Twins 2018

mahtofire14 wrote:

Twins just released a solid player from their 40 man roster yesterday. Hoping today brings a Cobb or Lynn signing…..

Who?

I believe it was JT Chargois and I wouldn’t call him a solid player. He has been injured most of the time.

mahtofire14 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Hoyt4 wrote:</div>
He is still not what we needed. Archer or proven ace is what is needed. We made a one game playoff now we need to build off that and sign a pitcher . Still make the trade for Archer.

Completely agree. As good as Darvish was during the season, he falls apart like every other Twins starter in the playoffs. Now, if they somehow get Lance Lynn then we start to have the makings of a pretty nice rotation. He’s the guy I want them to go after. He’s affordable, even in Twins World.

Don’t want anything to do with Arrieta…..

I’m with you on most of what you’ve said in this thread, but really, Lance Lynn over Darvish? Darvish has only 6 playoff games to base that opinion. Do you have the same opinion of Kershaw?

Darvish is on a completely different level/tier than Lynn, his career K/9 is I believe the best in history for a starting pitcher.

I’m bummed we didn’t get Darvish, he’s incredible.

What do we think of the Morrison signing? Thought we had a first baseman….either way he’s cheap power

I’m with you on that…seems like a good signing, except 1B is not really a good place that needs to be filled. Mauer, Vargas can be good, plus for Sano to keep his power numbers up I don’t see him staying at 3B forever.

One of the Twins beat reporters says he’ll mainly be DH and play 1B when Mauer needs a break. One thing the Twins haven’t really ever had is a consistant DH, instead just putting guys there when they’re not in the field that day. His power numbers look good!

DH Morrison. Grossman isn’t a DH on any kind of contending team. I think what you are seeing is the Twins loading up on guys they can flip at the trade deadline if they aren’t in contention. They really aren’t paying anything for most of these guys.

This guy could also fill a power void if Sano misses time due to his investigation.

Reusse said in the paper today Sano will start the season on the DL if he isn’t suspended.

Darvish is a few tiers above the likes of Lynn/Cobb, but very curious on why you would prefer Lynn over Cobb? Lynn throws as many fastablls as anyone (hair under 80% I believe) and his velocity has decreased in each of the last three years. Last year he was statistically the luckiest pitcher in baseball. All while giving up more walks and homeruns with less strikeouts from the years prior. But he stays healthy, which Cobb hasn’t been able to do. Either pitcher is much, much better than Fat Phil though…

I really like the Logan Morrison signing. Yet another buy low, sell high candidate with some serious pop. Draws a ton of walks too. It’ll be interesting how the lineup is built with SO many lefties in it. Cant wait!!

Wasn’t last year Lynns first full year back after Tommy John? I think his numbers last year were above average for those coming back from Tommy John.

Dutchboy wrote:

Wasn’t last year Lynns first full year back after Tommy John? I think his numbers last year were above average for those coming back from Tommy John.

Yes, and I believe Cobb had it three years ago and has been a mediocre contact pitcher ever since. I would’ve liked to add one more arm but it’s sounding like it’ll be an internal deal.

crappie55369 wrote:

What do we think of the Morrison signing? Thought we had a first baseman….either way he’s cheap power

I love the move. This FINALLY gets Vargas out of here. Never amounted to his potential. We actually now have a legit DH with power (I couldn’t take another season with Grossman as DH) and can back up Mauer at 1B. They also got him for a steal. My only issue is he’s another lefty when we need right handed hitting.

Walleye Man42 wrote:

I believe it was JT Chargois and I wouldn’t call him a solid player. He has been injured most of the time.

It was Chargois and he had a great arm and was slated to be a top reliever. But you’re right, he was injured a lot. Guess I meant more of a solid prospect.

philtickelson wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>mahtofire14 wrote:</div>

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Hoyt4 wrote:</div>
He is still not what we needed. Archer or proven ace is what is needed. We made a one game playoff now we need to build off that and sign a pitcher . Still make the trade for Archer.

Completely agree. As good as Darvish was during the season, he falls apart like every other Twins starter in the playoffs. Now, if they somehow get Lance Lynn then we start to have the makings of a pretty nice rotation. He’s the guy I want them to go after. He’s affordable, even in Twins World.

Don’t want anything to do with Arrieta…..

I’m with you on most of what you’ve said in this thread, but really, Lance Lynn over Darvish? Darvish has only 6 playoff games to base that opinion. Do you have the same opinion of Kershaw?

Darvish is on a completely different level/tier than Lynn, his career K/9 is I believe the best in history for a starting pitcher.

I’m bummed we didn’t get Darvish, he’s incredible.

I’m not sure where in there I said I’d take Lance Lynn over Darvish. What I meant was I didn’t like Darvish for the Twins because they need a pitcher that wins big games. Darvish hasn’t proven that he can do that. Seperately I was saying I would like to see them sign Lynn. Darvish is clearly a better pitcher.

Dutchboy wrote:

Wasn’t last year Lynns first full year back after Tommy John? I think his numbers last year were above average for those coming back from Tommy John.

Very good point, didnt realize it was ’16. Was thinking it was a few years prior. Still dont expect an increase in velocity following the surgery. Advanced analytics dont like him at all either. Im very curious to see what kind of deals these pitchers get now that we are getting into March. Pretty wild to see so many good names still out there. Hope the the Twins bite the bullet one of these days..

Analytics aren’t valid yet in todays baseball. Todays baseball requires a pitcher to only go 5 innings. Lynns history has been as a 7 inning pitcher, he is still from a few years ago where they gave the guy the ball with the intent of winning a game. Today the goal is to keep the team in the game through 5. Hell, people rave about guys with a 4.00 ERA.

I don’t like todays game. Give me a Morris, Gibson, Scherzer type who wants the ball for 9 innings.

On a semi related note Scott Boras said in a interview yesterday that teams recieve in the neighborhood of $250 million a year from MLB. The bigger teams take in up to $400 million plus. As i’ve said before…….don’t believe this small market crap tag people throw around.

It’s time to start planning the parade route for the Twins!

Dutchboy wrote:

Analytics aren’t valid yet in todays baseball. Todays baseball requires a pitcher to only go 5 innings. Lynns history has been as a 7 inning pitcher, he is still from a few years ago where they gave the guy the ball with the intent of winning a game. Today the goal is to keep the team in the game through 5. Hell, people rave about guys with a 4.00 ERA.

I don’t like todays game. Give me a Morris, Gibson, Scherzer type who wants the ball for 9 innings.

To me its extremely exciting that the Twins are now being run by a “new age”, analytical team. Falvey and Levine were excellent hires, and they continue to hire more stat guys around them to build the best team they can. Baseball is a lot more than ERA and batting average now. Teams are anti-bunt, use regular defensive shifts not because they want to be different, but because math says it works.

If interested, check out this neat article about how Logan morrison used todays technology to have a career best season last year. He has already talked about willing to help fellow lefty, Kepler, into changing his swing to increase his launch angle as well.

Logan Morrison, and the Twins’ Great Advantage

For those that dont know, *wRC is “weighted runs created”. 100 is league average, 101 is 1% above average, 99 is 1% below average and so on*

Sano is in the lineup tomorrow (Wednesday.)

While I tend to agree with Dutch on the whole analytics debate, I think the Twins scouting system was extremely stale and needed to be revamped. Analytics are definitely an interesting new aspect but I’m not completely sold on if they actually translate into wins or whether a player is actually talented or not.

To me being a old guy analytics is a bunch of white noise. Something to talk about. Scoring runs requires baserunners advancing to home plate. I don’t understand how striking out can be OK. You advance nobody. You score nobody. Pitching is as bad as it’s been in decades yet people are striking out at record rates.
In a couple years when hitters swallow their pride enough to punch a ball the opposite way for a hit through the shift we hopefully will see less of it.

Baseball is a game about people. Like mentioned it takes talented scouts, coaches, medical staff, and today nerds to build a strong team. Are the Twins on the right path or just doing something different?

I do have to say I like that OBP and OBPS has just about overtaken batting average. I played baseball through college and am a bit of a purist when it comes to issues with the game like this. But I always have felt like batting average was an overrated stat.

Dutchboy, don’t even get me going about the shifts. Drives me crazy both that they are using them so often and that players can’t figure out the extremely easy way to beat them….

Being old school, I still think a team of young hungry players who just want to win is what needed. With the new generation of players who are more interested in thier own numbers than winning.

mahtofire14 wrote:

I do have to say I like that OBP and OBPS has just about overtaken batting average. I played baseball through college and am a bit of a purist when it comes to issues with the game like this. But I always have felt like batting average was an overrated stat.

Dutchboy, don’t even get me going about the shifts. Drives me crazy both that they are using them so often and that players can’t figure out the extremely easy way to beat them….

OBP has been around forever, but they have begun to care about that much more than batting average. wOBA is kind of a combination of OBP and slugging % (even more telling than OPS). Todays game is all about BABIP, launch angles, FIP, and especially WAR. They’re only scratching the surface on whats out there, but teams around the league are adding additional staff to their analytical teams on a regular basis, especially the Twins (amen).

Thank god for Falvy and Levine. This approach is SO new compared to the same old “traditional” Twins crap. No more complete stabs in the dark in FA from Ryan and crew. Every move so far has been well calculated at low cost, with high upside. Hope it works out as well as it looks now.

Twins sign Lynn. Where can I buy my tickets to the world series!?

crappie55369 wrote:

Twins sign Lynn. Where can I buy my tickets to the world series!?

Good on them, they needed to do something to address the starting rotation and did. Just too bad it’s only 1 year, but I’ll take that over 6 years.

While I was much more of a fan of Cobb, I certainly will not be complaining about the Twins acquiring any pitcher at this point. Santana-Berrios-Odorizzi-Lynn-Gibby isnt too shabby. Don’t hate it being an only 1 year contract either. Twins have a lot of money coming off the books next year, still have a shot to acquire a frontline pitcher next offseason w/o giving up top prospects.

The one year deal is what all these guys are taking. It’s that or they sit some more. The money that Boras promised isn’t there this year.

Should be fun to watch this year. They put up a 9 spot in the first inning against Boston today. Granted it wasn’t against a top line pitcher but a 9 spot is hard against anybody.

Pretty excited to hear about this move. IMO one of the better offseasons the Twins have had since, i don’t know, honestly maybe 1992? I think this signing has finally tipped the scales so we can honestly say that the front office is “trying.” Sounds dumb to say but I can’t remember the last time I felt that way about this organization.

So glad they signed Lynn. I really think his ceiling after TJ is higher than Cobb’s although I would’ve been happy with either. This should give the Twins a very solid starting five once Santana comes back. Dan I would agree and say this probably is THE best off-season they’ve had.

Better look at all the new guys fast. My guess is if they are out of it at the trade deadline all these guys on one year deals get traded for depth in the farm system.