How long before Gardy is gone?

[nofishfisherman]

I think the Twins were in a tough spot with Mauer when they signed him. I don't thnk a player has ever had so much leverage over a team like Mauer did. If the Twins don't sign him it would have been a PR nightmare, fans would have come out screaming that we never spend the money to sign a big time player and how can you let the hometown guy go. Once they did sign him they had a different group of fans screaming about how they overpaid for him and how we can't afford him. Either way they were in a tough spot. I think signing him was probably the right business move but maybe not the right baseball move and in the end this is a business first and foremost.

As for trading Mauer it can't happen. Like Labs said he has a full no trade clause and he'd have to approve any trade. I don't see him approving any trade and I also don't see anyone taking on the contract and giving fair value in return. So like it or not Mauer will be a Twin for a few more years at least.

I'm not sure of Morneau's contract but I'm sure it also has some sort of no trade clause. I'm not sure what value he'd even bring though. For sure you'll never get fair value for him since he's one bump on the head away from retirement. No team will give you the prospects you need for a player with such a high risk factor.

As realistic trade options you have Span, Capps, and maybe Burton. There have been Span rumors all over the place. Not sure if he's the right guy to trade though. We need youth and talent on this team and he's one of the few guys that fits that. He's a quality player that hits .300 and plays good defense, and I think he has a rather team friendly contract. I'd probably look to shop Capps and Burton since teams are always looking for relief help before the trade deadline. Besides theres no value in having good 8th and 9th inning guys when we are always down by 4-5 runs by then. You won't get the world for either player but you may be able to get a decent prospect or two for each of them, of course that depends on what the trade market looks like and how desperate a team may be.

I don't think we have any one single quick fix option right now. I think its going to take a few trades like Capps or Burton, bring in a few prospects and hopefully develop them into contributors. Its also going to take a good draft or two where we get a couple top picks that hopefully live up to their draft position.

I think we hold 4-5 of the first 70 picks so there is a chance we land a few decent prospects in that group. Gardy has already said he wants to see 4-5 pitchers with those 4-5 picks.

[Musky Buck]

True enough, we know if Joe would've left he'd be lighting it up for the new team. I think our run of good ball is coming, the team seems to be circling the wagons, they will win again tonight, saw some good things last night that I've been waiting on so far this season, look for Mauer to rebound, he hit rock bottom already, Morneau will just bring confidence to the line-up for sure, Willingham is doing what he does, we're ok I think now, I see good things on the horizon with of course some voodoo,bad luck, and poor plays at times but I think we're becoming as solid as we can be, cmon starting pitching !

[pikestabber]

I think our run of good ball is coming, the team seems to be circling the wagons, they will win again tonight...

Actually "tonight" ended a little bit ago in a day game, and they pulled off another one, 4-3 vs. Detroit. That makes a 2 game sweep in that series on the road, a 2 game winning streak, and a start...to the greatest comeback in baseball history All kidding aside, I like what I am seeing from some of the young pitchers. It was a nail biter today, but a win is a win.

[Musky Buck]

Oh wow lol, I see Morneau is wrist ok, Mauer needs a week off 0-5 and the other 0-2 and 0-3 were I think Casilla and Willingham, we got our pulse, and man the Angels and Tigers, I'd feel worse being a fan of theirs, man they are a struggling, ok Twins nothing to lose lets rip off a big winning streak here, our division isn;t what it appeared it might be, the beauty of baseball you got to play the game(s). We're really going to test drive our roster this year, but we need to know who can or will mesh with our nucleus.

[B. Amish]

fact is they couldn't play worse if they tried.

if they get more consistent starting pitching, there's no reason they couldn't play .500 baseball. defense is decent. bullpen is good. offense is good enough.

everyone likes to rag on mauer, but he's no where near the reason why they've started so bad.

[YiGGiN4SLoBS]

Their pitching staff is worthless. What did you expect? This is about what I expected from them after no attempt to address it whatsoever in the off season. Anyone who defends the way the twins went about FA and bettering this roster in the off season makes me laugh.... Your letting the Twins off WAY too easy IMO. There is nothing to justify it. I was just at the game on Tuesday vs. the indians and it was seriously the most pathetic thing ive witnessed in a long time. I cant see paying any amount of money to watch that team. Target field will (and should) be bare if this garbage continues.

Now Blackburn has come up with yet ANOTHER phantom injury after yet another bad performance. Why the twins are still putting up with this guy is beyond me. He does this every single time. Stop living on the one time he pitched good against the white sox how many years ago in game 163... This guy sucks!

[Musky Buck]

But we did let go a better catcher than Mauer in Wilson Ramos, not better athlete, but we all know it's the Napoli's,Ruiz's,Molina's, the tough guy catchers that lead the team. Mauer is a left handed Edgar Martinez. I don't understand his gold gloves as a catcher either, he should give one back for his pitiful % of base runners he's gunned down this year. The Mauer Power signs have an inch or more of dust on them. In his last 256 games he has 13 jacks, his big year he had 28 jacks in 2009 did that in 138 games, he stopped taking the juice lol ! And met a woman ! Voodoo ! JK but he needs to step it up a little or a lot!

[Musky Buck]

I better lay off Joe Joe, but go look at what Milwaukee's tandem of catchers is doing google their stats and whether you've even heard of Lucroy or Kottaras, combine their stats and they blow Joe out of the water and they share the job which equals Joe's at bats and neither cracks the 700K mark in salary, 1 of the 2 gets nearly league minimum, cbs.sports,baseball,players and read up. I just about threw up when they made the huge deal for him, that's really where my angst comes for Mauer, I told my dad the 1st row at target field in left is a lot further away then in the dome, expect declining numbers. Cmon Joe win me back man ! Do it tonight in interleague play ! Show George and Jonathan how it's done !

[Musky Buck]

Gardy will be king if he can put Drew Butera into the pen and have him shut teams down, he didn't look half bad and hit 94MPH on the gun lol. Carlos Gomez gets his name on that strikeout ball lol. My last Lucroy post came to fruition from last week. Joe had a nice weekend and no he's not our teams issue, he is really part of us getting back to where we need, sure beats seeing Matthew LeCroy, Henry Blanco, etc. We have 3 for sures in Mauer, Morneau, and Willingham, they are part of the solution but our starters aren't fooling anyone except Mr. Scott Diamond is and he goes tonight! Pavano can pitch also but his heater is losing some gas.

[B. Amish]

Is anyone giving Gardy credit for thier improved play as of late?

[harvey lee]

Gardy is the main reason they are doing a little bit better. If Gardy was let go, this team would be worse for sure. Right now I do not know what coach could do any better with what we have.

[greebs]

actually, it's probably the schedule makers that should get the most credit for how this team is performing right now.

[Bryce]

I'm taking partial credit. Been to to four games at the new stadium and haven't seen a loss yet. Tried out Legends Club yesterday for the first time. Don't need to bother searching for tickets anywhere else for future outings. That section is righteous.

[PierBridge]

It's just another masterful job of coaching by Gardy! Not sure why anybody is surprised he's plain and simple the BEST when it comes to making something happen with very little to work with.

Quote:

That section is righteous.

No doubt, keep eating those Lucky Charms Bryce!

[SledNeck]

I wonder who is making the call to send who down and bring who up?

They deserve the credit

[PierBridge]

I was just thinking of you Sled.. what in the world happened to Danny V? Thats just so disappointing to say the least. I was hoping for a monster break out year out of him and POOF he's gone.

[thatoneguy]

Before anyone gets too giddy at the Twins' recent improvement, look the who they've been playing - the absolute dregs of the baseball world (in other words, the few teams even worse than the Twins are).

Let's wait to see if MN can play well against good competition, then we can talk about next steps.

Full credit to Scott Diamond and some of the other call-ups for playing well, though, regardless of the level of competition. If they can identify a few pieces to the puzzle this season, add a few pieces via free agency, and have Miguel Sano and a couple other prospects develop...we could be looking at a legitimate contending team by 2016 or so.

[PierBridge]

I love your optimism tog

[eyebenband]

I thought that is how you get to win....beating up on the lessor

opponents. ??

They had last years end of the season lineup on the radio last night

included..

Jason Repko

Brian Dinleman

Matt Tolbert

Luke Hughes

Rene Tosoni

Rene Rivera

Nishi

There seems to be a little better line up this season, and

even Drew Butera has raised his average some.

Much better bullpen.

[pikestabber]

I thought that is how you get to win....beating up on the lessor

opponents. ??

They had last years end of the season lineup on the radio last night

included..

Jason Repko

Brian Dinleman

Matt Tolbert

Luke Hughes

Rene Tosoni

Rene Rivera

Nishi

Man, I got a shiver (not the good kind) when I read that line up. That's downright ugly. And you are exactly right...the mark of a good team is beating the teams you are SUPPOSED to beat, and playing as best you can against the rest. We are doing that right now. All I know is I have a lot bigger smile today than this time last year...

We have a long way to go, but let's not take anything away from what is happening right now--we are playing good ball and closing the gap in what is still anyone's division. The Tigers aren't running away with it as predicted, CLE is on the drop, and I think CHI will chill out, too. If we can find any kind of stable starters (aka, someone not named Scott Diamond), we have a chance to turn some heads this year as we already have an offense that is competitive when they play as they have been. World Series? I haven't drank THAT much kool-aid, but I think we have a shot to climb up the ladder a bit. I'm not counting them out just yet...

[greebs]

Time to fire up this thread again.

Gardy is a nice guy and all but I think the reality is that one of two things needs to happen with this team. They pick up a bunch of new talent or they find a new guy that can do something better with the current talent. We all know which is the easier option here. I honestly don't know who that new guy should be but strongly believe it is time for a change.

Three things that we know about gardy. His teams generally will beat teams with lesser talent. His teams generally lose to teams with better talent. When they play teams of similar talent, his individual game coaching is generally lesser than the opponents.

Realistically is there any other organization out there where he wouldn't be gone following two seasons like this and last year? Guaranteed if this were the vikings ownership, he would be long gone. Like I said he's probably a nice guy and all but it's time for a change. He said in spring training he liked this team. How many fans like this team?

[thatoneguy]

Quote:

Three things that we know about gardy. His teams generally will beat teams with lesser talent. His teams generally lose to teams with better talent. When they play teams of similar talent, his individual game coaching is generally lesser than the opponents.

That about sums it up. His miserable track record in the playoffs speaks volumes.

[Dave S]

Our pitching in AAA must be horendous if they can't rid the team of Blackburn for something better.

With that said, I would personally boot Rick Anderson and the training staff to the gutter long before Gardy.

[YiGGiN4SLoBS]

Our pitching in AAA must be horendous if they can't rid the team of Blackburn for something better.

Ya think????

That and our owners are money hoarders that have no interest in spending to make the team better. They would rather have a mediocre to pi$$ poor team and make 100 million in profit then have a playoff team and make 50 million in profit, thats always been the "twins way"

[Rippinlip]

So let's fast forward to next year.

Starting rotation; Baker, Pavano, Diamond, Deduno, Devries, Hendricks and Duensing. Pick 5 of the 7.

Position players will remain about the same.

Do you really think Gardy can take us to the promised land?

I like Gardy, but have seen too much coddleing and ok, ok, ok with him.

Like stated earlier his post season track record........stinks.

If our ownership will not spend millions on players, maybe less on a coaching staff.

Otherwise we better hope for our World series years when we went from worst to 1st! I can see more years like the past 2 coming up.