Doctor Gast

Most definitely Maeda is best suited in the pen but beginning of the season he should be in the top 4 starters which is great if we don`t constantly depend on him to pitch 7 innings. If we use the rotating BP strategy & limit each starters innings. Hopefully all the starters will be rested coming PS & Maeda could get his innings in. Pineda will need some time to get stretched out & there`s no rush getting Hill in the rotation. But for the PS it`ll be more than likely Maeda will go go to BP (especially if the Twins go out & get a stud) unless any of the starters have difficulties

I think it`s great that Varela is so flexible & humble where he won`t have any problems w/ veteran mentoring. Wish them both well

I hope Baldelli does put Arraez at lead off. He`s a tough out can that wear down any pitcher & get on base to boot for the Bomba Squad. Getting his at bats in, they could also put in a defensive replacement if need be. I still like SH Polanco batting between RH Arraez & Donaldson especially against RHPs.

Re open old wounds are tough. We are are all human & make mistakes. There are philosophies & insecurity that each FO have & are locked into. Unfortunately they blind their eyes & do trades that later they & fans regret. W/ Ortiz it was batting style, w/ Ramos it was a Closer mind set. The Revere trade wasn`t too bad because we got May out of it but the Span trade was regrettable not only the talent we lost & what we got in return. MN had a tradition of the CF starting w/ Puckett to personally mentor the in coming replacement, was invaluable to Hunter, Span & Twins. Trading both Span & Revere because they saw the potential of up coming Hicks & I think Buxton was in the picture too; That quick trade stopped that tradition & left a big void for Hicks & Buxton. You are right about a fear of trading our prospects. Hording prospects is unhealthy, especially redundant ones. Our philosophy of drafting not according to need but towards talent has the idea of trading them for an area of need not to horde them. I`m all for obtaining Maeda but I didn`t like them trading Graterol & the way it was done. I consider pitching as an immediate & future need, Graterol was part of that solution. Because of the upside of his talent, composure, availability of mentorship of Berrios, our need & the down side of them obliging him to the BP, Graterol should have never been available in a trade. If LA would have been open for a trade out our strength instead of weakness then fine if not walk away & look else where. Being a passionate Twins fan, I`m wide open for wounding but in life we need to learn from our mistakes,suck it up & move on

Thanks for this write up! He`s a great prospect, still like to see him focused more on OF. So we can take advantage of that arm & think it`s better to hone his skills out there 1st

The Maeda/ Graterol trade can not be fully evaluated until Maeda`s time w/ the Twins & Graterol`s career is over

Thank you for pointing that out. I don`t think Hicks really achieved his full potential although he`s been rated as one the best OF in the AL. I don`t think Buxton has played much more in the last 4yrs. w/ some under stats years but I wouldn`t trade him for anyone. About the guy we trade for (Murphy), I believe he`s never been in a ML game.

Thanks for the article & the work that you put into it

Yes, Aaron Hicks is another one w/ great potential that they gave up on which they traded just for the sake to trade, we got nothing for him. I don`t pretend that I know more than the experts but I wonder sometimes that sometimes those who are close to these players & see their warts, they magnifies those warts so that`s all they see. At the same see a possible need & another team`s player that possible could fill that need, they then magnify their talents & not see their warts. Therefore making a terrible trade. So I suggest that any trade they somehow get some outside eyes

Yes, but I have hope that all those pitchers like Johan Santana can transform from a very good pitcher to ace, when he was taught & develop that circle change up

Totally agree w/ you about where are strength lies. Our problem spots are up the middle. Hopefully Buxton & Polanco stays healthy along w/ Polanco & Arraez improve defensively w/ the addition of Donaldson. I look to Gordon to improve down at AAA but I see him having difficulty making the transition to ML. My greatest hope is that Lewis takes that big step w/ Donaldson mentoring. He could fill those 3 problem spots very nicely.Therefore Lewis is our greatest prospect asset which should be guarded & not sacrificed

Thank you I never heard of Reiser, very inspiring! Buxton is like him! An impact player which super charges the atmoshere. Love to watch him play! Missed a lot of interstate turn-offs due to listening to him on the radio

I hope all the projects & prospects work out even eventually to the extent of Duran & Balazovic. I think because of the condition of our rotation we need all of them to work out. I don`t think there needs to be that much stress just keep on rotating them from AAA to ML as long as they work out.

The spirit of a true baseball player is to play full bore that`s how Buxton plays w/ true love for the sport. His position is very important & his presence is felt every time he takes the field. Many players are very cautious, afraid of cutting there career short & they put up big #s & get into the HOF. Others play all out & get hurt & put a damper on their careers. Tony Oliva is an example, a true HOFer which injured his knee going all out (he was not injury prone). Wish Buxton a long & glorious career as a Twin. I also think that there`s a danger in labeling a player injury prone as it in a way places a curse on a player

I agree, Cave is overlooked a lot & hope he does breakout. He`s definitely deserves to start on many ML teams. It must be hard on him when a lot Twins fans are always complaining about prospects not given a chance. They aren`t because of the talent ahead of them

Great article! A 6 man rotation I`m not in favor of but for the make up of our rotation we need to limit their innings so the 3rd time around be ready to pull them (except Berrios). Use starters in tandem using maybe some form of opener. Constantly rotating available starting pitchers from the minors to the bigs. This keeps batters from adjusting to pitchers, better evaluate the pitchers, stretches out incoming pitchers, gives young pitchers experience & give rest to the starter (even Berrios could use a rest, he seemed tired at the end of the season)

This is a immediate response to an immediate need, Graterol could`ve been groomed to start possible to some extent at the end of this year if not ready can be used in BP. Graterol has great opportunity to be a future ace. Where we desperately in need to progress in the PS this season & seasons to come. We are blessed w/ great positional player that are set for years to come & have a great glut of positional prospects where we have a future problem of keeping of them all on the 40 man roster. We need to trade from areas of excess not from areas of lack. This trade is a band-aid which is fine if hadn`t traded away possibly a part of the cure. LA loves to keep their pitching prospects, therefore keeping their stables full & cullings those which are inferior. My hope is that MN copies that philosophy.

I was trying to write in Portuguese but it would translate in part to English

Muito Obrigado, e ben vindo para TD! Eu tambem ficei passionate com Johan Santana or primeiro tempo eu assistir ele. Ele e` meu lancedor favorito do o historia do Twins

Always thought Graterol was a good fireballer that had some good stuff but not until I saw him pitched against the Yankees that I saw greatness (which I don`t throw out very often). This young 21 yr. old poised against the NY monsters, I figured we had something special that we should hold on to. A true impact pitcher that could come in under any circumstances & get the job done. Twins lost patience w/ him, for goodness sake, he`s only 21 not 32. He should have been given every chance to start in his time not to fill in at BP in the beginning of this season, we have a few desperate pitchers that would love to fill in that role. Work w/ him sometime during the season he`d be ready to start if not he could put in some innings at the end of the season in BP. I still can`t understand why they traded him & not a positional player. If LA was so determined to trade Maeda for Graterol & not a positional prospect, FO should have walked away. We could have done better else where w/o trading Graterol. I saw greatness in David Ortiz when he was w/ the Twins, it hurt me tremendously when they let go. Likewise I was hurt when they traded Graterol. I`ll miss the great moments & career he should have had in MN PS- "impact" is a word that`s thrown around a lot lately incorrectly " valuable that fits a certain need" is more acurate

Great article! I`m amazed that there are Twins fans all over the world

Muito Obrigado!

Cleveland too is a low market team, I believe I saw their payroll is under $100,000 around $90,000 I think but yet they always seems to compete. I believe it`s because they focus on pitching & defense. Like I said before they have an ace factory which always cranks them out regularly. I believe Romero needs to get his confidence back, hopefully this year he`ll find it & get the chance to prove himself. We have some hope w/ a great stock of pitching prospects for a bright future. MN has very good coaches to develop pitchers so far they have done wonders. Maeda is a good pitcher but I wish people would stop drinking LA & MN FO Kool-Aid. LA has a great pitching organization they need someone like Maeda to be a great SP/RP to help anchor a lacking BP & fill in as SP when needed. So why were they so determined to trade him for "damage goods" LA had Graterol records & sure he was he was extentively scouted? It`s because they could see 21 yrs.old Graterol as an impact pitcher for many years to come on the cheap instead a 32 yrs. old. Why didn`t MN wisely offer a positional player instead which wouldn`t have hurt? It`s because they started to drink their own Kool-Aid. I wish the Twins rotation well & they should w/ better line up, defense, BP to support them & a deader ball

May has found himself, bring him back Cruz, keep him as long as possible Odorizzi hope the best for him & he stays Gonzalez, if Gordon is our best replacement we have to keep him but I believe Astudillo & Lewis will find themselves when that happens Gonzalez is gone Hill, is a crap shoot hope to get something from him come this Oct. that`s it Bailey. waste of time & $.

The future pitching have looked pretty good, hope for the best!