Rosterman

Does that mean we sign Pat Neshek for 2015! Yes!

When looking internally for coaching options, I see replacements everywhere except from pitching. I can see Twins keeping current coaches Brunansky and Vavra in the system, Vavra perhaps being manager at Cedar Rapids and Bruno becoming the minors hitting instructor out of Ft. Myers. I don't see Steinbach leaving the state and also not standing on the diamond, so he would be bench coach or bullpen coach. Bobby Cuellar is the only guy to consider for pitching coach, Mauer, who is manager candidate of the future, could move up the ladder to Chattanooga or Rochester, if you bright in Gene Glynn as a coach. I would also not rule out Tommy Watkins and Ivan Artega or Rudy Hernandez as coaches advancing up; the system to the big leagues. Jim Dwyer is also floating around, internally. The guy out of all of this is Scott Ullger, who was once considered a topflight managerial candidate and MIGHT be able to catch on as a minor league manager elsewhere to keep such dreams alive (which he MUST do rather than just become a coach elsewhere). Part of the manager searches is that if you go external, you are more likely to get outside coaches. If you do internally, you can advance frm within.

Jared Burton?!

Are there still any hoops a team has to jump thru, i.e. number of candidates, they have to at least interview? If the Twins had just fired Gardy before the end of the season and put Molitor, say, in place...and if that is what they wanted, do you have to do a formal job announcement, interview, and then hire? I'm sure the Twins would like an idea of where theya re headed before the organizational meetings next week, when they will definitely discuss field staff throughout the system, minor league player needs, and the active roster.

Yeah, all those killer starts. You could've started Trevor May and Alex Meyer 30 times each and had equal, if not better, overall stats. The team is too much about finding that Scott Diamond in the rough. You can jump up-and-down when you Rule 5 a Shane Mack or a Johan Santana. You can smile when you pull a Fien or Burton out of the discard pile. But you also have to take flack for calling Joe Benson a five-tool player, or not figuring out Aaron Hicks, or (everyone except teams actually in post-season) doing something about Delmon Young. We had Hicks, Mastro and Benson major league ready. What happened? No one saw the Nolasco meltdown. We all knew what Correia will give us. But even this season, trotting out Swarzak for four starts at the end of the season...this is where you definitely look at the next crop: Meyer, Berrios, anyone that might be in the plans of the rotation in 2015 and beyond. Not your burnt out long guy in the bullpen just because he wants to start. (And why we didn't September call-up Kris Johnson is beyond me. He could take lumps as well as the rest of them). Not just Ryan. But, sadly, start with St. Peter. Bring in new blood from the top down. You have a new multi-million dollar stadium, a strong fan base, yet everything has gone downhill for four years and no one seems to see/learn from their mistakes.

Can we field a team of prospects in 2015. Let's say, on the outside, we get 15 wins each from Nolasco and Hughes. We get another dozen from Gibson. Maybe May chimes in with 10. The 5th spot gives up 10 somehow between Pelfrey and Company. That looks pretty good, if we are fielding a team of Suzucki, Mauer, Dozier, Santana, Plouffe, Arcia, Hicks, someone, Vargas. Maybe Mauer returns and hits .320. Maybe Arcia, Vargas, Dozier, Plouffe all hit 30 homers. It's still not a great team, possibly a better one than alst season, but it also depends on what other teams in the division do in the offseason. We need to put butts in the seats. The Twins were quite lucky in 2014. The game attendance figures were often out of proportion as many ticket holders didn't show up, period. Rating are also down. You could field the above team if you ahd some prospects like Sano, Buxton and Meyer making appearances for sure, and IF they do perform above Hicks levels. But you don't have that guarantee and it looks like any of those three marketable prospects won't show up on the radar until mid-season or so, when you could be jettisoning free agent blockage, if you get some free agents. And free agents don't spell s-u-c-c-e-s-s, they spell marketing, hopes based on prior major league performance. You may get lucky 1 of 3 years (see Willingham, even Cuddy in Colorado). You might see Hughes dropoff and be Nolasco in 2016 (while Nolasco becomes Hughes) and you are glad you didn't sign him to a contract extension (which I doubt the Twins will) for the next 3-4 years instead of the current 2. It is a fun game with lots of real money spent, and you can't predict the results, really can't. And then everything has to come together. And a budget can be a budget. But if you are able to spend x-amount of money, why not do it, yes, as carefully and smartly as you can...because you have that money to spend with the hopes of putting butts in the seats, selling concession, getting viewers and listeners, and building towards a future. You are going to make some mistakes, hopefully have a little extra working capital mid-season to correct those mistakes even temporarily. But to have the resources and NOT use them, i.e. "we didn't do enough for Gardy, so he lost bigtime and lost his job" is not what should be said. We should be saying "Ryan gave Gardy and Co. a topflight rotation, a good mix of players on the field, able backups in the minor system, and somehow the rotation sucked, the bullpen burned out, hitters failed to perform, and everyone forgot how to field and run the Twins way...what happened." Everyone gets fired. Upper management has to figure out what went wrong and correct it.

In any business, you budget. You know what you can spend in certain areas. You try and predict revenues. You have to cut costs if you are losing money. Especially if you are a profit business, you can carryover (i.e. sign players) to the next season and beyond. Baseball is a strange business. Owners will cry that they don't make money some years, yet the price of a franchise always seems to go up. Why? Because it is a closed club. You have to pay big dollars to get in, there are a limited number of opportunities to join, and if you don't love where you are you can always petition (and probably) go elsewhere, thus causing the value of your business to keep increasing. It is also a gamble business. You may spend $100 million on payroll, and the players give you $60 million of production because of injuries, age, all-around-badness. That is the gamble you take. Some teams, like the Yankees, can afford to have $100 million sit on the disabled list, and they are still competitive, because their non-disabled payroll is still larger than any other team in the business. You take a chance when you sign players. The Twins seem to feel that they know and play it safe with their signings...they don't want to be burned if it turns out badly (the Japanese guy is an exception, Nolasco also looks like something scary in their minds). Yet, it shouldn't stop you from pursuing other international signings for big bucks, or above-average free agent signings. You learn and go forward and hope hope hope that your future expenditures will pay off AND that you can still get something, anything for your current investments. If, say, the Twins had spent $100 million this season, got that better bat than the Kubel/Barrett reruns, or talked another pitcher like Garza into coming on board, and the current meltdowns of Pelfrey, Nolasco, Mauer and Willingham happened, they would still be putting a darn good product on the field. I applaud that they did spend, rather than trade, for product this year. 2/3s failed, sadly, but it shouldn't stop you from taking another and another chance. They did manage to flip Willingham and Morales for players. They managed to get cash for Correia. Unlike the year's that they had Kubel and Cuddyer and Nathan walk. But then they also turn around and don't bring up Meyer. They leave another starter candidate (longshot) in September limbo (Kris Johnson) and have nothing for the 5th spot. They have a looksee guy in the minors like Debinson Romero who could get some shots at third base and they don't get rid of Florimon early and add him, where he can at least shine in 4-5 games when Plouffe goes under. I applaud giving a Bernier a shot. Giving Fryer some shots. But making Burton the closer when he is a free agent? Let's see Achter in that spot. Or Oliveros. But back to payroll. You have a lousey year, you spend less the next. No. You spend more, you evaluate better, you roll some heads (especially after four seasons). You make some statements. You have a product that if you win, people will come and spend. Sometimes, you have to, too. And don't tell me you can't, won't, don't have to.

Well, there goes Jake Mauer as a managerial candidate. Wait, maybe it doesn't.

Baseball is such a strange business. It has ups and downs. It is not just a player, but players who work and perform in sync, managed well, and getting the breaks. It was a great playoff game. Two dynamite starters facing lineups that are hungry. Mangers doing the right and wrong calls on innings pitcthers and pitches thrown. Stealing bases by the A's. Sudden Death oevrtime, which happens so little in baseball (think 7-game World Series). The A's did what they felt they needed to do to stay in first, and it didn't happen, but they still participated in the post season. They will retain at least one of the pitchers. They can still buy for next season. But, man, talk about moves that looked perfectly good on paper.

Somewhere in baseball talk, there is a minimum team's do have to spend, according to revenue and organizational operational costs, in baseball. Partly because of player contracts. If you do spend less and justifiably so, you get a rebate, so to speak, from baseball. You also can't overspend for some reason, unless you want to share your really rich overhead profits with other teams. You hope that it all evens out in the end. The players hope that it all evens out in the end, that it supplies really well paid jobs for most all of the players in the association.

Do you think they have paid off their investment yet? It is all about dollars and cents. Butts in the seat. And let's just say if I was the boss of a company, and we were failing, and if I needed to take a significant pay cut to keep my business going and alive, I would do it and hope that I would succeed so I could continue to pay myself ... not that I would probably have to worry in the end, I could always eat free (on my dime, I guess) at the stadium and sleep in my great office, and swim in the clubhouse pool, and get a massage from the trainer, and not have to pay ever to see a baseball game. But look at the Big Picture. Your fan base is dwindling. Your sponsors are cyring. Your ratings have slumped. You are still making money and, supposedly are succeeding, as long as you can keep cutting costs. Less fans means less ushers, less ticket employees, lower printing costs, you can drape off sections and not have to worry about cleanup. Wow, saved a bunch there. I can always find minimum-wage players hoping to increase their own stock. Wow, if only they would play for free, I could really clean up, and maybe even trade them for cash. Everyone else is paying me to broadcast the games, so no real worry if their ratings tank, and who cares about my own station, that disappears for about three miles when one traverses the river heading into that distant suburb of St. Paul...we weren't going to score in that inning anyways. I think there's a party going on at Hrbek's. Maybe I'll slip in and get a free beer and brat, someone will recognize me and feel sympathy for me being the owner of this mess.

Lots of fun stuff pops up here. Okay, the Twins right now sit at a $60 million payroll going into 2015 and have to make arbitration decisions on Plouffe, Schafer. Duensing, Swarzak and considerations on Dozier and Escobar, maybe. But there are also sitting with a roster of also-rans (Parmelee, Fryer, Herrmann, Nunez, Thompson, Fien, Thielbar, Thompson, Pressly and more more more or who really only demand minimum wage, but the better joy would be REPLACE THEM WITH SOMEONE GOOD, EVEN IF IT COSTS MORE! How much did the Twins pony into Target Field? $150 million, another $30-40 million for improvements (for their own betterment). If revenue is anywhere over $200 million a year, what has been done with that extra money. Like someone said, they were at 35% of payroll/income, and not only this year, but also last year. And I still don't buy at all that 51% of revenue is payroll. Again, I need this magic question answered: You were in the Metrodome and had $100 million in revenue and spent $51 million on payroll. The other $49 million covered front office, ticket sales, ushers, stadium rental, cleaning, marketing, running your minor league system and their management on the field, drafting players, drafting international players, paying minor league players and all that. Suddenly, you now have $200 million in income. You CAN spend $101 million on players and have $99 MILLION, a full double of what you had years ago, to spend on management, minors, marketing (much of which is tied in with co-sponsors). Did EVERYONE ELSE double their salary? Are ushers making $20 an hour. Is the front office receptionist suddenly getting a significant payraise? Are you actually spending 2-3 times more on drafting players? Which is fine, if you are, but you still aren't spending 51% on payroll. And you make loan payments to your own bank (or maybe someone else who gave you the money cheaper) and the price of your franchise, win-or-lose, still goes up each year by at least 5-10% So, Dave St. Peter, keep payroll at the same level as this year. But looks like you better figure out a way to flip many of these players for others and hope they succeed significantly better, especially if you aren't adding anyone to the on-field competitive mix. You pay players to perform, to push others out of baseball (if I can be so cold), and to succeed. If they don't succeed, you cut them loose, like you did your manager, like you should your general manager, like the president of the club should also do -step down! Because if you aren't earning your money, don't ask the fans to pay for it, 10% concession discount be damned!

Hey, the Dodgers are going to the playoffs and you were a Dodger last season, but they didn't want to pay you right out what someone else offered, so you took the money and changed towns. The way players talk, any would give their right nut to be on a playoff team, and would work for free if they could get that damned ring! Hey was just making a flipping response. I wish I was a Dodger fan right now, instead of a Twins fan. But I at least have hope, now, for the Twins. Ricky showed in his last five starts that he can be better than 6-12 and a 5.00+ ERA. He'll do great next year, okay the following. Earn his $12 or so million, which will be a bargain (not quite the bargain of Phil Hughes, but better than the $20+ million of numerous other 17-12 pitchers next year). Who knows, maybe he is Dodger dollar worthy now and we can trade him for Kemp or Crawford. Of, for sure, flip him next summer when we have 2-3 youngsters knocking on the door who won't have Trevor May growing pains. I'm sure Ricky will be able to afford and watch the World Series in Dodgerland...if they get there. Otherwise, if they don't, they aren't much better than ... The Twins!

The Twins, surprisingly, had decent attendance in 2014. The season ticket base was quite solid. I doubt it will be the same for 2015 not matter what happens during the off-season. It will start as a year of "let's wait to see what happens." Already, the Twins are rolling out season ticket renewal packages, not at a reduced rate, but with a flat 10% off of everything else that someone could spend -- the magic word is spend -- at the ballpark. If the fans don't come to the ballpark, they don't spend at the ballpark. The Twins did make an attempt to spend last season. They spent on their weakness, which was the rotation, and brought in two pitchers for more than decent wages. They figured they had two more on staff, maybe a comback by Diamond, they took a gamble on Pelfrey, and even ahd hopes that a prospect would break-in mid-season.They did play it safe, not getting that third free-agent solid arm. There was hope that Willingham would anchor left field, Mauer would be Mauer, someone would play a great centerfield, which did happen off and on during the season. And they even spent on a potential DH when Kendrys Morales came into the market. When that signing happened, the Twins were even inching towards competitiveness and we all thought the chances of at least a .500 season was on the horizon. What spending more and more money allows you to do is cover your mistakes and hope you spend enough that the mistakes don't outweigh the positives. You look at an $85 million payroll, like the Twins had, and suddenly, with injuries, a bad free agent signing, maybe a bad longterm contract working out...you were putting less than $50 million worth of players on the field. If you spend an additional $20-30 million, you might say that you are assured of having $75-80 million of product on the field playing up to par. You might have all $100-115 million, too, and then you should be jumping up and down and watching the stands fill with people and people buying tons of stuff, and the playoffs on the horizon. In this game, you have to spend money to make money, you have to gamble. You NEVER lose money, as the franchise worth increases every year (unless you keep borrowing against it, like Carl did). But when you have failure, you have to find fault. The Twins need to do a front office cleansing as much as a field staff cleaning. But, sadly, they are such a tight-knit organization that it would be total chaos if they did...because they have no idea of a successful succession plan, or who is out there that could do better AND WOULD WANT to come here. Even in the managerial search, you are getting guys who want to be a manager, but those that have had some success are going to want carte blanche, total freedom, and that is not going to happen. Even an in-house candidate like Molitor might have second thoughts as he looks at the big picture for next year and beyond...am I going to be able to succeed, or will non-success totally ruin me as a manager forever and ever. The Twins have to move faster-than-the-norm to get the organization back into shape. If they want free agents to think about coming here, they have to have a plan, and a field staff. Interviewing candidates can take a couple of weeks, or last forever. I have a firm belief that Terry Ryan was hoping this wouldn't happen. But it did, and now he and management have their work cut out for them, and Pohlad has to be convinced that adding to an $80 million salary base is a must to put butts in the seats. The season tickets may not be there come opening day, but if you start to win, you roll out more ticket packages and...on a plus side...you control more of the tickets that are for sale for every game, stub-hub be damned...because those season ticket holders won't be releasing their spares for pennies on the dollar.

Keeping in the Twins Way, we have to be looking at the next big group of long lasting coaches. Mientkiewicz could be around for 10-15 years. Jake Mauer definitely. And if you hired Jake as a third base coach, he would be grabbed by someone within five years if he didn't want to stay with the Twins. You can pepper the coaching staff with Glynn as the bench coach, or Steinbach. The Twins have Tommy Watkins, who would make a good coach. Probably Bonilla or Artega could become bullpen coach. You have to find a pitching coach. Cuellar could be it, if he is committed longterm. Gardy's downfall, like TK's for awhile, was his close ties to a pitching coach. Dickie Such and Rocky Anderson both get more gruff than the manager. Gardy is still under contract. The Twins want him doing something for them if they are paying him. But if jobs are still open (would Texas, close to Oklahoma home, be appealing...would Milwaukee be a choice) or does Gardy be a goodwill ambassador, slopping down drinks in Hrbek's with Bill Smith until something better opens up mid next year or 2016. Yes, the Cubs would grab him. Washington is out because of personal reasons, I imagine. Would the Twins want Kirk Gibson? Will Don Mattingly be available if the Dodgers flounder? Should the Twins give a long-term coach the chance no one ever took with Scott Ullger? Going to be interesting to see the timetable, the reorganization of the minor leagues and such. I'm sure the Twins want to keep Bruno in the system. Molitor will always have an advisor job. Would love to see Vavra stay in some capacity (become Cedar Rapids manager if Mauer would move up). And, yes, Jake Mauer might be the true Twins manager of the future, and why not take a running start and do it sooner rather than later or never.

Prospects are hit and miss; Twins Prospects 2010: Hicks, Ramos, Gibson, Sano, Revere, Valencia, Gutierrez, Morales, Blomberg, Kepler. Who HAVE we traded. Who bombed. Who could we have traded for something more workwhile (Hicks, Gibson?) Prospects for 2011: Gibson, Hicks, Sano Nishi, Wimmers, Benson, Revere, Hendriks, Salcedo, Bullock. Was this the year the Twins should'be dangled Benson and Hendriks. Get rid of Wimmers? 2012: Sano, Benson, Rosario, Hicks, Arcia, Michael, Hendriks, Gibson, Parmelee, Dozier. Gad, Benson was on everyone's radar. If the Twins had flipped Gibson and Benson for Sheilds, what we we be like right now. Let alone moving a promising Hicks and still having Revere getting on base every game. 2013: Sano, Buxton, Arcia, Gibson, Hciks, Berrios, Rosario, Kepler, Santana, Bard. Berrios is one of those guys you hangout there as tradebait. Or he is such a system surprise that he makes Kohl Stewart expendable. Could the Twins have moved Kepler, hoping he doesn't pan out and eventually becomes a minors free agent with some worth? Rosario's stock has fallen badly in two seasons. You look who has made the team out of these 30+ names: Hicks,Gibson, Ramos (traded), Revere (traded), Valencia (let go), Nishi (stunk), Benson (released), Hendriks (let go), Arcia (young and powerful), Parmelee (running on fumes), Dozier (a .240 hitter with speed, power), Santana (is he a shortstop or an outfielder). 12 Top 10 Prospects made the Bigs over five years. 12! 3 Keepers and one a dream, still. Another person mentioned Nolasco and Correia being untradable. I would hope that Nolasco has a little better stock than Correia. The secret to signing free agents is taking the chance that you can trade them and their salary. Willingham after 2012, yes. Willingham after 2013, no. Have the Twins ever had a real trader? Ryan is good at trading over-the-hill vteran signings for prospects. Maybe you get lucky with a Knoblauch or a Pierzynski...but you are trading a decent player for what are esssentially chaf from another team. No matter how high you predict your top 2-3 prospects each year, there are a couple of guys who can move into that position every year. You deal from minor league strength, watch the coming free agent market, and also build a good bench/AAAA system.

Emulate KC? What the twins have to do is stop playing it safe. They almost did it this year, signing Nolasco, Hughes and Pelfrey. Wish they had signed anyone else but Pelfrey. But the years before the added Willingham instead of keeping Cuddyer (yes, Cuddyer was worse than Josh that first year) and Correia. Two able-bodied, yet flat players. Since '91 the Twins have been content to field a competitive team, looking at what the division holds and hoping everyone else plays flat or bad and they could win the division. In the 2000's they did that quite a bit. Prospects are just that...prospects. Who would've thought Joe Benson, Terry Ryan's five-tool guy, would be a bust. That Aaron Hicks would be less than average. Who saw Danny Santana making the successful freshman jump? Can he sustain it as a rookie. Pinto and Parmelee had shining callups but flat-lined. Parmelee the man without a true position and Pinto the man not given his position. Vargas and Arcia are promising works in progress. Dozier was a half-year sensation, but is he a longterm fix? Will Buxton, Sano, Michael, Rosario, Koch, etc. be in the lineup fulltime in 2016. Will they be crushing the ball in 2017/2017, of be like the rookies of lore of the Royals? o you trade them anyways, hoping someone else is in the pipeline come 2017/2018/2019. Do yousign a free agent. Giving Mauer money and 5-6-7 years and down-the-line regretting it? Do you keep your own free agents. Would Cuddyer have hit the same in Minnesota dn be worth the extra $10 million they saved with Willingham. Did the Twins totally lowball Morneau, who was lowballed by the Rockies, too. Can the Twins figure out line-up construction, bullpen construction, and the Billy Beane way of trading guys when they have more value (Willingham, Burton, Fien, Delmon Young, pretty much anyone) than wait another year expecting them to shine even more. Kinda like keeping a pitcher in the game for one batter or one inning too much, or not knowing to bat someone third or second when they are slumping and should probably be batting sixth or seventh, but wait, you don't have a leadoff guy, let alone a cleanup hitter, so everyone can't bat low in the order, right? The Royals, overall, have been cheaper than the Twins because of attendance. They were in first place and drawing flies. The Twins still had decent attendance, they have the bucks, they have the payroll space to not only spend, but absorb $15-20-25 million of worthless salary. They did it this year, with Pelfrey, basically Mauer was stagnant, Nolasco can't be that bad. Man, close to $40 million right there. Whew! Where did the extra $20 mill go from this year. Where did the extra monies from last year end up? Again, the Twins are playing the safe game. Like hey are anticipating loss in games AND revenue. "We will field a payroll of only $70 million because our attendance may dip even lower next year" is the thought instead of "let's really go and spend and if we win, they will come, and we can return to sellouts in the beautiful outdoor world of baseball at Target Field, the fun and entertainment of the new Saints stadium be damned and come and enjoy family-priced sports as you drive by that grand church of Sunday-only sports on your way to good food, good seats, wonderful skyline, TC Bear, and a winning team in 2015 that not only makes the wildcard, but goes deep into the playoffs in...well, stay with us thru 2015...in 2016." Can the Twins trade prospects? Can they sign real free agents? Can they play smart baseball? They sign draftees within budget. They get minor league free agents that perform. They trade or grab others that fill holes well for a time. But they don't do well on free agents, and they don't do well on trades, overall. Not that anyone does. But the Twins "scores" seem to diminish in the eyes of what other teams successfully do.

Thanking the fans for supporting them for a tough but promising season and if you renew your season tickets for next year, you save 10% on all your food purchases. One time deal. Won't be happening come TwinsFest!

There is NO reason to keep Fryer on the 40-man. At worst, you resign him as a minor league free agent. I don't see anyone lining up to grab him. He will continue to find work, probably, on the AAA level shades of Corky Miller, Eli Whiteside. But he is no Henry Blanco! And, I have no explanation for Drew Butera who played how many games/at bats for the Dodgers and we actually saw his batting average ... somehow increase to .182!

I thought Jeff Reed retired.

One that got away!

He possibly might just wish to retire, or move on. Been with the Twins a lot. A good, decent job. I'm sure he has had inquiries. Maybe there are more. We do have Luis Ramirez, Rudy Hernandez, Ivan Artega an Henry Bonilla in the low minors as coaches. And weren't the Twins running one coach light in Elizabethton this season? Also, interested to see if Sam Perlozzo returns.

Like Pinto, Herrmann only has value if he can catch. We don't need him as an outfielder than can catch. We need him as a catcher that can also play the outfield. Same with Pinto. He catches. We don't need him, at his age, to be a designatred hitter. There are better DH's. If we want a DH that can catch, we get Ryan Doumit. We know what he can do behind the plate and at the plate. We saw, and we passed him on. I see Herrmann getting designated for assingment. He will probably pick up with another team that will actually let him catch. Pinto as trade bait? He didn't catch enough, and unless someone somewhere is seeing that he can, he is just another DH [prospect, a position you move into after a few years in the majors, not many years in the minors, unless you are Vargas and blocked at your position. I doubt Herrmann will be a great loss. I doubt that Pinto will be the next Wilson Ramos. But why not let Herrmann catch. Why do we play Fryer. He won't be here in 2015. Why did we not bring up Debinson Romero and give him some shots at third base, especially when people go down...stuck with Bernier/Nunez. Why didn't we bring up Kris Johnson, instead we totally watch Swarzak impload as a starter and don't bother doing anything with Darnell. It is a hard and difficult job running a major league team. It is. But you do want true prospects taking lumps in September if the games are somewhat meaningless. Should Meyer go 0-4 with an 8.00 ERA in September, or should he start the 2015 season that way and go straight back to the minors. You want to give possible prospects a look, let them work on stuff during winter ball, work further and shine in spring training. What is going on with my Minnesota Twins!?!

Burton is a free agent. Pino and Fryer are toast for sure. Duensing and Swarzak may be let go because of expense and resigned if they don't get better deals elsewhere. Bermier amd Colabello are also gone. Nunez and Parmelee are on the bubble. Not sure about Kris Johnson. Pelfrey needs to be designated for assignment. Chris Herrmann is replaceable. Got 40-man add, forgot Wheeler. Unless the guys are 6-year free agents, most of the above list is safe to not add *except your bolded four and Gilmartin.)

The joy of 20 starters being available, not every one will get a huge contract because the money is not there. And let's hope Correia is not on that list. The return of Liriano, under a new pitching coach. Interesting thought. Bring back Lohse. As an after thought and because you found loose change in the office davenport, you sign Slowey. Wait, maybe better choices than former Twins. And who says we have to keep Nolasco and his salary. And let's write Pelfrey off out of this season's profits.