Doomtints

November 29, 2012: Denard Span traded by the Minnesota Twins to the Washington Nationals for Alex Meyer. December 6, 2012: Ben Revere traded by the Minnesota Twins to the Philadelphia Phillies for Trevor May and Vance Worley. Tell me, how many years did it take for the Twins to field a team that could play outfield defense after this? How many games did the Twins lose while us fans watched routine balls drop in the outfield? Aaron Hicks was the only outfielder the Twins had who could play out there, and he looked completely lost at the plate. How did the pitching fare while the Twins waited for these pitching prospects to learn how to play? How many of the pitchers worked out as expected? Team. Gutted. For. Years.

Yes, but you missed the point completely. The point is, why was sucking with no clear path to a good future considered acceptable just five years ago? People got their heads torn off for criticizing management in any way. What changed?

Posts like this interest me greatly, and it does seem to be the prevailing opinion. What I don't understand is how the prevailing opinion was the opposite when Terry Ryan was around. It was always "Give it time" whereas the majority wants to give up on the new group after basically one year. I don't want to dig on Ryan any more than we all have already, but I really don't get this huge change in viewpoint. Ryan gutted the team for years, and this F.O. sold expiring assets at the trade deadline in a lost season. Of course, we'll see how things look in another six months... but for now there isn't much to be down about.

Reports are saying he will play, but he won't start. I would bet he's not going to play center.

The Twins are basically an average team. They were last year too. Yeah, they need some playmakers. They've got the foundation, for the most part.

This loss is on Molitor's continued bizarre bullpen management. The silver lining here is the Athletics burned through a big chunk of their bullpen yesterday, late in the season, playing against the lowly Twins. If the Twins can hit the ball over the next two games they might get a win or two.

I'm optimistic about these guys, but if they all do well the Twins are still missing a bona fide ace. If the Twins want to win a playoff game against the Yankees, Red Sox, or Astros, they will need an ace, and I consider the "win one playoff game" bar to be very low. Any other move, in absence of a move that acquires an ace, is pointless.

I think these three players are casualties of the new front office not seeing their value. I was always skeptical of Palka, but seeing as he was in the system why would they just waive him. His power potential was never in question. Rodriguez's velocity is below average but he seems to be able to place the ball wherever he wants. I don't know how an organization misses that, unless they are just looking at spreadsheets. He is built like a tank and if he remains productive he will be around for a long time. He probably won't be a star but he will more than earn his $ in the majors. Goodrum looks like a serviceable utility player, but the Twins have been blessed in that department for a while. The Twins didn't give him a chance in any case. He only started 3 games for the Twins and otherwise rode the pine for a month and worked as a late innings defensive subsitution (Molitor-Style).

I don't think he currently has much trade value, and the Twins could do a hell of a lot worse. Keep him for now.

As well intentioned as this might be, having a doctor tell a player how to swing has a very good chance of ruining that player's productivity and may even cause a different injury as the player tries to adjust. The best way to use a doctor like this would be to have him present when doing physicals before signing a player. If the doctor finds a current player's pitching arm is a ticking time bomb, just trade him.

I like the Tigers.

I haven't wanted Dozier since the 103 loss season where it was proven that his leadoff power was useless. But, alas, the market wasn't there. Nevertheless, I can see him coming back. As for Santana, it depends on the price. I think it would be unlikely for him to suddenly be a 5.00+ ERA guy, and if he is just waive him and call it a day. Obviously the price has to be right for this to be worth trying. However, I would bet Santana goes to Detroit, Chicago, or back to KC, where they are all really desperate.

The biggest need is a manager. If the front office is not good at player communication, the manager must bridge that gap. The manager must know how to fill in a lineup card. The manager must know how to read pitchers when they are on the mound. The manager must know how to utilize young pitchers (particularly in their first appearance) and young position players (let them play). Molitor checks one box: The owners like him. That's it. Suck it up, executives, and find someone else. The Twins will have Sano, Buxton and Polanco back. Pineda might be OK. Maybe they can get Santana for another year. I anticipate the market for Dozier will be zipadeedoodah so he might end up back, too. Escobar probably cashes in somewhere else -- good for him -- and he's a regression candidate anyway. Even though 2018 didn't work out, the FO did a good job of picking at the players who were available. They didn't quite know when to stop (Morrison?) and hopefully learned to not sign a starting pitcher too late. Overall the advice is ... give it another try and pick up players who are available who look like upgrades ... but this time with a new manager. And learn how to communicate. Baseball is a team sport, executives can't treat themselves like members of a country club and expect to win games. It's either work hard and win or take it easy and hope for the best ... as they did with Buxton.

And that guy drove in the Tigers runs. Funny. Next time, Molly, just walk the dude!

The Tigers lineup today has just one hitter to worry about.

This is one of those games that can shock good teams. However, I don't see an upset happening here........

I didn't see it mentioned that Pineda has not pitched this month because he tore up his knee. This reminds me a bit of Santana, who kept having strange injuries as he tried to come back to the majors.

Oh don't worry, they will be taking plenty of time off.

Polanco leading off is a great idea that I think most other managers would have figured out a hell of a lot sooner. Hopefully he makes himself indispensable at leadoff.

They were using openers in the minors. They want to try it in the majors and he's used to it.

I think they did the best they could have done last offseason, but they neglected to work on Sano and Buxton. This is probably on Molitor overall, but the front office needs to be more involved.

Word is that Carlson had the yips in his senior year in college, too. This was just a bad pick. Priefer's guys were responsible for a lot of points yesterday, and not in a good way. A blocked punt plus nine points left on the table in missed field goals. It's early in the year but this is what the team needs to be working on.

I would!

If the Vikings are going to choke, I'd rather have it be in week 2 than in week 19, 20, or 21.

Dennis Green fires that kicker by the end of the day. Hard to imagine another outcome.