stringer bell

I wouldn't be surprised if the position players aren't changed much. Basically the 12 who were on the squad when rosters were expanded and why not? That group scored runs as well as anyone. As others have pointed out, any additions need to help the team play better defense. On the other hand, the Twins need to shake up their pitching staff. I think the bullpen needs turnover and at least two starting jobs are wide open.

Barring injury, Phil Hughes will be the Opening Day starting pitcher for the Twins in 2015. He was the Twins best and most reliable starting pitcher last year by far. Hughes was signed to a three-year $24M contract coming off a 4-14 season with the New York Yankees, a team that won 85 games. Hughes had allowed 24 homers in 145+ innings for the Yanks and the thought was that a new location and less pressure would allow for improvement. Hughes pitched in 2014 as a 28-year old, so he was one of the younger free-agent signees signed in the offseason. It was not just improvement, but a sea change. Hughes started rather slowly in April, not getting his first win until his fourth start and recording a 5.14 ERA for the month. Hughes walked six batter in his first four starts, and walked 10(10!) in his final 28 starts. He was regarded as a pitcher with good control, but nothing like what he put up this season. He kept his team in the game almost every outing. He struck out eight hitters per nine innings while walking .7 per nine, setting a record for the highest K/BB ratio in a single season and leading the league with fewest walks per innings pitched. Hughes 3.52 ERA was good, but his FIP of 2.65 was much better. Hughes this week earned Diamond Award hardware of both pitcher of the year and MVP. His fine season was arguably the best by a free agent signee this year. Now, as we turn the page to 2015, we all wonder if Hughes can sustain his excellent 2014 campaign. He did set a career high for innings and batters faced, and he's coming off a season when he only allowed .7 homers per nine, about half of his mark in New York. Also, Hughes has had strong seasons in even-numbered years, can he break the jinx and put good numbers in consecutive seasons? There are reasons to expect some regression, but also reasons to believe Hughes has "found it". I can't really see another season where he practically walks no one. However, there is hope he will be backed by an improved defensive outfield I also can't see Hughes continuing to suppress home runs as well as he did in 2014. It does make sense that Hughes would perform closer to his FIP and perhaps allow a lower number of hits per inning pitched. Hughes' ability to "pound the strike zone" seems ingrained in his approach and has, no doubt, been effective for him. Hughes was regarded as an extreme fly ball pitcher and indeed he has many balls put in the air. His air out percentage is one of the higher ones in the league, but it has worked for him. With all the failures of pitchers brought in to the Twins, Hughes was both a pleasant surprise and an advertisement that finding the right free agent is possible. Any thought of contending revolves around him backing up last year's success with another strong season.

On another thread, I mentioned that the holdovers for the Twins in the outfield lean left handed. In my estimation, candidates for 2015 outfield jobs in the organization are: Oswaldo Arcia (only guaranteed starting OF), Jordan Schafer, Aaron Hicks, Chris Parmelee, Chris Herrmann, Eddie Rosario, and perhaps Danny Ortiz. All except Hicks are left handed hitters and Hicks is a switch hitter. We can also add in Danny Santana if the new manager wants to keep him in the outfield. It would appear to me that the team needs to go out of the organization to acquire a right handed hitting major league outfielder who can play good (or better than good) defense. I have come up with five names, some free agents, some not starters on their current team: Peter Bourgos, Craig Gentry, Chris B. Young, Chris Denorfia, and Alex Rios. The last three guys are free agents. Bourgos and Gentry are not starters on their current team. Do any of these guys interest you? Are there others who should be considered? Thoughts?

Good post, ChrisKnutson. Yeah, lets bring in Denorfia and Young. We could have Herrmann, Colabello, Denorfia, Parmelee and Young. The Twins would lead the league in guys named Chris for sure. Seriously, I don't know much about either Denorfia or Young, but they would appear to be upgrades who could bridge the team to when the prospects are here. Of the current outfield candidates, Arcia, Schafer, Rosario, Daniel Ortiz, Parmelee, and Herrmann all hit left handed. It makes perfect sense to bring in a RH hitter who can play good defense. It looks like both Chrises fill the bill in that respect.

Rosario with three more singles yesterday. He is second in the AFL in batting average, second in SB, and first in hit (12 in 6 games). Kepler had a hit, walk and stolen base. He is holding his own (.250 BA). Adam was the only other farmhard that played yesterday. He went an inning and gave up two runs.

Two more hits for Rosario today (Wednesday). He is playing CF for the River Rafters, after making all of his other starts in left. Finished 3-5. So far, so good for Rosario!

While the topic is left field, the reality is that both left and center are probably unsettled. The Twins have to decide about Danny Santana. If he goes to shortstop, two positions need to be filled. If the Twins decide that Santana is a shortstop, I think the club has to go outside the organization to get a major leaguer who is a plus fielder, most likely to play center. I think they should lean on internal options for left in that scenario. If Santana is your regular CF, then the competition should be wide open between several options. I really don't want to see Aaron Hicks in a Twins uni to start to 2015. He hasn't performed when the games count and he has shown the folly of believing in spring training numbers. I would peg the competition as between Schafer, if he is retained, Rosario, Parmelee and perhaps Daniel Ortiz. All but Parmelee would qualify as a step up defensively from the pretty bad defense we saw last year. All are LH hitters. It seems to me that the Twins could use a good defender who hits right handed. Peter Bourjos has been mentioned a lot, another guy to look at might be Craig Gentry. Gentry had concussion issues last year and would have to be acquired by trade unless Oakland cuts him loose.

I don't know about Ortiz winning a starting job, but I think he might get a shot as a fourth/fifth OF, depending on the exact roster makeup. From what I've seen and read about Ortiz plus a handful of PAs in Spring Training, he is a three-position OF who doesn't possess any one outstanding tool, but can do a little bit of everything. Right now, the Twins have LH hitters Schafer, Parmelee, and Rosario along with switch hitter Hicks all in the mix and probably ahead of Ortiz, but Parmelee and Schafer might not be retained. Hicks and Rosario are both coming off disappointing 2014 campaigns. Ortiz is a minor league free agent, but I have to believe the Twins will re-sign him.

OK, you have Schafer, Parm and Rosario who all hit LH. Schafer and probably Rosario would be considered pretty good defenders. Hicks is a prospect who has always hit better RH. If he were strictly platooned, he will have reached his floor and ceiling at the same time and he would start between 40 and 50 games. Nuñez would be a fast infielder playing outfield. In his 16 games out there he made some really nice plays and looked totally lost a couple of other times. Add to this soup the fact that Parmelee and Nuñez both had reverse platoon splits last year. Finally, how many guys can the team carry to man left field? I think two is really the max and one of them has to be a backup center fielder.

Continuity and an outstanding defensive center fielder will improve the Twins outfield a lot. Having a good/better than good left fielder would also help a lot. In looking at available outfielders (free agent or trade), there just aren't many the fit the bill. Schafer in left is pretty good defensively, but as others have noted, his upside is negligible and his continued good performance is questionable.

2011--minor leagues with Sept callup. 2012--bench for thw Whities, traded for Liriano, mostly bench for the Twins 2013--bench/utility for the Twins, regular play for the Red Wings when sent down. No injuries, he had just played sporadically when in the majors until 2014. The 73 starts in 277 games is correct.

That is correct. Going into this year, Escobar had 1.128 years of service over two years plus September of 2011. I calculated that to be 273 games, it actually is 277. He started 73 games in those 277 games that he was active, less than 27% of the games he could start. Yes, he sat on the bench a bunch while accumulating his 1.128 years of service. Many, including me, thought Escobar's only role was utility infielder, despite some indications that he is a better hitter than assumed. For this year, at least, he showed he was a pretty good hitter.

I have to confess that I grow tired of the argument. We see it over and over and all of the complaining solves nothing. The Twins won't increase payroll substantially after a bad year. The small subset (Twins Daily posters) of the small number of year-round Twins fans that are actually following the Twins right now, isn't going to make enough noise to change their plan. I mostly agree with the rationale to spend more in order to break out of a four season funk. The Twins will go about it in their way. If you all feel better venting about a misguided policy which cheats us long-suffering fans of quality entertainment next year, knock yourself out.

Agree to disagree. 332 PAs in 1.7 years means that Esco was previously a guy who got to play a game here and there but never got consistent at-bats. By my count Escobar started 73 games out of a possible 273, so about a start every four games. Not exactly a formula for good offensive performance. He got his chance to perform and he thrived. Santana got a chance to perform on the big stage and he thrived more.

I think last season is a better apples-to-apples comparison. Both had over 400 PAs and played pretty much regularly. Including Escobar's stats from partial seasons when he was a bench player aren't really a fair comparison. Still Santana is younger (about a year and a half) and had the superior offensive season. Santana's BABIP was .405 while Esco went for .326.

Today's AFL game is on mlb.com, no sign-in or registration required. Follow the link that Seth provided and enjoy! Only one Twins farmhand is in the lineup. Buxton is starting in right field.

I'm not on board for bringing everyone back, but it's really not a payroll issue--goodness Duensing, Swarzak and Nuñez combined salaries aren't enough to sign anybody that amounts to anything--obviously the club is retrenching and their public relations skills still leave something to be desired.

Santana's BABIP was .405. Which would be easier to sustain? I think I know, but I would like to be convinced that the other is possible.

Of all the guys listed, I think Danny Ortiz has the best chance to help the major league team. He is young, has some versatility and has decent tools across the board, although none stand out.

Santana certainly has the tools to be a decent or better SS. He was so raw in ST, I thought he was a long way off defensively. There weren't any red flags, to me, from his play at short with the Twins, but I would have to put his defense as "unproven" at best.

I expect at least one of the three guys to debut in 2015, maybe all three. I'd say the bullpen is due for some turnover and the new guys should be hard throwers. Those guys fill the bill.

Nice to see how highly Shane Mack is rated. He was an outstanding player in his rather brief tenure with the Twins. I also like the relatively high rating for Cuddy in comparison to some guys, like Gladden.

I didn't include it in the write-up but my opinion of Santana's defense at short during Spring Training was that he was not ready, bordering on awful. He dropped balls, booted balls, and made several poor throws. He didn't look good going in and struggled on the double play pivot. No, his defense was subpar, to be kind. His defense at short looked okay during the season. Maybe he had made progress to "adequate" already, but it will take a bit more time to convince me. The one sure thing is that the shortstop position looks far better than it did a year ago.

Fryer started one game after Pinto was promoted. I don't find that excessive at all. Certainly, I would have liked Josmil to start more games behind the plate. As it turned out, the games against non-contenders were a couple series with the Sox and the three-gamer with the D-Backs. Suzuki had a fine year and he had the manager's confidence. There will be a new sheriff in town and Pinto should get a chance to win the confidence of the new guy.

Maybe we could swap problem first round draft choices. Their ages and stats are pretty similar and maybe both guys could benefit from a fresh start.