scottz

I think the summary of this post is that no one should write words. From now on when you write, don't use words.

Yes, we only have one outfielder. Yes, we have 4 shortstops. Yes, we have 3 catchers. Yes, we're carrying 13 pitchers. But we kept our word when we told Kubel and Bartlett and Guerrier that we would give them a fair shake. And without keeping our word like we did, why then, we would have zero outfielders.

As an outsider to the front office, it is with no certainty that I try to describe what I think is going on, but here goes anyway: All of this get the band back together stuff just smells of an organization that prides itself on being true to their word, even if it comes at the expense of their main job - managing the roster. It sure reads like when a player leaves on good terms after he has done whatever the organization asked of him, the parting statement from the front office must be something like, "Well, we're sorry to see you go. If you ever want to come on back, the door is always open. You've proved yourself." And they mean it. And they probably shake hands. And then, when the player comes back a few years later, the agent says, "Is the door still open?" And because the front office is true to their word, the door is open. So then the organization and agent start negotiating, with the agent saying, "All we're asking for is a fair shake. He has been hurt the last ___ years, but now he's healthy. We'd love to come here, because this has always been home, but we have other deals on the table. But if you can promise my guy will make your team, we'll come here for less. Just remember, you said it yourself...my guy has proved himself." Now parts or all of this might not be true, but it is good negotiating, because ultimately, the front office said the door would be open, and by gum, we meant it. And so, the front office says, "Tell you what. If you'll sign for (totally reasonable and agreeable sum of money), and if he is healthy, he'll be on our roster. He has proved himself." And they mean it. And they probably shake hands. And because the front office is true to their word, the ex-Twin who left on good terms and has proved themselves and who signs for a totally reasonable sum of money ends up on the roster for two reasons: 1) He is healthy, and 2) The front office is true to their word. I respect the hell out of principled people who are true to their word. It is dreadfully lacking in our world today. I don't want the front office to quit being true to their word. I just want them to use less words. Reminder: I have no idea how the front office truly works and how deals are done. This is just my interpretation, for my enjoyment and hopefully yours.

Not to be Pollyanna here, but technically, they are only a game or so out of the first wildcard spot, so although it is still early, they ARE competing for a playoff spot. That said, I agree that it does nothing to let him sit there if we can use him...and I think we can. I like Hermann, and I like that he gives Gardy a catching security blanket that allows Pinto to DH sometimes, but he should go down, Parmelee up, Fryer off the 40. I haven't checked the splits, but if a Cola/Parm platoon works based on matchup, let's do that.

I am very excited by this. Although there is a good argument to be made that SS needed to be addressed in the offseason, the fact that they are moving on after a month of really, really poor production from the incumbent SS is a good thing.

Is that the same batter and at-bat the whole time? If so, what exactly happened between the second-to-last pitch and last pitch that caused center fielder Kanzler to so drastically shift his positioning? He moved 5 mow cuts towards right center before the last pitch.

Favorite Twin (All-Time): Kirby Puckett Favorite Twin (Current - Active): Joe Mauer Favorite Twin (Current - DL): Oswaldo Arcia Favorite Twin (Future): Byron Buxton Favorite Pizza (All-time): Pepperoni Favorite Pizza (Current - Active): Pepperoni & Onion Favorite Pizza (Current - puts me on the DL): Meat Lovers Favorite Pizza (Future): Food Replicator Code D20339AX

This seems like a very playtime imagination scenario. I do not see a scenario where Brian Dozier would be traded this season.

Post All-Star Break 1993 through 2000 was a pretty dark time to be a Twins fan. Particularly the 1994-1995 strike (in general, this greatly changed how I viewed sports), Puckett getting hit in the face to end 1995 and never coming back due to glaucoma, and contraction talk after the 2000 season. 1997-2000 was just awful baseball for the Twins (270-376). It's interesting to note that this year's team would have to go 75-85 to match that four years of futility (the Twins only played 160 games in 1999). Hey, that gives me something to judge them on this year. The drive for 75! (I'll take the under.)

Just remember it the way I do: "With Presley in the outfield, we will have plenty of E's."

Presley is a 4th outfielder. If they want him on the roster as a pinch runner and defensive substitute for Willingham/Arcia in the 8th inning, great, keep him for that reason. Give him one start a week against the toughest righthander of those 6-7 games. Playing him as a starter instead of a pinch runner/defensive improvement late in games/spot starter to give someone a rest is a little like playing Nick Punto as a starter.

Agreed. I was hoping he would make the team, partly because when we traded Revere I thought Worley was a nice "right now" piece. Not that I expected him to be an All-Star, but I thought he would help. It's time to make the move and let the chips fall where they may.

I don't think it's a matter of being crazy. There are certainly reasons that each of them could have more time in AAA. But what is really blocking them? For example, how is age 32 and slipping badly Jason Kubel a better option than age 23 and growing Oswaldo Arcia? If it is because Arcia struck out 31% of the time last year, well, so did Kubel. Give me the youngster. Give me Pinto at least half time instead of Fryer a quarter of the time. There will be some growing pains, but if we don't have the kids on the roster it isn't like the pain will go away. It will just be aging pain instead of growing pain. My roster: OF - Willingham, Hicks, Arcia, Parmelee, Presley IF - Plouffe, Florimon, Dozier, Mauer, Escobar C - Suzuki, Pinto Bench - right handed bat. i don't really care who this is, as along as they are willing to step in and swing hard at a moment's notice. maybe 1 game a week they are in the line up. SP - Nolasco, Hughes, Correia, Pelfrey, Worley BP - Perkins, Burton, Duensing, Fien, Swarzak, Thielbar, Deduno (Long Relief) Goodbye to Diamond. Gibson to AAA because of the FA signings and the mess of out of option players. Hopefully he's throwing well when someone gets a blister or achey shoulder.

I have a hard time believing I bothered to log in specifically to respond to this thread, but... Laziness? For getting to/too/two wrong? Or you're/your? I'm all in favor of excellent writing, but lazy? How about poorly constructed sentences like that last one of mine? Now that is what I call lazy. I recognized it was a poorly crafted sentence, and yet, I chose to let it exist as originally written. It sits there, an ugly and incomplete painting of a half-finished turtle sitting on a log in the middle of a pond. The pond represents all literary devices and the turtle represents my metaphor. The log has two purposes. First, it is simply a log. Most likely, it is a birch. Second, it represents the hopes and dreams of everyone who ever wrote a sentence; their collective wish only to convey meaning without concern for grammatical accuracy. Anyway, to me, that seems to be lazy. Does it to you, too? All I know is if we can get all this stuff figured out, I will enjoy the Minnesota Twins more than ever.

Very similar to what I would have predicted. In spite of all the speculation that playing first will have a tremendous impact on his power numbers, I think the uptick will be marginal. Other than the year he hit 28, the most HR he ever hit in a year has been 13. In seasons where he has had greater than 450 plate appearances, he has hit double digit HRs four times and single digit HRs four times. So while it is logical that not having his legs and hands get beat up all year will improve his numbers, I don't see why it would make him twice the power hitter he has been. .330 (3rd highest single-season average) 40 doubles (2nd highest single-season total) 14 HR (2nd highest single-season total) I would love it if he would do something huge like Bark's is predicting, but I don't think that's who he is. Not many are. Also, 119 walks would be a 32% increase over his highest single-season total, so I think that isn't feasible. Also, no Twin has scored as many as 107 runs since 1997 when Chuck Knoblauch had 117 (along with a .291 BA, 26 2B, 10 3B, 9 HR, 62 SB in 72 attempts, and 84 BB). Joe Mauer is not going to score 107 runs, in my opinion, with this lineup...or probably with almost anyone's lineup.

Give me the over, too. At least long enough that I will invest in whoever makes the icepacks and heating pads that are applied to Plouffe's neck from all that looking over his shoulder.

I'll go with the kid that has the best walk-up music. And that, my friends, is Mr. Oswaldo Arcia. (2013 HRs = 24 in 479 ABs between Rochester and the big club...as a 22 year old!)

I love prospect lists because I get to see what people who pay attention to this stuff (many as an occupation) think of players I probably have never seen play or even heard of. Generally, if many of them rank Twins players pretty highly, then that's a good thing although it's hard not to imagine that there is a certain momentum involved that elevates some players simply because they are being discussed by other groups and being placed higher on other prospect lists. The flip side of that is that I also tend to think that if a player doesn't get into that same discussion and doesn't factor highly on one list, then he might tend to hover around the same spot or fall on the next list, and the next and the next. So if Rosario doesn't rank as highly on a given list as Twins fans would like to think of him, it doesn't change him as a player. It certainly wouldn't change him within his organization. Maybe the suspension thing changes his status in the organization slightly - if you made the same mistake twice, and the second one impacted the amount of work you could do for your employer, your status might change. But lists? They don't matter, other than for entertainment purposes. I kind of like that Rosario is a bit lower ranked than *I* would like. Because I think he's going to rake. How fun will it be to hear some of the talking heads someday say, "we all knew about Buxton and Sano, but where did this Rosario kid come from - he's the real deal!" And then we can all nod and smile and say, "we knew it all along."

I have been having this discussion with a co-worker for the last couple of weeks. I think - assuming the good health of all arms - that Deduno gets the 5th spot, Worley goes to the pen, and Diamond is the victim of zero options remaining. Like many have said here, the likelihood of my stated assumption seems pretty low, so that scenario probably is irrelevant. But if it comes to be, that my predicted outcome. I feel like they would have stopped their free agent pursuits at 2 signings if they were unprepared to let someone go if they had to. I think no matter what, Deduno is retained, simply because of the 3 out of options, he has the most recent success.

3) I will echo getting rid of God Bless America mid-game. It is forced patriotism, which I don't care for. The National Anthem at the beginning of the game honors the country and the flag, and that is sufficient. Having another patriotic song in the 7th inning subscribes to a "more is more" theory that is silly. And if it isn't silly, then let's add "Proud to be an American" in the 3rd, "You're a Grand Old Flag" in the 5th, and "This Land is Your Land" with 2 outs in the top of the 9th when the home team has a lead. 2) While I'm at it, can we please dump the meek fireworks that putt-putt-putt into the air during the National Anthem on cue with the lyrics "and the rockets' red glare"? They are comical and tired. Again, the song can stand on its own and doesn't need the additional pageantry. Trotting out the giant flag for opening day or Veterans Day or Game 1 of the playoffs? Fine. Flying jet fighters overhead for Game 1 of the World Series? OK - Those things are pretty cool. Shooting a few glorified bottle rockets on a Wednesday 12:10 start against the A's? No thanks. Sing the song. Sing it proudly and on key. The rest is rubbish. 1) No more proposals on camera.

I agree. Yet, I will check this thread daily and enjoy every single picture.

Well, it's a policy not law, so there is some fluidity to it. But I think the kneecap thing is the glue that binds it.

That's OK, there was also a weekly line on the number of PSH mentions. The house always wins.

If you wager on a topic O/U, you can't comment. Auto-forfeit of wager. It's in the policy.

7 pages. The O/U was set at 6.5, so all of you other lurkers who had the over can come collect. Any of you unders that were working off credit need to pay by Friday or I will smash your kneecaps with a 20 pound sledge. It's true. I run a book that wagers on Twins Daily Forum lengths.