mikelink45

Thanks to Sconnie I now know who Phil is and now that I know I can only ask, who cares what he thinks?

I am sorry, but I do not know who Phil Mackey is so his opinion does not mean any more than the other posters on this site. I have no opinion - Keuchel vs Ryu vs Bumgartner - just sign one! If it is Rooker or Raley I am not sure I am as pleased as the FO. I would prefer Kiriloff or Larnach for their upside.

I just hope the young pitchers use his suspension to demonstrate that they are ready for the big stage.

An excellent article, however, I am not convinced. If it is a wash that is fine, but nothing convinces me that Castro is not slightly better at this stage. I know we all work to make the Twins players look better on the home front than they might be seen nationally. So I reserve judgment, but without a lot of concern.

Why are we arguing about what we should sign and what we should pay. Sign the player who is willing to sign with us and will make it better. Do not bother me with the strange moneys that these contracts have in them. Just make next year better than this year.

Just sign someone!

Just sign him. He is a vet, he has pride and experience and those were AL teams he whipped in the WS. Let's not give the team an excuse. It is time to sign someone.

At one time I was excited by a back up catcher named Garver. But more important - the Twins platooned Castro who was a shared number one catcher rather than a backup. It is not something that I am against - I just want to have more news that lifts the team. So far we have 3/5th of the same rotation, the same BP, we no longer have Schoop and Cron and Castro. I am looking for something to happen.

I believe it is time to go with Graterol, Thorpe, Dobnak, etc. Let's push them and see what we get.

How the metrics twist and turn

The question is not if we are better than yesterday, but better than last season. Sorry, still not excited. I am fine with it, but don't expect a bouquet

I would love it if Dobnak and Thorpe make him expendable when he finishes his suspension

Good one! And the last 2/5th???

"It's not a perfect comp, as Castro has more power and is the better defender, but Avila will provide the Twins with a veteran presence who is adept at getting on base." So are we getting better? The rotation is about to be lead by Berrios, Oddorizzi, Pineda, ?,? Is that better? Cron is gone, no answer is provided yet. Has the BP improved? Now we have a second catcher that is good, but not quite as good as the last one. So where is the forward momentum? Time for a big one.

We better hope the rookies step up in 2020 - we are about to sign Pineda according to the TD article which gives us 3/5th of the same staff we had last year. Where is the upside? How did we get better - right now it is up to the rookies.

Whoopee - we now have three fifth of the rotation that was not good enough to get us a win in the playoffs. The Yankees must be sweating a possible rematch. By the way did I say this was not my favorite signing of the off season? I do not hate Pineda, nor do I forgive all the PED indiscretions. With Agents, coaches, FO, unions, etc to get caught and let your team down like Pineda did last year is not something I just want to forget and forgive.

I join others with regret that we continue to move down the the next pitcher on the list essays. If I was more motivated I would go back and see how many "sign this pitcher" essays have been on the site since Thanksgiving. But the essence of so many comments is - why would they come here, not what they would sign for. I do not think that it is money that is winning. If you or your girlfriend are from Philadelphia you want to go home, if you have had your career in warm cities or are tired of being in cold and windy Chicago then you look to places like Atlanta and LA. It is unfortunate that we do not have a WAR for location - where would we rank? Yankees have bad weather, but they have mystique and money. So how can we evaluate our location - situation? What are the qualities that players want? History Yes it matters if you are the Yankees, Dodgers, Red Sox. Our Minnesota history is now 59 years - not quite the Cincinnati Reds (1869) or Atlanta dating to 1876 with stops in Boston and Milwaukee, or the Cubs who started out as the White Stockings (that's true) in 1870. But if we accept the Senators (Nationals) as our historic heritage goes back to the 1872 Olympics so we are in the discussion, however, even Twins Daily finds it hard to talk about the Senators/Nationals/Olympics/Blue Legs/Statesmen. Winning records and legends New York Yankees (40 appearances in WS) wins this, but the Dodgers (20) aren't far behind. They may be lacking a classic win like they had with Kirk Gibson in the last couple decades, but they are still always in the battle. The Giants (20) have classic history from both NY and SF in World Series lore. The Cardinals are often considered to be the Yankees of the west and NL and they have 19 appearances. The Twins have 6 with their Washington DC history doubling the appearances. We rank number 14 there. Climate Yes it is nice to pitch those April and May games in above zero temps with no snow on the ground. Unfortunately we have only the Brewers and Detroit to compare with Minneapolis/St Paul in this category and they are both south of us. Only Seattle is further north and they have an ocean to warm them. Club House Culture It is nice to play with your buddies even though the Sal Bando, Reggie Jackson, Vida Blue A's showed that championships aren't always for the most compatible troops and Leo Durocher said - Nice Guys finish Last. But in today's game the Twins are putting together a really nice atmosphere that should build up its WAR and the millennials should love it. A really nice place to live In my mind there is no place better to live than Minnesota, Lakes, Rivers, Parks, shopping, sports, education. Not everyone will see that - some care about income tax despite their fortunes and we cannot compete with a state that has no tax - seven US states don't impose state income tax — Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming. Now I would not trade because I like what our tax buys us, but I am not an agent. So where does that leave us? Our location/team WAR has to be in the 40 percentile by this list so then it is MONEY. Can we buy loyalty?

Is this the news we have been waiting for? Is this the December move?

Fascinating to hear the arguments. I am just the basic - sign all possible arms - guy. Then at the end of ST put the best arms in the rotation (and now games with the call up time). Win! Pitch well, let our bats hit like they can, and get to the next round.

And the question is - why not us? Although by sheer number that is a lot of arms the Angels gave up if they are any good.

What is to lose? Sign those arms - all of them you can.

It is fun to write about, but only pitching gets us past the first round and it is getting scarce. However, if Cleveland can fill in Plutko and Civale and get great pitching, why can't we get out young arms to shine?

I am fine if we can get Bumgartner - I will consider it s success. I know that players choose location as much as money after a certain point. Phillie winter is not pleasant, but the trouble is not many SoCal guys like the snow the way I do and this is part of the problem with both Bumgartner and Ryu - look where they currently play. The Angels would be their best choice. Lets get the heart warming Dobnak and Smeltzer stories ready for 2020.

It is always disappointing to read these national articles and not see the Twins at least listed in the possibilities.

I would take Jeter and Walker, but otherwise not inspired. The Hall of very good fills quickly and the other three fit the profile, but for real excellence I have very limited HOF preferences. In fact, if I could I would go through the HOF and remove 1/3rd.