mikelink45

Thanks for the look at Ben - I do enjoy the popeye comparison! It would be terrific he he is another Mauer type of player who moves up quickly. Especially with Catchers it is nice to see them advance before their legs give in to the squats that they live with. I am recovering from a replaced Knee right now and the physically therapy I do is a tough reminder of what we expect out of the knees. The Popeye arms are great, but the wear and tear of daily games - even just warm ups - is a career damaging inevitability.

YAWN I believe we need a daily reminder that the winter meetings have started because the amount of interesting things that have happened are not setting the hot stove league thermostat very high. Maybe they can retrade Stanton again or introduce him with a different jersey or may Ohtani can talk about hitting and pitching again and again....

I appreciate editors and moderators. This site has become a fun community where I like to dip in and sample the ideas and offerings of both writers and commentators and I appreciate the broad presentation styles and opportunities. ​Thank you to all the TD staff.

We have all heard the complaints (legitimate to me) about the use of names like Redskins, Indians, and Braves professional sports teams. I will not go into the reason these are offensive and the degrees of offensiveness attached to each. What I am interested in is where the Indians are when it comes to the ball field. The photo I have put up with this is from my relatives in WI. I found the following list of American Indian professional players - http://www.baseball-almanac.com/legendary/american_indian_baseball_players.shtml. Louis Sockalexis is the first, a Penobscot from Maine, who played in the 1897 – 1899 era and the massacre at Wounded Knee was in 1890 – perhaps the end of the major plains wars. The last acknowledge battle was 1914 in Utah – Ute/Mormon war. So imagine we have an Indian playing baseball in the major leagues and other Indians performing in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. How crazy is history. Louis was a track and football star like soon to be legend – Jim Thorpe, but his career was derailed by alcoholism, but his athletic feats were still prodigious and if racism did not mix with alcohol he might have been more than a footnote in our history. Erroneously he is credited with the Cleveland Indian name – he played for the Cleveland Spyders. As the following short biography describes he was certainly an influence on the name - http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/2b1aea0a Out of 48 American Indian Ballplayers 29 played by the year 1930. The most famous includes Jim Thorpe, a member of the Sac and Fox nations, who is often cited as the greatest athlete in American History. His greatest fame came when he won the decathlon and the, now defunct, pentathlon in the same Olympics (1912) and recognized as the world’s greatest athlete. He was a star in the Carlisle Indian School where he played football at the highest level as a running back, kicker, and defensive back. He is in the Football hall of fame. His baseball career was less well documented and sad. He lost his Olympic metals for playing professional baseball for the New York Giants and because he did not understand the connection that existed at that time he had given up his amateur status and lost his Olympic medals because of those seasons (which included a world series). As a very poor man from a destitute family he was simply earning the money he needed to survive. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Thorpe The baseball Hall of Fame includes another famous Indian – Albert (Chief) Bender – the pitcher that Connie Mack said he wanted on the mound for any and all important games. He pitched for the Philadelphia Athletics and distinguished himself as a true Ace. Bender was from the village of Crow Wing, near Brainerd, MN and a member of the Ojibwe nation. Chief Meyers (notice the nickname pattern) was a Cahuilla Indian from CA and played 10 years for the New York Giants (principally) with a nice but not Hall of fame career. Looking through the remainder of the list there are some very recognizable names who are listed as American Indian – Pepper Martin of the Cardinal Gashouse Gang, Rudy York, who starred for the Tigers, Cal McLish, Choctawm who I got to see pitch for the Indians, and recently – Kyle Lohse, Nomlaki Wintun, Jacoby Ellsbury, Navajo, and Joba Chamberlain, Winnebago. Today’s players are seldom acknowledged by baseball for their heritage, it is an important part of who they are. Again, I have no idea what percent their heritage is to make this list. But the point I would like to make is that we have lost a lot of potential on the Indian Reservations due to lots of errors in our cultural wars and from a baseball perspective we have made a mistake by not investing in the reservations to develop new players for the future. We have clinics in the Caribbean, and in South America, but nothing on the major reservations. With the money generated by the logos and teams that carry the Indian culture as a part of their corporate structure, shouldn’t they pay a royalty to the tribes, maybe through scholarships or baseball schools. Out multi-racial baseball landscape needs to include all races and this is an opportunity that has been overlooked for too long.

I understand that and I would not say it is unimportant, but we have no metrics to measure the moves of FO personnel. Right now we know a lot has changed and we hope it is a good change, but when will we know? Until recently there were only 4 GMs in the HOF and I suspect it is because we do not know how to really measure their performance.http://a.espncdn.com/mlb/columns/bp/1399247.html Scheurholtz and Duquette have now joined them, but why? There is no clearcut tool - longevity, winning teams, owners with big checkbooks????????????

Granite's low ranking confuses me. I do not see him as a star, but I do see him as a good major league player. I really liked your breakdowns - good ways to look at the prospects. I would say your tendency to lower your rankings for bullpen pitchers has been justified by all the injuries and set backs that have hit the propects over the last few years. If I could go back to Burdi and Reed postings from 2-3 years ago it would be expected that they are already contributing in a big way. But evaluating relief pitchers is hampered by the fact that many successful relievers began with resumes that include failed starter. If a pitcher gets that tag when they are still young it severly limits their growth options. Now - how about your list and Seth's list side by side?

Wait and see. This is the cosmetic phase. New paint, new parts, but same old car. I have nothing against the new FO, I just have a real hesitancy to jump on the band wagon until I see how their moves work out and more important, what their next moves will be. The on-the-field product is still the TR team.

The only problem that counts is when we have too many quality starting pitchers for the five major league slots.

What would we do without Mauer questions? He is a nice player who used to be a great player, but I do not believe that sentiment is going to stir our new front office. When I see someone suggest Hosmer I just see the same discussions - just a change of name. Neither one is a good signing for the future. Rooker is the only 1B/DH option I am interested in and I could see him making it to MLB at some time next year.

Nothing to lose - it makes me wonder how many players go through our system each year. Without TD most would go without an acknowledgment, but in reality the number that is in the system just looking for a moment in the sun is staggering. My best answer 250 - 300 https://www.quora.com/How-many-baseball-players-are-there-in-a-Major-League-Baseball-farm-system That means there are 10+ players for every major league roster spot.

Not disappointed. As I have said before I do not like chasing players - I am an old fashioned develop him ourselves. If he turns out to be what is expected there will be another chance when he becomes a free agent. In the meantime, get a coach - maybe our new extra pitching coach, to go and spend time with Romero and Gonsalves and get them primed for Spring Training and beyond. Invest in our own players.

His weakness in the bullpen, besides his obvious lack of speed, is the fact that he gives up a lot of home runs. It is time to move on. It has been our reality for a long time that big stars in any sport do not see Minnesota as a destination (Hockey should be the exception) and that makes development more important that any other consideration at this time since we still have a good minor league crop.

Nice comments - I too would listen while on my bike and often when I am just walking the state forest roads around my home. The chatter from a baseball game is soothing.

With all your options why would it matter to you? We all find a way to connect and I grew up in Minneapolis and I know how hard it is to realize that life is different in the rest of the state where I now live.

I am not underestimating how good he is. I do not know how good he is. I hope he is terrific because I like good baseball, but I do not like signing him like this.

As a hold out against the Free Agent and Ohtani sweepstakes I want to enter one support document. https://www.cheatsheet.com/sports/27-worst-free-agent-signings-mlb-history.html/?a=viewall There was a wise executive in everyone of these signings who thought they were really smart. There is repetition in this, but some new names too and lots of pitchers: https://www.thesportster.com/baseball/top-20-worst-free-agent-signings-in-mlb-history/ Yes there have been some good signings - like Erv Santana, but for one Erv we have a Nolasco, Hughes, Correia, Milone, and Pelfrey. Develop your talent! And trade when it will make a real difference for a championship.

That is true, but it does not want me to spend it. They will spend it and the $3 million for a year, then there will begin the next contracts and extensions and free agency. Nothing buys a real future except for the minor leagues and development. When we prove that we are real world series contenders then is the time like a Verlander style acquisition. Houston was smart and patient and they created a wonderful model.

Plus the posting money to the club - a big commitment of resources

I think that were will be many - they are so starved for pitchers they will overpay for Arrieta too. He has had a nice peak, but I do not see him finishing well with any multi-year contract. Here are the pitchers who are free agents - http://www.spotrac.com/mlb/free-agents/starting-pitcher/ But I also believe Ohtani is also going to get way too much money because the narrative outweighs the actual proof of his talent level. We have seen a lot of "great" Japanese players and Korean Players signed over the years. And finally I will say on the trade market that Cole and Odorizzi will command more than they should despite their off years. This is crazy money and a feeding frenzy.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/blog/archives/10091.htmlhttps://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2014/1/12/5299086/home-run-strikeout-rate-correlationCount me among the fans who do not accept the strikeouts. ​It is true that our pitchers might be behind the curve, but certainly Sano, as a hitter, is not. ​When Nolan Ryan was the strikeout king batters were trying not to strikeout. Today batters give away their at bats in search of one glorious home run - boring. I loved Altuve moving around the bases, creating excitement, or Byron Buxton upsetting the pitcher, catcher and defenders because of his speed. Here is a USA today article on the more HRs and More Ks - https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2017/10/01/home-runs-strikeouts-hit-highs-complete-games-bunts-sink/106222140/ - want to create more action, move the game along and perhaps shorten playing time - put the ball in play! Of course it is a longer game - it takes longer for the big swinger to amass all those strikes, strut and step out and try to look like they were robbed. One analysis looked at the correlation between hitting home runs and striking out - What we do not have is a true measure of comparative values. Do all those worthless swings or standing and watching the catcher catch accomplish anything? Is it possible to strike out less than the number of homeruns you hit? Check out this listing. These are true hitters: https://www.baseball-reference.com/blog/archives/10091.html A homerun can be exciting, but if we are just going to watch nine inning home run derby's I have something better to do. Give me the era of Maury Wills and Rickey Henderson. Make the game exciting. And if the K rate for pitchers goes down, fine. It will be a reflection of pitching and not just the fact that the batters have no control.

Thanks for stoking the hot stove since the Twins are doing very little to get it warm. Lots of comments, no action, yet. I may be the only one on this page who does not want the Twins to pursue the two sure-to-be overpaid free agent pitchers. I look at Seth's top prospects and see two inexpensive, young, potentially long term starters who should be worked in this year and two more that could be ready the year after. Let them work us forward. Our team moved forward without great pitching so lets teach out pitchers to use their own abilities to the max. We now have an additional pitching consultant to go with a pitching coach who will soon be joined by a minor league pitching coach so evidently we are setting up either a bureaucracy or a system to get the most of our young pitchers so keep the overpaid FA signings to a minimum and spend on our own talent. After posting this I found this report in Bleacher with lots of ideas for dumping salaries. I look at the list and the players and the idea that strikes me is - why not avoid the bad contract to begin with? Yes there can be injuries and other problems that arise, but in the long run, investing in youth has a much better return on investment than any of the FA finds that are already in their thirties. Report http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2746082-salary-dumping-szn-trade-ideas-for-mlbs-worst-contracts?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=mlb The one repeated question for Cody is who is at 3B in 2020. I guess it must be Escobar! But I am guessing it will be Polanco.

I feel like I keep putting up the same post, but the reality is, we have two arms that are cheaper, younger and ready - forget the free agent fishing trip and concentrate on getting our own players into the lineup.

I understand what you are saying, but KFAN and the other FM stations are good for the cities, not the state. CCO has that clear channel and it works, plus they used to have a great state network. I am assuming you might be in the cities so they are not essential to your listening pleasure, but I still do not know who those other stations are.

As one who would never vote for Edgar I can say that if Ortiz does not make it in I am fine, but if he does, he certainly is more deserving than Edgar. Ortiz had that special quality that caused fear in the opposition and confidence in his team. I know that current metrics do not measure clutch, but if they did they would call it the Ortiz factor. ​Edgar - nice hitter, not much else. Sorry you are not HOF.

Rooker looks like the real option for filling the void if Mauer leaves and he would give us a good and typical 1B bat. I am not as excited about Ben at catcher but pleased to know there are other options coming along too.