jokin

Your post is full of analytic flaws and largely missing the point of the bigger picture. Rosario has already accomplished much more at this level than you care to give him credit for. Where to start? And I promise to be spin-free. And do you actually read the posts before responding? You and I are on the same page, my basic thrust is to point out that, because out of overriding necessity and urgency, Rosario's potentially fastest path to the majors may very well be to forestall the 2nd base experiment and see if he can go back to his natural position and be a possible alternative in CF, possibly beginning as soon as April 1, 2015. This is about avoiding the more likely possibility of failure at 2nd and seeing if he can dust off the rust from his layoff to determine how close he might be to hacking it at the plate while holding down the CF spot for the next year or so, at the least. Meanwhile back to the facts. In scanning the 2013 Eastern League results, Rosario is the only player 21 years of age, unless you go well down the list of Eastern Leaguers, who mostly all are far below his averages. The league age average is 24.5 , BTW. "Rosario was an average hitter in New Britain." Well, no, unless you say that among players with, and more than, Rosario's 40th ranking place (among some 90 players w/ over 313+ PAs) with respect to OPS and wOBA are considered "average." How about the true 2013 EL "average hitter"? Eastern League 2013 average OPS .713 Eddie Rosario 2013 AA average OPS .742 And even that is an entirely inaccurate assessment of Rosario's hitting accomplishments, as he needs to be compared with his 2nd base peer group (tied for 5th place among 16 2nd basemen with 300+ PAs, and all 4 ahead of him are 1-3 years older). The Eastern League averages for 2nd Basemen in the EL (300+ PA): OPS .701 wOBA .322 Rosario's averages from the EL in 2013 (repeated yet again): OPS .742 wOBA .355 Obviously, these numbers would compare just as favorably to the CF peer group, as well, and Rosario would be expected to have the potential to better those numbers if he can dust off the rust.

Great get on Santana, Kwak. Even though he has a great arm, at this point, Santana's understandably more using an infielder's quick-release, short-range, rifle-like throw and lacks the more requisite calibrated cannon-shot approach with a little built-in arc. Obviously, that was a makeable play by a more experienced outfielder with a decent arm, and quite costly in a one-run loss.

Did anyone say one word about this situation even remotely resembling a Mike Trout scenario promotion? And of course, the scenario presumes that Rosario is able to build on his 70-game stint in New Britain from last season (which was actually much better than you presume, particularly for a guy who was nearly 4 years too young for AA). It's fairly obvious that the Twins, by their own admission are in scramble mode, even adding Chris Hermann to the CF depth chart. They admit that Hicks would be in AAA if they had a viable option. They have no indication on when/if Fuld can return to action, and even then, he is now at the point where, as he apparently is "resuming baseball activities", he still would require a rehab stint. They have a rookie SS without CF experience starting the last 2 games. Buxton is missing in action, apparently nowhere close to even beginning baseball activities, he's at the point where soon the entire season is basically a write-off. Apparently, Chris Parmelee is the final emergency resort in the absolute worst-case scenario. My suggestion was based on Rosario showing baseball acuity in CF above a mere pulse in AA, that the Twins by starting him out in CF right off the bat today, they recognize the gaping hole in the organization at the upper levels, and are leaving all options open- in this case, that "before the season is over", maybe the Twins give Rosario a look during the September call-up, to help formulate their CF plans for April 1, 2015.

Especially a player like Vargas, who happens to be in his 6th year in the Twins program (his suspension, notwithstanding).

And the plot thickens in Florida. http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2014_05_29_ftmafa_clrafa_1&t=g_box&sid=milb CF depth might now be officially considered a Twins top priority, if not an urgency. Appearing in the lineup tonight for the Miracle, former OF, then-recent 2ndB, Eddie Rosario, comes off of suspension tonight, and in his first appearance, will be playing in CF. Is there any scenario if Rosario plays well enough in Ft Myers, and soon New Britain, that he gets a shot in CF with the Twins before the season is over? And even more importantly, assuming Buxton's ascension to the Twins is continued in the current holding pattern, is Rosario now in a position to challenge Hicks for the starting job in CF coming out of ST, 2015?

I think Obama needs to do another summit meeting. Obama's day: Concussion summit THE OVAL http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/dd8b1baf67130a1edc52e1868cb7f1ece5f42a54/r=26&c=26x26/local/-/media/USATODAY/staff/images/David-Jackson.pngDavid Jackson, USA TODAY10:02 a.m. EDT May 29, 2014 http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/30bf5a37f8962dd7d71eeedc3e9fb09847c9333f/c=278-0-3938-2749&r=x404&c=534x401/local/-/media/USATODAY/theOval/2014/05/29//1401359466000-AP-OBAMA-64561520.JPG President Obama hits the field Thursday to talk about ways to reduce concussions in football and other sports.

And there goes yet another depth chart "CF" down for the count. (Only in this case, thankfully, addition by subtraction). 2014....The Year of the Wrist

How is that even possible? You must be somewhere in Royals/Cards/Cubs territory, not Twins Territory.

Now that was funny

In every Mauer PA, there are plenty of pullable pitches, and now, many RFers are literally playing 100 feet off of the RF line, as if he's a slow-bat-speed pitcher at the plate. Time for a video session or two, come to grips with the new realities of the Mauer shifts, and then a rethinking of Joe's usual delayed-swing philosophy.

Or are they waiving Kubel? Whichever "remedy", Gardy gets his 3 catchers, and the fans get to see Pinto more than once a week.

Seth just reported that Chris Hermann was removed in the 4th inning in the Rochester game...implications, maybe?

Is Hicks possibly going on the DL?

Good post. Thanks for the additional background info. (I am still stumped that no one, let alone Suzuki for his career, was able to solve Saunders last night). And I just looked up Suzuki's actual career line against Saunders, it's even worse than you imagined: 2 for 33 slash- .061/.114/.152/.266 Kind of hard to justify putting Kurt out there, no matter what the catching situation was with Gibson.

Probably nothing, but Hicks is now sitting for a second day in a row. There was some speculation in print that Hicks might have tweaked his back yesterday doing extra work on his right-handed vs. right hand swings.

So far so good for Nunez. Thus far the rap from New York, and the derisive nickname, Nun-E, appears to be bum ones. But then again, he's not playing SS yet, either. His Twitter page is filled with classy posts https://twitter.com/EduardoNunez15, he emphasizes hard work and thankfulness to the Twins for giving him another opportunity. This would be his last year before arbitration, so I'm not sure if he's long for the team, but he is still a very "young" veteran.

Yes!....but.....Aaron Hicks doing his own impression of Wally Pipp?

There's an article needing to be written on the shifts being employed on Mauer. He must have already lost close to 10 doubles from LFers hugging the line on him and routinely catching those screaming liners that used to roll all the way to the wall....

Tyler Mason @FSNtylermason · 1m More Gardy on Mauer: "The expectations are very high for him. People get frustrated. I just don't want Joe to get frustrated." ​A little (mini-)crisis management going on?

Tyler Mason @FSNtylermason · 19m Joe Mauer today: "It's been frustrating. I've had some good at-bats and hit the ball hard. It seems like I'm hitting it at people."

Tyler Mason @FSNtylermason · 50m I asked Joe Mauer this morning if his back was still bothering him. His answer was was a clear "No." #MNTwins Tyler Mason carrying the workload for the early-morning pregame Mauer updates.

Given his workload, I'm not sure it's fair to characterize him as lazy. And he has a gift with the written word. But he has no problem with cheap shot writing tactics, deserved or not, and designed with full intent to hit all the public hot buttons. As I've mentioned previously, I have little doubt that his current favorite TV character is nihilistic hitman, Lorne Malvo (Billy Bob Thornon) on Fargo.

Who can argue that the foundational cornerstones for Gardy's approach at building and managing a team: 1) Always look to adding additional veteran leadership, even in a full rebuild. 2) When given an option, always look to playing the vet over the youngster. Besides the curious cases of Bartlett, Guerrier, Kubel.....listing just last night's game examples: Case in point 1: Suzuki over Pinto essentially means "No Pinto"- not even a PH chance to tie the game. Suzuki's apparent compromise with Gardy was to let Pinto catch Deduno. Case in point 2: Gibson had to come out last night after the 6th, sure....but how many Twins fans knew, just knew, when Burton's name was announced in the 7th, that by the time he was done, the game was likely lost? He plays to his comfort zone with deliberate veteran overuse, evidence is out there that he curries favor with them by letting them call too many of the shots, and this has been his standard MO, even when it means losing is more likely. How is this the right guy for continuing to implement the rebuild, which requires youngsters getting 100s of consistent PAs and reps in the field?

He got from you exactly the reaction he desired. This stuff is mild in comparison to much of his pot-stirring in the past. In reality, he wants people to care, he's just not sure if enough fans care, and especially if Twins management and ownership cares as much as he does. When he does get on a campaign though, as he apparently has begun now with the Twins, he harnesses all the beat-writing troops to do some of the dirty work to help gain critical mass to the story, and then really lets his subject have it. I suspect there's an escalation in his writing intensity still to come if the Twins don't turn things in his desired direction.

"Mauer booed, Twins' offensive struggles continue" http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/261032391.html The StarTribune is continuing their recent campaign of more pointed Twins coverage, this time employing a byline from a new cub reporter with the very interesting name of Master Tesfatsion. Give the reporter credit for getting the story out and asking Joe the tough questions, and also give credit to Mauer for manning up, offering no excuses, and dealing with the matter straight on. (This little story offers quite a contrast to Jim Souhan, who wrote standard apologist fodder for Mauer's recent woes just over a week ago):