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- John Shipley looked at the Twins’ offseason needs, and while he seems to think the retooling will be a bit deeper than I do, he has a very valid point — The dugout will be full of unfamiliar faces come March.
- Obviously one of those new faces will be the manager, and the Twins have started the process of interviewing candidates. A lot of rumors are popping up already, and the Twins have interviewed James Rowson and several internal candidates. The names David Ross and Mark deRosa also keep popping up.
- Yet, was it the wrong decision to fire Paul Molitor? Pat Borzi seems to think so, placing the blame for this season’s lackluster record firmly at the feet of the front office. Alas, with Molitor gone, the front office is out of scapegoats, and will have to own their mistakes in the future.
- Meanwhile, the business of baseball goes on. The Twins have started fall instructional leagues, but with a bit of a twist — there aren’t any pitchers. The Twins are using the team to focus on position players, especially catchers. Jonathon Mayo has a full report on the top hitting standouts and some other top prospects.
- Down on the farm, the Twins will be committing some funds to a future renovation of the field at E-town, including about $300,000 in player development equipment. This would seem to be good, since player development is clearly a focal point this offseason.
- Fox Sports North issued some end-of-season superlatives to the Twins. Eddie Rosario as “MVP” and Kyle Gibson as “Cy Young” aren’t too surprising, but Willians Astudillo got some hardware for his mantle as well. Yes, I am going to mention him every single week from now on.