Cris E

I'd do AFL this year and then start at AA in 2014 and move him up as performance dictates. There really shouldn't be anyone standing between him and Target Field, so let his development be your guide. He needs his skills to ripen, but empty innings at any particular level for the sake of "paying dues" is dumb.

Parmelee is likely to knock the rust off and get tuned up in Roch until Morneau's spot opens for him. He hasn't gotten many plate appearances lately and Calabello has earned some time in the majors. But I'm pretty sure everyone agrees that Parmelee has more of a future than Calabello, and when it's time to move on Chris will get the call.

Arcia got hit on the hand back on July 6 and had to come out of that game. Since then he's 1-22 with twelve of those strikeouts. He's clearly hurt. He wasn't exactly tearing it up in the weeks before then, but there's no chance for him to get through this until the hand is better. I'm guessing the difference between AAA and the DL was just service time, but that's just speculation.

*Moan* *groan* He should have been traded for a prospect. Geeeez...

People who insist that there are other ways to measure success besides actually achieving, you know, "success" frustrate me. So there are no intermediate steps, just pain followed by the 1991 WS? That's not how things work. The Dodgers are trying to win that way this year and it usually fails. Mastro and Ramirez were the insurance, not regulars. You keep complaining about lack of insurance and backups and "every-day alternatives" and then waving away the existence of the Twins backup CFs. I'm not sure what you want to hear. I'm sure Terry Ryan is sorry Benson sucked and Hicks got hurt at the same time Mastro got hurt at the same time Ramierez got hurt. What are you hoping for, a fourth CF on the roster? This is a team feeling its way back to contention and they're going to churn through some bodies. At times the roster is going to look a little rough but they'll make a few short term shortcuts to stay focused on the future. Three wins mean nothing this year compared to keeping as many youngsters in the organization as possible while trying to figure out who can play. You really think they should have tried to pass good players thru waivers to keep Borbon on the 40 man this spring? Really?

That's what Mastorontonioinio was for. He got hurt. Ramirez was the third choice. Three deep seems like a fair effort when the alternative is paying money for players like Borbon. The one decision that bears a little second-guessing is not protecting Benson better, but he played his way out on to the thin ice. I guess I don't understand why you go out of your way to clutter the 40 man roster with this debris instead of biting the bullet for a week or two in a lost season. There are plenty of ways to get by while your guys get healthy, but at least when I watch Hicks I'm seeing an investment in the future of the team. People who insist on measuring management's commitment solely in terms of payroll or wins frustrate me.

If 32 isn't prime, it's within a year. (And it's improving. This article has a nice graph of how much better players are aging these days: Baseball Prospectus | Resident Fantasy Genius: The Age-27 Breakout Fallacy ) My larger point was that as a guy turning 32, he's not at the edge of a cliff. The folks talking about him like he's Olde And Finishede are off-base. The significant drift starts at 33-34, but as a 1b Morneau draws little value from his defense so he'll be useful as long as he hits. If he can prove in 2013 that he can still hit then he'll probably be able to at 33 as well... ...barring injury. And that recalls my other point: if you're going to discount his value it has to be based on his injuries, and specifically his head. There are dozens of guys over 32 years old who are easily justifying their $13m+ contracts. If you don't believe in him that's perfectly understandable, but for a 2-3 year deal age is not a factor.

I'm not here to defend it, just report it: Slama is on the wrong side of the line that separates prospects and players from minor leaguers. The organization has had countless opportunities to play him and they've rarely done it. Other teams have had the chance to pluck him in Rule V and he's still here. He's at a point where he can choose his own path and I hope he gets a chance.

Slama's not that good. He's funky, and that can play, but he's not a major league player. I hope they let him close at Rochester again, and as soon as he establishes himself (again) they trade him to some team that will give him a chance for some other AAAA guy who was never appreciated by his organization. He should get a chance to prove his mediocrity to the world, and the Twins aren't going to let him.

The money is irrelevant in the next couple seasons. They've got most of the guys they want for the coming four or five years and they won't cost anything. Staggering the arb, as discussed above, makes very good sense because it's so easy to do and simplifies life down the road. Guys that are progressing nicely in Roch or NB can stay there, guys that have nothing at all to prove can come up, and anyone not ready can stay out of the discussion. There really isn't much to play for this year and probably even next, so Ryan will use the calendar. Morneau gets an offer from MN if he's here, period. If he's playing well it'll be a two or three year deal, and if he isn't it'll be a qualifying offer. But the real decision point is earlier: if he's playing average or below by July they'll dump him at the deadline just to free the roster spot for another kid (and avoid the discussion in the off-season.) One other thing: upstream discussions about his age make zero sense for a 32 year old first baseman. If you want to discuss risk talk about his concussions, but 32 is still prime for most positions these days, and doubly so at the corners.

Over, but that's just because 80 is so low and Houston is so bad. They're not getting anywhere near 85 because they'll easily be worse and CLE and KC won't be the empty jerseys they were last year. (I am just not a believer in Peavy holding up for a whole year either. Not sure why, I don't hate the man, but he just feels like one of those really talented guys that only flashes the whole package a few times in his career.)

Under. They had a lot of things go right last year and only reached 88. If anything happens to the pitching staff, specifically the rotation, they're going to be lucky to get that. Hunter will help in the OF, but the bullpen got worse as well. I'm thinking the heart of the staff does stay healthy but enough other stuff goes wrong that they win 90.

Punto can play SS and 2b with a straight face. Hannahan can only handle the corners, and the bench is too short for that.

I think this is Marosi reacting to the crazy CF market, not Ryan making calls. MIN needs a rangy CF to cover for the performance art in LF and RF, where Willingham and Parmalee will be making folks pine for the days of Delmon in the corner. But if you insist on getting out of the box, I believe the ridiculous cost of young pitching makes a move for a decent young middle infielder a good idea. The Twins don't have good prospects anywhere near ready, not like they do in the outfield, and converting from a position of depth would make good sense. Moving Revere now is earlier than anyone would prefer, but it's going to be the right move at some point.

It's a swell idea for the teams, but players want to minimize risk too and they define risk as not getting paid. In an incentive-laden contract the team wins both ways: it's cheap if the guy performs and it only gets expensive when he plays really well. For a player there is a downside to playing badly. He'll mitigate that risk by giving back the high end because there are no guarantees about career length: most players can't assume they'll get another chance at a big deal. The other thing to consider is that it's not an either/or situation. The ratio of base pay to incentive can vary widely, so another team can play the same game but beat you by simply dropping a million or three from incentive down into base to improve the ratio. Finally there are limits on what you can incent for: playing time (AB, IP, etc) is OK , events (leading the league in something) and awards are OK, but starting in 2012 bonuses for "milestone" achievements are illegal (ARod hitting #650, Pujols getting #3000, etc) and the rather vague "personal services" riders are out as well.

Blech. No Stewart. Hire Hannahan as a coach. Kepplinger would be cool, but Chavez a little less so. The thing is he's not a 120 game player any more if there aren't DH appearances to be had. The Twins are totally backed up at any position other than 3B he might play. They can't park him in LF, for example.

So we now know we're not building towards 2013. There was always this implied "two good starters and we're in it" vibe and this belies that. As much as that seems obvious, if they'd managed to land, say, Santana, McCarthy *and* Meyers there would have been a real shot at .500. Trading top chip Span for non-2013 talent says not to hold your breath for the others either.

There's no way Brett Meyers lets the Twins get away.

I think they pick up a new SS before they sign a third pitcher, and I also think he won't be much better than the dreck we're sorting through already.

It's also been mentioned that ATL may still be in the market for Span even though Upton was signed. It sounds unlikely, but given Span's team friendly deal, he could be attractive enough to make it a Span for middle IF deal instead. ATL has some stellar young SS.

This hole is probably more important than a third SP. As mentioned, CIN has shortstops and pitchers and MIN has CF to move, so that could work. I'd love to see S Drew contacted. There are options.

Also, quit beating up on dumpster diving. It's not the way to fill all your needs, but Scott Diamond was a failed-but-kept Rule V. His record was nothing special but he turned out to be pretty good. Marquis sucked here, but his kid was seriously sick with something and he was hugely distracted. Later that summer he was what Ryan was hoping for when the deal was struck. Fledman constitues dumpter diving, frankly. The team needs a #1 and #2 plus more, so in addition to a big trade or FA signing, and beyond a third or fourth look at Duensing and his pals, they need to keep dumpster diving to fill this roster.

I think 1,2 and 3 will happen all at once, and the best pitcher they get will be via trade. It'll be Span + youth for an MLB player that carries a decent sized salary. We have a raft of good CF scattered across the organization and there are several pitching-rich teams that we line up with. If we're willing to take on salary, and we appear to have room, we won't have to give up full value in the trade. They'll also sign a good FA starter, but nothing from the top shelf.

Mark Buerhle has three expensive years left, but if the Fish were offered real players or prospects he might come with a scholarship. I'd make that call to find out

Perkins has been solid and pretty healthy since he gave up on starting and embraced the pen. Burton is some guy having a very good year. Cash in the latter and hang on to the former. But here's the deal with deals: I think Terry Ryan is going to leave the team intact for the most part. He sees a scenario where he just needs to sort out the rotation and they’ll be back in the mediocre AL Central mix. Just dump the one year contracts in July and focus on the rotation. He can restructure Baker’s deal, finally give up on Liriano, and they’ll have Gibson to look at, plus there’s the pile of Blackburn, Diamond and Walters to sift through. Assuming Baker is bad next year, Gibson gets a jump on his return in August 2012 and Liriano is traded that means there are enough arms to fill 3 spots at the back, so they only need two better than average starters. (As a secondary concern, maybe a 3b, a RF and possibly a C of the future.) The pitching alone is a lot to find in one offseason. But he’s got some chips to deal: everyone in their last year like Capps, Liriano, Doumit, as well as filler like Casilla and Valencia plus positions of depth like CF (Span or Benson or Revere or Aaron Hicks). Burton is a 2012 alien abduction season that should be cashed in immediately. There’s a lot of money coming of the books so they can afford to take on a real deal or even *gasp* sign a free agent. But he’s got Mauer and Morneau and Willingham and Span and a fair supporting cast of Dozier, Carroll, plus the wildly unlikely Plouffe. It could happen, and far faster and easier than a full tear down. Dumping the part of the team that's performing just to gather more cheap lottery tickets doesn't make a lot of sense when a lot of things are in pretty good shape.