Roundball, out of curiosity, give me your rank 1 to 7 of Hughes, Santana, Gibson, May, Berrios, Duffey, Nolasco for potential states currently on roster for 2016.
(Even though I think they pronably dump Nolasco somewhere for next to nothing)
Here's mine:
1. Santana- pitched well in September, going to chalk the inconsistencies up to the suspension.
2. Hughes- down year but I have a hard time ignoring 2014 completely. Think true talent lies between this season and last
3. Gibson- solid 3/4, doesn't look to be much more though.
4. Duffey- not sold on him, lacks a track record or pedigree outside of this year but he did well enough to earn a spot
5. May- shouldn't have been placed in the bullpen to begin with, was the most strike out capable pitcher for the Twins, something they could've used but of course they gave in to the whiny veteran(Pelfrey)
6. Milone- tempted to rate him higher as he did a decent job and would break up a R handed starting rotation.
7. Berrios- if you kept him out in August/September this year, might as well hold off til June or so next year to gain an extra year of control.
8. Nolasco- He's not as bad as the results thus far appear but he's not enough better to justify 12 million a year. Trade him, eat some his contract if you have to and get back a usable prospect(or as part of a trade for a catcher) and use the savings to improve the team elsewhere.
Starting rotation doesn't concern me that much. I don't think it'll be great in 2016, but it should be servicable and noticeably improving it would likely cost too much in either dollars or prospects to justify a move.
Bullpen needs serious work. Jepsen and Perkins are the only no brainers there(even with Perkins end of season issues). Fien was also good enough to bring back another year but he's clearly regressed. Everyone else ranges from easily replaceable to downright bad(No, I do not trust Boyer at all, despite a pretty ERA).
Tonkin and Pressly are the two I would be most serious about giving more chances. Given that, acquiring at least 1, probably 2 quality relief pitchers are needed this offseason
Next comes catcher. Suzuki is a solid defensive catcher, he just doesn't hit enough. Twins clearly don't feel comfortable with Pinto back there though. No idea how much he's looking for but Wieters could be interesting. I also really like Dioner Navarro. Trade wise I'm not familar enough with what's availible.
Finally, depending on how ready they feel Buxton is, another outfielder could be nice. Would need to be willing to slide into a part time role though.
1. Hicks- RF/CF
2. Dozier- 2B
3. Sano- 3B/DH
4. Plouffe-3B/DH/Corner OF?
5. Mauer- 1B
6. Escobar- SS
7. Rosario-RF/LF
8. Buxton/??- OF
9. New catcher
Bench- Suzuki, Nunez, Vargas/Arcia?(both seem to be pretty deep in the Twins doghouse), Robinson(or other similar 4th/5th OF)
Guys like Santana, Vargas, Arcia and Pinto need to be seriously looked at as they've all flashed some good play. Do you trade away one of starters(say, Plouffe)to strengthen other areas of the team and hope these guys are ready contribute on a more consistent basis?
While continued improvement from young players will help, the team needs to look outside the organization for help as well as this team outperformed their win expectancy.
