Seth Stohs

Pinch-hitting is what most Rule 5 guys that make a roster do. You try to hide him at the back of the bench or the back of the bullpen. The Twins aren't competing this year. it's ok to 'hide' guys on the bench for the future. And yeah, can't be any/much worse than Clete Thomas.

Rule 5 guy who had never played above AA. So I don't care about the 19 at bats in the big leagues. Revere and Mastroianni provide very little, so hopefully in a year or two, this guy can be good... (Note - i don't anticipate it)

The Twins claimed 24 year old OF Erik Komatsu and Designated Clete Thomas for Assignment. Also, Sean Burroughs cleared waivers and was outrighted to AAA Rochester. He was the Cardinals' Rule 5 pick and made the opening day roster. However, he has just four hits in 19 at bats. No surprise considering he played in AA last year with the Brewers and then the Nationals (after being traded in a deadline deal). He will need to remain on the Twins roster or be offered back to the Nationals. Clete Thomas made a strong first impression with the Twins, hitting a ball to the warning track in his first AB against Neftali Feliz and then homering to deep right field in his second at bat. Since then, he has put up some very impressive strikeout numbers. Burroughs was signed to a minor league contract and got just 18 at bats with the Twins before being DFAd earlier this week. Feel free to discuss.

These players need to hvae their initial blogs opened before the end of this weekend:Hudson Boyd - TwinsFaninPhillyDrew Butera - LimestoneBaggyCarlos Gutierrez - JakeE141414Daniel Ortiz - SouthDakotaTwinsFanBen Revere - AT4MVPTyler Robertson - LaserED62Danny Rams - joeboo_22Danny Santana - SDTwinsFan Nate Roberts - raindogBrett Jacobson - danooJorge Polanco - TRexCole Nelson - nickpuntoismygodRay Chang - Coach JLuis Perdomo - PeanutsfromHeavenBrett Lee - JustinJD Williams - WachstaMark Dolenc - TCBurgerGuyTsuyoshi Nishioka - Andy4Twins

Check out Jim Crikket's blog discussing what he's seen from the Beloit Snappers through a game-plus in Cedar Rapids. Good article with a few great pictures. http://knuckleballsblog.com/2012/05/first-look-at-the-2012-snappers/

thank you very much for this comment. That is definitely what we want and what we strive for. Obviously we're going to get a few of those irrational thoughts and comments, especially with the Twins playing as they are right now (and have for the past year or so), but I like to think this is a place for some good, intelligent discussion. Thank you!

Check out this article by John George of Lakes Area Sports regarding that Twins. What happened and thoughts on what should be done. What do you think? http://www.lakesareasports.com/johnscorner.php

If Steve Pearce was on the roster for the Twins now, would they have another win? He was hurt all spring (so I would argue they should have put him on a DL instead of just letting him go), but it's not like the Twins don't have enough AAAA types.

Designate for Assignment.

I think that this is a great article by Mr. Brackin. I completely agree in the pitch to contact philosophy. As the article says, Pitch to Contact isn't new, every team believes in it. It's not anti-strikeout, but it is throw strikes and get quick outs. It also said that Johan Santana got strikeouts but threw a lot of strikes. I like Terry Ryan's comments about how he doesn't care how a pitcher gets hitters out, just that they do. Dave Duncan was a big pitch-to-contact guy too. Pitch to contact is great if you have good pitchers with good stuff and good control and a good defense... The Twins don't have good pitchers, so pitch-to-contact often becomes batting practice. I think they can all be much better than they have been, but without Good Liriano, and without Scott Baker, it's just scary. The problem isn't the philosophy of pitch to contact...

If I recall, the $94 million was the opening day roster salaries... it didn't include Nishioka (who is still going to get $3 million this year), and it didn't include Marquis ($3 million) because he was optioned to New Britain to start the season (as opposed to Scott Baker who was on the major league disabled list and would be counted). Mainly I think it's just some rounding. Your list above appears to show about $99.7 million, which is pretty close to $100 million.

The guy who was in front of Diamond in the rotation was PJ Walters. Luke French took Sam Deduno's roster spot.

I woudn't be so sure that they are improvements over Plouffe. clearly, they may be improvements over the 4-33 Plouffe, but I still have belief in Plouffe (For some reason). Ramirez was brought in on a minor league deal, but he is very intriguing to me because just two years ago, he was a Tigers top prospect.

Agreed, Burton is pretty safe these days.

I do, bring a bunch up together in july/august whrn they're more ready. They'll still struggle for a couple of years. Front office also needs to clear some clutter, determine who to build around (besides Mauer), & find out what they have in some question marks (Slama, Manship, DeVries and others) to see if any of them fit. It's got to be a process.

Be sure to listen to tonight's Twins Minor League Weekly. Almost ninety minutes of talk about the Twins affiliates and prospects. The first 20+ minutes, we discussed Travis's question regarding whether or not the Twins organization is broken. We would like your feedback on the show, whate you like, what else you would like to hear us discuss? Please listen to the show here.

Want to remind people... there are several Twins Daily members who "adopted" a prospect and have not yet created a new forum for their player. Please do so by this weekend, or the players will become available for adoption again. Thank you!

You can view the page at http://twinsdaily.com/content.php?506-Thursday-Night-Game-Notes

The Twins had a much needed day off on Thursday after being shutout in back-to-back games at the hands of the Angels including being no-hit by Jered Weaver (Who they will get to face against at Target Field in his next start). Hopefully the players were all able to get a day away from baseball in Seattle! Weather affected a couple of the Twins affiliates, but here is a look at the Twins minor league scores and highlights from Thursday: ROCHESTER 4, EMPIRE STATE 3 The Red Wings got just enough offense, some great bullpen work and a much-needed win. The Red Wings offense had not scored more than three runs in their last seven games. Darin Mastroianni led the way. He went 3-5 with his fifth and sixth stolen bases. Ben Revere celebrated his 24th birthday by going 2-4 with a walk. Aaron Bates was 2-4. Brian Dozier was 0-2, but he walked three times. Luke French made his first start for Rochester. The 26-year-old gave up three runs on four hits in five innings. He walked two and struck out four. Jeff Manship came in and threw 3.1 hitless, scoreless innings. He walked one and struck out four. Anthony Slama came in and got the final two outs, both via the strikeout. Manship got the win, and Slama recorded his fifth save. He now has 20 strikeouts in 12 innings. The win ended an eight-game losing streak for the Red Wings. They had also lost four straight games to Empire State. NEW BRITAIN 4, HARRISBURG 5 The Rock Cats ended a road trip with a one-run loss. Steve Hirschfeld got the start and gave up four runs (3 earned) on nine hits in six innings. He walked one and struck out three. Brett Jacobson gave up a run in his inning. Blake Martin walked one and struck out two in a scoreless inning. James Beresford went 2-3 with a walk. Chris Herrmann gave the Rock Cats a 2-0 lead two batters into the game with his third home run. Wilkin Ramirez is playing as if he would like to get an opportunity to be the Twins right fielder. He went 3-5 in this game. FT. MYERS 0, PALM BEACH 5 On Thursday afternoon, the Miracle concluded a series with Palm Beach. Madison Boer made his first Florida State League start. He gave up five runs (3 earned) on eight hits in 5.2 innings. He walked three and struck out one. Jose Gonzalez went 2.1 scoreless innings and gave up only a walk. The Miracle bats remained frozen. On this day, they had just three hits. Lance Ray was 1-2 with two walks. Oswaldo Arcia was 1-3 with a walk. BELOIT – Game at Cedar Rapids suspended. Rain caused a rain delay in the 3rd inning of this game, and later the game was suspended with the Snappers leading 2-1. --- Players of the Day for Thursday, May 3, 2012 Pitcher of the Day – Jeff Manship [ATTACH=CONFIG]856[/ATTACH] Hitter of the Day – Darin Mastroianni [ATTACH=CONFIG]857[/ATTACH] --- A Look Ahead – Friday, May 4, 2012 Schedule Rochester @ Empire State – LHP Scott Diamond (vs Ramon Ortiz) New Britain vs Portland – LHP Logan Darnell Ft. Myers vs Lakeland – RHP Jhon Garcia Beloit @ Cedar Rapids – LHP Steven Gruver --- If you have any questions or comments on the Twins minor league system, players, teams, etc., leave them in the Comments and I’ll try to answer them!

Here's hoping he can stay at 3B, and I think they can and should keep him there as long as they can. But most "experts" assume he'll move to a corner OF spot, or even 1B.

Twins fans should be cheering for Matt Capps to pitch great the next two months. If he does, he will have some good trade value. If he pitches adequately, there is still some value for him.