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Seth, have you heard anything interesting about Angel Morales? I know small sample sizes apply, and this is a slight exaggeration, but it seems like he has had more good offensive performances this season than the previous 2 seasons combined. He has 7 extra base hits in 8 games this season after hitting just 20 in 112 games all last year. He's repeating the league, and his strikeout to walk rate is still dreadful, so I'm just wondering if there is any reason for optimism.

Good read, Seth. Thanks! Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the Twins re-signed Capps following the 2011 season. The second supplemental pick came from losing Kubel.

Pedro Florimon is on pace to make 108 errors this year. Why is he in the lineup again?

I just might be able to one up you... I was listening to the Twins game on mlb.tv yesterday, and it kept playing the White Sox audio feed at the same time as the Twins. It seemed like it would start doing it when the innings ran long. Provus talks a lot more than the Sox announcers, so I was able to barely tolerate it.

Thank you, Seth.

John McDonald kneed Justin Morneau in the head, not Kelly Johnson.

I am absolutely shocked that Reynolds and Betemit stink. Who could have seen that one coming? I'm not really a fan of the move, but at the same time, the O's are probably pretty tired of trotting out those same 2 bozos on a daily basis while still somehow staying in the AL Wild Card race. It's a bold move for sure. Good for them shaking things up I guess. It just seems like Machado will be a marginal improvement at best at this point of his young career, but it doesn't seem like something worth speeding up the arbitration clock over. If Boston wouldn't have had waiver claim priority over the Orioles, would the O's have gone after Valencia?

You said tittle.

Makes Dozier look like a deity with better defense than Ozzie Smith might be more like it...

Are guys with mustaches supposed to be able to steal that many bases? Without doing any advanced research, it seems like mustaches and stolen bases would be inversely proportional.

Ouch indeed. I think the Twins found someone with worse hands than Bernard Berrian!!

Absolutely not. Capps would be 4th or 5th on the bullpen depth chart for the Giants. That's a lot of cash for what would probably amount to a mop up guy. Besides, they've got Lincecum for that once they get fed up with him in the rotation.

Remember, 1/2 of Capps 2012 contract has already been paid, so it would only be $2.375M or so. Can't disagree with the rest, though!!

Phil Nevin is the manager for the Mud Hens. Yet another warning sign that I may be starting to get old... Nevin should have known Oliver was done for the day once he gave up the first hit to Nishioka.

Look on the bright side. Capps on a 1 year contract at $4.75 is a lot more palatable than the 4 year/$50M contract Philly handed out to Papelbon. Now there's a *last place* team that puts proper emphasis on the last 3 outs!! Also, as a quick aside, how do you pronounce Matt Capps' middle name, Dicus?

Do I now hold the TwinsDaily record for most words typed about Jason Kendall?

The argument can be made that Jason Kendall, at least through the first 2300 plate appearances of his career, had a similar offensive profile to that of Joe Mauer, but we can not assume Mauer will decline similarly to Kendall just because they are similar offensively. Instead of pointing out that Mauer and Kendall were at least similar at some point offensively and trying to connect things that way, we should be finding out why Kendall dropped off so precipitously. Remember that gruesome ankle injury Kendall had? I was wondering if that may have started his decline, so I looked it up. Then I got sidetracked into typing this marathon of a post. His only shortened season while with the Pirates was 1999, so that must have been the year it happened. He came back the following season and played 152 games and posted a 124 OPS+, so I don't think we can use the injury as an excuse. Here are Kendall's ISO power numbers by year while he was with the Pirates: 1996: .101 (22 years old) 1997: .140 1998: .146 1999: .179 (injury shortened but still played 78 games) 2000: .150 (age 26 season) 2001: .092 (note the drop in power - it never returned) 2002: .073 2003: .091 2004: .071 (30 years old) So Kendall's power disappeared in 2001. At that point, his offensive value hinged solely on his ability to get on base. He still posted a .399 OBP in both 2003 and 2004. Those were the last 2 seasons he posted an above average OPS+ (remember 100 is average). After posting a 107 OPS+ in 2004, his last season with the Pirates, he never posted an OPS+ higher than 88. Kendall's 162 game averages for his Pirates career from 1996-2004 (5283 plate appearances) were a .306 batting average, 52 Ks, 59 BBs, 182 hits, 9 home runs, 34 doubles, and 4 triples. Mauer's 162 game averages from 2004-current (4243 plate appearances) are a .324 batting average, 71 Ks, 83 BBs, 194 hits, 15 home runs, 39 doubles, and 3 triples. Not all that comparable. But if we look at Kendall's numbers through the 2000 season before his power vanished (2294 plate appearances), Kendall's 162 game averages were a reasonably Mauer-esque .314 batting average, 61 Ks, 63 BBs, 179 hits, 12 home runs, 37 doubles, and 6 triples. The extra base hits are very similar, but Mauer still easily trumps Kendall in hits and walks. What to take from all of this? Kendall hit triples way better than Mauer. At least we can use the names Kendall and Mauer in the same sentence while keeping a straight face. One other thing of interest: Before the injury, Kendall had 71 stolen bases vs. 16 caught stealing. After the injury, Kendall had 58 stolen bases against 41 caught stealing (while still with the Pirates). It may be safe to assume the injury took away his once respectable stolen base ability. Maybe that was the beginning of the end for him. Maybe not. The 124 OPS+ the following season says something else took away his ability to hit.

Bethancourt's hitting just .253/.276/.281 in AA this season in 49 games. He has not had an isolated discipline above .025 since 2009. I'd probably want to see some marked improvement in both his plate discipline and power before dismembering myself.

Another name to add to the list is the Braves' 2011 4th round pick, J.R. Graham. He's a 22 year old righty in high-A who is starting full-time for the first time. Everything you read about him talks about how electric his stuff is. He works primarily off of a low-mid 90s sinking fastball and a slider, and, given his 2 pitch mix, he may very well be a reliever. He has only struck out only 61 batters in 92 2/3 innings, but he has also walked just 16. He has been successful this season despite the noticeable lack of strikeouts because he's an absolute ground ball machine, generating 2.23 outs on the ground to every 1 in the air.

How do the injuries to the Yankees lefty starters, Sabathia (groin) and Pettitte (ankle), affect Liriano's trade value? Freddy Garcia and David Phelps do not sound like a Yankees-like solution to me. Sabathia may only miss a few starts, but 6+ weeks on 245 year old Pettitte does not sound good. The Braves as a trade partner also make me curious. The only lefty in their rotation, Mike Minor, has been flat out terrible, so I would think they would not mind trading for a southpaw starter. With Minor, Jurrjens, Delgado, and Teheran (in AAA) largely ineffective, and their best starter, Brandon Beachy, out for a year+ with TJ surgery, Frank Wren and company have got to be on the lookout for an impact starter or 2 to try to send Chipper Jones out in style. In fact, the only reliable starters they have left are Tommy Hanson and Tim Hudson. Hanson has had his shoulder woes last year, so he's not a given down the stretch. And Hudson's already been out with a bad back and a bad ankle this season. I wonder if the Twins could manage to pry away 1 of Teheran, Minor, or Delgado in a Liriano trade... Any thoughts there? The Braves also make an interesting trade target for the Twins because their centerfielder, Michael Bourn, is a free agent at the end of the season. His services will be costly to retain. He is a Scott Boras client, and he is likely to get too much money and too many years for an aging speed guy with fringy on base skills. Liberty Media keeps the Braves' payroll pretty low, and they don't seem to have much of a backup plan waiting in the wings to replace Bourn. Could they be interested in one of Span, Revere, or even Aaron Hicks as a CF replacement? Thoughts on any of this?

This is just picking nits, but I believe the Twins let David Ortiz walk to make room for Doug Mientkiewicz.

The Romy Jimenez picture amuses me. He and his lack of arms scoff at Jim Abbot's missing hand. Seriously, though - thanks for the update!!

Thanks, Parker. Excellent analysis as usual.

Almost everything you read about Sano has a comment about how surprisingly athletic he is, so there is still a chance he sticks at third. An elite hitting 3B is a rarer commodity than a really good hitting 1B, so there is no harm in trying him there longer. If it gets to the point where his defensive struggles are affecting him at the plate, or if he proves for multiple years that he just cannot play 3B, then you strongly consider the change.

I used to follow the Braves closer than the Twins. I was a huge fan of Dion James, Ron Gant, Greg Maddux, John Smoltz, Chipper Jones, and Ryan Klesko. Heck, I still remember David Nied. I'm still disappointed that the Braves traded Dion James to the Tribe for Oddibe McDowell, but that's getting a bit off topic... I always remember Chipper coming up big against the Mets back when they were pretty good and the NY crowd chanting "LARRY, LARRY". I just looked up his stats against the Mets. In 79 games against the Mets from 1996-2001, Chipper hit .379/.470/.656. That's good for a 1.127 OPS (and very comparable to Justin Morneau's .345/.437/.618 concussion shortened 2010 season).