LaBombo

Komatsu takes Clete's role, which is placeholder for Revere so Ben can play every day and possibly develop into a poor man's Denard Span. Then we can trade Span for the next Jeff Diamond and the next Clete Thomas...

How is finishing 15 or more games behind the typical win total of the Central Division winner over the past decade "competing", other than just not losing as often as they are now?

Yes, the Twins made the playoffs in 2009 with below-average pitching. And all it took was career seasons from Mauer, Cuddyer, Kubel, and Span, plus a solid year from a mostly-healthy Morneau. The rest of the hitters were similar to the awful supporting cast we have now, but certainly not markedly worse. And that 2009 starting rotation was repeatedly bailed out by an infinitely better bullpen than the 2012 edition. Their high-leverage work contributed much more to winning than is reflected in their effect on overall ERA.

Burroughs/Thomas/Hughes/Butera ===> deck chairs. 2012 Twins ===>Titanic.

Why release Capps? He's got "Saves". Somebody out there will be dumb enough to give us a prospect because he's a "closer".

I wouldn't change a thing. My wish would be to have them continue to run it into the ground with their pitch-to-contact, go-the-other-way nonsense. Then, after the carnage of another 90 plus loss season, maybe I'll get my real wish that the OP won't allow: new leadership in the front office and in the dugout...

...and AGAIN, if that kind of player were easy for the Twins to find, they would've found one in 2011. They didn't. They used two roster spots on Jeff Bailey and Aaron Bates instead. They're not only not the hitter that Rizzo probably is, they're also older. In Bailey's case, much older. If making a Rizzo appear out of thin air were so easy, why didn't they do so in 2011? Was it because there could be no possible need for him, what with Morneau being unavailable or awful the entire season, Thome being 102 years old and likely to be shipped out in a trade, a ton of other guys passing through the Twins' revolving door DL, and zero power-hitting prospects in the high minors? Is that why? Also, there's a difference between not adding value in the field and not being able to play the field. Since Rizzotti falls into the former group, it's not accurate to call him a "DH guy". But even if he were just a DH, he'd still have some potential value at the major league level since he can hit and, in a shocking development, it turns out that the Twins play in a DH league. That's a fact that even the Twins seemed to have overlooked (with the brief, flyer-ish exception of Thome) since they banished David Ortiz to Boston for the crimes of being a DH guy and hitting too many home runs. So I can't blame you for overlooking it as well. One more thing. Baseball Prospectus ironically (and unfortunately for you and your weak argument) characterized Rizzotti as a guy who "might be a good trade chip for second-division team". They also pointed out that his value to the Philly organization was heavily diminished by their farm system being far too left-handed, which explains much of their lack of interest in retaining him. Remember how you glibly dismissed every contrary opinion about the possible role of the Twins' medical and training staff in the Baker injury because those critics weren't doctors? Well, here's a medical analogy for your arguments re: Rizzo. Baseball Prospectus is the Mayo Clinic of baseball performance evaluation and prediction. You're a guy sleeping on a steam grate behind the Mayo Clinic of baseball knowledge. I'm going with the Mayo's opinion instead of yours, steam grate vodka man.

The inevitable hindsight 20/20 charge. You're missing the point, which is that Baker was apparently retained with the false hope of contention. If his risk of injury was so high that he had no trade value, then it's safe to say that a) the Twins should've planned on a rotation fronted by Liriano/Pavano/Blackburn the Twins should've planned on at least 90-95 losses with a rotation like that, and not bothered with Carroll and Marquis, and arguably not even Zumaya. Willingham is still Willingham, and can probably be cashed in at some point.

Void? How about players who can hit for power, or even hit, for that matter? If AAA guys who can hit are so easy to find, why didn't Rochester have a single g*dd@mned one of them last year? Except for Plouffe, their two top homer guys were Dustin Martin, who they cut, and Jeff Bailey, who had 15 "bombs" and is 34 freaking years old. VOID! What's silly is that you don't get that Rizotti has value to the Twins, and cost nothing, and that Baker was worth more than nothing in the offseason. Nothing < Rizotti < Guy you get for Baker.

Hmm. Your opinion or Ryan's? I'm a little down on Ryan, but I'm going to go with a boss who hates publicly criticizing anyone, but who's disappointed enough with his medical and training staff to be critical of them in public

Are you serious? Do you even follow the Twins? The "medical staff" of the Twins is beyond reproach after having more trouble keeping its players on the field last season than any other team in baseball? They led the league in DL usages at 27 for the season, and the Twins own F-ing GM Terry Ryan said the medical staff and its procedures would be scrutinized in the offseason, for god's sake. Last I heard he's not a doctor either. Wake up.

He's cheap for a guy who posted a 3.14 ERA with strong peripherals. Dirt cheap. And contending teams gamble on players coming off of injuries all the time. Especially ones with a logjam at a particular position. Quick, name a position where the Twins system is stocked...Ready, GO! For heaven's sake, the Twins gave cash to the Phillies for the "non-prospect" Rizotti, who out-homered virtually every player in the organization from top to bottom. So if a castoff like Rizotti can be gotten for nothing yet fill a serious void in the Twins' ailing farm system, how can you be certain Baker wouldn't be worth anything? And by the way, what were they going to get if he stayed healthy and pitched well? 88 losses instead of 92? Whoopadeedoo!!!

Or you could've argued that Terry Ryan probably should have gotten a worthwhile player or prospect for Baker in the offseason instead of bartering Carroll's Competitive Elixir, Marquis' Magical Snake Oil, and Zumaya's Zingy Heat Balm to Twins rubes out of the back of a wagon in exchange for season tickets. They were going nowhere with Baker healthy. Now they're going nowhere without him or a prospect. The death spiral continues. What's the shortest period of time a baseball team has played in a newly-constructed stadium before moving to a new city?

At what point? Mid-season of 2011, at the very latest, for a complete incompetent like Bill Smith. Well before that for a front office with some common sense and access to the internet. Near the end of 2012, when virtually every opening day player or pitcher has spent weeks on the DL, if you're Terry Ryan. He's not clueless like Smith, but he is cluelessly loyal at times.

+1,000,000 . They're going nowhere. Except for Willingham, who will be going to a contender before July if he can post his typical numbers while playing half his games in Target National Park. The Twins named Willingham are out-RBIing the Twins not named Willingham, 4 RBI to 2. It's hard to remember the last time a baseball franchise collapsed like this one. The farm system started to decline before Ryan left, yet managed to hit rock bottom just as the big club did. Maybe another year spent flirting with 100 losses will be what it takes to cause the Twins to start questioning their organizational philosophies, starting with their hatred of strikeout pitchers and power hitters. I'm betting not.

The other bad part about bringing him back is that he cost as much as two or three equal or better relievers who signed for much less than the deal Capps got. That's a whole new bullpen, instead of the spare parts they ended up with. It also shows they're a dumb organization that thinks they should pay for saves like it's fantasy baseball.

Eight relievers. Eight. Relievers. Quantity, wave goodbye to quality. We won't be seeing him again for awhile. And four bench players to back up a bunch of guys who couldn't stay healthy if you froze them in carbonate. What could go wrong? If M&M/Span are healthy enough to add ten wins over 2011, that gets the Twins to a pythag of 95 losses in 2012. On second thought, why not audition half the journeyman relievers In baseball and lose a couple extra games due to limited bench options? It's already pretty much a lost season.

Eight relievers. Eight. Relievers. Quantity, wave goodbye to quality. We won't be seeing him again for awhile. And four bench players to back up a bunch of guys who couldn't stay healthy if you froze them in carbonate. What could go wrong? If M&M/Span are healthy enough to add ten wins over 2011, that gets the Twins to a pythag of 95 losses in 2012. On second thought, why not audition half the journeyman relievers in baseball and lose a couple extra games due to limited bench options? It's already pretty much a lost season.

+1 dangle. I'd cover Capps with leeches and troll him past every GM in baseball. It's probably asking too much, but it would be nice if Ryan would remember that the "proven closer" label is one of the most meaningless in baseball, and yet something that some organization is willing to overpay for, in terms of money or talent, or both.

Gibson is actually a lefty? No wonder he needed TJ surgery! When I saw him pitch he was throwing with his right arm, which is very unhealthy for a lefty. And for the person comparing Baker to Lincecum, take a deep breath. Baker is a fine pitcher when healthy, but the Lincecum comparison is a stretch. FIP is a better yardstick than ERA+, and to almost no one's surprise but yours, lincecum led Baker by nearly a run and nearly a half run over the past two seasons respectively. And that's not even allowing for the strong possibility that Baker's entirely new level of performance in 2011 may be unsustainable for 200+ innings. The injury bug may catch up to Lincecum, but so far he's been an unbreakable workhorse, averaging about 220 innings over the past 4 seasons. Baker is 30 and has yet to exceed 200.

After 4 seasons of pro ball, Aaron Hicks was still overmatched in high A. He's not a star in the making. He's still trying to switch hit, as far as I know, despite not being able to hit left-handed. It's probably wrong to promote him, but so what? They're not hampering the development of a future switch-hitting star center fielder. They're making a small mistake with the career progression of a right-handed hitting 4th OF who can handle center field. Not going to be losing any sleep over that one, especially with Benson starting the year in AAA. and with all the genuine disasters inflicted on the franchise during Bill Smith's four year reign of terror.

Sure Matt Capps could outperform Joe Nathan in 2012. A better question is: Who cares? The Rangers certainly will care if Capps is his usual pedestrian self and Nathan underperforms even that modest expectation. After all, they're coming off a season where they were one of the best teams in baseball. The Twins front office will care if Capps tears it up in the first half, the team falls out of contention around the break, and some goofball organization offers a legit prospect for Capps. The odds that they'd be smart enough to deal him seem small, but there needs to be some room for optimism this year. And Perkins will certainly care how well Capps performs, although not relative to Nathan. He's not only the first in line to inherit the closer role if Capps either falters or is dealt. He's the only one. But for the average Twins fan, I can't imagine how Capps' performance, either relative to Nathan or taken on its own merits, is a significant storyline for 2012. He's an average reliever for a mediocre team that's not going to contend even if Capps pitches well. Of course maybe some Twins fans are holding their breath waiting to see if the Twins blow 6 million on Capps' 2013 option... If they don't pick up his option, I doubt the team or fans will miss Capps. After all, knowing the Twins, we'll still have Drew Butera around for a decade or so to fill in for Capps in his most important role: reminding us that the Twins gave up Wilson Ramos to get Matt Capps.