Thrylos

You got Systems - People - Processes. Something must be broken if the last time you met your goal was 24 years ago...

It was both

Quite a few. Arguably the best pitcher in KBO last season was former Twin Eric Hacker (19-5, 3.13 ERA, 1.029 WHIP, 7.2 K/9 and 1.6 BB/9). He has a decent slider and likes to throw it a lot.

I don't really care about how many HRs they hit, I just hope that most are with at least one, and hopefully more, on base... Situational hitting is much more important that hitting the ball out of the part. If that means fewer HRs but fewer Ks and more singles and doubles with men on scoring position, I will take that

I think that Palka and Walker are very similar players, they are the same age, but Palka was drafted a season later, thus one level down. If anything Palka has a speed and D tool that Walker does not have. I just don't understand Walker up there and Palka down there. Not that different players. Let's agree to disagree on Gordon (who has not had a .700 OPS as a pro) and Polanco, but that Jay rating I just don't get at all

In 2015 the Twins were contenders. The 2016 team is pretty much the same, so there should be contenders...

The White Sox are one of those teams that usually do much worse on the field than they do on paper. Not sure what is going on for them, but I totally do not mind...

Speak for yourself. His floor and ceiling are still what it was. He is not 35. He already has been a mop up bullpen guy

If those are the criteria that you use to hand that job to Milone, you might as well hand it to Nolasco, because he has put together a more solid career than Milone and he has been able to miss more bats than Milone. I think that the last 2 rotation positions will be a 5 way competition (the three mentioned, plus May, plus Berrios). I hope that it is open. The cynic in me sees the Twins to do what they have done before and follow the $, which means that Milone and Nolasco are it, with Duffey at AAA or (hopefully) the bullpen (where he can shine.) I would be disappointed if the Twins do not take the best arms up North so they do not loose Tonkin (who is like the 10th RHRP in depth?) to waivers and having to cut Fien. They should keep it an open competition, other than Perkins and Jepsen who they have investments. At this point it is not good enough for the Twins to be "pretty solid". They are contenders. They need to take the next step forward and not backward towards "pretty solid".

This implies that Buxton can hit MLB pitching. If Buxton is ready, this is a good problem to have, which means that Rosario instead of Santana will be the 4th outfielder. This is a contending team and better start behaving like one. MLB is not the proving ground for Rookies in contenders...

AAA and AA DLs work wonders for those matters. And every season after Spring Training teams clear a good 5-10 players...

I kind of agree with the above, if it were 2012, 2013 or 2014. Now the Twins are contenders and should be acting like it. Contender mentality teams will not start the season like the Twins will in the bullpen, hoping and praying. They would get 2-3 end of the bullpen arms, and if the kids developed, that's a great problem to have because they can use them to instead of the Fiens and Tonkins and O'Rourke's. That's how contenders think. But I seriously question Ryan's ability to build one or to go the extra step that needs to be taken. He has never done it. Smith has. If you compare what the Twins did during the deadline last season vs to what the Mets did, you'd know what I am talking about...

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- While the Twins blogosphere, fan sites, and sportswriters are being focusing on the fact that Joe Mauer, has been having issues with his vision, which is totally expected after a concussion and should not be news, there are 61 major league free agents who are unsigned. This does not include the unsigned minor league free agents. Here is a like of those sixty one free agents as of today, broken down alphabetically and loosely be position: 31 position players: Pedro Alvarez 1B Jeff Baker 1B Corey Hart 1B Casey McGehee 1B/3B Justin Morneau 1B Chris Parmelee 1B Clint Barmes 2B/SS/3B Willie Bloomquist SS Alberto Callaspo 2B/3B Luis Yander La O Camacho 2B Ian Desmond SS (Declined Qualified Offer) David Freese 3B Jonathan Herrera 2B Juan Uribe 3B Rickie Weeks 2B/OF Marlon Byrd LF/RF David DeJesus LF Chris Denorfia LF/RF Dexter Fowler CF (Declined Qualified Offer) Jeff Francoeur RF Guillermo Heredia CF Austin Jackson CF Matt Joyce LF David Murphy LF/RF Ryan Raburn LF/RF Alex Rios RF Grady Sizemore LF/RF Drew Stubbs CF Will Venable LF/CF Shane Victorino RF/LF Delmon Young RF 30 pitchers: Chad Billingsley RHSP Yovani Gallardo RHSP (Declined Qualified Offer) Jeremy Guthrie RHSP Aaron Harang RHSP Josh Johnson RHSP Tim Lincecum RHSP Kyle Lohse RHSP Alfredo Simon RHSP Randy Wolf RHSP Mark Buehrle LHSP Cliff Lee LHSP Mike Minor LHSP Burke Badenhop RHRP Matt Belisle RHRP Rafael Betancourt RHRP Jason Frasor RHRP Greg Holland RHRP Casey Janssen RHRP Justin Masterson RHRP Joe Nathan RHRP Bobby Parnell RHRP Ryan Webb RHRP Joe Beimel LHRP Neal Cotts LHRP Brian Duensing LHRP Sean Marshall LHRP Franklin Morales LHRP Manny Parra LHRP Eric Stults LHRP Matt Thornton LHRP There are several issues remaining with the Twins, primarily regarding their bullpen and outfield. The outfield is a catch-22 issue, with the primary issue being that there are not enough good hitting players who can play Centerfield with an average plus defense (Byron Buxton, Ryan Sweeney and Joe Benson have all potential hitting issues, which they need to overcome), while the corners are overflown with out of options Oswaldo Arcia and recently converted Miguel Sano, who are not all stars with the glove, and Eddie Rosario, who can in a pitch play centerfield but is suited to a corner position better. Add Danny Santana, the out of options almost ordained fourth outfielder and you have a problem, better solved by some subtraction and not only an addition. Austin Jackson, a 29 year old first time free agent with a career 11.8 UZR, 556 out of zone plays made, and 49 defensive runs saved in 7115 innings at CF. His .267/.311/.385 slash line between the Mariners and the Cubs in 2015 is not impressive by any means. For his career he has been the epitome of an average hitter hitting .273/.333/.399 (101 OPS plus). This is the exact player who could keep Centerfield warm for Byron Buxton for a season, and push Eddie Rosario to the corner where he belongs. This would require a. the Twins dealing Santana or Arcia (and since lack of LH power has been a problem against RHPs, Arcia should be a lock, unless they find an alternative) and b. Jackson accepting a single year contract much below the $7.7 million he made in 2015, filled with incentives, to get himself back in the market for 2017. Bullpen is probably the biggest eyesore out there, with Terry Ryan pretty much keeping the pen intact and hoping that: a. declining 33 year old closer Gren Perkins, will start pitching like it is 2012 again or like the beginning of the last 3 seasons, b. 31 year old Kevin Jepsen will sustain his outlier 2 months with the Twins instead of turning into an average reliever who was who he was before coming to the Twins and c. Casey Fien might get it together and prove reliable beyond the mop-up duties he is suited to. Also, Trevor May, who might be the best pitcher mentioned, is a wild card along with several young promising pitchers invited to Spring Training as well as the potential rotation rejects. So the 2016 Twins' bullpen is build on a prayer, hope and luck, so far and that is not how the bullpens of contenders should be build. Fortunately there are a couple of player who can help the Twins' pen in 2016 and beyond: Most of the free agent field, and especially at LHRP, which is a position that the Twins need the most help, is filled by players who have many things to prove in 2016 and for the most part is getting older or overcoming injuries. I would love it if the Twins bring back Brian Duensing, at least to see whether he can beat two of Ryan O'Rourke, Taylor Rogers, Fernando Abad or Mason Melotakis for a spot on the pen this spring. He has the skills, is a great member of the community and that decision will be a no-brainer to me. If the Twins can sign Aaron Thompson who has half the talent, no ties to the organization and the community and was suspended for drug use, they can sign Brian Duensing. Period. Justin Masterson, a 30 year old former top prospect who had a few good years in the Indians rotation, is very intriguing. Signing an one year $9.5M contract with the Red Sox in 2015, he fell flat. He started 9 games with 44 innings pitched, 21 walks and 32 strikeouts for a 6.14 ERA and 1.682 WHIP, pushing himself to the bullpen. His once 93 mph fastball, averaged 87.5 and his once 83 mph slider, averaged 82.3. And he is the poster-boy of the two pitch starter who cannot stay a starter when those pitches decline, because hitters will avoid the slider and seat on the non-so fast fastball. There is a gamble here but there are encouraging signs: After the move to the bullpen, his fastball that bottomed out to a 87 mph average in June, reached a 90.7 mph average in September. The slider that was at 78.6 in June, rebounded to 80.6 in September. Still about 2 mph slower than his career peak when he was missing bats and inducing soft grounders, as a reliever in 15.3 innings in 2015 he walked 6 and struck out 17 (10 K/9 , 25.4 K%), with a 4.11 ERA (5.42 FIP, 4.22 xFIP) and 1.37 WHIP (.324 BABIP), inducing 1.5 GB/FB. His FIP is inflated by a ridiculous 21.4% HR/FB. Given that and the BABIP-driven WHIP, in contrast to his strikeouts and groundball, and with the increased speed it is a good bet that Masterson can be a reliable reliever in 2016; at least a lot more reliable that, let's say Casey Fien, and potentially Kevin Jepsen from the right side. Masterson, like Jackson, would have all the incentives in the world to sign a make good one year contract with potential mutual options. Which brings us to the last player, who will likely not help the Twins in 2016, but this should be a longer term singing, at the 3-year mark with lots of incentives and back loaded: Greg Holland. The 30 year old Holland was the closer in the best bullpen in the majors in 2014 and until his injury in 2015; underwent UCL replacement (Tommy John) surgery on October 2, 2015. There is a slight chance that he could pitch in September and October in 2016, helping a team in the postseason, but this signing is for 2017 and 2018. Why sign now? Because you have to take the risk and jump ahead in the line, which will be long once he recovers and starts pitching. A 3 year contract loaded with incentives is a better deal that the one the Twins gave Nick Blackburn not to pitch. So there are still opportunities out there to close some of the Twins' holes this season, and they better start getting advantage of them, since there are a couple of handful of dates before pitchers and catchers report.

I suspect that this is not the first time that Twins' people heard about this issue... This is the first time that came out in the public. Vision issues is such a common concussion result, that makes them almost expected, so the surprise should have been if they were not there... I just don't understand all the big deal that is happening around this.(Slow off-season does not help, I guess...)

Career numbers do not matter for players past their prime. My point is that Perkins is in his declining years and the last 2 seasons he could not get lefties out, likely because his lost a couple ticks in velocity and his slider flattened and his fastball is not as good as before. Data from the last 2 seasons supports this. What he did in 2011 (at his peak) is irrelevant to what he will do in 2016, compared to what he did in 2015 and 2014.

Perkins cannot get lefties out. Last season lefties hit .379/.419/.431 off him. He made every lefty hit like Ted Williams pretty much. Even in 2014 they hit .284/.324/.448 off him. Lately his splits are much better against RHBs (likely because of the slider not being sharp against LHBs and the FB losing a couple ticks)

I think that saying the Twins' lack of quality starters taxed the Twins' pen in 2015 and thus they were bad, is one of those false excuses. Fact: Other than May (who logged in 83.3 IP as a starter and 31.3 as a reliever) no Twins RP pitched more than 65 innings last season. That's not much of a work load. They just were not good enough...

Todd Van Poppel, Brien Taylor, and Delmon Young were all ranked as baseball's best prospects by BA at some point or another. These lists are like the draft pretty much. Different people value different attributes, thus rank people differently. I think that it is interesting, since it allows people to see diverse points of view for players in a particular system, which can be missed by someone with a slightly different point of view.

Sure, I'd love it if the Twins trade Dozier for something good. They got to sell high

That usually happens for players before and at their primes. Both Perkins (33) and Fien (32) entering their declining years. Since for Perkins, allegedly, most of his issues are physical and (potentially) conditioning, I have a hard time seeing aging helping much with that. Perkins lost a good 2 mph of the average velocity of his slider from its peak and it is a very hitable pitch (below MLB average per pitch value metrics.) Would regression bring back its velocity and break? I doubt it. At some point when athletes get older, you have to starting thinking if what you see is the beginning of the end... I hope that it is not, but the Twins cannot have their seasons hang on hopes and prayers...

That is a very blanket (and untrue) statement. Here are Meyer's numbers as a reliever for the whole 2015: 3.08 ERA, 10.1 K/9, .248 OBA. Not that bad to begin with. Meyer was a reliever for 4 months, June through September. Take away July and you got: 1.34 ERA, 1.212 WHIP, .214 OBA, 9.6 K/9 and 4.2 BB/9 So not only Meyer did not struggle as a reliever to begin with, with the exception of the month of July, he was pretty much lights out, despite his mechanical issues that increased his walks... I'd take those number from Perkins, if I could get them

1. Not really - Clippard was the last one. Unless someone believes that one from Bobby Parnell, Tim Lincecum, Sergio Santos, Jesse Crain, or Phil Coke might come back this season The one free agent I would sign (now because there are not many takers - and to a hugely incentive deal) for 2017 and beyond, is Greg Holland, who is out for 2016 Will Smith is the one name that has been ringing in people's ears lately, but not sure what it will take. 2. Holland does, understandable that really is a 2-year deal. if Ryan is signing the likes of Nolasco and Santana to 4+ year deals, he should be able to invest (and it is cheaper) in the pen as well 3. I hope that Melotakis, Chargois, Burdi, Reed (at least) end up being better than Perkins and Jepsen. They better be Would this happen in 2016? Hope that at least a couple win spots. Taylor Rogers is a strong candidate for a Perkins-like career: Mediocre starter, good late inning reliever for a contender. My personal bias is that the Twins should have handed Phil Hughes the closer's job in 2016 and beyond. Has proven to be lights out as a reliever and he could be replaced by one of Berrios/Duffey/May/Meyer in the rotation with not much drop off in results, if not an improvement. That would kill a couple of birds, but you still need at least one or two of the kids to step up (and, no, O'Rourke or Tonkin are not part of the solution here...)

It's sad, but I think that the only one of the 4 "locks" mentioned (and I cannot see Fien as a lock, because the Twins can cut him and pay a portion of his contract in ST) who is reliable is Trevor May. Kevin Jepsen had a .224 BABIP and a career lows 2.3 BB/9 and 0.3 HR/9 last season with the Twins, which translated into a 0.893 WHIP and 1.61 ERA (2.56 FIP) 4.04 xFIP and 3.59 SIERA for the season, suggest that he will likely regress to being a decent 7th inning pitcher (which is what he has been most of his career). Casey Fien was pretty unreliable last season, and that with at .271 BABIP and a pretty ridiculous 6.8 HR/FB and a career low 1.1 BB/9. Despite all of that, he pitched to an opponents' .279/.326/.450 slash in high leverage situations. Mop up at best, and an expensive one that can easily be replaced by someone else who might actually have some upside, because at age 32, not that much for Fien. Which brings up to the "proven closer", Glen Perkins. Excuses aside, if you take Perkins as a reliever from 2011-2015, in 2015 Perkins had career worst in: ERA, FIP, xFIP, SIERA, K/9, GB %, HR/9, Contact%, Swinging Strike %, Slider Velocity and Slider effectiveness. Add a .373/.419/.431 slash line by LHHs and a .261/.327/.533 by any hitter with men in scoring position, and if I were Ryan or Molitor, this would not be a guy I want to hand the ball to in the 9th inning when I want to put the game in the bag. Second half Opponents hit off Perkins (OPS difference from 1st half) : 2015: .356/.394/.674 (+.605) 2014: .294/.337/.523 (+.221) 2013: .222/.299/.361 (+.177) This season was horrible, but it is a perennial problem. So, despite how much of a priority someones says that the bullpen was, apparently it was not, because actions speak louder than words, unless someone thinks that the 3 above can pitch always the way the pitch in their best moments... I still think that this pen needs 2-3 pitchers better than Jepsen and Perkins at this point to be a pen in a contending team...

Talking about Polanco as a utility player, is like talking about Buxton as a 4th outfielder. Nuts. The kid has a premier hit tool. People forget that he played in the GCL as a 16 year old and that he just turned 22. He does have Carlos Correa - type potential (less power, more speed, pretty much same defense) and can bee a perennial .800-.850 OPS SS hitter. I just do not get the hate. If he was in another organization he was going to be in the majors for good last season...

Division II play has started as well. One of my quasi-local guys who I think might be of interest to the Twins is Brandon Miller of Millersville (one of the Div II State U's in PA - click the stats tab if interested.) Not a top 2 round pick likely, but he fits the Twins profile well: Barely walks anyone, gets a ton of ground balls, has great mechanics and an easy delivery that gets him deep into games; he had 6 CGs out of 13 starts last season. Not a fireballer by any means. but this kid really has it. At this point he is getting close to walking a batter a game and striking out one an inning. Bit of press coverage in the area as well. As fast as High Schoolers go, there is a kid named Nolan Jones who kinda reminds of a poor man's Sano, because he is playing SS at about 6-4, 210 or so. Left hand hitter, power potential. Depends on helium, he might go out on the first 2 rounds. This guy has first base written all over him and might be an interesting pick for the Twins, since LH power is lacking a bit. There are a couple other local kids who might be of interest, but they are dual sport types, and here football is the king...