were able to Sign Bryce Harper?"With Spring Training kicking into full motion Dellin Betances Jersey , I thought it would be fun to take an a-historical look back on this year’s offseason.It was a fairly historic offseason in 2018-2019, as Bryce Harper and Manny Machado hit free agency with... nothing much to show for it so far. As of this writing the two superstars are still unsigned.But what if the Twins had been the team to pull the trigger and sign that hefty check? This will be part one of a three part short-series, focusing on the what-ifs if the Twins had signed (or end up signing) Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, or Dallas Keuchel.Keep in mind that these articles will have a set of ground rules. Personally, I absolutely hate unrealistic transaction threads, whether they be from beat writers, bloggers, or fans. So while I will delve into fantasy in these posts to analyse how the offseason would have gone if the team were to sign a big fish, I’m not going to be making major additions beyond those and the additions that happened in reality. My fake timeline Twins will not sign Harper and then trade Nick Gordon and Stephen Gonsalves for Gerrit Cole or any other stupid and unrealistic things like that. I will not have the team signing both Machado or Harper, or either of those players and Keuchel. Instead, the Twins will have essentially the same offseason except for one flashy signing, with the $130 million payroll from last year being a loose limit since that is what Twins twitter has been clamoring for the Twins to get back to this year.For ease of writing, I will outline two fake timelines: one where the Twins make their splash right away, and one where we make a final push in spring training. This will allow us to analyze how the signing would have changed our offseason, and also how our current roster would change if we we someone found ourselves in the running tomorrow. So here we go!November 3rd, 2018: Twins sign OF Bryce Harper to 10-year, $325 Million contractI’m not sure whether it came from a validated report or a well sourced rumor Matt Holliday Jersey , but we more or less know the Nationals offered Harper 10 years and somewhere between $300-310 million towards the end of the regular season/early offseason, which is in line with what Harper is said to be asking of teams. To sign Harper, the Twins would have to go a bit north of that amount, probably shifting a decent amount to signing bonuses that would hit before the current CBA is up and we are thrown into another strike.I picked $325 million because it is a round number that adds a good chunk of change over the National’s offer at the same term. Personally, if I were really the GM of the Twins I would hand out this contract to Harper in a heartbeat, but they don’t pay me to make the decisions...or at all.Additional Moves MadeThe Twins will still sign 2B Jonathan Schoop for roughly $7.5 million, since the team is in desperate need of a second baseman.We still sign Nelson Cruz to a 2-year deal, with the same salary numbers, to DH and offer a reliable right-handed power bat.We still sign Blake Parker and Martin Perez as low-risk moves to add to our pitching.The Twins still sign Jorge Polanco and Max Kepler to 5 year extensions. Real Moves that ChangeThe Twins do not pick up CJ Cron on waivers, and do not sign him to a one year deal for 2019.Twins do not sign Lucas Duda to a minor league contract.Twins Opening Day LineupJorge Polanco - (S) - SSBryce Harper - (L) - RFNelson Cruz - (R) - DHMiguel Sano - (R) - 3BEddie Rosario - (L) - LFJonathon Schoop - (R) -2BMax Kepler - (L) - 1Bcome play in the frigid North.Signing Harper now would create a little bit of redundancy (the bad kind) for the current rost. Kepler would still be on the move to first base. Even in the extreme (and unrealistic) scenario of moving Eddie Rosario to third base and Sano to first, the signings of CJ Cron and Lucas Duda likely go out the window.The great part of having Kepler as your “everyday” first baseman is that he can still play about 40-50 games in the outfield this year, while giving those starts at first to a combination of Sano and Garver. Would you keep Cron on the bench for those 40 starts? probably not, so that signing ends up being a bit of a waste. He got to us on waivers so you likely get nothing for him in a trade which isn’t too much of a loss, all things considered, but $5 million is $5 million.ThoughtsHonestly, signing Bryce Harper makes too much sense for the Twins. It makes the Twins significantly better, with one of the best offenses in the American League even if Buxton, Sano Austin Romine Jersey , and Schoop fail to regain form.So why haven’t we pulled the trigger? Before you start the “TEH POHLADS BE SO CHEAPZ” rants you need to remember that the money isn’t even half of it. I think it simply boils down to what Harper wants. Harper has been in the baseball spotlight since he was 16 years old on the cover of Sports Illustrated. He played as a 19 year old in a major East Coast market, and won an MVP award in front of a large market and media base. Add in the fact that he was born and raised in the desert of Las Vegas, it would take a lot more that the 10-year, $325 million deal I used in this exercise to actually get Harper to come here, and Derek Falvey and Thad Levine know that.I’m sure Falvey and Levine have written out the lineup the way I have above. I’m sure they have talked internally about it. I’m also sure they asked Scott Boras a simple question at some point this offseason “Does Bryce have any interest in coming to us” and Boras simply responded “no.” Don’t worry, our front office assuredly did their due diligence and rebutted by asking, “what sort of figure would change his mind,” to which Boras eyes lit up, “$400 million over ten years” and our front office staff promptly said thanks and walked away. I legitimately believe that the only way for the Twins to sign Harper would be to offer him $400 million over ten years. Seriously. Even offering him $399 million a year wouldn’t sway him over the offer $300-310 million deal he got from the Nationals. The legacy of being the first $400 million free agent is probably only nugget that could bring Harper to the Twins. And I don’t offer that contract as a member of our front office. Neither does anyone else, leading us to the off season as it played out in real life.That is all for now, but we will soon be back with our next Twins Offseason What If: Manny Machado! #CyYoung #TooEarly?"Baseball is fun again!For one night, let’s forget the Tribe’s lousy offense, frugal owner, injuries to key players, and everything else folks have been complaining about recently.Let’s enjoy a heck of a ballgame from Mr. Trevor Bauer.Bauer was absolutely fantastic and led the Indians to an almost no-hitter in Thursday’s 4-1 win over the Blue Jays.The right-hander, however, was not perfect, walking six and hitting a batter http://www.yankeesfanproshop.com/authentic-giancarlo-stanton-jersey , and that’s the main reason he didn’t get a chance to chase down the no-hitter himself.Bauer was pulled after seven innings and a pitch count of 117.It wasn’t an easy decision from manager Terry Francona, but it was the right one.In the top of the third inning, talk of a no-hit, shutout seemed mighty silly, as Bauer loaded the bases without getting an out (two walks and that hit batter).Bauer just buckled down though, striking out both Socrates Brito (great name) and Randal Grichuk, and then getting Rowdy Tellez (another fantastic Blue Jay name!) to line out to end the inning and avoid any damage.Only the fourth inning was clean after that for Bauer, with base runners in the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings bumping up Bauer’s pitch count and forcing Tito’s hand.Bauer finished with a really cool moment, striking out Brandon Drury to end the seventh and letting out a big yell and well yeah I woke up my dog cheering along too.Jon Edwards came on for the eighth and was shaky and didn’t get any borderline high strike calls, leading to three base-runners (but no hits still) and a call to closer Brad Hand.Hand got out of the jam in the eighth, but allowed three hits and one run in the ninth to give up the no-hitter.It would have been the Tribe’s first-ever combined no-hitter.Offensively, the Indians had seven hits and drew five walks off Blue Jays’ pitchers.Leonys Martin and Tyler Naquin had two hits each, and Jose Ramirez got his first RBI of the year.