jimbo92107

If the game's getting a bit much, you can catch up on some Game of Thrones back story. I'm watching part 2 of the Rhaegar Targaryen story. Heart rending. Why can't I play a silver harp like that??

Sure - I promise it's loads of fun!! ;-)

Trevor May had pipeline fever. Everything he threw was going right down the middle.

I was digging post holes today. That was more fun than watching this.

Gaaaa, get May out of there! He got nuthin! Nada!

Dick keeps calling the Marlins the Mariners. Irritating. Bert should stick a "Marlins" post-it to Dick's microphone.

A couple game ago Kepler drove a ball to the right-center gap with great velocity. The ball must have left his bat at 110 mph or so. It screamed by the 2nd baseman so fast, the guy barely had time to move before it was by him. Never got more than 15 feet off the ground, reached the fence in about two hops. If Kepler elevated that about 10 degrees, it would have cleared the fence. Der Kid's got serious pop.

Brandon Kintzler looked more in command than Jepsen, I'll vouch for that. I think Kintzler has a lot more variety than Jepsen, and I love his quick pitch trick. I wanna see him do that with a slow curve after a 94 mph heater.

Congrats to Brandon Kintzler for his first major league save!

Getting deep around here. My boots is floatin.

Hey, Taylor Rogers!

Does it look to anybody else like Oswaldo Arcia is gradually getting better at the plate? He seems to be seeing the ball better, his balance seems better... This is not a good time to trade him. If this guy ever really gets hot, it could be quite a thing to see.

And you know what they call a second-deck home run? Park Go Bang!

You have touched on one of the core problems with fan speculation. First, TD is a fan site with no connection to the actual Twins organization. As such, we have the freedom to ignore the unlikelihood that a billionaire will say, "What the heck, I'll eat a few multi-million dollar contracts to see if Wheeler and Darnell are slightly better than Hughes and Nolasco, if May can replace Santana, etc, etc." In the real world, MLB owners tend to be pretty conservative, and this team's owners are even more conservative than average. Second, even high prospects like Berrios and Buxton can implode when they hit the Show. What makes me think Wheeler and Darnell will do any better? My answer as a Twins fan is, it doesn't matter. This is a terrible, almost unwatchable team. The veteran pitchers are mediocre, and the position veterans are mediocre. If this is your product, I'm not buying it. This bottom-dwelling team would do better to completely rebuild itself from within, trying out every AAA and AA player to see where they're at in their development. They brought up Pat Dean because Hughes can't go five innings without giving up 5 runs. Nolasco and Santana aren't much better. At this rate, no starter on the Twins will win more than 10 games this season. A good team sometimes will tolerate such low production from their fifth starter, but only if he's a rising prospect or a monster innings eater. The Twins have neither. The catcher situation is an embarrassment. Kurt Suzuki is physically worn out, and he was never that good anyway. Base runners steal off of him with impunity, for they know he gets the ball to 2nd consistently too late. Even so they play the worn out veteran more than a scrappy kid that hits and throws much better than Suzuki, but they won't even make that change. There is no direct connection between TD and the Twins organization, but if they care about their fan base, the Twins should pay some attention to the rising level of frustration with this team's failure to make moves to prepare for the next generation of talent. Like Pat Dean, Darnell and Wheeler offer a more mature approach to pitching than do flashy younger guys like Berrios. While we wait for the hotter arms to develop, this is a good time to see if the Twins can find out more about the guys that don't throw mid-90's, but know how to pitch. If one or more of these guys can become a late rotation innings eater, now is the time to find out.

At this point, the Twins should trade away every veteran except Mauer. Ervin Santana, Nolasco, Hughes - gone. Suzuki, Dozier, Nunez, Plouffe - gone. Abad, Boshers, Jepsen, Kintzler - gone. I'd also trade Tonkin. None of these moves needs to return any significant prospects, tho they should be able to get something for a few of them. Doesn't really matter for the immediate future. Mainly this is clearing the way for the next gen Twinkies. First, I'd promote as many decent pitchers as possible from Rochester. Wheeler, Darnell, Chargois, Wimmers, possibly Albers...but not Milone. Trade him, too. Then I'd promote the new infield, again mostly from Rochester. Polanco, Beresford, and since there are NO SS's listed on the AAA roster (!), grab a shocked and happy Engelb Vielma from AA as your slick-fielding, light hitting SS. Since I just remembered Escobar is fairly young and a good SS, that's a tougher call. They could trade Esco for some value to a contender, or keep him as captain of the infield. Either way Rochester gets at least one SS bumped up from AA. Ridiculous not to have a starting SS on a AAA roster. Let's see now...what to do with Murphy? He's still not hitting, so I promote Garver from AA to split time 50-50 with Centeno. Turner to AAA, all below in the minors get bumped up. Notice I'm leaving Berrios and Meyer in AAA. Throw strikes, kiddies. Hey, this is fun!

Watch the video: http://m.mlb.com/news/article/182702276/royals-yordano-ventura-hits-os-manny-machado Machado may have been glaring at Ventura, but after the pitcher drilled him in the ribs with a 99mph fastball, I was rooting for Machado to knock him out with one punch. Unfortunately, Machado's wild swing missed. No way the Twins should get this guy. He's like an unruly child with a gun. Bench-clearing brawls are not why I watch baseball.

Why not call up Jason Wheeler?

Zach Granite is looking good. I see he's 6'1", 175, so he's got room to grow a bit. How are his defensive stats? Does he have a decent arm in the OF? A fast lefty/lefty lead-off hitter that gets on base a lot, steals bases, covers lots of ground in the field... Could he be a possible LF instead of Rosario? Currently in AA batting .274, OBP .346, 17 BB, 21 SO, 25 SB, 23 yrs old... Not much power, but he puts the bat on the ball pretty good. If he adds a little muscle mass, he could be a riser.

We are just crackin' ourselves up today!

Dear Eddie: Learn to work the count, shrink your swing zone, and take some walks. That's what we're all waiting for. Love, Jimbo

Very encouraging report. Good arms on the way up!

There's nothing wrong with picking up usage tips on the internet. That's how I learned to fly passenger jets!

Grammar Nazi here. "Ironically, Jay’s roommate with the Miracle is April’s SP of the Month, Stephen Gonsalves." Actually, that's not ironic, 'tis merely coincidental. Irony requires some hint of the opposite of what you might expect. Sports irony, on the other hand, does not appear to follow that model, which is mentally painful, but again not ironic. Thus, a firehouse burning down is ironic, but three guys grounding out to the shortstop is not. That's just nice grouping. Congratulations to Tyler Jay, for grouping his pitches nicely in his catcher's mitt!

Buxton still doesn't look comfortable at the plate. Pitchers are toying with him.

Right there, that's why I wanted Centeno batting behind Buxton. You get Buck on base, Centeno can drive him in with a long single.