Thrylos

I don't know. The Twins did not retaliate for Swisher's dirty slide that broke their starting SS's leg. That play was way dirtier. I just don't think they have it in them...

Foul. there are 16 third basemen in the hall of fame (and the likes of Ripken went as a SS). That equals the number of catchers (also 16). There are 72 pitchers and if you subtract the 10ish relievers and divide by 5 (even if you do not subtract for the relievers, this makes 14.some) and if you consider that there are 12 P spots for 13 position spots in a roster (or 10 and 15 at the worst ratio), Pitcher is the position with the least likelihood for a HOF award hands down by a long way.

I finally made it to Target Field for first time ever a couple days ago Thursday. There was more cheering by people (cannot even call them "fans") for TC Bear and the hot dog canon than anything that happened during the game (and the Twins won and it was a great game.) The problem is that what you call "casual fan" (which is not a fan, really) sees going to a ballpark the same as going to a movie or to a fair or a concert (maybe, I bet concert goers are more tuned to what is going on than folks on baseball stands). So they do not care that much in general. They care more about food and beer selections and in-between inning "entertainment". That's why there are more circle me Bert signs than signs about Twins' players (e.g.) And this is not a Twins only situation, but it is kind of a global phenomenon, and the teams cater to those people instead of the real fans, because that is who brings $ to their pockets. Sad but real.

FYI: Matsuzaka a. won a world series with his team (Boston) b. went 18-3 with a sub 3 ERA 2 things that Darvish has not done yet in the major leagues. Dice-K all in all has had a better MLB career than Darvish. In 2-3 years this might change, but this is nothing like Nishioka and Ichiro...

That would be a defensive infield that would make the 2012-3 Detroit Tigers proud.

Florimon is fine. He is better than half a dozen MLB shortstops with the bat and pretty much on the top with the glove. I don't think that you can ask much more about your SS. If your first baseman, your DH and 2/3 of the OF have OPS less than .750, the middle infield bats are the least of your worries, esp. when they play much above average defense (Florimon is now at 9 runs saved above average before today and will get higher after tonight)

It is not happening. He has zero ties with the Twin Cities community and plenty of ties with his VA community.

Meyer did not make it? weird

...the Twins' highest paid pitcher is probably abducted by aliens or something because everyone is mute about whether he could possible even thinking about returning to pitch or he will retire to be a stay at home daddy. Totally amazed by the silence and the waste of $ at this point...

I think that Correia will go sooner than later. If not soon enough one of Walters and Diamond will get demoted to AAA. I would like to see the Twins shop Diamond, but this will be too much out of the box thinking for them...

Are you sure about that?

I like Darnell but he can be added to the other 3 LHSPs the Twins have in the high levels (Diamond, Albers & Hernandez) and you got pretty much a set of number 4 or 5 starters with average FBs and adequate secondary stuff who have to hit the corners to survive in a MLB game. No dominating fastballs, no out pitches. That's not bad, they are all "serviceable" and could be good bullpen assets and spot starters in a competitive in the post-season team , but you cannot build a rotation around them (like the Twins ill-advisedly tried to do with Diamond this season...)

re: Hicks: a. he is improving b. he is saving runs with his glove. c. last but not least. Everyone is saying that Hicks' season with the bat has been horrible; and with an excellent reason. But chew this: .275/.348/.550 as a RH hitter. He has no business batting left handed. I would not mind him spend a couple weeks in AAA and batting exclusively right handed (so he gets a good look at righties) and then come up. His issues from the left side are not new. About time the Twins do something... [TABLE=class: sortable stats_table] [TR=class: hl] [TD=align: right][/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]

I suspect that this might be trolling, esp after that Billy Buckner imitation tonight... On the other hand, this might be an exact indication why someone will (over)pay for Morneau: If you look at batting average and RBIs and evoke the ghost of Morneau's past, oh yeah he does have value and some GMs will bite. At this point here is the realistic equation: a. The Twins will have to pay him $7ish million for the rest of 2013 after July. b. They will not make a qualifying offer for him after this season, so there will be no compensations c. The Twins will not make it in the post-season in 2013. Add a + b + c and a warm body + $7M beats it, esp. if there might be some future in that warm body

by his performance when he got consecutive starting appearances (good to great) vs when he played sporadically (average to awful). Math is there to do the extrapolations...

Gardenhire is horrible in doing this, on the other hand, once he kinda puts players in his little pigeonholes. Prime example: Alexi Casilla who has not seen consistent play since his age 23 season in 2008; and he is a player who has proven that he needed to play every day to produce. I think that Parmelee is such a player as well.

Arcia is Venezuelan so not subject to the Rule 4 draft like the Puerto Rican Rosario; so that comparison does not make much sense. Kinda like comparing Sano's and Buxton's draft positions. That said, IMO not many of those national writers see many of the players they rank play. That is what happened with Rosario. Flying under the radar. FWIW, super duper purple unicorns and such aside, I'd love to see Buxton sustain his success in high A, before I rank him over Sano

You can view the page at http://twinsdaily.com/content.php?r=1947-The-next-generation-of-Latin-American-prospects-for-the-Minnesota-Twins

ummmm... No. Pinto has played a grand total of 14 games at 1B in his life and the last time was at the VSL in 2006. He is about 5'9" (listed generously more I think). I can think of a million other positions but first base... Eric Fryer is "blocking" him as well. I certainly see a September call up...

Good stuff and Pinto should be on top of the Twins' C prospects, but He is as "poor" defensive catcher, as Butera is a "great" defensive catcher. Suburban tales... Pinto is fine behind the plate and has a strong arm. Herrmann (and Rohlfing) are probably more suited to a Doumit role because they are more versatile. One think that Pinto emergence is: the final nail in Butera's coffin. I suspect that he gets traded or released (not offered arbitration) sooner than later.

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- The lore of baseball has it that the jumps from single A to high A and from high A to AA are the hardest jumps in a pro player's minor league career. In actuality, there is another jump that is much harder and only about one in five players make it: The jump from the Dominican Summer League to the Gulf Coast League. The players who make this jump are what an organization thinks is the cream of the crop of the next generation of their Latin American prospects who have been having their first taste of pro ball in the DSL. Here are the names of the players who made the jump from the DSL to the GCL for the Minnesota Twins (with one exception) this season: Jose Alexi Abreu, 20, (RHP) 5'11", 170 Birthday: 07/13/1992, Dominican Republic Signed in 2010. Not to be confused with the Cuban Jose Abreu or this former Twins' RHP. (The article linked is a 1981 Sports illustrated article that is a must read for a historic perspective of Latin American Free Agent signings before the big bonus era.) Damiam (Damian) Ismael Campusano Defrank, 18, (RHP), 6'3", 200 Birthday: 02/01/1995, Dominican Republic Signed in 2012 Miguel Antonio Gonzalez, 18 (RHP), 6'1", 180 Birthday: 10/12/1994, Dominican Republic Signed in 2011 for $650K. Jonatan Hinojosa (Ynojosa) 20, (SS), 5'11", 150, SH Birthday: 10/23/1992, Dominican Republic Signed in 2009 German Amaurys Minier, 17 (SS/3B) 6'2", 190, SH Birthday: 01/30/1996, Dominican Republic Signed in 2012 for $1.4M He did not play in the DSL last season but played in the Academy (the one exception here) Adonis Alexander Beltran Pacheco, 21, (OF), 5'11", 175, LH Birthday: 7/14/1991, Dominican Republic Signed in 2009 Joel Bienvenido Polanco 20, ©, 5'11", 175, RH Birthday: 08/15/1992, Dominican Republic Signed in 2010 Not to be confused with Twins SS Jorge Polanco (now in Cedar Rapids) who also was signed in 2010 for $750K bonus Fernando Ernesto Romero, 18, (RHP), 6'0", 215 Birthday: 12/24/1994, Dominican Republic Signed in 2011 Engelb Vielma 19, (SS), 5'11", 155, SH Birthday: 06/22/1994 , Venezuela Signe in 2011 Reyson Andres Zoquiel, 19, (LHP), 5'11", 175 Birthday: 11/05/1993, Dominican Republic Signed in 2010 In addition to the above players, Leonel Zazueta, and 18 year old RHP from Mexico with a very live mid 90s fastball, who signed last year with a large bonus, and like Minier is starting his pro career in the US, is on the GCL roster, skipping the DSL. http://ww1.hdnux.com/photos/14/55/32/3331724/3/628x471.jpg

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- The lore of baseball has it that the jumps from single A to high A and from high A to AA are the hardest jumps in a pro player's minor league career. In actuality, there is another jump that is much harder and only about one in five players make it: The jump from the Dominican Summer League to the Gulf Coast League. The players who make this jump are what an organization thinks is the cream of the crop of the next generation of their Latin American prospects who have been having their first taste of pro ball in the DSL. Here are the names of the players who made the jump from the DSL to the GCL for the Minnesota Twins (with one exception) this season: Jose Alexi Abreu, 20, (RHP) 5'11", 170 Birthday: 07/13/1992, Dominican Republic Signed in 2010. Not to be confused with the Cuban Jose Abreu or this former Twins' RHP. (The article linked is a 1981 Sports illustrated article that is a must read for a historic perspective of Latin American Free Agent signings before the big bonus era.) Damiam (Damian) Ismael Campusano Defrank, 18, (RHP), 6'3", 200 Birthday: 02/01/1995, Dominican Republic Signed in 2012 Miguel Antonio Gonzalez, 18 (RHP), 6'1", 180 Birthday: 10/12/1994, Dominican Republic Signed in 2011 for $650K. Jonatan Hinojosa (Ynojosa) 20, (SS), 5'11", 150, SH Birthday: 10/23/1992, Dominican Republic Signed in 2009 German Amaurys Minier, 17 (SS/3B) 6'2", 190, SH Birthday: 01/30/1996, Dominican Republic Signed in 2012 for $1.4M He did not play in the DSL last season but played in the Academy (the one exception here) Adonis Alexander Beltran Pacheco, 21, (OF), 5'11", 175, LH Birthday: 7/14/1991, Dominican Republic Signed in 2009 Joel Bienvenido Polanco 20, ©, 5'11", 175, RH Birthday: 08/15/1992, Dominican Republic Signed in 2010 Not to be confused with Twins SS Jorge Polanco (now in Cedar Rapids) who also was signed in 2010 for $750K bonus Fernando Ernesto Romero, 18, (RHP), 6'0", 215 Birthday: 12/24/1994, Dominican Republic Signed in 2011 Engelb Vielma 19, (SS), 5'11", 155, SH Birthday: 06/22/1994 , Venezuela Signe in 2011 Reyson Andres Zoquiel, 19, (LHP), 5'11", 175 Birthday: 11/05/1993, Dominican Republic Signed in 2010 In addition to the above players, Leonel Zazueta, and 18 year old RHP from Mexico with a very live mid 90s fastball, who signed last year with a large bonus, and like Minier is starting his pro career in the US, is on the GCL roster, skipping the DSL. http://ww1.hdnux.com/photos/14/55/32/3331724/3/628x471.jpg

grains of sand add to mountains. The most important stats: 99 + 96 + ? and no rings since 1991. The other is just gravy.

And I guess that some people would go out of their way to excuse anything they do... BTW Mr Gardenhire and Mr Ryan fired Stelly and Jerry (two people who I never thought they will be -or asked to get- fired) blaming the 99 + 96 on them. Excuse that...