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Meh. This move seems reactionary and we're well past the point where the Twins should care about being reactionary. I hope Buxton succeeds but it's hard to imagine he has learned enough to adjust in one month of play in Rochester.

It looks like the Twins, in a season that is over once again let an injury determine the timeline of their best prospect. I get that he had great numbers, but a demotion after striking out half the time should come along with specific things to work on. I don't think he has had enough time to work on them.

Yep The Twins have needed a big league OF for 4 years now. If they would have got one in the off season. Buxton could have started in AAA and could have been called up if he is hitting AAA like he is now and welcomed to the league with a chorus of voices saying "Finally!!!". That's what should have happened but it didn't because the Twins have horribly assessed CF for 4 years straight now.

There's a moment in the movie version of Moneyball where Art Howe insists that Billy Beane postpone an off season meeting with scouts and work with him on a new contract. In refusing, Billy points out that "At this moment, if a grounder is hit to first, nobody's gonna be there to stop it from rolling". At this moment, the Minnesota Twins lack a person to stop their baseball operations failures from rolling past first and into right field. That person is not Jim Pohlad. That's a problem, to put it mildly, because as things stand today, Jim is the only person empowered to make a change at the top of the Twins' baseball operations chain of command. Despite that, when pressed by Chip Scoggins about the team's struggles and the possibility of taking a new direction at the top, Pohlad responded with an acknowledgement of "total system failure", followed by what amounted to a shoulder shrug and a 'Waddaya gonna do?', as if he were merely an ordinary disgruntled fan. That person is not Dave St. Peter. While Mr. St. Peter may be a big Twins fan, his exchanges with the media make it clear that he's simply not knowledgeable about the baseball operations side of the equation, and that he is not trending upward in that department. That person is not Terry Ryan. Terry Ryan is too busy figuring out how to fix the Twins to have either the time or the distance from the problem to figure out whether he should be the guy fixing the Twins. As a franchise, the Twins are flailing like Byron Buxton in the majors. They connect occasionally and show signs of promise, but the results overall are now objectively, undeniably bad. If Dave St. Peter really is good at sampling bratwurst and cajoling cable execs, let him keep doing that in a more narrowly defined role. But Jim Pohlad needs to find somebody else to really run the Twins, without a single precondition of retaining ANYONE in their current role. Otherwise that 90-loss ground ball is going to just keep on rolling as long as momentum carries it.

I hope not because I've got a bunch of pro-leg-kick posts dating back to last summer that I'm waiting to queue up and act all high and mighty about.

The only way he learns to hit mlb pitching is in the mlb. I don't think they were ready to call him up either, but injuries happen. Who do you all suppose was going to play cf? This is a no brainer. The kid is talented. You send him down looking for a response, and he hits like a machine. You can't have it both ways, either you are for young guys playing through struggles or you're not. If he is over matched again they can send him down. I'm just hoping he rides this hot streak into Minneapolis. Let the haters hate and show um up!

The right move here was to leave Buxton in AAA and work out his issues while gaining a year of team control. This is another stupid decision. Sure it's possible it doesn't completely blow up in their faces, but why take the risk?

Frankly, I could care less who's in charge of the business side of things. If there was a new President of Baseball Operations and St. Peter was given the new title of President of Business Operations, I wouldn't blink an eye. Target Field upgrades, PR, community outreach, promotions and marketing deals; for me they all fall under the title of "Cool, but Tell Me More About the Team".

If his job has pretty much nothing to do with baseball (which I assume to be true), then saying that he's somehow responsible for the losing makes little sense to me.

Well, this is a sticky one..... On the one hand, I'm not sure 1 month is a lot of time to "fix" him. I had been saying keep him down for another month or so, and then call him up (assuming he's hitting well) and see what you have. Really, it needs to be about the long term. On the other hand....he is on the 40 man, their "CF" is hurt, and he's the best fielding CF they have. I just want the manager to play him every day, and see what is changed or not.

Talk about hindsight. He wouldn't be able to walk? 2002 was the only season in Minnesota where a knee injury gave him problems. He was no more likely to have knee issues than any similar player, and remember...they kept Lecroy over him. How does that make sense, durability wise? It was a blunder. Then and now. It made no sense, then or now. Rationalizations are just that, then or now.

After all the screwing around the Twins finally have a chance to get it right with BB and they let an injury in a lost season determine his fate. I've been a patient fan but the Twins just lost me on this one.

This is exactly how I feel... Right now I simply don't have the room available to care about St. Peter. I want immediate supervision for Terry Ryan and the advocates he has assembled. I don't know what the problem is exactly but there is a problem. I've personally been wrong for many years when I've stated let the man (Terry Ryan) do his job. My personal clock has run out. SP is a mess Bullpen is a mess... Actually there wasn't even an attempt to fix it. The Veterens have been average at best and well below average for the most part The Youth hasn't been ready and it has over run the 40 man roster. The enormity of the missed assessments in total is off the charts and nobody should survive it. Nobody would in most businesses. I'm simply at the point where I don't trust the collective room and the decisions coming out of that room and I want immediate outside supervision. Does anybody here feel comfortable letting that collective room make a trade in July or June to improve this club for 2017? Does anyone believe there is no way Buxton would be traded and if he was... would you trust the return with the current track record of return on trades? Does anybody feel comfortable letting this room decide when Rosario is ready to come back... Berrios... Meyer... Kepler... Any of them after looking at what the room came up with for opening day 2016? Does anybody here feel 100% sure that this collective decision making room isn't capable of setting us back even further before this season is done? Decisions for 2017 and beyond are important right now and so the search for a Preisdent of Baseball Ops must began now.

So you admit Bill Smith was bad as a GM, but you are on record elsewhere saying Rob Antony is a good GM candidate? I mean, I understand defending these guys personally, and believing they are capable in their current limited roles, but this seems like a willful ignorance of history, or any kind of critical examination of how promotions and assignments (and probably a whole host of other decisions) happen in this front office.

seems like a textbook case of damned if you do, damned if you don't ...

The Twins were stuck crawling back to FSN mid-season though after their own TwinsTV (or whatever it was called) failed to get picked up by broadcasters. There's no way the team was in a strong position to negotiate when they currently weren't able to reach 95% of their target audience. Not that I'm saying St. Peter was in charge of that fiasco, I have no clue who pushed for that.

Really? I enjoy baseball just about anywhere, but there doesn't seem to be anything particularly special about Target Field that should earn the Twins or St. Peter special credit. They were basically handed a golden goose, on many levels. And it seems every "upgrade" to the stadium has been related to exclusive seating areas and alcohol sales -- which I am sure is profitable, but doesn't involve a whole lot of creativity. (Indeed, Target Field is generally considered one of the least kid/family friendly stadiums in MLB.)

DSP never should have been kept around after the Cordova/Cancer Kid/Twins stadium TV commercial that he green lit. That is truly disgusting and an embarrassment to Twins fans everywhere. Suffice to say, I think he is long overdue to leave. I know his job isn't "baseball operations", but I'm not impressed with his work as a whole anyways. It seems like every new "Target Field" initiative, is just another lazy white labeled bar. The fan "experience" at TF is great if you have disposable money and like to drink (which is fine by me personally) but I don't think it's a great place to take a family of 5. Other than TC and the Target Mascot race I don't see a whole lot of reasons to take a kid under the age of 6. They could certainly do a much better job in this regard, instead of building another 2-3 bars each year.

I'm not him, but a similar conversation happened on the Paul Allen show last week. I was stuck in a car with limited options, so while I was forced to listen to the drivel I heard him talking to Gleeman about not wanting to criticize individuals he feels a personal connection to. The problem with that (while totally understandable, by the way) is that it automatically makes your analysis far less useful and relevant. I don't want to read about what Bernie Sanders' policies would mean for the country from Ted Cruz's website. Likewise, I don't give a rip what his campaign manager says either. If you can't keep a objectivity for reasons that are understandable, that does hurt my view of your analysis. I'm curious if there is anyone out there that isn't worried about hurting St. Peter's feelings can tell me what he actually does. He seems like an affable, pleasant guy but also one that has a talent for saying baffling, idiotic things from time to time.

It's amazing how everyone is great at their job on a team about to lose 90+ games for the 5th year out of six. Just awful luck, I suppose.

"Hiring a man above TR would enable the organization to keep the longtime GM in place......." Why keep Terry?

Buck made a comment previously that he felt comfortable in AAA playing with friends. I'm normally in favor of letting guys toughen up at the MLB level, but they've already tried that a few times with Buxton. I would have liked to have seen him recalled along with Kepler, Polanco, Vargas and/or other players who could at least give the perception of shouldering the burden with Buxton. Even if all of the pressure is actually on Buxton alone, I don't think he'd feel that way if he was promoted with a buddy. And I don't really care if there isn't room for the buddies, they can make room pretty easy with this roster.

I don't think we have enough data to determine who is the superior DH, Ortiz or Tyner.

I think the point, Seth, is that most people here see you defend pretty much every employee as a great.....and some wonder, then, if your opinion has much weight. OTOH, I've seen you be critical of some employees, or question them, so I'm not sure that view is completely fair. But, I think you realize you rarely say anything bad about the employees/players, despite going on a pretty bad run here lately.

We are going to have to respecfully disagree. Would there be a few posts about not calling up red hot Buxton from AAA? Sure. Opinions vary. But it seems like the prevailing opinion here is Buxton should have at least two more weeks in AAA. Some more like a month. And a few think all year. The season is over. I think you keep a guy like Mastro around for this exact reason. A place holder. You have an injury, you aren't competitive, and your prospect is not quite ready

If it was a two week check in, that is not the end of the world. But this is a team that had both Gomez and Hicks, guys the franchise desperately wanted to succeed up here for a year or two when they weren't ready. This looks more like history repeating

I think he should have spent the remainder of the season in Rochester (or close to it), but if this is just the 15 day type callup, I'm not seeing the issue. That's what the 40 man is for and Buxton is on it. No harm in assessing him for 2 weeks to see what improvements have been made and where he still needs work.

I think everyone agrees that doing what is best for Buxton long-term is what is best for the Twins. There is no need to rush him back. However, there is no agreement on what is best for their top prospect. I was in the camp that believed he could have benefited from starting the season in AAA, but he was basically handed the starting job in Spring Training. Without a doubt, Buxton was thriving at Rochester, hitting for extra bases, reducing his strikeouts and playing every day. Should he have stayed in upstate New York with a lesser talent promoted? No one really knows for sure. I hope he starts almost every day for the Twins and thrives. I don't have a problem with Buxton getting an occasional day off, but wherever he's playing, he should be the principle center fielder. As for hitting him ninth, I don't think such baby steps are an issue. Batting at the top of the order adds just a bit of pressure IMHO and there is no need to subject Buck to that. It is also interesting that the Twins didn't recall Eddie Rosario. After a slow start in Rochester, he's been hitting better than Buxton. Interestingly, when Buxton left the Rochester game early yesterday (presumably to catch a plane to the west coast), Rosario moved from left to right field while Max Kepler took over center. Do the Twins not consider Rosario a center fielder at all?

Hmmm, If Buxton is kept down too long the wolves say the team is retarding his development. If he is down too short of time, the team is rushing and ruining him. The wolves have stinky breath because there really is no way to know beforehand.

Leg Kick... Ok Fine. In my opinion... I'll be watching the swing. If he levels it out... I believe he will look real good real quick. If he's still upper cutting he will be striking out too much again and be heading back to Rochester amongst much hand wringing from us on TD. Level it out... Keep the bat in the zone longer and once his contact rate goes up as a result... His feet and talent will do the rest. In my opinion of course... I think Buxton is an easier fix than Dozier is.

The leadoff batter comes right after #9, once the game is underway. If the leadoff guy sees the tired out starter, so does #9.

Well said tobi, Buxton should stay where it's best for him - injuries on the big club be damned.

I don't know how much of it was luck and how much was skill, but the way Sean Miller put himself into position to score the walkoff run for CR was impressive. He took such a long secondary lead off of second base that the Wisconsin catcher threw down to try to pick him off. Instead of going back to 2nd, though, Miller immediately bolted for 3rd and made it so easily that there wasn't even a throw made. Then he scored easily on a WP.

I apologize. The tone was meant more to attack the "Guilt By Association" mentality in these threads. So-and-So is part of this, they must be non-smart and could never do the job here or anywhere. That bugs me because it's unfair to those individuals. It is possible that in internal person may be perfect for the job, but with this type of thinking (not you, but the general vibe in this thread) that guy would never be given a chance.

I also chose not to say bad things in public about people I don't know... it's called being a decent person...

Maybe, but just because Ryan is the wrong guy now, doesn't mean you were wrong about the guy yesterday. Well, I mean literally yesterday you would have been wrong, but perhaps not some time in the past. Having a job this long no doubt engenders a huge level of attachment both to colleagues and players. Human nature would seem to indicate that the longer someone is with you, the harder it is to see them go. Everyone is so entrenched their roots have wrapped around the foundation of the organization. Getting rid of anyone is hard and painful, doubly so in a situation where men and women have bonded for decades. We need someone new even if for the sole purpose of doing the dirty work and severing the ties of sentimentality.

I have been banging the drum about a need for a President of Baseball Operations for a while now... RE: St. Peter. He gets a lot of credit for things that Jerry Bell did (like the ballpark). All I have seen St. Peter talk with some sort of authority are: 1. concerts at TF 2. food at TF 3. some Dakota school athletics The Twins can do better in that regard as well

I think the Twins promote too slowly in the lower Minors A to A+ and A+ to AA allowing them to dominate lesser talents. Once they get to AA though the Twins seem to zip them to the majors without getting the experience of playing against other more developed minor leaguers who are more in line with the talent level of those players. They then have to learn at the majors and develop some bad habits trying to keep up with established Major League Pitchers/Hitters. If they would move them quickly through the lower minors and slow them down a bit in AA and AAA I think the jump to MLB wouldn't be as jarring as it has been for many of the Twins prospects lately. Just my opinion.

It does seem like the Twins did their latest TV deal at the worst possible time (just before a TV deal explosion, and apparently for a fairly long term without an opt-out, as far as I have been able to tell). It wouldn't be the first time the Twins front office failed to anticipate a trend and quickly fell behind. I mean, if someone says that the Twins should have one of those crazy billion-dollar TV megadeals, sure, that's off-base, the local market wouldn't support that. But nobody said that here. All that was said/implied was that the Twins are probably not optimizing their TV revenue. Of which there is plenty of evidence (the timing of their current deal, their past poor handling of Victory Sports, etc.).

I think bringing him up is a great move. You should reward guys for playing well in AAA, especially guys who are the future of this team. Hopefully this third time is a charm for Byron and he sticks in the majors for the next 15+ years

If the idea is to restructure the front office, I would think Ryan and St. Peter both go. In order to usher in a "New Era" I think new people should be at the head of that restructuring.

The problem here isn't that the Twins have called up Buxton -- he's dominating AAA now and if he hadn't had his two appearances in the majors people would have been screaming for his promotion. The problem is the way the Twins handled him up until now. They called him up too early last year. They handed him the CF job after trading Aaron Hicks (and not Trevor Plouffe). The whole thing has been an ugly mess. Hopefully, he gets it and plays well enough to stay. That's what I'm going to hope for. I'm not going to count on Buxton having a .900 OPS. But I will be thrilled if he can hit .250 with a few doubles and triples and stolen bases, but with world caliber defense and a style of play that makes the Twins more exciting.

Yeah, no one was clamoring....because we so thoroughly bungled his talents that no one could see the diamond in the rough. It was a historic bungle due to a problem we still face - stubborn inflexibility about letting talents be themselves rather than encouraging who they are and what they can do.

To be fair, when St. Peter is asked about baseball-related topics by whoever, he needs to answer the questions. He often will qualify his comments by saying "That's Terry's group" or something like that. I think St. Peter is very good at his job, and I don't care in the least what his thoughts on on player personnel,etc. I suspect he knows what he needs to know.

This better be for good. If they yank him around again, I don't know what insanity will take over me.

St. Peter didn't get a very good TV deal. It's the most important part of his job. Considering he failed at that he would have to be excellent at everything else to be considered a good president. I'd give the Red Sox more credit for the improvements at Hammond than the Twins, so I'm not willing to count that. He did help fleece Minnesota tax payers which would be seen as a positive to ownership though. From a fans perspective there's little to like about the front office these days.

I have two gripes about St. Peter, and they're both major. The first is that he suffers from the same cursed obliviousness, or maybe ambivalence, regarding the importance and value of good PR. And more to the record, the enormous damage that is done by bad or nonexistent PR. The second gripe is that he inserts himself into conversations about the baseball side of the business, and when he does, he invariably sounds so foolish. Bring back young Andrew MacPhail.

I hope that they play him every day and bat him at the top of the order to insure that he get an extra at bat a game to help him get in a rhythm and develop. I do believe this helped him in AAA and should be continued in the majors. Batting him 9th will hinder his development and have him missing the tired out starter the last time through likely.

I'm dying to see this kid succeed. Here's hoping for a hot start.

Poor management call there. You sacrifice Nunez who's hitting .338 to set up Dozier hitting about .200 and prone to strikeouts. Like you couldn't see that strikeout coming from a mile away. Pathetic.