Thrylos

I don't know about the Palka trade. I think that the Twins could use a catcher who is hitting .290/.350/.503 in the majors more than they can use an outfielder who is hitting .279/.354/.557 between AA/AAA. The fact that the Twins did not trust Herrmann or can get that out of him, is a totally different conversation, and definitely does not look good for Ryan (and Co)

Let me see: Whose errors lost more ballgames this season? Sano's or Molitor's? And do you feel the same way about the manager?

Sano right now, even though rusty, is a better third baseman than Plouffe and Koskie were at their first full year with the Twins. Give him time.

The numbers: Jaylin Davis .277/.346/.745 Lewin Diaz .338/.366/.701 Brandon Lopez .362/.513(!!!)/.448 Alex Kirilloff .367/.368/.567 Andre Jernigan .289/.386/.526 Travis Blackenhorn .304/.356/.554 HR (PA): Davis 7 (52) Blakenhorn 6 (101) Diaz 5 (82) Minier 4 (78) Kirilloff 4 (95) 2B (PA): Dias 11 (77) Carrier 8 (82) Kirilloff 6 (95)

Me too when I look at his peripherals like 17.6 % HR/FB, .363 BABIP, and 3.67 SIERA along with 8.64 K/9 (career average). However, a -2 mph loss in the FB (that practically has been his biggest issue) and -3 mph loss in the changeup makes me think that this might be a Perkins2.0 situation and the guy is hurt. If I believed in the Twins' medical personnel, I'd work a quick trade with the jays for someone that will not be part of the Twins' future (like Boshers) and see what is going on. He is still not 29 years old. But do I trust the Twins' docs?

Alex Kirilloff is the fourth best hitter in that team after Jaylin Davis, Lewin Diaz, and Brandon Lopez. Blackenhorn is neck to neck with him as well. So he is not the best player in that team by any means. 2 walks in 22 games is concerning any way you cut it. Kirilloff has the hitting tools. The issues with him have been: a. whether or not he is coachable and will listen to the Twins' coaches vs his dad and b. whether he can make it in a pluralistic environment outside his sheltered (home to church to baseball practice with dad to his foster High School games) life, as a professional baseball player at 18. The jury is still out on the latter, but there is a lot of risk out there...

Same question here... Rochester, MN? or Rochester, NY? If coming from the Pill Hill place, not that much of a detour. Just take 90 instead of 80, do the Niagara Falls (that is really awesome,) catch a AAA Twins' game at the other Rochester and swing down 87 from Cooperstown to NYC. Well worth it, and comparing to driving (and parking) in NYC, not that expensive. Enjoy

That was not much of a plunge. Smaller than E. Santana, Hughes and Nolasco. The other thing that has to be mentioned. The Twins can "sell" Park to a Japanese or Korean team and recover a lot of the posting fee $ as well as nullify the remaining of his contract, if he so agrees. So there is an out (and Nishioka took a similar,) unlike with most of the players.

With Nolasco (and Santana, and Hughes) is not the money, but the opportunity cost in blocked pitchers

The Dodgers might be a good landing place for Nolasco. He was successful there: 8-3, 3.52 ERA, 3.15 FIP, 1.195 WHIP, 7.8 K/9. With Wood out for the season and Kershaw hurting, their rotation is Maeda, Kasmir, and a cast of characters in a revolving door from the minors. They would need at least 2 SP to continue to compete (4 games behind SF and in the WC lead for the NL) and this assumes that Kershaw will return soon. And Nolasco will be at least their number 3 pitcher right away. But the return will be less for what they gave the Marlins the first time around, and from those 3 players 2 are in the independent leagues and one is a MiLB journeyman. Addition by subtraction basically. Got to add Dozier to the list, and Milone for sure.

I do not disagree with the last point. However, Palka has more power than Walker (check their SLG% and isoP - and even their HR totals) Palka is pretty unique in the organization, since Arcia left. He is the only pure power LHB at high levels. FWIW, Palka's numbers in AA and SSS AAA are better than Kepler's and his defense is at least as good at both OF and 1B. Rosario is hitting .244/.259/.402. Hardly starting OF numbers. Palka is hitting .277/.353/.559 this season (AAA + AA) after he hit .280/.352/.532 last season. Other than the increase in power, which was anticipated, he has been pretty darn consistent at any level. He should be in MN in September for sure.

according to this Dave Cameron piece at fangraphs. That would be excellent, but I think that more players than he lists will move...

"Albers could very easily fill a rotation spot with the Twins during August and September." If that happens, Antony should get the boot at the spot. Albers was part of the problem with the Twins and will never be in their future, so it is totally unreasonable to have him up, instead of Berrios, Meyer (if healthy,) Wheeler and Baxendale; and all of the healthy 3 mentioned have pitched better than Albers...

Those are valid points, but the measuring stick should be the league and not past Twins' teams. Here are how the top Twins' relief pitchers rank among their league peers in K/9 (20 IP or more) : 8th (May), 33rd (Tonkin), 80th (Rogers), 119th (Pressly), 121st (Abad), 180th (Kintzler) As a whole the Twins are ranked dead smack in the middle of the league tied with the Phillies for 15th in K/9. Better than last season? Of course. Good enough? Maybe. Good enough for a post-season team? Nope. But definitely something to build upon. Take the 3 who are in the top 100 and supplement them with 1 pitcher in the top 10, one in top 30 and one in top 50, and you got something... Abad and Kintzler are perfect trade candidates. Kintzler's ERA-FIP (2.20-3.38,) BABIP (.256,) and strand rate (85.5%) all say sell while you can and so do Abad's ERA-FIP (2.73-3.52,) BABIP (.269,) and strand rate (78.3%) but less loudly. And they are both in the wrong side of 30. These guys are Fien2.0 Gifts that should have taken care of and not dragged around until their luck ran out. Re: Kepler's power. So far his power (.259 IsoP) and slash line (.229/.309/.488) look a lot like, but slightly better than those of Eddie Rosario last season (.192 IsoP, .267/.289/.459). Matter of fact he is the same age that Rosario was last season. He is developing, trending the right way, but has a long way to go. Is he the Twins' best OF today? Maybe. Would he be in the starting OF for a post-season team? Likely not. So good signs, but still needs a lot of work (and esp. on the other side of the ball, his defense, esp. range, is below average; being better than Sano's does not matter.)

Please qualify this. My take is that they are pigeonhalling themselves as a Minnesota/Dakotas team as far as marketing goes.

Even if Abad gets traded, there is no excuse not to call up Melotakis (who btw is back from his early season issues and pitching well at Chattanooga,) instead of someone who will not be part of the Twins future. Is Antony trying to build trade value for Boshers so he can get a D-level prospect instead of nothing? Only thing I can think of that may (and it doesn't) remotely make sense.

I think that this is a lead indicator of how different than Ryan, Antony would be as a GM, and answers plenty of questions about what the Twins would do with Antony at the helm...

Can't disagree with much, other than calling Goin a "stat guru". He is not Bill James you know

Can anyone explain to me, please, why Neil Ramirez is in the Twins roster today, over any of the relievers mentioned (or not mentioned) above? And please could the explanation reflect some opinion about the person who put him and the person who kept him on that roster? Thank you.

Indianapolis, Indiana. Do you realize how South that is? Ok. Let's see: South, Chicago, LA, New York. What's the next logical step? Minneapolis?

I think that we have to be a bit realistic here. There is one particular thing that makes this position not that great, and it is kinda difficult to admit if you lived in the MN/ND/SD/IA/WI area all your life: the weather in MN from November to February is brutal and the GM would have to be there during that time. I'd love to have Ng as the Twins GM, but would she be willing to leave NYC and move to MN? Dunno. Different story than finding players, managers and coaches who can be in MN from April-October and be someplace humane during the winter time. I'd seriously look at people from these 5 states first and foremost, and disqualify anyone who has moved S of the Mason-Dixon line, for starters.

According to a more in depth view, the Pirates top 2 catchers are on the DL and their current starter in the position is Erik Fryer... Cervelli had hand surgery and for a catcher that is not quite good. They might need Suzuki Their pen is fine, but they do need starters. Both Niese and Locke are about to get the boot (and, no, the Twins should not go after any of them) They have already shuffled a good dozen pitchers (both starters and relievers) between AAA and the majors this year

Johnson was responsible for the Twins amateur drafting and scouting. Here are the people he drafted in the first 2 rounds of the draft in all Twins drafts 5 year and older (the expectation here is that you need about 5 years to develop someone) : Hicks, Gutteriez, Shooter Hunt, Ladendorf, Gibson, Bashore, Bullock, Wimmers, Goodrum, Michael, Harrison, Boyd, Boer Do you trust him to make decisions for the club? Radcliff has been responsible for scouting players who come as free agents with the Twins (the list here is longer and started with Nishioka and ends with Park, with a few Nolascos, Correias, Pelfrys thrown in.) Do you trust him to make decisions for the club? I don't...

The second Dozier You can add a few names to the list as well...

Based on what? Twins wins? Bottoms on the seats? Because if his performance metric is to get people to use his "brand", he has been failing, really...