ND-Fan

This signing fits for the Twins in that it fills immediate need and lets them have time to bring Gordon up from the minors this year. The fit hits so many things for the Twins front office in that he replaces Dozier's numbers they had last year, plays adequate second base, the cost is cheap and is one year deal putting no financial burden on the club, also gives time for club to bring up Gordon this year, and if Gordon performs and he performs they trade him at the dead line pickup some prospect in the future. Also another thing little thing by delaying Gordons arrival they say service time on Gordon in the future whether as twin or if they decide to trade him the future. I like to say again the Twins are not going to spend money like everyone has been saying here that they have all this extra spending money. The big question still to come is are they going to invest in any of players long term or are we going to just let year playout and they either trade the player or do a qualifying offer to retain them for another year. My guess is that the latter may be true after i have been thinking about it. I could see the Twins doing qualifying offers on Gibson and Ordorizzi for the coming year. A 19 million dollar one year deal would not be that much higher than if they would have to sign these pitchers if they have good years on the Free agent market. I may be wrong on this but i have inkling this is what might happen. My guess is were looking at major league payroll of around 80 to 85 million unless we should trade for Santanna yet this year. This should leave room to sign a starting pitcher to fill in for the last starter and possibly to find relief pitcher for the bull pen. Everyone thinking they were goiing to have payroll like last year was never going to happen.

I think some of you people better go back and look at some Cave's numbers and it is pretty small sample size but there are some glaring weaknesses in his numbers. First is he is striking already out at 36% of time he comes to bat. I willing to bet that number will increase further come this year as teams have gotten more data on him and have found out what they can exploit on him. Compare this to Kepler he strikes out half the rate Cave does. Second Caves walk rate is half of Keplers walk rate so were dealing with player that put ball in play last year on short sample size got high percentage of hits with ball put into play. This is something i would worry about for the coming year. People on Kepler keep coming back to his numbers have been same for three years but the things i have seen in three years is marked improvement in his at bats they have become more professional in that he has been working the counts in his favor more but he has lapses in his at bats at pitch selections but it has improved each year. Second thing is two years ago he had absolute terrible numbers against left hand pitching but last year he proved he could hit left hand pitching. I look at his swing and way he barrels up the baseball you can see that he's going to hit and other thing is he works on his game and it reported that he works hard on improving his game meaning its only time before everything comes together because he has ability and the effort for this to happen. I also think another factor for him has been i think he has gotten worn down durning the season in past and it learning curve by players to get there body in shape for major league season. The big thing is he has continued to play and hasn't been hurt to where he hasn't played which alot of young players don't achieve. Like i have said earlier he's young player ready to break out become a star player and i hope this front office see's that also.

I agree that he would be decent fit for the Twins if we only have to give up some prospect or two if we get some salary relief. First of all he is first baseman and do like his career numbers on striking out and his hitting. I have no faith in Cron for the coming year for first base. Second its only two years and even if one kids come up from minors we still could use him in DH role / first baseman. Would add no long term commitments for the Twins or prevent the twins locking up some their younger players. The question arise does this fit this Front Office plan for the team because I don't think there plans are to be competitive this year or the next year were in there rebuild for 2021 when there prospects start arriving.

Trading Kepler will be big mistake in my mind because I think he's on verge of becoming a superstar. The numbers say he had underperformed but I think like what was written above if he continues hit ball hard that his numbers are going to improve dramatically. Second he did improve last year he showed he could hit left hand pitching. I think he just got few little things to clean up hitting and also get to better pitch recognition to what he's going to hit at his at bats. Defensively he is ideal player he plays above average center field if needed, very good right field defender and has proven he could also play first base if needed. These are what teams are looking for players that have flexibility and can hit both for power and hits, and has speed to run the bases. He still is 25 years old which means were going to trade a player that is just coming into his prime again for some future prospects time has come for the Twins to decide to keep some of their quality players and start building around them. Yes there are risks in keeping developing players but we sure have proven in past few years going out on free agent market it hard to find quality players unless your willing to pay premium price to acquire them. This Front office better start making some investment in the future because to keep waiting for prospects to develop and arrive all at same time may never come. It requires signing your quality players to longer term deals and continue to add with from your prospects to build a winner.

This front office in my opinion missed good chance to win there first year here but because i believe they came in with the impression that the Twins were so screwed up they were looking to tear down whole team and start over. If they had gone out the first off seasnon and signed couple of relief pitchers and looked for serviceable starter they had chance not only win the wild card but could have won the division. They still had chance even at before trade deadline but again they became sellers of this team and even with this team still made it in as wild card. these oppertunities don't come along often. Then last year yes they added free agents to team that had made wild card but with the back up plan they could sell these Free Agents off for prospects and guess what that is what happened. Second they then decided to trade away some our core players who were becoming free agents because they had not signed any of these players to extension. This would have been logical if we had propects being held up by these players but the fact is we had nothing in pipeline for several years. Also since we waited to last minute to sell these players we got very little in return several A ball players that have potential but we all know that even with high potential very few will make impact at major league level. So now we sit with all our hopes on our top prospects from 3 years ago if they can figure it out and perform at major league level. They are trying to follow the Houston plan to the Tee but what have worked for Houston is no gurantee it works for us. We all know that picking people in draft is not like basketball or football top picks don't necessary mean in three years competing competitively. We all have seen it where you picked higher in draft doesn't mean your pick is going to be next star. Look we had chance to pick Mike Trout once and we were not only other ones either because he wasn't picked until 22 round. Now he is best ball player in baseball so you see this idea of tanking may turn out great but it just lead us to another several years of loosing. Right now i don't see how they expect us to buy tickets to watch this team its bad enough if i want to watch them on TV. I love baseball but this past year its hard to watch this team. The analyticals have made baseball boring and it takes for ever to get game done. We have pitching changes nearly on average 4 to 5 times a game and then add in defensive shifts that create for slow pitching and lowering hitting of players we get game takes 4 to 5 hours with reduction in offense. Yes this has been done to win games but at what cost because with these changes we have ended up in slow moving game and hitters striking out more and trying to hit for home runs. Since baseball has changed because of analytical people making changes to the game we need to have new rules to offset what these people have done to the game. First is we need to limit number of pitching changes in game to say three and if you need a forth pitching change you loose that pitcher for say another 3 games. Also we need to set number of pitchers a team can carry on team. Second would be that position players you need so many on each side of second base and they need to have one foot on dirt cut of the infields this would limit number of shifts in baseball. Changes like this would be no different than what NBA has done with shot clocks, and outlawing zone defenses or Football limiting how players are set on lines or how people are defensed with limiting contact after line of scrimmage. I have been saying this for quite a while we have been in tear down mode slow way with the hope prospects we had would develop to build winning team around if not just continue sell of the pieces look to try to put winner on the field by 2021. I as a fan just hate to be used like this if this your plan tell the truth and then we know what were facing but this like slow torture of hoping they will make a move and in end nothing happens other than taring down and rebuilding.

For all of you posting we should sign Harper we have a better chance of winning the lottery than we signing him to come play for the Twins. First is the Twins would never spend than kind of money one player that he's asking for and second is he would never come to the Twins a small market club and one that is not competitive. The Truth be told i don't think we have shot at any of the top free agents right now they don't want to noncompetitive team like the Twins. Also the Twins are in no position to sign this type of free agent until they better idea of structure of this team. This team has regressed from last year at this time with only hope is that Buxton, Sano, Kepler, and Rosario continue to improve from their peak performances past couple of years. Second that Gordon can make the leap to majors this year and make some impact at the major league level. Also that young pitchers can come up provide quality major league pitching. All these things considered there are lot of ifs which usually equates in not that great a season ahead of us. I look at this club were going to really struggle to score runs not good thing with young pitching staff and more middle of row starters. Look at this team by position 1st. base Cron more power hitting but not the on base percentage of Mauer and definite down grade at fielding. Second base hasn't been filled but longterm probably Gordon; SS we have Polanco viable fielding and overall above average hitting ss; Sano at third base not sure what we have could be all star 3rd baseman or total flop if he doesn't figure out how to hit consistently; Catcher we have Castro adequate but still big question if he can come back from injury, and Garver who could become good backup catcher; LF we have Rosario a major league ready player that overall is slightly above average; CF we have Buxton already best defensive center fielder in the game but can he learn to hit in the Major leagues; RF Kepler above average defensive fielding right fielder and could become above average hitting right fielder. Cave 4 outfielder could be above average both fielding and hitting but here again very short sample size for fielder that has struggled to staying with organizations; DH position that still open but could be filled by several of the current players. This is not team that is poised win it all its a team that could be torn down by August if players have repeat of next year. The funny thing is that these players have won all way up through baseball until they have reached majors. If they fail this year will it because of the players or is it the organization that has failed to help these players win at this level by overloading them with information and new theories on how to play baseball. I think ownership and business people of Twins are going to be tested this year because the decline of attendance and fans following this club are going to continue to decline. Here again were following Cleveland model even when they been winning they have not had increase in attendance. The new baseball people are ruing the game by making it boring to watch and for ever to get games played in normal amount of time. They need to get rules on number pitching changes in game and how positional players are positioned during the game for starters and penalties for teams that are tanking to get better draft picks. These changes would add more offense and teams would go back to caring more positional players than pitchers and finally teams would have to try to win or they would loose their draft picks because of it. If not were going see gradual decline of baseball further and especially with younger generation.

C.j. Cron signing I believe will be another signing similar to last years Morrison signing by this front office the stat numbers look great but when we get on the field his numbers won't hold up for the Twins. I find it ironic that same club had both these players and both times they just let them go even with there stats line. This telling me if Tampa is not willing to sign them again with the numbers they had it means there's something they know more about the players and it probably not going to be good signing. This Front office is all about numbers but you also have sight evaluation of the players too. I think people here are so already sold on couple of players here for next year and my impression is we had short sample size for these players to already being ready to project them as future stars. The first is Cave he hit for average but I look at his major league numbers one thing that pops out to me is that he struck out nearly 1/3 of time with his at bats up with the Twins. If you would put it in full season he will strike out nearly as many times as Sano has been striking out. I just can't see how Twins have the at bats for type of hitter Cave is with that kind of strike out rate. Austin is other player he hits for power but that's about it he doesn't get on base much otherwise has low on base percentage he doesn't walk much you have all or nothing hitter. Probably why NY game up on him he needs work and they have plenty other candidates in the wings and I believe same to be true with the Twins. I just don't see how we have improved our selves with these moves for the coming year we have team to me is way to loaded with strike out potential all way through the line up. The loss of Grossman to me is who in this Twins line up can give you a professional at bat now. The two best we have is Polanco and Kepler and if the fans have there way Kepler would be gone now because he hasn't improved as much as everyone though he might this past year. Everyone thinks your past your prime if you haven't reached it by 25 but truth is most players don't hit there prime until 27 to 32 years in the majors. Look at Hicks it took to his 27 year to breakout become the star we thought he would when we drafted him. The sad thing there is we didn't get the player back in trade because we were looking for catcher to fit are financials and one that had team control. Here again the numbers looked good for small sample size but didn't prove out when we played regularly. I just don't see where were improving this club at the major league level it may be better down in lower parts of the organization but we still won't know for number years on this either. I don't think were going to sign much for free agents this winter either were in holding pattern to determine where Sano and Buxton are before any investment is made in this club.

I think Grossman is much harder nontender than most think because he gets on base a lot for team that has struggled to get people on. Also he is switch hitter meaning provides a bat from either side and I also think he is positive in the club house. With Mauer gone he provides them with always professional at bat working counts deep and walks a lot. I have feeling they might just want to keep him because a lot of ifs with Cave , Austin, and Cron for the coming year and he has proven track record on offense and how bad we were offensively last year.

I have thought Eovaldi would be good pickup because of his age and stuff he can throw but with this many teams involved there is no way the Twins will be in on him. First they don't have money or should spend that amount of money on one player and second is he won't come to noncontending team like the Twins. I agree we need to find another player like Eovaldi but right now not sure who that player would be. I am more convinced now than ever the Twins are not signing any free agent player that is going to be high cost for the coming year. The next question is are they willing to trade prospects for proven or for high quality young player ready to play at the Majors. Here again I thinking were probably year away from that happening because they want to see some progression before they start investing prospects into this team. Basically were bargain shopping and maybe willing to sign international player if that is possible within in budget. The next area for the Twins are they going to sign any of their potential free agents to long term contracts and here again its been awful quiet on that front also. The big question is our window of competing is slowing disappearing right now and maybe before this year is over it may be gone. I Think Chicago could be close now to competing this coming year and my gut has feeling that the Tigers might start show they are getting pieces together to challenge in the near future. The clock has been ticking for us but new geniuses are still learning how to drive the bus and may get passed by the above teams.

I am not on Pohlad side of this thing but i watched this team for better than 50 years and one truth i have seen in baseball very rarely does ownership gets cut first. We have seen GM's come and go over the years but we still have basic philosophy this team no money is going to come out of ownership return its just a fact. Now if I was owner like Pohlad's having billions of dollars already I would want my sports franchise to win even if I were in break even position. The reason I would have for this I would love to give my community the feeling of winning and beside that local fans would remember you as one that gave them that feeling. To be remember so positively by people would out weigh amount of money that you died with. Like I said you would be remember by people long after your dead. That is why I will never have kind of money the Pohlad's have. I think George Steinbrenner kind of knew this just he had nasty way of getting to winning but he knew he would be remember more winning with his club than all money he had.

The Pohlad comment is what i have been saying all along that the Twins don't have as much money as to spend as people think. The Pohlads look at the Twins as business investment meaning that priority one is that the Twins maintain there rate of return to the Pohlads based on value of the club. The club in last 10 years has more than triplled in value meaning the amount of money needed to maintain same rate of return has tripled too. I believe if you used 10% rate of return the increased value of the Twins would equate to needing another 60 million dollars from revenues. This may not what people want to hear but that just plain truth about baseball it comes back to business side of the business.

I find it interesting and funny both with what the Twins are doing with the organization we may win with this new philosphy. The funny thing is that Boston went back to more traditional head of baseball operations when they hired Dave Dombroski meaning more old school baseball people. It doesn't mean they abandonded their metrics side but i believe they were looking for balance between the two different schools in baseball. The look of present club looks like they got it right with how this club performed this past year and their run through the world series. Their new manager is of the new school but looking at way he managed in world series he also can manage like old school too. I have hope for our new manager and my first impressions of him have been good. The problem i see is that we have top management that is so involved in day to day managing that they won't let their people do their jobs. I have a theory the first year here top management had their plan already set in place to take place they were letting team perform which they assumed would fail based on their assessment. The problem is that they won even with no front office help of additional players and even subtracted from the team. So we have last year where they had all these problems injuries and club put together that did not have team chemistry and everyone playing for themselves we got last years results. I just see front office that has all these theories but it's one thing to have theories another to put organization together that can win and has common sense. Speaking of theories i wonder if we haven't overloaded these young players with so much information that we caused regression or lack of development by these young players. Second all these theories are not playing well with veterans to where there not happy getting performances we should out these players explaining why were seeing improved performances once they leave the Twins. Now we have this new approach on pitching i fear what were going to have here players getting hurt more to just to get more speed and i am betting where veteran players are have hard time buying into this approach. The only saving grace so far is the Twins play in weakest division in baseball which has allowed us to be competitive on record with other clubs in the division. I just have feeling that is going to change where were not the second best team in the division but we could slip to third because i have feeling Chicago is about have breakout year and Cleveland still will be very competitive no matter what they do this year. The other thing is i wonder if Detroit may play better than last year with development of some their players. The big question then comes how much is ownership and top management bought into this front office theories and there business plan that they are putting together organization to win long term. Because if we have another failure come next year because of players under performing and now start to see additional injuries to the pitching staff and fans choosing to go else where to spend their money than going to the baseball game. This is one possibility and other is that Sano and Buxton become top players in baseball and pitchers we have good years we contend for division crown. This is make or break year and this Front office I believe heads are on the chopping block nobody wants to say it but I believe it is and they may be given another year after this but would be very much like the previous front office removal.

What's happening with how this front office is running this team is like big experiment with a lot of theories and attitude of they are smarter than everyone else. the one thing baseball teaches is still a game with a lot of variables and more you try to out think it more it comes back and bites you in know what. They may still win but I am afraid we could see also epic failure by this organization setting it back years. I wonder what it has done with these young talents we have is it why were seeing regression in so many of these players.Are They are overloading them with information and making game so complicated that has effected their play. I keep thinking were still going to start winning with this group of players because they have won all the way up in minors but I am getting to wonder if that's going to happen. Glenn Perkins when interviewed at press conference talked of the talent of this team and talent down in minors how Terry Ryan had drafted a lot of talent before he had been let go that should make this club a winner. So again I was getting to feel maybe were going to turn the corner and then I see this front office and moves they keep making and I get feeling were not going to make it. Like I say this front office talks a better game than they actually play as managers of this organization and they have luxury of saying all faults were on previous regime but I think that theme is running out now it on them to show some results.

I am not in favor of Cruz i think he's on the end of his career and if we did sign him we would be greatly disappointed. Second is somebody like Cruz is only DH so we loose having another player to play the field. The way teams are structured now so heavily with pitching i think all your bench players need to be able to play some where in the field. Also we already have several players already that could fill the DH role so going after strickly DH will put us with very little flexibility for position players. If we do sign DH and he doesn't work out i would sure like for us just cut bait with them right away not keeping because they signed a contract like we did with Morrisson.

What class act as individual and person. This is done out love for his family and wife that he reduces the further risk of head injury and long lasting effects from head injury. Hopefully the injuries he has will not effect him in the future. The players like him are very rare exception of playing at high level and being quality person on the field and off the field. I wish him and his family well and feel great full for watching him through his career.

I think if i were the Twins would be using additional free agent money in signing relief pitching not only for next year but for the next 3 years. I would want top of line closer that you can count on to get final outs. Second you still need at least another set up man for your closer even though we have couple in May and Hildenberg but other setup man should be hard throwing left hander. The next order of needs is find high end pitcher but here i would trade for one top prospects ready to make it majors going to cost you couple of prospects. second i would look very hard at what it will take Gordon ready to be here at major league ready. Now we come for immediate needs i would be looking for 3 baseman this would allow you move Sano to 1st or DH further protecting him from injury. I would also would be looking for veteran player that could be utility man and definitely with priority that he could hit. Now getting back to wish list i would love to find quality catcher that is young. Here's a thought getting Gibson and Ordorizzi signed to extensions and afterwards look at packaging them to trade to the Yankees for Gary Sanchez. i just think NY may be in the market for pitching before next season these two would provide them 3 and 4 starter and you may have to eat some salary to get deal done maybe somebody else thrown into the deal but that would provide you young catcher to go along with group of young players. Doing this would mean that we would be relying on pitchers coming up in the minors but something worth the risk. The still big risk yet will be at what level do Sano and Buxton perform but if that would turn you could have a team that could take the central division. Another year after that you would have number of prospects about ready to jump to majors and even further advancing the chances of Twins winning the American league to go to world series. A lot of ifs but should have team that if you did do some extensions and new people coming up could be contenders for number of years. Also you would have top talent up the middle at catcher, SS, Second and center field for next 5 years if you did things right. This would be my beginning plan but I would want to go over this with your manager and GM to get their input on future needs for the club.

I think this is very likely the roster they head out with next spring it fits with this front office in that it basically puts another year in for the prospects in A ball to continue to develop and holds spending down for this team. Second it basically means we either win with the talent we got or we sink again giving us another high draft picks to build the farm system. I willing to bet that by end of the season Giby, Ordorizzi, and Pineda are all traded for prospects. Also this will lower our payroll to help offset attendance drop if this team has been loosing and if we should be contending they may add some mid level rental player. This front office is just not going to commit with our present players and first time they do commit it will be with their players. Only addition to this team that could add some cost would be if Joe Mauer decides to play another year or two. On this front I wouldn't hold my breath. I will hate to be business office for the coming year try to market this team to the fans season tickets sales are going to drop. I am going to flat state this Front Office was hired to protect the Twins Brand `in fact they are going to do much more damage to that brand and how its perceived by fans than what ever damage the previous front office did. I am just waiting for media to begin to understand this and so called experts around the cities this front office is just lacks knowledge and experience to be able to run baseball operation. Its one thing to talk the game and second of just doing the job so far my impression they talk a better game than what they are doing.

I just got done listening to Chad Allen on Mike Berandino pod caste his discussion on Buxton which I found very interesting and has given me some hope for this group of players the Twins have now. From what I took from Chad Allen's remarks Buxton needs to have playing time to get himself squared with hitting. Reading between the lines this Front Office has overloaded him with to much information and try to micro manage him until he has lost all confidence in his ability. I wonder if that is not going on with Sano too where they just need to play let them figure things out even if the numbers are poor for awhile and they need to have trust with their coaches. Second he talked about was this group of players just tore up minor leagues won everything but they haven't been able to make this work at major league level. The question I have is this front office of geeks overloading these young players until were not getting any performance out them at all. Soon as they go else where we see this dramatic improvement in performance. I read where Flavey and Levine are down in club house a lot after every game I wonder if we got case of micro managing going on here. Maybe this will change with their own manager but my guts tell me this will probably not change. I wonder if this case of these young stud geeks who did this with their other organization for their jobs now can't let the people they hired do their jobs because they are still doing what they had done before. This could be case where they haven't had experience of being managers let people do the jobs they were hired to do maybe not the exact way you would do but capable of getting the job done. If this case this front office is going to go down in flames because having multiple coaches voicing differences through out the organization creates lack of direction and confusion through out the whole organization. A little more speculation is this why they are firing people through out whole organization because people can't do it exactly how they think they would do it. If this case were going to have players, coaches, and training people who either waiting for directives and players overwhelmed with information and not being helped by people hired to do so because they are waiting for upper management for directives. I guess time will tell here but my feeling is this is like when the Twins hired Ray Miller from Baltimore Orioles we had team that wasn't performing and players and staff were never on same page. But getting back to Chad Allen I was impressed with his remarks and I think its worth listening too.

This front office has not committed to anything yet and if I suspect they are not ready to yet either. While other clubs commit to group of players and build around them to try to put winning team together we have not committed to one player either young or old. Now we are coming to this year we have 2/3 of the rotation that will become free agents next year. we have heard of no talks with any players to extending them contract and only one that was offered longer term contract was Buxton on very team friendly offer last year. I my experience as baseball fan a team needs core of baseball players that you can construct team around not always most talented but nucleus that provides right club house and does thing that make team good. The Twins have not had this now for at least three years or more with the exception of Mauer who has been in last years of his career. The year the Twins signed Tori Hunter with Mauer they started winning what we heard how they led this young group of players. This past year we had Brian Dozier and Escobar but its hard to be club house leader when your Front office is trying to trade you and not committing to you beyond your contract. This brings to me this team now who do the Twins have as leaders for the future my answer is nobody everyone is playing for their next contract or just waiting to be traded. Rosario is probably best hitting player the Twins have but he doesn't appear to me a team leader. Buxton could become a team leader but question there is can he overcome his own problems to ever become that player. Sano is not team leader now and I have my doubts if he will ever become that type of player. Everyone is convinced here on the board we need to trade Kepler because he's at his peak but I think he's going to become monster of player in next few years. He is type of player that could become leader for this club he play's smart, works hard, versatile in where he can play, and his stats should be better than they have been for batting but seems to have been unlucky in getting hits. I think he could be core player and leader for the future of this club but time will only tell on that. But getting back to this front office its time for them to start committing to this team by deciding who and how they are going to build this team around. This where I believe they are very weak as front office they have all these theories but when it comes to building a team they lack experience and baseball eyesight to know how to build a team with a group of players. The analytical people are what somebody said other day on one baseball shows these are people if they were poker players are used to limited poker where the game is limited by statistics but people like Red Sox are playing unlimited poker they are betting even when stats say something else not saying they don't use analytical information but they are also using their baseball and people knowledge to construct their teams and how they play the game. The fault of previous Front office was they were behind on analytics but they did have people skills and eye skills to find baseball players now this front office is just opposite but they are inexperienced in running a club and so far shown they have lack of commitment to their team when they shown they can compete. I will hear how they signed all the free agents this past year but the plan was based on short term where they could sell their signees and still didn't commit to any player long term. We see how that played out and the now were left with no experienced players and whole lot of questions left on remaining players. Now we start with new manager that could be good manager but problem no matter how good manager you are you need a team to manage. Only saving grace for the Twins is there in divisions with three other clubs in the rebuilding mode but we will see of these three teams who rebuilds fastest my guess is by end of next season we will be wondering how were in last place.

I Think the Twins Front Office better get ready for tough free agent market this coming winter and I am speculating here but I think the word is out that Twins are not preferred club but one that you sign to if no one else is offering anything close in money. I think this past year was sign of this with Lynn and Morrisson when they signed and we heard they were not good club house additions. Second this front office has been here two years and they have not signed one in house player to new contract. It was reported they tried signing Escobar just before they traded him basically take or leave it deal. If that was true the money was either not good enough or playing for the club was not to his likening otherwise he would have signed. If I would been in similar situation I think I would have been very peeved with the whole way it was handled. I think we have seen glimpses what players think of this front office first Dozier reaction when they had he wasn't happy about being sellers, Santana interview where he was quoted saying they keep taking pieces away making it harder to win, and now Escobar signing with his new club even before checking out free agency. I also wonder if last springs arbitration with Gibson also had effect on what the players thought of this Front Office and the handling of Buxton this fall couldn't have set well with players. All these things start adding up to where players look to other clubs before they will now with the Twins.

His stats for hitting doesn't look good but watch him day in day out he's going to hit in his career at some pretty good numbers. He takes good at bats and swing is what you want out of hitter. I think he was bit unlucky this past year where he has hit baseball hard but seemingly right at some one. Everyone is concerned about his age but he is relatively young were doing same thing here we did with Aron Hicks some players take little longer to develop into the player everyone wants. I think he has worn down each of the last two years effecting his numbers especially toward the end of season. This is also result of Buxton problems where both he and Rosario have had to play more and move positions for the Twins replacement outfielders. If we trade him i am betting people here will be writing why we ever let him go here in couple of years. He has all the tools to become star player and what I see and read about him his attitude is good and he's adapting to become a better player. Another thing is everyone has fallen in love with Cave but remember this is small sample size and there were reasons New York let him go. His numbers have not been impressive until he came to the Twins and like i say the sample size is still small. We have to see how this plays out in full season of baseball our impressions may change before next season is over.

This front office record on acquiring players and evaluating talent has not been stellar yet. Case in point the best acquisitions by this front office to date has been Castro at Catcher, Cave, and Duke. Even these players are what you not consider game changing players but at least have given good value to the Twins. There other players they have obtained are in two classes first you have Ordorizzi, Reed, and Rodney where they have performed but not to expectations but still performed to level where they still were keeping except for Rodney in that they got prospect for money they spent on him. Then we come to bottom of the group of players Morrisson, Lynn, and slew of relief pitchers to many to name led by Belisle especially the second time around acquiring him. This latter group of players especially the first two were real mistakes both came at high enough costs for the production received and second what it did to the club house. This is was not only error on analytics but also on judging the people involved here and letting this go on to long . The funny thing about everyone criticizing the previous front offices moves is some of moves this front office that are most criticized on were extremely criticized by fans for previous front office. Ecsobar was trade the Ryan got for Liriano which was extremely criticized for not getting enough in trade. Pressely was rule 5 draft pick from Boston and everyone was wondering why they were using up roster space for him. The previous front office especially if Ryan had been involved in looking at the talent was good at judging future talent. I do remember reading by local press Ryan's front office wanted to beef up the scouting department but that never got completed. This Front Office is going to be successful needs now how use their information and same time get people skills where they can work with players, coaches, and front office people working as team together and people have trust through out the organization. What I can tell reading and comments by people around the organization they are having hard time with this and people are scared for their jobs and little trust through out the organization not good environment to build a winner. I do think this next year is make or break for this Front Office if things don't show improvement through out whole organization from top to bottom changes may be made.

The Astro's have had success with pitchers improving their stats from what has been discussed here. I think there's more to the stats improvement than just the pitcher. The Astro's are loaded team with talent there up the middle defense is exceptional and then add in Bregman at third who's bat would have carried any team. This team has above average defense and quality catching factors that lead into improved pitching because it creates confidence that as long as you keep the ball in park its going to be caught and turned into out. This creates confidence in pitchers to try to throw differently than they have before and if they have success it feeds on it self. Last year when the Twins were having success it was noted the improvement in defense helped whole team improve. This year we saw the fall off of this defense most of it can be explained by Castro at catcher lost for the season, Buxton lost to season to injury, Polanco suspended for 80 games, and finally we find out that Dozier had been playing hurt from early April. These injuries and happenings doomed this season. The problem is that we didn't develop any new young players much because of these injuries we had a few finds in Cave and now at end of the season Astudillo but because the way baseball is now of service time we didn't bring up some young talent see what they could do and what they needed to improve. But Houston is that sweet spot as franchise where there players are either just past their prime development or coming to their prime and they have learned to win on their way up in Major league baseball something doesn't happen to often. Second their front office is identifying top talent and acquiring it by using their farm system. Then you add in good coaching and everyone looks like geniuses. The bottom line to all this is baseball people that are scouting and identifying the talent for this organization by what ever method they use. It still takes people yet today that are good at identifying talent by what ever method they use. The question for the Twins is the talent they gave up in Pressley did they get equal or greater amount of talent in return. The problem here is it may be years until full answer to this question is known. The reason so many here dislike this trade is we traded away a piece that could have help us win now or next year but the fact is Falvey showed what they are actually doing with this trade. This trade put talent in place to win 3 years from now not next year or year after its for years after this. This is what irritates me most when ownership and management won't tell the truth on their plan and try to PR there way through this process. Because they loose the faith of fans believing in organization and for sure kills any faith and buying in of the players into organization when they are being deceptive to them.

I give Stearns credit for his trading for Yelich but it was something that doesn't come along to often a team dumping talent to reduce payroll which the Marlins did last year. I look at talent Miami traded away this past year they had club that could have been playing right now to get into the world series. The amount of talent they traded away is unbelievable and look at the impact it has made on the clubs that acquired that talent. Yankees became better team, Brewers, and St. Louis some of the teams that traded with Miami off the top of my head. I don't see this happening with the Twins our 40 man roster 25 to 40 is simply one of the weakest group of players I have seen for the Twins. This leaves us with the top 30 prospects mostly down in A ball that is reported to have a lot of talent. The problem with this its hard to trade A ball players for proven talent because putting it simply only a few of these people make to majors and even fewer become major league stars. So we are faced with either trading some proven talent with these prospects for young player that looks ready to become a star or looks like they are going to make the majors. The problem here is were already thin on proven talent so it will be calculated risk what we ever trade for will be better than what were trading. I just think were in for another year of seeing if our young core develops and probably signing couple of free agents to fill in the holes this club. I still believe were in total rebuild and come trading deadline were going to trade bunch of this young core for more prospects but higher than before probably in Double A range or better. This club will not make a run until 2020 or more likely 2021 when there A ball players should be coming up to the team. I will believe they are making a commitment when they decide when they start locking up some this young core group to some longer contracts. Right now I here nothing on that front. We have no pitcher signed long term and we have 3 of the 5 projected starters in last year of arbitration for next year. I know all three have had major flaws to signing them in the past but it also means that trading deadline if we don't have commitment on them we will be trading them. The pipeline for the Twins is not exactly full high end minor league prospects to fill in. We do have couple that look like they will make here at major league level but that is still to be determined. Also we have not made a single commitment to any of this young core we have now so this is just another sign I believe why were still in total rebuild. This front office has never believed in these players we have now and will not have any trust until the players they have drafted and developed reach here. I just think because Twins were flawed when they arrived here everything here was flawed even the existing players. I hope I am wrong but this is what my gut feeling is telling me about this front office.

I for one don't see the Twins as having as much money to spend as you figure for the coming year i betting they will have salary figure of total 75 million to spend not what we spent last year it will fall back closer to year before spending.. The construction of this team salary has some big questions to be answered. First 3 of the 5 projected starters are in there last year of arbortation for the coming year so what are Twins plan for the future on pitching. This group of Gibson, Ordorizzi, and Pineda all have big questions on their future as big league starters but if they are not signed by opening day very likely all three would go FA at the end of next year. That leaves the Twins with only option is to trade them an next year trade dead line unless were really contending and then very likely we loose them to Free Agency. The Twins have glaring needs at ss or second base for next year which I believe will cost them at least 4million. Then we will need to have either a 3rd baseman or first baseman which could cost at least between 5 to 8 million if were talking quality players. Then it comes to our bull pen if they truly want to improve this team some money is going to be needed to be spent here. They should being looking for shut down closer in my mind that would be first thing to fix to gaining most wins for this club. Look at how many losses we had in walk off losses last year. If we had a bull pen that would have shut down other teams and we had won 75% of those games this team would have exceeded last years wins. But also with closer they could use at least another arm to fill in with our existing bull pen. Lastly this all based on assumption that Buxton and Sano can turn into all stars they were two years ago. If this doesn't happen were looking at a team again that will be 78 wins at best plus we will again have traded away a lot of the core of this team again especially starting pitching. I think this window on this group of players will be determined by next year performance and if they can't turn the corner I believe like I have thought all along were in reset again waiting for the next wave of players to arrive. This front office has never believed what was in place here and its why they haven't invested in these players or added to this team even when they have been contending or close enough to make a run. Also thinking were going to sign one of the top free agents next year isn't going to happen there not going to come to team that has this many questions and is in this state of flux. Were going to have hard time to even sign quality free agent to come here and for sure the Twins will never over pay to get a player I believe ownership has demonstrated that over years on there signing of Free Agents.