Tom Froemming

I’ve been having bomba withdrawal of late. You can't give somebody 307 of them and then just expect them to go cold turkey! So over on my YouTube channel I whipped together some quick highlight reels of home runs from the 2019 Minnesota Twins. Jorge Polanco: Technically next up were Jonathan Schoop and C.J. Cron. I salute them for their contributions, but did not compile their highlights. I wish them the best of luck with the Tigers. Well, at least when they’re playing Cleveland and the White Sox. Mitch Garver: Eddie Rosario: Miguel Sano: Max Kepler: Nelson Cruz:

That's your perception. I disagree, I compared these two to some detail in my offseason blueprint.

Give me Matthew Boyd for his package over Noah Syndergaard for his package every day of the week. I think Boyd even comes with an additional year of control than Thor.

Absolutely, there are several comments on this article that call into to question elements of these trades and/or Nate's analysis. No problem with that. There isn't a requirement of positivity/universal agreement. The problem is when people attempt to steer an article like this into an unrelated area of discussion. There are several options for people to share their thoughts here. If someone has an axe to grind about something unrelated to the article/thread, they can start a new thread, write a blog post, etc. in regard to that topic.

If you have something to say about this article or about those Garcia trades, perfect. Put it in here. If you have something else to say, start a new thread in the forums or write a blog about it if you want to. Again, it is disrespectful to the writer of the article and the members of the community who want to discuss this particular article to attempt a thread jack like that. If you have something to get off your chest, find the appropriate area to do that.

There's a comment policy. It's pretty straightforward. You violated Rule 2. There is nothing in the comment policy that says you can't blast the front office. Start a new thread. Even better yet, write a blog. Go crazy, just don't violate the comment policy.

This is not cute. Throwing a temper tantrum unrelated to the topic at hand is disrespectful to both the writer and any readers who are actually looking to have a conversation about this article. There are plenty of other places on the site you can vent your frustrations.

Justin Smoak wasn't really on my radar, but now I'm intrigued (assuming they're motivated to keep Sano at third base). He put up similar overall production to Cron but is a much more patient hitter, something I think the lineup could benefit from. His BABIP dropped to .223 last year, so he seems like a good bet to put up more impressive overall numbers in 2020. That had been .297, .285 and .295 the previous three seasons.

Not talking about his hitting, MadBum destroyed NL pitchers who faced him. Pitchers went 1-for-54 against him and struck out in 36 of their 59 plate appearances (61.0%!!!). That complete domination of his fellow hurlers skews his stats.

First off, thank you. This is a well-thought out response. I thought Patrick did a nice job shedding some positive light on MadBum in his piece (that's linked to in the article) and I'm honestly trying to check my distaste for Bumgarner, because if the Twins do sign him I want to be able to be excited about it. But, Bumgarner was more effective the third/fourth time through the order than Teheran, but not Bailey. 3rd or 4th time through the order 2019 .271/.335/.414 (.749 OPS) Bailey .263/.305/.473 (.778 OPS) Bumgarner .262/.345/.476 (.821 OPS) Teheran Also, in concern to that question I bolded, a lot of things are more important than WHIP. WHIP has some utility, but it's very problematic that a walk or a single is weighted the same as a home run. I showed the xwOBA in the article, but below is each pitchers actual wOBA from 2019. Bumgarner holds the advantage, but it's nowhere near as big a gap as with WHIP. .300 Bumgarner .307 Bailey .310 Teheran .320 League Average (per BaseabllSavant)

EXACTLY! I'd really love to see Littell get another shot at starting, I went so far as to put that in my offseason blueprint, but I would bet against the Twins going that direction. Only time will tell if the splitter helps Bailey have a late-career renaissance or if that new-look version of Bailey will be less effective the second time around. I don't really love Bailey as a Twins target either, but if you're going to say his 2019 wasn't very good, you kinda have to say the same about MadBum, right? That's my main objective with bringing Bailey into the conversation. I think if you're going to overlook past injury/durability concerns and be willing to offer that kind of a contract, Hyun-Jin Ryu would be the guy to chase. Teheran and Bailey's agents would disagree The years are the scariest part to me. The Twins have money to spend, but you only have five rotation spots. It's certainly possible that MadBum rebounds to his 2016 self, you never now, but I'd rather not commit one of those rotations spots for the next 4-5 years to a guy I'm hoping not only avoids regression, but also reverts to a previous version of himself.

With Zack Wheeler coming off the board, Twins Territory seems to have attached to Madison Bumgarner as the must-have free agent of the offseason. Why? Here’s a look at how MadBum stacks up against two much less heralded pitchers on the free agent market.Bumgarner’s pedigree in the postseason is undisputed, but he hasn’t appeared in a playoff game since 2016. That was the same season ByungHo Park was on the Twins. Doesn’t that feel like forever ago? If you want to cling to MadBum’s October heroics, there’s probably no convincing you that he’s not The Guy. For those of you willing to look past that, I’ve picked two free agents to compare Bumgarner to. As a two-time All-Star, Julio Teheran has some name recognition, but I still sense Twins fans would view him as a consolation prize on this year’s market. Homer Bailey also has some name recognition, but not for good reasons. He’s been my favorite example to use this offseason, mainly because the common knee-jerk reaction to him is “ew, gross.” I’d imagine Twins fans would see him a Terry Ryan-era dumpster dive type signing. Let’s take a look at some of the 2019 numbers. ERA- (which is league and park adjusted) 86 Teheran 93 Bumgarner 99 Bailey Slash line against .245/.291/.426 (.717 OPS) Bumgarner .229/.328/.389 (.717 OPS) Teheran .256/.316/.403 (.719 OPS) Bailey K% 24.1 Bumgarner 21.5 Teheran 21.4 Bailey Those numbers alone build a fair case to consider these three pitchers to be of a similar class, but Bumgarner absolutely destroyed the pitchers he faced in 2019. Check out what happens when we take them out of the equation. Slash line vs. non-pitchers .256/.315/.404 (.719 OPS) Bailey .225/.327/.393 (.720 OPS) Teheran .262/.309/.455 (.764 OPS) Bumgarner K% vs. non-pitchers 21.4 Bailey 21.3 Bumgarner 21.1 Teheran Next, let’s run through some metrics that measure quality of contact. 2019 xwOBA .316 Bumgarner .318 Bailey .323 Teheran Hard hit % (95+ mph) 35.4 Teheran 38.7 Bailey 41.5 Bumgarner Barrels/PA % (barrel = 98+ mph exit velo, 26-30 degree launch) 4.0 Bailey 4.5 Teheran 6.3 Bumgarner And here’s a fun little exercise I’ve been toying around with. Below is an illustration of every home run hit at Target Field (the bright green dots) and all the batted balls surrendered by these three pitches overlaid atop the dimensions of Target Field. First is Bumgarner, then Teheran followed by Bailey. Download attachment: HRs1.gif This isn’t exactly a scientific way to look at the batted ball data, as it’s not like these pitchers would make all their starts at Target Field, but I thought it was an interesting way to present some of the batted ball info. But, but, but … Bumgarner was certainly better under pressure, right? Well … WPA 1.20 Teheran 0.15 Bailey -0.20 Bumgarner Clutch (per FanGraphs) 1.25 Teheran -0.52 Bailey -1.14 Bumgarner Slash against in two outs, RISP situations .200/.286/.340 (.626) Bailey .231/.326/.359 (.685) Teheran .319/.397/.478 (.875) Bumgarner MLB Trade Rumors predicted Bumgarner would get a four-year, $72 million deal and Teheran would get two years and $18 million. Bailey did not crack their top 50 list, but Kiley McDaniel of FanGraphs had him pegged for a one-year, $7 million contract. Given their 2019 performances, the only reason I can see why there’s such a dramatic difference in their perceived market value is due to Bumgarner’s legacy. Remind me again, how many actual wins is that worth? For a more positive outlook on Bumgarner, check out Patrick Wozniak’s recent article here at Twins Daily. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email Click here to view the article

Jeff Passan of ESPN reported Friday morning that the Twins had an agreement with veteran catcher Alex Avila on a one-year, $4.25 million deal. The 32-year-old posted a .774 OPS and started 49 games behind the plate for the Diamondbacks last season.As Passan noted, the catching market has developed quickly, so it's good to see the Twins lock down Jason Castro's replacement. Speaking of Castro, Avila's skill set matches up nicely to the former Twins backstop. Avila is a left-handed hitting catcher who boasts a career .241/.358/.417 slash line (.775 OPS) against right-handed pitching. It's not a perfect comp, as Castro has more power and is the better defender, but Avila will provide the Twins with a veteran presence who is adept at getting on base. Avila is no stranger to the AL Central, as he spent the first seven years of his career with the Tigers, was with the White Sox in 2016 and then returned to Detroit in 17. Alex's father, Al Avila, is the current executive vice president of baseball operations and general manager of the Tigers. He's been with the Diamondbacks the past two years, following up a disappointing 2018 with a solid performance last season. Among the 48 catchers with 200 plate appearances last season, Avila ranked fourth in OBP (.353), 15th in OPS (.774), 19th in wRC+ (97) and 23rd in WAR (1.3). Avila also graded out as a positive pitch framer for Arizona last year, trailing Castro by a small margin (3.2 FRM vs. 2.8 FRM, per FanGraphs). Just a couple weeks ago, Cody Christie mentioned Avila as one of the underrated free agents who would be a good fit for the Twins. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email Click here to view the article

This is a tremendous deal. By several metrics Pineda was better than both Wheeler and Bumgarner in 2019, and they're all very close in age.

I mentioned both Walker and Kevin Gausman in my article for the offseason handbook. Here are some interesting career numbers to consider: Kevin Gausman (925 2/3 IP, 28-years-old) 21.7 K%, 7.1 BB%, 43.1 GB%, 1.34 WHIP, 95 xFIP-, 4.04 SIERA Taijuan Walker (528 1/3 IP, 27-years-old) 21.3 K%, 7.4 BB%, 43.7 GB%, 1.25 WHIP, 99 xFIP-, 4.08 SIERA And a couple more names for additional context: Zack Wheeler (749 1.3 IP, 29-years-old) 22.8 K%, 8.5 BB%, 46.5 GB%, 1.29 WHIP, 97 xFIP-, 4.03 SIERA Jose Berrios (596 2/3 IP, 25-years-old) 23.1 K%, 7.7 BB%, 40.7 GB%, 1.26 WHIP, 99 xFIP-, 4.23 SIERA Things have not been going Gausman's way the past two seasons and Walker has logged just 14 innings over that time, but both of them are pretty interesting to me.

This is fun, thanks for sharing. I suppose a lot of my story is a bit similar to yours, just set in a slightly earlier era. I was born in the mid-80s, so it was pretty easy to get wrapped up into World Series fever. Being a kid in Minnesota around that time, Kirby Puckett was right up there with Batman and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as your favorite superheroes. I always remained interested in baseball, but my family's interest in the Twins specifically tailed off in the mid-90s. The strike hurt, but the Twins being completely irrelevant was probably the bigger factor. I personally started getting back into the Twins a bit in 1999, then attended a bunch of games the next season. You could get in the Metrodome for $4 in 2000, so it was never too difficult to find somebody interested in going, and I'm sure my parents were thrilled to get me out of the house It just so happened that 2000 club was also a really fun team. Really bad, but really fun. A lot of the core guys in that group developed into the next winning Twins team. To have followed that progression was a really rewarding fan experience. Witnessing the 2002 team beat contraction, essentially sticking it to the man, was a kind of thing that leaves quite an impression on a teenager. I have the same feelings toward that team as a lot of people have with their favorite band/musicians from their teenage years. I'd say I was a Twins fan by birth. Both my parents and my brother and sister enjoyed baseball. My grandpa listened to every game, so Herb Carneal and John Gordon were basically the background music of my summers growing up. But, it was all the time I spent as a teenager at the Metrodome from 2000-02 that really pushed things beyond casual fandom for me.

Rowson took the Marlins bench coach job before it was apparent Shelton was going to get the Pittsburgh managerial gig. Had he still been in the org, I assume Rowson would have been next in line for the bench coach job. But, it's also entirely possible Rowson viewed the Miami job as more desirable. He seems to have a lot of old Yankee connections there, it seems that managerial job is much more likely become available at some point in the nearer future and, well, it's Miami. Pretty nice place to spend half your summers.

New Twins hitting coach Edgar Varela took some time before the holiday to chat with Kris Atteberry on the Twins Hot Stove Show. Here’s where you can find the entire episode. Varela made it clear he valued collaboration and his emphasis would be on hunting the good stuff.The Twins announced Tuesday that Varela, the team’s minor league field coordinator the past two seasons, would be taking over as hitting coach. This is the 39-year-old’s first MLB coaching job, though he has joined the Twins for brief periods over the past two years. Varela said he and former Twins hitting coach James Rowson, who took a promotion to become bench coach of the Miami Marlins, conversed often and share many of the same traits. “I think it’s extremely important for players to be comfortable in their own skin and for them to be comfortable speaking to us and talking to each other knowing that we have their best interests in mind,” Varela told Atteberry. “So I think I have a lot of the same philosophies, in that aspect, with J-Row.” Varela also stressed keeping things simple, connecting people together and putting good systems into place. Prior to joining the Twins, Varela coached in the Pirates’ organization the 10 years. He mentioned former Twins catcher Tom Price as one of his biggest influences early in his coaching career with the Pirates. Varela was taught early in Pittsburgh that it was important in a world full of negative information to hunt the good stuff. “I want to continue to hunt the good stuff,” Varela said. “Because things in this game, it’s difficult, and baseball’s just like life. We’re going to get hit right between the eyes and get humbled here and there. I want to continue to find those positive things that happen on the daily so we can continue to move forward, especially when we hit a bump in the road.” Having had the opportunity to work with the top prospects in the pipeline, Varela is excited about 2020 and beyond. “That’s the intriguing piece of this, it’s not the now. Yes, we’re working towards 2020, but what’s to come and sustaining the next few years with what’s to come, is super exciting for me,” Valera said. “Some of the young players that fans have heard about in the system coming up, it’s real. These guys are super athletes, they’re great kids, great young men. “The Lewises, the Kirilloffs, the Jeffers, the Larnachs … those guys, they’re coming. So, again, we talk about the excitement coming for 2020 building off of 2019, but the future’s coming as well.” As a player, Varela spent five years in the minor leagues and one more playing in an independent league. He was selected by the White Sox in the 31st round of the 2002 MLB Draft after playing his college ball at Long Beach State. The Twins still need to replace former assistant pitching coach Jeremy Hefner, who took a promotion with the Mets, and former bench coach Derek Shelton, who is now manager of the Pirates. Here’s a link to that podcast one more time. Valera joins the broadcast around the 11-minute mark. Please share your thoughts in the comments below. Not registered? Click here to create an account. To stay up to date, follow Twins Daily on Twitter and Facebook. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — The Twins Should Bring Michael Pineda Back for 2020 — Justin Morneau Keeping Twins Territory Warm this Winter — The C.J. Cron Conundrum Click here to view the article

I can relate to this take. While I will always believe the more baseball the better, I'm not qualified to comment on all 42 of these teams potentially being eliminated. Maybe it does make sense for some of these teams to be eliminated, I don't know. I can say, however, Elizabethton is extremely proud of its team and its tradition with the Twins. It's a small city, population of only about 14,000 or so, but it's a well-established team and affiliation. That's really the grossest part of all. The city deferred a police station renovation in order to meet the Twins basically halfway and commit more than $1 million toward stadium upgrades. I believe that entire project only cost something like $2.5 million, chump change for an MLB team/owner. Definitely. The strike hurt every team, I'd argue the Twins more than most others, but it essentially killed the Montreal Expos. Carl Pohlad was more than willing to allow MLB to contract the Twins, but Jeffery Loria basically had his hands around the throat of baseball in Montreal. Sorry you had to go through that. How awful.

The law has had to prevent Major League Baseball from destroying itself to some degree on multiple occasions over the past 25 years. Fans of minor league teams under threat of elimination in Rob Manfred’s new proposal, such as the Elizabethton Twins, might have to hope justice prevails once again.If the MLB and the team owners get what they want, the landscape of minor league baseball is about to change dramatically. Commissioner Manfred, apparently backed by unanimous support from the owners, is actively working to eliminate 42 affiliated minor league teams. John Sickels of The Athletic recently wrote a great piece titled “On MLB’s plan for minor league contraction: You gotta be crazy.” Sickels evoked memories from a time when it appeared the Minnesota Twins would be contracted. It’s easy to forget that appeared to be a foregone conclusion at one point. In November of 2001, the MLB owners voted 28-2 in support of contracting two teams, widely assumed to be the Twins and Montreal Expos. Luckily, the Twins lease agreement on the Metrodome was in effect through the ‘02 season. A Minnesota judge granted an injunction to force the Twins to play their home schedule in the Metrodome that season. Not only did the MLB appeal that decision, but so did the Twins. In January ‘01, the Minnesota Court of Appeals upheld the injunction. Once again, the MLB and the Twins appealed to the state’s Supreme Court. On Feb. 4, the Minnesota Supreme Court announced they were refusing to consider the appeal, essentially forcing the Twins to play the 2002 season in the Metrodome. But how did the downturn in fan interest that led to the threat of contraction come about in the first place? While the 1994 strike hurt every team, it was particularly devastating for the Twins. Backlash to the ’94 stoppage was compounded by the fact the Twins had the worst record in baseball in ‘95. Then Kirby Puckett lost vision in his right eye during spring training in ‘96. It was as if the Baseball Gods were doing everything in their power to send Minnesotans to the St. Paul Saints (who had both Jack Morris and Darryl Strawberry that season), their local town ball team or simply to pick up a new summer hobby. The ‘94 strike lasted 232 days, but it only ended because the U.S. Court system issued an injunction that reinstated the previous collective bargaining agreement until a new one could be agreed upon. The owners’ only option at that point was to impose a lockout. If that lockout would have been ruled illegal, however, it would have resulted in owners paying huge amounts in damages and back pay to players. So the show went on. Could there be hope the courts could protect minor league teams against this proposal? The New York Daily News quoted an anonymous “major league official” who expected there to be plenty of legal action. “I don’t see any way we can do something like this. My God, we’ll be sued all over the place from these cities that have built or refurbished ballparks with taxpayer money, and this will really put our anti-trust exemption in jeopardy. It’s crazy.” More than 100 members of Congress have expressed opposition to the proposal, but MLB already responded with what The Boston Globe depicted as a “feisty” letter. How do we keep finding professional baseball in the position in which it needs to be saved from the individuals running Major League Baseball? Hopefully Elizabethton, a Twins affiliate since 1974, manages to survive this threat of contraction. Afterall, the city recently dedicated funding to renovate the ballpark’s facilities in an effort to appease the Twins and keep minor league baseball in Elizabethton. Here’s hoping the law will be on Elizabethton’s side. We know Major League Baseball isn’t going to be. Please share your thoughts in the comments below. Not registered? Click here to create an account. To stay up to date, follow Twins Daily on Twitter and Facebook. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Pending Prospects: Which Outfielder Will Be Called up First? — Jhoan Duran Headlines Twins Roster Additions — Episode 8: Get to Know RHP Austin Schulfer, C Caleb Hamilton, RHP Nick Anderson Click here to view the article