EddieMatthews

If you look at the career records of Santana, Nolasco, Hughes, Milone, Gibson, none of them stands out. Each has had some success and some bad. They all look like middle of the rotation guys (or worse). None are young either. Five milquetoasts. Bring up both Duffey and Berrios by the end of May. Terry Ryan needs to get on the phone and move two of the five current starters. It probably doesn't matter which two go. Let's get the youth movement rolling. Let's find out if we have any "aces" or "stoppers" for the 2017 rotation.

Joe's best position in the line-up is batting second. He will see better pitches when there are runners on base, and when there is a solid threat batting behind him. Those were missing last year and there's promise that he will have that help this year. I'm hoping that he will be in the chase for a fourth batting title.

The Twins have an advantage over last year. There are more options for Molitor to set up the line-up. Putting a speedy guy ahead of Park and Sano behind him will improve the pitches that Park faces. Resting him when he would face a tough pitcher is another option. I expect Park to have .278 / .355 / .460 and have 25 HR, 85 RBI and 150 K's in 525 AB.

If there is an "over/under" on the Mauer prediction, I'll take the "under". Hope the shades help his daytime hitting, but obviously there are still a lot of variables in play before Joe gets back to his former self. Even so, he will be one of the more productive hitters on this team in 2016.

I have come to accept Plouffe at 3B. He strikes out too much and had 28 GIDP last year to top off his season. HIs power and RBI stats make him acceptable. However, I don't believe the Twins can make the next level with a majority of players who strike out more than 20% of their at bats. The Twins miss to many opportunities to move runners.

The Twins will start Nolasco and try to establish some trade value. Ricky must believe that he has several good years left, and would want to maximize his earnings potential before he retires. I agree with other posters that he could become a clubhouse cancer, but that would not be a label that Ricky wants, as it would reduce the willingness of another team to take him on. In all likelihood, the Twins will eat a lot of that $24 million contract, and another team might need a fifth starter if they think he could produce and would cost them a few million for the remaining two years. Not many good options.

It may not be a valid comparison to look at Mauer and Morneau as all brain injuries are not the same. Morneau suffered his concussion in 2010 while on an MVP season. He did not recover his batting skills until 2014 when he won the NL batting title, and continued in 2015 with another +.300 season. Morneau has not recovered his slugging performance, but appears to have a higher average. There is an evolving science on concussions and treatments to improve recovery. While some recover more quickly, baseball is a complex sport that requires special skills and the brain is integral to those skills. Mauer is in year 3 of his concussion recovery. We can hope that this will be a break-out year for him. It may take another year. It may not happen, I agree with other posters that playing baseball is the best exercise for improving brain function as it relates to playing baseball.

i'm sure that Joe Mauer has been up front with the Twins management. This article makes it crystal clear why he will never catch again. It's one thing to face a 95mph heater a handful of times in a game while standing to the side of the plate. It's entirely another matter to face those pitches from behind the plate while a batter is trying to change the trajectory. It's not clear if the vision issues are serious enough to endanger Mauer on a high inside pitch, or if it means that he cannot pick up the ball rotation enough to tell a fastball from a slider. A hit a week for him would raise his average over .300 and differentiating close pitches is the difference between a ball and a strike, a walk and a strikeout.

Unfortunately, Nolasco will be a starter. The Twins will want to have him prove his value as a starter. Right now he has no value in a trade. They will give him a good opportunity to start for at least a month, maybe more. $12m is a lot of money ($24m for the balance of his contract) for the Twins to discard. The Twins will work toward the starting pitching that will be best in the second half of the season. It should include Berrios and Duffey (if he is effective) and will mean some demotions and trades to clear the deck.

This seems like a convoluted strategy from Ryan. Uniformed left handed throwers on the roster include O'Rourke, Perkins, Milone, and Kepler. O'Rourke has control issues and may start out in Rochester. Milone may be the sixth man out in the starting pitching contest. Maybe the Twins will go north with only Perkins who can throw from the starboard side of the mound. If he goes on the DL, Kepler will get the call!

While Mauer's HOF credentials have been tarnished by his post-concussion performance, he had 8 solid years as a catcher. However, I think that his 2011 year is a bigger black mark than the past two post-concussion years. In the middle of a 10 year run of solid to outstanding catching, Joe developed "bi-lateral leg weakness". WTF? it may be a legit ailment, but it has transformed Joe's image to that of a wimp. I hope Joe can turn his hitting around and get back to .300+ batting. I hope that the concussion issues are behind him and he can have the same resurgence that Morneau has had. If he can add another batting title and 5 more years, he's a lock for the HOF.

I agree with other posters that the Twins will give Arcia and Santana time to establish value in April and May. Buxton will claim CF with a strong spring, otherwise Santana will start there. Arcia will start as DH and occasional RF. Rosario will be in LF. Sano may be a "project" in RF, and will get DH and 3B play. By June I expect all this to sort out. Rosario, Buxton, Kepler will be in the outfield. Sano, Escobar, Dozier, Mauer will be the infield with Plouffe filling in at 3B and 1B. Park will get some seasoning in Rochester and be at DH by June. The Twins need to field a solid defensive team to support their pitching staff. Hughes is a fly ball pitcher, so he would not be happy with Sano and Arcia at the corners. All pitchers would love to have Buxton and Rosario covering the outfield. Can't wait for Summer! Less optimistic about April and May.

The quality of the 2015 rookies looks much better than prior years. In 2014 we thought that Santana and Vargas would return to more success. It would be interesting to see a comparison by year of the team roster with a list of the number of rookies and the number of players who played their last year in the majors. In 2012, several players played their last year, including Nishioki, Komatsu, Burroughs, Hughes, Blackburn, Pavano, Gray, Perdomo, and Capps. It hurt to even look at that roster. 2013 wasn't much better. 2015 and 2016 should show us cream of the crop instead of dregs of the barrel. The quality of the roster top to bottom and April through October looks promising.

It's not saber metrics, but it sells tickets. When a guy can hammer a high fastball into the left field stands, or make a sliding or diving stop of a hard smash and get the out, the fans love it. That's why they vote on their all star ballot for a guy like Dozier. Does it add to the win column? Good question. It's obvious that Dozier (and Plouffe for that matter) have great fan support despite their K-ratio, low batting average, and BARISP. It gets tough for the management to address the need to build a quality roster when it means that developing "stars" power in the short term may not meet with developing a winning lineup in the longterm. So should we trade Dozier or Plouffe or Gibson to make the team stronger? Of course. Just be careful how high a pedestal they have been placed on the prior year.

I'm not sure if May is comparable in potential ceiling, but the article reminded me of two Twins pitchers who won Cy Young awards. I had to go into the baseballreference.com archives to confirm some fading memories. Those memories were of two guys who had starting abilities but were relegated to the bullpen while lesser starters kept their positions in the rotation. The first guy is Jim Perry who had some success with Cleveland in the 1950's and joined the Twins in the 60's. It's understandable that he could't supplant the likes of Jim Kaat, Dean Chance, Camilo Pascual, or Muscat Grant. But Dick Stigman, Lee Stange, Dave Boswell, and Jim Merritt? In 1969 Perry got the ball on a regular basis and won the CYA in 1970. I don't know if he had injury issues, but the Twins post-1965 World Series could have used a few more 20 game winners. You all know the second guy. The Twins acquired Johan Santana in 2000 on a rule 5 pick. By 2002 he was a spot starter and showed promise despite his 15 WPs. In 2003 he had 18 starts, less that Rick Reed, Kyle Lohse, Joe Mays, Kenny Rogers, and Brad Radke, while posting an ERA that was a buck fifty lower than all of them. My point is to see that promise and go with it. Let's get Duffey, Berrios, Gibson, May, Meyer ready for the Majors, mentally and physically, then turn them loose. Let them make a few mistakes and learn from them. One of them may be a future Cy Young winner.

I'd like to see the scouting reports on Nishioka. I'm sure that the bonus baby signings of years ago would be a good read. The scouts must talk up the talent potential of an 18 year old when that talent has to be developed to reach ML abilities. The flip side is the HOF players who were drafted low and bloomed as they matured. It's not a science.

I hope that Terry Ryan works a package of Plouffe and Nolasco and can ship them to a team that is willing to offer a prospect in return. I don't see Nolasco fitting into the starting 5, so he needs to go. The starting rotation needs to make room for Berrios and doesn't need another starter in return for Plouffe. The 2016 Twins will have a few question marks, but that's what makes spring training fun. They can see if Park can hit ML pitching, if Buxton can hit ML pitching, find a place (or trade) D. Santana, and see if Berrios is ready to make the big leagues out of Spring Training.

I'd like to know a little more about the Winter League activities of Sano and Santana. Last I heard, Sano was playing 3B and Santana was playing CF. It makes sense that Terry Ryan will wait for the results of these two key players before making changes to the infield or outfield. I expect the Twins to start Buxton in AAA and Santana in CF, moving him to utility when Buxton makes the bigs. Right field may be Arcia as a placeholder for Max. There's still some skill development needed in OF, and may be there by the All-Star break. Infield is the most stable, with Mauer at 1B, Dozier at 2B, Escobar at SS, and Sano at 3B. This frees up Plouffe as possible trade material. Pitching is a conundrum. There are too many starters and not enough quality there. Gibson, Duffey, Hughes, Santana, Milone are incumbents. Nolasco has to be on the trade block (or headed for the bullpen.) The bullpen will have May, Perkins, Jepsen, and the next four guys that step up in Spring Training. I look for the Twins to make a trade with Plouffe and Nolasco coupled to get a catching prospect or a utility player. I view the pair of Plouffe and Nolasco to be about a net zero, and moving them off the roster for anything positive will benefit the Twins.