Fixing your Minnesota Twins

Step 1: Trade Morneau, Span and Willingham this offseason.
-These three players are nice pieces to a Championship squad, but unfortunately the Twins do not have the other pieces to win one right now. Therefore, they need to set themselves back a year or two and let some younger guys develop. Trading Morneau, Span and Willingham not only gets them Starting Pitching in return, but it also allows the Twins to save money at a few positions and allow young players a chance to prove themselves. Chris Parmalee will get a chance to man 1B at a reduced price. The 3 outfield positions would be an all out battle royal between Revere, Mastroiani, Hicks, Benson, Arcia, Carson. They could use some of this freed up money to add another impact bat like they did in the OF with Willingham this year.

Step 2: Add Starting Pitching
- The Twins WILL have some money to spend on an elite Starting Pitcher, now who that is, is the question mark.

Step 3: Gardenhire's time is up
-I like Gardy, I really do, but it's time for a change. I don't believe he has lost the team or anything along those lines, but I believe a managerial shakeup would do some good things for this team as a whole.

Step 4: Find a SS.

Span will probably be traded this offseason, Morneau is a possibility, Willingham is unlikely. The Twins are looking for pitching prospects and other team are reluctant to give them up.
Buying an FA starting pitcher is a crap shoot. Most of them wind up way overpaid for what they produce. That being said I would take a run at Shawn Marcum as he has pitched in the American League before. Best way is to develop pitching, but either Tampa Bay or Seattle could have surplus and would need some of the listed Twins players.
For a shortstop I would take a flyer on Stephen Drew who rates to be an FA after this year. The money would have to be right, but he could be looking at a short term make good deal after his horrible year in 2012.

Right idea, wrong players. Span is more valuable than Revere and same with Morneausy vs. Parmalee. Trade Revere and Parmalee for another need like SS, 2B or Pitching. With Parmalee stats in AAA, his value will never be higher. Go get SP!

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Originally Posted by beckmt

Span will probably be traded this offseason, Morneau is a possibility, Willingham is unlikely. The Twins are looking for pitching prospects and other team are reluctant to give them up.
Buying an FA starting pitcher is a crap shoot. Most of them wind up way overpaid for what they produce. That being said I would take a run at Shawn Marcum as he has pitched in the American League before. Best way is to develop pitching, but either Tampa Bay or Seattle could have surplus and would need some of the listed Twins players.
For a shortstop I would take a flyer on Stephen Drew who rates to be an FA after this year. The money would have to be right, but he could be looking at a short term make good deal after his horrible year in 2012.

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this is a fantastic idea that completely elluded me. Drew has been a very good, but not great SS and has blown his shot at his big money free agency with his broken ankle. I would definately look at him but I might even give him some decent money if he'd agree to a 2 yr deal.

MN has never been an active front-line player in FA, even last yr. I dont expect it this winter either. Hope Im wrong, but I expect to get pitching from trades(Span/Justin....think they will keep Josh & I would also) & the proverbial scrap heap types again (Jermeny Guthrie/Joe Blanton)...its the Twins way.

Do agree with the original post tho.....time for a change at manager/coaches. Gardy is good, but sometimes a new voice is needed (both players & fans). If Gardy (last yr of his deal this winter & would want an extension) wants to stay, this is the time for some coaching changes (can get a new voice that way also).

you are trading too many people unless you consider this punting on 2013 (which I'm not against)... the problem with dumping Span and Willingham is that there is nothing in the OF to replace them, especially if you are dumping Morneau too. Personally, I suspect one of Span or Morneau is getting traded this offseason for pitching help. Hopefully they go out and sign some pitching too... I wouldn't mind taking a flier on Stephen Drew (as someone else suggested) as well. He'd be an instant upgrade.

Keep good contracts, like Willingham. Xesu Kristu, that production for 7 million a year?! If you want tot trade that, you are in complete rebuild mode, and have no sense of how feasible "worst to first" is, especially in the AL Central.

Keep essential veterans who "play the game the right way," and I s&*t you not. I like the classic Twins ball. Morneau.

Reduce overload, i.e. toolsy outfielders: Span would be the most easily replaced player on the roster.

Outfield is the only surplus the Twins have as an organization. Look there first.

Sign 1-2 golldamn pitchers with talent; for every Pavano, there are endless faceless rabble - relying on a lucky strike is a poor management scheme.

The starting pitching is job 1. Hey Boston is dumping outfielders, let's see a deal around Lester and Span +.

I think Span and Morneau will be dealt but Willingham will stick around. It would be nice to get starting pitching back but it is more important to get good value back.

I doubt the Twins will spend big money on a free agent starting pitcher. They haven't done it in the past so it would seem out of character for them to start now.

Gardy isn't going anywhere. The Pohlads are too loyal but I could see some changes in the rest of the coaching staff.

Dozier is going to get another shot to prove himself as the shortstop in September and in spring training.

1. Clear the dead weight off your 40 man roster. Maybe this has been done... If not... do it... We need to bring some players in and we need the space.

2. Sign a 10 Million plus FA Pitcher. Outbid the other teams for him... Take a chance... It's risky but we can't screw around here.

3. Trade a position player for a young pitcher with strong upside.

4. Label the best Rule 5 Pitcher available and make your claim and ride him out on the roster for the entire 2013 season come hell or high water. Grab two if there are a couple worth grabbing.

5. Continue to look for the bargain basement pitchers. Guys like Walters and put them in the Rochester and New Britian Rotation see what happens.

6. Fix the overall position player depth... Call up Parmelee right away for depth, As soon as Arcia and Hicks are past the arbitration time clock thing a ma job... Call them up and put them on the roster and give them playing time.

7. If depth is established... Nobody plays every day unless they are raking every day. Nobody sits every day. If they are... Send them down or cut them. Depth is only usefull if the depth is actaully used.

8. Look for the best defensive Middle infielders you can find. If they can't field... get them off the roster... If they can field... Don't worry about the offensive stats. Florimon, Escobar, anyone with a good glove. Let them play to help the pitchers out. Think D before you think O. I would not sign Stephen Drew. Reported Attitude problem. I don't know that for sure but if he does have one. Don't go that direction.

9. Hang on to your youth... Players under the age of 24 with upside need to be protected like they are gold.

10. Increase the scouting budget!!! Make our scouting department the highest paid department in all of baseball. Hire the best... with the strongest track records away from other teams... Build a scouting department monster. Become extremely serious about this.

11. Bring in a new manager... Just for fresh eyes... A fresh Voice... A fresh opinion... Someone extremely aggressive. Players want to be aggressive... If you take away that aggression and ask them to play too smartly it can lead to complacency... Let them run... Let them feel like they are accomplishing something. Start plowing some catchers... Get Dirty... Throw Inside and look like you meant it.

12. Carry Two Catchers and Two catchers only. Look for a player who can strap on the pads for an inning or two on an emergency basis if necessary. Have Willingham play some catcher during spring training. Anyone... plan for the possibility... If Mastro can be an emergency 2B... We could certainly find an emegency catcher.

13. Make Jerry White find a different number... No one in the organization should be allowed to wear #13. It's probably just a bunch of superstition bull but let's not tempt fate... We don't have the margin of error.

14. Don't clutter the OF with slow feet. One guy is Ok... 2 slow outfielders will kill us.

15. Don't lose to the Astro's, Mariners, Indians, and Royals next year.

Good stuff, Riverbrian. Number 4 (Rule 5) is up in the air. Certainly if they select one, they should actually stick him on the roster! As for no. 12, if Chris Herrmann is ready and he appears to be for the most part, then he can replace Butera while also being a 5th OF and left-handed pinch hitter. He's a combination of Mauer and Doumit at the plate (albeit with lower numbers overall), and is an average C and above average OF. This would give both Mauer and Doumit a bit of a break and provide depth if say Span is traded and Hicks or Arcia don't cut it right away.

The Twins are in a really bad position when it comes to signing free agents. I don't believe they are going to be able to add a quality starting pitcher without severely overpaying. We have seen this in the past with mediocre teams having to cough up huge dollars that nobody else would pay ( Jayson Werth to the Nats, Magglio to the Tigers). Minnesota is a tough sell right now for premium free agents. Therefore, I don't even think they attempt to win a bidding war for the likes of Greinke. Acquiring them in trades is the only way this team brings in a pitcher this offseason. Much easier to blog about than to actually do obviously. Pitching prospects are valued more than they have ever been in the history of baseball so its gonna take a desperate team to part with an upside pitcher for a player like Span or Morneau. The key in my mind is the draft. The Twins have to nail the draft in the next few years. Not gonna make a great pick every time but they need to strike gold with a few. They have shown they are willing to spend to sign their draft picks. It is just gonna be in the talent evaluaters hands to find high upside players.

I definitely like what Ive seen from Morneau in the 2nd half. In order to consider trading him, however, the return would have to be staggering. Justin is a legitimate MVP candidate when healthy and the idea of handing over that kind of production to A basically untested Parmalee is scary. With little history of successful big money FA signings, can we afford to let a bat like Justin's go?

I completely agree about dealing Span or Revere, because OF is an area that we have some depth and Hicks/Arcia certainly seem to be on the cusp of earning an opportunity. We've got to find a way to add some pitching. This year's staff, as hard as it might be to believe based on our record, has actually overachieved! No way can we expect Diamond to continue to perform at this high a level and anyone who has seen Walters, Devries, and Deduno pitch this season knows they cannot be relied on to fill the rotation of a legitimate major league contender.

The Twins will need to be aggressive in the FA market for pitching, but there just isn't enough out there to fill the staff. Hoping and praying for Baker and to a lesser degree, Gibson isn't much of a strategy and the rest of the legitimate starting pitching prospects are a minimum of a year or two out. The only alternative is through trades and Revere and/or Span seem to be our best options.