Interesting article. Had the pleasure of interacting with Brandon Warne on Pro Sports Daily for years before he hit  the big  time... good for him. He was always pretty thoughtful in his assessment. You both seem to be on the same page.

I agree but also do think that stating the rebuilding is semantics at best.

The reality is that this team "is" rebuilding. We are rebuilding or building how ever you want to categorize it with young players that need time to "figure" it out. I believe and hope that Sano, Polanco, Buxton, Vargas, Barrios and the plethora of young power relief arms will get there in '17 but all are young and still are going to have some growing pains. That is reality. We have the  "framework" there but still have work to do to have the finished product ready to contend for championships.

Maybe we are on the same page and this time next year after competing for a wildcard spot this year will make some larger moves but I would tend to believe that it will be closer to '19 or '20 when the kids are grown up.

That may not be acceptable but finding out who the core players are going to be before spending for accessories would make more sense. Maybe we just have different timelines.

Great post! I agree almost 100%. Not to split hairs, but I see 2017 as a combination of supporting the new, younger team, as well as still continuing said re-build. I say this because of a couple of the recent graduates, Berrios and Chargois come to mind, have had so little ML time at this point, and because there are a couple of RP and SP arms, and a certain intriguing catcher, that haven't arrived yet but are oh so close to diving in to the ML pool in 2017.

I will disagree somewhat on the idea of still spending on some pieces for 2017. I still believe there are some solid FA players available to make the roster deeper and better without big contract numbers...that could easily be removed if need be...that make the 2017 version of the Twins more competitive with a better chance to win some games here and there. And I'm a believer in learning how to win, and winning together. And I want these kids to believe in themselves and learn to win together.

Wholeheartedly agree on 2018. Perkins and Santiago themselves should give the team another $14M or so to work with after '17, and the team payroll already projects several million below last season, and even more bellow league average. And 2018 marks the last year of Mauer's contract as well as Santana. (Dozier as well, but that's sort of a different discussion all by itself). There really is no reason...barring some sudden rash of injuries or underperformance/regression...that should keep these "new" Twins from promoting additional talent and making a real financial investment or two for the 2018 team.

Interesting article. Had the pleasure of interacting with Brandon Warne on Pro Sports Daily for years before he hit  the big  time... good for him. He was always pretty thoughtful in his assessment. You both seem to be on the same page.

 

I agree but also do think that stating the rebuilding is semantics at best.

 

The reality is that this team "is" rebuilding. We are rebuilding or building how ever you want to categorize it with young players that need time to "figure" it out. I believe and hope that Sano, Polanco, Buxton, Vargas, Barrios and the plethora of young power relief arms will get there in '17 but all are young and still are going to have some growing pains. That is reality. We have the  "framework" there but still have work to do to have the finished product ready to contend for championships.

 

Maybe we are on the same page and this time next year after competing for a wildcard spot this year will make some larger moves but I would tend to believe that it will be closer to '19 or '20 when the kids are grown up.

 

That may not be acceptable but finding out who the core players are going to be before spending for accessories would make more sense. Maybe we just have different timelines.

Thanks! Funny story -- I just re-joined PSD. 

IMO it's much more challenging to develop pitching. I think a key going forward is how willing the new FO will be to deal from strength to patch their weaknesses.