Fanatic Jack

Rocketpig, What happened to the Brewers this season. The Tigers will dominate the second half of the season and go to the World Series. Miguel Carera worked out pretty good.

Birdwatcher, You do not have to apologize for anything because you did nothing wrong. You actually made some good points even if I disagree with them. The C-H-E-A-P Pohlad comment was not really off track. You will not see him spend money like Wilf, Leipold, or Taylor and this is an undisputed fact. The great and bad things about MLB is there is no salary cap. If the Twins decided to pump up their payroll and pay big money for 2-3 really good pitchers they would be a contender. However, you will NEVER, EVER see them spend the kind of money Wild owner Craig Leipold just did on July 4th. My guess the Pohlad family is more consumed with making money than winning. I guess Detroit fans are happy that Mike IIlich just wants to winbecause he continues to spend big to win a championship for the Red Wings and Tigers. What is so wrong with that?? When your biggest free agent signing EVER is Josh Willingham at 3-years, $21 million there is a problem. Other teams spend money because they are more interested in winning than the money aspect of it.

Birdwatcher, They cut payroll by $20 million after losing 99 games and hired back GM Terry Ryan so they could sell it to fans. The team is actually worse than the one last year but funner to watch. The farm system despite people refusing to write about it is in complete shambles. The only way to improve the team dramatically is to spend money like the Wild just did. It's really that simple but Pohlad wont do it. Heck they have never done it and the fans continue to line up and protect them!! Does anybody remember President Dave St. Peter promising after the miserable season ended in 2011 the team would improve. My guess is Twins fans think with their hearts because they want to hang on to something positive. I do understand this thinking but at some point reality has to set in. Welcome to the 90's all over again.

CDog, The last few years is referring to parts of 2010, 2011, and 2012.

Seth, You know more about baseball than me and are more positive. You were right about Jared Burton and Brian Dozier being quality players and deserve credit for saying so. However, how do you fix this starting rotation without spending big money in free agency. If you build from within than the Twins are looking at 5 years before they might be contenders again. You cannot continue to sign retreads and hope it works out for you. If the Twins are lucky enough to make the playoffs they are swept in three games because they don't have any #1-2-3 pitchers. Everybody in the rotation is a #4 or 5 pitcher. It’s tough to compete with anybody without spending big time money. I just don’t understand why fans are ok with management being C-H-E-A-P. We were promised the team would spend more after Target Field was built but instead payroll was slashed by $20 million in the prime of Mauer & Morneau's careers. The Twins even refused to draft a pitcher that could help us right away like Kevin Gausman or Mark Appel because they wanted another 5-tool outfielder. Nobody gets angry and the Pohlad family feels no pressure to do anything of real substance. Hopefully, the Wild signings will put more focus and blame on the Pohlad family because they deserve it. Spending more money is the only way to fix this mess without waiting 5 years.

Over the last few years professional sports in Minnesota has been terrible with the obvious exception being the Lynx. If you listen to KFAN (100.3FM) on the radio you probably heard this state being referred to as “Loserville USA” by host Paul Allen. There are several reasons to be optimistic about 2012 and the future. The Vikings had a great draft in April and signed some quality free agents that should help in the rebuilding mode. The Timberwolves improved and were legitimate playoff contenders until point guard Ricky Rubio tore his ACL in March. They recently just signed Brandon Roy and offered forward Nicolas Batum a large 4-year deal. The Wild shocked the world by spending $196 million to sign stars Zach Parise and Ryan Suter in free agency. They have a very talented group of young kids coming up and now have proven stars to go along with it. This brings my topic of conversation to the last place Twins. The Twins brought back Terry Ryan as GM in November and he signed three quality free agents Willingham, Doumit, and Carroll. However, Ryan did nothing to address the club's biggest weakness starting pitching. The farm system has absolutely no starting pitching prospects that can help anytime soon. This season we have seen Maloney, Walters, Hendriks, Swarzak, Duensing, DeVries, and Deduno start in the rotation but none are the long term answer. You can cross your fingers and hope Gibson and Wimmers get healthy but you might have better luck playing the lottery. The Twins might get some pitching prospects in a trade but nobody who could make a huge impact. The only way the Twins can improve their starting rotation is by spending big in free agency for a Cole Hammels or Zach Greinke type player. We have seen in past years the Vikings, Timberwolves, and recently the Wild make big splashes in free agency and all three sports have a salary cap. The Twins have no salary cap in MLB and the Pohlad family is one of the richest in the world. They have more dough than Steinbrenner, Henry, and Detroit owner Mike IIitch. The question is do they feel any added pressure now to spend big this winter? Is winning truly important or does the almighty dollar take precedent? I will be curious to find out because as a season ticket holder the Twins cut $20 million after losing 99 games this year.

Nick, Does Luke Bard solve the long term problems of the Twins starting rotation because that is what my article was about. Do you still want Liriano signed to a 3-year, $39 million deal after the 2010 season? The master indeed nails it again.

PMKI, Bard has not signed yet and wants to return to Georgia Tech for another year.

I have pretty much retired from blogging and leaving negative messages on Twitter that irritates everyone. I really am just enjoying watching the Twins play this season and seeing some of the young talent (Revere, Dozier, Parmelee, & Hendriks) come up from the minors. However, I have to ask all of Twins Daily just one honest question about the starting rotation in 2013. How does GM Terry Ryan plan on fixing it? The Twins minor league farm system is completely depleted when it comes to power arms and capable starting pitchers. The 2011 minor league pitcher of the year was Liam Hendriks and he has looked lost so far in a handful of starts this year. Hendriks has good stuff but at best would develop into a 3 or 4 starter for the Twins when effective. Scott Diamond has been outstanding but for him to be the ace of the staff right now tells you how bad things really are. Diamond figures to be a 4 or 5 starter unless teams start to figure him out. The only other guy that comes to mind is Adrian Salcedo and he has a 5.64 ERA in 22.1 IP at Fort Myers. Salcedo also has a low 5.2 K/9 ratio and that is not very encouraging. We know the Twins decided to pass on Mark Appel and Kevin Gausman with the #2 overall pick and took Byron Buxton. Perhaps Buxton was the best pick but Appel or Gausman could of helped out the rotation almost immediately. They also drafted in later rounds Berrios, Bard (he won't sign), Melotakis, Chargois, Jones, Duffey, and Martinez. All seven of the above pitchers were relievers in college or high school. They all throw hard but maybe Berrios is the only one with a chance to help out the starting rotation in a few years. Maybe the Twins decide to pay $9.25 million and bring back Scott Baker in 2013. This would be a huge risk considering he just had T.J. surgery. It's possible the Twins offer Francisco Liriano arbitration and he returns for $8 million. This appears to be very unlikely but just throwing it out there. We can assume the 2013 starting rotation will consist of Blackburn, Diamond, Hendriks, and maybe Gibson. This is asking a lot of Kyle Gibson considering he spent little time in Rochester and is not healthy yet. The last part of this confounding question is free agency. The Twins have never spent big money on free agent pitchers and this is not going to change. They won't open up the vaults and go after potential free agent pitchers like Greinke, Hamels, Shields (if option not picked up) Peavy, or even Edwin Jackson. They would instead prefer to pay retreads like Jason Marquis $3 million and take their chances. It's just impossible to improve the starting rotation next season without massive change. One last point is no way GM Ryan is going to land a top notch starting pitcher using Span, Willingham, Morneau, Doumit, Pavano, and Capps as trade bait. I just don't see a solution to this problem anytime soon.

Darin617, Have you been watching the games? The two times he failed to get a bunt down were on sacrifice attempts. No doubt it was ugly but he has 3-5 bunt singles and is hitting well over .300. What is the great Denard Span hitting again after another 0-4 day. It's time to trade Span while he is still healthy!!

James, I disagree the best place for Span is right field because he has a good arm. Revere saves the Twins more runs in centerfield and Gardy should do what is best for the TEAM. However he is scared of upsetting Span and it's rediculous.

Don't look now but outfielder Ben Revere has silenced many of his harshest critics in his return to the Twins lineup. Revere was recalled on May 17th and has played almost every day with an occasional day off against LH pitching. He is hitting .340/.369/.425 and has scored 17 runs in 27 games. Revere still needs to draw more walks (4) and work on his bunting skills. However it's important to remember Revere has only had 226 career at bats in Rochester. He basically jumped from New Britain (.AA) to the majors last season. The Twins are 15-9 since his return and he has energized a lineup that looked pretty bad early in the season. Who said chemistry is not important to a ballclub? Revere should of never been sent down to Rochester in the first place but because management refused to move Span, he was the odd man out. GM Terry Ryan actually decided to go with retreads like Clete Thomas and Erik Komatsu in right field before giving Revere another shot. I still argue Revere should be playing in centerfield and Span should be moved to right but it will never happen. How Span has risen to king status in this organization is truly mind boggling? He is an excellent lead off hitter but not a better defensive centerfielder than Revere. Revere has a terrible arm and right field is the wrong place to hide it. Either way it appears Revere is still not appreciated for what he brings to the team on a daily basis.

I'm sure surprised Revere was called up considering the upper management hates him. They prefer Homacksu and Clete Thomas to Revere. They also refuse to stand up to Span and tell him he is moving to right field.

Seth, Everytime Blackburn gets rocked the team doctors come up with some mysterious injury. It's getting pretty old!! When will management admit he is terrible and just outright release him. Nobody would pick him up anyways.

Seth, I think we should sign Gardy and his coaching staff to a lifelong deal. I know you believe he is the greatest manager ever. Come on hold somebody accountable.

Joe Benson is a complete bust.

Seth, Thanks for giving us die-hards something positive. It really looked like Hicks was a bust but now I'm starting to believe. What is wrong with Joe Benson and Liam Hendriks??

Alex Wimmers the latest #1 draft pick by scouting director Deron Johnson that is a complete bust. Wimmers, Gibson, Michael, and Hicks...Nice resume Deron you could not get a job cutting grass for any other organization..Anybody hopeful for draft this year forget about it.

Matt Capps might not get another save situation for another month or so. Pretty tough to build up value that way.

Yup those 6 division titles mean so much to everybody. What is his playoff record again? What is his record vs Yankees again? What is his record vs AL East again? 12 straight playoff losses in a row and 1 more would set a MLB record. Not to mention players like Kyle Loshe, Phil Humber, David Ortiz, JJ Hardy, Casey Blake, and all the other players who have excelled since leaving the Twins..We need sweeping change.

I just wish it were a permanent vacation..This guy has set the Twins organization back ten years easily. He has had more talent as manager than TK could of dreamed of. Everyone used to say "He does more with less" better than anybody. The only problem is nobody says that anymore. He has lost this team and they have quit on him...No way he survives this avalanche. Tick Tock Gardy!!! Paging Terry Francona please..He brought back respectability to Red Sox Nation and broke the curse.

You were optimistic about pitcher Liam Hendriks as being one of those great new prospects. Cross him off your list because he is terrible.

Seth, You sure love the team's kool-aid. Jim Jones would of loved you. How does Drew (.180) Butera help the Twins win more games? It does nothing but hurt the team and coddle Mauer.

Kneelb4zerg, I have no problems pointing out positive stuff with the Twins. Name one thing that is positive right now?? I will not tell you what you want to here like some other bloggers. The team is a mess right now and the farm system is even worse. If you want to think of a happy place and sing Kumbuya than don't read my opinions. I believe in brutal honestly and obviously you can't handle the truth. Name one thing I have said over the last 3 months that is not true. Pitching staff is a disaster, cutting $20 million in payroll was a bad idea, worst team in MLB, lineup is pretty good despite clutch hitting, and Gardy continues to coddle the boys. There is no accountability like I believed Ryan would bring back.

Salcedo has been lit up like a Christmas tree so far this year in Fort Myers. Just another terrible prospect in a farm system of many. Depressing.