Major League Ready

This is a fair assessment IMO. Pino, Darnell, Johnson and May all had a better ERA until a couple weeks ago when Meyer's went down and Darnell's went up. The other starters all have a better ERA and Meyer is still 10th on the team in terms of ERA. He is still the best prospect but this should very clearly tell us has not been ready to this point. He might be there now. We went through the same thing with Gibson. People wanted him up so the FO were all idiots because they could not see he was ready. Same thing here. Most people have not seen him pitch this year. We certainly are not there working with him. We know that he is working on some things but we definitely do not have a close-up perspective on his progress. Yet, in spite of the short starts, inconsistencies, and development of a change-up, some want to insist there is absolutely no reason he is not here. I am excited to see him too but the positions being taken here are a product of being a fan wanting to see some exciting new players. until

It's never that simple. It is nice to have minor league that can set an example an mentor younger players. Also, it seems reasonable that the FO is planning on having an at AAA very soon. Let's hope that comes in the form of Correia being traded and May getting promoted. Vasquez to Rochester.

Mike and Jokin just summed up the good and the bad of Suzuki quite succinctly in just two posts. I would add that Suzuki has changed his approach (late in his career) and that change has made him a better hitter. He might just maintain a higher level of offensive performance than he has in the past. I would also add that we are talking about a couple months of a losing season. I don't think the odds of signing him for 15/16 change much if you trade him now. Therefore, you take future value if a contender offers it. The Twins have often held on for the sake of a couple extra wins when they could have (in theory) gotten value.

Hick's last 10 games are pretty encouraging. Ave. 406 OBP .500 SLG .563 OPS 1.063

I put this together about a week ago when someone made an off-hand comment about the Twins being cheap. I presumed the more likely case was they were acting in a manner consistent with the data they had collected on international signings. I found this list of the all-time top 20 international free agents. It is hard to measure their relative success without really diving in so I measured mostly how they rated in terms of their teams prospect list or in a couple cases they were already out of pro baseball. [TABLE=width: 958] 1 Michael Ynoa 2008 RHP Athletics 16 $4.25 Ranked #22 in 2009 / Now in A+ with an ERA over 7 the last two years 2 Miguel Sano 2009 SS Twins 16 $3.15 [/TD] 3 Gary Sanchez 2009 C Yankees 16 $3 Top 100 prospect at AA (age 21) 4 Adonys Cardona 2010 RHP Blue Jays 16 $2.80 2103 at RK league had 6.75 ERA / 2014 8.44 ERA 5 Luis Heredia 2010 RHP Pirates 16 $2.60 Not in Pitt top 20 prospects 5 T-5. Ariel Ovando 2010 OF Astros 16 $2.60 A-Ball with an OPS of 651 / OPS of 469 last year 7 Rafael Rodriguez 2008 OF Giants 16 $2.55 In A-ball / Not listed in Giants top 20 prospects 8 Yorman Rodriguez 2008 OF Reds 16 $2.50 AA (Age 21) OPS of 638 / Rated as Red's #8 prospect 9 Wily Mo Pena 1999 OF Yankees 17 $2.44 4th outfielder / out of baseball before he was 30. 10 Joel Guzman 2001 SS Dodgers 16 $2.26 Top 5 prospect in 2005. Never made it past AAA. 11 Byung-Hyun Kim 1999 RHP Dbacks 20 $2.25 Never made it past AAA 12 Phillips Castillo 2010 OF Mariners 16 $2.20 Not in Ms top 20 prospects 13 Renato Nunez 2010 3B Athletics 16 $2.20 A+ / Scouting report gives him a 50 overall / Not likely to stick art 3B 14 Chin-Hui Tsao 1999 RHP Rockies 18 $2.20 Was rated as high as #15 / Never made it past AAA 15 Angel Villalona 2006 3B Giants 16 $2.10 Was rated as high as #33 / Now at AA / Not in SF top 20 16 Juan Duran 2008 OF Reds 16 $2 AA / Not in Cin top 20 17 Guillermo Pimentel 2009 OF Mariners 16 $2 AA - Seattle's #10 prospect 18 Adys Portillo 2008 RHP Padres 16 $2 AA - Not in Padres Top 20 19 Jose Vinicio 2009 SS Red Sox 16 $1.95 Not in Red Sox top 20 20 Miguel Cabrera 1999 SS Marlins 16 $1.90 [TD] [/TABLE]

Extending Perkins was a bit of a head scratcher for me. I would have traded him last year. Of course, this assumes a suitable return could have been obtained and that may not have been the case. That contract makes it harder to move him now and I agree that a closer is not high on the list of priorities for a rebuilding team. I don't think I would let Santana go unless of course the return was great. His plate discipline surprised me. With a little more development, he might be a lead-off hitter with decent offensive producer. It comes down to just how good does the coaching staff think he will be defensively. Then again, even if he is a bench player, he is a CF/SS back-up which are the hardest positions to B/U. Plus, he can be a late inning pinch runner. Bottom line is I don't think he would fetch enough value right now that I would let him go. Plouffe, I would let go for the right price as well. They seem quite confident Sano is going to stick at 3B. Plouffe is too slow for the OF and we have our 1B for the next 4 1/2 years. I could see keeping him until Sano is in place given the lack of depth we have a 3B.

It's a lot easier to list the players on the 25 man I would not trade. Hughes Gibson Arcia Santana Dozier and I would consider trading him if the return was high enough

I agree. That's why I am thinking it will be possible to get a pretty good return in the next month. I guess the point his that his value is highest at 3rd base so from an asset management standpoint it might make sense to trade him. Short-term it hurts us a bit but long-term it makes sense to move him if the return is right. I would think we could get a decent corner OF prospect for him.

I could see giving Romeo a shot just in case we got a good offer for Plouffe at the deadline. It would be nice to get an idea of what we could expect. Then again, maybe we keep Plouffe long-term as a super utility guy. A couple months ago that seemed like a bettr plan but I think our Vargas is our DH of the future and he is a switch hitter. Plouffe is pretty bad in the OF and Escobar is a good back-up at 3B in short stints.

Any word as to the delay with Burdi?

It is becoming easier to understand their frustration with him. Maybe he needed to hit rock bottom. I am still hoping the kid can get it together. Heck, right now I would be satisfied to see him become a good 4th outfielder. We don't have much outfield depth. Kepler is having a pretty bad year. I am really pulling for AB Walker but he has some things to figure out if he is going to be a big league player. Harrison is not showing a corner OF bat. I guess the good news is they have the payroll flexibility to spend on a corner OFer next year. The have plenty of pitching now and lots of IF options.

6. "I must have been sleep hitting".

IMO volume of content is not relevant. These topics are of interest to all of us and we all have opinions. Therefore, much is written. Nothing wrong with exploring what our favorite team is doing in depth. However, we have limited information and much of the conversation is speculation. We know relatively little about the decision process. We also don’t have the experience and perspective of people who have been in MLB for 20-30 years. Therefore, while volume of content is great, we are not in a position to judge with the degree of certainty that is often demonstrated here. If someone were to judge any of us, who had far less professional experience in whatever it is we do, especially with partial information, I think we would tell that person to take a leap. I can say with certainty that is what would happen in a professional environment.

Sure, ride this out. It is good for the present and great for the future if he can prove he belongs at this level. We have a guy that has really learned how to pitch through a long MiLB career. Now, he is a low cost, controllable asset in his prime. There has to be a market for such a player, right? Keep him here and establish he can pitch at this level. Then, trade him and bring up the next guy.

I recall that "flipping" a free agent in this way was a concern and I have to agree. That tactic has a price long-term. For this and other reasons, now is not the time to trade Hughes. I could see trading Dozier if the price and timing is right. I am not sure the timing is right just yet but could be if Rosario gets some ML playing time and proves he is capable of taking over at 2B. We have some other 2B options on the horizon as well. What they really need to do is make room for AAA pitchers who deserve a shot at the ML level. Correia has looked pretty good his last couple of starts. Let's hope he remains hot and brings back a decent prospect in July. Trade Burton for a six-pack of Gatorade. What about Plouffe? I think I would let him go if the price was right. Escobar is looking like a much better defender and maybe you give Romero a shot too. His OBP is 404. He might be an adequate place holder until Sano arrives.

That makes no sense to me. With a little polish Santana looks like he will be a great SS and with a little more plate discipline, a great lead-off hitter. Plus, he can be your back-up CF when Buxton needs a day off. Why would you get rid of him. I guess you are assuming they move Dozier back to short in this scenario. I don't see it. He is a great 2B and not so good SS. So, it comes down to how well can Rosario play 2B. To me the options are .... 1) Sell High on Dozier. I agree with Thyros provided if the return is high enough. 2) Trade Rosario 3) Give Rosario time at the ML level in CF/LF/DH and 2B. Determine what to do in 2016.

Hicks needs to learn to hit RH against RH pitching in the minors for the rest of the year. I would think Rosario has a better chance of being our CF next year. Maybe they move Rosario to AAA for 40 games and then up to the MLB club yet this year. While I would hope Hicks gets it together and becomes a trade chip as a CF, I think Hick's ends up being the Twins 4th outfielder. He might even be platooned with Arcia.

It is not a matter of "not blinking an eye". It is a matter of perspective. Some of us look around the league and see that teams who are not in the top 10 in terms of revenue have down cycles and many of them much longer than the down period our team endured recently. The Twins organization has done a better job than most of the other teams in the same revenue range in terms of keeping a good product of the field. We also look at 2011 in realistic terms given the injuries. Are the front offices for both Chicago teams grossly incompetent or does it simply take time to rebuild? We also ask if those teams are rebuilding through the draft. So, we look at their farm systems. Then, we look at our farm system in comparison. We recognize a couple average CFs were traded away but that those trades produced our two promising SP prospects who are nearly ready to join the big league club. Having said this, there have been poor decisions starting with Hardy and Capps. And, none of us can know for sure what Boston offered for Santana but they really blew that one if a couple of the reported offers were real.

The bottom line is none of this is really hurting the Team. It cost the owners some money but that is the extent of the problem. Next year, use him in long relief or 7th inning RP or not at all. I would be a lot more worried about Mauer and Nolasco. The Pelfrey problem really is not a problem.

Anyone care to guess which of the 2-9 picks our favorite team will attempt to convert to a starter?

Good point regarding the comparison of Span and Hick's OBP!

I think you missed the point. Those people like many here feel they were qualified to judge competence of those doing a job they are not qualified to hold. Anyone who has not run 100M+ firms or played both MiLB and MLB are presuming to be qualified to do something they have not proven competent to actually perform. Like I said, its the internet and everyone, qualified or not, gets to express their opinion. My opinion is that if the average guy making 50 or even 100K/yr had this level of competence, they would have a senior management position not just talking about it.

It takes a substantial skill set and a great deal of experience to be qualified to conclude the FO is incompetent. Hey, this is the internet and everyone is welcome to an opinion but the insistence that such opinion is fact gets pretty old. I have interviewed hundreds of people who were not qualified to run an organization who thought they could do a better job of those in charge. It has been a rarity when the problem was not that they either did not have the requisite information or the required skill set to understand why certain decisions were made.

Apparently you have forgotten what happened last year. We all love seeing this level of productivity. That is why there is some concern that Arcia is still demonstrating very little discipline. Other teams take notice of this type of ability too and they are going to adjust. Arcia is not going to see many pitches in the strike zone if he keeps this up. Any fastball in the strike zone is going to be up where he has shown he can't hit.

I think you have it backwards. By this I mean that fandom tends to create a form of analysis and opinion that would be firmly rejected in a profession environment. The fandom affect is much more apparent (IMO) in positions taken by the detractors as opposed to the supporters on this site. The supporters I have observed here demonstrate considerably more depth of understanding of how decisions are made and why. One thing I have learned over the course of working with a couple hundred companies in a consulting role is that the employees who were sure that the management above them were clueless were generally the people with the least experience and/or credentials. We generally find that the primary cause of their discontent is they only have a portion of the relevant information which of course is the case here. There is also a certain percentage that do not have the skills, credentials, and experience to critique management but feel compelled to do so anyway. I evaluate management teams every day but I would not be inclined to grade the Twins FO, at least not in any meaningful way. We don't have all the information necessary to make a credible assessment.