ScottyB

First of all a pitching coach becoming the manager scares me - I keep having nightmares of Ray "the Rabbit" Miller. Secondly, whether or not Gardy is brought back, Andy needs to go. Time to give Bobby Cuellar a chance. If Steinbach is elevated to manager, we need to purge Vavra and Ullger. That would leave four coach openings - bench, first, third and bullpen (assuming Bruno stays as hitting coach). I could see elevating Glynn and Mientkiewicz or Mauer. If you elevate Dougie, give Tommy Watkins a chance to manage the Miracle. I'd like to see the two remaining spots with guys from outside the organization - and preferably Hispanic. The bullpen might be a place for Pudge Rodriguez since he has no official coaching background. My preference would be an hispanic outsider for bench coach. Options could include Ozzie, Tony Pena (should he become available), Felix Fermin, Juan Samuel, or Andres Galaraga.

I always dreamed of winning a playoff or WS game with this Moses or our later first round pick named Moses leading the way so the headline would read - Moses Leads Twins to Promised Land.

There's no question that Pinto is eventually the #1 catcher on this team. We know that Gardy likes to go with 3 catchers and Pinto has the least flexibility in positions and the most flexibility on options. I see him starting next season at Rochester. Once Doumit is traded, (not a question of if, but when), the three catchers will be Pinto, Mauer and Herrmann. Mauer will play mostly at first, but still catch about 50 games. Gardy has talked about using Herrmann at first base and he has taken some fielding at 3B as well. I would send him to winter ball to work on both of those positions. That would make him a vital bench piece. He has enough athleticism to play all 3 OF spots (but I wouldn't make him be my main backup CF'er), add to that C, 3B and 1B and he would be extremely valuable. In 2015 I could see Pinto starting 100 games at C, Herrmann starting 30 games at C and Mauer starting 30 games at C.

As they said in ET - This is reality Greg. We are talking the Minnesota Twins here. In over 20 years the only significant free agent pitcher the Twins have signed was Jack Morris - because he wanted to pitch at home. Other than that I would say #2 would be Kenny Rogers. The Twins simply have never taken chances on free agents, period. What's the biggest free agent contract of a non-Twins player ever - it is for Willingham, 3 years, $21 million and that's both the highest cost and longest contract. Of the pitchers mentioned, Phill Hughes is making $7,150,000 - he won't be taking a cut. Ervin Santana is making $13,000,000 - he won't be taking a cut. Tim Lincecum is making $22,250,000 - he is unlikely to take a cut, even if his talent seems to be declining. Johan is making $24,644,708 - he might take a cut, maybe $20,000,000 on a one-year deal. And Josh Johnson - he's making $13,750,000 - he might be a buy low guy because of injury, but he won't take much of a cut and will certainly want a bunch of incentives on a one-year deal to rebuild reputation. All of these guys are already making more than the $7,000,000 a year that Willingham took in. Expect Correia back and probably Pelfrey. You might be able to sign a guy like Kazmir, who signed a minor league deal with Cleveland, but at least somewhat re-established himself and might sign a Correia type deal. Hughes might be in play, but I think too many teams with more assets they are willing to use will make offers higher than what Twins will be willing to pay. Ryan is more likely to trade. Maybe go after another buy low guy like Jeremy Hellickson who didn't have a great year. I don't know if there is a trade fit there, but it's something to think about. I don't even know if we have any chips available that anyone would want.

According to Mike Bernadino, JT Chargois is having TJ surgery in 2 weeks or so. Another Twins pitcher succumbs. Minnesota Twins prospect J.T. Chargois to undergo surgery - TwinCities.com

Arcia doesn't qualify. Plouffe and Dozier both qualify and are tied at .245

Now we know why Pinto was already recalled. He's been activated for tonight's game according to Twins web site.

Justin's dinger tonight (#221 career) moves him past Tony-O into 3rd place all time Twins in HR's behind only Harmon (475 as a Twin) and Herby (293).

This. Plus he's a Boris client. And this

Reverse Standings (MLB Rumors - MLBTradeRumors.com)

No Bundy, but Gausman's on the table (I'm sure) - his awful ERA and all.

As of this morning (8/28) the Twins are just 2 1/2 games from the 3rd pick, with the 5th pick in the draft. But it's still stacked up with a 5 1/2 game swing between the 3rd pick and the 15th. So right now we're 2 1/2 games and 2 picks out of 3rd and 3 games and 10 picks out of 15th. What a jam-up of crappy teams this year!

I'm thinkin' Pavano on a comeback.

With Hendricks slated to start Saturday, who will get sent out is his place? Will Tonkin go back down? Also when Mauer comes back does Cola go back down? I believe that restricts him to coming back for 10 days, unless that's waived for roster expansion. They won't send Herrmann down as a precaution. Of course it will be less than a week until Sept. 1 - they could keep Mauer on the DL until then and expand the roster.

I understand that Herrmann has taken some balls at 3B as an emergency backup. I'd love to see him play some winter ball taking more reps there and maybe even some 1B. That versatility certainly makes having a third string catcher much more palatable. In the day and age of a 3 man bench, you need all the versatility you can get.

It's just too early to be skeptical at this point. Gibson has only 51 innings under his belt, way too few to make a judgment. Remember, Frankie V had 2 dreadful seasons including his second season with 200+ innings pitched. Then he blossomed to win 18 games and be a consistent starter. To me there were enough bright spots by Gibson, to see a potential as a solid #2 type starting pitcher (think Brad Radke). Gibson would certainly benefit from a veteran presence (similar to what Pavano was).

Obviously I was kidding - the Twinks wouldn't take on a $120M contract.

Mornreau for Elvis Andrus who just cleared waivers.

Ramirez has no options left - he can't be sent down without DFAing and outrighted (which will probably happen after the season).

I'm guessing Kyle Zimmer, Sean Manaea or Hunter Dozier (so we can have Dozier and Dozier up the middle). After all - Carroll is worth more than Butera.

These are TR's best type of trades - cast off a veteran who's no longer needed for a prospect. See trades for Casilla, Bartlett, Ortiz etc. Good job Terry.

Color me shocked - much better than I expected.

Missed that. That'll work - thanks much!

Would it be possible to put Jeremy's thread on Roster Info and Payroll permanently on the top with the comment policy or to add an option for resources? I find it to be a great resource and would like to refer to the thread for info sometimes when making comments, but it's extremely difficult to hunt it down.