Target Field of Dreams

Really...my post was mainly about the fact I think we should trade Santana and I really dislike Nolasco being on our roster. With that being said, what kind of value would Santana bring back? I agree I wouldn't want to include any top prospects in a trade

As much as I like Danny Santana, is it crazy to think the Twins might want to consider trading him this year? In years past, I feel like the Twins have severely missed the high point of a player's value and have had to trade at the low point, significantly diminishing the return. While I like Danny, it is logical to think he is playing at or even slightly above his potential at this point and we have other options for short currently. Escobar can handle it and Jorge Polanco is about to be knocking on the door as well. Could be a golden opportunity to sell high. While the Twins have been winning as of late, I think it is clear that their starting pitching is still not near where it needs to be and getting a frontline starter could really get them over the hump. Am I crazy to think a Santana+Nolasco trade to the Phillies for Cole Hamels deal could work? The Phillies would get a legit starting SS under team control for many years (their top SS prospects are in rookie leagues right now) + a serviceable NL pitcher in Nolasco and we would get an ACE to anchor the rotation. 2 questions? 1. Is trading Santana something they should be considering right now? 2. Is a Hamels trade too unrealistic? Any other ideas that are more realistic?

I know this is a pipe dream...hey, that's an idea. Maybe we should trade him for a pipe. Any type will do...Tobacco, PVC, brass, aluminum...any and all would be more useful for the Twins

Given our logjam of pitchers and the Dodgers rash of injuries...seems like we maybe could be a trade match with them. Ideally we could give them Nolasco (he loved it there and he did alright for them) and they would give us Van Slyke. We could use the outfield defense and he absolutely crushes LH pitching. I know what you are thinking...why would anyone in their right mind want Nolasco? And you are right...maybe we could throw in a lifetime membership to Calhoun Beach Club or something for the Dodger's owners as well? Nolasco's contract is chump change for them, so that probably wouldn't be much of a deterrent. Really, a Nolasco for a bottle of California sunshine would be fine with me at this point as he seems to not want to be here or put the work in to be a decent player. It would give us a little more room to work in some of our younger pitchers and hopefully get them some experience to bring us to contending sooner.

Nolasco was nearly the definition of mediocre before coming to the Twins 2013 MLB League Averages ERA: 3.86; FIP: 3.87; WHIP: 1.300; SO/9: 7.6 2013 Ricky Nolasco ERA: 3.52; FIP: 3.34: WHIP: 1.209; SO/9: 7.4

I may have replied too hastily when I threw out Reed and Burdi's names. They are just 2 of the promising arms we have in the minors and many thought there was a chance Burdi could make it to the MLB squad by last september due to him being a really good college closer when we drafted him. But even if you throw those 2 out...there are many other options in AAA that would be better than Boyer, Stauffer and Thompson, so the point is still valid. Any 3 of the below would be better, but Ryan and/or Molitor chose to go the safe veteran route once again when finalizing the roster. A.J. Achter Stephen Pryor Lester Oliveros Michael Tonkin Ran Pressly Caleb Thielbar Logan Darnell and there is still absolutely no valid excuse for the outfielders they chose to start the season with. If the argument is that none of our minor leaguers were ready, then they should have spent $10 million dollars on a legit defensive outfielder, rather than 39 year old Torii Hunter. Torii was one of my favorite Twins when he was on the team before, but at this point in his career he simply isn't the player we needed to help us win games in 2015.

This kind of gets to my point a little, of why are these guys still a level below? I realize it would have been moving them quickly to bring them up already, but honestly there is no way they could be worse than the guys we picked up from the scrap heap and through in the bullpen to start this season. Reed and Burdi have real upside and real value right now. I don't see the value, especially with pitchers, in having them use up a ton of their bullets in the minors.

Source: Does Terry Ryan have what it takes to lead the Twins in 2015?

While I generally have been optimistic that this season the Twins would make a marked improvement from the last few years and at least finish the year with a record approaching respectability, after the first 7 games, my optimism is waning. I know 7 games is a small sample size, and if the circumstances that got us here were not as they are I would not be so concerned. But when I look at the 2015 Twins and their struggles, I see roster mismanagement as the biggest problem leading to the piling up of Twins Losses. At the end of the 2014 season, 2 opportunities were clear. 1. Our pitching was as a whole brutal 2. Our outfield Defense was awful. How did Terry Ryan address these: -Pitching: Signed Ervin Santana to bolster starting rotation as well as picked up Rule 5 draft pick JR Graham, veteran reliever Tim Stauffer and journeyman veteran Blaine Boyer. - Defense: Signed an aging Torii Hunter who last year was widely rated as the worst starting right fielder in all of baseball. While Terry Ryan can't be blamed for the Ervin Santana steroid issue, he is squarely responsible for the bullpen additions as well as making our outfield defense worse. Much of my optimism for this season stemmed from the fact that the Twins have an amazing group of young prospects ready to burst onto the big league squad and provide some much needed talent, but all of the roster moves that were made did nothing but block that young talent from getting a chance to come up. And the result? Our Major league roster struggles while our minor league teams flourish. It is nice to see them succeed, but they only exist because the Twins do. In short, I am concerned Terry Ryan isn't the right guy for a rebuilding team. He is great at finding veteran pieces to get value from to augment an already good roster, but I have seen little in his tenure that says he knows how to move prospects along at the right pace and no when to bring young guys up to learn and see what we have in them. In my opinion we should be bringing up Rosario, Hicks and later Buxton as soon as possible, removing Boyer, Stauffer and Thompson at minimum from bullpen ASAP and replacing them with any of the myriad of great pitching prospects we have stuck in the minors. We need to see what we have in those guys, in order to set us up for potential respectability in 2016 and beyond. I hate already talking like that 7 games in, but it is what I see as potential reality with this dreadful squad. Who knows...the young guys may actually make 2015 a little more respectable as well. And if not, we they at least have potential to get better.

Agreed...If all of this happened, the Twins would have solid pitching to go with a top 5 offense. Unless their Defense is one of the worst in history, they win a lot more than 81 games. I would love to see it, but think likely about half of this will happen and the team will finish with 81-84 wins which I would be happy with.

While the additions of Hunter and Santana have created considerable buzz the last few weeks, I'm not sold on the Twins being much closer to contention in 2015, given their remaining holes and strength of the division. Am I wrong? Can you conceivably see this team as it is, including prospects in the pipeline that may arrive this season, having a realistic shot at competing this season? Or do we need to go through another season looking ahead to 2016 or 2017 when our young guns are finally established? If you don't think we can compete this year, are there any other free agents still out there that you believe could be realistically had by the Twins (think cheap), that could make us legitimately better this season? Is this even worth it, or should I be okay with waiting another year?

Good point on Versalles Paul...Maybe just Versalles spark plug/power ability and Gagne's everything else.

Wow...Craig Kusick had a sweet 'stache http://d3k2oh6evki4b7.cloudfront.net/images-006/headshots/1/1ea3b59c_davis.jpg

After 3 years of watching plodding, sometimes downright terrible baseball from the hometown 9, it is refreshing to see some of the young guys get their shots. For a time, it seemed as if this day would never come, with guys like Pelfrey, Diamond and Correia clogging the starting staff and doing little more than keeping rotation spots warm for a few seasons, it was starting to get depressing. But now, it seems the fog has lifted and the young guns are making a push to lead our squad out of the cellar of the American League Central and back to the championship form of yesterdecades (not a word, but it should be, and it sadly fits here). While the young guys will take their lumps and struggle, see Trevor May's first start as an example of this, it is exciting to see them get their shots. It's important for them to get a chance to figure things out, so they can help us next year and for the Twins to figure out what they have as they plan their roster decisions for years to come. There are many on the 40 man roster that need to be reviewed to see if they warrant keeping there, so I am excited for the Twins to have an opportunity to do that this year as well. Here's my dream scenario for our young guys(outlandish? Likely, but like I said...I'm feeling hopeful): Vargas is able to become some combination of Harmon Killebrew and David Ortiz over at 1st (I'd settle for a Hrbek though) Santana becomes a cross between Greg Gagne and Zoilo Versalles at Short Buxton comes up next year fully healthy and becomes a cross between Kirby Puckett and Torii Hunter Sano starts next season as the every day 3rd baseman and becomes a better Gary Gaetti (minus the facial hair) and more powerful version of Corey Koskie Meyer and May become some version of Jack Morris and a not crazy Scott Erickson for years to come Sprinkle in a solid core of seasoned vets: Mauer being good and healthy Joe Mauer...this is a key success factor, Brian Dozier simply dominating 2nd base, an ever improving Oswaldo Arcia, Suzuki as a cool Hawaiian All-Star catcher along with a sick bullpen headlined by a lights out Glen Perkins and we've got ourselves a solid team looking to contend. After years of toil, it couldn't come soon enough. Let's see what these young guys have so we can get the party started sooner than later! What are your thoughts on the ceilings of some of our young guys coming up? It would be awesome if they all panned out close to my dream scenario above .

I'd say B+ given the situation with how terrible most of our trade pieces actually were/are

I think we are all disappointed that Correia and Willingham are still on the roster, but given their recent performance, or in the case of Correia, career performance, what contender would have wanted to trade for them? They are both unfortunately currently below average players that have little value to any team, which is why we want to dump them so bad. We can't fault Terry for not unloading them if nobody wanted them. Hopefully we either ship them out via waivers, or some other method at this point though to bring up some of the younger guys. If Correia continues stealing starts from Meyer and May then I will be angry. So we couldn't trade him...now do the right thing and cut bait regardless as he is not a part of the future and that is what we need to focus on now.

Andrew McCutchen

I'd prefer to stash the money this year and go get Hardy next offseason.