Thrylos

I think that the should keep the best 25 up North to give the Twins a higher chance to win games. I think that ParmElee is not the weakest link on the team at this point, neither is Plouffe (the weakest link would be Sean Burroughs.) Also, I do get that players need to play every day to develop, but I am more concerned with the Twins winning ballgames than I am with developing players...

well... look at this: first of all this is an amazing stat. Half of the starters will go to the DL. The Twins' hopefully had their fair share already this season. Secondly, if the use of closers led to injuries, you'd think that relievers would be hurt at a higher rate than starters, which is not true. Too many injuries and there is not a good explanation why...

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- Here is this week's installment, tax deadline edition: Public service announcement: If you have not filed your taxes yet, uncle Sam gives you till midnight tonight to do so Twins' OF Josh Willingham, after he was named Twins' position player of the week here, was officially named AL player of the week. The Twins finally win the opening game of a series in Yankee Stadium. Last time they accomplished that feat it was early May of 2001. Good luck to Scott Baker who is going under the knife of Dr David Atcheck today in New York City to repair his flexor pronator tendon. Wonder if his teammates will drop by to say hi before their game tonight at Yankee Stadium. Speaking of Twins' games at Yankee Stadium Version 2.0, Jason Marquis is coming back to the Twins and starting the game tomorrow. A roster move needs to be made to accommodate him in the 25-man roster. Add the newly acquired Clete Thomas to the list of players who have homered in their first game with the Twins Another one from the Twins' witch doctors' archives. Apparently the diagnosis of Kyle Waldrop's injury is a "strained UCL" (towards the bottom of the article). Such a thing does not exist. It is up there with a "Shoulder Cramp" (Nick Blackburn) and "Inflamed Forearm" (Glen Perkins). Terry Ryan said something about "accountability" when was appointed interim GM last November. More and more this sounds like hot air now, unfortunately, since he not only approbates these announcements, but is the one who feeds them to the press. The Twins' product of the week, is the Minnesota Twins Grant Cleanup Adjustable Cap http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=biowriters&l=as2&o=1&a=B0043AHZL0 I really love the way these look. The parting shot today is of Scott Baker who is under the knife. I hope everything turns out OK and he rehabs fine and signs an-incentive-laden 1yr deal with the Twins for 2013 after they decline to pick his option. http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7117/7084404991_a1e574f295_o.jpg

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- Here is this week's installment, tax deadline edition: Public service announcement: If you have not filed your taxes yet, uncle Sam gives you till midnight tonight to do so Twins' OF Josh Willingham, after he was named Twins' position player of the week here, was officially named AL player of the week. The Twins finally win the opening game of a series in Yankee Stadium. Last time they accomplished that feat it was early May of 2001. Good luck to Scott Baker who is going under the knife of Dr David Atcheck today in New York City to repair his flexor pronator tendon. Wonder if his teammates will drop by to say hi before their game tonight at Yankee Stadium. Speaking of Twins' games at Yankee Stadium Version 2.0, Jason Marquis is coming back to the Twins and starting the game tomorrow. A roster move needs to be made to accommodate him in the 25-man roster. Add the newly acquired Clete Thomas to the list of players who have homered in their first game with the Twins Another one from the Twins' witch doctors' archives. Apparently the diagnosis of Kyle Waldrop's injury is a "strained UCL" (towards the bottom of the article). Such a thing does not exist. It is up there with a "Shoulder Cramp" (Nick Blackburn) and "Inflamed Forearm" (Glen Perkins). Terry Ryan said something about "accountability" when was appointed interim GM last November. More and more this sounds like hot air now, unfortunately, since he not only approbates these announcements, but is the one who feeds them to the press. The Twins' product of the week, is the Minnesota Twins Grant Cleanup Adjustable Cap http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=biowriters&l=as2&o=1&a=B0043AHZL0 I really love the way these look. The parting shot today is of Scott Baker who is under the knife. I hope everything turns out OK and he rehabs fine and signs an-incentive-laden 1yr deal with the Twins for 2013 after they decline to pick his option. http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7117/7084404991_a1e574f295_o.jpg

Mackey said something interesting in his later writeup. He said it is a nerve issue. That can be interesting in a couple ways because nerve issues (unless there is something degenerative going on) usually are caused by other sorts of things

I re-read La Velle's thing. It actually seems to imply that the MRI confirmed the "tenderness", since he defined the issue as "tenderness".

a couple of things about this: a. he already had the MRI b. (and I already had this discussion with a couple of folks blessed with "access" but either they don't get it, or they don't want to question) MRI's cannot "reveal inflammation". They can show structural changes (like tears, fractures, foreign bodies, connective tissue build up, cysts, tumors, etc etc.) You cannot see "inflammation" unless there is a structural change that accompanies it, and "inflammation" is a symptom, not a cause. c. "forearm" is really vague So, unfortunately, if the MRI came out positive, there must be something wrong with Perkins, which the Twins' witch doctors are sugarcoating. I am just sick of all that misinformation the Twins are passing around... Ryan has talked about accountability when he assumed the interim position in November. He better walk the talk or step down.

Or get rid of him..

Not exactly... Willingham was Cuddyer's replacement. Delmon has not been replaced I'd keep him as a starting RF or DH (where he belongs) and if the money was an issue I would have not signed Marquis and would have found a better alternative than Capps for half the money. That would make the $ about equal.

I think that: a. getting rid of Delmon was a bad move. b. getting rid of him for close to nothing was a worse move and c. sending him to a division rival was inane.

The comment was something like ending his career with the Twins. It assumes that the Twins will no pick up his option or re-sign him. If I were the Twins, their no way I am paying $9.25M for Baker next season without knowing how he will come back from surgery. An incentive-ladden deal might work. Another thing to note is that the free agent market or SPs next offseason will be pretty large, so the Twins can get more value with that $9.25M....

As of now, the Twins are tied with the Padres for the worse record in baseball. Familiar territory from 2011 (and the late 90s), but something that a lot of us cannot stomach...

Up until half of the season, the waiver claim order goes per last seasons record, so no crappier team in the AL than the Twins . I think that the Twins should get rid of Gray, but that's another story

I witnessed that last night. He was solid on second base, robbed a batter with a diving catch on a line drive and excuted a rundown between 2nd and 3rd (which has not been trivial for him) perfectly. I think that him not Dozier will be the first middle infielder up from Rochester (no matter how unpopular this may be)

Assuming that Hendriks is demoted when Marquis returns next Wed, the only other option is to demote Burnett. Hate to say this, but Burnett has pitched better than Burton or Gray at this point. So one of these 2 would be the logical choise to go.

I think that Michael Bowden and Rich Thompson are the guys who should the Twins claim instead of the usual type of pitchers they do (never-had been 30 somethings). The problem is that they need 40-man and 25-man roster spots for both of them. I guess both of them would be an upgrade over Gray and Burton right away...

OK unrelated (maybe) but it is PTSD to me since it happened about 3 hrs ago or so... here it goes. Smallball (them bunts). 7th inning. Rochester at Lehigh Valley. The Phillies' club brings in a new pitcher. Leftie. God bless his heart he cannot throw strikes. Hollimon walks in 5 pitches. Poor Darin Mastroianni (the only man in the playing field without a name plate on his jersey. Just a number. 16) comes up. He squares. Ball on his head. Dives. Next pitch. He squares again. Ball outside. 2 and Oh. Third pitch. Squares again. Ball at his shoelaces. Jumps away. Three and Oh. Squares again. Ball back to the pitcher, Hollimon out at second, Mastroianni safe at first. (he stole second later, but that is not the point.) Bunting will never be the way for Revere and it should not be

I think that the next month will be very interesting for the Twins' organization and the short/medium term plans at the outfield. What do I mean? Between the majors and AA the Twins have 5 Centerfielders. And by "Centerfielders" I mean : Span/Revere/Benson/Mastroianni/Hicks maybe even more with that definition. Span will (and should) be dealt sooner than later. Hicks is not ready. Hate to say that but Benson is about as ready as Hicks is and if Hicks was hitting Right Handed all the time he might be readier than Benson. Revere is it then. Get him to be tutored by Brunansky a bit at AAA and see what he can do And I do not get this "Let Revere play every day" thing. even if he plays once every blue moon, unless he has beer and pizza every night he can catch everything thrown at him he just needs help to be more consistent with hitting (and Vavra failed) that's it.

Here is the one thing that the Twins need to do: sell high. And I don't think that there will be much higher value than Span. As far as what he could bring, I think that the Nate McClouth trade to Atlanta in 2009 would be a good comparable, and Span has more club control. For the record, McClouth, brought back an MLB-ready mid-rotation starter (Morton) and 2 of Atlanta's top 5 prospects per BA... Given that the Twins have only one starter under contract (and with a bum shoulder) in 2013, trading Span should be like on top of their business order...

I was writting something about it, but for some weird reason it did not save Shall redo tomorrow, but here is a shot from tonight's game (that's Sam Deduno pitching in the bottom of the 6th) : http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7107/7078500511_691a5e7aba_o.jpg

Seth, Domonic Brown had a bases clearing triple off Vasquez, not a homer. Hector Luna had a moonshot earlier (like 420 feet dead center) off Deduno, but that was the only HR in that game. I was there

I don't think that there is a chance he does not get demoted, unless someone like Chang gets demotes. Either Revere or Burroughs will be in AAA. Slim chance someone claims Burroughs Mastroianni might stick with Rochester

Originally Published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- The Twins have announced that they have selected OF Clete Thomas, on waivers from Detroit. Clete Thomas bats left-handed and has played in all 3 outfield positions, but he has more experience in Right Field. After Darin Mastroianni, he is the second OF on waivers claimed by the Twins in 2012. He will take Scott Baker's 40-man roster spot and a corresponding move (either demoting Ben Revere who has options or waiving ineffective LHB Sean Burroughs) will be made before the Twins' game tomorrow, to clear a 25-man roster spot for Clete Thomas. Here are five little known facts about Clete: He was drafted by the Twins on the 5th round of the 2003 draft but did not sign and went to Auburn University instead. Drafted by the Tigers on the 6th round of the 2005 draft as a Junior. His High School team won the State Championship (Florida) in 2002 when he was a senior at Mosley High School He was a member of the 1996 U.S. South Region Champs that advanced to the Little League World Series His first name is Micheal, but goes by his middle name Clete and has a brother, Alex, who is 18 years his junior He underwent Tommy John surgery; a rarity for position players; he is close friends with Denard Span and will be wearing number 36 with the Twins, recently vacated by Joe Nathan. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f4/Clete_Thomas_2009.jpg/521px-Clete_Thomas_2009.jpg

Originally Published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- The Twins have announced that they have selected OF Clete Thomas, on waivers from Detroit. Clete Thomas bats left-handed and has played in all 3 outfield positions, but he has more experience in Right Field. After Darin Mastroianni, he is the second OF on waivers claimed by the Twins in 2012. He will take Scott Baker's 40-man roster spot and a corresponding move (either demoting Ben Revere who has options or waiving ineffective LHB Sean Burroughs) will be made before the Twins' game tomorrow, to clear a 25-man roster spot for Clete Thomas. Here are five little known facts about Clete: He was drafted by the Twins on the 5th round of the 2003 draft but did not sign and went to Auburn University instead. Drafted by the Tigers on the 6th round of the 2005 draft as a Junior. His High School team won the State Championship (Florida) in 2002 when he was a senior at Mosley High School He was a member of the 1996 U.S. South Region Champs that advanced to the Little League World Series His first name is Micheal, but goes by his middle name Clete and has a brother, Alex, who is 18 years his junior He underwent Tommy John surgery; a rarity for position players; he is close friends with Denard Span and will be wearing number 36 with the Twins, recently vacated by Joe Nathan. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f4/Clete_Thomas_2009.jpg/521px-Clete_Thomas_2009.jpg