d-mac

That's great. But the reality is this team has one of the worst offenses in baseball. They are 27th in the MLB in wRC+, only the White Sox are worse in the AL. They are 24th in wOBA, only the White Sox and the Mariners are worse in the AL. The starting rotation, while greatly improved, is still a mediocre 21st in xFIP and dead last, yet again in K/9. I don't think many of us Twins fans don't realize how many standard deviations away from league average our pitching has been these past few years. And yes, the bullpen is awful. It is dead last in baseball in xFIP and in last place in K/9- in fact it averages over a half a strikeout per nine innings less than the next worse team. But the bullpen isn't going to win games when we are losing already in the 6th inning because nobody on this team can get on base and the starting rotation isn't good enough to hold 1-0, 2-1 leads all season. Trading for Tyler Clippard just isn't going to be a needle mover this season and will likely fall on the scale between, "what was the point of that?" and "we gave up him for that?!" Also, remember the last time we traded for bullpen arms? J.J. Hardy and Wilson Ramos would certainly fill areas of need on this team.

No. Just, no. They, the team, may think they are fighting for a playoff spot. But they aren't. This team is over it's collective head. I know we all want to cheer for a winner so bad after so many poor years, but can we please stop pretending that this team is anything but a pretender? The Twins were very, very lucky with run scoring sequencing for a month and now we're all convinced this team is a playoff contender... please.

How about they call up one of the power arms from AA? Last I heard this team was still rebuilding. Please, let's not go making rash trades that will be regretted later.

Except their hitters have proven to be able to make contact when the ball is in the strikezone. Twins young hitters just look overmatched.

Hahahaha too funny! Sadly, this seems like it could almost be true.

My midseason top 20 prospect list: 1. Sano 2. Berrios 3. Polanco 4. Kepler 5. Jay 6. Hu 7. Gonsalves 8. Meyer 9. Thorpe 10. Harrison 11. Walker 12. Stewart 13. Gordon 14. Minier 15. Diaz 16. Z. Jones 17. Rogers 18. Chargois 19. Burdi 20. Reed

Where are they finding money to go after the guys outside the top 10? Especially if they are giving third round money to Cabbage and going overslot to Kendrick?

That's not much savings for a reliever.

You mean the guy in AAA hitting .154/.175/.212?

No, it's definitely not a big deal. But TR has always proven to be a poor manager of the 40-man. We seem to lose a lot of cheap, young, role players with options left for nothing in return in order to protect a more expensive, older, veteran retread.

What's new?

I guess I was wrong about him not throwing his curveball as much this year- Looking at Pitch f/x it looks to be about the same usage as last year. But his velocity is down, and he also appears to be favoring a two-seamer over his reliable 4-seamer this year. There just isn't enough movement on his cutter and velocity difference to make much of a discernible difference between his pitches. If his velocity is down he needs to use his curveball more to set up the fastball.

Here's my thought's going forward the rest of the year and into 2016 and beyond. We should absolutely be building for the future- not trading off pieces for a run this year. This team isn't going to hit enough or miss enough bats from the mound to be legitimate contenders the rest of the year. However, their hot May will put them squarely in the discussion for a Wild Card spot (f*** you, Bud Selig) and the FO may make some desperation moves to try to hold on to their playoff spot after 4 straight 90+ loosing seasons and cratering attendance numbers. That being said, Here's how I'd do things if I was the GM. 1.) Blow up the bullpen- the fact that it hasn't imploded is no small miracle- the Twin's bullpen is 30th in xFIP and K/9 rate by a significant margin. There are a more than a number of capable hard-throwers in AAA and AA. Use the rest of the year trying out for positions on the next great Twins' bullpen- there is no reason they should be using all their bullets up in meaningless minor league games while our big-league bullpen couldn't strikeout their own grandmothers. Furthermore, I'd entertain good trade offers for Glen Perkins. He has served admirably as the All-Star closer on some of the worst Twins' teams in recent memory, but the farther away he gets from being 30, the slower that ball is going to come out of his left hand. Get some value where we can. 2.) I would trade Arcia once his value comes back up a bit. We have no room for a poor defensive corner outfielder on this team. Maybe we could flip him and Perkins to a contender for a catching prospect? 3.) I wouldn't count on Vargas or Danny Santana contributing to our next contending Twins' team. 4.) I wouldn't make any moves regarding the Sano/Plouffe/Mauer love-triangle. I'd let that play out first. Can Mauer return to an above average league hitter? Will Rosario be able to hit enough to maintain a corner outfield spot on a contending big league team (I am dubious about that, sure he's hit great thus far, but his BABIP has been very high and his BB/K ratio is horrendous- He might be this year's Danny Santana)? Can Sano stick defensively at 3rd? If Mauer holds returns to pre-concussion form or Rosario fails, then you can consider moving Plouffe to LF a la Alex Gordon. If Rosario sticks in left, and Mauer becomes unmovable at 1st- either due to success or because of his contract and Sano's defense isn't good enough- then I'd consider moving Sano to RF or a move to DH (gasp!). The goal shouldn't be to maximize Sano's WAR, the goal should be to put the 9 best hitters as possinle on the field while maximizing defense. Plouffe is an established top 10 MLB 3rd basemen, with above average to plus defense. Replacing him with Sano's lesser defense, while potentially having holes in LF, RF, DH, and 1st seems silly to me. 5.) The pitching situation is murkier, yet. It doesn't look like this future rotation will have a true ace- Jose Berrios looks like our only shot a front line starter at this point (but probably only a #2), as Meyer is likely a bullpen piece. Trevor May looks like a quality #3rd, possibly a #2. Gibson is likely #3/4. 2014 appears to be a flash in the pan for Phil Hughes and he's turned back into the pumpkin that he was in New York. He's a #4 at this point- if he ever rediscovers that he has a curveball, otherwise he's too homer-prone to be anything more than a #5 on a contending team. I'm worried about Ervin Santana's health long term. As you'll recall, he is often cited as one of the few pitchers that "rest and rehab" worked after suffering a UCL injury. Now that we know he was juicing, I'm waiting for that other shoe to drop. But if healthy, he's likely an inconsistent #3. 6.) Other lesser roster moves we should make- Pinto should have been the starting catcher in spring training- I would call him up and see how he does the rest of year- can he be a fulltime catcher, or is he more of a Ryan Doumit type- a DH that can catch? I'd move up Polanco, Berrios, and Sano to AAA. They have both mastered AA and have nothing left to show there. Polanco should probably get called up after the All-Star break to be the fulltime SS. So here is what my roster would look like as of next year. C- Prospect traded for/Pinto 1st- Mauer/Sano 2nd- Dozier 3rd- Plouffe/Sano SS- Polanco LF- Rosario/Plouffe/Kepler CF- Buxton RF- Sano/Plouffe/Kepler DH- Sano/Pinto/Mauer Bench- 4th OF- Hicks IF- Escobar DH/2ndC/PH- Pinto LH Bat- FA Starting Rotation- Berrios May Santana Gibson Hughes Bullpen- Some Combination of: Meyer Taylor Rogers (Lefty Specialist) Theilbar Tonkin Achter Oliveros Zach Jones Nick Burdi Jake Reed JT Chargois

Has the Buxton hype been that great outside of the hardcore Twins fans like us, and prospect enthusiasts? The casual Minnesotan sports has basically forgotten we have a baseball team anymore, most people I talk to aren't even aware of Buxton. '93 was two years after we won the World Series; In '15 the club hasn't been competitive for over 4 years.

I was wondering the same thing, but it's an awfully small sample size at the moment. But those scouting reports have given me some pause.

I had all but given up on him as a prospect last year, but he has made me a believer.

Brain injuries are a b****.

The Twins couldn't find a quality relief option from their own AAA team if one walked up and punched Terry Ryan in the face.

http://www.nooooooooooooooo.com/

The last time they paid for an elite catcher approaching his 30's didn't work out too well did it? I would be willing to trade a prospect for a catcher prospect though. And your right, we shouldn't be mortgaging the long term future of this team (it looks really bright) for trying to go for it this year, which is a mirage anywway.

Buxton sounds just about ready. But, I would like to see him, Sano, and Polanco get bumped up to AAA for a month or two and see some crafty pitchers that will throw something other than a fastball in a hitters' count. If the repeated experiences of Hicks, Vargas, Arcia, and Rosario (you can't expect him to have success with that K/BB ratio long term) have taught us anything is tha rushing a prospect through or skipping AAA all together doesn't lend itself to a young hitter developing good plate discipline.

Nice to see TR and company jerking around another reliever in AAA. Oliveros must be the new Slama.

Stewart doesn't miss bats. He's more BJ Hermsen than Hunt. Maybe they thought he had better breaking pitches than he actually did when they drafted him. I thought he was great pick at the time and I'm certainly rooting for him, but I've basically written him off as a prospect at this point. I wrote Kepler off two years ago, and he's all but turned himself back into a prospect... so stranger thing have happened before. Gonsalves has been fantastic, but he's just too far away. Peteron is old for his level and a reliever. So not too much to get excited about there yet.

That's a good comp for a ninth rounder.

He can draw walks and get on base... I like it. Although being a junior, i bet he'd be a candidate to go back for his senior season, a la James Ramsey, L.J. Mazilli, and Dustin DeMuth all did. I think they were all 9th round picks too.