jimbo92107

I have finalized a list of the best Twins starters for 2017. Unfortunately, it's a little hard to read. To create the list, I filled several small balloons with bright paint, drank half a bottle of whiskey, then hurled the balloons at a large canvass across the room while channeling the spirit of the great Walter Johnson. When I woke up the next morning, there it was. Granted, what I had thought was a large canvass was in fact the side of my landlord's Winnebago, but the meaning was clear. Here was the list of starters. Interpretation may prove difficult, although when I squint I swear I can see an 'Ir', which obviously means Irvin Santana. After that, it's not so clear at the moment. More whiskey!

I remember several years ago when I spotted how Francisco Liriano was tipping his pitches. Basically from the set he pointed his lead shoulder where he was going to spot the ball. It was so obvious that I wrote about it repeatedly, with no results. Finally he stopped doing sometime the next season. While he's working on changing his change-up, Berrios could do one other thing: Grip the fastball just a little different, so his pinky sticks out. If batters think that's going to be a change, he'll blow it right by them. As long as they can't be sure what they're seeing, the visual indication will no longer be reliable, and will become a distraction.

If Dozier wants to hit his 40th home run, this would be a good time.

Who says Garver is going to make it? That's the problem, nobody knows. There is no obvious, outstanding prospect at catcher in the Twins system. That's why Garver didn't get the lion's share of games behind the dish. You want great defense? Call up Turner, he's far better than Zuki or Centeno right now. You want better offense? Garver, but his defense is still developing. No catcher in the organization has both great offense and defense right now. Nobody. The Twins don't have a great prospect at catcher right now. Fact of life. They waived Suzuki and nobody claimed him because he can't throw out a base runner anymore. Centeno can hit a little, throws pretty good, but he lets dirt balls bounce all over the place, which is awkward for a team with a bunch of soft-tossing sinker ballers. Garver may get a September call up, and that's fine, but don't be shocked if he's not ready. As you said, 60 games isn't many at catcher. For whatever reason, the Twins haven't had much luck developing catchers lately. Or pitchers. Or shortstops...

Stuart Turner swinging a hot bat, yeah baby! I'm hoping this guy can start really hitting, so he can finally move up and out of the minors. Twins could really use a defensive ace behind the dish. But we don't want another Drew Butera 2.0.

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.