Trov

It is not half exactly, it is 48%, then they get 3.3% of all broadcast deals. So not only will we lose out on our own, but if other deals that Bally has gets cut we lose out on that. According to DodgerBlue, teams got around 110 mil in 2022, not sure in 2023. However, if many teams lose some of their current deals, that will affect the Twins too. So yes, we share 48% of braodcast deal so it hits us about 25 mil off the top, but we get 3.3% of what we give up, but also from all other teams. If even a 10% loss across the board, that is about 7 mil off the top from Twins deal, and 11 mil from sharing, for a lost of about 18 mil. Can that be made up from other sources, possibly. If the drop is 20% that is now 36 mil we lose out next year. It is not a small issue because many teams are looking at broadcast money not just Twins.

Next season will be crazy. He was the voice for the Twins my whole life. I am sure the team wants a younger more analytical type guy. Dick tried his best to embrace the push to the new ways of looking at the game, but he still would go back to his long roots. In terms of Provis he may be just fine making the transition, but one I hope they do not do what some teams do and use on team for both TV and radio and just have the radio use the audio of the TV game. That is the worst, because nothing like listening on radio and hear the announcer say you can see there blah blah blah, no I cannot see because it is on the radio. When doing radio you need to tell the listener what is happening and the play by play guy has a huge roll. On TV the play by play guy has much less roll because we can see what is going on, but giving more context as to what we are seeing is important.

Severino does need to be added too, and think that will happen without much hesitation by FO.

As always, if the deal is a good deal I would say go for any of the three, but none are guys I am high on. Sale is far removed from his peak prime years and has not been healthy. Yes, if he can be, and that is big if, he could maybe bounce back to form, but I am not giving up much of anything on that. Ray really has only had 1 great season, his cy young season in his FA year. I am not convinced he will be more than a guy that has stuff but is up and down. Freeland is nothing special. His home road splits are actually he struck out more at home and walk less per 9 than on the road, so little hope he will be better getting away from CO. Maybe we could teach him a thing or two, but nothing about him says he should be in our top 5 rotation if we do trade for him, other than the contract. Outside of his age 25 season, he has never had a season with below 4.00 FIP.

There will always be people calling for their heads if we do not win a WS. They will point out every failed first round pick and every trade that did not work out, but they will forget every late round pick or trade that did work out well. I mean people were upset we lost Badoo, wanting him to play over Kepler, but he has been much worse than Kepler. It took a few years, and we knew it would, but the organization clearly is starting to develop the pitching pipeline we all were looking for. Will any be the super aces hall of fame guys, doubtful, they are very rare, but if you can continue to turn out guys that can pitch 3 to 6 solid years either as a starter or pen guy and can trade them at peak value like Cleveland does, If you look at Cleveland, they have built their rotation over the years on guys that were not drafted in the first round. Most were 4th or later round pitchers. A few were traded for, but they were generally 4th or later picks too, so not super highly touted. Outside of Bauer who was 3rd overall by AZ and traded to Cleveland most were later picks. Kluber was 4th round by Padres traded for Jake Westbrook. Clevinger was drafted 4th round by Angels traded for a pen guy. Plesac, drafted 12 round, nothing amazing over career but was an okay 5th starter. McKenzie, has high upside and was taken in supplemental round 42nd overall, and 18th pitcher taken. Civale 3rd round pick by Cleveland Bieber 4th round pick.Bibee 5ht round pick. Williams was a first round pick. The point is, Cleveland built a pipeline where they could take guys from other organizations, draft later round guys and they could become valued starters. Twins are clearly starting to do the same. Yes, they have misses over the years too, everyone does. I agree, lets stop bashing the FO and see they have a clue of what they are doing.

After the first week Sabato is having a nice little bounce back. Rosario is hitting HR, but striking out at very high rate. If Sabato can close out the AFL with a strong showing he may earn himself a spot on 40 man roster. It is very SSS but he is having a good run. He will be an interesting call on the 40 man. I think a team would take him in rule 5 like Oakland or KC type, not for sure them, but a team that is not competing and could use a possible power hitter. The Twins will need to decide if he is worth the spot for now. Nothing in last couple of years shows he is ready or will be MLB player, but he has power potential and teams always looking for that.

I think it was a bit of hyperbole, but for most part that is accurate in how most people address moves. Some fans feel if you are not favored to win the WS you should sell anyone with value, or you need to buy to get there. Well, Atlanta was by far the favored team, see how that turned out for them. In AL the two highest season winners lost early on. In baseball, the "best" team does not always win the post season, it is a crazy game. I think you also missed the camp of spend like crazy on FA every year like the Padres, because it worked so well for them. I personally find the FO approach very level headed. They balance future with present. They are willing to part with guys that will take longer to develop if they can supplement roster now, or they will part ways with prospects if they have others to fill in for them. Sure, sometimes you get things wrong, but overall I feel like the FO has done a decent job of keeping the farm system chugging out talent while having a team that can win. Will they be favored to win the WS, no, but that never means they will win. The two the Twins have won they were never favored in any round. AZ has a chance to win and they were not favored in any round either.

Add Carmago to 40 man, try to sign Enlow. Celisteno I would try to resign but not add him to 40, if they do they will most likely just DFA him later. He has not developed as a hitter they were hoping.

Willi stepped up and showed he could be the type of player Falvey and Rocco love to have on the team. They always want 1 or more super utility guy that can start all over the field and can move during the game to where ever you need them to. It helps with bench moves in the game as you will always have a competent defender to fill in somewhere that is not a complete waste at the plate.

I did not watch him pitch in AAA at all. It is interesting the amount of walks he gave up but so few hits. He started off very terrible then after a stint in IL he came back better, but still not amazing. I am wondering if the robo ump was hurting him with some boarderline pitches that did not go his way, but could at MLB level, or was he just way out of the zone? If he does keep walking guys at high rates though he will not be starting too much because he will get pulled after 3 to 4 innings all the time.

His decision to try to pitch through his groin issue was a problem. I really hope he works on a sinker or 2-seam fastball that he can throw low in the zone. Part of the issue with Joe is he needs to throw his fastball up to be effective, because it does not drop as much as normal fastball if he gets it up most guys pop it up and not drive it, as long as at top of zone. However, if he throws it more waist to thigh high it gets crushed. Also, if the pitch starts low, normally it is an offspeed pitch, so guys were able to ID pitch based on location. If he can work on the fastball or something with speed down in zone just to keep hitters honest will go a long way.

I believe they just need to figure out who is the best overall defender to throw out there between Martin, or bringing back Taylor or bring in Kiermaier. If they think Martin can defend even close to the other two I would look to roll with him, but Kiermaier is still elite defender and would look to bring him in if possible. Then if Buck is healthy, something I doubt will ever happen, you can move one of them to corner spot and they would cover so much ground you could almost go with a 2 man OF, not really, but seriously they would be the best duo around.

The only one I would be that big on for a trade would be Soto, except for the cost of trading for him, also knowing we would not resign him. I do not know the contract he is looking for but reports he turned down crazy money with Nationals before they dealt him. He is young and will demand possibly the biggest contract in history, we will not give that up. If you could get him for 1 season for a couple of mid-level prospects I would be all in on it, but my guess if Padres move him it will be to a team willing to give up more than that as they would expect to get an extension.

I would not say it is crazy, except for you would be paying him more than Lopez next year, and what you are paying Lopez the remaining 3 years of his deal, and Maeda is no where near worth Lopez. However, if you want him back the QO should get it done as I would expect he would accept it. If you are concerned he would sign somewhere else and willing a little overpay do it.

The Twins being a free agent for broadcasting they could do a wide range of things. Part of the issue though is still what is going on with Bally. When the Twins tried to depart from Fox Sports, the prior cable broadcasting partner, to start their own. They were undermined by Fox Sports by making Comcast or then Turner now Spectrum cable carriers to pay more for Fox programing, not just Fox Sports, if they picked up Victory Sports. The Bally may be going under could allow MLB to fully sever from someone like that, but if Bally stays around and tries to force hands it could be an issue. There is a reason teams went with cable broadcasting over just local, most likely they were getting paid more. However, if Bally, or another cable partner cannot match what a local can do, the money is in local. Someone raised how much national broadcasting would get pushed if a local network tried to pick them up? Most likely it would be someone like Hubbard and on Channel 45 like they show some saints on. With the newer, well within like last 10 plus years, digital channels any local could pick it up, I know Kare has an all weather channel local, so really we would not have to worry about the local broadcast going against the national things. I am interested to see what all happens, but just hope I will get to keep watching.

I think the hope for the Twins will be replacing him through the young guys in the minors. There are chances a vet could fill the role, but we have plenty of options if they cannot. We could also look to bring him back.

Stealing bases can always be helpful, and in years past it fell off after Moneyball because the numbers said it was not normally worth the risk. Really, it depends to me on the situation if it is worth the risk. If you are facing a tough pitcher that getting any hits is rare, then stealing bases will be helpful, of course the situation needs to warrant it. For example, if you are down 2 runs late in game, the risk may not be worth it, but in a tie game and a non-HR hitter up, getting that extra base will be helpful. There was times with Gallo up and it was pointed out, why risk stealing because he will either walk, get out or hit an extra base hit. The odds of him hitting a single was never worth the risk of an out. Also, base stealing is more than just being fast. Yes, being fast helps, but it is about quickness and getting to top speed, and picking your spots. One of the best base stealers of all time, and I say this not because of total numbers but his overall rate compared to his speed, is Paul Molitor. He was never a speed guy, but stole over 500 bases in his career at a 79% rate. His last 2 seasons he stole 20 bases and he was over 40. Rickey Henderson, the all time leader in stolen bases had about 80% rate. So if you go by pure rate Molitor was about as good, the main difference, was Molitor picked his spots where Rickey would run all the time. Point is, you do not need to be the fastest in the game to steal. Molitor would get great jumps, figure when to run in the best counts. It was a skill that has gone away, but hopefully is coming back. Teach the guys to figure out when best to steal and trust they can do it. Teach them how to steal as well.

If you can bring Sano in on a minor league deal why not. Worst case he gets released and you are not out anything. Best case, he is healthy not out of shape and has some kind of resurgence. You do not need to commit a roster spot to him. There are some in his situation that did this later in their careers and had a year or two of great baseball. Hicks I would be skeptical on. He is aging, he had a surge over short period of time, but as stated he had long stretch of bad ball before that. I am not bringing him on anything than a minor league deal invite to spring. Odo, similar a minor league deal invite to spring to see if healthy and can help. I do not bring him in on major league roster because he could be cooked.

Players get sent to AFL for different reasons. Not all are sent because they are looking to be the next big prospects. Some are sent to give more time because of injuries during season, or because FO wants to see them play a little more against what normally will be higher comp. Take Sabato for example, the FO has to decide to add him to 40 man or not. The numbers he puts up is not going make or break that decision, but giving him time with other coaches and see how he does may affect that. Consetti is a guy that tore up lower minors, but he is a little old for prospect status based on level he was playing, but being his main position is catcher, most likely they want him to work on his defense there and see if he can make jump to AA and possibly up to AAA by end of next season. Kala’i Rosario is the bigger prospect, still only 21 and rising up minors. Get him some time with older players to hopefully build off of. The pitchers, not sure as none of them are really considered top guys in our system so I am sure each have a reason.

I do not believe in a "playoff hitter" idea. I agree that pitching is different, each pitch is so much bigger, and if you do not hit your pitch that will be the difference normally. Some guys do seem to step up in the playoffs, and maybe some do shrink in the moment, but just having that 1 hit sometimes can make the difference a series, even if you go 0 for the rest that one player may have made the difference. Yes, do we want a line up full of Altuve, CC, Alverez, type hitters that seem to always come up big, of course. However, that just is not going to happen.

Luplow will be non-tendered. Acala I assume will be offered contract. Gordon is the real question. Castro basically took his spot last year, the super utility guy, but being Castro is switch hitter and better on defense, Castro has more value than Gordon in my opinion. Yes, Gordon has shown some flashes, and I do think they will offer him a contract, but his roster spot is not safe.

I believe the top 4 on the rule 5 list should be added, if we do not add Serverino he will get drafted by someone. Unless you feel he just does not add enough value to your MLB roster, someone will take him no doubt. He is still young, at AAA was a top international kid years ago. No way will he pass through rule 5. The other 4 all could be taken, but really not a ton of risk of losing any of them as they are mostly just depth guys that will only see playing time at MLB if there are injuries, or they just go on crazy hot run.

Generally that is what happens with FA is they are normally overpaid for their production. Really, the question is would we have someone better? Maybe we could have tried to sign someone else, but I doubt we make playoffs if he is not on the team.

I would not forget about Miranda, but I would not count on him coming back either.

A whole lot to unpack in this article. It really is 2 articles, if not more, in 1. First, the who will get DFA. Of the 9 listed, I believe Stevenson will be higher up on the list than the writer thinks. He is not young, only made the MLB roster as a defense and base stealing gun. Unless you think you will want him to actually play meaningful innings in outfield you do not keep him on the roster. My guess he gets DFA along with Luplow. De Leon I also agree is out the door. Those 3 free up enough room to get the locks of E-Rod, Martin, Carmango and Servrino, all locks, and room to add 1 more, unless they want to sit at 39 for awhile, like having room to draft in rule 5. The next is who else should get added to 40 man, and who would you cut. It is much easier to expose someone to rule 5 draft than DFA. The reason is the rules on how they move on. Position players are rarely taken in rule 5, unless they are near MLB players, or taken by clearly rebuilding teams that will take poor play for a year. That could make Sabato or Salas, but not that likely. Oliver will not get taken by anyone, unless they really believe in him because he would be making the jump from A ball and 22. The remaining on the list are all guys that would be more likely to be taken. Laweryson the most likely he is typical type that gets taken in rule 5, a pen arm that if you like his stuff enough could be stashed in the pen. Twins will need to decide do they like him or another pitcher on the list for DFA. Keeping in mind the DFA does not have to be on 40 man roster if they pass waivers and become FA. If they do get taken off waivers, then just need to be on 40 man but can be in minors, if they have options. Keirsey, Prato, Helman, and Williams all would be options to take in a rule 5. They are of age and experience that jump to MLB will not be too big for them. None will be huge losses though for us. None are super high prospects and outside of Williams they all seem to play similar rolls. The question for the Twins is who do they value more, any of them or who they would need to cut, and compare that to how likely will you lose them? I would say Balazovic would get snatched up quickly on waivers. Much quicker than any team would take the reaming possible rule 5 guys. Would anyone really be that upset to lose any of the remaining guys to rule 5? The only way any of them really see time next year with Twins is if we have several injuries.