stringer bell

I heard Reusse discussing Quentin with Rob Antony--he has an opt-out but it isn't until something like June. Quentin can be assigned to Rochester. I believe the opt-out for Sweeney is earlier, perhaps as early as April 1, meaning he couldn't be sent to AAA without agreeing to go. I don't think it is out of the realm to suggest that Sweeney might see a chance for a recall fairly quickly if a) Buxton starts slow or Santana can't handle a utility role. I still expect the Twins to keep their out-of-options position players, but it would help them if they started to hit a little bit.

Thanks Thrylos. I hope you're enjoying the trip to SW Florida. It does sound like the gun at Hammond is pretty hot. Santana at 97? I know Gibson was clocked a few times at 96 on Wednesday. Didn't see that kind of clocked velo at all during the regular season.

Common knowledge that Santana has pitched several years with a torn UCL. It is a valid question whether Ervin without PEDs can pitch effectively for an entire season.

Abad with another scoreless inning. I think he's in the lead for a spot in the bullpen. Here's my projected roster: Pitchers: Santana (SP) Hughes (SP) Gibson (SP) Milone (SP) Duffey (SP) Nolasco (LR/SP) Abad (RP) Pressly (RP) Fien (RP) May (RP) Jepsen (RP) Perkins (RP) Catchers: Suzuki ® Murphy ® Infielders: Mauer (1B) Dozier (2B) Escobar (SS) Plouffe (3B) Nuñez (U) Designated Hitter: Park (also 1B) Outfielders: Rosario (LF) Buxton (CF) Sano (RF) Arcia (LF/RF) Santana (OF & IF) Adding Abad would mean one guy needs to be taken off the 40-man roster.

Graham has been underwhelming in the spring. He wasn't great last year. IMHO, he is closer to DFA than he is to making the 25 man roster.

The Twins have all but guaranteed that the top three starters to begin the season are Ervin Santana, Phil Hughes, and Kyle Gibson. Three viable candidates remain for the final two rotation spots to start the season. Each has factors in their favor and each has deficiencies that might put him in the bullpen or the minors. Tommy Milone-Milone finished 2015 in the rotation after earlier being sent to the minors and also missing time with minor arm issues. He finished the season with a 9-5 record and a 3.92 ERA. Milone would be classified as a young veteran-he's 29 and has logged 619 innings in just under four years of service time. He is a lefty, the only southpaw competing for a spot in the rotation. Tommy is not known as overpowering, featuring a <90 mph fastball and no dominating pitches. Milone can't be classified as durable, exceeding 160 innings only once in his career and he has only two complete games, the last in 2013. Milone fanned 6.4 per 9 innings in 2015, in line with his lifetime rate of 6.5 per nine. Milone has always achieved better results than his peripherals, compiling a lifetime 3.97 ERA despite a lifetime 4.23 ERA and having a better ERA than FIP every year since his cup of coffee with Washington in 2011. Tyler Duffey-Duffey also finished 2015 in the rotation after a nice run in Rochester. He was very impressive in his debut season for the Twins, going 5-1 with a 3.10 ERA, fanning 8.2 per nine innings. Duffey features a couple of different curve balls that mystified hitters in his rather brief stint with the Twins last year. Duffey is 25 and was a relief pitcher in college. There is a possibility that hitters will catch up with Duffey in a full season, especially since he doesn't throw terribly hard. Duffey has options remaining and could be sent to Rochester without risk of being lost to another team. Ricky Nolasco-No pitcher the Twins have had since Ron Davis has done more to be poorly regarded by the home fans than Ricky Nolasco. He came to the Twins with a reputation of being a solid mid-rotation starter who would log plenty of innings and he came with a big paycheck-over $12M per year. In his first two years with the club, he hasn't earned his paycheck, not even close. He's only pitched 196 innings and hasn't been effective-an 11-14 log with a bloated 5.64 ERA. Nolasco has whiffed 6.9 per nine with the Twins, in line with his 7.3 per nine average. Ricky has two years remaining on his big contract and is 33 years old. Significantly, in Nolasco's career, his achievements don't come close to his peripherals. He has a lifetime 3.81 FIP, but a lifetime 4.54 ERA. As a Twin, the difference is even more dramatic (4.15 FIP vs 5.64 ERA). IMHO, at some point FIP loses it's luster as a predictor of performance and I think that is the case for both Nolasco and Milone. Milone will most likely exceed his peripherals and Nolasco will not. Milone has performed better more recently, is younger and is a lefty. In my book, he wins out for sure over Nolasco. Milone should be and probably will be the #4 starter. Nolasco vs. Duffey is a bit tougher to call. Duffery ML experience is limited, he does have both bullpen experience and options remaining. Nolasco has a decent history plus that contract. Both Duffey and Nolasco have had a bad outing in Ft. Myers, while pitching better in their other appearances. I would predict that Nolasco is given a spot in the rotation and that Duffey is either optioned or sent to Rochester. I think Duffey should get that spot with Nolasco in the bullpen as a starter-in-waiting.

No early opt-out for Quentin. I think they send him to Rochester. Sweeney has an opt-out and Santana hasn't hit at all. I think Danny''s injury might get worse if he doesn't start hitting.

I've said that if Obama solicited and accepted Ginsburg's retirement and nominated a 40-year old liberal, then public opinion would be different. Scalia died with almost a full year left in Obama's term, so it isn't like making appointments with only a grain or two in the hourglass. Obama nominated a moderate--in fact some liberals think that Garland is too friendly to law enforcement--who by all reports is bright and well respected. He's also older, so he wouldn't likely be around for near as long as Justice Scalia. If Republicans have a problem with the ideology of the nominee, that is one thing. They have the problem with the president who has offered basically a compromise candidate and it's still not good enough for them. IMHO, it will serve them right to get a liberal firebrand to take Scalia's seat.

Here's a fairly evenhanded look at the "Biden Rule": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biden_Rule

I don't mind the May move at all given the composition of the Twins staff and who their prospects are. IMHO, May would be a solid starter, but he could be better than that in the bullpen. I haven't seen enough either in the rotation or the 'pen to be absolutely sure. There is a recurring theme that the Twins should have enhanced their bullpen so that May could claim his rightful place (emphasis mine) in the rotation. I, for one, wanted the club to add a good reliever, probably at the expense of Casey Fien. It sounded like the Twins were willing to do so until the contracts for solid relievers got longer and more expensive than they were willing to go. With quite a few prospects ready to contribute by next year, if not sooner, the Twins passed on the likes of Tony Sipp, Anthony Bastardo and a bunch of RH relievers. I'm not sure I agree with their rationale, but it is defensible. The rotation is overpopulated with mid-rotation guys with little upside. However, they have seven guys competing for five spots and IMHO they all belong in the majors. It looks to me like Milone is head and shoulders ahead of both Nolasco and Duffey. I also believe that is the proper decision. I hope Duffey fills out the rotation and Nolasco is assigned to long relief, but Nolasco's resumé tells me that he might have value as a starter although we haven't seen much of it at all since he came to Minnesota.

It would be the pinnacle of hypocrisy for Republicans to say "let the voters decide" and then approve Obama's choice if they didn't like what the voters decided. That said, I guess I wouldn't doubt that they would do just that.

This is getting curiouser and curiouser. The candidate is white, Ivy League, and Jewish, not really adding much diversity to the court. He profiles as a moderate, probably fitting between Kennedy and Kagan and also seems quite friendly to business, perhaps to the point that Citizens United might not be overturned. Further, Republicans are saying that they might consider confirming Garland after the election, meaning they would get a moderate choice instead of the presumed liberal that Hillary would submit, especially if she would have a Democratic Senate. I have seen notes that indicate that Garland is not really pro-life or pro-Second Amendment, two hot-button issues that would invite opposition from the GOP base anyway. Any Supreme Court justice who would replace Scalia would move the court to the left. On balance, I'm OK with Obama's choice. It really would be good to have the court at capacity, and I like the idea of jurists that are fair, rather than ideological. It does put pressure on the GOP to act and might swing a Senate seat or two if they don't.

Let's see if McConnell can hold his caucus together. Even if the Republicans win on this, they lose. Eventually, another vacancy will occur during the last year of a Republican's term and that president won't get to appoint a Justice to the Supreme Court. Maybe the better meme is that the country loses--a less than complete Supreme Court and another notch out of the Constitution.

The answer, Dave, is that Republicans have convinced themselves and their base that Obama is not the legitimate chief executive and by extension his selection isn't legitimate either. It is so wrong, but more than 50 Senators so far are going with this "logic".

Hill the apparent winner in MO by 1500, the Donald holds off Cruz by 1600. Goodness, could it be any closer? (Answer: Yes, see Minnesota US Senate in 2008). Still, these margins are certainly within the voter suppression parameters.

It seems to me that both frontrunners are now pivoting to the general election. Hillary is all but assured the nomination for the Democrats and no one else but Trump can win outright. I guess there could be a brokered convention for the GOP, but denying Trump the nomination when he has a pretty good sized plurality would cause the Donald to run as an independent, which would be death for the Republicans.

Trump wins Florida and Rubio is out. Clinton win Florida for the Democrats.

Watched the truncated replay this afternoon/evening. Some thoughts: Arcia looks faster and more athletic. So far, he hasn't hit, but I think he will be much better this year. Does Hicks have a chance of beating out Murphy? He's done well so far, and Murphy has been unspectacular. Vargas is notably trimmer, but so to are his early batting stats. It looks like the Park signing will at least be okay. Aaron Thompson has been bad so far. O'Rourke was unimpressive today, but has been pretty good. Alex Meyer still doesn't look fluid on the mound. No Tommy Milone isn't another Mark Buehrle, but he's quite a functional pitcher. Milone hasn't shown the kind of durability or the ability to consistently pitch deep into games, but he's capable. I think he's a better starting pitcher today than Duffey, May, Nolasco and Berrios. He deserved the inside track for a rotation spot coming in and so far has kept that track.

1) SSS- Buxton's spring numbers could be changed dramatically in a day or two. If he goes 4-4 on Wednesday, he would be hitting .333. If he goes 0-4, hitting four BBs, he's hitting .167 2) Prospect ratings--A lot of players have failed, but not many when they are ranked first or second. Buxton has been in the top 5 since he was at Cedar Rapids. The people who do the ratings know a little bit. The most likely thing to stop Byron Buxton from being a star is injury. 3) Speed--A few years ago Terry Ryan told me Buxton was the fastest player they've had in the organization since he (TR) had been there. That's pretty fast. That doesn't automatically make Buxton a cinch to steal 50 bases--he needs to work on his jump, his recognition and getting on base--but he's blessed with game-changing speed. I've always thought it was really tough for a right handed hitter to be a speed guy. I hope Buck proves me wrong. 4) Protection--Buxton is not Aaron Hicks, but the Twins should learn a lesson by what happened to a pretty good prospect. Don't pin offensive hope on him early. Don't bat him at the top of the order until he shows he's taking good at-bats. 5) Fatal flaws--Thrylos has constantly pointed out that Buxton has a pitch recognition problem. I do agree to a point, but as a hitter matures, they learn. Buxton has missed a lot of time due to injuries so far in his career and he hasn't dominated really dominated a league since A ball, in part because he's moved up quickly. I think Buxton's first adjustment will be hitting mistakes and hitting them hard, then he'll probably chase fewer balls and finally will be a consistent threat. He's got a long way to go as a hitter, but I think he'll hit .300 before the decade is over.

Cautionary tale: Five years ago, the Twins had a nearly injury-free spring--the only player to miss more than a day or two was Cuddy with a bunion or something. Before April was over, the team was ravaged with injuries. For the season, the only starter that didn't miss significant time was Cuddyer. The Twins lost more than 90 games that year and stayed in the muck for three more seasons.

If all of the above predictions come true, the Twins will be in postseason.

Rogers wasn't very good in his first outing, but has been fine since. I think he still has a chance to make the team, but more than that I think the Twins want to get more of a look at him against major league hitters. Dean can't be take off the 40-man until later, am I right? He pitched a good clean inning today.

Keep him hitting ninth for now. Echoing everyone else, beyond hitting he provides a lot and if he hits acceptably that will be more than enough

I believe that ship has sailed. Mr. Trump will gets lots of attention whether he gets the nom or not. Unless Rubio stops him in FL, I think it is close to over. Kasich has a decent shot in Ohio, but Trump could win there too, which would indicate he will be the nominee.

In my admittedly short look at the box scores, it appears to me that none of the out-of-options guys has taken the ball and run with it. Tonkin, Arcia, and Santana all have started slowly. I'm sure they will continue to get chances, but none of these guys has claimed a spot.