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Just thinking about Arcia and Pinto developing, waiting for Buxton and Sano to arrive and adding those 4 to one of the best hitters in the league is exciting. If those 4 can pan out, look out.

I hope the Twins value both of these players at a very high level. If they do trade them, it should be for some VERY nice pieces. These guys are going to supplement the offense very nicely after Mega-Prospects Buxton and Sano get here.

(TO YOUR FIRST QUOTE) I agree, Pinto doesn't need 3 seasons at AAA. That is 100% not what I was saying. One year in AAA, however, will not kill him. In 2015, that would give us 2 actual catchers that could both swing it a little bit. This is a good problem to have. (SECOND QUOTE) I agree, he could be a 3rd string catcher. Those guys aren't required to catch 20 games unless you have an injury at catcher. The goal I would have this year is to mostly DH Doumit. Anytime he is at Catcher, First or OF, I would deem him an extreme liability. With that being said, if his bat is as good as it has been or could be, it would be worth playing him at other positions than DH. If he has a repeat of 2013, there is actually no reason to play the guy at all, let alone catch or OF. Also, for the chatter on Doumit and 1B: When Doumit was brought in, Twins were under assumption he could play 1B. He played a couple games and made some horrendous plays there and suddenly in the media it became known that he was not comfortable at 1B. He then played some in the outfield and was atrocious. Luckily for him, he hit quite well which made it worthwhile to spell Mauer at catcher and DH on a regular basis. Likely his only positions for this season are DH/C. Hopefully he hits more like 2013 so it is worthwhile to have his bat in the lineup. Anyone that is hopeful for him to see action in OF/1B is asking for trouble and I hope the Twins are building a team that doesn't require his services ever at those positions, UNLESS HE IS RAKING and we can't have him out of the lineup.

Did Thome's power numbers struggle at Target Field, or are we not allowed to make comparisons to Thome, the lumberjack.

Signing Salty allows Pinto to improve defense on a lesser stage(AAA), when he is ready he can catch the majority while Salty hits enough to DH and catch 60 games in 2015 and 2016.

I don't care who you are and how many internet points I lose, but if you think Doumit is the answer behind the dish for more than about 20 innings, you are not baseball smart.

I think everyone agrees that we can live with Florimon at SS as long as we fill the rest of the offense with better sticks. We can't be weak(offensively) at CF, SS, C, 3B,LF and DH. It'd be nice if Florimon was the 9 hitter, with a little bit of pop around a lineup full of decent hitters. Hopefully Buxton, Sano and Pinto/Salty can fill some of those holes in the near future. Florimon's defense was ranked highly by all metrics, no?

Touche.

Agreed, I think he will definitely have every chance to win a spot as either the 4/5.

Exactly, it took a while but someone finally got the point across. It's about getting better. This move would make us better. Can I measure it and tell you how much? No, but it makes us better and it still gives us money to sign some pitching.

The Blue Jays are putting together a package for the power-righty from the Cubs. What could we offer in a deal to get him outside our top 3? I'd propose something like this as a starting place. Hicks, Rosario, May, Gibson, Vargas, Hudson Boyd for Samardzija and Castro.

If #2 is the case, maybe they feel strongly about a catching prospect in the draft or Stuart Turner in a couple seasons.

Really? A complete waste? I guess we'll see what you think in June, if we don't sign another catcher.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2013/11/cafardo-on-cano-saltalamacchia-nolasco-navarro.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter I would be all for 2 for 20 on him. As I said in the McCann thread, it'd be great to slow play Pinto. If Mauer was catching full-time, Pinto would've been in AAA all year anyways.

I don't think anyone was hoping for McCann to be a Twin, but do you think it could've worked out? Would've solidified our catching spot for a long time for 17 million a year. It would've given Pinto another full year in the minors and allowed us to really slow play him and develop his catching skills. It also would've made us a lot more competitive. When Pinto was ready, could've easily shared time between the two catching and DH'ing. Adds 17 million to payroll and likely takes away our opportunity to sign a Matt Garza, but still could've added a couple Arroyo or Kazmirs. Just something fun to think about. Kudos to the Yankees for going and getting him.

At the end of the day there is no reason to not pick up the phone and call to find out. If you call and the first thing they say is Buxton, Sano or Meyer you say no. If they want to keep talking after that, you might have yourself a potential deal on your hands. We have tons of talent in the minors. May as well exploit some of it, especially since we have very high picks again in this summer's very strong draft class. I would consider the only untouchables Meyer, Sano, Buxton and Stewart (PTBNL). After that, we still have many good prospects that most teams would be interested in.

Dang it, I really wanna go there..but I've lost too many internet points lately...Shucks.

Agreed, it's too big of a gamble. No one truly knows what to expect from him. I'd rather sign two big names right now for less money likely.

I agree Shane. I would rather pay more over a smaller period of time to make sure we don't impede ourselves from being able to sign a young stud long-term. Also, if we go 4 for 72 i'd like to see a 5th year team option at the end. If Garza is throwing great, by 2018 we will definitely be competing, so it'd prob serve us well to still have the guy, even if it costs us 18 million.

I'm guessing that would be a no-go from Detroit, but i'd do it in a heartbeat.

I could see it, just not counting on it.

Hypocritical indeed, as would it be to start a thread to tell everyone how it appears TR is not going to do anything this offseason, then popping over into a new thread and laying out a two year plan involving multiple moves that would be the biggest in Twins history. Oh man, I did that.

wow, that really got lengthy, sorry guys. One thing I forgot to mention is that it really only climbs up our payroll for one season (2014). After that guys like Hughes, Willingham, Doumit, Pierzynski all come off the books. Which would bring payroll back under 100 or around it. Then a year later, Floyd comes off. This would really allow us to spend on a certain area if one of our prospects doesn't pan out that I am counting on in my depth charts there.

Current 40 Man with adjustments: P: (19) Andrew Albers (remove) Jared Burton Kevin Correia Logan Darnell Samuel Deduno Scott Diamond Brian Duensing (not offered arb) Casey Fien Kyle Gibson Liam Hendriks Edgar Ibarra Kris Johnson Trevor May Glen Perkins Ryan Pressley Anthony Swarzak Caleb Thielbar Michael Tonkin Vance Worley Position Players: (20) Ryan Doumit Eric Fryer (remove) Chris Herrmann Josmil Pinto Chris Colabello (remove) Brian Dozier Eduardo Escobar (remove) Pedro Florimon Joe Mauer Trevor Plouffe Jorge Polonco Danny Santana Kennys Vargas Oswaldo Arcia Aaron Hicks Max Kepler Darin Mastroianni (remove) Chris Parmelee Alex Presley Josh Willingham This puts us at 35 players. Sign AJ Pierzynski (1 year) Sign Matt Garza (4 years) Sign Phil Hughes (1 year) Sign Gavin Floyd (option for 2015) Sign Stephen Drew (3 years) Draft Daniel Burawa (Yankees) Add AJ Achter This would be the new 40 man roster: -pitchers- 1. AJ Achter 2. Matt Garza 3. Phil Hughes 4. Jared Burton 5. Kevin Correia 6. Logan Darnell 7. Samuel Deduno 8. Scott Diamond 9. Casey Fien 10. Kyle Gibson 11. Liam Hendriks 12. Edgar Ibarra 13. Kris Johnson 14. Trevor May 15. Glen Perkins 16. Ryan Pressley 17. Anthony Swarzak 18. Caleb Thielbar 19. Michael Tonkin 20. Vance Worley 21. Daniel Burawa 22. Gavin Floyd -position players- 23. Ryan Doumit 24. AJ Pierzynski 25. Chris Herrmann 26. Josmil Pinto 27. Brian Dozier 28. Stephen Drew 29. Pedro Florimon 30. Joe Mauer 31. Trevor Plouffe 32. Jorge Polonco 33. Danny Santana 34. Kennys Vargas 35. Oswaldo Arcia 36. Aaron Hicks 37. Max Kepler 38. Chris Parmelee 39. Alex Presley 40. Josh Willingham Opening Day 2014: 1. Garza 2. Hughes 3. Correia 4. Deduno 5. Gibson Bullpen: Burawa, Pressley, Swarzak, Fien, Perkins, Burton, Thielbar Lineup: CF Hicks 2B Dozier 1B Mauer DH Doumit LF Willingham RF Arcia C Pierzynski SS Drew 3B Plouffe Bench: Florimon, Herrmann, Presley, Parmelee In AAA SP: Meyer, May, Darnell, Johnson, Diamond, Hendriks *Changes by July 2014: Add and promote Meyer drop Hendriks, send down Deduno Add and promote Buxton drop and send down Presley Add and promote Sano after Willingham trade Move up Achter send down Pressley Move up Floyd(rehabbing) send down Gibson( I think it's going to take him a few times) Move up Pinto, send down Herrmann Squad by July 2014: Rotation: Garza, Hughes, Corriea, Meyer, Floyd Bullpen: Perkins, Fein, Burton, Swarzak, Achter, Burawa, Thielbar Lineup: CF Buxton 2B Dozier 1B Mauer 3B Sano DH Doumit SS Drew RF Arcia C Pinto LF Hicks Bench: Pierznyski, Parmelee, Plouffe(OF/IF), Florimon ** I won't get too far into moves for 2015, but it would set us up nicely to look something along the lines of this: SP: 1: Garza 2: Floyd 3: Meyer 4: Gibson 5: May RP: Perkins(trade at deadline), Thielbar, Fien, Burawa, Achter, Tonkin, Johnson Lineup: CF Buxton RF Hicks 1B Mauer 3B Sano DH Arcia 2B Dozier LF Rosario C Pinto SS Drew Bench: C: Turner , OF/3B: Plouffe, UTL: Florimon, Some type of bench bat in FA. If most things or even some go right, this team will compete not only for a wildcard berth, it will compete for the Central Title. *If we did similar moves with pitching this offseason, not necessarily same players, but similar years and an option year on a comeback guy like Floyd(really aren't a lot of others i'd do that with though) this would put us in a good position for solidifying our future rotation, while not blocking young up and coming pitchers. After 2015, Floyd would be off books and a spot for Stewart would be available if he could grab it. I really think guys like Deduno/Diamond are going to be up and down guys for injuries after this season. It'll be interesting to see how our bullpen shakes out. A lot of people expect Fien, Thielbar to come back to reality. Some others think Burton can have a bounce back year, while Burton is the closest one to being a non-Twin. I would consider it possible that guys like Swarzak, Burton are not back in 2015, which would give guys like Tonkin, Achter, Zack Jones, etc a good chance to have considerate roles in the pen after 2014. I also think it'd be a pretty good idea to try and trade off Perkins during the 2015 season, if not this summer. A lot of things to consider, but it really depends how we are doing. If we somehow find a way to compete this summer, it'd be hard to unload him then and I would presume in 2015 we are definitely going to be competing, but we also should have some young power arms really knocking on the door by then, which makes it easier to replace an aging Perkins.

I'd do Hicks, May, Rosario(not sure he can be traded while suspended), Walker, PTBN(allowing us to give them one of our picks from last year's draft and then maybe a solid MLB bullpen guy. Not sure that'd be enough. I wouldn't give them any of the 3 you listed....All of this also is based on the Twins coming to the conclusion that Price would sign a long term deal and buy out his remaining years of arb.