terrydactyls

Calm down, Thrylos. This article only says that Mauer has "admirably carved out a place in franchise lore." No mention here of Hall of Fame.

Remember in 2016 when the Twins brought up a kid who finished the season with an ERA of 8.02, a WHIP of 1.87, and opponents hit .310 against him? They should have admitted their mistake and dumped him too. Instead they kept using him and all he did was pitch in the All Star game this year. Give the kid a chance.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't a MLB contract require both sides to be in agreement? I believe that I read that Dozier wanted to test the free agency market because he felt he would get a bigger contract. If Dozier didn't want to sign, then there wasn't anything they could do about it. And the way 2018 went for Dozier, I'm happy the Twins were able to get something back from the Dodgers.

There have been several comments urging the front office to add players through free agency. So I went to Spotrak.com and found the 2019 list of free agents as of today. I sorted the position players by OPS and the pitchers by Wins/Saves. Here are the top players by position (age is in parentheses). For position players, I've listed those near or above .800 (plus Mauer). For starting pitchers, I chose 6 wins or more and for relief pitchers, I chose 10 saves or more. POSITION PLAYERS 1B Matt Adams (30) .889 1B Joe Mauer (36) .726 2B Daniel Descalso (32) .849 2B Jed Lowrie (35) .820 2B Asdrubal Cabrera (35) .790 3B Mark Reynolds (35) .909 3B Eduardo Escobar (30) .847 SS Manny Machado (26) .935 LF Steven Pearce (36) .992 LF Michael Brantley (32) .805 CF AJ Pollack (31) .916 CF Bryce Harper (26) .869 RF Nick Markakis (35) .867 RF Lonnie Chisenhall (30).846 RF Carlos Gonzalez (33) .845 C Yasmani Grandal (30) .862 C Wilson Ramos (31) .834 DH Nelson Cruz (38) .903 DH Evan Gattis (32) .808 STARTING PITCHERS SP Charlie Morton (35) 12 SP JA Happ(36) 11 SP Dallas Keuchel (31) 9 SP Patrick Corbin (30) 8 SP Lance Lynn (32) 7 SP CC Sabathia (38) 6 SP Anibal Sanchez (35) 6 SP Yoyani Gallardo (33) 6 SP Tyson Ross (32) 6 SP Gio Gonzalez (33) 6 SP Brandon McCarthy (35) 6 RELIEF PITCHERS RP Craig Kimbral (31) 33 RP Cody Allen (30) 21 RP Bud Norris (34) 20 RP Jeurys Familia (29) 17 RP Sergio Romo (36) 13 RP Brad Brach (33) 11 RP Brad Ziegler (39) 10 This is not a very impressive list from which to choose from. My bet is that the Dodgers lock up Machado before he hits the open market. That leaves Harper as the only real "game changer" and from what I've read about his attitude, I'm not sure I want the Twins going after him. ***I had this in a nice table format before I hit Post. I don't know what happened. *** And now it looks nice. Go Figure.

Here are the totals for the 14 pitchers listed above. IP: 338.7 ERA: 1.86 WHIP: 1.01 K/9: 8.00 Those are some pretty impressive numbers. And no Brustar Graterol or Fernando Romero.

Thoughts from the North Woods of Maine.... DFA five guys right now: Belisle, Rodney, Wilson, Morrison, and Grossman. Replace them with Nick Anderson, Alan Busenitz, Willians Astudillo, Zander Weil, and LaMonte Wade. Plug them in and see what they can do during August. Promote Trevor May and Matt Magill to be the co-Closers. At the September roster expansion add Tyler Duffy, Jake Reed, Fernando Romero, Stephen Gonsalves, John Curtiss, Aaron Slegers, Kohl Stewart, and Zack Littell to the pitching staff (and use them) and add Gregorio Petit, Nick Gordon, Mitchell Kranson, Brent Rooker and Luis Arraez to the bench and use them as much as possible. Let's see what the farm system really has.

There is a possibility (maybe remote but still possible) that the 2019 starting pitchers are Berrios, Gibson, Gonsalves, Romero, and Thorpe. And if this lineup has any chance of becoming a reality, I would like to see it happen this year at the September expansion time. And add Curtiss, Jay, Anderson, and Bard to the bullpen to see if they will be part of the 2019 bullpen.

Can we trade Molitor for a manager who will use the entire bullpen? Why have Magill on the team if you won't use him? For that matter, why have Belisle on the team at all? This season is dead so bring up some young arms and give them an extended tryout.

A "chance?" Three prospects for a pending for a pending free agent who is currently playing far above his historical average is exactly what the front office should be doing. I hope they can do the same with Dozier.

Do you really feel sorry for someone who "only" gets offered $40 to $50 million dollars for just three years of playing a game?

Are all the "we can still win the division" people now willing to hang up a For Sale sign? Build for the future. DFA Pressley and Wilson, trade (if possible) Belisle and Grossman. And get what you can for Dozier, Santana, Lynn, Odorizzi, Duke, Reed, and Rodney. If Mauer would like to try for a ring, trade him too. And if someone makes a great offer for Escobar, think about it long and hard. I'm sure I have forgotten other useless pieces, but this would be a good start in building towards 2019/2020. Boy, do I feel better now.....

I thought the premise of this thread was: when Dozier is traded, what should be done to fill the void? It's devolved into a squabble of who is better: Escobar or Dozier? And that has been already battled over many times. How about returning to the original topic? thanks.

Third round. 104th pick.

How about Jose Altuve?

A lot of people (or a few people with multiple comments) have remarked on Garver's lack of hitting and bad defense. I just took a quick look at MLB.com at hitting statistics for MLB catchers. Garver has the 7th highest batting average in all of major league baseball for catchers with at least 150 official plate appearances. He should be playing nearly all the remaining games to see if his defense can improve. It never will sitting on the bench. This year is lost so start working on 2019.

If Morrison continues to bunt against the shift, he may get his average above the Mendoza line and become trade material.

1. Play Garver as often as he can physically get behind the plate for the remainder of 2018. If he provs that he cannot be the primary catcher in 2019, then go into the off season with acquiring a tier 1 catcher as the top priority. 2. Bring up as many bullpen arms as possible and use them to see if they are viable next year. 3. Extend Rosario and Berrios for whatever it costs. 4. Extend Buxton if he can be signed reasonably. 5. DFA Grossman, Wilson, and Belisle this afternoon. 6. Start thinking about who will replace Molitor this off season. 7. Lower beer prices (oops, got carried away).

I guess that means Cave will be sent down today and Grossman will be in the starting lineup until a 40-year old journeyman outfielder can be signed (and probably Rooker DFA'd).

If you look at the picture of Rooker that leads this article, you will see why he will never make it with the Twins. It is clearly evident that he is watching the ball all the way until contact is made with the bat. Contrast that with the picture of our 2017 All Star, Sano, from an article about a week back. Sano's helmet is flying off and his head is looking towards the left field bleachers anticipating where the ball will go. Thats the Twins Way. Come on, Rooker, get with the program.

College coaches don't always have the health of their pitchers at the top of their priority list. Winning keeps you employed at the college level.

I wish people would quit using Adrianza as an example of a poor Twins team. Before the season began, I would bet everyone would have been very happy if Adrianza were hitting over .260 and playing good defense. Only Rosario, Escobar, and Lamarr have higher averages. He is definitely NOT the reason this season is going down the toilet.

i would be happy with a catcher that hit for a "week." Or did you mean a "weak" hit catcher? Big difference.

"Sometimes the best performers are the worst teachers." Can I get an AMEN from the choir? In my 40 years of experience in the business world, I have seen many outstanding workers promoted into management and fail miserably. Being extremely good at a job does not guarantee success as a manager. I've been a fan of Molitor since I watched him at the U of M and heard many scouts saying he'll never make it as a pro. I was glad when they hired him to lead the Twins. But now, I think it's time to make a change. None of the things that made Molitor great as a player have shown up on the field. Sorry Paul.

I am so sorry. I apologize to all TD readers for my comment.

Does anyone know how much the titanium rod weighs? Maybe that's why he weighs 300 pounds. I know I use that same reasoning when I get weighed at doctor appointments. "My titanium shoulders each weigh 20 pounds."