Chance

I hope he can be a productive player while Hicks polishes his game in AAA for some time. My question is, since its January I don't feel bad stretching this out, if he does play well and Hicks is tearing it up in AAA, do you bring up Hicks and finally let Mastro play some at 2B? He did play there some in AAA correct? I might be mistaken.

I would have no problem with the twins not spending money right now so they have more freed up for the next couple offseasons, but do the twins really strike you as the team that will take the 20-30 mil saved this year and reinvest that into the next season when all our young guys will be ready to go? Or save money for whenever we are "this close" to contention? I don't think so the patrol sits at 80-95 regardless of inflation, new ball park, or the possibility of a championship. I'm not usually a payroll guy but this is upsetting. You don't have to spend money to spend money but the twins could be a contender for the division if they would "wisely" spend 100 mil a year.

Great stuff! Like wagwan said the price is definitely fair. It sounds like a lot of hard work and worth the read. One quick thing.... The little caption next to Hicks on the cover says "for the" twice.... Just so you are aware.

My thought is that Hudson got us a great draft pick (Travis Harrison) and I think most if not all twins fans were pretty excited about Nishi until he didn't work out. It's easy to say now that it was a mistake but it was popular at the time, sometimes it just doesn't work out (seems more often as a twins fan). I wish we would have kept Hardy but he probably wouldn't have put up those numbers here because the twins didn't want him pulling the ball all time.

1) the idea that top FA don't want to come here may be right but we won't know for certain unless they are offered contracts and it has been reported that a lot of the middle ground pitchers that the twins talked to never received an offer from the twins. You never know until you try. If Marcum asks for 2-3 years at 8 mil a year and the rest of the league is offer 1 year for 10 mil, don't you think he would consider the twins if we gave him what he was looking for? 2) if its tough to convince people to play in Minnesota you might have to loosen the check book more than other clubs. I think we all can agree that the twins can afford a $100 mil payroll. Instead of sitting on the extra 20 mil they could have "over paid" to get quality pitchers here. 3) Seth made the comment earlier that fans would be happy if the twins spent 2 years 50 mil on correria because the team was spending money but (I know he wasn't serious) the real issue is that instead of paying a 3 year 30 million dollar contract for an above average pitcher that could significantly help the team, they would rather pay 2 years 10-12 mil for a below average pitcher with no value or upside over the 5 AAAA pitchers we saw late last season and who will be lucky to still be on the roster by seasons end because they didn't want to "over pay." 4) It's ridiculous how they refuse the to spend money but the money they do spend is often on garbage which we would be better off without. In reality Ryan said that they would refuse to over pay for a player but they did just that for Correria and they probably didn't even have someone bidding against them.

To answer your last question, yes it is definitely possible for Sano to pull a Mauer and skip AAA and start. I strongly feel that he will be lucky to make his Major league appearance in 2 years though. His glove is no where near ready to play in the majors and he still could use some work with the bat. He's just not a polished player like mauer, Harper, or even trout were. He very well could put together a great season this year and make the jump to AA. My guess is that his strike out rate is higher because he got pitched around often (you know this with your Vargas comment but I just feel like expanding on the idea) in low A and that lead to impatients at the plate. My rough guesstamation for his 2013 stat line (split between A+ and AA) would be .285/.380/.575 (.955). But he could have 20 errors as well which would mean time in AAA to develop his glove. Anyone think he will start at any other position than 3rd this year? Which one?

I would take the unconventional approach and have a 13 man pitching staff. But they will probably start with 12. Perkins- closer burton- setup duensing- setup fien- middle relief pressly- long relief burnett- middle relief swarzak- long relief fairly soon after the opener roenicke- middle relief First, nothing about the Twins starts makes me believe that they will be able to throw more than 5-6 innings on a good day. I can't tell you how much I hope I'm wrong about that. The Twins bullpen could be relied on often so it would be best to have another arm out there. I left harden off the list because I feel that a starter will pull a marquis and he will have to join the rotation (if he is finally healthy). Fien pitched well enough and struck out enough batters that I feel he can contribute right away but with regress a bit. Pressly will get a chance with the club unless he is horrendous, but we will probably end up having to work out a trade later so we can send him to AAA. There is no way the Twins don't keep swarzak and Burnett. a month in the Twins might have an over-worked pen so I could see them adding another arm. Roenicke seem like he could put together a good camp and make an appearance early in the season. This is my theory...... It's probably wrong.

Hopefully with some fresh blood in the coaching pool will help the whole lineup prove a bit. I'm happy with a repeat of last season (minus all the darn double plays he hit into).

This year I think that the AL is a lot more evenly spread out talent wise. It may not play out that way, but almost every team, apart from the Astros and twins, have a chance of above .500.

The twins continue to spend 5 mil. On below average pitchers instead of 7-10 mil. On above average pitchers. It is a fatal flaw in their roster assembly. It really doesn't make sense to me. When we get enough solid pitchers in the minors to arrive at the same time like Oakland we can compete. (If that ever happens) my only hope is that they are stashing money to pay to keep pitchers like Meyer may Gibson.

We don't have a pitcher that HAS TO pitch every 5th game.

I don't see what people have against the twins carrying extra pitchers. The bench players the twins carry are all versital enough to cover rest days at several positions. We don't carry a bench guy who can only play 3rd or 1st. With mastroanni covering all outfield positions, and all the guys that regularly get rotated in the MI can also give Plouffe rest, parmelee and mauer can cover first Doumit can catch. We would most likely be choosing between carrying an extra pitcher or butera. go with a 6 man rotation and then skip the sore arms or limited pitchers on off days to keep the strain even lower. They could last a whole season then if healthy and pitching well.

Who is everyone hoping for to fill out the rotation to start the season? Assume everyone is healthy and not knowing ST results. worley diamond gibson hendriks pelfrey deduno correria harden devries (marcum) (saunders)

I like the groups of guys you have in each group but I would change around a few things if I was projecting. I would move herrmann to the back of the group and move everyone up one spot. I would also believe that Eddie would bat in front of Sano. So he would be 3 and Sano would be 4. Otherwise I think this is encouraging that everyone is one step closer to helping the big club. I really hope Arcia starts out in AAA. From his last season I don't see a reason why he should stay at AA so a bunch of AAA filler can get at-bats.

Eddie Rosario- does he need an interpreter? I would like to know if he feels he could stick at 2B or if there are other positions he would be interested in.

I personally will enjoy the season... I don't mind watching players develop at the major league level. I like to dwell on the future rather than the present. It keeps me positive. This team might be horrible but we will get to see a CF I have been wanting to see for about 4 years. I want to see players earn a callup and get a shot at the pros. It's exciting to me to see a player who is unknown at the time make a name for himself (David Freese).

2015.... CF Hicks 2B Rosario 1B Mauer LF Arcia 3B Sano RF Buxton DH Doumit? SS Micheal C Pinto? Rotation Meyer May Gibson Berrios Hendriks/Bard/Hermsen/someone else... all potential.... Not much proven but its a promising future. Might not amount to much more than KC had with all their prospects coming up.

What AA guy is there to be promoted that is being held back? I believe mike was referring to Hermsen, May, and Meyer. Just a guess

So, can Deduno, DeVries, Walters, or Blackburn not give us a sub 4.5 era? At no addition cost? Over spend on Jackson or marcum to get them here!!! I bet 5 million more than we would have offered them for the next 2 season could have landed one of them. Worthless! I hope for the best I would love to write an apology letter to TR midseason when his era is around 4 but I doubt it. Comparing him to Guthrie is ridiculous. Guthrie had/has some potential to throw together a nice season.

If only we would have kept him years ago... Wishful thinking.

I was indifferent on those 2 if we signed one as the number 5. I really hope someone outbids TR for Lannan, he would not improve our staff much at all. I really hope we push hard for Edwin Jackson and Marcum. Best "cheaper" options available and would probably be 1-2 in our rotation.

I would throw in prospects like Harrison and goodrum along with benson to get the deal done. I thought this post was going to be ridiculous but really it makes total sense to me. The mets have to get rid of the salaries and if they can get some b to c prospects I'm sure they would dumb dickey to make it happen. Getting rid of Santana's contract is worth more to the mets than most people are assuming.

I would give them benson and a couple C prospects for Johan if they eat 20 mil.

The Mets are rumored to be shopping him and would be willing to eat a large chunk of his remaining salary. Worth an offer?

If Revere does get traded.... everyone not part of the future better be gone also like Morneau and Willingham