Twodogs

No you are right, however, Milone was fairly successful in Oakland, everyone says that is because of the extra foul territory, Well LA has pretty much the same thing and Milone has a better track record than LA's projected 3rd and 4th pitchers in McCarthy and Anderson. Both I believe have losing career records.

I know this is just me hoping for something, but I really think the Twins should contact the Dodgers about trading Milone, and one or two other guys, maybe Hicks and some other minor league arm for OFer Van Slyke. I know the Dodgers are trying to trade Either and no one is biting on that. I'm sure Van Slyke is tired of being the 5th outfielder there and would be an instant starter for the Twins. The Dodgers rotation beyond the big two is pretty weak and a guy like Milone could do well there, spacious foul territory kind of like in Oakland. Right now they have McCarthy and Anderson as their 3rd and 4th starters with Ryu probably hurt again that leaves Wieland as the 5th?? Not a World series contending rotation if you ask me. Now granted if they get to the WS they will be using Kershaw and Grienke, but you need to play 162 to get there in the first place. To me Milone will probably win the 5th spot for the Twins has a year of control still attached to him and is good for what as a 5th guy 26 - 30 starts?? Whereas he will be much more beneficial to the Dodgers and Hicks can be their 5th OFer which is about where he belongs and then give them something from AA for the future and use VanSlyke in CF until Buxton is ready and then move him to LF and put Arcia back in RF in a year or so. The Twins have way too many 5th starter types and if May was 22 or 23 I'd say put him down in the minors but he is 25 and its time to bring him up or Meyer and use Pelfrey as the spot starter because he really has no value, but Milone actually has some value and has done decent this spring. VanSlyke would get regular every day at bats and the Dodgers could use Milone more than the Twins can. Especially right now. I don't know if it is possible but I think the Dodgers need a serviceable pitcher and the Twins have a couple of those, Hell they jumped on Correia last year???? Milone is better than him.

Something like that may work out for the Twins. Last year Soriano progressively got worse as the year went on. Started off really well and lost it somewhere towards the end. So if he came in and helped the Twins for 3 months and then the Twins trade him to a contender at or before the deadline, that gives some of the younger guys a little bit of seasoning down in AAA or AA and then come up for the last 2 months or so? It may give the Twins the best chance at winning during the beginning of the season whereas one of the younger guys will probably give them the best chance of winning towards the end of the season.

I wonder what Boston thinks of their defense?

It seems that Milone is making a pretty good case for himself in the 5th spot in the rotation. He definitely has the experience from a MLB standpoint as he has been on MLB rotations before. Hope he starts the season strong. Stauffer looks like he is struggling.

I would expect him as a Twin to Battle his Tail off too,!!!! for that 5th spot in the rotation.

Buxton and Milone

My sister's family and my family went up to SF one summer probably around 01 or 02, we went and watched the Twins play in Oakland. My Niece and Nephew were standing in the stands over the dugout and my Niece was probably about 4 at the time. Koskie was taking grounders in the infield, and then some dude popped out of the dugout and gave my Niece a baseball, my sister said wow thanks, the guy told my sister that Koskie said to give to ball to my Niece who was wearing a Twins hat at an Oakland game. That was when I knew Koskie was a really good guy. I mean I know that my Niece wasn't the only kid who got a ball from him, and it made a 4 year old kid's day.

They would have thrown him back out on the field even after he got his bell rung!

Well I also would think that when taken into consideration that when Mauer signed this mega contract he was considered by far one of the best hitting CATCHERS out there. Now as a first baseman he is average or maybe even below average unless he rips out a .320 BA with some RBI production and some 2B's power. So I think had Mauer signed this contract as a First baseman that he would be on the list. But most of his years up until recently have been at Catcher and it is usually hard to find great hitting catchers that I think that may be what is keeping him off this list, even in the dishonorable mention catagory.

Don't get me wrong, I hope it happens.

Wow! The Giants had two pitchers in double digits last year, one had 18 and the other had 12. The Royals had 4 pitchers in double digit wins and none of them had 15, not even Shields he had 14. The Dodgers with their out of this world pitching staff had 4, granted Kershaw had 21 and Grienke had 17. But still if the Twins Staff has all 5 rotation spots in double digit wins the Twins will be in the World Series, not just fighting to get to .500. All of this is also predicated on whether or not the Twins will score enough runs to help these pitchers out. I think the lineup could be good, but there are a lot of variables in there expecially with a lot of these guys aka Vargas, Santana, etc... going on basically their second seasons and first full seasons in the bigs.

If four of the Twins starters are around 15 wins each as you have listed the Twins would win 90 and probably be in the running for winning the Central.

I would think that most would agree that hitting in the National League is a little bit harder due to less protection in the lineup, and the Dodgers play in a park with uber foul territory. So I'd say Van Slyke right now is better that most of our prospects. I mean he did hit 13 doubles and 11 HR's in 200 at bats. He does K a lot but he also has a .386 on base percentage and a .500 plus slugging for about a .900 OPS. I mean most of our prospects aren't even putting up numbers like that in the minors let alone the Bigs. And yeah, my thoughts, (obviously because I don't work for the Twins and they obviously haven't moved in any sort of direction like this or we would have heard about it,) are that Van Slyke is only a one year CFer and then when Buxton arrives he slides over to LF and Arcia slides back into RF. I mean you can say the .290 average is from a small sample size but in that same sample size he had 25 extra base hits. Kennys Vargas had 20 extra base hits with 3 more at bats last year, and he's supposed to be one of the Twins better slugging guys. I'm not saying that Van Slyke is a savior or anything like that, Im just saying that it would be a good fit, not only for the Twins, but also for Van Slyke because he's going to be getting around 200 at bats again this year for the Dodgers. Where as with the Twins he'd get 500 to 600. Just my take, and I know it isn't going to happen, we will be coming out of ST with Hicks and Schaf in CF. We will be waiting for the emergence of Buxton and in the meanwhile the Twins will have another losing season. Hopefully not, but I am just saying that Van Slyke would shore up the OF.

You'd think Van Slyke would want to get out of there. The writing is obviously on the wall with Pederson coming in and Puig, Either and Crawford. Plus Van Slyke is already 28 so it's not like he has 2 - 3 years where he can sit around and hope somebody like Puig gets delt before a big contract or something. I'd think he would want to play full time now so that he can build up some numbers to get his own pay day. With the Twins, he'd be the perfect fit in CF this year and next year he could take over LF and push Arcia back to RF if and when Buxton finally arrives. Just seems like a perfect fit

Ha ha I mean none of us are front office guys and can only guess what the Twins direction in the future will take. I am a constant Minnesota Twins fan stuck in this 75 degree weather known as California. However, I am always usually a cup half full guy as compared to a cup half empty when it comes to the Twins and their players. I am always hoping that Hicks will become that 285 hitter with 15 to 20 Hrs and great defense that will make it tough to bring Buxton up. I was totally ecstatic when the Twins signed Nolasco last year to one of the richest free agent contracts ever for the Minnesota Twins. So of course I was disappointed when he floundered all year last year and I had to give his former High School Baseball coach who sits across from me at work, if you call it that, and blame him for my Twins misfortunes. Of course I hope Nolasco can throw 200 innings and K 180 guys and win 18 ballgames. That's the cup is half full guy in me. But I also remember Nolasco complaining about being in Minnesota last fall and Hicks getting basically let go in winter ball and the cup is half empty guy starts to creep in. So I now started to think, who is out there that really needs a change of scenery?? Who could the Twins trade for Van Slyke from the Dodgers?? I mean with Pederson coming in Van Slyke will be the Dodgers 4th or 5th OFer for ever, I think he could be a stud if given the opportunity, what do you non front office types think?? Who could the Twins off load for Van Slyke?? Nolasco?? IDK Just thoughts going through my mind.

Kennys Vargas .250 avg .305 OBP 20 2B's 25 HR's 70 RBI

I may be pessimistic but I am a Hicks fan and .235 12 hr and 12 SBs would in my opinion be a huge jump in production from the last two years. If it were to trend upwards to his 27 year old season maybe .250 17 hrs and 25 SBs wouldn't be out of the question. But if he flounders around .200 again then he will be a hard sell to anyone.

What will it take for the Twins to contend? It will take winning more than they lose

my hope would be Santana to hit .275 with 25 2B's and 5 - 8 Hrs with 20 SB's in 140 games Dozier .260 with 25 2B's 15 Hrs 150 games Mauer .310 with 30 2B's 5 Hrs in 140 games Hunter .270 with 20 2B's 15 Hrs and 75 RBI's in 135 games Arcia .255 with 30 2B's 25Hrs and 80 RBI in 145 games Plouffe .270 with 25 2B's 15Hrs 80 RBI in 150 games Vargas .250 with 20 2B's and 25 Hrs and 70 RBI in 130 games Suzuki .270 with 20 2B's and 5 Hrs in 135 games Hicks . 245 with 15 2B's 5 Hrs .320 OBP in 110 games Schaffer . 250 in 80 games Escobar .260 with 15 2B's in 90 games Pinto .240 with 8 Hrs in 50 games Hughes 15 - 10 3.50 era 200 IP 190 K's 30 BB 1.15 whip Santana 12 - 9 3.65 era 190 IP 165 K's 1.25 whip Nolasco 12 - 11 4.40 era 185 IP 140 K's 45 BB 1.30 whip Gibson 10 - 11 4.50 era 180 IP 120 K's 1.35 whip Milone 8 - 6 4.10 era 100 IP 55 K's 1.30 whip May 5 - 4 4.20 era 80 IP 70 K's 1.35 whip Meyers 2 - 4 4.50 era 40 IP 50 K's Fein 3 - 5 2.80 era 5 saves Perkins 3 - 4 3.00 era 30 saves Rest of staff is 12 - 16 with a 3.90 era that would put the Twins at 82 - 80 for the season and probably in about 3rd place in the Central. I'd love to have a 99 win season but I don't think that's possible yet I don't really see anyone having great seasons in my predictions except maybe Mauer and Arcia and Hughes but I also didn't forcast any really crappy ones either. I know there will be a couple of guys that will exceed expectations and there will be a couple that fall flat. So we will wait and see.

Well better to aim for the stars and land in the middle of space somewhere when you don't hit them than to aim for a pile of crap on the ground and actually hit it?

Well Maybe Shaffer found some undetectable HGH for this season and they can start him in Center and use Hicks as the 4th OF'er. Giving Shaffer a couple of nights off in Center and Hunter a few nights off in Right and Arcia a night or two in Left. Then if Hicks proves he can hit then maybe slowly but surely he steps in and takes over in Center more full time. Putting HIcks back down in the minors is a waste of time as those spots need to be used by the guys who have potential still. Hicks would be just blocking someone else's progression. I don't think Buxton is ready yet. I think Buxton will need a full season at AA or AAA and then be the Twins successor for 2016. I think they should use Shaffer as the primary about 65 - 70 percent of the starts in April and use Hicks all over the place to get some at bats. Then if Hicks performs decently start to dwindle Shaffers at bats down and start increasing Hicks. If both hit .180 up till June then put Santana back out there for the rest of the season Until Buxton is ready in 2016, hopefully

Closer by committee that worked out very well that I can remember was the Nasty Boys in Cinncinati.

Late inning gas is coming, get ready. I know, I started bringing Tums with me to the games about 10 years ago. I don't know if it was the hot dogs or the beer or Joe Mays but I wasn't able to stop the late inning gas anymore. So I started eating Tums and some Kaopectate, and it got better. Ha ha

There are a lot of variables in play here. I mean, who knows for sure that Vargas is going to be a stud? We know he has potential, but he could end up hitting .190 too. In that case wouldn't it be smart to keep Plouffe as a possible DH?? You know, the Twins have a lot of players without much of a track record. We are always dumping people or adding people on this board according to potential and whatnot. Plouffe has had some success against MLB pitching, many of the guys have had just a cup of coffee and we really don't know as of yet.