Steve J

I hear Tony Batista isn't doing anything.

I'm going to be one of those guys....there should be no question, Walter Johnson is #1.

"The Red Sox shouldn’t have had the right to hold up the deal on this basis, and MLB should modify its rules to avoid similar situations in the future." I don't see the need. The Twins aren't victims here. They could have terminated their participation in the deal and went to the Dodgers directly if they really wanted Maeda.

Bryant is still under arbitration control. There is no way he has such a low acquisition cost.

Probably to commit to short term plans. In that list you have, I don't see anyone worth tying our boat to except for maybe Odorizzi.

Oh....You must not remember the days when the Front Office decided to garbage pick people like Tony Batista, a guy who was not playing particularly well in Japan when the Twins decided to make him their every day 3rd baseman in 2006. That was surreal.

I think you make an error comparing the fielding percentage of 3b to 1b. The hot corner as far as I can tell suffers historically the worst natural fielding% on the diamond, while first base generally enjoys the best. If Sano was a first baseman, his fld% would likely be in the 990s too. None of these options are anything approaching a plan unless February comes and nothing else has materialized. I'm personally wedded to the idea of getting Araez as many appearances as possible at various positions. I'm curious why he's not in the 3b conversation. Singing any of these guys to the major league roster would cut into his time more than anyone else.

It was all a young, inexpensive shortstop with a 6.4 WAR's fault.

Take a premium hitting all-star quality catcher, then add a dose of statistical regression to make him an averagish first baseman?? Sounds like a good plan if you want to battle for third place next year.

What are the chances the Twins think the current makeup of Polanco at short and Sano at third is simply too ugly? I doubt they are going to get any of the premium starters on the FA market, so it stands to reason is the best way to make our pitching better is to focus on defense.. I wonder if its time to move Sano to first/DH and if we are going to let Polanco stay at short, we could have Gordon split time at second while having him backup Polanco. Luis Arráez has the better part of a season's worth of experience at third base and afaict, looked decent there for the Twins this past year.

#38 for certain. I remember they wanted to trade him to Boston, he didn't wanna go. I remember the windbag sid hartmann ripping him on the air for not wanting to leave. Then he came back and resigned with the Twins that off season. Personally I would also add #7 as he was my favorite player, but that's a bit of a stretch.

I suppose gone are the days of frustrating loyalties....

I think I would lean towards Wright because for Green to reach his higher ceiling he would have to depend on a Twins development system that lately has not produced a whole lot of quality major league arms.

and hilarious. One of my all time personal favorite players.

A) it is not any sort of a given that a pitcher would fall off a cliff at 30, though it may be the beginning of their decline. You're not going to get anything resembling a prospect, so why bother?

5) Fernando Abad, RP I don't get the mandate to trade this guy. He's only 30, not expensive, under team control and not likely to break the bank headed into arbitration. I agree he's not going to get much of a return because flash/pan middle relievers just don't...so why not get to the offseason to see if he could be an option next year. His arbitration value would be what? 2 million?

I actually think Nunez has some value. He is of course hitting over his head right now, but since he has been with the Twins his defense has looked a lot better. his 18+ UZR at SS last year is probably an outlier, but I think he's gone from a plainly bad infield defender to a mediocre one. His OF stats have been rather good! I think a number of teams look at him as a guy who could be realistically expected to hit around a 100ops while not being a complete failure in the field. He has "stopgap" written all over him, which is good because I'm fairly certain he was viewed as a castoff when the Twins acquired him. I have no idea what other teams would offer, however...

"What's the saying about two Burdis with one stone?" You just couldn't help yourself, could you?

Background If the Twins are looking for a GM change, previous success on field doesn't matter to me as much as a general baseball business acumen and an open mind. As owner, job one would be to enlarge the market and make the team more profitable. Profitability is important to long-term viability My greatest criticism as a fan of the Twins is reserved for present and past ownership. I simply do not like the way the Polhads conduct the business of the Twins. I haven't forgotten the days of Don Beaver and the threats to move or contract the Twins if they didn't get a new stadium with taxpayer help. I recall all the talk fed to the press of the woes of being in a small market when all economic metrics have long pointed to the Twin Cities and Minnesota as being a viable baseball middle-market. Everyone here may remember the message ownership expressed shortly after being given a new field when the product abruptly failed, attendance fell off with the team's performance, and shortly thereafter payroll did as well. From my point of view what came down from ownership as a result was to this, to paraphrase: "we'll invest in more payroll when more people start showing up". I think that's getting the fan/team relationship backwards. Imagine a pizza chain promising to improve their mediocre product only when more people started buying their crummy pizzas. I would instead take more risk to improve the product, then hoping more people would attend "Build it and they will come" SCOUTING The Draft I would take more of a "Best player available" approach. For all the talk of needing to acquire high-upside arms, relief pitchers with good arms that don't earn saves are very cheap on the market and starting pitching with upside certainly fits the "BPA" model. Rosters can change a lot in the years required to develop prospects and it seems a lot more intuitive to just do the best you can to spam your organization with as much talent as possible and use the trade/free agent markets to supplement it to fill holes. I applaud the team for it's approach in some past years - for trying to find better pitchers with more velocity by drafting relievers and converting them, rather than just drafting polished college mediocrity with their good control, questionable command, and 88mph four seamers..... that this approach didn't work wouldn't stop me from approving them to try it again. What I don't want is to spend draft picks on guys who best project to be Tommy Milones and Sam Dedunos as we have no trouble finding those types by other means. I would consistently choose upside over polish. The further in the draft we go, i would focus even more on upside with the ensuing flaws. I would focus on a balance between stats/tools at the top of the draft and much more on tools down low. International Markets I would be a bit aggressive here and am glad they signed Park after the failure of Nishioka. International Markets are also a chance to gain cache in other nations, especially Japan, Australia and Korea. I want the Twins to be among the most respected clubs in the region. I also want to play a series against another MLB team in Tokyo or Seoul during the regular season. If I have to forfeit having three games at home and refunding season ticket holders, so be it. Advanced Scouting I don't see any reason why this should not continue. I want the scouting director to balance statistical vs traditional approaches. Advanced Statistics Over the years, the team's various comments on Sabremetrics indicate that they just that aren't into it and their involvement has been tepid and tokenary. I get the feeling they don't trust it much. Statistics must be integrated the system of decision making, not just another (probably ignored) voice vying for input. All Player Decisions will figure heavily on a statistical approach. PLAYER DEVELOPMENT Philosophies will be based on keeping players who hit at premium defensive positions there as long as possible. I can accept a below average defensive SS who hits 285/340/470. it's not a question of whether he fits the traditional mold of a defensive-first player, it's a question of Wins above Replacement, no matter how they get there. From pitchers I would emphasize more strikeouts and am willing to accept more walks. I don't need every hitter to have Mauer-like patience, but I don't value and see the future in any player I don't think will be able to maintain a 1:2 BB/K rate in the majors (like Rosario), unless they have incredible power (like Sano). I won't bring up prospect so they can sit on the bench. I will require the manager to play prospects who are brought up and sit a vet, if necessary. I would not allow struggling prospects to work through at the major league level if they haven't yet proven a sustained ability to hit at AAA (aka, Aaron Hicks). I would shy away from RH-dominant switch hitters in drafts. I would have switch hitting players who demonstrate a decided difference in splits drop their weaker side if they can't shake it by the end of their days in rookie ball, or their first season of A ball at the latest. I expect players coming from the minors to throw to the right base and make correct decisions as fielders. they should be prepared to play the field. Position Players should focus on skills as well as fitness during the off-season. I worry about pitcher load and would impose inning limits for younger pitchers in non-competitive years. I would keep our affiliates happy. The last thing I want is to have our AAA back in the PCL. I would prefer having more affiliates in the Midwest. MEDIA/PRESS RELATIONS From an organizational standpoint there is always something better to do than answering predictable questions to a bunch of reporters. However, outreach is important. Never shy away from a reporter looking for a few quotes. You need these guys on your side. Take them out to lunch. hire a good ad agency with a penchant for approachable humor and buy ad space in the papers. Send the Trib donuts once in awhile. Embrace bloggers as they tend to come up with better angles/questions. FRONT OFFICE/On Field Staff I would want to keep our legacy personnel close. Minnesota has a good and fortunate history. I'm fairly certain they just want to hang around the ballpark anyways and have little desire to influence team direction. If TK still wanted to manage, he would have been managing these last fifteen years. I don't know who I 'get rid of'. I set expectations and philosophies, let personnel fall however it does. There are a few things with TK's approach that I don't get, but he's a legend. A legend that wears Zubas.... I don't think we need a manager change. A manager's job is mainly preparedness and managing workloads. I don't think there's anything to be gained by getting rid of Molly. Bruno did a good job last year, and it's still early this season. Of all the problems we have had this year, none of it is because of the on field staff. Of note, injury communications have improved. I don't recall this year or last any player being listed as day to day, playing a few times a week by hobbling through, sucking, and then finally being put on the DL for the same injury for the next six weeks. The Manager and Trainer should be assertive in removing players from their duties if they think something is wrong. don't let the player make the call because any dedicated player will want to play through pain. That said, I liked the way Gardy handled umpires. Sometimes someone has to get thrown out to deflate a situation, and Gardy was certainly willing to stand in as a proxy for the anger from his players. If someone is going to burst, it best not be someone on the roster. The Current Situation: The best players should be put in the positions where they can provide the best value, from my perspective. Trevor May goes in the Rotation and Sano goes to Third. Maybe Nolasco has a future as a successful middle reliever, because I've lost hope he'll ever be able to be traded and he's probably no better than our 6th best starting option when everyone is healthy. I don't plan on resigning Plouffe, but I would be perfectly happy with him as a serviceable utility player for the rest of the year if I can't get a player in return that has some upside. Park is an asset. We keep Park. You couldn't give the contracts of Nolasco or Suzuki away right now, so that's moot. We play the prospects unless they struggle too long. We let Dozier work through it. His BB% is the same, his K rate is down, it's only his BABIP that's making him suffer. TRADES: I am willing to trade any non-star player at almost any time. I would look to the numbers guys more than any other. Elite talent is almost never up for trade and when it is, it's only a rental. FREE AGENCY I would be a hypocrite to tear into recent free agency decisions. I thought at the time that the Nolasco and Hughes signings would be good ones,as well as the Santana contract. If everything worked out, ie Nolasco and Santana held as decent #3 starters while Hughes took steps forward moving out of hitter-friendly New Yankee Stadium, we could be looking at a pitching surplus right now had Barrios, Gibson, and Meyer all transitioned to the MLB sucessfully. It didn't work out that way, but I can't fault the process that much. that said, offering extensions after limited success with the team to Hughes and Suzuki were puzzling mistakes. They are consistent with TR's apparent desire for long term certainty rather than try to get maximum value from the ebb-and-flow of the markets. I think in the future I'd like to see the Twins aim a little higher and show a little more patience with how the FA market develops. It's hard to find good value on the market when you are trying to lock up middling players before the bidding starts.. I wouldn't stay away from the 10-13 million dollar guys, but I would stay way from the $3-$8 mil specials. How much better than the normal depth of back-end starters the Twins always have can those guys actually be? Workhorses you say?? Innings have little value unless they have some quality to them. There's always a cheap Scott Diamond in the rough or Tommie 'Mayday' Milones to be had. Pretty soon those $5-8 million dollar 90 ERA+ "workhorses" add up to real money that could have gotten an actually valuable player.

Trading Park... Not a big fan unless we get a real return....like B to B+ prospects. Our sunk costs on him were almost 13 million dollars going into his first season, he's provided decent offense in the middle of the order, and he has a very team friendly contract going forward. Despite creating roster concerns going into the season, he's not exactly blocking anyone now. He is a good player in his prime that we control at a far below market rate, going forward. And I simply do not trust Ryan on the trade market anymore. He'll just acquire more backend starting pitchers, and call it much needed 'depth' while we watch their 88mph fastballs get pounded by major league hitters. Plouffe at this point has much lower roster value to the club, if only because I think resigning him would be a mistake.

It's really tough to get someone to bite on quantity when asking them to give up quality in prospect for prospect trades. Rarely happens. and Vargas has about as much value as any other random player with AAAA upside...

I don't see any of their 'chips' being cashed in for more than a C+ prospect.

I think the difference is that it may be held that OF collisions can be best avoided with experience, which Sano does not have in the OF. Collisions endanger multiple players, especially when one is listed at 260 lbs... Granted at this point the only swap they could make would be to put Plouffe in the OF (who has only 30 games as an outfielder), but I would think that his greater experience overall and lighter frame would reduce the risk.

In the OF, there is always the chance of two people getting injured. Imaging the inexperienced Sano running into Buxton. This is Minnesota, this could happen...

His ratios really bother me. He had an almost 1:8 BB/K ratio last year, which he's bound to improve upon, I'm sure. However, the trouble as I see it is this: how much improvement does he need in the associated skills to have a BB/K ratio where sustainable success becomes more realistic?? I doubt anyone has had sustained success walking once for every eight strikeouts, or that many have sustained hitting walking even once every four strikeouts... His power is real, his Defense is real, but his contact and discipline skills may regress him into a AAAA player or 4th OF....