DocBauer

Buxton really showing something. (And this is good news, he needs the developmental time and is taking advantage of it). Kepler really coming around. Makes me giddy for a month or so from now in the midst of such a morose season. The rotation at Ft Myers is kick ass! I'm just not worried about promotions yet. I say that because I really feel it's only a couple more starts before we see it. I know we get impatient, but really, a coupleading more starts for Gonsalves and Stewart, and they are still at AA to begin June. That's still 3 months at Chattanooga.

I agree it's a lot of money. But he's also made gobs of money to this point. From my general understanding, he's never been on to live high on the hog. I'm sure he's set for life. When I refer to health, it seems that no longer being behind the plate should help prevent additional aches and pains. But I am referring to his concussion issues. With Koski and Morneau we've seen concussions happen just from playing the game in a normal fashion. With a young family, financially set, a third year of disappointing performance, possibly regressing further...that is yet to be determined...I don't think to absurd to think he would decide to walk away. Especially if the Twins did something to offset any financial "loss" he would incure. And let's be realistic simply from a baseball sense, Mauer's value is to the Twins and the Twins alone. We're he, in theory, suddenly on the market via trade or an outright release, no longer an All Star or Gold Glove catcher, what team would be willing to pick him up as a poor hitting no power 1B?

I don't think the Twins would ever flat out cut Mauer. But I have maintained that after the past two seasons, should he perform the same this year, or further regress, he may simply decide it's time to move on with his life and his family and hopefully continued good health, (no further injuries or concussions) There is a lot of pride in a top athlete. But failure to perform as you have in the past, as you wish you still could, can wear on a player. Not all players hold on and scratch and claw until it's over. I wonder, would the Twins nudge him that direction as well? I have maintained he could be offered deffered money, or a role with the organization...say a personal services contract...that would offset any lost income from retiring. I know he's still got a couple big financial years ahead, but he's also made a bunch, is set for life, has a young family, and there is the whole pride issue of "I can't do it any more". I was hopeful he would rebound in his 3rd year post concussion. He's turned in to a solid 1B, and he's a veteran LH bat in a lineup that leans right. If he could recapture even some of his past ability, hit .280 ish with a quality OB%, doubles, a few HR and some clutch hitting. Maybe he still will. But sadly, it's just not looking that way right now.

Precisely. And lest we forget, while he has been mostly lights and dominant, he missed 2 full seasons due to injury and recovery, yes? He may be a natural, but he's also really just getting his feet wet in pro ball. Really, he's pretty much on the fast track right now. I'm not going to slam the Twins on this one.

If this continues, my gut says he may just walk away on his own. Three straight seasons where he is a shell of himself? Plus his young family and future health to consider? It also wouldn't surprise me if the Twins FO "took care" of him with some deferred money or spot with the organization in some capacity.

First...same as everyone else, why aren't the kids playing when up? What...we're going to win something??? Second, I'm still wondering why Berrios didn't just stay up for another 2 starts before Gibson comes back. (theoretically)

Another question....and yes, I'm being serious....could Vargas be a DH next year with Park as the 1B? What about Mauer you ask? After the past 2 seasons and the onset of May, that is a very, very interesting question no doubt.

LeBlanc needs to be packing for Ft Myers.

No excuse for a poor season, wild AB and missed plays in the OF or a really bad day today. But to yank him for being aggressive in this situation is ridiculous. He has excellent spa Eed and there was nobody covering 3B. What if Verlander threw the balL away? What if they changed the shift? What if Verlander got frustrated and uncorked a wild pitch? Yes, the Twins lost yet again. And one more run wou,don't have ultimately done anything for the final outcome. But who knew that at the time? It actually sounds like a smart play to me.

At this point, the Twins either have to DL him to build up his shoulder, or just accept his current limitations and move him to the pen. He has some experience and past success there. He won't have to pitch near as many innings, and as such, perhaps his velocity will uptick slightly. This could also lead to May being stretched back out for the rotation.

The extension for Hughes, IMO, wasn't/isn't really the issue. Its really more the timing of it. He has long been a highly respected talent with a lot of potential. In his days with the Yankees, he certainly had his ups and downs with consistency. When he got the Twins, it seemed as though talent and potential were coming together, and seemingly at the right age, And the way he pitched, he certainly was deserving of the new contract. The problem is the new contract was based on the one "change of scenery" year in Minnesota, and not his career. The Twins sold themselves high on Hughes.l

I read Seth's post twice now, everyone's rebuttles, and Seth's counter rebuttles, and mulled everything over in my head. And Platoon's post sort of sums up a lot of sentiments being expressed here. To reiterate: 1} You can throw everyone out there to play, take their lumps, hope they don't get overwhelmed or lose confidence or lose mechanics because they are overwhelmed and trying too hard. This practice has been done successfully, or somewhat successfully, before, though not always. 2} Platoon is also right that what the Twins are doing now is an odd my and match of youth and veterans, some/many of whom don't fit in the teams long term plans, and brining up kids to sit. This clearly is not working. 3} You can do what Seth suggests and take a step back, take a pause, and make sure the youngsters are playing daily at Rochester, (not saying there aren't AA promotions that shouldn't take place and fringe roster guys to move there either), get guys in a successful groove before bringing them up, probably in several bulk moves. August 1st doesn't have to be the deadline, it's just an example of a deadline. Hopefully, some of the struggling veteran players will play at least well enough to assist in some trade value. Others, you may to just ditch and eat their contracts entirely. Is Seth's proposed plan ideal? He himself states he doesn't know. But it IS a plan. There IS a logic behind it, and a destination of events; building up the kids, many of whom have limited AAA still, as well as providing opportunity to formulate some exit strategies for the veterans that have to go. All things being equal in a lost season, I'd be in favor of this plan because, again, at least it is a plan. Taking the emotion out of it, it is a plan with a calculation behind it because right now, that's a hell of a lot more than what is currently taking place.

You know, it's funny to me when I read this because about a year, or so, ago I wrote a piece that was partially tongue-in-cheek but more than half serious, about the demise of the Twins winning teams after the departure of Hunter. Mostly, it detailed how his loss to the Angels in FA created a chain reaction to various moves made by the Twins to compensate and replace him in the lineup and field. Actually, patting myself on the back, some of my arguements held some validity. But it was never about his locker room presence. I have a very hard time believing a lack of Hunter's presence is causing the downfal, of the 2016 Twins, mostly because the 2015 Twins, in truth, we're about a .500 team with the exception of the month of May. Still, who wouldn't take a .500 club at this point? BUT, I do think your arguement does have some validity to it, whether it is a "Hunter" factor or not. I do believe the construction of a team is more than just pure physical talent and coaching. Sometimes, thereally is a chemistry and/or attitude factor than can make a difference. Sometimes it is a work ethic created to get guys to go the extra mile. Sometimes it's as simple as keeping guys loose game to game so they don't too wrapped up in W-L records and maintain an even keel approach. I will neither exalt nor demean Hunter's presence on the 2015 team, nor his lack of presence on this year's team. But when you stop for a moment to examine the Twins WS teams and additional winning/playoff teams, there did seem to be a strong head man in charge, Kelly and Gardy, and guys on the team that had a sense of of bulldog, competitiveness and leadership in them. I'm just not sure this team has that right now. I don't know if it's Molitor, the players themselves, or poor roster construction, but there seems to be an "it" factor missing that gives a competitive team an edge.

Late the party here as I clicked on the radio to hear Berrios was gone after 2/3 of an inning and the Twins were down a couple runs. (Cough) I immediately turned the station after a few choice adult words. I decided to check the scoreboard, as there is definitely a masochistic part of me, to see how bad t really was, and to see if, at the very least, SOMEONE had done something good tonight. I tuned in just in time to see Park score the 8th Twins run to tie the game. A couple points: * I like the lineup construction better tonight, though I have a hard time not seeing Polanco back in the lineup tonight. * Hats off to the team for not giving up and fighting back. * Dean...WOW...that was actually a quality performance from a rookie in a tough situation. But I would like to apologize to everyone out there in Twins land ands my tuning in to watch the remainder of the game obviously resulted in the pair of solo HR that will inevitably lose the game for us. I'm sorry. A final note, was the umpiring that bad the entire game?

As would I. However, missing a couple days with the shoulder fatigue and the way he sat on the bench in Minnesota before getting a short night in his start, (after the Twins announced there was no pitch limit on him), I'd rather see him get a few starts in Rochester and get in a groove again and then come up.

Good for Herrmann. He was a guy I always had high hopes for. No telling how good he could have been, but I always thought he was hurt by riding that Rochester - Twins train too often. There needs to be some serious pitching prospect promotions come June 1st, if not earlier.

Yes to trading Plouffe. I'm still not certain on Dozier, but I've been warming to it. The problem with your middle infield is were still not sure what we have in Polanco. I really like his potential, he needs to play, and he should be playing. If he could actually play SS, that would be great. Further, if he moves to 2B, we still have Escobar and Nunez for SS and utility, (also Santana to fit in here and there) I'm just nervous about trading Dozier until we actually get to see more of Polanco at the ML level. If Ryan doesn't retire, or get "urged" to retire, I like the idea of a baseball executive above him to oversee things. Which is why I wouldn't fire any coaches right away. Let this overseer make those decisions. But I'm not sure I see this happening. I think it would be more likely the Twins ownership would dismiss TR, or urge his stepping down, rather than place someone above him.

The value of what we have to sell is yet to be determined based on their individual productions, as well as other team's needs or unforseen urgencies. But I would think a decent catching prospect, or possibly even a solid veteran bench catcher to supplant Suzuki wouldn't be the worst idea in the world. Especially if he can hit from the left side. Nothing wrong with another quality bullpen arm that is proven or a strong up and comer. Again, especially if he throws from the left side. Why not just a good, solid, all around spare part OF that hits righty to help the bench?

Great article...which I stated in the original blog posting...and some great points made here. I also agree Arcia should be kept. I also like Rosario going down for a while. It's best for he and the Twins both in the long run. Dozier has been hitting better. Dozier is a really nice ballplayer despite some streaky-ness. (there have been endless debates here on TD about how pronounced his split seasons have truly been-don't need to rehash) And I don't know that trading Dozier is part of the solution. But then again, if he could bring in, or help bring in, a ballplayer of value, and with Polanco's potential, I could see doing it. What stinks is, despite some losing and disappointing seasons, despite this horrific start to this season, we really need patience right now. We need patience for Rosario, Buxton, Kepler, Meyer, Chargois, etc to get some more time in. I like July 1st as a good target date for promotions. However, the FO has to eat some money, toss in a lower level prospect or two, but do what is necessary to create the roster openings for these youngsters.

Smart post. As usual. Going to disagree with a few of your points, however. I would play Arcia, absolutely. The problem is playing him simultaneously with Sano in the OF. Ugh! But we are way past the point of "what the FO SHOULD HAVE DONE in the offseason". But I don't know that I'd trade him. Let's say by August we have Buxton, Kepler and maybe Rosario in the OF. You have 3 young, talented OF who can play all 3 OF spots, and potentially, offer good to excellent defense. (I know Rosario is struggling, but it doesn't diminish he ability or potential) There is still room for a successful Arcia as a corner OF/DH. I wouldn't trade Polanco either. I don't know if there is a prospect in the Twins system that has been more poorly handled than Polanco. This kid has some tremendous potential as a hitter, and the athleticism to play quality defense SOMEWHERE, even if it's not at SS. But milb errors are not always an indication of ability or potential. He should be playing EVERY SINGLE DAY at SS or 2B. Let him learn, grow, and see what you have. I'm not advocating a trade of Dozief, who I like a ton, has started to rebound, and I believe is still a quality ballplayer. But maybe, his trade could be smart for the future of the team with Polanco taking over if he just can't handle SS daily. Rosario should go down for a time. But what are your options at this time if you are smart and give Buxton and Kepler at Rochester for another month or so? (Which you should do) You start Arcia and Sano and Santana with Mastroianni off the bench? Do you put Nunez in the OF? Or Polanco, which would be a huge mistake? Ugh! I do think Meyer and Chargois should be brought up. But, getting real for a moment, no matter how talented Shaggy is, or how good he's looked thus far, he's missed almost two full seasons before this one. I think you just have to give him some AAA time before you bring him up. Meyer? OMG, the second worse treated prospect in the system. He absolutely should have had a 2014 September promotion. (Not sure it would have affected his disappointing 2015 season or not) But after a really nice and encouragING start to the season, the Twins have handled him horribly with his splinter bench time and quick hook in his only start after bringing out the tweezers. I have even advocated a 6 man rotation, including May, and how it could be done, but at this point, he needs to be allowed to succeed at Rochester again. Lastly, Hughes to the bullpen and Nolasco gone via any way possible. (Unless you would move him to the pen as well) What really stinks is, Hughes and Nolasco to the bullpen would be a huge waste of tied up contracts...BUT...if the two of them would embrace the opportunity, they could both, potentially, do very well there. Oh, put Sano at 3B permanently! Let him grow, learn and adjust. He CAN play the position. And he will only get better. He doesn't have to be a Gold Glover to be an asset there.

Wow! Totally forgot about Brad Havens. Probably with good reason. Lol

An interesting idea to take a poor season, step back for a moment from all the other more immediate discussions, to offer up a darkly interesting and somewhat humorous post. Being 50, and a Twins follower for 45 years, I will have to reflect back and possibly offer up some aditiiona options, but two come to mind immediately: I know you said no RP at this point, but Ron Davis in 1984 with 14 blown saves would have to be the choice there...probably. Terry Felton, in 1982, WAS a SP, but got pulled from the rotation and was moved to the bulpen. So I'm not sure exactly how you would qualify his 0-13 record...SP or RP.

A very interesting article. To be honest, no offense Seth, but the comments left here are even more interesting and pointed than the article itself. And I believe Seth is correct, and I don't think he is correct with any sort of excuses or Twins optomism. He clearly states in the last line that the plan hasn't worked to this point. Bingo. IMO, Ryan's plan began with two key points: 1} Try to keep the team afloat, if possible, by trying to maintain some of the Metrodome days. That is, try to assemble a team that could compete on a budget. Some call it dumpster diving. But point #2...which I will get to in a moment...was going to take time. In the meantime, he was hoping for some short term and limited contracts to assemble teams that wouldn't stink, and offer at least some optomism for the fans and put butts in the Target Field seats. And if we're being totally honest, in years past, TR did find some nice pieces to help make teams work. Of course, this plan failed pretty miserably with 4 90 loss seasons. But again, to be fair, and I know it's an old and tired refrain, but one season was washed out due to injury, and the next was a tweaked roster that most felt had a run in it. 2} Ryan was clearly looking to rebuild the milb system, as Seth stated, and is so clearly obvious that we all know it to be true. NOTE: I am not referencing questionable use of young players coming up and not playing, or sticking around long enough. And for the most part, this has been successful. The Twins have a deep and talented farm system. There has been a change to power arms, and some interesting statistics from last year...no, I don't have them readily available...was that virtually all 4 full season milb pitching staffs ranked at or near the top of their leagues in SO and quality starts, along with other quality numbers/rankings. But the problem is, no matter how badly we all want these young prospects up and playing, they absolutely need milb time and experience to hone their skills until they are ready. And even then, it's not unexpected to see growing pains. And while it is not an excuse, when your top two prospects, two of the best in all of baseball, miss a full season or most of one, it sets the timetable back. Where the mistake was made, again in IMO, was banking too quickly on these youngsters. The prime examples being CF and the bullpen. Hicks may have been an athletic talent that was never going to work, we may never know, but to bank on him jumping from AA as a still raw talent straight to the ML was a huge miss of the dartboard. Worse, there was no other viable option. And this error has continued for 3 seasons now! Same with the pen, for the past 2 seasons, where Ryan tried to get cute, find needles in the haystack...which he had done in the past...and bank on his young RP power arms to begin to contribute. But again, it was a short-sighted and long shot gamble. I don't know if he was impatient or out foxed himself, but again, incorrect and short-sighted. It would be trite and somewhat inaccurate to simply say, "better late than never" in regard to the recent moves to shuffle the roster. The experiences of 2014 and 2015 should have brought about a plan of attack that, right now, just looks like a hot mess: * No return of the talented May to the rotation to see what he could truly be capable of because... * No quality bullpen acquisitions to allow May to move, and protect against Perkins and Jepsen regressing. * No CF option as a fall back to allow Buxton more time. * No decent, veteran OF signed...and there many possibilities available...to work with Arcia, protect regression from Rosario, and offer up options for the Sano OF experiment, especially since he has shown he can play 3B. So now we have a team that simply doesn't mesh or work well together. This team is a mix of youth and experience to be sure. And what is so damn frustrating is that, for the most part, neither the young players or the veterans are performing. This team for 2016 was not expected to be world beaters. And there were gross mistakes of inactivity that did/didn't take place. Even still, this team just shouldn't be this bad! As Linus stated early in this thread, any age factor is overblown. A quality, competitive team is desired. And if this team was 10 games over .500 with a primary core of 30-33 yo players, nobody would care, and we'd have a whole lot less to talk about. No, the problem isn't age. The problem is getting from point A to point B...or 1 to 2...without a stable, planned bridge to get there. Right now, the Twins are crossing over a vine and rotted wood bridge that you would see in an Indiana Jones movie.

I really like this. It's a frustrated, but really smart post. I suppose it's easy to say the smart plans are the ones that work. But there is truth as well as fiction involved. Having a plan and following it is great, and will hopefully pay off in the long run. Having no plan almost guarantees no success. But not every plan works for every team, to state the obvious. Some teams simply have more money to work with and can augment their rosters with big FA signings, extensions, taking on trade dollars, etc. Much like the Cubs example mentioned here, or the Yankees, who actually achieved success when they finally kept and promoted their own and supplemented with big paydays. (Sort of like the Cubs example) I am not defending Ryan, though at times I believe I see where he is going and what plan he has, but I feel that if he is guilty of anything, it's not making a strong enough commitment in any one direction. Given a chance to spend real money, he's made unprecedented moves in the FA pool to augment the team, try to keep them winning, to some degree, rather than embrace all out "rebuild", a word and option we know he dislikes. Part of me gets that, understands it, and even appreciates it as a fan. But even as you try to play the FA game, to keep your head above water, and put a better product on the field while waiting for the youngsters to come up, you also can't ignore short comings on the roster, and gamble that these players will leapfrog AAA and leap directly to the majors to provide a boost. CF for three years and the bullpen for two are prime examples. Nolasco didn't really work out. It happens. Santana and Hughes weren't bad signings, nor was Suzuki. But extending Hughes and Suzuki were big mistakes. Not adding an OF or two to bridge the gap, or adding to the bullpen with pieces that wouldn't break you, and could maybe later be traded, we're also big mistakes. I think he's allowed himself to be caught between trying to be competitive and the dreaded "R" word, and now the Twins are flailing and failing this season somewhere in between.

I agree with the first part of the sentiment, but not the second portion. I absolutely agree that it is time, or will email time, to bring in new blood and new ideas. The Target corporation example is a great one. After a time, not necessarily through the fault of anyone, ideas and approachespecially become stale. Much like with the manager or head coach of any pro franchise, no matter how successful, eventually ideas become outmoded and voices become more difficult to listen to. Just as players themselves need to be replaced at times, so do coaches or FO personnel. Back in the day, the previously mentioned Andy McPhail was a tremendous example of this for the Twins. So I agree with new blood. I don't know, necessarily, if that is in the GM spot or president of operations. And I also agree with said new blood making various decisions as to who stays and who goes, who fits, and who doesnt. But, IMO, it's overreaction to call for a complete house cleaning just for the sake thereof. St Peter and Antony are prime examples. I've never seen the ad with the cancer patient, and I strongly disagreed with his comments in regard to the 25th man on the roster comment, as well as his "the Twins Way was a media creation" comments. Both were limited in thought and rather assanine, I thought. All roster spots are important, and the proverbial "Twins Way" was about smart and well-rounded baseball. But I can't look at past successes and Target Field and say he needs to automatically go. Same with Antony. He seems respected and knowledgeable in his daily functiomns, but that doesn't mean he should be a strong GM. He was acting GM previously for a few months. A poor performing team at that time shouldn't define whether or not he's a capable assistant. It seems our past few drafts have brought high quality. There has been a noticeable shift in the organization in a more power pitching approach. The last couple of seasons, most of the Twins milb clubs have ranked near the top of their respective divisions in quality starts, SO's, etc. Just because the vast majority of the Twins top 30-ish prospects haven't reached the majors yet shouldn't be an indictment to the scouting department or those running the milb show. We've all been impatient and extremely eager to see the kids reach the Show. Some of them have, some have had cups of coffee, some are getting really close to debuting or "sticking", some appear ready or close to AAA and AA advancement. We can argue about rate of promotion, or some sitting on the Twins bench, and with sound reasoning, but to just "wish" them al, to the ML at a super quick pace is not practical. In short, new blood is a definate, but cleaning house for the sake of doing so is baby out with the bathwater IMO.