My first blog on TD site. Hope you enjoy!!

As background, while terribly discouraged about the team's 2016 season, I must say there was a major silver lining : recognition by ownership that Ryan and Company had failed miserably in his second attempt at a rebuild. Finding new baseball leadership was a breath of fresh air this dormant franchise has needed for so long now. The good old boy network was finally broken with new, young, forward-thinking leadership with Falvey/Levine, or so we all hoped. While retention of Molitor was a dark cloud, as was retention of the pitching coaches, the 2016 postseason was something all true Twins fans were eagerly anticipating.

Granted our new leaders have only been on board less than 3 months so it is unfair to grade this duo, but I am troubled by several patterns that have appeared so far that are strong indications that the new team might not be so different from the old. Let's take a look at some troubling trends:

1. Instead of firing the pitching coach, who has been of little help to veterans(Gibson, Santiago, to name two) or rookies(Berrios comes to mind here) in his two years at the helm, F&L fire Bruno who was certainly not a roaring success either and undoubtedly earned his dismissal and hired a guy, Rowson, who might be a great communicator but certainly failed to take the brass ring with both the Cubs and Yanks. When new ownership took over the Cubs, they started afresh but dismissing Rowson; similarly, while he was rehired by the Yankees as minor league hitting instructor, he was not promoted to the major league team when an opening arose. These are two organizations who wanted to win at all costs and went elsewhere for a major league hitting coach. That fact alone should send warning signals to an organization desperate for top level coaching talent.

2. The one offseason addition, Jason Castro, was hired essentially for his defense, especially his pitch framing abilities, or so we are told. Finding a good defensive catcher is certainly a real need for this team and this move no doubt represents an upgrade at a critical position. In terms of offense, however, his prior stats give little hope he will be as good as his predecessor, Suzuki, which is not saying very much.

3. While hitting is considered a relative strength of this lineup(at least compared to the pitching), it is still a leap of faith to think this will be any more than an average team hitting-wise in 2017. First of all, they have likely taken a small step back at catcher, they have lost a pretty consistent hitter in Plouffe, their run production was buoyed by a career season(most likely) from Dozier. But as most followers acknowledged, improved hitting on this team is largely dependent on a big step forward by first or second year players. The likelihood is some will progress, others will regress. The net effect of the new lineup looks, at least to this observer, highly likely to have some difficulty equaling last year's production. Obviously, this scenario can change greatly if both Sano and Buxton start performing like the all stars most experts think they could become.

4. As has been pointed out, surprisingly, some well established bats remain free agents, even at this late date. With below average offensive numbers at 2 supposed power positions, first base and DH, there is certainly a need for some additional offense. Remember the jolt Jim Thome gave to the Twins in 2010? Granted no one expects the Twins to contend for the division title this year, but that doesn't mean F&L shouldn't be agressive in going after the likes of Bautista, Napoli or Trumbo if they are willing to sign incentive-laden one year deals. But word out of the FO is that such a deal isn't likely unless the numbers drop significantly. This sounds like the thinking of a Terry Ryan who never met a free agent that he thought offered good value. Ryan's ;ack of risk taking was a prime reason the good Twin teams in the 00's could never get over the hump. Are Mauer, Vargas, and Park such valuable players that they should block free agents who could help? No, they will not bring us into contention in 2017, but their presence might provide a spark like Thome dis, especially by showing these young players that managment is committed to winning, both in the present and near future.

5. In turning to pitching, let's first focus on the bullpen, where going into the new season, more question marks exist than we had a year ago, when most of on this site were clamoring for dumpster-diving Terry to add some established arms from a relatively deep free agent class of relievers. As usual, Ryan did nothing, Perkins' decline accelerated, May proved fragile and unreliable, and Jepsen turned back into a pumpkin - a result most casual observers predicted in reviewing his past history, and the Twins' bullpen contributed mightily to a historically bad season. With more question marks going into spring training the new "brain trust" has done nothing noteworthy to give one hope for improvement in the new addition of the pen. Last year we saw very little help from the highly touted flame throwers in the farm system and yet, going forward, the new team seems to be relying on a wing and a prayer that somehow things will be better. Sound familiar? Nick had the idea that Neftali Perez would make for a relatively inexpensive pickup that would most certainly bolster the all important back end of the bullpen. That hope seemingly has evaporated with today's report that he is close to signing with the Brewers.

6. And of course we have to end with the team's biggest weakness - the rotation. Certainly, no one expects mgt to spring for big dollars on a free agent, particularly with the mediocre supply. The plan of swapping our one star player for immediate pitching help seemed to hold out high hopes for the start, at least, of a turnaround. Enough debate has centered on the impasse between the Dodgers and Twins that we won't try to place blame on either side for getting it done. The one fact remains: not trading Dozier for rotation help has to be considered a massive failure in the stated rebuilding process. I reqalize the market for Dozier is more limited than we had hoped, but an agressive front office must remain proactive in getting this done. Passive leadership will stress being fair to the Dozier family, set a deadline, etc., but this is not what a hungry GM does;instead, they must be more creative, work to uncover more willing trade partners, even in a multiple club trade, or take on an unwelcome contract if necessary to bolster the team's weakest link. Waiting for LA to stoop to giving up another of their baubles is just not acceptable for a team(and new managment) clearing in a rebuilding mode.

BtW, this is not the rant of some Twin fan disappointed over the Dozier to Dodgers failure. Nor is it a prediction that the F&L boys are no better than the previous regime. It truly is too soon to tell, but the portents are certainly discouraging. The new team seems unagressive in fixing some areas of the team that cry for improvement. Obviously, one major move is not going to do it, but by now this group should have demonstrated more creativity and gumption than shown so far. This is a Ryan redux offseason. With statistics, new theories, etc., you can put lipstick on a pig but.......

As pointed out earlier there were some excellent opportunities for making a bold statement to long-suffering Twins' fans - dave Dombrowski, Cherington, McLeod, et. al. Ownership went with a totally untested team. Unlike the world champion Cubs, who spent money to get the best people available, Pohlad went the other way, finding people who were unproven, who were no doubt much cheaper(and more compliant with ownership dictates) to add, and most likely not the best executives available. Unfortunately, total systems failures begin and end with MR. Pohlad. Until he sells this team to a group totally immersed in winning a championship, we will continue to see half hearted attempts to get this team to respectability, at best.