Rosterman

Where has Park disappeared! I thought for sure the Twins would call him up and put him on the 60-day? Does he report to Target Field every day for rehab BEFORE returning home to Korea in the off-season. With all the guys on the disabled list and working out at home, I wonder why the Twins don't press them into a little more "public service" or face time for the team. The Pro Shops have been pretty void of player appearances. We see that a couple ran around the State Fair for a day. We hear of the occasional hospital appearance. Hughes, Perkins, Santana, Plouffe would all be welcomed bu hardcore longtime Twins fans. Hughes and Perk at the State Fair for partial days would have been a wonderful experience for out-of-town Fair goers. The worst they would hear is comments about "Hope/When you coming back" as most Minnesotans and midwesterners tend to be nice. Especially in a lost season coming from a franchise that has a major downturn, some player appearances and such would be so welcomed (remember the days with the pub panels, remember the summer autograph party, remember when Joe Nathan was signig in grocery stores). Are players NOT required to do any of this promo stuff anymore for the team? Do they need to be pid extra? Hey, just setting up a Twins booth and a meet and greet with a disabled player in rich Wayzata for their James J. Hill days this weekend would keep the Twins in the community eye. That's how you start to sell the next season, folks. Not letters from Jim telling you we are doing same old same old. Summer in Minnesota, especially with a team that is losing, is ripe time for current players and especially alumni working with the marketing department and appearing in small town parades and setting up booths at weekend fairs. But seeing the bored faces of staffers at the State Fair and people looking like refugees from a garage sale picking thru the most lackluster bunch of T-shirts, hats and jerseys that I have ever seen, the Twins have no idea, no idea. Put the guys to work. Team up Park with a former player and get him out there into the community during his last month in Minnesota before the winter! We still do love our Twins thru thick and thing!

We never hear amounts! Like, are they getting a Target gift card for Arcia?

It's all about value. The first decision...would you extend his contract a year or two tomorrow? The second question. If you don't extend, will you be willing to sign him back when he reaches free agency. And remember, after two more seasons, we could always keep him for a third by offering him untold millions. Then he has to decide if he wants a qualifying offer or free agency. If you don't see yourself throwing any more money his way, then start entertaining offers. Look at the prices other teams have paid for their higher level (and available) draft picks. Look at players that you can still control that have an upside. Who ahs an obvious weakness at second base and will buy into the current look at Dozier as a power demon. . And then trade accordingly. Age is a factor even more than cost. How does he fit into a 2019 Minnesota Twins team, looking at what we have today and dreaming about what we will have tomorrow. But answer the first two questions first. Right now, you don't have to trade Dozier, although you can trade him and a team will be able to control him for two seasons and they have to also ask the top two questions in their price of an offer.

Wonder how many more games we would've lost without Robbie Grossman in the lineup...and Logan Schafer!

Wave goodbye to Paul Molitor and the coaching staff!

Man, where would the Twins be this season without Robbie Grossman and Logan Schafer.

Did I hear mention that the job description was changed from President of Baseball Operations to Director of Baseball Operations on KSTP-1500 this morn ing?

What would be more interesting would be if the writer actually looked at the stream of prospects. We have three centerfielders that were high picks: Revere, Hicks and Buxton. What happened, and throw Carlos Gomez in the mix? And you look even at the starters going back to Garza. Gibson, Wimmers, Berrios, Stewart and Jay. Whew! Judging these guys from the day they were originally signed...The Twins had Gold! What happened?

When I keep hearing and seeing quotes on the Twins from Pohlad and Molly, I keep wanting them to just say "All I want is for this damn season to end."

The Twins will still come in on the underside of two million in attendance, which is remarkable. But they have a tough sell ahead for next season. A #1 pick. Whew! You have to take the best player available depending on your needs (pitching or hitting) and go from there. Be interesting to see how this year's crop of draftees comment on the possibility of being a Minnesota Twin. We have had high draft picks in four of the last five drafts and where are they, that is the question. We even managed to grab a high one from another team and allowed him to move on. Sarcastically, I can see someone in the front office complaining about losing and now "we have to pay top dollar for a draft pick!"

Hey, you have an opportunity to put Mauer AND Dozier at DH. Of course, does Polanco need to play some second base? Vargas SHOULD play some first base to increase his value and SHOULD be in the lineup every day. Sano SHOULD be at third base every day because....he can be there. You have to see how he does, watch him stay in shape during some winter ball, and run him out there in spring training. We know Escobar can play shorstop. We only have three firckin' weeks of baseball left. Like having Murphy catch 304 out of 5 games SHOULD be a given. You need to look hard and coach the guys who will be a part of the team next year, so you can direct them what to work on in the off-season. That is what coaching is all about, isn't it? You have the ability to try pitchers in other roles, too. Berrios NEEDS to start, even if he only lasts a couple of innings. You have to look at Duffey, Dean and Albers and see if they can pitch three innings, possibly twice thru an order, in three innings. The Twins need a long guy or mop-up talent. But only one of these guys needs a place on the 40-man. You have to figure out what works best for Wimmers, O'Rourke and Light...and then try them in totally different situations to see if they can adapt. These guys will be on the 40-man for sure, but will have a spring training battle ahead. May, figure out his role NOW. Future closer? Set-up. Long-man or starter. Put him in a starting position for the rest of the season, making four starts, doing the proper pre-start warmups. You don't need him to pitch 3, 4 or 5 innings. Just see if he can get a routine down in three weeks and if he can stretch his arm out to 60-75 pitches in that time...successfully. And, PLEASE, it is not too late to bring Adam Walker into the mix. you could use his bat off the bench in 10 of the next 19-20 games, if nothing else. So he strikesout. It will be fun to watch.

And we still had a starter start the game and four other pitchers made appearances. Whew! Games by committee. A bullpen that can't pitch thru the batting order once! Somehow, Rochester had a winning season with some of this. But what happens up here is downright embarrassing! There was a chance at September 1st to send a message to fans and to bring up a totally rookie (in progress) roster that we could stomach better than some of the names thrown out there today. If you decided to leave this game early, you should get a refund!

Do you think we might see Milone or May today!?

When you are going to throw a lineup out there like you did on September 11th, there is a place for Walker. And if the Twins are playing this bad...we don't need to look at the work of Albers, Duffey, Dean, Schafer, Centeno and, sadly, Beresford...not to mention Milone and Boshers. That's eight spots of guys who are getting at bats or innings. I would, at this point, rather see rookies getting bombed as much as veterans are getting bombed. Wheeler, Gonsalves, Jones, Walker, Garver, and anyone else that MIGHT need protection on the 40-man rather than players that will be looking for a job (wait, the Twins always seem to be hiring) next season. Nothing against giving a few a chance, but this is ridiculous in a losing season with a roster going nowhere.

The Twins will play their star players on the road trips.

Okay, WHY isn't Murphy at least catching Berrios. They seemed to speak the same language in Rochester, why not continue at the major league level. WHy isn't Vargas at first base. If Vargas is to be a aprt of the 2017 Minnesota Twins, he ahs to show he can play first base. Why isn't Sano playing EVERY REMAINING game at third base. Again, he has to show he can handle the position. Beresford at 1st Base. Okay, I guess he started playing there this season (after 1000 game at other positions). I'm glad we are getting a great look at Logan Schafer. I understand Adam Walker is enjoying his time off watching the Saints in the playoffs. A beautiful day at Target Field. You are coming off of a one-game winning streak. You should have a nice crowd coming to see the hometown team play. Who knows, this may be the Twins best and biggest game ever! Go figure! Except for Dozier, this is the Twins minimum wage lineup!

It's fun to look back at the managerial hunt for Gardy's replacement. Ultimately, the organization wasn't ready to look outside (although they did bring in a couple of stranger coaches). The internal options mentioned were Steinbach and Dougie. But an awful lot of Molitor praise early in the game. And it was interesting that Paul got a three year contract out of the chute. In 2015 the team did do better than WE all thought. But they were far from competitive, although they someone managed to stay in the Wild Card hunt to the last game (shades of 1987). But 2016 has been an overall disaster. And I, for one, don't lay the blame on the players and their production. Yes, we have some players that...well...WE wonder "What the Hey!" That's the fault of the General Manager. But the mistakes up and down and all around the field...that is the field staff. Y'know. These guys ARE producing in the minors. Dougie has followed some up the ranks. At best, he would probably manage at AAA next season if Molitor stays. But if something isn't working, it may, in my own opinion looking from the sidelines, is the fear of advancing players too fast thru the system...some seem to get stuck, go backwards immediately when they show trouble. Of so much time is spent on changing things, adding things, maybe even overworking fundamentals. The baseball diamond is the exact same size on the practice field in Ft. Myers as at Target Fiueld (shades of Hoosers!). The distance to a wall may be more or less. There are stands all around. The surface is absolutely perfect. When the ball is put in play the players consistently run faster and harder than in the minors. The guys in the outfield are more athletic. The pitchers all seem to have pinpoint control and multiple pitches. You have film on absolutely everything and people just looking to find ways to get you out. Plus you have better travel, more money, and suddenly the dream of even more if..... Major league ball is a big adjustment, no matter how well you play in the minors. Yes, your major league coaching staff should still be teachers and all leaders. You have twice as many on-field guys than you did a decade ago, it seems, as well as a couple of "consultants" always around the clubhouse (or so it seems). The coaches are to work on the fundamentals with all players. To help put together the game plan for pitching, fielding and offense, under the overall direction of the manager who also must be a youth counselor, a steady pat on the back to vets, and a pipeline to the front office. It's a helluva a job...but you have all the time in the day to prepare for each and every game and tools that past generations of ballplayers never dreamed would be there. Hell, you got indoor batting cages so you don't have to get wet if it is raining a little. http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2014/10/01/twins-seek-new-direction-with-gardenhire-dismissal/ Go back and read this piece from a couple of seasons ago. Can we tell what direction the Twins wanted to go, what they were expecting from one of the most intelligent baseball men in the game, if they hired him? Why didn't it work out between Ryan and Molitor and the players that both of them have been following for most of the careers of the players cuirently on the team and that were in the upper part of the system the past few years. Can we simply blame it on ownership who saw Molitor as a face of the franchise and someone that would excite the fans. Seriously, managers may win (or lose) games. But ultimately they have to do it by properly using players and allowing some to become superstars, many loving contributors, and the rest solid (see Nick Punto) clubhouse contributors to a baseball team. Maybe ALL the success of 2015 can be placed on the glorious smile and clubhouse presence of Torii Hunter. Maybe that was the ingredient that made the 2015 tam excel beyond belief...not Molly.... The one decision that paid big dividends, not only in getting more season ticket holders to lineup in the off season, but also saw better on-field results, even though the play of Torii was far from his best ever. Man, I can't believe that I'm heaping praise for the success on the Twins because of Torii. And no other reason. But think about it. Take away that presence in 2015, and what do we have for a team. Did that leadership in the clubhouse contribute x-amount of WAR to the team, compared to no clubhouse leader and a rudderless ship this season? Jim Pohlad...write the checks. That is it. Get someone in and listen to them and give them the opportunity to recreate the Twins in an image that is far left (or right) of whatever the Twins Way is/was. Trust them to do what is right. Don't question their moves. Don't ask to play it safe. Don't give budget constraints (well, we have to stay within 55%). Because of the system DOESN'T FAIL, you will have riches beyond belief!

You have HIT some important unanswered questions. CAN SANO PLAY THIRD. We have 20 games to figure that out, right now. Let him make 20 errors. But play him everyday. The move to the outfield was a mess and screwed up the twins bigtime. We ended up losing Arcia (maybe no loss, but then we blank out Walker for a looksee). But what if we had opened the season with an outfield of Arcia/Santana/Rosario. But then we had the Plouffe mess of where to play and Park at DH and...the Park decision was the real killer here. Buxton needed to start the season at AAA (as did Gomez and Hicks). Hindsight kills. CATCHER OF THE FUTURE. Man, I would've started the season with John Hicks as backup and Murphy regular at AAA after spring training. But Murphy comes up and stinks, Hicks disappears because of the roster mishap that shouldn't have happened, and we see a lot of a guy named Centeno. We start the 2017 season with the same questions, but no Suzuki, which is a blessing in the long run. TREVOR MAY. Even if you were going to send him to the bullpen, you groom him to be Anthony Swarzak 2016. You have him pitch multiple innings. None of this one worthless inning a day for 3-4 days scattered throughout a game. You establish a role so if a starter goes down, he can step in. that didn't happen. And they even skunked on grooming him as a closer. The whole Jepsen mess was a disaster. THE BULLPEN. In an era where you start to clearly define the duties, the Twins overuse Pressly and Tonkin, have no longman, no strikeout king, and Kintsler is the closest they have a ground ball guy but they made him closer so he can only pitch when it looks like we will win. Even signing a bunch of guys like Abad, Ramirez, Mujica, Boshers, Burnett, Walden...it did nothing but get us...Light...who we could've signed in the first place ages ago and needs to be protected or will probably be claimed and sent to the minors by another team. POLANCO. Did someone think that the team that couldn't rid itself of Plouffe was going to get blown away on an offer for Dozier, so this guy played second ALL year at Rochester. He didn't play one minor league game at shortstop, and he needs to stay come 2017. It looks like he will stay, at shortstop, for 2017 AND 2018. He can always move to second if Dozier becomes too expensive and Gordon or someone is the new shortstop. Nunez was the best thing about the team in the first half with power, stolen bases, average and it didn't matter if he made the plays because the team was losing. Once he left, it should've been Polanco right away. The miscues can continue at short and third base if you don't improve the pitching. THE BIG STARTER. It is Ervin Santana and will be so again. You hope he has one more year in his psyche. But being the #1 starter and not getting to 10 victories because....... When was the last time a Twins team had no winning percentage starter. Ervin is making good money and wants to make more as much as he wants to win. That no one blew the Twins away with an offer is beyond me. But I don't see Gibson OR Hughes coming to that spot in the rotation. We may see Berrios, may see Gonsalves, may even see Stewart surprise us...in 2018 or 2019. THE JOE MAUER DILEMMA. A lot of money. His is a good solid player, but not doing anything thing...flashy. He's there. Being Don Mattingly now. Or Doug Mientkiewicz during his solid seasons. And he will remain there. You'd think if anyone would take him off our hands and if he has a chance to play with a contender, he would go for it. He was the dream of the team when we thought he would be our catcher thru eternity at best, a C/parttimeDH at worst. After the 2016 season, we have no sure answers. We will be starting 2016 all over again in 2017. Can Sano play 3rd. Where does Plouffe go. Too many power hitters who strike out. A centerfielder that may/may not come to the ballpark and play. A rotation that is expensive but uncertain. A bullpen that is a total mess and all those prospect arms are, again, a year away. Do we stick with catching that is defensive or sign another old guy who is...an old guy. Nothing NOTHING was accomplished this year. Some guys shined after a year of not shining, but then the new guys this year may have an off-year next year. When will ALL the pieces come together and work together. 2015 was a winning season, a winning season just, and a surprise. It was something to build, possibly a tad on. But to die in a division which, on paper at the year's beginning was pretty even, but the Twins were still coming up behind because they didn't make many off-season changes - no one NO ONE thought they would outdo (still yet to see) their prior run of four losing seasons. If one thing happened, Jim Pohlad recognized TOTAL SYSTEM FAILURE but is still stymied on how it got there and how to fix it.

Again, it shows that the Twins have no idea what direction they are going. The casual fan cares about Molitor - well, look at the stands when you announce attendance of 18,000 and there are no lines at the concessions and lots more empty seats. The casual fan will react more to a manager being fired, because that COULD be the major cause of why the players are doing what they did on the field, then a manager and front office saying he players are not doing their part on the field. If the players are failing, you send them to the minors, waive them off the roster. Sadly, you just seem to bring in temporary low-priced bandages. When the new POBO and GM are hired, you have your standard campaign of a new sheriff in town and things are going to change or else. The old sheriff goes to instruct minor league guys. The new sheriff also tells ALL players that the jobs are there...but if you don't want them...The St. Paul Saints are hiring across the river. You have to be pretty bad at this point to not make the Minnesota Twins roster. Ad we don't want the guys that are bad, anyways. We want those that are wanting to be a part of a team that will be a winner and go places. Yes, the players can go rah-rah, but it first comes from the field staff and backed by the front office. If this is the way they are already trying to market to the 2017 season, then we need even more changes in the front office, the business side just sin't getting it either.

I also wonder about the "best player available" syndrome. Sure, the Twins seem to make the news about probably high draft picks not excited about coming to the team (why wouldn't you, you might get to the majors faster) and does that even matter in the end...moreso now when the price is pretty set in gold (and who knows, they might always trade you). But with the amount of money spent on draftees, you have to invest a lot of time and energy to see if it will pay off. When a team pays $2 million up front for a pitcher like Alex Meyer, they do need to get something abck in return, which Denard Span was. The Twins basically got their return on Span and was able to avoid paying him more money down the line (good or bad) for a highly regarded pitcher that they now just had to pay whatever the minor league and then 40-man minimums were. Yes, he was a valuable arm BECAUSE they gave up a valuable player for him, but they didn't have to make that investment in the first run. He is worth even more, now, to the Angels, who basically picked up a high round draft choice as a throw-in in which they have to absorb a high player salary, but they might get a portion of that salary back next year if Nolasco produces (not on the bill for any of the salary this year, good turn by them...so the Twins are paying Nolasco numbers for a part year for Santiago). But back to Meyer. Something seems amiss when he sat around for a month after the demotion, and it looked like he wasn't even going to throw anything above GCL for the Twins, at best, this year...but here he is in the bullpen of the Angels. In hindsight, we are going to say we could've used him throwing just the same in Minnesota considering what we are getting from the bullpen of late. Sadly, we thought Meyer and May were top-priority projects of the Minnesota Twins since their acquisitions, as it was the direction the team was going. They seemed a lot more talented and lot more closer than they seemed this summer, but both not considered starting prospects at all for the team. What went wrong?

So, this also doesn't look too good for Palka in the long run. We will have to add him to the 40-man this because? But he may strikeout waaaaay too much to ever get a callup.

I thought John Curtiss was going to the Arizona Fall League. Who is Rick Eckstein?

Yeah, where would the money come from to double, say, the size of the front office and actually pay people. Of course, the Twins do have 45% of their budget for non-salaried baseball players....which is somewhere towards $100 million to run the baseball operations (compared to $45 million pre-Target Field days). I'm not sure what they currently dedicate to the front office, to baseball operations, to minor league operations. Know they spend $10-12 million on draftees, it seems. I would assume they paid off their own Target Field debt sooner rather than later (so they could borrow against the team worth as Uncle Carl was noted to do). Someday I hope someone gets a detailed look into a decade of finances of a major league team and where the money comes from and where it does go.

It is/will be at his highest tradability this winter. He also will be a free agent in 2019 and if he puts up similar numbers in the next year AND two, he will command big money as a free agent. If a team is going to extend him, they take the gamble this winter for 1-2 years and an option and they MIGHT still get a good price, because Dozier also knows he could...FALL. But is he the best second baseman and do any teams really need a 30-year-old second sacker coming off the year of a lifetime? That is the question. I mean, would you trade a promising 25-26-27-28 year old starter with some good major league experience, and possibly another prospect, for Dozier. Or would you keep the pitcher. It will be a most interesting offseason.

Well, first off, you are going to have a high draft pick. Next, you have to look at who will contribute to the 2017 Twins and at what cost. You have to look realistic at the farm system and see who is in line to come onboard first parttime and then fulltime in 2018 and 2019. You have to further look at your depth beyond and who you can keep or use as tradechips. Do you need, say, both Weil and Diaz, or at some point is one a popular prospect to trade. You look at your budget limitations and how much you can afford to writeoff each season. This season, the Twins have basically written off Hughes and Perkins and Plouffe. They did a swapout of Nolasco. They spent a lot of money in one full shot on Park (although they probably are spreading that out). They lost money on Jepsen, Fien and Milone, the final two should've never been resigned. You are always going to writeoff salary in bad contracts or the disabled list. You have to look at Mauer and what he gets paid as outside of the spectrum. It was basic public relations for a franchise player to serve the franchise at one moment. You have to be willing to gamble. But you realistically have to look at each and every play and evaluate where they sit in the organization, the opportunity you will give them, try to predict the results of the willingness and ableness of the coaches to work and improve the player. I mean, if Ploufe is your answer at third and you want to sign him for three years and an option, keep Dozier around for two more after 2018, be happy with Park for the next four years, believe you can work in Palka or Walker...then go ahead and trade Sano. If you can't work with Buxton, let him join the ranks of former centerfielders and make Granite your new guy until Kril comes up. Is your rotation Berrios, May, Gonsalves, Stewart, Jay etc.......or do you earmark $25-40 million a year for one or two bodies, or $10-12 for an end of the rotation. You want to think Ryan and Company have been doing this. But suddenly a prospect rich organization has no one NOT on the current roster a real prospect for next year. I would disagree on that and say there are 5-6 guys who could jump AAA and play more often than not on the Twins next season. They will be terrible for the most part, but they will play and play hard and learn and probably be just as good in 2018 or 2019 than if they wait and come up for the first time in those seasons. Sure, they may cost a bit more down the way, but between this season and another rebuilding year next year we get even more draft picks to take their place 5-6 years down the road. And, quite frankly, the wins and their 55% is hogwash. It was 55% when they had a $50 million payroll. Now they have $110. What are they spending $100 million on that they were spending $45 million on before? Tell me? Not to mention WHAT is the real revenue figure the team each season from the cash rich Target Field?