stringer bell

Wildcard leaders!

Walked away to put a load of laundry in the washer, and hey! a single and a triple. Good job Hicks and Santana.

Bremer going on and on about bunting. Yes, the Twins have failed often bunting, but recently I read that they led the AL with eight bunt hits. Also, I don't want my #3 hitter trying to bunt for a hit leading off the sixth in a one run game.

Maybe I am being hypercritical, but I thought Torii could have made a play on the double. It looked like it hit the wall 8-10 feet up. Two outs and nobody on is when you go for a ball like that. Escobar flat-out misplayed the two-out looper to left.

Twins having an excellent night running the bases, but so far for no benefit.

Got to take advantage with RISP.

Since Steve quoted my post about not having the bat to be a regular corner outfielder, I'd like to remind everyone that I never used the word "power" . I see Hicks as someone that will always hit 8-9 in the order and could provide plus OBP, but he's got to hit more than .225. I don't think that's enough to be a regular in left or right, especially if he continues to struggle against RH pitching. If we're considering Hicks as a center fielder, the bar is much lower for offensive production to be a valuable piece. Since I continue to be a "Buxton Believer", I don't see much future for Aaron Hicks with the Twins. Calling him up and having him produce could improve his trade value. I really haven't closed the door on him being a better hitter, but something about "fool me once" "fool me twice" comes to mind.

Yes, there is a reason to move Hicks up soon. That reason is Byron Buxton. Further, I don't ever see Hicks as a starting corner outfielder. I can't see him hitting enough ever to have his bat play in left or center. Finally, as long as Target Field has more ground to cover in left, the Twins should put the least mobile outfielder in right field. In the scenarios above, that guy is Oswaldo Arcia.

I have been critical of Hicks and for two straight springs I said "send him to AAA". This year the Twins did as I suggested. Hicks has done everything asked of him in Rochester. My only concern is that it has only been a little over a month. In Schafer's defense, he hasn't been 100% healthy, but his contribution has been minute. Unless there is something we don't know about, it is time to give Hicks his third and final chance.

Schafer hasn't ever been regarded as a plus center fielder despite great wheels. I think he struggled on D the first two weeks (didn't see many games), but has been solid since. Robinson has been very good. Also, everyone but Torii has picked up assists in the OF. There have been a lot of very good throws from the outfield.

Regarding the schedule: I fully expect both Chicago and Cleveland to be much better at some point in the season. The Twins have played them at just the right time (that is, if they beat the Tribe today). Probably, the same is true for the A's and the M's. It seemed to me that the Twins, with the exception of the time they swept Chicago last year, never got lucky with playing teams during a lull. Some of that, of course, is if you are a bad team you can bring another team out of a funk. My rosy predictions for this year have included the belief that the Twins were due for a large dose of good fortune after enduring four years where basically the only luck they had was bad luck.

Hope you are out on the golf course soon, Halsey!

The Twins started playing better baseball sometime during their previous road trip. They lost two of three to a good KC club and then were shut out 2-0 by King Felix. I believe it was after Hernandez blanked the Twins that Molitor made some lineup changes. Hunter had been moved to #2 which freed Dozier to hit cleanup. BD looked lost there, Santana had drawn zero walks and was hovering near the Mendoza line and Trevor Plouffe was, at the time, easily the hottest hitter on the team. Let's look at those moves, shall we? Hunter: Torii was moved to second in the order after about a week at cleanup. His bat warmed immediately, but in the past week or so, he has been on fire. Overall as the #2 hitter, Torii has posted a .379/.584/.963 slash line in almost 100 plate appearances. Santana: After having an outstanding run as the Twins' leadoff guy in 2014, Danny was having a hard time getting it going this year. Santana has posted only a .235 OBP (and batting average) in the #1 slot in the lineup. He has slumped a bit, as of late, but still has posted an improved .333/.429/.762 in the #9 hole. Plouffe: Trevor was the fourth guy to log multiple games as the cleanup hitter. The Twins started with Hunter, tried Vargas for a couple games and moved on to Dozier, before elevating Dozier to lead off and moving Plouffe to #4. As I noted earlier, Plouffe was the hottest hitter on the club when the move was made. As the cleanup guy, he has done just fine--slashing .367/.462/.829. Since being moved to the cleanup spot, Plouffe has been very consistent, reaching base in every game and slamming three homers accumulating 14 RBI. Dozier: Brian did well as the Twins' lead off guy last year, and was slotted there after being displaced by Hunter at #2 and then struggling as the cleanup hitter for about a week. Some have thought he isn't a very good fit as a lead off guy. I think he is excellent in that role. Dozier hasn't hit for a big average, but he gets on base. When he does reach, Dozier is the club's best base runner. Dozier also sees more pitches than any other player on the team. He does strike out a lot, but also draws a lot of walks. Dozier's slash line in the #1 hole: .360/.538/.898. I would imagine that improvement was due anyway, but it seems that Molitor made sound lineup changes at the right time and put the right people in the proper spots, at least for now. Until the offense cools, I would imagine that the four guys listed will stay in the spots where they have been productive.

17-13 is nice, but the story of the season hasn't yet been written. The Twins have managed to undo a dreadful start and have shown that they can score runs. I still think they are overachieving, both in the runs scored and runs allowed. Most supporting stats don't match up such as OBP, Slugging, OPS, Strikeouts for and against, WHIP, and OPS against. I believe the supporting numbers would come more in line if the Twins keep winning. If those numbers don't improve, I doubt the wins will continue.

Plouffe's improvement into a well-rounded player gives me hope for many current Twins. He is a far better hitter and fielder than he was a few short years ago.

I predicted the Twins would win 85 games. At first, that looked pretty silly and I still believe it will take a lot of good fortune for the Twins to win that many games. However, I think they have enough talent to be relevant for the entire season. Somebody has to say this. Right now, if the season ended today, the Twins would be the second wild card and have the eighth best record in baseball. They have outscored their opponents by 13 runs and have run-scoring and run-prevention numbers in the top half of the league. Hard to sustain? Yes. Impossible? No.

Super 2 is about money. the Twins have enough money to sign a couple of #3 starters for eight figures per year. They can afford to pay Buxton extra as a Super 2. I say that if he stays where he is or his numbers get better by Memorial Day, he is a Minnesota Twin by June 1.

Molitor mentioned more than once that he liked the way Rosario hung in against LH pitching. It wouldn't surprise me at all to see Eddie R in left field today or tomorrow, maybe even both.

Every prospect is not like every other prospect. I think the handling of Hicks is trying to undo what has been done. Is it the right move? I think so, but I don't know for sure. I like what Rosario brings to the table and think that he will hit and field well enough to be a regular corner outfielder. I don't believe Hicks will ever hit that well. Because of those opinions, I think this is the right move, especially given that it is likely that if Rosario struggles, he will be back in Rochester before Memorial Day. Hicks is getting squeezed, no doubt. The Twins have their top prospect who plays the same position raking behind him, while in front of him a utility guy is handling platoon duty in center quite well. Even the left handed half of the platoon is showing some signs of life.

Very interesting piece. A catcher call-up would have meant an expanded role for Herrmann. I'd rather see Rosario. Hope he gets three hits tomorrow.

It got a little too exciting! It does make the victory sweeter.

Schafer with a pretty nice game. I will have more to say after the game.

Things are normalizing. Both Vargas and Schafer have climbed above the Mendoza Line. Escobar is next.

This is the decision I wanted, but I didn't think would come. I think Rosario will be pretty good hitting toward the bottom of the order. He will be an improvement in the field over anyone but Shane Robinson. If he hits, he moves to center when Arcia returns (I think).

The discussion here about recalling Buxton is actually about three different factors: 1) "Burning an option". Buxton is currently not on the 40-man. If he were recalled and then sent to the minors, it would be one of his option years. I doubt this would even be a thought at this time. I believe the thought is that Buxton will be promoted when he is ready and when he gets here, he will be the Twins center fielder for 6+ years at least. 2) "A year of control". Nope. We've already passed the threshold for any player coming up from the minors getting a full year of service. Kris Bryant was recalled after that deadline so that the Cubs could get almost seven full seasons out of him before he could be eligible to be a free agent. 3) Year of cost control. Yes, if Buxton were recalled before the All-Star break, it is possible that he would be eligible to be a "Super 2" and making him arbitration eligible after less than three full seasons. This would make every contract he signs with the Twins more expensive. It wouldn't effect how long Buxton was h If a prospect with this pedigree is ready, he should be recalled. After seeing Buxton in the spring and watching his number in Chattanooga, I thought he wouldn't be ready 'til September at the earliest. His numbers have improved dramatically and maybe the rust is off. I hope so.