diehardtwinsfan

Rooker? Weil? Both of those guys are young and have hit well in the high minors. Both will be ready at some point next year and would make for an acceptable fall back plan.

I can, and I would. Said 38 year old last had a sub .800 OPS in 2012 (.779, still above league average). Prior to that it was 2007. He's currently sporting an .891 OPS and on pace to again play well over 140 games. He will be relatively cheap and can probably be had if someone offered him 2 years. He's not showing signs of slowing down, and even if father time catches up to him, I'd wager a fairly large amount of money that he outproduces Joe in that time. I'm not sure I'd go after Donaldson for the record. I haven't been pushing him. Edit: and I have been clear in that I'd bring Mauer in as a 3B/1B bench role, if of course Joe and Paul would understand it to be that way.

Like it or not, the team probably wants to see what they have in Field. They know what they have in Buxton... even if Buxton is better. Again, I don't feel sorry for Byron here. He's been pretty bad, and certainly not deserving of a callup.

Tyler Austin is the system, and I don't see much saying that he couldn't out produce Mauer at the plate. Rooker isn't far behind. Nelson Cruz solves the other half of the 1B/DH issue in FA. I'll maintain that Mauer would be fine as a 1B/DH/3B bench bat in a limited role. Whether Mauer views himself as such (and whether Molitor will play him accordingly) is the issue at hand.

exactly... Buxton should be glad, as he's gotten far more service time over the last 4 years than what he should have due to (in my opinion at least) poor management decisions. Buxton has been nothing short of terrible, and if he doesn't learn how to hit, this will be moot anyways. I really hope they plan on keeping him in the minors in 2019 as well. He should get called up at some point, but not until he shows that he has a good approach at the plate that can be sustained in the majors.

I'd also add that the Stro's lineup is incredibly deep. In last night's lineup, they had one starter (Reddick) with an OPS below .700. Stewart did a good job, one that makes me think he has a shot at being a decent starter in the majors.

My theory would be that no one wanted him. Which contenders needed 1B help that Joe would have been an upgrade?

I think he plans on playing. I think there's room in a platoon bench role. I don't think Mauer (or Molitor for that matter) will accept that role. My biggest fear is that he returns in the same role he's in for 1-2 years instead of a Nelson Cruz type signing.

when the Twins do the opener idea, can we use the game score from the real starter, not the reliever starting the 1st?

Honestly, I have no problems holding Buxton back in September. I'd tell him to go to FTM and spend some time bulking up and working on his inability to hit ML pitching. I'd also tell him to plan on starting 2019 in Rochester. He's shown enough to make me think he can be an ML all star, but at the same point, he's been handed a job each of the last 2 seasons and done absolutely nothing with it.

No, he hasn't. You're right there. I also think it's fair to wonder how much of his development (or lack thereof) is due to thinks that the new FO has changed. Bottom line with Stewart, the stuff is there. So if they can teach him to do what he needs to do, he can be much better than a reliever.

I think the decision is fairly easy with both players. The real issue is that fans won't like either... and I'm not talking the diehard fans that post here, but the casual fan. Buxton shouldn't come back up. I wouldn't even plan on Buxton in 2019. I'd tell him to go to Fort Myers and start bulking up and to expect to start 2019 in AAA. He'll come up when an opportunity presents him self and he is healthy and has a better hitting approach. A good approach is akin to a good habit. It takes time and reps to form, and it's hard to form it at the major league level. I'd find a 1 year stop gap to man CF if they don't think Cave is capable of doing so. You can always trade/DFA said player if Buxton is destroying AAA. As for Mauer, I think he can help this team win games in a part time capacity (note that I'm not convinced that our mgr would play him in said capacity). Even his "solid" season from last year was good, but nothing special at 1B. It would have been more valuable had he shown the ability to play some 3B or RF... and for the life of me, I'd love to know why he hasn't gotten reps at 3B. It's a similar set of skills to play 1B, and he has the arm to go with it... But I digress... Mauer is definitely the guy I'd sub in for a weak hitter in a tight late game, knowing he's going to take a good at bat and could be one of the best bench bats in terms of not making an out. The problem is that you need someone(s) who can provide some positional flexibility to take advantage of that... So we need an Escobar or two. I wouldn't had Mauer a starting job. I'd rather go after a guy like Nelson Cruz to pair with Austin and have an established bat in the lineup to compliment what I hope to be a good season from Austin.

I think it's a tad bit too soon to give up on Stewart. He's had what, 3 starts? He was largely considered a bust up until this year where he suddenly found some ability to get Ks again. I think some patience would be wise. Besides, lots of people are still high Mejia who had a very similar start to his career. Give him time. You all may be right that he's destined for the pen, but if we did that every time a rookie struggled when he started... well, we'd have no starters.

yeah, I'd say it's a bit too soon to grade them. What I like is that there seems to be an increased use of analytics and a much more decisive approach. Their drafts have been very good, and they've made some wholesale organizational changes on the development side. Problem is those things take time.

Control or not, I don' t see a scenario where he's ready next spring. Personally, they need a 1 year stop game and he needs to earn the starting job.

I'd argue that they still need a DH in 2019 (though I don't think Morrison is the right answer there)

Probably not ready either. I'm guessing a FA... hoping we can get Escobar back.

Is it as much talent, or not being able to develop it? I think there's plenty of talent on the roster, but for various reasons, the team hasn't gotten a lot out of them. Some of that is on Molly. Most of it is probably on people who aren't with the Twins anymore.

That's my biggest beef as well. Granted, it would be nice to have better relievers, but you have to a have a system in place to prevent overuse. I'm firmly believing that is why Hildy is struggling right now... Reed too for that matter. And honestly, Magill is pitching well enough to deserve some looks, and guys like Busenitz and Moya need that development as well. When we're winning, I can see it to a point (not to the point of overuse), but this team stopped being a contender a while ago, and when arms started to drop, Molly didn't try at all to find someone to fit in the role. He simply used his firemen even more.

I don't think it's Paul's job to increase the brand, and I'd argue that managing well will do more the Twins brand than a great interview. I don't doubt his baseball savvy, so to speak. He's forgotten more about the sport than most of us will ever learn. That said, I don't think he's above criticism. Yeah, every manager probably gets criticized to some extent by their team's local TwinsDaily, but I do think his criticism is warranted right now. He isn't consistently putting his team in the best place to win, and he poorly manages his pen. Hildy and Reed were being overused in the spring and are paying for it right now.... and I don't think his impact in terms of wins/losses is overrated.

The funny thing about baseball is that this happens just about every day across every system.

that, and they didn't have much competition for him... The Twins probably would have put him in AAA had he resigned, but he was smart enough to know that he would be behind Slegers, Gonsalves, Littell, Mejia, and Romero (and based on his results, he should have been). He wasn't bad in AA, he just wasn't lights out either. My point though is that the Giants didn't give him a 40 man spot either. I really don't fault the Twins for anything there, and he was one of my personal favorites. Also, Rodriguez spent his first 3 years in MN as a CF. It wasn't hard to see the potential here, but there's only so many 40 man spots.

wouldn't be surprised if he's tiring out a bit. College ball doesn't play every day like the pros do. This is his first year in a truly full season.

I don't think managers are overrated. They have a few jobs that are hard to quantify: Maintain clubhouse chemistry/personalities.Developing younger players (more so in losing years obviously, but this is a part of the job).Most importantly, always put your team in the best shot to succeed. Not just on a nightly basis, but for 162 games.The last one is the most important, and also the hardest to do. I don't know if they'll ever come up with a WAR stat for managers, but I would have a tough time believing that a good manager doesn't add a few wins over the course of the season by making consistently good choices with line ups, substitutions, the occasional SB/bunt/pitch out/hit and run decisions, and the bull pen. You won't see a number on it because it's hard to quantify what might have happened had a decision been made differently, but being unable to understand how to quantify that doesn't make the conversation irrelevant, and I think trying to boil down a complex decision tree to luck and/or overrated is a big mistake. In a lost season, much of this can be put on hold in favor of playing experience, but when you're contending, this has to be front and center. I didn't like Gardy because he setup his team to fail way too often, and they were usually contenders. Molly has done plenty of that too, and it's even more annoying given that contention ended a long time ago, and he still chose to overuse a few key arms, which sets us up for potential injuries and problems that could potentially be in play come 2019. I really don't care as much about his lineups today versus say April/May timeframe, but come next spring, that's pretty important again. His pen use, right now, really bothers me. He should be resting guys like Hildy in favor of letting some of the kids learn how to get batters out in higher leverage situations.

his results, for one. Go take a look at his AA numbers in his final season in AA with us. I liked Rodriguez personally, but he was at best a bubble candidate on the 40 man at that point. His ERA was barely under 4. His K/9 rate was under 8. He was also 25 in AA. He wasn't taken in Rule V either, so everyone else 'missed' it too. He left as a FA to a place where he had less competition. That's not bad.