Rosterman

A.J. has a salty relationship with the Twins. Doubt it. Money can cure all. Might just need to be the guy many players could rally around. He would definitely keep egos in check. I would go for him. Let's look more so at the Twins line-up need for 2014 if they wish to play a team that can at least approach 81 wins. First, they need a leadoff batter and #2 hitter. Right now, we see some modest strength in Presley and Dozier in those spots. Hicks still at AAA. Third belongs to the new 1B, Mauer. Cleanup is Willingham. Plouffe, Doumit and Arcia bat 5-7, shuffled as needs sees fit. Leaves 8 and 9. I wish we had someone other than Florimon. I don't doubt that Pinto COULD be the Twins catcher of the future, but starting him right out of the spring training chute may be asking too much. I would rather see him at Rochester for a good portion of the season, working with Meyer and Logan and Dean and Meyer then thrown into the immediate defensive mix of dealing with (hopeful) veteran free agent signings and a staff that is already struggling (Deduno, Diamond, Albers, Hendriks) to find the plate. A bonafide starting vet catcher would add a solid and predictable bat that would fit nicely into the above batting order, which doesn't really look that bad on paper if people have better than their average years. Yes, I would like to see someone other than Doumit (a younger Thome lookalike) and more punch than the slick -- yet error prone -- Florimon at shortstop. I can see Doumit being that strong bench player to go with a spare and speedy outfielder, a solid reserve infielder, and someone else who could play other positions -- wait, we got that guy -- Plouffe...perfect future bench guy.) Let's find a third baseman for stopgap, too. A big comeback by Bartlett at short, a solid 3B, a veteran catcher with either power or ability to put balls in play, and the lineup looks pretty good.

Everyone ends up getting what they deserve in the end, especially the owners who are sucked into outlandish payments.

Yes, bring back Garza. With Bartlett at short, it would be just like we never traded them. Add in free-agent Johan Santana, and we can really be the Twins of old...especially if we also bring back A.J. New slogan "The Twins You Missed Are Back!" Another interesting body would also be Scott Baker, who by spring should be in much better shape than ANYTIME LAST YEAR.

Sitting here as general manager Terry, you have to start making decisions. If someone is available in your price range, you do grab them, if they are considered "worthy." Yes, that was the problem he made with Correia, whom we all complain about, but ended up being the staff ace last season. Terry was running up against the wall in getting pitchers to consider Minnesota (especially at his offers) and we should, in hindsight, be glad that he didn't get a bunch of the names bandied about. Most of us this season want Hughes. But Hughes is young, he can pitch, he has promise. He will be fielding offers out there. And I believe he may be one of the last guys to sign as his agent wiggles for more money or a longer contract. He may win, but anyone waiting JUST for him may lose. Looks like Arroyo may be like Nathan or Correia. If someone comes in with a $10-12 million two year offer (three preferred)...they have him. Period. Our Twins are still mired in the world of -- who wants to play here!? It either has to be because of money, or because they will win. If Ryan can do a couple of quick signings and sprnkle the background with some AAAA+ minor free agents, and if he still has $10 million or so leftover -- he just may pull off a third option or actually have agents CALLING him. You can gets guys like Pelfrey, who will use the Twins as a rebuilder for themselves, but playing on a sub-.500 team doesn't do a whole heckuva a lot for a pitchers future worth if similar offers are available elsewhere. Arroyo would be Pavano 2.0. If the lineup can score 4 runs a game, then Correia and Arroyo would be the staff anchors for this season (and both COULD be tradebait at what could be termed reasonable salaries). Plus, the Twins DO have the money to spend. Would I rather see them spend $15 million a year on Hughes with a third year option than $12 million a year for the same thing with Arroyo. Yes, but I doubt that would happen.

There is a need to spend money to put butts in the seats. You need to sell season tickets. You need to offer hope. When you have bad starters and are losing games in the first inning, people DO stop coming to the games. On the flipside of spending 52% of income on players...when attendance and TV.radio and concessions and other stuff fall, then you might not have 52% to spend because of overall overhead (heaven forbid you open only half the concession stands...wait...that did happen at times). You have money to spend on players. You spend it. It doesn't carry over. You don't know if you are going to win or lose (see Toronto in 2013, even the Angels). You have to be prepared to eat salary. The Twins ate Mauer for x-amount of games last year even. But you have to do your best effort to put a sellable product on the field. Build it, and they will come...it helps if they win!

A.J. can DH as well as, say, Doumit. Plus, he can catch. Plus he is a "player." Love him, hate him, he makes things happen for better or for worse.

"I have no problem with the concept of the Twins spending. I just think fans need to understand these guys that are likely to get 4-5 year contracts worth $60 to $100 million are not the sure-fire aces their contracts will imply. If the Twins sign one of them to crazy money, I’ll hope like crazy he stays healthy and pitches consistently well. I just don’t see an arm in this free agent class that is worth breaking the bank for. Thankfully we have this comment section so in the years to come we can all go back and remember what we said, what we would have offered and stand by those comments over the life of these contracts." -- Seth Like you said, Seth. Who knows. It is fun to look back, just this last season being a great example where so many of us wanted the Twins to sign Myers or Saunders or any number of other guys that didn't pan out. As a team, one factor you always have to look at is how much salary you can eat that wil be non-productive. Recently the Twins ahd Balckburn. They had Toshi for two year, plus the posting fee. You paid Nathan for 1.5 non-productive seasons. That does magnify when you have 2-3 large contracts out there -- Morneau for example. Maybe you have insurance and luck out. Maybe you have Joe Mays collecting paychecks. Possibly you sign a Pavano who just eats payroll and is unable to be moved. Being an armchair general manager is the easy job, dealing with real monies and revenue is a hard job. Your budget does allow you to take risks, but, yes, we fans often forget that we have to realistically look down the line...what that contract is doing two/three/four years from now (i.e. Mauer, for example). Less of a risk on prospects and AAA talent, you just replace them with equal value and hope for a few winners that all click together.

Not to mention back of the rotation guys like: Logan, Wimmers, Dean in 2014 for example. Plus the Twins will still have names like Hendriks, Albers, Diamond, Worley, Pressly hanging around. Maybe Hermsen will rebound. You would hope hat by 2016 the Twins would have a Rays caliber rotation of homegrown tlent with bodies to trade.

Okay, the Twins get $25 million in TV monies. 52% of that is like $13 million that they didn't have last year and will have for future years. You can buy a nice front-line starter for that money. My question is, where does that other $12 million go. You can buy a lot of draft choices (above and beyond the money you already have budgeted), hire additional ushers for each empty section of the stadium, give bigger glasses of beer or larger hot dogs now for the same price, let everyone park for free every season to see a Twins game, remodel the executive washrooms at Target Field, pay down Stadium debt sooner...or spend ALSO that money on additional talent on the field, which will increase revenue in most areas like concessions and such that would probably more than compensate holding onto that media payoff for stiockholders and more comfortable chairs in the Legends Club.

Yeah, the day of the Mauer announcement and a horrible delay in reading about the resigning of Jason Bartlett was the killer. It ain't fun having a website in this world. Too many people trying to screw things up for the fun of it. Wait, Mauer is REALLY moving to first (already listed as an infielder on the Twins page 40-man Roster) and the Twins DID resign Bartlett!!!!!

With Mauer at first we pretty much have closed the book on Parmelee and Colabello. One will return to AAA, the other is tradebait. We also have to strongly look at the need for Doumit, especially if the Twins would sign another catcher. Of course, Doumit is here for a season and a veteran signing of a catcher would allow a good season and a half of Pinto at Rochester with the vet catcher becoming the DH/bench guy. Even the ripple effect of someone like Bartlett means that there is no room in the home for Escobar or Florimon if Bartlett rebounds. Ultimately, the Twins have a lot of roster spots they can free up if they do sign comparable players. Most of the names I mentioned above are already replacement level players, placeholders until someone better comes along. Throw in Willingham, and the Twins even have more free salary base for years to come. Likewise, if the Twins sign a starter or two and a bullpen guy they have names like Albers and Hendriks and Worley to remove from the 40-man. Hermsen is gone, Welker would probably pass thru waivers at this point. You can argue the need to keep Duensing or Swarzak at the moment. Is Pressly really that good? And Fien and Burton could both be comfortable tradebait if the need arise. There is a little value on the Twins 40-man roster if Ryan plays his cards right, or at least flipping AAAA guys for possible prospects (preferably pitching). You hate to just let guys walk, but.... not like Ryan and Co. haven't done it in the past.

<span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Why would the Twins need to carry a third catcher. Mauer, if he even plays a dozen games behind the plate during the year, can now be that third catcher if needed. At bthe most, I might still drag him behind the plate for the next couple of years to catch his one favorite starter.</span><br style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><br style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Doumit is a DH. Bench guy. Emergency catcher if your real one goes down. </span><br style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><br style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Herrmann is the decent bench guy/backup when Doumit leaves.</span><br style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><br style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Pinto will need a but more seasoning.</span><br style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><br style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">So, if the Twins have money to burn -- bring back A.J.</span><br style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><br style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Let's see...A.J., Santana, add Neshek to the bullpen with Crain, let's grab Garrett Jones in place of both Parmelee and Colabello, Bartlett shines and starts at shortstop until the Twins resign Hardy for 2015. Maybe we need to get Casilla and Valencia back and trade Worley back for Revere or go after Span since both centerfielders seem to be on the market. Just like old times! Give a million to Kubel. Justin will be standing in the wings yelling, "Hey, remember me!?"</span>

I agree that the Twins need a good solid DH who can also play first (would be an added plus) or be a bench bat that YOU WANT to go to in a pinch. Of course Corey Hart would be the guy to start instead of Parmelee or Colabello. With an outfield more than likely of Willingham and Pressly and Arcia with Mastro as the backup until Hicks finds his way, signing a first baseman/DH would pretty much spell endgame for Parmelee and Colabello with one being the reserve backup at AAA. Because...we also have to find playing time for Doumit and Mauer, too, I guess.

I agree that the Twins need to take a chance on not just one, but perhaps two pitchers who will be on the team for 4-5 seasons (again, you can always trade them). Come the 2015 or 2016 season, you can then get that 1-2 year stop gapper. You don't need the 1-2 year stop gapper now, unless you go totally into the trade after a season mode...which is also a gamble (didn't happen with Pavano or Pelfrey). You also need to see if you can get value up for the likes of Worley, Diamond, Deduno and now in 2014 Correia. Frankly, none of those names I pictures being around in 2016.

Excellent list and analysis. All the prices seem reasonable and there is more than enough talent there that every team should get a pitcher this year. Maybe the Twins will get two. Hey, you left out Pelfrey.

Okay, so you add the $35 million TV money. Why does half of that go to operations and such (i.e. probably profit). I still haven't figured out the 52% of revenue. When they make more, do they give front office bonuses, make gold keys for the washrooms, hire more staff, start another minor league club, spend more on international players? It seems management will be able to pay off their investment in the stadium sooner rather than later. Now they can do that and not show a profit. Maybe the good news is that later they will spend to show less taxable profit. But, in the end, when owners of any sport complain about monies, the golden but is the selling of the franchise somewhere down the line and making a mint!

Worley and Diamond need to make the team, out of options, I believe. Of course, they both could replace Duensing and Swarzak if need be. Hendriks has another option year left. It would be nice if the Twins could get something for their backend starters. See Gibson starting the year at Rochester because he can. Deduno is an iffy. Correia could be tradebait, believe it or not.

The Twins are considered better offensively than from the mound in current mainstream rankings, yet you ranked so many pitchers (almost half) in the top 50. Two items of discussions: Do batter move up in the system faster than pitchers. I am always curious as to how many of the Top 10 actually make it to the majors and contribute from years past. We know that players drop in and out of the rankings sometimes over the 3-4 year period. We also know that you don't have to be a Top propsect to get major league play, depending on the role needed filling. Also, how do YOU think the Twins rate overall with placement of their minor league teams: Florida, New Britain, Iowa, Rochester NY and the mountains of Tennessee. I can honestly see nothing wrong with the rookie league and High-A being in the Florida sunshine in a state-of-the-art complex.....but does it matter to be in the INT League of PCL League or Eastern League or Midwest League? And will this be the first year that the Twins go with more prospects at the AAA level than minor league free agents, or what?

I actually don't see a big demand for any of them. Dinkelman is on his last legs. It would be nice to keep him in the organization as a coach or instructor, if he can't land a job elsewhere. DeVries also won't have people knocking doors, I believe. But ll the others have pretty much worn out their time in the organization. Guerra is coming off an injury year and is the sole (and was considered the prize) of the Santana trade. Would be nice if they could keep him for one more season to see IF... Morales is lost in the outfield shuffle. I thought Bigley was going to be a free agent, too. But looks like he gets another chance. Be interesting to see who the Twins do sign. Former draftees like Heston and Leesman were available for a song during the summer. But see no great losses overall. And will be interesting to see what does happen with Blackburn (heck, Humber got a job with Oakland).

The Twins can afford to spend. If, as you say, the next group of pitching prospects are 4-5 years away, combined with the hitters you mentioned, the Twins will be free agency free and just into arbitration with most players. It is a juggling act. You want prospects to thrive in a winning environs if you can, and you don't want everyone to hit big buck status at the same time, but you also trade guys for less expensive talent as their service time progresses, or try and make contract calls in the initial or second arbitration years. We know 2014 may be a rebuilding wash, and with the lack of on-top pitching in the organization, 2015 would also be a rebuilding year. So are we now looking at 2016 or 2017 being competitive years and 2018 when the Twins might actually field a championship team? Or with the correct free agent pitching signees, could the Twins compete in 2015 and 2016 (and 2017) and work their young talent into the rotation, yes, with a little fast-tracking.

So Hendriks still has an option year. Worley is tradebait if he can pitch. Same with Diamond and Deduno. We have to start thinking purely long-term here. Signing a free agent who will be pitching not only in 2015 but also 2016. When we look at names like Hendriks and Diamond, we can also see them as potential replacements for Duensing and Swarzak if those two become too expensive and if the rotation pushes Diamond and Hendriks out. The only reason to sign someone like a Pelf is because they might be tradebait, although why the Twins didn't have a second year option on Pelf is beyond me. Would've increased his trade value and given them a second year of the guy (at a higher price) if they saw fit.

Right now, with Kubel in the dugout, who would he take at-bats from? He would basically become part of a rotating between Willingham, Doumit and himself...giving less at-bats to either of those guys, and, if anything, he would bump Parmelee or Colabello off the current roster. Can the Twins get the same or better from Colabello or Prmelee and have the luxury of someone who can play first? Would Kubel basically make Doumit an expensive backup in his walk year as a catcher. If we traded Willingham, would Kubel be a better fit in elft field (or switch with Arcia). At most, he would be a one-year low-contract pickup, which he should be able to find with any of a number of other teams that don't want, say, Delmon Young. As for Santana, if the price is right that you can afford to carry him on the disabled list, possibly, for most of the season, his p.r. value would be invaluable to the team right now...if you could get 3-4 or a half-dozen okay starts out of him. Free Agency. There are the big names. But when the dust settles, there may be 250-300 or more guys out there, which can work out to 10 players per team. Most teams don't have that many roster spots available in the majors (especially) and the upper minors.

From carrying a "My Little Pony" backpack to the bullpen to stealing clothes at the end of a roadtrip. May be cute fun and all, but like the pies in the face and dumping the gatorade cooler, it isn't really necessary in a profession where people are so-called professionals. There is a fine line these days between hazing, bullying and jokesters (pranksters).

You can live with Florimon if everyone else hits. He has some punch and all, but you have to have more than 2-3 other guys who hit above .250. Offsensively, the Twins don't exactly suck for 2014 if they can figure out the best way to utilize the lineup. You have Mauer catching. You have Doumit as back-up and DH. You have Herrmann on the bench. You have Mauer at first with Colabello as back-up. You have Parmelee on the bench. You have Dozier at second, who has shown power, Florimon at short, and Plouffe still at third. You have Escobar as backup. You have Willingham, Pressly and Arcia in the outfield with Mastro as backup. The bench is basically Mastro, Parmelee, Herrmann and Escobr. I would love to see a more proven bat, and not have to depend on Parmelee or Colabello at first, but both deserve a chance to crack spring training and/or the lineup. The addition of Buxton, Hicks, Sano, Rosario, Santana, and Pinto to the mix in 2014 gives a lot more hope. The biggest question is who's on first and can Pinto make Mauer a non-catcher. Yes, Florimon is the best we have at short right now. I'm not sure Dozier can switch over (or we want him to) but we may need a place for Rosario. Dozier may be one of our top five trading chips as the season progresses.

Hicks has potential still, but not that much in the eyes of the other teams. Needs to tear up AAA for a season and show some non-September good at bats in the majors. Arcia is a trade chip, and I almost would be willing to deal him sooner rather than later...although he could turn into another David Ortiz. The magic word is COULD. Sano is such an interesting chip. Is he really the third baseman of the future, or will he end up a corner outfielder, DH, or 1B. Is his true value with the Twins as a trade chip. Do you risk taking that chance, trading a prospect for something proven. And when you look at teams looking for middle infielders, you realize how weak the Twins are in that area (does anyone want Dozier or Florimon) and the pipeline is full of players, but not potential fielding/batting aces. Sadly, going into 2014, the Twins are buyers...more than likely just with money, and not traders. Except for Perkins (and there is a crop of closers to fill every need at the moment, for a price) and Mauer...there really isn't anyone a team needs now from Minnesota to give the Twins something worthwhile back in exchange. Even the Doumits and Willinghams are prospect bait. So looks like a ton of minor league free agents to showoff and maybe flip for more prospects, and a couple of mid-level free agents or guys looking for a comeback (Hughes, Kubel etc. that you CAN flip midseason....like we did Pelfrey, right). Terry Ryan is walking around with an open checkbook, but he may still come up a zero short on most offers.