Minnesota Sports Forum

Well let's kick this off with a move of the Twins losing Randy Rosario on waivers to the Cubs. With a 40 man roster crunch this could be jus the first of losing some guys this offseason.

Nik Turley claimed by the Pirates. Shocking...ok who is next? Boshers? That about the only pitcher left on the 40 man I can see them letting go. Nobody is going to take Hughes off their hands. I wonder how many more spots they want to get to protect other guys.

Here is a good read on Free Agents

http://www.1500espn.com/twins-2/2017/11/trade-rumors-pegs-twins-sign-second-tier-free-agent-starting-pitcher-reliever/

MLB Trade Rumors author Tim Dierkes pegged the Twins to sign free-agent starter Alex Cobb and reliever Juan Nicasio.

Cobb, 30, is the longtime Rays starter. He had Tommy John surgery two years ago but is back and logged about 180 innings for Tampa Bay this year. His strikeout rate went down quite a bit after the surgery, but he still posted a 3.66 ERA in those 179 1/3 innings for the Rays. His 17.3% strikeout rate is below average, and it ranked 47th among qualified starters this year. It's worth noting that he still managed a much better than average ERA (3.66 compared with the MLB average of 4.49). To put his strikeout rate in context, though, Cobb's mark would have ranked fifth among Twins starters in 2017, behind J.O. Berrios, Ervin Santana, Adalberto Mejia and Kyle Gibson.

Cobb didn't get as many ground balls in 2017, either. But he made up some of the difference by keeping the ball in the park. Cobb allowed 22 home runs last year, and his rate of home runs per 9 innings would've been second on the Twins' staff, behind only Berrios (1.10 HR/9, which tied for 21st among qualified starters).

Based on the numbers, Cobb would be a fine mid-rotation addition for the Twins. MLB Trade Projects he'll get a 4-year deal worth $48 million in free agency if he rejects a qualifying offer from the Rays. He'd make a good addition to the Twins' rotation, but in my opinion he wouldn't by himself put the Twins into the realm of pitching-rich contenders like the Dodgers, Indians, Yankees, Astros and Nationals.

Juan Nicasio, 31, had a nice year that included a couple changes of scenery. His 2017 season was the best year of his career, in my opinion. The righty posted a career-best 2.61 ERA in 72 1/3 innings between the Pirates, Phillies and Cardinals, where he served as the closer. A quick back story on his changing teams: The Pirates put the veteran on outright waivers, which was a little surprising given his excellent season to that point. After the unusual move, Pittsburgh was accused of cost-cutting by letting a good veteran go for nothing. But GM Neil Huntington opened up about the desire to let Nicasio go compete for a club in better position to make the postseason. (Ultimately, they may have wished that he didn't end up in St. Louis, but the Phillies grabbed Nicasio and flipped him to the Cards, who inserted Nicasio as their closer down the stretch.)

Nicasio is intriguing to me. He's a fastball-slider guy who just pitched his best year. In a vacuum, you might think that a 31-year-old reliever coming off a career year is a bad bet, since he's unlikely to keep "playing above his ability." But what's interesting to me is that it's hard to peg whether Nicasio in fact pitched way above his ability - or if he legitimately improved after parts of six seasons in the Majors. Across the board, he was better than his career norms this season. MLBTR predicts that Nicasio will sign a 3-year, $21 million contract.

From 2016 to 2017, Nicasio improved his average velocity by more than a full mile per hour, according to Brooks Baseball, on both his fastball and his slider. His 4-seam fastball average 95.75 mph, per Brooks Baseball.

He's bounced back and forth some between starting and relieving. Since he moved to the bullpen on a mostly full-time basis in 2015, Nicasio has seen a jump in his swinging-strike rate. Last year he had a 10.7% swing-and-miss rate, according to FanGraphs.com. That rate would have ranked fourth on the Twins last year, behind Ryan Pressly, Trevor Hildenberger and Tyler Duffey. So it's a good rate but not a great one. More than 100 relievers had a better mark than Nicasio in that category.

Still, his addition would bolster a Twins bullpen that could use more depth in terms of trustworthy arms to take the next step as a unit.

Another pitching read.

Top 5 FA Pitchers available.
http://www.1500espn.com/twins-2/2017/11/wetmores-5-thoughts-ranking-top-5-free-agent-starting-pitchers-available-twins/