tobi0040

I think you give them way too much credit here, specifically "they looked at their system and put a plaan in place to repair it". Let's go back to 2011. They won under 70 games and had a very weak farm system. 4 players in the top 100. Gibson 34, Hicks 45, Sano who was 17 years old at 60, and Benson at 100. Their plan was to let each veteral free agent walk and not sign a single free agent. This lack of plan is why we have been so bad for three years and plugging holes with veterans on a bad team the last two years has not helped us long term either.

Yeah...you have to question the motives here. I will be glad when this all star stuff is done and the game moves someplace else next year.

That is the key for me, the next best option. Couple other pieces of additional information. AJ took less money with a winner last off-sesaon, doubt he comes here. Soto had a few good years, basically played about 80 games over the last three seasons and he tore his miniscus this year and hasn't played. So in my eyes we either get Russell Martin somehow in a weak off-sesson for catchers (not holding my breath) or we have a drop in production from that position unless we somehow hand the reigns over to Pinto who we let catch about once a week this year. I just don't see it. The other option is we trade Suzuki and then re-sign him. That just doesn't happen very often.

Jorgen, I think we could expect something like Suzuki's career .690 OPS or slightly higher. For me, that would be an above average bat for the position and fine with me. Only nine guys in MLB this year have a higher OPS than that (that meet a qualifer for AB's). Regarding the defense, I am not a huge believer in framing or that the difference between the best catcher and worst catcher in the league is 60+ runs a year or whatever. I just have a hard time believing a catcher moving his glove can have that big of an impact. I think the only pitchers this year that have a big deviation either way from their career and have enough innings to draw any sort of conclusion are Nolasco (bad) and Hughes (good). Ricky has seen his BABIP go from a career .310 ish to .355. Hughes has been much better and luck doesn't appear to play a huge role in him. But I don't give Suzuki much credit or blame for either. My question to you is, if we let Suzuki walk or trade him, what is your plan for 2015? What are the odds the only two better options (AJ and Martin) sign here as free agents, especially given AJ took less money to sign elsewhere and says he wants to win? Do you think Gardy will hand over the reigns to Turner or Pinto next April? Does that trust exist? Do you see any risk that we end up with someone like Eric Fryer catching 100+ games next year and if so, would we regret not paying Suzuki a little more than you are comfortable with? Fryer's OPS over the last 4 years at AAA has been .807, .504, .714, and .656. Lastly, what type of return do you expect for Suzuki? http://mlb.mlb.com/stats/sortable.jsp#sectionType=sp&sortColumn=ops&season=2014&league_code='MLB'&statType=hitting&game_type='R'&elem=%5Bobject+Object%5D&tab_level=child&click_text=Sortable+Player+hitting&season_type=ANY&page=1&ts=1403884619757&position='2'

Agreed. Tabata is slightly better than Fuld. If we wait a while you can get something as good or better on the waiver wire. Heck, we have donated two CF this year that are as good or better (Pressly and Mastro) than Tabata. As dissapointing and frustrating as Hicks has been, no reason to move him for nothing.

Given our payroll is in the $80's or very low 90's with Kendrys. We have $17M off the books with Kendry's and Josh alone next year. Certainly we will have more cheap prospects coming up next year, I agree. Let's not take too hard of a line here. The downside risks of having a minor league catcher or searching that scary list of free agents is high. Sell high sounds great, but are we getting a difference maker for a Suzuki rental? So I don't want to get too hung up on that and end up with a huge hole in the lineup next year.

Can you please sneak a few of these "you know what this team could use? Stephen Gonslaves"

Florimon = Ted Williams. He just needs a little more time.

Pretty crazy. My gut says he is up for 3-4 days, then he or someone else is sent down for May or Johnson (please be May). I am guessing Polanco thought it was a joke and he was being filmed when they told him.

There is probably some truth to that. The risk is he gets hurt between now and the end of the year, which he has had some injuries. He does seem to like it here and it sounds like Gardy loves him. The Twins likely know what they would sign him for next year, so offer him a little less than that and re-evaluate. If we are on different planets, then by all means get what you can get for him.

Yeah, I would just hate to wait 3-4 years for Buxton, Sano, Rosario, Meyer, and May to come up...only to see the catcher position hitting .210 with 3 HR.

$7M seems high to me. AJ signed 1/$8.25M and he hit over 40HR the last two years. Russell Martin signed 2/17. Clearly both have a better offensive record. But you got me, $4M is probably a tad low.

I maybe low, you seem a bit high. Maybe somewhere in the middle.

I don't expect the same bat, but given the other options he may be the best. Russell Martin and AJ are the only sure-fire better options and neither is a lock to sign here.

Completely agree. Offer the guy $3.5M next year and an option for $3.5M the following with a $500K buyout. He gets $4M guaranteed and will likely take that. That isn't breaking the bank and we guarantee we don't have a huge whole there next year. Worst case, he splits time with a young guy and they learn from him, which isnt' the end of the world.

While we both may think Pinto or Turner could play catcher and we may get good production out of the position and the world would not end, we can't rely on Gardy accepting anything less than a great receiver or a "veteran". 12 months ago we all thought Pinto was the guy and he barely played catcher once a week.

I think the best option is re-signing Kurt right now. Give him $3.5M next year. An option the following year. My guess is he takes that. Given what we have internally and what the market looks like, that is the best option IMO. Now if he does not sign an extension, I completely agree about trading him.

This is what scares me, a look at free agent catchers next year. Odds are 3-4 of these guys don't hit the market. AJ took less money to not sign here last year. So you may have 5-8 teams chasing 2-3 35 year old that aren't any good. On the 40 man we have Fryer, Suzuki, and Pinto. Outside of those guys, you have Rohlfing at AAA. At AA you have Koch, Rodriguez, and Knudson. While we can sit here and say Pinto would not be the end of the world next year, I think the reality is we could end up in a situation where we have a catcher hitting .200 with no power because he is the best defensive catcher, a la a Drew Butera like situation in 2011. Fryer is the likely guy to play the Butera role next year. We are not likely going to get a top prospect in return for a Suzuki rental and we could be good in 2015. So I think the risks here outweigh the benefits. http://www.spotrac.com/free-agents/mlb/catcher/

I would welcome Josh and Kendrys. Given the lack of catcher depth behind Suzuki, I think giving him another year or two might be the best move. It is clear we don't trust Pinto to be the guy and this is usually a position that is pretty lean in free agency. While we could trade Suzuki and then sign him as a free agent next off-season, you just don't see that happen very often.

Funny. I meant Johnson.

He could learn this phrase in other languages and be good: "Good piece of hitting, you didn't try and do too much. Just hit that ball the other way"

If we were making a playoff push, maybe. I agree it doesn't make sense that he is not at least in AAA. But give me 24-25 year old's Tonkin and Achter, with a 1.79 and 2.55 ERA respectively. WHIP's of .77 and 1.13, plenty of K's.

This is great news. We get 3 more weeks of May in AAA. In the case of inneffectiveness or an injury, we get an almost 30 year old non-prospect.

Some speculation that May is next in line, so committing him to the Futures game 3 weeks out was probably the issue.