Vanimal46

I agree with this statement, but it's mainly the result of the Twins' inactivity, and this is what we're left with. There were several guaranteed contracts I would have liked the Twins to pursue (Bastardo, Sipp, Storen, etc.) But now that we're here, and the options are what you presented, I think myself and others are thinking what's the point? Might as well go with the young guys instead of Duensing again....

Kepler + Plouffe + one of the SS prospects (let's say Palacios for now) for any one of Harvey, Syndergaard, de Grom, or Matz. Sign me up.

Unfortunately this is where it went all wrong for you Jeremy. You see, Carl Pohlad gets text alerts for fraudulent charges on the company card. The restaurant you chose, Blue Door Pub, isn't on the normal expenses. Pohlad immediately calls the credit card company to deny the charge, and cancel the card. (You should have went to Manny's Steakhouse!!) So now, the waiter returns, and says "I'm sorry sir, but the card has been declined." Which really puts you in a pickle, because you went above and beyond ordering everything on the menu, racking up a $220 bill. What do you do? 12:03: You call Seth. Unfortunately Seth is out of town, and unable to wire any cash to you. 12:05 You call John. He laughs at your predicament, and says "Better start washing dishes!" 12:08 You call Parker. Parker says he can wire you the money, but would rather see you suffer for an hour or two. 1:35 After spending the last hour and a half worried about how you can get out of it, you come to the LAST Resort. Calling up Chief. Chief uses his intimidation tactics to scare the owner into letting you leave. 2:00 You call your wife, telling her that being a GM is a lot harder than you imagined, and that you almost got picked up by the cops because of a $220 bill at Blue Door Pub. She's mad that you are not bringing home any leftovers from lunch. 2:15 Stop by Target to pick up milk, thinking that will ease the tension of not bringing home leftovers. 2:35 Arrive home with the milk. Wife is still upset. You say I still have time to be a GM. Wife gives you more errands to run. 5:05 You're finished running errands. By this time, you're tired, and no longer in the right mind set to make any trades with GMs. 5:30 Jeopardy comes on. 6:00 Watch the news 6:35 Fall asleep on the couch. Wife still upset for not bringing home leftovers.

Brewster was ignorant in a lot of things... What I remember most is he thought he could recruit elite talent in TX and FL, and like you said, completely ignore in-state talent.

Can Bark come out of the woodwork to photoshop my face on Verlander's body? That is all.

Offense will most certainly not be a problem for the Tigers. Miggy Cabrera is creeping up there in age, but is still one of the most feared hitters in the league. Upton's a streaky hitter, but if both Cabrera and Upton are on fire at the same time, watch out... It all depends on their pitching. If that's figured out on their end, I don't see why they wouldn't be contenders until the end in the AL Central.

Hopefully that's on a day where Gibson is scheduled to start, and the sinker is sharp.

That better be the case.. An OF of Sano-Rosario-Arcia just makes me cringe thinking about it.

Yeah no doubt about it. I just don't know how Hughes can rebound in 2016 like most of us are anticipating with the OF defense behind him. Same with E. Santana too, who relied a lot on getting batters to fly out in the OF.

I already feel bad for the fly ball pitchers in our rotation on days where Arcia and Sano are both playing the corners in the OF. I'm envisioning a lot of texas leaguers finding open grass, and base runners being able to advance much easier on us than last year....

Apple and Google have been a fun ride the last couple of years. I'm waiting for a day when Apple reaches $700 a share again like it was in September 2013...

That's how I'm viewing it... Try to contribute a portion of my salary/commission checks to the portfolio each month to keep building it, and live off of the rest of the funds I earn. The only big purchase I'm planning for is to buy my first house in 2017/2018... hopefully the aggressive approach pays off to put at least 20% down in the future.

No kidding... Being in my mid 20's my portfolio is high risk/very aggressive and about 85% stocks... It hasn't been a fun month to say the least.... down 22% since the end of 2015 to be exact.

That one year where the Twins stepped up and had a top 10 payroll wasn't a result of spending obscene money on bad players. It was the result of losing both Mauer and Morneau for over half of the season... I also found an older article on the subject, and at least when it comes to World Series victories in the last 15 years, only 1 team in the bottom half of payroll ranking (maybe include KC for 2015 too, I didn't look it up) won a WS title.

Depends on what level Meyer begins the season at. If he makes the MLB team, more than likely he will be in the bullpen. But if he's in Rochester to start the season, there's no one that should be blocking him from the starting rotation.

Yeah Perkins' quote in the article is pretty damning, and I wonder if that's how Lavelle felt when he was interviewing him. I don't think there would be any backlash on Perkins if he showed some humility and said I understand why my role changed. I was hurt, ineffective, etc. But I'm ready to come back and earn my role again... I certainly hope Molitor doesn't take the Gardy path and coddle the veterans. Maybe that resulted in the loss of communication - Gardy seems like the guy that would call in Perkins for a one on one meeting to discuss his role, etc. And Molitor just assumed hey we're in the playoff chase, all hands on deck.

I know it's been a while since the Twins were in playoff contention, but that seems pretty standard that it's all hands on deck in the bullpen for the final stretch of the season. The final 3 outs in the 9th inning may not be the most crucial outs in a particular ball game. Perkins is still the most reliable arm in the bullpen, and if the Twins desperately need to get out of a jam in the 7th or 8th inning, they shouldn't hesitate to give him the ball. As far as Perkins' quote in the Star Tribune, would I have liked to see a little more humility? Of course. But I'm sure both Perkins and Molitor will learn from last year's mistakes.

I wouldn't say that... But at least for me there is confusion on where the posting fee is applied to in the accounting books. Does it go to payroll? A completely separate category in the expense list? In my last post on this thread, I saw that in 2012 the Rangers had a $120 million payroll, and that certainly should have been more considering they paid a $50+ million posting fee to acquire Darvish. So I'm not sure what's the right way to label the posting fee.... Payroll, or another expense that shouldn't count towards the payroll.

Do other teams take the posting fee and count it towards their payroll too? For example, this article shows the Texas Rangers had a $120 million payroll in 2012, but they also had a $50 million posting fee to get Yu Darvish... So they really had a $170 million payroll... I guess what I'm getting at is the posting fee counted towards the payroll, or a completely different expense all together.

That would be the ideal scenario for me. I'd rather have more competition from the younger guys for fewer spots in the bullpen, instead of hoping multiple younger guys can step up and take the available openings in the pen. That way if one of the minor leaguers has a lost year like Arcia did last year, or injury strikes, The Twins aren't left without a backup plan.

Maybe Santana gets the Koufax rule and is voted in for his dominant stretch in his career. Who knows. Koufax probably got voted in for being a legend, "The Left Arm of God". Does Santana have a legendary status outside of Minnesota fans to get the same respect to be voted in?

Sandy Koufax was a generational talent that set records in nearly every category of that era. And still among the all-time greats in strikeouts, winning percentage, ERA, etc. How exactly does this relate back to Santana? What statistic does he have that comes close to Koufax?

Um, what? Can we return to a time after 1950 please with examples? You're right, any GM is going to want a truly elite player for a shorter amount of time. They're not the ones voting for the HOF, so not sure what that has to do with it. Johnny Bench played 15 seasons primarily as a C.... Joe still has 8.

2009 was a huge outlier from the rest of Mauer's career. If he had a longer stretch of dominance at C I could agree with you, but when it's all said and done he'll have those 8 great years of C, and 6-7 years of below average 1B production under his belt. Yes I would absolutely leave Santana out of the Hall of Fame too.. He was on pace to be one, but injuries derailed his career. Both players are very good, and will be remembered by Twins fans for their great run here, but neither had the longevity to be locks for the HOF.

Sounds like you believe Mauer is a lock to be a HOFer. What's going to be the defining stat that will entice 75% of voters to say yes? Because I don't see one....