Twins Turkey of the Year

[Seth Stohs]

Patrick Reusse's annual Thanksgiving Day Turkey of the Year Award (I believe called The Herschel) was announced just after midnight. As always, there were a lot of great choices and the "Winner" was certainly very deserving. 

 

Please be sure to read the article. 

 

http://www.startribune.com/patrick-reusse-s-2016-turkey-of-the-year-in-making-the-selection-it-s-go-bigly-or-go-home/402813536/

 

But it got me thinking... if YOU had to vote for the 2016 Twins Turkey of the Year, who would the candidates be and who would you vote?

 

Jim Pohlad - I mean, if only for uttering "Total System Failure"... or uttering that the next GM should be "lovable."

 

Terry Ryan - I mean, he lost his job and took the fall, right?

 

Paul Molitor - He wa sthe manager of the worst team in Twins history after being in playoff contention in 2015 until the season's final weekend.

 

A Player - But which one? There are a few guys that clearly it wouldn't be, but there are several for whom it might make sense. Maybe Miguel Sano - try to come into camp in shape and, hey, maybe at least try to be a decent outfielder.

 

A Thing - Like "Injuries." Perkins, Hughes, Gibson, Sano, Santana (Ervin and Danny), Park, Escobar, 

 

What do you think? 

 

I put a twitter poll out here, so be sure to vote:

 

 

 

 

 

[The Wise One]

Nolasco pitching like he did for the Angels might be a good candidate considering  how he pitched here.   It is not like the players were blowing holes in their garage walls  with guns. Most of the players seemed to play up to  their capabilities. 

[HitInAPinch]

Sano's bonk-bonk on the head was certainly laugh worthy!  Not sure it deserves a "2016 Twins Turkey of the Year" award   

 

The "Total System Failure" comment from a team owner gets my vote:  Jim Pohlad.

[theBOMisthebomb]

Pohlad and total system failure.

[ashbury]

bonk-bonk on the head

You're old.

 

_{^{/ and so am I for knowing the reference}}

[Squirrel]

 

You're old.

 

_{^{/ and so am I for knowing the reference}}

You don't have to be old to know that reference. My 20 yr old niece knows that reference.

 

 

[Squirrel]

And in case anyone is interested, this thread got started a couple days ago in the Sports Bar forum. While normally I'd merge identical threads, they are in such different places on the site I'll just leave them and post this link for a cross reference.

 

http://twinsdaily.com/topic/24376-pat-reusses-turkey-of-the-year-2016/?do=findComment&comment=560001

[DocBauer]

Disagree on Pohlad, with all due respect. I understand the opinion and where it originates from. But he's also the one who acknowledged said failure, fired Ryan, took some very bold steps to bring in the new FO, and seems to be giving them pretty much free reign for wholesale changes. (The status quo of Molitor notwithstanding, which could have happened anyway)

 

My turkey of the year is Ryan. In the past, I often supported him, but also called him out...more and more the past couple of seasons...and I hate to pile on a good guy who lost his job, but he clearly set the Twins up to be where they are now. We can debate forever how prospects should be handled, and how quickly they should be good, and some of that was beyond Ryan's control. And we can question Molitor's usage of young players, lineups, etc, but a lot of that was within Ryan's realm of control as well. Not necessarily daily lineups, but he was the GM, the buck stops with him, and he seemed to lose a feel for his job and the pulse of the team.

 

Just consider a few of the situations set up by Ryan:

 

* The rushing of both Hicks and Buxton with no viable backup option.

 

* The signing of Park...who himself is not to blame and may turn it around...when the team had other obvious needs and created log jams at 1B and DH and lead to the Sano in the OF mess.

 

* Blame Sano, if you will, for not working hard enough in the OF and on his conditioning last season...and he is young and still maturing...but as the lead man in the organization, shouldn't you have a clue what is going on with your top young player?

 

* Hughes getting hurt is NOT on Ryan, but why on earth extend him after the 2014 season with 2 more years on his contract?

 

* Moving May to the pen in 2015 is debatable, but should have still been Pelfrey for all the obvious reasons. And maybe May would have been hurt a majority of the 2016 season even if he were in the rotation. We'll never know. But for a team starving for talented young starting pitching, we may have wasted an entire season of May's potential development by keeping him as a reliever last season. Why?

 

Because...

 

* The bullpen was a mess and the biggest area of need Ryan wanted to address coming in to the '16 season. And the only thing he did was sign Abad and keep May there?

 

Just a few headscratchers that make Ryan my choice of Turkey of the year.

[Riverbrian]

Terry Ryan without a doubt.  

 

It was Terry Ryan who made the decision to not support the surprisingly successful 2015 Twins.

 

Replacing Hunter with Park does not qualify as supporting a club that finally showed you a little something.

 

Abad was not nearly enough bullpen support to say to the players... I have your back.

 

It has to be Terry Ryan

 

Besides... it is customary in businesses across America to always assign the most blame to the guy who is no longer there.

 

That's just how it works.  

 

 

[DocBauer]

You don't have to be old to know that reference. My 20 yr old niece knows that reference.

Star Trek, episode "Miri".

 

And I'm not getting any younger myself. Lol

[DocBauer]

And in case anyone is interested, this thread got started a couple days ago in the Sports Bar forum. While normally I'd merge identical threads, they are in such different places on the site I'll just leave them and post this link for a cross reference.

 

http://twinsdaily.com/topic/24376-pat-reusses-turkey-of-the-year-2016/?do=findComment&comment=560001

Confession time, never noticed that section or looked in to it before. Am I missing out here?

[Oldgoat_MN]

I would not pick Jim Pohlad.

 

He acknowledged, publicly, that his organization was experiencing a total system failure.

 

Then he went out and did something about it.

 

So far I don't see much to complain about when it comes to Jim Pohlad. He could have made some of these moves sooner, but they are being made now.

[USAFChief]

You're old.

 

_{^{/ and so am I for knowing the reference}}

I dont get the reference.

[ashbury]

I dont get the reference.

It was after your time.

[mickeymental]

punto.

[Thrylos]

Has to be Terry Ryan.  Pohlad was honest with the total system failure and did the right thing.

 

 

[jimmer]

 

Has to be Terry Ryan.  Pohlad was honest with the total system failure and did the right thing.

Absolutely Ryan.

[Dr. Evil]

Hands down Ryan.

[Platoon]

I understand the Ryan "fans", but he was just being Ryan. The Turkey was Pohlad who allowed him to continue in his position far longer than any owner who had an interest in a competitive team would have. Whether it was from what I believe was the use of the bottom line to asses the teams success, or Pohlads actual inability to discern Ryans failures, is a moot point. At my feast, Molitor would have been the yams, Ryan the dressing (or stuffing for some), but JP was the grand entree!

[Dantes929]

The bullpen and by that I mean the three guys that were supposed to be huge assets based on 2015 and instead were collectively way worse than replacement and then were gone or injured the rest of the season.   No matter who we got for the pen we were still going to give the high leverage innings to Perkins, Jepsen and May.   They totally blew 5 or 6 games very early in the season.   I know that doesn't seem like it makes much difference on a 100 loss season but when young guys are pressing because of sucking and losing it certainly can plus guys that should have been big assets were not there.  These guys were great in 2016 and totally blew in 2016. 

[nicksaviking]

 

I understand the Ryan "fans", but he was just being Ryan. The Turkey was Pohlad who allowed him to continue in his position far longer than any owner who had an interest in a competitive team would have. Whether it was from what I believe was the use of the bottom line to asses the teams success, or Pohlads actual inability to discern Ryans failures, is a moot point. At my feast, Molitor would have been the yams, Ryan the dressing (or stuffing for some), but JP was the grand entree!

 

I guess I'd like to know if it was Pohlad's frugalness or Ryan's stubbornness that lead to the Twins having what we now know as woefully understaffed and outdated front office, analytics, scouting and development teams. Seeing as Pohlad appears to have given Falvey the green light to expand and update, it's hard to imagine he wouldn't have given Ryan the same authority had he asked for it. 

 

While I would have liked change sooner, I think having a "hands-off" owner is very beneficial in most ways. Just perhaps not this hands-off.

[gunnarthor]

Molitor and it's not even close.

[Platoon]

I guess I'd like to know if it was Pohlad's frugalness or Ryan's stubbornness that lead to the Twins having what we now know as woefully understaffed and outdated front office, analytics, scouting and development teams. Seeing as Pohlad appears to have given Falvey the green light to expand and update, it's hard to imagine he wouldn't have given Ryan the same authority had he asked for it. 

 

While I would have liked change sooner, I think having a "hands-off" owner is very beneficial in most ways. Just perhaps not this hands-off.

I totally agree with you on the hands off owner viewpoint. I wish he had extended that philosophy to Molitor. The business connection between their descendants could be a conflict, or it might not be. But his attachment to Molitor seems excessive.