diehardtwinsfan

Duffy was sent back to Rochester. Guessing May is back in the rotation.

Hey vanimal, long time listener and spy. Have a question for you though. Can you comment on the specifics of what Boyer might have over the front office/managerial staff that keeps him in the pen? Is there any truth to the rumor that Tim Stauffer handed over these incriminating photos before he left?

I'm more interested in his splits of late since he's turned it on... Not sure his season splits are necessarily indicative of how he's doing RIGHT NOW against righties. Just my 2 cents. I'd leave the kid alone. He's doing well. Let him get some confidence.

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).

Hmmm... me thinks that might take a lot of folks out of the married category.

How do you score .1 runs in baseball? Is this some sort of Gardy math that explains some of his decisions?

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.

nice Probably a sports bar discussion.

I doubt that they spent the money to install it so they wouldn't use it. It's likely one more data point that goes into a player's file/evaluation.

Look, I get advanced stats and what not, but ERA tells us what actually happened. While it isn't the best predictive indicator, it is a very good indicator of what happened when a pitcher was on the mound. I don't have a problem looking to FIP to say 'play A might have been over his head a bit, or player B might improve a bit', but let's not disparage ERA simply because it's not a new stat. It still has some value.

I like the idea of a waiver trade of Pelfrey to get May back in the rotation. I like the idea of a couple kids occupying those RP spots too to give them some ML experience. I think Duffey in particular would benefit from that, though I think Berrios (being a bit younger) needs to get those innings more than anything else. I can see him coming up in September. I'd like to see Oliveros get a shot too, or even Achter. I don't think Polanco is ready. I like Nunez as a pinch hit bat since he can hit well for a bench player, so I don't think jettisoning him is smart. Letting some of the kids from AAA get their feet wet, however, is a great idea.

I think that in order to procure Susac or Pawlecki, Plouffe may need to be dealt in a 3 team trade to pull it off. I think that's the right thing, and while I'm not terribly happen about Terry Ryan of late, he has shown in the past that he can go out and trade from a position of strength like this (AJ, Span, Revere) to fill other positions. Given the dearth in the minors at catching, I think a trade like this makes a ton of sense. The other side though assumes that Arcia or Vargas can adequately fill the DH spot. Arcia is out of options next year, so he's likely to get an extended look there.

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.

I wouldn't be surprised if that's the case. It's well documented that he didn't like negotiating contracts. Granted this time around there's a bit more cash to go around making that job easier, but I think you have a point here about Ryan and negotiation. It isn't his thing. I think he does better when someone else is calling him asking about a guy.

OK, so I finished up watching the X files on Netflix (speaking of which, they are spinning this back up in January) and was peaked by another Gillian Anderson series called The Fall. It's pretty interesting. It's a Netflix original, so an FYI there. It's about a serial killer/cop hunt, but it explores it from all sides, so you see the killer's family life along with lives of those investigating him and the lives of those attached to the victims. Really interesting. Check it out.

I caught part of an episode on HBO when I was traveling last week... Gotta ask though, is the orgy thing normal?

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.

I'll disagree with 3. May has been a pretty good starter this year, and his peripherals indicate that he can be a well above average pitcher. As of right now, I think he's in the pen till the end of the season, but I would be very disappointed if he isn't a starter in 2016 for what it's worth. I agree that he could be a dominant back of the pen guy, and might even be able to be that guy down the stretch, but I think he has potential to be a #2 type guy in the rotation too, and that's far more valuable than a setup man.

I don't know if it's about May or not, but the reality at this point is that May has been in the pen for more than a month now and like or not, he's not stretched out for a 2 start spot start. If you put him back in the rotation, he's likely going 3-5 innings at best for his first start, which is going to leave that game in the hands of our very capable pen. I think if this is a longer term thing, Duffey comes up and May goes down to get stretched out and then May comes back up and Duffey (if he does well) moves to the pen. I don't think this is about the Twins undervaluing May or May being in someone's dog house. I think this is about doing what is best for the Twins in the short term.

I hope that Milone can do well enough down the stretch to be traded for something decent (better than Sam Fuld ). He's had a pretty good season to date. The problem is that next year's rotation as it stands right now is Hughes, Nolasco, Santana, Gibson, and Milone. I want May in there and Milone is the only guy that I think can be moved.

yeah, I think we tend to forget that Stewart didn't play much baseball at all in high school and is a bit more raw than the average prospect. He was drafted that high b/c of his tools. Scouts thought he could have 4 plus pitches when it's all done. I don't have a problem with him having a sinker if he can couple it with one or two out pitches to go with it. That's a Brandon Webb type ace right there if he figures it out. I'll take that any day. We also forget that he's 20 years old holding his own in A+. I agree his development has been disappointing in that we wanted him to simply dominate, but I think that most of us don't quite have the appreciation of the amount of development that has to be done in the minor leagues. If it was easy, I doubt there would be so many different development leagues. As for Gonsalves, he was considered first round talent that fell due to character concerns and teams not really following up with him on what he'd sign for. The Twins did this quite well. I was excited about the pick when he was drafted and really have to tip my cap to the Twins staff for getting him in house. Given his size, I really do think he could be an ace, and he's developing like one so far. His ranking compared to Stewart really comes down to ceiling vs. results. I think Stewart has the higher ceiling, but Gonsalves to date has gotten the job done quite well. Oh, and he's a lefty, that's always nice. It will be interesting to see what guys like Law say about Gonsalves this offseason. I know he was one of his biggest detractors, but I think Gonsalves is going to sneak on to the low end of a lot of top 100 lists this offseason.

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.