While I realize statistically Wins and Losses are irrelevant, AND I do not remember a descrete post where everyone predicted the Twins record for this year, I doubt there were more than 10% here, who would have had the Twins with 60 wins as of July 31.

AND, if the Twins finish the season at the pathetic win percentage the Nationals have posted so far, they would have 79/80 wins. I doubt very many realistically expected much more than that in February.

I seem to remember the majority here saw Span as a bum, Just like a year+ earlier Baker should be gone for a bag of rocks.

IMHO, the Livan signing did Exactly what it was supposed to do, and even if you don’t like how he got there, he added to the irrelevant win total.

Everett has been injured, and has been for several years so maybe not a good choice in retrospect. Lamb is no longer producing as he had in the past, and IMHO, probably the 2nd year of the contract is the only serious error the Front Office made.

Some of the young pups have stepped up earlier than expected, yet the criticized moves seem to have been made to bridge to when the young pups were ready to contribute. Seems the Front Office’s crystal ball might be just as hazy, as that of posters here.

Does the Front Office do things perfectly? Absolutely Not! Does Gardy manage perfectly? Absolutely not! Do Twinkies Town posters predict things perfectly? Absolutely! , not.

The Twins are the youngest team in baseball. They are 1/2 game out of the Division Lead (a division that in February they were predicted to be 3rd-5th on paper) and 1/2 game out of the Wild Card race beginning August 2nd.

At what point since Bill Smith took over was that a possibility, Even with those like myself with very fertile imaginations?

Enjoy the games, they’re played by humans,, NOT on paper or by computers.

As a local sports talk host (with a couple of Super Bowl rings) said recently. “If you want a PERFECT player, manager/coach or Front Office…Go buy a video game”

Regards,

I still like the signing. Cant really blame the twins for his injury. If not for the injury he plays spectacular D and makes up for not being able to hit. Our former shortstop apparently can’t hit either.

Reyes has been a pretty good lefty reliever, I find it hard to really complain.

When did Guerrier sign? He turned out pretty well.

The majority of these moves werent so hot, though it was more of a Terry Ryan thing.

I agree with Dragon. The signings look bad on paper (stats), but I think they were (overall) the right moves.
Hernandez did exactly what he was asked to do. He ate innings, and gave us a fair shot to win. If he hadn’t been on the team, we would have had to keep Liriano on the team (which would have been a disaster), keep Bonser in the rotation, or go Bass/Duensing/etc. I think we all wish that Hernandez had been cut 3 weeks ago, but I think the team was just trying to see if they could get any return for him. i have trouble complaining about that.
Everett was a smart signing, but he got injured. At the time, the team needed another middle infielder. Casilla had a pretty bad year last year, and hand’t yet proven he would improve. Harris and Punto each clearly have their faults, and the team had no other obvious options. And, Everett was cheap, and for one year.
Lamb looked like a smart decision at the time. He had a good track record at the plate, and 3B was our biggest hole. Clearly he has been a disappointment, but he was a good option at the time.
Monroe I can’t defend. They could have let him go for free.

Although I think strongly-worded, subjective remarks such as “Terry Mulholland (Not technically an FA signing-they bought him from the Mariners in the spring of 2004): 2 seasons of mediocre, low-level pitching-most memorable for his star turn in Batgirl’s opera,” are easy to dismantle, let’s look at the broader picture:

The kids did better than expected.

No one expected this team to win more than 70-some games. There was many, many question marks, and signing one good free agent for $10 million wasn’t going to plug all the seeming holes, nor is there a guarantee that this one man would stay healthy. This team was supposed to be waiting all year for the kids, and the kids kept arriving early and producing.

While the Twins and many teams have picked up players from the scrapheap (Mike Pagliarulo wasn’t such a bad move, and the Twins have had other successes – I would count Mullholland among them when you did deeper and examine specifics), I don’t think it’s been as bad as stated in the original post, and I am convinced that the results such as a team-leading 10 wins from Livan Hernandez was a good move.

I do hope this organization can find itself in a position to shy away from some of these signings, but you never know when you will catch a Mike Lowell or a David Ortiz in a in a bottle, and again we have to consider April, when most everyone was hoping Mauer and Morneau and Cuddyer could stay healthy and get this team 73 wins. The minor leagues came through in spades for this team, and of course Kansas City, Cleveland and Detroit have helped out by being worse than anyone thought. Some even figured KC might finish ahead of Minnesota.

In sum, the Twins’ brass figured they would have to gut out a tough season with a young team that wouldn’t produce. We all got a pleasant surprise instead.

One team I’ve noticed that has had some success with this type of player over the past few years is the Mets, though of course they’ve had their failures as well.

Luis Castillo, although he was a trade, to name one. People in Minnesota hated the trade, but Luis was a shaky dude healthwise last season, and he’s made Damien Easley a star this year by becoming moreso.

Your comment about “had their failures as well” is appropriate, for all teams. If you examine other teams, you will find failed personnel strategies. We are aware of the Twins’ failures because we follow them more closely. Baseball talent is a crapshoot. Mike Lamb COULD have worked out. And he’s not worthless. He’s a big-league player who has contributed in the past (contributed means helping win a game here and there, which is what we expect of most big-leaguers; it does not mean making the All-Star team), and he probably will again. Maybe not here, but somewhere.

1. I chose to look at 5 years just because it’s a natural cut off point, but I admit that as a result, I missed one of their most successful signings, Kenny Rogers in 2003.

2. For those that complain that I’ve been too harsh. Well, what can I say? Not all of these guys were disasters—Mulholland more or less did his job. Offerman was…OK. I wanted to be comprehensive, not just point out the failures.

3. For those who defend some of the signings I criticized: Adam Everett. He was already hurt; had the injury come out of nowhere, I’d be more inclined to give them a pass. Mike Lamb: OK, well, I wouldn’t have thought he would have been as bad as he has been, but their approach to solving 3rd base has made me slowly go insane over the past 3 years.

Look, I stand by what I wrote. I don’t think that the Twins have done well in signing major league free agents. I agree with Adam on First that they have occasionally gotten OK work from guys they brought in for low leverage roles. But they have no breakout performers, and the guys they signed for more significant roles have not done well.

Ultimately, I don’ t like the way they approach free agency. I think it’s an approach that leads to poor results.