yarnivek1972

And they just sent Turley BACK to AA. I'm sorry, But I see zero justification for that action. If there are too many pitchers at AAA, get rid of some of them. Wimmers can go. Rucinski can go. Wilk was never needed. I'm not sure Chapman will prove worthy of a spot either, but am willing to give him a look. There is certainly nothing special about Tepesch, Slegers, Wheeler or Hurlbut. I'm certainly not suggesting letting them all go, but it's Falvey's job to evaluate these guys and construct the rosters accordingly. IMO there is too much flotsam at AAA standing in the way of the development of pieces that could potentially help at the MLB level. It's not just roster spots, it's opportunities to pitch that are being missed because the manager has to try to juggle 15 pitchers. Maybe Falvey will promote pitchers from AA. The Twins certainly don't have recent history of doing so. Did the Indians under Falvey? I honestly do not know.

Breslow has never been a long guy. He's far more likely to be flipped to a different team that will use him as a loogy. That really is all he is. He is getting lefties out better than the last couple yesrs, but he has also walked 3 of the 20 or so he has seen. That isn't helpful IMO.

Too early to say. That's why he needs to be at AAA. At almost 28, he does not belong in AA for basically two full months.

One could argue that Nik Turley has been more dominant in AA than Nick Burdi. Think about that for a minute.

It's yet again evidence that the FO hasn't truly decided whether this team are contenders or not. If they are contenders, chances are you would be fast tracking Burdi at least to see if he can improve the late inning productivity. But, if they are not contenders, you might be more inclined to take the time and let him develop more.

IMO it was a mistake to put Turley back down in AA. He's way too old for AA and is clearly dominating AA hitters. Will it play in AAA and beyond? Don't know. But I do know we won't find out with him continuing to strikeout 2 AA hitters every inning.

Not based on last year's results. Last year, LHB posted a .580 OPS while RHB were at .850. This year, he's hardly allowed any baserunners at all, but at a higher rate to RHB. It's one reasonthat IMO he needs some time in AAA. To find out if he can get more advanced RHB out.

Falvey still hasn't decided whether the Twins are contenders or not. A contender would not have Justin Haley on the roster.

Just saw that Adalberto Mejia left the game after 3 innings. He had only thrown 33 pitches and allowed 1 hit. Any news?

I get that Escobar is hitting LHP well. But I don't think I am out of line saying that one's utility infielder should never be the starting DH. Also, Max Kepler is never going to improve vs LHP if he never sees them.

Dude, that's EVERY night. Even when he was good he induced a lot of contact.

Belisle has performed poorly. Yeah, I've heard the couple bad outings excuse. 11 BB in 14 IP is not acceptable for a MLB pitcher. Under any circumstances. Breslow is smoke and mirrors IMO. He's allowed only 2 hits in 17 or so at bats to lefties. But he's walked 3 and only struck out 2. That's not what I would call terribly effective.

I'd say a doubleheader Thursday is more likely. They usually give the visitor the option. The Rockies head to Cincinnatti this weekend and that's only a 2 hour flight or so. My guess is that they would rather not come back because they likely would be flying long distances in a handful of days if they looked for a day off.

I have never heard of such a thing. Perhaps if it is a new rule.

A postponement in the Rockie series would likely mean a double header this week. They won't bring Colorado back unless they have no choice. Tonight should be okay. Tomorrow looks iffy. Could mean a double header Thursday. The Rockies go to Cincy next, so an evening game departure would be okay.

Bad weather in upstate New York is certainly nothing unusual for spring. But the culprit a lot of the time ends up being snow. There have to be some places in the area that have set weekly rainfall totals in the past 2-3 weeks.

I'm not sure how to read sending Turley to EST. The Twins will have to send someone down or out to make room for Berrios. Isn't it pretty likely that whoever that is takes Berrios' AAA roster spot?

No runs. But don't know that I would call it great. 5 walks.

What was the exit velocity on that laser?

I hope Berrios is in the dugout watching Ervin PITCH and get hitters out without his best stuff and without the best command. Watching Ervin pitch is the biggest reason why I have wanted Berrios up for a few weeks.

If nothing else, I suspect the next three weeks will answer this question. Up until now, the Twins have played a lot of teams that are currently below .500 and have not done well against the teams above .500 that they have seen. The Twins will play 4 teams that currently lead their divisions in the next 3 weeks. It will be by far their biggest test of the young season. In 3 weeks time the Twins will have played a little less than 1/3 of their schedule and I think we will all have a better idea of the answer to this question.

Not sure what else Melotakis can do. He doesn't control where he pitches. His strikeout pitch has been a little inconsistent. He had a two week stretch covering 6 appearances where he did not strike anyone out. And then he struck out the side just a few days ago. His numbers otherwise are very good. Just 2 extra base hits and just 3 walks allowed so far. He's getting both lefties and righties out. He has an insanely low BABIP of .154. So, he's either been very lucky or doing a good job inducing weak contact.

I think Hildenberger is a guy that can help at the MLB level as well. Minor league numbers better than Neshek's? As Ob-Wan Kenobi said, "what you say is true, from a certain point of view". Some are, some are not. First, Hildenberger is already a year older than Neshek was when he made his MLB debut. And Neshek stuck. He didn't ride the shuttle back and forth to Rochester once he made it up. In 2006 in AAA, Neshek was used as an "old school" closer. By that I mean he often came into the game in the 8th and a couple times in the 7th, and finished the game - you're going to have to take my word for it, BR doesn't have minor league game logs prior to 2008. But Neshek made 33 appearances in the first half of 2006 (finished 23 of them), and pitched 60 innings. Hildenberger is being used primarily 1 IP at a time. There's nothing wrong with that approach except that I think part of the reason why Neshek was used that way was to accelerate his development. He essentially got a full season's worth of innings at AAA in half a season. Of course, Neshek was more of true sidearmer. I've never seen Hildenberger pitch, but from what I have heard he does sometimes use a "conventional" delivery. Which brings me to my second point. Neshek obliterated AAA. 6 hits per 9, 13 K per 9. Through 10 innings, Hildenberger has allowed 8.4 hits per 9 and "only" 10 K per 9. Obviously far fewer IP than Neshek at the AAA level, so who is to say where his numbers will go. But that brings me to my third point. As I said, Neshek had 60 IP at AAA before getting called up. If that is the standard the Twins use with Hildenberger, he won't be up before September. Frankly that would be true of any of the other guys (Burdi, Melotakis, et al) as well. I don't know that 60 IP at AAA will be the standard used by Falvey. I suspect it will not if the Twins fall out of contention. But if the Twins do stay in contention with the bullpen they have, Falvey would be quite justified in saying "Why change it?"

Something to consider is that if the Twins start trading veterans like Ervin and Dozier for pitching will Sano want to sign? Will he feel that the Twins are committed to winning? He's going to get paid no matter what. But he may feel that his best chance for true greatness is to be on a perrenial contender as opposed to a perrenial also ran. Questions only he can really answer. So, I think the Twins have to either extend Sano before making those trades or sit down and talk to him about the direction of the team.

Of course, just at AAA it is 4.15 with a HR allowed every 9 IP. And then of course those MLB numbers...