mnfireman

Shoulda thrown home!

Curve ball is sittin' 'em down tonight!

Nasty!!

I would rather wait and see if Dozier can move back to SS when Rosario comes up. Mauer, Rosario, Dozier and Sano around the IF looks pretty good to me (2015).

Mauer Power!!

Maybe these veterans should pay attention to the kid. Gibson was getting squeezed all night, according to MLB Gameday's strike zone, yet he adjusted to the umpire and threw a gem. He worked the edges he was given, kept the hitters off balance and, well, he just plain threw a nice game. The only bad thing was that he hit 100 pitches in the middle of an inning. But Duensing picked up the slack very nicely and Swarzak was spot on.

Watching the game on MLB Gameday....looks like both teams are being squeezed by the home plate umpire. Might be helping the Twins offense though.

Who needs corner OF's?

Per MLBTR: [h=1]Nationals' Ramos To Undergo Hamate Surgery[/h]By Jeff Todd [April 1 at 8:06pm CST] Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos is likely to undergo a procedure to repair an injury to his left hamate bone, report Adam Kilgore and James Wagner of the Washington Post. The surgery will likely keep Ramos out of action for four to eight weeks, according to the report. The news is a major disappointment for the Nats, and even moreso for the unlucky Ramos, who returned last year from an ACL tear only to deal with hamstring issues over the first half of the season. Ramos, 26, was expected to play a major role for a Washington club that hopes to return to the top of the NL East this year. In just 303 plate appearances last year, he clubbed 16 home runs and put up a .272/.307/.470 triple-slash. It is not yet known, of course, how the team will address the loss. The Nationals acquired Jose Lobaton in mid-February to serve as the backup catcher, and can certainly lean on him in a starting role for some time. The likeliest internal candidates to take Ramos's roster spot are Sandy Leon and Jhonatan Solano, who have filled in at the MLB level in past years. Washington let veteran Chris Snyder leave at the end of the spring, and he has since signed on with the Rangers. A new acquisition will surely tempt GM Mike Rizzo given the team's readiness to win, Ramos's fairly extensive medical history, and the fact that hamate injuries often sap power for some time even after a player returns. But at this early stage of the season, it would be effectively impossible to find a player that offers a reasonable hope of filling Ramos's substantial expected production. And it could be hard even to find someone that would provide much of an upgrade over the team's internal options for the reserve role.

Unbelievable bad luck for Nolasco! Maybe two or three well hit balls. Everything just seems to find a place to fall.

Relievers are seemingly looked at as a dime a dozen, until your bullpen starts blowing games. The team should break camp with the 25 best players and, as the season wears on, trade from a position of strength (pitching) to fill in the position(s) of weakness. Other teams are able to do it, why can't the Twins?

Where else do you play him? Buxton, Hicks & Arcia are the OF of the future, Sano is the 3B of the future and Mauer's concussion issues won't let him play C anymore. If the team had given him all off-season to learn 3B it might be a different story, but they thought Sano would be ready to go, so that is what it is. Maybe they deal Willingham and move Arcia to LF and move Mauer to RF, but then Buxton comes up next year and you have to move Mauer again. I would rather have Mauer, Willingham and Arcia in the line-up everyday over Colabello.

I liked how the three pitchers worked quickly, two of them getting two pitches in in less than 25 seconds and the third one a pitch and a pickoff attempt in the same time frame. Oh that and the pitches looked absolutely filthy, especially for early it is.

I'll take the strikeout over the double play grounder to 2B every time.

I tried to come up with something, but this roster is full of too many underperforming position players who are also redundant, meaning they are the same player. Willingham & Colabello; Parmalee & Kubel; Mastro & Presley; Escobar & Florimon; Suzuki & Fryer. No advantage gained by playing one over the other, whoever doesn't play has no trade value. Toss in Plouffe & Herrmann and there isn't much to get to excited about. Mauer is the only known value. Dozier & Arcia each had about a half season of good production and we don't know where Hicks is, but he did show signs of improvement before the final slump that got him sent down. This team is waiting for Sano, Buxton, Rosario, Pinto, Meyer, Walker, et al to arrive. If you ask me, Terry Ryan can keep the job for at least two more seasons then walk away, like before!

The issues with the contract not being completed aren't medical according to MLBTR. Maybe Garza realized he got Nolasco money and decided to hold out for more!

Right now Plouffe is the best option for the MLB club, whether its for half a year or a year and half. Many things could change that though. If Sano's elbow is not ready, if he struggles, if Plouffe gets hurt, or if he struggles. Another thing to look at is if Parmalee absolutely kills it, Willingham returns to 2012 form and Arcia improves on last year, maybe Mauer HAS to move to third to get Parm's bat in the line-up. Doubtful, but still. If Plouffe can't handle it, maybe Dozier should move to third and Escobar gets second. After Mauer, this team is hardly set. It should be open to playing whoever the hot hand is with the bat, and platoon/substitute accordingly.

I think MLB can do what they want, look at the Pete Rose and "Shoeless" Joe Jackson lifetime bans. By limiting it to certain number of games they opened themselves up to A-Roid appealing and whining. Ban him for life and be done with it. If MLB has to also ban Bonds, Clemens, McGwire, Palmeiro, etc... then so be it, they shouldn't have cheated.

I think they might challenge 100 losses if this is this the line-up. Not that putting the prospects in will result in any more wins, but it would at least provide development for the future. Pinto needs be there until he proves he shouldn't be. Hicks should be there also, unless he once again proves he shouldn't be. Herrmann instead of Fryer. Kubel and Bartlett need to earn spots, even more so since I believe that neither is the 40 man roster. Plus I think Parmalee should get one last chance to prove himself. The teams 40 man roster has a lot of dead weight on it, meaning the players won't bring much in trades but might get interest if they are DFA'd. They are role players and roster filler on good teams, not starters, so I say try to trade some of them or DFA them. Which shouldn't be a problem, since these players have three straight 95+ loss seasons to show for themselves.

Sano is young enough that if he loses a season or even a half season it shouldn't matter, as long as he's ready to go in 2015, when the wave of the future should start taking over. And it would delay the starting of his clock, which some people seem to think is a big deal.

Everybody always used to point out that Morneau used to catch and could have been the emergency catcher (before the concussions), well he never caught for the Twins. I feel Mauer should be used the same way....NEVER catch again. He is too valuable on the field and there are enough options. The biggest argument for Herrmann is that he is left-handed, but I agree that every spot on the bench should be earned, not gifted.

200 innings pitched / 33 starts = 6.06 innings per start. I think he'll get there if takes the ball every fifth day. If Correia makes his 33 starts he gets to 200 also, so does Nolasco. Hughes might, but his career averages show he'll hit about 185-190 if he makes all 33 starts. Because of these pitchers potenetial for injury or ineffectiveness, I think they need to sign Arroyo for stability and durability.

This team has sucked the last 3 years, so why are so many posters concerned about the 40 man roster and P without options possibly losing their spot in the rotation? The team that has been trotted out for the last 3 years hasn't done anything, why worry about these players? Sign players, trade for players, invite the prospects to ST, let the players figure the roster out, management can't. I understand that everyone has their favorites, but really? These guys? Mauer has a spot. Nolasco, Hughes, & Correia have spots. Dozier, Perkins and maybe a couple other bullpen guys have spots, but after that, open it up. 25 man roster, not 25 warm bodies, 25 guys that want to play a kids game. Deduno, Hendriks, Diamond, Worley, et al... make 'em perform or show them the highway. Doumit, Parmalee, Plouffe, Mastro, Colabello, et al... same thing. No room for dead weight. Minnesota nice needs to go. Make 'em play or don't pay. Major league spots are earned not given, this goes for the coaching staff as well.

Sign 'em all, they'll figure it out in Spring Training!

History suggests that neither of these players will perform up to their contract for the entire term of the contract. ARoid, Pujols, Johan, Texeira, Vernon Wells, Matt Kemp, Zito, Ryan Howard, and Sabathia are examples that come to mind. Also Jeter, even though he performed well until that freak ankle break, but I guess that's the point I am trying to make, whether it be declining skills or injuries, the odds are against them.