Twins Fan From Afar

The Twins are currently throttling the Indians. It's nice to see. Josh Willingham continues to demonstrate that he was an excellent off-season signing, and Alexi Casilla even got in on the action. Let's take a look at the action down on the farm. ROCHESTER 5, COLUMBUS 8 Liam Hendriks had a bad start. In 5 innings of work, he allowed 12 hits, 7 runs (6 earned), walked 3, struck out 1, and allowed a homer. Daniel Turpen allowed an unearned run in 1 and 1/3 innings on 3 walks and a strikeout, and Caleb Thielbar threw 1 and 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing 1 hit and 1 walk, striking out 3. Right fielder Matt Carson led the way on offense, hitting 2 home runs and a single, and driving in 4. Sean Burroughs had 2 doubles, Brian Dinkelman had 2 hits, including a double, and Chris Parmelee and Clete Thomas each singled. Here's the link to the box score. NEW BRITAIN 4, READING 5 (GAME 1 -- 7 innings) Steven Hirshfeld took the loss for the Rock Cats tonight. He went 5 and 1/3 innings, gave up 5 runs on 9 hits, and struck out 3 while walking 1. Thereafter, Jose Gonzalez walked the only batter he faced, and Marty Popham tossed 2/3 of an inning, allowing 1 hit. Oswaldo Arcia, Chris Colabello and Joe Benson each had 2 hits, Benson with a double and Colabello with his 14th home run of the season. Deibinson Romero was 1-for-3 with 2 RBIs, and James Beresford had a single in 2 at-bats. Here's the link to the box score. NEW BRITAIN 0, READING 6 (GAME 2 -- 7 innings) Aaron Thompson had a solid start, up until the 6th inning, anyway, but the offense didn't come through. In 5 and 1/3 innings, Thompson gave up 6 runs on 8 hits, striking out 6 and walking 2. Thompson had allowed 2 runs through 5 innings, but ran into trouble in the 6th inning, allowing a triple, sacrifice fly, a walk, a home run and a double before being replaced in favor of David Bromberg. Bromberg allowed 2 hits (and 1 inherited runner to score) in 2/3 of an inning, striking out 1. There were only 5 hits in this second game, a double by Daniel Rohlfing, and singles by Joe Benson, Rene Tosoni and Shawn Roof (2 for Roof). Benson, by the way, has now hit safely in his past 5 games. Here's the link to the box score. FT. MYERS 0, BREVARD COUNTY 3 Pat Dean went 4 innings in his start today, giving up 2 runs on 8 hits. He struck out 2 and walked 2. Ryan O'Rourke allowed an unearned run in 2 innings of work, allowing 2 hits and striking out 3. Ricky Bowen was very good today, throwing 3 innings and allowing only 1 hit. There wasn't very much Miracle offense to speak of tonight -- only 4 total hits. Daniel Ortiz doubled in 3 at-bats, and Kyle Knudson, Lance Ray and Michael Gonzales all singled. Here's the link to the box score. BELOIT 10, PEORIA 4 Tyler Jones was on the rubber for the Snappers tonight. He went 6 and 1/3 innings, allowing 4 runs (only 2 earned) on 5 hits. He struck out 11 and walked 2. Tim Atherton threw 1 and 2/3 innings, striking out 1 and walking 1. Zack Jones threw a scoreless 9th, walking 1 and striking out 1. First baseman Kenny Vargas had a great game. He was 2-for-4 with a home run and a triple. He drove in 4 runs, and also walked once. Wang-Wei Lin was 2-for-5 with a double, Stephen Wickens doubled in 3 at-bats, and Nate Roberts, Drew Leachman, Miguel Sano, Matthew Koch and Jairo Rodriguez all singled. Sano, 1-for-2 on the day, walked 3 times and had 2 RBIs late in the game. Here's the link to the box score. ELIZABETHTON 5, GREENVILLE 0 Angel Mata had a solid start today. In 5 innings of work, he only allowed 2 hits, striking out 8 and walking none. Kaleb Merck threw 2 scoreless innings in relief, giving up 2 hits and striking out 2. J.T. Chargois closed out the game, also throwing 2 innings, striking out 1. E-Town had 8 hits today, 3 coming off the bat of Candido Pimentel, who was just a home run shy of the cycle, and had 2 RBIs. Joshua Hendricks had 2 hits, including a double, and an RBI. Max Kepler and Jorge Polanco doubled, and Niko Goodrum singled in 4 at-bats. Here's the link to the box score. GCL TWINS 4, GCL RED SOX 1 32nd overall pick Jose Berrios started for the Twins today, and was good. He threw 4 innings, allowed only 2 hits, and struck out 6. Austin Malinowski threw 3 and 2/3 innings, giving up 1 run on 3 hits, striking out 6 and walking 1. Trent Higginbotham tossed 1 and 1/3 innings, allowing no hits and issuing 1 walk. Top prospect Eddie Rosario was 3-for-5 with 3 doubles and an RBI. Joel Licon had 2 singles in 5 at-bats. Byron Buxton and Aderlin Mejia each doubled. Buxton is batting .197 on the season, but is hitting .290/.389/.742 in his last 10 games. Here's the link to the box score. ---------------------------------------- Players of the Day for Saturday, July 28 Hitter of the Day: Eddie Rosario [ATTACH=CONFIG]1684[/ATTACH] Pitcher of the Day: Angel Mata [ATTACH=CONFIG]1685[/ATTACH] ------------------------------------------- Schedule for Sunday, July 29 Rochester @ Columbus --- RHP Shairon Martis New Britain @ Reading --- LHP Blake Martin Ft. Myers vs. Breavard County --- RHP Matthew Summers Beloit @ Peoria --- LHP Matt Tomshaw Elizabethton @ Bristol --- LHP Hein Robb ------------------------------------------------ If you have any questions or comments, please leave them here! Thanks.

Yep. Several eastern league games were postponed -- big storms in New York, CT, PA. Looks like the Rock Cats will play a doubleheader Saturday to make it up.

Interesting on the Kubel comparisons -- when I watched the video of Arcia's walk-off home run last week, the swing actually reminded me a little of Kubel's.

I think the answer is yes. Even if Arcia regresses a little in August, it still will have been a fantastic season for him. When I do my top 10 prospect rankings over the winter, it's going to be a tough decision choosing between Arcia and Sano.

Any way you slice it, this is a forgotton season for Wimmers. But it's not the end of the world. If he gets healthy and is effective, he's still on the fast track.

Agreed -- I got lazy looking for pictures, so I only went with 1 pitcher. But Wheeler had a good start, and has had a very solid season.

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The Twins were swept by the White Sox. I didn't watch the game, but apparently this was ugly -- even by 2012 Twins standards. Luckily, there are other things on which to focus our attention, especially the Twins' affiliates. Let's take a look at the action down on the farm. ROCHESTER 5, SYRACUSE 3 Esmerling Vasquez got the win for the Red Wings tonight, throwing 5 and 1/3 innings, and giving up 3 runs (2 earned) on 5 hits, striking out 7 and walking 3. Luis Perdomo tossed the rest of the game, 3 and 2/3 innings, giving up only 2 hits and striking out 2 while walking 1. 4 Red Wings players -- Tsuyoshi Nishioka, Chris Parmelee, Danny Valencia and Evan Bigley -- each had 2 hits. Valencia and Bigley each had doubles. Wilkin Ramirez and Ray Chang added singles. Valencia had his 7th error of the season. Here's the link to the box score. NEW BRITAIN 11, BINGHAMTON 2 B.J. Hermsen earned his 7th win on the season for the Rock Cats, tossing 7 innings, giving up only 2 runs, striking out 8 and walking 3. Daniel Turpen and David Bromberg each pitched scoreless innings in relief. On offense, this was Aaron Hicks' day. He was 5-for-6 and was just a triple shy of the cycle. He had 2 doubles, a home run (10th on the season), and 2 singles. He accumulated 10 total bases and 2 RBIs. Deibinson Romero quietly had 4 hits, including a double. Oswaldo Arcia, Chris Colabello, Joe Benson and Rene Tosoni each had 2 hits, and James Beresford had a single. Hicks now has a very respectable .284/.379/.456 line on the year. Here's the link to the box score. FT. MYERS 12, CHARLOTTE 4 Matthew Hauser had an excellent outing, throwing 7 scoreless innings, and allowing only 2 hits. He struck out 4 and walked 4. Cole Nelson tossed 2 innings, and had a rough outing. He allowed 4 runs on 5 hits, including 2 home runs, and struck out 2. Steven Liddle had 2 hits, including a home run, and 4 RBIs. Josmil Pinto was also 2-for-4 with a home run and a double. Daniel Rams, Anderson Hidalgo (3 RBIs) and Andy Leer each had 2 hits, as well. Jonathan Goncalves, Daniel Santana and Kyle Knudson each had 1 hit in this mass offensive effort. In fact, 8 of the 9 Miracle starters registered at least 1 hit. Here's the link to the box score. BELOIT 4, BURLINGTON 1 Jason Wheeler picked up his 12th win of the season, throwing 6 scoreless innings. He allowed 4 hits , struck out 4 and walked 2. A great performance from one of Beloit's most reliable arms this season. Dallas Gallant threw 2/3 of an inning, allowing 1 run on 1 hit, striking out 1 and walking 2. Mason Melotakis finished the game, throwing 2 and 1/3 innings, giving up only 2 hits and striking out 3. Matthew Koch was 2-for-4 with a double and a home run, and Nate Roberts also had 2 hits. TwinsDaily's own Adam Pettersen, Miguel Sano, JaDamion Williams and Tyler Grimes all had 1 hit. Sano walked 3 times, and also picked up his 70th RBI on the season. Sano also stole his 7th base of the season. Here's the link to the box score. GCL TWINS 1, GCL RAYS 2 Felix Jorge was effective in 4 innings of work today, allowing only 2 hits, striking out 5 and walking just 1. Gerardo Ramirez picked up a tough loss, allowing 2 runs on 2 hits, and walking 2 along the way. Melciades De La Cruz tossed 3 scoreless innings, allowing 3 hits, striking out 1 and walking 1. Bryan Haar was 2-for-4 with a pair of singles, and Byron Buxton, Eddie Rosario, Aderlin Mejia, John Murphy, Kelly Cross, and Zach Larson all singled. Buxton also had a center field-to-second base assist. Here's the link to the box score. -------------------------------------------------------- Players of the Day for Wednesday, July 25 Hitter of the Day: Aaron Hicks [ATTACH=CONFIG]1666[/ATTACH] Pitcher of the Day: Matthew Hauser [ATTACH=CONFIG]1667[/ATTACH] ------------------------------------------------- Schedule for Thursday, July 26, 2012 Rochester vs. Syracuse --- RHP Eric Hurley New Britain @ Reading --- ??? Ft. Myers vs. Brevard County --- RHP Tom Stuifbergen Beloit @ Burlington --- ??? GCL Twins vs. GCL Rays --- ??? ------------------------------------------------- Please leave any questions or comments, and either Seth or I will be happy to respond.

Here's my impression from a 1-game sample (last Saturday). I thought he was adequate. Not especially fast, but he hustled and got to a couple balls in right center. Arm: decent. He has 4 assists already, so that's not bad. I'm sure Seth and others can tell you more accurate information, though.

Hit the wrong key -- thanks for the correction! 21 years and 2 months old, and not at all in over his head at AA.

I tweeted this last night, but thought I would put it up here, as well, for those interested in following Oswaldo Arcia: Over his first 98 AA at-bats, here are Oswaldo Arcia's stats: .316/.370/.500; 5 2B, 2 3B, 3 HR; 26 RBI; 7 BB; 27 Ks. He turned 22 in May FYI.

This seems like the smartest plan. Look for young, affordable starting pitchers for 2014 and beyond (the years when guys like Miguel Sano, Aaron Hicks, Oswaldo Arcia, and others will also hopefully be young, affordable, and playing for the Twins). 2013, though, is going to be another rough one!

Thanks, JB. I suppose I should officially annouce the extension of my blog through 2014, as well! I've had a couple busy work weeks, but will get back into the swing of it as the team hits the home stretch.

You can view the page at http://www.twinsdaily.com/content.php?811-Wednesday-s-Twins-Minor-League-Daily

This is always an interesting time of year, with the rampant trade speculation. Will the Twins trade Francisco Liriano? Denard Span? It's curious, but understandable, that they're listening on Josh Willingham. Make no mistake -- just two weeks from now, this team could, and probably will, look quite different. Let's take a look at how the affiliates performed today. With the potential for change in Minneapolis comes the likelihood of promotion for some of these kids. ROCHESTER 4, NORFOLK 1 This game took forever -- 15 innings, in fact. Liam Hendriks had a great outing. He threw 7 innings and allowed only 1 run on 5 hits. He struck out 6 and walked 1. Lester Oliveros was also excellent out of the bullpen, throwing 3 scoreless innings, allowing 1 hit and striking out 3. Kyle Waldrop threw 1/3 of the 11th inning, allowing a single, getting a sac bunt, and intentionally walking Lew Ford before being removed in favor of Caleb Thielbar, who quickly induced a double play to get out of the jam. Thielber threw 3 and 2/3 innings, striking out 2 and allowing only 1 hit. Daniel Sattler threw a scoreless 15th. Matt Carson got the scoring started with a solo home run in the first inning, and also singled later. After Carson's homer, the Red Wings did not score until the 15th inning. In the 13 innings between runs, Chris Parmelee doubled and walked twice, Ray Chang had 2 singles in 5 trips to the plate, and Tsuyoshi Nishioka was 1-for-5. In the 15th inning, Rene Rivera and Pedro Florimon each singled, then Matt Carson was intentionally walked to get to Parmelee. Parmelee doubled to left field to clear the bases, and that was that. Here's the link to the box score. NEW BRITAIN 8, NEW HAMPSHIRE 0 This game didn't quite make it 6 innings due to rain. Heavy rain, if New Britain's weather was the same that I saw in and around Hartford this afternoon. David Bromberg wasn't brilliant today, but he was effective enough to get the win. He threw all 6 innings, gave up 2 hits and struck out 2, but he walked 3 along the way. His ERA is 3.16 after today's performance. In only 5 and 2/3 innings of offense, the Rock Cats did some damage. Deibinson Romero had 2 doubles, a walk, and scored twice. Chris Colabello also doubled and drove in 2 runs. That was his 28th double of the season. Aaron Hicks was 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI, and is batting .275 on the season. Chris Herrmann had a single and 2 walks. Estarlin De Los Santos was 1-for-2 with a single and an RBI, Joe Benson singled in 3 at-bats, and Minnesota's own Nathan Hanson singled and drove in 2 runs. Top prospect Oswaldo Arcia left the game in the third inning with stomach issues from the heat, but is expected back tomorrow. Here's the link to the box score. FT. MYERS 1, DUNEDIN 4 Pat Dean took a tough loss for the Miracle today. He threw 6 innings, giving up 2 runs on 6 hits. He struck out 5 and issued 0 free passes. Clint Dempster threw 1 scoreless inning in relief, allowing 1 hit and 2 walks while striking out 1. Ricky Bowen tossed the last 2 innings, and gave up 2 runs (1 earned) on 3 hits, walking 2 and striking out 1. Dean fell to 6-6 on the season, and his ERA is 3.89. Shortstop Daniel Santana committed his 21st error of the season. There wasn't too much Miracle offense to speak of today. The team mustered only 5 hits, and 3 came off the bat of Levi Michael -- all singles. A good sign, though, that last season's first round pick is starting to hit the ball. Michael is batting .240 now. Daniel Santana and Daniel Ortiz both singled, as well. The Miracle's best chance was in the 8th inning, when the bases were loaded with no outs. But Rene Tosoni lined out to second, Josmil Pinto had a sac fly to right, and Daniel Ortiz struck out looking to end the threat. Here's the link to the box score. BELOIT _, LANSING _ -- CANCELLED This game will be made up Thursday as part of a double-header. First game at 5:30. ELIZABETHTON 4, JOHNSON CITY 6 Angel Mata got the start for E-Town, and went 4 innings, giving up 3 runs on 3 hits, striking out 2 and walking 3. Corey Kimes was up next, and only threw 2/3 of an inning, giving up 2 runs on 2 hits and 2 walks. Brett Lee threw 1 and 1/3 scoreless, allowing 2 hits, striking out 3 and walking 2. Luis Nunez tossed 2 innings, giving up 1 run on 3 walks and a strikeout. The final pitcher of the evening was J.T. Chargois, who threw 1 perfect inning. In all, there were 10 walks issued by E-Town tonight. Young prospect Max Kepler hit his third home run of the season tonight, and is batting .312 on the season. Rory Rhodes and Adam Walker each had 2 hits, and Niko Goodrum, Travis Harrison, Joshua Hendricks, Michael Quesada and Romy Jimenez all had one hit. Jimenez drove in 2 and walked, as well. Here's the link to the box score. GCL TWINS 6, GCL RAYS 7 Kyle Gibson threw 2 innings and 27 pitches today on his way back from Tommy John surgery. Honestly, the stats don't even matter. But here they are: 2 runs on 2 hits, no strikeouts or walks. After the game, Gibson tweeted: "Another healthy day on the mound! 2 innings and by no means the #s I want but 27 more pitches closer to 100%. Going for a clean 1 inning on Saturday." After Gibson, Matthew Tomshaw threw 1 scoreless inning, Kuo Hua Lo gave up 2 runs (1 earned) in 2/3 of an inning on 2 hits and 2 walks, striking out 1. Thereafter, Yorman Landa tossed 2 and 1/3 scoreless innings and gave up 3 hits, walking 1 and striking out 1. Felix Jorge was very good, throwing 2 scoreless innings, allowing no hits or walks and striking out 2. Finally, Alexander Muren took the loss, giving up 3 runs (2 earned) in 1 inning of work. Muren gave up 2 hits and 2 walks, and struck out 1. Right fielder Kelvin Ortiz was 2-for-4 with 2 doubles, first baseman Bryan Haar was 2-for-3 with an RBI, and catcher Jorge Fernandez was 2-for-4 with an RBI, as well. Second baseman Jose Ramirez doubled in 4 at-bats, and third baseman Aderlin Mejia, DH Joel Licon, left fielder Javier Pimentel and shortstop Will Hurt all singled. Here's the link to the box score. -------------------------------------------------------------- Players of the day for Wednesday, July 18, 2012 Hitter of the Day: Max Kepler (courtesy of JC from Knuckleballs Blog) [ATTACH=CONFIG]1590[/ATTACH] Pitcher of the Day: Liam Hendriks [ATTACH=CONFIG]1589[/ATTACH] --------------------------------------------------- Schedule for Thursday, July 19, 2012 Rochester @ Norfolk --- ??? New Britain @ Harrisburg --- ??? Ft. Myers @ Lakeland --- ??? Beloit vs. Lansing --- ??? Beloit vs. Lansing (game 2) --- ??? Johnson City vs. Elizabethton --- ??? GCL Twins @ GCL Rays --- ??? ---------------------------------------------------------- If you have any questions or comments, leave them here!

It hasn't been publicized on the Red Wings' website yet, but Bigley has been promoted to AAA. He's @bigley3 on Twitter, and there was mention of it this morning. Congrats to him!

That's right -- you just made me remember the Upper Decks. Foil packaging, as opposed to plastic or wax paper. It had a smell sort of like camera film.

[TABLE=class: tr-caption-container] http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9G9zyxHb9rY/UAQIxjePMWI/AAAAAAAAAcY/OOmINSGxY6Q/s1600/MNTwins.bmp [TD=class: tr-caption]Who are "the 99 percent" when it comes to Twins Territory? [/TD] [/TABLE] If you made your way to this blog, you're not an average Twins fan. Did you find it from my Twitter account (where I tweet almost exclusively about the Twins and Rock Cats)? Do you subscribe to my blog and read or peruse most every post? Or are you reading this at TwinsDaily.com, where I double-post a lot of my articles just to reach a different, more diverse fan base? Regardless of how you got here, you're not normal. You probably know the geographic location of at least one of the Twins minor league affiliates. Maybe you even recognize names like Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton. I bet you can match some of the Twins' retired numbers with the correct player names. And you probably watch enough Twins baseball on FSN that you tire of Dick & Bert, and occasionally mute the TV, turn on AM 1500, and follow along that way. The purpose of this post is to tell you that, if some of these above-referenced descriptions apply to you, you are not a normal Twins fan. In fact, you might be in the "exclusive" 1 percent of Twins fans. I love discussing Twins baseball, reading about it online, and writing about it. If I could go back and re-do life, I'd probably try to be a sports writer. And many of the people -- Twins fans -- that I come into contact with on the internet (or even the die-hard season ticket holders at Rock Cats games) are the same way. A lot of us, myself included, are quick to react to trades, contract extensions, and personnel moves, and we closely track the development of top prospects. Some of the most dedicated do our own research and come up with suggested trades of our own. It's a fun game, really. And being a Twins fan to this extent is a great hobby. I think, though, that it's important to step back and think about the who the Twins do business for: the masses, the other 99 percent. The 99 percent go to maybe 1 or 2 Twins games a year, and to them Target Field might very well still have a newness factor that, on its own, is enough to get them out to the ballpark. The TV or radio broadcasts are often background, or ancillary, to other activities are going on in the house. The 99 percent often tune in for bits and pieces of the game before bedtime. They'll read some of the Star Tribune or Pioneer Press coverage, but certainly not everything that is written about the Twins. Sure, they love a winner, but a bad Twins season doesn't keep them awake at night (in fact, they probably go to those same 1-2 games a year even if the team stinks). It might not cross their minds that the Twins, after 2 awful seasons, might make a managerial change. These people are the 99 percent. There's nothing at all wrong with the 99 percent of Twins fans, and this post isn't intended to disparage them in any way. I'm just suggesting that certain moves that bloggers and serious fans might advocate (just say, for example, replacing Ron Gardenhire after this season) likely are viewed through at least 2 different lenses by the Twins' front office: the winning-on-the-field lense, and the business-PR lens. We hope that the winning-on-the-field perspective trumps the PR perspective, but the Twins, as a profit-making entity, are bound to consider every move they make in terms of how it affects the financial bottom line. With the overwhelming majority of Twins fans likely self-describing as "casual," it's clear that we -- those reading this post -- are a vocal minority. As we think about the Twins at the trading deadline this year, I'm reminded of the Twins' failure to move players such as Michael Cuddyer, Joe Nathan and Jason Kubel last season. Perhaps last season is the perfect example of the dichotomy between the baseball side, and the business side, of Twins baseball. It certainly would have made baseball sense to deal at least one of two of those players, but the Twins were still drawing well at Target Field, despite an awful record. Was there a fear in the organization that having a fire sale would substantially dwindle attendance and hamper 2012 season ticket sales? Perhaps. In the end, of course, the team failed to trade any of these players, and lost all via free agency. So what made sense to me -- dealing Cuddyer for whatever you could get for him since he was aging, expensive and shouldn't have been re-signed -- might not have been as clear-cut a decision for the organization. Still, though, when it comes down to it, you would like the organization to make moves designed to help the team win games, not just fill the ballpark. And that's where the Twins scare me a little bit.

[TABLE=class: tr-caption-container] http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9G9zyxHb9rY/UAQIxjePMWI/AAAAAAAAAcY/OOmINSGxY6Q/s1600/MNTwins.bmp [TD=class: tr-caption]Who are "the 99 percent" when it comes to Twins Territory? [/TD] [/TABLE] If you made your way to this blog, you're not an average Twins fan. Did you find it from my Twitter account (where I tweet almost exclusively about the Twins and Rock Cats)? Do you subscribe to my blog and read or peruse most every post? Or are you reading this at TwinsDaily.com, where I double-post a lot of my articles just to reach a different, more diverse fan base? Regardless of how you got here, you're not normal. You probably know the geographic location of at least one of the Twins minor league affiliates. Maybe you even recognize names like Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton. I bet you can match some of the Twins' retired numbers with the correct player names. And you probably watch enough Twins baseball on FSN that you tire of Dick & Bert, and occasionally mute the TV, turn on AM 1500, and follow along that way. The purpose of this post is to tell you that, if some of these above-referenced descriptions apply to you, you are not a normal Twins fan. In fact, you might be in the "exclusive" 1 percent of Twins fans. I love discussing Twins baseball, reading about it online, and writing about it. If I could go back and re-do life, I'd probably try to be a sports writer. And many of the people -- Twins fans -- that I come into contact with on the internet (or even the die-hard season ticket holders at Rock Cats games) are the same way. A lot of us, myself included, are quick to react to trades, contract extensions, and personnel moves, and we closely track the development of top prospects. Some of the most dedicated do our own research and come up with suggested trades of our own. It's a fun game, really. And being a Twins fan to this extent is a great hobby. I think, though, that it's important to step back and think about the who the Twins do business for: the masses, the other 99 percent. The 99 percent go to maybe 1 or 2 Twins games a year, and to them Target Field might very well still have a newness factor that, on its own, is enough to get them out to the ballpark. The TV or radio broadcasts are often background, or ancillary, to other activities are going on in the house. The 99 percent often tune in for bits and pieces of the game before bedtime. They'll read some of the Star Tribune or Pioneer Press coverage, but certainly not everything that is written about the Twins. Sure, they love a winner, but a bad Twins season doesn't keep them awake at night (in fact, they probably go to those same 1-2 games a year even if the team stinks). It might not cross their minds that the Twins, after 2 awful seasons, might make a managerial change. These people are the 99 percent. There's nothing at all wrong with the 99 percent of Twins fans, and this post isn't intended to disparage them in any way. I'm just suggesting that certain moves that bloggers and serious fans might advocate (just say, for example, replacing Ron Gardenhire after this season) likely are viewed through at least 2 different lenses by the Twins' front office: the winning-on-the-field lense, and the business-PR lens. We hope that the winning-on-the-field perspective trumps the PR perspective, but the Twins, as a profit-making entity, are bound to consider every move they make in terms of how it affects the financial bottom line. With the overwhelming majority of Twins fans likely self-describing as "casual," it's clear that we -- those reading this post -- are a vocal minority. As we think about the Twins at the trading deadline this year, I'm reminded of the Twins' failure to move players such as Michael Cuddyer, Joe Nathan and Jason Kubel last season. Perhaps last season is the perfect example of the dichotomy between the baseball side, and the business side, of Twins baseball. It certainly would have made baseball sense to deal at least one of two of those players, but the Twins were still drawing well at Target Field, despite an awful record. Was there a fear in the organization that having a fire sale would substantially dwindle attendance and hamper 2012 season ticket sales? Perhaps. In the end, of course, the team failed to trade any of these players, and lost all via free agency. So what made sense to me -- dealing Cuddyer for whatever you could get for him since he was aging, expensive and shouldn't have been re-signed -- might not have been as clear-cut a decision for the organization. Still, though, when it comes down to it, you would like the organization to make moves designed to help the team win games, not just fill the ballpark. And that's where the Twins scare me a little bit.

Good list, and I like having Arcia so high. Between his hitting ability (hasn't lost a step moving up to AA so far) and the young age, he should be shooting up most lists. I might move Wimmers down a little, since he's very much in limbo right now.

Nice write-up, Jeremy. Boy, this has been a forgotten year in Joe Benson's career. Hopefully he can have a solid couple months rehabbing and working his way back up the ladder. It's funny how all the Twins outfield discussion lately has centered on Span, Revere, Hicks and Arcia, but let us not forget that just a year ago Benson was looking pretty good.