Tom Froemming

Some quick thoughts ... -Twins are in a great position with Erv. Teams know we're not motivated to move him and the SP market appears to be pretty dry judging by the names on the rumor mill. -I'm sure the team has had advanced talks regarding Suzuki with multiple clubs. They have no incentive to hustle to get a deal done prior to Lucroy being traded. Wait for that shoe to drop and see if it makes anybody desperate. -I don't think anybody's drooling over Kintzler or Abad, but the RP market has already been thinned out more than any other position. I wouldn't expect much in return, but anytime you can flip a minor singing like that into a prospect it's a good deal. Even if they're not dealt today, I think either of these guys could be waiver trade candidates. -I love what Kennys Vargas has shown of late, but is now the time to sell high? There's not enough room for him, Mauer and Park all on the same roster, and I think Vargas has the most trade value of that group right now.

I say third base. If he could play short, they never would have moved him off the position. The team hopes to compete sometime over the next 2 years, so I expect Dozier to stay. Plouffe should be traded at next month's waiver trade deadline, and it's sinking in for me that Miguel Sano is going to be a man without a position. Instead of trying to fit him into the team's needs, they should put him in the best position to succeed, which unfortunately is DH. Obviously that's going to muddy things up for Vargas and Park (Mauer's not going anywhere), but it does open the door for Polanco to play 3B everyday.

Great to see a young but near MLB-ready starter coming back for Nunez. The ERA doesn't look as sterling since his promotion to Triple-A (4.20), but Mejia's 9.5 K/9 and 3.91 K/BB ratio over seven starts at Sacramento are very nice. Plus the PCL is a hitter's league. Atta boy Antony. Sad to see Nunie go, but I think he'll fit in nicely with the Giants.

Yeah I struggled with the best way to put that. Let me try to make that point again. In 2013 the Twins got Kohl Stewart at No. 4. That's great, he's got plenty of potential, and as a 21-year-old in Double-A the book's still out on him, obviously. But if the Twins were just a bit crappier that year and picked second, they would have had the opportunity to draft Kris Bryant, who is already a ROY, two-time All-Star and possibly the favorite for NL MVP. Who knows, maybe the Twins would've taken Stewart anyway. But the difference between going 66-96 in 2012 instead of 61-101 (the Cubs record that year) cost them the opportunity to even consider drafting Bryant. Was it worth 5 wins in a lost season? I'd definitely say no.

When I say tank, I'm thinking like in the movie Major League Ownership completely handcuffs the organization in an effort to lose as many games as possible. Except in this scenario we're trying to get the no. 1 pick/ International bonus slot, not move the team to Miami.

I've been struggling with Santana as well. Two more years of Erv is looking very attractive right now The rotation is still the biggest weakness in my eyes, so it doesn't seem smart to thin out that group even further. On the other hand, I do worry about him breaking down. He's 33 and has a lot of mileage on that arm. Would be a shame if he falls off and the team missed out on an opportunity to trade him at his peak.

I've only glanced through some 2017 draft coverage, but it doesn't look like there's an automatic 1st pick. But, even picking as high as they have recently, the Twins have missed out on the opportunity to draft the likes of Carlos Correa , Kris Bryant, Carlos Rodon and Kyle Schwarber, just to cherry pick the big names with MLB experience. It's certainly possible the team would've still taken Buxton, Stewart and Gordon over those guys in their respective drafts anyway (and it's still way too early to make conclusions on any of those players yet) but it's always nice to have your pick of the litter, even when there's not an obvious choice at No. 1 overall.

That was a fun win. Hopefully that performance will help Gibby turn the corner. To me, he's is one of the more important players to the Twins future, as he isn't a free agent until 2020.

Correct, this was originally posted to the blogs section Thursday afternoon, prior to the start of the Boston series.

After getting off to the worst start in franchise history, the Twins appear to be turning things around this month, but is that something fans should be excited about? It seems like a crazy question, but when you look at the big picture could it be in the best interest of the team's future to tank the rest of the season?In MLB there is nothing but incentive to tanking a season. The worse your record is the higher up you draft and the bigger your allotted bonus pool is to divvy out to those picks. Same deal with international spending, the worse you do the more money you can spend without incurring penalties. And it's not like these are small margins. The Phillies, who were the worst team in baseball last year, had over $4 million more to spend in the draft (per MLB.com) and over $1.5 million to spend on the international market (per Baseball America) than the Brewers, who were the 5th-worst team last season. The moral of the story is if you're going to be terrible it pays off to be the worst. With the 2016 season already sunk, is there any reason to root for the Twins to turn things around? Personally, I'm not so sure, and the team's performance over its last 15 games has me feeling conflicted. Beginning with their 17-5 rout of the Rangers on July 2, the Twins are 10-5 and have outscored their opponents 94-53. The pitching staff hasn't given up more than 6 runs in any game over that stretch, and the offense is clicking after a number of personnel changes. Max Kepler and Brian Dozier have been two of the best hitters in baseball over that stretch and the pitching staff has the fourth-lowest ERA (3.23) this month. In a lost season, you're put in an awkward position as a fan. Rooting against your own team seems like a rotten, unthinkable thing to do, but tanking may be the best thing for the future. But how does a team tank? You're never going to get the manager, coaches or any of the players behind the idea of giving away games. I suppose a massive, roster-crippling fire sale could do the trick. On the other hand, if the team keeps performing well it's certainly possible that a strong finish to 2016 could carry over. A positive finish to the season could make the long winter seem a little brighter and is only going to help the team attract free agents, if that's the route the new GM decides to take to improving the roster. Nobody is going to want to sign with the worst team in the league. Speaking of the new GM, could the way the Twins perform over the next two months also have an influence over what kind of candidates would be interested in the job? And if that's the case, which would be more attractive to the future GM: a young team on the upswing or the No. 1 pick in the draft? It's definitely something to keep in mind. What do you think? Would you rather see the Twins tank, or end on a high note? Click here to view the article

I've only glanced through some 2017 draft coverage, but it doesn't look like there's a Bryce Harper-type automatic 1st pick. But, even picking as high as they have recently, the Twins have missed out on the opportunity to draft the likes of Carlos Correa , Kris Bryant, Carlos Rodon and Kyle Schwarber, just to cherry pick the big names with MLB experience. It's certainly possible the team would've still taken Buxton, Stewart and Gordon over those guys in their respective drafts, but it's always nice to have your pick of the litter, even when there's not an obvious choice at No. 1 overall.

Sounds good to me! One way or another the prospects need to come up/stay in the lineup. Who cares if Buxton hits .200 and Berrios has an ERA over 10 the next two months? Those guys have nothing to prove or learn in Triple-A, and if we lose because of their struggles it's not like it matters at this point anyway. It would be great to see some of the other guys mentioned in Seth's recent "It's Time!" piece come up too.

After getting off to the worst start in franchise history, the Twins appear to be turning things around this month, but is that something fans should be excited about? It seems like a crazy question, but when you look at the big picture could it be in the best interest of the team's future to tank the rest of the season? In the MLB there is nothing but incentives to tanking a season. The worse your record is the higher up you draft and the bigger your allotted bonus pool is to divvy out to those picks. Same deal with international spending, the worse you do the more money you can spend without incurring penalties. And it's not like these are small margins. The Phillies, who were the worst team in baseball last year, had over $4 million more to spend in the draft (per MLB.com) and over $1.5 million to spend on the international market (per Baseball America) than the Brewers, who were the 5th-worst team last season. The moral of the story is if you're going to be terrible it pays off to be the worst. With the 2016 season already sunk, is there any reason to root for the Twins to turn things around? Personally, I'm not so sure, and the team's performance over its last 15 games has me feeling conflicted. Beginning with their 17-5 rout of the Rangers on July 2, the Twins are 10-5 and have outscored their opponents 94-53. The pitching staff hasn't given up more than 6 runs in any game over that stretch, and the offense is clicking after a number of personnel changes. Max Kepler and Brian Dozier have been two of the best hitters in baseball over that stretch and the pitching staff has the fourth-lowest ERA (3.23) this month. In a lost season, you're put in an awkward position as a fan. Rooting against your own team seems like a rotten, unthinkable thing to do, but tanking may be the best thing for the future. But how does a team tank? You're never going to get the manager, coaches or any of the players behind the idea of giving away games. I suppose a massive, roster-crippling fire sale could do the trick. On the other hand, if the team keeps performing well it's certainly possible that a strong finish to 2016 could carry over. A positive finish to the season could make the long winter seem a little brighter and is only going to help the team attract free agents, if that's the route the new GM decides to take in improving the roster. Nobody is going to want to sign with the worst team in the league. Speaking of the new GM, could the way the Twins perform over the next two months also have an influence over what kind of candidates would be interested in the job? And if that's the case, which would be more attractive to the future GM: a young team on the upswing or the No. 1 pick in the draft? It's definitely something to keep in mind. What do you think? Would you rather see the Twins tank, or end on a high note?

Nice work here Seth. This really highlights how many guys there are already in their mid-20s in the upper levels of the Twins system. What are they waiting for? I didn't realize Garver was already 25. I know catchers take longer to develop than other positions, but at the very least he needs to be promoted to Triple A. Along with those nice batting lines you referenced, he's thrown out 51% of would be base stealers, which is elite.

When Ryan walked away in '07 the timing always struck me as odd. Seems awfully convenient for the guy to step down prior to an offseason in which Hunter was leaving and Johan was going to be traded. I'm sure he had his reasons, but it was a tough spot for Bill Smith to step into. I agree with some of the other comments suggesting this change means a big roster turnover is coming. I bet Ryan was hoping to hold on to any assets that could be of value next season (which is understandable from his point of view) while other high-ranking decision makers are prepared for more of a rebuild.

It's never good when a baseball team leads you to research the stages of grief, but that's exactly the type of thing the 2016 Twins are inspiring. Here's how my grieving through the 2016 season has gone so far. Stage 1: Denial and Isolation Last time I checked in, I was looking for hope with the Twins at 0-8. I wrote that there was plenty of time to turn things around and way too early to be looking for the panic button. When the turnaround didn't happen, I had no interest in investigating why until I went through some further stages of grief. Stage 2: Anger I haven't punched through any walls, burned my Twins gear or anything like that, but lets just say my language has deteriorated and I get a certain twitch in the corner of my left eye anytime someone asks about the Twins. Stage 3: Bargaining Also in my last article, I did some optimistic math. It was almost as if I was trying to convince myself 0-8 was a non-issue. "Well, it took 86 wins to get into the postseason last year. So if you were expecting the Twins to hit that mark, through eight games you would have projected them to have, what, four maybe five wins. So basically all they have to do is win one extra game each month than you would have originally expected." Stage 4: Depression My low point here came during Wednesday's 9-2 defeat at the hands of the Orioles. It was rainy, cold and the team played like garbage. There were several big school groups of kids cheering their little hearts out to no avail, which somehow made everything even more sad. But hey, a day at the ballpark always beats a day at the office and my wife and I got put on the kiss cam, so there's that. Stage 5: Acceptance I think I'm finally starting my journey into accepting the fact the 2016 Twins are a bad team. Furthermore, I'm starting to question if it was foolish to have ever expected them to compete for the playoffs. I have many fond memories from last season, but the way things were at the end of that magical May definitely overshadowed everything else and seems to have blinded me from the bigger picture. Unfortunately, that was a mirage. At the end of last May, the Twins were 30-19. From there, they went 53-60. Another part of my bargaining revolved around how the bad start was just a small sample size. And through just 34 games this season, you could still pound that drum to some extent. But, if we combine their 8-26 record so far this year with the poor finish in '15, you get a 61-86 (.415) record. Tough to call a 147 game stretch a small sample size. Uh oh, I think I'm slipping back into the depression stage. Of course, this is just a tongue and cheek look into the season so far. If a lousy baseball team is most depressing thing in my life right now, things are going pretty darn well. Plus, the Twins will play better. There's no way they lose 120 games this season, right? Oh boy, am I back to denial? I thought I was doing so well. It's a process.

There isn't a whole lot you can look back at and be positive about from the Twins 0-8 start this season, but here comes the sun (do do do do). There's a string of 70-degree temperatures coming up, and things can only go up from here for the Twins. Yes, it's lame to write about the weather, but you can't be a Minnesotan and not talk about the weather, especially when it's good. Just like you can't say here comes the sun and not add in the do do do do part. Anyway, the biggest bright spot for the Twins is there are 154 games left. Let that really sink in. I don't think even lifelong, hardcore baseball fans are good at truly wrapping their minds around how ridiculously long the season is. You wouldn't make a conclusion about a football team after the first 3 quarters of their opening game, right? That's roughly the equivalent of where the Twins are in their season. Things look bad, but I promise it's not time to hit the panic button yet. You'll surely hear all sorts of depressing stats about the history of teams who started 0-8. But you know what? The history of those teams has absolutely nothing to do with how the 2016 Minnesota Twins are going to play over their next 154 games. An 0-8 team has never done this, an 0-8 team has never done that ... who cares? While they didn't start 0-8, there are examples of teams that ended up with good seasons after getting off on the wrong foot. The 2011 Tampa Bay Rays started the year 1-8 and ended up making the playoffs with 91 wins. Last season, the Texas Rangers got off to a 7-15 start and were eventually the AL West champions. If you want to stick with Twins history, the 1991 team got off to a 2-9 start. Anybody remember how that team ended up? Of course you do, but I'm going to remind you anyway because in times like these we need to remember baseball can be fun. That team got things straightened out, but it took time. Even at the end of May their record was only 23-25. From there on, they went 72-42, taking the AL West and eventually becoming World Series Champions. It's true. The Twins were really good once upon a time. Like, the best in the World. Seems hard to believe right now, I know, but you can Google it if you don't want to take my word for it. Looking for something more recent? Well, I would argue that the 2015 Twins actually had a worse first eight games than this season's team. Sure, they at least won two games over that span, but the 2015 Twins were outscored 46-19. This year's club has a slightly more palatable 33-13 deficit in the runs scored column. And I know you remember what happened to that team. Those guys, who look a heck of a lot like this year's guys, won 83 games. No, there is no ring ceremony for finishing over .500, but it was a really fun season. Time is still on the Twins' side. I, like I'm sure many of you, was expecting to see the Twins win a Wild Card this season. After the slow start, what do they have to do to get there? Well, it took 86 wins to get into the postseason last year. So if you were expecting the Twins to hit that mark, through eight games you would have projected them to have, what, four maybe five wins. So basically all they have to do is win one extra game each month than you would have originally expected. Doesn't seem crazy when you break it down like that right? Of course all this is ignoring the myriad problems from the first eight games and assuming this has just been a series of games played by the bizarro Twins, and the real team we expected for 2016 will show up at any moment. But, when you're sitting at 0-8 it's a heck of a lot more fun to look forward in hope than it is to look back in disgust.

You can live with the strikeouts as long as he can live up to his surname and keep drawing more free passes and consistently work deep counts. Walker has increased his walks from 31 to 44 to 51 the past three years. Baby steps, yes, but it's encouraging to see improvement continue as he faces tougher pitching.

Nick Blackburn gave up one run over 5 2/3 in his only career playoff start. Also a Game 2, also against a high-powered offense ('09 Yankees), so ... I think it's pretty unreasonable to think Milone's numbers would get worse in the pen. Here are a dozen LHPs who have performed much better in relief than as starters in no particular order: Oliver Perez: 3.67 ERA in the pen vs. 4.58 starting Zach Duke: 3.32 vs. 4.61 Tom Gorzelanny: 3.45 vs. 4.62 J.P. Howell: 2.64 vs. 6.34 Brian Duensing: 3.63 vs. 4.57 Will Smith: 3.07 vs. 5.48 Zach Britton: 1.72 vs. 4.86 Brian Matusz: 3.16 vs. 5.51 Brett Cecil: 2.85 vs. 4.77 Glen Perkins: 2.95 vs. 5.06 Travis Wood: 2.71 vs. 4.19 Andrew Miller: 3.02 vs. 5.70 ERA isn't the end all be all of pitching stats, but these are big splits and most of these guys have good sized samples as both starters and relievers. I understand some these guys' skill sets differ dramatically from Milone. I just don't understand why anyone thinks he couldn't hold his own as a middle reliever. And I wouldn't necessarily say Milone settles into a groove. I'd say either he has a feel for his pitches that day or not. When he doesn't have his feel, he doesn't last long enough to face a lineup a full second or third time through.

I like Tommy Milone, but there's zero upside to him as a starter. He's a No. 5 on a second division team. He's a guy in no way would you ever want starting a playoff game. He would have been a godsend on the 2013 or 2012 Twins, but we don't need him now. I don't understand why everyone thinks his "stuff wouldn't play" in the bullpen. How many pitchers go to the pen and put up worse numbers? Almost none. If you think he's a guy who can get major league hitters out 18 times an outing in the rotation, somebody's gotta explain to me why he couldn't get 3 or 4 outs an outing out of the bullpen.

I was in no way trying to suggest you put Milone in the pen and he's O'Day. I was just trying to make the point that just because a guy is a soft tosser doesn't mean he can't be good in relief.

But how are you going to show them the circus if you can't get 'em into the tent? If your starters can't hold a lead or keep it close heading into the 7th, I don't care if your bullpen is Clayton Kershaw, Madison Bumgarner and Jake Arrieta.

I say keep Milone and put him in the pen instead. Isn't our main concern out there not have a good lefty? Just because the guy doesn't throw 95 doesn't mean he can't make it work out there. Darren O'Day, the top free agent reliever in this year's market, only averaged 86.7 mph on his fastball in 2015. Milone's average fastball was 87.8 mph.

Thanks for linking over to Nick's article. I think he has valid arguments for May in the pen, should be fun to follow the comments on both articles. I don't see anyone on either side who expects May to pitch poorly. So what happens if he comes in preparing as a starter and has the best spring of anyone in camp? That's a possibility, in fact, I'd put my money on it. Are they really going to send him back to the bullpen? Can you imagine the reaction? It would be equivalent to a riot on the threads here. Plus, what kind of message are you sending to your players? You're basically saying "if we put you in the bullpen, you better not pitch well there or else we're just gonna leave you our there forever." You think any young emerging Twins starter is ever going to want to accept a demotion to the bullpen, like May did?