jokin

Only if Pinto more-or-less consistenly performs at a major league level all season. Ryan hasn't exactly given him the most glowing review of his MLB career thus far. Don't get me wrong, I think most of us are pulling for him to make the separation from the rest of the pack, but the fact that the Twins were nearly all-in on AJ and Salty tells me that there are more than just lingering doubts about Pinto's readiness at this level.

He won't be alone....

And on that somber note.... The Irony Meter/Reality Check is set at 11 for Stringer's string of polls.....more please, Mr. Bell!

Yep. I've proposed as such previously. Your defense is better, your offense is better. The only thing you don't fully utilize is Sano's arm and the "wasted" years of training to turn Sano into a third baseman, still worth the trade-off, net-net.

This does make a huge assumption that Sano can stick at 3B long-term. His body is still changing and he very well could end up with a body more like David Ortiz than David Justice (which is his current body-type). But I agree, that ship has sailed, and the Twins offense will suffer for it in 2014.

Annoyances can be stopped when rationally explained away.

I must have missed the part of your baseball journey when you transfigured "King Theo" from a baseball hack adirft and aimlessly leading a forever hopeless and hapless rebuild of the Cubs to a new-and-improved member of Royal Baseball Blood...And...This just in- "just as capable"- as Terry Ryan.

Hire a legit 1B/DH through FA or trade. Have Mauer play 3B until Sano arrives. Once Sano arrives to play 3B in either mid- or late-2014 or 2015, move Mauer to 1B, the previous 1B to DH. Problem solved- offense starts out 2014 better than 2013 instead of worse, as it will now....and then gets successively better as Sano moves into the lineup. How much range does one really need to play 3B? Especially with a very rangy SS to your immediate left in Florimon? Mauer has always been terrific chasing down foul popups behind the plate and at 1B, no reason to forsee any deficiencies in that area for him at Third. Mauer has all the requisite tools to play the position, and would clearly be a defensive upgrade from Plouffe from Day One, just his length alone would allow him to double the number of chances compared to Plouffe going to his left....perhaps with the exception that he'd have a learning curve relative to Plouffe on charging the bunt and weakly hit balls, but he'd pick that up in no time.

Howie, I believe you have been the biggest Cub-basher on TD. Why the sudden change of heart?

At least aging mediocre John Buck is a legit major leaguer who still might yet catch lightning in a bottle one more time-Eric Fryer would be lucky enough just to catch a lightning bug in a bottle...blecch! And a one-year deal for Buck really doesn't hurt the Twins at all...and Eric Fryer can still hang around, waiting in the wings at Rochester, if Buck can no longer cut it. To me, this pattern of "cut-out" AAAA players masquerading as Twins major leaguers must stop, Fryer is just more of the same- Clete Thomas, Doug Bernier, Eric Komatsu, et al.

I don't understand how you could possibly have been annoyed at the "Mauer-to-3rd proposals, too." They were/are fully supportable. Mauer is more than athletic enough to play the position....ie, Florida State level QB, ball-handling BB Guard for a State Tournament HS basketball team....which obviously infers that he has the arm, glove and a strong combination of dexterity and agility to be at worst, above average at the position. As I've noted before, Joe Torre was a lifelong catcher before becoming an MVP third baseman, and he was not near the athlete that Mauer is. Further, we all know guys like Killebrew and Cabrera have manned the position because their bats more than compensated for their fielding deficiencies....Mauer at 3rd would have presented the prospect of raising the value returned from the position for the Twins, both in the field and at the plate. Mauer at 1st has actually hurt the already anemic Twins offensively, net-net, big-time (unless Pinto is inexplicably given the full-time catching job and somehow miraculously becomes an annual .830 OPS/121 OPS+ hitter, Moreneau's career #s). Mauer at 3rd and the addition of one of the legitimate available 1B options would have added to the offense and helped the defense.....So....Not really much an Annoying Proposal, after-all.

Eddie Bane says: "Now you tell me!"

It's not news, did someone besides AsburyJohn say that it was? (See above:o) No question that baseball is the small man's game of the 4 major sports. Nutrition, training regimens and a good genetic infusion has done exactly what you said to change that stereotype to 6'3"/230#s. But you made it sound like it was DiMaggio and Williams and that was pretty much the extent of the outliers to your thesis, when it wasn't the case- it's pretty clear that size still played a part as a data point for predicting potential overperformance for slugging types of hitters, even when the average baseball player was significantly shorter than he is today. Highest MLB Career SLG and 6'2" or over for those whose careers began by 1914-1958: 1)Ruth 2)Williams 6)Greenberg 10)DiMaggio 16)Johnny Mize 27)Ralph Kiner 45)Babe Herman 51)Willie Stargell 57)Wally Berger 58)Hal Trosky #1, #2 SLG spots all-time, 3 of the top 6 spots, 4 of the top 10, 10 of the top 58. Definite large over-representation sample relative to the average height player of the era. Highest Career SLG and 6'0" or under whose careers began by 1914-1958 3)Gehrig 4)Foxx 11)Hornsby 18)Musial 20)Mays 21)Mantle 23)Aaron 31)Hack Wilson 33)Chuck Klein 35)Duke Snider 40)Al Simmons 44)Mel Ott 48)Ken Williams 13 of the top 48 in SLG all-time, but only 2 of the top 10. "I stopped there...." The over-representation of taller players, especially relative to the average-sized baseball player of the era, continues as the all-time SLG list progresses (and the career OPS+ list is similarly proportioned). You also had to hedge your list up to 6'1" to pump up that number from your original characterization that most every "Beasty" guy in baseball was 5'11" or 6', which technically removes Banks, Matthews,.....etc. Bottom-line, all other things being equal, it makes sense for KLAW to factor in height in his analysis for potential ceilings for both pitchers and hitters. I'm sure he's well aware of the Pedro Martinez and Kirby Puckett factor and takes that into account that more diminutive types are also fully capable of accomplishing great things on the diamond.

As long he didn't say "better than his numbers indicated", I'm happy with that.

+1 (But I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that a trade for Wieters is pursued, also that Meyer and Buxton can accelerate their timetable for promotion before September- the sooner they hit the Show, the more likely 2015 can be a legitimate contention year. It's a shame about Rosario, it really puts his status in flux-state).

Nowhere in my comment did I say it was "the fans fault", just that the enabling of an organization sorely in need of a change in philosophy reflecting the fact that we've been in the 21st Century for 13 years already certainly hasn't been of any help. But having said that, go to Boston, Philadelphia and New York and ask that question after they have just One down year. How many games have you attended the last 3 years with myriad moments of futility....ineptitude.....and head-pounding, face-palming incompetence....and yet almost all of it blithely accepted by a good majority of the buying public? I trust you're not one of those still afflicted by TGA. It was pretty obvious that Jim Pohlad finally felt enough heat about being personally embarrassed from fan feedback, plus an accelerating hemorrhaging of declined season ticket renewals, that he had to acknowledge the status quo Twins Way of doing things was no longer acceptable. Good for him, good for the fans.

Isn't there a middle ground between your astute points and Thry's abolutism on the matter? I would hope that the "Twins Way" has already involved Gardy/Andy and multiple team leaders privately and publicly welcoming Hughes aboard an organization taking a big bounce off of Rock Bottom. This is the biggest "feel good" offseason week for the club since Mauer was extended. Can't celebration of the biggest and then second biggest contract in Twins history invoke, you know, more of a celebratory tone and less of a shotgun wedding vibe?

The main indictment hanging over this offseason is of those Twins fans in their current state of Transient Global Amnesia regarding their past blind defense and creative excuse-making concerning the 3 year debacle of a Twins organization and ownership readily unwilling and/or in denial on the need to aggressively address their systemic personnel needs. Had more of these fans joined the rest of us in demanding that Pohlad, et al, be held accountable after Year One of the Debacle, it's now fairly obvious that what's currently happening this offseason could have been put in place in the fall of 2011, or 2012. The only thing aggressive about the Twins' approach until this offseason was in how much they could cut payroll- and many praised their "prudency". The rebuild could have been a more proactive revamp/reload/sign-and-flip process, instead, putting the Twins 2 years closer to a return to relevancy. I think the organization has finally gotten the message- better late than never- and no thanks to complacent and complicit ticket-buying fans- there are other organizational models that have demonstrated that sitting on your hands and dumpster diving is less prudent than spending available monies on acquiring actual talent on reasonable terms.

"shellshock" comes to mind

Off the top of my head: Frank Howard 6'7" 255# Rocky Colavito 6'3" 215# Boog Powell 6'4" 230# Willie McCovey 6'4" 225# Babe Ruth 6'2" 250# Hank Greenberg 6'3" 220#

Ughhh.... Given the Twins rather serious intent on locking down AJ or Salty, this tandem would be a huge letdown, and I hope the FO isn't resigned to this scenario. The net loss in hitting production combined for 1B and C would take a huge hit relative to the Twins already-meager 2013 total offensive stat line.....and the defensive drop into a black hole goes without saying. I'm still hoping they sign a Buck or an Arencibia on a short-term deal or trade for Wieters- you end up with at worst, status quo to combined production from 1B/C, and possibly get a net upgrade, for a reasonable cost.

I'm with you on this one. As many of argued during the spring...."Buxton Ain't Hicks"!

D/P

I'm on board with Pinto and Hermann as the duo, longer-term. But don't the Twins need more of a veteran presence behind the plate in the short-term? This might be a good time to start a TD prediction pool for the number of days the Twins employ a 13-man staff in 2014 (Barring another significant SP acquisition, I would still put the over/under at "25" ).