Major League Ready

It would be a great move if they could get value for Colabello but I seriously doubt that happens until he proves he can handle the adjustments teams/pitchers are making. Put Deduno in the starting rotation and Pelfrey in long relief. Does Florimon have any options left? It would be nice to keep him there as an insurance policy. Let's see what Escobar can due in let Nunez play the utility role. Coreia will get traded or released by the trade deadline. Keep Hicks around. Worse case scenario he can be the 4th outfielder.

Three weeks ago the general sentiment was that we would not be able to score any runs and were going to lose 95 or 100 games. Now, we have to make immediate moves because we could be contenders. For god sake it is still April. Perhaps they should not have signed Pelfrey but they did so you don't just give up on the guy after a couple starts. Is this not the same cry we heard for Gibson. Were there not several people here who spoke of the ignorance of the front office. Was it not written here that Gibson was better than anyone on our staff. We know how that turned out. Gibson might be there best pitcher this year but he was not ready. Some of you have memories of convenience.

Bernier sure is tearing it up right now. He is only 50 ABs in but it might be worth a shot if he continues at this pace. I have not seen Nunez play at SS so for me it depends on just how much we give up defensively.

What is really encouraging to me is that Plouffe's hitting looks sustainable. It appears to be a result of preparation and approach and that is encouraging. He will be a great utility player when Sano arrives. If his defense continues to be good, he might be too valuable as a trade asset to keep which would be even better. Colabello needs to show he can handle whatever adjustments pitchers are going to make. However, his minor league stats would suggest he might be able to pull that off. Pinto's plate discipline is also very encouraging. Players with that kind of pitch recognition tend to be good for a very long time. Dozier is proving his power is for real. These players emerging are much more important IMO than if Willingham would have started hot. These players will be important assets in the future. I am starting to get concerned about Mauer. Him going downhill would be a real blow to this team for the next 5 years. I am not ready to panic just yet but the potential impact has a few layers and they are all bad.

While I hope for Santana or Polanco to emerge, I don't think the SS of the future is in the system today. He will likely be acquired via trade. If Plouffe sustains his play he could be used at some point as a trade asset. What about Colabello? He is a decent 1st baseman and we have Mauer for 5 years. He too will have to prove himself over a larger sample size but he could be one heck of a trade chip if he keeps it up, especially given his contract. I am also really hoping Hicks gets it together because he would also be a decent future trade asset. Hopefully, he has greater value than a 4th outfielder when Buxton arrives.

Right, why rush? Let's wait and see who steps up to be the 2B of the future. We have incredible depth in the system and patience is required to maximize these assets and our future roster. IMO, trading Dozier now has absolutely no correlation to how committed the FO is to a rebuild. It is about maximizing assets and constructing the best possible roster for the future. Now, if someone blows us away with an offer for Dozier, great. That would make sense in terms of maximizing assets and building a future contender. It would have to be starting pitching or our SS of the future.

Agree. One of Dozier or Rosario gets traded. Rosario's value is higher at 2B and with any luck we have a few options for corner OFers. I hope Kepler, Walker, Harrison and others make it easy to trade to Hick's once Buxton gets here. Trading Rosario, Hicks or both might end up being how we get our SS of the future. If Walker and Kepler pan out nicely that would be an athletic outfield that should really hit. C Pinto 1B Mauer 2B Dozier or Rosario 3B Sano SS Via trade of Hicks/Rosario or international OF Kepler CF Buxton OF Walker DH Arcia / Vargas / Harrison That lineup should hit some HRs.

"Just because he was out of shape". We are talking about professional athletes. How lazy and uncommited do you have to be to not not be in shape as a 20 y/o professional athlete? What kind of discipline and/or work ethic doe this demonstrate? What does it say about someone who won't make the effort to stay in shape with millions of dollars on the line. What kind of message does it send to your teammates? I applaud them sending someone down the road who can't be bothered to stay in shape when they have not even made it out of A ball.

Is this not the case for the Twins (at least presently) with most FAs? Boras realizes he is not going to get the terms he wants as long as there is draft pick attached. Therefore, he is going to wait it out. The market will be determined for Drew in June. An injury on the right team is still a good bet to improve Drew's marketability.

Wow! At not yet 20 y/o that is pretty awesome. Let's hope this young man can develop the hit tool.

I think we all pretty much agree Pedro is not the SS of the future. The disconnect IMO is in the sense of urgency to resolve this position. Drew is an easy fix but does nothing in terms of a long-term resolution that will benefit the club when we SHOULD be competitive. The best case scenarios IMO are 1) Santana to reach his potential and if that does not happen an international signing. This should be given a year to transpire. Then, make a trade if we don't have a resolution. This is a big year for several prospects and it will be somewhat easier to envision the team of the future after this season.

I just tossed Thielbar in that group because I was not sure if they could get something in return. Yes, they should have done this long ago but our FO does have a difficult time committing to a rebuild. I will put a great deal of weight in grading this season on advancement of prospects and our ability to turn currrent players not on this list into prospects or players who can help with rebuilding.

I hope they would make any trades that better position the team for the future. That's what you do with a bad team (ie. Astros) The only players on the 40 man roster I would not trade are Meyer, Gibson, Thielbar, Tonkin, Hicks, Arcia, Pinto, Rosario and Kepler. Ayone else, including Mauer, I would trade if the offer was right. Kubel, Colabello and Plouffe look very good at the plate right now. I would think these three all have the potential to bring a decent return if they continue to perfrom and I would not be afraid to let Plouffe go this year if the offer was right. I really like Dozier but I would bet on Rosario or Santana at 2B if the offer was right. I pray for Willingham and Correia to perform well enough to be traded for value by the deadline.

What? No doubt, our organization failed to draft and develop talent for roughly 5 years. Had that not changed you would have good reason to complain about our minor league system but we now have a farm system among the best and possibly the best system in all of baseball. They are drafting power arms and their international signings look very good. Sorry, IMO, this is complacency for the sake of complacency.

I will be watching and hoping for great advancement out of AB Walker and Kepler. These two guys could set-up a very nice future scenario.

Interesting to see Kepler in center. It would be great if he could move over from a corner OF spot on the days Buxton needs a rest. Is he still fast enough to play center reasonably well? He is a big boy. Is he exceptionally good in terms of jump and route?

Amen!

Seth, Are there plans to expand TV coverage of the minor league affiliates?

I agree with you that there were some options. My point was that there were 29 other teams interested in those options. In some cases those options are much more attractive than the Twins (ie. AJ Pierzynski). My major objection is to the characterization that goes on here is the extremely simplistic viewpoint that we should get every player we want as if there are not 30 teams in MLB cometing for those players. I thought Sizemore would have been worth a chance but he did not look nearly as appealing prior to spring training. Obviously, MLB GMs felt he was a bit of a long shot given the terms of his deal. This is where being realistic comes into play. If your Sizemore taking a one year deal, the departure of Ellsbury makes Bostom look like a pretty good option. Plus, they have good bats around him making his job easier. I also thought Corey Hart was a good option and I was a big supporter of Morales until it became obvious we had other players that needed those ABs. (Willingham, Pinto, and perhaps Collabello) Add to this giving up a draft choice at he was no longer as appealing, especially for a short-term deal.

You are badly twisting the context here. The fact that there is plenty of room to improve this line up is something that I would imagine 99.99% of fans would agree is very obvious. It is very easy to come back with a comment. It only furthers the assertion that your arguments are not fully formed. So, what specifically would you do differently. It is no simple and it is not easy. The point is that it is not simple. I seriously doubt apathy has anything to do with the problem. There are 29 other teams competing for these FAs. Many of them have a FAR larger budget. We also have young players (Hicks, Arcia, Pinto) that need to be given an opportunity. We have two positions set (1B/2B) and two positions are being held for a top 10 prospect. And, we have a middle of the line-up bat that is a question mark. Do you just cut him. All of these things don't leave alot of room for long-term deals.

This "silly" system offers a small degree of balance. With the gap in revenue growing even larger, it provides the teams at the bottom something in return for being a farm system for the Yankees, Dodgers, and other teams at the top of the revenue period. It also allows teams to retain someone like Morales, who is obviously of questionable value on a multi-year deal, the opportunity to retain that player on a one year deal. Drew and Morales would have obviously been compensation above their annual value but refused contracts. Why? Because they want to get paid far more than they are worth while they are declining. They could have extremely well compensated but at this point they were only going to be able to sign at an elite level on a year by year basis. In other words, as long as they continued to earn it. So, how is this system silly?

So what were the options? 1B – Mauer 2B – Set w/Dozier and Rosario soon. 3B – No way anyone is brought in w/Sano so near. Catcher – Salty & AJ wanted to be elsewhere. Were we going to outbid the Yankees for McCann? CF – Not going to make a long-term commitment given we have the top prospect in all of baseball a year away. OF – You have to give Arcia a chance. Should we have taken a chance on Cruz on a one year deal and given up the draft pick? Should we have committed 4 years to Granderson? Choo or Ellsbury would have been absolute incompetence. SS – Obviously this one has been argued to death here. I can accept both sides of this argument. However, this team changes very little even with Drew. He would have been signed long ago if he were a difference maker. It would appear the talent evaluators around the league don’t think he is worth a draft pick. Is it hard to fix a team through free agency if you are not the Yankees, Dodgers, etc? Is the management of the Astros and Cubs apathetic? Incompetent? Why haven’t they turned those teams around? It is really easy to talk smak from the sidelines.

He is the player that concerns me the most. He has look teeeeerrrible and he is suppose to be a key middle of the line-up bat. Hicks looks infintely better from the ride side as compared to Willingham.

I agree there was no conspiracy but I think more went into the decision. My guess is that it was more about retaining two Ifs and two OFs instead of 3 OFs, one of which (CP) also would be Mauer’s back-up. It was also probable that the real comparison was Collabello vs Presley. Collabello has looked like their best hitter this spring and provides some much needed pop off the bench and he has looked better than Mauer at first. Then you also have the aspect of managing assets. The only out of options player they lost was Presley. They still have Parmelee as plan B. They also have Mastro if Hicks gets hurt. If Kubel fails, waive him and bring on Parm. A case could be made this particular scenario simply left more future options available. Then they probably looked at specific game scenarios. Pinch running is not a big deal because Escobar can be the first off the bench. If he is playing, we probably have either Florimon or Dozier available. If all else fails, Bartlett is decent on the bases. This bench collectively offers more versatility and more offensive potential. Presley is going to see very little time in center as long as Hicks is healthy. Mastro comes up if Hicks gets hurt. Presley’s only value as a corner outfielder is a late inning defensive replacement. It also could set-up nicely for acquiring Drew as a plan B if he is not signed until after the point at which the draft pick compensation goes away. If Bartlett fails, you simply waive him. If he succeeds, you could bring on a Drew/Bartlett platoon and trade Florimon. That tandem stays in place until Santana’s future is determined.