Rosterman

I still wish we had a better backup for catcher if Pinto needs to start at AAA. I would almost go with Beresford over Nunez, depending on the outfield. If Santana goes to the outfield, then Escobar is not the backup. Don't keep any pitcher because of salary. If even Nolasco sucks, let him walk. Sorry. Or if Gibson has a tough spring - AAA. Put together the best roster possible, including bench/backups and overall bullpen needs. Keep i mind that there ARE bodies in the minors than can contribute sooner rather than later...not quite ready to break camp but ready to ride the bench or start if someone goes down. We don't need to keep giving jobs to journeymen who won't be around at all in 2016 or beyond.

After being rejected by a couple of other folks in the drafting process, the Twins played it safe. I never fully unerstand when a player DOESN'T want to be drafted or go into the organization of any team. That team's fortunes could turn around quickly. You can also be a part of that turn around, possibly more quickly. And, who knows, you might be traded in a following year anyways to someone you don't want to play with. So.......

Man, in the real world, Santana in center. But the other reality, let Hicks take his lumps yet again with the hopes that he moves to right in 2016 and Buxton comes into play, although where Rosario ends up is the next question. It's so ahrd to think that at onetime the Twins felt they had an abundance of centerfielders, so they traded Span and Revere (after jettisoning Gomez). Whatever happened to that Benson guy, and is Mastro still in anyone's plans?

Oliveros and Thompson and Pryor are on the bubble. Now, if ever, is a chance for ANY pitcher to pitch to stick with the Twins. I hope they start the season, anyways, with the BEST of the batch. DOn't make a spot for Pelfrey just because of salary. If May or Meyer aren't ready, let them start in the minors. Thielbar is not written in stone and has options. Stauffer is the new kid, but that doesn't mean you have to keep him around anymore than say, Boyer. Or Milone. More than enough bodies to choose from. Achter and Tonkin, too. Some guys are out-of-options. People like Achter and Tonkin will be pushed aside by Burdi and Reed, so if they have some life, they are tradable if you want to gamble more on Graham. And Gilmartin may return, too, who knows. Plus you still have Logan Darnell looking in, and -- well, are the Twins pitching rich? Of course, no need to get cocky, as the Twins were once centerfielder rich, too, and look where we ended up in that scenario. Oliveros and Thompson, journeymen who you can live without? Pryor, can you cut, keep, and is there a reason to do so. Pelfrey? If he can't start out of the shoot and give you innings and keep you in the game, let him go and eat the salary, or bury him at Rochester like they did Blackburn and let him stay injured or work towards getting back to the majors. May and Meyer want to pitch. I think May realizes that being in the bullpen in the majors is just as good as being in the rotation. Meyer NEEDS to get innings in (but not too many) at AAA, if nothing else. Again, it is a person's job to lose, not win, on the Twins in 2015. And the whole process starts over again in 2016. If you don't cut it in 2015, you will be looking for work elsewhere.

Some tough decisions on the lineup. I vote for Santana to lead-off. You don't need lead-off homeruns in baseball. Better if the knock the batter in ahead of them. But the rest, well, I just say leave Mauer in the number 3 spot. Talk emerged about Hunter batting second. Not a bad choice if he keeps his average up. But is there much difference between him batting second or Dozier, or even Suzucki. But who bats cleanup. Not Vargas yet. Or Arcia. Plouffe could be the poster boy, but that depends on Hunter and Dozier, neither of whom should probably bat clean-up, but how far down the order do you bury them. Ultimately, we can pencil in Hicks or Escobar in the 9th spot.. Be interesting to see the final results. Hey, maybe we SHOULD batter Mauer like 7th or 8th!

Wonderful guy to fans seeking his autograph!

The reason we dropped our 20-game season ticket package is because the games are all over the place and my wife works an irregular schedule and we weren't able to take in the weekend games. We were also lucky to move our Yankee and Brewer tickets early, but took a hit on other games (notably the Red Sox and Royals) that we weren't able to attend. You sell off some tickets and then buy ones for other games at a discount. Buying them all for one night would be a true benefit. Of course, the more season ticket packages that are sold, the better it is for the casual or unorganized fan as more tickets will be available via stub hub and such, although going electronic, wonder how that will work. We had a good time last year booking rally cheap seats in a variety of sections and getting different views of the field, making notes for when we might return as season ticket holders.

Appropriately called "The Last Baseball Dinosaur." Always liked his talk of driving around town and people giving him the finger when they passed him by, he thinking they were telling him "I was #1."

Whew. You got four main spots locked up, but anything can happen. One of them can tank in spring training and make you wonder, but the one closest to being on the bubble would be Gibson, who might just still have an option year. Otherwise, you won't cut Santana, Hughes or Nolasco because of salary. Any of them could start the season, though, on the dl. Somewhere in the land of "we need a third catcher" is that voice that says "we need a left-handed starter." Well, the main choices are Milone or Darnell. Neither makes you want to buy a ticket to see them pitch. Of course, if you don't mind going with five righties, you give the ball to Pelfrey, the $5.5 million arm. Remember, folks, this is a guy coming off Tommy John surgery who fast-tracked himself in 2013. He had some good outings, some abd outings. That the Twins HAD to pay what they did, and for two years instead of one and an option...well, Pelfrey is better at sleight-of-hand than Cuddyer. Also remember, this is the guy the Twins WANTED instead of Humber when they shipped Santana to the Mets. I'm not saying who IS the better, but I really don't want to see Pelfrey in the rotation OR the bullpen if he doesn't dazzle in spring training. Take the loss and let him walk.

This is the year that the above five either stay a Top Prospect or become a minor league free agent AAAA guys. Rogers has the chance to be a spot starter in reserve, except the Twins have plenty of those right now in Milone and Darnell and Pelfrey and anyone else they can pick-up on the waiver wire. Gonsalves and Thorpe have to stay healthy and hope a bullpen spot opens up. But if they can shine, and play a somewhat closer role in the minors, they become viable tradebait as an add on. Kepler controls his own destiny. This will be his second year on the 40-man, and don't see him even getting a September call-up. Next year he will be at Triple-A, or should be, and then deserving of a call-up to get a taste of the majors. Will he stick, or do the Twins take an $800,000 writeoff. Of course, he can tank, but his clock has already started to tick-tick-tick. Walker is that slugger that also needs to show he can field, so he can be a bench bat at least. I'm curious to see how he adapts this year.

You have to admit pretty bad. For nearly 200 innings to carry a 1.7 WHIP, and to walk more batters than you strikeout in six attempts in the big leagues. Even looking at his minor league numbers. One solid good season. The rest...nothing that make me Rule 5 him, or even want him in a trade. Boy, the Yankees took the Twins on that deal!

The Twins Hall of Fame is basically a public relations move for the team, and not honoring anyone...even some front office or maybe a Wayne Hattaway longtime minor league guy, pretty much makes the concept even more outrageous, especially coming off the Chuck Knoblauch fiasco. When you look at the near 700 or so Twins, you can easily find one person, especially when you expand it out to front office, field personnel and the like. Anyone for Jerry Zimmerman!?!

What is amazing is the percentage of these guys THAT COULD make the majors, if not with the Twins, another organization. The Twins are about to have some 40-man roster problems in the near future.

It's a bonafide competition and I just hope the Twins bring the best candidate north and forget about salary owed, options or the like. Until the rash of recent relief pitching signings, always thought that at the least May could start in the bullpen, be the Swarzak player. May might ultimately be bettter suited for the bullpen. Nonetheless, the Twins have candidates for the firth, as well as a full rotation thatshould shine at AAA Rochester.

I see no reason to have Pinto up in the majors if he is only going to catch, at most, once thru the rotation. Would rather see him catch everyday at Rochester for the first part of the season, see what Suzsucki does. But who do you add as the backup? Fryer? No way. Herrmann? Man, if you keep Pinto, you keep him so you can DH either if you wish. De San Miguel, the guy who played with every Twins minor league team in a season it seems, is back in the fold, but at AAA with Herrmann.2 Rohlfing. I was actually pretty surprised the Twins weren't able to move Suz during the trade deadline last year (a s well as Swarzak, Duensing, Burton or anyone not named Willingham). Maybe we do value many of our players too highly. That someone actually does want them on a major league roster.

Amazing career as a coach and manager. In Mexico. Was always amazed that he will still at the plate.

Well, if Hunter hadn't department, and if Santana has stayed put, the Twins wouldn't have traded for Delmon Young and would've kept Garza, and we wouldn't have lost Bartlett either. Plus, the bodies like Jason Pridie, Philip Humber, Kelvin Mulvey et al would've never been on the field, as well as Carlos Gomez or J.J. Hardy, and whatever we got for Hardy. All at a cost of about $30 million a season for the past seasons. Span would've been cycled out and replaced by Revere, who would probably still be here. Maybe Morneau wouldn't have hit his head or Mauer a wall. Carl Pavano wouldn't have lost his slowball. And we would still have Joe Nathan and Pat Neshek in the bullpen, along with Jesse Crain and finally waving goodbye to Matt Guerrier. Which means we would never had added Jon Rauch or Matt Capps and Wilson Ramos would be behind the plate.

And approx. $44 million could come off of the above by next season. If Nolasco shines, he is tradebait for sure with one year remaining in his contract. Suzuki and Pelfrey and Hunter will become free agents. No need to pay more for Stauffer or Duensing. I would consider keeping Fein, although if he does dynamite set-up duties he could be a potential late season closer for a team and bring a couple of prospects. Milone, Nunez, Sheafer all can drop out of the plans for 2016. I don't think any of the minimum wage guys will be arbitration eligible (except for Escobar, and as a backup won't command as much) unless they fall in a super two, and the Twins could escape that if Hicks starts at the minors. Maybe Gibson reaches super two. I still think the Twins could add a $6-8 million outfielder/bench bat/DH/1st base guy and not suffer. I easily see that $8 million coming off it the Twins can pull a couple of trade deadline moves, just because they have back up starting pitching, bullpen help, or Sano and Rosario can play ball.

This is where you start thinking of any of these guys being tradebait for a piece to improve your puzzle. At some point, you get too many prospects coming up at the same time in the pipeline and a clog happens. You have to CAREFULLY judge who will be here in 2016 or 2017 and go from there. Houston may be facing a similar problem. Or you start flipping pitching prospects for more batting prospects. Either way, looks like the bullpen ahs strength, especially when you put names like Burdi, Reed, Cederoth and others from 2013 and even 2014 into the same playing field as 2012 guys.

Yeah, you can argue Mussina 270 wins. Hey, how many wins did Pedro have? What is the criteria. Dominance (ala Morris). Longevity (ala Kaat). Have a medical procedure named after you (John). You can argue that Mussina (and Schilling) are on the edge, maybe a "Veterans Committee: inductee, but that group hasn't done too well in their opportunity to reward players overlooked by the writers. We don't want it to be a Hall of Fame of the Very Good, although there are a fair share of those guys in the Hall already, but it should recognize a few more players with distinct accomplishments (why isn't Oliva in the Hall, please).

Hicks and Arcia. We hoped one would be a superstar and the other better-than-average, combined with Rosario and Buxton and maybe even giving us a choice of tradebait. Now we hope there could be some value in Arcia before he becomes too expensive at too young of an age, but the fear of David Ortiz Jr. is still in the air. Hicks will probably surprise us and pull a Delmon Young, which makes him a temporary keeper, before playing into sub-standard land. At least we have Buxton and Rosario to dream about. And the hope that Walker wont be any worse ad probably better than what we have seen from Arcia so far. And what about this Jepler kid?

The closer is a guy who trusts his stuff, can throw heat, and nowadays might be called upon to pitch 3-4 consecutive days before getting a night off. Doesn't happen much, but can,,,except that a team seldom sweeps series. Perkins is the closer in 2015. He will probably be a closer in 2016. At that point, he might still have tradable worth, or figures he doesn't want to go anywhere and stay with the Twins and become a lefty specialist for the rest of his career, which could be long because he IS a lefty. I agree that the concept of having at least two guys who can close causes a bit if a disarray with the other team. Moreso if you add that third set-up guy, preferably a lefty, and if you are comfortable NOT having your closer pitch a full inning. Seems closers do better if they start the ninth, let's say, then come in and have to get out a batter or two with the bases loaded. Of course, what UI jsut said is hogwash, as a closer has the heat and will challenge. Ultimately, the worth of a closer all depends on the portion of the batting order or bench they are facing. If it is the bottom of the order, you sit back. If it is the heart of the order, you worry and hope you have another guy or two to get you out of trouble if the closer is holding a single run lead. And most teams don't have benches to fear anymore (look at the Twins - Pinto, Schaefer, Escobar and Parmelee, for example). The Twins if they work it right, can have some closer creations that could be potential tradebait. Before last season, they should've heavily marketed Jared Burton. They didn't. Last season, Casey Fein was a marketable guy mid-season to a team looking for a temporary closing chip...maybe. By season's end, he lost that...and why they let Burton save in September instead of Fein or anyone else is beyond me (like the choice to start Swarzak - destroying his value - and if you had the slightest hint of not giving him a contract, give those innings to someone, anyone, who will be on the 40-man come spring). Of course, ALL the hard-throwing names look great on paper. We only have to remember Anthony Slama to get the butt kick that what looks good in the minors may not be the choice of the majors. But if you want to add 2, or three, arms from the system each year...the Twins look great for 2015-16-17, considering that we still have the likes of Tonkin and Achter and Wheeler for 2015.

Both are in a position that if they put together a great 2015, you consider cutting them loose and trading them before they become arbitration expensive. Let THAT be the worry of the other team. Arbitration is fine and all, but you often overpay, or have to over-extend, a player beyond what you really need. Of course, a lot depends on what they see in people like Polanco, Michael, Rosario and, of course, Sano. Nick Gordon is in the pipeline, too, albeit at shortstop. It is a ncie position to be in. But I would, sadly, grade Plouffe as a super utility guy as he hits 30 rather than a regular at third, and a weaker and expensive outfielder than you can find elsewhere. He does not become worth the expense. Dozier hits for power, steals bases, but still strikesout a lot, and not sure if you would consider giving him BIG $$$ over the longterm, either. You just gotta hope that they don't both tank, especially in the same year. Plouffe is NOT in a "we want you" status right now. Dozier has probably more worth than Trevor, but most teams would like to tackle a supposed cheaper free agent than an arbitration albatross.

Unless the Twins are in a sell-off mood come September, pretty much NO prospects that aren't on the 40-man will see the light of day. At a slim chance, Burdi, Zack Jones, Cedar.... could swivel in. If he's tearing up AA ball and has a taste of Rochester, Buxton could get some at bats, too. But the Twins will holdoff on Berrios and Stewart, as they did Meyer. So, in 2015 - Meyer, Sano, Rosario. We might see Rohlfing or Beresford, but just for the short-term. We have too many relievers to break in someone out of the blue - Oliveros, Tonkin, Achter, Darnell, Thompson Pressly all will get some time supplementing the Milones, Pelfreys, Grahams etc.

It will be interesting to see who and what prospects are bale to be absorbed or break into the Twins 25 by seasons end. Does it make the prospects, or current players expendable. And then who breaks in come 2016. It's a fine line between putting experience on the field and the prospect of talent that WILL perform in years to come. Usually the process is to wean in a player or three each season (the Twins did Santana and Vargas and May...but took a step backwards, or sorts, with Pinto and Arcia, and Hicks totally stalled). Can Santana, May and Vargas hold steady or improve while we get a look at Meyer, Rosario, Sano and any number of young relief pitchers? Who gets the boot. Will it be Hicks. Will Arcia be passed over. Will Plouffe's number be drawn. Will Gibson be moved because he is cheaper and controlled? Who is the real fodder on the 25-man from the bullpen and the bench?