Thrylos

Why? The 1993 Braves did not have anyone older than 27 and turned up ok. Gibson is the veteran

This particular team up there looks way too much like the existing team. Not enough change. Changes that need to happen (in this order) : 1. Hire a president of baseball operations from outside the organization 2. Fire Brunansky 3. Trade: Both Santanas, Dozier (I am not convinced that he is not part of the problem here), Plouffe, Nolasco, Perkins, Jepsen, Abad, Nunez 4. Demote/Cut: Mastroianni, Suzuki, Kintzler, Anyone above who is not traded and has less than $10M owed 5. Move to the Pen: Hughes Rotation: Meyer, Berrios, Gibson, May, Wheeler Pen: Hughes, Pressly, Chargois, Rogers, Darnell (*Melotakis when healthy) , Tonkin (*Burdi when healthy), Duffey C: Murphy, 1B: Park, 2B: Rosario, SS: Polanco, 3B: Sano, LF: Palka/Kepler, CF Buxton/Kepler, RF Arcia/Kepler Bench: Kepler, Escobar, Centeno, Beresford

That hits the nail in the head, and is not only confusing, it is the problem definition, and goes to the way Terry Ryan has been building teams since day 1: With no plan, without riding the ebbs of bad times for true rebuilding like Griffith did in the 80s, which with a competent GM who could close holes with the right people and rebuild in a season, in Andy MacPhail, turned into 2 World Championships Ryan has no plan. Or his plan is schizophrenic. Even in the years preceding contraction he was not rebuilding. 1997. The team finishes with 94 losses. What does he do? He keeps 36 year old Steinbach, 41 year old Molitor, 31 year old Coomer, 29 year old Meares, 36 year old Aguilera, 37 year old Tewksbury, 33 year old Swindell and signs the following free agents: 38 year old Mike Morgan, 31 year old Orlando Merced, 39 year old Otis Nixon, after he trades Knoblauch for prospects. I am convinced that the moderate success of the early 2000s was because no old bargain bin free agent (even the Minnesota-born) dared sign with the Twins with the fear of contraction over their heads and Ryan was forced to use the people he had who were all minor leaguers (and even then he couldn't help himself and signed cut players like 30 year old Sean Bergman who sucked.)

Great work! Something that needs to be added: 2003 Tigers: That was a rebuilding year. First full season for GM Dombrowski and first season for manager Trammel. 2005 Royals: Tony Pena (mgr) was fired after that 8-25, the team was managed for 17 games by Bob Schafer before Buddy Bell was hired. The GM Allard Baird was fired in the following May. 1998 Dbacks: Their first season ever in existence 1995 Marlins: Their third season ever in existence. Manager (Rene Lachemann) eventually fired half way into following season 2016 Twins: ????????

a. By the title of this article I thought that this was about fish. More realistic. I think that they might get a couple cases of trout for Milone for sure. b. The Twins need Trout (and his 40% of the team's salary) like a poke in the eye that Mauer's contract did not poke. c. Can he pitch in a pinch?

http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20080926135112/starwars/images/c/c9/Monkey-lizard_UA.jpg

SSS but a comparison with everyone's darlings: Berrios 2016: 5.95 FIP, 1.744 WHIP (.394 BABIP), 11.9 K/9, 5.0 BB/9 Duffey career SP: 3.50 FIP, 1.27 WHIP (.308 BABIP), 8.4 K/9, 2.9 BB/9 May career SP: 3.85 FIP, 1.51 WHIP (.354 BABIP), 8.2 K.8, 2.7 BB/9 May as a starter was much better than Berrios has been so far and pretty close to Duffey, if you normalize WHIP for BABIP. Plus he has improved as a pitcher the last season an a half. If you want Berrios in the rotation, you better want May more

And that was because of a calf injury by a batted ball IIRC. Not arm, back or shoulder.

Not to mention that his glove at first is above average and better than Mauer's, and the Twins do not have any first basemen knocking on the door...

Check the quote from the Reds' owner when he fired Krivsky (from here) "We've just come to a point where we're not going to lose anymore," Reds owner Bob Castellini said emphatically. Does it sound familiar? Also from there, about Krivsky's tendencies: Krivsky showed a fondness for signing older pitchers (etc) Does that sound like someone we know and "love"?

Francisco Cervelli and Wilson Ramos are free agents this off-season. I'd rather see them go after one of them, than draft a C and wait for Godot to develop.

This guy begs to disagree: http://www4.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Brian+Harper+Chicago+Cubs+Photo+Day+etOXVFa_N8Tl.jpg

I'd flip Hughes with May and let Hughes close for a while. He was lights out as Rivera's set up man, and likely alright until Burdi gets his act together.

He did not. He surrounded himself with Ryan's people...

He owns 3 minor league teams (Os, Giants & Rays affiliates), wanted to purchase and run the Orioles but Angelos will not sell.

FWIW the first AA catcher who got the callup was Carlos Paulino

See, Meyer is so great, they already changed the name of a City for him

Just in case: It has been way too cold and rainy in the Southeast all baseball season so far. Balls are dying. Give a full season and then let's talk about power. Regardless, contact is much more important than power for him at this point.

My count as far as Rochester goes: Meyer Wheeler Milone --- Baxendale (has been at AA for 2 seasons) Slegers (until Berrios or Duffey return from the majors when Gibson gets activated) That would pop all the Fort Myers rotation to Chattanooga (forgot to add the newest Ryan/Steil scrub, Nick Longball, to the get rid of list) Keeping Steele at Fort Myers, with Rosario going back when Slegers returns, adding LeBlanc, Clay (another guy who has nothing to prove at Cedar Rapids) and Stashak to Fort Myers. John Curtiss there can be the 5th starter until Slegers returns. Then get 3 arms from EST up to Cedar Rapids. No games to forfeit, just forfeiting the mind set of getting never have beens from the Independent Leagues instead of promoting within and finding out what they have. Simple.

FIP is not predictive (xFIP is.) It just does not count the runs scrub relievers gave up once you got them on base, or runs that slow feet outfielders (and have been a ton with the Twins on Gibson's time from Colabello to Parmelee to Willingham to Arcia to Sano etc.) were responsible by turning singles into triples.

Today's report shows well what is wrong in the Twins' World: Randy LeBlanc has nothing to prove in a league that he is 2 years older than the average player. He should be at Fort Myers. The problem is that the Twins' system is so congested in the upper levels with starters who belong in the Independent Leauges, like Andrew Albers (and David Martinez and Omar Bencomo) or the pen, like David Hurlbut (and Logan Darnell and Ryan Eades) to bring up the high A phenoms so players like LeBlanc will play at the levels they belong. This is LeBlanc's 3rd season with the Twins. He will need to be added to the 40-man roster after the next season. He better play in competitive levels for the Twins to assess whether he should be added. So far he has not. And he is just an example.

I think that if the Twins can get Garrett if he is available because a. he is the best LHSP on the board after Puk (and maybe including Puk) and b. Good LHSPs do not grow on trees. Their strategy to get relievers and turn them into starters maybe got a 12.5% success rate, and that if one believes that Duffey is a success, for which the jury is still out with 13 MLB starts only and still difficulties (albeit better than last season) the second time + he faces a lineup. Perkins was 9-5 with 3.something ERA in his first 14 MLB starts. So I would wait a couple more seasons before I call Duffey a success. I can see the Jay signing with the conversion intend, but he is a lefty. And that is a better risk to take (because good LHSPs do not grow on trees.) Just not so for Burdi, he might have more pitches than his brother, but his brother has unfortunately proven injury-prone, so I would not use a first round pick on a reliever. On the other hand, a second round pick might worth it if he is still around. I just hope that they are drafting from need this year. They are a couple of Prep Catchers I like for the later rounds Ben Rortvedt (who should be available in the second round and is from WI) and Michael Amditis for the later rounds (5th or so; he is from LA and the Twins have a good scouting presence there.) I really do not care much about the College Catchers this draft. Not sure that the ones that will stay at C have pretty high ceiling. Another name you will hear and has a lot of helium as far as catchers go is Herbert Iser (HS, Disneyworld) but has a Kennys Vargas body type... The draft is always cool because it is all about possibilities and dreams. Great break from the Twins' reality this season

Again, you are making my point. The 2000s were not McDonalds and Walmart, it was Chipotle and Kohls. As long as the causal fan defines excellence as that, the Twins will be making $.

ERA and its derivatives do not cut it... (and Santana is part of the Steroid era)

I think that you just made my point, unless you are talking about 1991. The Twins were not competitive in the Ryan era. Winning bad divisions and going belly up in the post-season is not competitive. When the divisions got stronger, their belly up time got earlier The 2000's Twins were like a special McDonalds thing. McRib. There you go