diehardtwinsfan

my cousin teaches at Michigan State.

My bad on the innings. I thought he pitched a bunch in one of those blow outs... Anyways, sorry, but I'll disagree on the conclusion. He's got top of the rotation potential. I could see him staying in the pen for the rest of the year (personally disagree, but whatever), but I think going back to a starter, especially with some experience in the pen is beneficial for both him and the team long term. Now if you don't see improvement over the next season or so, I think the pen might be the right answer.

Didn't May just go 3 or 4 innings out of the pen recently? If so, I suspect he's in line to move back. That would be what was needed to stretch him out with the hopes of going 5 or 6.

We could offer Adam Brett Walker to them for a king's ransom.

Service time, makeup, attitude, approach, results, tenure, age, and probably a hundred other things that I haven't mentioned here. There's lots of factors that come into play with these decisions.

He's 21 and has put up a .455 average in 15 at bats. As a college sign, I'd expect him to do better than the GCL, as he's old for the league. But this is also SSS. I'd say way too soon to tell.

Glad to see Burdi with a good month.

$100M dollars, the face of the franchise, etc. Baring an Adrian Peterson type scenario, it won't happen. Period. Heck, look at A-Rod if you want an example. The Yankees wanted to do anything they could to get out from under that contract this last offseason and still held on to him. This isn't just a TR thing. No way Jim Pohlad signs off on it or the average fan (who like it or not is far more responsible for filling seats at TF than the knowledgeable fan)

Mauer is more likely to move back to catcher than he is to get cut. He's got 3 more years left on his deal. We may as well stop thinking this is an option.

I'm really curious what Ryan will do this offseason here. I think Milone will likely be on the block, but even if he's shipped off and Pelfrey is presumably allowed to walk, you have Hughes, Santana, Nolasco, Gibson, and May in those 5 spots. Eventually, someone will hit the DL for a time and give them an opportunity to use Rochester, but there's going to be a few deserving arms to choose from. I think Berrios has the highest ceiling of those arms, but Duffey and Rogers certainly will be making a case as well. Side note, but I don't believe (could be wrong here) that Berrios is a 40 man decision this offseason. I wouldn't mind him as a September callup, but I'd rather not waste an option on him next season unless the plan is to have him in the majors next year.

yeah, I'm guessing the front office looks at more than just a box score to determine readiness.

Yes I think it's progress, though let's be realistic and note it's 10 games. He's got to learn about what not to swing at before he starts taking those monster hacks again. It might mean a bad year while he's figuring some of that out, but if it clicks, look out.

That was funny.

I'm more concerned about options than service time. Those are what force you on to a roster before you are ready. Case in point, Oswaldo Arcia. I don't anyone thought we'd be in a situation next year where he was out of options and not ready just yet, based on his minor league track record... but here we are. I'm wondering if it makes sense to just keep Buxton up at the ML level for the remainder of the season so as not to waste that option (as I suspect he's going to be optioned next year).

Well, if there was an opportunity to get May stretched out, last night would have been a good one. Could have let him pitch 4 innings after Duffey got shelled and then sent Duffey down. That's what I would have done there. Oh well. Hopefully Duffey does better for his next start.

And for some it's always that. And some of us recognize that we really don't know what is going on. There tends to be a rush to judgement to support the stance that fits our view of how the org functions, most of which is likely inaccurate. I would be curious if there was more info on what was going on and why. I think in general this type of insight is very interesting.

There's always negotiation on this. Initial requests will always be absurd, but finding that person that both can agree on can be difficult. I think trading the top prospect makes sense in certain circumstances (an OF, for instance will likely be made available within the next year if they all continue to develop as they are currently), but where the team is right now, you don't really know who is going to be a solid major leaguer and who isn't. Hopefully, Hicks, Arcia, Kepler, Rosario, and Buxton all continue to improve and force this decision. But until then, I think you let it play out. One of those 5 may likely fail (or even 2 or 3), but you don't really know. It's probably better long term waiting for that to happen than to make the trade and find out you sent off the wrong guy.

I'm not quite sure it's fair to say that the Twins couldn't forsee an injury coming. Exactly how should they have handled this? Send May down to Rochester to remain stretched out? I think that would have generated far more anger than what they did. Personally, I'm more concerned about next season. They have 6 starters in Hughes, Santana, Nolasco, Gibson, Milone, and May. Someone is going to get hosed in that arrangement. I fear that's May, and it shouldn't be.

Kepler is on the 40 man, so I'd have to think he's going to be in mind for September.

now that's impressive.

The Twins have been a bit more cautious with Kepler (and rightfully so) given that while he has the tools, he's not really backed it up much until this season. I think they take it slow with him and start him in Rochester next season. I also think Buxton might be there too and they go with an OF of Rosario, Hicks and Arcia to start 2016. My guess is that Rosario will likely be sent down at some point (I think he's likely going to be a sophomore slump candidate) in favor of Buxton or Kepler and that Arcia will hopefully become a full time DH/4th OF in favor of the other guy.

I could see Duffey moving to the pen. He already has mid 90s velocity and his K rate has improved as he moved up the chain. Shelving a 3rd pitch and simply operating with two at a higher velocity might make him a decent reliever (not to mention he as a closer in college). Lots of starts have made that transition (Perkins is a good example there). I was more worried that it was an injury. I like potential call up a lot better.

When I did my offseason plans for the Twins last year, it involved getting rid of a lot of the guys from last year's pen and letting some of the rookies (Tonkin, Oliveros, Achter, etc.) take their lumps in the big leagues. Admittedly, at that time I had no clue that the team would be in playoff contention come the beginning of August, but still to this day I think it was a bad decision not to bring a few of these guys up and let them cut their teeth. While I'm not sold on any of them per say, these guys have all pretty much proven themselves at AAA (and some of them have done this for years now) and need to be given an extended shot in the majors. It does take time to develop. I'd have much rather had a guy like Tonkin in that mop up role than say Stauffer, Boyer, or Duensing (though in Boyer's defense, he wasn't that bad at the beginning of the season). My biggest concern for 2016 is that we will be right back there because we didn't invest adequately in our younger talent. Our pen that we can count on will consist of Perkins, Jepsen, Fein (I think), and O'Rourke. Only one is a back of the pen option, and O'Rourke is more of a specialist (though he looks like very good LOOGY long term). I think there are bullets in the system that can compliment Perkins, but they are either too far away (Peterson, Burdi, Reed, Chargois) or will likely need to take some lumps before they can succeed (Tonkin, Oliveros, Achter). While I'm not a fan of paying a lot to get relievers, I do think there's something to be said about the value of having 2 or 3 shut down options in the pen. My fear is that we really won't get to that point until after we've been contending for a few years, and I'd rather not be trading guys like Hu/Tapia to get them.

For what it's worth, it sounds like scouts aren't a fan of Hu as much as we are. http://www.minorleagueball.com/2015/7/31/9081439/rays-trade-kevin-jepsen-twins-prospects-chih-wei-hu-alexis-tapia Still not sure I like it, but it does put things in perspective a bit.

yeah probably. I could see him shifting to a relief role for a bit to keep the innings down.