Ncgo4

Sano in right, Sano at third. Buxton in CF, Buxton on the bench. Duffy in Rochester, Duffy in Washington for a start. Kepler in Rochester, Kepler on MLB roster sitting on the bench. Park hits 3 in 4 game stretch, Park moved to bench next game. The team is really not playing well, go with youth! Kepler, Sano, Buxton, Rosario, Duffey, Berrios, Park (he's our youngest Korean) Polanco, Escobar. Bring up some relievers. Let's at least find out what we've got. Of course if it goes to Hell they fire Molly. I understand his reluctance.

This is very good news. He was competent at 3B for several seasons in the minors. He was incompetent in right for a few weeks in the majors. This is where he belongs. Way to go Molly, didn't know you had in in ya.

Let's see, now. Park whilst learning to hit ML hitting gets 3 dingers in 4 games. Great! What does Molitor do? Benches him the next 3 games? Nah, that would be just stupid! Yeah, that's exactly what he's done.

No question Nolasco is outperforming darned near everyone's expectations. Hope he keeps it up, cause it still doesn't mean there isn't room for Berrios.

Mauer is NEVER going back to catching. Buxton won't go back to Rochester for another 30 days if he keeps hitting like he is. Platoon Mauer, Arcia and Park. Give each one every third day off. Certainly agree about Berrios immediately, but not sure about Duffey until he gets another off speed pitch. They could dump almost any relievers and bring up some heat from the minors.

The issue with the Twins right now is that they have 4 left hand hitters that need to be in the line up. Mauer, Rosario, Arcia and Kepler all need to play. During away inter-league games they only have 2 spots with no DH. Kepler, IMHO, is being totally screwn. He needs to play and they should send him down to Rochester so he can get the repetitions he needs.

Buxton is a star. His play in the OF is at times shocking. His speed on offense is game changing. The other day he turned a routine single into a double. He so terrified the pitcher that a wild trow got him to third. Finally, he scored on a not-deep fly out to the OF. No one else on the Twins and maybe no one else in the majors would have scored off his hit to left. True, he's not hitting well yet. In another 30 days if he's still at this level let's talk. Until then let him learn whilst in the fire. I agree with some that they should have started him in Rochester, but they didn't so we should leave him right where he is.

2 hits and 3 walks raised his OBP to .454 (my calculation). This is an amazing # given the slump he's been in. It also reflects early season fluctuation in numbers. Great to see Sano, Rosario, Park and Arcia join Mauer with a live bat. The next few weeks will be very, very interesting to see how it holds up. Also be interesting to see how Molly manages their playing time.

Mauer's hitting this year has been a very nice positive turn for the Twins. Brain injuries are a very troubling and mysterious thing. If Joe has somehow recovered then great for him and it's great to have his bat back in the lineup. Good luck JM

When the season began we expected marginal starting pitching, trouble out of the pen, lots of yard shots and tons of strike outs. We lost the first 9 with very good starting pitching, good work out of the bull pen, huge number of strikeouts and zero power. The last 5 games we've had just what we thought. Marginal starting pitching, relieving to cry over, power and K's from the offensive side. Surprises? Some, most notably, Mauer hitting like the Joe of old, Nunez hitting insane and Park and Arcia going deep more than hoped. Other things of note, Sano and Rosario just barely being productive but now showing signs of coming around. Buxton unable to hit a lick and Dosier taking up where he left off (in the crapper). It will be interesting to see how long this holds and how quickly Mgmt starts to make changes.

Short. Very good fielder OF. Great fielding (not Sano). Potential very good hitting. Pitching. Dumpster fire. I wouldn't Ming going young, but don't see a lot of near term upside. Sorry about the split poat

The twins have a history of sticking with older veterans with whom they are comfortable. If they go any further into the crapper any reason/excuse for continuing down this road disappears. Certainly putting yourself into position for one more top 3 draft pick isn't the worst thing that could happen. But the question becomes what do they have waiting that warrants any sales and who do they have that would be purchased? First of all they have to get Sano out of right field. You don't do that by trading him. You replace him with Kepler this gives us one of the best defensive outfields in baseball. I would trade Park or send him to Rochester. This takes a strike out potential slugger out of the lineup and gives us someone that can potentially get on base. As far as trading any other position players (Plouffe & Dozier?). First, do we have 2nd and 3rd basemen screaming to be called up? Second, do we have any one else on the roster that any one else might want? As far as pitching, I would pray first and last that Nolasco has 2 more good outings. If so send him immediately to a contender and call up Barrios. We could give half the relieving squad their release, I suppose just to go with youth. The question we have to ask is, who is screaming to be called up? Except for Barrios, I can't think of anyone. But this could change at any time. We had a month last year where the offense over produced batting some crazy number with runners in scoring position. That month made our season (much like this start might make this season). Other than that month the Twins were a pretty crappy team. I looked toward this season based on last thinking that just a little better was the ticket for the playoffs. I forgot just how we got therelast year. Let's look at it. Catcher. Maybe the worst in the majors. First. Serviceable fielder, no power fielder. Second. Serviceable fielder, 360 ft. slugger that runs out of gas by All star Game

Daughter and son-in-law were here this week-end to celebrate my birthday. The gave me tickets to the Twins/Braves game in Atlanta in August. Honest to God. A combines 0-16 and I got tickets! Eat your hearts out. One thing I know is that by then one of these teams will have won a game.

Let's see...our starting outfield plus the DH is hitting a combined: .159 Batting average 4 Hits (1 each so we have no one they need to pitch around) 4 RBI's (1 each...consistency is the key with our power players) We have gotten ourselves into a hole. What do you do? Well for one thing I might give Kepler and Arcia some at bats. All 4 look alike at the plate. No ability to recognize pitches and each look like they watched Sano's highlights from last year and have decided to only hit when they have 2 strikes and a walk is out of the question. Who'd a thunk that starting pitching woulda been our strength to start 2016. 0-7 is bad. Last year we started 1-7 but recovered, but only because we went about 17 wins (or some crazy number) above 500 after the start. The problem is that we played way beyond our talent by hitting some crazy number with men on base, not likely something that is repeatable this year. Lots of us complained about and made fun of Hunter last year, but who is the leader in the clubhouse this year? Mauer...are you kidding? Who else? Don't know if there is someone else. Wish I had an idea, but we can't send the whole outfield down to AAA can we?

First thing either play Kepler or send him back down to Richester. Sitting a potential star in the bench Is beyond rediculous.

Well they're 0-7 now. Can someone redo the numbers? Wait...please don't.

For 2 years he was good in the first half and really bad in the second. This is year 3 and he just may be bad all year. I hate to think what this might mean.

Remember, the Twins had a single crazy month last year or they would have drafted 1st or 2nd again. We've replaced Hunter in right with a 270-300 lb guy who doesn't want to be there. In our big move we replaced Sano as DH with 30 year old Korean. Oh, yeah, we put a very slick fielder in center, a fielder who in 2 years hasn't hit his weight...and he's skinny. Finally, we did absolutely nothing to improve a very bad bull pen. I thought we'd be better. Why did I think that?

Probably too many. Especially if we find out that neither Molitor or Ryan can hit a lick.

Coaching is the magic elixir. As a fan I have no idea what makes a good one or even if we've got good ones. Pitch recognition by Twins hitters or injuries to the offensive line of the Gophers. How much is coaching, training or God given luck? I don't know.

Through 5 games Buxton, Sano and Rosario each have 15 ABs. They have 10, 8 & 7 strike outs. That's 25 of 45 or about 56%. It's only 5 games into the season, no reason to panic. Slugging %'s. .267, .133 & .333. Wish I could add something humorous or prophetic but it just is what it is.

Let's see...man on 2nd and no outs. I know, let's have the next three hitters attempt to go yard. Ton Kelly must be pulling his hair out. It's the problem with how the team has been constructed. A second base pull power hitter, a RF power hitter/strike out specialist, a third base power hitter and an untried DH from the moon and a team strike out rate of about 30%. This is fun. It's only 5 games into the season and way too early to throw in the towel, but with Santana out and Kepler up, there will be some interesting things to watch. Thank God for Escobar or we could be worse. Is there worse than 0-5?

Well, we're 0-5 and we have Nolasco up as our starter. I'm thinking this may be real, real interesting. Not only that, but methinks J B is starting today for Rochester. The baseball Gods have a strange sense of humor. I'm guessing we get 6 real strong innings from both pitchers and we send Santana down to Rochester...maybe not.

Santana is a much better athlete than Sano. For one thing he's about 100 lbs lighter. When he went down you know that Mollies first reaction was, "Oh, no, poor Santana." You can just bet your bottom dollar his second thought was about the reaction if it had been the potentially best hitter on the team that gone down, instead, because he was playing him in a position he had absolutely no business being. Now the question is what to do with The new roster? They have to play Max every day or they would never have taken him out of Rochester. In my opinion they must use this as the moment to get Sano out of the outfield. With Park, Mauer and Sano parked at 1b and DH what do you do? Sending Buck or Rosario down and keeping Sano in right is the absolutely worst solution. Good luck, Mollie. Now you earn your salary. Didn't the Angels or someone just lose their 3rd baseman? Could they now trade Plouffe and find out once and for all if Sano can play the hot corner?

Really? By this logic I should let my grand children put on a cape and jump off the top bunk like superman because...well they could get hurt anywhere. The fact is Sano is too big to play the outfield, maybe the biggest ever and it's an unwise and unecessary risk.