Twins Are Making The Right Moves

"A couple fairly intriguing minor-league pitchers came back in the Correia and Willingham swaps"

I must've missed it - who did they get for Correia?

The Twins are moving in the right direction, yes. Future success, however, could still be a couple years away. The team may flirt with .500 next season, but unless Gibson becomes more consistent, Nolasco finds his form, and at least one of Alex Meyer or Trevor May reach their potential (and stop walking so many guys) 2015 isn't going to be a roaring success. Yes, it should be better to watch than this season, just as this season was better than last, but I think there's still a lot of work to be done. Sano and Buxton are still big question marks. The talent is there, just have to wait for it to show up.

Like aging a fine wine, all we can do is wait.

I like Miami's direction a lot better. And look how fast it happened. And they have Redmond instead of Gardenhire.

Miami has had way more terrible years and redos on rebuilding. When is the last time that Miami has been to the post season?

It does suck that this is the fourth year of rebuilding, but all year this year I feel I have more reason to watch an entire game. There is no quit in this team. Even down 10-1 last night going into the ninth, the team put together good at bats and put 3 runs on the board.

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Gardy, like TK, is here until he doesn't want to be. He may not be able to handpick his successor as TK did though. Molitor or Glynn might make sense as they are older and might only want to manage a couple of years, bridging the gap to Mauer or Mientkiewicz.

I believe this is year 3 of the rebuild, not year 4 (but it is the 4th consecutive down year).  In 2011, the wheels came off after winning the division in 2010 - I don't count 2011 as a rebuild but a frozen stare of horror.  We still had Billy Smith as GM and bare cupboards in the upper minors.  Rebuilding the minors usually takes 3-4 years before that talent is ready to move to the majors, so this feels like it is on schedule even though it as been agonizing to watch.

 

I blame the Twins Daily staff for keeping us so well informed on who's who in the minors that we all became inpatient!

Yeah, me too, and I keep getting warnings about it.

I am happy with how Terry has stacked the minor league system and happy that in August we are clearing room for guys.  Key guys seem to be promoted in the minors as well.

But it is hard for me to say they are making all the right moves because I keep coming back to Alex Meyer. No player may play a bigger role in turning around this franchise than Meyer.  I say that with respect for Buxton and Sano.  However, we have had one of the worst starting pitching ERA in the league for three years running and it will take a dramatic leap in that category to really improve the club.  Meyer will play a huge role in that.

Our AAA rotation at the beginning of the year was Meyer, May, Pino, Darnell, and Johnson I believe. The only one that has not yet been up is Meyer.  With a rotation of May, Gibson, Nolasco, Hughes, and Milone the rest of the way Meyer won't be up unless someone gets injured.  The only reasons I can come up with why Meyer has not been up is we want to evaluate the Darnells, Johnsons, etc. to see who we should keep as AAA depth next year.  Or as the article alluded to, we are hoping to flip one of them. We could also sell them to an Asian team.  Or we don't want to make a spot on the 40 man.  These are all penny wise and pound foolish reasons, IMO.

It is nice, after 4 years of losing and 3 years of half hearted rebuilding, to finally see the Twins parting with veteran talent and getting a return for said talent. 2012 & 2013 were particularly frustrating as the Twins just sat on aging assets that clearly were not in the future plans for the team.

I'd rather watch May get knocked around a bit and learn "on the job" than watch Correia make another start. The same goes for Willingham vs. Vargas, Arcia vs. Fuld (in a roundabout way, fewer options in the OF means Ozzie HAS to play). Now, if the Twins could move Burton and Duensing and bring up some more young arms, I'd be quite pleased with the last two months. (Transaction wise).

I'm happy that they were able to trade Correia and Willingham and to do so in a way that rewarded them for their service to the Twins.  Best of luck to both of them with their new teams.

Given that there were those here who were willing to simply DFA both of them, the returns on the trades are nice bonus even if they don't pan out for much.

I'm also gratified that they have finally acknowledged the rebuild.  I felt like the last three years they were in public denial.

I still believe it is time for a new manager and until the Twins have one, I'm not willing to think much about "Wait til next year".

I would be shocked if we got anything back for him.  (Cue TR making it happen. )

Those are the magic words, after all.  I said the same thing about Butera, Morales, Fuld, Correia, and Hammer.

As fans, it seems we're disappointed about the returns on the former fan-favorites (Morneau, Liriano, et al.) but always surprised at the returns on the punching bags (Butera, Correia, et al.).  Not sure if that's just an aspect of fandom, or if it's an attribute of TR's general management style.

I still believe it is time for a new manager and until the Twins have one, I'm not willing to think much about "Wait til next year".

I agree wholeheartedly.

I work for a company that fired our CEO a few months ago.  He was kind of a stubborn guy that put the kibosh on major initiatives for years. As a result we were somewhat behind our competitorsin technolgoy, innovation, etc.. With him gone, we have re-explored many of the things and are moving forward to a better tomorrow.

I see parallels between the company and the Twins. I think Gardy is stuck in his ways and the best way for the Twins to catch up is with a new manager and a fresh look.  I am thinking saber metrics, third catchers, how we overvalue defense, the need for veterans around, etc.

Good article, Nick.  Yesterday I had a consultation with a surgeon who will remove my gall bladder.  Darn, it will cut my duck hunting season  short.  He said he'd given up on the Twins 2 weeks ago.  But mentioned trading Willingham to KC.  KC was a surprise to me, and I mentioned how TR usually treated  his players well, sending them to contending teams.  This year Fuld, Willingham and Correia to first place teams, and how so many leave here to get a ring. He popped up with Punto and laughed and agreed a lot do.  I wonder which former Twin will get the ring this year. 

Close, Pino started out as the swingman with Rochester.  How could you forget Scott Diamond? (now a starter for the Reds AAA team and doing much better than with the Wings in 5 starts).

So Pino was not good enough to start in the rotation at Rochester.  Every team has had a chance to claim this guy multiple times. He is closer to 31 than he is 30 and has a career ERA in the minors of 3.77.  After 50 some innings of ridiculous LOB % and BABIP, he jumps over Meyer to the big show.  Thanks jokin. Appreciate you pointing that out!

Few holes to fill? On a team about to lose 88 games? It is good they finally faced reality in the rebuild, but if they have few holes to fill, why are they so bad?

Because the Twins have such a balanced minor league system, it hard to sign a veteran without someone saying "but now ... is blocked". With the exception of signing a superstar at top dollar, the Twins are looking at a catcher, an outfielder, and maybe a starting pitcher. With the Suzuki extension they've addressed Catching (Pinto is a good fall back option). A Michael Cuddyer type on no more than a two year deal, and a pitcher who is better than anyone you have in AAA (which might be hard to justify given Meyer there). After that, its all about giving young players time to  play. If Vargas is hitting 280-300 with 7-10 homeruns by the end of the year, Is it worth holding him back for guy on a one year deal? 

Because the players who will fill many of those holes haven't arrived yet. What I meant is that they have few holes to fill externally via FA or trade. For instance, why would they acquire a third baseman when Sano is on the way? Why would they sign a starter when they've already got Meyer/May/Milone/Gibson/Nolsaco lined up?

I would be very interested in acquiring a good starter this offseason.  You are right that there are very few holes to fill.  C/1B/2B/3B/DH are locked up.  No team should pay for RP'ers.  Good SS's are almost never available.  That leaves picking up an OF bat and SP'ing. 

Despite having options the starting pitching is full of question marks.

Hughes - good

gibson - not great but solid

Nolasco - red flags on this guy until he is healthy and effective for the next 12 months.  I have my doubts.

Milone - is next year's version of Worley/Diamond/Blackburn/Silva/KC/Pavano.  If things are good then he's alright and if he's just a little off then it's a disaster.

May - a good prospect but not a great one

Meyer - a great prospect with injury/durability red flags

I almost certainly know that the Twins won't be shopping in the Lester/Scherzer market but Iwakuma (?), Shields and ESantana are out there.  The Twins have 60M committed (plus Plouffe in arb) and almost no holes to fill.  I would go after a potential #1/2 because they have options for #3/4/5 starters and they don't have anywhere else to spend the money.