nicksaviking

I think everyone's still at First Avenue.

I've been critical of several of the recent moves and non-moves, but Murphy not getting added to the 25-man might mean they get it. One thing to consider, completely hypothetical of course, Ryan may have liked Murphy as a bench player but once promoted he would have little control of Murphy would actually ride pine or if Molitor would favor the vet and play him every day. Not calling him up could be a sign that Ryan understands he and Molitor are pretty much forced to view success differently; short term vs long term.

Tell that to Oliver Perez.

As far as I can see, Murphy has not been recalled.

I'm glad the young guys will now get a shot at playing every day, including (particularly) Arcia. I also hope that with Santana as the 4th OF, who is capable but not excellent on defense, Sano no longer is pulled in the 8th. Now the hard part: get the most expendable/expensive/redundant players to play at or above their skill levels until July so they can be traded to clear room for the rest of the youngsters.

I really don't like the position the fans are being put in with this move. No one wants to cheer against Milone and/or the team, yet now that's clearly going to happen even if subconsciously. Just rip the freakin' band-aid off, don't use these prospects as scare tactic motivation for the incumbents, that's not fair for either of the players. So now Meyer is on the 25-man playing with a bunch of guys who know he is only there to take someone's job and Milone is there knowing his job is on the line and everyone else knows that if Milone comes through, they may be next on the chopping block. Just make the move. I'd rather have angry players than fearful players, particularly if we're talking about pitchers.

I don't have any plans for that, I hope the team has a good feel for what's needed. I'm simply saying where Buxton plays shouldn't be predicated on trying to win 75 games instead of 70 games.

Buxton may need to go to AAA for some confidence boosting and/or adjustments, but not because he creates a black hole in the offense. At this point the goal should be sustained long term winning, not a few extra wins in 2016.

I hate to be a downer, but the young guys need to learn how to handle struggling before they will get consistent success. This is the price they needed to pay when they didn't play more of the young guys last September, and earlier. I understand the reasoning, this isn't revisionist history, it was just clear last year that they were sacrificing development for their chance at making the playoffs. However at some point they have to accept that developing these guys and contending are highly unlikely to occur at the same time. Rebuilding isn't supposed to be pain-free, this was the contract we entered into when they decided the best path to contention was to mostly rely on rebuilding the system. Bite the bullet, purge the vets by any means necessary and make sure all the young guys are starting every day either at the MLB or AAA if they need a remedial adjustment. This team is still functioning in an old-school mentality if they actually think these vets are the key to winning a few extra games this year anyway, if they paid any kind of attention last year, they'd see that the vets got in the way and youngsters and their superior physical abilities were the better players anyway. The worst thing that could happen for this club is a quasi-run where they may look like they could sniff .500, causing the team to double down on the vets despite no empirical evidence, just archaic conventional wisdom that experience matters. I do NOT want to do this again next year, rip the band-aid off now and get it over with.

Well yeah, but had Duffey been facing the Twins he would have had double digit Ks despite not even going 5 innings.

I'm comfortable with 17 since we still have Milone. He's basically #18 as he's now a better offensive option than a pitching option.

Don't be so hard on the Puritans, they were strong supporters of science and education for all. And beer, lots and lots of beer.

"Game over, man" either way.

Weren't you around when we finally solved the catcher situation? That was a great day, sorry you missed it, we threw a huge party.

At this point we may have no choice but to make bathrooms labeled "Sex Offender" and "Non-Sex Offender". Though to hear guys like Cruz talk, the lines for the "Sex Offender" room might be too long.

It's not the size of your staff that matters, so I'm told. And so Bush found out it seems.

Funny, Mastroianni has always struck a chord with me because of 8 1/2, not because I particularly liked the movie, but because the first time I saw the name Marcello Mastroianni, I wondered how many other names have three consecutive vowels in it. Then Darin comes along and that stupid thought enters my brain every time I hear his name. Edit: Wait, that was your reference right? Tell me it wasn't just a lucky word association and I just outed myself as a pretentious prick who has seen a Fellini film(s).

More like a scapegoat. Who shot DT? Some Canadian guy officer! I swear.

Great, I love when I come downstairs from putting the kids to bed and the game's already over. Stupid East Coast blowouts.

The CIA had Tim Leary trick him into it.

The part where 50% of his entire strikeout total this season came in his first four games. The ball hasn't been falling in, but until yesterday, his strikeouts had toned down since his ugly first impression.

I'm just going to go ahead and like this and read the article after. I already know it's a like.

How is Duffey going to prove that, if he isn't actually given a shot to prove it? I don't have high expectations for Duffey, but he did well last year and I'm not willing to toss that aside and yell "Fluke" without him getting a chance to prove it wrong. This team isn't a contender, the batters are young and too strikeout prone, the lineup isn't balanced or constructed well, the bullpen is still relying on middling vets and AAAA guys and the starters are spectacularly unreliable for guys who's most glowing praise is always "experienced veteran". Unless we want to continue pushing back the timeline because the young starters and relievers haven't had a chance to take their MLB lumps, they need to get called up this year and get considerable reps. I would rather watch Meyer, Berrios and Duffey lose 85 games than watch Nolasco, Hughes and Milone lose 80. And frankly, after watching the Twins young bats last year and the young players league-wide, I really see very little reason to expect the veterans to outperform the young arms.

I don't care who the Twins best starters are right now, if and when this club is ever a contender, they aren't going to be the best starters then. Game-to-game and year-to-year Nolasco and Hughes are as inconsistent as starting pitchers come, inning-to-inning, that title might fall on Milone. You don't have to milk the cow until every last drop comes out, if it's nearly dried up and a new cow has a good chance of producing more, move on to the new one. Also, why are you putting 100% of your Duffey evaluation on his unspectacular but still capable minor league numbers and 0% on his performance last year? Most folks would objectively say that earned him another good look. Edit: I've never been on a farm, is that how cows work?

Also, aside from Santana, it's not like we're talking about some low-ceiling, boring-but-consistent starters like Mike Leake or Bronson Arroyo, we are talking about some of the most volatile starters in the game. On any given day, heck, any given year, these guys can and have been among the worst starters in the league. At this point we are basically equating the term "depth" with "experience".