twinfan

Wait! My son is an aspiring catcher looking for a contract. He's only 45 so he still has a few good years left. Contact me as his agent. Thanks.

Clemens is a useful utility player who has been just below the average for major league hitters. While I don't expect him to be much more than a .230 hitter with up to 15 home runs over 300+ at bats in any season, he is the type of player that any team can use to fill in at several positions. He is getting more ABs with the Twins mainly because we don't have anyone better at this time.

I fondly remember Worthington as a major contributor to the excellent Twins teams of the mid-late 60s (yes, I am that old). Sorry to hear of his passing. Thanks for the info.

Sorry but looking at the history and feeling about both first base and third base I don't see Lee playing either. He hits in streaks but doesn't even have 20 home run power which is what most players at those positions have. Second or short is more suited for him. Lewis could return at third sometime this season but maybe the Twins need to move on from him if his attitude is that poor. In his defense, if he had never played second before, then asking him to move there as a young player in the middle of a season was a dumb move.

Who are these Twins? They sweep Detroit then can't beat the Nationals. They sweep Boston at Fenway, then can't beat the Chisox. Who are they, really?

You guys are nuts! If we trade Ryan, we MUST get a package in return- not just 1 suspect. Yes, the teams mentioned could be trade partners but I would take their top suspect and at least 1 additional player. As far as Shaw is concerned, if we can get him for a reasonable price, go do it NOW.

I would not yet count Topa completely out since our bullpen is in a state of flux- unless we get a better arm. Polanco has always been a marginal player and we got some possible good things for him when the trade was made. Time will tell but I wouldn't be so quick to send Gonzalez back down if he is hitting. If there were doubts about him in the majors, why bat him 5th in his first game up. Many teams protect their youngsters early by batting them near the bottom. And batting him 5th shows how weak the offense is (IMHO). We have far too many "role" players who play more when they get hot or there's nobody else to put there. In the weak Central division, we are only on track to win 76-78 games which is not enough. And now there is talk of trading Ryan which would lower that number.

While I never cared for Lewis even when he was a prospect, he did have a great start to his career. Have injuries simply wiped out his skills? Who knows! But the Twins have several players who are at or below the Mendoza line and only come up with a few games where they hit well. Wallner needs to straighten his swing and approach out but I don't expect him to hit more than .220 with 25-30 home runs max if he ever gets a regular job. The Twins will take that. Plus his defense is suspect as well though not as important considering where he plays.

If you watched the call from home plate, you can easily see that it was a bad call. Lewis' knee came into play after he tagged the runner out and his knee never altered the runner's path to the base. His foot was not in a great position but seemed at the back of the base and the play was a bang-bang play and he never had a chance to change his position. The commentators even spoke to plays where a catcher takes a throw and does not have time to change his feet position. Baseball, as well as other sports, has a terrible rule as to what is reviewable or not. Had the play been reviewable, the runner would have been out.

We traded away many of our best players at last year's deadline. So are we now a better team? That is what trading is all about. If we trade Ryan or Jeffers, will we be a better team? I doubt it because I only see us getting prospects who are more like suspects in the long run. Do we give up on Lewis, Wallner and/or Lee (who is going decently for now)? I don't know what the answer is. Right now I see a team that has had more at bats with the bases loaded yet can't score many runs in that situation, a team where batters don't move runners along like they should and a team whose bullpen is shaky at best. Something needs to be done. Yes the average MLB player bats .245 these days but we don't have many (including Buxton) who can do that. Yuck!

My biggest concern going into the season was the bullpen or lack of it. Yes, the closer by committee is working right now but history is not on it's side. Actually, almost everything is working right now which is fun to watch. However, the relievers are walking too many, giving up runs though fortunately we have been hitting, and are not striking out enough. It's bound to catch up to them but let's hope not until next Spring.

The entire team is in a bad slump led by Buxton who is supposed to be our best hitter. There have been a couple of surprises but not enough to win games. And when we finally did score, the pitching fell apart. I'm more concerned that we don't move runners from 2nd to 3rd with no outs, we have no bullpen to speak of and we strike out an awful lot. Hopefully the offense will start to wake up (except for vs Skubal-not expected) and we get some relief pitching. It's too early to fully give up on some players but we can't wait too long.

It's not surprising to see a low rating here. But a couple of winning seasons can change that. However, right now it is difficult to vision this team even getting above .500 much less competing for a playoff spot. We have some decent players, a couple of good starting pitchers but no bullpen, no big name (except for Buxton) and no depth. Add to that the loss of Lopez and optimism fades. I figured we would be around 20% but teams like the White Sox and Angels and even A's seem to have good young players who can excite the fans so they get more votes.

It's normal that RH batters hit better against LH pitchers but I am much more worried about the Twins (lack of a) bullpen right now. The relief pitchers we have are awful and won't get any better. Can anyone throw heaters? Does anyone have lock down stuff? Other teams have no-names who come up and shut teams down. We don't. And we passed on veterans like Luke Weaver and Tommie Kahnle who can do just that. So it won't matter if we score 2 or 3 or 8 runs in a game. We won't win. And so far I am not impressed with Josh Bell. He is a free swinger at best who probably won't do much except keep a prospect down on the farm. Maybe someone will want him at the deadline or sooner but it's doubtful. It looks like my prediction of the Twins winning 76 games (in the USA's 250th year) will (sadly) probably come true.

I think Lewis is ok. As far as Bell being a leader, we'll see. But maybe he should get off the field and become a coach. That's where the leadership may need to come from. Yes, the players need players they can talk to but to teach someone may need to come from the coaching staff. And yes, leaders need followers as the Cruz-Sano relationship proved. Cruz tried to teach but Sano couldn't follow (or maybe didn't have the skills to follow).