Mike Rose

My only real complaint is that we haven't seen Gonsalves or Romero. They were aggressive with Jorge (with decent results), and I don't see why they wouldn't do the same with either of these two guys. Gonsalves needs to be on the 40-man after the season anyways, and I'd be A-OK with cutting ties with Santiago for good to make that happen. Romero already on the 40. I'd rather see these guys in MLB games than Melville, Turley, etc.

Is Puig + De Leon asking for too much? I like the idea of getting pitching in return for Dozier (rotation still the biggest weakness of this team by far), but why not also take a flier on a guy like Puig? Dodgers seemed to want to get rid of him last year, so they probably would eat some of his costs. But he's undoubtedly got talent, and maybe getting out of LA would be good for him. Worst case: Twins scrap Puig in a few years, but still have De Leon to build around. Best case: Twins get the Puig we saw a few years ago, plus they build around De Leon. De Leon is the centerpiece, but Puig is the flier.

You know, it wouldn't be illegal to have dual "closers" next year, with Perk used if tough lefties are coming up and Storen used for righties. The whole idea of a single "closer" is pretty antiquated anyways...a smart manager should use his bullpen based on matchups and game situations. A 'pen featuring May (possibly, unless he starts again), Jepsen, Perk and Storen offers some intriguing end-of-game options. As long as Storen would be OK sharing the role (in Washington, there was no talk of sharing...Papelbon took the role outright), I think the Twins could have a pretty solid group for innings 7-9, with Perk and Storen each getting maybe 15-25 saves, and Jepsen possibly getting a few, too.

Agree with pretty much everything posted here regarding mismanagement. I'd like to add a larger point that goes beyond just the Twins, and that's the strict adherence to a reliever not being available, pitch counts and the like. It gets talked about all the time, and it's pretty much been ingrained that starters don't go past 100 pitches, relievers can only go so many days in a row, etc. I'm not suggesting that Molitor should go Dusty Baker on the bit and overwork everybody, but if you're going to at least pretend to be in a Wild Card race, you don't make half your pen unavailable for a crucial (and winable) game at Yankee Stadium and/or you let your starter go past 104 pitches. One, we all know the Twins have had their issues with the Yankees, and I have to imagine that this had a psychological effect on players, coaches and management. Last night is just one game, but when you have a chance to exorcise at least a few demons by beating the Yanks in their stadium (with a clutch HR from your star rookie, no less), you have to go for it 100%. Instead, we're left with one more nightmare and more doubt that we can hang with a team like the Yankees. Two, getting past all the psychological stuff, the Twins are (hypothetically) chasing the Yankees and a host of others for a playoff spot. What kind of message does it send to everyone on the team that, hey, we're going to sorta try to win this game, but we're not going to use any of our best relievers or let Pelfrey go a bit longer? The look on Dozier's face in the dugout after the game caught by FSN cameras said it all...he looked disappointed and disgusted. That's how the fans should feel too. If you're not serious about really pushing for the Wild Card, fine, but then at least jettison some of these placeholder vets, go full youth movement, and prepare for next year. Last night was a disgrace