I agree something is terribly wrong with the team’s approach to the postseason, and that starts with Gardy. I’m not ready to fire the guy, though, and I’m sure not willing to consider it to replace him with someone who can’t get through the regular season successfully.

I think Billy Smith and the FO will be very active in the offseason with signings and trades

We should try to keep Fuentes before Capps. I know he wants to be a closer – but is Nathan ready to come back? Maybe we DO let him be a closer, at least for a while. He’s better than Capps, and far less scary.

Our top priorities should be a top-line starting pitcher, a right handed DH to platoon with Kubel/Thome, and a centerfielder.

Yes, a centerfielder.

Move Span to a corner OF slot, where he goes from being a defensive liability to a defensive plus. Cuddy stays at first if Morneau is gone, giving you an OF of Young-CF-Span. If Morneau comes back, trade Kubel. Young moves to DH, where he belongs, really. Span to RF. Span-CF-Cuddyer. Revere might be that CF, but maybe we get someone better.

If you lose Thome and Morneau is out, then keep Kubel, but in either case, PLATOON with a good RH hitter when Thome or Kubel is DH.

Best case: Morneau is back, Thome stays. Kubel is traded.

C – Mauer
1b – Morneau
2b – Hudson/Casilla
SS – Hardy
3b – Valencia
LF – Span
CF – Revere / FA / Trade
RF – Cuddyer
DH – Young / Thome

Young serves as 5th outfield, the way Kubel did before, and we go into the season with a similar plan to last year – Thome DH when any of the OF or Morneau takes a day off. Or Valencia, if we consider Cuddyer a viable backup at 3b.

Assuming that CF is a strong defender and at least a replacement level hitter, I’ll take that offensive hit to get Young and Kubel out of the outfield. That OF looks defensively STRONG.

When I argue that Gardenhire should be fired, it’s primarily because he had a generally better ballclub both talent and depth-wise than any of his previous teams–and definitely better than anything T.K. had during the lean years from 19993-2001–and yet he cannot get that caliber of talent to win in the playoffs. Heck, Gardy’s boys went three and out versus the stinking Athletics in 2006 and their payroll is usually LESS than the Twins.

Is there blame for the players? Absolutely. They found ways to win games during the season which proved their ability as a team to overcome major obstacles. That’s why I was so shocked at the lackluster effort put forth vs. NY last week. Much of the blame does land squarely on the shoulders of that lineup for not elevating their game against an experienced and postseason-hardened opponent.

At the same time, fingers need to be pointed at the folks who prepare those players to face such an opponent. The last “major” coaching change the Twins have had was Vavra replacing Ullger as hitting coach 4-5 years ago and it was a definite improvement.

So far, there has been no rumbling of dissatisfaction from the ownership, or front office about either Gardenhire’s or Anderson’s performance in their respective roles. In many other markets, one or both would likely have been handed their pink slips on Sunday morning after tanking Game 3. The Twins have been lauded for their consistency in having only 2 managers over nearly 25 years, and the whole “promoting” from within concept.

To me, this is why the Twins can’t beat the Yankees. Sure, money is a big deal. It affords a team players that others cannot. The difference though, lay in the belief of the players that the “rich” teams can be beaten. That comes from the manager. And more than that, so does strategy, attitude, work ethic, etc. If the players are getting the same message year after year from the same guy who came up managing through the same organization…the message will become hollow, and even insular after a while.

A friend mentioned to me the other day, “If we had Ozzie in the dugout, we beat the Yankees this year. Guaranteed.” Now, I don’t fully agree that Ozzie would be THE guy, but the point was well taken. Ozzie doesn’t take crap from anyone. He gets his players to do the same thing. They find a way to win. That’s a big reason why Chicago has a W.S. title in the last 5 years.

Big payrolls can be beaten. It takes a tough, creative, no-nonsense manager with a solid understanding of strategy and the stakes to manage a team to victory in the playoffs. To me Gardenhire basically lets his players go out and decide completely on their own, and it doesn’t work that way, especially in the postseason, and especially against the Yankees.

So until baseball gets around to instituting a salary cap, small and mid-market teams like the Twins will have to find alternative ways of advancing in the playoffs.

Kubel will probably get his option as he’ll be a regular DH and good insurance in the event that Thome doesn’t come back. With Morneau likely returning next year, that moves Cuddyer back to the outfield and gives Kubel some breaks. He’s matured in a lot of ways with the team.

As for Punto, his fate seems iffy. His defense is good but his bat leaves a lot to be desired. I think whether or not he comes back next year or the Twins buy out his contract depends on what happens with Valencia. If he gets traded, Punto’s option is picked up. If the Twins decide to keep Valencia then they could end up buying out Punto and putting him on the FA market.

And then with Pavano, it’s entirely up to him. He really enjoys being on the Twins and being in Minnesota in general, but it’s no secret that he would like a multi-year deal. If the Twins can make him an offer that he thinks is fair, he may very well take them up on it. Otherwise, he’ll be in a different uniform next year. Truthfully, I’m not sure how many teams would be willing to make him a hefty offer given his history of injury. And he’ll most likely have the ‘stache again next year unless his wife forces him to shave it off.

If the Twins have another season next year like they did this year, with high revenues due to games selling out and healthy merch sales, the payroll will continue to increase and they will be able to keep and sign both budding and seasoned talent for a long time.

The Twins are one of the last, if not the only market in baseball (and perhaps pro sports) to cling to an existing manager, despite repeated failures in the playoffs. Bobby Cox was one of the others, until he announced 2010 as his final season.

Cox and his teams were perennial playoff clubs. 14 straight division titles, 5 Pennants, and 1 W.S. title made Cox a legendary manager in his own time.

But for me, he is legendary not for his success, but his failures. The last Pennant came in 1999, and since then, making the playoffs and getting knocked out early quickly became less of an aberration and more of an alarming fact. In the last 11 seasons Cox was good enough to get his boys to the playoffs, but not good enough to win it all.

Ron Gardenhire is walking that same path. At least Cox has Pennants and a Title to show for his early career postseason efforts. Is Gardenhire destined to be the best regular season manager in Twins (and MAYBE Major League) history and nothing more?

Let’s face it, the Twins can go forward with any number of personnel changes on the field over the next 5 months, but the one change that won’t happen is the one that HAS to happen.

Tom Kelly did more with less in his 15 years, and when he made the postseason only twice, he made it count each time. By contrast, Twins fans, players and coaches have been spoiled by multiple playoff appearances, to the point where it has nearly become meaningless. So what if they win a Division title (remember the Braves and how their attendance suffered in the first round of the playoffs each year), they don’t do anything with it anyway.

Fire Gardenhire and bring in someone to push and motivate the players, not coddle and protect them. They are there to win the W.S., not have their egos stroked for only being able to throw 89 pitches in a start, or have to “rest” because of their bruised knee/wrist/shoulder/stats.

I wish Herb Brooks were still alive…and a baseball manager.

jamar… two problems… the MLB/MLBPA licensing fees would make those “babies” pretty darn expensive and how would you get them autographed? On the tags maybe? That said, the more I think about it, I’m surprised nobody has done this yet. Maybe instead of “sports star beanie babies” we could do “sports star knucklebabies”? Hmmm… Who’s in charge of marketing and promotions around here?

Somebody get to work on that