Shane Wahl

Oh my you are right about Reusse's column. I didn't read it until now. Hamstringing Molitor with those decisions was very bad.

I am telling you . . . Ryan O'Rourke . . .

.317/.406/.448 (.854) with 38 doubles and 7 homers.

.257/.322/.336 (.658) with 19 doubles and 3 homers.

.258/.344/.420 (.764) with 33 doubles and 19 homers.

The headline here is a reference--if you do not know somehow--to a line from The Big Lebowski. It's the scene in the car where Walter has brought "the ringer" ("the whites") and The Dude loses it on him. The Dude is a very chill guy who smokes pot, listens to CCR, and bowls. But in this scene he yells (editing profanity) "You (screwed) it up! You (screwed) it up!" Walter responds with the quote in the headline. Well it's that time of year when the Twins opening day roster becomes finalized and many, including myself, are screaming what The Dude was screaming in the car. I mean it all seems ridiculous. Maybe not each individual move taken separately, but when looking at the totality--Milone, Pelfrey, Boyer, and Robinson as choices over May, Meyer, Tonkin/Oliveros/Achter, and Hicks/Rosario, on top of the additions of Hunter and Stauffer--it looks like a big roster mistake based on some strange notion of trying to compete with aging guys instead of rebuilding with younger guys. That's all true. I don't think the truth is on the Twins side here. This seems like a bizarre way to approach the season, especially since this doesn't mean merely having the young guys "earn" a promotion to the Twins . . . they are now forced to compete with one another down in AAA and even AA in some cases. It would seem like a rebuilding team promotes the young guys to get a sense of who is going to be worthy of keeping in 2016 and beyond. I cannot imagine any of those six--Milone, Pelfrey, Boyer, Robinson, Hunter, and Stauffer--being on the team in 2016. But screaming about this isn't going to do any good and it isn't good for oneself. It is indeed being very un-dude. Here's a breakdown: A. It's baseball. Baseball isn't like bowling . . . but watching baseball is like bowling in that you do it for fun and you drink beer while doing it. B. There might be value in finding even one of those six guys who puts up a legitimate year that adds wins to the team this year. Stauffer and Hunter are the best bets there. ST stats mean very little. Stauffer is a good reliever. C. Maybe this new focus on the changeup will improve the staff, including Boyer. D. The young guys can all be together and work together and help each other out that way. Rochester suddenly has Rosario, Hicks, and Danny Ortiz in the OF. May and Meyer will be leading the rotation with the likes of Wheeler, Rogers, and maybe Duffey. Tonkin, Oliveros, and Achter are going to be in the bullpen with O'Rourke, Darnell (if I were Darnell, I would advocate for a full-time bullpen role), Hamburger, and Pressly. Rochester actually should be full of prospects, which is rare. It should be good though. E. Nothing is really stopping a mass movement upward. This isn't Gardenhire's team, so we don't really know what to expect. If the oldsters aren't getting the job done, then I do think Molitor will replace them. And this can include a Schafer-Robinson for Hicks-Rosario swap. First, Rosario is going to get some time at second base in Rochester, and thus he still has that going for the Twins as another backup for Dozier. Second, Hunter is going to need days off, as will Mauer, and younger guys like Arcia and Vargas. There are innings and at bats there. Also, with each passing day the Twins are paying Mike Pelfrey less and less. Milone and Stauffer aren't making all that much, and Boyer is making very little. They are all replaceable and will be replaced with one wave from AAA and then another from AA. F. We don't know what is going to happen, so let's just enjoy it. There are still a number of things to be excited about. First, a fully recovered Joe Mauer. Second, Santana and Vargas soph seasons. Third, Oswaldo Arcia is going to go ape this year. I guarantee that. Fourth, Eduardo Escobar is still going to get plenty of at bats and be a doubles machine. Finally, a new manager and pitching coach. This is the most important thing. Those old, ridiculous days are gone. G. Being un-Dude is a terrible way to be. It's understandable that we are "not into the whole levity thing" right now. We have ideas about what should be done and the Twins make mistakes. But it is clear that this is still the beginning of baseball season and that is something to be quite pleased about. I do think that these problems are going to work themselves out. The September roster should be pretty sick. There will be trades made that will help support a minor league system that hopefully is seeing its last top 10 overall pick this year. There are still plenty of good things occurring outside of the decisions regarding players 21-25 on the roster.

Gleeman is spot on here.

Yes, and this is precisely what drives me totally batty. I think Thrylos, too.

Just to make a quick note. There was a study about this by Baseball Prospectus and the Twins were the slowest through 2009, I believe. Some of that has changed. I do not know of an updated study.

Why does anyone care about how Mike Pelfrey is taking this? He has been a terrible pitcher for the Twins.

It would take approximately one start for May to be stretched out! And yes to your entire second paragraph!!!

Released Koch and T. Jones? Why?

Yeah . . . I mean look at this (and I understand the "opening day doesn't really matter" crowd, but there still are 40-man issues, and development issues) . . . . a rebuild with Hunter, Robinson, Milone, Pelfrey, and Stauffer instead of Rosario, Hicks, May, Tonkin, and Oliveros (or two other relievers). This is why I never really get the idea of "winning more games" and "playing prospects/young guys" being mutually exclusive. At AAA too. The Twins seem to just ram aging veterans from the top down instead of just going with a full youth movement to actually see who the hell is good and worth keeping. Then you just get young guys pissed off and off elsewhere to potentially succeed. This is enough of a problem, but it is only exacerbated by injuries to some key prospects . . . the rebuild gets further and further delayed. Back after 2012, I would have thought 2015 to be the year of certain contention. Now? Does 2017 even make sense for that?

This is probably my favorite post in some time around here!

Come on. First, Robinson has no success against lefties, so this "platoon" stuff is comedy. Second, Rosario or Hicks would push Schafer to the 4th OF and Robinson out of the organization.

I have said this a bunch, but Shane Robinson does not belong on an MLB roster, *unless* that team is heading to the playoffs and they need a guy to do one thing very well, like defense. That's why it made sense for the Cardinals to have him, but it is absurd for the Twins to have him.

Milone was the guy going in and he is the guy coming out. They probably always were going to toss Hicks in AAA as well. I don't really mind not relying on ST stuff on the field. But May and Hicks should be with the Twins. The replacements for them are *bad* and with no upside for any future with the team. Hopefully this all gets corrected by May 15 or so.

Indeed. Hicks has taken it well. I imagine May did as well. Pelfrey did not, which comes as no surprise.

I really like the title!

Calculus, indeed. I was damn good at math through 10th grade. Then some higher algebra came along and I was like "what?" Then senior year A.P. Calculus *destroyed my brain* even with the top notch teachers at old BHS (that's Bemidji, not other poser B-towns in Minnesota). Through about "10th grade" in the Gardenhire era, the Twins had successful bullpens and always the promise of able guys to overfill the bullpen. By now, however, my brain can't deal with this current mess. I really don't like moving any of these 5th starters to the bullpen. May would be wasted as a long man and would get out of whack in a MR role. Pelfrey may only be successful in an MR role. Milone is going to get shelled either way. And then there is this race for mediocrity between Boyer, Thielbar, Thompson, Hamburger, and Graham. Four spots between these eight guys? And that's after Duensing, and Stauffer. Why? How? Luckily, there are guys like Oliveros and Tonkin there, and there are those recently drafted hard-throwers in AA and A+. So maybe the headache will end within a year. It would be how I then went to BSU and didn't have to take a math class in their honors program and could take Symbolic Logic (a Philosophy course, sorta) instead.

Small sample size in spring leads Twins astray again. I hope that this isn't an appropriate headline, but I am afraid it might be. And thus Mike Pelfrey and Blaine Boyer make the roster. No offense to the latter, and maybe this has just been a little showcase and buildup for other teams to claim him. I would really prefer May in the rotation and Oliveros in the bullpen to add strikeouts and a modicum of intimidation for batters.

Learning MLB pitching by facing AAA pitching? No. AAA is a place on the way up or a quick trip down very early on in a career. There is no way it helps him to do anyting but play for the Twins. And the guy is legitimately getting better. Not sure what else can be said here.

I do think that the Twins should trade Danny Santana. Given that it won't happen, I still like the idea of giving real days off to Dozier and Plouffe. They need more rest. Escobar can play 3 days a week as a starter or maybe 2 days. He is a great bench asset.

While it won't happen, I really wish Hicks would just start murdering the baseball this season to end this nonsense. I still don't understand how anyone watching that play could say that it landed next to him or a few feet from him. It was behind him. I watched the path of the ball from behind home. Then I "rewound" the dvr and watched again a few more times. AAA time is going to do squat for him now. Shocked that there is even a debate going on with regard to Shane Robinson and Aaron Hicks.

If he dove, that ball is a triple because he wasn't catching it. On television they actually showed the flight of the ball from up and behind home plate. Not a possible catch. End of story.