mikelink45

How fun - I loved the Liberace segment - it was so out of the spirit of the evening and thus a good laugh. Wish Bob Allison had been on longer. But overall a wonderful fun video and I am so thankful that you posted it for all of us to enjoy

I do not deny that we have quality at the top, but I do not see quality below. 1B has a young starter in Sano, and Rooker, Larnach, Kiriloff behind him - that is strength of position which also covers the corner OF positions, but catcher has excellent MLB strength and some fill in strength, but as we look beyond Rortvedt I do not have any faith.

I would like to agree with the statements above, but it is not a position of strength until we see 2021. Does Garver come back?Does Jeffers have a sophomore slump?Is the turtle really a viable option or has his time passed?Why have so many clubs passed on Tomas?Can Rortvedt hit? Can anyone below Tomas on the chart hit? We have catchers, but at this time all the cream is at the top.

I am not in on this rumor but it does allow me to think about Arraez. If his injuries are not career threatening he is essential. It is his bat skills, contact, on base that are what the HR/K/BB league are desperate for. That is why LeMahieu is in such demand, it is why Brantley has so many suitors. We have and need to keep this valuable asset.

Cody, relax. New Years is still 12 days away. Spring training - who knows. It is fun to speculate, it is fun to predict, but lets not get too upset - yet.

David you have too much time, too little to do. Come up north, I have a couple extra chain saws. We can thin the forest, get some fresh air, and let the winter settle in before going crazy with Twins wins predictions.

Three reasons to not believe. He had a season way out of line with his career - beautiful, but not necessarily repeatable.He is a catcher and they are very inconsistent - event the HOF kinds.He did not burst onto the scene until he was 27 and had his out of this world season when he was 28 and blew up when he was 29. What makes you think he is a great player?I hope he comes back and is really good, but if he isn't I don't think we should be surprised.

I blame the Twins for how they handled Romero. He was a starter and then he was a reliever and he never got himself grounded again. It does not always work to change a player's position - see Sano and RF.

I love Arraez, but bad knees at 2B? I hope it is minor and fixable, but I have had three knee operations and they just do not feel the same after the recovery. I hope for the best because I really enjoy seeing him at the plate.

This is a really good thought article and Boras who has never been one of my favorites is right. Manfred for the last year has been the enemy. Does he know what a fan is? Does he understand the loss in all those minor league towns that he just cut? He is ruthless (and actually that has been the history of MLB ownership) and when the Pandemic is over I wonder how many casual fans will be gone. I am not against speeding up the game - I think that is essential, but there is a total lack of dialogue with players and fans.

I am still curious to see what the team saw in Sabato. The minor league backups are really weak right now, but 1B is just too easy for position switches and in addition to Kiriloff and Rooker there is Larnach.

I believe I can sum up my feelings with YUCK - it is hard to cover all the positions in your MiLB depth and SS and 3B are two we are really weak in.

Sorry owners - I have no sympathy for you. And Manfred - I know you will get in the HOF like other pathetic leaders - think Bud Selig, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, and Bowie Kuhn, but like them you are a toadie of management and not a leader of the sport or fans. You are trying to cut salaries like you did when you ruined the Federal League and immediately dropped salaries. I have no sympathy for you. I do not relate to the bloated salaries of todays players, but better them than you. Manfred is not a baseball man, he is a voice for the owners pocket books. No one made you sign the big contracts - you did that to yourself, but guess what, you could afford them. If you want to reach out to the fans don't eliminate the minor league teams, pay the minor leaguers, make minor leagues the home of hope and extend the fan base. But you have too much gluttony to do that. Actually you can pay scouts, ground keepers and others who are on the fringe of the game. Or eliminate the reserve clause entirely. Let all players be free agents no matter when their contracts expire. Owners can sell the team, teams can sell the players - ask Curt Flood about what the players can do. The players tried with the Players League in 1890 because the owners were so heavy handed. In 1910 the Western League - a minor league decided to challenge MLB. I love the idea, but the strength was with the big money in MLB. The black player was ignored until culture finally rejected the premise, then MLB raided the Negro Leagues and left them to die from talent drain. There was so much more that could have been done to actually merge. The first Players strike was in 1912 - in Detroit. Cobb and the others who led this got no hearing for their grievances. In 1946 the Mexican League absorbed players and tried to challenge the league. They were broken. Only the really great players were allowed back and others just disappeared. This is the reason that Miller made the HOF. He was the first to challenge and change MLB. Since then we have been threatened with contraction - thanks Pohlads and like all the other challenges the owners wield the check book. So be careful if you are listening to the reasons that MLB has for its stance. Be careful where your sympathy lies. Manfred is not someone I respect and the organization of billionaires - the owners of professional sports are not the ones I respect or would have sympathy with. I guess the question of our age is - why MLB? Why not NFL, NBA, NHL?

With all the shifts, how do we define the SS position now? Half the time the 3B must now be in the SS position. It would have been better without the box of slash lines (just kidding) - that was really depressing. Lewis is the only one and lets hope this was just a down year and his fall stats represent the real player. I am not excited about Javier and Cavaco - I need to see some production before they make the prospect list for me. And for some reason I think we will see Gordon on the team this year.

Could be, but I think we have to see how the Twins use him this year - a little fall league play is not enough to convince me of that. It looked more like they were preparing him for the Marwin Gonzalez role.

I think the potential superstars are the ones already tested in MLB last year and we have to hope others develop to that same level, but I agree that after Larnach, Lewis they look less like star players.

It is DH - not a position player. There are many options, including in house. Use the money for the critical positions - pitcher, pitcher, pitcher.

For the same reason I would not give Cruz two years I do not want a pitcher who is 34 and will be 35 during the season. Look at his numbers https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/darviyu01.shtml, He has one great year since 2014 and that was the shortened season we just had. Pitchers don't age that well and he has had injury/health issues frequently. Despite the fact that many do not like wins (although wins do count in the standings) he has had 6,4,1,6 and then last year a great year he won 8 in the shortened season. It is like Bauer - one great season and everyone wants to pay him millions.