When Is It Time To Take Action?

I would totally love it for them to cut bait NOW with the veteran-ness they decided to place on the roster...however, they probably have to give them til at least the end of the month if they ever want to attract any free-agents in the future.

I keep talking about the Twins business model as well as their antiquated baseball strategy.  Letting young players wear out in the minors instead of the majors makes no sense unless you are like the Yankees of old and just keep hoisting World Series Cups on to your shelf.  But a bad team?

However, it is a fact that MLB is a business and as such paying attention to fans in general and your most loyal in particular is important.  I say bring up a minor league stud every homestand - make it exciting - see if you can fill some seats and maybe win some games.  Do they want the best ball park to be an empty ball park?  

The time was back in the winter when he could have signed some decent players rather than more guys off the scrap pile.

Have you looked at Aaron Hicks' splits?  Yes, he has an OPS of 1.024.  But he also is hitting for a .154 average lefthanded with a .522 OPS. 

So nothing has changed from the past two years when he was a failure! 

Plain and simple the young guys need to come up.  Have Hicks give up the switch hitting and let him play every day in the Majors for a month to see if he can get some consistency.  Completely overhaul the pen, and then prepare the ascent of Sano and Buxton for mid-Summer treat for the fans.

Pinto is showing he is healthy, so there is no reason to keep him in AAA.  Keeping better bullpen pitchers in AAA over no upside veteran's also make no sense so I hope both of these moves are made quickly.

I think you have to give the outfield a little bit more time and see if HIcks or Rosario at AAA a little longer to make the right move. 

Just some context on Hicks here guys:

2015 splits:

vs. RHP: .154/.214/.308, 5Ks and 1 BB in 14 PAs

vs. LHP: .500/.600/1.250 3Ks and 2 BBs in 10 PAs

Now all the usual cautions of small sample sizes absolutely apply, but what we're seeing in the numbers is that he's still struggling as a lefty and hitting well from the right side.  With just numbers, it is possible he's facing some bad luck, but 5 Ks in 14 PAs doesn't scream "tough luck".

Does that mean he couldn't potentially help this squad right now? Absolutely not, but I have to go with John Bonnes on this one (for those of you who listen to Gleeman and the Geek, you probably already know where I'm going).  I believe the organization still thinks there's everyday potential in Aaron Hicks, and he got sent down to become a better left handed hitter.  He hasn't done that so far.

Aaron Hicks, (and likely any combination of roster moves) isn't going to turn this team into a contender in 2015, so playing the long game with him is fine in my opinion.  He would help the club, but as he is right now, he's not going to push the needle far.

The team stinks but everyone predicted them to be bad.

So stay the course and don't panic.

Make sure the young kids improve. Make sure the team improves defensively.

Hope you trade some veterans in June and July.

Evaluate the youngsters in Aug and Sept.

Its a bad team. Enjoy your summer enjoy beautiful, target field and hope for a better 2016.

Playing the two hottest teams in MLB (Tigers 7-1 and Royals 7-0 ) will do that to you.

They brought a few meh pitchers to the pen and the Shafe and Robbie act is almost as dumb as the Kubes and Bartlett idea last year.

I understand wanting to get that extra year of control over our young guns by starting them in the minors but that idea is so old way of thinking. If the kids are good, pay em and if they prove themselves sign em long term. Forget setting up the ability to control and low ball future contracts. Put the best 9 on the field, and stop with the mediocre talent place holders already. It cheats the fans in so many ways. 

We could always sign Carlos Quentin to play left.   

Call up the kids, there is nothing to wait around for any longer. Your typical Twins fan is sick to death hearing about guys like Buxton, Sano etc. With no payoff. Let's see what these guys can really do at the MLB level because this current plan is a train wreck on top of a car crash.

What is funny is that for all of my critique of the Twins front office, and their roster construction, making a full flip just makes them look worse.  Incompetence is just as bad ignorance.  Either they were lying that the young players weren't ready, or they aren't, and this would just be another kneejerk reaction doomed for failure.

If it is me, and it isn't, you just keep trotting out awful baseball until your young players force their way up.  Yes, you are going to lose fans, but you made that choice in the offseason when you assembled this mess.  If Hicks is better than what we have, move him up.  If not, don't.  If there are better RPs bring them up, but if not, don't. 

This is the sort of flip flopping that has caused us to make no progress in a rebuild process that is 4 years in.  Make a plan.  Stick with the plan.  See how it plays out.  If that means we aren't competitive until 2017 and Terry Ryan gets fired...oh well.  That can happen when you back the prospect train.

Would the prospects be better or worse. Well, you can probably say NOT ANY WORSE!

Personally, I have felt Arcia needs more time at AAA and should be on a shuttle back-and-forth, back-and-forth. But...you have no one else to play out there. Really, you don't. The Twins needed to sign one more offensive player in the off-season, someone who could play the corners, maybe first base. A Chris Parmelee that deserved a $6-87-8 million salary.

We lost our #1 starter. Now Hughes has to face the #1 from another team. Nolasco, well, no one knows. I have never been a total Gibson fan. I would've traded him this off-season if he had value to anyone. He may have had his most value ever in 2014. He has to be better than a Blackburn or a Slowey, but sometimes I wonder if he really is.

Bring up the young guys, at some point, but what point. 

Here's another question. Let's put Robinson and Staufer and Herrmann and Schafer and Boyer in the minors, at Rochester. Would they be doing their thing at a plus-AAA level? Is the difference in play that much different?

April is a do-or-die month for the Twins, lots of games against their own division. The front office has to be sweating if they can sell all those plastic cups full of Bloody Mary mix and day-old pizza for $19 before the pizza really goes bad, kinda like the team on the field you might say.

Two Questions!

What should the Twins do to make you, a member of the Twins blog-o-sphere,more excited about the team that you will spend money to watch them in person, buy things labeled "Twins" and say good things about them on a day-to-day basis?

What should the Twins do to excite the common fan, the one that has a spare $30-50 in their pocket and have to decide between an evening live with the Twins, a dinner and bar-hop with friends, a visit to the Saints? How do you get them to watch you on television in the least. What do you do to make them talk favorably about the team, rather than drive by the new Vikings stadium and have high hopes for the football team.

Us ahrdcore Twins fans will never go away. We will fume, but still watch. But right now, the Brand is suffering BigTime!

Playing the two hottest teams in MLB (Tigers 7-1 and Royals 7-0 ) will do that to you.

 

Unless playing the Twins is the reason for the hot start. The White Sox are not off to a hot start and beat the Twins 2 out of 3.

The top two prospects had a wasted 2014 due to injury. They will spend all 2015 to try to accomplish what was expected in 2014. Combine that with "The Kris Bryant Syndrome" and we should not expect  to see them in a Twins uniform until the third week of 2016.

Relief pitchers have the best chance of "getting here" this season due to need and the plethora of candidates in the minors. Those that have already been in the majors have the next priority--with the following caveats, two months of consistently high performance in the minors and not being an IFer (sorry boys, those jobs are filled).

There is room in the rotation, but the same two-months will be required.  But, I expect a quick hook (two weeks) if results are poor--they can return later in 2015. I only expect one promotion to the rotation at a time.  There are guaranteed contracts in force, even if posters don't like them!

Would the prospects be better or worse. Well, you can probably say NOT ANY WORSE!

 

Personally, I have felt Arcia needs more time at AAA and should be on a shuttle back-and-forth, back-and-forth. But...you have no one else to play out there. Really, you don't. The Twins needed to sign one more offensive player in the off-season, someone who could play the corners, maybe first base. A Chris Parmelee that deserved a $6-87-8 million salary.

 

We lost our #1 starter. Now Hughes has to face the #1 from another team. Nolasco, well, no one knows. I have never been a total Gibson fan. I would've traded him this off-season if he had value to anyone. He may have had his most value ever in 2014. He has to be better than a Blackburn or a Slowey, but sometimes I wonder if he really is.

 

Bring up the young guys, at some point, but what point. 

 

Here's another question. Let's put Robinson and Staufer and Herrmann and Schafer and Boyer in the minors, at Rochester. Would they be doing their thing at a plus-AAA level? Is the difference in play that much different?

 

April is a do-or-die month for the Twins, lots of games against their own division. The front office has to be sweating if they can sell all those plastic cups full of Bloody Mary mix and day-old pizza for $19 before the pizza really goes bad, kinda like the team on the field you might say.

 

Two Questions!

 

What should the Twins do to make you, a member of the Twins blog-o-sphere,more excited about the team that you will spend money to watch them in person, buy things labeled "Twins" and say good things about them on a day-to-day basis?

 

What should the Twins do to excite the common fan, the one that has a spare $30-50 in their pocket and have to decide between an evening live with the Twins, a dinner and bar-hop with friends, a visit to the Saints? How do you get them to watch you on television in the least. What do you do to make them talk favorably about the team, rather than drive by the new Vikings stadium and have high hopes for the football team.

 

Us ahrdcore Twins fans will never go away. We will fume, but still watch. But right now, the Brand is suffering BigTime!

I expect the Twins to execute a plan and stick to it.  I expect them to be professional enough to not cave into public pressure when their crap roster of players plays like crap.  I'm not excited about this team, and haven't been for years, but that is what happens when the team is ok being awful while they wait for prospects who may, or may not, develop.

What I want...I want this team to try and win.  I want this team to invest in solid baseball players that are worth watching.  I want this team to adapt, adjust, evolve, and compete every year.  I want this team to be embarrased to put an awful team on the baseball field.  Essentially, I want them to operate like the St. Louis Cardinals.  However, the Twins do not seem interested in doing so, and so I will see if they do what I expect of them rather than what I want.