Darius

Agreed. If he gets healthy and his stats regress a little (to the mean), he's one of the best options this team could hope to have at this point.

Is Santiago really that much better than Albers or Dean? Either way, you're not winning a whole lot of you have any of the 3 throwing significant innings.

I'm not one who tends to shy away from hiring players. Especially when they're high quality individuals like Molitor, Hunter, etc. Why not if they are effective (and I do think Molitor can be effective. The roster he was given was, pardon my french, a pile of dog ****. The problem lies in the fact that this franchise has been absolute garbage since 1991, and they keep trying to recycle the same people over and over again, instead of making philosophical changes. The same people that helped lead the franchise to joke status. To Cleveland Browns status. Not sure why you're so negative on the stance that fresh blood might be needed to turn things around. Sometimes it's necessary, no matter how you feel about the status quo. They've done that with Falvey and his underlings/co-workers. So, we'll see how it works out. Personally, I don't think he'll do much here because the tone at the top starts and ends with the Pohlads, who seem to have no idea what they're doing and in it for money....and not one single thing else (you know, like fielding a competitive squad. With their approach, there are a lot of people who feel they were taken by the likes of the Pohlad's and Ryan, and the whole stadium scam (remember when they needed the stadium to compete and bring big free agents in? A bold faced lie to make a bunch of money. Borderline fraudulent misrepresentation of intention). I have no problem with groups of people who want everything down to the urinal cakes thrown out, and replaces. They have justifiable complaint. If you can't see the merit in that, I have to start questioning a few things.

Don't mind this considering the options available. I assume the Pohlad's have implemented their usual signing moratorium, and we'r done for the offseason.

I think Park gets healthy and looks a lot better. I could see him hitting a lot of home runs for this team from the 6-7 hole. Escobar is another guy that I would expect to be better. But, not sure if he'll play. Tyler Duffey is another I haven't seen mentioned a while lot, but I would bet on him being better.

You could probably make the case to include anyone on the 53-man, with the exception of a handful of guys (Dozier, Santans, Kintzler, Polanco).

I don't know if I understand why this is so risky, relative to other draft picks (specifically 11th round draft picks). It's not 1992. Returning to form after a TJ isn't unlikely. Nearly every pitcher has it done eventually, it's almost routine at this point, so is it any more risky than someone who will probably get it done a few years from now? Talent w/ Tommy John vs Considerably less talent without (yet) ....... which is really more risky? For example....wouldn't it be more risky to take the same player, in an alternate universe where he did not need Tommy John, in the third round (where you spend more of your allotment and there is higher-end talent available)? In terms of financial risk (well, there really isn't any).....no fan should care.

I'll be surprised if the Pohlads let him clean house. Im guessing that's why they went with him instead of a McLoed, etc. He's young, and probably willing to go along with the wishes of ownership to get his shot (in terms of personnel, spending, etc)

100 mph at 17? Can he just get his Tommy John out of the way now?

This is just my opinion, but I see only two viable options here: 1). Everyday 3B with Sano moving to 1B/DH. I think this is the best option for both players (mostly Sano), assuming there are not major roster changes. Mauer can stay put and cut his ABs significantly, and Vargas can rotate in/ 2). Trade Dozier in the offseason, get some pitching in return, move him to second. Either way, status quo is clearly lacking.

Just a few things: 1). Plouffe is not good. Nobody is giving up anything for him. At this point, I don't see how just giving him his walking papers would hurt the Twins in any way. 2). Dozier should absolutely be traded. He'll never be as good as we was this year again. That's not so say he won't be a good player, but he's not playing MVP calibur baseball again. Just gut feeling (and about 10 years of numbers). Even if he does, it's not helping them compete for anything meaningful with this pitching staff. Hell, you could double all of his statistics this year, and the Twins still don't sniff the playoffs. For the love of God, Twins FO, have some foresight just one time and sell high on someone. 3). The biggest need on this team going into next year (outside of any carbon-based life form to stand on the mound, and in some way project the ball towards home plate) is catcher, IMO. The horrendous defense behind the plate has been sucking the life out of this team since Mauer moves. There are people walking the street who are better than Suzuki with the gear on at this point. He does some things well, but the guy can't frame a pitch, and he might as well be the BP net in terms of controlling base runners. It's time for him to start his coaching career.

Antony and Bloom would on the bottom of my list.....so I'm sure one of them will get the job. I get the feeling that it'll be Antony, because that's just how the Twins operate. I'll stick with that until proven otherwise.

Some good stuff here, and definitely a contributing factor. But, I dont think I buy that this is THE difference, and correcting this will turn him into the ace everyone expects. So, there are no AAA hitters/coaches that are aware of this? He cant get anyone out at the MLB level. Hes probably seen some hitters in AAA that were just as talented as some of the guys in the majors. Its not just elite MLB hittera giving him fits. His big issue is still walking too many batters at the MLB level, which he seems not to do at AAA. Again, fixing this issue may help, but i still think there is an overarching confidence/mental issue that he hasnt figured out how to get over.

This is way off: 1). He has beem hurt in his career, but the majority of his time missed was due to one ACL injury (he missed a few other games with an ankle). I dont think its overly worrisome. For example, Aaron Rodgers missed nearly the whole season a couple years ago, and had surgery this offseason. Tom Brady had an ACL. It happens. Nobody calls them injury prone. 2). Considering the fact that he has never played with evem mediocre skill playera around him (running game, receivera, etc), and never played in the same system for multiple years (which is so underrated), he's been pretty darn good. After winning offensive rookie of the year in 2010, on an awful team, he had a pretty poor year in his sophmore year, on a worse team. Since that year, he has never posted a rating below 82, which is around league average, posting as high as 90+, which is well above league average -- Aaron Rodgers posted 92 last yeae, for example. Since 2012, he has a 54-31 TD-INT ratio....on terrible teams. Tell me, you dont think an above average NFL QB on awful teams, an a guy comfortable with play-action, would look much better with the best RB in the NFL, and a top 10 if not top 5 defense? "Not good" on the field is just lazy analysis. 3). He was not replaces by a rookie. He was the starter. The rookie was named the starter after the trade....over Chase Daniel. 4). The first round pick is overrared. Espwcially 20+. Cordarrelle Patterson, etc, were picked in the first round. You're not really as likely to find a great player as many like to think, because theyre bought into the NFL draft machine hype. Also, the Vikinga have a second, multiple thirds, and multiple fourths. They will be moving up. 5). The cap hit means almost nothing at this point. Kalil will be coming off the books, Patterson, etc. They'll be just fine. The trade may or may not work out...but one of two things is going on here:. Youre a crusty Packers fan who was happy as hell after Teddy went down, who is now disappinted and grasping at any straw to makw yourself feel better.....or you dont know as much about Bradford and football aa you think you do. The trade may or may not work out. But, lets not be dense and pretend like rolling into the season with Shaun Hill was a better option. How'd the Pack look with their awful back up when Rodgers got hurt?

He's not coming to MN. Why would any high-end FO guy want to come to a place where he'll be hamstrung by ownership every year? He was recently named executive of the year, and turned around a struggling franchise with a lot of saavy big-time moves. He built arguably the most entertaining product in the league, and has the terrible stadium in a hockey-only city nearly sold out every night. This guy will have a much better opportunity than the Twins within a year. I heard it said by Gleeman that this could be a leverage play that originated from his camp, not the Twins, and that just makes too much sense. The Twins would never publicly divulge a nugget like that if it were actually in the works. Possibly, a leverage play by the Twins to try and pull in another actual candidate ("see, we have options). Knowing the Pohlads the way we do....probably to try and get someone to sign a low-ball deal. All of that said, a guy who isnt afraid to shake things up is exactly what this organization needed 10 years ago. Id be thrilled with that hire, and every Twins fan should be as well.

So what about all the cautionary tales of teams that dont spend money on quality players and only try to work players out of their own system? The Pirates for about 50 years comes to mind. The Twins since the early ninties. Many many more. Then, there are all the inspirational tales of the teams that have purchased championships, and have basically held an oligopoly over major league baseball since the late 90s. Pointing at an outlier here or there and saying youre doomed with big free agents is misguided. Its much more rare to win a championship as a small market team near the bottom of the league in payroll every year. Hindsight on Grienke is 20/20, and he still may rebound. You have Grienke in one hand, in the other there is Sherzer, Hamels, Kershaw, Cueto, and Strasburg. You cant tell me going out and trying put one the leagues most dominant starters at the front end of your rotation is ever a bad idea. How has the middling-bargain barrel rotation paradigm worked out for the Twins over the years? There are infinitely more horror stories on that end of the spectrum.

Do they really though? Santana is what he is, and will be in the rotation. Same for Gibson. I dont think anything they do will change that. Berrios needs the innings, but again, likely a rotation staple in the future. Duffy might need the innings, but one could argue some bullpen inning might benefit him. Trevor May would be a candidate for the future, but thats not happening this year. That leaves the rotation spots that are being filled by guys like Santiago, Pat Dean, and Albers. Nobody needs to see another inning from those guys to know that they shouldnt be in a major league rotation next year. No disrespect intended to those fine gentlemen, but its just the truth right now. I'm not advacating bringing Gonsalves up. But for other reasons. Saying that there are just too many pitchers sounds like one of the old company lines. Yes, there are some breathing bodies, but there might be one legitimate rotation piece on the Twins right now (Santana) if we're talking about a true contender. Two if you bank on Berrios' upside.

I think your last sentence is the realworry. I dont want him to come up, be told he needs to tweak his mechanics (a la Berrios), struggle, and have the sees of doubt planted.

Dozier is unreal right now. He quietly is putting up numbers that should be getting MVP consideration. Can you imagine what those numbers would look like right now if he wasn't one of the worst hitters in the league for the first few months of the year... It's unbelievable. When it's all said and done, this may be one of the greatest offensive seasons in the Twins history...and he's really done it over about half of a season.

The hysteria over this is nuts. Law's comment is ridiculous. What does he lose if he gets hurt? A free beer after the game from the sponsor next year? There is no college scholarship/pro contract on the line here. If he blows his elbow, he's not going to be some handicap or CTE victim (plenty of amateur/youth football leagues out there). People live with injuries that aren't surgically repaired all the time (labrum, knee ligaments, etc). I know someone who freakishly tore up their knee while shopping for groceries. Should we turn it into a crusade against the dangers of buying bananas? A few weeks ago a teammate tore an ACL in a slow pitch softball game. Should we look into whether or not we want to allow slow pitch softball as a societal issue? He is an adult. The guy is an amateur ball player, probably had a great time, and made some amazing memories. I'm guessing he wasn't going out there against his will....in fact, it was probably his idea. This asinine reactionary social media society we live today has gotten out of control. This exact thing has probably happened hundreds of times over the years in amateur baseball in Minnesota, or any other state, without being documented. But, now everyone has to chime with their, "look at me! I'm the most righteous! I am even more outraged!" covertly narcissistic comment over Twitter. Let's face it. Nobody commenting gives a damn about John Doe amateur from the tundra's elbow health. They just want as many people as possible to think that they do. Can anyone just enjoy something cool for once without it turning into some controversial issue?

I'm sure there are many examples of players in other organizations that have hit home runs, and went on to continue that in the MLB. While it may be true that home runs arent a great indicator of stardom, I can't look at the Twins organization and make that generalization about all power hitters in all systems. I think, in this case, it may lend itself more to the Twins historical inability to develop players. The fact that the only member on the list to find success actually turned into one of the greatest clutch power hitters of all time, once he got into another organization, kind of reaffirms that for me (Ortiz). The guy even said himself that the Twins had him all screwed up trying to change things and having him do things that didnt come naturally.

So how do you distinguish between the legit prospect and the reliever? Look at the back of baseball card? If he's 6'5" 230, he must be a future ace? Or, do you just assume everybody in A ball is a future reliever?

This is just.....I believe the millenials say lol.

So you'd give the credit to the Twins, who have a long history of turning highly regarded prospects into nothing, only to see them flourish elsewhere? Are you implying that you think he would have been unsuccessful in other organizations, and the Twins did something special? If so, you have a more positive outlook than I....neither necessarily being right or wrong. Just not the direction I'd lean. Maybe he'd be an all star in another organization. Maybe not. Maybe he'd be even better if handled differently, and the system isn't maximizing his potential. I think that's the point. There are many scenarios under which he could be a good player, but not get recognized as a prospect (lack of exposure, playing through injuries, late bloomer physcially, etc etc). I'm certainly not going to say the Twins did something special, given their track record. Id be more inclined to give the credit to the player for succeeding despite the Twins system.

This argument can work both ways. Plouffe is awful over a huge sample size, so he shouldn't play. Time to see what Vargas can do over a large(er) sample. Also, the way Vargas is doing it appears to have a decent shot of being sustainable. He works to get good pitches to hit. If he doesn't get one, he's walking....unlike every other young player they've given long looks to (Rosario, Buxton, Sano...Kepler is the one exception). Just to make sure I'm not misunderstanding....you're saying player X (Plouffe specifically...,who is playing first again tonight instead of Vargas) with awful large sample size > Vargas with very respectable small sample size? D'ohK.