Rosterman

Would we be interested in any Reds starters not named Cueto? Would we be willing to trade for Dee Gordon to play shortstop? Who can we get as a backup catcher now that Drew Butera is gone to another team? Who will be next to be waivered off the Twins roster. I would dangle Pelfrey out there to see if someone would grab his contract away from us.

I find so much of this true. You have to have a playground. You have to have a certain amount of equipment, which is timeless. You have to sit around a lot and watch others play before you get to go out and field or go up and bat. I grew up a baseball fan. Just two of us was often enough to work on basic skills. You would have 5 to 10 balls. You'll throw it up in the air and grab the bat with both hands and send a grounder of fly to your partner out in the field, then trade places. You would practice in an alley with a tennis of whiffle ball and a stick, using a neighbors garage or the bounce back to the pitcher and hoping the garage on the other side was tall enough that you didn't have to chase the ball. I found little league as a kid, and T-ball when my kid was a kid, to be more competitive than they should, from uniforms needed, or just T-shirts, but kid's either playing, or being ushered to play, like they were major league prospects. By the time I got to high school, it wasn't a sport at all to play because you liked playing, you had to be good as the means to win were more important than developing skills that would serve you if you just wanted to do pickup games as an adult. And, man, as an adult...it is absolutely horrible to play games with those that are frustrated non-professionals. But, yes, baseball seems to be more organized as a whole. You need a playing field. Asphalt or concrete is not the same. You need a group of kids...trow your gloves in a pile and let teams be chosen. You need to have someone work on your specific skill sets overtime...fielding, throwing, hitting, running. You don't have to be great in any of them, but you must develop instincts, and team play. The Latino community has developed academy-style programs, and you see it when teams draft players at age 16-17-18. And it is a near fulltime work environment, which it also is in the general community. You either play baseball or you don't. You work hard on developing your skills. Sadly, in the old U.S.A., if you have the dollars you can go to better schools, play Legion ball, go to summer camps, even get private tutoring. The major leagues may hold small training camps and such, more public relations than results oriented. In some circles, basketball gets you into the game earlier. Football gets you an education. Baseball is a total crapshoot (how many people are in "professional" baseball compared to basketball and football, which basically use the educational systems as their minor leagues, which baseball ALSO does above and beyond the 200 players each team signs to groom, in which 2-4 maybe get a major league cup of coffee each year, and half of those get a career. Baseball, even after your high school or college years, is still a long internship of minor league play and you may still not crack the diamond. You are 25. You are 28. You are even just 22...and you have to figure out what to do with your life after dreaming of a life in baseball.

I am actually surprised that another team would find a 40-man spot for him, but it is a good claim if they can also send him thru waivers and use him as a backup at first base, which is what the Twins needed to do. So, who do the Twins have playing 1st at Rochester now.

I think Ryan has a lifetime position with the Twins in some capacity. If anything, he loves to evaluate players. Does he need the money an upgrade in job title would bring, combined with paperwork and other duties? No. But, yes, the question remains: who would be the next general manager.

Hardly. WE ALL know Pinto isn't considered a great catching prospect. If he had major value, it was before last season, coming off a fine September. You can send him to AAA and have him catch to see if he does better himself. And if a team believes he can catch, and also develop as a hitter, he has value. He IS NOT the Twins catcher of the future. Right now, he has to be able to catch 20-30 games at least, be available as a DH, and be a solid bench bat, unless Vargas falters and he would be the permanent DH who could also catch (third catcher) behind Suzucki and someone not named Fryer and Butera or even Herrmann. Right now, sad to say, he's a better prospect than Herrmann.

I heard that someone forgot to book tickets to San Diego. No loss, nothing much happening. If anyone wants anything that the Twins have, I would listen...intently. And, please Terry stop saying you have 3-4 year offers in seven figures out to Lester, Shields and Drew Butera.

The 40-man. Chris Parmelee is out of options. He's far from ensured of a job (hey, go after Brandon Moss). In the bullpen, Aaron Thompson and Lester Oliveros can become free-agents if waivered out (actually, many of the Twins fringe guys can become free agents if waivered out). The Twins have to take a close look at these two, see if they can fit into plans for more than one season, and make a big decision. Speaking of Mike Pelfrey, he best would be if the Twins COULD bury him at AAA for part of the beginning of the season to see if he can get his starting arm back, then he becomes insurance. Unless you don't like Thompson or Oliveros, you are giving mop-up innings to a $5-million dollar salary who won;t be around in 2016 (wait, this is the Twins, he could return for even more money!). Why is Eric Fryer even on the 40-man. The Twins should be able to find a decent AAA catcher and just have him on a minor league deal. Heck, Fryer could probably be resigned since, like Bernier, the Twins did promote onto the 40-man...more than probably 39 other teams would. Speaking of on the 40-man: Colabello. Love the guy. Are the Twins that afraid that another team will grab this aging first baseman to stow away at AAA. Well, they would first have to stow him on the 40-man, then send him thru waivers again. Unless another team really has a 40-man spot for the guy. He is great insurance, and like Albers coming back from Korea, the Twins could be his minor league home with hope of a call-up. I can't understand why the Twins awarded Duensing, Nunez with tenders. I would think both could be signed for less than they will command in arbitration. If they can't, then bully to the new team that will gat their contract. Again, you have players that can replace both (Thompson, Darnell for one, Beresford and even Bernier for the other). I still shake my head at the amount of deadwood on the 40-man, the holes that are filling up with minor league deadwood, as we wait for the 3-4 guys to graduate to a major league opportunity this season, another 2-3 in 2016, and maybe we have a full lineup of new and promising superstars come 2017.

I do totally expect them to market this wrong. "Buy A Season Ticket, get an autographed Hunter Jersey." That sort of thing. They should put him in whatever field has the most empty seats and create a special Torii section at special Torii (high) prices.

Happ-ily the Twins didn't go after J.A. Happ. But the chances of them getting Saunders is now Happ-less.

Maybe the Minnesota Twins Hall of Fame.

Aren't you pretty well stuck with keeping these guys, now, on a roster spot until after arbitration, which you then also have to biie the bullet and eat the contract if you end up releasing them, compared to now just non-tendering them and signing them back for whatever? It means the Twins flexibility are names like Fryer, Colabello, Herrmann, and assorted pitchers like Darnell and Thompson. Swarzak was still pretty cheap. Of course, you CAN trade any of the tenders.

Even with Hunter, the Twins have basically no dependable outfield, just as they have no rotation beyond Hughes, maybe Gibson, and hopefully Nolasco. Arcia could use more seasoning. But he has a longer leash than Hicks, who could also use more seasoning at Rochester but could very well start his third year in center as the Twins need someone to run down the baseball not named Schafer. Parmelee is still in the mix, as we have to see how Vargas does in spring training and if Vargas can also play 1st base, at times. If so, by by to Chris #1 with Chris #2 going this winter and Chris #3 not even being given consideration for anything. It is a genius marketing move. The Twins fan who actually goes to the game for some sort of dreamful excitement and hopes of winning will see this as a sign from heaven and buy a season ticket package, especially with the 10% your Hunter Jersey special (and if you do it by January 15th, you get a free TwinsFest ticket AND THE OPPORTUNITY to get Hunter's autograph -- only for ST holders, by the way). DISCLAIMER: The preceding is not true, but is a possibility in marketing. It's not the best time for an announcement, but probably the biggest before the winter meetings begin and will be the talk of those discussions, but most fans will watch the news tonight and before the winter meetings and just get great Twins-hype about the second coming and nothing about diminishing fielding skills. But, like Mauer's salary, should NOT be a part of payroll. Not one cent. It should all be in the marketing budget, which means the Twins still have at least $30 million (counting Mauer's goodwill franchise salary) to spend on product to play on the field, not in the branding, marketing, media.

Who says Arcia will even beak camp with the Twins. He has his pluses and negatives, too. Not that the Twins have an abundance of outfielders to choose from who will perform. Wait, isn't that the starting rotation I'm talking about, too?

I'm with you all on Torii being half-the-player he was and the thought of him on one side on an unknown and Arcia on the other makes me tremble as much as any pitcher in the rotation who is unable to throw a strikeout. I told my wife the news and she immediately said: "Honey, we have to buy our season ticket package again." Right now, going into Twinsfest and the winter months, the Twins have to do something, anything, to create a brand look, a marketing plan, and to sell advance tickets. Sad to say, right now, Torii will do that. People will cheer when he appears at Twinsfest. I'm sure the overzealous $10.5 million payout is including some public relations, banquet appearances, maybe the winter caravan. Yes, it will all catch up with the Twins come May 1, probably. But if he sells an additional 3-5-7 thousand season ticket packages or more, if in his own outspoken way he fires up the rabble, if the Twins can come out of April not as a flyball pitching club, but with starters that dominate the batters into strikeouts and groundballs, we will have a good attendance to open the season. In the short term, the Twins need to put butts (or non-show dollars) into the seats, buying time until the new crowd comes in and gets a taste. I don't know anyone else in the free agent sphere that the Twins would afford that will create excitement for the team amongst the common fan as Torii. He gives us a solid 40-year-old bat behind Mauer, he gives us an alternative at DH if Vargas sophomore slumps, he gives us a body in leftfield if we can't break camp with Buxton or Rosario or Hicks (two would be a dream, but highly doubtfull. Now, we need some non pitch-to-contact starters and some high-throwin' bullpeners.

Plouffe and Donaldson are not anywhere near the same player. But I keep thinking what Plouffe will be like when he hits age 30, or 32. I doubt we will see him in Minnesota, though. Also, the trading of this high-powered chip by a team that made the playoffs, sending it now towards a rebuilding mode (especially if pitchers they acquired this year also walk), probably works in the longrun. If Beane sees himself not winning next year, he is looking beyond. I don't know what Butler and his $30 million brings to the table, though. A totally one-dimensional player at a high pricetag and for three years. Not that HE'S blocking anyone from play. But you get prospects by drafting or trading the Big Guys. But, again, the confusion is the throwing around of money on player's you don't need (include Ike Davis here). If Beane didn't spend THAT money, I would look at the trade differently, in some ways. A;though I am also of the school that would take more chances on players like Butler with the hopes of trading them down the line...which also doesn't always work. Oakland has to be one of the more entertaining to watch franchises in baseball beyond what happens on the field. Moneyball made Beane an armchair fan star, Brad Pitt made him a name, but is he ultimately good for the game?

He is arbitration final year eligible and is dangled out there if a team thinks he is worth THAT much money, before becoming a free agent. Pittsburgh is on the bubble about non-tendering him, although they probably will, but would then like to trade him and use the money elsewhere. If the Twins were desperate for a 4th or 5th starter, I would say "yes" but they have other candidates, for now, and could still find the equivalent as another's team non-tender or even save money on a late winter free agent signing. He walks a lot of batters, throws a lot of pitches.

Torii will be all about the money, and possibly playoff contention. His best bet would be a one year deal with Kansas City. Looking around the marketplace, it seems he could ask for $10 million a year and, heaven forbid, even put out feelers for $20 million for two years, which someone just might bite at. He wants to play, but would settle for designated hitter at bats, so that pretty much leaves the National League out of the picture. I don't see him signing anywhere for $4-6 million .But, I could be wrong!

Man, Kaat was solid. He had that one injury plagued year. He had at least three dynamite seasons as a starter. If he hadn't been a lefty setup man, he might have a amassed some saves and been the equivalent of John Smoltz. He didn't reach 300 wins, but many pitchers don't. But look at his workhorse record. Not only starting, but reliving a few times when called upon in the 60s. Yes, he should be retired and given a statue before a writer and mascot. Interesting to hear that instead of Tommy John surgery, he changed and played thru it. (Tommy John, also a former Twins broadcaster, should be in the Hall, too.)

Swarzak back is an interesting case. When you non-tender a guy, he can look over the marketplace. Because you cut him, chances are he doesn't care if he comes back or not (unless you are Glen Perkins, remember, who was waivered out and couldn't get a claim, and now happy to be a Twin, still). You non-tender a guy because you don't think he is worth what he will ask in arbitration. Many players aren't. The evils of the system, you lose guys this way (think Ortiz). But right now, the Twins don't need Swarzak. They actually don't need Duensing. Or Milone. Or Nunez. And non of the three Chris guys either. What they need are hungry players who will strive to be productive and get a chance for a bigger payday (Schafer filled that bill, Fuld did it with the Twins, but not the A's, Morales failed miserably). Let's see what Terry Ryan can find. Anyone wonder iof Casey Fein might be Jared Burton 2014 in 2015? Here's a guy the overworked in September. He was a decent trading chip for the Twins in the summer.

I like Billy Beane. He purposely plays the underdog and wants to win playing that part. For some reason, he doesn't want franchise players. He trades one guy for four. Looks good on paper. But Donaldson is a stud. You could have paid him about what you are paying Billy Butler for the next three years to still play for you and probably increase his worth more than, say, Butler will. That's what I don't understand about this move. You overpay Butler for three years. You trade off a dynamite third baseman who you still have control...sure you get a third baseman that could be an okay replacement, a couple of pitchers, a throw-in. I just know that if I was a baseball player, I wouldn't buy a house in Oakland.

Swarzak is interesting. He really didn't price himself out of the market, but he doesn't really have a true role, either. The spot starter experiment has all but failed. And you can replace him with any number of other guys, including the$5 million Pelfrey. It will be interesting to see if he gets a roster spot, or jsut a minor league spring training invite. Duensing also has reduced value since he no longer spot starts, and he ahs become a short-short reliever to boot. You don't need a situational lefty with his few positives for $3 million. Throw Aaron Thompson out there. Give Logan Darnell the chance. Again, as I have repeatedly posted, I am just mad that the Twins failed to flip eitehr of the above for any sort of prospect. Maybe NO ONE wanted them. We will see this off-season. Nunez is hurt by the Santana at short scenario. If Santana stays in the outfield, he becomes the backuo. If Santana goes to short, Escobar becomes the backup. Not that being a backup is a necessity for the twins. We have Beresford, Hanson and Bernier waiting in the wings to ride the bench. Again, someone probably NO ONE wants. IF THE TWINS SIGN an outfielder or two, Schafer finds no room on the bench. He may become 2015's Alex Pressley. The more and more I look at Tommy Milone, I say -- let him go. Not worth the monetary gamble. We got him for Sam Fueld, which we got for minimal money in the first place. I saw nothing in Milone myself. Who knows, he might be the Vance Worley of 2015. I'm not willing to gamble on that. Sorry. Somehow Plouffe has increased his value. The Twins still have two more arbitration rounds with the guy, but he will become expensive. He stays, but what the future holds for this first round draftee is to be seen. Basically, you let guys go if they are too expensive for whatever you can replace them with, either in your system or from others. You escape the arbitration process by signing them to a minor league invite contract. Give guys another year to prove their worth. The Twins could do this with Schafer, but I think he would be grabbed by someone. Lots and lots of fodder on the roster. Too much, really. Fryer, Colabello,,Thompson, to name a few.

Maybe this means he can devote fulltime to stat stuff, rather than having to worry about on-field activities. Excellent choice. A guy who deserves to stay with the organization. He also lives nearby (commutes home to Wisconsin). Has been in baseball for a long time, many years with Dodgers before coming to the Twins where he was once the minor league hitting coordinator.

It has to be explored. Again, the Twins have to make a long-term decision. Where does Plouffe fit in the future. Yes, we can trade him and have a void like they had at third and shortstop for quite a few seasons when they traded someone else out of the position. We all believe that Sano is the future (though many feel he will be better suited elsewhere). The Twins have Escobar to play third of they desire, and hopefully both Escobar and Santana play to 2014 terms in 015. There is no one else in the wings if the need arose (Doug Bernier) and no one to really pick up as a suitable backup (this side of Nunez)...so until the coming of Sano, it is lose-lose for the Twins at that position. But Plouffe's value is at its highest, of sorts. He still ended the season injured and needs a clean bill of health. There are other teams the Giants could trade with, if need be. Do they have a prospect in the pipe? And if we trade Plouffe for a highend prospect, we lose if that "pitcher" doesn't make it. But where does Plouffe fit into the 2016 and 2017 Twins. Super expensive utility guy. One year leftfielder. Someone non-tendered at some point?

All coaches have to start out somewhere, be it player, minor league manager, or minor league coach. Part of the skillset is how they deal with players, and how they deal with the guy in charge of their team. I have always liked Joe Vavra. He is more of a stats man than hitting coach, relying on what a player is doing against pitchers and in ballparks, and this is a guy that is a gem of a bench coach. Plus, he can talk with players. Bruno does the heavy lifting. Hernandez is there for developmental support. Molitor will tweak. Out of all the Twins staff, he was the one I hoped would stay, somewhere, in the organization. Either as the minor league hitting coordinator (still an open position and one Vavra has held before) or perhaps as a field manager at the neighboring Iowa team. But as a bench coach, he is right wwhere he belongs...analyzing players as a player, not just a stathead. Would Steinbach be better? In a sense Terry is a personable guy and is the perfect manager voice for a voiceless manager, to do the talk show circuit and stuff. We have to wait to see how Paul Molitor does this...somewhere between Tom Kelly and Gardy, probably. Neil Allen will be looking at a lot of film, a lot of film, and stat reports. So will Eddie. The two of them are basically in charge of a staff of starters and relievers and hopefully boht looking at the overall picture will improve he Twins. Gene Glynn brings player personnel experience, on-field experience, and fundamental experience. Yes, I would have considered such names as John Russell and Sam Perlozzo (who might still be in the field staff mix). But do you promote from within the organization? Even after 4 losing seasons. Sadly, yes, to the Twins, who have a Twins Way and an antiquated front office staff that would have to be completely torn apart first before you give 100% outside turnover to field staff, as well as strip out the minors. There are lots of good folks in the Twins minor system. Field managers to be Jake Mauer and Doug Mientkiewicz. Jeff Reed and Ray Smith and Marty Mason and Ivan Artega could all be on-field staff. You have a variety of others who help out, from Bert and Roy to Tim. Frank Quilici is still out there. Tom Kelly is still out there. Would Hrbek be a solid guy to have coaching 1st base. I'm hoping ALL the current names are solid and will be here at least 3-5 seasons as the Twins DO improve (their system says "yes" and it is up to the players and the system to make it "no." The skillset of "new" coaching is being defined by specifics these days...you have infield and outfield fielding coaches, you have a base running coach, you have a hitting coach, you have analyticals, you have a starter coach, you have a bullpen guru, you have someone who reminds you of how the game was played, you have someone who just is personable and sparks players. You got a field staff of eight and they keep getting bigger, if money allows it (and if the money IS there for players, is it also there for teachers?). Six down, one to go. And give them players that will succeed!

My wife, a diehard Twins fan (unlike me, a dieharded Twins fan) just poked her head into my room and said "The Twins are seriously talking to Torii Hunter. I would seriously revisit purchasing a season ticket package again." He may be old, he may not be the centerfielder of yore, but he does have some marketing potential for the Twins (as would a Johan Santana reunion that could produce at least one start) above and beyond us diehardened fans who frequent places like Twins Daily. Sure, I want only one year, I don't want to see more than $5 million spent, and I hope Vargas holds down the DH spot and someone, anyone, advances to leftfield, be it Hicks or Rosario or whomever -- I do wish Buxton was far enough along that we could advance him like Hicks before AAA time, and allow him to feel (and struggle). But those are the words of my wife, who actually buys the tickets in this family (I'm happy to go).