Wizard11

I like both the McCutchen and Markakis options. In addition to OBP contributions they would replace some of the veteran leadership lost with Mauer, Dozier, and Escobar leaving.

Tom, this column is fun and it’s style encourages interesting and civil discourse. Much appreciated.

It is probably worth noting that Trevor May requested to return to the bullpen. I am still laughing picturing Buxton portaging Astudillo.

I like the idea of an impact player to help get this team going. Paul Goldschmidt is likely available and checks a lot of boxes. D-Backs need to rebuild their farm. I think we should help them with that endeavor.

Nick, I have not previously heard Lance Lynn referred to as a malcontent. Could you shed a little light on this?

...Stepping out of the shadows of my lair. 1.) Where are you from? I grew up in Fergus Falls, MN. I now live in San Diego, although I do maintain a 2nd home in SLP. I work one week every month in the TC. 2.) Age Range? Sigh...59 3.) What brought you to Twins Daily? I followed Aaron Gleeman, Seth, and John Bonnes here 4.) Highest level of baseball/softball played? Amateur baseball until age 40. Played every position other than pitcher. Ended up as a catcher 5.) Favorite Twins Player Harmon Killebrew. He was my childhood hero. favorite underappreciated Twins player, David Ortiz. Gave up my season tickets when they didn’t bring him back. and if you want, favorite current Twins player? Well it was Escobar, briefly Brian Dozier, but now I would say Jorge Polanco. I apologize in advance if he suddenly gets traded 6.) Favorite non-Twins Daily site/authors? Joe Posnanski. The Baseball Bard above all others 7.) Favorite Twitter follows? Giant time suck 8.) Other interests outside of baseball. Racing Vintage Cars, Yoga, Hiking, and hanging with my grandchildren of which there are 7. 9.) Favorite part of Twins Daily... forums, blogs, articles, topics... wahtever you like. I love the game recaps Tom does. I love The crisp and well written articles Nick does, Parker’s side by side batter GIFs, and pretty much anything riverbrian says will crack me up. I love the numerous and often divergent perspectives many people contribute. Thought provoking! TD has a strong population of knowledgeable baseball fans that regularly contribute via the comments section 10.) Tell us what we can do better. What features or other topics would you like to see in-season or out of season? Consider a Troll removal service. Darn things are worse than raccoons. I find the repetitive rants and tantrums directed against the FO and Manager to be a big turnoff as well as the constant crying for half baked prospects to be called up now. Very tedious and not well thought out. Nick Gordon, really? Several serial offenders seem to regularly show up just to suck the happy out of the room. I feel much better now. 11.) Have you been to any of the Twins Daily "events? No, but I guess my lurking days are now over so I may as well join in.

A short but true story about Kyle Gibson (&Dozier). In 2016 my son who has some special needs and I were at the Big A to watch the Twins and Angels. We were near the field on the first base side and my son was hoping to get a ball or autograph. He and I were kitted out in Twins gear. He was not able to get near the field due to 3 rows of eager Angels fans and given his challenges is not very assertive. Kyle Gibson is the starting pitcher that night and he is walking with Kurt Suzuki in from the bullpen. He hears all of the kids yelling and looks over in that direction. He then turns from his path with Suzuki and approaches the seats. He has one ball and 50 kids are yelling for it. He gets them to quiet down and waves his arms like Moses parting the sea and the kids split apart. He points up to my son and tells him the ball is for him and tosses it over. Dozier then strolls by and calls my son over to sign the ball. This happens right before the National Anthem and the start of the game. I have watched hundreds of baseball games and have never seen MLB players interact with a fan near game time. My son still refers to that day as the best day of his life. Those guys will always be our heroes.

I have to admit to being a bit shocked that some are making an issue of a headline. Stunning really. But then I considered that TD has indicated a need for more writers. For the headline critics perhaps this was just their awkward way of volunteering to create content and demonstrate how it should be done.

Nick, It seems that you are either experiencing an ephinal satori or H2N3 delirium. Here’s hoping for satori

Sano only needs to play 3rd one more year. 1B will be all his in 2019 assuming he is healthy.

I don’t think the ideas that this was a shrewd signing as well as mildly disappointing are mutually exclusive. My response was that it was a solid move but not the impact move so many of us have been waiting for and thus a little underwhelming. The small moves of this offseason will be viewed vastly differently depending on the rest of the offseason. For my part I am nervous that so much of our offseason speculation has revolved around signing YD. Realistically this is a low probability scenario given the multiple suitors with cash and a WS opportunity. It is probably good to remember that not long ago we thought we had a real shot at Ohtani.

Hmmm, one year ago we were all looking back at a 59 win disaster of a season. Now after bringing in a new front office and an on field improvement of 26 wins there seems to be a great deal of discontent from many “serious” fans. There seems to be an emerging view that unless this front office somehow brings in a superstar starting pitcher such as Darvish, many will be disappointed by the “failure”. With a bit of circuitous logic, I guess it is a healthy sign that fans have moved on so quickly to greatly elevated expectations. I do hope we get some high impact pitching help, but regardless I am thrilled with the new FO’s fresh approach.

Count me in the "irrationally" optimistic set. I feel comparisons between the Ryan administration history and Falvine are not valid (at least yet). Hard to see the past GM caring about pitch framing and spending $24MM to address it. The new management pivoted fairly quickly on mistakes such as Byung Ho Park and were summarily unconcerned with losing him to waivers. Moreover, I feel conflating Jim Pohlad with Carl Pohlad is not valid. Carl would (IMO) never have fired Terry Ryan mid season, or taken accountability for "total system failure, or gone outside the organization to look for not just a new GM, but in fact an entire new front office structure. I like their interest in young, talented controllable players such as the recent interest in Raisel Iglesias. If our only metric for the change in the FO is huge payroll size or big FA signings then by that standard most FO's are flops as that is the peruse of a handful of teams. That said, I do feel there is going to be way too much money chasing way too little starting pitching talent and I think the Twins would be wise to stay out of that game and stick to building a sustainable winner. My only incongruent caveat would be if they have a real chance to sign Shoei Otani. Then by gum lavishly promise and spend like Congress and reel him in.

I think a reasonable argument can be made for cutting Phil Hughes loose. I think it is unlikely he is looked at as a future contributor and he is a sunk cost regardless. If he is only improbable at best as a future asset, why use a roster spot on him?

Neil Allen likely had little input on the pitching roster he inherited. He may not have been the problem but he wasn’t the solution either. His big accomplishment seems to have been teaching every pitcher to throw the changeup or to increase the frequency of use. We need someone who can take a more Rowson-esque approach of individualing the coaching. It would also behoove us to have someone highly skilled at the cutting edge of analytics and technology. Well...and to have more pitchers with high ceilings. Best wishes to Neil Allen as he seems like a good guy

A refreshing perspective. This view may not play well with those who want to attribute no credit to Falvey, Levine, or for that matter Molitor. With the current leadership in the front office and on the field it has felt like things makes sense again. Even at the times when I strongly disagree with their decisions, I can follow their thought process. The vibe has changed with this team and it has changed for the better. Young Players like Buxton, Rosario, Sano, and Polanco are reaching their potential and in the case of veterans such as Mauer, Gibson, Escobar, and Belisle, they have raised their performance from the recent past. Players added such as Gee, Castro, and Gimenez have brought upgrades. Youngsters like Hildenberger and Busenitz who were fringe prospects have flourished. The vibe has changed with this team. Time to give credit where credit is due even when it doesn’t fit our biases or theories.

For my part, I really enjoyed Dozier's bunt in Detroit. ;-)

Here's hoping Moya can adapt quickly and be an asset for these last 19 games. His windup reminded me of a Cobra with the body movements before a rapid strike. Seth, I really appreciate all of your quality and timely work on here. We all benefit from that as well as your even keel with dissenters.

I have enjoyed LaTroy keeping it real. He is not afraid to speak his mind but is also not bombastic. I am not a Smalley fan as he reminds me of Joe Morgan. They each broadcast as if they invented baseball. When Smalley starts speaking from the Mount, I reach for the mute button.

Wow, was that the "happy" leaving the room? Nick, for my part I really appreciate the consistent and regular good work you produce on here.

Some reactions to this "news" seem a bit overwrought. There may be more here than meets the eye, such as undisclosed minor injuries, transactions involving other teams, matchups in early games, etc.. Also, it seems to me that rosters moves made 2 weeks or so into the season stand a better chance of retaining a player that is being removed from the 40 man roster. I definitely understand the frustration of the years of losing. I do like some of the thought processes in play here as they suggest it is not business as usual. Mejia as the 5th starter, Grossman (high OBP) vs Park (SLG), a new pitch for Tonkin, a consideration of Duffey as a bullpen arm, etc. I am not saying I agree with all of it but to me it is encouraging that there is a willingness to do things unconventionally relative to the former process known as the "Twin's Way".

Nick, Thank you for this article. It is a refreshing and hopeful perspective that is grounded in cogent observation. I think sometimes as fans we focus only on roster construction. This is understandable given the dark years of the recent past. I am really looking forward to potentially seeing the implementation of data driven decisions that occur pre-game and in-game utilizing whatever roster assets are active. Lineups, positioning, pitch sequencing and location, fatigue metrics, etc.. To use a time worn analogy, it would be quite fun if the Twins leadership can be the "Piranhas" (thanks Ozzie) of baseball strategy. Aggressive, cunning, and unexpected. It sure would be a welcome change from the backward strategic and tactical approaches of the last regime. Tired of feeling embarrassed about being a Twins fan. I live in San Diego and travel the country monthly. The Twins were once well respected outside of the TC for the hard nosed, fundamentally sound, and somewhat retro brand of baseball. Not so much now.

Well Done Sir!

Santiago has pitched 180 innings each of the last 2 years, has a career K/9 of 8.0, 29 years old, LH, and modestly priced. He is not blocking any MLB ready prospect. He had a rough start to his Twins career. Not too many pitchers would look very good if dumped on to the 2016 Twins mid-season. IMO Berrios is the likely 5th starter. For those who loath Santiago, who exactly should be in Santiago's spot?

To me for 2017 I think Joe Mauer is ideal as a lead off hitter against most pitchers. He still does a good job of working pitchers and seeing a lot of pitches. I do think this would turn him into an asset as opposed to the liability he is as a 3 hitter. The strategy of using a non-speed guy at the top of the order is not really that new. A good compo for Joe Mauer would be Wade Boggs who spent much of his career as a lead off hitter. Although probably none of us expect batting titles from Joe anymore. I would rather see Dozier in the 3 spot.