StormJH1

Couldn't agree more with the whole "we need baseball players, not good guys" angle. I think with the Boston Red Sox, both last September and now, you're seeing an example of how a broken team culture can cause even a very talented (and highly paid) group of players to badly underperform. The Twins have a culture that's become all too comfortable over the years, and their talent level has become increasingly mediocre, even within their own division. I think that players with any type of personality or expressiveness really struggle to fit in on this team, and that's particularly the case with non-white players. And I don't like that about this team. You see the language they use about "gritty" players like Lew Ford, Little Nicky Punto, and even Butera when portions of their game absolutely suck. And you hear stories like the one from Leyland how Gardy had a man-crush on Clete Thomas for years, and gives him an unconscionable amount of playing time after we get him off the scrap heap. But if Casilla boots a grounder (heaven forbid), the guy's a lazy, erratic bum. Yes, the organization has run off white players too (Garza, Bartlett, Slowey, etc.), so it isn't strictly a race thing. But there's a stubbornness about the way the Twins do business and the lack of flexibility they show in player acquisitions and management that feels a little unwarranted from a team that's won all of 1 playoff series since 1992.

Lots of teams have little or no chance at significantly competing for a spot in the postseason. "Rebuilding" is a label attached by people outside the team to those teams who giving significant time to younger players that have a chance to a be part of the future. This team is not "rebuilding" because they really skipped an entire wave of prospects through a combination of bad drafting, bad development, and bad luck. This team really doesn't have the option to bottom out with youngsters because the wave of players in their early or mid-twenties (Hicks, Benson, Parmelee, Gibson, etc.) are either busts, injured, or fringe MLB players. However, if you look at the 18-21 year old prospects in the organization, there are signs of hope (Sano, Arcia, etc.) The good news is that they stockpiled so many picks in this years draft. And I absolutely agree that it needs to focus a lot on pitching, including a few POWER arms. But given the fact that you can't trade MLB draft picks and much of the picks in the first round are governed as much by signability as by talent/potential, it isn't like other sports where finishing as low as possible in the standings gives you a clear benefit in the draft.

My friend was at the Monday game (the one where Valencia went yard to left-center) and confirmed that the Kestrel Falcon was back, and eating moths again! Has to be a video somewhere, right?

They had that game - shameful loss against a team whose bullpen could not be any more in shambles right now.

I've seen enough and the Twins may have too. Your point is absolutely valid, but I think it would be more appropriate if the Twins still viewed him as an "upside" guy with a future in this rotation. How could they? Even if he strung together 3 great outings, there's still that chance he comes out and gets absolutely destroyed next time out. And since the start of 2011, those stretches have lasted for games at a time. I think "trade value" is mostly a lost cause at this point...you could argue that moving him to the pen as a lefty strikeout specialist would actually ENHANCE his value to a contender in July, in the event he succeeded in that role. Because whatever this is...it ain't working.

This. I think pitching coaches, in general, are terribly overrated. The guy above who wrote that Anderson and the Twins preach control and "pitch to contact" above all else nailed it. Liriano's problem isn't improper instruction - there are time he CAN'T find the zone. Players play, coaches coach. I have no idea what value Liriano has left, but it's absolutely feasible that he could head to the bullpen and excel in a sort of Aroldis Chapman or Johnny Venters type role for 1-2 inning appearances in high-leverage situations. Sure, he could come in with no control and totally get bombed once in awhile. But if the mental aspect is what can't be fixed, maybe he can simplify things going out there focusing on getting 3 or 4 guys out, instead of dealing with pitch count management and how to deal with guys 2 or 3 times through the lineup. Even when Liriano's BAD, he still has the raw stuff to miss bats at a decent rate.

Good for him! His wife, Ginger, is an interesting follow on Twitter. Seems like a solid family. Don't know about the callup...keep hearing Dozier? Or the ever elusive 3rd catcher?

Mauer is not moving to 3rd mid-season. There's a whole other thread on that topic... I was worried on Monday when they played Morneau at 1st base and he hit the homer that Gardy was going to pretend like all was fine and that he "hits" better as a position player. Luckily, he mashed 2 HR's as a DH a few days later and put that notion to rest. The reality of Morneau right now is that he's kind of like an eggshell, and he's equally at risk sliding into 2B to break up a double play (which, by the way, was how he got hurt in July 2010) as he is diving for a ball in the field. But all playing him at 1B does is expose him to a whole other set of concussion risks that he doesn't have sitting in a dugout or riding an exercise bike. Plus, let's not for get that Morneau had 4 OTHER surgeries last year, and he's frequently broken down in ways completely unrelated to concussions. It's a pretty ugly stat, but since 2009, Morneau is a .209 hitter with a .690 OPS in 225 AB's AFTER the All-Star game. That's over the course of 3 seasons. In other words, there's any number of reasons to believe that Morneau cannot survive a full season playing daily in the field.

I don't want to judge him on the Twitter thing, though it can be frustrating for the fans when WE perceive the guy as holding on by a thread and his actions/demeanor off the field don't seem to reflect any of that urgency whatsoever. Ultimately, if he were playing better, nobody would care if he were a total ass, and that's the plain truth. The lack of alternatives is very obviously the reason that Valencia "appears" to have a longer leash. Gardy's attitude to him seems similar to how he treats Casilla. The difference there is that the Twins have had a variety of guys that could play SS or 2B in the past 2 years, and that includes Nishi, Carroll, Hughes, Plouffe, etc. I think Casilla's play has been vastly undervalued by the Twins, who have constantly moved him around in favor of supposedly "better" options. By contrast, we really haven't had a lot of guys that could really "play" 3rd base. The fact that Burroughs even made this team tells you all you need to know about the level of confidence they have in Valencia. Burroughs was a washed up journeyman, and I don't believe he's great in the field either, yet he was retained ostensibly for the purpose of "pushing" Valencia, even though Burroughs has done nothing with his very limited playing time either.

I think you are right in terms of trying to project out how many losses this team will have when it's not even the end of APRIL yet. With the exception of Baltimore, you couldn't have drawn up more of a "murderer's row" schedule for this particular franchise in the early going. They haven't even played anyone in their own division yet. And while lots of teams aren't as sharp in April as they are in July, you could argue that in addition to the new faces, Mauer and Morneau (if healthy) would be more formidable in the dog days of summer than coming off of two injury plagued years. That being said, I think we should be taking notice of the fact that everyone has said "As Mauer and Morneau go, so go the Twins", yet here we are a few weeks in with Mauer and Morneau playing about as well as could reasonably be expected (and Willingham playing out of his mind), and the team is 5-11. The starting pitching was always going to be the issue for this team. Even if everyone in the lineup exceeded expectations, we still lack the firepower to trade blows with the better teams in the AL. And when Baker goes down for the year and your supposed best pitcher (Liriano) can't even give you a chance in any of his games, well, the writing is on the wall.

For the first time, I'm actually pretty happy with the way Mauer's playing time is being managed right now. Obviously, a HUGE part of that is that Mauer is actually healthy, and therefore, available (the 2 stolen bases are a great sign as to how his legs, knees, and back are feeling). But Mauer is catching an appropriate number of games for him, and given that Morneau is certainly not an "everyday first baseman" at this point in the year, it's nice that he's playing some 1B in addition to the occasional DH spot. And he's actually pretty good at 1st base, especially given how little he's played it. I think "Mauer to 3B" campaign is out-dated. Those cries started when Mauer was still in his mid-20's, when it was assumed we had 5-10 more years of Morneau locked in at 1B, and when there was time to work on it as a permanent move. Mauer is now 29 years old. I absolutely would not throw him out there mid-season without having even tried it, so you're talking about Spring Training and next year at the earliest. Most 3rd baseman who can hit and have PLAYED the position in their formative years as a prospect can play 3B into their mid-30's, but many of them transition to 1B or DH around that time, as well. If you think about the physical demands of 3rd base, I can think of a whole slew of guys (Mike Lowell, Chavez, Rolen, etc.) who had back or other injury issues playing at 3rd base. It isn't a position that requires a lot of range, but you still need lightning quick reflexes, and there is a fair amount of diving and hard charges at the ball. Honestly, if the goal is just "to keep Mauer healthy", I think the current strategy allows us to gradually transition Mauer catching 90-120 games a year, and the sliding that to 80 games, 60 games, etc. as he gets older. And it still keeps him in the lineup at 1B or DH. Mauer gets a lot of criticism, and a lot of it is completely warranted. But there's this temptation, whether it's because of the huge contract or the fact that Mauer is such a versatile athlete, to try and use Mauer to "fix _________ problem" the Twins are currently having, and that's not necessarily fair. Danny Valencia sucks this year, but that doesn't mean Mauer has to come fill his position.

I think some people were trying to avoid guys who already got looks in the majors, like Parmelee and Benson. This is a cool concept though.

Dereck Rodriguez - Pudge's son

I don't know for sure what they will do - 3 catchers is a good guess because we know Gardy values that. One of the interesting parts of Morneau being penciled in at DH for so many games is that prevented them from DH'ing Mauer...and if Mauer is at 1B, then you don't have the whole need for a 3rd catcher problem. Clete Thomas seems to work as the 4th outfielder, but then there are guys like Plouffe and Parmelee who are like "5A" and "5B" outfielders. If it were me, I would get one of the shortstops up here and get them used to MLB play. Jamey Carroll is starting to earn his money, but he's 38, and he's never been even close to a full-season SS. Dozier has a .911 OPS at AAA and really has hit at every level. He'll be 25 next month, so I really don't accept the whole "over-ripe" approach. 21 year olds need consistent playing time to improve - Dozier is at an age where he's either going to be an asset to a big league club or he's not, so it's time to find that out.

All good points. However, if Mauer and Morneau continue to hit like this, I think the rest of the lineup will hit. And the cool thing about Willingham as the "new guy" is that he seems to be the one guy that can swim across the current and hit even if nobody else is. I'd love to see them take this series from the Yankees tonight. But let's not get too excited if they do. This Yankees club has issues of their own - their core is getting old, Kuroda has not figured it out this year so far, and Hughes has been mostly terrible as a starter.

Wow, didn't live here in '91 (and was, like, 10 years old), but that was a hell of a year for Chili. Don't think "The Hammer" will match that. Still, Willingham's been great. Don't expect him to be anything more than he is. The guy was paid on the basis of a season where he struck out 150 times, but hit 29 HR's as a RH dead pull hitter. The Twins have NEEDED that in their lineup for years, even more than they needed what guys like Cuddyer and Kubel brought to the table. His average will come down, there will be rough stretches, and his defense in LF will make us cringe at times. But if he ends up with a .800+ OPS (which he's done every full season of his career) and 20+ HR's, the Twins and their fans should be completely satisfied with that production.

Cool. Because there's a strong track record of all these Australian, German (Kepler), and Dutch prospects (Loek van Mil, not with team anymore) becoming huge contributors in the bigs

Interesting, thanks for sharing. I think a lot of people are starting to wonder about the Twins medical staff, for the reasons you cited. In the case of Mauer and bilateral leg weakness, however, I think that was a different situation. The perception (and perhaps the reality) is that Mauer operates under a different set of rules, and they weren't really able or willing to monitor his offseason activities while the hometown boy was "wintering" down in Florida. I think the public is right to question what was really wrong with him in 2011 because we STILL were not given a true medical explanation for what his problem was. Remember that when Magic Johnson was diagnosed with HIV, he officially had "flu-like symptoms" for two weeks while they debated how/if to tell the public. Obviously, I'm not saying Mauer had anything nearly that severe. But if you sign a gigantic contract and then miss that kind of time in its first year without even providing a sound medical reason for what is wrong with you, people will speculate.

I agree with this comment. Virtually everyone on the club is out of options. Hughes had OK power numbers in the minors, but also struck out 104 times in 432 AB's at Triple-A. He was a failed prospect at 27, if he was ever a MLB prospect at all. Plouffe's defense at SS may be terrible, but Hughes wasn't even an emergency option at SS. Hughes can play a little bit of 2nd base, but so can Plouffe, and Burroughs as a LH option at backup 3B has more upside than Hughes. Plouffe's value is the chance for a RH bat to play right field, which is something Parmalee and Clete Thomas are not, and Doumit does not do well. Hughes is redundant, and I hope he catches on somewhere else that needs his services.

Totally agree with this take. Although I think more people were asking for the Twins to sign an ace than you may think. Despite our colossal depth of problems all over the roster, there are people who legitimately think we should've thrown $20 million at C.J. Wilson or Cliff Lee so we at least had one good ace. First, a free agent pitcher has to WANT to come play for you. Other than a slight pitcher's park, there's really no motivating factor for an ace to want to come here as opposed to LA or Texas (or Boston/NYY, etc.). Second, it would have made virtually no difference to the success of the team - not when you can't support the ace adequately with runs, and the 2-5 options are a mess. Look at the pitchers Seattle has had and been forced to dump because they weren't making a run. But they've been busy actually drafting power arms, so their chances of having a solid rotation 2 or 3 years from now are light years beyond the Twins'.

Agreed, though I don't think Parmelee's track record was exactly "bad" in the minors. A typical full year for him would be about .270 - .285 with 15-HR power. No, he was never a "top prospect" and you could argue that he should have done better as a 23-year old in AA, but I don't think the Twins expected him to be a top prospect or instant star anyway. A .250+ AVG with 15 HR's, while poor for a 1B, would be passable for him, and probably better than most of our other options in RF (if Morneau or someone else is playing 1B instead of Parmelee). Worth a bit more of a look.

Wow. Completely surprised by this news. But while I think the Twins medical staff has bungled plenty in the recent past, including portions of Baker's treatment/management, I don't think this was an error on their part. Pitching is extremely hard on the UCL, and the procedure has been so successful, that many pitchers are in a situation where they have the choice whether or not to pitch through an issue, or simply get the procedure done and have essentially a "new elbow". Here, Baker probably made the decision that if he was already undergoing a surgical procedure that was going to take him out months at a time, he might as well have TJ surgery done if there was even the slightest sign of trouble. He misses a little more time, but in theory, he could be back and ready to go for the foreseeable future in 12-18 months. Had they not done this procedure now, he would heal from the other injury and have a separate issue hanging over his head. Whether or not the Twins could have conveyed this possibility a little more clearly in their presser is another matter... I think this puts to bed any talk about picking up his 2013 option for $9+ million. I was starting to be convinced by LaVelle's thought that the Twins were desperate enough to take a 1-year gamble, but now I can't see Baker back before June/July 2013 at the absolute earliest, and he won't really be up to speed until the start of 2014. I wish him all the best, and if these procedures go well, he could have several years in his early 30's as a very good middle-of-the rotation pitcher for another team.

Parmelee hasn't exactly run away with his opportunity to be a starting 1st baseman this April, but I'm not ready to give up on him. He can play at 1B or in RF (well, maybe not particularly well in RF, who knows), and to be fair, virtually nobody on the Twins was hitting until a few days ago except for Span and Willingham. In my mind, if you're a big league hitter and belong in the starting lineup, you should do SOMETHING with even the limited chances you get to demonstrate that to the team. That's how it works on most clubs with any semblance of a farm system. Plouffe is 25 now and has this is his 3rd season being "around" the club. His glove was so terrible they moved him away from a position of desperate need, and he hasn't done much offensively. But the truth is, if he had been a RF from day one in the minors, his bat wouldn't have been considered good enough to make him a prospect. So, to me, guys like Plouffe and Hughes have value as utility guys and right handed pinch hitters, but that's about it. I like the Clete Thomas signing, but only because of his versatility. If Revere had to be sent down, who was the backup CF supposed to be? Willingham? Doumit? Mauer? Haha. Gardy likes to use his new "toys" when they first acquire a new player. Clete will play like what he is, which is a replacement level outfielder, and will settle into a reserve role. I'd like see Parmelee continue to struggle while the rest of the TEAM is hitting before cutting into his playing time even further.

I like the broadcast team. As a fan of several other teams in Detroit and the Twin Cities that have had long-term broadcasting crews, it's possible to be extremely fond of a broadcast crew while still keenly aware of their faults and flaws. You hear stuff like that about Dick (getting way too excited for 290-foot flyouts) and Bert (arrogance, former whining about not being in the H of F). But if you really think about it, these are two people you have to listen to for about 3 hours, up to 5 or 6 times a week (depending on how many games you watch...and no, I don't watch them all). It's pretty much unthinkable that you could listen for that long and not OCCASIONALLY become very annoyed with something they say. That's true of spouses, relatives, and close friends, as well. I don't expect them to be overly critical of the team, given the nature of the telecast. Particularly in THIS market, being overly pessimistic would turn off many of the FANS even before it annoyed the ballclub. I happen to be of a somewhat center-left political persuasion, but I've heard the criticism made that "liberal talk radio doesn't work because people don't want to hear about how terrible the country is all day long". I think there's a kernel of truth to that. Even if the criticisms are accurate or well-intended (in politics or over a 162-game baseball season), it doesn't make them any more appealing to swallow, and it becomes grating over time. I think the internet, blogs, and Twitter have provided plenty of outlets for fans to go if they want to complain. That's the very reason that chat boards and blogs take on a more critical and pessimistic perspective than the "mainstream" TV and radio media...people are seeking out coverage that reflects the way they feel. I don't need Dick and Bert to explicitly TELL me if my team is playing terrible, if you're a knowledgeable fan, you can see it for yourself!

I have no idea what the plan is. I can't say that I'm "mad" at Gardy or anything because Justin IS a 1st baseman and a concussion could happen to him on literally any play. I just don't understand the timing of it all - he spent all of training camp working at 1B, he played 1B in Spring Training games, and they said he was "diving all over the place in practice" and making them nervous. Then they open the season and decide he's DH-only for the indefinite future, and that lasts all of 10 games. First regular season game at 1B and he was forced to make a hard dive to his right, not unlike the one Parmalee made to his left earlier this year. Checked Twitter, and none of the talking/blogging heads seemed to even notice it. And since he hit that mammoth HR to center at Yankee Stadium of all places, I'm sure Gardy will have it in his head that Morneau "hits better" playing at 1B. Probably getting tonight off b/c of Sabathia and just to get a day off, but I'll bet he spends half or more of his remaining games at 1B. Great if he can do it, but if he ends up hurt in a collision or a dive playing the field, there may be some who question whether they should've stuck with the DH experiment a little longer. I'm a big fan of Morneau and really hope that I'm being over-analytical and overly-cautious here.