ericchri

I absolutely love Posnanski anyway, and having him write about Perkins for this was just awesome. Perkins has always seemed a little more "in-tune" with the average sports fan than most professional athletes, so the bit about him being a nervous fan of Posnanski's was golden. I read stories about Perkins sometimes and wonder what would have happened if his disagreement over service time had been a little worse. Or maybe if he had won the case and been awarded the extra few days to become a super-two, would the Twins even have kept him around since he wasn't pitching particularly well? Thankfully we are where we are, and I hope Perkins picks up a few more fans from this.

Both lefties on that list showed horrible with both (though so did Gibson and Pelfrey). I'd be curious to see Thielbar, just as an extra data point, though I honestly doubt you could determine anything by that.

Interesting to see how well Kepler and Harrison are stacking up in these. The sudden onrush of decent pitching prospects in our system has seemed to push those two a little into the afterthoughts category with a lot of us.

In a couple years we can all be screaming about Stewart getting blocked to the majors because of Hughes, Gibson, Meyer, May, and Berrios?

Start the trade Dozier to make room for Polanco chants now?

Jonathan Lucroy

Without a doubt, trading Dozier would be a very strange move, thus the need for a ridiculously good offer. I can't see much likelihood anybody offers anything close to good enough. If somebody offered up a Miguel Sano-level prospect plus more, I'd think about it. If they offered up a Kohl Stewart-level prospect I hang up and move on.

Hate to pile on, but anytime you have to start with "If the Twins sweep..." you're really reaching. It's possible, but unlikely. I don't see much reason to rule out trading anyone, but that also doesn't mean have a firesale. With Dozier you want to be very careful, he's proven his ability to play well in the majors at this point and still has years of team control. Proven major league ability trumps prospect status which is why he's worth a lot in a trade and demands a very good return. But if somebody offers up a really good package it does look like we have prospects that can fill the position that are just about ready. Escobar can fill the position for a bit, too, once Santana's back. There's never a guarantee with prospects or trades, though and that's why the offer for Dozier has to be really good. He's been pretty much our only consistently decent hitter for the last year+.

http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/84033840/major-league-baseball-futures-game-kris-bryant-corey-seager-joey-gallo-jp-crawford#!bcTRXo SoE writer Eric Longenhagen profiles all the players in the Futures game, so Alex Meyer, Jose Berrios, and Kennys Vargas each have a paragraph. In the interest in not copying everything out of the (free) article, my favorite sentences (which are not the entire profile for each). Meyer: Berrios: Vargas:

Matt Batts, and he's a pitcher? Ah, the missed opportunities.

Pelfrey seems like he should be in the bullpen next year, to me, assuming he's even healthy. Before he was signed we had Hughes, Nolasco, and Correia guaranteed in the rotation, needing to fill two spots with a choice of Deduno (decent numbers, inability to pitch deep into games due to high pitch counts), Diamond (pretty bad in 2013), Worley (awful in 2013), Gibson (decent AAA, terrible MLB), May (mediocre in AA, hadn't even pitched at AAA), Meyer (hadn't pitched above AA, missed much of 2013 with shoulder injury) and Kris Johnson (all of 4 games and 1 start in MLB previous). Not hard to see why he felt the need to find another pitcher even if most of us feel Pelfrey for 2 years was the wrong answer. Going into next season we should theoretically have Nolasco, Hughes, and Gibson guaranteed, so again needing to fill 2 spots, but with options from May and Meyer (who hopefully get their callup this year so that there actually aren't even openings next year), Logan Darnell and Kris Johnson (who both look adequate with slight hopes for a bit better), Deduno and Pino (not exciting but capable of starting games with a modicum of competence) and maybe Gilmartin as a wildcard, and maybe even Berrios looking like a midseason possibility. Pelfrey doesn't serve any purpose anymore because the options to fill those last rotation spots look better. Put him in the bullpen where he can throw his hittable fastball a little bit faster and not stretch a 3 hour game into a 3.5 hour game. So naturally he'll be in the rotation next year, of course.

Tossing out random thoughts on this: Pitchers often speak about having the "feel" on any given day for their pitches. Would the large amount of warmup relate to trying to find their "feel" that day? But then I know I've seen postgame quotes about guys who had horrible bullpen warmups who then went out and threw a gem of a game.

Nice bit of research. Also interesting, the biggest success story of the bunch is from Colombia, not Venezuela or the DR where most of the big-namers are from.

I may not represent everyone here, but I think most Bison fans have reached a point of indifference to the UND We-Don't-Have-A-Mascot-Anymore. Maybe if we actually play again in some sport someday, but at this point I'd doubt the hatred really engenders much passion anymore outside of nostalgia. Personally, White Sox, then Yankees, definitely. I even have a hard time utterly hating the Tigers anymore, and I mostly feel sorry for KC and Cleveland. The Lakers and Cowboys would rate much higher on any overall hatred list than anyone but the White Sox and Yankees, and I'd have thrown the Miami Heat on the list except I have no idea if I'll still have reason to hate them in the near future.

Not watching the game, just glanced at the gamecast online, so I'll assume this was of the variety of getting Perkins in the game to help "keep him sharp" or whatever they call it? My question is: considering he's almost always awful in non-save situations, is this a valid strategy?

I can't really disagree with any of your analysis per se, but we're also running out P-Flo and his .325 OPS at short right now. Ozzie Smith can't overcome that batting line with his defense, so I'd be tempted to try a left-handed Parmelee at short at this point as an alternative to watching Florimon not-hit.

Didn't he sign for like half a million dollars the year we also got Sano?

I just hope Polanco gets a start before getting sent down again. I realize it's more emergency move than anything else until somebody gets off the DL, but getting called up and then not playing would really suck. I want somebody to get the "behind-the-scenes" for the conversation when he found out though. Being at A+ ball he'd have to believe he was getting pranked at first.

I was just glancing through his Adopt-a-Prospect writeup since I'm not familiar with him, but Brandon Peterson is having quite a season. He seems like another one of our now numerous hard-throwing closer types. How does he rate compared to some of the better-known guys like a Tonkin or Zach Jones as far as future potential?

It's easy to see how things could potentially still work out this season and have a chance at the playoffs, but it's also pretty easy to see how unlikely that is. Maybe if they'd won 2 or 3 of these close games recently I'd feel a little different, but they're in last place in their division and though theoretically closer to the wildcard in number of games behind, they have to get past 8 teams in the standings to get that spot. The record is still theoretically OK, but that's a whole bunch of teams they need to leapfrog. A few of them sure I can see that, but it seems unlikely to get past all of them. And yet, Kansas City just won 10 in a row to get into 1st place in the division, and you'd have had a hard time finding anyone predicting that two weeks ago, so crazy stuff can happen. I'm less concerned about when some of these guys get promoted than I am over them getting promoted. May and Meyer have to pitch in the majors this year. Have to. If it's only a month or two, so be it, but they absolutely have to get that experience, to see what it's like so they can spend the offseason having the knowledge of what needs work. That means some guys who are on the roster right now need to go. While I'd prefer to see him get starts, I'm actually OK with Meyer getting his experience in the pen due to the care they're taking with his shoulder this year, but May definitely looks like he should start. Trade Correia is obvious, even if the return isn't better than some C-grade A-baller with a tiny chance at the majors. Trade Burton and Guerrier if possible, but DFA them when it becomes obvious nobody wants them. The roster spots are more important for people to get their major league experience. I'm not sure with the hitters. It's hard to point at guys who really need to be up soon to get their experience of what the majors are really like. If it looks like you'll get something of value for Willingham or Morales, I guess I'd trade them. Parmelee can be traded/DFA'd without much concern. I think I'd hang onto Suzuki, cause Herrmann/Fryer as our catcher options seems ugly, and I think Pinto's sticking at AAA for quite a while now due to his defense/receiving/game-calling/pitch-framing, or whatever it is that constitutes catching. That'd give Vargas a chance and maybe Rosario. Hard to really see anybody else that's a potential part of the future that benefits that much this season, most of our hitting prospects are still a year or more away. This lineup is quickly becoming a drag to watch, though. Dozier and Santana are exciting (even when they're slumping a bit, I still find myself expecting something good when they're hitting), Escobar too, but after that? I like Willingham, but he's 35. Mauer looks lost, Morales and Suzuki are rentals, Plouffe looks improved but he's still pretty average, and Arcia quickly returned to swinging out of his shoes at every pitch. As iffy as our lineup is already, how bad will it be if we move 2 or 3 of our only decent hitters?

Perkins not warmed up? Gameday has Fien pitching...

Pino gets this start while they decide which of Burton, Guerrier, and Deduno to let go, then transitions to the pen when they bring up May? Please?

I've kind of assumed that's what's happening here. Santana is hitting well enough that he should be in the lineup for now. Since Escobar is also one of our better hitters at the moment, that means Santana ends up in CF in place of a pretty iffy hitter. If he ever cools off it will be interesting to see what happens, will Hicks start getting regular playing time, or will he have been demoted for Fuld by then? I'm also curious to see if Santana eventually gets so much playing time out there that he actually looks mildly comfortable, cause so far I haven't seen much to indicate he has any instincts for the position at all, just raw tools and athleticism. I do like having him in the lineup, though, he's fun to watch.

I'll be honest, I kinda want Touki too. More of a risk, so I don't really expect it, but it would definitely put a smile on my face. Lots of guys have 95+ fastballs, give me somebody with a monster breaking pitch. Having read about all these guys for a while, I can see why everyone has their favorites for the various factors they prefer, but in the end I think anyone we get here has the potential to be a really good player so I won't get too worked up about it.

Somebody already mentioned it, but now is when the Sano injury really bites. There's not much to see in AAA to come up and help our hitting lineup (Deibinson Romero for Kubel?). If Sano was there you could see how we might get a charge by bringing him up, but as it is there's just not much there. The pitching situation looks much more promising, but we might not really need the help as much. There are guys who look like they might be better than Correia, but when you throw the major league adjustment onto their performance it's hardly a given.