rogrulz30

I think we have to keep Plouffe and give him AB. He is one of the players I have a good outlook on. He needs AB's, he needs to have a consistent position, if the Twins are going to continue to be really bad, get Plouffe playing time and a position. We need to give him a chance. Burroughs is done, get rid of Burroughs, sign Inge.

I am a fan no matter what, there will always be players, managers, owners, GM's that I really like and don't like. I have an option to write about whatever I want hear and listen to Twins fans takes. It is fun, I love the Twins good or bad, if bad I can try and figure what went wrong and complain about something.

SIGN BRANDON INGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can stop writing about how much I hate Valencia, the worst 3B in the league. Inge is the perfect fit over Valencia, we can also stop hearing about, and writing about Butera as well. This is a win win.

I knew posting the question would be interesting. I love Twins Baseball. I love baseball in general, I blame myself for having higher expectations, thinking that the lineup was decent enough to be competitive, and always bragging up the Twins to my good friend (Brewers fan, Twins hater). I personally see no life to the team which makes it tough to watch to be honest.

I have watched the Twins year in and year out, whether they are bad or good. I will say I loved the underdog role in the Dome, low budget lots of enthusiasm, great defense, solid pitching. The "new" Twins have none of that. As much as I didn't like "little Nicky Punto", I kind of wish we had that 16 year old babe ruth style excitement. I will root for the Twins forever, right now it is hard because I am not finding much to root for.

"Blackie is a gamer" " He gets after it" " He will be better next time, there is no doubt about it"

Not saying I won't watch the games if they are on, I will be here, and watching games all year. I have a big problem watching bad pitching though, and we are in for it this year. I also have a problem with watching 0 emotion except for Jamey Carroll and Ryan Doumit this year. At 38 Jamey Carroll has more enthusiasm than anybody on the team IMO.

I have to say the only things I enjoyed about watching the game last night was listening to tk, watching Valencia be horrible again, and willingham is really on, I know I would have turned the channel in about the 3rd inning if it was Richard and Bert. Blacburn was brutal, Maloney was bad, and then the Twins couldn't get hits when they needed it most and I didn't even expect anything less at that point. Yes I was wrong thinking the twins would win 5/6, I am scared that the royals are going to get their season on track vs the twins.

I am totally lost in the world of the twins right now

Very real eyes on the game, I will say the Ross homerun was a pretty good pitch from capps. If you saw any of the other valencia at bats u wouldn't put him as a hero, once again fast ball after fastball outside and valencia tries to pull the ball, including an inning ending double play vintage valencia, a horrible mistake by the pitcher on 1-2 count allowed valencia to hit the hr. One more reason gardy needs to consider closer by committee, he can't have capps as a " closer"

Baseball is a game that requires people to learn more about the nuances in the game. If I watch baseball I love watching it with educated people, tk does that well, having all 3 for 81 games would be great. I m guessing the payroll wouldn't allow for that one though, ( laughing)

I like the last idea of having all three at times, Baseball Tonight does it, I think that would be good to hear.

No question, gardy must go closer by committee

I like bert, but it is fun getting tk in the booth. I love the different perspectives and his willingness to go out on a limb. His takes are good and is a good change of pace. I m looking forward to the rest of his games, along with hearing Roy smalley after that.

I guess I m just fishing for some other solution other than going and bringing someone up, we have some big problems without liriano now

I am looking into some free agent options to fulfill the rotation. I did predict the Twins would win the next 5/6 games, if that were to happen the Twins would be 10-12. WE NEED STARTING PITCHING. What would be the major downside of the point to sign Brandon Webb on the cheap? I don't know all the details of options, but are we really going to keep Liriano on the mound? So from opening day down to Pavano, Marquis, Blackburn- Marquis and Blackburn were back of the rotation guys. I would be interested to see response to signing Webb?

I like the idea that Mauer gets more AB's in some way shape, or form. If he bats in the 1 hole, great. I like the fact that Joe can work the pitcher, gives more of an opportunity for the guys behind him to see the pitcher. I would agree with Joe taking walks more often in the 1 and 2 hole. In the 3 hole, this is a spot where we need someone driving the ball over the fence/double guy. Yes Joe hits a lot of gaps, he also hits into too many double plays that are rally killers. Either way Joe Mauer should not be in the 3 hole in my humble opinion.

I think the Twins are going to wait it out til June to have Morneau play 1B consistently, if Parmalee can play well, this will give Morneau the best chance at slowly moving him back to first base. I think that is the right thing to do, since he is "sunk" money, we need Morneau to be completely healthy, at this point there is no reason to put him back at first. We have a lineup that can compete right now, problem is our rotation is such a pile right now.

Are you kidding me? Danny Valencia is a solid MLB third baseman gradually refining his game??????????? He is one of the worst 3B in the AL, let's just say projected 25th by RotoChamp http://rotochamp.com/players/PlayerRankings.aspx?Position=3B. He does not fit in any part of what the Twins try and do, he doesn't listen, he doesn't try to refine his game, he doesn't have the power to always pull the ball. He makes bonehead errors in the field. He loses concentration on what he needs to do at the plate. He is not a team player. I would love to give Burroughs a shot, then see if Dozier can make it.

Is Brandon Webb available???? The Minnesota Twins and Oakland A's would be teams that would look at bringing a guy like Brandon Webb in for the cheap. We have disaster area going on right now. I don't care who you are you aren't going to compete with Pavano, Marquis, Blackburn, Swarzak, Hendriks. This is if Blackburn is healthy, we saw what happened to Baker. I posted that I am giving the Twins some slack for the first 60 games, but something has to happen in the rotation. If Brandon Webb is available, which I think he is, I think the Twins should definitely take a chance on the former Cy Young winner. Our entire pitching staff is weakened by injuries. I don't mind having Hendriks in the rotation, I don't think Swarzak is a starter right now, I think a move like bringing Webb in could be interesting. I have to ask a question to the Twins Community that maybe I will ask in the forums, but if you read this I am asking this. Who do you think is the best manager in the game/worst manager int the game if you think there is? Now put them in the dugout for the Twins last year, this year, how many more wins are we going to have? Or losses for that matter? Let's look at it a different way, if I take LaRussa, who I think is the best manager in the game, and then I take Roenicke, which I think is one of the worst and I put them in the dugout for the Yankees last year, how much of a win differential is it? I am going to say 8 game differential. So lets take the mean of that and LaRussa would be a 4.0 WARM wins above replacement manager, yes I made that up. So, this was just some thoughts on if you really think that the reason we are losing is because of the 2010 Manager of the Year. Managers don't forget how to manage, you have to have things go right, and you are also going to have things fall apart. What I might say though is Vavra and Anderson may have the wrong approaches to hitting based on the personal we have on the team. That may land on the GM Terry Ryan. You have to keep in mind this is his first year taking over a team that lost 99 games last season. I am sure he has plans, look at what he had to deal with putting a team together with pieces he didn't know would be healthy or not. I totally understand cutting payroll if Morneau/Mauer weren't going to be healthy, this wouldn't make sense. I would trust the plan from Ryan for now, give him a 3 year cushion and then make arguments, you can't make haste judgement coming off of a 99 loss season, while having your Ace go down for the year, and not knowing if Morneau/Mauer is goin to be healthy. I am going to go out on a limb this evening and also post that the Twins are going to go 5-1 in the next 6 games, record then 10-12. The conversations in the forums are going to be a bit different if this were to happen. The Twins need to take care of business these next 6 games or it could turn ugly from the fans perspectives.

Is Brandon Webb available???? The Minnesota Twins and Oakland A's would be teams that would look at bringing a guy like Brandon Webb in for the cheap. We have disaster area going on right now. I don't care who you are you aren't going to compete with Pavano, Marquis, Blackburn, Swarzak, Hendriks. This is if Blackburn is healthy, we saw what happened to Baker. I posted that I am giving the Twins some slack for the first 60 games, but something has to happen in the rotation. If Brandon Webb is available, which I think he is, I think the Twins should definitely take a chance on the former Cy Young winner. Our entire pitching staff is weakened by injuries. I don't mind having Hendriks in the rotation, I don't think Swarzak is a starter right now, I think a move like bringing Webb in could be interesting. I have to ask a question to the Twins Community that maybe I will ask in the forums, but if you read this I am asking this. Who do you think is the best manager in the game/worst manager int the game if you think there is? Now put them in the dugout for the Twins last year, this year, how many more wins are we going to have? Or losses for that matter? Let's look at it a different way, if I take LaRussa, who I think is the best manager in the game, and then I take Roenicke, which I think is one of the worst and I put them in the dugout for the Yankees last year, how much of a win differential is it? I am going to say 8 game differential. So lets take the mean of that and LaRussa would be a 4.0 WARM wins above replacement manager, yes I made that up. So, this was just some thoughts on if you really think that the reason we are losing is because of the 2010 Manager of the Year. Managers don't forget how to manage, you have to have things go right, and you are also going to have things fall apart. What I might say though is Vavra and Anderson may have the wrong approaches to hitting based on the personal we have on the team. That may land on the GM Terry Ryan. You have to keep in mind this is his first year taking over a team that lost 99 games last season. I am sure he has plans, look at what he had to deal with putting a team together with pieces he didn't know would be healthy or not. I totally understand cutting payroll if Morneau/Mauer weren't going to be healthy, this wouldn't make sense. I would trust the plan from Ryan for now, give him a 3 year cushion and then make arguments, you can't make haste judgement coming off of a 99 loss season, while having your Ace go down for the year, and not knowing if Morneau/Mauer is goin to be healthy. I am going to go out on a limb this evening and also post that the Twins are going to go 5-1 in the next 6 games, record then 10-12. The conversations in the forums are going to be a bit different if this were to happen. The Twins need to take care of business these next 6 games or it could turn ugly from the fans perspectives.

The Truth is that the schedule is extremely difficult, when you don't have your starting pitching staff, what is Gardy really supposed to do. He isn't the one making the Terry Ryan decisions, he has to put out there the players he has. Gardy has Valencia, Thomas to deal with, along with filling in the rotation, spot starts from Swarzak, Hendriks, then you have to put and deal with a cancer that is Liriano. Does anybody really think that the coaching would even have a 2 win differential. The answer is no. You also have to keep in mind that Terry Ryan had to deal with a payroll concern of is Morneau and Mauer healthy? Why would you spend any more money on a team if those two aren't healthy. In my mind I would look to see where they are, see if we are in any race and determine to spend at the deadline. I am also giving slack to the Twins til the end of the first 60 games. I am not giving slack to Valencia or Liriano as they have had enough chances now.

Ok I will say I have been valencias biggest "hater" for a lack of a better word. But seriously it feels like he gets a huge rope. A couple more bad plays in Saturdays game, a very poor at bat, yet you don't hear much about him in the threads. I really thought by the end of the year Hughes would have taken his spot, obviously that isn't happening, so the next option at this point is burroughs? I am telling you now ( I do hope I eat these words) valencia is not going to match his 2010 productivity.

Joe Sheehan wrote an article in SI, and this is something I have thought about for a long time and I totally agree. He talks about how the "save" has changed the way that managers use there bullpen. If I have my best K/BB ratio guy in my bullpen, I am facing the middle of my lineup up 1 with 1 out guys on 2nd and 3rd in the 7th inning, why am I not putting the best bullpen guy in there? I know why, because of the Save stat. This stat really messes with the best way a manager can use his bullpen. I know I can put my best guy out there in the 7th, and in the 9th if I wanted to I could go lefty righty lefty if I need 3 outs if I want to, why not? I think this is one of the biggest overrated stats in the game, the first manager to start getting away from the "save", and use your best players in the best spots I will give a lot of credit to. Do you really think Matt Capps is a save guy? I don't even know what that really means. I know this for sure, if I was a manager and I had to face the other teams best righty in the 7th or 8th, I am up by one, with a guy on 2nd, I would put my best RH pitcher out there that has the best k/BB ratio. Then the rest of the way I would use the rest of the arms I had in spots that needed it. Why only use your best "reliever/save" guy in the 9th in a "save" situation, that is stupid and the save guy is way overpaid. I agree on one thing, getting the final 3 outs of the game are harder than getting the first 3 guys out of a game. The reason for this is strategy knowing what you need to do as a team to get yourself into the game. Every pitch is magnified. So would closer by committee work against you? My answer is no.

Trade Span? I was listening to the Common Man yesterday, they were responding to a thread of trading Denard Span. I was fishing yesterday morning on Lake Superior and I just yelled out why would you be talking about trading Span? Yes we need pitching, but we don't have OF's. Revere is not a lead off guy, sure he can run fast and cover lots of ground in the outfield, but he has as subpar arm. Everyones tradeable!! I get that, but I don't think trading Span is an option at this point. I think the upcoming draft is the place where we will upgrade pitching, also I think the free agent market, albeit not a huge pitching market next year is where we upgrade pitching, not trading Span. Greinke, Gibson, Baker, yeah Greinke is a stretch, but I don't think it is out of any possibilities. We need Span, to trade him would not be a smart move by the Twins right now.