Fanatic Jack

The reality of the situation is you just don't know what is going to happen. The Twins drafted Hunter, Koskie, Jones, Mienkiewicz, Pierzynski, Span, Mauer, and Morneau and they all turned into impact players. The hope is they will catch lightening in the bottle again with Gibson, Wimmers, Benson, Parmelee, Hicks, Dozier, Michael, and Sano. I believe what hurt the farm system is missing on so many number one picks. The Twins have five draft picks this year in the top 75 so they have to get some impact players and not screw it up.

There is no doubt about it Benson has all the tools to be a superstar player. However, I'm just not confident we will ever see the total package. He is already 25 and will start the season again in Rochester. He is definately much too talented to give up on yet.

Seth, I don't disagree at all with your above statement. Our best prospects are at Beloit this year and we have five draft picks in the top 75 to replenish the farm system. Who do you think we will select with #2 overall pick now that Giolito is hurt? I was realy hoping for a #1 Ace pitcher but that seems highly unlikely now.

The Twins have a decent minor league system but let's be honest, it's not the Tampa Bay Rays.

Seth, There is huge difference between Impact players and Role players on a roster. The Twins have a lot of talent in New Britain and Rochester but only a few of them are impact players. Let’s look at the following players; 1. Chris Parmelee- He will be a future impact player if he continues to develop in Rochester. 2. Brian Dozier- It’s uncertain what role Dozier will play with the Twins in the future. Some view him as a utility player and others view him as the starting SS. Time will tell but he could be an impact player. 3. Joe Benson- He has all the tools to be a superstar player. However, he has taken a little longer to develop and at times looks overmatched. He strikesout way too much and does not make enough contact. I’m leaning towards Benson being a role player. 4. Kyle Gibson- Nobody knows how he will recover from T.J. surgery. He won’t be ready until 2013 and might be a #3 pitcher in the starting rotation. Clearly he is role player. 5. Liam Hendriks- He appears to be a pretty solid middle of the rotation starter (#3 or #4). Might improve some more at Rochester and surprise some people. He is a role player. 6. Rene Tosoni- He has good opposite field power but clearly is not a starting outfielder. There also is no room for him unless somebody is traded. A 4th outfielder at best for Twins and another role player. 7. Aaron Hicks- He is still young and talented enough to put it all together and become the next Torii Hunter. However, he has been very inconsistent over the last two years and his stock has fallen. I believe he will produce if he can make it to the majors. Right now that is a big IF. 8. Luke Hughes- He has good power and plays decent defense at 2B (His best position). Does not appear to be a everyday player because he gets injured too often. He will make the team as a bench/role player. 9. Alex Wimmers- Struggled with control problems but came back strong towards the end of last year. Not sure if he will become stagnant or continue to move through the system. Projects to be a #3 or #4 pitcher and that’sbeing optimistic. A role player. 10. Carlos Gutierrez- He has all the talent to be a real good big league reliever. He struggles with his control sometimes on the mound and it snowballs into big innings. Could be a dominant force in the 7thor 8th inning if he can make adjustments. A role player.

Great move and classic BARGAIN PRICE signing by Ryan. Locking up LH Glen Perkins before he became a free agent and landed a huge contract. I don't believe last year was a fluke and Perkins might be the future closer if he can stay healthy. The team just needs somebody to step up and take over the 8th inning role. Maybe Jared Burton or they trade for somebody.

No doubt Ryan inherited a mess but to not upgrade the pitching staff with at least one quality pitcher is flat out naïve. He is very smart and has to know that Marquis does not help the club at all. The bullpen was the worst in MLB last season and their best reliever (Nathan) is gone. Signing Zumaya after his injury history is like playing the lottery. People called me negative when I predicted he would not make it through spring training. So now they need two guys to step up instead of one. Jared Burton has been a surprise, and Bulger and Burnett disappointments.

I have been smiling from ear to ear since the Twins announced Terry Ryan was coming back as the general manager to replace Bill Smith. I believe it will take Ryan four years to rebuild this organization into an A.L. Central powerhouse like he did a decade ago. Smith is an affable guy but clearly was in over his head as the GM of the Twins. He decimated the depth of the team with some very bad trades. I really like the additions of Carroll, Doumit, and Willingham to provide more offense to a club that struggled to score runs in 2011. There is no doubt Ryan took the moneyball approach when he evaluated these players because all three of them get on base at a very high clip. He also let aging veterans like Nathan, Cuddyer,and Kubel leave as free agents by refusing to give them new contracts. The trouble with Ryan is he forgot to improve the pitching staff! The pitching staff had a 4.58 team ERA and ranked 29th out of 30 teams in MLB. The starting rotation is questionable even if everybody stays healthy and the bullpen has more holes than last season. This philosophy players will come out of nowhere to step up is a very dangerous proposition. There is no doubt Ryan is under tight budget restraints by the front office to keep player payroll at or around $100 million. However, he wasted $3 million on starting pitcher Jason Marquis and spent $400.000 on the often injured reliever Joel Zumaya. He was unable to make it through two days of spring training before he tore his UCL. Meanwhile, Ryan passed on dependable relief pitchers like Wheeler, Coffey, and Linebrook and they will all chew up more innings in the bullpen than Zumaya. What’s most surprising is Zumaya is still on the 40-man roster and they agreed to pay for his T.J surgery with Dr. Andrews. There is no question Ryan needs to be held accountable for not upgrading the pitching staff if the Twins go into another tailspin like 2011

I have been smiling from ear to ear since the Twins announced Terry Ryan was coming back as the general manager to replace Bill Smith. I believe it will take Ryan four years to rebuild this organization into an A.L. Central powerhouse like he did a decade ago. Smith is an affable guy but clearly was in over his head as the GM of the Twins. He decimated the depth of the team with some very bad trades. I really like the additions of Carroll, Doumit, and Willingham to provide more offense to a club that struggled to score runs in 2011. There is no doubt Ryan took the moneyball approach when he evaluated these players because all three of them get on base at a very high clip. He also let aging veterans like Nathan, Cuddyer,and Kubel leave as free agents by refusing to give them new contracts. The trouble with Ryan is he forgot to improve the pitching staff! The pitching staff had a 4.58 team ERA and ranked 29th out of 30 teams in MLB. The starting rotation is questionable even if everybody stays healthy and the bullpen has more holes than last season. This philosophy players will come out of nowhere to step up is a very dangerous proposition. There is no doubt Ryan is under tight budget restraints by the front office to keep player payroll at or around $100 million. However, he wasted $3 million on starting pitcher Jason Marquis and spent $400.000 on the often injured reliever Joel Zumaya. He was unable to make it through two days of spring training before he tore his UCL. Meanwhile, Ryan passed on dependable relief pitchers like Wheeler, Coffey, and Linebrook and they will all chew up more innings in the bullpen than Zumaya. What’s most surprising is Zumaya is still on the 40-man roster and they agreed to pay for his T.J surgery with Dr. Andrews. There is no question Ryan needs to be held accountable for not upgrading the pitching staff if the Twins go into another tailspin like 2011

I have been smiling from ear to ear since the Twins announced Terry Ryan was coming back as the GM to replace Bill Smith. I believe it will take Ryan four years to rebuild this organization into an A.L. Central powerhouse like it was a decade ago. Smith is an affable guy but clearly was in over his head as the GM of the Twins. He decimated the depth of the team with some very bad trades. I really like the additions of Carroll, Doumit, and Willingham to provide more offense to a club that struggled to score runs in 2011. There is no doubt Ryan takes the moneyball approach when he evaluated these players because all three of them get on base at a very high clip. He also let aging veterans like Nathan, Cuddyer,and Kubel leave as free agents by refusing to give them big contracts. The trouble with Ryan is he forgot to improve the pitching staff! The pitching staff had a 4.58 team ERA and ranked 29th out of 30 teams in MLB. The starting rotation is questionable even if everybody stays healthy and the bullpen has more holes than last season. This philosophy players will come out of nowhere to step up is a very dangerous proposition. There is no doubt Ryan is under tight budget restraints by the front office to keep player payroll at or around $100 million. However, he wasted $3 million on starting pitcher Jason Marquis and spent $400.000 on the often injured reliever Joel Zumaya. He was unable to make it a whole two days of spring training before he tore the UCL in his right elbow. Meanwhile, Ryan passed on dependable relief pitchers like Wheeler, Coffey, and Linebrook and they will all chew up more innings in the bullpen than Zumaya. What’s most surprising is Zumaya is still on the 40-man roster and they agreed to pay for his T.J surgery with Dr. Andrews. There is no question Ryan needs to be held accountable for not upgrading the pitching staff if the Twins go into another tailspin like 2011.

Cody, Sombody needs to explain why Zumaya is still on the Twins 40-man roster and they would agree to pay for his TJ surgery? The procedure with Dr. Andrews can't be cheap and he won't be coming back to Minnesota. The team has a guranteeed $450.000 lost on a guy who did not make it through two days of spring training. They have treated Zumaya better than some players like Lew Ford. The Twins passed on dependable relievers like Wheeler, Coffey, and Linebrook to sign a injury prone player who has not pitched in 2 1/2 years. This is really perplexing!!

I have a 40-game plan in Section 105 at Target Field and have been a season ticket holder since 2005 at the Metrodome. I enjoyed the fan forum last night but just wish Dick Bremer was not the MC. I love the Twins new radio voice Cory Provus. He is outstanding!!

I would undue the Young trade, taken Red Sox offer of Crisp, Lowrie, Masterson, and Lester for Santana, never trade Ramos for Capps, and unloaded Cuddyer, Kubel, and Nathan at trade deadline last year. We might actually have a pretty good team if these moves were undone. No doubt Bill Smith did some serious damage to this organization for the next five years. It will take time for GM Terry Ryan to get them back on track.

Twinswon1991, I completely disagree with you about Seth Stohs being a homer. He is an optimistic person in a world of opinionated and negative bloggers (Like myself). There is nothing wrong with seeing the positive in everything. If you want to listen to homers turn on the television when the Twins are playing. Bremer and Blyleven are downright nauseating. Everything happened last year because of injuries. These two epitomize the definition of being a homer. It sure as heck is not Seth for being enthusiastic and creating positive energy regarding the Twins 2012 season and beyond.

Jason Marquis was real impressive last night!! The Twins have the worst pitching staff and bullpen in MLB. He was brought here because the front office was too CHEAP to sign anybody good. Wake up people the Pohlad family has decided to turn its back on the real fans who support the club. Target Field will be like a ghost town soon if management does not do something to fix this mess. Another 95 loss season blamed on injuries and young players. Sometimes the truth can be painful but it's still the truth.

Anybody watch last night’s spring training game against the Red Sox. Trevor Plouffe looked terrible in the outfield defensively. He turned around twice on an easy fly ball hit by David Ortiz that turned into a double. He can’t read or track fly balls off the bat. To say Revere is a 4th outfielder is a stretch so early in his career. I would rather say Plouffe is nothing more than a DH at best for the Twins. Revere is still most valuable in center field but he is much better defensively in left field than Plouffe and it's not even close. Plouffe might be worse than Delmon Young in left field with terrible jumps and bad judgment. Let's be honest Plouffe is another first round bust for the Twins.

This wait and see approach is a joke. They have nobody to chew up innings in the 7th and 8th innings. Glen Perkins can't be used as the setup man every night out. The Joel Zumaya experiment lasted a whole 2 days of spring training. This leaves unproven pitchers like Doyle, Oliveros, Manship, and Burnett to get hit hard everytime out. What happened yesterday (5 runs given up by Jason Bulger) at the New Red Sox ballpark in Fort Myers will happen often in 2012. We can't even beat an A.L. East team in spring training. This idea you can bring in 33 washed up minor league pitchers is all BULL and there is no PEN.

_2244, What makes it preposterous? Morneau was an outstanding player before his concussion but nobody would of ever predicted he would be an MVP. Actually the same can be said about Joe Mauer. Parmelee has a sweet swing with legitimate pull power to left field. Why is it inconcievable to think he could be as good if not better than Morneau. He has worked very hard to get better defensively and has a great work ethic. He can become a complete player. The obvious question is how will he react when other teams pitch him differently. The Twins drafted him #1 out of high school for a reason.

The front office refuses to spend money to attract quality players and now won't make simple adjustments to a beautiful ballpark. This is all done to appease Baker, Liriano, and Pavano. These guys will all be gone next season.

Parmelee will be as good if not better than Morneau someday.

I sure hope J.R. Towles beats out Drew Butera for the 3rdcatching spot on the 25-man roster.

Simply stated Target Field needs to move their fences in to benefit the left-handed hitters we have in our lineup. It was built for Mauer & Morneau not our mediocre pitching staff. Kubel is too nice to say anything negative about the ballpark but mistakes were clearly made.

Seth, Span was a very good center fielder for 66 games before he got hurt and Ben Revere was great for 117 games. However, Span in recent years has been average and now he plays scared because of his concusssion. You can’t look at just errors because that's a misleading statistic. You believe the best outfielders should always go in left field. No, sorry typically the weakest defensive outfielders go to left field. This is why Gardenhire wanted Delmon Young out there. We should let Plouffe play in the outfield as often as possible? Have you lost your mind or just read too much Jim Souhan. Plouffe looked completely lost in the outfield last year and is maybe a DH at best. I hope Ben Revere has a huge year so the entire blogging community can eat their words. Ben Revere is a better player than Denard Span right now and he is still learning on the fly.

If it does not make sense the Twins will do it.

Just another bust #1 draft pick. Thanks Deron Johnson!!