umterp23

Trades make sense but it takes two to tango. What do you get back in return? Rogers & Cruz would gather something near future useful. Pineda, Kepler & Robles would be fringe players in return unless front office can do some fleecing for the return. Only one trade deadline this year so will be interesting to see what meetings are had during all-star break.

Cruz has to be thinking can't wait to get moved to a contender, hopefully soon for his sake. Donaldson is playing the look at me card this week, not a team player. Would love to move him to dump salary and get some bodies in return. Shoemaker needs to go. Pat him on the back and send him on his way and somebody will be pick him up on the cheap.

Only negative on Miranda I have is nothing athletic! Button your jersey young man, this isn't the Sunday am softball beer league. I'm old school for sure, but just a sloppy look. You can say I'm nit picking and I would agree, but I did say it wasn't about his ability. Donaldson must of gotten the memo about Miranda on his heels in the system, funny how he is trying to be a leader this week by calling players only meeting and hitting a couple HR's the last few days.

Pay Buxton at this time, what is the pay for injury prone guy (bad luck or not on some injuries, injured nonetheless). Team friendly deal in today's market, not sure what that would be. I would say 4 year deal, $60M, with half guaranteed with incentives for another $20M based on games played (%'s), team leader in categories, player of the month, MVP, gold gloves, etc. etc.. He makes share under $6M today and his base goes to $15M based on what if he is healthy conversation. COVID influenced financials where teams aren't making hand over fist money with attendance restrictions, cash in has to be part of the conversation. His agent won't buy it though. Is worth a crap ton more, not in my opinion but I'm not writing the checks either

Berrios yes. Buxton only if he would sign an incentive laden deal as karbo stated but I see today's athlete all about guaranteed money vs incentive. Agents being agents aren't going to go that route = Show me the money they preach

Bad Luck or the result of big money for any athlete... Players have a lot of money on the line and by no means am I'm not saying Buxton is dogging some of the injuries or any other athlete but growing up with the "spit on it and get back in the game" mentality isn't followed anymore. For certain injuries it shouldn't be, especially concussions and getting hit in the man jewels aka got Mitch Garvered... but big time paychecks and agents and "more sophisticated" analysis from the doctor world plays some part. Players can get better diagnostics performed on their bodies to diagnose and recover, sometimes at the expense of injury prone status designation. That's one of the things has me cringe when we start talking huge big money contracts to guys who lucky or not, just aren't on the field to earn all the cash they get signed for. Gives me pause and then you can't blame a player to get his money now and guaranteed as much as they can.

Outside air conditioner for swing and a miss...Hot nights the opposing catcher and umpire have to enjoy when he is in the game

I wouldn't just pencil in swing and miss Sano for full time DH. Depending on Garver's health post surgery, you may see him at DH more time then behind the dish. Squatting, stretching and up and down every time every pitch won't help his recovery from the injury. Sano has been awful majority of the time. Sano playing 3rd isn't shoring up our defense either.

Maybe rocco got confused in looking at his spreadsheets and the Little League setting on that said he can't go more than 70 pitches because he would need more than a couple days rest before advancing his team in the tournament.

63 pitches thru 4 pretty easy innings for Ober. What's that get him? Pat on the back, seat on the bench and no W in the personal win column. Such BS by Baldelli. My goodness that he didn't send him out there for the 5th. Even if he fell apart quickly, it's a learning opportunity for both sides. Pitcher can gain knowledge of strength and conditioning and Mr. spreadsheets can gauge his next time the order goes through the pitcher analysis. 12 guys faced. WTF

Not a fan of Sano, regardless of his bomb potential. Move Cruz to say thanks for your service, here is a contender for your ride off to the sunset. Start Kiriloff at 1B and let Sano be the backup (DH) at times. Buxton will be back but how long can we depend on the guy to stay healthy? Gordon has been really good as a backup, need to play him more, wouldn't send him down. Kepler will be interesting to see come back and what happens. Garlick sent down along with Refsnyder, would rather have Ref stay here. Rortvedt is interesting, not hitting the ball very well, but better defensively than Astudillo. Garver time frame has us keeping Rort here for a couple more weeks. Interesting move would be to send him down, let him play everyday AAA and bring up Telis to be your backup to Jeffers. If Jeffers continues to hit ball hard, give him a day off at catcher to save legs but DH him vs Whiff King Sano isn't out of question for me if Astudillo is still around (you have another catcher body to help ease concern you could lose the DH if you had to make a player switch)

When we live in the world of woulda, coulda, shoulda... The current Twins epitomize this. Would have been better without the injuries, slightly better but we really weren't that good when we were healthy (minus the 1st week). Key pieces of the pie on paper could have done better and should be playing better. Kepler and Cave in OF were placeholders for the young guns and weren't the difference maker. Sano, you get a blind squirrel finds a nut (HR) every now and then but overweight K machine consistently is brutal (modern day O's Chris Davis). Cruz has been better side of OK, need to move him before deadline to a contender, he deserves that much. Astudillo cute story is just that cute story, versatile on paper but not great at any single position, back up at best (should never see the mound again but when your relief core blows chunks when they step on the field, you get 47 mph). Simmons defense was calling card, hitting not so much. Give me .250 avg all day from him, but needs to shore up defense. I like Gordon, should be playing 5-6 days a week, probably will since Buxton will be injured again by Independence Day. Pitching staff has been brutal except for Berrios. Build around him and Maeda, Ober and let the young guys in waiting battle for us late summer. Ouch of a year for sure

Garver at Catcher after his experience last week, might not be a great fit for the next month or so. Catchers are like goalies, takes a strong somewhat disturbed mindset to be behind the mask. So another option is give him more starts at DH and let Jeffers continue the confidence building momentum he has since his recall. Why DH one might say? Put Cruz out of his misery and move him over to a contender as a Thank You for your service. He is slowing down at this point of his career and the body aches and pains are starting to occur more on a daily basis. Tortuga isn't going anywhere and he can spot start at Catcher, not ideal but he could. Rortvedt needs at bats back at AAA, not getting them at the moment and he hasn't been very good

Situational hitting to me is an area of concern for me. If it isn't a homer to score runs, we are in trouble. I don't have the time to analyze the run production but driving in runs other than a HR seems be severely lacking. I could be off base, but clutch hitting doesn't seem to be there

Stat Cast I care about: 22-34, 6th worst record in MLB, 12 games under .500. All other stuff is whipped cream on rotten cherry

Sano is boom or bust but to be considered for the monthly hitter award shows you how little of options you have. Refsnyder more deserving than Sano, regardless of the amount of games played. He brought energy to a position of need and Sano really should be backup 1st basemen and not in everyday lineup. Tough article to write but Sano would be easy choice to leave off. When his K rate comment of it being or par for his normal stat line, doesn't make it a warm and fuzzy okay to K so much feeling to overlook

5 most disappointing things is slightly accurate but you should have made it a top 10. Miquel "He's just a K machine" Sano who is 2 for his last 25 with 14 K's, 43 K's in his last 90+ at Bats. Mr. Swing and Miss is hitting 100 lbs less than his weight. Rocco Baldelli would be on this list for penciling in Sano on a daily basis. My goodness his game management is not great. Buxton, where has he been? Oh that's right, in the medical tent once again Hitting Coach? Do the twins have anyone on the payroll that knows what they are doing? Maybe Cruz and his clubhouse leadership/mentor status that everyone loves to talk about should let us know who it is. Shoemaker who is 1-5 over his last 7 starts.

On the offensive side of the diamond and when I mean offensive, let's talk Sano. Why not try and move him at trade deadline? What you get is freeing up some money and some minor league talent. Sano isn't a quality hitter at all, yes occasional bomb but the K's keep mounting up. Now some folks will thing I have lost my mind but Buxton who can't stay healthy and is a stud at times, he would be interesting trade bait as well. So will miss at least a couple more weeks potentially, so while he was explosive in April, can you rely in the guy to stay healthy for at least a half season at this point? I would float him out there and see who bites. Next puzzle would be Astudillo. Versatile and can play in a pinch, but hasn't had many at bats this week, so the writing is on the wall for him. Kiriloff at 1b and Sano is your platoon guy there. He isn't a back up catcher so pretty telling that Rortvedt was recalled to hit .170 and get spot playing time. Flash Gordon is your backup middle IF. Maybe he gets an at bat here or there at 3rd base, but the cute story book is ending soon. Last is put Cruz out of his misery and send him to a contender as the Twins aren't it. Hell, if Pujols can get released by Cards and quickly go to a contender in Dodgers for spot starts, Cruz can do the same for a chance to chase a ring. His clubhouse leadership and mentor for Sano, isn't that valuable in his very late stage of career. He deserves a chance as his window is closing to be on a top club. What you get in return is some minor league prospect(s), which you need to back fill the eventual youth movement coming

pretty telling that Cruz works with his own personal hitting coach referenced in the article. Speaks volume to how the Twins current bench coaches for hitting must not be respected or worth the penny they are getting paid. Like Cruz but time to move some pieces come trade deadline, Sano being one of them. What you get back vs what you keep on the roster, Sano gives you some $$'s back into the system and some minor league talent. I"m fine with that.

article on MLB Twins page about how Sano has put in extra hitting work with mentor Cruz recently. another 0-4 with couple K's. Time to move on from Sano. Modern Day version of O's Chris Davis. .176 hitter and we keep shoving him the lineup. I don't care how hard he hits the ball if he makes contact, would be funny to see how hard he swings and misses!

Refsnyder hustling and taking advantage of an opportunity equals a guy working hard to earn the chance at the bigs level and to stay as long as he can. Yes there are younger guys in the OF mix and most likely he is gone once injury prone buxton comes back, but I applaud the guy for living out his love for the game in front of us.

Larnach HR was impressive but I still see a bit of Sano in him. If he makes contact it is hard, but many of K's hiding in there as well. When you look at St. Paul he was what 3 for 11 with 3 hr's but his other outs were K's. Right now he has 15 games and 15 K's so he has slowed the K route a tad in the bigs. K's are part of the game (see Sano and Garver) so hopefully the Bomba mentality does't take over for Larnach. I will always preach plate discipline over a wow HR.

Well another L in the column and Twins actually did some small ball this game in hitting just one sexy bomba. Ouch this team isn't very good. Trade deadline will reap very little rewards if we dangle some guys on the market. Cruz may get some suitors but in his early 40's with hit only skillset, how much we get in return will be minimal. Not much else on this roster the way they are playing will warrant much in return

I don't care what Duffey did and if intentional than so be it. He threw behind his behind. When the twins feel butt hurt about a cute story of Tortuga taking the mound for a 2nd time this year and getting taken deep on a 3-0 pitch. When you pithing staff blows that night, let them finish what they started. Postion player staying at a Holiday Inn last night and pitching in a game is pathetic. Tortuga versatility in that situation is embarrassing as well, multiple skillset but master of none. unwritten rules be damned, swing away swing away. Twins don't want to be embarrassed, then don't throw a softball positional player.

Fundamental baseball by the twins isn't sexy enough for the Bomba Squad mentality. Plate discipline be damned, hit behind the runner/shift, bunt to move players over. Not sure the Twins remember a good game of strato-matic when a 3-2 game was fun to watch. The punch/counter punch moves using their gut feeling days are over. Let me look at my spreadsheet and see if I can hit a 3-run homer with no one on base