DaveW

Are we sure about this? I know we like him around these parts, but I'm not so sure Bruno is some hot up and coming coach around the league. Also how many hitting coaches will open? 3-4 at most? Ullger on the other hard seemed to be mentioned in the past for MLB managerial roles, though I bet that shine has all but worn off in the past 2 years.

Sounds good. Plouffe over the last five seasons: 2008: 9 HR 2009: 10 HR 2010: 17 HR 2011: 23 HR 2012: 23 HR I believe that's what they call "development." Your supposition that he's more likely to be a 10-15 HR guy isn't really supported by the above numbers. I think there's definitely room to question his ability to hit for average and get on base, but his power is legit, and to me his defense at third base is perfectly adequate. I'm still not convinced he's a 20+ homer guy but I think he'll be a serviceable 3B with solid power upside... Not unlike a Joe Crede type (I think Plouffe's defense will continue to improve). He might turn into that 20+ guy but I wouldn't bank on it, as I think he still needs to prove that he can consistently lay off the breaking ball when it's good and pound it when it's bad. Technically Plouffe already is a 20+ homer guy.

He didn't have a great game, but he didn't make any mistakes either, most of the game they were playing with a lead so I can't be real upset in how he did. Keep in mind there were also two long pass interference calls that don't technically count for his stats, but got them into FG range. It's nice to see Simpson appears to be a deep threat for this team. Again, Ponder will never be some elite QB, but as "bad" as he was this game, he still completed 61% of his passes and didn't turn the ball over. It we are going to bash him for this game, we gotta give him a ton of credit for his game against SF. They still need some more help for him on the WR end. Percy was guarded heavily all game, Simpson showed some promise, but freaking Jenkins looks absolutely awful. Also, Carlson is proving to be one of the worst signings in quite some time. The Special teams were obviously impressive, and the defense looked pretty damn nice out there. The secondary still has a ways to go, but it was really nice to see such aggressive play. Smith had a few nice plays, and that play were they knocked the ball out of Megatron's hands for the TD was awesome. vs. TEN and @Was both look like pretty winnable games at this point. Who would have thought the Vikes actually would have had a legit shot at a 5-1 start?

I look at Plouffe as a guy who will hit for around a 100-105 ops+ with 20-25 HR and play a solid but not great 3B for the twins moving fwd. that isn't all star or MVP type production but it's damn solid out of your number 7 hitter and certainly the best 3rd base option we have seen in many years. Also there is always the chance he greatly exceeds those numbers and proved the injury is what is causing his current struggles.

Unless you think they are bringing in Maddox, I'm not sure how anyone could advocate getting rid of Rick Anderson.,.

CL: Perkins SU:Burton LOOGY:Duensing MRP:Fien Other than that I think its wide open heading into next year. Guys like Swarzak, Burnett and co don't excite me to muc. A healthy Capps on a 1/1mil deal would be a nice addition to the middle of the pen.

] Gil Meche retired with 2 years and almost 24 million left on his contract with the Royals. Wasn't Meche's arm all but completely shot at that point? IIRC there was a very low chance he would ever be able to pitch again, sounds like he was just tired of trying to rehab with real shot at ever getting back.

LOL Perkins would have to be the third or 4th best player in a deal for Trumbo. The Twins don't have the bullets to pull of a trade for Trumbo, and the last thing the Twins really need at this point is another 1B/RF/DH masher. I mean would this lineup be a lot better with him in it? Hell yes! But it's not worth giving up what it would take. FWIW: Prior to last season I stated I thought the Twins should have taken a run at Trumbo at that point (since he was sort of the odd man out in the 1B/OF situation) could have gotten him a lot cheaper then...

He wasn't a big part of either year. The Twins have played 318 games in 2011 and 2012. Nishioka appeared in only 71 of those games. The Twins record on those games? 31-40 Record with no Nishi? 97-150. To be clear, I'm not denying Nishi was awful. Clearly, he was. But there's plenty of blame to go around for 2 seasons of sucktastic baseball, and pinning it all on Nishi is turning a blind eye to the myriad of other problems with this team. Yeah, I'm not saying Nishioka is responsible for the 2011 disaster. But he was a bigger part of that team than the 2012 team. Actutally, I think the Twins stuck with him too long in 2011. But what I was quoting was the poster who said Nishioka is a big part of the 2011 and 2012 disasters, which is somewhat less than half-true. He was a part of the 2012 disaster becuase he was getting paid 3 million dollars to A.) Play terribly in AAA, and B.) Played hilariously awful in the majors those few games. This guy was getting paid good money to be a solution to the Twins middle INF, at the very least they thought he could be a slick fielding utility guy. But no, he decided to play baseball worse then anyone I have seen in a long time. Again, hes going to get paid in Japan, its not a classy move by him, its him putting his tail between his legs and going home. I'd have a lot more respect for him if he actually put his nose to the grindstone this off-season and worked on his game enough to get his bat back to an acceptable level and worked on his fielding to at least come into spring training looking like a ball player. He said he was "embarassed by his play" Good! At least he knows reality! Also people are saying it took "heart" and "balls" to do what he did, It doesn't take balls for a man to run away from his problems/adversity, it takes heart and balls for a guy to man up in the face of adversity and continue to work. Hell, even if he could have managed to figure out how to hit for .250-.260 and cleaned up his mental lapses in the field (that's what those were) he could have been in the mix for the Twins 2013 MI since the in house candidates are all pretty awful as well. Again, good riddance to the bum, I don't wish him any failure in Japan or anything, but I certainly don't wish him any sort of sustained success.

derp

Exactly, the guy had a 5/4 K/BB Ratio in his time with pretty much every team before the Mets. (and had a 5.13 ERA in AAA for the Twins) its not like they were letting go a 25 year old kid with promise, they were letting a 35 year old pitcher who at no time had shown any reason to think he would be anything more then organizational depth.

ok, Pin it on the Twins. But someone has to be accountable. Who would that be in your mind? This is the 40th time you have blamed the Twins for Dickey and this is the 40th time everyone tells you, you are incorrect, please stop beating this poor dead horse.

Or he preferred to go back to Japan (to take a slight paycut) where he could play in the best league/be a star again rather then riding the bus between Rochester and Scranton for another season? I don't give him any credit, he was a terrible ball player for this club and is one of the reasons why this team finished in last place two years in a row. Good riddance. I'm not arguing that he wasn't awful, just saying that it takes some balls to walk away from millions of dollars as a complete and utter failure at your job. Few players will admit that to that, much less leave guaranteed money on the table. After all, Nick Blackburn is still on the roster. Nick Blackburn has it made in the shade, at least for 2013. It'll be the Summer of George for him. I wouldn't walk away from that. But though he IS guaranteed money, he's not technically on the roster. The Blackburn situation is entirely different, if he "walked away" from the money he would basically be retiring. It's not like he can come out and say "I have been terrible, I want the Twins to release me" then turn around and try to come back to the majors for another team, if he gives that money back the players union would never let him back in. (I guarantee you Nishioka would be blackballed from ever coming back to the US...not that any team would want him)

Or he preferred to go back to Japan (to take a slight paycut) where he could play in the best league/be a star again rather then riding the bus between Rochester and Scranton for another season? I don't give him any credit, he was a terrible ball player for this club and is one of the reasons why this team finished in last place two years in a row. Good riddance. He was a big part of the reason the 2011 team finished in last place. He had very little to do with how bad the 2012 team was/is. The Twins got rid of Hardy and choose to bring in Nishioka to be the teams starting SS in 2011/12/13. The SS woes that plague the team this year are still his fault, since he was getting paid to be the starting SS.

Or he preferred to go back to Japan (to take a slight paycut) where he could play in the best league/be a star again rather then riding the bus between Rochester and Scranton for another season? I don't give him any credit, he was a terrible ball player for this club and is one of the reasons why this team finished in last place two years in a row. Good riddance. I'm not arguing that he wasn't awful, just saying that it takes some balls to walk away from millions of dollars as a complete and utter failure at your job. Few players will admit that to that, much less leave guaranteed money on the table. After all, Nick Blackburn is still on the roster. He's still going to make millions of dollars in Japan. Again, he deserves zero credit and is probably one of worst players in major league history. BYE!

Or he preferred to go back to Japan (to take a slight paycut) where he could play in the best league/be a star again rather then riding the bus between Rochester and Scranton for another season? I don't give him any credit, he was a terrible ball player for this club and is one of the reasons why this team finished in last place two years in a row. Good riddance.

Getting rid of Nishioka and not having to pay his salary is just like making a trade! Also, RIP Sweet Prince [video=youtube;Q3b5aOelFL4]

However, the idea that the Twins are bad due to a bench coach or 3rd base coach is laughable at best. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why this team is losing 90+ games. They. Have. No. Starting. Pitching. I could honestly care less about them bringing in a new field staff, it's not going to make that much of a difference (maybe 2 wins at best?) The success/failure of 2013 is going to be the starting pitching staff.

uhhhh....yes! He makes $660k a year, and 54 isn't exactly young. In addition it wouldn't shock me if he stuck around the organization as an adviser or some role as well.

Mauer has the highest OBP in the AL and is one of the best hitters in all of baseball. Nobody should criticize Mauer's approach at the plate...

It's hard to have it against your chest when Tate's arm is on your chest. But yes, the push off was far more criminal. Reality is, I've seen FAR worse examples of co-possession awarded to offenses than that play. It's just one of many rules that the NFL gives far too much deference to the offense on. And I'm not so sure it would've been ruled differently by the regular refs. They never call pass interference on those type of plays, but yeah, haha that was pretty brutal by Tate. I understand them giving him possession, in real time when it first happened it looked pretty close to 50/50, of course once "still images" come out it makes it look much more damning, but in real time, and even on the replay it looked pretty close. Jennings should have just batted the ball down like you are taught to do, but nope, he tried to get the cheap INT, that's on him. Also, **** the packers!!

Replacement Refs > Jeff Gray

I'd be ok with 3 years/6 million because the risk is pretty low, I wouldn't really go over that though. Giving extensions to non great RP are a bit risky.

I'm sorry, but does this topic(or question) really warrant a 5 paragraph article to whether or not the Twins will pick up Capps option? The obvious answer is: Hell no, and everybody already knows it was an awful trade/signing. I think people should focus more on QUALITY then Quantity of the "articles"

Make backhanded compliments all you want, the dude has the 4th or 5th highest QB rating in all of football, and has yet to make any real harmful mistakes. The most encouraging thing is he appears to be improving each and every game. The guy will never be a Brees/Rogers/Brady type, but could end up being a damn fine QB for us moving forward. Any thoughts on all those Toby fumbles? With Peterson back at 100% and them using Harvin out of the backfield 3-4 times a game, is it even worth having Toby on the roster? Too bad we can't showcase him a bit then trade him for a 3rd rounder or a WR or something. I think Toby could actually be a solid asset for a number of teams in the league (maybe not a starter, but a 50/50 type guy on a team without any elite RB's) Gerhart is a must. Harbaugh was his college coach and just may have known a particular flaw in his running that left the ball exposed more than usual. He was caught mouthing something to the effect of "I can't believe he did it again!" after the third fumble, so he may have been trying to go after Gerhart. I did feel it was poor form to have Gerhart back in there after the 2nd fumble. Regardless, Gerhart is a must on the team. He's a decent blocker, he's got good hands in the passing game, and you simply cannot go without another possible bell cow back on your roster, no matter how healthy the starter is at that moment. Adrian Peterson isn't your typical starting RB, the dude is a workhorse who can literally be in 90% of the snaps, the other 10% can be handled fine by Harvin. Toby seems like to good of a talent to rot on the bench for 5 meaningless carries a game, there are plenty of guys the Vikes could bring in to handle that "load", I'd prefer to trade Toby while he still has value and get a decent pick or player back in return. I get having depth is nice, but if Peterson gets hurt the VIkes are screwed regardless of if Toby is the back up or not.