PopRiveter

I was listening to the game on the radio when Kubes hit the grand slam. I was changing my daughter's diaper at the moment. I got so excited, I started fist pumping and shouted, "Kooooooobs!" To my surprise, my baby girl put on a huge smile and mimmicked me. A Little Twins fan was made. she hates the Yankees as much as I do today.

I like silver slugger's idea of a 6-man rotation as a temporary approach under these conditions. There are a lot of guys with some intriguing potential and all have question marks. I'd like to see as many as possible sharing the major league innings. I also like the idea of allowing the Tommy-John guys a little extra recovery time between starts. Heading into the season, I thought Pelfrey was the best gamble the team took, but I haven't exactly loved watching him pitch yet. I understand still wanting to get something out of him, but they've kind of run out of time for a payoff. Unless the payoff comes from doubling-down on him in 2014. That just doesn't feel wise right now.

This post is full to the brim with correctness. Thank you for speaking the truth (and posting that hilarious GIF.)

Yeah, I go nuts on that topic. On the bright side, I've got a smile on my face the whole time.

Baseball is supposed to be fun. The Yankees are the exact opposite of that. They are proud to have the most entitled, annoying fanbase in the world of sports. They generally seem to employ the highest concentration of cheaters in the sport. They purchase title after title by adding everyone else's best (though aging) players to their own, legitimate core of talent. Their market affords them the ability to operate beyond the restrictions that limit all other teams to varying extents. They are the essence of unfairness. The case and point example of everything wrong with baseball. ...and to your point about their businesslike approach, don't we all have enough "business" in our work lives? We don't need need anyone pouring "business" all over our baseball... I do hate the Yankees, as anyone who respects the sport of baseball should. The Yankees appeal to the most self-important, ostentatious and petulant members of our society. Their outspoken entitlement infects and degrades sports fans throughout this nation, and maybe, the world. Worse yet, they wear these filthy traits as a badge of honor. Brad, I believe, if you look deep in your heart, you'll find there's too much purity in there to truly embrace the Yankees and their defilement of a beautiful sport. As a conscientious father, I am living up to my duty to train my children that the Yankees are the Darth Vader of the baseball world. They constitute a lawless and powerful villain whose purpose is simple- Harm the protagonist until it is time to get slain. I hope to live long enough to see this villain slain. ...and I certainly don't want anyone I love to grow up thinking David Wells, Roger Clemens or Alex Rodriguez are legitimate representatives of our species. ...or CC ...or George Steinbrenner ...or Pettite ...or Reggie

Thanks for reminding me of this. I'll spend my lunch hour in the office breakroom listening to "Could've Been" by Tiffany and choking back the tears.

More Arcia! More Cowbell! I think it is great to let him make progress on the mlb learning curve this year.

I expect at some point, you'll be able to choose between two broadcasts for a given game. One will "broadcast" and appeal to the average fan, but a second option will be added to appeal to deep baseball fans. So the average fan can listen to Dick and Bert call the game, but the Twins Daily crowd can listen to Nick and Parker or maybe to this broadcast crew. http://media.smithsonianmag.com/images/science-sarcasm-Professor-Frink-Comic-Book-Guy-631.jpg

Dear Twin's Fan from Afar, at least 78% of posts on Twins Daily should be filled with stats. And for clarity sake the term "filled with stats" refers to posts whose content is at least 20% actual statistical content and at least 70% direct conclusions based on stated stats or direct references to said stats. The remaining 22% should include a potpourri of Brad Swansonesque humor, medical updates and dreaming on/projecting prospects. My calculator and protractor are confirming that your post is valid and acceptable. It is nice to take a step beck and admire the broad view. There is a wave of talent that will undoubtedly include some disappointments, but there is ample reason for hope and positivity. I expect Ryan will find ways to accelerate the transition from here to winners, but 2016 is a pretty realistic arrival date for these guys to establish what they can be at the major league level. Now, before writing another article, remember that you can't live in that "22%" zone forever. You're going to have to geek-out on numbers at some point if you want this crowd to support you long-term. Keep writing, I dig your posts.

On 5/20, I wrote this "Fully in support of: Colabello up, Parmelee down. Wood to 60 day DL Deduno up, Hernandez down. DFA Tyler Robertson. Almost ready for: Gibson up, Worley down. Can't believe I'm writing this, but wouldn't be fully opposed to: Clete Thomas up, Hicks down. DFA Joe Benson." That's 11 transactions. Since writing, 8 of those have happened. (Arcia went down instead of Parmelee. The Plouffe and Ramirez injuries bought time for Hicks. Walters took the spot I thought Gibson was going to get.) I'm surprised how close I've come to getting all my wishes fulfilled. Now, let's try this: I'm fully in support of an 11 game winning streak.

When I read this a month ago, it felt premature. But, today-If you view his game logs, you really don't see any improvement in results. There should be a positive trend by now. I really think it's now time to move on Pelfrey. Give him the choice of either taking a DL break or assignment to Rochester. Maybe if I were in Ryan's chair, I might want to wait one or two more turns through the rotation to see which of Gibson, Worley or Albers is most deserving of taking the rotation spot. However, I am in my chair, so I'll accept any of the three. I believe Pelfrey offers a higher upside than most other options in the Twins rotation this year and I was all for letting him retain his spot while struggling at the start of the season, but he should be trending upward and isn't. Enough time has passed to conclude this approach just isn't working.

Parmelee is no sure thing, but between him, Arcia, and Colabello, one of them could step over to first and do the job okay next year. However, I believe Morneau has the highest upside on this team and he likely has little trade value. I still think he has some dominance left in his tank. I'd offer to extend him- 2 years @ $7mil/year. Twins have paid a premium to help him recover from injuries. I'd like to see them get some over-production at a reasonable price in return.

Did you see Thrylos' report last week? Kyle Gibson and the Red Wings at the Lehigh Valley IronPigs today and it was so close - Blogs - Minnesota Twins News & Rumors Forum To me, that's the danger of not controlling your emotions. A 2-year skid has got to eat you up. Benson failed to break the slump after 2 years of patience. I read Ryan's comments and see a foreshadow of what could- and eventually did happen. Guys who play with their heart outside their uniform can tear themselves to pieces when things go wrong. To me, his comments are about as much an attack on his character as they would be if he said, "he needs to shake this off and play with confidence again." I don't see it as an indictment of Benson's personality or seriousness. But Benson got down and couldn't get back up. Day after day for 2 seasons. That has to feel awful. I hope he finds something good in Texas. The door here was open long enough.

I want to see balls that are at the batter's shoulder level called a ball instead of strike three. Same with balls 4-6" off the plate. I want to see a base runner called safe at 2nd when the second baseman catches the ball two steps after leaving the bag. I want to see 7 little weakly stroked dribblers turn into 7 outs instead of 7 hits. That wasn't a real baseball game. Just rancid. Bad breaks and bad calls. If that had been a no-hitter it would've been a real shame.

I am hyped for Worley's next AAA start!

I'm excited to watch Deduno. I got my wish. I can wait for Gibson. It won't be long before his turn is up, but I feel like Deduno has paid enough dues and had enough success that he deserves a shot -and, holy moly, I do enjoy watching his crazy starts. My favorite blogger disagrees with me, but he's living in a world where Scott Diamond is carried off the field after each victory, so we can agree to disagree. You'll get your wish soon enough, Brad.

Fully in support of: Colabello up, Parmelee down. Wood to 60 day DL Deduno up, Hernandez down. DFA Tyler Robertson. Almost ready for: Gibson up, Worley down. Can't believe I'm writing this, but wouldn't be fully opposed to: Clete Thomas up, Hicks down. DFA Joe Benson. I sure wish either Benson or Hicks were having some success. Fantastic athletes. Part of me hopes they give more time to Benson (he's only a year older than Hicks,) but he hasn't had any success in 2.5 seasons. All of me wants to see Hicks get some traction and momentum in AAA and come back up with a head of steam.

The most fun-to-watch pitcher in the upper end of the organization (just edging Glen Perkins) in my book. I want him back in the rotation.

Nice writeup, Thrylos. Thanks for taking the time to write. I tend to agree with you that Colabello and Gibson call-ups are getting about due. I am not champing at the bit regarding Gibson, as I think long-term thinking should take priority this year. However, if it's 95% of the way to Gibson time, it should be 100% of the way to Colabello time. There is nothing to protect with him.

This is a really fascinating angle. Strikeouts are really really fun. Very useful too, but how are they better than an infield fly? Weren't Correia's 4 double-play balls last night more valuable than 4 strikeouts would've been? I've heard all the complaints about Pitch to Contact as a strategy, but I've watched a lot of Francisco Liriano starts. I don't get how a fanbase who watched him strike out soooooo many while simultaneously giving up sooooooo many runs can have so many members who exaggerate the value of the strikeout and minimize the value of all the other outs. I think your number tells the truth that a strikeout is a very good out. Not necessarily the best. Sadly, a number can't tell how fun they are.

I love your avatar, ashburyjohn. Cracks me up every time I see you comment. You suffer through wretched starts because the guy that comes out on the other side is a valuable commodity! If not for his injury, a pitcher with Pelfrey's track record would've been either very much more expensive, or unobtainable. If you suffer through the bad starts, and he returns to form, you now have that very valuable commodity for a relatively small financial cost. What you've "paid" to offset the difference is innings in games that aren't likely to mean much. Let him pitch. Unless Deduno's healthy.

You made the mistake of linking to a Ben Revere "boyish grin" on a page that includes his career stats. I was reminded that Ben's weak batting line this year has caused his career batting average to plummet to .272, which is only 199 points higher than Hicks. I also accidentally saw that Revere has 1 triple this year which can either be viewed as 1 more extra base hit than Hicks, or infinity times the extra base hits that Hicks has produced. I don't want to compare them. I just want Hicks to start hitting and feeling good. I was hoping they'd open the season with Mastro in center and that Hicks would mash in AAA for a few weeks to get momentum before debuting, but that plan would not have worked with Mastro's injuries. For me, plan B is simple- Keep rooting for Hicks and (whenever that is tough to do) remember that Clete Thomas is probably next in line. Goooooooooooooooooooooooo Hicks!

Sorry, I thought the pay-off was obvious- some quality production from a cheap, veteran pitcher. I would additionally hope that could lead to the inside track on signing him for a healthier (but still reasonable) 2014 but that isn't even necessary. Remember when Cleveland signed Carl Pavano and watched him rehab in their rotation and then traded him to Minnesota to watch the Twins benefit from his recovery? If Pelfrey works out his issues (I believe he will,) then he will accrue value as either a trade chip or a healthier piece of the 2014 staff. In a way, that is trading innings (which you can spare today) for future value. Payoff.

One of the great luxuries of being a team with looooow expectations is that you can let a Mike Pelfrey get back to MLB form by grinding it out in the majors. By allowing him a long leash and keeping him in the rotation (despite the bad results,) they are paying forward. When he turns the corner and starts pitching like he used to, this patience will pay off. I don't think we're 1/2 way to point where they should consider moving him out of the rotation.

Deduno is a lot of fun to watch. For that reason, I want him to make the rotation. Hendriks has moved fast through the org and has shown an ability to figure out how to succeed at each level along the way. At age 23, he's certainly not struggled long enough for me to give up hope that he'll figure out how to succeed in the majors. For that reason, I want to watch him pitch this year and am confident he will. Even he gets the ball rolling at AAA and comes up to replace DeCorrewaltfrey. Or maybe even Deduno. There seems to be a lot of arguing one vs. the other in this thread. These are two very different pieces. We're trying to compare an apple with a taco salad.