Thrylos

Alrighty

I agree with the title of this post and will raise you: Why so much love for Dozier?

Levi Michael or Escobar with Polanco at SS...

Heyward. He will be in age 26 season (5 years younger than Davis, so you can offer 6 years and still get mostly prime seasons) is better and more versatile on the field than Davis (Heyward is a GG RF, Davis is a DH with Vargas-like fielding at 1B) and hits RHPs better than Davis. Trade Plouffe regardless. Trade Dozier too

The Twins are hurting big time for lefty high OBP hitters and lefty power hitters. Unless Puig is one of those, no thank you.

2015 Twins: 14/15 in AL in Hits, 14/15 in BA, 15/15 in OBP, 13/15 in OPS. methinks that data suggest that the problem is more generalized than Mauer... Getting rid of the last 2 coaches from the Gardenhire regime, might be a better solution to the problem

If you trade Mauer, you'd have to pick a bad contract: Take your pick: Elvis Andrus: $15M/year until 2022 Joey Votto: $20-25M/year until 2023 Miguel Cabrera: $28-32M/year until 2025 (2 vesting options) Justin Verlander: $28M year until 2019 (+1 vesting option) Ryan Howard: $25M 2016, $10M buyout for 2017 Albert Pujols: $25-30M 2016-2021 Prince Fielder: $26M (-$6M paid by DET) until 2020 Shin-Soo Choo: $20-21M until 2020 (Don't call me BJ) Upton: $15.5-16.5M until 2017 Aroid: $21M until 2017 Matt Kemp: $21.8M until 2019 For comparison: Mauer: $23M/year until 2019 I'd rather keep Mauer around and try to find a Mauer whisperer. Heck, bring his brother up as the bench coach and fire Vavra, if you have to

Nah. Not the Nats. But he would be a perfect fit for the Gnats.

I think that the Twins would have had a shot at Maddon if they gave him a post like LaRussa has in AZ, the baseball boss that runs the whole baseball operations, allowing him to hire his own FO, and given him an option to manage or hire his own manager, and paying him more than the Cubs did. Would be nuts if he did not take it.

The Yankees are looking big time for a second baseman. Would you trade Dozier for Gary Sanchez and Dellin Betances? The Twins have to sell high on him...

WAR is a pretty good measurement for this kind of thing and would agree with you all...

AMEN!

Would you give 2500 ABs to Butera year after year? Why give them to Buxton if he is hitting like Butera? Buxton has had a career 1227 ABs. And still cannot hit the curveball. Nobody said that he will never do, but he should try to learn to do so in AAA and AA and not in the majors. He is not ready. Might be one day or might not. But not ready now, so he should be in the minors until ready.

People should learn not to believe much of what Ryan says. Here is an interview of Ryan by Mr Warne (Podcast - 30 minutes, but good stuff) in which he says that the Twins do not need to do much this off-season. One of the two statements is a lie (or maybe he changed his mind, but for sure pretty contradictory.) The Tigers, a team that cares about winning, fired a better GM for less of a cause. Ryan needs to go. Yesterday.

Hard to argue batting average and RBI, but Harmon KIllebrew was a career .256 hitter and Ozzie Smith averaged 42 RBI a season This team is really really really hurting against RHPs. To the tune of .242/.301/.393. And most of the pitchers out there are righties. Heyward has a career .285/.372/.467 slash line against righties. Add a gold glove or too... Re: Rosario: Check his OBP. Not sure if he is a starter yet. But he would make a heck of a fourth outfielder Re: Buxton: Check his approach towards breaking stuff. Will not be surprised if he starts at AAA Re: Kepler: He should start at AAA and he is not a Centerfielder by any means. No matter that he played that position in the minors. Gardenhire even started Parmelee at Center Getting a true Ace (I like Zimmerman from that bunch, plus he is a cheesehead so MN might not be horror-inducing as a location) and moving Hughes to closer (check his career - 2009 really - numbers as a reliever when setting up Rivera here - 2.11 ERA, 0.995 WHIP, 10.7 K/9, 3.94 K/BB; better than Perkins ever did and that's before Hughes' prime) would do wonders to this team, esp. if Alex Meyer shows up at 2016 Spring Training with a chip his size on his shoulder They do need a catcher, but unless they go for a young catcher, getting someone like Brayan Pena (FA) to start against RHPs (.295/.347/.353 in 2015) and have Suzuki (because nobody will take him off your hands) or Pinto starting against LHPs might do the trick.

Alright. So explain why you would rank Greinke higher than Scherzer then? Scherzer is ahead on every stat pretty much other than W-L and ERA, and Greinke had a .229 BABIP

This is probably a better way of looking at it, because it takes into account of all players who played in every position. Look at the right-most column (sOPS+) relative to the league. 100 is average.

Steve Pearce Jim Merritt R.A. Dickey Rich Harden Joel Zumaya

That works is you have a 60-man roster. But you don't. And cannot have 8 OFs on the 40 man roster. That's how it works.

a. minus Vargas, minus D. Santana, minus half Perkins, minus good Hughes, 1 win off Dozier and only half E. Santana. Telling you, its a wash. (2015: 13th/15 AL in OPS 10/15 in ERA; 2014: 5/15 in OPS, 15/15 in ERA - one might argue that the 2014 team was better; composite ranking 10/15 vs 12/15 for 2015..) b. Post-season is SSS by definition. That's where legends are made.

If that were true, could you please explain (logically, voodoo and luck does not count) : a. The Twins' record in 2015 vs 2014 with pretty much the same players? b. The 2006 post-season when the Twins had both the MVP and Cy Young winners as well as the AL batting champion? Thank you.

Would love to see what Anderson will do to with that pitching staff Not sure that it is a good fit for Gardenhire. Too many strong player personalities and too many fan expectations in DC. A more laid back team with more forgiving fans, like Atlanta or Miami might be a better fit for him.

Where do the Twins need to upgrade, and what is an upgrade? Here is a very telling slashline: .238/.292/.370 that is the Twins' LHB line against RHP. And it is 23% worse than league average (and that is their lowest OPS split.) and here is another one: .198/.252/.304 Team slash line in losses. (and the Twins were 12th in the AL in OPS, 15th in OBP and 14th in BA out of 15 teams) So hitting and lefty hitting more specifically is due for an upgrade (and part of the reason the Twins lost.) If they solidify their pen, but still score one run in 4 hits, as they have done recently, they will fail (again) So: Sano over Plouffe at 3B will be an upgrade (Sano: 146 OPS+ and still has not entered his prime, Plouffe 99 OPS+ and will be 30 next season.) The Twins need LHBs and specifically OBP hitters. A full season of Rosario might help, but his is a contact hitter who will not take many walks. .289 OBP (.281 against RHPs) and .022 IsoD will not cut it. Mauer had the worst OPS in his career (.718) and Hicks hit .236/.303/.360, Escobar .257/.317/.428, and Vargas .185/.224/.294 as LHBs. Where can they put them? Catcher, DH and OF. Getting Arcia and his career .250/.322/.485 at on OF spot and hoping that Vargas will return to 2014 form at DH is a start. But they should go after a decent LHB catcher for an everyday catcher (Bargain FA Bryan Pena hitting .295/.347/.353 against RHBs might be a win-win here, and start Suzuki who hits better against LHPs against lefties) and another LH contact bat (That might be Kepler or might not.) Would I be happier if they traded (let's say Dozier for Dee Gordon) for some above average LH sticks? Of course. But that's not how they roll...

If you keep extending everyone in an Almost Good Enough team, how do you make that team Good Enough or a Champion? Magic?

Same reason that Sale (who pitched better than Keuchel) will not get considered for AL CY: W-L & ERA Kersaw and Arrieta (in that order) deserve it more, too, but that 14-12 record will hurt him with those voters