clone52

In what world is Joe Benson a "known commodity"? Seems like he has more question marks than Sweeney.

Interesting article. However, they don't consider that maybe the #4 and #5 guys come up with more runners on than the #3 guy because the old school says bat your best hitter #3. Here is what I would do if I were the Twins. It won't happen, but I think it should. Buxton, CF Dozier, 2B Park, DH Sano, RF Mauer, 1B Plouffe, 3B Rosario, LF Escobar, SS Suzuki, C The reason I'd do this is that it sounds like the biggest adjustment Park will need to make is seeing more breaking balls. Why not bat him in front of Sano, where he will see the most possible fastballs. Plus, this puts Mauer behind Sano, where he is likely to see runners on. He was a much better hitter with runners on than bases empty. There is no way they start Park in the 3 spot, though. According to that article, the lineup should be this. Joe Mauer, 1B Brian Dozier, 2B Trevor Plouffe, 3B Miguel Sano, RF Eduardo Escobar, SS Eddie Rosario, LF Park, DH Buxton, CF Suzuki, C If Buxton breaks out, swamp him and Mauer or something like that.

Why do you think Hawkins would be available cheap from the Jays? Why would they take him in the Tulo trade unless they wanted to use him to bolster their own bull pen.

Obviously Benoit would be a rental type player, but could be useful this year. Shields should be decent for 3 years and honestly, spending money on Shields would feel a whole lot better than spending money on Nolasco (although you know he'd probably be lights out in San Diego and finish 5th in the 2016 NL Cy Young voting). How about Benoit/Shields/Norris for Nolasco/whatever other prospects are needed.to get the deal done. If they could get Norris in return, I think we'd all feel better about the trade. How about Benoit/Shields/Norris for Nolasco/Fryer/Meyer/Stewart/Kepler? I guess if it were me, I'd go for it, but I'd understand if people didn't want to give up prospects like that. Would the Padres go for that? I don't know what positions they are looking for. I don't think losing Meyer, Stewart and Kepler would be a crippling blow to the future of the organization.

Molitor wasn't looking for the play to be overturned. He was saying that the ump should have asked the 3rd base up before calling it a strike. Later in the game, the ump nearly rung up Sano, but before he did, asked for help from the 1st base ump who correctly said it was a check swing and Sano got a walk. They still lost, but had Molitor not argued the first call, Sano would have been called out later in the game.

I actually think May's improvement started last year. In his final 7 starts for the Twins, his walk rate was just 2.2/9 innings.

It was hard to see them tacking on a $20M+ ace in any scenario. This move just moves the chances of that happening from almost 0 to even closer to 0.

Those are crazy prices to get someone who had an OPS on par with Eduardo Nunez and Chris Colabello last year.

I don't think the Twins should do much in free agency this offseason. I don't think Jon Lester is a good idea. He's probably going to demand a 7 or 8 year deal. Committing that much money on a pitcher into his late 30's is a bad idea. People complain about Mauer's contract. Lester's likely would look much worse a few years down the line. Greinke is got a 6/159 contract (26.5). Hamels has a 7/153 contract (21.8). Cliff Lee has basically a 6/144 (24). Sabathia has an 8/182 (22.8). Felix is 7/175 (25). All of them except Cliff Lee were younger than Lester when they signed those contracts. If they could get Lester for $25/per and only 4years, go for it, but I think its going to take $25/per and 7 or 8 years to do it. Maybe there are other free agent pitchers, but you are likely looking at a risk like Nolasco. Don't worry about CF this year. Perhaps buxton will be ready, or Schafer could fill the void until he is. If you can sign a good defense, decent hitter to play OF, that might be worth it, but nothing more than a 2 year contract. LF looks like a gaping hole right now, so maybe sign a short term fill in. However, they need to decide what is going on with Plouffe/Sano before they really go down that road. They might also consider what they want to do with Mauer/Vargas/Arcia. Could they move Mauer to LF, Vargas to 1B and Arcia to DH? In my opinion, they missed a golden opportunity to trade for David Price. They could have had him for 2014 and 2015, which would have been enough of a bridge to see if their minor league was going to produce quality starting pitchers. I also think they should make some trades for the missing pieces. They have a glut of guys who probably should end up at DH (Arcia, Vargas, Pinto). Could they package one of them with some minor league talent and get a youngish corner outfielder. As for starting pitching, I think they maybe should also look to trades. I know its never going to happen, but if they could get a guy like Garrett Richards, that would be awesome. He would be worth giving up a couple of top prospects.