Twodogs

You are correct, about the only thing the older players have, or at least had say 10 years ago was name recognition, you could say this guy was going to put more people into the seats than some unknown, but the unknown may perform just as, or close to as good as the guy with name recognition. Now I feel in the steroid era that the older guys did play better because they were less injury prone and they had greater experience. But that isn't as much the case now. However, I'm not sure your analogy flies, as all of the 1960 vehicles that I see all seem to be more expensive than the new ones.

They might need to re-structure how they pay each draft slot sort of like the NFL does? But then owners could end up paying big for players that go bust in the night. AKA Ryan Leaf etc....

I think analytics are somewhat to blame for the change of approach that ownership has. For instance most players are just numbers now and not names. When a player had developed a name for himself he was paid according to his reputation, some good, some bad. However, now most of these guys don't have names anymore they are just a bunch of numbers. So at one point in time your name got you paid, now it's your numbers and the funny thing is that one person's numbers may be better than another person's, but not significantly better, so then I feel teams just kind of ignore the guys who have good numbers but not significantly better numbers than some kid they can pull out of AAA. I mean why does it seem so hard for a guy like Moustakis to get some sort of deal done. I mean it's obvious that he is one of the better guys at his position, and in the old days someone would have overpaid for his services not only because he performs pretty well but because he is a proven winner and a good guy. But even though he is one of the better players at his position, he is not significantly better than someone they can replace him with. So he toils in these good but not great one year deals.

I wonder what Curt Flood would think about the problems of today's CBA?

Buxton has 10 RBI in 2 games. That looks nice!

It seems to me that with the influx of international players which has to be at one of the highest points of all time that maybe MLB is ready for expansion? If you go back 30 years ago there was not this many players from Asia, dominican, etc... So like any market, if the market is flooded with talent then teams really don't have to pay very much for it. Now you add a couple more teams into the mix and I'd bet guys would be getting signed a little quicker? Just an idea that maybe would help the players in the future?

I got a laceration on my chin from shaving, my doctor wasn't too concerned he sent me home. After I had to pay him a 50 dollar co-pay.

I think Marwin may just become the everyday firstbaseman?? Then Cron goes to the bench

He is somewhat flexible as far as positioning goes so that should help him with these new benches that are so short because of having 13 pitchers.

This years Ervin Santana? Down 20 pounds, hopefully this doesn't have lasting effects.

Kimbrel

Starter, even if you have to send him down for awhile. They can find bullpen guys anywhere, bullpen arms are the most volitile position in all of baseball. Berrios did not have a first good year at all and they kept him in the rotation, I don't think the bullpen is necessarily the best place for a guy who has has arm issues. Bullpen guys never know when they are pitching they never know how long etc.... A starter is on a routine with pen sessions etc. If he's not one of the 5 - 6 starters send him down keep him in a routine so as to get the most out of him when it's time to.

Get rid of the DH and you'd speed up the game.

Maybe while everyone is not looking because they are watching the super bowl the Twins could sign someone good.

I agree, how many times have we seen a dude just completely light spring training on fire and then flatline during the season. About the only real thing you can guage is possibly work ethic, some guys may slack it a little in ST and some might work really hard. In that case you might be able to make some decisions. But not from performance in pretend games.

Yeah I see what you're talking about, I mean if you are just getting some fodder to fill spots couldn't they find a dude that's crappy and only 24?? I mean at least then there might be some sort of hope?

Hopefully 21 pounds doesn't = 80 games

You mean like how Tony Gwynn was drafted by the Padres and the Clippers on the same day? That kinda gamer?

I don't think his agent will allow him to bunt.

Yeah change is probably going to be good. However on the flip side of things you probably cant blame Molitor for Santana getting hurt, Mauer having a recurrance of his concussion symptoms, Polanco missing 80 games for PED's, Sano being overweight, and Buxton getting hurt? Not to mention a few other things so had none of that happened he'd probably still be the manager because they probably would have had a decent season.

Yeah I didn't include the BP because the shear number of dudes rotated through that BP last year might have crashed my computer due to not enough memory to support that many names, ha ha. I probably should have just said last year's pen vs this year's pen and not actually put the names down. But yeah the BP definitely still needs another upgrade.

I ask this and I just want to compare, so far, what they have this year as opposed to last year. C 2018 Garver Astrudillo C 2019 Castro Garver 1B 2018 Mauer 1B 2019 Cron 2B 2018 Dozier 2B 2019 Schoop 3B 2018 Sano/Escobar 3B 2019 Sano SS 2018 Escobar/Polanco SS 2019 Polanco LF 2018 Rosario LF 2019 Rosario CF 2018 Buxton/Cave CF 2019 Buxton RF 2018 Kepler RF 2019 Kepler Rotation 2018 (Santana) Berrios Gibson Odorizzi Lynn (Romero, Stewart, Mejia, Gonsalves) 2019 Berrios Gibson Odorizzi Pineda Romero, Mejia, Perez) In comparison are they better than last year??

Solarte is a great all around backup player. He can play multiple positions and he hits well in limited at bats. Seems like he plays better when he played in a limited role.

The Twins realistically are in the same position as they were last year. There was a ton of hope going into last season that they had the pieces to win the Central, not necessarily to win the WS but to be able to make the playoffs. Now had they been in the hunt, who knows what they would have brought on board at the deadline to push them over the top, we will only know if they can get there this year. There is no reason why with everything that went wrong last year that some of that could go right this year. No matter how much everyone says they know that this guy will be the difference maker they just don't know. Remember Yu Darvish? Pretty sure almost everyone on here thought they knew that he was the difference last year, but how'd he do? As bad a Lynn was to begin with he still out produced Darvish. Nonetheless, if some of Buxton, Sano, Kepler, Polanco, Rosario etc... Go on and do even just a little better this year then the Twins could be in the thick of it come July and August and that's when they should overspend for a Greinke, Baumgarner, something to put them over the top. Right now, in my opinion all they really needed to add were pieces to the bullpen so they have a better shot at pulling out those close wins?? But otherwise I feel overall they are probably better with their signings than what they were last year? Schoop I think will be better than Dozier was last year, Cruz will be better than Morrison, and Cron and Mauer will be a wash, Mauer prob had a little more production but loses out when he has to miss long stretches because his brain was acting up. So all in all, if the core does just a little better I believe the new version of FA's are better than the 2018 version? JMO, still Perez is a little curious, when I think they just need to add to the Bullpen until the deadline? Now if they go out and overspend right now and that core doesn't produce, just like last year, they they overspent for nothing, the core has to produce before you go and add those 1 or 2 giant pieces.

I'm pretty sure that the group of Schoop, Cruz and Cron would have been picked up by someone had the Twins not done so already. But Perez, I'm not so sure? I'm sort of perplexed by that one. Because to me they don't need another 5th starter, they have a bunch of those, what they don't have is a #1 or an established closer. In the first half of the season last year I think the Twins lost like 23 games by 1 or 2 runs. Im going off of memory here but I think their record at the break was like 44 - 50. If they had pulled out 10 of those 1 or 2 run losses they would have been 54 - 40???? I think they have the hitting to do that this year. What they don't have is the bullpen to finish off the wins that some of those hitters can provide. Now if they are well more than a few games above .500 then they should at the deadline go out and rent an Ace for the remainder of the season to make that push. But right now they can prob stand pat if they can just solidify the bullpen.