Posted 14 April 2015 - 03:57 PM

While I generally have been optimistic that this season the Twins would make a marked improvement from the last few years and at least finish the year with a record approaching respectability, after the first 7 games, my optimism is waning. I know 7 games is a small sample size, and if the circumstances that got us here were not as they are I would not be so concerned. But when I look at the 2015 Twins and their struggles, I see roster mismanagement as the biggest problem leading to the piling up of Twins Losses.

At the end of the 2014 season, 2 opportunities were clear.

1. Our pitching was as a whole brutal

2. Our outfield Defense was awful.

How did Terry Ryan address these:

-Pitching: Signed Ervin Santana to bolster starting rotation as well as picked up Rule 5 draft pick JR Graham, veteran reliever Tim Stauffer and journeyman veteran Blaine Boyer.

- Defense: Signed an aging Torii Hunter who last year was widely rated as the worst starting right fielder in all of baseball.

While Terry Ryan can't be blamed for the Ervin Santana steroid issue, he is squarely responsible for the bullpen additions as well as making our outfield defense worse.

Much of my optimism for this season stemmed from the fact that the Twins have an amazing group of young prospects ready to burst onto the big league squad and provide some much needed talent, but all of the roster moves that were made did nothing but block that young talent from getting a chance to come up. And the result? Our Major league roster struggles while our minor league teams flourish. It is nice to see them succeed, but they only exist because the Twins do.

In short, I am concerned Terry Ryan isn't the right guy for a rebuilding team. He is great at finding veteran pieces to get value from to augment an already good roster, but I have seen little in his tenure that says he knows how to move prospects along at the right pace and no when to bring young guys up to learn and see what we have in them.

In my opinion we should be bringing up Rosario, Hicks and later Buxton as soon as possible, removing Boyer, Stauffer and Thompson at minimum from bullpen ASAP and replacing them with any of the myriad of great pitching prospects we have stuck in the minors. We need to see what we have in those guys, in order to set us up for potential respectability in 2016 and beyond. I hate already talking like that 7 games in, but it is what I see as potential reality with this dreadful squad. Who knows...the young guys may actually make 2015 a little more respectable as well. And if not, we they at least have potential to get better.