As a Minnesota sports fan living in Wisconsin, I get asked on a regular basis why haven’t I just started rooting for the Packers. “They win, right?” is always the reasoning. I remind those I work with and my friends to remember my Minnesota fandom describes what I market to them as my greatest quality. I am loyal to a fault. Like Minnesota sports, you can drag me through some rough situations and if I find hope in you. I will stick by your side.

That brings us to our Minnesota Twins. Their has been a lot of excitement paired with a lot of concerned questions surrounding what is happening right now with the organization. The excitement is a hope for a transition to more utilization of analytics in the operation of the team. The concern that seems most common, is why are so many individuals from the Ryan era still hanging around? I have a few “from afar” theories.

First, I take from my own professional experience. In my career field, when and if I enter a new opportunity I always enter the situation with a time frame in mind where I simply evaluate. I don’t make any sweeping changes unless they are agreed on by the existing culture and my initial assessments. In my world that magic number ends up being 6 months, that number could obviously be much different in the world of the MLB. With that concept in mind, and without being in the front office each day, I wonder if Falvey and Levine are simply evaluating the people they have in front of them before making sweeping changes. Maybe the guys in place really embrace analytics but were always vetoed by a more powerful voice, or maybe the guys Falvey and Levine want in those positions are simply just not available at this moment. This far in, I will continue to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Today, the 25 man roster has taken shape. Each and every year, there are gut and knee jerk reactions to this decision. While today is a date to mark on the calendar, this decision is always a somewhat temporary decision. I am more concerned about how the roster takes shape as we get through April and into May. If Park continues to hit like he has this spring in Rochester, and Vargas looks like he did for Puerto Rico and they aren’t flipping places. I will then get concerned. If Mejia struggles mightily and Duffey or Berrios look ready in April/May. Then I will get out my picketing signs. For now, I trust the process and will wait for Falvey and Levine to give me a reason to doubt them. The organization has obviously seen something with either Vargas or Park they want to see play out further and are letting their process ride a bit. It is important to remember, we just finished spring training which we always struggle to evaluate what performance means in these weeks.

Now the Bullpen. Ok, even this very optimistic, loyal to a fault fan cannot find a good spin on that. The Twins simply need a lot of emerging pieces for that to work.

I encourage patience my fellow fans. Even though that is what we have tried to have for losing season after losing season. This is a new group having to reshape a whole organization. And that does not happen overnight. Let’s give them some time. Let’s see how the roster shapes up through the season, how they draft, and how the trade deadline goes. As we enter next offseason we will hopefully be able to see more of the stamp that the Falvey/Levine regime will leave on the Minnesota Twins.

(Of course, if you disagree with me that is OK. I will still listen to you and be by your side. Because I am loyal like that.)