J-Dog Dungan

He hasn't completely ruined them, Perkins has come back a million times better than he was as a starter; Pavano, at least last night, showed how good he can be; Burton has hitters he has faced at an 0-24 slide right now; as for the rest of the starting pitching staff, they have been just average for several years, it is only after last year that everyone actually realized how average the Twins' starting staff looks and pitches. Mauer and Morneau, honestly, just haven't gotten used to Target Field and the way it plays, as both of them are really more suited to playing in the Metrodome. As for Gardy, he is trying to make the moves he can and not lose players that he needs on the field. Therefore, I would give him some time to work with Ryan and get the moves made that will improve this staff over the next few years.

Does anyone have any info about why Pavano was taken out after 6 since he had only thrown like 70ish pitches?

Fair enough, but he still is hitting better than Butera and has more potential too.

The others may be out of options, but with the way Maloney is pitching, will other teams want to pick him up if the Twins send him through waivers?

What are the chances that one of the changes the Gardy is thinking of involves sending down some of the less-productive relievers and bringing up two of the Rochester relief corps in Anthony Slama and Deolis Guerra, who are both pitching like they deserve to be up in the bigs.

Also, in the 2013-2014 offseason, there are names that will theoretically be on the market like Lincecum, Josh Johnson, Edinson Volquez, Jason Hammel, and Jon Lester. Not that these pitchers would be in the Twins' price range, but they have the possibility of going after one or two of them.

With Willingham having come over from a team that plays the Mariners 18ish times a year, does anyone know his average against Vargas?

Why, YourHouse, would you say that the Twins don't have a good catching pipeline? Hermann especially, when he is ready, looks like he will be better than Mauer at hitting for average and show some power as well. While the Twins might say that they are going to get the best player available, a) it doesn't make sense for them to draft a catcher, because they already have several, and This is a draft where the Twins really have to pick a helluva lot of pitching. Here's to me hoping that the best player available when the Twins are called is a college pitcher.

I think the Twins already have several in-house candidates for catcher, including Hermann and Lehmann. Why would they waste a draft pick that they could use on starting pitching on a catcher, even if he is as good as Zunino?

While I may be a never-say die guy when it comes to believing in the Twins, they are going to be having some serious problems for several years unless they realize they need to get their hands on at least two serious (and proven) starters in the Bigs. They have a great offseason to address this problem, as guys like Greinke (unlikely he leaves the Brewers, but possible), Edwin Jackson, Shawn Marcum, Joe Blanton, Jeff Francis, and Anibal Sanchez are all expected to be free agents this time around.

It was sure as hell a better move than resigning Nathan, who was overpaid to do the job he is currently doing with Texas. While $4 for Capps is not a bargain, it is better that the Twins have a guy with some closing experience on their team then going with someone they don't have knowledge of replacing a guy in the "Most Important Role in the Bullpen" (this role isn't as important as people believe, as you could just stick an average to above-average reliever in there and he will put up large numbers of saves.)

Out of all the things that the Twins were afraid of being bad this year, starting pitching was probably fifth behind hitting, fielding, health, their bullpen, and their health again. So far, the Twins have the worst ERA in the ENTIRE MLB, and that, while they don't have top of the line starters, is not acceptable. At times, most of the pitchers in the Twins rotation have shown that they could be dominant, especially Liriano and Blackburn; unfortunately, they are the streakiest pitchers in the game. While this is clearly a rebuilding year, even though nobody will call it that, the Twins definately need to think about dealing an outfield prospect or two for an above-average pitching prospect. The minor leauges, as far as I can tell, are a little light on starters for the Twins, and they need to remedy that. While they have two pitchers right now in AAA that are doing all right (Diamond and DeVries), at the end of the year approximately 4/5 of the Twins starting rotation will be departing (Baker is the most sure, Marquis is definately gone with how he as been pitching, Liriano will have to improve a lot to show that he deserves a contract, and Pavano is 37 and nearing the end of his career) and the only starter they have signed is Blackburn. The Twins, I would imagine, will be focusing on starters not only in the draft but in FA next offseason, with several respectable pitchers coming onto the market. They either need to shake thier starters out of their slump, or do some shuffling with the AAA rotation and their own. The one thing the Twins should not do is bring Dunesing out of the bullpen. He, like the Twins figured out with Perkins a few years ago, is much better out of the bullpen than out of the rotation. Comments on who the Twins should go after and how they will fix the current rotation so they don't lose 100+ games are welcome.

Paraphrasing Carroll "I sat for the first several years of my MLB career. I don't need to rest much anymore." Span will only take a break when one of the other outfielders show some kind of ability to play center. Mauer is taking the day off because he and Morneau are a combined 4-42 against C.J. Wilson.

Really, those are what you would waste your wishes on? You wouldn't use it to have the pitching staff magically improved to all be the best starters in the majors? and #2, to have the Twins average with RISP jump up to .750?

provus has earned my dad's respect, and he has earned mine too. A baseball broadcaster has a hard time earning the respect of my dad, (especially after Gordon) so he is really good

You guys seem to be forgetting that the Twins shocked everyone when they got rid of Bill Smith, and right now, Terry Ryan is trying to figure out what pitcher is the best to pick in the draft to try and make up for the disgusting level of talent (or lack therof) in our Minor League system.

When it comes to the Twins, definately the ride. I have been a Twins fan since I could actually figure out what a fan of something was, and I stick to them no matter how bad they are doing. All I need to remember is the epicosity of Game 163 in 2009 and I am good no matter how bad things get (not entirely true; if the Twins lose 110+ games I might have to start at least partly following a NL team to compensate)

I thought that the plays Carroll was making were worth watching

Zunino, Zimmer, and Giolito are all guys the Twins should pretend to look at, but not really even think about taking. Zunino is at a position that we currently only need a backup for, Zimmer, while a college pitcher sounds a little shaky to be hedging your bets on, and the Twins should know better than to take a high school player who is coming off of major surgery. As it is said in Moneyball, college players are at least four times as likely to make it to the majors as high school players, because they face better competition and have developed their stuff more and their stats actually mean something.

The Twins have such a deprivation of good pitchers coming through their system that they can't afford to take the BPA, they actually need to do some scouting, and they need to pull off some serious Moneyball magic to get some good guys. Remember, the Moneyball strategy might have netted the A's some guys that were never heard from, but Moneyball picks that I can think of that made it to the majors are Swisher, Zito, Giambi, Hudson, Mulder, Teahen, and Chad Bradford (traded for, but still a good pickup). It is possible to score big in the draft, you just have to look past the BS "toolsy" label and go straight for their stats.

I think after seeing the Twins offense which had been slow at best, jump all over this guy, Ryan and Gardy looked at him and thought, no way are we taking this guy if we are hitting him this badly

I believe the reason that we sent him to AA is because I don't think there was a spot for him to play in AAA, and Gardy and Ryan wanted him to play every day.

I am also wondering if (or when) Gardy will think about switching Willingham with Morneau, as Willingham has proven that he can mash homeruns in TF, but Morneau really hasn't yet. This would mirror the Yankees moving A-Rod to 3rd so that late-inning lefties would have a tough time getting through the lineup.

Snyder isn't a power kind of guy; he has been in the bigs since 2010 and hasn't hit a homerun yet. Also, in 15 games in the field, he has made 3 errors for a .968 fielding percentage

I agree with the small sample part, but the small sample has me dreading when exactly the Twins will score thier first win...