golfboy1

I wouldn't be quite that hard on them. I'd prefer Kolek if he's available but there are definitely questions or concerns about him. Anyone that throws that hard is a candidate for TJ surgery. He also doesn't seem to be much more than a thrower right now. He "could" turn into the next Colt Griffin as easy as CC Sabathia. I'd still take him but I can see why the Twins would go with Gordon or Jackson instead.

Are you really using Pat Neshek as an example of Andersons failure's? For starters, Neshek was dominating for the first two years he pitched for the Twins. Does Anderson get any credit for that or was it just luck? Next, Neshek blows out his arm & comes back with way less stuff than before. Yes, the Twins "gave up" on him but how long & how many injured pitchers can they keep on their roster until they "maybe" bounce back? As far as Neshek being "lights out" the last few years, he has pitched very few innings & he has a severe R/L split. He is basically a RH Loogy. Answer me this. If he was so lights out with Oakland, how come they didn't even put him on their playoff roster last year & then took him off their 40 man roster? Even in his two years in Oakland when he had decent stats LH batters pounded him. They had an OPS of 1.108 in 2012 & .922 in 2013. He had to be used in very special situations to have success. We are talking about a guy who made 69 appearances & pitched a total 0f 60 innings in two years.

Every team has this history. Players who are really good often play SS growing up. Justin Upton, Adam Jones & Mike Moustakas were all drafted in the 1st rnd as SS but I don't think anyone thought they would play in the ML at that position. Sano & Cuddyer were never thought of as SS. Several of the others were given a chance until they played themselves off the position. That's the norm in ML baseball, it's not just a Twins thing. Billy Hamilton played SS until last year & then moved to CF. There is a real good chance Javier Baez will move off SS in the future. From all I've read or heard, Gordon has the defensive ability to stay at SS. It's a matter of how well his bat develops to warrant a high pick on him.

I'm not even a Anderson fan but this seems nit picking. I also don't think Anderson has an ironclad reputation. He has plenty of critics...some of which is well deserved. Lohse definitely pitched better after he left. I think he had issues with Anderson & Gardy that caused problems. You can blame either side for that I guess. Neshek pitched great until he blew out his arm. Since then he's been released several times & pitched limited innings. I guess Oakland didn't even think enough of him to put him on their playoff roster last year. They also thought so little of him they let him go this off season. Galfour had decent success for the Twins & I think would have really good but he also blew out his arm. That happens. I don't think you can blame Anderson for that or the fact that 6 years later Balfour finally became successful. Ayala?? The guy pitched a total of 32 innings his whole Twins career. His ERA was 4.18, which was better than the 5.71 he put up the year before. He's really irrelevant. Crain was pretty good here. The Twins spent time developing him & he cashed in. Pitchers that nose dived after they left? Carlos Silva sure did. Juan Rincon , Dennys Reyes. I actually don't care for Anderson that much, mostly because of the "pitch to contact" philosophy but he can't be blamed for Worley's problems. Maybe Worley wasn't fully recovered from his surgery but his stuff didn't look good & I don't know how you can coach that kind of stuff to succeed. I'd be really surprised if he ever is a successful ML pitcher again. He might be a back of the rotation filler some day...but we already have plenty of those types .

I don't know. They both have a chance to succeed or fail completely but so far Hicks is the one who has shown he can't hit ML pitching( so far). I like Santana more than most since I believe he has the tools to be plus on both sides of the ball. He probably has a high fail rate but you can't teach that kind of speed or arm. Hopefully they can teach him some patience & to smooth out his game. Hicks still has a chance but I don't recall to many players who started their career with his hitting stats who went onto a successful future. cmathewson compared him to Guzman & that's probably a good comp. Guzman was a pretty good SS for few years

I'll give them some slack. Having this many injuries compounds the situation but they still could have done a much better job. Kubel & Colabello slotted into the corner outfield spots for Arcia & Willingham so that worked out ok. At the start of the season Hicks was the only CF on the roster, unless you count a 34yr old infielder (Bartlett). The only other CF @ AAA was Mastroianni, who they managed to lose acquiring another AAAA CF (Fuld). At the least, they should have kept Alex Presley instead of Bartlett. Or they could have went after someone like Bonifacio. The fact that Hicks is struggling shouldn't have come as a big surprise. What was their plan if/when that happened?

Exactly. Hicks is struggling to hit ML pitching. Who could have possibly seen that coming??? So their backup plan was Jason Bartlett?? And their AAA plan was Mastroianni? That's not a good plan.

As long as I'm piling on the Twins here is another thing that bugs me. Bullpen management. We wouldn't need 8 RP if they would let them pitch more than one fricken inning. Not counting Deduno, the other 7 RP have made 88 relief appearances & pitched a total of 89 innings. If a pitcher has a good, clean inning there is no reason he can't go back out for another inning...or more. "Back in the days", even the closer would often come in before the 9th inning if necessary. Gardy wouldn't need so many RP'ers if he would extend them more when the circumstances allowed him to.

It hurts my brain to think of it that way. I'm just going to pretend he's playing a very, very deep SS today. At this point, it's actually comical. Our LF is a 3rd string catcher, who hit's like a 3rd string catcher, we have a backup MI in CF & a RF nobody else would sign before spring training. Am I missing anything?? You could say they have had bad luck with 2 CF going down but the truth is Hicks shouldn't even be in the ML right(he's hitting .178) now & Fuld is a backup at best. What kind of a plan is that?

What a complete cluster@#%$#% this roster has become. Forcing Escobar to play OF was bad enough, now things got worse instead of better. I usually give the FO the benefit of the doubt since it's their job & they should have far more insight than us average fans but this is ridiculous. Even if Guerrier still is a decent relief pitcher(& that's debatable) this makes little sense. The only strength to this team is it's bullpen & we already have more relief pitchers than we should. How is adding a 35yr old RP a big help? I know Burton has been struggling but I think his future is at least as good as Guerrier's & we have plenty of relief arms in the minors. I can't figure out what's going on. Are they actually worried about losing Guerrier? So what. I like him & all but he has about the same long term value as Jason Bartlett does. Send Florimon down. I think Nunez should come up & Santana go down but either is a better option right now. Add either Arcia or Parmelee so we can actually have an OF playing the OF

That's pretty funny. It'd be hilarious except that it's probably the truth. I really enjoy watching Florimon play defense but he is so messed up at the plate they should send him down & hope he can improve enough to warrant his return. I think a combo of Escobar & Nunez is probably the best option for now.

According to BA the Twins released Austin Malinowski. He's young, left handed & has had pretty decent stats in his two seasons. I'm curious with why he was released & the timing seems a little unusual also.

What mistake did the Twins make with Gibson last year? He didn't exactly lit it up after he made his ML debut last year. Comparing what Miami did with Fernandez & Meyer with the Twins is not a good example. For starters, Fernandez is a far superior prospect who was able to jump levels without missing a beat better than almost anyone since Dwight Gooden. Meyers is a great talent but he is ranked anywhere from the 12th to the 22nd best starting pitcher in the minors. That's still talented but not quite the same. IMHO Miami lost 100 games with Fernandez, will probably lose a bunch more this year & in another few years he will become too expensive for them to keep so he will be traded away. Would it have really affected their season last year if he had been kept down long enough to retain 1 extra year of service?

I'm really looking forward to seeing Meyer also but a little patience isn't a bad thing. He's had ONE great start, his previous start was a clunker & his overall stats are good but not great. I think giving him another 6 thru 10 starts isn't going to hurt & if he strings together a bunch of good/great starts they will have to find room for him. I mean if we are going to promote everyone who had a good game at AAA recently we better find room for Parmelee, Bernier & Farris also. Meyer has great stuff, obviously better than any of the current Twins starters but he still needs more than 4 starts at AAA before he should be called up. (IMHO)

That is an interesting comp. Iglesias minor league stats don't indicate he has much offensive ability either. One main difference is Detroit had Cabrera, Infante & Fielder as IF'ers so they could afford a good field, no hit SS easier than the Twins can. I don't think anyone is claiming that Florimon doesn't suck (big large sucking sound) as a hitter. I just believe that Florimon is the best current option @ SS & if he could improve to .250 & take a few more walks he would be more than adequate. I really enjoy watching him play defense. I think he's an elite defender & he & Dozier turn far more DP than previous DP combo's. I occasionally listen to the other teams announcers & they often rave about his defensive ability....offense, not so much. I'd give him until at least June 1 to show improvement, probably longer unless Nunez shows a lot @ AAA.

That's right, they don't have anyone else who is ready to play ML SS right now so they might as well go with Florimon & hope he learns to hit. He's really very good defensively & if the Twins had a better offense from other positions it wouldn't be so bad. Right now, I can't think of one position where the Twins have someone who is one of the best offensive players at their position. If Colabello & Plouffe keep it up they will be but I'm not certain that will happen. Florimon is the best defensive SS the Twins have had in a long time....maybe Greg Gagne was as good... so I think they should stick with him for awhile. If he could just cut down on his SO & make better contact he would be a valuable player.

I've heard about his speed but I've never seen him before. The play where he tagged at 2nd on a short fly to right might have been more impressive. I believe it was Sickels or Callis that said you have to see him in person to really realize how insanely fast he is. He's hands down the fastest player they had ever seen

Florimon is a great defensive SS but he is there basically by default. " No way our scouts looked at Nunez and thought Gardy would put up with his defense" Are these the same scout's that thought Nishioki was a ML defensive SS? Actually, I don't know if Nunez is as bad a defensive SS as his reputation. At one point, he was considered Jeter's heir apparent & the Yankees refused to include him in a trade for Cliff Lee. I think it's worth taking a chance on Nunez. Sulbaran's stats are better than his potential (IMHO) & his upside is a LH relief pitcher.

Yeah, I can see them keeping Kubel over Parmelee based on his past performance but I don't think either one of them has much of a chance for future success. Kubel was bad last year & even in his previous good season his 2nd half was not very good. He batted .210 with an OBP of .275 in the 2nd half of 2012 so it's been awhile since he's been good. It's not so much losing Presley & demoting the others as seeing that this team is so bad they are giving a spot to a 34 yr. old who didn't play last year, hit .133 the yr. before & batted .086 this spring. Really? , is that the best we can do? The funny part is, when Bartlett was here the first time he outplayed Juan Castro by a mile in the 2006 spring & Gardy still sent him down because he didn't display "leadership" qualities that Gardy thought his SS should. Now, apparently since he's a vet he acquired the necessary "grit" to make the team.

All 3 players performed poorly this spring & are not a big lose but it's still hard to believe they would go with Bartlett & Kubel over them. I mean, those 2 guys have no future beyond now & I can't see them being worth anything in a midseason trade. Presley has underperformed but now we are stuck with one OF who can play ML level defense & he hasn't proven he can hit. I hope there is some sort of future move coming. I don't mind the Diamond & Parmelee moves. I'd rather give Colabello a chance over Parmelee . Diamond has been passed by others & Parmelee hasn't ever been able to hit a good fastball.

= . The only guy at AAA who might make a difference is Santana & maybe Rosario later but otherwise it's pretty barren. My counter argument is... they can't get much worse than last year. They gave a lot of AB to Hicks, Thomas, Florimon, an injured Willingham & several other ineffective players. If Willingham is healthy I think he will do much better & Hicks & Florimon (to a lesser extent) had better improve or they are running out of chances. The bullpen might not be better but there were a lot of games when Worley, Hendriks, Diamond, etc, put the Twins in a 5 run hole after several innings. I fully expect the Twins to be competitive in the early innings far more times this year. The are still going to lose plenty of games since their pitching is still only going to be average & the offense will suck but it should be better than last year.

I think the rotation should be significantly better. Nolasco is better than anyone they have had in the last 3 years. Hughes stats from pitching in the AL East, in a hitter friendly park( in a down yr) are still better than the starters he is replacing. I don't think it's out of the question that Gibson will step forward & Meyers(& others) are a possibility down the road. I don't see much @ AAA for hitting so the current guys like Arcia, Pinto, Hicks are going to have to come thru for the offense to be even average. I don't know who is capable of leading off & we have about 4 guys who should be batting 9th. I think you are overstating last years team luck. The were 3 games above their Pythagoreon W-L, not 5. That doesn't seem like much of a factor to me since they have been above the last 4 or 5 yrs. Hey, maybe Gardy has been managing the h### out of the team the last few years! It's been interesting reading this thread to see everyone's opinion. I'd like to state that even though we may disagree I realize we are all Twins fans or we wouldn't even be on this board. Hopefully, this will be the last really crappy team for awhile

Before spring training I thought 75 wins was a reasonable #. That might not happen but I still don't see this team being the worst of the last 4 years. Nolasco & Hughes are a big jump from the guys they are replacing. Getting 60 starts from them alone will make a big difference. I don't know why ZIPS is projecting Mauer to have such a big dip. He missed a lot of games last year & if he stays healthy I don't see any reason for such a large regression. They have Pelfrey going from 2.1 down to 1.1(not .1) which is possible but he could also improve. I like Gibson's chance of turning into a solid pitcher. I think the bullpen should be ok & they have some good arms in AAA for depth. The offense is going to suck..no question about it but the optimist in me is hopeful that Willingham will rebound & Hicks will make a big jump forward. Arcia & maybe Pinto are the only other players that could make a big difference since I don't have hope that Parmelee/Plouffe/Florimon will ever improve much & they are just placeholders at this point. As someone else mentioned, I think the whole division will be weaker so that might factor into them winning a few more games than they otherwise would. They are still going to suck...just not as much as the last few years. (IMHO)

I agree. I realize he's still reasonably young & there is always a chance he will bounce back but do we need to worry that someone will claim a pitcher who had a 7.21 ERA last year and has looked far worse this spring? His upside seems likely to be a #4 or 5 starter & we already have plenty of them. He's been passed by plenty of others. Trevor May was always "the guy" in the Revere trade. Worley was just a decent throw in. I remember hearing that the Phillies thought the league had figured Worley out & he wasn't likely to be successful in the future

He did have value or the Twins never would have gotten Trevor May in the trade. I like Revere but I'm glad they made the trade. WAR can be a useful stat but according to WAR Pedro Florimon had the Twins 3rd best season since he had a 2.1 WAR which is better than everyone not named Mauer or Dozier.