gunnarthor

I don't have a huge problem with the list. We have two top guys - Sano and Buxton - and then six guys that can be arranged in varying orders without much problem. I think we Twins fans overrate Arcia (although I hope I'm wrong and he's a preeminent bat) and under value May, who might have some command/control issues but has four pitches and is durable. That said, are we certain this is the 2013 list? I know Mayo changed the lists around at the time of the trades to reflect who has moved into the org but I'm not sure this is a finalized list.

Wow. OK. So the problem is the media or maybe video games or maybe mental health or maybe bullying but let's make sure we don't consider guns as a problem. Stunningly stupid.

Yeah, that seems about right. It's hard to say he's under appreciated considering that the last two years have made it clear he's not the best catcher in baseball anymore (although he could become the best one again). He's a great player and probably going to the HOF. A few bounce back seasons and he's one of the top five catchers of all time.

Joe Morgan in one of his MVP years and Jeff Kent?

I guess I agree with most everyone else. It's not a bad signing and could work out but I'd like to see the FO do a little bit better, too. I think our defense in center field will be good, no matter who gets the job out of ST. Mastro, Hicks and Benson should all be plus defenders out there. I'm assuming Carroll starts at second. I have no idea who gets the job at short but hopefully we have a glove guy up the middle, since I'm pretty sure he won't hit.

Not touching the math but I suspect the % of have changed greatly over the years.

Pass

Maybe the Yankees will wear elementary baseball hats so we can ignore the gun problem again.

Wow, Pedro was that high?

Haven't followed it. ESPN has become really bad the last few years, esp to baseball. Lots of better places around. I think I stopped going there when they revamped their message boards.

Hey, Bill Smith did that. Traded Garza for a Young and Ramos in a win-now trade.

Obviously, it depends on the offer but I think the Twins would be better served by having Morneau play here at first. If, at the break, we're 14 GB but Morneau is putting up a .290/.365/.480 136 OPS+ type season, his trade value will be much greater. Especially if someone (Rangers, Pirates, Nats) feel that they need a LH power bat due to injuries or ineffective play. Plus, the fans love Morneau. Ryan can't just trade him for salary relief. He'd need something great in return.

Sure. He's probably worth it and would have been around for the finished rebuild.

Honestly, I don't see a reason you can't afford Dempster and one of Marcum/Jackson. 2/30 is high, but doable. And a heck of a lot more doable before we went 2/10 on Correia. I love Ryan but this time of the year really sucks.

Yep, you're right. My bad.

That's not a totally insane trade idea. Morneau would do great in Texas and they need a first baseman. And Willingham would obviously be a good fit. Olt's a good prospect but not without concerns, mainly his defense.

Wow. Trout, Pujols and Hamilton. Could score a few runs if they stay healthy. Angels To Sign Josh Hamilton: MLB Rumors - MLBTradeRumors.com

Yeah, Marcum seems to be a Twins type guy. Not sure why we haven't heard more about him. Hopefully, Ryan has a few good moves left this offseason.

2010 game 1. Twins up 3-0 on Sabathia entering the 6th. Lirano gets the first out and then falls apart, giving up 4 runs. Twins tie it in bottom of 6th but Hardy strikes out (after taking a meatball for strike one) with bases loaded. Crain gives 2-run homer to Tex in the 7th. Even without Morneau, that was probably our best Twins team. Gah.

Well said.

Yeah, he could be a sleeper and help out the pen. Still fairly young.

How's his defense grade out now? He was a very good defender when he was with us. I wouldn't be shocked if he came back.

The Gardy haters always say, "look at all that talent, he should've won more." Now that he has no talent they say, "why isn't he winning more?" Anyone see a problem with this line of thinking? He gets no credit for the division titles, since he was only competing against the AL Central but he gets the blame for losing in the first round (quick fact, the Twins avg 92 wins when they lost in the first round, their opponents avg 101 regular season wins. But, yeah, playoffs are a crap shoot). He was given all this young talent that turned itself into Cy Young winners and MVPs but he can't handle young players. Did you see how he managed one group of young players and then the nucleus completely changed? And those young guys still won? We can't have that kind of track record around more young guys. We should hire Molitor b/c, even though he's failed in his few coaching attempts, he's a winner and that'll rub off on those young guys. He didn't win nearly enough after Santana and Hunter left. He had to play a lineup that heavily featured Young and Gomez and he only made it 163 games and he lost to a team with twice the payroll. What a crock. Then his 2010 team makes it to the playoffs with 100m contract (sure, maybe 25m was on the DL at the time of the playoffs but other managers dealt with injuries and didn't make the playoffs. Those were the good managers. I mean, look, they had to play the AL East and we know that makes things harder. We don't have to concern ourselves with payroll or money spent on draftees/development. Twins and Red Sox were the same except one team played the Yankees more and we played KC. Gardy has Machiavellian powers! Look at the players that he ran out of town. He hated Garza so he made sure he was traded for nothing. He hated Lohse, most of whose best seasons happened to come in MN. He never gave Humber a chance and he threw a perfect game. And Slowey! For the love all that was holy, Slowey! Slowey could read books and Gardy hated that. He never gave him a chance. But he has gay sex with Punto and Blackburn so they get to stay. Gardy haters are turning into birthers.

Go back and look at the teams he's managed. They are always young. There's this weird fan thought that he can't relate to young players but that's pretty much all he's had. Fans always remember Castro over Bartlett but forget that he rode Boof in 06 or Mijares in Sept 08. Look at all those starts he gave to young pitchers like Baker, Boof, Slowey, Lohse, Liriano, Silva, Santana. The Twins were constantly among the youngest teams in baseball, esp when they were a low payroll club. And under his watch, young guys won two MVPs, two Cy Youngs and the following young guys became all-stars - Guzman, Mays, Milton, Santana, Liriano, Mauer, Morneau, AJ and Hunter. And, when given talent, his teams won. I'm not worried about him coaching Hicks or Meyer.

I don't think it's particularly fair to say that Pavano doesn't count but Desheis second season does. Both were straight up free agents. And you're missing a lot of guys - guys like Walters and Deduno last year were free agents that Ryan brought in. Not sexy, of course, but still straight up free agents. But yeah, Ryan doesn't like to go after pitchers in the FA market.