Twins33

Ha! Odie could be his nickname though fans have always called him Odo from what I've seen and that's how i shorthand it as well.

I didn't think the Twins were going to make the WC if they did nothing. I wasn't even sure adding Darvish would do it, though I still wanted him. I think it's going to take 90 wins to get a WC. That may be slightly high, but I think it would be smart for all contending teams to think that way. The Twins have always needed two pitchers. Odo helps, but nowhere near as much as a Darvish or Archer. I would have been shocked if they added either. What I know is the Twins won 85 with a rotation of Berrios and Santana, and a bullpen of Rogers, Kintzler and Hildenberger. Even if that team only won 80 wins...that's a freaking miracle. Add better players to that and they should get right back to it again, unless they were more like 15 wins lucky rather than five. I do expect Kepler and Buxton to improve and pick up the slack that others lose. I expect Odorizzi to be another Gibson and while that sounds awful, it is actually a big upgrade on a good chunk of other players. There is no reason why this team shouldn't be a mid-80s win team again, unless last year was a fluke. I obviously do want more wins then that and a better team than that and better players than they added, but this is what we've got. I think the bullpen is better and I think the rotation is better. It's not Darvish and Archer better, but it's better...at least in my eyes. Like I said, I'm not jumping for joy at these moves. The only move I truly loved was Reed, but I see an improvement on paper even if it isn't as big of one as I'd have liked.

True, but I don't see him being as bad as last year. I have no idea why. Nothing to base it on obviously, but if he even hits those projected stats he's better than Colon, Santiago and the 10-12 or however many others that they had last year. The Twins were awful beyond Berrios and Santana and managed to win 85 games. With that rotation and bullpen I expected another 90 loss season. Was it just all luck to win 13 more games than that? If it was, then the Twins will be lucky they win even 80 this year. Have they done much by grabbing more number fives and on? I'd say no because they've only added Sanchez for that and they've added Odorizzi who will slot in higher than five. Whether his production is more than a five, we will see. Hughes and May too could be added to the number five, but health isn't in the FO control and right now I expect zero contribution especially from Hughes. Again, I wanted Darvish and Archer (who I didn't mention before). I'm not jumping up and down for Odo and Sanchez, but I at least understand Odo will probably be an improvement over Santiago and Colon unless he goes in the wrong direction even more. On paper I'd much rather have Mejia, Slegers, Jorge, Gonsalves, Littell as the five spot depth over Santiago/Colon (whatever one you want to count, Turley, Slegers, Jorge, Tepesch. The 2018 guys aren't guaranteed to be better on the field, but I like them better on paper.

i agree that those numbers are bad and we'd want and need better than that, but we also have to remember what those numbers would be replacing a big chunk of: https://twitter.com/danhayesmlb/status/965348219105538048 Other WC teams did get better and the Twins do need a number one or two still, but replace those stats from last year with Odorizzi putting up 165 innings of your stats and you've got a big improvement or an improvement at least if the word "big" is too strong. Obviously I want more/better, I was on the sign Darvish train, but this "should" help us not have to rely on the Tepesch and Turley's of the world (I know they are no longer Twins). If the Twins could win 85 with that bad of production for 100+ innings, adding in Odo should be an easy upgrade and help a team win more than 85. That still might not be enough to beat the WC teams though and I acknowledge that. Again, I wanted Darvish.

Speculation that I've seen on twitter is that May will be 60 day DL for Sanchez.

That and there are more "sections" now that used to be part of other sections (example 101-103 were all the same price and now 103 has a new section name and price). And the closer you sit to the field the more you will pay now. So someone in row five will pay more than someone in row 25 even though it's the same section. That's only on the lower level foul territory sections. You'll see the different colors in the section in a map in the article below. Here's an article: http://www.startribune.com/twins-overhauling-ticket-options/441618433/

I will probably be going in late June.

Never thought I'd be saying this, but I'd rather have Arrieta if the choice is between these two. His MPH drop scares me, but he still seems like the better choice.

"Unlike other Draft picks, Competitive Balance Draft picks can be traded. However, they can only be traded during the regular season and cannot be dealt simply in exchange for cash. Additionally, a Competitive Balance Draft pick can be traded only by the club to which it was awarded. In other words, the picks may be traded no more than once." http://m.mlb.com/glossary/transactions/competitive-balance-draft-picks

Rodney had a family emergency, but is expected to arrive tomorrow.

I was a little bit for this before Santana went down. Now that Santana is down they absolutely have to get someone like Cobb and that would be about 15M per year minimum. So there likely isn't enough to get Martinez after that.

Yeah, I've seen a couple of those tweets as well. So hopefully it's just another good reason to have it/get it.

I have. I haven't read a ton of baseball stuff yet, but it seems very worth it. The quality of the content seems elevated from what I'm used to reading in the local papers or other websites (the free ones). The original reason I got it was because the MN wild beat writer went from the startribune to the Athletic. Russo is by far the best writer for the Wild and in my opinion, between the Twins and the Wild..he's the best writer period. I don't read any Vikings things, even though I am a fan. I don't know anything about this new Twins writer at the Athletic, Dan Hayes, except for the fact that he used to write about the White Sox. He has a couple things posted, but I haven't read them yet. As far as the national guys go, if you like them and miss their reports it's worth it. I'd say the stuff they write is also elevated. I don't read every single story out there and have looked at a limited number of baseball content so far but the few things I have read were great. And I don't think those stories would have been done otherwise, or if they had, not such a deep dive into it when there's word limit restrictions and all that. You can bookmark specific writers, which wasn't the case when I subscribed in September or October so if you like Rosenthal you can bring up just all of his stuff if that's what you want. I have the Twins and Wild bookmarked, but I will definitely be adding ones for the writers I like too. They often send out links on twitter which will give a 20-30% discount if you sign up using that link. I mostly see those from the writers tweets rather than the main twitter for the Athletic. I'm one of the cheapest people ever. I've never had a subscription to a paper. I don't pay for baseball America or anything like that, even though I do like their stuff. I don't go to movie theaters unless it's for $5. I don't think a burger and fries should be more expensive than $8-$10. I am cheap! And I recommend subscribing.

I don't really think an opinion of a Twins season ticket Rep is that important. There are lots of Mauer haters out there, big contract or not, and it wouldn't surprise me if some worked for the Twins as an usher or a security gaurd or sales person. You can't walk 100 yards without finding one of those people. Just because they work for the Twins doesn't mean they are a fan of the team or Mauer. I'd file this under "someone who doesn't really give a rip about their job" category. As a Season ticket holder myself, it is their job to push the puppies and rainbows up our butts, but this person didn't do that. If you've ever worked with a person who truly doesn't care about their job, you'd know they'd have no problem putting out their own bad opinions, acting out in some way or put up a minimal effort every single day. This happens in all jobs. I'd put this person under that category. I'll use twitter as an example. People can say whatever they want out there and there are quite a few people who put in their bio "Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer." The way it reads about the Mauer/Darvish connection that's exactly what this sounds like, their opinion. So either this person doesn't give a rip or they are bad at their job/not smart because there is no way the Twins would want anyone saying something like that, even if it had truth to it. They want their reps to shove puppies and rainbows up our butts. So why would I or should we care about a random reps opinion? Go on twitter, you can find hundreds if not thousands of people who think the same. Sure, most aren't paid by the Twins...but this still feels very much like this persons personal opinion and it was not smart of them to use their Twins work account to relay that opinion when their job is to retain and gain season ticket holders.

Sure, but why be so dependent on only drafting and developing? Wouldn't all mid-market and small market teams want to not have to rebuild every 10 years or so? I would think the better the team, the more money the team makes but maybe that isn't right. If teams don't care about winning I guess they wouldn't care about having to rebuild and losing a lot. I'm glad we're not the Rays or A's. They feel like they are rebuilding every single year. A team like the Cardinals hasn't had to rebuild in how long? Feels like it's been forever and they've had years of marginal drafting positions. If I'm remembering correctly, they have had the same marginal position or worse since they have won two World Series in the last 15 years. I don't recall them having to rebuild, but I can't say I've paid that close attention to them. I wouldn't consider them a big market team. Why be so dependent on drafting and developing and not sign a big FA ever (so far) and almost never make a big trade? Unless I'm forgetting, Pierzynski was the last big trade and it's because they nailed the Joe Mauer pick. That's a way to replenish a team, either the farm or MLB team. They're not going to nail every first round pick, so why not add more avenues to up your chances of success/delay or speed up those rebuilds? They are guaranteed to have bad drafts, unless this front office has found some edge that others don't have. They can minimize their rebuilds by being better at drafting and developing and adding talent in other ways too. If the Twins are going to be so reliant on drafting/developing where it's like 95% of how they operate they are going to have to be better at nailing those marginal picks. One year here and there or middle of the pack is not going to cut it. We at least agree on that, correct?

His point was the bad drafting and developing were a huge part of all those 90+ loss seasons. That certainly hurt them. You should always be able to point to a great year here and there. That should be expected. At times they draft well, which has come in bunches and other times the draft poorly which has also come in bunches. The players drafted that gave us the division titles in the 2000s were the good. The ones who gave us the 90+ losses were the bad. Someone on here did a look back on our drafts and it showed that we were middle of the pack at best in regards to drafting/developing compared to other teams. And I think middle of the pack is technically better than they actually did, was more middle bottom. If they're going to be so reliant on drafting and developing they are going to need to do better at it than middle of the pack.

I'm with you on the fact that the Twins could have and should have offered a contract as high as 6/150 and/or added opt outs, but how are you not dead inside? You're a MN sports fan! Why would you allow hope to creep in before actually acquiring the player? This is the first time the Twins have ever gone after a top FA, but I still saw no reason for hope. I thought the Twins had a 15% chance of signing Darvish, even with them calling him a priority and all that. I would have loved if it would have happened. I was all for it, which I guess could be taken as a small bit of hope, but in no way did I ever allow myself to truly believe it could happen/would happen. I think a lot of your wound is self inflicted. Darvish signing with the Cubs is exactly what I thought would happen, so why would I get my hopes up? I was right. It certainly ended up being cheaper than I thought, but nothing else was surprising no matter what the front office said about going after Darvish. I'm completely with you on the fact that the Twins need to sign or trade for better players, particularly pitching. Just don't get your hopes up for it because 99% of the time (or higher) you're only going to hurt yourself.

Pretty sure I "liked" the majority of posts in here. Might have a finger cramp now. Since Darvish is out, this would be the next best thing in my eyes. Yes, giving up Kepler would hurt, but it feels worth it. Keeping Kepler and only adding a Cobb/Lynn doesn't move the needle enough for me. Though at this point they have to do something because Berrios to Gibson to start the season is awful. Archer + Gomez is an upgrade where we need it the most...pitching. If they don't take a big swing for pitching they'd just be wasting another year of Kepler and the others anyway. The cost mentioned before around here: Kepler, Gordon, Gonsalves/Romero plus something else if needed feels right to me. And the only one that really hurts me is Kep. I like others over Gordon and I don't think either of Gonsalves/Romero ever become as good as Archer already is, even if you don't consider him an ace. I think he's a two and I don't think either of those players reach that level. Plus you're getting four years of control. That's huge. I really want this to happen. My untouchables would be Lewis, Buxton and Berrios. I'd also rather not include Enlow or Graterol, but not sure I'd consider them completely untouchable.

Pretending I'm a player, I would personally choose the Yankees, Dodgers, Astros, Cubs or Red Sox before I would even consider the Twins. They are easily better teams and that would be important to me. Obviously a good chunk of those teams weren't truly in on Darvish...but the Cubs are on that list. I don't know if Darvish feels the same. Maybe he does, maybe he doesn't. He did choose the Cubs who we know offered opt outs and an extra year. We know the Twins didn't do either of those. Again, putting myself as a player, I'd have to get 25-50M more guaranteed to consider the Twins over those teams so the 5/135 wouldn't cut it for me. It wouldn't surprise me if Darvish or other top FA's feel the same. Until the Twins become a consistent deep playoff contender I don't think they're going to be near the top of any top FA's list. Darvish is probably the closest we'll get to a top FA in the next five years and it didn't happen. Kershaw and Keuchel aren't coming here next year.

Easier to do when the Yankees or Dodgers need to clear space in order to add him. Sounds like the Dodgers did offer him a contract but it was like 20M lower or something like that and contingent on trading Kemp.

I think they are thinking time actually spent in MN. They are on the road the rest of the time.

I would normally agree, but the SP depth of quality pitchers is less than the OF (meaning right now we have three quality OF out of three positions and only two quality SP out of five positions). OF is easier to plug and already better off. As of right now, the Twins actually need two quality pitchers, one better than both Santana and Berrios and one about equal to them or just a tick down. They're already worse off in the SP department than they are the OF. I do understand the hesitation because of the players you mentioned though. Remove an OF and add one of those pitchers and you could either consider them equal problems or say that SP is still the bigger problem because it's a more important position. The Twins can have all the offense/position players in the world and if their pitching remains in the bottom 10 having all that offense means basically nothing. The Twins need much better pitching to compete with the Indians, Yankees, Astros, Dodgers etc. if they don't get that, then what are they even doing? I'm a sign Darvish first type of person because it's just money, but I would give up an OF (not Buxton) for the right pitcher. It wouldn't be a horrible thing to do both. And this 2018 Twins team is a lot better than the Twins team that trade Span/Revere/Hicks.

Sid is going to live forever.

I think Romero ends up in the bullpen so I actually find it easier to include him over Gonsalves. I hope I'm wrong about that if he stays a Twin. Either way, do I see Romero or Gonsalves ever putting up Archer numbers in the majors? Even if you just go with the last two years for Archer: 28% K (7th in MLB for qualified SP) 7.5 BB% (23rd) K/BB% of 20.9 (7th) 3.60 FIP (11th) 3.38 xFIP (8th) 12.8 SwStr% (7th) These are considered his "bad" years and he's still top 11 in 5 out of 6 of those categories. Do I see either Gonsalves or Romero putting up those types of numbers, especially compared to the league? Nope! And you're exchanging one of them for a pitcher who only has two fewer years of control. It's a no brainer for me.

Not sure compared to other parks. I do remember Martinez botching a play in RF of TF because of the wall. That doesn't really help my "sign him if we don't get Darvish" case...