dxpavelka

I'll put Gagne atop that list and ignore any argument any makes to the contrary. Two rings at a premium defensive position IS a thing.

Make him available? Sure. Yeah. Whatever. Trade him? Not for anything less than a king's ransom.

The last time the Twins hired a manager with big league experience was when they hired Gene Mauch in 1976. And he was most famous for managing an epic collapse a decade previous. Don't hold your breath.

Given all this talk about his defense at SS should i worry about the picture of him seems to be throwing the baseball from 2B?

annddd????

So did we get better last year by trading good players?

The benefit is not in trading him but in having better players to replace him. If guys like Jenkins, Rodriguez, Gonzeles, Mendez or Rosario don't ultimately end up being better than him, whatever incremental improvements they get out of him will prove to be of little consolation. Same goes for Larnach. Larnach is far enough along in his career where he shouldn't be 15th on your team in WAR. Wallner is dangerously close to being in the same boat. Somebody got an oar?

50 / 50 chance they keep him. If they do, 50 / 50 chance he continues to trend downward allowing the fans to say they have no clue what they are doing. If they move him, 75% chance he goes the Rooker route allowing fans to say they have no idea what they are doing. 100% chance that if it goes south the fan base will say they don't know what they are doing. Even the ones who totally agree with whatever they decide to do at the time they do it.

care to put a few sawbucks on that?

see

I JUST said you don't get better by trading your good players. Do you not understand?

how'd it work out for the twins

the days of SPs going deep or a full nine more than once in a blue moon are long gone. sadly

I can cite countless examples. Bert Blylevin traded to the Rangers. Rod Carew traded to the Rangers. Johan Santana to the Mets. I won't even bring up Lou Brock. How about Frank Robinson for Milt Pappas. I'll even cross sports. KG. Randy Moss. Trading your stars just makes your team unwatchable. Pass.

a bullpen is probably the easiest part of a baseball team to rebuild.

Not sure why you are concerned about success next season. The team is doomed. Have you not been listening to the fan base?

No. Please. Those days are gone forever. Just let them go.

that's not saying much

You don't get better when your best players play for other teams

Calling ******** on your statement that Brooks Lee has no standout skills. He can catch a baseball and throw it to first base. The Twins haven't had many shortstops with that skill since Greg Gagne became a Royal. Technically, Orlando Hudson & Luis Castillo could be considered to be in the mix but Hudson played one season here and do any Twins fans under the age of 35 even know who Castillo was? Other than that you've got Roy Smalley (more famous for being Gene Mauch's son-in-law and having been acquired in the Bert Blylevin trade than for his defensive chops) and Zoillo Versailles (been a while)

James Rowson. Hire him. As hitting coach.

No, but I'll be there are other major league teams whose fan bases feel this way.

Actually they ARE top 5 in the AL and it's not really close. If you look at teams entire rotations, Texas actually has the best. The Twins, Yankees, Seattle & Boston are pretty closely bunched in the 2 thru 5 spots, granted Minnesota probably slots at 5 but very little difference between them and the other three. Detroit easily has the best # 1 starter in the league but when you consider the entire staff, there is a considerable drop off from Minnesota at 5 to Detroit at 6. Another drop off to Toronto at 7 probably tells the story of why there's a pretty good chance they're going to join the Twins on the golf course by mid week. I know you don't WANT to believe this but the numbers bear it out. Now the numbers I cited include a full season worth of data and the rotation may have been dragged down by the bullpen after the trade deadline. At the end of the day it's usually a lot easier to build a bullpen than it is to build a rotation. We HAVE a rotation. As long as we don't **** it up by trading guys that we'll find ourselves just needing to replace.

Typically, the best managers are guys who were role players, sat on the bench quite a bit where they spent time picking the brain(s) of some smart baseball guys along the way. Guys like Torii & Albert Pujols, who were stars, and had everything come easy for them and never had to work to get an edge don't seem to be the best managers. Sure, you will be able to comeback with few exceptions to what I just said, but by and large, I'm right on this one. Cap Anson was probably the most successful player to have managerial success. Maybe we could reach out to him. Quite a reach since he's been dead for a hundred years but (insert typical Twins fan joke about him working cheap here) it's worth a shot. The perfect example would be Billy Martin. Played over a decade, less than a thousand hits, one All-Star team, finished 25th in the MVP voting, once. Basically a role player, sat on a lot of benches, learned a lot from some guy named Stengel. If memory serves me right, seemed to have a bit of an edge to him. Not sure about that. Guess we could ask Dave Boswell, but he's dead too. Gene Mauch played 9 years in the big league and totaled less than 900 plate appearances. Sat on a lot of benches and learned from guys like Leo Durocher, Charlie Grimm & Eddie Stanky. Guys like Torii & Pujols profile more like Ted Williams as managers. Also, hitting & pitching coaches tend to be specialized in their own field and NOT make great managers. Ray Miller was a great pitching coach. His biggest accomplishment as a manager was getting fired and clearing the way for TK. Guys like Punto, Suzuki & Ramon Vasquez profile as potential TK or Billy Martin types. Guys like Torii profile more like Ted Williams guys. You pick.

Typically, the best managers are guys who were role players, sat on the bench quite a bit where they spent time picking the brain(s) of some smart baseball guys along the way. Guys like Torii & Albert Pujols, who were stars, and had everything come easy for them and never had to work to get an edge don't seem to be the best managers. Sure, you will be able to comeback with few exceptions to what I just said, but by and large, I'm right on this one. Cap Anson was probably the most successful player to have managerial success. Maybe we could reach out to him. Quite a reach since he's been dead for a hundred years but (insert typical Twins fan joke about him working cheap here) it's worth a shot. The perfect example would be Billy Martin. Played over a decade, less than a thousand hits, one All-Star team, finished 25th in the MVP voting, once. Basically a role player, sat on a lot of benches, learned a lot from some guy named Stengel. If memory serves me right, seemed to have a bit of an edge to him. Not sure about that. Guess we could ask Dave Boswell, but he's dead too. Gene Mauch played 9 years in the big league and totaled less than 900 plate appearances. Sat on a lot of benches and learned from guys like Leo Durocher, Charlie Grimm & Eddie Stanky. Guys like Torii & Pujols profile more like Ted Williams as managers. Also, hitting & pitching coaches tend to be specialized in their own field and NOT make great managers. Ray Miller was a great pitching coach. His biggest accomplishment as a manager was getting fired and clearing the way for TK. Guys like Punto, Suzuki & Ramon Vasquez profile as potential TK or Billy Martin types. Guys like Torii profile more like Ted Williams guys. You pick.