bighat

Thanks for this article. Like many of a certain age, I was initially against allowing robot umps into the game. But over the past few years I've done a 180 and can't wait to see this technology in action. Personally I can't WAIT to see what guys do when they get called out on a 3rd strike and instinctively turn back to complain to the ump. What are they going to do now? I'd actually like to see more technology in sports. For example, football could get sensors in the ball that would give refs a more accurate idea where the ball should be marked. Refs and umps everywhere should be embracing this technology as opposed to pushing back! I'd also like to see All-Star teams picked by an agreed-upon computer algorithm. The fan voting for the MLB ASG is perhaps the biggest joke in all of professional sports and I hope to be alive when it's banned!

Technically, another way to compete would be to spend like the Mets, Yankees, and Dodgers. While the Twins will always have a disadvantage being located in an undesirable market, they can spend as much $$$ as any other team if they league, if they wanted. So could the Pirates and Royals for that matter.

Anyone know a good recipe for crow? I'll be eating some shortly and I'm looking for some zesty ideas.

Ain't gonna happen folks. Minnesota is flyover country, the team's going nowhere, and players have no desire to play here. The Twins are the proverbial unpopular kid hoping to get asked to the school prom by the star quarterback. Is it theoretically possible? I guess so. But getting your hopes up for something like this will only lead to crushing disappointment. Best to face reality and resign yourself to the fact that Brandon Belt and Michael Wacha are the best we're gonna get.

Wow, what a whirlwind of a night for Mr. Correa! Glad the Twins didn't get back in on that. There was just no way this deal would ever be reasonable. Question: where does Lindor play now? 2B?

Jeffers will be 26 next season. There's no more room for development with this guy, same goes for Larnach and Kirilloff. There are a lot of polished major leaguers at their ages. The pitchers are much better at the game than previous generations, and there are a lot of hitters that are better as well. But insinuating that Ryan Michael Jeffers is light years better than an everyday catcher from the 70s, 80s, or 90s is borderline slander.

You're not wrong. I'm a generation younger than you are and I agree with all of this. The problem is that the fascination with advanced metrics has gone too far. We've got guys who are getting millions based on things like "barrel % rate" or "OPS +" or "WOBA" - meanwhile they are hitting .180 and striking out half the time. The way people talk about Ryan Jeffers on this site, you'd think he was Johnny Bench. Take a look at the guy's stats. If he came along between 1946-2006 he'd have been out of a job by now. He can't even throw out runners! Don't get me wrong: I totally see the value in the advanced metrics and think they are fascinating. It's a great way to find some hidden gems or some players who might be on their way to having breakout seasons. But that doesn't mean we should throw stats like batting average and RBI out the window. Alas, all too often criticism like this is considered "old men yelling at clouds" and dismissed. Oh well. Such is life. As we get older, things change, and we just so happen to be alive to watch baseball go through some bumps in the road as the sport makes a significant strategic adjustment here in the 2020s.

Twins big free agent signing is a Miguel Sano clone who hits left handed - can't make this stuff up. These one year deals for project-types are getting old.

LOL, reminds me of the "What'd I miss" posts in the game threads.

I think a major, major problem that pro sports have (especially baseball) is that these contracts are all so unrelatable. Who among us can imagine turning down 35 million dollars (which Correa did when he opted out of his contract this year), let alone 285 million? It just doesn't compute. It's like talking about the distance of Alpha Centauri from earth and then comparing it to the distance of Procyon. The numbers are just too big, it's impossible to wrap your brain around the data. Let's put it this way: if Carlos Correa lives until he's 85, he'd have to spend about $20,000 PER DAY in order to use up that 350 million bucks. And that's imagining if he just took a lump sum of cash and put it under his bed - clearly, he's going to have a lot of that money working on his behalf, including investments, property, etc and so it's probably more like 50k or even 100k per day when it's all said and done. It's almost literally impossible to ever spend that kind of money in his lifetime. Like, even if he took the Twins' $285 million contract, the Correa family would be set up for hundreds of years, like the Rockefellers or Vanderbilts. But he took MORE than that. It's just ridiculous. I dunno. Maybe it's because it's the holiday season, and I currently volunteer to deliver food and donations to rural immigrant families. There are so many in this country and abroad who face economic peril, or at least economic uncertainty in their lives. And I know that's not Carlos Correa's fault. Or anyone's fault, really. BUT, reading about this deal and thinking about how Correa said "You have to shop at Dior" or whatever it was he said, just makes me feel like I need to take a shower.

Kirilloff, Larnach and Wallner aren't exactly Acuna, Harper and Judge. The Twins don't have a "loaded outfield". Last year we had Jake Cave and Mark Contreras starting there half the time. Can we please stop pretending? Just because we wish it were true, doesn't mean it is.

Twins already have one catcher hitting .202, probably best that we go after the guy (Vazquez) who hit .274, don't you think?

Good luck, Steve! Those games in New York and LA will certainly be a nice change of pace from the hustle and bustle of the Corn Palace.

The "trade Polanco" chant has come up every off-season for the past 3 years. The Twins have gambled on a few guys, giving them affordable long term contracts: Sano, Kepler, Dobnak and Polanco. It could be argued that the Polanco contract was the only one that worked out in the Twins' favor. The guy is capable in the infield, he can carry the team with his bat when he gets hot....and he's got a team-friendly contract. News flash: those are the guys you KEEP. No way the Twins trade him, and I have no idea why this sick fantasy keeps popping into some fans' heads.

If the Twins don't sign anyone else this winter, we'll find a way to convince ourselves that Mahle's an ace.

Many of these outfits mimic what a generic "Minnesota" team would look like in a baseball video game that didn't have MLB rights. Like, you can tell it's supposed to be the Twins but it's generic enough to pass any legal scrutiny. The away blues and grays (along with the home blues) are very uninspired. The "M" hat is very bad, especially when you pair it with those blue or gray tops. I like the home whites, the creams, and both versions of the "TC" hats.

Marlins-inspired "M" hats need to go. It's not "minimalist", it's unimaginative. I like the two home jerseys (is the "Twin Cities" a "city connect" jersey only?) and I'm especially digging the all-white letters on those TC hats that compliment that uniform. Standard home whites are great. No home blues?

I'd recommend watching "Ballplayer" (or "Pelotero"), which is a 2011 documentary which discusses the situation in the DR and the challenges young players there face. Sano specifically is a focus on the doc.

Sano came from a small town in the DR and signed with an MLB team in a foreign country. He finished 3rd in the Rookie of the Year vote. He was an All-Star and participated in the HR Derby. He hit 25 or more homers FOUR TIMES in his seven years with the team. He wasn't the best fielder but he did make some highlight-reel defensive plays at 3rd base, including a couple memorable triple plays. Speaking of memorable, his grand slam on the road in Cleveland was one of the biggest hits by any Twin in 2019. He learned a 2nd language and became bilingual. To see a headline that says "How Big of a Bust is Sano?" is frankly just low-brow clickbait in my opinion. If his career ended today, he'd still have an above-average career better than most guys who make The Show. Any Twins fan who thinks Sano's career has been a "bust" needs to have their head examined and start learning to adjust their expectations in life.

Nobody is asking for a "hitting machine". We want a guy who can bat .240 and hit 13 homers. Is that too much to ask?

Yeah I hear you. Right now if I guy can frame, he'll make the team even if he hits .190. It's ridiculous. Overall it's not just the catcher position, it's just all of MLB becoming way metrics-oriented and way too specialized. But honestly, the problem isn't the catching...it's the pitching. Guys out there throwing 104 MPH. With movement. It's ridiculous to expect players at any position to hit better. BAs are going down all over the league. Side note: Remember Brian Harper? The dude hit .320 while getting absolutely bulldozed on plays at home plate. Mauer was an absolute machine in the batter's box and just amazing to watch when he was in his prime.

C'mon. We all know the Twins are going to go out there and sign Mike Minor and Wade Miley. After the initial letdown, we're going to spend a couple months trying to convince ourselves that it was a "savvy" move. Alas, by May, after watching them give up 5 runs over 3+ innings in consecutive outings, we're going to start the "Should the Twins Release Mike Minor"? headlines here on Twins Daily and start arguing with each other about whether or not Balazovic is ready to be called up. Regretful things will be said, warning points will be given......but then Buxton will get hurt and thankfully distract everyone from the miserable pitching situation until the trade deadline rolls around.

I think that continuing to hope that either of these guys will be meaningful contributors is a mistake. It would be nice to see Enlow get a cup of coffee at least and see what he's got. Stashak's career numbers in 4 seasons include a 4.13 career ERA and he's never pitched more than 25 innings in a season. He'll be 29 next season. Take a step back and imagine Stashak was playing for Pittsburgh or something. You might take a peek at his stats and say "One of the reasons Pittsburgh is struggling is they continue to waste roster spots on guys like that". We need to take off our rose-colored fan goggles on a lot of these guys. Dead weight.

Jeffers hits .195 and can't throw anyone out. He's been in the big leagues for 3 years. Am I missing something? What crazy world are we living in that this is considered OK? He's not even putting up backup numbers. I realize we're in the offseason, but I can't believe it's October 17th and we're already getting this "All Hail King Jeffers" propaganda. It's insanity.

The Twins generated some enthusiasm last offseason for two reasons: 1. Their poor 2021 could be seen as a fluke - after all, they'd made the playoffs the two years prior and had played fun baseball. 2. They signed the biggest, most exciting free agent in the game. The results? An awful year, even when the team was winning most of us felt like the other shoe was about to drop. And that shoe did drop, and it dropped hard. Bad hitting, bad pitching, bad baserunning, bad fielding....just bad baseball. Twins fans will be much more skeptical of the team going into 2023. It's pretty scary that in Donaldson and Correa, the Twins have signed 2 of the biggest free agents in baseball over the past 3 seasons. Perhaps THE two biggest free agents available in the years they were signed, in fact. The results have been luke warm and the very best, and at worst it's been extremely disappointing.....and both are already gone! If you're a big name, and you look at what Donaldon & Correa did in MN, are you going to want to take a chance in Minneapolis? And if the Twins aren't going to land any big free agents in the near future, what chance does this team have?