twins/mlb

How many years in a row will this team have to finish in last place before changes in management an coaching happen? Why the manager keeps his job is a puzzle. My bet is that he will bring back all of his coaches next year and the result will be the same.

Talking about the 2013 season and Gardo in the same breath breeds insanity. **jimiek** is absolutely correct, look for the same coaches back doing the same thing and ending with the same results.

Really trying hard not to be pessimistic about 2013 but Ryan isn't exactly easing my anxiety's. Certainly, pitching is a huge factor for this team, no question. But; it's not the only issue. The Twins lead all of MLB with the fewest strikeouts by pitching. No other team is even close. Then you confound the pitch-to-contact crap that Anderson and Gardenhire perpetuate and find where the Twins ranked 22 out of 30 MLB teams with the most errors. The stats go on and on. NONE of the American League playoff teams carried three catchers all season long like Gardenhire did. And all season long we heard the whining from Gardenhire that he didn't have a "bench" No Gardy..your bench was your buddy Butera, the personal catcher, boy he really had an impact on the starting pitching. It would have been more refreshing to have heard Ryan at least say that with two 95 plus losing seasons and a playoff collapse in 2010 that not even the manager and his buddies are off-limits.

"Plenty to get the job done"? Really? It wasn't enough this year. Why should it be enough next year? Wow talk about delusional. Even you guys are.

Other teams "get it done" with a much smaller payroll...they, however, have a Manager!

What is it bow to TWINS management day. Rand and now Christensen Pohlad are saying the TWINS way is the only way. Instead of trading Morneau, why don't we sign Maholm and Dempster as free agents? We fans are already being set up to accept addition by subtraction. Parmalee gets paid the minimum so we get rid of Morneau. Revere replaces Span as he is cheaper (even though he isn't as big a loss if we actually got a GOOD PITCHER FOR HIM). Addition by subtraction doesn't translate to a much better team. We did that last year - Willingham and Doumit for Cuddyer and Kubel. We'll end up maybe getting Maholm and a stiff like Saunders and lose 85 games next year. Payroll will be well under $100 million. We aren't trying to win.

The title of the article should be "Will to Win, not talent or money the biggest offseason acquisition obstacle". When you don't make significant management changes after two last place finishes, when you don't recognize that failure to develop talent or select talent is the biggest reason for failure and when you insist on marketing Target Field as an "experience" rather than a place to see good baseball, then you lack, imo, the will and desire to do what it takes to win. My prediction right now for 2013 is the same old Gardenhire-Anderson-Vavra comedy act, a starting rotation insufficient to get to even .500, musical chairs in the infield and a payroll somewhere around $80 million with half of it going to two players.

With the FA mkt being very thin perhaps Ryan comment about a payroll at 80 million is possible. But where this money is coming from is anyone's guess. And the only way is going to get that money is to trade Mornou and dump his salary. And let me remind u all that no core players should spared from possible trade to improve this team.

Look, while it might be possible to hang around the race if many things fall into place in 2013, we should be planning for 2014. Because of bad drafts/ bad luck the upper levels of our minor leagues have been bare. If you look at guys in AAA or on their first two years in MLB you've got Revere, Parm and Plouffe. Look at others' rosters for comparisons. We're looking better at AA and below. The task this offseason, then, is to bring in young near-major league ready talent to make up for the bad drafts. Turn Span, Morneau and, yes, Willingham into solid Middle infielder, quality #3 and solid #2 starter prospects. Then you've got money and TWO free agency classes to bring in additional talent. By 2014 the minor league talent starts to ripen and you can compete on a regular basis.

I am glad that the top free agent pitchers will not be on the Twins "go after" list. I doubt that all things being equal, a top tier pitcher looking to continue to have a successful career, will consider a move to the Twins. When you have a ballclub that has lost nearly two hundred games in two seasons, there is not much of an incentive, except simply a large paycheck, to come here. Management should understand that unlike the easygoing fans, they cannot expect the players to come running to Minnesota just because there is a new stadium here.