nicksaviking

I'm OK with that. I'm not typically risk adverse, but the Twins just have too many terrible contracts at the moment. If they can't pawn them off on other teams, they really need to wait until they expire to start handing out more questionable long term deals to vets. I want a good catcher too, but it's not worth hamstringing the future over; offensive catchers are not a necessity.

I'm sad to say, but Butera still has an arb year left and surely KC will not let such an important cog get away.

When he left, I thought he'd have a hard time getting a job. He sill likely will though. It will likely be with a veteran team, and fair or not, likely a team that's not very strong into analytics. I'm not surprised Gardy didn't get the Nationals job as he and Dusty Baker seem very similar, though Baker has a stronger track record and has spent his entire career in the NL.

Sometimes I think there just isn't an good answer to some problems. I think catcher in 2016 might be one of them. You might be stuck with free agents that have too many question marks to give a long term deal (Matt Weiters) or trade targets that will cost top prospects, and walk right when the team is ready to compete (Jon Lucory). The position itself is cause for concern as prior and pending injuries may force a shift to another position or crush their effectiveness altogether (Weiters, Lucroy and that other guy) Sometimes I think you just have to suck it up, say there is no real answer to this problem and make the best out of an ugly situation. We have recently seen some former part-time/journeymen catchers surprise us. Pittsburgh struck gold getting the previously forgotten Francisco Cervelli and Oakland found something when they got unknown Stephen Vogt. Of course the Twins had four months of success giving Kurt Suzuki another chance at full-time duty in 2014. I think there may be something to taking a chance on a part-time player and seeing if more regular play positively influences his game. Let's look at the cringe worthy free agent catching class of 2016: Geovany Soto - Not bad behind the plate and can throw out runners. Nothing sexy but would be cheap and even in part time duty has managed an OPS over .700 in two of the last three years. Perhaps there is still some chance that he could sniff his past glory and be a useful player? Dioner Navarro - Solid behind the plate and can throw out runners. Has had varying degrees of offensive success, including an OPS of .856 as recently as 2013 in a part-time role, though last year he was not very good. He has some pop and is a switch hitter. Michael McKenry - Um who? Well he's been the number two catcher in Colorado and Pittsburgh the past five years. Three of those five years he's had an OPS over .730 with a .910 (double take) OPS in just under 200 PA in 2014. Defensively he doesn't look too hot, throwing out only 3 of 33 batters last year. That seems like a high number of attempts against a back-up catcher, either the book is out on him, or Billy Hamilton was on base all the time against the Rockies last year. Chris Iannetta - Experienced Colorado and Los Angeles Angles backstop. 2015 was a down year for the veteran, but he had plenty of full-time (most of the time?) duty in prior years and only once had an OPS under .730 between 2008 and 2014. Defensively, he isn't the greatest, but he has thrown out 25% of his would-be base stealers in his career. Jared Saltalamacchia - Former 1st round pick and top prospect. A history of solid power for the position and his only truly dreadful year this decade was his first in Miami in 2014. That was unfortunate as the sour taste he left in their mouth probably helped convince the team to cut bait on him after only 33 PA in 2015. Upon signing with Arizona and playing part time, the switch hitter put up a .804 OPS which wasn't out of line with his years in Boston. Defensively, well, let's just say he at least owns his own equipment. Jordan Pacheco - Um who part II? Backup (often 3rd) catcher for Colorado and Arizona since 2011. However he once was a starter, way back in 2012. Offensively he hasn't been good.....except that one year he was a starter when he put up a .762 OPS (though still only a 93 OPS+) and 32 doubles in 475 PA. Interestingly, this guy could hit in the minors with a .799 OPS with very strong on-base skills. When he's had a full-time gig, he's put up really nice double and walk numbers. So why didn't he ever get a chance? Well it doesn't look like his defense is all that great. AJ Pierzynski - Not much to say here, we all know who he is. Old but offensively reliable for nearly two decades. Defensively he's not pretty and slightly less pretty aesthetically, but who wants a good looking catcher anyway? Other catching free agents include Alex Avila, Carlos Corporan, Jeff Mathis and Brayan Pena, but none of these guys have shown the ability to swing a bat in years, if ever, and as much as fans want a defensive catcher, when we actually have one who can't hit, fewer ballplayers become more of a punching bag. Personally, I think the Twins will avoid Wieters altogether but have strong dialogue about Lucroy. Under the hypothetical situation where the Twins get neither and are rebuffed from trading for another team's young catcher and only shop for their next backstop here at C-Mart, the discount catcher retailer, who makes you weep the least?

I'm not trying to stir up any kind of contempt, but geez, the Twins would have so many more options of varying contract lengths and prices to upgrade the offense if they didn't have someone locked in at 1B at the moment. Not sure about this guy though. If we are going to assume the MLB is going to impact his numbers in some way, how high are those 160Ks in the KBO going to rise to? He led his league by a mile in that department last year when I sort the league by strikeouts. He's intriguing, but here's the number two slugger in the KBO last year: http://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.cgi?id=navarr001yam He's been in five different MLB teams; systems since 2006 and his previous career high in HR was 12 before slugging 31 in the KBO in 2014 and 48 in 2015.

Yeah, what is up with the big-pocket Nationals low-balling the managerial candidates? They screwed around with Davy Johnson too. It looks like they either don't believe a manager has much influence over the players (in which case, why do they keep firing them?) or they have no problem cutting corners to save a buck. If this happened with the Twins, there would be rioters here. And I'd be one of them. Considering the lack of discipline clubs have handing out player contracts these days, I always thought the managers were underpaid and big deals like the Cubs gave Joe Madden would become the new norm. Looks like the Nationals are trying to set a new precedent by giving a small deal to an established, but desperate for a job veteran manager. Of course we don't know what the incentive bonuses are, so I might be making a mountain out of a pitching mound.

Even if it was a good move for the Twins, and I don't think it is, is it a good move for Morneau? Both he and Kubel were critical of Target Field for left-handed hitters. Only 20 of his 58 HR during the Target Field years came at home. Whether recent statistics show this as a fluke or not probably isn't relevant if Morneau thinks that high RF wall is a detriment to his line-drive swing.

After watching KC frustrate the opposition by refusing to strike out, I think the Twins need to start figuring out how to reduce their strikeout numbers, Desmond might help them set a new team record in that category.

You could get Justin Morneau and give up no prospects and pay a fraction of the salary. I don't want either for the record.

Less specifically than you do I guess. I'm fine waiting to see if anyone with a WS ring hires him if that's the criteria we're going to use to judge him though.

I'm not doubting Jay can be converted to a starter, I just wonder what kind of starter he could be. If he doesn't miss bets due to reduced velocity, he'll just be another guy. He wasn't the guy I would have picked, but no one in the draft excited me much, even the top 3 SS.

Let's also consider that Mark Shapiro, a pretty successful and respected baseball man thought he needed to reduce AA's responsibilities.

I am a sentimental guy. Still no. Seeing the veteran Hunter on the roster last July and knowing he couldn't be moved was troubling. As much as I like seeing favorites from the past, the smart business decision is to sign free agents that can get you something back if the season goes in the crapper or you're unexpectedly overloaded at a position. No more legacy signings, as much as I might enjoy seeing them again.

I'm not giving Ryan a pass; I've been quite critical and advocated changes. But there's no way blame for a lack of WS titles falls on one person.

AA was able to "go for it" twice in four years in Toronto. He won't have the same financial flexibility in Minnesota.

Nice work. That was probably the first time I thought of Brent Gates since... Well to be honest don't think it ever occurred to me that he was no longer on the team.

Still protesting this award until they retroactively give Eddie his.

What if they combine the two? Let the kids tend the bar and mix drinks?

He can also play 1B, 2B and 3B. Also pitcher. And if push came to shove, probably SS and C, which is clearly an area of need. Besides, he'd be brought in to mentor the young kids and then given another role within the organization when he's done playing.

Going to the Dodgers or something? He has to be either lured away by a big market team or offered a President of Baseball Operations gig.

Sounds like a perfect carrot for the Twins to offer to take on when they trade for Matt Harvey.

Coming into the draft Stewart was touted as having a Texas strong upper 90's fastball. I thought I was hearing this year it was 93-95, but this sounds like it's not even that high.

Doesn't your team get DQ'd if your starter throws more than 120 pitches?

I wouldn't trade Sano for anything and I like Rosario, Dozier and Vargas, but watching the Royals makes me think the Twins have to find a way to start avoiding hitters who can't make make enough contact to keep moving the runners along.

Yes, I keep disgusting myself by thinking A-Rod's not too bad at this and surely will be talking to me through my TV for another couple decades now.