Shane Wahl

There is a Northwoods League that is a summer short-season league for some pretty good college players that haven't been drafted or did but opted not to sign. That might be better than the North American League or whatever it is called now. But yeah, Beloit, for instance, has a population of 34,000 or so. Outside of the Metro area, I think Rochester, Duluth, St. Cloud, Mankato, and Moorhead are all bigger. Wisconsin and Iowa have a few minor league teams each, right? Maybe even 3 or 4.

Oops, except I would just flat-out release Clete Thomas.

I agree exactly with those five moves.

I don't know if I agree. I wonder how much Rantz has to do with this kind of decision-making. Your humility maybe shouldn't extend to his job . . .

Even though Carroll gets on base more? Yeah, typical Gardenhire garbage avoiding looking at a simple stat like OBP.

Thanks for this. Now maybe Span can get some respect for his defensive ability around here . . .

Bumping this. Because maybe it is all the relevant after some time for people to think about this again. I still say an injection of new blood is needed immediately. Clete Thomas, Drew Butera and Matt Maloney have to go because they are terrible. Parmelee because he doesn't belong in the majors right now, etc. Give Slama, Chang, Carson and soonish (hopefully) Dozier a chance. Sign some legitimate guys instead of Clete Thomas.

Well, by all means, list off some pitchers who should be acquired right now.

Lee is a solid first baseman. You are right about Vlad and Abreu, but so? Morneau was playing some first base and Doumit has been in RF or C quite a bit. And Abreu, at least, could fill in at RF and LF once a week. I am fine if the Twins want to go the other route and promote the second tier of prospects (not the top ones, but ones who are less-impactful, but solid) to see if they work out. Those players would be Darin Mastroianni, Pedro Florimon, Aaron Bates, and Matt Carson . . .

Let's not forget Ty Wigginton and Derrek Lee too. When I mentioned Wigginton on various Twins blogs last fall the crickets could be heard loud and clear. And that, I thought, was bizarre. And he is showing himself to be very valuable this year. Talk about putting pressure on Valencia . . . and filling in at first base . . . But yeah, like I said, the better players add three different values. I guess we can just watch the Twins lose more games with chumps while those prospects develop . . . but A. that isn't happening with Parmelee, and B. it is beyond frustrating to do so.

I would like to see Dozier return to .800+ OPS in the minors before getting promoted this early. If he is still the same in a month or two, bring him up anyway, but he is not totally lighting up AAA like he did at BOTH A+ and AA last year.

In general I want them to promote prospects faster, yes. In Parmelee's case, I would have liked that process to move faster near the end of last season, moving him to Rochester. I am not for players skipping levels altogether--I think that is quite silly to do. With my June/July timetable, Parmelee would have had almost a year at Rochester. Same with Benson. And let's not forget Revere and how he should have 1 year of Rochester under his belt. I like the approach of being mildly aggressive with players up to Rochester and seeing how 22-24-year-olds do there as a kind of training ground for the Twins. Instead, many players don't even get to Rochester until age 24 and are still there at 26-27 . . . One wants Abreu, Vlad, Lee, Wigginton, Dotel, etc. instead because they are better players. That means more wins and that does mean that, yes, they can be traded at the end of July. That's money spent that can yield value in three different ways: more wins, more time to fine-tune prospects in AAA, and something of value back in trades (even hard-throwers at low-A would be something good to get back for the Twins). And probably more revenue for the team back anyway. Clete Thomas isn't bringing people to games . . . . By the way, I think Hendriks may just be ready to work things out up with the Twins. He's smart and is ready for the Show in that way. He also diagnoses his problems after games and seems very interested in improving. I am not sure that being at Rochester is going to help him.

Exactly. It isn't about Burroughs, it's about the fact that this is yet another strange roster move that seems less desirable than some others. It's indicative of bad thinking about player personnel. And of course the Morneau situation only adds deeply to that. ONCE AGAIN, just DL the guy instead of messing around with the hope that it's a 4-day situation.

I will do another Big Ten roundup soon this week. Have had teething (molars) baby the past 3 nights . . .

Good stuff. That is an interesting lineup--players all over the place now.

With this dismal of a start (even at my most negative I would not have projected this), it might be wise to rethink how the Twins approach the free agent market and the development of their prospects. Maybe that means calling for heads, which seems popular around here today, but it doesn't necessarily mean that. The Twins have been notoriously bad in the Terry Ryan era of signing stop-gap options who invariably end up being terrible (Mike Lamb, Tony Batista, Rondell White, etc.). Couple this with the fact that the Twins promote prospects (2011 aside) slower than anyone, and you have a mess on your hands in terms of not injecting new talent on the roster. (Jim Thome, Orlando Hudson, and Orlando Cabrera make Bill Smith not look terrible in that regard, one positive for him.). Back in November, I remarked that Ty Wigginton might be a good replacement. And then Bobby Abreu. And then Derrek Lee. Wigginton has been great for the Phillies at the corner infield positions. Abreu is available. Derrek Lee is somehow still available. But pipe dreams, apparently, for this organization . . . Meanwhile the Twins started out well with signing of Jamey Carroll and Ryan Doumit (and I am currently not too displeased with how they have played--I still think the law of averages will work in Carroll's favor this year and he will be something like .260/.350/.340). A few more good stop gap signings and they could let their prospects develop in Rochester until June or July. Instead? Sean Burroughs. JR Towles. And then, Clete Thomas (AFTER signing Wilkin Ramirez and Darin Mastroianni). And on the prospect front, Chris Parmelee is still inexplicably on the Twins roster instead of at Rochester where he belongs. I just cannot fathom the thinking there. Wiggington and Lee were/are obvious choices to me. Abreu is more of a stretch . . . but then Clete Thomas started last night. These players aren't the Answer, and you don't rebuild with them, but the right stop gaps allow you to get into position to properly rebuild. The Twins went half way this year and it is showing.

Look at this lineup and the starting pitcher and tell me how it could be possible to win this game? Clete Thomas is terrible, Chris Parmelee doesn't belong here, and Danny Valencia is poor. At least Drew Butera is coming to rescue the Twins.

Why on earth did they bother starting him again?

Why is Clete Thomas still on the team? That is the greater mystery. And seeing Drew Butera on the major league roster makes me puke.

Revere can be a Twin in LF if: 1. The Twins trade Justin Morneau and move Willingham to DH 2. The Twins sign/develop another power hitter at 3B or RF (since Mauer will need to be at 1B some). I am not against those things happening. I like Revere too and I certainly like him in the OF as a platoon partner for Plouffe. Problem is NOT in RF. That's where Willingham's inability to make a simple transition has caused a problem. A big problem too.

The 6-0, 200 pound catcher/OF had a pretty good week: Game log 1-5, 1 2B, 2 k 2-4, HR, 3 runs, 2 rbi, 1 bb, 1 k 1-4, 1 run, 1 k 2-6, 1 run, 1 2B, 1 k 1-4, 1 run, 1 rbi 2-3, 3 runs, 1 bb That's 9 runs in his past 5 games, so his ability to get on base is certainly paying off. His season numbers have jumped to: 90 PA, .265/.315/.434, 8/0/2, 6/16, 1/1 With an increase in isolated power has come a decrease in isolated discipline. I am not sure what the cause of this is, whether pitchers are pitching to him more, or Herrmann is simply swinging more. His k rate has not really increased from last year--he is just walking less. He played two games in left field this week, which is a good thing. No errors in 108 chances and a 40% caught stealing rate.

Revere is not a leadoff hitter. Full stop.

Not bad, Birdwatcher. Slama should still get the opportunity to fail, though. God knows so many others have . . . .

Keep in mind that, yes, this would require another move to add Mastro for backup OF reasons, but Parmelee should be sent to Rochester anyway.

Bobby Abreu is a major upgrade over Clete Thomas. I would sign him to an incentive-laden contract (with smart numbers based on OBP) and enjoy watching someone take pitches on this team in the bottom half of the lineup for a change.