silverslugger

I love baseball. I love watching baseball, reading about baseball, talking about baseball, and I used to love playing baseball in my younger days. I don't love 3 1/2 hour games (by the way, 3 of the Twins first four games have been 3 1/2 hour affairs). I don't love watching managers trot out to the mound 3 times in a single inning. I don't love situational moves multiple times in the 5th and 6th inning. Furthermore, I can't understand a manager attempting to tell the media and the fans that his bullpen is gassed and thin after all of three games over the course of four days, especially when said bullpen has 7 members. Jared Burton was apparently toast after having thrown all of 12 pitches on Wednesday and 10 pitches on Thursday. Seriously. I long for the days when teams had a deeper bench instead of a deeper pen. I long for the days when most games were 2 1/2 hours, not 3 1/2. Simply put, I'm ready for change. Should there be a new rule where a reliever must pitch to a certain number of batters? It's the only way I think we can somewhat reduce the managerial blundering that is going on in most organizations right now. Anyone else on board? Any other ideas?

Wonderful idea, I'm in! But I need help deciding between: Group A) Worley, Pelfrey, Correia, DeVries, Diamond, Gibson or Group Dickey, Lohse, Liriano, Baker, Garza, Humber Slightly kidding, but do seriously keep one of these groups as mine. I'll be interested in the stats comparison at season's end.

I'm not necessarily in the camp that thinks Slama should be given a chance at the expense of Swarzak. However, is it too much of a stretch to suggest that Swarzak has gotten his opportunities because he's "Swarzy" whereas Slama is not "Slammy"? I think you know what I mean.

I was able to attend my first game at Target Field last July. My wife bought tickets in early April, back when some still thought they had a chance for a bounce back year, at face value. I'd like to go to a game again this year. We won't be dumb enough to pay face value as I'm relatively certain their will be an abundance of tickets available on the secondary market by July.

Like it or not, this article is probably a good barometer of the national perception surrounding the Twins right now. Let's face it, our 25 man roster doesn't exactly strike fear in any opponents. I'm not exactly happy with what Ryan accomplished in FA. I am happy with the trades and very excited to watch all of our young talent continue to develop. It just means I'll be paying that much more attention to what's going on down on the farm and probably that much less attention to what's going on at Target Field.

We all know the succession of successful Twins in CF. It sounds as though Hicks might be a combination of Puckett, Hunter, and Span with some of the best from each of them. My question. Is there a non-Twin comp from the past 20-30 years who compares more favorably to Hicks potential than any of our three beloved former Twins?

I would imagine that the level of instruction any 18 year old experiences going from high school ball to professional minor league instruction would feel like a "barrage". Here's my take. If a hitter is hitting successfully for whatever his skill set is at his level of competence, chances are, the hitting instructor isn't doing much to change his approach. If I remember correctly, Span's numbers in the lower minors weren't overwhelming and those numbers didn't necessarily suggest MLB success until he hit AAA. I agree though John, the article does a disservice by not going further and answering those questions you bring up.

Let's assume Hicks makes the team. What's your batting order beyon Hicks, Mauer? Is Morneau third, or Willingham, or possibly even an insanely good Parmelee (yeah, i know, a reach). What about when Carroll plays, do his on-base skills mean he bats 2 and Mauer moves back to 3? Does Butera have more value as a RP or a C? Oops, I digress.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what Parmelee and Plouffe can do with 500-600 at bats as well. If Parmelee provides a .770 OPS, how does his future look as a 1B rather than a RF? Should he be the placeholder for Sano, or should they attempt to re-up with Morneau? I just don't see Sano as an everyday 3B in the majors. Hope I'm wrong.

This!

Definitely Butch Wynegar, Calvin Griffith's wunderboy. For those 30 and under on this site, if you think the Pohlad's and Ryan are miserly, bone up on your history concerning Calvin and his ownership of the Twins in the late 70's/early 80's.

This is also the point I was trying to get at in my post on the thread to Nick's article today. I sometimes wonder if our board posters, whom I think are more knowledgeable than the average fan, forget that it's one thing to arrive, another thing to thrive. If we're talking about a core of Hicks, Arcia, Meyer, May, Sano and Hendriks then we're talking 2016. If you want to talk Buxton, Berrios, Kepler, etc. Well, that's the second wave to reinforce the first and the two groups won't be formidable together until 2018/2019.

Always enjoy your articles Nick. I was hoping, based on the title, this article would be more about the expected timeline of rebuilds by comparing previous rebuilds of other teams. We all know about our own rebuild of the 80's. The players were up between '82 and '84 and we didn't see a championship until '87. Most of the minor leaguers we are talking about won't be up until '14 and '15 which means we should be talking about playoff baseball with that core more along the lines of '18,'19, and '20. Talking of competitiveness in '14 and '15 might be short-sighted if the core is expected to be Sano/Hicks/Arcia/Rosario/May/Meyer/Berrios. Thoughts?

Does anyone on here have any faith that the Twins front office tracks and understands the "real" cost and going rate for free agents when it comes to advanced metrics?

Would be interesting to see a 1-30 based on Vegas preseason over/under versus final season record.

I "checked out" in terms of caring about wins and losses when they came out of the all star break and didn't have a run. I "checked out" on attempting to watch the majority of every game broadcast on FSN way back in June 2011. I started back up again with the watching in April but was pretty well "checked out" again by mid-May which just happened to coincide with the end of their early season swoon. Finally, living in Iowa, I've only been to one game in Target Field since it opened. That game was late June of this year versus the Royals. A great ballpark, great atmosphere but I need more of a reason to travel 4 hours one way to see a game and spend hard earned money. Mr. Pohlad and Mr. Ryan; choices and decisions have consequences. In this case the fan base that was TwinsTerritory is eroding.

Thank you for stating so eloquently what many of us have been thinking Nick.

The fact that Slama was out for a few months with a NON-PITCHING related injury is actually an argument for bringing him up and seing what he has. I'm at a loss for trying to understand how promoting Slama would be negative to the others. Promote them all and give them all innings. Finally, numbers simply don't lie. The numbers Twins pitchers have put up in the majors this year have been PUTRID. I guess I'm still perplexed.

Free Slama!

One could argue that health has been a major factor this season. Many people, not necessarily myself, thought the starting rotation might be a strength of the team this season. Baker gone for the season, Pavano gone for almost all of the season, Zumaya not making it past day two of spring training, Morneau not being Morneau until the all star break, Matt Capps missing most of the season, and Plouffe missing a month. It wasn't last year and it might not be more than the typical team, but how many teams can overcome losing their 1,2 or 2,3 starters (what was Liriano?) as well as their iopening day closer? Only those with $$$ to throw around or a top notch minor league system. The Twins didn't have either this year.

No, he can't become a 6 year minor league free agent until after the 2013 season, which makes me feel even more horrible for him. he was drafted in 2006, but he didn't sign until early in the 2007 season, after his senior season of college (final year of draft-n-follows). if they don't put him on the 40 man roster (or if they do for September and then take him back off again), he would be eligible for the Rule 5 draft. But then again, when the Twins took him off the 40 man last November, no one claimed him. Hard for me to understand this one. In 8-9 years of following the Twins farm system pretty closely, nothing has confused me more than the Slama Situation. Well, this explains alot. Obviously, there's no trust because he's a college guy and most likely one with a degree if he stuck it out through his senior season. No reason to have free thinkers on our roster. Free Slama! Out of curiosity, do the Twins have any college grads on the 40 man?

At this point there are simply too many other holes to fill. Plouffe needs to be our 3b for 2013. What we get is what we get, better defense than Valencia with more power and similar ba/obp. We'll have to live with it and hope the starting pitching, middle relief, and middle infield are addressed.

I always find it fascinating to read and learn more about the economics of sports. One income source for the state, if not for the local economy, not talked about yet is income taxes. Anyone have any idea how that would affect the Florida economy at large and the FM economy locally? I must admit I wouldn't have a clue. I do know professional athletes pay state income taxes to several states dependant on where they are performing, correct?

Let's just add a few inches to the mound and not tell anybody. Oh wait... that benefits power pitchers and the Twins don't have any of those:eek: save Perkins.

I've been a Twins fan since the mid-70's and have appreciated the entirety of Twins history. I've spent most of my adult life, since the early 80's, living in Iowa and putting up with a mix of Cubs/Sox/Cards/Royals fans in that order. I would say the Twins are probably the number two followed team in Iowa behind the Cubs. The only radio station I'm aware of in Iowa that has consistently been a Twins affiliate is the AM station out of Mason City. Over the years I've listened to WCCO, Mason City and the Twins affiliate out of Yankton, SD which seems to have the best reception wherever I go in Iowa. The local ESPN affiliate in Des Moines carried the Twins in 2010 and 2011. I don't believe it was a difficult decision for them to back out of their affiliation after last year. They didn't pick up another major league team, they simply added some high school baseball to their schedule. As of today, driving around Des Moines in the afternoon and realizing the Twins were playing I went to tune into the game on the radio. I first checked 570 out of Yankton and discovered they were not carrying this afternoon's game and instead were following their normal weekday afternoon routine, a good dose of farm related radio. I've known Yankton to do this in the past. I then turned the dial to 1300 KGLO out of Mason City. I was quite surprised to hear Rush Limbaugh's voice. Apparently, Mason City's radio management has decided that as of August 1 the Twins are so pathetic that listeners would rather listen to Limbaugh even though they have been a long time and dedicated Twins affiliate. Finally, I attempted to tune into 1500 out of the cities which I knew would be an almost impossibility to pick up. Sure enough, no signal. So, as of August 1, 2012 there was no way to catch the Twins on radio in the largest market in a neighboring state and within the definite imprint of "Twins Territory". The Front Office and others in charge had better realize that there is a slow but steady degradation of fan base. My fear is that it's going to get much worse before it gets better. Other observations?