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Steve Lein

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Everything posted by Steve Lein

  1. Steve Lein
    Other than Lewis ending up a competent enough shortstop to play there in the majors (he has plenty of time to change that outlook for me), I like the look of this for the most part. I still believe in Gordon at shortstop, not sure why so many don't. I think he'll be a better defender there than Polanco has been, so I'd like the step forward. While that may be "average" instead of "below average," it's still an improvement.
  2. Steve Lein
    I want Darvish, and it's not just because he's the best pitcher available. All you're giving up is money, which I think the Twins have available to do and quite frankly if they're ever going to do it, now is the time because of their current situation. If they have to fall back on Lance Lynn and Alex Cobb, they're going to spend less money but they're also going to lose a draft pick and the $1MIL or so of bonus pool money to add more future talent. Doing this hurts a team like the Twins more, as they have to rely on their farm system to keep churning out talent. It's a perfect storm to go after Darvish if you ask me.
  3. Steve Lein
    Spycake echoes my thoughts. This post is great information, but those are still the results you're hoping for, not what can be expected in the point of his career where Duke is. I don't have much of a problem with it outside of what I've already said. There's not a years or big $ commitment. You don't lose anything if it doesn't work out, and it might work out as you outline. I hope it does. Not a bad gamble. But it's just a gamble on a middle reliever instead of aiming higher like I think they should, which is an elite setup man that could bump everyone else down a notch to improve across the board.
  4. Steve Lein
    I get all of this. But all of this is based on hope, too. That's why the price is what it is. I don't want a playoff team trying to improve themselves based on this hope. I want the (theoretical) surer (or higher upside) thing. Addison Reed, Brandon Morrow, Mike Minor, Juan Nicasio, Wade Davis, Bryan Shaw, Jake McGee as you mentioned, Steve Cishek, Greg Holland, Brandon Kintzler, Tommy Hunter, Pat Neshek... There's that list off the top of my head going into free agency and probably just as many others I would have put higher up my list than a guy like Duke. Money is the last thing they should be worrying about right now. Now, if they do manage to lure Darvish, this signing won't even register for me. That's why it's "meh." it only has the hope that it works as the best possible case you've outlined. My best-case scenario is he replaces Matt Belisle's role before Kintzler was traded, and I've been saying Belisle isn't worth bringing back because they can do better. So...the Twins should do better.
  5. Steve Lein
    I think I'm with most people here when I say, don't worry about beating the beat writers on a "game story." I don't think that's what you're necessarily delivering, and what you do is different than what they will find from those beat writers. That's why it was successful and works in this environment. Don't imitate, innovate like you already have!
  6. Steve Lein
    Could be savvy. Could be Breslow-like. What I don't like is the targeting of a guy where there's a reason he's cheap. Maybe that's all they can do at this point, but I vote "meh" on the process to arrive at him given what else is available.
  7. Steve Lein
    I think this is what is confusing some. He could only be added to Pittsburgh's 40-man if they traded him before the Rule 5 roster cutoff date (November 20th). After that, I'm pretty sure you can only add players not currently in an organization (e.g.: Free Agents) and under other rostering rules to the 40-man. Burdi was still a Twins player under contract until selected in Rule 5 draft, and he was not protected, thus a team trading for him after November 20th could not put him on the 40-man. I think you would see a lot more trades for guys left unprotected if you could do this - there really wouldn't be a point to having a Rule 5 draft. I could be wrong on parts of this, but I'm farily certain on the after the cutoff stuff.
  8. Steve Lein
    The thing on those trades is the 40-man status of players changing sides doesn't change to my knowledge (after the cutoff date for Rule 5). Free agents are added to 40-man because they sign MLB contracts.
  9. Steve Lein
    I'm talking about if they traded him before the Rule 5 draft. 40-man rosters are locked weeks before in relation to that. That's why a trade happened now. Any type of trade discussion like that would have had to be happening in early November.
  10. Steve Lein
    I don't think he could be placed on the 40-man after such a move to protect him from Rule 5.
  11. Steve Lein
    Knew it was coming in reference to Burdi, which is why I would have had him in my "for sure" adds to 40-man group. Think it's pretty easy for the Phillies or whoever to keep him given his injury status. The way I look at it, if Kinley is the guy the Twins selected, who would you rather have? Burdi or him? It's unequivocally Burdi if you ask me (heck, I'd rather still have Bard too). I think this is a mark in the negative column for the FO. Burdi is going to close games if he can stay healthy. That's the big question though. How healthy will he be? There was enough on his medical report for the Braves to say no on a trade for him. Edit: Twins must have good presence in Dominican Winter League. Kinley's numbers there thus far: 2-0, 0.00 ERA, 18.0 IP, 4 H's, 8 BB, 29 K's, 0.67 WHIP.
  12. Steve Lein
    Interesting signing. Is it weird I see him as a better fit in bullpen when he is back?
  13. Steve Lein
    No, he's in triple-A next year. I know he had a bad 2nd half. But we seem to forget how good his first half was when everyone was on board saying "yeah he's definitely our #1 prospect" mid-summer.
  14. Steve Lein
    What type of player do you think fill-in corner outfielders or 4th outfielders are? The way I look at it, the Twins "nothing but rain drops" outfield is all center fielder quality. Varying degrees obviously, but that's what they are. It's nice to have a 4th OF-er who is also CF above average, but they already have that and corners are way easier to fill. Granite is a 4th outfielder for the Twins. Look at who the Twins have had in that role recently: Sam Fuld, Logan Schafer, Jordan Schafer, Danny Santana, Shane Robinson, Darin Mastroianni, Clete Thomas... Bench outfielders and corner guys are definitely a dime-a-dozen. You're worrying too much about this and if he's a guy Pittsburgh is targeting, I say good for them and him.
  15. Steve Lein
    While you hope you don't have to rely on them in CF, they are plenty capable to fill in. There are literally numerous corner OF options. On the 40-man: Grossman, Garver, Adrianza. In the minors: LaMonte Wade, Edgar Corcino. Then they are a dime a dozen on FA market. Granite should not hold anything up.
  16. Steve Lein
    Um, Rosario and Kepler say hello. They can handle it. Plenty of guys who can fill in a corner.
  17. Steve Lein
    If that would be the actual cost for Cole, I'm doing that trade. While a lot of people love Archer and his stuff, I'd honestly rather have Cole for what the price will be, and I've always thought of Archer as an enigma. To me he has the weirdest, non-competitive demeanor on the mound I've ever seen. Now, it's not like that has prevented him from striking a bunch of guys out and dominating at times, but something is just "off" there for me. Also, Archer's career WAR vs. Cole's WAR is only 11.9 to 11.4 (bref), and Cole has pitched one less season. Archer put up 4.3 in 2015 and Cole 4.5 that same season. They both gave up a bunch of HR's last year, but before that Cole was very good at keeping the ball in the yard while Archer's been giving them up at that rate 2+ seasons. What I'm saying is, I don't think Archer is far and away better than Cole to justify the price difference in a trade that it seems it's going to require. My first choice is sign Yu Darvish, but trading for Cole would be my second option and I don't see why they couldn't do both if they really wanted. Trading for Archer is a distant option for me and I realize I may be the minority on that.
  18. Steve Lein
    Yeah, except this doesn't happen because there is the MLB Players Association .
  19. Steve Lein
    Yeah, I would not sign Mauer to any "extension" as there are rules on what his minimum salary could be. You have to let him become a FA first at this point. Would love to see Darvish brought in, I don't care about the dead money there might be at the end. He moves the needle significantly.
  20. Steve Lein
    If you ask me, the Angels overpaid for Maitan after all this. Maitan was not anything close to good this year in his first season and won't be a top 50, let alone top 100 guy anymore. He was #77 on Baseball America, #32 on MLB.com, and #100 on Baseball Prospectus going into 2017.
  21. Steve Lein
    I'll show you where this narrative comes from: That 6-run start you're talking about? That was preceded by a 7-start stretch where he went 5+ innings each game, 6+ in 6 of them, 7 innings in 2, and had quality starts in 5. His final start of the season after that game was also of the quality variety. He lowered his ERA in those games from 5.40 to 4.37 in 50.1 innings before they transitioned him, including that 6-run start you mentioned (he took the mound in that game at 4.03). He absolutely was pitching well at the time the move to the bullpen was made if you ask me.
  22. Steve Lein
    Yup, I get all that. He's likely still my #1 prospect because of all that, but it's going to take a lot of stuff I haven't heard about him at SS to make me believe he'll ever play there. I especially don't like hearing that he uses a "crow-hop" to make throws there, as an example (though I'm sure that will get taught out of him). Gordon, at a minimum, will be as good as Polanco defensively at SS. I think he will be better. I also think he's going to be a .300 hitter in the majors. If he moves to 2B, I don't think his value goes down much. I think he's got a good middle-infielder profile with his bat.
  23. Steve Lein
    Yup, I was saying if you're trading Dozier to the Dodgers and Bellinger was available, he was the guy you wanted, not the pitchers. If you're afraid of the concerns on defense for Gordon, you're really going to dislike them for Lewis...
  24. Steve Lein
    I think they just shut him down. Probably minor injury if one at all. They were already limiting him to 5 innings in several starts before then.
  25. Steve Lein
    I'm sad that Park didn't work out. I never really understood the signing at the time, but I liked the possibilities. Even got his jersey for my birthday (in May) after he came out hot with a bunch of #ParkBangs. You all can blame me.
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