Kwak

You misunderstood my post. Dozier's performance didn't correlate with his team's success or failure--thus he isn't as valuable as his personal statistics suggest.

That was the year when Dawson refused to sign with Montreal and dared any other team to offer him a contract. The intent was likely to show MLB collusion between owners and win a gigantic class-action lawsuit. The Cubs bit the bullet and offered him $700K, and Dawson signed. Dawson's bid for 50 HRs that year were dashed by a very strong wind the blew the ball into the LF well (along the line) which is significantly deeper than to straight-away LF.

Dozier MVP? Let's April and May: Dozier stinks and the Twins stink; June and July: Dozier hot, Twins respectable; August ans September: Dozier hot and the Twins stink. That doesn't read as MVP to me.

Plouffe. My point is that I believe that the Front Office "assigns" players to positions more on the basis of "what they want" rather than on any reliable metric of a player's actual skills/and level. The Twins should have been able to ascertain Plouffe's SS skills in less than 5400 innings (plus almost 600 more at the ML level) to conclude that Trevor wasn't going to"clear their bar" at the ML level. Yet in 2900 innings they could reach that conclusion concerning Polanco's skills at SS. My take is that if the Twins are planning on Sano at 3B and Polanco at SS, they will need to shift Dozier over to behind 2B in order to mask their deficiencies. Given those two on the left side, the Twins pitching staff, they need to average another run per game in scoring to be a serious contender. That's a tall order. Even taller in the playoffs if/when they get there.

Player C played nearly 5400 innings at SS with a .948 FP in the minors and almost 600 innings at SS in the majors with a .944 FP. The Twins concluded "C" wasn't their SS.

Gardy did have significant sway. I recall these two instances: "Nick Punto is the #1 priority to re-sign this off-season" and after the loss of Nathan to injury, "I can't manage...[without a closer]" with the subsequent acquisition of Capps when the negotiation for Cliff Lee failed. I am convinced that there are more cases. I recall that initially the Twins stated they were searching to fill Ryan's GM position. It was sometime later that it was announced that the Twins were creating the position of President of Baseball Operations. That may have been caused by Cherington's refusal to interview, if Cherington was seeking a "higher position" than General Manager and Vice President.

"hard"? How about Dean and Albers in the rotation at the same time?

Yielding "extra outs" will be disastrous to pitchers over the season. It's not just errors charged but also "plays not made". Baseball pays players a lot more for their "offense" than for their "defense". Players notice this and focus on hitting more than fielding and power hitting more than before. Extra outs combined with more emphasis on "power hits" results in more runs allowed. The answer isn't as simple as "fewer walks", it also must include "better quality" strikes. Especially those that miss bats.

Winter in most cities are no bargain--including Toronto. Add KC, Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit--get my drift? No, there are other things happening that would cause qualified candidate to refuse. After all, there are professionals from other fields that regularly take top jobs in Minnesota.

Possible reason: Pohlad looking for a figurehead, or imposing even more conditions than retaining Molitor as manager--FO personnel, budget restrictions, trade restrictions, and last Pohlad looking to make Molitor PBOp.

When the nation elects a different President typically there is a near total turnover in the Cabinet. Just sayin'...

Molitor's infields are a result to him being on a very short lease next season--win enough games to restore the fan base--or else! This suggests to me: Dozier's is staying for 2017 (could be traded later though!); who's at SS (not 1st!)? Molitor needs someone to provide enough defense for expected solid hitting; is there a viable option at 3B to permit moving Sano to DH?; Vargas is in trouble if an all-around 3B (Escobar?) deemed to provide the necessary offense and defense. Bottom line: Pohlad's protection requires 2017 to be rather good, or Paul is moved to someplace where his "baseball acumen" is more useful than at field manager.

whoops, "Norte"

Mexicans often refer to themselves as "Nord Americanos". Apparently many also consider themselves "Americans" too, given all of the "border crossings".

If Polanco plays regularly--it should be at 2B. Other questions that need answers: How much authority will the new executive really have? Pohlad has repeated his statement about Molitor will remain as manager. When Ryan was "relieved", Pohlad had stated that "...there are a lot of good people [in the organization]" implying that he doesn't for see "A Reign of Terror" this off-season. He also mentioned Anthony might remain. All of this alarms me that there is the real possibility of only incremental changes to both the Front Office as well as the team. Other questions: a "rebuild" or simply a tweaking of the Active Roster every year for the next several years? A change in baseball philosophy--or will there be a different make-up strategy?

Some of these questions have answers--some don't. Sano--he has played 3B in the minors for a couple-three years. Defense there = defense in the majors. he's not very good at it. But, he needs to play--someplace. 1B/DH is overstaffed, so it's 3B--or back to the OF. Defensive bumps and bruises will have to be tolerated for the next two years. Since there are so many other problems this can be tolerated--for now! May--many questions--like, can he even be counted-on to pitch an entire season anyplace? I guess they could try him in the rotation because the need is so great there. We just have to accept that May won't be great there--he may stink, and he may breakdown. Bullpen--most teams have questions there. A change in pitching and philosophy may help--but the Twins are not known to be an "innovative" team--so I'm don't anticipate anything there. Hughes-Perkins--just accept this is a lost cause. Perkins gets released and Hughes becomes "the long guy". Rotation--Only one consistently quality pitcher there. Basically only questions there. There won't be enough solid answers next year anyway. Jay--not worthy of discussion. Catcher--Might as well bite the bullet and play what's in-house. SS--same as catcher. everybody is questionable at best, below MLB average.

This was comment #9. I tuned in long after the game ended and "listened" to Laudner talk about that Dozier leading the team in HRs "was a bad thing" and that Sano has to hit more to RCF and "not pull-off the ball" (smacks of David Ortiz in his time). Absolutely! Clean house in the Studio! Let the script writers (or the announcers) be free of interference from the Front Office. Obviously there are FCC regulations that must be obeyed and "trash-talk" can't be the "message". But, the baloney that is sliced that the problems are with the players must end! Management failed miserably as well as many of the players (though not all of the players!)

How misleading! Tonkin's <1 inning stints--likely he was removed because he stunk, like his statistics indicate. Was Tonkin supposed to pitch longer? That might have been the original plan, also undermining your contention. I guess Molitor could have left Tonkin in the game in those <1 inning "performances", but there is clear evidence that removal was warranted in most instances.

"...100 errors, 55 fielding and 33 throwing." What could be the other two? They don't charge errors for baserunning (TG! because there are far more than two!), or hitting/bunting, or on the manager/coaches. What's left to charge an error on?

Gag!! 9 scoreless innings--and still a Loss!

Or, they decided that Kepler is the long-term solution for RF.

I've posted many times criticizing the FO, but some times they actually know a few things. The end result is awful, because only the most brazen apple-polisher would endlessly praise management. The over evaluation of Twins players: Sano is nothing close to a lengendary talent. Ryan (and likely others) realized he is awful at 3B and maybe he could be tucked into the OF like Killebrew and many others. The overpraise heaped on Sano (and possibly the example of David Ortiz, money, and defense is optional if you hit enough) has reduced Sano to DH/1B only. The Twins need hitting! The star of this season screamed that fact--so did early August. Hence, not only did Sano have to be in the lineup--other power hitters were also needed! Here comes Park from Korea. Signing Park was only a failure borne from the need for hitting, it was some clueless, random act. The Twins knew they needed more offense and Park might do the trick "on the cheap". Trevor May. Yikes! Posters make it sound as if the Twins weren't aware of the need for starting pitching--I'm certain they did know. May was not "awesome"--ordinary at best on a staff that was threadbare of starting pitching. It's easy to claim that he would have been better than those used in the rotation this year--but based on last season (and gag, 2014) why didn't May demonstrate that he was "the man"? Trevor might (or might not) be tried for next year's rotation--but there is no assurance that he will be successful there. Trevor's 2016 season sure doesn't suggest that. It is preposterous to claim there was no plan for him--there definitely was a plan! Shut-down, end-of-the-game relief pitcher. Shut the opponents down after 6 innings! (Along with others). To claim his failure was because he was used in relief is unsubstantiated. Ok, I understand May thinks he was screwed by the selection last year of Pelfrey to remain in the rotation instead of himself. Seeing how well things turned-out for Pelfrey by using his agent to secure a post for himself doesn't equate to likewise for Trevor. Bad backs happen--and for many reasons--sometimes it is the player's fault. We will never know. Failure of other prospects. YES! there is real meat here. An exhaustive study, likely resulting in a total rebuke of the entire franchise. Perhaps this is where May's trouble really occurred rather than in the bullpen. I can foresee many threads coming on this subject--but not on "no plan".

The decision to have a PBO likely based on two reasons: a fancy title with a big salary is required to get a big name and respectability and for said person to be a figurehead so the fraternity can be kept (nearly) unchanged to do the "real baseball work". Sadly, the fraternity needs to be dismissed to build a strong franchise.

"Blame Canada. Blame Canada. ..."

Deja` vu.