Otto von Ballpark

Why would there be extension talks for Suzuki? We apparently hold an option on his services for 2017.

Texas isn't selling low enough on either to involve the Twins. They are likely talking Odorizzi, Archer, Lucroy: http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/07/rangers-receiving-interest-jurickson-profar-trade-rumors.html Also, both are no longer elite prospects. Thanks to collecting MLB service time while on the DL the past few years, Profar only has 3 years of control left, and his good small sample batting line has been buoyed by an out-of-character .369 BABIP. And Gallo has begun slipping in prospect rankings, not only for his suspect MLB debut of 85 wRC+, but also his modest 119 wRC+ in AAA. Turning them into the right reinforcements for a 2016 pennant race, and for 2017 too, might be the smart play. Texas also leads their division by 4.5 games so it's hardly that bad for their fans right now.

I think you are correct. His only mentions at MLB Trade Rumors are in regards to the Twins, dating back to 2008: https://www.google.com/search?q=site:mlbtraderumors.com+%22rob+antony%22

I think the key statement here is "who knows?" Sure, Antony might operate differently/better than TR and Smith before him, but there is zero evidence of that. Listening more to Goin and expanding his department isn't even necessarily a good thing -- do we have any idea whether Goin himself is actually fit for his position in modern MLB? I want a new GM who can look critically at the work of Goin too. And it's not as if Antony hasn't had a chance to provide such evidence -- he's been a respected assistant GM for 9 years, with a fairly public profile and a broad base of duties (including a stint as acting GM). If he was really a viable MLB GM candidate right now, he has had ample opportunity to articulate a better case than "good at negotiating contracts" and "listens to Jack Goin more." Unless he somehow shows he is a mystical "GM whisperer" over the next two months who can extract top prospects in return for our marginal assets, there would be absolutely no justification for hiring Rob Antony as the next Twins permanent GM in 2016, exhaustive external search or not. Antony could say the exact same thing in his interviews as the best external candidate and it still wouldn't matter -- Antony just doesn't have any record to back it up (setting aside the obvious Melania Trump concerns over him saying the exact same thing as someone else ).

The thinking (not that I agree with it) is probably that they are hoping to trade someone to free up a spot.

Also, arguably tougher division in the AL West. In finding historical comparables for the Twins horrible start this year, I ran across a number of AL Central teams, notably Detroit and KC. The West had a few bad teams, but rarely any that hopeless.

The GM would have to be there the whole time? I can't imagine that, how much baseball work goes on in Minnesota in the winter? You could fly in for the occasional meeting, but otherwise scout winter leagues, meet with free agents, do the winter meetings, convene in Ft Myers, etc. It's not like the GM is going to have to get up at 7 AM every morning to shovel snow to work a 9-to-5 all winter... some of his/her staff, sure, but not the GM.

To be fair, Beane's teams went down to the wire in every playoff series they lost, except one (2006 ALCS). I guess the end result was similar to the Twins, but there wasn't quite the same embarrassment/domination involved.

This is a decent summation of my posts on Anthony too. It would be one thing if Antony was a relative newcomer himself, but he's been assistant GM for almost 9 years now. He's had plenty of opportunity to make his GM case beyond "respected at negotiating contracts". The fact that he hasn't in any clear way is probably a sign that there isn't much case to be made.

The "no-deal to pay" threshold is a lot lower in Oakland. Also, that threshold appears to have been met by most teams this year, as no one was interested in claiming Milone and his salary on waivers. We'll see if it interests anyone at the deadline... (That said, I agree the trade was a solid move for the Twins. Just probably not due to any special skill on TR's part. Same with Grossman, who was signed as the insurance outfielder after David Murphy suddenly retired. Although I worry that a GM like Smith or Antony would somehow manage to fall behind on these type of "standard GM" moves...)

Here's a interesting interview, from February 2011, with Rob Antony (by Jesse Lund at Twinkie Town, summary via MLBTR): http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2011/02/antony-on-nishioka-hardy-pavano-liriano-more.html "Tsuyoshi Nishioka first popped up on the team's radar after Antony mentioned to his agent that the team was looking to get more athletic on the infield." -- does that sound like Antony had healthy skepticism about Gardy's request? "Hardy was expected to make $5MM+ in 2011 (he eventually signed for $5.85MM), and the team "just decided that we wanted to put that money into other areas." The Twins had conversations with other teams about Hardy, but there were never any real offers. The trade with Baltimore was "by far [their] best opportunity to make a deal." -- does that sound like Antony really understood the value of Hardy as an asset? Now, maybe Antony has learned from those experiences, and the spring of 2014, but the fact that he made these decisions after many years experience in the front office doesn't inspire confidence that they were just simple rookie adjustments that needed to be made. I suspect that he simply doesn't have the mindset and skill set of an effective MLB GM, which is no shame -- not many people do. But that concern shouldn't be dismissed out of a sense of loyalty or fairness in our current GM search.

I won't enter your larger debate, but most every team finds a few interesting guys like this occasionally. Usually it's more about the other team needing to unload the player, like the DFA'd Eduardo Nunez or the soon-to-be-expensive Tommy Milone, and less about any "amazing" skill on the part of the acquiring team.

Interesting idea. 5 years ago, MLBTR had a similar idea: http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2011/08/gm-candidate-mike-radcliff.html Of course, shortly thereafter the Orioles inquired about interviewing Radcliff for their GM opening, and the Twins declined (rumor suggesting the Radcliff simply wasn't interested): http://www.twincities.com/2011/11/03/twins-deny-orioles-access-to-radcliff-report-says/

Seth, you're ignoring the Bill Smith era here. Antony likely had more power/influence from October 2007 to November 2011 as the #2 in command under admitted "administrator" type GM Smith than he did in the spring of 2014 in place of TR. And there is evidence that Antony contributed to major blunders (the costly acquisition of Delmon Young and Antony's public comments on the predictive power of RBI, for example), or at the very least, failed to see and communicate the obvious problems in moves driven by others (the Gardenhire-led Hardy-for-Hoey swap, for example). I view that as Antony's chief negative in terms of gauging his ability to take over the top spot, and his limited spring 2014 performance is simply confirmation of the earlier exposed issues (chiefly, allowing Gardy to roster Bartlett against all logic and reason). Also, the fact that Antony is respected in contract negotiations is nice, but that's the work of an assistant GM. As Bill Smith demonstrated, it is largely immaterial to his ability to be an effective GM. Sure, Antony might finally demonstrate previously unseen dynamic, aggressive, original ideas about talent procurement, roster construction, and front office organization, just like Juan Centeno may begin hitting HR at the rate of 1 per week. But evidence overwhelmingly suggests that neither is likely the case, and Centeno will continue to perform like a backup catcher, and Antony will continue to perform like an administrative-minded assistant GM. To deny that and say "anything's possible!" with no evidence doesn't feel like a substantive point.

I think the Pohlads can finally sell the team this year or next and no longer have to share proceeds with the public. This article on the ballpark plan said they couldn't sell without sharing until 2016, although it also referenced a 2009 ballpark opening, not sure if those two dates were related: http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20050425&content_id=1028208&vkey=pr_min&fext=.jsp&c_id=min

This might be the best explanation yet for the timing of the move. Especially since, unlike Molitor as manager a couple years ago, or even bringing back TR in 2011, the new GM hire by itself probably won't generate a lot of immediate general excitement among the season ticket holders. The one marketing benefit in a front office change is the dismissal, and the start of the new GM search and hype machine.

An opportunity to shine? In the next two months? How, exactly?

Not really. It's essentially a mop-up appearance. There probably won't be any results to judge him by, much less judge him strongly. Heck, Antony could do nothing and he might get some undue credit for an improved second half record.

Pretty sure Ryan wouldn't have been "dismissed" if it was his idea. He would have resigned, like he did last time.

I'd add, there is a little more risk to Antony as interim GM than just messing up deadline trades. We also still have #2 waiver priority, and I don't have any confidence that Antony is the guy I want in charge of that either. Hopefully we have someone with a plan in place by the time the next big wave of minor league moves is made in October...

Good point. That was a last place season for the Rangers. I'd guess if some team was out of the playoff picture, they would let a front office member leave at this point. That's not a lot of teams yet, probably not a lot of good candidates either. I would have liked to see a "team president" addition earlier, who could have worked with TR and been the architect for the next iteration of the front office. As it was, with TR in command and Antony as his #2, we were already working without a net, and now doubly so for the rest of this season...

Not only that -- I wonder if the timing of this move was influenced by the Bill Smith 2011 situation? Smith didn't sell at the deadline in 2011, and only made a minor move to dump Delmon Young in August. Although it's not like we had a ton of pieces to sell, and getting comp picks for Cuddyer and Kubel was a classic TR-style move and probably better than any modest trade return...

I suspect other teams will freely let their front office people interview for other positions during the season. They just wouldn't let us hire them until after the season or postseason.

I don't see that. Maybe Ervin Santana, to shed his salary?

Realistically, there is nothing that Antony could do in the next couple months to show he should be the permanent GM.