mikelink45

I would be nice to see them out there, to know that they are engaged and to see them help someone progress, but there are so many of these, so many voices and levels, is it confusing? Who does Buxton listen too, for example.

The farm clubs have been more fun that the big league team for most of the last 7 years, so why don't they translate to a great MLB team? Tell my why Jorge was dfa'd? I am confused. A number 20 prospect dropped, Belisle kept, a young reliever - Busenitz sent done, Belisle kept up. Do I need more than this to complain about the FO? In the mean time I do hope our young stars maintain their potential through the majors.

I am not knocking Mauer, but if we are looking at the resources that Lovullo has versus Molitor, this is one fact. A star in his prime, a star at the end. Rodney is doing well this year, but this team is not ready for the big time and Rodney will not be at his prime either when we are. Personally I think the FO has been too slow in moving the young players. Have you noticed the age of the stars and players who have been moving up for the Astros, Indians, Yankees and others. Is there a reason our have to have so much seasoning? I do not like the FO and it will take a lot to bring me over. I really liked your last paragraph.

I was once employed as an assistant manager. I soon figured out that the assistant was there to take the crap for anything that goes wrong. In our system I see Molitor as an on the field assistant to the FO. I feel sorry for him.

No they are not self explanatory. What do special assistants assist with? What do consultants consult about. What do all these layers do and what is the manager suppose to do. It is not clear at all.

And do we know where the teaching responsibilities lie with the flow chart of specialists? I do not know how to define manager any more.

Actually in this age I think that is a really good question.

Berrios had a bad day, Magill and Belisle pitched to their talent level - so we DFA Jorge and not Belisle. Please explain. So can someone pick up our number 20 prospect and put him on their list of prospects? If so I would wonder what the Twins were thinking, but then I forget the FO has a plan and is smarter than all the rest of us. I am so excited.

We already have those 3 - 4 experts. Who is Pickler? Who is Derek Shelton????????????/ How is Rudy Hernandez doing as assistant hitting coach? Or Mr Rowson as the bat guru? What are Tom Kelly Special Assistant to the General Manager — Justin Morneau Special Assistant to Baseball Operations — Michael Cuddyer Special Assistant — LaTroy Hawkins Special Assistant — Torii Hunter Special Assistant — Jim Kaat doing as special assistants? and if you want to go further who are Rod McCormick Equipment Manager — Edgar Varela Minor League Field Coordinator — Rick Eckstein Minor League Hitting Coordinator — Sam Perlozzo Minor League Infield/Baserunning Coordinator — Pete Maki Minor League Pitching Coordinator — J.P. Martinez Minor League Assistant Pitching Coordinator — Tanner Swanson Minor League Catching Coordinator — Mike Quade Minor League Outfield Coordinator — Chad Jackson Minor League Rehab Coordinator — Ian Kadish Minor League Strength and Conditioning Coordinator — Tony Leo Head Athletic Trainer — Perry Castellano Strength and Conditioning Coordinator — Eric Beiser Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coordinator — Masamichi Abe Assistant Athletic Trainer — Matt Biancuzzo Assistant Athletic Trainer — Dustin Morse Executive and what are they doing? Or what are Senior Vice President, Operations Matt Hoy Senior Vice President, General Manager Thad Levine Vice President, Assistant General Manager Rob Antony Vice President, Technology John Avenson doing? And continuing in the Front office there are (some repeats) Executive Assistant Danielle Berg Executive Assistant Jordan Cue Special Assistant Bert Blyleven Special Assistant Rod Carew Special Assistant Kent Hrbek Special Assistant Tom Kelly Special Assistant Jack Morris Special Assistant Tony Oliva responsible for????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Who do Special Assistant to Baseball Operations Michael Cuddyer Special Assistant to Baseball Operations LaTroy Hawkins Special Assistant to Baseball Operations Torii Hunter Special Assistant to Baseball Operations Justin Morneau Director, Baseball Operations Daniel Adler Director, Professional Scouting Brad Steil report to? What are they responsible for? Has Assistant Director, Player Development Alex Hassan developed any players? How are we benefiting from Senior Manager, International Administration and Education Amanda Daley Senior Manager, Minor League Operations Brian Maloney?????? I am too exhausted to continue down this list of geniuses. It is definitely easier to blame Molitor.

I disagree. Who does he teach? Buxton who can't get on base, Sano who loves the Ks as much as the HRs, Dozier and Morrison and Garver and Adrianze who float around the 200 mendoza line? Maybe Mauer and his concussion protocol. Or are we looking at LaMarre, Cave and Motter. NO a HOF manager cannot teach bottom basement players to be stars.

I enjoyed your post even though we differ in grading the FO. Odorizzi and Lynn were last minute bottom of the barrel picks - like Morrison. If we wanted Lynn we should have signed him early enough to get him in Spring Training. Last minute signings seldom work out. Remember how we handled Kendrys Morales. For a team looking forward 41 year old Rodney and 38 year old Belisle is hardly a progress set of signings. When Castro went down, what did we do? When Polanco was suspended, what did we do? I like your optimism, but the Falvey/Levine duo has done nothing to win me over.

You are much more generous than I am. They spent a lot of wasted time chasing the big name, and if you check my posts I was totally against it. Turns out the cubs wish the Twins had signed him. But to the point we did not need one big name, we needed a number of parts and they waited until the sweepstakes were over. Morrison, Odorizzi, Lynn, Reed, Rodney, Duke, Motter, LaMarre, Cave, Belisle are at best a C- effort. I did not like their aversion to the young players we had and I have not seen all their Twins Way guys shining in their jobs. It is possible they will be great guys and have some magical plan, but right now count me as a non-believer who will be happy if you are the one that is right.

I know it is popular to say Molitor is a poor manager. Today there is even a comparison with Lovullo. But maybe the problem rises to higher levels. Yes Lovullo lost his Ace and still succeeds. The Twins pitching lost its Ace and continued too. I here that the Twins are not running the bases like others. The problem is, you have to get on base. We have a collective 234 batting average and a 307 OBP. The old cliche is - you can't steal first. This team is not built for much of anything. So what has the Front Office done for Molitor - they brought in LaMarre, Cave, Morrison, and Motter. We lost our catcher and they brought in Bobby Wilson. Tell me how Mauer compares to Goldschmidt? Who are the leaders for the team. On the pitching side the analytical geniuses bring in Lynn and Odorizzi - its been a roller coaster, but I am not upset by those moves. On the other hand our aging bullpen additions do nothing for me. We have a 41 year old Rodney and 38 year old Belisle. Then we tell Molitor not to over use the one or two arms that are actually delivering. Reed and Duke - two more old vets are okay, but Reed failed as the eighth inning arm. The FO brought in more coaches, consultants, good old twins guys than I can count or remember, but we watched our two premier players for the future - Sano and Buxton fail and flounder. How many consultants can we assign to them. Fernando Romero looks like the real thing, but as he reached that point where some adjustments are needed we send him down - sorry calling all our consultants. We have had Adrianza and Petit at SS when we have Gordon in the minors. Gordon might be needing some more development, but can't he match these two or perhaps spell a struggling Dozier. Of course Molitor does not want a 224 lead-off hitter like Grossman, but we started with Dozier who is batting 218 and Mauer who is batting 254 and looks lost since his occurrence of concussion symptoms. So who else can bat first? We need the two Eddies to be in the top of the lineup, but do you move them to one and two and put powerless Mauer at number 3 with 191 batting Morrison and 218 batting Dozier in position to drive them in? Who does Molitor bring in from the pen - Hildenberger is doing great, Magill does not seem to have anyones confidence, Reed lost his position, Duke scares us, Rogers and Pressly have eras over 4 - terrible for a reliever. So FO guys, where is the help? How do you give your manager a roster he can actually work with?

Sorry to rain on all the Molitor haters, but I just put up a blog because my reply was too long for the post and I really believe it is time to look at the FO and deflect some of the frustration from our manager. The Twins have more consultants, coaches, analytics specialists than ever before and it is also time to look at their roles. Who are they, why are we getting such poor performances from our players. Molitor does not bat or pitch, he just puts out the messy platter of players he has been provided with. Fire Molitor and maybe we would only be at 40 losses. http://twinsdaily.com/blog/1028/entry-11133-maybe-it-isnt-molitor-take-a-look-at-our-new-front-office/

Where is the FO? They have okayed the moves that are driving us all crazy. Where is their creativity? Molitor gets blame, but he did not seek out LaMarre, Belisle, Cave, Motter and others who are driving us crazy. I do not know if Molitor is a good manager, because I cannot imagine any manager working with this group and succeeding.

It is getting harder to write comments on this team. A 13 inning win and it felt like a loss. We make a starting pitcher with a 7 ERA look like a star and we have to depend upon an Ex-Twin to walk in our runs. Maybe we can develop that as a new strategy, spread our ex-twin pitchers around the league and hope they come in to fact us and give us a chance to win. Taylor Motter starts! Think about that. He is 0 - 14. He is a scrub, he has no future, no potential and he starts. This is not about resting Kepler, this is about a stupid bench. Better to have 38 year old, 12 era, Belisle than a good bat on the bench? The White Sox pitching ranks with a higher ERA than the Twins and Tigers, but we cannot get hits off them. The White Sox are one of three teams with 50 or more losses and we struggle to win one game and that on a fluke ending. We have a starting lineup today with Taylor Motter, Grossman, Adrianza, Morrison, Cave, and Wilson in the lineup and that is the lineup that finally wins a game. Give me a break. Why should the casual fan have any interest in the team? Where is the story line? I know - Polanco is coming back. We have been waiting half a season so that can be our big headline. Dozier has not only fallen from the leadoff position, he has fallen to a point where they will walk the player ahead of him so they can pitch to him (and it worked - he struck out). Come on Falvey look up from your stats and see what is on the field and measure the interest that your team is generating. This is your time - no Basketball or Hockey playoffs, no NFL and you are quickly making Soccer the most popular sport. To quote your promotions - This is how we Baseball.- if so you better change it.

I would hit like twice if it was possible. I had just posted in the Twins minor league summary that Berrios is the only one I look forward to. We just played 31 innings against the White Sox - a terrible team and celebrate eking out a 13 inning game that required a former Twin to walk in the last run.

Sano and Buxton continue to disappoint. Every 2 K game in the minors is a startling thing to see with Buxton. Bat control or strike recognition just does not seem to be taking hold with him. Nice to see Romero overcome his demotion which had to take a big psychological toll on him and then pitch a good game in the minors. I am anxious for him to return to a major league team that is quickly losing my interest. Seeing Berrios pitch is the most exciting aspect of the MLB team now, but Romero was someone who gave me a second reason to sit up and get excited. Polanco please come back and be what you were the last half of last year without the PEDs.

The real question is - who wants any of these players? Trades need two teams (at least). What is the demand for these bombers? Who among any contention teams needs what we have. Take out the Eddies and we are a AAA team playing in the majors. Nice sentiment to give Mauer a shot at a world series, but what world series contenders want a 256 hitter at 1B who does not hit HRs and is still suffering concussion symptoms? I look at this as past time to move on without giving up. Bring up more young players and give them playing time. Lynn (and I am not convinced he has truly turned it around) and Morrison are not part of next years and the replacements certainly can't help meeting their standards. Start alternating Dozier's replacement into the lineup. Our young stars with the exception of Rosario have taken a step backward, our veteran signings have helped us be mediocre. Keep moving forward until we have the parts we want in the lineup.

If only we had just Sano to worry about, but their is a guy on the opposite side of the bathroom scales who is flailing away in AAA when we need him running the bases in MLB and he looks lost with a positive attitude. And after those two get fixed we have a German in the outfield who is slipping down to below replacement batting when we anticipated another rising star. And then we have our oldest star showing a valient, but seemingly futile effort to combat concussions, our young star short stop taking a PED vacation, and our slugging 2B waiting for his half year magic to kick in. That is a lot to deal with - not even moving into Belisle, Pressly and the BP.

We have two series in Chicago. If we follow recent patterns the White Sox will sweep us and then we will win the Cubs series. This team has some odd patterns. Mauer does not have his skills back - the lead off position has been a loss all year. Our number 4 hitter is batting 188. That tells us all we need to know this team is going no where.

It is fascinating to see how many players have been up and down with the Twins, but nothing sticks and Gordon is forgotten. We bring in Belisle and Motter and that is the FO great strategy? I never will figure out those advance metrics!

I am so confused - why did we bring him in? What is he supposed to do that Petit did not do? This is the team that cut Niko Goodrum and refuses to call up Gordon. It makes no sense.

I was caught up in the Buxton hype and it just seemed that we had a natural, a star that just needed to be put in the lineup and he would be a fixture for a decade or more. It seemed to come easy for him and his minor league averages did not indicate that he was closing his eyes and swinging and hoping. But he got to the majors and got worse instead of better. It is very disappointing so far and I hope that he will find the magic to swing that wand for more hits and less Ks in the future. Our frustration with watching so much talent flounder is only made with when Sano, his HOF partner we thought, had to be sent to single A to straighten out his swing. What is happening when these budding stars hit the majors? Kepler has plateaued at to low a level, and the only one of the rain catchers that is starring is Rosario and for his first two years people were writing all kinds of notes about getting rid of him. How things change.

The announcers made it sound like the play was changed. But I just checked the line score and you are right - it did not change, but it should have. I guess they want Mauer to win that gold glove.