Richie the Rally Goat

with new management and new investment in personnel evaluation and analytics, we could see Molitor change some of his tactics. I am also a strong proponent of Castro

Joe Mauer is not the 10-12% K rate guy anymore, he has been 16-18% for the last three seasons. Agreed, they strike out too much, my solution would be to not to hang on to aging veterans, but change your coaching and philosophy.

nah 2016 failed because they had no pitching, no catcher, no shortstop, and Danny Santana playing a crazy amount of CF. they failed up the middle. Buxton fixes CF and Castro fixes catcher. Gotta fix pitcher and SS. I'd be ok if Polanco was given another shot, but prefer if Dozier was traded for a pitcher(s). I would also see if you can buy out Mauer or move him into a coaching role. His roster spot is worth more than his play. Vargas/Sano/Plouffe/Palka should be the 3b/1b/DH rotation. I still gotta work though SS. Maybe give Esco another shot and maybe use Beresford as the stopgap utility guy or a minor league FA.

doesn't necessarily need to be a 1:1 trade or a 2 team trade. If LA needs a 2B and has the ability to fill a need for say Washington or Mets, we could be in business. Erick Fedde and Reynaldo Lopez would be a satisfying return for Dozier to me.

very true that Dozier has more trade value to the Twins, esp Falvey/Levine, than playing value. I don't think the Dodgers would do that deal 1:1 either. Dozier has probably peaked

i think the itmu is bat-poop crazy. However aggressive ideas such as this do need to be pitched in order to make real change in this organization.

no value in a slick fielding shortstop?

nothing wrong with signing Castro and letting Garver and Murphy compete for the backup.

I thought the same thing. I don't see Gibson as a mid rotation starter. He's in the same lump as Milone or Hughes. Don't expect much, and hope you are pleasantly surprised in getting a 4th starter rather than 5th,

dont feel bad. There's a lot of jargon and acronyms on this site. At one point a few years ago someone linked to a crib sheet, I think from baseball reference. I can't seem to find it now...

im with you. Employ all the assets you have to improve the major league and minor league pitching staffs. The cupboard is bare. Time to restock and reload

Agreed, thanks for sharing however this gave me pause "Toward that end, Allen spent extra time in late September crafting a systemwide pitching plan that would govern the way young Twins arms are brought along. Allen, whose status for next season remains unclear along with the rest of the big-league coaching staff, presented his detailed program to Molitor before heading home after the season. Fastball command, if Allen gets his wish, will move from being part of the curriculum for young Twins pitchers to being the primary focus at the lower levels." Where the heck are the player development people who should be doing this? I'd still be ok if they gave Allen the boot, cause results matter most.

really, how? Don't get me wrong, I have no idea and don't really want anyone on the big league coaching staff around. I just can't make any determination from 70, 9 second clips as to how attentive or close, or warm a coach is. Judging by results the team was pretty average hitting wise. Not very good fundamentally with fielding and base running. The pitching talent was so bad, it's hard to tell, but as others have mentioned pitchers have done well elsewhere so just blow it up.

Since season tickets are sold in the offseason, expectations for 2017 should pretty modest, regardless of what happens with management. I gotta think the Pohlads should be happy if 2017 attendance only dropped 5% from 2016 attendance. 1.8 million would put them in the bottom 20% of teams in MLB.

you can only wait til mid January. Being that Falvey won't start until late October and still need to hire a GM, not much time to wait things out.

ouch! I look forward to the handbook, regardless of the FA SS report

yeah, there also free agency or trade for a really good fielding, mediocre hitting shortstop. They're out there. Might already be in house.

This team needs to improve pitching and fielding. Keeping both Polonco and Dozier does neither. Gotta trade one of them and get the biggest impact possible for a high end young starting pitcher. I think Dozier has more value and would bring a better return. I would imagine Escobar would be as good or better than Polanco at SS, need to find a better solution, but Esco isn't a bad utility option.

i don't, especially one tenth of a percent difference.

"Far superior" ? He's a first baseman. Good enough is good enough. How much of a difference does a .993 fielding percentage make over .992? Also, Mauer didn't get enough innings to qualify. Tough to make too much out of advanced metrics on 500 innings to get a larger pool of applicants, but Chris Davis was better than Joe by UZR. http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=1b&stats=fld&lg=al&qual=700&type=1&season=2016&month=0&season1=2016&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&sort=23,d

prove. As you stated anyone who could be good has an option, I would add to it is as old or older than Ervin Santana who will be way past his prime when the team is in the contention window.

So, what? Jeremy Hellickson or bust? Per MLB trade rumors Brett Anderson (29) Clay Buchholz (32) — $13.5MM club option with a $500K buyout Andrew Cashner (30) Jhoulys Chacin (29) Bartolo Colon (43) Jorge De La Rosa (36) R.A. Dickey (42) Doug Fister (33) Jaime Garcia (30) — $12MM club option with a $500K buyout Gio Gonzalez (31) — $12MM club option with a $500K buyout Jason Hammel (34) — $10MM club option with a $2MM buyout Jeremy Hellickson (30) Rich Hill (37) Derek Holland (30) — $11MM club option with a $1MM buyout Scott Kazmir (33) — can opt out of remaining two years, $32MM on current contract Mat Latos (29) Colby Lewis (37) Kris Medlen (31) — $10MM mutual option with a $1MM buyout Charlie Morton (33) — $9.5MM mutual option with a $1MM buyout Jon Niese (30) — $10MM club option with a $500K buyout Ivan Nova (30) Jake Peavy (36) CC Sabathia (36) — $25MM vesting option with a $5MM buyout James Shields (35) — can opt out of remaining two years, $44MM on current contract Alfredo Simon (36) Edinson Volquez (33) — $10MM mutual option with a $3MM buyout Jered Weaver (34) C.J. Wilson (36)

I'm perplexed that starting pitching didn't crack the top 5. I agree w/ number 1, but rotation should be 1b. Then Catcher and Short Stop. As a fan, I dont really care about payroll, I care that the manager and FOvplays the guys that earn the playing time, not the paycheck. I don't see how one could expect the rotation could improve as a result of recovering from injuries. Hughes has had one good season ever. Cannot be counted on. Zero upside. 4th or 5th starter on a good rotation. http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=7450&position=P Kyle Gibson has had one good-ish season ever. Very little upside. 4th or 5th starter on a good rotation. http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=10123&position=P Santiago Is Arb eligible and therefore is a step up from Nolasco but has a lower ERA than FIP for 2 unremarkable seasons. Tough to count on/ very little upside. 4th or 5th starter on the worst rotation in the AL. Just let him walk. http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=4026&position=P Ervin Santana was their best pitcher, he's not improving. 3rd starter on a good rotation. Tyler Duffey had a good half season and has one stupid pitch. As a starter he's Mike Pelfrey. Probably best suited as a reliever. Trevor May is an enigma, but very realistically fits your rotation improvement as a result of improved health potential, but as an enigma with half a major league season as a starter, tough to count on, some upside though. Definitely worth the 5th rotation spot. Berrios has tons of upside, maybe a new pitching coach solves him. If it works he's the number 2 starter on a good rotation. If it doesn't, get the Rochester shuttle going. Definitely worth the risk. I have no idea where they find the firm and confident first and second spots in the rotation without giving up huge prospect resources. Definitely concerning, and requiring creative resource management.

theres a significant issue with acquiring and developing pitching, as well as some seemingly rigid hitting ideas that look fairly pervasive of this organization for the better part of the last 15 years. It's more than just the ML staff and like others here, I hope Falvey has the patience to dig deep to make sure that the right people are retained, as well as the support from St Peter and Pohlad to do so, as well as their support to fire the people that need to go, even the ones that are popular amongst their peers in the organization.

im so sorry Jerr. You are not alone. You've got a lot of career left and in front of you and I'm sure you will land again soon.