tobi0040

I would probably consider something like that. I am not sure Masterson would. But if it is a 50% shot he has a 4.50 to 5.00 ERA this year....the odds of having another terrible staff are a tad high.

Given the reason they are shopping him...I am guessing it would not take a village of great prospects. Something decent though. Looks like he would be a good fit though. And cheap.

It is hard to look at the list of injuries and conclude he is a tough it out kind of guy.

This. Times 100. At least do the bare minimum and get a pitching coach from the outside. That has to be the bare minium right? So far they have kept the GM, fired the coach, then switched the chairs a bunch of guys are sitting in.

That is a true statement. But I don't think it is ridiculous or an exageration to say he has missed time with bruises, as the article suggested. He in fact has missed them on at least four occasions. I guess for me, Cal Ripken played almost 20 years without missing a game. Brett Favre went around ten years in a much more violent sport. Guys like Cano play every day. I am guessing a time or two existed when those guys had bruises, even really bad one's. Those are extreme examples. But I think as a starting point, some players gut it out through things that Joe Mauer does not. I think that is a fair and reasonable conclusion.

I know what you mean now.

When we started I did not realize it was a tongue and cheeck comment. I also don't think we should trade the guy.

I guess I thought "four years of full time pro ball" and "four full MLB years" were the same thing.

I am the one that brought up the HOF, because his nickname and a poster made a comp to David Ortiz. I guess I don't see how a comp to a guy that is going to the hall of fame is not a reference to Vargas potentially being a HOF player. The career arc discussion is fairly vague. All you have to do is find a HOF player that did not rip up the minors and compare them to a guy in the minors not doing that well. just my pet peeve about comparisons.

I was talking about his nickname little papi or whatever it is. and replying to the comment that we should not trade David Ortiz for the second time (which was a reference to the comparison). I just think we should cool it on the comp to a HOF player. That's all, back to the topic...

Vargas made his debut on his 24th birthday. Ages 21-23, Oritz had a total of 400 at bats at the big league level. 15 games as a 21 year old, 86 as a 22 year old, and 10 as a 23 year old. I will concede he was farther along the development curve that Vargas, but that is a far cry from four full MLB years. I am not saying Vargas does not have potential. I am not saying he won't exceed his MILB production. I am actually optimistic about the kid. My point is we should not compare him to a hall of fame player because of those things. I think we tend to do this based on appearance often times.

Sure a AAAA player will want to hold onto his spot and collect as many checks and hope to breakthrough and earn another contract. Other teams have guys that don't tell their coaches about injuries as well. I drafted Tony Cingrani last year in my fantasy league. He was awful for about 6-7 starts and then told the coach he was pitching hurt. It happens all over. However, I think it is a completely fair thing to say that nobody has ever described Joe Mauer as tough, gritty,or hard nosed. Part of that is the contract. Concussions are un-avoidable. To this day, nobody really knows what bi-lateral leg weakness is. But I completely agree that Souhan and Ruesse are around the club house and probably hear whispers or get the reaction on guys faces when they are asked about Mauer. Is anyone really going to come out and say what they think? Probably not. So i will at least be open to the idea that a grain of truth exists to the notion that Mauer takes days off where guys, say Cal Ripkin would not. Or even Robinson Cano, the guy has missed about a game a year from 2007 to 2014. Regarding the missing games for bruises....I googled "Joe Mauer and bruise" and quickly found four instances since 2010 where he has missed time with bruises. I only looked on the first two pages. There could be more. I also think he had a shin issue at one point, stiff back a few times, etc. Bruised Heel 5 days http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=5155712 Bruised Thumb 5 days http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/8013790/minnesota-twins-joe-mauer-sidelined-bruised-thumb Bruised elbow Missed 8 innings one day and next game http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2014/09/23/twins-1b-mauer-leaves-with-bruised-right-elbow/ Bruised thigh 4 days http://www.twincities.com/ci_20910974/minnesota-twins-joe-mauer-sits-again-bruised-thigh

I am not diminishing Vargas's power potential, I am just saying Ortiz had better numbers in the minors. No doubt my timeline was off. But Vargas had a high of 19 HR a year, Ortiz had 30 or more twice. I am simply suggesting that Vargas "little papi" or whatever it is, is more body type related than that he is a future HOF player. The media gets carried away with these comps, especially based on appearance.

You may be right, but I would question the strategy. 90 losses four years in a row and we basically respond by keeping the GM, firing one guy and promoting a bunch of other people within the system. Some sort of outside perspective would be nice. My preference would be a pitching coach.

My friend told me, I think Paul said it in the Q and A portion of the press conference.

I don't know. We were only 5th in runs with a great lineup. I am totally kidding. Great move. Paul is 2 for 2 as far as I am concerned....this and Santana at SS.

I started from Ortiz's minor league numbers. Didn't notice the 15 games as a 21 year old that were missing and I wrongly assumed he was hurt and that is why he only had 80 games in the minors as a 22 year old. His first full season was as a 23 year old.

I think you definitely field calls. The FA market at SS is very weak....when you back out guys on this list that aren't SS anymore it is even weaker. http://www.cleveland.com/tribe/index.ssf/2014/10/mlb_free_agent_class_2015_shor.html

I would not trade Vargas, but I don't really get the Ortiz/Vargas comp. I think folks compare body types and then think production should also be the same. Heck, many fans at Target field have the same body type as Vargas. Both came up at 23 years old. Ortiz had a .309/.381/.532 line in the minors. In his last two full seasons he hit 31 and 30 HR a year. Vargas produced this line in the minors .288/.367/.486. He never hit more than 19 HR a year. Ortiz had the better OPS in their rookie years as well, .817 to .772. I guess this a pet peeve of mine. You watch the MLB draft and every time a tall, lankly left hander that goes in the first round you hear "reminds me of Clayton Kershaw"

Your suspicion has some support in their BABIP numbers from last year. Santana was at .406 and Escobar .336.

I am not a huge fan of Masterson. Over the last four years he has been really good in two years and really bad in the other two. You don't want to go multi-year on a guy like that. I am assuming you favor a one year deal....I just don't think it makes sense. He is still going to cost $10M or something like that. -If he has a really good year, he leaves and does not help this team when we are good again. Even if he has a good year, I would not want to extend him. -If he has a really bad year, we don't want him.

I am assuming we can go up to $115M if we are winning again. The only other players that should be expensive in the next three years are Hughes and Dozier. All these deals except probably Mauer come off the books when Sano, Buxton, Meyer, Gibson, etc. would theoretically start getting expensive. So the timing seems to work out well.

I agree with 1-3. A few ST innings in LF is fine with me, but I leave Plouffe at 3B until Sano proves he can handle it. I think if Plouffe has another 3-4 good months at 3B his trade value is higher than if he goes out to LF and struggles, which he would likely do right away. Exploring a trade for Plouffe has to be one option IF Sano can stick at 3B.

Yes, Yes, Yes. The Twins need to decide what direction to go in. The best move in my opinion is for Hicks to get OF reps and Santana to get SS reps. This is the best move for the 2016 Twins and I would argue the best move for the August 2015 Twins. We don't need Pinto at DH, Santana in CF, and Hicks as our 4th OF. It may help us in April but does anyone think this team is making a run this year?

Torii was always my favorite twin. But he will be 40 next year and vargas needs reps at dh. Torii would be par for the course defensively in the outfield.