William K Johnson

- Jose Miranda is a disaster with a glove on. We can attempt to hide him at first where it is not as painful as watching him play third. But with Buxton at DH, Arraez has to bat somewhere so he is at first as well (trying to hide his glove) and wanting Miranda's bat in the lineup, third becomes an option. However, even when catches the ball, his throws are terrible. It is not like we do not have a Gold Glove caliber third baseman on the roster. The answer to the whole logjam is to play Buxton in center. That way Miranda and Arraez can split first and DH. This leads me to my second point. - We were told that by Buxton only playing centerfield twice a week or less, that after the All-Star break he would play more regularly in center. We are now two weeks past that point and Buxton is still only playing centerfield once a week. This from the same medical staff that cannot fix Kiriloff's wrist, Acala's shoulder and various other ailments that seem to keep Twin players out longer than say Chicago or Cleveland players. - Similar to Alex Colome last season, the front office will refuse to admit it's mistake with Pagan and force feed him to us the rest of the year. At least they have removed him from high leverage situations, but he is still able to lose games in the sixth inning. If they insist on keeping him, he should be the last option in the bullpen. - This is tough for me, but it is time to cut bait with Tyler (Three-Run Homer) Duffey. We send Coffee and others down who have shown better results out of the pen to keep him but how many games does he enter when we are behind by 2 - 3 runs and are down by 5 - 6 when he leaves. The front office made some good moves at the trading deadline to upgrade the pen, now it is time to take it one step further by weeding out the ineffective members of it. - Sounds strange, but I have more confidence with Nick Gordon at the plate, than I do with Buxton, Correa, Polanco, and Arraez at this point. Speaking of Correa, if he opts out, is Royce Lewis that big of a drop off? I don't think so. - We miss Kepler. I will never complain about his pop-ups again. - Tyler Alexander will live in infamy for his gopher ball to Mark Conteras. Since that mammoth blast, Conteras has only put the ball in play once, that being a double play grounder. However, on the flip side I must admit that Jake Cave seems to have figured something out. No longer trying to hit each pitch 700 feet, he seems to be concentrating on putting the bat on the ball. I realize it is a small sample size but if this is true to form, he could help this team whose offense right now is stagnate. Done ranting, just had to get some of these thoughts out here.

Chicago and Cleveland will go around us like Secretariat at the Belmont in the second half. They are much superior teams in every aspect of the game, especially at the helm.

Looks like the clock has struck twelve for Smelzer.

Look at the bright side, by using Colome, sorry, Pagan in the fifth it gives us four at bats to overcome his giving up the lead. When he does it in the eighth or ninth innings, we don't have enough opportunities to overcome his ineffectiveness. Seriously, we have to find folks who can get people out in late innings. I cannot think of another team whose bullpen is as ineffective as this one.

Sorry, but I am not yet sold on Miranda. The bad throw on a routine play that almost pulled Arraez off first had me concerned when Luis acted if he had stretched something on the play. That is the last thing we need is to lose the batting leader for an extended period of time. Yes, I realize that he hit a critical home run but also saw him ground into a double-play against a position player. I am lot more comfortable with Urschela at third.

No way he plays ahead of Urshela. Kiriloff should be at 1st with Miranda DH'ing against left handers. Agree that both Sanchez and Jeffers in a lineup is really challenging. Larnach needs more seasoning, the strikeouts are crippling. Leadoff double the other night and a simple ball in play to the right side, followed by a fly ball to the outfield (which we got), scores a run. Instead, we get nothing and lose by 1. The reason Cleveland is successful is they put the ball in play.

Count me as one who does not want to trade Urshela. Miranda is not even close on either side of the ball to him. I would move both Miranda and Larnach if you could get anything for either. I would extend Urshela, let Correa opt out (Lewis really looks like he is ready) and see if either Celestino or Gordon have any value.

I can't watch anymore of this.

Harmon Killebrew

The Yankees must have been worried about this series as I see they have called Phil Cuzzi's crew in. Mark my work, sometime in the next three days he will leave a mark on this series.

But we keep Jake Cave and his two RBI's on the season. What a waste of a good roster spot.

Traded so we could keep Jake Cave. How's that working out?