Kwak

"He will need to locate his off-speed pitches more consistantly and develop at least one of them into a go-to out pitch."--Steil Director of Minor League Operations This is unexpected. Other than Santana, Twins' pitchers did not have an "out" pitch. They simply "pitched-to-contact". I conclude that either there has been a change in philosophy or Mr. Steil is in need of a "re-education seminar." I certainly hope it is a change, because Berrios sounds like just the guy the Twins need at the top of the rotation.

I too would lie to thank LastOnePicked for writing a piece to allow all of us to comment. When an opinion is stated that hits close-to-home the two sides emerge--The True Believers and The Dark Side. As I expected the usual suspects have weighed-in. I agree with much of what you post, though the elements aren't as sinister as some claim. Gardy/Andy Formula I actually think it is Ryan's Formula, and these two are simply "True Believers" of it. Those that weren't "True Believers" (e.g. Molitor) are bilged. The GM was informed "this is a business and an acceptable profit is required. Construct a plan to operate the entire team on a budget." Through the years he likely noticed that there are a few pitchers who enjoy a disproportionate amount of success given their limited skills. Ryan simply decided to contruct a rotation of that type (5 people) but include one dominant, strike-out pitcher (closer). He could (and maybe now is in the process of changing) to try to operate with 4 or 5 strikeout guys in the rotation--but that must have less than 5 years of MLB service because salaries rise sharply after three years and explode after 6 years. Good Teammates and Nice Guys is actually a subset of Making Them Fit the Mold. This is similar to many other organizations which see very different from a baseball team except that they too are made up of people and a selection rubric is used for them as well. Consider other "Minnesota" stuff. Examples: University's hockey team (for many decades) is nearly 100% made up of Minnesota residents. Minnesota Nice--it is repeated endlessly. I consider such practices "Marketing"--give the customer what he wants. If the public wants to see choir boys--well the Twins will see to it that the team is full of them. If a lesser-skilled guy but with a dirty uniform is preferred to a better-skilled guy the "steps-out-of-bounds"--you get my drift. It also helps that those guys cost less (supply and demand) than the more skilled player. That concept also fits the business plan. The teams are not biased, the community is. There was a comment earlier that was to refute any claim of racial bias--but sadly the comment showed he author's "Whiteness". Black ballplayers are African-American, they were born here like (I presume) we posters. Dominicans, the rest of the Caribbean islands, and South Americans are Latin players--even if their skin is as darkly complected as an African-American. These are two separate demographics and it is a mistake for the White American to lump-them-together.

This thread smacks of Deux es Machina. You include players who aren't even on the team and inset him as the regular CF! Your logic of using this "cheap, place-holder type" CF as a regular, but ignore the already on-hand Carroll in favor of the "failed-once" Dozier is mystifying. There is no evidence provided to support a preference of Podsednik over any of the three CF candidates on hand.

Terrific insight! Sign competent "reserve-type" players and install them as "everyday-players" as an example of savvy management. True, it is much less expensive to sign "reserve-type" players than the "everyday-players", but it is folly to expect the "reserve" to produce like everyday players. But of course the esteemed GM is fully aware of that! He simply defines "winning" differently that we dumb fans and that's the source of our confusion/displeasure--we don't don't see the "big picture". The GM wants " a clear path" for all of the wonderful prospects in the system to move into the the major league line-up (at their roughly league-minimum salary) such that the Twins can operate "efficiently" (except for Mauer of course). It is but a minor detail that the team will lose many more than they win--but the team will be efficient!

When this thread reappears between the 2013 and 2014 seasons I wonder how much the comments will change? How many will have changed "sides"? Someone should keep track.

The Draft results for after the 1st Round are even worse. There are future major leaguers, even future all-stars available. It is true the salary bonuses required to sign 1st round selections did escalate substantially as the millenium progressed, but later round rounds were very affordable for the Twins. There were threads in MLBdotcom about top ten prospects by position and the later rounds were well represented in this year's edition. The Twins talk about scouting and proper development (with loads of time spent in the minors) but the results are dismal. I certainly agree that the draft and International signings should be the primary source of players--but free agents are needed! The class C, D, and recovering-from-surgery are not the type to sign. Focus on a few "upper-tier" free agents at positions the franchise is weak, and fit in the promotions around them--not promote from the minors the tio prospects and then sign guys who are no more than hole-pluggers.

So what does it tell? We have read for years from ryan that patience often pays-off when offering contracts to unsigned free agents as ST nears. Maybe teams just "waited-him-out"? Maybe he was trying to bluff other teams that the Twins were really interested in him--when they weren't interested in Marcum. He took the $4MM (plus $4MM more available in incentives) rather than wait for an offer that wasn't coming!

I still miss Hunter--and consider him the best defensive CF the Twins ever had, including Puckett. Too bad Hunter couln't hit as well as Puckett. Summimg up, Hicks you have wished for a great deal from Hicks. I, too wish him well, but the bar you set is perhaps too high.

I thought it was "I can finish dead last too--on half the budget!"

"Too big?" "Does or Doesn't" is the real real question with respect to Sano's play at 3B.

"Clearing a path"? Mauer is the only player blocking a path for anybody. Theorectically all five starting pitching positions are open, with Worley and Diamond only promised long looks and patience as opposed to a guaranteed contract. I the bullpen, it appears that only three names are firm: Perkins, Burton and Duensing, (and I'm not certain about Duensing). Infield, Morneau is only guaranteed until July and then 1B is open. Plouffe has not been engraved at 3B, and the MI is clearly wide open as is CF. It might seem like fun to watch a bunch of rookies (or near rookies) scrap to prove themselves as MLB players--but not at $70+ a ticket plus travel, concessions etc. for an entire season. Even the cheap seats range from about $15 to $25. Add other normal expenses per game. At the dome when he tactic of promoting the top prospects from the minors to the Twins, tickets cost a whole lot less. $6 for the OF, $12 upper deck behind the plate. At those prices it sort of worked (though attendance was lack lustre) but not today. It makes a lot of sense to sign some solid free agents to market contracts and add the top prospects around them as they climb through the system. This was part of the premise for the new stadium--the ability to attract and retain top talent and be competitive.

You forgot about last year's battle for 3B. Luke Hughes "won" and started at 3rd. But as soon as he struggled he was DFA'd and Plouffe became the starting 3B man despite a worse than Butera BAVG.

Give it up boys, mccrow isn't going to change his mind. The question I would like to have answered concerns the deafening silence from the Twins about Marcum and the rest of their FA pitcher "activity".

That's where I lived (Idaho Falls). Many "immigrated" to there and brought their team allegiances with them. You could even form your own fan club fo the Twins (or whoever) and start your own flock. What I'm saying is that you aren't locked into being a Seattle or a Colorado (or whatever) fan.

Just because the other 29 that didn't sign Marcum doesn't mean they thought he was a health risk. Several may have all of the pitchers they want. Others might have passed because they didn't think he was good enough. A few others may not have enough left in their budget to sign him. The Mets (signing team) might believe that the $4MM is an affordable risk--say like what MN's signing of Zumaya last year, or the minor league contracts tendered this year to several players. It isn't axiomatic that teams were foolish because they didn't ( or did) sign Marcum.

Huh, every team has their "quota" of RHP with a 5+ ERA.

Examine some statistics and let's see if we can decipher if the Twins Draft is effective. What is the average lengthof a ML career assuming we toss out all of the guys who don't last more than a full year? Is it 10 years? Or how about 8.33 years? I choose these numbers because the Active Roster is 25 and they represent something close to reality. If my assumption is too high (maybe 6.25 years is correct) then this will only skew things even higher. If 10 years: then the Twins must successfully find 5 players every 2 years that are promoted to the ML club and stick. I should add at least one guy per season for those "callups" who won't last more than one season, or about 3.5 promotions per year. That would be the ML average because FA were promoted by someone. If a career was only 8.33 years (excluding the short-timers) then 4 players per year must be promoted. So, my question is: How many players do the Twins promote per season? Do the Twins successfully promote the needed 3.5 to 4 players from their draft every year? If not, then their draft is below the major league average for number of players. In order to successfully compete long-term any deficit has to be made up by FA signings, trades that result in more players received that relinquished, or Twins players have significantly longer career that other teams. Ryan has stated that the Twins can't be built by adding FAs as a normal operating policy. The Twins must consistently "out-draft" the major league average. The names provided from recent Twins drafts do not indicate that the Twins were "out-drafting". Many succesful players are not selected in the 1st round (Morneau for a Twins' example)--indicating that any team could have selected that guy. I could be wrong, but I think that there is a dearth of Twins' players (today on the roster) who were selected later in their draft than Morneau was selected in his year (99) especially those that play regularly. The closest example I can think is Jason Kubel ('00), who has left the Twins. To sum up, I don't think the Twins have performed adequately in the draft since the new millenium and the "disasters" of '11 and '12 are the result.

We have to give Kevin Correria a rest for awhile.

They have to explain why the Twins are generally near the bottom of team HRs heat year-after-year--especially when the top HR hitter is a guy who came from a different team (Thome/Willingham). I always chuckle when the Twins describe a young guy (draftee/minor leaguer) as a 5-tool player yet his HR total speaks so softly.

Ryan credit for being GM? He began as GM in the late 90's. The GM is responsible for selecting the rest of the staff of the FO as opposed to every player. The GM also defines the operating philosophy within the restrictions imposed by the owner. The staff is tasked with doing "the leg-work" on personnel and making their case to the GM for his approval. Summing up, those in the FO were Ryan's appointees because the Twins move haven't made wholesale personnel changes recently. If there were "faults" in the personnel area from the late 90's on--those are actually on Ryan. To claim that "he" fixed the minor league system is premature and ignores that Ryan bears much of the blame for the state of said system when he resumed his role as GM. Smith did spend money on internationals. Ryan--I don't remember anything except he quit bidding against the Angels for F. Rodrigez. Revere signed for about $1MM--not 3rd round money. M. (Giancarlo) Stanton (Marlins) signed for several hundred thousand less than Revere when selected a few selections later. Basically, the Twins preferred a little, really fast guy, with a throwing disability who will steal many bases over a big, fast guy, with a great arm that will hit HRs, but rarely steal a base. Revere did state that if he was a lower draft selection that he would go to college instead.

Swarzak. Nothing about him says "Major League".

OK folks, all you who are worried that an apparently very fit and athletic Sano will become too big to play 3B (presumably because he would lack the necessary quickness and range) but are OK with Plouffe at 3B, raise your hands.