Craig in MN

It's hard to see the Astros on the schedule and not think of them as interleague games. It is nice to see them on the schedule, though. The second half looks pretty palatable, if the Twins can manage to stay in the race through the All Star break. I don't really expect that to happen, but you never know.

Great News! Parmalee is recalled PRIOR to Sept 1. That means he's eligible for the playoff roster, right?

Nishioka and Blackburn to Seattle for Chone Figgins? There's nothing much to like there, but the money matches. Figgins could be the 25th man and play some 2b, 3b and OF. Blackburn could conceivably pitch better with a change of scenery and in spacious Safeco (just don't mention Carlos Silva). Nishioka is probably a better hitter than Chone Figgins anymore, but less flexible defensively. If both teams were forced to make a trade and not eat salary, this might be the deal they'd make.

I've been thinking about this lately too. A wildcard option could be having Mauer play RF 1/3 of the time, and Doumit play RF 1/3 time. If Parmalee is really that bad in RF that they can't manage to have him out there, they can still work him in at 1B/DH 2/3 of the time that way. Mauer was fine there in his few opportunities. Doumit is bad, but if Parmalee is worse, so be it...this is the natural fit. Let speedy 4th OF fill in there too and you've got a plan. It still fills the opening, at least until there an injury, trade, or someone starts to struggle. With Morneau, Mauer & Doumit's injury histories, and Parmalee's inexperience, I wouldn't worry at all about keeping them all and working them in this way.

This is actually probably bad news for the Twins. The Dodgers were more obvious trade partners, and the Giants losing Cabrera gives the Dodgers a boost. They are much more likely to make the playoffs now (and the Giants much less). They still might want to make a trade, but why do they need to make a trade when their main competition is shooting themself in the foot?

Darin Mastroianni hasn't shown that he is a capable 4th OF. Not in 100 ABs. He is great defensively, but his minor league track record is not exactly stellar. If it was, the Twins' wouldn't have stuck him at AA to start the year, and they wouldn't have wasted time with Clete Thomas and Eric Komatsu first. THAT is why the Blue Jays didn't care to keep him around. Because one dimensional players are a dime a dozen. He is playing way over his head right now, and if he can keep that up...if he's really turned a corner....then they've got something. Do people really think he's established himself as anything yet? I don't care how many OF prospects they have coming up...they are still going to need a 4th OF, and they aren't going to bring the prospects up to sit on the bench 5 days a week. And having a decent 4th OF gives them a cushion for when they think about trading Span or Revere in the offseason. Let them see if Mastroanni is that. Otherwise, Revere has to be that. Or they need to get a newer version of Erik Komatsu. How exciting is that? Right now I'm sort of excited about the idea of a Parmalee/Mastroianni platoon next year in RF. What's wrong with that? If they are going to try putting any one in a harder position defensively, it should be Parmalee. If that's the case, then they need a defensive replacement there.....who could that be? Hey Mastroianni fits the bill perfectly, so far. Lets try that out!

He hasn't really played second base in 5 years. He's got a very mixed minor league record as is. Why not take another 6 weeks to let him show if he can be a decent MLB 4th outfielder? If he can do that, then you've got some idea if he can play a role next year. Why set him up for failure? Put him in a position to actually succeed. Nishioka's failure doesn't mean you start throwing guys in spots they aren't suited for.

Willingham's deal will be done after 2014 too. Of course, it's not just the contracts that you have to plan around, it's the rest of the players on the team, particularly in 2014. You already have Willingham, Doumit & Mauer who could fill the DH, C & 1b spots, and perhaps Parmalee. Does it makes more sense to sign Morneau to force Willingham's glove to the outfield or look for an outfielder instead? I don't think there's anything Morneau could do to have me give him a 3 year deal. His concussion history is too troubling. I could see giving him a 1 year deal in 2014, or a deal with options. I'd say 1 year, $7 million. If he isn't playing worth near $7 million, he's probably not playing well enough to displace someone else on the team. If he's playing well enough to get more than that, then someone else will be more willing to gamble on him than I would.

I don't see TR eating salary and I don't see him trading Morneau for non-prospects. The Dodgers had at least some interesting Morneau and a lot of veteran arms in their rotation. It's really hard to say what the Dodgers are going to do next year, but they are spending money and need a first baseman. TR is going to try to get some veteran arms for the rotation somehow (right or wrong). I could easily see a trade to the Dodgers centered around Morneau for Harang or Capuano or even Ted Lilly, depending on how certain his health is. Jerry Hairston, Juan Rivera or (also unhealthy) Matt Guerrier could get tossed in to keep the payroll in line. There's a lot of ways they could make it work. I don't particularly like this trade...just saying it could happen.

Jared Burton can only pitch 4 pitches? And we wonder why the bullpen is overused.

The Marlins increased they payroll by about $25 million this year, and with raises that would have gone up next year, even after loosing a few big salary free agents this offseason and signing no one. If that is the neighborhood of what they can afford, of course they are paying attention to the payroll. Ramirez isn't worth his contract, so freeing up his money to sign some guys this offseason just makes sense. Trading Sanchez and Infante for prospects when they aren't going to win this year makes probably sense regardless. If teams blow them away for Johnson, why not listen? They aren't shopping him desperately and they say they were only going to trade one of him and Sanchez. None of this seems remarkable to me.

All of the pitchers have managed to age 3 months since the start of the season. Not much else has changed.

It doesn't makes sense if the teams planning on a full scale rebuild or all out push to compete. Neither team really seems interested in either of those though. If they are trying to compete (at all) short term, it makes sense for them to try to trade decent players for other decent players that fill more significant holes. Even at that, it's not at all a perfect trade, but it kind of makes sense. Honestly, I don't think I'd do the trade if offered, but I'm not sure. But it fills holes and in some ways it gives both sides more financial flexibility. I don't see the Twins trading Span for anyone that isn't going to contribute right away. They just aren't going to go into a full rebuild (especially after extending Doumit). That means they need to do something major about the rotation. They aren't going to sign multiple good free agent pitchers. Terry Ryan will look to resign someone (Pavano/Baker/Liriano) or do trades instead. If they end up wanting to trade for a starter, I don't think there is a better option to trade to make that happen than Span. It might not be with Tampa, though.

The Twins aren't going to sign an elite free agent pitchers, but there are a ton of the next level guys this year. They gave Willingham 3/25 this offseason, which was totally out of character...they could do 3/30 for the right pitcher, as they certainly have the need and the payroll room. I don't even think they'll do that though. My money is on trading Span for an experienced starter. TB will be loosing Upton in CF and doesn't have an obvious replacement, and Shields is getting more expensive and money is always tight there. That seems like a decent start for trade talks, and it's a lot less risky than signing a pitcher. Revere would move to CF and the Twins could sign a stopgap OF to play (with Mastriani) until Hicks, Benson or Arcia are ready. That would likely leave the Twins starting with Sheilds, Blackburn, Diamond, <free agent> and the best of a bunch of AAA/AA guys to fill out the rotation. That free agent could be Scot Baker but could just as easily be some bargain bin arm or a decent pitcher if they want to keep payroll steady. Hendriks, Gibson, Walters, Devries, Wimmers, Albers, Darnell, Hermson, etc would probably all be trying to earn their way out of Rochester throughout the next couple seasons. That's not a great rotation, but better than this year, and there's enough talent in the minors to give the rotation some hope.

On the topic of Casilla in 2013, it should be noted that there the middle infielder free agent market is going to be pretty terrible. You aren't going to get anything better than Casilla for $1-$2 million. That's not say that I really want him back, just that he might be harder to replace than some think. He's young and a better defender than a lot of those guys.

And they're paying for that now....

There is a Nishioka thread up, and it got me thinking that about Dozier struggles. Dozier really isn't hitting any better than Nishioka ever did and he's got 9 errors in a month and a half. He could obviously still use some time at AAA to get everything ironed out too. Dozier isn't close to one of the top 5 problems with the Twins, and there's not exactly anyone at Rochester playing better, but those really aren't the best excuses to keep him around. The Rays just DFAed Drew Sutton.....he's sort of a Luke Hughes-style infielder who has very spotty opportunities the past few years. I think I'd pick him up and send Dozier to AAA. Carroll, Sutton & Casilla can handle the middle infield for a while and we can hope that Sutton will respond to a chance to start the way Plouffe has.

Devries was scheduled to start on Tuesday, but there is an off day on Monday (and today), so they can skip his spot in the rotation and keep everyone else on schedule for a while. They will need a 5th starter for Sunday June 17. Pavano is available to come off the DL on the 16th, or they figure out something else. It's nice to get a useful bench player, especially with Mauer being a question mark.

I wouldn't be surprised if Hicks does give up switch hitting, but keep in mind that he is one of the youngest players in all of AA. He is still learning. For perspective.....there is only one younger hitter in the Eastern League who is hitting better than Hicks (Jefry Marte).

Jeff Francis would have been a better signing than Marquis....I'm slightly surprised all he got was a minor league deal. He seems like a Twins-kind of player. He's probably a better pitcher than Walters, Devries, Manship, and Swarzak. Who am I kidding...he could be better than Blackburn, Liriano, Pavano, etc, etc. It's not my money, so I say sign him. The downside is that he pitches well enough that the Twins re-sign him next year for more than he's worth. The upside is that he pitches well enough to stabilize the rotation and that you can trade him for some lottery ticket at the deadline.

SP James Sheilds Gibson Hendricks Diamond Bromberg RP Perkins Guerra Burnett Duensing Tyler Robertson Oliveros Waldrop Line Up RF - Benson LF - Nick Swisher C - Mauer DH - Willingham 1B - Morneau 3B - Deibinson Romero SS - Dozier 2B - Pedro Floriman CF - Hicks Bench OF - Revere IF - Carroll IF/OF - Parmalee C - Butera Other guys in the mix: C/OF - Chris Hermann OF - Oswaldo Arcia INF - James Beresford SP - BJ Hermsen RP - Carlos Gutierrez RP - Swarzak In 2013, Twins trade Span for Sheilds, sign Nick Swisher to a Willingham-ish/Cuddyer-ish deal to rotate between OF/1B/DH, and a one year innings eater starter to let some of the kids develop. Revere gets a shot in CF until Benson or Hicks are ready. Parmalee gets in the mix in the interim as well. The rotation keeps playing musical chairs, but there is enough talent there to find 5 arms. Blackburn, Burton, Capps & Valencia leave after the season. In 2014, Morneau has been relatively healthy and productive, but still is enough of a risk to sign cheap...a one year FA deal to stay in MN. If they can find a decent/cheap FA infielder, they might sign him, but I don't see one so they stick with Carroll. Otherwise they stay pretty aggressive in having a very inexperienced team, but with just enough veteran-y goodness. Hicks is a stretch, but Revere & Parmalee won't be good enough to keep him down. Sano, Rosario, Michael, & Morales are all in the high minors for extra depth, so the young guys all better be on their toes. The team has enough payroll flexibility to add players during the season if needed. The rotation isn't great but good enough to compete, the bullpen is solid, the defense is improved, but the offense will depend on the rookies not stinking.

I'd add a timeout rule. Managers stay in the dugout unless they call a timeout. If they want to talk to a pitcher or argue a call, they need to call a timeout to go on the field. The only exception is for injuries. If they want to make a pitching change, they walk out to tell the home plate umpire and then go back to the dugout. If the new pitcher takes too long to get to the mound, his team gets charged with a timeout. That should keep things moving quite a bit. I'd also set a 25 man active roster for September games. A team can carry 40 guys if they want, but they name their 25 active players before each game. It's not often that it becomes a problem, but a team with no limits can make a ton of extra moves that don't make the baseball any better. This isn't a specific new rule, but I'd give some teeth to keeping batter in the batters box and the pitcher throwing quickly. Trading draft picks is fine, but the bonus limitations on signing players and crapshoot nature of any signing make it a not very valuable endeavour. I've always wondered about batters being able to steal first base....if a runner tries to steal second, or there is a wild pitch, etc, the batter can try to steal first.

Target field is fine as is. It is below average for HRs but above average for doubles & triples, and just about average in overall run scoring. If you start bringing in the walls, it could get crazy really quick. Park factors are more than HR rates. Target field is close enough to average scoring. There are probably ten stadiums that suppress run scoring more.

I would like this idea better if they had decided on it 2 months ago and brought in one more decent MLB-quality player (or even a potential MLB-quality player) to round out the outfield/1b/DH mix. As it is, there are too many question marks on the MLB team to go north with so many scrubs that might not even be AAA players.

If the Twins wanted to be generous to Zumaya, and he didn't want to be released, they could have offered to renegotiate his deal. Drop the salary from 800k to 400k (league minimum), possibly with an option for 2013. That way, he is on the roster, gets medical care, access to trainers, accrues service time and retirement benefits, etc. And the cost is the same as releasing him, excluding those benefits. I'm not sure I would even do that if I were the Twins, but if they really liked Zumaya or wanted the good PR, they could do that. Paying the extra 400k is just silly. I don't understand the point of the 60 day DL/40 man rosters comments above. What do they lose by putting him on the 15 day now and moving him to the 60 day whenever they need the roster spot?