Email a copy of 'Three Needs: Minnesota Twins' to a friend
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By Steve Adams | at
Email a copy of 'Three Needs: Minnesota Twins' to a friend
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Cam
Must be tough being a Twins fan. I don’t know how they get things so wrong – no organization has been as poor as developing their prospects into regulars, as the Twins have.
Paramatic
I think that’s a little harsh. We’ve struggled to develop starters, but over the last few seasons we’ve had production out of plenty of home developed players:
Perkins, Mauer, Dozier, Plouffe, Sano, Rosario, Hicks, Buxton, Kepler, Polanco, Hunter, Liriano, Vargas, Span, Revere et al.
jd396
We’re apparently using a very forgiving definition of “production”
ib6ub9
Get someone to run the team.
houseoflords44
Analytics aren’t everything. I have no problem with them being used as a tool, but they shouldn’t be the only tool. Guys like Brian Kenny who say that chemistry, hustle & attitude don’t matter are wrong. They do matter and should be taken into consideration. The Twins don’t need to hire an analtyics guy. They need to hire a good baseball mind who uses all available tools available to him. Yes, that includes analytics, but it doesn’t only include analytics. The Twins have some solid prospects in A ball, but need more major league ready talent.
jd396
Analytics aren’t everything, but if heart and hustle were everything, Matt Tolbert would be a league MVP and the Twins would have gone undefeated for 20 consecutive years.
One Fan
Twins need Jason McLeod bad!
Ryan Glanzer
As a Twins fan I completely agree in all three areas. It’s so disheartening to have every single top prospect fail to live up to expectations. I think some of that reason–and I’m probably in the minority on this one–can be blamed on the lack of an actual veteran presence. No one on the team was older than 33 to start the season. Don’t you think coming up as a rookie it would be helpful to have some older guys on the team? I can’t help but notice the little blip on the radar the past 6 years occurred in 2015, the season Torii Hunter was back.
ctwink
How about #4 – find a veteran player who 1) knows how to actually, you know, play well and 2) is an actual clubhouse leader. The Twins have plenty of #1, but none of the vets – I’m looking at you Mauer and Suzuki – have any interest in leading the team and pushing the younger players to produce.
Kind of folds in to Ryan’s comment above, is it a coincidence that the Twins started to go south when players like Morneau, Torii, Cuddyer, Jim Thome, and Nicky Punto started going elsewhere and Plouffe, Mauer, Suzuki, and others have refused to step in a lead? And no, a “quiet presence showing the other players ‘how its done'” clearly ain’t cutting it…
funoka
Very disheartening season after last year’s “mirage” of an above .500 season. Pitching is the number one need. I think they have many pieces in the day-to-day lineup with an nice young outfield of Kepler, Buxton, and Rosario — with Dozier, Sano, Polanco. That said, I don’t think there anyone on the team that is untouchable this winter. Dozier or Santana for a package of near MLB-ready pitching makes sense.
snoothoop
Trade Santana? Great idea. Maybe we can get some more pitching prospects for him.
snoothoop
Trade Dozier? Great idea. Maybe we can get more pitching prospects for him.
snoothoop
Maybe we should trade Buxton and Sano for more pitching prospects. No matter what, you can never trade enough players for pitching prospects.
takeyourbase
10-4 on the trade away of Wilson Ramos. Said that all along. Before his good offensive year this year and while Mauer was still behind the plate. Another poor decision by Bill Smith.
Kulzarian
#2 should read Add “pitchers who strike guys out” to the pitching staff.