jimbo92107

As Seth noted, Garver wasn't regarded as highly as Turner in that draft, so he started lower. Raw defensively. Mainly your contention rests on reps behind the plate. There are a few counter arguments. First, the minors is for learning. To learn how to block a curve in the dirt, you can have a coach or a machine fire ball after ball in front of you as you work on sliding and blocking. Second, sharpening your in-game catching skills does not require catching anywhere near 100 percent of games. Like blocking balls in the dirt, you can learn those skills by discussing it with coaches outside of games. Third, minor league games can beat up your body just as much as anywhere else. Foul tips to the mask hurt you just as much in AA as in the MLB. Dividing playing time gives all your catchers a chance to stay reasonably fresh. Fourth, unless you are clearly a star on the rise, there is no reason to bias playing time for a guy like Garver over Turner or any other minor leaguer. If you look like a young Pudge or Mauer, that's one thing. The Twins don't have anybody like that in the minors. Garver's playing time clearly reflects Twins system policy of splitting playing time pretty evenly for catchers. It also may indicate that they don't have anybody good enough to race through the system. Mitch Garver appears to be a possibly good, but probably not great catching prospect. If he keeps playing well, he should get a September call-up. Let us not burden the young man with overly high expectations.

Well, nobody can say Wimmers got here just on "talent." The guy has definitely put in the work. Congratulations to Alex Wimmers for earning a shot at the show.

That totally sucks, but it does explain why an otherwise pretty mature hitter was having so much trouble adjusting to changing speeds. Imagine how much strain that could put on an already hurt wrist. Hope Park heals up quickly and well. Best of luck to him.

Jason Wheeler has earned a shot, dang it.

I remember the couple times I saw Mauer pull the ball with authority a couple weeks ago. I saw his stance and thought, "He looks a little like he's copying Kepler." Bang, he pulled a line drive over the right field fence. Drove another one to the right-center gap. Days later, his stance looked like the same old Mauer, and his pull power disappeared. Kepler knows how to pull with power; Mauer knows how to slash the ball oppo for high average. The two styles do not appear to be compatible.

Palka should definitely get a September call-up. We all know guys that swing hard also strike out a lot. Can he play decent left field? Is he an okay base runner? Will he strike out a lot more at the mlb level? September would be a good time to find out.

It would be fun to see Fernando Romero get bumped to AA before the season's over. That would be a very encouraging sign.

Ha! I was right for once - it was a pitcher's duel!

Joe is looking very good at the plate. Finally healthy?

Mauer's trying to bait the pitcher into an outside pitch...

I tried to copy this list, but my mouse can't grab the letters!! ;-)

At this point I'd keep E Santana around next season as a top ro starter and mentor for Berrios, Duffey and Gonsalves. They're going to need a sage vet like ESan.

Pitcher's duel. Pretty good game.

I love that statue. Can I have it? The Eternal Face-Palm...

"Took a great play to get [santana] out." Oh, Bert...

This song proved one thing: Karen Carpenter could make almost anything sound good.

Good point. I keep forgetting that somebody thinks this thing will be their retirement nest egg. Me, I'm betting the lootery.

Sandwiches and cats. And Abraham Lincoln. Just don't work blue, the mods don't like it.

Dean is pitching like he wants somebody's job.

Marnie Gelner: As always after the game, we'll be asking manager Paul Molitor what the hell happened.

Yeah, but I gotta tell ya, fame will change you. Before you know it, you start acting weird to the butlers and maids, and your only friends will be other famous comedy bloggers.

To be totally frank, to me it looks like Pat Dean has better starter stuff than Kyle Gibson, who seems to have lost a lot of movement. I'd also like to see them try Taylor Rogers for a couple starts.

It might take a while... They still have to convert all the starters to relievers, and all the relievers to starters.

Hector Santiago... Are we certain he's not a witch? Everything went downhill right after the Twins traded Ricky Nolasco for Santiago. Before that, everything was going really well... We shall use my largest scales!

Grossman's greatest value is as an example of how to squeeze these mlb pitchers, even when you don't have a big threat in your bat. No pitcher fears Grossman's awesome power, yet he still manages to get more walks than just about anybody in the majors. How can this be?? The answer is shamefully simple: Most mlb pitchers want to get you out with junk outside the strike zone. If a hitter seriously won't swing at their junk, then he can get a ton of walks. The whole baseball world even knows this about Grossman, and still he gets a ton of walks. What this really means is that every mlb hitter is swinging at far too much junk. Even cutting down on junk swings a little has made Eddie Rosario look good again, and he still swings at loads of junk. The sad truth of the matter may have more to do with MLB public relations than anything else. Teams and the league don't want to fill the bases with walks. They want to shorten the game by getting players to put the ball in play. Grossman's patient style is effective, but it's boring to watch. It's okay to have one or two guys like Grossman in the league, just as it's okay for Boston and one other team to have a knuckleballer, as a novelty. But what if a team developed a whole staff of really good knuckleballers? The league would not tolerate it. If you're wondering why there's no market for Grossman, it's because his style of ball doesn't fit what the league wants to put out there. Even if it works, it's not what MLB wants to see.