glanzer

I agree Butera hasn't been as horrible as expected, but there's no way he should get starts over Doumit, who is leading the team in RBI, and would probably have a lot more if those batting behind him weren't so weak and he got some better pitches to hit. Butera may be improved and may be a good defensive catcher, but there's no way he starts over Doumit right now.

I'm going to have to agree with Thrylos here. I live in Austin and the Express are just up the road and I've seen several games this year. Solarte looks very sharp in person, especially at the plate. He homered off Derek Holland in an exhibition game and seems to take charge of the infield. I said the first time I saw him play down here that the Twins were fools for letting him go.

In the end I'd rather have my tax dollars going towards something fun like a stadium that I'm sure to use.

Well I got my wish. I haven't been liking what I've seen from Danny all season and was calling for his demotion long before his 0-for-whatever skid. If Danny was put in a situation to succeed and help the team, he inevitably failed, which tells me his problems are more mental than physical, trying too hard perhaps. Too bad for Maloney. A resurgence (or surgence?) from him would have been a feel-good story. Still never understood Bill Smith adding him to the 40-man roster right away in the winter. I'm a Gardy fan and am not interested in discussing him being fired, but what does this say about his roster construction out of spring training? How could he have been so wrong about so many of the players he hand-selected to head north with the team?

Daniel Turpen finally proved he is human this season when he walked his first batter of 2012 Tuesday night. It was still a time to celebrate, however, as he fanned two and earned the win in New Britain's victory over Binghampton when his offense plated three runs in the top of the ninth. Turpen's 2012 numbers are great all-around. 3-1, 2 saves, a 2.76 ERA, 17:1 K/BB ratio, and opponents batting a mere .207 in 16.1 IP. I would argue Turpen's performance warrants a call up to AAA by late summer.

The article does make a good point about the Twins playing virtually exclusively outside the division. I can never remember a schedule so weird to start a season... I mean who made the Twins 2012 schedule, Satan? The Twins still have 70 intra-divisional games to go, and just 64 against the entire rest of the majors. That's about all I can say to the Twins' defense.

In my mind it has to be one of two candidates, both former Twin catchers: Mike Redmond or Matthew LeCroy. Very likable, fan favorites, both pursuing coaching/managing in the minors currently, I believe. The fans would love either of them in charge, and I'm sure the players would too.

Probably too early to know who is available next year, but I sure hope there is a Harper or Strasburg "can't miss" prospect there for the taking.

Thanks for that tidbit. I expect we'll be researching the worst five-game hitting stretch after today's game, what with Hector Noesi's dominating 7.83 ERA and all.

Judging strictly by the first dozen Komatsu Tweets, it seems like he and Danny V are gonna be besties.

I would be shocked if the Twins start trading off anyone at this point. They may be sellers, but to start trading pieces away 24 games into the season is a loud message to the fans for the next 4 1/2 months that this team isn't going to be competitive. They may not be competitive anyway, but it's still about having the illusion that they could be. Maybe a month from now, if they haven't picked up any steam, I could see Capps or someone being dealt, but right now no chance.... in my opinion.

Exactly. Maybe one roster move before the Seattle series, but if they're thinking 3-4 moves then it will be after the team returns home and Gardy is back at the helm to "properly" manage the group.

What happens if the Twins players suddenly play very relaxed and win a couple games in Seattle? What if there is a noticeable difference in the way they play? At that point, I think it would be fair to start pointing fingers at Gardenhire. But that probably isn't going to happen.

The march to 100? That will probably happen by Labor Day. I think the real question at this point is how close they'll come to matching the 2003 Tigers, who went 43-119. At this point, the idea that they could win 37 more games over the next five months seems unrealistic. That said, the Twins did go a long time without getting no-hit. I don't know how to research it, but I bet most every other team had been no-hit since the Twins' fell to David Wells in 1998.

Turpen pitched a scoreless, drama-free 12th inning on Tuesday night to close out the Rock Cats' 6-1 extra-inning win over Harrisburg. He allowed a hit, but struck out two and walked none. Quite impressive numbers by Turpen so far with 16 Ks and no walks. If he spent the offseason working on his control, I'd say it was a huge success.

I think it's clear the Twins are the most unique organization in pro sports when it comes to loyalty to coaches and front office staff. I don't think the term "hot seat" even applies to this team. Gardenhire and his coaches will be here until they decide they no longer want to be, or maybe in the highly unlikely event Gardy and Terry Ryan really start butting heads. If the Twins were going to fire a manager after two crappy seasons, Tom Kelly would have been gone by 1994.

That's what they all said about Jason Tyner, too, and his first HR went over the wall at the Jake. Plus I somehow hit 2 HRs with Ben Revere in MLB 12 The Show in a single game. So, I gotta say actual HR.

Unfortunately, it wasn't a great day for Danny as he took the loss for the Rock Cats in a 7-3 home defeat to Portland. Turpen came into the game in the top of the 7th, with New Britain staked to a 3-2 lead, and promptly struck out the final two hitters to end the inning. Turpen came back out for the 8th and did a great job working out of a big jam after back-to-back singles to start the inning, inducing a timely double-play followed by a pop-out to escape unharmed. But then came the ninth, and things unraveled very quickly. Pop-out. Double. Single + Error by Turpen. Single. Single. Strikeout. And in came Bobby Lanigan to try to finish off Portland. His outing was just as shaky, as three more runs crossed the plate in the ninth, all charged to Turpen. It seems somewhat unusual to me that Turpen was brought in to pitch the final 2 2/3 innings, throwing 34 pitches. The biggest positive is he allowed no walks or home runs yet again. Certainly looking like he could become a nice fit at Target Field in the future.

If Daniel Turpen ever makes it to the majors, it will have to be considered an unconventional, winding, but well-earned path. Turpen, now pitching out of the bullpen at AA New Britain, is already playing with his fifth organization. In this case it's a positive: twice teams have traded him straight-up for a major league player. Born: 8/17/86 Throws: R Bats: R Ht: 6'4" Wt: 245 The burly reliever was born in August 1986 in McMinnville, Oregon, just southwest of Portland. He went on to pitch for the McMinnville High School and wound up an Oregon State Beaver where he was part of the back-to-back national championship squad, certainly giving him some extra recognition. In the 2007 draft, Turpen was selected in the eighth round by the Giants. In the midst of their World Series run in 2010, San Francisco dealt Turpen to the Red Sox for reliver Ramon Ramirez. Boston then left Turpen unprotected in the Rule V draft where the Yankees swooped in and selected him. Given a chance to compete for a major-league roster spot with the Yankees, Turpen turned in a mediocre Spring Training performance and was returned to Boston. His stay was brief as he was almost immediately traded to the Rockies for catcher Michael McKenry. After seeing success with Colorado's AA affiliate, Tulsa, in 2011, Turpen offered the following statement, according to Oregonlive.com: "I'm happy where I am now." Hopefully he wasn't too happy in Tulsa, because he was right back on the move after the season, when the Twins received Turpen as the Player-to-Be-Named-Later in the Kevin Slowey deal. What do the Twins, Rockies, Red Sox, Yankees, and Giants all see in the right-hander? Turpen describes himself as a gamer who "gets after hitters" and "doesn't need to throw the perfect pitch." He relies on keeping the ball down to induce grounders. CAREER MINOR LEAGUE STATS W-L: 20-16 ERA: 3.24 IP: 308 WHIP: 1.36 BB/9: 3.39 K/9: 7.01 HR/9: 0.38 BB/SO: .48 Judging by over 300 innings in the minors, the stat that jumps to me is the low home run rate. The BB/K ratio seems a little on the high side, but so far in 2012 he has yet to walk a batter while fanning nine. He has earned the win in each of his two most recent appearances, going two innings in each. He has also been entrusted to finish games this season, earning a save April 14 @ New Hampshire.

Daniel Turpen

Maybe Liriano is homesick and/or needs some companionship. Think about it---the Twins really only have one other player from that area of the globe, Alexi Casilla, and he's probably not exactly the go-to guy Liriano needs. The team has no other Latino/Hispanic pitchers. If I was basically the only white guy on a team in the Dominican I'd probably feel a little in over my head too.

There must be a Thompson limit. Don't we already have Daryl Thompson and Aaron Thompson down at AAA?

My bet would be outside the organization. The gang down at Rochester either seems to fall into the category of "needs to play every day" or "not very good." I'm holding out for Hughes clearing waivers and coming back up.

Well what about Paul Molitor? He batted .341 with the Twins in 96. You don't just pick up .340 hitting free agents off the scrap heap every day.

I've always split my allegiance between the Chargers and Vikings anyway, so it would be no different. I'd be more likely to continue to cheer for the relocated Vikings team if they kept the Vikings name in tact.