tmerrickkeller

I may be dis-remembering this, but it struck me at the time that we accumulated a lot of talent for Rick Aguilara under this same philosophy. Trade him for prospects once the season revealed its underbelly, and then sign him again in the winter. Rinse and repeat. If Kurt feels both the joy of playing for this team and the promise of its future, he will understand the motives behind a move and come right back at season's end. It is a win-win-win - we get a prospect or two during a rebuilding year, we get to see extended time for his potential replacements, and he is right back on the team for a market contract a few months later. Clearly, there are risks involved - he gets a good deal from another team in free agency that we can't/won't match, or we find that Josmil is ready for the show and don't want to pay starter money to Kurt S for multiple years to back him up, but the underlying premise is sound. It is based, purely, on relationships, and I'm in no position to judge his relationship to the front office or their allure to him.

Totally agree with Bark's Lounge. This team has had worse players on its "good" rosters. TPlouffe is a big upgrade off the bench from what we have trotted out over the years and have right now, both as a utility player (with experience at several positions, which hasn't been the case for several others), or as a regular in lieu of an injured starter at several positions. He's not the defensive stalwart of LNP (who many here, for many years, vilified as a sure out), but he's versatile, has some pop, and is young and experienced at the same time. And cheap (did I mention cheap?) which, regardless of what many yearn for, still stirs the pot at HQ.

Kris has, rather quietly, worked his way back into the conversation about potential Twins rotation prospects. Many on this site expressed concern over his leisurely pace in his single big-league start this season, but his most recent effort, a 2-hit, 1-walk, 7-inning complete game on Sunday, July 6, was completed in a tidy 1:40. It should be remembered, too, that although he gave up 4 hits and (gulp!) 6 walks in his 4 1/3 innings on May 1 against the Dodgers, he did not allow an earned run. His most recent gem came at a good time for an overworked bullpen for the Red Wings. Kris is now 8-4 on the season in 16 starts, giving up 78 hits and 38 walks, to go along with 83 strikeouts in 98.1 innings. That's averaging over 6 innings per outing. While no one wants to see a repeat of the past few seasons, where AAA pitchers were forced to fill out a depleted starting corps, Kris remains a viable, left-hand option should injuries or continued struggles force consideration of change in the rotation. He's had 7 quality starts in his last 10 outings. See his stat line here: http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=t534&t=p_pbp&pid=453241

In looking at the rotation, it gets difficult to justify removing Nolasco when there are no less than two candidates ahead of him in the "don't we have better pitchers in the organization?" race. KC's numbers on the year are horrid, and no one (on this site or in the organization) really believes he is "turning a corner" with his last outing. Samuel - love him, but even at his best (which we haven't seen all season) he gives you six tumultuous innings and puts extra pressure on your bullpen to win his games for him. So Sam to the bullpen, end the Matt Guerrier experiment/gift, and bring up May now and Meyer later when KC is gone, or Yohan Pino, or my adopt-a-prospect again, Kris Johnson. I understand not opening up a 40-man roster spot for Deibinson, even though that move makes more sense than Pedro's return (given that we already have 3 shortstops in our lineup, playing various positions, all of them at least .150 points over Florimon's expected OBP).

A guy can't lose his 4th decision of the year in the first loss he's had since his second start of the season.

Move Deduno back to the bullpen, release Guerrier (who is also not part of the long-term plans). Bring up May with Matty's roster spot. I like Sam, too, but he hurts bullpens with short starts, and always makes short starts - quality short starts, but short. Keeps potential starter in the bullpen and handy, showcases KC to maximize (any) value, gives May a shot, gives fans a new face to cheer for, and clears two hurdles - gets May up and gives a second path for Meyer when KC is gone. If May implodes, go back to Sam, and move up a reliever, or straight out swap Meyer for May, as we'd be past super-two by then.

Romero/Fuld for Kubel would be fine with me. I think the best chance at sustained pretty-good-or-better comes when we have a rotation of Nolasco, Meyer, Hughes, May and Gibson, move Deduno (love him but you know that the best you can hope for is 5-6 innings per start) to the bullpen to replace Guerrier. Yes, I also hold out hope for some position player advancement later in the year, but I think we're pretty tapped out right now for position players in the high minors ready to help. But with Mauer, Dozier, Escobar, Plouffe, Hammer, Hicks, and Arcia, Suzuki and Pinto, with bench of Romero/Fuld, Parmelee, Santana, and Nunez....we could stay relevant. It is going to take Buxton, Sano, Rosario, Vargas, or some FA help before we really turn the corner and turn up the juice on Target Field.

Big news today, as Tuesday's rainout forced a scheduled double-header for Thursday, May 1 between the Twins and Dodgers. Kris Johnson was selected to be the 26th-man-for-a-day and will start the late tilt for the local nine. This is a very exciting day for Kris, off to a good start in AAA and who last tasted the big leagues for Pittsburgh in late August/early September, 2013. At this point, the twinbill will feature the Twins' Mike Pelfrey squaring off against the Dodgers' Dan Haren in the early game; Kris Johnson will face Josh Beckett for the defending National League West champs in the 6:10 local time nightcap. It will be the first game started by a left-handed pitcher for the club this season. Johnson was selected from a strong Red Wings rotation, including fellow port-siders Logan Darnell and Scott Diamond. (Darnell started Sunday, and fan favorite Alex Meyer pitched Monday). Other possibilities for that spot start included Trevor May, and current long reliever Sam Deduno.

Kris Johnson made his 4th start of the season for the Rochester Red Wings tonight, and had another fine outing. Kris gave up a single unearned run on 3 hits in 6 solid innings at Pawtucket (his former team from 2009-2011). On the season, the left-hander, obtained over the winter in a swap for Duke Welker, who was part of the original return for Justin Morneau (doesn't it all sound like horse breeding sometimes, "Johnson, from Morneau, out of Welker") has started four games and sits at 2-2 on the year. He's gone 5, 5, 6, and 6 innings, giving up a total of 18 hits, 20 Ks (6 tonight), and 8 walks (4 tonight) in those 22 frames, for a splendid 1.18 WHiP. Johnson has also kept the ball in the ballpark thus far, and in the small sample size of the early season, has been tougher on righties than lefties. Overall, opponents are hitting a paltry .217 against the 6-4 Wichita State product. Johnson's start completes a terrific recent run through the Red Wings' rotation (May, Meyer, Diamond, and Darnell, in addition to Kris Johnson). In the last five games, starters have tossed 29.2 innings while giving up only 4 earned runs and claiming three wins. Tomorrow's game features Trevor May against top prospect Matt Barnes, who will be making his season debut for the Paw Sox, before the Wings head South to take on Charlotte starting Saturday.

We were 18-17 last year? How did we win 18 games?

Hoping that my man Kris would have his first start of the season today, but rain in New York changed all that. I will post his starts and achievements throughout the year, and hope to make contact with my adopted Twin son. But this week, I'm off to my 30th college reunion in Durham, North Carolina (Go Duke!) with my lovely wife. I just want to wish the best to Kris this year and look forward to watching his season unfold.

sorry, all - I thought I was just editing a sentence, and this ended up being posted twice. I'm new at this. Anyone tell me how to remove one of these so there's only one left? Thanks.

2014 is Kris Johnson's first in the Minnesota Twins organization. He will begin the season as part of a potent Red Wings starting rotation in AAA. The 6'4" lefty starter came to the Twins as part of the Justin Morneau deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates, but even that is misleading. The initial deal between Minnesota and Pittsburgh sent Morneau to the Bucs in exchange for outfielder Alex Presley (since released and claimed off waivers by the Houston Astros) and a PTBNL. That PTBNL ended up being reliever Duke Welker, but the Twins sent Welker back to the Pirates for Kris Johnson on November 19, 2013. Kris Johnson is a 29-year-old, born in West Covina, California. He'll turn 30 after the season, so he's hitting the upper limits in age for a minor-league starter to make the transition to the majors. He attended Wichita State and was a 1st-round pick by the Boston Red Sox following his sophomore season for the Shockers. He rose and fell in the Sox minor leagues, from his draft year of 2006 until his release following the 2010 season, including limited time in the big leagues in 2008 and 2009. Kris spent 2011 with the Kansas City T-Bones of the American Association in independent baseball, but was picked up by the Pirates organization and ascended quickly to AAA Indianapolis for the Bucs by 2013. That 2013 campaign was very successful, including selection as a mid-season all-star for Indy. Johnson posted a 10-3 record as a starter, and led the International League with a 2.16 ERA in those starts, ending 4th in the league in WHiP. That led to an August call-up in the midst of Pittsburgh's playoff run. Johnson was returned to AAA before season's end. Johnson sports a fastball in the low 90s, and while he has not been overwhelming (career 6.2 K/9 in 9 minor-league seasons), he has been steady. Kris made 4 appearances for the Bucs in 2013, including one start. His 2013 debut was a solid 6 innings of relief in which he gave up 2 runs on 5 hits while striking out 5. He was tagged in his lone start for Pittsburgh in 2013 by the Cards, just completing 2 innings with 5 runs on 7 hits. Johnson is a rock-solid mid-rotation lefty, who could easily make the transition back to the big club, and gives the Twins additional quality depth in their starting rotation that they haven't enjoyed in several seasons. He joins a solid Rochester rotation alongside Trevor May, Alex Meyer, Scott Diamond, and Logan Darnell. Unlike the big league club, Diamond, Darnell, and Kris Johnson are left-handed, and it will be interesting to see which of those three rises to become the top left-handed starting prospect in the system.

My takeaway from the first series is: 1) Way too many mental errors and fundamental mistakes. I cringed way too often (see 9th inning yesterday; instead of 2-outs no one on, we have 1-out man on 3rd with bad play in the field and then a throwing mistake that put the guy 90 feet away) 2) Hoping much of that can be blamed on the weather (to me, it was much more about the wind than the temps) (see 9th inning yesterday) 3) Pleased to see the starts from a lot of guys - Kubel, Colabello, Suzuki, Hicks, Arcia, Pinto, Plouffe. I'm not worried that Dozier or Mauer won't hit. Even Hammer getting on base helps because I do worry he might be more susceptible to frustration and believing the "am I too old? Is it really over?" doubts. 4) We at least won one. Big difference between 1-2 and 0-3, especially against CWS. 5) But the biggest thing for me, that hasn't been said, is that I am so much more optimistic about Pelfrey and Gibson starting the next two games than I ever was about our 4th and 5th starters at any point in the last 3 years. I think those guys can line up against the 4th and 5th guys of other teams and give us a solid chance to win.

Can't speak for everywhere, but most of Eastern South Dakota (Midcontinent Cable) carries FSN. I remember when the Twins tried to create their own network a few years ago, only one small local cable company carried the new service, so there was no television broadcast for most in the Sioux Falls area. That lasted until early May, if I remember correctly, when a deal was brokered, the Twins network died, and the team was back on Midco. We've also been very fortunate in that at least one Sioux Falls station has carried the games on the radio (right now, 1140 KSOO, but it was also a different sports radio network at some point). The best news is that 570 WNAX out of Yankton has been a Twins station - that radio signal reaches far and wide throughout the state. They carried the Cubs for a few seasons, but have been consistent Twins broadcasters for most of the past decade. I remember when the season schedule also (customarily) included a list of regional radio affiliates. I often wander the 5-state area for business or pleasure, so it is always handy to have that list in my car. I do subscribe to MLB, but only the radio version (but when I'm way out of market, or in my office during day games, that works great). Thanks for the discussion on this topic.

Kris Johnson, please.

Early in the season, I think the Jasons have a better chance to contribute than the waived players. None of them (Bartlett, Kubel, Presley, Parmelee) is a long-term answer. I also think, given the young/old mix of this team, that these moves make sense to balance the number of minimum-experience guys playing regularly. It might all backfire, who knows? But if it does and you end up releasing Kubel or Bartlett as part of a youth movement, that becomes more palatable than removing "unproven but young" players like Presley or Parmelee for the completely untested young'uns. I think this is completely a decision to have some experience in the lineup versus the thick stack of AAAA players that everyone thinks is just about to break out if we'd only give them a full season of at-bats. There is, essentially, no one blocking anyone on this team. And I also think we'll find our 4th OF on the waiver wire in the coming days, moving Bartlett off the team or AAA when Florimon is back to playing every day. Is anyone really convinced that Alex Presley is the best we could do in that role? I'd rather have the open slots on the 40-man...

Neither my brother nor I were very big physically, growing up in a small town in South Dakota. We played every sport we could, but baseball was the great equalizer. He could play second base and I could play RF, 1B or pitch, because I was left-handed, even though we weren't as tall or fast or big as other kids. Baseball also gave an advantage to the kid who understood the game the best - hitting the cutoff man, positioning, understanding the strengths and weaknesses of all the players on the field. Even now, in our 50s, we can not see each other for six months, and lapse instantly into baseball conversation, whether reminiscence or discussion of our beloved team. We'd play hot-box in the backyard with a neighbor kid, alternating who was in the middle of our endless run-downs. We had a makeshift baseball field down the hill from our house, so we could play in the evenings and weekends. My sister got roped into pitching once, and the first pitch she got hit with a line-drive to the forehead. She's still not a huge baseball fan today. We played from the first year they would let us, underhand softball pitched by the coach, then little league and scratchy wool uniforms, then Teeners and Legion. No high school team. Mom was a teacher and loved it, sitting in the wood bleachers. We'd freeze the bottom quarter of a milk jug and fill it with water every day for games. We'd ride our bikes along the railroad tracks to get to the field. Our town had a Basin League team in the 60s and 70s, and John Stearns and Bobby Cuellar played for the Mallards. I got to be the batboy once in awhile, or else chase foul balls for a dime, and the whole town came out to watch. Baseball meant spring; it meant the winter was coming to a close, and that school was getting out (and when you live in a town of 2,000 people in rural SD with two TV channels and 3 or 4 radio stations, last day of school was better than Christmas and your birthday all wrapped together). We listened to WNAX out of Yankton to Twins games, fishing with my grandpa. It's great background, non-interruptive but engaging at the same time. And the Twins were the only team there was. No TV games ever until the post-season, as we only got CBS and PBS and baseball was on either NBC or ABC. Rod Carew was, and remains today, my favorite player. I still have a poster that he signed when my brother and I went to our first game in the 70s when my sister was having scoliosis surgery (unrelated to the line-drive, I'm pretty sure). Now, I just can't or won't let it go. Baseball is like life, with unfair bounces, ups and downs, no clock, and a chance for anything to happen. And you get to do it again tomorrow. It was being alone bouncing balls off the wall of my garage, being part of a team and doing my part to help us win. It was also being part of something much bigger and far away from my town, knowing that somewhere out there, big cities and amazing stadiums and perfect grass existed.

Posters here have summed up the final decisions pretty well. I see Presley v Bartlett, but with a real likelihood of picking up some other team's final roster cut to be our backup CF/4th OF, and both Presley and Bartlett being gone. I also see it coming down to 2 of Parmelee/Colabello/Kubel, with good arguments for different outcomes. Colabello has hit the best and is RH. However, with Pinto making the team, he could be a RH DH. Parmelee is younger than Kubel and can back up 1B. Everyone here seems to feel that Kubel has some invisible inside track. Though he makes little sense from a ticket-selling standpoint, he has had better ABs the last week. My inclination is to remove the non-roster 3 (Kubel/Bartlett/Rohlfing), leaving us with Pinto, Colabello, Parmelee, Presley, and Escobar for DH/bench, with a little speed and some versatility, plus at least potential power from both sides. My preference would be to find a 4th OF with speed and versatility, and let Bartlett and Presley go. It would demonstrate that we are taking younger players in position-wars (Arcia, Hicks, Pinto, Parmelee, Colabello) and won't let marginal veterans clog up the pipeline.

I've subscribed to Twins Territory Team the past few years, because it includes a field tour and some other stuff and Gameday audio for the same price as just getting Gameday Audio all by itself. I didn't get a renewal email this year (I don't think) and now I can't find it on the minnesotatwins website. Is TTT gone? Anyone know?

In a year of experimentation that we're facing, with prospects (hopefully) coming up and the team not yet ready to contend unless a ton of things click, I don't see the Twins spending big dollars on a relatively unknown quantity from Cuba. Lots of reasons why: 1. Signability issues versus large-market teams 2. I think the Twins consider the pipeline of Santana, Polanco, Goodrum to be adequate 3. The possibility of signing Turner at #5 in 2014 4. There are a lot of options (weigh them how you will) in-house. Florimon will play good D and not hit very much. Escobar showed more pop in the second half of last year and is considered a strong fielder (though arguably more suited to be a backup because of his ability to play multiple positions). Then we also have three wildcard possibilities in Jason Bartlett, Dozier moving over from 2nd when Rosario is ready, and the return of Nishi (ok, I'm joking about that one). But a long-shot possibility is that T. Plouffe starts playing a lot more SS when Sano comes up. Stranger things have happened.

Success this season is a combination of performance and optimism. The disappointments of the past seasons have rested largely on the failure of both. We saw prospects struggle mightily (Hicks, Arcia, Gibson, Parmelee, Dozier) early in their big league careers, and had almost none of them arrive and succeed to anything approaching the level we'd hoped. We hoped as well for bounce-back seasons from more veteran players (Morneau, Plouffe, Willingham) and that didn't happen. We hoped some pitchers would establish themselves as rotation mainstays (Diamond, Worley, Gibson) and that didn't happen, either. At this point, I would measure success as a larger dose of optimism and a smaller dose of increased performance. I think this team is well-positioned for both. If we don't win a tremendous number of games, I'd still consider the year a huge success if we started trotting out a late-season lineup that had Buxton, Rosario, Mauer, Arcia, Sano, Pinto, Dozier, Hicks, and a SS, and a rotation with Nolasco, Hughes, Pelfrey, Gibson and Meyer in it. At that point, you can see light at the end of the tunnel.

Like so many, I don't like Drew on a long-term deal. Other articles have pointed out that his market is limited because few teams need a SS, and only one of those (Mets) are likely to shell out long-term $. There are further issues involved, and this team thinks long-term, whether we want them to or not. I grant that even those who favor Drew largely promote the idea as a 1-year deal or 1 with an option, and talk about the ease of trading him mid-contract, which I'm not sure would be as easy as we hope. 1. Questionable whether we contend in the next two seasons, and if we do, we'll do it with some young players who will probably suffer before they prosper. 2. I read somewhere that several of the top minor league prospects are middle infielders, meaning they will need to displace others to make teams, and that means there will be more (and cheaper) middle infielders available, starting as soon as mid-season. 3. We still hold out hope for a variety of players - Rosario at 2nd and Dozier moving over; Polanco, Escobar, Beresford, even the improvement of Florimon. While some will look to SS as the most obvious place for improvement on this team (offensively) and back it up nicely with numbers, the philosophy of this team on the offensive side seems to be not to block anyone in the minors. By saying that I'm not suggesting our SS minor leagues are stacked - only that we don't know right now what holes we'll need to plug and it depends to a large degree on the progression of several minor leaguers and rookies. Given that SS seems to be a place where there will be more and less expensive replacements on the horizon (mostly from other teams, but potentially from our own) I just don't see Drew happening. I think it is going to be Escobar. But the short fact is that we don't know, and the Twins are not going to throw a 3-year deal at Drew when the fishing is only going to improve over time and we might have our limit already in the boat (or the bucket, given that it's ice-fishing season).

The Twins traded JJHardy and brought in Nishi because of the desire to increase the speed of their lineup. While we have some speed available (Presley, Mastro, Hicks) we don't have a base stealer on the team, and it isn't a quality we have in great quantities in the minor league. If the issue is whether Davis' potential as a base-stealer outweighs Presley AND Mastro (with whom he is more redundant than our other outfielders), then fine. I think he's a reasonable 4th OF and an upgrade at a cheap price (and you always need a guy who can steal a base in the 9th in a close game, and we don't have that guy right now). I just don't see us putting Presley, Hicks, and Davis (or, frankly, even two of the three at the outset of the season) in the outfield simultaneously, even though the speed and defense would be beneficial. That strategy just blocks any effort to use Willingham, Arcia, Doumit, Parmelee, Plouffe (if Sano plays third), Colabello, etc., etc., and relegates every single one of them to DH/platoon, and prevents us showcasing any of them. Just like a balanced budget, you have to talk about what comes off the 40-man roster with each person you add to it....I say if it is simply a swap for Mastro, since we have Presley (who is also a swap for Mastro), then fine. Any more ambitious plans and this makes little sense.

What do you think Beane is asking for him? What's his starting point? I think he hangs up if we don't include one of our top 10 prospects (or 2) for him. We don't have a lot of "sell-high" players on the big league roster right now.