rdehring

Agree with you that agents use this period to talk to potential teams to get a feel about their client's demand on the market. Are you aware of the conversations he had with his agent? None of us are. It is more likely that his agent told him he didn't have anything solid that early in the process (he legally couldn't), but there was a real chance he could get a multiple year contract for XX +/- dollars, perhaps similar to the QO. Now I don't know that to be the case, just as you don't know that the agent is incompetent. We also don't know what was going thru Odor's mind. He was aware of what Kuechel and others went thru the previous year. He had stated on several occasions that he liked it here and was interested in staying. Although I don't know, I suspect he then made the decision to take the QO after being given whatever information from his agent. It is those prior comments that make me hopeful we will hear about an extension before the end of spring training.

Very interesting, Cody. And what is most interesting is the few changes from the current lineup. Moving Rosario seems to be the in thing this winter, and with the young guys coming up it probably will happen. Like you, don't have a clue where Lewis will play when broungt up. I do expect that to happen this year as the AFL MVP has a history of playing in the big leagues the next year and normally playing very well. I respestively disagree with those who maintain Buxton won't be extended. The player I think could be most likely to be gone would be Sano. With all the hurdles he had to overcome, many that he caused, its hard to get a handle on what he wants for his future. One day I think it is a big contract in a market with all the hype. Then I see him on the bench having fun with his Latin teammates he came up with and see a young kid who is very happy. I guess his future remains to be seen. As for all his warts in the field, his bat can play for anyone. Thanks, Cody, and Merry Christmas.

You did it again, Doc. Well said!

I hate it when people do stuff like this and never clearly tell you at the end who they are. As such, your comment is meaningless. And we also don't know which year is which. Is the first year listed last year? Or is the last year listed last year? As for the Pineda comment, be real. He was coming off of TJ and didn't pitch an inning in the big leagues in 2018. It took awhile to get back and was pitching about as well as anyone I saw by early summer. Then the bottom dropped out and we were screwed. I believe that big Mike can be a better pitcher than either MadBum or Ryu. Will he? Who knows, we will find out over the next 10 months.

Good question, Mike? I don't know, but I would bet there is a good chance that one of the rookies will have a better season than one of Ryu or Bumgarner. Don't know which rookie and don't know whether it will be Ryu or Bumgarner. I also don't bet, so that is said in jest unless you are talking about a glass of wine or bottle of beer for you and a coke for me. [i forgot to add that you will have to remind me come October because I sure as heck won't remember]

I have a question? And I'm to old to go digging around to try to find the actual quotes. I know the FO has made comments about a need for "impact pitching," or something like that. Did they ever say that was tied to getting an impact free agent? Or was it a general statement of their goal for the off season?

Do they expect to fill three of the opening day spots with the kids from last year? I doubt it. Let's sit back and chill and wait for them to do something. They aren't half way to pitchers and catchers reporting.

I believe, John, that everyone is looking at the past 45 days as a failure. But what is the truth? The Twins began free agency needing to fill four of five starting spots in the rotation. I would call filling half those spots a success. Unfortunately, they were Odorizzi and Pineda who were signed and everyone is looking at that different than if they signed Ryu and Bumgarner. After Cole and Strasburg, who weren't coming here, the only other free agent I would rather have singed than the two we got was Wheeler. All the others have too many warts to be worth what they got, both dollars and years, in my opinion. Congrats to the FO for not getting sucked into the rush to sign some of these guys to what may be damaging contracts two, three or four years down the road. Would I have liked to see them also sign Wheeler, sure. But I see this as a successful journey to this date. Now on to the trade market for another good pickup , hopefully, someone who disappoints many of us but turns out to be another Odor trade. Then the final question, do they go into the season with the four young guns battling for Pineda's early starts and #5? Or do they sign another veteran starter, more of a reclamation project to give the young guns some competition? You speak of Gibson and Perez. On paper, the young guns aren't as good as Gibson and Perez were thought to be last spring. But Gibson and Perez both had very disappointing seasons (Gibson had the illness. I both respect the hell out of him and will miss him). If two of the young four pitch the majority of the year for the Twins, I suspect their results at year end will be better than Gibson and Perez put up in 2019. Don't know which two it will be, that's why they play the games. Now time to sit back and be patient while waiting for that trade to be announced. OH, and Merry Christmas John and all here at TD!

As a life long Packer fan, I loved the Ponder comment. And yes, come Tuesday morning I will be ok following my Packer loss Monday evening.

Really enjoyed reading this, Andrew, especially your writing style and outlook for the season ahead. Agree that come July, the Twins may be able to pick up a top starting pitcher rental much cheaper than today. And that's ok as I expect they will be in a good position come July, although I am a glass half full guy and have been wrong before.

When I commented earlier, was thinking the Twins still needed a second lefty in the pen. But after reading more comments and learning how effective Clippard is against left handed hitters, that is no longer a concern. Probably especially true in what is now 3-batter baseball. Was thinking his signing brings the 40-man to 38. Well, I was wrong as it is now at 39. Yes, I went back and counted twice and then a third time. So there is one spot open and if we are lucky it is gone today to fill our corner infield spot. If they get their fourth starter via a trade, that will likely include one, or two players currently on the 40-man...so no problem. If it is a free agent, some pitcher will be moving on. Have my idea, but won't mention who because it probably won't be who they decide to move on from. Speaking of Clippard, you gotta really like how this bullpen is shaping up. Rogers, May, Duffey, Romo, Clippard, Littell. That's six. Give the eighth long reliever spot to the Rochester shuttle and you are down to one opening. Stashak and Harper are the leading candidates, but you also have Poppen and a handful of guys with some major league experience signed to minor league contracts. One of those guys usually has a great spring and forces himself onto the roster, like Harper last year. We also don't know what their plans are for Graterol, who could be a heck of a lot more than the #7 guy in the pen.

I debated whether or not to click the "like" button. You see the problem I had was that I "loved" your comment, Doc. Don't know what the tech guys can do, but how about adding two more buttons..."loved it" and "hated it". Adding the later would eliminate some/many nagging responses.

Another solid move that makes the bullpen a bit better and certainly deeper. My hope had been that they would get a second lefty, which certainly can still happen. Looks like this may push Stashak to AAA to start the season, which wouldn't be all that bad. Also looks to push another reliever off the 40-man once they get around to signing a corner infielder, starting pitcher and that lefty.

Valid comment, Mike. We just don't know how much the FO liked any of those 14 not named Cole, Strasburg, Wheeler or Bumgarner. Wouldn't be surprised if they made an initial inquiry on a couple, but didn't engage. We just don't have enough inside information to know how they view them. Heck, they may really believe that they will get equal or better performance out of one or two of the four kids who all had rather impressive debuts last fall. I expect we are going to see either a signing or trade in the four or five weeks. Come July we will know whether or not their decision was correct.

I read the headline, Matt, and thought here we go again. Well, that was wrong as I was pleasantly surprised. Yes, we all know much of what you wrote and I suspect the FO would agree with most of it. I believe these guys have a set of guidelines that they may bend, but won't break. I see that type of discipline as a requirement in managing a mid-market baseball team. No matter how much talk there is about the second group of pitchers, let's admit there were only two free agents this year that would have given the team a much better chance at a Series win. And there was almost zero probability of getting either to the land of 10,0000 lakes. The next group has talent, but every one of them also had a lot of warts, including age, health and making that move from the National to American League. It appears they were very interested in Wheeler, who unfortunately had no interest in coming here once his minimum contract requirements were met by a team in an area he wanted to be in. Although Ryu remains, we are now at the third group led by Kuechel. I expect they have had some trade talks, however, won't get serious on that front until they have worked thru this next group of potential signings. But I don't see them forgetting about their guidelines (both dollars and contract length) when dealing with this group just to fill that #4 slot, and they shouldn't. Yes, they need at least one more experienced starter. It is possible they have always thought he would arrive via trade. They just have to work thru the free agent process before finalizing that deal, be it a big one or more similar to the Odorizzi deal. Meanwhile we need to understand they have a plan and as hard as it is, be patient as well.

Thanks, Seth. A couple questions. He looks awfully young in that photo. Was it taken a long time ago? Back in the day, teams had some scouts who weren't full time employees. I assume that the entire staff now works full time for the Twins? Does he have a specific area of the country that he scouts? Or does he move around? I know the Twins at one time had over 50 scouts. Is it still that many? Seeing that dollars are always a concern in comments here, what does someone like Wright earn. I expect that amount, plus expenses, times say 50 is a pretty big number.

Great way to look at the coming season, Cooper. If these questions are answered yes, the Twins will again be in the playoffs. And although last year was so disappointing, once in anything can happen. Agree that all three listed are important, very important. Although Berrios has more upside, he is pitching at an ACE level if he can avoid what happened last August. Heck, change August to what he did in September, which wasn't up to his early season standards, and I am guessing his numbers for the season are close to the best. I have been saying all year that Kepler has more upside and if he can maintain that level of play for another ten or twelve years, he will be in the discussion for the Hall of Fame. As for someone else important to add to this list. I would say Arraez. If he can hit like last year for a full season it will be huge for the Twins. And I really expect him to do so. But his most important improvement should be in the field when he is playing second base every day rather than all over the field including a lot in left field where he had never played. As for rookies making a big contribution, I'll vote for Thorpe. Lets remember how young he is and how little he has pitched after missing two entire years of his development. Yes he has a few things to fix. But watching him get lots of strikeouts in many of his appearances last summer, his future could be special.

Don't know who or how he will be obtained, but I expect the Twins will bring in one good starting pitcher. Whether he is someone at the same level as our big three or more like that kid from Miami who is young with a year or two experience but not quite there yet...don't know. That leaves the #5 spot and those early starts from Pineda to fill. See them filling those with the winner of the spring training sweepstakes from the four candidates you listed. The second place guy will get Pineda's starts. My best guess is that Graterol gets the #5 spot and one of the other three fills in for Pineda. I see them dealing with Graterol's innings concern by bringing him in after a two inning opener...Littell maybe? He then averages 4+ innings a game for 125-135 innings for the year. The other three will fill in for big Mike and then be rotated into the bullpen as the eighth (long) reliever throughout the year like last year. Any of the other three could develop a very good long-term career. Which one, your guess is as good as any. There is also a good possibility that one of these three or four could be part of that trade and long-gone by spring training.

When I read the majority of the potential trades thrown out on these sites, I usually shake my head and think they are crazy. This one, not so much. The Rosario haters will tell us that no way would the Mets make this deal. And as far as baseballtradevalues is concerned, my son's chocolate lab is probably more accurate than what I see from most of their calculations. But should the Mets want a little more on the pitching front, perhaps Blankenhorn gets replaced with another starter, say Duran (anybody other than Graterol and Balazovic). In any case, this deal would be dependent on Thor agreeing to an extension of at least another year or two. But a deal like this sure would be a nice present under the Twins tree this winter, eh?

Could not agree more, Doc. And what I have seen so far they have a plan and are sticking to it. Gotta respect that. Will all trades turn out good for the Twins...no. For example, the trade with the Giants was a good trade. Didn't work out but working at the deadline with hours to finalize a deal, that happens. Will always wonder if the Giants knew more than was on the medical reports.

Is it possible that the trade can go down in the books as a win-win for both teams? Is there something wrong with that result? Not in my opinion. As for Littell, I commented last year that I saw a lot of Joe Nathan in this kid. Not exactly the same pitchers, velocity, etc. But the idea I was getting is that he could become a really good late inning workhorse. Still believe that is possible, perhaps as early as this year. I have also stated that I see him as a perfect opener for Graterol as an option for our #5 spot in the rotation. Pitch Littell the first two innings with Graterol coming on for the next 4 or 5. Results could be very good. Would also leave Littell available for an inning or two between those appearances.

Great one year contract with an option should he have another good year. Was a bit surprised at the amount, but he should be a good veteran in what is still a very young bullpen. His signing brings the 40-man to 38. That's only two open spots with the likelihood of four additional signings over the next couple months...a lefty reliever, two starting pitchers and a player to address the corner infield need. Perhaps one will come via trade, but even so there is a good chance they will have to make one more cut to the current 38 players on the roster. It's also possible they will bring in only one more starting pitcher and give the #5 spot to the winner of the young gun competition.

I will join you Doc in hoping that the Huskers return to national prominence on the gridiron, although not at the expense of my Badgers. Fell in love with the program back in the early 80's when I built a couple properties in Omaha and Lincoln. Met Devaney once, impressive man. Really thought that Riley would get it done. Boy was that wrong. As for this front office, I like how they have set certain standards and stick with their convictions. Appears that one of those is length of contracts for older free agents which seems to be the problem with Bumgarner, assuming there was any real interest on his part. Personally, I gotta respect that position.

Back in the '60's I had an involvement with taxes when I represented a couple dozen small Wisconsin towns and villages correcting errors in the State distribution of individual income taxes. So taxes have always been something I am aware of. Can't point you to the specific posts, but I have commented here and elsewhere numerous times over the past several years. And when I think back it was really interesting having access to the individual tax returns of every person paying taxes in the State of Wisconsin back then.

Great article, Nick. Thanks, Thanks, Thanks!