stringer bell

Yes, considering Sano's total body of work as a hitter says more All-Star than AAA. I do believe the Twins brass has a point about not taking defense seriously. I haven't counted his reps and probably none of us know exactly how much time and diligence Sano has for being a good defender. What we know is that he's never been very good in the minors as a third baseman, he was a (near) disaster when switched to right field, and he's been poor when switching back in midseason to third base. We've seen enough good plays at third to believe he has the skills to be satisfactory or better, but we've seen mistakes that would make an Appie League manager shake his head. Offensively, Sano was the team MVP last season in a half season of work. He's been pitched differently and better since September of last year and his numbers since then remind one of Dave Kingman or Mark Reynolds more than Big Papi or the Big Hurt. Would a trip to the minors help his offense? I think it could, but this young man is extremely talented and should do better than Kennys Vargas or Oswaldo Arcia. In summary, I think that since Sano has come off the DL and returned primarily to third base, we've seen a player with great talent either demonstrate he can't play a defensive position or not work hard enough to have one and we've seen someone regarded as one of the future great hitters be considerably less than great. He had a fine series in Tampa despite a couple key strikeouts in the middle game. Perhaps this talk of demotion has lit a fire under the big fella.

OK, to Brock's general point, I agree wholeheartedly. I was going to divide the season in thirds. Of the top of my head, the Twins were 16-38 in the first third, and 27-27 in the middle third. I don't believe a contender can have a 16-38 stretch, but plenty of contenders (who make post-season) have had long intervals of so-so baseball, such as that 27-27 stretch the Twins just completed. I don't think we can expect the team to contend next year without new faces on the pitching staff, but I believe there is enough fully developed talent amongst the position players for the 2017 team to contend. That is why I don't want their best player the past four years to be traded.

Interesting to read all of these comments. I said at the very beginning that I think it will be Vargas and if I was making the decision I believe it still would be Vargas. IMHO, Vargas has put in his chit for consideration as a DH/1B going forward and his demotion would only be for three weeks. If I were the manager or GM, I'd tell him he's made progress and has a chance to figure in the team's future. Sending Vargas down would lessen the logjam of Polanco (3B), Sano, Plouffe, Mauer. I won't get my knickers in a twist if anyone sits a day or two going forward, No one has played well enough long enough to expect to play every day. There is enough talent among the position players, I'm convinced of that.

A small injury may in fact become disabling at this point. I expect they will give Plouffe enough at-bats to show he's healthy and swinging at least OK.

Mod note: There's already a thread about Sano. If you are talking about his weight, his attitude etc. make your thoughts known there.

Sadly, this is the likely scenario, if no one wants Plouffe by the end of the month, I think. However if someone has an injury, he could be a good fit. Plouffe is an average or slightly better 3B when healthy, but I don't think he's been really healthy all year. It is too bad that the team is painted into a corner or moving him.

Plouffe is out of options and probably has too much MLB service time, anyway. The Twins are currently carrying 12 pitchers (the new minimum), although they might be able to get creative and only carry four starters somehow.

Trevor Plouffe was sent to Rochester when the Twins went to Cleveland. He DHed last night and was 1-4. In total, it appears he is 3-11. I would expect Plouffe to remain in Rochester through the weekend, but probably about August 8th or 9th, he should be ready to return. With the flexibility of the roster as is, the Twins could send out any position player. This late in the season, I would find it hard to believe that they would burn an option for any player who hasn't had his option used. Here are my candidates: Danny Santana (DFA), Kennys Vargas, Jorge Polanco, Byron Buxton, and Miguel Sano. Of course, a trade could open a spot, but except for Suzuki, who would have to be replaced by another catcher, there aren't many waiver trade options left. My bet would be Vargas. It is already crowded at 1B/3B/DH and his option was already used. What is the opinion of Twins Daily posters? Who should it be? Who will it be?

I think it ends up Obama-Romney close. 5-7% margin for Hill, with her basically winning the same states that Obama did in 2012. If the margin widens, North Carolina, Georgia and Arizona turn blue. If it is really lopsided, I'd like to see Clinton make a run for Texas, the only reliably red large state.

Third base doesn't require as much arm strength as short and beside that shortstops also have to make a bigger variety of throws and angles with less time to set themselves.

I DVRed the game and just finished watching. Several thoughts: Trevor May's glove looks like it should belong to a Little Leaguer. Everyone else's glove looks twice the size of their hand. May's doesn't look like it is big enough for Donald Trump. Just think how good the Twins offense would be going if their two most ballyhooed players (Sano and Buxton) were playing like All-Stars. It's not fair to expect those two guys to live up to the hype, but Buxton's offense and Sano's defense halve been pretty disappointing. Polanco looks pretty comfortable at third, despite limited experience. I like him there better than Sano already, and if I'm penciling in an infield for next year, it is Mauer, Dozier, Escobar, and Polanco, making Sano one of three DHs. More on Polanco--he looks really good at the plate. Good approach and good swing. Combined with being a switch hitter and having decent speed, I would think it would be hard for him to have a long slump. I'm really surprised his minor league numbers aren't even better. Speaking of Polanco, what we've seen of him he's really a good player, but he'll have to go some to be better than Dozier. The numbers for this year are almost elite despite a miserable start. He's hitting more and more balls with authority to right and right-center and his power as a middle infielder is pretty much the best in Twins history. He most likely will hit his 100th homer this year, almost all in the last four years. Unless Kepler continues to hit like Babe Ruth or Sano gets hot, Dozier will lead the club in homers for four consecutive years. The only guy to match or exceed that for the Twins is in Cooperstown. If Dozier is traded to make room for Polanco, the team better get a haul, because IMHO Dozier might have made the adjustments to be an elite hitter. Mauer and Kepler have had great series against the Tribe, but a lot of others are swinging good bats, it's tough to get ABs for Grossman and Vargas, who weren't slumping either, It will be interesting to see who sits tomorrow vs a rookie. Finally, 37 runs in three games! Wouldn't be fun to see a big number tomorrow afternoon? I suppose the rook will throw seven scoreless and the Twins will lose 2-1 or something, but this is a lot more fun than watching them lose game after game. Oh yeah, welcome to .400 baseball. For probably the first time all year, the Twins don't project to lose 100 games.

It would be great to get Dozier's production at short, but that's not happening either. It's pretty obvious that the team doesn't believe Polanco is a capable shortstop. I saw what Ash saw in ST. Way back when he was in Cedar Rapids, I talked to an Angels scout who said his arm was a little short and that he probably was a 2B. I haven't seen anything to change my mind.

Two thoughts on Kepler: I pretty much expected lots of doubles and triples, but not many balls over the fence. It appears to me that he's a more complete player than the more publicized Buxton and Sano.

With the season well underway (more than 100 games) and the Twins out of contention for anything but a high draft choice, I checked the stats for AL Rookie of the Year candidates. I found three who have been great: Kepler, the Tribe's Naquin and Michael Fulmer of the Tigers. Naquin vs. Kepler is interesting. Naquin is hitting well over .300 and has an OPS in excess of 1.000, that is superstar territory. Kepler has his OPS over .900, and leads all AL rookies in HR and RBI. Kepler has a slightly higher WAR. Bonus for Naquin--he's playing for a contender. Fulmer is a wild card. He's been great--9-2 with a 2.50 ERA, 84 Ks in 97+ innings. The Tigers have to be considered contenders, as well. Fulmer might make the "qualified" level for pitchers. He has averaged just over 6 IP per start and has probably 11 starts remaining, he'd had to average about 6 and a half innings per start. It doesn't appear Naquin or Kepler will get enough at-bats to qualify (FWIW). Neither hits on the top of the order and they both are at about 250 PAs.

Pretty sure Dozier's best season for WAR (and just about everything else) was 2014. Brian tailed off dramatically in 2015 after being named to the All-Star team.

Ryan and Antony can get an "attaboy" for the deals for Abad. Minor league contract-solid performance-trade for some value. Well done former and current GM.

and will be next year and beyond.

So only Twins players regress mightily when they turn 30? I wonder if Vargas impresses the rest of the year, what happens to Park? Incidentally, Park just turned 30 sometime since his demotion. For those of you who don't check Rochester's box score every day, Park Bang had a monumental surge, something like eight homers in 10 days, with three in one game, but he's hitless his last three games. His numbers are good, but not off the charts. Would the Twins consider trading Park if they believe Vargas is the superior DH/1B? Park's remaining contract would actually be a good reason for another team to trade for him.

For you young 'uns, the Twins had a platoon third baseman named Mike Cubbage, who threw lollipops to first much like most of Dozier's soft tosses to the first baseman. There were comments that his throws to first were measured in hang time, but on balance he was an okay third baseman. If Polanco's arm isn't quite up to speed for short, he still might have enough to be an adequate third baseman.

In every big league season, there are peaks and valleys. For the 2016 Minnesota Twins, there have been far more valleys than peaks. After three brutal months, the Twins put together a winning July, going 15-11, improving their record from 25-53 to 40-64. There was improvement across the board, with the possible exception of fielding. The Twins were second in run-scoring with 142 runs, while their pitching was middle-of-the-road, allowing 111 runs (100 earned). They hit 31 homers in July, led by Max Kepler with 8, while allowing 29. The Twins run-scoring wasn't a function of hit-sequencing--they were in near the top in team BA, OBP, slugging and OPS. The staff supplied a 3.80 ERA with low walks and strikeouts. The team the Twins put on the field in July seems talented enough to compete. Can they sustain this for another month or two? What does this mean in terms of how much turnover on the field is necessary for 2017?

For sure, North! I haven't gotten the chance to watch as much Twins baseball as I want, but there is a marked difference in Vargas 2015 and Vargas 2016. He's so much more selective and it is really paying off. Not only with more walks, but also with more hitter's counts and he's punishing cookies. I'll grant that it is SSS and that Vargas still strikes out plenty, but the new, improved Kennys looks pretty impressive.

Fixed the title. You can edit the rest.

Pretty good catch, I suppose.

There was an example of why the Twins need to be patient with BB. That is game-changing speed.

Through 2 innings, a lot of balls hit in the air, mostly cans of corn. In the second, six fly ball outs, one putout for each of the outfielders on both teams.