Dave T

I'll go with 90 wins, Wild Card, starting pitching and Sano and Molitor. IIRC, Twins made it to 10 games over .500 without Sano. If he keeps playing like this, he's worth at least 5 wins, and I already had them at 85. I have to say, Friday's win over the Tigers altered my opinion somewhat. The Twins didn't play well against the Tigers all season. Friday night they finally said "enough". Today was like "Let us pound your crappy pitchers like they deserve". Twins are not afraid of Detroit any more. I really can't say enough good things about Molitor. You want the latest thinking on shifts? Molitor shifts the infield part-way through the at-bat. You want leadership? Molitor said after today's game that the guys are gaining confidence, and they will need that to be contenders. I think he's going to be Twins manager for as long as he wants the job, kind of like Sparky Anderson.

I think Vargas got sent down in order to open the DH spot for Arcia. I'm not impressed with the LF options at this point. Nunez is worse than Arcia in LF, if that's possible. Escobar is a good infielder who is making lots of mistakes while learning a new position. Rosario and Robinson are pretty good fielders, but below-average hitters. WHenever Molitor plays a good fielder in left, it allows Hicks to shade towards RF and hide Hunter's lack of range. The Twins only need offensive production from two of their three OF's. To make my point differently, I think Arcia will play LF about as often as Escobar does in his absence.

There's gotta be another move coming. Molitor won't go long with only 3 guys on the bench. My wishful thinking says, they can't DFA Stauffer until he's recovered from his "injury", so the team doctor will now perform his exit physical. Stauffer's gone as soon as Arcia is ready to return to lineup.

Last night, Graham finally showed why Twins drafted him. Three shutout innings against a good-hitting Pittsburg team. 97 MPH fastball + 82 MPH slider. Now let's see if he can repeat that performance.

I am surprised you had no words to say about Fryer. I thought he was the Twins' best catcher in spring training. Hermann is more versatile, but Fryer is the better catcher.

I think Rosario will be sent down when Arcia comes back. IMO the Twins want Rosario to come to understand that he can play at this level, like they did with Polanco last year. And I love Rosario on defense, except for that dropped fly ball.

I think the Twins are a hard team to project. Are they under-performing or over-achieving? Will the real Ricky Nolasco please stand up? Here's a clue from Twins management: Vargas got demoted in spite of his solid stats in May. The message I read was, "Good enough is not going to cut it". Vargas has the potential to be one of the top RBI guys in the game. He needs to get his groove back. The next clue, I feel, will be what they do with Stauffer. He can't get anyone out in AAA. If the Twins bring him back up, you can kiss .500 good-bye. If they cut him, I'm drinking the Kool Aid and upping my guesstimate to 85 wins.

I thought the Twins signed Wander Javier. I would be surprised if they signed another SS as their #1 pick in the draft.

If you are concerned about Gibson's strikeout rate, I hope you watched yesterday's game. Gibson struck out 5 guys in his last two innings. Very fine off-speed stuff. There is no doubt that Gibson is the Twins ace this year.

This team has exceeded our expectations, but you can see the seeds of a second half flameout already. Twins starters are not going deep enough into games. The bullpen has been amazing! However, if they have to pitch 4 innings per game, they're done by the end of August.

I still haven't forgiven Gardy for lobbying to bring back Bartlett, Kubel, and Guerrier last season. He wasn't committed to winning. He just wanted a few of his old friends in the clubhouse.

That chart is hilarous. The best place to pitch Plouffe? Right down the middle of the plate.

The best part of the season so far is, we are now talking about how the Twins have been beating lesser opponents. Remember the preseason assessments of the American League teams? Chicago, Cleveland, and Oakland were supposed to be good teams! Not the Twins.

It seems like there is more substance to the Twins this season. The pitching is better. The hitting in the past 10 games or so is back to last season's high-scoring levels. With all due respect to Santana's many errors, the defense is better! I think the hitting will continue to improve -- Vargas and Arcia can do better than they've been doing. I don't see any reason why this team can't play at .500 or a little better for the rest of the season. With all due respect to Buxton, it is starting pitching that will keep this team out of the playoffs. Twins really don't have an ace. In order to beat Detroit, you need two.

Twins defense still sucks, and Schafer is not the answer in CF. The pitching, on the other hand, has improved enormously over last year. Is it a coincidence that it has improved while Nolasco and Duensing were on the DL? Hell no!! There's no way the Twins will send Thompson down when Duensing is ready to return. Thompson is doing the job Duensing was supposed to do. Mauer drove in three runs on Sunday, and it is a pleasure to see him hitting the ball hard. I wish I could say the same for any other Twins hitter. Mauer's hitting + current pitching is enough to get the Twins close to a .500 record. Some of the other hitters are going to have to step up if Twins hope to stay in 3rd place.