laloesch

It doesn't have to be as radical as people post here. Make Joe more of a part time player and ride out the last two years if Joe wishes to continue after this season while giving Vargas a majority of the playing time at 1st base moving forward. Joe can still DH some games over the next two years and will get a decent amount of at-bats and playing time. This doesn't have to be an either or scenario IMO. If Vargas can't hack a full time gig at first you can try Kepler there (i believe he has limited experience at first) or Park.

LOL, If you make it to 100 I'll buy you a box of cuban cigars and we can smoke one together, althought at that age it might be deadly.

Just imagine how bad the season could really have gone without Santana?

He's complaining.

I understand that people love joe because he's a hometown guy and all that and for a short time he was an outstanding catcher and hitter, but the endless line of excuses since he started declining is beyond ridiculous and makes a lot of us cringe. If it's that bad Joe RETIRE ALREADY! Simple as that. Unless you completely wasted your fortune of 170 million, + endorsements and final two years of your deal, hang it up then. Otherwise stop complaining and get back to work already! Sheesh.

Sounds like he's finally getting frustrated with all this losing. Sure took long enough. Now let's see some fire from you or quit. I want to see a Justin Morneau offseason training regiment and a leader in the clubhouse. Wishful thinking.

I was an enabler. My ex wife was a chronic alcoholic and smoked 2 packs of cigarettes a day. I tried for years and years to encourage her to quit smoking and stop drinking but it never worked. Then i gave up and let her do what she wanted and finally i gave her an ultimatum and she chose wine and cancer sticks over our marriage. Ultimately it's up to Sano to make life choices. Does he want to be a star athlete and a tremendous power hitter or live the life of a playboy and fizzle out. It's up to him.

Oh believe me i don't approve of Perkins beer gut / paunch. Cuss he's got one too.

It still may not be enough. Some people are just stubborn or lack the self control. Sano has been told he needs to lose weight, and that it will likely improve his career. Now whether or not he has the discipline at the dinner table, the self control and humility to accept his team's trainers advice is a different story. Sometimes ego gets involved as well. I know people like that but it might just be 100% self control. You put a table of good food in front of them and 9 times out of 10 they can't resist and stuff themselves like pigs. That's how you get fat and stay fat even if your an athlete.

I don't know he's put on A LOT of weight the last couple of years. Looks like he sure enjoys eating.

Yes. By the way your avatar.....Tom Baker was the best doctor who actor in the entire series history in my opinion.

I mean it's skull and cross bones time for this organization. Complete reformat and system purge is necessary, possible hardware replacement.

I don't know how else to sum it up or elaborate anymore other than to state the obvious. The pitching on this team flat out SUCKS!

I guess my thoughts are timing. This team's offensive core is young, like mid 20's. How does it make sense to hang onto players that are 5-10 years older (Santana) when the team is nowhere close to competing?

I don't see the Twins trading Dozier period, but i agree that at this point it's likely the right thing to do given the Twins shortage of QUALITY starting pitching in the ranks. My only question is availability. Right now there appears to be a noticeable shortage of quality starting pitching in both leagues. I think they are going to have to dig deep to get anything back via a trade and by deep i mean trading for prospects in AA / AAA. I don't agree with the notion that some posters have in keeping Santana. He will not make this team a contender in the remaining years of his deal in his mid 30's. I would have taken the Jays deal and dumped him for prospects and salary relief. That would have left us with only Mauer and Hughes colossal contracts. For once this team needs to sell high and get something back in return.

Agreed. I am getting tired of the "TYPICAL" Gibson routine which appears to be slow starter in April and May season after season. In 2016 he never got going at all. We've seen 3 full seasons from Kyle Gibson and this is by far his worst campaign ever. If he and Duffey had pitched half way decent this year, this team goes from 100 loses to close to .500 ball. I am not ready to cut Kyle loose yet, but if he pitches next season like this he's toast in my book. Same goes for Santiago. As others have said earlier, Duffey is a two pitch reliever and the sooner the Twins realize that and send him down to AAA to develop a third pitch or back to the bullpen the better. Besides Trevor May i think the next best option is Adalberto Mejia.

Meh....ivy leagues schools are packed full of snotty, ego maniacs who think their blank don't stink because they went to an ivy league school. I prefer actual knowledge and experience gained on the job. By the time someone reaches the level of being considered for GM their degree is pretty much meaningless.

I don't know what to think of Stewart or Gonsalves yet other than Stewart's low strikeout rate. The Jay conversion is still ongoing. I do foresee a May Duffey in the very near future (starting in 2017), unless Duffey dramatically increases his usage of the change-up and turns things around. The organization could also choose to move on from Santiago and Gibson but given the lack of depth right now that seems unlikely for both.

Good piece. Twins should have been in evaluation mode at the beginning of August to be perfectly honest. Personally, I like Vargas. Guy can play an adequate first base and his bat has some pop. The new GM and President REALLY need to sit down with Mauer this offseason and re-evaluate his next two years with the club and how to proceed. Mauer is an absolute shell of his former self. Time to move on.

I don't buy it. A guy dominates the minor leagues top to bottom and suddenly upon reaching the majors can't pitch anymore. Smoke and mirrors if you ask me. Sure the sample size is still small and he needs to adjust to being a major league level pitcher, but IMO I see more of a similarity between Duffey and Berrios. Both have a great "out pitch", changeup for Berrios and curveball for Duffey. Problem is neither one can control that pitch enough to keep it in the strike zone on occasion and keep hitters honest. From the hitters perspective If its a fastball hack away, if you think it's a breaking ball don't even swing because it won't be close to the strike zone anyways.

Jim Pohlad doesn't get it. He's not a baseball mind and doesn't appear to have a clear understanding of how to build a competitive team by hiring competent front office staff, coaches, gm, etc nor holding people accountable at the appropriate time. That is a big, big problem. Hopefully the new VP of baseball operations or whatever the title evolves into understands that and can work with his limitations. Personally i think Anthopoulos turned down the Twins due to these prehistoric work conditions and other challenges the Twins have allowed to fester the last five years. The requirement of keeping Molitor is one such example, keeping Terry Ryan and all his scouts year after year in the face of all this losing while publicly guaranteeing their jobs is even more evidence and just crazy. It's not just the wrong personnel, but the culture too. This is a big deter-ant to a new GM and VP. They will literally be rebuilding the organization from the ground up (besides the owner & stadium). That is a a monumental task even if the owner is cooperating fully. Imagine the new GM and VP will have to review every coach, scout, trainer, etc., at every level and the major league squad and determine who to keep who to get rid of. Not to mention the actual players themselves. Daunting. I too believe Molitor would be okay on a winning team. However, he appears to have no patience for younger players and his lineup construction and bullpen usage this season strikes me as disorganized, chaotic and not structured. How he didn't understand that when they gave him the managers job is strange. Like Gardy before him he appears to have lost this team as well and that is a bad sign for 2017.

They had better be careful (referring to the Twins), this could easily turn into a lost decade and could eclipse the mid to late 90's teams in futility. In fact they are probably there already.

I don't know, you won't know until they call him up? But since your an expert there's no point in doing that, he's apparently worthless and not worthy of a callup ever.

He has since July 1st.

I would argue despite the strikeouts that at the very least he could function as a 4th outfielder with the potential to be more. Why not give him a fall callup and see what he can do? Sure he will strikeout like crazy, but so has Sano, Buxton, Rosario, Vargas, Dozier, Plouffe, practically every hitter in the Twins lineup. The thing he does have is great power. Give him a shot it can't hurt a 100 loss team any further. It could also allow the Twins to move Grossman, maybe Rosario for a pitching prospect?