USAFChief

Great stuff. Thanks!

Anyone else get the feeling we've seen Adrian Peterson's last Viking game ever?

1. Mauer put up a .729 OPS (102 OPS+) in an injury shortened 2011. His numbers are almost identical this year. He came back to put up .861 and .880 OPS's in 2012 and 2013, hopefully he can rebound similarly in the future. Good, but not great numbers. 2. I'd hope to see a FA LFer, and Hicks starting in CF, hoping one of those works out and Buxton arrives by midseason. I can live with Schafer as a 4th OFer, but ideally I'd want someone better for that role, too. I am pretty confident in predicting everyone currently in love with Schafer will be asking for a divorce if he gets regular playing time next year. It's too bad pitching staffs have grown to12 or 13...in the old days he'd have been a good 5th OFer...a guy who rarely starts but is useful off the bench. Alas...it's difficult for teams to carry 5 true OFers these days. As an aside...I don't worry much about corner OF defense. Plenty of teams have won, and won big, with questionable corner OF defense. 3. I don't see the current options as enough to form a decent starting rotation in 2015. So either sign someone better than anyone they have now, or accept that the team won't compete in 2015. I'd like to see a serious effort to sign one of Lester or Scherzer. I doubt that happens, though. 4. They'll win more...at home and on the road...when they field a better team. 5. The time is long past for new leadership in the dugout. Maybe that will help. 3.

Ugh.

I want a new manager because this organization has come to expect losing. Nobody...not the players, not the fans, not the GM, not the coaches, and not the manager, expects to win. It becomes a habit, or a culture. Losing. I want a new voice, from outside, who expects to win,and goes about trying to make that happen because he knows his job depends on it. A manager looking to make a name for himself, rather than one trying to hold on for dear life because of the past. A manager who will embrace new ideas, maybe even come up with a few of his own, rather than resist change at every opportunity. The Twins should have changed managers already, certainly by last winter. It's inevitable. Putting it off farther into the future only reinforces in everyone's mind the perception this organization is a losing one. Ron Gardenhire had his time, and he was once the right choice. But that time is over. He'll be fine. Move on.

They all should be gone, unless Dave Martinez wants to bring any of them back as part of his staff.

And if they do bring them up, don't be surprised if they're not "productive major leaguers" right away.

Gotta disagree, Ash. If big league playing time and exposure is valuable (for May, or anyone else), it's valuable no matter the situation. And giving it to Bernier just makes no sense to me. I'm with ya on Nunez though.

I think the point is not that they are bad players. The point is, when they are among your best players, you have a pretty weak collection of players.

That's my point...shouldn't a system as deep, and as ready to cure what ails the Twins, have others to promote?

I'm sure Bernier's is a nice guy, and perhaps giving him a month's MLB salary is nice and all, but...it seems to me a team in the Twins position, with a "top rated minor league system" and all, could find better ways to invest in the future. As to the rest...pretty underwhelming, as well. BTW, this is a comment more about the actual status of the Twins minor league system than the individuals themselves. The system will look better if, and I repeat if, Buxton and Sano return to something like they looked a year ago, but that's no given. And without them, things don't look nearly as rosy.

While I don't actually know the Twins revenue situation, IMO the available evidence doesn't support the theory the Twins can't afford premium FAs.

You also can't claim the Twins have an amazing, deep farm system loaded with talent and simultaneously claim that same system has little trade value.

Dave Martinez. One of Melky Cabrera, Nelson Cruz, Yazmani Tomas, or Nic Markakis (if he makes it to free agency). One of Max Scherzer or Jon Lester. I'd kick the tires on Hanley Ramirez. I'd ask the Dodgers about a trade for one of their outfielders if they're looking to dump salary. I'd ask Cincinnati about Latos. Just off the top of my head. Obviously they're not going to do all those, but the point is, talent will change teams this winter. Go get some.

New field manager, he (or she) picks coaches. Invest assets (money and/or minor leaguers) to obtain better talent.

If I give you credit can I use that as my sig line?

At some point you have to start earning more playing time. He has ~800 PAs over the past three years of mid 80s OPS+. He'll be 27 next year. Going into 2015 planning on him manning a corner spot is wishful thinking, IMO.

I feel like I read this exact article last fall. IMO there is little chance the Twins are a competitive team in 2015 if they do little to improve this winter. And I'm not in favor of sitting around through more losing seasons waiting for the minor leagues to provide all the talent this team needs to be a 90+ win team again. There's almost no chance Sano or Buxton are productive major leaguers next year, and not a whole lot more hope foe Meyer, IMO...and that's provided they even make the big leagues. Meyer can't even crack the 25 man on THIS team.

I clicked into this thread expecting to read about managerial candidates.

I don't view Escobar as "above average" defensively. In fact, I think average is a stretch.

Concur. We all like "buy low, sell high" in theory, but it can be difficult in practice. IMO Escobar is a great "sell high" candidate.

You'll forgive me for thinking if he really missed 2 months due to "a flu bug," that's not going to do much to change the opinion of those who think he might be a bit soft.

I don't think Mauer gets mistreated by many fans in the upper midwest. But I do think that whatever "mistreatement" he gets from fans and media would be mulitplied several fold if he were playing in Boston (or another major media market, where people expect to win), taking up 25% of the payroll, and putting up a .717 OPS after missing a lot of time over the past few years.

Nitpic: The "bilateral leg weakness" was traced back to a rare viral infection? I missed that...got a link?

Define "few."