jimbo92107

Maybe they saw what I saw. By the 5th inning, Buxton in CF would have saved the team at least 2 runs, just with his defense. Add offense to that, and you might just have a playah!

It sounds like Stewart has a lot to learn, but he's made progress in building his repertoire of pitches. The next step, which could take years, is learning command and deception. That's when he'll start getting more whiffs...or not.

This deal could be a big winner for all parties. Pelfrey could go to a contending team and maybe get himself a ring. Meanwhile, the Twins could snag one more very promising arm for the future. I'm for it, assuming the Twins are out of contention. At that point they should be doing a full scale youth movement anyway.

I don't know if Michael Tonkin is going to be a good or great reliever in the majors, but there is absolutely no reason for him to spend another day in the minor leagues. He looks solid, he throws hard, and as far as I can tell, he doesn't crack under pressure. Use him!

It's a classic problem for power hitters. A hard swing usually means you have to start it early, so if a pitcher (like Pelfrey) can throw something with late breaking action, they can make you look like a fool. The problem for Walker is that a lot of major league pitchers can throw a pitch with late breaking action. That's why they're in the majors, they miss bats. The art of hitting at the major league level involves a lot of internal processing of what pitches you're going to look for from a particular pitcher. Brian Dozier has developed a nice formula with the help of Tom Brunanski. He looks for pitches mostly in the middle, trying to drive them flat. But if he sees high and inside, he pounces with those quick hands and bashes it into the left field seats. Walker needs to develop a more sophisticated plan for pitch recognition. I'm sure he and his coaches already know this. A little more plate discipline is AB Walker's ticket to the majors. Doesn't it seem like some aspiring old hitters and software programmers could come up with a VR program to train hitters how to recognize what's coming? You could integrate all the pro tips like a couple dozen physical tells from the pitcher, situational analysis, etc. Then see if the player could guess what's coming and who can guess the soonest. I bet Joe Mauer would be good at that.

Mauer is stuck in the extremes of left or right field. He needs to get back to hitting basics: hammer some baseballs up the middle. Knock some pitchers over, drill some screaming liners over a CF's head. Hit the ball back the way it came, then later you can work on pulling and slicing.

Good show. Sounds like Tyler Jay will remain in the minors unless he immediately puts up Tommy Milone numbers at Low-A, in which case they might bump him to High-A after a month, and if he keeps it up in High-A, maybe he gets to AA by September, but what are the chances of that against professional hitters? Speaking of which, when was the last time the Twins drafted a pitcher, then promoted him to the majors within a year? Blyleven, maybe?

If you bring up Buxton today, you suddenly have the fastest outfield in the major leagues, with two of the strongest arms. Even Rosario is reasonably fast, and has a good, accurate arm. Then if you leave the infield as-is for awhile, you've got one of the best fielding teams in baseball, with Vargas as DH/1B. Pitchers like good fielding teams. I'd do it right now. Bring up Buxton and turn on the electricity. Double the wattage on the disco ball, and buy a bigger smoke machine. Let him get a taste before the All-Star game, then hit his stride in August. Then, we think about bringing the Sano Lumber Company to town, and maybe even Der Kid, Max Kepler.

Mike Pelfrey has elevated his "floor" value to the Twins immensely. Now, instead of being a dubious over-30 pitcher on his way down, he looks like an inning-eating mid-rotation guy that can win a surprising number of games if he's supported by good defense and a little hitting. His heater is better, thanks to good movement and better command. He's been keeping it generally down, but clearly he can move it around the zone and avoid the middle, without issuing walks. His slider is nothing amazing, but nobody sits on it, so he can throw it almost any time. The big news is that splitter. Used to be that hitters could sit on Pelfrey's fastball and expect to get something in the middle part of the zone sometime during an at-bat. Now his heat is around the zone, not down the middle, and if you sit on it, he'll throw that excellent splitter, which he delivers with almost the same arm action as his heater. With its late down-left action, it's extremely hard to judge where that ball is going to be when a hitter initiates his swing. Even if they do make contact, it's going to be a weak grounder or some weird little squibber. More likely a lefty fouls it off his foot, and a rightie just whiffs. Thing is, he throws it with two strikes, and it looks like a BP fastball down the middle, so they can't prevent themselves from swinging. The last factor is stamina. Dick and Bert both noticed how strong Pelfrey still looked right into the 8th inning. His heat was still 93mph or better, and his command had not degraded to the point where hitters could really take advantage. Granted, they were starting to zone in on his heat, but a couple good catches ended the game. Maybe Pelfrey needs a slightly different pitch pattern for the eighth inning.

If they keep trying to play pressure baseball, I'm okay whatever the result. The Twins played so passive over the last few years, it really wasn't good baseball.

The one guy people aren't talking about much is Mauer's possible replacement at 1st base. Vargas? No, Max Kepler. Der Kid is hitting about .300 in Chattanooga, lots of doubles, good glove, good arm, great athlete, and his power stroke is legit. Kepler isn't another Joe Mauer, but his skill set is a better match for what the Twins need from a 1st baseman. More power, solid play. I expect to see Kepler and Vargas sharing time at 1st base within a year, and then where do you put Mauer? Of course, the moment I'm typing this, Mauer pounds a three run homer to tie the game with Milwaukee. RISP!

Time to send down Danny Santana for some AAA seasoning. 1. Polanco 2. Dozier 3. Hunter 4. Plouffe 5. Vargas 6. Mauer 7. Suzuki 8. Rosario 9. Hicks

The secret sauce that is making this team win is subtle, and has many different spices in just the right proportion. The luckiest part has already happened - we have a combination of young players on the rise, like Hicks, Rosario, May, and Gibson. We have younger veterans that are nearing their peak potential, like Plouffe and Dozier. We have several solid veterans that hold their own and stabilize the team. We have Torii Hunter, a unique personality that helps pull it all together and inspires everybody to bust their butts. Even struggling Danny Santana is doing everything he can to get better, and it's showing. Oh, and Joe Mauer is hitting about .380 with runners in scoring position. To that you add a coaching staff that is one of the best in the business. Gene Glynn, Paul Molitor, Neil Allen, Tom Brunansky and Eddie Guardado. Then, to top it off, you've got management that has enough sense to not meddle with a good thing. The only weakness I've seen in this team so far is, when they face a Cy Young candidate on a good day, they don't do very well. Otherwise, the Twins look like they can beat anybody.

That could be the best reason to bring him up, but I'd still like to see him go a couple outings in AAA without throwing a wild pitch or hitting a batter.

"He was relieved by Alex Meyer, who knows how to fill up a box score. He walked two, hit one, allowed one hit and struck out five in 2.1 innings. Despite his inefficiency (56 pitches, 34 strikes), he picked up the win. (At this point, seriously, just put him in the big-league pen… he’s not a starter anymore, at least not this year. And he would be an interesting option to have at Molly’s disposal.)" Put Coke-bottle glasses on him and have him run out to the tune of "Wild Thing." Seriously, I wouldn't promote any pitcher, but especially a high-90's pitcher to the big leagues if he still has a problem hitting batters...by accident. ;-)

First, I forgive them. If this Twins team starts to lose, I'm okay with that, so long as they keep playing with the same aggressive, opportunistic attitude that has made them fun to watch. A team that keeps applying pressure often finds a way to win. Second, as this article mentions, the Twins have help coming from the farm. Santana's not producing? How about Polanco? A starter gets hurt? Bring up Milone. A reliver? Tonkin, or Oliveros. Need a little more power? Bring up Vargas or Pinto, or Walker, or all three. Want to see no baseballs hit the outfield grass? Bring up Buxton. A lot of these guys seemed so far away a year ago. Now so many of them are right on the verge of making it to the show. And what a show it's starting to become. The Twins are on a serious upswing, and it's just gonna get better.

It's a nice swing, a little like Adrian Gonzalez, tho he appears to be a little too eager to start his sprint to first, which makes it look like his sweep isn't covering the outer half. That would mean he'd flail at a lefty fading curve or a rightie change up outside. He'd have to learn to hang in there long enough to punch outside pitches the opposite way. Nothing wrong with a power pull lefty, but the first thing he'll see is everything on the outside edge of the plate.

The more legit starters they have up, the more options Molitor will have for mixing the rotation or giving one or more starters a break. If you stash say, Milone and May in the pen, those guys have the raw stuff to step in anytime and get a few guys out, or pitch the rest of a game starting in the 3rd inning. My point is, play to your strengths. Right now the Twins have more legit starters than great relievers. In fact, I was just reading that the Twins relief corps is ranked pretty low in the AL. Another factor is late game. A typical reliever will go maybe two innings in a tight game late. May or Milone (or Pelfrey) could go five or six innings late game, saving the rest of the pen for the next day. That could make a big difference over the rest of the season. Even if the Twins decide not to go with a 6-man rotation, they should still put a couple starters in the bullpen.

I think Brananorama fugured it out. With runners on, Mauer steps up in RBI mode, but if nobody is on base, he's working on his power game, which is supposed to feature pulling the ball. I bet pitchers picked up on this difference a long time ago. They're pitching Mauer outside and low when there's no RISP, knowing he'll try to pull it anyway. Result: tons of ground balls to the exact same spot, the second baseman. Mauer's going to have to make an adjustment. He's got to make pitchers pay for all those low, outside pitches. Line drives to the right-center gap would do it. Drive some doubles, and then when they come back inside, pull it. BOOM.

Some players make the outfielders hurry to stop them from getting a double. With Buxton, they'll be hurrying to stop a triple. I can't wait to see him in the Show.

I read the story, but it still doesn't make sense how a guy with the build and delivery of another Cole Hammels got his game so screwed up by major league coaches. Oh, well. He's a good pitcher now. Let's just enjoy Aaron Thompson while we can.

Yeah, just don't get caught putting "water" on the ball, or you'll get booted from the game! ;-)

Not the way Nolasco has been pitching lately. He's finally shaken off the rust, and he's back to his game, which is peppering the zone from various angles with fastballs, then mixing in his big bender. Right now I'd say Phil Hughes is the most hittable starter. He's throwing the ball too flat (remember Matt Capps?), and his stuff's not moving enough. Any lineup with a lot of flat swingers - like the Twins - would chase Hughes in about three innings. Hughes needs to start finishing his follow-through before an infielder gets killed. As for a 6-man ro, why not? Whatever wins games. The Twins don't have guys that finish games, so maybe the best thing is to have a lot of starters that are more like long relievers. Or have a few legit starters in the pen...what's so bad about that? I could see May go to the pen (seniority) when Santana gets here, then either add Milone to the starters or put him in the pen, too. Maybe we're just being too hide-bound about the difference between starters and relievers. Can you get guys out? Wanna great, big major league paycheck? Don't be so picky about the role!

Mentor him in what - how to eat a burrito grande? If the Twins get this kid, I'm hoping he'll stay thin. If he really swings like old Ted, he won't need the extra beef.

At this point I have no idea which way the Twins will go with their #6 pick. There doesn't seem to be a lot of incredible stand-outs in this draft. Maybe just Best Player Available, and look for a stud ace another year. Damn shame; the Twins may not get another pick this high for a while.