PDX Twin

I am in favor of robo umps, but I dislike the challenge system because it embarrasses the umpire, takes time, and requires the challenging team to ration its challenges, which isn't really fair if there are lots of mistakes. When it's feasible, let's get the call correct the first time and not embarrass the umpire by overturning it. The umpire has an earpiece (or buzzer or something) that gives him the call from the automated system. He or she can then make the call on the field just as always. If there is a glitch in the automated system (which is bound to happen occasionally, maybe in strange weather or if piece of equipment gets near the strike zone), the umpire simply ignores the machine and gives the correct call.

That's easy. Follow the Manchester City model: Get bought out by a sports-mad sheikh who uses every trick in the book to plow hundreds of millions of dollars into the club (sponsorships, overpriced luxury box subscriptions, even buying the stadium from the club). And that's in English football where there are (ineffective) "financial fair-play" restrictions that attempt to punish clubs that have expenses far in excess of revenues.

TD seems to have forgotten about him completely. Lots of articles about pitching going forward have not even mentioned his name. I had to go back to the Twins' site to make sure he was still on the roster. But you are totally accurate that he is a potential boost for the next two years, when we will seemingly lack veteran starters.

There are 30 teams in MLB. All of them are trying to improve. It's a zero-sum game because the league player pool doesn't improve or degrade much year to year. If the Twins are going to get better, someone else is going to get worse. With the exception of a few "tankers" at the bottom, no one wants to get worse. There are a few fortuitous "double coincidences of wants," but mostly the only way to get better is by outspending the other teams---not a strategy that is feasible for the Twins most of the time---or by substituting current players for future players in trades. In the case of the Correa transaction, the Twins have decided to devote a huge fraction of their limited payroll (about 20%) to single player for the next 6 years, knowing that most of the rest of the team is (for now) cheap. This is a very risky strategy. We'll all be cheering for it to pay off and for the cheap peripheral players to evolve into cheap (for now) stars. But last season shows the downside: Neither Correa nor any other player can carry a team alone and without good team health and more than few teammates emerging as stars, we will be doomed to watching something like Ernie Banks's perennially losing Cubs. Correa makes the 2023 Twins better and more of a contender, but they could have been a contender without him with good health and successful seasons from the rest of the team (as in 2019). And they could fail to be a contender with him (as in September 2022). Important deal, but not a guarantee of success, or even of improvement.

Great take from the New York Times:

Maybe Al Davis's ghost can assemble a team with Bauer, Donaldson, and others to emulate the 1970s Oakland Raiders... Big NO for the Twins.

Not to mention Houston, who parlayed a few years of very high draft picks into a long spell of contention and championships. It wasn't all banging on trash cans.

This is simply wrong. Perhaps it would be better to say that "The Twins continue to follow a path I don't like." Or maybe "The Twins continue to follow a path that doesn't involve throwing silly money at every shiny free agent." The Twins' path will lead to a decent team on the field that, if luck goes right, will be competitive in their division. The Twins' path will lead to a team that doesn't lose tens of millions of dollars for their owners, who are not in this for charity. The Twins' team will have some good players, some interesting players, and some players that don't perform up to the standard we would like. This is what we sign up for when we become Twins fans. I'll be watching and cheering with interest this summer as long as the players are putting in the effort and as long as there are some players I find interesting to watch. (I don't find strikeout kings like Joey Gallo interesting to watch, so to that part of the path has disappointed me.) Too many writers on this site seem to think that the Twins are something that they are not, and that there are no constraints (monetary, willing trading partners, or player interest in joining) that might stand in the way of signing everyone on the all-star team. They are one of 30 teams all trying to get better. They are not one of the richest (or poorest). They are probably not the best-run, but not the worst-run. They have successes in player development and recruitment, and they have failures. My season will be full of cheering, always hoping, sometimes regretting, and sometimes celebrating, but very little criticizing. It's better that way!

Had to smile at this juxtaposition. ? Of course, they all seem like kids to us oldsters, but at what age should we stop thinking about him as a "local kid"?

Correa was not an all-star last year, was he?

Exactly. Just no to all of the above. Let's see what Miranda and the other kids can do. If there is a problem and we are contenders, pick up someone at the deadline.

What does the bench look like? Knowing the Twins, the starting lineup you propose will play half the season (less with Kirilloff, who may not play at all). Given that the other half of the season will be players worse than the ones you list, I'm guessing closer to 60 wins. I'd say stick with the team we have, which could win 85-90 games with luck and health. Sounds like more fun than the eternal wait for a magical rebuild that never happens.

The only way that a "miracle" is necessary is if you expect the Twins to be a championship team. I don't, and I doubt that the ownership does either. This team will be fine. It will win a lot of games and lose a lot of games. It will finish between 2nd and 4th in the division and stay home in October. That's what the Twins are on average. Sometimes they are better and win the weak division; sometimes they are worse and finish last. Dreaming is nice, but we don't "need" a miracle. The Twins will be respectable and they will break even with modest attendance and a low salary budget. That's life. We are not the Dodgers or the Yankees. And some of us don't want to be! Sorry for being "Debbie Downer," but I just get tired of the apparent expectation that the Twins should suddenly become something they are not, and are not likely to be except on those rare, lucky occasions when everything comes up aces.

I'd be OK with this signing if it were a minor-league contract. For $11m? Not so much. It's like paying $100 for an undrinkable bottle of Gallo... I fear that Joey will be washed down the drain by mid-season.

How about resigning Sano as a shortstop, where he started? ?

"At the moment" is the most important phrase here. Our three best non-pitcher prospects are all shortstops, This is only a position of weakness for a few months or perhaps one season if at least one of them pans out. Are we really that all-in on 2023 that we want to commit debilitating (for future years' budgets) money for this year? If last season showed us anything it is that this team is NOT a Carlos Correa away from being a contender.

Walking about 5 per 9 innings? I doubt anyone would take a chance on him.

Ervin Santana, Jake Odorizzi, Michael Pineda, Phil Hughes. The Twins HAVE had success acquiring veteran starting pitching. But they have to buy carefully, avoid long-term contracts, and leave enough room for the promising youngsters to rise when they are ready.

This new M is pretty awful. I actually liked the old M that they used in the early 1990s. I have and still wear a Portland Beavers cap with a like-styled P from when they were the Twins' AAA affiliate.

No no no no no no no no no! We have enough left-handed striker-outers!

I'd be looking at starters rather than minor-league relievers. I don't know all the details, but most of the key recent internal relief stars that I remember were starters in the minors and even in the majors to begin with: Rogers, Duffey, May, Nathan (with Giants), Duran, Perkins, etc. The minor-league relief aces were either never given a chance or didn't do especially well: Burdi, Chargois, and few others that I remember TD posters begging to see in Minneapolis.

In the good old days, there were a couple of "swing men" on the pitching staff who could do spot starts but mostly did 3-4 inning relief appearances when the starter crashed early. A 4-inning relief stint saves two 2-inning or four 1-inning appearances and keeps the bullpen fresh, especially if the game is not close. Is this not a possible model today, where everything seems totally scripted and there is little flexibility. I thought this might be where the team was going with Winder on the roster as a 6th starter who was not actually in the rotation at the beginning of the year, but it didn't seem to work out that way.

Will a pitcher ever win a batting title? Seemed like a totally stupid question until Ohtani came along.

So, another one headed for surgery to remove the chip?

The Bay Area? Are you referring to Mission Bay? Or have the Padres moved a few hundred miles north?