All I've heard about is the manager and coaches, improvements to Target Field and a hint about interest in Justin Masterson at some point in the past few weeks.... I'm happy they addressed the opening at the helm, but I'm interested in what they add on-field.
It sounds like the Rangers may save the Twins from signing Torii Hunter, so that's outstanding news. The Winter Meetings are next week, so hopefully there are some moves starting then.
I'll be honest:
The Twins re-signing i-i will to test my allegiance to the team far more than four consecutive 90+ loss seasons have managed to strain it. I don't know that I'd break ties completely if it happens, but I think I would sit out rooting for the team until the leadership in the front office is replaced.
I honestly feel the same way. I think I'd be willing to start watching again once he was off the team, but I want nothing to do with him.
I definitely don't want i-i around because of his personality - despite his reputation I think he made his true clubhouse character pretty well known during the latter part of his tenure in Minnesota, and some of the things he has said in the media since then have reinforced my negative opinion of his character.
But signing him would also be a sign that this front office is hopeless when it comes to roster construction. The 2015 Twins have zero need for a 40 year old, bad-glove corner OF/DH and plenty of need to get some of their promising young players substantial playing time.
Only thing I have to add to this is "cosign".
while I agree with the sentiment, I guess I could see him in a platoon as a DH and as a 5th OFer. He's had a SLG well above league-average for years and hasn't had an OPS+ below 110 since 2005. 308/340/459 last year vs lefties.
Depends on the price, both in terms of dollars and opportunity costs.
That might be a reasonable plan for a contending team, but I think we can all pretty much agree the Twins are a couple years off so taking at-bats away from young guys would seem to be poor long term planning.
I don't think I want that personality around a first-time head coach.
To be honest, it would bother me much less than the laundry change is going to.
All teams will make bad personnel decisions (look how little we had to follow Bret Boone or Sidney Ponson), but that regression in uniform, man...
Welp. How about non-Twins game logs once a week?
Might have to treat them like Twins minus Torii
Uck.
Sad news: Nye's is going to be closing in August or September of next year.
I've been there once, for beer and convo with Uni-watch's Paul Lukas (and others who like paying attention to the laundry for which they are cheering).
In case someone wants to comment on my Annie (1982) theory, I'm re-posting this from last night. That way, we won't have two threads running concurrently.
Well, in the play there's no bridge, so I think you can safely theorize that the movie was just Hollywoodized and some ridiculous last-second redemption was thrown in for Hannigan.
You have your theory, I have mine.
I try not to evaluate remakes or adaptations on the originals (if at all possible; Maleficent asks for it). Something I learned from you.
Oh yeah, this was the other offseason move I'd briefly heard about and then nothing more. Got it.
#TravisLee
Now, if only there was a LeCroy available as a result of not signing Hyeon...
As it's become quite apparent that I'm never going to get caught up on winter league recaps, we're changing the approach to winter baseball reports. We'll do one report on each league each week, giving standings, league leaders, and how Twins players are doing. We started today with a recap of the Arizona Fall League.
They're just as hard to keep up with reading them; I think you'll be forgiven.
Jerry Kill was voted B1G Coach of the Year.
I would have voted for Urban Meyer, but bully for Kill.
Love this teeshirt for runners.
Eh, what?
Good news for runners - a new study shows they live six years longer than non-runners.
On the downside, they spend all six of those extra years running.
Twins sign Torii. Ten point five million fucking dollars. When's opening day in 2016?
Back up the bus.
At least its only a 1 year contract.
Oh Dammit.
Hmm... no es bueno.
$10.5 million values him at about 1.5 wins. He was worth 1.7 rWAR in 2013 (2.5 fWAR) but just 0.4 rWAR last year (0.3 fWAR). Paid too much for an "outfielder" they don't need.
Cant accuse the Twins of not spending money this offseason.
Looking forward to the anti-black Latino, anti-gay "mentorship" he'll provide this young team on top of pushing Arcia to a position he'll struggle to play even more than right field. Not to mention all the Top Jimmy puff pieces that will be nails in the coffin of Mauer's reputation.
Let me know when Terry Ryan is shown the door and I can follow this team without feeling like I owe myself an apology. I'm going to be dusting off my Padres cap.
That's just going from a newly horrible set of laundry to a set of laundry that's been lost at sea for nearly 30 years.
Ok. I am not on board. That implies almost 2 fWAR. Not feeling it.
When does hockey season start?
Shitfuck.
Well, maybe with Torii's leadership Byron will miss when he tries to knock Joe Mauer out in the clubhouse.
Off the top of your head: Former Twins who have gotten a reprise?
Yes! #Battey'd
This year was a good one for that.
*continues going back through Twins rosters*
OH
Twins sign anybody yet?
Go Pelicans!
Mmmm, Magic Hat #9. Fruity. Almost a hint of apricot. Delish.
ewww...
I think it's made with Apricot.
I've had on a few occasions and never liked.
I've written off the brewery completely, grabbing stuff that looks interesting a few times and then just drinking it in anger to get rid of it.
I knew we were alike in that regard. I've often finished sixers of rank beer on principle.
It's not that it's horrible. It's just not good. It lacks the things that make me desire beer.
If it were turned or bad (like the one time I tried to save beer that had frozen and gotten a bit past the bottle cap), I'd be OK throwing it out.
Huh. Obviously I had a very different reaction. The mixed case I got at Costco has all been decent, and the #9 very good. The fruit is fairly subtle and well balanced with hops. Dry, not sweet.
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to bury Torii, not to praise him.
(Obviously directed at the Twins, not ubes.)
Optimist!
Always look on the bright side of life.
My 13 year old daughter was going through a crabby and complaining phase last week. Finally, I had a talk with her and ended it with playing Eric Idle's masterpiece. She has been smiling ever since.
If I step back and look at him as a generic player, without any of his personality, I think the move is an overpay, but I'm willing to give it a chance. Maybe he'd be mid-season trade-bait?
But I am not a fan of Torii Hunter the person. Most of my distaste for him has to do with his throwing teammates who I liked more than him under the bus. I don't like this move because he is the player involved. I'm worried it will blow up in the organization's face. At the same time, Aaron Hicks sure seemed excited about it. If the guy actually can provide some tutelage (I won't call it leadership) to a few of the younger players, then I can put up with ignoring a few extra Souhan articles.
I know I tend to be an apologist for the organization, so let me be clear: I think this was a bad move, and I'm upset it was made. The potential for it to go wrong is too high, and the upside of it going right is probably too low. But I can't jump on the bandwagon and say this is an unmitigated disaster that makes the team unworthy of following.
After all, they've still got Joe Mauer.
Well said
Judd Zulgad writes tonight that he thinks ii will have a job with the organization after he retires. As a coach maybe?????
I don't actually think that will happen, but good lord, he's gonna be around forever.
I can't imagine Hunter has the disposition for coaching. Far too little glory.
Well, they need some tough guys to implement Mollie's new "no injuries" regime.
I was worried that if he retired this year they'd hire him as manager. I really hope he's not a part of the organization after he retires. Ugh.
Setting aside i-i's personality and his likely contributions to the ongoing press assassination of a potential Hall of Fame teammate, let's look at this from the roster construction perspective.
The Twins have a potentially good young outfielder who is defensively challenged but shows real promise with the bat. Terry Ryan just signed a guy who is worse with the glove to block the young guy and move him to a position he isn't suited to play. Hopefully he doesn't struggle at the plate because of the move. I'm not sure whether to hope i-i spends most of the season as the DH, taking ABs from Pinto, so Arcia can play right field. Furthermore, the Twins had one of the worst defensive outfields last season, tied for second most runs allowed per game in MLB last season, and field a pitching staff that "pitches to contact" and struggles to strike batters out. I look forward to seeing how Statcast evaluates i-i's defense next season.
Signing the 40 year old second coming of Joe Carter is not how this team improves. If Terry Ryan can't figure that out he has no business being a GM in 2015. And fans shouldn't feel like a team with a clearly out-of-touch GM is a team they need to continue supporting.
Really? A one year contract on a replacement level player is reason to call for the GM's head and walk away until you get it?
I don't think it's a good signing, for exactly the reasons you outline. But it's not quit on the team bad, either.
The use of payroll resources is stupid. It's TR's apparent lack of understanding of wholistic roster construction and his thwarting of young players' development that is hard to forgive. Let the young guys play as much as possible - they're going to be the building blocks of the next good Twins team.
I have always been a big TRyan fan. However, some of these moves the past 2 years are a puzzlement. I think he has done great in the draft, restocking the farm system. He has made some good trades and bad trades. Free agent signings are the head scratchers. I am starting to worry that the game is passing him by, for many of the reasons listed by CH above. Now, if he truly and honestly opened up to using information provided by a good stat research guy....
Off the top of my head, Willingham and Hughes were great signings, and Nolasco showed willingness to spend and could yet turn out OK. I hated Suzuki at first, but it wasn't awful in retrospect.
A couple predictions: The Twins will improve somewhat significantly to the point of maybe even being in semi contention for a good chunk of the season and possibly getting close to .500. Just on better luck alone, the Twins would have been 75-87 last year based purely on their pythag. With reasonable improvement from young players, a bounceback season from Mauer after adjusting to the new position and having a full offseason to work out, the real Tommy Milone and Ricky Nolasco showing up, and no playing time wasted on the Jasons or Kendrys, it's not too difficult to see the Twins making up the 60-run gap in their run differential last season to get to .500.
Also, Hunter will suck just enough for us to hate him but not bad enough for the mainstream press or the general fan to notice, so he'll get a large amount of the credit for changing the culture in the clubhouse that led to the "shocking" turnaround.
And get a 3 year extension.
So you're saying you're with Option 2?
I would not say I am "with" Option 2, no...
My reaction, for what it's worth, is that it's money wasted, but I don't see it as a disaster. I also don't see it as taking time from promising young outfielders, simply because I don't see who the promising young outfielders are who were going to play this year. Aaron Hicks? He's 25 and so far hasn't shown he can play in the big leagues. Chris Parmelee? He'll be 27 in February, and while I still like him I seem to be the only one who does. We all have hopes for Byron Buxton, but there's no reason to think he'll be ready this year. Jordan Schafer? Chris Herrmann? Eric Farris?
There's no reason the Twins can't use an outfield of Santana, Arcia, and Hunter. If Hicks or someone else proves they can actually play, Santana goes to shortstop.
The reason I say it's money wasted is that it does nothing to bring them closer to making the playoffs, which ought to be the goal. It's 10.5 million dollars that could've been better spent elsewhere. But I don't see Hunter taking at-bats from anybody better this season.
So, I write a Cup of Coffee wondering about who they're going to add, and they add ii. Sorry folks.
That's it, lunch is off.