nicksaviking

I'm advocating trading him, I don't like old pitchers. That's not at all the point though, there aren't league average 28-year-old pitchers available for other teams to chose from. Why should the Twins be offering Santana up in trades at a value that is based on a shortcoming that cannot be used as leverage against them? If the other team tells the Twins they should devalue Santana because he's no spring chicken, all the Twins have to say is 'why don't you go and try to find one of those then'.

Sorry, the balls are off the table. The Twins need to intentionally distance themselves from local guys, people around here get way too attached to them.

You've put together really good comp stats but I think the issue is that Santana doesn't have any available comps for other teams to choose from. Had he been a free agent he likely would have been the top guy available. As it were, it's a seller's market for starting pitching. Santana isn't going to get what Sale got obviously, but for teams that want to win now, they're just going to have to overpay for pitching. Santana's value is going to be tied more to demand than comparable pitchers currently under contract.

Great post, but no, still not excited. Kiriloff is the only addition that looks like an improvement to the original post to me. The only guys outside of Kiriloff that look exciting are the guys already at the MLB level. This team needs better bats in the minors. Right now these are best case scenario kind of projections based on what we have now. There are a couple of "exciting high ceiling" kind of guys (but again, almost all are already in the majors) and lots of "maybe they can be pretty good" kind of guys. For most of the past two decades we used to be able to play this game filling nearly every position with "exciting high ceiling" kind of guys with enough left over to battle for the DH spot.

I'd like that mostly from the perspective that another serious suitor would give the Twins leverage. The more I read about Beede the less I like though. Sounds like he has become a sinkerball pitcher, which justly or not has become an incredible turn off for me lately.

It sounds like you may have been tricked into getting excited about a mathematics. My condolences.

Good lord, that high? I checked fangraphs, I guess he did somehow average 90 MPH, I thought it would have been 88ish. I'm guessing he threw one real blazer last year that hit 250 MPH which offset all of the mid 80's pitches I thought I watched him throw.

The Twins have to get creative and start seriously engaging other teams. The Giants are a good fit for Dozier but they don't have much in the way of prospects. The Diamondbacks and Mets may have 2B that could move to cover other deficient infield positions but they don't have many upper level pitching prospects, their best young arms are at the MLB level; in AZ's case they have under-performed, in NY's case they are generally injured. Perhaps the Braves, perhaps the Cardinals, some have said the Yankees. Anyway, there are options that on paper are not as clean as the Dodgers, but a trade doesn't have to be clean. Perhaps it's time to consider a three team deal, perhaps it's time to consider dealing Santana. Perhaps it's time to consider a three team deal that includes Santana. Either way, it would be really nice to hear a rumor involving a non-Dodger team that is more significant than speculative. It would be nice to make the Dodgers feel there is real competition for Dozier because at this point I haven't seen anything that should make them sweat, but other serious considerations aside from the Dodgers would be refreshing as well.

All things being equal, that being years of control, I'd guess it's the pitcher. Everyone needs a pitcher, as we are finding out with the Dozier situation, not nearly enough teams need a 2B.

Are Robbie Grossman and Kurt Suzuki? You're going to have to play who you have available to you. Seeing this spelled out, I'm thinking everyone's pitcher heavy Dozier trade proposals perhaps should shift to include at least one bat who may contribute here. I thought I would be more excited to see this projection, gosh almighty this team needs to restock.

To be fair to Santana, he's been a much better pitcher since 2010. His numbers prior to that year really weigh down what he's done since. But I'm all for trading him, but that's only because I don't trust old pitchers.

What could anyone possibly see in Walker Buehler's 5 innings of pro ball to put him ahead of De Leon in the rankings?

http://www.brooksbaseball.net/outcome.php?player=592779&time=&startDate=03/30/2007&endDate=12/21/2016&s_type=2 Also fangraphs: http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=16727&position=P I really like how the first one, Brooksbaseball compiles pitch data though.

Stewart has grown on me as well. He averaged over 93 MPH on his FB and that was just his MLB numbers which were basically all late in the season, a time when many pitchers are wearing down and seeing velocity decrease, particularly young pitchers. I also like the FB/Slider/changeup combo. I'd like to see him use the slider/changeup more but at least he's not farting around with a sinker or cutter much.

I like the Pickler position, sounds like a great gig for his analytical background. If he's in charge of game day preparation and strategy I have to think it will be pretty difficult for Molitor to go against the analytical grain. Not that he would necessarily, just that it would be hard if he was inclined to. I also thought Jeff Smith had a bit of a contemptuous relationship with the young players. Maybe that wasn't true or I'm mis-remembering. Anyway, that choice seemed to have come out of nowhere.

Wow, yeah that is bizarre. It's hard to imagine a middle infielder put up numbers like that year after year and never got a shot at the majors. He nearly had a 1:1 BB/K ratio for his entire career, the guy could get on base and looks like he had enough speed to take some bases. I guess the Rangers always had good middle infielders but I'm just going to imagine the conversation with his MiLB coach his last year in Rockies organization went something like this: Pickler: So coach, it's August 31, I probably should pack my bags. Do I have to buy my own ticket to Denver or do you guys do that? Coach: Sorry Pickler, it ain't happening this year. Pickler: The team is in last place and will be lucky not to lose 100 games. I'm 29 and having a career year. It's kind of a custom to give a guy like me a taste of the majors. Coach: Yeah, but the big club has that young stud Aaron Miles tearing the cover off the ball. Pickler: Miles is freakin' 28 and he's absolutely useless with the bat. Coach: Miles is batting .281 and you say he's useless! Not everyone can be Joe Morgan! Pickler: Batting average?! The guy has an OBP of .306 to go along with that batting average meaning he's only taken 8 walks all year! ALL YEAR! His RC+ is 62 and he has a negative WAR! He has no speed, no power, can't take a walk and that's not even counting his brutal defense, his UZR/150 is -10.4! Coach: Pickler, I've had just about enough of your mathematic mumbo jumbo, I'm fairly confident everything you just said was has no relevance to baseball, get back to me when you find out how many Game Winning RBI's he had! Pickler: Coach, I think you are in for a rude statistical awakening. Coach: Oh is that right, well why don't you go right ahead and find a job where you can put your numerical non-sense to work because I'll see to it your playing days are over! I hear Arizona is looking for an accountant or something, why don't you take your calculator and nerd glasses over there.!

I'd say that last line is particularly of concern regarding Dozier though. I think the chances that the return for Dozier goes up during the season are minimal while the chances that the return for him goes down is extremely high.

I think he's saying the Twins should take the Dodgers offer. Which doesn't sound like doing nothing to me.

I like the idea of other teams getting involved, but I think I'd pass on the Braves. They continually have top pitching prospects for about a decade now and they keep going bust. Lots of injuries, lots of flameouts and lots of over-projection, something doesn't seem right over there, it could be dumb luck but at this point I'm way too suspicious of mis-use or undue hype.

I guess I don't understand how getting other prospects would be under-selling Dozier. The ceiling of a second "MLB-ready" pitcher is going to be much lower than a guy who still needs a year or two. I mean Pat Dean is MLB ready.

Well your generation is much more comfortable with the idea of eating Spam.

I can't find any air dates but it says production starts in January so we still have awhile which stinks since Season 2 took place well over a year ago now. http://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/fargo-fx-announces-new-season-three-cast-members/

Agree with The Cars, but I'd bet they'll get in soon. They might have been the most influential band in the push towards that 80's synthetic sound. Which in many circles is probably viewed as a bad thing. My money is on time prevailing though.

And a producer for many musicians in the HOF. All the Wilbury's are in the HOF and absolute musical legends yet it is was Lynne who produced all the music. I've never read anything anywhere but it just seems like him being snubbed all this time was not an accident. Anyway, bygones and whatnot, good for him.

Kind of sounds like he's getting the job that Falvey didn't like to refer to as the quality control specialist. Also possibly the "who are some good under-the-radar pieces the Twins can get the Dodgers to throw into a hypothetical Brian Dozier trade" specialist.