laloesch

Sano is not going to sign an extension with the Twins PERIOD IMO! He's a playboy, spending much of his offseason in NY City the last two years if I remember correctly. Perhaps that changes eventually but right now there is NO-WAY he signs an extension in Minnesota. He could make 200+ million on his first contract if he signs outside Minnesota. He will be on the first plane ride outta here as soon as sniffs FA.

He's actually pitched a decent game so far. Bert has it right he's learning to pitch instead of just throwing it. I think he's much more effective throwing fewer FB's and mixing it up more. Sano llooking pretty good at 3rd.

Maybe but most of them upper 80's

Hughes struggling to hit 90 with his FB. Not good.

Quality at-bats and i'm happy to see them.

Intuition? I beg to differ. If he continues to pitch like this and is shopped around at the deadline i'm sure he will fetch a fair value. He has an option year still. I don't understand the pessimism about his value. Were not talking about Brian Dozier here.

I think we should approach the Dodgers about a trade for De Leon, Alvarez and one other guy. OH that's right they don't need pitching and DeLeon was traded already. All kidding aside I'm 99% positive that their will be a much bigger market for starting pitching when the playoffs near and teams realize they need a top of the rotation starter (assuming Santana continues like this). We won't get forced into a corner by teams like the Dodgers because there's a narrow demand for second baseman.

If continues pitching like this up to the trade deadline and some team comes knocking with a nice package of prospects i just don't see how you turn them down. Unless these guys surprise everyone and are legitimately in the playoff hunt. Then it gets tough. But i agree. Add talent while you still have a chance (he's going to be 35 next season).

Raising the bar. Baby steps.

i was about to say he could demand a healthy ransom at the deadline if he pitches like this all season. A pitching hungry team contending for the playoffs could come a calling for him.

Can he learn a knuckle ball? "Spring phenoms fool people. Veterans doing badly is called experimenting." I think this is wishful thinking and to be honest Phil has been getting destroyed in ST so far while throwing in the upper 80's. Not a good sign at all. TJ? Shoulder issues?

interesting analogy. i concur.

Pretty telling. I'd take the Indians rotation any day of the week and twice on Sunday if i had a choice.

I still question the need to do this now. Why not let Jay pitch one more season in the minors as a starter and see how he does? Last season he pitched okay. Why not see if he can build upon that? It's just rare to draft lefties with his power and selection of pitches. Doesn't it seem like a waste to write him off as a RP at this point? He's only 22 years old. Besides I doubt he makes the majors this season in any capacity given Paul Molitor is managing and has a preference for "veterans."

If he's only hitting 78mph on his fastball right now that's game over for Perk. Torn Labrum is a very difficult surgery on a pitcher.

I was about to echo the same thing. WTH were the Twins scouts and FO thinking drafting this guy with the #6 pick? Stupid if you ask me. Sorry to sound harsh, but this screams incompetence. The conversion of RP's to successful meaningful starters is not great to begin with. Why put yourself behind the eight ball in the first place and draft a square peg and try and ram it into a round hole? Edit: I can see this gamble with later picks but a top 10 first round pick?

This is just depressing. First May needing TJ and then this flop, a draft pick specifically made because they thought they could convert him back to a starter. Just par for the course under the Ryan regime. Like i said in another thread the Twins better pray for rain this season and hope Thorpe, Gonsalves, Stewart take a big step forward.

It took me a while to edit my post. I agree with you on the hitting. I'm still bummed out on the May deal. Not a good sign when you put so much hope on one guy. I absolutely do agree with not squandering the core of hitting talent we have now. From the offensive perspective i think this team is close, it's just the darn pitching that's killing them right now. We ALL really do need to pray for rain this season and hope that Berrios, Meija, Gonsalves continue to progress towards major league roles. This is a BIG BIG year to see what they have down there otherwise I think the FO will be forced to fork over a TON of money in desperation to get starters here sooner.

Yep. The Twins are 3 or 4 starters away from competition STILL and there is not much on the horizon that is remotely close and has proven a thing. I was really hoping that this season would be big year for May, but as it stands now having TJ at 27....hard not to think that his career is essentially over after watching other guys taking 1 year and 1.5 years to come back. Hughes is a shadow of his former self. Duffey and Gibson are absolute train wrecks, Santiago is Nolasco light and Berrios can't handle major pitching. Were do they go from there? They are NOWHERE near ready to go out and spend big on premium major league starters when they have nothing else to pair it with. If anything the new FO needs to purge guys like Hughes, Mauer, Santiago, Perkins, etc. over the next two years. Guys who are not living up to expectations and are taking up large chunks of the payroll. Clear some space so that in 2 years the club will have much greater flexibility to make meaningful moves and go after quality starters, to pair with some of the up and coming talent. The only hiccup is that there doesn't appear to be that many guys on the way up given how bad the team has been these past five years. Who else is there besides Berrios, Gonsalves, Romero, Meija?. Thorpe missed 2015 and 2016 with TJ surgery and a viral infection and is off the radar. Kohl Stewart looks like a flop with the horrible K/9 rates. Tyler Jay is struggling to convert to a starting role.

Yep. My fear is his career is basically over now. Plan B..... Meija? Berrios?

Really? Are we watching the same guy? He can throw sliders, curves and changeups. In 2010 (arguably his best season), almost 17% of his pitches were curveballs and 5% were changeups. In 2012 (another good year for him), 19% curve balls, 10% changeups. When he first joined the Twins he started throwing a knuckle curve and that has steadily increased to almost 23% of his offerings, but so has his usage of that cutter which looks like mostly fastball and not slider. I think Hughes needs to cut back on the cutter and start throwing sliders again and increase the number of changeups thrown. If he can't consistently sit in the low 90's he's going to have to reinvent himself. He's not going to get away with 66-67% of his pitches being 4-seamers and cutters. But hey what the heck do i know. Just my thoughts.

He needs to embrace his off speed breaking ball stuff (changeup, slider, curve) and increase there usage while dramatically cutting back on the number of 4 seam fastballs thrown. Part of the reason he's been pounded the last couple of years is the ridiculous number of fastballs that he throws. If your a hitter just hack away and eventually you'll get something you like.

Interesting mention of Jeff Pickler. I wonder if the new FO hired him to keep a close watch on Molitor and implement new ideas that Paul has been resistant too?

I would like to think that is a possibility but given he's only pitched up to AA it's not at all likely to happen.

I think given how poorly this team pitched last season a 13 man pitching staff is a necessary evil.