twinsnorth49

You want him back on the field to increase his trade value? or because Parmelee is eventually going to start playing poorly? I think at this point the team is better with Morneau at 1st, Doumit as DH (except when spelling Mauer) and Parmelee in RF rotating with Plouffe (mainly so Clete Thomas will stop playing).

I can see that being pretty distracting, I'm thinking a lot of wish we had those kind of problems. Not to hurt his chances with the ladies or anything, but I think he needs to spend some extended time on the bench to let him know he's just not getting it......the playing baseball part I mean, he's probably getting other things.

Blaming Anderson is a cop out. There have been lots of one year wonders who never got back to that one great season, that's not the fault of any pitching coach, just the reality of how hard it is to pitch consistently in the majors for even a few years. Much better pitchers out there after they left the Twins,who? Some may have had a little more success but we're placing the meaning of that word at a pretty low bar by saying that. Calling him a scrub has no relevance, many highly successful staffs have pitching coaches who were little more than side notes as players, including 7 who never even played in the majors, including Jim Hickey, whose staff just laid the Twins bare the last 2 nights. Dave Duncan from the Cards isn't even a pitcher (a good player yes). Jeff Jones from the Tigers wasn't exactly a can't miss player. What do these three men have in common, yes, talented pitchers.

I'll cut them some slack, which could also be interpreted as making excuses for them. There is still a lot of upheaval on this team and while the overall health has been much better than last year, the team is still somewhat in a state of flux. To summarize: Baker gone for the year without throwing a pitch. Marquis starts in the minors because of a family emergency (that would be 2 starters down without playing a game yet). Swarzak missing from the pen forcing Gray, Maloney and Burnett to shoulder a bigger burden than perhaps everyone was comfortable with. Worst fears realized with Liriano, despite hope after a strong spring, everyone now very nervous. Blackburn now iffy due to paranormal shoulder tightness. Extra-terrestrials now infiltrating the team. Aside from that circus, they are still coming to terms with a host of new faces, some still very young and green faces, guys like Morneau forced to DH and a still very unsettled lineup in general. They really have, for a number of reasons, been forced to deviate from what I think they originally envisioned. I'm holding onto some pretty good confidence that by mid-June things are looking a lot brighter. I think well before that the lineup will get into a more consistent groove and players will be in the right places, comfortable and settled into their roles. The pitching isn't going to be great but it's not far away from at least having some stability in who are in the roles they expected them to be in. They can play their way through this but Gardy needs some stability, some provided by the players and some provided by him in regards to who he decides can really play, and them play them. (editor's note, buy thesaurus and find synonym for "still"). Apologies for 3rd paragraph.

Minus Valencia at 3rd, it's close to their best defensive lineup right now. Maybe Gardy just wants to put the best team around Frankie to keep him from unravelling, just hope no one hits one down the 3rd base line.

In the spirit of arm chair second guessing, would have liked to have seen Burroughs at 3rd and Doumit in RF (preferably Morneau at 1st, Parmelee in RF and Doumit DH but I get not playing Morneau with the foot).

What kind of rally do you have going by the time the 2 man comes up? Presumably the lead-off man is on and nobody is out. I'd hate to put an .830 OPS at bat with, at best, 1 man on. Doumit in the 5? He's hitting .222-.279-.501, who's he driving in? Willingham at 3, for who? Morneau can hit clean up no doubt but since Gardy switched him to 5 and Willingham to 4 it has been working pretty well, they are 1-2 on the team in OPS and in Willinghams case he's the 4th highest in the AL. I can go on. Carroll has been a little streaky to be sure but he's suited just fine at the 2 spot. I'm not sure I understand your friends argument, no disrespect intended.

Span has done pretty much everything asked of him so far this year (minus the 2 boneheaded throws to 3rd tonight). .376-.439-805, what more do you want from your lead-off hitter. Now is not the time to move Span. July, well we'll see.

I'm pretty confident that Parmelee won't strike out 3-4 times a game, he should have been in the lineup tonight and deserves more serious consideration in RF. As it's been pointed out by a few posters, we got by pretty well with Cuddyer and Kubel, Parmelee can surely cover as much ground as those guys. Valencia is a mess, I'd like to see Burroughs get a couple games in, Danny seems to think he's entitled to play 3rd base. The poor plays on defense tonight had nothing to do with his range, just looked lost, no confidence. His lack of discipline at the plate is getting tiresome, 14 SO's and too many pop-ups to count.

I'm pretty sure Thomas starts his swing while the pitcher is still in his wind-up.

That was top shelf starting pitching by James Shields.

............................+1

Oh Jeff Gray, we hardly knew yee!

One double play ball too late

He's already taking the night off....brutal.

..........and Casilla.

Ok, I've almost had enough of Thomas, get a clue.

He hit it pretty well, battled hard after going 0-2. Nice little rally, too bad it came with 2 out

I'm not offended, sorry for the comment, couldn't resist, it's a problem I have. I don't think Parmelee stinks at all, I just feel that he's in a bit of limbo especially if Morneau starts playing more 1st base, I don't necessarily think he should be in limbo. I kind of like the idea of him playing RF but picking up Thomas has muddled that situation as well. I don't think he needs more seasoning so much as I think it would just benefit from playing all the time. If that's with the big club the I'm ok with that, he just should play.

I'd rather see Parmelee but this lineup can get it done.....Win Twins!!!

I agree with what you're saying if the decision is to keep Parmelee in the lineup, which he needs to be in order to stay up. The question then is, why did they even bother to pick up Thomas? They seem to have just as good options already in house.

he was probably was an all-star in little league too.

Why would anyone put in a claim on a barely average minor league player for 6 million dollars? I don't have issue with removing him from the 40 man but the Twins are going to end up paying him anyway. They won't give up on him yet and let him walk with the money.

So who's the starting RF then? If Thomas is a 4th or 5th then who takes the majority of the time, Doumit? Plouffe? I think Gardy is playing the hot hand and seeing if it continues ,but it doesn't appear we have a regular RF. I've said before that Parmelee's days are numbered, not because of bad play but simply what's best for him in the long run. If things continue to progress, Morneau will get more turns at 1st base, with Mauer and perhaps Doumit ultimately taking more reps as well. That leaves Parmelee struggling to find playing time there as well as in RF. Thomas isn't going to Rochester so if the Twins want Parmelee to continue to develop, he should go to Rochester for the time being.

So that's a "no" then? As some of us await the Capps implosion, I'll take the 4 saves.