Ha - if you think trading for a backup Catcher (that is what he will be this year, it is not the "Twins way" to sit a veteran in Suzuki down) and taking a flyer on a guy who may very well end up being the teams 3rd or 4th best option at DH ( I don't think that will be the case, but its very possible).. is 2 fairly big deals... i dont know what to tell you

 

They actually are two fairly big deals. They did something. Not nothing. I loved the Park deal. I didn't like the Hicks deal. But regardless of that, it's not nothing.

 

What they haven't done is be more aggressive to address their bullpen. That's a legitimate complaint. But I still don't think that's about cheapness. It's just about philosophy. 

 

The other issue is that I think fans want them to be more aggressive and do something big. But I'm not entirely sure what they'd do. Could they sign a No. 1 starter? I suppose, but that's assuming the top-end starters would come here. Besides, at this point barring some form of trade the Twins have too many options among their starting pitchers.

 

Could they have signed another impact bat like Cespedes? I suppose. I wouldn't mind seeing that, necessarily. But their decision to put Sano in the outfield negates that possibility because they're already loaded with outfielders. Also, I'm not sure that Cespedes would have come here for the deal he got with the Mets.

 

God I hate the decision to put Sano in the outfield. Bugs me the more I think about it. They could have traded Plouffe, put Sano at third, signed Cespedes, and their payroll would be a little more than it was in 2011. Alas, they didn't. 

 

Ha - if you think trading for a backup Catcher (that is what he will be this year, it is not the "Twins way" to sit a veteran in Suzuki down) and taking a flyer on a guy who may very well end up being the teams 3rd or 4th best option at DH ( I don't think that will be the case, but its very possible).. is 2 fairly big deals... i dont know what to tell you

exactly.

Nice article Nick.

 

The 4 or 5 people on here that actually ready anything I say... (OK, the 2 or 3)...know I'm more of an optimistic than not, and that I've been pretty supportive of the FO and field management over the years. To me, a competitive and winning team with a chance is what I'm looking for, I don't get all bent out of shape if we don't bring home the prize, (even $200M teams fail), and even the Twins 4 year death spiral was a very short time frame when compared to many, many teams in the league.

 

I think I've also been very fair, however, when I've called out the Twins for such errors as blowing CF for what is borderline 3 years now, and blowing the bullpen situation last season; in each case seemingly banking on the early arrival of prospects.

 

For the most part, I see the Twins STRONGLY moving toward prospects and younger players. Don't let the odd veteran signing fool you now, with their actions and inactions, along with guys already up, they are clearly focused on the youngsters. They simply don't wish to go the whole, "bring 'em up even if they stink now because they'll learn on the job" philosophy.

 

But here is my problem with this roster, especially after wrong signings, no signings, and banking on youngsters not yet ready for the bullpen, or to save it last season. (Pun somewhat intentional)

Didn't anyone learn their lesson yet? This team is not the Yankees, but they are not financially strapped either. You are telling me than a couple 1 or 2 year deals that would TOTAL $10-12M isn't affordable? You're telling me that a couple really solid, experienced bullpen pieces couldn't make this a better staff, a better team overall, and that those pieces would be valueless deadweight and untradeable assets when the Burdi's and MelotKis' of the system arrive?

 

So what if we have so much young promote blessed talent at the all star break that we don't know what to do with it? What about the 3+ months before then?

 

You could make various arguments concerning the Park acquisition and keeping Plouffe at this time, but they are nice players, and there are enough questions in the lineup to see the meritsame of both. At least initially. But to me, there is no fundamentally sound arguement for not taking a couple smart and non-bank breaking moves to fortify the bullpen this off season.

 

 

Maybe someone else can add a few names to the list as well,

 

ummm:

Matt.Capps.  Carl.Pavano. Nic_.Blac_burn. Glen Perkins

 

SOP

I'd rather see the club more or less sit tight for a couple of years so that we can shed some of the monstrous contracts (Mauer, Nolasco, Santana, Hughes) and be able to splurge in 3 to 4 years..  That said, if you see a integral piece in the meantime grab it. 

 

I just wish the team would pick a direction they are going.  They are so bad at informing the fans at their plans when it comes to reasoning with personnel.  I doubt many would be upset if they broke spring training with Burdi, Chargois, May, Perkins, Jepsen, Fien, Meyer, Rodgers with others waiting in AAA.  The team just needs to let the fans who are uninformed know their could be some implosions and bumps in the road, but this is what the team will begin to look like in the future. 

 

There will always be Duensings and Abads waiting on the scrap pile if some of the young guys need to get sent back down to AAA for some seasoning in May, no need to start with junk.

 

 

 

I would rather have a rocky pen with young guys than implosions with scrap heapers to start the season.

 

 

Someone is bound to step up this season from that group of bullpen prospects.  Last season was an anomaly.  There is way too much talent in AAA and AA for that to happen again this season unless the front office grows impatient and splurges on several rusty over the hill RP's.

Isn't this just a natural progression of a rebuild?

 

1) team is terrible, minors are terrible, 40-man is full of mediocrity with guaranteed contracts

2) build low minors, 40-man stays bad/guaranteed

3) prospects rise, 40-man gets cluttered

3A) replace mediocrity with prospects in phases, inevitably there are some 40-man casualties

 

 

Good article Nick, my issue with the approach has never really been so much about the overall amount the team spends but the approach & mentality.

 

The team has notoriously spent on "reliable" veterans who you know what your getting from. I've always preferred an approach of spending a higher amount on a high quality FA and then placing young upside from the organization around them. Like having Stauffer, Fien, Boyer, Duensing types taking up 10 million sign a a couple higher end FA and don't be afraid to give your propsects a chance to fill out the rest of the bullpen.

 

Also the part the bothers me with this FO is how EVERY YEAR Ryan will identify a weakness they need to fill and say we have $ to spend to fill this need. Then comes the sticker shock of OMG, these contracts are way out of line, I guess we aren't signing anyone. Why do they have such a difficult time predicting what the market will dictate? How are they so surprised EVERY YEAR! It's ridiculous they can't see what even the common fan can see coming.

Good article Nick, my issue with the approach has never really been so much about the overall amount the team spends but the approach & mentality.

 

The team has notoriously spent on "reliable" veterans who you know what your getting from. I've always preferred an approach of spending a higher amount on a high quality FA and then placing young upside from the organization around them. Like having Stauffer, Fien, Boyer, Duensing types taking up 10 million sign a a couple higher end FA and don't be afraid to give your propsects a chance to fill out the rest of the bullpen.

 

Also the part the bothers me with this FO is how EVERY YEAR Ryan will identify a weakness they need to fill and say we have $ to spend to fill this need. Then comes the sticker shock of OMG, these contracts are way out of line, I guess we aren't signing anyone. Why do they have such a difficult time predicting what the market will dictate? How are they so surprised EVERY YEAR! It's ridiculous they can't see what even the common fan can see coming.

I think your assumption might be wrong. Who said it was the price of FA's that stopped Ryan? Maybe he just believes in the in house options. The last two years he thought the starting pitching was a problem and signed 3 FA pitchers.