Twins 2012 Season Thread

[PsychoViking]

It doesn't really matter how many loser contracts they dump, Ryan will still find a way to blow $15M+ on trash players every year. Its like clockwork with guy, it never fails.

Unfortunately you can't fire the owners, who are the real problem. Until they get the balls to sign a real ace pitcher it doesn't really matter. Hopefully they can draft on this year.

[ducky]

Unfortunately you can't fire the owners, who are the real problem. Until they get the balls to sign a real ace pitcher it doesn't really matter. Hopefully they can draft on this year.

They have 3 picks in the top 42 in the draft (including the #2 overall). They NEED to hit big time with those picks if there is any hope. Our system is still almost completely devoid of quality young arms.

[The Q]

They have 3 picks in the top 42 in the draft (including the #2 overall). They NEED to hit big time with those picks if there is any hope. Our system is still almost completely devoid of quality young arms.

This would be the year to do it. This draft is going to be another pitching heavy draft.

[Fandango]

They have 3 picks in the top 42 in the draft (including the #2 overall). They NEED to hit big time with those picks if there is any hope. Our system is still almost completely devoid of quality young arms.

Agreed. But it would be nice for the Twins to invest in a higher ceiling pitcher for a change. Guys in the Radke mold have been good innings eaters for us over the years, but we could really use a couple guys that miss bats.

[seahawksfan837]

Mauer is not the same guy he used to be, and 2009 was a complete aberration. I'd actually argue that he's one of the most overpaid players in baseball. I think the Twins would be best served to try and see if the Yankees or another team would be willing to bite on his salary and start from the ground up. Trust me, it sucks, I know, but this team ain't winning anything with Mauer or Morneau on it. Like my M's, they're just too far away.

[ducky]

Is Ichiro's contract the reason that the M's have sucked over the years??? Of course not. Its the same with Mauer here. The problem isn't him or his contract....its the rest of the decisions. If the Twin's got rid of Mauer they would just spend the money on other overpayed players who aren't worth their contracts.

...and like I said: I think this will be a bounce back year for Mauer. He almost certainly isn't hitting 25+ HR's again....but he should be a .850+ OPSing catcher again this season which will once again make him an elite player at his position. If he plays as poorly as he did last year again this year, then I will start to agree with you.

[seahawksfan837]

Is Ichiro's contract the reason that the M's have sucked over the years??? Of course not. Its the same with Mauer here. The problem isn't him or his contract....its the rest of the decisions. If the Twin's got rid of Mauer they would just spend the money on other overpayed players who aren't worth their contracts.

I never said Mauer's contract is the reason the Twins suck...just like Ichiro isn't the reason the M's suck. However, it doesn't do any good to pay a guy $20+ million when you aren't going to be winning with him. The same reason I advocated trading Ichiro when he had value. And yeah, not overpaying players is a part of rebuilding. Spend that money internationally and in the draft and build your team back up.

...and like I said: I think this will be a bounce back year for Mauer. He almost certainly isn't hitting 25+ HR's again....but he should be a .850+ OPSing catcher again this season which will once again make him an elite player at his position. If he plays as poorly as he did last year again this year, then I will start to agree with you.

I think Mauer's days of being "elite" are done personally, but as a fan, you have the right to your opinion and hope.

I also think his days of being an everyday catcher are over, which severely limits his value.

[tommyboy]

baker done for the year....he'll probably end up with the cards and win 20 games...

[Fandango]

The Baker injury is a killer. Certainly he has his weaknesses as a pitcher - namely that he gets injured too often and is a big time fly ball pitcher. But he also was one of our few pitchers that could miss bats, and when healthy was really solid. Replacing him with a guy from the minors makes are already suspect starting rotation even weaker.

[tommyboy]

i am going to go ahead and call this....capps will blow tonights save opportunity against the yanks...

[ducky]

i am going to go ahead and call this....capps will blow tonights save opportunity against the yanks...

Almost but no cigar.

...it was actually nice to see him use a pitch other than just his fastball last night.

Good to see the lineup get off to a reasonably good start. The M & M boys look healthy and should bot put up good seasons if they stay that way. Willingham has been flat out awesome. Span looks to be bouncing back after a couple of rough seasons. Essentially all the position players signed to deals beyond this year have looked promising.

....but the pitching staff. Oh God the pitching staff. Just awful. Injuries and non-performance out of almost all of our most important pitchers. The only light at the end of this tunnel is the fact that this entire staff can be gone at the end of the year leaving us with about $20 million a year to rebuild a entirely new staff.

Its one of the reasons I don't mind the Baker injury much at all. It forces them to give shots to Swarzak and Hendricks in the rotation so that we at least will know by the end of the year if we can trust them to fill spots for next year.

Very, very, very disappointed with the decision to designate Hughes. Burroughs should have been the guy that lost out. Hell I think I would have rather seen Valencia designated as every game he has played since that amazing 1/2 a year during his rookie season is making that period look like a complete fluke.

[VikingFan2k2]

1-1 in Tampa Bay-Tampa Bay. Shields will do that to you sometimes.

Well, we didn't need Phil Humber did we?

[Fandango]

Its one of the reasons I don't mind the Baker injury much at all. It forces them to give shots to Swarzak and Hendricks in the rotation so that we at least will know by the end of the year if we can trust them to fill spots for next year.

Very, very, very disappointed with the decision to designate Hughes. Burroughs should have been the guy that lost out.

Well the Baker injury can be considered a 'good' thing if you believe that the season is already a total loss. I don't like to go into a season thinking that way, but unless our pitching improves a lot in the next 3-4 weeks we are in store for bad things.

The decision to designate Hughes is a pretty minor storyline. Whether it was him or Burroughs, neither offers much right now nor much upside in the future. I was surprised, but I guess Hughes' relatively bad defensive repuatation there wasn't much argument by Gardy to keep him on the roster.

[ducky]

The decision to designate Hughes is a pretty minor storyline. Whether it was him or Burroughs, neither offers much right now nor much upside in the future. I was surprised, but I guess Hughes' relatively bad defensive repuatation there wasn't much argument by Gardy to keep him on the roster.

See that I disagree with. Hughes is going to be a decent offensive player if you give him AB's IMO. But I guess we will see. I think that injuries the last couple years as well as lack of consistent playing time really hurt his numbers and that eventually he will be a ML hitter.

....and yes I already am counting this season as a total loss. ; )

I just can't imagine this pitching staff can keep up with the other teams in our division. We NEEDED certain pitchers to have really good years. Now one of those pitchers (Baker) is gone, Liriano is ****ing awful (just move him to the pen and be done with it) and guys like Capps, Perkins and Duensing don't look like they can anchor the bullpen adequately. Just not enough arms to contend over 162 games I'm afraid. I kind of knew that might be a problem but I was hoping EVERYTHING would go right with the pitching staff but that clearly was just wishful thinking.

I still think that we will have a better team than we had last year....but not enough to truly compete.

[Fandango]

I still think that we will have a better team than we had last year....but not enough to truly compete.

I had a small amout of hope that we could compete this year, but that was under the assumption that Liriano pitched in the regular season like he did in spring training and that Baker was healthy. Without either of those things happening we really have zero chance, our pitching is just that bad.