Twodogs

Hey you've never seen me, my 2nd grader has a mean fastball though. I agree, not trying in any way to say that I would like to see Jaime Garcia, I'm just saying there are guys like that available, and as long as this market has dragged out those guys will probably be pretty cheap.

Well I believe Cobb, Lynn, Darvish, Arrieta are all a part of plan A. But there are some middling guys available like Jaime Garcia I think is a F.A. etc... To at least plug the 5th spot in the rotation until the trade deadline.

Romero and Gonsalves will most likely be on an innings limit this year, not ideal for a team trying to make a playoff push. IMO. Plus if we make a trade for a pitcher like Archer Gonsalves and Romero would probably be a part of the deal??

G

IDK, on one hand Darvish is more of a true Ace however, he hasn't pitched 200 innings in a season since 2013. So I might lean, if all costs are the same towards the package of Lynn and Cobb. Now think about it, Lynn started 33 games year one after TJ, so he looks to be fairly durable, Cobb to me has a weird throwing motion, but in combination the two would bolster the 5 man rotation to very tough for the long haul of a season. Then if in the running the Twins could do some trade deadline deal for an Ace like Houston did this year with Verlander. They could even use one of Cobb or Lynn as trade bait for that one Ace to put them over the top?? What I'm saying is that two birds in the hand might, in the long run, be worth more than one in the bush

I think one of my problems with trading right now is that if you are trading for pitching you will need to trade pitching for pitching along with some good hitters. So as a result we get a guy like Archer and a couple of years of control and then 2 - 3 years from now the Twins are in the exact same position as they are in right now because they wont have anything ready in the minors to come up and take spots. So I feel that if they have the money they might as well sign a top flight starter and let those young guys develop and in 2 or 3 years you can trade the top flight starter at a trade deadline once you have your own guys developed and as a result you get some young pitching to put right back into your minor league system. Right now the Twins need to get someone to pitch for them now and maybe give them some value later.

My point is why spend the money on bullpen pieces at all if they aren't going to solidify the rotation. If the Twins are going to bring up guys like Gonsalves, Romero, et. al. to solidify the rotation then they might as well bring up the young arms to make the bullpen also and see what those guys have. I am not totally against that method, but if that's what they are doing then just do it and get those pitchers some experience for 2 to 3 years down the road so they can be tough then. But if you are bringing in veteran relief pitchers for the next year or two then they need to bring in at least one starter like a Darvish to team up with Berrios and Santana to make a formidable front of the rotation with guys like Gibson, Mejia, Hughes, May(when healthy), Gonsalves, Romero, Pineda(once healthy) to compete for the last two spots in the rotation. If they don't get a guy like Darvish, Lynn, Cobb, etc.... then they pretty much wasted money on the bullpen arms in my opinion. That's why I think they are going after a starting pitcher to try to compete to win the division next year and maybe go a little farther into the playoffs. Which is possible if they can win the division, you never know what injuries the Astros or the Yankees will have happen during the year. Toronto and Seattle both looked pretty tough last year until guys started going down with injuries. So with this lineup and now a decent bullpen, if they get a good starter for the front of the rotation like Darvish they then can potentially win the division, maybe this year with all of the guys leaving Cleveland, and potentially for a few years to come as those young guys come up over the next two years to replace guys like Santana, Hughes, Gibson, etc.... Again Just my opinion, why spend the money on relief if you don't have the rotation to get you there??

it would seem odd to me that the Twins would go out and spend short term money on the bullpen; Reed, Duke, Rodney and then not plan on competing in the short term?? So if they roll with Gonsalves, Romero, etc.... to fill the rotation for this year and next then they are still a year or two away from really competing, but by that time the relief pitchers they have signed will be gone. So it seems to me that they must be planning to sign a frontline starter in order to compete for the next couple of years and hope those younger guys develop so that they continue to compete after these bullpen pieces leave?? JMO

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 was hoping that the Twins would announce that they have come to terms with one of the top starting pitchers that are available. Oh well, more Kohl I guess?