spideyo

Princess Unicorn Crazy Pants would make people beg for Blyleven to come back

I think the idea could be effective, but it relies on having a pitching staff and coaching staff that fully buy in to the situation. Basically, you'd be looking at a game where each pitcher would face the entire batting order, but just once. This would be a big benefit if you have a lot of young, unknown pitchers that can be deceptive right away, and then just as they start to get used to that pitcher, you switch it up on them. However, that also means your pitcher can't be a guy that relies on making adjustments and improving the second or third time through. The stats are definitely against this kind of arrangement. Imagine the uproar if your first pitcher threw three perfect innings, and your second guy only pitched one but he was eligible for the win but the first guy wasn't? I do think that the Twins have the staff that could make it work, they could easily get 3 innings each appearance out of Duensing, Swarzak, Pressley, Walters, DeVries, Hernandez, Worley, Gibson, Hendricks, Deduno etc. It would make much more sense to instill that system at AA or AAA first, to get those kinds of guys ready for it. Maybe start that system at Rochester this year, and if it works well, over the offseason rearrange our bullpen so it is mostly 3+ innings guys, and go into spring training with a plan already in place. A 3 man rotation (of guys who can reliably go 7+ every start) with the #4 and #5 spots used by our various long relievers and spot starters would be ideal. You'd maximize the value of marginal starters by minimizing their exposure, give up and coming young arms a slightly less stressful situation to work in, and hopefully be able to cut the "short relief" guys down to a closer and a couple setup guys

As discussed in a different thread, Bert is working fewer and fewer games. Eventually, he will step aside and cease being a regular on TV. My theory is that the Twins would like to keep that seat occupied by a former player. Who would you like to see have a shot at taking over from Bert? I think the job is Cuddy's if he wants when he retires, but who else is out there that would do a good job? note: I am specifically looking at TV, since it's an entirely different talent to be a radio play-by-play guy. So don't turn this into a "fire Gladden" thread please.

I personally like Dick quite a bit, especially after getting to know him in person. He's a good guy. Bert is kinda like that one weird uncle, he's fun and quirky, but after too long starts to grate on you a bit. Having Dick as a stabilizing force and rotating in different guys to fill in for Bert on the road does kind of strike a nice balance. Personally, I think TK is way too stuck in "coach mode" when he's in the booth and I've made my feelings about Roy perfectly clear in another thread. I'd love to see some other guys from Twins past get a few turns in the booth, kind of like a tryout to see who could take over from Bert when he finally calls it quits.

Adderal is a banned substance? Is there an exception if you actually have a prescription and a diagnosis for ADHD or Narcolepsy? I'm no athlete, but I crash cars when I'm not on Adderall, odds are that at least a handful of potential MLB players also have a medical need for it.

I'm starting to agree with you guys on this, but rather than limiting DFA's per season, it would make more sense to put the restriction directly on the waiver wire. Limiting DFA's could end be used to force a team to keep a guy on their roster who is out of options, wether or not any other team would actually claim him. I think a better system would be requiring any player that is claimed off the waiver wire must remain on the active roster for like, 10-15 days minimum. This wouldn't completely eliminate team hopping guys like Burnett, but it would at least make it more likely that they'd actually get a few days to show their worth to that team

Uh... By the time Ramirez got hurt, Benson had already been DFA'ed. And really, if this team is building for the future, stockpiling potential LOOGYs seems kinda dumb. Better to hang on to guys like Pedro and Duensing who have proven that they can also spot start or pull long relief. A couple years from now when we potentially could have Gibson, May, Meyer, Sano, Rosario, Buxton, and others at the major league level, I will be THRILLED if our biggest problem is being short a LOOGY

In 9 seasons of Minor League ball, Plouffe played 78 games at 3B In 9 seasons of Independent League/Minor League ball, Collabello has played 115 games at 3B (and 13 games in the OF) So yes, he should be able to handle it. He has more experience there now then Plouffe did when they made him the regular 3B last year. Granted, he is primarily a 1b, so he's probably not going to be a super-slick defender, but he should be able to handle routine plays. If he gets a start at 3b, look for Carroll or Escobar to come in as a late defensive replacement.

My understanding is that yes, they will be able to retroactively put him on the 15 day DL. I think that would make him eligible to come off June 6th. I would bet this is a situation where normally, they would go day-to-day, but seeing as how he is coming off the concussion list, and they are already running a thin bench, they can't afford to risk that he'll need more than another day off.

Colabello will get another shot. More than anything though, it comes down to CF. Colabello might be able to handle a corner spot, but Hermann apparently can handle CF, and our other backup CF right now is Parmelee. Have no fear though, Hermann will likely get sent down when Ramirez gets his head screwed back on right.

Coomer at least is a good conversationalist.

I'd take pretty much anybody over Roy. Hell, I'm pretty sure I could do a better job as a commentator than him, and I wouldn't be good

For the love of God, someone turn his mic off. He doesn't do good play by play, he doesn't offer many useful insights, and he has no interesting stories. When you want a color commentator, he should know more colors than grey or beige. Seriously, they need to hire somebody to cover for Bert that has more qualifications than just being a former player with nothing else to do. If there wasn't such a significant lag between the radio and directv, I'd mute it and turn on Corey and dan

He hit two homers in AA. Woopty freaking crap. Three months ago, he had the opportunity to be the opening day CF for the Twins. I don't care how hard those homers were hit, he's dug himself into a deep hole that its going to take awhile to get out of

Topher! How's it going man? Small world! On on topic though, I personally wonder how much it had affected Worley (and Corriea and Pelfrey for that matter) to jump to the AL. I've heard often that a consistent routine is vital to starting pitchers, and maybe the simple fact that he's never having to even think about picking up a bat is throwing Worley off. He's a young guy, still new to this organization and new to this league. I'm not ready to give up on him just yet. Let him get stuff sorted out a bit in Rochester, and hopefully when he comes back up for his next shot our defense is a little sharper and our offense is more consistent.

Who else were they gonna call with Arcia hurt? The only other position players left on the 40 man are pinto and Santana. Also, just to defend the med staff here, they don't decide who goes on the 7 day, the league does.

To be perfectly honest, it is in the best interest of Major League Baseball for Mauer to retire as a Twin. Seriously, he is the ideal Baseball Hero. High School Sports Hero. drafted right out of high school #1 overall by his hometown team, a team that was threatened by contraction and had spent a decade at the bottom of the standings. His joining the team coincided with a return to relevance, and a string of division titles (Hollywood will ignore the fact that the playoff wins started before Mauer made it to the bigs). He burst on to the national stage with batting titles, gold gloves, and an MVP, all the while still having his mom answer his fan mail. He married a girl from high school, who is now pregnant with Twins. Seriously, this is EXACTLY the guy they want to be the Face of Baseball, not some of these guys holding out for massive contracts, causing clubhouse problems, juicing up, etc. What better ending to this story than that he retires as a Twin and spends the rest of his life working for this team?

Just remember, the average fan doesn't really care about payroll. They want to see their favorite guy. People love Joe. They aren't going to care if the Red Sox trade their top 50 propects for Mauer. They want Mauer. And the Twins make most of their money off of the average fan.

Well for one, if we lose both we're pretty much screwed if Mauer or Doumit gets hurt. Second, like I've said repeatedly we should shop these guys and get something for them, rather than toss them away for nothing. They actually would be far more valuable to a team in a trade rather than a waiver, because in a trade they could easily stash them on AAA as an insurance policy, whereas in a waiver claim they'll have to get stuck on the active roster.

I'm not saying we should have kept Buscher over Thome. It just didn't make sense to me at the time to take away a bench spot from any possible defensive person. Obviously in 2010, the choice to go Offense first worked well. In 2011 and 2012, it did not. My whole point is that it appears that they have made that conscious choice, and as we've seen when the sluggers don't slug and you don't have top-level pitchers, it doesn't work well. Now, if all our sluggers were hitting at the top of their game, and we had gotten Grienke and Peavy, no one would give a damn about our defense

I think if they thought Gibson would guarantee wins, he'd be up here yesterday. But he hasn't been consistent, and we have no idea how he'll react to the pressures at the MLB level. It simply isn't worth it. Heck, if Deduno totally sucks tonight, we could just send him right back to make room for Walters.

I honestly do think that Butera and Herrman would get claimed by somebody. There is always a need for backup catchers. Personally, I think they should trade Doumit, and have Butera or Hermann come be the backup catcher and stay on the bench most of the time. I think they need to keep one of those guys on the 40 man in case we do have an injury to Doumit or Mauer. It would make MUCH more sense to try and trade Butera or Hermann, even if it's for scrubs, rather than DFA them and have them claimed and get nothing.

What he said

If we had a perennial Cy young candidate leading a pitching staff of strike out machines, and Willingham and Morneau slugged like Fielder and Cabrera, our defense would be totally adequate

We kinda already have gone through a gutting. Only Mauer, Morneau, Duensing and Perkins were on the 2010 team, and Plouffe and Diamond are the only others that have been on the team since 2011.