glunn

Agreed.

Hendriks has give up one run in 4 innings. I find that encouraging.

I am issuing a moderator caution on this thread. Let's try to be a bit more respectful here.

Sano has 2 singles so far, and no errors!

Leviathan, I think that you have some legitimate points and I am always glad to respond to any private messages that you may send. Yes, I have a rose-colored outlook, but I understand your concerns and greatly appreciate your efforts to obtain clarification.

They spent on Correia, which makes me think that they might spend more if a decent player becomes available.

I am grateful for the discussion in this thread. You have all given me a better perspective on how I should operate as a moderator. I believe that there was major improvement in the tone of the forums after the sticky thread was posted so that people could read the rules. It seems to me that almost everyone has been making an effort to comply with the policy. I was saddened by all four of the recent bans, but would note that to my knowledge everyone who was banned received at least one polite warning, then they were banned after committing another violation. I also feel that the word "ban" is misleading, because no one has been permanently excluded, and a "ban" usually means being suspended for 3 to 10 days. Furthermore, as I have suggested in many private messages and on a few threads, if someone makes a stupid argument, then the policy does not restrict you from shredding the argument. Where I think that some people are still going wrong is attacking the person, not their position, but I understand why this is almost irresistible when it's clear that the person is indeed either a dumbass or just trolling. I would suggest that if anyone feels that a dumbass/troller is tempting them to violate the policy, please click on the "report post" icon (the triangle with the exclamation point inside it) so that the moderators can deal with the situation. Furthermore, I think that people should know that the moderators and admins have agonized about how to deal with particular situations. In all of those discussions, no one has ever expressed a desire to permanently ban anyone -- the focus is always on how we can persuade Member X to stop violating the policy. Finally, I like John's comment about the bolt's eventually loosening. Frankly, moderating is distracting and not fun. I would like to be the "Maytag repairman" of moderators.

What you are saying makes a lot of sense to me. I agree that if Hendriks can improve as you have suggested, then Hendriks could be a solid starter. Even if this takes another year or two, it's not as if the Twins have a lot of great alternatives. I am now curious as to what Maddux used as his "out" pitch, or whether he succeeded mainly based on working the corners and keeping the ball down.

Dave, I agree that Deduno has struggled with control during his entire career and that an "out pitch" by itself is not enough. On the other hand, it seems to me that in general the Twins pitching staff lacks outstanding "stuff", and that Deduno's slider could win a lot of games if he can continue to improve his control. As for Hendriks, I agree that 6.9 K/9 at Rochester last season was promising . And I think that he has superior contrl. But Baseball Reference shows only 5.5 K/9 over 108.2 innings in his two years in the majors, and it seemed to me that last season teams were figuring him out. I hope that you are correct that he can be a #3 or #4, but I doubt that this will happen without a significant improvement in at least one of his pitches.

Can we all at least agree that Deduno's slider is a superior "out" pitch? I like Hendriks, but unless he develops an "out" pitch (or a Radke level of control), I fear that he is not going to be very successful.

Nice research to find this link! It would be interesting to find out what percentage of compensation the Twins are contributing.

Deduno had a great night tonight -- more walks than the Twins might like, but he was money when there were runners on base.

Please tell more about Trolpo.

OK, maybe a bit of exaggeration, but at the very least he is facing some of the top MLB players from a number of teams.

If Deduno completes 4 or 5 strong innings tonight against what is essentially an all-star level lineup, then I am hoping that some people might reconsider their thinking about him.

I can agree with this and am thrilled that Deduno is pitching in the championship game tonight. If he continues to pitch well, then I am hoping that he gets a fair chance to be in the Twins' rotation, and possibly even pitch the first or second game this season.

Can California members participate by Skype?

I will be thrilled if he makes it, but am not upset that he is starting at Rochester. I do hope that he gets lots of playing time in Rochester so that he can continue to acclimate to high level baseball and, hopefully, prove himself even more.

If Colabello can perform in Rochester, then I would expect that he will be called up at some point. This move makes sense to me, considering his lack of experience at AAA and the need to get Parmelee maximum game time during spring training.

Perhaps he means not swinging at strikes when the count is favorable? Or not swinging at first pitch strikes?

Ulysses S. Grant?

I think that this is probably correct, but I have some doubts. First, maybe the Twins see potential in Correia that we don't see and maybe Correia will surprise us to the upside. Second, DeVries and Deduno are somewhat unproven.

I like Shane's analysis of this, but wonder if Willingham, Doumit and Parmelee would fetch a decent SS, 3B and SP. I also worry about trading these three players and taking the risk that Morneau gets injured again. I am hoping that Morneau gets back to his MVP form. If the Twins are sellers at the trade deadline, I would think that a healthy Morneau might fetch a lot better prospect(s) than the other three combined. And if the Twins are anywhere near contending at the trade deadline, it seems to me that Morneau (and Willingham) should be virtually untouchable -- these are proven players who (along with Mauer) could carry the Twins to the wild card or better.

Watching Deduno pitch tonight confirmed to me that he has a very high upside, but he could also be a disaster. Assuming that the Twins are probably not going to be contenders this year, I hope that Deduno gets a generous opportunity to prove himself. It seems to me that Deduno looked significantly better tonight than he did last year. Do you agree?

Terry Ryan seems optimistic in this article from the Twins website: "He's in Tampa and will have surgery on that rib in the next couple of days," Twins general manager Terry Ryan said. "This is something a lot of people have had. We've had four guys have this in the past. A blood clot is certainly a serious situation, but they'll remove that first rib and he'll be back in time." Hopefully the situation is not as bad as it sounded.