kemics

So I'll take that as a no, dangit!

Are there going to be homer hanky's this year? I haven't seen anything, I like to collect them.

Other than the power numbers, I like this version of Joe. And I will sacrifice some HRs for the Gold Glove Defense he's provided. .310. 10hrs (Maybe) and 40 doubles a year... Put him at the #2 spot, hit buxton 1st (when ready) and Dozier 3rd. That's a heck of a 1-2-3 before you get to Sano when healthy. That over the next 3 years I'll take it.

Doubtful he is in to hit lefties considering Robbie Grossman beat up lefties decently last year.

This is why the Twins have such a hard time competing and it's such a surprise and such a struggle when they do; when they are going to pay Plouffe $8 million because his best season was: 244/.307/.435 and calling Eduardo Escobar one of baseballs best shortstops when he hits: .262/.309/.445. A little OBP would be nice.

I like that Rios is "much younger" than Hunter... at 34. lol

Sano has to be added to the 40 man after this year anyhow, so I don't think that is really a concern, especially if there is a september call-up, might as well just leave him there. If the twins are looking to be competitive and have the pieces in place, I see no problem with them signing these guys. These aren't your daddy's twins, they have money and will spent it. However I can see a scenario where Sano is traded in order to restock the minors and free up payroll in order to sign Buxton long term. I think it's much easier to find a 1B/3B who can hit .280/.350 with 30+ hrs than it is a player like buxton.

Looking at the chart I can't help but think 2015 will still be the year the twins make a splash. With Correia, Willingham and Suzuki coming off they will save another $15 Million. In theory with Sano debuting this year, and hopefully Buxton seeing time in September (if not before), they'll have 2 spots in the rotation up for grabs unless one of the current guys up for #5 shines. They can get that stud, or bring up May or Meyer. Still too many gaps in the lineup and in the rotation in 2014, I see an improvement but not enough to win anything yet. They could surprise me and make another big signing this offseason, I don't think another arm is in the cards, but a SS maybe? Maybe get them close to the post season to get the engines moving for 2015.

Not sure if this was mentioned in the previous posts but, Mike Pelfrey was once a top prospect. Drafted #9 overall in 2005 and made his debut just over a year later. He clearly has talent, I see pitchers tend to have a few different arcs, he's been decent in the past, and should be decent again. Despite his size he'll never be a K guy. He has had some good years in the past: 2008 13-11 3.72 ERA in 200.2 innings 2010 15-9 3.66 ERA in 204 innings 2011 7-13 4.74 ERA in 193.2 innings. 2012 he started decently before Elbow problems. It takes 2 years to fully recover from TJ as we all know, throw out last year as a recovery year and I think we could be looking at something around the 2011 Mike Pelfrey if given a fair shake, upside of 2008 or 2010 and I'll take that from our #4 or #5 starter. As for Diamond, Gibson, Swarzak, Worley, and Deduno. I believe Gibson needs a chance to finally realize his potential and this could be the year. Swarzak should be in the pen, Is Correia really carved in stone as a starter? I don't see any reason why Worley couldn't challenge for a rotational spot. As for Diamond and Deduno, one of them should be the LR or spot starter, I really like how Deduno looked last year, it might be time to cut loose diamond, maybe trade him for a mid level MI prospect that might be able to be util guy later in his career.

I've seen a few pics of these "Grand Drunk Railroad" shirts and I want one. I live in Pennsylvania so it's hard for me to get to these twins events, is there a place I can order one? Thanks in advance for any info.

Where can I get one of those shirts? I live in Pennsylvania

I think it's a terrible decision to trade Span unless you get pitching in return that can help now. It's clear that the twins won't compete this year, but 2013 shouldn't be written off. The bats are there, Span and Revere at the top of the order have been more than adequate in getting on base for Mauer, Ham, Morneau, Ploufe et al. you've finally found a lineup that works, that scores runs, and that is slowly but surely creeping up the team batting stats. Why not sit on Span, keep the order in tact, and try to make a splash with a Free Agent pitcher like Greinke.

I agree with SRP, Mauer's 4.3 pitches per appearance and his ability to work counts helps Willingham and the guys after him. Joe's eye is so good, he knows he can take the first pitch as a strike and still work a favorable or at least even count for him. This wears the pitcher down, it allows the batters behind him see what a guy has, it makes the bullpen work sooner. 17-21 pitches a is what a typical reliever might throw, having them used/gassed earlier is a huge advantage. As the season wears on catching Joe only 1/2 the games will improve his numbers. At .324/.414/.445 now I can almost guarantee those numbers go up. .332/.420/.460 is where he should end the year if healthy. 10 homers is not out of reach, neither are 75-90RBIs and 75-90Runs scored if you look at full season projections for 150 games. You're also looking at 80-90 walks. As for the RISP... .319 with runners on. .358 with RISP .333 with bases loaded .409 w/ RISP and 2 outs. Also he sets the table nicely, hitting .468 when leading off an inning with a .561 OBP. He's the best non-power hitter in the league, the best hitting catcher, one of the best defensive catchers, the face of a franchise, a commercial icon, and the biggest fan draw since Kirby (RIP). He deserves every penny of his $23 million, and an allstar role. Thanks to ESPN for the stats.

Agree, somewhat. I think we all knew that pitching would be a problem this season. The bats didn't come around right away and the 6+ era didn't help that. If the twins can muck their way through this season, get away from the Pavano contract, get Baker and Gibson healthy, use this season to build off of success for Diamond, Walters and Hendricks. Use the 1 year guys to get some Bullpen depth in the future. Put the twins in a position to at least be competitive so when The Sanos, and Buxtons are ready in 2014-2015 it pushes them over the top. I despise when teams sell off everything for a guess on a prospect that might materialize in 3 years. The twins have the offense now, they need the pitching. Get to within a few games and make a move. Prediction: Twins are within 3 games of first by the ASB and are NOT sellers.

I'm not from Minnesota, I've never been there either. I'm a twins fan because my father is a twins fan, he grew up watching Rod Carew smack baseballs all over the field. His fandom of the twins carried over to myself and my brother. Living in South Central Pennsylvania I could transfer to a more local team. The Phillies are a mere hour and a half from my home, in fact we go there a few times a year to catch a game as most of our friends or Philly fans. The Pirates are a few hours West of us and their park is just beautiful, but they haven't been relevant for years. The Orioles are the closest Major League team to us here in Central PA. If you catch traffic right you can be in Baltimore in about an hour, but the Orioles also haven't been relevant since the 80's. The mid 2000's presented us with some unique opportunities, the Phillies were becoming a great team, winning the world series once and playing in another, it's nice to watch a winning baseball team. And the Twins were also winning, so we were travelling to Philly and Baltimore whenever they visited to catch as many games as possible. It was always nice to go to Baltimore and watch the twins beat the snot out of the local team. At most Orioles games there were more fans of opposing teams than there were of the Orioles. In 2010 we were provided with a unique opportunity of seeing the Phillies and the Twins both when they were at their best. Joe Mauer was the reigning AL MVP, Justin Morneau was on his way to another MVP before concussions wrecked his career. The twins were in Philly for a weekend series, it was father's day weekend and happened to be my mother's birthday as well. On Friday the twins lost to the Phillies 9-5. The Phillies went up 8-0 in the second inning chasing starter Nick Blackburn. I can remember receiving texts from my Philly fan friends, "Welcome to Philly Bitch! Title town!" The Phils added another run in the 5th before the twins scored 5 runs in the last four innings to make it closer than it really was. On Saturday we got into Philly, enjoyed some Cheesesteaks, did some site seeing before we went to our hotel to get ready for dinner. We watched that game from the hotel, again the twins were down big after the early innings it was 8-3. The twins got one in the 6th only to give it back in the 7th. I was getting texts again from the Philly fans, it was 9-4 going into the 9th inning. I can remember standing there in my jeans an a white tshirt watching the game and drinking a beer as we tried to hold off going to dinner. Delmon Young hit a nice single to center before Thome (a former Philly) pinch hit for Danny Valencia. Young moved to second on fielder indifference, I remember saying to my brother, "Crap they are walking Thome to get to Punto." They didn't walk Thome, but he did a nice slow trot around the bases after a 466 foot shot. It's 9-6 and Punto(also a former Philly having a great weekend) is up, he gets walked by Contreras. In comes the closer Brad Lidge, he was a gas can in 2010, always stoking that fire. Punto moved to second on another fielder indifference, I can remember cheering again jumping up and down. "I have time for another beer, I'm not leaving this room till the game is over." Kubel popped out to first and then Punto moved to third on a wild pitch by Lidge. Span was up, and he smacked another single to center and Punto scores. It's now 9-7 and Orlando Hudson is up, O-dog was very frustrating this year as proven by his strike out looking in this at bat. But now, it's still 9-7, top of the 9th two outs and the golden boy is up. Joey Mauer, Joey the Gun, The franchise, the best all around player in the game. Span stole second during Hudson's at bat, I'm thinking do they walk Mauer to face Morneau? Both were equally hot at this time. Joe does his usual routine, takes a pitch or two. I think it ended up a full count before Joe Poked one 419 feet to center, tie ballgame. Morneau ends up flying out to left to end the top of the 9th. We are still in our room, I'm completely dressed at this time, but I refuse to leave for our dinner which is in like 15 minutes. Matt Guerrier comes in to pitch the bottom of the 9th. He K's Victorino before allowing back-to-back singles to Polanco and Utley. I hadn't said anything to my Philly friends about the game and the awesome come back, but I'm still getting texts from them, "Game over" after they get 2 men on. Guerrier K's both Howard and Werth to end the inning... Not so fast my friend. In the 10th Drew Butera hits a solo shot as a pinch hitter before back to back ground outs. Punto and Kubel both single, then Span is up. A chance to add to the lead when Span reaches on an infield single. And I don't know whether to be happy about Punto's aggressiveness or angry but he ended the inning getting tug out trying to sneak home. Rauch predictably lets Russ Gload tie the game with two outs, this was about the point we realized that Rauch was not the answer at closer. In the 11th, Hudson K'd again before Mauer walked and the Morneau was intentionally walked. Rauch sacrificed to first moved Mauer and Morneau over before Delmon Young singled to short scoring Mauer. Tolbert then slams one to left for a double, Young and Morneau scored before Tolbert gets gunned down trying to stretch it to a triple. The bottom of the 11th isn't too eventful, Rauch gets two quick outs before an Utley double. Then Howard K's to end the game. 13-10 the twins win, and we head off to dinner. Sunday's game was a matinee, and it was hot. I can remember it was like 95 degrees out, and 101 on the field. We had tickets down the first base line about 3 rows back, we also had some in right field as there were eight of us. Sunday's game was never really in doubt. Pavano was his dominate self much like most of 2010. He out dueled Roy Halladay in the heat, throwing a complete game, 4 hitter. His only mistake a solo home run to Wilson Valdez. We stayed for the whole game, celebrating fathers day by beating the Phillies who were favorites to win it all 2-1 in the series at their home park. The Philly fans in our section were mostly cordial, they asked if we were from Minnesota, said how much they liked Mauer and that the twins are a "Model Franchise." As we were leaving the stadium and walking towards the gates a stadium employee walked up to us and said, "Great weekend of baseball, see you in the world series." That's where we were at, favorites to represent the American League in the world series. That was before a Morneau concussion ended his season, before a stupid trade for Matt Capps got rid of our best backup catching prospect to save Joe's knees and before Bill Smith ran the franchise into the ground. Less than two short seasons ago, WE were the favorites. We didn't get to the world series that year, and I'm not sure when we will get there again. Mauer and Morneau's primes were ruined by terrible moves by the franchise and a lack of planning for the future. With the twins best prospects 3-4 years away, Mauer will be an average first baseman who is station to station and Morneau will probably be a vegetable. I was at the Twins and Orioles game this past Saturday, and instead of watching the putrid showing in the field by the twins, I thought back to that series. We aren't that team anymore, we are a shell of that team. Instead we are a team that get's heckled by the damn Oriole fans. Some guy in a tie-dyed shirt and his drunk friend 10 seats away were leading chants of "Willlinnggggggggg HAM!" I thought to myself, yeah that's his name who cares? Apparently Josh cared as he had two errors. In the 7th inning as they got louder I saw Josh peer back towards the wall, he probably wanted to be back in Oakland. I want to go back to the good ole days, only 2 years ago.