SheboyganBrats

The Twins have too little pitching depth, not too much. Berrios, Romero, Gibson, maybe Pineda when he returns. Everyone else that is close is back of the rotation material. Graterol and Lewis are still a ways away. Trade from strength, not weakness. There are a lot of players I'd trade before Gibson. It seems that trading Gibson means you have given up completely on 2019 and the Twins remain in this unending rebuild. Of course, this comes with the caveat that, if someone makes an offer that blows you away, you take it. Otherwise, no.

My problem with Molitor began early in his tenure. It was Molitor's first full season and Alex Meyer had had 2 solid starts and one so-so start in Rochester. Terry Ryan brought up Meyer on a day the Twins needed a starting pitcher. Meyer had been on schedule to start that day, but Molitor didn't start him. Instead, several days later Meyer was given a short start, and several days later was sent to the bullpen. I don't know what really went on, but it seemed like the GM had brought up Meyer to start and Molitor decided otherwise. We all know that Meyer's shoulder issues subsequently flared up again, and Meyer and his agent made it pretty clear that Meyer wasn't going to pitch for the Twins again. Around the same time Max Kepler was brought up and he also got to rot on the bench. Inexplicably for Kepler's first plate appearance, he was brought in to face a left-handed pitcher. I may be remembering all of this wrong, but I couldn't figure out why Molitor wasn't using the players he was given. To me it looked like he was undercutting his GM, or at the very least, they weren't on the same page. In any event, I developed a very unfavorable view of Molitor's handling of his young players, and my feelings about that haven't changed.

When it rains, it pours.

That answers my question. Of course, no one is suggesting that either of these guys get drafted as position players, but I was wondering about the speculation around these guys as two way players and what relevance that might have. Sounds like it's a wash.

There's been discussion in this thread about the possibility of Greene switching to shortstop, if he doesn't pan out as a pitcher. It has always seemed to me that McKay has a much better chance to become a position player (acknowledging that first base is not a premium position like shortstop). After all, there are a number of places I have seen McKay's hit tool ranked first among college hitters, and I've seen McKay compared to John Olerud. If McKay busts as a pitcher, I think he's still potentially a very good MLB first baseman. Not so much, Greene at shortstop. Would you folks agree with this assessment, or am I caught off base?

I'm not too concerned that he's getting different advice from multiple sources. Anyone who's been an athlete at any level knows that you're always getting advice from coaches, friends, family, etc. Some of it may be good advice, hopefully from one's coaching staff, and some of it may be completely off base. The key is that someone says something that "clicks" with the player, and he can use it to his benefit. I'm sure that pitchers are fine-tuning their delivery all the time. Hopefully, Berrios finds something that works and he gets back on track soon.

Assuming this is the "seller's market" for starting pitching that it appears to be, I'd trade Santana now. If someone offers a good return, I wouldn't hesitate, hoping that the market is still there in the offseason or next July. The market is there now. I'd also hope to unload Nolasco, though I wouldn't expect any return. If we think we'd need to bolster the starting pitching for next season, I'd take a run at Cashner on a one year deal in the offseason, but I'd definitely bring up Berrios and return May to the rotation. Just my two cents.

The use of Meyer, or I should say the lack of use, is another reason I have begun to question Molitor's ability as manager. Given Meyer's struggles last year, and his hot start this year, I would think they would want him to continue on his roll. To interrupt his progress and let him go stale on the bench, IMHO. He should either be in the starting rotation or getting regular work from the pen. Meyer is still a very valuable commodity. If they wanted someone to sit around and do nothing, they could have called up Dean

2017 starting rotation: Gibson, May, Berrios, Duffey, and Meyer. Where'd all those other guys go? I'm mostly kidding with this (at least for the start of the 2017 season), but I'm glad the Twins have some guys that could very well be part of the future of the team.

What does everyone think about the situation in the NL Central where the Pirates could finish the season with the second best record in baseball? What about "breaking the brackets"? The Pirates play the division winner with the third best record, and the division winner with the fourth best record drops down to the wild card game. It would definitely diminish the value of winning the division, but would increase the value of winning games. You'd probably have to go to a balanced schedule as well to make it fair. A wacky idea to be sure, but thought I'd throw it into the discussion. Feel free to call me an idiot.

I don't like the WC format either. It's why I was okay with Terry Ryan pretty much standing pat at the trade deadline. Why commit significant resources to acquire talent for a one game crapshoot? Sure, you could end up being the 2014 Royals or Giants, but you could be the 2014 Oakland Athletics who actually did try to upgrade. (Of course, they were in the race to be division champ as well.) The point is that I think teams would be much more willing to go for it if it was more than a one game playoff. On the main topic, I'm thrilled that the Twins are competitive and that we're getting to see some of the young talent. In spring training, I saw a Terry Ryan interview where he claimed the Twins were trying to be relevant this year. At the time I thought he was trying to be funny. I thought he was trying to become Jon Stewart's successor on the Daily Show after he got fired as the Twins GM.

If Hughes has a dead arm, maybe he should go to the bullpen and May should return to the starting rotation. Hughes has been in the bullpen before, and it shouldn't take too long to stretch May out again. I thought that was the original plan for May anyway. Rest his arm in the bullpen for awhile and return him to the rotation when rested.

I guess this opens a spot on the 40 man roster. I wonder who gets that and what it will mean when it happens.

Thanks for clarifying how the pool works. I'm sure no team wants to risk losing a first round draft pick, and I would guess the Twins manage the signings carefully so they don't have to pay the tax either. They'd have to find significant savings elsewhere, if they wanted to make a run at one of the hard-to-sign guys. I heard somewhere they might be able to save $200K on Jay. Don't know if that's true, and they'd still have to find a bunch more, I think, to get a couple of these players. It's an interesting to watch how teams play this game, though, especially with drafting college seniors who have little leverage.

I think they didn't draft these guys earlier because of the way you have to manage your draft pool money under the current system. If you draft a guy Rounds 1-10 and can't get them signed, you lose the money assigned to that draft slot. Better to draft someone you think you can sign. After Round 10 you can overpay with the savings from earlier rounds. If you don't sign the guy you don't lose any draft pool money.