Article: One Guy's Plan

[Seth Stohs]

The Twins are now 10-27. Thirty-seven games into the season, they are 17 games under .500 and 13.5 games out of first place in the AL Central. In fact, they are 6.5 games out of fourth place in the division already.

 

That's not to say it's completely out of the realm of possibility that the Twins could turn things around and find themselves competing for a playoff spot. It's not, but it pretty much is.

 

In my opinion, it's not time to give up on the season, but it is absolutely time to start thinking about 2017. And it's not even Memorial Day yet.

 

So below, I will discuss one thing that I would do if I were in charge (which would be a scary thing, and I"m sure there are some people at 1 Twins Way in Minneapolis who will read that and start chuckling).

 

NOTE: Let me also note that I won't even pretend to think that I know 1.) what's best for the individuals (these are just opinions) or 2.) more than those in the Twins front office or player development departments. These are just the thoughts in my head in recent days/weeks as it relates to what is best for the organization short-term and long-term.As you know, I am the "Prospect Guy." From the moment a player is drafted or signed to the Minnesota Twins organization, I try to learn as much about that player as I can and follow their Twins careers. Why? I enjoy the journey. There is no specific, exact science to prospect development. Some guys sign at 17 and are in the big leagues at 20. Some guys sign at 22 and are in the big leagues for a cup of coffee at 27. Some guys sign at 16 and become stars at 22. Some guys sign at 16 and get a shot when they turn 26. And the unfortunate story for most is that they don't make it.

 

No two stories are identical, and that's what makes it fun to follow. I think of myself as a guy who likes to give credit where credit is due, where credit is earned. Often, minor leaguers go through their time without getting noticed, so when they do well, I find it important that they do get recognized.

 

I would love to see them all get to the big leagues, and we can all agree that we want them to do well when they get there. We don't want them held back in the minors though either.

 

With that as the background, here is a plan that I might try to implement if I were in charge.

 

Send the prospects down.

 

What? Seth, you want the prospects sent down??

 

Listen, I want what's best for the Twins, and sometimes what is best for the Twins is doing what is best for the individual players. We want our favorite Twins prospects to fly through the system. A guy has a dominant month in Ft. Myers... push him up to Chattanooga. A guy has a dominant month in Chattanooga... push him up to Rochester, or why not even the Twins? They have "nothing left to prove, right?"

 

That's not necessarily the case. Listen, I can't tell you why Stephen Gonsalves is still in Ft. Myers. Maybe it's so that he can get a little bit more time working on a new pitch at a level where he can still experience success. Maybe there's an edict for him to control his walk rate?

 

Why was there hesitance to bring JO Berrios up to start the season? Was it service time? The Twins haven't been a team to play that game before. Was it that he was being blocked? Not really. Was it because he was completely lacking control and command in spring training? Absolutely. He struggled badly throughout spring training. In his first two Red Wings starts this year, he walked seven and hit two more in ten innings. He had a terrific start in his third game, and he was promoted right after that.

 

Right now, I would send down Jorge Polanco, Jose Berrios and even Eddie Rosario.

 

The last month has likely been a tremendous learning experience for Berrios. He has a tremendous maturity about him and a will to continually improve and get better. Could he continue to start for the Twins and take some lumps? Sure, and I believe that he has the type of make up that he could handle the adversity.

 

Or, he could go to AAA and spend the next two months really working on his mechanics and at a level where he can still experience great success.

 

It's the same thing with Byron Buxton. He has great makeup and maturity, and he struggled in the big leagues. But what is clearly best for him is spending time in AAA for a while, working on those mechanics, playing every day and experiencing success.

 

There is something to be said about getting that big league service time, finding out how good it is, discovering what areas of your game you still need to address, working on those things at AAA, improving and then coming back ready.

 

Jorge Polanco fits more into the Max Kepler category. These guys just need to play and there isn't currently a spot for them in the big leagues. Neither of them has enough AAA time to say that they have to be up. Polanco needs innings at all three infield positions so that he can try to improve the defense. Kepler needs time at all three outfield positions. Both can hit, but they both need to play every day.

 

In AAA, I'd like to see an outfield of Eddie Rosario, Byron Buxton and Max Kepler with Adam Brett Walker getting most DH days and some occasional time in the corner outfield spots. Play that group pretty much every day until August 1st. I would also play Jorge Polanco around the infield every day. Two games a week at all three positions.

 

Have Jose Berrios and Alex Meyer in the Red Wings starting rotation and encourage them to work on throwing strikes. They both have electric stuff and need to trust it.

 

The other thing is that the Red Wings could win a lot of games with that group, and frankly, winning and learning how to win is part of the development process. At least it should be. Get them back in the right frame of mind.

 

Now, at the big league level, you've still got some learning going on. Oswaldo Arcia can play every day, and now at 25, he's got a two-month stint to see what happens. Play Danny Santana every day, but do so all over the field - all three outfield spots and all three infield positions. See what you've got. Continue to play Miguel Sano in right field, but get him a weekly start at third base as well. Put Michael Tonkin and Ryan Pressly into more high leverage situations. See what you've got. Let Pat Dean be the swing man. See what he can offer now and in the future.

 

However, play Trevor Plouffe every day. Play Brian Dozier and Joe Mauer every day. Move Byung Ho Park up in the lineup to get him a few extra plate appearances each month. Play Eduardo Escobar every day when he gets back to find out more if he can be an every-day player. Keep Eduardo Nunez's bat in the lineup most days, somehow. Play Kurt Suzuki in a role that you think will make him most valuable.

 

Play Darin Mastroianni in centerfield to help the pitchers out. Place Glen Perkins on the 60-day DL and call up James Beresford to be the utility infielder and allow Jorge Polanco to play every day.

 

Keep starting Phil Hughes, Ervin Santana and Ricky Nolasco. Keep throwing Kevin Jepsen into late innings.

 

Hope they turn things around and maybe they can be traded in July. Can they get anything for those pitchers, maybe Trevor Plouffe or even Brian Dozier? Will a team in contention be looking for a utility player or a backup catcher and consider Eduardo Nunez or Kurt Suzuki as options? Maybe Milwaukee will want to acquire Oswaldo Arcia on the same day they call up Orlando Arcia.

 

And on August 1st, turn things over to the young guys. Turn it over, almost completely. At that time, bring back Berrios, Rosario, Buxton, Polanco. Move Sano back to third base. Make Max Kepler the right fielder. Call up JT Chargois.

 

The plan since Terry Ryan took over was to take the long approach through scouting and player development. Generally speaking, it is the proper way to do it. Look at teams that win. They have a core of players that come up and win. Those great Yankees teams had a core of Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera and Bernie Williams. Guys they drafted/signed and developed and the guys that led the way through all those inning seasons. Look at most playoff teams. They have built a core and then supplement.

 

It's just about time for the new Twins core to start getting time. The next "great" Twins team will be led by the likes of Miguel Sano, Byron Buxton, Jose Berrios and Max Kepler. Very soon, it's time to turn things over to them.

 

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[gocgo]

Hey, at this point, a plan...any plan...is better than floundering around taking shots on these guys.  I like it.

[Pardon My Dinger]

My goodness, this is upsetting. 

 

 

[Seth Stohs]

The Twins just announced that Jose Berrios has been optioned and Taylor Rogers has been recalled.

[Rick Niedermann]

Seth should be the GM.

[Rosterman]

Good post, Seth. Yes, you aren't just going to cut loose some of the vets at this point in the season. It is a Catch-22. Do the vets play bad, do the rookies play bad. Or does some goodness appear. If the vets do good, they increase their trade value. The rookies have had a taste of big league life. Now they need to work on stuff. Do it at AAA, but do promote them early (August 1) and run with them. As you jettison the vets you can add some others to the 40-man and give them a rotating taste of big league life (Burdi, Reed, Stewart, Harrison, Palka, maybe even Nick Gordon gets a callup in September). 

 

But you do want to play the fringe guys who MIGHT be a part of 2016 (be it Tonkin or Dean). The guys who won't be around in 2016 should be gone in any ways by August 1 (Suzuki, possibly Nunez - although he has been a rock and a contributor - maybe Escobar). 

 

Hey, we could've won that game last night. But Berrios deserved to continue pitching deeper into the game, at this point in the season, to see IF he could get out of it...or maybe someone on the field should've noticed that he wasn't ready to start the game in the first place.

 

And just a quick side note: there are approx 16 players on the Twins 40-man that shouldn't be there at all come 2017. There is no where near that number to add for the long haul from AAA and AA at this point.

 

And if the Twins do what you say, Seth. What IS the status of the on-field staff. Do we promote Dougie, Jake, and a couple of others who have followed this group to the majors? Do you get a hard-core vet to lead the field and really come down hard on the guys? Do we stay with Molly?

[mlhouse]

I totally disagree.  The Twins should have had these prospects up a long, long time ago.  Why go through 95 loss seasons while not developing a player?  

 

When your team is rebuilding you throw out the step by step process of minor league development.  Fast tracking your prospects while rebuilding is particularly critical in the age when many of the players are drafted from the college ranks. 

 

What doing this means is that you need to be patient and understand you are going to lose a lot of baseball games.  THe 1981 Twins lost 68 games in a shortened 110 game season and the 1982 team lost 102 games.  You need to have patience!   And you need to have a manager and coaching staff that understands that their mission isn't necessarily to win games, but to keep plugging the same guys out there and teach them at a major league level how to play major league baseball.

 

THe 1982 season saw the emergence as full time starters/platoon players of Kent Hrbek (22), Lenny Faedo (22), Gary Gaetti (23), Tom Brunansky (21), Randy Bush (23), Jim Eisenreich (23), Tim Laudner (24),  Brad Havens (22), and Frank Viola (22).

 

This list demonstrates why a rebuilding team needs to move quick.  WHile the core of the World Series team is obvious, so are young guys who did not work out.  The process of developing players takes time and some of the prospets do not work out.  Kent Hrbek worked out.  Lenny Faedo did not  Frank Viola worked out even though his 1982 and 1983 ERA were greater than 5.00 while Brad Havens did not,  even though he worked over 200 innings with a reasonable 4.31 ERA in 1982.

 

Eventually these replacements were found.  A 22 year old named Greg Gagne would replace Faedo in 1985 after being called up in 1983 and 84 as a 21 year old.  And most famously, Jim Eisenreich and others would be replaced in 1984 in centerfield by a 24 year old named Kirby Puckett. 

 

Kirby Puckett is illustrative of what probably needs (ed) to be done with the Twins organization.  HE was drafted in 1982 and got 305 PA in Rookie ball.  He played a full season at A+ Visalia in 1983.  In 1984 he started the season in AAA Toledo and was called up after 21 games.  If he would have been a modern day Twins player he would have done rookie ball in 1982.  Then A- at Cedar Rapids in 1983, maybe being promoted at end of year to Ft Myers (A+).  In 1984 he would have spent the year in Ft Myers.  Because we are really careful he probably would have started 1985 still in Ft Myers but moved to AA during the season.  The same process in 1986 meant finishing the year in AAA with a September call up.  Maybe, just maybe, without any hiccups along the way the modern day Twins would have finally started Puckett the year the Twins made the World Series.  

 

The path forward is clear.  If we believe in these prospects they need to be up playing major league baseball.  If Paul Molitor cannot work with them they need to find a manager that can.  They need to strike out and give up home runs.  They need to lose lots and lots of baseball games.  Many will not make the cut and when that becomes obvious a new prospect needs to move into his spot.

 

If we were correct that these guys were destined to be quality major league players then eventually their experience will become valuable and this team could become a contender.

 

 

 

 

 

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Seth, I think MLB would have to change their rules about # of fielders allowed on the field to accommodate all the players you want to play.

 

Polanco did not need to be demoted to play full time, in my opinion. He could just as easily have been moved around here with the Twins and played everyday, even while keeping Numez's bat in the lineup while Escobar was on the DL. And in all his callups the past few years Polanco has not really looked overmatched at the plate. We missed a nice opportunity to get him in the line up every day to see what he could do.

[mazeville]

Um ...

 

I get this. But there is no chance -- ZERO -- that the Twins even sniff the playoffs this year.

 

To even get to .500, which is not yet sniffing the playoffs, the Twins would have to go 71-54. Not impossible, I get it. But that's a rather major reversal. Essentially, the Twins would have to go from playing like a 44-win team, which is their current pace, to playing like a 92-win team, just to get to .500. Want them to make the playoffs? Then they have to play more like a 100-win team.

 

Not going to happen.

 

And it's not just the rookies that are killing this team. Sano is not playing to his capability. Plouffe is just Plouffe -- a good, but not great, third baseman. Dozier is playing more like he did in the second half of last year than he did in the first half. Mauer is reverting to his 2015 form. The bullpen stinks. Phil Hughes has a bloated ERA. Ricky Nolasco has improved but is mediocre. Ervin Santana is OK but not great.

 

The catchers can't hit. And they can barely catch. The defense is bad. The bullpen is awful.

 

All that said, I understand this strategy. But the only reason I would consider a veteran-focused lineup at this point is to rebuild some trade value among guys like Dozier, Plouffe and various bullpen arms. The Twins absolutely must give up on any idea that they're going to compete this year. Because they won't. And the sooner they understand that reality, the better this will be.

 

What an ugly dang season.

[gocgo]

 

Um ...

 

I get this. But there is no chance -- ZERO -- that the Twins even sniff the playoffs this year.

 

To even get to .500, which is not yet sniffing the playoffs, the Twins would have to go 71-54. Not impossible, I get it. But that's a rather major reversal. Essentially, the Twins would have to go from playing like a 44-win team, which is their current pace, to playing like a 92-win team, just to get to .500. Want them to make the playoffs? Then they have to play more like a 100-win team.

 

Not going to happen.

 

And it's not just the rookies that are killing this team. Sano is not playing to his capability. Plouffe is just Plouffe -- a good, but not great, third baseman. Dozier is playing more like he did in the second half of last year than he did in the first half. Mauer is reverting to his 2015 form. The bullpen stinks. Phil Hughes has a bloated ERA. Ricky Nolasco has improved but is mediocre. Ervin Santana is OK but not great.

 

The catchers can't hit. And they can barely catch. The defense is bad. The bullpen is awful.

 

All that said, I understand this strategy. But the only reason I would consider a veteran-focused lineup at this point is to rebuild some trade value among guys like Dozier, Plouffe and various bullpen arms. The Twins absolutely must give up on any idea that they're going to compete this year. Because they won't. And the sooner they understand that reality, the better this will be.

 

What an ugly dang season.

Well, I think what you said actually supports what Seth is saying.  Send the young guys down now.  Get them everyday playing time while doing the same for the vets to hopefully build trade value.  After the trade deadline, call them up and play them.

[mazeville]

 

Well, I think what you said actually supports what Seth is saying.  Send the young guys down now.  Get them everyday playing time while doing the same for the vets to hopefully build trade value.  After the trade deadline, call them up and play them.

 

It does and it doesn't. Seth started out saying that he believes this team still has a chance. My whole point is that they don't. Not one bit. 

 

Frankly, I think that the Twins' trades have to start NOW -- start with Fernando Abad while he has some trade value as well as guys like Plouffe. The Twins are far better off if they're realistic about their chances. And contention is not at all realistic.

 

 

[DAM DC Twins Fans]

Good article but I disagree with the basic premise...the kids should be here and learning at the MLB level. 

 

The Twins are not going make playoffs--and likely wont win 75 games. 

 

Give the kids experience.  Play Buxton in the OF, put Berrios, Meyer and Duffey in rotation.  What does keeping Nolasco, Mastro, etc. do for the future.

 

And this bit of one bad game and back to Rochester has to stop!!!

 

If Molitar cant deal with youth (and I have my doubts) bring up Dougie or Jake who can.

[troyhobbs]

I agree with most of this plan but would try to get Sano out of RF asap in this lost season. Meaning that I'd also get rid of Plouffe asap to accommodate. Clean house come August and fill in the gaps in the off-season. Although Suzuki is more likely to get another extension than TR is to blow up his veteran roster.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

However, play Trevor Plouffe every day. Play Brian Dozier and Joe Mauer every day. Move Byung Ho Park up in the lineup to get him a few extra plate appearances each month. Play Eduardo Escobar every day when he gets back to find out more if he can be an every day player. Keep Eduardo Nunez's bat in the lineup most days, somehow. Play Kurt Suzuki in a role that you think will make him most valuable.

Play Darin Mastroianni in centerfield to help the pitchers out. Place Glen Perkins on the 60-day DL and call up James Beresford to be the utility infielder and allow Jorge Polanco to play every day.

Keep starting Phil Hughes, Ervin Santana and Ricky Nolasco. Keep throwing Kevin Jepsen into late innings.

Hope they turn things around and maybe they can be traded in July. Can they get anything for those pitchers, maybe Trevor Plouffe or even Brian Dozier? Will a team in contention be looking for a utility player or a backup catcher and consider Eduardo Nunez or Kurt Suzuki as options? Maybe Milwaukee will want to acquire Oswaldo Arcia on the same day they call up Orlando Arcia.

"Hope they turn things around and maybe they can be traded in July."

 

How much realistic benefit is that?  It is incredibly unlikely that they will turn things around to anything meaningful.  Fangraphs "coin flip mode" -- putting aside all of their projections and depth charts and everything, just flipping a coin 50/50 for the results of each remaining game, largely neutralizing the difference between good teams and bad -- gives them a 2.5% chance of making the postseason, far lower than anyone in baseball save the Braves (whose division mates currently have better records).

 

They're not going to get any good return on trading these guys in July.  Hughes, Santana, and Nolasco all have future years and millions on their contracts -- how often do those guys get dealt in July?  Cole Hamels did, but he was an ace.  (And even then, the Phillies had to include a big K reliever in Jake Diekman, eat Matt Harrison's contract in return, etc.)  Dozier and his contract and recent track record are more of the same.  Plouffe?  You saw the market for third baseman last winter, it's unlikely to get better in July for a player of Plouffe's caliber.  Arcia as he's about to hit arbitration, utility man Nunez, struggling Suzuki and Jepsen... these guys will not bring a meaningful trade return.  Best case, TR reprises Doumit-for-Gilmartin and gets another fringe guy who will need 40 man protection soon.

 

Worst case, this bunch does just enough through July to not boost their trade value, but "earn" additional playing time in August and September contrary to the other part of your plan.

 

Do you really think the Twins will suddenly cut/trade/bench a pile of veterans on August 1st?  Or even if they would, that somehow doing that would be a better strategy than working young players in where appropriate right now?

[IndyTwinsFan]

I think it's hard to argue with the general rationale here.   While I generally agree with the thought that the youngsters should (mostly) be up here and playing, I'm not 100% convinced that's in the best long-term interest of all the young players.  

 

Some learn best being thrown to the wolves and playing through a lengthy period of adversity, while others learn best building upon success at a slightly lower level of competition.   I don't have the necessary knowledge or insight on each of the youngsters to even have a good sense of which form each one would respond best to and my guess is that most of us out here don't either.   Hence, I don't feel qualified to respond on the actions being taken by the front office here.

 

Obviously, we all want to see the Twins do well and be a competitive force in the AL, sooner rather than later.   However, I think it's sometimes prudent to take a step back and let those whose full-time job it is to know and evaluate young talent figure this out.   I just hope that they make more good than bad decisions in the near future in this regard.

Edited May 17, 2016 by IndyTwinsFan

[Mike Sixel]

While I don't agree 100% with the plan, I agree that I'd like to see a clear plan.........

 

Personally, I'd like Polanco here, playing nearly every day, at all three non-1B infield positions. But, this manager refuses to do that (or the GM has told him not to, who knows). So, if this is the manager, then Polanco should be down, playing every day.

 

I have no idea why anyone wants to see what Santana can do, he's approaching worst player in baseball again this year.

 

I would not revolt if this happened, but to me it would be an admission that they completely bungled their scouting of their own players (or rushed them for other reasons). 

 

The flaw, imo, is posted above this. Does anyone really think they'll jettison 5+ veterans in August? I don't.

[DaveW]

Good post Seth, I don't agree with keeping Hughes in the rotation however. The simple truth is that even if Hughes gets back to his career norms somehow, he still isn't tradeable in 2016.

 

The current GM has been making a ton of seemingly random and questionable moves, none of which seem to be working. However there is one move that Ryan can make that will help the future. And that move is resigning/retiring.

[Shane Wahl]

I would do the exact opposite.

[OldTimeTwinkie]

Why is it when a player gets moved up a level in the minors and struggles they say it takes time to adjust but that dosent apply to the majors? This is not a contending team, barely a competitive team. I can see it now, Buxton is successful in AAA for a couple of months and gets moved up. But struggles again once he is up. It's a different level where you have to learn how to improve against better competition. Some guys can't because they aren't good enough. The good ones do. If we were a contending team you have to send them down but we are not. Sending them down just means they will struggle again when they come up again. You will never know what you have unless you leave them up. They may not be good enough to stay in the majors but to yoyo them back and forth is non productive for a non contending g team.

[Pardon My Dinger]

Not my plan necessarily, but a way to go: If there's an internal sense of discomfort with our current crop of prospects, why not trade them? Pick your favorites and part with the rest. As an example, if you're getting rid of Buxton, you could probably get a hefty return and dump one of your Hugheslasco contracts. 

 

Just an idea, be nice. 

[deanlambrecht]

 

It does and it doesn't. Seth started out saying that he believes this team still has a chance. My whole point is that they don't. Not one bit. 

 

Maybe Seth will comment, but I agree that you've misunderstood Seth's post.  To my understanding, his point is that while the team isn't technically/mathematically eliminated, it is practically eliminated.  And from the premise that this team is practically eliminated, he lays out the plan to send most of the guys who have almost no time in AAA down until August 1 while we field the older guys and see which ones we should keep and which we should try to trade on/before July 31.

 

Frankly (and assuming that I'm right about Seth's underlying premise), I agree with that assessment and also generally agree with the subsequent plan. 

[Taildragger8791]

I think most fans wanted every prospect that was close to ready to be in the majors ASAP and start getting those adjustments out of the way. We've seen the results of that and it's clear that few of the guys coming up were actually at that level of readiness. My thoughts:

 

Sano is the only one that looks like he needs to stay. I suppose he can stay in RF until someone needs to come up, then move him to 3B and put Plouffe wherever. The bench, trade, doesn't matter. He's an alright piece but not the future, so we shouldn't mortgage the future for the sake of veteran-ness or whatever. Personally, I think playing out there is affecting his hitting but he should be talented enough to work through it.

 

Berrios should get a couple more turns to work through things. If he doesn't, I'm confident he'll figure it out at AAA soon enough and be back up in no time.

 

Polanco should stay but he's blocked at 2B and 3B until that toilet unclogs, so send him to AAA until the creative spark hits our manager and he figures out how to weave him into the lineup regularly. Hopefully before 2018.

 

Rosario and the rest stay in AAA until they force their way up again. I wouldn't hold August 1st firm for everyone but I'd certainly hope they all force their way back onto the MLB roster by then. Anyone who hasn't simply wasn't ready anyways, or maybe wasn't as good as we thought.

 

At this point the team's earliest timeline to compete is 2018 or 2019, so there's no sense in rushing the first few prospects out of the oven only half-baked just to watch them flail. It's depressing seeing hyped rookies come up with missing fundamentals, glaring issues, non-competitive performances, and then fail to improve. Not everybody is a Puckett or Mauer that learns at the big league level, some guys need that development time and the carrot of a promotion to iron out their flaws. We just need to have patience, bring them up as they're ready, ride out the unmovable veteran contracts, and find another use for that ticket money until then.

[Thrylos]

Might as well make the Twins the Saint's development team...

[d-mac]

 

I think most fans wanted every prospect that was close to ready to be in the majors ASAP and start getting those adjustments out of the way. We've seen the results of that and it's clear that few of the guys coming up were actually at that level of readiness. My thoughts:

 

Sano is the only one that looks like he needs to stay. I suppose he can stay in RF until someone needs to come up, then move him to 3B and put Plouffe wherever. The bench, trade, doesn't matter. He's an alright piece but not the future, so we shouldn't mortgage the future for the sake of veteran-ness or whatever. Personally, I think playing out there is affecting his hitting but he should be talented enough to work through it.

 

Berrios should get a couple more turns to work through things. If he doesn't, I'm confident he'll figure it out at AAA soon enough and be back up in no time.

 

Polanco should stay but he's blocked at 2B and 3B until that toilet unclogs, so send him to AAA until the creative spark hits our manager and he figures out how to weave him into the lineup regularly. Hopefully before 2018.

 

Rosario and the rest stay in AAA until they force their way up again. I wouldn't hold August 1st firm for everyone but I'd certainly hope they all force their way back onto the MLB roster by then. Anyone who hasn't simply wasn't ready anyways, or maybe wasn't as good as we thought.

 

At this point the team's earliest timeline to compete is 2018 or 2019, so there's no sense in rushing the first few prospects out of the oven only half-baked just to watch them flail. It's depressing seeing hyped rookies come up with missing fundamentals, glaring issues, non-competitive performances, and then fail to improve. Not everybody is a Puckett or Mauer that learns at the big league level, some guys need that development time and the carrot of a promotion to iron out their flaws. We just need to have patience, bring them up as they're ready, ride out the unmovable veteran contracts, and find another use for that ticket money until then.

 

This is sort of where I am with this too. While I agree we need to go with the youth movement, there is no reason they should be up here if they aren't ready to be. Also, put May in the freaking rotation... My God.

[tobi0040]

Generally speaking,guys need to figure it out at this level.

 

You have your organizations biggest pitching prospect and pull him after 3 starts? 2 of which were not that bad. Especially relative to Hughes and Nolasco the last two years.

 

Just seems like our prospects aren't getting a chance to adapt and adjust.

[bluechipper]

I think the best way for these players to learn would be up with the Twins. They're going to have to make adjustments at some point, and I'd rather have them do that in a lost year than next year when there's a possibility of competing. 

 

Are you really suggesting Danny Santana and Mastro play CF for over 2 more months, while Buxton mashes in AAA? I don't see how that's good for anyone.

[Old Twins Cap]

Just once, I would like a Twins highly-touted prospect to come up and play really well in MLB. 

 

Come to think of it, both Sano and Rosario did that last year, Santana and Vargas the year before, maybe even Escobar.

 

Okay, I would like someone to sustain their level of production.  Or, have Berrios or Buxton or Kepler simply go off and shine.

 

Twins, can't catch a break, a prospect or a solid veteran. 

 

Nothing is working on any cylinders.

 

 

[Shane Wahl]

The thing is that yanking them up and down means they are getting inconsistent "looks" at the competition. Getting confidence in AAA, to me, is totally comical. The majors are the majors. When Berrios comes back he will be *starting all over again* in the majors. Polanco can't even get started. Meyer cannot even get started.

There is a lot of talk about all of the young guys struggling. Um, basically all of the veterans have been struggling (Plouffe seems to be back to his old mediocre self, and Mauer . . . let's hope this is just a slump). Dozier, Suzuki, Nolasco, Hughes, Milone pre-demotion, Jepsen, Fien, etc.

 

Not sure how *more of that veteran nonsense* is going to be any kind of answer.

[jud6312]

Thank goodness I kept reading long enough to see "Beresford" make its way into the equation. It wouldn't be a proper article without someone championing the cause of Nick Punto Jr. Or is he more Glenn Williams? Oh, maybe a poor man's Denny Hocking?

 

THAT is exactly what this team needs - more marginal talent.

[Taildragger8791]

 

I think the best way for these players to learn would be up with the Twins. They're going to have to make adjustments at some point, and I'd rather have them do that in a lost year than next year when there's a possibility of competing. 

 

Are you really suggesting Danny Santana and Mastro play CF for over 2 more months, while Buxton mashes in AAA? I don't see how that's good for anyone.

 

It's good for Buxton, which by extension is good for the Twins. He wasn't improving at the major league level. It's one thing to challenge a guy, but it's another to be completely overmatched. You can't learn that way, which is the point of sending him down to where he can have some success while working on the holes in his game.

 

For Rosario, I think it's necessary for a different reason. He needs a reality check that his approach won't keep him on a major league roster forever. He gets away with it now while the twins are non-competitive, but you can't drag that swing-for-everything-walk-for-noone approach onto a playoff team. His plate discipline hasn't improved at all, and if he won't commit to improving that in the majors then maybe he'll find some motivation on the bus in Rochester.