I would try to add Roberto Alomar instead of Ozzie.  Alomar's hitting approach was much more sound.  He did have the one spitting incident (with a special cause) whereas Ozzie was Ozzie. Alomar played with Molitor.  I don't know how they got along.  Of course Alomar has trhat special assistant job with Toronto and likely lifetime job security as well as opportunities to coach, so it might not work.

It's easy to say you would sign Yasmani Thomas.  How much would you be willing to pay?  What's your back up plan?

There are a lot more guys on the bubble than Niko and Parmelee, especially with Schafer's small sample size and Oliveros, Achter and Thompson already added.  You may have posted this elsewhere, but who are you adding to the 40 man roster and who are you voting off?

  On 9/4/2014 at 10:51 AM, Lonestar said:

I would try to add Roberto Alomar instead of Ozzie. Alomar's hitting approach was much more sound. He did have the one spitting incident (with a special cause) whereas Ozzie was Ozzie. Alomar played with Molitor. I don't know how they got along. Of course Alomar has trhat special assistant job with Toronto and likely lifetime job security as well as opportunities to coach, so it might not work.

 

It's easy to say you would sign Yasmani Thomas. How much would you be willing to pay? What's your back up plan?

 

There are a lot more guys on the bubble than Niko and Parmelee, especially with Schafer's small sample size and Oliveros, Achter and Thompson already added. You may have posted this elsewhere, but who are you adding to the 40 man roster and who are you voting off?

As for Yasmani, I'm going all in. I don't necessarily believe he is the best out there and we will possibly be over paying, but we have the payroll available and he's young and in his prime at the end of the 4-5th year. Besides, he's an actual outfielder. Outbid the other contenders I say.

I kept Schafer for now because he too is an outfielder, can be a defensive substitute at any outfield position and can be a baserunning sub as well. He fits what you want in a bench guy and he gets replaced when Buxton and Hicks are finally both Up for good.

As for the 40 man, Colabello, Florimon, and Burton I believe are all gone this off season but there are a lot of players that need protecting or risked losing (Meyers and Rosario for example) so the question isn't who you cut from the 40, the question is which prospect(s) are you willing to lose in the rule V when after those roster moves you sign a free agent.

Now you got me thinking on the 40 man so...

Bernier is another obvious DFA after the season but I also consider DFAing Johnson and Pino to make room.

Off the top of my head I'm also adding Gilmartin and obviously Sano

I would not fault the Twins for not giving this Tomas guy a 7 year deal at $70M or whatever.

His last year in Cuba, he had .290, .796 OPS.  6 HR, 21 BB, 46 K in 257 PA.

Abreus last year  .382, 1.270 OPS. 13 HR, 37 BB in 42 games.  The year prior he had 35 HR in 87 games.  The year before that, Abrue hit .453, 1.583 OPS (not a typo). 33 HR in 66 games.  That was described as one of the best seasons in Cuban history.

I am with you on firing Gardy and Anderson.  Also think we need to clear guys like Parmelee, Colabello, etc.  They are not regulars on a decent team.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Jos%C3%A9_Abreu

http://www.baseballamerica.com/international/power-hitting-yasmani-tomas-leaves-cuba/

OK, specifics....here we go.

I don't like an Ozzie hiring.  I always thought he was the one guy that Gardy could out manage during a game.  Ozzie was a loose cannon with a loose tounge.  He threw players under the bus via the press.  The only thing he brings is that he speaks Spanish...and that isn't enough for me.

Front office:

Keep Terry Ryan.  I like the moves he's making and the overall direction of the team and organization as a whole.  The minors are getting restocked and the team should be better down the road.

Managers:

Gardy - replace with Molitor

Anderson - replace with Cuellar

I like the idea of bringing up Jake Mauer to fill in for Molitor in the dugout and/or if Molitor gets tossed (which I can't see happening).  I'm also hoping that Jake can give a swift kick whenever Joe needs it....we all need it sometimes.

The team:

Dozier - solid building block and plays hard.  Keeper.

Mauer - like it or not, we are stuck with a contract that he cannot live up to at first base or DH.  Keep because we have no other choice.  No other team will take that contract.

Suzuki - I consider him the key to the Twins future.  If the young guys are smart, they will take notes from him and his approach to the game.

Vargas, Santana, Escobar - keep, keep, keep, learn, learn, learn  Esco is our utility without a dropoff.  Santana at SS and Vargas/Mauer rotating first/DH

Plouffe - on the fence simply because I see no spot for him with Sano coming up and Esco as a utility.  I think he should have been traded.

Arcia - he's the one weak defensive player that I would keep for his stick which I think will continue to improve.

Hicks - I'm willing to give him another chance simply because he is a rare athlete.

Buxton - please arrive and be what everyone thinks you can be

Schafer - possible 4th OF, but if Plouffe can play a decent OF, he might be out due to Plouffe being a superutility guy.

Parm, Nunez,Herrman - No future with the team.

Pinto - Hmmm.  Needs to catch, but I think it has to be in the bigs and he has to learn from Suzuki.  The question is whether he can improve more at AAA or in the bigs playing part time.  I say keep him up in the bigs.

Pitching:

Let's see what spring training brings.

I would like to go get another outfielder or two but am not going to because......I am going to take all the money and go get a free agent starter that is equal to or better than Hughes.  We have enough quantity, we need quality.  I'm not worried about the contract or blocking someone because, first of all, we don't know that we will be blocking somebody and we do know that our current rotation is holding us back.  If we do end up blocking somebody, its not really a problem because starting pitching is the best trade currency there is.  I will worry about having too much quality pitching when we get there.

As far as the lineup, I don't see major changes unless we can't sign a pitcher.  If that were the case, I would add another outfielder with the watchword, again, being quality.and the ability to cover some ground.  No more DH types in the outfield.

Specifically, I am not even counting on Sano, Buxton or Rosario next year.  Santana plays short with Esco and Nunez your utility guys.  Plouffe at third, Dozier at second, Mauer at first. Suzuki and Pinto split behind the plate and Vargas is the full time DH.  Arcia gets right and I hope that Hicks can handle center.  If not we have to pick up an outfielder.  At this point, if I'm only carrying one backup outfileder it is Schafer.  I don't mind Parmalee as a bench bat as he can play multiple positions but I like the speed and better defense that Schafer brings.  I would keep Parms on the 40 man if possible and deal him in the offseason.  Same thing with Fryer, he's not part of my team next year but he might fetch a low level prospect since Butera did.

Cola, Pino, Bernier, Floriman all DFAs.  There are others I'm sure but I am doing this off the top of my head.

As far as the field staff goes, I don't really care.  I'm not a big believer that they make any substantive difference.  No, Rick Anderson didn't wreck Tommy Milone in two weeks.........(he's org depth at AAA by the way; no way am I counting on him or Pelfrey next season).

My .02:

Off the 40 Man

Jared Burton

Aaron Thompson

Kris Johnson

Yohan Pino

Doug Bernier

Chris Collabello

Pedro Florimon

Added to the 40 Man:

Miguel Sano

Eddie Rosario

Alex Meyer

Sean Gilmartin

(There are others that have to be added, if I remember correctly, but I'm drawing a blank as to who they are at the moment).

I treat 1B, 2B, SS (Santana), 3B (Plouffe, then Sano), RF (Arcia) and C (Suzuki, Pinto) as "set" and seek upgrades in LF (Tomas is target #1 for me) and a short term solution in CF (Rasmus / Hicks timeshare).

Pitching? Well, that's a whole other realm. Gibson, Hughes, Nolasco and May are set but the fith spot needs help (and May's spot isn't set in stone either). I look at Lester or Scherzer - but I doubt much will develop there for the Twins. The bullpen can be filled internally, but I'd be shopping the market for another starter this offseason.

  On 9/4/2014 at 9:57 PM, iTwins said:

My .02:

 

Off the 40 Man

 

Jared Burton

Aaron Thompson

Kris Johnson

Yohan Pino

Doug Bernier

Chris Collabello

Pedro Florimon

 

Added to the 40 Man:

 

Miguel Sano

Eddie Rosario

Alex Meyer

Sean Gilmartin

(There are others that have to be added, if I remember correctly, but I'm drawing a blank as to who they are at the moment).

 

I treat 1B, 2B, SS (Santana), 3B (Plouffe, then Sano), RF (Arcia) and C (Suzuki, Pinto) as "set" and seek upgrades in LF (Tomas is target #1 for me) and a short term solution in CF (Rasmus / Hicks timeshare).

 

Pitching? Well, that's a whole other realm. Gibson, Hughes, Nolasco and May are set but the fith spot needs help (and May's spot isn't set in stone either). I look at Lester or Scherzer - but I doubt much will develop there for the Twins. The bullpen can be filled internally, but I'd be shopping the market for another starter this offseason.

If you get Tomas, Rasmus, and either pitcher, your 40 is full and everyone else is exposed. Well done, you followed my guidelines better than some of the previous comments today

I have posted already about 25 and 40-man rosters. But I am not all that interested in adding anyone other than maybe a top 5ish FA SP. 2015 is another year of not making the playoffs, but it must be a year of figuring out the youth movement so as to then make the proper moves in 2016 and beyond.

I go with Suzuki, Pinto, Herrmann, Mauer, Vargas, Dozier, Santana, Plouffe, Escobar, Schafer, Hicks, Arcia, Parmelee/Nunez/Romero/Beresford (I still like those latter two)

Hughes, Gibson, Meyer, Nolasco, May, Darnell/Achter, Oliveros, Pressly, Tonkin, C. Johnson (seriously), Fien, Perkins

Note: that I am interested in dealing Swarzak, Duensing, Thielbar, and Fien (though I list him on the roster and would replace with Guerra). Coming up with specific replacements is hard when considering trading relievers, especially in the offseason. I think they could all bring back organizational top 30-50 prospects and if said prospects are young (like under 23 young), then it would be worth it. The Twins bullpen is going to be stacked very, very soon. Burdi, Z. Jones, Reed, Peterson, etc. are just ridiculously good right now.

Generalities:  The bullpen gets turned over for younger, harder throwing arms.  After the last month, maybe just a thought might be made about grooming a future closer.

More speed and defense in the outfield.  I think there's a place for Schafer, not sure about Hicks.  If Santana is the shortstop, the Twins could and should keep both Escobar and Nuñez as utility guys. 

Pinto is my backup catcher, but if a trade is made and there is a more defensive-minded (perhaps LH hitting) young catcher to be traded for, it makes the team more balanced.

I count seven guys for five spots in the rotation:  Hughes, Gibson Nolasco, Milone, Meyer, May and Pelfrey.  While Pelfrey and Milone (and Nolasco) don't look that good right now, things can change in six months.