Article: Long-Term Woes

[Mr. Brooks]

One thought, if our extended future isn't much brighter than our current state, doesn't that say just as much about our next wave of talent as it does about our current roster? Personally, I don't blame Hughes, or Plouffe, or Mauer, or Jepsen. We're stinking awful because we were built on Kepler, and Sano, and Buxton, Rosario, and Burdi, and Reed, and Berrios, and Meyer, and May, and Gibson, and to a lesser extent Arcia, Hicks, JR Murphy, D San, Polanco, and Josmil Pinto being serviceable to all star. Gibson, May, and Sano have been serviceable to good, but most of the others are borderline unplayable. That's a huge list of talent that's failed, failing, flailing, or otherwise not met expectations. And unlike a lot of other posters, I do not think that playing them all at once will make them a playoff team in 3 years. I think we're seeing a perfect storm of prospects who will struggle to ever live up to the hype. Many should have been traded before bombing in the MLB. I hope our plan isn't to just assume these prospects are our future, trade off or release everyone else and hope for the best. We've ruined a lot of trade stock by holding (hoarding) prospects too long. We have to look to get better through trades of veterans if possible, trades of prospects where we have an advantage, and smart signings of free agents.

 

If things are really that bad, we need to trade Sano and Gibson who both figure to be too expensive to keep by the time we get good, and may be at peak value now, with little service to 90 loss clubs. They're the only guys I see bringing much return unless Berrios can come tear it up for a month.

 

Personally, I think we can be competitive as early as next season, but maybe I'm still buying into the prospect hype... Dozier and Sano would have to be All Stars, we have an opportunity to jump up big time at catcher, our outfield might not hit, but may not let a ball drop, and Berrios, Gibson, May, Duffey and Santana could still be a decent rotation. Bull pen is relatively easy to upgrade through trades, promotion, or free agency. Two prospects jump up and say Gibson and May have career years, and who knows. Unlikely, but who knows.

Unless you mean Bob Gibson, he's never a player who is going to be too expensive for anyone.

Gibsons ceiling is a number 3.

[peterb18]

It would be nice if somehow Major League Baseball could take the franchise away from the Pohlads. As long as they are in charge the future is bleak.

 

[Platoon]

If you want to look at the "bright" side, I think we are witnessing an historically bad phenomena.  And I don't just mean baseball, I'm talking all of human related history. This is like Vesuvius wiping out Pompeii, or Atlantis sinking into the ocean.  It is fascinating to watch, much like it would have been interesting to have somehow lived through the meteor impact that wiped out the dinosaurs.  It's almost like the inverse of the statistically improbable set of events that occurred to create life on earth those many millions of years ago.  Cluster luck to the extreme.

 

Who will survive?  What types of adaptations will evolve in the new super-species that is left after this debacle?

 

Are TR and Molitor the right people to be leading the team through this calamity of biblical proportions?  I don't know.  But people laughed at and criticized Noah...

Noah at least responded to the flood by building an Ark, not just patching the hole in his canoe!

[tobi0040]

Unless you mean Bob Gibson, he's never a player who is going to be too expensive for anyone.

Gibsons ceiling is a number 3.

Yeah. I am not sure where all the love for Gibson stems from. Or where some think he is going to get really expensive. He was the number one guy we should extend before the season and many agreed.

 

The reality is Gibson has a career ERA plus of 90 and is controlled through age 31. He has already had TJ and has been hurt a bit this year.

 

With the signings of Nolasco and Ervin, and extension of Hughes I think it is time for a time out on signing pitchers into their 30's. It would not be the end of the world if the franchise understood the concept of a sunk cost. How many franchises would give a pitcher 52 starts at a 5.49 ERA (Nolasco)

Edited July 2, 2016 by tobi0040

[FormerMinnasotan]

The Twins could have a better turn around, if they ever figured on how to develop our top tier minor league talent. If most major league scouts feel that Byron Buxton, Miguel Sano, Jose Berrios, and Max Kepler should be good Major Leaguers then where are the results? I mean some teams (like the Chicago Cubs) have done an excellent job in turning their star prospects into star players. The Twins stink because they can't develop any one period. If they do we will be closer to at least a .500 team.

[diehardtwinsfan]

 

It would be nice if somehow Major League Baseball could take the franchise away from the Pohlads. As long as they are in charge the future is bleak.

 

I'd rather not bring back contraction thank you very much.

[TheLeviathan]

At least we got RF figured out!

[Einstein1]

How long does Mauer's contract run again?  

 

https://twitter.com/afansview/status/749967415929217028

https://twitter.com/1500espn_reusse/status/749962871400910850

Edited July 4, 2016 by Einstein1