Blog Comments

The Vikings successes have done nothing to the fans' perceptions of the Twins. Even in the season that they were cheated out of a Superbowl by the Taints and the officiating crew who wanted to atone for Katrina, while Gardy's club was doing its regular postseason routine.

Always too much slack for the Twins' and their leaders for the same fanbase who wanted to bury the Vikings and their leaders, this Millennium.

Your first 3 points are all the same point. In football, a good draft has a huge and immediate impct. There is no immediate impact in baseball. Success in baseball is generally the result of a long, slow build. The 2 sports attract different personalities at least partially for this reason. In football, everything is about now. In baseball, you have to balance timelines and momentums.
I appreciate both sports, but am more impressed by a successful baseball team than a successful football team. To put it plainly, it is easier for a flawed football team to win 10 games than it is for a flawed baseball team to win 100.

The Twins are back to being a small market Franchise. Boy, that didn't take long.

27 Million Dollars came off the books. The Twins have plenty of resources to be an active player in the F.A.market. They choose not too.

In other news, I just got my Packers playoff tickets in the mail

Winning makes the whole stadium issue look good. And the Vikings have to hold that game plan while it is built. Do I see a similar scenario as what is happening in Twinsville.

I can get down on the Twins, but the last two seasons aren't entirely their fault. They spent a lot in 2011 and had injuries to main guys throughout the year. The whole rotation, which I thought would've been easily good for 50-60 victories alone, imploded. Both of the problems that happened (during the season) were insurmontable by a team like the Twins to go out and purchase the one or two necessary pieces needed to win, let alone just compete in the short-term.

As I looked at 2013, I did see hope. Money to spend. Pitchers available. A few holes that could be patched in the offense. But the offense became weaker when you basically traded away your number 1-2 hitters with no repalcements in sight. And no one really to step in if you wave some dollars at them. There is a weakness in the infield besides in a year in which the candidates you could buy are on the same level as the ones you have. The money that could be spent on pitching was to do a patchwork job for at least a year to give new guys time to develop or implode, as well as basically refurbishing a weakness in the organization of hard throwers compared to the multitude of pitch-to-contact guys that will be spending time at High-A and AA with dreams now shattered of pitching in the major leagues.

It is a smoke-and-mirrors offseason. Usually the Twins appear to do enough to look like they can win bigtime and end up doing enough to remain competitive. But they clearly need to totally retrench and go into rebuild mode, which is sad because it can easily be a 1-3 year process, depending on what teams around you do.

Twinsfest: Who will pay to go to this event!?

I agree and hope that he gets a shot this year.

Hell it isn't even clear to me that the Twins shouldn't start the season with him as their backup 1B,, RH bench bat, and emergency 3B. He is old--and in his prime right now--as a prospect. The Twins need to load their bench with the top producing players if they want to actually be legit in 2013. My views is that Wilkin Ramirez, Pedro Florimon, Chris Herrmann, and Chris Colabello should make up the bench at the start of the season. Seems so obvious to me.

Yeah, I forgot about the Astros coming to the AL West. Still, I think the West is becoming a division to be reckoned with.

The West may have been better this year but I think the East will be better more often than not over the next 5 years

Don't look now because Houston may bring the AL West down a bit.

The Yankees will always be good. I think the Orioles are for real and the Rays are solid. The Red Sox are just a major spending spree from being relevant again. IMO, the AL East will be the best division for the forseeable future.

I like the analysis, but this series is still only a possible one - Cincinnati could still win the top seed.

I didn't rank Slama #3 on his stats, that is more of a list of guys I feel the Twins should have in their bullpen next year.

3 catchers and only 4 other infielders?

No Morneau? Dozier should at least be part of the depth. Capps may be released but I am not so sure that will happen either. I would also add Hicks in somewhere. While he likely won't make the team out of spring training, the Twins will certainly take a close look at him and he could be one of the first OF's called up if need calls. I won't comment on Slama being ranked 3, but until he actually pitches in the majors again, well you know.

No just realists

Originally Posted by beckmt

I also believe Span will be dealt if TR can get reasonable pitciing in return. Stiiill nees a middle infieder as I agree Casilla will be a non-tender (Stephen Drew anyone). I still think they need 2 FA pitchers as do not see enough talent to expect internal options to prevail. Gibson will start in AAA with the expectation of being the first calllup. Diamond is the only lock as I expect Deduno to also make the rotation. The door on Henricks is quickly closing, still looks like a good AAA pitcher. Slama will not be resigned. I expect right field to be a platoon between Arcia and Mastroianni. HIcks would need a super spring training to make it. Burnett may not be back(hoping). Outside of that bullpen will be about the same with maybe an FA or 2.(cheap) Would trade either Morneau or Willingham if it brought #2 type pitching prospects (#1 prefered, just do not think it will happen)

What? There are Slama haters on TD? Have you seen the guy's numbers down in AAA? He is pitching like Hendriks is down there, and has had a much smaller window up in the bigs to show us what he can do.

I also believe Span will be dealt if TR can get reasonable pitciing in return. Stiiill nees a middle infieder as I agree Casilla will be a non-tender (Stephen Drew anyone). I still think they need 2 FA pitchers as do not see enough talent to expect internal options to prevail. Gibson will start in AAA with the expectation of being the first calllup. Diamond is the only lock as I expect Deduno to also make the rotation. The door on Henricks is quickly closing, still looks like a good AAA pitcher. Slama will not be resigned. I expect right field to be a platoon between Arcia and Mastroianni. HIcks would need a super spring training to make it. Burnett may not be back(hoping). Outside of that bullpen will be about the same with maybe an FA or 2.(cheap) Would trade either Morneau or Willingham if it brought #2 type pitching prospects (#1 prefered, just do not think it will happen)

Pavano and Casilla are the only two on this list I feel comfortable saying will for sure not be with the team next year. Grey and Butera are both very cheap, they will not be moved anywhere (except maybe to the minors). Morneau will not be moved, as Parmalee has shown nothing in the majors. Blackburn and Nishioka will not be moved as they are sunk money that nobody else will take. Blackburn still could have value. Dozier ciould be in AAA, but I think the starting SS is his by default next year (hopefully they will not give him the Casilla-length rope). I still think the Twins see Span as a core player, meaning it will take a lot to move him. Pending the 40-man roster situation, I could easily see Tosoni released. Capps was relatively effective this year. I agree that $4.5 mil is high, but the Twins could pick this up anyways.

I would not include Morneau. Parmalee could be a bust, all of the rest are fine, though I expect Blackburn to be back because no one wants him. We need a missle infielder and 1 -2 starting pitchers, that could be doable in FA.

YourHouse, I was basing my analysis mostly off of the 40-man, but I probably could have added Jeff Grey. Think of the Capps entry as Grey's entry too. Burnett has been doing much better this year and I don't see any reason to cut him. Swarzak has been fairly reliable in the long-relief/spot start position, so I didn't think to add him. But yes, there should be an entry for Nick Blackburn.