56 thoughts on “February 3, 2021: Boomstick’s Back, ALL RIGHT!”

  2. Fair contract for both sides. This front office just continues to impress me. There was mutual respect in the negotiations with Cruz. Don't remember if it was discussed on here, but I read that the front office checked in with Polanco and Arraez before the Simmons trade to make sure they were on board with the changing roles. I respect the way they do business.

          2. Article updated to state they could be looking for multiple arms in the bullpen. I like this passage from LEN3's article regarding cutting salary due to 2020 losses:

            “We don’t really think of it like that,” Pohlad said in a Zoom call. “I’m not sure if we can ever make up for it. None of our objective includes trying to make up for what happened in 2020. It was significant. It was devastating. And you have to accept that as a loss going forward and not make it a goal to recover those losses either from fans or by affecting our payroll. That’s not the mind-set we have been in at all.”

            1. I’ll give the Twins, and Jim Pohlad, a lot of credit for how they’ve handled personnel matters during the pandemic. (I wonder how Carl would’ve responded...but I’m guessing Jim takes after Eloise in this regard.)

              That said, if they want to claim a loss, they should open their books. Failing to meet revenue projections is not a loss in itself — operating in the red is a loss. I’m not saying they haven’t sustained a loss, but I find myself pretty skeptical of any owner’s claims.

            2. This was from a fan question at TwinsFest. The fan was flustered and the question didn't really make any sense to me, but Pohlad gave a good answer.

              Another question came from a name I recognized from the old DTFC forum - jrwilkins. I think she asked about the contentiousness between the owners and players union. I enjoyed the virtual TwinsFest more than in-person, in part because of all the cringe moments caused by fans in the Zoom meeting. There was one fan that carried the entire event - they just kept going to her to keep the discussion going whenever things got slow or awkward. The worst part was Gladden talking with Donaldson - I'm surprised that didn't make more headlines. They didn't have many good things to say about umpires.

    2. Sounds like Cruz took a $1.3 million shave on his 2020 salary. That surprised me. I understand salaries are depressed for a variety of reasons again this offseason, and of course Cruz’ market was affected by the brinksmanship with the universal DH. But, I figured he’d at least match his salary, given his performance. The Twins have paid him $28.6 million and, according to Fangraphs, his performance has been worth $49.6 million over that span.

      1. He's also entering his age 41 season and the list of players who fall off a cliff at that age (or age 40, or age 39, or age 38 . . .) is a lot lengthier than the list of players who continue to dominate.

          1. For that reason, I wouldn’t have been disappointed if the Twins had signed Ozuna instead of Cruz, even if it required a four-year deal. Ozuna’s ceiling is lower, but his floor is higher. I think the Twins are at a point where the floor matters more. Ozuna’s headed into his age30 season projected for a 125-127 wRC by Steamer & ZiPS. Cruz’ projections are a 119 by Steamer, and 133 by ZiPS. Ozuna isn’t someone you want in the outfield long term, but he’d give the Twins more flexibility and some insurance if Kirilloff scuffles a bit. The Twins have under $50 million in guaranteed money on the books for 2022 & 2023, and only $9 million guaranteed for 2024.

            Sanó is signed through 2022 with an option for 2023. With Kirilloff & Rooker on the 40-man and Larnach, not far off, I think Sanó is going to be the odd man out. Ozuna would be a nice cog to keep in the offense over that time.

            1. another consideration is moving Sano to DH, Donaldson to 1b and Arraez into the starting defensive lineup at 3b.

            2. I honestly think the best part about this contract for me is precisely that it IS only one year. We've got a lot of potential DHs coming up. Unless you plan on just trading away two of Larnach/Kiriloff/Rooker, you're going to need that DH spot open, to say nothing of the need to be able to put Sano and/or Donaldson there from time to time. Keeping flexibility open is crucial, and this does that.

              Tying up a lot of money for years to come and limiting our ability to shuffle some of these hot bats into the lineup would be a mistake, IMO.

              2. My thinking is that one of Larnach or Kirilloff winds up at at first when the Twins move on from Sanó, and the other starts in left. What I’ve read about Rooker suggests that he projects as a quality bench bat who can sub in at first and the outfield corners, but he’s probably not a regular on a top-flight roster.

                I think the Twins will try to keep Donaldson on the field as long as he can play there, since he’s a pretty good defender, and pencil him in at DH occasionally. With Cruz as primary DH, they lose him or Donaldson in the lineup. And since both Donaldson & Cruz hit from the same side, there’s no real benefit to giving one a day off against a lefty/righty. Ozuna could still play left in a scenario where Donaldson gets a day off from playing defense, or when Kirilloff is spared starting against a tough lefty.

                1. Sano is under contract this year and next year. The earliest they'd move on from him is by buying out his contract for 2023, which I'm certain they won't do if he has a season like he did in 2019. They're not moving on from him anytime real soon.

      1. no doubt will again prove invaluable to the Kansas City team for the coming season.

        Close. He played in two games with one plate appearance before finishing the season with the Yankees' AAA team.

    2. Not many people get 62 years in baseball. I knew Twig played most of his career in the Fifties, but I didn’t realize he’d actually retired a year before the Senators moved to Minnesota. His first coaching gig was with the Senators — the second Senators — and he moved with them to Texas. According to the article, he stayed with the team through ‘72, then took some managing gigs in the minors, first in the Astros’ system, and then back with the Rangers. After eight seasons in the minors, Twig made it back to the Rangers’ coaching staff, apparently as the third-base coach under Don Zimmer. He held a coaching gig there for the next four seasons.

      What I don’t think I’ve ever heard was what brought him to Minnesota. It sounds like Bobby Valentine cut Twig loose in Texas after the ‘85 season. He was hired to join Ray Miller’s staff, and I guess was retained when TK took over. No doubt, keeping Twig was part of the plan to surround TK with some seasoned hands. Does anyone know more about that?

      After the Twins, Twig became the new Saints’ manager in ‘95, which is kind of neat, as he’d played for the old Saints in ‘52. His Minnesota baseball connections also included three seasons with the Millers, during which he might have overlapped with at least three others with future Twins coaching connections — Bill Rigney, Billy Gardner, and Al Worthington. So Twig had connections to all four of the prominent Twin Cities baseball franchises. Pretty cool.

  4. ZIPS is now projecting the Twins to win 93 games and the ALC by 3 games over the White Sox. The Twins have a 63% chance of winning the division and 88% chance of going to the playoffs. I'm looking forward to having a more normal season.

  5. I'm feeling rather proud--I just showed the jalapeno how to use Google Sheets to create a pie chart. 🤓

  6. At 2:00 Central, the baseball team formerly known as the Elizabethton Twins will be on facebook live to announce the new team name.

      1. It's the Elizabethton River Riders. I don't know what I was hoping for, but that's not quite it. Maybe it means more if you live there.

          1. I figured there must be a river around there someplace, but "River Riders" just sounds kind of dull to me. The Elizabethton Covered Bridges? Of the Elizabethton Does?

    2. Dan Hayes says Twins still looking to add even another reliever, although Trevor Rosenthal sounds too expensive. He mentions Shane Greene, Mark Melancon, and Ian Kennedy as well as still interested in bringing Clippard back.

    2. the recipe looks good. Although I would maybe add some ground pork for texture/mouthfeel. Ground beef can be a little, I dunno, chewy? Tough? when it is the only meat in a meat sauce.

      this is probably a place for Wyl or zooomx to comment.

  9. I am also very happy Cruz is coming back and like the Colome signing. I appreciate that we have a not-Wolves team to root for.

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