stringer bell

It would be nice to have Grossman as a platoon guy. He's really solid as a RH hitter and holds his own as a lefthander. He could give either a Rosario or Kepler a day off versus a lefty and maybe give Buck a day vs. RH pitching (Rosario to center).

Well said Bark. I've subscribed to the theory that the biggest problem with Islam is that the powers that be haven't reined in the extremists. As a matter of fact, it is my understanding that the rich an powerful Saudis have basically paid off first Al Qaida and now ISIS, slipping them money if they stay out of Saudi Arabia.

Well, the starting pitching was pretty good (except for Dean) in the Yankee series. Actually, this trip through the rotation was good for Gibson, Nolasco, and Santana. Berrios could get another shot (only candidate on the 40-man). Dean has to stay in AAA unless there is a disabled list transaction.

I like Rogers better than Boshers despite the numbers they've posted so far.

Just a note about the bullpen--it hasn't been the middle guys or the call-ups, it was the supposed back of the bullpen that failed.

We're better than the Phillies. Not a high bar.

Disagree, Santana is a good bunter and has made a quite a few good ones, but it was a good bunt.

Textbook bunt for Kepler.

Good for Dozier, but that's an error.

Berrios? Wheeler? Darnell? May?

Umm, is Duffey close to a demotion? A bit luckless on the squib hit, but Bourjas hit it a mile.

Max's profile and stance remind me of Morneau.

Moderator note: Disagreement and debate is fine. Bickering and personal attacks are not.

Strikeouts don't exactly equal lack of plate discipline and walks don't exactly equal selectivity. As was stated above, the key for a Rosario is to stay in the hittable zone and not chase pitches. It will get him to more favorable counts and get him more good pitches to hit. It is nice to draw an occasional walk, but far more important to get good pitches to hit.

My eyeball view of Santana as a defender is that he is not great, but especially in center he's able to outrun many of his poor routes, plus he has a strong arm. I see his DRS is pretty bad, but he is being compared with other center fielders, some of the very cream of the crop. Buxton, undoubtably, is better.

Santana is Plan B in center field. Kepler would play center if both Buxton and Santana are out of a game. DanSan has started one game each in right and left IIRC. I would anticipate he will get a few more infrequent starts on the corners and subs more regularly for Buxton.

Two thoughts about the outfield (without Sano) going forward: Grossman has been........unimpressive defensively. Kepler looks like he has a left field arm to me.

OK, here's my take. Oswaldo Arcia is vulnerable to high fastballs and breaking balls in the dirt and he can't lay off either one consistently. That is probably one too many holes to be an effective major league hitter long term. If that is the case, then what else does Arcia offer? Well, he looks like a good teammate and he's good with the GatorAde bucket. He's not fast, he is a poor defender and he plays left and right field. "Good" Arcia happened in 2013-2014. Since then, he has been a poor player. Since 2014, Danny Santana has been a poor player as well. If you want to include 2013 and 2014 for Arcia in assessing his upside, you have to look at Danny's 2014. Santana was pretty spectacular in 2014. So what you have is two players who both looked like they had broken through coming into 2015. One of them is a switch hitter who has played a lot of games up the middle of the diamond and who has very good speed and the other who has only played the corner outfield spots (poorly) and has demonstrated power. It is not so cut and dried that Oswaldo Arcia is the superior option.

What Polanco brings to the table is probably what the Twins need--on base ability with enough extra-base sock, plus he's a switch-hitter, a definite plus. He hasn't been a very good defender, but has played a lot of shortstop until this year. Dozier converted to second base a bit later, but has been a decent defender there. Polanco would profile to have as much range and his hands haven't been the problem at short, The bugaboo here is that there are so few sure things on the Twins, why add a guy you aren't sure of, when it can be reasonably assumed that Dozier will provide double-digit homers (probably closer to 20) and an OPS north of .725. Finally, there is durability. Dozier hasn't been disabled in his Twins career, spanning more than four years. Other guys with far less big league time have been injured or disabled twice (Santana, Nuñez, Arcia, Sano). I believe Plouffe has hit the DL every season, perhaps not going on the year he broke a bone in the last couple of weeks in the season. There's a lot to like with Polanco. However, I think we've underappreciated Dozier some this year.

I'm not in favor of having a whole team about the same age or experience. All the players would expensive at the same time and I do believe a mix of veterans and young players is better on the field as well.

Also, FWIW Dozier's lifetime OPS is .724 and his OBP (supposedly the "big brother" in the computation of OPS) is the second best of his career. His nice June has lifted this season to pretty close to what we should expect from him. What has changed is the number of outstanding second baseman in baseball, particularly in the AL.

Yesterday, Ricky Nolasco and the Twins were cruising to a victory against the weakened, but still hated, New York Yankees. A funny thing happened on the way to the winner's circle--the Twins gave up seven runs in innings 7, 8, and 9 and were beaten despite getting two homers against Chapman in the ninth. Here are some of the culprits: Kevin Jepsen entered in the eighth with a two-run lead and one runner on first and one out. He yielded the game-tying homer to Carlos Beltran, which gave the Yankees with their great end of the bullpen a huge advantage. 2) Ryan Pressly came in with the bases loaded and nobody out. He allowed the go-ahead run to score on a 3-2 fastball to Ellsbury, then wild-pitched the runners to second and third where the Yanks final run. 3) Fernando Abad who walked the leadoff batter and allowed a bunt single to Didi Gregorious setting up the Yankee's big inning. 4) Juan Centeno who failed to catch a low pitch and was charged with a passed ball and then partially blocked another pitch in the dirt, which still allowed the runners to advance. 5) Paul Molitor, who took Abad out instead of having him face a pinch hitter, then two lefty hitters and intentionally walked the number 8 hitter loading the bases. In my humble opinion, Centeno's mistakes, particularly the passed ball, can't be underestimated. If he wants to stay in the majors, he's got to block low pitches. Molitor's strategy was questionable. Abad has been his best reliever and very good against lefties. Asking Pressly to not only get out the pinch hitter, but both Ellsbury and Gardner is asking for a lot. Abad committed the cardinal sin of walking the leadoff hitter. He wasn't in good position to field Didi's bunt. Pressly was asked to perform a near-miracle and probably came close. If he didn't run the count full to Ellsbury, he might have gotten out of the jam. Jepsen threw a nothing off-speed pitch to Beltran, he had a 2-2 count and absolutely needed to keep the ball in the park. Here's my verdict: #1--Centeno. #2--Jepsen. #3 Molitor. #4 Pressly and #4 Abad (a tie).

OK, I've read the article and read the entire thread. I like and respect Terry Ryan, but I believe the game has passed him by and that it is time to retire. To comment on a couple of specifics, I believe the writer named Danny Santana as a part of the future, not Ryan. Secondly, I'm in the boat with Brock, at this point what Ryan is saying and will say isn't going to reveal much about who is really responsible for the failure of this team and how they will attempt to dig out of this mess. Some of the things that worked for the Twins at the turn of this century no longer work as well. Low ceiling pitchers who limit walks and depend on good defense are getting killed, hitters with occasional power are giving the Twins among the lowest OBPs in mlb. Playing guys out of position with (again) a staff that allows so much contact is a recipe for failure. Having so many guys flail and fail is not an endorsement of the team's player development. Further, I think there have been a host of poor 25-man and 40-man roster decisions, which have culminated in far too many guys for a handful of positions, causing more development issues including the current loss of Oswaldo Arcia. Over the years, Terry Ryan has shown that he knows baseball and he knows talent. Putting that talent together to form a winning club. Unfortunately, many things have changed in the last decade and a half and Mr. Ryan hasn't incorporated them into his blueprint.

I think the key component here is that Arcia is not a good fit as a bench player and perhaps not so much as a platoon option (and there aren't that many true platoons in MLB). To be productive (IMHO), Arcia needs to play almost every day and he simply hasn't hit enough since Molitor became manager to justify that. As I said earlier, the Twins are at fault for creating the logjam at DH/1B/corner OF, with little choice but to start Arcia on the team but on the bench.

Has Buck hit as many ground balls to the right side as Dozier? I really think Buxton could stand to watch Nuñez two-strike approach.