jimbo92107

The answer is his pitching mechanics. As we've seen, Blackburn is _sometimes_ able to tweak his mechanics well enough to make his 2-seamer a reliable ground-out pitch. He's never been a big strikeout guy, but at his best he's been a good innings eater and sometimes he looks like a very good Twins-style pitch to contact guy. The big question, as you alluded, is Blackburn's hard mileage. History of physical ailments, plus the wear and tear of several years of pro ball may have worn Blackburn down a little too much for him to rebound successfully. At this point, is he a better option than various starters rising through the ranks? Like a lot of fans here, I've got my doubts. The arm slot he must use for his effective 2-seamer reminds me of the arm slot for hitting an American twist kick serve. It requires a shoulder socket angle that's a little past vertical, which becomes more difficult with age and damage. It's possible Blackie just can't do that anymore. If so, he better learn some other way to get batters out, or his career will wind down pretty quick.

Of course you trade Willingham. You also trade Morneau and Span. The Twins are a penny-pinching franchise, with the occasional exception for a Joe Mauer. As such, periodically they must unload their talented veterans and make room for cheap, talented players rising through the minors. Same as the Rays. Friends, it's time to unload. Willingham knows he's a hired gun. Morneau and Span both are coming back from concussion problems. Meanwhile, you've got Parmelee, Arcia, Hicks and Benson ready to replace the veterans. Will they be as good? Nobody knows, it's the Great Mystery. Are they cheap? That much we know for certain. Yes, they're all major league minimum. The other thing we know for certain is that this veteran group will not win a World Series. To develop the pitching for a run, the Twins need three years minimum, plus the exact opposite of the bad luck they've had with Gibson and Wimmers. They need some guys to emerge like Hendriks, Bromberg or Vasquez, guys that are good enough to displace marginal starters like Blackburn, De Vries and Duensing. The Minnesota Twins are not a winning team. That means things have to change. Because they are a cheap franchise, change must come primarily from the minor leagues. Trade your veterans for prospects, cheer the new kids, and don't buy a jersey with a name on it.

Current options with Parmelee 1) Trade him for a pitcher, weep later for ten years Today the Twins could demand a promising prospect for Parmelee, like another team's Liam Hendriks, but not an established mlb mid-rotation starter. Parmelee would, of course, become the next Big Pappy. The pitcher would, of course, hurt his arm. 2) Trade Morneau off-season for a very good pitcher, weep later for a few years Might be able to get a veteran mlb mid-rotation starter for Morneau, who would of course hit 40 homers for somebody else and play great first base. 3) Promote him in Sept, play him in Right, DH and 1st Parmelee gets playing time, takes at-bats away from Doumitt, Morneau, Willingham, Mauer. Option 3 is by far the best, because if Parmelee shines brightly in September, his trade value shoots up, maybe as high as a legit mid-rotation starter. Meanwhile, at the tail end of an awful season, the Twins can rest their veterans and let the kid show his stuff. A team like the Twins should be more accustomed to rapid turnover. If you can't pay top dollar for established stars like Morneau, then you should trade them for talent and keep bringing up guys like Chris Parmelee. Note to fans: Buy jerseys only for retired players, like Hrbek.

I remember tinkering with my hand position as a kid, and later as an adult in a batting cage. Small changes affect where the bat head comes through. One minute you're constantly missing, then with a small change you're hitting line drives right on the button. I'm hoping that in AAA Brian Dozier will spot something like that in his batting stance, but mostly he needs to decompress and get his positive attitude back. He was feeling the pressure instead of applying it. You can't win with a defensive mindset, certainly not at the top level.

Brian Dozier desperately needs some time away from the pressure of mlb ball, nothing to do with age, he's just emotionally fried right now. His hitting has been sporadic, his batting stance, mechanics and mental approach need work. He's also getting dangerously tentative at SS. In other words, he's starting to look like Nisihioka. Meanwhile, Pedro Florimon is hitting well enough to give him a look. Florimon's fielding reportedly is superb. Plug him in at short and don't worry. If Florimon shows he isn't overmatched at the plate, he could be next year's starting SS, maybe with Dozier at 2B. Two weeks is a short time, but Dozier needs a break from the pressure to regroup and get his form back. Maybe it's enough for the kid to relax. Personally I think he can be a solid major leaguer. I don't know why we worry so much about this over or under 25 stuff. If we decided everything on that, we would have missed Denard Span, Torii Hunter, and Sam Deduno.

Seems like there's a mountain of talent rising slowly through the minor leagues. Where are the Twins going to put half a dozen talented new outfielders? Is management getting ready to wipe clean the whole mlb roster and do a radical youth movement? I feel bad for Parmelee. With Morneau getting healthy and looking amazingly dangerous at the plate, there's not much playing time for anybody else at first base.

Fighting the good fight, not letting the white man keep me down. Yeah, me too. Oh wait... Damn you, mirror! [sob]...I just wanted to be pretty...

My problem with Thrylos's interpretation of Dick Bremer's off-hand comment was that Thrylos seemed to think it was insulting on a racial level. Actually, the idea of calling a contractee "property" is generally insulting to everybody that signs a contract. If you contract the neighbor's kid to mow your lawn over the summer, is the kid your "property?" Don't tell his parents that. Same with professional sports. A contract with the Minnesota Twins does not make Delmon Young the team's "property." It's a contract to play baseball for that specific team, for money. If Delmon decides to quit baseball, he is free to do that, but of course that voids his contract and he won't get any more money from the Twins. Freedom to quit is what distinguishes literal "property" from contractee. Did Thrylos really think Dick Bremer was referring to Delmon Young as a former slave of the Minnesota Twins? That's pretty silly.

Nonsense. I've never sniffed a hint of racism in anything Bremer has said. The word "property" is often used when referring to a player that is under contract. It has no racial connotations in the context of a discussion about baseball. Frankly, you owe Dick Bremer an apology for falsely or foolishly calling him a racist. Real racists are very easy to spot. Bremer ain't one of 'em.

Ben Revere's throw from CF in Saturday's game was a revelation. That was at least mlb average velocity, and he put that ball right on the money. Granted, he had his weight moving into the throw, but that's part of how you're supposed to do it. I was also impressed by how he cranked his scapula, finishing his throw with his left elbow pointing directly away from the target. Much better form, Mr. Revere. Now if somebody will teach him to throw a fast cartwheel and a shoulder roll, he can start really getting his legs into it. There's no reason an athlete with his body can't uncork a 90mph throw, or better.

I think he's had to change his play to accomodate TF. He was on track to become a 10-12 homer player in the dome and that number was crushed with the move to TF. I think that change of style has been a cause of his pretty bad road splits. There's nothing about Target Field that makes Span a better offensive player while there's a lot to dislike about the park as a lefty. Span used to get lots of infield hits on high-bouncing balls he'd pound into the Dome turf. Subtract all those hits at Target Field, and his average goes down below .300.

I'd pitch Diamond for the duration, but just keep a close eye on his physical condition. Same with De Vries and Deduno. Let them pile up some innings, so they can start next season with as much experience as possible. I don't see much reason to keep Pav's around any longer, unless his heater finds that magic 92. Next year's starters: 4 D's and...Hendriks, Manship, Swarzak, Bromberg, etc. Whoever's arm isn't falling off at the moment. Maybe they should have a pitcher cattle call every spring. It worked pretty well this year...

Scott Diamond's downward pitch slant makes hitters top a lot of balls, identical release point masks the pitch for a vital fraction of a second. Another factor is the speed difference between his fastball and his curve. The fact that they look so alike coming out of his hand does more than create problems with pitch identification. It also creates a tendency to be early on his curve and late on his fastball, because the two aren't that far apart in speed. This should allow Diamond's infield and outfield to shade slightly to one side or the other, potentially gaining a vital step on a ball put in play. One other thing that jumps out is his excellent grouping. It indicates that Diamond is spotting the ball with great precision, which implies that his style of pitching is sustainable so long as he's healthy, and I haven't seen any indication that his motion causes damage. I'd love to see the pitch scatter chart on De Vries and Deduno. I bet De Vries has groupings in the corners, and Samuel Deduno's fastball looks like buck shot.

Heck, just bring up Pedro Florimon and see what he's got. He's a great fielder, a switch hitter, and he's got a little pop in the bat. Oh, and he's cheap, compared to Casilla and Carroll.

Lefty curves were beating Morneau because his torso line was falling away from the plate on swing. When Morneau's swing pivots around his neck (like Willingham's swing does), then the ball jumps off his bat just like it does off Willingham's bat. You can actually predict how well Morneau will do in a ball game. On his first at-bat, hold a pencil straight up, hiding his neck. If his neck moves to the left of the pencil more than a foot (in real space) when he swings, he's falling off and he'll either strike out or ground out the whole game. If his neck moves left six inches, he'll get one or two hits. If his neck stays right behind the pencil, he's locked in and going to absolutely crush the ball. In fact, if I'm the opposing manager and I see him staying over the ball, I'd intentionally walk Morneau all game, even with the bases loaded. When his neck ain't moving, Morneau is the most dangerous hitter in baseball.

All in all, Twins Daily is one of my favorite sites. Sure, sometimes people pop off about some player they've lost patience with, and sometimes the arguments get a little snippy. But mostly we all just sit back and have a pretty good time gassing about the local nine. I don't know about y'all, but the last time I played competitive baseball was when I was in fifth grade, about forty years ago. I did help coach a couple little league teams this summer, but mostly I just yelled "run faster, swing harder, throw harder" or some semi-useless nonsense. Kids had a lot of fun, tho. Some of them learned to throw a ball with okay form for the first time. One of them learned to swing the bat, and hit a grand slam in his last game. A few guys learned to pitch, and they all pitched from the set. We pretty much had them stealing bases all the time, which is how the 12U guys won the championship. Shocked the heck out of me. Great kids. Thing is, baseball's supposed to be fun, so talking about it should be, too.

Nishioka was just a blown scouting report. Anybody looks good in their own highlight reel. Look, he got a hit! Let's run that again... Wow, now he's two for two!

Sam Deduno has a chance to be an extremely good pitcher. His curve ball is as good as anything I've seen from a Twins pitcher in many years. His fastball is indeed unpredictable, but he is learning to reduce the variation just enough to stay close to the zone. Result: batters swing at his stuff, but rarely know where it's going to be. His heater is just close enough to induce whiff swings from average batters, but disciplined ones will continue to draw walks. Free-swinging teams like the Rangers will suffer when Deduno's on the mound; disciplined teams like the Yankees are likely to take him apart. This could still leave Deduno with a winning record, as few teams have discipline like the Yankees.

Good luck for a speedy recovery for Alex Wimmers. Study pitching strategy, talk to great pitchers, and pedal the hell out of the exercise bike. Time to learn to use everything other than your arm for power.

2013: Diamond, Deduno, Gibson, Hendriks, De Vries. Maybe Bromberg? I feel very confident about Deduno. He appears to have his game under control, his breaking stuff is for real, and he may start stretching out to 7 innings. Gibson may well hit the majors next season and make the rotation out of spring training, as might Hendriks, if he gets a little more mature about damage control. De Vries has proved that he can get hitters out at the major league level, but he needs to finish strong to prove he can make the adjustments the second and third times teams see him. David Bromberg is a strikeout pitcher that looked on the fast track before he got his pitching arm broken by a line drive. Now he's looking like the Bromberg from before the accident. September is going to be an interesting time for this team.

When this site opened I immediately recognized that it had by far the best web design of any Twins site. Linking to other Twins sites was huge, and the user-friendly design has attracted a lot of fans. The comments have been remarkably good. For future fun I'd like to see photo collections of some of the minor league players. Everybody's got a camera these days, so it's just a matter of finding people that see games, have them snap some pics, then post them somewhere Twins Daily can link to, like Flickr.

I just looked at the AA New Britain Rock Cat roster. In the outfield they have [TABLE=class: dataTableClass] [TR=class: dataRow even] [TD=align: center][/TD] [TD=class: dataCell, align: left]Oswaldo Arcia [/TD] [TD=class: dataCell, align: left]Joe Benson[/TD] [TD=class: dataCell, align: left]Aaron Hicks[/TD] [TD=class: dataCell, align: left]Rene Tosoni [/TD] [TD=class: dataCell, align: left][/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] We all know that AA is the level where teams put their blue-chip prospects just before they jump them to the show. At least a couple of these guys will be called up in September, maybe three of them. Arcia, Benson and Hicks are all high-ceiling prospects, and Tosoni has already played at the major league level, and he looked pretty good before he got hurt. The 2013 Twins might just have a whole new outfield. Whether Denard Span remains may depend on his willingness to shift to right field, where I believe he would be an all-star. Otherwise, with Arcia in LF, Benson in CF and Hicks in RF, you've got solid LF, plus speed/plus arm in CF, and good speed/cannon arm in RF. Where do Span and Revere fit into this picture? Revere might stick for defense and lead-off hitting if his average stays above .300. It's nice to have speed at all three outfield positions with a slim lead in a close game. Span's in the same situation. He's an established lead-off hitter, and a good one. Better arm than Revere, almost as fast. Revere gets the nod for base stealing. Personally, I'd keep Revere and deal Span, because the younger guy can also hit first, has less injury history, and he's cheaper. Denard Span is an excellent player, but the guys coming up may be even better, and we know the Twins are leaning towards getting younger and cheaper.

Reason I'm asking is that this whole system of rating prospects puzzles me. The best pitchers the Twins have right now are all guys that were not rated as top prospects. In fact, the only thing they have in common is that they all had to fight their way through perceived deficiencies. Diamond and De Vries had to learn to pitch without anything dominant, while Deduno had to figure out how to avoid walking himself into a hole. If Hernandez is rated so much higher than Deduno, who is pitching quite well, then maybe the near future is not quite so bleak for the Twins as some imagine. It's nice to have an ace, but the Twins seem to get by pretty well with adequate arms. Just don't expect much playoff action. Like many, I'll be watching Tuesday's game to see what secret sauce the White Sox pitching coach has been feeding Francisco Liriano. If it works, more power to them.

I'm a little curious about Pedro Hernandez. Is he rated as high as Samuel Deduno?

I can see a near-future outfield of Arcia LF, Hicks CF, and Benson RF, with Ben Revere in reserve or when you need maximum defensive coverage. That's a lot of speed, arms and hitting, and because they've all played center, you could shuffle them any way you want for the most effective mix. Runner on 2nd in the ninth inning, you move Hicks to LF for his rocket arm; otherwise, he patrols the big middle. This could make the Twins worth watching, just for the defense.