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Great report, thrylos, thanks. I agree, I do not want to watch Kubel and Bartlett play this summer, and I cringe at the thought of watching Presley on an every day basis.

Thanks for the terrific report and great pictures, thrylos. You brightened my morning.

And I think a part of this ugly history can be traced to their lack of investment in building up an international scouting and development capacity, and particularly a Dominican presence, until just several years ago. Finally, we're seeing some impressive evidence of a future payoff from that. Danny Santana might just replace Florimon by mid-summer. But I do think you're being just a tad harsh in calling the decisions of who played MI an outright disaster most seasons. Disastrous choices, maybe, but not disastrous decisions most of the time. But Castro. I know.

Brock, I'm not defending their decisions. Over the years, they've given us plenty of ammunition and some big targets, Castro being the poster boy. But to say that it's Gardy's MO to play crappy players, which was the basic message to which I reacted, is a bit of a cheap shot, that's all. Back to Escobar versus Florimon.

Why is it not possible to simply argue that the field staff is wrong in it's viewpoint that Florimon makes them better as a team than Escobar as the starting SS?

Come on, thrylos, isn't that a cheap shot on Gardy? He played those players because they were his best option, the lesser of two evils. He played the best players he had to work with, thrylos. THAT's his MO.

Florimon has likely shown that he'll be 100% by opening day, just not to us. I see no reason to be disquieted by Santana's departure ahead of Bernier or Bartlett. Santana has his marching orders: go down and get your act together regarding routine plays, and if you demonstrate the ability to slow the game down on defense, you'll be back up. No one expects Bernier to take a sudden jump from his AAAA ceiling. Bartlett either beats out Escobar or he doesn't, and I personally hope he gets his walking papers. Having both Bartlett and Escobar on the bench would really be dissappointing. I'm not as upset about the prospects of watching Florimon for much of 2013 as others. He's fun to watch on defense, and he was sent to winter ball to work on cutting down his strikeouts, and if he shows some improvement in that regard, his AB's may be slightly more bearable.

Fair point. Although we don't know what the Twins scouts thought of these guys, so it may be as much about value, which, your protests notwithstanding, they have a right to embrace, as it does thrift. I used to complain about them being out of touch with the Japanese market, and still think they might be. It could be that they simply choose to focus resources on, say, Europe and Australia. But my guess, and it's just conjecture, is that because the Cuban market tends to get over-hyped and the bids get very aggressive, the Twins will lose these bidding contests. It's just not their MO to get in the mix. Maybe they'd rather devote scouting resources elsewhere (my guess here) and more quietly go after Thorpe and Barrie in Australia or Kepler and Verkerk in Europe.

I read somewhere I think that the same area scout who drafted Buxton is overseeing the scouting effort on Turner, but of course numerous scouts will study him. Now, if one insists on crediting Billy Smith for landing Sano, one must discredit the man for his fail on Nishi. I personally think both would be a product of one's lack of understanding of how a large organization goes about such important business. Worley and May were and still are considered by most as a very good return for Revere. If you're struggling with the limited admiration shown for Revere, look no further than at ALL his stats, such as his very pedestrian OBP, then ask yourself the question as to why he got pitched to the bottom of the order and drew the wrath of the Phillies fans in the blogs, and finally, ask yourself honestly why you might think he's going to get any better from here on out. Good trade, Mr. Ryan. "A bunch of college relievers" is a phrase you've used before to cast a bad light on the decision about guys like Melotakis, Bard, and Chargois. Do you believe the verdict is in on those guys? And remember, mike, the same guys who made the call on those guys brought you Thorpe, Tonkin, Stewart, Goncalves, Berrios, Romero, Jorge, Jones, Eade, Rosario....not sure, mike, but you may have mentioned "a bunch of college relievers" and inadvertently forgot to mention these guys. More reasons to wonder, right? Again, they have FIVE DOZEN PEOPLE involved in scouting and development. Of course it's the "same people that loved Sano and Buxton". According to many, there's never ANY turnover of personnel with the Twins.

Yes, he's fun to watch. But we should remember that the Twins liked the kid long before any of us did, back when his minor league stats looked pretty bad. They have every incentive to place him on the big club. It will be up to Pinto to demonstrate that he's ready. We may not be able to really see the signs that he needs more development time though, because they'll likely be about how he's handling himself behind the plate. Hopefully he'll be ready.

Just caught mike's update. Thanks, mike, we're good as always.

mike, it's not about caring so much as respecting someone else's decisions. Also, it doesn't do fans any good if our favorite team make irresponsible financial decisions that later must be rectified. It's really not that dissimilar to how most of us respect our employers' interests in turning a profit. In a bad year, we're not going to snicker in our cubicles gloating that they're losing their shirts, even if we feel a bit underpaid. So yeah, some of us "care".

This would make sense if we knew what Santana would have taken. For argument's sake, I'll guess Santana wanted $42M over 3 years and the Twins decided that he wasn't worth that bet. So they let Santana roll his own dice with someone else.

This is especially true when the offer represents a multi-year solution rather than a one-year partial fix.

My infatuation with him is equally baseless, but I hang my hat on the fact that they threw him into the AFL and then gave him a 40-man spot.

I'm never bothered with people disagreeing with me. I'm bothered by comments like the ones above from savvy, and yours, too to a lesser degree: "I'm still waiting for the Twins to spend money on prospects when the opportunity arises." It's a comment completely contrary to the reality, mike. Now, of course you want them to spend all the money they can. You even have said you're entitled to that. But then, you ignore the facts and complain they didn't sign the absolutely most expensive guy? That they instead settled on Lewin Diaz and Amaurys Minier, while ignoring the inaccuracy of your claim by refusing to acknowledge their successes at outbidding everyone for Sano, Kepler, Thorpe, and now Barrie?? Come on, mike. And to complain about not making a strong bid for the one guy the Sox signed? The Sox, who had one of the worst farm systems, and one of the worst records in all of baseball? And mike, I haven't heard anyone say they're spending "the most money they can". So yes, I think your expectations are very unreasonable and simplistic, too. You claim other teams are spending more money on higher-ranked talent, and that's a false generalization. The Cubs, yes. And what the Cubs did is unethical, and I'm glad the Twins aren't cheaters. You know, there have been a lot of FA opportunities over the past couple years that we as fans would have liked to see the team pursue, and I have no problem whatsoever with disagreements when the team passes or gets outbid on a specific player, but here's my thought on that: applying a standard of reasonableness (meaning one could accept passing on, say Greinke or accept spending no more than, say $100M in an offseason), IF the Twins had signed enough FA talent over the last two offseason to satisfy almost every other fan but perhaps you , the team would probably win 87 games in 2014. And, they would be hamstrung financially and competitively in the future, with a roster full of declining, quarrelsome, injured malcontents. That's why I can accept passing on someone like Drew. We have a 25 win problem, not a 2 win problem, and the only fix is the one underway. It may not be fast enough for you, and it may not empty Jim Pohlad's wallet the way you believe it should, and that's fine. Knock yourself out continuing to make that case, my friend. It won't bother me, honest.

I gotta laugh. Here we go again. Someone signs with another team, and out come the ridiculous generalizations about how the Twins don't spend money to acquire prospects. And how so many other teams take financial risks to snatch up the premier talent while we sit on our hands and Jim Pohlad lines his pockets. It's such total nonsense, my friends. Who signed Sano, the consensus top prospect in his signing year? What about paying Kepler a record amount for a European kid? Who else was there when Thorpe signed for a half-mill? Another half-mill on Barrie last week. Lewin Diaz was a top ten international prospect when we signed him. The year before, it was #7 ranked Amaurys Minier and #22 Silva. They've been investing heavily internationally and we're going to see the dividends: Arcia, Sano, Pinto, Santana,Vargas, Kepler, Polanco, Jorge, Thorpe, Romero, Minier, Barrie.....these prospects are a big part of why the smart guys out there are effusive about our farm system. So yeah, we can complain about this guy as a missed opportunity, but let's put to bed this silliness that the Twins just won't spend money to land good prospects.

You know, if the Twins actually WERE guilty of publicizing offers of contracts to free agents that didn't sign with them, how would that make them look? Sleasy and dishonest, right? What's exasperating about a post like this, kwak, is that it's not factual and it's patently unfair. To even suspect the team of something like this is cynical.

Exactly. Kris Johnson is not Ryan's idea of rebuilding either. Why is it so unclear that: 1) we're going through an incremental process here of building assets up from very low levels; 2) that it's not going to happen on anybody's "schedule" and will be subject to some fits and starts, such as injuries and other setbacks; 3) that most of this rebuilding absolutely HAS to come from prospects, since we have lacked tradable assets and scouring the FA market has its perils when overdone; and 4) there are other, more reality-based measurements of progress that looking back at a W-L record? So yeah, the first few months of 2014 will probably consist of some unwatchable baseball. But 2014 wll be better than 2013 just like many of us hoped. And when we express further optimism about 2015, we won't deserve criticism for sounding like a broken record to some of the rest of you. Regardless of when (or even if IMO) it all comes together, I'm going to treated to the unfolding of this rebuilding process. Remember, just two years ago, the consensus around here was that we had a crappy prospect pipeline. Some of these guys will fail, but many will begin their carreers in earnest some time during 2014. Only a handful of teams are infusing their MLB roster with this kind of talent over the next 2-3 years. This is going to be fun! So Kris Johnson, Sean Gilmartin? Meh.

It's too early to tell if he's going to be one of those guys with an ongoing tendency to self-destruct, but he's waving a big red flag. Makes me glad we have Dozier and Polanco around.

Of course it's fair to discuss it. You and I have different definitions of impact players I guess, but that's hardly relevant. They go through the same drill regardless of the quality of player. What's relevant to me is that you and I have NEVER placed an impact player on a roster and wouldn't know much about what it entails. So, while I respect your thoughts on the best course of action, I'll probably find the Twin's explanation of the decision to be pretty sound, given their familiarity with all the important details.

If he starts the season in the minors, it will be because that's the best path for his future development, and not because the dozens of field staffers for the Twins who have a role in his development are taking some pre-determined course of action. And certainly not because they just don't understand that the option exists to let him take his lumps up here. These people know what they're doing.

Just for saying something that stupid, I'd trade him to the Cubs or White Sox and let him try his luck in the Windy City.

The only thing that was probably "predetermined" was the need to have a backup plan should Pinto not quite be ready for the job. The notion of the Twins assuming Pinto is bad at handling pitchers because he can hit and is being punished for being a good hitter? How dumb do you think these people are? Such silliness.

Nicely articulated, John. I would imagine the least objective party regarding a player's progress would be the player. We outsiders lack the information necessary to gauge the present state of things and to predict the development path, because all we have to go on are some stats and the comments we glean from people with firsthand knowledge and each other. Personally, I discount interpretations and conclusions from players and outsiders. On the other hand, the field staffs' paychecks are based on accurate current assessments and the future progress of the players. They are paid to be objective, and surely account for all those things we outsiders know almost nothing about: personality traits, good and bad, intelligence, internal drive, etc. Unfortunately for us, we only get snippets. Delmon Young's A**hole Quotient was off the charts. Don't you think that privately, his managers and coaches would tell you that this is the single most important factor in his squandering of his talent?