Mr. Brooks

I would beg to differ. I'd say it's right in the middle of the pack in this regard. Some quick research shows that roughly half the organizations in baseball half a comparable, or better, 1/2 as Meyer/Stewart, rankings wise.

He's put up a 1.7 WAR so far this year, so he could finish pretty close to 3 WAR at the end of the year. That's pretty good value for a young guy earning the minimum, and by definition makes him quite a bit better than "replacement value".

Terry Ryan won't spend what it takes to sign a legit Cuban.

Anyone who was expecting anything from Morneau this year was wearing blinders. This is who he is post concussion, period. I got quite a kick out of people coming into the season who thought he was suddenly going to become the Morneau of old, and even more baffling as that in this thread there seem to be people who are surprised he didn't!!

Baseball America had him #74 coming into 2013.

I don't think Arcia has a shot at catching Franklin, probably not Myers either.

Nearly every single player in the league, on a 40 man roster will hit the waiver wire today.

46 games is still a small sample size.

We arent going to spend all of the IL pool money we have now, what good does more do?

Did you think I was serious that anyone is being blocked by anyone in our starting rotation? I would have thought the sarcasm would have been quite ease to perceive, given how awful our rotation is.

But what about in a situation where if the dealer fails to sell the car he loses it for nothing? I would think in that situation the dealer would take the best offer he could get.

Probably not, but it may not help him either. Some adjustments simply cannot be made at AAA, the pitchers there are not capable of pitching you the same way they do in the MLB. At some point you are going to have let a young hitter work through his slump at the MLB level, you can't just send him down right away every time he starts slumping.

Hicks was given a chance to work out his issues in the bigs. Arcia was not given that chance. He was sent down right away both times he started slumping.

If the bolded is true he should probably give up baseball right now. Diamond is at best a #5 on a .500 team, he's a mop up reliever on a winning team. He's a left handed Nick Blackburn. But if you think more than that of Diamond, that is fine. Our entire starting rotation (outside of Gibson) probably fits that description, so I really could care less which guy is sent down to make room for Albers. In fact, I'm not even pining for Albers to get his shot. I just found the suggestion that anyone in our starting rotation is blocking someone a little amusing.

This idea that we will never risk paying more than someone is worth is one of the reasons (not the only reason) we are in this mess to begin with. And now people are using that logic to defend the (non) moves. This FO has been passive in the FA market, passive in the international market (sans Sano, who was under Billy's watch), and passive at the trade deadline. I don't know any industry in the world where being passive is a more successful approach than being aggressive. That doesn't mean you throw money around like a drunken sailor, but it does mean you have to be willing to go out on a limb and take more risks every once in a while. I didn't like the players we got in return for Revere, but I will still defend the trade because I like the aggressiveness and proactivity behind the deal. We need more of that.

Well according to Dave St. Peter ownership had/has given Terry the authorization to spend more money than he has. Not to mention you still have to pay Justin that money by not trading him, so really it's not like you have to go to them and explain why you are spending more money, because really you wouldn't be. Of course, the President of the team isn't going to come right out and call his boss cheap, so I guess we'll never know if the cheapness is Terry or the Pohlad's doing.

Couldn't he just as easily hit even worse for a couple weeks, and lose any small amount of trade value he had today? That argument works both ways. Nobody is saying dump him for nothing. If you are offered a player, that is something. There are diamonds in the rough. I realize those are highly unlikely to pan out, but it's still a possibility. I really don't get this argument that if you don't get an elite prospect then you are getting nothing. There are many good players in this league who were never top prospects. Obviously the majority were, but there are still some out there, waiting to be found. And you can't win the lottery if you don't play.

Aside from the Pohlad's checking account, explain why that matters, considering our current payroll situation? And if we are going down that path, is 2 more months of Justin Morneau worth $6million? If the answer is no, then don't those arguments kind of cancel each other out?

Maybe Terry has an unrealistic expectation of what kind of return Justin should fetch. He's one of the worst hitting first basemen in the league, and he's not getting any younger. People get hung up on his name, but this is not the same Justin Morneau as too many of us remember. I've heard that Ryan was offered something for him (not sure what, but something is better than nothing) and turned it down because Baltimore wanted Minnesota to cover his salary. That may or may not have happened, but I'm sure we'll find out in the coming days. To your first point, even if it's some D level prospect, at least there is some chance of that player contributing when we are ready to compete again. Even if its less than 1%, it is still SOME chance. I guess I need someone to explain the benefit (long term) of keeping him for nothing, aside from sentimental reasons.

Yeah, its a pity that he's in an organization where he is blocked by so many quality starting pitchers.

Willingham is literally the most valuable player to ever play the game of baseball if you believe that the loss of Willingham is the difference between 80 wins/powerhouse offense and 65 wins/awful offense.

You didn't have to trade him at the deadline, you could also have traded him in December. “He’s a power righthanded bat that any contender could stick right in the middle of their lineup and get outstanding production,” said one National League GM. “You’d have to give something up, but he’d be worth the expenditure. He can really hit.” Here's the latest on Philadelphia's offseason dealings, courtesy of CSNPhilly.com's Jim Salisbury... Before the Phillies acquired Ben Revere from the Twins, they attempted to also getJosh Willingham in either the same trade package or in a separate deal. Although the Twins seem to be looking at plenty of pitching options in free agency, the team has also been more active in trade talks than expected, says Crasnick. Teams with pitchers on the block have approached the Twins about both Ben Revere and Josh Willingham. Despite several teams being interested, the Twins feel strongly about holding onto 33-year-old outfielder Josh Willingham, who enters the second year of a three-year, $21 million contract. The Twins could perhaps trade Willingham for a minor leaguer with upside (see: Span-for-Meyers), but that would mean throwing in the towel for 2013. The Twins don't want to trade Josh Willingham but there are multiple teams interested in the leftfielder, according to Phil Mackey of 1500 ESPN (via Twitter). Mariners Seek Controllable Hitters By Ben Nicholson-Smith [July 29, 2012 at 2:35pm CST] 2:35pm: The Mariners are trying hard to obtain Brandon Belt, Dave Cameron of FanGraphs reports (on Twitter). 1:32pm: Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik is looking to acquire hitters who could contribute for the next two or three seasons, Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports reports. The Mariners aim to improve an offense that currently ranks last in the American League with just 3.9 runs per game. The Mariners are more focused on players such as Josh Willingham and Allen Craig than players like Shin-Soo Choo and Hunter Pence. Choo and Pence are eligible for free agency after the 2013 season, while Willingham is under contract through 2014 and Craig won't even be arbitration eligible before the 2013-14 offseason. The Dodgers have also talked about the possibility of acquiring Justin Morneau and Josh Willingham of the Twins, Knobler reports. The Twins don’t seem interested in trading Josh Willingham, but a long list of teams would have interest if Minnesota makes the outfielder available. The Twins haven’t put Josh Willingham on the trade market yet, but he’s in high demand, Morosi reports (on Twitter). The Twins haven't made Josh Willingham off-limits to other teams, but they aren't shopping him, Phil Mackey and Darren Wolfson of 1500ESPN.com report. Willingham, who's in the first year of a three-year, $21MM contract, is "definitely" Minnesota's most valuable trade chip, 1500ESPN.com reports. However, the Twins are enjoying Willingham's production and would prefer not to trade a player so early in a multiyear contract. Teams have checked in on Josh Willingham but have been told that he isn't available. Some believe this could change but others believe Twins GM Terry Ryan "is, generally speaking, conservative with in-season deals" so the Twins could hold onto their slugger. All from: http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/josh_willingham/ The list goes on and on with well knows media members with good sources claiming there was plenty of interest in Willingham, both at the deadline and in December.

Isn't that the growing pains of a rookie hitter? The list of guys that come into the MLB and start hitting right away and never stop is very, very short. Arcia is not, and should never been expected to be, on that list. He should be working through that slump here, not in AAA. His main problem was that he was getting breaking balls in fastball counts. How is he supposed to make that adjustment in AAA, where he is just going to get fastballs to feast on?

Relax guys. Remember at the beginning of the year Phil Mackey projected us to have a powerhouse lineup, 7th in baseball in runs scored. He projected us to have a much improved pitching staff, and win in the neighborhood of 80 games. That means that this team is due for a breakout of historic proportions to finish the season, you guys are not going to want to miss it.

To me it's absurd that Arcia is in AAA. You can't adjust to MLB pitching in AAA, they don't pitch the same way. He's ready to hit MLB pitching, he's shown that this year. He needs to be allowed to work through his slumps. Going down to AAA and crushing fastballs doesn't do a whole lot for his development, IMO.