Jham

Blackburn wasn't really a soft soft tosser. He averaged over 90 mph pretty much every season of his career. He'd sit low 90s and hit 94 with the rarely used 4 seamer.

His bat control seems other worldly. But I doubt he can keep it up without developing the power to consistently drive the ball. Which frequently happens at this point in a young career, often as a trade for some average.

I'm actually more concerned that the players aren't getting punished. Steroid use was a more rampant issue than advanced sign stealing. Those players got killed for it.

Uhh, those guys were punished. Big time. like 80 games. How many millions did that cost them?

He's a minor league free agent after this season already?

Also, the deeper/better the team, the more difficult it becomes to upgrade. All opportunities to do so should be taken seriously.

"Despite being in the bottom eighth percentile of hard-hit ball rate, opposing batters couldn’t do much with that hard contact, as Kintzler also posted a low exit velocity (19th percentile) and limited batters to a .265 wOBA that was only slightly lower than his .286 xwOBA." Start cast people, this makes it sound like Kintzler is among the worst in limiting hard contact but very good at limiting exit velocity? Doesn't make sense to me...

Well this is just terribly exciting news! With the lack of 3rd base prospects in the minors, this sures up depth and improves at the top. I admit I was losing faith. I have to think this moves the needle as far as future FA and trade targets go. The narrative has officially changed. Now let's hope it works out.

Sustainable winning isn't a new goal. It's an organizational philosophy that's been the mantra for years. Here's the issue, sustainable winning is hard and probably requires as much luck as winning a World Series. By definition, it requires abandoning the notion of "windows". It certainly means no punting on seasons or fire sales at the deadline. It's great to say that we need to build a rotation from within. Well what if those arms aren't there? Give up and wait? That's not sustainable winning. It's sustainable losing. Dodgers consistently flirt with the luxury tax threshold. Otherwise they probably would be going after the big free agents. The post money ball As have mostly caught a bad division. They're shrewd. The Cardinals play like they're trying to compete every year. They had opportunities to rebuild or hold course and have frequently made the playoffs despite odds saying they should sell or rebuild. The Royals are an awful example of going all in. They fell off because they had their Strasburg, but he died in a car accident. They had a multitude of injuries. Then, and I can't stress this enough, they decided to rebuild instead of retool. Whenever teams intentionally get worse to later get better, they risk setting off a series of chain reactions that gets them further away instead of closer.

Good analysis. I'd add a caveat the statement regarding OBP being lightyears more important. I've read articles suggesting that simply putting your best hitter period in that spot and getting them extra at bats over there course of a season is a better strategy for some teams.

I like Boyd's upside, personally. However, don't think the Tigers would trade him in the division. They're calling up 2018 first overall pick Casey Mize up this spring along with another potential stud. They'll likely hope to compete by the end of Boyds contract.

Well actually many practically screamed to add pitching LAST year. FO admitted they didn't know what they had. They said we had to wait and see what Sano and Buxton did (despite 2019 being THE year for the last 5 years). We found out that adding guys via trade wasn't that easy. Many screamed that we needed to add at the deadline or risk wasting an 11 game division lead (we lost that lead) and a 100 win season. We screamed that we should be adding pitching either way because of our expiring contracts and history with FA. Odorizzi accepted a QO that 30 other GMs would have offered. Meanwhile, Gonsalves walked for free, Mejia (top 100s) for free, Hilde free, Burdi free, Rodriguez free, Anderson a nickle. We're darn close to losing Romero, Alcala, and Gordon for nothing. They traded a power-hitting Cf for a pitcher that had recent arm fatigue so close to the deadline they didn't even have time to request a physical. We traded one of the best relievers in baseball period. He signed a reasonable extension. We traded for one of the oldest relievers in baseball. He signed an extension to stay here. We traded away a popular 3rd basement who signed, again with the team that showed they wanted him, for a third less than the utility man we replaced him with. Now we're offering $90 million for a worse third baseman. We could have traded for guys we intended to pursue in free agency and had an inside track on convincing them to stay. Instead we wonder why they want to play elsewhere and feel like our FO isn't committed to winning or paying fair contracts. This sounds like a rip on the current FO. But it's all the same stuff we've seen for 20 years. Santana complained. Hunter complained. Nathan. Dozier. Now Berrios and Buxton. Why reserve credit for the 100 win season? Because the FO has given no credit to the guys that actually went out and won 100 games. Those guys played there hearts out with tired arms, torn ligaments, pulled muscles, concussions... and we didn't get them the breath of fresh air at the deadline. Now we've added no one of significance in FA. We didn't retain Gibby (longest tenured Twin) while we brought back a guy who screwed us with a PED ban and other pitchers with worse profiles. We let 50 Hr walk like it's no big deal. We have thus far given no extensions. We're shopping the vocal leader of the team. And we wonder why no one wants to come here. For the same reasons fans are frustrated, the players have to be frustrated. Why continue playing hard? Playing hurt? What did the 100 wins get them? I mean, they're pros, but they're people first.

Probably because Odo had a career year that arguably trailed off towards his career marks, and Pineda was suspended, is suspended, and wasn't all that good early. Better than nothing. But even the front office isn't trying to sell that retaining those 2 is what they had in mind.

Not that my opinion matters, but Romero's best results have been in starts. I think he's a prime candidate for settling down and taking something off. Focus on location. Let some of that run become sink. Lateral run gets crushed in the big leagues.

Rosario is so close. A more mature approach for a full season gets him there. I'd sort of like to see him play first or third to gain some of his negative outfield war back and make room for Larnach. I think Larnach is close to breaking out. He's only recently started adding power to his game. I'm assuming the power breakthrough is coming and soon. Astudillo is another like Roasie who lacks approach. But has shown adjustments in his recent MiLB history, adding power. On the pitching side, if Thorpe gets his pre tj velocity back or improves command he could be the future top of the rotation guy he was once considered.