Rosterman

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Yeah, Milone barks questions. Yet we need, more than ever, a long-man or two who can pick up the slack from failed starts (isn't that what Taylor Rogers should be doing, J.R. Graham should've done, Trevor May should be striving for). Both Berrios and Meyer have a taste of the big leagues. If they want the daily pay, nice room and meal money, they know what is expected from them and they should be working hard at it every minute they are at AAA. And they should be given a chance to come up here and bomb as bad as the current rotation of starters. Yet the Twins need outings from their big four of Santana, Gibson, Hughes and Nolasco to see if they could get anything for them. Santana is now on the poison list. Too abd no one came calling a start or two ago. I'm waiting to see who disappears when Gibson comes up. Duffey and Dean have both earned at least one more start. Berrios should've had one more start and deserves a recall. Nolasco DOES NOT deserve anymore starts. Sadly. It will be tough to eat the contract,

Well, I don't feel so bad about NOT having cable television and the NOT need to purchase a major league baseball package to run off my Roku stick or whatever. I'm somewhat happy that the Twins are on the radio station I would never listen to unless the game was on and I'm in Minneapolis somewhere and not under a bridge. No talkfest before the game, no Dark Starr-like wrap up for hours after the game. That they even fail to mention scores when returning to music...what kind of station is this? Pretty much the total ignorance towards the Twins, or nothing but pathetic articles by writers needing to write something. No cliches. Just TMZ-like coverage or NO coverage of the team. When you talk about the Wild on WCCO instead of baseball, or the new Vikings Stadium...where Twins management must know it will be a long lonely summer at Target Field. Parking is at least cheap for Twins games. Maybe the Twins could have valet parking. Guys not in the line-up making a few extra bucks, or maybe front office staff doing something useful. What did the Twins do today? They lost! Tell me something new. Only talk Twins smack when they win! Travelling the state without a Twins schedule in the car so I can't find the local station that may be broadcasting the games, which cuts out 10 miles later. I hope all that radio ad revenue is filling up the Pohlad money bin. Did I say I missed them on television? Not! Finally catching up on all those seasons of Friends and Fraiser I missed.

Twins early round drafting, first 150 picks: 2005: MATT GARZA, Henry Sanchez, Paul Kelly, KEVIN SLOWEY, Drew Thompson. BRIAN DUENSING, Ryan Mullins, Caleb Moore 2006: CHRIS PARMELEE, JOE BENSON, TYLER ROBERTSON, Whit Robbins, Garrett Jones 2007: BEN REVERE, Angel Morales, Danny Rams, Reggie Williams 2008: AARON HICKS, Carlos Gutierrez, Shooter Hunt, Bobby Lanigan, TYLER LADENDORF, Danny Ortiz, Nick Romero 2009: KYLE GIBSON, Ben Tootle, Billy Bullock, Derek McCallum 2010 Alex Wimmers, Niko Goodrum, PAT DEAN, EDDIE ROSARIO 2011: Levi Michael, Travis Harrison, Corey Williams, Hudson Boyd, Madison Boer, Matt Summers 2012: BYRON BUXTON, JOSE BERRIOS, Luke Bard, Mason Melotakis, JT Chargolis, Adam Walker, Zach Jones, TYLER DUFFEY 2013: Kohl Stewart, Ryan Eades, Stu Turner, Stephen Gonsalves, Aaron Slegers 2014: Nick Gordon, Nick Burdi, Michael Cederoth, Sam Clay, Jake Reed 2015: Tyler Jay, Travis Blakenhorn, Trey Cabbage, Alex Robinson, Kyle Cody (didn't sign) The last four drafts do look pretty promising, but you never know, especially when you see the dozen guys who made it to the majors out of the next 7 drafts. There was a minor benefit in finishing in the bottom of the league compared to being competitive when you look at the big picture. I'm sure there are other teams that have developed many more top round picks than the Twins overall, and some teams that have developed even less.

You have to build a solid farm system with a philosophy for developing players for major league play. If you look back at the last 10 years of the draft, the Twins are drafting a lot of guys that haven't gone anywhere (or some that have gone to other organizations). You may have a Twins Way of doing things, but how does that reflect into the changing structure of a roster mixed with players essentially playing baseball for the major leagues at some point, with no team loyalty above and beyond pay. You have to set yourself up as a competitive team. Combined with the bosses in the front office, how are you doing this. The Twins fault seems to be a cross between Mike Veeck and Indy Ball (let's have fun at Target Field) and let's just compete solidly in our division and worry about what happens if we do go to the playoffs if that does happen. That hurts the general manager as a signee of free agents. Sure, the Twins wanted a bunch of mid-range (say $6-8) million guys, but they could easily get that elsewhere with teams that ARE more competitive. The Twins essentially had to overpay to get guys to come here after a string of losing seasons. Right now...who wants to come and play with the Twins unless they are on a rebuilding plan for themselves or are vastly overpaid. I even question what it would take to get outside management to come to this team. You have to gamble a lot of money and fail. In the draft, how many millions are spent on failed players. Every year a certain number of player days are because someone is hurt. That's millions. Or you make not one, but two or three bad signings. Can the team afford to eat those dollars or let them walk away (what the Yankees were always able to do). And I do like a general manager that does go dumpster diving and finds a few gems. But also want him to trade of pieces when they are valuable commodities, and not wait to long on pulling the strings on guys that are not in the plans 2-3 years down the road and have come off a good season. But I also want him to seriously look at what a player can bring to a team. Even when dealing with the field staff. Thought things would be totally blown out when Gardy was relieved of duties. Yet we still retain Bruno and Vavra and, in a sense, Molly. We brought a couple of guys up from the minors (Glynn and Hernandez). We did bring in some new blood. Who choose everyone? GM, GM and Manager? Every team seems to operate with multiple general managers. Some have presidents/CEOS with more of a handle in baseball operations with a named general manager and their assistants. The Twins have general manager duties basically shared by at least three people, it seems. In a family run organization that prides itself on a front office staff made up of lifers to this particular team, all seems well when the team DOES compete and that near 2 million paying customers spend on the team. And management can avoid spending what other teams ae throwing at players...in this point they seem like me, a diehard Minnesotan, who is always a few years behind the norm in what I purchase or safely invest in. Is it a Minnesota thing? When I look at so much discussed above in the writer's detailed description of what a general manager should be or do, I see a lot of Terry Ryan in there, from international scouting (although I feel the Twins were surprised that they one the Park auction), to scouting and development, to talking with free agents (Target Field was not only going to allow the Twins to keep their own free agents, but give them revenue to spend).. He has a good grip with the media, is sometimes too honest, and truly loves the game, the way it WAS played, and the concept of people being major league ball players. Every team has ups and downs. We should be proud we didn't have the runs of Kansas City or Pittsburgh. Houston had a heckuva a rebuild. The successful Braves have to work hard to keep their fan base in a rebuild. Boston has ups and downs. Other teams have overspent. Other teams have had troubled seasons (Detroit, White Sox). No one knows what is happening in Cleveland. We do have a "system failure" in this team right now. There is a lot of talent in the pipeline, some obvious needs (catching, defense, hard-throwers compared to soft tossers). But like the players in the minor leagues, do we have talent in the front office that has been and is being groomed in a manner that will improve the club in the long haul, or just enthusiastic guys who fall into the trap of Twins Way (the address of the team, by the way) and the need to give an illusion of competition rather than go forth 110% into the field of play!

Not sure what to make of May. He has been getting pounded lately. I would like to think that he doesn't truly know his status out of the bullpen...setuo, long man, future starter, whatever. But Jepsen. Unless we have someone better in the wings, at least let him pitch in games that we are down, or have a big lead. Not sure what he needs to do to increase his value (which he wants to do, entering free agency himself). At least he didn't give up a home run against K.C. But it has been a strange 40+ games. Thought Pressley was a find, but NOT. Tonkin ahs been a surprise, although he isn't really a special arm out of the bullpen. Abad makes you want to look at a longterm contract, but the Twins WOULD BE BETTER if they sold high when they can on this guy. We will probably see at least a trio of minor league free agents before the season is done and maybe the Twins can flip them too. But until we get to see Burdi, Reed, Chargolis, Hildenberger, Bard and any number of other guys NOT on the 40-man, we won't be excited when the call goes to the bullpen. May.work him up as long relief with the potential to start if you aren't going to groom him as a closer. I have hopes for May, but we continue to hear the rally cry that people are being misued. This guy may be that poster child for the organization in 2016.

I wouldn't even keep Escobar or Nunez. I would keep Polanco before them, at the moment, if anyone would take them off my hands. Yes, it says a lot about where the Twins are going this year. We can plug in Garver or Truner as catcher soon, but they won't tear the cover off the ball. Nick Gordon or Ryan Walker will be a shortstop for the future. Sano should be at third. Kepler is untouchable in my book. Anyone else we keep is because they have some promise or are cheap. Arcia needs to prove himself worthy of a continued look (and I would gamble one more season on him, while Walker develops). Rosario and Santana are only okay...but I ask "would anyone else want them from us?" I see you didn't touch on pitching. We seem to be so system rich. We have to find something out of Berrios, Wheeler, Meyer, Wimmers, Chargolis, Baxendale, Reed, Williams, Melotakis, Hildenberger, Westphal, Burdi, Gonsalves, Jorge, Stewart, Jay, Peterson, VanSteesel, Romero, Bard, Landa, Curtiss and Thorpe...any of these guys should crack the major league roster by the spring of 2019. Out of all of them, I would say Berrios, Gonsalves, Stewart, Chargolis, Hildenberger, Landa and Thorpe remain untouchable. Especially since the Twins are so weak right now there is no reason to trade any prospects for contract players. The only reason to trade a secondary prospect (blocked by someone else) would be to get some other higher prospects back from another team, but they would still have to be low-level as the Twins only have so many roster spots to protect their own future prospects. The fact is that 2017 is a rebuild year. 2018 might be a more competitive year. But depending on how many bodies get some time this year, the whole mess could be pushed back to even 2019, and then what are we spending on the Sanos and Company of today to keep them happy and around?

Still Berrios got out of some messes. He's throwing the K's that we all want, as is WImmers. Just need some better pitch selections,

So, there is some place the Twins are posting "Help Wanted" ads?

Start moving everyone up and getting rid of those AAAA guys. The players will get some lumps, but welcome to professional ball. And quit signing indy league guys!

I like the idea that the Twins are stocking up the roster with some good trade candidates. Can't wait to see what Grossman and Mastro will bring in return. Time to add a couple more of the AAAA free agents to the roster.

We want seasoning down on the farm. We want the young guys to play together in the major leagues. Torn between the joys of an outfield of Sano, Santana and Grossman rather than the struggles of Buxton Kepler Arcia (with Sano at third and Rosario as the 4th outfielder). Let Centeno start and have Garver or Turner be back up, or let Murphy struggle up here to see if he belongs. Polanco and Santana are the bench infielders perhaps, or rotation at SS with Escobar being the chief backup? We can wait on the rotation shakeup until the trade deadline passes. The bullpen needs a house cleaning as soon as some arms get some AAA time. See if Reed or Burdi or Bard can handle the higher level. They have troubles at AA...but it might jsut be AA.

Line-up construction. Players pushing or being frustrated. Lots of factors here. The team is just playing bad, and if it is this bad, you better be figuring out more and more ways to fix the future kids as well as get them some playing time. Nothing against the major league/AAA shuttle. But let's get a new plan and stick with it. Or is the worry still to give some sort of illusion of competitive play to hopefully get people to come to the stadium, drink beer and enjoy outdoor baseball, which they can now do in St. Paul for a fraction of the cost. The players don't look like a team. They aren't enjoying themselves. The season will be a grind. Someone has to bring some life back into their play. Soon IT WILL BE pitchers against hitters as one or the other blow apart the play on the field on a consistent basis. I can live with rebuilding. Call it that and go from there. Get the players out in public (pro shop appearances and events). Bring the team into the community. Be that "Try Harder" team.

Good post, Seth. Yes, you aren't just going to cut loose some of the vets at this point in the season. It is a Catch-22. Do the vets play bad, do the rookies play bad. Or does some goodness appear. If the vets do good, they increase their trade value. The rookies have had a taste of big league life. Now they need to work on stuff. Do it at AAA, but do promote them early (August 1) and run with them. As you jettison the vets you can add some others to the 40-man and give them a rotating taste of big league life (Burdi, Reed, Stewart, Harrison, Palka, maybe even Nick Gordon gets a callup in September). But you do want to play the fringe guys who MIGHT be a part of 2016 (be it Tonkin or Dean). The guys who won't be around in 2016 should be gone in any ways by August 1 (Suzuki, possibly Nunez - although he has been a rock and a contributor - maybe Escobar). Hey, we could've won that game last night. But Berrios deserved to continue pitching deeper into the game, at this point in the season, to see IF he could get out of it...or maybe someone on the field should've noticed that he wasn't ready to start the game in the first place. And just a quick side note: there are approx 16 players on the Twins 40-man that shouldn't be there at all come 2017. There is no where near that number to add for the long haul from AAA and AA at this point. And if the Twins do what you say, Seth. What IS the status of the on-field staff. Do we promote Dougie, Jake, and a couple of others who have followed this group to the majors? Do you get a hard-core vet to lead the field and really come down hard on the guys? Do we stay with Molly?

So, anyone watch Berrios warm-up tonight> We basically have two pitching coaches, a manager, a catcher catching his stuff before the game. We let him walk four, give up three hits, get a couple outs. Let him throw another 40 pitches and keep going at this point. You allowed the hole to get that deep (although we are battling back, it seems). I hope he gets one more opportunity before exchanging out for Gibson. Or maybe two. But something is wrong with the field management issues here. Definitely the guy wasn't ready to pitch tonight.

The rotating names of catchers in and out of glory (not named Posey) is many. Yes, Ramos was the future, especially if we knew Mauer was going to first. Pinto really was never a catching prospect (folks, this IS true). You can get by with sub-standard production if they can call a game and hold runners. But even now, any of those "prospects" won't be starting 2017 with the team. There's always specialists, like Centeno, and you can usually find a Butera floating around, if you really want to sacrifice production. Murphy should be a good solid placeholder, although no one is excited after his less than dozen appearances behind-the-dish. I'm glad right now we didn't sign Weiters, or trade for Leucroy. Even Samatacchiaalinia (whatever) would've been a difficult justification for what he wanted or got in payroll. And A.J. is even slowing down. We should be happy for the Mauer years. May never see anything like it again!

The trouble is, if you add Beresford, then you run the risk of losing him if he is sent back out. Is he valuable to the AAA team? Better to reward him a call-up at season's end if you do have a 40-man hole, or someone on the 60-day DL. Then, as the season ends, he is still eligible to be cut for some other hot young prospect, but still remain (maybe out of gratitude) with the organization, unless someone really comes calling. The situation the Twins face with Mastro, now. If they do send him down to the minors, he will have to go thru waivers and you run the risk of losing him, good or bad for one party or the other. Fine if you don't need him. Bad if you don't have someone to advance if you lose him.

So we wait four years. About that time the Twins will have money to burn, winning the World Series in 2018 and 2019 and 2020 with all the uys they would trade, today, for Trout.

You would have the second coming of Joe Mauer and not have any of the players who will be the mainstay of your organization in 2018 and 2019. Yes, he is younger, but better just to wait to see if you can unload the bank vault if he becomes a free agent and would want to play in Minnesota. That's going to be the new rub. What free agent wants to come here now unless they are overpaid, looking for a job, or a minor league guy looking for a job.

Yes, you have to bring in a wisend old vet for the bench or the bullpen to JUST be a team leader of sorts. But usually those are guys on the downside of their career (Nunez and Abad are good examples this year, but not necessary leaders). That 82 team did have a lot of youth who went on to play multiple seasons with the Twins. But practically no experience!~

Both will probably have to be protected on the 40-man this coming fall?

Its the organization's job to develop players. Part of that is putting people in a position to succeed. The Twins can't even figure out what positions their top prospects play and their field staff doesn't seem to be on the same page either. Its a complete mess. Amen. Seems we see a lot of, okay, let's try this guy out here. Is there no long range planning? If Plouffe is your once and future third baseman, then start playing Sano elsewhere earlier. Is Kepler an outfielder for the corners. Is he heir to Joe Mauer at first base? Minors is where you sort this out. Move Danny Santana back to infield reserve, then better get him time playing there -- in the minors. Yes, it is nice if ALL players can play ANYWHERE. Dream on. If you got a dynamite prospect, then you move aside the aging vet who is playing predictable ball for that prospect, or you flip that prospect for somtehing you really need. Period.

Is there a fear that an external candidate might clean the house too much, from manager and coaches down to minor league coaches and the way to do things, that prospects would be jettisoned randomly rather than looking at a potential bigger picture (and realistic) that the Twins will compete come 2018, not 2015 (the surprise) or 2016 (the dream). The talent is there. They just need the seasoning, the exposure. But whoever becomes general manager also has to realize that the couple of missing pieces, when the team IS ready to make a push, may be expensive and also a roll of the dice. Not just surrounding the core with mid-level (and expensive) middle of the rotation guys, or castoffs from other teams. Any player added to the roster from outside the organization should be a player that another team might covet, not ignore. I would vote YES for an outside the system general manager if the Twins were in shambles. If there was no talent on the farm. If there is a shakeup, it will be on field management. Do you promote the guys who have been working with the future (Dougie M, Jake Mauer, etc.). Yes, the rebuilding process will not sit well with the common fan who spends dollars to watch a game and buys the shirts and whatnot. The Twins have to figure out a way to put butts in the seats, or be content that their profits may dwindle (and, I guess, the payroll really shrink). But the payroll can't really shrink too much, and shant shrink come the time to compete, which may not be fullout until 2018 with victory in 2019 if so many pieces fall into place.

Where have all the prospects gone? They haven't arrived yet. And too many of them are just that, prospects. You draft 40-50 a year. You maybe trade for a few. Sign a few more from other teams when their rosters get too big, or from the international pipelines. But it can take a minimum of 3 years, and often five before a prospect reaches the majors, and then 9 out of 10 times there are still growing pains. To recap, let's look at the Twins draft choices who made it to the majors - with or not with the Twins - since Joe Mauer was drafted in 2001. (-) = # of players drafted that are still playing ball in a pro organization major/minor. 2001 (2) Joe Mauer, Jason Vargas, Nick Blackburn, Matt Macri, Kevin Cameron, Jose Morales. 2002 (4) Denard Span, Pat Neshek, Brock Peterson, Garrett Mock, Evan Meek, Clete Thomas, Jesse Crain, Kyle Phillips 2003 (1) Scott Baker, Levale Speigner, Travis Metcalf, Steve Pearce, Mike Holimon, John Gaub 2004 (3) Trevor Plouffe, Glen Perkins, Kyle Waldrop, Matt Fox, Anthony Swarzak, Matt Tolbert 2005 (4) Matt Garza, Kevin Slowey, Brian Duensing, Steve Tolleson, Yonder Alonso, Alex Burnett, David Hernden, Charles Leesman, Rene Tosoni 2006 (7) Chris Parmelee, Joe Benson, Danny Valencia, Tyler Robertson, Brian Dinkelman, Anthony Slama, Jeff Manship, JP Martinez, Andy Oliver 2007 (6) Ben Revere, Seth Rosin, Chase Anderson, Chris Heston 2008 (11) Aaron Hicks, Tyler Ladendorf, Mike Tonkin, George Springer, Adam Conley, Aaron Barrett, Kolten Wong, Tyler Anderson 2009 (7) Kyle Gibson, Brian Dozier, Chris Herrmann, Mario Hollands, Pat Light 2010 (11) Pat Dean, Logan Darnell, AJ Achter, Ryan O'Rourke, Cody Martin, Eddie Rosario 2011 (17) Kyle Barraclough 2012 (20) Byron Buxton, Jose Berrios, Tyler Duffey, Taylor Rogers, Zach Jones (DL) 2013 (20) - 2015 - still waiting. Yes, the Twins are pretty lucky with signings like Kepler and Sano from outside of the country. But it is players from 4 years and six years back that are just entering major league roster hood. So rebuilding takes a lot of time. Even those names NOT ON THE 40 MAN that will probably get a callup this season, will just contribute next season as they get their major league legs. And another crop from a rich organization will make their debut in 2017. Boy, there is a lot of names of guys that the Twins couldn't sign that made it with other teams. And rally, when you look at the BIG draft picture and the amount f money doled out, the results aren't knocking you off your chair. You have two issues with building a PROSPECTS-BASED TEAM, either they all come up for big contracts in roughly the same 3-5 year period, or your minor leagues are so rich, you lose guys because you don't have protected roster space for them. Which means you constantly trade down...the 2nd/3rd/4th guy on your ladder to the majors for a lower level prospect who MIGHT make it. Or veterans for mid-level prospects (i.e. May and Meyer are examples) that could flame out or have entirely different roles than when you traded for them.

I want to see more from Berrios. But the Twins starters haven't been making the rain-out requirement much in the past week. Is that a rain cloud over Dave St. Peter leaving the Target Fields offices right now?