woody knows all

I hope they keep Nolasco. He started 8 games last year and the Twins won 5 of them. That is pretty good percentage.

The bullpen is always better when the starters are good. The last 3 years the bullpen has been fine in May-July. But when the bullpen has to pitch 3+ innings in 80% of the games that is too much. Guys get overused and all of a sudden we look at guys and wonder what happened to them. As soon as the starters can consistently get 18 outs every day then the Twins should spend money on top of the line relievers. Otherwise it will always come down to Aug trades and hoping that guy in AAA can come up and give the twins 3-4 good weeks.

When a team starts hitting home runs usually their strikeouts go up too. If Sano plays the entire season, he might've set a major league record for strikeouts. He has 115 in 77 games. I think the record is around 220. Dozier shattered the Twins record as he has 146 in 153 games. So the good with the Twins starting to show some power, but also the batting averages have gone down. Even Super Joe is over a 100 on the season. But it is nice to see the Twins playing meaningful games all the way through the season.

I also am a big fan of Rosario. But lets not place him as an all-star just yet. Below are the stats for Rosario this year and Santana last year. I think all of us had high hopes (again me included) for Santana. Thought that he had to play everyday and was arguably the best player last year. Really struggled and for whatever reason has not made it back. But as happens occasionally it doesn't work out year 2. Hopefully next year they both put up similar if not better numbers and the Twins will not be wondering IF they make the play-offs. G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS 113 418 53 112 17 14 11 44 14 109 11 6 .268 .290 .455 .744 G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS 101 405 70 129 27 7 7 40 19 98 20 4 .319 .353 .472 .824

There are a lot of situations in baseball that we can't predict. To try to determine 5 situations is impossible. And as always hind sight is 20/20. Sending May back out again in the 9th, because he was the best option, and giving up a run there changes the process for the bottom of the 9th. Maybe a Susuki type hits a solo HR in the 8th, even though most would agree Vargas was a good idea for PH there. I would agree that Hughes starting after such a long lay-off was a huge gamble. But if he pitches 5 shut-out innings, Twins are geniuses.

Maybe the manager has a bit to do with this.

I agree on why is there Milone negativity. Everyone wants the young pitchers up because how well they have done in the minors. Tommy started 5 games in Rochester, pitched 38 innings and gave up THREE runs total. I think it shows how much different AAA/AA is to the Majors. Not that Milone will ever be confused for a #1, but definitely has done nothing wrong this year to be demoted to the pen. And not only has he started well, when the Twins needed a guy to finish he got a save in an extra inning game. Milone should be in consideration for our BEST pitcher this year.

That is great wise one. All of us should have our idea of what a great play is and what a bad play is. Why do we need stats from computer geeks telling us? I know when a player gets a lucky hit or maybe strikes out, but at least saw 6 pitches and it was a good AB.

Why trade a true MLB starting pitcher for a over the hill shortstop. The Twins are still trying to find even #2 and #3 starters. Santana could be that guy. The guys coming up are not ready. I like to see starting pitchers that can at least pitch into the 7th inning. Right now the Twins have very few guys that can do that.

Joe does well as a Defensive player at first, saving many an errant throw. Lets just realize that he is not a power hitter, but a controlled player. I do believe he will hit more consistently then the last year. But i know everyone gets on Joe, just like I do, but he still is one of the greatest Twins of all time. And he continues to have a high batting avg with RISP. Joe had a rough last few years, lets give him the benefit of the doubt and be true Mid-Westerners and cheer him and the Twins on to a play-off push. Certainly that is what we all wanted at the beginning of the season.

Traditional stats are much better. The batting avg with RISP is the one of the best stats I can think of. It is easier to get a base hit in the 7th inning with runners on in a 7-1 game. But what about that hit in the 3rd inning with the score tied at 2-2. Another one is when the starting pitcher with a lot of strikeouts can be misleading if they never pitch into the 7th inning. I think that is what Bert is always trying to say. How many guys want to finish games these days. It is also funny when other teams starter is at 115 pitchers. It is like this guy is Superman, how in the world has his arm not fallen off yet. Starting pitcher with Wins is a misleading stat. But most people only look at AVG, RBIs, and HRs, for a hitter, and Wins, ERA, and K's for a starting pitcher.

May really struggled to get through 6 innings of MLB batting. I think maybe the Twins have found either a true bullpen specialist or possibly a closer for the next few years. If they need a starter that would be great, but right now it is pretty crowded. Trevor and I do hope I am wrong, has never proven at the major league level to be better than a 4th or 5th guy. Strikeouts great, but also a lot of walks.

Lets not get too excited about Plouffe. The Astros are the worst team in baseball. Just like we shouldn't talk about trading Mauer because Pinto has had 2 good games.

I wish the Twins would think about Mauer at 3B not 1B. Athletic and a very strong arm. Plus keeps 1B available for a future power hitter down the road. Agree no place for AJ in the future. Plus could platoon between there and catcher and allow Plouffe to hit against lefties which he actually has had some success.