John Bonnes

[ATTACH=CONFIG]3349[/ATTACH]Aaron and John talk about the Twins possibly bringing back Jim Thome, mailbag questions submitted by listeners, Baseball America's top 100 prospects, Jennifer Lawrence at the Oscars, snarking on Twitter, attendance and revenue, choosing sides on blondes vs. brunettes for charity, Kyle Gibson's velocity, fighting the entire world, and an unplanned cameo by a member of Aaron's family. Here are: the podcasts the rss feed if you want to subscribe and the podcast on iTunes.

Funny. Just an hour ago on the podcast I asked Aaron where Gary Sanchez, who was the other super highly ranked prospect in Pelotero, ended up. It would be neat to end up with both him & Sano with the Twins. (Can we add Juan Carlos for our middle infield, too?)

I don't think this is as baffling as we think. Or at least, I think the baffling part isn't the Twins behavior. It's in the difference between AAA and MLB. We assume, based on lots of statistics and personal experience, that there isn't a huge difference between AAA and MLB, and we're right for most players. But that's a composite look. Indeed, there are many differences, some more extreme than others, and for players who tend to rely on some extreme skill, that can mean a much easier or more difficult promotion. I think Slama is an extreme player. Guys with 88mph stuff don't have those kind of K rates. I don't know exactly what skill he relies on, but it seems to be the ability to get calls on the edge of the zone, or "nibble." Thus, the high K and walk rates. And it's possible that in the majors, between better batting eyes and umpiring tendencies, that is a much higher hill to climb. Certainly, what limited time (only seven innings, seven games) he's seen with he Twins hasn't been impressive. His walk rate is 9. His hit rate was over 11. His WHIP = 1.8+. Which isn't to say he doesn't deserve a chance. I think he does deserve a chance. But I think that's what the Twins and every other team in the major wrestles with. They just don't believe that his success, which is far outside the norm of most pitchers, is going to translate at the next level. I'm not sure they're wrong. I'm also just not sur they're right.

Per Rhett Bollinger, Anthony Swarzak will begin throwing by the middle of this week and feels good about his chances of recovering from this ridiculous injury: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130224&content_id=41942142&notebook_id=41949078

Mauer was impressed by him today and Ron Gardenhire said he had fun watching Gibson on the mound. Then he had a little fun himself.... It will be interesting, with a 130ish inning limit, if the Twins will feel comfortable putting him in the rotation when they break camp. http://www.foxsportsnorth.com/02/24/13/Mauer-has-high-praise-for-Gibson-in-Twin/landing_twins.html

Bollinger gives us an update on Anthony Slama's state of mind..... ....and his unfortunate status: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130222&content_id=41882724&notebook_id=41883216

Plouffe is scheduled to come back on Tuesday. He though it was going to be today (Sunday) but he wasn't in any of the lineups, which led to this great quote:

Mike Berandino reveals that Anthony Swarzak, Trevor Plouffe, Tim Wood and Josh Roenicke are out of options. I think we knew that. But I do wonder if that makes it any more likely that one of those relievers is kept and Alex Burnett is sent down.

I'm sure this has been reported several places, but those of us who are interested in watching Oswaldo Arcia this spring are going to have to wait a bit. He's out "indefinitely" with a pulled intercostal muscle in his left side. http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_22653791/minnesota-twins-prospect-oswaldo-arcia-out-injury Count Gardenhire as one of the disappointed: Update: In another story, Terry Ryan said Arcia is about a week away. So maybe he'll still have a chance to show the Twins coaching staff what he can do.

It's a fair point. We'll give that some thought.

I'm really surprised by the "throw them all into the fire" attitude out here. I can understand that though process if either: 1) a player has done all he can at AAA or 2) a player is a highly regarded prospect who everyone is sure will develop. But neither of those is true for ANY of the younger players we're talking about. It feels like we're committed to breaking them just because we don't think there is anything better to do.

There is relevance. It shows whether they're retaining their best players. That's not the whole story, but it's a piece of it. But it does raise an issue that I'd like to touch on. When we talk about "rebuilding," too often the focus is on the destructive part, rather than the constructive part. Any destructive act is deemed a step forward, when it's almost always a step backwards, along with the possibility of a step forward. The Astros are praised by some for their destructive actions, but as this story points out, that's not really the job. If their new farm system develops the way they hope (and the way several publications rank them) then it can be evaluated as a success. But my impression is that the Astros are a lot further away from that than others. That's also where the argument about Morneau and Willingham fails to find common ground. One side can assume that whatever is returned for them will be awesome. One side can assume that whatever is returned for them will be crummy.

As far as alcohol goes, it's a legal activity and one that the vast majority of members do. It's one thing to glorify underage drinking. It's another to remark on it as an adult activity. I'll admit, it's a pretty tenuous line in the sand between that and some other activities, but it isn't our intention to model behavior for humanity. Our intention is to provide a good place to talk Twins baseball. That's the purpose of the rules.

I must not be clear about my point on Dozier and Carroll. I'll summarize: I think Dozier can be a starting shortstop in the majors, at least for a short period of time while he's cheap. But last year he was overwhelmed in the majors, and overwhelmed in AAA, too, where he only had 200 AB. He needs time in AAA to develop. Then promote him and stick with him through some tough times. That time is not now. He's not ready. He has done NOTHING to prove he is ready. Carroll is a borderline guy - a great utility guy, a passable starting middle infielder. (He might not be a bad comp for Dozier, though I'm holding some hope Dozier can exceed that level.) I like Carroll. He shouldn't block anyone legitimate, but he's not an embarrassment. Which brings us to Florimon and Escobar. They aren't going to be passable as anything other than glove-only utility infielders. Neither is ever going to exceed Carroll's current level. Neither has done anything in their minor league history to indicate they can exceed Carroll's current level. I don't see any reason to play either in front of Carroll. The ONLY reason I see to start one of them is to give Dozier time in AAA.

"Minnesota Twins radio is ON THE AIR."

Mike Berardino wrote up a story about Jamey Carroll's unlikely tenure in the major leagues today. It included some thoughts by Gardy that mimic mine.... The ironic think about Carroll being a "utility guy" is that he's certainly the best of the four candidates for the middle infield spots. I'd like to be critical of Gardy apparently leaning towards the other three, but the truth is there isn't a great (or good, or even tenable) solution here. My top priority is probably giving Brian Dozier more time at AAA, so almost by definition, that means Pedro Florimon starts at SS (cringe), Jamey Carroll is at second base and Escobar is my bench utility guy. I guess tabbing Carroll as the "utility guy" for now is fine, because the chances of either Florimon and Dozier going down in flames this spring or early this season is about 120%. Let them compete with each other, and give Carroll the cleanup.

According to the Mets GM Sandy Alderson, it's not because he's had a setback: I was about to go out here and write what a disaster that trade was for both franchises. Certainly, Santana hasn't been what we saw or what the Mets expected, but his numbers the first three years with them were awfully good: 600 IP, 2.85 ERA. The last two were bad, but that contract can end after this year. (And considering he'll make $25M if they pick up his option, I expect it will end after this year.) If he looks like he's returning to health this year, but isn't dominant, I wonder if anyone locally will lobby to go after him for 2014. He'll be 34 this season. http://www.twincities.com/twins/ci_22645611/johan-santana-former-twins-aces-exhibition-debut-pushed

Maybe I missed this, but according to Phil MIller, Harden could've signed with the Twins last year at this time, but knew he wanted shoulder surgery, so he turned them down: It's a really interesting story, both about the pain Harden has handled and how the Twins and he found common ground. It makes me even more optimistic about him being part of the team. (And maybe even re-signing if he stays healthy.) http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/192404651.html

Jon Paul Morosi wrote a story this week about Justin Morneau's status with the Twins. First, it noted that Morneau is open to a contract discussion during the season, which I thought was a reversal of what he said this week. But then there was also a lot of talk about the Blue Jays: The Blue Jays have Adam Lind playing either first base or DH regularly, and he's fallen quite a bit since his breakout season. FWIW, Morneau asked that Twins fans don't read too much into that comment, per Phil Miller. Don't worry, I'm not. At this point, I think both sides need to have their options open and see what happens. I think we'll all understand either way. I've said it before and I'll say it again: if the Twins are going to trade Morneau, I hope they'll at least consider eating some of his salary for better prospects. I don't know if that would be appealing to the Blue Jays or not, but it's a good way to invest some of this extra money into the future of the franchise.

Regarding the "like" button, we're battling some bugs and hope to get them resolved in the next week or so. We think it might have had some unintentional consequences, which is why we turned it off. We're not opposed to it, and hope to reintroduce it.

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I'm a little relieved to hear the positive reviews. When I interviewed Terry Ryan for the Handbook, he downplayed Berrios a little, saying he didn't have a great instructional league, and I wondered if there had been some issues. This is reassuring.

La Velle E Neal posted some ravings about 18-year-old Jose Berrios yesterday morning. There are some other quotes about him too. http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/192025501.html