mnfireman

How about a no-no tonite to celebrate(early) the one year anniversary of his only good start over the past two seasons!!

Gardy is re-making the roster in his own image, he just can't talk Ryan into cutting Plouffe for Revere yet. Then the bench will be GREAT... Thomas, Butera, Revere...oh my.

No! Never!

Teach him to play 2B!

Parmelee throws lefthanded.

Maybe the team needs a change at the top. The out-dated pitch to contact stuff is ridiculus. And when they do get a power arm they get rid of him (see Matt Garza) or try to change him to fit the team mold (see Liriano). There are probably many other examples but I don't want to look that hard. That and we seem to be ahead of the other teams in Tommy John candidates (Liriano, Nathan, Baker & Gibson are some examples, I'm sure there are more).

Span has a very team friendly contract (which makes him a good trade candidate) but seriously, we only have 2 major league OF's right now (Span & Willingham). Thomas is a serviceable 4th OF and Plouffe fills the utility role Gardy loves so much (even if he doesn't love Plouffe!). Benson and Hicks are each at least a year away, though Benson showed he could play a little last Sept. & ST. Revere could make a very serviceable LF (see Juan Pierre) if he learns to get on base and to use is speed, but under no circumstances is he a starting major league CF or RF. A major league OF and an above average SP would be the minimum return in a Span trade.

Gardy needs a scapegoat (someone to throw under the bus). Valencia is his scapegoat (whipping boy?). With a tough lefty tomorrow (Lester) let him play one more game then bench him against Beckett & Bucholz. With the off day that gives him three days with his nose in the corner to think about what he's done.

Clete Thomas is 3-6 against Niemann, maybe not a bad decision. We'll see.

Valencia is 0-8 with 3 K's career against Niemann, shoulda gave him the day off.

Out of 108 major league C's to play last year, Drew Butera's avg. was tied for 93, the only C with at least 100 PA who was worse was Rene Rivera, who came in at 100. The Twins got a .160 BA out of two C's who combined for almost 360 PA's. And based on the advanced stats (RF, CERA, and CS%) Rivera outperformed Butera, albeit in a smaller time frame. Hopefully the team will not need either of them this year and Towles or Herrmann is ready to give Mauer his days off next year.

They are saying Sano may be too big to play 3B by the time he gets to the bigs. Where does he go? LF might be open by then (3 seasons). Is Michael a 3B? I can see him and Dozier at SS & 2B. Valencia is not arb. eligible until 2014, so he is a cheap option right now. So far this season (early returns) he is slightly below average at the plate but well above average in the field (range factor). If he can stay average in the field and pick it up a little at the plate, he and the team should be fine. Dozier is fine playing everyday at AAA until an everyday spot opens up, and I agree that maybe Casilla should be looking over his shoulder.

Gardy needs to separate M & M in the line-up. Morneau looks terrible right now, he missed at least 3 driveable pitches yesterday, and teams are pitching carefully to Mauer because of it. Carroll is a prototypical #2 hitter, except for the missed bunt attempt yesterday. Casilla should also be looking over his shoulder as he is not playing well right now.

The bases loaded hitting with less than two out has to be a concern. Morneau has not been getting it done. He's not alone but I think that he's failed the most. I think Gardy should give him a day off or at least drop him a spot or two. I also think Gardy is out thinking himself, making moves for no reason, not making moves, leaving pitchers in, taking pitchers out, etc... Pulling Carroll yesterday stands out. Maybe a couple of times Doumit or Willingham could have been pulled for defense when they weren't due to bat. I don't know... just a couple of observations.

Ryan overhauled the roster, but was limited by budget. Gardy continuosly runs the same guys out there with no accountability. Glad too see Valencia get benched after yesterday, sit him for a couple games. Revere is (pick your Gardy favorite from the past) but because he hits .300 its ok. No its not and the argument that a single or BB is the same as a double or triple is not valid because doubles and triples drive in runs and you can't steal a base if its occupied by someone else. Trade some of these OF prospects for pitching help and look to the future, this season could be painful.

I'm sure Jerry White has been working hard with Doumit to improve his play, and I imagine he has a cannon as he also catches. Willingham has shown league average numbers as a LF, if he catches the ones he should and doesn't turn every flyball into an adventure, he'll be fine.

The Twins have 15 scheduled days off, 10 of which are following a day game after a night game. 31 day games after night games, using 1:00 start time as the justifier. Mauer should catch 120-130 games and another 20 games at 1B/DH.

The bullpen will be at least a half season revolving door, todays favorites are tomorrow scapegoats. The rotation will be as or more interesting as the bullpen, right now Pavano is living on two years ago, but pitching for a new contract should be a good thing. Liriano and Blackburn as Jekyl & Hyde will play out all season, hopefully they are good at the same time but bad at different times. Baker is a known quantity - 18 to 23 starts, most of them quality ones and Marquis will be hoping for speed on the field behind him to catch everything being launched around Target Field. As far as batting orders, playing time, late inning subs, Gardy is going to have to earn his paycheck this year. How he handles Morneau/Parmalee/Plouffe/Doumit @ 1B/RF/DH and properly getting Revere to cover Willingham for late inning defense without compromising the offense will be interesting. Carroll & Casilla @ SS & 2B could very well flip flop or Dozier could move Casilla out of the starting line-up by May 1. Expect some growing pains early that may pay big later!

Granted he tore it up there, but another big bodied 1B type only played A ball for the Twins - Kent Hrbek. If Parmalee successfully jumps from AA to the bigs and puts up 10 years of Hrbie type numbers, I don't think anyone will care that he missed AAA.

The Twins don't need a 5th starter until April 15, carry an extra position player. That way both Dinkelman and Burroughs make the team and have 10 days to earn/lose their spot.

Baker not looking good. Bad location and no movement.

I think this team will be fairly solid, not great, but solid. If Carroll is to remain the starting SS then Casilla should be the utility guy. If they put Casilla at SS, then Carroll should be the utility guy. Hughes gets 2B until he plays himself out of it. Doumit, Morneau & Parmalee can share DH & 1B, with Doumit, Parmalee & Plouffe sharing RF. Mauer has caught too well this spring to not be back there 4 or 5 times a week, though with the day/night rotation of the early schedule Gardy will want to give him days off. Revere is the best 4th OF option right now, though technically the team is carrying Willingham, Span, Plouffe, Parmalee, Doumit & Revere to cover the OF with Benson, Tosoni & Mastroianni at AAA. I guess we'll see if all this versatility is a good or a bad thing. Bad baseball might have this team looking like this in September - C Mauer, 1B Parmalee, 2B Carroll, 3B Valencia, SS Dozier, LF Willingham, CF Span, RF Benson & DH Morneau/Doumit.

Those are Manship's career starter/reliever splits. Obviously the columns shifted to the right, but you see he is the same pitcher in either role.

[TABLE=class: sortable stats_table] [TH=class: tooltip sort_default_asc, align: left]Split[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip]W[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip]L[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip hide_non_quals]W-L%[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip sort_default_asc hide_non_quals]ERA[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip]G[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip]GS[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip]GF[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip]CG[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip]SHO[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip]SV[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip]IP[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip]H[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip]R[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip]ER[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip]HR[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip]BB[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip]IBB[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip]SO[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip]HBP[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip]BK[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip]WP[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip]BF[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip sort_default_asc hide_non_quals]WHIP[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip hide_non_quals]SO/9[/TH] [TH=class: tooltip hide_non_quals]SO/BB[/TH] [TD=align: left][/TD] [TD=class: tooltip, align: left]as Starter[/TD] [TD=align: right]1[/TD] [TD=align: right]1[/TD] [TD=align: right].500[/TD] [TD=align: right]5.67[/TD] [TD=align: right]6[/TD] [TD=align: right]6[/TD] [TD=align: right]0[/TD] [TD=align: right]0[/TD] [TD=align: right]0[/TD] [TD=align: right]0[/TD] [TD=align: right]27.0[/TD] [TD=align: right]32[/TD] [TD=align: right]18[/TD] [TD=align: right]17[/TD] [TD=align: right]5[/TD] [TD=align: right]10[/TD] [TD=align: right]0[/TD] [TD=align: right]19[/TD] [TD=align: right]1[/TD] [TD=align: right]0[/TD] [TD=align: right]0[/TD] [TD=align: right]120[/TD] [TD=align: right]1.556[/TD] [TD=align: right]6.3[/TD] [TD=align: right]1.90[/TD] [TD=align: left][/TD] [TD=class: tooltip, align: left]as Reliever[/TD] [TD=align: right]2[/TD] [TD=align: right]1[/TD] [TD=align: right].667[/TD] [TD=align: right]5.59[/TD] [TD=align: right]23[/TD] [TD=align: right]0[/TD] [TD=align: right]3[/TD] [TD=align: right]0[/TD] [TD=align: right]0[/TD] [TD=align: right]0[/TD] [TD=align: right]37.0[/TD] [TD=align: right]46[/TD] [TD=align: right]26[/TD] [TD=align: right]23[/TD] [TD=align: right]2[/TD] [TD=align: right]15[/TD] [TD=align: right]1[/TD] [TD=align: right]25[/TD] [TD=align: right]0[/TD] [TD=align: right]0[/TD] [TD=align: right]2[/TD] [TD=align: right]169[/TD] [TD=align: right]1.649[/TD] [TD=align: right]6.1[/TD] [TD=align: right]1.67[/TD] [/TABLE]

Carroll at 2B & Dozier at SS... mark it down.