mikelink45

At this point I think the Twins will field a team of coaches and retired player cheerleaders. In a week it will be 2017 - lets hope that we start to see the actions that will address our roster of 1B/DHs abundance, or SS defensive hole, a starting staff and bullpen that looks like another 5 ERA season. Things need to be sorted out and as we approach spring training I look forward to seeing the moves that start the sorting and rebuilding.

I would hope the Hughes, Span, Revere, Suzuki, Willingham, Nolasco...are representative of the old regime and I certainly hope to see something from the new leadership beyond the addition of dozens of new coaches and former Twins cheerleaders. At this point I have nothing to look forward to except the fact that the old regime is no longer around.

A professional team that has multitudes of coaches has a responsibility for the talent of their players and their growth and success.

I was lost after the first paragraph where all those mighty vets needed to give us some good pitching this year while we wait (I think we have done that before) for the next wave of stars to emerge. Most depressing of all is the way that this team has treated J O Berrios. How about getting some Latino coaches in minors and majors and make the alterations in the minors rather than waiting for them to arrive. I still believe he has the talent to be special.

I believe this is Minnesota Seasonal Deficit disorder. At the end of each of our teams season we turn our optimism to the next team up, then after a season of frustration we do it over again. Maybe I should have called in the Minnesota Ground Hog Day syndrome.

No. I do not think that having someone besides Suzuki would have reduced us to less than 100 losses and I do not think the catchers we now have will make more than a 5 game difference. We all know that it is the guy throwing to the catcher that is the problem and signing more catchers is not going to solve anything.

If we take your argument then we should throw away the vote and just set statistical standards. I love the story of Shoeless Joe, but this is not the Hall of statistics, it is the hall of FAME. Now that has some difficult defining, but in my mind these are the men that should be admired for their talent and contribution to baseball (I know about Cap Anson and Ty Cobb). Certainly Pete Rose has Fame, but I am pleased that he has not gotten in. This sounds like a parent - people should not be rewarded for cheating (and that would include Gaylord Perry) and I certainly would not reward those who sanctioned or enabled cheating - Bud Selig. This has been imperfect from the beginning. The effort to include Black ballplayers from the Negro leagues where we have no real standards. As time and length of career have increased we have gone to accumulation of stats and a player like Sandy Koufax or those who were affected by war time service cannot compare to the statistical records of those who hang on for years as DH so the stats we would use are limited too. Does a strikeout pitcher today really seem better than Lefty Grove because we have so many hitters who do not care about contact, except for the occasional homerun? Stats change, times change, voters change. I am fine with the current system and I am fine with not opening the votes to every person you can think of. It a person falls out because you have only 10 votes, that person probably does not need to get in. What does it hurt to not elect someone? Can we remember the controversies that surrounded leaving out Roger Maris or others who might fare better today? No we move on. It is a once a year time for lots of people to fill up the Hot Stove league in places like Minnesota where we have forgotten to add anything to the Hot Stove for years. Let it be, let people whine. Today's players will spend their millions and actually get more publicity for their non-election than they would have if they had been elected. There are plenty of places for players to get their HOF recognition, just look at the list the Twins have honored.

I understand what you and Vanimal are saying and there is logic, but I just can't see what is left on the market that will make the difference. We should have vets in Perkins and Hughes - at this point Gibson should be a vet. The average relief pitcher is too up and down with their successful years to invest in them.

Why bother. This is not to build for 2017. Even in our most optimistic winter forgetfulness we know that the Twins are not going to win next season. Use the young arms and let them become veterans. Somehow I cannot see a veteran arm in the bullpen giving us 20 more wins.

I think that Buxton is actually better batting third. He showed power in September when they stopped trying to have him bunt every other at bat. Move Polanco and Kepler to 1 and 2. The lower half of the lineup is not inspiring.

I find this realistic, but uninspiring. My first complaint with the new regime was keeping Allen, my second would be keeping this rotation. Santana should be traded, but the question is - will anyone want him and what we get. If not quality I keep him. From there on Gibson, Santiago, Hughes do nothing for me and the future - I am all in on young arms and good coaching. I certainly do not want to add any veteran 4/5 starters either. May is a mystery. I know most of you love his potential, I have not seen anything that makes him more than a journeyman. Lots of players with minimum ability to play their positions and our old overpaid bugaboo still hanging in. I believe this team has a bad case of clogged arteries.

I think the correct response to this is - NO. If they want veteran presence sign a big name with big talent or else struggle through another year with the young players. It is not the team on the field that is the problem - it is the pitching and as far as I can see there are no veterans worth chasing to fill positions on the mound.

I am glad to have this summary but at the level that the Twins operate there really is no impact on the team.

The obvious campanion to this analysis is something I do not think we can measure - the ability of the Twins Minor League system to develop and maximize the skills of those that are selected.

My source, which happens to be me, says I have no idea. This is a team that only a few of us loyal (delusional) fans trying to find some nuggets to get excited about and the new leadership does not have anything to offer us, other than the fact that they are new. I wanted some buzz. Hiring old, retired Twins was not the move that gave me a sense of the future. It is a long time since that 1991 WS. Dozier's name is out there, but the signings and the trades have left us with nothing. No other Twin seems to be worth a mention in the national media. In fact, the Twins are not mentioned in the national media. Last year the big names in the minors were all in the majors. What is left? We have some talented pitchers and we still have Neil Allen who lead us to??? Sliding to the solstice, the days will be longer - thankfully - but will there be hope rising with the sun? Not yet.

No to any OF trade. Put the young players on the field. Let them fight it out and see who emerges. Palka, Granite, Kepler, Rosario, Buxton. It does not matter who, but why get someone else? We do not need fillers, we need to develop talent and get it on the field.

So what am I missing. For two years I keep reading Trevor May needs to be in the starting rotation. I do not remember his brief starting career being all that impressive so I went to fangraphs and read Year W L ERA G GS SV IP SO WHIP 2016 Stats 2 2 5.27 44 0 0 42.2 60 1.31 MLB Career Stats 13 17 5.14 102 25 0 203.0 214 1.43 He has some talent, but I am fine wherever they pitch him. He is not the answer to our rotation.

I agree with you. He is very good on the radio, but he does not publish enough for me. I want lots to chew on - Berardino. I want LaVelle's opinions, insights, thoughts. He's paid to be with them, but also to write.

The new leadership will not feel the pressure of Joe's big contract since it was not theirs and that might relieve Molitor of some pressure. I am disappointed that Joe has not been able to make adjustments to compensate for his issues. Now he is no longer a HOF player, just a formerly good player playing out his contract and as such he has to take different roles. It would be nice if he was the veteran presence we need, but that does not seem to fit his personality. 3 - 4 days a week or maybe everyday during a streak and then a number of days off. Someone should be able to figure this out.

The winter meetings now over. Big trades, big acquisitions and we wait. Might be the best strategy for the Twins, but it is torture for the fans. We speculate, look for any lively arm and wait. Hard to do, especially when the leadership is too new for a track record. I would be in favor of 2 good arms, move out some of the 4/5 starters that we have in abundance (but not a good abundance). An Ace is great, but not the answer, if it was the White Sox would be winning instead of trading. It takes a team, it takes a level of competence and not just one stud. And in this age, it takes a good bullpen. Look at how many transactions we have seen around the bullpen. I do not believe that this is simply because there are a limited number of starters. Sale may be the only starter worth talking about unless our Rule 5 guy blows us away.

I am hoping that there is something in a plan that makes this more interesting than it looks. We have potential swing men like Duffey, but if Kinzler regresses, Pressley does not move forward, it would have been fun to at least see someone throwing flames from the mound. It is an interesting speculation year.

Could it be that we and the Twins see more than the rest of the league? Are we home biased? Do we have so little to compare that we assume that our best is worth something? If Santana is not getting any attention, imagine what Gibson must be worth.

I hope Turner makes it. I am tired of the Twins development of players and think that many will benefit from escaping, but mostly I hope the new regime stops this. We should be building at all positions through the years and not just because of an immediate need.

I just saw the confusion on the picture and thought this was a good time to add a request. Often on TD there is a picture with expectations that we will know who is in it, but most of us do not have that high a face recognition hardware and it would be great if all the photos used had captions.

I am surprised that posts are claiming off days for players making $100,000s of dollars to play baseball. Their salaries say they are year around, 12 month players. No one pumps gas like Bronko Nagurski to make it until the next season. The teams that sign these contracts should make it known that they are full time employees and their job during the off season is: