Riverbrian

I'm kgonna change my hope for 70 good pitches from Phil Hughes. Starting now!!!

After watching Cola lay out for that ball in RF yesterday. Cola is gonna pass Dozier and become my new favorite.

I was excited about Colabello last year. I love stories like this. The human element of the game is never lost on me and I've been a Colabello fan because of his relentless pursuit of baseball. When he came up last year and I saw him play for the first time. I was immediately concerned because he was so far from the plate. He HAD to step sideways toward the plate to reach outside strikes. Stepping toward the plate made it nearly impossible to pull the ball. It will naturally force you to hit the ball to RF every time. If you pull with this stride it will be a weak grounder or pop up. You have to go to right... It can't be helped. It also makes it near impossible to hit the inside pitch because you are stepping toward the plate. You'd think that standing off the plate makes the inside corner easier but it doesn't... Because you can't get inside the baseball with your hands when your stride is throwing you toward the baseball. MLB pitchers will exploit this flaw. Obviously the AAA guys were not able to... I was worried that he couldn't make it unless he changed. Fast forward to this year... He changed... I know the article downplays the change but it seems pretty obvious to me. He's in the middle of the box and his stride is toward the mound. Now he can pull the ball and also take it the other way. The whole field is now open to him and I think he can keep it up and I'm as happy as can be about it. He may be my new favorite Twin!!! Great Article Parker... Thank You!!! Stories like this and the stuff Seth writes about the players as humans and not a bunch of numbers are always much appreciated by me.

I have no idea what it would take and assumptions like this are impossible for us mere mortals. It takes two teams to trade. However... Based on last year... I'm not sure your quote is close to the ball park. Just a year ago... The price tag for Didi was: Shin Soo Choo and 3.5 Million in Cash to get him from the Reds and Trevor Bauer to get him from the Indians Bauer was Buxton... Sano or Meyer like in terms of prospect status last year. I have my doubts that the D-Backs are going to turn around and give him to the Twins for much much less because Owings showed up or because Didi OPS'ed .704 in 400 at bats last year. Neither plunges his value in my opinion. I'd love to have Didi but... is it possible that trade ideas occasionally floated about are simply harder to make happen in real life?

I've seen him a handful of times. He can boot the routine but he can run and throw. All in All... I think his D is better than some fear but nowhere close to Florimon. Its a nice depth pickup and he might run over Florimon if Pedro can't at least eclipse the Mendoza Line.

I'd hate to be Oakland Tomorrow!!!

Abad is Bad!!!

I think I've owned Nunez about 8 times the past 3 years.

Balks are too touchy at times.

Did my favorite Pitcher just knock my Fantasy SS/2B eligible Player out of the game! Great... Like I can replace him with Florimon or Tejada.

Winston!!! You must post a 6. In front of that thought so we can stay organized.

Gametime weather forecast: Mostly cloudy. Winds blowing out to center field at 5-15 m.p.h. Temperature around 55. A's: SP, Kazmir Fuld CF Lowrie SS Donaldson 3B Moss 1B Cespedes LF Callaspo DH Reddick RF Norris C Sogard 2B Twins: SP, Correia Dozier 2B Mauer 1B Plouffe 3B Colabello RF Pinto DH Kubel LF Suzuki C Hicks CF Florimon SS ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Things to Think About: 1. The Home Opener -- The Twins have a record of 30-23 in home openers dating back to 1961. They last won a home opener April 8th, 2011... Beating these same Oakland A's 2 to 1. Carl Pavano outdueled Brett Anderson in that game. 2. RBI's -- Some will tell you that RBI is a meaningless stat... I won't get into that argument because today I want to trumpet the fact that Chris Colabello is leading the American League in RBI's with 11. Trevor Plouffe is tied for 3rd with 7... Drive in those runs... Keep doing it... Don't let anybody tell you it's meaningless. 3. Chris Herrmann -- Welcome back to the show... With injuries to Hammer and Arcia... All of a sudden a position of depth has become a position of need. Chris Herrmann has been called up from Rochester to help shore up the OF Corners. 4. Jason Bartlett -- It wasn't a stunning OF debut for Jason Bartlett... I will tell you that I loved the effort made by Jason. I will also tell you that Willingham probably would not have gotten to any of those first 3 balls hit Bartlett's way. However... I will say that Jason showed absolutely no OF defense instincts on those 3 balls. Willingham would have most likely limited the extra bases by playing the wall correctly or cutting off the ball before it got past him. Will Jason improve as an OF??? I believe he will... but should he be playing OF and potentially CF until he does actually improve? 5. Home Opener -- 2 years ago on the Home Opener... I decided to leave my front door open with a sign that said "Home Opener". All that stopped by for my Home Opener was a squirrel being chased by a Cooper Hawk right through the front door. The Cooper Hawk watched the game with me while it waited for the squirrel to come out from under the couch. Nick Blackburn was pitching and getting rocked by the Angels. The Cooper Hawk couldn't take anymore and he left.

Thats a good point. It starting to remind me of the Scott Hatteberg scene in Moneyball.

Dozier... Mauer... Bartlett... Sounds like Runs... Umm... Sounds like an injury.

Well... That leaves Wally the Beer Man

I know... But the question was... Who in the organization decided that Bartlett could fill an OF position. I think it was Gardy or TC Bear.

Maybe later but certainly not now. Somebody in the org was pro-Bartlett. And pro-Bartlett over Presley and Parmelee and Mastroianni.

Its gotta be Gardy?

I agree completely. The main concern is that Bartlett is the CF backup plan. Shoehorned into the OF to fit what the roster needed.

pfp

Cola can stay!!!

Bartlett made the team when he signed the minor league deal. He didn't play his way on in ST. Someone said... Get me Bartlett and Bartlett was got and... It does appear to be a shoehorn job.

I hear this being said in a Rocky the Squirrel Voice.

I stand by my strong feeling that the Twins should have grabbed Bonofacio.

Chaos