Twins7

What is the norm?

Sano's playing through an injury right now, and striking out a lot... 9 times in his last 10 PA's of the Houston series, 2 times yesterday (though he did draw a couple of walks). Do we give him a couple of days off to try to heal up a bit? Hate to not have him in the lineup, but perhaps giving him a couple of days off will let him get his legs back under him. This is relevant: "Asked before Saturday’s game if it looked as though Sano didn’t have his legs under him, Twins manager Paul Molitor said he 'didn’t really see that.' He then opted to play Sano on a day game after a night game for the second time in as many Sundays against the Astros. '(Trainers) think it will be slow to improve with playing time on a regular basis,” Molitor said. “We’ve had a couple different people look at the MRI. Generally people think we’re at a very minimal risk of doing something substantial here, as long as he plays intelligently. 'Something freakish could happen. You’re playing the game. If he’s going about his business the way he has when he’s been in there, I would like to think over time it’s going to get a little better where he can give us a little more. I’m hoping he gets gradually better.'" http://blogs.twincities.com/twins/2015/09/06/postgame-twinsights-strikeouts-piling-up-on-gimpy-miguel-sano/ Proper treatment of injuries isn't an exact science, and I have no idea what the best way to handle this is. Hopefully it is minor enough that it can heal without having Sano miss any time, but it also could be pretty devastating to this season if it gets worse while he tries to play through it, and we lose him for the stretch...

Well, also that 2012 draft that netted us Buxton, Berrios and Duffey...

Good year for Berrios, impressive stuff. I'll be excited to see how he progresses next year!

Fair enough, it's possible that the trades were done to make room for hicks. I just interpreted them differently. We were in rebuilding mode, and span and revere were among our top assets. We needed young pitching desperately, so Ryan pulled the trigger.

I don't think that TR was aggressively shopping span and revere purely to open up a spot for hicks... I think it's more likely that other teams approached him with an interest, and he went for some young, talented arms because our pitching depth was so terrible. Doesn't seem like TR is very aggressive in the trade market. Agreed, though, I think trading plouffe for the right package would be a good idea, to open up some roster spots.

I do like the idea of a hicks-Buxton-Rosario OF...

So does Buxton go down when hicks returns?

Ah, forgot about the FAs. Yeah, looks like it wouldn't be a problem at all to add him. Thanks!

Yeah, that's right. Nolasco will need a spot when he comes back, though.

Actually, looking at the 40-man roster, it looks like wheeler and Darnell are a couple of guys I could see us cutting. Perhaps pressly, since he's on the 60 day dl. If you look at the twins 40 man roster (http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/team/roster_40man.jsp?c_id=min), they list 42 guys because pressly and nolasco are on the 60 day dl. If we called up Berrios today, how would you handle the 40 man roster decision? Keep in mind that nolasco will need a spot when he returns. And, if we give berrios a spot, does that mean that we have to keep him there? When you drop a guy from the 40, he can be claimed by waivers, correct? I'm not arguing that 40 man roster considerations would be prohibitive to berrios being promoted, just curious as to what it would cost us.

Yeah, you're probably right. Any official word from the twins on an innings limit for Berrios? I wonder if it's a combination of service time and protecting his arm. Not sure they'd want to start his clock for 1-2 starts in the MLs, especially if it might take him that long to adjust to the competition... I'm intrigued with him as a bullpen guy, but not necessarily in high leverage situations out of the gate. Might be good in long relief for a while, but again, what's the point of calling him up and starting his clock for mop up duty? My gut is that protecting his arm is TRs number one priority for berrios, and I'm ok with that. I wouldn't be surprised if he found a way to get him some innings with the big club, but I also wouldn't be outraged if he remained at AAA for the remainder of the year. I'm not convinced that he would be the difference maker in us missing or making the postseason.

Is berrios in AAA right now because of service time issues? I thought it was because they didn't think he was ready to provide an upgrade over any of our current, more entrenched pitchers (though these last couple of outings might be evidence that he is ready). Who in the rotation is he expected to replace? Santana? I think there needs to be an injury to get him in the rotation right now. And, not sure how many more innings he's expected to pitch. Bullpen might be a different story, but it might take him a week or two to get him ready to pitch in that role.

Yeah, I've been thinking that plouffe ought to be traded, but I saw a post recently that suggested that he was top-3 in the MLB in some defensive stats measuring range... That gives me pause. I agree, though, that there's a logjam with plouffe, Mauer, and Sano on the team, and Vargas and Arcia in the minors. Plus, the OF is stacked with Buxton, hicks, Rosario and Kepler waiting in the wings. The best way, IMO to deal with this logjam would be to deal plouffe and an OF for a good young catcher, or perhaps a good young pitcher. Tough deal, though. It'll be interesting to see how it all shakes out at the corners, OF, and DH next season...

Just pure innings totals... A starter pitches more than double the innings compared to a reliever. Having 2-3 dominant relievers is huge for a team; it can add a bunch of wins in close games. So, I'm in favor of May in the bullpen this year, to provide that lock-down option in the pen here for the stretch. But, if we can get that performance from another option next year (Meyer? Burdi? Jones? Chargois?) May is best for us as a starter. He has the stuff to give us 175 innings at a 3.5 era, which would be huge.