankrolled by the taxpayers.

We entered the off-season anticipating the FO making moves to support a deep playoff run. Now we're supposed to be happy the Twins are still in contention for the division? Congratulations. I believe you've just set a new land-speed record for goalposts.

"What disappoints me is the idea that we were told the Twins will aggressively pursue impact pitching, and be aggressive with the payroll, when in reality it seemingly was blown smoke" I wouldn't call it blowing smoke. Speaking for myself, I'm aggressively pursuing the acquisition of a 2019 Range Rover as soon as I find someone who will sell it to me for less than 20K. That's not blowing smoke. Seriously, 2019 Range Rover for 20K I'll pay you straight cash. I'm in this to win.

"The consternation over the lack of free agent signings seems to be bigger than when we got swept in the first round." Maybe because it looks like we plan to run out the same team that got swept, minus several occasional contributors and a whole lot of salary. I'm beginning to think the front office signed on expecting to execute the complete tear down/rebuild only to be thwarted by on-field success. Every free agent they've signed has been added with the intention they'd build value and trade for prospects. That's not a bad strategy but it's hard to execute when the team insists on winning enough to keep the post-season in play. Perhaps this will be the year the FO gets to finally gut the team of veterans and acquire the minor league talent that will eventually lead the organization back to the promised land.

"The answer is money, right?" I expect that is so. We're saving up for the big free agent investment that, when all is said and done, we won't make. Not that management didn't try to spend that money; they just couldn't find anyone to take it. Look on the bright side, though. Money unspent at the end of the season goes into the owners pockets, never to be seen again by the team or fans. That will provide fodder for another long offseason of fan vs pocket protector commentary on these boards.

"Can we get rid of this perceived reputation?" That reputation didn't come from nowhere, it was earned. And when I say rookies and castoffs I'm not referring to the 2019 team. The Twins spent big on Mauer and what did they put around him? Little to nothing, certainly nothing in free agency. What assurance does a top free agent have that the owners won't revert to form? My point is that adding long-term assets via trade first may make it easier to convince potential free agents that the team is committed to winning, not simply being competitive enough to maintain ticket sales.