Sam Morley

Someone yelling "show me your XXXXXX" is sexual harassment.

"19-year-old... got engaged to his long-time girlfriend." Sheesh.

Yeah, and in my opinion, what is costly about this is not the money anyway, it's the roster spot. To say that there is no downside to this signing because it was inexpensive is wrong. If you say, "there isn't downside to this deal, because if he fails, he wasn't expensive," I think you fail to see that in addition to the huge downside of the failure itself, the occupation of the roster spot (as opposed to either a better established reliever or a young reliever with potential) is also a downside. If Rodney is the Twins closer, we will all be tearing our hair out every single time he takes the mound. He will blow saves. Might he get us through the season? Sure, but I don't think he is the guy to lead the Twins bullpen through the playoffs. There are closers available in free agency who could. Are there relievers on our current roster ready to break through into that role? Maybe, but this signing is going to delay finding out.

Aside from an established lockdown closer, I don't think free agency is the right place to acquire bullpen help. As others have said, relief pitchers are unpredictable. I would add to that, that there are too many other less expensive (though no more predictable) ways of trying to improve the bullpen. I think the best way to try to improve the bullpen is to turn middling or failing starters already on your roster into relievers. You can make those middling or failing starters available for conversion to the bullpen by replacing them in free agency or via trade (hopefully with reliable, expensive, top-quality starters) or with prospects in your own system. Over the course of the first half of the season, evaluate the successes and failings of your bullpen and make trades. You can see who is having active success for teams that are sellers. I think this is so much better than over-paying for Brandon Kintzler and his ilk in free agency.

As a pitcher, he might be the #1 free agent (based solely on his age and tool ratings/ceiling) but to say "by far" you're putting an enormous premium on his youth- and I don't really have a problem with that. In my opinion, his value is dramatically affected by how he pursues his career in regards to the two way player non-sense. If he buckles down and puts all of his mental and physical energy and talent into being a starting pitcher, with his tools, it sound like he can be extremely valuable, and that your assertion of him as the #1 free agent will be validated. If he insists on being handed an opportunity to both pitch and hit (leveraging his ceiling as a pitcher in order to get the opportunity) then rather than potentially becoming great, he will become a fleeting side show for whatever desperate organization is foolish enough (the Mariners) to let him try. And that might work out fine for the Mariners. They don't really have anything to lose by letting him try for a month or two, and then when it doesn't work hope that they can convince him to focus on pitching, and then he'll be great and it was worth it. I don't think a team that plans on contending for a playoff birth, such as the Twins, can afford the experiment. So if Ohtani is insistent about pitching and hitting to the extent that he is making it a requirement of whatever team signs him, I'm glad the Twins missed on him. I don't mean to disparage Ohtani- he should pursue his goals with all of his resources. And, I think if he leverages his abilities in combination with the bidding nature of free agency into an immediate place on an MLB active roster in which he gets to both pitch and hit, it will be to his own detriment (as well as to the detriment of the team that signs him). I think whether or not he focuses solely on pitching or decides to pursue his dream of being a pitcher and hitter, it would benefit his long term success to begin in the minor leagues, probably at double A. Success (especially as a hitter) in the Japanese and Korean pro leagues is just not a reliable predictor of success in MLB. As Twins fans, we've obviously seen this first hand with Nishioka and Park. Both of these player were very talented and they were both very foolishly given immediate spots on the active roster and even placed in immediate starting roles. They both failed spectacularly, but I don't think anybody thinks, especially in Park's case, that it was due to lack of talent. Even the best Cuban players who come over to MLB play first in the minors, and they have a far better track record for success in MLB than players from the Asian pro leagues.

Yeah, I was hoping somebody would call me out on undervaluing Babe Ruth as a pitcher, seeing as I really have no idea how good he was outside of looking at some stats for about 30 seconds. In my defense, I did say that he was one of the best pitchers in the league while he was a pitcher only. I knew about Johnson and Alexander and I thought there might have been a couple others- I had to double check on Mathewson- he was pretty much done when Ruth came on the scene though. Eddie Cicotte was pitching at the same time as Ruth too. I agree that Ruth's stats as a pitcher projected over a full career assure him a spot in the hall (which is the definition of greatness) and I don't have any problem assuming he would have delivered on those projections. I sure am glad that the Yankees took the gamble and that today we're talking about the Sultan of Swat rather than not talking about Babe Ruth the Hall of Fame pitcher.

I wasn't really responding to any one post in particular, and I didn't really interpret your reference of Babe Ruth as being a sincere comp to Ohtani. There really hasn't been a lot of Babe Ruth talk on Twins Daily; most of it has been in the mainstream. On Twins Daily, there has been an absurdly optimistic view of the possibility of Ohtani (or McKay or Green) being a two way player in MLB and very little skepticism.

Citing Babe Ruth as a comparison for Ohtani (or McKay or Green) as a desperate grasp for precedence of a two way player in MLB history is not only absurd but it doesn't even make sense. When Babe Ruth was a pitcher only, he was pretty good by the standards of the era (maybe one of the best in the league- but I doubt if he was great) and he was productive with his limited PAs. He was really only a true two way player for two seasons (1918 and 1919), where he played in the outfield on days he wasnt starting. His performance on the mound declined, while his performance at the plate showed signs of his coming greatness. When he went to New York and gave up pitching, he became the greatest legend in sports history. You can't cite Babe Ruth without alluding to his greatness. When you say, "well, maybe somebody in the modern era of MLB can be a two player because Babe Ruth did it a century ago", it's like youre citing his greatness along with the fact that he did it (briefly- a century ago). One of the many problems with this is that Babe Ruth didn't become great until he gave up pitching. If he had stayed playing both ways, no one but baseball historians would even have heard of him. So if you're saying 'maybe this guy can be like Babe Ruth', in refernece to being a two way player, what you're saying is 'maybe this guy can be a decent pitcher and reasonably productive on offense'. As a fan of whatever team signs him, or if I'm a GM or a manager, I believe I would value greatness at one position over decency at two. I look at it like this: 1. Can Ohtani be great as a SP? Maybe 2. Can he be good as a SP? Sounds like it 3. Can he be great as an OF/hitter? Very unlikely. 4. Can he be good as an OF/hitter? Maybe 5. Can he be great as a SP and great as a hitter? Impossible 6. Can he be great as a SP and good as a hitter? Impossible 7. Can he be great as a SP and better than the worst hitter on any MLB team as a DH? Impossible 8. Can he be good as a SP and good as a hitter? Impossible 9. Can he be good as a SP and better than the worst hitter on any MLB team as a DH? Very unlikely 10. Can he be decent as a SP and better than the worst hitter on any MLB team as a DH? Maybe It seems to me like you're weighing the 'maybe' of number 1 along with the likelihood of number 2 against the 'maybe' of number 10.

I have a series of questions here: 1. Does Ohtani really believe he can be a starting pitcher and hitter in MLB? All of the reporting seems to think does. 2. If he does, then what does he think that might look like? Everyone has been suggesting an American League team where he can be a starting pitching in a five man rotation and also be a DH on some days in between his starts. I have seen few to none suggest that he could be a starting pitcher and then also play in the outfield and hit in between starts, which he could do in theory for either an AL or NL team. 3. Where does Ohtani's desire to pitch and hit fall on his list of priorities when choosing a team? It looks to me like he is prioritizing geography over the opportunity to play both ways. Five of the seven teams he's meeting with are on the west coast, and only two of those five are American League teams. 4. Of the seven teams, which are willing to give him the opportunity to pitch and hit? 5. Of those teams, which are willing to give him that opportunity in MLB vs which would want him to demonstrate success in the minor leagues first? Here's what I think: If Ohtani believes he can do it and wants to do it, good for him. As an athlete you should believe you can do whatever you want and you should do everything in your power to achieve it. But what is possible? A) Ohtani signs with an NL team and achieves success as a starting pitcher in MLB and he collects his 2-3 plate appearances per start with which he has better than average success relative to other starting pitchers in the NL (possibly the most success relative to other starting pitchers in the NL). This seems very possible. He signs with an AL team and achieves success as a starting pitcher and never has a plate appearance against an AL opponent. This seems very possible. C) He signs with an NL team and he achieves success as a starting pitcher and also achieves success as an outfielder and hitter on days in between starts. This, in my opinion, is 100% impossible. I don't think any of the teams listed would be foolish enough to even let him attempt this at double A. Definitely not the Giants, Dodgers, or Cubs. It would have to take an organization with a history and present of futility to gamble on something so insane. Maybe the Padres fit that description. D) He signs with an AL team and achieves success as a starting pitcher and also as an outfielder/DH in between starts. Again, 100% impossible on the OF front, and 99.9% impossible on the DH front. E) He signs AL and achieves success as an SP. He also is given the opportunity to DH, but fails to have success. This scenario still seem unlikely to me, but I wouldn't be totally shocked to see this from the Angels, though I would from the Rangers. The team that seems the most likely to enable this scenario is the Mariners. Of all of these teams, the Mariners are the team with the history of the most incompetence and futility. They make crazy choices and bad signings all the time. They seem to have the most proclivity for making big expensive splashes with least amount of relative success. In combination with what seems to be an evident west coast preference, Ohtani's presumed insistence on being given the chance to be a hitter, it seems to me that the Mariners are the most likely team to sign him. In which case it will be interesting to watch in a 'it doesn't really matter because its the Mariners' kind of way. As it all relates to the Twins, it would be interesting to know what pitch they gave him. Were Falvine pitching him the idea that he could come right to the active roster and pitch and DH? Were they telling him he could come right to the team if he was willing to give up hitting, but would give him the chance to prove he could do both if he'd accept a double A assignment to start? Were they willing to give him the chance to hit because they valued his arm so much and viewed letting him try to hit for a short time as a worthy sacrifice for having his arm long term? And what does Molitor think about it all? It's really hard to imagine an all time great hitter like Paul Molitor being open to letting a pitcher also DH. Would Falvine have promised Ohtani the chance to do both knowing that Molitor would never do it? It sounds like he could be great on the mound, and that would definitely help the Twins in a way that would be hard not to get excited about, but a part of me is also glad that we're not going to be a part of what I think is shaping up to be a silly $#!& show, especially in a season where the team should be intensely focused on taking a step forward. While the ceiling may be very high for Ohtani as a SP, it seems like there's also an extremely high risk for a big ugly mess with the front office and the manager, and even if the financial risk isn't significant, I'm content to have avoided it. Here's a one other scenarios just because: F) Regardless where he signs, he either fails as an SP or gets injured forcing him to give up pitching in MLB, which case he either returns to Japan, or refocuses on hitting only. This scenario is mainly about asking whether or not Ohtani would be a success in MLB as a position player/hitter only. I would say that there really isn't enough evidence to say one way or another. The best you can say is maybe. His sample size of success at the plate in Japan is so small and the tool ratings as a pos player/hitter just seem far less assured than as a pitcher. I think teams and evaluaters have a much better handle on evaluating the pitchers from the Asian leagues than they do hitters. There are just so few examples of successful transitions for hitters compared to pitchers. Off the top of my head, I can count them on one hand. Ichiro, Matsui, and Choo- you could add Kenji Jojima, Nori Aoki, and maybe a couple others to that list if you want to talk about guys who can be said to have had a career in the MLB, but Ichiro, Matsui, and Choo are the impact guys- that might be stretching it for Choo. And as amazing of a career as Ichiro has had, he's kind of a novelty at the plate. No one else in the league has used his approach/style of hitting for decades, maybe since Rod Carew. He's like a knuckleballer of hitters. So, really, maybe the list is a list of one: Matsui, and Matsui is arguably the best hitter from Japan ever.

Whoever signs this guy, he should go straight to double A and earn his way onto a major league roster like everyone else. On the mound, he has great stuff you say? Great. Prove it at double A. At the plate, he can hit a little bit you say? Great. If he signs with a national league team and makes it as a starter, he can get two or three at bats in the games he starts, just like the other pitchers in the league who can hit a little bit. If you think that this guy, or anyone ever, will be able to be a major league pitcher on an American league team and also DH, you are delusional. If Ohtani thinks he should even be given a chance to see if he can do it, he is delusional. There have been some published comments from Levine that the Twins are open to giving Ohtani the opportunity to pitch and hit if that's what it takes to sign him. If the Twins believe in Ohtani's ceiling and proximity to the show as a starting pitcher and it takes telling him he can hit to sign him, I don't know if I'm okay with that, because its a lie. I think that lying to or misleading prospective signees is an ugly direction to head in.

Here's my favorite Joe Nathan memory: My younger brother Paul and his buddy Matt (who at the time were relief pitchers on the bethel college team) and I went to a late season game at the dome. The twins were in the thick of a division race which they eventually won, and that nights game was close enough that Joe came in for the save and got it. The done was blowing up and we were pumped. We decided to go hang out in the parking lot where the players came out. There was already a large gathering of fans when we got there, in a long line stretching from the door. We found a spot to stand and cheered whenever one of the guys came out or drove by. We weren't thinking of meeting anyone (though I think a few guys stopped to sign a few autographs at the front of the line) we just wanted to keep the energy going from the game. Most of the guys would wave and give a fist pump or something. Carlos Silvia had been the starter and had a great outing so the crowd roared for him. Joe must've been one of the last guys to come out (fitting for a closer- and one who couldn't walk away til age 42). Anyway, Joe starts signing autographs and shaking hands. But he doesn't stop at the front of the line, and just keeps coming, saying hello to everyone. Paul and Matt and (guys in our early/mid 20s) start asking each other, "is he gonna go down the whole line?") I guess we had some time to think of what to say before he got to us, but it didn't occur to me to say anything other than 'way to go, Joe' and shake his hand. Matt, however, popped off one of the strangest questions, given the context, of all time. "Hey Joe, what kind of oil do you use on your glove? It's so shiny." He says, and I couldn't tell if he was being sincere or a little goofy. But it got Joe to break his 'meet the fans' character for like a second. He makes this wtf face, quickly recovers his smile and says, "I don't know, somebody else does that. I have a couple gloves, one I play catch with and a game glove." I was laughing, but Paul's wit succeeded him, and as Joe moved on to the next fans in line, he called over to him, "Hey Joe, what kind of shampoo do you use on your hair? It's so shiny!" Paul didn't get an answer but he did get a quality laugh out of Joe, who was on his way to shaking hands with every fan in line. Great pitcher, great Twin, great guy; happy trails, Joe.

Gotta tip your cap to boshers on that one.

Looks like we found our long man.

Looks like joe Nathan was released yesterday... eh? eh? Isn't Glenn Perkins on the comeback trail? Hughes to the pen isn't very inspiring, but it would be something. Can't imagine any uptick in velocity would be significant... fb avg from 89 to 91? Meh. Surprised this article doesn't call for Gibson to the pen, especially since it does call for a Romero call up. If Romero were to come up, wouldn't we rather see him in the rotation, especially over Gibson and/or Hughes? Gibson's stuff it seems would play up out of the pen, especially compared to Hughes. He regularly hits 95 as a starter. How often have we seen Gibson cruise through 3 or 4 innings only to get solved and pounded the second-third time through. It's really hard to imagine him having success for the twins as a starter ever, at this point- maybe for another team. Seems like a try in the pen is worth it before parting ways.

I guess Castro needs an actual take sign. Unbelievable.

Does anybody think that either Greene or McKay can play the field and hit daily and then take a turn starting pitching every fifth day over a full major league season? My opinion is that that would be impossible. There is no way to effectively dedicate yourself to both the craft hitting and the craft of pitching (not to mention fielding). The only possible two way value for an American League team would be if they were a starting pitcher who could be used as a pinch hitter. If either of these guys are a legit top 25 prospect as a hitter, I think they should hit first, and hitting at each level until they fail before going back to pitching. Elite hitters are more valuable than elite pitchers. Does anybody know where these guys rank as hitters/position players independent from their status as pitchers? McKay is supposed to be the top college pitcher and the top college hitter, right? Is Greene the top prep hitter as well as being the top prep pitcher?

It sounds to me like both Greene and McKay are better as hitters, McKay for sure if he's working sub 90. And with Greene, the projectability of a high school pitcher has to be about zero- even if you knew the outcome of Greene as a pitcher would be top of the rotation guy, if you also knew his outcome as hitter was slick fielding power hitting ss, you have to prefer the latter. Don't you have to compare the ceilings of these guys as pitchers and hitters, and then also consider their 'somewhere in the middles'? Obviously the floor is never reach the show at all. The calls to draft a pitcher based on organizational need seem misguided. As pitchers, the college guys are two years out at best, and Greene is four or five. The team will be significantly different in two years, and almost totally different in five. The way I see it, we have one sure thing: Miguel sano; we have two guys we hope will be sure things: buxton and berrios; we have the following guys we hope can be contributors and will be pleasantly surprised by anything approaching stardom: Kepler, Rosario, polanco, Vargas. Possibly gone in two years, for sure in four: dozier, mauer, Castro, Santana, Santiago, Hughes, the whole bullpen, the whole bench. My point is that you should always draft the best available player, especially when you are rebuilding (the player you think will be the best when he reaches the big leagues). If you think that in four years, Greene will be the next correa or lindor, you take that and forget about pitching. Polanco is playing great now, but is he firmly established for the next six years- no. Gordon is hitting for average at nooga, but hasn't demonstrated any other plus tools so far- it sounds like his ceiling is 'solid'- which would be great, but not something to bank on. If you think that in two years, McKay can replace mauer at first and put up kris Bryant ("best hitter in college baseball") numbers at first, I'd say that's also more valuable than whatever his ceiling as a pitcher is, greene's ceiling as a pitcher is, or wright's ceiling is. It seems to me that guys touted as 'best hitter in college baseball' especially in recent years are fairly reliable at transitioning their production to the big leagues. All that being said, it does seem like the value of both Greene and McKay is possibly being inflated by their statuses as being both pitchers and hitters of quality. You have to figure out: is he a better pitcher than he is a hitter or the other way around, and whichever he is better at, that's what he is- no looking back. The idea that if he fails at one, he can try the other sounds like a recipe for a long drawn out minor league career (though I suppose in the case of McKay in particular, if he blows out his arm as a pitcher 1b seems like a more reasonable fallback). The idea that either of them can somehow do both is impossible, in my opinion. My questions are: who is the best hitter right now in the draft and who has the highest ceiling as a hitter in the draft and who is the best pitcher right now in the draft (projecting ceiling for a pitcher seems pointless, esp when you're picking 1:1). Seems to me like the talk is that the answers are: McKay is the best hitter right now (and might also have the highest ceiling) Greene has the highest ceiling as a hitter/position player (as a ss) and wright is the best pitcher. I think McKay is the closest thing to a sure thing in the draft, but as a first baseman, and I would be happy if the twins took him (with dreams of kris Bryant in two years). I think Greene as a SS is the most interesting pick with the highest potential payoff and I would be happy if the twins took him, looking forward to watching his progress in the minors for the next four-six years. If they take wright or any of the other two as a pitcher, I will be gritting my teeth and crossing my fingers and hoping it somehow works out (thinking of kohl Stewart and Tyler jay).

You don't see that every season

Gophers are on BTN right now, just homered, are winning, and apparently are contending for first place in the big ten

Hawkins calling Dick "Richard" instead of Dick is by far the best part of this broadcast.

I didn't like the buxton bunt in the second either, esp not to the right side. I guess he always has the chance to get a hit out it though. A buxton bunt is never truly a sacrifice. The polanco bunt attempt in the 7th was far worse.

Hughes got crushed tonight. Rockies could have double digit run total easily. His lack of velocity is hurting. Rockies hitters were hitting low outside fastballs deep in the count for base hits. Those pitches should be fouled off at best, but with the high 80s fastball they have enough time to poke it in play.

Why is polanco giving away his third ab against freeland? Worst ab of the season.

That side by Hughes was amazing. The fastest pitch he threw was 87, in Cabrera's ab. I was really hoping he was going to k Frasier. That would have been incredible.

I have seen all of buxton' abs this season, and they have been getting worse. Worst lineup move in recent history to put him in the three spot. He needs to be moved to nine immediately. He's not going to figure things out with the pressure of batting third. He might not even figure it out batting ninth. It's beyond me why molitor would sandbag him with the responsibility of batting third, especially with his history. Hopefully he can relax and recover in the nine spot. It's hard to imagine him having to go back to trip A given how important he is to the pitching staff. Right now, he looks like he did when he first came up.