Brock Beauchamp

Yep, another example of why I'm hesitant to advocate roster moves until the calendar flips to May.

I phrased that poorly. Yes, that last paragraph is what I meant. Not Gibson's groundball tendencies so much as his general tendencies as a pitcher. Lots of weak contact. Interestingly, Gibson's IFFB% is way down this year, about half of what it was last year.

Yes, this. I'm not sold on Gibson being a sub-3.00 ERA pitcher but his groundball tendencies make him a better pitcher than xFIP will give him credit for being. For example, last night. He was slightly lucky that he got out of six innings without giving up a single run... But he pitched very well. He didn't miss bats but he induced weak contact again and again and again. That's not entirely luck-based. That's a pitcher who is moving the ball around and forcing hitters to swing at pitches they can't get into the outfield. Since the beginning of 2014, Gibson has averaged just a tick under a hit an inning. For a guy who doesn't miss bats, that's impressive and it's not borne out of dumb luck. BTW, does anyone know where one can find XBH allowed by a pitcher? I'm curious to see Gibson's numbers. I bet they're really low.

I don't even remember at this point. I fixed it shortly after I posted.

Nah, that was just me fat fingering a phone screen.

Wrong night to hope for that. Tonight was the first time I walked out of Target Field sober in... Well, ever, probably.

This is ridiculous.

Yep.

Well, I chose the right game for my first game of the season.

Hey, if you're having gallery issues, it probably means your gallery is full. To fix it, go delete some old images. http://twinsdaily.com/gallery/ Then click on "My Gallery" in the red nav bar.

Cool. It just occurred to me that I get to see Rosario's MLB debut live. Nice!

Pretty sure it was Korea but yeah.

Buxton isn't on the 40 man roster. With so many outfielders in the org, there's no reason to move him there until he gets a call to Minnesota, hopefully for good.

Batting average over a small sample size in AA means virtually nothing to me. What's important to me is the fact that Buxton is taking pitches he should take and absolutely mashing the ones over the plate (he's missing a fair amount of pitches as well but not enough to be a concern). Then he gets on the basepaths and wreaks havoc. Then he goes into center and reels off highlight catches and uses his rocket arm to double up baserunners who doubted his immense talent. Do I think Buxton should stay in AA for at least a few more weeks? Absolutely... But let's not understate a .880 OPS by a 21 year old coming off a lost season of baseball. The kid is killing it right now.

It depends on personal perspective, I think. The Twins are obviously high on Rosario, as they were Polanco and Santana last season. There's something about those kids the Twins really like. In the case of Santana, it was obviously warranted and worked out wonderfully. Inversely, the Twins are extremely skeptical of Hicks, and for good reason. My personal feeling about that is "Well, no ****, Sherlock. Why didn't you recognize that in 2013?" but I'm happy they finally got on board with what seemed like a no-brainer decision to me. Do the Twins let work ethic and attitude influence their decisions, particularly with prospects? Yeah, I think they factor it in quite a bit and that's probably the right decision. Coming to the big leagues and playing every day is about a lot more than talent. All one has to do is look at Delmon Young to see that in action. Do the Twins let attitude and work ethic influence their decision-making too much? Well, that depends on your view of the situation... But I don't think Rosario's call-up is much of an indication of anything. The Twins all but said "we need an outfielder for a brief stint; he's here for two weeks and then goes back to the minors". Some disagree with me but I think the Twins' call-up of Rosario has equal parts "we don't want to mess with Aaron while he's rolling" and "we like Eddie quite a bit".

The Super 2 deadline shouldn't impact the Twins' thinking in the slightest bit. What matters with Buxton is service time because if he pans out to be the player we expect him to be, an extension should come within 12-18 months after he hits MLB. Service time affects extension negotiations a lot but Super 2 status shouldn't be much of an influence because you're going to be paying the guy so much anyway. What's $5m more in a $75m contract? Who cares?

I'm not suggesting the Twins don't factor in off-field attitude and work ethic, nor should they ignore it. But to claim that because Gardenhire "loved" Pelfrey - let's remember here that Ron Gardenhire did not have final authority over free agent acquisitions - is the reason the Twins signed him to a two year deal is quite a leap. Mike Pelfrey had a pretty good second half of 2013. I wouldn't have signed him to a two-year deal - I'm not sure I would have signed him to a one year deal - but assuming that was the main reason the Twins retained him after the 2013 season because the manager really liked him ignores quite a few things, including Pelfrey's performance and the fact that Gardenhire doesn't get to make that decision in the first place.

It's simply amazing how carrying 12 pitchers and two catchers can give a team so much "depth". And that's the difference between Molitor and Gardenhire. Paul seems to dislike wasting roster spots so he has the ability to platoon, shuffle the lineup based on opposing pitcher, and do all sorts of things a manager can do with two additional players. It was Gardenhire's own fault that the Twins didn't have any outfielders in April 2014. He's the one who pushed to keep guys on the roster so he could play them out of position and he's the guy who carried more pitchers and catchers than is absolutely necessary.

I'm mildly optimistic. In the aggregate, the pitching staff is performing about where I thought they'd be... just a tick below the middle of the AL. There's room for improvement with the bullpen in particular. Pelfrey will probably regress, Hughes should step it up a bit and improve. The offense is coming around and gives hope not only for this season but for 2016 and beyond. I'm moderately satisfied with how things are shaking out there. Yesterday's loss didn't bother me one bit nor did it diminish my slight enthusiasm for this team. If anything, it bolstered it a bit. The Twins faced a tough starter that shut them down but May also did a fair job of shutting down the A's. Those games happen and I'll take a 2-1 loss over some of the 9-7 victories the Twins were getting in early 2014 because 2-1 losses routinely turn into 3-2 victories under normal circumstances. You can't expect to win many 9-7 games, which the Twins were lucking into on a regular basis in April of 2014. Here are some of the Twins' "victories" from April last year: 10-9, 10-7, 9-5, 9-7. That's four games in one month the Twins won while giving up five or more runs. That's not even a little bit sustainable and unsurprisingly, we saw the team collapse after that point. The Twins only had two victories of that kind in April of 2015. I thought this was a 75 win team. I still believe that but 78-80 wins isn't out of the question. This is a team that isn't getting by on the smoke and mirrors of early 2014; there's actual talent on this roster and a good portion of it has room to improve considerably. And prepare yourselves, everybody... Getting Ervin Santana back in July is just like making a trade.* *somebody had to say it

Good for Chris. I hope he stays in MLB for a few years and all that hard work pays off.

I think that's really unfair to the front office. Pelfrey wasn't signed because he's a good guy. He was signed because he has the capability of being a pretty good pitcher when he's healthy (as evidenced by the second half of 2013). He's a good pitcher again this season and this is closer to what the Twins thought they were getting when they signed him two offseasons ago. Now, with that said... It's fair to criticize the Twins' thinking with Pelfrey, whether he had any business getting a two year deal and the likelihood of his performance being above average in either 2014 or 2015 based on his recent performances. Those are fair criticisms and they show blindspots in the Twins' evaluations of players, particularly pitchers in recent seasons. But to accuse the Twins of signing a guy because they like him? Nah, that's not fair. Pelfrey has shown flashes of competence on multiple occasions. He deserves better than that. As much as Mike Pelfrey drives me nuts, the thinking that went behind his signing is better than the thinking that went behind the Correia signing. At least Mike Pelfrey had some upside, as meager as that upside may be.

If he keeps doing this, he needs to be in Minnesota around or before the All Star break.

How to not spill his drink on a bus ride. Past that, I got nothing.

I know we disagree here but I don't see the wisdom in trading away assets when you have four former top 100 outfield prospects aged 25 or younger in the organization and all of them are at AA or higher. That seems rather foolish to me, actually. Not all prospects pan out but you'll give up an asset at a position of greater need to do it, which will probably burn you down the road.

Maybe to AAA but he didn't make his MLB debut until July.