Ncgo4

Next year we'll have Sano, Hicks, Rosario, Arcia (likely) and Kepler all starting. The average age will be about 23 and that, my friends will be fun. All this assumes, of course, that none of these are traded for a 34 year old 3rd position starting pitcher. It also leaves us sans a catcher or SS that's serviceable. I love Kool Aide and I'm drinkin' it.

In order to have a log jam you need logs. Robinson and Hunter aren't logs, they're dead wood, certainly as regards next year. Hunter should be kept around for his clubhouse presence, to mentor and to relieve the youngsters occasionally and to pinch hit. Also, Mauer should be "rested" for the rest of this season, Plouffe to 1st, Sano to 3rd so we can really find out if he can play there and Max Kepler to DH. If the season is gone as the Twin's action at the trade deadline indicated they think it is, then let's us see what we just might have for next year.

This may be the definition of a critical series. The Twins are reeling the Rangers are playing well and they have nearly identical records. If the Twins drop 3, they would be 4 games below .500 and the season could become almost impossible to salvage. They would be conceivably be 8 positions and maybe 6 1/2 games out of the playoffs. John, my question to you is, do you think this could be the stake in the heart that would enable Twins mgmt to finally shake up the team and institute a real youth movement. Buxton, Berrios, Kepler into the starting lineup with maybe a few others? Hey, I can dream.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

Yes, Buxton at lead off and Mauer coaching 1st base.

Be very interested to see both Berrios and Stewart today. Hoping Stewart has a good outing. He needs to begin to show more of his amazing potential. Berrios is even more interesting. I hope I'm wrong but I believe the starting pitching situation for the Twins is an illusion. Or at least a few months of over-achievement. I think most of our starters are going to revert to their average and if so, then we'll see how Mgmt reacts. We have Santana coming back in a month but will they call back Tommy Milone and even call up Barrios? If so, what will they do with large contract non-performing starters like Nolasco and Pelfrey? At some point the Twins may face the unenviable choice of eating $30 million in contracts or doing what's best for the team. That's the great thing about baseball. Santana can hit .320 for an entire year and then hit .220 the next. A pitching staff can have a 5.20 ERA and follow it up with a 2.90 ERA. Usually, however, the anamolies don't last the entire year. Let's hope the Twins keep it up.

These awards are the kiss of death. Button is lauded for his bat finally coming alive and he immediately goes back into the toilet. Sano wins player of the month and he immediately goes 0-8 with 6 k's. Apparently talking about minor league hitter's streaks is tantamount to talking about a pitcher's in-progress no hitter.

Who is this guy? He sure isn't anyone from the Twins roster earlier this year. But isn't this the way managers dream it'll work? Slight injury or lack of performance so you send them down to AAA to get them back in shape or to wake them up and a light bulb goes off! I cannot imagine his next start isn't in the Bigs. Good luck Tommy!

I also agree about 5 weeks being too little to make an assessment...with 1 exception, Hu. Chih-wei has been so dominating that he is clearly the class of his league and a Top 10 prospect. His spot start in Rochester is evidence the Twins think so, too. Seth, I have a question about this. By announcing this so far in advance it will make Chih-Wei stew over this with a possible Taiwan press frenzy around him. Is this usual for an early announcement about such a move? Has he relocated with Rochester already to become somewhat acclimated? Is this possibly a move on the Twins to max the pressure to really test him?

Looking at the picture of Sano reminds me of some of his outbursts on the field. Clearly he does not possess an over-abundance of self control. Guess that applies to his eating habits as well. But he can MASH!

Depressing to see the Dailey lines on Buxton & Sano? Sure, but not to worry, IMHO. Both were out of ball for a full year. Each has significantly cut down on the K's recently. We'll see them pop soon.

All this talk of him as a bad fielder is way premature, every analyst I've read saidhe seems to not have any real problems with good hands or movement. The only question was his attention span on each play. He's a big guy, no question, but he's not fat, just really big and broad. No reason at all that for the next 10 years with a cannon of an arm he couldn't remain a good 3rd baseman. He seems very driven and I can't imagine that he won't stay in shape. If that proves to be wrong, then we're in fo a disappointment. But until then, worry about his hitting and strike outs. That's the real key to any stardom.

I don't necessarily buy into the Buxton is a higher prospect than Sano. A 35 HR guy with 110 plus RBI's and potentially very good 3rd base play is not easily replaced as the MVP on a team, any team. Buxton hitting .325 and 40-50 steals and scoring 100 runs is very good but does it rate him above my fantasy Sano? Now if Buxton can get up to consistently hitting 20 dingers then we've got a fight on our hands. In any case I'm excited as heck by both. Plus they seem to have very different personalities. Miguel Hunter and Byron Mauer.

Just wonder what Twins management knows (or thinks they know) about him that has kept them from calling him up. It just seems very, very peculiar.

Hu continues his string of amazing performances. Promoted to low A ball and he IMPROVES on the 1.69 ERA he had at Elizabethton. Just just may be the least known unhitable pitcher in baseball. Is there a real scouting report on him somewhere? What is he throwing? What is he working on? 84 K's and 16 walks in 82.2 professional innings so I assume his control and velocity are pretty good. A few more starts like this and I'm guessing Barrios/Stewart kinds of speculation and comparisons. I also wonder about his background in Taiwan. I don't know anything about baseball there and wonder if he threw a lot of innings, was he in professional ball there and just how did the Twins learn about him?. He's thrown less than 50 innings so far this year and it will be interesting to see if he begins to tire.

Very interested to see if Hu can continue the dominance he showed the last 2 outings. He has been limited to 6 innings each start with the Kernels. He only has 40 innings this year and I would like to know how many pitches is this per outing? Or are the just counting innings? Nice article, thanks.