10 Reasons the Minnesota Twins Should Begin Youth Movement

The Minnesota Twins find themselves at a crossroads. After a decade in which they won the American League Central Championship six times, the Twins are on the verge of having back-to-back abysmal records for the first time in the Ron Gardenhire era.

Not since the late-90's has Twins baseball looked this dysfunctional. A lot of the players have seemingly tuned out Gardenhire and the record on the field has shown it.

Since winning 2010 AL Central Championship on September 20, the Twins have a record of 81-142. There seems to be no cavalry coming from the minor leagues, and due to the Twins giving out bad contracts like candy during the Bill Smith era, they're stuck with a mediocre team.

Or are they?

The Twins need to start throwing some players into the fire to see what happens. There are many potential benefits to executing such a move.

A Youth Movement Would Let Terry Ryan Evaluate the Bill Smith Era

The second stint of Terry Ryan's general manager career with the Twins has begun a lot like his first one. Ryan took over the job prior to the 1996 season and started signing veteran free agents to try and fill holes on the team. As a result, the Twins were consistently one of the worst team's in baseball.

As Ryan began his second rebuilding job in 2012, he inherited a mess from his hand-picked successor Bill Smith.

The Smith era got off on the wrong foot when he botched the Johan Santana trade, and then got progressively worse as he gave bad contracts to Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Nick Blackburn, and others.

While some of Smith's mistakes can be considered a "hindsight is 20/20" situation, Ryan still had to figure out where to go from where the Twins were (and are currently) at.

Throwing some of the young prospects into the major league fire would let Ryan know just what he has in some of Bill Smith's draft picks.

Odds are that the results won't be pretty, but Ryan has to figure out if any of the holes the Twins currently have can be filled in the near future by somebody in the minor league system.

Young Players Are Already on the Major League Roster

You've heard of September call-ups, right? Well, the Twins have gotten so bad that they've resorted to May call-ups.

There are currently seven players who are on the active roster but were not on the Opening Day roster for the Twins. Of those seven, the oldest players are Jeff Manship and Cole De Vries who are both at the ripe age of 27.

These players are up here because the veterans on the team could not get the job done. So, why not decide to play them every day and see what happens?

The Twins had a similar situation last year and wound up being impressed with Chris Parmelee (who made the team's Opening Day roster), so giving the young guys a shot already seems like a given.

The Twins' Veterans Are Not Performing

The Twins have made the transition from a veteran team that knew how to win games to an old team over the past couple of seasons. Where the Twins had experience from their battles in the American League Central the past decade, it now seems like the veterans can't hold up as the team struggles.

The Twins have seen this from their past players (such as Mauer and Morneau) and their new free-agent acquisitions such as Jamey Carroll and Jason Marquis.

Putting some young players in these holes should provide a spark for the Twins and help them prepare for the next level of success for the Twins.

Most of the Young Players Are Performing

On the flip side of poor performances from veteran players on the Twins, most of the young players who have found themselves on the roster have performed well in their first look at the big leagues.

The Twins called up Scott Diamond and P.J. Walters in early May and the two have combined to post a 5-1 record with a 2.61 earned run average in nine starts. Walters even threw the Twins' first complete game of the season in a 9-2 win over the Chicago White Sox on May 22.

The Twins could benefit from this in other areas of the ballclub if the team decided to go young. For example, if the Twins decided to move Denard Span out of left field, they could gain more range and speed by placing Ben Revere (hitting .291 entering Tuesday) in his spot.

Adding young players could be the energy that the team currently needs.

A Youth Movement Could Restock the Twins Farm System

In order to start a youth movement, the team has to do something with the veterans. Normally, this means that the general manager starts trading some of the assets he has on the team in order to get prospects for the future.

The Twins don't seem to have many tradeable assets, but they do have Denard Span who was hitting .306 entering Tuesday's game against the Oakland Athletics.

Span's name has been mentioned in trade talks before (most notably with the Washington Nationals last summer) and a team looking for a solid lead off hitter could give the Twins a nice haul in return.

The Twins could also decide to part ways with Matt Capps (who is 10-for-11 in save opportunities this season) and Justin Morneau (who had nine home runs entering Tuesday, but has a very lengthy injury history) in order to add talent with super prospects Miguel Sano and Eddie Rosario.

It may be tough for Twins fans to see some of these names go, but it could pay off big in the future if Terry Ryan lands the right guys.

It Would Give Younger Players a Vote of Confidence

One of the worst things you can do to a young player is stick him in a platoon. The Pittsburgh Pirates are learning that lesson with the development of Pedro Alvarez, and the Twins may be following in their same steps if they don't give Trevor Plouffe consistent playing time.

Say what you want about Plouffe's .160 batting average, but the truth is that Plouffe hasn't gotten an opportunity to play without looking over his shoulder.

The Twins tried him at shortstop last season, but he became afraid of making mistakes and wound up giving away more souvenirs down the first baseline than Chuck Knoblauch during his time with the New York Yankees.

Regardless, the Twins need to stick with guys like Plouffe and let them know that they are behind them even if they make a mistake.

The results would be much different if Plouffe knew he would be the everyday third baseman (or wherever they decide to play him), and the same can be said for many of the young players currently on the Twins roster.

It's Better Than Purging the Waiver Wire

Early in the season, the Twins tried to add depth to the team by first claiming Clete Thomas and then Erik Komatsu off waivers. The result was that the Twins added two players who were in way over their heads at the major league level instead of riding out Ben Revere's growing pains.

Any move by a team that's made involving a waiver wire during the early part of the season is like standing outside a five-star restaurant waiting for them to bring scraps to the dumpster.

The Twins need to trust some of their younger players rather than picking up other team's scraps. If they can do that, it will go a long way to restoring the Twins to credibility.

With a Jacked Payroll, the Twins Need to Rely on Younger, Cheaper Talent

While the Twins are nowhere near contention, many fans wanted to see team owner Jim Pohlad spend some money last winter to fill some of the team's holes.

The Pohlads (as usual) didn't see that things were right, so they wound up cutting payroll despite raking in the benefits of a second full season at Target Field.

Whether it's right or not isn't the question here, but with the owners unwilling to spend money to improve the team the Twins find themselves in a tough situation after giving Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau approximately half of their payroll.

In other words, any pieces the Twins want to put around those two will have to come from the minor leagues.

If several players step up and become key components for the team, the Twins would be pleased as they would have control of them for several years before they are eligible for free agency.

It would be nice if the Pohlads used some of that revenue to improve their team, but it's just not going to happen. The best Twins fans can hope for is having some young guys step up while Mr. Pohlad dives head-first into his Scrooge McDuck vault/swimming pool.

It Would Revive Fans Interest in the Team

The most frustrating thing about the Twins' slow start is that fans are hearing the same questions that they've heard for years. Once again, the mind-numbing debate of whether Nick Blackburn's arm is too strong or the curious adventures of Francisco Liriano have dominated headlines.

Twins fans are simply sick of having this rammed down their throat. The Twins basically need to change something to please their fans as they haven't been showing up like they have the first two seasons of Target Field.

With Ron Gardenhire unlikely to get the boot, changing the personnel on the field would give Twins something different and may keep them coming to the gates of their shiny ballpark.

The Twins Have Nothing to Lose

The past year-and-a-half has been disastrous for the Twins. As mentioned before, they haven't played well since late September 2010 and there doesn't seem to be any relief in sight.

The Twins won't compete in 2012 and it may be longer until they find themselves battling for another AL Central Championship. Throwing in some young players is only going to bring positive things for a team that has found that the depth of their problems have been more severe than they thought.

Remember that one of the most beloved teams in Twins history (in 2002) was created largely on two losing seasons in 1999 and 2000 while they learned how to play in the major leagues. After a successful 2001 season, the team went on to spark the greatest stretch in franchise history.

The Twins owe it to the fans to shake things up and put the kids on the field, and it may pay big dividends down the road.