mikelink45

The rotation will only improve if one or two of the rookies step up and force their way onto the starting rotation. Marwin Gonzalez is utility, he should stay at utility. As a starter Gonzalez is average - replacement level. We need a first baseman. The BP is not as solid as everyone wants to think - we need someone to rise to a level of dominance beside Rogers and Rogers cannot slip. If Buxton is down again the OF is poor. We are not close to a team that the Yankees will fear in the playoffs.

His name says it all - Price! At what price for a diminishing value. We dream, we wish, but what is the price and what is the value? The remaining value on Price could have bought us pitchers with more value on the FA market. As the resident contrarian I would not do the deal. We now have a full rotation and young pitchers in waiting. We missed our real chance, now we should deal with the reality of what we have.

This was really fun and it is a reminder of how hard it is even for those with amazing talent like Mr. Benson to make the jump to MLB. Some fascinating names and good stories.

I will hope that Hill at age 40 can recover to be what he was 2 and 3 years ago. An elbow injury at his age is a danger sign and if we are signing him to a Pineda like deal he is at the wrong end of an aging curve. I love what he did, but have concern about what he can do. Bailey was the butt of many jokes in Cincinnati after getting his too large contract. He has six WAR in 13 years. Career FIP 4.20, Career Whip 1.37. He has 3 good years out of 13. Last year was one of them so let's hope that he starts a new good trend. The A's did not keep him. Why? Bailey is not someone I am excited by, but In the end, if is fine if Hill and Bailey compete with the young pitchers we have and are not just handed the rotation spots.

Glad for the optimism, but Duffey and May do not present the level I would like to see in the get the game to Rogers scenario. Two old guys with wit, but not great stuff make it on the margin - Clippard and Romo - and a little slip makes them fail. There is a lot to be concerned about in this mix.

I think the Rosario trade is more wishful thinking since he has been listed as a trade candidate since the end of the season and so much is written about his lack of value. I do not see getting something of real value unless Shelton liked him and the Pirates are willing to shed Archer and his cost. I do not see the team trading Sano, he has been a fixture in Twins minds since he was a teen. If we can get anything for Cave we should do it with all the replacements lined up, but he would have to be paired with someone of much more value to get what we want. Astudillo has not value to anyone but the Twins fans who love his legend (me included). Arraez is my favorite Twin, but the Dodgers have stated that they need an on base guy this off season - and it will take a team that recognizes that value. Of course then we would need that too and we got rid of Schoop and I have no faith in Gordon. Finally I see Marwin listed as the fill in at 3B, 1B, LF and I know that is why we got him, but to be honest I did not think he was that good. OPS plus 94 (down from 146 and 101 the previous two years) and 1.6 WAR. I do not want him as a position regular. By the way our most attractive trade chip is Berrios and that is absolutely off the table, second might still be Buxton. I know we do not want to trade the BBs, but if we are looking at what is the most attractive - those are the two. They are followed by Kiriloff and Lewis, and Graterol.

I am seeing more and more articles on teams needing on base guys - what an amazing recognition! Well we installed that guy in mid season last year - I put Arraez as the glue, the on base, run scoring guy. He is the kind of batter that drives opponents crazy and he will be the MVP next year.

You think this or wish this?

I haven't thought about the DH in a long time, but now that Martinez is in the hall and Ortiz will be and Molitor was more DH that position I look at the Cruz figures and I am delighted to have him on the team, but where would these players have been in those old pre-DH days? Not in the HOF. I just read the Athletic article on Mariano Rivera in the excellent series on the top 100 players by Joe Posnanski and a number of quotes stand out," Mariano Rivera became the first player elected unanimously by the BBWAA into the Baseball Hall of Fame, and many people were horrified by that, making the fair point that Rivera’s 56.3 career WAR was roughly the same as non-Hall of Famers Dave Stieb, Jerry Koosman and Kevin Appier, and that he threw a thousand or so fewer innings than Ron Guidry, Stieb, Bret Saberhagen and numerous others whose careers were deemed too short to be Hall of Fame worthy." Mariano was a failed starter as so many relievers are yet we are starting to put in more relievers than starters. "None of this would have been an option in Tom Seaver’s time or Warren Spahn’s time or Satchel Paige’s time or Walter Johnson’s time. The closer role was invented just in time for Rivera, and Rivera’s one pitch was created just in time for the closer role." I wonder what Joe will writer about the DHs - and if any will make it in the top 100. They certainly would not for me, but then, neither would the relievers.

Cy Young, Roger Clemens (some more drugs and he is ready), Satchel Paige, Jim Kaat, Camilo Pascual - sign them and we are ready to win! Let's stop this bargain bin shopping - only Big Sexy made sense.

I am not sure why some of these posts show so much angst - give the sox credit - they have done some things to try and progress. The Twins have not and have lost some points for those we no longer have. Who can say how this will play out or what will happen before ST. If we have more competition maybe we will be be primed to do something when the off season comes around again.

We did not add by subtraction. Schoop and Cron may be replaceable but not sure who is doing the replacing. Gibson and Perez were certainly replaceable, but not sure by whom. It is always convenient to knock the players you never had - hey I heard Avila is even better than Castro But at this stage standing pat is actually above our current situation so I am not predicting 100+ for 2020. I am not even projecting 95+. I need to see the big moves that the team still has planned. Well that is my optimistic New years thoughts for today.

I will take him and I will open the Opener idea goes the way of the orange baseball - yes Charlie Finley got baseball to try this https://tht.fangraphs.com/tht-live/40th-anniversary-the-orange-baseball-experiment/ Closers, Opener, middle guys, Loogies, Roogies - just throw the damn ball and keep throwing until you wear out your arm and them bring in the next pitcher and do the same thing. I want Brusdar. He at least gives us hope for now and even more for the future.

Excellent - thanks to TD for a present every day. My best to all of you.

When does the Rosario trade happen? It has been the topic since November 1. Two months, not even a good rumor.

Have we given up on 2020 and 2021 and 2022? Is this because we are so frustrated with the off season?

They aren't good because they are in the AL east, where would the Twins be in that division. I like the fact that the Jays are trying to close the gap.

Here is a question for TD moderators - I have a posting above, but 0 views under the heading. Not possible.

That is fine, but I suspect the Twins would have been happy to experiment with him in the rotation. At least many of the TD writers would.

Hubert Humphrey coined the term "cold Omaha" when he said that the Twin Cities would be a Cold Omaha without professional sports. I believe the Blue Jays must have thought they did not want to be a Canadian Minnesota if they did not sign some players and make the club interesting. Well the Twins are interesting and last year they were winning. Now we do not have Schoop and we hope (and I expect) that Arraez will not regress. We do not have CJ Cron and we hope we have someone to replace his bat and glove and we do not have Juan Castro so we write about how Avila is actually better than Castro (are we dreaming?). Our pitching got us to the playoffs, but could not win a game in the playoffs. We did pull Berrios too soon, the bats did go quiet, and we had no one beyond Odorizzi to stop the bleeding except Mr Dobnak. So we have signed our top three pitchers (actually we have not given Berrios the extension he needs) and we let go the last two pitchers, but we have not signed anyone to take their place meaning that we expect our rookie/young guys to step in and fill the positions. Fine. The Blue Jays had two down years and they told their fans that the are going to do something about that. So they signed Ryu - a pitcher we were told would not want to leave the warm west coast. Does he know that Toronto is south only if you live in Canada? (Disclaimer - I know they are south of Minneapolis - https://www.ctvnews.ca/sports/who-s-the-north-portland-minneapolis-teams-question-raptors-claim-1.2168407) They also signed Travis Shaw (his name has appeared on some Twins posts too). They signed Tanner Roark, they traded for Chase Anderson (pitcher), they are taking a chance on Matt Shoemaker making a comeback and they signed Japanese pitcher Shun Namaguchi too. And they still have Ken Giles (forget about the Twins trade for him - it is not going to happen). And by the way, they have that young nucleaus - Bichette, Gurerro, and Biggio too (and I do not mean their fathers). I believe we have also talked about our window being now because of our young nucleus. What next? Oh, they are talking to the Red Sox about acquiring David Price who once pitched for the Jays.

I am a prospect guy. My only frustration with the free agent market is that the FO gave us false expectations. I am fine with 1B or 3B coming from the minor leagues and the same with the rotation spots. Who among those young players has the best chance, the highest upside, the most immediate impact? Time for a new set of essays.

Good article. Now the postings will include - I didn't want him - he isn't worth it - he has injury issues --- The Angels are interested in Boyd, the Blue Jays want Price, the Dodgers want Clevinger, the Yankees want Hader... This is just what we have. Let's start thinking about our minor league/rookies and start thinking more about what they can do.