ND-Fan

I would like to say this is all making of previous Front office and it looks like they were not as incompentent as all people on here have made them out. It just took time for these players to develop. I will give credit to this front office on several of new coaches hired it seems they have been able to turn the corner on this group of players in getting them to make needed changes. Also i have stated in past this front office was able give up on some previous high draft picks and let this new group play in there natural positions. The question is will this new Front office will be able add the right people and subtract right people in the future to improve this team in next few years because this core could win couple of championships if they can add pitching without subtracting to much from the core.

This is mirroring the Twins of the past. If you would look back 87 twins to 91 Twins there were writing about Hrbek in similar fashion he was to big and didn't work hard enough. There seems to be this similar attitude with larger players and players that have fun time playing baseball in Minnesota with the media. With Hrbek there was thought it would have extended his career but he had good career who knows if it would have extended his career or improoved on his numbers. He was leader on winning team and now appears Sano may have similar career path and i think may even surpass Hrbek. Players are what they are and it difficult to make whole sale changes in them and if they do change alot of time they miss what made them great.

We will never know how Kintzler would have faired but safe to say this is second time we have lost a game since the trade by failure of closing game out. So we go just by low percentage of success say 1/3 if we have one more failure we could have lost a game which I think its going to come down too a game or two. Also we had to run another minor starting pitcher out there in double header where he only made it a few innings taxing the bull pen again. If we had Garcia a veteran presence In playoff run how much would that helped. This is sure looks like major league the movie where the FO has done little to help them win its on these players and manager and coaching staff just going out there with attitude they are going to win no matter what happens. Like I have said every so often things line up where average team can win playoff spot and get hot win it all. This may be one of those years and media, fans, and experts are left dumb founded something like that can happen.

I think looking back at past Front office i think were way to hard on them. I think there major weakness was they had poor results drafting pitchers. I look at there signing of relief pitchers they had some fairly good success with signing of Kintzler, Rogers, and couple of other low cost signing relief pitchers. If Detroit would have had equal success they would have won couple of world series. There trading for pitchers was 50/50 they had some success with Mjeha and Mays but missed on big piece in myer. Free agent signings they had success with Hughes but extending him has been bust, Santanna has been a good signing , Nolasco was a bust but this was pushed my management and ownership. This front office has done very little to be judged on what they have done is little more than parade bunch of pitchers through hoping one will stick but looking at results I have not seen anything that has come close yet. The best so far is Colon but this is no long term solution for the Twins and they did have Garcia which would have been upgrade to what they have been running out there but they waved white flag way too soon. This Front office will be judged on this off season by fans on what ever moves they make to improve pitching. I believe many fans will find out they are going to keep number of pitchers they have right now because pitching is hard to find and teams are unwilling to let go of young pitching prospects unless your willing to give up a lot of talent to acquire these prospects so far this FO has shown there reluctance to do this. I believe for Twins improve there pitching they will be signing at least one starter and one relief pitcher on free agent market this coming year. I wouldn't be surprised if they sign a couple of starters. Also I believe they will be keeping Gibson and wouldn't be surprised if they keep Santiago too. If they do not they will have traded away some of position players for pitchers. The Twins help from farm system is at least year to two years away before it makes impact on pitching for the Twins. Look at how long it has taken to get Berios to where he is at now. The problem is that the Twins have on field team that is ready to win now so they need immediate pitching help now. If This FO fails to do this we will be looking at another rebuild and I wouldn't be surprised on another FO either. The grace period is over for this FO and I believe they made fatal error this year in that they didn't know they were this close to having winning team and could have made couple additions in off season plus not waving white flag so quick they could have made run in the playoffs. Even with this the team could still pull off run in the playoffs. I Think there problem has been where they came from. Falvey Thought Cleveland was just superior to the Twins but this was based on last year but not how were the teams this year. Same thing with Levine he came from Texas where they were much better last year than the Twins so he had same impression. This years Twins were destine to be much better with development of young players and FO that had cut loose of Plouffe which previous FO had put to much value in because he had been number one draft pick. This move alone improved the Twins defense to where the pitching staff showed improvement this year but it was all about one move. With this move Sano to third the Twins outfield is one of the top outfields in MLB, Sano has improved defense at third base plus his offense has improved, The young outfield is now starting to hit on consistent basis with development of these young players. Infield has improved over last year and overall is hitting much better this year. But getting back to pitching The Twins will need to acquire some immediate pitching help for next year and year after before we see how this next wave of pitchers coming develop because we have seen just about everything they have in upper levels of twins minor leagues this year.

This has surprised me in that instead of folding up the tent they have bonded together are going to show everyone they are good club. Stats people can show you all sorts of stats why they should not win but they can't show you personal side of team. This group is learning how to win and they are putting more games together where they have figured how to win than when they loose which has been a lot of time very big. It also reflects on pitching staff that front couple of pitchers have pitched very well for starters and same was happening with relief staff they have had couple that have excelled at times this year. I also have to give credit to Paul Molitor he done good job of keeping this team together and playing. I have been critic of his but he's shown this year he can win if given few good player perfomances. I have stated all long when you have a team that is winning you do all you can as FO to keep it winning. The future is now because things may never click with group of players again because of thousand different circumstances. Also I believe every so often you have years like this when group of teams are all about the same and all have flaws that prevent them from taking command of playoff spot. I am thinking this years wild card teams in American league could get in with a low of 85 to 87 wins. I just look at the remaining schedule and you see how so many of the teams are playing each other and nobody has the look of dominating others so I got feeling this is how whole season plays out. Also I look at American league central this is by no means settled either. Cleveland is up 4 on the Twins in the loss column but the Twins should stay hot and gain a game or two and next week Twins sweep Cleveland you could see Minnesota tied with Cleveland with 40+ games to go. I know this may not happen but if this happens the Twins sure could have used their closer and another pitcher to add depth only saving factor will be that September is just two weeks away to get some call up to bolster the ranks. Also this may be another reason the Twins can make run for playoffs because this will bolster the bottom end of the rotation because they will have pitchers to piece games together to win a few more games. Baseball has changed which a number of the media and experts have not fully come to realize in that having the best team with best overall record means nothing today. Because if you win 100+ games or you squeak in with 86 wins to make the playoffs. Everyone is starting even and it comes down to winning on very short sample size so if team gets hot it could propel you all way to world series champs. Look how many wild card teams have been to world series in last 10 years and they have won it just as many times as teams with best record in baseball. To win World series even for wild card teams it takes 13 wins out of possible maximum of 22 games. Relative short season where who ever is hot and playing good baseball can become world series champ. In the past baseball was set up for teams who won most in regular season to make it the World Series. That has changed and has extended the interest of fans in many cities because of these chances to make the playoffs.

I agree with the above posts that this has something to do with loss Polanco is dealing with. Then add in pressure playing at major league level and being away from family and things can get away from somebody pretty quickly. This such mental game and if your not at top your game it will get better of you. I wonder if the Twins could give time off and here soon because he is not doing anybody any good the way it is now. I believe that also happened to Joe Mauer for couple years getting married and then having Twins it distracts from the players mental focus to where it effects there performance. We see it in all types of businesses why not in Baseball because these are still people who are effected by many things in their personal lives more than we know.

Like any business there's risk in hiring a new manager and time will only tell how he does as manager for this organization. Contrary to what people think I believe there is a lot right about this organization and what I think is wrong with it is probably they have not hired enough people and created good communication system on player development and scouting. This means more people for analytical side, more scouts, and more people teaching down in the instructional leagues. Also whole new department of people for medical and physical training for players. I also think that coaching is behind to other baseball organizations in that analytics is part of the coaching young players today. I think were going to see how invested are Pohlads are when all this increases the cost of doing business. Also one thing I see with Cleveland is they have produced winning club this year but business side getting people to the ball park has not been good. This is going to be important in Minnesota because this was bottom line why Terry Ryan was fired cost were up and interest was going down. His successor will have some time but not the time that Terry had. This new head of baseball is going to need some luck in finding some pitching and better hope that some Terry Ryan past plan pans out in the future. Like Phil Hughes returning and being able to pitch like at least number 3 starter, Gibson developing into quality starter, Santanna continuing to pitch like he has, and for Berios to develop in quality starter, not to mention Mays, and Duffy. I think new Head can put together adequate bull pen by few signings and what is in the farm system. Offense is strong on this team and should continue improve with this young talent. Defense is another issue to many players above average offensively but are weak in the field. Also have some positions that are too deep at but hard to get value out them because of weakness on defense side or to expensive to keep around much longer and other teams know this. Team needs catcher and find shortstop that plays defense and supplies enough offense. I think this will be benefit of new blood or change we might find where some players are given chance at position and this brings me to having Molitor remain manager. I think he should be let go and let the new man choose his manager to fit how he wants to put this team together and style of ball he wants them to play. But getting back to all people wanting to blow up whole organization I think that would be big mistake and we would be looking at another 4 years of loosing baseball while rebuilding the team with new person and with possibilities that could altogether fail with that person. Then we would be looking at over decade of loosing baseball.

I think Berrios problem is reason the Twins are having so much trouble developing pitching. The problem is Twins have not put the resources of coaching and people aiding coaching staff pick up on tipping pitching or its mechanical problems its been being missed until they reach majors and then they are to well develop to make these changes and we are running into why the Twins are behind other teams in pitching development. I also think it goes into their scouting people to know what they are looking at. This is important to the Twins future as is anything they need people who are on top of this from the beginning with their players. I also think they people checking on the people doing instructing to see that they are not missing something. Because a problem at this level is not easily correctable if its not caught until major league level or triple A. I am willing to bet ST. Louis has system that is good because look at the arms they have produced over last 10 years. Also the mets over my lifetime the number of number one pitchers they have developed is amazing. I Think the new head of baseball organization this will be as important to the team as how they structure the Twins baseball clube will be next two years because if they don't correct this the Twins will never be able to compete with other teams.

I have thought along the Twins should be trading Dozier and it certainly he is at high point in value. The only problem I have with that is I don't have a lot of trust in Twins making a good deal to get some young arms. I look at when they Traded Span and Revere for pitching and so far only pitcher of value has been May and I think the Twins have maybe screwed him up now I am wondering if he will develop into the pitcher he looked like he could become. If the Twins could get young pitcher nearly MLB ready and couple low minor high upside pitchers thrown into the deal I think they should. I Think that Polanco could fill in adequately for Dozier and I just don't think the Twins will be ready to win before they have to make a decision on Doziers. What ever MN does in picking pitchers has not been what you call stellar for the organization. I can't remember when the Twins have had high upside pitcher they drafted and made major leagues and stayed up and was successful my guess it would be Radke. If the Twins wanted improve the organization they need to figure out what they do as organization and why they are not coming up with more pitching talent. A new GM should address this problem right away and start making changes to correct this problem. A major league club if its going to win needs to develop pitching on their own if they want to be contenders. I wonder what changes would need to be made to improve this. I think its not getting rid of people but adding people who's only job is acquire and find good pitching prospects. I think their people finding position players are above average and should continue in their jobs in player development. I look at their drafting position players and acquiring position players they have been very successful. Now they need to find people that are as good at that in finding pitching.

The Twins are always looking for the flashy glove at ss instead of just finding a shortstop that can make the routine plays and has little pop in his bat. They had in Hardy but he was to slow, not enough range etc. and since we gone through another couple of SS. I think Escobar could be good average short stop but twins are still looking for hall fame short stop. Polanco is second baseman or 3 baseman and the Twins are just wasting at bats on Plouffe they are not going to trade him for much and sure not going to sign him next year for 10 million. They already have log jam at infield Escobar, Polanco, Sano, and Santanna all much cheaper options much longer control than Plouffe. In my opinion they are just wasting at bats and taking away development of younger players. The Twins just have hard time turning page on their number 1 draft picks when they don't pan out. I also believe the Twins will need to trade Dozier for pitching soon if they are going to make run by 2018. He could bring several top quality pitching prospects to Twins that would be ready to pitch at big league level. They have Polanco that could be above average at second and they Gordon kid coming up fast in minors also will need a position.

Looks to be a fair trade for the Twins. Hope he keeps himself clean and not caught again for drugs. It opens up infield for Escobar to get playing time and I wouldn't be surprised if Dozier might be traded opening the way for some Twins prospects to come up later this year. Still expect Twins to trade reliever yet for fair prospect. I hope they can trade Nolasco and Milone for something. Nolasco future is in the national league. Milone would fit with a lot of teams he can make a fifth starter to eat innings or he can be used in long relief. I still wonder how much trading is going to happen before the trade deadline. Its good start for the Twins but I still think they have work cut out for them in moving some players yet.

Trading Plouffe would be answer but the problem is nobody is willing to take him at his cost. Nunez will be traded soon as the all star game is over. I really think they should trade Dozier now and get what ever they can for him I think his numbers are improving to point where somebody would be interested in him for the stretch run. That would leave you with Polanco at second and Escobar at SS and Sayno at third with Danny Santanna as your backup. Dozier in my mind doesn't fit into Twins longterm plans for this team because he will be to costly and better talent is pushing for his position. Also if Escobar doesn't work Gordon is soon to be here for longterm shortstop. I also have my doubts about Sano for the future he going to have to rededicate himself if he wants to be big time baseball star. I have doubts about that now he looks to satisfied right now and wants to play in social life. Park I think needs just at bats at major league level because he's proven he can hit triple A level in Korea. I just don't see where the Twins get much return because major league baseball clubs know that they have jettison some of this talent to keep there young talent and they know Twins will never trade any of their young talent away.

I hate to be pessimistic but I think this is lost year for the Minnesota Twins. They have dug themselves hole they are not going to dig themselves out of. I see three major problems for the Twins this year and I see no way they are going to get this corrected in time to save this season. First is Sano has read to much of the press about himself that he has failed to prepare himself for this season and he may get there before the season is over but the Twins were counting on him to carry a big load for this team. He needed to come to season in better shape and he clearly has not done that. Also he will need to prepare himself better on pitchers he's facing and how they are going to pitch him. I do believe he will learn these are important parts of the game or else he will never live up to his potential. Second the Twins need to decide if they are going to keep this relief staff in place or are they going to take a risk and start bringing up some this talent. They have held on to many average relievers and have had to put them in high leverage positions where they are going to fail. If this season gets out of hand like I think it going to they need to look at there young talent start moving relief pitchers to give chance to these young relievers and if they don't pan out they will have to look at nest years free agents to fill there needs. Three they are going to have to decide who of these young outfield candidates they are going to keep and who they are going to trade. I think they are going to need to trade these to fill some of their glaring holes in other positions. I think they are going to need to find a veteran catcher that can hit and my guess is they should bel looking lucroy from Brewers. I would think they would be interested in trading with the Twins like if they put up Arcia and couple low round pitching prospects because by time they are rebuilt he will to be old and will be free agent. For the Twins fans that thought Tori Hunter didn't have much influence last year look at this year club. They need that leader that keep them on track and also doing little things to win ball games. I just see to many young players worrying about there statistics not doing the little things that wins games. Molly will blow a fuse before this year is over. But from a positive note this going to lay the seeds to these players on how to win in the future. This going to be long season for us to watch a lot of mistakes and a lot of games that should have been won but lost. We could see this team approach a 90 loss season again unless things start turning around very soon. A number of players could be gone before the season is over like Plouffe, Arcia, Nolasco, Milone, Jepsen, several other relievers, and even more starting pitching. I know everyone thinks it early but were nearly done with a month in the season and if the Twins played 500 ball now till end of year they would have 86 losses. Now if they continue to loose for another couple of weeks like this it will take above 500 baseball to stay away from 90 loss season. So you see we could easily see even more slippage to 100 loss season I never thought this possible but this is situation they are facing. Its a young team that needs to learn how to win they have lots of talent but now they need to learn to do little things that determine winners.

You talk of projecting but I would also have to say Mauer, Dozier, Plouffe, and Escobar I would have hard time projecting their numberas well. In my mind Plouffe is probalbly the easiest of the group I am thinking he will have similar numbers for last two seasons and I think maybe with slight upward tick he's learning to hit right hand pitching. Next will be Mauer but is he going from this past year point or are we going to see return to where he hits like around 300 for the season this will mark second free year post concussion Morneau seemed to make that leap after his concussions. Dozier has shown signs of wearing down so his hitting numbers and fielding number have been hurt in second half of the season previous 2 seasons. I think The Twins will address this some by controlling his playing time and his ability to pace himself for the season. Then we come to Escobar I thought last season he turned the corner as hitter in that he wasn't swinging at every pitch and he was working himself into better counts to hit. I think its where young player finally learns how to hit a major league level. I am thinking he could have vastly improved numbers for the season. The rest of the new players is another area where I believe where no one will know how they will hit. My guess it will be streaky for each of them until either they learn to hit or pitchers dominate them until they learn to hit Major league pitching. My guess is were going to have mid year slump on offense until these kids can adjust to how they are being pitched.

I don't want to be party pooper but I think this year is going to be tester of our patience. I wouldn't be surprised we have sophomore set back a regression to say the least. This is year where these young kids learn to win on their own and who will be leader of this team. I just feel its going to be one of these years where they don't get off to their best start and by end of the year they will have figured out how to win but will be couple games worse than were last year. I think it will be like Clevelands year last year where they came on late in the season. All young teams it takes couple years together to learn how to win and I just feel they are year away from that. I guess until Sano and Buxton learn how to win and they get some of their young pitching talent here making a impact. I could be wrong but that's just my gut feeling about this team. To many if they play this way players and not strong track records of knowing how they will play.

I think people way over reacting to what the Twins didn't do or not do at the Winter meetings. The Twins have a lot of options even as they sit now. If they go with May, Jepsen, and Perkins those are three strong arms and proven talent that could be very effective in the bull pen. They all throw above 96 and have reached as high as 98 last fall when they were pitching. Also the Twins have a lot of relief talent down in farm system with some big arms which I think could be called up a lot of teams would have already called up. Look at this past year the Mets took rule 5 draft pickup of Gilmartin and look at year he had and Mets are counting on him for coming year. If these options don't work out they could still go and trade for someone yet this year. I sure don't want the Twins weighed down with some big longterm contracts for relievers that have short life in the majors usually. They need to keep this payroll managed so they can lock up Sano's, Buxtons, Rosario's. and some these future propects coming up because looking at these new contracts being offered now Mauers contract will look pretty small in the near future. We could see for kind of talent we have contracts that will be 300 million plus in near future.

I think people are writing off Mauer way too quick he's still getting on base still leads the Twins of its regulars this past year and he still has ops in 700 hundreds. This down from his peak but the Twins need to get somebody on if Sano, Plouffe, and are going to be of value. Also he's still better firstbaseman than Sano, Vargas, and probably Park in fielding playing the position. The question is where do you bat him in the order 3 may be wrong position but you end of with lower on base percentages from some of other players or takes away from where they are batting in the order. I also think his numbers are still going improve from this year if he can remain healthy and put some more distance between his concussion. Sayno to be effective needs person ahead of him getting on base and he also needs Plouffe behind him give him some protection so he see's some pitches he can hit. I think thats why they are looking at Park also need another big bat so teams can't pitch around the Twins two home run hitters. I think the Twins were so hoping that Buxton would have shown that he could get on base when he was up. He was just striking out to much and Twins were hoping same thing from Santanna this past year but all the changes in position and expectations i think just derailed him last year. The problem is he's out options and so he can't refine his skill at short now with out the Twins loosing him. I just don't believe they are going to trade Plouffe until somebody else in their line up can show they can hit for power and drive in runs. The Twins loss of Hunter means they already have lost 25 home runs and 75 RBI out the line up. Taking Plouffe out line up means loosing another 25 home runs and 80 RBI bat out the line up. The players they are talking about replacing them with so far on prooven or haven't hit like that yet in the majors.

I don't think Plouffe is on trade table unless somebody comes and makes offer that terry can't turn down. I think he will be trade candidate in July if the Twins are out the running and are sellers. My feeling is that they can't trade Plouffe now because it would mean they would be loosing over 150 RBI"s and 40+ home runs from last years team if Plouffe and Hunter are gone would be relying on unproven talent going into this season with Park trying to replace Hunter and Plouffe. Also Sano needs a hitter like Plouffe batting behind him to give him some protection. Plouffe become expendable if Park develops into power hitter and Rosario, Sano, and Buxton continue to develop their power. Buxton starts year out at triple A to help him develop and also to give the team one more year of control they will want his best years under team control and hopefully with one contract they can lock him up to his 30 to 31 years of age. The Twins are going to sign one quality reliever to be 8 inning or the closer, and they also will sign one left hander specialists too, and after that I expect them to sign couple veteran relievers to minor league contract to see if they can make the team. I think Danny Santanna if he shows he can hit this spring will be opening day starter in center field. My guess is we open the season with Mauer at 1st, Dozier at second, Escobar at SS, Plouffe at 3rd, Rosario in left, and right fielder to be found yet or comes up from minor leagues, DH Sano. and catcher Suzuki , Bench will be Murphy, Nunez, Arcia, and Park. Starting pitching will be Hughes,Gibson, Santanna, May, and Nolasco . Relief pitchers will be Perkins, Jepsen, Malone, Pressely, to be signed, to be signed, and Fein or Tonkin. Also the Twins will be looking to trade Nolasco for any return either in pitching or position player. I think they are going to keep Malone because they have so little depth from the left side at major league level. Duffy and Berios start the season out at triple A until we have injury or they are able to trade Nolasco which I betting happens in early May if not before season opening and he end up on National league team needing pitching my guess will be somebody like Padres, Marlins, Phillies, and Brewers. The more I look at this team for coming year is my guess we will be lucky to repeat last season numbers we are going to awful young team and will be transition of who's going to lead this team especially when we are talking about trading Plouffe, Suzuki in his last year, and Mauer ( not fitting that type of team leader. My thought its probably going to happen in 2017 beginning and when everything comes together will be 2018.

This is very good article about pitching and was something I emailed john Bonnes about in there blog on the Twins. They ( Gleeman and Geek) have been so critical of Twins pitching but as avid followers of the Twins we always see there short comings as players and players for other teams we don't always see there short comings because of only see them couple times a year. I truly believe if the Twins pitchers were healthy down the stretch here we would have been one of the teams in the playoffs. We would have had very good bull pen set up with May, Jepsen, and Perkins with high velocity and nasty stuff to hit. Hughes,Gibson, and Duffy would have given us quality starters to go into series with compete. Hughes is quality solid number two starter when healthy, Gibson is solid number 3 starter, and Duffy would have been number one starter with his curve ball and nobody having faced him before would have put teams at great disadvantage. This coming year I believe the Twins will have a lot of talent choose from to build good rotation from with signed players and kids coming up through farm system. I believe they could use some help in bull pen if right pickup can be found they could upgrade on the bull pen.

Yes the Twins are in terrible tail spin right now but don't go off the deep end. Look around at their competition they all have gone through terrible tail spin too. Not long ago Houston was thought out of it loosing number gains until they were at 500 hundred. Now they have rebounded and that was before they made dozen moves. I think the Twins fortunes will turn here before all is lost baseball is long season with many ups and downs. I have feeling that offense will turn around here not all these players are going to hit under 200 for ever and when that does pitching will improve too. I also think Ryan is not done yet with this team with additions I willing to bet we get few more pitchers and maybe a catcher yer before this is done. I think they are hoping to get to September when baseball changes and be in the hunt for wildcard spot. September is when teams change with call ups happen and Twins will be very different team because of strength of their farm system we saw it last year the offense just exploded for the Twins. I think this will happen again and defense will improve too to help the pitching. Like I say don't write season off yet. The Twins are in very most difficult part of season with playing Toronto, Yankee's, California, and A's out west look at their history with these teams for last 5 to 10 years they have record of less than 400 ball against these clubs. I don't know the reason for it but its proven fact they just have hard time beating these clubs. They just NY left of these clubs until next month with Angels. The Twins I think will hang around this 500 and hope they get their winning streak to happen that's baseball. Game of streaks both losses and wins hopefully wins come soon.

I just wish he get what ever he going to do over with it. These kids on the Twins are playing terrible baseball now and reason I believe is there worrying about if they are going to be traded or sent down with new players arriving so they are not concentrating on baseball. You can see it closer we get to trade deadline more mental errors are happening. There's no coaching that can prevent this and these in experienced players we have are just loosing it mentally. Hunter can't help this because these kids are worrying about there future and in so doing so speeding up their exit from the show. I also don't think their agents help them any either because their always pushing these kids for flashy numbers instead of just steady play and what they can do now instead of letting them grow playing the game. Arcia is prime example of this mental attitude and reason he's in the minor's. I think Santanna is so worried about his job that he's is playing himself out the show again. I also just believe that Ryan is not ready to trade their prospects away yet but he is willing to trade some of veteran players and this is why we haven't seen much happen yet. I believe Pelfry, Nolasco, and some veteran relievers have been on trading block with likes of Arcia, Polanco, and maybe younger quality starter if its for a catcher and reliever. I wouldn't be surprised if they don't make a move and he tries to find something on waiver wire when everyone else is making deals and will need to release someone to make room for a player.

Twins will trade for Piernzski or somebody like him now player to rent for remainder of the season and will only give up relief type pitcher lower minor league position player for the second half. Ryan will never make big trade in mid season if it involves some quality prospects. I just don't see the Twins making many moves going into Trade deadline. There going to look for reliever and fill in catcher for remainder of the year and even at reliever it just may come from the farm system.

Plouffe has developed into good third baseman and I continue see improvement in him again this year. The Twins are coming to point to what are they going to do with him because he is becoming valuable commodity because around mjajor leagues third baseman is not a lot of strong young players at that position. There are number of aging players that are coming to end of their careers. The question will be if Sano will be upgrade at position in next year or so or should they be signing Plouffe to longterm deal. Also Sano maybe could be a first baseman but they already have Mauer there for several more seasons. Then you add in that Vargas will be competing for first base or DH position and things get crowded. Plouffe or Mauer could play outfield but we could also be dealing with very crowed outfield of very young talent of Hicks, Buxton, Rosario, and Arcia plus several more in minor leagures. The Twins are going to have make decision fairly soon what will be Plouffes future will be with the Twins and if not what they will need to get in return for him to fill other needs of the club which will be my opinion finding catcher of the future.

I listened to you and Gleeman on the pod caste and your right that he has shown improvement in last couple of weeks. What you guys forgot is that the Twins have been in love with Nunez since they acquired him last year and he ready to be activated so Vargas goes. Gleeman has hard time understanding the Twins decisions but if you look in past its somebody in baseball operations that likes certain players after they have acquired them. I also think that Molitor had grown tired of finding spots for Vargas to hit and like he said he wanted him full time hitting and getting some confidence. I also think the Twins are not ready to cut some of these players because they have so little faith in likes of Hicks, Vargas, Rosario, May, and Santanna that keep these veteran players around if they should struggle. There past history is that sooner play with marginal veteran than to struggle with bunch of younger players. I also believe that the Twins are not even close to getting Buxton, Sano, and Myers to big leagues they are going to have to be deystroying pitching at the levels there at before call up comes. This goes to Twins philosophy that there not going to waste playing time on major stars unless they are totally ready. They want to get full service time from these players only when they are ready to play at Major league level. If you look at how many of Twins stars of the past have come up this way they have controlled them through most of there most productive years before loosing them to free agency.

Yes I believe we have this difference in how people perceive how the Twins run the organization. I also think the Twins run organization is more looking at long cost of having a player come up from the minors. If Twins develop that player completely in the minors and he comes up at later age they have him for his optimum years at the optimum price. They have brought up players earlier but for most part that has not been as successful as they would have liked. "The last example of this is Hicks. They tried with Hunter too and it took several reboots before that worked out. The biggest fault I see in Twins is they seem to not draft the high end pitchers or are looking at different factors when drafting pitching. I can't remember when the Twins developed hard throwing pitcher that dominated baseball. Even some the most successful pitchers for Twins have come from other organizations. Santanna, Milton, Reed,, Nathan, Loyse, Young, Tapani, Agrilara, Larino and Jack Morris, In that same time the pitchers the Twins developed and kept for awhile were Frank Viola and Brad Radke both very quality pitchers but more know for control and their change up. There may be more reasons for this but I look at Washington Nationals, New York Mets, St. Louis Cardinals, and some of other teams they keep bringing up these hard throwing pitchers that just dominate the majors leagues and we have hard time to develop one of these pitchers every 10 years. To me this is where the Twins need to address their organization is type of player they are drafting to become pitchers. They have been very successful in developing skilled players over years that have become elite players of major leagues but not at the pitching level.