KirbyDome89

I'm failing to see how Parker and Perez are better fits than their more talented counterparts the Twins watched sign short term deals elsewhere. If those signings are financially motivated we're looking at a much larger issue within this organization... I really hope they aren't satisfied with how they've been filling gaps on this roster. IMO they've done little to nothing over the last 3 off-seasons to add meaningful talent. I'm sure the Pohlads love that the wallet is full but as was mentioned earlier, that money doesn't roll over. They aren't "saving," $30M this season and spending it on top of the supposed goal of allocating 50% of revenue to payroll next year.

Honestly, I'd rather watch this team burn through the pile of back end pitchers they have and then scour the waiver wire, than witness Perez be given every opportunity to fail. That feels like a copy/paste of a comment from a 2014 thread.... Are we at all confident this FO will move on quickly from one of their own signings, or that they'll give the other arms Perez just jumped a legitimate audition? I'm not.....

This organization loves "value," and short term deals; it's a match made in heaven. Plus when he rejects the offer we can all shrug and say "they tried, what more could they do...."

Ohtani, Tanaka, Maeda, and Darvish..... Those are only current Japanese pitchers in MLB. I think some just want to the Twins to add talent.

Satisfying. Go get some much needed pitching now.

They'd have to make moves that have a direction beyond a single season for them to even have a chance to "box themselves in." So far it's been a lot of treading water.

I don't know if anything about their job is "easy," but we're in year 3 now of essentially "standing pat." That's the "aim low and hope it works out," approach again. Like I said, if the goal is to maybe sneak into the playoffs and have no real chance to advance then sure, cross your fingers that Cleveland slips up and the Twins catch a few breaks. This team has holes all over the place. I wasn't screaming for them to find a legit front end starter, 2-3 elite bullpen arms, a reliable 4th OFer, a true SS (Polanco moves to 2B) and a solid 1B all in the same offseason. That would've been incredible albeit unlikely, but there continues to be nothing stopping them from checking off at least a couple of those boxes. We agree that it's incredibly hard to fill all those holes in one offseason. That's precisely why they should be looking to plug some of them each year. When the cycle repeats next offseason it'll once again be "too hard," to fill every hole. I can't sympathize with a self inflicted problem like that. Maybe your patience level exceeds mine. Maybe over the next few months the FO brings in the pitching help this team desperately needs, but as of right now, "standing pat," is the opposite of smart.

My point was that the bar needs to be higher than "shoot the middle and hope things break right," if they're serious about winning. A 10 game improvement in one season isn't realistic but it's not unreasonable to expect a continued push towards a 90 game win total. Somebody in the Central is going to win 90+ games. They can still "wait," on the current group while adding long term talent and taking advantage of an incredibly bad division. If things break right for them in that scenario maybe we'll get to enjoy more than 1 game in the playoffs.

I'd characterize the information that's come out during the offseason as "letting fans down easy." I get the need to spin the decision and/or lack of moves in a positive light, but I'll give the writers here more credit and say some of the articles & comments are written with teeth clenched. We're in year 3 of this FO. "Wait and see," was year 1. "Dip your toes into FA because we're not entirely sure what we have with the young players," was year 2. Now we're back to "wait and see," for year 3 and that's a smart decision?" Pick a lane. Seriously, it's been 3 years now, and if the FO is unsure of which direction to go at this point why should we believe the light bulb suddenly turns on down the road? Also, the notion that the Twins sink or swim with Buxton & Sano (I agree) but they can't add talent because they don't know what they have in either player is laughable. If both burn out and FA signings were once again a bust who cares? The team would be tacking on another 3+ years of rebuilding at that point anyway. If Buxton and Sano flop and the Twins hit on FA signings then at worst they could move those assets to aid the continued rebuild. If Buxton and Sano bounce back what's this team's ceiling as it's currently constructed? Chasing a 2nd WC spot and getting bounced early? The cost of "standing pat," is greater than some are making it out to be.

How many times have we seen three teams this bad in the AL Central? The Twins have the lowest win total, (87) by a division champ in the last two decades. It's pretty well established that a team is going to need to be in the 90s to win the division. 80-85 wins puts you "in the conversation," for the play in WC game, and even then it's likely short. If the idea is to feign interest in building a competitive team and be just good enough to put fans in the seats then shooting for that 80-85 win mark is a good goal.

They could've gone after Iglesias and improved both MI spots defensively by shifting Polanco to 2B. That would free up Gordon (not that he was off the table without Jorge at 2B) to be moved in a trade for some pitching. That's the most disappointing thing about the Schoop signing for me. They had a chance to make improvement across the infield with one signing.

We agree that the constraints are bogus and that there's anger bubbling beneath the surface but most of what I've seen is restraint until the offseason shakes out. Twins fans have been conditioned to not expect signings like Machado, Harper, or even Corbin, but missing out on Donaldson for 1 year was a bummer. If the FO fails to bring in significant help (i.e. clear upgrades) for the MI & bullpen, and swing some moves to bolster the starting rotation while simultaneously slashing payroll by $30M outrage is more than justified.

They desperately need MI help, but I'd put the need for another starting pitcher right there with it. I'm definitely not comfortable relying on Pineda to carry any sort of load. He's struggled to stay healthy over his career, and even when he was able to take the field he wasn't performing all that well. The fact that he was injured during his rehab assignment late last season is telling.

Boston: traded for or signed Sale, Price, and Porcello Houston: traded for Verlander and Cole New York: Signed Tanaka and just traded for Paxton Cleveland: traded for Carrasco, Kluber, and Bauer That's just in the AL. None of that screams home grown to me. The closest thing are the pitchers Cleveland acquired but those guys were already in AAA or about to make that jump when the Indians traded for them. Nobody is arguing that massive FA pitching contracts are great value; they're not, but Jordan Zimmerman and Zach Greinke aren't on the same talent planet. Skipping the 15' FA class helps that poor WAR return argument as well because you're leaving out Max Scherzer's dominance since his FA signing. As it stands right now I'd take a 2 WAR Arrieta over the question marks in the 4 and 5 spots for the current Twins rotation. Ideally the team would aim higher but it's certainly better than crossing your fingers and hoping for the best.

Adding one of the best pitchers in baseball to a rotation that desperately needs help would absolutely push this team beyond simply being mediocre. Teams reach an elite level my making multiple moves forward (from within and outside the organization) over time. Adding Syndergaard would be another step in that direction. I'll never understand the notion that a team needs to "wait," until they're "one player away," to add serious talent via trade or FA. If they won't trade for or sign anybody how can we expect that they ever reach that point? The "they're not there yet," argument becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.

Regardless of how much payroll Cleveland sheds, the Twins should be in on this season. Here's to hoping we start the year with more than "fingers crossed."

If Austin's time with the Twins last season is a SSS (it is) then I have a hard time buying Cron's career year in 18' as a "track record." I'll take the guy making 500K who fails to control the strike zone, has zero positional flexibility, and is an average fielder at best over the guy making 5M with nearly identical attributes. Also I laughed my a** off at the notion that the Twins will simply cut bait with Cron in ST. This ownership literally sold a 2nd round pick rather than just rid themselves of a player who had proven over the course of 2 years he wasn't a capable MLB pitcher. They aren't going to simply piss away 500K no matter how insignificant we might feel it is in the big picture....

FWIW I'm still on the Buxton train. I can understand the skepticism. His defense has been elite since he stepped onto the field, but aside from an insanely hot July though September of 17' he's oscillated between atrocious and below average at the plate. I'm not sure I'd call Hicks a superstar but he's certainly better than Buxton at this moment. Honestly, if we're picking a team for only next year, is anybody choosing Buxton to start in CF ahead of Hicks? Each player may have broken out in 17' but Hicks followed that season up with an even better one while Buxton reverted back to a player who looked clueless with a bat in his hands. Maybe (hopefully) last season can be chalked up to injuries & mishandling, and Buxton bounces back similarly to Hicks. IMO a long term deal probably isn't in the best interest of either side right now. The Twins were content to gain an extra year, even if it meant pissing Buxton off. They might as well use it to see how this season plays out. If Buxton bounces back and they end up spending a little more they can consider it the fee for a more secure investment. I can't imagine Buxton is in any rush to sign a long term team friendly deal, especially after the way he was handled last season. Using last season as leverage, after stealing a year of service time from him, to coerce him into signing a deal that would pay well below what he stands to make as a FA assuming he can replicate some of his 17' season is a bad look for the Twins. Buxton is better off betting on himself.

"Communicative," "Culture-building/Positive thinking," All things the Twins organization needs. If Baldelli is half the guy he sounds like then this should work out really well.

A hard-line stance is the easiest to take.

Remember a few hours ago when the Twins needed to cut him?.....

His flaws as a manager were certainly irritating. It felt like the season was building towards this, and I don't really have an issue with the move. That said, Molitor took more heat than he probably deserved, this season especially, and he was the scapegoat for organizational and personnel failings. Such is being a manager I suppose.

That's a lot of love for Pineda and Odorizzi. Pineda hasn't started 20 games in a season since 15', he's coming off TJ, and he's already been injured during his rehab. I hope the Twins aren't relying on him as a significant contributor. Odorizzi has turned in a few good starts in his last 5 or 6 games but he's been largely the same pitcher all season. He doesn't throw enough strikes, he struggles to get through five innings, and he can't face a lineup three times through. If he's your fifth starter you live with it. Gibson has been a solid middle of the rotation arm this season, Berrios is a lock, and Romero shows promise but beyond that things are hardly settled. The goal shouldn't be to bank on the best possible outcome. This unit is far from ok.

Sure, and every employee wants to make more while every employer wants to pay them less. Arbitration is a negotiation process. There was no negotiation with the Buxton situation. The Twins took back a FA year from him. Not only does he stand to lose a hell of a lot more than a few thousand bucks, but there's also little he can do about it apart from filing a grievance, and good luck with that. There's a difference between being unable to come to an agreement on a raise, and an employer actively preventing you from reaching a raise. I don't think I've been overly harsh on this FO at any point during their tenure. You don't see any validity in criticizing the human element of their decision? Like I said, I agree that money matters above all else. I have 0 faith in this organization outspending other teams though. The Twins operate within the margins because they choose to. IMO the weeds matter in case.

The Twins gave themselves the opportunity to manipulate his service time by mishandling him early in the season. Then they set themselves up to do it when they optioned him during his rehab assignment following his DL stint, after they rushed him back from the toe injury. If he's allowed proper time to rest and rehab the toe injury his service time never becomes an issue. IMO the idea that Buxton played himself into this situation is just scapegoating for the FO.