diehardtwinsfan

The penalty is pretty benign. They cannot sign anyone next season for more than 250k (or something like that), and of course they pay a large tax. I think Moncada is the type of talent that makes it worth doing something like this, but if the Yankees, RedSox, and Cubs are bidding, then yeah I don't see us winning that war. That said, one of the big things with the Moncada free agency status is whether or not he is available to sign this year or next as the teams that went over this season won't be allowed to sign him come July. I believe his agent was working hard to get that taken care of sooner than later so this could happen, but he has some hurdles to clear to make it work, not all of which are in Moncada's direct control.

Yes, I know that. The reference was more towards Mr. Pohlad's checkbook. If that meant only signing Moncada and no one else, I'd do it.

Personally, I'd blow it all on Moncada....

I seem to remember him being incredibly excited when he was drafted... so much so that people commented about his attitude and how others should have it. Seems like he's a very hard worker too. Gotta admit that I respect the kid. He won't likely be on the roster this season, but it's very easy to root for him.

I would. The US was backing a pretty despicable regime in and of itself. It made Castro's take over pretty easy... That said, I'm a bit curious about how this plays out for baseball. Cuba is pretty proud of it's baseball and of all the foreign leagues, it might be the closest you have in comparison to MLB talent. I could see MLB sweeping in and signing out a lot of really good players, which would decimate that league. On the flip side, those players could still reside in Cuba and keep their money and spend it there, which would be good for the nation as a whole. I wonder if they will end up doing some sort of slotting system similar to what Japan and Korea do. It should keep the talent there for a bit at least.

I'm on the other side of this fence. There's Meyer, Berrios, and May in the high minors and Stewart, Hu, Thrope, and Gonsalves in the lower minors. Thats' plenty of high upside guys moving through the system. I think I'd rather have the prep pitcher as usually they have higher upside than the college pitchers. A college pitcher with high upside won't be there at our pick. Oh, side note, the Twins lost their 2nd rounder signing Santana, but they do have a competitive balance pick at the end of the 2nd. So they aren't devoid of 2nd round picks.

My apologies Seeing that I'm the one derailing it.

I don't think it's your or my place to determine whether or not it is the dream job for the guys and whether or not they'd play it for free. People could make that statement about your job and my job too if they wanted to, and if I was a betting man, I'd bet that there would be a lot of professional players NOT playing if the wages (or the chance to earn them) didn't exist. That's part of why they do it. Regardless, of which, the issue at hand has more to do with the structure of baseball. To answer the other posts, yes, it is that simple. Baseball is not a single entity with a single profit/loss statement. It behaves more like a single entity that sells franchise rights to smaller entities who operate these franchises independently. It's more like a Pizza Hut or a McDonalds who operate a corporate office, but see most of the profits handled at the franchise level. Except that in baseball, all the franchise owners get together and decide who works where and how much they get paid. That is, at it's very core, anti-competitive. That is also why it is that baseball needs an anti-trust exemption and why it is that salaries need to be collectively bargained. It would not be legal otherwise. To be clear, I feel dirty when arguing on behalf of unions just as much as some people are on big business. But at the end of the day, I really do think this one is pretty simple. That anti-trust exemption would not need to exist otherwise.

I think the criticism on Moore is that he went all in on the green square for the roulette wheel. Given that they made it to the WS this season, I think the gambled paid off (whether it was a wise gamble is the debate most of us had with it). That said, I echo Levi on this one. Got to think there's something going on behind the scenes that doesn't show up in a scouting report. KC saw enough to make a crazy gamble, and TB flat out sold low. Perhaps the guys they got turn into stars, but they took on quite a bit more risk then the potential reward.

I'd probably send him home and let him rest personally.

yeah, these kids are still growing. Not sure gluten free is the answer (unless there's a medical condition), though keeping their carb intake as a whole lower would make some sense... but I'd be ensuring that these kids got lots of protein and veggies in particular. That's what I really don't get about this. Feeding them is in MLBs best interest. Making sure they can live in clean housing, I would think, would be as well. You don't want these kids living in a dangerous area of town b/c that's all they can afford, nor do you want them bringing the stresses of not being able to pay their bills into work with them. I'd think that would make it very difficult for them to concentrate on baseball.

It isn't that simple. It's not one big employer, it's 30 smaller ones. Even if it was one bigger one, the other real problem is that players cannot take their skills to a competitor. They have to work for MLB. Legally speaking, this is pretty clear.

Necessary is the key word. I'd say no to the idea that the ace is necessary, but I'd be hard pressed to say it doesn't hurt. I also subscribe to the idea that there are about 10 true aces in MLB as well. I believe that most of us would agree that a rotation of 5 number 2s is better than a 1-5, and Ryan is attempting at doing that with the Nolasco, Hughes, and Santana signings as these guys are all 2/3 types (though Hughes pitched like a 1 this season and Nolasco... well didn't). That rotation of 2/3 types is also a lot cheaper than the ace, so there's something to be said about spreading the money around and getting better results overall, b/c if they piled all that money one guy, you are looking at more types of guys like Walters getting starts. The other thing about post season is the SSS issue. An ace can pitch well and the team can still lose if the offense cannot score or if the other pitchers just get beat. An ace will pitch twice in a 5 gamer and 3 times at best in a 7 gamer. And if you use all 3 bullets in the CS, it's likely the ace isn't going to pitch 3 games in the WS. Same goes with the DS/CS. That said, the Twins appear to building a nice depth of top end talent and have plenty of depth of guys who won't embarrass themselves in MLB as well. Their 3 guys under contract (I expect Nolasco to rebound) paired with Meyer, Gibson, May, and Berrios in the shorter term should be fine, and as those contracts expire, guys like Stewart, Thorpe, Gonsalves, and Hu all look like they could step up and pitch in the 1-3 range. They have plenty of other depth guys who look more like 3/4 type guys in Rogers, Duffey, Lee, Darnell, etc that could step in as needed too, though I suspect many of these guys get traded assuming the others remain relatively healthy. Back to the topic, a few of those younger guys could very well be that ace guy, but in the mean time, they should have decent pitching top to bottom... Of course, as dreadful as that defense was last season, I'm not sure how much it will really help unless their pitchers are striking out 20 guys a game. Even though he's lost a step, I'm hoping Hunter can teach guys like Arcia, Buxton, and Hicks the nuances of playing good OF defense.

An Escobar trade, or they are rolling with Santana in CF again next season maybe. Personally, I like this guy a heck of a lot better than the pitcher they supposedly signed. Looks like he can hit at least.

in other words, this should end the idea that the Twins call up players too slow. There doesn't appear to be a correlation.

I think this could kill the anti-trust exemption if MLB and the union aren't careful, which could have implications for the draft. That exemption exists only because their rights are collectively bargained, but in this case, the union is negotiating on the behalf of minor leaguers (and it clearly isn't representing their best interests) but not giving those minor leaguers a voting interest in the very contract that governs them. I'm not a lawyer, but I'm pretty sure a first year law student could win this in court b/c it's a pretty basic violation of how those exemptions work.

This is a bit more complicated situation I think. The draft as a whole is needed for baseball, as the sport as a whole suffers if the a handful of teams constantly monopolizes the best talent, and that is what happens if there is no draft. But I disagree that this isn't bad for the players. It's an anti-trust issue at it's core. I don't think anyone here would be too happy if all of our potential employers got together and decided who was going to work where and at what salary. That behavior is illegal in any environment except professional sports. They get away with it b/c salaries are collectively bargained. If these guys were on open market, they'd get salaries that were commensurate with the amount of risk the team absorbed and the upside that the player can provide. The guys at the top do OK (though still less than what they'd make on the open market), as they are set for life even if they fail, but it's the guys in the middle rounds who really get screwed as they are lucky to walk away with only a few hundred thousand before taxes. It kind of gets to the issue with the minor leagues. If baseball took care of their basic living expenses, I think the problem largely solves itself. But they don't.

The overall salary slotting really wouldn't change if they took the pick as everything just moves up one. If it's the number of picks the MLBPA is concerned about (which I doubt), you give Houston the last pick in the 10th round in exchange, as that's really the slot value that's eliminated if Houston lost the pick.

Nice deal for Nicks. A year off, 1.5 in the bank, and another shot at the draft. I'd have probably forced them to honor the deal and taken the first pick away from them if I were MLB. I'd think though that this should keep this from happening ever again.

I don't understand this one at all. Given the revenues of MLB, they could fix this cheaply. Heck, build some apartment style housing near their facilities and feed them (if for no other reason than to insure they eat healthy). It wouldn't be that expensive and would probably end this fight with out giving these kids a raise.

As for regression, they offense was pretty bad overall in the beginning of the year, yet they still finished where they did. The second half of last season, they were the best offense overall. That was with Suzuki regressing as it was. Regression: Suzuki, Santana, and Vargas Improvements Mauer, Plouffe, Dozier (I think the power numbers drop a bit, but the average goes way up), Hunter (improvement over what we had in LF), Arcia (I think he takes a huge step forward this year). Push Escobar. Hopefully the CF they can sign will play to the average of Santana and Hicks with better defense. I do think Santana will see a big drop, and personally, I'd slate him for work in Rochester on his defense anyways. That said, it wasn't like he was getting seeing eye singles. Everything he hit was on a rope, so perhaps there's some talent that could allow him to be one of those guys who carries a higher BABIP... Who knows. Could this team contend? If things break right, yes. I think the most realistic view of 2015 is that they are pretenders. They should give us a good season and keep the fans interested in baseball well into September, but ultimately fall short because they are flawed. What should be exciting is that there's a good chance we see Buxton, Rosario, Meyer, and Sano at some point this season.

I think the argument is to bring them up when they are ready. Most will struggle at some point, unless by chance they are named Mike Trout. But the reality is that you don't want to be wasting too much of their service time having them figure out things that they should be learning in the minors. The best case in that scenario is that they still manage to stay on the same timeline had they not been rushed. The worst case is that it takes much much longer (Gomez)... or never happens.

He cannot strike out 7/9 in the NL. Not sure I'd give much up for him, as he wouldn't have a spot on the rotation anyways.

Looks like it was cash http://www.truebluela.com/2014/11/7/6990957/kevin-correia-trade-dodgers-twins-cash

I think May will be fine. He showed quite a bit of improvement as the season went on. He gets the Ks, but was walking too many guys. I think that's more mental for him (especially given how well he limited them in AAA) and I think he settles in to a low 4 ERA with a bunch of Ks. That wouldn't be bad at all for his first full year. Meyer gets called up to replace the first injured guy. I'm hoping he takes a major step forward in AAA limiting the walks and never looks back when he's called up.