Thrylos

I suspect that some (O'Rourke, Schafer, Wimmers) might not be on that roster when it is time for their name to be called

It would be a mistake to let Boshers go? Not sure about that. The Twins need to be in full rebuild mode, and this means that 29 year old Boshers, who actually pitcher pretty well for a dumpster dive acquisition and the A- grade is fitting within that context, has no place in the team because pitchers like Mason Melotakis, and even Cam Booser and Mike Theophanopoulos who have been moving way too slowly in the organization need to potentially have a chance to show whether they belong in the long term discussions. They will be 26, 25, and 24 years old next season, thus they belong to the same age argument you make for Chargois

Hard to criticize the guys defense at SS when the Twins have moved him all over the place the season after Baseball America rated him the best defensive SS in the FSL (scroll down.) One has to realize that Polanco, outside of the Twins farm brass that for some reason do not like his play at SS, has been seen as a better than average defender. In addition to the above, BA rated him the Twins best defensive infielder in 2009 and 2010 (same link.) The Twins' talent "evaluators" and "developers" messed with him by not letting him develop in the position. It is hard to play SS well right away, after you play 2B only for 2 seasons. Let the kid play a full season or two at SS and then we can talk about his defense.

So who was the most influential voice during the Smith era, according to your truth? Maybe the Twins fired the wrong person after 2010 then...

The best 5 of: Berrios Mejia Gonsalves Jay Felix Romero and the 2 good young close to MLB-ready arms the Twins will get in trading Dozier, Santana, +++ Simple. If you don't throw them in the water, you don't know whether they can swim. Or not.

That's not what the OP said

That Twins' minor league pitcher of the year award is cursed. Everyone who won it the past faltered or had major surgery within a season or two. Hope that Gonsalves breaks the curse... As far as the hitter of the year goes, I'd love to see anyone who can argue that Granite is a better hitter than Palka with actual data. Disgrace...

Agreed about the first 3, but English went 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts. If that is "not bad", then what is "bad"?

In other words, you advocate the Terry Ryan dumpster driving strategy... Been there, seen that. How many deep post-season runs and/or World Series has this brought to the Twins? (rhetorical question.) It is about time that this organization strives for excellence in acquiring and developing talent, instead of throwing mediocre players out there and hope that they turn Abad into Light

I suspect that there are some people who would want to let Vargas go and also would offer Plouffe arbitration. Career numbers: Vargas (age 25) .251/.309/.434, 25 HR, 595 PA (23.8 PA/HR) Plouffe (age 30) .247/.308/.420, 96 HR, 2909 PA (30.3 PA/HR) If anything, Vargas will give at least Plouffe like production with more HR power, at 1/20th of the cost, as has not yet reached his prime. No-brainer. Rotate him in 1B/DH with Mauer and Park, unless you find a buyer for them

The genius part is that, unlike his spendthrift predecessor and successor, he opened the wallet and invested good $ in long-term potential, instead of spending the $ for the likes of Pelfrey and Correia.

Those 5 players do not belong in the same sentence. Mauer and Hunter have had borderline Hall of Fame careers with multiple All Star appearances, Gold Gloves and MVP votes between them. Cuddyer has been an average corner outfielder whose move to Colorado extended his career. Single All Star appearance. Span is an average centerfielder whose best accomplishment is to get 6th in the ROY vote Revere is a below average centerfielder who did not accomplish much and likely will be relegated to a platoon/bench role And let us not forget the other High School 1st round picks after Hunter and before Buxton (and btw, Hunter was a MacPhail pick, FWIW) : B.J. Garbe Matt Moses Trevor Plouffe Kyle Waldrop Jay Rainville Hank Sanchez Chris Parmelee Aaron Hicks Travis Harrison Hudson Boyd So the Twins really have had more busts when they drafted HS athletes on the first round, than not, esp. the current front office (and Hunter, again was not a Ryan FO pick.) So Mauer, one average (Cuddyer), two almost there (Plouffe, Span), a couple borderline MLB starters (Hicks, Revere), a AAAA player (Parmelee) and a bunch of busts. The Twins did great (Sano, Polanco, Romero, Kepler, Jorge, etc.) with international free agents during the Bill Smith time. That's about it.

If the draft was done today, I'd take Alex Scherff. Two plus pitches (one borderline plus plus) and an above average third pitch at 18 years old, is hard to pass. Might change my mind by June, but Scherff's up for me...

http://nesncom.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/plouffe-goof.gif?w=400&h=225 http://sports.cbsimg.net/images/visual/whatshot/TrevorPlouffeError.gif

Data: Sano: 830 PA, .249/.346/.489, 126 OPS+, .334 wOBA, 114 wRC+, 3.3 WAR (251.5 PA/1WAR) (and he is 23, at an age when Plouffe was in the minors) Plouffe: 2909 PA .247/.308/.420, 99 OPS+, .317 wOBA, 98 wRC+, 5.2 WAR (559.4 PA/1WAR UZR/150, Plus/Minus, DRS Plouffe: Age 24: -14.9, -9, -8 25: -8.6, 1, 0 26: 7.7, 5, 6 27: 1.7, 3, -1 28: -17.1, -5, -4 Sano, 22: 11.2, -1, -1 23: 2.7, -2 , -2 Data shows that Plouffe has been an average hitter and overall a below average fielder who improved but took a turn for worse this season. Sano is a better hitter by far (830 PAs is pretty significant) and his defense at age 23 is already better, based on objective metrics, that Plouffe's was both at age 24 and last season. So, objective data shows that Sano last season was an improvement over Plouffe on both sizes of the ball. And Plouffe is approaching his down years while Sano has not yet reached his prime. Subjective opinions might differ.

That would cut his trade value in half...

After Cleveland's season is over, and it looks like it will not be happening any time soon

Agree 100%. However, unless you play the kids, you will not figure out whether they can help you win or not...

The problem with Pressly (and Tonkin) is that these guys have had the opportunity to show what they have and it is not much. Pressly pitched 208 MLB innings at the rate of 3.55/3.70/4.25 ERA/FIP/xFIP, 6.58 K/9, and 1.33 WHIP, which is mediocre. He has only one above average pitch (slider) according to pitch values. The problem with keeping a mediocre reliever is the opportunity cost on players such as Reed, Hildenberg, Jones (who are not spring chicken btw). Bottom line is seeing what they can do (or not) is much more important for the Twins that giving a mediocre reliever, who will not be part of their future competitive teams, more reps. Lost opportunity (and lack of vision, of course) has been a major issue with the Twins, and about time that changes.

What I am saying is that the Twins need a young top pitching prospect close to the majors more than they need Gordon. The rest are assumptions

I'd trade them all, if there are any takers, otherwise I'd non-tender them with maybe the exception of Gibson. They all are too old for a rebuilding team, at best mediocre, and blocking others. I'd take the $30 million in savings and put half towards the Sano/Buxton extension fund and the other half towards signing the two best IFA arms out there

Too early. They don't have to do anything until the World Series is over. Not sure why any of the coaches should have teflon in a 103 loss team. They are all part of the problem. I see zero reason for them to be back. Zero. This team needs a whole bunch of new blood infusion from winning cultures where losing is not ok (unlike with the Twins.) I'd keep Mientkiewicz around. He has a ring and is a fighter. Allen might be ok, but the Mitchell report taint is nothing I would want to be around young players in the organization. Sorry. If Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens are not in the Hall of Fame, Allen should not have a job in baseball. Also, if you have a look at the Twins' organization from the majors to the top prospects, about half of them are Latinos. They just cannot afford not to have more Spanish speaking players in the organization from the majors down. The fact that Berrios (e.g.) is seeking a fellow Latino player and not his coach to discuss pitching, is troublesome. The Twins have to realize that being a former Twin or a Minnesotan, is not a qualification for a job, and go out there and seek better and more diverse talent. Re: Gardenhire: He should be the first to get fired. Just him getting rehired brought the 2016 nasty Karma in the organization. (half-kidding)

The Twins really need to rebuild, and rebuild in a serious way. They are not a starter, a closer, and a catcher away from being competitive. Which means that 30 year old free agents should not be close to their target. Their core is at around 23 years old. If you are looking to build a team that will be competitive for a long time, you want that core to reach their primes together. Which means that nobody over 26 should (*) be around, in 2017. Nobody. This makes the likes of: Mauer (*) Dozier Escobar Plouffe Grossman Park (*) Centeno Schafer Santana Gibson Milone Kintzler Pressly Tonkin May Santiago Hughes (*) Perkins (*) Boshers O Rourke Wimmers etc Goners. Packaging them creatively with decent prospects that the organization does not need (Walker, Stewart, Gordon, etc.) and targeting 2-3 good arms younger than 23, and a catcher that age, would be the way to go. Dozier, Santana, May, Gibson, Santiago do have value and in combination with prospects might bring back what the Twins need. Other than May, I will be disappointed if any of those 4 are in a Twins' uniform come next Spring, because it will tell me that the new CBO has no idea how to rebuild either. Dozier can be the player who can get a competitive team to the next level, for the Twins, he is lipstick. Agreed about international free agents, but they will be much younger than the current core. Do not forget the first overall pick in 2017. I would pick the best and closest to MLB-ready arm, no matter if Joe DiMaggio's second coming was around. They need to go for need now. Of course, a total organizational shift in developing pitchers, starting with a wholesale clearance of pitching coaches starting from the majors and the MiLB pitching coordinator should be happening. I would have no issues with a rotation of Berrios, Mejia, Gonsalves, Jay, and a new young arm and a pen of Burdi, Chargois, Duffey, Taylor, Melotakis, Jones, and Reed or Hildenberger. Half of those minor leaguers are about to get too old, they better see what they got. (*) Unfortunately there will not be many takers for Mauer, Perkins, Park, and Hughes. The Twins might just need to cut the cord with Perkins, play the Mauer contract out and hope that Park and Hughes return great so they can trade them during the season.

Suzyn Waldman has been a color commentator for the Yankees (radio, which is harder, because you have to talk more) since 2005. The first woman to hold the job more than sporadically. He was a reporter previously and kinda lived through hell in the Yankees' locker room. There is a Jesse Barfield story one can google. In the beginning of her job, multiple times she was voted the worst NY Sports commentator by fans. Right now, things have changed. She is pretty much established and people are blind to the fact that she is a woman. Too bad to see that kind of reaction by Brooks Marlow, especially given the fact that he will never be as good a player as Jessica Medoza was. In addition to the Olympic medals, her senior year in College she hit .367/.471/.713, 14 HRs in 64 games. I would suspect that if they were to settle this in an old school home run derby, he might lose. Idiot

Kiriloff ahead of Jay (and a few others, notable Diaz and Javier) is madness