Rosterman

Yeah, we needed to keep Johnson around to show that we had something for Morneau. Maybe we can claim Deke Weller, now. Some starts from Presley and a few starts from Johnson, minus having to pay some of Morneau's salary that Pittsburgh picked up, plus we get a half-million or so to boot...the Pirates lose out bigtime, and Morneau gets a batting title in Colorado. Let's keep selling players (money for Correia, or did we actuallt get someone, anyone, in return that we may have to pay a minor league pittance to in 2015). Of course, we scored with Escobar for a great season for Liriano, and see Pedro Hernandez is not w a free agent, as is Liriano. Maybe we can grab both and bring them back to the Twins. With the Johnson money, the Twins can afford to give their staff a Holiday bonus! He, they can resign Albers now, too, right?

Burton will find another job. He had a few bad outings with the Twins but was servicable. But he won't get $3 million.

May and Darnell in the bullpen. Oliveros is out of options, right? Let Meyer start at Roch ester and see what happens. Maybe Pelfrey is right for the pen, too. Soft throwers like Pressley and Thompson and Thielbar are fodder, Achter and Burdi and major pluses in the wings. The Twins can afford to go arbitration with Swarzak and Duensing if they have the 40-man spots. Question is can they get value for them if the need is not there as spring training winds down. Fien should've been sold high in July/August. Possible he will be Burton of 2015. And why was Burton deemed closer when Perkins went down. Better to se anyone who would pitch in 2016 or 2016.

The thing is...it is only money. And the more money you have, the bigger mistakes you can make going towards a payoff that could, basically, wipe out your losses. The Twins signed Mauer, made him a franchise player (like Puckett before). If you take his salary out of the payroll equation and call him goodwill or marketing, which is really what it was and is and will be if he doesn't totally tank, you have more money. What, the last four years the Twins were paying Pelfrey, Blackburn, Baker, Nathan to pitch nothing for the team This happens. You plan for it. You absorb it. You jettison it at some point if you can and make it someone else's problem. You cut Pelfrey after spring training if he isn't ready. Don't send him to Rochester to block someone else. He's not in the plans or 2016. Do you keep throwing Nolasco out there just because he is owed money, and not play the rooked who is shining and the true future? Management has to eat crow, be willing to admit mistakes and move forward. Our management makes mistakes and seems to say "we are not going to overspend on first round draft picks," "we got burned on Japan and won't do that again," "we listened to fans and spent on free agents and look what happened, we won't do that ever again," "one of our guys is a free agent and he should take a hometeam discount because he shined for us and was vastly underpaid the past six years." Better yet: "Lock-in to your 2015 season ticket package and you'll get free $1 dome dogs at every game, ketchup extra though." When you make profits, you can gamble, for sure, with those profits. You may lose, but you may win.

With the Twins roster in its current state, all three, along with a catcher, would basically be the Twins bench, with Escobar at shortstop, Santana in centerfield and someone/anyone in leftfield. They would provide adequate protection for the infield and outfield. But, and here's my kicker, none of them SHOULD be a starter if someone goes down...give that job to any prospect, not matter how young of inexperienced, until the starter returns. And still, it is not a great bench. On paper, you have some punch in Parmelee, average getting on base Nunez, and speed in Schafer. If all three were one player, you would have a nice starter somewhere. But ALL THREE can be replaced by any number of other players cut at the last moment, that 26th or 41st guy. What hurts Nunez and Schafer is arbitration. How much are they worth. And do you expect to keep them around in 2016? Will they play and perform enough in 2015 that they can be traded for another piece of a mid-level prospect. Can you save a half million by having a odriguez in the outfield, or a Beresford in the infield, and still have the same results...solid journeyman performance with limited at bats. Again, none of these guys should supplant a regular or stop a prospect from play if a regular goes down. That is what bench and utility guys on last place teams do. They collect experience and time towards a higher payday while someone else holds down the fort. All three will remain on the 40-man, but any could be gone if the Twins sign a free agent.

Colabello will be cut from the 40-man before November roster is finalized. He just might resign as a free agent with the Twins. He has hit well at AAA. Parmelee remains on the 40-man until the Twins sign a free agent, any free agent. Then he could be expendable. If Colabello doesn't stay as a minors free agent, the Twins need to find someone for Rochester. Gonzales is interesting. Not quite ready for AAA. Not a need on the 40-man. Would he resign and start at AA. That would solve some problems. The Twins have to make a decision on what to do with Kepler, who has to come to the team in 2016, play a reserve role in 2017, and stay forever after that...as the new first baseman, perhaps? Shows the pain of adding players to the 40-man when they still need a lot of seasoning. Because of the monies tied up in him, the Twins fear losing him. They can't remove him from the 40-man unless he would really, really tank at High-A ball. Of course, the Twins have Sano. Or Plouffe pushed over. They really have no solid reserve if they lose Parmelee (who can't be optioned out and would probably go free agent if given the opportunity). If they would sign someone like Cuddyer, they would be protected in the outfield corners, at first and third base, and have a designated hitter if Vargas flounders. I say give Mike 2-years at $9-10...because YOU CAN.

Some of this should've happened this past season. Yes, we had Rosario disciplined. Buxton and Sano were hurt. Meyer was blocked by Deduno, Pino, Darnell and others. But you can still do the above (minus Pinto, who the Twins don't seem to want to be the catcher of the future) by adding a top flight starter who MAY be around for more than a season, extending Hughes, adding a bat to play leftfield, and adding some bench versatility. If you choose to advance Meyer, which the Twins should, you can always put May in the bullpen, and still keep him in mind for future rotation spots. You can jettison Milone to Darnell to the minors as backup. You write-off Pelfrey. You do give innings to Tonkin and Achter and every other able-bodied prospect, splitting their seasons between AAA and the majors as they adapt and show if they can compete. You give one last push to Hicks. You let Arcia improve his worth. Remember, Arcia is young, and we could have an arbitration albatross here where he actually hits his stride when he hits free agency. But, sadly, right now, today, the Twins do have to do everything and anything they can do to make the team exciting and put some wins, or competitiveness, on the board to fill the seats. They won't reduce ticket prices. Will fans pay to see a questionable rebuilding team? I say no, unless they do win games, too. If they have another season of 85-90 losses, and even if the prospects outshine any veterans, people still don't pay the big bucks to see TC Bear. They pay the little bucks, which will stifle the team even more, and then they have to figure out ways to spend less to still put more butts in the seats. You can have a surge, like the Royals finally did, and go deep into the playoffs and play in the World Series which will dramatically increase their ticket sales for another year or two. Or, again, like the Royals, you can be at the bottom of the pack and flatline out for a decade or so. The Twins are about to come very close to being in the bottom five in attendance (which also affects revenue from advertising, corporate sponsorships, concessions and the like). Like the current decisions being made on field management, do you go with what you have in the organization or go outside...the Twins also have to look at each and every player they have and ask "why do we want this guy to be a part of the team today and tomorrow." They have to see if the player has any market, any chance to be playing for the team not only in 2015 but in 2016 or 2017, and if the player is replacable by a prospect today or the near tomorrow, and if not, can they find someone better in the marketplace that will add to the team, allow some flexibility if a prospect does emerge. Pelfrey. You don't keep him because he costs $5 million. You keep him if he can pitch deep into a game and give you innings. Pinto. Can he catch? He had a great September a season ago. But if he can't catch, and doesn't figure into the plans, you push on another prospect, or bring in a solid defender behind the plate that is a true bench bat. If Santana plays short, is Escobar the utility guy? Where does that put Nunez? Or, better yet, if Santana becomes the centerfielder until Buxton, where does that put Hicks. Too often the Twins try to wring every last cent out of their investments and suffer the pain of play, rather than make hardline decisions. And, unlike Billy Beane, who is in a world all his own, they put too much worth into a good season and lose track of the flipping of a player (Willingham, Young, etc.). We can dream and praise prospects all we want, but look at a similar article about Baseball America looks at the 2009 draft. The Twins have three plays that made it to the majors and one (redrafted later) that is still in the system out of 50 players. The players: Gibson, Dozier and Herrmann. Another half dozen are still around, but didn't sign with the Twins and were redrafted by other tams. Only one (Mario Hollands) has made it to the majors. And with prospects, unless you do trade for otehr highend prospects, that is a good example of a prospects chances of making the majors. Maybe you get a pitcher of sorts. Maybe you egt a bat. Maybe you get a utility guy. We can hope that the Twins have May and Meyer in 2015. That Sano, Rosario, Buxton all make the grade. That last year's gems of Vargas and Santana hold. That the previous season of Arcia, Hicks, Pinto emerge victorious. That some guys like Achter, Tonkin, Beresford, Darnell fill in the holes. That Burdi, Stewart, Walker, Kepler make us forget names like Michael, Wimmers, hermsen existed at one time or another. Step One is choosing field management. If that choice fails this season, front office management will be in shambles and needs to be replaced. Step Two is to figure out what will get fans excited. Youc an't hype prospects because they might be the next Joe Benson (or Aaron Hicks). Step Three is to totally evaluate the worth of every player on the 40-man roster and the high minors and figure out if they are keepers, if you can get anything, anything for them, or do you cut your losses. Is Gibson a keeper, for example, or do you trade him when he may have worth. Is he a better pitcher than he has shown, or not. Step Four is to identify a free agent or two who adds a bit of marquee value, more promise than prospects, will play the game hard (Cuddyer, for example) and not totally block someone come 2016. Step Five is to market the team, and the way you market the team is to forget the bring the family to sunny Target Field (we can all go the new Saints Stadium in 2015) but by spending your money for on-field product. The money is there to spend, wisely or not (you do make mistake...accept that fact and move on.

Charlie in the Sunday St. Paul paper said Jake Mauer is now being interviewed, too. It doesn't hurt to get a perspective on what your club is like from those outside the organization. Any candidate could also be considered for the second in command coaching position, too. You do need to interview a variety of people. Also, if it truly looked like the Twins weren't open to an outsider, it would quickly spread that it isn't worth your time to interview. There is a deadline of sorts, hopefully by the end of the World Series. I think there might be a blackout on transactions and manager hiring while the series is on, to not take away from that spotlight. So expect an announcement once the series ends. You want the manager on board heading into winter meetings and such. You probably want the manager on board sooner rather than later so you can sort out your minor league assignments, like who could work with the new manager on the major league level. That is part of the interview process for Glynn, Mauer and Mientkiewicz, at least. Would they consider being a major league coach. I see the Twins strongly wanting to keep Bruno, Vavra, Steinbach in the organization, and I'm sure Cuellar is someone they don't want getting away, either.

Whatever the Twins do will be fine, unless they are losing bigtime. They have to look at the division. See the strengths and weaknesses. What it might take to be a wild card team, or what might placate the fans by at least approaching a break-even season if even half of the prospects pan out and the team plays to it's highs, not lows. At this point, the Twins can't afford to do nothing but wait and see and go into total rebuilding mode. Maybe they can tell us that we shouldn't expect anything but growing pains for 1015. It may also be the same in 2016. They will be bigtime in 2017. But everyone else could be bigtime, too.

But shows you the tough road of prospects. Why you should identify them for potential trades. And the luck other people can have drafting the guys the next time around. Maybe. We traded Bullock for Diamond, so that trade made us look good for a season and a half.

The Twins drafted 50 players that year. Gibson, Dozier, Herrmann made it to the majors with the Twins. Mario Hollands (drafted 24th and not signed) later signed and made majors with Phillies. Ronnie Richardson didn't sign and is with the Padres organization. John Stilson didn't sign and is with the Blue Jays. R,J, Encinosa is with the Giants organization. Tony Bryant signed later with the Rockies. Tyler Williams didn't sign and is with White Sox. Pat Light didn't sign but is now with Red Soxs. David Hurlbut didn't sign but did sign in 2011. Tony Davis is still playing, albeit in Indy ball after being released by Jays organization last year/ They only signed like 35 of the guys. Notable prospects that didn't pan out: Billy Bullock (traded for Scott Diamond), Brad Stillings, Matt Bashore, Dakota Watts, Ben Tootle, Dereck McCallum, Tobias Streich, Tyler Herr, Natt Tone, Steve Liddle, Kane Holbrooks, Buddy Monroe, Peter Kennelly. So, we have four guys from that draft still in the organization. A resignee, a journeyman ultility guy, a #4 starter, and an infielder with poer and speed but no average.

You have to think that Cuddyer might have value to the Twins right now. He would be better than Parmelee. Can also play third and first, or be a designated hitter. So even if you went two years (and maybe an option) he would be a nice guy to have in the clubhouse and more valuable because of his infield backup experience than, say, a Torii Hunter, who would only suffice if you needed ANOTHER name to add to a marquee signing to build season ticket interest, perhaps. Of course, if you knew if the Twins may be Wild Card and post season bound, you would want to snatch up Delmon Young, who is a aprt-time player, or so his salary says he is. If you took a flyer on Cabrerra, you could always use him for potential tradebait, if he doesn't implode. I'm getting the impression that we may see the bigger mid-tier names looking for more years, but a better salary, saying $12-15 million a year. I don't really seeing more than 3-4 guys getting $100 million contracts from teams they haven't played for. I may be wrong. But Cuddyer does have value to the Twins, but he won't be playing in Colorado, either.

Am I going invest to see Sano and Buxton, probably. When they actually come up. There is no guarantee that they will play next season at Target Field, so I will wait and see in my ticket buying. So will many others. If new blood arrives (Meyer filling out a rotation, Sano and Buxton plug in to weak holes in the batting order) and if everyone else plays to their average highs, the Twins will clean up as they will control the individual ticket prices. With 10,000 season ticket holders, won't be a lot on StubHub. And two things about economics. Baseball is a club. People are lined up to take your franchise off your hands. Every year you are in existence, the worth of your franchise increases. Plus, if you have a variety of businesses, you can afford to lose money in one to offset profits in another. And I still harp on the 50%. Most union businesses demand that employee payroll is a certain part of operating costs. That you just can't hire cheap help yet demand high prices for your product. I still don't know why the Twins need $100 million to operate the team outside payroll when it was $50 million a decade ago. Management (at least most management) salaries don't increase like player salaries. The Twins have money to spend some of it will get burned. We paid Baker not to pitch. We paid Blackburn not to pitch. Morneau and Mauer have both ate up time on the DL. Nathan was paid not to pitch. Hell, we gave Zumaya how much to do nothing. it's part of the game, the gamble. I will argue that, yes, I would rather have a Hughes for 3 years at his price than a Nolasco for 4 years, although I suddenly want to see that reversed, but Hughes could tank and be a one-year wonder like Willingham. We could've paid Cuddyer $10 million more, and still only get one solid season, too. But it is the dregs that make us fans seem miserable. i can stomach a year of Trevor May learning the ropes, but see no reason we should get the near same production out of a Deduno of Pino, and not see Meyer. Let's no sooner, rather than later, if prospects have what it takes to play in the big leagues. I applaud that Hicks got not one, but two, years in the sun, but that experiment is done and we have to address the issue, or bring up Buxton fast. I'm not going to watch Schafer out there, no matter the numbers he puts up.. I'm still scared that Santana will not produce, a prospect rated behind Rosario, Sano and a number of others. That Vargas will continue a downward spiral. That Arcia is far from a complete package. But they got a chance and will be given every opportunity to prove themselves even more now, That the Twins know that Pinto can't catch, yet we sign a guy that can't throw anyone out, that we couldn't move at the trade deadline to another team, and that a replacement is out there as a free agent. Spending aside, the Twins need to put butts in the seat. They can't market Target Field, there is no All-Star Game, the Saints will have a new outdoor stadium, saving 10% on concessions hurts the vendors who will be selling stuff to an empty stadium. Will Twinsfest happen? Do I want to see or pay to get any player autographs? Is anyone from the front office going to dazzle me with talk? Maybe a new manager will be good for soundbites, but few are actually that media savvy. Even Joe Mauer is no longer king and has to work doubly hard not to fall further. As I said in another post; marketing the Twins starts with the players, the product you put on the field. That IS your marketing budget, too. Clever commercial strategies can fail, like flushing money away. Signing players can also fail, it is a part of the business. You have to convince me to buy a ticket, pay for parking, eat concessions. You have to make me want to wear the team, or a player's, jersey. You must make me want to listen to the game on radio (which I can't because of the damned signal - and the lousey station that is there purely to make your own highest possible profit) or watch it on television...day in and day out. And running your baseball entertainment team like a real business, with an eye on the spreadsheet, and planning for failure rather than success, is not going to get dollar one from me. Maybe it is time to get on the Royals bandwagon. It isn't that long of a drive to Kansas City. And the rubs are great!!

Okay, you look at the team. You have to balance the plus with the minus. First, you have a $70 million payroll going into 2015. But you are probably closer to $45-50 million because you have some major downers. Nolasco is eating up something like $10+ million. Will he come back or not? If he doesn't, you don't get the glories of that expenditure. Same with Pelfrey. He's a $6 million writeoff. Mauer can return to the Mauer of old, but still, will he bring $20+ million of value to the lineup and the clubhouse. At this point, you have to bite and absorb these longterm committments and call them losses and move from there. If you egt something, anything of value from the players on the field, you will come out ahead. But you can't let the team as a whole suffer more because of it. Pretty much everyone else on the roster is a wash. Perkins has more life than most. Suzuc is a average catcher at a reasonable price, you could've tried for anotehr but had no guarantee. You might have paid close to his salary and still get less, and you have to be wary that you may get less in 2015, but you hopefully have adequate pipeline reserves. The outfield is a mess. We wait for Buxton, but he is only one-third of an outfield. Arcia is a work in progress that could get expensive as he hits arbitration without blowing people out of the water. Hicks is an enigma. You could actually sign an outfielder, even overpay a veteran for up to three years, and probably not kill the wallet. But you also have to think Oakland A's smart and be prepped to move that outfielder, or move that Suzucki, or move that Nolasco, the moment they show any glimmer of baseball sainthood. Why, because you supposedly have longterm variables in the system. But back to payroll. The Twins could spend $100 million. They have, in my estimate, $50 of reasonable payroll. They have $20 million in mistakes that need not count against the future. They should readily invest monies, partly because they do have the monies in the short-term to be wild and crazy and even eat more of the deadwood if it does happen, over the next five years. That current core of $50 million (even less when you take out Perkins and Suzuz) will even go down over time as the Sano, Buxtons, Polancos, Meyer, May, Stewarts et al advance in 2016 and 2017 and whoever else shines for 2018. The Twins have to create a competitive atmosphere. Something they were pretty decent as doing during the 2000s, but failing to take that next step that might put them into the playoffs and the World Series, partly because of money, partly because they don't play the game all that well. They play it safe, signing minor league free agents, hoping for that diamond (Scott) in the rough. But still not capitalizing on some of those diamonds and moving them when able and letting potential free agents walk, of players with super years then fail and become worthless. Too much rambling here, I apologize. But you don't get me to buy a season ticket by telling me you aren't going to competitively spend to improve the team, that I should be assured that the Twins will improve with the prospects (cheaper talent) in the system, and that I get 10% off on concessions. Payroll and how you spend it is the biggest marketing expense of any professional sports team. Players that you make mistakes on are like creating an ad that no one remembers, or that people laugh at and dismiss. You get the right player, you put the correct product on the field, you don't have to do ads, really, the team will sell itself! So that is where you put your focus. And you have 52% of your revenue to play with each and every year, in the least, and even more as revenue goes up!

What is the salary structure if you have been around the minors this long. If the Twins, say, reupped Hermsen, would they have to pay him more because he is staying with the organization? Does salary come into consideration, especially since some of these guys have made 40-man monies in the past, which is significantly more than a minor league salary. Any insight on this, Seth?

Man, considering that only 700-800 guys have played for the Twins at the major league level......half of them weren't really bad. Also, it is amazing how few years one does play with a team or in a career.

You have approx. 150 minor league roster spots to fill come the opening of the season, x-amount of players are disabled or in the training camp. You add 25-35 thru the draft. The Twins have some south of the border teams to draw from, too. Be interesting to see the 15-20 guys that played around the leagues last year, with 1-2 years of service time, that do get cut.

If you don't put a qualiiy product on the field that is competitive, everything goes down - television, concession and ticket sales. Then you cut corners the next year, and things tank even further, especially if you work it do you do make your 5-10% overall profit. But if you spend (wisely) and spend what you can for x-amount of people plus, you might actually win more games and increase revenues so you have yet more and more to spend. If you spend, the profit happens. If you don't spend, or cut spending, you just keep inching more and more backwards, yet the worth of your franchise, somehow, keeps going up in value (go figure). Don't blame the fans for paying major league prices for Triple-A ball. Move the team to Rochester Minnesota and call them The Red Wings, then!

Was amazed at the age of he minors free agent kept at New Britain all year. Of course, had a full roster of them at Rochester. The bigger question is who advances from within the system. Do you want Farris, Rodriguez, Thomas and Vasquez at Rochester? Will Wilkin find another team that might give him a flyer. Is Rohlfing a replacement for Herrmann. Do you really need to protect Beresford and, if so, why did you promote Bernier over him in September. All these guys will weigh their chances of making the Twins in some way next season, or are they betetr served toiling in the systems of any other last place team. Danny Ortiz was a surprise to me when they advanced him and not Vargas to Rochester, although Vargas ended up with the better deal. If Ortiz can play first, he is more valuable. I see him as a possibility of getting a Rule 5 claim if the Twins resign him right away. He should be able to find work elsewhere easily. Hermsen is probably done. Will have to work his way back into an organization via the indy leagues. Hamburger will find a minor league job somewhere. Do we need him more than Kris Johnson, or Logan Darnell? He seems blocked. You hate to lose Salcedo, for example. And if you haven't felt the need to take a flyer on Guerra or Iberra yet, is there any season you will do so in the future. Gad, it is almost a complete roster of minor league free agents! Are there 25 true prospects that can replace all these guys in the high levels of the minor leagues? Yes and no. Just seems the Twins had a lot of AA-ball fodder last year. And AAA guys filling holes where you had no advanced prospects at AAA.

First off, tighten up the in-league playoffs. You either care or don't care about the other league. They can play games at the same times. Especially if you have multiple channel programming. Tighten the series and you don't have off days. Having two days without baseball between series can kill momentum, especially in the more sudden depth rounds. And now a rain delay. My wife remarked that baseball didn't want to go up against football on Sunday afternoon. Hell, this is baseball. You'll watch one or the other. And being American League fans, ain't paying a lot of attention to the NL, but if whatever else I'm watching is done and if a game is on,I'll do the switch. Via the net saw the game last night was tied. Then tried to find it on cable. Went thru 100 channels of listings, wondering what the heck Fox Sports 1 was. Finally remembered there is a grid where I can check on sports. Found it it was 270-something and we flipped it on right after the walk off. Needless to say wasn't impressed with the post-game prattle and my wife returned to her house hunters programming. Baseball is killing itself. What is it. 16 days, 18 days, three weeks between the end of the season and the beginning of the World Series. This playoff games need to increase the excitement, not disappear into the nether universe and allow football and whatever to take over. Baseball should be primetime, reachable by anyone that may want to watch.

Yes, you can ask the question of why Pino got innings and Bernier got not only a few at bats, but bench time. They are valuable, as aging vets, who can make the stopgap call if need be in the majors. But, yes, did one take innings from May/Meyer. Did another one take a looksee from, say, Debinson Romero. For a rebuilding team, having them on the major league roster (Colabello and Deduno also), blocked prospects. The Twins weren't totally rebuilding all year, so some time in the majors was understandable. Expect Colabello and Fryer to be quickly added to the discard pile (Eli Whiteside is available if we need an AAA catcher again). Do the Twins really need more than 5-6 sports for 40-man additions at the call before the overrated Rule 5? More worried about minor league guys that need to be sent to AA or AAA rosters to keep being lost in the minor league portion.

Tommy Watkins should be a coaching candidate. Maybe Jeff Reed or Ray Smith can come to the bigs as a bullpen coach, finally. Jack Morris as pitching coach!

Let's see. What did the Twins get for: Ben Revere, Jeff Manship, Jason Marquis, Clete Thomas, Kevin Slowey, Garrett Jones, Joe Benson, Wilson Ramos, Denard Span, Rene Rivera, Drew Butera, Kevin Correia, Anthony Slama, Pat Neshek, LaTroy Hawkins, Justin Morneau, Mike Cuddyer, Francisco Liriano, Ryan Doumit, Josh Willingham, Matt Garza, Kyle Lohse, Carlos Gomez, Pedro Hernandez, Vance Worley, RA Dickey, Liam Hendriks, Danny Valencia, Luis Ayala, Joe Beimel, Nick Punto, Sam Fuld, Joe Nathan, Torii Hunter, Alex Presley, Darrin Mastronainni, Sam Deduno, David Ortiz, Craig Breslow, AJ Pierzynski, Grant Balfour, Delmon Young, JJ Hardy Not to mention: Yangervis Solarte, Angel Morales, Brock Peterson, Tyler Robertson, Matt Tolbert, Trent Oeltjen, Brandan Harris, David Bromberg, Steve Tolleson, Bobby Korecky, Kenny Wilson, Sergio Santos, Phil Humber, Tyler Ladendorf, P.J. Walters, Jon Rauch, Josh Roeincke, Matt Capps, Matt Carson, Steve Pearce, Evan Meek, Alexi Casilla, Juan Morillo, Andre Torres, Luis Perdono, Randy Ruiz, Andrew Albers, Shairon Mathis, Luke Hughes, Justin Huber, J.D. Durbin, Gil Valesquez, Jose Lugo, Brad Thomas amongst others still paying pro ball. And you always take lumps. Your free agents don't pan out, or they fizzle. Maybe your high draft picks stink and the middle or late guys actually make it and contribute. You have to be willing to take chances, and you do tend to have the money to do so.

I would move the team to Rochester Minnesota and call them the Red Wings.