Brock Beauchamp

I consider Stauffer coming into the seventh a blessing. During his first two innings, you could have considered it a middling relief appearance. Add that third inning and it becomes a terrible outing. And the Twins are still winning the game. I'll take it. Stauffer disaster outing, Twins winning the game.

The stuff of legend: Stauffer to Pressly to Boyer. That door isn't only closed, it's welded shut.

Don't get me started on that.

I said it last week - I think it was last week, anyway - that Hicks may not be getting results but his approach is cause for optimism. Now it appears that the results are coming around. Even when Hicks had an abominable OPS a week or two ago, he was taking the bat off his shoulder and sneaking in a few good ABs against RHP. I'll take that over the old Aaron Hicks any day of the week, as it has a much better chance of sustained success in the long run.

I'd agree if the Twins didn't have three 24-26 year olds who need to man the position.

That clarification makes way more sense. Yeah, his chances of being a plus MLB starter seem to dip slightly by the month but if the guy can stay healthy and keeps his high 90s fastball, he should be a nice bullpen piece at the very least. As I said earlier, his strikeout rate isn't nearly as concerning as his injury issues. The guy has been throwing a limited pitch selection, is on both a strict pitch count and innings limit, and hasn't come close to really unleashing on opposing hitters yet. If a guy isn't throwing his plus offspeed stuff - which Stewart absolutely has - his K rate is going to suffer badly and shouldn't be the determining factor of whether he's "succeeding" or not. Kohl is still very much in a developmental period and that isn't shown in the box score. While I'm pretty dedicated to sabremetrics myself, it seems that some people forget that not everything is shown in a box score, particularly MiLB where we don't even have access to things like pitch selection and speed. As long as scouts and analysts stay bullish on Stewart, I'm going to temper my concern. By virtually every account you read anywhere by people who have watched the kid pitch, he has the stuff to miss bats. If he gets through a full season without restrictions and continues to strike out four per nine, then it's probably time to start raising the big red flags.

Man, waiving Chris Colabello was such a loss. /snark

Nice fundamentals by Pressly there.

I heard they cut to commercial as he rounded first and still got back in time to catch the throw into second.

Bernier, Robinson, and Colabello were not competing for 40 man space. Run down that list I posted... Without Colabello, the Twins already had seven full-time outfielders, two part-time outfielders on the 40 man (that's approaching 25% of their entire 40 man roster). Only two of those guys were players the Twins wanted to roll into centerfield on Opening Day, which means cutting Robinson would have been a giant risk, one the fanbase crucified the Twins for just last season. But I also agree that the Twins felt Colabello had a low chance of success. The decision to cut him was an easy one for multiple reasons.

I think his tweet may have been in reference to the fact that he's back on Twitter. His last tweet before yesterday was on April 12th.

Again, who do you cut from the 40 man last November so you can keep Colabello, a guy with a huge question mark for a bat and nearly zero defensive ability? And no picking guys like Doug Bernier because Chris and Doug don't compete for roster space. They don't have any positional crossover. Here are your choices: Oswaldo Arcia Kennys Vargas Miguel Sano Eduardo Escobar Aaron Hicks Torii Hunter Max Kepler Shane Robinson Eddie Rosario Jordan Schafer Eduardo Nunez Can't cut Arcia, Vargas, Sano, Escobar, Hicks, Hunter, Kepler, and Rosario for obvious reasons. Can't cut Robinson or Schafer because you need centerfielders. That leaves Nunez. Last November, who here advocated the Twins cut Nunez and keep Colabello? Okay, easier question: Last November, who here didn't advocate the Twins to cut both Nunez and Colabello? Again, this conversation is easy to have in the abstract and with hindsight. Everyone on the board had a chance to voice their opinion about Colabello and I don't remember anyone standing up in his defense, and for good reason. The Twins have a slew of OF on the 40 man roster and Colabello doesn't fit where they're going as an organization.

I'm also most concerned about his health, particularly his rollercoaster fastball velocity. The guy is on a strict pitch count and innings limit. I won't get too worked up about his results until those limits are removed and we get to see what Kohl can really do, if and when he gets healthy.

While both played over their heads in 2014, one played "over his head" and the other played "waaaaayyyyy over his head". Neither Escobar nor Santana are disciplined hitters but Escobar has swung at a few less pitches this season while Santana, already a free-swinger, is swinging at damned near everything thrown his direction. Pretty much everything in the two players' peripherals suggest that given regular playing time, Escobar will level out a bit - he might not be good but he shouldn't be terrible - while Santana will continue hitting at his current level until he changes his approach. Danny got through last season through sheer luck. He swung at everything, hit some (not a lot) of those pitches, and luckily for him, those balls fell in for hits. That isn't happening this season and to compensate, Santana is swinging at more pitches and making less contact. That screams "send him Rochester and let him get his head straight" rather loud and clear to me. The kid's approach is fundamentally flawed this season, even moreso than it was last season.

5%? Oy. A 20 year old pitcher who, when healthy, can touch the high 90s has a 5% chance of success in the majors? And we're basing this on his inability to miss bats for a partial development season where he was pitch-restricted and 38 innings of the following season? Seasons when he has struggled with injury concerns? This thread has taken a turn straight into CrazyTown. Stewart might be a permanent injury concern. He might never strike guys out. Those are real possibilities but I'll let the guy reach, oh I don't know... maybe 200 career innings before writing him off as an automatic bust or giving him a one out of twenty chance of success in major league baseball, especially when you read reports from people who have watched him pitch say things like "effortless delivery", "reaches high 90s", and "elite prospect".

Guaranteed improvement? No. Likely improvement? Given the low bar Santana has set this season, yes. Santana is just 24 years old and was never highly regarded as a prospect. He played way over his head last season. As Jham put it, "letting him catch his breath in AAA" won't hurt his development and may help it a bit. He could be back up as soon as the break if he turns things around.

I'm well aware of the hurdles facing Stewart and his K rate. It's possible, maybe even likely, that he doesn't overcome those hurdles and fails to be an impact at the major league level. But people are really overreacting in this thread. Stewart isn't a typical prospect. - He's 20 years old in A+ ball and has all of 38 innings under his belt. - He never dedicated himself fully to pitching until he was drafted in 2013 and didn't really get a taste of professional baseball until 2014 (uh... that's last season). - The Twins had him on a limited pitch selection most, if not all, of last season. - I have no idea what pitches he's throwing right now and what frequency he's throwing them. - In July of last season, BA had Stewart's fastball touching 98 mph. - He made just seven starts in the second half of 2014. He has basically pitched one full MiLB season at this point. Stewart is still in the developmental phase of his professional career. He could be as many as five years away from Minnesota and still break into the league as a 25 year old (aka. the debut age of Trevor May and Kyle Gibson). He's pitching against hitters who are a huge step up from anything he's seen in the past. If Stewart is struggling in July and August of this year, then my concern will elevate quite a bit... But right now? No. It's way too early to be so knee-jerk reactionary about 38 innings. MiLB is so much more than looking at box scores. The scouts who have actually watched Stewart pitch are still very high on the kid. Does everyone down on Stewart think those scouts and analysts don't look at box scores? This is what John Sickels had to say in November of last year about Stewart:

For all intents and purposes, Mauer has complete control over where he plays.

It's not whiny or overly critical to suggest Santana is not good enough on an MLB team right now; it's honest evaluation. Whether you think he should remain in Minnesota or be sent to Rochester, there are valid points to be argued for both approaches.

Now you're just being silly. 1. The Twins have to pay Mauer's entire salary no matter what happens. He has a no trade clause. Teams can't decide to just stop paying players because they don't want them anymore. This isn't the NFL. 2. You just said the Twins should waive a borderline HoF player for a 30-something journeyman on a three week hot streak, a guy whose defensive value is somewhere between "Delmon Young", "Josh Willingham", and "LOL".

38 innings at a higher level of competition than he's ever pitched before. The guy is pitching in Ft Myers and isn't old enough to drink legally. "Mildly concerned" is the correct position to take here.

I'd say it's a pretty simple case of "guy got roughed up last night, don't need to put him on the mound for the fourth time in five days" move. Give Glen a day to rest and shake it off.

Uh... Okay. I guess almost every baseball analyst on the planet must be completely wrong about Kohl. His K rate is mildly concerning but the guy has loads of talent.

Roy Hobbs was a fictional character for a reason; he's basically a unicorn. Mauer being in decline and a potential obstacle for younger players doesn't mean you double down by keeping Colabello. All it means is that you have even LESS space for a guy like Colabello. Who should the Twins have waived or kept off the 40 man in favor of Colabello? This argument is easy in the abstract; it's much harder when you have to choose just 40 players to keep going into the season.

Sure, a hot bat would be nice but the Twins needed to clear space for the young players who had to be added to the 40 man (and more will need to be added as the season progresses), not add more clutter and take playing time away from their young players. Who should the Twins have exposed to waivers: Pinto or Colabello? Because that's what this boils down to at the end of the day. Roster management is a zero sum game.