nicksaviking

Looks like it's official, the minor league season has been cancelled. The smart teams are going to be the ones who figure out a way to continue to develop the guys not on 60 man rosters. As far as I know, there's no imperative for Indy Ball leagues to grab players from various teams. The Twins could be geographically positioned well as only six of the American Association teams are playing this year, but they include the Saints and the teams in Winnipeg, Fargo and Sioux Falls, with all games being played in Fargo and Sioux Falls, the Twins two strongest in-market cities. As far as fan interest goes, it probably would behoove all four clubs to use their vacant roster spots on Twins prospects. Hopefully the Twins can find games for Balazovic and many other guys who need playing time.

People were offended by what he said 40 years ago. That’s why every paper reported it. Everyone outside of the bigots knew it was awful even back then. But I’m actually more offended that it appears there are still people who don’t think segregation is or was a big deal or a real world problem. I also can’t imagine that even Tony Olivia would suggest his birthday was more important than desegregation.

I didn’t get the impression it was a player, but either way, I’d be uncomfortable speculating about it publicly anyway.

Yeah, Minnesota teams should be taking the lead right now and it looks like the Twins are more than willing. I've done my fair share of Pohlad complaining in the past, but, fantastic work lately guys. Keep it up.

Now we're talking. I've always loved the athletic HS hitters.

A baby pitcher? Ugh, he won't be up for at least five years. We talking t-ball?

Right position, but Mientkiewicz's launch angle is a smidge below what the Twins covet in 2020. That was one of those comments that was both a joke and not a joke. There's probably an emoji for that but I'm as bad with emojis as I am with jokes.

Yeah, those sports have salary caps enabling more teams to be relevant and they are way more open to on and off field changes. And that the NFL does this should say all we need to know. That is an extremely conservative league both in terms of ownership and fanbase, yet they implement a half dozen new rules each year, change up the way they distribute their broadcasts every couple of years, celebrate and promote their current players often at the expense of the their league's historical records and they actually innovate and change how the game is played on the field. Baseball fans start a civil war over what to do about the infield shift or DH, while the NFL purposefully changes rules and pushes for forward thinking game strategies so teams can combine for 90 points a game now.

I'm pretty sure this was Nick's whole point but I think it's being largely missed here. The only thing Nick criticized Kepler for is Kepler's implication that the murder of George Floyd merited a political stance and you somehow need a political stance to weigh in on the situation. Everyone should be outraged.

I agree, but Washington still holds most of the purse strings and Federal Law supersedes State Law. You can still have the right people in charge locally but are handcuffed to do the right things. And I am not at all weighing in on whether the right people are in charge locally.

I did leave it vague intentionally so as to keep politics out as best as possible. I presume Nick Nelson was trying to do the same. To remain vague but a bit more descriptive, if people want this to change, they are going to need to stop sending people to Washington they know will not prioritize this. This is the sacrifice I refer to. Neither party is immune to giving lip service and no substance to this topic.

Requesting that our leaders put the need for racial equality at the top of their priority list instead of somewhere in the middle? And actually do it, not just give it lip service?

I didn't bring up socialism, that was your suggestion. I also didn't criticize Kepler.

Not necessarily, I haven't read their manifesto so I couldn't really say. But I would find it disappointing if people think socialism is a worse sin than racial inequality.

Only if you're suggesting that many people believe that George Floyd's death was an acceptable price to pay to maintain the status quo. In which case people need to own that position instead of trying deflect the conversation to property damage. I really don't believe that there is a significant part of the population that thinks this was acceptable, but I am starting to believe there is a significant part of the population that thinks it was unacceptable but are unwilling to make the sacrifices needed to change it.

To everyone trying to blow this out of the water by crying politics, knock it off. Nick clearly spelled out that this was not about politics, it was about apathy toward civil rights equality, specifically what appeared to be apathy from Max Kepler. You can agree or disagree with Nick's take that Kepler was showing apathy, but unless you actually believe equality for all races should not be a priority, this is not a red vs. blue debate.

Great article. Maybe there could be a Part II, as I agree, 1969-70 had so many HOFers and almost HOFers, they could get a write up as well. Heck, just about every healthy Killebrew led club from 1962-70 were really awesome with 1964 being the weird exception. That bats were fantastic that season and the starters were solid at worst, there's probably a separate article there trying to figure out what went wrong that year. 1992 was a downer of a season, most of the bats cooled off as did the young combo of Tapani and Erickson who needed to step up to become the long term rotation staples we were hoping for. I'd add the 2002 or 2004 club instead.

Great education heezy. Anyone else in the mood for some chicken wings now?

I'm excited to see some of these guys. I like how fast Mason is moving. But Stashak went from starter to swingman to full-time bullpen stalwart in the minors. The guys listed here seem to have always been viewed as relievers. I kind of the think to find the guys on a similar track as Stashak, we should look at current starters. I think Bailey Ober, Bryan Sammons and Sean Poppin may make some noise out of the pen someday soon.

Typically yes, but the Mets' payout actually included an 8% interest rate. There was only 6M left on his contract and the original money was actually only deferred through 2011, everything that he's gotten since 2011 is the interest on the original deferment.

They haven't been in a position to trade for MLB players until this year. Minor leaguers aren't going to get you any WAR. Smeltzer does very little for me, but getting him as a throw in player and identifying him as a guy who can pitch in majors seemed to be a mark in the Pro column. But regardless of development or drafting, the decisiveness when it comes to these young guys is absolutely a boon to the club. There's no more wasting roster spots for former prospects; much to our chagrin we lose guys unexpectedly like Gonsalves, Burdi, Chargois or Jay. Sorry Kohl Stewart. I wouldn't feel too comfortable if I was Nick Gordon, Fernando Romero or LaMonte Wade either, if we need a 40-man spot, it's time to sweat. But even more so than not hanging on too long to busted prospects is how decisive they are with the pitching roles. Zack Litell, go to Rochester, you're a reliever now. There has been zero waffling on the roles of Rogers, May and Duffey from the second the new crew got here. To our dismay our high hopes for Romero becoming a front line starter evaporated without warning when they advertised he was moving to the pen last winter. It was going to happen again this winter with Graterol as well, the guy we were probably foolishly pinning our future ace hopes on. The criteria, tools and metrics they use to evaluate how to use these pitchers is vastly improved over the last group. You aren't going to get your full six years of control to show that you can improve the command, off-speed pitch or physical health needed to be a starter or stick with this club, and the roster is better and deeper because of it.

I am anything but a Pohlad defender, but if the Twins continue winning, I think they'll let payroll go a bit higher than we suspect. We've seen Detroit, Cleveland and KC go above their comfort zone in payroll for extended periods of time when they were contending and I don't think the Twins are currently above their comfort zone. Since TF opened, the Twins have typically spent more when they were bottoming out than KC and Cleveland did when they bottomed out. Overall the Twins seem to be higher than those two when it comes to the overall payroll hierarchy, so I really don't think 140M is going to be the ceiling. And again, I would never try to paint the Pohald's in a rosy light. But regardless, these guys seem to be pretty crafty with the payroll. With LA paying 2.5M of Maeda's contract the next four years, the Twins are guaranteeing less money to Maeda and Pineda combined in 2020 than the Mets are to Rick Porcello.

The bullpen looks much more locked down this year than last year, but I could see Bailey Ober, Bryan Sammons or Sean Poppen open some eyes if they get moved to the pen a la Zack Littell.

I've been wondering if the Twins are waiting to see if they can extend Berrios before trying to lock up Odorizzi with an extension. I like Jake, but since his innings need to be managed due to his decreased effectiveness with extra exposure, I kind of think Maeda is his replacement going forward. Also, Adrianza has a better glove and last year he was a better hitter than Gonzalez. Even with a repeat of his 2019 season, he's also still going to be pretty cheap. If I was going to worry about keeping a utility guy, he'd probably be the one I'd put the most effort into keeping. I'd extend Cruz, but I don't see the rush to do it anytime before midway though the season, there is nothing he could do short of hitting 60 HR that will increase what you have to pay him now versus what you'd have to pay him after the season. The White Sox just signed Edwin Encarnacion for 12M with an option which is exactly what the Twins are paying Cruz this year. That's almost certainly his salary ceiling going forward.

It's a good problem to have. Whomever is coldest I would suspect, if no one is cold, than things are looking good. It's basically the situation the Dodgers have put themselves into the past half decade. Also, Maeda looks to be similar to Odorizzi; less is more. Fewer innings per start seem to benefit them. Throw in the injury history of Bailey and Hill, Berrios' tendency to fade down the stretch and the other options all being rookies, I wouldn't be surprised to see a few irregular six man rotation stretches.