IndianaTwin

And, according to MLB Network, the Morneaudian was selected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2020 today, along with John Olerud, Duane Ward, and Jacques Doucet, the French voice of Les Expos de Montreal from 1969-2004.

NOW can we agree that it didn’t make sense to call the offseason a failure in late December? Or mid January? We can agree or disagree on whether we like this move (I like it), but the point is it was too early to get our shorts in a wad and call the offseason over. And the reality is we still have six weeks until opening day, and there will still be moves happening.

Check out the eighth paragraph. What do I win? http://twinsdaily.com/topic/35563-2020-blueprint-cooking-up-a-championship/

I would love to see Joe Nathan in the HOF. As the parent of two young boys at the time, I considered him hands-down the most willing to sign autographs, etc., and he seemed to set the tone so that other bullpen guys followed his lead. That said, I wouldn't have considered him as having a shot until I look at the stats you name, which seem to suggest that he's better than I've given him credit. However, I think the fact that I had to look that up to see probably suggests how he's viewed. I think he'll have a tough shot with the writers, but maybe veterans committees down the road will see him as a Ted Simmons -- really, really good, but typically under the radar. Now that I think of it, there's somewhat of a parallel with Simmons. Simmons was good under the shadow of Bench, the best catcher of all time. Nathan spent a lot of years in the shadow of Rivera, history's best closer.

That's a good dynamic that I haven't seen mentioned very much. You're right, pitchers do seem to be creatures of habit, and I can imagine that the notion of a clean slate could be significant to them. And the notion of walking out to start the game with your team having had a clean inning under its belt probably is less beneficial to their psyche than the negative effect of being in a hole and feeling like you have to clean up somebody else's mess.

Not sure, but I don't think so. I've also wondered about four-out openers, though. Depends on who you're playing, of course, but with how much teams tend to tail off at the bottom of the order, it seems like the primary beginning at about No. 5 (for weaker lineups) or 6 (for stronger) makes the most sense if you're thinking the primary will go about 22-23 batters on average. (For context, I know folks gripe about Odo not going deep enough, but take out two games when he got shelled and he averaged 22.6 batters.) The issue with a four-out opener is that starters rarely come in in the middle of an inning, so it seems like they'be thrown off stride. Again, not having seen an opener in practice very much, do you know if teams have routinely brought in their primary mid-inning? My hunch is not, but I've not dug into that.

Exactly -- I get that what I was describing is the argument for openers. I think the opener is great in concept, but I haven't seen enough of it in practice to have a good feel for it. If the opener goes 1-2-3 and is pulled, the primary still has to deal with 4-5-6 when he starts his third time through the lineup -- better, but still not easy. If the opener goes two innings and gives up two baserunners, still a pretty good outing, the primary starts with No. 9 instead of No. 1, which isn't much difference. In some sense, the ideal is for the opener to strand two runners so the primary can start at a point like No. 6 or something in the second inning. But even then, facing the whole lineup twice, plus the bottom of the order is only 22 batters. Five innings with six baserunners is a pretty good 1.2 WHIP, but that means the primary gets 9-1-2 in the sixth, when they are tiring, followed by 3-4-5 if anyone gets on base. In the traditional approach, the same stats mean you get to 4-5-6 when tiring in the sixth, but at least it's 7-8-9 if someone gets on board. It also seems that using a more "traditional" lineup is the best defense against a closer. A lot of teams have moved toward having their best hitter (the tradtional No. 3) in the No. 2 spot, with the traditional cleanup hitter at No. 3. With that approach, an opener is guaranteed to get past those two guys, even if he goes 1-2-3. By contrast, the "traditional" lineup against a closer means the primary has to start with the cleanup guy if the opener goes 1-2-3. Particularly with the 26-man roster creating a 13-man bench, I can see managers like Rocco being even even more likely to give guys a day off. If you're on the road and facing an opener, it would be interesting to take a guy who's getting his scheduled day off and lead him off, sliding everyone down a slot. If he gets on, you pinch-run with the guy you planned to bat ninth. You use a body, but you lessen the advantage of the primary, since he has to start with No. 3 if you go 1-2-3 in the first. Like I said, I like the opener in concept, but I still need to see more of it in practice before I'm convinced. I've started to be convinced that a better approach than an opener is to have a more defined long relief guy. Not a mop-up guy, but a guy who regularly pitches two or even three innings in meaningful situations. Between those relievers who could be defined as even moderately effective over an extended period of time -- Rogers, May, Duffey, Harper, Littell, Magill, Stashak, Romo, Morin -- there were only 46 outings that were a full two innings and not even a handful of those started the third. The one exception was Smeltzer, who went 3+ in four of his five starts. Given that a guy like Smeltzer was a starter most of the year and guys like May, Duffey, or Littell were recently starters, it seems like there is a place for somebody who is able to get 100 innings in meaningful relief, spread over only about 40 games. With that many games, you're talking about roughly one game out of every four, but regularly getting 2-3 innings per outing. In most cases, he will still only face each batter once. In some cases, he might face a couple guys a second time, though that would typically be in games where he's been effective enough to get to a third inning and even so, you're now late enough in the game to pull him if he starts getting hit or loses control. What would that look like? Well... When the starter struggles to get through five, this is the guy to pitch the 6th and 7th so that you still through seven on two pitchers.If he's on and rested, give him the eighth as well.Similarly, if the starter only gets through four, but you're still in the game because of the Bomba Squad, plan to throw him three innings and again get through seven on two guys.Even if he just goes two in that situation, at least you've gotten through six on guys and only need to get three more innings.If the starter pitches well and goes six, let him go two and be the bridge to the closer.Or if he's rolling, let him get the three-inning save and give the rest of the bullpen the day off.And it seems manageable. Last year, the Twins got 892.2 innings in 162 starts and 570.2 from relievers. With a 13-man staff and five starters and the long guy combine for 992.2 innings, you only need 470.2 from the other seven, an average of 67.1 per bullpen spot. Note that I am not assuming that the same five guys get all the starts. Rather, I'm just meaning that at any given time you have five guys in starter roles, and those guys get the 992.2 innings. Similarly, I don't mean that you need seven guys that each go 67.1 innings in relief, but rather that each relief spot gets 67 innings. Particularly with the Rochester Shuttle in place, the guys in the No. 13 pitcher spot could easily get more than 67 innings, particularly given that they will get blown out of a few games, but also get a lot of blowouts with this lineup. That means the average for the remaining spots goes down. Wow that's a long response to a four-word post!

I buy that there's a dropoff in a pitcher's third time through the order, but there's also a factor that I don't think is controlled for in these stats. By definition, if he is pulled sometime during the third time through the order, he's had more at bats against the top of order. Put another way, the only way he faces the Nos. 8 and 9 hitter three times, where he ought to pad his stats, is if was pitching well enough to get through 27 hitters. For example, 7 innings with six base runners (and no double plays) would get him to 27 batters. If he had a cruddy night and got pulled after giving up 9 baserunners over 5 innings, he faced the top six guys in the order three times and and the bottom three only twice.

If his career is in four acts, please nobody tell him to "break a leg."

From Rotoworld.com... Twins signed RHP Jhoulys Chacin to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training. The 32-year-old hurler saw his performance fall off a cliff in 2019, posting a miserable 6.01 ERA, 1.56 WHIP and 101/46 K/BB ratio over 103 1/3 innings between the Brewers and Red Sox. Still, he held a 3.69 ERA and 1.21 WHIP over 373 innings the previous two seasons, so maybe there's something the Twins can salvage here. He'll compete for one of the final spots in the club's Opening Day rotation. My preference was a dice-roll on Taijuan Walker (and I'd still go for doing that too), but I'm on board with this.

I missed that the Twins designated Ryne Harper to clear space for Donaldson. Granted, Romero has an option, but that they designated Harper, who seems like a serviceable piece, over Romero, suggests that they still have a sense of hope for the latter.

True, but how many can offer him Wes, the experience of having worked with Pineda coming back from TJS, two open spots in the rotation, and the opportunity to have the Twins lineup on his side?

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I’ve thought the same. Or, given that he seems to like to give players some freedom, how about if every Sunday, he lets a different player pick the lineup. Or maybe that day’s starter. Or even that day’s “Play Ball Kid,” since with this lineup, it doesn’t much matter.

You might be doing okay through three or four, but I doubt you’ll be feeling good about it after your sixth or seventh fried fish patty. Spoken from experience. My sons’ high school did two fish fry fundraisers every year.

Thanks so much for using the word “plethora.” It means a lot.

Fun article, with the bonus of being introduced to the word “pescetarianism.” How about Polanco’s Poblanos, too many of which might lead to a short stop in the restroom? Or Miguel’s Sano-Cones, because on a hot day in the Dominican or at Target Field, nothing cools you off like those cups of shaved ice, particularly with Dominican flavors like passion fruit and tamarind in addition to the standard cherry, grape and rainbow-colored ones? And perhaps Der Schlagger’s Schnitzels, to celebrate the career home run leader among players born in Germany? The kids might go for Pineda’s Piñatas, where you break open the little papier-mâché container for a bunch of jolly ranchers, root beer barrels, cinnamon discs, and other hard candies.

If this is the end, I’ll agree with your B+ overall, though I’d flip-flop your Odorizzi/Pineda and Hill grades, primarily because we can get up to 1.75 seasons out of the former and something like a half-season out of Hill. But it’s still only Jan. 23, so I still give it an “incomplete.” Odorizzi joined the team in February, for example, so there could easily still be more in the works with good-quality minor league signings and whatnot.* *I hope we get more good-quality minor league signings than whatnot. We’ve had too many seasons of whatnot.

Maybe that person read “JJ” and though it said Jeter? That could be the explanation for Jeter’s missing vote, right? :-)

I’d move Salazar up to No. 2. And Buchholz up considerably. I know there’s virtually no likelihood of the latter making a full season, but I’d like it if there’s at least a likelihood of him making 8 starts.

Forgot about Hill heading to the 60-day IL. That will free up a spot to add Taijuan Walker to the roster after he lights up on Ft. Myers on his minor league contract.

"I'm No Stranger to the Rain," when the Blue Jays, A's, or any other former club is the visiting team. "Smoky Mountain Rain" (keeps on fallin') is the appropriate choice after a second homer.

Great article on the Donaldson signing: http://www.startribune.com/twins-invitation-to-josh-donaldson-finally-got-a-response-it-s-a-deal/567112922/?refresh=true As to the question, “can they afford to wait,” I’m more concerned about making a smart move than I am with when. In other words, if opportunity arrives now, sure. But if it doesn’t, don’t make a drastic move just for the sake of making a move — wait and see how things play out with what they’ve got, including rookies. But then be aggressive with mid-season trades if the need is still there. At this point, it seems unlikely that teams will want to trade their “ace.” If it happens before the season, much more likely to me is a low-level-prospect-for-Odorizzi-level trade, and I like the FO’s ability to spot the under-valued. I would like to see another option or two in the spring training mix, however. We’re at the point where minor league contracts are becoming more prevalent, and I’d like to see them fish in that pond, even if it’s just to have another possibility for eight times through the rotation. Among what’s out there, I’m intrigued by: Taijuan WalkerDanny SalazarFelix HernandezClay Buchholz

Always looking for opportunities to share my favorite grammar joke... Guy from the country has gone to Boston and is walking around the campus at Harvard. He walks up to a person in requisite tweed jacket with the corduroy elbow patches and says, "Excuse me, but could you tell me where the library is at?" Tweed jacket guy ignores the visitor and starts to walk on. Country hick chases him down and says, "Excuse me, sir. Could you tell me where the library is at?" Tweed jacket guy rises up on his heels and says, "I'm sorry, but at Hah-vard University, we do NOT end questions with a preposition." Hick pauses for a moment before finally saying, "Okay, sir. Could you tell me where the library is at, you jerk?" You may now return to your regularly scheduled discussion.

And to give Donaldson time to swing by Applebee’s to pick up the gift card to give to Rosario in exchange for being able to wear No. 20.