mikelink45

We stink and the head stinker is Terry Ryan. Don't give me any more crap about patience. Whoever is failing beneath the big GM guru is stinking because of the system this man has put in place. Pull the plug, flush the commode, move on, Jim Pohlad total system failure starts at the head of the system.

I just read the above posting and realized that I am getting more and more angry and frustrated with each week and each Twins move. Oh, wait, we just signed an outfielder that could not make the Brewer's roster. Wow, I am just not feeling the excitement.

Does it matter - TR will just promote the overrated vet that he trades for.

Yes. There is a need for a change, but my fear is that we will promote from within, that we will reach down to the TR clones and go on as before and each time we do, we have to be fair and give them a few years. But baseball is never just about fair. It is about winning.

I believe we have a new - absence without leave graduate - Byung Ho Park. It's time to talk about our international signing and what has happened for the last few weeks. I believe an incomplete impacts graduation.

I remember that he did not play the "Twins" way and those who did not do what they were told were told to leave. Aww how I have enjoyed the TWINS WAY!

Jepsen gave us a career year and the Twins thought they struck gold. How many times has that happened (think Suzuki). But more bothersome to me is May. I think we have taken a live arm and may have ruined his future. Taking a starting pitcher and then pushing him to twice as many games a year as a reliever reminds me of taking a third baseman and putting him in right field.

You have added to my woes. I have been upset by the FO, the manager, the handling of young players, the rotation, the bullpen, the fielding and now you ask us to be upset with the batting! Yikes. But you are right. This team is so clueless that I cannot begin to imagine how they will correct the ship for next year, it is sinking this year. It is time to tinker with the rotation, lineup, and fielding situations for the rest of this lost year. Tell Paul the season is lost! So play Polanco, rotate minor leaguers in and out of the lineup, get Sano out of right field. Your DFA idea has merit, it also has no chance. But Mauer on the bench is okay. This team has to give us something to show that we might actually improve in the next year. The only good news from the last few weeks was Dean's surprise performance in the rotation.

Nice response to my thought exercise. Maddon has been creative and that is essential in bringing young talent along.

This year is lost in the majors so it is time to experiment, move players up and down as needed, but don't waste innings on players who will not be with us two years from now. What are we gaining by Kinsler or Nolasco or Grossman or Mastrianni getting to play? There are a lot of wasted outs right now and they could be used to explore the future potential of the team. I will not forget how they handled Polanco, Kepler, Buxton, Meyer this year.

The Twins believe in an old vet with diminishing skills, Torii Hunter, to give sanity and perspective to the team, but they do not think of alternatives that might help the new young talents, like maybe a professional baseball counselor. I know that goes against the baseball gods, but the new players are different from the past and, obviously, the Twins have not figured out how to integrate them to the majors, how to help them transition, how to get them to adjust to adjustments. Other teams bring up their young players and watch them thrive - see the Chicago Cubs, but are those players more talented, better adjusted than Berrios, Rosario, Buxton, Kepler, Polanco? We have talent that is beyond my old brain to put a value on, yet we bring them up and down, sit them, play them, and seem to have no answers. Why? We cannot afford to waste this talent, these players who have consistently given us the top rated minor leagues. Some players will flop, but this is too many. Even the players who came up and did not revert develop some questions. Sano is still here and okay, but not the MVP player some speculated. Why? They adjusted to him. He has too much talent to fail, but what have we done to help him succeed at the level where he belongs? Duffey came up and just about carried us to the playoffs despite other collapses. Then when he experiments with a changeup in the spring training he gets sent down for not having sterling statistics, only to reemerge and once again be our best pitcher. On Bullpen calls up are not fixing the damage and then I start to think about our pitching coach. Is he doing his job, is Molitor able to handle this? The FO, I believe, does not deserve anyone believing in them. A mess, much more than that, a disaster. And the fans? Who will council us?

Back spasms are anything but a sign of softness. Everyone who has experienced them knows that they are a real issue and a lot of pain.

I have always wondered what a replacement level team would be - that is everyone at 0 war, the proverbial replacement player that everyone is judged against. I believe Mastrianni and Grossman would qualify here. Fan graphs has the entire team with a collective 4.9 war. That is spread over 9 players (Tommy Milone is one) and nine with a 0 war. 18 players divided in to 4.9 war = .272 war per player - pretty close to replacement level. Then I continue down the list and there are 7 players with negative war for a total of -2.2. The total for the team - 25 players currently on the roster is 2.3 war batting and 1.7 war pitching when I checked the team totals (also fangraphs). Is this the closest thing to a replacement level team that can be found? Does this mean that we are actually over performing with 10 wins instead of 4?

Molitor is showing his own frustration and his inability to keep perspective. There have been many reasons to bench Rosario this season, this was not one of them. I am even more embarrassed by the Twins and their less than stellar coaching: Mastriano and Grossman!!!??? What the Hell - this is what we get from the top rated minor league in MLB? Are there any Rugby games I can watch instead? This is really pathetic.

Maybe this should be what do we do with all of these pitchers. Tonkin and May looked as bad as Berrios - should they be sent out too? We are stinking all over. Help! I have no suggestions, just angst.

I keep hearing about bringing Doug M up to manage, but isn't he part of the team that is preparing the youth for the majors and that transition has not looked so great. It is not our talent, but the way that we handle it that has me really frustrated. Some challenges are acceptable, but once in a while a player has to take off for more than an exceptional year. If Molitor is not handling rookies correctly I believe he has a boss who could set some expectations. I like this article a lot, but lack confidence that the Twins can do this.

Seth your optimism and belief in the Twins is amazing. You see plans where others see chaos. And if you are right and there is a plan, I believe your conclusion is one of the biggest understatements of the Twins Daily year.

Sorry Seth, but I really have a lot less rosy picture of this teams handling of prospects and minor leaguers. I started with the Twins by ushering their first year and continue to watch, read, and care, but have been really disappointed in the developmental progress of our minor leaguers and their transition to the majors. With all the money spent in baseball I think that there needs to be more money and better coaching - sometimes one to one - to get these players ready for the majors and then ready for year two. Not all will make the leap to the majors and that is no one's fault, but there are some special players who deserve more of a chance. And fans who are waiting.

This is the Twins. The article is well written, but easy to write because this is what the Twins do. They hire and stay the course. They do not make changes, especially changes that switch directions. The manager and the GM have security. We all know that. Our complaints are not because we expect change, but because we want some change. We want a different approach. And it is not Molitor that most of us question - it is TR.

I am going for a reach here because you are on to all the obvious ones (except for Tonkin who deserves some kudos). I will say Sano. He is not hitting with power - yet - but he is continuing to get on base with walks and hits at a pace that allows him to stay in the line up unlike Buxton and Rosario. His power will come, his home runs are guaranteed, but his consistency is showing some maturity and that is appreciated. We seen too many 100 hitters in this lineup the last couple years so 260 begins to look like something good.

Fascinating discussion. It make me think about a few surrounding issues - 1. Molitor has been given a mess to straighten out and he is only in his second year. With surprising success last year everything seemed to come too the team easily and now he is in a sophomore slump and has never experienced anything like this in all his years. He should call up to Gardy in the front office who has plenty of experience with non-performing Twins. 2. TR has a responsibility to clear this roster. He has to establish a plan and direction. It is not that I think he will, but he should. Then I have to ask if he is capable of this and I do not think so, but he is what we are stuck with. 3. Meyer should have been given a second start. We are 9 - 20 it is not going to hurt us. Berrios had a rough start and won his second start. Confidence starts there. If we damage the psyche of a pitcher it can ruin the career. I do not care about Santana, Hughes, Gibson, Milone, Nolasco - they are not going to lead us to the promised land. Meyer has real pitching ability and as the old man on this forums I have to remind everyone of Sandy Koufax who I got to see many times and when I saw him as a young player he was terrible. When he finally got it together he was great. Meyer is not Koufax, but he still could be very good.

This is an issue on all levels. The Twins need a better plan (or a plan) and they need to invest as much as is needed to get coaches matched with talented players so that we can start reaching potential in the majors.

There is a time in all franchises when every move has to have the future attached. Even if Perkins comes back his weakness does not look good for the future and Jepsen had a career year for us (reminds me of Suzuki and Hughes) and we have banked on that while he instead has returned to what he has always been. May has the arm for the pen (not my decision, but two years now makes him a reliever) and it would be good to groom a potential future closer. If he is not fit for this role Burdi and others are right behind him, but this year has already become one for experiments and should not be wasted.

Take time off from the Buxton bashing. Let him have a couple months to settle in at AAA. Let him find his own comfort zone, and get him some coaching. Young players have different levels of confidence and knowledge and they can be bolstered. Technique can be tweaked and improved. What Buxton has is speed, coordination, fielding skills and potential. Those come from within. The question I often raise with the Twins is how do they coach the young player? If a player has so much potential then hire him a specific coach who knows how to develop that potential and knows how to help adjust the mental barriers. Hire a Rod Carew type player or a Torii Hunter to shadow Buxton until it all comes together. The money spent now could be the difference to later in his career and to the Twins organization.

Such relief in Twin fandom. Lets hope this is not a down performance because I believe he is the top of the line performer we have all been waiting for. Let's hope this summer is a big veteran trade off - rebuild the farm teams and let someone else have our savvy vets. Do the same in the bullpen. Where are the young guys?