Richie the Rally Goat

Sad state when the Pohlads own KTWN and don't have the wattage to broadcast their own content across the entire metro area they exist in

Guilty

They had Hicks, Mastro, and Presley leading up to ST. All the FO had to do was send Hicks to AAA and the depth would have been solved. Sign Fuld? Sure DFA Presley, you still have Mastro and Hicks. Hicks killing triple A? Bring him up and DFA Mastro, then sign or trade for some AAA stop gap if he doesn't pass waivers, if you can. Just because Mastro and Presley were replacement level AAAA filler' doesn't mean you can treat them like interchangeable parts. Sometimes interchangeable parts are hard to find too.

I remember Plouffe at SS, and I remember watching him throw 2/3 of the plays to first into the stands. I do agree with your assertion that CF starts with fielding. Parms at CF would be bad, no doubt, but right now Hicks' development and strength of the future team is taking a back seat to the current stop gap needs of a team that isn't going to do anything anyways. Im not saying Parms is the answer at CF, only a better option than Santana. At least Parms knows how to play the outfield and isn't in the early MLB development stages that Santana or Hicks is at. If Parms struggles at CF, he's shown poise and maturity that leads me to believe that his growth won't be stunted. Last year I couldn't say that about Parms. I value Hicks more than Parmelee for the long term, and trust Parmelee won't be ruined in the short term struggles of MLB futility. OK, there are worse things than Hicks on the roster. Correia, Kubel, Burton, and Guerrier will/should all be gone by season's end. As for Nolasco, and Mauer (Mauer not mentioned but falls in the same category); just because you pay a lot of money, doesn't mean you will get more output. Just like the sunk cost of injuries, so is free agency. I expect more out of both players, but realistically free agents such as those two aren't going to out perform their career averages over the life of the contract, and will regress towards the end. Nolasco over his career had been a statistically median innings eater. Now he's a highly paid statistically median innings eater. Mauer was a very high obp slap hitting, some gap power doubles producing, catcher, then became a highly paid high obp yada yada yada, and is now a highly paid first basemen who is the same guy we've always known, now on the backside of his career. Hopefully this season so far is marked by injury and a healthy Joe Mauer will arrive some time this season, to improve his hitting to what we're used to seeing.

So comparing hitting stats to fielding acumen is a good argument? I will give you that Parms is less than ideal in RF, let alone CF, but to say that Hicks is taking a lot of walks and went 2-4 yesterday, his first game as a Righty hitter, so everything is fine. I am certain that Hicks will not continue his .500 batting average as a Righty. He has been a .180 batter this season. Why would you walk him. Pitchers will blow it by him until he can prove to be a good hitter and take the bat off his shoulder. He should be in triple A learning to hit Righty and while he's there track a fly ball. the Bert Blyleven school of theology: Cardinal Sin- Never walk the pitcher (or Aaron Hicks)

And when Fuld gets his bell rung again, then what? No CF on the roster, or promote a guy who still isn't ready? I firmly believe every team needs two people who can play center on the MLB roster and at least one in AAA. Right now, there is one on the DL and one in the bigs who isn't ready. For crying out loud they sent Hermann to AAA to work on CF! A guy who they pulled from the OF to be catcher.

It looks like Gardy's faith in Kubel may be shaken a bit. He was pinch hit for by Nunez in today's game, bottom of the 9th, down 5 runs. If you can't trust your DH to get a hit, why is he DH?

Too bad one of them isn't Ron Gardenhire

Hicksie stays in for the last out of the game...

Bad sign when the DH gets pinch hit for...

It's a Baby Ruth!

To Willihammer's point much of the dearth of talent has been decisional by the manager as much as players available. Pinto is on the bench rather than DHing.

He's the 4th highest paid 1rst basemen in MLB, he should be able to adjust to coaching/pitching/fielding decisions made against him. If he were 5th in OPS, the first pitch strikes commentary would be picking knits, he's 18th. He's not good enough to be above criticism. Truthfully, I do agree with you that the dearth of talent in the outfield and at DH has hurt this team more than Sloppy Joe's issues at the plate. There has been no end to OF discussions here, and First Base should be a part of the discussion too.

I would call you foolish if we were watching the Joe Mauer we are used to seeing, but .281 BA isn't the average joe

Does Hodor on game of thrones waft too?

I would just be happy with lots of singles to go with his eye at the plate. If he could consistently make solid contact and find the gaps with regularity, to combine with his walk skills, he would be an on-base machine.

Doesn't Odor usually waft?

TD has many emoticons, but I can't help but notice there is no backwards K

While I would rather see Parms or Pinto DHing, at least Kubel isn't in the outfield

I think it depends on your idea of patience, and how patient you are with Buxton as well. Pressing Hicks into Major League futility doesn't seem terribly patient. I think a replacement level CF with options or somewhat aged veteran who can still cover CF for a couple months while Hicks can learn how to track a ball and get his swing together shows more patience than pushing a guy into service he's not ready for. We're all waiting on Buxton, but he's been injured this year. We don't know the time table, but it should be at least one full season away, if not two. I would rather have a more polished Hicks to earn his place on the roster as CF, 4th OF or LF, than placeholder Hicks who is just waiting for Buxton to come and eat his lunch for him. edit: to your point on getting on base 12 games in a row, that's only part of development. Even after getting on base 12 games in a row he sports a .581 ops, and still loses fly balls. He shows the ability to make advanced plays that someone of his level should not, such as coax a walk and make the amazing crashing off the wall catch, but he lacks many of the fundamentals such as tracking fly balls and making solid contact with the bat. I think a stint in AAA would polish him up.

I agree that Tabatta is a possibility, as well that the Pirates have been trade partners in the past, but isn't Gibson a bit steep? I would think Tabata could be had for Burton or Darnell.

I wouldn't go that far, but it does stink a bit of desperation.

Kubel might agree with you, he's been looking pretty tired lately.

Catcher

In a shocking turn of events the Twins sent Hermann and Colabello to AAA to make room for Arcia and Willingham. http://blogs.twincities.com/twins/ According to Bernardino, Hermann while at AAA Rochester, is going to get reps at CF and catcher. Let's let that sink in a sec. CF and Catcher