Deduno Abides

Maddon is the anti-Mauch, who was one uptight dude. On the other hand, Maddon makes players comfortable and builds team spirit.

Sounds like he wants a five-year deal for less than the amount the Twins paid Kevin Correia, Mike Pelfrey and Kendrys Morales the last couple of years. That's a bargain. Further, in comparison to Gardy, Maddon seems to think that keeping morale up in the clubhouse is his job, so hiring him would save the money that has been spent on retreads "who know their way around the clubhouse" the last few years, i.e., add the $3 million or so that was paid to Kubel, Bartlett and Guerrier to the $2 million that was paid to Gardy and - presto! - you're able to meet Maddon's demands. Finally, if he could do with Joe Mauer what he did with James Loney . . ., how much would that be worth? Also, if he were to go to the Cubs, wouldn't Rich Renteria immediately go to the top of the Twins' candidate list? Good experience, good reputation and the ability to speak with the entire locker room.

(1) Not trying to be snarky, but could someone tell me what Paul Molitor's accomplishments AS A COACH are and why they qualify him to be a manager now? I understand that some of the players said they liked working with him, but don't players say that about most coaches? Besides that, are there any measurable results attributable to him in the areas where he specialized, such as, hypothetically, taking a team that was near last in taking the extra base on hits and plays in the field and making them one of the best teams in that skill? Similarly, with fielding, it seems that Plouffe went from being one of the worst fielders at his position to being maybe league average. Is that attributable to Molitor? Is there a more general team-wide fielding improvement attributable to Molitor? Are any or the aggregate of these measurable results sufficient qualification to be the next manager? I'm asking because I haven't heard of any such accomplishments, but would like to know if others are aware of any. To be a little snarky, it seems that there is an element of "Because I'm Keith Hernandez" in the answer to the question, "How is he qualified?" (2) What happened to the candidacy of John Russell? He seemed like an exciting possibility with a great pedigree, including the apparently greatly-desired "ties to the organization." (3) Dougie Baseball for AA manager in 2015. In the likely chance that the next manager doesn't stay for 13 years, he would be well-positioned. Further, if he proves again that he can win with several of the players that are the team's future, he may force his way to the majors sooner, regardless of what is decided this month.

Strong optimism for 2015 with the present roster and minor leaguers requires the following: (1) Phil Hughes not to develop an elbow or shoulder issue or otherwise repeat his historical pattern of one good year followed by one or two bad years; (2) Joe Mauer to return to the physical skills of ages 24-28 during his 32nd year of living, and not to require extended time on the DL or fatuous excuses from management, and to recover his batting eye or bat speed or whatever it was that caused his BB/K ratio this year to be his career worst by a long shot; (3) Byron Buxton at age 22 to perform like Andrew McCutcheon when he was 25, even though McCutcheon had a .770 OPS in AAA when he was 21, whereas Buxton had a lost year in A/AA at the same age, and McCutcheon did not fully approach dominance until his fourth year in the majors; (4) Miguel Sano to perform at age 22 like Miguel Cabrera performed at age 22, even though Cabrera at 21 was a major league all-star, an age at which Sano did not play, and Cabrera received major league MVP votes at age 20, an age at which Sano played A/AA; (5) Alex Meyer to be healthy and effective (and given a meaningful chance and not criticized publicly by his coaches or their media mouthpieces every time he doesn't look like Roy Halladay in his prime); (6) Ricky Nolasco to be, not just better, but significantly better than he was this year, even though the only year in his career he was more than a 1.8 WAR pitcher was 2008, when he was 25; (7) Danny Santana and Kennys Vargas not to significantly regress and Oswaldo Arcia to significantly improve; (8) Kurt Suzuki to confirm that he has reached a new level of performance and not to regress into the Suzuki of 2010-2013; (9) Trevor May to significantly improve (this may be the most likely item on this list); (10) Tommy Milone and/or Mike Pelfrey to be serviceable major league pitchers; (11) The team to rebuild its bullpen and hope that Glen Perkins stays strong and Casey Fien of 2015 doesn't turn into Jared Burton of 2014; and (12) One or two minor leaguers with question marks - Pinto? Hicks? Rosario? - to figure out what's holding them back and make an impact. If you're comfortable that the negative items in this list are unlikely and the positive items are likely, then you should be comfortable not making significant moves this winter. If, on the other hand, you are pessimistic about several items on this list, the Twins should either go after Max Scherzer and/or James Shields and a couple of bats, or push even harder to rebuild the minor league system by trading for top prospects like the Cubs did in getting Addison Russell and others. My guess is that some of these items will be positive, while several will be negative. Sure, the team looks more hopeful this year, with the emergence of some young players and the pitching of Phil Hughes, but the team is once again collectively a 90+ loss team. If all else holds even or improves (e.g., Dozier, Cabrera, Gibson, left field) and these items are on balance mildly positive, the team likely would still be sub .500. To truly compete for the post-season without major changes in the roster, these items must on balance be mostly positive and the Doziers, Gibsons and Cabreras must be much better.

You mean the guy that belittled Scott Baker and Pat Neshek for not competing, before it was learned that they were injured, and kept pitching Nick Blackburn and Mike Pelfrey because they were "good guys" even though everyone could see they were ineffective pitchers, before it was learned that they too were injured, and wants players to be "old school," may be setting a culture that doesn't succeed in the post-Moneyball era?

Plus, the only thing he's good at is catching touchdowns. Who'd want a guy like that? I guess the main thought is that, at his age, we should lighten up. Your call on how to interpret that.