Mr. Brooks

Can someone please clarify why Arcia's numbers through 4 games are suddenly relevant when my (Note to Twins) thread was bombarded with posters going out of their way to tell me how irrelevant any numbers are this early in the season?

If Hollow Man is historically accurate, I don't think you have a choice. It is the person who is invisible, if you wore clothes they would be visible.

Some keys to today's tilt vs. the Indians. 1) Mauer needs to get on track. We can all hope to look back in a few weeks when Mauer is putting up his usual numbers, and see that it was just a coincidence that he started slowly after missing the last 6 weeks of 2013 with concussion issues. But, after witnessing first hand what that type of injury did to Justin Morneau, one can't help but get a little worried. He has looked a step behind, both at the plate and in the field. SSS aside, it would seem he sees the ball well off Carrasco (5/8 career), so hopefully today will be a good start towards putting any of those concerns behind us. 2) Gibson needs to go deep. Just 4 games into the season, and the bullpen has already been leaned on heavily, and has been very ineffective thus far. Even the one good start we've gotten so far (Correia) was just a 6 inning start. Gibson has the most upside of anyone in the rotation, and also has the best chance at being a key component of our next playoff team, so I'm hoping that he can take the first step in establishing himself as the ace of this staff today. Of course, it is his first start of the year, and he seemed to tire last year, his first full season back from TJ surgery, so I'm sure he'll be on a pitch count, likely in the 85 pitch range. This means he will have to pitch efficiently, as I would like to see him go 7+ strong innings today. 3)Can Colabello continue to force the issue? I think it was reasonable to expect Cola would get solid playing time against lefties coming into the year, but if he can continue to do well against righties I don't see any reason why he can't force his way into the everyday lineup. The key for him is to just continue to hold his own, as I think any kind of prolonged slump against righties could result in a loss of playing time, with Arcia, Kubel, and Pinto all available options for DH or corner OF spots against righties. I have to admit that I wasn't high on Cola having much MLB potential, but I won't mind if I'm proven wrong. Some guys are just late bloomers, and though I doubt he'll ever be any kind of impact player, I don't see why he can't go on to have a Garret Jones type career, a useful bat and a legit MLB player for several more years. 4)Fundamentals. They need to improve. This has been an issue for a couple of years now. Not backing up throws, throwing off balance, throwing to the wrong base, baserunning errors, striking out with runner on 3rd, less than 2 outs, etc. The Twins do not have enough talent to compete if they cannot play almost perfect fundamental baseball. There is especially no excuse, IMO, for these fundamental errors when ST just ended. They just spent a month in Florida going over all these things every day. I don't think we've seen a game yet (again, only 4 games) where there hasn't been at least 1 bonehead fundamental mistake. I'd like to see them play a fundamentally perfect game today. I like our chances today if we execute these 4 keys to the game, and get some good relief pitching to finish it off.

Doesn't matter to me if it's a trend or not. Arcia has a future on this team, Kubel does not. Arcia should be starting every game against a RH pitcher, unless he's hurt.

Ok, this is what I was worried about when the team brought Kubel north. Arcia should not be sitting on the bench, especially against a RH pitcher.

Am I just a 'nervous nellie' for being concerned about Buxton's injury? I can't find the article, but I could have sworn it was initially reported that he would miss about a week. It's now been almost a month, and he's still not even swinging a bat! And now I'm hearing his return could be as late as May? I hope this is still just a minor injury and the team is just being super cautious with their top prospect, but with the Sano injury I can't help but be nervous that it might be something more serious. If both our top prospects end up losing huge chunks of development time, that is going to be a tough pill to swallow.

I hadn't seen this thread until today. I am glad it got bumped, it was an interesting read. A few thoughts I have: 1) The "minimum wage" discussion is pretty much a non issue here. Fair or not, these players are not protected by minimum wage laws. Minimum wages are for hourly workers, not contract employees. If MiLB teams start having their players punch a time clock, and sign them at an hourly rate, then minimum wage laws would kick in, but as contract players it is not an issue. 2) I am an employer, so I guess that means I can have an opinion on this! Smart employers will pay their good employees more than "market wage". And its not because of morality, it is still a business decision. Why? Because turnover costs money. It costs a LOT of money. Example: I have an employee that does a good job. He knows how we operate, he knows what is expected, and I know what I can expect out of him, he is a known quantity, etc. Say that "market value" for an good employee with his credentials and experience is $50,000 per year. Sure, I could pay him $50,000 per year, and know that I am likely to keep him, since I am paying him essentially what the market says he is worth. However, much like the NFL draft, it only takes one "team" to decide they think he's worth more, and then I have lost a good employee, who knows the way we do things, and knows what is expected of him. I dont want to take that risk. Sure, I could replace him with what on paper is an equally qualified and experienced employee, but that is a big risk. What if things were done differently at his previous places of employment? Now I am spending money to train him to do things the way we expect it done. What if he has personal issues going on in his life, and I get a vastly inferior employee to the one represented in his resume? Now, not only have I spent time and money hiring, training, and compensating an employee that didn't work out, I am also likely losing productivity due to the down time in having to start the whole process over again. I'm sure you can figure out all of the ways that having to replace a known quantity with an unknown one can begin to cost a lot of money and productivity, so I won't list all of the reasons/examples. I know this does not necessarily translate to this topic, as MiLB salaries are capped, but I just thought I would refute mlhouse's opinion that employers always pay the "market rate, no more and no less". 3) I think there is plenty of validity to the argument that nobody is forcing these guys to play baseball. There is no reason they can't quit baseball and get a different career. I wonder if many of you would feel as much outrage if you thought of them as independent sub contractors as opposed to "employees"? Do you feel the same outrage in regards to say, struggling musicians? Many of them make probably much less than even these MiLB players. But they get paid on a per gig basis, from several different employers, so there is not a single "bad guy" to get outraged at. 4)If you are going to have the argument that, "they can afford to pay them more, so they should", then I hope you are consistent. Wal Mart is one of the richest companies in the world, and they pay their employees peanuts. They could easily double every employee's salary, and still make billions of dollars. Are you as vocal in these employee's defense as you are in defense of the MiLB players? Or do you look at them different because you don't relate to them? I.E you didn't grow up aspiring to stock shelves at a retail store? 5) Finally, all those things said, I think it is a VERY stupid business model for the MLB to pay their future employee pool such a low wage. Mlhouse's argument that if the pay were too low, there wouldnt be enough MiLB players, and they would have to pay more, is actually happening, and will continue to happen, IMO. Participation in baseball is at an all time low. Young athletes are and will continue to choose other sports. Young baseball players with potential are and will continue to choose alternative career paths. Sometimes you have to be preemptive, in fact ALL successful people in business are. What is a trickle now can easily become a flood, and if you wait until after the flood to address what could have been prevented, you will LOSE in business, every time. I don't necessarily think wages should automatically go up across the board, but it should be uncapped, and their should be more competition. A large percentage of MiLB rosters are minor league filler. Guys who will never make it to the big leagues, and are only on the teams because they need enough warm bodies to fill out a roster. I don't see much incentive for teams to be required to pay those guys more, but I agree their should be more competition for the guys with legit potential, and there should be more incentive for the guys with potential to choose baseball, and to stick with it.

Striking out with a guy on 3rd less than 2 outs, that has been a continuing issue for a couple years now. So frustrating.

Its too bad this bullpen is too loaded to make room for a guy like Tonkin.

While that last sentence is true, I tend to think Correia vastly overacheived last year. I wouldn't expect to get this type of pitching performance out of him very often this year. Need to take advantage when you do.

47 XBH in 115 games as a 19 year old in the Midwest League opened some eyes for sure. I'm pretty excited to see how he handles the FSL.

I guess what I've learned from the comments in this thread is you shouldn't have any opinions regarding one single game or one single event, because if you do you are overreacting and/or you think the sky is falling. I guess you guys should probably just shut down Twins Daily until at least like the All Star Break so that we have a nice, large sample size before we have any discussions.

1.18 of ERA is only "slightly better"? You are basically saying that Yu Darvish was only "slightly better" than Correia last year.

Oh come on man, last time I checked this is still a mlb team isn't it? Is it really THAT much to ask of them to find a way to win a game in which they get a really good starting pitching performance, against a bad team? To answer to your hilarious (and not atall condescending) anecdote, yes I think many of us expected them to be bad, but then again I think just as many have said they would be improved. Heck more than a few have even said .500. So far, this does not look like an improved team, and certainly not a .500 team.

I think you missed my point. The reason I point out that Correia is not an ace is because you are not going to get many starts like this from him, when you do you HAVE to find a way to win, especially if said start is against a bad team with a bad starting pitcher.

Kevin Correia is not an ace. In fact, as of now the Twins don't have an ace on the staff, in fact they probably don't even have a #2. (Gibson has #2 upside, but most players never reach their upside, so more realistic expectations are a solid #3). Kevin Correia is not going to give you 6 innings of 2 run ball very often. When he does, you have to find a way to win. If you can't win a game when Correia gives you a start like that, and you are facing a bad team, with a mediocre starting pitcher who hasn't pitched in going on two years, then you probably arent going to find many wins. Today we learned that the Twins are a bad team, and while it is great that they took some steps to upgrade their pitching staff, this is proof that alone that is no guarantee that you'll be a better team.

If Berrios can hold his own as a 19 year old in the FSL he is going to be a top 30 prospect heading into next year. Along with AB Walker, Berrios is the 'spec that I'll be watching most closely this year.

That may be true, but if you are going to do that then you also need to remove everyone elses 2 worst starts of the season. So, in comparison to his peers, fudging the numbers in that way probably doesn't change a whole lot. I'm hoping that he can at the very least develop into a back of the bullpen arm for years to come, and obviously if he can hit that hard throwing middle of the rotation ceiling it would be a great bonus.

Walker might be the prospect I'll be watching most closely this year. I think the 'age' issue starts to become less and less of an issue each level he moves up. While I tend to side a little bit with the skeptics, I am ready to jump in head first if he can continue to put up numbers in the FSL this year.

The Twins havent had very good luck with 'polished' projected fast moving, limited ceiling college starters lately, so I'm hoping their luck will be better with Eades. If he hits his ceiling it would be a solid #4 behind Stewart, Meyer, Gibson in a few years.

Ok, it's 2 games and many of us expect a losing season, so I'm not going to get worked up. That said, can we please stop using the weather as an excuse? I see the weather being used as an excuse for Perkins and now Deduno. Are the White Sox playing in the same weather as we are? Or is it only cold every half inning?

That has me worried. I was hoping it WAS as simple as a miscommunication. I knew he had an excused absence for reporting late, but thats something completely different than not reporting at all. Its hard for me to think of any non controversial reason, of the top of my head, that "go ahead and take a couple of days" would suddenly turn into "we'll see you in june". The fact that he was allowed, under the rules, to participate in ST, but chose or was told not to, seems like a pretty big deal, and a major red flag.

Did we ever figure out what the H is going on with Rosario? Is this drug test failure then subsequent AWOL something we should be worried about long term? Or is it something as simple as miscommunication between either him and the team, or the team and the media?

Of course it's not ideal to have to burn 2 players with 1 move, but I think that 'saving' bench players for a situation that is unlikely to come up is silly. Same with saving your best relief pitcher for a situation that might never come up, or a situation that most any pitcher in the league should be able to handle (3 outs, nobody on base, 3 run lead).

What I think is that if Pinto is not going to catch most of the games, is not going to DH, and is not even going to be used as a pinch hitter, then he needs to be in AAA playing every day.