beckmt

Hope this is true if not too much money. Very good move if he is heathly by 2014

Hope they move on with Casilla and others as well. We need to change this roster into more talent. Expect the roster to be about 30 before adding the minor leagures need (about 3 - 5), Hicks and Gibson for sure and a couple of others to protect (Hermann, Tonkin, Pugh) and maybe others.

Twins need pitching, pitching and more pitching. If you look at the four finalists for the World Championship, all of them have bullpens with stuff, Twins need to follow this. Twins should only trade assets for pitching, look at the Giants, far from a great hitting club, but do the small things and pitch. The game changes, Twins need to do the same

I am more in trading Span and Parmalee to a cost concious team for pitching. We would have to eat some of Morneau's salary and still not get the return we want.

I do think that at this time the Twins have a 3 man bullpen to be counted on. Rest are spot pitchers after the game is lost, and many of the better outings from the pen where against the weaker hitting clubs. Most top of the line bullpens have pitchers with stuff, Twins do not, this needs to be addressed.

Marcum would be a great addition for the twins. Hope they can do it. He is #1 on my list of affordable pitchers and I believe will give the Twins better than what they have now

I also believe tier 3 will not help, you might as well use Hendricks or another Twins farmhand. I believe Twins will sign 1 Tier 2, make a trade for one or two major league ready pitcher types and sign 1 from the Tier 3 list. That will be lucky to get the job done, but not impossible. Baker may be the Tire 3 or rebound type. That has at least a chance of working.

Like the idea of 3 starting pitchers, but that would mean a budget (without trades) in the neighborhood of $100 mil. Given that one of those may be Baker on an incentive laden contract, that still leaves two. Good article, interesting. It will also be interesting if the sign a FA infielder that needs a fresh start(Stephen Drew) for example.

I think Gardy's job evaluation will be based on how well the club performs with the talent TR is able to assemble. This year was a fail, mainly due to the pitching staff injuries and other issues., so Gardy got this year. I do not believe he will survive again if the Twins assemble a passable pitching staff to be competitive. For hitting coach, I would give a D, since the Twins totally lacked the ability to move a runner from 2nd to 3rd after a no out double, too many punch and judy hitters trying to hit fly balls instead of grounders. This will be an area i would hope to see improvement next year. Varva lost the 'Twins way'.

It would be interesting to see where the Twins rank him. I believe the Twins should attempt to sign him, as he his probably as good a risk as a #3 starter. Go for it.

If I understand this: It only pays to buy studs or international pitchers in the FA market. A few of the #3 types will work out, but most will not. Bottom scraping does not work. Interesting post. Other note. #2 or #3 pitchers have a better chance of working out if they are under 30. This leads to hope if the Twins sign a pitcher like Marcum or another younger FA Jackson? Other FA's must have a great track record to be considered. Trade markets leads to better chances.

I would also add Alex Burnett to a non tendered list as well as De Vries to the list. But try and resign both. Club needs a makeover and I would clear the room for some pickups and trades in the offseason. I do not think that either of the two above should be on the roster of a better than .500 club.

I believe and hope that either Hicks or Arcia starts with the Twins. Depends on whether any outfielders are dealt in the offseason. We will see Gibson here and Thiebar was mentioned earlier. I agree with the earlier comment on Gardy's job will probably make it harder to do a complete makeover to start. Do not expect Dozier to start here, but Floriman should be the starting SS. I rhink Escobar should start in the minors, but may see him later. On Slama, what role does he fill? Do not see him on the staff unless Burnett is gone. Nice discussion starter. ;

I would like to see the Twins take a run at Iwakuma and Marcum. Then if they could sign Baker to a 3 mil with incentives and an option and Gibson can contribute they may have a start of a rotation. Marcum could be a one year plus option at around $10 mil. Iwakuma is interesting maybe like 3 years at $7 each (or would it take more, have no feelinigs on this one). That would probably leave Henrichs and one other internal option to start the year(Diamond being a given). TR needs to sign one starter in FA as trades are too dicey if he has to make them to show improvement).

This was discussed in the :00 Pm hour on ESPN and the ex general Manager of a couple of clubs thought he could be done(my feelings also) and the Yankees would try and trade him in the offseason or just release him before spring training.

Maybe he can keep it up and start with the Twins in 2013.

I appreciate the way you feel in regards to what I said, but you didn't post anything that would suggest you felt that way...at least I didn't see it. I quoted PseudoSABR's post to you, because his seemed to suggest that new people here don't know baseball when they get here and therefore aren't intellectual to understand the nuances of the game on and off the field. Some others seemed to agree. While I can certainly appreciate the fact that most of you seasoned posters on this site have gotten comfortable with each other's level of knowledge of the game, I'm not sure new people coming in can't be right there as well. I may have misunderstood his post, but it doesn't seem that way...and that kind of thinking can turn new people off. I meant people new to talking about baseball. That might not be you. But plenty of knowledgeable people can be horrible people to interact with on a message board. I think that if you want people to take you seriously its important to phrase good ideas in a way that elicit discussion and also show some thoughtful restraint. But that's just my two cents. And again, just because someone is new to the site a) doesn't mean they don't know about baseball and that they don't know how to talk about baseball. I do think some teams decisions or lack thereof can be interesting. Seeing the same trade talk all the time is not. I certainly am not the most knowledgable on the subjects, but try to understand what teams are looking for and what they need. There are still new interesting issues all the time which can affect the Twins. Example Jim Bowden was on ESPN radio when I was coming home after 6 tonight and claimed the Yankees absolutly had to cut ties with A-Rod, whether or not they got salary relief as the only item by trading him. Twins couldn't use him, but it would set a chain reaction of moving pieces(or is he done)?

Being cautious signing FA's is not the same as ignoring it. I simply think you are unrealistic with your expectations. Teams don't go from losing 95 games to being in the playoffs in one season. And history is not kind to franchises that drop big piles of cash on 30 something yr old FA's that are declining. The teams that have been successful doing it usually have top 5 payrolls in baseball AND were bringing up a lot of talent out of their farm system. You can definitely spend some money in FA and I expect the Twins to add 20M to next year's 70M in commitments. Adding 30-40M in yearly salary is just asking for disaster. It would be nice to operate with an unlimited checkbook, the Yankess did that for many years. Most FA pitchers do not work out well. We still need a bridge to the next set of pitchers coming up. This will be both FA and trades. TR just has to get it right. That is not easy.

I would like to know: 1. Does he have plans to bring in middle infield starters or competition for the current crop we have now. 2. Does he expect to be active in the FA market? 3. Does he think he can get enough starting pitching talent to make a fair assessment of Gardy and Rick Anderson at the end of next season?

First two points are already done, last 3 points are still pending. All depends on final budget number and trades made. Outfield needs to be addressed, but from what I am reading on some other blogs(major league trade rumors among others) is that there will be several outfielders on the trade market or FA's this year and in that class the Twins players are second options.

This is really bad strategy, trading major league players to get a James sheilds if for more than one year would be a good strategy. Twins need to build a bridge, and expect this draft will be weaker than last years, so finding good pitching at the top will be difficult

This is completely untrue. The Twins were not willing to pay Santana.[/quote Be thankful that he was traded. I am almost certain his contract calls for $25M this season. Twins scouts had a read that Santana would be an average pitcher by the middle end of his contract. That has turned out to happen because of injuries, he has missed chucks of time the last 2 - 3 years. Trade was terrible, but that was another issue. Boston would have been a much better trade partner. Twins need to find pitchers for 1 or 2 years with an option, maybe 3 for the younger ones as it will be that long before Twins minor league starters are ready. More hope in that a trade can be made to bring in decent major league ready pitching.

Do not think it will hurt GIbson to start in Minnesota. Weather on the east coast can be cold and damp in April and would rather have Gibson start in Minnesota where Twins can use him when weather is at least passable. Besides Twins need the added interest of a Gibson unless TR signs some decent FA's or makes some trades. Very good to see that Gibson is doning this well against many of the better minor league hitters.

The idea is to bring the players to the big leagues when they are ready, not too early and have their confidence distroyed. That has been the Kansas City approach and see where they have gotten. The only type of player that maybe can be rushed is the relief pitcher, because you can phase him in without putting the pitcher over his head( used in blowout games and graduating to pitching one to two runs behind or 3 or 4 runs ahead. Twins may be able to be a contender with 86 - 90 wins, that may not be out of reach with an improved pitching staff and better situational hitting. Twins in the early 80's did not have a nucleus to start from, so rushing prospects was not as great a danger. How many of the Twins youngsters start 2013 in Minnesota will depend on the offseason deals and FA signings. Will have a better idea of how this should go at the end of the year. Failure of the Twins to return to at least .500 will create revenue issues within the next two years.

I'm sure unless Gibson is lights out in spring training, he will start in Rochester. It could be that the options take themselves out of contention and he has to start in Minnesota. I hope he is here as it seems like the Twins need him. I did some checking at mlbtradermors and there are a lot of clubs looking for starting pitching.. That would seem to mean that unless TR is willing to overpay, we will have about the same staff as the end of last year. That will not work.