Bark's Lounge

Out of all the prospects the Twins have doing their thing in the minors. Who do you think has the most star potential out of them all? Who is the wild card (player)? And who can make the most immediate impact?

From what I have heard and read. He still projects as a third baseman, but not Shortstop. Here's hoping to that projection lasting for the long term!

Madison would be a cool and fun place to seemingly go to a AAA ball game, but they are a 1:15 hour drive from Milwaukee and 2:30 hour drive from Chi-Town. If anyone was to have a AAA affiliate in Madison, it should be the Brewers. Someone on one of the threads proposed the idea of Sioux Falls being the Twin's AAA destination. I could see that as being viable. Sioux Falls is chill, but somewhat nice. I have some family out in that area and they are Big Time Twins fans and most of that area seems to be aligned to the Twins. Why not give it a try?

Maybe the Twins can move their AAA affiliate to Minneapolis. The last I heard they didn't have a team.

Hmmnn... I agree, I wouldn't put that past the Twins.

At some point every baseball organization is going to suck. Right now our home team is starting to figure out that MLB has outgrown the "Twins Way". Ryan and his staff need to change philosophies on the fly and start the long process to make things right. If they can't someone else will. The Pohlads (love them or hate them) depend on making money from this team - if they lose more money than they deem acceptable, Ryan and his staff will be replaced. No questions asked. Also, Mauer will not be traded or accept a trade. First of all the Twins won't eat the amount of salary it would take to move him - and 2nd, Mauer does not want to be traded. I wish Mauer had some super power to harness all of the negative energy thrown his way and use it for good. If THAT were the case he should retire from baseball and fix some of the REAL problems we have in this world/society/country. With all of the negative energy he has harnessed, he is 20 times more powerful than the sun.

The Twins will not have the upper hand in any trades they pursue this summer. Every other team knows their predictiment and will not give top prospects for anything we put on the table. The best case scenario is last year's Delmon Young trade. For A Matt Capps, Franny Liriano, Carl Pavano, Jason Marquis we will get a Lester Oliveros or worse type prospect. Maybe Willingham and Span can fetch a little more. If the Twins give away Span - they will look like and be total bumbling idiots. Darwin Award caliber at that.

After Mr. Nathan collected 48M for essentially 2 seasons of work, he decided he wanted to play for a winning ballclub and packed up his things and left.

Maybe sometime in late July, a contending team might need some set-up help. If this happens we could probably get a Lester Oliveros type for him. Not much, but something.

Only if a seagull snatches a fly ball and carries it over the fence.

Whether It be Gardy, Ullger, Ted Danson or the ghost of Milton Berle managing, it would not make a single difference. Hell, I could throw a handful of rocks onto the field at Safeco and they would perform better than the players we are putting out there right now. Although... it might be entertaining to watch Ullger the Weird's post game Q&A sessions on FSN this weekend.

Is there a difference between right and left? The Twins have obviously been castrated - no right or left nuts required.

anti-depressents might help you deal with your anger and sadness. Other than that strap into your seat for a long nasty ride of Twins futility. Maybe catching a little league game of baseball might restore some faith within your baseball wreckage.

I have Mauer's back. Yeah, he'll most definitely hit into some GIDP's. I believe he will have a great season in the midst of a Twin's train wreck of a season. 15 HR's at best, but a batting title in play!

I hope the Organization gives Rosario at least a year to see if he can cut it at 2B. He seems to be a gifted athlete, being a a center fielder... here's to hoping!

Oh by the way Mr. SirLoin. Nice play on words with your title.

I hope no one can actually feel righteous in blaming Bill Smith for all of the Twin's current woes. Although Bill Smith held the title of General Manager from 2007-2011, my feeling is he was more of a figure head than a voice. Being that Smith was more of a financial administrator than a field administrator, I believe that Terry Ryan had his hand in the drafting and trades post 2007. Free agency and contracts: This one is a bit confusing, but after TR resigned, Smith signed Morneau and Cuddyer to contracts that were of fare value or a little above... not much stink there, The Mauer contract is a bit more complicated, but he is coming off of an MVP season and he is a hometown hero (Looking from a PR stance, this needs to get done, especially in the Twin Cities). Bill Smith relies on his scouts, the same scouts that served under Terry Ryan to make trades or draft certain players. Under Smith's tenure I have no doubts that Ryan was head of scouting, whether that was his title or not and I believe the drafts were his dominion and his ultimate decision from 2008-2011 (under Smith's Tenure). The trades can be a little more confusing. I cannot see Ryan trading Garza for Delmon Young. I cannot see Ryan Trading Wilson Ramos for Matt Capps. I loved the Gomez for Hardy trade. Maybe Terry Ryan felt free of the pressure, and in turn pressured his puppet GM Bill Smith to make the trades he did. Ryan did not have to deal with the simpleton MN media anymore and felt he was clear of their scrutiny. He could act like an over sugared child in a toy shop. Reality: Terry Ryan's good friend, Bill Smith, payed the price for Ryan's futility and was fired. No one that is fired like Bill Smith comes back to an organization so quickly, taking a smaller role in administration, unless it was a smoke screen to protect Terry Ryan. Now Ryan is the White Knight working so fervently to correct all of the mistakes that Billy Smith made... how convenient.

I hope no one can actually feel righteous in blaming Bill Smith for all of the Twin's current woes. Although Bill Smith held the title of General Manager from 2007-2011, my feeling is he was more of a figure head than a voice. Being that Smith was more of a financial administrator than a field administrator, I believe that Terry Ryan had his hand in the drafting and trades post 2007. Free agency and contracts: This one is a bit confusing, but after TR resigned, Smith signed Morneau and Cuddyer to contracts that were of fare value or a little above... not much stink there, The Mauer contract is a bit more complicated, but he is coming off of an MVP season and he is a hometown hero (Looking from a PR stance, this needs to get done, especially in the Twin Cities). Bill Smith relies on his scouts, the same scouts that served under Terry Ryan to make trades or draft certain players. Under Smith's tenure I have no doubts that Ryan was head of scouting, whether that was his title or not and I believe the drafts were his dominion and his ultimate decision from 2008-2011 (under Smith's Tenure). The trades can be a little more confusing. I cannot see Ryan trading Garza for Delmon Young. I cannot see Ryan Trading Wilson Ramos for Matt Capps. I loved the Gomez for Hardy trade. Maybe Terry Ryan felt free of the pressure, and in turn pressured his puppet GM Bill Smith to make the trades he did. Ryan did not have to deal with the simpleton MN media anymore and felt he was clear of their scrutiny. He could act like an over sugared child in a toy shop. Reality: Terry Ryan's good friend, Bill Smith, payed the price for Ryan's futility and was fired. No one that is fired like Bill Smith comes back to an organization so quickly, taking a smaller role in administration, unless it was a smoke screen to protect Terry Ryan. Now Ryan is the White Knight working so fervently to correct all of the mistakes that Billy Smith made... how convenient.

Hmmnn... The Son of Sal Returns. Lock your doors ladies and gentlemen. Plouffe at 3B tonight - I'm cool with it. Let's see what happens.

If the whole coaching staff was to get fired. My first hire would be Ernie Pantusso. I am not sure which coaching vacancy he would fill, but it will all get figured out.

I wish I had a more creative answer, but it would have to be Puck's 6 for 6 game. I had the opportunity to watch that game on TV as a 12 year old and it sticks with me strongly to this very day. I recall a fan catching his 2nd HR to RF barehanded. Puckett may be looked at as a sabremetric weak link to the Hall of Fame.... I pitty those fools. He was a big game hunter and we would be lacking 2 World Championships without him. The Twins have had some good clubs since his retirement and unfortunate passing, if he was on the 2006 team, he might have been the difference maker. We have had some good teams in the post-Puckett era... they lacked the passion and the clutch mentality it takes to win those pressure packed playoff games. I just may have seen the last Twins World Championship in my lifetime as a 16 year old.

I mean this with the utmost sincerity. I hope Plouffe gets a lot of defensive opportunities tonight and succeeds. Being a moveable piece in the infield is the sure fire way he can have value for this ball club in the future.

It's been more than a few years, but I think where Molitor went wrong in Seattle was his attempt to make Ichiro a more Bases on Balls oriented type of player. I think Molitor's year as hitting coach in Seattle was 2005 and Ichiro was coming off a .370 BA campaign in 2004. Ichiro batted around .310ish in 2005 and Molitor was shown the door. Lesson: Don't mess with something that is going good and don't mess with a player who has the ilk of a artist we have never seen before and are likely to never see again. Although, Molitor deserves another chance if he wants it. But I am under the impression he does not (want it).

Mr. SirLoin. I agree with your "Young Guns" replacement theory of Sandberg, Martinez and Alomar Jr. - don't forget Tim Wallach. He's up there too.

The Twins are as bad as the "Happy Days" spin off "Joni Loves Chachi". That short lived TV program at least had some Fonzi guest appearances. If a Fonzi guest appearance equals fair to decent pitching for the Twins - we are up "Sh@#!" creek without a paddle. Oh well, here's to being relevant in 2015 (if we draft and develop pitchers well). HHHEEEYYY! (While combing back my greased pompador hairdo)