h2oface

Like Andrew Benintendi? Taken #7? Or Ian Happ? #9. I guess the fact that Buehler wasn't even on the list is somewhat telling. No conversion in the mix, either. Hey, I get that it is a crap shoot, the draft. No worries here, either. That doesn't mean I don't think of it, especially living in LA, and watching his quick rise and great help to the Big League club. Especially since I am beginning to think that Jay may never make it to the Bigs.

Every time I see Tyler Jay's name I think about Walker Buehler from Vanderbilt, who was not taken until #24 in the same 2015 draft, and is already helping the Dodgers in the show. Both college juniors. C'est la vie.

Offense!! Now if Escobar could get going again. Cave is really fun to watch.

Dozier still reaches out to the trailing bent leg to tag the stealing runner, and still doesn't leave the glove on the runner but shows it to the ump. Some just don't evolve. Garver had the throw there in plenty of time. Dozier was lucky to get the out.

Grandal was slumping so bad the second half of last year, that Barnes became the go to, and the hitter, up to and into the post season for most of the games. This year, Barnes can't buy a hit (around .200 all year), and Grandal is back, and hitting (albeit inconsistently... .313 thru April, .181 and .162 in May and June, and .429 in July ... so far). Castro was supposed to be so good defensively, and throwing people out, but man can he create some wild pitches that should have been blocked or caught, and framing rating has tanked. It is all so tenuous.

Utley and Forsythe have been playing like Dozier, or worse. But you gotta pitch that Dozier is automatic and a "crusher" the second half of the season.

Trade to the Dodgers, and get red hot, get a ring, and get a good free agent contract. Bad idea to stay with the Twins anyway, for a number of reasons. I didn't want Dozier to be traded last off season, but now, because of the reality of the teams performance, of which Dozier is a big part, it is time for all to part, and frankly, for Dozier, there are better options than staying here.

Maybe. But these farm teams are losing a lot more than they have been for being so loaded. Sure, it is about development, but real good players and systems win at all levels.

He can't be a supplemental pick?

I remember a couple years ago, at the start of the 2016 season, people talked about a 29 year old Jonathan Lucroy like this. That unraveled quite quickly, as we look at mid season 2018. Realmuto will be 28 at the start of 2019 season. Mauer was going to be the catcher for a lot longer than he was, when at 28 in the middle of 2011, the still mysterious bilateral leg weakness was the beginning of the end, but the rising Wilson Ramos was foolishly traded the year earlier because Mauer would surely be catching for years (and we all know the rest of that saga). Sure, it is a crap shoot, and Realmuto is, right now, the catcher everyone would like to have. I am a fan of trading prospects for MLB stars and players that have proven themselves. It will be real interesting to see what happens, but my bet is the Twins will not be the ones to get Realmuto. I think the best shot is to sign Ramos as a free agent in the off season, and the Twins are going to have plenty of money freed up, and neither Buxton nor Sano are showing the need a huge payoff in the next year or two. They both now have a ton to prove with consistency for that to happen, even if they both shine for the last half of this season. I really don't see the FO going for Realmuto with Buxton, Sano, and Kepler not progressing. If they had this year, yes. But as it is.... it would be an incredible gamble. Can one player make this team a contender? Not if the rest don't pony up as well.

The don't call it Medical Marijuana for no reason. Unknown? Seriously? How about the uses that are positive? And the CBD's. It is all about education and not keeping oneself ignorant. Of course it should not be banned and it should be and will soon be legalzed in the whole country. It is 2018. Alcohol is so much worse, and drinkers are forever in denial of that. Alcohol is the killer. It is literally poison in small (or large depending upon the drunk) doses. And then there was Doc Ellis. I guess some things not expected to be, are PEDs.

Cave really started slow in Rochester.... April 14th, .222 (first Buxton DL?) end of April, .188, but the end of May, the second Buxton DL, he had heated up and was at .274 for the year. He maintained there through June until his call up. Looks like he is good and ready now to be in the lineup instead of on the bench tonight.

The whole All-Star mentality is a pretty unrepresentative, anyway. An all-star really isn't a player that is just hot the first 3 months of the year. The guys that end of with the best lines on the year, but started slower and ended hot when it counts, down the stretch, but start the next season slower than their average, really are more of an all-star than one 3 month stretch. But people cry snub if a player really hasn't established himself yet. Plus, long term is more important than a flash in the pan 3 months. And then there is the mandatory picks from each team that puts players like Kintzler, Capps, and Cuddyer, and a slew of players on other teams that might be having the best season for that horrible team, but it is still pretty lame considering what one likes to think of an all-star as. Rosario's season, so far, is way better than Cuddyer's was the year he was the mandatory pick. Berrios fits this, too, unfortunately. He is having a very good season, but not an really who one considers an all-star, yet. I hope one day he will really earn it because he has a couple seasons of consistent good pitching, and now a season where he is truly an ace at the top of the league with the other aces. It has got to feel tons better when you know you have really earned it, instead of gotten in because of the technical weird rules. The call to vote for someone that is not really an all-star is something I don't really care about. But I know millions do. That is why we get all-stars that are not really all-stars. That and OCD fans can vote incessantly, instead of just once. It really has become ridiculous.

Twins farm 0-5 on the day. A winning tradition. Hey, Buxton got some hits, and didn't strikeout!

Rosario needed to be the mandatory pick from the Twins. I would have picked him. Berrios should have an 11-4 recrod if it wasn't for the bullpen. Rosario has no chance against the others in the final vote. I would pick Simmons if a gave a crap about how the vote works now.

I'm sure people were again selling out on Gibson after the first inning. Keep the faith. "Cut with the negative waves, man." There really needs to be an additional stat for the FRE and posthumously for the EDEE. Not all saves are saves. If the closer comes in with a clean slate with no one on base, and a 2 or 3 run lead, and they give up a couple hits and a run and get the third out with a runner on second that he is responsible for, that isn't a save, that is an "escape". If he comes in and gets puts them down without having the lead threatened, that is a save. Today, that was another "escape".

Didn't you forget left field, right field and center field and what the hell, first base and pitcher? No feel for the game? You mean, the guys on the bench aren't paying attention? Do our pitchers have a rhythm?

Has Astudillo, or A-stud, even played catcher yet?

Feel them up? Yikes. And that works for $750 K?

Sure it is a business, but I really don't consider baseball as the same as any other industry. It is truly unique. In so many ways. Sure, one can say it is no different that any other job offer in any other industry, but it is. It is the only MLB industry. Unique in so many ways. But that really doesn't matter. I don't know how that turd can be shined when they tell you that they think you are worth less than the suggested retail price, but the guy picked at many other slots, are. And I/we want to have a lasting relationship with you. A marriage is often considered, among other things, a bit of a business partnership. So is a contract to play ball. Few partners would be likely to take less than the suggested commitment, but there are always outliers. I can guess as much as the other guy. I still really would like to really know what was said, and not just the standard cliche that might come out at a press conference from both sides.

I always wonder what a top prospect feels about when the team that drafts him doesn't pony up to the slot value. In this case, $570 K of cheaptitude. I understand that $2.55 MM (per MLB Trade Rumors) is a lot of money for a young man - hell, for most men at all, young or not - but it also means that the team doesn't really think you are worth it. What can the negotiating conversation be, to make it seem otherwise, really? I mean, you have to know that they will cut you in a heart beat in the future, at anytime, if they want to, and not blink an eye. It can't be a "take one for the team, so we can make the Twins better and give your money to a lower draft pick, can it? It just seems cheap to me. I really wonder what the pitch is. Whatever it is, it seems like a horrible way to start a "team" relationship.

Meanwhile, Doug Mientkiewicz got the AAA job in the Detroit system with the Toledo Mudhens, and continues to just win. Players like to play for him. Dozier? He has absolutely no motivation to do anything but have a career year, what with free agency coming up, so I don't buy he is trying to be anything but the best he can be. Unfortunately for him and the Twins, that is not happening.

Seven innings and 3 runs? I will take that from Berrios every game.

We need a bunch of runs so we don't have to see Rodney!

bringing in the righty to face a switch hitter and a lefty. that was odd.