It is easy to question the motive behind some of the moves that the Twins have made. Many people get caught up in the moment and feel that a move needs to be made. After Prince Fielder signed with the Tigers, many fans expressed disappointment in the Twins' front office. I assure you that Terry Ryan knows what he is doing. He is responsible for six division titles and much of the success over the past decade. He did it by building from within, not by making a big splash in Free Agency. The Twins signed Josh Willingham to a 3 year - 21 million dollar deal. This proves that Ryan is willing to go out and spend money. It was very hard to lose Cuddyer and Kubel but Ryan has found solid replacements. Terry Ryan was also very smart to sign Joel Zumaya. While this didn't work out, it was still a very smart move. The Twins only owe Zumaya $400,000, and if he would have stayed healthy he could have provided a lot of stability to the bullpen. It might be easy to criticize Ryan right now, but let's see how the Twins play over the first 3 months.

I agree that overall he has done a good job so far given the salary constraints that have been put on him. I think it is going to take some tough, sometimes unpopular decisions to overcome the mess that we have created over the past couple of years. I believe we need to let things play out before passing judgment on Ryan.

Especially with all the talent that is wafting towards the Twins from the lower minors, it seems as though, with the exception of our starting pitching staff because, except for Gibson, we don't have many great starters, we will have a very home-grown team that has a lot of upside. With that home-grown talent not costing very much, we could, when this talent wave hits, go out and have more money to spend on higher-upside starters and even relievers. Therefore, I feel the Twins are kind of in a buffer zone, with several good players here already, but several more with significant upside on the way. Terry Ryan knows this, so the moves he made this offseason go towards that youth movement that shall be arriving soon; he brought in Carroll on a 2-year deal, and he is expected to be the bridge to Brian Dozier arriving. If any of the Twins highly touted outfield prospects finally show that they are ready for the bigs, they could take over for Willingham when his deal is up. Also, Chris Parmelee appears (or so it seemed when he was called up last September) that he could take over for Morneau if necessary. These deals are classic of Ryan, and he knows that he just needs to buy time until about 2014, when prospects like Rosario, Sano, Arcia, and others are expected to arrive in the show.