gunnarthor

That's a fair point. Health for every team is a big issue. I'm not sure if Molitor actually deserves credit for his use of days off for the players, if the Twins were just "lucky" last year of if the young guys (and Dozier) are just hearty but injuries are always a big concern that hasn't really affected us too much over the last few years. We have some depth (I think the Rochester rotation will be May, Gonsalves, Slegers and Romero) and Granite and Gordon could be the first position players up but if Buxton misses half a season, they really can't make that up.

I admit I like what they've done with the bullpen and I think we can expect better seasons from Buxton, Sano, Polanco and Kepler so our offense should be even better. We really aren't that far away. Darvish might be enough to put us over the top but until we address starting pitching, we really won't know where we stand compared to Cleveland.

Part of me actually hopes the market does poorly in 2018 because then the GOP will be less likely to hold the House and Senate. Of course, part of me holds big banks and big oil so I'm a bit of hypocrite.

http://joeposnanski.com/wahoo/ Poz had a pretty good article on this, as always. "Wahoo is a grotesque caricature of a great American people and it is blatantly offensive. That is not what a baseball mascot is supposed to be. Wahoo is a relic from another, less enlightened time when Native Americans were often the focus of such insensitivities — throughout the 1930s and 1940s there was a comic strip called “Big Chief Wahoo,” which featured a naive “Injun” who said things like “Look. There. Horse.” There was a time when people found that stuff hilarious. That time is gone."

Yeah, rough day.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2018/01/kevin-towers-passes-away-cancer.html#comments He was in the game for a long time but was only 56 years old. Cancer sucks.

I'm glad they are getting rid of him, it's taken far too long. https://www.fastcodesign.com/3019811/american-indians-counter-racist-iconography-with-racist-baseball-caps

Do you like him more than Buxton, Rosario or Kepler? I don't. He's good insurance though.

I forgot to post this. Sorry. Here's Joe Posnanski's piece on Johan Santana's HOF case - https://www.mlb.com/news/hall-of-fame-case-johan-santana/c-265053106

I think there are a lot of players taking stuff that aren't just trying to hang on.

We still have to get Sickel's and the fangraphs guys (not sure if they are doing one combined or two individual lists) as well. I think Baddoo might sneak onto the fangraphs list, they've mentioned him in their chats. I believe it was a BA guy who said that the Twins had a glut of players (ranked 2-8 in the system) that could have been ranked more or less in any order. Klaw obviously sees Gordon higher but that seems about right to me. A bunch of guys who, right now, are pretty good prospects but not at the elite level like Lewis or that second tier (think Kepler) quite yet. I think Klaw has Gordon at that Kepler level. Anyhow, I think that the system is in good shape. Light on elite talent, which is bad, but pretty deep with enough young players with high ceilings so that next year Lewis might not be alone.

5 years, 80m, 118 starts, 92 ERA+, 720 innings, 7 WAR is fine? I sure hope you judged the Nolasco and Hughes deals similarly. Hughes, in case you're wondering, 4 years, 40m, 77 starts, 93 ERA+, 477 innings, 5.5 WAR. (He does have two more years yet) If the Twins think Darvish is going to perform like Sanchez, they should run away.

Not sure what you are asking. If the Twins had signed Anibal Sanchez, for example, it would have precluded them from signing Ervin Santana and probably Castro. I think the damage of a large contract can be pretty impactful. They would never have realistically been able to sign Scherzer, Price, Greinke or Lester. I generally feel that a team should use FA sparingly and only to bolster the final nucleus. I'd be ok with the Twins going all-in on Darvish this year because I think it makes sense to add a bigtime starter to this group of young players, even though I know it will impact payroll greatly down the line and if Darvish fizzles out, we won't get another big FA pitcher. But now would be the time to make that gamble. And from that list of players it seems to me that two types of pitchers are better bets - the really, really good ones and the durable ones. Obviously, that doesn't always work but Sanchez had never topped 200 innings before his big contract and hadn't made 30+ starts until he was 26. Santana, meanwhile, was doing that at 23 and had 5 200+ inning seasons before his Twins deal.

Didn't suck. Here's the list of guys who got roughly what Erv got or more - Edwin Jackson, Anibal Sanchez, Zack Greinke (twice, actually),Tanaka, Ubaldo Jiminez, Matt Garza, Ricky Nolasco, Max Scherzer, Jon Lester, James Shields, David Price, Johnny Cueto, Jordan Zimmerman, Jeff Samardzija, Wei-Yin Chen, Mike Leake, Ian Kennedy, Scott Kazmir (Kazmir got fewer years, more AAV). Of that group, Greinke and Scherzer were/are pretty good. Tanaka has been solid although hurt a bit, Lester is sliding down. Price is already breaking down. Shark has been healthy but average, but that's about it. The rest are probably bombs.

Earlier this offseason, I listed the (IIRC) 13 contracts between 12-16 that were greater than Erv's. Maybe 4 worked out.

True, but even with those three gone, our high end youngsters (Graterol, Baddoo, Kiriloff, Miranda, Javier) might more than make up for it. I'm really high on that 2016 draft group. Probably unrealistically so.

I think we end up with Lynn. Santana, Lynn, Berrios, Gibson and Mejia are opening day rotation (if all are healthy) with AAA rotation being Slegers, May, Gonsalves and Romero. That's not the greatest rotation but if Berrios makes the leap, you have a stud in him, two professional pitchers in Lynn and Santana and a much improved bullpen as well.

Santana off the ballot in one year. I think McGriff is finally done as well. I think he got shafted by the voters and he should have gotten in. Walker at 34% and Rolen at 10% are tough. I think Walker should be in the HOF. Not sure about Rolen but I thought he'd get more support than that. Vizquel is at 37%. So maybe he gets the up votes in the next few years but it seems the current voting body is pretty polarized so there might not be much more movement for him, just like Bonds/Clemens are stuck at mid 50s.

I like Romero a lot. I thin he's our #1 pitching prospect. Hopefully he gets to the majors this year.

https://www.mlb.com/news/gleyber-torres-leads-top-ss-prospects-list/c-265065930 While their top 100 isn't out yet, the #10 shortstop is probably a top 40 prospect. Looks like BA is probably the low man on Gordon. The article says about Gordon - "Gordon did play well in Double-A at age 21 and went to the Futures Game, but he slumped badly in the second half (.609 OPS) and struggled against lefies (.513 OPS). He'll need to show he can produce at the higher levels for an entire season while continuing to prove he can stick at shortstop." And, Wander Javier got a mention as well - "By the end of the year, it's possible Gordon won't be the top shortstop in the organization. Signed for $4 million in 2015, he had a strong United States debut in the Rookie-level Appalachian League in 2017 and could really break out with a move to the Midwest League this season."

I'm not sure how they can suspend Sano unless there's more than just he said/she said. I'm more worried about his injury recovery but like others think Escobar can cover third for a bit. I'm ok with Rodney closing b/c then we have better pitchers pitching in more important situations. Some of our best bullpens had arms equal to or better than our closer not closing. We should continue that. I don't see how they option Gibson out of ST. He's either traded or in the opening rotation. As for Santana, I'm not overly worried about him. I just want innings. I don't expect him to be an all-star again but he should be a capable pitcher. That'll be enough.

Glad to hear it.

Meh, ML teams deal with tons of **** all year. This is nothing.

Wait, you don't have an opinion on prospect ratings but accused other posters of having rose colored glasses? That's .... something.

No. Remember, the 2012 draft has already graduated (5 major leaguers). 2013-2015 were high pick years, 2016 wasn't. 2017 got both Lewis and Rooker ranked on at least one list. I expect when all of the ranking places come out the Twins will probably have 8 guys ranked in someones top 100 (Lewis, Gordon, Gonsalves, Romero, Rooker, Javier, Baddoo and Graterol). My guess is that we're probably a top 10 system right now. Here's a quick draft reminder: 2013 - Stewart, Gonsalves and Garver are the big names and Aaron Slegers made a few ML starts last year. Solid draft. The downside is that there is no difference maker in this draft. There's no Buxton or Berrios. At best, you have a few backend starters and a backup catcher. Not great but it's actually not bad either considering the bust rate for ML drafts. 2014 - Gordon, Burdi, Hildy and Curtiss. I hated this draft then and I still hate it. We went for fire ball relievers (man, Mitch Keller over Burdi would've been nice) but Gordon is a top prospect for Klaw and a consensus top 100 guy in baseball. Hildy and Curtiss could be solid bullpen arms. But I like Gordon and I think he'll be a good MLer so it's ok. 2015 - We drafted Jay early and then didn't have a second round pick b/c we signed Santana and then our next pick didn't sign either. LaMonte Wade might be a steal but basically this draft (and how you feel about 13-15 probably) depends on Jay. Is he the next Andrew Miller type? Or is he an injury prone arm that never puts it together. Injuries suck but drafting Jay made sense. 2016 - Kiriloff has already been on several top 100 lists. He should hit. You'll probably see Baddoo sneak onto some top 100 lists or at least some honorable mentions.