SeanS7921

The Twins have improved or most likely they have. They will probably get to 70 or 72 wins this year. 4-6 game improvement. They have put together a solid bullpen and have some good utility players. Then they have a lot of hitting prospects plus Joe Mauer. Only issue is the starting rotation and they probably will have a guaranteed contracts of 46 million or so next year. That's assuming they don't trade Willingham this off-season which they probably should do for whatever they can get. The Twins have a top 3 farm system and payroll flexability. I assume they will at least spend 60 million for 2014 if not 65 or 70. That said Pelfrey makes sense. Of all the B level starting pitchers out there Correia and Pelfrey have been better than most of those guys. You need next year to see what Gibson can do and give try outs to Meyer and May. You also want to see what Sano and perhaps Buxton can do. Not to mention Josmil, Arcia and to give Hicks another chance. Then along with Mauer, Dozier (can't believe I said that) and Plouffe and the bullpen you have a solid core. If you get to 78-82 wins next year you can push that payroll with the final pieces to make a run in 2015. The young talent may be so good that they even may really be improved in 2014 and can also deal for starting pitcher mid-season.

I hate we still act like it was World ending that we traded Ramos. Capps added 1 win to a good 2010 team. That was the trade - Bullpen help to win that year. Mission accomplished he improved the team. He was an above average relief pitcher in 2011 for the entire year (close to 1WAR). For example great relievers barely get to 2 WAR a year. OBVIOUSLY trading Ramos for Capps was a mistake. They should have been able to get him for less. But it cost the Twins nothing at all on the field. Wilson Ramos career: Injured, Abducted unable to stay on the field. 46 games so far this year, 25 games last year and in his only productive season (his apparently Godlike performance) if you believe the bloggers he was 2WAR and played 113 games or so. Whoopie he isn't an average major league starter cause he can't stay healthy. If in 2011, 2012 or 2013 we were contenders then in his pathetically limited playing time he could have helped out about as much as Capps did.

So is this the new game? The write ups don't include the only people that we really care about because why? Byron Buxton wasn't mentioned. Even if he didn't start and his only highlight was that he picked his nose that should still be the headline. Miguel Sano, Eddie Rosario I didn't see mentioned. If Trevor May and Alex Meyer didn't start it should say - Trevor May starts tomorrow or Alex Meyer starts tomorrow with the added piece: Because they are the only pitchers that could be front end guys the Twins have in their system (minus Kyle Gibson who was mentioned).

I believe Mauer was fully healthy last year as well and had an awesome year. Great WAR, best OPS around, 300+ average. Now he is off to another great start. Nobody is blabbing that HE HAS to move from catcher and/or his career is in jeapordy. Still there is whining - He doesn't hit enough homers, he walks to much instead of going for the big hit and he doesn't play enough at catcher. Bleh.

The Twins are 9-7. They haven't been at 500 except 0-0 since the 2010 season. So in 2011 & 2012 they never even gave us any hope. This year we are 16 games in and they are two games over 500. That's a huge positive. They can totally suck 58-88 40% clip the rest of the way and still finish better than last year and that's a pretty brutal finish.

If the Twins get Dempster or McCarthy and a secondary guy like Shawn Marcum, Saunders, Pelfrey, Lannan etc I'll be happy. They can probably get 2 for 20 million. Lot of guys still available and lot of time left to get a deal done. The Twins would be 7-8 wins better right there since the pitching was so bad. Dempster, Marcum, Diamond, Hendriks, Blackburn w/Gibson replacing him in June or so isn't that bad.

Upton is a great deal for the Braves. They get his Prime years 28-32 he hit 28 HRS and stold 31 bases while playing solid defense. He didn't take pitches last year but has in the past. If that OBP goes back up very good performer. I don't get how the Braves needed LOW salary though? 15 million isn't bad for Upton but it's still a lot of money. They wanted Span and Willingham together? That's the only way it's even close to 15 million they just shelled out and the years are off on that. I doubt Span has that much value. They guy is always hurt and has no power. Solid year last year but again he was hurt. The two years before that big time question marks. Obviously what's being offered for him isn't that great at this point.

The only thing I agree with on this artcile is yes money does matter, but then to say the Twins don't spend money or are cheap is totally wrong. It's already been brought up - The Twins have had Top-10 payroll in 10, 11 and Top-15 in 12. So we are crying they don't spend enough? It seems it's brought up Mauer doesn't count and that's why we are in the Top-10 in payroll. He's part of the team, they signed quality guys last year. Willingham got a three year deal. The Twins spend money. If they have a payroll between 85-115 million we are lucky compared to other clubs. The Twins have finished with the 2nd worst record in 2011 and the 4th worst record this year and we didn't sell off every player we have and it looks like we will still be a Top-15 team in Salary for 2013. The Twins spend enough money to compete. If you worked in the Corporate World the business is in it to make a profit. For Detroit the Owner wants to win not make money. That's fine but I don't see why we should expect the Polads to think that way. They want to make money, and that's their right. What they are spending is fair and it should give the Twins a chance to win. Signing Tori Hunter a muli-year contract at age 37 for 7 figures is dumb. Toronto took a huge risk on guys with a history of injuries and/or back loaded and long contracts. They play in a tough division the Twins do not. With all the payroll they took on they still will probably have a payroll around 115 million and took on huge risk. The Twins can complete with a payroll between 85-100 million right now and for less in the future if guys like Rosario, Sano, Arcia, Gibson, Berrios, Hendriks, Revere and Hicks turn

If you have a payroll of around 100 million dollars then you don't need to plan on contedning in 2015 you can contend now. Le Tigres who won only what 88 games this season signed Tori Hunter? Big wow. Tori Hunter got lucky on balls in play last year. His power is dimished and his Defense in RF isn't even average anymore. Maybe plus two wins for Le Tigres. The Twins could contend now with smart trades and a couple of free agent SP signings. You obviously want to be flexible for future years because what you have isn't a sure thing or even close to it. The Blue Jays went all in for this upcoming year. With the package they got which is close to 10 plus wins a year if healthy they went all in. The Twins don't need to do that but can contend in the AL Central with smart moves. Look at the Orioles, I'd argue the Twins are a better team with a couple of above average starters and luck thrown in.

While his average isn't a huge deal his swings and misses are a huge deal when talking about moving a guy to the majors. 144 times in low A doesn't cry out ready for the Majors. You didn't even bring up that the guy has no true position in the field and at this point will probably be a RF, DH or 1B guy. 3B is highly dubious. If he can't play 3rd it limits his upside. Byron Buxton is most likely the Twins top prospect and then Sano. We bring up Sano and waste his service time when he's not ready. He isn't close to the prospect Harper is. Not even close. Hopefully Sano will be ready for some big league ball by 2015.

So you want to bring this guy in to play 3B for 7 million mabe for two years who is old and has declining numbers? Hmmm, please Terry Ryan do not agree! I think you would want to give Plouffe another shot at 3B. He fields the position better than Youkilis does now. Youkilis is a horrible defender now. If you play Youkilis at 1B you then totally wipe out Parmelee unless you trade Morneau. A guy like Youkilis would want to play full-time. You probably want to look for a bat that would play part-time against lefties, but even that isn't priority. Priorities - 3 Starting Pitchers, and another Infielder at 2B or SS. Then I thnk you find a bench bat.

It would be great to get rid of Morneau and his 15 million. Morneau was average at best this season for a 1B/DH. I think his WAR was around 1. He's garbage if they could get that 15 million off the books for a used lawnmower in return that would be great. Not sure why they fired poor Jerry White. What does a 1st Base Coach do besides give tips on the pitcher and relay signs? He got smoked.

The Twins don't need an ace to complete they need a couple of guys to give them 180-200 innings of starting pitching. There are a lot of guys like that on the market. Shawn Marcum, Joe Saunders, Anibal Sanchez, Colby Lewis, Bradon McCarthy, Carlos Villanueva, Kyle Loshe, Edwin Jackson, Ryan Dempster and Zack Greinke. I'm sure the Twins could get one of those guys. If their payroll is going to be around 100 million then they have money to spend. If they can dump Morneau and Span that's even more money. If they get get a starting pitcher for Span great, and if they can dump Morneau's salary great. He provides no value that Parmelee can't bring at 520,000 bucks.

I guess some users can stop advising Trevor Plouffe was having a better season. Just a 4.9 Offensive WAR +400 OBP and a 319 AVE. Nah, he doesn't hit enough Home Runs and takes too many walks. Tough love man.

I don't really dig Baseball America. I like Keith Law and his top 100. His mid-season top-50 he has Buxton 18th, Sano, 26th and Rosario 39th. He also said Arcia was close to the top 50. So those guys should all be in his top 100 next year. He is really high on Buxton and Sano. Though with Sano his defense translates to 1B or DH he thinks. He used to like Hicks a lot. I'm not sure where that stands now. He scouted Sano and Rosario this year and liked both but thought Rosario's approach wasn't great. He thinks Berrios is completly overrated based on the level of compeition he faced.

It's ironic, isn't it, that UZR requires a large sample size, but when it gets too large it's useless again. But it is. Looking at Carroll's career numbers when he's 39 years old tells us nothing about what he is now. I'm happy for him that he's been a good fielder for a decade or so, but he can't be coasting on his numbers from when he was 31. He isn't coasting from numbres when he was 31. His UZR at all three positions this year is outstanding. So, I'm not sure why you are all about his numbers when he was 31. You can look right now and see he has been dominate with a +UZR for all positions....

Trying to understand why Carroll is an average fielder? Is UZR for his career which is extensive is way above average at 2B and 3B. At 2nd he has fielded over 4500+ innings which is a great sample size. He is excellent at 2B. He is average at SS and this year he has fielded the position above average. Combine that with a decent average and OBP and he is a pretty solid guy to have around for the price. Starting 2B or playing wherever needed should be 100%.

Guy couldn't K anybody in the Minors stats show that, might be a good #5 in the National League. Here? Not happening

First, I think Slama should be up with the club due to his performance this year. That said I don't think he will be taken in the rule 5 draft. Relief pitchers usually aren't taken he would need to remain on the Big league roster the entire year and he is a risk. Also, Slama has hurt himself with bad luck. I believe he would have been called up earlier in the year but missed two months with an injury and he has had injuries last year that cost him as well. When he has been up in the majors he hasn't looked dominate which the Twins probably noticed as well. These are pretty big factors to why Slama isn't playing for the Twins. I think he gets a chance at the Bigs next year especially if he can stay healthy.

This is correct, totally overblown.

Few serious saber folks pay much attention to WAR any more. It's on it's way to joining Win Shares in history's junkpile of attempts at an "uberstat."- USAFChief Well maybe saber nerds hate it now because its mainstream. Its an accepted stat, ESPN just added it to its stats, that's huge. Its everywhere and effective.

And when you discuss a position player all you bring up Nelson is crappy OPS and then have the nerve to rip on WAR as a good indicator of performance. WAR is a much better indicator ask Keith Law for a not super crazy advanced stat to judge value.

Fan Graphs is the way to judge value. Baseball Reference obviously sucks if it compares Mauer's season to the other players mentioned. Since he is hitting over 300 with an OBP of over 400. I compare Joe Mauer to the other highest paid players because look at his performance compared to those! AND those guys are getting traded! If Vernon Wells or Carl Crawford are going to get traded at their salary then Mauer could easily be traded. If you then introduce performance and WAR is a great indicator of overall performance he would be a likely high level player that makes a lot of money to trade because a bunch of other guys who don't perform and make as much money as he does for close to the same amount of years DO get traded. Obviously GMs aren't looking at WAR because they take on huge contracts with much worse performance. Joe Mauer WAR Fan Graphs - 3.8 The Yankees, The Red Sox, the Rangers, the Dodgers, the Tigers and the Angels would all probably consider Mauer under certain cirumstances. Everybody says full-time catcher but what does that mean? That he plays 140+ games at catcher? Guess what? Nobody started over 140 games at catcher last year. And only 3 started over 130 games. So what is full time? Do I think Mauer could catch 90-100 games at catcher if required if the Twins were in contention? Yes, without a doubt and with his hitting ability that's great value.

This season Joe Mauer out of the top 15 highest paid players in the game right now has the 4th best WAR (3.8). So, uh yeah the Twins are getting a lot of value from him. Nobody claimed Mauer (if he was put out there) because there is no need. They would have a day to workout a trade in one day. I'm sure plenty of teams would be interested in trading for Mauer in the off-season AND take his entire contract for a reasonable return. Top 100 prospect and maybe a couple of B level guys. If a team trades for Alex Rios (3 years of suck 1 good year), Vernon Wells (all suck) and now Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford AND Beckett then yeah I think the Twins can trade Mauer and get average return. There is no need to do so, if Mauer does what he has this year going forward he is outstanding value. I'd bet he would play more catcher as well if the Twins were in contention but there is no need with this season.

I think you see Kyle Gibson in the bullpen next year. Get 30 innings or so and then maybe 10 starts to get around 90-100 innings along with Perkins, Burton, Duensing, Fien, Oliveros & Guerra. Id like to see Slama hopefully he is called up but I dont think he is on the 40 man roster. Hopefully, they give him a spot on it. I'd like to see him in the mix next year. The Twins bullpen should be pretty effective. It's been about average this year to above average. 3.80 ERA and totally overworked compared to other pens obviously. My hope is they didn't call up Slama at this point and Waldrop got the nod was like Parmelee (besides playing time) Slama is valuable for a Red Wing playoff push. They have some bad teams there and they want to have a good year.