ScottyB

I said this the day after Gardy was fired. Willis has always been my #1 choice. Glad to see the Twins are looking at him seriously.

Eddie looked great! I hope he goes to Chattanooga along with Dougie Baseball and they win another title. I think Eddie could be ready to play CF at Target Field by Memorial Day!

I love that glunn likes both of these - nothing like covering all the bases!

I still think that Robin Yount will be one of the hires, probably as bench or first base coach. I sure would love to steal Sandy Alomar from Cleveland.

When worn properly, they did, in fact, have a TC on the side.

See attached Thanks to Thrylos I like this toned down red, not the bright one from the 90's. I've always wanted an alternative with a "TC" on the chest. This wouldn't be bad with a big TC instead of the Twins script. Put Minny and Paul on the sleeve where the TC is. Also hide the Nike swish on the other sleeve, although I think official jerseys are made by Majestic. I wouldn't even ask for a percentage if they used these ideas, well maybe 50 cents a jersey.

TK just had a stroke - let the guy heal. ST help will be enough and he'll be around Target Field anyway for advice.

Never, never, never, never, never trade young, potentially high end starters for outfielders. It is much easier to train an outfielder than to come up with God-given pitching talent. If Berrios or Meyer were 5 or 6 years from the majors and the Twins were one player away from a world championship, then maybe. That's not the case here. Think Garza for Young. Not the right direction. As far as OF'ers go, the potential is there. Arcia hit 20 homers this year, Hicks showed improvement at the end of the year and might be able to be turned around, Rosario and Kepler are hitting in the AFL, Santana will be fine in CF or at SS, and if Buxton can stay healthy, he'll be great. Molitor needs to put together a coaching staff who can improve these guys. Early in his career, Molitor was injured a lot. Put him in a room with Buxton to explain that while it's nice to go full blast on defense, if it keeps putting you in the hospital, you're not helping the team. With his speed, going 3/4 time will save injuries and keep him on the field.

If the Twins decide to once again go with retread (former Twin) free agents let's look at who's available: Catchers Doumit and Pierzinski, 1B-OF Michael Cuddyer, hometown infielder (not former Twin) Jack Hannahan, outfielders Jason Kubel (3rd time's the charm), Delmon Young, Josh Willingham, Torii Hunter, DH Kendrys Morales, and pitchers (both starting and relief) Kevin Corriea, Frankie Liriano, Kevin Slowey, Jared Burton, Jesse Crain, Matty Guerrier, Jeff Manship, Pat Neshek, and Craig Breslow. Quite a smorgasbord of treats for us to pick up.

MLB Trade Rumors has predicted who will sign each of their top 50 free agents. They have the Twins signing 2 starting pitchers - #22 Jason Hammel and #48 Brett Anderson. Other notables include Max Scherzer to the Yankees, Jon Lester to the Cubs and James Shields to the Red Sox. They have a boatload going to the Cubs -besides Lester, Russell Martin (catcher), Dave Robertson (closer), Justin Masterson (SP), Jake Peavy (SP). Former Twins Frankie Liriano will be picked up by the Red Sox, Torii goes to the Rangers, Cuddy goes to the Mariners, and Pat Neshek goes to the Astros.

With all of the years they played together, I always assumed that Yount would be a part of a Molitor regime. See Gardy + Anderson - roomates throughout the minors. And maybe a Rollie Fingers or Gorman Thomas or Ben Ogilvie or Jim Gantner. I think that Bruno, Steiny and Cuellar will be retained on the new staff in some capacity. The rest will be new.

Just curious - any relationship between scribe Mike and interviewee Dick?

My choices would be 1) Carl Willis and 2) Eddie Guardado. The Big Train had 3 Cy Young winners in his tenure as Cleveland and Seattle pitching coach - King Felix, Cliff Lee, and CC Sabathia.

Plouffe has been talked about as a potential super utility guy after Sano gets here or as a trading chip, but after watching him this year I'm not so sure that's the direction I would go. With the outfield looking suspect and Plouffe's major improvement as a 3rd Baseman, I started thinking that it might not be so stupid to look at Sano in left. Many thought Sano might have to be moved to a corner OF, so why not consider it. Being able to have both of their bats in the lineup long term, might make a lot of sense. How about a lineup that looks like this - Santana SS, Buxton CF, Mauer 1B, Sano LF, Vargas DH, Arcia RF, Plouffe 3B, Suzuki/Pinto C, Dozier 2B

It would be a long travel distance in any of the AA leagues (as in flying distance, not feasible by bus.) If CHS Park were to be used, maybe for A ball Midwest League, and that's still a stretch for travel.

Yes. He and TK are Special Assistants to the GM. He was GM for the Reds.

I just noticed in LEN III's Saturday insider that as of tomorrow, the Twins will be AA free agents looking for a new location for their minor league team. He said they could go back to New Britain, but they have filed paperwork and it's unlikely they will return. I don't know what other locations are available. Could they switch to either AA in the Texas or SALLY leagues? Anyone know anything about this?

Girsch would be okay with me as well. The thing I liked about the other two guys was that they had worked in other successful front offices as well.

In over 50 years and a dozen managers, the Twins have only gone outside the organzation twice - Bill Rigney and Ray Miller. (and they've only had 2 managers for the last 28 years.) I don't see them changing course at this late date. It might nice as a change of pace - but the last guy we brought in from outside the organization was Ray Miller and he was a disaster. I'm not against Molitor, however, I wouldn't put much stock in the items you list as qualifications. Think Ted Williams. When he was hired by Washington/Texas, they were expecting big things from him. He was a mediocre manager at best (with the same qualifications you mention for Molly.) I have to disagree with you about the last item. I don't want to bring someone in to learn from TR, I want the Twins to go in a different direction and not be contaminated by doing things "the Twins way". I want to bring someone in from outside the organization, but let them start fresh. See my post about what I would do after TR retires. http://twinsdaily.com/topic/15246-when-tr-retires/

I wouldn't write off someone because they never played in the majors. It hasn't hurt current managers like Terry Collins of the Mets (10 years managing experience in majors), Fredi Gonzalez of the Braves (8 years), or Joe Maddon of the Rays (11 years). It also wasn't a handicap for Jim Leyland (22 years), Earl Weaver (17 years) or Joe McCarthy (who won 7 WS titles in his 16 years with the Yankees, and 24 years managing overall).

I think it's a given that Terry Ryan will retire in the not too distant future. I believe he will take the Tom Kelly approach and when the team turns the corner (hopefully next year), Ryan will tell the Pohlads that it is time for him to move on. The team will be on an upward swing (as it was with TK), the minor league system will be one of the best in baseball, and with hopefully improving health, he can take some time to retire and stay available for consulting just as TK does now. TR is like TK in that he doesn't want to leave the team in decline. The big question is, what direction will the Twins go to fill TR's shoes. We've tried the work from within approach with Billy Smith and that didn't pan out well. After watching Rob Antony take over as interim, I don't believe that's the solution. If I was in charge of the Twins, I would look outside the organization. I'm tired of re-using fired GM's (there's usually a reason they were fired). I would look at winning mid-market teams and tap their front offices. Phil Mackey cited Tampa, Oakland and St. Louis as teams to emulate. I'd be even more specific and narrow it down to St. Louis. In the last 14 years, they have averaged 91 wins and the Cardinals are the Yankees of the National League, having won the most pennants and titles in the NL. There are two guys who are young and yet have years of front office, scouting and most importantly player development experience who I would interview and choose one of them to take over. My choices would be either Matt Slater, their current Director of Player Personnel and Dan Kantrovitz, their Director of Scouting. Slater has 20 years experience working for teams like Baltimore, the Dodgers, the Brewers and the Cards. He also spent time working for the Oryx Buffaloes in Japan. He has held many positions including DIrector of Scouting Operations, Director of Professional Scouting, and Director of Baseball Operations. He has experience negotiating contracts, arbitration and roster management and is currrently directly involved in all player acquisitions including major league, minor league, draft and international signings. In my mind, this guy is perfect. So much so, that I'm not sure the Cards would let him go, but it would be a definite step up, so it's possible. Kantrovitz is younger and has less experience, however, he has extensive experience on the international front having been Director of International Scouting for the A's. He was integral in helping the A's sign players from Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Cuba, Colombia, Panama, Taiwan, Europe, and Korea. He also brings the bonus of having helped to create the Cardinals computer system - Redbirddog. These are exactly the types of front office execs that the Twins need to tap into. They would bring new blood into the organization and help the Twins to become a powerhouse. That's what my research has led me to. I am assuming that a change in GM would bring a change in managers. I would have no problem with any of the managers that have been talked about here at TD - Dougy Baseball, Molly, Steiny, even Glynn. New blood in the coaching staff is essential. There is no question that we need a coach whose first language is Spanish. That topic has been covered here at TD. A new pitching coach (maybe Cuellar), but the new manager should have a free hand at choosing his staff and hopefully bring in some guys from outside the organization to bring in new perspectives.

Is Luke Bard ever going to pitch?

I assume you mean 2014

Hopefully this Hendricks kid pitches like he used to in the majors.

Is the game not on TV tonight?