DJL44

But the league also got $100M extra from ESPN for the expanded playoffs, $85M for AppleTV+ and $30M from Peacock. That's $215M in yearly revenue that didn't exist a couple years ago.

Maybe this is how they make up the drop in broadcasting dollars - let the fans do play-by-play and auction it off to the highest bidder!

Counterpoint - cable TV is full of annoying talking head shows like you have proposed. ESPN runs those shows all day long. Young people obviously don't feel that programming is worth paying for. Why would they all of a sudden find it appealing during Twins broadcasts?

Not exactly true if you move him to the bullpen and only use him once through the lineup. Then you can deploy using the platoon advantage and leverage.

If that happens, I'd be looking for the exit. I'd prefer Provus and Gladden and I don't even like Gladden. Yuck.

For the love of god, quit having Gladden do commercials. Any voice actor would be better than Gladden's flat, uninterested delivery.

I like Nola better but the Twins will go with the guy they know. I think Snell is going to try to match Rodon's contract.

No, but he was worth $45M in 2023 so I like his chances to contribute $60M over the next 3 years.

If those are the prices I want Nola. The Twins should take Gray back for 3/$60M.

That would definitely not win the bidding.

I hope the Twins don't impose financial austerity to bring the payroll down to $125M. That would be a drop to 20th in MLB. It would be unfortunate to see management starve a contending team of resources.

Joe Ryan and Kenta Maeda had ERA around 4.3 and their combined W/L record was 17-18. The Twins would have been much worse off without them. Sale could be reasonably expected to give the 2024 Twins at least what they got from Maeda in 2023. A lefthanded Maeda would have been very useful for playoff matchups. Ray wouldn't be able to help until after the All-Star break but that means he would be available for the playoffs. Freeland can help even if he doesn't improve much. There will be plenty of innings to eat, unless you want to give those innings to Winder and Woods-Richardson. He may have the least upside but also costs the least. I would rather have Montgomery or Snell but they're going to want $100M to $120M free agent contracts [or higher, Carlos Rodon got 6 years $162M]. Snell will also cost a draft pick to sign.

There is a chance, for a few reasons. The Twins had one of the least lucrative local TV contracts to begin with, so that helps minimize the downside. Also, the Twins only get half the local TV revenue and the rest is shared with the league which cuts the downside (and the upside) in half. Diamond Sports was making more TV revenue than the contract cost them, just not enough to pay the debt service incurred when they spun off the company. A broadcast partner with less debt would still make money paying the Twins the same amount. The Twins are going to look to increase their TV audience next season even if they have to take a short term revenue hit. An increase in the TV audience has benefits for attendance, merchandise sales and the value of advertising sold inside the stadium.

There are more options. This list is not exhaustive. For example, Julio Urias is a great option if you only consider his stats on the back of the baseball card but he's facing a felony assault charge that makes it unlikely he will play baseball next season. These pitchers should be easy to acquire and look like they could actually help the Twins. I wouldn't expect any of these pitchers to be traded until after the free agent lefty starters find a new home.

Montgomery has been good in the playoffs and Rodriguez, despite having a ring, has not. That will change the market. Rodriguez is a solid lefthanded starter but he's also going to want to get paid. I don't think any of the 3 trade targets I suggested would cost much to acquire. Do people really think there will be a big market for Chris Sale?

I think he may benefit more from an organizational change. The Rockies pitching development is like the Terry Ryan era Twins.

It looks like $10M of his paycheck is deferred 15 years. That should make him even more attractive to the Twins. They would only have to pay him $17.5M next season and could put the rest in the bank for 15 years. That drops the salary cost by almost $3M. The Red Sox might hold onto Sale until the deadline to see if they can get more prospect value in return.

There are two lefty free agents who are better pitchers - Snell and Montgomery - but they'll have to outbid other teams for them. Chris Sale's peripherals were great last year: fastball velocity got up to 97 MPH and statcast likes his movement on the offspeed pitches. Being a flyball pitcher in Fenway doesn't complement him well.

It's simply to have the platoon advantage. There are certain lineups where a LHP matches up better than a RHP who may be better in general.

Adding a lefty in the rotation to replace Sonny Gray would give a different look that could especially come in handy during the playoffs. Here are three options who will not cost much to acquire. 1) Chris Sale - Boston has a new person at the top of the organization and I'm guessing they will want to overhaul the roster. Sale was effective in 2023 while throwing over 100 innings for the first time since 2019. He will be 35 years old in 2024 but the contract is just a one year $27.5M commitment with a $20M vesting option that will only vest if Sale has a great season. The Twins have the pitching depth to cover his inevitable trip to the injured list. 2) Robbie Ray - Like Sale, Robbie Ray offers Cy Young winner upside with injury risk downside. Ray had ligament replacement surgery and won't be available until the latter half of the 2024 season. The Mariners got along just fine without him last season and should be willing to offload the 3 years and $72M they have committed to his ages 32-34 seasons. Just like with Sale the Twins have depth to cover for Ray's injury rehab. If Ray pitches really well he's likely to opt out from his contract and it would be just a one year rental. 3) Kyle Freeland - The longtime Rockies starter turns 31 next season and has 3 years, $47M left on his contract. His strikeout rate has been dropping but he may be able to bounce back by leaving the thin air of Colorado and joining an organization that uses pitching analytics to improve performance. If not, he could continue his role as an innings eating 3/4 starter for the Twins.

Switch hitting means his bat will take longer to develop than if he was only working on one swing. It will take time to get him enough reps as a RHB to determine whether he's ready for the next level.

The AAA robot strike zone was noted to be narrower than the actual rule book zone. It didn't call strikes on the black of the plate. That probably hurt W-R. With his velocity he needs to live on the edge of the zone to be successful.

He's a great athlete with a bright future but right now he needs reps in AAA. If we see him before the All-Star break that would likely mean bad injury news for the players on the 40 man roster. The plan should be to add enough depth that he can continue to develop playing every day in the minors.

Wallner can actually hit an off-speed pitch. Gallo can't anymore.

I've got data. From the 1970s to the 2000s (a span of 40 seasons) CF and 3B have basically the same OPS+. 3-D Baseball: OPS by Position and Decade