Brandon

Our offense went through a transformation last year with Colabello and Kubel starting off with good Aprils then Willingham and Arcia picked up as they were tailing off then Santana, Mauer, and Vargas took over the last few months of the season. Dozier hit with HR power at first then 2bs power there after but was otherwise consistant all year as was Susuki (he did slump for about a month after signing the extension but finished strong) So going into next season we still have the offensive core that finished strong so we really just need a decent OF who can reasonably field or one that can really hit. Hunter and Rios would be at the top of my wishlist this offseason maybe Denorfia then Aoki after that I am fine with what we already have. I wonder if Colabello, who claims he was injured last year when his slump began, will he be able to rebound and be a good hitter next season. Parmelee is now 27. Can he make it as a starter in LF. odds are no but he does have the ability to hit 15 to 20 HRs and he isn't bad defensively. Schaefer is probably better suited to be a 4th OF but if he can continue to get on base at least .330 + he definitely has a lot of speed to swipe 20-40 bases. I am ready to concede Hicks as a 4th/5th OF at this point. There has been no progress in his ability to drive the ball against better competition. He can definitely walk more than anyone and plays good defense. That has some value not enough to necessarily start. Someone should make a decent LF from this bunch if need be.

I'll agree that if Schaeffer is getting 200-250 AB in a season that is fine. If he is getting more than 400 I would be concerned unless he is hitting .300ish and OBP is around .350+. His speed will take care of itself as long as he can get on base. As a back up he can also be a pinch runner. There is a lot of uses for him as a player on our team. He adds lots more value with a .350ish OBP and the higher that is the more playing time he will get.

I didn't mean to sound antsy. I was surprised the comment disappeared.

I thought I commented on this before. There is a former Twins who perfectly comps in this study Jason Tyner. He had 2 + seasons of hitting .290+ for the Twins after turning 27 in playing in parts of 4 seasons total. Then was done in his early 30's. He was a fast base stealer too though not as fast as Schaefer. I can see Schaefer as having up to 6 more seasons where he gets 200-400 AB's in a season and steals 20-40 bases before being done around 35-36. That's my projection for his career. But he'll have to hit and work his way on base at least .320 OBP to be able to get that much playing time.

Here's a comparable. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/smithdw01.shtml this guy hit very similar to Santana his rookie year. Didn't do to well afterwards. I am a huge fan of Santana though and I actually hope he remains in the OF and Escobar keeps SS. Santana could prove me wrong and reclaim SS but Escobar did just fine there. Why fix what ain't broken? Though there are lots of teams with starting pitchers looking for SS this offseason.

Eric Stultz has just been made a FA. H is Corriea 2.0

Denorfia does make sense as does Rios or Aoki on reasonable 2 year deals. If we have to go longer than that and pay more we may as well trade for a Los Angeles OF.

I think the Twins would be in on someone like Mike Leake. He is someone they can resign to a 3 or 4 year deal after the season and he is good for close to 200 innings.

Here's my favorite comparable for a post 27 year old career that I would expect to be similar to what I would hope for from Schaefer. I can see maybe 2-4 seasons like this with more speed. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/t/tynerja01.shtml

When I look at all of the starting pitchers who are available for trade I can't help but think that is the best way for us to get a good starting pitcher that we want for our rotation. Its no secret we won't bother trying to sign Lester, Schertzer, or Shields. We probably wont go after Santana either since there are not many options on the open market in his tier of talent so he will likely cost more than he should. But there are lots of starting pitchers who are on the trade market who are available at the right price. Oakland has said they will listen on Kazmir, Bluejays are open to trading Buerhle, Cincinnati has 4 decent to good starters who are 1 year from FA so they are open to trading one of them, Mets have 7 starting pitchers possibly 8 and they need a SS. So does Oakland. We have 2 of them plus a few MI prospects too. There are more options too these are the ones I can remember. The reason there are so many starting pitchers available is because next offseason there will be lots of starting pitchers hitting free agency. Before I go into who is available in freeagency after the 2015 season Let me ask you does it make more sense to trade Escobar and Pinto (who the organization is down on) and a reliever like Deunsing or one of our numerous prospects for a starter costing around 8 to 10 million for a 1 year contract or pay a starter 40-60 million over 3-4 seasons. In terms of dollars and risk which makes more sense to you and what are some of your trade proposals? also if you are concerned because the starter is a free agent after the season look at who is a free agent after next season. Surely we can get a new starter if we need one. Here is the list from MLBtraderumors.com of who is on track for free agency next offseason. Clay Buchholz (31) – $13MM club option with a $245K buyout Mark Buehrle (37) Trevor Cahill (28) – $13MM club option with a $300K buyout Jhoulys Chacin (28) Wei-Yin Chen (30) Bartolo Colon (43) Johnny Cueto (30) Ross Detwiler (30) R.A. Dickey (41) – $12MM club option with a $1MM buyout Marco Estrada (32) Doug Fister (32) Yovani Gallardo (30) Jaime Garcia (29) – $11.5MM club option with a $500K buyout Jeremy Guthrie (37) – $10MM mutual option with a $3.2MM buyout J.A. Happ (33) Dan Haren (35) Tim Hudson (40) Hisashi Iwakuma (35) Scott Kazmir (32) Ian Kennedy (31) John Lackey (37) Mat Latos (28) Mike Leake (28) Tim Lincecum (32) Kyle Lohse (37) Corey Luebke (31) – $7.5MM club option with a $1.75MM buyout Kris Medlen (30) Bud Norris (31) Ross Ohlendorf (33) Mike Pelfrey (32) Rick Porcello (27) David Price (30) Ricky Romero (31) – $13.1MM club option with a $600K buyout Jeff Samardzija (31) Alfredo Simon (35) Jerome Williams (34) Jordan Zimmermann (30)

Nick you should write an article on trade candidates and who we should target in trade. Cause that's how we are going to get our next starting pitcher. There are too many good starting pitchers available in a trade not to make one. Next year is a much batter year for the Twins to sign a pitcher in Free Agency when there are lots more pitchers to choose from.

I like the other option better....TRADE for a starting pitcher. There are a lot of them available this winter cause a lot of them will be free agents next year. Next year will be the better year to sign a free agent pitcher if we need one. Also this year's Phil Hughes is Nolasco....sort of, I expect he'll rebound back to career norms.

I am not saying that Torii is the best option in terms of best player available. He's a good one that won't cost a long term commitment As we do have players coming up who can take over LF. I am putting lower cost options out there to fill the holes. your 2 moves cost 30 million to the payroll. Mine are closer to 20 million without a commitment past next year. The twins management will want to see if we can win and how that affects attendance before they spend again.

Several of the Teams who have starting pitchers available to trade need SS. Even with a 102 adjusted OPS Escobar was one of the better hitting SS last year in the AL. The Mets are willing to trade Niese or Gee. I think a package built around Escobar for one of them can be accomplished. With that said I am not a big fan of trading him. I think he should be the starting SS going into next season and Santana should stay in CF. While Escobar is probably a more average SS he definitely has earned the right to start and if we aren't going to start him we should deal him plain and simple. We have Nunez to be the back up with several others waiting at AAA and Polanco just a call away.

Instead of signing Santana who will get more than 3/45 on the open market we can trade for a starter. We can do a combination of Escobar, Pinto and Relievers and prospects and there are numerous pitchers who may be available due to teams over supply (Mets) or because they are a year from FA (Toronto and Cincinnati) that pitcher would cost less in terms of dollars. Niese would be around 8 million for example. For the OF I am ok with Hunter signing cause its just for 1 season. We have Rosario almost ready, Schaefer, Parmelee, Hicks and possibly Colabello gets another chance since we now know he was hurt last season. who can all compete for LF as is. I still think Santana gets a lot of time in CF next year and I am fine with that as it gives Escobar more time to prove he is a starting SS provided he isn't traded during the offseason. In the bullpen we don't really need to sign anyone, however the fan in me wants to see Neshek back with the Twins. The only other thing I can think of is making sure we have a solid back up C. I don't think the Twins want Pinto to be that guy and the guy they had there last year isn't all that good so I would think getting a decent back up is in order. Where are you Drew Butera? I don't see this as a transaction filled offseason as we now have a pretty stable team and even our bench is solid as well as the pen. Just a tweak in the rotation for depth and some competition in the OF.

This has no impact on how Torii will do next season. The Twins brought back Blylevin in 1985 and won the world series 2 years later. The Twins appear to be a hitter away from having a monster offense, A starting pitcher and some health for Nolasco away from a solid rotation, and a reliever away from an above average pen. That is a winning and contending team if we get the parts we need. We are a lot closer to contending then it appears.

I am kinda disappointed. but I think it is more important to have a good pitching coach at this point. Brunansky better be back as well or this is a terrible hire IMO.

Pinto is a good trade piece. I think there is a good chance he is traded. its not 100%. but he would be worth more to other teams than us by the way we played him last year in a rebuilding year.

I disagree with #2. I think the twins will trade for a starting pitcher. there's too many teams willing to trade a starting pitcher for this not to happen. Also I will say this for our FA efforts. we will resign Neshek as a FA. and have a Minnesota connected bullpen of Perkins Neshek and Theilbar

The bullpen is solid. We could roll with 4 or 5 of the same 6 pitchers with Burton out and maybe Swarzak. I am not going to say he's definitely out at this point as most of the options from the high minors are ok options but not great and Swarzak is still not too expensive. So we'll see with him. In terms of whose good enough to stay I think Perkins, obviously, Thielbar cause he too was effective again and inexpensive, Fien was 2nd best reliever, and Deunsing was arguably the best first half reliever that didn't close games. But adding a few power arms will be a big welcome addition to the pen as Burdi could move Fien to the 7th inning and Oliveras or Achter may replace Swarzak as the long man. I would think that would be enough of an overhaul to start the season unless Deunsing is included in a trade which I can see as a possibility especially if we take on salary in that trade. I think a real key for the bullpen next year is to find another starting pitcher that can go 200 innings. Having 4 guys do that can put the bullpen in position to be real effective as they can have more rest and maybe even go to a 7 man bullpen for stretches and have a longer bench. Something I wrote about last year as part of the Twins winning formula is to have 5 solid average starters and an above average pen = a better than average team ERA.

Can we get a hold of enough season ticket holders to raise a stink to the front office to contact this guy already?

I don't think he'll come to Minnesota. We may not be a fit for him. But I would be upset if we didn't publicly inquire.

I don't expect a lot of transactions this offseason so I am ok I this gives us something to talk about through November.

The reason I say this, is because If Meyer goes to the pen and so does Pelfry, then we would almost need to sign another pitcher unless Berrios is ready as our depth 6/7/8th starters are not as plentiful at this time. Hughes/ Nolasco/ Gibson/ May/ Millone then you have Gilmartin and Berrios and Pino if healthy next season and he re-signs. That's not a lot of depth if we can not count on Berrios as an option. Maybe Rogers and The other mid level prospect Duffy I think could be ready enough to pitch up here. Who else would we be able to count on if Gibson or Hughes gets hurt for a month to start the season?

I think I am fine with any of the three managerial choices. If Mientkewicz is manager then Molitor should be offered a coaching job. If Lovullo gets the job then he may want Molitor but not as important. If Molitor gets the job then Mientkiewicz should get the bench coach job so he can learn on the job.