Shane Wahl

Pryor has real problems with walks.

I like realistic trade ideas. I would actually go the other way and trade guys like Plouffe, Escobar, Fien, and maybe Gibson for mid-tier prospects to provide more depth . . . because they aren't going to get a high pick after next year, right? Right!? Also, there is no possibility of trading Ricky Nolasco this season. It isn't happening. He might be terrible, and even if he is Nolasco-average, there are two more years after this one!

No Lewin Diaz? You are right with your promotion guesses. Gibbons, Easton, and D. Rodriguez are good players who will find their way to E-town this year.

Meneses and Paulino don't really belong. The rest of this team is very, very solid.

Also, it's pretty baffling how Stephen Pryor, Pat Dean, and Argenis Diaz are still around.

Who do you think they will be? One pitcher, one catcher, and one infielder?

The best of Kentucky, Duke, and Wisconsin aren't winning any series or coming close to winning any series against the worst NBA teams. It isn't quite such a drastic switch for baseball, but even the actual Twins pitchers would cause trouble for many of these guys. And just forget about the offense for the Twins not pounding several runs each game against even Berrios. There is a difference between prospect-ceiling and prospect-where-they-are-right now. AA and AAA can get them closer to that ceiling (and yet it never hits until ample time in MLB). Also, Kepler instead of Peterson.

Up to 3/4 of these guys could/should replace members of the current 25-man roster (I have questions about Graham). Wheeler, Wimmers, Chargois, and Beresford each have some roadblocks (though Wheeler will surely get a chance this year). I would really like the Twins to end up trading both Plouffe and Escobar this year, and dumping Nunez. Sano, Polanco, and Beresford/Michael would be more than suitable replacements.

I have no idea who I want this year.

Do note that this was written several days before the Santana business.

You packed a lot of information into one post. Milone will undoubtedly be a better starter than Pelfrey. That doesn't say much, but still.

Yeah, what the hell? That would be the single most important thing for Miguel Sano to change about his health.

The headline here is a reference--if you do not know, somehow--to a line from The Big Lebowski. It's the scene in the car where Walter has brought "the ringer" ("the whites") and The Dude loses it on him. The Dude is a very chill guy who smokes pot, listens to CCR, and bowls. But in this scene he yells (editing profanity) "You (screwed) it up! You (screwed) it up!" Walter responds with the quote in the headline. Well it's that time of year when the Twins opening day roster becomes finalized and many, including myself, are screaming what The Dude was screaming in the car. I mean it all seems ridiculous. Maybe not each individual move taken separately, but when looking at the totality--Milone, Pelfrey, Boyer, and Robinson as choices over May, Meyer, Tonkin/Oliveros/Achter, and Hicks/Rosario, on top of the additions of Hunter and Stauffer--it looks like a big roster mistake based on some strange notion of trying to compete with aging guys instead of rebuilding with younger guys. That's all true. I don't think the truth is on the Twins side here. This seems like a bizarre way to approach the season, especially since this doesn't mean merely having the young guys "earn" a promotion to the Twins . . . they are now forced to compete with one another in AAA and even AA in some cases. It seems like a rebuilding team promotes the young guys to get a sense of who is going to be worthy of keeping in 2016 and beyond. I cannot imagine any of those six--Milone, Pelfrey, Boyer, Robinson, Hunter, and Stauffer--being on the team in 2016. But screaming about this isn't going to do any good and it isn't good for oneself. It is indeed being very un-Dude. Here's a breakdown: A. It's baseball. Baseball isn't like bowling . . . but watching baseball is like bowling in that you do it for fun and you drink beer while doing it. B. There might be value in finding even one of those six guys who puts up a legitimate year that adds wins to the team this year. Stauffer and Hunter are the best bets there. ST stats mean very little. Stauffer is a good reliever. C. Maybe this new focus on the change-up will improve the staff, including Boyer. D. The young guys can all be together and work together and help each other out that way. Rochester suddenly has Rosario, Hicks, and Danny Ortiz in the OF. May and Meyer will be leading the rotation with the likes of Wheeler, Rogers, and maybe Duffey. Tonkin, Oliveros, and Achter are going to be in the bullpen with O'Rourke, Darnell (if I were Darnell, I would advocate for a full-time bullpen role), Hamburger and Pressly. Rochester actually should be full of prospects, which is rare. It should be good, and fun. E. Nothing is really stopping a mass movement upward. This isn't Gardenhire's team, so we don't really know what to expect. If the oldsters aren't getting the job done, then I do think Molitor will replace them. And this could include a Schafer-Robinson for Hicks-Rosario swap. First, Rosario is going to get some time at second base in Rochester, and thus he still has that going for the himself as another backup for Dozier. Second, Hunter is going to need days off, as will Mauer, and younger guys like Arcia and Vargas. There are innings and at-bats there. Also, with each passing day the Twins are paying Mike Pelfrey less and less. Milone and Stauffer aren't making all that much, and Boyer is making very little. They are all replaceable and will be replaced with one wave from AAA and then another from AA. F. We don't know what is going to happen, so let's just enjoy it. There are still a number of things to be excited about. First, a fully recovered Joe Mauer. Second, Santana and Vargas soph seasons. Third, Oswaldo Arcia is going to go ape this year. I guarantee that. Fourth, Eduardo Escobar is still going to get plenty of at-bats and be a doubles machine. Finally, a new manager and pitching coach. This is the most important thing. Those old, ridiculous days are gone. G. Being un-Dude is a terrible way to be. It's understandable that we are "not into the whole levity thing" right now. We have ideas about what should be done and the Twins make mistakes. But it is clear that this is still the beginning of baseball season and that is something to be quite pleased about. I do think that these problems are going to work themselves out. The September roster should be pretty sick. There will be trades made that will help support a minor league system that hopefully is seeing its last top 10 draft pick this year. There are still plenty of good things occurring outside of the decisions regarding players 21-25 on the Image courtesy of Jesse Johnson-USA Today Sports View full article

I have an article about this being published tomorrow at 1 p.m., apparently.

Lee's situation, and Petersons, is the result of the Twins ramming down aging guys from above. Tonkin, Thielbar, Oliveros, and May are better than some 4 pitchers on the Twins right now. Think about removing those four from the picture, and I bet both Lee and Peterson are in AA.

Sad to see JD go away. Another injury-plagued guy, though.

Surprised, a bit, that Reed jumps over Peterson. There has to be some story about Peterson here . . . 65 strikeouts in 45 innings for Fort Myers last year. What am I missing?

For the non-official record, I have 1260 points and Wisconsin winning. swahl111

Let him lose that money and come back. He will have served his "time." The people piling on about the wrongness of signing Santana in the first place is a bit much. It was a smart acquisition. He is just a cheater.

All of my push candidates seem to have been pushed.

TD needs to switch away from Papa Johns coupons in favor of Whiskey coupons so we can all collectively get smashed in the next few hours. I want to be able to get a free bottle of Jameson with the promo code **** this ****.

This is terrible. When the hell did the Twins know? Why bother giving him these last x number of starts?Also, Trevor May could pitch 5 innings.

An initial list would be: Bard, Duffey, Harrison, Hicks, Jones, Melotakis, Rogers, Vielma, and Walker, with Goodrum, Michael, Salcedo, and Wimmers too. I do think that at least a few of these guys will be involved in trades this year. Duffey, Harrison, Melotakis, Goodrum, Salcedo, and Michael are guys to go in packages involving veterans like Plouffe, Hunter, Escobar, Suzuki, Fien, and Nolasco. Each vet-prospect pairing could net some top 300 prospect.

Hicks hits lefties well and Robinson is terrible against them. What if the real ceiling for Hicks is a 4th OF? Just immediately, there is going to be competition between Buxton, Rosario, Hicks and Arcia. Either Arcia or Vargas will be traded by this team, so maybe that alleviates some of this. The fact is that trades have to happen for Aaron Hicks to be a full-time starter for the Twins. But you know what? I would rather have Aaron Hicks as a lefty masher and 4th OF than all of these jokes the Twins have tried there for the last several years. Also, Hicks is going to be a great guy on the roster to move to any temporary starting role due to DL issues with Rosario, Buxton, Arcia, Kepler, etc. I would like to keep him around. It is weird to me to see a team just end prospects who don't become starters and then opt for has-been journeymen to fill out a roster.