PORT CHARLOTTE, FLA. – The Twins had completed the third day of workouts for pitchers and catchers on Feb. 16 when an announcement was made that they had signed veteran starter Anibal Sanchez to a contract that would put him on the 40-player roster.
The Twins could get out of the deal for less than $500,000 if a decision was made within 25 days. The Star Tribune posted its story online that night and there were a few dozen comments, a good share of which saw this as the big move that baseball boss Derek Falvey and General Manager Thad Levine were planning to offer as the reinforcement for the 2018 starting pitching.
One of the early commenters stated: "At last the missing piece to our pitching puzzle! Love the aggressive approach by owners and management."
It was soon followed by this: "Pohlad Cheap doesn't cease because he hires a new general manager, you know."
And then "Benelli2" had a post with full insight: "We now know that Falvey never intended to sign a legitimate starter … he was mainly brought in because Pohlad knew he'd be ever OK with following the orders of ownership not to spend money."
Two days later, the Twins traded shortstop prospect Jermaine Palacios to Tampa Bay for Jake Odorizzi, a starter with a solid history. On Saturday, the reports surfaced that the Twins were in agreement with starter Lance Lynn on a one-year, $12 million contract.
The three-week period between adding Odorizzi and Lynn also had included the signing of free agent Logan Morrison, the slugger of 38 home runs last season for Tampa Bay.
In the interest of fair play, I checked the comments on the Star Tribune's initial stories on the acquisitions of Odorizzi, Morrison and now Lynn, to see if "Benelli2" or the other two posters cited here had checked in to express opinions.
I couldn't find those anonymous handles among the responses. All can be comforted the Twins released Sanchez on Sunday morning to make room for Lynn, and also by this: