jimbo92107

He'd be claimed within five minutes. Guy has turned himself into an excellent 2B, and his hitting has made a quantum leap. Brian Dozier right now is what every team wants, except the Yankees.

Really? You see no difference between pimping a home run versus defending your players from being targeted for damage? Nobody's arguing that Doug Mientkiewicz handled the situation with diplomatic aplomb, but when you think your boys are being pushed around, you've got to do something, or they'll get pushed around by everybody. You've got to watch out for players and teams that try to play dominance games with you, like the Yankees do to the Twins. Otherwise, they'll take your lunch money. Like the Yankees do to the Twins.

The most frustrating thing about Nick Blackburn's career with the Twins is that you could see he was "this close" to dominating as a pitcher, if only he'd get completely healthy. He never got completely healthy. The knee sometimes was tolerable, but then it was the shoulder, or something else. Blackburn always had a fiercely competitive attitude. The body just wasn't able to hold up for him. Damn shame.

Ah, that explains what I was seeing. I thought Deduno looked nervous or tense in his last start. Now I know why - he was pitching with nothing, nada, zilch. Pushing the ball up there with a dead arm. Good news in a way...I thought he was losing control of himself emotionally. Now they can just skip a start or two and maybe he'll be snapping it up there again. Or not. Sometimes it takes longer.

Subtract 6mph off his fastball, throw it like Albers. He'll be fine.

True, at least he didn't post a selfie of his shameful parts. Yet...

I haven't given up on De Vries yet. I think the guy has a little of what Albers has, the brains and accuracy to keep the ball down and away from the middle. Bad luck for him that he hurt his arm. I hope to see him again someday in a Twins uniform.

Stephen Gonsalves does appear to have some competitive fire, but I hope he realizes that bragging about your pitching prowess looks a little silly before you've even made it to low A ball....

If there's any way to do it, the Twins should beg Jaime Carroll to be a roving infield coach for their whole minor league system. Pay for that knowledge, and it will pay off with great defense.

I hope Jamey Carroll wins a ring with the Royals. Excellent player, and a great example of professionalism for the younger guys.

Since the Twins are looking to peak somewhere around five years from now, 23-yr old Stanton would be about 28, right about at his own peak. Sounds good, but would the Twins really need him? Right now they're looking at a logjam of talent in the outfield. Buxton will be in CF for the next ten years starting either next year or just after. Arcia will be in RF, Hicks in LF. Then you've got a few other guys coming up through the minors, like Max Kepler and Adam Walker. In fact, with all the talent in the Twins system, the team should forget about acquiring guys like Stanton and focus on improving their training facilities and getting the best coaches available. Especially if the Pohlads want to continue to be cheapskates, then the cheapest way to ensure this franchise is competitive is to keep it stocked with the best coaches and draft scouts, then be ready to trade away your best players before they become eligible for arbitration.

Roy Smalley put it pretty well up in the booth about ten days ago. Morneau has been gradually recovering from three separate injuries over the past couple years. Concussion, neck, and wrist. All of them have negatively affected his swing and his ability to read and react to major league pitches. Now, finally, after all this time, it looks like Morneau's swing is getting back to a fair approximation of the prime cut he used to have. Smalley said it looked like Morneau's swing was getting close. Looks like he was right. If Morneau continues his hot August, this discussion will become much more interesting. What should the Twins do if Morneau starts bashing home runs like he did when he won the MVP? To me, he still doesn't look like he's swinging the bat with the ferocity of those days, but he could still jack a lot of dingers the way he's swinging right now.

Exactly. With Brian Dozier looking great at 2B and steadily improving at the plate, there is absolutely no reason to bring up Eddie Rosario. Send him to a full season of AAA finishing school before he even gets a cup of coffee. Meanwhile, give Dozier the extended shot he has definitely earned.

I won't count Demon Young's career over for a few years yet. The guy has a power bat, so he could catch on with a team looking for a DH in the playoffs. In fact, that might be the only time he finds work from now on, seeing what a crappy outfielder he is.

Frank Viola looked like an immature weenie his first season, like Matt Garza without the evil pointy beard. Whaddaya want?? Takes one or two years before even a talented pitcher finds his stride in mlb. Gibson needs to take a few lessons from Andrew Albers. Forget about overwhelming hitters with your amazing stuff, just make them uncomfortable by moving the ball around, keeping it down, pitching inside and staying away from the middle. Right now Gibson is too predictable, throwing his "power sinker" to the same spots too much. Great stuff, Gibbie, now learn how to pitch!

You don't call up a player only after he's completely ready. Look at Torii Hunter, Denard Span, Aaron Hicks, Oswaldo Arcia, and lots more. You call up a young player so he can see what he'll be up against in his mlb career. Sometimes they stick right away; sometimes, like Hunter, Span, Hicks and Arcia, they need a little more time to make some adjustments in AAA. Calling up Miguel Sano probably would be a good move, so long as the kid realizes that major league pitchers will sometimes make him look completely foolish. They'll mess up his timing with amazing change ups. They'll blast him inside with mid-90's heat. They'll make him wave clumsily at curves that break two feet outside, and at forkballs that hit the dirt a foot in front of the plate. In short, they'll make Sano look and feel foolish with his big, long swing. What Sano does about that will determine if he stays up, or goes to AAA finishing school. A lot of very good ballplayers had to go back down one or more times to work on their game, and it may well be the case for Miguel. That doesn't mean you don't let him try his hand. At least let the kid see the kind of pitchers he's going to be facing. Heck, maybe he can handle them right now. There's only one way to find out.

I like Pedro Florimon. He reminds me of Greg Gagne - very fast, great defense, occasional pop in his bat, and we all wish he would bat .300, but it just ain't gonna happen. The team did pretty well with Gagne, and I think now it can get along just fine with Florimon.

Albers was gassed, and the ump just finished screwing him on a 3rd strike, so Gardy did the right thing. Fein got a little lucky with the dp grounder, but it's all good. Albers wasn't in danger of hurting himself, just blowing the shutout.

I won't buy another Twins jersey with a name on the back...except Bastardo.

First, major kudos to new hitting coach Brunanski for Dozier and Florimon. He's got them looking for pitches in zones, then driving the ball. Dozier - improved greatly on defense and offense. Now cashing in on adjustments at plate during games. Floriman - same as Dozier, greatly improving his approach at plate, great d. Arcia - huge potential as power hitter, needs to improve his d a lot. Hicks - I still don't worry about this guy. He'll keep improving gradually, it's his M.O. The Pen - Best in baseball. We got lucky with the bargain basement. Pressly - Could be a 4 or 5 guy next year in the rotation. Swarzak - Fits the Twins model of short starts, long relief. Keep using him just the way they did this year. Thielbar - Like finding a chunk of gold on the sidewalk. How did so many teams miss this guy? Duensing - probably needs a change of scenery, and a new pitching coach. Fien - Dang, is he the closer after Perk? Burton - great when he's healthy, which may always be a question. Correia - 4th or 5th guy, innings eater, but on a stronger team than this. Roenicke - seems inconsistent, but his era is 3.11 this season. Deduno - Best starter on this staff, which is kinda sad. Fun to watch. Thomas - Agreed, he should be a 4th OF on some team, but Twins have a logjam of OF prospects coming up. Plouffe - A mystery. One great half season, otherwise, mediocre. I'd move him.

Let's talk about stealing bases in the minor leagues. What's the big deal? If I'm coaching at 1st or 3rd, every guy faster than a turtle has the green light to steal, especially if I'm yelling "steal!" at them and trying to kick them in the butt. What's the point of even being in the minors if guys don't push their limits. Every fast player should be stealing, period. I don't care if they get thrown out...IT'S THE MINOR LEAGUES. They aren't there to learn how to be conservative, they're there to learn how to read a pitcher's move, how to get the longest static lead possible, how to do three skips on every pitch, how to explode towards that next base, how to peek left on the third step, how to read the fielder's body language so they can adjust their slide to avoid the tag. Okay, maybe I do care if they get thrown out...at least I'll say so to keep my job. But however on the other hand, as a coach you're supposed to teach baseball players a thousand different ways to apply pressure to their opponent. You have to think of everything you do out there like it's a part of your offense. The better you are at seeing weaknesses in the other team, the more you can exploit them and win. It's like fencing: If you're afraid of getting stabbed, gouged, slashed or impaled, then you should try some other sport. Same with baseball. Don't pick up a bat if you're scared to whack the mascot. Well, maybe that's a little out there, but some of those guys have padding. BTW, I've got a rule change for the minor leagues. How about each team's manager gets 3 "do overs" per game, to be defined before the game with the other manager. Suppose you want Eddie Rosario to work on stealing second, and he blows the first attempt (late break for 2nd) because he sucks at reading the pitcher. "Do Over!" Make him do it again, same count, back to first base. Although somewhat humiliating, this might provide a serious teaching moment to guys that need work on a particular aspect of their game. I'd make him steal again on the next pitch, but then, I am a bastard.

Exactly. With Tonkin in AAA and other good arms rising quickly through the high minors, why forage in other people's dumpsters? Sure, you can find a rusty tricycle and a perfectly good dot-matrix printer, but hey...

I was there, too. Despite hitting the game winning home run, I still think there's something missing from Arcia's swing. When he first arrived, he seemed to have a tighter snap, a purer straight-line motion to the ball. Reminded me a little of vintage Albert Pujols. An even more encouraging sign for me was Justin Morneau's homer. That shot was a classic Morneau smash to right center, a no-doubter that may herald more of same. A few games ago up in the booth, Roy Smalley opined that Morneau's swing was getting close to what it used to be, and when it finally got back, he might start looking like his old self. Maybe this is it, boys and girls. Fingers crossed.

David Ortiz wouldn't stop hitting those pesky home runs. Gone. RA Dickey started mocking pro hitters with his knuckleball. Gone. Francisco Liriano refused to spin around and fall over after every pitch. Gone.

Imagine spring training in 2014, with Buxton and Sano overwhelming the competition. Who do you have that's going to look better in CF than Buxton? Hicks? No way. What's Trevor Plouffe going to do to look better than Sano? Fielding?? Not likely. Even if he continues to strike out a lot, Sano's power will make him far more valuable at the mlb level than Plouffe combination of mediocre hitting and fielding. Meanwhile, Buxton's amazing talent should push Aaron Hicks aside in short order. As for Rosario, that's no sure thing, given Dozier's excellent defense and improving bat. Rosario will have to show a major league glove before he replaces Dozier. Twins will always need great D up the middle. Parmelee is a tougher call because he really lost his swing this year, and there are several other options that look at least as good, including Chris Colabello, a power hitter and solid fielder at 1B and LF, just like Parms. Given the number of promising prospects in the minors I'd be tempted to stick Colabello in there and deal Parms for a younger prospect at some other position.