Cap'n Piranha

Any chance that Hendriks can develop a new/better off-speed or breaking pitch? It seems like his current repertoire puts him firmly as a 4A starter.

the problem with Pujols is that he's been declining for 2-3 years already. The Angels are going to be stuck with an absolute albatross of a contract for multiple years. The only question for me is; how many years do the Angels pay Pujols NOT to play for them?

Update Time! Big week for Caleb! First, and most importantly, Thielbar was promoted to AA New Britain. A lot of credit has to go to Mr. Thielbar for having a great start to the season, and getting the organization to notice that, giving him a shot to continue towards the Bigs. Last week, Thielbar appeared in two games, on Wednesday and Thursday. In 2 innings, Thielbar gave up only one hit, walked no one, struck out one, and allowed no runs, earned or otherwise. This put his season line at the below; 1-1 with a 0.00 ERA, 4 hits and 2 walks across 12.1 IP for a nifty 0.49 WHIP, while compiling 16 strikeouts (8/1 k/BB and 11.7 k/9). All of those numbers add up to someone who has been completely lights out, and clearly deserves a shot against tougher competition. Will the success continue as Thielbar faces more advanced hitters out of the comforts of the notoriously pitcher-friendly Florida State League? We're about to find out!

So many superlatives here for Mr. Thielbar... First, and most importantly, he is a native of Northfield, MN! Always good to have another Minnesotan on the roster. Out of HS he went to South Dakota State, and was selected by the Brewers in the 18th round of the 2009 first-year player draft. In 2009, he pitched in 2 rookie-level leagues, the Arizona and the Pioneer. Between those two places, he appeared in 16 games, starting 2, and was quite impressive. In 47 IP, he accumulated a 6-1 record with a 1.53 ERA. He posted a solid 1.13 WHIP, but was really impressive was his k/BB ratio (6.6/1) and his k/9 rate (9). He also did a great job keeping the ball in the park, giving up only one homer. In 2010, Caleb took a step back, accumulating 9 appearances in the rookie pioneer league, and 30 in the low-A Midwest league, all as a reliever. He posted an 0-2 record, with a 5.19 ERA and 1.41 WHIP over 67.2 innings. This was likely caused by the fact that his k/BB ratio dropped drastically from 2009 (3/1), his k/9 rate plummeted (7), as well as giving up 8 dingers. In 2011, for some reason I can't seem to find on the almighty internet, he did not play in the Brewer's system, but was signed by the Twins as a minor league free agent on August 18, and was able to appear in 3 games, spanning 7.1 innings at Fort Myers. He began 2012 back in Fort Myers, and in his age 25 season, is showing some signs of returning to his 2009 form. So far in thsi short season, he has appeared in 5 games, all in relief, and gone 1-1. He has yet to allow an earned run in 10.1 innings, and has only allowed one unearned run. He has an outstanding 7.5/1 k/BB ratio, and has struck out an impressibe 13.4 batters per 9 innings. Given that he is 25 and still in A-ball, this is a big year for Caleb, as you would think he'd have to get to New Britain this year and show some success if he hopes to be a big league contributor. Will this success continue? Stay tuned to find out!

I will take Caleb Thielbar of the Fort Myers Miracle.

This doesn't make any sense. Let's assume that Pavano starts 32 more games the rest of the year. That would mean Butera would have to get to the plate more than 6 times every game. Assuming Butera bats 8th or 9th, that means at least 48-54 PA's for the team in each of those games. Even if each game went 11 innings, we'd be looking at 15 to 21 baserunners, which should be enough to get 5 to 6 runs across at least, which is perfectly acceptable offensive production. What's more, even if Butera plummets to a .100/.125 BA/OBP, he will still, in 200 AB's, produce 20 hits and 5 walks, which are far from futile PA's. Nor is Gardenhire worrying about losing the DH if he has to move Mauer or Doumit from that role to catcher an unsubstantiated fear. Given that the situation described here is EXACTLY what would happen, this is a completely substantiated fear. Finally, as John himself said, who exactly do we think would be getting the random AB's when Gardy doesn't have either Mauer or Doumit starting at catcher?

Great job as always Seth, I really enjoy the pitching matchups you call out in your previews at the end of these posts.

Nick, I've taken the liberty of crafting some tweets for you, seeing as how you obviously have some kind of supernatural connection with the guys on the 25 man; "Yet another year the Twins won't win a World Series, Mauer/Morneau/Span/Willingham not good enough, #provemewrong" "Francisco Liriano has lost all of his ace stuff, and can't win major league games #whatsastrikezone" "Twins training staff should petition to be paid by the injury this year, since everyone will get hurt #flightsfromrochester"

I have to disagree here. If Span, Mauer and Morneau remain healthy, there's no reason the Twins' top 5 hitters can't be extremely dangerous, simply in the sense of clogging bases. And with baseball being a game of averages, get enough guys on base, and the hits will come, and you'll score runs. Top 5 batters by OBP (this year/career). Span--.380/.361 Carroll--.327/.355 Mauer--.385/.403 Willingham--.431/.362 Morneau--.340/.353 Now, compare these career OBP's with the top OBP's from last year. Only 48 players in all of baseball had OBP's above .353 last year, which means if all 5 of those players match or exceed their career OBP's, we would theoretically have 5 players in a category that the average ML team would have 1.6 players. What's more, if those 5 players all match or exceed their career OBP's, the cumulative OBP for our top 5 hitters would be around .367, which only 27 hitters in all of baseball exceeded last year. The Twins offense will be good, the question will be can it be great? For that to happen, Valencia, Doumit, Plouffe/Parmelee/Thomas and Casilla will need to step it up. If they do, this could very well be a top 5 offense, which I don't think anyone expected coming into the year.

He is, without a doubt, a Willing Hammer!

Completely disagree. Parmelee has more than held his own at the Major League level, so dropping him all the way to AA will not help his game at this point. If he's only going to get 4-8 AB a week with the Big Club, then he should be sent down to Rochester and play 6+ times a week, batting either third or fourth (with Joe Benson taking the other spot).

It just happens to take two pitchers to make that one Ace. Between Carl Pavano's mindset, and Francisco Liriano's stuff, we actually do have that one Ace. Pavano demonstrated on Monday that he has that bulldog mentality that an ace needs, to decide that he is going to go out, compete, and get some outs for his team. Liriano demonstrated on Tuesday that he is one of the most mentally fragile picthers in the league, that is yet to learn how to handle adversity. If we could somehow combine them into Carcisco Paviano, we might really have something. In other thoughts, since I didn't get to see or listen to the game much, how did the Clete Thomas, Center Fielder thing work out? When I was listening, and heard Denard get ejected, my immediate thought was that a Willingham-Thomas-Plouffe outfield might just be the worst defensive outfield in the league. If that suspicion is correct, I woudl think it becomes imperative that Denard not jaw about balls and strikes, as he would ostensibly be our only outfielder who's even acceptable in CF, what with Revere running in Rochester.

It just happens to take two pitchers to make that one Ace. Between Carl Pavano's mindset, and Francisco Liriano's stuff, we actually do have that one Ace. Pavano demonstrated on Monday that he has that bulldog mentality that an ace needs, to decide that he is going to go out, compete, and get some outs for his team. Liriano demonstrated on Tuesday that he is one of the most mentally fragile picthers in the league, that is yet to learn how to handle adversity. If we could somehow combine them into Carcisco Paviano, we might really have something. In other thoughts, since I didn't get to see or listen to the game much, how did the Clete Thomas, Center Fielder thing work out? When I was listening, and heard Denard get ejected, my immediate thought was that a Willingham-Thomas-Plouffe outfield might just be the worst defensive outfield in the league. If that suspicion is correct, I woudl think it becomes imperative that Denard not jaw about balls and strikes, as he would ostensibly be our only outfielder who's even acceptable in CF, what with Revere running in Rochester.

This of course assumes that no players improve, all the players in the minor league system fail to become competent big-leaguers, and the Twins draft absolutely no one of consequence. Just one of the three happening is a long shot, but all three at the same time? Virtually impossible. As for your sans-cullotes-esque salvo about owners taking advantage of a willing fan base, welcome to professional sports in the 21st century, you must be new here.

If what interests you the most about a team is how much money they spend, the Twins are not the team for you. There was no player(s) they could have gone out and signed for 15-20 million dollars that would put this team ahead of the Tigers in terms of projected finish, therefore, there was no reason to spend that money. The true barometer of if the Pohlads will spend comes when the Twins next have a window, which is most likely at least 2 years in the future, assuming everything goes perfectly to plan.

Obviously Giolito's injury forced him out of the top 5, but will he fall enough that we could use on of our compensation picks on him, and hope he recovers?

Completely agree. The Joe Mauer contract extension was an absolute perfect storm. A hometown kid, drafted by the team, who was far and away the team's most popular player, and one of the most popular players in team history, playing a premium position, has the best offensive season in the history of baseball for that position, while simultaneously winning a Gold Glove, Batting Title and MVP, exactly one year before his contract expires, and the year before the team opens a publicly-financed stadium that the team claimed was necessary to keep their best players. The Twins had no choice but to sign him, and if you think 23m/year was more than the Twins needed to pay, you're crazy, because the Yankees or Red Sox would have offered more. It's also worth noting, to whomever appluaded the Cardinals for letting Albert Pujols walk, that before he did, the Cardinals offered him 220m over 10 years, which would be a significantly worse deal at the tail end than Mauer's deal.

He also spent most of the Summer of 2007 going on the Dan Barreiro show, oftentimes less than 2 hours before game time, to complain about his unresolved contract situation. I found this incredibly annoying for a couple of reasons; 1. He could have been trying to figure out a way to reverse the team's fortunes. Instead, he focused on himself. 2. He repreatedly stated that it was up to the Twins, and not him, as to whether he woudl be in Minnesota after that year, as if Curt Flood had never come around. 3. He went on to say that it would be better if the Twins would just talk to him, and then flatly refused to even discuss renegotiating his contract. 4. He went on and on about not being shown loyalty by the team, while showing none whatsoever to the organization that made him a millionaire out of high school in 1994 and signed him to a series of contracts (including a 4 year, 48 million dollar contract that was the largest in team history at the time), to say nothing of the fans that bought his jerseys, voted him into all-star games, etc. I understand that baseball is a business, and while the teams and players both have to look out for themselves first, it drives me crazy when one or ther other pretends that's not what they're doing. If you want to make as much money as possible, just say so. If loyalty to an organization and a fan base is more important, then sign a contract, and go play.

In looking at the list, you failed to mention that the 16.6m number you referenced is not profit, merely operating income. That means that 16.6m number is BEFORE taxes, interest, depreciation and amortization. The Pohlads came nowhere close to pocketing 16m last year.

I don't just accept everything the Twins do, I just wait for games that matter before making snap judgments, and try to have some sort of rationale behind my reasoning, rather than pure emotion. You also need to understand this is not NY, LA, Boston or Philly, and never will be. If you would like to see a franchise run like one of those franchises is, I would suggest you become a fan of one of those franchises, rather than vainly hoping that a Twins team with only a percentage of the resources will go toe-to-toe with the Yankees, Red Sox, Angels and Phillies of the world. You might also want to try being positive about things from time to time, it tends to make things a lot more fun, and life a lot more bearable.

Couldn't agree more. I'm getting tired of the internet tough/smart guys who think they have a right to tell the Pohlads how to spend their money. If any of you guys want to see the Twins spend freely, my advice would be to figure out how to make a billion+ dollars, buy the Twins, and then go crazy.

Dan Wheeler--4.38 ERA last year, with a .4 WAR. Is 35, likely on the downside of his career. Todd Coffey--3.62 ERA last year, with a .5 WAR. Gave up more than 3 walks/9 innings. Michael Wuertz--6.68 ERA last year, with a -.5 WAR. Gave up nearly 7 walks/9 innings. The only thing he's better than Zumaya at is avoiding the DL, although with numbers like those, that's not exactly a good thing. Octavio Dotel--4.08 ERA last year, with a .1 WAR. Gave up over 4 walks/9 innings, and is 38. Latroy Hawkins--2.42 ERA last year (good, but a whole run below his xFIP, suggesting an outlier), with a .7 WAR. Given that he's 39, with quicly deteriorating k/9 numbers, not exactly a sure thing. Matt Maloney--9.16 ERA last year (however his xFIP was 4.52), with a -.4 WAR. Is only 28, and was victimized mostly by the long ball. Now that he's in Target Field, and not the Great American Ballpark, that should help. Jeff Gray--4.28 ERA last year, with a -.1 WAR. Did a good job of keeping the ball in the park, giving up less than 1 HR/9. As we can see, Maloney and Gray are really not that far off in terms of WAR when it comes to some of these guys, but have something they don't--youth and upside. Add in the fact that we didn't have to spend as much on them (we're not the Yankees, and never will be--spending to spend is stupid), and I have no problem with these moves.

You're right, it's not like this team has the third-highest payroll in their history, or is upper half in the league in payroll. Obviously, the Pohlads are just cheap, cheap, cheap, what with giving 184 million to Mauer. Pocket change.

rats, nothing working. Probably some sort of software at work preventing it. Thanks for the help though guys!

no, its just not updating. Even after I hit refresh it shows Top 2, Denard at bat.