bighat

Kinda bummed. Would love to see the Twins pull a rabbit out of their hat and surprise us all with Sonny Gray! Abracadabra!

I agree. If I were a betting man, I'd say this is dead in the water. Darn.

Not so fast gang. Reports are that the deal may fall through. "The Braves are reportedly talking to other teams about Jaime Garcia; Twins deal not complete."

Hughes, yes. He's done for the year and might even call it a career. As for Santiago, the Twins seem to have some bizarre fantasy that he's still got something left. I'd take Gibson in a heartbeat over Santiago in every capacity at this point (which says more about my feelings on Santiago than Gibson I might add).

Furiously checking LEN III's twitter account this morning as well as mlbtraderumors.com - still no word as of 7:45am local on the Garcia deal. LEN III did tweet that the Twins are still 'monitoring' the Sonny Gray situation as well. What if we got Garcia AND Gray? Oh me oh my.

Woohoo! This shows the Twins think the Central is winnable division and that they're interested in going for a playoff run. If you're complaining, go suck a lemon! Let's all enjoy this competitive move! Go Twins!

The Twins are a half game out. They've been hanging in all season. They don't need much to hang in there, one would thing a solid acquisition along with another small deal would get them into the playoffs. Why would anyone want to sell? Twins fans have got to stop having such a low opinion of themselves and this team. Stop being a self-loathing Minnesotan and friggin' GO FOR IT! We can do this guys!

Duffey is an odd case. He looks good out there and passes the eye test. But his numbers and situational pitching have just been plain bad. The other day against the Astros he loaded the bases and had to be bailed out by Rogers. Yesterday night he blew the win (for Mejia) and once again had to be bailed out by Rogers. This isn't a recent trend, this has been going on for at least a month with Duffey. His ERA is skyrocketing. At this point, if the game is close it seems that he should be in for 1-2 batters max. Don't send him out there again if he finishes an inning. Otherwise, maybe he's better suited for mop-up duty at this point. Maybe Hughes and Duffey can switch roles. Very disappointed in Duffey lately and I think he's almost becoming a weak spot for the Twins. Polanco....hmmm. He's pressing. I saw a swing against the Astros a few days ago where the ball almost hit him in the shins, and he still swung (and missed). He's just out there hacking and everything, trying to do too much. When's the last time you saw him take a walk? When was his last 2-hit game? Escobar's the man! Too bad Buxton's out. I can see why the Twins kept Granite in the minors so long, even though he's been doing well in AAA. The guy looks like a 12 year-old out there. Like Jose Altuve but without the pop. Loving Mejia lately. He's definitely a solid #3 right now (for the Twins, anyway). I'm dreading Santiago's return....

Why didn't Molitor challenge that play? Terrible game management per usual from the hometown favorite.

Awful game for Castro.

Pressley, ugh.

How in the h-e-double hockey sticks do the Twins struck out 10 times in 3 2/3 innings? What is this, April 2016? Awful start.

I think Sano will have his hands full with Mike "Juice-stakas". Going up against the 2017 version of Brady Anderson is a tough way to start the competition. Moustakas has hit 25 HR this year so far. His previous high for a season is 22 (2015). He hit 15 in 2014 and 12 in 2013. Something smells very rotten here.

Looks like a Vermilion Flycatcher: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Vermilion_Flycatcher/id

I'm a bit of a birder, living in a good place for it and such. Down here we have these awesome Streak-backed and Spot-breasted orioles. http://i64.tinypic.com/dmuo8p.jpg

Great to see Bux have a nice game today, he needed that (and so did we all). Here's hoping for slow, steady progress from him as the year goes on. Hey, 2 sac flies from Adrianza, love seeing the little things done right. Good game and a happy 4th for all!

Santiago needs a phantom trip to the DL - get him off this team, pronto. I'd rather watch guys who might have a future, like Jorge. Santiago is a washed-up has-been, a Mike Pelfrey type guy who gives the team absolute zero chance to win. It's clear the Angels jobbed the Twins on that trade but at this point Santiago's a sunk cost and if the Twins want to maintain respectability he's got to go. Sano lost his lead for the All Star Game and won't be starting. Not that Ramirez isn't having a good year, don't get me wrong. But gee whiz, gimme a break with this online voting system and the #Vote5TimesPerDay hastags and whatnot. The average fan doesn't want to see Ramirez starting at 3B. But he will because of the combined power of a hyper-local social media campaign. 'Member the Royals getting all the starters a couple years ago? Cripes. I work in technology and love it, but it's pretty embarrassing to watch MLB try and appear tech-savvy when it's clear they don't see how flawed this type of system is. The MLB doesn't seem to care about the integrity of the process. It's all about clicks and social media metrics - none of which truly measure...anything. On the bright side, we've all got Tuesday off work and many of us aren't working Monday, either. I'm going to be planting some bamboo in my jardin down here and digging in the dirt. Big Minneapolis trip coming up in 10 days, looking forward to spending some time "back home" as well!

Jorge finished strong after a dreadful first inning. I was watching the KC feed and one thing they remarked on often was that Jorge had "no deception" when he was pitching. He doesn't have much movement, as has been discussed. I think this could be something the Twins can work on with him. That said, congrats to the kid. Impressed! Santana, Mejia, Berrios, Jorge, and Gibson are the best 5 starters the Twins have right now. Hector Santiago has been absolutely awful and I'm worried the Royals will be taking batting practice off him in a few hours. I'm guessing the over/under on this afternoon's game is gonna be 9.5 or something quite high! Nice to see Sano connect on a couple big swings. Dude's crushing KC so far!

At some point, we've got to stop blaming the Twins (front office, hitting coach, manager, teammates) and start putting this on Buxton. He's the guy who has to go out there and DO THE THING. Aside from a meaningless, pressure-free September in 2016 he simply hasn't hit. He's the same age or older than lots of guys who are All-Stars: Francisco Lindor, Carlos Correa, Addison Russel, Corey Seager just to name a few. But even if you put Buxton next to an average 23 year-old MLB player his numbers look awful. Not just below average. Plain stinkin' bad. You can be the most talented actor in the world, but if you can't perform on stage it doesn't really matter. Buxton needs to figure this out on his own because it doesn't look like anyone else can do it for him.

Great to see Santiago back. We can expect more 100-pitch, 4+ inning outings watching his ERA continue to balloon. This guy is awful. As I've said before, I'd run Gibson out there in a heartbeat before giving the ball to Hector. He had a few nice early outings but those are long gone. Even his DL stint was simply just to let the guy sit on the bench for a couple weeks. I think he's firmly solidified his place as the Worst Starter on the Twins. If anyone sees something good in Santiago, I'm all ears. I'd also wonder what you were smoking, but I'd still listen!

Jumping on the Whine Line: So, Buxton is just a .200 hitter with speed and great defense, eh? A poor man's Jerrod Dyson if the Twins are lucky. Too bad. As for Berrios, he's turned out to be a gem. Thankful the Twins have finally hit the jackpot on one of those prospects! Sano's striking out like nobody's business lately. Remember that game a month ago when he had 5 singles? I'd love to see him stop trying to crush the ball and get back to basics.

Watching the Boston broadcast right now. According to Boston broadcasters, every player on the Red Sox is "probably the best in the league" at a particular skill (baserunning, hitting with 2 outs, pitching, etc)

Berrios looking less-than-composed. Frowny face.

Sale has trouble with the Twins for whatever reason, his career numbers against Minnesota are far below his averages. Would be nice to sneak in a 'W' here. Gonna be a tough series for our boys, though.

Not sure what Duffey did to get pulled. Pitched too well? Bringing in Rogers to pitch to Encarnacion seemed like a bad idea.