Wizard11

Thanks for the memories TP! It WAS FUN watching you go from a scrawny SS to a "husky" 3B. You were always classy with the fans. It seemed like you were willing to be a standup guy for the team when someone needed to talk to the media or if the team needed a positive message. Pretty cool relationship with your Mom too. I hope you land somewhere with a great opportunity to win. Keep ripping Gladden and the other codgers!

Tom, I like your thought process here and I would trust the new management team to successfully implement it. I also like the flipping analogy. It is apt and in this context we are greedy for some talent in these parts.

I understand the Jepson move in the context of last year. Ryan was mostly criticized at the time for not doing more. However, contracts offered to Fien, Milone, Jepson, and Plouffe last winter equaled somewhere in the neighborhood of $19MM. Seems like those dollars could have brought something much better. 3 of the 4 have already been DFA'd this year. Hughes, Nolasco, Perkins, Ervin, and Park have not worked out well (yet?) either, although in the context of the timing of those contracts, they were somewhat defensible. Jepson is just the latest indictment of the extremely poor allocation of team resources. GMs are routinely given seven figure salaries in part because of the perception that they will be "right" much more of the time, than a random individual selected from a phone book. Jim Pohlad is a lot more patient than I would be if that was my money

If Ryan can not get any kind of return for Plouffe then waive him. That would be yet another squandered asset but it would be unlikely and pointless to give Plouffe $10mm next year to continue to clog the roster. A half season more of Plouffe in 2016 is of zero value to the Twins. For my part, I would send Danny Santana out the door with him. DS has a great "bag of tools" but has shown no meaningful progress as a hitter. Also there is scant evidence that he possesses a major league infielders glove. That means we are dedicating a roster spot to a pinch runner and third string CF behind Buxton and Kepler. Polanco should get the roster spot and get into a middle infield rotation with Escobar and Dozier. If a quality, almost major league ready catcher can be had for Dozier or Ervin and any other combo of veterans then Ryan should jump on it.

Although FO's are not constructed this way, I have long thought that TR should only be in charge of the last 5 guys on the roster. He has always been the "Master of the Dumpster Dive" and has often been able to come up with usable freebies like Grossman, Abad, Boshers, Kintzler, etc. What is missing is a forward thinking GM who fills out the entire Rotation, late inning relievers, and the Starting 9. (Just a hint of sarcasm here). TR should be subordinate to a strong GM and then his years of baseball experience could be properly utilized. His tool set and vision are not IMO functional in today's game as a GM.

I would have to question what Danny Santana has done to earn his roster spot. Grossman, Kepler, Park, Arcia, and Buxton have all been mentioned as possibilities to lose their 25 man roster spot. What exactly has Danny Santana done in either MLB (or MiLB for that matter) to preempt any of the above players? At age 25 it seems like the his upside is to grow up to be a serviceable utility player. Is there a good argument at this stage of the rebuild for a half baked UT to take playing time from anyone on the roster who may be potentially be a future starter? OK, that probably is a little harsh, but do others see D. Santana as part of our future starting 9?

One more cliche to add to the mix..."addition by subtraction". At this point doubling down on a bad decision in an attempt to get "perceived value" for Plouffe is hubris. Ditch him already. On another note, I am curious and mildly hopeful that R. Grossman turns into a serviceable starter. He has an excellent pedigree in that he was once viewed as a good prospect and may be a late bloomer. It has been awhile since Shane Mack and we are due for a success story of such ilk. (Yes, I know Mack was a rule 5). I realize the probable outcome for Grossman is likely something much less.

I was furious at the time about this choice. A younger version of me even wrote letter to Terry Ryan campaigning for the Twins to keep Ortiz.(The only time I have ever done anything like that). The local media had been speculating this would happen. It did in fact seem to be a major mistake to many fans, myself included. Torii Hunter spoke out against this decision as well. Tom Kelly criticized Ortiz regularly on his Sunday radio show in regard to "Mr. Ortiz's inability" to hit to the opposite field. He was very condescending with fans who called in about his Ortiz views and would frequently make very critical comments of their perspective. It was clear he had strong views on David Ortiz and they were not terribly favorable. TK retained influence with the Twins FO. I remember one show where he essentially compared his skill set to Pedro Munoz or Bernardo Brito. Bit wrong there as it turns out. He also frequently mentioned Ortiz's defensive limitations but it was in juxtaposition to Mientkiewicz's exceptional defensive skills. Dave Ortiz was a serviceable 1B on a team that already had exceptional defense there. The issue of offering him arbitration was framed in part around DH but at that time many thought Ortiz would do fine at 1B as well. So it was keep 2 of 3 from Dougie, LeCroy, or Ortiz. Fun fact, David Ortiz was originally known as David Arias. Some sort of "misunderstanding" with birth certificates

Dr. N, I agree with your well considered observations on Joe Mauer. I think 100% of posters on this thread would agree that Mauer's performance the past 3 years has been a disappointment. There does not seem to be any disagreement on that. Rather I think what sounds like a defense of Mauer is in fact the varying degrees of fatigue many have with having the same conversation for 3 years. It would be great if the media would take up this conversation and raise the profile of the issues.

Minniman...That would be great if the Twins as a roster hit like Boston and Mauer still stunk. The record would certainly look better and they would be a lot more interesting.

Yep Chief, we definitely do not have the equal of Toronto's lineup. It does seem though like the individual parts should add to something exceeding a .244 winning percentage. In 50 years of watching Mahor League baseball, I strain to remember a team with this bad of record 41 games in. (I strain to do a lot of things these days). The few that come to mind were much more obviously bad.

Nah Mr.B, I am cool with the negative views on Mauer. I think like a lot of readers, I am just wore out on the Mauer complaints.

Chief, I agree it is a problem. Seems in fact to be a roster full of problems. It would be interesting to be a bug on the wall in that clubhouse and have a chance to get direct info on the mood and commitment. On paper this team does not look anywhere near this bad.

I don't know Mr. B. It sure sounds like if only Joe didn't take up so much payroll, hit for power, and led with a Paul Bunyan personality, we would have a great team. Perhaps I misunderstood the prior narrative.

Mauer could be hitting like Mike Trout this season and this team would still stink. The blame game is lame.

I love the sequence of waiving John Hicks to create a spot for David Murphy who then retires instead. Now TR waives Tommy Milone in part to add Juan Centeno to the roster. Brilliant. I wonder if J. Pohlad is happy with this great deployment of company assets.

I can understand the Buxton anxiety. Many Twins fans remember top prospects like David McCarty, David West, and Todd Walker. All were VERY highly touted. The frustrating truth is none of us really know how Buxton is going to develop. Personally, I like Buck's tool set and youth is on his side. It was unfortunate that expectations were so jacked up for him. Imo he will develop into a star player. I do wonder though about the Twins organizational process for teaching plate discipline. Seems a bit lacking

It certainly would have been more forthright to just tell Trevor May at the beginning of camp what his role would be. Whether or not one agrees with this deployment of his skills, most could agree that it was pretty shabby to perpetrate the fiction that he was ever in consideration for a starting role. Anyone who has had the experience of being deceived by their bosses knows it is not a great way to win loyalty or build morale. Not sure what it accomplished as they were going to have to tell May what his real role was eventually anyway.

Perhaps those comments should have been a new thread...

On a tangential note I am kind of surprised Molitor and Twins fans are so readily embracing Tyler Duffey for a rotation spot. He has had a handful of ML starts and not a great deal of High Minors experience. He essentially has only 2 pitches. Moreover he had extensive collegiate experience as a reliever and threw hard in that role. Trevor May has been a starter for most of his career and has 3 viable pitches. He also has a great deal more experience against ML and high minor's hitters. Would it not be logical that May would in fact be the 4th starter? I like both young pitchers but this seems like a better deployment of them. For my part I will not get too shook up whether Milone or Nolasco gets the 5th spot. The difference between those two in the Twins win column is likely zero.

Just a random thought. I seem to recall this was Mike Pelfrey's stance last spring prior to Santana being suspended and it appeared he was ticketed for the pen. Does anyone else recall this?

For me the issue with Joe Mauer is how the team adjusts to the real performance they see vs. his history. I feel that Paul Molitor has an obligation to put his players in the best position to succeed. Will he be willing to remove Joe from a 2-5 spot in the batting order? Will he give him more days off? Will he be willing to coach and advise Joe on how to better defeat defensive strategies used against him? At least in regard to the first 2 questions, it appears Joe was often set up for failure last year which l suspect causes him to press more. Molly now has a year under his belt and hopefully will be willing to use his well regarded baseball intellect to try something different with Joe if the results continue on the same track as the past 2 years.

@asburyjohn...on the subject of 8th grade quotes I recall being taught that "there are offenses given and then there are offenses taken". Not sure where you found offense in my post. Certainly none was intended. However the TD policy you quote is in reference to other posters and the need for us to play nice with each other. Perhaps from your perch as a "Moderator" you are at liberty to dispense with such guidelines. Terry Ryan is a public figure (whose is regularly pilloried in this very blog) and as such my mild speculation as to his thought process scarcely needed your intervention. I believe many here including yourself have at times posted remarks indicating they were wondering what he was thinking. Perhaps this is is how you greet new posters and encourage their participation. I await my next scolding or ban

@ashburyjohn... It is not particularly productive to post 9,649 times on a blog either. Is this a blog about productivity?

Sane09 - the question was about why Terry Ryan has his reuse, repurpose, recycle mentality on bullpen construction. One hypothesis might be because of his truncated career. It was not a comment on what resume` a GM should have. No known correlation between prior career and one as a successful MLB GM.