The PLAY MINNESOTA Thread!

Dirty Frank Z said:

vant0037 said:

Original Ten repurchased. Sounds so good.

Vinyl?

Of course!

YieldInHiding said:

AndySlash said:

twins at 90+ losses four years in a row. this team should have been at least marginally better than the last couple.

Depending on what you mean by marginally I will have to disagree...pitching talent isn't there yet and the team is still VERY young. I'm optimistic though after seeing Arcia and Vargas hit for some power. Now we just need May to come around and try to solidify the bullpen and we could be a wild card contender in a year or two.

That being said, the bullpen lost them many games where they had the lead this year after performing pretty well in the first half of the season. I think they just got plum tuckered out.

To keep this on topic, I can't wait for the showwwwww!!!!!

Pitching pitching pitching.

This team is moving in the right direction, albeit slowly...in some areas. Danny Santana and Brian Dozier will be serviceable if not effective. Phil Hughes is solid. There are some prospects who can play. Jordan Schafer may be a solid bench guy. Arcia can't field but looks like he can hit. Vargas has a huge ceiling (although his splits are becoming an obvious problem).

But pitching will determine everything, and the organization cannot continue to miss on free agents (both who they sign and who they make an FA). It is so frustrating to watch them overpay Ricky Nolasco, and then let Vance Worley walk to Pittsburgh and go 8-4. It is so frustrating to see them commit to Glen Perkins when it's clear he's an average closer at best, healthy or not. It is so frustrating to see their bullpen give games away.

This team has to address its dearth of pitching on both ends, while also doing a much better job of identifying who to build around and who to let go. It's well documented how many players the Twins have missed on (either trading away, not signing, or releasing) in recent years (a problem that was not just limited to Bill Smith's reign of terror).

Put in writing, it's gross:

-Cuddyer (batting title in 2013)
-Morneau (contending for batting title in 2014)
-Liriano (ace in 2013)
-Wilson Ramos (given away for Matt Capps)
-Johan Santana for Carlos Gomez, Phillip Humber et al; Carlos Gomez for JJ Hardy, Humber released (throws a perfect game shortly thereafter); Gomez a star for Milwaukee; Hardy traded after part of a season for Jim Hoey and another guy, neither of which with Twins anymore (Hardy a star for Baltimore)
-Ben Revere for Vance Worley and Trevor May; Worley solid now for Pittsburgh, Revere for Philly; May is a work in progress at best

There are more, but I can't recall them off the top of my head. The bottom line is the Twins front office has missed - badly - on too many players (enough to fill a 2013 all-star squad in fact). This has gone on for far too long.

Many people want to point to Mauer's lack of production in recent years as a problem, but the reality is, whether he's underproduced or not, the Twins had no choice but to sign him. As they were moving into a new stadium, coming off his All-Star year, it would've been a PR nightmare not to sign him. Mauer and his agent knew that. To complain now about is really just complaining about something that wasn't or isn't going to change. The fact is Mauer's a better complimentary player than he is a leader. He did well in 2009 because the Twins did well. Hunter had a great year, Morneau wasn't concussed yet, Cuddyer was coming into his own etc. The Twins need to find a way to build around - yes, still around - Joe Mauer while there are years left on his humongous contract. If they don't, then that huge investment will be wasted.

My summary: there's work to do but reason for hope. When that hope will blossom is the $184 million dollar question.

Vant-rant over.