freshinthehouse

" In the bigs, he reverted back to his previous ways and swung harder and more frequently than your parents at the neighbor’s key party in the late 1980’s." Fantastic.

Don't mind bringing back Pelfrey as long as the money is right, and they still add another starter (Tanaka or Hughes, please).

Any chance Cinci would covet Perkins if they were to put their current closer in the rotation?

Any idea what kind of compensation pick the Vikings will get if Jared Allen signs elsewhere? How about Everson Griffen?

If we can get good value for Perkins I would certainly entertain a move like this. Anything to keep us from signing the Arroyos of the world.

Great article. I am a nostalgia junkie so I always looks at these seasons of yore. And the only thing that needs to be understood about Matthew McConaughey is that he is having a very quiet career renaissance. Dude has put out a ton of great work these last few years. I assume he made enough garbage rom/coms so he can now focus on work he is actually proud of.

I think we need to keep a rotation spot open for Gibson.

I forgot to edit out Florimon and add in Rosario. Problem solved.

Stealing this idea from the estimable Mr. Wahl 2014/15 Blueprint Free agency- Sign Tanaka- I know this is the impossible dream of the Twins offseason, but if we offer a $55 million to his Japanese club we could win negotiation rights. Then offer a 7 year/60 million deal to Tanaka and bring him to Minny. Resign Pelfrey- If he'll accept a reasonable two year deal. But if we can't get him for a reasonable price, fill his spot with another inhabitant from the island of misfit soft tossers. Opening day lineup- CF - Pressley LF - Willingham RF - Parmalee 3 - Plouffe SS - Florimon 2 - Dozier 1 - Collabello C - Mauer DH - Doumit Pretty ugly, eh? This would be the worst case scenario lineup if the likes of Arcia, Hicks, Pinto, et al lay eggs during spring training. The one plus to this is that Parmalee and Collabello would be getting regular ABs. Call me crazy*, but I still think one of those 2 could become a decent bat. Throughout the season I am sure that the youngn's will force their way into the lineup. As this happens the Twins should move the vets. Willingham, Doumit, hell move Plouffe if Sano pushes the issue (though i dont see that happening. I also think Dozier needs to work on SS for the inevitable debut of Rosario at 2nd. Dozier seemed a bit bummed when he was originally moved off 2nd, so I gotta think he'd love to give it another try. Now with a year of MLB success under his belt, I wouldn't be surprised if he could end up being at least a mediocre SS. Lineup by August. CF - Hicks LF - Arcia RF - Parmalee 3 - Plouffe SS - Dozier 2 - Rosario 1 - Collabello C/DH - Mauer DH/C - Pinto Rotation- Tanaka Kyle Gibson Correia Pelfrey Duduno At some time Meyers will need to be put in the lineup. This would be a good time to move Correia. Bullpen Swarzak Pressly Thielbar Tonkin Duensing Burton Perkins I'd love to see us move Duensing, Burton, or Perkins if the option arises. It would take a big offer for Perk, but if some team out there overrates closers, we have to jump at a good offer. I may be an optimist, but I think we can build a pretty good future bullpen out of some of the arms we have in the minors/AAAA right now. Getting management to bite on a Tanaka deal would be the biggest obstacle. But if we can move some vets throughout the season we could shave 7-10 mill of salary off the books. A huge signing fee would put us over 100 mill, but seeing how we should have to go over 100 mill for the next few years, let's hope the Pohlad's would bite the bullet. We should also be pretty miserable again with this lineup, so I'd say we'd get another top 5 pick to play with. 2015 off-season- Sign homer bailey to a 4 year/80 million deal. I'm not going to bother with a beginning of the year lineup. Here's hoping that by mid-season we have a lineup of: CF - Buxton LF - Arcia RF - Hicks 3 - Sano SS - Dozier 2 - Rosario 1 - Collabello/Parmalee/Plouffe C/DH - Mauer DH/C - Pinto I like the looks of this. 1st base may need to be filled eventually, but all bat no glove free agents can usually be found. Hopefully Keplar can become a player and can fill the spot, or take over for Arcia in LF and let Ozzie try his had at 1st. Or Mauer can play 1st and Arcia can DH. Whatevs. Rotation- Tanaka Bailey Gibson Meyer Pelfrey It doesn't have a true ace, but I love that rotation. I'd bet that either Gibson or Meyer becomes a solid #3 starter. And the rookie ball kids would be knocking on the door soon. And someone can correct me on this, but even with Bailey making 20 mill a year, I don't think payroll would be much over 70-80 mill. *"You're crazy!"

This is the biggest problem in the U.S. right now. Why do we have to be the world's police? Just think if we scaled our military back by 50% (we'd still spend more than any other country at this rate). Just think what that would do for the debt, as well as necessary social programs.

Here's what I hope happens. 1. Tanaka 2. Pelfrey (or some other cheap one year option) 3. Corria 4. Gibson 5. Diamond/Pelfrey/Duduno or some other placeholder until Meyer is ready Take our lumps, get another top 5 pick, sign a quality arm in 2015, and let the new era begin.

Hot Coffee is one of the docs that should be required viewing for all Americans, along with Why We Fight, Who Killed the Electric Car, Control Room, The Corporation, Fog of War, etc.

As others in this thread have said, for once let's go for quality over quantity. I'd love to see the Twins make a significant offer to win the rights to negotiate with Tanaka. Since this could be upwards of of $40 (plus the 8-9 mill Tanaka will probably earn in the first year of his contract), this will be a pretty spendy proposition. If they don't sign any one else to anything more than a one year contract, the Twins should be set to have quite a bit of money left to spend next year as well. That's when I'd like to see them throw a hefty four year deal Homer Bailey's way. That would give the Twins to solid starters for the next several years. If any of Gibson/Meyer/May/Stewart/Berrios become decent, we could be looking at a pretty good rotation as we head into the Sano/Buxton era.

I don't think it would be too far fetched for Willingham to have an OPS are .850 around mid-season. If so, I think the return you could get would make it worth keeping him around for 2-3 months, especially when he isn't really blocking anyone.

I still say they should let him get some work in at SS, and hopefully this will lead to us having a Dozier/Rosario middle infield in 2015.

Agree with the last two post. This team is so abysmal right now that no off-season maneuvers are going to make this team a winner in 2014. A lot of youngn's are going to be making their debut throughout the season, and most of them will struggle at some point. That sounds like a rebuilding year to me. Grabbing a high-profile int'l player like Tanaka or Abreu (or both!) has to be priority #1. Picking up a couple of decent 30 year old pitchers is not what this team needs. This team needs as many young uber-prospects as possible.

It'd be big for this club if Willingham had a bounce-back year and could be moved for something of value mid-season. If we can get that and one of our army of AAAA to turn into something semi-decent, I'd consider that a success as far as bounceback seasons are concerned.

The reason we were good from 2001-10 is because the Twins did a fine job of drafting and developing talent, not Carl Pohlad's largesse. How many big money free agents did we sign while Carl was the owner?

Sewage in Oakland sounds like the name of an avant garde metal band.

What Shane Wahl said. We aren't one picture away from greatness. We need our prospects to build a core for the future. If we are on the come 2-3 years from now and are one horse away from greatness, by all means, pull the trigger. But we are not there yet.

Spend to get Tanaka and Abreu. Please.

I'd gladly take Pelfrey back at a 2 year deal. Dude has shown he can be decent, which is more than you can see for pretty much any other starter the Twins have in-house. And if i remember correctly i think read that he likes it here, so we shouldn't have to grossly overpay him.

Agreed. Next year is gonna be another learn-on-the-job season, so we may as well try Dozier at SS if Rosario is belting in AAA. Rosario's bat has the potential to be All-star caliber at 2nd. The same cannot be said if he's a corner outfielder.

Fans have been barking up this tree for ages. I have no problem letting him play catcher as long as he wants. If Pinto starts showing he has everyday talent, then broach the subject with Mauer. His bat's value at catcher vs. 1st base can't be stressed enough.

Here's what I hope: 1st: Abreu 2nd: Dozier (replaced mid-season by Rosario) SS: Florimon (replaced by Dozier at mid-season) 3rd: Plouffe (traded/benched mid-season by Sano) LF: Arcia CF: Hicks RF: Parmalee DH: Collabello