Rosterman

Kubel is looking for someplace, anyplace, to attempt a rebound. We have Willingham and Doumit, each for another year. Can he play first base? Arcia and maybe Plouffe better in the outfield. But then can he play third base. Don't see him as an especially good off-the-bench bat.

The other Ortiz, too.

Neshek was on the cusp. Be interesting to see if Oakland does tender him. He missed free agency by a couple of weeks...was sent down in the last month.

Deduno is an aging rookie. If he throws anything great, market the heck out of him to a contender. I don't really see him in the long range plans. Unless no one else wants him. Then, he hangs iun the rotation until he's replaced by others. He has some uniqueness, and is cheap for a couple of years, but if you can get value out of him, do it. The other reason to give Parmelee and Plouffe a shot again in 2014 bigtime. If they gain any value, take offers. Willingham may have his most value if he has a good spring and a team gets an injury and has a need for a power-hitting OF/DH. And Doumit would be a great choice for Texas. And, yes, the Twins need to market some relievers bigtime during the trade deadline -- Swarzak, Duensing, Burton, Fein should ALL be mnovable and replaceable by fresh young arms from the minors. Let them weardown at season's end for some other team.

But you always have the issues when guys like Colabello have a breakout couple of years in the minors (also think David McCarty, Mike Restovich and Chris Parmelee) but don't put it altogether and fail somewhat miserably in the majors. Even this season, Oswaldo Arcia had an okay season which works fine in a strong lineup, but in a lineup where he ended up being the 3-4th best player, well.... All these guys could conceivably be in a Twins uniform sometime at the sametime. If they do, and gel, it could be a homebred World Series team. It's getting them there, having them get the experience, protecting each other in the batting order and on the field, and we have the 1987 Twins. Who won because of blood and guts and a weak division and a very lucky starting rotation. You maybe add in Stewart and Berrios and a few other names like Kepler and Vargas and Gibson, of course, Mauer (not to mention Perkins) and...well........

A four man rotation means getting 6-7 innings out of your starters more often than not. And them being able to do it in under 100 pitches. The flipside is that you still need, then 1-2 pitchers a game to come in and finish, not to mention the closer. The relief pitchers have to be able to pitch for more than one inning, and come back for 2-3 days in a row if necessary. You have to have darn good relief pitchers. So you are asking pitchers to start 40 games and pitch six innings a game = 240 innings. And the remaining bullpen guys to throw 480 innings, easily 60 or so innings each. Some higher, some lower. I don't know how it worked back in the sixties. You had pitchers regularly go long, relievers like Al Worthington would pitch multiple innings. I guess there was a swing-man starter for when you wanted to give guys a rest...20 games started, perhaps 30 games in relief. I remember than pitchers like Jim Kaat would even do a relief inning now and then (usually on their throwing day). But right now that Twins barely have a 200 inning starter, and even guys like Albers, Deduno and Diamond could barely get past the 5th. Unless a pitcher is really smart these days, 100 pitches seems to be the norm be they in a 4 or 5 man rotation and that is 15 pitches an inning. When you deal with pitch counts, you will be seeing more and more of a need for pitchers to throw strikes, or we go back to the Oakland A's and their desire to take 2-3 pitches in at bats just to see if the guy is throwing more balls than strikes, and wearing them down that way.

Wimmers will get every chance to shine in 2014 in the minors. The question is, do the Twins put him on the 40-man roster. He would have to start at Ft. Myers this year (partly because he will still be in the best training center area.) You can debate if he will go as high as New Brit. But he has to try and make it as a starter. As Seth says, he can 40-man for 3-4 years, if the Twins feel they have the space for him. He just needs to face batters now.

Looney, Haren and Hughes. I missed something at MLB Trade Rumors, I guess. There is no way Pinto starts the season at Target Field, unless Mauer is injured beyond belief. They will need a first baseman and that IS the likely route to go for a free agent at this point. Damned be Colabello and Parmelee. Or, at least, a 1B/DH. Unless they overpay, Hughes will not play in Minnesota. Yes, it could be #1 or #2 here, but he can be #4 or #5 anywhere else for the same amount of money.

We always talk about the can't miss prospects, but always forget that people are needed to be that 4th outfielder or all-around utility guy, middle relief, or back-end starter.

Signability is job one. Can they pitch is #2. Number of pitches seem to be a development idea. Hard or speed is no longer a consideration but a risk. Even if the Twins were scouting junior colleges (where Puckett came from) or getting into the foreign marketplaces, they still seem to be lowguy on that totem pole. Basically, if you do have the budget to spend AND take chances, you do so...since the funds do not seem to carry over from year to year. You also try to get the best that you possibly can at the time, not go for volume of players. The Twins have also been god at looking at guys they didn't sign and going after them, at times, when they failed or became the odd man out in other organizations. I still like the idea of not signing draftpicks ALL the time and trading for them after they have a notch or two under their belts. But the question still remains, if you got x-$ for foreign draftpicks, you spend it. If you have x-$ for draftpicks, you spend it. If you have x-$ for payroll, you spend it. Then you look and what you have spent the monies on and then do soemthing more, if you can, by trading, long-term signings, etc.

A good argument...especially over the likes of Perry, Pascual, Santana and even guys like Reardon and Aggie. But that's what the Hall of Fame is for. Rettiring a number is for the utra special player in franchise history.....

Yep, forgot about Manship. Waldrop didn't make it (nor Santana). Randy Ruiz almost did!

The Twins feared what Hardy might ask in arbitration, and he ended up signing a sweetheart deal with the Orioles and may re-up for a similar amount, which isn't bad. At some point, the Twins have to not think hometown discounts and what a player demand and play the market for what players may be worth and then just deal with it. If anyone can figure out the Pelfry deal, let me know. Why the Twins were afraid to pay Ortiz a million is beyond me, still. Yet why do we pay millions to Punto who is happy making a million elsewhere. The whole system is screwed up. Sign players, swap players, keep players, draft players, trade players away....there is no right or wrong.

Always interesting the Fringe Twins that played this past season. Of course Scott Baker threw 15 innings. 4BB/6K. Phil Humber would've fit into the rotation of the 2013 Twins perfectly, going 0-8 7.98 ERA 1.728 55 inning, 20BB 36 K for the Astros Kevin Slowey was 3-6 4.11 in 92 innings 18BB 76K 1.218 for the Marlins Out of the Bullpen: Alex Burnett went from the Twins to the Jays to the Cubs to the Orioles. He did manage 2.1 innings with 2Ks and 11.57 ERA (3.000 WHIP) Jon Rauch was 1-2 7.56 1.800 15 innings 7BB 3K for Miami. Pitched 10 innings for Orioles AAA. Matt Capps pitched at AAA for Cleveland and was injured most of the season. Ramon Ortiz was 1-2 6.04 1.776 for 25 innings 11 BB 8 K then disabled for season with the Jays Luis Ayala was 2-1 3.27 1.545 WHIP 33 innings 12 BB 32 Ks for Orioles and Braves. Jose Mijares was 0-3 4.22 1.776 in 49 innings 20BB 54K for the Giants. If we want to complain about backup Butera, who got 7 ABS for the Dodgers 1.43 across the board. Corky Miller resurfaced fo the Reds getting 35 ABs and doing 257/366/400. Rene Rivera, ticked because he didn't get a callup last September, got 71 ABS for San Diego and was 254/260/328. Somehow Henry Blanco got 134 at bats with Seattle and Toronto batting 142/228/246. Morneau did absolutely nothing for Pittsburgh, which makes for an interesting off-season to see who pays him what. 77 ABS for the wild-card champs and 260/370/312. Alex Casilla was over in the all-Twins infield, it seems, at Baltimore. He got 112 at bats and hit 214/268/295. He stole 9 bases. Brandon Harris got 107 at bats for the Angels, making the roster out of spring training, and dazzled with a 206/252/355. Spent time at AAA Texas and Yankees. Janey Carroll did nothing for KC 111/190/194 in 36 ABs. Minor interest in: Matt Carson, 11 at bats for the Indians pennant run 636/692/909 and Darnell McDonald, who got time with the Cubs 302/351/434 in 57 ABs.

It hurt for Nathan to essentially be down for those two seasons, due to his late start as a closer...but if he can sustain his workload into the 40s, yes. Maybe not first ballot, and depends on who else is on the ballot, but he must not only have the saves, but keep the ERA low and the K's high. Something which he may not be able to do. Anything postseason would help his cause.

It deals with player development and when you moves players out of your system. The other side of this is keeping players too long in the system, and then people get mad when you don't re-sign your own free agents. But, yes, you can win with a low budget ball, but at some point (which can happen) you might have to make the mid-season acquisition who will play for you in October and put you over. The Twins too long had the mindset that they just competed in their division, like winning the division and getting to the playoffs is enough. Yes, only one team can win the big ring. Eight teams go to the hunt and an additional two have a sudden death playoff spurt (anyone else tired of all the victory parties everytime you go up the ladder?). There is no bonafide way to win -- spend money, develop players, just plain old luck. But it does start with drafting and player development. It continues with grooming players, and getting guys from other systems who are blocked. You might have to overspend and keep someone beyond their time, or purchase big fro a season and eat the remainder. That is the game of baseball.

He is young. He can/should be stretched out as a starter. He has to learn to get thru a batting order consistently twice and the Twins need to see if he can do it a third time to fully evaluate his place in the organization. He can pitch himself into a job in spring training again. But going back to AAA is not a career killer. If he can't consistently start, then groom him to replace Swarzak. In some ways, Pressley and Diamond replacing Duensing and Swarzak would not be a bad move by the Twins...if not i 2014, especially in 2015.

Deolis Guerra is still around, for now, too...and either has to make it or depart.

The Twins could be the same in 4-5 years. Gibson, Meyer, May, Berrios, Stewart, and a couple more. Nice if you can supplement with an occasional free agent. Part of it is trading vets for pieces that are on the horizon (like they did with Meyer and May (and Worley). Maybe we all need to just stop thinking of money. Yes, the Twins will spend 50%+ of revenue, supposedly. But are they required to do so...I fear not. Maybe if they said "Spend the money or we are giving it back to the fans" I would be happier. But spending is like giving it back to the fans, in a ways.

Yes, it was all about the money at this point with Morris. The Twins had offered him considerably more than Detroit, and Morris also earned a bonus. Coming off the World Series, the Twins hoped he would take the same salary, but Toronto gave him a million bucks (almost) signing bonus besides matching his Twins salary. I remember him on his negotiation tour the year before with his big fur coat and acting like a hired gunslinger going to different towns looking for a job!

Check out this page at: 1992 Minnesota Twins Roster - Majors View A real good overview of the 1992 Twins (go backwards to see 1991, forward to see 1993). Correct me if I am wrong or not, but didn't the Twins trade Sorrento (on March 28th) because he was basically out of options and was the 26th player and was traded to Cleveland and later that same day Hrbek injured his shoulder to start the season on the disabled list...meaning Gene Larking or Randy Bush had to play first. Sorrento was the odd man out with Larkin, Hrbek, Bush, Chili Davis et al on the roster.

Isn't Deolis Guerra also a minors free agent this season. Do you have a list of potential minor free agents from the organizations?

Right now, offensively, the Twins basically have one or two bench spots open, with some musical chairs happening during the season. If they can find another power bat for the lineup (be it an OF, 1B or fulltime DH) then they should spend monies there. Otherwise, concentrate on pitching. They could trade for high-arbitration guys like Luke to give him a new home, but what they give up would have to be meaningless, as I wouldn't want to see Minnesota be another one-year showcase for a potential free agent (a la Pelfrey, although I seriously wonder what kind of offers he will get this season). The Twins can afford to sign a free agent with a qualifying offer, as they won't lose their first rounder. I would say go for it. They really do need to ink 2-3 solid free agent starters, a slugger who can play 1B/3B/OF or DH. They need to make an early decision, then, on Parmelee and Plouffe (and even Colabello, who isn't getting any younger, folks) not to mention Burton. There are a few trade chips, nothing people will get excited about, but parts contending teams might desire if they face injuries or whatnot (Swarzak and Duensing could become quite valuable, too).

I just keep getting in trouble thinking about that 52%. What is the breakdown of the other 48%: - Twins administrations - Tickets/Sales/Marketing - Scouting - Minor League Player Development (players, coaches, facilities) - Draft picks monies ($6 million or so) - International signings ($3 million or so) - Stadium operations - Payment to City/State - Concessions cost vs. profit How do the Twins arrive at $200 million in revenue: - ticket sales - advertising - shared MLB monies - media Any ideas on numbers for any of the above categories?

Lester is a factor but I think the Twins will try and see what happens with him. He is, after all, a minor league free agent and really doesn't have to sign with anyone until after the Rule 5. He might get his best deal with the Twins, unless he is on someone else's radar. The interesting aspect of the 40-man is that you do need a body or three to delete from the 40-man if you sign free agents. You can't do that from the add-ons. So some folk will be there....hoping that they can get thru waivers and take a minor league assigment in December (i.e. Hermsen, possibly Hernandez, or anyone that the Twins would still retain control of for future seasons.).