Brandon

I am optimistic that at least one pitcher will improve and that 3 starting pitchers will be solid and give the staff at least 3 12 game winners Worely, Diamond and ???. I also think the bullpen will be solid again. the big question is whether CF, SS and 2B will we be able to have at least 2 decent seasons from the 3 lineup spots. beyond that its just a matter of health and how will the other 2 spots in the rotation fare? will we get 2 suprise pitchers and an adequate Correia? That will allow the Twins to be competetive. Can they do that? Sure but the odds are not in their favor on paper at the moment.

What if I'm a chinese jet pilot?

I am going to go with 100 - 105 starts at C for Mauer and 40-45 for Doumit backing up another 10-15 games and Butera Starting 13 - 17 games and playing 1 -3 innings in another 40-50 games.

Van Couver. maybe Austin/ SanAntonio Texas (there are lots of businesses in Austin) New York City/ across the river in New Jersey Tri City area in North Carolina

I.d do it. also wonder if Hawkins is available. I would rather have him. I think the Twins bullpen guraenteed spots at this point is Perkins, Burton, and Deunsing at this point. Swarzak and Burnett and Fien are likely at this point but could be swapped out.

I would love for Parker Hageman to do one of his scouting reports comparing the pitching styles of Cole DeVries and Shaun Marcum. they both throw 87 MPH.

Thome as paul bunyan

It also means management won't learn their lesson regarding that type of player and will feel vindicated that they were right and continue to pursue those types of players.

their bullpen is above average as they will get to keep Deunsing there all season and Harden will make an excellant reliever. Plus Grey will not be here next season (addition by subtraction)

I think we are close to atleast being competetive this year. I mean we have Mauer, Doumit and 4 others capable of hitting 25-30 HR (Morneau, Willingham, Ploffe, Parmalee) Carrol is a solid on base guy. If we get someone who can be a 4th OF/ CF for insurance and maybe Kelly Johnson or Freddy Sanchez then we have a good lineup....Defense leave alot to be desired. The bullpen is above average. If we get Saunders then our rotation has a better chance to be average. That would give us a chance to be competetitve if all breaks right. That is not quite the same as what we have comming in a few years when we are hoping the next wave of prospects makes us a legitimate contender again.

Mauer should bat leadoff. Just think of how many double plays he wouldn't be able to hit into. Plus a 400+on base percentage would be a great way to start off the game. Podsedinek would be a CF/4th OF placeholder till Hicks comes up and to provide competetiton to make sure Hicks is ready. He would be a solid 1 or 2 hitter. Carroll would work as a 2 hitter as well just not as top choice.

They could sign Johnson or Sanchez to play 2B and Saunders to pitch and one of the available relievers out there pretty cheep and maybe Posidnek to compete for the CF spot and that would improve the grade for next year and beyond. and I think that can all be done for less than 10 million added to next season payroll. The trades were good the inexpensive pitching was ok Harden and Pelfry. Corriea was the only bad mark but other areas not fully addressed. CF is with Hicks, but if Hicks and or Parmalee prove to not be ready we need another OF till Arcia is ready or Parmalee or Hicks are ready for 2nd go round. MI is a disaster offensively. I hope FLorimon can field as either SS or 2b will be a black hole otherwise. as Carroll can only play 1 position. Inge would be nice on a minorleague contract to push at 3B. There are tons of bullpen options available hope we get one at a reasonable price but ok if we don't.

What are Justin Morneau's prospects of returning to All-Star form? I think he will hit .280/ .350/ .500 with 25-30 HR How will Glen Perkins handle the closing job? Just fine. he'll get 30-40 saves and average almost a k per inning. What will Trevor Plouffe do with a full-time job? he will be a streaky hitter. fielding will improve throughout the season but be average at best but probably not that good but better than last year. going to go with .260/.300/.480 with 25 HR and he will get more RBI. probably close to 80. I think the 80 RBI will be the most accurate of my offensive predictions for him. Where will Minnesota get its best starting pitching? That is the million dollar question. I think we haven't seen the last of DeVries. while I don't care if a player is from Minnesota or not since I don't live there he did limit walks and k at a decent enough rate. He only had 4 clunker starts and 14 decent enough starts he just doesn't go deep into games. He throws the same 87 MPH that Marcum throws so we'll see if he can be an effective junkballer in the 5th spot. I am intrigued by Pelfry since I read he learned to throw a cutter last year and I would like to see if that helps raise his game as it looked like it after 4 starts last year. I will go with the prediction here of 28 starts 160-180innings and 3.75 ERA. Diamond will be a solid pitcher next season getting between 190-210 innings of around a 4.00 ERA. Worely is likely to be our best pitcher with around 180-190 innings and a 3.25-3.5 ERA. Since I am so against the signing of Corriea its hard to be objective with him. but I suspect numbers similar to Swarzak in that he'll end up with around 100-130 innings ERA around a 5.00 probably 15-20 starts and 20-25 bullpen appearances as a long man. I hope he proves me wrong with his first 200+ innings season with a low 4.00 ERA. Gibson will end up with less than 100 innings probably 15 starts and 80 innings. because he'll start in the minors then get shut down early. I would like to see Dedunno get another opportunity too but he will only get it if he beats out DeVries. and that is possible too. Blackburn just missed his last chance with the surgery, Harden will make it back in the pen and become a top set up man. Hendricks is anyones guess. there will be several pockets of opportunities as my main pitching prediction for next season is that the Twins will use at least 9 starting pitchers next year.

I remember getting ripped for suggesting we trade for him last year. Just saying..... We absolutely should sign him to a 2 or 3 year contract. Any of our pitchers can always be traded if we have a surplus. you can never have enough pitching. now if we can get the Twins to sign Sanchez or Johnson to play 2b. I would say we are close to a .500 team at that point and could contend it things break right.

DeVries was pretty consistant last year. He just can't pitch deep into games very often. I would like to see him get 4-6 starts to see if he can continue to improve and make a go of it for a few seasons. I have no interest in seeing Duensing or Swarzak start, Dedunno is also deserving of a few starts too, unless the Twins decide to add another starting pitcher . Gibson needs to start in the minors. At least thats how i feel at this moment. I am ok with him starting in the majors as he will be limited and could be shut down by August.

WAR is not a universally accepted stat yet, so I wouldn't necessarily agree with the above arguement. What Morris has that those other pitchers don't is more Wins to go with the World Series MVP and game 7 10 inning Shut Out. If I remember correctly he pitched deep into games which is why he has so many wins. He is a fringy candidate as he has the highest era of anyone who would be elected. He also has a long history of being a good pitcher who accumulated a lot of wins and with some post season games that should not be forgotten. I think he belongs.

Can the Twins do a sign and trade? or be able to trade him early in the season? I think there is a minimum time a player has to be on the team before he can be dealt without his permission. To sign a player like this you would want your exit strategy lined up. So Geek whats your exit strategy for Lohse if we sign him? who will trade for him and what prospects can we expect to get. how much better will the prospect be if the Twins include cash and how much do they include? I suspect we would look at National League teams.

who are the first 3? i am guessing Sano, Buxton, and Meyer or Hicks? And for this round I vote for either Meyer or Hicks at #5 depending on whoever isn't number 3. there should be a rundown of who was picked for each of these threads.

1 year 8 million + 4 million in incentives for innings pitched from 150 to 210 + a 2nd year option at 13 million with 500k buyout.

CMathewson, the post directly above yours disproves your points. Baker, Villanueva, McCarthy and Liriano were all potential solid signing cnadidates that TR could have paid more to get and had on short term contracts which is what he wanted to begin with. Say we sign Villanueva and Marcum instead of Corriea and Pelfry (though I am ok with Pelfry signing he might turn out) . That might cost us a few million more this year but we would be more competetive with them. Also with all of the young and cheap talent on the way from the minors, (Meyer, May, Gibson, Hendricks, Barrios) plus Diamond and Worely, we will have money available to pay one starting pitcher 10 million or so if they work out. That would give us a deep rotation in the future. (Also regarding cheap talent comming up there are several position players too so the entire team payroll will go downin 2014 and 2015.) I like most of what Ryan got accomplished. I am perplexed by what pitching they targeted and that they don't seem interested in pursuing other opportunities to improve the club (Marcum SP, Sanchez 2B, Johnson 2B and more) and that for a team so penny conscious they seem inclined to start Hicks in CF right out the gate instead of waiting 2 months in AAA for the FA and arbitration clock to set one year later.

Everyone was upset about trading Hardy. I think we were even more upset at that then the Corriea signing. Cause both obviously meant punting the next season. But the Hardy trade was a long time ago and we have moved on. I think we were more curious than excited about Nishioka when we signed him. We were excited in that we actually signed a Japenese player but when we saw that signing also meant the end of Hardy being here I think that tempered any excitement that signing could have and changed it to I hope he doesn't suck which he did. At this point I am hopeful the Twins still sign a pitcher or Johnson or Sanchez or a backup OF or even Inge. Someone they can flip for a monorleaguer later.

Players the Twinsshould still consider this offseason: The main objective for any of these signings should be to put more competition intoour weakest areas on the team and give Terry Ryan ammunition to do what he doesbest which is to trade these players for other teams minor-leaguers near the trade deadline. All of these players are available or shouldbe at a low cost, Unless the objective of next season is to lose 90+ games forbetter draft position. These signings at the right price could boost the team a minimual cost and increase the Twins bottom line. Middle IF Alex Gonzalez, SS:or Kelly Johnson, 2B: Ronny Cedeno, SS Freddy Sanchez, 2B Either would address our biggest weakness for very little or at leastprovide competition for the MI. I believe Dozier can be a useful major leaguer, but he should spend part of next season in the minors and these guys can keep him there. 3Bdepth Brandon Inge, 3B A minor league contract with spring invite should be a good opportunity for him. Starting Pitching One more starting pitcher should do the trick. Shawn Marcum if healthy is probably the bestoption or Saunders would be a decent pitcher if his price comes down. As much as I would like to see Gibson up I would prefer to keep him in the minors for the same reason I want to see Hicks start the season in the minors. Garcia could be a swing man if need be. Shaun Marcum, SP: or JoeSaunders SP Freddy Garcia, SP/RP Out Field The Twins are spot on with their OF targets of Sweeney and Posednick who could be a 4th/5th OF spot whenHicks is ready and compete with Mastroianni for the starting job in springtraining. Bullpen. There are numerous bullpen options available so I think wecan easily just find 1 that will add more depth to our pen. Crowd Favorites Then there are the crowd favorites. If we are not going to win lets bring back acouple of fan favorites to keep fans interested at least. Jim Thome, DH:who wouldn’t like to see Thome back in Minnesota. If he is still producing and a contenderwants him we can trade him there but he would bring fans back to the stands. LaTroy Hawkins, RP has own fan club in Minnesota Punto (of course we have to trade for him but he wasour scrapper for so long that we miss making fun of him) Which of these players would you like to see the Twinsconsider signing. Include others thatare still available and why.

Players the Twinsshould still consider this offseason: The main objective for any of these signings should be to put more competition intoour weakest areas on the team and give Terry Ryan ammunition to do what he doesbest which is to trade these players for other teams minor-leaguers near the trade deadline. All of these players are available or shouldbe at a low cost, Unless the objective of next season is to lose 90+ games forbetter draft position. These signings at the right price could boost the team a minimual cost and increase the Twins bottom line. Middle IF Alex Gonzalez, SS:or Kelly Johnson, 2B: Ronny Cedeno, SS Freddy Sanchez, 2B Either would address our biggest weakness for very little or at leastprovide competition for the MI. I believe Dozier can be a useful major leaguer, but he should spend part of next season in the minors and these guys can keep him there. 3Bdepth Brandon Inge, 3B A minor league contract with spring invite should be a good opportunity for him. Starting Pitching One more starting pitcher should do the trick. Shawn Marcum if healthy is probably the bestoption or Saunders would be a decent pitcher if his price comes down. As much as I would like to see Gibson up I would prefer to keep him in the minors for the same reason I want to see Hicks start the season in the minors. Garcia could be a swing man if need be. Shaun Marcum, SP: or JoeSaunders SP Freddy Garcia, SP/RP Out Field The Twins are spot on with their OF targets of Sweeney and Posednick who could be a 4th/5th OF spot whenHicks is ready and compete with Mastroianni for the starting job in springtraining. Bullpen. There are numerous bullpen options available so I think wecan easily just find 1 that will add more depth to our pen. Crowd Favorites Then there are the crowd favorites. If we are not going to win lets bring back acouple of fan favorites to keep fans interested at least. Jim Thome, DH:who wouldn’t like to see Thome back in Minnesota. If he is still producing and a contenderwants him we can trade him there but he would bring fans back to the stands. LaTroy Hawkins, RP has own fan club in Minnesota Punto (of course we have to trade for him but he wasour scrapper for so long that we miss making fun of him) Which of these players would you like to see the Twinsconsider signing. Include others thatare still available and why.

What is causing him to k so much? is there a certain pitch he struggles with? or adapting to pitch sequences? or pitch placement? I also don't know how much work he needs defensively before he should make the show. But his power is ready now that much is a given.

The one thing Terry Ryan is known for is raiding other teams minor leagues. How many rule 5 picks have they made that worked out to some degree? Shane Mack (actually andy MacPhail) Santana (actually traded from rule 5), Buscher, Diamond, there were others that played in the majors Ryan Rowland-Smith and there was an OF that played a few years for the Mets as a 4th/ 5th OF. Plus all of the trades Ryan has made on top of that for prospects. while the Twins could take Lara in the draft or Pressley doesnt make a difference, as long as they get a chance in spring training to see what they have. Terry Ryan is good at aquiring other teams prospects. He was so good at it that teams stopped trading him prospects for a while or were at least gun shy about it. Teams would actually re-evaluate players Twins were willing to aquire.