2018-2019 Minnesota Twins Off-Season Thread

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STrib: Eddie Guardado, Jeff Smith, Garvin Alston won't return as Twins coaches

The Twins will not retain pitching coach Garvin Alston, first base coach Jeff Smith or bullpen coach Eddie Guardado next season, a major league baseball source confirmed Tuesday.

Bench coach Derek Shelton is interviewing for the Texas Rangers job, but there is no word whether he would be retained on new manager Rocco Baldelli’s staff.

Back next season will be hitting coach James Rowson and assistant hitting coach Rudy Hernandez.

Guardado has been on the staff since 2015.

Alston replaced Neil Allen on manager Paul Molitor’s staff before last season, coming from Oakland, where he was the Athletics’ bullpen coach.

Smith joined the staff two years ago.

Third base coach Gene Glynn and major league coach Jeff Pickler were in limbo as well.

Baldelli was named manager on Thursday.

• The Twins bought out the contract options of designated hitter Logan Morrison and pitcher Ervin Santana, making them free agents.

http://www.startribune.com/eddie-gu...ston-won-t-return-as-twins-coaches/499037151/

Win Twins!!
 

BleedGopher said:
STrib: Eddie Guardado, Jeff Smith, Garvin Alston won't return as Twins coaches

The Twins will not retain pitching coach Garvin Alston, first base coach Jeff Smith or bullpen coach Eddie Guardado next season, a major league baseball source confirmed Tuesday.

Bench coach Derek Shelton is interviewing for the Texas Rangers job, but there is no word whether he would be retained on new manager Rocco Baldelli’s staff.

Back next season will be hitting coach James Rowson and assistant hitting coach Rudy Hernandez.

Guardado has been on the staff since 2015.

Alston replaced Neil Allen on manager Paul Molitor’s staff before last season, coming from Oakland, where he was the Athletics’ bullpen coach.

Smith joined the staff two years ago.

Third base coach Gene Glynn and major league coach Jeff Pickler were in limbo as well.

Baldelli was named manager on Thursday.

• The Twins bought out the contract options of designated hitter Logan Morrison and pitcher Ervin Santana, making them free agents.

http://www.startribune.com/eddie-gu...ston-won-t-return-as-twins-coaches/499037151/

Win Twins!!
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Not a surprise but glad it happened.
 









howeda7 said:
His contract is over. He's retiring. Time to let it go.
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Huh? I'm not talking about Mauer. I'm sincerely interested in why the average fan would care what teams in baseball (a sport with no salary cap) pays its players, particularly when we're not talking about even approaching the average salary for a player. Why would you care if they bring back Santana at $1M or $5M or $8M?
 

dpodoll68 said:
Huh? I'm not talking about Mauer. I'm sincerely interested in why the average fan would care what teams in baseball (a sport with no salary cap) pays its players, particularly when we're not talking about even approaching the average salary for a player. Why would you care if they bring back Santana at $1M or $5M or $8M?
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Both Santana and Morrison are coming off injuries and may not even make ML opening day rosters. Paying them $8 million would be ridiculous. They will both likely get minor league deals with incentives. If the Twins want to offer that to them, fine.
 

Must-read thread that Parker has been piecing together for the past several weeks...

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howeda7 said:
He's old, injured and was terrible last year. $1 million with incentives for IP is fine.
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A guy who has made over 3 million for the last 10 years and over 10 million a year for the last 7 years is only worth 1 million now? Yes he was injured last year but when he's healthy he's still the best pitcher on this team (besides maybe Berrios). If he's healthy he is worth way more than 1 million, that is just ridiculous unless you want to claim he will not be healthy.
 



bottlebass said:
A guy who has made over 3 million for the last 10 years and over 10 million a year for the last 7 years is only worth 1 million now? Yes he was injured last year but when he's healthy he's still the best pitcher on this team (besides maybe Berrios). If he's healthy he is worth way more than 1 million, that is just ridiculous unless you want to claim he will not be healthy.
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There's no evidence that he WILL be healthy. It was supposed to be a minor surgery and he'd be back May 1st, remember? He's on the wrong side of 35 and just missed almost an entire season. When he came back he was throwing 88 MPH slop.

Again, I'm fine giving him big incentives for getting to say 150 IP and beyond. But he's not getting a large guaranteed contract from anyone. You could do a base of $1m and then $1m at each of 150, 160, 170 etc.
 

howeda7 said:
Both Santana and Morrison are coming off injuries and may not even make ML opening day rosters. Paying them $8 million would be ridiculous. They will both likely get minor league deals with incentives. If the Twins want to offer that to them, fine.
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That doesn't at all answer the question. I assume you won't answer it, so I'll just drop it I guess.
 

dpodoll68 said:
That doesn't at all answer the question. I assume you won't answer it, so I'll just drop it I guess.
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Because you're trying to fish it back into an argument about Mauer's contract and I'm not interested. Yes, it matters how much players make, even though there is no salary cap. No, Mauer's contract wasn't unreasonable at the time it was signed, and it didn't play a primary role in the team sucking most of the last decade.

Also, although Falvine are less prone to it than Terry Ryan, both Morrison and Santana would be "dumpster diving" and the previous regime had a penchant for signing one or two guys like that and then being done for the off-season. The 2019 Twins have $40-60 million to spend. Any contracts for the Santana/Morrison's of the world should be minor deals done after the big FA's are signed.
 

howeda7 said:
Because you're trying to fish it back into an argument about Mauer's contract and I'm not interested. Yes, it matters how much players make, even though there is no salary cap. No, Mauer's contract wasn't unreasonable at the time it was signed, and it didn't play a primary role in the team sucking most of the last decade.

Also, although Falvine are less prone to it than Terry Ryan, both Morrison and Santana would be "dumpster diving" and the previous regime had a penchant for signing one or two guys like that and then being done for the off-season. The 2019 Twins have $40-60 million to spend. Any contracts for the Santana/Morrison's of the world should be minor deals done after the big FA's are signed.
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Again, that's not answering the question. Of course it matters what they make - but that's not what I'm asking. I'm asking why you care. For example, I care what the Vikings pay Danielle Hunter, or what the Timberwolves pay Andrew Wiggins, because those teams have a limited pot and it inhibits or precludes their ability to sign other players. The Twins could theoretically pay players as much as they want. There is no artificial constraint. The far more important factor is that there are only 25 active roster spots and 40 extended spots. You should care about whether player X is worthy of a finite roster spot, not what he makes. Your argument, essentially, is that you'd love Ervin Santana at $1M, but you don't want him at (for example) $5M. Obviously, the Pohlad family cares about that $4M difference, but the question is - why do you care? How does that difference impact your life or fanhood in any way? It makes zero sense.
 

dpodoll68 said:
Again, that's not answering the question. Of course it matters what they make - but that's not what I'm asking. I'm asking why you care. For example, I care what the Vikings pay Danielle Hunter, or what the Timberwolves pay Andrew Wiggins, because those teams have a limited pot and it inhibits or precludes their ability to sign other players. The Twins could theoretically pay players as much as they want. There is no artificial constraint. The far more important factor is that there are only 25 active roster spots and 40 extended spots. You should care about whether player X is worthy of a finite roster spot, not what he makes. Your argument, essentially, is that you'd love Ervin Santana at $1M, but you don't want him at (for example) $5M. Obviously, the Pohlad family cares about that $4M difference, but the question is - why do you care? How does that difference impact your life or fanhood in any way? It makes zero sense.
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dp - in all fairness, I think you're missing the point. I care what the Twins spend on payroll because I want them to have a competitive team. Let's face it - there may not be an official salary cap in baseball, but certain teams have unofficial salary caps. The Twins are not going to have a $200-million payroll. They will probably top out at $115- to $120-million. So, I (and I believe Howie too) want them to spend their money wisely. Santana is on the downside of his career. let someone else take a chance on him. I don't want the Twins signing him at any price. I want the Twins to build a team around young, affordable talent. That's not Santana. So, I care in the sense that I don't want them going out and paying Joe Retread $9-million when they can bring up younger players at a lot lower salary.

Now, if Pohlad comes out tomorrow and says the team has a $200-million payroll, that changes the equation. Then, they can and should go out and try to sign some top-dollar talent. But, assuming Pohlad doesn't do that, I don't want one or two players to suck up a big chunk of the payroll for a team that - if everything goes well, probably has a best-case scenario of being a .500 team.

In all reality, the Twins are building for 2 or 3 years from now. Why sign some aging big-buck player for a team that is not in contention for the World Series?

Sure, it doesn't affect me directly no matter what the Twins do. If they sign Washed-Up Willie to a $25-million a year deal, it has no impact on my life. But, it would be a stupid move. So I would prefer they don't do it.
 

dpodoll68 said:
Again, that's not answering the question. Of course it matters what they make - but that's not what I'm asking. I'm asking why you care. For example, I care what the Vikings pay Danielle Hunter, or what the Timberwolves pay Andrew Wiggins, because those teams have a limited pot and it inhibits or precludes their ability to sign other players. The Twins could theoretically pay players as much as they want. There is no artificial constraint. The far more important factor is that there are only 25 active roster spots and 40 extended spots. You should care about whether player X is worthy of a finite roster spot, not what he makes. Your argument, essentially, is that you'd love Ervin Santana at $1M, but you don't want him at (for example) $5M. Obviously, the Pohlad family cares about that $4M difference, but the question is - why do you care? How does that difference impact your life or fanhood in any way? It makes zero sense.
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Because the Twins and even the Yankees do have a budget. I threw the $1 million out as an example. Do I care if it's $2 million? No. But paying a guy 8 x what he's worth would be foolish. And it ties into the roster spot concern. If they're in camp on $1 million make-good deals and they struggle, they'll simply be released during Spring Training. If they're making $8 million, they won't be.
 
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STrib: Who is available in free agency to help Twins?

Chief Baseball Officer Derek Falvey and General Manager Thad Levine have made sweeping changes since joining the organization following the 2016 season.

They have replaced scouting and player development personnel; overhauled strength and conditioning staffs; revamped strategies from the majors through the minors; built up a research and development department; and have shaken up the major league coaching staff — with their most notable move coming in October, when they replaced manager Paul Molitor with newbie Rocco Baldelli.

However, there’s one area the dynamic duo have not revised with the same vigor — the major league roster. So, as the pair enter their third offseason in charge, is it the right time to make significant roster moves?

The Twins are several players away from catching Cleveland in the AL Central and have payroll flexibility — they have $24.5 million committed to their own players next season, plus $5.95 million they owe from the Phil Hughes trade to San Diego — to add talent.

Or will the priority be to let Baldelli work his magic with the players who already are here?

The Twins still believe there’s a developing young core, but they will look to strengthen the areas around that core as the hot stove league heats up. The general managers meetings take place next week in Carlsbad, Calif., where the groundwork for trades and free-agent signings is often laid. Then the winter meetings take place Dec. 9-12 in Las Vegas, where deals could be culminated.

“I always view free agency as a supplement to the core of your team,” Falvey said. “If you look at the playoff teams and the teams that have won, they have built around a key core. We’ve talked a lot about our group, and some of the setbacks that we’ve experienced with that collection of players. We still believe that group has a chance to impact us the way it did down the stretch in 2017.”

http://www.startribune.com/who-is-available-in-free-agency-to-help-twins/499368011/

Win Twins!!
 

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CBS Sports has a list of the free agents each team should prioritize. They have Pitt 2B/Utility player listed for the Twins. Good speed, good D, but he'd be way down on my list.
 

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Dear Twins Territory,

After much consideration, I have decided to retire from playing baseball. This decision did not come easily as baseball always has been, and always will be, one of my greatest passions. The last few months of this season were very emotional for me and I wanted to take time to separate some of those emotions and think with a clear frame of mind.

The decision came down to my health and my family. The risk of concussion is always there, and I was reminded of that this season after missing over 30 games as a result of diving for a foul ball. That’s all it took this time around and it was all I needed to bring me back to the struggles I faced in 2013. The concussion I experienced that season not only changed my life professionally with a move to first base but changed me personally as well. I am soon to be a father of three and I find myself thinking about my future health and its impact on my family more than I had years ago. People always told me how much things change when you become a parent, and they were right. After my concussion this season I found myself wondering about “what if” situations. If I were to continue playing this game I would want to do so without reservation and I no longer feel that is possible. There is a part of me that will always want to compete, but I have reached a point where my desire to play is outweighed by the possibility of another injury. Experiencing a concussion looks different for everyone, but my personal experience forced me to look beyond baseball at what is best for me as a husband and father.

As each day of this season passed and the end of my contract became more of a reality, I began to reflect on all that has happened over the years as well as what the future might look like. The thought of retiring, even with my health related concerns, was still a very difficult and emotional subject for me. Leading up to the last day of the season, I talked with several people who I respect in this game and in my life and thought about all angles of this decision. I also turned to God and prayed for clarity and direction. The answer I was searching for came into sharper focus during my last game, a game I will never forget and a day where I felt like everything I was questioning started to become clear. As I stood on the field in my catcher’s gear, something I never thought would be possible again, I realized in that moment that this is how I wanted to finish my career. I wanted to finish on my home field in front of our amazing fans, my family, my friends, my teammates, and the organization that means so much to me. Being able to do that for a brief moment as a catcher, made that day even more incredible than I could have imagined. That day also had me reflecting on how baseball is about so much more than winning or losing. It’s about so much more than stats and personal accolades. For me it’s about the life lessons I have learned along the way. It’s about the struggles and triumphs that put things into perspective, and about all of the people I have met who have helped mold me into the person I am today.

I left the stadium after that game with 18 years worth of amazing memories playing for a team and organization that has become family, and to me that is worth more than I can express. I will always be grateful to the Twins and to the fans for their love and support all these years. I walked into the clubhouse every day with pride and never once took for granted the opportunity to put on that uniform. I have never wavered that playing for this team was exactly where I wanted to be.

Thank you Minnesota Twins, and thank you fans, for making my career as special and memorable as it was. Because of you I can leave the game I love with a full and grateful heart.

All the best,
Joe Mauer


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

Carew, Pucket, Mauer: who's going to be the next all-time Twin?
 

saintpaulguy said:
............

All the best,
Joe Mauer


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
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:cry::cry::cry::cry:

I know I have knocked on him some the last couple years but reading this truly does make me sad. It sounds like a really hard decision and I wish him all the best in retirement. Class act, wish there were more guys like him.
 


bottlebass said:
:cry::cry::cry::cry:

I know I have knocked on him some the last couple years but reading this truly does make me sad. It sounds like a really hard decision and I wish him all the best in retirement. Class act, wish there were more guys like him.
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+1
 

Thank you Joe. One hell of a career. This is still one of my favorite commercials.

 

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