strumdatjaguar

Here are the options I see - if both perform well:: 1. Trade Plouffe - Call up Sano to play 3B? 2. Trade or DH Hunter, move Plouffe to RF and call up Sano to play 3B? 3. Mauer's injured again, so keep Plouffe at 3B, call up Sano to play 1B, or vice versa? 4. Most controversial: Keep Plouffe, Trade Sano? The good news is that the Twins may have many options with position players, depending on the success, or lack thereof, of Buxton, Hicks, Arcia, Rosario, Polanco, Sano, Plouffe, and Santana. Remember, Plouffe only hits 30 this year and has played OF and other infield positions in the past - so it shouldn't be presumed that he would automatically get traded if Sano is called up. It's going to be an interesting year to see who progresses and who doesn't. The Twins can afford to have a few perform poorly or get injured with the amount of depth they have - then everything may become obvious as to who plays where. But it is going to get very interesting if most perform well. The Twins will have the enviable "problem" of too many good players for too few positions.

The only reason to bring a baby to a game is if you think the Twins might have a historic, great season. Then the video is a great thing to watch when the kid is older. I have video of my daughter, just before her first birthday, at Spring Training in 1991 interacting with the future World's Champs. Otherwise from ages 3 to 6 (probably 8) the best seat is still at home. At age 3, you should start bringing the kid to Canterbury Park on Sundays for the free pony rides and petting zoo, and a short attention span sporting event (45 second races and watching the horses) . If you take a kid to the Twins game after age 4, take the kid(s) on Sunday, to run the bases after the game. After age 8, never leave a game early and let the kid know that leaving early is simply WRONG and NOT done in your family. After age 10, start teaching the kid how to score the game (or at least do TWINGO). Pass on the tradition and be prepared to have to bribe kids with lots of cotton candy and other treats to keep them interested. By the way, between ages 6 and 12, take your kid to see the Harlem Globetrotters. Find out when the tickets go on sale, and buy them in the first minute. It's basically the same show, they have always done, but your kid has no idea - so do it!!! Even if you hate the State Fair, you have to bring your kids every year, or it's child abuse imho!

Like it or not, you'll see more Joe Mauer jerseys in the stands than anything else. He is to Twins Baseball what John Cena is to the WWE. The goody-goody that the hard-core fan loves to criticize and the favorite of the causal fan and the kids. He'll rebound this year with his casual "aw-shucks" attitude interspersed with a "you know" every sixth word (I repeatedly yell in response to Mauer's TV and radio interviews "No I don't"). He'll also consistently bat over .300 for the next three years but will hit less than 15 home runs, and maybe 10 or less. He'll be out six weeks due to injury during two of those three years. But he's a local boy and former MVP who'll never have a scandal. Overall, that makes him the most marketable Twin at least until Buxton or have at least one good season..

Some say that RN is an "innings eater", like that is a huge compliment. Has anyone ever heard of a Hall of Fame pitcher being referred to as an "innings eater"? NO!!! It's usually a durable, but mediocre (or even below-average) pitcher who gets that moniker. "You know, he's not going to pitch great, and maybe won't even pitch good, but he'll eat up a lot of innings." I remember the Twins signed Bob Tewksbury in 1997 as a Free Agent in order to be an Innings eater. He pitched 168 and 148 innings in his two years here, not exactly "feed me more" Ryback-type numbers (for you WWE fans). I'd like to have a pitcher described as the next ace of our staff or Cy Young contender, or perennial All-Star . . . It's about time. As a fan, I want more than innings eaters;

I don't get it. Other than the fact that the Twins are paying big bucks to him, what is the reason to consider Ricky No-fastball as a certainty as one of four starters (Hughes, Santana, Gibson, Nolasco)? To illustrate here is a hypothetical situation involving veterans: Nolasco struggles in Spring Training, while Mike Pelfrey and Tommy Milone shine (and presume May, Meyer, Stauffer don't earn an SP job). If the #4 and #5 spots are open, why shouldn't Pelfrey and Milone be given the spots? I personally think that the only ones who get any slack are Ervin Santana and Phil Hughes. Otherwise, there should be competition for the other 3 spots. Tell me why I'm wrong!

Buxton at #2, others include Sano (dropping), Meyer, Nick Gordon, Stewart and Berrios

Last year, the Twins were kind enough to eliminate the annoying and tedious Mayo Clinic Dance-Off. If the can get rid of May-O, then this year "Day-O" should be banished from Target Field. Let's Get Rid o Day-O. I know it's done throughout MLB, but Minnesota can be the trendsetter - - Maybe Replace it with The Suburbs "Music for Boys" riff (Live version) - with - Oh-Oh Oh-Oh

One factor you all have seemed to miss. The biggest regression is likely to be with Phil Hughes. He's a fly ball pitcher who needs speedy outfielders to chase down outs. Instead of fly ball outs, the Twins outfield will let too many of those fall in for hits. Once Buxton is up here and joins an outfield with a faster left fielder and a below average Right Fielder (Arcia, Hunter), Phil Hughes will return to having better numbers (as well as the other pitchers)

I tried to Edit the Topic to change it to PROPOSED New Designated Hitter Rule. Unfortunately, Twins Daily allows editing the message, but not the Subject Line. Sorry if the title got anyone worked up.

The designated hitter rule should be in both leagues, with some major changes: Each team, on a pregame line-up card, DESIGNATES one player to be its Designated Hitter. That hitter may substitute for another player like any other bench player (for example, in case of injury) OR take his one DH at-bat in the ninth spot in the batting order, in the first six innings. After six innings, presuming there have been at least 8 at-bats since that first DH at-bat, the DH may be used like any other player off the bench. In most games the DH will have one or two at-bats and not play in the field. This new DH rule would add strategy to the game (Did the manager use his DH at-bat too soon or wait too long?), will reduce rally-killing at-bats by poor-hitting pitchers (by allowing the manager to insert the better hitting DH in the line-up while keeping his pitcher on the mound, if desired, in the first 6 innings), and will speed up games by having those poor hitting pitchers bat and end innings when the DH is not used (pitcher would likely bat with two out and no men on base in the second inning, for example).

I'm in favor of competition in Spring Training for all spots except Santana and Hughes. None of the others have earned a guaranteed spot. The mere fact that Ricky No-Fastball has a big contract should not guarantee him a place in the rotation - he should earn it. If Kyle Gibson looks lousy in Spring Training, there is no reason he should get preference over Trevor May,Tommy Millone, Mike Pelfrey (yes, Mike Pelfrey), Alex Meyer, et. al. (if one of them looks good enough clearly to earn the job). The Twins should make the starters earn their positions in this year's Spring Training,. This is a team which should have fewer players automatically slotted into a position. The Twins need players who are "less comfortable" with making less of an effort or having less success. A new meritocracy can light a fire and help to promote excellence in this organization. Of course if it's a close call between good performances from both Tommy Millone and Ricky Nolasco, Ricky's contract does mean something and he should win out in that hypothetical situation. However, bad or mediocre performances in Spring Training should not win out over good performances for any of the 25 positions. Let's get RUTHLESS with the ROSTER!!!!!

Stay with the hand you have, and bring up a few of our prospects rather than block their progress with a bunch of aging vets in the rotation. James Shields in the last 2-3 years of a five year contract is unlikely to be worth it. The only worse deal would be to give Max Scherzer 7 years, but nobody is dumb enough to do that. Only our politicians in D.C.could waste that kind of coin.

When one brings his elderly parents to a game - Choose a Day Game. Let's say a Sunday 1PM Game. If they can't handle a full nine innings, then pick them up and listen to the first three innings in the car on the way to the game. Then arrive at about 2:00, which should be around the time of the bottom of the third or top of the fourth and stay till the end of the 9th (hoping there are no extra innings). Then you don't have to leave early and you never miss the drama of a great finish (and your parents don't miss it as well). They'll also miss a lot of the crowd and traffic, because of the parents who stay with their kids to run the bases. Or they can stick around and watch the kids run the bases (maybe their grandkids or great-grandkids who arrived earlier in another car). then they'd leave with an even smaller crowd.

Give us your best Twins story of a great game where you stayed while most of the crowd left (my example follows a small diatribe below). Or, if you are in the other camp, please tell us why you think it's a good idea to regularly leave before the end of a Twins game. I do my best NEVER to leave a game early, one exception, the 4th quarter of Vikings Pre-season games. I'd only leave Twins games in an emergency even in Spring Training. I even stayed for the entire Gopher football game when they lost to Nebraska 84-13 - It's now viewed as a classic game in Gopher Football History (albeit a classic bad game). But I saw "HISTORY", and most of the crowd missed it. Those that leave games early "to beat the traffic" (or whatever) pretty much guarantee that they will miss one of the greatest games, if not the greatest game, they would ever have seen. Some Seattle Seahawk fans yesterday learned that lesson the hard way (especially when the security guards refused to let them back into the stadium, after they heard the crowd cheering ecstatically). So, what was the most memorable game where I stayed with the "faithful few". It's not one of the Twins many walk-off wins or games where the opposing team or opposing player hit a milestone (clinching the playoffs and celebrating on the field, or an opposing pitcher's no-hitter). Since most of the "early departed" give up on games where they think the Twins are sure to lose, I thought I'd describe a Twins loss as my memorable game. Back in the later1990s approximately, I saw a regular season Twins game with my two young children. My addled memory is that our squad was not having a good year and was trailing 9-1 going into the bottom of the Ninth. The thought that "the kids needed to get home to get to bed", however, never crossed my mind. We stayed with the very few fans who remained (maybe 500 of us). After the Eighth, we went to sit in the now empty front row seats directly behind the plate. The Twins battled back to 9-8 with the winning run at the plate. The "faux-fans", who left early, probably felt justified if they read the box score the next day and saw that the Twins "lost anyways". Yet, for those who stayed, it was the one of most exciting games of the season. It was a crazy playoff atmosphere for us, especially knowing that we were watching something special, a massive near-comeback, that 95% of the crowd missed - We also knew we had to cheer louder for the players to show our appreciation for their efforts, which was especially fun for my kids. Best of all, the "early departed" were the ones who got stuck in the traffic jam. By the time the "faithful few" drove away, there weren't enough of us to create a traffic jam. My son and daughter survived with 45 minutes less sleep that night. Now, they are in their twenties and never leave early. By the way, I wonder how many fans gave up and left the 6th game of the 1991 World Series early "to beat the traffic". I only saw that game on TV (saw the other 3 in person). I'd like to hear some stories of the idiots who left that one early. So - - - Somebody please explain any good reason short of an emergency to leave a Twins game early. My question for you - - If you are only going to see 7 innings, doesn't it make more sense to show up in the third rather than leave before the end of the game????

Johan Ervin Santana is already on the team and under contract for several years. Why would we want to confuse the press by adding another one?

Last inning of the last home game of the season as a tribute. Torii will make a midseason announcement of his retirement at the end of the season.

When (maybe "if") Sano is up here, Plouffe's value would be in a trade or as a Super-Sub bench player: Corner Outfield, 3B, DH, maybe even 1B (I think his days as a middle infielder are over). He has some power and actually has some personality for a clubhouse that needs it. On a good team, he would be a very valuable bench player or to cover for injured players.

Unrealistic!!! Why not ask for Strasburg and Harper, too? If the Twins want Lucas Giolito, they'd need to add a little bit more than Brian Dozier. Giolito is a top 20 prospect.. If Dozier got run over by a truck and the Twins became desperate for a 2nd Baseman, I doubt the Twins would trade Kohl Stewart (rated lower than Guilito) for an above-average (at best) guy like Dozier.

Phil Hughes as the only Twins All-Star

WE need Buxton here some time soon and Hicks to become a big-leaguer, or we'll be beleaguered. The defense for the first half of this season will be brutal to watch!!!

My point is that the Twins need to have a longterm plan that combines outfield defense with control pitchers. If those control pitchers can also strike out a high number of batters, then that's even better. I'm very worried about having a Torii Hunter/ Oswaldo Arcia outfield with a journeyman/Jordan Shafer (you spell it) type in center. When Buxton arrives, it would be nice to pair him with at least one other speedster.

I think the Twins have strayed from the formula that made them successful in the Metrodome and would translate even better to Target Field. I understand that (as Donald Rumsfeld said), we go to war with the Army we have. But here are the most important factors imho for building that army. 1. Speed in the outfield to cover the big area and to create outs on balls that would fall in as his with slower outfielders. Unfortunately, this year's outfield will not be speedy, with an aging Torii back and Arcia in the other corner. The Twins need at least two speedy outfielders to help cover that large outfield. This year could be brutal to watch, at least if and when Byron Buxton shows up. 2. Be willing to sacrifice speed-related defense in return for hitting and power on the corners (Very little foul ground means that speed is less of a need on the corners, and at catcher too). Suzuki, Plouffe and Mauer are adequate, but the arrival of Miguel Sano will help more to further this goal. 3. Look for above-average range and defense in the middle infield, even if it sacrifices some offense. 4. "Pitch to contact" ain't so bad, if you have speedy outfielders to run down the fly balls and above-average defense up the middle. There should be no whining about mixing in a few PTC pitchers with the young power pitchers that the Twins are developing. In the future, the Twins will have trouble bidding for the flashy strike-out pitching free agents and should concentrate on attracting those less exciting FA pitchers who are willing to let good defense bring them outs. Hopefully, we have and will draft and develop those flashy pitchers in our system.

If Ervin is signed the cream won't have a chance to float to the top. If the Twins pay for a big contract, they play the player until the bitter end. If it's an SP, then that SP takes up a place in the rotation, and deserving prospects languish in the minors.

No No No. An upgrade like this wins maybe 3-5 more games next season. A three year contact to an Ervin Santana-type player will then block Meyer, Berrios, Gonsalves, Stewart and other promising pitchers and keep them in the minors. The plan should be to develop a good young team and then to add an FA (or two or three) or to trade for one (2 or 3) when the Twins need the extra boost to be a contender - not now - when the rewards would be negligible and the downside worse.

Does he rebound in 2014??? I'm inclined to believe that 2014 was an anomaly. He'll return to near his old self next year, with a batting average of over .310 but 12 or fewer HRs. His defense will improve slightly.