jimbo92107

Surly Bandwagon may turn out to be an unfortunate name for this year's Twins. Picture forty thousand people that all buy tickets to get drunk and boo the local nine...

And yet, with a fastball clocked at 85mph, Carl Pavano managed to pitch pretty well, and the hits were on mistakes. Velocity can be a big weapon, but knowing how to pitch is even more important.

Brian Dozier is doing exactly what's needed to get that promotion to the show. With Carroll and Casilla both failing to hit, it won't be long before Gardenhire can't wait any longer for a competent infielder that comes to the plate ready to do some damage.

Let's see...bank teller and cab driver were the first two jobs I tried out of high school. Neither paid squat, but I was lucky - my roommate sold pot to help make rent. Hey, Ramen is good food!

The real shame of it is that Denard Span is a fantastic right fielder. Never saw a guy patrol the RF sideline better than he did, and his arm from there seems stronger, probably because he positions himself really well to move forward into catches. Span's range and positioning in right brought a new dimension to that area. When Joe Benson arrives, that's where Span should go. In fact, seeing what we did yesterday should make it even more urgent to get Benson into the mix for his defense. We didn't exactly see a lumber company out there, and Joe Benson's bat is no worse than...oh well, small sample size...

Parmelee's got a classic lefty power swing. 22 homers. Casilla may have solved his hitting problems, batting .285. How does Matt Capps post an ERA of 3? More like 5.00...the man has no deception, very little movement on his average heater. I feel bad about Scott Baker, but that elbow is killing his career. I think they'll shut him down before mid-season. Hendriks could be the next Radke impersonator, finishing 8 - 10. I see a mix of every young starter having a shot at this rotation, including Duensing, Swarzak and Manship. If any one of Liriano, Pavano or Blackie goes down, it's all over. At least I'll be able to scalp some cheap seats.

Guys that have had TJ or shoulder surgery should be either removed from that list or at least put an asterisk* next to their names. They need to prove not only that they can play, but that they can avoid further injury before they are labeled a top prospect. Kyle Gibson is a perfect example. We have no evidence that he will be able to throw a baseball hard enough to challenge a pro, much less dissect the strike zone. The pitching knowledge in his head is all pre-surgery, so he may need to learn a different way of throwing the baseball in order to avoid hurting his elbow again. I watched Stephen Strassberg pitch yesterday's opener for the Nationals. Nice work, but his fastball no longer challenges the 100 mph mark. Today, he's a low- to mid-90's guy. He pitched well, but at least for now he's lost 6 mph off his pre-TJ heater. Can Kyle Gibson get by with 6 mph less on his fastball? Can he even throw a slider without doing damage? I would just as soon not put a guy on that list before he appears to be physically healthy.

This raises a disturbing question. If winning is sixty percent pitching, and the Twins have sixty percent of an average pitching staff, then how can we expect them to win half their games? By my crayon-on-napkin calculations, 0.6 x 0.6 = 0.36, so the Twins will win just 0.36 games! How can they fill the stands if they can't win even one game? And how can Joe Mauer win another batting title if his average is BELOW 1??? I know math is a hard science, but how can it be so cruel?

Yup. Marquis can pitch a couple games from the bullpen, then slide into the rotation at the end of the second week. Meanwhile, Swarzak and Hendriks. Even Duensing can spot start. I just don't see this as a big problem. It's the start of the season, so everybody should be reasonably fresh.

Memo to Brian Dozier: Keep a suitcase packed and cab fare in your wallet. Now that I think about it, forget the cab fare. I'll drive you from the airport to Target Field myself.

I believe my eyeballs. Chris Parmelee is a solid baseball player. If he plays sound first base and doesn't try to press too hard at the plate, he'll have a fine rookie season. Just keep doing what he's been doing in spring training. And of course, if you have a hunch that a fastball's coming, smash the crap out of it.

If Liriano continues to pitch to spots, he could win 18 games. If Hughes gets extended playing time, he could hit 20 home runs, and I think he will play solid infield. I also think Plouffe is capable of playing good corner outfield, and can hit 20 taters if he gets over 400 AB.

Odd time to even try extorting money from Pavano. Wouldn't this have worked better (if at all) when Pavano first went to the Yankees? I realize the guy's a knuckleball short of a four-pitch walk... He'd make more money writing a novel about how Pavano's mustache is haunted. A lot can happen under a 'stash that dark and mysterious... ;-)

I like Swarzak's bulldog attitude. He's a rotation regular waiting to happen.

Particularly Anthony Slama. The guy does what a pitcher is supposed to do - get outs. No matter what else a pitcher does, if he gets outs, he should be promoted. The Twins, of all teams, should value outs over mph.

twinswon1991, this also has a chance to be a pretty good starting rotation. If we're really talking about 'chances,' then there's a chance Liriano will be good this year, finally getting control of his sideways cartwheel delivery. Baker I'm worried about, but he's had early season elbow trouble before and still had a good season. Blackburn appears to be in the best shape physically since his early days. Pavano looks no worse than last year. Marquis, yep, he's a complete question mark, but Liam Hendriks looks ready to fill in as needed, and I think Swarzak is a lot better than some do. I'm not claiming anything spectacular for this staff, but the current starters are all veterans, and none of them appear likely to collapse mentally. The two backups appear to be mechanically sound and mentally tough. No Cy Young candidates, unless Liriano catches fire. The rest are #3's and 4's on most teams, but that's how the Twins have designed their team, mostly ground ball pitchers with good defense behind them. This bunch fits that mold pretty well.

If he's been working out and lifting weights, then David Bromberg should come back stronger this season. Go get 'em, big guy!

From the very first day it was clear that Twins Daily had the best format for an online fan site. Really well designed...or was it a template from MS Publisher? As for Spam and Avatar, Spam is underrated as a center fielder, and Avatar was a graphics extravaganza, but the plot was Pocahontas meets Cats, paint it blue and stick it on a goofy alien planet.

I have never, ever talked to a professional baseball player, yet by careful observation of their behavior on television during games, interviews, etc, often I can get a pretty good idea what's going on. I've played casual sports all my life, so I know what it feels like to be hit by a baseball, to be tackled, etc. Same with lots of sports fans. We're fans because at a lower level many of us have experienced what we see on television. A few years ago (2009), I noticed that Liriano was tipping his pitches. I wrote about it because I was able to predict his pitches with about 80 percent accuracy. He was lowering his front shoulder before throwing a slider. Pretty obvious to me, so I mentioned "Liriano is tipping his pitches." Over and over and over again. Never did anybody acknowledge it until after the season, when they mentioned "mechanical issues." It looked like this: O-/--|== <-- here comes a slider. If I could read him, don't you think professional hitters could, too? Now, I haven't played competitive baseball since about fifth grade, and back then I had no idea how to read a pitcher. Forty years later, I've seen and heard a lot of baseball, including discussions among experts, and now I look for stuff like that, because I'm a fan. I've heard Bert discuss pitching techniques for years, and I've seen how so many young pitchers don't do what Bert recommends, like coming to the balance point. I've heard Gladden talk about the proper way to lead off first base. I've seen how Tim Lincecum incorporates the mechanics of throwing a modified cartwheel into every pitch, and how other pitchers hurt their arms because they do not use their legs, torsos and scapulae to generate cartwheel power. I'm a fan, not a paid journalist, so I'm free to observe without conditions attached. I do not fear hurting the feelings of a manager, player or corporation, thus getting myself shunned or fired. My comments are mostly prompted by the old, 'hey, look at that' feeling that you get when you notice something interesting. One of the reasons I like watching baseball is because it's chock full of interesting things to notice, like how a pitcher like Maddox can win 20+ games without a big fastball, or how a player like Nick Punto helps teams win by knowledge and guile. Like other bloggers, I am not paid to write this stuff, and I never will be. I do other things for a living, and sports writing is not part of it. If I'm not honest, ignore me or call me a liar. If I'm full of ****, say so. It's a real democracy out here in blogostan. A good observation is valued more than grammatically correct bull****, or Sid Hartman's corporate pandering. On the other hand, in a way bloggers do get paid. If we write something well and true, sometimes people pay us attention. Further, some bloggers may have it in the back of their heads that someday, maybe they will get a paid job with a newspaper or some other media. I suppose it can happen, but I would hope the anticipation of such a career would not affect the honesty and openness of their writing. The moving finger writes, and if you're not honest, it writes that, too.

Pedro Florimon looked interesting yesterday. The slo-mo of his swing showed very good form, but his timing is a little off. Florimon is such an athletic infielder... If Bruno can show this guy how to hit, they'd have themselves a steal. Of course, "how to hit" is merely the toughest single thing in all of sports. Good luck, Pedro!

Agreed, and I also agree that it probably won't start out that way this year. Pitchers on this team will start the season with the best fielding infield behind them. After they see who's pitching well (a month?), Gardenhire may start Hughes at 2B and slide Casilla to SS when Baker pitches, because he's a fly ball guy. That's when they might go with a speedier outfield, too, like Plouffe LF, Span CF, Revere RF. After that (another month?), if Hughes plays nice, steady 2B and hits well, Gardenhire may relax and let Carroll be the utility guy. What I like in this situation is the flexibility they can tap into. Lots of young talent and role players are available this season. Gardenhire typically lets the season starting lineup have a good, long look before he starts tinkering, and it's hard to argue with that approach.

What I like is that Gardenhire is giving himself lots of options. Any of the players that got hurt last year can be replaced quickly with somebody that's better than merely adequate. If Span needs a day off, Revere can sub. If Casilla can't hit, Hughes can replace him. Pretty much everybody has somebody that can step into his spot if needed, and then there's Dozier in Rochester, along with Tosoni or Mastroianni, etc. This is about as well as the team can be prepped for a 162-game marathon. Good job, coaching staff.

Especially when Scott Baker is pitching. Then you put Revere in CF, Span in RF and Plouffe in LF, and watch how fast they can run.

Of course, it's not just hits we need to see from Nishioka. He was inconsistent last year in every aspect of his game, including mental errors like not leaping on a double play turn. A few good days at the plate won't cure that reputation. However, a really solid year in AAA, including lots of clean, sound fielding, would put him back in line as a possible utility man. Unfortunately for Nishi, the Twins have several good short stops rising quickly through the ranks, and some of them could doubtless play second base, too. His best window of opportunity is long gone.

We could be seeing this all wrong. Guessing at the timing of a new player generation is a little like predicting the weather. You know it's going to rain sometime in spring, but guessing exactly when it's going to happen can baffle even the math mentats with supercomputers and equations a block long. I remember when Hrbek, Puck and Gaetti came up, it was obvious they were the new generation. This time it's not that obvious from a talent standpoint, but the age of these guys (1), the low quality of the present team (2), plus the future emergence of guys like Sano, Rosario and Levi Michael (3) should count as important factors in whether to start playing the Rochester kids now or later. When should the Twins start the new experiment? How about right after a 99-loss season, when it can't get much worse? I know Parmelee's not Hrbek, Benson's not Puckett, etc. But however good this crop is going to be, it's better to find out early than to wait until the next crop (Sano, et al) is ready for their own early entrance. As for the "more seasoning" argument, I don't see it. None of these new guys has stood out as a dingbat on the field. Parmelee, Hughes, Benson, Dozier and Hendriks all have looked competent. None of them threw to the wrong base or show a clumsy glove. Hendriks didn't lose control, balk or other dumb stuff. In fact, I saw just the opposite. I thought Parmelee and Hughes showed signs of becoming team leaders. I think Benson looks like another possible Marty Cordova. Dozier looks solid in all areas, and Hendriks so far does deserve comparisons to Brad Radke. Will any of these guys measure up to our fondest dreams? Well, that's why they play the game, and that's why you put them in.