Rosterman

Well, we know Bartolo COlon won't have the staying power of Ortiz. Belisle is old, too. Will Drew Rucinski and Ryan O'Rourke put together years similar to, say, Swarzak, Duensing and Nesxhek? Before we reclaim Tonkin, we might want to get back Kris Johnson. So often a player prices themselves out of the contracted usefulness (you can only cut them 20% or so) or you flat out don't want to pay them (which happened to Ortiz) compared to other healthy guys you have on roster. Could the Twins have flipped Belisle or Gimenez during the trading period? Santiago WAS a tradechip until he came up lame. Colon got a lot more chances than he really deserved. I think that like Adam Walker the year before, the Twins should've at least had a major league looksee at Palka. Heston had one inning with the Twins. Wimmers signed abck last year hoping to catch on, which he did. Be interesting to see where he lands. I would like to see DIllon Gee return as the longman, possible spot starter.

Looks like the Twins may be taking a hit on all those minor league free agents they have. Rodriguez is an interesting loss. The Twins were pushing him, but transforming from a position player to a position player hurt him in the ultimate pecking order. Again, this is a prospect that yelled "trade me" last season. Waiting to see if the Twins lose Perez. The Red Wings roster looks pretty slim right now. Of course, most of their roster will be on the Twins 40-man this season, I imagine. Or at least a comfortable percentage.

The Twins have some interesting questions to answer. What is the status of Joe Mauer beyond 2018. Will they sign Brian Dozier to a longterm contract. Is Polanco the short-term answer at short, thus making Gordon a Tradechip, or even a Javier. How set are the Twins with an outfield of Rosario, Kepler and Buxton. Is ANY replaceable by, say, Granite, and how soon Rooker or Alex K. The Twins have prospects to trade. And just can't keep adding them to the 40-man. Or having players that other teams know you will have to waive to create roster spots for other players. Since the season wound down, the Twins have jettisoned Nik Turley, Chris Gimenez, Ryan O'Rourke, Niko Goodrum, Daniel Palka, Randy Rosario, Glen Perkins, Bartolo Colon, Matt Belisle, Dillon Gee, Hector Santiago, Drew Rucinski, Alex Wimmers, Anthony Recker and Michael Tonkin. Total return...lots of roster space and $500,000 in cash. That's a lot of giving away or walking away. Not to mention the guys who have left the minor league system willingly: Centeno, Heston, Mickolio, Pino, Dereck Rodriguez, Hurlbut, Tracy, Paulino, Perezz, Pimentel, Wilkins, Johnny Rodriguez, Hague, Reginatto, Shuck and Strausborger. Yes, hopefully Dereck rodriguez might still be added to the 40-man, or a couple return as free agents. But..... There's at least a dozen guys worthy of the 40-man roster, and still 3-4 names worthy of NOT being kept on the 40-man, but a contending team CAN'T have a 40-man roster full of players who may/may not participate in a major league game in 2018. Can you trade prospects for a closer, a starter? You can always buy relief. Hell, youc an always buy a starting pitcher, too. but the opportunity to get a guy cheaper for a longer time has to sometimes outweigh laying out millions and millions on a contract that more than likely won't pay out in the end.

Ye, do yuou need Grossman AND Granite? Do you need Mejia AND Jorge and Romero...or better yet, Goncalves. Especially if you do BUY a free agent pitcher. The Twins do have tradable prospect pieces and would rather see them swing a deal for any of a number of prospects for a talent. Are Romero and Jorge tradebait, soon to be bypassed by someone else in the minors. Is Goncalves better than Gibson or Berrios right now? Not that I would trade Berrios, but...you need value or perceived value to trade players.

First off, their revenue is down ONLY if they weren't able to sell media advertising. Attendance held (rather than dropped) and much of the ticket sales were for fuller price tickets controlled by the Twins because they were competitive and put a winning team on the field. The brand may have taken a hit as the Twins had no excitable advertising campaign and the team was second-tiered msot of the season in sports coverage (or so it seemed) which should be worse than ever during the off-season dominated by a winning Vikings team, hockey and basketball (as always) and the dreaded Super Bowl media hype. If you immediately pull-the-plug on the Hughes salary and eat it (send the guy packing), you have Santana coming off the books...so you can splurge on an A-level starter. Wouldn't the prospect of having a Tim Sale-like arm be more than tantalizing right now. Even a Grienke of two years past. Hell, wished the Twins had known enough of their prospects to land Verlander for the remaining years of his contract. A tough area is how to extend sooner rather than later (remember the wonderful Indians experiment of signing their young players longterm). You may average pay, seldom overpay, and if the guys produce you get a bargain or a wonderful trading chip with a reasonable contract (see Denard Span) if someone truly pushes a player out of the picture in the next 2-3 years. With what seems to be many seasons of talk of a crop of young power arms coming to the majors (few of the names mentioned have made ANY impact in the last three years), we can possibly sit tight in the bullpen. Maybe a grizzled veteran would be a welcomed addition to keep the youngsters in place. We have to address Joe Mauer sooner rather than later. Is he a longjam at first or wherever else he can contribute to the team. We need to address Dozier. How much is an extension. If it is for two seasons beyond with an option, can we hope that his play remains enough to be at the least a tradechip before his downslide, or that he is a franchise player eventually moving into a DH who can also play the field role. The leg surgery for Sano is a toughie. Is he truly the DH and future Twins version of David Ortiz, or just another guy to move onto greener pastures, perhaps. He's one of those guys who can be a half-way decent player by just walking up to the plate and swinging a bat. He has highs and also lows. Yes, would love if he was a $15-20 million-a-year David Ortiz, and not the second-coming of Delmon Young. All this talk of payroll and spending 55% or what-the-heck is meaningless. Once you hit $100 million in payroll, you no longer have to spend 55%. The otehr 45% pretty much stays the same (cost of front office, operations, minor leagues and such). So you can spend 100% of whatever the team takes in about that amount (depending, ultimately, on play which reflects attendance and media ad revenue). The Twins can easily spend $140 million. They could spend $160-175 million and unless they happen to pick the wrong injury-plagued contracts, should succeed. Gibson needs to repeat to stay a Twin and then the negotiations start for a long-term contract. Mejia may/may not be a longterm player. The Twins have young arms, but only one that you truly see breaking ranks in spring training and even he could spend more time in the minors (a familiar prospect rally cry, it seems). Yes, we can hope that there will be at least 3-4 young arms fighting for rotation positions come 2019 and that all 3-4 would be keepers, although a rotation of young arms if you are still a competitive team is a high gamble to remain competitive. But you never know. But before spending major money on more than one player, the Twins have to address Sano, Mauer, Dozier, all the sophs, and get a strong handle on the minor league pipeline. If they BUY players, than many prospects will be available for trade (and as shown already this season, the Twins could fill the 40-man with a least 15 prospects...too many in my book...and there will be more next season).

Yet you can't have too many guys on the 40-man who aren't major league ready. That's my point. Unless you are a total rebuilding team and will allow guys to play in the majors when they aren't quite ready. Plus, you need the flexibility to add those "minor league free agents" for a moment or two. Once you do put a player on the 40-man roster, it is easier to claim them if they are removed and keep them in the claiming organization, unlike the Rule 5 where you have to keep them in the majors ALL year or return them to the original team. You can't have 12 or 15 guys who aren't major league ready taking up roster space. Or can you?

The bigger question is if the guys will contribute to the team in anyway in the 2018 season. Right now the Twins have a gaggle of players who are probably destined to start in the minors and you can question the amount of time they will spend in the 2018 majors: Curtiss, Rosario, Romero, Jorge, Palka, Goodrum, Slegers, Enns. Some need more AAA seasoning, some need to play at AAA. But that is 8 names of guys who would probably not break camp. Add in the names of Boshers, Turley, Mejias, Vargas, Granite and Garver, plus Moya and you have another 7. 15 players. Depending on who the Twins keep (Grossman, Gimenez, Adrianza for example), you wonder who from the above 15 names MAY be removed from the 40-man, which will already see: Santiago, Colon, Belisle, Gee departing as free agents and decisions also made on guys who could very well be disabled in 2018: O'Rourke, Chargois, Hughes and May. 22 names from a roster above 40 names (43), reduced by one already with the departing Perkins. And we want to add at least 5, but maybe as many as 8 to the mix, with Reed being, in my opinion, the longshot to open the season, but the other names under consideration probably having a better opportunity to get big league innings and at bats than most of the names on my list above.

I would ease May back in. He will have to work up towards 120 innings in 2018, as an example, if he is fairly ready to go. I would baby him and keep him on the DL if the season opens and he is not quite there, allowing him to rehad in Ft. Myers (and not use an option) for the colder weeks up north, then work him into long relief or spot starts. Or, there is the chance you might find that he could be closer material. But if he fully recovers, the Twins should have decent control of his services for his 29-31 years of age. And go from there. Curious, more, about the state of Chargois. And even if Zack Jones is in the mix.

Always tough this #1. We have had Sano and Buxton...but Rosario has been the guy who has shined and he was never considered the Top Prospect in the system. Us armchair general managers have to take a second seat to the real guys.

Some tough decisions. Where will Escobar play. Third base, always a backup? Dozier, extend or not. Polanco...will he be the shortstop next season and second baseman after that, or will that position fall to Gordon. And then you have the wealth of guys still coming forwards: Palacios, Lewis, Marte, Javier. Where and when will they play.

Interesting the say Molitor didn't have in choosing guys he will work with on the field staff. Now have to see who the Twins add as minor league pitching coordinator.

Granted, you need some bodies to keep around in cae you do add a free agent or whatever, and they can't be any of the guys to drop from adds in the November additions. I'm not sure if Phil Hughes is out-of-options and could be run thru waivers and if not claimed stashed at Rochester, a la Blackburn in the past. If he is not going to pitch in 2018, I would say move on anyways. Likewise Ryan O'Rourke. Do you keep him and not Boshers? Surely not both. Let Gee play the marekt. Make a move if you rally think he is the longman or starter in reserve that you wish. Trevor May, hopefully, will return and fill that job as he works his way back into the 2019 rotation. So Gee.....no. Turley and Tonkin and Slegers and Duffey. You can keep any, but not all. A couple and still expendable and resigned to minor league contracts, although Tonkin would surely walk, as would probably Turley. Wimmers has left. Other spots? Adrianza AND Goodrum? One or neither at this point. Keeping Granite makes Palka expendable. That they didn't call him up for a cup of coffee in September makes him the second going of Adam Brett Walker. Did the Chargois stock disappear? Like Melotakis, and Zack Jones.....has Luke Bard and Jeff Reed pushed by them as prospects, as well as Curtiss and Moya. You have to wonder if Rosario is necessary to keep on the 40-man. Would someone grab him. Left-handed with promise? But enough promise to spend another year on the 40-man? In putting together the 40-man, I would ask of the names that will be dropped - IS THERE ANY CHANCE THEY WILL BE A PART OF THE TEAM COME 2019. Like Vargas. Maybe his payday is Asia. Park is still in the mix and under a biog contract. And what to do with Grossman. Pretty bad when you could cut out 15 or so guys with a slice of the knife. The problem is you can't replace them ALL with guys starting at A or AA ball, or who need at least part of a season of seasoning at AAA. Removing some from the roster means other teams can claim them and stash them. Not adding them to the 40-man means Rule 5, and as we saw with Stu Turner and the Reds...you can stash an AA player for a season if you really want that player. Can't wait to see how it all shakes out.

The Twins, if they can, sign these guys for a reasonable amount to still make them trade worthy, a la Denard Span. The flip side is that they may not get better. Buxton, right now, has the msot value patrolling centerfield. Unless Krilloff is a sure fire centerfielder, your best bet is Granite, who is mreo of a backup or corner guy. You hope Kepler matures and puts up similar numbers like Rosario did this season. You wonder if Rosario can manage to stay the same, or even get better. If that is true, for the above, the Twins have a longterm outfield for 5-6 years and if you can reasonably sign these guys past their arbitration seasons with an option, I would say go for it. The only other factor is Rooker. Is he an outfielder> Will he be able to handle first? Or is he jsut a bat. And will he be a major league bat. It's interesting,dangling salaries out to a whole host of guys (jncluding Sano) plus factoring in what to do with Mauer and Dozier...one to three more years for both - Idoubt you would give either a one-year qualifying offer, although that would not be beyond (as with Santana) if the funds for that aprticular season is there. The Twins only have 2-3 obvious salary needs. It would be nice to add a right-handed bat who can also play a position, possibly a backup infielder guy, too. The Twins could spend big on a core starter. They could also spend on a solid relief pitcher, and sign a few AAAA guys to fill out the system. I think the Twins MAY finally have some strength in the bullpen if Bard and Curtiss and Rosario and Moya and Cahrgois and Melotakis and Reed can join the likes of May and o'Rourke to keep us from using Tonkin, Boshers, and others. We also have to put Enns into the mix. So the Twins have an abundance of relief pitching probables. Just how to use them, and who is ALSO the next, say, Hildenberger or Busenitz.

In some ways, the Twins may have prospects galore. They have to make some hard-lined decisions on WHO they think will be a part of the organization from all the players in A ball and above...how many can actually make the grade, and if it is too many, start to deal them when they might have a perceived worth. Are Romero and Jorge still fixtures for the rotation. Is Gonsalves the lone guy coming up in 2018, and if the Twins sign or trade for a BIG free agent, do they need Romero AND Jorge right now? Is Stewart viable? Has Thorpe increased in value? Who are the prospects in line for 2019 and 2020. Could the Twins sacrifice Rosario or Kepler? Is Buxton on the centerfield swing door? Is Nick Gordon the real future, or is it the next bunch of Lewis/Marte/Javier that will push for the infield. If not Gordon...is he at his highest worth now and can you stomach continued Dozier/Escobar/Polanco until 2020? The Twins have a lot of youth that could play in the majors, just not maybe with the Twins. And if some of them can bring important NOW pieces to the mix (remember, not all rookies shine in their first couple of years of major league play).

I think the Twins COULD go without and see what they actually do have. I don't see the need to bring back Belisle, or to offer a contract to Kintzler. Try Busenitz or Pressly or Hildenberger. Hope Chargois comes back. Have the loser be the chief setup guy with Rogers. I would like to see them make roster space by departing with the Boshers and such.

There is quite a big picture outlook the Twins front office has to look at. Who will play where in 2018. Who is around and playing where in 2019 and 2020. Who is in the pipeline to replace (say our outfielders, for sure). What players can offer position change. In Sano's case, will he be the second coming of David Ortiz, someone who can play DH mostly for the next 14 years at whatever is considered a good solid average major league salary (probably $20-25 million as we get into his thirties). Is that worth it. Will he sustain? Can you go for a 10-year deal? Is the Twins DH of the near future a Dozier or Mauer? Who plays first in the longer runoo The front office should have a pretty giid idea of how the roster will shake out for the next three seasons right now, and a solid idea of who they hope to retain up to five years from now.

How many games did Santana lose or no-decision because of meek offense or a bullpen that couldn't hold the lead. Berrios is still a work in progress, but has the potential. Gibson is getting a BIG second chance. And then there is none.

I doubt it will be a one-year contract. Even a two-year puts Molitor on the bubble as absorbing a year isn't beyond the budget or front office needs. A three-year would keep him in place for at least another season, sink or swim. I'm more interested in the workings on the coaching side of things, and the shakeup (if any) of the minor league staffs.

It also appeared that the strike zone was a bit tight (for both sides). Santana should've adjusted and thrived. I wouldn't have thrown Berrios out there right away (bring in a lefty first) or just go with one-inning wonders for the rest of the game. Don't have Hildenberger start a second inning. Overall, pitching won out. The Yankees have the hard throwers we have only dramed about having in the system

The ump had a tight zone for both sides. So, its a game to use A LOT of pitchers in a correct way. One team id. The other team didn't.

Time will tell. The Twins have so many bullpen arms, but the ones we thought would be here in 2017...weren't. And the league catches up to players, or players don't adjust, so you never ever have too many guys. Hard-pressed to say who the rotation will be in 2019. And you need people like Wade (as well as Granite) when you start deciding the longterm worth of Rosario or even Kepler. I assume Buxton will be a keeper.

It all comes down to one game at a time at this moment in the season. You win here or go home. Worry about the next round once you get there, and happily the Twins have a number of players to shuffle. I was hoping for C.C. so the Twins could play the early bunting game again. This is where I want a camera in the clubhouse, watching the players arrive, who is jittery, who is not. Yankee Stadium. Big crowd. What is Molitor's speech to the team? Coaches pulling people aside. The feel of batting practice. All these under 25 players on the team in what might be the biggest game they ever play (hopefully not, more in the future). And what IS the feeling back home in the Twin Cities? Rain dampened the home closer. But still, not sellouts for ALL three games this weekend.

So where does this leave Slegers in the Twins scheme of things. If he'd pitched a dynamite game, going 5-6 innings, would he be the 4th starter? Has he become roster fodder sadly at this point, a possible prospect, but still behind others in the wings who might deserve a 40-man spot, as well as the many many "others" who are no longer prospects but won't part ways with the Twins (perhaps Pressly, Boshers, Tonkin). Yes, the Twins did make the Wild Card. Yes, the call-ups from September got less exposure than necessary, although they have experience of riding the bench and being in a playoff situation. I hope some make it to spring training to show what they can do against somewhat major league pitching. Can't wait to see the lineup for tomorrow's game.

Hopefully he IS the DH for the final two games. As a bench bat he can be valuable. If his swing is back, he can DH. You still need to see him run the bases. Putting him in the field? Not a chance at this point. But considering you need one starter and a bunch of arms for the wild card, and 4 starters at best and 7 bullpen arms, yes...add him to the playoff roster!

I'm baffled by the lineup. Mauer batting second. Polanco third. Escobar cleanup more often than not. Rposario and Buxton on the backside. Even you DH batting ninth. But, considering how the bullpen seems setup, I shouldn't be surprised. But, it worked!