jokin

Gardy's latest excuse for playing Zuke 5 of every 6 games was by blaming the situation all on Suzuki.....as apparently, Kurt is constantly browbeating him and winning argument after argument about needing to play every day, much like AJ did back in the day. Yet more evidence to your valid point, Mike.

Perkins in my book is a B+ and Dozier is obviously an A. I'm wondering, since Reusse just finished covering live all of the Giants games on a "working vacation" that left him very obviously negative on what was happening with the Twins, if Reusse based some of his grades, like Dozier's, skewed towards the recency effect of the Twins getting dominated in AT&T. He clearly sent out his attack dogs, LEN and Scoggins, who up to this point had been pretty meek when it came to editorializing about the Twins.

No. No. No. Gardy has reached the point of manic-obsession with his alleged "walk on the wild side" by rostering "only" 2 catchers. In the post-game presser after the 4-3 walk-off win, one of the very first aspects of the game he commented on and dealt with, was what a "dangerous" thing he'd done by pinch-hitting Pinto for Hicks in the 8th inning and was then left with the prospect of an extra inning game and having Escobar "relieving" Suzuki, literally, as if the Catcher position was identical to Pitcher. Seriously Gardy, get some help, man! This streak of unwarranted paranoia, coupled with his obsessive love affair and penchant to completely wear out and use up 30-something veterans requires a 13-week therapy regimen. He's had a frightful scare, what with 2 rookies forced onto his team, and he's back to his old ways of finding inventive reasons not to play them, even when it's obvious that they offer the best option in helping obtain wins.

He's essentially been reduced to Deduno's personal caddy and late-inning PH. At this rate, Suzuki will be useless by the All Star break, maybe that's Gardy's ultimate master plan for getting Pinto his share of plate duty?

Gibson's effort against Texas was much more of a credible performance than Saunders against the Twins. Texas has been one of the hottest, if not the hottest, team in baseball for the last couple weeks, including the shelling of Tigers starters, Verlander, Porcello and rookie phenom, Ray over the weekend. He's still a little lucky, but I can't remember the last game where I saw more guys fouling pitches off their feet and legs so the ball must be really moving. And this is 2 games in a row now with no Bases on Balls. The big thing to take him to the next level is convincing Gibson that he has the stuff to take his show on the road, his road record is abominable.

Tom Powers adds some additional back-story to Hicks's switch-hitting history, with some passive-aggressive doubt thrown in before he's finished. http://www.twincities.com/twins/ci_25854332/tom-powers-aaron-hicks-dumps-switch-hitting-and Although it was fairly well-know that Joe Hicks, Aaron's father, made his son convert to a switch hitter at age 13, much more of the background involved in that decision was fleshed out by Powers. Long story short, Aaron promised his Dad that, to continue playing baseball, he would have to do it as a switch hitter....Aaron called his father last weekend to get his blessing for a change he felt he had to make, and the senior Hicks told him he understood what he felt he had to do. And then there was these nuggets: So far...so good...but then... A heart-warming story...closing with a cautionary tale to be careful what you wish for?

Yup. The guy with the 2nd best OPS behind Escobar has been reduced to a virtual non-entity....he's caught 2 games in the last 2 weeks and one start at DH. Mind-boggling, when your team is struggling mightily to score runs....the Twins have averaged all of 2.67 runs scored over this 12-game time frame.

Punto starting tonight is a no-brainer. In the last 14 days, Punto has been the starting catcher twice, both of the last 2 Saturdays and DH'd once. So apparently he's going to catch for Deduno one day a week and DH once or twice a week? Even though Pinto projects as the 4th (or maybe 5th) best hitter? And currently the Twins' 2nd best hitter in OPS and wOBA? Gardy being Gardy, falling in love with a certain veteran, to that veteran's eventual detriment through overuse and overexposure.

I hope so too, but we'd both be basing our conclusion on the faint reed of hope of a very small sample of PAs relative to the other 2 more likely options in the short term based on logic and whatever history there is for some struggling RH hitter picking up a bat against RHP for the first time since the age of 12 and relative to the rest of his major league body of work. Even Gardy and Antony have hinted at serious doubts that #1 is the likely outcome, but their hands are tied until someone viable in CF becomes available.

You're completing skating by the main point of this entire situation, it's about what's best for the Twins and for Hicks. The Twins FO agrees with most fans that Hicks has serious issues that need to be addressed, to which Hicks added yet another wrinkle just last Monday- so both the FO and many fans would beg to differ with your conclusion that "There is no reason to think the outcome with Hicks will be any different whatever league he plays in". This has absolutely nothing to do with the projected mediocre performances and comparisons of Presley and Mastroianni relative to Hicks, and everything to do with the Twins needlessly throwing away their CF depth, should Hicks (as borne out) need to go to AAA to work in a lower stress environment and not hurt the major league team, to remedy the very things the Twins FO now admits they would have done sooner, if they only still had their original OF depth.

And I would add Suzuki and Arcia as vying for accepting leadership roles, as well. I'm sure you're right about the unseen preparation. But there are public perceptions...and this team the least 3 years, justly or unjustly, had taken on the rather dull public personalities of it's leading lights- who, perceptions or not, set the tone for a team that has appeared rudderless, they both frequently and unfortunately were either on the DL or the sidelines, and when they were playing, they are less than demonstrative in terms of visible personality cues which would suggest leadership qualities based on their on-field personas. And Mauer has played in a natural "leadership" position, Catcher, all his life, but he's such an "Aw shucks" kind of guy, one never feels he's comfortable embracing the role with his peers. Finally, neither give many public interviews that makes one feel that the Twins were/are their team- again, not a fault, per se, just a function of their personalities. To paraphrase Shakespeare: "Be not afraid of becoming a leader: some are born leaders, some achieve a leadership position and some have leadership thrust upon them" I'm assuming that Mauer is #3, and has had the leadership role being thrust upon him, and he just seems uncomfortable in its embrace when he's letting the team down by not performing at his usual high standards. I was struck by something my young son mentioned to me after a recent Twins walk-off victory celebration and spontaneous team huddle, from which Mauer was notably at the periphery....My son said something to the effect of: "Wow, look at Mauer, why is it that he always seems to be on the outside looking in?" I told him to give it some more time, let him settle into his new position, adjust at the plate to the dramatic increase in defensive shifts and the lingering concussion issue, he's too good a baseball player and athlete to be held down for long, and that Mauer's leadership primarily comes through to his teammates from his on-field accomplishments. Hopefully, he turns it around real soon- and he can look to his buddy Morneau for help in that endeavor, Morneau has come back from a far deeper hole, he had to endure 3 years of playing at a mere shadow of his true ability while battling the concussion and wrist things, and look it how he's revived his career.

I gotta think that Cuba is one country where the Twins alleged problem of "not being able to give away their money" is a moot point.

I'm not holding my breath on this development. I still think it more likely that the Twins involvement in the deal would be that they'd claim the Yankee or Red Sox OFer DFA'd by either team to make room for Carbonell.

I concur, he is very intriguing, particularly if they don't have to overpay. Am I hearing in your response that you're convinced the Twins are serious players in the Carbonell sweepstakes? If the deal were to go down (and it sounds like there's a timing thing in early July to have it make the most financial sense), it would be a radical change in the current team dynamic as well as in the current (apparent) intent of the club to be incrementally a little better year over year with the expectation of forgoing a real serious run until 2016 or 17. While I still think this team is ultimately destined for 74 wins on the high end.....Would a signing of Carbonell mean that the FO believes that once they fix the current wacky OF situation that they are then only one or two arms away from becoming a legit Wild Card contender...and maybe that those arms are soon ready to be unleashed from Rochester?

Find a postgame picture after the walk-off. I've don't think I've ever seen an after-game dirtier 1st Baseman's uniform than Mauer's- last night he was the very Gardy definition of "gettin after it" in the field.

Rosario is not currently playing at any position, his suspension ends after today. He is originally an OF, so it will be interesting to see if he resumes playing at 2nd, which was where the Twins thought his bat would play better, now that Dozier has established himself at the position.

No doubt....the Giants pitching staff...and the Panda....were buzzsaws and buzzkills.

Yeah, I am in complete agreement with your entire post..... but in the interests of fairness to the much-recently-maligned Aaron Hicks, and in full disclosure...... let's be blatantly honest here, on a F8BC/150 ranking, our newly-discovered, former-budding-SS prospect and now back-up CFer, Danny Santana, is the league leader at the position, nonpareil.

That will be Saturday...against the Yankees...with Tanaka on the mound...in Yankee Stadium. While I'm not expecting much from Correia, or even a win, I fully expect that it will contain entertaining elements.

I don't know about all of "these games"....but.....How could you not be entertained and compelled by last night's game? Scott Baker off the scrap heap and back in Target Field, somehow fooling the Twins for 7 innings with little more stuff than magic dust. Hughes was busy being Hughes, what a refreshing signing he's turned out to be. Hicks gets himself turned around the wrong way, twice on his route, and still has time to recover and make the ESPN top Web Gem of the night. A bunch of great defensive infield plays by the Twins all night long. Mauer finally deciding to go against his innate instincts and actually pull one of those Baker meatballs for an RBI double. More entertaining misadventures in the OF, what with Parmelee/Escobar and Santana insistent on yet again, making things interesting and challenging for Twins pitchers. Oswaldo Arcia staking a strong claim to wanting the "Leader" mantel on his nameplate (or at least "Co-Leader" along with Dozier). And then be called "scary" and "crazy" by Danny Santana at game-end. And finally culminating in Gardy going out on the high-wire and giving up Pinto as his security blanket, and especially pinch-hitting a RH hitter (Nunez) against a RHP, actually looking up the history and playing the odds, and then having it somehow work out a couple innings later, with a timely hit and heads-up baserunning by Nunez, coupled with boneheaded plays by the opponent's Gold Glove 3rd baseman and Deadly closer. I don't know about you, but to me....That's Entertainment.

That's all right, tobi.....obviously, the guy who should know best, Gardy, didn't forsee Esco hitting .350 at any point this year.

I agree about his talent and a legit shot at making it, but at his current rate, and with actually producing players and prospects needing roster spots and potentially blocking him down the road, both in the OF (I am of the belief that Rosario, Plouffe and Buxton will be the OF in a couple years, with Arcia splitting some time in RF and DH) and at 1st base ( besides Mauer through at least 2018, possibly both Sano and Vargas may need that spot), he's soon in danger of becoming a talented journeyman.

Gilmartin had nothing left to prove in AA, last year. He's spinning his wheels in New Britain and really needs to be in AAA to see he if can become a legitimate Twins depth option. Diamond is in full career implosion, he at least was dominating in 6 starts last year in Rochester. Whatever the cause (probably physical?), there is little case to be made from his less horrible recent starts for leaving him in the rotation, what with better options having earned the opportunity for the spot.

Yes. And it can't come soon enough. It's amazing how awfully pedestrian these lineups look, in Rochester, New Britain and Cedar Rapids in particular, save for maybe a couple players total. And this on supposedly a top 5 minor league system. If Rosario, Sano and Buxton had joined Vargas at the outset, and then eventually joined in June by Berrios, Polanco, Goodrum and Lee in New Britain, that might have been the most exciting and dynamic team in all of minor league baseball.

It will be interesting to see how long guys like Kepler stick around. As more of the hot and not-so-hot prospects, like Meyer, Sano, Rosario, Goodrum, Michael and Buxton are likely to inevitably claim 40-man roster spots at some point within the next calendar year, the Twins will no longer have the luxury of stashing and hoping on guys like Kepler.