Kirby_waved_at_me

The Twins could really use some organizational depth in CF - is there any excess on the 40 Man that would make it possible to add Fuld without losing Mastro? I think it makes sense for the Twins to add Fuld for depth, but not at the expense of dropping any more players that can play CF. http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/MIN/2014-roster.shtml Maybe Brooks Raley? I don't see much wiggle room otherwise.

A pretty entertaining afternoon of baseball after all!

Winning run at the plate in the bottom of the ninth - probably not what anyone expected after the first inning today.

From the various rumors and reports I've read so far this off season, Saunders would definitely sign a 3 year deal - I think that's been more than any team has been willing to give.

they also missed Winfield's presence on special teams because Marcus Sherels was playing in the secondary and not returning / covering kicks. That meant a few players playing less comfortable positions (like Aromashodu on Special teams). Does anyone happen to know if the Vikings will try to add another player for depth in the secondary? Could they if they want to? I'm not sure they would place Winfield on IR at this point, he may be willing to give it another shot.

Hypothetically the Twins sign him; wouldn't they want him to make 30 starts, if he is physically able? If he falls apart mechanically, or has an injury, that's not a breach of that promise... That's the hole in the rotation he would be filling at #2 or (more likely) #3. That pitcher (Villanueva or someone else) should be making that many starts if they are a free agent pickup.

I think a minor league contract with a Spring Training invite hurts no one- let him be the Twins' version of Lew Ford last year; if he gets hot in AAA, call him up. I wouldn't give him a 40 man spot unless there were injuries or he really impressed in AAA. He's not the guy to challenge Plouffe at 3rd, though.

I read a quote (source) from the Cardinals GM that they wanted (ideally) a ML-ready talent - he didn't specify position player or pitcher. So - who is the kind of player they'd want? Later in the article it says they are looking for a hitter . . . but would they take ... Nick Blackburn?

I agree that timing had a lot to do with this - is it also possible that Philadelphia wanted Revere more than Span? Would they have offered Worley/May for Span a week ago? Would the Nats have offered Meyer for Revere? I think the answer to both of those is no. I wonder how much impact having Span go to a rival had on the return from Philadelphia. The need for a CF was there regardless, but it's possible there was more incentive to move with the Nationals getting the jump on them. I expect all three teams are happy with the players they acquired.

They probably were too eager with the new stadium and tried step 4 without a solid core. They have good young talent, but beyond Stanton, most of that talent was undeveloped or not quite good enough. If they had waited to make a big splash this year, maybe it would be a slightly different story? Their two World Series Runs definitely fit that model, they just didn't wait long enough (or draft/develop a strong enough core) this time. Edited to add: I should also say that this model really is hard on fans. It is a hard sell, regardless of how well it works, to dump all the familiar faces on a Championship team for prospects.

Agreed - In theory, the Twins still haven't replaced Liriano, Pavano and, ahem, Marquis.

The MLB Trade Rumors Free Agent prediction page is always depressing to me, because I know that the Twins have never been aggressive shoppers, so I see names that I think would be a good fit or help the team improve and I doubt the Twins will make an offer to the player, let alone a competitive one. Signing Willingham and Doumit last year was really encouraging, though. I would be really happy if the Twins went against their usual tendencies and went after some of the better Free Agent Starters or made some aggressive moves on the trade market. Is there a list somewhere of Starting Pitchers that are likely to be traded? I've seen rumors about Buerhle and lots of speculation about Dan Haren being traded before his option is due- anyone else?

Youkilis at this point is a "Jim Thome-lite" luxury to add to a team (but would cost more) - I agree with the others that mentioned that pitching has to be the priority. the players I think would be a good fit to be competition for Plouffe: Eric Chavez - (left handed bat, maybe he can still play defense at third?) Keppinger - (right handed bat, is he too similar to Jamey Carroll? He's a better hitter, but not by much) Mark DeRosa - (just kidding) or ... maybe a trade for someone. The Free Agent Third Base market doesn't go much further than that unless you're getting Scott Rolen to not retire. The reason they want competition for Plouffe is shaky defense and an inconsistent bat. There's not much out there that solves that specific problem.

Yeah - Houston actually is not a bad fit for Delmon. Even if they are put in the unfortunate situation of having to play him in the field, Left field in Houston is pretty small. But since they don't have a DH yet, Delmon is about as good an option as any of the guys that have been rumored to be on the Astros radar (guys like Keppinger, Ty Wigginton, Luke Scott, Mark Reynolds), the difference being that he would be an outfielder rather than a corner infielder. If the Twins are going after former Twins to sign, the guys worth looking at would be Scott Baker (Who they are talking to already), maybe Frankie, and Maaaaaaaybe Kyle Lohse, though I doubt there's interest from either side.

Morneau straight up for Harrison would be a steal for the Twins. Morneau for Holland might actually be a pretty even deal at this point, though Holland is still young

Molitor would be up for Bench Coach or First Base Coach - if he gets either one, I imagine there would be a push for him to be the interim Manager if Gardenhire were let go mid season next year,.

I'll be interested to see who ends up in the now vacant spots - it seems like the early indications were that AAA coaches were all moving up - Glynn to be the 3rd base coach, Bruno to be the hitting coach and Cuellar to be the bullpen coach. Depending on who the new bench coach and the new first base coach is, I think we could possibly see the first mid-season firing of the Manager in Minnesota in a long, long time...

Here's how I would break it down Performed Better than Expected: 1. Baltimore 2. Oakland 3. Washington 4. Cincinnati 5. Chicago White Sox 6. San Fran 7. Atlanta 8. Pittsburgh Performed About As Expected: 9. Texas 10. Milwaukee 11. LA Angels 12. Detroit 13. New York Yankees 14. LA Dodgers 15. Tampa Bay 16. Saint Louis 17. Arizona 18. Seattle 19. San Diego 20. Kansas City 21. Minnesota Performed Worse than Expected: 22. New York Mets 23. Toronto 24. Cleveland 25. Houston Much Worse than expected: 26. Chicago Cubs 27. Colorado 28. Miami 29. Boston 30. Philadelphia Philadelphia gets the worst of the worst for me because I saw several WS predictions for them. Even though Colorado was not expected to be a playoff team, I don't recall many people saying they would barely get past 60 wins. Washington kind of surprised me, but when I went back to look at preseason projections from several sites, they were sitting at somewhere between 10th and 15th on most lists - I'd call their season much better than expected for that reason. The White Sox were picked last in several polls, so that's why I put them so high on the list, even though they missed the playoffs.

I agree with most of the list - I think the Angels did about as well as they were expected to do, but because the Athletics did so much better than expected they are outside of the playoff picture. The Angels had worse than expected results from Pujols (though overall, not a bad season) and much better results than anyone expected from Mike Trout. To me, it evens out. My memory is not that they were runaway favorites to take the AL West from the Rangers, it was going to be a battle. I would also place the Cubs a bit lower on the list, I think a bad season was to be expected, but not 100 losses. Personally I didn't think that Theo Epstein coming meant instant winning seasons, but a lot of opinion said that a turnaround was expected. I wouldn't switch places with LAA and CHC, but I think they should be closer together on the list.

Keeping "Snappers" wouldn't be terrible - Saint Paul Snappers sounds ok. I like Bootleggers and Apostles other ideas with an "S" sound: Celtics (large Irish Population in Saint Paul) Smoke Scholars (a nod to all the local colleges) Summits (after the street, not the beer) or completely different RiverRats RiverCats Islanders Bluffs Frogs Maybe call them the "Pig's Eye Pirates" ? skip the Saint Paul part altogether . . .

That's an interesting tid-bit about the "Property of ____" t-shirts. I didn't know that Athletic Departments had loaner shirts.

The "Property Of ____" term has been around for quite awhile to describe all players as others have mentioned. Before Free Agency in the 1970s, it was probably a little more accurate (but of course, it was still no comparison to actual human trafficking, which continues today in many parts of the world) . It doesn't help matters that one player (Thome) was described as "a member of" and another (Delmon) as "Property of" in the same telecast. It is a terminology that should be dropped. "Under team control" is more likely the best way to put it. I'd like to give Dick Bremer the benefit of the doubt and assume that he just used an outdated and unfortunate term. What do people think of the t-shirts that are seen all over the place that say "Property Of ____ Athletic Department" ? Is that a different thing? Do people wear them ironically?

I think the Twins have found a position (4th outfielder) and a workload for Mastroianni that really works for him and benefits the team. Even as the younger guys come up, he still can fill that role. I suppose adding the flexibility of second base makes him a bit more valuable . . . however I agree with several others that it's possible he'll lose production if he gets too many at bats.

It was mentioned way back in this thread, but a big part of AAA rosters are held for guys that are injury insurance for the Major league team. The result of that is that guys like Clete Thomas, Rene Rivera, Sean Burroughs, etc are getting regular at bats at AAA over top prospects so they can be ready to fill in at the major league level should the need arise. And because these players (AAAA or retreads or whatever you want to call them) are taking up at bats, the best prospects are staying a level lower so they can play everyday and develop. It's almost like the insistence to carry three catchers on the MLB team - just in case several players are injured in a row, the Twins (and it seems, most if not all of the MLB teams) would rather call up someone like Thomas, Rivera, Burroughs instead of calling up a top prospect. It keeps the team from having to A) have a guy play too far above his development level and be forced to start their MLB service time early. I don't necessarily agree that the roster filler in AAA is the most efficient way to develop the young prospects, but I get why teams operate that way. The Twins seem to have had less high-impact players that have deserved the aggressive promotion. There are some players in the system now that might change that trend a bit and see time at AAA and the majors sooner.

Some notable Twins that skipped AAA: John Castino (Rookie of the Year 1979) played AA in 1978, called up to the majors for next season Kent Hrbek, played in single A Visalia for a full season in 1981, then started 1982 with the Twins and stayed for good. Gary Gaetti, Played a full season at AA in 1981, joined Hrbek in 1982 with the Twins in 1982 Christian Guzman, went from AA in 1998 to the majors in 1999. Chuck Knoblauch, (rookie of the year) a full season at AA in 1990 then starting 2b with the Twins in 1991 at the age of 21. Joe Mauer, split 2003 with High A and AA, in the majors since (not including rehab stints) Pat Mears, played just 18 games at AAA before being called up for good in 1993 Paul Molitor, never played above single A in the minors - came up in 1978 with Milwaukee (did play for Twins' AAA affiliate in Salt Lake for a rehab assignment in 1996) Kirby Puckett, skipped AA and only played 21 games at AAA before being called up for good in 1984 Pitchers: Brad Radke, full season at AA in 1994, then Majors for good Johan Santana, jumped from A (rule V pick) in 2000, did spend a good chunk of 2002 at AAA Eric Milton, AA with the Yankees in 1997 - with the Twins in 1998 Kyle Lohse went from AA to AAA to the Majors in 2001 most games were with the Twins, fewest were in AAA Scott Erickson, AA in 1990, to the Twins in 1991 Notables that did not skip AAA: Morneau, Koskie, Hunter, Marty Cordova (rookie of the year 1995), Brian Harper, Brunansky (AAA with the Angels), AJ Pierzynski, Span, Delmon Young - Pitchers: Blyleven (7 starts in AAA in 1970, skipped AA), Viola (half of 1982 in AAA), Liriano (14 starts in AAA in 2005), Aguilera (AAA with Mets in 85 for half season), Baker, Tapani, Joe Nathan, Blackburn, Matt Garza (only 21 starts at AAA over two seasons)