The next World Series Champions in Minnesota

[Paul Pleiss]

The Twins have lost 90+ for the 4th consecutive season. Another high draft pick awaits the team next summer. With the influx of talent through the draft and international scouting the last half decade, the Twins are set to put out a young (and hopefully talented) roster in the coming seasons.

 

With those high profile youngsters in mind, when do you think this ball club can compete for and win the division, the league and the World Series?

 

I'm going to say 2016 (division), 2017/2018 for League/Series. A lot of ifs ands or buts in there, but I think this team is closer to contention than it feels like, despite another awful season.

 

-P

[drjim]

I think fringe competition next year is not out of the question.

 

The Twins are about 4 games below their Pythagorean record and I expect some additional improvement through internal improvement and by a free agent addition or two.

 

With this combo I would expect a record of 77-78 wins as a median baseline entering the season. A few good breaks would push that into fringe competition. A few bad breaks would of course leave them flirting with 90 losses again.

[Kwak]

As they say: "Wait 'til next year!"  Though I wish to defer my prognostication until March when the trades are made, contracts signed, and injuries disclosed.

[Thrylos]

I am convinced that the Twins cannot win a world series with this manager and coaches (they had enough post-seasons to prove it) and this general manager and front office (they had about 20 years to prove it.)

 

Unless that changes, 2002-10 is probably what that bunch can do regardless the talent.  Hard to think that a team with 2 aces (including the Cy Young award winner) two co-MVPs (one winning it actually), Cuddyer and Hunter on their primes, the best bullpen in the game anchored by the best closer in the game (Nathan's 2006 was his best season arguably) that won 96 (and then when belly up in the post-season) could be bettered any time soon in talent.

[drjim]

I am convinced that the Twins cannot win a world series with this manager and coaches (they had enough post-seasons to prove it) and this general manager and front office (they had about 20 years to prove it.)

 

Unless that changes, 2002-10 is probably what that bunch can do regardless the talent. Hard to think that a team with 2 aces (including the Cy Young award winner) two co-MVPs (one winning it actually), Cuddyer and Hunter on their primes, the best bullpen in the game anchored by the best closer in the game (Nathan's 2006 was his best season arguably) that won 96 (and then when belly up in the post-season) could be bettered any time soon in talent.

I know you know that Bonser started game 2 or that series and a broken Radke started game 3. Great team, great season, but the starting pitching wasn't there at the end.

[Craig Arko]

The Twins will a win a championship before either the Vikings, Timberwolves, or Wild do.

[twinsnorth49]

The Twins will a win a championship before either the Vikings, Timberwolves, or Wild do.

The Wild don't deserve to be lumped in there. They're actually a playoff team and not a bad one at that. With some solid goaltending that team could make some noise.

 

Sorry, not thread jacking into hockey discussion.......he started it.

[Thrylos]

I know you know that Bonser started game 2 or that series and a broken Radke started game 3. Great team, great season, but the starting pitching wasn't there at the end.

 

while Matt Garza had a combined 1.99 ERA and a 0.807 WHIP in high A, AA and AAA that season and was not chosen to replace the injured Liriano for some reason who was actually pitching games while injured.   The starting was there.  Ryan, Gardenhire and Anderson just did not know how to get it.

Plus, the bats scored 2, 2, and 3 runs.  And Bonser was ahead when he left the game.

 

No excuses. 

[drjim]

while Matt Garza had a combined 1.99 ERA and a 0.807 WHIP in high A, AA and AAA that season and was not chosen to replace the injured Liriano for some reason who was actually pitching games while injured.   The starting was there.  Ryan, Gardenhire and Anderson just did not know how to get it.

Plus, the bats scored 2, 2, and 3 runs.  And Bonser was ahead when he left the game.

 

No excuses. 

 

It was 2-2 when Bonser left and Garza was out of gas by the end of the regular season - perhaps look at his game logs. We get it, you hate the current administration, and there are plenty of actual factual statements that can be made to push that position.

 

But yes, the offense was a massive disappointment that series.

[gunnarthor]

while Matt Garza had a combined 1.99 ERA and a 0.807 WHIP in high A, AA and AAA that season and was not chosen to replace the injured Liriano for some reason who was actually pitching games while injured.   The starting was there.  Ryan, Gardenhire and Anderson just did not know how to get it.

Plus, the bats scored 2, 2, and 3 runs.  And Bonser was ahead when he left the game.

 

No excuses. 

Man, Garza's been in the majors for a long time now and still hasn't turned into an ace. 

[Pius Jefferson]

The Wild don't deserve to be lumped in there. They're actually a playoff team and not a bad one at that. With some solid goaltending that team could make some noise.

 

Sorry, not thread jacking into hockey discussion.......he started it.

 

The thread didn't say anything about the Wild being a bad team. Just that the Twins would win before they do. 

[DaveW]

The thread didn't say anything about the Wild being a bad team. Just that the Twins would win before they do.

I think the wild win one in the next 3 years, that team is rock solid and only getting better.

 

I think the twins get back to competing next year and are in the wild card hunt, 79-85 wins or so.

 

I expect the twins to be a playoff team in 2016 and forward

[drivlikejehu]

I don't think the Twins can contend with their current management. So there is no time horizon because there is no indication that changes are really possible in that area. I do think even Pohlad has some kind of pain threshold, but it will be 2 or 3 more years before that starts becoming a possible factor.

[twinsnorth49]

The thread didn't say anything about the Wild being a bad team. Just that the Twins would win before they do.

Guilt by association.

[Craig Arko]

Guilt by association.

Let me get you a fresh bowl of cornflakes.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

You can go back almost every season and find a team that flips from 90 losses to 90 wins. This is the era of 33% participation in postseason so that should be a minimum goal for most teams most years.

[twinsnorth49]

Let me get you a fresh bowl of cornflakes.

No thank you, my bowl is still quite full.

[Otto von Ballpark]

I know you know that Bonser started game 2 or that series and a broken Radke started game 3. Great team, great season, but the starting pitching wasn't there at the end.

Still no excuse to get swept at home by Oakland (still the only playoff series Oakland has won since 1994 realignment -- and the Twins only series win was in 2002 against Oakland, so in my mind, they cancel each other out. At least the A's have made virtually all of their division series competitive.)

 

You can go year by year and game by game and make excuses, but the Twins playoff record under TR/Gardenhire is a pretty inexcusable overall.

[Otto von Ballpark]

Man, Garza's been in the majors for a long time now and still hasn't turned into an ace. 

Why does he have to be an ace?  What's wrong with very good MLB starter?

 

Also, I think he's had borderline ace moments in his solid career.  Garza was 17th in AL ERA+ in 2008, and 12th in NL ERA+ in 2011.  Plus some top 15-20 IP totals too.

[TheLeviathan]

It's hard to predict a championship for the Twins right now.  The Wild are at least advancing on the prospect of it.  The Twins are still miles away.

[Monkeypaws]

Having guys like Santana, Gibson, Vargas, and Arcia produce as they have can only produce optimism when you consider the high-end prospects in the pipeline that will be joining the team as early as next year.

 

Hopefully this will be the last 90 loss season for a good long while.

[FattCrapps]

With the Twins now tied with the Astros, you'd think the Astros with the better h2h record would result in us getting the better pick.  But for some reason the tiebreaker is the previous year's standings...looks like the Stros are gonna have 2 picks ahead of us.  Looks like we'll end up with the "5th" pick (6th player overall).

 

The Twins aren't even good at losing.

[Kelly Vance]

Management and Gardy/Anderson are the problem. Consider the players the Twins let go. Not  a bad lineup

 

Revere cf

Span lf

Gomez rf

Ortiz DH/1b

Cuddy 3b

Morneau 1b

Hardy ss

Ramos c

Casilla/Punto 2b

 

SP

 

Santana

Liriano

Garza

Lohse

Worley

 

Set UP/BP

Neshek Crain 

 

CL Nathan

[stringer bell]

It's hard to predict a championship for the Twins right now.  The Wild are at least advancing on the prospect of it.  The Twins are still miles away.

OK, the Wild made the playoffs the last two years, but there are 16 teams that make the playoffs and so far they've been in the bottom half of playoff teams. I don't think there is any guarantee that they will win in the next couple years and after next two or three years, odds are that they big free agents they signed two years ago will be declining. To summarize, getting through one round of the playoffs doesn't give me confidence that the club is top-tier.

[Monkeypaws]

Management and Gardy/Anderson are the problem. Consider the players the Twins let go. Not  a bad lineup

 

Revere cf

Span lf

Gomez rf

Ortiz DH/1b

Cuddy 3b

Morneau 1b

Hardy ss

Ramos c

Casilla/Punto 2b

 

SP

 

Santana

Liriano

Garza

Lohse

Worley

 

Set UP/BP

Neshek Crain 

 

CL Nathan

How much of that lies in Bill Smith's lap?

[TheLeviathan]

OK, the Wild made the playoffs the last two years, but there are 16 teams that make the playoffs and so far they've been in the bottom half of playoff teams. I don't think there is any guarantee that they will win in the next couple years and after next two or three years, odds are that they big free agents they signed two years ago will be declining. To summarize, getting through one round of the playoffs doesn't give me confidence that the club is top-tier.

 

Well, given my point, can we at least agree it's a helluva lot closer than four consecutive bottom tier finishes?

[stringer bell]

Well, given my point, can we at least agree it's a helluva lot closer than four consecutive bottom tier finishes?

I would say that that today's Wild is closer to a Stanley Cup than the Twins are to a championship, yes. If someone is going to win a championship in the next thirteen months, it will be the Wild. I just don't think they are going to win the Cup this year or next and then the window will start closing. I could be totally wrong.

[drjim]

Still no excuse to get swept at home by Oakland (still the only playoff series Oakland has won since 1994 realignment -- and the Twins only series win was in 2002 against Oakland, so in my mind, they cancel each other out. At least the A's have made virtually all of their division series competitive.)

 

You can go year by year and game by game and make excuses, but the Twins playoff record under TR/Gardenhire is a pretty inexcusable overall.

 

Not really making excuses for getting swept, just making a bigger point that with that rotation a championship was probably unrealistic that season. Still should have won that series.

 

2006 was the only season under Gardy that they lost as the better team in a series, while they won one as the inferior team in 2002, so pretty much a wash.

 

But to be extra clear - I think Gardy should be gone two seasons ago.

[drjim]

Management and Gardy/Anderson are the problem. Consider the players the Twins let go. Not  a bad lineup

 

Revere cf

Span lf

Gomez rf

Ortiz DH/1b

Cuddy 3b

Morneau 1b

Hardy ss

Ramos c

Casilla/Punto 2b

 

SP

 

Santana

Liriano

Garza

Lohse

Worley

 

Set UP/BP

Neshek Crain 

 

CL Nathan

 

I question how many innings Santana and Crain would have delivered for the Twins this year.

 

Overall that pitching staff is relatively meh, so wouldn't have made a huge improvement over the current roster.

[ashbury]

I question how many innings Santana and Crain would have delivered for the Twins this year.

 

Overall that pitching staff is relatively meh, so wouldn't have made a huge improvement over the current roster.

I question how many innings Gomez and Hardy would have been in the same lineup, given that they were traded for each other.