Siehbiscuit

Middle infield in general is a trouble some spot in this organization. If not for FREAKS like Buxton and Sano, Meyer (mid-20's to mid30's range) and Rosario (40's) would likely be the Twins top two prospects in the organization. These guys are building blocks. Span and Revere were traded because they were cheap and MLB ready. Rosario is not. Even if we could get a prospect like May again, is getting rid of a top 50 prospect worth it for another prospect? Dozier may have peaked in value, but at the same time he is only entering his prime right now and all the years are under team control. Both are part of the solution IMO. WORST CASE move Dozier as his value is at high level and he could fetch a High A - AA type of fireballer talent. Give Rosario 5 years and he can match or exceed Dozier's age 26 season. I vote for keep both long term and move Dozier back to SS.

Middle infield in general is a trouble some spot in this organization. If not for FREAKS like Buxton and Sano, Meyer (mid-20's to mid30's range) and Rosario (40's) would likely be the Twins top two prospects in the organization. These guys are building blocks. Span and Revere were traded because they were cheap and MLB ready. Rosario is not. Even if we could get a prospect like May again, is getting rid of a top 50 prospect worth it for another prospect? Dozier may have peaked in value, but at the same time he is only entering his prime right now and all the years are under team control. Both are part of the solution IMO. WORST CASE move Dozier as his value is at high level and he could fetch a High A - AA type of fireballer talent. Give Rosario 5 years and he can match or exceed Dozier's age 26 season. I vote for keep both long term and move Dozier back to SS.

Just curious why Trevor May continues to be thought of as a bullpen guy in the future, due to his walk rate, when Meyer had nearly an identical BB/9 in 2013?! May improved tremendously this year and may continue on the same trajectory next year. They both are high K guys (Meyer definitely moreso), but I really like what May will be able to bring the club in the future.

I personally really like Daltin Hicks as a prospect. He will always be a first baseman, but as his body continues to develop those doubles will start leaving the park. He has a great swing, although it can get long and loopy, he has great hands. If he gets rolling at AA next year he could be pushing for an everyday job at 1B in 2015. I see Adam Walker as a Josh Willingham clone. He has lots of power and will eventually be a MLB player. Will likely hit .240-.260 with around 30 HR's in his peak seasons and be an average fielder.

Hopefully, JO Berrios and Kohl Stewart have tremendous years next year. Maybe they can finish at New Britain and Fort Myers, respectively. This organization definitely needs someone that can reach back and get a strikeout when its necessary.

I would be pretty surprised if the Twins put Keple on the 40 man this off-season. He is no where near playing at that level. He's only 20 and hasn't played a full season anywhere yet. He will not get picked up by a major league team. I have Kepler just outside of the top 10 in the organization. I would also move up Polanco and Santana. Both of these guys will turn out all right.

The 2013 season is a lost cause, but good things can still be accomplished. Continuous improvement from players that will be on the roster in the next 2-4 years for one is most important, IMO. For all the people that think Gardy needs to go, I have to agree with you but for different reasons. First, he is not a stathead and we all know this. That is not why he has failed recently. He is a good manager, but not great. This team has no vision and no fire. I recall the Marlins bringing in an old fat by the name of jack McKeon to light a fire under that team and they caught on fire and won a world series. FOr them the talent was always there, they just needed a spark. Sometimes a new voice, one that has more bite than just bark, changes the atmosphere enough to get more effort and passion out of a team. Secondly, I would love to see TR step back into a complimentary role and let someone else build our MLB club. TR is a very good scout, but doesn't assemble a MLB roster well IMO

This ENTIRE piece is about the future of these organizations. Mobility - Having assets to move to improve your club in the future. The Mobility portion is having assets to move that can make your team better. DFA'ing the AAAA talent that the Twins have and not having anything better is moving players, but not in this context. Does simply DFA'ing a guy like Deduno (a below average MLB starter) help this organization get better? The Twins only have a few moves they could make to improve the long-term health of this team. We could DFA - Deduno, Diamond, Pelfrey, Correia, Florimon, Plouffe, etc, etc and be "mobile," but doing that doesn't make the team better. Mobility means, in this case, having he assets availabe to move that will garner a favorable return. Willingham isn't immovable, but with his performance this year, a trade involving him won't fetch much that would improve our team (see Morneau trade or Liriano trade). Compare that to the James Shields trade a year ago. He was a reasonably priced, good to very good starting pitcher that had very good trade value. The Twins don't have many good (non-prospect) assets to trade. Dodgers, Tigers, and Yankees all have players that teams would jump all over on the trade market. Hanley Ramirez would get a king's randsom. As would Puig, Kershaw and Kemp. Even guys like Ethier and Crawford would still fetch a decent return. The Tigers could move Cabrera for some teams entire top 10 list. Fielder would fetch a great return, as would Verlander, Scherzer and Sanchez. The Yankees have fewer assets, but they still have a few. Sabathia could be moved for some prospects, Granderson as well could be moved for quality players. The Yankees are strapped with some very bad contracts, Jeter, ARod and Mark Tex, but overall they still have top level talent that could still be moved to acquire young talented players. The Twins best players (outside of Mauer and Perkins) are not attractive to other teams.

Take this for what it's worth as I could be COMPLETELY reading these examples wrong. I like this first graphic and example better than the WAR one. Nothing against WAR at all, but the first looks directly at the players age 'X' season and looks at it independently. WAR makes it cumulative. There may be 25 players in there age 34 season this year in all of baseball compared to 50 24 year olds. If they had an identical WAR of 2 per player wouldn't the age 34 total be 50 and the 24 year olds equal 100? Does that make those in an age 24 season better than their 34 year old counterparts? On the average, I wouldn't think so. Cutting older, low upside players for promising prospects will always be apart of the game so the WAR example is a little misleading unless it could be averaged per capita somehow.

I would call up Romero and see what he has in September. Let Plouffe get some ABs as an OF (especially if the Twins can move Willingham) and see if he can have a Michael Cuddyer type transformation. He cannot be the Opening Day 3B next year. See if Romero can be serviceable and an adequate placeholder until Sano arrives in early June. Next year's 1B Colabello. OF could be a defensive train wreck (Plouffe, Arcia, Parmalee if Hicks or Buxton are still in the minors). Ellsbury???

Its September in another lost season. Let Colabello, Parmalee and Arcia stay in the lineup everyday for the rest of the season. After the waiver trade deadline on Saturday, there is no reason that Doumit should be playing the outfield EVER again and taking at bats away from these three. I would even sit Morneau more. In the case that we need to resign him (1 year deal only, please) we at least have some sample of everyday at bats to look at for Parmalee and Colabello. Also, no more backup catchers playing in the outfield!!!

I am thinking that Kepler is going to compete in the AFL even if it does seem too soon based on his development. The Twins will likely need to protect him on the major league 40 man roster this off-season.

The reason he switched in HS was due to his father wanting him to be protected from getting hit in the head, which is far likelier to happen when batting RH vs RH. Hicks' father was hit this way and it was kind of a family decision. It may not be an easy sell.

First of all, to eat a PILE of crow is ridiculous. It's serioulsy nasty sh*#! Secondly, the article on Tanaka makes me willing to eat a pile of crow to sign him.

Buxton needs to play some AA ball. Period. An A+ jump to the majors is irresponsible. Could he hack it? Quite possibly. Even Sano took a little time to adjust to AA. The jump from A+ to AA is often the 2nd most difficult jump to make in baseball. The jump from AAA to the majors is the largest. A+ to AA he's facing guys that are 1-3 or 4 years older, more physically mature, but also more baseball mature. He would likely get by on talent alone for a while. Jumping to the majors, he's facing the men that are both physically and baseball IQ wise far superior to him. Guys like Verlander, Scherzer, Sanchez and Porcello are not just talented, but they are veterans. The baseball intellect of these guys can only come from experience. Talent alone will show up in spurts. He will need to really need to be mentally and emotionally ready if a call up comes in MAy or June.

That is one thing with the Twins that has me second (and third) guessing the FO's payroll strategy. As things stand in 2015 and going forward SO many players will be under team control and making the less than $600K. But by 2018-2020, guys like Buxton, Sano, Arcia, Hicks, Gibson, Rosario, Meyer and maybe even a guy like Kohl Stewart will be close to free agency or an early extension. I am sure that Buxton and Sano will be given some type of early extension that buys-out at least a year or two of free agency, but that is still a lot of contracts coming due at the same time. It's be nice to be able to keep the Santana's, Cuddyers and Hunters that we develop. I'd like to see some balance: 3-4 veteran players on multi-year deals (approximately $50-65M in payroll), 3-4 younger guys "bought out" ($25-45M) and the remaining guys can be FA fillers if needed or pre-arb guys like Hicks and Arcia are now. The Twins SHOULD be able to keep its payroll around $100-120M, but who are we kidding?

The excitement with Doumit was he was a backup catcher that had pop and was hitting .300 at the time. His liabilities (playing catcher) were ok because his bat was playable elsewhere (DH and OF). This year his bat is terrible and he still sucks everywhere in the field. Similar to Willingham. If the bats not there, there isn't much value.

Yes, Arcia should have been included in that sentence. The sad part is I was actually only thinking about the rotation. Kinda shows/supports how old and poor our offense really is though. I do see Dozier improving and possibly Florimon, but not to the point that warrants a starting MLB job. Arcia is a building block kinda guy, even though this season hasn't been overwhelming. He needs to be a staple in our the lineup moving forward, because he will be a good player, not because he's the best the Twins have to choose from. Building Blocks: Arcia - potential David Ortiz type hitter (and fielder possibly) Buxton - RH'd Ken Griffey Jr. Sano - future star at 3B Mauer - still at an elite level Gibson - has hit a wall, but has the makings of a foundational guy Meyer - #1 type pitcher Rosario - the #2 hitter that Gardy has always dreamed of!!!!

I would sacrifice some defense at SS to get too decent to good middle infield bats in the lineup. What's one error on defense when the pitching is giving up two doubles an inning anyway?

List of Twins players/starters that would not even be on a team not named the Astros or Marlins: CF - Clete Thomas RF - Wilkin Ramirez SS - Doug Bernier Andrew Albers, Pedro Hernandez. Players that might be a decent backup (or emergency 5th starter) on a ML club: C- Ryan Doumit SS - Pedro Florimon Kevin Correia, Samuel Deduno and Mike Pelfrey Players that could possibly start on a small handful of teams: 1B- Justin Morneau 3B - Trevor Plouffe LF - Josh Willingham Kyle Gibson, Scot Diamond Solid everyday starters: C- Joe Mauer LF - Oswaldo Arcia 2B- Brian Dozier (barely makes the list) Clearly, the quality of players is an issue. Pitchers and position players. Gibson is the only one that I think will be better next year. The Twins have SOOOOO many bad players that when someone mediocre is called up we as fans are excited. Willingham for example had a career year last year, but had been a journeyman prior to that. He isn't that good, yet he's our cleanup hitter! I think as Twins fans we live in a bubble and forget how good some of the players around the league really are. The talent level at the MLB level in this organization right now is abysmal! The Twins have a guy at AA that has hit 31 homers (he's 20) and the Twins MLB HR leader has 14 dingers. Our 2B is just off the clubhouse lead and his name isn't Robinson Cano. Our lineup is every bit as terrible as out pitching.

Dozier has done exactly what fans wanted Plouffe, Parmalee and him to do: show improvement while getting regular at-bats. Speaking for all fans, Plouffe and Parmalee should not be given another opportunity if its going to block talented youngsters. On the other hand, Dozier may be performing well enough that Rosario needs to break down the gate at AAA next year to get a call up as Dozier is more than holding his own defensively and is taking a very positive turn offensively. It wouldn't be too bad of a situation to keep a Gold Glove (yes, I said it) caliber player in Dozier where he is and move Rosario to LF. I am assuming that Rosario will get a September call up in 2014 or possibly earlier, but more than likely be in the running for a full-time job in 2015. Buxton in CF, by then with Arcia/Hicks in RF.

Personally, I see this as a father protecting his kids. The game before he felt that Friday's tactics towards Rodriguez, his catcher were out of line. He voiced his opinion and no one knows what was said, but it sounds like it pushed Mientkiewicz over the line. I'm sure Mientkiewicz wishes he hadn't boiled over, but at the same time as a father, protecting my family is top priority. The young men he teaches, takes crazy long bus rides with and spends countless hours are more than just players to him. It would be awfully difficult to not be emotionally attached and that's where the wanting to protect them comes in. Did he get in a fight? Yes. Was it unprofessional? Probably. Do his players no that Dougie Baseball has got their backs 100% of the time? Absolutely! He'll serve a league mandated suspension. But for the team and organization it was well worth it.

I think one thing that we as fans are forgetting about is Gardy's influence. What if he and Anderson are not here next year. Ryan has been drafting and trying to trade for more power arms. With Gardenhire and Anderson out of the picture how does the new manager and pitching coach's philosophy change.

@Seth, My disagreement is with his unwillingness to purchase ANY free agent talent that isn't "dumpster diving" quality. The Twins need to acquire talent, not dumpster dive anymore looking for gems. If the player you want is what you need to succeed, go and get him. Sometimes good things cost more. Tigers example: Verlander (top 5 draft pick); Scherzer (trade with AZ in 2010, trade included Granderson, Phil Coke also recieved Austin Jackson); Sanchez (Trade with FL in 2012; traded for Tigers top pitching prospect Jacob Turner and 3 other minor leaguers then re-signed via FA); Porcello (1st rd draft pick); Doug Fister (trade with Seattle in 2011, four players and their previous 1st round draft pick). The point is the Tigers have assembled the best pitching staff in baseball using bold trades in consecutive years 2010-12 and have paid a price with prospects. The Twins have prospects...let's see some bold moves and quit filling in our rotation with Correia's and Pelfrey's.

Not to get the buggy too far out in front of the horse, but I think a comparable for Buxton is Ken Griffey Jr. Buxton will soon get his man muscle and his power will start to develop a la Griffey. He may never be of the 40-50 homer seasons like The Kid, but a slash line of .300/.375/.575 for his career seems within reason. At his peak I think his speed will make him a doubles machine. My next closest comparison is actually Kirby Puckett (with a totally different body). May not hit for as high of an average, but more speed.