ashbury

No villains here, IMO. The discomfort a pitcher goes through isn't as simple as Go No-Go. I'd prefer to give Nolasco the benefit of the doubt for courage to try to pitch through a period of time where he didn't know for sure where the end of the tunnel really is. New team and not being "that guy" and all that, it rings true. And from the other side, manager and coach treating a new and veteran guy with dignity and respect, not peppering him with questions that will sound like second guessing over a bad stretch of results, also rings true to me. It's part of an equilibrium that, in the big picture, works.

Oddly, with the starters going well, it's recently been the late innings that have given much of the heartburn.

It's impossible to completely eliminate all the tells, once and for all, which is what makes the cat and mouse game fun for serious fans, even if they're hard to spot. Kudos if what you spotted holds up - although now that it's in the open like this (who doesn't read TD?) it's immediately changed.

"Advocacy" and "push an agenda" had me thinking you were against Caple's remarks, but the rest of what you said leaves me unsure. A "dialog" is desirable but nobody should have a particular position on the topic already?

(Indeed.)

A few years ago I heard Terry Ryan give a broad ranging talk, and one point he made was that if professional baseball wasn't played every day, there were dozens of guys who could hit .400. An interesting POV that I think ties in to what you are suggesting.

What if it's Colabello who continues at the present pace but Nolasco is the one who comes back to his career norms?

Apparently my satire of the glass-is-always-half-empty outlook didn't work so good. Oh well, live and (not) learn.

Uncle.

After watching the Twins today in Cleveland, several impressions come to the forefront. First, the pitching seems to be no better than last year, and quite possibly even worse. The starter, Nolasco, stunk it up with 5 runs in only 4 innings, and could not seem to locate his pitches to save his life. The bullpen quickly coughed up two more runs, a performance that could put a game essentially out of reach by the halfway mark. The defense was also laughable, with somebody inexperienced manning left field, after Willingham departed the game with an injury (thankfully the diagnosis was no broken bone, just day-to-day), unable to make the simplest plays. The team was fortunate to have no unearned runs to tack onto the tally against them. And the hitting? Florimon, the afore-mentioned Bartlett, Hicks and Escobar combined for 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position through the game. Factor that in with an aggregate o-fer by the 2B, LF, CF, and SS positions, and you would hardly be surprised to be told that the Twins were shut out again. I believe it was the Orioles in 1988 who established a major league record by losing their first 21 games to start the season. Though it's early, are the Twins in danger of eclipsing that mark in 2014? Based on this account of this game one would be hard pressed to say no. It would be easy to assume that this debacle in Cleveland was the nadir of the Twins 2014 season, but with 156 games to go I am not confident in predicting that this will even be their worst game this year. Yes, I am giving fair warning: IT COULD BE WORSE. Go Twins.

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I chose Mastro as my TD Adopt-a-prospect a couple of seasons ago, and I mourn his apparent demise. He is like the son I never had.1 1 Because my actual two sons are like their father, and never showed baseball talent that would support a professional career.

The problem with Gagne as a comp is age and established performance. At 24 he was a major-league regular with a .700 OPS, and it was no anomaly since his minor league numbers were good when taking account of age and league level. Florimon isn't in his early twenties any longer, and the chances for further growth at the plate aren't good. Nothing's impossible in baseball, but I don't think the smart money is on Florimon to now become a .700 OPS contributor.

We just need better analytics, to give us the "home runs per dead fish slider" ratio in Spring.

Very fair point in addition.

MLBTR has an item stating that the Phillies would be willing to trade Jimmy Rollins. In the article, it's stated: "Rollins, 35, struggled at the plate in 2013, batting .252/.318/.348..." Meanwhile our resident starter pleased some fans with his progress, posting .221/.281/.330. I don't particularly advocate trading for Rollins, as I assume the Phils want prospects the Twins won't want to part with and the Twins won't want to invest $11M a year in an aging player. I'm just mindful that one team's "struggled" can be better on offense than another team's "incumbent shortstop".

Probably a little late to snare Beltran, but let's keep dreaming big!

Nothing on Revere on MLBTR at this writing. Maybe their sleuths will see this thread and start something.

What stands out to me is the absence of any mention of Christopher Herrmann. With AAA a likely starting location for Pinto, it sounds like a FA acquisition of some kind is all but assured. Question is whether to get a glove man for cheap, to complement Doumit's skillset, or go for a more complete but far more expensive player.

I like this reasoning too, particularly the two throw-ins of the deal. Mastro (though I love him like a son - he was my 2012 TD adoptee ) is barely above waiver-wire fodder and if a team considers him a sweetener I gladly include him. Fien is a guy who, when I think ahead to possible playoff games, doesn't seem like one of the pitchers who drives the other team nuts when you roll out three guys to suffocate their seventh-inning rally. You have to give up talent to get talent, and Dozier as the key piece to get a good pitcher is a reasonable choice. And I am all for bundling multiple players to get an upgrade, in contrast to recent Twins history of trading one guy and getting two "maybes" in return.

http://fuuka.worldathleticproject.org/boards/b/thumb/1376/51/1376513126653s.jpg

Much appreciated. What a relaxed atmosphere. Lucky guys to be at that level.

I would guess that, more often than not, the identity of the clubhouse's true leader(s) becomes evident only in the rearview mirror. But like it or not, it's Joe Mauer's team for the foreseeable future.

Is the 2013 team Ryan's "Glen or Glenda"?