DaveW

Didn't see any of the game, but glad I didn't. Right when the team starts giving you a little hope they bring us all back to reality. edit: we are coming back?!? double edit: damnit

Yeah, they don't take kindly to Ghett Rhheady bait and switches around here

Or you can just split him 50/50 with another catcher with a good bat see: Doumit. At this point with other injuries/ineffectiveness the Twins have been able to play Mauer at 1st/DH. I'm sure if pressed he could have started more than 31 games at C so far.

so...your saying he is due for an 0-4, 2 GDP 2k's?

Well Gardy does insist on 3 Catchers on the roster just in case they lose the DH (chances are about 1:3,000 or so), it wouldn't shock me if he keeps 6 1st baseman on the roster for the same reason

BYTO? Blog. LOL

Why does Plouffe have to sit occasionally? I get protecting him from himself against some elite RHP from time to time, but Plouffe should be playing nearly every day. Also as far as Plouffe's at bats/games at third go, might as well give them to Carroll who has proven to be a asset in the field (vs Valencia's routine garbage) and has proven to get on base at a decent clip.

Yeah, but I didn't think that was the topic at hand, and I don't think anyone would disagree with you. I forgot Parmelee was even on the roster to be honest, he gets zero playing time.

Then bring him up to rot on the bench, he still isn't good enough to be taking at bats from Morneau on a full time platoon level. It's way to early to take Morneau out of the lineup 2 or so days a week.

Others would argue that Valencia needs to be playing every day in the AAA for him to continue to improve his hitting and fielding. I just think if you want a lefty masher to play 1-2 times a week you can do a lot better then a Danny Valencia. Giving Morneau a day or two off from time to time against tough lefties is one thing, its entirely another thing to go full platoon on him, I do not endorse the 2nd and think the first is the smart way to go.

Are you truly this dense? Do you understand why exactly Morneau struggled mightily last year and has been less than perfect this year?

44 games is not a large enough sample size to even take a look at UZR and other advanced metrics, also, Casilla plays 2B and Dozier plays SS. So comparing them in 2012 defensively is apples to oranges.

[TABLE=class: sortable stats_table] [TR=class: hl] [TD=align: right].309/.352/.470 in 2011[/TD] [TD=align: right] (.822 OPS) in 2012 he has a .645 OPS aganist lefties. Methinks the Twins should aim higher if they are simply looking for a "leftie" masher to get multiple starts per week at 1st base.[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] Why the hell is the formatting so screwy on this crap?? edit: he has a .822 OPS against LHP in 2011 and a .645 against them in 2012. Color me not super duper impressed.

I notice that to, I think the solution is to create new pages of threads for every 5 posts (instead of 20) and we need far more 300 x 250 advertisements per page.

I'm not saying they need to give up an asset, I just don't trust Valencia very much at this point.

If the Twins get back into the race you should consider it down the stretch, though I'd rather they get a better "Lefty Masher" instead of Valencia who played terribly all year. However until that point you might as well let Morneau take his lumps and ideally find his swing against LHP again. Morneau is paid to much, and has to much potential/results to be a platoon type guy at this point.

Last 34 games: .372/.462/.512 He now leads the league in OBP and has a 141 OPS+ (.859 OPS) its looking more and more likely that Mauer is healthy and getting back to his normal production and has a good shot at winning his 4th batting average title. The fact that they have been giving him starts at 1B/DH quite a bit seems to only help things, so with that in mind moving forward how do you want the Twins to handle Mauer the rest of the season and on into 2013+?

I was thinking this could serve more of a halfway house.

Well to be fair, prior to last off-season Ryan had never had a really legit budget to sign anything worthwhile in free agency, payroll jumped once Target Field was opened and Billy Smith was the money writing the checks at this point, Ryan got his first real shot this past off-season and faired pretty well I think: Willingham (A) - Great signing, might be the best FA bargain in all of baseball this year. Also he made the wise choices in letting Cuddyer/Kubel walk and got picks. Doumit (B+)- Another very good signing, if he can stay somewhat healthy Doumit provides a nice bat and adds depth at the C that the Twins haven't had in quite some time. Carroll ( - Wasn't so sure about a two year deal, but Carroll has been a nice player who has helped stablize the MI and even 3B for a short time. He is also continuing to get on base at a .340 clip which is all you can really ask for out of a #9 hitter. If his average picks up a tad bit you are looking at a .350 OBP type guy at the bottom of the lineup. Capps ©- Overpaid him a tad bit and we lost a pick because of him, however he has been an effective closer (1 b.s. so far), if he comes back healthy he could net us a decent return via trade Marquis (F)- Marquis was flat out awful, at least they only paid him a small amount and only 1 year. Depending on Payroll Ryan will have between 25 and 35 million to spend in the FA market next year, I trust he will be able to bring in some SP help at the very least with that. Should be interesting and it most certainly will be a very important off-season.

We should def try to keep this thread as active as possible, perhaps it can turn into a meta critique of TD and the current Elitism levels residing there.

It's unlikely he will take more walks as pitchers have no reason to not go straight at him.

I believe that is what is referred to as a John Edwards.

I just checked again: The Twins are still 150:1 to win the division, but strange enough are only 100:1 to win the world series.

Which poster were you? At first we thought you were DPJ.

Why do they need to be blown away with an offer for Capps? I agree with only trading Span/Willingham/Morneau if you can get back very good value in return.