jokin

There is that.....Glass half-empty, glass half-full.... FIP is around 5.00 now... tERA will be close to 6.00, SIERA closing in on 5.00. Trends are not KC's friend right now.

Hypothetically, functionally and actually, McLouth would be our best OF, in LF, RF or CF.

There is a whole list of SP FAs that provide evidence to the contrary.

He'll be comfortably over 5.00 in his next start.

Correia's May and June weren't very good, either.

You still have the worst SP ERA in baseball, despite Ryan's alleged focus on stabilizing and bolstering the SP situation, he has achieved virtually the identical ERA performance numbers to last year's makeshift rotation shambles. The already horrible SP K/9 from 2012 of 5.57 is this year @ 4.77- mindboggling, and no defense can make up for that number over 162 games. We can debate why Willingham and Doumit weren't dealt after career years, and why the 2 top-of-the-order OBP guys were traded without viable replacements waiting in the wings or being acquired via FA (Brian Dozier and Jamey Carroll/Chris Herrmann batting 1-2, seriously?).....for the sake of argument, just leave out the offensive side of the equation. There's just no way to sugarcoat the SP situation. This is on Ryan.

Nate McLouth, 1 year @ $2M.

...And Eduardo Escobar whimper....

If he continues to progress at GCL, shouldn't he be physically ready to pitch at Ft Myers or New Britain in August? He's on the NB DL roster and he did pitch one AA game last year before he was shut down. It looks like 3 spaces would have to be made available to avoid Rule 5 exposure, Kepler, Vargas and Wimmers. I see well more than 3 spots opening up on the 40-man in 2014, but would anyone draft Vargas or Kepler with the intention of keeping either all year on a major league roster? OTOH, Wimmers seems like a very small possibility (especially if he performs well for the remainder of this year and in the AFL), perhaps with the intention of making a trade for him with the Twins, or losing him to the Twins when/if things didn't work out.

Hey, don't you go dissing "The Frisco Kid", he just returned from the DL and I'm sure there's drama still to be played out here on Twins Daily as his season progresses.

Lots of clubs, even some of the most successful ones, freely employ the bargain methods that probabilistically stand to yield only marginal improvements. The inflow of hungry personnell helps keeps things fluid and dynamic in an organization, no jobs should be "safe" in such a competitive business- with so many willing to bust the doors down to only get a chance to succeed. People minimize potential marginal improvements, Florimon has only been considered as such until recently, he is still young enough for many to think that he ends up being a better than marginal upgrade- and for no initial outlay. And, once in a while you have a lightning in a bottle-type performance or even a medium-, or long-term keeper that comes from such activity. Your 2nd two paragraphs are spot on.

The "turn" was taken by the poster my response was to. And my quote is almost exactly what happens every time it has been proposed that the Twins look into making a claim on a player. I'm certainly not saying you are in that camp, but sorry, I have a pretty sensitive hypocrisy meter when it comes to these types of things- and it has happened pretty regularly from the inception of TD. The Twins could have made a claim on Borbon and worked out a trade- probably for a Benson o probably less, before the Cubs exercised their pre-emptory waiver rights at the end of the claiming period.

Hey Seth- I see that Wimmers pitched well today in 4 innings of work at GCL. Do you have a read on the Twins plan for him for the rest of 2013? Could he be a candidate for the Gibson program from last year (AFL in the fall)?

Navaretto with a Grand Slam, 3rd HR in 37 ABs so far in the GCL. Still only 18 years old.

Don't forget Mastro is DHing today for the first time, as well. At this point, 0-2 with a SF. To the TD minor league staff experts, any word on the plans for Wimmers for the rest of 2013? Does he have a decent shot at a Kyle Gibson rehab-type year and pitch in the AFL come October?

Actually, that's exactly what has happened on this board virtually every single time that a poster has wondered if the Twins should claim ________ (the latest waiver posting).

Ryan missed 2 free swipes at the very fat and dangling pinata. Must have been a good blindfold he had on in the offseason. Todd Richard Redmond Position: Pitcher Bats: Right, Throws: Right Height: 6' 3", Weight: 235 lb February 8, 2013: Selected off waivers by the Baltimore Orioles from the Cincinnati Reds. March 22, 2013: Selected off waivers by the Toronto Blue Jays from the Baltimore Orioles.

It is oft-stated these days (so I can't say for certain if it's established fact or urban myth), that TJ success rate is now at 85%. Getting a potential ace (supposedly there are only 20 true #1s in all of the major leagues), who has gotten his TJ already out of the way at age 20, sure seems like a very worthwhile risk. Still, I am wondering the Orioles thinking on Bundy long-term, since they are the source for making this little tidbit of information public. They have 2 other potential top-of-the-rotation pitchers soon ready to hit the big league club for good. Hopefully it's their faith in that fact and not a lack of faith in Bundy's full recovery.

I see what you did there. Very clever.

I really feel you on your first paragraph. Perkins is perfect for the Twins and for Twinsland, but this is a business first and Ryan must strike with his hot iron before all of baseball figures out how inaccurate valuation models are for closers. With regards to your second paragraph, your point is well taken. But.... Ron Davis is on Line 2, Jesse Orosco is on Line 3, they beg to differ.

I think this quote today puts things into their proper perspective, confirms the theory about cultural and language barriers and youthful immaturity. “If anything, I think he’s trying to figure things out and understand,” said Rob Antony, the Twins assistant general manager. “He’s a good kid but, like we say, it’s all part of the development. He has to understand that it’s not right, that’s not the way we go about and we clean that stuff up in Double-A.” I think everyone has moved on and all sides have/will benefit from what transpired. Sano's four-game benching at New Britain comes to an end | StarTribune.com

But they fit into the meme that Ryan can patch a roster together year-by-year on the cheap. I don't think that anyone can deny that he clearly has a history and record of expertise at plugging really low-risk and inexpensive assets into gaping roster holes. "Buying time" with illusory players while waiting for the real prospects to be ready is certainly a skill that can be appreciated- it's certainly better than signing a Vernon Wells-type to fill that hole.

We still have Vasquez and Kyle Davies that hopefully could pan out (not holding my breath....). I've been a consistent champion of acquiring cheap assets like this- baseball, probably as much as any sport has a history of guys who bounce back or catch lightning in a bottle just from a change of scenery or given a new approach by new employers. The interesting take on this whole situation with regard to waiver pick-ups was the criticism some of us on one side of the philosophical divide have received when we have urged the Twins to take full advantage from the poor W-L record in claiming DFAs (Todd Redmond, Jair Jurrjens, Luis Martinez, Pedro Borbon....etc.). The retort from the defend-management-at -all-costs crowd at the time went something to the effect that: "Ryan would be ill-served and wasting his time trying to rebuild a team adding 25th-place roster player-level players, malcontents and damaged-goods retreads....He's doing things the right way.....!....building the farm system from the ground up.....!"

Thielbar, Bernier, Colabello, Ramiriez were not coming off of injury. They definitely don't fit into Old Nurse's categorization.

I'm curious what cultural barrier you see at play when Sano tells his manager that he'll do what he wants when he homers. This is jokin, not jonkin. A reporter related one version of whatever events transpired, from a manager with a well-documented history of players chafing and rebelling under his leadership style. I wonder if the reporter even tried to get Sano's reaction, was refused by Sano, or was not allowed to get a comment from Sano (through a translator) by Twins management. Miguel Sano is only 20, in a foreign culture, and can barely speak a string of English phrases, let alone maintain a meaningful ongoing conversation in the language. There's no doubt in my mind that he has made youthful mistakes of immaturity in this particular matter. Whatever may or may not have transpired with Lanigan, in Sano's state of mind and youthful immaturity, regaining whatever respect that he may have perceived was lost in that tempetuous tete-a-tete with Lanigan may be more important culturally to him than a manager saying he can't do it that way (just speculation on my part). Plus, playing with a cocky and one-upsmanship style is the way Dominicans play the game in the DR. Most quickly learn to adapt to behavioral norms deemed acceptable in American baseball- Miguel is apparently still learning what is and isn't acceptable. The part with Jeff Smith could easily be a language-barrier-cultural-divide-related misunderstanding. As a former coach myself, I've seen, witnessed and learned to adapt my methodology for disciplinary action about such differences in real time. I'm not worried about Sano, Terry Ryan has gone on record about what a wonderful person he is. This could end up being the best thing for him and for the organization- especially if Ryan identifies the new reality for the Twins is being very proactive in insuring that a bushelful of very young and highly talented foreign-born players end up all on the same page with the native-born players on the Twins roster. The coming years are clearly going to be a vastly different scenario than merely trying to keep the likes of Alexi Casilla, Juan Castro and Henry Blanco happy. It sounds like they have a program at Fort Myers for cultural immersion and language training, that's a good start. An ongoing support outreach, including a former professional big league Latin-born player as a coach or manager at each stop in the minors would be a good next step.