Riverbrian

Under my scenerio... Majia would be #6 and that leaves us with a Pat Dean type when you need that 7th and we will need a 7th and 8th (most likely) more before the season is out. With the May injury... we are already at #6 who just might be Vogelsong. This is why I'm ok with Berrios, Mejia and Duffey starting out in Rochester. I don't feel it will last that long and that depth will slow down the Pat Dean like rescue missions of years past. On Vogelsong... i'm not defending Vogelsong for the 5th spot in the rotation... I have my concerns and doubts. I'm passive aggressively saying... OK... Fine... that's who you chose for the 5th spot let's see what he can do... but... but... if he fails... you better pull him quickly... no more letting guys flounder out there.

That is a tricky question no doubt and I don't think the answer is as simple as I will try to make it seem. To answer your question. Can the pitcher make a pitch when we need him to make a pitch more often than not. Can he help us win. I'm not much into arbitrary lines but I think we can all agree that 5 plus ERA's are not close to any drawn line. A hot start can be rewarded with a cushion but if the arm goes dead you should shut it dow for a bit and give a kid a chance to take the job. I'd like to the entire organization to simply declare that poor play from veterans will not be tolerated in 2017 and beyond. I think that is how an organization gets respectable. Simply saying... we are not going to take it anymore. Play well or play a lot less or not at all or somewhere else. Our starters were not going to lose their jobs in 2016 because we had nobody else. They were allowed to be comfortably horrible. I think it's important depth in 2017 for Berrios, Duffey Mejia to be in the minors as replacement options because we need replacement options if we are going to do some much needed replacing instead of tolerating comfortably horrible starters all year long again. If you start the year with Berrios and Duffey in the majors you are stuck with whatever happens because you have eliminated almost all of your depth/options on the farm and you are back looking for a Pat Dean type when you need that 7th different starting pitcher on May 10th. I'm OK with Vogelsong giving it a go... maybe he can toss a 4.00 and help the team win some games... probably not... but maybe. I'm ok with giving a guy a chance to prove he can help... but if needs replacing... do it and don't wait for it to get better. If Gibson is still tossing a 5 plus in May... Put him in the Pen or Cut Him... do something else.... try something else...and I don't care about experience... investment or contracts. We can't put up with 5's anymore from well paid veterans. I don't want to hear about injuries being the reason that we must tolerate it either. If a player is struggling because of injury... DL Him and tell him to come back when healthy... when he can actually help the team win instead of making it harder to win. Just to be sure I'm not understood... If the Twins are going to let Gibson and Santiago and Hughes and Vogelsong work through crappy performance anyway in 2017... like they did in 2016. Well.. yeah... then go with the kids because depth is only good if you are willing to use it.

I see Duffey as Rochester SP Depth. At least I'm hoping he will be SP Depth. Having Berrios, Duffey and Mejia in Rochester gives me hope that the Twins will actually replace sub-par performance when it happens. If Duffey is in the pen and Berrios is in the Twins rotation... You have nobody to replace Hughes or Gibson if they are plus 5 in the ERA column. By having those arms ready in Rochester... It makes me hopeful that the Twins will be able to give the vets one more chance and have a solution if the vets blow that chance. I'm just not going to worry about who is in the rotation on opening day... My worry is will any struggling vet pitchers be replaced or will they be allowed to continue like they were in 2016.

I thought that Chargois finished last year decently enough to keep a MLB job. I think Chargois will be your only miss on your list.

It makes a sense... Key strike calls can give pitchers an advantage, losing strikes would be a disadvantage and framing stats sure seem to be repeatable because the guys at the top of the list are at the top of the list every year it seems. I won't argue that it's real. But I still believe that CERA should correlate and it doesn't seem to.

Hey!!! North Dakota is in for the first time ever. Drew Arizona in the 1st Round so it's Tucson vs. Grand Forks Chief. (Long Pause) I wish this was Hockey instead!!!

Molitor seems to listen to the players and Dozier keep saying he wants to lead off. That seemed to trump any other form of logic.

Team Norway can't be far off

You need more than 1 guy in AAA Stashed away because it seems that you will start around 9 to 10 different starters during the course of any given season. Also... The Twins just invested 24 Million in a guy whose primary skill is pitch framing. I can only assume that was done to see if better pitch counts can help the starters improve those crappy numbers from last year. Giving them the tools to succeed before making hard decisions on them. I'm Ok with this as long as they don't cling to them throughout the year while under performing. I have no problem with Berrios starting in AAA and if he dominates AAA again. I don't believe he will be there very long. He will be the first guy called up and probably before April is out. Having Berrios, Duffey and Mejia in Rochester is good news in my opinion and we will see them in the majors this year. All of them... unless they can't get AAA hitters out and if they can't get AAA hitters out... Then we have a much larger problem and it could last awhile.

I like the WBC overall and I hope the event continues. However... I do question the shaky country affiliations of some rosters.

Only Bregman and Schwarber would draft in keeper range rounds and are therefore worth keeping. You should be able to re-draft Benintendi and Pederson in later rounds with ease. Unless you absolutely love Benintendi or Pederson and fear that someone else in the league loves them and will reach for them. You should be able to let them go and get them later. Who are other keepers? The ones you are sure about and not listed on your poll. That information will also help in this decision.

Ultimately the buck stops with the Pohlad's. They hire the people who hire the people. As far as the penny pinching. I have no way of knowing but payroll increased under Smith rather easily and decreased rather easily under Ryan. That leads to my unfounded suspicion that Terry Ryan was the one who didn't like spending money. FWIW

Steve Lingenfelter

Breslow getting no help from Santana says "Fine... I'll do it myself".

Adam Vinateiri http://wac.450f.edgecastcdn.net/80450F/1057thehawk.com/files/2014/01/gus.jpg?w=600&h=0&zc=1&s=0&a=t&q=89

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_-yejxfMni4/TnOgOhB2VJI/AAAAAAAADh8/vaZTxt1mCXs/s1600/rabbit.jpg Zach Zenner

We loaned them some arms for the game. And the USA Gave nothing back.

List of things that will bug me about the Twins this year 10. No Lutefisk at Target Field 9. Mauer refusing to shout Aye Batter Batter at the opposing hitters. 8. National Anthems Performed by TC Bear 7. Flowers in the Flower Bed that are squished by baseball not being replaced quickly. 6. No actual Twins on the Twins Roster 5. Poorly planned World Series Championship Parade that is routed through White Bear Lake 4. Wisconsinites and NDSU Bison Fans on the light rail wearing Green and Gold 3. No Trees in Centerfield. 2. Matt Belisle wearing #9 1. Not making Belisle wearing #9... #9 on this list.

Belisle can't wear #9 Pitchers can't wear single digits. It'll bug me.

Everyone else is typing in white font. Use a black background.

And Polanco as he moved toward third to throw across his body for the out.

Arenado with two errors. Uff Da

He did well... Jones inside outed that single and Arenanado did a nice job getting around on a high fastball. These things happen but I don't think it was bad pitching at all. Thumps up for May

I found them to be very bossy

I read a couple of street signs on the way home. Not all of them... but some.