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With Duffey throwing tonight, does that line Berrios up to throw tomorrow? The way I counted it out I saw Berrios pitching Friday unless I missed something?

I thought the same thing about Harrison when I saw him at ST. Compared to the likes of Sano and Vargas and Walker he looks small, but yeah he's definitely got some pop. I'm planning to head to the game Friday at Kane County to get a look at Berrios in person. I'm pretty pumped to see them all in live game action. I never got to see that at ST, just drills and BP.

I live in Chicago, so I don't see a ton of games. I watch on MLB.tv if I am sitting by my computer but I don't sit down for entire games a lot. That said, I wanted to throw this out and there and get a sense for what everyone else thinks... All the BABIP numbers are out there...but the few times I have seen Worley...once in person at the Cell, in possibly his only good start, he seems less unlucky and more unimaginably hittable. I feel like at a certain point his BABIP isn't about luck as much as he's just getting crushed. Granted his BABIP will come down because that number is crazy high, but I have a hard time thinking that number is solely bad luck.

Alright, thanks. I thought so. If he throws the 25th that puts him in line to throw the Friday game against the Cougars. I live just a stone's throw from them so I reckon I might try n see more than one during that series.

Are they still going with the 6-man rotation? I am trying to line up the rotation in hopes to catch Berrios when CR comes to play Kane County the last weekend of May.

I've always been hoping Mauer would start racking up more doubles in the absence of his home runs. But each year I am somewhat disappointed in the totals. I've always felt he should be around 40 doubles each year with his abilities but he seems to always be around 30 or so...maybe this is the year he starts to prove me right. I live in Chicago so I don't get to see a ton of games but I always follow on gameday and I kept seeing him striking out and thought it was weird. Then Nick posted in a thread that he was striking out around 20% of the time...which validated my concerns that he was indeed K'ing too much. It's something to keep an eye on, but he's hitting .341 so I won't worry just yet.

I'm on the fence about Parmalee taking over everyday at 1B. But I don't argue he could easily top Morneau's OPS. The 2 HR's and slugging .394 makes me nervous. It's great he's hitting in the .280s but he's gotta hit for power to be worth a new contract. Especially one worth 8 figures.

Morneau has certainly not returned to his old form like the OP suggests. More strangely he makes it seem the Twins are cheap and getting rid of it's best players in like 4 different threads. I don't think that's true. The Twins locked up Morneau with a big contract that covered his best years. I can't think of anyone they let go who went on to be better with their new team. Torii Hunter is the only player who has justified the contract they got on the open market when I think of it. That said, Morneau would be great to have back at a cheap rate, on maybe a 2 year deal...I'm not sold on Parmalee yet. I see Morneau's time with the Twins ending a bit like Doug Mientkiewicz's did. A fan favorite slowly being pushed out by an up and coming prospect...perhaps Miguel Sano sliding in at first...

I was less worried about the Twins winning this year necessarily, but more looking for the correlation between winning throughout the minors and whether it can carry over to the big leagues. I definitely understand your frustration about the payroll and the losing over the last two years. But I definitely don't think them spending money is the answer to winning in the near future. I also don't think the payroll decreasing is a direct reason for the team's failures. I just look at how many wins guys like Hunter, AJ, Jones, Guzman etc. racked up in the minors and think the same scenario is playing out in front of our eyes. Obviously the years of winning and higher draft picks and less than great drafts has had its effect on the Twins. Plouffe, Parmalee, Revere, Hicks...all these guys came up through the minors on some pretty bad teams. A few years they produced winning records but there were some pretty bad overall records in there. And I wonder if that plays a role, however small, in the way the big league team turns out. The core group of minor leaguers the Twins have in A and low A ball is stacked...beyond Sano and Buxton. And I think they will keep winning on their paths to the Twin Cities.

Hey guys, I just wrote my first blog for TD. Check it out and lemme know what ya think? How important is winning in the minors? Building a Winning Culture - Blogs - Minnesota Twins News & Rumors Forum

The early success of the Twin's minor league affiliates got me thinking the other day. How important is winning in the minors? Yes, it is important to the individual teams, as it draws more attendance, thus obviously helping that organization. But how important is it for the players as they move up the ladder? I did some research. I went back and looked at how the core of the successful 2000s teams did in the minors. Most fans here know it, but a lot of average fans probably don't know that core pretty much all came up together. From A ball in Fort Myers to AAA in Salt Lake. Doug Mientkiewicz, Torii Hunter, Jacque Jones, AJ Pierzynski, Christian Guzman, Luis Rivas and Corey Koskie all played together for long stretches in the minors. Obviously, they didn't move together as one unit. But they played a lot of games together as minor leaguers ascending to the big leagues. There were a few years that definitely stood out to me. Starting all the way back in 1996. The Twins were positioned to be a good ball club. But 1996 was a terrible year for the Twins. Most notably due to the sudden, shocking retirement of Kirby Puckett. They would go on to win just 78 games that year. Meanwhile the Fort Myers Mircale would go 79-58, starting quite the run in the minors. In 1997, the Miracle would go 81-58, led by the likes of Jones, Pierzynski and David Ortiz. Moving up to New Britain in 1998 the team would go 83-59. Led by Hunter, Mientkiewicz, Guzman, Jones and AJ. The 1998 Salt Lake Buzz would go 79-64 with a plethora of future big leaguers. In 2000, that same club would go 90-53. Anyone remember when the Twins started getting good? It appeared this group of guys had a taste for winning. And from the looks of it, it carried directly over to the Twins in the early 2000s and throughout the decade that saw the big club win six Division Championships in 10 years. Back then people weren't paying nearly the attention to the minors that we do now. But part of me doubts if we had TD back then the excitement would be as high as it is now for the likes of Buxton and Sano. With that said, is there anything to building a winning culture? I firmly believe that winning is an attitude. If you truly expect to win it can go a long way. If you have won at every stop on the way to the Majors with the same group of guys how could it now carry over once they got to the Twin Cities? I definitely see the same thing brewing in A-ball at the Cedar Rapids and Fort Myers affiliates. Miguel Sano has that swag. He knows he's the best and I think he will carry the torch, followed by the more subdued, silent killer, Byron Buxton. I don't think the records of the Cedar Rapids and Fort Myers clubs should go unnoticed. So what do you guys think?

The early success of the Twin's minor league affiliates got me thinking the other day. How important is winning in the minors? Yes, it is important to the individual teams, as it draws more attendance, thus obviously helping that organization. But how important is it for the players as they move up the ladder? I did some research. I went back and looked at how the core of the successful 2000s teams did in the minors. Most fans here know it, but a lot of average fans probably don't know that core pretty much all came up together. From A ball in Fort Myers to AAA in Salt Lake. Doug Mientkiewicz, Torii Hunter, Jacque Jones, AJ Pierzynski, Christian Guzman, Luis Rivas and Corey Koskie all played together for long stretches in the minors. Obviously, they didn't move together as one unit. But they played a lot of games together as minor leaguers ascending to the big leagues. There were a few years that definitely stood out to me. Starting all the way back in 1996. The Twins were positioned to be a good ball club. But 1996 was a terrible year for the Twins. Most notably due to the sudden, shocking retirement of Kirby Puckett. They would go on to win just 78 games that year. Meanwhile the Fort Myers Mircale would go 79-58, starting quite the run in the minors. In 1997, the Miracle would go 81-58, led by the likes of Jones, Pierzynski and David Ortiz. Moving up to New Britain in 1998 the team would go 83-59. Led by Hunter, Mientkiewicz, Guzman, Jones and AJ. The 1998 Salt Lake Buzz would go 79-64 with a plethora of future big leaguers. In 2000, that same club would go 90-53. Anyone remember when the Twins started getting good? It appeared this group of guys had a taste for winning. And from the looks of it, it carried directly over to the Twins in the early 2000s and throughout the decade that saw the big club win six Division Championships in 10 years. Back then people weren't paying nearly the attention to the minors that we do now. But part of me doubts if we had TD back then the excitement would be as high as it is now for the likes of Buxton and Sano. With that said, is there anything to building a winning culture? I firmly believe that winning is an attitude. If you truly expect to win it can go a long way. If you have won at every stop on the way to the Majors with the same group of guys how could it now carry over once they got to the Twin Cities? I definitely see the same thing brewing in A-ball at the Cedar Rapids and Fort Myers affiliates. Miguel Sano has that swag. He knows he's the best and I think he will carry the torch, followed by the more subdued, silent killer, Byron Buxton. I don't think the records of the Cedar Rapids and Fort Myers clubs should go unnoticed. So what do you guys think?

You have to keep Arcia's bat in the lineup. Parmalee needs to get ABs, too. Doumit is hitting all the sudden and Morneau is warming up as well. Gardy has options and he's gonna need to be creative in getting everyone out there. I don't know that getting rid of Willingham is the answer. He is legit power in the middle of the lineup and he hits RH...this lineup becomes awfully left-handed without him. I mean we're talking Mauer, Morneau, Arcia, Parmalee, and the rest are SH with Plouffe the sole righty... I think Willingham might stay for that reason. That said if he gets warm and can collect a nice return...think Carlos Beltran for Zach Wheeler maybe? That kinda return I'd do in a hearbeat. BUt until then I think he's kinda key to the lineup.

Adam Walker was one of the biggest surprises for me when I was at Spring Training. He hit BP in the same group as Kepler and Buxton and he might have been the most impressive of the 3 that day. He's a big dude and appears to be able to just mash the ball. I also really enjoyed watching the coaching staff at ST. Mauer and Watkins seem to have a great rapport. And it seemed to me the players enjoyed them as well. Watkins was having a blast when he was throwing BP. I live outside of Chicago and somehow never made it to Beloit last year...so I am holding my breathe Buxton and Co are still all in Cedar Rapids at the end of May so I can watch them when they come play my local Kane County Cougars. Or I might try to get over to CR before that if the weather holds.

Anybody else wonder if Walker could get a promotion before Buxton? I am just throwing it out there. His age is the main thing for me. Would like to see what he can do against more advanced competition.

So what exactly is the book on Baxendale? I can't say I know much about him but he seems to be making a name for himself this year. Any thoughts on him?

Yeah, but none of those three guys ever hit in the minors like Buxton, Sano, Rosario...hell even Walker are hitting right now. Parmalee killed AAA last year when he went back but Plouffe certainly never dominated the minors. He didn't show a lot of power until possibly his last year or 2 in the minors. Hicks has been good but not great in the minors to me. Sano, Buxton and Rosario are all playing great right now. So I have a harder time grouping those guys with the likes of Trevor Plouffe and Chris Parmalee. No offense to those two guys at all.

I feel like him being a "good guy" who has taken an interest in the younger guys will carry him further than he should be allowed to go. I like the fact that he is willing to work with younger guys and is a good teammate. But like you wrote, Nick, he isn't getting outs...thus he should work on that somewhere other than the Major Leagues. Who knows maybe the Twins are waiting for De Vries or Deduno to get healthy first...I'm all for one of those guys getting a shot first before Hendriks gets another...but that's a whole other topic, eh?

What are the odds a guy like Adam Walker gets bumped to Ft Myers before Buxton? He's a few years older after all. Might be worth seeing if he can keep hitting at higher levels. I remember being down at Spring Training this year watching the group of Walker, Buxton, Goodrum and Kepler take BP. Walker looked more impressive than Buxton...granted it was just one BP session and I am in no way saying he's the better player just that I was impressed watching him that day. Definitely want to get to CR at some point this year. I live just down the road from Kane County so I will be going there end of May to catch a game. I told myself every month last summer I was gonna go to Beloit to see Sano and Rosario but never did...that won't happen this year.

It isn't even raining that's the thing. I mean it's chilly but come on...the Twins, the Rockies...they've been playing in snow!

Game tonight has already been cancelled. Which sucks cuz I have tickets. Pretty shocked they called the game so early considering the weather here isn't all that bad...

I can't say I was surprised, but I would have liked to see him get a follow up start to his last outing. He was at least a little better so it would have been interesting to see if he could have built on that or not. At what point does he get leapfrogged by the likes of Deduno or Walters if they pitch well and the Twins have a need? I have to think Cole DeVries has the leg up on him at this point, too...

Here's the link Twins option Liam Hendriks to make room for Scott Diamond | StarTribune.com

According to LEN III Hendriks is going to Rochester. Sounds like Gardy wants more consistency from him. Which makes sense as he has never seemed able to put it all together up here. Hopefully he goes back to Rochester and dominates like last year. Would love for him to come back to Minnesota quickly. How many more shots do the Twins give him at this point? He's still quite young but it doesn't seem like anyone has much faith in him at this point.

Great article. I remember about 2 years ago I had started writing for a Twins blog and I remember Seth linking it on his site. It was a great feeling knowing someone appreciated the work I had put in. Alas, I am not blogging these days although this makes me think I should get back at it. John, thanks for the quote about putting yourself out there. As a writer and musician, it was my small inspiration today!