laloesch

This is speculation but I suspect the Twins traded Meyer at his request and to sweeten the pot in order to get rid of Nolasco (who they could have cut). Alex was likely not pleased with the lack of opportunities given to him here and I suspect May is not happy either. It's hard to imagine him not getting spot starts in the waning moments of this season. This is the legacy of the Ryan era as GM. The stubbornness and cheapness to stick with mediocre veteran pitchers over potentially much better talent (May, Meyer, Berrios, Chargois) in favor of Milone, Nolasco, Gibson, etc., because they are under contract.

I am wrong. My apologies.

No I'm not. Mean is average median is the mid point between a range of numbers, not middle. So yeah I'm right and your wrong on this one Mike.

Actually they were 18th when the season started, but you omitted that. Tricky tricky tricky. And Median is defined by Wikipedia as "denoting or relating to a value or quantity lying at the midpoint of a frequency distribution of observed values or quantities, such that there is an equal probability of falling above or below it." So... if a team at the bottom spends 69 million (Rays) and another team spends 266 million (Dodgers) the median would actually be 167.5 million. This number will fluctuate year to year of course, but lets forget about that. Based on 2016 payrolls as they currently stand all but the Dodgers, Yankees, Red Sox, Tigers, Cubs, Giants, Angels and Rangers would fall into the upper median.

Yeah, i'm not a fan of his either. Should have been Lovullo or Mientkiewicz.

http://www.stevetheump.com/Payrolls.htm

Then why are you arguing with me if you dislike his moves so much? sheesh

Not sure why you place so much credence on median payroll when the number iss scewed by the Dodgers, Yankees and Red Sox, all with 180 million plus payrolls. Fact is the Twins are 18th in the league in team spending at 108 million ahead of the Astros, Diamondbacks, Rays, Athletics, Marlins, Pirates, Indians, Braves, Rockies, Brewers, White Sox and Mets. The Blue Jays, Royals, Orioles, Cubs, Reds and Cardinals are ALL within 4-12 million of the Twins payroll. So no, 100 million+ is hardly "LOW, VERY LOW."

What on earth are you babbling about in reply to my first post? Cherry picking facts? Please....it is exactly what he has done and any attempt to down play that is laughable and homeristic. And by the way i don't think Ryan is a villain nor was i trying to characterize him as such. My point is that his time has come and gone as GM. When the Twins were still in the garbage dome giving up a good chunk of their revenue to the ViQueens, under threat of contraction and a severely limited budget he did a great job, but things changed.

I don't consider 100+ million a low payroll. That's mid market and makes the Twins players for free agents.

I'd like to see a much more aggressive GM (in comparison to Ryan) and or president of baseball operations. The problem with the Twins is that they always seem to move at a snail's pace when making roster decisions. Examples would be Josh Willingham, Kurt Suzukii, Ricky Nolasco, Tommy Milone, Trevor Plouffe, etc., etc. Instead of moving on from non-productive players under contract they were stubborn and tried to milk every penny when it was obvious these guys were busts, taking up space or in the midst of a career season that they would never repeat. The reverse is also true. Instead of trading veterans for maximum value in the midst of a rebuild they clung to them like trophies and ended up with nothing a year or two later. Too me this is illogical unless you are only worried about selling tickets and putting butts in the stands or are close to the end of a rebuild and need some veteran parts to complement the young talent. If Ryan had decided to move on from Hughes, Suzuki, Plouffe, Dozier and Willingham before that it's quite possible we'd be A LOT closer to contention then we are now. To me indecisiveness is as detrimental as a bad trade and it's a huge waste of precious time. Last and not least, give the prospects a real chance to prove themselves. I don't agree with the yoyo back and forth between AAA and the Big leagues that this front office has treated Buxton and Berrios too. If a guy needs more time in AAA you leave him there for an extended period. If you call him up, you use him and give him 5+ starts before tinkering. The other thing that would be nice is not having such a dumpster diving, penny pinching GM like Ryan. Even after TF opened they didn't spend that money wisely or step up their offers to reel in premium talent. Instead we had to settle for reclamation projects like Hughes, Nolasco and Santana (to a lesser extent). The Twins don't have to operate like this anymore and hopefully the new GM and President will understand that and be given that latitude. If a guy stinks and you can't trade him DFA him! If a top of the rotation pitcher is available and your interested make him a REAL offer! The days of the Twins being cheap (pre TF) and foolish with their money (post opening of TF) should be over.

I would reiterate what you said about Gibson. Bleh. Sure 2015 was a good year for him, but unlike last year's slow start he never got out of this funk. He's doesn't have impressive stuff, decision making or killer instinct. I wouldn't be in a hurry to get rid of him due to lack of talent on the current staff, but if someone offered the right chips for him in a trade deal I'd listen.

Amen to this post. Especially the last paragraph.

I agree if Dozier (who is near maximum value and replaceable, see Polanco) is the primary piece in a trade for a quality starter(s) by all means go right ahead. I'd applaud the move. I disagree though that Santana has no value due to his age and contract. He's really not that expensive given in comparison to starters of similar talent around the league and he's pitched exceptionally well the last year or so with a solid track record of history. Sure he's 34 in December, but he's still very useful to a competing team looking for a quality rotation starter for the next two seasons. Deal him. On the second part of your post. What do you mean blow up the pitching staff? Getting rid of mediocre underperformers (Milone, Nolasco, Santiago) and chronic slow starters (Gibson) is hardly "giving up" on a missed opportunity in my humble opinion. The process has already begun. It's because they FINALLY chose to get rid of Milone, Nolasco that there is an opening for Berrios.

I couldn't handle the 98 choke job against the Falcons. That was it for me, burned my Vikings jersey and everything. Haven't paid attention to them since. Never understood why my dad (who is now in his late 60's) always called them the ViQueens until that point. ....Just so many choke jobs, super bowl humiliations, sorry players, sorry coaches, yuck! That stuff on top of the Herschel Walker trade, rolls eyes. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot as an organization. They basically gave the Cowboys a super bowl dynasty era in one stupid trade, Idiots. To me it's a no-brainer. At least the Twins have won SOMETHING in their existence!!!

What's the point of keeping him around to mentor young guys when we have no quality major league prospects to start with? Pointless. Plus he's 34 in December. He is quickly approaching mid 30's and the latter stages of a typical career. Trade him now at maximum value for a young starter or two. Bottom line the Twins DESPERATELY NEED major league ready quality starting pitching prospects and this should be a no-brainer decision in my opinion. This team is so bad and so devoid of pitching talent it isn't contending in 2017 or likely 2018. Aside from Mejia, Berrios and May (yes that irks the May opponents) what else is there to be optimistic for in the near term? Jay or Gonsalves? Stewart is probably at least two years away. What else is there?

I don't understand why people still argue about certain team's player's using steroids anymore. Every team has had MLB players using steroids since the late 60's. That's a fact. However, what's up for debate is how openly it was used in certain clubhouses behind closed doors away from the fans and media and what kind of juices were used. it wouldn't surprise me at all if certain teams had better "stuff" ie the Canseco hookups and easier access based on geographic location and connections. There's no doubt in my mind that the four championship Yankee teams of the late 90's were induced by steroid mania. It's amazing those guys aren't all dead by now with heart attacks and strokes.

Interesting. I wonder if anything is in the works.

Gibson is Scott Baker light. I've seen enough but are not in a hurry to get rid of him until other talent is in place.

He's been up and down. No doubt not a good year for him. I also think the Twins have not helped matter either. They have messed with his head based on his comments to the media. I wouldn't trade him at the deadline next year. Big mistake in my opinion. He is the only potential starter with 8-9K per 9 plus stuff with the exception of Berrios.

Or send him to Rochester with one goal, further develop that change-up. According to fangraphs 55% of his pitches this season have been fastballs, 38% curve balls and 5.7% changeups. That spread needs more balancing. He is throwing too many fastballs and too few changeups in my opinion.

This post should have hundreds of likes. It speaks to how pig headed the Twins FO is. May was doing fine as a starter in 2015, but noooooo.....we need more relievers and they demoted him. Supposedly at the beginning of this season he was in competition for a rotation spot...yeah okay. The FO throws up smoke and mirrors all the time, but it was really about big contracts and possible trade chips (Nolasco and Milone). The problem is that neither one of them did anything and the rest of the lot with the exception of Santana has been horrible for most of the season. Yet they had to let the whining veterans pitch and they didn't deserve it. Milone & Nolasco. On top of that Gibson and Duffey have been train wrecks themselves and Hughes has been out for months now. So now what? Santiago doesn't look any better than Nolasco, Gibson has been getting rocked every other start and Duffey has regressed after a stellar debut last year.

I think the Twins need to stop "tinkering" and let Berrios pitch for better or for worse. In Santiago's case he stated that the Twins had already started changing his approach after his second start. Maybe they should give these guys a couple more starts before changing things up.

Haha let's not open that can of worms. I wanted Giolito as well.

Yea, i'm curious to read more if this is indeed true.