jokin

Nope. How about 3 months out of 6? Plouffe's slash for his 3 good months in 2013: May .292/.365/.477/.842 June .321/.351/.528/.879 Sep. .368/.383/.509/.892 It seems to me, that a good strategy might be for his manager and hitting coach to watch Plouffe's tendencies when he just starts to slump and then cut back or limit his ABs against RHP until he makes his corrections. As stated before, his split against lefties is All Star caliber.

Never given any indication? How about June-July of 2012 before his wrist injury?

That something as trivial as the mark that Presley will end up making for the entirety of his Twin career would "make Gardy happy" says volumes about the state of the the club. The Twins should have been working full-time on signing or trading for a legitimate back-up plan as a lead off hitter and center fielder from the day they moved Span and Revere. To have such critical aspects so important to a team's potential for success to both be manned by someone coming from AA, someone who has demonstrably struggled moving up just one level, and then having no legitimate, major-league-experience alternatives positioned as back-up when he inevitably faltered, is malfeasance. Both Gardy and Ryan were on record endorsing this very plan.

It turns out that that the ones who really found this all that mysterious and were blindly ignoring all the warning signs from Hicks' minor league career were the Skipper, who strongly advocated for Hicks back in January: And the former Executive of the Year: They both qualified their statements later on in their interviews, but why didn't the media press them on where the back-up plans were in CF and batting leadoff? Because they had no legitimate back-up plans for both those roles (Mastro was not a legitimate alternative as a starting CF, even before his injury), this is squarely on both of them.

I trust the Giants opinion over Doogie and his "source".

Is this a new nurse posting, or you, "old nurse"?

Florimon was a starting AAA IL All Star last year at SS and was voted "Best Infield Arm" in the IL, as well. But you're right, he's probably only a marginally better glove than Escobar, maybe a little more range along with a better arm.

60-day DL, indeed. Bitter pill for a hard-working guy who started out 2013 on such a high WBC note. Probably won't see him until July, if then. Will they keep him and hope for the best? Or move on. We're already in scramble mode for a legit 2014 opening starting rotation.

I resemble that remark. (sniff-sniff)

Phil Mackey pointed out an inconvenient truth that counters our general perceptions, the last 2 years nothwithstanding, affecting both Smith and Ryan, at least when it comes to drafting pitchers: No organization can survive that appalling level of futility. More evidence for why payroll is the least of the Twins' concerns | 1500 ESPN Twin Cities ? Minnesota Sports News & Opinion (Twins, Vikings, Wolves, Wild, Gophers) | Sportswire: Minnesota Twins

2011-2013 WAR Shields 12.4 Gonzales 10.9 Latos 10.6 2011-13 Total Innings Pitched/Innings per Start Shields 684.2/7.1 Gonzales 578/6.1 Latos 594/6.1 This is the tangible difference that Shields brought to the table, plus, it has been widely reported that he has brought a strong leadership trait to the Royals starting corps that was severely lacking in the past (ie, he set accountability standards and placed a team goal in place for the Royals to get 1000 innings from the starters). But I do agree the Royals overpaid, especially for 2 years of team control. I think Rosario plus Arcia wouldn't be nearly enough to get Price for 2 years of team control.

Your example illustrates why WAR can lead you down a blind alley. A 22 year old potential future Ace for a Johnny-come-lately to the majors, 26-year-old who may, or may not, be a one-year anomaly? I'd pull the trigger if I was TR, in a heartbeat. I don't think the Braves would have this one as their first option to upgrade 2B. How about the Orioles? They have had success with former Twins and need someone at second. They have the pitching prospects and the less-tantalizing Chris Tillman.

Rosales career: OPS+ 70/wOBA .270/career WAR +1.5 Mendoza career: OPS+ 38/wOBA .232/career WAR -2.4 Next time, let's consider apples with apples........and actual Sabremetrics, not Cybermetrics.

James Shields is not Kershaw or King Felix, but he is a stud. In terms of WAR, he's ranked as the #15 Starting Pitcher this year, #12 SP for 2012-13, #11 SP for 2011-13. That's an Ace, and as I said on the first page, I agree with you, it would take a significant package to get a pitcher similarly ranked (like Price).

I was as excited as anyone at getting Sulbaran for nothing. But getting the Dodgers #31 prospect who has only achieved success at Low A ball and happens to stand only 5'10" and 165 pounds suggests the Twins got a legitimate relief pitching prospect. At this point, Rosario wouldn't command a Meyer-type in trade, certainly not a Tony Cingrani-type mid-rotation guy, and maybe only a May-mimic-mirage. Not worth the risk trading for a guy who is 50-50, at best, in even ending up as a ML Starter, let alone a #3-level SP.

n/m

Except this was GM-speak. I don't think anyone needs a confession at this point, a rebooted resignation speech, 2.0, would work just fine for those millions of loyal and knowledgeable Twins fans who were insulted, yet again.

Waseca's own Gene Glynn?

One of the best and most colorful one-paragraph summations of the Gardy era. And I would add, how do you get completely wiped out in multiple playoff series with a multiple Cy Young recipient and MVPs on your roster? Gotta think they should have been worth at least a small handful of individual playoff game wins during that time.

Dave Martinez and Rays FO executive, Matt Arnold, in a package deal?

Hard to fathom that there is even one club in all of baseball that would foolishly give up a legitimate starting prospect for any combination of Hammer/Doumit and Fien/Burton and Santana/Harrison. You could maybe get a deal with these players involved for a salary relief deal from a club with an overpayed veteran starter who is a bounceback possibility. And that misses the point of the thread, which is what to do with the one valuable prospect chip that is considered somewhat expendable by the OP>>> Do you try to trade for Rosario for a similar-level (AA/AAA) high-potential, but unproven, prospect SP? Or try to get an established ace by trading Rosario in a package to someone like the Rays (Shields to KC), who are already actively shopping Price? In the case of Price, like Shields to KC, the Twins would only get his services guaranteed for 2 years, and they would be hard-pressed to come up with the other necessary pieces for the Rays to consider the trade (the Twins can't trade Sano and Buxton in this type of 2-year player rental scenario!). I doubt that throwing in Arcia and Plouffe (Rays may need a First Baseman if they don't re-sign Loney) would interest them. You would probably have to package Meyer and Rosario in some multi-player deal to get it done- and still provide some salary relief to the Rays (ala Wade Davis in the Shields deal).

Outstanding first post. Although, Joe Mauer and his agent had to know that signing that deal would result in bringing on financial consequences down the road for a club just a few years removed from trying to contract itself out of business, just as it did with the Orioles when all they had was Ripken and then the sheen of the new ball park begin to darken. Only in this case, the Twins management panicked more immediately, even before the 2011 debacle. JJ Hardy, with a pending big $$$ number contract for a SS that would have been unheard-of in Twinsland, was cast aside for nothing, from ironically, the Orioles, who had already learned their lesson. And everyone else from that 2010 roster is also gone, save Perkins, with very little to show in return, except, dollars saved, which were used instead to pay off short-term debt and acquire some supplemental picks that at this point, may, or may not, come to fruition. And Alex Meyer (keeping out fingers crossed on his shoulder).

Could you link the other 3 articles?

Since we're trying to make rational arguments here, apparently according to your line of thinking- "a few innings or games at the end of the season isn't going to make anybody better or make them more ready to help next year." Therefore, this begs the question, why call anyone up, then, but to give each organizational guy his service medal? Has Josmil Pinto benefitted his career prospects from his September call-up? If Tonkin puts a series of zeroes up over the last 3 weeks, does it help him or hurt him going into Spring Training? And how does not getting Major League experience in the lower-stress environment of out-of-contention September, help guys like May and the other more legit prospects who actually have good chances of building on that experience going into next year? And I don't recall anyone saying that non-prospects playing is the end of the world, just that it's a waste of resources and opportunities. And to follow the logic in your post, since in your view, the club is just looking to reward organizational guys, why not call up all 40 on the roster, they all pretty much fill the bill as "organizational guys", don't they? Wouldn't that be even more "classy"?, or would that be the kind of move that's "silly"? This looks like another way that some can find to defend the Twins at all costs, even in the midst of the third consecutively comical and drearily dreadful season of 90+ losses. That changes and reprioritizations aren't critically necessary at this point in breaking the cycle, sending a message that enough is enough, and consciously changing the direction of the club, says a lot about those in charge, and the element of the fan base still willing to wallow in the financially-tax-subsidized success, but on-field failure, Stockholm-syndrome style.

The Twins and the embarrasment of riches on their positional depth charts....I sense the same argument will be made when the Cuban 1B signs elsewhere, as well, and the Japanese pitcher.....