bighat

Face it, the Twins are going to sign Greg Bird to play 1st base on a 1-year deal and that's the only free agent we're gonna get. Gonzalez will see his fair share of time there as well. Look for Ivan Nova, Andrew Cashner, or a reclamation project like Aaron Sanchez or Shelby Miller to join the staff before Spring Training. Alex Wood at this point would be the biggest possible splash - whoops, nevermind the Dodgers just signed him. I'm not down on this team. They're good. But sitting on their hands all winter seems ignorant, especially with what the White Sox are doing. I see Chicago being a major problem, their fans must be absolutely thrilled with how the off-season has gone so far in the AL Central.

Twins are going to miss out on the 3rd base prospects and end up grabbing a guy like Mitch Moreland, Greg Bird, or Matt Adams to play 1st base.

Right? Might as well say "unless he gets hit by a bus or comes down with West Nile Virus". Seriously.

Agreed, I'd take a year extension at this point for sure.

Great news. I can see Berrios being harder to lock down. He'll be looking at Wheeler money - at the very least - when he's a free agent.

The Twins don't have any more chance to land Donaldson than they did Strasburg, Wheeler, Ryu, or Rendon. This team is the Pittsburgh Pirates of the AL. Nobody wants to sign here, despite the nice park.

Correction: Hill's left-handed, I think the author knows that too but it lists him as a right-hander. Bailey's kind of a filler guy, seems to be a Gibson clone. Hill's best years are behind him. Twins appear to be happy to try and keep the ship afloat with bubble gum and duct tape. White Sox fans are breathing a sigh of relief.

At this point the Twins better be planning on starting Graterol out of the gate, and the kid needs to be the next Dwight Gooden. I mean, that's really the only plan that would explain how they've approached this offseason.

Well, so far the Twins received a pitcher with a total of 2 MLB wins, 2 losses, and a 3.86 ERA for Dozier. Dozier hasn't done much since leaving, and probably won't, but unless we trade Raley for MLB talent, and Smeltzer turns into a reliable MLB starter, you can't really say it's a huge victory or anything.

Good.

You left off two other signings in 2020, including Cole Hamels who just signed with the Braves along with highly-coveted reliever Chris Martin and catcher Travis D'Arnaud. The Will Smith signing alone makes the Braves off-season a bigger splash than the Twins. Throw in the other 3 guys above and the organizations couldn't be any different.

I agree it's not what we're looking for when we saw the breaking news notifications this afternoon. I like Romo. It's a solid signing, but there's no WOW factor. Who's next, Ervin Santana? The only free agents we've signed are a backup catcher and a couple of guys who were with us last year. Yawn city. I think we all know Ryu's not coming here, and Donaldson has all but said "no thanks" to the idea of playing for MN. But, the front office guys have done a good job in the past and we have to just trust they've got something up their sleeve. Sure hope they do, for this team's sake!

Yep, I agree with you. I mean, New York and LA are always going to have an advantage. But look at Houston or Atlanta. By all accounts, both cities are urban nightmares, nothing but sprawl and swampland. And it's a million degrees outside and humid as heck in the summer. Why do players go there? The franchises have a history of paying big money, and both seem to be willing to do what it takes to contend. Heck even Detroit was a hot destination for players about 10 years ago when they were making their WS runs.

The Angels actually traded for Bundy, he wasn't a free agent (I think). Still, at least they were out there wheelin' and dealin'.

I don't either, actually. I wanted Wheeler though. And at this point I think MadBum is better than Dobnak. He'd be an improvement over what we have.

Lots of Twins fans out there trying to convince themselves that Devin Smeltzer is the next Rich Hill and Randy Dobnak is the next Matt Cain or whatever. Anything to help ourselves believe that not signing a big name SP was for the best. Because at this point, the Twins aren't getting MadBum or Ryu and deep down we all know it.

Fine as a 3rd catcher, guy with an option who can go down to AAA and rotate in that 26th spot. I have absolutely no issues with Astudillo playing on this Twins team as long as he earns his spot. I think he will. He brings a certain flare to the game and I think his teammates have a bit more fun playing when he's in the lineup. I know that "being a fun player that increases your teammates' joy" doesn't necessarily show up in WAR, but I think it matters. At least a little bit. I'll always cheer for Willians and hope he gets at least a chance to show if he can improve.

So far the only new face on the team is a backup catcher. The Twins are like those would-be travelers who always wanted to go to Europe, but can't find a cheap flight in July. So they put it off until next year. "Too expensive", they'll say. At some point you've got to just open your wallet and pay full price or you'll never go. Twins have to understand that they're going to have to pay market value for talent in order to compete. The Wheeler miss was big. It sounds like Bumgartner isn't interested, and I'm guessing Ryu's statement was only released in order to give him a little more leverage with those West Coast teams. The White Sox and Cubs are upper midwest and they've grabbed plenty of big names in the past via free agency. Houston was an MLB backwater 10 years ago. Money and winning culture go a long way.

Solid backup catcher.

Well, they also dropped Perez. I don't think anyone wanted to see those two back. That said, you're right. As things stand, they have their best 3 starters from last year in the rotation, and they've ditched the dead weight. Nothing more nothing less. This is being touted as a "big move" because, frankly, it's December 6th and nothing else is happening.

This type of thing about "regional ties" always bothers me. First of all, it's always going to work against the Twins because so few MLB players are actually from Minnesota. Everyone's from Latin America, California, Texas and Florida. But frankly it's a poor excuse! How many players want to play in Miami or Tampa because of "regional ties"? Answer: zero. Tampa has a stadium problem and they're considered cheap, and Miami has a baseball culture problem. It's never really about "regional ties", it's always about money and winning. It's a nice way of saying "it's not you, it's me". But as George Costanza knows, deep down it's ALWAYS about you. Houston went from being one of those also-ran type teams into a team that has a reputation as big spenders and major competitors. The Twins haven't made that leap. Like it or not, agents and players see Minnesota as an MLB backwater whose only major contract went out to a hometown boy 12 years ago. The Twins are going to be swimming upstream with all of these free agents until they can somehow change their reputation. The series against the Yankees was another national embarrassment and nobody wants to come here to be a part of that show. I think the Twins are a more attractive landing spot than they were 10 years ago. But we have a long way to go before this team even gets having the reputation of teams like Cleveland, Atlanta, and Philly in the eyes of free agents.

Check that, Bundy was acquired in a trade.

Bundy to the Halos. Another one off the board.

I just thought the old name was too Disney-fied and very "early 2000's cheesy".

I'm fine with Sano at 3rd, Polanco at SS, and Arraez at 2nd. In reality none of it matters unless the Twins get decent pitching. Phillies just got Wheeler. Braves just got Cole Hamels. The Twins are once again in an all-too-familiar spot watching other teams sign the best FA pitchers, while they wait for the annual February dumpster dive.