jokin

Len3 doing a little Common Man riff on the Twins mishandling of the CF situation after last night (and note that Len3 also apparently never could get the Presley/Pressly spelling distinction straight, as well) http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/blogs/257619621.html: Much like the fabled (and dreaded) Clete Thomas Era of a year ago, could the Days of Kenny soon be upon us? I love Sam Fuld, but as a 4th OF, only. It's an "I told you so" for those of us giving out the warnings, ad infinitum, to be sure.....but this is yet another self-inflicted wound that you would have thought the Twins would have learned their lesson from just one year ago. (Jermaine Mitchell, we hardly knew ye....)

With Plouffe's breakout season and Sano's injury, Trevor has probably bought himself this year and next at 3rd. Assuming he continues to rake, he becomes more expensive to employ, Sano needs a position, and thus, Trevor becomes more expendable to the Twins. As much as I'd like Plouffe to be the Super-Util guy, Rosario would play at the minimum for 3-4 years, I would think they would look to move Plouffe. Or....how about Plouffe at 2nd and Rosario in the OF? Plouffe as the Twins version of Neil Walker or Dan Uggla in his prime?

Just to be clear, I never said that Rosario was a SS option, the jury is still out if he's even a 2nd base option. My scenario involves the somewhat unlikely possibility that Dozier might be the long-term answer at SS. In a perfect world, IMO, Dozier somehow becomes as good a fielder at SS as he currently is at 2nd, and Polanco is ready to take the spot at 2nd by May 1, 2015, followed soon by Rosario in LF. Not holding my breath on this, though.

Regarding Puig/Gomez.....How many "loose cannon" types last long in Minnesota? I think with Mattingly's experience with all the Type A personalities he played with in his career, he's better suited to dealing with the ups and downs of the mercurial-types than Gardy ever could hope to be. It was the FO's failure not to recognize that when infusing new players onto the roster, that personality profile due diligence is more important in a Gardy clubhouse than talent.

Re...#2 LOL....well-stated. Escobar starting again at SS in Gm 1, RB. "Who knows for whom the bell tolls?, (I think) it tolls for thee...."

The slow April last year was TJ-related. Even Pelfrey has admitted that he came back too soon. The ironic thing is, is that he was a pretty effective pitcher in the final 3 months, sub 4.00 ERA/FIP. The irony lies in a pretty good theory that has been propounded on TD that Pelfrey might have done something to his shoulder by overcompensating for his weak elbow to start the season. (It never made sense to me that doctors signed off on Pelfrey returning to pitching just 9 months after his TJ surgery).

Neither of you have addressed alternatives, both this year and going forward- Dozier may, or may not be able to switch to Short regardless of how Rosario plays out going into 2015. Filling the SS position, is, has been, and will be, the greater problem to solve, rather than the Dozier/Rosario debate at 2nd. There's still no guarantee that Rosario can play a major league 2nd, so let's take a moment and hold off on putting all of these carts before the horses. So.....what are the alternatives at 2nd base, besides Rosario, should Dozier be able to stick at SS? Escobar, Nunez, Beresford, Polanco, Santana.....someone else?

I appreciate your sentiments, but the Twins FO and manager are too financially, calendarically and emotionally invested in Pelfrey, on the mound and in the clubhouse. Hopefully, both sides can agree to a face-saving "exercise" and get Pelfrey moved to Florida on a long-term rehab assignment.

Who would go to 2nd in the mid-season switch in your scenario, Mike? And could a fully-informed decision about a position switch come from Dozier playing 40-50 games at SS in Winter League ball, as an option to changing things in-season? (And I'm coming at this as someone who would like to revisit and explore the possibility with less than 50-50 confidence that it will pan out).

What a difference a week makes. Here from April 25: Did you actually mean to say May 1st?

...And Pedro loses even his last backer in Twins Territory...(or, I could be mistaken, maybe Riverbrian is still willing to go down with the good ship P-Flo?).

MLB, and not just the players, did get called before Congress during a massive investigation into drug-taking, resulting in the Mitchell Report, after which they were expected to become an adjunct to the government in terms of enforcement of the law.

Yours doesn't, mine doesn't- I'm with you on this 100%. I don't want the government or private business to have any control of my private life, if I'm performing satisfactorily and not breaking any laws. The government should be out of ALL of the drug-banning business completely, as they were less than 100 years ago. But an impaired baseball player probably does present a danger to others on the playing field what with all of the balls and bodies flying around at high velocities, and if a player enters a private contract with a specific code of conduct in it, then he should abide by it. Still, the penalty seems grossly unfair, and apparently since the major leaguers aren't being tested, this seems ripe for a test case in court regarding equal application of the law with respect to how employees are treated.

Johson is actually 29 (and turns 30 in October), he actually looks a lot more like Pino than the others. Clearly the best player is Meyer, and he has little left to prove at AAA. As many have already said, AA is really the proving ground for major league readiness, AAA is just the holdng pen for depth options. Let's go, already.

THC potency in MJ averaged just above 3 % in 1993, today the average is around 12.4%, with at least 15 strains tested by High Times coming in around 25% and one testing at 36%. I'm for legalizing all drugs, not just marijuana. But like any other psychotropic drug, it's critical to understand what exactly it is that you're ingesting and what the side effects are. More information, regulation and research on the individual efficacy and side effects of the exact product being ingested is desperately needed- as this story illustrates: http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/03/03/283545932/evidence-on-marijuanas-health-effects-is-hazy-at-best Just like the warning on cold medications not to operate heavy machinery for a certain period of time, and truck and courier drivers driving under the influence of alcohol, employers probably have the right to know if their employees are on company time and potentially impaired in their judgement. But 50 games seems way too excessive- even for a 3rd offense, let alone a second one, until the day comes that MLB could definitively prove that MJ is a dangerous PED (highly unlikely).

Sorry, but it is the internet, and those of us who are a little slow on the uptake can't read your mind, to me it appeared to be a blanket statement. And I'm sure if I looked, I could find other parks where he had strong numbers, as well- and OPS+ smooths out some of the uncertainty about parks like Fenway or Coors. And I would disagree with your assertion about the signs "all being there." Yes, he struggled against LHP- it could be a sign of rust, or it could be that he's declining on one side of the plate. But the other side of the plate had a huge year, so that "sign" really isn't all there, is it? And his defense was more than just fine, comfortably in the top third of baseball. And is anyone talking about Drew for anything more than 1.5 years? Pretty little risk to get a huge upgrade and major league-level (at worst) placeholder until the Twins find their long-term solution.

It's a big if whether or not Dozier can hack it at SS. It's probably worth revisiting to see if it might work, but it's rare for someone to fail at the position so completely as Dozier did in 2012 and suddenly succeed later on down the road.

Except you obviously did when you inferred that somehow he's not a quality player and that: Drew's OPS+ on the road in 2013 was 94, still well-above SS averages. And the 109 overall OPS+ does throw out the Fenway factor in its measurement. Drew's UZR/150 ranked him 7th overall in SS defense, while his UZR ranked him 9th overall in SS defense in 2013.

Nothing to see here...that's just Chief and his pesky "Inconvenient Truths".

This is demonstrably false. OPS + in Boston: 109 OPS+ in Arizona from 2006 to 2010 (when he was full healthy): 109 Drew slash from 2006-2010: .272/.332/.448/.780

Why the persistence in repeatedly making this assertion about Drew's lackluster numbers in 2011-2012, without noting as a qualifier the catastrophic injury he sustained in 2011, one from which he finally was fully recovered from in 2013? (Again, Drew's foot was literally pointing backwards after the fateful slide into home plate).

Maybe they can trade for this guy recently signed into the Cardinal organization...(scroll to the right side to see the sweet slash line).....signed through 2018 at $2M/yr......... [TABLE=class: sortable stats_table] [TH=class: tooltip sort_default_asc show_partial_when_sorting, align: left]Year[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip sort_default_asc show_partial_when_sorting, align: center]Age[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip sort_default_asc show_partial_when_sorting, align: center]AgeDif[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip sort_default_asc show_partial_when_sorting, align: center]Tm[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip sort_default_asc, align: center]Lg[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip sort_default_asc, align: center]Lev[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip sort_default_asc, align: center]Aff[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip, align: center]G[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip, align: center]PA[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip, align: center]AB[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip, align: center]R[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip, align: center]H[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip, align: center]2B[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip, align: center]3B[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip, align: center]HR[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip, align: center]RBI[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip, align: center]SB[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip, align: center]CS[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip, align: center]BB[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip, align: center]SO[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip hide_non_quals, align: center]BA[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip hide_non_quals, align: center]OBP[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip hide_non_quals, align: center]SLG[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip hide_non_quals, align: center]OPS[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip, align: center]TB[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip, align: center]GDP[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip, align: center]HBP[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip, align: center]SH[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip, align: center]SF[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip, align: center]IBB[/TH] [TR=class: full] 2007[TD=align: right]16[/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] Villa Clara CNS Fgn [/TD][TD=align: right] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [/TR] [TR=class: full] 2008[TD=align: right]17[/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] Villa Clara CNS Fgn [/TD][TD=align: right] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [/TR] [TR=class: full] 2009[TD=align: right]18[/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] Villa Clara CNS Fgn [/TD][TD=align: right] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [/TR] [TR=class: full] 2010[TD=align: right]19[/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] Villa Clara CNS Fgn [/TD][TD=align: right] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [/TR] [TR=class: full] 2011[TD=align: right]20[/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] Villa Clara CNS Fgn [/TD][TD=align: right] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [/TR] [TR=class: blank_table partial_table] [/TD][TD=align: right] [TD=align: right][/TD] [/TD] [TD=align: right] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [/TR] [TR=class: full] 2014[TD=align: right]23[/TD] [TD=align: right]-1.1[/TD] Springfield TL AA STL[TD=align: right]20[/TD] [TD=align: right]80[/TD] [TD=align: right]75[/TD] [TD=align: right]8[/TD] [TD=align: right]23[/TD] [TD=align: right]5[/TD] [TD=align: right]1[/TD] [TD=align: right]3[/TD] [TD=align: right]16[/TD] [TD=align: right]4[/TD] [TD=align: right]2[/TD] [TD=align: right]1[/TD] [TD=align: right]19[/TD] [TD=align: right].307 [/TD] [TD=align: right].321[/TD] [TD=align: right].520[/TD] [TD=align: right].841[/TD] [TD=align: right]39[/TD] [TD=align: right]1[/TD] [TD=align: right]1[/TD] [TD=align: right]2[/TD] [TD=align: right]1[/TD] [TD=align: right]0[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]

Here's Mntwins.com's version of events, as of Midnight: I wish they'd get their story straight, or at least keep the "story" updated on their own information dissemination service to the public. Do you have a link verifying this new info?

Yet another Indie-League refugee and a guy who has spent parts of the last 6 seasons in AAA. Notiwthstanding his excellent results the last 2 seasons, let's adjust our expectations accordingly for viewing KJ as anything but a stop-gap panacea. We can all hope for an Andrew Albers-type debut, but the entire bulk of Albers time with the Twins is probably the utter most one could realistically hope for from KJ.

Kris.