Can you believe Ryan didnt make a move?

[Mitty]

Boy what a joke could have had Soriano for Lariono talk about a no brainer,RYAN is a JOKE,nothing but a garage sale guy picks up Boone for nothing And tries to get the last 20 hits out of that guy but NOOOOO dont spend any money,what an (Contact US Regarding This Word),could of went after Randa but Noooo might look like he was an (Contact US Regarding This Word) from day 1 this year which he was.Boy talk about throwing in the towel proved to me that they were satisfied with a couple of division titles and to hell with this year doesnt show the fans much,nothing more right know than a good AAA team.Time to get this penny pinching (Contact US Regarding This Word) out of there.

[rundrave]

your right, "Ryan/The Twins" didnt make a move because they threw in the towel, if Hunters injury had something to do with that, guess we will never know.

Lets see if they still field a competitive team, and still play competitive, they obviously dont want to play for the post season.

Good luck filling the stadium now....

[Eric Wettschreck]

I understand your frustration as I'm frustrated too. However, I respectfully disagree with your opinion of Terry Ryan. The man is a genious.

He can only spend what Polad lets him spend. Taking that into account, the Twins are a fairly good team with the $$$ the OWNER is willing to spend. I agree that they are, and always have been a very good AAA team. Other teams a drooling waiting for the better Twins contracts to come up as they know POLAD won't spend the ching to keep them around.

Be frustrated, it's been a frustrating season for us Twins fans. But beat up the owner, not the GM. Polad never has been willing to part with cash, and he probably never will.

My $.02.

[buzzsaw]

I don't know if he's a genius, but his track record is pretty good with the exception of David Ortiz and Kenny Rogers. I'm disappointed as well, it just means less time in front of the television and like somebody else posted... the stadium revenues will dwindle!!

[Jarrod32]

NO WAY should they have given up Liriano for Soriano. Baker, Liriano, and Durbin are untouchable...as they should be.

[Willy]

I don't think that Durbin would be untouchable, but Liriano and Baker were. I don't know. The way I look at it is, trade one or the other for Soriano and sign Soriano to keep him around for a while. Both of these guys MIGHT be future all-stars. The key word being might. We always have pitching, we coach pitching, we draft pitching, we trade for pitching, but hitting we can't do any of the above.

The reason we haven't done it this year IMO, is that our defense was not strong enough to support our lack of offense.

In past years, our offense hasn't been a whole lot better, but our pitching and D kept us in games. This year, our pitching is still there, the hitting is a little less than last year, and the Defense is towards the bottom of the AL.

That equals about a .500 season.

If not for our pitching this year, we would be in fourth place in the division and about 10 games out of the wild card.

At some time, Terry Ryan is going to have to get some hitters in here. You can't be wasting the pitching staff that we have had the last couple of years. I think last year was our best chance with Santanna dominating the way he was. One good bat last year and we're in the WS. Oh, well......gotta play small ball.

[Stratosman]

When is it time to start blaming Ulger? Isn't he the one supposed to be teaching the guys how to hit, and how to hit in critical at bats? (ie. guy on third, one out) I can't count how many times I have seen guys stranded in scoring position with one or less outs this year, it's truly amazing to me. Two weeks ago I heard an interview with Gardy and he was saying to look for the twins to make some moves, bring in some bats and not to let salary limitations have any bearing on thier decisions.... I would like to hear his interview now.

It's pretty sad when our clean up hitter Sunday was a guy that has had maybe 50 at bats this year? (tiffee) I saw him strand 6 runners in two at bats.

I hope they can turn it on, but the wildcard looks like a stretch right now, and we have Oakland then Boston again? Having lost 5 out of our last six already, I could see us losing that many in our next six also.

[Down to Earth]

I also don't think they should have given up either of those three prospects. I think the Hunter injury definately changed things up for the Twins. The reality, probably was even if they would have added Soriano at this point the chances of them making the playoffs would have been slim. I'd hate to give up a top prospect for a player used short term. I think what needs to be key for the Twins will be the off season. Will they go out and try and get the bats to bring in. I'd love to see them make a big run at Soriano in the off season. Who knows, maybe that is what Ryan is thinking. Why give up a prospect for him now, when you know you're going to go after him in the off season. Probably wishful thinking there, but it doesn't hurt.

[Mitty]

Boiler are you kidding me a what a genius the only thing the guy has done was bring Shannon Stewert here the rest of the stuff is B.S.Polhad said he would put money up but I also believe they threw in the towel they are always looking for something for nothing and if they dont want to spend the money get out of the league,this was the straw that broke the camels back hell you couldnt give me tickets to see that make shift ball club I will go over and watch the saints at least they are gamers have you guys seen any worse ball in your life like they put on last weekend as far as Ryan goes someone should tell him he is a G.M. for a ball team not a banker or better yet a miser,he is a absoulte BUM.

[Mitty]

As far as Soriano goes he is a top shelf player a 3 time allstar something this team has not seen in awhile and we could have had him for a AAA unproven player I would like to see the goof ball address the fans tonight and tell themwhy he didnt make a trade, the guys a real BUM.

[SledNeck]

why cant you smartar$$es spell genius?

[kevfish]

the season is over- might as well take a look at some of the kids in the minors to see what they got- They will still have the same problem next year. You need an average hitting team to go along with the good pitching. We got a bad hitting team to go with the good pitching. Ryan should have done something as you cannot count on next year cause you never know what will happen. Come on man GET--ER DONE

[PierBridge]

Terry Ryan is one of the best GM's in the game.

[mnwild]

Why are people wanting to blame Ulger for their batting woe's?? My opinion is these players are professional baseball players, they shouldn't need a coach to teach them how to hit a ball, see the ball hit the ball. Maybe if these players can't do that its time to bring some players who know how to hit the ball.

As for Terry Ryan, this guy has done a great job every year putting a team together with the money Mr.I cant spend any money lets him play with each year. IF you could chose any other guy who would you pick??

[Eric Wettschreck]

Finger pointing and blame game just doesn't cut it in my book. Yes, I've said that Polad will not let Terry Ryan spend money so I spose I'm doing the blame game also.

People can think what they will, Terry Ryan does a great job with what he has. As far as Ulger goes, yup he's a hitting coach and the fellas just aint hitting right now. However, I haven't seen practice so I can't say if it's coaching or just plain not seeing/hitting the ball.

Like mnwild said, these fellas are professional ballers. They should have a pretty good idea how to hit. They've all been around the block a few times, and have seen a lot of pitches and had a lot of at bats. Bottom line is they just ain't gettin it done where hitting is concerned.

To play the other side of the fence for a second, if Polad were to can Terry Ryan, who would take his place??? Knowing you're hands are going to be tied concerning payroll, yet still be expected to put a competitive team on the field doesn't sound very appealing to me.

I'd be willing to bet that if Ryan were given the tools ($$) he has asked for the Twins would be in a lot better shape than they are right now.

[juggs]

Picking up Soriano or any other more potent offensive player isn't going to solve the Twins' problems. He's a poor defensive player anyway. Their entire lineup needs to learn how to hit before they start scoring enough runs to contend. One player isn't going to change that much. Whether this is the hitting coach's fault or the players' fault, I don't know, but this bunch is the easiest to get out that I've seen in a long time. Just look at last night's game--Oakland puts their number five starter on the mound and he two hits them. Ouch. Mauer and Stewart seem to be the only regulars who are anywhere close to being consistent Major League hitters. Maybe LeCroy but he doesn't get enough at bats. The rest of them are so over-aggressive that they become easy outs. I wouldn't want to see the Twins give up a very good prospect for somebody like Soriano. He can hit and run but he might not be good for this team in the long run, given Pohlad's low budget record. Besides, this year is most likely a wash anyway. No way the Twins will win the division now and they have to beat out the A's and Yankees for the wildcard. Chalk this year up to experience and work on what needs to be worked on with the players they have. They all need to become better hitters anyway if the Twins want to go farther when they DO make the playoffs.

[Pig_sticka]

We need more than one guy like everyone says. I wouldn't mind seeing Soriano, and picking up someone like Dunn. Sure they have their flaws but we need more superstars. And we need superstars that aren't on the downslide.

We need to have Santana, Silva, and Radke/Mays as our starters next year and have 2 of the 3 young guys come up and be starters to start out the year. And yes we do need 2 larger market players for the offense and we will have one huge team.

I know all the other teams are happy the Twins stay cheap, because if they ever got the one or 2 huge names we would be very tough to stop.

[bigbucks]

I agree, with Hunter hurt, Mourneau & Mauer not developing quite as fast as we'd all hoped, along with how far we're out, waiting for next year seems the best plan economically. I do agree we need to try to get another quality bat in our lineup somewhere in the off season. It appears that 3rd or either of the middle infield position is most likely where it will be hopefully along with a significant upgrade at DH. Cuddyer or LeCroy will have to go, maybe both, if Kubel looks like he's fully recovered as much as I hate to see it, I'm sure JJ will go. He's been a very good player for our team & put up good numbers, but they're not unreplaceable either. Our pitching's set & solid, we can't give that future up for one guy with plenty of flaws.

[First Ice-Mike]

It's not like Texas was asking for just one of the two prospects - they wanted Lohse, Mays, Romero, and one of the two top pitching prospects in the organiztion. If we let all of those guys go who is going to fill out our rotation?? Soriano would not have been a savior anyways - he is below average defensively and has a huge price tag. I think Aubrey Huff would have been good - but they wanted Baker or Liraino (sp?) also - No way - these guys have a good chance of being top of the rotation guys. I say keep the kids and sign a couple free agents in the off-season when we get some money freed up.

FI

[Stratosman]

Like last night, what a shame to waste the good pitching we have with our pi** poor hitting. Why not blame Ulger?? Sure players should be able to see the ball hit the ball, but it his his job to get them back on track when they start to slide...why else would every team have a batting coach? Oh well, this year is in all likelyhood over anyway, we can't give up that many players for one player, no chance, especially if it might only be for a couple months.

I'm going to tonights game anyway!

[Mitty]

Pierbridge I might have to agree with you when you say Ryan is one of the best G.M.s in the game but probably not for the same reason he knows up here in the Minnesota nice territory he can get away with he antics and people or fans will put up with it do you really think he could get away with this any where else in the league,I highly doubt it he probably gets a cut of the dough he doesnt spend and dont think that Im that far off when I say that its just like any other business,they have won a couple of division championships and are very content with that for awhile,I really doubt his competiveness when it comes down to crunch time.

[blue_healer_guy]

Ryan is no dummy, I quarantee you he knew at the start of the year his offense was gonna be his problem. He or we didn't know the sox were gonna be as good as they are. The problem always will be Pohlad. He has got to be the worst sports owner in Mn history. His team plays in the weakest division in baseball with teams with the lowest payroll year in year out. It's the only reason we have won 3 titles in a row. All he needs to do in this division is spend another 15-20 mil and with our depth at pitching, we would win another 3. It's never gonna change with him as our owner. I'm sick of the "small market" team when we really don't have to be!

[FI Guide]

Well 15.5 games back and bringing up young players to play. Looks like they are not going for the postseason. Time to cheer on the vikings.