Thrylos

Great read. Thanks for the link. Got to love an article that mentions baseball and Blavatsky in the same paragraph

I think what makes me hesitant with Abreu is that Kennys Vargas can be that and more than that potentially, and the Twins' first baseman of the future is Joe Mauer. That said, I think that someone like Kendrys Morales at $5-7M per for 2 years, is more what the Twins need right now, until they are ready to transition to their next first baseman. At this point Morales is a bit more than middle of the road...

Nope. It is all-PROSPECT (not production) team. Were it all-PRODUCTION, Colabello should be a shoo-in for the 1B position.

If the Twins had a savvy front office who can actually understand what the article said, they should have taken it to the off-season MLB meetings, demanding MLB fixing the problem. If that were Boston or the Yankees, that's what they'd do. But the Twins do not really understand what is going on. The umpires have way too much say in the outcome of a game and things should change. If they do not perform and call things the correct way, they have no place in baseball...

Throwing (only some) players under the bus is a passive aggressive after the fact move. He does zip to change the momentum during the game, when it counts. Just hangs. Thrown out of a game rarely accomplishes anything. Getting aggressive on the base paths, getting in the minds of opposing pitchers, retaliating for hit batsmen and dirty plays, being energetic and interacting with his players during the game, treating everyone the same etc., does.

Agreed. And with the Rangers due for wholesale changes in their manager and coaching staff, if they do not succeed in (and make) the postseason, he might be available. But as a pitching coach. He is too quiet. And this team needs a manager who seems to care when they lose, instead of hanging himself by the armpits over the dugout rail, like the manager they have.

Franco over Sano is ridiculous by all means.

Kepler was on the A roster. Unless he is on the New Britain roster, he can get claimed during the AA portion of the Rule 5 draft & unless he is on the Rochester roster, he can be claimed in the AAA portion of the Rule 5 draft (and in the MiLB portion of the draft, the player does not have to play at the level claimed.) So, there is no way that he will not get claimed in the MiLB portion, if not on the Rochester roster. Plus, I am not sure that the Astros of the world will not take a flyer on him at the MLB portion of the draft and I am not sure that Kepler will be worse than the people who the Astros trotted at their OF this season... So, there is a chance in the MLB portion, and, unless on Rochester roster, there is no way he does not get claimed in the MiLB portion of the draft...

That's Gardy's bad... if he cannot motivate his players, he should go. If he has certain unmotivated players, he should sit their rear ends until they get motivated. He can do it, instead of whining to the press about it. He so has to go. Lost his team.

Fact: Dozier is an MLB average bat. By definition. OPS+ = 100 (OPS .735) Yes I do like his defense and he has improved. But his bat is no better than average. Because the Twins have had the likes of Nishioka at second, this does not make Dozier better than average. The way some people are talking about him, is like he has been putting Alomar numbers out there... Rosario's ceiling is higher than Dozier. I am really happy that Dozier is having a good season but: a. I'd like to see if he repeats b. I'd like to see how Rosario does, and c. if Rosario does well and Dozier continues (given that the Twins will have 3 more years of control for Rosario and Rozario is 5 years younger than Dozier) the non-brainer will be to trade Dozier high...

Hopefully Pinto, Hicks and Sano are in the majors and Meyer makes the Twins' rotation out of Spring Training. I am certain that Parmelee will not be in Rochester. Add 6-7 MiLB FA to your list (signed or re-signed) and you are about right.

Because it will be extremely bad form to celebrate someone's career among 3+ 90 loss seasons of the team.

a. 2011 was the same team practically as the 2010, other than the differences in the middle infield that Gardenhire himself wanted (remember Gardy's 'we need more speed up the middle' quotes, which he used to justify why he did not like Hardy.) Add the ostracizing of Slowey and sticking with Blackburn & Duensing in the rotation, which was a Gardy & Andy and not a Smith thing, and Gardy is probably more responsible than Smith for 2011 b. Gardy had good teams, including a team that had both the Cy Young and MVP award winners, and he did nothing other than his trademark 3 and out. He had 13 seasons. It is more than time for him to go away. Bert looks like he is getting a bit too tired/bored with the broadcast and taking half of the games off, and Gardy would be a perfect replacement. Problem solved --- That said, Ryan's quotes suggest that either he and reality have no connection or he is a plain liar. To say that Pelfrey and Correia were alright and the issues with this season are because the Mauer and Willingham injuries, adds a major intellectual insult to the injury his product has caused to the Twins' fans. Who can take him seriously after those statements? But I suspect a lot of people still taking him seriously after blaming 2012 on Jerry and Stelly and rearranged the rest of the stairs. Needed changes will be made for 2014 (like last season.) Maybe Scotty will be the pitching coach (the only position he did not have,) Andy the third base coach, Vavry the bench coach and Steiny the first base coach. That would solve all problems. I cannot see how anyone can trust Ryan. He has to go first and foremost for this team to compete.

These need a bit of clarification, saying that these guys did not lead the organization (which is inaccurate), but they led the players who only played in the full-season minor league parts of the organization. Organization Leaders in K/9 for 2013 (with 11 as the cut-off) : Carson Goldsmith 14.5 (R-Etown) Luis Nunez 14.4 (R-Etown) Wilfredy Liranzo 13.61 (R-DSL) Brandon Peterson 13.12 (R-Etown) Zach Jones 12.95 Dallas Galand (R-Etown/A) 12.30 Andrew Ferreira 12.9 (R-Etown) Brian Bixler 12.27 (R-Etown/A) Andre Martinez 11.86 (R-Etown) Miguel Gonzalez 11.57 (R-GCL) Tyler Stirewalt 11.49 (R-GCL) Lester Olivers 11.37 (R-GCL - rehab) Tyler Jones 11.35 Glen Perkins 11.24 (MLB) Lots of E-town kids would be upset with the above statement

The A's won exactly as many world series as the Royals the last 15 years and have been about as competitive. The Royals are spendthrift (overspending for mediocrity) and not really spending. Ryan would fit right in... I'd look at the Rangers, Red Sox and Tigers more as models than the As. You look at successful teams not mediocre teams as models if you want to succeed above mediocrity. The Twins have been blessed with a lot of mediocrity the past decade before they moved on to suckage

The Twins will spend, but I have zero confidence that they will spend the right way, instead of overpaying for mediocrity, with Ryan at the helm. He has never done it. Never. I would not mind if the Twins spend $30 million a year for Tanaka and Abreu and Guerrero (that takes care of 1B and SS). Then they should spend another $20-30 for 2 top FA SP. Trade Willingham/Doumit/Correia. Give Sano every chance to win the 3B job in ST. Then maybe they will have a competitive team. But with the people who are ru(i)ning them these days, I just don't see it happening. There are bigger fish to fry than spending: Changing the Front office and the field management is necessary before spending.

Joe Maddon and Terry Ryan's three ring binder will not play nice with each other. In order to have one (or one like him), Terry Ryan and his binder has to go...

Leaders don't get picked or selected or elected. They emerge themselves.... We shall see who will emerge.

I think that the only reason Albers might lose the Twins MiLB pitcher of the year award is because he got promoted. He leads the minors in wins & IP and has better K/9, K/BB, WHIP and ERA than Rogers.

In this list on potential super 2 players only Arcia and Hicks matter, the rest (including Diamond) are replacement-level players.

That's the important question here, which will tell a lot about the 2014 Twins

That's actually against the spirit of the instructs. Instructional league is a place where the go to learn something regardless on how that might bomb during the learning process. Stats would be counter productive...

Daryl Thompson was history early in the 2012 season... Do you mean Aaron Thompson (LHP)?

Ryan needs to go. He cannot win. Had about 25 chances to prove that.

Totally agree, JC. There is no need to play. Add this to the thousands of reasons that Ryan needs to go, he doesn't "get it"...