savvyspy

I think the best you can say for Schafer is he MIGHT not be a signaficantly worse hitter than Fryer.

This guy should be on the major league roster in 2016 at the latest. He doesn't start because he doesn't have a 3rd pitch at all. But he might have been the top relief pitcher in this draft. High risk of arm injury though so they shouldn't waste time moving him up.

I always wonder where the constant defense of the Twins slow approach on minor leagers comes from. I don't think any successful team would look at the Twins and their history and say "This is the way to do it". They have basically no track record of being very good at getting talent to the majors. They are basically middle of the pack in roster age. Take a team like Atlanta. They have 3 starting infielders who are 24, 2 starting pitchers who are 23, and their starting RF is 23. They aren't even the youngest roster in the league. But it CAN be done and teams CAN and do aggressively move top guys through the minors. Just because the Twins never do based on an unproven philosophy doesn't mean it's the right thing to do.

As long as the Twins starting shortstop is batting .060, I'm even willing to see the cinder block handed Nunez as a viable alternative. They are about a week away from letting the pitchers hit and DHing for Florimon as their best next option.

I don't think anyone ever said he wasn't a solid hitter with an elite swing. For me it's only about the money to the extent of what you get for the money. Mauer only is truly elite at one thing, getting on base. He gives you zero power, doesn't drive in runs, doesn't raise his game as the stakes are raised (useless in the playoffs) and doesn't give the team any of the intangibles like durability or leadership. Throw in the fact that he is basically passable defensively at 1st base and I think it becomes fair to ask that he provides more. He's paid basically a third of the payroll. He should be giving the team more.

The best part of this deal was being at the game, having the trade announced, and Florimon getting a base hit 30 seconds later.

Honestly the pitching should catch up once it warms up a bit. These are tough conditions to pitch in. I don't think we'll know exactly what we have until a couple trips through the rotation. They need to get Bartlett off this roster. He's an embarassment. Otherwise the lineup has been kind of interesting. Kubel, Plouffe, and Colabello have been great. Suzuki has done ok as well. They have at least be entertaining to watch so far.

The dangers of small sample sizes: Suzuki, Hicks, Plouffe, and Kubel have looked very solid at the plate Mauer, Dozier, Willingham, and Florimon have looked horrendous. I don't think anyone would believe that trend will continue much longer. Some of the guys off to a hot start will revert back to their normal production and a few of the slow start guys will pick it up. Its interesting to see who comes out of the gate hot and who struggles but it really doesn't mean much until late June or July. We should know what's what after these guys get about 100-125 ABs.

For $25 million a year you should be able to hit CHRIS EFFIN SALE occasionally. That said, Mauer will be hitting .300 eventually. It sort of always evens out for him.

Can we put a fork in this comical Dozier as a leadoff guy thing? Just put Hicks back up top of the order. There is nothing that epitomizes Mauer better than him coming up late in the game and nursing a 1 out walk. Always kicking the can down the lineup to generate runs.

I'm not sure "being a nice guy" precludes someone from pointing out Ramos has had an ACL injury, hamstring injury, and hamate bone injury (in addition to being kidnapped) in the course of 2+ seasons. Bad luck or not he is injury prone.

I think Hicks is definitely a key player to watch. I think if he can get off to a decent start he should solidify himself as our best outfielder. Pinto and Arcia are in the same boat. The young guys are really the only source of hope. The veterans like Plouffe, Mauer, Willingham, and Dozier aren't bad pieces but they have already proven they aren't going to move the needle.

"The Twins pitchers’ early impressions of Suzuki’s style have been positive. Staff has mentioned how they like how Suzuki has taken control in spring games, been vocal on his trips to the mound and has generally been sympatico when it comes to what pitch comes next." Is this really a tangible thing?? It seems to be one of those things writers put out there every year like "He came to camp in the best shape of his life". So the catcher knows how to catch and call a game and the pitchers don't hate him. They still lost 2/3s of the games and I didn't see any of our starters perform better than anticipated. I know its spring training but where would these intangeble catching skills manifest themselves? Strike out rate? Ground ball rate? Average for balls in play going down if he's positioning fielders better? I will be interesting if Suzuki can impact something tangeble as the season goes on. Obviously he's never going to be Mauer but a competent backstop that isn't Drew Butera isn't the worst travesty in the world.

Agreed that anything COULD happen but comparing this mess to 1991 is crazy. The 1991 team had Morris, Erickson, Hrbek, Puckett, Mack (one of the most underrated players in Twins history), Chili Davis, Aguilera, Gagne, and Brian Harper. The 2014 team has Mauer and Perkins and that's it. There is no comparison between these two teams. The 91 team was coming off a last place finish but still had 74 wins. And remember the AL West was significantly better than the AL Central is now. Oakland and Chicago were elite teams at the time and the Rangers and Angels were generally pretty solid. I'm not sure the Twins would win 62 games with this roster if they were in the current AL West. That said, the reasons to watch this year would include: Upside 1. Development of Hicks, Pinto, and Arcia 2. Is Hughes better than his years in NY suggest? 3. I am very high on Deduno and Tonkin (he will get called up) and this bullpen

I think that is why some people are upset. There is not any measure by which Bartlett is better than Presley. Offensively Presley is statistically superior. Defensively Presley IS an outfielder and Bartlett is NOT ever been an outfielder. Bartlett didn't earn the promotion based on spring training. He was the worse player in camp and it wasn't close. Presley is younger and has more upside. Grand conspiracy is probably best case senario for the field staff. If not this is the most ridiculous decision this team has made in recent years.

I like Hicks. He has less pressure on him because the only other player that the team is willing to put in the outfield is Jason Bartlett and I would only call him an "outfielder" if you made air quotes every time you said it. Plus now that the bar for making the team is batting .078 I think Hicks will clear that hurdle with ease. Hicks has the talent to be a very solid major league player. Hopefully they run him out there everyday all season.

Jason Bartlett has played exactly 1 inning in his 9 year career at a position other than shortstop (2B in 2004), batted .078 in spring training, wasn't in the majors basically for the last 2 years, had one decent season in 2009, and is 34 years old. The Twins cut 3 outfielders (Parmalee, Mastroianni, and Pressly) who are all in their 20's and SIGNIFICANTLY better players than Bartlett, exposing 2 of them to waivers, so Bartlett could be a backup outfielder. Ladies & Gentleman your Minnesota Twins!

I am paying thousands of dollars buying tickets for myself and some of my staff. Those tickets ALWAYS go up in price even when the organization is terrible. Target Field is a great place to go watch baseball but honestly there are games where I watch less than 3 innings of baseball. The team is that bad. This front office has proven time and time again one of two things. Either they don't understand that the point of having a team is to win divisions and the World Series and they are working towards some other goal like making the Pohlads more money. Or 2, they are so inept and out of touch with how the game has changed that they have just fallen behind the rest of the league and can't compete. I'd like to believe they don't think the entire fan base are complete morons so for now I'm giving them a pass on #1. Honestly I wholeheartedly believe its #2. From Ryan to Bill Smith to Rob Antony to Gardy to Anderson I honestly believe this group distain for the changes in the game have led them to forge a path that increases their competitive disadvantage compared to the competition. Ryan has proven he can't build a balanced decent roster. Even by spending some money he may have improved the pitching but he completely neglected an embarrassing bad lineup. That's not just bad luck. That's being a terrible GM. He completely ignored the entire lineup and pitching staff last year also. So most of it is on him. I give him some credit for restocking the minors through trades and the draft but you need to get your young talent to the majors. Putting guys like Kubel and Bartlett on the team do nothing toward freeing up roster spots for younger guys that need experience and are flat out better than these guys anyway. The teams distain towards advanced analytics, lack of common sense strategy like platooning players, and continued mishandling of player injuries have all been documented so many times there's no need to do it again. I get "being positive" but that has nothing to do with being a "real" fan. I'm not going to stand by and be lectured that I'm not a fan because I don't buy what this front office is selling. The fact of the matter is they play this game to win. The win-loss record is all the indicators you need for how well a front office and field management are performing. This one has continually failed massively 3 straight years and on paper this team could be as bad or worse than the previous three. They have to be accountable for improvement don't they? You don't just go from being a 95-100 loss team for 4 years to a contender. If you can't meet the low bar of improving this trainwreck then maybe its time to stop handing out contract extensions and clean house. Being a fan involves going to games, watching them on tv, buying their merchandise, following them on the internet, and having a general interest in how they perform. It has nothing to do with agreeing with the front office, not pointing out when they make the same mistakes over and over, and not being upset as they fall further and further behind the competition.

I find it interesting how much more flawed Ben Revere's game gets when there is a need to formulate a rationalization for this front office's ineptitude.

Reality begs to differ with Mr Diamond's assesment of his skill set.

A couple things to keep in mind: 1. [trolling comment deleted] 2. It was obvious the FO lost confidence in him. Cripes Dave St Peter blasted him at the Twins Daily event and he usually finds good things to say about everyone. 3. Worley's performance proved he is roster filler at this point. He can be replaced by just about anyone in the organization or off the street. Why not try someone new? Its not like is someone got hurt they were ever going to call him up. 4. He likely asked for the trade. While the Twins FO might be one of the worst in professional sports from just about every measure, the one thing they are not is petty. They aren't going to keep a guy they don't value against his wishes just because they can. They should get credit for that. 5. Maybe they have their eye on someone else's roster to take the spot in Rochester through a trade or waiver pick up. In the end there was something odd about Worley the entire time he was here. Part of me thinks he was damaged goods coming over from Philadelphia. You don't go from being a promising young pitcher doing it in the majors to honestly maybe being the worst pitcher in the league in 6 months. Injury would be the most likely cause of that quick decline. The initial injury probably happened before he came over from Philadelphia. Maybe a new start with a new club helps him. Wouldn't be the first time a player got better after leaving the team.

I'm almost convinced the Twins planted Bartlett at ST to overshadow how bad Kubel is at this point. Bartlett has been an embarassment and the fact the FO is still mentioning him boarders on gross neglegence. Kubel is maybe a rung up the latter but neither has any business in the majors at this point. I say you give Parmalee the RF job and if he's not producing by the end of May you waive him and bring up one of the other replacement level guys we have in Roch. Arcia HAS to make this roster or someone needs to investigate them purposly tanking the season. Arcia is the 2nd best player on the roster and its not close.

Honestly I think the TEAM is improved because the pitching staff is actually major league worthy. Maybe not excellent but Hughes, Nolasco, Correia, and Pelfrey are professional arms. This isn't the days of DeVries and Albers and the like out there. Unfortunately I would bet the farm they score even fewer runs than in any of the previous 3 seasons. This lineup is atrocious. I think they've surpassed the Astros for worst in the league. Can their pitching make up for this step backwards? Maybe but, I would say the over/under on wins is 68 at the end of spring training. I would have gone into the year saying it was closer to 72-73.

I'd cut Bartlett, Kubel, Diamond, and Rohlfing. None figure into the teams future plans and serve zero purpose on the major league roster.

Actually we should know Diamond will be as useless as a reliever as he is as a starter. Time to cut bait.