IndianaTwin

I didn't realize that Cruz had 360 HRs -- that's almost Bainesian! Cruz has 33.4 WAR and 360 HRs, with an .860 OPS. Baines had 38.7, 389, and .820, though with significantly more hits over a longer career. But does that mean that if Cruz has another solid year or two, folks could be pushing for the HOF? I know this belongs in another post, but that Baines selection keeps looking weaker and weaker to me.

Hmm... Nelson Cruz (through age 26) 145 games, 478 PA, .231/.282/.385, OPS+ 72, 119K, 30BB, no defensive value Tyler Austin (through age 26) 120 games, 404 PA, .232/.290/.469, OPS+ 100, 148K, 30BB, no defensive value Cruz spent most of his age 27 season in the minors, but came up in August and was great for 31 games on the way to becoming the ongoing monster that now has 360 career HRs. I'm not saying Austin is the second coming of Nelson Cruz, but those numbers put an interesting spin on the conversation for me.

Actually, baseball-reference.com says the number was 30. Second place was the Angels at 26, followed by the Tigers and Royals at 24. Once more, this time with feeling...

Hmmmmmm.... Cody Allen - R - Indians LaVelle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that the Twins are showing interest in free agent reliever Cody Allen. Allen posted a 4.70 ERA over 67 innings in his dreadful final season with the Indians, but he was one of the more reliable closers in baseball for several years before that. The 30-year-old right-hander could be a nice buy-low addition for a number of clubs this winter. He had a 2.59 ERA and struck out 457 batters in 344 2/3 innings between 2013-2017. Source: LaVelle E. Neal III on Twitter

Hmm.... Nelson Cruz - DH - Mariners Hector Gomez of Z Deportes reports that free agent slugger Nelson Cruz is choosing between the Twins and Rays. Cruz's agent Bryce Dixon has refuted this report, however, telling MLB.com's Jon Morosi that there are still additional teams in the running. The Astros and White Sox have also been mentioned as possible fits. Cruz registered an .850 OPS with 37 home runs and 97 RBI over 144 games this past season with the Mariners. He'll turn 39 years old next July. Source: Hector Gomez on Twitter

Thanks for that correction. I assumed that the 4.027 in baseball-reference.com was at the end of 2018, but in looking back, I see that it's from the beginning. And does being non-tendered toss the service-time calculation out the window? Does that mean that Cron is also not controllable? Either way, I still think they are good signings.

Random, but not necessarily deep, thoughts on an overcast Dec. 10... Two signings by Dec. 10 doesn't feel like "standing pat." The front office M.O. doesn't seem to focus on making massive moves. Its needle-moving seems to come in the form of nudging. Maybe it's because I'm paying more attention, but it seems like this front office is much more active than in the past. The cumulative effect of many needle-nudging moves can be significant. They also don't make moves that box themselves into a corner. Cron and Schoop are one-year signings, but they are controllable. With a good year in either/both cases, they are back in 2020. With a bad year, we are glad they weren't two-year signings. It's also only Dec. 10. Sins of omission we can't measure, but it seems they've made very few, if any, sins of commission that they couldn't/didn't move on from relatively quickly. And Darvish would be at least one move that we could call a sin of omission in not pursuing more aggressively, but it seems like a good choice in retrospect. I think of the Royals of a few years ago. I don't follow them closely, but it seems like they had a number of highly regarded guys who came up and seemed like disappointments when they didn't turn the team around immediately. But by staying with them, they were able to finally supplement at the right time and had a couple of really fun years. It would be kind of fun to have a nice, shiny Machado at SS. But if the choice is Machado, Austin, and three relievers from Rochester for a combined $35-$40 million vs. Schoop, Cron, Austin, David Robertson, Joakim Soria, and Zach Britton for a similar amount, I'll take the latter. It's only Dec. 10, remember. This morning, the Twins were listed among nine teams interested in J.A. Happ. Jon Heyman just listed the Mets, Yankees, Blue Jays, AND... your Minnesota Twins. Given his age, I think he'd be an awesome overpay signing at two years, plus an option. Will it happen? Who knows, but it's just Dec. 10. I'd rather overpay on him for two years than for five years on this year's Darvish.In other words, if March 28 brings me something like Castro & Garver; Cron & Austin; Schoop, Polanco, Sano, and Ehire; Rosario, Buxton, Garver and Cave; Berrios, Gibson, Happ*, Odo & Pineda (Romero/Mejia); May, Rogers, Reed, Robertson*, Soria*, Britton* (Romero/Mejia, rookies), I am very much on board. And I think it's still possible to get there. It's only Dec. 10, remember. Then, it will be easy enough to make follow-up decisions in June or July on whether to go the rest of the way in with a minor league system that's still pretty loaded and a budget that isn't overworked. If most of the guys HAVEN'T come through, we'll be glad we didn't go all-in. (*Placeholders -- insert your preferences, but these are some of mine.)

"Rhett Bolinger of MLB.com ran through some of the closer options for the Twins. Among the seven options he highlighted, I think Joakim Soria is the guy who aligns with the Twins in terms of need and expected contract. He’s 34, so it’s not like you’ll need to give him a long-term contract, but he does have 220 career saves. Last season he had a 3.12 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 11.1 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 (4.69 K:BB ratio) for the White Sox and Brewers. MLB Trade Rumors projected he’d get a two-year, $18 million deal." Soria at 2/$18MM and David Robertson for 3/$33MM would be awesome in my book.

I was also thinking of options like this and was coming up with something similar. There's gotta be a software out there that draws a circle around each defender showing the radius they can cover and that can be superimposed upon a hitter's spray chart. It would be fun to play with. Similarly, I wonder if it would make sense to play Hamilton and Buxton in left and right so they could cover foul line to alley and make CF small enough that a slower guy could cover it. Or with Rosario, he could play a very shallow to take away singles and allow the SS and 2B to split wider to shrink the 5.5 and 3.5 holes. (Of course, maybe it would make sense to have Buxton be the shallow guy so that he's farther away from any walls!)

Romero only got to 145 innings last year. I think a plan that targets more than 165 or so is unlikely to come to fruition. If he’s in the rotation for 32 starts, that’s only 5 innings per start, which is less than ideal. In an earlier post, I suggested using him as the designated reliever for Odorizzi’s first 10 or so starts, with the intention of him finishing the game. Assuming he’s been effective, then slide him into the rotation at the next appropriate time (the next injury or suckage on the part of one of the starters). It may take a couple of starts to restretch him out from 3-4 innings to being a full-time starter, since he was probably throwing about 60 pitches or so, but that’s not insurmountable. Maybe a time or two in those first 10 games, you pull Odo after 4 innings to keep Romero stretched out a bit. That’s probably about 35 innings in relief, leaving about 130 innings for the remaining 22 times through the rotation, which is close to 6 innings per start, closer to what we’re looking for. It also holds out the opportunity of him still being available in a playoff run. If he’s in the rotation from the beginning, I don’t think it’s realistic to have much left in October if we get there. Berrios, Odo, Pineda, Gibson, Mejia, by the way. I’ve separated Berrios and Gibson since they are the most likely to go deep enough to give the bullpen a break. I’d be glad to upgrade from Mejia. I’d also be okay with targeting this group as the rotation for the first 50 games or so, which gives enough time to see whether it’s worth going after a rental. And while I’m at it, I’ll take David Robertson (3/$33M) as my highest priority and one more from among Familia, Britton, and Ottovino (same), plus a flier on Soria (1/$10 + option 1/$8M). Offensively, success largely rises and falls on Buxton and Sano, so my primary focus is on 2B with Cron in the hopper.

25 and almost 23. Essential to keep reading this one to them. Then when they complain about their day as a nine-year-old, you can say, "Let's just move to Australia."

mikelink45, on 26 Nov 2018 - 6:35 PM, said: How can I comment intelligently... Still new here, huh?

“Cron Bomb” when he jacks one in the second inning. “Cron Dong” when he pops another in the fourth. Repeat as necessary.

I was hoping someone else has kids. Or is married to an elementary school teacher.

In that case, I think this was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad* signing. *Hold on while I look for my thesaurus.

Are they going to use an Opener out there?

I don't drink, but if I did, I'd have to say that my stein fel(d)t pretty good about these choices.

Also, Nick Senzel.

57 worked pretty well, however.

Well played, Mauer.

You get a "like" from me just for teaching junior high for 25 years. It didn't matter what you said after that. But I do agree with you on that part too.

But speaking of Bam Bam, I'd think that a Rocco would certainly be a step up over mere Pebbles.

"...Boston isn't really laid out on a grid and you can get disoriented pretty easily,..." Understatement of the year. When I first took my son a few years ago, I think I crossed the Mass Turnpike about eight times trying to get there. I felt like Chevy Chase in London. But thanks for this. This kind of experience is a ton of fun. I was in Kansas City while the Royals were in San Francisco for the weekend series in 2014. We went to the Power and Light District during the game, and it was the most fun non-Twins baseball experience I've ever had. I happen to have a work trip to Hartford, Conn., this weekend, so I'm suspecting something of the same if we sneak up to Boston for an evening.

I refuse to pay for any Internet news site. Well, except for one. I hope TD never needs to go the pay route, but this site is awesome and makes being a fan much more fun, so I'm making an exception for the Handbook. I've placed my order, with payment, and look forward to the reading. Think my boss will notice that I have "Meeting -- Thad and Derek" on my calendar and all of next Friday morning is blocked out?

He only needs 23 more HRs to be the all-time leader among guys born in Germany. That wouldn’t be the wurst news.