mikelink45

Before I get excited by the twins pitching stats I am hung up on the league 10.7 swing and miss rate. I am glad we are moving towards the trend, but in perspective we are at and not over the trend which means an average staff unless Romero jumps in and pushes the rate up higher. The dig at Gardy and his win loss rate should also be tempered by the very fact in the article that he nothing to work with. who could win with those players.

Who were the Twins managers and were they any good? There is something strange about the manager position in baseball. It is not like we grow up hoping to be a manager. There seems to be no particular qualification, it is at the whim of the team. "In his essay "From Little Napoleons to Tall Tacticians", Thomas Boswell identifies four main personality types among baseball managers, corresponding to archetypes based on the nicknames of their earliest representatives in Major League Baseball, all of whom are in the Hall of Fame: The Little Napoleons, modeled on John McGraw, intense, emotional and competitive, embodying passionate leadership. The Peerless Leaders, modeled on Frank Chance, disciplined, courageous and dignified, embodying leadership by character. The Tall Tacticians, after Connie Mack, savvy, intelligent and trusting in their judgment, embodying intellectual leadership; and The Uncle Robbies, after Wilbert Robinson, compassionate, humorous and understanding, embodying leadership by wisdom." https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Manager Did they deserve to be in the Hall of Fame? Does any manager belong in the Hall of Fame? Casey Stengel led the Yankees to 10 World series wins in 12 years - surely he deserves his HOF plaque, right? He managed the Braves and Dodgers for nine years before that and had a high finish in nine years of 5th place. He managed the Mets for 4 years after the Yankees and finished 10th four times. So if we put all 25 years together is in a HOF manager for the Boston Bees/Braves or the Mets or the Dodgers? Probably not. Joe Torre managed 30 years and became HOF because of the years he had the Yankees 12 years and his worst finish was 2! But what about the other 18 years? Five years with the Mets and he average a finish below 5th place. Three years with the Braves and an average finish of second place. Six years with the Cardinals and an average finish of 3.5 and finally three years with the Dodgers, two first, one fourth. So was he HOF with the Mets, Braves, and Cardinals? Sometimes managers are brought in when the team dumps talent and then dumps the manager when the talent arrives. How do you judge his performance? Even the worse managers do well when their team is loaded with all-stars. So who are the worst managers and how are they judged? Ted Williams was a bust in four years with the Senator/Rangers according to baseball historians, but he was MOY in his first year - just like our HOF manager - Paul Molitor, but Ted was just irascible and irritating everyone because he wanted perfection. Ned Yost is often sited as one of the worst managers, but his KC Royals won a series and changed the way MLB looked at the bullpen. And finally the manager that Bleacher Reports puts number one on the all time worst manager list is Buddy Bell who had been a really fine player. Just to note that ball clubs can't really judge managers any better than the rest of us - Bell was hired three times by three different clubs, the Tigers, Rockies and Royals. He had a 418 percent for his nine years. Ace Wilson actually had a worse percentage - 401 with the Cubs and Phillies in nine seasons. Note how these terrible managers get nine seasons to show how bad they are? in 2016 Fangraphs tried to evaluate managers https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/how-should-we-evaluate-a-manager/ and Paul Molitor was rated below average. Eno Sarris wrote this article and based his scores on four areas of managing - 1.When he uses his best relievers. 2.How rigid his approach to the bullpen is. 3. Where he puts his best hitters in the lineup. 4.How often he bunts with non-pitchers. Those four items seem too arbitrary to me. How about Morale, responding to injuries, use of young players and old players... In 2009 Hardball times ranked the 25 HOF managers and made a case that Billy Martin - one of our managers actually belongs for his managing ability. https://www.fangraphs.com/tht/evaluating-managers/ I would agree. Billy Martin burned out his pitchers, but if you wanted to win - Billy won. Billy might beat up his best player and the teams press secretary, but he won. His record was better than his predecessor and the next in line. He managed to win, but could not manage himself. How do you evaluate that? He was 240 wins above 500 in his managing career. So who have the Twins had? The first manager was Cookie Lavagetto who had managed the Washington Senators to 8,8,8,5 out of 8 and then came with the Twins to Minnesota where he was fired half way through the year and replaced with Sam Mele. We finished 7 of 10 in 1961. He had a 414 winning percentage. He was a third baseman when he played 10 years with four years in the service and is best known for the Cookie game when he broke up Bill Bevan's no-hitter with a pinch hit double. He played for Pittsburgh and Brooklyn. He was replaced by Sam Mele, a former RF who played 10 years for six teams including the Senators twice. He managed the Twins for seven years and took the Twins to the 1965 World Series with perhaps the best roster in team history. After the World Series he finished second the following years, but no playoffs in those days. He finished with a career 546 percentage. During his term, his coach Billy Martin had a fight with his pitching coach Johnny Sain giving a preview of coming attractions. He was fired in 1967 after 50 games because the team was 500 and replaced - not with Martin as expected - but with Calvin Coolidge Ermer. Cal finished that year and managed one more. His record was 589 for the remainder of his first year and then only 488 his first full year. His playing career was one game for the 1947 Senators. He was with the organization 60 years and was minor league manager of the year in 1958. In 1969 Billy Martin got his chance and we were first in the west division but lost 3 - 0 in the ALCS. Alfred Manuel Martin, Jr (Billy) was the Twins second baseman in 1961, he then became our scout, managed the Denver Bears and became our manager. He was fired after winning. As a scout he tried to get Griffith to sign pitcher Jim Palmer but skinflint Griffith refused, of course. In 1966 Martin got into a fight with traveling secretary Howard Fox on a charter flight ruining his chance for that years managerial promotion. Fox had demanded that Martin get his former Yankee teammates to quiet down on the flight and he refused. Fox then refused to give Martin his key, eventually throwing it at Martin. Martin hit Fox in the face! Martin ended up with the Denver Bears, where he took a poor team and made it a winner. Craig Nettles from the team said Martin made them afraid to lose. Martin was then given the Twins job and Griffith said, "I feel like I am sitting on a powder keg." Griffith insisted on a daily meeting with Martin, so Martin showed up when it was time for Griffith's daily nap. Then when Dave Boswell (20 game winner) got in a fight with Bob Allison Martin joined in and punched Boswell. Griffith wanted to fire Martin but he was winning and so was Boswell. His relationship with the Twins was also damaged when he kicked Hubert Humphrey out of the locker room. Fox and others prevailed and Martin was fired, the fans were angry. Bill Rigney, a big name at the time, replaced Martin. They had to have a famous name to try to calm fandom. Bill Rigney had an 8 year career as an infielder with the Giants. Then he went on to be the manager of the Minneapolis Millers and 18 years as a mlb manager starting with the Giants. Then three years with the Twins where his team finished 1, 5, 3 in the AL west. Rigney was fired during his third year and replaced by Frank Quilici. Quilici, who passed away last year, played for the Twins for five years as a second baseman. Including the partial first year he managed for four years with a 494 winning pct. finishing 3,3,3,4 in the AL west. He was beloved and went into the radio booth after his career. He was replaced by legendary Gene Mauch another former 2B who was a manager for 27 years. As I said, how do you judge a manager. He was beloved by management and got a job for 27 years despite being the manager for the Philadelphia Phillies in one of the most famous collapses of all time. His team was ahead by 6 1/2 games with 12 to go. He decided to pitch Jim Bunning and Chris Short in 7 of the last 10 games - burning them out (maybe) and the lead disappeared. The team 'pholded' and yet Mauch kept managing. In 1985 with the Angels his team lost in the last game of season and finished second to the Royals. In 1961 his Angels team established the record for a losing streak - 23 games. In 1969 his Expos team lost 20 in a row. From 1976 - 1980 he managed the Twins and his nephew Roy Smalley. His teams finished 3,4,4,4,3. 378 - 394 490. With all the luck they had with 2B they chose Johnny Goryl in 1981. After going 11 - 25 he was replaced by Billy Gardner another 2B, infielder who had 10 years in the majors. He managed six years with the Twins and one with KC. His Twins had a 432 pct. and he was fired in 1985 and replaced by Ray Miller. Miller finished the season and was fired half way through the next season. He is in the Orioles HOF as a pitching coach, but his magic did not extend to Minnesota. Johnny Podres our pitching coach quit in protest of the Miller hire. Miller was universally disliked in twinkie land. The man who replaced him is Minnesota legend Tom Kelly who lasted 16 years. Kelly had two world series teams and three second place finishes in 16 years with an overall pct of 478 which leads me back to the beginning of this blog - great because of two WS or lousy because he had less than 500 record? MN thinks of him as our greatest manager, but there is no quantifiable way to determine or prove this. Ron Gardenhire another 2B player - we really do hire a lot of second basemen to manage - was next in line. He managed us for 13 years with a 507 pct which surpasses Kelly by a lot. He had six first place finishes, one second and two thirds. Then the Twins players stunk and we tired of our old friend and decided he was no longer a good manager. I hope he succeeds in Detroit. Paul Molitor continued our love affair with second base managers and after a HOF career became manager for four years and became the target for criticism that I believe is erroneous and unfair. He finished 2,2,5,2 in his four years. Those are misleading finishes since we are in the worst division, but he was also MOY so good for him. Why was he bad? I know - BP - which was filled with such great arms as Matt Belisle... And now Rocco Baldelli a seven year pro who was damaged by injury and is supposed to lead us to the promised land like all the other managers. I hope he does.

It is never too early. Do not wait for the Indians to retool, go now.

The middle is the place for the proverbial half full/half empty decision. Personally I think it stinks. In our division wild card is not an option at this stage. Since 2010 we have finished 5/5/4/5/2/5/2/2 - how is that for middle? Games behind - in our division: 32/22/27/20/12/35/17/13 - no wild card hopes there. The dreary sense of being in suspended animation is in the middle. Unless you are on your way up and this is a temporary step towards the future greatness it means lower draft numbers, selling off your assets, dreaming of the big FA, projecting your prospects to be superstars. The end of the 1990s we had 8 years of 4/5 finishes. This team has had bursts of success and in fact are much better than all but the Lynx among our professional teams. The Twins and the Lynx are the only ones to win championships unless we go back to the original dynasty - the Minneapolis Lakers. I can handle a couple years in the middle, but to see that as a positive is not in me.

I looked at your overall list and other than the top five or ten it really does not matter where they rank. I would probably drop Gordon from the list - he just is not progressing as we had hoped. I would drop Javier from the list because we have not seen him and he is still a long ways away. The questions about Rooker are valid, but the Cron/Cruz/Austin signings seem to say that the Twins do not see him as that valuable a piece right now and Larnach seems a little further off, but in fact as I read TD reports, he sounds better. I would love to see a listing of the top 20 pitchers - in order. It is interesting to see Berrios so high (where he belongs) Gibson on the list but down low and no Odorrizi, or Pineda. What does that say about our pitching staff? If I were looking into the future I see Kiriloff in the OF and Kepler somewhere else unless this is his big break out year. But if there is one OF that I think is rated way to high it is Buxton. I know what a great prospect he was, but his development has to show me something this year before I put him in the top ten. Here are the top Twins Pitchers by your rating - who else would be here if you removed all the position players? I would love to see us have more than 8 in the top assets rankings and I would like to see more quality because ultimately the pitchers have to lift us in the standings. 18. Adalberto Mejia, LHP 15. Stephen Gonsalves, LHP 13. Kyle Gibson, RHP 12. Trevor May, RHP 10. Taylor Rogers, LHP 6. Fernando Romero, RHP 5. Brusdar Graterol, RHP 2. Jose Berrios, RHP

No to Clemens and Bonds. Look at Clemens records for 1993 - 1996 with the Red Sox. Would they have let him go to Toronto if he looked like HOF? NO, then he suddenly becomes a 20 game winner and a horse like he had been when he was younger - is that just from breathing Canadian air? Bonds had over 45 home runs once 1986 - 1999, then the publicity from McGwire and Sosa drive him crazy and he suddenly gets big headed (literally) and cranks 73 followed by 46,45,45. Nothing suspicious there. These two were caught. They destroyed the way we look at stats. No one is excited by 73 or 70 for that matter. We still talk about 60,61 with reverence. They do not belong! They can form their own little hall, buy a house in Cooperstown and hang their photos with Shoeless Joe and Pete Rose and Ed Cicotte, Lefty Williams, Chick Gandil, Fred McMullin, Swede Risberg, Happy Felsch, and Buck Weaver. There are 10 more names, but you get the idea.

Nicely done, I am still skeptical and think Kepler has been over rated because we all hoped so much that he would turn in to a really solid player - Bob Allison was my hope.

I have to drop Kepler lower in the rankings. His lack of progress makes him less of an asset now than I expected. I would put him back with Sano. I am impresed with Romero's ranking. It seems too high for me at this stage. We do not even know if he is relief or starter. Rosario I would move up in the ratings. I expect Berrios, Lewis, Kiriloff are top three and I have to feel that Schoop is a one year player at this stage and therefore is not top five, Castro is okay, but not that valuable. I expected to see Buxton about 10 but you must see him as a top five. Odorizzi is sure not in that ranking for me so I guess I will have to go with the surprise #1 - Willans Astudillo!

The team that would become the Twins – the Washington Senators set the pace that the Twins would follow, with lots of mediocrity and last place teams with occasional flourishes of quality. “First in War, Last in the American League.” Since it is a new year, I thought it would be fun to look back at our legacy and see what happened in 1919 and each decade after: 1919 The team was 56 – 84 and seventh place out of eight teams. Walter Johnson had a 10.8 WAR for this collection and a record of 20 – 14. Clark Griffith was the manager. They had three outstanding players on their roster – Bucky Harris (his rookie year, only a few appearances), Sam Rice (10th in batting average – 321) and Joe Judge (288/386/406). It was not enough. They were last in Batting and last in Pitching, but still managed to finish ahead of the Philadelphia As. 1929 The year that the Great Depression hit the nation the team was 71 -81 and up to fifth place! Firpo Marberry (19 – 12 and 9 saves) had 7.1 WAR and Walter Johnson was the manager. They were 34 games behind and there were no playoffs or other options to hope for in those years. Marberry was one of the first really great relief pitchers with four years of double figure saves when that was not a stat nor did anyone care much about it. Yet he was by far the most valuable player on the team. Sam Rice was now 39 but had a line that read 323/382/424. Goose Goslin was .288/366/.461, Joe Judge was .315/.397/.442, Buddy Myers at 2B was .300/.373/.403 and Joe Cronin was .281/.388/.421 which proves again that pitching is what wins games! 1939 World War II begins, but not much changes for the Senators. There record is 65 – 87 and they are in 6th place 41 ½ games out. Bucky Harris is now the manager and will be for 8 seasons. Buddy Lewis is their WAR leader with 5.7. A third baseman and outfielder his line was 319/.402/.478. The attendance for the year was just over 329,000. Amazingly Dutch Leonard was 20 – 8 – winning 31% of the team total! Their only other star was right fielder Taffy Wright .309/.359/.435. Of note was September call up Early Wynn who was 0 – 2 in his debut but would go on to win 300 games. In 1949 when I was 3 ½ the Senators really stunk. 50 – 104 and 47 games out of contention. Of course they were in 8th place. J Kuhel was in second and last year as manager and Eddie Robinson lead the team with 2.5 WAR as a first baseman with .294/.381/.459. and the attendance for the year was up to 774,000! A familiar name for Twins history was on this roster – Sam Mele 242/.288/.337. He started out the year in RF for the Red Sox and then came to the Senators in the season and played RF/CF/1B. Another familiar name is Eddie Yost who became famous for fouling off pitches, his line was .253/.383/.391. Member of the Twins front office Sherry Robertson was on the team and played 2B/3B/RF/LF. 1959. Two years from coming to Minnesota the team was 63 – 91 and in 8th place again. Cookie Lavagetto was manager and would be for the Twins in 1961 before giving way to Sam Mele. Camilo Pascual had 8.6 WAR. Always my favorite pitcher in the early Twins years Pascual was 17 – 10 that year giving him 27% of the team wins. In September Jim Kaat came to the team – 21 years old, 0 – 2 record! Jack Kralick and Pedro Ramos were also in the rotation and would becomes Twins staples! Both underrated in Twins history. At 23 Harmon Killebrew was finally given a full time position after rotting on the bench due to the bonus baby rule (another stupid rule from baseball’s hierarchy). With 42 HRs the Killer had a line of 242/.354/.516. Familiar names on the roster included Bob Allison, Jim Lemon, Lenny Green, Zoilo Versalles, Roy Seivers, and Reno Bertoia. Bad team with some great players. 1969 In the playoff era, one of our greatest teams finished first – 97 – 65 and then lost 3 – 0 in the ALCS. What a shame. Jim Perry with 6.5 was tops in WAR and 20 – 6! He was amazing that year. Dave Boswell was 20 – 12, Jim Kaat was 14 – 13, Tom Hall (who physically resembles Jose Berrios) was 8 – 7 and Dean Chance was 5 – 4. What a rotation! Ron Perranoski and Al Worthington were the top relief tandem. Then there were the bats – 36 year old John Roseboro at Catcher, Reese at 1B, Carew 2B - .332/.386/.467, Cardenas SS, Killebrew (49 HRs) at 3B, Allison (24 HR), Uhlander, and Oliva (.309/.355/.496) in the OF. The manager was a story in himself – Billy Martin! 1979 82 – 80 and fourth in the West. Gene Mauch was the manager (Roy Smalley’s uncle) and Jerry Koosman led in WAR (7.2). The Twins drew just over one million fans. In 1974 when Blyleven led the way they drew only 660,000. Koosman was 20 – 13, Dave Goltz was 14 – 13, and Geoff Zahn, Roger Erickson and Paul Hartzell rounded out a ½ good rotation. Mike Marshall was the pen – 90 appearances, 32 saves, 142 innings pitched. The Batting order did not match the sixties. Roy Smalley was probably the best, Kenny Landreaux was good and Butch Wynegar was Calvin Griffith favorite. We also had the great name – Bombo Rivera! 1989 80 – 82. Two years from our world series in – we only won five more regular season games that year and the year before we were 91 – 71 and better than any of the other teams in this time frame, but we finished second. This year had a similar record to ten years earlier, but we were below 500 and finished 5th. Kirby Puckett led in WAR (4.9) 339/.379/.465 and it was Tom Kelly’s third season as manager. We drew 2,200,000 fans! The rotation was led by Allen Anderson 17 – 10, Frank Viola 8 – 12, and Roy Smith 10 – 6 and Jeff Reardon was in the pen with Juan Berenguer. The big bats were Puckett, Harper, Hrbek, Gagne, Gaetti, and Gladden. It was also the year of Wally Backman at second base and that was some mistake. 1999 63 – 97 and in fifth place out of 5. Kelly was still the manager and Brad Radtke led in WAR – 6.5 and was 12 – 14. Terry Steinbeck was the catcher – nice to have the Minnesotan come home. He had a line of .242/.310/.410. A guy by the name of David Ortiz played 1B .277/.371/.446, but of course we did not like the way he swung the bat! Ron Coomer and Matt Lawton were regulars and a guy named Molitor was DH .281/.335/.382 – we liked that, we didn’t like Ortiz. In the rotation Radtke was joined by LaTroy Hawkins 7 – 14, Eric Milton 8 – 14 and Bob Tewksbury 7 – 13. Rick Aguilera and Eddie Guardado held the pen. 2009 – Current history. 87 – 67 and first place in the Central, then a 3 – 0 loss in the LDS. Joe Mauer led in WAR with 7.8 (28 HRs, .365/.444/.587 and Ron Gardenhire managed. Blackburn and Baker each won 12, Slowey and Perkins each won 11, and Livan Hernandez won 10. Joe Nathan was joined by Boof Bonser – another of the best names in Twins history – Matt Guerrier, Jesse Crain, and Dennys Reyes. Mauer, Morneau, Span and Kubel led the lineup with Carlos Gomez in CF and Nick Punto all over the field. 3B Buscher, 2b Casilla, and the famous Delmon Young in LF! 2019????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? That’s the decade review. When we were senators we finished 7/5/6/8/8 – very consistent. The Twins in the years that ended with 9 were 1/4/5/5/1 – somewhat erratic but some fun teams. What can we expect this year? There are so many questions – Happy New Year.

Nice recap. Moya, Garver, Vasquez, and Romero look like good pieces going forward. Gonsalves, Littel and Stewart I hope will progress, but their debuts were too up and down to have confidence for 2019. Astudillo may be that short term legend - there have been many - Bob Hazle with the old Milwaukee Braves, Dusty Rhodes with the Giants, Mark Fidrych with the Tigers, Kevin Maas a yankee, Joe Charboneau with the Indians, and Wayne Garland in the Orioles rotation are all examples. Fun while it lasted and it did not last long. Astudillo reminds me of the Fidrych legend - color, laughs and production. But I also worry that the Twins might see this as something that filled the end of the season, but nothing more. I hope I am wrong, but I have might doubts that he will continue in MLB. Too bad, we have had pudgy guys who did well before, including one Kirby Puckett.

Once again you have provided a fun and provocative list. Sano should be top five, his place on this list is a frustration listing. Garver seems to high - it depends upon concussion. If he is well I rank him above Castro, if not I put him off the list. The biggest surprise is Gonsalves. We want him to succeed, but last year was not very positive from a big league standpoint. I think he lost a lot with his debut. I wish I could go back and read all the essays about May. He has been the man of promise for so long. It would be great to see him have the year everyone anticipates.

I am still a believer in starters and his debut showed what he can do. It was a better audition that Berrios had his first year. Put Mejia in the pen and start Romero.

Since I have to assume that all the players on the teams roster are included in this listing I would join those who say Javier does not belong. He is not a potential call up, he is not even ready for 2020. Since this is a 20 person list and we have a 25 man active roster that means we are tossing some of the players to the side. Lewis and Kiriloff have to make the list because trading them would gain better assets than any of the players already on your list. Gordon is someone we hope for, but is he at the stage to be number 20? Not unless he is ready to push for a starting role. There are 15 spots left - that is the rest of the starting rotation - including Cruz (if we assume Cave over Buxton we have two of the starters in this group of five. So we have 7 players left in the starting lineup. With 8 more places Berrios, Odorizzi, Gibson are there and I have already listed Kiriloff and Lewis so there are three - Reed, Rogers are in the BP so there is one more pitcher to fit into the list. So who is left off? Castro or Garver, Hildenberger, Graterol? Oh then there is the guy who Cave would be competing with - Buxton. I like the exercise and the arguments you are sure to set off!

This is a good end of the year surprise. I do not know how much he will benefit the team, but I am willing to watch and learn. Does this make the lineup: Polanco Rosario Cruz Cron Cave Sano Schoop Kepler Castro Of course if Buxton takes the starting position in CF, Cave comes out and Buxton is 9 pushing Sano/Schoop/Kepler/Castro up. I put Buxton behind Castro because Castro's lack of speed would impact Buxton. Certainly an interesting lineup. Now if they can all field! So on to the pitching staff.

Nice essay and very accurate - I am amazed by those who say wait. How long have we been waiting? Our world series appearances - 1965, 1987, 1991. We came into existence in 1961 when I ushered at the old met and we had some really fun players and a good team. After 31 years we had averaged one world series appearance every 10 years. Now we are 26 years since that wonderful experience. Since 2010's very good team we have had 7 losing seasons. 570 - 726 .439. Yes we got Cave and we got Odorizzi and we got Reed still on our team and a lot of minor leaguers to fill the rosters. How many of them are moving us to a championship or even more import to a sequence of winning years?

I really liked this. Good options, good perspectives. What is the Twins culture? I do not think anyone knows and as we try to develop one we are losing the potential for the young core now there (I know core is a strong word for what they have done) to become disenchanted. Bringing in another old vet to steady the ship is not going to work if the vet is a Giminez or Belisle type of player. And who else are they going to get?

I am bothered by the fact that we did not get good players to challenge these young position players. I am not bothered by having too much talent, but I sure do not like having too little. Our team has a lot to prove - including our new second baseman. I know we can tell about Schoops big year in Baltimore. Brady Anderson had a big year too - he hit 50 HRs in 1991 and 150 home runs over the other 14 years. Schoop had 32 in 2017 and 78 total for the other 5 years. Those career years get a lot of attention, but they are not the true player. You might add a coin for Garver too - will he be the player that he was last year or are we cursed with another concussion.

Put in a little nook that says the best of the cheaters - Steroid ERA heroes. They destroyed the meaning of stats, they gave us the forever reference to records the best outside the steroid era. I wish they had all dropped in year one like Palmeiro who accumulated HOF stats and never felt like a HOF players during his career. We used to have magic numbers - 60 and 61 - 714 and 755, but now I really do not care where anyone is on the all time list. For this insult to fans and the game I would never vote them in. I know the best hitter and the best pitcher...We have survived without Shoeless Joe and Pete Rose. In fact they are also responsible for harming the great reputation and story that the Hall presents. Yes, I feel anger towards them and it does not matter to me if Piazza or any other player has suspicion but no prove and slipped in. Bonds and Clemens are the poster boys, the symbols of that bleak time. Rivera needs to go in and I really do not care if anyone else does. Halliday is a sympathy vote and that is okay, but if he had not died would we have so much energy expended on him? Walker and others from CO suffer from this home and away splits like it is only the Rockies that have them. The Twins in 2018 had a 261/239 team split for home/away. The Yankees were 260/238 and the Red Sox were 282/255 - should all these players be judged the way that Rockies players are? No Home and away is part of the game. Judge the total stats and the complete player and stop punishing Rockies. Put Walker in.

This is where the Twins can turn the off season around. But why are we at December 23 before the interest is demonstrated. Why didn't we jump in quick and get their attention? The West Coast and New York are better known in Japan than Minnesota, but remember that Vice President Mondale has also been an ambassador to Japan. I would like to think we were really in on this player, but my instinct is the same as the others who have posted here. Interest does not match action.

For a business, the Twins seem to disregard the fans opinions and attitudes. I understand that they have to be careful about bending to the whims of the fans, but there are some things that can be done while still pursuing their long term secret plan.

Very good article. Thanks for the work in pulling this together. My only argument is the shot to Molitor. He did not get Buxton to the heights we expected, but he was also the manager when Buxton had his best year. Molitor had multiple hitting coaches, bench coach, Picker the ??, and nobody could put Humpty Buxton together again. Its time to move on from Molitor and inferences of his issues. The truth is Buxton has had bad pitch recognition and bad bat control from the moment he was called up. Fielding has only one issue - quit running into walls full speed - get under control. But the bat and swings just seem wrong. Maybe we will find out he has an issue with eyesight. I hope he gets this fixed. I hope he becomes the superstar everyone expects, But this issue is more than just last years struggles.

I know - Spring training is still a two months away and the big fish are still swimming in the Free Agent pond so news is sparse, Santa is still trying to load the sleigh with big contracts and hope for every team. In an earlier blog I wrote about the moves of the Twins and how lack luster they have been. https://twinsdaily.com/blogs/entry/11289-%7B%3F%7D/ Now we are another three weeks since I wrote that and unfortunately I could publish it again and be just as timely. No rule 5 player taken, none loss (how can we rank so high as a team when no one wants our players in rule 5 - we had a lot of them to choose from). The Winter meetings came and went. Our team got a B- from ESPN for the off season - mainly it was our hiring of coaches which is such an inexact science we have no way to know if we did well. Remember how the Vikings went for the hot Offensive Coordinator from the Super Bowl Eagles - DeFillipo? How did that go? Well we need something besides the Winter Melt Down, or rather before we melt down. The big names and the roster projection at this point will probably not change before 2019 takes over the calendar and all the analysis seems to be mediocre at best. So we turn to Mauer. When the end of the season meant nothing and some prospects wondered why they were not with the team, we did a big finish with Mauer catching again. It was great, a wonderful story for a great Twin, but it was also a distraction from what went on this season. So now that we have nothing to grab onto - Mauer comes back to rescue us again. I know it is early, and we cannot even set the date yet, but let's announce that we are going to retire Mauer's number. We all knew it would happen, when we were not sure, but 2019 needs something and sports fans are confused by the Vikings, experiencing the same Timberwolves mystique, and watching the WIld grab fifth place in its division, while the Gophers 6 - 6 play in a the Mediocre bowl game against a 7 - 5 team. I think Mauer should have his number retired, but maybe we should wait to see if he gets so lonely for the diamond that he decides to return in March. Or is this our subtle way of getting him to the HOF - like Harold Baines who had his number retired by the White Sox after they traded him and he was still an active ballplayer? Well now we know and we can add this to the Twins off season WOW factor. Congratulations Joe, this is not a criticism of you. I know many will not see this update, but here I sit on the Solstice and I see the Dodgers have moved, Puig, Wood, and Kemp and the Reds got rid of Homer Bailey. Soria joined the As, Miller signed with the Cards, Profar goes to the As, Pagan to the Rays, Daniel Murphy is with the Rockies, Sanchez is a National, Cahill is an Angel, and a few minor parts moved. It is not that I wanted all of these players to be a Twin, but the Twin news is still - Mauer's number is being retired.

I see no other number. How much had Mauer achieved by the age of Sano and Buxton? This is a discussion for a decade from now.

Kyle Gibson 3.9 WAR in 2018 projected by BR for 2019 10-11 4.24 1.39 Jake Odorizzi 1.5 WAR in 2019, projected by BR for 2019 8-8 4.18 1,28 These are not studs to build a team around, they are fillers in the back end of the rotation. Currently we have numerous young pitchers who could reach this level. If we sign vets I want them to move us towards the pennant and WS and not keep us at status quo. They are essential this year, but there are a lot of pitchers who can achieve this level. If inclined to extend I would say only one of them should be given the extension, which one does not matter to me. To see the other projections for our pitchers go to my blog - https://twinsdaily.com/blogs/entry/11300-%7B%3F%7D/

I merely added all their WAR scores and gave you the total. I am not predicting. Then you have the Baseball Reference projections - I do not know how much WAR that would earn, but it is not outstanding. Unless we get everyone really on top of their game we are a 500 team. I cannot predict a breakout from Sano, I can only wish it would happen. He now has a track record that is not very good.