Target Field of Dreams

I totally agree with this and I think you missed my point. I was not arguing that fans decide not to come to games because Mauer is playing 1st. My post was in response to someone else's that said that the Twins can't bench Mauer or change his role on the team because fans will not come then. My point was exactly the same as yours.A winning team gets fans back in the stadium in every case. This team gets there by vastly improved pitching, but also by giving no free passes to position players simply based upon their contract or past success. If moving Mauer or any other player on the roster to a reserve role improves the team, then new management can't be afraid to do just that.

Winning games by putting the best team on the field will fill seats. This team is doomed if new management decides to construct the roster by playing badly declining hometown heroes every day when the fact of the matter is the team is better by playing someone else. They need to make decisions based upon current talent and future potential alone.

Great piece Seth! Love your approach of laying out your predictions but also being mindful that this is a 22 year old guy we are talking about and we need to give him time to develop and grow as well. Sometimes as fans we can be pretty unfair to the guys when they don't immediately meet our grandiose expectations. With that being said, I am pretty optimistic that Sano will in fact meet them or come close to them and am excited to watch him play.

Great analysis Nick! We definitely over-value our own players here. Fans of all teams do this...part of the emotion of truly loving a team and having their players become your favorites. It sucks to see players we like moved, especially ones with the skill-set that Hicks does, but the reality is that us thinking of him as a potential All-Star is all projection, based on an extremely small sample size of actual production at the MLB level. The performance against RH pitching is the biggest thing most people leave out when discussing Hicks, and that is a glaring weakness. If we get a league avg catcher in Murphy for the foreseeable future, that is a big win as we did not have one in the pipeline for a couple years at best. We have a lot of talented OF in the pipeline and this trade should allow us to focus on other positions to further improve this team.

Time for Hip Hip Jorge! (Polanco)....Or Escobar

Niko Goodrum had an error in the Miracle and Kernels games last night? Impressive

Is Polanco close enough to strongly consider trading Santana while he is at a general high point? I really like Santana, but if we have a legitimate replacement for him...(we have 2 as Escobar is also solid) it would be nice to trade value for value rather than waiting too long and trading at a low point.

I would absolutely not trade Berrios or Buxton for pretty much anyone. Santana I would consider and possibly Sano as well given that we have other very good options at their positions. If we can truly get where we want to without trading anyone though, then I am glad to keep them as well. My main concern is that the Twins have had a tendency over the last couple of years to trade guys at the bottom of their value (some of it wasn't their fault due to injuries), and now is an opportunity to get value at a position of need by trading some valuable pieces we may have in excess.

Isn't this season an ideal time to trade Santana? We have Escobar and Polanco should be up soon as well. I like Danny a lot but it would make sense to trade him when he has must value...i realize Hamels is unrealistic obviously

Really...my post was mainly about the fact I think we should trade Santana and I really dislike Nolasco being on our roster. With that being said, what kind of value would Santana bring back? I agree I wouldn't want to include any top prospects in a trade

As much as I like Danny Santana, is it crazy to think the Twins might want to consider trading him this year? In years past, I feel like the Twins have severely missed the high point of a player's value and have had to trade at the low point, significantly diminishing the return. While I like Danny, it is logical to think he is playing at or even slightly above his potential at this point and we have other options for short currently. Escobar can handle it and Jorge Polanco is about to be knocking on the door as well. Could be a golden opportunity to sell high. While the Twins have been winning as of late, I think it is clear that their starting pitching is still not near where it needs to be and getting a frontline starter could really get them over the hump. Am I crazy to think a Santana+Nolasco trade to the Phillies for Cole Hamels deal could work? The Phillies would get a legit starting SS under team control for many years (their top SS prospects are in rookie leagues right now) + a serviceable NL pitcher in Nolasco and we would get an ACE to anchor the rotation. 2 questions? 1. Is trading Santana something they should be considering right now? 2. Is a Hamels trade too unrealistic? Any other ideas that are more realistic?

I know this is a pipe dream...hey, that's an idea. Maybe we should trade him for a pipe. Any type will do...Tobacco, PVC, brass, aluminum...any and all would be more useful for the Twins

Given our logjam of pitchers and the Dodgers rash of injuries...seems like we maybe could be a trade match with them. Ideally we could give them Nolasco (he loved it there and he did alright for them) and they would give us Van Slyke. We could use the outfield defense and he absolutely crushes LH pitching. I know what you are thinking...why would anyone in their right mind want Nolasco? And you are right...maybe we could throw in a lifetime membership to Calhoun Beach Club or something for the Dodger's owners as well? Nolasco's contract is chump change for them, so that probably wouldn't be much of a deterrent. Really, a Nolasco for a bottle of California sunshine would be fine with me at this point as he seems to not want to be here or put the work in to be a decent player. It would give us a little more room to work in some of our younger pitchers and hopefully get them some experience to bring us to contending sooner.

Source: Does Terry Ryan have what it takes to lead the Twins in 2015?

Good point on Versalles Paul...Maybe just Versalles spark plug/power ability and Gagne's everything else.