chopper0080

Absolutely, but that is why it is important to build in room for error. The Twins have not done that at all which is why when normal situations occur, it impacts the team so much.

It is the home opener. The interesting conversation is in June and July, are local fans so limited in things to do that they will still be at the park and care to boo. My hope is that the seats are empty like they are in Florida, it starts to generate national TV attention with how empty the new park is, and the Twins are forced to clean house, or admit they just don't care.

John, I respect the access you have, your opinions, and that you share the information you have. I want to state that before i disagree with you. Re: Ryan. Lie might be a strong term, but Terry Ryan sold this team as a team that was going to compete this year. The level of talent on the team is pretty clear prior to and so far this season. Terry Ryan knows talent, and knows baseball. If his statement wasn't an outright lie, he was selling an absolute best case scenario because this team as a group is a trainwreck, and that has been clear to me since the beginning of spring training. I have a tough time buying that he just missed on all of these areas. Re: Hunter. Management can be skeptical of defensive metrics, and still have clearly seen Hunter's issues last year. You say it wasn't a marketing ploy, but why else would you give Hunter that kind of money for what he brings in terms of skills if not to play to nostalgic fans? They had a need, wanted to show spending, and needed to drum up interest from fans. I don't believe it was coincidence that signing Hunter hit all of these areas. Re: defense...if they can't see defensive issues this clearly, then I question the organization from the top down because ignorance is just as bad as incompentence. I don't think they planned on the starting pitching to erode as fast as it has. I'm sure Santana and Nolasco were a gut punch to Ryan and the rest of the front office. That being said, there is a huge arguement to be made that this team is worse than it was four years ago, despite being sold as the year the team turned the corner. My opinion is the team decided four years ago to go the prospect route, failed to clearly identify the time frame in which it's players would be ready, and have been scrambling these past two years to try and get fans to the park. Ijust have a tough time buying that these guys are so ignorant that they didn't see this coming.

But we still had Span and Revere in the organization, so athletic OFs were still flush and cheap.

I don't believe there is a manager in baseball that could win with this roster. You have to have talent to coach, and this team doesn't have talent. No manager can make Hunter 32 instead of 39. No manager can make Arcia a plus outfielder. No manager can make Shafer/Robinson legitimate MLB players. No manager can make nearly our entire bullpen not fringe players. No manager can make Nolasco healthy/interested. No manager can make Santana clean. No manager can make Santana and Vargas not avoid their natural regression. I think Molitor is getting the most he can out of this group of players which speaks to the level of talent on it.

Why bring up prospects early this year, when you can bring them up later, and then sell their struggles next year as hope during another losing season? Some may see this as a "tin foil hat" arguement, but I am serious. This team marketed it's farm system development for four years, and Buxton/Sano for three years despite being in A ball. They are clearly putting all on their eggs in that basket, and so there is no rush to bring those prospects up. They can do some mid season call ups. Then sell their success as hope next season, or their struggles as youth next season. Either way they still sell tickets, and have an excuse why the team is terrible.

This leads to my biggest question regarding Hicks. Is he really not better as a fielder than Robinson or Shafer or Hunter? If not, than he was a bust as a pick and as a prospect. If he is, than why isn't he on the Twins and working towards a gold glove?

You could be right, but I give Terry Ryan the credit of being a very smart baseball man. He was one of the early champions of pitching and defense winning baseball games. I have a tough time believing he suddenly has forgotten this in a time where defense and pitching are at an all time high. The truth is, as defense has become more important, it has also become tougher and more costly to acquire. Arcia is cheap. Hunter was a marketing ploy. Willingham was cheap. Robinson and Shafer are cheap but look the part despite being bad defensively.

He isn't. The Hunter signing was a way to spend money while also placating nostalgic fans. Another marketing ploy to cover up one of the league least talented rosters.

They will adjust the marketing like they have the past 4 seasons. The laughable part is that I give Terry Ryan more respect than he gives me. I know he is smart enough to realize the talent that he put on the field this year despite his claims of a roster that can compete. He knew he was putting an awful product on the field, but he obviosuly doesn't believe his fans are smart enough to see it.

So, this is the Twins organization essentially saying that the fans have nothing better to do, and they have enough corporate seats to keep the stadium full despite the quality of the product as long as they do a few small things to generate irrational hope. The first was the Mauer extension. The arguements can go back and forth on his value, but for a team that is unwilling to spend to compete with other teams, it was a crippling contract. No player in MLB can have the impact needed for a player that takes up that much of the team's spending. But, the Twins did it to give their fans something to come to the ballpark for. Next, they sold the idea of rebuilding the farm system knowing that they would be able to save in terms of spending for a couple years with the promise of by building a prospect base. Then they sold Buxton and Sano as the future of the team despite both being in A ball at the time. Fans started to generate time frames, and multi year plans in regards to one of the most uncertain development processes in professional sports. Top prospects fail all the time, but the Twins sold the idea that these guys were can't miss, and were going to immediate stars. This offseason they still sold that, but also sold that the fans deserve a better on field product, and then still gave them this absoluet crap product on the field. In the year where Terry Ryan said he thought we could compete, we may end up with the worst record in baseball. You can't tell me Terry Ryan isn't smart enough to know what he is putting on the field. He is just banking that the fans aren't which is what upsets me the most.

To blame Molitor is to ignore a real truth about coaching. You have to have talent to coach, and the Twins roster does not have talent. The blame goes on Terry Ryan, and has this whole time. You can't take 2, 3 and 4 years to retool a team in today's sports, especially when you have very little to show in terms of progress. Ryan either misevaluated where his farm system was at, which is his fault, or he thought that this group of players actually was talented enough to win, which is also his fault. Any way you cut it, this team is worse than it was during it's first 90 loss season in terms of starting pitching, relief pitching, offense, and defense. That is a travesty. Good teams, especially those who exceeed expectations, win because of their level of talent. My issue heading into the season with those who thought we could compete was, we simply don't have the talent to do so. When we play the Royals, they are almost better at every position on the field than we are. It is tough to win 3 or 4 game series when this is true for almost every team you play.

This roster is a joke.

Everything Royals >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Everything Twins

In the end the Hicks situation is almost certain to happen again. Anytime you have a MLB roster that is devoid of talent, and whose success depends on young players coming in and carrying the load, young players break. Look at Arcia. He gets ripped for his defense when the facts are, that is a weakness of his and it gets exploited when you suround him with equally poor fielders. You have a lineup devoid of talent and so players try to do more to help their team win rather than play to their strengths. it is so sad that there is absolutely nothing this team can hang it's hat on when they come to the park. Can't hit. Can't field. Can't pitch to begin the game. Can't pitch at the end of the game. You should be able to get one of these things right after four consecutive 90 loss seasons.

Is Carlos Gomez (the player now) and prospects for Johan Santana really a bad deal is retrospect? My arguement would be that the trade was good, but the organizational development which failed Gomez is what is to blame.

As far as the concept of "blocking" prospects, since when is having too much talent or competition a bad thing for a team? Players get hurt. Players can be traded. Positions can be changed. I know it is a strange concept, but on some teams, the manager has to work to figure a way to get all of his talent on the field. Maybe we can try that approach sometime.

Probably the better way to put it is, what do I know that Terry Ryan won't admit. 1-This roster lacks anything beyond average talent, and has for the past two years. As good as we may want Plouffe, Mauer, and Dozier to be, they are average MLB players. The rest are not even that at this point, though Vargas and Santana have shown out for a stretch 2-We are not close to a contending team. We break even or are out matched in terms of talent at most positions when we take the field. That means our room for error is almost zero. 3-We lack any one area that we can count on in terms of hitting, fielding, starting pitching, or the bullpen. Day in and day out, we have nothing to hang our hat on which is the biggest difference between now and when we were a playoff team. We can't count on starting pitching to go deep in games, we can't count on good fielding to reduce extra bases, we can't out hit teams, and our relief pitching doesn't shut other teams down. 4-Our starting pitching is based more on hope than talent. Hope that Hughes can continue to not be the pitcher he was in New York. Hope that Gibson can gain consistency. Hope that Milone can be the player he was before his demotion in Oakland. Hope Nolasco can be the inconsistent player he was before we acquired him instead of the bad one since. 5-I know that our current roster is setting up Buxton and Sano to have weight of the franchise on their backs as soon as they are called up which is a great way to ruin them. Same for Berrios. Trout became a superstar on his own. Harper as well. Same with Kershaw. None of them came up with the pressure that Ryan is putting on these guys. 6-Right now, the "Twins Way" is losing games. Multiple 90 loss seasons in a row changes the culture of an organization and is hard to turn around. It is tough for players to believe things will break the right way for them to be successful when they are failing as much as we have been. Confidence is key to winning in baseball, and the Twins have very little right now.

88 more losses to hit our yearly benchmark so we can talk about NEXT year...again.

I don't know about you guys, but I don't believe our 0-2 record is accurate about where we are as a team. Things go a little bit differently, and we are battling for first place.

Ok, you are right, good luck finding an example of the interval vetting of free agents by professional baseball teams. Come on. You bring up "rooting through his trash" where as my point was it is there responsibility to due their due dilligence to ensure they get their return on investment. In terms of the rest, you speak about not digging when you have no reason to do so...ok, so there isn't a red flag on a decent player who can't seem to stick on a team (three teams in three years)? There isn't a red flag on players potential or historical use of PEDs, especially with the run of latin american players who have tested positive? You act like the Twins aren't a multi million dollar corporation that is looking to sink millions into acquiring a player. Yes, there is will always be a risk with people, but it is still your responsibility to do the necessary investigation. This example is like a team in the 90s claiming they had no reason to suspect a player was on steroids yet, lo and behold, most were. If any of us were to buy a used car, I would expect that we would get it checked out before we paid the cash. If not, we would deserve the lemon that was sold to us. That is my point, you can't put the blame of the Twins signing Santana on Santana. I'm sure the Twins did check out Santana, but obviously, they didn't do a good enough job. Own it, look to improve in the future, and move forward.

Re: Meyer, not being able to throw strikes is a big issue for a starting pitcher, especially for the Twins. It isn't as big of an issue for relief pitchers. Re: May, he can get stretched out at the major league level like Pelfrey will. Using a veteran bullpen early for a non-contending team is not a huge issue. Again, talent rises to the top, and if these guys (in their mid 20s) can't beat out Milone and Pelfrey, then they are probably not what we are hoping they will be. It's that or Ryan is purposefully putting worse players on the field which would hope is not the case.

I'm ready for another 90 loss season, and then hearing about all of the progress we have made. I hope for better, but I don't see it. The Twins lack a player who you have to watch so for another year I will save on MLB pass, and just catch the games that are nationally televised, and even then, watch them on DVR.

This is kind of a naive statement, because this is what most businesses are expected to do. You should make sure you look into the backgrounds of players before you sign them to large contracts. Businesses do the same before buying other businesses. You want to ensure your investment is solid, and you get what you are paying for. I don't know how much the Twins do this, but if they don't, they are putting themselves in line to be the sucker. "Good faith" in business is a fairy tale. It is up to the buyer to ensure it is not getting taken for a ride, not the other way around.

My guess is that Ryan and the Twins are not as high on Meyer and May as we are. You have to believe if either player was top of the rotation quality, they would have forced their way onto the roster by now. Neither are young prospects. No other reason to put guys like MiIlone and Pelfrey over them .