Cody Christie

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hEnUEQv6SHU/UAOQotUCM9I/AAAAAAAACyU/nBWJzKxqgXU/s320/SwingSun.jpeg Since the Twins took Aaron Hicks with their first round pick in the 2008 MLB Draft, there has been plenty of talk about the athletic outfielder fitting into the future plans of the Twins organization. Hicks was one of the highest draft picks the Twins had prior to drafting Byron Buxton in this year's draft and he seemed to have all of the tools to make him a very valuable player. It hasn't been a fast rise to the top for Mr. Hicks during his five years in the farm system for the Twins but he looks like he might slowly be figuring things out at the Double-A level with the New Britain Rock Cats. There has been an up and down trend to the career of Hicks with there being more downs than ups. He can go through extreme hot stretches were he looks like a power threat from both sides of the plate and he follows that up with a rough couple of months that brings his statistics back down to earth. This roller coaster ride has been something that the Twins have tried to solve in recent years as they try and push the outfielder to find more consistency in his approach at the plate. The trend of ups and downs has continued in 2012 with some poor months mixed in with some very good offensive months. The month of July has been one of those very good months for Hicks. In his 14 games played in July, he is hitting .358/.452/.566 with five extra-base hits including two home runs and four RBI. This is also following the month of June where he hit .288/.377/.424 and all of those numbers were higher than his career averages. So it seems that the last couple of months have slowly been improving for Hicks as he starts to get more experience at the Double-A level. For the most part, his 2012 campaign would be excellent if not very a rough month of May at the plate. It could be a season of new personal records for Hicks on the offensive side of the ball. He has a career high nine home runs and he is closing in on some other personal bests. He is one triple away from tying his career high of six triples in a season and he has 19 stolen bases which is two short of his own record. There is over a third of the season left so this should give Hicks plenty of time to set some offensive highs for himself in the coming months. One of the biggest problems for the switch-hitting Hicks has been the change in his splits versus right-handed or left-handed pitchers. He is traditionally much better from the right side of the plate versus left-handed pitching. While this trend has continued in 2012, the gap is closing between his splits and he has shown the ability to hit for power from both sides of the plate. As a right handed hitter in 88 at-bats, he is hitting .295/.370/.466 with four home runs and three doubles. He has more than double the at-bats from the left side, 203 plate appearances, and he is hitting .266/.365/.424 with five home runs and five triples. It is great to see his numbers improve from both sides of the plate but it is also very good to see him become a more well-rounded hitter in the box. In the past, the Twins have seen some other high school outfielders take their time while developing in the system for the Twins. Denard Span didn't debut until he was 24 and his first full season in the big leagues didn't come until the next season as a 25-year old. Torii Hunter made his debut as a 21-year old but he only go into one game and he was used as a pinch runner. His first full season would come a couple seasons later when he was 23-years old. He hadn't been blowing the cover off of the ball in the minor leagues but he became an All-Star caliber player for the Twins. It is also important to remember that the Twins teams of the late 1990's were not very good so it allowed for younger players to get more playing time. Could this situation play out with Hicks in the next couple years? With Hicks playing all of this season so far at Double-A, there are plenty that are wondering when the young star will be making his debut with the Twins. The 22-year old might be a long shot to debut in 2012 because there are a few things working against him at this point. He is not on the 40-man roster and that means another move would need to be made to clear a spot for him even though that wouldn't be too difficult. There are a couple other young outfielders, Oswaldo Arcia and Joe Benson, that are already ahead of him because they have 40-man roster spots. Arcia is having a tremendous season but he spent the first part of the year at the High-A level so it might be pushing it to say he will get a chance this year. During last September, Benson got a taste of the big leagues but he has struggled in 2012. It will be a toss up to see if any of these players get the call this year. It seems the Twins front office would be satisfied with Hick showing that he can be a consistent offensive threat from both sides of the plate. His speed and defense have always been his best attributes and it seems that his hitting is slowly coming along. Twins fans can hope that he will follow some of the other high school outfielders that took some time to develop in the minor leagues before becoming solid regulars with the club. For now, Hicks will continue to refine his approach at the Double-A level in hopes that he can call himself a major league player at some point in the next two years.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hEnUEQv6SHU/UAOQotUCM9I/AAAAAAAACyU/nBWJzKxqgXU/s320/SwingSun.jpeg Since the Twins took Aaron Hicks with their first round pick in the 2008 MLB Draft, there has been plenty of talk about the athletic outfielder fitting into the future plans of the Twins organization. Hicks was one of the highest draft picks the Twins had prior to drafting Byron Buxton in this year's draft and he seemed to have all of the tools to make him a very valuable player. It hasn't been a fast rise to the top for Mr. Hicks during his five years in the farm system for the Twins but he looks like he might slowly be figuring things out at the Double-A level with the New Britain Rock Cats. There has been an up and down trend to the career of Hicks with there being more downs than ups. He can go through extreme hot stretches were he looks like a power threat from both sides of the plate and he follows that up with a rough couple of months that brings his statistics back down to earth. This roller coaster ride has been something that the Twins have tried to solve in recent years as they try and push the outfielder to find more consistency in his approach at the plate. The trend of ups and downs has continued in 2012 with some poor months mixed in with some very good offensive months. The month of July has been one of those very good months for Hicks. In his 14 games played in July, he is hitting .358/.452/.566 with five extra-base hits including two home runs and four RBI. This is also following the month of June where he hit .288/.377/.424 and all of those numbers were higher than his career averages. So it seems that the last couple of months have slowly been improving for Hicks as he starts to get more experience at the Double-A level. For the most part, his 2012 campaign would be excellent if not very a rough month of May at the plate. It could be a season of new personal records for Hicks on the offensive side of the ball. He has a career high nine home runs and he is closing in on some other personal bests. He is one triple away from tying his career high of six triples in a season and he has 19 stolen bases which is two short of his own record. There is over a third of the season left so this should give Hicks plenty of time to set some offensive highs for himself in the coming months. One of the biggest problems for the switch-hitting Hicks has been the change in his splits versus right-handed or left-handed pitchers. He is traditionally much better from the right side of the plate versus left-handed pitching. While this trend has continued in 2012, the gap is closing between his splits and he has shown the ability to hit for power from both sides of the plate. As a right handed hitter in 88 at-bats, he is hitting .295/.370/.466 with four home runs and three doubles. He has more than double the at-bats from the left side, 203 plate appearances, and he is hitting .266/.365/.424 with five home runs and five triples. It is great to see his numbers improve from both sides of the plate but it is also very good to see him become a more well-rounded hitter in the box. In the past, the Twins have seen some other high school outfielders take their time while developing in the system for the Twins. Denard Span didn't debut until he was 24 and his first full season in the big leagues didn't come until the next season as a 25-year old. Torii Hunter made his debut as a 21-year old but he only go into one game and he was used as a pinch runner. His first full season would come a couple seasons later when he was 23-years old. He hadn't been blowing the cover off of the ball in the minor leagues but he became an All-Star caliber player for the Twins. It is also important to remember that the Twins teams of the late 1990's were not very good so it allowed for younger players to get more playing time. Could this situation play out with Hicks in the next couple years? With Hicks playing all of this season so far at Double-A, there are plenty that are wondering when the young star will be making his debut with the Twins. The 22-year old might be a long shot to debut in 2012 because there are a few things working against him at this point. He is not on the 40-man roster and that means another move would need to be made to clear a spot for him even though that wouldn't be too difficult. There are a couple other young outfielders, Oswaldo Arcia and Joe Benson, that are already ahead of him because they have 40-man roster spots. Arcia is having a tremendous season but he spent the first part of the year at the High-A level so it might be pushing it to say he will get a chance this year. During last September, Benson got a taste of the big leagues but he has struggled in 2012. It will be a toss up to see if any of these players get the call this year. It seems the Twins front office would be satisfied with Hick showing that he can be a consistent offensive threat from both sides of the plate. His speed and defense have always been his best attributes and it seems that his hitting is slowly coming along. Twins fans can hope that he will follow some of the other high school outfielders that took some time to develop in the minor leagues before becoming solid regulars with the club. For now, Hicks will continue to refine his approach at the Double-A level in hopes that he can call himself a major league player at some point in the next two years.

Happy Friday! I hope you made it through the week and you are looking forward to the weekend. It's hard to believe that it is already the 13th of July. Where is the time going from this summer? Make sure you spend some time this weekend enjoying the warm weather and the wonderful outdoors. It won't be long and we will all be stuck inside for another frigid winter across Twins Territory. At least the Wild should be worth watching this season with their newest additions. The Twins resume play tonight for the first time since the All-Star Break. For the first week, the Twins play all of their games at Target Field so that should be beneficial to the club. This weekend the A's come to town to match-up with the Twins for three games and that is followed by a four-game set with the Baltimore Orioles. As I wrote about yesterday, there are still some headlines to follow in the second half that should make the Twins fun to watch. Before the Twins resume play and before you head out for the weekend, make sure to check out the links I have provided below. There were some great interviews and Twins stories this week so make sure to enjoy this edition of "Friday Links-N-Thinks." For those with hope, what would it take for the Twins to come back in the second half? Terry Ryan did a very good interview with FanGraphs about his experiences as GM of the Twins. It's getting close to the time when the Twins might need to be concerned about the payroll situation for 2013. Many Twins fans might not have known that Glen Perkins is a stat-head. One of the best pieces of news for Twins fans this week was that Kyle Gibson pitched in his first game since undergoing Tommy John surgery. Twins minor league pitcher BJ Hermsen made the Double-A All-Star Game but he still has plenty to prove. There are plenty of trade candidates for the Twins including the Orioles, the Nationals, and the Pirates. Watching the lightning strike during the Twins game on Sunday was scary and funny at the same time. A decade ago the All-Star Game ended in a tie but it still featured one of the best Twins All-Star moments with Torii Hunter robbing Barry Bonds of a home run. Here are the top five performances from Twins in the All-Star Game. Last year's first round pick Levi Michael is now on Twitter. This is a great picture of former Twins player Michael Cuddyer. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g3esZFWdRJk/UAAc_pKc9sI/AAAAAAAACvw/MN60ra1elHs/s320/pow20(cuddyer).jpg Cuddyer has also meant a lot to his new teammates in Colorado. After making some controversial comments about Kirby Puckett and Bert Blyleven, Reggie Jackson apologized earlier this week. A $3 million collection of baseball cards was found in an attic in Ohio. Guess it's time for me to sort through my old baseball cards. Slow down a minute. The A's are a .500 baseball team at the break. How did that happen? This new rule for baseball would really confuse the casual fans that attend games. Did you know that Buffalo, NY was close to getting an MLB franchise in the late 80's and early 90's? I hate being at Target Field and not getting to see close plays shown on the big screen. Apparently the Red Sox got in trouble for doing this in a game versus the Yankees. Are the Twins going to rename their spring training stadium? They would like to and there are some other plans in the works. The Saint Paul Saints are having a night specifically for atheists and the team will be called the Saint Paul Aints for the night. The Twins grounds crew has been working hard to get the field back in shape after the first concert in the history of the venue. A report came out that Danny Valencia is not happy in Triple-A but he needs to hit better if he wants to make it back to the big leagues. My Weekly Rundown Monday: Handing out Twins Mid-Season Awards Tuesday: Tuesday Morning Tidbits Thursday: Twins second-half headlines to watch Video of the Week: Season ticket holders for the Twins were asked to send in questions for Twins GM Terry Ryan. It was cool to listen to some of his answers and he even answered a question that I sent in. My question has about the lack of pitching depth in the entire organization but they took out some of the words that I used but it was still a cool concept.

Happy Friday! I hope you made it through the week and you are looking forward to the weekend. It's hard to believe that it is already the 13th of July. Where is the time going from this summer? Make sure you spend some time this weekend enjoying the warm weather and the wonderful outdoors. It won't be long and we will all be stuck inside for another frigid winter across Twins Territory. At least the Wild should be worth watching this season with their newest additions. The Twins resume play tonight for the first time since the All-Star Break. For the first week, the Twins play all of their games at Target Field so that should be beneficial to the club. This weekend the A's come to town to match-up with the Twins for three games and that is followed by a four-game set with the Baltimore Orioles. As I wrote about yesterday, there are still some headlines to follow in the second half that should make the Twins fun to watch. Before the Twins resume play and before you head out for the weekend, make sure to check out the links I have provided below. There were some great interviews and Twins stories this week so make sure to enjoy this edition of "Friday Links-N-Thinks." For those with hope, what would it take for the Twins to come back in the second half? Terry Ryan did a very good interview with FanGraphs about his experiences as GM of the Twins. It's getting close to the time when the Twins might need to be concerned about the payroll situation for 2013. Many Twins fans might not have known that Glen Perkins is a stat-head. One of the best pieces of news for Twins fans this week was that Kyle Gibson pitched in his first game since undergoing Tommy John surgery. Twins minor league pitcher BJ Hermsen made the Double-A All-Star Game but he still has plenty to prove. There are plenty of trade candidates for the Twins including the Orioles, the Nationals, and the Pirates. Watching the lightning strike during the Twins game on Sunday was scary and funny at the same time. A decade ago the All-Star Game ended in a tie but it still featured one of the best Twins All-Star moments with Torii Hunter robbing Barry Bonds of a home run. Here are the top five performances from Twins in the All-Star Game. Last year's first round pick Levi Michael is now on Twitter. This is a great picture of former Twins player Michael Cuddyer. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g3esZFWdRJk/UAAc_pKc9sI/AAAAAAAACvw/MN60ra1elHs/s320/pow20(cuddyer).jpg Cuddyer has also meant a lot to his new teammates in Colorado. After making some controversial comments about Kirby Puckett and Bert Blyleven, Reggie Jackson apologized earlier this week. A $3 million collection of baseball cards was found in an attic in Ohio. Guess it's time for me to sort through my old baseball cards. Slow down a minute. The A's are a .500 baseball team at the break. How did that happen? This new rule for baseball would really confuse the casual fans that attend games. Did you know that Buffalo, NY was close to getting an MLB franchise in the late 80's and early 90's? I hate being at Target Field and not getting to see close plays shown on the big screen. Apparently the Red Sox got in trouble for doing this in a game versus the Yankees. Are the Twins going to rename their spring training stadium? They would like to and there are some other plans in the works. The Saint Paul Saints are having a night specifically for atheists and the team will be called the Saint Paul Aints for the night. The Twins grounds crew has been working hard to get the field back in shape after the first concert in the history of the venue. A report came out that Danny Valencia is not happy in Triple-A but he needs to hit better if he wants to make it back to the big leagues. My Weekly Rundown Monday: Handing out Twins Mid-Season Awards Tuesday: Tuesday Morning Tidbits Thursday: Twins second-half headlines to watch Video of the Week: Season ticket holders for the Twins were asked to send in questions for Twins GM Terry Ryan. It was cool to listen to some of his answers and he even answered a question that I sent in. My question has about the lack of pitching depth in the entire organization but they took out some of the words that I used but it was still a cool concept.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gDD7ASQjXpA/T_7LaKz1SbI/AAAAAAAACuA/Oqs2L1Y7oag/s320/MauerLiriano.jpg The Twins still have one more day before they kick off the second half of the 2012 season so this gives the players and their fans another day to enjoy a break from the world of baseball. Now with the addition of the extra Wild Card team in each league, it seems that plenty of teams find themselves in reach of a playoff spot at the All-Star Break. In the American League, every team except the Twins, Royals, and Mariners are within 2.5 games of a playoff spot. The races in the National League are tight as well with three teams in each division being within 4.5 games of each other. With more than half of the team's games having been played, the Twins sit 11 games out of first place and they are under .500 by 13 games. So what is in store for the second half of the season with the Twins? There has to be something to keep fans entertained during the rest of the summer and the beginning of fall. Some might say that the Twins pitching staff could put it all together and help the rest of the team to come back from one of the biggest deficits in franchise history. While at the same time, others might look at this season as a lost cause and turn their sights to the future of the franchise. Below there are a few different headlines for fans to watch out for in the second half. Even with the team being out of contention at this point, there are plenty of stories to follow. Here are just a few of those headlines. Sell, Sell, Sell At the trade deadline last season, the Twins were close enough to the race that they kept all of their parts and didn't add any additional help. The team stood pat even though they had pending free agents like Michael Cuddyer, Jason Kubel, Joe Nathan, and Matt Capps. There was still the lure of gaining draft picks for these players if they signed with other teams via free agency. With three of the above names leaving for greener pastures, the Twins ended up with five picks in the first two rounds of the June draft. Flash-forward to 2012 and the Twins will have some tougher decisions on hand when it comes to the trade deadline. A new collective bargaining agreement signed in the offseason means that the rules have changed for compensation when free agents leave a team. Like in years past, the Twins would have to offer free agents arbitration to have any shot at getting a draft pick. In order to receive draft pick compensation, the salary the team would have to offer their former player who became a free agent is the average of the top 125 contracts in the baseball. This sits at over $12 million for next offseason. This means that the Twins could be looking to sell players before the July trade deadline comes and goes. Francisco Liriano, Denard Span, and Matt Capps lead the list of possible trade candidates. But on a team struggling to reach .500, there should be no players that are untouchable. My guess is that Liriano gets dealt and the other big buzz will be around Span but he will stay with the team because they won't be overwhelmed by any of the offers for him. There should be plenty of reasons to sell, sell, sell. Mauer hunts for 4th batting title Joe Mauer has won three batting titles so far in his career and he is in the race for a fourth title at the All-Star break this season. He currently sits in fourth place behind Mike Trout (.341), Austin Jackson (.332), and Paul Konerko (.329). All of the players in front of Mauer have never finished in the top five in batting before with Konerko having the highest finish at eighth place in 2010. Trout is in the middle of a tremendous rookie season so it will be interesting to see if he can keep this up. In his other two seasons with the Tigers, Jackson has never finished with an above .300 average. This could give Mauer the chance for a second half comeback in the batting race. Behind Mauer in the standings are two very good veteran hitters, Adrian Beltre (.326) and Miguel Cabrera (.324). Each of these players will play a critical role on a team looking to make the playoffs in the second half so they will have a lot of pressure situations to face in the coming months. With the Twins essentially being out of the race, Mauer can relax and continue to hit the ball at an amazing clip. In the other seasons that Mauer was able to come out on top for a batting title, he was in the midst of a pennant race with the Twins. Combine all of this information and it should make for a very exciting finish for the AL Batting Crown. Gibson makes his way through the minors One man that was projected to make an impact on the starting rotation as early as last year has just starting pitching in the 2012 season. Kyle Gibson has spent most of the last year recovering from Tommy John surgery and he is inching closer to making a full recovery. He threw his first inning on the mound earlier this week and it was a fairly successful outing. He didn't give up a hit and the only man to get on base was erased by a double play ball. Reports from the Twins front office had Gibson hitting as high as 94 with his fastball and that was probably the only pitch he was using in this start. During the rest of the season, Gibson will continue to get stretched out as he makes his way through the minor league system for the Twins. In my post on Tuesday, I mentioned the fact that the Twins aren't looking for him to debut at the big league level in 2012 and they would just like to see a healthy player make it through the end of the season. It also sounds like there is a chance that he could pitch in the Arizona Fall League but that decision is still a couple months away. For now, fans can check the box scores of the minor leagues to see if one of the team's top pitching prospects is getting any closer to Target Field. Plouffe and Diamond: Progression or Regression? There have been two players to burst onto the scene for the Twins this season after not finding a lot of success at the big league level. Trevor Plouffe and Scott Diamond were two of the most important players to any kind of success the Twins had in the first half of the year. In the last couple of months, Plouffe has been one of the best power hitters in the American League and it has been amazing to see the small adjustments that he made at the plate to impact his swing in a big way. Diamond has turned into the ace of the staff for the Twins after not even being in the rotation at the start of the season. With plenty of success in the first half of the year, it will be interesting to see what kind of production the Twins can get out of their two rising stars. Will they each continue to progress or will there be some second-half regression? It's hard to imagine Plouffe not having a little regression because he was hitting at a Barry Bonds like level for a few weeks. Even with a low K/9 rate for Diamond, the hope is that he can continue to be consistent and put the Twins in position to win games in the second half. Each of these men have played their way into the long term plans for the Twins and fans should be excited to see what they can do for the rest of the year.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gDD7ASQjXpA/T_7LaKz1SbI/AAAAAAAACuA/Oqs2L1Y7oag/s320/MauerLiriano.jpg The Twins still have one more day before they kick off the second half of the 2012 season so this gives the players and their fans another day to enjoy a break from the world of baseball. Now with the addition of the extra Wild Card team in each league, it seems that plenty of teams find themselves in reach of a playoff spot at the All-Star Break. In the American League, every team except the Twins, Royals, and Mariners are within 2.5 games of a playoff spot. The races in the National League are tight as well with three teams in each division being within 4.5 games of each other. With more than half of the team's games having been played, the Twins sit 11 games out of first place and they are under .500 by 13 games. So what is in store for the second half of the season with the Twins? There has to be something to keep fans entertained during the rest of the summer and the beginning of fall. Some might say that the Twins pitching staff could put it all together and help the rest of the team to come back from one of the biggest deficits in franchise history. While at the same time, others might look at this season as a lost cause and turn their sights to the future of the franchise. Below there are a few different headlines for fans to watch out for in the second half. Even with the team being out of contention at this point, there are plenty of stories to follow. Here are just a few of those headlines. Sell, Sell, Sell At the trade deadline last season, the Twins were close enough to the race that they kept all of their parts and didn't add any additional help. The team stood pat even though they had pending free agents like Michael Cuddyer, Jason Kubel, Joe Nathan, and Matt Capps. There was still the lure of gaining draft picks for these players if they signed with other teams via free agency. With three of the above names leaving for greener pastures, the Twins ended up with five picks in the first two rounds of the June draft. Flash-forward to 2012 and the Twins will have some tougher decisions on hand when it comes to the trade deadline. A new collective bargaining agreement signed in the offseason means that the rules have changed for compensation when free agents leave a team. Like in years past, the Twins would have to offer free agents arbitration to have any shot at getting a draft pick. In order to receive draft pick compensation, the salary the team would have to offer their former player who became a free agent is the average of the top 125 contracts in the baseball. This sits at over $12 million for next offseason. This means that the Twins could be looking to sell players before the July trade deadline comes and goes. Francisco Liriano, Denard Span, and Matt Capps lead the list of possible trade candidates. But on a team struggling to reach .500, there should be no players that are untouchable. My guess is that Liriano gets dealt and the other big buzz will be around Span but he will stay with the team because they won't be overwhelmed by any of the offers for him. There should be plenty of reasons to sell, sell, sell. Mauer hunts for 4th batting title Joe Mauer has won three batting titles so far in his career and he is in the race for a fourth title at the All-Star break this season. He currently sits in fourth place behind Mike Trout (.341), Austin Jackson (.332), and Paul Konerko (.329). All of the players in front of Mauer have never finished in the top five in batting before with Konerko having the highest finish at eighth place in 2010. Trout is in the middle of a tremendous rookie season so it will be interesting to see if he can keep this up. In his other two seasons with the Tigers, Jackson has never finished with an above .300 average. This could give Mauer the chance for a second half comeback in the batting race. Behind Mauer in the standings are two very good veteran hitters, Adrian Beltre (.326) and Miguel Cabrera (.324). Each of these players will play a critical role on a team looking to make the playoffs in the second half so they will have a lot of pressure situations to face in the coming months. With the Twins essentially being out of the race, Mauer can relax and continue to hit the ball at an amazing clip. In the other seasons that Mauer was able to come out on top for a batting title, he was in the midst of a pennant race with the Twins. Combine all of this information and it should make for a very exciting finish for the AL Batting Crown. Gibson makes his way through the minors One man that was projected to make an impact on the starting rotation as early as last year has just starting pitching in the 2012 season. Kyle Gibson has spent most of the last year recovering from Tommy John surgery and he is inching closer to making a full recovery. He threw his first inning on the mound earlier this week and it was a fairly successful outing. He didn't give up a hit and the only man to get on base was erased by a double play ball. Reports from the Twins front office had Gibson hitting as high as 94 with his fastball and that was probably the only pitch he was using in this start. During the rest of the season, Gibson will continue to get stretched out as he makes his way through the minor league system for the Twins. In my post on Tuesday, I mentioned the fact that the Twins aren't looking for him to debut at the big league level in 2012 and they would just like to see a healthy player make it through the end of the season. It also sounds like there is a chance that he could pitch in the Arizona Fall League but that decision is still a couple months away. For now, fans can check the box scores of the minor leagues to see if one of the team's top pitching prospects is getting any closer to Target Field. Plouffe and Diamond: Progression or Regression? There have been two players to burst onto the scene for the Twins this season after not finding a lot of success at the big league level. Trevor Plouffe and Scott Diamond were two of the most important players to any kind of success the Twins had in the first half of the year. In the last couple of months, Plouffe has been one of the best power hitters in the American League and it has been amazing to see the small adjustments that he made at the plate to impact his swing in a big way. Diamond has turned into the ace of the staff for the Twins after not even being in the rotation at the start of the season. With plenty of success in the first half of the year, it will be interesting to see what kind of production the Twins can get out of their two rising stars. Will they each continue to progress or will there be some second-half regression? It's hard to imagine Plouffe not having a little regression because he was hitting at a Barry Bonds like level for a few weeks. Even with a low K/9 rate for Diamond, the hope is that he can continue to be consistent and put the Twins in position to win games in the second half. Each of these men have played their way into the long term plans for the Twins and fans should be excited to see what they can do for the rest of the year.

Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Prince Fielder put on quite the show in the Home Run Derby last night after a slow start in the first round. His violent swing helped him to win his second career Derby title by beating out Jose Bautista in the final round. Over the years, the Derby has turned into quite the spectacle as it last for three hours or more. ESPN provides a ton of camera angles so fans can see some of the best power hitters in the game take their hacks at the fences. The All-Star Game will take place on Tuesday evening and Joe Mauer, the lone Twins representative, will get to play a few innings behind the plate. Last season, Twins fans only got a brief glimpse of Michael Cuddyer when he played in Arizona. During his only at-bat, he swung at the first pitch and popped out. Depending on how Ron Washington, the AL Manager, uses Mauer, he could get more than one plate appearance. Even with the All-Star Break for the major league version of the Twins, there is still action across the minor leagues. Make sure to check back later tonight for a recap of all of the games in the Twins minor league system. For now, check out a few headlines in this week's edition of "Tuesday Morning Tidbits." http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yhJ2-yVKxGI/T_un5knw_2I/AAAAAAAACsQ/TRoxknJumtU/s320/MorneauHRtrot.jpg Gibson unlikely to debut in September In a recent video interview with questions from season ticket holders, Terry Ryan talked about the plan for Kyle Gibson as he returns from Tommy John surgery. He is scheduled to pitch one inning today for the GCL Twins but don't expect him to be knocking on the door to the big leagues by the end of the season. Ryan said that it might be "a little aggressive" to think that Gibson could earn a September call-up. So it sounds like the Twins will take a slow and steady approach with one of the most valuable arms in their farm system. It seems that the Twins are hoping that he has a healthy August and September so he can end the season on a positive note. Ryan went on to say that there is the possibility that Gibson could end up pitching in the Arizona Fall League. This would allow Gibson to rack up some innings against some of the best prospects in the game. The AFL is usually considered a hitter's league so it will be interesting to see if Gibson is actually selected to be one of the Twins pitchers sent to Arizona. There are plenty of things that Gibson will have to be accustomed to during his appearances in the minor leagues. When a pitcher is coming off of Tommy John surgery, it can be a little intimidating to start throwing breaking pitches. It will be important for Gibson to work on all of his pitches to prove to the Twins that he is a viable candidate to fit into the rotation for 2013. He might not make it to Target Field in 2012 but the Twins need plenty of support in the rotation for the future. Morneau enters break with ten game hit streak In a first half of the season that had to be frustrating for Justin Morneau, he enters the break in the midst of a ten game hitting streak. Over the course of those ten contests, Morneau is hitting .333/.364/.452 with a home runs and a couple of doubles. This is a very welcome sign for a player that has missed large chunks of the last two seasons. The Twins line-up looks a lot more potent with a hot hitting Morneau in the middle of the order. For most of the 2012 season, there have been two vastly different versions of Morneau for the Twins. It can be expected for a hitter to have splits versus right-handed and left-handed pitchers but Morneau has been very good versus righties and awful against lefties. So far this season versus right handed pitchers, Morneau is hitting .313/.389/.571 with nine home runs, 13 doubles, and 29 RBI. Southpaws have been the opposite story for Morneau as he is hitting .124/.160/.202 with two home runs, a double, and nine RBI. It was getting to the point where many were questioning whether Morneau should be moved down in the line-up versus left-handed starters. One good signs was the fact that Morneau was able to get a couple hits off of lefties from the Rangers before the end of the first half. There is still a long way to go in order for Morneau's numbers to look respectable versus lefties so hopefully he has turned the corner. This could make for an exciting second half for Mr. Morneau with the Twins hoping that he returns back to his MVP form. Buxton pulls hamstring after steal Byron Buxton, the number two overall pick, was pulled from a GCL game on Monday afternoon with an apparent hamstring pull. After walking and stealing second base in the third inning, Buxton did something to his leg. Since the Twins have a lot of money invested in this young man, it made sense to get him out of the game to check him out. At this point, it is not known how much time Buxton will need to miss but he will most likely be considered day-to-day so he can rest his leg. It's sad to see an injury to Buxton since he seemed to finally have found his swing with the GCL Twins. After only managing a single hit in his first eight games, Buxton had been on a little bit of a hot streak in recent games. He hit his first professional home run on Saturday and he had a batting average of .333 over the course of the last six games. There is still a long time until fans will worry about seeing Buxton at Target Field but it would be nice for him to get as many at-bats as possible during this season.

Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Prince Fielder put on quite the show in the Home Run Derby last night after a slow start in the first round. His violent swing helped him to win his second career Derby title by beating out Jose Bautista in the final round. Over the years, the Derby has turned into quite the spectacle as it last for three hours or more. ESPN provides a ton of camera angles so fans can see some of the best power hitters in the game take their hacks at the fences. The All-Star Game will take place on Tuesday evening and Joe Mauer, the lone Twins representative, will get to play a few innings behind the plate. Last season, Twins fans only got a brief glimpse of Michael Cuddyer when he played in Arizona. During his only at-bat, he swung at the first pitch and popped out. Depending on how Ron Washington, the AL Manager, uses Mauer, he could get more than one plate appearance. Even with the All-Star Break for the major league version of the Twins, there is still action across the minor leagues. Make sure to check back later tonight for a recap of all of the games in the Twins minor league system. For now, check out a few headlines in this week's edition of "Tuesday Morning Tidbits." http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yhJ2-yVKxGI/T_un5knw_2I/AAAAAAAACsQ/TRoxknJumtU/s320/MorneauHRtrot.jpg Gibson unlikely to debut in September In a recent video interview with questions from season ticket holders, Terry Ryan talked about the plan for Kyle Gibson as he returns from Tommy John surgery. He is scheduled to pitch one inning today for the GCL Twins but don't expect him to be knocking on the door to the big leagues by the end of the season. Ryan said that it might be "a little aggressive" to think that Gibson could earn a September call-up. So it sounds like the Twins will take a slow and steady approach with one of the most valuable arms in their farm system. It seems that the Twins are hoping that he has a healthy August and September so he can end the season on a positive note. Ryan went on to say that there is the possibility that Gibson could end up pitching in the Arizona Fall League. This would allow Gibson to rack up some innings against some of the best prospects in the game. The AFL is usually considered a hitter's league so it will be interesting to see if Gibson is actually selected to be one of the Twins pitchers sent to Arizona. There are plenty of things that Gibson will have to be accustomed to during his appearances in the minor leagues. When a pitcher is coming off of Tommy John surgery, it can be a little intimidating to start throwing breaking pitches. It will be important for Gibson to work on all of his pitches to prove to the Twins that he is a viable candidate to fit into the rotation for 2013. He might not make it to Target Field in 2012 but the Twins need plenty of support in the rotation for the future. Morneau enters break with ten game hit streak In a first half of the season that had to be frustrating for Justin Morneau, he enters the break in the midst of a ten game hitting streak. Over the course of those ten contests, Morneau is hitting .333/.364/.452 with a home runs and a couple of doubles. This is a very welcome sign for a player that has missed large chunks of the last two seasons. The Twins line-up looks a lot more potent with a hot hitting Morneau in the middle of the order. For most of the 2012 season, there have been two vastly different versions of Morneau for the Twins. It can be expected for a hitter to have splits versus right-handed and left-handed pitchers but Morneau has been very good versus righties and awful against lefties. So far this season versus right handed pitchers, Morneau is hitting .313/.389/.571 with nine home runs, 13 doubles, and 29 RBI. Southpaws have been the opposite story for Morneau as he is hitting .124/.160/.202 with two home runs, a double, and nine RBI. It was getting to the point where many were questioning whether Morneau should be moved down in the line-up versus left-handed starters. One good signs was the fact that Morneau was able to get a couple hits off of lefties from the Rangers before the end of the first half. There is still a long way to go in order for Morneau's numbers to look respectable versus lefties so hopefully he has turned the corner. This could make for an exciting second half for Mr. Morneau with the Twins hoping that he returns back to his MVP form. Buxton pulls hamstring after steal Byron Buxton, the number two overall pick, was pulled from a GCL game on Monday afternoon with an apparent hamstring pull. After walking and stealing second base in the third inning, Buxton did something to his leg. Since the Twins have a lot of money invested in this young man, it made sense to get him out of the game to check him out. At this point, it is not known how much time Buxton will need to miss but he will most likely be considered day-to-day so he can rest his leg. It's sad to see an injury to Buxton since he seemed to finally have found his swing with the GCL Twins. After only managing a single hit in his first eight games, Buxton had been on a little bit of a hot streak in recent games. He hit his first professional home run on Saturday and he had a batting average of .333 over the course of the last six games. There is still a long time until fans will worry about seeing Buxton at Target Field but it would be nice for him to get as many at-bats as possible during this season.

Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ With the All-Star Break at hand, it marks the unofficial midpoint of the 2012 season for the Minnesota Twins. Coming off of one of the worst seasons in franchise history, it was hard to have optimism for the 2012 campaign. There were question marks surrounding players that missed large chunks of last season due to injury, the bullpen had some unproven arms, and the starting rotation needed to prove itself. All of these story lines have played out in different ways with some of them being much more positive than the others. The Twins have played a little stronger in recent games to give a semblance of hope to fans across Twins Territory. The scary part might be the fact that by the All-Star Game last year the club had put together 41 wins and sat 6.5 games out of first place in the Central. While the team was still seven games under .500, there was a chance for a strong second half run. Entering the break this season, the Twins are further back in the division and more games under .500 than last year. Overall, it looks like a tough hole to dig out of in the second half. At the beginning of the season, I predicted who I thought would win various awards for the 2012 version of the Twins. The All-Star Break allows for time to reflect back on the first half of the season and to see how close to being right (or being very wrong) that those predictions were. Each of the awards below has been named after someone that optimizes that award for the Twins organization. There are some legends from the past and even one current MLB player but all have had a significant place in Twins lore. http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3Nw5_5My7xw/T_rgXstjLRI/AAAAAAAACqg/XWMisSEYtV4/s320/ScottyD.jpgHarmon Killebrew MVP: Josh Willingham, LF-DH Preseason pick: Joe Mauer, C-1B-DH At this point in the season, it looks like a two man race for the top player on the Twins in 2012. Josh Willingham started off the season like an MVP and he carried the team through the early portion of their schedule. On the other hand, Joe Mauer has put together a very strong campaign after putting a dreadful 2011 season behind him. Either one of these players could be named MVP of the first half for the Twins so let's take a look at some of the numbers. To this part in the season, Willingham is batting .261/.376/.536 with 19 home runs and 60 RBI. His batting average is right around his career average but his OBP and SLG are both higher than his career marks. Joe Mauer is batting .326/.417/.452 with five home runs and 41 RBI. He sits in the top five for batting average in the entire American League and he has the highest OBP of any AL player. On FanGraphs and Baseball Reference, both players sit within .1 points of each other in WAR. It seems like the races is almost a tie so there must be some other way to figure out who should come out on top. The tie-breaker for me was looking at Win Probability Added and Willingham is the clear leader on the team. His clutch hits and RBI have helped to turn losses into victories on a team that needed him to provide a little spark. The race was tight but Willingham is the team's MVP through the first half of the year. Johan Santana Pitcher of the Year: Scott Diamond, LHP Preseason pick: Francisco Liriano, LHP This might be the easiest category to select through the first portion of the Twins schedule. Scott Diamond has emerged as the best pitcher on the staff for the Twins and his transformation has been fun to see so far this year.Since he started the season at Triple-A, he has only been able to log 79.0 innings with the big league squad. His seven wins are three more than any other starter this season and his ERA of 2.62 is very low. It is starting to look more and more like Francisco Liriano could win this award by the end of the season. His starts in recent weeks have been very good and his is able to strike out more batters than Diamond. Liriano's terrible start was tough to overcome at this point in the season so his numbers still look high at the All-Star Break. He does lead the team in games started and innings pitched but his ERA and WHIP need some time to recover from the early part of the season. With all of the trade rumors surrounding Liriano, it is hard to imagine him being with the club until the end of the season. That would seem to mean that this award is Diamond's to lose for the rest of the season. Diamond is the lone bright spot in a rotation full of holes and he looks like he might have to be the ace of the staff for the next handful of seasons. Rick Aguilera Relief Pitcher of the Year: Jared Burton, RHP Preseason pick: Brian Duensing, LHP When the season started, I picked Duensing for this award because he was shifting back to a successful role that he held with the club in the past. This was assuming that he would stay in the bullpen for the majority of the season but now he finds himself in the starting rotation. This leaves a couple of arms in the bullpen that have shown themselves to be very valuable in the first half of the year. Glen Perkins burst onto the scene last season as one of the most valuable set-up men in the American League. His transition from starter to relief pitcher allowed him to add some velocity to his pitches and he looked like a brand new man. It has been more of the same for Perkins in 2012 and he has even been given the opportunity to close some games with Matt Capps on the DL. His ERA and WHIP are a little higher than one would like for an arm out of the 'pen but his strikeouts per nine innings has increase over last year. Much like the race for team MVP, the competition for Relief Pitcher of the Year is a two-man race. Jared Burton has rediscovered himself as a 31-year old after two injury shortened seasons with the Reds. He has looked dominant at times with a WHIP under 1.000 and a 2.55 ERA for the year. His strikeout total will never match Perkins but Burton has been an unsung hero of the first half for the Twins. Rod Carew Rookie of the Year: Scott Diamond, LHP Preseason pick: Chris Parmelee, 1B-RF-DH Coming out of spring training, it looked like there would be a couple of different rookies in line for the Carew ROY Award. Chris Parmelee had made the squad after a strong spring training and a very good month of September at the end of last season. The Twins were unsure of what to expect from Justin Morneau and it made sense to have another strong first baseman on the roster. Liam Hendriks was another rookie that made the squad when the team headed north for the start of the year. Some injuries to the starting staff allowed Hendriks the opportunity to start the year in the rotation. The story line for each of these players has been a little frustrating to watch in 2012. Both players have found a lot of success at the Triple-A level but the results have been mixed with the big league squad. Parmelee has been sent back-and-forth to Rochester on multiple occasions and his last trip had to be tough for him. He sat on the bench for multiple weeks and he was given a handful of at-bats. Hendriks has really struggled at the big league level and it will be interesting to see if he gets another shot in the second half. For the reasons mentioned in the Santana Pitcher of the Year category, Diamond is the clear-cut winner of this award. Brain Dozier has gotten plenty of playing time at shortstop but there are still multiple things that he needs to work on. Diamond, Dozier, Hendriks, and Parmelee are all in line to have a big impact on this team in the future so it will be interesting to see what they can do. So who do you think should win each award? Leave a comment and start the discussion.

Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ With the All-Star Break at hand, it marks the unofficial midpoint of the 2012 season for the Minnesota Twins. Coming off of one of the worst seasons in franchise history, it was hard to have optimism for the 2012 campaign. There were question marks surrounding players that missed large chunks of last season due to injury, the bullpen had some unproven arms, and the starting rotation needed to prove itself. All of these story lines have played out in different ways with some of them being much more positive than the others. The Twins have played a little stronger in recent games to give a semblance of hope to fans across Twins Territory. The scary part might be the fact that by the All-Star Game last year the club had put together 41 wins and sat 6.5 games out of first place in the Central. While the team was still seven games under .500, there was a chance for a strong second half run. Entering the break this season, the Twins are further back in the division and more games under .500 than last year. Overall, it looks like a tough hole to dig out of in the second half. At the beginning of the season, I predicted who I thought would win various awards for the 2012 version of the Twins. The All-Star Break allows for time to reflect back on the first half of the season and to see how close to being right (or being very wrong) that those predictions were. Each of the awards below has been named after someone that optimizes that award for the Twins organization. There are some legends from the past and even one current MLB player but all have had a significant place in Twins lore. http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3Nw5_5My7xw/T_rgXstjLRI/AAAAAAAACqg/XWMisSEYtV4/s320/ScottyD.jpgHarmon Killebrew MVP: Josh Willingham, LF-DH Preseason pick: Joe Mauer, C-1B-DH At this point in the season, it looks like a two man race for the top player on the Twins in 2012. Josh Willingham started off the season like an MVP and he carried the team through the early portion of their schedule. On the other hand, Joe Mauer has put together a very strong campaign after putting a dreadful 2011 season behind him. Either one of these players could be named MVP of the first half for the Twins so let's take a look at some of the numbers. To this part in the season, Willingham is batting .261/.376/.536 with 19 home runs and 60 RBI. His batting average is right around his career average but his OBP and SLG are both higher than his career marks. Joe Mauer is batting .326/.417/.452 with five home runs and 41 RBI. He sits in the top five for batting average in the entire American League and he has the highest OBP of any AL player. On FanGraphs and Baseball Reference, both players sit within .1 points of each other in WAR. It seems like the races is almost a tie so there must be some other way to figure out who should come out on top. The tie-breaker for me was looking at Win Probability Added and Willingham is the clear leader on the team. His clutch hits and RBI have helped to turn losses into victories on a team that needed him to provide a little spark. The race was tight but Willingham is the team's MVP through the first half of the year. Johan Santana Pitcher of the Year: Scott Diamond, LHP Preseason pick: Francisco Liriano, LHP This might be the easiest category to select through the first portion of the Twins schedule. Scott Diamond has emerged as the best pitcher on the staff for the Twins and his transformation has been fun to see so far this year.Since he started the season at Triple-A, he has only been able to log 79.0 innings with the big league squad. His seven wins are three more than any other starter this season and his ERA of 2.62 is very low. It is starting to look more and more like Francisco Liriano could win this award by the end of the season. His starts in recent weeks have been very good and his is able to strike out more batters than Diamond. Liriano's terrible start was tough to overcome at this point in the season so his numbers still look high at the All-Star Break. He does lead the team in games started and innings pitched but his ERA and WHIP need some time to recover from the early part of the season. With all of the trade rumors surrounding Liriano, it is hard to imagine him being with the club until the end of the season. That would seem to mean that this award is Diamond's to lose for the rest of the season. Diamond is the lone bright spot in a rotation full of holes and he looks like he might have to be the ace of the staff for the next handful of seasons. Rick Aguilera Relief Pitcher of the Year: Jared Burton, RHP Preseason pick: Brian Duensing, LHP When the season started, I picked Duensing for this award because he was shifting back to a successful role that he held with the club in the past. This was assuming that he would stay in the bullpen for the majority of the season but now he finds himself in the starting rotation. This leaves a couple of arms in the bullpen that have shown themselves to be very valuable in the first half of the year. Glen Perkins burst onto the scene last season as one of the most valuable set-up men in the American League. His transition from starter to relief pitcher allowed him to add some velocity to his pitches and he looked like a brand new man. It has been more of the same for Perkins in 2012 and he has even been given the opportunity to close some games with Matt Capps on the DL. His ERA and WHIP are a little higher than one would like for an arm out of the 'pen but his strikeouts per nine innings has increase over last year. Much like the race for team MVP, the competition for Relief Pitcher of the Year is a two-man race. Jared Burton has rediscovered himself as a 31-year old after two injury shortened seasons with the Reds. He has looked dominant at times with a WHIP under 1.000 and a 2.55 ERA for the year. His strikeout total will never match Perkins but Burton has been an unsung hero of the first half for the Twins. Rod Carew Rookie of the Year: Scott Diamond, LHP Preseason pick: Chris Parmelee, 1B-RF-DH Coming out of spring training, it looked like there would be a couple of different rookies in line for the Carew ROY Award. Chris Parmelee had made the squad after a strong spring training and a very good month of September at the end of last season. The Twins were unsure of what to expect from Justin Morneau and it made sense to have another strong first baseman on the roster. Liam Hendriks was another rookie that made the squad when the team headed north for the start of the year. Some injuries to the starting staff allowed Hendriks the opportunity to start the year in the rotation. The story line for each of these players has been a little frustrating to watch in 2012. Both players have found a lot of success at the Triple-A level but the results have been mixed with the big league squad. Parmelee has been sent back-and-forth to Rochester on multiple occasions and his last trip had to be tough for him. He sat on the bench for multiple weeks and he was given a handful of at-bats. Hendriks has really struggled at the big league level and it will be interesting to see if he gets another shot in the second half. For the reasons mentioned in the Santana Pitcher of the Year category, Diamond is the clear-cut winner of this award. Brain Dozier has gotten plenty of playing time at shortstop but there are still multiple things that he needs to work on. Diamond, Dozier, Hendriks, and Parmelee are all in line to have a big impact on this team in the future so it will be interesting to see what they can do. So who do you think should win each award? Leave a comment and start the discussion.

The Fourth of July holiday means that the All-Star Break is quickly approaching and the Twins are near a break that might be good for a team that is struggling to find pitchers for their starting staff. There has been a well-worn road from Rochester to Minneapolis as the Twins try to find players to record outs for the big league club. Casey Fien and Sam Deduno will be the latest Red Wings to get called up to play with the Twins. After putting together five consecutive wins, the Twins lost back to back contests in Detroit. The loss on Thursday afternoon might have been the most disappointing as the Twins looked to be in control after a strong start from Scott Diamond. In the end, the big bats for Detroit prevailed against the Twins bullpen and now the team will head to Texas to end the first half against one of the toughest teams in the AL. The Rangers are the two-time defending AL Champions and they will trot out eight All-Stars. At the same time, the Twins have one current All-Star and 14 more losses than the Rangers. It could be a rough weekend in Arlington but it will be fun to see what Josh Willingham and Trevor Plouffe can do in the heat of Texas. Could it be time for the Twins to think about a contract extension with Francisco Liriano? Some possible trade targets for the Twins include the Reds, the Yankees, the Braves, and the Dodgers. Denard Span could be one of the players traveling to a new team by the end of the month. One of the most controversial articles of the week had Reggie Jackson state that he thinks former Twins Kirby Puckett and Bert Blyleven don't belong with him in the Hall of Fame. The end of June meant it was time to name the minor league hitter of the month, the starting pitcher of the month, and the relief pitcher of the month for the Twins. Trevor Plouffe has been something to enjoy in Minnesota. Detroit's defense is fun to watch. AJ Pierzynski spoke out about his poor reputation across the baseball world. This squibber by Brian Dozier was amazing to see and hard to explain to someone that wasn't able to witness it happen. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GNjDUCmQTiI/T_Y77q0m_9I/AAAAAAAACow/mGqgf6XxakI/s1600/Brian+Dozier+Squibber.gif With Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, and Matt Moore graduating to the big leagues, who is left as the top prospect in the minor leagues? There were two big hockey signings in Minnesota this week and Joe Mauer and Ron Gardenhire did their best to recruit Zach Parise and Ryan Suter. One of the biggest talking points of the 4th might have been explaining to friends and family about the Twins sending 30-year old Nick Blackburn to Triple-A. Ozzie Guillen blew up at reporters after Heath Bell blew another loss for the Marlins. A coach in the A's organization got banned from the bench after he ordered intentional balks to end an extra-inning affair. It's interesting to think of the Twins team as pairs of twins. The window for signing 16-year old international players opened earlier this week and the Twins scooped up the 12th best prospect according to Baseball America. There was some who questioned the Twins All-Star selection over the weekend but what about the All-Stars of the future. What should the Orioles expect from Jim Thome? My Weekly Rundown Monday: Mauer elected and "fans" revolt Tuesday: Tuesday Morning Tidbits Tuesday's Trip through the Minors Video of the Week: It is still an honor for any player to be selected to the All-Star Game even if it is Mauer's fifth trip to the Mid-Summer Classic. The Twins had a cool video that they threw together to see how the team announced that Mauer would be representing the Twins in Kansas City.

The Fourth of July holiday means that the All-Star Break is quickly approaching and the Twins are near a break that might be good for a team that is struggling to find pitchers for their starting staff. There has been a well-worn road from Rochester to Minneapolis as the Twins try to find players to record outs for the big league club. Casey Fien and Sam Deduno will be the latest Red Wings to get called up to play with the Twins. After putting together five consecutive wins, the Twins lost back to back contests in Detroit. The loss on Thursday afternoon might have been the most disappointing as the Twins looked to be in control after a strong start from Scott Diamond. In the end, the big bats for Detroit prevailed against the Twins bullpen and now the team will head to Texas to end the first half against one of the toughest teams in the AL. The Rangers are the two-time defending AL Champions and they will trot out eight All-Stars. At the same time, the Twins have one current All-Star and 14 more losses than the Rangers. It could be a rough weekend in Arlington but it will be fun to see what Josh Willingham and Trevor Plouffe can do in the heat of Texas. Could it be time for the Twins to think about a contract extension with Francisco Liriano? Some possible trade targets for the Twins include the Reds, the Yankees, the Braves, and the Dodgers. Denard Span could be one of the players traveling to a new team by the end of the month. One of the most controversial articles of the week had Reggie Jackson state that he thinks former Twins Kirby Puckett and Bert Blyleven don't belong with him in the Hall of Fame. The end of June meant it was time to name the minor league hitter of the month, the starting pitcher of the month, and the relief pitcher of the month for the Twins. Trevor Plouffe has been something to enjoy in Minnesota. Detroit's defense is fun to watch. AJ Pierzynski spoke out about his poor reputation across the baseball world. This squibber by Brian Dozier was amazing to see and hard to explain to someone that wasn't able to witness it happen. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GNjDUCmQTiI/T_Y77q0m_9I/AAAAAAAACow/mGqgf6XxakI/s1600/Brian+Dozier+Squibber.gif With Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, and Matt Moore graduating to the big leagues, who is left as the top prospect in the minor leagues? There were two big hockey signings in Minnesota this week and Joe Mauer and Ron Gardenhire did their best to recruit Zach Parise and Ryan Suter. One of the biggest talking points of the 4th might have been explaining to friends and family about the Twins sending 30-year old Nick Blackburn to Triple-A. Ozzie Guillen blew up at reporters after Heath Bell blew another loss for the Marlins. A coach in the A's organization got banned from the bench after he ordered intentional balks to end an extra-inning affair. It's interesting to think of the Twins team as pairs of twins. The window for signing 16-year old international players opened earlier this week and the Twins scooped up the 12th best prospect according to Baseball America. There was some who questioned the Twins All-Star selection over the weekend but what about the All-Stars of the future. What should the Orioles expect from Jim Thome? My Weekly Rundown Monday: Mauer elected and "fans" revolt Tuesday: Tuesday Morning Tidbits Tuesday's Trip through the Minors Video of the Week: It is still an honor for any player to be selected to the All-Star Game even if it is Mauer's fifth trip to the Mid-Summer Classic. The Twins had a cool video that they threw together to see how the team announced that Mauer would be representing the Twins in Kansas City.

A rain delay in Detroit held up the start of the Twins game for an hour and a half. When the game got underway, it turned into a back and forth contest between the Tigers and the Twins. The Twins bash brothers of Josh Willingham and Trevor Plouffe each added another home run to their totals for the season as they continue to try and match each other for the team lead. Even Joe Mauer was able to hit his second home run in the past week with an opposite field home run in the later innings of the game. Nick Blackburn left a few too many sinkers up in the zone and the Tigers offense was able to hit some balls out of the park. The bullpen for the Twins was able to keep some of the damage to a minimum by not allowing a run in their five innings of work. Have a safe and enjoyable 4th of July but make sure to check out what happened across the minor leagues on Tuesday night. ROCHESTER 5, PAWTUCKET 3 In the midst of a tough stretch of baseball where the Red Wings had lost five of their last seven games, Rochester was able to put together a huge seventh inning to come out victorious. One of the most miraculous things might have been the fact that all of the runs were scored after two outs had already been recorded in the inning. Clete Thomas and Rene Rivera hit back-to-back home runs to start the scoring in the frame. The other big hit in the frame was a double by Pedro Florimon to plate two runs and put the team up by two. The bullpen for the Red Wings has been outstanding in recent weeks and they have pitched 12.1 scoreless innings in a row. A starting pitcher hasn't picked up a victory for the Red Wings since June 25 and that trend continued on Tuesday with Bobby Lanigan picking up his first victory of the season for Rochester. Casey Fien pitched two perfect innings for his third hold of the year and he struck out four of the six men that he faced. NEW BRITAIN 14, BOWIE 7 The Rock Cats wasted little time jumping on the Baysox by starting a hit parade in the bottom of the first inning and exploding for ten runs. With this many runs on the board, there were plenty of offensive stars for New Britain. Estarlin De Los Santos was 2-for-5 with a double, a home run, and four RBI. Evan Bigley matched De Los Santos with four runs batted in and he also had a double. Chris Herrmann and Chris Colabello each piled up three hits over the course of the game. Danny Lehman was the only hitter to remain hitless in the game for New Britain. With all of the runs on the board, the pitching staff for New Britain didn't need to be perfect on this night. Blake Martin started the game but didn't make it through five innings before giving up six earned runs. Edgar Ibarra picked up his second win since being promoted from Fort Myers at the end of June. The last 3.1 innings were pitched by Daniel Sattler for his first save and he only surrendered one hit. FORT MYERS 11, ST. LUCIE 2 There were fireworks scheduled for after the game but the Miracle made sure the fans saw some during the game as Fort Myers piled up 13 hits against St. Lucie. Lance Ray was 2-for3 in the contest with his ninth home run of the year and three RBI. Daniel Ortiz also knocked in three runs with his two doubles in the game. It was a very balanced attack for the Miracle as five of the nine batters had multiple hits and six batters had at least one run batted in. After being saddled with the loss in each of his last three starts, Cole Nelson picked up his first victory since June 12. He threw five innings and was charged with two earned runs but he did give up five walks. In three innings of work, Marty Popham was almost perfect by allowing a couple of hits and striking out three. It was the third straight scoreless outing thrown by Popham. The Miracle sit one game behind Bradenton for first place. BELOIT 1, CEDAR RAPIDS 10 Unfortunately for the Snappers, they were on the wrong end of a blowout loss in this game. Beloit only managed four hits in the game and Adam Pettersen had half of those knocks. The only run of the game for Beloit was driven in by Adam Bryant with a single in the bottom of the fourth inning. After getting pulled from the game on Monday with three defensive errors, Miguel Sano was absent from the line-up on Tuesday night. For the second straight start, Tim Shibuya struggled and he was pulled after two innings and a couple of home runs allowed. Bart Carter allowed five earned runs in less than two innings on the mound but he did manage five strike outs. The only Snappers pitcher to survive without allowing a run was Clint Dempster and he struck out four of the six batters that he faced. ELIZABETHTON 7, PRINCETON 2 The month of July has been off to a fantastic start for Romy Jimenez as he has hit two double in every game so far this month. For the season, he is batting .444 and his OPS is an eye popping 1.447 in 11 games. Adam Walker hit his second home run of the season and he had three RBI in the contest. Travis Harrison was also able to knock in two runs with his couple of hits for the E-Twins. It seems that the Twins are being careful with the amount of innings pitched by Taylor Rogers as he has thrown four innings in all of his starts this year. On this night, he allowed two runs on a couple of hits but the big lead allowed him to pitch comfortably. Tyler Herr picked up his second win of the season and he has not allowed a run in his last five trips to the mound. GCL TWINS 3, GCL RAYS 2 After trailing for most of the game, the GCL Twins scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to come out on top. Aderlin Mejia and Logan Wade lead the Twins with two hits apiece and each player had an extra-base hit to their credit. Dereck Rodriguez doubled in a run as part of the rally for the Twins and he later scored the winning run when Bryan Haar singled. Byron Buxton might of had his worst game as a professional by striking out three times in four plate appearances. Adrain Salcedo made his second appearance as he tries to return from injury. He made his first start and gave up two hits and two unearned runs in his two innings of work. Chris Mazza got his first victory of the year and his first victory as a professional. He threw 2.1 innings and struck out three to lower his ERA to 1.17. Jose Berrios got his first save by throwing a scoreless ninth. --- Players of the Day for Tuesday, July 3, 2012 Hitter of the Day- Estarlin De Los Santos http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gOdjyQdGZmY/T_O60AXicrI/AAAAAAAACm4/d9nQKewbNIY/s320/RockCats.jpg Pitcher(s) of the Day- Red Wings Bullpen (12.1 inning scoreless streak) http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XkMsrXHz5BU/T_O64-1fpRI/AAAAAAAACnA/ronnKtp688Q/s320/4553.gif --- A Look Ahead- Wednesday, July 4th Schedule Rochester vs Pawtucket- LHP Luke French New Britain vs Trenton- LHP Logan Darnell Fort Myers at Charlotte- RHP Matthew Hauser Beloit at Clinton- LHP Steven Gruver Elizabethton vs Kingsport- RHP Hudson Boyd GCL Twins vs. GCL Orioles- TBA GCL Twins at GCL Orioles- TBA --- If you have any questions or comments on the Twins minor league system, leave them in the comments section and Seth or I will try to answer them.

A rain delay in Detroit held up the start of the Twins game for an hour and a half. When the game got underway, it turned into a back and forth contest between the Tigers and the Twins. The Twins bash brothers of Josh Willingham and Trevor Plouffe each added another home run to their totals for the season as they continue to try and match each other for the team lead. Even Joe Mauer was able to hit his second home run in the past week with an opposite field home run in the later innings of the game. Nick Blackburn left a few too many sinkers up in the zone and the Tigers offense was able to hit some balls out of the park. The bullpen for the Twins was able to keep some of the damage to a minimum by not allowing a run in their five innings of work. Have a safe and enjoyable 4th of July but make sure to check out what happened across the minor leagues on Tuesday night. ROCHESTER 5, PAWTUCKET 3 In the midst of a tough stretch of baseball where the Red Wings had lost five of their last seven games, Rochester was able to put together a huge seventh inning to come out victorious. One of the most miraculous things might have been the fact that all of the runs were scored after two outs had already been recorded in the inning. Clete Thomas and Rene Rivera hit back-to-back home runs to start the scoring in the frame. The other big hit in the frame was a double by Pedro Florimon to plate two runs and put the team up by two. The bullpen for the Red Wings has been outstanding in recent weeks and they have pitched 12.1 scoreless innings in a row. A starting pitcher hasn't picked up a victory for the Red Wings since June 25 and that trend continued on Tuesday with Bobby Lanigan picking up his first victory of the season for Rochester. Casey Fien pitched two perfect innings for his third hold of the year and he struck out four of the six men that he faced. NEW BRITAIN 14, BOWIE 7 The Rock Cats wasted little time jumping on the Baysox by starting a hit parade in the bottom of the first inning and exploding for ten runs. With this many runs on the board, there were plenty of offensive stars for New Britain. Estarlin De Los Santos was 2-for-5 with a double, a home run, and four RBI. Evan Bigley matched De Los Santos with four runs batted in and he also had a double. Chris Herrmann and Chris Colabello each piled up three hits over the course of the game. Danny Lehman was the only hitter to remain hitless in the game for New Britain. With all of the runs on the board, the pitching staff for New Britain didn't need to be perfect on this night. Blake Martin started the game but didn't make it through five innings before giving up six earned runs. Edgar Ibarra picked up his second win since being promoted from Fort Myers at the end of June. The last 3.1 innings were pitched by Daniel Sattler for his first save and he only surrendered one hit. FORT MYERS 11, ST. LUCIE 2 There were fireworks scheduled for after the game but the Miracle made sure the fans saw some during the game as Fort Myers piled up 13 hits against St. Lucie. Lance Ray was 2-for3 in the contest with his ninth home run of the year and three RBI. Daniel Ortiz also knocked in three runs with his two doubles in the game. It was a very balanced attack for the Miracle as five of the nine batters had multiple hits and six batters had at least one run batted in. After being saddled with the loss in each of his last three starts, Cole Nelson picked up his first victory since June 12. He threw five innings and was charged with two earned runs but he did give up five walks. In three innings of work, Marty Popham was almost perfect by allowing a couple of hits and striking out three. It was the third straight scoreless outing thrown by Popham. The Miracle sit one game behind Bradenton for first place. BELOIT 1, CEDAR RAPIDS 10 Unfortunately for the Snappers, they were on the wrong end of a blowout loss in this game. Beloit only managed four hits in the game and Adam Pettersen had half of those knocks. The only run of the game for Beloit was driven in by Adam Bryant with a single in the bottom of the fourth inning. After getting pulled from the game on Monday with three defensive errors, Miguel Sano was absent from the line-up on Tuesday night. For the second straight start, Tim Shibuya struggled and he was pulled after two innings and a couple of home runs allowed. Bart Carter allowed five earned runs in less than two innings on the mound but he did manage five strike outs. The only Snappers pitcher to survive without allowing a run was Clint Dempster and he struck out four of the six batters that he faced. ELIZABETHTON 7, PRINCETON 2 The month of July has been off to a fantastic start for Romy Jimenez as he has hit two double in every game so far this month. For the season, he is batting .444 and his OPS is an eye popping 1.447 in 11 games. Adam Walker hit his second home run of the season and he had three RBI in the contest. Travis Harrison was also able to knock in two runs with his couple of hits for the E-Twins. It seems that the Twins are being careful with the amount of innings pitched by Taylor Rogers as he has thrown four innings in all of his starts this year. On this night, he allowed two runs on a couple of hits but the big lead allowed him to pitch comfortably. Tyler Herr picked up his second win of the season and he has not allowed a run in his last five trips to the mound. GCL TWINS 3, GCL RAYS 2 After trailing for most of the game, the GCL Twins scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to come out on top. Aderlin Mejia and Logan Wade lead the Twins with two hits apiece and each player had an extra-base hit to their credit. Dereck Rodriguez doubled in a run as part of the rally for the Twins and he later scored the winning run when Bryan Haar singled. Byron Buxton might of had his worst game as a professional by striking out three times in four plate appearances. Adrain Salcedo made his second appearance as he tries to return from injury. He made his first start and gave up two hits and two unearned runs in his two innings of work. Chris Mazza got his first victory of the year and his first victory as a professional. He threw 2.1 innings and struck out three to lower his ERA to 1.17. Jose Berrios got his first save by throwing a scoreless ninth. --- Players of the Day for Tuesday, July 3, 2012 Hitter of the Day- Estarlin De Los Santos http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gOdjyQdGZmY/T_O60AXicrI/AAAAAAAACm4/d9nQKewbNIY/s320/RockCats.jpg Pitcher(s) of the Day- Red Wings Bullpen (12.1 inning scoreless streak) http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XkMsrXHz5BU/T_O64-1fpRI/AAAAAAAACnA/ronnKtp688Q/s320/4553.gif --- A Look Ahead- Wednesday, July 4th Schedule Rochester vs Pawtucket- LHP Luke French New Britain vs Trenton- LHP Logan Darnell Fort Myers at Charlotte- RHP Matthew Hauser Beloit at Clinton- LHP Steven Gruver Elizabethton vs Kingsport- RHP Hudson Boyd GCL Twins vs. GCL Orioles- TBA GCL Twins at GCL Orioles- TBA --- If you have any questions or comments on the Twins minor league system, leave them in the comments section and Seth or I will try to answer them.

Glen Perkins came into the ninth inning in Detroit with a two-run lead to work with and he sure made things interesting by allowing Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder to reach on singles. In the end, Perkins was able to get out of the jam and the Twins were victorious for the fourth straight game. It was interesting to see the Twins put together six runs without managing an extra-base hit. This was especially intriguing after a weekend where the team went homer happy against the Royals pitching staff. After Liam Hendriks looked to be in line for his first win at the MLB level, he ran into trouble in the fifth inning with too many walks. The bullpen was left to finish off the final five innings and the pitchers put together shut out frame after shut out frame to preserve the win. Anthony Swarzak ended up with the victory but Alex Burnett was also very good during his time on the mound. Since it is Tuesday, make sure to check back later tonight as I will recap all of the action from across the minor league system for the Twins. For now, enjoy this week's edition of "Tuesday Morning Tidbits." http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GzokFNoOgeo/T_JZ6yZFYaI/AAAAAAAAClI/3BnWdZIagMY/s320/ballplayer_pelotero.jpg Sano documentary under heat from MLB A documentary about the signing and development of players in the Dominican Republic is being released and MLB is not happy about the content covered in the film. The movie is called "Ballplayer: Pelotero" and it follows closely the lives of two players as they strive to make their way from the fields in the Dominican Republic to huge signing bonuses with MLB clubs. One of the young players followed in this film is Miguel Sano, the top prospect in the Twins organization. One of the most intriguing scenes in the movie is some hidden camera footage from the family of Miguel Sano when Rene Gayo, the Pittsburgh Pirates' director of Latin American scouting operations, tries to convince his family to admit that he lied about his age. Later in the film, the family attorney for the Sano's accuses MLB of trying to coax him into signing with the lowly Pirates. These were just some of the scenes that MLB was not happy about from the early screenings of the film. Overall, it seems like it would be a very interesting film for fans of baseball. There have been questions about the ages of players coming out of the Dominican Republic for years but it seems like baseball is trying to do a better job of cleaning up this mess. For fans of the Twins, it would be interesting to see behind the scenes of the player that might be the future of the franchise. VIEW THE TRAILER>>> [video=youtube_share;i9jfhRyoljA] Liriano's audition continues If the Twins want to get pass Liriano on to another team before the trade deadline, there seems to be more than one team that is interested in his services. During his last start on Sunday afternoon, there were scouts in attendance from the Atlanta Braves, Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees. It seems like the Braves might have the most interest since they have sent one of their top scouts to attend the last two starts by Mr. Liriano. This would make sense with some of the problems that the Braves have gone through with their starting pitching this season. Since Liriano returned to the rotation at the end of May, he has done much better by posting a 2.95 ERA in 42.2 innings pitched. This has only translated to one win but his strike out to walk ratio has improved greatly as he has struck out 46 batters and walked 18. In his six starts before being banished to the bullpen, Liriano walked 19 and struck out 21 in 26.2 innings. This fast turn around in performance might have helped the Twins to squeeze some value out of Liriano. The Atlanta Braves have a lot of pitching prospects in their top propsects and it would be nice for the Twins to add some depth to their minor league system in this area of weakness for the club. Another intriguing prospect could be Christian Bethancourt, a 20-year old catcher that has already made his way to the Double-A level. Baseball America had Bethancourt ranked as the ninth best prospect in the Braves organization so that might be a high cost for Liriano. Sano rediscovers his HR stroke, errors mounting After seeing a steady stream of offspeed pitches for most of the month of June, Miguel Sano rediscovered his home run swing during the last few games. He has hit three home runs in his last five times in the line-up and he is now leading the Midwest League with 18 home runs on the year. His recent hot streak has raised his average back above .240 after a rough couple of months where he hit under .220 in 191 at-bats. This is a welcome sign for fans looking for Sano to be the next big thing for the Twins organization. In a less positive note, Sano continues to struggle mightily in the field as he uses his big frame at third base. He went into last night's game with 28 errors for the season and he had to be pulled from the game after having adding another three errors to that total. Until he shows that he can improve at third base, there will continue to be questions about whether he can stick at the hot corner. His high prospect status means that he will move through the organization but he might need to shift to a less vital position on the field.

Glen Perkins came into the ninth inning in Detroit with a two-run lead to work with and he sure made things interesting by allowing Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder to reach on singles. In the end, Perkins was able to get out of the jam and the Twins were victorious for the fourth straight game. It was interesting to see the Twins put together six runs without managing an extra-base hit. This was especially intriguing after a weekend where the team went homer happy against the Royals pitching staff. After Liam Hendriks looked to be in line for his first win at the MLB level, he ran into trouble in the fifth inning with too many walks. The bullpen was left to finish off the final five innings and the pitchers put together shut out frame after shut out frame to preserve the win. Anthony Swarzak ended up with the victory but Alex Burnett was also very good during his time on the mound. Since it is Tuesday, make sure to check back later tonight as I will recap all of the action from across the minor league system for the Twins. For now, enjoy this week's edition of "Tuesday Morning Tidbits." http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GzokFNoOgeo/T_JZ6yZFYaI/AAAAAAAAClI/3BnWdZIagMY/s320/ballplayer_pelotero.jpg Sano documentary under heat from MLB A documentary about the signing and development of players in the Dominican Republic is being released and MLB is not happy about the content covered in the film. The movie is called "Ballplayer: Pelotero" and it follows closely the lives of two players as they strive to make their way from the fields in the Dominican Republic to huge signing bonuses with MLB clubs. One of the young players followed in this film is Miguel Sano, the top prospect in the Twins organization. One of the most intriguing scenes in the movie is some hidden camera footage from the family of Miguel Sano when Rene Gayo, the Pittsburgh Pirates' director of Latin American scouting operations, tries to convince his family to admit that he lied about his age. Later in the film, the family attorney for the Sano's accuses MLB of trying to coax him into signing with the lowly Pirates. These were just some of the scenes that MLB was not happy about from the early screenings of the film. Overall, it seems like it would be a very interesting film for fans of baseball. There have been questions about the ages of players coming out of the Dominican Republic for years but it seems like baseball is trying to do a better job of cleaning up this mess. For fans of the Twins, it would be interesting to see behind the scenes of the player that might be the future of the franchise. VIEW THE TRAILER>>> [video=youtube_share;i9jfhRyoljA] Liriano's audition continues If the Twins want to get pass Liriano on to another team before the trade deadline, there seems to be more than one team that is interested in his services. During his last start on Sunday afternoon, there were scouts in attendance from the Atlanta Braves, Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees. It seems like the Braves might have the most interest since they have sent one of their top scouts to attend the last two starts by Mr. Liriano. This would make sense with some of the problems that the Braves have gone through with their starting pitching this season. Since Liriano returned to the rotation at the end of May, he has done much better by posting a 2.95 ERA in 42.2 innings pitched. This has only translated to one win but his strike out to walk ratio has improved greatly as he has struck out 46 batters and walked 18. In his six starts before being banished to the bullpen, Liriano walked 19 and struck out 21 in 26.2 innings. This fast turn around in performance might have helped the Twins to squeeze some value out of Liriano. The Atlanta Braves have a lot of pitching prospects in their top propsects and it would be nice for the Twins to add some depth to their minor league system in this area of weakness for the club. Another intriguing prospect could be Christian Bethancourt, a 20-year old catcher that has already made his way to the Double-A level. Baseball America had Bethancourt ranked as the ninth best prospect in the Braves organization so that might be a high cost for Liriano. Sano rediscovers his HR stroke, errors mounting After seeing a steady stream of offspeed pitches for most of the month of June, Miguel Sano rediscovered his home run swing during the last few games. He has hit three home runs in his last five times in the line-up and he is now leading the Midwest League with 18 home runs on the year. His recent hot streak has raised his average back above .240 after a rough couple of months where he hit under .220 in 191 at-bats. This is a welcome sign for fans looking for Sano to be the next big thing for the Twins organization. In a less positive note, Sano continues to struggle mightily in the field as he uses his big frame at third base. He went into last night's game with 28 errors for the season and he had to be pulled from the game after having adding another three errors to that total. Until he shows that he can improve at third base, there will continue to be questions about whether he can stick at the hot corner. His high prospect status means that he will move through the organization but he might need to shift to a less vital position on the field.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2ml1ZioYWw4/T_D48dTN0oI/AAAAAAAACh4/2iQJMPGHdhI/s320/mauer_willingham_640.jpg On Sunday afternoon, the 2012 MLB All-Star rosters were announced for the American League and the National League. There were a few different candidates that had the opportunity to be selected to be the Twins representative. Joe Mauer is near the top of the AL in a variety of batting categories and he plays a premium defensive position. Josh Willingham started off the season on quite the run and he might be the team MVP to this point. Since his promotion at the beginning of May, Scott Diamond has been the ace of the Twins pitching staff. Glen Perkins and Jared Burton have been dominant in their appearances out of the bullpen. In the end, the Twins will have one representative for the second year in a row. Joe Mauer was selected to his fifth career All-Star Game and he is the lone representative for his team much like Michael Cuddyer last season. There are three catchers on the AL roster so Mike Napoli of the Texas Rangers and Matt Wieters of the Baltimore Orioles will join Mauer. Napolit gets the start and Mauer and Wieters will be used in relief on a night where the temperature is suppose to be in the high 90s. When the announcement of the teams was made on Sunday, there was an uproar across the social media world that Mauer would get the only spot on the All-Star team for the Twins. Fans looked at Willingham and his high home run total and team-leading RBI total and they made the case that he should be on the team over Mauer. For the first month or so of the season, it looked like Willingham would be the only choice from the Twins roster. A rough month of May where he batted .220 brought his numbers back down to earth and might have pushed his first All-Star appearance out of reach. The outrage towards Mauer was painful to read in the moments following the announcement of the team. Twins President Dave St. Peter was left to defend Mauer in a few different tweets to angered fans. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qqozLmDtV6s/T_D0CwZJ_RI/AAAAAAAACgI/g7vtR23GbwM/s320/Picture+1.png It seemed like fans were attacking a player for his rough season in 2011 and not looking at the numbers that he has put up so far in 2012. He leads the entire AL in OBP and he ranks fifth in the AL in batting out of the players that have qualified for the leaderboard. According to FanGraphs version of WAR, Mauer has been equal to Willingham but Mauer is ranked number one among catchers. In comparison, Willingham ranks ninth among outfielders and the only outfielder with a lower WAR than him to make it was Curtis Granderson. For the second year in a row, the Twins are off to a poor start and it would be hard to imagine the team getting more than one representative to the Mid-Summer Classic. It would take a couple of magical seasons from Twins players to get more than one representative. If the Twins had gotten better starting pitching for the duration of the season, there is a good chance the team would be out of the cellar in the AL. This could mean that players like Willingham and Diamond could have joined Mauer in Kansas City. Even Mauer himself told reporters that he was upset that he would be making the trip from Minneapolis by himself. During the 2012 season, it has been disappointing to read and hear the hatred toward Mauer even though he is in the midst of a very good season. There have been plenty of double play balls hit to second base off of the bat of Mauer as he enters the second year of his monster deal. Only 35 of his 69 games have been spent behind the plate and he doesn't hit many home runs or rack up a ton of RBI. So for some people that consider themselves "fans" of the Twins, there will continue to be things to pick apart for the $23 million man. In a season that might already be lost, there is a long list of things to be frustrated about for the Twins and Mauer shouldn't be anywhere near the top of the list. The American League needed to fill a catching spot on the roster and the Twins had a player that was more than deserving of a place in the All-Star Game. If there had been some holes to fill in the outfield, the same case could have been made for Willingham. There seems to be a portion of fan base for the Twins that don't appreciate the greatness of the player they have the privilege to witness. Mauer deserves to be an All-Star even if a faction of the fan base doesn't think he should be there.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2ml1ZioYWw4/T_D48dTN0oI/AAAAAAAACh4/2iQJMPGHdhI/s320/mauer_willingham_640.jpg On Sunday afternoon, the 2012 MLB All-Star rosters were announced for the American League and the National League. There were a few different candidates that had the opportunity to be selected to be the Twins representative. Joe Mauer is near the top of the AL in a variety of batting categories and he plays a premium defensive position. Josh Willingham started off the season on quite the run and he might be the team MVP to this point. Since his promotion at the beginning of May, Scott Diamond has been the ace of the Twins pitching staff. Glen Perkins and Jared Burton have been dominant in their appearances out of the bullpen. In the end, the Twins will have one representative for the second year in a row. Joe Mauer was selected to his fifth career All-Star Game and he is the lone representative for his team much like Michael Cuddyer last season. There are three catchers on the AL roster so Mike Napoli of the Texas Rangers and Matt Wieters of the Baltimore Orioles will join Mauer. Napolit gets the start and Mauer and Wieters will be used in relief on a night where the temperature is suppose to be in the high 90s. When the announcement of the teams was made on Sunday, there was an uproar across the social media world that Mauer would get the only spot on the All-Star team for the Twins. Fans looked at Willingham and his high home run total and team-leading RBI total and they made the case that he should be on the team over Mauer. For the first month or so of the season, it looked like Willingham would be the only choice from the Twins roster. A rough month of May where he batted .220 brought his numbers back down to earth and might have pushed his first All-Star appearance out of reach. The outrage towards Mauer was painful to read in the moments following the announcement of the team. Twins President Dave St. Peter was left to defend Mauer in a few different tweets to angered fans. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qqozLmDtV6s/T_D0CwZJ_RI/AAAAAAAACgI/g7vtR23GbwM/s320/Picture+1.png It seemed like fans were attacking a player for his rough season in 2011 and not looking at the numbers that he has put up so far in 2012. He leads the entire AL in OBP and he ranks fifth in the AL in batting out of the players that have qualified for the leaderboard. According to FanGraphs version of WAR, Mauer has been equal to Willingham but Mauer is ranked number one among catchers. In comparison, Willingham ranks ninth among outfielders and the only outfielder with a lower WAR than him to make it was Curtis Granderson. For the second year in a row, the Twins are off to a poor start and it would be hard to imagine the team getting more than one representative to the Mid-Summer Classic. It would take a couple of magical seasons from Twins players to get more than one representative. If the Twins had gotten better starting pitching for the duration of the season, there is a good chance the team would be out of the cellar in the AL. This could mean that players like Willingham and Diamond could have joined Mauer in Kansas City. Even Mauer himself told reporters that he was upset that he would be making the trip from Minneapolis by himself. During the 2012 season, it has been disappointing to read and hear the hatred toward Mauer even though he is in the midst of a very good season. There have been plenty of double play balls hit to second base off of the bat of Mauer as he enters the second year of his monster deal. Only 35 of his 69 games have been spent behind the plate and he doesn't hit many home runs or rack up a ton of RBI. So for some people that consider themselves "fans" of the Twins, there will continue to be things to pick apart for the $23 million man. In a season that might already be lost, there is a long list of things to be frustrated about for the Twins and Mauer shouldn't be anywhere near the top of the list. The American League needed to fill a catching spot on the roster and the Twins had a player that was more than deserving of a place in the All-Star Game. If there had been some holes to fill in the outfield, the same case could have been made for Willingham. There seems to be a portion of fan base for the Twins that don't appreciate the greatness of the player they have the privilege to witness. Mauer deserves to be an All-Star even if a faction of the fan base doesn't think he should be there.

Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After a rough series with the White Sox, the Twins had an off day on Thursday to enjoy the Harmon Killebrew Foundation Golf Tournament and other activities in the Twin Cities. The team will pick up play this weekend with four games against the Kansas City Royals and that includes a day-night doubleheader on Saturday. At this point last season, the Twins made a run to pull themselves a little closer before the All-Star Break and this series could do the same thing for this year's club. Earlier in the week, a tragic piece of news came out of the organization. Paul Bargas, a 23-year old minor league pitcher in the Twins organization, passed away at far too young of an age. He came to the Twins from the Rockies as part of the Jose Morales deal a couple of seasons ago but he never pitched in the Twins system after being diagnosed with brain cancer. The Star Tribune did a wonderful piece on him in the winter and if there is one thing you read off of this list, it should be this article. One of the most exciting developments of the week has to be former Twins player Lew Ford joining the Twitter world. There could be plenty of teams looking to trade with the Twins in the next month and that includes the Rangers, the Blue Jays, and the Phillies. With Francisco Liriano's hot play in recent weeks, it's hard to imagine what his value would be on the trade market. After the Yankees lost two lefties out of their rotation, it might be time to get to business on a trade for Francisco Liriano. WWTD? (What will Terry do?) I'm glad you asked... The Phillies are shopping Jim Thome to AL teams but a return trip to the Twin Cities doesn't seem to make much sense. The Twins Daily crew is holding a "Fracas on the Field" event in August and it sounds like it will be a great evening of baseball related activities. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ICyjEpOTEYw/T-0o_wLj7xI/AAAAAAAACeY/ppnoGjUMZh4/s320/Fracas-on-the-Field.jpg Michael Cuddyer and the Rockies are near the bottom of the NL but it looks like the former Twins player won't be traded before the deadline. Do Valencia's shortcomings hasten the arrival of Sano? The short answer is no but he has plenty to work on in the next couple years. The first five rounds of the MLB Draft can make or break an organization and the Twins need some home runs out of the 2012 Class. The jersey worn by Don Larsen in the most famous perfect game in history is going to be up for auction. Some writers don't think Brian Dozier should still be in the majors after all of his struggles this season. Twins fans will remember the bad call made on the Joe Mauer hit down the line in the playoffs and now there was another bad call at Yankee Stadium. A minor league team lost a game in extra-innings after a player failed to touch the plate on a home run. MLB attendance is way up this season but the Twins have the biggest drop of any club in fans attending their games. Frank Viola's daughter, Brittany, made the US Olympic team as a diver and she is quite the athlete. Here is a video used during the competition where the younger Viola talks about her dad's time with the Twins. Who should be the Twins representative in the All-Star Game? There are a few candidates. My Weekly Rundown: Monday: Searching for a Revere home run Tuesday: Tuesday Morning Tidbits Tuesday's Trip through the Minors Thursday: Filling out the 2012 All-Star Ballot Diamond and Plouffe talk to Season Ticket Holders Video of the Week: Mike Trout made a tremendous catch earlier this week and you should check it out if you haven't seen it. It looked very similar to a famous catch made by Torii Hunter in the 2002 All-Star Game in Milwaukee. Granted Trout's was in a game that actually meant something but Hunter's catch was in front of a major audience. Both videos can be found at the link provided.

Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After a rough series with the White Sox, the Twins had an off day on Thursday to enjoy the Harmon Killebrew Foundation Golf Tournament and other activities in the Twin Cities. The team will pick up play this weekend with four games against the Kansas City Royals and that includes a day-night doubleheader on Saturday. At this point last season, the Twins made a run to pull themselves a little closer before the All-Star Break and this series could do the same thing for this year's club. Earlier in the week, a tragic piece of news came out of the organization. Paul Bargas, a 23-year old minor league pitcher in the Twins organization, passed away at far too young of an age. He came to the Twins from the Rockies as part of the Jose Morales deal a couple of seasons ago but he never pitched in the Twins system after being diagnosed with brain cancer. The Star Tribune did a wonderful piece on him in the winter and if there is one thing you read off of this list, it should be this article. One of the most exciting developments of the week has to be former Twins player Lew Ford joining the Twitter world. There could be plenty of teams looking to trade with the Twins in the next month and that includes the Rangers, the Blue Jays, and the Phillies. With Francisco Liriano's hot play in recent weeks, it's hard to imagine what his value would be on the trade market. After the Yankees lost two lefties out of their rotation, it might be time to get to business on a trade for Francisco Liriano. WWTD? (What will Terry do?) I'm glad you asked... The Phillies are shopping Jim Thome to AL teams but a return trip to the Twin Cities doesn't seem to make much sense. The Twins Daily crew is holding a "Fracas on the Field" event in August and it sounds like it will be a great evening of baseball related activities. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ICyjEpOTEYw/T-0o_wLj7xI/AAAAAAAACeY/ppnoGjUMZh4/s320/Fracas-on-the-Field.jpg Michael Cuddyer and the Rockies are near the bottom of the NL but it looks like the former Twins player won't be traded before the deadline. Do Valencia's shortcomings hasten the arrival of Sano? The short answer is no but he has plenty to work on in the next couple years. The first five rounds of the MLB Draft can make or break an organization and the Twins need some home runs out of the 2012 Class. The jersey worn by Don Larsen in the most famous perfect game in history is going to be up for auction. Some writers don't think Brian Dozier should still be in the majors after all of his struggles this season. Twins fans will remember the bad call made on the Joe Mauer hit down the line in the playoffs and now there was another bad call at Yankee Stadium. A minor league team lost a game in extra-innings after a player failed to touch the plate on a home run. MLB attendance is way up this season but the Twins have the biggest drop of any club in fans attending their games. Frank Viola's daughter, Brittany, made the US Olympic team as a diver and she is quite the athlete. Here is a video used during the competition where the younger Viola talks about her dad's time with the Twins. Who should be the Twins representative in the All-Star Game? There are a few candidates. My Weekly Rundown: Monday: Searching for a Revere home run Tuesday: Tuesday Morning Tidbits Tuesday's Trip through the Minors Thursday: Filling out the 2012 All-Star Ballot Diamond and Plouffe talk to Season Ticket Holders Video of the Week: Mike Trout made a tremendous catch earlier this week and you should check it out if you haven't seen it. It looked very similar to a famous catch made by Torii Hunter in the 2002 All-Star Game in Milwaukee. Granted Trout's was in a game that actually meant something but Hunter's catch was in front of a major audience. Both videos can be found at the link provided.