laloesch

Actually believe it or not Joe Mauer hasn't been that bad.

Yeah that's crazy! I couldn't imagine.

I think your right. I'd like to see some shuffling in the outfield to start with. Call up one or more of the following (Rosario, Hicks and Buxton) and start interchanging pieces out there hopefully raising the bar defensively. DFA what you don't need (Hunter, Robinson, Schafer). I'm really down on Arcia. Is this kid ever going to step up defensively? He kind of reminds me of Hicks; undisciplined at the plate, boneheaded plays in the outfield and questionable work ethic. Is it me or have the Twins been drafting more of these types lately? Anyways, if the starting pitching continues to stink i think you start looking at Berrios and Meyer. I REALLY REALLY like what we've seen from Berrios so far. Kid has great work ethic, determination, guts and the stuff to go with it. He has a strong mental game. Callup Berrios, DFA Pelfrey and then find a way to move Nolasco at some point making way for Meyer even if we have to eat a big chunk of his salary. Not sure that they would be willing to dump Milone at this point unless its for good prospects. Sano. I definitely see a mid may call up depending on how he handles Chattanooga. Plouffe has been AWFUL so far. Perhaps he turns it around, but how much longer do the Twins put up with the low batting average and high strikeout rates when he can't even get a hit period, let alone the occassional homerun? I think at the very least you bench him in favor of Escobar who can hit .250 and play the position adequately at least for the time being.

If the Twins lose 100+ loses this season you have to believe that a BUNCH of heads are going to roll in the front office. I don't know if Terry Ryan was or is on the hot seat, but judging some of his statements last fall he was getting an ear full from the Pohlads. If he's replaced who knows who they will fill the gap with and the chaos it will create. If it was up to me i'd clean house from Dave St. Peter on down.

If the Twins lose 100+ loses this season you have to believe that a BUNCH of heads are going to roll in the front office. I don't know if Terry Ryan was or is on the hot seat, but judging some of his statements last fall he was getting an ear full from the Pohlads. If he's replaced who knows who they will fill the gap with and the chaos it will create. If it was up to me i'd clean house from Dave St. Peter on down.

After watching these first 7 games I haven't hit the panic button just yet, but I'm about too. I don't have a good feeling about this bunch AT ALL. We have scrubs in the bullpen, scrubs in the outfield and several scrubs in the rotation. This team is going NOWHERE real fast. Judging from what we've seen so far: terrible outfield defense, awful offensive, horrid bullpen blowing games left and right, and mediocre starting pitching at best, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if they end up with 100+ loses. I've watched this team for almost 30 years (certainly not as long as some of the old timers), but this is some of the worst play i've ever seen by Twins and it could get a whole lot UGLIER very quickly. If the current trend continues Terry Ryan should consider calling up prosects in a few weeks. By the time the all-star break rolls this team will be so far below .500 that there will be no pressure on anyone the rest of the season other than defacto tryouts for 2016.

Yea Trevor has been awful this year.

And this line of thinking is exactly why the Twins have been stuck in Neutral going now-where real fast the past two seasons. I am tired of the spin and the excuses. It's time too dump the "reliable mediocre veterans" Stuaffer, Pelfrey, Boyer, Robinson, Nolasco, etc. in favor of the prospects even if they experience some serious growing pains in the process. The sooner this happens the sooner this franchise can get back to winning. Really all the front office is doing is stunting the franchise's return to relevancy. We can debate this until were all blue in the face, but the fact of the matter is that we have too many good prospects knocking on the door (Meyer, May, Berrios, Sano, Rosario, Polanco, Buxton, Burdi, Reed, etc.), to be watching this garbage at Target Field.

Yeah he hasn't looked too good. 11 hits, 6 ER in 3 innings is tough. Stauffer too. I think in another week or two we'll have a much better idea of what we've got. I think Molitor should continue to trot those two guys out and see if they can pick themselves up. Then re-evaluate. If not onto plan B, whatever that is.

I know what your saying and i get it. I just don't agree but thats okay.

I think it's a bit of a stretch to include the first four from that list (Radke, Milton, Mays & Lohse). And what's the point anyways? Most of these pitchers debuted in the late 90's to mid 2000's with the exception of Gibson. And he likely wouldn't have gotten the opportunity in 2013 had Sam Deduno stayed healthy and Scott Diamond & Mike Pelfrey had been halfway effective. Brad Radke (debuted 1995) Eric Milton (debuted 1998) Joe Mays (debuted 1999) Kyle Lohse (2001) Scott Baker (2005) Boof Bonser (2006) Matt Garza (2006) Kevin Slowey (2007) Glen Perkins (2007) Nick Blackburn (2007) Kyle Gibson (2013)

Maybe so and your probably right that its just a ""a little spike." But you can't deny his twitter posts and some of the comments he made about Minnesota weather and wishing he was still in LA.

I see what your saying about Pelfrey and Milone pitching well enough to be traded, but my fear is that if one or both pitch well TR will hang on to them for the entire season, because he feels the veterans give him a better shot to win. As we all know Ryan is pretty stubborn when it comes to promoting pitching prospects. I seem to remember an article last year that Gardenhire asked for Meyer after the all-star break (I think) and TR said NO. That says a lot about this GM. All of this might be a moot point depending on what happens after Nolasco's MRI, but I can't help but wonder what could happen.

This is a serious damage control situation for the front office. Nolasco has been ineffective since the day he signed with Minnesota. The Twins have invested a TON of money in him over 4 years. If indeed the rumors are true that he doesn't want to be in Minnesota, it wouldn't surprise one bit that he and the front office milk this thing for all its worth and then figure out a timely divorce in 2016 when he only has one year left on his deal.

I wouldn't put it past TR. If Nolasco requires an MRI and is out for a significant time he'll probably spot start Stauffer for a bit. However, given his one DISASTROUS spring training start i have my doubts. But at this point nothing surprises me anymore. Here's another hypothetical scenario. Suppose Nolasco requires TJ and is out for the season. Given Pelfrey's awful track record and Milone's mediocre stuff what if those two are awful as well? What do the Twins do then? Roll with what they have till mid season and see how it goes or call up Meyer, May and possibly Berrios if things go way south early? Wouldn't it be ironic if injuries and poor starts force TR's hand?

"IS THERE REASON FOR HOPE ANY REASON" Nope. None at all.

What do you mean its not true? Gibson & Milone are not unrestricted free agents until 2019. Santana's deal automatically vests if he pitches 200 innings in 2018. Nolasco has a club option for 2018. Sure there options but they are technically signed through those periods i outlined. So yeah it IS TRUE. Next.

I agree with you. Unless Pelfrey's arm literally falls off i don't see the Twins giving May, Meyer or anyone else at AAA a shot before September. It ain't happenin. Of the five starters (not including Pelfrey) all are under contract through 2018 and three are under contract through 2019. There is clearly a rotation logjam right now and Terry Ryan is in no hurry to clear space. In fact the FO is SO desperate to win games this year and draw more fans that they are pushing back the timetable for most of their prized prospects with the hope that the mediocre veterans will scrap together a few more wins and avoid another 90+ loss season. They have exhibited this pattern year after year after year. It DOESN'T WORK! Honestly, I don't think that Berrios will see the majors until mid 2017 given he's only 21. May and Meyer might get a September callup but that's only if the Twins are totally out of the running by August and the injury bug has bitten the rotation. As far as the lineup goes Sano might get a fall callup but only if he's tearing the cover off the ball and Plouffe is struggling at 3rd. In the outfield, if Jordan Schafer and Shane Robinson stay above the Mendoza line i really don't see Ryan calling up Buxton or Rosario this season. Not trying to be negative but we all know how Terry Ryan runs this operation. It's all about fielding mediocre veterans.

I'm not optimistic like some here. I think the Twins will stick with Pelfrey until Santana returns, unless he's so unbelievably bad that he can't make 5 innings multiple games in a row. Then they might bench him in favor of one of the AAA starters. That said, it doesn't look good for Berrios, Meyer & May. Phil Hughes, Kyle Gibson and Ervin Santana are signed through 2019. Ricky Nolasco and Tommy Milone are under contract till 2018. Pelfrey is the only soon to be free agent and he was a long shot to make the rotation anyways until Santana was suspended. Unless the Twins plan on moving some of these big long term contracts they simply have no room for some of these young pitching prospects for the foreseeable future. Not a good omen for May and Meyer who will both be 26 this season.

I don't agree. While Meyer needs a bit more polish, May just needs to be stretched out in a couple of starts and he's ready. I think TR is trying to save his job by winning games early and drawing more fans this season. Remember season attendance has been plummeting the last few seasons. I'm convinced that he and the rest of his staff are on the hot seat with ownership. The Pohlads do care about one thing and that is making a profit on their team. Ryan can't afford to lose 90-100 games this season. I think he is gambling that the Mike Pelfrey's, Tommy Milone's, Ricky Nolasco's and uhh Ervin Santana's were going to save his skin this season.

Exactly. The idea should be that they are offloaded if they have respectable starts to the season. I will be Ticked off though if either strings together 5 or 6 horrendous starts and the twins do nothing like call up may or meyer.

I think we need to be careful with the assumptions. There were MANY many Twins fans that never wanted these signings to begin with. I get the Hughes extension after last season and to a lesser extent the Santana signing in principle (4 years was too many given his age, IMO). But I think most of us can agree that we never wanted or warmed up to the Nolasco or Pelfrey deal(s). So in reality its not "having it both ways" at all. If those two hadn't been signed we'd have had a true open competition for #5 (Meyer, Berrios & May) with Hughes, Santana, Gibson locks at 1-3 and Milone more or less penciled in at #4. Unfortunately, Terry Ryan appears to be growing impatient (probably under pressure from ownership to start winning) thus he is clogging things up with these mediocre signings. This could jeopardize the development of May and Meyer who need significant major league experience soon. Remember too that during the winter meetings Ryan was hunting for 2 starters and attempted to get Kyle Kendricks. So what does that say about his confidence in these youngsters? That said, there is NOTHING to be gained by keeping May in AAA. The guy was ready last August and should have made the rotation out of spring training, despite the flu limiting his innings and the one good, one bad starts. Meyer on the other hand needs a little more time given his chaotic mechanics, inconsistency and mental game issues. So I see the reasoning that he was sent down at least temporarily. Berrios, obviously needs to pitch in AAA first before jumping to the major league level but he could be knocking on the door very soon. The Twins have A LOT of decisions to make this season. Either embrace the youth movement and trade some of the starters or stick with what they have and trade the prospects (which they probably won't do either). On a side note, I think the bullpen is going to be atrocious and we'll quickly see call ups.

They're not trying to prove anything IMO. This is SYA, kinda like CYA except it's save your own bleep. I think TR and his crew have been given the ultimatum by the Pohlads. Start winning games put more fans in the seats so that i can make more money OR ELSE. Just my opinion though. That said, i think they are miscalculating the guys being sent down (Sano, Rosario, May and to a lesser extent Hicks, Meyer and Buxton) would probably help this team win more games than Pelfrey, Milone, Stauffer, Robinson, Nunez and Tori Hunter. Again, just my opinion though.

All this means is that May and Meyer likely won't be starting for the rest of the season.

And neither is Meyer. Both are 25/26. Guess the Twins have decided that they can wait a couple more years with both. Rosario, Polanco, Buxton, May, Meyer all sent down in favor of the Mike Pelfrey's, Tommy Milone's, Shane Robinson's, and other washed up mediocre veterans......yep that's the Twins. Gotta love it.