DaveW

****ing Obama!

Only if the Twins would realize he is a better option then Hannahan, then he would hit so well in the early season they would have no choice but to move Plouffe to 2nd base, where Plouffe would become the 2nd coming of Cano, then the Twins would win 95 games on offense alone.

Pros: He is probably better then any internal MI we have at this point. He provides a better option to "push" Plouffe at 3B then Hannahan (though not by a ton) Ever since he left we have been losing a ton of games. Good clubhouse guy. Book it. Can teach the younger guys how to slide head first. Scrappy Sexy Dreamy Cons: None that I can think of. He is still loved and wanted in Boston

I think the HOF voters will probably wait and send him in with Mark Derosa... Nah, he won't be a 9th ballot hall of famer. Way before then.

I love how the Red Sox are basically bidding against themselves for these players. Napoli has like no defensive value, and rates as an average 1st baseman/DH guy at best. Victorino? Yikes.

He is coming off a 2nd tommy john surgery. Definitely risky.

One of my all time favorite Twins. And one of the most underrated players in franchise history.

You can take as many as you want. Minor correction - you can continue to pick, round by round, until your 40-man roster is full. Heh. Well, yeah. You have to keep a Rule 5 on the 40 man so you can't draft more than your 40 man will hold. You have to keep them on the 25 man unless you want to offer them back to the original team. It's pretty pointless to pick more then 1 in the major league portion.

Good point, however players can often "lobby" on their own behalf.

It's a good comp no doubt, Walker actually gets a big check mark next to his name when you compare offensive output of course.

First off, I realize there is a chance that Todd Walker won't be a first ballot hall of famer. He may have to wait a year or two, but no need to hold off on this discussion. I think the clear choice is Minnesota: Walker had his best year in a Twins uniform and also played in Minnesota 2 more seasons then any other place. Though I could see him choosing Chicago because of the whole mystique of the Cubs thing, and he may not be a fan of how Minnesota let him go. What are your thoughts? I think he comes close to getting in this year. To many dirty names on the ballot and Walker is clean.

Johan Santana Scott Diamond

What does Gardy have to do with anything? You think he would turn down having Youk on this team?

I don't care where he starts the season, my main concern is they get his mechanics under control. I won't worry if he struggles a bit during that time either, you gotta get that fixed though if you want him to be a front of the line starter.

Giving McCarthy anything more then 1 year is a recipe for disaster, the guy can't be counted on to stay healthy. With that said, I would give him a 1 year 6-7 mil deal and a team option if he would take it.

If by a little batted ball luck you mean an increase of 100+ points in OPS over night then you are correct. I still tend to think WAR gives to much credit to defense and base running, (especially defense at a non premium position like OF) so WAR shouldn't be as a stand alone IMO

Here is a very recent example: Carlos Beltran. Look up what the Mets got for him, it was pretty good

Haren would have been nice, but he really doesn't address anything other then the short term pitching problem. If the Twins sign a #2 type guy, I want him to be around in 2014 and 2015 as well. And I seriously doubt Haren would have taken a 2 or 3 year deal at this point as his best bet is to: 1. Goto a winner to rebuild his value.

No.

Davey Johnson doesn't manage the Orioles. I don't see any way the Orioles win more then 80 games next year. Not in that division.

Here is the thing about the 2012 Orioles...they weren't that good, they were extremely lucky. Was it a good baseball story to follow? Hell yes. But at the end of the day they are due for a huge regression in the W/L column. Not only were they the luckiest team in baseball last year, but I would venture to say one of the most lucky teams in the last 25 years or so. You need to look no further then then their pythagorean record and their results in one run and extra inning games. The Orioles would be very foolish to get all "win now mode" and sell away the future of the franchise (they have a good young core in the farm system. Finally. They won't dismantle that now) At this point, if I had to make predictions on the season the Orioles will probably be favored to finish in last place in the division, and that is no exaggeration. The Yankees are the Yankees, the Rays continue to be a solid ball club, the Blue Jays just brought in almost a whole new team! and the Red Sox won't be down for long. You're analyzing the Orioles like you're 2000 miles away from them (which you almost are, if you're from MN). Duqette doesn't strike me as a guy with the inferiority complex that you seem to think he should richly embrace. Yes, they were "lucky" last year, but their fans expectations for 2013 are a lot higher based on their 2012 luck, so there should be a penchant around the franchise to make the necessary moves to build on last season's W-L success, foolish or not, taking the slings and arrows for regressing from last season by taking no chances seems like a worse outcome for the Orioles FO. Actually I am about 200 miles away from Baltimore, and made a few trips down to Camden last year and have a quite a few friends who are O's fans. From talking to them, they all realize that last year was a fun ride, but largely due to luck. Orioles fans are excited moving forward, but they have their eye on 2014 and 2015, when guys like Bundy, Machado and Gausman will be making a huge impact (and the Yankees will be extremely old/The Rays will be getting in trouble etc) The O's aren't going to mortage their future for some misguided "win now" model in the best division in baseball.

Well if the majority of baseball minds and fans can summize that they were lucky last year, I would hope their front office who is paid millions of dollars to be experts would realize this as ell.

That wasn't even directed at you: Here is the whole quote: the day Revere proves he can hit for even a .700 OPS (Which is still on the "way below average end of the spectrum for OF's) then maybe we can think about having this conversation. Until then, he is nothing more then a 4th OF, or a stop gap CF on a 90 loss type team. Anyone who argues otherwise on the basis of "He is exciting!!" or whatever doesn't have the faintest idea of how baseball works and understands statistics at a 1st grade level. Not trying to be harsh, but it's the truth. Maybe it was a little "harsh" but IMO the fact remains that nothing Revere has done to this point has shown me that he can even sustain a .700 OPS at the major league level, which IMO would be still be on the very low end of what would be "acceptable" for a starting OF. Even less so on a competitive team.

This is my opinion too. I'm hoping the Twins can win 75 or so games in 2013, and with all the pitching needs, and some reason for hope with Plouffe, it would not be a priority for me at all... Which is kind of what makes Ryan's insistence upon a quality backup kind of surprising. Reading between the lines it seems like Ryan is trying to use this to motivate Plouffe. Trevor has always been that guy in the minors who's production never really lived up to the talent (other then his breakout in AAA), now that he has made it to the majors Ryan and co probably don't want him to get to comfortable and want to make sure he continues to work on his game and improve. I think Plouffe has the potential to be a very solid 3B for us and has all the talent in the world to do so. Now it's on him to make the adjustments needed (since the league learned how to pitch to him a bit after his absurd HR run)

Here is the thing about the 2012 Orioles...they weren't that good, they were extremely lucky. Was it a good baseball story to follow? Hell yes. But at the end of the day they are due for a huge regression in the W/L column. Not only were they the luckiest team in baseball last year, but I would venture to say one of the most lucky teams in the last 25 years or so. You need to look no further then then their pythagorean record and their results in one run and extra inning games. The Orioles would be very foolish to get all "win now mode" and sell away the future of the franchise (they have a good young core in the farm system. Finally. They won't dismantle that now) At this point, if I had to make predictions on the season the Orioles will probably be favored to finish in last place in the division, and that is no exaggeration. The Yankees are the Yankees, the Rays continue to be a solid ball club, the Blue Jays just brought in almost a whole new team! and the Red Sox won't be down for long.