RodneyKline

Hahaha! It would be great if the Twins had a trainer/conditioning staff during the season too!!! Maybe their entire team would not be injured like the last two years if they did.

Mastroianni gets my vote for CF and leadoff if Mauer is not considered. He is a very exciting player if he can get on base like he has in his minor league career. He is a natural base stealer. Not a guy that is just fast but a guy that has the intangibles to steal 100 bases if he can get on base enough. Hicks is not ready yet in my opinion. He did have a break through season last year in AA but I would like to see that again before he is rushed to the show. AAA is not important in my opinion but he had bad numbers before last season at AA, especially from the left-handed side of the plate for sure. That makes me worried. If he had over .300 years in the lower levels and had a year like last year at AA, I would say give him a shot to be the CF/leadoff hitter out of spring training until Buxton is ready but he has really only had one above average year.

Mauer is the ideal leadoff hitter but without leadoff speed. His natural spot is in the #2 spot like Carew because they are both singles hitters but as a leadoff hitter he has one at bat where he can't hit into a double play. This is not a knock on him, it is because he gets solid wood on the ball more than anyone that he leads all of MLB in double plays but he would get a chance to bat at least once every game with no one on base, probably more than once with the number 9 hitter making the last out quite often. Because of his huge size, it is hard to think of him as a Carew type hitter but that is what he is. He is definitely not an ideal #3 hitter that Gardy keeps putting him in as. The leadoff hitter gets more at bats over the season than any other batter also. Probably 20% more at bats would be a good thing for the best on base guy in baseball also.

I like your idea to bat Mauer leadoff. Now before everyone blows this idea off, think about it...What do you want in an ideal leadoff? Mauer has everything except speed. It is an unconventional place to bat a guy with his size but he doesn't hit like a 6' 5" 240 pound monster, He hits like a 5' 10" 180 pound guy at the most. Another couple reasons to bat Mauer leadoff. He will lead the league in on base percentage almost every year, no matter where he bats. He will get about 100 more at bats in a year than batting 3rd. He will have one at bat per game that he can't kill a rally by hitting into a double play. The Twins need to realize that Joe is not a three hole hitter. He has never had 100 RBIs and he hits third??? The #2 hole like Rod Carew is where his natural spot is but with all his double plays, it might make sense for him to bat leadoff. The only thing he lacks from being a perfect leadoff hitter is blazing speed, otherwise he is perfect.

I am in the minority I'm sure but I believe that we are an ace away from competing but that ace is not RA Dickey. I do not believe he is an ace no matter that he won the the Cy Young, even if he has had three very good ERA years after he left the Twins. (BTW, between he and David Ortiz, that is a good argument against TR being able to see into the future). Knuckleball pitchers cause many issues (passed balls, stollen bases, etc) that other pitchers do not have to deal with. Grienke is the ace that we need in my opinion. We still need a #2 and a #3 starter before we are competitive but I think TR will find a couple of #3 guys like he usually does and it will be much easier to sign them once Grienke is here. Grienke is the real deal as an ace. He matches up well with other aces like Verlander and CC Sabathia to name a couple that we need to worry about to be competitive. This strategy is not without risk but to say that it is not a viable strategy is more stupid than my suggesting it. My main points are these: If it were my money and I had a team that was the worst in the American League two years in a row after getting a new stadium, I would make sure that we were competitive in 2013. I would not spend $100 million again this year on a team without a real number one or two starter, because that team will not get over .500. I would still put together that $100 million team but I would replace one of the $5-$10 million guys we are hearing rumors about with Grienke, I know that this increases payroll to $110 or $115 million but I believe it also makes this team competitive. I would keep accumulating good arms in the minors like he is doing (Draft another couple with the #4 and #34 picks coming up.) for the future but we need to realize that the odds are very low that one of these kids will be an ace. It can happen but an ace needs to have more than just strikeout power. He needs control and consistency to go with that live arm. That is very rare and it is what Grienke has. The last thing an ace needs is ice in his veins and a willingness to throw the team on his back when needed. That Grienke has not proven that he has or doesn't have because he has never been on the big stage but there is no other starter available that is that much of the real deal as he is. Ask yourself this, if the Twins build the same team as TR always does for a $100m payroll or they replace one starter with Grienke and spend $115m let's say, which team would you bet your money on doing the best that year and every year after that. I understand fully the risk of a pitcher being one injury away from being paid $40 million for two years of rehab but I still would spend the extra $15m per year on him if it were my money. I also think that Jim Pohlad has proven that he will go to $115m if he can be convinced that it will make the team a winner. You can't build a long term winner by paying more than Mauer and Grienke this crazy money but you need to supplement your young guys with at least two to three superstars. You can trade them if the young guys turn out to be good enough but you need proven superstars until these young guns are here to stay. Mauer and Grienke cost us $43 million of a $115m payroll and that is about a third of it but I think it needs to be done to build a team that consistently competes every year. This team has a good enough offense, bullpen and an OK defense, they just need a #1 and a #2 starter and they are competitive. They can get there with $115m in mlb payroll. Just my $.02

Why is everyone throwing around these big numbers for pitchers that will not make the team viable this decade. We need to spend a little more per year: $20 million or so or 7 years, 140 million for the 29 year old Grienke. He would be the Ace this team desperately needs not a 39 year old circus performer knuckleballer at his peak (that we also had the year prior to his three year excellent run). I say that the extra $20 million per year changes us from a below .500 team for the rest of the decade to an annual contender. I know payroll needs to go up but if it were my money, I would rather bet on a $110-$120 million payroll with Grienke than a $100 million payroll or more for RA Dickey or Dempster. The Twins have spent this much in MLB payroll the last three years and it is clear that this team without a #1 or #2 starter will not compete. With Grienke, Terry Ryan would also not have to keep begging average at best pitchers to take his money. No FA pitcher of any value wants to go to a team not serious about contending now (no matter what TR says, we are not a contender without a #1 or #2 starter). No team is! Attendance and overall revenue will keep declining unless the Twins field a competitor and prove to the fans that buying them a new stadium was going to make us competitive. It is a huge lie so far but I am not giving up on Jim Pohlad. TR is a cheapskate but JP is not cheap like his Father. He just needs someone to convince him that spending the money will be a good investment. I feel strongly that adding Grienke for a $120m total payroll is a much smarter investment than $100 million on a team without a #1 or a #2 pitcher. We are competitive in our division with an ace that matches up with Verlander or any other ace and not competitive without an ace.

All these pitchers are going to get $10 million plus and they are not great pitchers. Sign Grienke! Would you rather have Grienke at $20m or two of these average at best pitchers at $10 million. TR is going to give us another five #3-#5 starters and we won't gey above .500. We need an ace and that is Grienke. It would be a smart business move by Jim Pohlad. Spending $100 million for a team under .500 next year will get attendance to keep dropping every year. Spend an extra #20 million and get Grienke and Twins Nation jumps back on the bandwaggin to stay for the rest of the decade. Jim Pohlad will not say no to a smart business investment. The $120m payroll option is a much higher return gamble in my opinion. Grienke is considering KC according to rumors. He will definitely consider MN. He seems like the type that would not like the NY, Boston or LA lifestyle. Get aggressive TR! We told you that we needed an ace in 2011 and 2012 and you ignored us and signed a bunch of projects. That didn't work. What to do in 2013? Ignore the need for an ace to anchor the rotation or ??? The definition of insanity is...

This is no reason to hit the button. The Braves are out for Span but Upton is now off the market, so the other teams interested in Upton are now more interested in Span. The number one thing the team needs is a true Ace. A number one starter is essential. I am on the sign Grienke bandwagon. I hope people jump on this wagon and get the cheapest GM in the business to go out and sign Grienke or he is going to pick up 3 or 4 bottom of the rotation guys and we will lose 90 plus again. An ace for the staff turns this from a 90+ loss to a 90+ win team. It is sooooo important to have a true ace on the staff. We cant let TR get away with 5 mid level starters or we will never compete in our division.

I respectively disagree that the number of wins for a starting pitcher is an important statistic. The team needs a #1 starter that brings much more to the team than two average middle rotation pitchers. He keeps the team from going into long slumps. He changes the whole teams perspective on everything including how they look at a 3 game series when the ace has game 3. An ace gives his team a chance to win every 5 days but gives the team a psychological advantage on the other 4 games in between also. Obviously, he cannot win on his own or the Royals would have three World Championship rings but if you don't see the advantage of Detroit having Verlander for example, beyond his 18-20 wins or so a year then you will never agree with me on this. Grienke is one of only a handful of starters that can be an ace in my opinion and it has nothing to do with his Ws. He is controlled, overpowering and consistent and that qualifies him as an ace in my book. The Twins don't have to have Grienke, but they must have our own version of Verlander or Sabathia from somewhere else or the best they will be is a .500 team. If we can't get Grienke then we need to find an ace somewhere else but to think substituting three #3 starters instead of paying for a #1 is just as good, will guarantee that we will not produce a winning attitude or a winning team this decade. I hope we have one or even better, a couple of potential aces in our system somewhere or that we can somehow pick up in a trade but I don't see one that can be controlled, overpowering and consistent enough to be our Ace!

We have the richest owners in all of baseball. This could cost $20 million a year but it is what the team needs. From the Pohlad's perspective, spend $100 million and be non competitive for the next 7 years and slowly lose the fan excitement that was at Target field in 2010 and 2011 but is slipping or spend $120 million per year on payroll for example and have a team that could win the division every year if Grienke stays healthy. Paying for an ace is the cost of admission to build a championship team. I wish that pitchers were not this expensive but the secret is no longer a secret...pitching wins! Either one comes from your system and you still end up paying huge money to keep the pitcher on your team or you sign one as a FA like the other teams that win have to do. We need to stop assuming that the Pohlad's have a payroll limit of $80-$100 million. I'm sure they want to spend the least amount that they can to win but they are smart enough businessmen to realize that they need an ace on the staff to win championships or to even be competitive. My rule of thumb that has absolutely no scientific basis, is that a team needs at least three superstar players to win. Grienke and Mauer are two, so we need another one to come from the ranks and surprise us. One of the young kids like Liriano did for us in 2006. We actually had 4 for sure that year. Mauer, Morneau, Santana and Nathan all qualified that year with honorary mention to Liriano and Hunter. 2006 was my favorite Twins year ever. 87 meant a lot and 91 was awesome but 2006 was so great even with the three game loss t the A's in the first round. That year was so exciting. Every day, we expected them to win in July, August and September. They locked up the wild card early on but that was the year that the team and all of us stayed to watch the Royals sweep the Tigers to get us the division on the last day. The Tigers won the pennant that year but I wouldn't trade it for the year we had. That was the year that Mike Redmond could smell the RBIs!

I think with this many teams going after pitching, average pitchers are going to get huge long term contracts. In one respect I feel sorry for Terry Ryan but in another sense we are all so tired of never getting an ace on this team because he is always bottom feeding. An ace will make the entire staff better and it is sorely needed. I think TR needs to forget what a cheapskate he is and be the highest bidder for the only true ace on the market. I don't even have to say his name, that is how clearly it is that there is only one. If we put on a full court press to get Grienke, Damn it! I said the name...we can get him. Target field is a great place to settle down and make a hundred million or so, ok maybe $150 on a 7 year deal to match Mauers end of his 8 year deal. For a pitcher like this, the Pohlads will not say no. He is that good and they will understand that. I get so frustrated with Ryan because every time I hear the Pohlad's talk, they say that they have never said no to the baseball guys when they have asked and I think they backed that up the last year we were competitive by getting some trade deadline high priced guys in 2010. We had about a $120 million payroll that year. Have some guts Terry and ask him for the money for this deal and see if he will still not say no. I think Jim Pohlad wants to win more than Dad. He doesn't want to throw away money but he will spend it if he believes we can win for many years to come with this. Then we can trade an outfielder or two for a #2 starter and then Terry can go back to bottom feeding. I know that there a lot of other teams that want him and they are not 90+ game losing teams but that money could switch the team to 90+ wins and get back in the race with the Tigers and Verlander. This is our only chance. We will never compete without an ace to anchor the staff. I really hope this notorious cheapskate surprises us. Rumor has it this starting pitcher I am not mentioning is considering going back to KC. If he would do that, I think we can offer him a deal to finish his career in Minnesota. I know it is only a rumor but still...sell him on how great it will be for his family in Minnesota. Have Mauer and Morneau call him. Put on the full court press! Sorry this is so long but I really think we need to start talking about this and hopefully build up some grass roots on this to get TR to listen. I know that his job is very tough but he needs to know that this is the going rate for an Ace and we need one badly. I think that this guy is one of the few legitimate aces that there is out there. He can match up with CC, Verlander, etc. and he is worth the risk. If it was my money, I would do this because I think it is the only way that we can be competitive for the rest of this decade. We need to get lucky on a couple other guys too like Gibson or another young guy but we need this anchor to make these kids better. It would scare me to spend that much on a pitcher's arm that could get blown out any day and need reconstructive surgery but it has to be done. Just my $.02...

I think with this many teams going after pitching, average pitchers are going to get huge long term contracts. In one respect I feel sorry for Terry Ryan but in another sense we are all so tired of never getting an ace on this team because he is always bottom feeding. An ace will make the entire staff better and it is sorely needed. I think TR needs to forget what a cheapskate he is and be the highest bidder for the only true ace on the market. I don't even have to say his name, that is how clearly it is that there is only one. If we put on a full court press to get Grienke, Damn it! I said the name...we can get him. Target field is a great place to settle down and make a hundred million or so, ok maybe $150 on a 7 year deal to match Mauers end of his 8 year deal. For a pitcher like this, the Pohlads will not say no. He is that good and they will understand that. I get so frustrated with Ryan because every time I hear the Pohlad's talk, they say that they have never said no to the baseball guys when they have asked and I think they backed that up the last year we were competitive by getting some trade deadline high priced guys in 2010. We had about a $120 million payroll that year. Have some guts Terry and ask him for the money for this deal and see if he will still not say no. I think Jim Pohlad wants to win more than Dad. He doesn't want to throw away money but he will spend it if he believes we can win for many years to come with this. Then we can trade an outfielder or two for a #2 starter and then Terry can go back to bottom feeding. I know that there a lot of other teams that want him and they are not 90+ game losing teams but that money could switch the team to 90+ wins and get back in the race with the Tigers and Verlander. This is our only chance. We will never compete without an ace to anchor the staff. I really hope this notorious cheapskate surprises us. Rumor has it this starting pitcher I am not mentioning is considering going back to KC. If he would do that, I think we can offer him a deal to finish his career in Minnesota. I know it is only a rumor but still...sell him on how great it will be for his family in Minnesota. Have Mauer and Morneau call him. Put on the full court press! Sorry this is so long but I really think we need to start talking about this and hopefully build up some grass roots on this to get TR to listen. I know that his job is very tough but he needs to know that this is the going rate for an Ace and we need one badly. I think that this guy is one of the few legitimate aces that there is out there. He can match up with CC, Verlander, etc. and he is worth the risk. If it was my money, I would do this because I think it is the only way that we can be competitive for the rest of this decade. We need to get lucky on a couple other guys too like Gibson or another young guy but we need this anchor to make these kids better. It would scare me to spend that much on a pitcher's arm that could get blown out any day and need reconstructive surgery but it has to be done. Just my $.02...

I think it was a huge mistake for this team to release Nathan, Liriano and now Baker. We got virtually nothing for these guys. Wouldn't it make sense to sign them to three year contracts instead of declining their option (or trading Liriano at his lowest trade value point). Then trade them if you don't think they are showing enough value to deserve what you are paying them. At least we either get value out of them or trade for value. We are DESPERATE for pitching and Ryan is too cheap to get front line starters. We now need 1, 2, 4 & 5 starters (assuming Diamond is a 3). Big mistake letting these three go in my opinion. Ryan will never sign or trade for 4 starters. Baker could come back as a #2 but count on him as #4 or #5 for this year, Liriano could be a #4 or 5 and Nathan could be the closer if he wasn't already gone to TX. Perkins is a good set up guy but he is not a closer. Too many home runs in critical situations. Ryan could then get a #1 and a #2 starter and he is done. Bottom line: TR needs to step up and sign Greinke to a long term deal. Over pay for him but tell every other free agent player that the Twins are serious about building a starting rotation that can win plus a team that could go worst to first. I am tired of hearing about the payroll. We built them the stadium and their part of the deal is to build a winner. It was not to build the best team on a budget, it is the best team period. The Pohlad's have plenty of money and I have never heard them say (in public anyway) that there is a limit on what Ryan can spend. He puts that on himself.

I agree. If not those 4 and a couple more!!!! This team needs 4 starters now that they let Baker and Liriano go.