diehardtwinsfan

Apparently, the folks in Philly are pretty tired of Revere. He hasn't progressed as liked and cannot keep an OBP over .300. http://www.csnphilly.com/baseball-philadelphia-phillies/ben-revere-does-not-look-everyday-player With that in mind, May is looking like he can be a solid mid-rotation arm, and while I won't argue on the Worley disaster, it seems so far like the Twins may have gotten the better part of the trade.

Way too soon for that. His career minor league OPS is just north of .800, so perhaps he's figured something out so to speak. However, his career major league OPS is south of .700, so I'm perfectly fine with letting him ride this out for an entire season. It can be revisited in the offseason, but with two 'offense minded' catchers, you know that just guarantees Herrmann a permanent spot.

What is this, the career lines for Pelfrey and Correia?

On second thought, time to find something else to do.

Back from my run, what did I miss?

Just a nit to pick, but extending a player provides cost certainty. In the case of Dozier, an extension would be for less than what he'd make in arb if he continued playing the way he's playing right now. The Twins assume the risk of injury or if Dozier were to turn back into a pumpkin. The reason they wouldn't extend him is if they think he's getting lucky, think he's going to be a constant presence on the DL, or they think that he will suddenly get lazy. If they don't think that any of these will happen, then he should be extended, if for no other reason than to provide a contract that other teams will covet should Rosario start to push him. There's a time and a place to extend a guy, and this, to me is a really good case to do it.

FYI, still in EST.

I think Colabello needs to be optioned (if he has them). Arcia should be able to replace him soon. Willingham can replace Tonkin. I like Tonkin, but based on the results, a trip to AAA with a few things to work on is in his best interest. I'd like to trade KC for Darnell right now to see what he can do in an extended look as well. I think the Twins are going to find themselves in a bit of a pitching glut for the first time in a while unless someone gets hurt.

Let's not talk about skid marks in the bullpen.

If Hicks doesn't even pay attention to the starting pitching, I highly doubt he listens to the broadcasts.

This is how you get fired by the Washington Nationals.

Heck if he's 30/30 he isn't going anywhere. I still think if Rosario forces the issue, Dozier moves back to SS. He's been bringing up the average to go with the power, at one point, the team has to recognize that the offensive boost at the position is well worth the defensive drop off, especially if there's a 2B right behind him who is clearly ready.

I still have mine boxed up, but no plans to really do anything with them.

I just don't see Rosario in the OF (unless he shows he can play center). His value (both as a prospect and as a team contributor) is immensely tied to his bat at a position where his bat plays up better. He's a guy who can hit well, but not well enough to play in the corners. I still think that if he emerges after this suspension that he's either going to get traded or the Twins are going to consider moving Dozier back to SS. Personally, I think the later makes a ton more sense for the team (with the only exception being Santana's bat suddenly taking a leap forward).

Well, you definitely make me more comfortable with Nola... That said, the more I think about this, I think the Twins should go highest ceiling with that pick. I'd think long and hard about Touki, who should still be on the board at 5. I'd probably have him ahead of Nola/Gordon right now, unless the Twins think Gordon's bat can be of the .800+ OPS variety in the bigs. Still not against an underslot deal given Fede, Hoffman, and the plethora of high ceiling HS arms that will fall.

I feel you misunderstood what Parker was saying. I think it should depend on whether or not they are saying it from their head or from their heart

I'm waiting for a paradox in the space time continuum causing the entire universe to implode... gotta happen soon.

Kyle Gibson's career minor league K/9 is 8.02. He was at 7.7 last year when he got called up. I realize that's going to transition downard a bit when he's promoted, but a K/9 of 7 is still a pretty good pitcher. I think the question we should be having right now is why is it so low?

Couple of thoughts. He made it to the bigs at age 23 but sat on the bench. When he was traded, AJ Pierzinsky basically said that the Twins got a steal in him. He got off to a hot start last season and then tanked. He went to AAA and put up an .880 OPS in about 160 at bats (SSS I know). He's off to a hot start again this year. To me, he's in the Parm/Plouffe mold where he's shown he can hit quite well in longer periods of time than what you'd expect from a guy you don't expect to hit, and when he's done it, he's done it with authority... That said, he's yet to put it together. I was in the camp of giving him a shot early on, and I'm still there. He's shown that there's some talent there. Here's to hoping it's more than smoke and mirrors.

yeah, the record doesn't say it all. This IS a better team, and they have depth in the minors to make some moves at places of weakness too.

A lot of it is just refining skills and progression of them. The jump from A+ to AA is considered one of the hardest jumps to make (next to AAA to MLB). The big difference between pitchers in AA and the ones in A+ is that the AA guys do a much better job locating their breaking pitches, something that is not done well in A+ at all. Walker is already having a tough time making contact. Tossing him into an environment where pitchers can better locate those pitches he already cannot hit isn't going to be good for his development. Moving a guy too quickly is a great way to ruin him.

There's definitely a few teams with sandwich round picks that could do the underslot/overslot thing well. That said, this is a very deep draft and between high ceiling highschool pitchers, guys like Fede and Hoffman, and potentially gatewood, there's a good chance that there will be some highly thought after first round talent available at pick number 46. I don't think the Twins need to set their site on WHO nearly as much as considering the possibilities of grabbing someone. Personally, if they went and took Gordon at 5, I could care less if they ended up with Gatewood, Hoffman, Fede, or any of the high ceiling HS arms that are going to be tough signs, because at the end of the day, they essentially got two first rounders out of the deal.

To be clear, I think a DFA is the correct answer, but I think there's 6 million reasons why they won't just cut him.... They will try to trade him first.... and I doubt they will have takers.

I don't know the contract values offhand jokin, so I'm going to trust you here. That said, he would have made far more than 1.25M in arbitration. That is specifically the point. Terry Ryan couldn't trade him as no one felt he was worth the price. When he was released, every team in baseball could have had Ortiz for the price of arbitration. None of them decided he was worth it, including I might add Theo Epstein. No one is saying that Ortiz was a good decision. What I've been trying to say is that his was very much a baseball decision, and while the Twins made a mistake, everyone else did too. (side note, Epstein said the exact same thing in an article a few years back, noting that he himself made that mistake). And let's also be clear that no one doubted Ortiz's ability to hit. Even using the Twins approach, Ortiz was a very good hitter. This isn't a case of simple incompetence. Baseball's pay structure and Ortiz's injuries made Ortiz too much of a risk to justify action for every team in MLB, otherwise some one would have traded a C level prospect for him or someone would have claimed him when he went on waivers. Let's also not pretend that we know how steroids impacted his development.... because that comes into play here as well, and no one other than Ortiz can honestly say what happened, especially in regards to an oft injured hitter suddenly not being oft-injured anymore.

I'm more concerned about 2015 Twins than 2014 personally. I'm not expecting a penant race, but I want to see improvement, and there's good reason to be happy with that. With that end in mind: I'm not terribly worried about the OF long term. I'm pretty convinced Arcia is for real, though I do think he could use a bit of AAA time, and I'm fine with that. CF is not looking like it's going to be a position of strength next season, especially with Buxton being sidelined with an injury. Hicks needs to be checking out appartments in Rochester and I don't want to see him back until he's had an .800 OPS there for at least 2 months in a row. Fuld can run with the job for now (though I'm not expecting him to rise up), and I'd be fine giving him the occasional day off with Santana or Escobar, but to be clear I don't think it's good for either if they are expected to play CF regularly. I'm probably higher on Parmelee than most of you as well, but even if Sano is ready in 2015, between Parmelee, Plouffe, and Vargas, I think the team's DH and LF role is not really a problem long term, or even short term if Willingham stays hurt. Colabello's future I think is more of a bench bat. I'd love to be wrong there, but I think pitchers have figured him out. SS is the big quesiton mark. I'm not sold on Santana, but as long as he's hitting the ball, I'm fine letting him have an extended run and see what he does. Escobar can go into a super utility role and spell people at 3B, SS, 2B, and OF and get plenty of at bats, but I fully expect Santana to end up in AAA again at one point and let Escobar handle it every day. I do think that Escobar is a good candidate for rising up. The guy has shown he has the ability to hit. Hopefully he'll eventually put it all together. I don't see that translating to a division title in 2014. I do think it will lead to competitiveness in 2015 (especially if 2 of Meyer, May, and Darnell can successfully replace KC and Pelfrey), and I do think there will be some experimentation here in 2014 as well.