Rosterman

Rosario, Buxton,Arcia/Kepler/Walker in the oufield. Lookslike Hicks would've been the 4th guy as soonas mid2016. Have to find a place for Plouffe/Sano...the Twins suddenly have a crowded outfield. Hicks enters arbitration after 2016. Is he worth it. Are you thinking longterm at this point? He rebound, for a brief period, this past season. But the numbers are playing against him. He has worth. The Twins need a catcher. Maybe league average is asking too little, but better than we have, better than some teams have, better than we have in the system. Traded supposed strength for a weakness. You can't totally knock it.

In the grand scheme of baseball, most of us saw Hicks becoming a fourth outfielder, and a pretty good one (albeit eventually expensive) one at that. We now have to see if Rosario holds value, Arcia steps up, and Walker and Kepler become the future. We can still see Plouffe or Sano patrolling out there if need be. And reference was made that Danny Santana would still be a 4th outfielder candidate. Getting a solid backup catcher who COULD play on a regular basis. Can he hold the fort until the future (whomever that may be). Might he step up and be a league-average catcher at worst? But Hicks was expendable with value. Arcia has no value. Santana has no value. Rosario is still a wait-and-see. But Hicks had value and was going to cost us more sooner than any other guy the Twins throw into the outfield the next three seasons.

Herrmann would not break camp with the Twins. This guy will have to be a 40-man add next season (and probably protected from the minor league portion of the draft). But the Twins will have to do something with him next year. One of those organization depth trades. Make him an issue for the Twins weather to keep or not beyond 2016 (will he also be a minor league free agent after next season if not put on the 40-man). Like to see the Twins get something, if even a looksee, then ust let players walk out the door (like Duensing...couldn't they trade Duensing last season, or this past summer, for something, anything)?

Rosario is NOT a second baseman anymore, just like Danny Santana is NOT REALLY a centerfielder. But, yes, right now Hicks may have more value that Rosario or Arcia. But do you see keeping Hicks longrange anyways (Rosario could be the 4th outfielder if you have Sano out there and/or Kepler or even Walker down the line...confusing where Park will be playing, still... I don't want to be general manager of the Twins right now. Players you maybe shouldn't get rid of (Arcia for one). Players you can't get rid of (okay, you can release Noalsco, yes you can). A love for middle-of-the-road guys (Fien, Pressley, Nunez for example). It's a tough job, especially coming off a halfway successful year in which you paid heavy on a starting rotation that eally didn't produce for the bucks spent.

Gleeman writes some interesting words on Plouffe. My own thoughts, again: the Twins are at a diosadvantage if it seems they HAVE to trade Plouffe. You can keep his bat in the lineup, but do you play him or Sano in the outfield. Where does that put Hicks eventually (fourth outfielder?). Or Hicks is tradebait. Of course, are we sure Rosario is the outfielder we want out there for the next 3-5 years? We also have Kepler and probably Walker coming up, and Arcia needing sometime to see if you can increase his trade value (or cause a decision to be made to keep him fulltime). Is Plouffe expensive at $8 milliuon in 2016 and potentially $11 million in 2017? Would you sign him for three years and $30 million (with an option) and would that make him more or less tradable? Come 2018, he might be a bargain at $10 million a year. But do you see him becoming a regualr fixture in any outfield once his days at third disappear (shades of Michael Cuddyer). If the Twins sign the Korean guy, they suddenly have players that have no room on the ark. Arcia, Vargas and perhaps Plouffe. They also would have to make decisions on Kepler and Walker...better to trade or keep. Throw Hicks in the mix. Six guys, in which half of them DON'T need to be around next season (assuming you sign the first base guy). And we are still stuck with Mauer, who can't catch...sigh!

I doubt they would do it.

Does that make Arcia expendable...but where does he get to play (DH) to build some trade value. Will Hicks be the odd man out? Will the Twins pay Trevor Plouffe 3 years and $30 million to hang around? Is that a better choice than trading him and keeping right field open for Kepler and/or Walker. Do the Twins believe in Rosario. When will Buxton be ready. Or do you bite the bullet and just make Sano a DH-for-life, your David Ortiz, and get him under a longterm contract (like 10-12 years) fast and soon. If he DH's, then you have to make the choice between Arcia/Hicks in the near future, and deal away Walker in the longterm, and hope Kepler is your future Gene L:arkin...switching to first abse at sometime and staying before he becomes expensive. And, again, Rosario is the question mark. Do you gamble on him being a longterm Twin? Sometimes this desire of the Twins to have players play multiple positions just doesn't seem...right.

Well, I guess if Wilkin Ramirez isn't coming abck. He would provide decent depth. But doubt that he is worth a million-dollar paycheck at this point, sadly.

It's a total crapshoot. Someone like Molitor gets hired, and does what he does, and named manager of the year. We have Dougie abseball in the minors who is itching for a managerial job (not a coaching job) and he should probably get it. It is ncie to see new blood put into the mangerial marketplace rather than managers playing musical chairs. There are more than enough candidates out there to fill any open positions, just in-team manager prospects alone. Gardy's best bet is to become that bench coach and ride the bench for a few years and make the step up when the young manager flames out. I hope he invested his salary wisely.

Quite frankly, none of the "reunion" guys are worth jumping the gun on. Nathan will no doubt wait until mid-season (similar to Soriano) to see what he can get, unless someone blows his checkbook and offers him $5 million guaranteed (with incentives) to sign early. Just remember the case of Santana, who many of us thought would behappy with a minor league contract/looksee. But he managed to get guaranteed big league money for no production. A.J. is similar. Although his price is reasonable, he is still 39. At some point, he may not be any better than an Eric Fryer or Drew Butera. If he could bring the leadership we are losing with Torii, maybe an early grab. But I'm not sure he will be the same clubhouse rpesence. I would rather hire Mike Redmond as a coach to offer some more clubhouse antics/presence. Justin Morneau would be a man withouta position. He won't take the place of Mauer. If something happens to Mauer, I would rather see Kepler and/or Vargas get time at first. We don't need him at DH. A team looking for a DH might grab him (stay away from the NL, Justin). You don't want to play him at first, although he might be better than our current first bagger. Pther reunion possibilities? Scott Baker is looking for work. Phil Humber will be seeking a job. We could bring abck Kris Johnson from his overseas tour. Nick Punto could be talked out of his one-year retirement. We could Noalsco for Garza. We could trade Jepsen for Ramos. I'm sure Alexi Casilla would accept a contract offer. And Pedro Hernandez is right across the river in St. Paul Saints land.

Isn't Garver in the Arizona Fall League?

A case can be made for the lack of guys from Oklahoma occupying manager chairs going into the 2016 season.

Not saying too much for the other 450 names to play in a Twins uniform.

Ramos could become a valuable trade chip if the Nats do sign a free-agent catcher. Enough teams need upgrading behind-the-plate and his salary makes him an okay choice. But I'm not sure how much I would give up for the guy. Okay, send Meyer back!

I say goodbye to Nunez and keep Danny as the benchguy for 2016 and see if he steps up in any way. The Twins need a placesetter at short for at least 2016 and possibly 2017 and between Escobar (who if he remains consistent can be tradebait) and Santana, I feel the Twins have adequate coverage.

It all boils down to adjusting to major league pitching and how well he listens and works with the coaches. Sano strikes out a lot, but he is open to comment and looks like he will work hard at his craft. AAA will be an awakening for Walker, and the majors even moreso. You can fool other teams for a while (look at Parmelee when he came up in September), but you have to be willing to make adjustments and trust the advice of others. Even natural talent guys like Mauer can miss the ball (and season) at times.

With those five guys projected to join the Twins, the future does look pretty darn birght if none of the other 25 or so show up. We have a starter, a corner outfieler who can play first, a center fielder, a shortstop, and a guy who might start but could close. Whew! All we need is a catcher!

Drew Butera!?

So Escobar could be a placesetter until we see Gordon, followed by Vielma if need be, and then Javier in the wings. If we went and signed someone longterm, then we have some expendable tradebait here. J.T. Char sounds like he may be the next...Anthony Slama, perhaps. Hope not. That he develops and is given every opportunity tobecome a first-rate bullpen arm in the majors. Meyer controls his own destiny. 2016 is the year he shines or is bypassed. Unfortunately, his trade value with the current Twins is not what it was when the Nats dealt him to us.

Hey, if we get Lucroy, could we send Suzuki to the brewers as part of the trade?

Let's look at the players we do have and figure out how to bat them. Hicks CF Dozier 2B Mauer 1B Sano DH Plouffe 3B Arcia RF Rosario LF Suzuki C Escobar SS Pretty solid if everyone produces. Would ratehr see Dozier at third and Mauer further back, if could find a #2 hitter (maybe Hicks moves there when Buxton comes up). The challenge is Sano/Plouffe/Arcia/ Although far from eprfect, Sano IS the cleanup hitter. Plouffe is inconsistent. Arcia needs to prove himself all over again.

I don't see the need for Plouffe in left. Dozier departing, we lose some punch at the position compared to possible repalcements for now. I have faith that Arcia will get it all together and smash the ball and take the Twins to the limit in arbitration before departing via free agency someday. But, by then, we might have Adam Walker. I agree that the Twins should avoid signing any of their arbitration guys Fien and Nunez, not to mention the free agents like Boyer and Cotts and Duensing (and Hunter and, of course, Pelfrey). Bring in new bodies. Or advance prospects.

Something needs to be done NOT to take the postseason into November. Bang-bang-bang playoff games the first two rounds. It seems to be counterproductive to have a weekend without baseball before starting you Big Event on a Tuesday (Monday Night football and ALL football be damned!). Can we say "Momentum-tum-tum killer!" I don't know he answer. But am a firm believer that playoff games CAN be played at the same time as each other as they have appeal morso to subset of fans. Royals and Mets. Will be an interesting series. Royals in five!

If a team has the money, you gamble. This last season, the Twins put a lot of money into their rotation. They lost, but the team did better than recent years. Go figure. You always run the risk of a bad investment (that is what you have analytics and scouts for, right). You have to be willing eat a certain amount of salary every season. They did it with Joe Mays, to a lesser extent Nick Blackburn, once for Joe Nathan. It happens. Be prepared to not have your "superstars" on the field. It is the longterm eating of a contract that literally sucks. Do you trade prospects? Same issue. How many prospects in the Top 20 make it to the majors. How many actually play in the majors for any extended amount of time. A quick look at the past decade of Twin draftees shows that you are lucky if 5-6 guys make the majors, and not necessarily with your own team. And here is another area that you are spending good money and not getting the results that you may want. Ultimately, my definition of a top of the order sarter, or an Ace, is someone who consistently year-after-year gives you starts and innings (preferably 200 these days) and keeps you in the game. I have never totally embraced the idea of having your "ace" start against another team's ace, especially in, say, the playoffs or World Series. One of these "aces" has to lose. You might do better having your next guy pitch against their ace and have your ace come back against a lesser pitcher. A year long battle of aces could have one guy with a 20-10 record and a 2.98 ERA and the other with a 10-20 record and a 2.99 ERA, How much is that worth? I have also been a firm believer that you do develop your own talent and when that talent produces for you, you reward them with contracts and salary for what they are doing and have done. When you pay out outrageous monies based on what someone ahs done with another team (different home park, different offense, different bullpen) you are paying for soemthing that will go bust more often than not. At least when that homegrown talent busts, you can tell yourself you were underpaying them in early years. Looking at the Twins in 2015, what would it have been like to have David Price on the mound with the team? Would he been equally successful? Are a pitchers numbers like Grienke skewed because he faces a pitcher as a batter in the National League? Would we rather have three $15 million dollar pitchers and have one go down than one $25 million pitcher who goes down (and, yes, we had three that did partial work last season, I know). In the game of baseball, someone wins, someone loses. Your best and their best still results in someone not winning.

Dozier is set for salary, so if a team needs a second bseman, he would be enticing. The problem with Plouffe is that teams KNOW the Twins may need to amove him, he has an expensive arbitration year on the horizon, and you have to ask IS he worth signing long-term. Now if the Twins sign Plouffe to a three-year deal, and if that deal is appealing to another team, then the Twins are in the driver's seat. Besides the above two, Kyle Gibson is a very movable player, too, from an area of strength (starting pitching) since the big contracts are not going anywheres.