stringer bell

Now scratch out a run and give the ball to Perk.

Probably will jinx him, but maybe it was premature to call for Burton's release.

Well, the pitch to AJ looked inside, but I thought Duensing had Ortiz struck out, maybe twice. I guess you don't call out a silver slugger on a borderline pitch.

I made the mistake of looking at the standing and thinking that, hey, we could be in second place by the end of the night....then this.

AJ's revenge, coming up.

This will not end well.

Uh oh! Papi could make player of the week in one game.

We'd better not have anybody on base when Papi comes up.

And snakes.

Revised Dump List: 1) Aaron Hicks 2) Matt Guerrier 3) Chris Colabello 4) Kevin Correia 5) Jared Burton. Discuss if interested.

Well, if Buxton ever gets healthy, there's no one standing in his way.

Did he get a turbocharger on his wheelchair?

He's fallen off, no doubt. I think pinch hitter and occasional DH/1B makes sense, for now. If Chris can't handle that role, he's likely heading to Rochester. Colabello was a hero when the club needed him in April, but by the All-Star break, if not sooner, he may be batting cleanup for the Red Wings.

Hicks: He has like what? less than 100 PAs at Triple A? I think it would help to spend a couple months in Rochester and it certainly is better than the downward spiral going on now. Fuld: Much like Presley, he is a guy who profiles as a fourth outfielder. Could he fill in for the year? Yes, but he's not going to hit much and he isn't going to get better. Santana: Probably what is best for him is to play regularly at AAA. However, he is here now and has hit so far. Get him at-bats and if it means playing him in center until his hot streak peters out so be it. Maybe, just maybe, the Twins catch lightning in a bottle and Danny stays and never looks back. Escobar: He deserves a shot as a regular. He's got almost 70 plate appearances and he has hit well. He has shown himself to be a capable utility guy and has a rep as being pretty good defensively. Nunez can serve as the utility guy.

Perhaps Brock, I am also advocating Santana going to center for now because I still don't think he's really the answer at short. He's got the range and the arm, but hands and footwork are questionable. It's easier to outrun mistakes in the outfield, especially with burner speed. Maybe Santana can become a poor man's Bonifacio and considering where I put him on the prospect spectrum, that wouldn't be bad.

I just don't think another week or two of consistent playing time (out of position) at the the highest level is going to stunt his development as a shortstop. When it is time for him to go down to Rochester, he can play shortstop or if Escobar goes o-fer the homestand, he can slide back to short. I am trying very hard to have no illusions about Danny's offense, but right now it is infinitely better than Hicks'. Certainly, there should be someone else playing center field (and I don't even mean Fuld), but Aaron Hicks needs to be optioned yesterday.

IMHO, it is the best of many bad options. There are several components that go into my support of benching Hicks in favor of Santana, I suppose all of them are debatable. 1) Escobar is hitting and deserves a chance to be the everyday shortstop. Still SSS, but he's hitting .333 with 10 extra-base hits and an OPS of .882. 2) If Santana is in the big leagues, he should be playing. 3) Aaron Hicks is a mess and needs to get it together in Triple A. 4) Santana, on the basis of his speed and arm can be acceptable in center field. Read my blog "Danny Santana and the .1% Solution" and you will see that I realize it is a long shot. I happen to believe playing Aaron Hicks right now is no better and probably hurts him. So I favor playing the 23 year old out of position over the 24 year old who currently doesn't have a clue.

The Twins have played 36 games, that is 2/9ths of their schedule. They've won 17 games and would project to win about 76.5 games, a nice little improvement. The team has been without two of their projected sluggers--Willingham and Arcia--and suffered through a disastrous run of starting pitching early. The team relied on a reclamation project (Kubel), a journeyman catcher, a rookie, and whatever Trevor Plouffe is for key hits. It worked great early, but these guys, except for the catchers have fallen off the cliff of late. From what I can tell, the Twins have played a really tough schedule. They've played mostly teams with winning records last year and spent a lot of time on the road. Their home schedule has been highlighted by lousy weather and good teams. Given their tough schedule and the concentration of injuries to corner OFs, I am satisfied that there is improvement. I don't think they are a .500 team, but there should be improvement over the last three years' dismal performance. While there isn't much help available in the minors, there are a few live arms in the upper minors. It could be that the Twins could flip some arms in their pitching staff for future help and still put out a representative team.

Danny Santana is a major league prospect. He isn't in the Twins' Top Ten and he isn't a Top 100 prospect in minor league baseball. Most players with his pedigree don't become stars, but some do and I imagine some become All-Stars and most likely some have become Hall of Fame players. Santana's strength as a prospect are his raw tools. He has great speed and a strong arm. His minor league stats have been unremarkable. Finally, he is a prospect in a position of need for his team. Santana was called up because there really wasn't any one else available. He was healthy and on the 40-man roster in a situation where there Twins were without a sufficient bench and had two players hitting below .130. What are the odds that a stopgap call-up stays in the majors and never looks back? I would say about 1 in a 1000 when the guy is a middling prospect as is how I profile Mr. Santana. I am a Twins fan and I hope for the best for my team. Against all odds, I am hoping that the Twins called up Santana at exactly the minute that he "got it" and that he would develop into a solid major leaguer. It appears that Santana's chance to thrive could come as an outfielder. That makes the chances of success even smaller than one in a thousand. I can hope for the best, but realize that it is a near certainty that Danny Santana will be back in Rochester long before the All-Star break. Maybe, just maybe, he'll defy the odds. By the way, hoping for Santana to defy the odds doesn't mean that I accept the Twins puzzling moves (I'm trying to be kind). Two straight years of center field struggles without adequate back-ups is only part of their problem. Carrying too many relief pitchers, falling in love with no-hit catchers and failing to be pro-active when injuries occur are pretty much inexcusable, if not inexplicable.

This whole center field mess started because the Twins kept Hicks for the second straight year on the basis of spring training. The circumstances, to me, screamed for a trip to Rochester to start the season no matter how good he looked in Fort Myers. Until Presley was let go, I thought it only made sense to start Presley and let Hicks gain confidence at Triple A. Yes, Presley was poor in the spring and his upside is really that of a fourth OF, but he was capable last September and that should have mattered more than his poor spring. The Twins lost Presley and have been scrambling for CF depth since.

To keep the guys who are hitting best in the lineup. I think Escobar has earned a shot to be the regular SS and Santana is hitting, so let him play in center until he stops hitting. If it turns out he really can play outfield, then Santana has some proven versatility. Gardy wants to win as many games as he can with the roster he has. I think today Danny Santana is a better choice to be playing center field than Aaron Hicks. If and when Hicks gets his head on straight, then he should get another chance.

Danny Santana! He has the raw tools to be a good center fielder. It would be a risk, but he might be have enough tools to overcome his lack of experience.

Nope. He's out of options. If he were to be sent down, he would have to be DFAed and IIRC, if he cleared waivers, he would have the option to declare himself a free agent.

In the Twins' system, they have Hicks and Fuld. Currently Fuld is on the concussion DL and Hicks is hitting a buck-seventy. If he can play a non-embarrassing center field, I would play him there on Tuesday.

I'm presuming that Fuld will be ready when his seven days are up, and that Arcia is about ready to come up, but really hasn't shown he's ready to be good in the majors. I would bring in Arcia and disable Fien. When Fuld is activated, I would send down Hicks and go with Santana and Fuld as center fielders. With Arcia returning, one of Kubel, Colabello and Parmelee could sit.