scottz

That was a very enjoyable read. Thank you!

The jump from AA to the bigs doesn't work for everyone, but just because it doesn't work for everyone is no reason to keep from trying that approach on anyone. It didn't work with Hicks. It worked fine with Vargas last year. Danny Santana has all of 24 games at AAA. I think Arcia has something around 60 games at AAA and people generally still like his potential. If Rosario is the best option they think they have based on their criteria, then why not? Baseball is a tough sport to excel at, even if you appear to have all the "tools". Bring the best players you have when you think they are ready and when the plan/approach/team has a need for them/their position. Some will succeed, some will require trips back to the minors and more time, and some just won't ever quite get it. Keep trying anyway. I think it would be awesome if Rosario gets started this year. Let's see what happens.

Oswaldo Arcia's song is A#1BESTBESTBESTDOITRIGHTBEISBOL

The nonsense about Milone and Meyer having about the same stuff is what you'd say to the best athlete in the high school because he's a freshman, because there is also a decent player who happens to be a senior and you don't want the freshman to assume he's just going to walk in and own the place. As long as Meyer keeps his head down, does his work and produces, that quote makes me think that Souhan hit the mark exactly as Ryan is thinking and Ryan couldn't just agree. I had been thinking the spot was going to go to May. I'm changing my vote to Meyer.

Catchers (2): Kurt Suzuki, Josmil Pinto (AGREE) Infielders (7): Kennys Vargas, Joe Mauer, Brian Dozier, Trevor Plouffe, Danny Santana, Eduardo Escobar, Eduardo Nunez (AGREE, and I have no problem with Nunez. There are no better options, and what you want on the bench is a late game improvement in skill over at least one starter position in as many of these areas as you can - Defense, Speed, Power. Nunez will bring a speed improvement. The fact that he can play a few positions makes him useful. If only he also offered power and defense, too.) Outfielders (4): Oswaldo Arcia, Torii Hunter, Jordan Schafer, Aaron Hicks (MOSTLY AGREE). I think if Rosario plays out of his mind this spring and Hicks struggles, Rosario pulls a Hicks (circa 2013) and goes north as the starter. Longshot, but a possibility. If Hicks plays nearly equal to Rosario or Hicks has a good spring, Hicks goes north as the starter. If both Hicks and Rosario flop in the spring, Schafer goes north as the starter and somebody like Robinson plays 4th OF.) Starting Pitchers (5): Phil Hughes, Ervin Santana, Ricky Nolasco, Kyle Gibson, Tommy Milone (AGREE 1-4, DISAGREE 5. I think Milone would have to be perfect in spring training to go north. In my (meaningless) opinion, it is May's job to lose. He could lose it, certainly, but I think it's his. I think they are willing to cut Pelfrey loose unless he shows them perfection in spring, too. Meyers goes to AAA and is the first one called up when needed, assuming he shows his stuff.) Bullpen (7): Glen Perkins, Casey Fien, Brian Duensing, Tim Stauffer, Caleb Thielbar, Mike Pelfrey, JR Graham. (1-4 AGREE, 5-7 DISAGREE. I don't think Thielbar is a lock, no Pelfrey in the pen, and Graham will be offered back or a trade will be worked out. If Thielbar is a lock, 2 of Pressley, Tonkin, and Oliveros)

Escobar isn't a superstar, but if we're comparing seasons, his MLB numbers in his age 24 and 25 seasons were better than Plouffe's age 24 and 25 MLB seasons. Note: this doesn't mean I think he will hit more than the 24 home runs Plouffe hit in his age 26 season, or that I think Escobar is better than Plouffe. However, Escobar is on a nice trend for his age and I'm happy he's on the team. At worst, he's a better overall Nick Punto. At best, he may continue the positive trend he showed last year.

My thoughts on all of the above: 1) Plouffe has become a perfectly fine 3B to have on our squad, but he hasn't shown himself to be All-Star quality, or power-hitter quality, or other top-tier metric quality. He's a decent 3B. He's a bit like Cuddyer, with less power and less ability to hit for BA. We should probably define what "excel" means for Plouffe - to me, if he hit .275 with 20 HR (65 total extra base hits), that would be a phenomenal season for him. I don't expect that, but that kind of season would fit "excel" for my definition. However, he has cracked the 20 HR mark only once at any level, and his career BA is .245 (trending upward, granted), so hitting .260 with 15 HR (60 total extra base hits) would still be a nice year - his best as a pro. But even at that, he's more like Lonnie Chisenhall than Adrian Beltre. 2) Plouffe likely has the ability to play OF for short periods of time, simply based on the fact that he has played parts of 30 games in the OF in his major league career. The same could be said for SS (55 career games), 2B (23), or 1B (6). But he shouldn't be thought of as anything other than a very short-term fill in at those positions, in my opinion. Again, kind of like Cuddyer, who "can" play 3B or even 2B for short periods. But Cuddyer doesn't generally play those positions much because he is generally thought of as a RF'er. Plouffe should be generally thought of as a 3B. 3) Sano is likely going to take a little time to a.) shake the rust off, and b.) adjust to the next level of pitching. Will he shake it off and adjust in time to "excel" (trending towards .300 and on pace for 30 HR and 70 extra base hits, my definition) before the trade deadline? I don't know. But my guess is we don't see Sano before September, and that this conversation is more likely to be 2015 Hot Stove than 2015 Trade Deadline.

Arcia and Nolasco

In the "ad" above, I first wrote that Arcia was wearing typical gardener clothes. Then I wondered/worried if people would too directly associate it just as you said. So I changed it to having green thumbs and green all over everything. It's a better look anyway. Jardinero means outfielder - ok, makes sense. But I REALLY like "El Jardinero" for Arcia. As in, The Outfielder. It would maybe be more applicable to someone with better fielding skills, but I have big hopes for Arcia this year, and El Jardinero fits the bill for a nickname, as far as I'm concerned. I also hope it sticks, idiot white guys be damned.

Me either. I'm depending on "artistic license."

They are welcome to purchase it. I'm a reasonable guy. They could also consider hiring me, for Pete's sake. I'm pretty creative - there are more ideas where that came from. In any case, I feel pretty safe as it has a timestamp and date of publication and witnesses such as yourself. Copyright Scott Zilka, 2015. All Rights Reserved

SCENE - EXT. DUGOUT Sounds of batting practice in the background. In the dugout, two players are milling about the bat rack. All the bats in the compartment labeled "Arcia" have green smears on handles. Oswaldo Arcia emerges from the tunnel holding a bat. He has green smears on his jersey, pants, and bat. His thumbs are bright green. PAUL MOLITOR: Hey Ozzie. OSWALDO ARCIA: Hey Skip. MOLITOR: That flower box is starting to look real good in right field. ARCIA: Thanks Skip. I think so, too. MOLITOR: Do you think you could plant a few more out there? ARCIA: Yeah, I think I can do that. He exits the dugout. SCENE - EXT. BATTER'S BOX Arcia in the batter's box. He takes several large swings, each timed with a loud crack. After the last swing we see the ball flying through the air and landing in... SCENE - EXT. CU OF FLOWER BED ...the flower bed overhanging the right field wall. The ball smashes into a flower and destroys it. Cut to... SCENE - EXT. WIDE SHOT OF FLOWER BED It is littered with baseballs. One flower remains, as all others are destroyed. SCENE - EXT. DUGOUT Arcia returns to the dugout. We see the back of his jersey says "El Jardinero." MOLITOR: You missed one. ARCIA: It looks pretty that way. VOx: THE MINNESOTA TWINS - LLEGAR A CONOCERLOS

Ummmmmm. Frank Viola?

Oswaldo Arcia has the best walk up music on the team, right? It makes me want to dance. It probably makes him want to swing really, really hard. But nobody has better walk up music. Do you agree?

Hunter has had a nice career, but I don't see the HOF. I don't see him ever getting more than 15% on a ballot. He's Steve Finley. A nice career and a good guy to have on your team, especially in his prime. But he's not HOF.

I'm very surprised about Duensing and Nunez being tendered contracts. The others I expected.

We should trade 2 or 3 of our average/bad players for 1 or 2 good players. If we have to trade 3 or 4 of our average/bad players, then we should do that, especially if they are former prospects who have shown to not be very good in the opportunities they have been given so far. Add in Deunsing if they want more, but that's it. Then, good players will be ours.

I don't think it is illogical to be concerned that Dozier is hitting .230 and to want him to hit .250 instead. Yes, the OBP is just fine at .350-ish, but an increased BA would increase the OBP assuming the rest of positives of his game (e.g., the walks) stayed the same. In any case, and responding to the wider thread, I don't think Dozier is going anywhere any time soon. In addition to being productive compared to his positional-peers at the plate and with the glove, he also shows the intangible leadership quality that the Twins appear to like (as do I).

Pitcher of the Day is pretty easy for me: Chih-Wei Hu! 6 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 1 BB, 10 K - that gets me fired up. Keep it up, kid!

Andrew McCutcheon

It's spelled Arcia.

The Cubs picked up shortstop prospect Addison Russell, adding to their bank of highly touted shortstops (Javier Baez and Starlin Castro). There is already talk (of course, there is always talk) that the Cubs could/would/need to move somebody. At age 24, Castro is in his 5th year of MLB and is signed through 2019 with a team option in 2020: 2014 -- $5MM 2015 -- $6MM 2016 -- $7MM 2017 -- $9MM 2018 -- $10MM 2019 -- $11MM 2020 -- $16MM (Team option, $1MM buyout) His slash line is .283/.324/.412 (.736). What would you be willing to give up for Starlin Castro? Or do you like Escobar and Santana and Polanco enough to not bother even thinking about it?

Jeff Kent's mustache. Jeff Kent's attitude. Jeff Kent's initials. Jeff Kent's career and stats? Let's give it a go. Come on Kanzler, nobody thinks you can do it. Not even your mom.

At the beginning of the year, I said I would take the under at 72.5 wins. I'll stick with that at the top end (72-90) and keep pulling for them the rest of the way to hit the over and then some.

I heard the plays described in the OP, too. It was pretty awful, but no where near the worst play-by-play call I have heard from Gladden (who I don't mind as a color guy). The worst came (I think) last year when something like this happened...obviously paraphrased: "And there goes the runner, the throw to second base, and...he's into short left field. He's going to come all the way around to score."