silverslugger

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?

I just finished looking through the stats of our minor league affiliates from AAA down to the Appy League. When looking at pitchers I first look at WHIP, then k's to innings ratio and finallly k's/bb's ratio. I know there are many other stats/metrics but it's quick and easy to see who's having a good year and who isn't. So, give me some reason to be optimistic about our minor league pitching at this point. I'm not seeing much reason and really not seeing much dominance on anyone's part. It's appalling how few of our minor league pitchers come anywhere close to good k numbers. And by the way, our Major League staff has the fewest k's in all of baseball. Ryan et. al. certainly have their work cut out for them.

I just finished looking through the stats of our minor league affiliates from AAA down to the Appy League. When looking at pitchers I first look at WHIP, then k's to innings ratio and finallly k's/bb's ratio. I know there are many other stats/metrics but it's quick and easy to see who's having a good year and who isn't. So, give me some reason to be optimistic about our minor league pitching at this point. I'm not seeing much reason and really not seeing much dominance on anyone's part. It's appalling how few of our minor league pitchers come anywhere close to good k numbers. And by the way, our Major League staff has the fewest k's in all of baseball. Ryan et. al. certainly have their work cut out for them.

Corey Koskie was no great shakes at the hot corner when he first got to the majors. He turned out pretty decent. Give it time.

I attended a game at Target Field for the first time this weekend. Wish I could've gotten there sooner, but it wasn't in the cards. Three observations. First, right field and the plaza are east as the ballpark sits. Prevailing winds in the midwestern summer are usually south/southwest/west, rarely out of the east. Winds out of the south are blowing out to left field, winds out of the west are blowing out to right field. Beyond right field is the downtown skyline with several tall buildings. I can only guess that prevailing south winds would hit those downtown buildings and some of those winds might blow through the plaza. Second, upon sitting down I immediately noticed that the ballpark seating is much more vertical than most other stadiums I've been in. This is great for fans so they don't have heads in front of them to look over and around. It also means the 3baseline and 1baseline stands are quite high and the playing field is very low, thus cutting down on winds blowing out to left and right. Finally, this weekend was hot and muggy with prevailing winds out of the south blowing out to left field. Simply said, it was the perfect weather for righties with a pull swing and the perfect weather for Mauer's opposite field homer. Any other weather pattern, and Mauer's opposite field shot this weekend is caught on the edge of the warning track.

Unfortunately, I have a feeling the Pohlads think they already have the successor to Terry Ryan in the fold and his name is Wayne Krivsky. Ugh...just Ugh!!! I've been a Twins fan since the mid-70's as a young kid. Back then I couldn't wait to get my strib and my pi press and read the daily columns and sift through the box scores. I haven't gotten a paper delivered to my doorstep in over a decade, wouldn't think of it. I get almost all of my sports information off the internet and most of my Twins coverage from the blogosphere. I read some of the new age statistical stuff including much of the Bill James stuff as early as the late 80's. John Bonnes and Aaron Gleeman took my Twins information research into a new universe 5-7 years ago and now I more fully appreciate advanced metrics. It's time the Twins organization pulled their collective head out of their collective you know what and embraced the benefits of advanced research. And please, please, please...no Wayne Krivsky!!!

I know the trend in baseball is to lock up players through their arbitration years and 1 to 2 of the first free agent years while gaining cost certainty. This is definitely one of the situations where going year to year would've been much preferable. Arbitration has been around long enough that teams should be able to build in some certainty based on past experience. I understand that almost all players are getting raises through this process, however, the bank isn't broke unless they have a monster year. In which case, they deserve it. I would more than trade the cost certainty for the flexibility of being able to make decisions one year at a time during those arbitration years.

Nick, Does your scenario mean you want Valencia back up and playing 3b again full-time? Or are you going to go with Carroll?

It sure seems like visiting teams don't have nearly the trouble with hitting home runs at Target Field that the Twins do. Can anyone tell me if my perception equals reality?

I do like the idea of Madison, WI as a AAA affiliate as mentioned by another poster in another thread earlier today. I think it's far enough away from Minneapolis, yet close enough to help build the fringes of Easter Twins Territory. I don't think travel to other IL cities would be too prohibitive either. I'd prefer Des Moines, since I live there, but don't see the Cubbies leaving this affiliation anytime soon.

Lots of interesting discussion on this thread, but much of it just icing on the cake. Back to the question, "are the Twins broke?" Let's see; 1) Finish last in your division - check 2) Finish with the 2nd worst record in all of baseball - check 3) Have your two top minor league affiliates finish with historically bad seasons, one for the second year in a row - check 4) See #! above, do this in the weakest division in the AL - check 5) Go through the first month of the next season playing .250 ball - check Need I go further? Yes, the Twins are broken. Please Mr.s Pohlad and Mr. Ryan, fix the Twins!

Thanks for the clarification, that explanation certainly makes more sense. One has to wonder then if spending an extra 15-20 million could've netted enough starting pitching to make this team a contender. (Did I even type that?)

A spittoon, large bag of sunflower seeds, and throw in one of those buckets of bazooka bubblegum and you've got yourself a deal!

I'm trying to remember the media coverage back in the fall when Ryan replaced Smith very abruptly. I thought I read something that suggested Smith was let go by the Pohlad's because he didn't think the roster, as constructed then, could compete and wanted to go into rebuild mode. Ryan, on the other hand, held the philosophy that the roster could be competitive with the right quick fixes. Now, don't get me wrong, I had no confidence that Smith had the competence to blow up the roster and rebuild. However, did the Pohlads and Ryan make a costly error that may haunt this franchise and further delay a return to respectability?

I'm trying to remember the media coverage back in the fall when Ryan replaced Smith very abruptly. I thought I read something that suggested Smith was let go by the Pohlad's because he didn't think the roster, as constructed then, could compete and wanted to go into rebuild mode. Ryan, on the other hand, held the philosophy that the roster could be competitive with the right quick fixes. Now, don't get me wrong, I had no confidence that Smith had the competence to blow up the roster and rebuild. However, did the Pohlads and Ryan make a costly error that may haunt this franchise and further delay a return to respectability?

Some of the Northwoods League cities used to have teams in the Midwest League. I don't see either Fargo or Sioux Falls as AAA cities and don't think the Twins would want their AAA affiliate so close as it could negatively affect the Twins gate. Of course, an argument could be made the other way that it would drum up more interest since the AAA affiliate would be geographically located within "Twins Territory". Prior to Rochester, the Twins affiliate was Salt Lake City. Why did the Twins leave SLC for Rochester? I do know that Rochester has had an excellent AAA history/reputation.

I don't think it really matters if the Twins "top prospects" experience the current culture going on in the Twins clubhouse or avoid it by being in Rochester. The reality is, the crop of "top prospects" your talking about have experienced this exact culture the past three years in the form of putrid play both in Rochester and New Britain. That makes this crop of "top prospects" suspects until they prove themselves at the major league level. I don't have any faith that will happen with more than one or two of them. I fear Joe Mauer and his 23 mil per year contract is in for several long-cold winters over the next several baseball seasons in Minnesota. I drank too much kool aid in spring training, I'm officially sugar depressed:(

I also think you're giving this next generation of prospects too much credit. I fear they end up producing at the MLB level more like our prospects of the 90's than our prospects this past decade. I consider the current batch at the AA/AAA level and those just reaching the majors to be more suspect than prospect. I think our group at the two A levels have more upside than those above them. I hope the group of Parmelee/Hendricks/Benson/Dozier etc. prove me wrong!

I don't see where Doumit, Casilla, or Carroll have much if any trade value. Doumit's value was rated as 1 year/3 mil on the open market in the offseason. You honestly think anyone wants Casilla? Seriously? Carroll would only have value if a contending team had a season ending injury to deal with. Also, I don't see where Willingham has much of any trade value since anyone willing to trade for him simply could have outbid the Twins for him in the offseason. And we all know that outbidding the Twins in the FA market ain't difficult. I love Span, don't want to see him go. I agree, nothing less than a #2 starter and other pieces.

I do believe ALL of the candidates listed so far would most likely continue to do things "The Twins Way" since all of them were indoctrinated in that way.

I think it's a great idea, Mauer as our 3b for the rest of his contract. Mauer would have to embrace this and give up catching. The only problem I see is that would open a slot for a catcher and the next thing you know, Butera is starting at C 3-4 times a week splitting with Doumit and we've simply traded Valencia's bat for Butera's bat. NOOOO!!! We'd need to make sure there's another capable catcher besides Doumit, and that person doesn't currently exist with the Twins. I don't think they see Doumit as a 130-140 game catcher.

I bought into that whole "brutal schedule" thing prior to April. The reality is, the only thing brutal about the schedule thus far has been that the Twins are the ones playing the schedule. Baltimore is nothing special. LAA and NYY are playing mediocre baseball right now, at best. Sure, NYY brings bats to the game, but their pitching was very pedestrian. TB's pitching is excellent, their lineup not so much. We've got Boston coming in and they are on the ropes and KC after that. KC is currently 3-12, yep that's right, there's actually a team playing worse that the Twins and we get them next weekend. There are no excuses for the current 5-11, certainly not "the schedule".

I'm not trading Span at all this year, and possibly not in the offseason. He's way too valuable in this lineup and in our outfield at this point and the players mentioned in house as possible replacements are anything but proven at the major league level. Yes, I get that we need pitching for this year and certainly next. The conundrum, don't think that this years draft is going to create pitching for next year or even 2014. Realistically, pitchers drafted this year will most likely not be contributors at the major league level for at least 3 seasons. Players drafted this year will be players, hopefully, performing at Target Field in the latter half of this decade. The Twins are going to have to pony up some money in the offseason to bring in FA pitching and they'll have that money available within the payroll. There's not enough talent right now to be trading away talent in return for talent elsewhere.

I don't have a problem with Carroll in the 2 spot and I don't think Bill James would either. Historically, he's had a very high OBP and that's his job in this lineup. His job is to "create runs" by getting on base at a high percentage right in front of Mauer, Willingham, Morneau. Look at him as the insurance policy for Span. At 1,2 in our lineup we have two guys who can hit to all fields, control the strike zone, and get on base at a high percentage. It's exactly what 1 and 2 are supposed to do. Granted, Carroll's avg has been lagging a bit so far but we're only two weeks into the season. I've argued for Mauer in the 2 hole in the past, but that was pre Jamey Carroll. We have a natural 2 hitter on the team for the first time in quite some time.

I know Joe Benson needs to learn how to command the strike zone better, but... oh wait, you say that isn't Joe Benson playing RF? It's who?... Clete Thomas? Who's he? And why is he playing so much when we have the likes of Joe Benson and Chris Parmelee? Disclaimer: I know, I know, Benson and Parmelee could both use more seasoning in AAA and both need to playing every day. I get it, I really do. GO TWINS! Go Clete Thomas!