Brandon

if i remember right the lineup was pretty much about the same in 1990 last place team vs 1991 world series team.

If you go back and look at the past Twins teams you will see the Twins like to find players who have holes in their game but still contribute to the team as they help keep costs down. If Florimon plays elite defense and can hit just emough to occaionally contribute at SS, IE 10 HR 10 SB .300 OBP .325 SLG. He has a job plain and simple. there are enough bats comming up in the system to cover him. With Mauer's bat at C giving us a huge advantage on offense if the rest of the offense is up to par then we can absorb a hole in the line up that gives us elite defense at one of the most important positions in the field. The bat will also keep Florimons price down and he will be older and a field leader on the next wave of Twins teams as long as the defense is there and it should be. You can put me on record that if Florimon has a .625 OPS moving forward he will be the SS for the next 4-5 seasons.

Hicks wasn't supposed to be up at the beginning of this season as of last September. it took a perceived overpay for Revere to make this a possibility. He was supposed to start in the minors then after the trade the Twins got the idea that he could start in the majors then his spring did nothing to disprove that. If Sano gets called up in September I don't think that necessarily starts his clock per se as much as it takes a 40 man roster spot away unnecessarily during the offseason when 40 man roster spots are at a premium for protecting talent and having the ability to sign FA. Otherwise I have no problem bringing up Sano. I do like reinforcing the winning concept however by brining him and Rosario to AAA if spots can be found. Even for the last few weeks to DH PH and spot start in the field if need be then play some in the play offs.

For those above who do not think he has a bat for the world series take a closer look at how comparable his line is to another former Twins SS Greg Gagne who consistently hit .230-.250 with 10 HR and 10 SB with above average defense. player A [TABLE=class: sortable stats_table row_summable] [TR=class: full hl, bgcolor: #DDEEFF] [TD=align: right]408[/TD] [TD=align: right]52[/TD] [TD=align: right]108[/TD] [TD=align: right]23[/TD] [TD=align: right]3[/TD] [TD=align: right]8[/TD] [TD=align: right]42[/TD] [TD=align: right]11[/TD] [TD=align: right]9[/TD] [TD=align: right]26[/TD] [TD=align: right]72[/TD] [TD=align: right].265[/TD] [TD=align: right].310[/TD] [TD=align: right].395[/TD] [TD=align: right].705[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] player B[TABLE=class: sortable stats_table row_summable] [TR=class: full hl, bgcolor: #DDEEFF] [TD=align: right]276[/TD] [TD=align: right]31[/TD] [TD=align: right]63[/TD] [TD=align: right]12[/TD] [TD=align: right]0[/TD] [TD=align: right]7[/TD] [TD=align: right]35[/TD] [TD=align: right]8[/TD] [TD=align: right]3[/TD] [TD=align: right]21[/TD] [TD=align: right]74[/TD] [TD=align: right].228[/TD] [TD=align: right].282[/TD] [TD=align: right].348[/TD] [TD=align: right].630[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] Player a is Gagne's 1991 season and B is Florimon year to date. Florimon has hit for about the same power and has better success on the basepaths in terms of not getting caught stealing and the only real difference is about 35 points in batting. note Gagne hit .265 in both World series seasons and that was some of his better hitting seasons with the Twins. I think if Florimon can continue to hit like he has and contribute every once in a while and continues to be above average defensively, he is fine at SS especially since we have so many good hitters coming up. His hitting flaws will keep his contract price down in future seasons too. So he won't get too expensive over the next 6-8 seasons if the Twins decide to run him out there that long. What is making Florimon appear to be above expectations as a hitter? He does have a high number of RBI for a 9 hole hitter with his hitting line so that's masking his bat a little and creating more optimism about his future and so is the fact that so many other lineup pieces are below expectations this season making him look like an even better hitter relative to expectations. As far as defense goes he has been an allstar. and if he is around when the Twins next competitive streak happens he'll be a veteran leader, and with Sano, Buxton, Mauer, Arcia, Rosario and others do we need him to hit if he is the third best defensive SS in terms of how the team is constructed?

He doesn't need to go on the 40 man roster this winter so there is absolutely no reason to call him up but AAA is in a pennant race right now while New Britain is not. the Questions should be should we let Sano go up to AAA to finish out their season and play in their playoffs assuming they make it or stay in AA? Check out my blog post on this from this morning in the blog section.

Next year it looks like the next wave of players will be making debuts and getting their feet wet in the majors while this years rookies get to build off of this year and 2015 will have a few more rookies moving up with the others continuing to grow and either in 2015 or 2016 the Twins will be competitive again assuming we are waiting for a bunch of prospects to come up and not banking on trades or FA signings for a competitive swing for 2014.

I guess Morneau was bothered by the trade talks last month and now that is behind him for the most part he is relaxing and playing up to his max abilities again.

I probably should have added Rosario to that question too as he has been consistent all year.

Miguel Sano has been tearing it up in AA the last few weeks as he has raised is average from .180ish to .243 as of today and his OPS has increased 100 points or so too. His power in AA has been constant where he slumped initially on arriving but hitting for average the last several weeks. I doubt he gets called up to the Twins this season as he doesn't need to be added to the 40 man roster. However, Rochester is in a playoff race while New Britain is not. Would it be better for Sano to finish the season in AA or compete for and possibly in the playoffs in AAA? Why or why not?

Miguel Sano has been tearing it up in AA the last few weeks as he has raised is average from .180ish to .243 as of today and his OPS has increased 100 points or so too. His power in AA has been constant where he slumped initially on arriving but hitting for average the last several weeks. I doubt he gets called up to the Twins this season as he doesn't need to be added to the 40 man roster. However, Rochester is in a playoff race while New Britain is not. Would it be better for Sano to finish the season in AA or compete for and possibly in the playoffs in AAA? Why or why not?

right now Morneau is ranked below average offensively so he would be lucky for a 1 year 5 million offer. probably less. The Yankees 1b fill in Overbay was signed to a 1 year 1.25 million and is out performing him in some areas. I wouldnt offer more than 1 year 5 million with incentives maybe.

for further evidence check out this video from the movie revolver. Embrace the Suck! where is your enemy hiding. He's hiding behind the Suck.

Also when our minor league system starts going down hill, its only a matter of time till we are not going to be a competetive team. It appears to me we are on the uphill phase of the rebuild as players are starting to make it up to the majors and beging to get experience and broken in. This year is Pressly, Arcia, Hicks. Next season will be Sano, Meyer, maybe May, Tonkin, The following season will be Buxton...... and we should be a competetive team around this time. Also at this time there is a good chance the Twins will be able to sign a FA or 2 to help push this team over the top.

Seth, I have to disagree with this quote. Jobs should be up for grabs in spring training. A smart team will have another option in case the player can't sustain success but the offseason is a great way to plan and ensure there is a plan B in these scenarios. In this instance our plan B "Mastroianni has been hurt all season.

So that sounds like his biggest comparable is Greg Gagne. He was a pretty good SS here for years. Gagne was good defensively hit .230-.250 with 8-12 HR and 10 SB consistantly.

I just wanted to share a few thoughts. 1, Pelfry had just mastered the Cutter and added to arsenal right before he got injured. He looked to be really improving. Small sample size I know. 2. His k rate has been 5.7 which is slightly below the 6 per nine I thought he had been averaging his last 50 innings or so. So no point here. 3. Pelfry really wants to be here so I guarantee that will show up in his next contract if he signs with the Twins again. They will have a competitive offer but it won't be the best one either. I think a 2 year 15-16 million makes sense with maybe an option year based on innings pitched. 4 so the only variable left is how Pelfry will finish out the year and what other options do the Twins have? Right now I would only pencil in Dedunno and Corriea (stupid contract) into next years rotation with likely Gibson too. So we need 2 more pitchers possibly 3. I would be happy with the Twins signing Pelfry and 1 other starter maybe Hughes this offseason. That would give us the following options: 1. Hughes 2. Pelfry 3. DeDunno 4. Gibson 5. Corriea/ Diamond with Albers, Meyer, and May in AAA. That would give us options (Possibly too many to go and sign Hughes now that I think about it) and Corriea could get bumped when Meyer or May is ready. So it will be fun to see how the rest of the season plays out and how the Twins decide to proceed for next season and beyond.

Just think how much better the list will be if the Twins would be aggressive in the international market and sign some more top prospects. Or get the advanced pitcher from Cuba on the FA market.

Hey, I just wrote the exact same article 2 days ago in the blog section. Trending up is Mike Pelfry - Blogs - Minnesota Twins News & Rumors Forum I think if they can't get a B-/ C+ prospect then they should resign him. I am thinking the 2 year 14-16million with option maybe.

On May 31rst, Mike Pelfry started the day with a 6.85 Era. On that day he gave up 3 runs in 5.33 innings. Not very promising but it was better than what we were getting out of him. Back then we were clamoring for him to get demoted or designated for assignment. Including that start and everything else since then through today, he has averaged right at 6 innings per start with an era of 3.47. His peripherals have improved too as he has 31 k's in 49.33 innings and he has issued 13 walks with 4 of them on May 31rst the day he turned the corner and has allowed only 48 hits since. I think that makes his WHIP 1.24. That's very solid production for a number 3 starter and what we were hoping for when we signed him. The question now is do we try to sign him this offseason to an extension if he continues to pitch like this or do we trade him and see if we can get a C+/ B- prospect for him with one more solid start. Pelfry does have ties to this area as he grew up in Wichita and would probably be interested in staying here. What could we expect in a trade for Pelfry? and Should we trade him? and what could he expect for his next contract if he continues to pitch like this?

On May 31rst, Mike Pelfry started the day with a 6.85 Era. On that day he gave up 3 runs in 5.33 innings. Not very promising but it was better than what we were getting out of him. Back then we were clamoring for him to get demoted or designated for assignment. Including that start and everything else since then through today, he has averaged right at 6 innings per start with an era of 3.47. His peripherals have improved too as he has 31 k's in 49.33 innings and he has issued 13 walks with 4 of them on May 31rst the day he turned the corner and has allowed only 48 hits since. I think that makes his WHIP 1.24. That's very solid production for a number 3 starter and what we were hoping for when we signed him. The question now is do we try to sign him this offseason to an extension if he continues to pitch like this or do we trade him and see if we can get a C+/ B- prospect for him with one more solid start. Pelfry does have ties to this area as he grew up in Wichita and would probably be interested in staying here. What could we expect in a trade for Pelfry? and Should we trade him? and what could he expect for his next contract if he continues to pitch like this?

Dont forget about the impendeing demotion of Diamond to add to the mix in AAA.

We could trade the prospect we get for Morneau plus Baxendale and The 1b Hicks that just got promoted to High A. if thats too much swap out Hicks for a lesser prospect Levi or something. I dont think Baxendale has too high of a ceiling, Hicks has some power and is around the league average in age so he has some potential and i do not know what we get for Morneau but to say we got A major leaguer would sit better with fans i think. We can also throw in a reliever instead of a prospect too as there are so many way to match up with the astros on this one. I am confident enough on TR to have better judgement than me and not trade too much. Anyway you look at it there should be enough prospects down there to get the value the Astros need as right now they need just about everything.

Pelfry has a 3.86 era in his last 7 starts. With a few more starts he'll show he's back on track. He is nothing more than a marginally better Corriea at best. He is from Kansas so I suspect he would want to either pitch here or Kansas City I would feel better (than when the Twins sign Corriea) giving him a 2 year 10-14 million to keep him next year and that would give us a rotation going into next year of: Corriea Pelfry Dedunno Gibson Diamond Worely Albers DeVries Hendriks Meyer May Hernandez Hopefully we go after someone like Hughes too.

I would like to also point out that the Pelfry signing wasn't that bad as he has had 6 decent starts in a row and is pitching more at the level we would need from him. With a few more decent starts I wouldn't be opposed to the Twins signing him for next season as I do not see a bunch of pitchers knocking on the door to the majors with Meyer getting hurt this year and missing several months. I can also see Pelfry signing with KC for a 2/15 to replace Santana when he leaves as a FA. As far as who I wanted the Twins to sign this offseason, I didn't do that great. I did want the Twins to get Santana, or Liriano, or Joe Sanders as a 5th SP, or Villanueva as a 5th SP to some capacity. But I really expected them to get Blanton as a 3rd and wanted them to go after Baker to a point, Edwin Jackson as a 2nd SP and Colby Lewis as a 3rd SP after recovering from the injury.

We could front load the contract too with all of the money we have available. We could offer a 5 year 60 million with a 10 million signing bonus that gets paid out the first 2 years. so that we are only paying 10 million per season when the younger guys are starting to hit arbitration. I am not saying we'll win the bidding but its pretty chicken crap of the organization to back down because someone is getting market value all of the time. While one contract may be an overpay and I'll admit we don't want many of those. It wont kill our budget to take a chance and mess up every once and a while. That is why I don't blame the Nishi signing there wasn't much on the FA market for 2B that year (except they used that one as an excuse to trade Hardy and that was dumb cause in that instance you keep Hardy no questions). There is no one in the rotation I would mind the Twins trading because of signing this guy. I'll even throw this out there, this signing won't cost us a draft pick either.