sorney

I'm ready for some baseball.   I think the roster is "fine" for now.  Obviously adding more pitching would have been awesome, but they are where they are at.  Let's see how it goes the first couple months.

I'd highly encourage to expand beyond the scope of just "D1".....there is awesome and talented baseball players to watch everywhere.

5 hours ago, theBOMisthebomb said:

Guzman made $37MM during his MLB career. If he has to swing a hammer to make ends meet, then I am speechless.

I mean, I get your point, but dude is only 44....could be just to keep mind busy and having something to do.  Being retired that early in life, you have to do something to stay busy

Guzman wailed...

I demand we name Bundy after Andover.  It fits.  No one is quite sure where Andover is, and no one is quite sure what kind of pitcher Bundy is.  It is a match made in heaven.

9 hours ago, USAFChief said:

Here's my letter:

Dear Mr Manfred:

Break the union. Start spring training with minor league players. I guarantee you, a missed paycheck or 2 from the pampered crybabies will have the MLBPA begging to get back on your teams. 

Focus on making the sport more competitive top to bottom. Institute salary floors and caps that are relatively narrow, and all teams can live within. Pay more to minor leaguers, and flatten the payscale of major leaguers. Give players the ability to move around after 6 years of service, but take away the enormous financial advantage of some teams to buy up players that exists now. 

MLB and its fans will be better off with a neutered players union and more competitve league. You'll get some short term bad press, but long term you'll better the sport.

Sincerely,

Chief

Pampered crybabies....you mean the owners, right?  The ones who had $10B in revenue....The ones who get tax payer funded/tax breaks/assistance for stadiums to that continue to build their investment.  Like the Pohlads, who bought the Twins for $40M, and are valued at $1.3B.   Yeah, the players definitely are the crybabies.

1 hour ago, Nine of twelve said:

I think this is a valid point on the surface, but pretty much every player in the history of the major leagues has broken a rule at some point in his career. Where should the line should be drawn?

Oh, I guess I should have stated, yeah, I think they all should be in.....because of the very reason you stated.

With the DH now open, they can even rest him in the field on cold days (that's why they got Caveman, right?  ARG!!!).    I have never been more on a side of a player than Buxton...especially if the $70M extension plus incentives, was true.    If  a team isn't going to pay for elite home grown talent, board em up.  

Between steroids, greenies, spit balls, scuffing the ball, corked bats, etc....they are all forms of "cheating".  There are a plenty of players in the Hall for all of those but steroids.  I think the steroids crew absolutely deserves to be in the Hall....unless we are going to kick out all the HOF'ers who did other forms of "cheating"

This is so depressing :(.  I mean, good article, but man I just feel the Twins are gonna end up doing nothing of any consequence. 

That Perkins ban really has to hit below the belt...

I am legit the biggest Eddie supporter ever.  He has "juice".  Totally unquantifiable, and nothing you should really base your analysis on, but as a fan, I loved him.  He is going to win the NLCS MVP, then the World Series MVP.  But, the Twins were right to let him go.  I still wear my Super Rosario hat and hoodie, and continue to love watching the whole Eddie Rosario Experience.  

Weirdly absent, is any mention of the Sea of Cortez.....

Pure brilliance.

So....I know it's scouting stat line, but Keoni looks like he is having issues.

#10 - Keoni Cavaco (Ft. Myers) – 54 games, .247/.305/.321 (.626) with 6 doubles, 2 triples, 2 homers, 23 RBI, 17 BB, 78 K, 5 SB 

78K's in 54 games?!?  With basically no power.   Zoinks!

6 minutes ago, spycake said:

There's some data that Rogers isn't as effective back-to-back. And letting him go another inning would preclude even attempting to pitch him for more than 3 outs the following day, if necessary.

The Twins may have still done it (let Rogers pitch a full inning down 1 Friday) except that they had already used Farrell and Robles while trailing the night before. There are some limits to how often you can pursue that strategy!

Yup, I get it.  Perhaps my frustration is more diving back in the the Shoemaker pool, then the actual Rogers usage

5 minutes ago, spycake said:

I think you might be misinterpreting that line of reasoning. It is about conservation of resources. Rogers absolutely could have thrown another inning after his 3 pitches, but that could have impacted his availability/effectiveness for the following game. So Baldelli made the calculation that it wasn’t worth it, down by 1 at that point. Folks can and do still disagree with that, of course.

Sure, I mean, I get that...but if you are gonna get a reliever warmed up, and throw him 3 pitches, surely another inning, and roughly another 20 pitches, isn't gonna preclude him from pitching the following day.  I guess that was the angle I just don't get.   

I don't understand the "not putting Rogers back out there because they are losing".  That makes zero sense, always, but ESPECIALLY when the dude only threw 3 pitches!!   Just because they are losing, suddenly Rogers isn't going to know how to pitch??  This type of thinking always drives me nuts.  It's not like you can bring Rogers back in again if you score the following inning after you pulled him.  You brought him in, you didn't score, you can absolutely get another inning out of him.  

Recency badass fo sho!!!

Are we sure Kirilloff is gonna make the opening day roster, and isn't going to be down in AAA for a couple weeks for "seasoning"???  I sure hope he is on the opening day roster....

Grip it and rip it!!

Yeah, this is off.  In 2020 the (normal) average MLB payroll was $158.9M, which equates out to $4.77 BILLION in player salaries, so pretty much 48%.  This means that every team would average $175M to pay for all other expenses, including taxes.  Obviously though, a number of teams aren't getting anywhere near $175M in excess revenue--they're probably not even close to $75M, and would still need to pay corporate taxes, all the coaches, all the team staff, stadium operating costs, draft picks, minor leaguers, and any investment in the organization, all before the owner even makes a dime.  The Yankees, Dodgers, Red Sox, Cubs, and a few others have enough excess to pay the salaries at the top of the scale.  15 to 20 organizations do not (unless they want to lose money, and again, why should owners lose money on something they're spending tens, if not hundreds of millions on annually).

Sorry, I can't jump on the players are greedy train.  Let's say the 48% is the correct number....isn't at least half the revenue going to the players a good thing?!?  I mean, that's what we are watching, right, the players?  And if it was such a tough business to run with margins so tight, you wouldn't have owners dropping $2.4B to acquire a team.

You're right--they don't care about winning.  They care about Winning (well, maybe not Cleveland.  But that's what happens to a franchise when a Dolan is in charge).  Baltimore and Pittsburgh could have signed Bauer, Realmuto, and traded for Lindor while giving him a $300M contract, and they would still not be serious contenders for a World Series title.

 

If you want to blame anyone, blame Houston.  The Astros demonstrated you can tear everything down and not try to win for 3-5 years, spend almost nothing, and rebuild your organization, and then resume caring about both winning and Winning.  Or blame the Rays, who have never had a payroll above $80M, are currently at $28M (less than half the league average), and yet are still a favorite to make the playoffs.

 

Or to be perfectly honest--blame the players.  The players absolute refusal to agree to any kind of salary cap, whether individual or team, so long as it is paired with a salary floor, is why some teams can spend and others can't.  Do you really think the owners wouldn't agree to a structure whereby they must spend at least $120M, but no one could spend more than $170M, and then adjust those numbers annually based on revenue increase/decrease?

Wait....blame the players?!?!   They have a system in place where they get paid nothing for their training in MiLB, then, once they make the show, they are stuck with a team for 6 years before they get to actually go to a competitive market to shop their services...at which time they basically get 1 shot at a big contract....meanwhile, they are in a sport that had $10B in revenue.   EVERY single owner can afford salaries...they choose not to.

Seems like a legit trade.  Trade backup depth, for a RP depth. 

I always kind of felt like Denard Span was partly to "blame" (please note the quotes, blame isn't exactly the right word). He was the heir apparent to Torii in center but he had seemingly stalled out a bit in the minors, so the Twins felt like whatever they got for Santana had to include a CF. 

 

On the flip side, the trade seemed to light a fire under Span's butt and he was a much better player after the Twins got Gomez. 

 

Also, don't forget the impact of Terry Ryan leaving Bill Smith to hold the bag that offseason. 

^^ That!!!   Specifically Ryan leaving and giving Bill Smith the job of dealing with Johan.  That was a straight garbage move.