gunnarthor

Good luck to him but it certainly wasn't going to happen here. I'd go to Asia myself. Get to travel. That's fun. I enjoyed my time in China.

I was an immigration attorney for a decade or so and one of the really interesting things (at least to me) was that many of my clients signatures looked different if they were signing it in Spanish or English, despite it being the same name and alphabet. You'd never think it was the same person's signature.

Hicks could be the real X-factor in all this. If Buxton is all we want in a CFer, Hicks could take over a corner and their combined range would (arguably) help Arcia in right. But until Hicks fixes things, it's just a wish.

Yep, the stability of the rotation will be huge. I'm concerned about DH but hopefully Sano is up by July.

Suzuki and Hughes.

I think there's a lot of reason to be optimistic on both guys. I thought Gibson wore down during the season but he did improve his k/9 and k% during the season. His k/9 in the second half was 6.2, which, over a full season would be good enough, I think. (It was 7.3 in Aug but he pitched badly that month). Last season he pitched 180 innings, the year before he had 150. So he's still getting some stamina back. Also, we should remember that K/9 isn't always that great a measurement b/c it measures strike outs per inning and not strike outs per hitter. Guys that walk fewer guys will usually have a lower K/9 simply because they face fewer guys in an inning. It's a small thing but adds up over a season. Hughes was 27th in k/9 but 22nd in K% last year, for instance. Gibson's ground ball rate was 5th in baseball last season (min 170 innings) so he has an important skill set that will help him and he doesn't give up many HRs (although he gave up a few more down the stretch last season but I think fatigue had a big impact on that). So, I think if he's healthy and not tired, he should be able to keep the ball in the park, usually on the ground and should be able to strike out a few more hitters over the season. He could have a poor man's Brandon Webb or Tim Hudson type seasons. As for Arcia, I'm really growing on him and think he could certainly have a big season. Does anyone remember that Jason Kubel had a .300/.369/.539 137 OPS+ season? TF will sap some of his left handed power but I like Arcia better as a hitter than Kubel (although both were very well regarded prospects but Kubel's knee injury hampered his career).

I think Nolasco gets traded sometime.

Last year, the conventional wisdom was that Gibson would start in AAA b/c he had options and the Twins had to protect Diamond, Worley and Deduno, which was going to be hard to do. Instead, the Twins went with the best pitcher (Gibson) and worried about the ramifications later. I expect they'll do something similar this year. And we still have time to worry about a ST injury, trade etc. It'll sort itself out. By the end of the seasons, I expect the five pitchers who made the most starts for the Twins will be Hughes, Santana, Gibson, Meyer and May but those might not be the April starters.

So we get an ace pitcher without giving up anything of value? I think Philly might have a problem with that.

I don't think the Twins would take on that salary and the prospect loss. Even if we held onto Sano/Buxton, it would cost a group like Gibson, Meyer and others to get him. Just too expensive. I like Hughes a lot and Gibson could be a breakout guy. Hardball times had a nice article on him. Santana and Nolasco should be solid, although Nolasco is worrisome. And then in the wings we have a pretty nice depth - I like May a lot and Meyer, Berrios, Milone, Pelfrey. That's some real depth. No Albers or De Vries there. So at this point I think the pitching staff is more or less set. I'd be ok adding another bat or CFer but not a big salary like Hamels.

Pedro worked with Angel Presinal, one of the few people MLB actually banned from being around mlb teams. He's a big trainer in the Dominican Republic and probably supplied PEDs to lots of players.

"Probably better defensively"? That might be an understatement. But Bourjos also has nothing to do with the DH mess. (And he'd cost more in prospects to get so I don't think the Twins are going after him).

Well, yeah, obviously the injuries are a big issue and something the Twins would have to be ok with (insert joke here). But on the other hand, if he was able to stay healthy, he wouldn't be cheap. The hope would be that as a full time DH he wouldn't get hurt as he did in the field. He missed a bunch of time in 2012 and 2013 due to a right knee injury and in 2014 it was the left knee. So he could be done. Or maybe he comes back from rest and is good to go. But I think he's a low risk type of guy to get. If he works out, great. If not, let him go. And in the meantime he's not really blocking anyone.

Actually, Willingham had his career year at TF when he was 33, a year older than Quentin will be next year. They seem somewhat similar in that both are pull happy righties with good power who might benefit very well in TF. With Quentin being younger and more established although coming off an injury wrecked season.

Because you're not getting him to play in the OF but rather to upgrade DH. Right now, the Twins seem to have Vargas as DH and the fall back is alternating guys like Pinto/Hunter/Scheffer around. Not ideal. Quentin, for all his faults, can hit. His 132 OPS+ over the last three years in SD is better than anything any Twin hitter managed last year. He gets on base well and he has power. And he is likely cheap to get both in $ and prospects. The only young guy he takes at bats away from would be Vargas but Vargas probably needs time in AAA anyway. If he gets hurt, fine, we have depth. It is possible that Hunter hits well enough and Molitor decides to put Scheffer in left instead but that doesn't seem likely.

See, I think the Twins should worry about adding a real bat to the line up and not care about OF defense. Right now, Hunter and Arcia are going to play the corners. That won't change. They are both full time. Might not be how we want it but that is how it is. If Hunter hits so poorly he's out of the lineup, he won't get to DH. The team could use a stop gap CFer but that could be Hicks, Santana or Scheffer. The team isn't going to make Arcia the DH at this time. But they could improve at DH. Vargas, unless you are sold on his Sept, isn't likely to be a good hitter right away. He probably could use more time in AAA. (Klaw called him a AAAA player) Maybe Pinto could DH. Maybe Sano pushes his timetable and he pushes Plouffe out of a spot. But a guy like Quentin, who has always hit, is a pretty nice bat to have in this lineup. If he struggles, they can get rid of him like Morales. If he does well but the team sucks, they can trade him at the deadline. If he gets hurt, they have depth behind him.

I think McGriff gets too little love. If you think the PED guys should get dinged, shouldn't McGriff get a positive ding? His run from 88-94 gets a little lost in the steroid era - he led the league twice in HR with 35 and 36. 134 OPS+ in over 10,000 PA is really good, regardless of position.

Smith maybe. He doesn't have the track record and is due a little more money. His defense isn't great but he can play the OF. He is a little younger. He'd also probably cost more in prospects to get. Maybin is a no for the reasons listed at TwinkieTown.

Johnson, Schilling, Edgar, Smoltz, Mussina, Trammell, McGriff, Walker, Biggio, Everyday Eddie .... man, you run out of ten spots pretty quick.

The Padres recent acquisitions have made Quentin likely to be dealt. He could still be moved to first base but even that is problematic, as they still have Steve Smith. So it seems that Quentin, who has one year remaining and then an option year, is probably on the way out. Quentin has been hurt a lot in his three years with SD and his bat in 50 games last year was pretty brutal (.177/.284/.315). But over the three years in SD, he has avg about 25 homers per 162 games and 4.0+ oWAR per 162 games. He just can't stay healthy. He'll be 32 next year. The positives of adding Quentin is his bat. In his three years in SD, he has put up a .251/.352/.464 line (132 OPS+). And that's playing in Petco which is really bad on RH power. His bat should be a perfect fit for TF. His negatives are pretty simple - he can't play defense and he's been hurt a bunch. Quentin is a clogger on the bases. If he's healthy, he should hit. He'd take playing time from Vargas but Vargas probably could use more time in AAA (we all remember Parmelee's strong sept). Vargas was striking out way too much and not walking enough. And Quentin's bat is probably better than Vargas' in 2015 anyway. He probably wouldn't cost a lot to get but RH power is always in demand.

Nice deal for the Twins and it lets Hughes get one more big shot at FA when he's 32. Good for both of them.

I think the really interesting thing in this is how burnt is that bridge with Close? Apparently he and Boras are representing something like 14 of the top 20 expected picks (or some insane number like that). Obviously, Houston might have to take a Close client again. I wonder if one of their two picks ends up a "lesser" player so they have more cap room or if they decide to take the two BPA and, if that means dealing with Close, so be it.

I do think they intended to lower the agreed pre-draft amount with Aiken when they saw how the draft developed. mlbtraderumors quoted an agent saying that there is always something in a physical that a team could use to ding a player but teams just didn't do it. And the abnormality in his arm (whatever it really was) clearly didn't impact his ability to pitch. I think the Astros offer of 3.1 was meant to scare Aiken into accepting something north of that while getting Nix and Marshall as well (and a lot of the reporting on mlbtraderumors and Houston blogs supported that). I don't think the Astros ever really wanted to lose the #1 pick (plus a fifth rounder) and a year of development time just to draft #2 next year.

I thought he passed the eye test in general but he did have some perplexing bad games where everything seemed to drop around him. His arm is legit, for sure.

We will never know but I doubt that. Aiken is still going to be a top 5 pick this year, the Astros lost a year of development time (after losing 111 games) and they increased their offer to Aiken to 5m but he wouldn't agreee, so I do think they were trying to get him in the system. The Marshall rumors were that he would sign for 1.5m but he wasn't offered that like Nix was. I really think the Astros were trying to outsmart everyone and get an extra player out of the #1 pcik bonus pool