Doomtints

Each minor league is probably responsible for buying their own balls. Some of the leagues probably don't skimp. If the leagues the Twins participate in use different balls, the Twins could fix the problem if they felt it was important.

#23 would be a huge improvement over dead last. If the Twins land in this range this would be a successful year.

Tommy John. Balls bouncing off the top of his head. The Twins may as well dress him up as a rodeo clown out there.

And what happens to his bat when he is on the DL due to an injury from playing 3B?

You think he has all of the necessary tools to play 3B, but you don't think he will be good at it?

Touche.

Yes. See Eduardo Nunez.

As I understand it, the keys to being a great third basemen are to be fit, fast (both with quick reactions and quick feet), and smart. Right handed power hitters spray the ball that way all day long, and hit it HARD and FAST when they hit that direction. Is this Sano? Didn't he fail at LF because he was lacking in all of those things that make a good third baseman? 3B isn't a position where you can just stand there. It's harder than LF.

What are you basing these two points on? What are the '3B tools'? How is his 3B defense more valuable than his DH bat + whoever else they put at 3B instead?

Fowler is one of those rare guys who seems to bring things to the table that don't show up in the metrics. I'm sold on him. I understand completely why some people would not be. This means that, to me, you can't pull out the stat sheet and tell me he sucks. I'll never buy it.

If Dozier improves upon last year, then keeping him might be better than trading him. He will be hitting MVP years as the young Twins rebuild starts to take shape.

He could be a gem. This is one of the better risks the Twins have taken in recent history.

I dunno man. When you win the WS, I would think you make as few changes as possible. They erred in letting Dexter Fowler go, but overall the Cubs have done a good job this offseason.

I think it's very possible.

Santana is a bit of a holdover from a terrible era. If he deserves a shot give it to him, but don't dink around if he doesn't immediately work out. Move on. We know that at least two shortstops will no longer be with the team after spring training. He's the least likely to make it. But there's nothing wrong with him being part of the mix during ST. More options are better.

I don't think the Cubs would be interested. They have a top defender/average hitter (with some pop) at 2B. It worked last year, so why change? The Cubs rival Cardinals could use Dozier and may look at that near the deadline if it looks like they will be fighting it out until the end.

I wouldn't talk about new grips either. Let the opposition work for every piece of knowledge they can get. Basically it should be: I'm the effing pitcher and it's your job to figure me out. I might try a brand new pitch on you today, deal with it. I might show a different grip today, figure it out. My release point is suddenly different? Boo hoo for you for not knowing this was coming. Nothing aggravates me more than when I see a Twins pitcher announcing that his new success is due to a change, and then outlining that change. Usually what happens next is that pitcher quickly goes back to sucking. Hitters and pitchers should keep their lips tightly sealed about their approaches. It's fine to share with coaches and teammates, but not the press. How many ace pitchers talk about how they pitch? How many MVP hitters talk about how they hit? The number zero is pretty darn close in both cases. In both cases the hitters and pitchers are CONSTANTLY changing, trying to stay one step ahead of the opposition. If you announce your changes, you may as well never change.

The Twins really gotta stop announcing to the world when their pitchers are working on a new pitch. Make the other team's scouts do their work, don't just hand info over to them. The less info pitchers share with the world regarding mechanics, pitches, whatever, the better off the team will be.

I don't think they can evaluate just on ST as he is coming off the DL.

Also, I think this thread is just a lot of complaining. Consider this: "Jeez. The Twins moved Sano to the OF without ever having practicing there. Terrible mismanagement!" "Jeez. The Twins expected 2B to open and had Polanco get reps there so he would be ready to take over. Terrible mismanagement!" What were the Twins supposed to do other than what they did when it comes to Polanco when it came to giving him reps at 2B in the minors? I think the travesty with Polanco is that he is only now going to be a regular on the team. They wasted a year and half. He has been ready and the team performance at SS had not been good enough.

Molitor is partly to blame. Polanco spent a hell of a lot of time riding the pine during his first few call ups. That's Molitor.

This puts him as being a better option than most of the Twins pitchers.... The truth hurts, donut?

I agree 100% that Hughes is cooked. But he just had an expensive, invasive surgery to try to correct something. The Twins need to find out if that surgery was worth a darn otherwise they may find themselves having more pitchers that end up having it.

That's harsh, even by my standards!

I disagree. I think he has to be a starter just to see if that surgery he had was as pointless as I suspect it was. The Twins (and all of baseball) should figure out if they should be paying for this sort of thing in the future. Besides, there will be plenty of stories about how he kept the rib his doctors removed if he has a string of decent games. Maybe we will even get to see it. Maybe we would even get rib bobbleheads if Hughes regains his mojo.