Cruising the rumor mills made me wonder if the following couldn't be the best AA move in Twins franchise history:

 

The Twins have an opportunity to better the whole organization for years to come by locking up this young man coming off an award winning season with a bright future that will make everyone better from the big league's to Rookie Ball....

I'm talking of course about the Twins going outside the box and signing

 

Alex Anthopoulos as Analytic Advisor to the GM with an obvious path to replacing TR in the next few years

Anthopoulos' adjusted FIP (Future Important Person) is off the charts

 

As if this place needs it...but let the commentary begin!

The Blue Jays analytics are  done by Joe Sheehan

I could get behind that. Outside voice. Though to be clear, he wasn't a good GM in Toronto. It's a GM reclamation project

Yeah, I'd pass. I'm not a big fan of trading the entire farm system for one or two years of very marginally higher chances of winning the WS. Once you are in the playoffs, with 7, 5 or even 1 game series, it is pretty much a crapshoot which team wins the WS. Strategically trading a blocked prospect here or there to improve your short-term chances of making the playoffs at all and (simultaneously) very marginally improving your odds in the playoffs makes some sense to me in the right circumstances, but prematurely cutting off a contender window you might have continued for a number of years by selling the farm to increase your chances of winning the World Series from 13% to 15% in one or two years just isn't worth it.  Better to have that 13% for a couple more years. I know others disagree.

Edited December 23, 201510 yr by nytwinsfan

No thanks on AA.

 

Yeah, I'd pass. I'm not a big fan of trading the entire farm system for one or two years of very marginally higher chances of winning the WS. Once you are in the playoffs, with 7, 5 or even 1 game series, it is pretty much a crapshoot which team wins the WS. Strategically trading a blocked prospect here or there to improve your short-term chances of making the playoffs at all and (simultaneously) very marginally improving your odds in the playoffs makes some sense to me in the right circumstances, but prematurely cutting off a contender window you might have continued for a number of years by selling the farm to increase your chances of winning the World Series from 13% to 15% in one or two years just isn't worth it.  Better to have that 13% for a couple more years. I know others disagree.

The Dickey trade is the one that looks pretty bad now, but the Blue Jays are still set up to compete for the next few years, the Donaldson trade was a thing of beauty. People over-react every time a team gives up a prospect, the Blue Jays are going to be fine for the next few years, after that? Who knows, but planning 4+ years out is a foolhardy worry anyways.

We've talked about AA in past threads and while I remain unconvinced he's a great (or even good) GM, I would welcome him coming into the organization with the idea he'd supplant Ryan when he retires (provided everyone plays nicely together).

 

It's the type of move that could make everyone happy: the organization gets an outside voice with a different approach while the Twins get to fold AA into their organizational system slowly over a year or two.

 

And while Minnesota isn't a "sexy" gig, there are few teams who I'd rather be "GM in Training" for right now. They've graduated a ton of young players, have more on the way, and the system is still in pretty good shape. It's a great opportunity with a high chance of success right off the bat.

Cruising the rumor mills

I noticed this is your first post here. Welcome! If you haven't already, please look at this thread

 

http://twinsdaily.com/topic/8545-lurkers-and-rookies-please-post-here/

 

and consider posting something about yourself there.

The alternative is likely Rob Antony, so I would be in favor.

 while I remain unconvinced he's a great (or even good) GM, I would welcome him coming into the organization with the idea he'd supplant Ryan when he retires (provided everyone plays nicely together).

Not sure I've ever seen a more stinging rebuke of Terry Ryan. AA has a track record to look at and from it you're not convinced he's even good, but you would welcome supplanting our incumbent with him.

 

Not sure I've ever seen a more stinging rebuke of Terry Ryan. AA has a track record to look at and from it you're not convinced he's even good, but you would welcome supplanting our incumbent with him.

I quite like Terry Ryan (most of the time). I think he's a conservative GM who excels at applying a steady hand during a rebuild.

 

And AA is still a young GM. While I'm not convinced he's great today, he's intriguing enough that I think he could be great tomorrow, especially if he has a mentor like Ryan for a few years and sees how the "other side" (read "conservative") does it.