John Bonnes

Download attachment: ws-snow-baseball-ars.jpg Twins Daily's bloggers were busy this weekend. Especially if you're looking for six different stories to help you to pass the time in a snow storm... Eric Johnson point out that all the advanced stats in the world don't have the same impact as a great ballplayer's name. So which Twins prospect's names are the best and which one needs to make a change? What better way to pass your time today than doing a crossword puzzle of Twins pitchers? You can thank John Swol for putting that together for us. If you're enjoying some Twins history, Brad Swanson compares Greg Gagne to every other middle infielder since 1983. (And maybe the Twins aren't as bad at developing middle infielder as we thought.) Cody Christie wonders just what is stopping the Twins from signing Jim Thome? If warm climates are on your mind, Thrylos uses Bill James "Game Score" to track how each hopeful Twins player is faring in their battle for a roster spot. And if colder climates on on your mind - well, you're not alone. Axel Kohagen is wondering just what Twins Opening Day is going to look like if spring doesn't pick up the pace. It isn't pretty. Click here to view the article

Don't forget Drew Butera....

Trade deadline has passed. We'll see if anything is announced late. FWIW, this has been really fun and kind of watershed moment for me personally. When we started the forums on Twins Daily back in 2012, I was really hoping we would find a great place for a community to weigh in on events like this and today everyone came through. What a great way to share the day. That's a significant accomplishment and is the result of a lot of hard work by moderators and members who have had to adjust to a forum that is a bit different than what finds elsewhere. Thank you everyone for making it happen. Today was personally very rewarding. (Now let's hope the Twins did something rewarding, too.)

I wondered the same thing. Maybe Tigers see the writing on the wall for Scherzer in FA and move him? It'll be interesting to see if he's involved.

As of now, they haven't. That was a mistake.

Yankess likely out on Price. What does NYY have if the Twins packaged Willingham and Correia to them? Any lower level prospects that look interesting?

I might even go 3/21. I know it's a reach. I know it's overpaying. But I believe that Suzuki's going to continue to hit .280+ with the plate discipline he suddenly has. This isn't just a bunch of lucky bounces.

Do people feel any different about a Suzuki extension now than they did a week ago when it appeared the Twins might be able to get the Cardinals and Orioles in a bidding war? Not that things a looking a bit more grim, why not plug that hole for a couple of years? Would anyone out there object to a 2 year/$15M deal for him right now if that came down? I wouldn't.

So Tigers are "out" on Andrew Miller. Think they could be calling about Duensing? But with the Mariners acquiring Denorfia, that means they're out on Willingham. Seem like the Yankees could be best suitor left standing.

Can we please extend this trade deadline another day or so? This is too much fun.

Download attachment: Nighttime-Police-Siren.jpg Aaron and John talk about their night in a Target Field suite, praying for Samuel Deduno, Oswaldo Arcia showing he belongs again, Clete Thomas subbing for Aaron Hicks, the Byron Buxton experience, Trevor Plouffe coming off the disabled list hot, grumpy Bonnes and sunny Gleeman, starting a team from scratch, releasing Anthony Slama, mailbag questions from listeners, and being chased by the cops. Here are: the podcaststhe rss feed if you want to subscribe and the podcast on iTunes. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Or click below if you want to listen right now.... Click here to view the article

Download attachment: pittsburgh-pirates.jpg Buyers or Sellers Everyone was excited about the Pirates last year when they led the NL Central as late as the middle of the July. That was a great story, but this feels completely different. This year the Pirates are 20 games over .500 and were the first team in MLB to win 50 games. Of course, last year they were sixteen games over .500 on August 1st – and STILL managed to finish below .500 for the 173rd consecutive year. So they’re buyers, but they don’t have a ton of needs. That might work out well, since they’re reportedly hesitant to give up too much of their farm system. Limited expectations work out well when considering a trade with the Twins. What They Need Offensively, like last year, the Pirates have been in the lower half of runs scored in the National League. Things have been particularly ugly in right field with a batting average of .227 and an OPS of 656. By ways of comparison, Twins second baseman Brian Dozier has a 684 OPS. So it would be nice if the Twins had a corner outfielder to offer, especially if he was a right-handed slugger to team up with left-handed hitting Pedro Alvarez. Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop taking prozac. There is also some thought that they could use starting pitching, because they aren’t sure if AJ Burnett (calf) and Wandy Rodriguez (forearm) will be returning soon from the DL. Also, starter James McDonald has been on the DL since mid-May with shoulder stiffness. What Might Work It’s going to have to be a small deal, probably involving a starting pitcher. But don’t expect it to be Kevin Correia – he was a Pirate last year and was demoted to the bullpen by them. I guess that leaves Mike Pelfrey, though I suppose they might be interested in a cheaper, younger option like Scott Diamond or Sam Deduno. After all, this is the team that turned around Francisco Liriano, who has a 2.23 ERA through 10 games. Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue. As for the outfielder, the other name that might have made sense is Ryan Doumit – except that he was also a Pirate and I doubt there’s more appetite there for him. The best fit I can come up with is sending them Trevor Plouffe and move him to right field. Sleeper Targets Tony Sanchez – C – AAA – 25 years old Sanchez wasn’t a top 10 Pirates prospect coming into the season, and he’ll be stuck in a backup role for the next couple year now that the Pirates signed Russell Martin. But he’s surprising everyone by slugging .536 in AAA this year (and from the right side, no less). Now THAT would be nice to pair with Mauer for a few years. Wyatt Mathisen – C – Low A – 19 years old The 2nd round pick in the 2012 draft, he’s struggling mightily right now in A ball. With the Twins seemingly focused on adding young catching in this year’s draft, why not pick up a second rounder? Jordy Mercer – SS – MLB – 25 years old Another somewhat promising guy who is stuck behind a veteran in Pittsburgh. He’s at best an average regular, but he’s an average regular with some pop in his bat. He slugged .411 overall in AAA and is getting better each year. Dream Target Glen Perkins is probably of limited interest: the prospect price is too high and their closer, Jason Grilli, may be going to the All-Star Game. If the Twins are going to make a big deal with the Pirates, it’ll need to involve Perkins and be part of a three-way trade. Tyler Glasnow – RHP – High A –19 years old You were probably expecting to see Jameson Taillon here, the right-handed starter who has been topping their prospect list for years and is now in AA. I purposely avoided him because the Bucs claim they don’t want to move any big names. Instead, I went down the list to a breakout player at High A who is looking even more impressive - and might be just as untouchable. Glasnow didn’t make the Pirates Top 10 list by Baseball America last year – but vaulted up to 5th in a recent update by Jim Callis. Posting 103 strikeouts in 70.1 innings will do that. He’s 6’ 7”, has a 93 mph fastball and shows a possibly above average curveball. And at just 19 years old, the sky’s the limit. Throughout July, we’ll be publishing a profile of a MLB and whether there is any possible fit for a trade with the Twins. For more, check out our previous trade talks: The Atlanta Braves by John BonnesThe Washington Nationals by John BonnesThe Philadelphia Phillies by Nick Nelson Click here to view the article

Download attachment: BVL27jfCcAE6RLW.jpg Aaron and John take their Minnesota Twins podcast to Target Field for the final series of the season and talk about Ron Gardenhire's job status, Terry Ryan's aversion to spending money, Joe Mauer being shut down, Josmil Pinto's impressive September, Jumbotron proposals and the Kiss Cam, going back to journalism school, Jack Moore's triumphant return, 1981 Twins World Series tickets, mailbag questions from listeners, and singing Al Green songs. You can listen by clicking below, download us from iTunes or find it at GleemanAndTheGeek.com. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Click here to view the article

Download attachment: justin_morneau.jpg Aaron and John talk about Justin Morneau's resurgence, the Twins' options with the No. 2 pick, Jason Marquis' departure, Francisco Liriano's move back into the rotation, the best baseball movies of all time, first impressions of Cole De Vries, their PickPointz MVP picks, Johan Santana's return to greatness, and why Anthony Slama can't catch a break. Here are: the podcaststhe rss feed if you want to subscribe and the podcast on iTunes Click here to view the article

Gawd, it would be just like Beane to pull a double-switch to pick up a pitcher like Lester for the playoffs and then backfill Cespedes by an overlooked Willingham for a mid/lower level prospect - if he can stomach the defense. He's like a roto owner playing with imaginary players.

I'll say this for Billy Beane - he does not lack guts. If the A's go south, especially if it's because the offense slackens a bit, people are going to point at this trade. So do they have a ready-made replacement for Cespedes? Because, um, we have a right-handed outfielder with some power.....(who actually has a higher OPS than Cespedes....)

The Orioles were, at one time, hot after Lester. I wonder if this makes them turn their attention to Suzuki.

Part of the reason I think that Willingham is traded is because I think the Twins are going to want to dump that salary. Of course, I supposed they could dump it by just giving him to whoever claims him on waivers, but they there is a good chance they get nothing. I just feel like Ryan isn't going to chance that. He's not exactly a risk-taker.

Betting house Bovada has set 10.5 as the over/under on MLB trades today. Could there be 10 MLB trades and NONE that involved the Twins? Possibly, but I wouldn't bet on it. The rumor mill is working to convince us otherwise. Yesterday Twins Pioneer Press beat reporter tweeted that Josh Willingham appears to be "staying put (for now)." This after hitting a home run against one of the teams that was supposedly interested in him, the Kansas City Royals. His value has apparently been hurt by that severe July slump, though he has bounced back to a .563 slugging percentage in the last two weeks. It appears the Mariners are the likeliest suitor.Meanwhile, the the Cardinals have signed AJ Pierzynski (who someone remains a thorn in the Twins side even when it appears his career may be over) and the Orioles seem to have very limited interest in Kurt Suzuki. But how can a catcher with roughly the same OPS as Buster Posey be undesirable by contending teams? Personally, I'll be surprised if either one is here tomorrow, let alone both. I'm expecting interested GMs get a Liriano-like "put your best offer on the table" call from Ryan at some point today for both, but I'm already surprised that they aren't hotter commodities, so what do I know. Well, whatever any of us know, let's put it in the comments below. If you haven't already registered, it's super easy, and you're going to be part of fantastic community - just ask the 4000 current contributors to it. Ok, community (and Terry Ryan)....ready.....set.....GO! Click here to view the article

Big roster announcements prompt a debate about the Twins making decisions based on spring training performances. Here are: the podcaststhe rss feed if you want to subscribe andthe podcast on iTunes (where you can also subscribe and leave reviews).Download attachment: gleeman-and-the-geek-logo11.jpg Click here to view the article

Download attachment: Nishioka_600_321.jpg The Minnesota Twins release Tsuyoshi Nishioka, contemplate coaching changes, and the John and Aaron review the MLB season via their preseason predictions. Here are: the podcaststhe rss feed if you want to subscribe andthe podcast on iTunes.If you want to chat about the topics, let us know.... Was Nishi a scouting error or a revenue driven?Should the Twins make field staff changes?What surprise AL team should we have predicted? Click here to view the article

Download attachment: Gray_Jonathan_landscape_US_720.jpg Who IS This Guy? Jonathan Gray is a right-handed college starting pitcher who has rocketed up the charts, becoming one of the two most coveted picks in the draft. Coming into the college season he was a decent but not remarkable prospect, but that was before posting 127 strikeouts (in 110 IP), a 9-2 record and a 1.55 ERA (pre-NCAA tournament). It was also before he unveiled improvements on two outstanding pitches.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] The first is an “80” fastball that tops three digits on occasion, as it did last week (102 mph), striking out the last batter of a 129-pitch complete game in the NCAA regionals. Coming into the year, he had never shown that kind of velocity, but this year he worked between 94 and 97 all season. He also shows a “plus” slider that has also improved due to a tweak in the grip (running the middle finger down the right side of the horseshoe) that has increased the velocity and tightened the break. He has also shown a curveball and changeup, though both need to be further developed. Who Could He Be? He’s on track to be a #1 pitcher. But it’s been a short track. Gray might have the most upside of any pitcher in the draft, or at the very least the most of any of the college pitchers. Compared to the other top name, Mark Appel, Gray might have the higher ceiling but has less history on which to base that projection. How Soon Could He Be Playing In Target Field? The path the Twins took with Matt Garza, another first round pick, albeit 25th overall, provides a clue. Garza was fast-tracked through the system due to his success and the state of the Twins starting rotation. The best guess is… 2013 – Twins have him pitch in rookie league and maybe low A but are careful about piling much wear and tear on his arm (especially if his Oklahoma coach keeps throwing him out there for 129-pitch outings.) 2014 – High A and maybe AA. 2015 – AA or AAA with a possible late season call-up. If The Twins Draft This Guy, They Messed Up Because… The most obvious reasoning used to criticize this pick would be to say that they got carried away with a player whose value was built on one-year’s performance and improvement. But, provided he signs, it would be hard to legitimately criticize, even if he doesn’t make it to the majors for some unforeseen reason. Knowing what we know, he’s the complete package and fits an area of extreme need in the organization. If The Twins Draft This Guy, They Nailed It Because… Well, they probably got lucky, because for most of the last two months Gray wasn’t supposed to be available at #4. However, in Keith Law’s latest mock draft, he had Gray falling into their laps – and then the Twins passed on him for high school pitching prospect Kohl Stewart. Though the Twins are clearly enamored with Stewart, Gray has similar (if not more) upside without the risks associated of drafting a high school pitcher. Oh – and he’s likely to arrive in the majors sooner. More than any other player in the draft, Gray might be the perfect choice for the Twins. --- Check out the other Twins Daily MLB Draft Player Profiles or follow the latest national mock drafts in our forum: Monday, May 20-- Sean Manaea, SP Tuesday, May 21-- Austin Meadows, OF Wednesday, May 22-- Trey Ball, OF Thursday, May 23-- Ryan Stanek, RHP Friday, May 24-- Clint Frazier, OF Tuesday, May 28-- Reese McGuire, C Wednesday, May 29—Braden Shipley, RHP Thursday, May 30 -- Kohl Stewart, RHP Friday, May 31 – Kris Bryant, 3B/1B For MLB Draft Day Coverage, make sure you follow @TwinsDaily on Twitter! Click here to view the article

Download attachment: Morneau_Justin_Smiling_US_600.jpg Aaron and John talk about the Minnesota Twins' options at the trade deadline, Miguel Sano's benching at Double-A, Justin Morneau's place in team history, what to make of Samuel Deduno (again), Mike Pelfrey and Kevin Correia going in opposite directions, the light rail pub crawl/Twins game on September 14, Joe Mauer's paternity leave, and answering mailbag questions from listeners. You can listen by clicking below, download us from iTunes or find it at GleemanAndTheGeek.com. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Click here to view the article

Bloggers and sabrmetricians are sometimes portrayed as treating players as tumbling dice. It's rhetoric meant to discredit and vilify, but it's not totally without merit. I know this because I think I'm about to treat Kyle Gibson and Chris Colabello as tumbling dice. Insiders (players, coaches, etc.) and outsiders (sabrmetrician, bloggers) have vastly different perspective on players and their development in two important ways.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] First, there is the matter of how much we value our projections. From the outside, we can talk of a player's development curve as an abstraction. We see him as a 22-year-old with an outstanding walk to strikeout ratio and we project him to become a different player four years from now. That projection is a range of possibilities, but it's a statistically backed range. We average them out and derive a destination. However, to the player in that development curve, and to the organization responsible for that development curve, there is no range. There is one spot: where he ends up. The range includes success and it includes failure and he can end up in either. That spot is everything. To them, the range means nothing. The average of that range certainly means nothing. So the first lesson is that player development curves, which are derived from watching groups of players, mean very little to the individual player or their organization. But there is a second and scarier aspect and that surrounds responsibility. We talk about these curves as if the player's progress along it is mandated from some higher forces. But the player and the organization can't count on that. They have to live it. They have to find their way through the obstacles, face the setbacks, make the adjustments. There are hundreds of games, thousands of repetitions, and uncounted adjustments for each player. These are what, when we add them all up, constitute improvement. They do not just happen. From the outside, we see a certain inevitability of improvement. But from the inside, improvement is far from inevitable. It is work and it is risk. However, there is value in being an outsider, too. There is an objectivity that can be lost while working one's way through the maze from the inside of the curve. Maybe some of those improvements, while not inevitable, are very likely. Maybe there are some basic aspects of being human that we eventually overcome. I'm hoping that is the case for Kyle Gibson and Chris Colabello. I talked to each earlier this week about their struggles after they were called up last year. From a distance, I wondered if Gibson thought his struggles were related to arm fatigue after coming back from Tommy John surgery. I wondered if the patience Colabello showed in a few games this week was due to some adjustments he's making in the batters box. They both said I was wrong. Instead, they both listed the same problem and that problem was far more basic and human: they had been nervous. Here's Gibson when I specifically asked him about wearing down at the end of the year. "No, I was just tense. I was not relaxed. I wasn't loose. And I wasn't very aggressive. I fell behind a lot of hitters and when you fall behind guys, big league hitters are pretty good. It makes a big difference. "Even in the starts when I struggled, the hitters who I got ahead of, they didn't really have too much success off of me. But I got behind a lot more hitters than I got ahead of. Getting myself in trouble was a lot of that. That's one thing I've worked on this offseason was being more aggressive and throwing more quality strikes. "I think some of it is confidence and some of it is just getting comfortable and getting used to your surroundings and playing in front of 30 or 35,000 fans every day. About seven or eight starts in, I realized I was gripping the death out of the ball or the life out of the ball. I wasn't relaxed and I wasn't loose. I'm just now figuring out how to transition that from the bullpens to the game because I've never had to really deal with that kind of adrenaline and excitement. I'm starting to get better at it, but it's still a process." This makes perfect sense. I know I'd be nervous. So I wasn't too surprised when later that day Chris Colabello said something very similar "I think it's a little bit of everything. In terms of just creating a mindset where you're relaxed, allowing yourself to remember how to slow the game down. I talk about that a lot. Last year, coming into this year, that was important to me. Obviously, having been around some guys here for a while now, getting a little bit more comfortable, and trying to know who I am, and them knowing who I am as well. It's more about approaching your at-bats with a little calm." Both players provide a perspective from inside the development curve. Anxiety is one of the challenges with which they have to wrestle. They feel like they're making progress with that. They feel like that progress is a big part of changing where they land on the development curve for the better. But from the outside, I don't know if I believe what the dice are telling me. I believe they are being totally honest. I know they have put a lot more thought into their development than I. I know they have a lot more data from which to base their conclusions. I believe that discomfort was a factor in their struggles. But ultimately, I still wonder if Colabello had trouble making adjustments to big league stuff because it's hard for 30-year-olds physiologically to make adjustments to big league stuff. And I wonder if Gibson wasn't as aggressive because he was getting hit when he was aggressive, and he was getting hit because his arm had been through a hell of a couple of years. It is also not surprising to me that neither player would concentrate on these factors because both are out of their control. Colabello cannot become 24. He can only approach each at-bat more mindfully, which he is demonstrating. Gibson couldn't do anything about what his arm has been through, other than resting it this offseason, which he did. The players don't care about those things for the same reason the bloggers and sabremetricians treat them as dice: you don't focus on on that which you cannot control. Both groups, inside and outside, look for truth based on their position in the curve. I suspect the truth lies somewhere in between. Click here to view the article