DaveW

FWIW Jones was the number 56 prospect in baseball at the time. I would be pretty pleased with a top 75 prospect for Plouffe, especially if it were a pitcher.

Yeah I think May should be number 2, Agreed, I think the impact that Sano had on the lineup was more than enough to push him past Rosario for the award. With that said the fact that an argument can be made for Rosario and even May as well shows the good young core this team has moving forward.

To add onto this: This is Dougie M and Morneau all over again. Dougie M, just like Plouffe are nice players who will continue to have solid careers, however both are in the "average" category overall (or at least closer to that). Both have young elite talent behind them (Morneau won an MVP and is one of the best 10 players in club history, Sano has an even HIGHER ceiling) For Dougie we got Justin Jones in return, we don't need some huge haul for Plouffe. Opening up the spot for Sano is a huge net win in itself.

1. I never implied Vargas was Sano or even close, I implied that he could be a "power hitter" due to his numbers in the minors (20-25 HR power) the fact that he is HUGE and the fact that he is only 24 so the power still can come. 2. That is a very interesting way to not blame the Twins for the Ortiz fiasco and to give them a pass, they were the ones who ultimately decided that Ortiz wasn't worth 1.5 million. Also Ortiz still and always had remained a huge pull hitter, just look at his spray charts. Over 80% of his home runs have been "pulled". Look at the defensive shifts against him etc. Perhaps their thinking has evolved over the years, but there is no doubt at the time Ryan and Kelly both hated Ortiz's approach to the plate. (Apparently 38 HR in 715 at bats is a bad way to hit) Anyways, I don't want to hijack this thread into yet another Ortiz discussion, but my point is they should let guys like Arcia "swing hard" I am of the opinion that Arcia can be a 30 HR type guy, with bad defense and a "meh" OBP, but that still brings plenty of value.

Ditto with "If Torii wants to be back, he will be back" That's how you end up negotiating against yourself and end up overpaying by 6-7 million. It's getting more and more clear that Ryan HATES change and always defaults to bringing in the "known" then the "unknown", this is what caused them to bring back Bartlett, Kubel and Guerrier on terrible deals. This is what prevents him from trading "known" Plouffe and what prevented him from calling up Berrios.

Some guys are just pure power hitters, Sano is one of those, Vargas could be too. Trying to change them ends up hurting you ala David Arias

Santana, Gibson, Duffey, Berrios, Hughes, May are all guys I want pitching ahead of Milone. So he is our 7th/8th starter IMO and you don't need to pay those guys multiple millions of dollars for a couple potential starts if guys get hurt. The difference between Diamond etc starting a couple games and Milone starting a couple isn't worth 4-5 million. Better off spending that money on a bullpen arm, bench bat or catcher and trade Milone for something back

You can always sign some AAAA guys to be your 7th/8th/9th starters. You don't need guys pulling in solid money like Milone, Nolasco etc as your 7th/8th starters.

Was at the game, it was weird seeing the Yankees lose a playoff game in person, it can be done, Twins should take note for the future

That's right! Will edit to fix.

I wouldn't have given them the contracts to begin with. I'm saying, it's pointless to buy out arb years with no FA years attached, the club doesn't have any upside in that case.

Anytime anyone punches someone it's done with malice. Hunter taking a swing at Morneau and Papelbon choking Harper are basically the same thing IMO

Fwiw: Hunter has punched a team mate before (I don't think it's a big deal, happens all the time, ditto with papelbon- who is a huge douche anyways, but the choke was overblown bc it was caught on TV)

Lol nice timing

Ultimately the Pohlads won't be the ones to pull the trigger on such "change" it's going to have to come from Ryan, I just worry his "successor" would goto Antony since he has "earned it" in his time with the Twins. I'm not thrilled about that prospect to be honest.

Twins have the payroll flexibility to do it. 5 years/105 mil

One could argue that it could be time for a change in Oakland as well, that Donaldson trade is looking especially bad now. As far as beane having a worse track record, they play in a better overall division year in year out and the payroll limitations certainly exist (the A's could never afford to keep a joe Mauer type etc) Good points on Ryan having one last year and finding a successor I would be for this certainly

agreed, you thinking big FA splash or big trade?

First off, saying it will turn into a massive knot of negativity does nothing to further along the discussion. In re: to your comment. Beane has a movie made about him for Pete's sake! Plus he revolutionized how the general manager job can be performed. Additionally, the Twins haven't been cashed strapped for a long time now (even in 2003 the Twins were middle of the pack!). The A's have and continue to be cash strapped year in and year out. Apples and Oranges comparison.

You could sign Chris Davis and have him and Mauer basically split 1st and Dh on a nightly basis.

Yeah I would welcome back Cotts or someone similar. Good point on Graham, and besides, I don't think the Twins kept him on the 25 man roster all season just to cut him loose after the season was over. If you can't find a taker for Gibson/Nolasco, then Milone should be traded for whatever you can get. You are right, he would be getting paid too much to just be the "depth" guy. There are just too many people ahead of him by mid June: Santana, Duffey, Gibson, Hughes, Berrios, May and potentially even Nolasco.

Again, until he changes his mind and would be willing to accept that role its a moot point. But filling that role isn't hard anyways (bench bet) Plenty of guys will be available on the cheap: Mike Napoli (platoon him at DH with Arcia?)+ bench bat Marlyn Byrd John Jaso etc

First, the numbers: Terry Ryan has been GM for the Twins for 17 seasons. Above .500 record: 7 of 17 seasons (41%) Playoffs 5 of 17 seasons (29%) Playoff series victories 1 of 17 seasons (6%) World Series Appearances 0 of 17 seasons (0%) World Series Victories 0 of 17 seasons (0%) For the most part, Ryan has been the GM of the Twins for the better part of the last 20 years, without the 4 season break he would be by far the longest tenured general manager in the game. Only Brian Sabean, Billy Beane and Brian Cashman would come near him. Sabean and Cashman have won a combined 8 world series titles. Billy Beane...well, we know the success he has had with the cash strapped A's and what he has done for baseball as a whole. Drombowski and Melvin, the two next longest tenured GM's were let go, Melvin never did much, but Drombowski had significantly more success than Ryan. If it were up to me, Ryan wouldn't be back, the results frankly have not been there, 1 playoff series win in 17 years is pretty embarrassing, 10 of 17 seasons below .500 (without getting into the mess he left Bill Smith with) is unacceptable. 5 out of 17 division titles isn't bad, but in a 5 team division that is just barely above treading water IMO. But since it isn't up to me, and the Pohlads have declared Ryan "GM for Life" it is 99% certain he will be back in 2016, and likely for a few years after that. Let's assume that Ryan is around the next 4 years, what should our minimum expectations be? My thoughts: -4 out of 4 years with winning records- There is absolutely no reason why a team with $125 million payroll capabilities and a farm system this stacked should even come close to having a losing season the next 4 years. -2 out of the 4 years make the playoffs: 33% of teams in the AL now make the playoffs, no reason why the Twins can't be in it 2 of the next 4 at minimum. -1 world series appearance of next 4 years: At the end of the day, if you don't win or even make the world series it is essentially a failed season. The Twins haven't been to a world series in 24 years, the wait needs to end. Ryan needs to make the right moves to set up this team not only to win in the regular season, but in the postseason as well. He should take notes from what the Rangers did at the deadline this year by getting Hamels, a guy that boosts their regular season team as well as a legit ACE for the playoffs. -It's clear his recent approach to free agency, extensions and trades has been subpar for quite some time. (He was great earlier in his career, but it appears others have caught up and often have passed him by) Something needs to change, whether it's bringing in high upside guys instead of low risk/low reward guys, or pulling the trigger on bringing in a difference maker via trade while giving up some prospects, it's clear that the strategies of the past few years aren't working out well in these regards overall. Anything less is just more mediocrity from a GM who has a good reputation, but hasn't had nearly the success he should have to earned this many years heading up the Twins. What are your expectations moving forward?

Arcia isn't a "shiny new thing" he has 850 PA in the major leagues with an above average OPS and above average power. Vargas has over 400 PA, is young, has struggled but even so has a better OPS then Hunter did this year! (And he is 10 mil cheaper)

He already said he wouldn't accept that. Time to move on. He had one of the worst all around seasons for RF in Twins history (check out the stats), no need to repeat it.