Monkeypaws

I personally hate the tradition of retiring numbers. Worst case scenario: Montreal Canadiens. They have retired 1,2,3,4,5,7,9,10,12,16,18,19,23,29,33. Dickie Moore and Elmer Each anyone? Having your name on a wall of honor is enough. How many numbers have Real Madrid or Manchester United retired? Zero. It isn't the number, it's the player.

He was drafted twice, and selected off waivers twice - he's certainly got his admirers.

I hope Buxton took some of his bonus money and hired a non-affiliated one-trick righty with a really good breaking ball to pitch to him all winter....

Between Mejía and Romero, I think the Twins have a back of the rotation guy and a swingman at least as good as these options, potentially much better. Get some bullpen help first. Who is gonna close for this team? On a side note, I am more interested in seeing if Stewart can repeat his modest success of last year, or if Gonsalves can figure out MLB hitters, than buying damaged goods or yesterday's stars. If I were Falvine I would wager one or two of our AAA guys at the cusp are MLB worthy.

A closer - plenty of supply and plenty of dough.

And the ever present question...why would he come to this team? Money is not a consideration for him. Winning is. Top end free agents are rich beyond belief. They want rings, honors. People alway look at deals in retrospect and say, "why didn't we do that?" Well, the Twins are 3% of all the MLB teams. Other teams are trying just as hard. Free agents are looking at more than "pay me biggest money ever." And other organizations have tempting prospects as well, who sometimes match up better in trades. Tunnelvision....

Given the youth of the Twins coaching staff, I totally understand going with the younger players as they have done.

The Twins new right side of the infield hit over 50 HR last season. 12 million outlaid, and the defense is at least average. Mmmkay. You gotta put a team on the field. Don't get the hate for the 1 year deal - as Dozier showed us the last couple seasons, 2nd basemen are a dime a dozen. Short term seems like the better play to me - Buxton, Sano, catcher, bullpen, even Kepler and the back-end of the rotation are all ??? at this point. The elite prospects are still a year away at least. Berrios, Rosario, + ? See if we have a core to build from and proceed. Not a lot of proven track record out there. At the least, they've gotten younger and likely hungrier.

The upcoming season?

Marwin Gonzales is the guy.

When Sano, Buxton, Dozier, and Morrison have historically bad seasons, and your ace and starting catcher lose the season to injuries, and your starting shortstop gets busted for PEDs, I'm not sure the front office is to blame. They made an honest effort to improve a playoff team: as nicksaviking pointed out, they signed the #9, #15, #16 and #49 free agents last year. They were also players on Darvish and Ohtani. It didn't work out, but I'm not gonna blame the front office for not trying.

I saw the renderings of the A's stadium - pretty awesome. The only down-side was that the site isn't served by mass transit. That Portland stadium looks amazing. Is that for AAA, or are they hoping to get MLB there?

Sounds familiar....

The most intriguing stat from Astudillo this winter, besides the .909 ops. 2 stolen bases in 3 attempts.

Look at the list of WS champs: out of the last 15 years or so, one name stands out: St. Louis Cardinals. Much smaller market than the Twin Cities, yet they have been to 3 World Series and won 2. They have all the wheels turning, and continue to be viable. And that success has been steady, since the 87 series and even before. They don't have long droughts between pennants and titles. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis_Cardinals Look at other examples: Florida. Won in 2003 and have been a hot mess since. White Sox, and even the Royals pop to mind. Yeah they got glory, then years of misery to follow. I'd prefer the Cardinals model. Sustainability is possible with a smart organization.

Levine dropped the key word in the Rundown thread - sustainability. Dropping top prospects for established stars is fine when you: a. have a good team of high-end players b. draft, develop, and trade well None of those is the Twins. Until they develop some stars on this team, why bother? There is no surplus of anything sitting idly by while these deals fly elsewhere. The MLB roster needs help everywhere, and the system ain't exactly full of folks knocking down the door, at least right now. The Twins don't have enough at the major league level to deal away top prospects, especially for injury prone guys. Unsustainable until they develop better, and have a more star-quality MLB roster.

Well, how about Ramos for Capps: 2010

Kinda beside the point, but Adam Turman's art is awesome.

One outcome I am hoping for with all the changes is that the Twins will play a fundamentally sound game, and take more from other teams than they give away. I hate sloppy, lackadaisical baseball.

Love this new staff - mainly for this: they aren't gonna drive old school @#$% down the throats of young players, but grow with them. I don't expects a lot of big name FA adds of veteran players(unless they are that Thome kind of teammate). This is a quiet rebuild IMO, with lots of emphasis on development, and maximizing existing assets.

Brave new world. Isn’t this what most folks wanted, as opposed to the old school?

Fal-vine were brought in to bring fresh ideas - they've dusted off the moldy old cupboards and brought in something fresh. Some of us wanted management that could relate to younger players, and I expect that will happen. I appreciate the consistency of their actions now they have been given free reign.

So you are about to watch a video reporting on the California fires, or the building collapse in Marseilles, or an earthquake in central Italy, or something else horrible: and then you have to endure a happy jolly insurance or cell phone ad for 30 seconds. A. inappropriate. B. Out of sync. C. Manifest greed. I wish web sites had someone who oversaw when these were permissible: happy reunion with lost puppy, okay, that is fine. Dozens of dead people and thousands of lives ruined, so wrong.

Here's where being a footie fan comes to the rescue. I got other fish to fry at the moment.

Well, making Met Stadium from the book into Fenway - sad sell out.