Anyway, is there any possibility of Nishioka starting at AAA to actually play every day and try to improve offensively and defensively (at least to actually *become* a UTIL player as opposed to simply a backup shortstop)? Signing some cheap bat to add to the roster (Gomes?) would be much preferable than to roll out with that bench. Or even adding some guy like Aaron Bates instead of Nishioka to provide some sort of something to that bench . . .

Uh, how about the fact that prior to last year’s train wreck the team won the division 6 of the previous 9 seasons?

Everyone knows the wheels came off last year. Enough whining already.

The franchise has one of the most loyal fan bases in baseball. It has a new ballpark (thanks largely to local taxpayers) and a very attractive revenue flow. And how have the owners responded?

Start with an inept management team, including a field manager who doesn’t platoon and therefore does not take advantage of a player’s strengths. Also, if you are going to pay Mauer and Morneau huge sums, surround them with other good home-grown players and pay the supporting cast well. Cuddyer and Kubel were Twins from day one, and yet they were allowed to leave. Also, wouldn’t it be wonderful if someone with authority would be creative and think outside the box? For nearly two years, Twins hitters have been bitching and moaning about the dimensions of Target Field. Solution: move the outfield walls in a tad and swap out fly-ball pitchers with ground-ball inducing hurlers.

After all is said and done, how is this new version of the Twins any different from boring, vanilla, run-of-the-mill teams like Kansas City, Seattle, San Diego, Miami, and Houston? Twins Territory is huge geographically. Why would anyone drive a ton of miles to see this team play?

Sorry. Get back to me in a few years when some of the best minor league players make it to the show.

I wrote about Thompson when the Twins signed him last month:

http://aarongleeman.com/2011/11/28/twins-notes-capps-perkins-cuddyer-kubel-glynn-valencia-and-chen/

The 2 million from Nathan’s buyout shouldn’t be counted as the twins consider it part of his last deal ergo not a factor in this years payroll.

This is false.

What other team in MLB has its left fielder batting ninth? What team in MLB history has EVER had its left fielder batting ninth?

Plenty of teams have had their left fielder bat ninth. This past season alone it happened 169 times with AL teams and NL teams hit their left fielder eighth another 172 times.

It’s a small detail, but the new CBA moved up the minimum to $500K, so that means about $200K more should be added to the calculations.

The new minimum salary is $480,000, just as my calculations show:

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/11/19/minimum-salary-to-rise-to-480000-in-new-labor-deal/