ttreadway

Even as recent as 4 days ago I was advocating for optimism. After watching the game last night, my optimism is starting to dwindle. Our 6-9 batters pose very little threat, and with the exception of the occasional mistake or lucky swing, they’re not going to be difference makers any time soon. (They actually were the difference makers in last nights game, which makes me even less excited about our first five hitters right now). I don’t know how rusty Sano would be right now, but could it be a whole lot worse than the DH options we have available right now?

They are at 8-4 since the beginning of the White Sox series. In those games, they are 5-3 against .500 or better teams that either are or could be playoff contenders. It may not be the most fun way to watch our team win baseball games...it would be much more fun to watch them score 8 runs a game. But if they’ve won 5 of 8 against playoff contenders without their offense clicking I think that’s room for optimism if anything, because I too agree that things will get better offensively. Their starters have started pitching competitively and their bullpen has somehow managed to hang onto a lot of narrow leads. Let’s go twins!

I wonder what role Escobar could play...because every time he's had an opportunity to fill a need he's stepped up in a huge way. He's been the best hitter on this team since taking over for Sano last august, and I think we've seen enough of him to conclude its not just a fluke. It's hard to envision a scenario where we offer him a free agency deal, but given his production and his popularity in the clubhouse, I'd be more than happy if we offered him a 2-3 year deal worth 10-12 million a year to play third base and bump Sano to full time DH. He could also take over 2nd base for Dozier, but I see that spot more likely going to either Polanco or Gordon. I'd be pretty pumped to see this lineup next year. 1b- Mauer 2b/SS- Polanco RF- Kepler DH- Sano LF- Rosario CF- Buxton 3B- Escobar SS/2B- Gordon C- Garver/Castro This would have us offering Mauer a couple of years...2 maybe three to finish out his career here, and not picking up Morrisons option. At this point I think Mauer would be the more valuable first base option. This would give us some serious XBH/HR potential in the 2-7 spots and maybe even down to the 8 spot depending on Gordon. The only reason I have Buxton 6th is to break up the right handers at the bottom of the lineup...and to have his speed in front of Escobars power.

I was pretty impressed with matt magill tonight. First time ive watched him pitch. But if he is our “blow-out and mop-up guy” and pitches like that, thats a pretty good weapon. Many other plusses from the game tonight...we beat a good team, not just the white sox, rosario continues to be on fire, and Romero looks awesome! Figured id just call out the guy most likely to be the unsung hero of the game.

In general I've noticed that commenters on this sight seems to be much more vocal during the "lean times" and much less willing to dole out praise when things are going well. It's really frustrating at times. Yes the last 2-3 weeks have been tough to watch and there has been a lot of poor baseball played by the twins. But ask a dodgers fan if they loved watching the dodgers play during the second half of august and first part of September last summer. That was some miserable baseball in LA. And yet they ended up playing in game seven of an epic World Series not even two months removed from that awful stretch of baseball. No, I don't think we are as good as that dodgers team, but if anything that further cements my point that even the best of teams go through funks. It's baseball...its why they play 162 games. By the end of 162 games if a team is has the talent to win 75 games, or 85 games, or 95 games, more often than not they're going to end up within a couple wins of those marks regardless of hot streaks or cold streaks weathered throughout the grind of 162 games. All that to say, I love watching Rosario play when he's on these types of streaks, lets be optimistic for once and hope that he continues to rake at the plate the rest of the way. Lets hope that Lynns performance last night was indicative of a turn-around for him as well. Lets hope Morrison has turned a corner and that the Keplers and Escobars continue to play as they have been or close to it. Then you add in a healthy Buxton and Sano at some point hopefully soon, add in May and Santana hopefully in the next 45 days and Polanco in two months. Thats good reason for optimism. I realize not all of these things will turn out in the twins best interest. Someone will get hurt, someone will slump...but I believe that theres enough reason for optimism to hope that the good will outlay the bad by seasons end. Lets just try and celebrate the good times with the same gusto that we mourn the bad ones!

I would love to see Mauer in Right, Sano at 1st, keep Plouffe through the end of this year, and give third base to Polanco next year. Don't really have much hope that this will happen, but I think that would allow us to field the best team and lineup that we currently have available to us.

I like Arcia personally. I think his attitude is a breath of fresh air on this team. At least he shows that he's upset when he lets his team down and strikes out with runner on and two outs. I'm tired of this attitude where it doesn't seem like half the team even cares when they strike out.

I would be happy with that deal for Sano. I'd like to lock him up through his age 31 season, so that would mean buying out another two years on top of what you threw out. I think the twins should do 20-25 million a year for those free agent years. This would likely put the Twins north of 100 million, but for what will likely end up being the prime of Sano's career, it could end up being a bargain.

Just saw the lineups. Its Buxton, Escobar, Dozier, Plouffe, Rosario, Hunter, Nunez, Suzuki, Robinson. Come on. This is suppose to be a defining series against a good team and no Sano or Mauer in the lineup? I understand they need rest, and Mauer is not that great right now, but at least lets alternate their days off!

This is more out of curiosity than thinking you have an answer. But if we cut him, would another team pick him up? Also, if we moved Sano to 1st, would we extend Plouffe to be our long-term third baseman? Cause I don't really see any promising options coming through the minors.

Yet another opportunity to play Sano at third, and Molitor for some reason can't seem to play him there. I guess we need to justify paying Nunez? Or is it more that we have no one else worthy of being a major league DH? Our other options would have been Robinson or Fryer...and nobody wants to see that. Still, I'd rather see Sano at third and Nunez at DH.

I'm not absolutely sure about that. I'd like to see Sano play at third some more before destining him to be a lifelong DH, but he'll have value wherever he plays. Do they keep Plouffe around long term then? If not who else do they have for third?

Great play by Escobar! Some say he has zero range...if that were true, there would be a runner on first right now.

IMO Graham has been surprisingly solid in his role. At 7.2 K/9, he is sadly one of the better strikeout pitchers in our pen. I think he can continue as a productive long reliever and occasional 7th inning guy. If someone else steps up and proves he can be more effective, I'm all for that. Until then, I'm happy with Graham in that role. To address the outfield situation I think they view Torii next year as more of a DH than an outfielder. I would hope they give Sano time to improve at third much like they did Plouffe, mainly for the reason of they have way too much depth in the outfield to convert a third baseman to play there. I think Arcia will be their primary 4th outfielder and occasional DH, and hope he gets some chances to pinch hit. I would then predict he is traded by the deadline, and Kepler is with the team by mid year. I think ABW makes an appearance at some point as well when Torii can no longer catch up to a fastball and takes over as DH. I could see him having an impact similar to Kennys Vargas' impact in 2014 toward the end of the year. Speaking of Vargas...much to my dismay I think the twins give up on him and ship him somewhere in a trade and then watch him develop into a slightly less powerful Adam Dunn/Ryan Howard type of a player.

The one big off-season move that I think will happen is that Trevor Plouffe gets traded. As much as I love him, and many twins fans do, I do not think he fits long-term, or is in their long-term plans. I'd love to see him stick around, but our corner infield spots are just too crowded. I think eventually they move Sano over to first, but I doubt they do that before 2019 due to one Joe Mauer locked in financially through the 2018 season. So here is what I would like to see done with Plouffe who is a productive MLB third baseman and controllable through two more years. The twins must address the situation at catcher, and I would think they should be able to get a valuable catcher via trade for Plouffe and maybe one minor league player. If I had my way about it, I would go shopping for a catcher out on the west coast. The Giants have Andrew Susac pinned down behind Buster Posey, but I would imagine they move Posey in the next year or two out from behind the plate, and would like to keep Susac in line for the starting job when that happens. Also it does not appear that they have a pressing need at third base. The team that might have a use for a veteran third baseman/first baseman for a couple of years is the San Diego Padres. While their situation is not a dire one, Plouffe could serve them well. I think a straight up trade Plouffer for Derek Norris trade would be great. He is young and has team control for several years. He is good on defense and holds his own with the bat. If they won't trade straight up, then maybe adding in a mid level reliever prospect would do the trick. The one other move that could shore up the catching job would be to bring in Matt Wieters who will be a free agent this off season. This could allow us to use Plouffe as trade material for a top-flight relief pitcher to shore up our bullpen...a Darren O'day or Jake Mcgee type of guy, not another Kevin Jepsen. This is less likely, as the Twins are pretty reluctant to go get big name players on the free agent market, but I'd be happy if they could land him. If they were able to land Wieters, they'd probably need to free up some salary space for him, and I would hope they could find some team in desperate need of a 4th or 5th starter who they could dump Nolasco and his 12 or 13 million on for basically just a salary dump and maybe a couple young low-level prospects with maybe a bit of an upside. Would mostly be looking just to free up his salary for someone who will help us compete. I might prefer the first move for Norris, as Wieters has struggled with injuries the last couple years. Either way, I think catcher is the position of biggest need heading into next season and the Twins must find a way to upgrade. Next up will be the bullpen. I think one top flight reliever would do the trick. A dominant Wade Davis, Darren O'day, Mark Melancon type to lock down the eighth inning. I don't know how we get that, as most teams don't have guys like that to spare...unless your the royals. But Trevor Plouffe trade to a team in need of a solid defensive third baseman might get it done. Maybe Arcia or Vargas or Santana can rebuild enough value through the rest of this season and maybe the AFL that they could be packaged for a good reliever. O'day and Bud Norris are also free agents this winter along with several other good relief pitchers, so maybe we make a splash in free agency here if we don't have the trade chips in place because we used Plouffe for a catcher. Anyway, I view those as the two most important positions to upgrade in the off season. I think there are a number of other positions that could be upgraded as well. A lot of people will plead for a shortstop, but I personally think we need to give Polanco more of a shot. Two games twice a year are not enough to prove whether you belong or not. You'll also see Hunters name in the roster below. Regardless of your opinion on whether or not the twins should extend him another year, I think they will. I think they really value his leadership, and they will still be a really young team. My guess is he'll be an occasional DH, fourth outfielder, and bench bat with some pop. Here is what I would like the 25 man roster will look like to start the year in 2016. C- Derek Norris 1B- Joe Mauer 2B- Brian Dozier SS- Jorge Polanco 3B- Miguel Sano RF- Aaron Hicks CF- Byron Buxton LF-Eddie Rosario DH- Hunter vs lefties, Arcia vs. righties. Bench Arcia Escobar Suzuki Nunez Starters- In no particular order Hughes Santana Gibson May Berrios Relievers Graham Pressley Jepsen Perkins Best LH option in system Best RH option in system- Not sure at this point who these two would be. Oliveros, Achter, Burdi, Jay, Duffy, Rogers...kind of a toss-up at this point. top flight reliever via trade or free agency So what are your thoughts on the moves the twins should make this off season, and what their roster will look like to start 2016

I may be old fashioned, but I think all the new defensive metrics make a decent fielder look a lot worse than he really is. According to new defensive metrics, Derek Jeter wasn't a great shortstop, but we've all seen him play, and would all agree, he was pretty good. All that to say, Escobar has proven he is the best option we have right now. He made some good plays last night, has proven that he can hit the ball to the gaps, and can do it in high pressure situations. http://goo.gl/YZAQqs He is a league average shortstop...lets be happy with that and appreciate that he is significantly better than Santana right now. At this point, I'd be happy with a league average shortstop for the next three years until Gordon is ready. If Polanco pans out, great...I'd love his bat. If not, we've still got a league average shortstop right here on our roster.

I have loved watching Hicks develop this year, and am crossing my fingers that what we are seeing now continues, and even continues to develop more. He is bigger, having way more fun, and is confident. When Hicks steps to the plate, I don't walk to the kitchen to get a bowl of ice cream anymore...I stick around to see what will happen! Didn't think I'd ever say that three months ago.

Well, they seem likely to go for whatever someone throws out there, so lets throw out 2 or 3 Hu/Jones/Wheeler/Melatokis level prospects plus one Thorpe/Gonsalves/Harrison level prospect for Phegley and Clippard. That would give us some depth at catcher, and while he may not be a solid future starting catcher, he could get us by for a while and hit better than Fryer or Herrman. And Clippard gives us at least one guy we can rely on outside of Perkins. Worth at least throwing out there.

I agree on all points except for the one you made about Rosario. Maybe once Buxton comes back, he plays a little less, but for now, he's hitting better than any of our other outfielders, and he's solid on defense. Once Buxton comes back, things will get weird in the outfield, but I personally like the problem of too much talent rather than playing Robinson and Escobar out there.

I agree times 10. Tulo is has been a great player, and probably will continue to be above average as a shortstop wherever he ends up...when hes healthy. But with Nick Gordon and Jorge Polanco on their way, there is simply not room for that contract. Spend that money to lock up Sano this off-season, and Buxton next year. We already have enough aging veterans blocking our prospects, lets not do it again. Lets learn a thing or two from the tigers...old guys only last so long, and if you spend everything to get them, when they fizzle out, your left with nothing, not even a farm system.

1. Buxton 2. Mauer 3. Dozier 4. Sano 5. Rosario 6. Plouffe 7. Hicks 8. Santana/Escobar 9. Suzuki

I hope to see him again. Not sure if he'll be the right fielder of the future for them, but I think he needs a shot to prove if he should stay while we get a better look at some of our other prospects and how they develop. If nothing else, hopefully he can build some good trade value by getting some playing time.

After last night, I firmly believe we have ridden the Pelfrey train as long as we should. It was great while it lasted, but May should be slotted in to take Pelf's next start which will be against the tigers. Gosh, I really want to win that series going into the all-star break, and I'd have way more confidence with May than Pelfrey at this point. Pelfrey to the 'pen as the long reliever. Give Graham a couple shots in higher leverage situations, he hasn't blown up yet. And if Presley is out for a while, then this is the perfect chance to call up Duffey/Darnell/Achter.

With eight MLB at-bats under his belt, its not fair to say we've seen what Miguel Sano is made of yet. He is hitting .375 with a double, an RBI, a run scored and a .500 slugging percentage. Those look pretty good, but his 50% strikeout rate does not. All that is simply to say that he has not shown us enough to judge from his stats what kind of a player he is going to be. I have noticed several things from him though aside from his stats about the way he plays the game, and they make me feel pretty optimistic about his chances of being here for good. 1. He is not afraid to hit MLB pitching. We saw Byron Buxton debut several weeks ago and he looked positively over matched against big league pitchers. Even though Miguel Sano has struck out 4 times in 8 at-bats, I don't think he has looked over-matched in a single one of them. He has the look of a guy who knows he can hit at this level and hit off these pitchers. As much as I hate to say it, Buxton looked overwhelmed and over-matched. The three fastballs that Guthrie threw by Sano late in the game was simply an instance of an eager young batter in an RBI situation late in an important game, and a savvy veteran taking advantage of that. I don't think pitchers will be buzzing three fastballs by Sano for very long. He barely missed all three of them, and had he connected, the twins would have won that game 4-2. 2. He is surprisingly athletic for such a big guy. Sano's first major league hit was an infield hit to a good shortstop. He beat it out with no room to spare, and looked good doing it. Vargas would have been out by three steps on that ball. His second hit of the night last night was a rocket that he stung over the head of Alex Gordon. Again, had that been Vargas, you have to believe he would have been thrown out as Sano barely beat the tag. And he also had a clean, athletic, injury-free slide that looked really good for 6'4" and 260 pounds. I'm looking forward to seeing how he plays third, as he looks to me to have too much athleticism to spend his career as a DH. For now, though, I'm just happy with him in the lineup. 3. He does not plan on going anywhere anytime soon. The way Sano has played, and the confidence he has shown look like a player who thinks, and intends to prove that he belongs here at the big league level. We have seen with Danny Santana, that confidence is key, and Sano looks like he has it. So what are your thoughts? Do you expect Sano to stay in Minnesota for the rest of the year? If so, why? And if not, why not?

I have been a believer in Escobar since about the midway point last season. He hit .275 last year with 35 doubles. There are a lot of teams in baseball who would love to have that production from their shortstop. I have long wondered why so many people on this site get down on him so much. He is an average defender with decent speed, and a solid line drive gap hitter. I have a better feeling when Escobar steps to the plate than I do when Suzuki, Robinson, Santana and even Nunez do...granted that's not necessarily saying much When we got him from the white sox, he truly was considered just a simple utility player, but he proved last year that he can be more than that. I'm not saying build the team around him, but at least give him credit for what he is, a quality backup infielder who can step in and play every day without much of a drop in production...and in our case, better production than anyone else we have right now.