Oldgoat_MN

No amount of perking up the offense is going to help if we don't do something about the starting rotation. If we made headway there we could talk about increasing runs. Trying to win by scoring 7 runs per game doesn't work. The Yankees tried it for years,

Yeah.. The Dodgers need pitchers like the Angels need a center fielder.

Greetings to this odd and eclectic group. I am a 60 year old software consultant living in Plymouth. I was born in Washington, D.C. in 1956, so have been listening to this franchise since infancy. We moved from CA to MN when I was still very young. I do not recall ever NOT being a Twins fan (a great Dad I have!). I remember the 1965 Twins quite well. Pascual, Mudcat, Kitty Kaat, Earl Battey and of course Harmon, Tony O… well, almost all of them. First heartbreak was seeing them lose the WS to Koufax and the Dodgers. Many great baseball memories, but 2 I will share: 1. I was 8 years old when I went to a baseball game with my father, my uncle and my cousin. My uncle and cousin were visiting from California (Dodger fans). We were sitting in the left field bleachers and Bob Allison stepped up to the plate. He swung at the first pitch and from where we were it looked like he missed it by a foot. My cousin laughed and laughed at that (he is 3 or 4 years older than I am). Second pitch and again Allison swung and missed it by a foot. My cousin started all this trash talk about how the Twins can’t hit. Third pitch landed well behind us for a home run. 8 years old and I was smart enough to just sit there with a smug look on my face. Always have a special place in my heart for Bob Allison. 2. I was dating a woman who lived in Chicago in 1987. I drove to Chicago one Friday and stopped in Milwaukee to get tickets to the Sunday game. We spent Saturday night in Milwaukee and on Sunday we watched Kirby Puckett go 6 for 6. HA! Only game I ever saw in that park. Favorite players, other than the entire 1965 roster include Rod Carew, Cesar Tovar, Shannon Stewart, Puckett, Brunansky, Brian Harper, Shane Mack, Hrbek, M & M,… lots of them I guess. I started reading Twins online with BatGirl. She was awesome. That led to reading BYTO, Seth Speaks, some others and then Twinkie Town. One day the Seth Speaks URL (I actually know what those letters stand for!) told me to come here. Been hanging out here ever since. It is a rare day when I only visit the site once or twice. Interesting such a diverse group of people can join together and appreciate our views on all things baseball. It is the best sport I know of and this is a great community. Thanks to all of you!

I'd take him as an additional piece in a heartbeat. Tough timing for him. His K/9 was up, WHIP was down and FIP was down almost a whole run from 2015. Yes, I'd take him as a secondary piece without thinking twice.

Wouldn't that be a negotiating technique? "Here's De Loen. Now go sign that guy Travis Wood. He's a free agent, you know".

I like Alex Wood, but pitching 4 innings since May leaves me a little concerned. I'm sure you can understand that.

Interesting... Even FanGraphs seems to think Dozier is going to fall off a cliff. They have him projected as a 3.1 WAR player in 2017. This for a guy who has averaged 4.425 WAR over the last 4 years and is getting stronger every year.

Well, this was exhausting, but here's what I did... Went back to check the game logs for August, 2016, that Vargas played in. There was not a single game that Vargas played in where the opponent started a LH pitcher. One of the few times he faces a LH pitcher was in Atlanta against Ian Krol. The Braves elected to intentionally walk him. If this isn't an indictment of Molitor's lineup savvy I can't imagine what would be.

Escobar can play LF in an emergency. Granite, Palka or Shuck (all on the 40-man) can be here the next day.

I'm a little surprised that you used names like Vargas (.833 OPS in 2016) and Boshers (9.3 SO/9, 1.167 WHIP, 2.84 FIP) in the same sentence as DanSan. While we cannot know how their futures will play out, the first two clearly have displayed MLB talent. DanSan is a talented young man, but not sure he is really MLB material.

IIRC Park won the Korean equivalent of the Gold Glove award more than once. I see him playing 1B more often than Vargas. The only reason this team should send an .833 OPS guy to AAA is to see if we can get his splits evened out. Maybe with the right instruction he can be nearly as dangerous against RH pitchers as he is against LH pitchers. That may be a long shot, so I believe they will use Mauer/Park/Vargas at 1B/DH.

Granite needs time in AAA. If he can put up the kind of numbers in AAA he put up in AA he will move ahead of Palka unless Palka can do something to cut down his Ks and up his OBP. I have high hopes for Shaggy. I expect him to be a strong member of the BP. Is Taylor Rogers definitely moved to the BP for good? He started 27 games in AAA in 2015 but then only 2 last year before being called up. Have they decided he cannot be a MLB SP? EDIT: Never mind - I see that Rogers' WHIP dropped significantly and his Ks went way up after moving to the BP. Hope he can keep it up or even improve.

I have no angst toward Gibson, but am more bewildered by the angst toward Santiago. Santiago is younger than Gibson (by like, 55 days). Santiago has had 3 years where his ERA+ was higher than Gibson's career high. Santiago's ERA+ was higher than Gibson's ERA+ was for 2016. Santiago started off with 4 bad games with the Twins. Of his last 7 games, 5 were outstanding. Even counting his Twins stats, Santiago had a lower WHIP and higher SO/9 than Gibson. Good/average pitchers are expensive. It is not going to break the Twins financially if they have to pay Santiago $8M. EDIT: I LIED! Santiago has had 2 years where his ERA+ was higher than Gibson' career high (106). Another year Santiago had an ERA+ of 105. Sorry!

There is still time for something to happen, but I don't see it. Most teams do not wait until after their player have bought plane tickets to ST to make trades. Pretty much an 'assessment' year, it appears.

Niko Goodrum is already 24 years old and there is absolutely no one in AAA good enough to block him. If Dozier, Polanco or Escobar go down to injury I can see Goodrum being the replacement. No offense to Reginatto, Gonzalez, Field or Hague, but I don't see any of them lighting things up at the plate. Niko has a pretty clear path if they need an infielder.

I don't think I'd be a fan of signing him even if it didn't cost a draft pick. The draft pick (#35 or so) is not likely to ever make the MLB squad, but I still wouldn't give it up. This team is due to strike it rich in the draft some year. I'm hoping it's this year.

Best of luck to Trevor. Hope he does well.

Not really sure that Santana would get picked up by another team. He has 2 years of poor play in the last 2. Difficult to see the upside. Completely agree with enge0280. I too have written that Mauer and Vargas should platoon at 1B. One of the reasons is that Mauer's splits are showing he is more vulnerable to LH pitching than he used to be. At this point in his career we are much better off letting Mauer face RH pitchers and having Vargas play when the other team is starting a LH pitcher.

That made me LOL.

Brat.

I just want to thank the Dodger fans who ioined us in these pages and gave us the viewpoint from a Dodger fan's perspective. Also the background, to some extent, of the Dodger FO. I have no ill will regarding the trade not happening. I hope the Dodgers have a great year. And, of course, that Dozier rakes. Peace

I looked it up on Baseball-Reference and FanGraphs, only to confirm that you are right. He was incredibly bad in CF in 2013, but Buxton, Rosario and Kepler can all play CF. For some reason Grossman was unusually terrible in 2016. Seems that his 2014 stats and his 2015 stats are passable. In fact in 2014 he was a slightly plus OF in 865 innings.

Robbie Grossman let the team in OBP. I like that and have used it as a reason to keep him. However... The problem is that neither Rosario or Kepler are sure to be MLB average hitters. Buxton may or may not be, but his elite CF will keep him in the lineup unless he is very, very bad at the plate. When looking to rest outfielders occasionally it makes it difficult if your 4th OF is a complete disaster as a fielder. This is an issue, and one I cannot reconcile. Tough decision to be made. Let your team leader in OBP walk away? Vargas is a very good hitter against LH pitching (.800 OPS in 2016). He and Mauer need to platoon. Sadly, I don't see Molitor doing that.

No question Dozier should be traded for some starting pitching help. Our cupboard is bare. It just does not appear that his excellent year came at a great time. The only teams that both are competing for a championship and could really use a lot of help at 2B are the Giants, who have nothing in their minor leagues, the Angels, who have less than the Giants in their minor leagues, and the Dodgers. My opinion of 'enough' is almost certainly different than Falvey/Levine, but even I would pass if it is a 1:1 trade for De Leon. Without a proven MLB track record no pitcher is a 'sure thing'.

Polanco is not going to hit like Dozier, but evidence suggest he will be a solid MI. I don't agree that we have a 'lot' of SP coming up. We have Gonsalves (in AA last season), Romero (spent last season in A and A+), Tyler Jay (83 innings mostly in A+, some in AA) and Mejia. It is a long shot to think that most of them will all be solid MLB pitchers, as it is to think anyone else we have in A ball or above will ever contribute. We have a few potential position players, but this organization is weak, and especially in pitching.