nicksaviking

So Will Levis was cut loose just prior to his fourth year. Looks like McCarthy and Anthony Richardson are going to stick with their original clubs despite neither team seeming to have much interest in keeping them. Maybe due to an inflated perception of value due to draft position? The NFL should start being proactive about these 'bust' type QBs because there are simply not enough good QBs to go around and this league wants to expand. And these' 'bust' type of QBs have been paying off quite frequently after bouncing around the league. Maybe from just getting out of their current situation, maybe just learning something new from someone else or maybe from getting humbled and learning how to play QB instead of relying on god given talents. Doesn't really matter, we're starting to build up enough case studies to see this is a usable source to find QBs. And not just starters like Darnold, Mayfield, Smith, Jones and Willis but capable backups like Winston, Mariota, Wentz, Bridgewater, Trubisky and Rudolph; the league needs way more of these guys too. I don't think you can incentivize teams to move on from these players, but there should be some kind of effort to get them out from being buried on a depth chart getting no meaningful reps and reallocating them to a new spot where they can get a fresh start and aren't constantly asked about not living up to their prospect hype. Maybe it's an overaction and having these guys wait 4-5 years to get a fresh start instead of 2-3 years isn't that big of a deal. Anyway, just brining it up because I once again read about expansion and thought how ludacrous it is considering there aren't enough #2 QBs to go around let alone starters.

Rotational pass rush specialist, yeah, works for me. He started 13 games even just last year, I'd guess he was hoping to land another starting gig but this had been discussed as an option months ago.

For sure, it's hard to build up the nerve, but tough nerves should be a requirement of a GM and a manager. This franchise NEVER lets zero MLB experience rookies make the opening day roster. Maybe he'll get a late couple week audition sometime in the next month, but it's looking like E-Rod will never play for the Twins. He was never a sure thing to make it, far from it, and the Twins have lost better prospects for less, but losing a long time top 50 prospect for whatever bag of peanuts they'll get offered is a pretty big indictment on their roster building and equity management. I wouldn't fire anyone just because of this, but if we're measuring last straws, this would be more than big enough. Top 50 prospects headline trades for really good players, this was a pretty bad misstep.

I don't disagree that the Twins need to stop looking in the lower tier free agent pool just because they feel compelled to roster as many vets as possible, but what's going on now, operating at 100M payroll, is clearly not working for the Twins. In any case, I don't expect Zoll and this front office to be here much beyond the start of the next CBA. Probably for 2027, but if they are still below average at best, they'll be gone. I suspect ownership will once again look to sell the team at that point too. If parity due to a salary cap will make the Twins more attractive to bubyers, I'm pretty sure there'd be a celebration around here.

I'll side with the millionaires over the billionaires pretty much always, but not on this. The top players don't want a cap and they are the ones that get their voices heard in the union but they're just bullying the low earners. A cap and a floor that would force teams to collectively spend more than they are now, would obviously mean collectively the players on average make more money than they are now. And if the teams HAVE to spend more money overall, eventually that will mean guys are getting paid appropriately while they are still in the prime of their careers. Sorry Bryce Harper, but this would help the next Joe Ryan or Bailey Ober who didn't get paid when they were at the top of their game. Not to mention a guy like Kody Clemens who will be a free agent somewhere around his age 50 season.

I'd rather trade for a front line starter, mostly because the franchise has had very good success with that before. But, there is enough prospect equity and not enough roster space, so a high value trade better be in the works. I do like Arozarena, even if the position may not be the best fit. He does seem like a guy who has a very high floor along with a reasonably high ceiling. So many offensive players crater in Seattle, and he hasn't, so I do like him quite a bit. Maybe because of that he gives me Nelson Cruz-lite vibes. I'd rather see Houston at SS and Culpepper at 2B but the roster could still work going after one of the better free agent second basement so I get the draw and wouldn't put up a fight. The problem is that this team has to decide on Jeffers ASAP and commit to Ryan staying very early. If the Twins plan on dumping them to free up money, they have to be certain they can snag a two of the very, very, very few good free agents this year, and if we were ranking teams based on how likely they are to get the free agents I want, the Twins are going to be way down on that list. But for all my pessimism about this free agent class, I think the price tags are going to be shockingly high. I think the big market teams are going to go all out before the CBA expires and pay these guys significantly more than projected just to get a leg up on the teams that are price conscious and are waiting to see if the CBA will come out more financially favorable to them. If the owners truly are going to try to somewhat level the playing field for all clubs, the big market clubs will surely want to take one more stab at getting an edge. Especially if any kind of cap is 'grandfathered' in. The big spenders will probably give out those long term deferred contracts simply to stretch out how long they have this payroll advantage.

That's on me for forgetting Houston.

I don't see anyone saying this. Pretty sure just about everyone has moved on to Keaschall, Culpepper, Jenkins, E-Rod and Lackey. I don't want to bring in more low ceiling Josh Bells and Victor Caratinis in just to take roster spots and ABs away.

I only want to keep Jeffers and Ryan. If there were free agents I wanted, I'd happily upgrade there, but there is seriously like ten free agents max I'd want to add to the roster, and outside of Skubal I think I'd prefer Ryan and Jeffers over any of them. Maybe Seiya Suzuki or Randy Arozarena, but they aren't exactly great fits and if you swing and miss on them, then you're left with money to spend on worse players than you already had. For this spend-thrift franchise, improvement was always going to come from within. They did a poor job of acclimating several of the top young players so far this year, but we got a month left to see if they can prepare them for 2027.

I'd happily take Yandy Diaz, but the Rays have a 12M player option they'd be absolutely insane not to exercise. I'd pay him 3x that amount if he was available.

Not Milwaukee. They've brought back virtually no useful players after trading away their stars. They are winning DESPITE their high profile trades, not because of them. And this isn't unique to Milwaukee and Tampa. They're doing what the Twins and A's were doing two decades ago. Well built team with chemistry that can cruise through the regular season, but not enough top end talent to win when you get to the playoffs.

Since A-Rod and Boras (justifiably) blew up the pay structure in 2001 and put an end to the collusion era, only two teams NOT in the top ten of payrolls have won the World Series. And one of them was the 2002 Angels only one season later before the disparity really flexed. So if you can go into a season with near 96% certainty that one of only ten teams will win the championship, how is that anything other than a narrative that small market teams have next to no chance?

I don't appreciate it, but only because the Twins always wait just to see what below average free agents become desperate enough to take their lowball offers. But I'm in the same boat; there's zero reason to push an expedited free agent frenzy other than to force the Twins and other small market teams to stop straddling the fence. There are other ways to force them to do that, like full blown revenue sharing and/or mandatory salary floors.

The owners can be arguing in bad faith yet still (unintentionally) be working in the best interest in the league at the same time. Deny it all you want big market Met fan, but this league won't last much longer without salary caps and floors within spitting distance of each other. We know you don't care if a small market team ever wins another World Series, but you're on the wrong site to push that narrative. I can support the players over the owners, but still acknowledge when the players are wrong and NOT actually working in the best interest of the league and therefore the fans.

The more I think about the CBA and the uncertainty it will bring, the more I think the players who get QOs are more likely to accept this year. I don't think players will WANT to go into the abyss without a contract. So I think there's a decent chance Jeffers' accepts his QO, as accepting will basically re-set the catcher salary market anyway.

That’s good, not like the Vikings want that out in the open. But just connecting any dots suggests he’s pretty immature. Which I absolutely am not condemning as a forever black mark. Males in their early 20’s are often intolerable. Most of us figure it out later after a few regrettable life choices, and I’ll bet McCarthy does too.

Yeah, fingers crossed. I'd like E-Rod to join the mix and Keaschall and even Lee are still part of this generation that can create a new energy. Even when they were losing, seeing the young Byron Buxton, Eddie Rosario, Miguel Sano, Max Kepler, Jorge Polanco and Oswaldo Arcia standing on the front step of the dugout cheering every run their teammates got was more exciting baseball. Same happened with the Hunter/Jones/Koskie/Ortiz/Guzman era and obviously the early 80's teams that went on to win championships. I get that veteran players bring other intangibles, but it seems this organization only ever has sustained success when they throw large group of their homegrown talent center stage and give them the reigns.

I'm happy for the promotion, but I wish it would have happened when the clubhouse was flush with playoff enthusiasm instead of whatever more dour tone is likely crashing the party now. Maybe it won't matter and he doesn't feed off of teammates' energy, they feed off of his.

It was seriously a dumb idea to put Flores and KOC in that spot to begin with. I'm sure they were clamoring for it, but come on, if these kinds of guys are coming into the office at 4 AM for nine months straight to be the best coaches they can be, the other three months don't give them time to ALSO be the best GMS and scouts they can be.

***IF*** I was a GM or HC who had illusions of greatness and thought this team was capable of making a deep playoff run, I might move him for any draft pick, even if he's not a huge d-bag. Him being on the roster would likely be a season long distraction and football coaches don't tend to put up with distractions. Of course I don't have illusions of greatness for this team, more like illusions of good enough to get bounced in the first round.

For the record, I don't think Tom is making any overt roster decisions. But I do think that Tom's rhetoric has made it clear to Jeremy Zoll and everyone in the front office that their jobs are tied to attendance and viewership, and therefore keeping up the illusion of 'going for it' is of utmost importance.

But it's not hindsight when there is a track record of this situation. Not just with other players, but with Buxton himself. Pro baseball players just do not play WELL when they play through injuries. I know it's a good look to be gutty and play with pain, but just about every time it's a disservice to the club. We've all been talking about him playing injured since the All Star break, regardless of what he said about his health, he wasn't fooling anybody.

He hasn't stopped talking about 'competing' and putting the best lineup on the field all year. He doesn't have to actually call the shots; his interim GM knows he'd prefer the face of the franchise out there to sell tickets.

He shouldn't have been out there in the first place. I know he likely desperately wanted to be out there because he's a competitor, and I know Tom Pohlad desperately wanted him out there because he's trying to put fans in the stands for a sub .500 team. But there should have been a voice of reason that shut Buxton down weeks ago until Buxton was healthy. And really, when has playing through injuries ever produced positive on-field results? We only have a century and a half of data to suggest that more often than not you'd have more success with a replacement player.

And sucking in RF at Target Field proves to be more of an annoyance and less of an actual problem.