It's fun being an arm-chair general manager, but so much goes into player moves and development. You look at skills, personality, team fit, what you have coming down the chute, what you don't need that's in the chute, and what is available out there in the market place.

If there is one gripe, it seems the Twins worry too much about giving away something potentially good for anything. They wait too long before pulling the plug on players and thus the players have no value or worth when they could have possibly landed something with meat earlier.

I keep thinking about when they could've traded Joe Mays, or Mike Restovich, or even The Real Deal. Do you pull a deal now with Silva or Ortiz as the centerpeice or wait for the sesaon to catch up to them. Do you dangle Kubel, whoise stock isn't all that high anymore? You need to gamble and get Baker some worth by having him as a back-end starter. He can't destroy his value any less if he does badly.

Other teams DON't want Minnesota castoffs for their players. They do want some value in exchange. So you have to trade hot guys for hot guys/cool guys/guys with potential.

Except the recent talks about the Reds third baseman...yet would Gardy play him over Nick Punto -- think not. But maybe he could DH.

The pain os being a general manager is that EVERYONE wants the good guys. You can't trade Lew Ford, Scott Baker, Josh Rabe, Luis Rodriguez, because teams will wait you out. You can trade Juan Rincon or Jesse Crain, but how much are they worth? You can rtade prospects if you don't care if they become the next Francisco Liriano (which few do).

And, yes, part of the problem is the purse strings. You overpay team guys who you like and have nothing left over to GAMBLE with on someone who may/may not pan out. The Twins can afford to eat a couple of million in salary via the disabled list, but they can't eat $10 million (okay, they can, but Jim Pohlad needs it for his new house on Lake of the Isles).

He was quoted in an interview earlier this year as saying he doesn't like to trade guys who are good. While it may be a throwaway line, it exactly encapsulates the problem, IMO.

He should have traded one of the relievers last year when their value was high; I absolutely would have made the deal that Washington did with the Reds, with either Crain or Rincon as the centerpiece. The handling of Mientkiewicz was a classic example: he was coming off his 2nd good season in the past 3 years, was still arb eligible, and Justin Morneau was waiting.  Instead of cashing him in, they signed him to a 2 year deal, he got off to a horrendous start, it was embarrassing that Morneau was still in Rochester, their hand was forced by the Olympics, and they dumped Mientkiewicz for nothing at the deadline.

I advocated heavily that they should trade Lew Ford after his big year; I still think they could have cashed in Nathan for tremendous value last off-season (though I recognize that's controversial), etc.  

In a way, the Pierzynski deal was the exception that proves the rule. They actually did trade someone in his prime, who could play, and had value on the marketplace.  That worked out OK.  

Look, chances are that no current prospects are going to be Liriano--that's an incredibly rare talent.  You can't hang on to these guys forever on the off chance that they all become all-stars, and this team needs some freaking bats.  Gotta look at making a deal for Encarnacion or Ensberg, or somebody to play 3rd base. The lack of power is not going to go away with the current roster.

AAA -- No chance: Dave Gassner. Oldsters: Carman Cali, Mike Venafro, Jeremy Cummings. Questionable: Bobby Korecky. Unknown: Brian Bass. On the fringe: Scott Baker, Ricky Barrett, Jason Miller. True prospects: Glen Perkins, Matt Garza, Kevin Slowey, Julip DePaula.

AA -- Oldsters: Bryan Forystek, Jesse Floyd, Brad Baker. On the fringe: Nick Blackburn, Tristan Crawford, JP Martinez, Errol Simonitsch. Questionable: Tim Lahey, Daniel Powers. Prospects: Brian Duensing, Jay Sawatski, Anthony Swarzak, Jose Mijares.

A Ft. Myers -- Prospects: Jay Rainville, Kyle Waldrop, Alexander Smit, Eddie Morlan, Ryan Mullins, Yohan Pino, Oswaldo Sosa. Questionable: Angel Garcia, Frank Mata, David SHinskie, Zach Ward. Maybe not: Kyle Aselton, Josh Hill.

A Beloit -- Prospects Jeffrey Manship, Alex Brunett, Robert Delaney. Questionable: Adam Hawes, Jose Lugo, Danny Vais, Dan Leatherman, Sean Land, Daniel Berg, Jesus Carnevale.

At least 17 legit prospects and many on the cusp. Considering that you MIGHT be lucky to add 1-2 pitchers per season, the Twins are more than set for working talent into the rotation or bullpen for the next 3-4 years, with lots leftover to go somewhere else.

Also I see Matt Tolbert is tearing it up down on the farm.  There are 2 options that cost nothing.  Now do something  TR.  Even if it is just for the next 2 weeks.

Always thought Todd got the raw end of the deal -- too many expectations, his position changed, he was told to adjust his hitting, his fielding wasn't always there (still learning some things)...but he sure could hit and put the ball in play.

Someone will pick him up. But not the Twins.