Rosterman

Yes, if we had Santana and Escobar both in the lineup...we would have one less of Schafer or Robinson, and probably a third catcher on the bench. If it was Fryer, we would have a bench that we would seldom have a need to go to at all. Period. Which is fine if you have a powerful starting nine. There are still questions on Vargas and Santana in their sophomore seasons. What should be done about Arcia and who can play there. What can be done about Hunter and should he play there. We believe Plouffe will find his bat. That the other players will hold their own. But there is a weakness in the Twins offense that is holding the field until the future MIGHT arrive. Rosario and Hicks and Buxton could all be in the outfield, better or worse than the current? Sano could push Plouffe to a utility role and joining Escobar, pushed back to the bench with Santana at short for sure. Add Hunter as a bench/bat DH/4th outfielder or Vargas. And Pinto as the backup catcher...you suddenly have a great bench and hopefully a solid nine on the field...come September!

Hunter was a marketing signing. Pure and simple. It's a one year deal. He talks to the press. He excited a certain segment of the fan base. He still has some skills. He could play as well as what the Twins had in the upper system (Chris Parmelee, Arcia). He could switch to DH if Vargas fails, and IF the Twins find someone, anyone else to play in the outfield. It was just a few years ago that the Twins had an over-abundance of centerfielders. Now we are struggling to see anyone major-league worthy of holding down any of the outfield spots today. Maybe tomorrow, but nothing shining bright today!

Man, six games out after playing seven. That hurts. It's a tough job, but I always had issues with Gardy's line-up construction. But I will also admit I don't have answers. Where should Dozier bat. Do we need to keep Joe in the #3 spot forever (I don't like him as #2 personally). Is Hunter a #2, or a #5. Who bats clean-up. Vargas, Arcia, Plouffe...for now? I know you want to establish consistency, and that is supposedly what the final week of spring training was for. I can live with one pitcher being horible in the bullpen. So I would give a spot to Graham, as you always need a guy to mop up, especially if you remain a non contender. I don't know the answer to why Brian Duensing went from potential starter to being a one batter pitcher, and if the Twins need that luxury from the left side, and is there no market at all for the guy...I guess probably not if he is a one batter pitcher. At least there are enough arms in the wings, both present and future, that at some point the Twins have to create the bullpen shuffle. It also helps if the starters can push towards the 7th inning, rather than worrying about getting out of the 5th. There were $65 tickets available for the home opener. There's $6.50 tickets for the next game. Go figure. I'm trying to figure out how to really market this team and this season. Drawing a Blank!

The joy is that the Twins have a lot of fine prospects that may not break the main 9 or the starting rotation, but could still prove to be valuable bench/backup guys, or add strength to the bullpen, and pretty much all of those guys fill that bill...so we don't need to fill the roster with AAAA professionals or replacement value pitchers.

Did anyone catch the playing of "It's a Beautiful Day for a Ballgame" during the interview with Torii at the game's beginning. Like others, I wonder if the need to sing "God Bless America" is a necessity. Yes, you can showcase another singer. But...

I wonder, too, if Arcia would be better served with more time at Rochester. But, who takes his palce. Two other guys putting in time at Rochester who may/may not produce the same as Arcia? The bullpen issues are magnified when you think that the Twins do have solutions at Rochester (two relievers, Thielbar and Pressly should be equally as incompetent as others on the roster, but HAVE proven to be okay in the bullpen). Two relievers were removed from the 40-man, who would offer some speed and excitement coming out of the bullpen (Oliveros and Pryor). But do youa dd them, or fast track Jones, Burdi, Reed et al. The key is the rotation. They have to keep us in the game. Like Hughes did yesterday. Bad first inning, but kept the team in the game. But the offense failed. And the bullpen added to the woes. I keep thinking line-up construction. Does Dozier need to bat 2nd. Where do you put Hunter. WHy does Mauer have to stay batting third. Do the Twins have a clean-up hitter. What IS the best role for Plouffe. At the least, let Hicks and Rosario be the centerfielders in training. At what point do the Twins release their best hitter (Nunez) and bring up Fryer so Herrmann can play everyday!

But Meyer wasn't on the 40-man. Instead, the Twins choose to add someone who may/may not be around to the 40-man for a bandaid solution. Go figure. Yes, would we be just as well served having Rosario and Hicks battling it out as part-timers this year, and anyone else putting in time at AAA instead of the likes of Boyer, Stauffer, Pelfrey, Noalsco and even Aaron Thompson. If the powers-that-be figure the Twins can improve and be competitive with what they are fielding, so-be-it. But I'm sure they wanted to avoid any mention of rebuilding, as that was the sure-fire way to NOT sell season tickets (praise Hunter) and create interest in the Twins as an entertainment above and beyond the blogosphere. They have April to show people something, otherwise the few season tickets they did sell will be going for pretty cheap on StubHub. And no one will be buying all those geat new concessions.

Adding Buxton to the 40-man is not that difficult. You might have to let go of Shane Robinson or Jordan Schafer. What scares me is who would go if they decided to add, say, Eric Fryer.

Okay, the Twins DO have an investment in Mike Pelfrey. He also has an investment in himself. This is his year! he needs to prove to the Twins that he is a starter and be given every opportunity to shine. If he doesn't shine, if he pitchers like he averaged the past two seasons, he will not have a decent payday on his horizon. If he pitches his heart out, wins games, keeps the team in the game, he will be able to continue onto a decent multi-year contract and many millions of dollars. He was the odd man out coming out of spring training, but like they say "you can never have too many pitchers" which is shown by the Twins losing two starters in the first week of the season. Happily, unless you count Milone and Pelfrey in this category, they won't have the slew of names like Yohan Pino, Cole DeVries, Kris Johnson, Esmerling Vasquez, Sam Deduno, P.J. Walters, Pedro Hernandez, Andrew Albers to track out to the mound. Even Jason Marquis, who remarkably found a job in 2015. Pelfrey might be the one-year hit of Scott Diamond (and don't resign him, please, Terry). So, right now, the Twins have a lot of players who need to prove that they not only can belong on the Twins major league roster, but also play in the major leagues, but hopefully not with the Twins as the young guys move forward. It is Milon and Pelfrey's job to keep. It is Robinson and Schafer's job to stay. It is Escobar's job to keep a job. Arcia, Vargas, Santana, Dozier, Pinto will still have a longer leash. Even Aaron Hicks will stay in the mix for the year. But Pelfrey has the choice to become someone who can get a multi-year contract, of become the next Nick Blackburn or Phil Humber, and where are they today? One no-hitter does not a pitcher make. Bullpen or AAAA has-been.

The Twins do have some arms coming up that could dominate. And they did start Hicks, but they also have given a lease to Arcia, who could basically be expensive for the team when he reaches Hicks' current age. It is a tough game. There are elite players, but not always a whole lot of them. A player can also become MORE elite if the team he plays for has a good mix of players behind him to go with his own talent. Again, it is a tough job. Line-up construction. How you put together a rotation (which pitcher pitches against which pitcher...should your strong arm pitch against a possible stronger arm, or should you try to dominate the backend of someone else's rotation). What makes Mauer a #3 hitter now. Why is Hunter hitting 4th. Is Dozier the perfect #2. How do you construct a bullpen...a fly ball pitcher, a groundball pitcher, just lots of speed to get the batters swinging and pray that someone catches it, or someone slow and crafty. Of course, not having to use the bullpen more than 2-3 innings average is the perfect solution. And what is the organization feel, or in our case "The Twins Way," and why is or isn't it working. You can be your own island and not change and keep going, hoping to get the breaks and such. But sometimes you have to look at what others are doing, at how players change and the programs you draft them from have changed in itself, and make adjustments. The wonderful decision of finding the right faculty for your minor league stops. And then, you have to sell tickets!

You gotta win series to be competitive. How many teams can our top two pitchers out duel. That is the question. And the guy in centerfield is hitting, so we can't complain about that dead hole.

Ae Schafer and Robinson better fielders to have between Arcia and Hunter than, say, Santana, who SHOULD bring more offense to the position (unless Schafer surprises and hits again like he did last year). Can Escobar hit if he plays everywhere but where he should play, and what do the Twins lose by putting him in other positions just so he can get playing time. There is really, after Escobar, no one on the bench I would call a pinch-hitter, at least one to hit so someone else can go in and take their place on the field. If the lineup stays healthy, maybe we don't need that worry (or a third catcher). We have the best starting staff you can find that will give up at least three runs a game. If they face a pitcher that only gives up two runs, we are in trouble. The only savings grace is that we do have three potential starters that can push towards 200 innings. If any falter, especially the guys mentioned, we have two waiting in the wings in the minors, and two more who will be banging on the door in 2016. Not that Suzuki is the best guy behind the plate with the glove, but Pinto could be even worse. As long as Kurt hits, the Twins can be thankful. If Pinto really works on his catching skills at Rochester, then we have a future backstop, otherwise we pray for the guys at High A and below to develop faster than the ones we already jettisoned. If anyone falters in the bullpen, there are 5 guys on the 40-man waiting for a chance. It is THESE guys who have everything to lose. You got a job in the majors, keep it. If you shine, you'll have a job somewhere next year, too. And the Twins lower level prospects have to also play like they know the jobs are for taking. This is going to be a trying month. If the Twins aren't above .500 come May 1st, it will be a long season.

Yes, something clicked with Billy Martin that Griffith kept him in the organziation and made him manager. Wonder what would've happened if he had kept him rather than parting ways. Bill Tuttle is fondly remembered as the guy with chew in his cheek. And surprised Oravetz didn't get a cup of coffee with the Twins with his fine season in 1962.

It is a good idea. The Twins do have a very small window to make the decision if Meyer and May are their future (because of others guys like Berrios and Stewart in the wings). They are dynamite prospect trade pieces today. A bad year at AAA and they become non-prospects, because of age more than likely. Polanco is also one of those guys that if you keep Dozier, and you have Gordon in the wings, you can dangle him. I wish Kepler had more value, as he would also be enticing. But this shows the difficulty of being a general manager. Do you go out and get a Big Name innings-eater winner for $20+ million a year to totally stabalize your pitching staff, or do you hope the guys you keep will develop into $20 million dollar starters in the near future. And anytime you start throwing out pieces, you have to evaluate the other team. Do they need starting pitchers, or outfielders, or a third baseman. Besides salary releif, they want prospects that will fill weaknesses in their own system. Like they may want a Burdi or Jones over a second aging starter.

And then we traded him and Lenny Green for Jerry Kindall and Frank Kostro. Billy Moran was the odd guy in the deal. Twins and Indians and Angels doing one of those three-ways. Power basically went downhill. Green had a couple of sparkles. Less said about Kindall was a bit better than modern day Drew Butera. In 5 seasons Kostro barely put together a half-season of at-bats.

Is the reasoning behind making some of these guys starters is just to get them more innings, rather than less. Yes, you can always put a starter in the bullpen. But can you make a reliever into a first-class starter?

Wilkin Ramirez?

You start looking at the guys that you drafted and after this season basically become a free agent, and they are behind some that still have 2-3 years of minor league control. At this point, if they aren't about to be considered a 40-man add, or playing and holding their own in the high levels, they get pushed aside by someone else. And there are others in the same boat, so one is easily replaceable by a temporary pickup. We forget how many of the 150+ players that the Twins have in their system do come back the next year. And when we complain about the AAAA talent or why a Chris Herrmann makes the team or Nunez is still playing on the roster...these guys are still better, at the moment, than so many others. Even the bench warmer is a talent...and sometimes the ability alone of being a bench player or a back-of-the-bullpen pitcher makes you worth a lot to an organization. We would like to think that a roster is filled with 25 star level players, but it is filled with players that will make up a team. Some with unique and special skills, for the moment. Some that will be around forever. Some that will someday be too costly too keep.

He did show up on the Rochester roster at some point, and even is mentioned as signing with the Twins over in http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/v/villabr02.shtml#trans

It's been a tough off-season. The negativity comes from four losing seasons. Yet the Twins DID go out and spend money, did keep Arbitration eligible players, did change on-field management. All in the hopes of exciting the fan base AND getting the club at least competitive in a division that just may pretty balanced overall. And the blogsphere fanbase is really excited about the prospects to come. But we can't have both and stay positive about both, or can we? Give kudos to a team trying for the goals in 2015 of putting a winning team on the field, spending money to do it, and now having to deal with a setback. How negative would it be to the popular fan base if the team had announced that we are going to go into a strict 2-3 year rebuilding mode, hoping our strong minor league system will come thru and dazzle you and keep you interested in baseball. It is a gamble. The Twins did put some money out there. We may disagree on where it was spent and on whom. We also may disagree on some ench and in-training player choices, but now that the season has begin, we go forth and hope that seats aren't cheap on StubHub.

Check out the rosters section (both majors and minors) at the www.twinscards.com site and get a great overview of the many names, major and minor league vets, that played in the Twins spectrum!

What ever happened to Villareal? Did he get jettisoned soon after signing as a minors free agent. Surprised Wilkin Ramirez is still around. Be interesting to see if the Twins pick up anyone anyone else jettisons. You would think catchers are often on a longer lease (depending on defense) like Kock and Knudson (who would be a free agent anyway and the Twins don't see him going on the 40-man next year).

The is a most interesting question. Perkins has a very acceptable contract, even if he moves into just a set-up role as his Twins years continue. Yet, what is his true trade value now.You can see how fast his value diminished when he shut down at the end of the season. He should always have some value, being a lefty, but if he really shines in the first half and the Twins are going nowhere, do you move him and for what? Plus, who is in the wings to take over the closer role.

Achter, Tonkin. You can reinstate Oliveros or Pryor. Darnell is there. Thompson and Thielbar are there. And that's before you have to go after the "new" kids in the pen. Not to say that those in the majors are better than those mentioned above, but.....

They drafted well. Aaron Hicks! Alex Wimmers! Levi Michael and Travis Harrison! Oh, wait, they did that strange Ben Revere signing. And Matt Garza, too. Brought some fine players back in trade for them. Wait, that was the other guy, not Terry!