Trov

Your premise on the article is the player that was non-tendered will sign for the expected arbitration value. The problem is that is why they were non-tendered because the team did not want to pay that value for the output as stated. However, it is likely they will not sign for that value and it will be at the reduced price that teams believe they are worth. Eddie will not get 10 mil from any team no way shape or form. But he will be offered something. If you can get a player for the right price who cares if they were non-tendered or not. This years non-tender list is larger than normal too based on the COVID questions of revenue. Unlike in basketball where players will lose money if league does, in baseball all the risk of loss of money is on the owners, so they have to plan ahead and reduce risk of loss prior to season.

The route suggested is what many teams have done over recent years, and normally is done when no true DH can be found. For whatever reason many players perform worse as a DH than when they play the field. I am one that thinks if you have a guy that performs well as a DH you should stick with them, and not shuffle so many guys into that roll for a game or two, for rest purposes. I also find it unlikely too many players bats, save sano or rooker, that will be worth resting on defense but keeping bat in on offense. It is a option if Twins feel the need to save money and get younger guys at bats and would not be opposed to it.

First, I am happy the Saints will be connect to Twins now. I will agree it may hurt their former league, but it will make me want to go to Saints game even more. I will have more of vested interest in how the players are performing and it will be cheaper shot to see some prospects. Also, it may help sign some vets to minor league deals because they are now in a major city and will not have to move or live in a hotel when they get called up, not a huge factor but think some will like it. I have little comment on the AA club. However, I do like the switch of High A to Mid-west league and low at FL. It makes much sense for reasons article states. The lower level prospects will have more chances to get extra instruction before they head out into the world. It is sad E-Town is gone, not that I followed them or anything, but sounded like the town liked having the Twins there. I hope they get a club there either the MLB summer league, or join an independent league.

Not sure the full situation, but MLB took away the short season league, not the Twins. Not sure what level of knowledge the Twins had of it when the renovation went down. I fully agree though that MLB should put some money up for teams like E-Town that spent money to try and stay in the minor league group but still left out.

Why compare two different sports, one that has a salary cap and one that does not. One that has 15 man rosters and one that will go through nearly 50 people on their roster any given season. Also, just because Wisler was not tendered by Twins does not mean he cannot sign with any team. He is free to sign and make money off of his season.

My guess, if he were to sign now, it would take 7-8 years for around 15 mil a year and last few years player option. He has huge upside when healthy. I would say if not for health issues it would cost at least 20 mil a year. I would not give him too long of a contract if it was me. His speed has been what has carried him so much, and when he loses that as he ages, unless he starts to show much more consistent bat, his value will be almost nothing. I do not know when his speed will drop, may not be tell he is much older, but I would not be willing to tie myself to him for that long.

Extending pitchers are always a risk. When they are young and good, sometimes they do not age well at all, and some will have major injuries that they never really come back from. Some age very well and learn to pitch with decreased velocity. I am never a fan of super long term contracts for pitchers. If I were to sign him today, I would only go 4 to 5 years, basically a 2 to 3 year FA deal, at an average of $15M a year, maybe up to $17M. He gets paid extra than what he would for first two years, but less than what he could for last few years. It is still a huge investment into a player, that could miss seasons and never be the same. For a team that is middle of the road payroll, they can not have large amounts of dead money on the books. If Jose is willing to go year to year, let him. Look at Cleveland what they have been doing lately. They keep trading away top pitchers as they near big pay days, and coming up with new pitchers. Also, look at how many that are being traded end up with major injuries. Bauer so far only of the recent guys that have not had one after being traded. I would agree if you cannot extend Jose to a contract you like, potentially shop him around, as long as you can get a some good pitching prospects in return I am all for it after next season. I would not want to this off season because we do not have clear replacements in place.

This is an interesting call on this one. First, He and Larnach are the same age, different paths to Twins, but same age, give or take a few months. Both 23 at this point. Rooker is 26 and really not a top prospect anymore, due to that age. By doing an extension buying out all pre-arb and arb seasons it does give you knowledge of cost, but also gives risk of big injury or just does not pan out, this has happened to other teams with similar contracts. The possible new CBA is where I think a contract now might be best. With not knowing how CBA may change, knowing you got the kid tell he is 30 would be a good move. I personally would wait, but I am not the GM either. I fully agree Eddie is a non-tender. Not saying he will not sign back, but not at the expect arb number he could ask for.

Provided the Twins will be able to have some level similar defensive replacement value, I would be in full support of trading buck. He is one that will not age well because so much of his value is based on speed, and he has never been a super solid hitter, and little faith that will develop at this point. He has had stretches of great hitting, but stretches of swinging and missing at anything. I believe you should always trade a guy a year early, than a year late. Remember Willingham, he crushed first year with Twins and so much trade chatter was out there, and Ryan held onto him, and then he lost all trade value. I am not saying we need to trade buck, but I would not say he is untouchable and would listen to deals. I would not shop him at this point, but if he gets traded I would not be upset, provided the value is there.

No way would MLB allow it, unless Fargo built much larger stadium. The 4500 seats are not big enough for a AAA team. Saints stadium is small for AAA but MLB has reached out to Saints so think they would be okay with it. Also, the info about who manages them is moot as the Twins would bring in their staff.

This article basically backs up Yogi saying that 90% of baseball is mental. (not going to finish rest of saying) I have stated for very long time that the mental part of the game is so important. Not just thinking about situations, but as the article suggests thinking of how to continue to do well. This can be done through many different ways, a journal, taking naps, doing special reps, and so on. I watch some players that struggle with chasing pitches and say, "why do they keep doing that." Most likely it is because they have lacked the mental prep, and fear of taking a fastball on the edge for called strike. You can tell your hitters on 0-2 you will get slider off the plate, time and again, but unless they just say I am taking no matter what, they will in the back of mind, that what if this time it is a fast ball. That is what pitchers are counting on. Also, so of them fall into same thoughts, what if this time he will be taking no matter what, I can sneak a fastball past him. Really, both are overthinking the situation trying to out think the other. Keep it simple. Throw the slider until the hitter shows they will take or can hit it. Do not get cute. If it is not broke do not fix it.

Hunter is not MLB HOF level. He was great defensively over his career, but at the plate he was never a difference maker really. He never won an MVP or even up there in votes really. He was 6th in voting in 2002, his best career year. His longevity is something to admire. He should be in hall of very good, but not HOF. His peak years were good, but never great. He never had post season heroics that made him seem better than he truly was. Even when he hit in middle of Twins lineups he was never the feared guy you would never want to face. Overall he was just steady and good. Hunter was not normally considered the best player on his team either, being with Joe and Justin for years with Twins. Then vlad, bobby Abrue and others in LA. As much as I liked him for the Twins, I never once thought he was a HOF or future HOF players. The article states he is on par with McCutchen, who is still playing, and that writer suggest McCutchen is not HOF. If they are on par under the JAWS system, I would say McCutchen is more HOF level than Hunter as his peak years were better overall than Hunter's peak years. He has fallen off much more than hunter did, so that is where they are more on par now.

Pretty good list, I owned many of them myself. RBI baseball was great but the fact the 4 fielders moved all the same way would lead to the popup between infield and outfield to be HR because you would come in to catch from outfield and bounce over the head with no backup, but still great game. Griffey was great too, but only having the one player name was no fun, but if you took the time, like I did, you could change the names yourself to fit the teams. The players still had similar stats and abilities, like on the Mariners SS Lincoln, AKA A-Rod as a young player. He was dang near better than Griffy. However, MVP baseball was the best ever, with no other game since to touch it. I always liked the show, but MVP was so amazing. For me it was a few things, but one great thing was that it was the first, and really only game that I can think of even still, that would have throw variance. Meaning not every throw was 100% on target and some algorithm would decide if it was an error. The throw would pull the player off the bag or be in the dirt. Sure, it was most likely just graphics but looked so real that even easy throws would get messed up sometimes needing the fielding ability of the 1st baseman to help out. So many other things like sliding to avoid tags, and being able to see the camera that the throw would be on 1 side of base or another, really allowing you to test the accuracy of players arms. The fact they had minor league teams in franchise mode made it even better to so you could build teams up and not just play same season over and over. Hitting machinic was so much better than any other game too, as well as pitching machinic. Whoever made the game engine should have got snatched up by the show to make theirs for the future, but when you have no real competition you do not push to make the best game you can. This makes we want to go back and play some MVP, going to need to go find it.

NOOOOOOOO! to the Story proposed traded. That would be a terrible trade for so many reasons. First, he only has 1 year of control, so you give up a top pitching prospect, and we know how many of those you need, for a 1 year rental? To make things worse, look at Story's splits. His home road splits are crazy, so he gets huge boost from Coors Field. His road splits are Polonco numbers. So you trade a 6 years of control possible high end starter, for a 1 year rental for who you already have? WHY? This proposed trade make no sense and I would call for the firing of the front office if they did it. The other 2 I am much more okay with, but Hader has been losing his stuff very quickly, in my opinion. He still can go out there and be good, but he is not the shut everything down kind of guy like he used to be. The Marte trade is a little questionable as his home road splits suggest a little boost from playing in AZ like many other hitters get, but not as bad as Story, and for 4 years of control giving up lower level prospects are not as bad. For the record, I was big on Story coming into the offseason and thought a cheap rental for him could be good, but then I looked up his home road splits and they are terrible for his whole career. I also look at that when a hitter comes from CO.

I think the hard core fans were well aware of this, but for years I would hear fans complain about Twins not signing Cuddy or trading him his FA year and letting him walk for nothing. I would have to explain they did not get nothing, much as other players they lost in FA around that time they did get something. The pick we got for Cuddy turned to be a good one, others not so much.

I would pass on Archer, I have yet to see a single pitcher come back from that surgery and be above average. I mean, if you can get him for vet min to see if you can change him up and be something sure, but I would not spend anything of real money on him. Kluber and Paxton if you think you can get value out of him go for it. Worked for Big Mike.

I love going back through trade trees. My favorite was Chuck Knobloch his went on for a long time. I think it finally ended, could be wrong, but led to a lot of players moving through. With three young players for Escobar this tree could go on for may years to come.

I have also made similar comparisons between the two. Mainly in the change in approach to walk more, but resulted in dip in other numbers really making the great walks an overall negative for the player hitting. I did not compare the defense like you did but even more crazy how much they line up. I have a feeling both will have a similar career after Twins. Eddie will find a team but he will not get long term deal.

There are two kinds of service time manipulation out there. The Twins and other lower market teams, in the past, have been known for the mid-season service time manipulation where you call them up mid-season just after super 2 time and you get 6.5 seasons of control. Then there is the late April call up manipulation, like what Bryant faced for Cubs. That one gives teams almost full 7 years of control, but at higher price of extra year of arbitration. I am thinking the FO will do more like what they did with Polanco, Sano, and Kepler. They will look to just buy out those years by paying extra early, but hoping it is good deal late. Some players are for that knowing they have long term security, others have rejected betting on themselves. I hope Alex starts all year and racks up some big hits. Worry about deal down road.

I think still early to tell how they did. If Duran has decent time with Twins, or can get moved for something of value, then I think it minium it was a wash. The year we traded Escobar we were going nowhere. We signed Gonzo to fill Escobar's roll, so really you would need to compare those 2, in my opinion, and the members we got for a true value of the trade, assuming we would have resigned Escobar. Also, keep in mind Escobar has been playing in offensive ballpark.

I agree with the two being added. I doubt any of the others will be added. It will be hard for a team to figure out if worth taking because no games last year for them.

I just want to comment that any projection of money and payroll is going to be difficult at this point. Teams are cutting payroll all over the place and think some FA will be needing to take much less than in a normal year.

I am glad we are developing more metrics for defense, as they are hard to quantify normally. We all the know the old ways of errors is not good, as players with greater range would get more errors because of more chances at high risk plays. Players with less range would not get errors because they could not get to balls to be charged with one. It is good to see Polonco improving overall, and the eye test kind of backed that up. Sano I think much of his issues were not knowing when to go after a ball. He will never be a plus defender, but he did better than I was expecting, which I expected dumpster fire so that is not saying much. For me, with all the shifts trying to look at range based on normal alignment is flawed. I would judge OF by reaction, route efficiency, speed, arm strength and accuracy. If you get good jumps, run good routes to ball even if you are slow you can get to balls someone that is just fast but cannot judge the fly well. Then arm is huge. Buxton seems to be high on all levels. For IF, similar I would judge reaction, quickness, along with arm strength and accuracy. Of course how many balls they boot are important. With all the shifting it would be hard to judge someone for not getting to a ball because out of position. That is where batted ball measures is important.

I by no means was trying to say owners are in the wrong, and I can see how you thought that. My point was that without revenue sharing or split, both sides are trying to get the biggest chunk of that revenue. Unlike in other sports where if the league makes more money it is good for all because they share in the extra money, but they also share in the losses. In MLB the owners take the risk of losses, but the players want to share in gains, making recent arguments that they should share in gains of non-baseball money like tv channels, real-estate around stadiums, and other areas. The point is, as a free market, both sides are trying to get as much money as they can, which will cause the other side to make less.

This offseason will be a crazy one. I think many players will still try to act like a normal offseason, because their agents will fight for that. The owners will hold strong and not sign any long term deals, except for a very few guys. I know many players will not want to and will keep holding out. I agree later signings will be happening. I doubt many trades will happen until FA shakes out too, because you cannot expect certain things to happen in FA. Everything we know from past is out the window. This is also because CBA up after next year. Unlike other leagues were players and owners share in revenue, baseball is a true free market where the owners try to fleece the players and the players try to max their earning potential. Neither side cares about the other. In basketball there is talks that players may lose 40% of their earning, because their CBA is based on overall revenue, so when you hear player signed x deal in NBA it really is based on expected value, but COVID blew that up. Baseball has no provisions. So when players that are earing 20 million or more, it will cut against the players that could be earning say 10 mil, like hand. If you need to cut payroll, you will do it on that end, because you cannot cut to save money, like in NFL, you still owe it, so why owe it and then replace too. Like with Hand, he was bought out for 1 mil, so the saving was 9 mil on him, but his spot still needs to be paid, for say .5 to 1 mil, so saving is only about 8 mil. Really crazy times coming next season. I doubt many teams will want long term beyond next year too with not knowing what CBA will bring, and how long work stoppage will be. At this rate, I expect a full season gone, unless both sides see how damaging that could be to the game.