whydidnt

They shouldn't be too far away, unless they take the same path that Gibson, May and Meyer are taking, which means they are all 2-3 years away...and are blocked by guys like Pelfrey, Stauffer and Duensing. It seems every off season, we hear the same thing about prospects being close and every year we keep waiting for them to arrive. Look back at messages from the last two off seasons about when we expected other Twins pitchers to make the club. Could probably add Tonkin to that list as well. Signing Stauffer for just over $2 mil isn't a bad deal, it just doesn't fit what the Twins need at this point, at least to me.

Not just referring to K%, but rather overall potential. Stauffer has been pitching in the best pitcher's park in baseball for the last 9 years to the tune of a 3.99 FIP and a 1.308 WHIP. He has a track record of being okay, but even San Diego didn't use him high leverage situations, with a total of 7 Holds and 1 blown save to go with his 0 saves over that time. Yes he started some, but a majority of his work has been out of the pen. He's not a bad back of the pen guy, but I would rather see a Meyer or May, or even Tonkin get some major league experience than Stauffer at this point.

Nothing wrong with the signing as a guy to replace Burton, I guess... If they were going to bring in a RP, I would have preferred someone who was a bit better to be the 8th inning guy. It seems like we have a lot of BP candidates already when you factor in the young guys who probably won't make the rotation. Most of the RH guys are already pretty similar to Stauffer, so other than competition, not sure what he really brings to the table, but at least he's not horrible. Still really, really want to see them bring in a guy we can count on to start in CF, either via trade or FA signing. Would much rather they had held the money given to Stauffer out to contribute towards an OF that can actually cover some ground. Hopefully they aren't done yet, but the 40 man is starting to look pretty full.

Not really confusing to me at all. How about spend more money, but also spend wiser, so you get more for what you spend. Sorry, but spending $10.5 million dollars on a 39 year old OF this year is not a wise investment, any more than re-signing Mike Pelfrey to a 2 year $12M dollar deal was last year. I am of the belief that not only aren't they spending enough, they often don't do a good job deciding who to pay. I don't want them to spend just to spend. I want them to make good baseball decisions, but not let money be the primary limiting factor to those decisions, which is what has happened for 3 straight off-seasons.

I couldn't agree more with the original post. The most frustrating thing to me is that the Twins have obviously pulled back from the supposed 52% of revenue number over the last few years and have just pocketed the money. We don't get to see the number's but with the new TV money, combined with the new stadium windfall, 52% of total revenue was likely somewhere north of $125M the last three years. Instead of investing that in the team, the owner's decided to keep it for themselves. That is certainly their right as owners. But counter to that, it's my right as a fan to vote with my own dollars, and chose to spend them on other forms of entertainment, which is what I have done over the last couple of years. My attendance at Twins games has dropped from a high of 23 games to 2 last year. Maybe if the Twins showed a little more willingness to put together a winning team, they wouldn't have to keep overpaying for middle of the road Free Agents and elite players would want to play here.

Actually, I disagree. I think there is a pretty strong correlation between high payroll teams and winning. Spending more doesn't guaranty that you will win the world series or even make the playoffs. However, it does give you a better chance at winning. That's not to say you HAVE to spend the most to win, but payroll is a factor. That's not to say, you spend just to spend, like the Phillies have seemed to do recently, just that to artificially limit what you spend in the market will likely make you worse than you could be. I can't seem to find the article, but there was one on Fangraph's or the Hardball Times a couple of years ago that showed that teams in the top 10 in spending were much more likely to make the playoffs than teams in the bottom 10. To me that's a strong correlation.

I get that, and Shields also benefited from playing in-front of KC's defense. Having said that, Shields K9 rate last year was still higher than Santana's was in each of the last 5 AL seasons of Santana's career. It's really hard to compare K rates between league, so I take Santana's rate last year with a grain of salt. Adding Pitchers to the opposing lineup does skew things. I agree WAR is a flawed statistic for measuring pitchers, but it still a good tool comparison puposes - bWAR over the last 4 years - Shields, 5.2, 2.7, 4.1 3.3 - Santana 3.0, -1.3, 2.9, 1.2. Shields has pretty consistently been worth about 2 wins per year more than Santana. At about 6-7 Million per win, it's easy to see why he's 6.5M more expensive per year than Ervin. My point isn't to trash Santana. I think this is what he earns on the open market, just that the Twins need to aim higher, and with better money management could.

The signing by itself is okay. Santana is an upgrade over the guys we've been running out there, but it should be noted, he hasn't been a model of consistency over his career, hopefully we won't end up with one of his bad years right off the bat like we did with Nolasco. Still,, I like him as a mid-rotation guy and there isn't anything wrong in the signing by itself. I still really don't like the way the Twins manage their budget to the bottom or middle. Think about this, what if the Twins signed Shields for 5-$100M,traded two low-level prospects for Brandon Moss (1- 7M estimated in arbitration), and didn't sign Hunter. For just 3 million more we would have a superior, consistent starter that you could even call a #1, and a comparable bat that can play the OF, even if it's just as well as Hunter. If you are concerned about the $3M, then don't tender Duensing, who is overpaid at as low-leverage leftie who can't get RH hitters out. To me this is just another example of Ryan not really taking advantage of his budgeted dollars. I know Shields hasn't signed yet, but I would expect that 5-100 will probably land him at this point. Who would you rather have Shields and Moss or Santana and Hunter? For me it's not even close. I expect both Sheilds and Moss to outperform the guys the Twins signed. When you operate on a fairly tight, limited budget, it's all about allocating those costs where you get the most bang for the buck, and this is the 3rd year in a row the Twins seems intent on doing just the opposite.

Have to echo many of the comment here. I feel bad for Gardy as a person because he does truly seem to be a good guy. However, it's the right thing for the Twins to do. Like many people that have held the same job for many years, it's too easy to get in a rut of doing things just like you always have. Even though there may now be a better way to do things. It seemed to me that summed up Gardenhire's last couple of years. Other teams were taking advantage of all of the new information provided by technology and Gardy was still managing by his gut. I do think he would make a heck of a bench coach for a team that has a manager that is more of a numbers guy and needs someone to help communicating with the players, since I think that was one of his strengths. I also fear that Terry Ryan has fallen into the same trap, but am hoping this is the start of him embracing some change and we see significant organizational change and priorities this offseason. We can't spend the next decade managing the roster for "next year". Sooner or later we have to try and put a truly competitive team on the field.

My thoughts as well.

Well, he DIDN'T sign Garza, though did he. Correia wasn't event the 5th starter to start the year, was he? I don't expect him to say he did a poor job in signing Correia. However, he then went out and re-signed Pelfrey to a similar 2 year deal. Point is you can't use a defense of not dealing him because he sucks if you though he was good enough to warrant a 2 year deal to begin with. You can't have it both ways, it was either a bad decision to sign him, or a bad decision not to deal him now. What do you suppose the Twins could get for Pelfrey at this point? Not every decision a GM makes is going to turn out, heck a lot of them aren't, it's just the nature of the game. What's frustrating is when you make bad decisions, and then multiply them by doubling down on the guy you signed, or signing similar guys. Ryan has done that over the last 3 years. It's almost predictable. So in this case he made a bad decision on Correia, and hasn't been willing or able to correct that decision.

My thoughts exactly. Ryan is the one who gave Corriea a two year deal. If he's unable to get a single sniff for him 1/2 way through the 2nd season, who's fault is that? It's not like he's hurt, he's just pitching like Kevin Correia always has.

I'm giving this a B, almost went with a B-, but landing Milone for Fuld is a good thing. I'm indifferent about the Suzuki deal, think we overpaid, by a little, but since we are always under budget anyway, what difference does it make? Would love to hear what they were offered for him so could make a more informed decision, but we will probably never really know. Disappointed we couldn't move Willingham, Duensing, Burton or Correia though. I know there probably wasn't a market for these guys, but part of Ryan's job is to create a market when one doesn't exist. Call the Yankees and say you've been talking with Baltimore &Tampa about Willngham, are they interested in getting in before he goes to their competitor? At this point, I'm not sure why they don't just cut Corriea. He won't be back next year, he's not pitching well, and they have a bunch of guys that could use some Major League experience. I also don't see any point in keeping guys like Willingham and Callabello around. Drop one of them, call up Pinto, and make him your DH. Put Vargas at 1B and move Parmelee to one of the corner OF spots. August is a good time to evaluate these guys to see if they are part of a future solution, as they won't be facing watered down September lineups.

Cabrera and cash to cover his remaining salary for a questionable SS prospect, #12 in the Nats system. Does not appear to be a sellers market, at least for mid-level or worse position players. Not surprising the Twins weren't able to do more, if this is all you can get.

If this was true, the A's would have been able to deal him for a lot more than Sam Fuld. He could easily be another Worley or Nolasco, guys that are made better by their situation, but that aren't really very good...at least for the Twins.

Hopefully this means that Suzuki found out teams weren't interested in dealing for him, and lowered his demands. If there isn't a market for him in the middle of his best season, with a small salary, who's going to give him 4 years 28 million or whatever it is he's looking for? I'm in favor of resigning him, at a fair contract, but if the deal is outrageous, I'll be disappointed.

He could very well struggle, but probably not like Arcia. Arcia can't control the strike zone and Vargas has been pretty good at that in the minors, something we couldn't say about Arcia. I still think Arcia will be a good player for the Twins, they just need to let him figure it out.

Cespedes also is a FA after 2015, and can't be given a qualifying offer. The A's dealt 1+ year of him for 2 months of Lester. I'm guessing Beane figures he won't be able to sign either of them, so he's going for it this year.

The most intriguing name on this list to me is Porcello. I think he would require the least as far as trade value IMO, he's flashed signs of being really good, but has been inconsistent, and isn't super expensive. Save the $$ for a good FA like Garza. I'm probably crazy, but I'd float a Perkins for Porcello offer and see what happens. I love Perkins, but getting 180+ good innings out of Porcello seems more valuable to me than 70 great innings out of Perkins. The Tigers seem to like the idea of a "proven closer", so they may bite. Not sure on contract status, but I'm guessing Perkins and Porcello are pretty close too.

Uggh, has the Twins organization slipped to the bottom of the league rankings? Considering we are the worst team in the majors and it appears at least 3/4 of the players in the minors are struggling, what the heck is going on?

Thanks for the report. I had just read Wimmer's line and it didn't sound great. I do think he's a guy the Twins definitely need to see move up quickly, too bad about the control issues last spring, but so glad it seems to be behind him.

In the vain of this article - are the Twins approaching a cycle of mediocrity, I fear that may be the case. I don't think it's been pre-destined that will happen, but I think ownership with their tight budget may force it to happen. They lowered the budget this year because they project lower revenue as a result of how horrible they were last year. The key word is PROJECT. In my mind it kind of becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when you don't spend the necessary dollars to compete. If they Twins had invested another $10 million this year to make the bullpen better and provide another quality bat or SP we would all be rightfully excited about where this team was headed. However, cutting the payroll makes the team worse, meaning less fans show up this year, they cut again next year and we are back to the dome days, despite "investing" hundreds of millions of taxes so the Twins didn't cry poverty every year. The fact that this is happening just 2 years after the new stadium has opened really angers me.

Further research, in Hunter's last 3 years here he played 405 games, to Mauer's 395 during that same time, an avg. of 3 games more per year despite playing a much physically less demanding position. Yet he's calling Mauer out about not playing hurt and everyone takes his word as gospel. Just sayin'.

I think fans/media are far too tough on Mauer in regards to his health. Over the last 5 years (including last years debacle) he has averaged 122/games per year. I don't know where to go to find the number for other catchers, but I'm willing to venture that this is on the high side of games played by catchers. Catcher is the most physically demanding position in baseball, and catchers are going to need games off. I can certainly see the argument that because of this the Twins shouldn't have agreed to pay Mauer like they did, but because of the new stadium they were in a bad place. Pay the hometown hero, or let him go, right at the time a new taxpayer subsidized stadium is opening. Mauer's biggest problem isn't the injuries, it's that he doesn't talk about what is wrong, and he fails to realize that because of his salary he's held to a different standard than a guy like Luke Hughes, who nobody cares about when they are hurt. He needs to be more open and upfront with the fans when there is something wrong. I think that if you look back of Hunter's last couple years here, he probably missed almost as much time as Mauer, yet because he's an open book with fans and the media, everybody believed he was really hurt and didn't have issue with it.

I think the whole idea of throwing strikes is certainly a good one. I'm not as big a fan of "pitch to contact" though. These two don't have to go hand in hand. You should be trying to throw strikes the batter can't hit. We can certainly see that the Twins philosophy has been somewhat successful. But, I also fear that it has become too much of a good thing. Seeing that the philosophy has had some success has only made the Twins over due the whole thing, causing far too much regression in pitchers underlying skills over the last couple of years. Pavano is an excellent example. While not a strike-out pitcher Pavano struck out 6.6/9 IP in 2009 the year the Twins acquired him. Yet by the end of last season he had regressed to a league worst 4.1/9 Ks. One could argue that all outs are valuable, but it's a proven fact that a strikeout is the most effective type of out. By essentially ignoring the value of strikeouts the Twins staff has slowly degraded into one of the most questionable in the league. This is a system wide issue as we are now seeing power pitchers brought into the system that seem to be imploding. It would seem to me the pressure the Twins put on these players to throw strikes, rather than to pitch, is probably contributing to this. I wonder how a young Randy Johnson or Nolan Ryan would have fared if they had come up with the current Twins, both had extreme control problems in their youth, but were allowed to pitch through it because of their skills. I have my doubts that the Twins organization would have let them blossom the way they did. We know walks are evil, but sometimes the value you get from the additional strikeouts is worth it. The Twins should not be applying a "one size fits all" approach to their pitchers. Like most things we see in this world that have some success though, we often see a philosophy that if a little is good than a lot is great, and that is what the Twins have been doing the last couple of years, to the overall detriment of their pitchers.