jimbo92107

I remember wanting the Twins to get Todd Frazier, and wondering what they were thinking with little Ben Revere.

He...just...likes...WINNING!

Let's hope he's Neshek without the arm trouble.

A couple game ago Kepler drove a ball to the right-center gap with great velocity. The ball must have left his bat at 110 mph or so. It screamed by the 2nd baseman so fast, the guy barely had time to move before it was by him. Never got more than 15 feet off the ground, reached the fence in about two hops. If Kepler elevated that about 10 degrees, it would have cleared the fence. Der Kid's got serious pop.

You have touched on one of the core problems with fan speculation. First, TD is a fan site with no connection to the actual Twins organization. As such, we have the freedom to ignore the unlikelihood that a billionaire will say, "What the heck, I'll eat a few multi-million dollar contracts to see if Wheeler and Darnell are slightly better than Hughes and Nolasco, if May can replace Santana, etc, etc." In the real world, MLB owners tend to be pretty conservative, and this team's owners are even more conservative than average. Second, even high prospects like Berrios and Buxton can implode when they hit the Show. What makes me think Wheeler and Darnell will do any better? My answer as a Twins fan is, it doesn't matter. This is a terrible, almost unwatchable team. The veteran pitchers are mediocre, and the position veterans are mediocre. If this is your product, I'm not buying it. This bottom-dwelling team would do better to completely rebuild itself from within, trying out every AAA and AA player to see where they're at in their development. They brought up Pat Dean because Hughes can't go five innings without giving up 5 runs. Nolasco and Santana aren't much better. At this rate, no starter on the Twins will win more than 10 games this season. A good team sometimes will tolerate such low production from their fifth starter, but only if he's a rising prospect or a monster innings eater. The Twins have neither. The catcher situation is an embarrassment. Kurt Suzuki is physically worn out, and he was never that good anyway. Base runners steal off of him with impunity, for they know he gets the ball to 2nd consistently too late. Even so they play the worn out veteran more than a scrappy kid that hits and throws much better than Suzuki, but they won't even make that change. There is no direct connection between TD and the Twins organization, but if they care about their fan base, the Twins should pay some attention to the rising level of frustration with this team's failure to make moves to prepare for the next generation of talent. Like Pat Dean, Darnell and Wheeler offer a more mature approach to pitching than do flashy younger guys like Berrios. While we wait for the hotter arms to develop, this is a good time to see if the Twins can find out more about the guys that don't throw mid-90's, but know how to pitch. If one or more of these guys can become a late rotation innings eater, now is the time to find out.

At this point, the Twins should trade away every veteran except Mauer. Ervin Santana, Nolasco, Hughes - gone. Suzuki, Dozier, Nunez, Plouffe - gone. Abad, Boshers, Jepsen, Kintzler - gone. I'd also trade Tonkin. None of these moves needs to return any significant prospects, tho they should be able to get something for a few of them. Doesn't really matter for the immediate future. Mainly this is clearing the way for the next gen Twinkies. First, I'd promote as many decent pitchers as possible from Rochester. Wheeler, Darnell, Chargois, Wimmers, possibly Albers...but not Milone. Trade him, too. Then I'd promote the new infield, again mostly from Rochester. Polanco, Beresford, and since there are NO SS's listed on the AAA roster (!), grab a shocked and happy Engelb Vielma from AA as your slick-fielding, light hitting SS. Since I just remembered Escobar is fairly young and a good SS, that's a tougher call. They could trade Esco for some value to a contender, or keep him as captain of the infield. Either way Rochester gets at least one SS bumped up from AA. Ridiculous not to have a starting SS on a AAA roster. Let's see now...what to do with Murphy? He's still not hitting, so I promote Garver from AA to split time 50-50 with Centeno. Turner to AAA, all below in the minors get bumped up. Notice I'm leaving Berrios and Meyer in AAA. Throw strikes, kiddies. Hey, this is fun!

Why not call up Jason Wheeler?

Zach Granite is looking good. I see he's 6'1", 175, so he's got room to grow a bit. How are his defensive stats? Does he have a decent arm in the OF? A fast lefty/lefty lead-off hitter that gets on base a lot, steals bases, covers lots of ground in the field... Could he be a possible LF instead of Rosario? Currently in AA batting .274, OBP .346, 17 BB, 21 SO, 25 SB, 23 yrs old... Not much power, but he puts the bat on the ball pretty good. If he adds a little muscle mass, he could be a riser.

We are just crackin' ourselves up today!

Dear Eddie: Learn to work the count, shrink your swing zone, and take some walks. That's what we're all waiting for. Love, Jimbo

Very encouraging report. Good arms on the way up!

There's nothing wrong with picking up usage tips on the internet. That's how I learned to fly passenger jets!

Grammar Nazi here. "Ironically, Jay’s roommate with the Miracle is April’s SP of the Month, Stephen Gonsalves." Actually, that's not ironic, 'tis merely coincidental. Irony requires some hint of the opposite of what you might expect. Sports irony, on the other hand, does not appear to follow that model, which is mentally painful, but again not ironic. Thus, a firehouse burning down is ironic, but three guys grounding out to the shortstop is not. That's just nice grouping. Congratulations to Tyler Jay, for grouping his pitches nicely in his catcher's mitt!

I haven't noticed any particular plan for Vargas, other than not wanting to give him away to Boston for nothing. The guy is stuck in limbo with Mauer and Park in his way. His only way out is either to hit .400 the rest of the year or get traded.

Not to knock Edgar Corcino's good May, but if the guy's 23 in Ft. Meyers, isn't he beating up on pitchers that are a few years younger than he is? Why don't the Twins bump Corcino up a notch to see what he can do against guys more his age?

His swing was like Dave Parker of the Pirates, but with even more power. Ortiz could play good 1st base, surprisingly nimble feet and a quick glove. As Seth said, the knock on him was a lack of durability, or the perception of it. Part of the learning process for young players is learning how to take care of their bodies, avoiding injuries, staying in shape, etc. David Ortiz went through that phase, but he got over it and has had a great career. For those who have forgotten, Ortiz was irritated by the hitting philosophy of the Twins, which emphasized hitting to all fields, where Ortiz wanted to just pull home runs. Later he credited Twins coaches for helping make him a better hitter, able to go oppo when needed. Ortiz got many key hits for Boston by flipping his wrists to send a ball to left field.

This "surge" is due to a combination of factors. Obviously Sano and Mauer are hot, but for the last few games we have seen an outfield that hits, a catcher that hits, and pitchers that don't get blown away in the first four innings. I'm going to give Robbie Grossman and Juan Centeno a little love here. Both guys have been around a while in the minors, and both of them are good, steady ballplayers. Centeno especially has impressed me with good at-bats and solid catching, including a remarkably good arm. Been a long time since I saw a catcher make his presence known in a ballgame, even if he's pretty bad at blocking balls in the dirt. With Centeno behind the plate I feel no sense of desperation to get Kurt Suzuki back. With Grossman in LF I feel no desperation to get Rosario back. Let's leave this lineup be for a bit. I could get used to watching a team that competes.

Congratulations to Pat Dean. Nice pitching. This should really be a morale boost to all the hard-working pitchers in AAA. Even if you don't have the most amazing stuff, you have a chance to make it if you really know how to pitch. Dean was spotting the ball around the zone, changing speeds, avoiding patterns, doing all the things a pitcher needs to do if he doesn't have overwhelming stuff. Next big question: If Hughes and Nolasco look bad again, is it time to start Taylor Rogers? Rogers is supposed to be better than Dean, if the prospect list means anything (just barely). Maybe it's time to let the veteran AAA guys start replacing the worn out, over-priced veterans.

Bring out Pressley again! It's only a 5-run lead!!

Has Ryan Pressley been wrestling with a greased pig? The man is filthy!

Miguel Sano... Mister Entertainment!

I'm leaning more towards a cutter because it arrived at 85mph, and I think Dean's slider is more like 82mph.

These are not the Twins you were looking for. [Waves hand] Move along.

That last pitch from Dean to strike out Cruz looked like a high slider. Definitely not what Cruz was expecting. Odd place for a slider, but it worked. Most pitchers spend all their time trying to make their slider almost hook into the ground. Dean purposely spun it or cut it high. Good mix of pitches.

Dang, I've been watching for ten minutes, and I just realized that the score is 6 to 2, IN FAVOR OF THE TWINS. My eyeballs literally assumed they were behind 6-2. Double take city!