mikelink45

I am not going back to his Astros days, but I am looking at last year and this and I think he was there as a one size fits all bandaid last year and he filled in well. He was not a star and he probably got to many ABs, but this year with Donaldson and Sano at the corners and lots of corner OFs his need and therefore his value dropped. SS and CF are the weakest positions and they are his weakest too. I do not expect to see him in 2021.

I will take celestino. I like a true center field outfielder. The bat will come but speed and defense are already there.

I have no expectations. Just wait and see.

Our concentration on power has crossed over the line - it is only one attribute of a batter's arsenal and I am delighted that we have a person to control the plate, get singles and doubles, take walks and be on base for the Bombas. Luis - keep being true to the form that has gotten you to the bigs.

I like it. The point in the game where we start going from reliever to reliever to reliever is boring. The to make the change, the 8 warmup pitches - yuck. It reminds of basketball and the foul game that makes the last two minutes last 10 and I hate basketball.

I think it is time to let the season play out. Trying to make a case that our team, once again, was the smartest and made the best move for the best player that we did not know was the best player makes me want some Spring training stories.

There is no depth here if the rookies are not in line for any substantial promotion if Sano has health issues. Ehire is great for 2b/SS. Marwin is an average batter with the kind off flexibility we no longer need. With Sano healthy we are in great position - and for now that is all we need to know

I was tempted to just say yes to your article because I thought what you brought up was the best argument for not making this trade. Absolutely no reason to do this. Just because we have broken some old habits doesn't mean that we should continue to bring in more and more spare parts

Good article. I wish I was smart enough to be able to debate things like this but you're so far ahead of me and analysis I just know that I'm very happy to see how Littell has consistently seen as stock rise. For me May is almost a question mark and the sense that he seems to have been around for way too long and his recent seasons have been fun but none of this is the dominating pitcher we anticipated. The way that pitching staffs and their roles have become so fluid in the last few years I no longer think of closers and set up men. Important thing is good strong arms and lots of them since they're going to pitch every day and nobody can handle that pace.

No. I just can't get excited about any of this. MLB needs to attract people to the regular season and the competition there. Artificial competitions like this just seem to miss what we want to sell that the sport itself is a beautiful thing. What baseball always has going against it is that it takes more than one game to settle a championship. Football lines up and in three weekends or off to the super bowl and everybody had a chance to get into those playoffs and work their way through the system. While in baseball we keep trying to extend playoffs so we don't have a one game play in, we don't want to have five game series and so it goes off over the same number of weeks but every day and storylines get stale. Even the regular season has been hit with the same problem. Yes the length of game is an issue and needs to be changed I don't know how they'll do it but I would like to see it, however 154 games for whatever reason seem to work so well and 162 began the era of too many games. With so many of the games not counting for anything. To then take the All-Star break and make a series of games that do not really relate to what baseball is delivers the message that maybe baseball isn't that interesting or good. Thanks for the effort but I can't go with this

I know we have some good young pitchers coming up but I would not sell out on burials 3 years is nice I would be better with 5 so if not this year then next year I really think it's important and the longer we wait the more difficult it is to sign them for that

I think it's a great idea if they can improve how they do it. It's a way to highlight the gophers and they need to have respect from the fans. I know that losing 16 to 0 doesn't make that look great but the way that it was handled and if they make it into a fun event with a little more mixing of players and fans it can be a great way to kick off both team seasons or they can do it a little later if they want so that the gophers don't have to go on and all night flight to play their game tomorrow.

Nice summary that brought in lots of factors from the comments during the ratings. I would love to see Lewis regain the production that makes all of us feel good about keeping him number 1. The same with Wander who I have no expectations for at this time. I would like him to perform to his prospect level and I sure hope Cavaco lives up to this very high rating.

It is fun to see how us readers respond to your choices. I understand Lewis having all those intangibles, but for many of us who are not as invested as you are Lewis just has not given us the kind of year that inspires. It is like the discussion on Wander Javier who I would not have on the list at all. They are at different levels, but those of you who are closer to the situation give us articles to challenge our perspectives and I appreciate that.

Like so many of the posts I am just not as high on Lewis as I once was. I would have Balazovic number one and Duran number two and Jeffers three because I have a bias towards those I think will have the most impact on the Twins. Larnach and Kiriloff profile as DH based on the descriptions, but one should take Eddie's place when the team deems him too expensive. Will Lewis take Polanco's place? How much better is his glove? He does not show the same bat ability. Will he take Arraez place? Arraez, if he keeps his rookie momentum showed that the management really liked what he can do. Will he take Buxton's place? Seems more like Celestino if CF. I am making a case for trade bait or a longer MiBL than I had expected in previous years.

Nicely done - I like Gardy! I would put him first, Smalley Second, and Koskie third. But where is Tovar? He would be my personal pick.

Nicely done. I have no arguments about Kiriloff and Larnach - I do not see how they fit in the roster plans. I guess one will replace Rosario when he gets too expensive, but 1B is now Sano and I do not see putting Sano at DH in place of Cruz any time soon. Balazovic is a worthwhile number one for me since I see him in the 2021 rotation. Lewis has fallen in my eyes and I am not sure where he squeezes into the roster in the next two years unless someone is traded. I would love to see Thorpe prove them right - I still dream of a home grown pitching staff.

Nice review - nothing to argue with here, although I think Detroit might pass KC. Its hard to get passionate about opinions at the bottom.

Sunday, Manfred described the Commissioner’s Trophy, the statue awarded to each season’s champion, as a “piece of metal.” Could this errant statement put him in line to be another victim of the scandal? We have had some good ones like A. Bartlett Giamatti, Fay Vincent, and Peter Ueberroth and we have a mix of mediocre and bad. Here is a summary going to the first commissioner - Landis. Which brought to mind a question I have long had about sports commissioners - what IQ test do they have to pass? The World Series trophy is the Commissioners Trophy with a flag for each city in the league. It is like the Lombardi Trophy ( a classier name) and the Stanley Cup. Players careers are focused on winning this trophy but Bleacher Report gave us this insight as he joins Crane, Hinch, and a host of others with foot in their mouth disease, ""In an effort to make a rhetorical point, I referred to the World Series trophy in a disrespectful way," he said. "... It was a mistake to say what I said." "In an interview with ESPN's Karl Ravech earlier this week, Manfred called the Commissioner's Trophy a "piece of metal" when talking about the possibility of stripping the Houston Astros of their 2017 World Series title amid the ongoing fallout from their sign-stealing scandal." He is supposed to be above that - right? Bowie Kuhn has been the MLB lawyer before becoming the commissioner and was named defendant in the Flood vs Kuhn antitrust lawsuit. He barred Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays for appearing at a Casino event - even though they did not gamble. Kuhn refused Atlanta's desire to sit Aaron for a three game series so he could break the record at home - Kuhn was not in attendance when Aaron did hit 715. He is in the HOF. Bud Selig hated to get booed so after the tie all star game where he made the right decision he immediately made the wrong one and said the winner of the All Star Game would be the league that got home field advantage in the World Series. He also worked with Mr Pohlad on something called contraction! You might remember his uneven handling of PEDs, yet he is in the HOF and the players are not. Lieutenant General Eckert was the fourth commissioner of baseball - he had not seen a baseball game in ten years when he was chosen. He refused to call games when JFK and MLK were assassinated and he was fired because the owners did not think he would handle a possible strike. Writers called him the unknown soldier. Ford Frick was the third commissioner and had been a sportswriter. "Writer Jerome Holtzman described Frick's term as commissioner by saying that he "sailed a smooth course and seldom descended from his throne. When asked why he absented himself from the many battles below, he often said, 'It's a league matter.'... In retrospect, he understood his role. He was a caretaker, not a czar."" He was named to the HOF (which he helped found) and is the name on the annual writers award. Happy Chandler, working to avoid a strike and to maintain the reserve clause worked with the Pirates - Chandler worked with Pirates officials. Part of Chandler's intervention included organizing a team of replacement players as a contingency plan; the team would have included Honus Wagner, then 72. The defections to the Mexican league and the threat of a strike by the Pirates prompted owners to form an advisory committee, chaired by Larry MacPhail, to suggest needed changes that would calm the discontent among the players. The commissioner then stripped the language that said racial bias was the only reason for segregation in the game. He is in the HOF Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis oversaw the Black Socks scandal, ""Regardless of the verdict of juries," the commissioner said in a statement, "no player that throws a ball game, no player that entertains proposals or promises to throw a game, no player that sits in a conference with a bunch of crooked players and gamblers where the ways and means of throwing games are discussed, and does not promptly tell his club about it, will ever again play professional baseball." Overall his reputation is on the Mt Rushmore of commissioners, but he could have risen even higher if he had led the way to integration since his father was a union fighter at Kenesaw Mountain. Yes - he is in the HOF.

If we have one of the regular OF injured for an extended time it would not be hard to add him to the 40 man. It is time at 22 he is at that age when the really good ones move up quickly or they lose their status. Of course his history of injuries has set him back and is also somewhat worrisome.

Good article - I would like to see the prospects who slot in to each position and whether they are close to replacing someone on the 40 man. For example if one of our starting OF goes down I would want to see Kiriloff take the position (except CF). CF is a real problem if Buxton has more downtime because even Kepler is not really acceptable out there. Is our minor league CF prospect close enough to push if needed? I think 2B is very strong - Arraez has plenty of backup in our utility guys and Gordon and Lewis, but SS if Lewis is not ready to come in is our real weakness and is the most important of the middle positions. Catcher is strong with the three we have and the two prospects.

In the discussions so far there is both Kepler and Rosario in front of him, but in reality your next batter - Kiriloff is truly the one in front of him. Since none of these players is a CF it comes down to the corners, especially now that Sano is at 1B. This also emphasizes that Rooker is the next to follow Raley in a trade since he has too many young bats in his way and no place to play. Even if Cruz moves on and DH opens I do not see them filling it with a young player. Since I have a different sense of what makes a prospect rank high I would also say that I would have three pitchers ahead of him on the list, but I know the TD system so I am fine with what you are doing and I am enjoying it. Good luck Larnach.

I thought you would have more of a profile on Balazovic. We have four good arms here. If 50% of them shine I will be delighted. I like to see good arms used early in their development rather that waiting until after TJ hits. Look at what Atlanta did this year.

I see we are on opposite sides in this philosophy. I wonder if TD will ever have dislikes as an option. You start with a Perez and he gets you off to a good start and then you are hesitant to pull the plus which allows him to erase all the benefit. Give me potential!

I loved that review. Thanks for the work. I think that we can only come to one conclusion in this summary. We lost. Now we have to hope we have turned a corner and have better judgment - the evaluation is years away.