Thrylos

This part is not. The current CBA is from 2012-2016. Peralta was suspended in 2013 and he played in the post-season.

LSD is a schedule I, indeed. LSD analogs (which is what I was talking about) like Lysergic Acid (The LS in LSD - full name LySergic acid Diethylamide) is a schedule III

No he is not. The Twins have had a worse record under Ryan that under Bill Smith. Sad but true.

It is synthetic testosterone. Controlled substance and requires a Federal Schedule III form every time it is prescribed. The likelihood it is in any legit OTC supplement is about the same as codeine or LSD analogs (also schedule III drugs)

He was out by then because of shoulder surgery.

He was on the 25-man in 2013 and 2012 both during the regular reason and post-season. So, how can you evaluate players in the Spring and make roster decisions? Darts? Names off hats? Gut feelings? Or performance on the field? Or something else?

a couple things re: Robinson a. if he has a place on the 25 man roster of a World Series team, he should have a place on the 25-man roster of a 99+96+96+92 L team. b. He is the best fielding OF of the bunch the Twins gave serious consideration. c. He led all 4 potential centerfielders with a .277/.333/.362 slash line.

Jose Martinez and maybe even Farris and Beresford. Bernier is kinda of a future coach in waiting

One thing that Gleeman got wrong: Yes we have seen what Terry Ryan is all about, but not for 15 years. 21. 1994.

Agree about the ranking of the teams. The Twins will have the best third baseman in the AL Central before all is said and done, but his name will be Miguel Sano. As far as Plouffe goes, I am thinking a .280/.350/.450 line and replacing Hunter (who would be platooning with Arcia at LF) as the Twins' every day Rightfielder.

One very important data point is missing: .280/.327/.433 LHB slash against Caleb Thielbar in 2014. Addition by Subtraction. Graham actually had a .900 WHIP against LHB this Spring and I bet will be more effective against them than Thielbar was. That said the Twins are in good hands: .235/.282/.305 Duensing's 2014 LHB slash line and .229/.277/.322 Duensing's career LHB slash line He gets lefties out. Thielbar never did.

.250/.320/.400

I think that he will be better than those 2. I really liked what I saw from him this spring. And he is 33, but with the time off, his arm is younger. Things that I liked is that he has about 4 pitches that he throws for strikes and that he can actually vary his fastball velocity by 4-5 mph without losing command and control. Pretty darn spiffy. If I were to think of what I expect Boyer to perform like, I'd say Matt Guerrier in his prime. And then I looked at Matt Guerrier in his prime's numbers and his lowest xFIP was 3.91. Nah. Boyer will be better than that. Reliable reliever who can pitch more than one inning if he has to...

.300/.400/.460 feels about right.

.253/.313/.362 His second half Splits. Sounds about right. .675 OPS

Vargas was draft-eligible undrafted FA (he is from PR)

I bet they will be starting in Rochester May may make it to MLB by May

That is something that I have really not paying much attention to, and it really makes sense. If May is stretched to 60-70 pitches by opening day (and if he was up to the 40s by that start, cannot see him getting much higher by OD,) he cannot really be ready to produce in the majors. Maybe that was a big decision point, but I'd rather see them say it, instead of lying and saying that Milone won a "competition".

From that bunch, Robinson is the best defensive outfielder.

Me too. On the hoping part. (Not hopping) But Ryan does not trade young(er) minor leaguers and that it what should be happening right now...

Color me unsurprised with those (or partially surprised with Milone over May, but after May's last outing...) Unsurprised does not mean not disappointed, on the other hand, because I am not sure that the Twins will bring the best 25 up North. That said, both surprised and disappointed that they released Tyler Jones and Matt Koch (among 5 total) today.

Originally published at The Minnesota Twins, have announced several cuts, trimming down their Spring Training roster to 31. They announced that Jordan Schafer won the starting Centerfielder job, with Shane Robertson, backing him up and platooning against LHPs. They also announced that Mike Pelfrey will be in the bullpen and the 5th starter will be Tommy Milone. Aaron Hicks, Eddie Rosario, Trevor May and Mark Hamburger were cut as a result. Also, it was announced that Danny Santana will be the starting Shortstop. Yesterday Lester Oliveros was outrighti It might seem as a surprise to some, but from what I have seen during Spring Training it was pretty much anticipated. This is my guess of the Twins' 25 men Opening Day roster 5 days ago from Fort Myers: My only surprise was Milone over May, but by then May did not have his last (pretty unfortunate) outing. I had argued early and often that Pelfrey was better suited for the pen and that is where he should end up and really that decision was pretty much obvious around last weekend. Also, I was convinced that Robinson had a chance for the fourth outfield job (remember, he was a fourth outfielder in a World Series team?) Robinson and Schafer pretty much outhit both Hicks and Rosario and it was obvious with their play on the field that they were ahead of the competition. Still a few battles are left, mainly for the back up catcher and 2 bullpen jobs, but as I indicated then, I strongly believe that Chris Herrmann will win the back up catcher position (and not only because Josmil Pinto suffered a concussion) and Blaine Boyer (not Doyle as in the tweet) and JR Graham will win the last 2 bullpen jobs over the lefties Aaron Thompson and Caleb Thielbar, both of whom have options. The opening day roster is set, but there is only 1 open spot on the 40-man roster, and Boyer and Robinson will need 2. Pending any trades, I think that Michael Tonkin's, and Stephen Pryor's spots (and even Logan Darnell's, but he is a starter so likely more valuable) are the ones closer to jeopardy, since there are several pitchers ahead of them. In additon to the major league moves, in minor league moves involving former top 40 prospects, the Twins announced the retirement of C Tyler Grimes (number 38 prospect before the 2014 season) and that they released C Matt Koch (number 22 prospect before the 2014 season), RHP Tyler Jones (number 39 prospect before the 2014 season), IF Will Hurt and LHP Josue Montanez ----

Compare Liriano and Worley (plus many more) before and after Andy Give me the name of a single manager who would play Kubel, Colabello (and Dummit, but that's an old story) at outfield and Parmelee too (and as a starting centerfielder.) Give me the name of a single manager who would have Jason Tyner as the designated hitter in the postseason There is only one. And calculate close games lost by ineptitude or errors, and you will see that "3" is way underestimating.

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ----- After my visit to Fort Myers was said and done about a year ago, I gave my prediction about how the Twins will do in 2014 and the main reasoning behind it. You can find that here (and, yes, I did predict that they will finish 70-92, but that's not something to be happy about.) During this Spring Training, I took a risk: I suggested that the Twins can actually compete, if they do three things: Fix their bullpen, fix their outfield, and fix their attitude. Here is reiterrating that reasoning from the first part of that series of posts: First: In order to make significant, measurable and effective change, you cannot focus on changing 20 things. Too many balls in the air, some will drop. Focusing of few things that you can change and make an effort to do so, is much more effective. Second: I do believe that with the changes this off-season, the Twins removed a huge barrier to their success: Breaking ties with Gardernhire, Anderson, Ulger and Steinbach (even though they did not go far enough in my opinion, but this is all another matter,) is the equivalent of starting the seasons with (at least) plus five wins. So that next number in that loss progression looks more between 83 and 87. So those three things that need to be done, if done correctly and effectively, will be enough to give the Twins an extra 5-7 wins, putting that total loss range to 76-82 and that is not a losing record. The top number of that range (86-76) is close to a wild-card number and likely, if the Twins get there, they will compete for the title in a weakened and more balanced Division. So there are the parameters. And in each of the above linked posts, I explained in detail what I was looking to see when I was down there at Fort Myers, and, here is what I saw, and will try to put into win-loss numbers: First of all, I am standing by that underlined statement up there. So, if all things are the same, the baseline record of the 2015 Twins is 77-85. Take it to Vegas. Of course that is pending major injuries to 3/5ths of the rotation and 3/9ths of the position players (but that is, yet, another story.) How much higher than that can get? Let's take those three things one at a time and see: The bullpen: Here are my thoughts before my trip to Fort Myers, and here is what I think now: It still is incomplete. Happy to see that Blaine Boyer and JR Graham will likely make the team. They will be an improvement. It looks like Mike Pelfrey will make the pen, but not sure in what kind of role. Caleb Thielbar might be optioned. That's on the positive side. On the negative side Tim Stauffer might be a disappointment, or at least a mop-up vs. a set-up reliever I thought that he would be. Also, Casey Fien looks like a lock again, based on small sample size. Glen Perkins' velocity topped at 93 mph, which is a concern, even though command and control was there. One wonders whether he will be ready to be a lights out closer in the beginning of the Twins' season at Detroit... Tough to quantify, but I would say, taking Perkins' health risk into account, plus 1 might be right here. So the new baseline is 78-84. Next: The Outfield Defense: Here are my before thoughts, and this is what I saw: Nah. Not yet. Let me start with a (bonus) prediction: The Twins will have the following 4 outfielders in their roster (L/R) : Oswaldo Arcia, Jordan Schafer, Torii Hunter. Shane Robinson will be the fourth outfielder, platooning with Schafer at CF against LHP and Eduardo Nunez will play LF as well. So 4.5 outfielders with Aaron Hicks and Eddie Rosario optioned to AAA. What I saw at Fort Myers was somewhat disturbing: a. the positioning of the outfield was way too shallow (not sure who is the Twins' OF coach these days or who is responsible for that), b. Hunter is a teenager at heart but not in body, which means he wants to do above and beyond, but he comes short in a bad way, over-running balls and over-throwing cut-off men. c. Hicks will not make the team and he is a better defender than Schafer. Have to give this a zero right now. Baseline still 78-84. Next. The Attitude: Here is what I said about that. And I will be brief. Is this a team for which I got a gut feeling that it expects to win each game? No. But, is this a team that is paying more attention to detail, seems happier as a bunch, and actually talks to each other on the field about what they should do more than last season? Heck, yeah. Hard to quantify, but I think plus 2. So the new baseline is 80-82. Conclusion: This will not be another 90 loss team, unless something weird happens. 80-82 is the baseline. Another factor: I did get some 1987-like excitement there, like this might be a magic year (like that one.) But I think that they are one year away. So my prediction for 2015 is that the Twins will have the same record as their Pythagorean in 1987: 79-83. But, yes, this year feels a lot like 1987, and you never know what is going to happen...

Great meeting you too! About those nuts on the plane: Enjoy them while you can. Only Delta gives them away for free these days