curt1965

I would love to take Aaron Hicks for my second pick, please!

JO Berrios

JO Berrios

Will we know who is already taken before the 9am time, or is everyone starting from scratch this year?

It seems to me that this situation might be similar to the one the Twins faced in the early 1980's. They were terrible then, but someone decided they were going to play the prospects, and let them get their feet wet in the major leagues. I'm too lazy to check the exact details ( this is time for one of Doc Bauer's famous stories),but didn't Gaetti, Laudner, Viola, Brunansky, Puckett, and Hrbek get called up at a relatively early age? If memory serves me right, I believe Hrbek was called up from single A. They too had some bad years, but by the late 80's, served as the nucleus for some great teams. My point is we still don't know if May and Meyer can pitch in the bigs. What happens if Berrios is lights out at Chatanooga? I'm not saying my example is the right way to go, but it is in stark contrast to the thinking that prevails in the organization right now.

Pittsburgh Harrison. 3B Polanco. RF Marte. LF Sanchez. C Alvarez 1B Kang. SS Decker. CF Rodriguez. 2B Locke- P Minnesota Santana. SS Dozier. 2B Mauer. 1B Hunter RF Arcia. LF Plouffe. 3B Herman. C Schafer. DH Hicks. CF May- P Duensing Thielbar Graham

Nice picture with Mrs. Ashburyjohn!

Agree- and what happens if Hamburger is in the picture? Let's face it- if any of the 3 (or Hamberger) make the final cut, the Twins are in a bind if they don't make a trade!

We've all been following the happenings at ST and wondering, speculating who makes the final roster. Who is the CF, who is the back-up catcher, and who makes the roster in the pen. But what happens if those answers are: Fryer, Boyer, and Robinson? Who gets cut from the 40 man to make room for these guys?

Did you see Meyer's last outing before he was sent down? Apparently not. It was not a question of having control- his pitches were not in the same STATE from where they started in Florida! I, too, have been a Meyer fan, but you just cannot have a pitcher who has no clue where the pitch is going make the final cut to go north with the rest. Either his mechanics or his makeup need some time to work out the problem. It wouldn't be fair to him to face big league hitters in his present condition.

I read all 3 articles tonight, and here I thought the Twins had been awful the last few years because they had inferior talent! As a "old timer, " I really didn't understand that there are so many dynamics involved in the game. There are so many terrifically informed and knowledgable contributors, including Thrylos, expressing their thoughts and ideas here on TD! I appreciate all of the work and dedication that was put into these articles-thanks!

I have long been an Arcia supporter, and I think Jeremy is spot on with his suggestion. As has been mentioned, he is only 23, and could very well be a "diamond in the rough." What would it cost the Twins? Yelich got 23 million for 7 years- if Arcia hits 30 Hr's, and plays adequate "D-" that's going to look like a bargain!

Great job, Thrylos! Really liked the documentation of Graham's pitches!

I was hoping one of the young guys would be in the picture to go north with the big boys, but realistically, who would deserve to? Certainly not Meyer at this point. May has been sick and is behind also. I might be crazy, but the first guy I would call up at the first sign of distress would be Barrios! He might not be 100% ready, but he has a lot of intangibles going for him. He's a bulldog, seems very tough mentally, highly dedicated, and obviously motivated to succeed. I sometimes wonder if the bad experience of bringing up Hicks before he was ready has caused the front office to proceed cautiously. Just wonder how everything will play out around May 15 if the current staff is as horrible as last year's.

Nick- anyone else sent down today?

Seth, I had forgotten that May was ill the first week of ST. How has he looked since? What do you see for his chances this year? Is he just a starter, or could he possibly be used out of the pen early in the year?

I agree 100%, Nick! I watched the game on MSN and was very disappointed in Meyer's performance. The walks were one thing; the fact that he was consistently missing by so much was more distressing.

I'm headed to Illinois for 4-5 days, so I'm hoping Seth's reporting will give me all the Twins' news! Fantastic job as always, Seth!

I'm not crazy about May and Meyer starting the season at Triple A. How many years have we heard that those 2 are the future studs for the Twins. I know that you can't hand them jobs if they pitch poorly in ST. It appears that both might be squeezed out by the Santana signing. Seth, I'm wondering what happens if Nolasco pitches poorly, and is ineffective in March. Is he guaranteed a job (with his contract), or would the Twins have to eat some of his salary to facilitate a trade? I know these things seem to have a way of sorting everything out, but there does appear to be a log jam right now. I'm also not a fan of Nunez, but the 25th man does have to be someone who has to realize he is not going to start very often. Do the Twins need 2 utility infielders? I'd rather have an extra OF to help with some PH punch in late innings.

I admire his devotion to the game at such an early stage of his career, but am a little concerned he might start pressing if things don't start well for him this year. The reason for my worries are 3 fold: 1.) He had so much success early on in his minor league career 2.) The expectations of his impending super-stardom within the Twins' organization and actually all of baseball have been off the charts 3.) His ruined 2014 season, damaged by injuries and also poor-fair performances, might have created some doubt in his mind Maybe my mind is in the same state that most Minnesota fans feel: we always think something or someone will rain on our parade. Here's hoping Buxton, Sano, and the other top prospects will conjure up reminders of the '87 and '91 Twins again!

I told myself that I would be going to bed before midnight for sure tonight, but first I'll quickly read through the article on who should be the Twins 5th starter. Sadly, after reading all 92 posts on this subject, I'm not going to make my deadline, but it was worth it! Why? The title tells us everything- " the 5th starter." FIFTH! Last year at this time, most of us thought that it might be possible the Twins didn't even have one reliable guy. Now look at us- studs galore! Well, maybe not studs, but certainly possibilities. I'm just coming off my fantasy football season, and one of the ways I ranked players was by tiers. My tiers for the 2015 staff look like this: Tier 1- Hughes Santana Gibson Tier 2- May Meyer Nolasco Tier 3- Milone Pelfrey From this listing, Tier 1 is set(1-2-3 guys). So now we need 2 guys for either Tier 2 or Tier 3, or a combination of tiers. Nolasco indicated he did not want, or would not want to pitch in the bullpen. So, I'd say to him-"OK-you've got one month. Pitch well, you stay. Pitch poorly-the bullpen is yours." He'd be the number 4 guy, but with a rather short leash. Tell May and Meyer they are both going north, but how they pitch in ST will determine who the number 5 guy is. The "loser" in that battle would go to the BP for now, but will be told he will get first chance when injuries or ineffectiveness happen. The Tier 3 guys would be my long relievers, or 6-7 inning guys.

How does this all fall out with the 40-man? Graham just exchange with Gilmartin?

This is a fun time of year when everyone looks ahead to the possibilities of their team adding new personal by trades, free agency, or the farm system. The Twins and their fans are no different. If you are a re-building team (see Minnesota), this is a time for hope. New players, new coaching staff-everyone is excited. Please tell me how Torii Hunter, WillyMo Pena, and 26 year old pitchers from Korea are supposed to give Twins' fans encouragement? I thought we saw this last winter. Do the names Kubel, Bartlett, and Matt Guerrier sound familiar? Young guys, right? The Twins aren't going to the World Series next year. .500 would be a major improvement. But how are we supposed to know what we have if we keep looking to old guys? For the next 6 weeks or so, I'm going to cut management some slack to hope they do indeed have a plan for the future. But not if they keep up the senior citizen plan. If TR is going to spend some money, please spend it on pitching, hopefully young pitching (but not retreads from Korea).

Anybody but Molitor. I agree with Seth: even though I'm an old guy, I would prefer someone young with some fire. If the Twins want to set a new tone, and they should, Dougie Baseball is my #1 choice.

I've read all the posts on this subject, and while I'm a huge Dougie fan, I'm actually equally opposed to Molitor. But the Twins, if they make a change, will go for Molitor. Why? IMO, they are at least 10, and probably 15 years behind in any progressive thinking. How can any organization with their continued failure rate keep the same basic people managing this organization? Apathy! Even though many of us will continue to express our thoughts on TD and other places, the rest of the fans will continue to give our Twins unconditional love, no matter how bad the product on the field. The new stadium solved any attendance problems for the first few years, but apathy will soon take over. With the TV revenues, there is no incentive for the Twins to care about trivial things like managers. And when they finally do, they will take the conservative route and go with the "name" guy. Molitor offers the organization nothing new: he is Gardy Jr. Can you see him out there arguing when one of his players is involved like Mike Redmond did tonight when Stanton got hit? Right now they're lost one of their biggest fans-me. I am encouraged about the prospects in the system, but they are just that-prospects. Nothing guaranteed. The only thing that is guaranteed right now is the continued philosophy of management-lets do the same thing, and the fans won't notice.