41 thoughts on “October 11, 2019: Ace”

        1. Honestly, this helps a ton, but for me the fact that it doesn't require depleting the minors helps a lot too.

        2. It’s not your money but ultimately it’s your rooting interest and their budget will always be finite. I’d rather do 4/$40M than 10/$30M or even 7/$30M. But a 31-yo pitcher should take the longest deal he can get, within reason.

          I’d love to see MLB institute a 3-year max contract length, with 2 fewer years of team control for rookies, so more players hit FA every year and players hit FA earlier in their career. That plus a stricter salary cap could do a lot to keep teams from being bad (or good) forever and more importantly, it would be harder for a GM to screw over a franchise for years after he gets fired.

          1. stricter salary cap

            How much stricter? Already teams seem loathe to exceed the soft cap. The Yankee's spending has been nearly flat for a decade, hovering around the luxury tax amount. They were first overall last in 2013 and were sixth last year. The bigger issue I think is the disconnect between player value and salaries or declining interest in caring about attendance.

            1. IMO, each team should have the same amount of money to pay their team, just like they get the same 25-man, 40-man rosters, the same 27 outs, etc. Roster construction is the only part of the game where we just shrug our shoulders and pretend like big spenders have some kind of right to buy an advantage. Why not allow teams to just buy an extra out here or there? Or allow them to buy a 26th roster spot? We’re already allowing teams to gain an advantage by spending more money.

              1. while I agree with you, the concern is that if they instituted a hard cap that would depress player salaries. They sure wouldn't set the hard cap at $225 million, and even if they did, many teams wouldn't spend up to it. And if they set it at $140 million, the players would lose money overall.

                1. I assume that any hard cap would have to be negotiated with the players' union. And even if it doesn't have to be, if the players started losing money there would probably be a work stoppage, so it would then have to be negotiated anyway.

      2. That'll be the cost for a win in free agency then so it'll be a small fraction of the $400 million payroll.

    3. Any rotation with Cole and Berrios would be among the best in baseball, no matter who else is involved.

      1. The longest pitcher contract is seven years (Price and Scherzer) so I don't see any team exceeding that. It worked out well for Scherzer and less so for Price. That'd match Scherzer but not Price. I think he goes higher per year over the same length.

          1. He's 29. 7 years puts him in a weird spot. I wouldn't be surprised with a few player opt outs in his ultimate agreement.

        2. 7 years for a FA pitcher is really team-unfriendly. I’d pay a premium to make it shorter, but I doubt the player’s agent would recommend anything less than the largest total value.

          1. Sure, but that's not Cole's problem. Scherzer and Price signed for seven years. Greinke signed for six. I think best case for the Twins would be five years plus options. Maybe a six-year deal with an opt-out after three or four years.

      2. Cole is a Boras client, so who knows how Boras will structure the deal he eventually signs to hit some new “biggest” metric. But it’s safe to bet it will be biggest in some fashion.

  2. Mesa scored in every inning but the eighth as they defeated Salt River 9-3 yesterday. The Rafters are 12-6 and have a three game lead over Mesa.

    Royce Lewis was 3-for-4 with a double. He is batting .404/.448/712 in 52 at-bats. He leads the league in batting average.
    Luke Raley was 0-for-3. He is batting .163/.246/.265 in 49 at-bats.

    1. That’s great! As a band geek and a music supporter who grew up in a program where athletes were involved in music and visa versa, its great to see respect being shown both directions. When music and athletic programs are working against each other, nobody wins. When they support each other, lots of people win!

  5. Recent Twins personnel news of note:

    - Falvey & Pohlad/St. Peter are discussing an extension; while the terms have never been disclosed, Falvey’s original contract apparently runs through 2020. I’d imagine Thad Levine’s contract must run a similar amount of time, but I wonder if he’s interested in remaining a GM or seeking a PBO gig.

    - Derek Shelton will interview for the Mets’ vacant manager gig. Why anyone would willingly seek employment with that dumpster fire of a franchise — even given the finite number of managing gigs — is a bit beyond me. Shelton’s name has also come up as a potential successor to Clint Hurdle in Pittsburgh, but no candidates have been interviewed yet according to the reporting I’ve seen.

    - I haven’t seen James Rowson’s name connected to any open managerial gigs yet in any way more substantive than, “The Twins are going to have some of their staff poached, and Rowson was a candidate for the Angels’ vacancy last year.”

    1. If Shelton is interested, it's because there aren't very many major league manager jobs and you never know if you'll get another chance to get one. Plus, people who become managers usually believe that they can handle the challenge and turn the franchise around, no matter how it may look to the rest of us.

    1. got mine yesterday with our annual physical. back in my day, they didn't have these laser-sharpened needles -- they were large, reused many times, and when they got dull they'd scrap them on the concrete floor to put an edge on them again #GOML

    2. Just got mine over lunch. They're having someone come into the office to give them next week, but I was like, nah, I'll take the $5 Target gift card.

  7. I'm in Minneapolis for a training, and had a chance to meet up with my dad for lunch. He is a UPS driver, and had me run a quick stop with him. (I can't quickly figure out how to share the image (and it's a poor one anyway), but...) The actual world series trophies are at the Pohlad Companies office. And also, Jim Pohlad held the door for us. So that was fun.

    1. New->Media. Upload image. Including it in an LTE is harder because you need to get the URL from the media page.

        1. Very cool in many respects.
          Not sure I would've believed UPS ridealongs are sanctioned, nor stopping for lunch the way those guys and gals are usually running to and from the truck.

  8. $17.8 million for one year of Odorizzi? I'll take it. That's about two wins from free agency.

      1. I wonder if a good way to groom young pitchers to be starters is to let them be openers for an inning or two before handing over to Odorizzi for 5 innings.

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