stringer bell

Is that Plouffe's first bunt hit ever?

Boyer quickly clears the bases.

How about that BB/K ratio?

Oh my goodness. What is Arcia's problem?

So close.

Bert says that Gibson doesn't have his best stuff. Smart man.

What kind of slide was that?

Santana off the schnide.

Much better inning for Gibson. He seems to be surviving without his best stuff.

One of those infrequent strikeout thingies would be good here. Edit: Or not.

Way too many pitches for Gibson.

Not exactly the big inning I was hoping for.

Not a coincidence that the Twins have scored runs the last three times they got a leadoff walk. Now make 'em pay for the mistake!

"Fly Ball" Kyle Gibson.

Escobar DH? Ugh. Also, get Dozier out of the cleanup spot. Can't stand to see that.

Dozier is a good lead-off guy. He works counts and draws walks and there is nothing wrong with a lead-off homer. Today, I'd make the lineup: Dozier, Hunter, Mauer, Vargas, Plouffe, Arcia, Suzuki, Schafer/Robinson, Santana.

According to milb.com, Hicks is hitting .227 w/ a .579 OPS vs. RH pitching. Rosario comes in at .292 .721 in the same split. I think we can all agree that these very small sample sizes and that it is really early. I think Rosario has a future with the Twins and I don't think Hicks does. As I noted earlier, Rosario has started the last two games in center field, so I do think he is a candidate to replace Jordan Schafer.

Forgot about Stauffer. Will edit my original post.

There have been several articles about moves to be made to improve and make the club younger. Winning four games out of the last six and five of nine probably makes any move less imminent. There are several guys who haven't done much so far, some are safe because of contracts, one because he's a Rule V, and some because the replacement options are not much better. Here's one guy's opinion of who is on the hot seat: 1) Jordan Schafer: The Twins don't have anything other than an arb-eligible contract invested in him. Schafer is 4-28--that is bad. He has been less than satisfactory in center and he hasn't stolen a base. That is worse. What is keeping him in the majors is his nice month and a half with the Twins last year and the lack of an obvious replacement. I've written on two other threads that the replacement might be Rosario. 2) Blaine Boyer: He has been OK his last couple times out, but prior to that, he was dreadful. Again, the Twins don't have much invested. Possible replacements include Michael Tonkin, AJ Achter, and Lester Oliveros. 3) Tim Stauffer: Unimpressive in the spring, equally unimpressive so far in the regular season. The club owes him on a $2.2M contract and his track record is better than his performance so far. Possible replacements include the same guys who would replace Boyer. 4) Mike Pelfrey: In the last year of a two-year contract, big Pelf hasn't reached the sixth inning. He has made changes (more changeups, a couple breaking balls), but he still can't get deep in games and it all hasn't clicked. Pelfrey may well get sent to the bullpen instead of DFAed. 5) Eduardo Nuñez: He hasn't played much and despite four hits in six at-bats, he has managed to make an embarrassing play in the field and one on the bases. Nuñez is out of options and may be lost to the club if DFAed. Barring injuries, a replacement would be someone like Josmil Pinto. 6) The Three Amigos: Three guys who have started the season as regulars after finishing last seasons as regulars. Danny Santana is hitting under .200 and been below average in the field. Kennys Vargas is hitting .200 and has been dreadful left handed. Oswaldo Arcia is hitting in the low .200s with one homer and the expected poor performance in the field. Prolonged struggles by any of these guys could get them sent to Rochester for more seasoning. Replacements could be the aforementioned Pinto or Eddie Rosario or Aaron Hicks. All three of these younger players have options remaining and haven't logged much AAA time. Unfortunately there are quite a few more who could get released or optioned. Chris Herrmann, JR Graham, Trevor May and perhaps Shane Robinson. Herrmann and Robinson have performed quite well (SSS), May pitched well his second time out. All have earned some rope IMHO.

Certainly agree with the consensus that Buxton is not ready yet. As Ashbury said, Buxton wasn't having much luck in spring training against minor league pitchers. He still seems to be far from mastering AA. I agree that he would be the best alternative defensively and he is the fastest person in the organization. I think that Rosario might be the next guy. He is slightly outhitting Hicks, but he is a LH hitter and the person he could be replacing also hits from that side. It has been noted that Hicks is still not hitting well against RH pitching. Rosario has started the last two days in center for Rochester.

Trevor Plouffe is a major league regular. He will make enough money to be comfortable for the rest of his life and probably will never play in the minor leagues again. Schafer and Robinson are not guaranteed to be in the major leagues for the remainder of this season or any time after that. Quite a difference IMHO. No, Trevor won't stand in the way of Sano for long, but he could well be a starter in the majors for another five or more years.

Early season fun fact--the Twins have a winning record in games not started by Phil Hughes.

Thompson might be a one-inning guy.

Plouffe over the Mendoza line (as expected).

That's probably the episode where Cuddy got mad at him but let him get his way.