jimbo92107

Trade Rosario for who?

If they deal Perkins, that's the white flag on this whole season. They have no clear successor at closer. They could try getting by with Graham or May, bring up somebody (AJ Achter?), but we could not expect the level of success we get from Perkins, even after he's blown a few. I could see the Twins trading Plouffe to a contender for a high-quality prospect, like a good young catcher. Otherwise, this just ain't the year to make big deals.

That's not the impression I get at all. Eddie Rosario is flat out a major league ballplayer. His demeanor has none of the fragility of Danny Santana. Rosario walked onto the field like he owned it, has looked solid, and he's getting better steadily. Rosario is one of the guys that's constantly looking for ways to put pressure on the other team, not like he's letting them put pressure on him. There's two ways to relate to pressure: Put it on them, or feel it on yourself. Santana feels the pressure on himself, where Rosario puts the pressure on them. That's why I have total confidence in Rosario, where Santana is still iffy as a pro. That's why I'd send Santana down to AAA to work on his plate discipline and overall approach, where I'd leave Rosario in the corner outfield for the next decade or so.

Before the season I thought Paul Molitor was too introverted to become a good manager. Boy, was I wrong. He's not introverted, he's just totally unflappable. He's almost like a baseball version of Bud Grant. Not quite as stoic, but much less volatile than Gardenhire, more analytical in his approach. And innovative, something few people gave Grant credit for. Molitor is willing to try new things. One thing's for sure, the players know he's on their side. Some people criticized him for stepping up to defend Aaron Hicks on that check swing, but you can bet Aaron Hicks knows who's got his back now, and that will bring the whole team closer together.

If Molitor had Oswaldo Arcia to PH against a RH closer whose main weapon was a cutter, a pitch that bends inward towards Arcia's swing... He certainly might consider it. Obviously all this is speculation. The best way to find this out is to try it. Use Arcia to DH or play RF against righties, batting behind Sano. You'd find out pretty quickly if pitchers kept walking Sano to get to Arcia, one of the few people with a swing of the same magnitude as Sano's. I'm okay with that experiment. I'm wondering what they're waiting for.

Pitchers still giving unprecedented respect to rookie Miguel Sano. They'd rather walk him all day than throw him a strike in a close game. And it pays off. CALL. UP. ARCIA.

I remember there was this lefty pitcher when I was a kid, his slider would curve right into my swing... I would have paid him to throw me that slider all day long. That's kind of what Perkins is throwing to those Pirates hitters. Nice, hanging sliders right over the middle. Yikes.

I just walked in. Anything interesting happen?

Trevor Plouffe is another Twins player that took the long road to success. Like Brian Dozier, and now like Aaron Hicks, it's taken time for Plouffe to gradually refine and polish his game, but all that effort and all those repetitions are finally paying off with a fully mature ballplayer. When I see players like this that changed positions or had to bounce up and down from AAA a few times, it reminds me that baseball isn't a game that many people can master in a couple years. It also gives me hope for a guy like Danny Santana, whose issues do look like a matter of further refinement, rather than a lack of talent.

Okay, now you're all just doing that on purpose! I shall wear your collective mockery like the large brown helmet of honor!

Yeah... I guess I'd pick something shorter, like bulbysink446.

Good way to make a password: Combine two words with a three-digit number. The words can be something in the room, like cup, clicker, or window. Add a -y to the end of the first word to get windowyclicker or clickerycup, then append your 3-digits to get something like clickerycup832. Fairly easy to remember, almost impossible to guess, impractical for software to hack. Passwords eventually will go away, but for now, two words + 3 digits will do.

Good article, and birdwatcher's observation implies that management might be willing to use some of these AAA chips to deal for a "shutdown guy" for the 8th inning. There must be plenty of teams that need an innings-eating mid-rotation guy like Tyler Duffey.

JR Graham has much better stuff than Michael Tonkin. Graham's fastball does move, he throws a variety of them, and his delivery is harder to read. His breaking stuff is electric, though it's true he needs to keep refining his command. Tonkin is a decent two-pitch reliever. Graham has enough pitches to be a potential future starter. Personally I rank Graham about even in potential with Trevor May. Tonkin I see as maybe a comp to Casey Fien.

Two good points. Still easier to just play Escobar at SS, or (my rec) bring up Polanco and leave Dozier be. This team does need to try several things if they want to compete with the big boys, including bringing up some boppers like Arcia, Vargas, and Kepler. This should be a year of free-wheeling tryouts for lots of prospects.

I don't know why, but when I was at the game on Monday night, the Twins seemed to lack an attitude of confidence against the Angels. This might have to do with the lack of power hitters in the lineup. Power hitters are like having bullies on your side. The Twins are a bunch of nice guys, where the Angels have some bully in them - big, muscly guys like Pujols and Trout and Calhoun, guys that can knock the snot out of the ball. The Twins had Dozier, and not much else. Singles hitters with low averages. Nobody that terrifies the opposing pitcher. Throw curves and low outside stuff to Dozier, and this team is toast. It was as bad as the last four years. They had no chance. Bring up Arcia, Vargas and AB Walker. Even if these guys mostly ride the bench, even if Walker whiffs at a record pace, at least they have the advantage of an intimidating look and a really hard swing. Arcia can help protect Sano from righties, Walker can help protect Sano from lefties, and Vargas can do both. Each of them provides a legitimate home run threat as a late inning pinch hitter. A baseball team needs two or three bully boys, or they get pushed around by the studs on the west coast.

I was at the game (thank you, glunn), walking around the stadium concourse (they have a Panda Express!) when Blaine Boyer was called into the game. As I walked along, I thought, "Well, here comes a home run." The crowd erupted in wild cheers. Home run. Boyer is so done, it's sad. Whatever he had in the first half, it's gone completely. Opponents are just teeing off on him. Same with Casey Fien. I didn't actually watch that much of the game because I was having a great time chatting with Glunn and H2OFace, both great guys. What I did notice was that the whole Twins team looked troublingly similar to the punchless bunch we all enjoyed so much over the previous four 90-loss seasons. Gibson actually didn't pitch that badly, kept his team within reach, but Twins hitters seemed to have no chance against an Angels starter with an ERA over 4.5. The Twins need more than just a great SS like Tulo. They need a good starting catcher, and they need some guys with better bats. But before they trade away promising prospects, they need at least one real, legitimate ace starter. Not a rental like Cueto, but somebody they'll have around for several years. Before that happens, trading away prospects seems really irresponsible. On the other hand, Kurt Suzuki looks worn out. They should either start platooning him 50/50 with Fryer, or trade for a better catcher. Find somebody that can be around for at least five years, while this group is peaking. Either that or promote guys like Turner, Garver, Swim and Navaretto to the next level asap, and then draft the best college catcher available in the 2016 draft.

There's the rub. Even if you pick up Tulo and a good catcher, this Twins team still doesn't have the one thing they really need to win a Series - a top flight ace starter. The teams they'd be facing in the playoffs and Series would definitely have at least one ace, or they won't get there, either. I don't make Tulo-sized moves until AFTER I have one or two ace starters. Before that, you might as well hang onto all your blue- and red-chip prospects. This Twins team will NOT get past KC or Houston with the bunch of #2's and #3's they have now, and they certainly won't beat a team that can march out Greinke and Kershaw twice in five games.

The answer to that is Paul Molitor. He was Danny Santana's hitting tutor in the minors, and he's loathe to give up on the kid, even if Santana just isn't going to be another Paul Molitor. Even if Santana is destined to "figure things out," at some point, it ain't happening on the mlb club. Santana needs to go down to AAA and build himself a plan at the plate that's not just "I hope I get a hit." Meanwhile Jorge Polanco already has a pretty good plan at the plate, and it's hard to say his defense is any shakier than Santana's. Twins don't have much to lose by giving Polanco a shot for at least a month. I'm not saying Polanco is better than Tulo, either. I'm saying the price the Rockies will want for him is too steep. The Twins will need some of these guys to keep the team stocked with good talent over the next decade. If you trade away the talent in AAA and AA, you strip the team of its future.

Gosh, what a bad idea this trade is. Especially when you've got a good prospect in Jorge Polanco just waiting to be tested, and you give up nothing for him.

So you take the best defensive 2B in the league and put him at a position he's not used to anymore, then take a minor leaguer that's not quite an mlb ready SS and put him at 2B, where he hasn't been playing. Or Rosario, who also didn't show much at 2B. Going for a high 1st round pick in 2016?

Back to my two themes for this year. 1, don't sell farm before harvest, and 2, keep experimenting with early call-ups. Send Danny Santana to AAA, bring up Jorge Polanco. Do it this week, and let him play SS for a month. Have him work with the fielding coach just like Santana did to smooth out the footwork. Santana's biggest problem still is his approach at the plate. Better for him and the Twins if he works out those problems in AAA than to be a hole in the lineup. Meanwhile, Polanco showed signs of being an exciting ballplayer, another spark plug for this team.

Dereck Rodriguez, Elizabethton Twins (W, 7.0 IP, 2 H’s, 0 ER’s, 0 BB’s, 3 K’s) Call him up!

A lot of line drive outs in this one.