Shane Wahl

Dempster is past his prime and could be add for a Pavanoesque (a few million more per) two-year deal. I know he wants to stay with the Cubs, but in some ways that team is in more of a mess than the Twins are, believe it or not.

I bet he plays Friday or Saturday, but if you are right about this then something has to be done about this problem. I am not in the area, but have any of the sports "journalists" at the Strib been vehement in calling this issue out? Has anyone actually addressed Terry Ryan about this problem? And if they haven't, why not? The Twins have already done it again this year with Morneau.

Yeah you're right all around here. Although I would want Ray Chang to get his cup of coffee a la Brian Dinkelman last year, I would think that Florimon is the next IF to be brought up unless Valencia starts going ape quickly. That said, it would be damn funny (in a depressing sense) if Sean Burroughs was back before Valencia! Ha.

I don't want to make it a Revere forum either, but on what planet can anyone call Revere a "great hitter"? He's just come around to be a good singles hitter in AAA. He has not done so in the majors. And being a great singles hitter is not being a great hitter. And batting is more than just hitting.

Did you just seriously use a W-L record to evaluate a pitcher?! Good lord. You are right, even though you don't say it, that DeVries is different as a reliever than as a starter. And I would not expect him to be very good in the majors, but what do you want the Twins to do at this point? Even DeVries starting is better than Blackburn. The Twins just cannot keep running these guys out there to pitch this terribly again and again and again. It is beyond absurd and I am not even confident that the law of averages is going to be on the side of Marquis and Blackburn. That's scary.

Darnell walked one and struck out 8, not the other way around. Whew! That scared me for a second.

Well, I like the potential there, but I do doubt that he is going to be better than a FA signing. And with Blackburn's stupid contract, there would then be 3 spots open.

Yeah, I would expect Span to get one more day of rest (day game tomorrow . . . although maybe that makes Revere's trip more difficult?) and then it would be great to see a Revere-Span-Mastroianni OF for at least a game.

Joe's gotta catch more and Willingham will either have to DH or move to RF. Damn it. God! Matt Carson might have been a better option otherwise.

I like Ryan Dempster a lot, and they could get him on a two-year deal. I would expect Gibson to be involved, but not until June. Hendriks and Diamond are locks to me. Dempster Hendriks Diamond Blackburn (total disgrace that this will happen) Bromberg

I went away for 20 minutes to put my 14-month-old son to sleep. Then I see that the toddler equivalent to a MLB pitcher blows another game. This is despicable. Get an "injury", Blackburn.

Who else do you propose leading off in such a situation? Komatsu and Mastroianni are good OBP guys. Unless you suppose moving Mauer there, I am not sure what else to do!

Dozier!!!!!

I don't know much about him and there is a pretty small sample size to work with.

If the Twins starting pitching was league average, they would be a much different team right now. Attitude has little to do with it. The farm system was depleted after 2010, but the Twins could not have expected so many injuries in 2011 to necessitate making that hole so visible. If the farm system situation in 2012 were moved forward a year to 2011 (and call-ups weren't so mismanaged), last year would have been very, very different, and this year we would be looking at team full of rookies and second or third year players. It is not much more than a one-year gap . . . but there have been major injuries and other issues with Gibson, Wimmers, and Bromberg, all of whom could have somewhat reasonably been expected after 2010 to be involved with the team by 2012, and certainly by the beginning of next year. And let's not forget the most ridiculous contract of them all--Nick Blackburn's.

There is no guarantee that Johan Santana would have the same injury or any such injury if he remained with the Twins. It was a terrible decision to make that trade. They should have thrown more money and years to keep him around.

It is not clear that Buxton is far and away the best player. That is the problem with the BPA approach. Zimmer, Appel, and Gausman might be all fairly interchangeable, so taking one of them would be what I would do.

Not gonna lie, I like Dozier hitting 5th or 6th (aside from the obvious fact that Mauer should be batting second).

Because there has to be something positive to talk about, and in part as a lead-in to going through my top 50 prospects heading into the year, there are a number of players of interest to look at instead of looking at Carl Pavano, Jason Marquis, and Nick Blackburn starts. Here are 6 stories at each currently-playing level (and one extra): At Rochester: 1. Ben Revere is hitting well again, and while he is not drawing walks, it is interesting to see that batting average rise above .320. I still wonder what the season would look like if the Twins had decided, properly, to make Willingham be a professional baseball player and move to RF while Revere platooned in LF with Plouffe or by now, Matt Carson. That decision to keep the Hammer in left had a chain effect. Parmelee was kept where he didn't belong. Clete Thomas and Eric Komatsu were signed and Mastroianni has been brought up. Those last three moves made the nice compliment to Revere, Matt Carson, not a possibility, even though it looks like a good platoon in LF with Revere and Carson. Willingham is going to have to move to RF or maybe first base. Or at least he should. I don't really understand it. I am not claiming that this would have been a monumental shift in the outcome of the season, but it is undoubtedly the case that Revere would have brought more than those players trying to play RF this year. 2. Matt Carson is hitting very well. .780 OPS, and he can play all three OF spots. Can hit the ball a long way, even if he has only homered once so far. 3. Anthony Slama's numbers are ridiculously good. He is deserving of a shot with this team struggling so much. I almost would say that the Twins are trying to save face . . . like they don't want to promote him and have it turn out that he is a good reliever after all of this time keeping him in AAA while he dominated every year. The walks do not make his WHIP egregious at all. 4. Deolis Guerra will be up with the Twins this year. And it won't just because the Twins have to see what he can do--he will have deserved the chance. The velocity is down, but he and Slama are interesting hurlers who don't hurl very hard, yet are still dominating at triple AAA. 5. Lester Oliveros. Powerish reliever, should get a chance again with the Twins this year. He got some good innings in AA since the AAA bullpen was crammed. With Guerra, could be an effective RH middle relief duo who pitch rather differently (and maybe they may Alex Burnett a trade candidate) 6. Pedro Florimon. A solid pickup to add minor league depth, but may be appearing this year for the Twins if injury hits any of the three middle infielders. At New Britain: 1. Deibinson Romero is returning to serviceability, and at a position of need for the Twins right now. I am surprised that he has not been called up to AAA yet, but given that the Twins have sent their two third basemen down to AAA, my surprise is unfounded. 2. Chris Colabello is a good story. The indy league acquisition is holding his own at AA with a .768 OPS. He has shown some good power. 3. Aaron Hicks--the prospect some Twins fans have come to love to hate--is doing fairly well this year and is showing that he belongs at AA. He is striking out too much, but is on base for a 15 homer/30 steal season this year. 4. Steve Hirschfeld--off-speed pitcher who is repeating New Britain with slightly better numbers. He is not a strikeout pitcher, but 32 in 40.2 innings isn't terrible. 5. David Bromberg--Please let this poor guy have a comeback year. A lot of people have forgotten about Bromberg who a few years ago looked like the guy who would be the first replacement once the Twins starting pitching started going down the toilet. He turns 25 in September. As a starter for New Britain, he has been dominant. He has struck out 20 in his last 16 innings while giving up only five hits and no runs. 6. Andrew Albers--Albers has had some struggles as a starter, but he profiles as a middle or long reliever. He has struck out 34 and walked only three in 42 innings. At Fort Myers: 1. Oswaldo Arcia--It was a little scary seeing Arcia struggle out of the gate this year after falling off last year after his promotion to Fort Myers. He still strikes out too much, but he has already drawn more walks this year than he did in nearly twice the time in Fort Myers last year. If his numbers keep improving and he gets above the .850 OPS mark, he may be moving up to New Britain. 2. Danny Santana--Santana has hit better than I thought, and I actually had high expectations for him this year. He is young like Arcia, but still getting the job done at high-A. The .430 slugging from the middle infielder is very encouraging. The 4/18 BB/K ratio is not. He should work on his plate discipline and he may also be knocking on the door for a promotion late this season. 3. Lance Ray--Ray's numbers in Fort Myers project to be almost identical to those last year in Beloit. That's good in itself, but he also has improved with BB/K rate significantly at the same time. He could be a valuable corner OF/1B guy for the Twins down the road. He is crushing RH pitching this year. 4. Jairo Perez--Perez is showing that his gaudy Beloit numbers in 2011 weren't some fluke. He is killing LH pitching. If he can manage 3B at all, he might be a guy to see time if the post-Danny Valencia era arrives soon. 5. Ricky Bowen--Bowen has pitched 24 innings, striking out 20 and walking only five. He is rather old for Fort Myers, so I would like to see what he does in New Britain. 6. Matthew Hauser--Another guy who belongs in New Britain rather soon. Hauser throws hard and strikes guys out. He has now logged over 62 innings at Fort Myers with 63 strikeouts and 22 walks. At Beloit: 1. Miguel Sano--Sano hasn't slowed down--he has sped up. And now he has more walks than he did all of last year. He could hit 30 homers this year if he stays in Beloit. He strikes out a lot, but that shouldn't shy the organization away from promoting him at some point this year. Striking out isn't the end of the world, and this kind of power is obviously terribly rare in the organization. 2. Eddie Rosario--The power numbers are down, but Rosario's BB/K rate is fantastic (20/17) and the .830 OPS is still very good. The homers are becoming doubles, but that is OK, especially if he can stick at 2B. He still needs ample time at Beloit this year. 3. Matthew Koch--The sample size is very small (49 plate appearances), but Koch's OPS is .879 and he has two homers. Oh, and he is a catcher. 4. Adam Pettersen--The .711 OPS for the guy forced to move all-around the field defensively has been a good showing. I actually think he showed perhaps be promoted first to Fort Myers given his age and defensive versatility. And he was born eight years to the day after yours truly, so there's that. 5. Tim Shibuya--Shibuya just threw a complete game shutout and has been excellent with very similar projected stats from E-Town. He could be a fast-riser in the system plagued by starting pitching prospect injuries and starting pitchers who are terrible yet still pitch in MLB. 6. A.J. Achter--Not sure why he isn't pitching at Fort Myers already. He now has 120+ innings at Beloit with 131 Ks and 40 BB. He is dominating righties this year. And one more: My adopted prospect, Chris Herrmann. In the interest of having two catchers on this "roster" I wanted to include Herrmann. He is not repeating his plate discipline from 2011, and that is rather alarming. His power numbers have certainly jumped. Hopefully he can put it altogether in the remainder of the year. So, that's: C: Chris Herrmann and Matthew Koch. 1B: Chris Colabello and Lance Ray 2B: Eddie Rosario and Adam Pettersen SS: Pedro Florimon and Danny Santana 3B: Miguel Sano, Jairo Perez, and Deibinson Romero OF: Ben Revere, Matt Carson, Aaron Hicks, and Oswaldo Arcia Pitchers: Steve Hirschfeld, David Bromberg, Andrew Albers, Tim Shibuya, Anthony Slama, Deolis Guerra, Lester Oliveros, Ricky Bowen, Matt Hauser, and A.J. Achter

Because there has to be something positive to talk about, and in part as a lead-in to going through my top 50 prospects heading into the year, there are a number of players of interest to look at instead of looking at Carl Pavano, Jason Marquis, and Nick Blackburn starts. Here are 6 stories at each currently-playing level (and one extra): At Rochester: 1. Ben Revere is hitting well again, and while he is not drawing walks, it is interesting to see that batting average rise above .320. I still wonder what the season would look like if the Twins had decided, properly, to make Willingham be a professional baseball player and move to RF while Revere platooned in LF with Plouffe or by now, Matt Carson. That decision to keep the Hammer in left had a chain effect. Parmelee was kept where he didn't belong. Clete Thomas and Eric Komatsu were signed and Mastroianni has been brought up. Those last three moves made the nice compliment to Revere, Matt Carson, not a possibility, even though it looks like a good platoon in LF with Revere and Carson. Willingham is going to have to move to RF or maybe first base. Or at least he should. I don't really understand it. I am not claiming that this would have been a monumental shift in the outcome of the season, but it is undoubtedly the case that Revere would have brought more than those players trying to play RF this year. 2. Matt Carson is hitting very well. .780 OPS, and he can play all three OF spots. Can hit the ball a long way, even if he has only homered once so far. 3. Anthony Slama's numbers are ridiculously good. He is deserving of a shot with this team struggling so much. I almost would say that the Twins are trying to save face . . . like they don't want to promote him and have it turn out that he is a good reliever after all of this time keeping him in AAA while he dominated every year. The walks do not make his WHIP egregious at all. 4. Deolis Guerra will be up with the Twins this year. And it won't just because the Twins have to see what he can do--he will have deserved the chance. The velocity is down, but he and Slama are interesting hurlers who don't hurl very hard, yet are still dominating at triple AAA. 5. Lester Oliveros. Powerish reliever, should get a chance again with the Twins this year. He got some good innings in AA since the AAA bullpen was crammed. With Guerra, could be an effective RH middle relief duo who pitch rather differently (and maybe they may Alex Burnett a trade candidate) 6. Pedro Florimon. A solid pickup to add minor league depth, but may be appearing this year for the Twins if injury hits any of the three middle infielders. At New Britain: 1. Deibinson Romero is returning to serviceability, and at a position of need for the Twins right now. I am surprised that he has not been called up to AAA yet, but given that the Twins have sent their two third basemen down to AAA, my surprise is unfounded. 2. Chris Colabello is a good story. The indy league acquisition is holding his own at AA with a .768 OPS. He has shown some good power. 3. Aaron Hicks--the prospect some Twins fans have come to love to hate--is doing fairly well this year and is showing that he belongs at AA. He is striking out too much, but is on base for a 15 homer/30 steal season this year. 4. Steve Hirschfeld--off-speed pitcher who is repeating New Britain with slightly better numbers. He is not a strikeout pitcher, but 32 in 40.2 innings isn't terrible. 5. David Bromberg--Please let this poor guy have a comeback year. A lot of people have forgotten about Bromberg who a few years ago looked like the guy who would be the first replacement once the Twins starting pitching started going down the toilet. He turns 25 in September. As a starter for New Britain, he has been dominant. He has struck out 20 in his last 16 innings while giving up only five hits and no runs. 6. Andrew Albers--Albers has had some struggles as a starter, but he profiles as a middle or long reliever. He has struck out 34 and walked only three in 42 innings. At Fort Myers: 1. Oswaldo Arcia--It was a little scary seeing Arcia struggle out of the gate this year after falling off last year after his promotion to Fort Myers. He still strikes out too much, but he has already drawn more walks this year than he did in nearly twice the time in Fort Myers last year. If his numbers keep improving and he gets above the .850 OPS mark, he may be moving up to New Britain. 2. Danny Santana--Santana has hit better than I thought, and I actually had high expectations for him this year. He is young like Arcia, but still getting the job done at high-A. The .430 slugging from the middle infielder is very encouraging. The 4/18 BB/K ratio is not. He should work on his plate discipline and he may also be knocking on the door for a promotion late this season. 3. Lance Ray--Ray's numbers in Fort Myers project to be almost identical to those last year in Beloit. That's good in itself, but he also has improved with BB/K rate significantly at the same time. He could be a valuable corner OF/1B guy for the Twins down the road. He is crushing RH pitching this year. 4. Jairo Perez--Perez is showing that his gaudy Beloit numbers in 2011 weren't some fluke. He is killing LH pitching. If he can manage 3B at all, he might be a guy to see time if the post-Danny Valencia era arrives soon. 5. Ricky Bowen--Bowen has pitched 24 innings, striking out 20 and walking only five. He is rather old for Fort Myers, so I would like to see what he does in New Britain. 6. Matthew Hauser--Another guy who belongs in New Britain rather soon. Hauser throws hard and strikes guys out. He has now logged over 62 innings at Fort Myers with 63 strikeouts and 22 walks. At Beloit: 1. Miguel Sano--Sano hasn't slowed down--he has sped up. And now he has more walks than he did all of last year. He could hit 30 homers this year if he stays in Beloit. He strikes out a lot, but that shouldn't shy the organization away from promoting him at some point this year. Striking out isn't the end of the world, and this kind of power is obviously terribly rare in the organization. 2. Eddie Rosario--The power numbers are down, but Rosario's BB/K rate is fantastic (20/17) and the .830 OPS is still very good. The homers are becoming doubles, but that is OK, especially if he can stick at 2B. He still needs ample time at Beloit this year. 3. Matthew Koch--The sample size is very small (49 plate appearances), but Koch's OPS is .879 and he has two homers. Oh, and he is a catcher. 4. Adam Pettersen--The .711 OPS for the guy forced to move all-around the field defensively has been a good showing. I actually think he showed perhaps be promoted first to Fort Myers given his age and defensive versatility. And he was born eight years to the day after yours truly, so there's that. 5. Tim Shibuya--Shibuya just threw a complete game shutout and has been excellent with very similar projected stats from E-Town. He could be a fast-riser in the system plagued by starting pitching prospect injuries and starting pitchers who are terrible yet still pitch in MLB. 6. A.J. Achter--Not sure why he isn't pitching at Fort Myers already. He now has 120+ innings at Beloit with 131 Ks and 40 BB. He is dominating righties this year. And one more: My adopted prospect, Chris Herrmann. In the interest of having two catchers on this "roster" I wanted to include Herrmann. He is not repeating his plate discipline from 2011, and that is rather alarming. His power numbers have certainly jumped. Hopefully he can put it altogether in the remainder of the year. So, that's: C: Chris Herrmann and Matthew Koch. 1B: Chris Colabello and Lance Ray 2B: Eddie Rosario and Adam Pettersen SS: Pedro Florimon and Danny Santana 3B: Miguel Sano, Jairo Perez, and Deibinson Romero OF: Ben Revere, Matt Carson, Aaron Hicks, and Oswaldo Arcia Pitchers: Steve Hirschfeld, David Bromberg, Andrew Albers, Tim Shibuya, Anthony Slama, Deolis Guerra, Lester Oliveros, Ricky Bowen, Matt Hauser, and A.J. Achter

He dropped off for one injury-plagued year and 6 weeks into the following season while probably playing a few too many games. Perspective is needed.

First, they can afford 2 $20 million players even at $100 million after this year, and especially after Morneau's contract is gone. Second, yeah I would choose those guys you mention before Mauer, but Fielder and Butera is not that much greater than Mauer and Jim Thome, or some good DH/1B option. The positional scarcity thing is abstract until you actually start putting players in. Yeah, a Fielder-Butera duo compared to a Mauer-Parmelee duo favors the first pair, but Mauer and a healthy Morneau? Without crunching numbers, I am guessing the latter pair.

Molitor, Morris, and Gladden aren't going to add wins. This "fire" and "heart" stuff keeps rearing its unproven, ugly, irrational head. As far as coaches go, unless they go big and start with Ryan, I don't know about making other changes. Point is you can't just get rid of Vavra or Anderson. You have to start with Gardenhire. I am not sure if I would do that at the moment. Trade Revere, not Span. Pavano has got to have some injury to rest his shoulder. Call up DeVries to replace him. A Hendriks for Blackburn swap along similar lines a bit later. Maybe Bromberg for Marquis. Ending the year pitching Hendriks, Diamond, DeVries, Bromberg, and Blackburn/Walters is not a terrible idea. They could figure out 3/5 of the rotation for 2013 that way.

You beat me to it!

I haven't read everything in this thread, but has anyone mentioned that the true paralyzing situation for the Twins is Justin Morneau and his contract? A healthy Justin Morneau causes a chain reaction beyond what he alone brings in WAR. The Twins have had to alter everything the past two years and this year it contributed (with Willingham's unwillingness to make a simple corner OF switch) to a total roster FARCE. The 1B/DH/RF situation outside of the past two weeks of Ryan Doumit has been an absurdity. Not Monty Python ha-ha absurdity, but painful absurdity . . . Clete Thomas signing and making a regular out of player who had not a single plate appearance in AAA. And more. Furthermore, aside from the big two contracts, the Twins have a problem with paying smallish to medium sized contracts to players that suck. This is historical true, but historically it was more like 4-5 $2-3 million contracts for a total of $8-15 million (still a lot, and still money to be spent on a combination of replacement players and a star). Now it is Pavano, Baker, Liriano, Blackburn, and Capps (to a lesser extent). That's something like $30 million. That is a much greater problem than Joe Mauer. They could (and slowly are) replace each of those 4 starters with replacement players from the minors for probably the same or more wins (Diamond, Walters, Hendriks, DeVries).