Rosterman

Well, we know NO ONE will be voted in. With his contract, Joe Mauer should be a shoo-in for regular appearances (wait, he's not a catcher anymore). It would be weird if Abad was chosen as the only rep for the team. But that may be the only answer. Yes, Park would be wonderful, but he needs to punch it up a bit more. Sadly, if he was a third base and playing like last season, Sano would be making the first of many appearances. I'll cry if Suzuki is chosen as a back-up catcher!

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,

Don't we have a long guy in the bullpen, someone like Santana circa Rule 5 season...someone who can pitch more than 1.1 innings. I would like to see May start to stretch out to move to the rotation (wait, maybe he will pitch less and more often and be the closer we don't need...BECAUSE WE HAVE NO WINS TO SAVE!).

Who do you bring up? The second coming of Logan Darnell? You can add to the 40-man roster then (and really add if you 60-day Perkins). Of course, Gibson is about to come back, and at this point I WOULD NOT send down Dean or Duffey for Gibson. But if Gibson isn't better, we have three rotten guys hanging onto spots in the rotation because of veteran status or contract. But besides Meyer and Berrios, who do you bring up...or, wait - MOVE MAY TO THE ROTATION (but, wait, he hasn't pitched multi-inning 75+_ pitch count games...not stretched out...because of this crappy way the bullpen is being handled).

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.

Wow, yes. $8.5 million. And a rebuilding team doesn't need anyone on staff that will be a free agent next year, or probably even at the end of the 2017 season, if you aren't willing to sign them longterm. $8.5 million. Combine that with the 445 million for a starting rotation that is pretty bad. THE TWINS could gamble BIG on players and still not lose, when you look at the big picture. Two $20 million starts. An $8 million solid killer relief specialist. And we would be no worse off than we are now, even if they ended up tanking!

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.

Yeah...Jared Burton, Casey Fien, Matt Guerrier, Kevin Jepsen......

It's nice to give guys like this a chance. Reminds of the Calvin Griffith days when he owned the Twins as the Senators and he would happily sign aging veterans to play in AAA and the get some more major league days to better qualify for their pension. of course, those teams were dismal most of the time. You can argue doing this. If the guy procduces, you can flip him for an added low level body. But he (and Buddy) at Rochester are taking much needed innings from people who will, hopefully, contribute to the Twins beyond this season! Hey, can Plouffe play first and would the Mets want him? Or is it time for Justin Morneau to make a call to New York!

If they go outside and bring in a new president/baseball operations guy AND a general manager, many many heads will roll, or the Twins staff will increase with all of the folks currently working there doing different (less responsible for baseball activites) duties. That would be idea. And then we could maybe get beyond "Twins Way" (What, no more TK at spring training) and possibly "we just need to put a competitive team on the field first, stay in the mix, and we can count the admission profits" attitude. You would hope that whoever comes in sees the talent in the system. And remember, right now the Twins have TOO MUCH talent that is promising and have to make some hard decisions on who to protect in 2017 and 2018 - and there's a lot of bodies to consider. So a new person would have SOME prospects to deal carefully, to keep the system restocked, or arbitration players solid and possible to tie up for 3-5 years in the future. Nothing much will change this season. At the most, the Twins may change managers, elevating someone from the coaching staff and maybe replacing a couple of actual coaches. But all bodies will then be gone and left to new management (be it internal or outside) come the off-season. At the most, someone from the minors might be a manager candidate, at the least, at least half the coaching staff will come from the minors with one (Jake Maeur) being groomed possibly for future managerial candidacy, assuming the Twins would hire a veteran manager looking for a short-term challenge. Ryan leaving today or tomorrow would mean that ALL the people under him right now will be running things for the remainder of the year and jockeying for a possible title change. Letting Ryan officially resign, say, September 1 might mean the Twins can get a jump and not have it affect the season too much. But the ultimate question, faced by free agent players, too, is WHY come to Minnesota? Do you overpay for just okay? Do you stay in-house? Do you really shake everything up and will it destroy the team or what? The bigger decision will be manager. Do you change in mid-season, giving half a season to a guy from down under (say Dougie M.) or jettison current manager a bit later and just have Gene Glynn takeover (and hopefully NOT be the candidate for the future...nothing against Gene, but...)

Okay, in 2017 it will cost $10-12 million to retain Plouffe on the roster. After that season he becomes a free agent. If the Twins are foolish enough to pay that amount for Plouffe in 2017, they they might as well try and sign him NOW for $30+ million over three years. see if he will take it or not. Fo r that amount of money, I would just as soon take a chance on Sano for 3 or so years and then worry about arbitration and free agency. And WHAT would Sano get us? An aging veteran for a young team? Two or three other prospects who may rate high at High-A or even Double AA but still need another year or two of development in the minors? Would we get another team's high-level prospect who may also have issues? Plouffe would be valuable to the Twins or almost any other team if he is a super sub, playing third, first and the outfield. But what would you pay in actual dollars for that type of player. Y es, he may be tradable, where third year arbitration and pending free agency is a problem for anotehr team. He may end up like Michael Cuddyer and get an outrageous offer from some club and end his career making millions more than any of us can imagine. I like Trevor Plouffe. He ahs done everything the team has asked. He is a solid guy to have around and if we didn't have the logjam at DH and the issues at first base, he could be our first baseman/DH, fill-in 3B and maybe see some time in the outfield if any of our corner prospects went down in the future. That is IF we felt he was, right now, today, worth $30 million+ over three years (with an option for a fourth). I want to see Sano at third in the major leagues. Really do (why he didn't play everyday Plouffe was on the DL is beyond me, and makes me condemn the coaching staff and management). I have my fingers crossed that there is no - shades of Cristian Guzman - issues involved. And if he keeps his hed together, he will thrive for the Twins, first at third base, maybe at first, or eventually the second-coming of David Ortiz for years to come, happily cashing his $15-20 million paychecks for 10 of the next 15 years!

So why is Perkins NOT on the 60-day disabled list. Not that we need to fill his 40-man spot with some AAAA guy or something, but still.......

33,000 people. Came to see the Twins play baseball. The food better be darn good! Hey, I blinked and missed a Twins baserunner!

Well, if it was an issue of arm fatigue, an argument could be made if he should've been put on the major league disabled list. Which would suit me just find. Twist that knife in the front office. Otherwise, why just NOT use him, DON'T have him sit around. There has to be a pretty good story here!

It was hard enough to get the Twins to make additions to the coaching staff, and then is was largely because the coaching staff went waaaaay beyond the four, then five of the past decade. Maybe we need a little Ozzie Ball in Minnesota!

Hey, it's a replay of last night's Saints game, only the Saints are being played by the Blue Jays. Do you think they will let Phil go 3 innings and 13 runs?

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?

What it tells me is that the system is screwed up, there IS a system failure, when you can go outside the organization and find some discards who perform better than ANYONE in the current system. So in the great Minnesota Twins pecking order, Grossman is NOW HIGH UP THERE! Where does he slot...right behind Sano and above Park and Mauer and waaaaay above anyone trying to get a job in the majors from the minors? When the guy isn't even the 26th man, let alone the 41st man on at least two teams coming out of spring training, you reap praises on him? Shades of Jordon Schafer or Shane Robinson or any other plug that Ryan has found in the past. Forget about drafting and paying out monies. Just stay home. And every fall go thru the major league slush pile or purchase the discarded players of other organizations. Fine if you are an indy league ball team. But you want to compete, put major league product into a dazzling Target Field, you do have to draft, develop, train. Something is not right about what this thread is representing to us Twins fans.

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?

We either fill the current roster with journeymen. Or we fill it with prospects. One or the other,at this point. And make hard decisions on where any of our current long-term fodder fits into future plans (Dozier, Plouffe, Gibson for example).

Mike Max, on tonight's 6:20 WCCO sports, said Sano has some major issues, such as not taking instruction, and the Twins are thinking very seriously about sending him down to send a message. Where Mike Max got this information... I have no idea... Players not taking instruction is probably a common enough occurrence to be plausible... BUT... BUT... Hummmmm...why aren't you listening to the coaches. Or better yet, what coaches will you listen to. Is there no clubhouse leader on the team, no go-to veterans who can also inspire the play of the young guys. Is everyone pouring over analytics? Are the coaches as lost as the players?

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!