Mike h

My dead grandma is a better option than Pagan. No, seriously, I would rather see Gordon, or Kepler, or Correa, or Buxton, or... You get the idea. Yes, I know, position players can't pitch anymore except in certain situations, but I'm just trying to make a point. ANYBODY other than Pagan!

Yeah, I'm really worried about him because he's from a cold weather state. Many such disadvantaged players could have achieved so much more if only they had been raised in the south. Players like Joe Mauer, Paul Monitor, Dave Winfield, Kent Hrbek, Jack Morris, Glen Perkins, Dave Goltz come to mind off the top of my head. Oh, Justin Morneau was from.....Canada! So I'd say there's a chance, just a small one, that Miller could overcome the odds that the cold-weather gods have stacked against him.

This is exactly what I was going to say.

In mho, I think Kiriloff could be better than "very good". Not Kirby Puckett good, but probably Kent Hrbek good or Justin Morneau good. I see a career of 200+ HR with 280 BA for Kiriloff, and I think that's too much to give up for any of the available pitchers. In mho. I realize that as a prospect there are no guarantees (there aren't any for anybody, actually) which makes trading POTENTIAL for a proven all-star caliber ace, which I assume we are looking for, a very risky proposition. So perhaps I am valuing him more than others see him, but sometimes you're right and sometimes you're wrong. I'm just one guy, just a fan, not pretending to be anything else, not smarter than anyone else. Just my opinion

Absolutely he should be up now. Nelson Cruz had no defensive position but he was extremely valuable as a DH. Kiriloff could get every day AB that way, or be a very dangerous bat off the bench as a PH on days he doesn't start. But I have a dark thought. A worry really. I'm afraid the FO is keeping him at AAA because they have realized they have to trade him to get some pitching. If he is promoted and has a drop off in performance his perceived trade value may go down, so they are maximizing his value by letting him mash where he's at. I hope this is not the case I really want him now and for many years to come. Btw I know that every FO does their due diligence and evaluates players on a whole body of work, not just a hot streak or small sample size. So it may make no difference if Kiriloff had a drop off at ML level, a team that wants him would still want him. I guess I'm trying to talk myself out of an irrational fear . I think he should be untouchable.

Where do you find these stats? I wanted to verify what I thought I saw before I posted, but couldn't find where to look. Thanks for your help

The last time Bundy pitched I had to catch the start of the game on Cbssportsline, which shows what pitch has been thrown and how fast it was. I noticed that nothing was very fast, but more noticeably, everything was almost the same speed, coming in 89-92 mph. That won't work. Otherwise, could he be tipping his pitches? Does he have an injury he hasn't reported? Whatever it is, I hope he can find a fix and soon. We need him now

I don't know if Baldelli is or will be a hero, but I'm OK with him pulling starters the way he has been. So many times I've watched a starter cruise through the lineup once or twice and I get all excited about what a great game he's having, and then it falls apart in the later innings. So many times (and this is after the fact) I've complained that the manager left him in one inning too long. If only he had pulled him earlier the pitcher would still have a sparkling ERA and the team would still be in the game. As I said, this is after the fact. But this is where a great manager comes in. He "knows" or should know, how the rhythm of the game is changing, how strong his pitcher is, how rested the BP is, and a slew of other factors. A great manager has great judgement and consistently makes the right decisions. This is a hard job because he doesn't have a crystal ball. If he knew a reliever was going to come in and blow the game he wouldn't have made that decision. But removing the starter may have still been the right thing to do. As far as other managerial decisions - starting line up, batting order, if and when to steal, bunt, hit and run, I'm seeing a very conservative manager, which may be due to the roster and playing the hand you have, but the lack of "small ball" tactics makes for a boring game and seems (to me) to suggest a lack of imagination and aggressiveness by the manager. So, is Baldelli a hero or a villain? In some ways he is doing fine, and in some ways he needs improvement. Same could be said for each of us. It's been said that winning solves all problems. If the Twins become champs, (because of or in spite of Baldelli) he will be a hero. Time will tell

Mr. Pohlad, tear down that wall!

I agree, all starters need to be ml ready, and ideally on any given day our starter would be better than their starter. Hence the matchups. They don't pick a starter out of a hat, they use the best available starter every day. I can't believe I need to explain this. On opening day it's our best pitcher against their best pitcher. On day 2, it's still our best pitcher against their best pitcher, but yesterday's pitchers are not available, so who is the best of the rest? On day 3 it's still our best against their best (it's always that way) not counting the first two because neither is available. So it continues through no. 4 or 5. So what I'm saying is when the opposition has their best 4 pitchers unavailable, they have to use their 5th best starter, and so do we (usually) and this is where I think the Twins have an advantage. We don't know who that will be yet, but the candidates are strong, IMHO Evan better than other teams end-of-the-rotation guys that we might pick up in a trade. We don't need to make that trade. Save our prospects. Our no. 5 guy can beat their no. 5 guy as is. And that win at no. 5 is just as important as the win between the aces. And I right now I think we can bank a win at no.5 with more confidence that a win between the aces. So one last time - it's all about the matchups.

I think it's important to remember that Winder (and the other rookies) are not auditioning for the ace spot in the rotation. Whomever claims the no. 5 spot will be matched up against other teams' no. 5 starters. There are A LOT of lousy no. 5 starters out there (would you want to trade for one of them?) So I really like how our in-house candidates match up there, regardless of who we play. If Ober and Ryan occupy slots 3 and 4, I like the matchups there as well. But I would be Leary of moving them up to 2 and 3. So what we lack is a good no. 2. Right now it looks like we could lose almost all of the 30+ starts out of that position. So bottom line, it's crucial that we get a solid top-of-line starter right out of the gate, and we need not worry one iota about getting a new no.5 guy.

I'm hoping that Oakland doesn't demand Kiriloff as part of a trade for one of their pitchers. (And I'm hoping a trade can still be worked out- the Yankees also want them). If so, yeah, we'd have to trade him, but ouch! We really need him for depth now, and as a starter for the long term. He is absolutely the heir-apparent at first, with all-star potential.

Sanchez has been called the worst catcher in baseball. So on the one hand it might seem he is just a breathe away from unemployment, and on the other hand an arbitrator might award him +7m if he plays. Considering the twins off-loaded 25m from Donaldson's contract for this year, it makes no sense for them to take back 7m for a player they might cut anyway. I would say they could do better by signing almost any minimum wage catcher and apply the 7m savings toward a starting pitcher. If the twins really like Sanchez and want to keep him, and if Sanchez realizes he is close to being cut, perhaps they could agree on a low base salary loaded with incentives. But definitely do not keep him for a guaranteed 7m.

EXACTLY what I was thinking. Well said

Inside this 66 year old body lives an 8 year old boy who doesn't give two hoots about contracts or economics. He loves his favorite players and is sad to see them go. He worries that we won't be as good without them. Allhe wants is to have enough good players to win lots of games and be world champions. This boy will never grow up.