Over/under on front office (yrs remaining)

[I wish the twins were good]

I propose setting the line at 1.5, assuming no dramatic improvement from the current lackluster pace, which now goes back basically 2.5 seasons. Injuries have been a disaster, both with their own players and identifying players from outside, they have swung big (for the Twins) on the trade market but that has mostly gone terribly (although I will grant them the quality starting rotation they put together at great expense largely  through trade), the "pitching pipeline" has not materialized, they haven't hit a lick since 2020, and the ongoing roster mismanagement continues to be a head scratcher. 

7 years in (already more than they gave Bill Smith), and you have to ask yourself, have they really made any strides success-wise? The deck chairs are all rearranged, but has this group really made any progress over what Terry Ryan got them in general?

[ICTwin25]

A shakeup is needed, but I expect some scapegoats to be let go first. They need to let Popkins go, immediately. I'm not a Rocco guy and he just got a short term extension so he wont be a scapegoat. It's just downright embarrassing to be under .500 with this pitching staff. Gutless team right now.

[Riverbrian]

I will ultimately judge this front office on development and the graduation of cheaper, controllable talent with actual talent to the major league level.  

I will factor in the lost year of 2020 and I do like the way the pitching has been progressing but eventually we need to produce a young superstar or two.  

Our last one was... ??? Joe Mauer???  

[chpettit19]

2 hours ago, ICTwin25 said:

A shakeup is needed, but I expect some scapegoats to be let go first. They need to let Popkins go, immediately. I'm not a Rocco guy and he just got a short term extension so he wont be a scapegoat. It's just downright embarrassing to be under .500 with this pitching staff. Gutless team right now.

Rocco didn't "just" get an extension. That happened after the 2021 season. It was just reported on recently. But the FO has been awfully clear that they aren't firing Rocco. It sure seems like it's the 3 amigos til the end. Just want people to know that extension wasn't a recent event.

[ICTwin25]

4 hours ago, chpettit19 said:

Rocco didn't "just" get an extension. That happened after the 2021 season. It was just reported on recently. But the FO has been awfully clear that they aren't firing Rocco. It sure seems like it's the 3 amigos til the end. Just want people to know that extension wasn't a recent event.

Wasn't aware of the timing so thanks for pointing that out. Perhaps that changes things with his situation because it's becoming clear that he's struggling to manage a team consistently.

[Shobae]

On 6/9/2023 at 3:16 PM, Riverbrian said:

I will ultimately judge this front office on development and the graduation of cheaper, controllable talent with actual talent to the major league level.  

I will factor in the lost year of 2020 and I do like the way the pitching has been progressing but eventually we need to produce a young superstar or two.  

Our last one was... ??? Joe Mauer???  

Joe Mauer was an all time catching talent (who has a legit chance at the HOF despite the injuries), you're not gonna see another player of his caliber on the twins for a long time just probabilistically speaking. I'd recon franchises have gone many decades without seeing a player of Mauer's skill, twins fans are lucky that he was the hometown hero who played here for his 10 seasons as a catcher. I guess Buxton would fit the mold but I think he's done as a superstar given that he needs play tons of DH to be able to stay healthy.
Don't think you need to produce a young super star so long as you produce 4-5 good (3-5 war) players. Would you rather be the angels who had mike trout and some expensive replacement level players or the pre-franco Rays who were competitive with a bunch of guys no casual fan could name?

[Riverbrian]

1 hour ago, Shobae said:

Joe Mauer was an all time catching talent (who has a legit chance at the HOF despite the injuries), you're not gonna see another player of his caliber on the twins for a long time just probabilistically speaking. I'd recon franchises have gone many decades without seeing a player of Mauer's skill, twins fans are lucky that he was the hometown hero who played here for his 10 seasons as a catcher. I guess Buxton would fit the mold but I think he's done as a superstar given that he needs play tons of DH to be able to stay healthy.
Don't think you need to produce a young super star so long as you produce 4-5 good (3-5 war) players. Would you rather be the angels who had mike trout and some expensive replacement level players or the pre-franco Rays who were competitive with a bunch of guys no casual fan could name?

I've read some of your other posts... You have my respect. You are talented.  

First the question you asked at the end of your post. 

Are those my only two options because I'd rather be a combination of the Angels with Mike Trout and the Pre-Franco Rays who were competitive with a bunch of guys no casual fan could name.

Now... the rest... Are we discussing a literal version of Joe Mauer or is there wiggle room in the subjective definition of superstar. 

If allowed to loosen it up a tad from Joe Mauer. How about producing a player that other teams will trade multiple prospects for or sign to a decent sized contract when they reach free agency. Brian Dozier would not qualify in my eyes.  

Angels: Trout

Astros: Altuve, Tucker, Bregman, Valdez, Alverez, Springer

A's: Donaldson, Chapman, Olson, Murphy

Blue Jays: Vlad Jr, Bichette

Braves: Acuna, Riley, Albies, Strider, Freeman

Brewers: Burnes, Woodruff, Hader, WIlliams

Cardinals: Wainwright

Cubs: Rizzo, Bryant, Baez, Schwarber, Contreres

D-Backs: Goldschmidt

Dodgers: Kershaw, Seager, Smith

Guardians: Ramirez, Bieber, Lindor, Carrasco

Giants: Posey, Bumgarner, Webb

Mariners: Rodriquez

Marlins: Cabrera, Yelich, Stanton, Ozuna, Alcantara, Realmuto

Mets: DeGrom, Syndergaard, Wheeler

Nats: Harper, Soto, Turner, Strasburg

Orioles: Machado

Padres: Tatis

Phillies: Nola

Pirates: McCutchen, Cole, Reynolds

Rangers: Garcia, Darvish

Rays: Franco, McClanahan, Archer, Snell 

Reds: Votto, Castillo

Red Sox: Betts, Devers, Bogaerts

Rockies: Arenado

Royals: Greinke, Perez

Tigers: Verlander, Scherzer, Martinez, Buehler

White Sox: Sale, Quintana, Semien

Yankees; Judge

Where are ours?

I'll concede Berrios he brought back a couple of highly ranked prospects but there are much better on the list above. I think Arraez has the potential to join the above list but he was traded for someone who wouldn't make this list yet in the Marlins group. 

I won't concede that we need to do better in comparison with our peers. 

I'll stand firm and judge this front office by development and that is a work in progress. I like where the pitching is heading. 

 

[wabene]

This could be debatable but I scratched the interim Rob Anthony, but included one year answer Howard Fox and the do everything man Calvin Griffith. 6 GM's in 62 years. 

And the over under is 10.33 years. 

[Tlaker]

Owners need to sell as well! Pohlad family is the absolute root of this franchise never ever going to win again!!

[Squirrel]

19 minutes ago, Tlaker said:

Owners need to sell as well! Pohlad family is the absolute root of this franchise never ever going to win again!!

If you could find a way to make that happen, go for it. I've been suggesting that since the mid-00's ... change always begins at the top. Until then, it is what it is.

[wabene]

27 minutes ago, Tlaker said:

Owners need to sell as well! Pohlad family is the absolute root of this franchise never ever going to win again!!

IDK we now have the young Joe banker scion who seems to like baseball and definitely has the means... we'll see

[Shobae]

15 hours ago, Riverbrian said:

I've read some of your other posts... You have my respect. You are talented.  

First the question you asked at the end of your post. 

Are those my only two options because I'd rather be a combination of the Angels with Mike Trout and the Pre-Franco Rays who were competitive with a bunch of guys no casual fan could name.

Now... the rest... Are we discussing a literal version of Joe Mauer or is there wiggle room in the subjective definition of superstar. 

If allowed to loosen it up a tad from Joe Mauer. How about producing a player that other teams will trade multiple prospects for or sign to a decent sized contract when they reach free agency. Brian Dozier would not qualify in my eyes.  

Angels: Trout

Astros: Altuve, Tucker, Bregman, Valdez, Alverez, Springer

A's: Donaldson, Chapman, Olson, Murphy

Blue Jays: Vlad Jr, Bichette

Braves: Acuna, Riley, Albies, Strider, Freeman

Brewers: Burnes, Woodruff, Hader, WIlliams

Cardinals: Wainwright

Cubs: Rizzo, Bryant, Baez, Schwarber, Contreres

D-Backs: Goldschmidt

Dodgers: Kershaw, Seager, Smith

Guardians: Ramirez, Bieber, Lindor, Carrasco

Giants: Posey, Bumgarner, Webb

Mariners: Rodriquez

Marlins: Cabrera, Yelich, Stanton, Ozuna, Alcantara, Realmuto

Mets: DeGrom, Syndergaard, Wheeler

Nats: Harper, Soto, Turner, Strasburg

Orioles: Machado

Padres: Tatis

Phillies: Nola

Pirates: McCutchen, Cole, Reynolds

Rangers: Garcia, Darvish

Rays: Franco, McClanahan, Archer, Snell 

Reds: Votto, Castillo

Red Sox: Betts, Devers, Bogaerts

Rockies: Arenado

Royals: Greinke, Perez

Tigers: Verlander, Scherzer, Martinez, Buehler

White Sox: Sale, Quintana, Semien

Yankees; Judge

Where are ours?

I'll concede Berrios he brought back a couple of highly ranked prospects but there are much better on the list above. I think Arraez has the potential to join the above list but he was traded for someone who wouldn't make this list yet in the Marlins group. 

I won't concede that we need to do better in comparison with our peers. 

I'll stand firm and judge this front office by development and that is a work in progress. I like where the pitching is heading. 

 

I will admit that the question between the angels and rays was a false dichotomy but I was trying to say that in baseball how good your average player is matters more than how good your 3 best players are. Also perhaps I was approaching this with a different understanding of superstar. To my mind a superstar is a guy who is so good that most baseball fans know who he is and has the performance to back it up as well. I think of Ohtani, Judge, Yordan, Trout, Verlander, Scherzer, Acuna, Betts so on.

But if we're taking a more inclusive definition which you seem to have by your list I think the twins would have Mauer, Santana, Buxton and Morneau (maybe). But Buxton problem is obvious but I'd say most fans know him at this point but I think his superstar status as kinda faded this season. I wouldn't consider Berrios to be honest, he was an above average pitcher who's skill was durability and pitching deep into games. 

However, I think Lewis, Julien, Ryan or Lee could all reach the threshold you laid out, so there is some hope (also very possible none of them do). Is that enough to catch up? I'm not sure given the to undeniable stars the twins last produced where both in the early 00s. (also thanks for the compliment)

[Riverbrian]

7 minutes ago, Shobae said:

I will admit that the question between the angels and rays was a false dichotomy but I was trying to say that in baseball how good your average player is matters more than how good your 3 best players are. Also perhaps I was approaching this with a different understanding of superstar. To my mind a superstar is a guy who is so good that most baseball fans know who he is and has the performance to back it up as well. I think of Ohtani, Judge, Yordan, Trout, Verlander, Scherzer, Acuna, Betts so on.

But if we're taking a more inclusive definition which you seem to have by your list I think the twins would have Mauer, Santana, Buxton and Morneau (maybe). But Buxton problem is obvious but I'd say most fans know him at this point but I think his superstar status as kinda faded this season. I wouldn't consider Berrios to be honest, he was an above average pitcher who's skill was durability and pitching deep into games. 

However, I think Lewis, Julien, Ryan or Lee could all reach the threshold you laid out, so there is some hope (also very possible none of them do). Is that enough to catch up? I'm not sure given the to undeniable stars the twins last produced where both in the early 00s. (also thanks for the compliment)

I believe the number one job of any front office is increasing the value of players. Many will argue that winning is the number one job. I think the winning part will follow if you can increase value significantly.  

I supported Terry Ryan for many years... finally stopped that support when the Twins went through a long stretch of consistent high draft picks and almost no development. We were out of contention at the trade deadline and nobody of value to trade to help rebuild the club and perhaps even worse... they were not calling anybody up who would provide future value.  

I watched the White Sox rebuild almost on the fly by trading talent that other teams wanted... I looked around the Twins roster for players that might bring in a Moncada and Kopech type prospects and we had nobody close... matter of fact we have had nobody close to that sort of trade value for years. 

I watched the Dodgers graduate young players to the majors and still have a handful of scary prospects waiting in line despite drafting in the 20's every year.  I checked out the Twins roster for players who might be a Buehler type and there were none to be found and I checked year after year. I watched the Braves bring up Freeman, Acuna, Albies, Riley, Swanson, Harris and I looked around our team and I couldn't find a single one of these guys.

 I believe that the Twins organization was in pretty bad shape when Falvey and Lavine took over because of what I am saying above about the very little development taking place. I believe that 2020 was a major development road block for a team trying to get back into the development race. 

I really like the way the pitching is starting to flow in. I believe it is a great sign of success that we didn't have to sign a Bundy or Archer this year and I believe that having to sign Bundy's and Archers just slow down the development by standing in their way. 

I believe that Lewis, Kirilloff, Julien could be great major league players. I really really like Julien, that swing is beautiful. I still believe in Miranda but I think we have the offensive equivalent of Bundy and Archer standing in the way of some of them at the moment. 

I believe that teams like the Twins have to have significant contributions from major league minimum talent to have sustainable success. No matter how hard I'm crying about our current offense... and no matter how hard I question Rocco's strict implementation of the platoon. I am not calling for anyone's head because the organization is in much better shape today. They all have my support and constructive criticisms. 

If I pull the plug on that support... it will be because of development. I'm not there yet. 

I do agree with you... If we had a team full of average players, we would be alright. It's the really bad players walking past the lineup card because they know they are on it that kill your team.

I hope to see more of your posts.  

[ashbury]

9 minutes ago, Riverbrian said:

I believe the number one job of any front office is increasing the value of players. Many will argue that winning is the number one job. I think the winning part will follow if you can increase value significantly. 

So the process matters more than wins and losses.  Where have I heard that before...  

[Riverbrian]

9 minutes ago, ashbury said:

So the process matters more than wins and losses.  Where have I heard that before...  

How does that old joke go. 

Excuse me Sir... How do you get to Carnegie Hall? 

Process... Lots of process. 

Something like that. 

[Shobae]

51 minutes ago, Riverbrian said:

I believe the number one job of any front office is increasing the value of players. Many will argue that winning is the number one job. I think the winning part will follow if you can increase value significantly.  

I supported Terry Ryan for many years... finally stopped that support when the Twins went through a long stretch of consistent high draft picks and almost no development. We were out of contention at the trade deadline and nobody of value to trade to help rebuild the club and perhaps even worse... they were not calling anybody up who would provide future value.  

I watched the White Sox rebuild almost on the fly by trading talent that other teams wanted... I looked around the Twins roster for players that might bring in a Moncada and Kopech type prospects and we had nobody close... matter of fact we have had nobody close to that sort of trade value for years. 

I watched the Dodgers graduate young players to the majors and still have a handful of scary prospects waiting in line despite drafting in the 20's every year.  I checked out the Twins roster for players who might be a Buehler type and there were none to be found and I checked year after year. I watched the Braves bring up Freeman, Acuna, Albies, Riley, Swanson, Harris and I looked around our team and I couldn't find a single one of these guys.

 I believe that the Twins organization was in pretty bad shape when Falvey and Lavine took over because of what I am saying above about the very little development taking place. I believe that 2020 was a major development road block for a team trying to get back into the development race. 

I really like the way the pitching is starting to flow in. I believe it is a great sign of success that we didn't have to sign a Bundy or Archer this year and I believe that having to sign Bundy's and Archers just slow down the development by standing in their way. 

I believe that Lewis, Kirilloff, Julien could be great major league players. I really really like Julien, that swing is beautiful. I still believe in Miranda but I think we have the offensive equivalent of Bundy and Archer standing in the way of some of them at the moment. 

I believe that teams like the Twins have to have significant contributions from major league minimum talent to have sustainable success. No matter how hard I'm crying about our current offense... and no matter how hard I question Rocco's strict implementation of the platoon. I am not calling for anyone's head because the organization is in much better shape today. They all have my support and constructive criticisms. 

If I pull the plug on that support... it will be because of development. I'm not there yet. 

I do agree with you... If we had a team full of average players, we would be alright. It's the really bad players walking past the lineup card because they know they are on it that kill your team.

I hope to see more of your posts.  

Yeah though the white sox have been unable to rebuild their farm system and keep adding to their current major league core, honestly their outlook looks pretty bleak to me. Especially when you compare them to the guardians, who as usual have this season already pulled two top tier starting pitcher rookies out of their backside. As the for the dodgers, I know everyone hates them but you really gotta give it to their baseball ops department. They have some of the best player dev in the league and they're not afraid to pay guys who they think are worth it. The fact they consistently pump out top talents with low picks like Vargas, Outman and Miller just to name 3 this year is pretty insane. (as for the rest of the org well I won't open that can of gay worms).
Also I did think I could have mentioned kirilloff, but since he seems to profile as a 1B I think he needs to prove a lot more in terms of his hitting to put him in that category. I mean if the power comes back and the plate discipline sticks then I think he's easily the teams best hitter in the next few years. I gotta admit I had written him off before this season but I'm really impressed by what he's shown so far, even if there's probably some regression coming.

[Riverbrian]

17 minutes ago, Shobae said:

Yeah though the white sox have been unable to rebuild their farm system and keep adding to their current major league core, honestly their outlook looks pretty bleak to me. Especially when you compare them to the guardians, who as usual have this season already pulled two top tier starting pitcher rookies out of their backside. As the for the dodgers, I know everyone hates them but you really gotta give it to their baseball ops department. They have some of the best player dev in the league and they're not afraid to pay guys who they think are worth it. The fact they consistently pump out top talents with low picks like Vargas, Outman and Miller just to name 3 this year is pretty insane. (as for the rest of the org well I won't open that can of gay worms).
Also I did think I could have mentioned kirilloff, but since he seems to profile as a 1B I think he needs to prove a lot more in terms of his hitting to put him in that category. I mean if the power comes back and the plate discipline sticks then I think he's easily the teams best hitter in the next few years. I gotta admit I had written him off before this season but I'm really impressed by what he's shown so far, even if there's probably some regression coming.

The Dodgers can and do buy almost anybody they want and somehow still find the space to utilize talented 600K players. It makes them bullet proof. They are going to be incredible next year with Ohtani on the roster. Roberts is the perfect manager for Shohei. Yeah... I'm calling it. Shohei to the Dodgers. 🤑

The White Sox try to buy players but can't produce the 600K talent to supplement those players so if those expensive players get hurt or go 2023 Correa on you they crash and burn. If they do get a Tatis in their system... they trade them for Peavy's. They will rebuild again... they may even move Eloy to help restock the currently not very good system. It may happen soon because they have 5 pending free agents and around 67 Million in Club Options to make a decision on this off season. They either have to be big free agent players this off-season to try again or big sellers to rebuild again. If they don't make the playoffs... why would you jump off that cliff again.     

Cleveland... They don't try to buy anything... they have left themselves with no choice but to develop 600k talent and they do. Opportunity is a funny thing... you can trip over guys that Keith Law missed from time to time just by providing opportunity. They have a total of 7 players without options. The rest can be moved to Columbus if they can't get the job done in Cleveland. The Guardians never have to go down with the ship. 

Kirilloff in my opinion... Is the best hitter on this team right now. I don't know if he will be in July or August but right now I'd take 13 Kirilloffs and we'd be impossible to beat.

Even if one of those Kirilloffs had to play SS. 

[Craig Arko]

47 minutes ago, Riverbrian said:

The Dodgers can and do buy almost anybody they want and somehow still find the space to utilize talented 600K players. It makes them bullet proof. They are going to be incredible next year with Ohtani on the roster. Roberts is the perfect manager for Shohei. Yeah... I'm calling it. Shohei to the Dodgers. 🤑

The White Sox try to buy players but can't produce the 600K talent to supplement those players so if those expensive players get hurt or go 2023 Correa on you they crash and burn. If they do get a Tatis in their system... they trade them for Peavy's. They will rebuild again... they may even move Eloy to help restock the currently not very good system. It may happen soon because they have 5 pending free agents and around 67 Million in Club Options to make a decision on this off season. They either have to be big free agent players this off-season to try again or big sellers to rebuild again. If they don't make the playoffs... why would you jump off that cliff again.     

Cleveland... They don't try to buy anything... they have left themselves with no choice but to develop 600k talent and they do. Opportunity is a funny thing... you can trip over guys that Keith Law missed from time to time just by providing opportunity. They have a total of 7 players without options. The rest can be moved to Columbus if they can't get the job done in Cleveland. The Guardians never have to go down with the ship. 

Kirilloff in my opinion... Is the best hitter on this team right now. I don't know if he will be in July or August but right now I'd take 13 Kirilloffs and we'd be impossible to beat.

Even if one of those Kirilloffs had to play SS. 

Lewis can play SS.

[Riverbrian]

4 minutes ago, Craig Arko said:

Lewis can play SS.

Lewis was sent down to the minors to make room for the 12 other Kirilloffs coming in. 😉

[Craig Arko]

1 minute ago, Riverbrian said:

Lewis was sent down to the minors to make room for the 12 other Kirilloffs coming in. 😉

Then you’re not playing your best squad.

[Riverbrian]

2 minutes ago, Craig Arko said:

Then you’re not playing your best squad.

Yeah... I'm not happy about losing Lewis to another Kirilloff but the good news is that another Kirilloff took out Kepler. 

[Craig Arko]

6 minutes ago, Riverbrian said:

Yeah... I'm not happy about losing Lewis to another Kirilloff but the good news is that another Kirilloff took out Kepler. 

50/50.

[Riverbrian]

5 minutes ago, Craig Arko said:

50/50.

And just to show it can be done... We will have two left handed catchers. 

I'm excited.  

[I wish the twins were good]

If the geniuses would have cut Pagan and Kepler before the season like any rational person I am absolutely certain they would have 5 more wins by now.

[I wish the twins were good]

:(

[I wish the twins were good]

I would like to bump this topic back to the top, now that the twins have been absolutely embarrassed by the tigers for two games. Anyone think this management group should still be around in two more years?

[dxpavelka]

On 6/10/2023 at 10:05 PM, Tlaker said:

Owners need to sell as well! Pohlad family is the absolute root of this franchise never ever going to win again!!

dummernasako****inghammers

 

[howeda7]

This team is not doing any meaningful damage in the play-offs much less winning a World Series with Falvey and Rocco in charge. That much, I feel confident of.

Personally, I would love it both were gone tomorrow and Thad Levine and Toby Gardenhire were given a shot to see what they can do with this collection. But I know that's not going to happen. There is a small chance they will be out after the season. If not, we're just wasting more time. 

[Nashvilletwin]

On 6/11/2023 at 11:04 AM, Riverbrian said:

I believe the number one job of any front office is increasing the value of players.

100%. This includes not only developing home grown talent, but also talent acquired via trade or free agency. 

I’d be interested in fellow TDer’s opinions on which Twin position players have developed in a way to at least challenge their true potential under the current regime. The last young “core” of Kepler, Sano, Buxton, Polanco and Gordon have fizzled out without winning a single playoff game. Polanco is perhaps the closest (now cue the various excuses). The one player who could truly be characterised as a success by this criteria was traded. Jeffers is still a possibility as well.

We have multiple consensus top 100 or thereabout prospects in the system. Does anyone believe that the current leadership of this team can continue the development of these players once they get to the show?As discussed in this thread’s debate, we are not necessarily saying that we need the next Joe Mauer or Mike Trout. What we need is these players to continue to develop in a way that maximises (or at least approaches) their true potential, whatever that may be. There may be some TDers who will claim that it’s not the GM and manager’s job to develop players once they make the majors.  I’d argue,  particularly for a small/mid market team like the Twins, it’s their single greatest responsibility if you want the franchise to consistently be able to truly be competitive.

Which of the following players under current leadership do any of us believe will become the best major leaguers they could be: Kiriloff, Larnach, Miranda, Lee, Julien, Martin, Rodriguez, Wallner? Who is missing on this list? At the moment, my humble opinion, is, sadly, none of them (at least as part of our franchise).

Ownership needs to establish and prioritize the parameters by which their hired leadership will be held accountable.  Continuing to develop talent in the major leagues has to be at, or near, the top of this list. 

 

[tony&rodney]

The Pohlad family runs the entire operation. If attendance craters in August and September, they will notice.

The development of players is a key part of a front office task, but the philosophy of play is also important. There have been instances where we see a few differences this season in approach, yet the Twins still lack in fundamental areas. The strike outs have been discussed and occasionally we do see different two strike swings. The guys who have the salaries have been a great disappointment to me. Correa plays a great shortstop but might benefit from hitting in the five or six hole. Buxton is, sadly, a shadow in the last month plus. If Taylor didn't have the ninth spot in the order locked up solid, Buxton belongs there. Gallo is working hard to make contact with too many holes in the bucket. Can he become functional again? Only if the pitcher puts the ball in his one small zone. Polanco has been hurt too often to know what anyone can expect later this year much less next season. Finally, Kepler and Vasquez have lost their bats. That is six guys with real struggles holding them down, which makes wins tough to collect. Things can always change and we hope it does but the best lineup right now would likely include more inexperienced players: Julien, Solano, Kirilloff, Lewis, Wallner, Correa, Larnach, Jeffers, and Taylor/Castro. Something has gone wrong, for a fair period of time now, with the guys we wanted to lead the team. The performance is not there and the energy seems inconsistent too. What responsibility is on the shoulders of Falvey and Baldelli is unclear. The Pohlads put out more than $20 million more in salaries than the ceiling from the Twins Daily charts last winter. The product has produced good starting pitching and half of a bullpen with weak support most of the time from the offense. I'm guessing that the patience of the Pohlad family will be tested if August and September are a repeat of last year. It is pretty hard to fire all of the players.