travistwinstalk

1. Indianapolis- Andrew Luck QB Stanford 2. Washington- Robert Griffin III Baylor 3. Minnesota- Morris Claiborne CB LSU 4. Cleveland- Trent Richardson RB Alabama 5. Tampa Bay- Luke Kuechly LB Boston College 6. St. Louis- Justin Blackmon WR Oklahoma State 7. Jacksonville- Whitney Mercilus DE Illinois 8. Miami Dolphins- Ryan Tannenhill QB Texas A&M 9. Carolina Panthers- Dontari Poe DT Memphis 10. Buffalo Bills- Matt Kalil OT USC 11. Kansas City Chiefs- Mark Barron S Alabama 12. Seattle Seahawks- Chandler Jones DE Syracuse 13. Arizona Cardinals- Michael Floyd WR Notre Dame 14. Dallas Cowboys- Michael Brockers DT LSU 15. Philadelphia Eagles- Fletcher Cox DT MIssissippi State 16. New York Jets- Riley Reiff OT Iowa 17. Cincinnati Bengals- Stephon Gilmore CB South Carolina 18. San Diego Chargers- David Decastro G Stanford 19. Chicago Bears- Melvin Ingram DE South Carolina 20. Tennessee Titans- Quinton Coples DE North Carolina 21. Cincinnati Bengals- Kendall Wright WR Baylor 22. Cleveland Browns- Cordy Glenn OT Georgia 23. Detroit Lions- Dre Kirkpatrick CB Alabama 24. Pittsburgh Steelers- Dont'a Hightower LB Alabama 25. Denver Broncos- Doug Martin RB Boise State 26. Houston Texans- Stephen Hill WR Georgia Tech 27. New England Patriots- Courtney Upshaw LB Alabama 28. Green Bay Packers- Shea McClellin LB Boise State 29. Baltimore Ravens- Coby Fleener TE Stanford 30. San Francisco 49ers- Kevin Zeitler G Wisconsin 31. New England Patriots- Harrison Smith S Notre Dame 32. New York Giants- Jonathon Martin OT Stanford

Ill take Travis Harrison because he has a good name. lol

Seth I respectfully disagree with you on this subject. However this is a subject we have disagreed about for 3 years as I am much higher on Revere than you are. I don't see him as a 4th outfielder at all. In the minor leagues he was over a .300 career hitter who stole over 40 bases in most of those years. Granted his arm is not good adn I agree he should not be a right fielder, but he should be a big league starter. Look at the ground he can cover and the catches he made last year unbelievable. Look at that game against the Rangers on Sunday, that triple that Andrus hit over Clete Thomas head Revere likely would have caught. Power is not that important especially at Target Field where not alot of hr's happen. He will be on 2nd base most times anyway after a single and a stolen base. I just don't see why everyone is so quick to jump off the Revere bandwagon. I am not going to criticize you Seth or the Twins, but at the end of the day both you and the Twins are wrong about him and it will be a shame if this diamond shines for a different organization same day.

The Twins medical staff have their fair share of misdiagnoses and stuff like that. However, in this case Baker went to D. Atleck who did his own mri and just found a problem with the Flexor Tendon and nothing wrong with the UCL ligament. So that is two different independent opinions. I talked to a dr. who reads alot of MRi'S he said that MRI's can be inaccurate due to if someone moves and many other things. Atleck, Baker, and the Twins obviously talked and decided between the 3 of them that when he went inside he was to repair whatever needed repairing. It sucks for Baker who will now be a free agent rehabbing, but this is not on the Twins. He should just be glad he is getting it cleaned up now and can have many healthy years ahead of him. whether its with the Twins or somewhere else I wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors.

First of all Liriano is not going to rochester so everyone get that out of your heads. He is not going to accept that and nor should he. He has earned that 5 years of service time and there is no reason for him to waive it no matter how bad he is pitching. Next Burnett is not going to Rochester he has been the best reliever on the team so far so that makes no sense. My guess is that both Perkins and Blackurn are DL'ed and Marquis and Manship are recalled. with Manship working out of the bullpen for now. If they don't want to dl them Jeff Gray would be the guy that would be dfa'ed not Burnett.

First off Hendriks is not going down when Marquis comes back he made sure of that yesterday. So the Twins will have to choose either Gray or Burnett to send down. I think Gray is the right choice with Swarzak going back to bullpen. As for Bowden, Seth and I discussed this yesterday and I feel this is a no brainer. The Red Sox never gave him a chance in the big leagues much like they never gave Justin Masterson a chance and look at him now. Bowden likely is not as talented as Masterson, but he is projectable and can be a very solid reliever this year and you go into next spring and possibly give him a chance to start depending on what Twins do with rotation. Bowden is better than 3 or 4 of their relievers so I can't see any reason why they wouldn't put a claim in on him. There are guys at the end of the 40 man roster that you can remove for him. Being that the Twins had the worst record in the AL last year and have it this year if they claim Bowden they will be awarded him. Like I told Seth yesterday I will be very disappointed if the Twins don't claim Bowden.

if they traded down it would not to take a quarterback. You misunderstood what I was saying Miami wants a QB and is trying to move up into the Vikingss spot to take a QB. The Vikings would drop down to 8 and take the best player available other than QB or RB which are the only positions they are set. From what i have been reading the Vikings to make the trade are asking for a 2nd and 4th this year and a 1 next year. That is a steep price to pay for a QB in Ryan Tannenhill who I have seen on tv a lot that I am not that enamored with. I think Christian Ponder has twice the amount of upside that Tannenhill does so if the Vikes can get Miami to pay that price I would do it in a heartbeat. What does everyone think.

I realize the Vikings are a mess and have a ton of needs that won't be able to be addressed in one draft. I also realize they are going to picking in the top 10 the next 2-3 years so I am not deluding myself into believing one good player has the Vikings challenging for a playoff spot this year. However, the Vikes have 10 picks this year and this is a huge draft in getting closer to where they want to be in 2-3 years. So my question is if you are Rick Spielman where do you go at number 3. A). Ryan Kalil OT There is a ton to be said to taking him as LT are hard to find. The Vikes gave up 49 sacks last season and Christian Ponder can't have too many years like that before he turns into the next David Carr. I have read that many are comparing Kalil to a young Joe Thomas of the Browns who stepped right in and has been a pro bowler pretty much right away. I have also heard Spielman say that he is not sure how important LT's are as the last few Super Bowl champions haven't had all-pro LT's. . Morris Claiborne CB Another big hole for the Vikings is CB as Antoine Winfield is 35 and is fading. They have signed a few guys for depth and let Cedric Griffin go via free agency. There is also the report that Claiborne scored a 4 on the wonderlic test which tests intelligence and that is out of 10 so it is very low. On the positive side Chris Cook will return after being acquitted of assault and before he was arrested he was showing some promise. The Vikings really could use a number 1 CB to go with Cook and everything we have heard about Claiborne is he has the ability to be that type of CB. You just have to wonder about the intelligence factor. C). Justin Blackmon WR- Another hole for the Vikings as all they really have at wide reciever is Percy Harvin and it seems like every year he is plagued by migraines and this year he missed a game due to injured ribs. They have Michael Jenkins, but he is old and slow. Besides that they really have nothing and that is where Blackmon comes into the picture. He is a stud plain and simple as he is big and has speed. I compare him to a little bit less talented version of Megatron Calvin Johnson. That is nothing against Blackmon, but Megatron is a freak that comes around once in a lifetime. Blackmon can do a lot of the things that Johnson can do as he can go get the ball at its highest point and run after the catch. If anyone has any questions about Blackmon just watch the highlights of the Fiesta Bowl last year against Stanford where he went for 8 and 186 with 3 touchdowns. He is a beast and would look really good opposite Percy Harvin. D). Trade Down- That is the most appealing to the Vikings if they can get a team interested in Texas A&M quarterback Ryan Tannenhill who is flying up the boards after a great combine and workout. My Choice- If it is up to me I want to trade down and pick up a few more picks as the Vikings have a lot of needs and staying at 3 doesnt appeal to me as adding one player as good as they are won't help you as much as gaining multiple players. However, I feel the Vikings can't drop too far as I would love to get one of these guys at say 6-7. With that being said I am in love with Blackmon, but realize if you stay at 3 Kalil has to be the pick and if you trade down you probably have to drop down to 8 where all three of these guys will be gone and the dropoff in talent is high from 3 to 8. You can get a similiar LT at 8 in Riley Reiff out of Iowa and that would be solid. However there is no CB or WR available in this draft that are as good as either of the players I mentioned. I do think though that they need to trade down if the Dolphins are willing to give you 8 and a 2nd rounder along with a 4th. If you stay at three as much as i covet Blackmon I would take Kalil because you need to give Ponder a real chance. Let me know which you would pick if given this scenario.

I hate to be negative and am not saying that Blake Martin should not have a job, but in 2 seasons above A ball he has a 7.17 era for New Britain. He is 25 years old and really should not go back to Fort Myers again, but it is obvoius that he cannot handle AA hitters. I think we all know what that means and that is why I was so surprised that he returned to the organization this year. I hate to admit it but I knew what would happen when Martin came into the game yesterday and turns out I was right.

First of all Jack I am not a homer because I cheer for Twins while living in Texas. Next I believe in everything I wrote and if you don't agree with me thats fine, but there is no need to get personal like that. If you don't like the Twins then don't spend the $3200.

The Twinsare 0-2 after two dreadful performances against the Orioles that saw the Twinsdominated by two average at best pitchers, struggled defensively, and had theirpitchers battered. Some will say that itis over and that Ron Gardenhire should be fired and replaced with PaulMolitor. They will say that Terry Ryanshould never have returned and he is no better than Bill Smith. They will say that Jim Pohlad is one of thecheapest owners in baseball that should spend like the Tigers. They will say that Joe Mauer is overpaid andthat Justin Morneau should just retire. I am not one of those people and will never be one of those people. I am here to explain what Twins fans should “realistically”expect out of this season and where this franchise is heading. I have been telling anyone thatwould listen that 2012 was a rebuilding year for the Twins coming off their 99loss 2011 season. The Twins would notcome out and say it was a rebuilding year because as a professional baseballteam you should always try to win. Ireally respect what Terry Ryan has tried to do by signing stopgap guys for ayear that here for one reason and one reason only. They are here to try to win because that’s whatthe Twins do is win as they have won six division titles in the last 11 yearsunder manager Ron Gardenhire. With thatsaid they are letting more talented players develop at their pace. Some teams push prospects up before they areready and you lose them because of that. Guys like Joe Benson, Brian Dozier, Carlos Gutierrez, Deolis Guerra,Rene Tosoni, Alex Wimmers could be up and struggling, but the Twins believe inprotecting these guys and allowing them to continue to develop. So instead of pushing them Terry Ryan signedguys like Jamey Carroll that allows Dozier to develop, Jared Burton allowsGutierrez to develop, Jeff Gray allows Guerra to develop, Ryan Doumit allowsJoe Benson to develop, and so on. Then guys like Joe Nathan, and Michael Cuddyer wanted moremoney than the Twins were willing to spend. By resigning Matt Capps they didn’t push Glen Perkins into the closersrole, but rest assured he will be the closer in 2013 and going forward. Where I think Ryan did his finest work wasreplacing Cuddyer with Josh Willingham who is equal to him offensively andcosts 3.5 million a year less. GrantedWillingham was not good yesterday, but every player has games were they are notgood and last night was a game that Willingham was not good. I will take my chances with Willingham and noone is talking about the homerun he had the day before and the great throw hemade to cut a run down at the plate. Then those that are criticizing Jim Pohlad, the Twins have a100 million dollar payroll that is in the top third in baseball. When the Twins signed Joe Mauer to his 8 year184 million dollar contract we all knew that the Twins would have to be thriftywith other guys. The problem is that forthe last three years Justin Morneau has been injured and he makes 15 million ayear. Being a mid-market team you can’tjust throw away 38 million dollars like they did last year with the injuries toMauer and Morneau, you just can’t. Goingforward the Twins need these guys to stay healthy and productive. If they don’t stay healthy and aren’tproductive it doesn’t matter what other players do. With that said it is only two games and the Twins will win alot of games this year. They are muchtoo talented to play like this. However,you need to give credit where credit is due in that Jake Arrieta and TommyHunter were excellent the last two days. Especially Arrieta who I have not seen that good before and trust me theYankees and Tigers would have struggled with him the way he pitched the otherday. It also should not be surprisingthat the Twins have struggled being that they have replaced four out of ninestarters and it will take some time to click getting used to playing with eachother. It is not supposed to be anexcuse as these guys are professional baseball players who are being paid wellto do better than what they are. However, there are 160 games to go and there will be games where theTwins play bad, but Twins fans need to learn to relax and just enjoy thegames. I know that is not in Twins fansnature to just relax when they lose so all I am saying is try not to jump offthe ledge until they are ten games out. All I know is that 48 hours ago I was super excited for the season andam not going to get all upset over two losses and will continue to enjoy theTwins. I refuse to panic about the teamyet, well atleast not for another week.

The Twinsare 0-2 after two dreadful performances against the Orioles that saw the Twinsdominated by two average at best pitchers, struggled defensively, and had theirpitchers battered. Some will say that itis over and that Ron Gardenhire should be fired and replaced with PaulMolitor. They will say that Terry Ryanshould never have returned and he is no better than Bill Smith. They will say that Jim Pohlad is one of thecheapest owners in baseball that should spend like the Tigers. They will say that Joe Mauer is overpaid andthat Justin Morneau should just retire. I am not one of those people and will never be one of those people. I am here to explain what Twins fans should “realistically”expect out of this season and where this franchise is heading. I have been telling anyone thatwould listen that 2012 was a rebuilding year for the Twins coming off their 99loss 2011 season. The Twins would notcome out and say it was a rebuilding year because as a professional baseballteam you should always try to win. Ireally respect what Terry Ryan has tried to do by signing stopgap guys for ayear that here for one reason and one reason only. They are here to try to win because that’s whatthe Twins do is win as they have won six division titles in the last 11 yearsunder manager Ron Gardenhire. With thatsaid they are letting more talented players develop at their pace. Some teams push prospects up before they areready and you lose them because of that. Guys like Joe Benson, Brian Dozier, Carlos Gutierrez, Deolis Guerra,Rene Tosoni, Alex Wimmers could be up and struggling, but the Twins believe inprotecting these guys and allowing them to continue to develop. So instead of pushing them Terry Ryan signedguys like Jamey Carroll that allows Dozier to develop, Jared Burton allowsGutierrez to develop, Jeff Gray allows Guerra to develop, Ryan Doumit allowsJoe Benson to develop, and so on. Then guys like Joe Nathan, and Michael Cuddyer wanted moremoney than the Twins were willing to spend. By resigning Matt Capps they didn’t push Glen Perkins into the closersrole, but rest assured he will be the closer in 2013 and going forward. Where I think Ryan did his finest work wasreplacing Cuddyer with Josh Willingham who is equal to him offensively andcosts 3.5 million a year less. GrantedWillingham was not good yesterday, but every player has games were they are notgood and last night was a game that Willingham was not good. I will take my chances with Willingham and noone is talking about the homerun he had the day before and the great throw hemade to cut a run down at the plate. Then those that are criticizing Jim Pohlad, the Twins have a100 million dollar payroll that is in the top third in baseball. When the Twins signed Joe Mauer to his 8 year184 million dollar contract we all knew that the Twins would have to be thriftywith other guys. The problem is that forthe last three years Justin Morneau has been injured and he makes 15 million ayear. Being a mid-market team you can’tjust throw away 38 million dollars like they did last year with the injuries toMauer and Morneau, you just can’t. Goingforward the Twins need these guys to stay healthy and productive. If they don’t stay healthy and aren’tproductive it doesn’t matter what other players do. With that said it is only two games and the Twins will win alot of games this year. They are muchtoo talented to play like this. However,you need to give credit where credit is due in that Jake Arrieta and TommyHunter were excellent the last two days. Especially Arrieta who I have not seen that good before and trust me theYankees and Tigers would have struggled with him the way he pitched the otherday. It also should not be surprisingthat the Twins have struggled being that they have replaced four out of ninestarters and it will take some time to click getting used to playing with eachother. It is not supposed to be anexcuse as these guys are professional baseball players who are being paid wellto do better than what they are. However, there are 160 games to go and there will be games where theTwins play bad, but Twins fans need to learn to relax and just enjoy thegames. I know that is not in Twins fansnature to just relax when they lose so all I am saying is try not to jump offthe ledge until they are ten games out. All I know is that 48 hours ago I was super excited for the season andam not going to get all upset over two losses and will continue to enjoy theTwins. I refuse to panic about the teamyet, well atleast not for another week.

I would feel worse for him if this was a one start deal, but trust me there will be many more for Hendriks as he has a bright bright future for the Twins.

I don't know this for sure, but it appears the injury bug has hit AAA as Rene Tosoni had to come out of the game after the bottom of the 2nd and was replaced by Michael Holliman. I don't know for sure there is an injury and would welcome input that is listening to the Red Wings game for an update. All I know is he was at 3rd and was thrown out at home plate so I am wondering if there was some type of collision at the plate. I don't want to speculate so any information that anyone could provide would be welcomed.

Joe Christenson, Rhett Bollinger, Twins Baseball twitter link, and any beat writer in Baltimore.

Albers is going to start Jeff Dooley said he will be starting Wednesday afternoon so a good start for Albers.

This just in Liam Hendriks is in a Baltimore hospital with food poisoning and Anthony Swarzak will make start tommorrow. If it is not one thing with the Twins it is something else. Unbelievable.

Nick I think that comment belongs in the gardy complaint forum. lol

yeah your probably right and after a shaky first and 2nd inning Marquis did a solid job today. Curious how many pitches he threw and if they are going to have him make another start with the Baker situation. If they don't bring up after the 10 days are up you are looking at Anthony Swarzak likely making a spot start which I think he would do fine with, But curious if Marquis would be cool with that scenario.

With today's lineup of Ben Revere in right field the question has to be asked has the Ryan Doumit experiment in RF already ended with his missed fly ball yesterday and Gardy's desire for defense you have to question it. I don't want to hear he needed a day off as it is the 2nd game of the year. I for one am happy if this is permanant even though I don't think it is as I think Doumit, Plouffe, Revere, and Parmelee will all get significant time in RF because the Twins have won with pitching and defense. They have always sacfrificed offense to be better defensively and putting Doumit in RF goes against that. So is this permanant or just a coincidence?

Twins have a 9.5 option on Baker and if he could pitch like he did last year when healthy there is no reason why he wouldnt have his option picked up so its not necessarily a walk year, but it is appearing to be one. If the Twins had to decide today it is more than likely that they wouldn't pick up his option. My question of the 5 starters projected to start this year in Pavano, Liriano, Baker, Blackburn, and Marquis how many do you predict will come back in 2013. My prediction is Blackburn and Pavano who I expect them to give him a 1 year deal to come back.

The Rockcats return to the field today going for a four game sweep of Richmond today as Jason Marquis makes his first start with New Britain and very well could be his last one with the situation with Baker. Here are the lineups for the Rockcats 1. Darin Mastroianni LF 2. Chris Hermmann DH 3. Evan Bigley RF 4. Deibinson Romero 3b 5. Aaron Hicks CF 6. Nate Hanson 1b 7. Pedro Florimon SS 8. Danny Lehmann C 9. James Beresford 2b Heres to the Rockcats going to 4-0 on the young season

I read Joe C's blog yesterday and something caught me off guard. the comment was, "Altchek is the doctor who performed Tommy John surgery on former Twins closer Joe Nathan and prospect Kyle Gibson, among others. But the good news is that, according to the Twins, there doesn't appear to be enough structural damage to keep Baker out for a long time" My question is what is meant by "there doesnt appear to be enough structural damage" does that mean there is some structural damage, but not enough to have surgery or what does it mean. If someone has some insight on this I would appreciate it. Seems very cryptic to me cause to me he either has structural damage or he doesn't. There should not be a gray area as either there is something wrong or there isn't so I am curious what is going on.

Gardy has already said Mauer is going to play 1b on Sunday so my opinion is that Gardy will come back with same lineup. Need some continuity to get going.

I know some of the bloggers put their top 20 in Seth's Seth Stohs 2012 prospect handbook, but I want to hear from fans and who they think is the prospects to watch. I am going to give you my 20 but I want others to give their top 20's and create a discussion if guys are too high or not high enough so lets get at it. 1. Miguel Sano 3b Beloit 2. Oswaldo Arcia RF Fort Myers 3. Liam Hendriks SP Twins 4. Joe Benson OF Rochester 5. Aaron Hicks OF New Britain 6. Eddie Rosario 2b Beloit 7. Kyle Gibson SP Rochester 8. Adrian Salcedo SP Fort Myers 9. Alex Wimmers SP New Britain 10. Brian Dozier SS Rochester 11. Chris Parmelee 1b Twins 12. Levi Michael SS Fort Myers 13. Angel Morales OF Fort Myers 14. Carlos Gutierrez RP Rochester 15. BJ Hermsen SP Fort Myers 16. Madison Boer SP Beloit 17. Tyler Grimes SS Beloit 18. Travis Harrison 3b EST 19. Deolis Guerra RP New Britain 20. Matt Summers RP Beloit my rules for prospect status is they have to be under 50 big league innings and 100 big leage at bats. That is my list let me see what yours is.