gmarais66

The good news is that he's equally bad against both righties and lefties. He gets shelled by everyone.

Maybe the Twins' braintrust has some obscure sabermetric stats that tell them this guy could be a No. 1 starter.

I love the fact that Tommy Milone replaced him on the Mets' roster. What does that tell you?

He makes Pat Dean look like Cy Young.

There is absolutely nothing in this guy's history that even hints he could be an effective major league pitcher. He has been awful.

It sure doesn't look like this off-season. Even though leadership has changed, nothing has changed in the way the Twins conduct their off-season business. The team loses 103 games and all they have done is sign a catcher who is good at pitch framing. Oh, yes... I nearly forgot, they have also signed a bus load of re-treads, just like Ryan used to do (Vogelsong, Shuck, etc.). And just like Ryan, they had a window to get maximum value out of a player, who will never be worth more, and they fail to work out a trade. Nothing has been done to address the pitching staff, which was pathetic, and they haven't done anything to improve their dismal defense. They haven't taken any chances... Haven't tried anything creative... It's just more of the same.

The Angels traded Haley to the Twins for cash, not for Diaz. Diaz is expected to be traded later.

Anthopoulos probably thought he had no chance to compete with an established baseball genius like Anthony , so he figured why go through the whole interview process, only to see Anthony get the job.

There's a lot of finger pointing here, which is expected, because there are so many problems within the Twins' organization. If you break it down though, the two biggest problems with this team in the last six years have been pitching and defense. This year's team has not been horrible offensively, but no team can be expected to have to score seven or eight runs a game to have a chance to win. It's safe to say that with even a middle-of-the-road starting rotation, this team would have won many more games than it has. It never seemed to me that Ryan put much of an emphasis on starting pitching, which was very frustrating and confusing. Granted, one year he did try to acquire talented prospects in May and Meyer, which has been a disaster to this point. Beyond that he signed one re-tread starter after another or relied on soft-throwing sub-marginal starters from the Twins' system. The result was complete collapse. Even casual Twins' fans had little hope the starting rotation could be effective from one year to the next, so how did a major league general manager honestly believe he was assembling a competitive starting rotation? Absolutely mind boggling... On the defensive side, it seems like an organizational failure. Players are somehow going through the entire system, not learning defensive basics. I'm not sure how or why this change occurred, but it is absolutely unacceptable for major league players to look that pathetic in the field. There is no excuse for it other than large-scale organizational ineptitude. I'm hopeful that whatever personnel replaces Ryan can turn this ship around. At first glance it seems almost insurmountable, but I if they can address pitching and defense in a bold fashion, I think it can turn around quite quickly.

Any deal that gets Nolasco out of town is a good deal....

Per MLB Trade Rumors, the Marlins are now looking for another starter after trading Rea back to the Padres. Maybe they'll be desperate enough, as the clock winds down, to take Nolasco...

Duffey is certainly stinking it up tonight. His fastball must look like a beach ball to the Red Sox hitters.

The fatal flaws with your argument are that you are equating the amount of money a team spends with their on-field success, which we all know is a myth; and that you are suggesting you know how much the Pohlads are willing to spend, which you don't. I think the Twins' GM job would be attractive for many qualified candidates, because of the young talent pool and the possibility for short-term and long-term success.

I'm guessing it will be nothing short of agonizing.

Let's hope Sparky Mastroianni is starting tonight. The Twins could really use his grit in the lineup.

Who would they swap Murphy for? They just gave away their only decent upper minor league catcher to the Tigers, because... Well, no one is really sure why they put him on waivers, but the fact remains that Hicks is gone, leaving a scrap heap of catchers that would not be much better than Murphy.

Your article spurred me to take a look at Plouffe's stats. He was very good with RISP and pretty consistent in many splits. However, I found it interesting that he was absolutely dreadful last season from the sixth inning on. He was likely the worst hitter on the team, late in the game.

You know it's going to happen... And then he'll head north with the team, and by May 1, he'll be hitting .171 with zero homers and 2 RBI.

If all three are pitching well in spring training, Duffey is the guy that will be out of the rotation, heading to Rochester. It's not what I (or I'm sure most fans) want to see, but it's reality. Nolasco is the veteran with the big contract. That alone gives him a big advantage over Duffey when it comes to deciding the rotation. Take a look back over Ryan's tenure and you will see this is the way he always does things.

Unless he gets shelled in spring training, Nolasco will be in the starting rotation. That's just the way the Twins have always done things. I can't see that changing. He's the guy they're paying the big money. Unfortunately, it means that Duffey will likely start the season in Rochester. Is it the right choice? Heck no... Not by any stretch of the imagination, but we will have to endure Nolasco, at least until May, I would imagine. Then they'll stick him on the DL with some kind of injury (real or imagined) and we will see Duffey again.

I don't think it's so much that Ryan was left out in the cold, he just never came in from the cold when things were heating up inside. I'm not sure why anyone is surprised by this. Since he has returned as the Twins' GM, Ryan has typically made one or two flashy moves (Park this year) then fills in the rest of the holes in the roster with bits and pieces he can pick up off the scrap pile. Between now and spring training he'll sign a few re-tread relievers and a AAAA outfielder, and that's about the best we can hope for. I'm like everyone else. I keep hoping this is the year where things will be different. Maybe this will be the year where they make some serious moves to improve the lineup... But hopes are fading and it looks like more of the same from TR.

All of a sudden, I'm getting a bit worried about next season. Sano needs to play 3B, but the Twins want to play Mr. Average, Trevor Plouffe, ahead of him, forcing the 270-pound (likely more now, after seeing that video) to the OF. Now they yank Sano from winter ball... Not to mention it's looking more like Ricky "Lightning Ball" Nolasco will be a member of the starting rotation, blocking much better pitchers. Oh, yes, and the Twins have about four DH candidates, including Park, Arcia and Vargas, none of which are proven at the Major League level... Not to mention they need another outfielder, because they traded one of their best defensive outfielders for a backup catcher. Meanwhile, the winter meetings have gone by without the Twins doing anything, outside of signing AAA infielder Buck Britton (love the name though), who is likely nothing more than a minor-league filler. Oh, and I almost forgot... The Twins desperately need bullpen help, but they have done nothing to address that. I would love to be a fly on the wall in Terry Ryan's office to know what exactly is going on over there at Target Field...

During the offseason, Ryan eluded to the fact that Rosario would be given a chance in centerfield. Hicks is a head case... I say send Hicks to Rochester and make him earn his way back to the Twins. Give Rosario a shot... From what I've seen of him, he seems like a much better all-around player. Schafer is just another No. 4 outfielder, who has no business being a starter at the major league level... I think he's a good bench player, but that's it...

In case you missed it, the Twins do have an ace... His name is Phil Hughes. Here's how he ranked among American League starters in 2014: Wins (4th) WHIP (8th) Strikeouts ( 7th) Innings (5th) He ranked much higher than many "ace" pitchers, whose names get thrown around on this forum. What more could he have done to reach "ace" status in your mind?

The thing you fail to mention is that Brunansky was working extensively with Arcia, during the latter part of the season. In September, Arcia posted a line of .263/.330/.513... Anyone watching him could see there was a significant change in his approach at the plate during the last six weeks of the season, compared to early in the season... If you're going to write about a topic you need to tell the whole story, not just a glossed-over overview of a situation... Based on what I saw towards the end of the season, I think 2015 could be a break-through season for Arcia...