Snortwood

Trade from strength. OF is the position of strength in the organization. If a starting pitcher or a few arms that can bring heat are offered in return it's a deal that has to be made.

Last year it felt as if 2 or 3 times a game Ben was dribbling it back to the mound. This year he has a game or 2 like that and then BAM! he's getting 3 or 4 hits for a few games and all over the bases true with mostly singles and maybe an occasional walk or hbp. But he's busy on the bases. Remember - we talk about the best hitters in the world in the MLB (c.f., Nishioka, JLB hitting champ = <.200 MLB) and tend to think there's a way to improve on .320 when, in fact, hitting for a living is very VERY difficult because it's highly competitive out there and if Ben can eliminate one bad thing and add one good thing per year, at that rate we're talking about someone with the aptitude to be an absolutely great HOF maybe Tony Gwynn caliber hitter. Let's repair one thing at a time. This year, eliminate those dribblers back to the mound and let's get hard grounders and liners. Next year, future years, cut back on the fly balls and get some gappers and greater selectivity. OTOH, if Ben stays about where he's at, a .320 singles hitter with great speed hey! that's awfully good as is and top of the order stuff. Like Bill Wigglestick said, "Striving to better oft we mar what's well."

Torii Hunter? Are people serious? The Twins have 5 or 6 highly regarded minor league prospects who can play right field, or CF and keep Revere in RF where his range overcomes his arm 3 or 4 plays to 1, and my guess is every one of those prospects will be a better major leaguer than Torii H in 2014 given the opportunity to play the position and get 400+ ABs in 2013. Going with Torii would be expensive and short-term, and this team is NOT in a short-term mode from anything they've shown lately. Trade Span and Danny V, sure, and Liriano maybe, if the return warrants it, for pitching and if possible a shortstop who can really play the position and stay above the Mendoza line with or without pop in his bat but defensively strong, and the rest of the lineup (C/Mauer, 1B/Morneau, 2B/Casilla until some kid is ready, 3B/Plouffe, SS/get-or-find-somebody!, LF/Josh, CF-RF/Hicks-Benson-Revere, DH/Doumit) with better starting pitching is enough. It may take a few years to build the rotation. Now would be the time to start giving younger players an opportunity to get the plate appearances it takes to move from rookie to novice to reliable contributor. No reason to expect this team to win 90 games this year or next, but getting this club into a position where it might be able to do that next year, and can be expected to do that 2 years from here, that's the challenge. And that isn't going to happen by giving Torii Hunter a job next year which could go to some deserving talented hungry soon-to-be-much-better-than Torii kid.

There is no market for Justin Morneau at the present time. Owed, what, $20M? And hitting like Drew Butera. Well, better than that, but at times not much. Assume the Twins are on an unalterable 90 loss pace. Maybe they only lose 85. Wouldn't you feel stupid trading away Morneau this year when it turns out that if you were only a bit more patient and waited until next year you would get the old MVP caliber Morneau? Suggestion is, since the Twins aren't going anywhere this year and Morneau has missed pretty much two full years, let's give him a bit more time to get back into it. Spring 13 is when it will be time to make a solid assessment of Justin's go-forward abilities. From here - do NOT trade him when his value is at its lowest.

Didn't Cabrera plink one off the eyedrop when he hit that 0-2 pitch off of Capps that cost the Twins the game a few weeks back? My memory has that one as off the eyedrop, but I don't remember perfectly.

All-Star game appearances are nice - especially for players who have never been there. Mauer is a catcher. Better for him he should have the 4 days off. Let Willingham go. Or if Plouffe goes off again let him go. Let Joe rest. Even if he's leading the league in .avg by then, which he might. Give the appearance slot to Josh.

Third game in a row where the Twins received an excellent effort from the starter. Given that Duensing hadn't started all year, and between Duensing and Swarzak they kept the game against Cincy on Saturday from being an embarrassment, I think we can suggest without any hint of irony that for the first time this season (since Blackburn hey! got the win on Friday) that the Twins have gone through the entire rotation one time without being entirely out of a game. Win 3, lose 2 with good starting pitching - do that for awhile and you've got something. But that's the rub - it's got to last awhile. One time through the rotation is not enough to raise hopes overmuch. Because if Blackburn stinks it up tomorrow and Duensing reverts to August '11 form in his next few starts and Hendricks tonight was the anomaly - blow'em up. Keep Morneau because for sure he's at his bottom of value, let's not pull a bad trade out of impatience. Based on what we've seen of Parmelee this year getting hit by the pitch was his only hope of reaching base tonight but by golly! he managed to take one for the team! Wouldn't want to have to write his name down everyday at 1B, so let's give Morneau this year and early into next to drive up his value - consider him as if he were a call-up at this point. Cripes, the guy has barely played for 2 years. No reason this organization with the record it has and the money sunk into him can't afford to have patience with Dudley Dooright for another few months into early next. If he turns it around, and reverts to form, we're talking about one of the best hitters in baseball. It's a long shot, but the Twins have the opportunity to ride that bet for the rest of this season and early into next, np. Trade value for Liriano is rising, no question about that. If the Twins stay mired and it continues rising he's gone by 7/31 for a decent return, hopefully to some team where he won't hurt the Twins much in future meetups and they have promising young pitchers to devote to the Twins' cause. Mauer trade value is low because of the contract, and at this point I wouldn't trade Willingham or Span or Revere - those 4 guys make the offense look great at times. Add Morneau Plouffe Doumit Dozier, nothing really wrong with that. Fix the rotation, Terry! Assuming (in pretty much descending order at this point) Diamond, Hendricks, Blackburn, Duensing, Gibson, Wimmer are in the mix for '13, all TR needs to do is add a few more starters to raise the level of competition - maybe thru a Liriano trade or from the minors or through the draft or another Rule 5 flyer or through some traded parts - and who knows, this team could be very competitive next year in this division.

More interesting is the 26th man. In fact, this is the solution to avoid playing World Series games in November - schedule a split double-header every Saturday from Memorial Day to the Sunday before the All-Star break. I think that would be 7 Saturdays, but if not add a Saturday before or after. Doing that would shorten the season by one week - and allow teams to have a 26th player for the entire day, of course.

Is there nobody in this forum with access to the data from the whatever-they-call-it strike zone monitor? Looks to me like umpires are calling the plate "wider" which is what they taught me to do when I was an umpire (local, up through varsity HS and Legion). The inside part of the plate, the ball has to touch it, because if you give the pitcher slack on the inside batters have no chance. But on the outside part of the plate, that extra few inches gives the pitchers play and, more importantly, it isn't entirely unfair because hitters can hit that pitch. More than a baseball width wide, however, and it gets out of range pretty fast. But some umps have gotten wider and wider. And the high strike is back - bottom of the ball crosses the plate at the belt, maybe even up to the letters, some umps are giving that. Hey - hitting is HARD!!!! If the strike zone is expanded an inch up and an inch out, to where it maybe ought to be, take the average height and the width of the home plate and we're talking, what, an extra 4 square feet of coverage hitters are responsible for. Might have to revise Ted's numbers.

Given the time it typically takes for players to move from draft to contributor at the major league level I think the only approach to the MLB draft that makes sense is this - act as if nobody has anything, as if we're all starting from scratch. Meaning that early on i advocate you take the best player available, the guy everyone else would want to have on his team. Once you've filled out your roster you begin to pick for depth. Up front you take the best guy on the board. All indications are Buxton is that kid - the guy everyone else would prefer to have on their team. That's good for the Twins. He was the consensus best athlete on the board from all players eligible for the draft across the nation, and he just won a state championship. Where are the negatives? Twins made the right choice (so far; we reserve the right to second guess and to have everyone forget about this post years from now if he falls flat). From here on it all depends on Buxton - his athleticism and work ethic and intelligence and, of course, good fortune.

How about this - in an effort to shorten the season, so as not to have to schedule games in November which, global climate change and all that aside, is probably not the best plan for most places north of St.Louis at that time of year based on our weather experiences to-date - increase the roster to 26 but only from Mother's Day thru the last weekend before the All-Star Game, AND schedule a split doubleheader every Saturday during that stretch. That would shorten the season by one week. Teams could carry an extra pitcher without damaging their bench. During that stretch all players on the roster get double-time credit for major league service. Point being - if MLB wants more playoffs, and they don't want to have games amidst swirling snow, do something to get the season moving along. And since you pretty much can't schedule double-headers without an agreement with the player's union, give them something back - more playoff $$s, of course, and more playing time service during that stretch that will shorten the time players have to be in the majors to be arbitration eligible (Super 2s?) and shorter routes to pension-eligibility.

Well, they gave up 11 runs - give the pitchers some credit, it wasn't all on the defense. Real key is to get Willingham on track again - when you score 8 and your cleanup hitter is 0-4 with a walk, you're doing something right. Get him on track, get Doumit back in the everyday lineup behind Justin, find a #2 hitter of some ability, or else move Mauer and everyone up a notch. And hope for more starts like Diamond and Walters have given than the rest of the starters have offered to date. 5-3 on a road trip is okay. 50-30 from here puts them over .500 and in it (probably) around 15 August. Let's see if they can keep this going for a much longer time. At the very least they're watchable most games.

There were a few incidents where not-as-yet drafted players "held up" the team(s) that were looking to draft them by making specific demands. The rule that disallows MLB teams from trading a draft pick the first year resulted from Pete Incaviglia's refusal to play in Montreal. But - we've seen similar behavior in other sports, and they seem to survive - Elway forcing his way out of somewhere to get a mile high, Manning Eli escaping San Diego for New York (which is only sane in NFL-World), Kobe finagling a deal to LA right out of high school. Maybe now that baseball's collective bargaining agreement is long-term and relations between the players and the owners, and more importantly among the owners themselves, is stable, maybe this would be the right time for baseball to revisit and perhaps repeal the Incavigilia Rule. I'd be for that, perhaps with the NBA's Musselman Rule attached, that a team cannot be without a first round draft pick two years in a row. By trade, that is - the Musselman Rule offers no protection when you sign an illegal agreement and it gets discovered in an agent's file and Commissioner Napoleon goes ballistic on you.

All we are saying, is give Plouffe a chance!

See Joe's throw into Albert's backside this evening? He's got a soft glove, and good footwork, and a great arm. Just - he needs to work on the angles out in the field some. Give him time and he could be an excellent third baseman. But - does that mean we're stuck with Drew & Doumit behind the plate for the duration? One can hit but hasn't got a position on a team with a $20M DH, and the other one can't hit the gaps more than a few times per year. However - to the point: Valencia was a mess behind the plate and, if he wasn't willing to do whatever was required to fix the problem, well, if this team needs to make an example of somebody, nothing wrong with choosing a guy who isn't contributing at the moment but at least has a chance to right the ship in the minors.