John Bonnes

News flash: you're not betraying baseball if you watch some football. And you're not betraying Twins Daily is you check out Vikings Journal. There is room for both in your hearts. There is room for a lot in your heart. Turns out, you have a big heart. So check it out.And if you like to dive into the details on stuff, you might want to pay special attention to the Vikings Journal Forums, where all kinds of smart folks get together and talk Vikings. Maybe even you. Click here to view the article

How the hell is this Minnesota Twins team still competing? That’s not rhetorical. I’m seriously wondering. Consider: The Twins four highest paid pitchers – Ervin Santana, Rick Nolasco, Phil Hughes and Glen Perkins – have all missed significant time this year, and three of them are not available right now, in the midst of the playoff race.The four most productive veterans in the lineup – Joe Mauer, Trevor Plouffe, Torii Hunter and Brian Dozier – look like the walking wounded. None has been put on the DL all year, but if you doubt their status, consider: NONE of them have a higher OPS since the All-Star Break than Shane Robinson. Shane. Robinson. Aaron Hicks has had two stints on the DL. Miguel Sano looks like he needs a walker to get around the bases. Several guys in the bullpen are on the verge of being overused, and that’s not counting Brian Duensing and Casey Fien who haven’t looked right all year. I’ll ask again: how the hell is this Minnesota Twins team still competing? The answer is both pleasant and encouraging: the youngsters have been carrying this team. In the rotation, 27-year-old Kyle Gibson leads the team in innings with a respectable 3.87 ERA. 28-year-old Tommy Milone came back from a short stay in Rochester and is now posting a higher strikeout rate and lower walk rate than at any time in his career. He’s contributed a 3.54 ERA over 19 starts. And 24-year-old Tyler Duffey has been perhaps the Twins best pitcher down the stretch, posting 2.67 ERA in the five starts since his recall. Everyone knows the impact that 22-year-old Sano has had on the offense, but he’s not alone. 25-year-old Hicks carried this team for a month and looks like he’s having his breakthrough year. Ditto 26-year-old shortstop Eduardo Escobar, who is only behind Sano and Dozier in OPS on the team. And while Eddie Rosario’s strikeout/walk ratio continues to scare me, he’s continued to hit, providing a potent left-handed bat. The baseball season is a marathon, not a sprint, the cliché goes. A number of the veterans look like they’re entering Mile 26. This team may be running on fumes right now, but it’s still running, fueled by some younger, fresher legs. Download attachment: 2015 Twins Post ASB.jpg Click here to view the article

John is joined by the incomparable Steve Neuman, SABR historian Dan Levitt, and Hans Van Slooten of Baseball Reference while Aaron trains kittens to fight in the terrifying wilds of central Wisconsin. They talk about how the Twins can fix their bullpen, where Terry Ryan ranks in comarison to other MLB general managers, some vintage #SanoPorn, the end of JO Berrios' season, Byron Buxton's next three weeks, contemplate what alien/good-intentioned ghost has taken over Eduardo Escobar's body, the emergence of Tyler Duffey, Glen Perkins' various maladies (with a Twitter update from Perkins himself), and if the Twins' "hero of the week" method can get them to the postseason. You can listen by downloading us from iTunes, Stitcher or find it at GleemanAndTheGeek.com. Or just click the Play button below. Click here to view the article

This morning, I got 20 more tickets for the pub crawl and am releasing them right now. Grab them before they're gone! Crawl + Twins TicketsCrawl OnlyTwins Daily Touch 'Em All Pub Crawl sponsored by Proximo Spirits:September 19th, noon to ???Ray J's American Grill, The Office Pub & Grill, Sneaky Pete's, Target FieldIncludes T-shirts, free drink samples, prizes, drink specialsPrice: $30 for Crawl and Twins Ticket (but just $25 on Thursday and Friday) or $15 for Crawl OnlyFor more details see:Monday: Touch 'Em All Pub Crawl Set for Sept 19th. Tuesday: Pub Crawl Bars And Route Announced! Wednesday: Extras and Prizes Announced! Please don't delay to get your tickets. We need to cut off sales on Tuesday and the tickets may not last even that long. Again, here are the links: Crawl + Twins TicketsCrawl Only Click here to view the article

I don't doubt he will hit. I do doubt he will hit this year. And I also think he will need some additional bake time in AAA before he's ready for the majors. I'll add one more thing: I don't want to ruin someone that looks like a thoughtful kid by exposing his confidence to a major beat down when I don't need to. But that's something I'll trust Molitor and the team to better evaluate than I.

He also made it to second base on a ball that barely made it out of the infield. The boy has some dazzline skills, no question.

This game had almost everything a Twins fan would want and a lot they would not. The Twins beat up White Sox ace Chris Sale, blew that lead, tied it up again on Miguel Sano's 176th home run of the year, padded their lead with Piranha-ball - and then damn near blew it again in the ninth inning. Here are three observations about players and events in the game. The Good It’s no secret that Eduardo Escobar has been ridiculously hot this last week, and that continued with three hits, two of which were doubles, last night. But “hot” might not do him justice, because “hot” implies his improvement is temporary. He’ll undoubtedly cool down – entering yesterday he had a 1.000 OPS since August 5th – but there are indication that we’re seeing Escobar turn a serious corner.One sign of a player making a fundamental change to his approach is a change in the strikeout-to-walk ratio. Escobar has always been a bit of a free swinger. You might remember us wondering, in early May, when he’d get his first walk of the year. His ratio for his career is close to 3.5:1. It’s hovered around that each year of his career, including this year. Which is why seeing a 10:10 ratio since August 5th is so jarring. Looking at his career, month by month, we’ve never seen anything like this. It’s only been a month, and I’ll be a lot more excited when I see it for a second month, but this bears watching. Escobar won’t stay this hot. Eventually, pitchers will get the message that if they don’t throw him strikes, they're going to get ahead in the count, so they’ll adjust. But making pitchers throw strikes and not swinging at pitches out of the zone - that’s a skill. I wonder if we’re not seeing the first few signs of a whole new level of production from Escobar. The Bad Byron Buxton has all the tools to be an unbelievably good major league outfielder, and shines defensively even when he’s replacing Aaron Hicks. But he has frequently looked overmatched at the plate. And that isn't just the "eye test." He is off to a historically rocky start statistically. Here are the highest strikeout totals for a Twins player in his first 22 games, along with walks and batting average. Download attachment: Buxton Ks.jpg One can argue that Buxton's strikeout total is partially a result of facing last night’s pitcher, Chris Sale, seven times. Or of ending his last stint with four strikeouts with a broken hand. But even with a handful of fewer strikeouts, he’s in the top three historically. And, of course, the strikeouts aren’t the real issue; it’s the strikeouts plus the lack of walks that is the issue. It’s no big deal for a rookie to struggle when promoted to the majors over his first 20 games. Maybe some hits don’t fall or there is a little nervousness. But there is a difference between some initial struggling and just not being ready for play at this level, and the most frequent place that shows up is in K:BB ratio. Buxton is fun to watch. He’s elite defensively. He should eventually be a star. And he might be the best option the Twins have for a third outfielder when Aaron Hicks comes back, though I think there can be plenty of room for contradicting opinions on that point. (And if you want to hear plenty of contradicting on that point, check out the latest episode of Gleeman and the Geek.) But he looks so overmatched right now at the plate that it isn’t clear that he belongs in the majors yet. Let’s not forget that he’s only 21 years old and has had about a week in AAA. If things don’t turn around in a hurry for him, he might not only lose his starting role in this pennant run, he might also give second thoughts as to which level he should play next April. The Ugly Giggle. Gawd, I love playing the White Sox. Here's the play of the game. Also, your moment of zen: http://m.mlb.com/vid...?game_pk=415617 Click here to view the article

You know the date and time. You know the places we’ll go. Now lets’ get to the good stuff. Free Booze Each of our stops will have free drink samples exclusively for the Touch ‘Em All Pub Crawl participants, made from Proximo Spirits’ high-end offerings such as Three Olives Vodka, Maestro Dobel Tequila, Kraken Rum or Bushmill’s Whiskey. And that’s on top of all the drink specials that they’ll be offering only to Pub Crawl participants.Great Prizes In addition, we’ll have door prizes and a special scavenger hunt contest where you get to dig up dirt on MinnCentric writers. The top prizes will be two pairs of front row Minnesota Twins tickets for the final series of the year versus the Royals. If the Twins clinch a spot in the playoffs, it will most likely be for one of these games! Price And the best part is the price. We have two options: First, to get the t-shirts, free drinks, prizes and a Field View ticket to the Twins game is just $30. However, thanks to Proximo, we are offering the whole package for just $25 for Thursday and Friday ONLY. And we must cut off sales completely by noon on Tuesday the 8th. You can buy this package at this link tomorrow at 8 AM. Already have tickets to the game? That’s OK – we also have a package where you can just do the Pub Crawl for $15, which include the t-shirt, free drink samples, prizes like the front row tickets and drink specials. Again, sales cut off completely by noon on Tuesday the 8th. You can buy this package at this link tomorrow at 8 AM. For those prices, you'll want to spend some time today rallying your friends to join. You’ll get a package the week of the crawl with your Twins tickets, drink tickets and t-shirts in time for the crawl. Obviously, if you’re not 21 years old, please do not buy a ticket – we won’t be giving any refunds. Finally, there are a limited number of tickets available – we can only fit so many people into these bars. And there will be no tickets available after Tuesday the 8th. So please don’t delay. We’ll see you tomorrow morning. Twins Daily Touch 'Em All Pub Crawl sponsored by Proximo Spirits: September 19th, noon to ??? Route: Ray J's American Grill, The Office Pub & Grill, Sneaky Pete's, Target Field Included: T-shirts, free drinks, prizes, drink specials. For more details see: Monday: Touch 'Em All Pub Crawl Set for Sept 19th. Tuesday: Pub Crawl Bars And Route Announced! Tomorrow: Click here to view the article

We’re very happy to announce our partner bars for the Twins Daily Touch ‘Em All Pub Crawl sponsored by Proximo Spirits. Each will be offering specials only for participants with a valid t-shirt…and something more that we’ll announce tomorrow. Before I get to this, let me remind you – tickets will be very limited. They will only be on sale from Thursday, September 3rd through Tuesday September 8th. And they might not last that long - the Minneapolis Fire Marshall frowns upon us overselling this event. Stop by Twins Daily at 8AM on Thursday to make sure you get your tickets. We’ll give you the link tomorrow, so you’re ready to go.We’ll start at Ray J’s American Grill (Noon to 1:45), who was voted the best wings in Minnesota by WCCO TV. They’ll have some food specials on top of the drink specials they’ll be offering. Also, there should be plenty of reasonable parking options over the river, which should save some dough. From there, we’ll have about a 20 minute walk across the historic and scenice Hennepin Avenue Bridge to The Office Pub and Grill. (2:15-3:30) With 18 HDTVs, we should be able to keep up with college football scores or maybe root against the Blue Jays who will have an afternoon game. Then it’s just a 10 minute walk to Sneaky Pete’s (3:45 – 5:30). It has three bars so there should be plenty of room. Can you still buy a beer from Wally the Beerman at Sneaky Pete’s? We’ll find out. We’ll also finish off our contest and provide the grand prize … which I’ll announce tomorrow. Finally, we’ll head over to Target Field where we have Field View tickets. We’ll also likely continue our Pub Crawl through the various establishments at the ballpark, which we’ll coordinate during the Pub Crawl. Again, we expect somewhere between 100 and 200 people and demand will be high. Please stop by tomorrow to hear about the generous extras that Proximo and our participating bars will be providing exclusively to our group. And then set an alarm for Thursday morning….. Click here to view the article

Aaron and John talk about the Twins making it to September very much in Wild Card contention, a struggling Byron Buxton vs. a washed up Torii Hunter, whether the Twins will call up Jose Berrios to help a faltering rotation, the third annual Twins Daily pub crawl, feeling old at high school reunions, sweating in studios, and Miguel Sano as the big spoon. You can listen by downloading us from iTunes, Stitcher or find it at GleemanAndTheGeek.com. Or just click the Play button below. Click here to view the article

It’s time for one last summer blast, and who better to host it than the Boys of Summer and Target Field? Twins Daily is throwing their 3rd annual Touch ‘Em All Pub Crawl, a legendary event that has drawn hundreds of people over its first couple of years. Proximo Liquors, maker of all manner of high-end libations like Three Olives Vodka and Maestro Dobel Tequila, is helping to make this year bigger and better.We meet between noon and 1:00 on Saturday, September 19th, at our first bar. We wind our way towards Target Field, enjoying several specials only available to Pub Crawl members. Then we watch the Twins battle the Los Angeles Angels for a wild card spot and continue the party there. Every participant gets a limited edition, commemorative t-shirt, so you can prove you were there, when, say, the Twins closer buys us a round. You can see this year’s design above – and there is some significant to the martini glass in this year’s design. Twins Daily, Vikings Journal, Wild Xtra & Northern Pitch writers and contributors will be there to talk baseball and raise a glass together. We’ll also have some special, giveaways and contests which we’ll announce over the next couple days. And you’ll be able to buy the crawl and game tickets at a special price. Tickets will only be available for a couple of days, starting this Thursday at 8:00 AM, so give yourself a reminder. And start getting psyched. For the first time, this pub crawl is going to be in a city that is genuinely excited about the game going on that night. The evolution of the Twin Cities to being a true baseball town has been gaining momentum. The Touch ‘Em All Pub Crawl has been a touchstone in that process. Don’t miss out on it. Tomorrow: We announce the route Wednesday: We announce the giveaways, contents and price Thursday: Tickets are on sale. Click here to view the article

I agree.

For Thursday night’s 5-4 loss, it’s tempting to focus on the run the Twins lost when Miguel Sano’s blast hit the Tropicana Field catwalk and ended up a double. It’s tempting because who doesn’t want to talk about that explosion? Lord, did you see it? Did you hear it? I thought Twins announcer Dick Bremer might have an aneurysm. I thought I might have an aneurysm. But I think we’re focusing on the wrong metric. The Twins didn’t lose this game because they couldn’t get enough runs. They lost it because they couldn’t get enough outs. And finding those outs in the team's arms has become increasingly tricky.It’s been a week now since the Twins have had a starting pitcher finish the sixth inning. And even with an off day on Monday, the bullpen has been stretched thin by a series of short starts, close games, an extra inning affair and an especially short start on Tuesday by Ervin Santana. With Glen Perkins still fighting a back problem and Kevin Jepsen having thrown in each of the last five games, there weren’t a lot of reliable options tonight. I expect manager Paul Molitor was hoping for six strong innings from Tommy Milone, which would allow him to use the three good arms available over those last three innings: Neil Cotts, Casey Fien and Trevor May. That didn’t happen, but trying to make it happen was when things got ugly. (There were a few less enticing options. Blaine Boyer - who pitched - could throw a few pitches. Same with Brian Duensing. And Ryan O'Rourke was available if absolutely necessary. Here is the number of pitches the relievers have thrown over the last week.) Download attachment: Bullpen Pitches.jpg The Twins had a 4-2 lead at the game’s midpoint. Milone was pretty hittable in the bottom half of the fifth, giving up three hits to six batters. However he should get credit for giving up just one run, and maybe extra credit for getting Evan Longoria to ground out to end the threat. But the bottom half of the sixth started the same way as the fifth – with a double off of the southpaw Milone. He stayed in for two more batters, both of whom faced him as right-handed hitters, and he gave up the tying run on a one-out hit by Joey Butler. That hit scored two batters later because of two defensive miscues. First, Eduardo Escobar threw to home when he really had no chance to get that tying run, which allowed Butler to stretch his single to second base. Then, after advancing on a groundout, he scored when catcher Kurt Suzuki allowed a Neil Cotts curveball to trickle between his legs. It’s a shame because, in the end, the bullpen got all the outs they needed to get at the end of the game. It was the threat of not having coverage that likely led to Molitor trying to stretch Milone a little longer than he should have. Alternately, the Rays won because they were more aggressive with their bullpen. Starter Drew Smyly was pulled after 4.2 innings. Brandon Gomes got four outs against the bottom of the Twins lineup, and then Alex Colome threw two innings before turning it over to closer Brad Boxberger. The Twins managed just one hit in 4.1 innings off that trio. In short, the Rays gave the Twins a dose of Minnesota’s own potent cocktail tonight: a great bullpen, a couple of timely hits and taking advantage of a defensive miscue or two. It’s the same recipe the Twins have used to turn a 0-3 road trip into a 6-4 road trip. That doesn’t make it any easier to swallow. Twins Takes It’s likely time to start debating who is going to lose time in the outfield when Aaron Hicks returns next week. Tonight, both Torii Hunter and Byron Buxton stated their case for finding some bench time. Hunter was 0-4 and hit into a double play in the fifth inning. It not only ended a threat to extend the lead, but ended the last threat the Twins would have. Buxton, meanwhile, struck out four times and was actually pinch-hit for in the ninth inning by backup catcher Chris Herrmann. And I can’t blame Molitor for the move. This wasn’t a case of a rookie getting fooled by veteran guile. He was flat out missing fastballs right through the strike zone. I thought back to the last time he struck out four times, when we found out the next day he had been playing with a strained thumb and was put on the DL. I won’t be shocked if, at the very least, he has a day of rest on Friday, which would mean seeing Shane Robinson three days in a row. Buxton, by the way, since his recall, is still hitting .264, but has a 12:1 K:BB ratio. His defense continues to be outstanding in center field. The bottom of the Twins lineup had another great night. Escobar hit his third home run in two games. Suzuki just missed a home run and still went 2-4. He’s hitting .392 on this road trip. And even Robinson contributed a hit and also “drove in” the Twins fourth run on an error by Asdrubal Cabrera that was likely influenced by Robinson’s speed. Click here to view the article

Looking at the International League standings, I wonder if the Twins aren't just waiting for the Red Wings to be eliminated. 5.5 games back with 12 to play. I wonder if that also doesn't play into whether the Twins let Berrios start on 8/31 in Rochester or 9/1 in Target Field. If he starts 8/31, I wonder if everything doesn't just get moved back a week, too. He could get five days of rest and still start in Santana's next start on Saturday in Houston. I'd almost be willing to bet that happens.

Berrios should be up. There just isn't any question. If there isn't room for him in the rotation, there certainly is in the bullpen. This is just silly. I wonder, if Santana stinks it up again on Sunday, if the Twins wouldn't consider pushing Berrios back one day (his next start should be Monday, I think) and having him start the Twins next game, on Tuesday, September 1st at home versus the White Sox. Then, after seeing him live, they could either shut down Santana or move him to the bullpen or rest him for a few starts or even start him and shut down Berrios. Actually, I wonder if the Twins might not consider that even if Santana doesn't stink. At the very least, it could help draw some attention to this team as they're in their most significant stretch of baseball in four years.