Thrylos

Agreed, but just a technicality: Gettysburg was a 3 day battle. Technically the singular most devastating day in American history was Antietam with 22,720 casualties. But that was before US Major General Abner Doubleday, who commanded the First Corps in the aforementioned Gettysburg, supposedly invented baseball But, yes, it was amazing to watch the first baseball game after 9/11, just as it was to watch the jet lines of clouds on the sky again...

Resurrected? I guess that was from Death by small sample size... Right now (and he still is not on his prime,) Rosario is a very small IsoD guy. Which means that his OBP is close to his BA. And if that BA for whatever reason does not approach .270-.280, that OBP will not approach .300. Maybe he will have a hitting coach who will help him take a ball here and there in the future. He is still 24. On the other hand the Twins OF is getting crowded, and he fell in the depth chart behind Kepler and Buxton. Give Palka a good ST or two, and Rosario is a fourth OF. On the other hand, the Twins should go back and re-switch his positions, strong arm on not. They'd need someone to replace Dozier at 2B, and likely he can do it better than (let's say) Walker (another OF candidate for position change).

According to a bunch of metrics here, he is better than Escobar, in a season that, like Sano, prepared for and played out of position until recently...

I think that there is a larger fundamental question they have to answer before they answer any of these: Will the Twins actually rebuild in 2017? If they do, a lot of those are easier to answer. Btw, here is data comparing Plouffe's and Sano's defense at third. Sano makes more errors (and expected, since he did not see many balls at third base while he was preparing as a right fielder), but he is a better overall third baseman, and will only improve. At this point Sano is better than Plouffe and better than what Koskie was in his first full season in the position. Polanco should be their shortstop, no discussion. There is zero reason that he should not be. If the Twins flip May and Duffey, they will make both their rotation and their pen better, and keep May healthy. I think that Perkins has pitched his last pitch in the majors. If his velocity does not come up to the mid 90s, he should not come up either, and a rational front office would have not counted on him in 2016. Hughes is a wild-card, but they should plan like they cannot count on him, because they cannot. Enough for the Twins' planning being living on a prayer... As I said is the Twins decide to rebuild and trade Santana and Dozier et al, holes at the rotation and catcher can potentially be filled, even though letting Murphy and Garver battle for the starter role in ST and come up, might be a decent option. A rotation of some of Berrios, Gonsalves, Mejia, Jay, May and a new good arm for 2017 does not look too bad for me if they are rebuilding, neither a pen of some of Rogers, Melotakis, Duffey, Chargois, Reed, Light, Burdi, Jones, Peterson, Anderson, does not look awful for a rebuilding team, neither does a lineup of Garver, Vargas, Rosario, Polanco, Sano, Palka, Buxton, Kepler, Mauer/Park... But they got to decide what they want to do, and don't do it half-whatevered again...

Minor League deals are usually annual...

Polanco at 23 is a league average shortstop and has a lot of time ahead of him to improve. Polanco at SS is more valuable than Polanco at 2B, because you can find good hitting second basemen easier than good hitting shortstops. Part of his issues have been thinking too much, which is pretty common with young, inexperienced players when they are first called up. Now the fact that the Twins messed with his positions in the minors, should not be a surprise. Got to play your young players in their most valuable position, until they outgrow it, when you are rebuilding, because part of rebuilding is to get these people experience to be better on their most valuable positions. This means Sano at 3B, Vargas at 1B, and Mauer/Park at DH. It they were competing, it would had been a different story. And, yes, they have to sell high of Dozier...

re: Trading Buxton: Anyone here who would not trade him for Trout or Harper or Syndergaard or Jose Fernandez? just sayin' there are trades and there are trades

A couple more tidbits on Anthopoulos you might find interesting: - He is Canadian, born in Montreal - Got his first job out of college in 2000 as a mailroom intern for the Expos, then moved into a scouting intern and then as an assistant scouting director - In 2003 he moved to the Jays as their scouting coordinator and promoted to AGM in 2005, 5 years before he became GM. So he has a long history with Toronto, on the scouting side of the business. Aaron Sanchez, probably Toronto's best pitcher this season, was another one he drafted and developed, after every team passed on him.

beg to differ: C, 1B, SS, LF, CF below league average for that position, in 1 (RF) was at league average for the position and only at 2B, 3B and DH was above league average for the position even with the Met's pitching, you would not make the postseason, unless you improve. Given, Polanco will be an improvement at SS in 2017, the rest?

This lineup is not drastically different from the 2016 100+ Loss team for the Twins to compete in 2017. And if they are not going to compete in 2017, they do not need Dozier, they need what Dozier could bring (a young good arm and maybe more) more than they need Dozier.

Have you checked the Tigers' payroll and/or moves the past decade?

One of the things that needs to be mentioned is that there has been a lot of decisions made by the owner (eg, the Greinke and Hale signings) and that is not a good situation. So a lot of their situation is because of the owners and not their FO... BTW. I think that a rebuilding team has no business signing over their prime veterans to multi-year contracts and it would be the worst thing the Twins could do...

The Indians are paying $86M this season. It is not how much $ you spent, it is how well you spend it. And Ryan has been a spendthrift who would rather spend $40M for 3 pitchers (Hughes, Nolasco, Santana) instead of 2 better pitchers. After MacPhail left, this team never emphasized quality over quantity. The aforementioned Blue Jays' payroll is $115M, but much more better in quality than the 15% difference with the Twins' payroll. And if the Twins win and TF fills with bottoms on the seats with bellies that will be filled with concessions, that extra 15% is negligible. But got to invest smarter

And not only this, but they got Santiago's dead weight back (who might actually be worse than Nolasco's) instead of giving his starts to (let's say) Gonsalves who has nothing to prove in AA or Wheeler whom they desperate need to see in this level

The other thing about both Anthopoulos and Cherington is that they have proven abilities to turn teams around, which is exactly what the Twins need. Also, both have been drafting and developing prospects extremely well.

Sub "Buxton" for "Vargas", and this could be said for both... On the other hand, unlike Buxton, Vargas did not look lost at any point this season in the majors...

I bet a machine can beat a .269 batting average He could be a decent utility player, but he is Escobar's age and in his prime. Good recognition for him, but I don't want to see him taking field time away from Sano at 3B or Polanco at SS

I just hope that the Twins will do the smart thing and get Duffey back to the pen where he can excel, because a. he has only 2 pitches and b. his fastball loses velocity and flattens later in the game. What we saw last season is more pronounced this one. His career splits: 1st Inn 3.66 ERA 2nd Inn 3.45 ERA 3rd Inn 4.91 ERA 4-6 Inn 6.14 ERA 7-9 Inn 9.58 ERA 32 GS and 151.3 IP, are enough to not be a SSS. The Twins need relievers badly, he could be a good to great one and a good to great reliever is much more valuable than a mediocre to poor starter that cannot pitch effectively into the 5th inning....

Based on this, I suspect that you think that Meyer is a stud also, because he was better than Berrios in Rochester this season, when healthy, and about as bad in the majors, albeit with about a tenth of the chances that Berrios had.

Nope. Because Meyer was the only pitcher in the Twins' organization with Ace potential, and they do not grow on trees... If a healthy Meyer was given the chances that, let's say, Tommy Milone or even Glen Perkins, Scott Diamond and Andrew Albers (yes I am picking on horrible lefty SPs today) have been given and then has proven not to work, it would had been a different story. They never gave him a chance, plus they messed him up in 2015 (like they messed May up in 2016) by moving him to the pen

crystal ball? The Twins have failed developing starting pitching even before Steil became farm director. Liriano was the last decent starting pitcher the Twins have developed. A deep celanup in the organization top to bottom, and staffing positions like the Minor League Pitching Coordinator and the Farm Director with people with a proven record of player development would have done wonders for Meyer and the rest of the organization. Garza, whom they picked in 2005 is their more recent first round SP pick who has made a significant impact in the majors. Here is the "honor roll": 2008: Gutierrez, Hunt 2009: Gibson 2010: Wimmers 2011: Boyd 2012: Berrios 2013: Stewart This one is on the Twins, and not on Meyer...

If the Twins get anything for Plouffe, it will be a bit win, not only because the player who would get (even a C prospect) has higher probability to help the Twins in the future, but because the player who will likely benefit from Plouffe's departure (Vargas) has been a better player than Plouffe this season. It is the Ortiz vs LeCroy situation. Deja vu, all over again. Vargas vs Plouffe. Hope that the new Twins administration has learned from the mistakes of the past. Plouffe (like Perkins and Hughes and Dozier and Mauer) has a banner outside Hammond Stadium. Ironically these are the posterboys of the Twins' misery

There not a single game that I want the Twins to lose. That said, my wants and their doings have not been on the same page lately...

He did not pitch for SLC before. He had a bad start for their high A team in San Bernandino where he allowed 3 runs in 2 innings. If that is terrible, please let me know how you feel about Berrios's starts with the Minnesota Twins? just sayin'

No. He threw 5 innings in 3 games for their Rookie team and then made a start with their high A team before starting for their AAA team. They are cautious with him...