Jesse Lund, of SB Nation’s Twins blog Twinkie Town, recently did a wide-ranging interview with Twins assistant GM Rob Antony (Part 1, Part 2). Here are a few highlights.
- The Twins weren’t necessarily surprised by Torii Hunter’s retirement in October, Antony says. That Hunter made his decision early in the offseason allowed the Twins time to plan, and helped them enter the bidding for KBO slugger Byung Ho Park. Later, Antony adds that the Twins had been aware of Park since he was in high school, and they were interested in signing him even then.
- The Twins struggled offensively at the catcher position in 2015, and especially didn’t do well from the backup catcher spot. That deficiency led them to acquire John Ryan Murphy (who they got from the Yankees for Aaron Hicks). Murphy, Antony feels, can be a long-term answer as a starting catcher. That trade took place in November, and Antony says that the Twins wanted to make the deal quickly because many teams were looking for catching and the Twins wanted to get a player who might be around for several years. For that reason, they felt that the trade market was a better avenue to pursue than the free agent market.
- The Twins considered blowing past their international bonus pool in recent years but did not do so because of the way the market for international amateur talent unfolded. “[W]hat ended up happening was a few teams – basically we had about six, seven players that we were prepared to just go get and spend millions of dollars on – well, some teams that lost out on guys they were after went after some of those same players and basically doubled what we were prepared to do,” Antony says.
- The Twins have not discussed the possibility of eating a portion of the $25MM remaining on Ricky Nolasco’s contract in a potential trade, despite how poorly the first two years of his contract have gone. Nolasco’s role on this year’s team is unclear, but Antony emphasizes that the Twins plan to use him and still view him as a potentially helpful pitcher.
Trade him to the Dodgers maybe he can be successful again with them.
“Later, Antony adds that the Twins had been aware of Park since he was in high school, and they were interested in signing him even then.”
And then later after his HS years, the other Twins (LG Twins) signed him but didn’t prosper, got dealt with to Nexen via trade then became the “Barry Bonds” of the KBO league. Really sucks for this LG fan.
Speaking of the KBO, MLB just proposed an 8 million USD posting limit http://fan-interference.com/2016/03/18/mlb-proposed-an-8-million-usd-limit-on-kbo-players-eligible-for-posting/.
Like the Royals a few years ago, the Twins are being dismissed as getting better but not really being that good. That 40 man roster is so deep with quality young players that it’s scary. They had a good 2015 acclimating many of their youngsters to MLB, they should play better overall in 2016 (some players will egress and have to make adjustments). Twins should be able to compete for a playoff spot in 2016. I watch a lot of teams, this may well be the most exciting.
Just a matter of seeing who of the young guys going to stick. I’m pretty optimistic overall.
Joe mauers contract is certainly a big anchor. Makes them play a below average firstbaseman. At least its only 3 more years.
Twins don’t have enough pitching to be a serious threat. They have a promising cast of young, position players but are far from being an offensive juggernaut. If they’re lucky, they’ll finish .500.
Hughes, Santana, Gibson, and Duffey have potential to be an above average top 4. It’s he bullpen that’s scary outside of Jepsen and Perkins
Well, they were above .500 last year with essentially the same pitching staff and wouldn’t say they were exceedingly lucky.
Their offense strikes out a ton, too. Tough to be a top notch team without making solid contact.