J-Dog Dungan

Well, like it says in the quote, it says, "USUALLY when you get strike-throwers [...] they stay healthy." With the recent injuries to their top pitching prospects, it seems like they are more unlucky than picking guys who are likely going to get injured.

James, I am not sure that the Orioles would get the pick with the new rules that are in play with the CBA, but don't trust me on that.

I think he will, especially with these new restrictions on signing bonuses

According to MLBTradeRumors, both Kevin Gausman (1,4 Orioles) and Mark Appel (1,8 Pirates) are both leaning against signing with their draft teams, both for different reasons. When teams learned that Appel, a Scott Boras client, wanted a $6 million+ bonus, he fell down all the way to the Pirates at the #8 pick. This means that instead of being able to get that much money for getting picked at #'s 1-3, he dropped to #8, and the most the Pirates can offer him without losing a first round draft pick in 2013 is $3.84 million, and the Pirates don't want to lose that pick. Therefore, Appel is not likely to sign with the Pirates unless he unbends and accepts the lower money. Gausman, on the other hand, wants to return to LSU to win the College World Series as he believes the Tigers have the personnel to do it. Therefore, Gausman, while he is still in talks with the Orioles, seems more interested in returning for his senior year. Not that I want the Twins to totally collapse in the second half, but if both of these pitchers are available in next years draft, especially Gausman, that could seriously help the Twins out. Unfortunately, if Gausman does really well, then the Twins might need to have the worst record in the Majors to have a chance at him. Therefore, while it may be painful to watch them be bad enough to earn a draft pick high enough to draft Gausman, he would do a lot to help the Twins rebuild their thin high-echelon pitching ranks in the Minors. In case you were wondering, the Twins currently have the 6th worst record in the Majors at 36-49 and a .424 winning %, with Philly as #7 at 37-50 and a .425 winning %. The five teams ahead of the Twins are Seattle with a .414 winning %, San Diego with a .391 winning %, Cubs and Rockies tied at a .388 winning %, and Houston with the worst W-L record at a .384 winning %. I would think that to get Gausman, the Twins would probably need anywhere from the 1st-3rd worst record, as it is unlikely that his stock will drop over the next year (unless he gets a major injury) and more likely that it will rise, and to rise from the #4 overall pick, you have the #1-3 overall picks.

According to MLBTradeRumors, both Kevin Gausman (1,4 Orioles) and Mark Appel (1,8 Pirates) are both leaning against signing with their draft teams, both for different reasons. When teams learned that Appel, a Scott Boras client, wanted a $6 million+ bonus, he fell down all the way to the Pirates at the #8 pick. This means that instead of being able to get that much money for getting picked at #'s 1-3, he dropped to #8, and the most the Pirates can offer him without losing a first round draft pick in 2013 is $3.84 million, and the Pirates don't want to lose that pick. Therefore, Appel is not likely to sign with the Pirates unless he unbends and accepts the lower money. Gausman, on the other hand, wants to return to LSU to win the College World Series as he believes the Tigers have the personnel to do it. Therefore, Gausman, while he is still in talks with the Orioles, seems more interested in returning for his senior year. Not that I want the Twins to totally collapse in the second half, but if both of these pitchers are available in next years draft, especially Gausman, that could seriously help the Twins out. Unfortunately, if Gausman does really well, then the Twins might need to have the worst record in the Majors to have a chance at him. Therefore, while it may be painful to watch them be bad enough to earn a draft pick high enough to draft Gausman, he would do a lot to help the Twins rebuild their thin high-echelon pitching ranks in the Minors. In case you were wondering, the Twins currently have the 6th worst record in the Majors at 36-49 and a .424 winning %, with Philly as #7 at 37-50 and a .425 winning %. The five teams ahead of the Twins are Seattle with a .414 winning %, San Diego with a .391 winning %, Cubs and Rockies tied at a .388 winning %, and Houston with the worst W-L record at a .384 winning %. I would think that to get Gausman, the Twins would probably need anywhere from the 1st-3rd worst record, as it is unlikely that his stock will drop over the next year (unless he gets a major injury) and more likely that it will rise, and to rise from the #4 overall pick, you have the #1-3 overall picks.

If we do make the trade, I would for sure take Deal #1; the question I have for that deal is: whether said Top 15 prospect has been effective in both AAA and the Bigs or if he is being shuttled back and forth because he has been ineffective?

i wouldn't count Plouffe out for the Twins MVP award just yet, Cody.

"Williams said that he "does not believe in the slide step" - the abbreviated leg kick in which a pitcher expedites his throw home in order to keep the runner from stealing a base. His reasoning behind that was that it "leads to injuries"." Me being a pitcher, the reason that I don't like the slidestep is that it throws off my mechanics and never lets me be as accurate as I want to be. I am sure my dad would probably very unhappy to learn about how bad Williams was at being a broadcaster, especially since my dad was driven crazy by how bad John Gordon was on our radio broadcasts.

They did, though. They picked up a kick-a$$ replacement for Cuddy in Willingham, got a better offensive back-up catcher in Doumit, stabilized their middle-infield in regards to fielding and veteran presence in Carroll, and they picked up Gray, Burton, and Fien to help out Perkins, Burnett and Capps in the bullpen, which was one of the huge problems last year. Unfortunately, you are still right that the Twins didn't fill a single hole in the Starting Rotation. They were just kind of hoping that in-house options and Marquis would be able to cut it. After seeing Hendriks, Blackburn, April/May of Liriano, and god-awful Marquis, the Twins hopefully realized that if they want to compete in this extremely winnable division and against high-payroll, high-talent teams like the Yankees, Rays, and Rangers, they need to pick up a good front-line starter to pair with guys like Diamond who have shown themselves to be capable starters. Honestly, if Baker had managed to stay healthy, Liriano had shown at the beginning of the year that he can pitch like he is now doing, and the Twins had kept Diamond up with them when they broke from ST, they might be a lot closer to competing than they are right now, because three above-average pitchers like they are could probably keep them afloat if they mixed in guys like Walters and Hendriks, whenever he figures things out. Seriously, if I were the Twins, I would trade Liriano, then try and re-sign him when he becomes a FA, because he is a #1 starter when he cam hold it together. However, I don't think that the Twins should just stop at resigning Liriano after the season. If Baker can show that he can remain healthy and be effective, they 1) should not accept his option and 2) resign him on a one-year deal kind of like Liriano's for this year to prove that he can stay healthy for a full season. If the Twins then went out and got a guy like Anibal or Jonathan Sanchez, they would have four fairly good starters and people would believe that they would have a chance at competing for the central and then plop in a WIP in the #5 hole, because you could afford to have a guy who they think will be a starter but hasn't quite put everything together yet (like a Liam Hendriks). Therefore this is what I would have the Twins rotation look like next year: 1. Liriano 2. Diamond 3. Baker if healthy, FA pitcher if Baker isn't healthy; also could be a guy like Hendriks when he figures things out. 4. for sure a FA pitcher (not necessarily me saying the Twins should sign a #4 guy in the rotation) 5. guy like Hendriks/Deduno/DeVries/Walters who can be relied upon to make a start every five days, but not be more than a ceiling #4 guy P.S. Yes, this is my way of saying that the Twins should keep Blackie in the Minors or trade him if possible, because he has not been able to keep his sinker around for a full season (not saying that that is even possible, but he should be more consistent that what he has shown the Twins the last few years if he wants to be a MLB Starter).

What moves are you thinking the Twins will be able to make if they go after a plethora of pitchers instead of focusing on maybe two above-average FA starting pitchers. I mean, the bullpen is fairly solid, and so is the lineup, but the SP really needs work for the Twins to be able to compete. Thankfully, Ryan was always much better at this than Smith was, so the Twins have a chance to make several good moves this offseason with the money coming off of the books. The question really is, will they use it?

Only because after we all calmed down, we realize what we have isn't really able to be sold because of injuries or previous performance except for MAYBE Span or Liriano, but I would hope that Ryan would be overwhelmed before he is willing to trade them.

Did the Twins give any reason that they released Jairo Perez?

People find it a lot easier to vote for a guy like him to win it if the team makes it into the playoffs, although that didn't stop them from giving the Cy Young Award to King Felix a few years ago.

The reason that I would say the Twins would be able to trade with the Mariners is that they have been said, at least on MLBTR, to be interested in dealing some of their SP talent, but not King Felix, that is currently up in the Majors for a bat. Why not Span or Willingham, even though I think that the Twins should hold on to Hammer for the time being.

This sounds like a good idea and very confusing at the same time; I would be willing to try it out.

While Morneau hasn't been showing any problems with concussion symptoms, the fact that he has been out of baseball for about a year and a half (not counting the stretch last year when he returned and then was shut down almost immediately) might be messing with his timing and he might be going through the slumps that power hitters like him sometimes go through.

Rochester honestly SHOULD take it to Tony Pena with his 6.02 ERA (adjusted to the game).

Twins have a serious drop-off in BA from Revere to Doumit.

A few things with this blog: 1. If you are ranking the SP's in your list by performance this year, Diamond should be first, then probably Liriano, DeVries, Walters, Duensing, Swarzak, with all the other pitchers behind them. 2. The listed stat line is are the same for Parms & Danny V. 3. While the Twins have next to no chance of winning the division this year, they have a solid shot of doing so next year if they can figure out one really good or two above-average free agent starters on the market this offseason. Their lineup and bullpen is good enough (as long as they don't burn the bullpen out this year waiting for better starting pitching) that they could seriously compete if they could just figure out what to do with their starting 5.

What is the predicted arrival date of Arcia?

You forgot to mention that Twins fans would be outraged if the Twins did any kind of trading with the Yankees that might even slightly help the Yanks out.

The Twins are trying to save Burton's arm for the rest of the year, because he is coming off of arm surgery and they don't know how long he will last this year.

while Hendriks was struggling in the 5th, It also seemed like the ump, at least on the Gameday screen, weren't giving Hendriks much in the way of a break when it came to the strike zone.

Hendriks is kinda showing why he hasn't won a game in the Bigs yet.

So much fun to be the team that chases a starter in less than 5 innings. And Morneau gets it done with a single through the left side, scoring yet another run. I can see why the Tigers are less than the vaunted team that everyone was making them out to be in the preseason if the Twins can take it to pitchers on a "good" team like this.