Thrylos

I see a picture of the elephant in the room, but unfortunately not a mention... What looks, smells and pitches like an elephant? Perkins' second half numbers: 8.10 ERA 7.80 FIP 2.100 WHIP and here is the kicker: .383/.420/.702 Opponent slash line (yes, that .702 is SLG and not OPS...) These not only make Matt Capps seem like a Cy Young candidate, but are worse than Tim Stauffer's. And we all know where we wanted Tim Stauffer to go. Time for Molitor to find a guy who can close the door, because Perkins cannot really do it any more for some reason and Terry Ryan declined to address the situation and get an effective closer by the deadline. This team is competing, and better be managed as such.

There are no playoffs in baseball (unless two teams are tied at the end of the season and have to have a playoff game or more to determine who goes to the post-season.) You have Ryan's quote up there: His expectations are to make it to the post-season. If the Twins do not, he does not meat expectations, so there is not way it can be a success. Can spin it as a "success", but...

Hope not. Unless you like statistics when they support your argument Nothing to see here: Perkins opened mouth and inserted size 11 cleat, making clear that he had a personal and not a performance issue with Pinto last season... If he changed his mind about the metric (heck, stuff happens,) he owns an apology to Pinto for the bus tire marks... But I suspect that he didn't...

Hamels no mas. Got scratched with a boo boo.

Bummer and a great guy, but at 28, playing only 17 games in AAA and a .650 OPS, he was taking a deserved kids' job. Almost Tobyesque...

Trade Hunter for $100 or so, and play the rest of the season with an OF or Rosario, Buxton and Hicks. While you are at it, DFA Robinson and bring up Danny Ortiz and start him at LF against LHP instead of Rosario. Or bring up Arcia. Might be better off overall...

Yeah: 1999- Traded George Williams to the Houston Astros. Received Josh Dimmick 2000- Traded Jared Camp to the Florida Marlins. Received Johan Santana and cash. 2000- Traded Francisco Alvarez to the Toronto Blue Jays. Received Mike Romano. 2000- Traded Mario Valdez to the Oakland Athletics. Received Danny Ardoin. 2004 - Traded B.J. Garbe to the Seattle Mariners. Received Pat Borders. 2006 - Traded Scott Tyler and Travis Bowyer to the Florida Marlins. Received Luis Castillo. 2006 - Traded a player to be named later to the Chicago Cubs. Received Phil Nevin and cash. The Minnesota Twins sent Adam Harben to the Chicago Cubs to complete the trade. 2007 - Traded Levale Speigner to the Washington Nationals. Received Darnell McDonald. The complete list of Ryan's Mark I (and bit of 2012 for Mark II) transactions is here.

Here is the thing: This season, between Santana's non-paid suspension and Nolasco's insurance payments, they saved about $10-15 million. Ryan chose not to invest that this season...

I'd love to see accountability go with that responsibility, because if there is no accountability might as well have anyone being responsible...

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ------- After the trading deadline passed and with the Twins' having the league's worst record in the last couple of months and their lead for the first and then the second wild-card position was getting smaller and smaller, there was hope that Terry Ryan will do something to improve the team in the 3 biggest positions of need, shortstop, catcher and the bullpen. But he did nothing, other than trading the teams' 18th and 25th prospects (and that is from this off-season) for a 30 year old middle reliever with another year of arbitration in the middle of a 4.22 FIP and 1.333 WHIP season (and aided by a .254 BABIP.) The Twins' fans feel that have every reason to be upset because of Ryan's inactivity. On the other hand, they should not be, because Ryan himself said exactly what he was going to do. “I have every intention of trying to improve this club and find a piece here and a piece there,” 7/31 The "a piece here and a piece there" should had clinched that Ryan will be up to his usual dumpster diving. “There’s nobody that’s more sensitive about that than me. They’ve done a hell of a job getting to this point, and we’re in a good position, and now it’s my responsibility to help the cause,” 7/31 It was his responsibility, but if nobody holds him accountable for not doing things he is responsible, might well be anyone's responsibility... “I’m aware that one correct move by me could help that cause immensely because it’s going to change that attitude in the clubhouse. I don’t want them thinking a white knight is coming around the corner, because it might not be. But it also is a possibility that you don’t have to tinker with this too much to get us going back in the right direction.” 7/31 Here you have it. Clearly; "might not be". And you don't have to tinker too much, just get a mediocre reliever who is slightly better that the awful ones that are with the club. "a piece here"; not a white knight; not an All-Star reliever. That would be too much tinkering. And here is the kicker: “We’re not going to mess around much with this major league team,” 7/31 And he didn't. True to his word. And you don't have to read between lines. It was all there. Why hope that Ryan will not be Terry Ryan in 2015, since he had been Terry Ryan since 1994 (with the small break of "retiring" to let someone else deal with the Santana and Mauer contract and the Ballpark situation, before returning.) This is Terry Ryan. And unless he goes away, the Twins' fans will not see another parade downtown Minneapolis. And if the Twins' owner cares about the Country Club more than winning, he should tell the team to one who cares about winning.

Got to sell high. There are some disturbing things about Kepler, namely power or lack of (compare his numbers with Arcia's at this point,) defense, and speed. Kepler and Arcia are pretty much repetitive in the organization, with the difference that we know that Arcia will hit for more power (and the Twins do not have (m)any power hitters from the L side.) and Arcia's OF D has been improving while Kepler's declining. Kepler's ceiling? 2015 Mauer with less defense and likely less contact. In other words, Scott Stahoviak (who was highly rated also, btw, compare his MiLB numbers with Kepler's...) Sell High.

Including the year he got the Cy Young and Monreau the MVP and they were the favorite to win it all going into the post-season...

And all Capps did was to put up the best numbers of his life (16/16 save opportunities 2.00 ERA, 1.185 WHIP - Better than the Twins' current closer btw,) and secure the post-season for the Twins. No Capps (and no Delmon, btw,) no 2010 post-season for the Twins. Let's not forget this... (and then Gardy in the post-season happened)

Glad to see Errors and Fielding Percentage used to determine whether someone is a good fielding shortstop or not And about those sample sizes: You forgot to mention that Polanco owns a +6.7 UZR/150 and and 1.167 OPS in the majors Polanco should be the starting shortstop. E's do not tell the story and lots of his AAA situation had to do with getting familiar with the rest of the infielders, plus having butcher first basemen (both Rodriguez and Martinez are bad).

Not a bad reliever this season (2.74 ERA, 1.087 WHIP & 9 K/9 vs 5.30 ERA, 1.339 WHIP & 8.2 K/9 as a starter) An upgrade over Fien and Boyer and that 9 K/9 is better than Perkins. Pretty good 7th inning guy. A. The Twins need an 8th and/or 9th inning RHRP and B. He will be gone by the time the Twins are to claim.

If this team stays pat, and do not make the postseason, Ryan & Co should follow Gardy's footsteps...

WAR is pretty good to answer this question. This table is from here from 2010, so Mauer's and Hunter's numbers are a bit off, but here are the top 10, and where Hunter is (Senators deleted) : Rank Name PlApp WAR 1 Rod Carew 6868 62.7 2 Harmon Killebrew 9387 61.4 4 Kirby Puckett 7750 44.8 6 Tony Oliva 6808 42.4 10 Chuck Knoblauch 4526 35.4 11 Kent Hrbek 7056 35.3 12 Bob Allison 5861 34.4 14 Joe Mauer 2959 33.1 17 Cesar Tovar 4509 25.8 20 Gary Gaetti 5385 23.8 ------------ 22 Corey Koskie 3222 21.1 26 Shane Mack 2397 18.5 27 Roy Smalley 4558 18.3 29 Larry Hisle 2711 17.5 30 Torii Hunter 4860 16.9 Not. Even. Close.

Regarding those who want to trade Arcia: I'd love to hear who you think will provide LH power in this team...

Power arms and O'Day belong in the same sentence, as much power arms and Milone. As a matter of fact, O'Day's fastball (86.7 mph average) is slower than Milone's (87.7 mph average; this season.) Orioles' power arms? Tommy Hunter, Keving Gausman, Zach Britton and Brad Brach. The last one and maybe the first one in the list might make sense for both teams, even though Hunter has a down season. I would not mind seeing Brach in a Twins' uniform? O'Day? Not. So. Much.

Those are trades of prospects for current players. Of course it will take time for the prospects to show value. We are talking about major leaguers here...

This is not a dilemma at all: Does Duffy project as a top of the rotation pitcher? Are there other starting pitcher who prospects who project higher than him? (N and Y.) So you make him a reliever (in Rochester) and hope he becomes a top line reliever (think Perkins) or trade him. Cannot bring average prospects up and hope to win. As far as 2015 goes, May got dibs on the next rotation spot, and if they need another starter from the minors it will likely be Berrios, based on all the noise by the newspapers on Berrios these days. That is the Twins' FO MO... The writing is on the wall.

In the first part of this series, I suggested that the Twins trade Danny Santana, Mike Tonkin and Jake Reed to the Oakland Athletics for Ben Zorbrist and Tyler Clippard; and to promote Jorge Polanco as their starting shortstop. In the second part of this series, I suggested that the Twins trade Tommy Milone and Jason Wheeler to the Phillies for C Carlos Ruiz and LHP Jake Diekman and move Trevor May back to their rotation. With these 2 trades, they would address their deficiencies at Catcher and Shortstop positions and would add a RH and a LH set up pitcher. They would also add post-season experience and one of the most versatile players in the game in Ben Zorbrist. This third trade would be the cherry on the top, not only allowing them to improve both the pen and the rotation and add considerable bench help, but building for the future as well, and it is a blockbuster. and addressing another elephant in the living room: Lack of LH power. Trade number 3: The Twins send Oswaldo Arcia, Ervin Santana, Casey Fien and Blair Boyer to the San Diego Padres of SP Tyson Ross, RHP Joaquin Benoit and OF Melvin (don't call me BJ) Upton. I thought hard about that one, and it can help, but there is a catch: Other than Oswaldo Arcia (and switch hitting Kennys Vargas) The Twins do not have much left handed power, so: The Twins trade OF Eddie Rosario to the Miami Marlins for RHP Carter Capps and Minor League LHP Raudel Lazo Why would the Twins do it? 24 year old RHP Carter Capps (no relation to you know who) has the third fastest fastball in the majors averaging 98.1 mph, routinely reaching triple digits, leads the majors with 49.5% K%, has a miniscule 1.37 ERA (and even smaller 1.16 FIP and 1.07 xFIP,) spots a 0.750 WHIP (with an average .293 BABIP) and has probably the most devastating knuckle-slider in baseball. Why would the Marlins give him away? Well... they do not like him. It might be the delivery. It might be something else, but they do not like him. And they do have AJ Ramos and Sam Dyson ahead of him; and maybe for a good reason. But he is hot. The hottest pitcher around. The Twins should take advantage of that. Raudel Lazo might be a relatively unknown, as he is a 26 year old who just got promoted to AA, but is a Cuban defector who just started to find himself, and on the mount could be Aroldis Chapman's little brother. Giving up Eddie Rosario might hurt, but with Aaron Hicks finding himself, needing Arcia's left hand power badly, Byron Buxton up and coming and Max Kepler and Adam Brett Walker in the wings, Rosario is expandable. And you have to give quality to get quality. Lazo would likely play for Chattanooga in this scenario and would compete for a spot next season. Oswaldo Arcia would get called up to take Rosario's spot. Why would the Marlins do it? They have a huge need of outfielders, with no OF prospects in the pipeline. Rosario is versatile, will hit, can play all OF positions well and can run well and all they have to give are two players they do not count on for the long run. Plus Eddie gets to play an hour away from home by plane. Recap: Here is what the Twins' roster would look after these trades (newly acquired or promoted in italics) : C - Ruiz 1B - Mauer 2B - Dozier 3B - Plouffe SS - Polanco LF - Arcia CF - Hicks RF - Hunter DH - Sano Bench - Suzuki Bench - Zobrist (rotating to OF and SS and playing 80% of games) Bench - Robinson (Buxton waiting) Bench - Escobar Bench - Nunez (*) SP - Hughes SP - Gibson SP - Santana SP - Pelfrey SP - May CL - Perkins (L) RP - Diekman (L) RP - Clippard RP - Capps RP - Duensing (L) RP - Graham (*) Alternatively another pitcher (eg. Pressly) might occupy that spot.

Here.

Here are some fun careers splits for Tulowiski: Career at Target Field: .300/.417/.800 Career against the AL (both at Coors and away) : .296/.382/.550 I'd take either