toosweet64

I'll throw up my two cents because the wife won't listen...I'd talk contract with Odo but wouldn't do anything more than 3 years and the price would have to be right. I'd talk with Pineda as well but also wouldn't go longer than a few years. Offer MadBum 2 years at good money. Please do not even talk to Gibson. I think it's clear by now that Berrios isn't a #1. But he's a good #2. The Twins need to go out and find a #1. There isn't one in the system unless Graterol can prove he's a starter and not a future power reliever. They have the prospect depth to deal from and need to at least explore it. We're not paying Cole. The window is open now with Detroit, KC, and Chicago down and Cleveland showing signs of decline.Take advance of the weak division while you can and take your chances in the playoffs. Castro is gone (unless he's back on a cheaper deal). Tortuga as the back up. I'd consider letting Cron go and moving Sano to first. Let's be honest people, he's not a good third baseman. Marwin plays third. Polanco, Arreaz as your middle IFs, Ehire as back up. Trade Rosario (plus prospects) for pitching - Buxton, Kepler, and Kirilloff/Rooker, as the core OFs + 4th OF guy not named Jake Cave. Castro, Cron, Schoop, and Pineda off the books opens up money. Use it in the rotation and/or bullpen. I'd consider bringing Romo back, But go get a trusted veteran reliever as well. C: Garver, Turtle 1st: Sano 2nd: Arreaz SS: Jorge 3rd: Marwin OF: Kepler/Bux + Kirilloff/Rooker + 4th guy DH: Cruz Rotation: Berrios, Odo/MadBum, Graterol + FA + FA/Dobnak Bullpen: Rodgers, May, Duffy, Romo, Littel, plus filler. Find a good LH reliever

Tortuga deserves to be with the club, Adrianza does not. He better at least be gone when Sano comes back this month.

Good review. Now which does Adrianza get by the end of today?

Unreal. Falvey and Levine choose to keep a never has been/never will be 27 year old journeyman with 3 career MLB starts and an ERA over 16 and decide to DFA Melotakis, a solid LH reliever who should already have Breslow's spot. No intelligence to this at all. Melotakis will be claimed within the hour. Falvey and Levine seem clueless.

At this point, I'd take Eddie Guardado, Terry Mulholland, or even a statue of a garden gnome over any of those guys. But if you want actual names, Hildenberger, Curtiss, and Gonsalves. Heck, I'd even take Tonkin back.

Wimmers, Turley, and Haley. There's three guys who could come off the 25 man and 40 man. All are terrible.

Dombrowski does what he does: Gut the farm system for veterans and try to win now. Then leave in a few years when everybody gets old.

Why isn't it realistic? You contradict your own statement. Make a good deal or keep him? That's what I was saying. Urias or De Leon/Bellinger is a good deal. They don't think so? Fine. You have the entire winter meeting to chat with other teams.

Dodgers are reportedly moving to sign Rich Hill. Their rotation is looking full of lefties with Kershaw, Kazmir, Hill, and Urias. You have to ask for Urias. They say no? Then you ask for De Leon and Bellinger. They say no? You hang up the phone and move on. We are under no pressure right now to move Dozier. No Puig in any deal.

We don't kneed to guess at how hard Sano is trying, Bruno has already told us: Per an MLB report today: "At issue is also how hard Sano has been working at getting better, as hitting coach Tom Brunansky told 1500 ESPN Radio on Wednesday that Sano's "work ethic needs to match his talent level." Molitor said it's not uncommon for young players to run into that issue, and he agreed with Brunansky's assertion."

I think Sano has to go down at this point, if not just to send a message. Baserunning errors, reportedly skipping early batting practice, obviously guessing at the plate, shoddy and lazy defense. How is he exactly helping this club right now? It ain't with the bat. Let Vargas DH. If Sano gets it going by September, bring him back. Hopefully, this would send a message to Sano. You can't be lazy in the offseason, ignore coaching, and simply guess at the plate. Talent only gets you so far in the bigs.

Agree 100% on this. May fell off prospect lists very quickly due to poor control and hasn't shown that he can get anybody out as a starter. And now, he can't get anybody out as a reliever either. I've said for the longest time that he's Swarzak 2.0 and he's finally proving it. Long relief guy AT BEST. Just stop with the starter stuff. #3 starter? Please....

From the article, "Jim Bowden, who frequently negotiated trades with Ng when he was with the Reds, calls her a "solid negotiator" but that her "weak spot" might be scouting. "From what I've heard, evaluation of talent may not be her strength. That may hold her back" Exactly what we don't need. Pass.

I don't think that clubs will be willing to give up a top prospect and then let a guy go to free agency in the case of guys like Rich Hill, Jeremy Hellickson, or Drew Pomeranz. Thus, Erv might look better as he is team controlled for 2 more years at a relatively low salary for a big market club. He would fit nicely on an NL club like the Dodgers who have seemingly unlimited money and good prospects in their system. I'd asked for a #60-80 range prospect and chip in around 8-9 million to get it done.

With that being said, if you trade Ervin Santana, don't extend an offer to Plouffe, and lose Suzuki, you would have a large chunk of money to offer the 28 year old Ramos a long term deal. And the Twins should offer the money: ALL OF THE MONEY.

I say we go "blow it up mode" on the roster. Sell high on Brian Dozier right now. Call the Dodgers and ask for the #20 rated prospect RHP Jose de Leon for Dozier and Kohl Stewart. If not, check with the Mets and offer Dozier for the #69 rated prospect SS Amed Rosario or #77 rated prospect SS Gavin Cecchini and a low A starter.

It wouldn't necessarily be "punting" as Manning is one of the higher upside high school pitchers in this draft. If they are able to meet this signing demands, great. If not, you are in position for a good pick next year.

To add to #2, you might want to think about how "bad" this draft has been called by scouts and talking heads like Keith Law. There isn't a whole lot of impact players reportedly. Thus, if the Twins were to draft say, the Manning kid who apparently has "signability" issues and weren't able to sign him, then next year they would get a mid-1st round pick in a reportedly much, much better draft. Something to think about...

Regular listener, less frequent commenter. But even before this post was created, I was left to ponder how and if this terrible, awful, no good season (which is bound to continue this year) could lead to changes. While I'm not optimistic that any changes will actually occur, I have to echo the comments of most people here and restate some facts from the article. Terry Ryan is "old" by baseball standards. The 2nd oldest GM in baseball currently. In my humble opinion, I think the game has changed and Terry has been unwilling to change with it. He only recently brought in an "analytics" person in Goin. Terry Ryan seems to be behind the Dayton Moore's and Epstein's of the baseball world by lightyears. Now we're seeing the same with guys like Cashman in New York. Thus, a change is indeed need. And I think you need to change the whole system as well. The "Twins Way" doesn't seem to work at all any longer. Prospect development has been very poor despite drafting highly in the 1st round. AAA and AA guys arrive at the big league level and look unprepared with terrible fundamentals in baserunning and decision making. Where do you start? How about looking at Theo Epstein's second in command? An assistant GM for the Cardinals? Start offering scouts in the Red Sox or Dodgers organization more money to do the same job here. It's time to look for a younger, brighter GM with different philosophical strategies because at this point, it couldn't hurt. "This organization needs an enema." -- quote from Jack Nicholson altered to fit this situation.

I probably shouldn't even suggest this but, Tulo could move to 3rd base if this fictitious decline were to continue or actually occur. I realize this opens a hole back up at SS but Nick Gordon might be ready by that time. I say this with no expectation of Sano staying at 3rd base and Plouffe being retained if Tulo moves off SS. Add to the fact that Tulo could DH once or twice a week and you might actually get more games per year and less injuries out of the guy over the last few years of his contract.

My two cents from my (fake) GM chair: The Rockies have two options in my opinion: 1) Pay some of the contract and ask for better prospects OR 2) Pay none and take lesser prospects. I doubt they'll get both. From the Rockies standpoint, the Mets have much better pitching to offer and can easily pay Tulo. If the Twins were to get involved (with the Rockies maybe paying 23-30% of the remaining contract), it would take at least Berrios and probably Kepler. I doubt they'd accept Arcia over Kepler based on the defensive shortcomings of Arcia. Lastly, I feel like giving up Berrios is likely just fine. Scouts have talked about his straight, flat fastball and flyball/HR tendencies at the MLB level. Berrios likely profiles as a #2 starter long-term for us if Target Field truely is considered a "deep park" and I'm believing less in that day by day. Berrios at Coors field likely would not go over well.

What about Clint Barmes or Jed Lowrie as a stop-gap, half a year rental? I realize Barmes is on the old side of the equation and Lowrie is hurt a lot but both would improve the defense, wouldn't hit any less than Santana in the 9 spot, and not really cost anything significant.

Agree on all points. I think management would like to turn a blind eye to the Mauer stuff and probably hopes the fans do too. But that's potentially a giant problem moving forward. I was hoping he could be the Todd Helton for the Twins, but he's not even hitting for average now. Yikes. Agree on Escobar. He's been given 2 months now and he's regressed back to his norm. Time to let Rosario continue to run with left field. The other dilemma that I would raise is this: How much more leash to they give Santana? At what point do they consider giving Jorge Polanco a chance? I realize that they think Polanco's range isn't as good but his overall defense isn't that much worse.

The higher propensity for walks have me concerned with Meyer. I worry that he is going to be our Wade Davis or Zach Britton, i.e. promising starters coming up but relegated to the bullpen in the majors. That being said, both are pretty good relievers in their own respect. I think Meyer could be too with his fastball and wipeout slider. It would just be a bummer to have to go that route with Burdi, Zach Jones, Jake Reed, Tonkin, and others already destined for the bullpen with no really overwhelming talent save for Berrios and Stewart in the starting pitching department.

Sano will be given every chance to stay at 3B this year. Walker and Kepler are still years away and Rosario barely played last year. Hunter is not blocking any of these guys on his 1 year deal.