DaveW

See: Jet Blue

Agreed, Duensing is nothing particularly special, but he has been proven to be at least averagely effective in a major league bullpen which does have value.

Freeing up the roster spot (and to a lesser extent the money) was a win it of itself. It allowed the Twins to give at bats to guys like Cola, Vargas, Pinto, etc to evaluate them for future needs/spots.

I'm not sure why all of my prior posts are being deleted for pointing out that this is nothing new from the Pohlad family. Anyways, fans aren't shareholders, the Twins will continue to make millions upon millions from the TV deal alone, yes attendance and all that helps, but the real money just like the other leagues comes from the massive TV deals. At least it isn't a Marlins situation (previous to this year at least). It still IMHO is very possible to compete with a 90-100 mil payroll in this day of age. While I blame the Pohlads for being cheap, the Twins shouldn't use this as an excuse for their pathetic results the past 3 or 4 years.

Say what you want about Diamond, but the Twins did get 2.4 WAR out of him a couple years ago. That alone makes him a really nice "snag" in the rule 5/later trade. I like the Graham pick up, its the definition of a no risk/high reward type play. Even if he doesn't fully recover his prospect status/100 MPH fastball he still could slot into the bullpen. The Twins aren't going to be real competitive anyways, and stashing a guy in the bullpen isn't a hard thing to do even if you are competitive. I look forward to watching him pitch (much more so then Swarzak and the other "long" guys of years past)

Doubftul. Gilmartin was pretty far down on the list of potential arms the Twins would need to call upon and didn't have at on of upside anyways.

Ultimately I hope that hunter can motivate/mentor hicks just like he did to span. If he can turn Hicks into a MLB starter then he earns triple his 10 mil salary this year imo

I have been wanting josh Johnson to come home for several years now, I could see this being that year.

Locking the first thread? Boooo

If Ryan is going to fire Gardy, he should resign effective immediately. I for one wanted both of them back, but if Ryan is going to make Gardy the scapegoat, he needs to go as well. Blow up the whole thing and start over with a new GM, coaching staff and plan. Good riddance.

Gardy deserved better.

Bautista would cost at least one of Sano/Buxton

Betts is going no where, Niese would be nice but the asking price would be pretty damn high. I think their best bet is to try to bring in Kemp or Ethier and give the Dodgers Nolasco.

They offered Hughes the money, he said no

Sign Hughes to a 5 year 70 mil deal this offseason. Basically a 3 year 48 mil extension to his current deal. That is how you repay him correctly.

The twins should introduce a program where if they are more than 3-4 games under .500 they cut the price of beer in half.

Lastly, I don't see how the team would be miraculously better if gardy wasn't around, even if you think he is bad, a top flight manager or whatever would only add an additional 2-3 wins tops.

Also buying MLB season tickets is a pretty awful investment overall, the face value on tix are always way too inflated. In the 30 games or so I have been to in the past couple years: target Field, AT&T stadium, Yankee stadium, Citi Field, turner Field, Fenway, Wrigley, Camden Yards, nationals stadium etc I haven't had to pay face value or higher even once. Most of the time I was able to get tickets off stub hub for over 50% off face. The only real benefit I could see to season tickets is first crack at playoff tickets, however with your savings through the year you can easily get into a playoff game which usually don't get very expensive til the ALCs and World Series.

I haven't watched an inning of twins baseball this month. I suggest you all try it, it's good for the soul and mind.

I think it's a perfectly reasonable take, what hard working adult wouldn't want the company they spent years of their lives at to suddenly just fold and be out of a job!?!?

Nope

Gibsons biggest thing moving forward will be consistency, if he can limit his "bad starts" to less damaging types: 3-4 ER in 6 IP we could be looking at a number 2 type

I think Ryan has done pretty damn well overall, I give him an A- for the trades he has been able to make this year, and a A- for the trades he has made in the past 2 years to help bolster this teams future (see: May/Meyer) and a B or B+ for the Free agents he was able to bring in this year. Hughes has been a great success and will be a key moving forward, the Suzuki signing was perfect this year (the extension is TBD but still a very low risk move IMO) Snagging Fuld and then flipping him was great. I am still a fan of the Nolasco signing, hopefully he can be healthy from here on out and earn his contract. The Pelfrey signing is a bust at this point, but I think he has a shot to be at least a bullpen arm for us (a high upside one potentially at that) and its not like he is breaking the bank. I am very excited to see what TR can do this off-season, he has a decent amount of cash and less theoretical holes to fill as the rotation has 7 or 8 guys ready for the start of 2015 (Hughes, Gibson, Milone, Nolasco, Meyer, May, Pino etc) and SS, catcher, 3B and CF all are have or have someone on the way very quickly. Just need to figure out how to get a nice corner OF in the mix.

Willingham deserves a shot at the playoffs, hope he and the royals can make it. Nice get in return, maybe he becomes the next Pino/Swarzak type for this team which does have some nice value at a minimum contract.

Honest question: if I make a super awesome Mauer blog post can I donate my free pizza to a homeless shelter in Minnie of some sort? If not, perhaps itstimetotakeits child(ren)?