Badsmerf

Meh. The left-handed argument thing is being overplayed. Everyone can see its tougher on lefties, just don't think its as bad as some are making it out to be. Shoot, Span doesn't have much of a problem hitting them out to RF.

Give him some days off then! Parmelee needs to play and if Morneau is playing hurt he is just being stubborn. It doesn't help anyone. Morneau hopefully knows this.

When players are complaining and blaming outside things effecting their performance they are crying. Thome is a perfect example of a pro because his explanation of TF is that its a baseball field and you go out and play. I don't mind Mauer saying its and adjustment, but give me a break. Do you really feel bad because TF doesn't play as well for lefties as the dome did? I don't. Hit the ball hard and hit line drives and you'll hit HR's.

LOL Awesome.

You must have missed the quotes by Cuddyer, Kubel, and Morneau. Cuddyer "any ball hit in right-center is an out, pretty much." Kubel ""I made some adjustments, but I made them a year later. Not trying to pull the ball and put it in the air so much. Start hitting line drives all over the place." Kubel “There’s a big wall there and the outfield is deep. It’s tough on a line drive hitter but the high wall and deep outfield makes that a difficult hitter’s park.” Morneau "“Right-center to left-center is ridiculous. [it's] almost impossible for a righthanded hitter to [homer to the] opposite field and very difficult for lefties. It affects the hitters a lot, and you start to develop bad habits as a hitter when you feel like you can only pull the ball to hit it over the fence. You take those habits on the road.” Sounds like a lot of crying to me lol. Good thing Plouffe, Willingham, Parmelee and Thome aren't that worried about it.

I would almost agree with you, but he's a little late to the party for 2012 IMO. It is pretty tough to bump Beltre and Cabrera as a newcomer.

Dude, this a message board. We talk about all things. There are plenty of positive topics like Plouffe and Revere. Unfortunately, right now there are a lot of things to argue about on ways to get better. Got to take it both ways brother.

Plouffe hasn't built up enough equity to bring in much at all. How do you know the past month hasn't been a mirage? Players do it all the time, get hot and hit a crazy amount of HR's then return to career norms. I don't think Plouffe is going to OPS in the low 700 range ever again, but that's not to say its impossible. A GM would be out of his mind to offer a deal the Twins would like for Plouffe. If the last month is the player Plouffe might become, I don't think they would want to trade him with so many cost controlled years in front of them.

I would argue to leave him on the Twins and let him get comfortable and start working on getting MLB hitters out. I really don't care what Blackburn does in his next start. His presence on the team at this point is a joke 59.1 IP 7.74 ERA. Hitter have a slash stat of .328/.375/.576 against him. Its not like he's coming off a major surgery where he will get better, this is it.

It is my belief most people like winning. Guess in the case of Twins fans its good enough if they can compete?

I think its arguable he's been the Twins MVP, but its not as clear as you're making it. Mauer should be the starting catcher for the AL, while there are plenty of OF's having a better season than Willingham. As far as offensively, an OF is supposed to hit better than catchers. It isn't a good comparison to compare them by offensive numbers only. Mauer is also a much better defender.

LOL, 5 runs in 6 IP is a 7.5 ERA, which doesn't qualify as respectable. There once was a time when the Twins pitching staff was consistently one of the better staffs in the league, how far we've fallen...

Mauer clearly deserves it. He should be starting and A.J. should be the back-up. The All-Star game is what it is.

Trade for what? Why would the Twins trade for starting pitcher this year? Makes no sense at all unless it is a good looking prospect and they are trading Span for him. I guess if it takes another terrible start by Blackburn to finally convince the Twins he is not a very good pitcher whatever, doesn't really matter in the scheme of things. The fact it took this long is unacceptable.

What is silly about it? Arguing whether the closest possible regular the Twins have at SS in the organization is going to benefit from being sent to AAA or left in the MLB to figure it out? I don't find that silly. Especially given the comparisons to different examples and the invalidity they pose in relation to this particular circumstance (because each is different). I think its a perfectly valid argument and interesting to see developmental philosophies at work. If you are referring to the "new" posters as dolts, you might want to wait for that. If you think anyone of us is less of a fan because things aren't hunky-dory you have it wrong. We come here to talk baseball because we are passionate about it. If you aren't upset that this team is terrible and was terrible last year there is something drastically wrong with your thinking. I want this team to get better, hopefully so does everyone else. What you might consider bitching might actually be a valid point that suggests something needs to change.

Another HR by Sano. I wonder if he's starting to adjust, put together a nice few games.

The ones who were crying about the field were the players.

I wish they would let Casilla play a little more consistently. At this point, I don't think he is a long term solution, but the Twins should let him play and be a stop-gap until better options are ready or cut bait.

In the case of Nathan and Liriano they depended on a hard slider for a strike-out pitch. Baker gets strike-outs with 3 pitches: curve, change-up and fastball. His delivery is deceptive, which is one of the major reasons he has success. Its impossible to say he will be as good as he was when he got injured, but I don't think its outlandish to think he will still be a quality MLB pitcher. I don't think the Twins will need him to be excellent, they need him to be a quality pitcher.

Keeping Blackburn in MN guarantees you that the worst pitcher in the MLB will be on your roster. Congratulations Twins!

And this has done them how well in the past? That's right, they haven't won a playoff series for a decade and haven't won anything else in over 2 now. This line of thinking is wrong, and the Twins have done their best to make everyone in MN think they are right. I seriously despise this way of thinking because it doesn't win. When is the last time a team won with mediocre pitchers signed cheap? It doesn't happen anymore, the game has changed. The Twins have to wake up at some point and realize putting even 20 mil. into 1 pitcher that is a top 20 guy will payoff more than signing 2 for 10 mil that "keep you in games." What does signing a guy like Hamels, and Greike do for the Twins? Instead of "keeping them in a game" they have the ability to completely dominate a game and win it by themselves. Plus, these guys are in their prime still and unless get significantly injured will provide this throughout their contract. Think it was an accident the Twins made the playoffs 4 of the 6 years Santana was with the team and only 2 since he left? Granted, Santana didn't do it by himself, but he was a huge part of it while winning his Cy-Young awards (Colon's doesn't count). A front-line starter only impacts a game once every 5 games, while getting 2 for the same money impacts 2 games; what a deal (the argument of Twins thinking). Problem is you have a better chance to win that 1 game than you do either of the other 2. Gamblers fallacy, just because you gamble more times doesn't mean you have a better chance the next time. The Twins have a pretty solid line-up. There are positions that could be upgraded, true. Is spending 5 million on another Jamey Carrol really going to help this team? The glaring needs are up the middle in the INF right now. Dozier may or may not be able to handle it (I think he will be an average player given this season to work through). However, starting pitching is much more of a need. Do the Twins need to draft and bring up a player in order to spend a lot of money on them? I don't see how Mauer's contract would have been that much different had he been on the FA market (few million maybe, but we're talking <10%). My point is, if you want talent sometimes you have to pay for it.... especially if you don't know how to draft it.

YES!!! They are Plooooooouffing Plouffe! LMAO. My life is complete.

I've been facebook browsing for the last 45 minutes. Makes games like this easier to watch.

Rally Monkey

During the All-Star break the Twins are going to have to make a decision on what direction to go with the rest of the season, and how to get better going into 2013. It's pretty obvious this team just isn't going anywhere. A couple things to keep in mind going into next year. 1) the payroll would allow for a big FA signing, even as big as Hammels (my preference) 2) the starting rotation could include Baker and Gibson by June 3) Span's trade value is as high as it will ever be 3) Revere looks like he can play CF and be a productive MLB hitter 4) they still need a 2b 5) the bullpen is fine.... please don't trade for more relief pitchers 6) Blackburn, Pavano, Duensing shouldn't be apart of any rotation ever 7) Liriano is still a cock tease