JaleelWhite FanClub

Can't wait for next's week's version of the "Buxton's 2017 was INCREDIBLE!" article. I appreciate your articles, Ted. But the timing of this one hits a sore spot for me (and expect others - thus the comments above). We as fans have heard enough about his defense. The team needs him to be an all-around player. I don't need metrics to tell me no matter how great he is in CF, if he's a bottom-5 MLB hitter, then the team will never reach its potential.

I haven't seen it confirmed anywhere that the FO chose not to call up Buxton without conferring with him. Am I missing something? Everyone in there Buxton-ness is assuming the player has been wronged significantly. So much so that I've seen articles on TD promoting/advising Buxton's agents to file a grievance with the Players Association. Based solely on speculation? When this website starts favoring (continuously over 2+ weeks) a player, an under-performing one at that, to a point of calling for the team to be hurt for some perceived and unconfirmed wrong, then I as a reader start getting frustrated and confused.

And most strikingly, they left Byron Buxton off the September roster, in a move transparently motivated by service time preservation. LET! IT! GO! ALREADY! Buxton hitting below.200 for another month and risking injury, as he always does, through September would mean nothing for the team's future.

Great year for the kid, but I'm going to hold off on prognosticating and dreaming about him turning the franchise around. You know. Because ... Byron Buxton's 2013 CR MID A(Full) .341 ./ 431 / .559 .990 FTM FSL A(Adv) .326 / .415 / .472 .887 #negativefridays

As several posters have noted, the amazing thing with both Lindor and Correa is how both showed no drop in production when they hit the majors. Lindor has actually had better numbers in the majors then he did in the minors. Contrast that to what Twins fans have seen recently from their own stud prospects. Buxton, who along with Correa was always 1A or 1B on prospect lists, has never approached his minors numbers except for the last two months last season. He has morphed into a .200 hitter with almost no power. Sano has basically lost his way and has become a historically-significant strikeout machine at the plate. By the time Lewis debuts with the Twins, I'm think most fans will respond with tempered excitement given these two cases. It's fun to hope for our own Lindor or Correa, but I think we'd be happy with a debut anywhere better than Buxton's or Sano's.

With players seemingly not having much value on the market, the Twins have to consider more moving people to free up roster spots for their top young prospects as oppose for the return in a trade. The top 3 players in the article should be gone. Dozier goes, up comes Gordon. Rodney goes, up comes Curtiss. Lynn goes, up comes Romero/Gonsalves/Littell. I'd keep Gibson and Odorizzi simply for pitching depth. The former has evolved into a strong mid-rotation guy and the latter, you have to figure, can only pitch better in 2019 and will be arbitrated for a reasonable price. Escobar, to me, is an influential clubhouse guy. Mix in his career year, and you have to make an attempt to resign him. Like the article says, if he chooses to leave, make the qualifying offer and get a nice draft pick for him.

I think you missed my point. I'm actually in agreement that it is wrong to blame Buxton's problems on mismanagement and injuries. I think the player needs to shoulder most of this.

Everything was in place. Coming into this season, Sano and Buxton were both 24 years old, established as successful major-league players. One was coming off an All Star appearance, the other an MVP-caliber second half. The bolded words have no reason being grouped into the same sentence at this point. The "glass half-full" "overflowing" approach with a Buxton outlook is ridiculous now. He caught fire for two months last year and suddenly he is an established MVP-caliber talent. Let's just forget the 2-1/2 seasons of crappiness that preceded last year's second half. Any other player with the same track record and the performance over August and September last year would have been met with a fair share of skepticism. But in the Twins world, Buxton's inevitable rise to stardom is for some reason accepted as a given. Every few days we get a new article blaming injuries or claiming mismanagement to try and explain Buxton's woes. Meanwhile we ignore what guys like Rosario and Escobar have done, if not rip on Eddie's "lack of plate discipline" or Eduardo's "shortcomings at SS." Those two have been consistent producers the past few years, but seemingly never get the credit they deserve.

AMEN!!! The Buxton excuse making has to stop. On this site and within the Twins organization. He deserved a demotion prior to the injury, but everyone worried about his psyche and were relying solely on a hot few months at the end of last season. The, "He's turned a corner. Bring on the All-Star selections" opinion was touted everywhere as a sure thing. He could very well figure things out (I'm for sure hoping so), but it's high time the player himself takes his share of the blame.

How about a little algebra? Solve for x Carter + Sano = (x)K

I wouldn't put it past the Twins to try Lynn out of the bullpen. That's where he started his MLB career, and they've shown a recent willingness to shift starters to the pen (ex: Duffey, May, Hughes). Plus, since he's only on a 1-yr deal, so I doubt fans would gripe too much about one of their free agents moving to a diminished role.

May's FIP numbers are really encouraging and are more in-line with what he can bring (vs. his 5+ ERA). I think it reveals that May has had a well-below-average defense behind him. He missed out on the Twins' defensive transformation last season.

I agree May should be stretched out to start during his rehab. If no injuries occur between now and when he's activated, I'd say slot him into the starting rotation for a few turns. If May's up to 80-90 pitches per start by then, that would hopefully by the Twins 4-5 IP, which is about average (unfortunately) for this staff so far. I say "why not" to the Twins going with a 6-man rotation. That would protect May as well as Romero, both of whom will be on strict pitch counts through the season.

I think this year Rodney has decided that instead of doing his ridiculous bow and arrow celebration after actually saving a game, he'll let the other team hit walk-offs that follow the path his arrow would have taken.

Until he grabs a bat.

Although I'd be curious to see how many HOURS Mauer has spent on base over his career. New stat to track???

So how long does it take for Gordon to get the call to Rochester?

Man-Oh-Man! Not one person thinks the Twins can finish ahead of the Indians. Maybe I'm drunk on the good-vibe Kool-Aid of spring, but I don't see the Indians as juggernauts in the same class as the Astros, Dodgers, or Yankees (or even the Cubs, Nats, and Red Sox for that matter). Sure they have a great rotation, but ALL pitching is susceptible to injuries. Bullpens, even theirs, are always inconsistent year-to-year. As for the lineup, Jose Ramirez I think WAAAY overachieved last year. There's no guarantee Kipnis and Brantley will return from injuries the same players. Encarnacion is getting older. The outfield is young and relatively unproven. Besides Lindor, who else is a lock to be s big-time producer? Give me the Twins winning 90-ish games this year AND the division! What the hell!

The Twins need an ace!!!! Another #3 or #4 guy won't help the current club. To max out the prime years of Buxton, Sano, and company, the front office needs to step up and go get one. That's why I was so excited about potentially landing Darvish. He's the kind of arm that means World Series contender, not wild card game fodder typical of this franchise. Now that Darvish is gone. the only ace left out there within the trade realm is Archer. Cobb and Odorizzi and Lynn wouldn't push the Twins over the top. Go get Archer! I wouldn't mind a Kepler, Romero, Gordon package. The Twins farm system would have replacements ready to fill their voids within the next couple of years while the parent club remains almost entirely intact (losing Kepler would be tough, but figure the Twins could find a decent fill-in on the FA market yet this year to help supplement a Grossman-Granite tandem. Lamonte Wade and Brent Rooker are also fast approaching callups that could fill the position long-term). I feel like this could be a franchise-deciding move. If KC could leverage the farm for Shields and then Cueto and get their club a ring, why can't Minnesota.

Would much rather see the Twins get an ace via trade. Go get Archer or Cole for less money. In the next two years the club is going to see a log jam of prospects ready to graduate to the Twins in the middle infield and in the middle or at the back end of the rotation. We all love prospects and cringe at losing players we've seen develop through the minors, but a progressive-thinking, winning organization has to see minor league development as a tool to not only supplement the big league roster, but to acquire talent outside the organization.

I'm also bummed Santana's stay on the HOF ballot will be short-lived. He's my favorite Twin of all time and I figured he'd be a long shot for the Hall, but I figured he'd get a bit more love nationally. I'm still holding out hope for a comeback (4th times a charm?). Not to get too sentimental, but your article really hit home for me. I live in Omaha now, as I did in 2004. In July of that year, me and a group of friends drove down to Kansas City for fun weekend. Half of us wound up going to a Saturday afternoon Royals game (the other half went to Worlds of Fun - lame! for a bunch of 20-somethings). Anyways, the Royals were playing the Twins. The SP for Minnesota was none other than Johan Santana. By this time, I had kind of stopped paying attention to major league baseball. I loved it growing up, but after my playing days came to an end in high school, I stopped following the game. So, heading into that afternoon, I had no idea who Santana was and was not a big Twins fan by any means (luckily I missed the contraction-talk years). Well, Santana was incredible that day. He got the win, went 8 innings, allowing 1 run on only 1 hit, striking out 9, most with the most devastating, coolest looking thing I'd ever seen live at a game before, his changeup. It was amazing to see hitter-after-hitter just flail at the thing as Johan pulled the string. I remember thinking how cool it was to see someone so dominant, so in control. As the game went on, I guess you could say the fever of baseball returned for me. I returned to Omaha and kept track of Johan and the Twins the rest of the way. It turns out the KC win was the first of an incredible 13 straight for him. He never lost again that season. I remember looking up the day after each 2nd-half start, seeing he won, and loving the feeling of following baseball again. Well, he'd go on to win the Cy Young that season. I had a new favorite player and a new favorite team to follow. Thanks for the article.

What's the latest on his comeback? Last time I heard anything was that he was going to give it one more shot. Not holding out hope for much, but it'd be great to see him take one more shot at pitching again, even if it's as a reliever or in the high minors.

I agree with the tweaks. Blue Jays or Rays would want MLB players included. Between Gonsalves and Romero, I'd hold on to Gonsalves. His ceiling may be lower, but he's LH and prob has a safer floor. The trade may need a SP a little higher than Wells, though. To me Archer would be an extraordinary get for the front office. I like Gordon, but if we could package him, Kepler (I'd prefer to keep Rosario), Romero, and Wells to get Archer, I'd be thrilled.

The Twins shortstop situation is particularly intriguing. There's a lot of guys that if everything goes right will be ready for or already in Minnesota at the same time. I think the Twins should keep Gordon and Lewis. Gordon will hopefully be ready by late next season or ST 2019. Lewis is probably two years behind. The Twins can keep both and figure one can slide over to 2B to replace Dozier when the time comes or 3B when Sano moves full-time to 1B/DH.

Thanks for this article! I was going to go crazy if I had to read another article talking about the second- or third-tier free agents the Twins should target. You know, because the Twins and free agency have produced such great things these past years. Look at the Royals. Look at the Cubs. Look at the Astros. Sure, the past 3 World Series champs had a lot of home-grown talent. But their front offices also utilized the stock piles of prospects their teams built with high draft picks to trade for players to round off their teams.