jimbo92107

His base stealing technique seems designed for injuring himself, and he hasn't shown much power at the plate, but I like Byron Buxton anyway. Good speed, good glove, strong, accurate arm. He does have a nice swing, and a nice smile. McCutchen has much longer hair, so I'd wait a while on the comparisons.

First fix is to swap Mike Pelfrey for Trevor May. Pelfrey's stuff isn't fooling people anymore, where May's stuff was noticeably improving when he was sent to the pen. This simple move would help May keep developing while easing off on Pelfrey's work load. Down the stretch this will help both men. Second fix is just as obvious. Tonkin to replace Fien, and Berrios to replace Boyer. The middle inning relief situation is just caving in too much. As for the starters, we should keep in mind that Pelfrey and Milone are 4th and 5th level starters. Guys like that can dominate weak offenses, but they can get hammered by good ones. Gibson is more of a 3rd level starter, so he's right in the middle. Hughes and Santana are 2nd level starters, and the Twins have no ace. This puts the team right in the middle of starting rotations around the league, which is a big step up from the last four years, but nowhere near good enough to really contend. Once again, in a transitional season like this, there is no reason to stand pat on making adjustments. The Twins might as well use this season to try out guys in their own system, so they can find out who the real players are.

They might take Sano, Dozier, and Buxton. And some guys later, if they start to hit home runs. Seriously tho, don't even talk to the Yankees. Keep building from the inside, then kick their ass.

This article http://www.kansascity.com/sports/mlb/kansas-city-royals/article27425116.html provides insight into KC's thought process before the trade. Their starting rotation was even more confused than Minnesota's. Johnny Cueto gives them one legitimate shut-down ace to lead their rotation. Acquiring Cueto now makes it much more likely that they hang onto their lead in the Central, and allows them to simplify their rotation situation by sending down a couple guys with options if need be. Should be interesting how much they gave the Reds for Cueto.

Sure was fun beating the Yankees yesterday, wasn't it? The Twins hit four home runs in that game. How many games has happened in this year? Of course, today A-Roid hit 3 massive, soul-crushing home runs by himself tonight, just in case anybody was wondering who the real bully boys are. I wonder if Miguel Sano was watching that and thinking, "I can do that." I hope so, Miguel. Swing hard. Meanwhile, the Twins still have a major problem with a lack of home run hitting power in their daily lineup. You can see that the Yankees have no such problem. They will never sign a Kurt Suzuki or a Shane Robinson. They don't want Joe Mauer, and they could care less that Eddie Rosario is a surprisingly good outfielder with good hands at the plate. They don't want Aaron Hicks, either, unless he starts jacking homers from both sides like Mantle. They don't want Torii Hunter. He's too friendly. Bully Boys. As a fan, you don't want to hang out with them, and they won't hang out with your wimpy ass, either. You cheer, they perform; otherwise, stay out of their way. Oswaldo Arcia is a bully boy. Had kind of a macho streak that pissed off Twins management, so now he's in the AAA doghouse. He's not the greatest fielder, partly because it's just not his thing. His thing is standing at the plate and looking like he's not just going to hit your pitch over the fence, but then he's going to spit on your mother. It's a little bit frightening, like A-Roid. And the other Yankees. Having a bunch of bully boys on your team isn't the only way to win a championship, but it's certainly one way to do it. The Yankees have lots of bully boys, including their new closer. Our closer didn't look much like a bully boy tonight. He was facing bigger ones.

Trevor Plouffe is another Twins player that took the long road to success. Like Brian Dozier, and now like Aaron Hicks, it's taken time for Plouffe to gradually refine and polish his game, but all that effort and all those repetitions are finally paying off with a fully mature ballplayer. When I see players like this that changed positions or had to bounce up and down from AAA a few times, it reminds me that baseball isn't a game that many people can master in a couple years. It also gives me hope for a guy like Danny Santana, whose issues do look like a matter of further refinement, rather than a lack of talent.

I really hope you're wrong about Trevor May letting his "demotion" get to his head. I agree that he's a thoughtful guy, and ambitious to become a better pitcher. Putting May in the pen was a nod to Mike Pelfrey's seniority and strong preference for starting. At this point, given Pelfrey's decline in performance, the Twins should swap the two, moving May back into the rotation. Why that hasn't already happened is a bit of a mystery, but probably due to the team's typical tendency to act late on obvious needs. Are other teams this slow to make changes? It's very frustrating.

I agree that Trevor Plouffe lately has been punishing pitchers for walking Sano. Two homers in the last few games is amazing. However, if a RH pitcher just finishes semi-intentionally walking Miguel Sano, and now he's facing lefty bully boy Oswaldo Arcia, that provides a bit more pressure than seeing Plouffe step up, even though he's been hot lately. Arcia is particularly good against RH pitchers. This also allows Plouffe to back up Sano more against lefties, which means more balls curving towards his bat. Meanwhile he could be backing up Arcia, further punishing pitchers that want to walk their way past the bullies.

Okay, now you're all just doing that on purpose! I shall wear your collective mockery like the large brown helmet of honor!

Yeah... I guess I'd pick something shorter, like bulbysink446.

Good way to make a password: Combine two words with a three-digit number. The words can be something in the room, like cup, clicker, or window. Add a -y to the end of the first word to get windowyclicker or clickerycup, then append your 3-digits to get something like clickerycup832. Fairly easy to remember, almost impossible to guess, impractical for software to hack. Passwords eventually will go away, but for now, two words + 3 digits will do.

Good article, and birdwatcher's observation implies that management might be willing to use some of these AAA chips to deal for a "shutdown guy" for the 8th inning. There must be plenty of teams that need an innings-eating mid-rotation guy like Tyler Duffey.

They were just sad to see their old friend Ervin pitching for a different team. ;-)

Arcia belongs hitting behind Sano. They should call him up when Plouffe takes a day or three off to be with his wife. Arcia behind Sano against righties. Plouffe behind Sano against lefties. Simple as that...until Vargas gets back.

JR Graham has much better stuff than Michael Tonkin. Graham's fastball does move, he throws a variety of them, and his delivery is harder to read. His breaking stuff is electric, though it's true he needs to keep refining his command. Tonkin is a decent two-pitch reliever. Graham has enough pitches to be a potential future starter. Personally I rank Graham about even in potential with Trevor May. Tonkin I see as maybe a comp to Casey Fien.

Jose Ozamandias Berrios is ready to make the leap into the rilly big shew. Call up the youngster and see how he likes the coffee way on high. Bull pen, low leverage, the usual.

Two good points. Still easier to just play Escobar at SS, or (my rec) bring up Polanco and leave Dozier be. This team does need to try several things if they want to compete with the big boys, including bringing up some boppers like Arcia, Vargas, and Kepler. This should be a year of free-wheeling tryouts for lots of prospects.

Agreed on all counts, plus I'd bring up Arcia to replace Robinson, Polanco to replace Santana, Berrios and Tonkin to replace Boyer and Fien, and Taylor Rogers to replace Duensing. I would also move AB Walker and Kepler immediately to AAA, get them ready for call up within a month. This team needs relief pitchers and hitters. Sadly, a month from now I might replace Rosario for Kepler, who appears to be about the same type of hitter, but with much better plate discipline. Rosario needs to learn to lay off the high-low game they're throwing at him. He can do that in AAA while Der Kid gets his first big cuppa in Der Show.

I don't know why, but when I was at the game on Monday night, the Twins seemed to lack an attitude of confidence against the Angels. This might have to do with the lack of power hitters in the lineup. Power hitters are like having bullies on your side. The Twins are a bunch of nice guys, where the Angels have some bully in them - big, muscly guys like Pujols and Trout and Calhoun, guys that can knock the snot out of the ball. The Twins had Dozier, and not much else. Singles hitters with low averages. Nobody that terrifies the opposing pitcher. Throw curves and low outside stuff to Dozier, and this team is toast. It was as bad as the last four years. They had no chance. Bring up Arcia, Vargas and AB Walker. Even if these guys mostly ride the bench, even if Walker whiffs at a record pace, at least they have the advantage of an intimidating look and a really hard swing. Arcia can help protect Sano from righties, Walker can help protect Sano from lefties, and Vargas can do both. Each of them provides a legitimate home run threat as a late inning pinch hitter. A baseball team needs two or three bully boys, or they get pushed around by the studs on the west coast.

Sorry, I wasn't clear: I'm okay with Sano walking in that situation. You don't want your big bopper flailing at junk no matter what. My point was that if you have Oswaldo Arcia available to hit against a RH pitcher in this situation, he helps protect Sano from getting nothing but junk. What Plouffe did was just silly, not really part of my point. Arcia is simply a much better match-up.

Sano walks. Another reason to bring up Oswaldo Arcia. Instead, Plouffe bunts back to the pitcher. Whoopsie!

Bremmer was talking about how Molitor is letting the young players play, not reacting to their up's and down's, and it occurred to me that Paul Molitor is the closest any Minnesota team has had to another Bud Grant. He's a pro's pro with undeniable credentials in how to win, yet his demeanor during a contest is stoic and calm, no matter what happens. With a team composed more and more of volatile rookies and young pros trying to find their game, Molitor's calm professionalism is exactly what this team needs. It is easy to imagine this team adopting Molitor's attitude, and that will show up in wins.

I was at the game (thank you, glunn), walking around the stadium concourse (they have a Panda Express!) when Blaine Boyer was called into the game. As I walked along, I thought, "Well, here comes a home run." The crowd erupted in wild cheers. Home run. Boyer is so done, it's sad. Whatever he had in the first half, it's gone completely. Opponents are just teeing off on him. Same with Casey Fien. I didn't actually watch that much of the game because I was having a great time chatting with Glunn and H2OFace, both great guys. What I did notice was that the whole Twins team looked troublingly similar to the punchless bunch we all enjoyed so much over the previous four 90-loss seasons. Gibson actually didn't pitch that badly, kept his team within reach, but Twins hitters seemed to have no chance against an Angels starter with an ERA over 4.5. The Twins need more than just a great SS like Tulo. They need a good starting catcher, and they need some guys with better bats. But before they trade away promising prospects, they need at least one real, legitimate ace starter. Not a rental like Cueto, but somebody they'll have around for several years. Before that happens, trading away prospects seems really irresponsible. On the other hand, Kurt Suzuki looks worn out. They should either start platooning him 50/50 with Fryer, or trade for a better catcher. Find somebody that can be around for at least five years, while this group is peaking. Either that or promote guys like Turner, Garver, Swim and Navaretto to the next level asap, and then draft the best college catcher available in the 2016 draft.

There's the rub. Even if you pick up Tulo and a good catcher, this Twins team still doesn't have the one thing they really need to win a Series - a top flight ace starter. The teams they'd be facing in the playoffs and Series would definitely have at least one ace, or they won't get there, either. I don't make Tulo-sized moves until AFTER I have one or two ace starters. Before that, you might as well hang onto all your blue- and red-chip prospects. This Twins team will NOT get past KC or Houston with the bunch of #2's and #3's they have now, and they certainly won't beat a team that can march out Greinke and Kershaw twice in five games.