Boy, you are hard on Falvey and Levine, considering where the Twins were a year ago. You failed to mention the changes made to the analytics department and process - making the scouting and analytical reports more streamlined and applicable. Maybe that had an impact on the pitching and hitting – and ultimately on the season?

But I also think it's important to remember what they did not do - they did not trade Brian Dozier last offseason, and I suspect an extension is more likely than a trade regarding him. 

So yes, they did not bring in a lot of relief help last offseason. But I expect them to this winter, and to bring in a good starting pitcher or two.

Next winter - 2018-19 – should be even more interesting with Mauer's and Dozier's contracts coming due.

I'd give  them a B or B+ on the year. In hindsight, they should not have traded Kintzler or Garcia. But at the time, I understood the reasoning.

The goal of all 30 teams, ultimately, is to win the World Series – but only one of the 30 teams can do that each year. The rest have to settle for the role of being non-champions.

The Twins had a good year. They're on a good track. They need a few pieces, but the team is largely intact. 

With some minor improvements, 2018 could be the year they excel.

Belisle had a few bad outing. When they were bad, they were really bad. He ended up with better than league average numbers. It is not to say that it was a great signing, but it was nowhere near a bad signing.  Breslow was a placeholder for if, really when, the early season gambles like Tonkin failed. Not a great signing, but he was brought in to be expendable. With the late season emergence of Hildenberger and Busenitz, Breslow's role was completed.

Right handed bats as primary DH. Statistically Vargas had a better season than any of the part time  right handed DH/ bench  bats.  It would be nice to have a better bat. What was out there as a part timer? 

Lottery tickets. Can't win if you do not play. The loss of Kintzler had little effect on the team. Relievers of his ilk get you lottery tickets,

All of those great available pitching coaches. The cynic in me asks if they are so great, why are they available? They do not have all of the answers. Management has an idea, a direction, a scheme. They hired someone who will carry that out. Complaining of others thinking they are so smart........

The Reds reliever would come in far cheaper  in terms of salary than a FA. That money could instead be used to overpay for a Darvish.  In terms of prospects given up, there are few great prospects in the upper levels. If the Reds want a couple of them the Twins should be signing the trade papers quickly. 

I certainly can't fault mgt. for taking risks.. This was one of Ryan's greatest faults.  Nor can I fault Falvine for not biting on a Dozier trade if the only return was Jose DeLeon(an unverified rumor btw).  And one can give them a pass(sort of) on doing very little their first year when they were assessing organizational strengths and weaknesses(though the state of the bullpen at the end of 2016 demanded a more robust response than Belisle/Breslow, IMO).

But I have to question the hubris of Falvey and company in addressing the team's biggest need, improved pitching, when they reach far out on the limb to grab Alston, an undistinguished lower minor league pitching coach who went from one organization to the next without much upward promotion.  The question one has to ask is: are F&L really that much smarter than the most experienced GMs in the league who quickly scarfed up some of the elite pitching coaches available this offseason?  

We all agree that the Twins' window for competing at higher levels is opening now.  Can they take such a risk with an unknown PC at this juncture?  How will Alston's selection affect the team's ability this offseason to attract top pitching talent?  Would Ohtani, for one, be more or less attracted to a team that rolled the dice on an unproven PC or would the presence of a Mike Maddox improve the Twins' admittedly low odds of attracting high end talent in the off season?

Put me down for an "incomplete" grade for our year old managment team.  So far they've nibbled at the edges and done a little dumpster diving.  It would be foolhardy, I believe, to give them too much credit for the Twins' 26 win improvement last year.  Their inherited roster accomplished this jump.  Now it is up to them to fill the holes we all agree on.  Can they accomplish this in the offseason is the big question?  Time to separate themselves from the Timid Terry regime and go for broke now as their young core matures.  No doubt, all Twin fans will be pulling for them to succeed.  Are the Twins the next Cubs/Astros organization to emerge?  Too soon to tell, but so far the biggest decision of the offseason, i.e., Alston, has not been a promising sign.

Like i to say the jury is still out on the boy geniuses because this past year had very little to do with them but more the previous regime. As much as fans want to critize Terry Ryan the team out on field this past year is his vision of the Twins. These are players they scouted signed and developed over the past few years and it was free agents he signed as Gm alos on the field. This group has done a good job in coach hiring it appears from this past years performance but also alot of it had to do with keeping healty team on the field and development of young players in the organization. This regime had easier time of releasing several players than previous regime and i think this had more to do with success of the team. The releasing of Trevor Plouffe was one where it allowed the Twins move Sano to 3 base and Kepler to right field which both helped the offense and defense of the Twins which in turn improved the pitching over the year before. Also last years trades netted twins some much more pitching talent in Mejhia, Santiago, and Busenitz giving two more starters and another bull pen arm. Like I say this was Terry Ryans team on the field and I think boy geniuses were caught off guard that this group of players could compete and if they had done a little more in off season to improve the bull pen instead of weakening mid season this team could have gone a little further in the playoffs.

This leadership group will be tested this year and we will have to see how there vision of  the Twins and how they get to that vision. Then we will also see how that vision pans out for the Twins. They have a lot of big decisions this winter if they are going to improve this team next year and get them ready for possible playoff run. They will need to improve the bull pen something of weakness starting last season and they did nothing improve that pen if anything they weakened it by there trades last summer. Second what there plan is for starting pitching if they are going to keep some pitchers or are they going to sign a free agent or trade for a pitcher. All these moves will have longterm effects on how team will be structured in the future. There drafting of players that won't be know for at least another 3 to 4 years before we can determine that. The next thing is will they be able sign some of there young talent to longer term or will they just keep them under team control or will they trade them again for future talent. All these things will be determined this off season and next couple so like I say the jury is out on these boy geniuses. I have my doubts about them they say all right things for the public and media are in love with them for now. Also they got a huge gift from previous regime in that they were given team with a lot of young talent and cheap plus they started to learn how to win as a group. I will this group credit for giving Molitor information and coaches to where he has become a better manager if not one of the best in the game and getting better. I think the downfall of F and L will be I think they are extremely arrogant thinking they know everything when in baseball just when you think you got something figured out it changes. Like last summer when they gave up they have said they had only 4 % chance of winning is why they were sellers. Baseball maybe about numbers but it still played by people who may defy the numbers one way or another. That's what your good baseball people are about is finding the right mix of players getting them to play together and believe in what they are doing teaching them to play the game correctly.

I may be wrong about F and L but its much more than there numbers its about people go look at Astros those players are all talking about getting that right mix of players and coaching that finally got them over the hill this year. yes they had a lot of talent but they did last year too but adding the right people got them to winning a championship. So we will see if this comes to Minnesota in next few years.