spideyo

Hasn't kept Plouffe or Valencia out of the lineup....

Well, guess you were wrong ;-) Walters it is!

Incidentally, did anybody notice this blurb from Hunter: Asked if this was another game where the Angels have to tip their cap to the opposing pitcher, Hunter said: "No, I'm not doing that this time. I tip my cap to Morrow, Alvarez. [Diamond] pitched a good game." Seems like kind of a dick thing to say.

To explain how this game was a fluke, and we're still the worst team ever and we should fire everybody?

Valencia could be a trade piece, but probably only as part of a package or for low-level prospects at this point. Same thing with Parmelee. If Gray and Burton keep the same line they've been pitching, they would be very valuable for contenders looking for one more arm. Revere is an exciting young player, and someone would be willing to give him a shot. Doumit would be a nice addition for a team that has a Butera-esque backup catcher, or loses a catcher/dh to injury.

I wonder how Jake Mauer would do if he became manager while Joe was still playing. Would it cause conflicts? Would he keep the job for more than one game before people started screaming about giving his brother special treatment. I'd love to see Redmond come in, not nesc as Manager but at least as a coach. He could get the guys fired up, chew out the newbies and vets when they needed it. He and Gardy might not be a bad team actually, they could play good cop, bad naked cop. As far as hitting and pitching coaches, I don't know that being a big name would be that big a deal, as much as just having guys who can push our guys to stick to the plans and execute them. I keep thinking about the the movie Major League. Do a little coaching like that. Every time Revere or Casilla hits a weak fly ball, Danny V looks at a called third strike, Mauer hits into a double play, etc, 20 pushups in front of the dugout. Every time our Starter gets knocked out before the fifth inning, make him run a lap around the warning track while the relief guy is warming up. Anytime a save is blown make the pitcher stay behind and clean the dug out after the game. Infield missing routine plays? They get to rake the infield. Outfield ****s up? Get them on a mower. I don't need or WANT my manager publicly dumping on guys. I want him dealing with players ready to play, who know their roles. Let the coaching staff be the drill sergeants. If they just need a little confidence boost, utilize Molitor and other guys who are interested in being "roving instructors/mentors". Also, hire a spanish speaking therapist/hypnotist.

.238 sounds pretty damn good compared to how some of our guys are doing

Jeff Gray was the only pitcher tonight who didn't give up a run. He inherited two runners, neither of which scored. He looked a lot better out there than Liriano or Swarzak (I missed Perkins since I was at the game tonight and the little one hit her breaking point in the bottom of the 8th) Also, while Plouffe's two walks were nice, his avg is now .103. .103!!!!! Why the hell did we keep him over Hughes, Burroughs, Thomas, and Revere? And now somebody is yelling we should send Parmelee back to AAA? Right now, Butera is more valuable to have then Plouffe, because at least he has one thing he is good at.

Since opening day, the Twins have had a total of 31 guys spend time on the 25 man roster. Anybody know what the highest number of guys they've had on the 25 man in the first month of the season? What's our record for a whole season? I have no idea, I'm just curious. Trying to distract myself with random Twins trivia so I don't think too much about how bad we've been playing.

Will the A's be in contention in a few months? Cuz they have Inge and Hughes in the minors....

Strikeout pitchers, especially flamethrowers, are going to be much more susceptible to injury though, both because of a higher velocity (and often more violent mechanics), and the fact that they're usually going to throw more pitches. You aren't going to strike out 10 guys on 30 pitches, but it's not that unlikely you can get 10 guys to ground out in 30 pitches. Of course, if we could clone Nolan Ryan...

Yeah, but the guys they DID bring in were Santana, Nathan, Liriano, Carlos Silva, Christian Guzman, Eric Milton, and Jason Bartlett. It's what they got when those guys left that's more unsettling. We need more Knoblauch and Pierzynski-type trades.

Sucking equally at everything is probably not the kind of versatility they are looking for

If we're still way below .500 ball a month or two from now, it makes sense to trade Span, but only if we get some guys who are ready to be MLB starters at the absolute latest by next year.

I'd expect Doumit to stay out of RF until they figure out if Eric K is worth anything, but I wouldn't be surprised if we see him doing some time at 1b. So far we're 1-0 with Butera catching, if he hits like he was in AAA he'll be outhitting half our lineup. Maybe he'll be able to coax some better performances out of our pitchers than Doumit has.

Both Perkins and Duensing have had extended runs as starters, and have proved themselves to be far more valuable in the bullpen. When the defense is solid behind Blackburn (and he's healthy), he can be a decent #5 starter and eat up a lot of innings. The hits I saw in first inning today could have been outs if carroll or valencia had been a foot over. Unfortunately the last couple years between injuries and Headcase Frankie, he's basically been expected to be a #3 guy. Hendricks could have a strong future, but he's not quite ready to be a regular starter. Heck, without Baker's injury and Marquis's family situation, he probably wouldn't have left AAA yet. Swarzak isn't going to blossom into a great starter at this point. At best, I think he becomes what Duensing was a couple years ago, a reliable reliever who can jump in for spot starts to cover injuries or pitch 3-4 innings in relief. I'm glad they're giving Diamond a shot, I haven't paid enough attention to the minors to have any idea on how he'll do. And Maloney...he has been horrid this year, and should be the first pitcher cut loose. If he makes it through waivers, maybe he can try and establish himself as a starting option, but I'm not holding my breath

Honestly, I would be amazed and incredibly happy if he actually stays at the major league level for the rest of the year, either as a starter or a bench guy. What I expect is that he'll be slightly better on defense than Plouffe, and be EXTREMELY streaky at the plate. Like, he'll bet .600 with a bunch of runs his first four games, and then strike out for a week, and then hit again. Barring an injury to Valencia, Carroll, or Casilla, I think he'll end up back down in AAA when Morneau comes back unless the Twins feel he's doing good enough to risk losing Plouffe on waivers. It will help his case immensely if Eric K (or whoever the next OF kid that comes along) does well enough to keep Plouffe out of the OF entirely.

Grab him and dump Plouffe. He can't hit, he's not great defensively anywhere, and we've got plenty of guys we can bring up to play sub-par OF defense with sub-par bats. A guy like this could help take a bit of the pressure off Dozier (i.e. if Dozier doesn't click, he'll be able to go back to AAA for more work instead of being stuck struggling up here) and help keep Burroughs and Nishi in AAA until they figure out how to be Major League players

I think it's more likely that he splits time with Casilla, or that he starts the game at 2b, and then slides over to 3b when they bring casilla in as a late-inning pinch runner. What might happen, and might not be a bad plan, is that in a four game stretch Valencia, Dozier, Carroll and Casilla each have one day off, with Carroll filling in for whoever has the day off.

Nope they don't. If I recall, he didn't pitch that well when he was up here last year did he?

Pardon my ignorance, but what's FIP? And how do you figure he's the worst reliever? I'm not just looking at his ERA, I'm looking at his avg against, the number of hits he's given up, and his RAR and WAR. All of those stats point to him performing considerably better than most of our pitchers. Now, maybe he's pitching as good as he ever will and our other pitchers are capable of pitching much better, but do we bank on how people are performing RIGHT NOW or how they should/could be performing?

I still don't get why they are clinging to Plouffe. He isn't very solid at any defensive position, he hasn't been hitting worth a crap, and his minor league numbers don't seem to indicate that he's suddenly going to turn into a fantastic player anytime soon. If Eric K can't hold down a starting job in RF and Dozier can hold his own in the IF, they should send Plouffe through waivers and let Revere have his shot at being a starter.

Just out of curiosity, are there any stats that measure the impact catchers have on pitchers? Is it even possible? Do you think there is any difference in how our staff pitches when they are pitching to Doumit or Butera instead of Mauer? If every time Butera caught a starter this year and it was a QS and a win, would people be willing to give him any credit for it, and accept him as a valuable catcher despite his wiffle bat?

Why all the hate? I keep seeing people talking about dumping him, but by the numbers he's actually been one of our best pitchers this season. Yes, he's had a lot of walks but they haven't been coming around to score. So what am I missing?

At 2.38, he STILL has the best ERA on the team.