h2oface

Terry Ryan is just out doing himself. I hate how the Twins' AAA team is always so old, and used to stock less than replacement value players instead of having the real prospects compete at a higher level. The dumpster diving mentality has extended to the whole team instead of just the bullpen.

Putting Santana.... Johan... in the pen for a while at the start of his career sure didn't hurt his ability to start. You never know what will happen. Maybe Sano can pitch from the pen. He has a great arm, right? And he is in his second year out from Tommy John, so his arm is ready to perform the best it ever has. He won't even have far to go from the outfield to get warmed up. I mean, sure, he has never pitched before, but he is athletic enough, and it will just give him something else to try that he has never done before and help the team fulfill a need. We certainly have a need for a good arm in the pen. May as well start doing it in the Majors, too. Anything to get him in the game. Trevor May will be there to give him pointers.

Yes! Sano to first. Get on with it!!!!

Phil Hughes (and even in 2014) is historically horrible the first month of the season. Always. (Maybe there was one year with the Yankees he was not?) Why not let Hughes start the season in the pen for the opening month. He can step in the rotation when the first pitcher goes down. He can get warmed up in the pen, because he never is ready to start the season. To keep having him pitch horribly in April is repeating something that doesn't work, and is just not smart. You could miss the playoffs by a game or two, and those games in April could be the games you needed. Last year, Hughes was not only horrible in April, but he had to pitch against the other teams' top starters. What a mess. May as well bang your head against the wall. Since the Twins don't have anything close to a #1, why even start the top of the rotation against one at the beginning of the season. Let Duffey start the first game, and line up Santana and down the line against other clubs lessor pitchers. It is a simple way to maximize favorable match ups for the start of the season. Perhaps sacrifice the opening game (and you could get lucky) and line up favorable pitching match ups. The marathon doesn't need to be approached like a short post season series. It would be a benefit throughout the whole first month, especially since the Twins' rotation is 3's (maybe), and 4s and 5s. And after the first month, maybe Hughes will be ready to pitch, because he never is in April. I don't really care where they put May. I see benefits from both. With the rotation Ryan has assembled, I think a shut down pen is very important, and I think Perkins will be toast by June this year. Meyer should start the season in the pen.

Comin' with the comedy for a first post. Welcome.

Perhaps the new money ball will be trading totally unproven but highly rated prospects for real major league players in the future, before they spend 3 years of disappointment in the farm (like Kohl Stewart)...... like Dansby Swanson getting traded for Shelby Miller.... and Meyer for Span (prospect losing the trade for 3 years and counting). Let the prospects fail on another team while they are traded for proven pros that can help you now and in the future, instead of hope and dreams. Trade for the pros that have weathered the farm system and succeeded, instead of trading pros for prospects that fail over 80% of the time.

Yet, when drafted, many are considered top ten, and even top 5 prospects as they pitch in the lower minors. Articles and laurels are heaped upon them. Hype wins over historical actuality. And use them for proven MLB players by trade right away, while they have the highest value they probably will ever have? Don't even think about it in Twinsland.

Such promise and hope! I don't see one name that has made it and contributed with any significance at all to the Twins, yet. Sure it is hard to guess right. And many in this article are still developing, right? Looks good on paper, but the fact is...... no lasting results yet that have had any impact for an extended time. There is always the future and hope, though.

Killebrew had over 500 at bats in 1961. Are you meaning the starting lineup on opening day? ...... and does that make you 124 now?

I think that you are referring to the second year of Cuddyer's three year contract with Colorado - 2013, .331. The first year - 2012 - was pretty pedestrian, while Willingham was raking for the Twins. It would have been nice if Cuddyer had given the Twins a year like 2013.

This core group of players are not the core that will get the Twins to the playoffs. Not even close. It is the core of new, young players that will bring the now average vets along with them, and hope the core of under contract/arb eligible holdover players don't prevent that by being in the line up and batting .230 to .260.

Why not Price? After all, it is publicized and well documented now that - according to what I have been told right here on these boards by several who claim to personally know - that arguably one of the most honest men on earth says that there are no restrictions on the Twins' budget.

If Mauer is to move to the outfield, most problems of getting folks into the line up are solved. I would love to see Plouffe and Sano both take time at first and third. Sano is probably going to end up at first anyway, and I would much rather see him do the first and third dance than left/right field to third. Maybe the outfield will finally free Mauer's bat again. First isn't working.

That would seem to be a lose lose to me. Santana hardly proved his bat was ready, both in MLB and in MiLB. So you start Santana, whose bat is just as suspect, if not more, than Buxton's, and the defense is not as good then, either.

Again, that video is a 4x3 aspect ratio video stretch to fit a 16x9. It is not at all representative of reality. Chris Sale would look heavy in it.

Cuddyer must have some pretty specific reasons for letting 12.5 million go. Not many would do that. Maybe he is in some kind of physical hurt that he is not talking about. Now he can see if he can stump Penn and Teller.

You can make light of it if you like. All these 6 years with the Twins org as far as I can tell - 27% of his life. I can still identify with being 22, and what it is like. At 22, I would think I am being jerked around to not even get a chance to play third and prove myself once I got to the show, that I have earned being here with my talent and work and focus , and would embrace an organization that treated me with the respect and gave me a shot. The Twin's aren't doing him any favors, and never have. He would be relished on any club, and perhaps given the opportunity he has earned. My thinking is that Plouffe and Sano split time at third, and if Sano can show that he can become a major league third base sacker, then Plouffe's highest value will come at the trade deadline, if he is to be traded. If Sano can't cut the mustard at third after given a fair lengthy chance, then a change would be appropriate to keep his bat in the lineup, if he is hitting like he has.

Yes. To get to this final level and not even get an opportunity to perform in the position that is familiar, that is the only position you have been groomed for throughout the long minor league progression, and thrown into one when he finally reaches the top level that is totally unfamiliar. It is one thing to get the chance and fail, another to not even get a shot.

If I were Sano, and was getting jerked around like this after all these years, I would want to be traded to a team that would at least give me a chance, just a chance, to show them that I can do the job I have been groomed to do before being asked to switch to an unfamiliar position just as I arrived. Sano would probably have more trade value too.

Isn't Kershaw missing from this list?

In that video... a 4x3 aspect ratio recording stretched to fit in a 16x9 format, he looks downright fat, but it is distorted. Everyone in the video would look that way. Sano should be working out with Berrios! For that matter, so should Mauer and Perkins! No need to be playing Dominican ball. I think this is great. I don't know why they don't have a fitness camp where the boys can go to get personal training and diet et al during the off season. The Twins should even have a guy that can go to where he is to be involved daily.

Good thing that payroll is not limited...........

Why not just sign Scott Kazmir?

Shields will soon be a Nolasco. I dream of a Twins GM shopping with much higher standards.

I don't read where anyone is justifying any behavior. The grievance is the subject, and I think Papelbon has a right to file it, and will win. The video of the event does not show anyone trying to "choke out" anyone. The first posturing move went to the neck, and then to the chest. No choke out. It was all very quick. A lot of pushing and shoving between two bad boys of baseball. Both were contributory to the snap. Both are not setting any examples for being a good teammate. Papelbon went physical first, and was very wrong. Tempers flair when teams lose. No big deal, unless people want to make it one. Silly little fight. Punishment of suspension is fine, the money taken excessive, and not, in my opinion, right, and will not stand up when challenged. I would hope that the team and Papelbon settle it quickly without going through the process and move on, as I will now.