Perhaps no team gained as much from the offseason’s slow free agent market as the Twins, who were able to sign Lance Lynn and Logan Morrison to one-year deals far below their expected asking prices. These signings augmented Minnesota’s heavier investment in relief pitching (Addison Reed, Fernando Rodney, Zach Duke) and its acquisition of Jake Odorizzi from the Rays for just a lightly-regarded minor league infielder. “We recognized relatively early in this offseason that there are different rules to this card game and we kept getting dealt different cards,” Twins GM Thad Levine tells Yahoo Sports’ Tim Brown. “We had to figure out how to keep our head above water in this new game….It would be a little disingenuous for me to say that we had any forecast associated with seeing that this was on the horizon and that we plotted these moves. We really were more reacting to how the market was unfolding and trying to make the most of our opportunities.”
While the team itself is obviously pleased at the roster upgrades, Phil Hughes noted that it also “a little bit conflicting” for Twins players as they recognize how some of their fellow union members have been left shortchanged on the open market. “You recognize there’s a problem with the way free agency is being handled now,” Hughes said. “But, we’re benefiting from a couple of these guys who shouldn’t have fallen into our laps….You certainly would rather be the team getting these guys for sweetheart deals than the team not getting them.”
Here’s some more from around the AL Central…
- Health permitting, Francisco Liriano has clinched a spot in the Tigers rotation, manager Ron Gardenhire told reporters (including MLB.com’s Jason Beck). Liriano worked exclusively out of the bullpen down the stretch for the Astros last season after struggling in 17 starts for the Blue Jays. Now that he’s regained a foothold as a starter, however, Liriano will join Michael Fulmer in Detroit’s starting five with the other three spots to be contested between Jordan Zimmermann, Mike Fiers, Daniel Norris and Matt Boyd. With Boyd out of options and Zimmermann and Fiers both under MLB contracts, Norris could be the odd man out, as he still has a minor league option remaining.
- The Tigers are still scouting and evaluating several potential candidates for the first overall pick in June’s amateur draft, team director of amateur scouting Scott Pleis tells The Athletic’s Katie Strang (subscription required). The process is still “wide open now,” Pleis said, and “after we get later into March and into April, we’ll have an idea — or narrow it down more, is what I should say.” The interview contains lots of interesting tidbits about what Pleis and the Tigers value in a prospect, with a particular focus on the player’s makeup and character.
- Ryan Cordell is having a strong Spring Training and could be working his way into a spot on the White Sox roster, NBC Sports Chicago’s Vinnie Duber writes. Cordell, an 11th-round pick for the Rangers in the 2013 draft, has a .276/.339/.468 slash line, 65 homers and 81 steals (in 103 chances) over 1940 career PA in the minor leagues. He was acquired from the Brewers for Anthony Swarzak last July, and White Sox GM Rick Hahn said in January that he’d received trade inquiries about Cordell from three different teams. Chicago is having an open competition for center field and left field playing time could also be available if Nicky Delmonico’s partially-dislocated shoulder sidelines him for a significant amount of time.
Shouldn’t feel too bad, Phil, you’re part the reason for the depressed market, and your -0.6 WAR $13.2M season. Maybe you can pay for the buffet for Lance and Logan every other roadtrip.
So true!
Every fan of a pitching needy team should be pissed at their respective Fo’s for not making a play at Lance Lynn. 1/12 million should be doable for just about every team that doesn’t play in the state of Florida.
if I remember correctly other teams offered Lynn more money than the Twins, but he wanted to sign with the Twins because he thought they had the best chance of winning
My guess is at this point he wanted a one year deal. No future QOs for him. Also if he does well in the AL he will get a great contract on the market. He came back for TJ now he can really prove he can handle the tougher league.
If he can post under a 3.00 he could get 3-5 years from someone.
It’s high risk too, he pitches 4-5.00 at about 160-170 innings, he might have another rough go.
No shot. Under 3 era would be a whole
Lot more than You can hope for out of lynnthis year. Lynn’s never going to get a 5 year deal but if he throws another sub 4 ERA season and doesn’t have a QO attached you’d have to imagine he could get a reasonable 3 year deal.
The tougher league? Really? I can’t believe there are still people out there that still believe that. If anything the AL is an easier league because pitchers only have to worry about half the game. Which is tougher, pitching to one extra hitter or taking batting practice, bunting well and running bases? Call me crazy, but I think being a complete player is much tougher than being a glorified pitching machine.
Seeing as 95+% swing the bat horribly, don’t bunt well, and jog around the bases, I’ll say pitching to one more actual hitter is much tougher.
And I’m not sure how taking batting practice qualifies as “tough”…
The AL scores more runs, hits better and pitches better so yeah, it’s the tougher league.
Math disagrees. You can argue that NL isn’t *as much easier* as people assume, but it’s impossible to make the case that it’s statistically harder to pitch in the NL.
Not to pile on but all statistical evidence disagrees with you, pitchers that go from the NL to the AL average more ER’s than the did in the NL and pitchers going from the AL to NL average less than they used to.
Yea, the pitchers take batting practice as serious as a dinosaur attack. Pitchers are basically free outs at the plate. It isn’t just a coincidence that pitchers ERA jumps from the NL to AL. In an AL lineup there are no breaks.
C’mon now… how about his first session in Minnesota? I’ll rip a guy for getting the big contract and tossing it in like Pablo, or ever just poor performance, but the guy shouldn’t have to forfeit his salary for injury. That’s on the team to properly evaluate medicals or take out an insurance policy.
The problem there is that other than MLB players, there is hardly a human being anywhere within the gravitational influence of Earth who can not deliver on a contract and still earn its full value, no questions asked. If there were a way to reduce the hit if a guy falls off the cliff for whatever reason, more teams would be willing to sign big money contracts.
Lol true
Opportunistic buying might also be a trend, if what the Twins did works out. Every FO is looking for an edge, and if picking up vets on cheap contracts who either raise the level of team play or can be flipped for prospects work, expect more teams to try it. There’s no question that salaries are slipping for vets, and there’s little question that if FO’s don’t actively collude, they certainly follow trends. Should be interesting to watch.
I wonder if a selling point for the Pohlads spending this kinda money was “hey if we’re out of contention come July we’ll save money by flipping these guys for more prospects”. Fun to see my team sign spend and trade like this. Been a fan for over 10 years now and can’t remember anything like this.
I think they may have found a GM that has enough balls to spend their money, and actually explain how they can make money off a winning team.
That’s definitely possible. Target field has seen declined attendance since it opened. Fans simply don’t turn out to see “face of the franchise Joe” when they’re simply not a good team. In firing Ryan and handing full autonomy to Falvine to clean house, the Pohlads made it clear they were entrusting the new regime to do whatever it takes to turn the organization around. Pohlads are smart enough to understand a short-term overbudget payroll can create be a great long-term investment if it helps reverse the attendance trends.
The Pohlads of 2018 take a lot of crap that should be directed at Papa Pohlad of 2001. The biggest problem in recent years was Ryan just being hopelessly out of touch with how to build a roster in today’s game.
The Tigers could really use a good hitting position player with the no1 overall pick but it seems that most of the top candidates are pitchers especially Florida’s Brady Singer
Auburn’s Casey Mize was just connected to them a few days ago, and just threw a no-hitter. He is already a Tiger.
As a twins fan I say you’re crazy if you think who is going number one. Buxton was consensus number one and the stros picked the three four guy with Correa (both won but astros are leagues ahead on that choice, hopefully not for long).
Then last year, everyone thought Greene/McKay or maybe Gore and twins went Lewis.
I’d be surprised if Mize goes #1, but not all that much if he has a strong campaign. He’s a huge, dominant pitcher in a strong conference with plus pitches, not unlike Vandy’s Kyle Wright (Wright isn’t nearly as physically imposing). We all know that signability/economics is more of a factor than talent to go #1, and with that said, nothing will surprise me.
Phil Hughes talking about sweetheart deals lol. ever heard of a 13M long reliever anyone?
Lol. Phil Hughes refuses to accept he’s part of the reason no one wants to commit to a mid rotation starter for multiple years anymore.
Old regime hurt the twins bad. Imagine if they took Hughes money and put it into dozier. Phil didn’t have the fan love or team track record. Fans would think the FO was genius. Although we might still be with them so win for the fans.
I can only imagine under the Ryan team we would be asking right now why we only signed Tillman and traded Brian dozier for a double A prospect not on the teams top 20, and ranked about 567th prospect by baseball America.
Lol. Phil Hughes refuses to accept he’s part of the reason no one wants to commit to a mid rotation starter for multiple years anymore. He’d be struggling to get a minor league deal with any incentives in this market.
don’t get me wrong I pull for the guy but I think he should maybe not publicly state stuff like that.. injuries suck…. but as the previous commenter suggested, the previous regime was not exactly savvy. The only head scratcher from the new front office this offseason so far is the Sanchez thing. Paying a guy who had a small chance a half a million dollars to suck in spring training isn’t exactly awesome but you can’t win them all. No long term commitments, zero on the books besides non guaranteed salaries after 2019 and a completely revamped rotation and bullpen is making this Twins fan a pretty frickin happy guy! 88-90 wins.. enough for 2nd WC or division chase?
Addison Reed will be closer by May. Reed & LoMo are the only signings Twins made that should really help. If they sneak into playoffs via wildcard i’d be surprised. Berrios the only legit top of rotation starter Twins will have to start season. Expect regression from Ervin this season Minnesota
Anibal was an $18mm middle reliever last year.
Falvey may be too humble to say it, but they read the market perfectly. Best offseason in decades for the Twins. Addressed all their needs to be keep their momentum towards perennial contention. Win-now moves without sacrificing any longterm potential.
With Mauer & Hughes off the books next winter, and a savvy front office, the Twins are poised to dethrone Cleveland this year or next, and be the team to beat in the ALC for the foreseeable future.
Hats off to Falvine.
Phil why don’t you man up and either retire or restructure your deal so that the front office can be more aggressive. You and your “UNION BUDDIES” are part of the reason this nonsense is happening. You sign a big deal and then ya take a big dump performance wise the last 3 to 4 years of these deals. YOU ARE THE PROBLEM not the owners or the league.
Cordell comin up baby
Cordell will go north with the big club. He’s a rangy kid who can play all outfield positions and 3b. He has shown some pop and runs very well. He’s as ready as he’s gonna be. Also, I’m looking at Moncada to bat lead-off.