TheLeviathan

At the very least we better be on the phone about this.

Yeah, you know things were bad when everything went silent on his status, but this was surprising.

Wow...Wolves just tweeted out that Flip passed away.

One need be "dominant" to stay as a starter? Does that mean we should we move Duffey too? (And, I don't think it's unfair to call someone "young" when they are new to the league. He's young enough and inexperienced enough for that not to be treated as some gross mischaracterization) I guess these terms for deciding bullpen vs. starter might be good for some people. Is that you Mike Pelfrey?

You think it's fair analysis of a young player to hold his initial appearances against him? Trevor May was pitching well in the rotation when he was moved, you don't take that kind of asset and force it into the bullpen because you have a dearth of talent there. KC didn't force anyone to the pen, those moves were natural because of several failed attempts as starters. Wade Davis had 88 MLB starts. Hochevar had 128. Herrera spent three years in the minors in the rotation before being moved. If you think Kansas City is some sort of blueprint for handling May, you're looking at a different Royals team than me. Not to mention it's probably true that most starters would become much better as relievers.....but there is a really, really good reason you don't just do that. I mean, Berrios, for example, could probably be one of the best relievers in the game if you want to move him too. I'd rather not.

I also think the Royals are better adjusted to playing with an NL lineup (though that didn't show in the regular season) so I say Royals in 6 as well.

You completely destroy my willingness to take your point seriously when you think acquiring Jepsen is less than Dan Haren. It's clear you just wanted to make as long a list as you could and completely overlooked the details of what you were doing. By your list, we should start calling him Trader Terry for his "going for it" deadline.

You're seriously going to put the Pirates, Cubs, and Angels in that bunch? I mean, beyond the point that these teams didn't make "major" moves - at least one of them didn't even make the postseason. Some were even worse after their trades.

So I was reading about the shooting in Sweden....it occurs to me even more just how different our circumstances are here than Europe. Just a thought, I often hear the US being compared to Europe (especially in an election cycle) and started chewing on this as food for thought.

That's true, but that still doesn't make him analogous to taking May (a guy having success) and pushing him to the bullpen.

Not if we sign Davis first, then it's a 2nd!

Have you looked back at how this bullpen was built though? Davis was a failed starter. Holland was a tenth round pick. Madsen was a reclamation project. Hochever is a huge bust that was moved to the pen. Herrera was an Intl. FA that was also a scrapped starter. It's not like KCR invested heavily in this group or took successful starters and sent them to the pen. Doing that to May is a way different approach.

I watched the youtube video, that isn't a strike. Arguing about how close it was or wasn't seems a tad silly. That pitch was off the plate and borderline high.

I generally think "going for it" is less effective than people believe, but this year it certainly worked for these two teams.

It's pretty easy to find and pretty clearly a bad call too. But with nobody out and a guy at third, it takes more than one bad strike to waste that chance.

I thought the same thing. Rose dingle handedly lead me to turn it off. Hell, he made Arod look alright. (Thomas is really, really good though)

It's a pretty direct implication that you don't want to move Plouffe because it creates "uncertainty". Any plan this team choose to upgrade the team will create uncertainty, it's simply an impossible thing to protect from. Trading Plouffe this offseason is the very essence of prudent management of resources and selling high. The problem around here is that people say "you should've sold high!" after the guy drops and whines that "you can't deal him, he's good!" when he's at his high point. You can't have it both ways. The Plouffe circumstances, because of his age, team control, and available alternatives on the roster, make for an ideal "sell now" time. If you wait, chances are pretty decent you'll regret it.

Well, that wasn't my argument at all. My argument (and it was stated pretty clearly) was that the best thing you can do is upgrade your 25 man roster and you should do that however the availability of talent allows you to do that. Don't fall over yourself for one position, but do what adds the most for the money you have. So no, that entire middle paragraph is a strawman. And I don't "think" this is true. The stats say it's true. Pull up the playoff stats for pitchers and see for yourself. Here are the three best starters from the last few years: 2015 - Estrda, Kuechel, Kershaw (Worst: Hammel, Cueto, Price) 2014 - Bumgarner, Lynn, Ventura (Worst: Shields, Kershaw, Peavy) 2013 - Lester, Lackey, Verlander (Worst: Buchholz, Lynn, Peavy) 2012 - Vogelsong, Fister, Sanchez (Worst: Bumgarner, Wainwright, Gonzalez) 2011 - Carpenter, Colby Lewis, Gallardo (Worst: Grienke, Verlander, Scherzer) 2010 - Lewis, Bumgarner, Lincecum (Worst: Sabathia, Hunter, Sanchez) It's all over the map. (Approximations) Guys go back and forth, in and out, every year. Colby Lewis twice kicked the crap out of the playoffs. Ryan Vogelsong pretty much won a World Series himself. Guys who are good often suck terribly. Sometimes they're as great as advertised, sometimes not. The same goes with hitters for that matter. The point is that there is no silver bullet. The best thing you can do is field the best 25 man roster you can and not worry about how many aces you have. Spend what you have available to make as robust a team as you can, you never know who is going to step up and be the hero if you have enough capable dudes on your team.

Plouffe sure seemed to grow with the position just fine. Hell, the best answer to this whole "We shouldn't turn it over to someone who hasn't proven themselves" crowd is one name: Trevor Plouffe. Look, I don't feel the need to deal him, but I damn sure feel the need to shop him. His contract, age, and Sano's presence make it a very prudent idea. If no sufficient return can be found, Sano should still be getting the majority of 3B reps so he can grow at the position.

So a couple years in the minors is less relevant to fielding ability than pre-game drills and spring training? Help me make sense out of that one. Please. If you're going to handcuff yourself and moves that make sense because of certainty - we are in a helluva pile of trouble upgrading this club.

I don't see any reason to keep Plouffe as fielding insurance. If this team doesn't think Sano can field they should know that already from their minor league field staff. Molitor wants to play him there, as far as I'm concerned that's an endorsement of ability. We don't need spring training to decide it. So shop Plouffe and see if you can land something spicy.

What do you see as the offseason priorities?

Oh? You have some evidence of that? I see plenty of variation. There are plenty of aces that struggle and lots of the Ryan Vogelsongs of the world. If you have some sort of mass study on it I'd love to see it. Otherwise it's easy to see just from pulling up this playoff year (and it's true for most you look at) that being the "ace" of your staff doesn't mean you won't be outperformed badly by dudes like Marco Estrada. Every postseason is littered with dud performances by aces and surprising #3 guys that carry their team. And it shouldn't be a surprise. The playoffs are just a grandiose small sample themselves.

I look at this: Hicks-Mauer-Dozier-Davis-Sano-Rosario-Catcher-Escobar-Buxton and see a lot of upside in that lineup. Very solid defensively, good power, good speed, good balance and it manages to have some serious upside too. That, to me, is where to invest the money. And we have plenty of money to do it.

It helps the odds to add better players, that's for sure. The problem is that people believe that having an ace is a prerequisite for even being considered a contender. The Twins need a better 25 man roster and there are many ways to skin that cat. Personally, right now, I don't think all in on an ace is the way to go. Ride the excellent fielding outfield, pay up for Chris Davis, and find a way to upgrade the catching spot. Let the kids play.