Brandon

We should just trade all of the veterans for minor league players. Then we should trade all of our rookies because they will not be here when we are relevant again and we really need to build up our farm system. In fact our AA and AAA guys wont even be here either so we should trade them until we have the strongest team or 16 year-olds playing in the gulf coast league and just maybe we can be relevant again before they reach the majors and then Free Agency in the next 15 years give or take. We may have to do another tear down or two pushing our contention window out another 10 years or so making it 25 years before we are relevant again. Or we could just go for it this year. I mean we do have some issues but a few of them have corrected themselves. so if Rooker or Sano can make it up and mash or if Morrison hits when he gets back from the DL, that is our biggest problem solved. Grossman, Dozier, Garver, Cave, Polanco, and Mauer are hitting so we would only need a DH to step forward and another C to go with Garver and our offense should be in high gear. We have 6 or 7 starters who should be starting for us. The question is can we find a 4th or 5th starter who can pitch like a 3 to finish out the season and how will Santana do when he gets back? The rotation and pen as a whole are average. can we win enough games with an improved offense to contend if not win this year? Contending to the end of the season is good enough for me if we try and do not win its ok, and better than quitting. Finishing 1 or 2 games back of the playoffs at the end of the year is better than quitting now and walking away and loosing a bunch of games to close out the season, Odds are against us winning the division but I would like to see how the next few weeks play out before i go all negative again. I did give up a week ago and do not have high expectations yet. But i would like to see if they can get hot now and make a run of it. That is more fun than quitting on the season. I hate quitting on the season

Rotation for 2018 Santana Berrios Gibson Odorizzi Lynn Romero and in reserves, Mejia, Slegers, Littell, Gonsalves Rotation for 2019 Berrios Gibson Pineda Romero Odorizzi with Mejia, Slegers, Thorp,Stewart, Gonsalves Littell plus any free agents so we have plenty of flexibility to trade a starting pitcher. I would be surprised if we didn't trade at least one. Even if we decide not to sell we should probably trade one of our pitchers this season. I think the smart play on Santana is to see how he finishes the year and pick up his option then trade him if he pitches well. for some reason I think he will and i think he will be worth a 1 year 14 million contract. especially if we eat some of it to get a better prospect.

They could have demoted Romero to slow things down a little and take a breather. His pitching was going down hill and todays start isnt dominate either.

I think they are waiting for Belisle to figure out he's done so he can be hired as a coach or something.

So how much more leash does Belisle get? I'm ok with a few more appearances but he appears to be done.

Not sure about last time but i think Blyleven was 19 as a rookie. How old was Liriano?

Here is the answer you are all looking for. Cave is this generations Randy Bush but can play CF too. Randy Bush was LH and always 8th-10th in plate appearances on the team and a solid bat.

The FO needs to be able to sell hope to the fans to get them to go out to the ballpark. So to sell this year we would need a return to be able to sell hope for next. If there is no return the only return would be slashing payroll which alienates the fanbase. But of course no one wants to pay to watch a garbage team either. ( note team is playing better and not currently garbage). If we can get back to .500 and Sano gets close to getting called back up it may behoove us not to sell. Next 10 games are real important. We need to win 7 out of 10 minimum.

I dont see the Twins trading Gibson. I can see them trading either Lynn or Odorizzi to open a rotation spot for Romero and Santana. Slegers can go back down as well. Next season we will have: Berrios Romero Gibson As certainties with Thorp, Stewart, Gonsalves, Littell, Mejia, and Slegers available as 4th/5th starters. Also we have no money committed and if Gibson is pitching like this at the allstar break next year he may be good for a 3 year 45 million extention....possibly even more.

Domingo Santiago and 500,000 international spending money or more and a suspect prospect for either Dozier or Escobar. but i am not sure i want to trade till a week or so after the allstar break. we seem to be improving with Cave, Garver, Polanco and Dozier a little and Mauer hits a little here and there too. I want to see how they do before we ship them off. especially since we could still see Sano, Buxton, and Rooker make an impact at some point this season as well.

1.) Where are you from? Born in Winona but grew up in Oklahoma, Wyoming and Texas. currently live in Orange County California 2.) Age Range? I'll be in the 43 range starting next month on the day of my birth 3.) What brought you to Twins Daily? I was here when the site popped up. been ready Bonnes since 2002, Gleeman and Seth in 2004 I think and Nick and Nick and Parker Hageman alot too. I remember before Gleeman and the Geek podcast it was Seth and the Geek podcast. 4.) Highest level of baseball/softball played? on the bench for a few games in 9th grade. I was younger and smaller then my peers back then. 5.) Favorite Twins Player, and favorite underappreciated Twins player, and if you want, favorite current Twins player? My favorite players change with time and season so here are a few. I am forgetting some and may come back and edit later. Gladden (highly convenient that i start following baseball at age 12 in 1987) Juan Berenger, Puckett, Brian Harper (that guy came out of nowhere as he was a failed power prospect who made it at age 28 as a line drive hitter), Shane Mack (Best Rule 5 pick we ever made [santana was a trade]) Reboulet, Trombley, Radke (he pitched without an arm in 2006 sortof), Nixon and Tewksbury, Molitor, Knoblauch (i know he became a real a-holio but he was real cool before that and the hidden ball trick to fool Lonnie Smith in 91 World Series is priceless) Lawton, Koskie, Hunter, Guerrier (minor league signing Swarzak (team player) Liriano (throw in to Pierzinski trade) Pierzinski (.300 hitting catcher with lots of doubles are cool) Mauer (see last comment) Eddie Escobar (throw in to Liriano trade) Dozier (extend him man it would be nice to see a franchise player climb all time lists like 300 HR and 100+ stolen bases) Sano Pressley (rule 5 success) Joe Nathan, Pavstache, Carl Willis, Berrios (this kid is so enthusiastic its infectious and good for people like vitamins) Romero (yeah) 6.) Favorite non-Twins Daily site/authors? Matthew, Luke, Peter, Paul, Ann Rand, John Steinback, George Lucas (he wrote the original Star Wars before special effects existed) me (i just write herer but since i am not a TwinsDaily author I thought i would give myself a vote) 7.) Favorite Twitter follows? Financial news. rarely on twitter. but i post mortgage interest news there on occaison as that is my primary job. 8. erests outside of baseball. Hiking, biking, learning, traveling, (trying unsuccessully to like cooking and learning it. Ido enjoy eating others cooking however) 9.) Favorite part of Twins Daily... A good John Bonnes Article and prospect lists, and winter meetings coverage and potential deals analysis and debates 10.) Tell us what we can do better. What features or other topics would you like to see in-season or out of season? add a Comics section, how about video interviews, video blogs, video comments, maybe a poop emoji for bad comments to go with liking a comment. Bring BatGirl to the Twins Daily Team. 11.) Have you been to any of the Twins Daily "events? no there havent been any here in southern California for me to attend. I do hope to make the trip to spring training some year.

This is the comment of the year! I cant stop laughing.

My first pick is Dozier as he has been hitting better lately in the power department. I'm gonna go with .270/.350/.550 with 15-18 2Bs and 12 -15 HRs and 6 stolen bases to get to 101 for his career with the Twins. I also think Captain Cave...man is doing well and may break out in the second half as a solid CF .270/.330/.450 Polanco and Kepler too. .280/ .320-.330/ .450 (guestimated batting line for both players) I think Morrison will do better if he stays the full season something like .240 average with 12-14 HRs but wont be the breakout player for the second half. I think Rogers will do well out of the pen with 2.5 ERA in 36 innings (I'm reaching here as I feel like most of the rotation pitched to potential). Otherwise i gotta go with Romero with a low 3.00 ERA when he gets recalled soon. Maybe 70 innings of 3.20-3.40 ERA and 75 Ks.

If we go 5-1 or 4-2 into the allstar break and gain a game or two on Cleveland, we should have some positive reinforcements/ developments on the way. I was ready to call it a season but soon I suspect we will have Buxton back Sano in August if we keep winning and he drops 15 and refines his bat. Santana Pineda should be ready for a rehab stint soon. If Rooker keeps hitting could he be up sooner than later? Romero should be back soon as several relievers. Polanco is already back Mauer is showing signs of breaking his slump. Dozier has started hitting with more power....remember he had a hr taken away from him the other day in an over the fence grab Now if we can do something about C and DH were in business.

And this year its in the .500s the .718 OPS is a huge improvement. .800 even more and Realmutto is currently in the .900s

Because the offense collapsed this year and C is one of the biggest culprits.

Also i think an extension to lock him up for 4 more seasons should occur if we are going to make this trade as well.

I would think Killerhoff plus several pitchers like Mejia, May and Businetz or a similar group of pitchers. I dont want to give up a great hitter and potential ace for Realmutto. I would rather overpay for Ramos as a FA for 3 years this offseason then overpay for Realmutto with what your offering. Romero and Graterol are off limits

Couldnt we have waited till after the season and extend Dave a QO? There is a possibilty he would accept, but it would just be a one year contract. With all the other money comming off the books we would have been able to stay within Pohlads payroll restrictions. Plus we can always try to trade him next year when we might be able to extract more value. Like maybe a Tampa Bay Rays A ball blogger. You know they know all the value finds in A ball.....

I remember back when he had 12 AB. With 7 singles and 5 Ks making him a true 2 outcome player. And thats about it.

If we sweep the Royals too are we still sellers or do we see how we play with Buxton back up to so Cave can DH when not in the OF for a couple weeks first?

Maybe they can add a bigger selection of craft brews at domestic beer prices

Do the Twins need the extra 40 man spot for prospects to shield from the rule 5 draft? if so then Rooker won't get called up as he doesn't need to be on the 40 man for a while. I would like to see him called up though. I just think roster management will come into play. I think we are now in line for the 7th or 8th pick in the draft next year. we may as well keep the veteran fill-ins for a while longer to ensure we can at least succeed in the race to the bottom. Also i want to see the front office sign Escobar to an extention if he is interested. I think this FO is too preoccupied with cashflow and needs to have some stability in players. with no money on the books if that becomes their MO then players will not want to stay around without some stability.

Contingencies: The Twins entered this season with several contingencies in place. Escobar was able to fill in any of the IF positions but 1B and DH. Grossman could fill in at RF, LF and DH and either Rosario or Kepler could go to CF, and Morrison or Sano could fill in at 1B and Garver could start at C and we had Wilson to be the third C. what happened? More problems sprung up then we had contingencies available to plug them. Sano got hurt and Polanco was suspended half a season. so Escobar is at 3B and Adrianza is at SS (Adrianza has actually perfomed well as the starter) so those contingencies worked out. Buxton had headaches was injured on rehab games and missed more time then rushed back before taking more time off and is now a mess. Grossman has underperformed and LaMarre performed for a minute getting him more playing time. We didnt have a contingency in case Grossman didn't hit. Castro was injured and declared out for the year so our contingency Garver was given a few weeks to see what he could do with Wilson being the back up C. Garver showed he wasnt ready for the bulk of the playing time so we went to Wilson to be the starter. (In a vacuum this isnt the end of the world but with the other issues going on we needed more offense and this is one area we could improve quickly easily and probably cheaply too) Mauer had concussion issues again and went on the DL. Grossman was spening more time in the OF so he couldnt DH, Morrison played 1B and Sano has been injured and a wreck and back at A ball. so we really didnt have anyone who could produce be able to play 1B. also Vargas was not hitting in AAA. DH Morrison wasn't hitting Grossman wasnt either but he was needed in the OF and did improve for a minute showing hope as did Morrison before regressing again. Sano was Sano and Vargas was wiffing in AAA and Lastly Dozier has slumped enough to hurt his value to the team but not enough to replace in the lineup especially with all of the other things going on. Though I wonder if sitting him on the bench for a few days and bringing up Gordon to start for a few days and go back down, would have lit a fire. so we needed another OF contingency which has turned to Cave and he is producing enough. We needed another DH and did nothing to fix the situation We needed a starting C and did nothing to fix the situation Mauer has come back and so has Polanco. Though Mauer isn't hitting yet except 2 games against the Cubs. So the real problems not addressed in season are the DH and starting C for the remainder of the season. There are a few options available to fix these at minimal cost. Could we have signed Hanley Ramirez and there was another hitter released who could hit at DH whom I already forgot, and sent to AAA for a few weeks to ramp back up and maybe play him? Having a .700 OPS catcher and an .800 OPS DH would have helped the lineup immensely instead of throwing out a lineup of .500 to .680 OPS hitters in 5 or 6 spots in the lineup. Especially in a season where we lost so many 1 run games. The Twins did sign Rupp to a AAA contract but that hasn't worked out either. what was the cost to acquire a starting C? there are several on the market so it is a buyers market with Swihart, Chirinos, Ramos, and Reamulto available. Yes Realmutto would cost a lot. but if the Twins wanted to keep the push for this year on they could have traded for a C which would cost a prospect but probably not one we had to have. As far as the pitching goes, I don't really have any complaints. Yes Lynn stumbled out the gate and we still have Belisle on the team. I hope after a few more appearances we will know if he is done with a few bad appearances and they cut bait or he turns it around and produces. Either one is fine by me though I do want to see the young guys come up soon. The staff as a whole is average which is leaps and bounds better then where they were when Falvine came on board or even last year for that matter. We did go from a top 5 offense to a bottom 5 offense and Falvine hasn't done much to stop the bleeding during this time, but at the same time there was so much bleeding there I doubt that even if these moves were made it would have made enough of a difference. Unless the front office making moves to bolster the team directly with buying trade upped morale enough for others to pick up and go. I do think they should go after Ramirez and a C. I don't know that there is much else they could realistically do without being a big buyer. and they may have felt the same. They may be thinking we can do these two moves but will likely keep us closer to .500 and not allow us to tank if need be. I don't know their logic but watching this season unfold has felt defeating. I don't like the concept of tanking (mostly because we need to FO to be honest with us about this up front as they may be tanking while we are rooting for the wins. Also the selling last year sends a message to the fans as well about wanting to win) and i hope the owners do something about that at the next collective bargaining agreement.

Well the formula shows he was a poor power hitter his first few years. It also shows he was a good one later on. as far as accuracy of the times is concerned. You be the judge. I just use that as a quick glance to evaluate how i think a player is doing in the power department. if you think there are more power hitting as a whole going on they you can change it to 1.1 or 1.25 or whatever you think is most representative. I just go by 1.0 because its less work. This formula is not meant to be an exact science. I like to use it when we talk about trade rumors. I just look at the XBH ave when i hear what kind of player/ prospect we are talking about.