John Bonnes

So, with De Vries season over, the natural question is should a spot in the 2013 rotation be set aside for him? Or should he be competing for a spot in spring training if there is one available? Handing one to him might allow Twins to spend more on one of their other spots. But there's a lot of free agent tslent, too. His stats are much better than I thought they'd be: 17G (1/2 a season), 4.11 ERA, 87.2 IP, 6 K/9, 1.8 BB/9, 1.6 HR/9 (easily his biggest problem) & 9 H/9. (Anyone know his FIP?) What do you think?

You can view the page at http://twinsdaily.com/content.php?1032-Gleeman-and-the-Geek-Ep-58-Rating-Revere-and-Late-Night-Life-Decisions

Aaron and John start out with talk about Ben Revere's defense in center field, meander through the Minnesota Twins middle infield, rotation and bullpen, argue about Twins revenue projections and finish with mailbag questions and parenting advice. Here are: Here are: the podcasts the rss feed if you want to subscribe and the podcast on iTunes.

Aaron and John start out with talk about Ben Revere's defense in center field, meander through the Minnesota Twins middle infield, rotation and bullpen, argue about Twins revenue projections and finish with mailbag questions and parenting advice. Here are: Here are: the podcasts the rss feed if you want to subscribe and the podcast on iTunes.

You can view the page at http://twinsdaily.com/content.php?1022-Justin-Morneau-Reminds-Twins-Fans-That-He-s-Still-Here

For the Twins, this month is supposed to be about the rookies – giving them chances, evaluating them, taking the losses that inevitably result. [ATTACH=CONFIG]2308[/ATTACH]Someone forgot to tell the veterans. The M&M boys, Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau, gave the youngsters a demo yesterday on what September baseball can be. In their heyday, Mauer nearly hitting for the cycle and Morneau’s multi-home run game would’ve given each a chit towards an(other) MVP award. This year, it meant a satisfying 8-7 win over Cleveland in a beautiful, if half-filled, ballpark. The fans at the game deserved everything they got. Not only did they abstain from the Vikings home opener across town, but they stuck around for 3 hours and 30 minutes to watch the ninth-inning, two-out blast by Morneau. And while the weather was gorgeous, there were aspects of the game that were far from it. By now, we should all recognize a sentence like that last one is going to lead to talk of the Twins starting rotation. And it is. Today’s punching bag was Esmerling Vasquez, making his second start since being recalled from Rochester. He lasted only three innings, throwing 68 pitches and giving up five walks before his manager seemingly grew tired of him. Esmerling has now walked 8 in 8.2 IP which matches his reputation before he seemingly found some control in AAA late this year. Whatever he had previously found sure seems lost now. So does he. But the top of the order looked locked in. Trailing 4-0 entering the bottom of the third, Jamey Carroll singled, and Mauer followed with a triple before Justin Morneau hit his first home run. In the fourth inning, the Twins used their speed, stealing three bases en route to taking a 5-4 lead. The Indians responded in the top of the fifth, taking a 6-5 lead, but the Twins rallied again in the bottom of the seventh. Mauer doubled driving Carroll to third base. Morneau was wisely walked, which loaded the bases. Ryan Doumit struck out for the second out, but left-handed hitting Chris Parmelee’s ground ball found it’s way through the right side of the infield, plating two and giving the Twins a 7-6 lead. However, again the Indians responded. Twins reliever Jared Burton hit Brent Lillibridge with a pitch and then watched him round the bases two pitches later on a triple by Jason McDonald. With the help of Brian Duensing, the Twins escaped the inning without giving up the lead run, which led to Morneau’s ninth inning heroics. Morneau’s health struggles, which have defined his last two seasons (and last two offseasons) seem to be behind him for now. Since the All-Star break, he is hitting .321 with a .369 on-base percentage and .512 slugging percentage. That’s an 881 OPS, which exceeds his career mark and falls squarely in the production levels he posted from 2006 through 2010. Welcome back, big guy. The Twins are using September to look ahead to 2013. Morneau’s game today should remind them – and the fans – that he can still be part of that future. He certainly showed he's part of the present.

Robby Incmikoski asked Gardy about Hendriks streak of bad bounces that happened last night. I have thought the same thing about several of Hendriks starts, going back to previous callups. Gardy was a little sympathetic, but gave some straight talk on what he things Hendriks needs to do. Personally, I agree. Hendriks has had a lot of bad luck, and the strike zone was crummy last night, but I couldn't believe how many times Hendriks was 3-2 in those first couple of innings. Of course, that's also when he wasn't giving up runs, but I can't figure out why the hell he's nibbling so much. Is that really his game?

Am I the last person to have seen this? It's awesome. http://thechive.com/2012/09/06/well-played-35-photos/well-played-g3/

He was also 27, turning 28, in 1986. He got MVP votes in 1986, 1987 and 1988. Interestingly, he highest OPS was in 1988 - which was the same year that Tommy Herr showed up and converted Gaetti away from his rough and tumble lifestyle. He also had something of a resurgence in the mid 90s that I had forgotten. He even got another MVP vote in 1995. Huh.

Anyone know where we can find archived versions of Baseball America's Top 100 overall lists? What I'm really wondering is when the Twins last had so many high upside prospects? I'll be very interested to see how many of these guys are in the top 100 or even the top 50.

Hey, don't be shy! You can use your full name as your user name so we know who you are! I think I might put Buxton down a little further. It'll be interesting to see what national evaluators think, but I'd much rather have the four other guys in the top five, just because they have less risk than Buxton. (But I'm not sure others really think like that.) Also, THE DFC, I agree. I was trying to think of the last time I was this excited about the fruits of the minor league system. I think it might have been 2003, when Morneau was being called up and Mauer and Kubel were looking like future stars. I just wish there weren't so many outfielders on the list. I continue to hope that the Twins work hard to keep Sano and Rosario in the infield.

You can view the page at http://twinsdaily.com/content.php?1005-Episode-57-Dozier-s-September-Snub-and-Back-To-Beer

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2245[/ATTACH]Aaron and John talk about the September callups that don't include Brian Dozier, Denard Span's prompt inclusion on the DL, Joe Mauer waiver wire silliness, why Anthony Slama may be rethinking his career choices, Arizona Fall League participants, Parmelee's outfield play, Las Vegas, Jacqueline Bisset and date night. Here are: the podcasts the rss feed if you want to subscribe and the podcast on iTunes.

April 1st? In Minnesota? Really? I would be shocked if that was the case. And if they get to travel to NYC and Philly to see the Mets and Phillies, sign me UP for a road trip. Great cities, great stadiums. Awesome. Plus, the possible return of Ozzie to MN?

You can view the page at http://www.twinsdaily.com/content.php?1002-Twins-Promote-Eduardo-Escobar-and-Luis-Perdomo-as-September-Callups

Dustin Morse just tweeted that Vasquez and Walters will join the Twins in Kansas City tomorrow. It isn't clear if thatis it for Rochester September callups or not.

Agreed. Was Red Lobster really that big a local player in the 80s?

It's not the effect that bothers me. It's that it is a sympton of a larger problem, and it's one that has a huge effect on the team. For instance: Pavano. Had they handled that back when they knew there was a problem (or discovered it earlier) maybe he has a few good months late in the year instead of a few crappy months early in the year. Maybe he brings back a prospect or two. Or Baker. He clearly had this issue last August, bur rather than deal with it over the offseason, they deal with it in April. It's been crazy.