sftwinsfan

I was thrilled to see Alex Meyer start the season well, but in reality wasn't it like 3 games only 2 of which were starts? Hardly enough to call him fixed. After watching that one start he did get with the Twins I'm not too convinced. His mechanics looked terrible. He recoiled with every pitch and his arm slot looked so low it just looked awkward. I'd park him in AAA for most of the year and try to work with him on mechanics and secondary pitches. Really other than the Midwest League Buxton has never really torn it up anyplace since. His numbers were decent, but he never dominated. People like to point out stretches, but they are usually no longer than a month. I'd like to see him in Rochester at least until the All-Star Break and make him dominate AAA. Kepler never was given a chance to see if he could play this season, but same thing for him. Give him a couple months and force their hand by dominating AAA. At some point this season try to fix this roster mess. As much as I like him, move Trevor Plouffe for whatever you can get so Sano can move to 3rd. Trade Nolasco for whatever amount of his contract another team is willing to take and eat the rest or move Hughes to the bullpen. Either way Duffy and Berrios need to start. Arcia needs to play everyday to see what they have with him. I'm impressed with how much he's improved at the plate. If Rosario isn't sent to AAA he should be starting in CF until Buxton is back. Santana should be back in the utility roll. Trade either Dozier or Polanco, they both can't start at 2B. What they've done with Polanco has been a waste so far.

I like Plouffe, but he needs to go so Sano can move to 3rd. The Twins need to stick to playing outfielders in the outfield. I think now would be the perfect time to ramp back up Trevor May to be a starter. Give him a chance to see what he can do. I think they may have to move Hughes to the bullpen. He was already pretty much a 1-trick pony with fastball/cutter. I'm thinking his velocity isn't coming back. At 90-91 he's just not that effective. Maybe he can gain a couple ticks back and be effective in the bullpen. Might as well call up the young relievers like Chargois. Better to have them take their lumps this season than wait until your team is competitive. Finally, begin the search for the next GM as Terry Ryan should be told they are moving on after this season.

I actually am somewhat fearful of what the trade would be if TR does have a move up his sleeve. I could see a bizarre Stephen Gonsalves for somebody's backup CF or C or something like that. Does anyone else miss Drew Butera? At least his defensive game was competent. Kepler should have been given a chance to play with Buxton going down, otherwise what was the point of even having him up? He at least looked like he had some kind of plan and a chance the few at bats he had. I hope this is either a 1-day thing for Alex Meyer or he will take over Milone's spot next time in the rotation. As good as he could be if he ever figures it out I don't like messing with him after he's just had a couple good outings to start the year. Even tonight when Tommy pitched alright he was pushing 100 pitches in the 5th inning. Give Meyer a crack then if he falters Berrios.

I remember that game, was awesome. Most memorable Twins comeback for me until last year's game that ended with Dozier's walk-off HR.

Glad to hear the velocity was back up, last game I saw the tv guys even commented that he hadn't touched 90 mph on a pitch. Hopefully he has another good season still in the tank. Maybe by mid-2017 they'll have a couple young guys ready to step up into the closer role.

I think it's too early to send Meyer to the bullpen. The guy had a bad year, it happens, it was a disaster. But he's still relatively young and is healthy. Start him in AAA as a starter and if he starts blowing hitters away and gets back some confidence go from there. Randy Johnson averaged over 6 BB/9 from age 27-28. I'd keep giving Meyer opportunities until you can no longer control his rights.

I think when Hunter decided to retire it sealed the deal on Plouffe staying. I know some people don't read too much into old-fashioned stats like HR and RBI anymore but I think the Twins do. I think they saw a team that struggled to score runs at times and saw losing 2 veteran bats near the top of the team in HR and RBI and decided that losing both in the same off-season didn't make a whole lot of sense to them.

List could be a little depressing next year, guessing #1 will be either Gordon or Jay. Hoping it won't be Polanco, he's a solid prospect but not anybody that looks like he's going to be a star by any means. Would be great to see some of the younger guys like Lewin Diaz take a big step forward or one of the injured guys like Lewis Thorpe.

Rather than move everyone around I'd leave Rosario alone in left. With Buxton's speed you can maybe shade him a little more over toward covering right-center to account for Sano being out there. As long as Sano drops some weight and is willing to put in the work it really shouldn't be a big defensive downgrade over Hunter. Eventually Sano moves to 3rd or 1st but a couple years down the road the Twins will have time to know what they have or don't have with guys like Park,Kepler, Walker, etc and Mauer will be on his way out. Trading Plouffe now in my opinion is too much of a risk unless they acquired a proven bat as well. He's unspectacular but solid and in their lineup one of the only guys who isn't a major question mark. I hope Park turns out to be a steal but if there was a consensus among scouts that he could be a middle of the order hitter in MLB it would have taken more than $12.85M to win a bid for the guy. At this point he is nothing more than a lotto ticket.

The Twins were, as usual, in kind of a bad spot when their pick came up. There probably weren't a lot of good options here. Unless they took a chance on on injured guy like Allard or Aiken it was probably between Jay and Fullmer. That's also assuming since Cameron has not been drafted yet by pick #28 that his asking price was not reasonable. Plus we all know how the Twins brain trust starts drooling when they get the chance to draft a college relief pitcher. While I think he has the chance to be solid, I don't see a ceiling as an ace or get the comps to Chris Sale other than being left-handed. Sale is about 6'6" vs Jay at about 6'1". Sale was a starter in college, Jay was a reliever. I suppose there's always that outside chance he becomes an ace, because you never really know-but I see him more as a mid-rotation starter if things work out. Floor is obviously not even reaching the majors but realistically would probably be a set-up man in the bullpen. (I think Nick Burdi has proven you can't just write dominant relief pitcher next to a guys name in pen without him having actually pitched in the minor leagues yet). One of the reasons I'll take a wait and see approach before getting too excited is the level of competition Jay faced. I love the Big 10, but for college baseball the conference is an afterthought. So his stats, while awesome, have to be taken with a grain of salt. Also he was a reliever at Illinois and its an unknown how his velocity and command will hold up making multiple starts. Will his fastball play more at 90-93 if he has to make 30 starts rather than 94-97? Can he adjust to being a starter and the workload without his arm blowing up before he gets close to even reaching the MLB level? How does he adjust the 3rd time through a line-up? A lot of questions, I guess we'll see.

I'm more open to Allard at this point than Aiken. Especially knowing they haven't gotten Aiken's medicals. If the medicals check out and you get permission to talk to the surgeon and everything seems ok I would be overjoyed to get Aiken, assuming he would sign as well. That's a lot of ifs, so I doubt it will happen.

I'd be ok with him being the pick at #6. All the Twins need to do to get him to fill out is have Sano and Vargas mentor him. He'll be 6'4" 240 lbs by the time he hits AA ball.

I know he'll go high, but I don't want anything to do with Bregman. Picking at #6, even in a weak draft, I'd rather whiff on a guy with a high ceiling than pick a guy that high that could be the next Jed Lowrie if everything works out. Plus with Nick Gordon, Jorge Polanco, possibly Wander Javier-they've invested a lot at the SS position. Would rather go after a possible impact bat or high-ceiling starting pitcher. I've never liked the whole draft a SS argument, seems like a lot of no-hit infielders drafted high because they could play SS.