stringer bell

Well, sometimes you can't catch a break.

OK. Now some runs.

Got it!

Koufax Quintana.

Get that 10th K.

Time for some runs!

Uh Bri, Milone now has a sore neck and is scheduled to start Monday, but now that is in doubt. Logan Darnell starts the nightcap. Yes, the Royals are the Roller Coaster team. They don't have much power and the hitting doesn't have a real high-percentage guy. In fact, the leading hitter is Escobar at .274. They remind me a lot of the last time the Padres contended, really good pitching and defense and not enough offense.

Hughes pitching Game 1. I guess that increases the chances.

The death march to 90 losses for the Minnesota Twins continues today with another doubleheader, this time against the South Side Sox. Sixteen games remain in this frustrating season which produced one, maybe two, rotation pieces and some optimism that the Twins can score enough runs to be competitive. My thoughts have shifted to 2015. Taking a quick glance at the numbers and having watched a lot of Twins baseball this year, I have selected five areas where the Twins need improved play and where the possibility exists that there can be improvement. 1) Joe Mauer--The hometown hero has to return to being an All-Star caliber player. I don't know what it has been, but Mauer has been a shadow of his former self. His batting average is down 50 points, and his OBP almost as much. Some, myself included, expected a bit of a power surge moving to the physically less demanding position of first base and the reverse has happened. We've seen flashes, but no sustained great performance. Mauer has had a Hall-of-Fame career to this point, but this year has been pretty close to dreadful. I think he needs to both adjust and train like he never has before. He has to turn on more pitches, hit more balls over the fence and be stronger. Some have made the point that Mauer rested all off-season, waiting for the concussion symptoms to disappear. If they are gone, he needs to be both stronger and more flexible at 32. I believe it can be done. 2) Defense--The Strib yesterday pointed out that the Twins defense was ranked 29th out of 30 in some measure. I think that is close to accurate and is almost totally on the outfield defense--and catcher!. There is currently a thread running about the defensive dilemma. I will say that both better athletes and more continuity will move the needle considerably. More reps for Arcia in right field and Santana at whatever position he lands should produce dividends. An improved pitching staff could improve run suppression better than any single defensive change. The crown jewel of the Twins' farm system is a center fielder who could graduate next year and make an immediate defensive impact on the team. 3) Rotation--The Twins' staff was supposed to be improved this year. Despite a breakthrough for Phil Hughes, it hasn't happened. Supposed reliable innings-eaters have underperformed and been injured. It would be foolish to expect Nolasco, Pelfrey and Milone to all bounce back to be acceptable starters or better next year, but it isn't out of the realm that one or two them returns to better form than they displayed this year. Trevor May and Alex Meyer will get a chance at some time next year. JO Berrios isn't far away either. Better days are ahead, hopefully supervised by a different pitching coach. 4) Home record--The Twins have won more road games than seven teams who have better records than they do. Where's the "home field advantage"? Part of this is roster construction--Target Field requires speedy outfielders and right-handed power and the Twins haven't had enough of either. Part of that is attitude, I believe. For some reason, the Twins don't seem to be convinced they should win every home game and haven't since 2010. Again, maybe a change in the field staff will instill this attitude 5) Fundamentals--Know when to take a chance on the bases. Know which base to throw to, and set up and use the cutoff man. When there's a runner on third with less than two out, don't try to hit the ball 500 feet, especially with two strikes. The Twins have fallen off dramatically in all these facets and more, which encompass "fundamentals", and it has cost them on the W-L ledger. Good teams make the right plays at the right time. The talent is there, but the focus sometimes has not been. Again, perhaps a new voice will be able to get through to the players both on how to play hard and be fundamentally sound. That's my five areas. I know there are more. As I wrote this, it occurred to me how nice it would be to have someone else calling the shots from the manager's seat. I guess this is my not-to-subtle call to replace the manager as well. View full article

The death march to 90 losses continues today with another doubleheader, this time against the South Side Sox. Sixteen games remain in this frustrating season which produced one, maybe two, rotation pieces and some optimism that the Twins can score enough runs to be competitive. For the record, the Twins need to win 11 of 16 games to avoid 90 losses. Actually, if they did that it would be a bit more than cosmetic, since they are playing playoff contenders in ten of the last 16 games. My thoughts have shifted to 2015. Taking a quick glance at the numbers and having watched a lot of Twins baseball this year, I have selected five topics where the Twins need improved play and where the possibility exists that there can be improvement. 1) Joe Mauer--The hometown hero has to return to being an All-Star caliber player. I don't know what it has been, but Mauer has been a shadow of his former self. His batting average is down 50 points, and his OBP almost as much. Some (myself included) expected a bit of a power surge moving to the physically less demanding position of first base and the reverse has happened. We've seen flashes, but no sustained great performance. Mauer has had a Hall-of-Fame career to this point, but this year has been pretty close to dreadful. I think he needs to both adjust and train like he never has before. He has to turn on more pitches, hit more balls over the fence and be stronger. Some have made the point that Mauer rested all off-season, waiting for the concussion symptoms to disappear. If they are gone, he needs to be both stronger and more flexible at 32 and I believe it can be done. 2) Defense--The strib yesterday pointed out that the Twins defense was ranked 29th out of 30 in some measure. I think that is close to accurate and is almost totally on the outfield defense (and catcher!). There is currently a thread running about the defensive dilemma. I will say that both better athletes and more continuity will move the needle considerably. More reps for Arcia in right field and Santana at whatever position he lands should produce dividends. An improved pitching staff could improve run suppression better than any single defensive change. The crown jewel of the Twins' farm system is a center fielder who could graduate next year and make an immediate impact on the team defensively. 3) Rotation--The Twins' staff was supposed to be improved this year. Despite a breakthrough for Phil Hughes, it hasn't happened. Supposed reliable innings-eaters have underperformed and been injured. It would be foolish to expect Nolasco, Pelfrey, and Milone to all bounce back to be acceptable starters or better next year, but it isn't out of the realm that one or two of these guys returns to better form than they displayed this year. Trevor May and Alex Meyer will get a chance at some time next year. JO Berrios isn't far away either. Better days are ahead, hopefully supervised by a different pitching coach. 4) Home record--The Twins have won more road games than seven teams who have better records than they do. Where's the "home field advantage"? Part of this is roster construction--Target Field requires speedy outfielders and right handed power and the Twins haven't had enough of either. Part of that is attitude, I think. For some reason, the Twins don't seem to be convinced they should win every home game and haven't since 2010. Again, maybe a change in the field staff will instill this. 5) Fundamentals--Know when to take a chance on the bases. Know which base to throw to, and set up and use the cutoff man. When there's a runner on third with less than two out, don't try to hit the ball 500 feet, especially with two strikes. The Twins have fallen off dramatically in all of those facets which encompass "fundamentals" and it has cost them in the W-L ledger. Good teams make the right plays at the right time. The talent is there, but the focus sometimes has not been. Again, perhaps a new voice will be able to get through to the players how to both play hard and be fundamentally sound. That's my five areas. I know there are more. As I wrote this, it occurred to me how nice it would be to have someone else calling the shots from the manager's seat. I guess this is my not-to-subtle call to replace the manager as well.

In 2013, there was a tight race for the batting championship and the surprise winner was ex-Twin Michael Cuddyer. Cuddy has been injured much of this season and won't be a factor in this year's race. However, two ex-Twins have been at or near the top of the NL hitting leaderboard for the last month. Justin Morneau has enjoyed the NL and playing at Coors Field. He has spent most of the last month as the batting average leader and currently is running second. Morneau came out of last night's game with an intercostal injury. Significantly, he has just enough at-bats to qualify for the batting championship, even if he doesn't take another swing the rest of the year. Josh Harrison, a man without a position to start 2014, is currently leading the pack in the National League. With a three-hit game last night, he currently is at .318, three points ahead of Morneau. Harrison didn't play every day early and has played second, some shortstop, and third base as well as the outfield for the Bucs. He needs 20 plate appearances to qualify for the batting championship. Ben Revere had a couple of days as the hitting leader. He's currently in a 3-26 spin that might take him out of the batting race. He stands at .307. One candidate to win the batting championship is probably off almost everyone's radar. Corey Dickerson of the Rockies started the season as a platoon guy, but is hitting a Coors Field-aided .309. Dickerson needs to average more than four plate appearances per game to qualify, but has been playing every day since the All-Star break. None of these four guys would have gotten much mention to win a batting championship at the start of the season. Two guys who would get some consideration are also in contention, running third and fourth--Andrew McCutchen (.311) and Buster Posey (.310) are also right there in the race. There are some other factors in this race. The Rockies and Phils are out of the race, so Morneau, Dickerson, and Revere can play to enhance their batting averages and the managers can, as well. So Morneau and Revere probably won't face the Kershaws of the world, and if any of them gets a lead in the race in the last couple weeks, they could be shut down. Harrison, Posey, and McCutchen are in pennant races. Their teams have to win at all costs and individual awards aren't even on the same page. In addition, Harrison needs 20 plate appearances to qualify and if it matters, Dickerson needs 64 (in 15 games), so if he's in the race until the last day, he'll need to be in the lineup every day. Finally, Dickerson and Morneau have the advantage of playing home games at Coors Field, easily the best hitting park in baseball. I expect a couple of four-hit home games for one or both of those guys.

Positional flexibility is a good thing for borderline guys. If Chris Herrmann weren't both an acceptable catcher and an adequate corner outfielder, I doubt he would have seen the major leagues and he might be out of baseball. Brian Dinkelman got free health care for life because he could play both second base and the outfield corners. The Twins this year used Pedro Florimon at second and third in Rochester because it certainly appears that he can't hit enough to be a regular, but he might be able to become a three-position utility infielder for someone. Dan Rohlfing of the Red Wings is another guy who can catch and play the outfield corner (plus first base) and it wouldn't surprise me that he gets at least a cup of coffee in the majors because of his versatility. Premium guys like Sano and Buxton won't get moved around. It is telling that the Twins sent Hicks down and used him on the outfield corners, suggesting that his future might be as a utility outfielder, rather than a center fielder.

I'm pretty sure the majority of TD posters think that Danny Santana has earned a starting spot on the 2015 Twins. The question is what position he should play. I have been pleasantly surprised by Santana's sustained good hitting throughout more than half a season. I think he has grown defensively as a center fielder, but he was a career shortstop until this season. I prefer the steady, unspectacular, sound defense of Eduardo Escobar at SS, however, at least over expecting either Jordan Schafer or Aaron Hicks to produce as major league hitters. Escobar has had a nice hitting season along with steady, solid defense at shortstop. The nice thing about having had Santana play over 50 games in center is that, if no other alternative earns time there, the Twins can move Danny to center, even if they started him at the beginning of the season as the shortstop.

I think putting another slow guy (Mauer, Pinto) in the outfield is going exactly the wrong way to improve the defense. The infield is satisfactory at each position, without a real weak link, but not "rangy" unless Santana is the regular shortstop, and I'm not convinced that Danny can be a plus defender at short. Adding a speedy, rangy left fielder and having a regular center fielder would improve things immeasurably. I probably like Schafer more than I should--I love the speed on the bases and he's been pretty good in the OF--but using him more than half the time in the outfield might make the outfield defense more palatable.

Nice conversation. I agree with several things posted, but disagree with quite a few as well. Yes, repetitions will make a player a better fielder. Danny Santana had played less than 10 professional games in the outfield. He has come a long way while learning on the job. If he continued to work on center, he would be adequate as soon as next year IMHO. Lots of talk about Aaron Hicks playing a corner. I just don't see enough bat to play a corner. Arcia was a brutal outfielder last year, he is better this year and I think he can be adequate next year. He's got enough speed and a good arm. He has focused better this year, but still isn't close to a finished product. Having four or maybe five guys play 99% of the outfield innings would help greatly. I think the Twins are moving in the right direction there. Misplays not only come on balls that should be outs, they happen on balls that are legitimate hits. Turning singles into doubles and triples will be alleviated if the pitchers allow less hits in the first place. Game situations caused by better pitching (a healthy lead) will take some more pressure off the defense. Defense and pitching are intertwined. Great defense helps pitching and great pitching helps suspect defense (see Tigers, Detroit). There is plenty of room for the Twins to improve both defensively and on the mound. I think they might improve enough to be interesting next year.

I think you have regulars and bench players. The idea would be to get sufficient playing time for the bench players and rest for the regulars by choosing the right times to play the bench guys and when to rest the regulars. It is obvious that Arcia and Mauer should be rested against LH pitching and that it might be wise to play Schafer only against RH pitching, if possible.

I've followed the Twins through thick and thin. I think differently about different down cycles. Until they moved to Target Field, the Twins were a small market club and I considered winning seasons and contention beating the odds. The World Series victories proved to me that the ultimate victory could be won, but that it was very tough to sustain. I thought that with the move to Target Field that the Twins could contend more frequently and would have the assets to reload instead of rebuild. That is why this tortuous "rebuild" has frustrated me. Further, it seems good money has been thrown after bad on mediocre players, especially pitchers. I think there is plenty of young talent either on the team or on the horizon. Unfortunately, the talent seems weighted to position players when it has been shown repeatedly that pitching wins. Maybe some of the guys on the club already and a couple of prospects will flourish but I remain skeptical. Finally, it seems to me that the field staff and front office are probably a step behind. They have definitely changed their philosophy about power arms, but they have been slow to embrace advanced metrics. I don't think a 100% conversion is necessary, but the Twins need to get into the second decade of this millennium. 2015 should be interesting and perhaps will be the turnaround year. The pitching staff needs a big upgrade and it remains to be seen how the front office will accomplish this.

Here's a nice little story from the PP. Pretty complimentary to Plouffe. http://www.twincities.com/twins/ci_26509192/twins-trevor-plouffe-seeks-gold-improved-play-field

Via espn, here are the Twins platoon splits to date: http://espn.go.com/mlb/team/stats/batting/_/name/min/cat/OPS/split/32/minnesota-twins http://espn.go.com/mlb/team/stats/batting/_/name/min/cat/OPS/split/31/minnesota-twins I have seen it mentioned in the various threads speculating on Gardy's future that Gardenhire doesn't platoon. I would submit that given the roster he has had the last couple years, there aren't many opportunities to platoon. Here are five talking points for discussion of platoon splits and platoons. 1) Remember, in a strict platoon, the right handed hitter would only start somewhere between one-fourth and one-third of the time, meaning somewhere between 40 and 55 starts in a season. 2) Two regulars who had big platoon splits last year--Dozier and Plouffe--have closed their splits considerably. 3) Switch hitters are supposed to have an advantage, but three of the four switch hitters on the Twins have large platoon splits. 4) If you were the Twins' manager, who specifically would you platoon? I don't think there is a good case for a single platoon given the current roster. 5) Reverse splits (some SSS). Three players--Pinto, Nunez, and Parmelee--have reverse splits. They have all hit considerably better against same-handed pitchers than opposite-handed hurlers.

Short starts have hurt this club. IMHO, having an extra bullpen arm has hurt the club less. I wasn't on board with recalling Guerrier, especially when the club needed help in the outfield, but most of the season there really wasn't anyone any good in the Twins' system that could step in and take a bench role. A lot of that has to do with the 40-man roster, but a lot of it is just the way things worked out. For most of the season, the Twins had two long men, and what's more, they couldn't really move either one to another role and they couldn't be optioned to the minors. The long man can save bullpens once in awhile, but they just don't help to win many ballgames that they are in. I really believe that the Twins will go with a 12-man staff for almost all of 2015 and that will be helped by better starting pitching and better arms in the 'pen.

One man's opinion--the baserunning hasn't been that bad. We have seen some dreadful mistakes, but we often have seen the extra base taken when offered. I hate to use the cliché, but a guy like Dozier, who displayed very good instincts to go with good speed, may be trying to do too much. Schafer is going to make some outs on the bases, but he also will take a whole bunch of extra bases via the stolen base and just being aggressive. Slower guys have to know when to go and I think in large part they have been cautious, but haven't clogged the bases either.

I pretty much disagree with the posts immediately above me. First of all, Gardenhire has done an excellent job protecting the health of his bullpen. In the past two years at least, there has been minimal lost time in the bullpen. Some of that might be good luck, but Gardenhire tries hard not to pitch guys on three consecutive games and if they go long in one game, they likely get a couple days off. As far as strategy, every manager tries to get LH pitchers in against LH hitters and finds spots for right handers to face primarily right handers, so sure they'll have short outings. Francona used something like eight relievers in a game where he led throughout to maximize matchups. If a guy goes 10-15 pitches, he's probably available to face a couple batters the next day. The pitchers have roles and it helps them to better prepare. They know when they are likely to be used and who they'll face. It is easy to second-guess if the "8th inning guy" gives up the lead with the closer not warmed up. But if for example Casey Fien throws a good eighth, should he be a candidate to go out for the ninth? There are a lot of one inning relievers in baseball. There is less flexibility and that combination makes for seven and eight-man bullpens. Sometimes we see situations where we say "huh", but more often than not there is a reason why the peculiar move or non-move was made.

The Twins have done their job, they won one game playing at a contender. Roll over boys, there are two to go.

Certainly looks like four is all they will get.