taune

I just don't see them trading Morneau and if they did thy would not get Ricky Romero. A team is not going to eat 14 million and give a stud because when healthy Ricky Romero is a stud. If you want to get rid of morneau it would have to be a salary dump. My feeling is keep morneau becasue I am building for 2014 when Hicks and Arcia will be ready. I abslutely think you bring back baker. Try to get a young cotrollable pitcher for Span like Delgado from Braves or Detwiler from Nat's because they are not going to trade Zimmerman. Zimmerman will likely be the number 2 starter in playoffs for Nat's. Don't do big contracts this offseason because the plan is to be better in 2013, competetive in 2014 and good again in 2015 with the additions of Sano and Rosario. This is a process so everyone needs to be patient.

I guess what I am trying to say is there is money to improve the team if they allocate it correctly.

I thought this would be a fun forum topic. I am projected the Twins roster as I see it right now. I am not adding free agents yet as I am kind of doing this on the fly. I will project their roster if they go inhouse and positions that I don't think they will go in house I will leave blank. With the players that i project I will list their 2013 salary to see how much money the Twins will have left to spend as I have a gut feeling that the Twins 2013 payroll will be less than the 97 million in 2012, but not significantely less. My projection is between 90-95 million in which my opinion is plenty. please post thoughts if you think I am way off. Oh and at the bottom I will list some free agents that are possibilities for the Twins so let me know what you think. C- Joe Mauer 23.0 1b- Justin Morneau 14.0 2b- Brian Dozier 550,000 SS- Pedro Florimon 550,000 3b- Trevor Plouffe 700,000 LF- Josh Willingham 7.0 CF- Ben Revere 600,000 RF- Chris Parmelee 600,000 DH Ryan Doumit 3.5 Bench Darin Mastroianni 800,000 Jamey Carroll 3.75 Eduardo Escobar 600,000 Chris Herrmann 500,000 Total Offense Payroll: 56.15 Pitching 1. 2. 3. Cole De Vries 600,000 4. Scott Diamond 600,000 5. Liam Hendriks 550,000 6. Nick Blackburn- Not a member of Twins but have to pay him 5.5 Total Rotation: 7.25 Bullpen Closer- Glen Perkins 2.5 plus incentives Jared Burton Arb 3 estimate 2.0 Alex Burnett 800,000 Brian Duensing Arb 1 estimate 3.0 Anthony Swarzak 700,000 Casey Fien 600,000 Deolis Guerra 500,000 Bullpen total 10.15 Total Payroll 73.05 I have the Twins non tendering Alexi Casilla and Drew Butera and letting Carl Pavano, Matt Capps go as free agents. Therefore There are are atleast 2 rotation spots to fill. If you notice Denard Span is not there I think Twins will move him for one of the 2-3 openings in rotation. Kyle Gibson will join the team later in season as I don't think he will start season with Twins. So there you go about 20 million to spend to try to fix team. You could go for a middle infielder, a 3rd baseman, a middle reliever, and atleast 2 starters so go at it. Options Brandon Inge Scott Baker Joe Blanton Gavin Floyd Roberto Hernandez Edwin Jackson Shawn Marcum Anibal Sanchez Ervin Santana Carlos Villanueva If it were up to me I would sign Edwin Jackson and Ervin Santana and possibly Scott Baker. The Santana contract would likely only be one year as he will want a make good contract. The Baker deal would be incentive laden. Let me know what you would do.

I along with Seth Stohs made the trek to Beloit to see these guys and the thing that I came out from Sano is he has the physical tools to stay at 3rd base. I think it is a maturity and focus thing more than a physical thing. In pregame warm ups he can move laterally and he makes all the plays in pregame. This was my 2nd year going and Seth's 3rd year and we both agreed that he is a freak that will only improve. Some of the strikeouts that we saw were borderline pitches that I don't want him swinging at anyway. I came away feeling like Sano has all the god given tools to be a monster. I think we all just need to take a step back and let him develop at his pace. I may be in the minority but I believe he can play at 3rd base. His bat is going to be huge and I think he can put up Miguel Cabrera type numbers as he moves up. Miguel Sano is the least of my worries about the Twins farm system he will be just fine.

Oh of course Berrios is going to start

Melotakis is going to stay a reliever, Bard is going to start those are the only ones that I know off hand

Here is my pre-offseason Twins offseasonBlueprint. I will do another one afterthe season as the hotstove season begins. The Twins are looking at their second consecutive 90+ loss season andthere needs to be changes done to bring a quality product back to Targetfield. Even though attendance in downthis year I still look for the Twins to have a 90-95 million dollar payroll in2013. Not only is it important to seewhat they do with the major league team, but there are 40 man decisions thathave to be made. Let me know what youthink of my blueprint you can reach me one of three ways. You can email me at travis_aune@yahoo.com, you can leave mea comment in the box, or reach me on twitter at @travistwinstalk. So without any further adieu here is what Iwould do to bring the Twins back into contention in 2013. Options:Decline Scott Baker’s 2013 option, Decline Matt Capps 2013 option and pay250,000 buyout, NonTenders: Alexi Casilla, Drew Butera, Removedfrom 40 man Roster: Scott Baker(FA), Matt Capps(FA), Carl Pavano(FA), LuisPerdomo, PJ Walters, Matt Carson(FA), Kyle Waldrop, Cole De Vries That leaves 31 men on the 40 man Roster Addedto the 40 man Roster: Kyle Gibson, Aaron Hicks, Chris Hermmann, BJ Hermsen,Bruce Pugh, Danny Santana, TradeDenard Span to the Reds for Billy Hamilton and Tony Cingrani. SellTsuyoshi Nishioka to a Japanese team for 1m of the 3m he is owed SignScott Baker to a 2year 6million dollar contract with another 6 million inincentives for 2nd year. SignJeremy Guthrie to a 2 year 14 million dollar deal 2013Lineup 1. BenRevere CF 2. BrianDozier 2b 3. JoeMauer C 4. JoshWillingham LF 5. JustinMorneau 1b 6. RyanDoumit DH 7. ChrisParmelee RF 8. TrevorPlouffe 3b 9. PedroFlorimon SS Bench ChrisHermann JameyCarroll EduardoEscobar DarinMastroianni StartingRotation ScottDiamond JeremyGuthrie LiamHendriks KyleGibson SamDeduno ScottBaker- When ready Bullpen GlenPerkins JaredBurton AlexBurnett DeolisGuerra BrianDuensing AnthonySwarzak ColeDe Vries

Here is my pre-offseason Twins offseasonBlueprint. I will do another one afterthe season as the hotstove season begins. The Twins are looking at their second consecutive 90+ loss season andthere needs to be changes done to bring a quality product back to Targetfield. Even though attendance in downthis year I still look for the Twins to have a 90-95 million dollar payroll in2013. Not only is it important to seewhat they do with the major league team, but there are 40 man decisions thathave to be made. Let me know what youthink of my blueprint you can reach me one of three ways. You can email me at travis_aune@yahoo.com, you can leave mea comment in the box, or reach me on twitter at @travistwinstalk. So without any further adieu here is what Iwould do to bring the Twins back into contention in 2013. Options:Decline Scott Baker’s 2013 option, Decline Matt Capps 2013 option and pay250,000 buyout, NonTenders: Alexi Casilla, Drew Butera, Removedfrom 40 man Roster: Scott Baker(FA), Matt Capps(FA), Carl Pavano(FA), LuisPerdomo, PJ Walters, Matt Carson(FA), Kyle Waldrop, Cole De Vries That leaves 31 men on the 40 man Roster Addedto the 40 man Roster: Kyle Gibson, Aaron Hicks, Chris Hermmann, BJ Hermsen,Bruce Pugh, Danny Santana, TradeDenard Span to the Reds for Billy Hamilton and Tony Cingrani. SellTsuyoshi Nishioka to a Japanese team for 1m of the 3m he is owed SignScott Baker to a 2year 6million dollar contract with another 6 million inincentives for 2nd year. SignJeremy Guthrie to a 2 year 14 million dollar deal 2013Lineup 1. BenRevere CF 2. BrianDozier 2b 3. JoeMauer C 4. JoshWillingham LF 5. JustinMorneau 1b 6. RyanDoumit DH 7. ChrisParmelee RF 8. TrevorPlouffe 3b 9. PedroFlorimon SS Bench ChrisHermann JameyCarroll EduardoEscobar DarinMastroianni StartingRotation ScottDiamond JeremyGuthrie LiamHendriks KyleGibson SamDeduno ScottBaker- When ready Bullpen GlenPerkins JaredBurton AlexBurnett DeolisGuerra BrianDuensing AnthonySwarzak ColeDe Vries

and yes this is Travis

Joe Benson is at a crossroads in his career. He has all the tools that those other guys have but he just can't stay healthy. I think it is only one maybe two years that he has played a full slate of games. Benson has to find a way to make it to the majors in 2013 for him to fufill his promise as he no longer is young for his level. I still think Benson can be a big contributer for the Twins going forward, but the clock is running out.

I thought it would be fun to put the top 10 Twins prospects currently. I will do an official top 50 next week, but I thought it would be fun to see what everyone else thinks. If you want you can put your own top 10's and see how we differ. 1. Miguel Sano- Had a monster year at the plate needs to cut down on the strikeouts and if he is going to remain at 3rd base he needs to shore that part up as well as he had over 40 errors at 3rd. 2. Byron Buxton- After getting off to a rough start in Pro Ball he is really raking now and showing the speed and ability that made him the number two pick in the draft. 3. Aaron Hicks- After some struggles in previous years it appears that Aaron Hicks has figured it out. A term that is used in basketball is perfect for him as he is a stat stuffer. Hicks had over 30 steals, 20 doubles, 10 triples, 10 hrs and 90 runs scored. Very likely Twins fans will see him roaming the outfield in Target Field sometime in 2013. 4. Oswaldo Arcia- Arcia is another guy that has put it all together after struggling at Fort Myers in 2011 after his monster start in Beloit. He is likely going to be the Twins minor league hitter of the year after hitting 15hr and 91 rbi's between Fort Myers and New Britain with an OPS over .900. The best comp I see from him is Jason Kubel with a little less power, but I think all Twins fans would take that. 5. Eddie Rosario- Rosario would have been right in the discussion for Twins minor league hitter of the year if he hadn't missed about a month with an injury. He is hitting over .300 with 12hr and 70 rbi's with another 20+ doubles. His play at 2nd base has been hit and miss with 17 errors on the year. It is still to be determined if he is going to be a 2nd baseman or a centerfielder, but his bat will make sure he is in the lineup one of those places every day. 6. Kyle Gibson- Gibson was the feel good story of the year coming back from Tommy John Surgery in July of 2011. The fact that he got all the way up to AAA this year was a testament to the hard work Kyle put in to get back and he should be commended for that. To add to that he picked up 1 or 2 ticks on his fastball which is really good as now he sits 92-93 instead of 90-91. Gibson will be given a few weeks off now and then head to instructionals and then to Spring Training where he will be given an opportunity to make the Twins rotation in 2013. 7. Jose Berrios- Berrios was taken with a supp pick this year for the Twins and he has dominated. In 11 games as a professional including 4 starts Berrios has gone 3-0 with a 1.17era. In 30.2 innings he has given up just 4 runs on just 15 hits. However, the stat that just blows my mind is he has only walked four guys while striking out a whopping 49 batters. He did that at just 18 years old. The sky is the limit for this kid he has by far the most upside in the organization and it will be interesting to see what the Twins do with him in 2013 whether they send him to Beloit or if they send him to extended and see what happens. 8. Max Kepler- Kepler has put together in 2012 his best year of his professional career even though we sometimes forget he is only 19 years old being that it is his 3rd year already. After taking his first two years to get used to America Kepler put up really good numbers in 2012. Kepler hit .297 with 10hr and 49rbi along with 16 doubles and 5 triples for an OPS of .925. The sky is the limit for Kepler who will head up to Beloit for his first year in fullseason ball in 2013. 9. Travis Harrison- Harrison has had a good, but not great rookie campaign for E-Town, but it is also important to keep in mind he is just 19 years old. Harrison hit for good average hitting over .300 in his first year with five homeruns and 27 rbi's along with 12 doubles and 4 triples for a OPS of .845. Those are very good numbers for your first professional year, but I was a little disappointed he did not hit for more power because he is a big powerful kid who will hit for power. The key is to be patient with him as the power will come. The bigger question is what is his postion really going to be as he committed 24 errors at 3rd base. If he wants to remain at 3rd he is going to have to improve that defense. I think he likely will return to E-town for another year, but it would not shock me to see him up in Beloit in 2013. 10. Kennys Vargas- After missing the beginning of the year serving his MLB suspension Vargas came on like wildfire and has skyrocketed up prospect lists. Vargas has the looks of a young David Ortiz and has performed like him since returning. Vargas is hitting .320 with 11hr and 36 rbi's along with 10 doubles and a triple for an OPS of 1.047. Vargas has taken the step from being a guy with talent to being a legit top 10 prospect who has the ability to be a major leaguer someday. He will likely go up to Fort Myers in 2013 to see if he continue to improve.