My blueprint evolution

Constructing Twins off-season blueprint has been an interesting exercise the past couple of years. There have been many needs to fill and the team tried to fill those needs with multiple trades and acquisitions. It is my humble opinion that the Twins limit their FA acquisitions & trades to one big transaction for each year for the next three years.

The two obvious positions wind up on most everyone’s blueprint this off season would be corner-outfielder (left field) and staring pitching. I would limit the big move for the 2014-2015 offseason to a left fielder. I’m not saying that staring pitching has less of a need, far from it, this team desperately needs good starting pitching to be competitive, it’s just that a quality FA starter would most likely only consider a team with playoff potential and that will not be the Twins in 2015.

2014-15

My 14-15 offseason would focus (big splash) on a FA acquisition for Left-Field. While I am hopeful that Rosario or Hicks become major league contributor, although I have lost faith in Hicks’s potential comes around, Centerfield remains open until Buxton takes ownership of the role. I would limit the off-season acquisition(s) to outfielders (or infielders in need of extending their careers) by waiting for the high price position players get their contracts and then make a deal with who’s still available.

I’m not as interested in adding a lot of arms to the rotation because there seems to be a lot of starters that need major league starts. Sure I would like Scherzer, Shields or Lester, but even if management was willing to spend the large salaries they can demand…they probably wouldn’t come to Minnesota because the team won’t be a playoff team come October. It seems that the front office is looking at Justin Masterson and South Korean Hyeon-Jong Yang, but I’m questioning where all the starting arms will find playing time.

2015-16

The big move for this offseason would be a trade for a young pitching prospect. If Sano is major-league ready and is promoted in mid-summer to fall call up, then Plouffe is tradable. If Hicks or Rosario aren’t competing (or controlling) a position and still possess marketable skills then one of them is also tradable. Maybe Rosario is playing better than Dozier (unlikely) and there is enough outfielders…then Dozier is marketable.

The organization should start to have a better understanding of how their starters are doing and which of them should be on the staff for the next couple of years. There could be a log-jam with Hughes, Gibson, Nolasco, Mays, Meyers, Berrios and possibly Kohl Stewart being in the Rotation

Sweepstakes. And there may be more starters in the mix by the end of 2015 if the team picks up a starter and they haven’t been traded away starters during the season. Hughes’s contract will expire after the 2016 season, so maybe the Twins trade him or resign him to a contract extension.

Trade individually or trade as a package, just get top pitching prospects (top five prospect of an organization) in return. Hopefully no lower than Double A.

2016-17

The disinterested Free Agent pitching dilemma the past few years should no longer be an issue this year, if the prospects have begun to show their respective talent and the team will begin to look like a contender team. Trouble is that is still in need of top talent pitching. I would like to go after a true ace after the 2016 season and Stephen Strasburg would be a free agent that off-season….so why not field a team with Strasburg leading the rotation?