Rosterman

You look at starters taking you deep into the game, or at least six innings these days, I guess. Championship teams also get good win ratios from their starters, hopefully above .500. You would like to see Gibson graduate to 17-18 wins. Santana and Nolasco could easily hit 15 wins apiece. Gibson should be good for 12-14. The starters get the wins if they keep their team in the game, four or fewer runs in their start these days. If they do 3 runs in their start, they are a gem. If you give up only wo runs, the bullpen can play around more. The Twins bullpen is pretty set with two setup guys (Duensing and Fein). You have Thielbar and someone (Oliveros) as 7th inning guys. You can have May or Pelfrey as long guys. You have Graham in the mix. Perkins would close. But, yes, if you can get a rotation that gives you 190+ innings each of the first four, you have guys pitching well, and if the offense is there, you will win.

If we come to 2017 with Meyer, May, Berrios, Stewart for starters either in the rotation or having paid their major league dues, it means we traded off Gibson at some point before he became arbitration expensive, allowed Phil Hughes to walk and got a draft pick because the Twins offered but he didn't take the additional year, and Nolasco is ripe for trade and Santana is being considered for an option year. Not to mention any surprises that would pop up. And the Twins would still have a minimal payroll. Would Hicks still be around (Kepler and Walker and Burto in the outfield). Would Dozier have been traded and replaced by Michael or anyone else. Is Gordon on the team by now. Yes, for the sake of spending money, the team didn't kill themselves with this contract, or even the one-year for Torii, which is worth its weight in fan goodwill...watch and judge. What makes all of this work is what the Twins can flip certain bullpeners for (Fein, Duensing for example). What they do with Plouffe, Escobar, Dozier. Can Hicks gain marketability. Is Arcia longterm or once he shows shines of shine (shades of David Ortiz) you just move him. The Twins are fortunate that they have a number of players not only major league bound but also 40-man roster bound who want to play major league ball and know they have a chance to showcase with the Twins, and the Twins just have to know when to pull the plug and (shades of Billy Beane) make trades happen. Will be an interesting next five years before the team totally settles and have to deal with longterm contracts for Berrios, Meyer, May, Sano, Buxton and the ilk...possible $100 million in those names alone!

Okay, I think would ticks some people off is that when the Twins look at that big pile of money on the desk they think debt reduction, payoff the mortgage rather than invest in putting a team on the field. The fans coming to see baseball outdoors ran its course, now you need product. And maybe you have to bite into your profit percentage to play the game. If you lose by investing badly (or your division has done better than you), then you cry when people don't come and see games, but you do make moves so you can keep your ticket prices stable.But if you win, then you can raise ticket prices and spend more money, because you do have more coming in. At some point the Twins investment in Target Field will be paid off and all they will have is operating costs and some sort of split on improvements. The Taxpayer gets their note paid off in 30 years or so. Maybe f we paid off our note faster, than sales tax could go down in the metro area. Kudos to the Twins for opening the purse this season. Hopefully they won't eat $20 million in disabled list stuff like they did the majority of last year (counting lackluster play from Mauer and Noalsco rally being injured et al). I'm sure they were looking at the sales department and the trouble they were having getting advance ticket sales going and knew they had to do something. Lose $20 million in overall sales in 2015 or spend $20 million and charge up the base a bit. Yes, you can spend a lot of money and still get beat. It's a funny game. But don't even hint that you are paying off your own note, or spending it on stuff people don't associate with on-the-field stuff.

Yeah, I thought Santana would get more. It must be the length of the contract that sold him. We talk about May and Meyer (and Milone)...well, these guys will have a limited opportunity this spring and this season to show their stuff, otherwise they will be overtaken by the next young crowd of prospects (Stewart, Berrios). The Twins have bought more time to nurture the aging May and Meyer, but the rotation reamains pretty much the same for 2016 barring a meltdown or a mid-season trade. We free up Hunter and Pelfrey salary next season right off the bat. Sano will show us what to do with Plouffe. Any of the tenders will also be gone for sure: Nunez, Duensing, Schafer. Catcher will be interesting to see what develops. So the Twins do free up a little bit of money. Doesnt do much good if Santana, Bargas, Hicks, Arcia don't produce. And Sano, Rosario, Buxton, Pinto all need service time to establish themselves. The future looks promising, but remember that the other teams in the division are also making moves and actually staying the same or getting better, which doesn't speak well for the guys trying to get into the hunt.

I'm glad someone else sees Gibson as potential tradebait, especially if Nolasco comes thru. I'm not sure how Gibson will do as he continues with the Twins. Anyone else have thoughts on him?

The middle reliever dollars are hefty this year. Good money for throwing 60 innings or so. In the past, it always seemed, the Twins made just enough moves to stay competitive in their division and within reach of a post-season run, as many things can happen to a team, no matter how strong they look on paper.But right now, the Twins look so far out of the hunt that I feel sorry for Molitor who is put in a wait and see what the prospects can do and learn in their first half-year on the job and why did we spend money on Hunter if we truly aren't going anywheres. Of course, we spent money on Hunter because us Twins fans do want the front office to spend money rather than keep it. And no matter how much we talk amongst ourselves, the greater smokescreen of major league baseball is how the fans who put their butts in the seat on a whim and a prayer react to things like a Hunter signing coupled with how our starting staff is stronger than it looked last year and we expect to have breakout seasons from numerous players, and Joe Mauer will be the Joe Mauer of old. That will fill the stands for the first 30-35 games or so at home. But at some point, the Twins will have to open their wallets bigtime, or become another Oakland. I'm still amazed at how Billy Beane plays the game. Yes, why are the Twins kicking tires on a #4 or #5 starter when they have a batch of them in waiting...May, Meyer could move up and go beyond that with a little major league experience, Pelfrey and Milone fill those spots adequately, Yohan Pino and Logan Darnell could play those roles. We can salivate on the prospect of Stewart and Berrios in the wings, and maybe the return of Alex Wimmers. But, man, $27 million a year for starting pitching? Kudos to Neshek for his monster salary, too. It will be interesting to see how the off-season continues to settle, although - pinch me - why did the Twins tender arbitration to Nunez, Duensing and the ilk again? As I shuffle 25-man rosters in my mind, I can see them breaking campy with NONE of those bodies in tow.

The 40-man. Chris Parmelee is out of options. He's far from ensured of a job (hey, go after Brandon Moss). In the bullpen, Aaron Thompson and Lester Oliveros can become free-agents if waivered out (actually, many of the Twins fringe guys can become free agents if waivered out). The Twins have to take a close look at these two, see if they can fit into plans for more than one season, and make a big decision. Speaking of Mike Pelfrey, he best would be if the Twins COULD bury him at AAA for part of the beginning of the season to see if he can get his starting arm back, then he becomes insurance. Unless you don't like Thompson or Oliveros, you are giving mop-up innings to a $5-million dollar salary who won;t be around in 2016 (wait, this is the Twins, he could return for even more money!). Why is Eric Fryer even on the 40-man. The Twins should be able to find a decent AAA catcher and just have him on a minor league deal. Heck, Fryer could probably be resigned since, like Bernier, the Twins did promote onto the 40-man...more than probably 39 other teams would. Speaking of on the 40-man: Colabello. Love the guy. Are the Twins that afraid that another team will grab this aging first baseman to stow away at AAA. Well, they would first have to stow him on the 40-man, then send him thru waivers again. Unless another team really has a 40-man spot for the guy. He is great insurance, and like Albers coming back from Korea, the Twins could be his minor league home with hope of a call-up. I can't understand why the Twins awarded Duensing, Nunez with tenders. I would think both could be signed for less than they will command in arbitration. If they can't, then bully to the new team that will gat their contract. Again, you have players that can replace both (Thompson, Darnell for one, Beresford and even Bernier for the other). I still shake my head at the amount of deadwood on the 40-man, the holes that are filling up with minor league deadwood, as we wait for the 3-4 guys to graduate to a major league opportunity this season, another 2-3 in 2016, and maybe we have a full lineup of new and promising superstars come 2017.

I do totally expect them to market this wrong. "Buy A Season Ticket, get an autographed Hunter Jersey." That sort of thing. They should put him in whatever field has the most empty seats and create a special Torii section at special Torii (high) prices.

Even with Hunter, the Twins have basically no dependable outfield, just as they have no rotation beyond Hughes, maybe Gibson, and hopefully Nolasco. Arcia could use more seasoning. But he has a longer leash than Hicks, who could also use more seasoning at Rochester but could very well start his third year in center as the Twins need someone to run down the baseball not named Schafer. Parmelee is still in the mix, as we have to see how Vargas does in spring training and if Vargas can also play 1st base, at times. If so, by by to Chris #1 with Chris #2 going this winter and Chris #3 not even being given consideration for anything. It is a genius marketing move. The Twins fan who actually goes to the game for some sort of dreamful excitement and hopes of winning will see this as a sign from heaven and buy a season ticket package, especially with the 10% your Hunter Jersey special (and if you do it by January 15th, you get a free TwinsFest ticket AND THE OPPORTUNITY to get Hunter's autograph -- only for ST holders, by the way). DISCLAIMER: The preceding is not true, but is a possibility in marketing. It's not the best time for an announcement, but probably the biggest before the winter meetings begin and will be the talk of those discussions, but most fans will watch the news tonight and before the winter meetings and just get great Twins-hype about the second coming and nothing about diminishing fielding skills. But, like Mauer's salary, should NOT be a part of payroll. Not one cent. It should all be in the marketing budget, which means the Twins still have at least $30 million (counting Mauer's goodwill franchise salary) to spend on product to play on the field, not in the branding, marketing, media.

Who says Arcia will even beak camp with the Twins. He has his pluses and negatives, too. Not that the Twins have an abundance of outfielders to choose from who will perform. Wait, isn't that the starting rotation I'm talking about, too?

I'm with you all on Torii being half-the-player he was and the thought of him on one side on an unknown and Arcia on the other makes me tremble as much as any pitcher in the rotation who is unable to throw a strikeout. I told my wife the news and she immediately said: "Honey, we have to buy our season ticket package again." Right now, going into Twinsfest and the winter months, the Twins have to do something, anything, to create a brand look, a marketing plan, and to sell advance tickets. Sad to say, right now, Torii will do that. People will cheer when he appears at Twinsfest. I'm sure the overzealous $10.5 million payout is including some public relations, banquet appearances, maybe the winter caravan. Yes, it will all catch up with the Twins come May 1, probably. But if he sells an additional 3-5-7 thousand season ticket packages or more, if in his own outspoken way he fires up the rabble, if the Twins can come out of April not as a flyball pitching club, but with starters that dominate the batters into strikeouts and groundballs, we will have a good attendance to open the season. In the short term, the Twins need to put butts (or non-show dollars) into the seats, buying time until the new crowd comes in and gets a taste. I don't know anyone else in the free agent sphere that the Twins would afford that will create excitement for the team amongst the common fan as Torii. He gives us a solid 40-year-old bat behind Mauer, he gives us an alternative at DH if Vargas sophomore slumps, he gives us a body in leftfield if we can't break camp with Buxton or Rosario or Hicks (two would be a dream, but highly doubtfull. Now, we need some non pitch-to-contact starters and some high-throwin' bullpeners.

Man, Kaat was solid. He had that one injury plagued year. He had at least three dynamite seasons as a starter. If he hadn't been a lefty setup man, he might have a amassed some saves and been the equivalent of John Smoltz. He didn't reach 300 wins, but many pitchers don't. But look at his workhorse record. Not only starting, but reliving a few times when called upon in the 60s. Yes, he should be retired and given a statue before a writer and mascot. Interesting to hear that instead of Tommy John surgery, he changed and played thru it. (Tommy John, also a former Twins broadcaster, should be in the Hall, too.)

Swarzak back is an interesting case. When you non-tender a guy, he can look over the marketplace. Because you cut him, chances are he doesn't care if he comes back or not (unless you are Glen Perkins, remember, who was waivered out and couldn't get a claim, and now happy to be a Twin, still). You non-tender a guy because you don't think he is worth what he will ask in arbitration. Many players aren't. The evils of the system, you lose guys this way (think Ortiz). But right now, the Twins don't need Swarzak. They actually don't need Duensing. Or Milone. Or Nunez. And non of the three Chris guys either. What they need are hungry players who will strive to be productive and get a chance for a bigger payday (Schafer filled that bill, Fuld did it with the Twins, but not the A's, Morales failed miserably). Let's see what Terry Ryan can find. Anyone wonder iof Casey Fein might be Jared Burton 2014 in 2015? Here's a guy the overworked in September. He was a decent trading chip for the Twins in the summer.

Swarzak is interesting. He really didn't price himself out of the market, but he doesn't really have a true role, either. The spot starter experiment has all but failed. And you can replace him with any number of other guys, including the$5 million Pelfrey. It will be interesting to see if he gets a roster spot, or jsut a minor league spring training invite. Duensing also has reduced value since he no longer spot starts, and he ahs become a short-short reliever to boot. You don't need a situational lefty with his few positives for $3 million. Throw Aaron Thompson out there. Give Logan Darnell the chance. Again, as I have repeatedly posted, I am just mad that the Twins failed to flip eitehr of the above for any sort of prospect. Maybe NO ONE wanted them. We will see this off-season. Nunez is hurt by the Santana at short scenario. If Santana stays in the outfield, he becomes the backuo. If Santana goes to short, Escobar becomes the backup. Not that being a backup is a necessity for the twins. We have Beresford, Hanson and Bernier waiting in the wings to ride the bench. Again, someone probably NO ONE wants. IF THE TWINS SIGN an outfielder or two, Schafer finds no room on the bench. He may become 2015's Alex Pressley. The more and more I look at Tommy Milone, I say -- let him go. Not worth the monetary gamble. We got him for Sam Fueld, which we got for minimal money in the first place. I saw nothing in Milone myself. Who knows, he might be the Vance Worley of 2015. I'm not willing to gamble on that. Sorry. Somehow Plouffe has increased his value. The Twins still have two more arbitration rounds with the guy, but he will become expensive. He stays, but what the future holds for this first round draftee is to be seen. Basically, you let guys go if they are too expensive for whatever you can replace them with, either in your system or from others. You escape the arbitration process by signing them to a minor league invite contract. Give guys another year to prove their worth. The Twins could do this with Schafer, but I think he would be grabbed by someone. Lots and lots of fodder on the roster. Too much, really. Fryer, Colabello,,Thompson, to name a few.

I think Eddie is on board as the bullpen coach. Which is fine. I like the idea of basically two pitching coaches rather than the bullpen coach being an old catcher. The Twins have TWO good guys who will work well with the youngsters coming up, and if you look at the Twins pitching as a whole, now, besides Nolasco they are basically VERY VERY young...once the bullpen changes out names.

Headlines we want to see: "Terry Ryan makes four-year offer to Pablo Sandoval, contemplating fifth year" "Twins ask Lester 'Why' He Doesn't Want To Pitch In Minnesota after Rejecting Huge Offer" Torii Hunter asked to be Bench Coach and part-time player if need be ocne season begins" "Twins Have Money To Spend, Agents Have Ryan on Speed-Dial - I can only SIgn So Many Players" "Twins say 'Thanks to Target Field and Great Fans, Twins now have money to keep their own free agents and to competitively chase others'" "Twins Opening Up New Baseball Worlds: Australia, Germany, Denmark, Russia and now Korea - Minnesota Twins, a World Class Operation"

I'm curious to the number of pitches he throws in a game, the size of the Korean ballparks, and it will be an interesting spring as he faces a different type of player over here. There is always an upside. And a challenge ahead for the Twins pitching coach and newly named bullpen coach.

We are backed up with starting pitcher prospects thru 2019. Just like we had an abundance of centerfield candidates in the system. You can never have too many starting pitchers. You don't know if Hughes will repeat. If he does, will we be able to afford him or trade him with one year left. What is the fate of Nolasco. Pelfrey IS in reserve, maybe. Kyle Gibson may be a commodity to trade. A young solid pitcher, but still #4 or #5 in the scheme of things if others pan out and he at least stays at his current plateau. Yes, you sign someone hurting for one year with an option. You hope two minor league materialze this year. You hope another comes up late next season. You hope one more is in the 2017 pipeline. You are looking good if you can now find outfielders.

I would give Parmelee a second run rather than Colabello, just for the age factor and Parmelee CAN play the outfield. I would sign another catcher and have Pinto start at Rochester - and I mean start behind-the-plate. He's either going to be a catcher or needs to build some sort of trade value as possibly being one. Yes, the Twins CAN sign a left fielder AND a pitcher. I would vote for May in the bullpen. I would vote for Pelfrey to start the season on the dl, unless he is light's out. Milone will show if he can pitch in spring training, otherwise send him down to Rochester and put anyone, even Wheeler, in there. If nothing else, shows a lot of bodies just hanging around the roster taking up space, from Darnell to Thompson to Duensing and Swarzak, not to mention Colabello. The Twins have to decide what to do with Kepler, as he CAN BE a prospect trade chip and will have already used two of his option years by the end of the season with no call-up in sight. And Hicks HAS to play, somewhere, somehow. He is in his third year and we don't need to have to play the arbitration game. He needs to produce. I wish there was a good alternative to centerfield (okay, we move Santana there, have Escobar at short, and instead of Nunez let Bernier, Beresford, Hanson or someone, anyone, be the backup guy for chump change). Again, your roster shows that the Twins are going into the New Year with a lot of deadwood on the current roster, and looking to add only two names not on the 40-man.

The teams play their cards close. Wait until the last minute to throw bodies out there, hoping to sneak some back onto minor league rosters (Colabello, for example) and you can't drop a newcomer from the 40-man, I believe, until after spring training. You have to ask, always, will a player be grabbed and held on a team's 40-man roster, will that player accept a minor league assignment, or will the resign with you as a team with a promise for a spring training invite. You need to have players to move during the free agent period, and heaven forbid that you roster is so solid that you end spring training with Matt Guerrier, Jason Kubel and Jason Bartlett all needing roster spots and you don't have bodies to send down, release or whatever. You hate to see non-tenders (Duensing and Swarzak, maybe) as you wish the Twins were smart enough to get some value for them rather than jsut cut them loose, but the value of those players is also the fact that teams think the Twins may non-tender them. You tremble when spring training ends and the Twins lose guys like Pat Neshek, Alex Pressly, Mike Restovich because they needed a 40-man roster spot for someone (especially in hindsight) who didn't produce in the end. Not that the losses, down-the-road, are anything more than heartfelt. The Rule 5 got blown out of proportion, I think. If you don't have enough players of your own to protect, why are you going after another organization's 41st, or 61st or 71st player (with promise). There are so many players out there...look at the free agents, look at the minor league free agents, looks at teams that are drafting better and better players who last more than a short season for a look (what IS the average life of a prospect these days 3-4 years instead of 1-2 due to disabled list games and extended spring trainings) not to mention the amount of good, solid players in the numerous struggling for attendance independent leagues. Theilbar or Thompson or Darnell. One young, one could be a sleeper, one ahs been dependable and is still cheap. Fryer or Herrmann, neither necessary but are they better than nothing? Remember, Rene Rivera was once a Twin and look what he did last year. You grabbed a Henry Blanco who shined when Mauer went down. You find a Corky Miller and he stays in baseball for 80 years. But once you add a man to the 40-man, he stays. He has to go through waivers, which is almost worse than Rule 5, and can be snatched by a team, waived out by them and not claimed, and kept free-of-charge by that organization. So you have to believe a 40-man add will come to the majors. And believe me, when looking back at the Twins, so many have not! Go look at the roster at www.twinscards.com, the minor league section, and see who was on the 40-man each season and didn't play in the majors that season. Start in 1961 and go forwards.

Gilmartin would the closest, although he was mainly an AA pitcher last season. Michael is to unseasoned. Adams needs a year in the minors to adjust to being a starter. I am more worried about anyone the Twins MIGHT lose in the minor league portion. Will be interesting to see who they advance to the AA and AAA rosters. I'm happy to see Beresford give the Twins another chance. That he did means that he didn't find overwhelming requests for his services elsewhere at this time, a good omen. In some ways the Rule 5 is diminishing each and every year, as more players become minor league free agents, or can be grabbed if they are dropped from a 40-man roster (would a team grab, at this point, Darnell or Kepler, for example). Finding that back-of-the-bullpen or end-of-the-bench spot is only necessary for rebuilding teams, or teams that have arrpetty darn solid starting nine and rotation.

Man, I keep having thoughts of that Red Sox package of Lester, Masterson, Crisp, Lowrie with Bowden as a throw-in for Santana. But we wanted Ellsbury. Or so the rumors flew waaaaay back when. I'm thinking the Twins may play it slow in the free agent marketplace, as their needs do run more towards a one-year contract, unless the starter of their dreams at a workable 2-3 year price leaps in front of their headlights. Most players will be pushing for those multi-year deals, especially those over 34 or so for sure. But there are only so many roster spots and so much money, so we might find someone still kicking tires after everyone's card is full the closer the Twins get to spring training...but hopefully sooner. They need a bat who can play the outfield, and/or backup somewhere else. We need a starter who will start games. We might be looking for some cheaper bullpen arms if we don't spend money on Duensing and Swarzak again. And a backup catcher would be great if we want Pinto to start fulltime in Rochester. We have the centerfield mess of Hicks, Rosario, Scheafer, Buxton if he fires up spring training, or can always move Santana back out there if Eddie and Aaron go to Rochester, and we hope there is no second season slump (as well as one for Vargas).

Great and enjoyable piece. Baseball has come such a long way from "throw it over the plate and make him swing" days of yore. There is still some pitch-to-contact mentality, as you can place your fielders and they need to do something out there. And so many pitchers HAVE to have up to four solid pitches, not that throw 1-2 of them more than a couple of times in a game. And as long as no one is on base, a closer or setup guy can just throw, depending, of course, on the batters he is facing. You always shudder when you hear system-wide edicts about what players should do ("take the first pitch"). A coaches job is to work on a player's strengths, and to make comments on how to work around trouble areas, and to reinforce both thru word and practice. Especially when you now have infield coaches, outfield coaches, hitting coach, assistant coach, bench coach, bullpen coach, pitching coach. One coach for every three players almost. Not to mention the folks you can sneak into practice (Smalley, Laudner, Bert, T.K., Marni et al).

He all of a sudden has to produce or he prices himself out of a job, and we all saw where the likes of Jason Pridie, Dustin Mohr, Jason Tyner, and even Lew Ford, edned up.

Yes, the upper levels had some senior citizens, actually guys older than on the major league roster once Willingham was moved, and Morales, too. From a position of strength, we basically have Rosario, Buxton and maybe Walker, who might be more of a Vargas DH. Kepler is the great unknown. So we better hope Arcia is the real deal. That Hicks can produce some support, if nothing else, as the spare outfielder. And that Plouffe, who might become over-priced at third (and thusly the outfield) isn't the choice for an outfield spot (or vice versa Sano). I'm not really excited about our outfield future right now if Arcia, Buxton and Rosario don't happen. We will have all these top-flight starters and hard-throwing relivers, but no one giving us offense if the outfield.