ND-Fan

Twins projected payroll is based on full year runs with the Twins. I could see where Hunter ( if he choose could be Traded), Pelfry, Plouffe, Milone, and Duensing could all be traded before year is done. Which could effect Twins payroll. This club is set up to make a run for wild card this year and if not they will fall back to grand plan of the rebuild bring up remainder of the youngster before year end unless they are contending. The rebuild plan I believe was for us contend in 2016 but this has been shoved back to 2017 because of all injuries to the prospects last year. I believe that is why your seeing signings of pitchers and lengths of the contracts. This could be a very good baseball team from 2016 1/2 thru 2019 with very affordable payroll and could become one of the elite teams again MLB.

I wonder if Hicks has reached point of where he needs fresh start with different organization. The problem with that for the Twins is that they will get nothing for him. I wonder if somebody like Pittsburgh, Baltimore, or some other team couldn't fix him. I think his hitting has effected all of his game and now he's not playing very good baseball. The Twins trade of center fielders I believe in long run has been good the pitchers they have received could very well turn this franchise around. I believe we will see some of that this year when we get new pitching coaches and change in philosophy along with that from manager. The Twins have had several pitchers that were thought to be washed up and now have performed very well for Pittsburg. There organization has done wonderful job with Lariano and Worley in last couple of years the numbers speak for themselves. Also they were revaluating there organization after Mornea was there wondering why they couldn't get him to hit the way he was in Colorado. I have heard nothing of this from the Twins on their failures of Lariano or Worley and also Morneau. I think the Twins could be spending some time on this to as way to improve their team.

I think the weight training programs are leading to this sudden rise in elbow injuries and shoulder problems this extra strength has put more strain on both elbow and shoulder more than they are capable of handling over period of time. Also the emphasis on big tall pitcher I believe has led to elbow problems with weight training has created velocity that arms can not tolerate this torque that is generated. Just 15 years ago it was considered you had power arm that reached into the 90's and now that is required norm and now its become common to have pitchers reach middle to upper 90's. Also number of pitchers are reaching 100's but the problem is very few now have seen there arms stand up to this pitching. I would believe if Tommy John surgery hadn't come along baseball teams would be training their pitchers differently to protect their arms. Also some of smaller pitchers would have been looked at more seriously to see they could have developed into major league pitcher. I look at Greg Maddux today would he have been given a job today and given time to develop into the pitcher he became. A lot of this has been reaction to change in strike zone in MLB with strike zone shrunk to try to help bolster the offense and see more home runs hit. I think were coming to critical point where baseball may have to revaluate how they are training and developing players with cost they are incurring because of all the injuries. At some point its going effect numbers of players being developed and players organizations demanding something be done about all these injuries.

I think that Colabella just needs a fews days off and so does Kubel and Plouffe they have been trotted out their every game because of little bench help in past month. Also Colabella would be helped if he could move down in line up to 6 in the lineup. Also he's getting pitched differently than was before so its going to take him some time to adjust to what they are doing to him. Jee's these guys hit little tough spot and everyone ready send them down baseball game of chess pitchers make ajustments and hitters will adjust to what they are doing. The problem with the Twins is that bottom of lineup has been so poor that soon as these guys fall off the offense in major trouble. This last shakeup looks like they did improve offense some from bottom but at what cost to defense. I would like to say one thing 2014 Twins mirror teams of Met stadium of the past in that weather has taken a toll on the Twins lineup. If you remember this what griffit family complained about was how cold weather brought about higher injuries and poor performance and is why they wanted a doomed stadium to take the weather out teams performance. It also cost them in attendance because fans just wouldn't come out sit in weather like we have had. Yes when summer hits there is nobetter place than watching baseball outside but in Twin Cities 1/4 of the season can be terrible place to watch baseball because of weather. I am just waiting for the Twins to say they are going to have hard time competing with this drop in attendance because of weather conditions its going to happen.

This very small sample size and lets look at circumstances the Twins have played in this year. Nolasco strikeout pitch is the curveball what have twins played in this year but cold weather and with this cold weather its hard for pitcher to get a feel for the ball when youre freezing. Also I think it takes something off of their fast ball to so spreads between pitchers pitches become less. Also he's in new league trying to learn batters plus facing DH which changes the numbers. Another thing too the Twins defense in outfield has not been stellar and doesn't look to improve much near future. I willing to bet his statisics by year end will be prettly close to carreer norms except for figuring in the DH VS pitcher hitting.

The problem the Twins face is that their time to add free agents to improve this team was two years ago after the second terrible year. I think Terry Ryan being from the old school was going to rebuild this team way he did in the 90's and into early 2000's this was from within not spending money on free agency. This was the plan and he was more optimistic that team could play close to 500 baseball which he told the Pohlads. The problem was the team under performed and injuries decimated the team to point where they were not even competitive the last month and half of season. This left the fan base with memory of terrible team and one of the worst records in baseball. The problem with this scenario was that it repeated itself for the last two seasons. This is when Pohlads I believe came into discussion of baseball operations of the team telling Terry Ryan that needed to spend enough to keep the brand value up by putting together team that could be respectable until this new wave of talent that is coming will be here at the major league level. The problem that has caused is that Twins did sign pitchers that fit into this rebuild but were not dominate and they have gotten off to poor start. Also the Twins signing free agents I believe have been hampered by free agents don't want to play for looser and just gap filler between that new wave of talent unless its for ridiculus amount of money. This has left us with 2014 and probably part 2015 until we can see the turn around of this team. Not helping this is that new wave of talent is getting hurt further delaying the process. Terry Ryan could be held at fault but he was rebuilding team the way management wanted previously from the within and with very little money spent. He has done that again I believe and has to just wait and keep adding talent to the minors as he goes along. Manager Gardenhire could be held at fault and would likely would have been gone in a lot of other organizations for on field performance but truth is that nobody could have won with this team. Maybe a manager or two could have tweaked one or two more wins or they could have easily lost several more. The Pohlads ultimately are responsible but I do believe they as owners have been willing to put a winning team on the field. I think what we have had here is lack of communication and management plan for the goal of this organization on how quickly they wanted to have competitive team on the field. I am betting this has been addressed in the last year and is on going how to structure and get organization on the same page from owners, baseball management, to total Twins business management on same page and be able to improve the Twins brand. I believe this is the case based on Jim Pohlads statements he has made in the last year. The Twins went through this like in late 70's and early 80's and again in late 90's and early 2000's the difference was in ownership and management how they did it. The first time under Griffiths they just brought all the young talent up and let them play at majors but this was draw for fans to watch future of Twins grow. The risk is that some may never recover from being beaten up at major league level but this group core was basis for Twins 87 world series win. The second time was in early 2000's when they had worked a core group of players until they were ready to be at major league level the result was nearly a decade of winning baseball. Personally I liked the first because I think it created hard core nucleus of players that just wanted prove to rest of baseball that they were winners and they went out and did win the ultimate prize. But the time was different now players seem to have confidence that they can win and if they have lost it they can't get it back. Our only hope is The Twins pitching does get better and Plouffe , Colabella, Mauer, and Arcia when he gets back continue to hit like they have now or in past and Hicks, Dozier, and Suzuki continue to have average performances. What I have seen so far this year by eye test this is better club than last two years maybe stats don't bare this out yet but I can see they are better team and more talented than they have been previous two years. Some players just look better and are prepared to play at this level examples are Dozier, Plouffe, Arcia, and Pinto. Lets just hope things start coming together nothing I like better than to watch baseball if it played well not what we experienced last year at the end of the season.

The media wants something to talk about and with Mauer best player on the team he's not going to give them much in this other than his on field performance. He's had three major injuries in his career his first year his knee kept out for nearly 1/3 of the season, his bilateral leg weakness kept out over half a year and was only a shell of player he was durning the season a lot of teams would have shut him down earlier and called it serious injury, and last year with his concussion that he lost last 1/3 of season. This playing one most physical positions in baseball. His stats as catcher are major league leading in his 10 years as a catcher and very few catchers catch more than he has already. The move to first base is to get best out of him for his bat and before he's done he probably will be one elite defensive first baseman. Even Kirby Puckett one of my all time favorite Twins even at his best needed players around him to win and carry a team. This Twins team past several years would still have lost 90 plus games even if Mauer had hit 330 and hit 30 home runs because the talent level on these teams. Performance of Mauer hitting extra home runs would have added only maybe 2 to 5 wins. Sports writers and columnist need to create controversy to get viewership or readership and with poor team they attack Mauer because to a lot of fans because of his salary they think he should carry this whole team to victory. Baseball is not sport where one player can carry whole team to winning it takes a lot of talented and very good roll players to create a winning team. I think this year we have started to turn the corner some of the young players look like they can become major contributors to this team in the future. Also I think some veterans they signed will help bridge gap until new prospects arrive. Minnesota is not alone in this either on picking on their talented player signing a big contract the Reds Votto is seeing the same thing there not hitting for enough power. I just wished sports journalists could report facts and not slant there reports for sake getting read, watched, or listened too.

The Twins this preseason has been lack of hitting from Willingham and Kubel with runner in scoring position, The last several games Willingham has come up with men on in scoring position and has not even been able to make contact or has had made final out of the inning. If the Twins are going to score runs its got to get RBI production out 3 and 4 hitters and so far this spring who ever Guardy put in that position has failed to deliver. I hope Willingham gets it figured out how to get out this slump and returns to near normal line on his Batting Average and OBS or we are in great trouble. I think Kubel was showing he can still hit and I expect he will return to near baseline hitting performance. The fear I have is Willingham looks like he has lost his ability to turn on the ball he just looks slow and showing his age like his legs are not there to hit the ball. It appears Dozier, Mauer, Pinto, Hicks and Plouffe are hitting the ball and when they start playing regularly there numbers will be there. Arcia is to early to tell but he looks like he could become force before season is over. Then you have Flormin and Suzuki that are playing because of what they can do on the field. If Twins are going to have any success Willingham and Kubel are going to need to start producing. Collabella I think is going to be surprise in that he's going hit and be much better bench player than anyone thinks. Everyone keeps underestimating him nobody thought he could make out independent leagues and then when he signed to minor league contract everyone thought it such waste to sign someone his age to play in minors and now he is at Major Leagues with same thing being said and if he stays healthy he may just like said surprise everyone again. If not nothing been hurt he's not blocking anyone down at triple A or Double A either at this time because they sure wouldn't want young prospect sitting on bench getting limited number at bats and not being able to develop their skills.

The player Guardy has is final decision of Ryan and Antony not him and then is his choice of how to use those players. Last year Twins never did give Guardy option at center field he had Hicks with no way to give few days off or spot him in place in line up that could have improved his performance. When they finally sent him down he was so messed up it was not possible to get him back on total track. I think that's why they had him take time off. This wasn't only problem Guardy had to deal with pitching was terrible trying to put together game to be in position to win. By year end relief pitcher were worn out and starting pitching was even worse than ever wonder why they had complete collapse. Then add in injuries to Mauer and Willingham the offense was also gone. Now tell me what manager could have won with what he had to work with. Ryan I think believed that some veterans and younger pitchers were going to step up to bridge the gap and they could be competitive and when he saw this happening he just wrote the season off and they would get another round of high draft picks. This year I think Ryan bought enough pitching to be respectable and he hopes this group of players for offense is good enough to improve team to 70 to 75 win category. If not they will get another round of very high draft picks and next year potential superstars will be here for everyone be talking about the future. The problem with that we have to endure another year of loosing and if I was Guardy he may be fall guy for the problem. If Guardy was with say with ST. Louis, Atlanta, and Texas and he was leading them to another pennant we would be wishing we had manager like him. Manager has to have talent and when Guardy had some talent he was winner he was just short a player each of times he was there. Either one top players were hurt or he was short a pitcher or hitter to get over the hump. I also think some big talent came up short to in those games too and they went for greener pastures neither of them have made it to big game yet.

I think they are heading for rebuilding the Twins pitching staff looks like it structured to be pitching staff for the future as you look the players they signed will come off when there young pitching prospects are projected to be ready and will have one veteran pitcher available to lead these young kids in the future on contract. Offense is on old side but were seeing beginning of change over already with Hicks, Arcia, Pinto and I would include Dozier. Look by year end we could see likes Buxton doing September call up and for sure we would have seen Sano being called up. My guess next year we could see lineup of the following Buxton center, Arcia in left field, and Hicks in Right Field. Pinto Catching, Florimin at SS and Santanna pushing him, Dozier at second, Mauer at First, Sano at third, and Plouffe if he has good year as backup 3 baseman and outfielder. Pitching could be Myer, Gibson, Nolasco, Hughes, Pelfry and number of young pitchers pushing to make the team. I think this what Twins are looking at them selves you would have Sano and Buxton at 21 and 22; Arcia (24) and Hicks and Pinto (26); Flormin, Dozier, Plouffe, Gibson, and Hughes at 27-28, and leaving Nolasco, Mauer, Pelfry and Perkins as 30 years olds on the team. Not a very old team and number players just coming into their prime playing years 27 to 30. Some older pitchers but with Gibson and Myers in their middle 20's very nice balance of young to old pitcher. Also with number of future prospects being able to fill in for some of older players if injuries would occur. The big question will be if these players can produce offense at major league level. I think all of them are good enough defensively to play at major league level. The whole problem with this scenario we have go threw this season which could be long season if some these players don't start producing better than they have shown this spring. They have given Twins nothing that they can sell to the fans why they should be excited about this team. Pitching will be better but not near good enough to win if this team doesn't start producing some offense.

The Twins have been caught by believing that talent they had would develop and be better than they have received from these players. Parmelee a number one draft pick hasn't progressed as figured and so put the Twins in position of keeping him or should have moved on a year or so ago. Same thing for Plouffe shown flashes of brilliance but so far hasn't lived up to Twins plan and now gotten to point that his replacement is not far off but will be unavailable this year. Hicks got pushed and took a step backward and now his replacement is year to two years away. Willingham looked good first year and last year got hurt and was ineffective and now he just looks like he gotten old and where do you play him and his contract protects him on the team. The Twins if they would have signed few players back couple years ago for offense would have put little more offense into the team now. Now were faced with this year and potential of prospects coming in next couple years so we are facing this year and next year before we can significant improvement coming to this baseball team. I think that has been reasoning behind pitchers signings they all were based on how soon they would have prospects replace them. Pelfry was signed for two years about time projection for Myer to just arrive from minors and also for Twins being able to trade Pelfry for prospect late into next year. Hughes was signed for three years enough time for one next hot prospects to make it up to big league club. Also one of the reasons looking to extend Correia contract as well still at least two years until one of the other minor league prospects to arrive. Nolasco was signed for four year deal with 5 year option to provide pitcher to fill in at back of the rotation as well as be veteran to teach kids how to play in the big leagues. The thing that worries all of us were seeing that this top talent looks like it just around corner but were also seeing how unplanned injuries could blow the whole plan up and we could easily see another 3 to 4 years disappear we can put a winning team on the field. Ryans plan is logical and fiscally sound if these prospects pan out as figured and if this doesn't happen we could easily see decade of loosing. Twins ownership I think believes that we can be back to contender with the list of prospects shortly. If this plan doesn't work I am afraid ownership may just clean house and start over with both GM and coaching and at same time this will be complete turn over organization putting us back again number of years. I as fan pray this plan works or I will have endure many years of teams like we have experienced. The other problem if this plan doesn't work is Twins will have lost whole generation of young fans. Believe me this already happening my son who liked Twins and was becoming a fan has lost interest these past several years. His line or take on this they were playing so poorly it wasn't even fun to watch them and he said his friends were saying same thing it wasn't fun watching them and especially when they have been loosing like they have past several years. The moving from Metro Dome to Target field has brought baseball back to the true fan and ones that love to watch a baseball game but now with loosing team were seeing why in past Twins of past pushed for indoor stadium. The cold weather hurt attendance and also brought on more injuries to team early in the season. I can remember like yesterday Twins organization talking of these problems and how it starting to show it head again when Twins are not competitive. Also I think the Twins were not prepared for change in how Target field would effect performance of type player they were drafting. AS much as true fan hated the Dome it did give Twins huge home field advantage and players we have now would have performed better in the Dome. Flormin, Escobar, and even Dozier the way they hit ground balls would have had higher average hitting and they would have shined with there speed on artificial turf defending with always getting nice hop to field. Mauer would be hitting more home runs and Arcia would have hit ton of home runs in the Dome. So moving to Target field has effect on Twins performance but Target field provided so much more in revenue so the Twins should have been able to buy and get type of player that would have performed better in Target field. The Twins not addressing their weaknesses and going to free agent market last couple of years to fill in the blanks have cost the Twins dearly. I am betting if you had cost analysis you will see where being penny wise is going to be dollar foolish in the end. The Twins will have lost more money than they have saved and weakened brand of Twins for number of years to come. My hope as true fan is this group of players can out perform last years numbers and be respectable team by year end. My hopes would be if they could get to 75 to 78 wins this coming year but my fears are they could approach that 100 win loss if few things don't go as planned.

The Twins team as I see it coming north is going to be a little disappointment to the Fans. The starting pitching I believe is going to be Nolasco, Hughes, Pelfry,, Correia, and my guess would be Diamond or Deduno. Relievers will be Perkins, Burton, Swarzak, Duensing, Fien, and Worley. Infielders will be Mauer, Dozier, Florimon, Plouffe, and Escobar. Outfielders will be Pressely, Willingham, Parmelee, Kubel, Mastroni, and Colabello. Catchers will be Susuki and Fryer. I think this is how Twins start out the season Hicks, Pinto, Gibson, Arcia and Myer are going to be sent back to minors to get them ready or until there's opening for them at major league level. Also wouldn't be surprised if Worley, Diamond, and Parmelee are traded before they head north or soon afterward. This will be Twins to start the season and when or I should say if it starts to fall apart Twins will be letting go of a lot of veterans by trading or releasing to make room for youngsters. This is how they will sell second half of the season come out to watch the future Twins. Hicks, Arcia, Gibson, and Pinto will all be called up by August and by September Myer and Buxton will be making appearances besides maybe couple other prospects. Also I wouldn't be surprised if the Twins sign Stephen Drew before the season starts I have hunch that his price range may get down to level where the Twins might sign him. I don't think its so much the draft pick as it is money they loose to sign there other draft picks that hold up to signing these free agents. Also some of pitchers sent down that have been at major league level will be back as soon as there's injury or they have traded likes of Worley, Diamon, Deduno, and I think Burton and Swarzak could also be on the trade block if right offer came along. This year is big transition year where we start with the old and bringing the young to be evaluated for the 2015 season. Its going to be year of who they are going to keep on longer term and who are expendable to be used to stock there minors for future needs. The Twins are going to be building for 2016 and 2017 seasons when I think they can make a run at getting to the World Series.

I believe sabermetrics has a pretty important place in baseball it still doesn't determine whole picture of player because with all players there's norm or average over players career but in that career there's year or maybe two he out performs the average of his career. I think position the Twins are in now they are looking at a lot of players hoping to find player that put up bigger numbers for a year or two. They are also trying to do this on cheap and no long term commitment to declining or marginal players. The plan is fill the gap until there talent arrives from the minors. What they are hoping is to put team that could out perform and get near 500 for the season. Also part of this plan is they signed some quality pitchers to keep them close in the games and they may be able to pull off season or two of this until cavalry arrives from the minors. Also these pitchers will provide leadership to young pitchers coming up giving them in future a pretty quality pitching staff. I could also show lots examples of players that statistics showed they were done or not ever be significant player again. One example when I was young was when Twins let go of Jim Kaat to the Whit Sox it looked like his career was about done. Then he had two stellar years for White Sox winning 20 games and if you look at his statics you have agreed with the Twins on getting rid of him. But here he reversed his statics and if were looking at from war perspective he went from negative to positive 7 + in war, lower his ERA, increased his strike out rate back to near his peak years. I think I could also find many more like this of players that broke the normand another I would guess would be David Ortiz. The Twins are hoping they can find a player like this help them to become respectable for the coming year.

My bet is we see Hicks start at triple A for the season. We won't see Buxton until September call up. If Hicks starts to handle Triple A or there is injury then we will see Hicks with the Twins.

When he was brought up he had pitched near top of innings for pitcher recovering from Tommy-John surgery. I think he was worn down and his control and pitch movement had been effected from being worn down. I bet when we see him again were going to see much more polished pitcher who has better control of his pitches. I also think it was good learning experience for him to know what he had to work on. I think this why Twins did bring him up last year it was teaching experience and also reward that he is in their future plans. I think he will become effective middle of road starter that could have few real quality years for the Twins barring any further injury.

I think he should start at triple A again this year and bring him up soon as he shows that he his ready for majors also keep expectations off him when he arrives. I still think he play into twins future as corner outfield if he can bring same numbers he has from minors to majors. He with Buxton in outfield would make it one of very good defensive outfields and will help cover for Arcia who will be in the outfield but will be playing more for his bat than his defensive abilities. With Hicks and Buxton the centerfielder can cheat more to position that Arcia is in because Hicks could cover the gap left by cheating the other way for Arcia. I think if Hicks develops numbers he has in minors he will be one of better outfielders in the Majors.

I think what they have done so far is team has improved to 72 to 76 win total as they stand now with the projected personal. I still think they are going add a piece or two yet before season starts. The thing that could propel them to nearly contending would be if say Hicks, Arcia, and Sano all join team and put up numbers like they have in minors. With this pitching staff and say Gibson or Myer also contribute later in season they could move to 500 hundred team. If they do that prospect of adding couple more of their prospects next season people will start to get excited and it may be possible to reach 19000 tickets. This best case scenario but they could flounder to also 72 and 90 season not real fan builder for season tickets.

Dave St. Peter I thought did wonderful job and he did not duck the questions he had from the guys it was interesting. Scott Erickson was fun to listen to and also answered a lot of questions he had without being politically correct. Jon Paley was fun to hear about Sano and how he compared Twins fest to that of other organization like the Phillies fan parties. It would be nice if we could here from Dave St. Peter couple of times a year and I sure would love if Terry Ryan could come forth and speak like this to Twins Fans. I think a lot of majority of fans would just like hearing from the Twins on their plans and even when thing go wrong just explanation what went wrong from planning or how they thought it would go. I think Twins have a pretty good record on putting a team together but last couple of years sure have not performed in getting their job done and just some explanation would have lessened dissatisfaction. I think the work they have done to rebuild and improve scouting for drafting and player recruitment should be told. When Terry took over 2 years ago Twins farm system was near bottom with future prospects and now were one of the top 5 teams. I think Twins have done more things right than they have done wrong last 2 years but record doesn't show that yet. But podcaste was excellent fun to listen too.

I think the ownership has changed direction of Twins on Free agency its because they want to keep Twins Brand from further declining lessening its value. I have been thinking how soon is it before the Twins are renegotiating their Tv contract. I don't know but I thinking its coming up again so they need to have team people are willing to watch again and have interest in. I know there ratings have been sinking like their attendance has. It will be difficult to sign big tv contract if ratings and Twins Brand continue to decline. TV won't be willing to pay bigger contract if this happening and this would put Twins in poor revenue side compared to a lot of other baseball franchises. They need the Twins to start winning now not in three or four years to keep up their revenue stream and so adding free agents are not going to cost the Twins that much compared to what they could loose in net profits. I am sure baseball side of twins management this is eye awaking experience from operating on cheap since Twins came to Minnesota to now becoming player in Free Agency. I also think Twins ownership also has been trying to put in place a system where they are in contention year in year out without having to spend big dollars by developing steady stream of talent to major league level. By doing this they can be most cost effective and still generating high revenue streams into the team. With only adding Free Agent when need occurs because of injury or poor development in certain position. I think Twins have had major learning curve when coming to Target Field its changed how they have to do business. Also type of players they need are different than what they had a dome. Target field is nice place to watch and is more traditional place of baseball but the dome offered Minnesota the most home field advantage of major league baseball. It got good teams off their game and made our players better in that we could get buy with weaker hitters who if they new how slap and use the field to their advantage improved their numbers. It also rewarded our teams that worked on defense and learned to play their with better than normal numbers. I think this added 7 to 10 wins a year and if you had 75 to 80 win club this would put at 85 to 90 wins a year putting you contention. So Twins fans should never be down on dome as much they were it was one Major leagues biggest home field advantages and if maximized could lead you to playoffs.

Baers perception of off season work by Twins I think is poor analysis of what has been done. I think the twins have improved their pitching for this year and several years to come. I think Nolasco will provide them with good solid pitcher that they can count on giving them a chance to win a game. Hughes I think has upside potential and wouldn't be surpriced that we get a career year or two out him and everybody will be wondering why we didn't sign him to 4 year deal with 5th year option. Pelfry is going to fill role in 4 or 5 starter until some our prospects are ready to be moved up. It appears to me that the Twins have made decision to not move up pitching prospects until they are ready to compete a major league level. Some of its do with timing to match their position prospects that will be arriving later and will give team more control of these pitchers through their prime years. The free agents they have signed will only be fraction of what it will cost to keep some new prospects when they start costing money. I also think ownership and management has come to baseball side saying that they can't wait for the long rebuild its to costly to brand and revenue stream they could have if they were contending team. The game has changed since they have moved to Target Field loss of attendance and tv viewership is way more costly than improving team through Free Agency. Several other reporters or experts have rated Twins off season already in top 5 so there's a lot of difference of opinion. I still believe the Twins still need to make couple of moves yet both short term and longterm. Signing Tanaka would be longterm fix to pitching for the Twins. Also finding quality shortstop would be nice short term and long term fix for the Twins. I think this will require a trade with some other team deep in prospects on this like Texas but this will only could be done into season when Texas may need some player to fix glaring hole in their team if they want to make deep run into playoffs. My guess here would be trade of Perkins for such high prospect. Outfield will need some fixing on shorterm but some of prospects could be here before years out so this may not be addressed.

I think Kubel's numbers are going to go up returning to American league in the designated hitter roll. With Kubel national league to get his at bats he had to play everyday and with poor knee I believe it took a toll on his batting. He can play outfield but is below average although much better than Doumit can play outfield. He's one of few left hand bats that has hit for power in Target field. I think this is much up grade for Twins and it appears he's left Ryan time to adjust his 40 man roster before spring training.

I think Nolasco, Hughes, Pelfry, Correia , are locks for opening season unless injury should pop up during spring ball. I am betting that Dudeno is not healthy and wouldn't be surprised he ends up on disabled list. My bet is that Diamond starts the season as 5 starter being he's left handed. Worley may be kept if Dudeno is hurt or they choose put him with relievers and my bet he would be traded shortly to make room for Dudeno. If Diamond has trouble I wouldn't be surprised he's moved to bull pen and possible trade happens with him or Duensing making room for Dudeno. As for Gibson and Myer my guess is they will be brought up if there's injury to one of the starters or later in the year when they could trade Correia making room for them. I think Twins are going to keep Gibson and Myer service time down if all possible to maintain player control for future years. I am betting Twins look at Albers for relief position because he's left handed and could fill role with his control and they have control of him for several more years. The Twins are going into this spring in much better shape.

I think Terry Ryan will add some offensive talent before season opens. The Twins offense I think will get better even with whats in place now. Moving Mauer to 1st is going to add offense for the Twins immediately his bat going in lineup for full season and I willing to bet his batting average and power improves this coming year he won't be so beat up and can play a few more games. Willingham should be healthy for coming year and if he is should add another 10 to 15 home runs for a season. Arcia should be better this year after having year up in majors. I believe center field position should be more productive too the Twins are going to have better hitting from that position than they received from Hicks and Clete Thomas. Sano could improve 3rd base production sometime this coming year. Like I said I think twins will look for offensive help in Outfield and DH but some of this could be solved on how they play some of players they have now in platoon system. Also if pitching is better Twin won't need to carry 13 pitchers so having another bat available should help them offensively. I think Twins are going to trade a few people before they open the season. If I was betting man Parmelee, Plouffe,, and Doumit could be on trading block or will be tried to see if they can clear waivers. Also Duensing or Diamond could be on trade block as well as Worley if they can get decent return by trading them and would free up money and spots for players working there way up system. I think the Twins are not so willing to carry some of these prospects and keeping a spot on the roster hoping they will start live up to what they thought when they acquired these players.

I think it's Come down to Worley himself if he makes the team and if not they will try to trade him or try to pass him through waivers. I think they are going to keep Diamond he has possibilities of still being a starter and if not in bull pen and reason he left hander. He has more value than Worley as a left hander that is capable of pitching at major league level. I think Worley has been hurt or injury he had before he came to Twins was more serious than said and he wasn't pitcher he had been with Phillies. Reason the Phillies were willing to give him addition in the Trade for Reevre . I also have serious concerns that deduno may have more of injury than they have said and may need surgery. It feels a lot like what we went through with Baker and Blackburn injuries until surgery was required to fix the problem. Gibson and Myer I bet are at Triple A when spring training breaks and they will be called up when one of starters have health problems and they will determine if they are ready then to pitch at big league level. If they are one of pitchers that are up will be traded to make room for them and maybe somebody becomes bull pen pitcher. I think the Twins are no big rush to promote pitchers until there ready and that why they have signed all these pitchers.

The Twins have run out faith in counting on Diamond, Deduno, Worley, and Albers. They will keep as many of these pitchers as they can at the Triple A and I believe they are in no rush to bring up Gibson or Myer until they are sure they can compete at major league level. This reaction by organization to stock pile some pitching and if need be move some of the pitching into reliever roll. I also think the Twins have been signing pitchers to longer term contract as hedge against major league inflation for pitching. Its also may pay returns in that if these pitchers do have better years they still have control and will give twins a lot of value or cost savings. Look at Kansas City they got Santanna on one year deal and he had great year but lost control of him and are looking for pitching to replace him. Same thing for Cleveland they had Kasmir and Jimenez they both became free agents and above Cleveland's ability to resign them. Kasmir was one year deal last year on minor league contract and now look it took 22 million to sign him this year and Jiminez is still to be signed at least they will get a draft pick here. So you can see a little the Twins are investing in long run and my bet is they are going to strike pay dirt more than they are going to loose on these deals. Look at Major league baseball there's real shortage of starting pitching and a lot of the pitchers are near the end of there careers. High Quality starters are either been locked up in contracts or are traded near the end to teams that need that kind of pitching to get over the hump and will become free agents in a year or two. John I thought same thing last year when Twins signed Correia and they could sign another pitcher if they needed to again next year but look what pitcher of Correia caliber is signing for anywhere from 6 to 10 million this off season. If we have another year of this were going to see pitcher like this range 8 to 12 million a year. I wonder what the top of line pitching is going to command when Price and Kershaw hit the market. Look next year Yankee's are going to be looking for number of pitchers, Boston very likely too with number of pitchers getting near end of their contracts so you can see coming year there's going to real demand for pitching by teams with big payrolls. I also think the Twins are trying to time some of their pitching and young players in field to be coming up in similar time frames to maximize depth of team when they have control of these players during there peak years.