Twodogs

This is what I'm hoping for, I know it probably will play out a lot differently, but it's what I hope for. CF Buxton, SS Correa, 3B Lewis, RF Wallner, 1B Miranda, LF Larnach, DH Castro, C Jeffers, 2B Lee, Bench France, Bader, Julien, Vasquez. That would be what I'd hope to start with before the injury bug hits. I really hope Larnach and Wallner get 500 plate appearances this year both. I want them to see some left handed pitching. I'm cool with Bader being a defensive replacement, and occasionally playing left when one of Wallner or Larnach needs a day off. I just have a bad feeling that Bader is going to get 400 AB's at a .650 OPS clip again. If he got 200 to 250 but got to use his glove quite frequently I'd be a lot more excited. France I'm not sure, I guess it depends on how he does. But again I'd rather have Miranda on a full time basis than what France has done the last year or two?

IDK, I mean Byron has had a. OPS .827 or higher in 5 of the last 6 seasons. I mean almost every season he is over .800 OPS and it's more like .850 OPS. So I mean with those numbers, he may miss the occasional curve ball but he's obviously hitting at a high clip to be well over .800 OPS in 5 of the last 6 seasons? I mean those kinds of numbers would have him hitting at the top of my lineup. I'd have Byron, Correa and Royce all hitting in the top 3 somewhere followed by Wallner at number 4. I get Byron has been disappointing, but the disappointment I feel is more due to injury. He hits pretty well when he gets regular at bats. He's one of the highest paid and one of the best players on the team. I think it would be stupid to hit him like 7th or something. JMO

I'd probably put SWR into the #4 spot in the rotation??

A lot of guys tend to have better seasons once they leave the Twins?

Yeah this one is confusing. I mean Bader could make 8 mill with a buyout on top of it? Bader hasn't had an On Base Percentage above .300 since 2021??? I mean but Kepler a home grown product was way way way too expensive at 10 mil? I get it Kep is a lefty and is probably super stoked to be in Philly, (probably thinks thank God), but by no means is Bader a good replacement for him and at close to the same amount of money? I mean I was looking forward to a couple of the young guys getting the platoon AB's. That way the main guys would get most of the work this season. With Rocco, Bader will probably play almost like a starter 4 - 5 days every week. What a waste.

Oh, ok that is sort of making some sense, now my next question is, with the time value of money will it still equal 46 or at least close to it in years 10 through 20 when they are still paying him the 68 million per season? I wonder how will that work? Only being counted at 46 million per season would only be 460,000 million, so on the back half I wonder if they will then be responsible for the 240,000 million left over??

So I'm not 100% familiar with how Ohtani's 70 million per season affects their seasonal payroll, because I am assuming that the Luxury tax that they owe at the end of the season to the other teams is based on the seasonal payroll? So if they are paying him 2 mill and have deferred 68 million per season. They are being affected at a rate of 46 million on their seasonal payroll? When do the Dodgers have to put the other 24 million on the payroll? When do they get taxed on the other 24 million? And, now I really don't get why they deferred 68 million dollars if 46 million of it is counted against the payroll? It really doesn't make sense to me as to why they would defer it, since they can obviously afford it? I thought if they deferred a bunch of money that it wouldn't count against them until they actually paid it? Sorry about the questions, but now to me the water is a lot more murkey if they have to show the deferred money on the current payroll?

I thought when they deferred the payments that it didn't count against the salary luxury tax thresholds? I mean why defer 68 of the 70 million for 10 years? So the million dollars that the Mets owe Bobby Bonilla every year because they deferred it back in the day doesn't count against their salary threshold?? I thought they got to push that into the future?

Oh for sure, Ohtani will get paid, but what I meant is that I think the Dodgers will try to find a way to not have any of his future deferred payments count against the future salary cap/luxury tax system that potentially gets put in place. I think they are hoping that they can get MLB to help them work around that.

I mean the owners aren't going broke? I mean the entertainment dollar is obviously there? Tom Cruise made 100 million for Top Gun 2 and that's all pretend? I mean who deserves more money someone who pretends or someone who has to work his butt off to make it? I mean yeah compared to me they all make too much money. But maybe I should have worked harder? I guess have you stopped watching TV or streaming movies because the actors get paid so much? Have you stopped listening to music because the artists make so much? I mean watching the local baseball team has roots in the good ole days, but the good ole days are gone, this is what stuff costs now and I don't blame anyone for not wanting to spend to watch it. But I just see some hypocrisy, not necessarily from you because maybe you don't watch movies or listen to music for the same reasons. But the reasons that many people bring up as to why they won't watch another baseball game happens exactly the same way in other industries and many of them don't have a problem with Adam Sandler making 73 million per year for again pretend stuff. So my point is if the money is there, why should the owners get all of it and not the guys busting their butts? On another note, I feel like the Dodgers are trying to force critical mass with all of their deferred contracts. I feel like they are trying to force a strike, so when salary caps happen they are going to try and say, hey we signed these deals before the salary cap so we can't be held responsible for these old contracts so now we need a reset. But in the meantime, they are going to try to win every world series until that strike happens. You watch, the 68 million per season they are going to owe Shohei when he's not even playing anymore is going to get wiped out as part of the new collective bargaining agreement. Just my prediction.

Hopefully, if it were to happen the way you are showing, I'd like them to convince them to take Julien instead of Castro, probably more risk but also more upside if he figures it out. Only because Castro is kind of the Twins Swiss Army knife this year and last year. Julien might have more upside in the long term, but Castro is just needed more for this year's team!

I would take the over on career war left in him.

I know he got busted when he was younger, but his numbers weren't as good back then? I'd think after someone was caught once, that they wouldn't want to get caught a second time as that is almost the death penalty.

Why do some guys get better after the age of 31? I mean like Nelson Cruz's best years were between the ages of 33 - 38? His numbers looked good at 39 also but that was the short season so who really knows with that season? But it was pretty obvious that his ability to field went down, but really seems like his ability to hit actually went up? How does that happen if everyone drops off after the age of 31? I mean he didn't just maintain for those extra 4 - 5 seasons he really seemed to get better?

I think the most obvious guy to become part of the ownership group is Kent Hrbek. Local guy, who won 2 world series titles and told everyone he'd never play for the Yankees no matter how much money they paid him. He'd be outspoken enough to light a fire under peoples assess but also be Minnesota nice at the same time.

Probably trade Duran to the Dodgers for Trevor May. I mean they've got no use for him anymore. Then make Jax the closer. You should start a different thread for the Alonzo idea? I mean it doesn't really fit here, but it might be cool to talk about?

I think the Dodgers are going to push the envelope far beyond anything possible hoping that it'll all come crashing down with MLB in the future. They want a strike and everything bad to happen at some point hoping that all will be forgiven for a starting over point. I mean if a cap comes into play at some point how do they account for the 690 million or whatever they deferred for Ohtani? They will be paying probably 1/4th of their cap space on a player that doesnt play anymore? How would they accomplish that? You know they are trying to break the system. And win as many world series titles as possible before it happens!

I was listening to Falvey on the GM's show on XM radio yesterday, I live in Cali and I don't get to constantly hear Twins stuff like I do when I come home for the summer. So any chance I get to hear Twins stuff I listen. I needed gas, I was headed to the gas station but I drove around the block like 5 times while they interviewed Falvey. He didn't say anything that you guys don't already know. They asked him about the Cartaya pick up, they asked him about really doing nothing all off season to which Falvey said, don't necessarily expect our off season to be over once pitchers and catchers report. They also asked him about the health of the club, Buxton, Correa, Lewis most notably. He gave the normal answers Correa is working extremely hard to prepare, Buck for once didnt have any off season procedures, Lewis is expecting a bounce back since that was really the first time he played a full season. Also he said Lewis is expected to play Third base, but that they have talked about experimenting with him at second base. But the plan right now is 3rd. They talked about the pitchers, Ryan is expected to be 100%, etc.... But I got to thinking, what if all of the stars aligned! I mean I'm as discouraged with the Twins lack of involvement this off-season as anyone especially when I live in Dodger territory. Man that is frustrating. But I was just thinking, what if???? What kind of season could the Twins have, what kind of numbers could they put up if everyone remained relatively healthy this season? What would a lineup look like, if Baldelli didn't mess with it constantly game after game? What if?? Lineup of CF Buxton 145 games SS Correa 145 games 3B Lewis 150 games RF Wallner 150 games 1B/DH Miranda 140 games LF Larnach 145 games DH/Util Castro/Julien 100 games each 2B Lee 120 games C Jeffers 100 games That would leave 139 games to be started by backups minus the 38 extra games I have because I projected Castro and Julien at 100 each. So 101 games to be started by a combination of Martin and all other bench guys. What kind of projections could the Twins have in a situation like that? Then if the pitching staff could go Lopez 32 starts Ryan 30 starts Ober 32 starts SWR 28 starts Paddack 20 starts Festa 14 starts Matthews 6 starts Bullpen Duran 30+ saves Jax 70 innings Stewart 50 innings Alcala 60 innings Sands/Varland/Etc. 50 innings each If the perfect storm happened could the Twins go 90 - 72? I mean they had injury after injury after injury last season and went 82 - 80? So what if? I mean I know it's a huge pipedream, but have to keep my hopes up? Right? Especially after having to hear about the stupid Dodgers day after day.

It comes down to this. If the Vikings could pay Darnold and still address all of their needs on the lines and in the defensive backfield and maybe running back. Then I think they'd bring him back. But with McCarthy in there on a rookie contract, I think they let Darnold go and use the money to address other needs. That is the NFL salary cap. We saw it with Cousins, when they signed him to big money it was difficult to get anything else done. If there wasn't a money issue they'd probably definitely bring him back and if he played poorly they'd just bring in the next guy. But the Cap affects QB decision for sure.

I mean he has pitched at the highest level. Might as well give him a shot, as long as it's cheap so they can move on if need be.

https://twinsdaily.com/forums/topic/69293-roki-sasaki-veteran-trades-and-other-big-questions-facing-the-twins-this-offseason/page/2/?&_rid=4351#findComment-1472369 Hey I brought it up in a half assed comment even before Cody wrote a well written and informed article about it. Ha ha. Hopefully it works out for the Twins, but in reality it's a move that just didn't cost them anything. Hopin' the Twins can make some noise this year!!

Hopefully he works out? I guess the big thing is he really didn't cost anything. So if he does have some of that high prospect ranking still in him it could work out for the Twins.

Yeah I feel as if the Dodgers DFA'd him why would the Twins trade anyone good? I just think if the Twins offered a flyer and a couple bags of balls maybe the Dodgers would give him up. I mean they have 7 days and then they'd need to release him outright, correct??

I see the Dodgers cut Diego Cartaya, a Catcher who was a top 100 prospect? Would he be worth a flier? Stick him in the minors and see if he pans out? I mean the Twins need catchers right? Also I was listening to MLB channel on Sirius and one of their experts said even he thinks the Dodgers are about 3rd in line. He said Saski probably doesn't want to sign with the Dodgers because he would lose all of his endorsement power because shohei is there. He said there are a lot of Yankee fans in Japan. So he thought t saski would end up in New York, Darvish is kind of like a mentor to him so he figured the padres would be number 2. Then he figured the dodgers would be third

I sure hope Lopez doesn't go. But there just seems to be so much talk about it?