strumdatjag

If Rosario is the 2nd baseman of the future (I know too early). Consider that Dozier has played both 2nd Base and SS - Is Dozier then Utility Guy of the Future? Going further - If Miguel Sano is 3rd Baseman of the Future, then Is Trevor Plouffe the DH of the future, and a backup at third? Questions Questions Questions

Ortiz, Gomez: Didn't blossom until after they were here - Gomez taking several years to reach this level. Who knows if either would have ever excelled without the proverbial change of scenery. JJ Hardy: His numbers are very good this year, but not All-Star caliber. Hardy has a better present, Florimon has more potential for the future. On this current team, I go with Florimon. Nathan, Cuddyer and Hunter: All have done remarkably well, but each had issues where their age made it a big risk to give a big contract. Would you really trade Glen Perkins for Nathan straight up??? Torii Hunter, however, would have been nice to keep around. However, the Twins have a lot of outfield talent waiting in their farm system. If either Torii or Michael had been here, Oswaldo Arcia would still be at AAA (or maybe even AA under certain scenarios). Then again, Hicks may have been there too, and getting ready for success in major leagues versus his anemic production so far (although improving) Jesse Crain: too expensive to pay for a reliever. Risk/reward is a tough thing to consider when signing relievers

Ozzie Guillen is available to take over as Manager - He's always been very complimentary of the Twins. Just Kidding

Take a look at today's column about Mariano Rivera's classy farewell tour by Jim Souhan in the Star and Sickle. Of course there are many specific things that upset about the Yankees - I just don't get the general booing of "Everything Yankee". These things annoy me, however: 1. The Yankee obsession of the national press (especially the Eastern Sports Promotional Network, aka ESPN) - including the overanalyzing of the use of Jaba Chamberlain - When the national press starts analyzing the use of Casey Fien, I'll drop my whining - it will never happen. 2. All fans are provincial (I have trouble filling out the National League All Star Ballot). But Yankee fans take it to a greater extreme. A good way to annoy the fans from NY when their team visits Target Field: Mention that you have Sirius Sattelite Radio and like the Springsteen Channel, the Elvis Cannel, The Pearl Jam Channel and the Grateful Dead Channel - but you've seen these guys around the ballpark with coats advertising the YES Channel - Wow - I really like Roundabout and Owner of a Lonely Heart, but I can't find the YES Channel on my Sirius radio dial (then play dumb when they try to insist it's the Yankees Cable Network). 3. Alex Rodriguez- go ahead - Boo him all day

There are players worth booing on just about every team (especially the steroid users). But I see no great rivalry with the Twins warranting the booing of the Yankees in general (leave that to the Red Sox fans). Why boo the Yanks? Because they have a ridiculous payroll? Not enough for me. Nor do I get why Derek Jeter is the primary target for our boo-birds, since he came up through the minors and is reportedly a nice fellow. Then again, some elderly guy a few rows ahead of me got upset a few weeks ago about my repeated harassment of Ryan Braun ("Give me an H, Give me a G, Give me an H -What's that SPELL? . . .", and it wasn't because I'm not sure which PED he uses). The upset old guy and his wife left to "beat the traffic" at the end of the seventh anyway - so he was probably uninformed.

Gibson already coming up. Worley could be replacing PJ Walters if Walters doesn't have a drastic improvement over his last start.

Update - He's batting .279 (somehow that's good enough to be the 11th best batting average in his division)

Kohl Stewart is a High School draftee. He should start at Elizabethton or the GCL. It would be crazy to send him to A Ball in Cedar Rapids for the last half of this season. Buxton will be promoted after the Kernals win the first half championship in a few days.

Amazing game for Buxton last night. My wife and I took the trek to Cedar Rapids for the Saturday and Sunday games on Memorial Day Weekend. Sunday was rained out. On Saturday, Berrios had a pretty good game, but Matt Tomshaw, lefty in relief, was downright impressive in his last game before promotion to the Miracle. I was most impressed, in this very small one-day sample, with Jorge Polanco. By the way if you go to Cedar Rapids, stop at the Suzy Q café in Mason City for their Spic and Span Pork Tenderloin (no relation to Denard). Great sandwich at a classic place that makes Mickey's diner look like a palace.

I'm just ready to set sail for Cedar Rapids to catch the Kernals' Saturday Night Game with Jose Berrios (fireworks) and the Sunday Afternoon game. I'll give a report, if it doesn't get rained out. Last night's near no hitter against the Twins was the nadir of this season - My wife and I are hoping for a little more positivity in low A ball.

That otherwise worthless "Dayo" cheer now has a proper response for the crowd. P.A.: Dayo!!! Crowd: Day-Doo'-Noe

www.japanball.com has the infamous Tsuyoshi Nishioka batting .297 for the Hanshin Tigers. No news on his turning of double plays, however.

The first baseman of the future for the Twins is Joe Mauer. The Twins should try to get some value for Morneau near the trade deadline (if the Twins are not contending).

I want to see Deduno start the year as the Twins #5 - My only reason? So, I can respond "Day-Doo-Noe" to the stupid "Day-yoe" canned cheer at Target Field. Also, Deduno's stuff plus wildness may actually translate into success in MLB - The old "effectively wild" theory.

I hear that Appel may be represented by Scott Boras' Russian Alter-Ego along with his evil assistant Natasha Fatale. I don't think Boris will want Appel to fall far from his tree to anywhere near Frostbite Falls.

Of course putting a good team on the field is the most important (but probably a hopeless thing for this season). But for those of us who go to more than five games a year (I go to about 10-12), the country sing-alongs, dance-offs, and underwater cams go from tired to annoying to infuriating, even when the team is good. My wife and I plan to do a kiss and angry slap to the face if we ever get put on the over-used kiss cam. Target Field needs to keep it a little more fresh and less routine and monotonous. The Twins also need to be careful on their choice of music. While I found it very entertaining at the time, some may think that "Love is the Drug" was not a good choice to play when the ceremonial pitch had just been thrown by successful drug-rehabbers from Teen Challenge, and the lyrics to Iggy Pop's "Lust For Life" may not be considered "family friendly" by many (so just use the instrumental intro for batters, and avoid using it for the longer entry music for relief pitchers)

If a kid isn't in the dance off, then the fans vote for the best looking gal. I can't believe that I'm getting into the nuances of the dance off. Let's just get rid of it.

Sorry, but it's time to start the groundswell of fans who want to rid Target Field of the uber-annoying Dance Off. If the team is going to be below-average (at best), then at least we can have a better game experience by dumping the Dance Off.

My three best ideas on how to improve the Twins game day experience: #1: Get rid of the Mayo Clinic Dance Off - before I end out in a Mayo Clinic "rubber room!" #2: Get rid of the canned "Day-Oh" cheer (unless Samuel Deduno makes the team - then change it to "Day-Du-Noh, Day-Doo-oo-oo-noh"). Could someone explain the significance of the "Day-Oh" thing anyways???? #3: Bring back the trees in the center field batter's eye - End the curse that started when they were uprooted and help our pitchers accumulate some better stats, too. Just don't bring back the "Hormel Row of Fame" song (It's O.K. to bring back the Mexican Hat Dance)

Jackie Robinson understood how the locker room worked - It wasn't necessarily fair that he had to soft-pedal civil rights issues and lead by example, but it was REALITY - It's still the same in many ways. The #1 goal in playing baseball is helping one's team to win games. MLB clubhouses full of players from different cultures: Partying and womanizing jocks, Fellowship of Christian Athlete types, strip-club enthusiasts, fundamentalist Christian types, hispanics, Japanese, Koreans, Aussies, etc. All have to tolerate the cultures of the others to keep the clubhouse hospitable. An openly gay player is just another added demographic in the multi-cultural clubhouse. Other players need to tolerate their teammates (that includes you Torii). Nevertheless, get ready for some controversy - the gay player should understand that "openly gay" should not be "confrontationally gay" or "flauntingly gay" He needs to respect the sensibilities of fundamentalist Christians like Torii and Muslims as well (even thought there haven't been a whole lot in MLB, but it will come). Even if you view them as bigots, they are part of the locker room as well, and it is wise NOT to flaunt one's sexuality whether it be gay lifestyles or hetero-promiscuity which may offend or agitate those with certain religious sensibilities or common prejudices. The goal is to win games, not to win political and social justice points. There's no crying in baseball, and there's no political preachiness in baseball (that goes for the Tommy Herr's distributing anti-abortion pamphlets and the Chris Kluwe-types twittering pro-gay-rights positions - Keep the political crap to yourself until after your retirement and try to win games until then!!!!!)

I think the Twins need both quantity and quality of pitching. Terry Ryan has added more bodies - So we're better in the "quantity department". Now, when lack of production or injuries happen, there will be more options to fill in the rotation (and replace those options that don't produce). The Twins still need quality. They need the proverbial STOPPER that they've had in the past with Santana, Radke, Morris, Viola . . . I's really like two quality top of the rotation guys, but the Twins should start by developing, signing or trading for one. Next year, there probably won't be one - not even at the level of Carl Pavano's first year as a Twin.

Strumdatjag picks: Courtney Love, Lindsay Lohan, Jeff Gordon, Bryant McKinnie, Charlie Sheen, Barry Gibb, Li'l Wayne, Kate Moss, Michael J. Fox, Elton John, Nick Carter, Leif Garrett, Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino, Dennis Rodman, Gary Busey, Gabriel Aubry, Bobby Brown, Flavor Flav, Russell Brand, Randy Travis, Mary Carey, John Daly, Mel Gibson, Andy Dick and Prince Harry

I would think that Kyle Gibson is likely to start the season in the rotation, along with Worley and Dianmond. The Twins should sign one good free agent and let Liam Hendrix, Cole DeVries, and other minor leaguers fight for the last spot in the rotation at Spring Training. I suspect that they will sign two scrap-heapers (below Jason Marquis level) and hope to catch lightning in a bottle.

Before we get too excited about May and Meyer: Remember that Jeff manship was once touted as having the "best curveball in the organization" and some upon hearing that started envisioning the second coming of Bert Blyleven. Wait till he hangs one out in the thin air of Denver or their triple A affiliate Colorado Springs (By the way - Go CC vs. Gophers tonight in hockey)

Actually, I'm not that pessimistic long-term. I agree with Terry Ryan building up the depleted pitching ranks. A few elbow and shoulder injuries might make these look like bad moves, but you have to have [pitching and the risks go with the acquisition of hurlers. That said, our pitchers may not be the only ones hurling next season.