ashbury

Wasn't that Earl Weaver's old formula? Outfielding and three-run homers.

Serious Swarzak is serious. http://i1.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/000/472/seriouscatcover.jpg

You find a defensively-capable 2B hitting for power like a 1B and you'll be paying Mauer money for rare talent. This is why the stereotypes stick.

Man, at this point I am almost in favor of running Drew out there game after game until his batting average drops below .260 (a few games probably), and/or let him pitch until his ERA is above 6 (should take a few batters in the first inning). Either we'll be done with this Drew Butera: Superstar meme, or else we'll have another catcher batting above .260 for a full season and we can indeed re-deploy Mauer to first or third or even the Special Assistant position Bill Smith has.

<singing><chanting>All we are saaaaying, give DeVries a chance.</chanting></singing>

In Baxley, GA, you've got Braxton Jeffers coaching Byron Buxton. My tongue is twisted.

5 innings 4 runs or 6 innings 5 runs makes an ERA above 7.0, so we need better than that to make a real difference over what Marquis gave.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]1020[/ATTACH] In a Marquis-out/DeVries-up thread, it was mentioned by more than one that Matt Maloney ought to be put into the Rochester rotation. I had been thinking along those lines for a while now, too. In fact, I wonder if the Twins considered doing this in April for the parent club, before sending Maloney down, by putting him into a long-relief outing or two. Unfortunately he pitched so poorly that they couldn't even "stretch him out" for a few innings, in anticipation of a trial as starter. He might at one point have been Plan A for replacing Liriano or Blackburn if need be (the "need" has since then been proven), as he was the one brought in to relieve them on April 17 and 24 respectively. If he had done well in 3-5 innings he would have then been on the cycle to enter the rotation at the next turn. But he didn't. By May 2, according to this theory, they had given up on the idea, letting him finish only the 3rd inning after registering two outs plus an RBI double; all his other appearances were in later innings with no scope for long work. Perhaps he pulled a (reputed) Kevin Slowey-ism by making excuses saying he could only be effective as a starter, pissing off the coach and manager and earning the DFA to Rochester. That's just libelous speculation of course - my apologies, Sir. But his track record has been as a starter who put up promising AAA numbers, more impressive at Louisville 2010-2011 than DeVries has been in the same league 2011-2012 for instance. Then suddenly in 2010 when Cincy brought him up they stopped using him as a starter after two more-or-less decent starts (ERA 3.09) and used him exclusively in the bullpen, with OK results as well. In 2011 Cincy used him very inconsistently, mostly as a reliever, and his unsightly season ERA (despite good numbers during his AAA time) came about in 3 putrid games out of 8, with one start in late April and then one start during September garbage time. After Cincy dropped him, Minnesota seemed to decide he's purely a reliever, if I just go by his usage and stop trying to read between so many lines. Considering the thin state of the Twins starting staff, I don't think they should overlook any potential resource to help them get through the season, even if he's no long term answer. I'd plug him into the Rochester rotation and see if he's worth a July or August call-up. My fingers would be crossed that Cuellar there can get him on track, if the problem had been either the mental approach of trying to prove worth as a starter while in the bullpen, or perhaps some mechanical tweak to help him. So far, 4 innings into his Rochester career, he's given up two baserunners and no runs, so maybe the Cuellar magic is already working. Again, he's not going to be a difference-maker, and my title for this post is tongue-in-cheek. But I hate to see my team leave a stone un-turned. [ATTACH=CONFIG]1019[/ATTACH]

I had been meaning to put a short blog entry on this topic as well. I think the Twins tried to stretch him out while he was still in the parent club, but he did so poorly that he didn't actually get the requisite innings before having to be pulled. I'm in favor of letting Cuellar try to work some magic with him in the rotation.

I am curious if you can explain a little further what you mean by the rankings. Does it mean value? For example if you as Twins GM were on the verge of a trade, and the other team says "throw in Trent Higginbotham and we're ready to say yes", does his being #50 mean you would immediately agree? And, if instead they said "throw in either Higginbotham or Tyler Jones", you as GM would think a few moments and say "make it Higginbotham" because you have Jones ranked (ever so slightly) the higher of the two on your internal chart? Probably the difference in #49 and #50 verges on the nonsensical. But if you say this guy is #10 and this other guy is #50, is it because he is more... has more... does more... what? I suppose this summarizes why I have a bit of trouble with the whole idea of ranked lists. Though they are fun of course.

This approach risks having the GM equivalent of Trevor Plouffe's batting line this season.

Why is it that on most days, when I channel surf to ESPN during commercial breaks of the other show I'm watching, I never get an update on how the Twins' game is going, but when they lose a game 16-4 like yesterday it's constantly the game shown on the crawl at the bottom of the screen when I click over there? Ugh.

Why is it that on most days, when I channel surf to ESPN during commercial breaks of the other show I'm watching, I never get an update on how the Twins' game is going, but when they lose a game 16-4 like yesterday it's constantly the game shown on the crawl at the bottom of the screen when I click over there? Ugh.

> The point here isn't to compare Dozier and Harper to one another -- that would be senseless. I agree with this, and for that reason I'm missing some subtlety of your post, which holds up the two players side by side without "comparing" them somehow. It seems a bit like comparing Google stock to IBM stock when the former IPOed in 2004 and the two share prices were similar. IBM had a long track record, while Google's story was pretty much all ahead of it. IBM's been a solid enough investment, while Google has multiplied. It's not a great analogy, people to companies (despite what the Supreme Court says), but a 19-year-old Harper has tremendous upside if he's willing to learn, while a 25-year-old Dozier already has the experience and polish that will likely mark the rest of his career. There is simply no mystery why one player gets more "hype" than the other.

A small point: Doumit is signed only through this season, according to both Cot's Contracts and baseball-reference.com

Item on the Pioneer Press's page for the Twins indicates it had something to do with Nyjer Morgan. Carroll couldn't be sure exactly what happened, though; he said umpire Hunter Wendelstedt cut off his conversation with Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy right after Lucroy said Morgan's name. Morgan was the last of three HBP by Twins pitchers. So this adds up.

Now that Butera has mastered the art of pitching and catching, maybe he's bored and would like to take a crack at GMing in Ryan's place.

Now we understand why Pavano wants him as his personal catcher. He's afraid Drew will replace him in the rotation otherwise.

Yes, he clearly needs to pitch in the NL, where his bat will be a further asset. I smell a trade for a front-line starting pitcher.

This would leave him with only one catcher in reserve for the remainder of the game.

How long until Gardenhire and all the coaches are signed to a multi-year extension?

This is how John Travolta got himself into trouble, isn't it?

And he's currently got a 1.417 OPS at AAA. Go Lew! (OK, it's only 1 game.)

Not Simpsons related, but I previously noted in my blog space how Bill Smith rocked the five o'clock shadow like Fred Flintstone.