Warne: The Rise and Fall of the Twins

[Seth Stohs]

Brandon Warne penned (or typed) nearly 5000 words in an article he titled The Rise and Fall of the Twins. 

 

In it, he writes about the current issues surrounding the Twins, but he also puts them into context with the last time the Twins had four straight 90-loss seasons. 

 

To summarize 5000 words would be silly, but he points out that there is plenty of blame to go around...

 

Check it out and let Brandon know what you think.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Another good summary of the past couple decades. Brandon shared the dread he felt while watching the team at the start of 2011. Not sure when exactly I felt it, and not sure I recall correctly but I think the KSTP guys might have felt that dread, Barreiro and Reusse maybe, but following that 2010 loss to the Yankees, the writing was on the wall. In 2011 we had veterans who were already mentally and physically checking out, and all we had in the minors were guys more like "the last AAA man standing" than true talents rising through the system.

 

Anyway, the Twins can immediately put behind them all these negative dicussions of "how we got here" and start generating some good discussions about the future, by making some significant personnel changes tomorrow. Might not be easy. Nothing worthwhile is. It's their choice.

[Ben B]

This was a great column, and I unfortunately agree with most of it. I was also uneasy going into 2011, but I was expecting more of a fall to being a .500 team and a third place finish. I never anticipated how bad it would be, and for how long. 

[Steven Buhr]

I enjoyed Warne's article too.

 

I didn't see the writing on the wall as soon as he did, but I was frustrated that the org was not building its roster to fit Target Field, especially with regard to speed defensively in the outfield. Something I remain bumfuzzled about to this day.

 

Wish I knew more about the Twins' scouting staff. Clearly there were lean years in the early-mid 2000s in terms of identification and acquisition of young talent. Equally clearly, there has been great improvement in that area the past few years. Makes me wonder if the same scouts just started doing better or if there were critical changes in that staff.

[ashbury]

I didn't see the writing on the wall as soon as he did

It would be interesting reading this dread in a signed column dated February or March 2011.  A lot of this sounds like second guessing and 20/20 hindsight to me.  Guys mentally checked out after a tough playoff series?  Lotta mind-reading going on there.

[Brandon]

I enjoyed Warne's article too.

 

I didn't see the writing on the wall as soon as he did, but I was frustrated that the org was not building its roster to fit Target Field, especially with regard to speed defensively in the outfield. Something I remain bumfuzzled about to this day.

 

Wish I knew more about the Twins' scouting staff. Clearly there were lean years in the early-mid 2000s in terms of identification and acquisition of young talent. Equally clearly, there has been great improvement in that area the past few years. Makes me wonder if the same scouts just started doing better or if there were critical changes in that staff.

 

Everyone talks about how bad the speed is or was in the OF.  But we traded that speed to fix a more urgent need....Starting Pitching Span and Revere were plenty fast but we needed 5 starting pitchers not just 1 or 2 and we only had a strong maybe in Gibson in the pipeline.  Hicks also failed in 2 attempt to establish himself and this last offseason we almost had an agreement with Raj Davis till he signed with Detroit.  so trades, failures (both in development and FA), and injuries (Buxton) Kept us from having the fastest OF the last few years. 

[Seth Stohs]

It's always interesting to see how things come together. For me, I always like to look at move by move and see how they make sense.

 

For instance, the Twins needed pitching a couple of years ago, so they dealt Denard Span for Alex Meyer. Made a lot of sense at the time. Then they traded Ben Revere for Vance Worley (who was a terrific pick up) and Trevor May (who was the upside guy). Good move. Those individual moves both made sense. That Hicks wasn't ready was another part of it. 

 

The Ortiz thing... as much as everyone says it is obvious that they should have kept him, at that time, it wasn't. 

 

That's not to say there haven't been mistakes... there have been. They have not been successful in the draft. They did have a lot of injuries. 

 

For me, I thought 2010 was just a bunch of injuries and things just not going right... I thought 2011 would be a huge turn-around season. So, it was probably mid-June 2011 before I realized where they were. 

 

It's always weird to me that there are people that are upset that Bill Smith is still in the organization. He had been in the organization for like 25 years and done a great job with various roles. Why would they completely get rid of a guy who does those things. He's been in charge of the Twins work that's been done in Ft. Myers at Hammond Stadium, a multi-million dollar project. He's been instrumental in the development of their facilities in the Dominican. Seems like a good guy to have in the organization... just not as the GM!

[Willihammer]

Sure hope Buxton, Stewart, Gordon, and whoever they pick next summer turn into better players than Dave McCarty, Travis Lee, Ryan Mills, B.J Garbe, Adam Johnson...