stringer bell

Deal with it, Chief. Your torment probably only will last for another six weeks.

There is not much to lose, but a) do any of you think that Mastro's bat will be suffiecient if he played every day? There probably was a reason why Mastroianni was moved to the OF and likely it was something about the way he played 2B. But I'm sure he could play second better than Nishi or Cuddy.

Give that man a cigar. No, thanks, don't smoke. I'd rather the refrain be "winner, winner, chicken dinner"--that I could go for tomorrow!

0-4, 1 K, no errors.

Justice. The Cleveland series will forever be remembers as "the Nishi games".

I know this isn't really fair, but I'll use your quote from a month ago in conjunction with your comment about Pavano. C'mon, Hendriks is 23 and dominating at the level immediately below the major leagues. The Twins are not going to give up on him when young starting pitching is the most valuable commodity in professional baseball. Pavano isn't young and may not have much left in the tank and he will command a lot more money than Hendriks will make in the next two seasons. Pavano's a goner and Hendriks will get more shots.

Unless the Twins want to limit Hendriks' innings, he is a cinch to be called up in September if not sooner. Actually, maybe they should let him stay in Rochester long enough to win a minor league ERA championship (FWIW). I did start another thread about Liam and Chris Parmelee--to summarize, both have numbers that are beyond good and it would make sense on their next trip to the majors they will be much better, as Diamond has been this year. Hendriks pitching capably in the rotation would really help the team in their weakest area, starting pitching.

Rochester has two statistical standouts, one a pitcher and one a position player. Both guys were on the Opening Day roster, sent down, returned and sent down again. Besides this, both guys really struggled for the Twins. Of course, they are Liam Hendriks (starting pitcher) and Chris Parmelee (1st baseman). Let's look at the raw numbers: Hendriks 9-2 record, 1.99 ERA, <1.00 WHIP, 25 BB, 75 K in just under 100 IP Parmelee .360 BA .471/.703/1.175 OPS slash line 15 HR 41 RBI in just 47 games and about 210 PAs. Those numbers are beyond solid for both guys. Better performance from both would have to be expected on their next trip to Minnesota. Is there any reason (other than this year's MLB numbers) why Hendriks can't be a decent starter and Parmelee a capable hitter? I look forward to both guys getting a chance to reverse their major league numbers. While September success doesn't automatically translate to season long performance (see Parmelee's 2011 September), I think it would do wonders for both player's confidence going forward and help the Twins to decide whether either guy can be counted on for next year.

Much better outing for Hernandez at Rochester. Until proven otherwise, I'll chalk up his first start to rust since he hadn't worked for over a week While his wife had a baby and he was traded to the Twins.

Probably, but: 1.) there is no way to know that's going to happen, and 2.) Once the Red Sox claimed him, there are 48 hours to agree on a deal. So, maybe the Twins could have waited a week to put him on waivers, but most players are put on waivers right away. Again, since there's no way to know of upcoming injury, it's kind of a mute point. Grammar police: that's a moot point, not mute (which means unwilling/unable to speak).

In the three weeks that remain before rosters can be expanded, the Twins are pretty certain to make some moves. First, Trevor Plouffe will be activated from his rehab in Rochester which will force someone to be sent down. The people's choice for demotion would be Nishioka, but it isn't a sure thing that the move will be made. There is a chance that the Twins will go down to 12 pitchers and add another bench player. That could mean that a pitcher on the current staff, such as Manship or Perdomo could be sent down and Nishi would stay. Meanwhile, two or three pitchers are knocking on the door. Pavano has pitched a rehab start and Walters has made two rehab starts at Rochester. Both seem to be at least a week away. Of course, the Slama issue will need to be resolved. His numbers at Rochester are fantastic and he is not on the 40-man roster. The Twins will almost be required to promote Slama at some point this season. It is my understanding that Slama would be a free agent if not added to the 40-man. The Twins have waited this long, so it wouldn't surprise me if they didn't promote Slama until after rosters can be expanded. If the Twins decide to demote Nishioka and add a bench player, there are a couple candidates for promotion. New acquisition Eduardo Escobar will probably at least be promoted when the rosters expand, if not before, and Pedro Florimon was the Twins representative in the AAA All-Star game (Florimon is not on the 40-man). The Twins will have to make several 40-man adjustments as well. If they promote Florimon and/or Slama they must be added and if Walters or Pavano are activated, spots must be made for them. Candidates for demotion from the 40-man roster would include Nishioka, if they decide to send him down, Perdomo, Kyle Waldrop, basically a soft-tossing middle reliever, and perhaps Rene Tosoni. Also currently disabled Anthony Swarzak and Matt Capps could be sent to the the 60-day DL. Of course, when the season is over, the Twins will have to add several minor leaguers, while losing a few free agents. It is interesting and will continue to be interesting what moves the Twins will make.

Pawtucket put the hurt on Rochester and Danny Valencia had three hits and two walks. Danny is headed back to Boston because Middlebrooks broke his wrist and is done for the season. Good timing for Danny V--he also timed his best run of baseball for his chance to play every day with the Twins in 2010.

"Cattle call" was precisely what the Twins did for their bullpen this year. They kept Burton and Maloney (didn't pan out, now had TJ surgery), but weve also seen Deduno (as a starter), Perdomo, and Fien. I liked what the Twins did and if they can snare a guy by signing minor league free agents, sign one higher profile guy and get help from the farm (Hendriks, Gibson) they can be OK. I'll grant that is a lot of "ifs", but I do believe that after everything had gone wrong for about 18 months, the Twins were/are due a bit of good fortune. This is probably Terry Ryan's real strength--finding hidden nuggets in other people's systems--so perhaps there is a little better shot because of that.

As usual, very fine technical analysis from Parker. My only quibble is comment about run support. While I don't doubt the number, I do know Diamond was on the hill for both of the Twins biggest explosions this year--19 runs vs. the Orioles and 14 in Cleveland. Take out those blowouts and Diamond's support isn't quite as impressive. I'm sure most quality starters, Diamond included, would settle for five runs every start rather than getting 14 and 19 and then getting two or less a number of times. I checked the records and in the six games that Diamond started and the Twins lost, the team scored 0, 1, 2, 3, 3, and 2, that is 11 runs in six games.

Bollinger is reporting that Nishioka will be at Target Field in uniform on Friday. He said that he doubts that he will be in the starting lineup. There is no certainty that Plouffe will be activated and he may be sent to the minors for a short rehab. Even if Plouffe is activated, it could be that the Twins send Manship or Perdomo to Rochester.

It would be gambling big-time to trade both Span and Morneau. The Twins, though, do have a history (and have stated it many times) that they prefer to have a guy do so well in the minors to force their way into the major league lineup. That is precisely what Parmelee is doing. Trading Morneau would also have the benefit of freeing up salary, which could be used for a quality pitcher. I view trading Span as both more likely and easier to absorb. Having both Revere and Span in the outfield is fine for outfield range, not so much for power and run production. Outfielders with plus defensive skills are on the horizon, so long-term Span shouldn't be missed.

I get the snark and sarcasm. The thing to do is to trade older, more expensive players. I can't ever say I've been a huge Morneau guy, but he has raised his value substantially in the last six weeks and would stand to raise it even more with a productive end to the season--something he hasn't done in a long time, if ever. This would mean risking that Parmelee can be a league average hitter at first. But if the club could get a very good return for Morneau, the Twins have to do it. They are in a bit of a box for salary and they really don't have a lot more than Parmelee that would figure to contribute from the minors.

Yes, the Twins are uneven. There is consensus that the top seven hitters are good enough to staff a contender and I agree. The remaining two positions would be short and second. I think good production from one and slightly improved from the other would be enough to move the Twins to the top half of attacks in the AL. The major problem here is there is not much behind the top seven. The only guy that gives any indication of being a high-OPS hitter is Parmelee and he did produce nearly identical numbers to Valencia when both were sent down. Parmelee has responded by laying waste to AAA, so I think he could come back a put up decent or better numbers. The fact is I would like to see Parm in the lineup already, but unless someone is traded or injured, there is no place for him to play. The relatively low OPS ratings for Revere and Span are mitigated by their on-base skills, defense, and in Revere's case, prowess on the bases. All told, there is a risk that the offense would go backward with a similar cast of characters next year, but the real issue remains starting pitching.

Nishi's misplays: I just watched the game on DVR and they weren't quite as bad as I thought. He made a nice diving stop on his official error, but perhaps not knowing the runner was slow (or being a showboat) he tried to flip the ball from his glove. He looked like he had the ball measured on the popup, let it drop and oddly just walked instead of quickley getting the ball. He needed to make a good throw after fielding the hopper, if he had charged it, he might have had more time. Again, perhaps he wasn't aware how fast the runner was (this guy is really fast). All in all, not a major league effort, with an oddness added for his reaction to the popup dropping. That Bert and Dick threw him under the bus indicates that the end is near IMHO.

For the Native Americans.

I'm looking into the kidnapping/imposter angle. Did Nishi always smoke Marlboro Reds?

Again, I haven't seen any of today's game and I missed the Nishioka follies on Monday, but if it's half as bad as the board is reporting, he should never wear a Twins uni again. It is supposed to be the best players you have and the team shouldn't have an A-ball player out there just to prove a point (or something). Nishioka was terrible last year and I hoped I would never see him play for the Twins again, but to repeat and intensify the same thing is an affront to the fans.

So, in reality has Nishioka cost Duensing four runs? Sounds like it to me.

When I asked the question, I thought about referencing when FRobby pulled LeCroy in the middle of an inning because the opponents were abusing him by stealing bases.

Sounds like it is bad. Is it worthy of pulling right now and putting Carroll in?