Rosterman

Rob Anthony. Seriously, whoever they hire, well they then have to turn around and interview other (different) candidates for the general manager position. I would think the president of baseball operations would have a say in that hire.

Sadly, he is one of those guys that it is doubtful that people are lining to sign him. But if the Twins would move him off the 40-man, he would get a contract somewhere...even if he had to start over again at AAA. And he wouldn't return to the Twins.

Some players constantly shine. They can hang around AAA and give some moments to teams in need, and also play well enough that they can have a modicum of a career as a baseball player (see Mike Restovich, Ryan Radmanovich, Dave McCarty).

Yeah, I would pencil in Mejia and Gonsalves and even Stewart. It won't be pretty, but you have to see what you have at some point. I would put Kyle Gibson on a very short leash. I doubt that Hughes will start the season strong. Santana could be trade bait, but you will probably get prospects and maybe a promising starter a year away. Santiago is the question. Is he worth $8 million, or do they want to put those dollars in their pocket. Sadly, the Twins will dumpster dive and/or sign a rebuilding project for a year contract. Instead, they should just bite the bullet and let the rookies learn on the job, at this point. Some shuffling between majors and minors. Why they didn't add Wheeler to the 40-man and give him some major league face time is beyond me at this point. I don't see Albers or Dean staying on the 40-man. And I wish they would try Duffey in long relief, 4-5 appearances before the season ends to see if he can pitch more than one inning out of the pen. May will have to build up to 175 innings next year. So he could also be a slow starter. So, right now, it doesn't look good.

Well, Vargas may be at his most valuable this off-season. He's playing first base, he is hitting well. You can hope it continues into the future. He is younger than Park. But do you keep Park because of the contract? If no one will take him, you have a $2 million first base/DH in the wings, then, at Rochester. But if you need someone at first, and Mauer goes to DH, can Sano play there? Does Plouffe play there (but only for a year). Besides catcher, the Twins could suddenly look weak at first base AND third base. So many possibilities (mainly short term).,

And with the amount of no shows, you have all these concessions but no one to purchase them. Since Target Field opened, the Twins have tried to make it the venue, not the product. They got a boost last year with their play and Torii Hunter coming back. But short of winning games...they have no franchise player. Mauer is worn out. No one really cares about Molly. You can get excited about the rookies, but the common fan doesn't give a lick until the team starts to win. With Vikings grabbing all the spotlight, the Twins have to revert to grassroots. They have to take a hit on season tickets, maybe even roll back some prices for 2017. They have to get out into the community. Not only the (new) front office, but the new players. The Twins need to conarct with a dozen current and an equal number of alumni to work ALL the small town events (and in-town events) that they can to keep word-of-mouth alive. They need to print up a ton of promotional material and get it out in an organized way to sell not only Target Field all over again (the honeymoon has now passed) but the concept of watching a baseball game They do have to get the front office in place, but Dave St. Peter should be pulling back from on-field operations and concentrating solely on figuring out ways to reach out to the midwest. It will involve more little things to bring the people back to the dome. It will involve getting kids (and then parents) excited about baseball, to get youth, church, community groups to come to the game. But sadly, don't see that happening. Just announcements of more strange foods, killing off another section for some corporate monies. But who is giving a dead last club advertising money on a radio station that fades in and out when you drive around town and a team that can't even put on a good front at an event like The Minnesota State Fair (yes. I harp on that - the one BIG opportunity to promote Twins - giving away cats and jerseys and posters and stuff THAT YOU AS A TEAM PAY FOR -FORGET ALWAYS GETTING A SPONSOR to make people proud to wear the brand and think about supporting the brand. Twins, you gotta produce 100,000 of your own caps to hand out at events - from church fun fairs to halloween gatherings to Christmas parties. You gotta tie in with The Winter Carnival (your crosstown Saints will). Otherwise, 10,000 fans in the stands makes for an empty park!

The elephant in the room is still Joe Mauer. You start sacrificing players that are contributing and may be a longer term (and cheaper asset) because you need somewhere to play Joe. Yes, you trade a guy if he has value, and you think you can replace him. But your choices for first base are five: Joe Mauer, Miguel Sano, Trevor Plouffe and Byung-Ho Park, Kennys Vargas. But playing Mauer at first eliminates ALL of them. Then you look at DH: Sano, Park, Vargas, Mauer, Adam Walker, Daniel Palka. So, I guess, you can afford to lose Vargas AND Park, if you want Sano at DH. But then you need someone to play third base, and suddenly you have 30-million tied up in Plouffe and Mauer at the corners. Sigh!

Considering he was a half-season player. The Twins are in last place. What would his stats be if the Twins were actually good, perhaps? No eyes at all are on the team, sadly. If he would win the home run title, come in close in RBI and keep an average around .290, he will get recognized, but not with the trophy, sadly.

Forget about being a spoiler. It ain't working yet. You put all your apples in your own basket for the final two weeks. You have Murphy catch every game. You try DUffey in long relief. You tell Buxton to bunt every at bat. If you get Sano on the field, have him play third. If you can, have Vargas play 1st. Don't play ANYONE or won't be here in 2017 (Schafer, Grossman, Suzuki fer sure. Figure out if Rogers can also pitch long relief. If you must, don't go with a closer at all. Use Kintzler when he is needed and hope he can be a setup guy in 2017. It is all about the Twins and the future right now. When you struggle to pull a win, you don't have to put a lineup that still doesn't guarantee a win just to be more competitive against the stretch-run teams. Sorry!

Duffey is untouchable? Oh my God! The second-coming of Scott Diamond!

Well, who ARE our setup guys. I would choose Kintzler over Pressley. And why are we trying to make Pressley the guy with the most appearances in the majors. We just have no set substance in our bullpen. Not like we need a closer. I admire Ervin Santana for pitching his heart out every game for the Twins. If any guy deserved to be traded during July to a contender, it was him. Why no one grabbed him up is beyond me. They could've unloaded a bunch, probably 60t guys who had no place left in their organization for him and the Twins would've fell for it!

A lineup without Schafer, Grossman and Suzuki. Is Molly reading Twins Daily?!

Vanimal *inserted my 10-cents* I want ALL the players to remember how much fun the game of baseball really is. Men playing a game for kids, by kids and with kids. Throwing the ball, hitting the ball, running the ball, and trying to sneak the ball past batters. At times, forget the video tap,e the statistics, the words of coaches and just play the game. 14 more games - HAVE FUN. Wish is granted.

No player anymore in untouchable. It depends on your definition of needing to keep a franchise player (Mauer) or letting a superstar walk at some point (like the Cards did with Pujols). Which means carefully crafting a franchise. We have the situation now of Dozier. He's a fine fine player, but will be replaceable in the future when Polanco can move over to second, and who's to say that someone now in rookie ball won't be heir to Polanco when he becomes too old...whatever old it. You do have to carefully deal with your own players when they now hit arbitration and you have to look at extending into at least a free agent year, which will happen soon enough with Sano. But ultimately, it helps to create a solid franchise and a winning environment. The Twins have often been touted as a positive environment, but if you were Sano (David Ortiz) will you play your entire career for $15-20 million a year in Minnesota or Boston. That's the rub. And what do you, as a franchise, lose when you extend a player for outrageous amounts. I think we all thought Mauer would at least be catching parttime into 2018. That didn't happen and now we are stuck. And then you have the Oakland A's, when you trade anyone or anyone when they show some value to keep a constant rebuilt and the chance to just be competitive...which I guess is also the Twins Way...try to be competitive...not win it all. Again, Dozier is the perfect example. You developed a player who may/may not be worth a franchise extension. But you can argue ridding yourself of him because of a suitable replacement. But the, again, you and also look at our current shortstop mess where we had J.J. Hardy but wouldn't pay him and didn;t have anyone in real development. Still don't until Gordon comes around. Something was wrong with scouting and player development in that case. Even now...with both Sano and Plouffe on the disabled list, who do we have playing third, or who do we have that we want to play third. Sorry, NOT Escobar. If the Twins would spend as much time on really developing an organization as they do watching the waiver wire, and if they would spend (blow) money on quality rather than quantity...maybe things will turn around and we will be a powerhouse team. And the old 55%.....Jim and Co. - it doesn't apply. You spend what you need to spend. You get untold riches when you draw $2 million plus fans and have people watching television and listening to that lame radio station that dies out IN THE TWINS CITIES in places. Wait, maybe you need that extra 45% for front office expenses to hire a real front office staff. But, hey, what are you spending the other $80 or so million on, my friends. Or what happens to all those monies when you don't spend the 55%, which seems to happen more often than not.

The secret is to make the other team lose.

Need to find pitching for two more innings? Will the Twins use three or four pitchers to finish out this game?

Just read Sano may be out for the season. Now let's see who plays third base. And DH. Suddenly the roster starts to look slim. FREE ADAM WALKER!

How does this compare to last year? So many promising guys in the lower levels. So sad that ALL those relief guys that might've got a cup-of-coffee this year might only get a cup-of-coffee next year. Sigh!

Wow! No Schafer or Grossman. No Zuzuki at DH. The Return of Mauer. Where in the H is Miguel Sano. Y'know, Santiago is pitching like someone who wants a contract next season. Did I just see Molitor try to be a manager and call for a sacrifice? But really, then..........

It is unbelievable that Pohlad would say Molitor is still manager come 2017, and even in the recent season ticket recruitment. Instead, you fall on your sword, discuss "total system failure" with hopes for the future looking at what is still a strong system of prospects as well as the search for management to take the team in a different direction to keep it competitive in the new world of baseball. Looking at Molitor, though, we see inconsistent lineups, we see a total lack of fundamentals (of course, if players make errors, the ERA goes down for pitchers and hitters on other team get a batting average nick). With the amount of coaches you command, you have the ability to work with players and lessen those strikeouts. Bullpen management is a mess. There are no roles for the pitchers, we see overwork in regard to appearances. Even now, no pitcher can get more than three outs it seems. And even with a guy like Duffey, who should be getting reps now coming in as a long relief guy since he clearly can't get us anywhere deep into games...it is not the same as Berrios who, at the moment, is being groomed as a starter. Yet I don't want to see Dean or Albers start. They are not going to be Twins in a year or two. Neither might Wheeler, but he should've had the opportunity, too. It's a team of missed opportunities. Again, the Twins aren't spoilers. The Twins are a team on a total rebuild. Suzuki needs NO at bats. We need to see Murphy even catch Santana. We needed to Walker in the DH role if Sano and Mauer are sitting out. I would rather see at bats to Granite than Schafer, and it looks more and more like even Gorssman may be out of the 2017 picture. Guys like them don't lose anything for the Twins because the team didn't spend development monies on them and they cost whatever it cost to pick them up AND they are replaceable. We had replacements for them earlier and didn't go forth in Quentin, Wheeler and Murphy. We had Arcia who was pushed aside because of Sano in the outfield and the signing of Park, a player who along with Mauer, creates a salary logjam. At this point I would just as soon see Walker and Vargas (and dream of what Arcia still might've been). But something isn't clikcing on the field. And that is the manager. You send a message to season ticket holders by firing the field staff, starting with the manager before the season ends. You also send a message by moving full speed on whatever you want to do with the front office. If you are going to do same old same old, do it proudlhy and lay out your field of dreams. Don't just go through the motions to make it look like you CAN do something different. WHhch is my major peeve with the Twins. They want to look competitive (and sure got mileage out of 2015 and the one game away from the Wild Card). It was a weak division. It was a weak league. You had a lot of good breaks. But you still had a lot to do to truly become competitive. Just signing good solid pitchers is one thing, having a plan of a rotation that works is another. Or a bullpen that works. Or building a team with a lineup that works in the Stadium the taxpayers helped pay for so you could double or triple the value of your franchise on paper. The other day when for a home game you fielded the Rochester Red Wings lineup with Dozier...I can go watch the Saints for a fraction of the cost and ten times the fun. I can do a roadtrip to Rochester and see the real thing and visit the Hall of Fame. There is so much you can do to give a little glimmer to a lost cause. Get the players into the community...the future players. Change up the field staff, if even for the last couple of weeks. Tip over the water cooler in the front office. Go sit in the cheap seats (all you front office guys) and listen to fan remarks. Watch the game from the eyes of a fan and look for experiences that the fans may enjoy to bring them back to the game.

Maybe there is a reason the team hasn't hired outside of the organization in the past. Know MacPhail was grabbed when Carl Pohlad took over, and he was quite hungry and looking for the advancement opportunity amidst the challenge (and remember how he was questioned at wanting Tom Kelly and they brought on Ralph Houk just in case). We had the couple of guys that left to play elsewhere, Krivinsky, Gebhard for example.

Let's see. We could trade Bonsalves for Denard Span and his current contract. Let's send Tyler Duffey and Tyler Jay to the Nats for Ben Revere.

The luv for Logan Schafer continues. Cherington grabs a co-VP job with Toronto. If he was a viable candidate, he could've been in an office starting tomorrow. Sign. I'm wondering what the other team's scouting reports on the current Twins are like?

Or, do they really know what they want. Asking someone to come in and explain a five-year plan but not knowing what the organization really wants? The Twins job may seem like an opportunity, but do you grab onto the big position, knowing you might have to wait a season or two to really start things moving? If Cherington was a viable candidate, you would have someone sitting in an office tomorrow starting the whole process, who might have a bit more power than they do in Toronto, working over a general manager rather than sharing a VP position. But it may be as long as off season as it has been a season.

I guess Cherington's personal issues involved signing with Toronto to be VP. So the Twins didn't move fast enough on this front.