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Brandon, if this is the way Terry Ryan analyzes baseball, I despise him more than I ever have. Why do you offer this up as if you are an insider that has the ability to tap into these insights? My biggest problem, is that thinking about baseball the way you have shown, will lead to 90+ losses until high end draft picks bring up the talent level far enough to win some more games. I have higher expectations than that.

Brandon, you offer this up theoretically, but the game doesn't work that way. A pitcher that sits under a 4 ERA is worth over 10m per year. When a guy like Kazmir or Colon do it, it is because someone took a gamble and gave them a shot. When a guy like Sanchez does it, he is being paid a lot of money because he has expectations. The Twins took a gamble on Rich Harden, and he didn't pitch an inning this season. Finding 5 starters that can pitch 6 innings with an aggregate 3.90 ERA is incredibly tough when you don't even have 1 starter with an ERA under a 4.18 ERA (unless you count Albers, who only threw 60 innings... but I wouldn't). That is not an easy task when you want to sign guys like Pelfrey, Feldman (who I want no part of) etc. You can't count on those guys to have an ERA under 4. They are ok guys to fill out a rotation, but not when you don't have legitimate talent to go with it. The Twins don't need more back of the rotation starters, they need a power arm that can compete for a Cy Young. Problem is, every team needs and wants that so they are expensive. I would trade our entire bullpen for Verlander without a hesitation. Would you? Asking which is more valuable is hilarious. Which is more rare? A bullpen that puts together a nice season or a guy that is considered one of the best 5 pitchers in baseball? Counting on a bullpen to bail you out of games is foolish. You know why the bullpen threw that many innings? Because starters were getting destroyed and putting the team in a hole within the first 5 innings. When all you're doing is mop-up duty (Swarzak) there isn't a lot of pressure on you. There is a reason the market values high quality pitchers. GM's don't pay them 20m a year because they are good people, they pay them because they are the most important players on the roster.

They flipped them both for a bunch of players. Don't feel like looking up their stats to see if they are any good.

Apparently I was one of the only ones to hate your post Brandon. I applaud you for your optimism (I'm actually a very optimistic person, kinda hard to see that with my ranting against the direction the Twins are going). Your arguments, and the evidence you provide are maddening. More than ever I feel like I've had to teach people the game lately and why I (and others) are so frustrated. Anyway, thanks for the talker, you put a lot of time into it. Outside of that they haven't had any good pitchers! I would not complain about Ryan signing a guy for 10 million a year and get what Pavano gave in 2010. Problem is, there is absolutely no evidence he will spend that much on a FA pitcher. Radke and Pavano were both with the Twins and got extended. He doesn't have that luxury now. It can be, when it works out. Sometimes it isn't that easy. It cost the Twins Ramos to try and get someone that had more than just a pulse. Some, but not very many. Every year there are everything from great fielding teams to horrible fielding teams in the playoffs. If defense was so paramount, you would not see that much parity. I can agree that emphasis can be put on it, because it does help. Like anything else there is a balance. Wrong again. Sacrifice bunting has been proved to be a complete waste of an out unless we're talking about pitchers or Butera. And hidden secret? When the Twins had a lot of speed on the team obviously they could be effective at base-running. That is why they got the Piranah nickname from Ozzie. The appeal 10 years ago was the small ball little engine that could Twins. The game has changed. That approach proved very ineffective, unless you are considering division tittles and getting swept in the playoffs effective. Plus, I have a hard time seeing any of those Twins teams outside of 2006 and maybe 2010 getting to the playoffs with this division now. You do realize that player is almost exactly Denard Span for his disappointing 2013 season right? Of course, without those 20 HR. If you add those in, it looks a lot more like Alex Gordon and a .750 OPS. I don't want 8 underachieving Denard Spans. The 2008 Twins scored 829 runs, the most by a twins team. They had 4 guys with an OPS over .800. They had speed in Casilla, Span, Gomez, and Punto. They had Morneau and Mauer with great seasons, Delmon had a nice season, Casilla had a nice season, Span, Kubel, Punto... They were just a good team, that didn't even make the playoffs. Which featured the best pitcher in baseball for 4 of them. Coincidence? Guys like you keep telling me so, but I just don't believe it. Look. The cute little run the Twins had in 2000's was fun. The AL Central was terrible and they caught some breaks with some players. The game has changed dramatically since then. The Twins keep trying to force "the Twins way" on the game and they will continue to lose.

This is a talent issue. Mason was able to find talent and compete nationally while playing in the Metrodome. I give him a lot of credit for that. His teams where flawed (especially his horrid defenses), but at least they had a pulse. Brewster destroyed the program and should have got the AD fired for that complete **** up. I'm not sure with Kill yet. His teams haven't been able to hold a finger to the big 10 and the only guy with talent was Grey, which wasn't his recruit (also the only reason he has any big 10 wins). In order to get better he needs to start getting some better talent. Watching Ohio State and Wisconsin play is pretty telling the talent gap right now. I hope he can start showing some signs of turning things around, but I'm not holding my breath.

That is interesting about Hicks. I wonder if there is more to that story or if it isn't worth thinking about...

Playoff have evolved to include 3 divisions with a wildcard (now a second wildcard) during his tenure. Only once during his regime did the Twins have the second-best record in the AL which would have qualified for the playoffs under the old format (and they got swept in the ALDS). It isn't just his awful record either. The team looked scared and outmatched in every series. They hung their heads and quit. NY laughed and taunted the Twins and didn't get any kind of push back. Those are things that I put on the man leading the team. I would have fired him after the disgusting performance in 2006 (along with his issue with Lohse, Bartlett, Cuddy etc.). He should have never been allowed to lose another 6 straight playoff games.

Really? I never read any negative things about him. Will you expand on this at all for us? I was a huge fan of his selection.

I was really hopping Walker would get a look at the FSL this season. Maybe he'll start in the FSL and get the opportunity to get promoted at the AS break. Seems like they prefer a player to get a full year at low A (with the exception of Buxton).

Twins media machine at its best! Of course this article would preclude an announced extension for Gardy. I don't mind Gardy coming back. I have a bigger problem with Anderson and Terry Ryan.

"We (played) some teams here that had a lot to play for in September. That's the one thing I do enjoy. We're playing games here that mean something for the opposition..." So they did play in meaningful games in September!!! "If you want to look at Tampa Bay and you want to look at Cleveland and you want to look at Oakland, and then you look at what our payroll is, and then you look at a team like the Yankees, maybe, add it up. You don't necessarily have to have a Top 10 payroll to get to the postseason." How the **** does that answer his question? I can't stand when this guy talks anymore.

Farm systems don't win MLB games is my point. The Royals were considered to have a top farm system for years and finally finished over .500 for the second time since 1994. O yeah, and they signed Santana and traded a top prospect for Shields to get there. They also have under-performing top prospects that they planned on being big contributors. Why do you feel everyone should just wait while our MLB team has been a bottom 5 team for 3 years with little to no changes to the people that drove them off that cliff?

That was in the NL, the Brewers were only included for the time they were in the AL.

Leslie Frazier: 16-22 - refuses to bench one of the worst QB's in the league Jerry Kill: 4-13 in the big ten, last in legends division 2 years straight and no sign of improvement after being destroyed by a bad Iowa team Can't imagine why people want to see a change.

I liked Pino! Well, kinda liked him... at least compared to other Twins prospects at the time. His problem was an 88 MPH fastball if I remember right lol.

I'm not going to respond with an elaborate post (which I deleted) to lay out why the Twins are in trouble for years to come if they rely simply on prospects. What I am going to do, is reiterate that it doesn't work very well. Prospects fail all the time, or take much longer to develop than hoped for (see HR leader Chris Davis). It is naive to think everything will be ok once the premiere talent comes up. There are philosophical problems with this organization that prevent them from winning. Unless major changes happen (like they did in Cleveland), we are destined for failure. A great farm system wont change a 95 loss team.

As someone that is skeptical of all Twins pitching prospects not named Stewart, I feel likewise that the situation is dire indeed. Unless talent is acquired through FA, this regime will never go deep into the playoffs. Unlike what Terry Ryans wants Twins fans to believe, waiting for uber prospects to develop is setting yourself up for failure. The Royals and Pirates are finally seeing some success after years and years of this. I don't want to go a decade without a winning season. Unless the FO makes some moves this offseason, it will already be 4 years of terrible horrible sickening baseball. All the while having the ability to sign guys to help be competitive and not doing so. Unacceptable. Many of the moves Cleveland did are moves I've seen some posters here at TD scream for until they are blue in the face every offseason (I'll take my bow). Moderate risk with high reward players, solid FA signs, management changes, that is how you can turn teams around. I feel like the 2013 Indians are going to be referenced a lot in the coming years about how to take a bad team and pull a 180.

Minimize them to below those past Twins teams yes. I'm no TK fan (that is a nice way of saying it) but the dude won 2 world series. No amount of division tittles will touch that.

I want to see them both gone, but Anderson more than Gardy. His time is up. Not a single guy has gotten better under him in years, the K/9 rate is hideous, and he refuses to keep pace with the evolution of the game. Gardy can be thrown in there too, but his impact is limited to who plays and when.

I still believe Santana should be considered a Rule 5 pick-up, regardless of the trade on draft day. The most disgusting stat that doesn't surprise me is out of the 855 total WAR accumulated during this time, the Twins only account for 28 of it, or just 3.2%. That is just in the AL. This percentage would be much lower if all teams were taken into consideration. P.S. Why did you do just the AL? The Twins compete against every team to acquire talent. Doing the entire league would be a much better representation.

I like Swarzak a lot. He's been very good in his role. As far as how much he should get paid? I'm not sure, but I'd probably give him 3-4 million to continue his duties. He is a long man that has an ERA of 2.91. He has been significantly better in every category this season than the past. Hopefully it is a trend. There aren't many failed starters out there (or even starters at all) that could do as well as he has done.

Just listened to the interview. Disturbing TR quotes: Pitching better than hitting. Thought there was a good chance to finish over coming into the year .500 (are you ****ing kidding me!!) Difficult time with run support (insisting pitching was fine). "Sprinkle in FA." When talking about A's and Indians. He is so out of touch. Chasing FA route setting yourself up for failure (they are the devil apparently). Pelfrey is going to be here for sure. - If you have the money, why not get someone with upside?

Thing is, Santana was left unprotected by the Astros when he was 20, thus allowing the Twins to grab him. If the Astros had known that he would go on to develop into a 2 (3) time Cy Young winner I highly doubt they would have done that. When prospects are young, have good stuff, have had success, and have room to fill out I have a hard time pigeon holing them to a back of the rotation arm. Especially when they have proven to miss bats: 8.7 K/9 in the DSL in 2011, 9.6 K/9 in the GCL in 2012 and 10.6 K/9 in 2013 in the Appy. Anyway, minor quibble at this point. He has a long way to go still. P.S. No way Matt Cain is a #2 pitcher. Dude averages 200 IP a year with an ERA of 3.35. You exclude him out of a definition of an Ace, and you are effectively narrowing the field to almost only potential HOF pitchers, which is much too narrow a definition for me (Oxtung and I had a thread about this very subject).

That is disappointing about Jorge. How does a 19 year old that can touch 96 with good action, a plus secondary pitch only have a 3/4 ceiling? From the videos on youtube I've watched, I really like this delivery. Obviously I'm not an advanced scout and the videos can only offer so much, but this is the first I've read about heavy arm action. I've had him as my adopt a prospect for 2 years now so I've probably followed him closer than most. We should get a better idea next year when he faces better competition. He is still pretty young and will fill out his 6'2" 170 frame as he gets older. Coming out of the DR scouts thought he was raw, but had projection. If he can continue to add some velocity to his FB and improve his change-up, I still feel his ceiling is a top of the rotation arm. I'll remain optimistic until proven otherwise.

Cleveland is a great example of what an overhaul at the management level can do. I don't expect them to be as competitive next season as they have been in 2013, but they wont roll over either. They've done a great job turning their roster into a playoff caliber team. What they did is what many have been clamoring to see from the Twins in the offseason. Take some risk with moderate to high upside guys (as well as turn the coaching staff over). Long term, I think Cleveland might be a team that is in the mix. When you make smart baseball decisions in the offseason and put together a roster that belongs in the MLB good things can happen. Banking on prospects developing is not smart. KC has been failing at that for 2 decades. Improvement at the MLB level takes more than just having some great prospects. I don't have faith that Terry Ryan can integrate the type of approach seen by Cleveland. It is too far out of his box.