Loosey

Actually I seem to recall Morneau getting sent back down to AAA briefly. Am I imagining this or was it a rehab thing?

At this point he is more interested in seeing TC Bear up close than any of the players.

If you don't assume that risk and are sitting there it is pretty obvious you probably don't want baseball on TV or at games at all. I'm torn about the decision to put up netting 1) It will obstruct views in some manner and to some degree, BUT 2) There are people who don't recognize the risk who could be saved by these nets. I was offered seats down there last year for my wife and 4 year old son. I declined them and one of the reasons being my kid doesn't sit still or pay attention and I would be focusing more attention on him than on the game (Which is the case in any seats with my son). But I would rather do that farther away from play than 80 feet from the plate where there is a chance my wife, son or I could get smoked by 100 MPH baseball. But that's just me, I'm sure many others would love the opportunity to be that close to the game family and all.

According to a scout on that site on his takes on Kirby Puckett was "Good base stealer, free swinger, makes contact, No power, weak arm, good range but uses reactions instead of instincts." I thought that was interesting especially since it was written in August of 1985 during his 2nd season. The following year: 31 HR's, A Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger.

Maybe if May goes and cries about it like Pelfrey did he will get put back into the rotation.

I see TR is going with the "Our Starting Rotation Is So Good We Don't Need Reliever" strategy. . . . Ballsy.

If we are going to go that far back we can pretty much say every reliever in baseball was a failed starter at some point in their respective careers. I can't recall many kids growing to saying, "I hope to be a middle reliever". Starting pitchers get the glory and the money, when they aren't good enough to do that they move on to the next step which is reliever. If they are really good in that role they move into a better relief role (back end relievers) and build themselves nice careers and end up getting paid that way.

I always liked the Cubs. Mainly because they were always on TV on WGN when I got home from school and could watch baseball during the day. Also, it was the 1st outdoor ballpark I had ever gone to when I was kid with my dad and I liked Wrigley Field. Plus they are just a 6 hour drive away or an hour and 15 minute flight.

But to get Storen the Twins have to give up assets other than money. The Free Agent relievers could essentially be bought for multiple years with cold hard cash. Storen will require a player, and then if the Twins want him for longer than a year they will have to ante up the cash part. And there is no guarantee he will stay here even if we make an offer, so the Twins could possibly just give away a prospect for 1 year use of a guy.

Not sure the rules in baseball, but if the Twins really like him, can they negotiate anything with the Nats that says the deal is contingent on Storen signing an extension or something like that once the parameters of the trade is in place?

Thank you for the honest and open article. I agree 100% with every take you made and have the same feelings of doubt and skepticism. The fact the Twins had no interest in the best bullpen arms make me question Terry Ryan and if he really has a plan.

The more I think about it, I realized that TR is VERY GOOD at taking bad teams and building them back up to respectability and competitive. From that point on, he is not so good. So taking page from where he failed in the mid 2000's maybe he will realize this and find his next and final reclamation project and let the Twins get someone in here who can finished building this team and then make them a WS caliber one.

I haven't read past the 1st page of this thread so don't scold me if I am repeating some takes: But to me the worst thing that happened to the Twins in 2015 was they were competitive and in the playoff hunt until the last week of the season. Now instead of continuing to build this team it feels like TR is trying to piecemeal parts together to get them over a hump that is likely much larger than it appears. They currently have 4 DH's. FOUR! I still don't consider Sano and outfielder and I don't think they are moving Plouffe. The starting pitching is middle of the road with many pitchers essentially being clones of each other that could/should be moved for areas of need such as the Bullpen. I think Tommy Milone could easily be moved to a team (especially an NL team) for a young powerful bullpen arm. It might even be someone still in the minors. But I think it could be done. TR is selling the fans on the fact that he went and got catcher help. Well upgrading over Hermann or Fryer isn't doing much for me, but trading Hicks for him makes me scratch my head. I never have thought TR was great at putting together final pieces needed to make the jump like in mid 2000's and now he is trying to do it again even though he should be looking at building still.

I loved Shane Mack!

After reading Seth's interview with Brian Olsen I made a joke about how the last time the Twins had a catcher named Brian the Twins won the World Series. I then proceeded to go look up just how good or not good Harper was for the Twins. My memory as a 9 year old sometimes inflated Twins players to being better than they actually were due to my love of the Twins. In this case however, I may not have remembered just how good Brian Harper actually was for the Twins. My memory only recalls his time with the Twins. But doing a little research shows that Harper's talent was wasted by multiple teams for about a 5 year stretch. He was a catcher in the Angels organization and hit for power and average but had a reputation as a bad defensive catcher. He bounced around from Pittsburgh to St. Louis and Detroit, only catching in 6 games, mostly DH'ing and attempting to convert him to 1st or OF, before signing with the Twins. Once he signed with the Twins he caught for 655 games in 6 seasons. Although he was never a stud defensively, he was right around league average in caught stealing %, and seemed to be able to handle the pitching staff pretty well. What he lacked defensively though he made up for it with his bat. From 1988-1993 he posted .306/.342/.431 line. He hit 48 HR's in that stretch and tallied an OPS+ of 110. A stat I found pretty amazing is in his 2691 plate appearances with the Twins he struck out only 128 times! He also only walked 111 times, but still. That is ridiculous. On top of all of this he helped lead the team to the 1991 World Series and was involved in 2 awesome plays that I can remember. One play was the collision with Lonnie Smith in which he held on to the ball for the out, the other was the game saving Hrbek to Harper back to Hrbek double play. For some reason Harper seems to be forgotten in Twins lore and history. And when he is remembered he is talked about in passing. I think it is time he gets some recognition. If he were playing in today's game he would be one of the best hitting catchers in baseball. Does anyone else here feel this way about Harper? What other players were there that fly or flew under the radar and were highly underrated when we take a look back. I'm interested to read about other guys.

Remember the last time the Twins had a catcher named Brian?!?! He was pretty good and the Twins won the World Series! Good interview, Seth. Was he old for Elizabethton or is he about average age? Either way it's nice to see catcher in the org that may develop into a decent hitter. Hopefully he can continue to develop as he progresses through the system.

I don't see the Marlins trading him. Why would they? He is 23, an Ace, is from Tampa via Cuba, and has 4 more years of team control. In 2-3 years, I totally expect the Marlins to trade him so they don't have to pay him. But why now? Wouldn't his value be higher in a year or 2 anyways after a team saw him play a season + of post Tommy John surgery. Then again, they are the Marlins . . .

ESPN is guessing based on Rumors the 4th mystery team is Houston. Would they give up Correa for Fernandez? My guess is no way, but . . .

I'm assuming very few of us on TD have actually seen him pitch live. So stats are what we have to go off of. At the end of the day he isn't getting rocked, but he isn't blowing guys away. I'm just asking/saying I think he is at a crossroads in his career. If he can start to get outs by strikeout rather than whatever other way he is doing it then I think most of us will be happy. And yes, my prior question/statement was rambling . I think I rambled again. But I am not too concerned yet. He didn't go into the offseason with any injuries I am aware of and can hopefully condition better and work on that strikeout pitch if he has it.

I think people are paying too much attention to Kohl Stewart's Strikeout Rates. I wish he was striking out 8-9+ guys per 9, but he isn't. On the flip side it could be much worse. He isn't getting rocked and he only gave up 2 HR's in 130 IP. If his stats were exactly the same; 3.20 ERA, 2 HR's allowed but he struck out 115 batters instead of the 71 what would we be saying about him? He's 20 years old in his 2nd full season of only playing baseball. It's possible he may never develop into what we all hoped he would, but if he can learn to pitch he also could be a very good addition to the Twins in 3 years or so.

Also, If I recall Molitor had some issues in the early 80's with drugs and partying. He figured it out and seemed to turn out to be an OK ballplayer. Might be a great manager to have, because he can actually relate to some of Rosario's past issues. I don't see how a Rosario should be considered a guy to trade away because he made some mistakes a few years ago.

It's just my own opinion but, when I watch him I just don't see a guy that will dominate long-term. His FIP and xFIP is in the mid 3's and his K/9 has declined slightly. When I think "ACE" I think guy who can strike a guy out at the drop of hat if needed (Think Johan Santana 2003-2006). Now the Term "exposed" may be harsh. Basically I see him being very good #2 starter, someone who will have an ERA in the 3.20-3.50 range. Which is great. IF the Twins did trade Berrios for him I wouldn't be out at Target Field with my pitch fork. I would accept it knowing that the Twins have a guaranteed top of the rotation starter. I would just have regret for a bit wondering if they gave up future superstar to get him.

The amount of prospects (assuming Berrios, plus others) the Twins would have to give up doesn't justify the quality of pitcher that Gray is in my opinion. Yes, he is good, but if you really look at his numbers he could be exposed at some point. At this time I would roll the dice to see if Berrios can become even better than Gray. I would say that is not unreasonable.

So essentially the Twins plan is for him to catch balls that are hit right to him, if not he's not expected to catch it. I'm sure the pitching staff loves this.

Usually teams deal from an area of surplus. For the Twins that has recently been CF (Span, Revere, Hicks). In return you try to get an area of need. In my opinion 3rd base is now an area of surplus for the Twins and Trevor Plouffe is expendable. I believe he will be traded by the start of the season. Plouffe currently jams up a lot of roster flexibility, in the same way that Mauer does. The Twins best up and coming player all seem to play the same position (Sano, Park, Kepler - 3rd, 1st, DH) Kepler is a little more flexible due to CF being his natural position, but by removing Plouffe from the equation there instantly are more options and ways combinations to play with on a daily basis. By putting Sano in the outfield you are essentially putting a square peg in round hole because that is the only peg you have left. Long story short I hope Sano doesn't have to play in the OF and Plouffe is traded for something of value.