Brock Beauchamp

Since he's on an innings limit so low, I don't see any reason to start him off in Minnesota. Let him get in 50 or so innings in Rochester and then bring him up. Either way, he'll probably need to be shut down in August.

I LOLed.

For me, it's not about a single free agent. I would have been happy with anything from Greinke to Marcum. There were about ten decent options that ranged from very good (Greinke) to good (Sanchez) to mediocre (Jackson) to question marks with upside (Marcum). The problem is that Ryan didn't get any of them. With more pitching options on the market than I've seen since the mid-2000s, Ryan failed to get even a mediocre pitcher and instead relied entirely on gambles such as Correia (well below average once you factor in league disparity) and Harden (whose arm could fall off the next time he opens a car door a little too vigorously). No matter how you look at the situation, it's a fail. Which is really too bad. The Twins had a lot of money to spend and Ryan did an exemplary job with the Span and Revere trades. If he could have just done an "okay" job with the free agent market, I'd be pleased as punch going into this season. Instead, I want to scream.

That's exactly how it works. The Twins, like every other team, do not prioritize guys in their late 20s who haven't been dominant at any level. Ryan is not going to let Sam-freakin-Deduno block May or Meyer if he steamrolls through the low minors. You don't let 30 year olds get in the way of early 20s flamethrowers. That's just common sense and Ryan, despite my differences of opinion with him, is not a moron.

Walters, Deduno, De Vries, et al should not be blocking any legitimate prospects. They're AAA filler, nothing more. They're the type of guy you use in a pinch and discard the moment something better comes along. Besides, the Twins don't have any depth at AA, either. This is a non-issue.

Who will be held back? The Twins have Diamond and Worley in the rotation. Hendriks is going to pitch himself on or off the roster no matter what. Gibson can only pitch 140 innings. I keep hearing people say "don't hold back the youngsters" without realizing that there aren't enough youngsters to hold back.

And when that fails, tea leaves are always a solid fallback option.

I typed out a sentence with multiple fat jokes but gave up and deleted it. Instead, I'll just agree with this post.

What prospects? The Twins could throw out every decent arm they have (Worley, Gibson, Hendriks, Diamond) and they'd still need two more starting pitchers to have a "stable" rotation. So yeah, instead of taking flyers on low cost, crappy pitchers and seeing ownership pocket the extra money, I'd rather see the team pursue a few free agents that aren't awful and attempt to field a competitive team. I don't care if it only gets them to 75 wins. Ownership has a responsibility to either field a competitive team or buy into the future wholesale and trade the roster. They haven't done either and are currently riding the fence. And, by the hand of God, if you ever find yourself with too many starting pitchers (which has roughly the same probability as being struck by lightning three times), you can trade one of your free agent acquisitions to another team.

You continually make statements like this. Are you implying that you're more of a fan because you have an irrational belief in the franchise's powers that be and that grounded skepticism is somehow a bad thing? Also, I lived in Milwaukee from mid 2008 to late 2009. I still have several friends there. Nobody is thrilled about the payroll situation going on there (and their payroll is STILL equal to Minnesota's despite MUCH smaller revenue streams). If Milwaukee fans are annoyed, Twins fans should be storming the streets with pitchforks and torches. We're getting screwed by comparison.

1. Brewers fans are not happy. Milwaukee's payroll has dropped from $100m to $80m in just a couple of years. 2. Despite playing in a market a fraction of the size of the Twins, playing in a stadium several years older than Target Field, and despite being the smallest market in baseball, the Brewers payroll is nearly identical to the Twins.

Hey, I proofread all my ex-wife's papers through her graduate program in Psychology. That makes me more than qualified to declare someone insane. I'm a keyboard commando when it comes to the DSM IV.

You had to skip past the quote I posted to get to the post you quoted. And it matters because you took my quote out of context of that particular conversation. People were making insane statements about the medical staff and that was my rebuttal. It wasn't that I felt the medical staff was beyond reproach as you implied.

Pretty awesome that you didn't quote this post of mine from the same thread: Um, bravo? I'm pretty sure I state that I think the medical staff is doing a bad job, I'm just honest enough to admit that I don't know **** about being a doctor.

Yeah, that's not what happened at all. Most people were arguing that Ryan needed more than two months to make a change (which he did after the season), not that there wasn't a problem (which Ryan himself admitted).

I wouldn't hate the offseason at that point but I wouldn't be terribly impressed, either. But couple those pitchers with the trades and I'd be generally positive.

One good reason is that Marcum's last good season was not 2009. Taking a flyer on Pelfry and Harden were good secondary moves but relying on those guys to come back and be productive pitchers is utterly ridiculous.

It's not about Marcum and you know that about me. It's about this entire offseason and how the free agent market has been handled. Ryan hasn't even picked up a mediocre arm. Despite having a bunch of money, the worst pitching staff in baseball, and a plethora of free agent arms to be had (some for short term deals), the most he could come up with was Kevin Correia. If he signs Saunders, some of my vitriol will wane. But right now, this is awful. Just awful. Thus far this offseason, Ryan has done nothing but mismanage the free agent market.

I give them a pass on 2011 because they said they were over their preferred budget mark in that season.

They didn't sign two "meh" players. They signed one player whose shoulder is duct-taped to his torso and another guy who couldn't sniff mediocrity in the AL without divine intervention. Totally acceptable moves if they're your 3rd, 4th, or 5th free agent acquisitions. But as your 1st and 2nd, they are abominable.

Marcum makes the team better. A better team means more wins. More wins means better attendance. And if the cause is so hopeless that there's no point in even trying, Willingham and Doumit should be playing somewhere else right now. No matter how you look at it, Ryan has done a really bad job with the Major League roster this offseason.

So what if one year deals are for "meh" players? The Twins had the worst pitching staff in baseball over the past two years. At this point, "meh" is a vast improvement.

It applies to everyone.

It's not about the offseason, it's about the thinking that went behind it. The trades were fantastic. I couldn't be happier with them. But there is a Major League franchise playing in Minnesota and the payroll is over $20m below what it was two years ago. The pitching staff is still in shambles, the offense is weakened, and even the bullpen has a few question marks. At what point do fans start saying "**** you, Minnesota Twins" and take their money elsewhere? It's already begun to happen and another 90+ loss season is going to continue that trend in even greater numbers. And what has the front office done to stop this fan exodus? They went out and signed Kevin-****ing-Correia. That's it. That was their big free agent move. Meanwhile, Marcum is signed for a one year deal. Here are the possible situations that Marcum brings to the Twins: 1. Marcum stays healthy and is good. The Twins are miraculously competitive behind strong seasons from the youngsters and stay in the hunt. Fan attendance remains high. 2. Marcum stays healthy and is good. The Twins are still awful but with 11-12 wins at the deadline, Marcum is moved for a solid B level prospect. 3. Marcum is middling and has a few injury problems. The Twins are awful and at the deadline, Marcum is moved for a low C prospect. 4. Marcum's arm falls off. The Twins are out $10m they weren't going to spend anyway and have zero commitment for 2014. Fans have every right to be really ****ing pissed off about this offseason. This pretty much guarantees that I won't be buying tickets. I'll take the free tickets I come across several times a year but this team won't get my money for a ticket. They don't deserve it.

Look at what KC gave up for Shields. The absolute dumbest thing the Twins could be doing right now is playing that game. Trading away top-shelf prospects for a starter when you're coming off back-to-back 90+ loss seasons is not a winning formula. I was all for trying to pry Shields away from Tampa but after seeing what KC gave up for the guy, there is no way the Twins should have been in the mix... It would have required Span and Sano to get him at that point. Not smart.