>Signing a guy in his mid-30s is a race against time.

Entirely. Take a guess at how likely you think a GOOD year four. Like a year where Donaldson is on the field for 600 plate appearances, can still field a position once and awhile, and hits to his career (.259/.379/.521) averages? How about year three? Etc.

Writing it out seems really unlikely at year four. Down the line, though, I'm good crossing my fingers at two years. I'm heartened by the possibility that the team's depth means they can rest him frequently.

And since I don't think there's any chance the team keeps the core of the roster together past 2021-2022, I kind of feel like the Donaldson gamble is a risk that I like.

>Was talking with a baseball writer friend today and he thought
>it was a decent signing but didn't move the needle. Most of
>his reader feedback kind of poo-poo'ed it. I don't get that.
>The Twins have had success and now have a lot of pop from the
>right side. The division is pretty wide open and a lot of the
>big-name teams have gotten a little weaker in the AL. Unless
>you consider the Yankees unbeatable, I think it's going to be
>a real intriguing year.

That's where I'm at. I think that 101 wins last year and the huge homerun total were a bit flukey, but they had a really good team in a division where Cleveland is on the way down and Chicago hasn't really quite put everything together (though they're really going after it this winter) and they have a nice pool of prospect depth to either fall back on or deal for an important deadline acquisition. It may not work, but why wouldn't a team like the one I just described take a risk to make a leap forward? I don't see any other hurdle remaining to regarding them as legitimate title contenders for a couple years.

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"Walleye, a lot of things are going to go wrong in your life that technically aren't your fault. Always remember that this doesn't make you any less of an idiot"

--Walleye's Dad