clutterheart

Nick Great post. You summed up almost my exact feelings on this team's direction much better than I ever could. Every time I try I end up using cuss words, my mouth spittle starts to foam and it drips on the keyboard then the moisture breaks my computer.

Sigh Every time Ryan opens his mouth, the marketing department of the Twins must shudder. Doesn't he get that his current roster is an embarrassment?!? And you know what really chaps my hide? Why isn't the media talking about firing Ryan? Why is he untouchable? The first question he should be asked is "Why is Gardy on the Hot Seat and Not You?"

Are these surgeries & therapy100% covered by the team. I have always wondered about how injuries and recovery are paid for -especially for minor leaugers.

Danny Santana gets the snub! Especially since as you noted, there is little chance of Polonco sticking at SS. And last time I looked, Polonco only played SS when Goodrum was hut. Santana is probably the only hope this Organization has at SS for in house talent for at least 2-3 years. I have him in my personal top 10.

Assuming their physical checks out these are a few Free Agents I would overpay for in terms of dollars & years. Scott Kazmir Ubaldo Jimenez Ricky Nolasco Matt Garza

Hindsight speculation. But they publicly said Smith was not going to be fired, despite his bad trades and poor performance. Then the scuttlebutt was the FO was not enamored with Smith's offseason plan and they fired him. Then Ryan proceeded to let FA's like Cuddy and Kubel walk. Maybe that was the right choice because they were able to get a few extra picks and Cuddy was turned into Berrios. But from appearances Smith's plan was to retain guys and spend money, the FO said no.

Cool. Thanks Pictures and video are always enjoyed. If you see any scouts - they carry their own radar guns/stopwatches - try to pick their brains or sit next to them and copy their notes!

Those SS prospects are killer. Baez slugged .580!!!! And two other great ones are not even mentioned: Correa & Bogarts In the next few years we are due to see some truly special SS prospects hit the bigs - most of whom should be able to stay at SS. Also a poster at Sickels site outlined the best player performance by position: Best of MiLB by Position - Minor League Ball He has: Pinto & Sano as the best of their position but has Springer beating out Buxton - Not a prospect list but a MilB production list Its very well done check it out

He has always struck out too much and he has to learn how to be more selective. I don't think he will ever be an MVP but he will look good in a line up consisting of Button & Sano

I'm looking forward to the AFL to bring back some positive feelings. I'm losing it looking at this roster. From the tone of the article Seth is too.

The Rays have done this even better than the A's. But Twins are different than the Rays & the A's. Twins have a statdium that should give them the flexibility to go after guys in the FA market to cover up their misakes. Sure, they sill should be selling high on SOME guys, but at the same time locking in others. Frankly, they need to be better at Self Scouting. They need to identify guys in the own system better and have a plan. For example, I wonder what they could've gotten for Hicks during their CF'er dump of last offseason. - Instead of Revere.

In the future, could you please include the link to your Libsyn site? Its the only site that is not blocked by my computer For some reason your Gleeman/Geek site is blocked by the country I live in

Easy to say. Hard to do

Not sure I agree with you here. I think he is scapegoating and creating the old “if only we were healthy” excuse and he is hoping the fanbase buys what he is selling. If the local media was more and aggressive they would start looking into it and seeing if its true. But since this is MN, I am starting to look for the LENIII post about how Willingham gutted it out most of the year and is a better teammate because of it.

My goodness this is premature Don't you think we should see if Dozier is for real before trading away a cheaper, younger replacement? Furthermore, this club does not have many Corner OF prospects in the upper minors. Willingham will not be around in 2015, Parmelee has not been too productive. Rosario is an athletic Leftie who can play any position in the OF and 2B. He is 22 years old and hit 284/ .330 / 412 in AA. If Ryan was blown away by an offer? Sure. But to shop him would be nuts.

Injuries? Ryan is playing the injury card? How can he be so disingenuous? The starting pitching staff that he created is the worst in the league. Willingham has been unable to stay healthy for most of his career. Mauer was hurt when the season was already over. He rushed Hicks because he traded away all of his CF'ers. He had no plan B for a non-productive Plouffe. He constructed a line-up full of mostly high strike out guys. The fault of this season is Ryan's and Ryan's alone. Gardy has his issues, and probably it would be good to let him go but Ryan is the one who is tarnishing his legacy by insulting the fan base.

Walker is a nice prospect but that OBP is a major red flag.

I never even considered that Ulger would be considered for the spot. But now that I see it here I am convinced this is the way Ryan would want to go. Scott Ulger - your next manager of the MN twins...just typing this makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up....

I too live "afar" and get back to MN about once a year. I live in an area where there is no Pro-Baseball so I make damn sure to see at least 2 or 3 twins game because I love baseball. Even if the team stinks Target Field is a beautiful place to sit, drink good beer, eat hot dogs and watch the best sport on the planet. That being said, I understand the posters point quite well. The lack of accountability, the lack of respect for the fanbase and the lies the Twins told us when they begged for Tax Payer Dollars make the organization look bad. I would love if some state rep looking for publicity would call for hearings on the Twins, their lack of investment in the MLB team and subpoena their books and shed some sunlight on how much the Pohlads have pillaged the tax payers of Hen County. Since they took public money to play, they need to accept public scrutiny on their finances

I have not seen any reports that the Twins are scouting Tanaka and it would be shocking if the Twins outbid the Yankees for him anyway. So I am not counting on this guy. I would much rather overpay for guys like Garza and I think its 70% likely the team goes after Santana for the PR effect.

Lots of teams are going to have more money to spend. The Yankees are not going to like missing the playoffs this year. Boston has young talent coming up that will allow them to target some big names, Dodgers are the Dodgers, Pittsburgh is going to have money to spend if Burnett doesn't come back, KC has to keep their "all in" strategy going at this point and every other team is going to have that same new stream of TV money coming. I highly doubt Ryan will participate in a bidding war. Past experience has shown us that Ryan puts a value on a certain guy and goes after the guy at that price - no matter what the market does. What a mess.

I have a hard time seeing how Berrios didn't even make the Honorable Mention Here are Berrios and Lee's stats head-to-head: [TABLE=width: 512] [TD=class: xl65, width: 64][/TD] [TD=class: xl67, width: 64]Age [/TD] [TD=class: xl67, width: 64]GS[/TD] [TD=class: xl67, width: 64]IP[/TD] [TD=class: xl68, width: 64]SO/9[/TD] [TD=class: xl68, width: 64]BB/9[/TD] [TD=class: xl68, width: 64]H/9[/TD] [TD=class: xl67, width: 64]ER[/TD] [TD=class: xl67]Berrios [/TD] [TD=class: xl65]19[/TD] [TD=class: xl65]19[/TD] [TD=class: xl65]103.2[/TD] [TD=class: xl66]8.7[/TD] [TD=class: xl66]3.5[/TD] [TD=class: xl66]9.1[/TD] [TD=class: xl65]46[/TD] [TD=class: xl67]Lee[/TD] [TD=class: xl65]22[/TD] [TD=class: xl65]19[/TD] [TD=class: xl65]116[/TD] [TD=class: xl66]6.9[/TD] [TD=class: xl66]2.0[/TD] [TD=class: xl66]9.1[/TD] [TD=class: xl65]38[/TD] [/TABLE] For 19 year old to SO 8.7 per 9 is pretty great. The only thing Lee did better is limit walks and induce Ground Balls. I like Lee, he is a fine pitcher. His strength is ground balls and control which is a good thing for a leftie. Lee pitched a few games out of the bull pen. But his splits are alarming for an experienced Low A pitcher and unless he learns how to get RH batters out better he is destined to be LOOGY. Righties hit .290 off him! Thats not good.

Opening question: "Who are you? Where are you going?"

Wow you like Vargas and Walker a lot! I am low on Walker but I get why people like him so much. Vargas's production went down a bit when Sano left. I am high on Santana and think he should get top 10 consideration.

I wish they tracked stats for guys like this. It would be a fun group to follow in the offseason