Old Twins Cap

Not to be crude, but, how do you pronounce his name correctly? Like, what is the phonetic rendering? And, by no means could it be as crude as the correct Spanish pronunciation of Yoenis Cespedes, which, I noticed, English speaking announcers butchered all through the playoffs, prolly at the behest of executives and sponsors.

I watch a lot of Yankees games on MLB dot com. Yankees are high on Murphy, and he did nothing to disappoint. Folks, realize that the Yankee kingdom is large, and has its critics, plus a long history in baseball, and their fans and hangers-ons, including MEDIA, are discriminating in the extreme. Ergo: You don't get to be the Yankees Number 2 catcher, unless Yankee Kingdom is willing to have you be their Number one catcher. Not to mention, their manager, Joe Girardi, a former Yankee catcher, and head chieftain of Yankee nation. Because, catchers get hurt, ALL THE TIME, and generally, need to be given a break, every week, if not one in five days. Kid Murphy is worth something. He can play. He's got make-up. He cares about doing his job well. He's got training, watchful eyes have been on him ALL THE TIME. Every day. And he's young. We do not know, nor can we, how a kid this young, who won the confidence of Yankee Kingdom, will develop. Did I mention he is young? This trade is about the future. Not something that is easy to predict or control. Will Hicks or Murphy develop themselves better over time? Whose character is in a better gear to advance? Twins have a front-row seat here. They scouted Murphy as a teen and have had Hicks since he was 18. I like the odds that the Twins know what they are doing. I really do. And, to be fair, for the last three years of Hicks-hating on this site -- and no one has admitted it here, even though it was prevalent and out of all proportion to what Hicks had on offer -- I have, at times, been one of few standing up for him. I think Murphy is solid. I hate losing Hicks, but he is balding, at 26, and we do have Buxton, Kepler, Rosario, Arcia, Walker, and other options. Today we got a young catcher with good training and pedigree. I sleep well tonight.

Are you Shakespeare?

Ryan is doing what he has to do: not leave Plouffe out there as raw trade meat, exposed, naked, alone. But, at the end of the day, Plouffe will be traded and Sano will play third. It's just something you learn at GM finishing school: don't cut the legs out from under anyone in your own organization. Though, in a way, announcing that Sano was going to get reps in the outfield was a kind of knee-capping of Sano. It's just that it isn't true, and Sano and everyone knows it.

Hey, WE are overrating Plouffe, not the Twins, and certainly not the rest of the league. WE are the ones who think Plouffe can bring a decent return. He is a below average hitter, and has made himself into a good infielder, moving one or two steps in either direction. Otherwise, he cannot make the plays, on bunts, on long throws, on pop-ups down the line. You can get him out on high outside fastballs. The only direction he is going to go from here is down. He's a veteran, can make the plays he needs to make, but, he ain't going to bring back much at $8M.

Loved watching Torii the early years, when he represented the Twins in being a gritty, high achieving, no holds barred outfielder. He had a high ceiling at a time the Twins had a low floor. And played the Yankees tough. There were some dark moments, breaking the ankle in Fenway in mid-August -- you knew the Twins were done at that point. And, of course, I still have a tombstone in the garage for the Mark Kotsay looper that went for an inside the park dinger against the A's in the playoffs -- man, that was a killer. You got emotion with Torii and what you saw was what he had, so there is no complaint really. He grew to be a man in front of our eyes, and a hell of a ballplayer. But those days were long ago. My favorite memory of him will always be the way he tossed his bat aside, in rhythmn, when he hit one square. You could kind of tell, just by his bat toss, if it was going out or not.

Gardy's best teams had good players, especially on offense and just enough pitching to make the playoffs. But, they were not particularly resilient when it came to the post-season and, in fact, played hand-maiden to the Yanks far more than I care to remember. Be great to somehow make it to Yankee Stadium next week and reverse a lot of bad baseball karma. Resilience = rising from the grave.

Luckily the Twins don't have to win 7 or 6 or 5. They only have to win tonight. The rest takes care of itself.

May on the shelf. Need your best guys to step up. That's not Glen at this point. Bullpen will need to be rebuilt next year, from the bottom to the top. Remember people: relief pitcher reliability year to year is highly volatile. Accept it and move on to some new pitchers, preferably young, strong arms coming up from within.

Sano better get used to curve balls and sliders because they are going to rain down on him until he proves he can handle them. Baseball, game of adjustments.

Let's trade Wilson Ramos for him. Oh, wait...

I get that. But, still, watch a catcher like Salvador Perez and see how steady and calm and smoothly he receives the ball, even if on the other side of the zone. Umpires like quiet and reward keeping the glove still. There is a way to receive a baseball as a catcher, and it includes how to put up a target, how much to shift your feet, how big and strong you are, how limber and coordinated, how skilled you are with hand to eye coordination. There's a lot of things to it, and Zukey, as I understand the data shows as well, is not measuring up.

CB was bad, very bad actually. But, on the flip side, several of his missed calls were directly the result of Suzuki going out with his glove, catching a strike and continuing to carry the ball and glove out of the strike zone. Particularly on fastballs from Tyler Duffey. I never understood how much of a real thing pitch framing was until I've watched Suzuke lunging for balls in the zone and managing to get them called balls.

Would not hurt, at all, to have Berrios in the pen, and when a Santana or Milone gets knocked around early or it's the 6th inning and the Twins are short on relief, give him a shot and see if he can hold his own. This last month is all about getting good pitching when you absolutely need it. He's a very good choice, and if it is short innings every fourth day, they can keep the arm strain to a minimum.

May will be given his chance to start and win a spot next year and I expect he will be in the rotation a long time. Thing about relievers is: you can buy them in Free Agency, trade for them at the deadline and create them internally by converting a strong arm SP to relief. How easy is it to find a quality, long term starting pitcher? Twins get that and will give May every opportunity to start. Don't forget RP and Bullpens go up and down like the stock market, year to year. I think the best strategy has always been to assemble a great frontline rotation, find a closer, then piece it together from there with Free Agents, castoffs, trades, MiLB strong arms, etc. RPs are important, witness KC, but they are also easier to find or create.

Likely, Perkins going to DL. Mix and match getting to Jepsen, new closer.

Looks to me like he's got two different curves. One is a kind of 12 to 6 which I see most often on the outside to LH hitters. The other breaks more like a slider, almost like a Corey Kluber slider, sharp and away from RH hitters. The key for him is to throw the curve for strikes early in the count, get ahead, and then throw it out of the zone when he has the hitters behind. The fastball is there to keep them honest. Most amazing thing so far is that he has not hung many curves, the cement mixer that spins high in the zone and ends up deep in the stands.

Let the record show that the Twins implosion in 2015 started -- started -- with Glen Perkins blowing a couple of games and being generally knocked around by batters, left and right. And it continues. That's why they aren't going anywhere, no matter what they do on offense, SP or the bullpen. Perkins' stuff has never been elite and when it's in the middle of the plate, it gets driven hard. Not the end of the world, just the end of playoff hopes. STill, a much more entertaining team to watch because of Hicks, Dozier, Rosario, Sano and hopefully, Buxton.

The only likely trades are with teams in contention who want to round out their roster for the playoffs. That eliminates rookies like Santana and Arcia. You don't add inexperience heading into the playoffs. Nunez, maybe. Pelfrey, only for depth. The Twins honestly don't have much to offer a playoff team, sadly. Which is why no one in baseball could figure out how they were winning so many games into July.

Perkins raw stuff has never been that good. He failed as a starter, over and over. He surprised in relief, and earned the right to close. But, in the end, he is not a great pitcher. Sure, he can hit 95, and he has a slide ball, but in the final analysis, neither pitch is dominant and if his control wavers, in the least, it's a hittable ball. Even when the batter has 2 strikes, which seems to happen a lot these days. There is not an automatic wipe out pitch in his arsenal.

Paulino might well become Eric Fryer if Suzuki ever gets injured. Which brings up the whole catching thing in another light: Didn't the Twins think it important to have a backup plan at the backstop? Catchers do get hurt, tough as they are. That's why the veteran, grisled catcher is worth so much, even in the minor leagues.

If I just read the line, "Mauer was pretty vocal" about his team's lack of offense, I would have to do a double-take. And I did. This is not your Twins kind of Mauer. A vocal Mauer is one I can live with. And will someone dig in on Wimmers and get the story? Wasn't he psychologically damaged at some point, then physically hurt, and after all these years somehow he is putting it together? Methinks there's something there worth discovering.

What does CHS stand for?

A little failure builds character. Better they get a taste and perfect the ability to play again the next day. It's just how baseball, and life, goes.

If this were any other team, and the situation was the same, do you honestly think another GM would not call up a better Triple AAA option to play CF? Truly ridiculous at this point. Magnified by the fact that the Twins are actually in contention and could legitimately benefit from a better center fielder.