Mike Sixel

Also, the Trump administration has removed those pesky rules requiring infrastructure and other items like this be built to withstand floods and other problems. So, it's cheaper now! And will be cheaper to rebuild after the next flood too!

I have no idea what the right idea is, I just hope they aren't falling into the one size fits all problems of the past.....which I doubt they are.

Ya, the models are so bias!

two years will haunt them? how?

which names? I posted the whole list. There are like 3 good pitchers.

agreed on experience to Berrios helping. Though they had to let Gimenez rest some time. Giving him 2 days is probably a good idea. Any update on how Castro is doing?

Well, the everyone else group includes some pretty bad players, and only 23 teams have qualified SS.....as I said, 2 fWAR will be around the 10th best this year! Only 16 teams have a guy that will for sure reach 1.0 WAR this year......

six dollars? Man, life is cheaper there....

good point. I bet he hits FA, but will be a tough sign.

fair. to answer your other question, I would have used him in relief, like some other teams do with some of their pitchers, that year.

.260 would be the 12 highest BA of any qualified SS in MLB right now. I don't think people realize how low BA are these days..... top 10 fWAR for SS will be around 2.0 this year. I think people underestimate Gordon's relative value.....in context of MLB SS because there are 5-7 really, really good ones, and everyone else.

So, 1 time in how many years? Do we think shutting him down that many years ago, or not, matters now?

current FA list, starting with guys I have no interest in at all. Anibal Sanchez (34) — $16MM club option with a $5MM buyout-----hahahahaha Bartolo Colon (45)---and you think Verlander is old? Brett Anderson (30)----hahahahahaha CC Sabathia (37)-----hahahahaha Chris Sale (29) — $12.5MM club option with a $1MM buyout----not gonna be a FA Chris Tillman (30)----one of the worst pitchers in the game this year Chris Young (39) — $8MM mutual option with a $1.5MM buyout----just a bit old Clay Buchholz (33)----is he even playing? Clayton Richard (34)----hahahahaha Derek Holland (31)----hahahahahaha Doug Fister (34)-----hahahahahaha Francisco Liriano (34)----hahahaha Gio Gonzalez (32) – $12MM club option with $500K buyout; vests with 180 innings pitched in 2017----won’t be a FA Hector Santiago (30)-----kind of have my doubts Ian Kennedy (33) — Can opt out of the remaining three years, $43MM on his contract-----hahahahaha Jaime Garcia (31)-----no thanks Jered Weaver (35)----hahahahaha Jesse Chavez (34)---too old John Danks (33)---hahahahahaha John Lackey (39)----hahahaha Johnny Cueto (32) — Can opt out of the remaining four years, $84MM on his contract—no chance he opts out now Jordan Lyles (27)----ya, no, not good Jorge De La Rosa (37)------hahahahahaha Josh Tomlin (33) — $3MM club option with a $750K buyout----ya, so they either keep him, or he’s not worth $3MM Madison Bumgarner (28) — $12MM club option with a $1.5M buyout---not going to be free agent Marco Estrada (34)----older, not great….why bother? Martin Perez (27) — $6MM club option with a $2.45MM buyout------well, at that price, they either keep him or he’s bad, really bad Matt Cain (33) — $21MM club option with a $7.5MM buyout----when was he last good? Matt Garza (34) — $13MM vesting option/$5MM club option (can become $1MM club option based on DL time)---no way Matt Moore (29) — $9MM club option with a $1MM buyout---no thanks. Just not good. Michael Pineda (29)----out with TJ surgery Miguel Gonzalez (34)----kind of old Nathan Eovaldi (28) — $2MM club option---if he’s good, won’t they keep him for that? R.A. Dickey (43) — $8MM club option with $500K buyout----------no chance he’s good Ricky Nolasco (35) — $13MM club option with a $1MM buyout---hahahahahaha Scott Feldman (35)----hahahahaha Trevor Cahill (30)-----not interested at all. Is anyone? Ubaldo Jimenez (34)----too old Wei-Yin Chen (32) — Can opt out of the remaining three years, $52MM on his contract---injured, why would he opt out? Yovani Gallardo (32) — $13MM club option with a $2MM buyout----if he’s good, they’ll keep him Masahiro Tanaka (29) — Can opt out of the remaining three years, $67MM on his contract----so, if he opts out of that, you are paying him more and the Yankees aren’t buying him back? These guys might be worth signing. that's it. Alex Cobb (30)----possibly worth signing? Andrew Cashner (31)----possibly worth signing Jake Arrieta (32)----not young, not aging well, going to be costly, how good is he now? Jason Vargas (35)----kinda old, you MIGHT go 1 year Jhoulys Chacin (30)-----possibly worth signing, but he’s never had 1 good year all year Lance Lynn (31)----I like this possibility. I’d explore this. Most likely future Twin. Tyler Chatwood (28)---interesting candidate, would need to look at underlying data, but won’t CO re-sign him? Yu Darvish (31)-----probably the top choice here. I can’t see the Twins winning the bidding for the top player Jeremy Hellickson (31)----one good year. A tease. Is he actually any good? Tyson Ross (31)-----flyer back from injury that wasn’t great before Wade Miley (31) — $12MM club option with a $500K buyout---not a believer, but I can see why some might be tempted

And the nats haven't been close since......and I was on the angst side for sure.

agreed, also nice and respectful. thanks!

agreed.

Every year, every FA, people rightly point out the reasons not to sign every player. At some point, you have to take risks. There really are few WISE FA contracts. OTOH, sitting around waiting for all your prospects doesn't work either. So, sure, spend wisely. But they are a playoff team right now, do we know they will be next year? Things have broken right, I'd prefer they leap on the chance. I understand that not everyone agrees, but we all know that next off season every FA comes with risk....and 20+ other teams will also be buying. So, food luck getting a SP as good or better than ESan has been, given the list of options. And, no, I am not sure Verlander is the right choice. All I am relatively certain of, is that if they never try to go all in, they are not likely to win.

do people think the Twins will outbid all the other teams for the 2 or 3 or so really good FA pitchers next year? They've never done that. I doubt any mid-market team has more than 1-2 times.

Well, we know each other's stances on this. Teams in position to win, imo, should try to win, and not count on a future that may never come (like, if buxton or Sano is hurt for an extended time next year, like Mauer and Morneau were). We watched the previous regime never really go out and finalize the team. I don't want to see that ever again. Teams should not completely mortgage their future, but they also can't count on adding FAs, since all 30 teams (ok, maybe 20) are bidding. They can't just count on internal options either.

How do you plan to fix the pitching, add a DH, and otherwise improve the team w/o spending money? And, FA contracts for actually good players are getting more and more expensive. Mediocre SP get 13-16MM per year....

Staying with Gibson, Santiago, Mejia seems like a pretty big risk too.....or counting on Gee or Turley....

I just want to say thanks for using "have" there the first time, and not "of". back to the topic....

3:02 JT: What’s your take on Buxton’s recent surge? 3:02 Eric A Longenhagen: Told you so? 3:03 Eric A Longenhagen: I hope this surge is a sign of things to come for him, and that people will look to this as an example of why patience with prospects is important 3:43 Joe from Minnesota: Is Wander Javier gonna push his way onto your top-100 list this offseason? He’s been raking this year after a decent amount of hype preseason. 3:44 Eric A Longenhagen: Yeah relatively polished shortstops like that typically have a shot to land on the back of the 100. http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/eric-longenhagen-prospects-chat-fall-league-roster-release/

heh, I think of them "write about interesting stuff, and that they think others will be interested in"....which rarely includes thoughts on the worst teams....

It's why I don't follow him anymore, frankly.