Twodogs

I think if the Twins front office and GM's really want him then I think they need to step up pretty quickly and offer him something significant, if the Twins play the wait until Spring Training or the wait until June game then they will lose out. If they show that they are a little bit more serious than the Brewers or the Rangers then that might just be enough to help him make his decision. If they try to play rock, paper, scissors with the likes of the Yankees and such then they will lose, if they step up and show him that they want him in Minnesota more than the other teams do then I feel they have a good shot at him. JMO

MLB channel is talking about the Yankees and Yu Darvish looking at getting creative with a contract offer?? Hope that falls through.

I'd also like to see Max Kepler put it all together.

How about Byron Buxton breaking out with his bat. He is already the heart and soul of the defense, but it would be awesome to see him hit .290/.330/.470 for a whole season!!!

So should the Twins just get rid of him?

Tommy Kramer to Ahmad Rashad. A real Hail Mary.

Why don't they just time them all in the 40, then we will know who is fastest and all?? Seems like these metrics for speed are very dependant on a lot of variables.. seems like speed would be speed if you just timed them all??

I feel that someone like Duffy should be the long guy. I hope they put Hughes in Rochester to get some rehab starts in before they decide what to do with him. He's getting paid 13 million I can't really see him arguing about it too much given how he has pitched recently, and given that he is recovering from injury.

I could see wasting a 25 man spot for future success if the Twins were anticipating being a bad team this year. But since it appears that they are going to be in the running, they should probably drop the rule 5 guy.

I hear your sentiment. I was just saying lets forget about legacy and money for a second. Some guys like to play the game. If Joe likes playing the game he will stick around, and I don't think money will be a big factor. If he doesn't enjoy playing anymore he will be gone because he doesn't need the money. I see it all the time in different fields of work. There are lots of people that work past retirement and they have plenty of money to live off of, but they just like doing what they do so they keep doing it??

Sorry, I feel for ya. I'm going to go out when I'm ready.

As far as Mauer goes the interesting thing is his abilities on the defensive end of he field. I see people hamstringing Sano over there, but for the little bit of extra production at the plate he could be a giant hole at 1B, I mean if he can't handle 3rd what makes anyone think he can handle 1st?? Lots of diving plays, lots of digs, lots of base runners crashing into you, etc.... Mauer made a giant case for himself with the bat and the glove this year. He isn't and 25 million dollar man anymore, but I could easily see 7 - 10 Mill depending on his production this year. Maybe a 7 million dollar contract with incentives that could bring it to 10 million??

Tell the co-worker you sit closest to to go out on top tomorrow. They will probably look at you like what the?? My point is that Joe will go to work as long as he still likes going to work everyday. If that means he goes to another team then he will do that. If he doesn't really feel like going through the grind anymore, he will hang up the cleats. It's really doesn't matter what we think.

Well, whether or not its true or if this analysis holds true. It at least makes me feel better. Thanks Nick

I just wanted to chime in on an experience that I had with Rosario this past summer. This has nothing to do with his abilities nor does it have anything to do with his stats. We were at Petco field on August 2nd, I live in California, we were in left field probably about 10 or 11 rows back. I was wearing a 1984 powder blue Kirby Puckett Jersey, my 7 year old son was wearing his Byron Buxton Jersey, my 4 year old daughter was wearing a Joe Mauer jersey and my sister was wearing just a plain Twins Jersey. So we were cheering for the Twins the whole game. Not to mention this is about the time the twins kinda turned it around as they had his a little slump at the end of July. Rosario had made a nice catch to save extra bases earlier in the game, prob 6th or 7th inning and we were cheering. Bottom of the ninth comes along and Buxton and Kepler are warming up together and Rosario and the Padre's foul line person are warming up. While the Twins closer was warming up on the mound. Anyway all game long, Rosario would throw the ball back to the Padre's employee and turn around and get ready to play. This time however, he waves her off and turns towards the crowd in left. He points right at my 7 year old son, Max puts his glove up, he plays on a 9 - 10 year old travel ball team so he can catch just fine and is ready. Eddie throws the ball; it is headed right for my sons glove, then a heavy set bald dude with a Padre's jersey jumps up and tips the ball. The ball ends up about two rows behind us and in the section across the aisle to our left. Eddie looks at the guy who caught the ball, points at him, then points to Max, points at the guy again and then points to Max; like that ball was meant for him. He did that about 3 times and the guy comes over and gives my son the ball. The crowd cheered a little and Eddie turned around and finished off the game. My only contribution to this article is that Eddie Rosario made a fan of himself that day. Obviously I recognized the significance of what he did, but so did my son, and so did my daughter actually as she made me buy her a ball in the souvenir shop after the game so she could also have a ball like her brother. Anyway, Eddie is a good guy and I hope that he keeps progressing and becomes one of the Twins all time greats.

So it's Jan 1st. About a week ago I noticed on the MLB channel that last year at that time over 1.2 Billion dollars had been spent in free agents and this year when I saw that show, before the Holland signing only about 500 million had been spent. I then just saw the 80's movie Trading Places and it occured to me that when Eddie Murphy's character was saying that he thought the prices of Pork Bellies was going to go down because the market is panicking out there, that that might be the case with this years free agents??? It might be possible to get a Cobb or a Lynn or even Darvish a little bit cheaper the longer no one signs them?? Think Kendrys Morales a few years back when he didn't get signed until like May or June?? I really don't think those guys want that, so they may be panicking a little out there. Especially because they may have already bought their kids that GI Joe doll with the Kung Fu grip, they may want to get something done so they can get something instead of waiting around too long?? Maybe, we will have to wait and see. I know it has been irritating me that I haven't seen much action with the Twins and a real pitcher this off season even though most of us think or know that is what they need, now I'm looking at it as this might even work out better the longer it drags out??

I guess if he were 23 instead of 26 I would be more ho hum about it. But I don't get grabbing a medocre minor league pitcher who is 26???

He was good enough that the Yankees came calling. And it wasn't because of his bat necessarily. Hit only 65 bombs in his career. Was a decent hitter though.

You can make a decent case that Gibson has been better than both Santana and Berrios since the All star break. That's a fairly decent stretch 12 to 13 starts. Gibson is 7 - 3 and like a 3.58 ERA Santana is 5 - 2 with a 3.87 ERA. Berrios has not been very good at all since the All Star break. Actually he has had some good games just not consistent.

Pressly right now even with his bad stretch has a 1.05 WHIP he should probably be closing.

That's a little scary, you could have half the write up done, could you imagine if things turned for the worse?? You'd have to start some of it all over.

Are they really going to run Belisle out there in the ninth?? I mean he's like ancient, why not play someone there that could be a closer of the future.

I think for the Twins to compete next year, which they could, they need to sign one big free agent SP this off season and maybe a cheaper scrap heap starter also for depth. Try the young guys that they have in the bull pen, a few of them should exceed expectations, if not get a RP at the end of spring training. But they have to spend on at least one good starter.

I wouldn't mind seeing them try out Pressly as the closer. He has the stuff, he has pitched better as of late, he grades out as a closer, put him in the spot and see if he runs with it. He might all of the sudden blossom, I think it's better to try that rather than put Rodgers or Belisel in there.

It happened in Animal House. John Belushi's character was trying to rally the troops. He didn't want 9 years of college to go down the drain