Riverbrian

That's why they call me River Brain!!!

Starters: It looks pretty locked in right now... Santana, Santiago, Gibson, Hughes and May. The Twins won't cut Santiago, Gibson or Hughes and the May saga needs to end. I don't have a problem with Berrios starting in the minors... If he performs... he will be up soon because somebody is going to tweak something. But... Please... Please... Please... I beg Falvey/Lavine/Antony/Molitor/Some People to be extremely intolerant of poor pitching performance. If any of those guys are sitting with ERA's in the 5... DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT and be QUICK ABOUT IT. Don't just sit there and let it happen. Bullpen: It looks like Perkins may start on the DL so that means... Kinzler to close with Pressly and Belisle or setting up. Chargois will be next in line to one of those top three spots if he performs. Rogers is in and Haley will most likely be stashed here unless the Twins pull off a trade. That leaves one spot to compete for in my mind. No idea who it will be but I assume he will most likely be left handed. Catcher: Castro and... I don't know. It's nice to have options. I've never seen him but I'm hopeful for Garver in the future so I hope he is the #1 in Rochester. I would love to see the Twins develop a catcher and Garver is that hope right now. I'd rather he play the lead role with the Red Wings instead of a backup role in Minnesota. 2B/SS: Dozier of course at 2B and SS is the only real interesting spot to be determined. If Polanco has "some people" still in the organization that doubt his ability to handle SS defensively... I think they are still speaking up. Why stop now because after all... Polanco didn't prove anybody wrong playing SS in the bigs. If Adrianaza is the defensive talent that people say he is... I think the Twins may end up with him starting at SS with Polanco moving into a utility role. This decision will become easier to make if Polanco doesn't calm nerves with the glove down in Ft. Myers or if Adrianaza shows anything at all with the bat. If Polanco has any kind of sophomore slump at the plate... His defense won't save him either. IF/OF 25th Man utility spot: If Adrianaza comes north... this potentially moves Escobar into this spot and he replaces Santana... Escobar has played a little outfield so this wouldn't be totally crazy. If Adrianaza goes to Rochester... Escobar will be backing up in the infield and Santana is once again this guy. Kind of a catch 22... if you want Santana gone... cheer for Adrianaza... however... Adrianaza may push Polanco into less playing time. Go ahead and sing the song... "You can't always get what you want" You can't always get what you want" but if you try sometimes... OF: Buxton, Rosario, Kepler, Grossman. I'll go on record as saying... I sure wish we had a proven MLB'er to join this group. That's a lot of talent that has yet to establish itself. I don't think a proven MLB'er is gonna show up so that's the group. Grossman or Escobar/Santana will have to step into a spot if Rosario or Kepler tank and tanking can't be discounted. We are talking about youth here... it happens all the time. Clearly I am not part of the "they are going to lose anyway crowd". I'm part of the "Damn it... perform like your career depends on it" crowd. DH: If everything goes swimmingly with Buxton, Rosario or Kepler. Grossman hit enough to be strongly considered for DH duties and I'm not sold that Molitor is just going to hand that job to Vargas. I don't really want Grossman in the OF but I don't want him sitting on the bench after the way he performed at the plate. You don't cut one of your better 2016 bats and you gotta find him at-bats. I'll be watching how Molitor juggles this. Molitor has to do a better job in 2017 and I hope he lets the players decide on the field. 1B/3B: Mauer, Sano and Vargas -- Done Deal unless the Twins sign Morneau or something. Park has to earn his way back up and wait for injury or Vargas failure. I only see 3 spots open... 1. Bullpen 2. Backup Catcher 3. SS (Starter or Backup)

I never take the under on my team. They could set the line at 105 wins and I'd still take the over. Yeah... I lose money that way but I'm sleeping OK GO TWINS!!!

You've just fated the Twins to either win 76 or 69. The baseball gods find that kind of stuff funny.

His 286 pounds last year didn't appear to be that much of a problem at 3B. To me it seemed to be concentration related the majority of the time. He made some real incredible plays and made some T-Ball Level type boots. It's going to be interesting to see what happens in 2017.

None of this is shocking. There was a lot of what I considered "not on the same page" stuff happening last year. I have no idea how decisions were or are made at 1 Twins way but i'm fairly comfortable in imagining that Molitor would be part of the dynamic. Everyone in the room is part of the dynamic and ultimately Terry Ryan is responsible for that staffing. When Paul says "some people" he may have been part of that "some people" group just because he wasn't able to influence the outcome or agreed with the assessment. There are many times in my career where I have accepted responsibility on the basis that I failed to convince others. "This is my fault because I wasn't able to convince you". Manager change is a change beyond a new guy in the dugout. He is a new dynamic in advocacy. In my opinion... the Twins for the past 5 years have struggled as a whole to plan for future potential needs at the MLB level. SS, DH/1B, 3B, the bullpen, the rotation and CF CF CF CF CF... I'm typing CF 5 times because the approach to CF has been shortsighted and awful and they never changed course. They just kept trying the same stuff over and over. It's on Ryan... I don't see the Polanco error as fatal but It's on Ryan... and Molitor has to accept some blame as well for either agreeing with the assessments or failing to convince others. I think that's fair.

Normally you type "Ish"

After reading the quote from Molitor... I'm not sure that he will end up as option A He's gonna have to hit his butt off and at least pick the low hanging fruit grounders to stay there.

If those some people are still in the organization. I'll start preparing myself for the strong possibility of Adrianza or Escobar starting at SS and Polanco moving into a utility role.

It's pretty typical for someone searching for something with desperation to prove himself. He's fighting for a career and he will grab anything that sounds good like a tree branch hanging over the rapids and he will tell himself and others that he has a plan. It's all part of convincing himself and others to join team Kennys. This is a pretty typical reaction for anyone who hasn't been filled with a lot of confidence from the manager. Most everyone has seen this type of thing before... no matter the profession. Molitor believing in him will go a much longer way than anything Manny has to say.

I'm not sure what Randy Levine was thinking when he started speaking publicly afterwards... I can't imagine what his words accomplished for moving forward in a positive direction. He had to make the healing process much harder if not impossible and future retention more difficult. http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-yankees-may-have-just-ran-dellin-betances-out-of-town/ In my opinion... Betances may have lost his arb case and only got 3 million but I'll bet any of those arbitrators 100 bucks that if the Yankees were to trade him right now... The Yankees would get more than 5 million in value back. What was Levine thinking... The kid just lost an arb case because of saves which he has no control over since the manager assigns the roles and now he's staring up at Chapman so he can't get saves for future arbitration and after you've kicked him in the teeth during the arb process... you take another shot at him publicly. This makes no sense to me at all on many levels.

If they had him shorten up his swing in the minors it's ok... Sounds like he should have an extra club in his bag. Sometimes you need to pull out the sand wedge on occasion. Even working on the wrong things can pay off later.

Just locate the light switch and things can change on a dime.

No worries TD'ers typically don't run. It's hard to read your phones in full stride.

I don't hate him... I'm praying that he puts it together. But that clock has to be ticking like Marisa Tomei's Foot on the porch. He's now 29 and his best year was kind of above average in 2015 and every other year would have to be considered below average. In my eyes... the only way he looks good is if you compare him to other Twins pitchers. I admire your support of Gibby and I will even join you in that support because we need him to get the job done... but... I will stop at the water's edge if he struggles again because he can't remain in the rotation if he's spitting out a 5 plus ERA. Vets can't be allowed to spit out 5's anymore. The Twins have some depth so 2017 needs to be a year to cull under performance on the mound. If Gibby turns it around... I'll be able to say that I was there with DocBauer all along but Man... I'll bolt when it goes bad.

I'm ok with those numbers... I'm seriously hoping you have that will power!!!

I'm fine with this as long as he takes a break every once in awhile to get his homework done.

Murphy and Garver both have options so it's possible. On the other hand... Gimenez does not have a 40 man roster spot and giving him one would mean a casualty.

When I look through 2016 numbers... it seems to me that Home Runs were up across baseball. I've never checked the major league total but there were a lot of players who jumped up significantly with the long ball in 2016. To me the question isn't just is Dozier's Power Repeatable but also is the home run power across the MLB board repeatable. It sure seems like the ball was flying out of the parks last year. I guess I'm saying that Dozier has established himself as the top power hitting 2B in baseball today and I think he'll hit 40 if the ball is flying out of the park for everyone like it did last year.

I think about it a little different (like most things I guess) I don't think Polanco's defense will determine if he's the regular SS...It will be his offense. If Polanco is clearly hitting the ball well... He will get the chance to play defense often and hopefully get better at SS. But if he does any kind of sophomore slumping at the plate... His defense then will not be able to save him and therefore... the Twins might as well go with Adrianaza for the defensive upgrade. Polanco will have to hit to keep the SS gig. Of course Molitor may not take into consideration any of these factors... So I guess... this would be how I would do it.

He pitched well enough last year to not lose the job. As long as he does it well... he should stay in that role. I believe he will be replaced eventually this year but I'll fight for his right to keep the job until he actually struggles with the job. Molitor needs to get out of any habit of removing players who are actually performing for players that he thinks will perform.

May He's done what the team has asked of him and we need capable starters so he's earned the right and we have the need... We need to seriously audition starters this year. As long as Berrios has options and hasn't produced at the major league level. Stash him for depth. If he performs in Rochester and someone gets DL'ed on the big club... Someone always gets DL'ed... Call him up then. He will be here soon enough under that scenario.

I hope that isn't Joe Mauer asking that question!!!

Starting Pitching: In total it will be much better mainly because it can't get any worse and has to go up. Pitchers will get the benefit of more favorable counts because of the presence of Castro however only the starters with significant out pitches will take advantage of that. The starting rotation on opening day will be: Santana, Santiago, Gibson, Hughes and May Berrios and Duffey will start in the minors My gut feeling is that Hughes will be ok for a short period of time and fade until his shoulder shuts him down. My gut just doesn't like shoulder problems I guess. I think all 5 opening day starters will spend some time on the D.L. and we will need 9 starters to get through the season. We will be happy with the performances of Berrios, Duffey, May and Gonsalves. So Happy with Berrios, Duffey and May that Santana is moved at the deadline. We will be luke warm with Santiago and Gibson with their matching 4.20 ERA's and disappointed with Hughes and Mejia. Santana will get a nice apartment in Denver with a nice view of the Rockies in the distance. The Bullpen will be a mess... Whoever starts as our closer on opening day will not be the guy who is the closer in September. During June and July... Molitor will be using the ole' closer by committee. My gut not liking shoulder problems prevents me from any optimism on Perkins filling a major role successfully. The young arms will start arriving by drips and drabs this year and placed in low leverage situations. All in All... When 2017 is reviewed by Falvey and Levine... they will look at each other and say... "We should have been more aggressive improving the pen. Sano and Dozier will both represent the Twins at the All-Star Game. Sano will make some plays that he shouldn't at 3B but he will bungle more than his share of routine plays but he will be pushing 30 home runs by the all-star break and his OBP will be pretty decent. They will spend significant time discussing Sano on the MLB Network.I will get ridiculous trade offers for him in my keeper fantasy league where I hold his rights. Dozier will continue to hit the ball out of the park and will be traded at the deadline to a contending team with a hole at 2B due to an injury. Dozier will enjoy his apartment on a hill overlooking the city of Pittsburgh. Polanco will start at SS and he will be do a passable job fielding the position but it won't stop TwinsDaily posters from saying that he is a disaster out there. Regardless of how passable at SS he is defensively... it will be his bat that cuts his playing time. Players just don't get better every year like it's a locked in progression. I think the sophomore struggles at the plate will happen because everyone just seems to think he's just gonna hit and the baseball gods love to laugh at things like that. Polanco will eventually get the 2B job after Dozier is traded and his hitting will start coming around at the end of the year. Adrianza: Will get the first crack at taking over the starting SS job but he won't hit enough. Escobar: Will be the guy who spends the most time holding down SS and this is etched in stone because it is how Escobar does it. Whenever Escobar has been declared a backup... he hits pretty well and eventually becomes a starter... and whenever Escobar has been declared the starter... he struggles at the plate and loses the starting job. He will be declared the backup so he's gonna have a nice year. Before Escobar takes over the SS position... he will spend significant time playing LF after Rosario is sent down early. Rosario will start in LF and continue swinging at everything and will be sent down after a month to work on things... When he finally gets called back up... It will be a Rosario that we can all take pride in. Kepler: Gonna just do enough to get playing time and stay up but he's not going to knock us out. He will stay healthy and teach Miquel Sano how to plie when fielding grounders. Buxton: He will not hit enough to reach his full anticipated potential but he will hit well enough that we can finally smell that potential. He will have two 15 day DL stints. Stubbs will get the call when Rosario gets sent down and he will perform like his last name is Schafer. He will play sparingly but stay with the club for a decent amount of time as the Twins try to avoid calling up Palka or Granite. Grossman will spend more time at DH then Vargas will and he will have another good year at the plate and people will stop calling him a fluke. Vargas will start as the DH on opening day but Molitor was already thinking that he liked Grossman better and eventually Grossman will get more and more playing time while Vargas is labeled as inconsistent by Molitor... Just when you think Vargas is about to be sent down... Mauer goes on the DL and Vargas will OPS over 1,000 during that month and once again lose his job when Mauer returns. Mauer will play whenever he is healthy. Molitor will be intending to give him more rest but when he makes out the lineup card... he won't be able to help himself because Mauer will keep saying that he feels great. Mauer will play a nice 1B and continue producing a high on base percentage and he will continue hitting the ball on the ground to the right side and in the the air to left... his time on the DL will be his rest and Molitor will agree its sufficient. Park will be healthy down in AAA and he will hit a ball in Rochester that lands in Lake Ontario. He will earn a call up when Mauer is hurt but not be able to compete with major league pitching. It will be Castro and someone else making up our catching tandem. Every once in awhile... they will get a key hit to win us a game and every once in awhile... they won't. Final Season Record: 76-86... The Twins have a good August and September with Berrios, Duffey, May, Gonsalves, Sano, Buxton, Rosario, Vargas, Polanco and Grossman leading the way. Chargois will be closing games like the mad Hungarian at the end of the year. Bury this in a time capsule... Let's dig it up in October.

Hats off to all of you and congrats to the vision, guts and creativity. May you reach 99 John along with this site. That would be 4 or 5 years in the future I suppose? I don't know... I'm bad at guessing ages. And Glunn and his efforts. He is easily one of the most worthwhile humans that anyone could meet. He is an automatic upgrade to any culture.