Badsmerf

The two biggest complainers aren't on the Team now. The trees never bothered Thome. BRING BACK THE TREES!!!!!!!!!

---Not sure about the manager thing, they didn't miss a beat after La Russa hung it up, but pitching? Definitely. Starting pitching in baseball is like goaltending in hockey. You need it to win. If yours is really good, you can win despite flaws in other areas. If yours is really bad, forget it, you're done, it's nearly impossible to compensate for it with strengths in other areas. I meant winning the last few decades, not simply at the present time. The system is built already and carrying it on will be the task of the new guy.

Arcia- I expect to see him in the middle of the year sometime due to destroying what ever league he his is in. I think he might struggle a little at first, and might not get much PT if the Twins don't trade some people. He will be sent back down and brought up in September. Hicks- He will take another step forward and be brought up in September, unless players are traded. If CF opens up he will get the call over Arcia, if not Arcia will be first. Slama- He will go north with the Twins..... pitch 5 IP and be sent back down. Can't be optimistic about the Twins giving him a real shot since they didn't even give him a September call-up. Benson- Starts out in Rochester slow, then tears it up from June- whenever the Twins call him up. Think he returns to form and hits 20 HR in AAA and another 5-10 with the Twins. Guerra- Comes north due to being out of options. Puts up a 6 ERA through June and gets released. Can't miss bats at this level and will be the last of the horrible Santana trade. Hated it then, hate it now, and hate it because we could (would) have gotten Trout. FML Hermsen- Sees time with the Twins like Hendriks did in 2011. Spot start here and there. Has problems with keeping the ball in the yard, but holds his own. By the end of the year is considered a candidate to the 2014 rotation. Hermann- Plays Butera's role in 2013. Nothing special. Can be considered a back-up option going forward. Dozier- Starts at 2b for the twins. Has an average year. Not good enough to cut him, not good enough to displace doubt about his ability to hold down the position for the Twins going forward. Plouffe- First off, I love this guy. Plays hard, dealt with criticism since he's been called-up, hits for power, has a rocket arm. I want to believe he progresses and become more consistent. If given playing time he will hit nearly 30 HR's again, but average will normalize a little to .250 (his BABIP was atrocious in 2012). If he can take walks and hit homeruns he should play no questions asked.

Greinke and its not even close. Ace potential, in his prime, good durability history and would fill the biggest need this team has.

Much better model. I would argue that they win in large part because their manager is the best in the game. I am not a fan of the Cards one bit, but respect how they've been able to repeat success with a moderate payroll (110 m). They play all-round good baseball and make good moves. I believe the Twins need to take something from how many teams have turned it around. TB and the O's have done some good things, TEX has become a force, SF is in the mix now. Mostly, and the biggest gripe I and many others have with this organization, is the philosophy about starting pitchers. The teams that win now either draft or sign strike out pitchers and let them throw 120 pitches to be the deciding factor in a game. The Twins don't. They don't draft high upside pitchers (sans Berrios). They certainly don't sign high upside pitchers. So until they do, it will difficult for this team to win. They had their best chance when Santana and Liriano were in the rotation in 2006 until Liriano got hurt. Unfortunately, its easier said than done. I don't think the Twins try NOT to get these type of players, I feel the can't due to their talent evaluators being inadequate. Perhaps that is changing, but I want to see more than just signing Berrios to believe it.

Is the assumption that new people here don't know baseball when they get here and therefore aren't intellectual enough at the beginning? If I'm misunderstanding your post, and some other's posts saying things along those same lines, please let me know. Cause some of us were just posting elsewhere for many years and heard about this great place and came over. That is not it at all. A draw-back of less than casual fans is they assume players can be swapped like RBI Baseball trades. I'm certainly not calling anyone out in particular in this thread (dave, i gave you **** about DeRosa because I've given you **** every offseason for the last 4 years). Why it is said that "new" posters are guilty of this is because they haven't spent enough time on forums to know that it takes more than one team needs a pitcher and one needs a hitter so lets swap! Most on here know that. I don't mean to be elitist about this, and am not calling individual posters or threads out. I'm just saying lets collectively bring good ideas and non-redundant topics to discussion. People can post what they want and talk about what they want so it shouldn't make much difference what I want anyway, just sayin.

Nick, I will try to come up with some topics that elicit interesting discussion in the next few weeks, sorry I blew up. Its just frustrating to beat horses down all week. On a lighter note, sluts rule.

I like Buxton, but I want to see him hitting good pitchers before I jump up and down. Leading up to the draft I was hoping Houston would take him so the Twins wouldn't be tempted. I'm just not a fan of the man-crush on toolsy OF the Twins have.

Are we really going to go through 5 months of pulling random names and trade ideas out of our asses? I don't even want to read on topic like that. Baseball is so difficult to guess on. Once FA opens and things start to happen I can understand it. But man, this is going to be a long winter if this continues.

How has the game changed since he started as the GM? How has it changed in the last 10 years to where we are at now? *JR will love this question

That pitch limit is a little low. It is actually about 100% from what he pitched this year, so the Twins must have seen something that has lead them to believe that is a good number. When you think about it, that is quite a workload on an arm. I think I'd push it to about 150 or so, but I believe more pitches creates stronger arms. I don't think the Twins will have the same problem the Nationals did with the playoffs....

Very positive. a 2 mph increase in his FB makes a huge difference, and could vault his ceiling to a number 1 IMO. Especially if his slider and change are plus pitches. He would then have a plus plus FB and 2 plus secondary pitches. I can't wait to see him in the MLB.

I agree with the redzone problems. I felt like Ponder was completely worthless. Defenses will give you throws of 10 yards and under all day. I dislike the way he plays the game. He is a dink and dunk passer. He walks a thin line. He doesn't do enough to win games by himself, but a bad game and he can lose one. Offenses start with the QB. Look at how Manning and Rogers dissect defenses at the line. Manning doesn't have a great receiver core now but still finds people open. Even when Favre was here he was able to do this and put cash in Sydney Rice's bank account because of it. A new receiver is only going to give Ponder options, I doubt he would ever take advantage of them.

Farewell to Rantz, can't say I hate to see him go. I know he has put a lot of time in with the Twins, but at some point you have to call it a career. Rantz will be missed by many within the organization. I welcome new ideas in an organization that has few of them.

No to Youkilis. I really don't know if pushing Plouffe to 2b is a good idea. He is just getting the hang of 3b and moving him across the diamond would be a fresh start for him. Not that he couldn't do it and play respectably, I'd just rather have someone there with great range and solid hands. Youkilis would be a better idea if this team was closer to contention. I just don't see the point of signing a guy like him right now since it would lead to a few more wins, but not enough to make a difference.

Yes. He is the type of low-risk/high-reward guy the Twins should be targeting. Regardless of his past on this team, he is an MLB pitcher and should be considered the same as anyone else. I don't know how the parting of ways was, but they should try to sign him.

I think the improvement is because of a number of things. Kevin Williams is having a great year again. Brinkely is playing way better than Henderson did, and Erin Henderson has been very good. So the whole LB core has played great so far. The secondary is legit. Cook has been a lock-down guy, Harrison Smith has provided a big-time playmaker and the tackling has been very good by the secondary. I'm more worried about the offense not being able to score points than the defense holding up. I still don't think Ponder is any good. He is smart and protects the ball, but at this points that all. Give him a few receivers and maybe that will help, but this team will have trouble scoring points against good defenses.

Exactly! Nothing to lose, and he could bring some much needed veteran presence and leadership. Did you hear about what he did for the Nationals before yesterdays game? He kept everyone loose and kept them focused, he ended up reading a speech by Teddy ****in Roosevelt, genius! We need more of that leadership in the clubhouse. Give a guy an inch and he takes a mile lol.

Berrios and Kepler are next with Benson behind them IMO. After them you get guys like Polanco, Jorge, the big guy at Beloit, Goodrum, and a mess of other with respectable talents that could have a break-out year and find themselves in the top 10. I'm really excited about the Twins top 20, and it will only be better with another high draft selection and most likely a high competitive position as well (love that new format).

Dave, I see no reason not to extend him an invitation if he still wants to play since he would be a better option at 2b than we currently have. I just see this as a Bret Boone scenario where he just can't play anymore. If I was the Twins, I'd be extending invitations like candy after two 90 loss seasons.

Hopefully by then Revere doesn't have a starting job. I'd like for it to go Arcia/Hicks/Benson. I'm hopeful Benson can have a bounceback season and force his way on the Twins.

Now Dave, we've *talked* about this before.

Good point. I do think Hicks makes it back on the list with Berrios also finding his way on the back-side of the list. We will find out when the pitchers come out I guess. Plus, this is just Sickles and not everybody.

Soooo I'm guessing S&M is out of the conversation? *sad face*

Shucks guys. I can't take all the credit, but I'll take a lot of it I guess. I really haven't done too much for the site, so all this thanks is overwhelming. I didn't really build the internet site like RP, or write articles every night from my grandma's basement, or even contribute anything of substance to the forums. Thanks everybody, I'll continue to do as little as possible to be a big part of Twins Daily.