Dman

Agreed. I cannot deny that it has some effect. We all feel better when we have chemistry with someone else. You tend to feel more comfortable, more like being able to be yourself. Not worried about people judging you etc. Chemistry helps and after reading some articles I am convinced that Joe Maddon is a master psychologist and I personally think he does have an influence on his players. How much is hard to say but I think his impact could actually be significant. We all operate better when we feel a part of team and that team becomes extended family via chemistry. Maybe in the end you are slightly more focused etc. but it is very hard to say how much that helps. The other thing we need to keep in mind is a what is the baseline here. Are Twins completely devoid of chemistry or just few notches below. Anyway I agree it is interesting that they think they can quantify it.

That was a nice balanced article, well done. I am probably in the minority but I tend to agree with Perkins on this one. Winning creates chemistry. The only teams talked about are teams that have been consistently winning so there is a selection bias right there and again ultimately there is no quantifiable proof that chemistry does anything to enhance skills that players already have. If a team has more chemistry are they going to hit more home runs? I believe Baltimore hit the most home runs last year and they didn't even make the playoffs. What was there team chemistry like? IMO chemistry is too much perception and not enough scientific evidence.

Although I liked the signing I wasn't a huge Hughes fan. I kind of felt that despite the stats showing otherwise that maybe he had plateaued as a pitcher. Thought he might be a head case and not do that well even out of Yankee stadium. From what I have seen from him this spring it looks like he is going to prove me wrong. I hope he has a great year. The fans need it.

I have to agree with Anthony for the most part. Kind of nice that he isn't glossing over it. There are some guys that are performing pretty well at least at the plate. CC is batting 400, I think Herman and Pinto are batting in the high 300's. It is interesting to me that the young guys seem to be doing so much better at the plate than the more experienced guys. I know it is only spring training but you would think they could go up blind folded and do better than one or two hits. Pretty much every poster on this board thought that offense was going to be problematic this year. I am not sure what Mr. Anthony expected?

It seems like he throws too straight. There doesn't seem to be much movement on the ball when he throws it and guys were hitting him hard. I never expected Worely to be an ace but I also never expected him to be this bad. I think it would be best if he caught on with another team because the negative energy he has going here seems like too much to overcome.

Wow. That is some impressive wisdom and understanding. Should help him keep a healthy perspective throughout his life. I wish him and the hundred other dreamers well.

Those are some difficult arguments to overcome. Happy players do make for a happy clubhouse. I have always wanted to see what the Twins have in EE, but in the end it probably doesn't matter because someone else will be playing shortstop when it really matters. I don't think it would hurt to see what EE can bring as we already know what Florimon can and cannot do.

Yeah I am an Aiken fan too. Granted he has to show he has the stuff to go there but I really like his upside. A young big power lefty would be nice to have. Lots of good choices at 5 though. Will be interesting what the Twins do there.

Nice to hear Alex looks really good this spring. I wonder how long the Twins will be able to keep him in AAA before it becomes obvious they need to make a spot for him on the MLB team?

The Rays might be interested as KC is cheep, only has one year left on his contract and he has MLB experience. Sounds like the Rays MO. Maybe the Twins have to throw in May as well to get what they want. The Rays know how to get the most out of pitchers. Wouldn't be surprised if they turned May into something. A trade is possible but unlikely as there are better options out there. The Twins might be very motivated partners so who knows.

I hope these guys stay healthy and dominate. I am looking forward to the minor league season even more than the Twins this year. I hope the depth just keeps rolling in and moving up.

Again I agree. I like the diverse opinions and that people disagree. It makes me think harder about why I think what I think or feel what I feel. Sometimes I completely change my point of view after various facts, opinions and arguments are made. The diverse opinions are what make this site so much fun. My only complaint is that we seem to end up down the payroll road and repeating opinions and arguments over and over again. This is a great site and it is moderated well and that allows for very intelligent discussion about Twins baseball. That is why you have me hooked. Perfect moderation is impossible and my only complaint so far has been the 52% and that is just a personal bias of mine that I am trying reel in.

I think you are right. I didn't mind people projecting possible salary scenario's for Santana in fact it is fun to speculate and the different ideas that people come up with are interesting. I didn't mind people using salary as justified or non justified for the deal. Maybe I am thin skinned but when it moves to 52% and the Twins can afford anyone they want then it just seems to devolve into how the organization is run and the sides get chosen and I get disappointed. At this point I guess I should just stop reading but you never know when someone might actually have something cool to say and you end up reading through the chaff to find a nugget or two. For the most part I think the Mods do a fantastic job on this site. I have had my own moments of nearly crossing or crossing the line and it is good to get reminded to step back. We are all passionate about the Twins and I get that. I guess I am just not someone who is good at seeing the same thing discussed over and over and over again. I will try and be more tolerant.

That's some good stuff there.

Yes I think it needs to work both ways. Avoiding comments about payroll, lower or higher would help. The discussion of lower payroll needs to stop because it only incites the higher payroll crowd. Too many threads get hi-jacked in 52% arguments. I see both sides, I really do, but it just gets tiring when every post goes there. Everyone who reads here regularly knows each entrenched sides viewpoint. There is nothing new being discussed just a rehash of the same old arguments. I agree that you can choose to see this issue any way you like but if you must discuss it, do it in its own thread. Don't let it creep into every discussion and derail the post. Then those who don't want to rehash 52% can stay away.

The Twins didn't have to do anything. They had a great contract for Perkins as it was. The risk of the new deal is greater for them than it is for Perkins as they have no idea what his value will be in those later years. Values for players are established in arbitration all the time. The better the players performance then the higher the value of the contract. Granted this isn't arbitration but the concept is similar. When a players value far exceeds his monetary compensation contracts get extended all the time to change the imbalance. I think that was done for Ryan Howard and others as well. I believe Mike Trout will be another one. If my theory is correct (and I have no proof what so ever that is) Perkins worked with the Twins on the earlier contract so that it would work for the closer and setup role. Neither side knew he would be an All Star closer at the time. Perkins worked well with them in negotiations then and so they were more amenable to reciprocate when his value changed. In short Perkins sold himself short to remain with the Twins and the Twins were willing to take on more risk to even that out. Tit for tat if you will. To your further point why not pay for performance etc. for everyone on the team? That is why the Perkins deal is sold the way it is. He is a great closer we want to lock him up long term etc, etc. Personally I don't believe that. Read between the lines, however, and this is about rectifying a performance to value imbalance. No team consistently pays for proportionate performance to monetary value. The players don't like it and teams don't like it. The stars have to align and in this case they did.

I think that is why you have to look beyond the numbers for this to make sense. He worked with the Twins on his initial contract and gave them a favorable salary because he wanted to be here. He is an All Star closer and makes less than half what several premier closer's make. The Twins needed to do something to bring his monetary value more in line with his value to the team and the market. This is more about mutual respect than a cold hard deal about team control. I applaud the Twins for being human beings and fair about this rather than just cold hard business. It is far too rare that we see organizations do the right thing. That is why this deal makes sense IMO.

My conspiracy theory is that when the Twins first signed Perkins for the closer role they didn't know if he could cut it so the contract was workable for both the setup and closer role. At the time I don't think the Twins thought he would be an All Star closer. The extension eases some of the under payment for Perkins talent. If he remains the quality closer he is then 8 Million per year is still a hometown discount. Extending also pretty much gets Perkins away from trade talk and he wants to be in Minnesota. We should be happy he wants to be here. I think this was just the right thing to do.

My thinking is he is currently grossly under paid for what he does and this is a way to garauntee him more money and give him more security in case his arm does fail him down the line. Both sides take some risk here. Perkins likely could have made more not giving his team a hometown discount and the Twins risk he may be injured beyond repair sometime later in the contract. If both sides agree to those risks it is a win, win. Forget about trading him now. It won't happen because if he is pitching well the Twins have a great deal and won't want to give that away. If he is pitching poorly no one will want him anyway. He is virtually un-tradeable until later in the contract IMO.

I don't see the Braves wanting Correia. There are other teams they could trade with that would have better options. I think the Twins will be lucky if they can trade Correia at the deadline. He looks like a solid number 5 starter and most teams can find a guy close to that in AAA. He needs a sub 4.00 ERA to find trade value and I don't know if he can do that.

Based on this quote I would say the Twins seem to think so. “Just the things the Twins said to me. Pretty candid things. The positive things they had to say. The opportunities they said they were going to give me. And, I definitely saw a chance to get up to the big leagues this year provided I play well."

Lots of guys don't hit MLB pitching well when they first come up. Hunter wasn't great when he came up, It took Cuddyer a while to get there as well and David Ortiz they finally gave up on him and you know the story there. There are likely hundreds if not thousands of similar examples. That is why teams typically give guys X number of at bats before deciding they cannot do it. I don't think Collabello is there yet.

I really like Beresford as well. He is plucky, a tough out and from what I can tell highly competitive. I really think he can be a solid player for the Twins. The problem is he doesn't have a ton of power and isn't a terribly fast runner. So I think his potential versus the potential of other players isn't going to be as high. Utility is probably his best bet for any team he might play for unless he develops more power. Thing is he is one of those players I would not bet against. He seems to always do better than people expect. I hope he turns out to be a great second baseman.

I have to say the 52% argument is getting to be a bit of a tired line. Yep the Twins have money to burn, the owner won't use profits from this year and move them forward to future years. We can afford pretty much any free agent we want and they could spend up to their self imposed cap to provide us with a better team. I've got that and it's been on most every post involving free agents on this board. Thing is the spending is out of our control and this topic of 52% has been beaten to death. I prefer the analysis of the players we have, or possible trades etc to reading about the 52% argument every day. I for one could do without hearing about it for the rest of the year.

Yeah I have got to agree with you. The fact that he is betting on himself with a one year deal says a lot. It says he personally doesn't feel he will have a down year next year and that his arm is fine and will be in the future. He picked an NL team to give himself the best chance to lower the ERA etc. So any concerns myself and or other teams had he certainly doesn't share or he would have taken the years instead. I hope it works out for him but it is a long season and you are only a pitch away from injury. I also think that if the Twins really wanted him they could have made this work. I have to believe that 3 years for 40 Million would have gotten it done and even if he needed a little bit more than that it wouldn't have hurt them as long as they kept him to three years. They have Correa and Willingham coming off the books the end of this year so they could still get players next year if they wanted to. You have to admit there is known risk with signing Santana. He has had up and down years and there are questions about the UCL. It seems a lot of teams were not that interested in taking on those risks for the money he would like to make.