Riverbrian

I agree... The Pitching just isn't good enough... Pulling it off with the Starting Pitching we have... (not just the majors but AAA and AA) is the longest of longshots in my mind However, on paper... 8.5 games is not out of it. Hard to tell your team to fight on while you pull the troops back behind them. That's why 8.5 back and the worst record in the American League is about the worst position you can be in.

I agree that with Ben's skill set he should be a better bunter and I'm sure it's something he is working on. A couple of things to keep in mind. 1. He's young... One of those blown bunts he was just too young to make the right decision. It was an obvious bunting situation and the pitcher knew it and threw up and in... like a smart major league pitcher will do. Ben made a mistake trying to get that bunt down. This should get better with more experience. 2. In order to make the Major Leagues... You are a good hitter. It doesn't matter how you are comparably with the rest of Major League Baseball. The guy hitting .200 in the Majors was a damn good hitter growing up... While playing Youth Baseball up to High School or even into College. You have to be a fantastic hitter at those levels... Most likely the best hitter on your team... to even be considered for Major League ball. If you are the best hitter on your team... You are not asked to bunt much... You don't practice it... So guys like Ben despite their skill sets probably don't start working on bunting until their pro career starts and they are busy playing a bunch of games. 3. Baseball is moving away from the bunt. It's generally accepted by everyone that you don't want to give up outs. Sacrifices are saved for the final innings when 1 run makes the difference. Bunting for hits are no sure thing either. You bunt for hit when you think you can pull it off. You don't bunt when the infield is in your face. 4. Guys with Speed like Revere and Gomez are not going to sneak up on anyone. 3B is already up on the grass when Revere steps into the box. You can't force it and if the they are already positioned to stop it... Slapping it past 3B makes more sense and Ben does that pretty good from what I see and if 3B just camps out. It gives you less time to practice the craft in game situations. 5. A little patience can be rewarded. He won't be amazing at it tomorrow but he will be eventually. Every player is different. Ben is Young.

My Guess is because no one seems to want to take the AL Central by the horns. The Twins may have the worst record in the American League but they are only 8.5 games back. It's a bad place to be... Cuz you get kinda stuck trying to decide firmly what direction to go. If we are in it... You need arms and you only cut arms if they are Marquis awful. If we are NOT in it... You need better arms for the future and you can afford to roll the dice with the kids. Until we are out of it officially. Gray is the guy and Oliveros, Guerra and Slama are the back up options. It would pre-mature to show Gray the door. No matter what Gray is... The Twins while not overwhelmed... most likely... They are at least comfortable with what he has given the Twins this year. Toss him aside now and you end up replacing him with an unknown quantity. If that unknown quantity doesn't work out. You can start a revolving door at a time when you are just trying to get back in this thing. Not to mention that injuries are bound to happen down the line and those Rochester bull-penners will be needed for when that happens. If the White Sox, Indians or Tigers get real hot or the Twins go real flat again. If the distance between the Twins and 1st place in the Central increases... Gray will be out and the kids will come up. Either way... The best thing for the Twins is to either be clearly in this thing or clearly out. This Pearly Gates (Dave St. Peter right?), Purgatory, no man's land thing will kinda freeze ya.

I think that TR wants to hang onto Span with both hands. That contract that makes him attractive to other squads also makes him attractive to the Twins... In my Opinion... One thing and one thing only will be the catalyst for trading Span. That would be the overwhelming need for Pitching.

Seriously... great call guys. Im Trying Not to over react to a hot streak but I'm really happy for the kid. No matter what happens in the future. Cuz of this hot streak. Plouffe just gave himself a MLB career. Streaks come and go and so will this but the thing about this one. It gave him some rope when he really needed it. He can cool off and he will keep getting his name in the lineup card. Once you see something like this... Gardy and all the decision makers will write his name down cuz he's shown it and they will wait for the mere chance of it happening again. From the brink of the end of a career to a locked down everyday job. Its stuff like this that makes baseball the greatest game in the world. Does Plouffes Girlfriend know about Veronica? Does Elvis Costello? These days I'm afraid she's not even sure her name is Veronica. Veronica... Veronica...

Have fun... What a great trip... I don't know you... You could be an ax murderer but I'd go with you anyway. You will need to eat. If I could suggest some regional foods for you to partake in. In Beloit... Cheese Curds and Beer In Detroit... Cornish Pasties In Toronto... Peameal Bacon Sandwich In Rochester... A white hot garbage plate. In Pittsburgh... a Primanti Brothers Sandwich. In Cleveland... a Clambake and Sauerkraut Balls. In Cincinatti... Have the Cincinatti Chili. in Cedar Rapids... A Maid rite or two. My wife also wanted me to mention to eat seem fruits and veggies on occasion.

Span CF Mauer C Willingham RF Morneau 1B Plouffe 3B Doumit DH Dozier SS Casilla 2B Revere LF Span is leadoff as long as he's a Twin Mauer is a two hitter. That's my opinion and Gardy may disagree with me. Willingham is the best Choice for Three and he stops the lefty run. Morneau is the 4. Hope he gets hot and stays healthy. Plouffe is looking like a 4 right now. Let's just calm down and say 5 for now. Doumit is the obvious 6 Ill go with Dozier at 7 because Doumit can clog up the base paths. Dozier can move him over so the Speed guys get a little space. Casilla at the 8 over Carroll cuz of his speed and he is much younger. Revere at the 9... Ben could certainly hit higher up but the 9 position rolls over to the top of the order. I think the 9 spot is important for that reason. I also like my Speed guys grouped together. Lights out Pitching can shut power guys down on occasion. During those occasions... You can put your speed guys together and scratch some things out. Speed is hard to stop... Even if you are dealing.

Dear Trevor, If you read Twins Daily... I want to point out that among a few others... Bark's Lounge and Glunn had your back all along. Personally I thought you could establish yourself as a MLB player if you stopped swinging at crap and you've stopped. However, in all honesty... I wasn't sure if you'd stop and I certainly did not expect this kind of performance under any circumstance. Bark and Glunn they never lost faith and I give them full credit for expressing it in the face of a stiff wind. Trevor... I think you should seek these individuals out and reward them with some of your comp tickets. If you keep this up... There will be a Plouffe section at target field. These guys should be sitting front row. One last thing Trevor... Always remember... A truly wise man does not play leapfrog with a unicorn and never ask the barber if you need a haircut.

Both Nick and John are on the money. Opposing Pitchers do not fear Ben jacking one. Add to that... Opposing pitchers do fear Ben causing havoc on the base paths. The combination of those two quality's will cut down significantly on the nibbling. Add to that Ben's high contact rate... When he does swing he doesn't miss much and that cuts down on the walks cuz he doesn't need to use all 3 of his strikes to put it in play and will obviously get less 3 ball counts. I'm watching Ben and he has great discipline. He swings but he's not chasing. It'll be a struggle but I think he can increase his walk totals in the future a little. I have no personal inside knowledge but Ben looks coachable. I base this on his high percentage of ground outs. Every coach in the world will tell a guy with his speed and lack of power to beat that ball into the ground and use his legs. Ben does that and that tells me he is coachable. In the future he can work on fouling off some tough pitches and extending his at bats and that will lead to some increased walks. That will be a nice addition to the misplays caused by having to rush throws and his ability to make contact and put balls in play. Revere is a player who can help us win games and those who can't see past his power and arm strength are missing something special. Ben can play for my team any day. Unless I have Ryan Braun, Mike Trout and Stanton. Although I could try move Ben to 2B with that lineup.

I believe that he will have to cool down first. His swing will get a little off... He will Slump a bit start flying out more often than he should and then Bam... It won't be a 320 foot homer down the line. He will catch one about 400 feet. Not only will he hit his first one in a month or so. He will follow it up with a homer the next day and end up with 3 in a weeks time. Then he will get back to normal and start slapping again. His falling average will stabilize and then he will finish the season with a hot streak raising the average back up. I think he finishes at .330 and 4 HR's... 1 inside the park. Wouldn't you just fall over in shock if I nail this elaborate prediction.

Yeah probably Rochester bound with that number. On the question you've asked... My opinion is no. Deadline trades is all about acquiring vets. Teams going for a title don't want the youthful Carlos Gomez type mistakes in key moments. Now if we were to trade Revere to a team like the Cubs or Padres... Maybe... In the end Span is a good mix of experience and youth and an attractive contract. That contract is worth a decent player alone.

I'm one of the biggest Revere supporters I know. I have been bummed out since he lost his supposed starting job in LF about a week before the start of the season. Didn't agree with it then because I see Revere as a sparkplug and his skill set is valuable. With that said... I'm not going to pump my chest out and say...Look I was right cuz he's hitting .340. Revere could have a tailspin in the future and if he does have one... I'll be ready for it... But my face will not turn red in embarrassment and say I was wrong. I've seen enough... The Kid can play. Too Much is made of his arm and not enough is made of his speed and energy. The pressure that he can put on defenses from the speed factor alone is huge. Reaching base on infield grounders. The Threat of the bunt single. The High Contact rate... and the fastballs that Mauer and Willingham will see with him on the basepaths in front of them. The Defense... The Somersualts... The Whole package... The Guy is a plus player and I don't care if the extra base hits every come. I'd put him in left but it doesn't matter to me. As long as Span and Revere are together in the outfield. Ground will be covered. I just don't want an outfield with Willingham and Doumit in the OF together. OF Range is a much bigger issue than Arm strength. The Twins were wrong to make Revere a 4th OF in the first place. I'll feel that way if he was hitting .340 or .240. On this club... He should have had a job.

No Nerve was struck... Honest. I just need to use emoticons more often. Posts can come across differently at times without those little emoticons. My examples of trades for pitching was my dry sense of humor. This may be a surprise to some but sometimes I use humor in my posts. Most of the time the humor falls flat but I'm undetered and I keep trying. On the subject of Span's trade value. We will have to disagree to disagree. The combination of Span's leadoff hitter ability and MLB experience makes him very attractive to a team trying to improve themselves at the deadline. On Top of that. Players like Ian Kinsler are batting lead off when players of that ilk could be in a better position down in the order with players on base. On Top of that... Span's contract will make him extremely attractive. Span would not be a trade deadline rental. He would fit into the squad for years and his contract will increase his value and on paper should provide a better prospect. I will admit... That I have never recieved a phone call from a GM asking me to consider a trade. So my knowledge of trade value is as flawed as anyone else on this board. I can only go by what I've seen in years past and I listed the examples. My Observance of baseball trades and my knowledge of human nature tells me this. No one trades a player unless there is something wrong with them. Prospects are traded because they can't help right now. That is something wrong with that player. Veterens are traded because they are about to hit the FA Market and the team can't afford to keep them. That is something wrong with that player. Or Veterens are traded because they have an attitude problem and don't mesh with the team. That is something wrong with that player. Or in Span's case... They are traded because the team he plays on has an overwhelming hole elsewhere that needs to be addressed. Span is playing on the wrong team and has value... And that is something wrong with Span. Although not really. We will not get Verlander or a Fister. The only way we can get a Verlander for the future is to draft him and get lucky or roll the dice with a young prospect in a trade who can develop into one but not there yet. It's a dice roll but Twins pitching has to be addressed. Span fetches the biggest return in my opinion. For those who want to hang on to Span. I understand... I do to. But if Pitching isn't addressed. This organization is heading for a stretch of mediocre and it will last. Span does us no good with Scott Diamond as the #1 Pitcher in 2013 and 2014. We can Sign a FA or two next year to fill the pitching holes. But what happens when two of them get hurt... The Twins pitching at the upper levels is scary problematic. We need Arms and lots of them. It's roll the dice time at the deadline. C'mon 7!!!

I agree with the part that you agree with me on. I disagree with the part that you disagree with me on. You have a well thought out post. With all due respect. Babe Ruth didnt have to face a 6th inning RP guy who is the 12th pitcher of 12 on the roster yet still throws harder with break on his fastball then The top pitcher Babe Ruth had to face. If Babe Ruth was playing today with his 1920 talent. He would be whiffing on strike 3 at an alarming rate, Ruth was facing 80's heat frequently and the ball was straight. He was facing guys who were on their 27th inning on the mound in a weeks time. No Closers with triple digits or sliders at 90 plus. Ruth would still hit the ball a long way but Ruth got a lot of cookies. Bob Feller was amazing for his era but Feller didn't have to face the talent level of today's lineup. The stats can be comparable but the in no way did the 8th hitter of the 40s Pirates compare to the 8th hitter of today. Not even close. Those 1940 coaches didn't sit with stop watches in the dugout trying time the release. They didnt breakdown mechanics because the mechanics sucked, that's why someone like Ted Williams with good mechanics could hit .400. He was a rare player facing cookies. Ted Williams didn't always face Bob Gibson and Bob Feller. He also got to face a bunch of guys who wouldn't even get drafted today let alone make a MLB roster. Ben Revere would have stolen 3rd base from 1st base by the time Juan Marichel lead foot came down from that goofy delivery. Players are rapidly developing and if they are not. We should all just go home and quit trying to get better. Everything in life gets better over time. The gloves are better... The coaches are better. The medical training is better. You have the color barrier broken and the world combed over like you said plus you have players like Bryce Harper bred and trained since he was knee high. Someone invented a television when there wasnt one before. Phones used to be stuck to a wall and now it's in my pocket. People didnt know that smoking or asbestos caused cancer but they learned that it does and that's progress and some day some one will cure cancer and we will put a man on mars. I cant except your premise that baseball is not capable of advancement and improvement like every other walk of life. The greatest Catcher of all time is playing right now.

What are you accusing me of? LOL. At no point did I say that Verlander was coming our way in return. Turner maybe. You see it works this way. Teams in contention do not want to part with a player who helped them contend. They want to get stronger. In order to get stronger they trade for players like Span who provide better defense or that leadoff hitter they lack. They trade young players who are not helping the team win right now but players who may help a cellar dweller contend next year or the year after that... Or year after that. For example the Giants may consider giving up Zach Wheeler to the Mets for Beltran to fill an offensive hole. I'm not saying they would do that but they might. Hell they may do that just to RENT Beltran for a two months knowing he might sign with the Cardinals as a free agent in the off season. I know it sounds crazy but the Giants would consider this sort of thing. The lure of the playoffs does crazy things. I'm not proving anything... I think the Giants might give up a Zach Wheeler in that scenario. For Example... The Braves may consider moving 3 pitching prospects to the Astros for someone like Bourn. They may even send a good OF prospect to sweeten the deal. No way of knowing if they would do this but the Braves are thinking about the leadoff need they have. We will have wait and see. I could see a team like the Red Sox needing a hitting catcher like V-mart and offering up someone like Masterson and Hagedone and another pitching prospect. The Reds may need a 3B for the stretch drive. Rolen might do the trick. They might give up someone like Zack Stewart and another pitching prospect. The Yankees may need a bat off the bench and go for someone like Lance Berkman with injury history and give up a Mark Melencon in return. The Astros might take that deal. 3 team deals are also possibilities. I know its a long shot but Ryan Ludwick could be shipped to the Padres to bolster a bad offense while contending. The Padres could send some AA pitcher to the Indians and the Indians could send... Oh I don't know... Some sinkerballer like Westbrook. These are hypothetical examples. I realize that nothing like this happened in the past two or 3 years but maybe if went back furthur in time we could find some examples.

Someone will offer something. His contract... Talent and experience would be exactly what a contender is looking for. There are teams looking like contenders right now that have a need and there are teams that will lose someone to injury before the all star break creating a need. Also any team in contention will be itchy to get scratched especially if the team they are chasing or being chased by is upgrading at the deadline. This type of thinking cost us Ramos. It's not new thinking. It happens every year.

Any list like this would have to be considered for how the player compared to other players of his ERA. Why do I say that... It simple. The greatest catcher of all time is playing right now. Decide who the best catcher is today and he is the best catcher of all time. The talent level has advanced so much as the years go by. The old timers on this list didn't have to face 93 MPH sinkers and the exploding sliders that long relievers on teams have today. Back in the old days. Pitchers threw until they were gassed and then they threw some more. If a Pitcher threw 90 MPH and straight back in the old days you gave him a nickname and sang songs about him. Watch the old tape... Pitchers pitched without mechanics and hitters had hitches. If Babe Ruth was transported forward and playing today... He'd be Jack Cust. This may freak you out but if you transported Nick Punto and his skill set back to the 1910's. He'd make people forget about Ty Cobb. The Nick Punto card would be sought after. The players are simply way better now and they are going to be even better in the future.

The only two major league players with comparable speed to Revere is McCutchen of the Pirates and Gomez with the Brewers. Whoever traded Gomez from the Twins should be fired. Oh yeah that's right... He was!!! Campana with the Cubs... Gordon With the Dodgers and EY junior with the Rockies I believe would in the next group and very close. Thats my guess eyeballing with no data or stopwatches.

The Twins are in Dire Straits. We have a rebuilt bullpen that is doing alright and yet no one has faith in it. The pitching rotation is being led Diamond and Walters. A pair who have been cast aside by other clubs... The other guys have been inconsisentant at best or downright terrible. On offense we have a couple of superstars who get injured frequently. An infield is led by a 38 year old journeyman... The 185th ranked prospect at SS and a kid out of options that was recently hitting .120 something before his recent resurgence. Look at the team... Willingham, Span and Revere is the best thing happening on the MLB Twins. Down on the farm, our highest rated prospects are outfielders. 3 out of the top 6 are outfielders yet none of them are top 60 in ranking. The one guy we have that is near the top ten in Sano Is years off from helping and projected to a possible move to the OF and our 2nd pick overall is a Projected Eric Davis type OF. If you polled 30 General managers and asked them where the Twins organization was the strongest 28 of them would say OF. 1 of them would break out into a laughing fit at the consideration of the question and the other would decline to participate because he is currently running the Twins and doing a price check on a physician to help him with his growing ulcer caused by the fact that the Twins have no depth anywhere. I'm a Span Fan but if he can fetch anything that will turn this ship around. Away he should go for a good package of players. If no trade like that is possible... He's welcome to stay but it won't matter WITHOUT pitching. Trade Span and give Carson a spin for awhile... It won't matter without PITCHING. We don't have depth anywhere... Not even close but OF is as deep as we can get. People can talk about keeping Span and wouldn't it be nice but I hope to God someone in the front office is getting really serious about bringing some serious arms into the organization. Its hard to do because everyone wants pitching. It will take a Span to get some potential pitching and thats about all we got right now.

I'm a Span Fan... I don't want to see him in another uniform. But... He has to be traded. For everyone that says you don't trade Span... I hear ya but he is the only player that can fetch a decent pitcher or potential young ace. That's why Span needs to be traded. Nobody else provides enough value to get value in return. If Capps keeps closing out games without incident. Capps may bring something decent. Maybe the Nats will take him back for RAMOS...

If you want to fix the team. Pitching is where you start... The 2012 FA class is better than the 2013 class. Let the expiring contracts of the current staff go... Sign a Free Agent... A big one with the money saved... Be aggressive. Keep throwing arms until the keepers emerge and pitchers can join the big free agent. Acquire Pitching and when you think you have enough... Acquire some more... Don't even worry about hitting. Find defenders who can catch because it goess hand in hand with pitching... Once you start to have a pitching staff that looks half way decent... Then you can add the boppers.

Compared to other teams... The Twins DO NOT have OF depth. Compared to the Current Pitching in the Twins Organization... The OF is the Mariana Trench. If you guys want to be all sensible and point out that the Twins actually don't have OF depth... Well Damn You... you are completely crushing our dreams... Give us some hope please. Without a doubt...OF is our deepest position organizationally. Actually OF depth would be 2nd in the organization. 1st would be Fox North Girls... We seem to have a bunch of those cuz we can toss others aside like Bobby Abreu.

His arm is below par but too much is made of it. He can find the cut off guy. That will keep the trailing runner held. He's just not gonna rifle one ala Bryce Harper. Guess what... Neither is Span or Willingham. In the same breath... Gardy wrings his hands over RF or LF and permanent positions. The spin is different off the bat. They will figure it out. They've played the game before.

Probably true... I expect a rough patch at some point. Thats when we will find out what we have.

Nah... Not a Plouffetivist but I do have some Plouffism that could lead to it. Its either that or male yeast infection. I have an appointment with my Baker tomorrow.