Ncgo4

A quick count (and I didn't take off my shoes) we re now 8-20 since the All Star game. Anyone who says we are not capable of reaching last place cannot be giving us as much credit as we deserve. The good news is that we are up to the 16th draft pick and rising quite fast.

What can anyone tell us about this kid? He's now batting over .400 for Elizabethton after a single, double & SB tonight (in 3 innings). With 131 ABs this year his combined average is nearly .415 and only 14 Ks. He's just turned 19. I'm not making a case for moving up to the majors...although...nah! Just wonder if he came in highly regarded and how large a bonus did he receive, etc? Certainly a good reason to check the Elizabeth box score every night.

Really? Who do we have that can be a reliable shortstop in the near future? Who do we have that can catch? Who do we have that can be an ace pitcher? Who do we have that would even be a #2 on a real good team? Barrios is going to be a good starter, but as a #3 most likely, but not a top of the order ace. Stewart now seems to be missing bats but not striking anyone out but he's not even yet at high "A". Sounds just like Mr. Hu, but we gave him away for a poor middle reliever. Our pair of 6'7" pitching prospects? One is a set up guy and the other is floundering in the minors. I don't see a potential starting line up here to put fear in anyone. The infield? We have an All-Star at 2nd. AND, well....we have an All-Star at 2nd. Our Catcher can't frame a pitch and cannot throw or hit. Our 1st baseman is being paid for what he did 5 years ago, but today is a shell of that person. At third we have an adequate starter. Shortstop? God help us we have no one we can count on to hit or field. Prospects, we have a potential All-Star at 3rd. If he doesn't eat himself into the DH spot. We have Max Kepler who can rake, but is injured more than Buxton. We've got A B Walker who can flat out kill it, but he strikes out more often that an NL starting pitcher. Let's assume ABW & Sano hit 30 & 40 dingers each and we get another 25 out of Dozier. Let's assume Buxton and Kepler hit .300 plus. We have a real good offense and a very good defensive outfield. We have about 60% of a starting staff and a possible closing ace. This makes for an exciting offensive team but overall a team that can contend for the wild card. I also assumed everything at it's best and ignored catching and short.

Let's think back to the month of May with a great deal of fondness. The ice on lake Vermillion finally went away, the bluebirds were back singing and Congress was on spring break. Oh yeah, Twin's hitters were hitting .350 with runners on base and the pitchers were all hitting the corners with evil sliders. The other 4 months? Congress is back, California is on fire and they've got no water and Twin's hitters and pitchers are back to their real levels of capabilities. We have 13 pitchers and arguably our "Ace" is a guy who just returned following a drug suspension and if we made the playoffs (we won't) he would be ineligable. Our best SP prospect on the staff is, we think, no longer used as a SP but rather our 8th inning set-up guy. I say, "we think" because we haven't had a close lead in the 8th inning for about a week, so who knows. Our best hitter is a 20 game rookie, who has no one hitting behind him so every one is able to pitch around him. What opponent cares if he walks once or twice a game? This is not a good baseball club. In spite of our "great" farm system we won't be anytime soon. We have 1 real pitching prospect coming up that is advanced enough that we can maybe count in him, Senior Berrios. But remember, he's too short. One of the few other exciting prospects, Hu, we traded for a marginal long reliever because, by God, that's what we needed to save this season. But, hey, he couldn't strike anyone out, so how good could he be? He just kept missing bats. We don't have a shortstop or catcher in the farm system we Can even fanticize could help the teamsters and the "best prospect in baseball" cannot stay healthy and doesn't have the brains to tell his manager when he's injured so he plays with a sprained thumb and turns a 15 day DL into a 45 game rehab. This is not a good team and despite 4 years of drafting in the top 5, we are not going to be good in the next 3 or 4 years either. A total house cleaning is needed and it has to start with the Man in charge, Mr. Ryan.

The Twins are clearly at risk of disappearing. Hunter, Mauer, Plouffe, Suzuki & SS (enter name of choice) cannot hit. Bringing up Kepler, Arcia & Walker (and hopefully Buxton) would not be tossing in the towel. It would be moving to the future. Making the pitching changes outlined earlier couldn't hurt either . Thank goodness, our incompetent GM didn't do more damage before the trade deadline arrived.

Think any one'll be at the park tomorrow? Wish I was there and hope there's a biiiiig crowd.

Our starters are pitching very much above pre-season expectations. If or when they return to their norm it will be very interesting to see how Twins management handles this. We have seen a surprising movement to youth on the offensive side with Rosario, Buxton and Sano. But those decisions were fairly easy with a club that has no one who can hit .270. Will be interesting how quickly they adjust if the starters go bad. They certainly haven't responded with a bunch of overpaid non-performing relievers.

As a little follow up. I have consistently bitched about the Twins reluctance to advance players. I still think some of their moves defy explanation...but. Sano and Buxton missed virtually all of last year with injury. Rosario missed a whole lot, cuz he was suspended thinking he was living in Colorado. Now all three have been called up to the Twins. Who'da guessed this 6 months ago?

This was not a desperate move. It was a very good move that was due, given Sano's progression after a year off and 30 days of rust removal. The situation with the twins is probably thought of as desperate, given their outrageously good play up until about 2 weeks ago. My take is that it was merely a regression to the norm given their lack of hitting and relief talent. Starting a lineup without a single player batting over .270 is not a situation that will hold a team in contention. The twins need to recognize that Joe Mauer is damaged to the point where he is no longer anything beyond a marginal journeyman ball player. They do not have a catcher and they only have 1 1/2 outfielders till Buxton returns. Plouffe should be at first, Sano at third, Kepler in left and Mauer At DH until they feel either Walker or Arcia can come up. Personally I'd like to see Sano at third, Plouffe at first, Khrpler in left and Walker at DH. But it ain't going to happen.

Announce tomorrow? That means Sano can play tonight then catch an early AM flight to KC?

Please, please, PLEASE be a ticket to KC and not Rochester. C'mon, T Ryan, be a man.

Our Mr. Ryan is mostly interested in protecting Mr. Ryan. To say that Sano is not yet MLB bat ready makes one wonder how in the world he can make the case that all of those .250 hitters he now has in his lineup are MLB ready? The current lineup is full of Terry Ryan mistakes and to call up Sano means that someone has to go on the bench highlighting one of his mistakes. I'd make the same argument about Max Kepler. Give us another two weeks of backsliding in the standings and people will be calling for his head.

Wi sure hope it's the big show and not AAA.

Um....I think he got it this week along with Sano. Has Kepler gotten any such recognition?

Clearly ABW loses the comparison to Sano. The real question, howeve, is how does he compare to Robinson, Mauer and Vargas? In my opinion, Walker's ability to swing through pitches is well overcome by his ability to get hits and especially to go yard with runners on base. The three Twins mentioned have been almost void of consistent production. I would love to see our Mr Walker in left, 1base or DH and see what we might get. If he's only a little bit better but has a ton of power it would be interesting. Again, he really needs to improve his BB/K numbers to be an MLB star. But to be better than the 3 Twins mentioned? I don't think so.

These 3 should be in Target Field, not in Rochester. When a major league club can start 9 players with not one single player, that's nada, hitting over .267 and we have the International boppers threesome waiting in the wings and Joe Mauer's .250, is blocking someone? You gotta be kidding,right?

The Twins cannot score runs. For nearly 2 months it seemed the Twins hit in clusters, scoring a lot more runs that their statistics (BA, OBP, etc.) would predict. Now we're back to seeing hits scattered around in a more random way and run production is in the toilet. In yesterday's game we no, as in ZERO, starters with a batting average above .267 and only 4 above .260. This is one of the worst, maybe THE worst Twins offensive teams EVER. In Chatanooga we have three batters who over 70 games total in June have batted over .320 with 16 dingers and almost 60 RBI's. What can possibly be the question? If they call them up and they collectively go into the crapper, could it be any worse? Bring them up as a set right now.

I've watched Polanco on TV quite a bit. He certainly appears to me to have a rocket arm without question. The issue is, what direction is he going to throw it? Several errors I've seen he's thrown the ball away, way away, and the throw has sailed past the first baseman with the runner still 2 or 3 steps from the bag.

It's GOTTA happen cuz it's in the Twins blood! Let's see: Option 1. A 30 year old $10 million per year player from another team who fails to achieve even his prior mediocre averages. Option 2. Call up a 23 year old (or so) Twins prospect who is making a fraction of $10 million and has plenty of upside. Easy...spend the money cause God knows you can't trust those damned young 'uns!

Sorry, OBP is .698

After tonight I have him 19 for 34 in the last eleven games. This is a .559 BA, fairly respectable. But, you wanna get crazy? He has 11 walks in those 11 games for a total on base % of an other worldly .698. We might just have to start paying him in Euros.

Two days later and he's up to .340 for the Lookouts and 8 triples. 8 triples is insane for some one his size. For the last 10 games, he's hitting over .500 which is a Rod Carew kind of streak without the bunts. I've been reading about Max for so long it seems like he's 30 but he's a kid if only 22! Certainly one of THE most intriguing prospects in the system. Don't know what the Twins do with him, but a move must be coming soon.

Be very interesting to see how the Twins make room for him. Do they keep an amazing 13 pitchers. Equally interesting, how does this affect Sano? Could be the motivation to get real busy.

Byron Buxton headed to Texas in time for tomorrow's series finale!

Best record in the "American", not East.