jokin

Except today. He delivered when it mattered twice. And he appears to have started, yet again, his patented 2nd half surge. Numbers for July suggest as such: 5 HR/~.300 BA/1.000+ OPS/~.420 wOBA/~170 OPS+

Exactly. If he "continues with numbers like a 9.1 K/BB Rate" he will be among the freakiest/controllingest power pitchers in MiLB baseball history. I looked that Ober K/BB number up last night comparatively in MiLB and it jumped off the page at me. There is one other pitcher with 50+ IP in all of A ball with a higher K/BB ratio. And the dropoff from 9.1 to third place is 8.2... those 3 are severe outliers to the rest of the pack. In A+ ball, there are two better than Ober in K/BB. In the FSL specifically, Ober's the best... and the second place pitcher is all the way down at 5.92. In AA, the K/BB leader is at 6.92 and in AAA the leader is at 6.40. In short, the hitters are bound to catch up with Ober at some point very soon, but he certainly is worth following in his development- especially if, as you say, the BABIP recedes and the K rate sustains.

I agree about his flaws. But it has been evident since Polanco, then Castro went down, the Twins 2 key young player busts, Dozier and Mauer flailing and/or hurt, and that Santana first went down and that now, may never return to previous form... that this was a lost season. They've been grooming Garver for 6 seasons now, rather than completely give up and pigeonhole his ceiling, why not let him learn as he goes for a few months? The regular ABs might help consistencies in his swing, mature his approach to ML pitching- he has shown glimmers of an all-field contact-emphasis hitting philosophy, and since he's caught most of the Twins young pitchers at some point over the last 5 years, let him take his lumps in a lost season and make a more informed opinion later on rather than just pigeonholing him as a back-up. And in favor of proven less-than-mediocrity, Bobby Wilson? Mind-boggling. If Wilson has veteran catching tools, at 35, then he should be mentoring Garver behind the scenes, with Garver getting 2/3rds of the playing time, definitely not Wilson.

No.

I'm with you on the need for a spark to change this team's future fortunes... as long as they pack the dynamite and douse with petrol first.

Instead of a "boy" on the back end, maybe he forgot an "Uh" on the front end?

And the monsters can go multiple innings, so- you don't burn out your pen- or get caught in a bind like Sunday- as Molitor so often does by situationalizing everything.

'' IOW, Vargas would fit in perfectly in this lineup....

I hear you, brother. This was a management cluster all around. Rodney does have consecutive blown saves. You've got 4 or 5 guys (if May is included) who would love to get a shot at high lev situations in Rochester. Time to move Rodney before his value implodes.

Isn't it obvious that Falvine are looking for that same veteran pitching presence that has served the Twins pen so well with Belisle?

Absolutely none. No one blocking at Ft Myers. He's improved at the plate each month from April to May to June. It would be nice to have him working with Arraez at 2nd, and batting 2nd , sandwiched between Arraez and Kiriloff at the top of the Ft Myers order. His June split is .339 BA/.984 OPS. with 5 of his 8 HRs in June. 20 2Bs and 19 SBs on the season. Ridiculous at 19 years old. They are being very cautious on his ongoing physical condition with his over-use injury. So maybe that's the reason. Disappointing, because his current trajectory could put him in place to become Twins starting SS, possibly by opening day, 2020. (Which means they would not be forced to re-sign Dozier long-term, especially if Gordon can stick in 2019).

Maybe because Wilson can actually catch, they don't particularly have much confidence yet in Garver behind the plate... and that Astudillo is a man without a true position? /

You must mean the #1 draft pick...

Many of us noted that his mean reversion was inevitable. Just look at his career progression for all the evidence you need... hot stretches at the plate interspersed with longer stretches of mediocrity. He's a great guy to have in the extended utility role and the clubhouse, it's unfair to ask him to be Manny Machado.

I've said it dozens of times before... A guy on a $184M contract should be able to afford a PR spokesperson.

Now that's the kind of wry, pathos-laced ironic wit best remembered from the darkest end days of the Ryan/Gardy era. Kirby, let's just say the plain truth hurts so good. And here, we thought the days and months of head-scratching fringiest of veteran personnel moves were a thing of the past.

When it comes to the Twins, truth can be stranger than humor. Unless Jorge is permanently damaged goods, I bet more than just the Dodgers will be ready and willing to try to restore his MLB potential.

I hear you. The excuse for not replacing Wilson will be lost in the confirmation bias thing after he just drove in a run yesterday and caught Berrios in his career-high 12 K performance. Garver should have had a 1.5 year apprenticeship under Castro and see if he could pick up enough MLB catcher and hitting chops to stick. As of right now, his MLB performance makes one pine for JR Murphy.

Nothing wrong with Buck's wheels. Lack of pitch recognition and plate situational awareness appears to still be a big problem. Striking out a bunch? He's striking out at a 43.8% clip- against AAA hurlers. His career AAA OPS is .949 at half the current K% rate. I don't think whatever Buck's current problems are, they are likely to be completely resolved in just another game or two or three. Buck's lack of health as the only reason for his ineptitude at the plate can also be easily debunked. Here are his abysmal numbers in April before the injuries: BA .195 OPS .476 OPS+ 34 Better than his overall numbers, but you wouldn't need even one hand to count the CFers in all of baseball with worse offensive production in the first month than Buxton's first month of the season. For the season, with 210 or more PAs, the worst CF OPS, right at this moment, is Jarrod Dyson @ .540. In short, it appears to be a long way back for Buxton. The return of the leg kick could end up being the first hopeful sign of a return to late last season form when Buck appeared ready to break out in a very big way. But I think it would be highly premature and a big mistake to recall him on Tuesday- no matter how healthy he is right now. It's hard to write, utter, read or fathom the statement that "Jake Cave is the Twins best option in CF" at this very moment, but it's also obviously so, nevertheless. The International League starts their 3-day ASG break after Sunday, July 8. Is it optimistic, pessimistic, realistic or fantasy to think Buck will be really ready for daily doses of major league pitching in merely two more weeks?

The WAR I credited for Carew, Kaat and Blyleven was what was accumulated ONLY while they played for the Twins. All played on either or both WS, ALCS teams with the Twins. Blyleven additionally on the '87 champs. Of course Puckett is behind Mauer in WAR, his career was tragically cut short. You can die on your hill of Twins 21st Century play that ranged from stubborn immutability, mediocrity, to downright abominability. Face facts, the Twins failed to produce championships repeatedly this century, despite multiple Cy Young, MVPs and batting champions. Puckett is in the HOF, Mauer is a long shot at this point. By contrast to Mauer's individual excellence in his first 7 years, Kirby Puckett was a cornerstone for two objectively and obviously, less-talented World Champions than the teams of Joe's 2000s group. Again, Kirby's teams are the only WS winners in the team's history, Mauer's teams folded like cheap suits and curled into a fetal posiiton in each playoff run. Kirby openly told his teammates to jump on his back. Nuff said there, methinks. The guy that actually helped bring about the Twins the biggest hardware back home has to get the edge, especially playing for inferior teams. And when ownership and management appeared to surrender to an inevitable decade of mediocrity after 1992- Kirby took a public stand that that notion was not acceptable to him. By yet another contrast, Mauer has always shunned a public leadership role on the team, admitted to not being a Type A personality, and further, has steadfastly never publicly pushed management and ownership to acknowledge that during the bulk of the years of Joe's big contract they have never made a serious effort to be competitive. I mean, what was the point of that $184M contract, if they never even tried to put legitimate pieces around Mauer? And no knock on Joe, but if Kirby had been in the same situation, he would have publicly and privately pushed the organization to deliver on their promise to fans to raise their yearly competitive intensity based on the new stadium revenue streams. Joe has steadfastly remained silent on these last 8 years of futility- not necessarily a knock on him, but also not a credit to Hall-worthiness or "Greatest Twin not named Harmon".

Whatever stance he's using has produced a K% over 43%. That generally indicates that his plate approach isn't working too well yet.

Many of your conclusions drawn in this article are debatable. (And this is coming from someone who shares your opinion that Jim Souhan is anathema to what it means to be a sports journalist.) I'll address this one for starters: Greatest Twins list who are better than Joe Mauer, besides Harmon Killebrew, has to include HOFers, Rod Carew, Bert Blyleven and Kirby Puckett. Jim Kaat, Carew and Blyleven all accumulated more WAR value while playing just for the Twins than Mauer can ever realistically reach; meanwhile Puckett's career, which was tragically cut short, still included starring roles in 2 World Series wins. If determination of greatest Twins player ever is based on quantifiable achievement and impact, all of the players above are clearly greater than Mauer.

It is. He won't.

Well, he trotted around the bases once on Friday night with a HR. On Wednesday and Thursday, he had his 2 other AAA hits so far, singles, and stole 2nd base twice. In summary, 3 hits and 7 Ks in 14 ABs. If Buck is the player elevated on Tuesday, it will be a real headscratcher, because he hasn't shown much evidence that he has cured, or even addressed, his hitting woes.

I held your opinion until only recently. Why is that? - Buxton is still a huge "IF?", not a "WHEN?". He was one of the worst hitters in the league BEFORE he got hurt. - The Eddies have a history of streakiness, reversion towards the mean is more likely than their current phenomenal output. - Mauer's talent- and average- is fading fast. Don't we all collectively cringe every time he dives for a ball? - Dozier and Kepler haven't yet demonstrated they can go on a sustained hot streak at the plate. - Polanco may very well struggle initially. - Sano has shown nothing yet- against A ball pitching. - No other offensive help seems to be coming, from the farm, or via trade. - The continual baserunning blunders shows this team is either very poorly managed in that area or fundamentally unsound. Conclusion- this team will be in full sell mode by the ASG.