Benchwarmerjim

Alex Rodriguez is still a Twins assassin. Hit 3 home runs tonight including one of the longest hits If ever seen, went to the 3rd deck in left center field.

Since the beginning of 2014, Brian Dozier has hit 59 doubles, 43 home runs, and scored 181 runs.

the Tigers are a .500 team at the ASbreak. Didnt see that coming. The Twins are +9. Did not see that coming either.

If it were me, Berrios would be pitching in the Majors now. Its a bit tricky with the Twins pitching right now because of the Nolasco contract. That is a lot of money to eat to bring up a prospect. Mike Pelfrey is the obvious man to be traded but he has been pitching fantastic this year (although with a bit of a smoke and mirror act) and they seem to like him. Hughes is a mainstay, Gibson has done what they have asked. Trevor May has been striking everyone out (as far as Twins pitching can be a strikeout artist). This was supposed to be the last year of the rebuild but has turned into 'hey we are in a playoff position in the middle of June for the first time in forever'. I honestly dont know what Terry Ryan and the rest of the bigwigs will do.

They bought out Dozier arb years in the offseason so he is going to be around for a few years. Plouffe, I dont know. He has turned himself into a pretty good player and would hate to give that up after a decade of not having a good 3bman (Joe Crede was probably the best of the lot since Corey Koskie, but Crede got hurt). I have no idea where they are going to stick Sano, but he will be up sometime this year.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 13, 2015 -> 06:03 PM) Minnesota's in a huge funk right now...not sure if he's ready, but the same thinking with the Astros bringing up Correa in the middle of a losing streak. Inject some excitement and enthusiasm. The Twins are also down to 1 outfielder because of Hunter's suspension and Aaron Hicks getting hurt during batting practice. The Twins played yesterday with a 1 man bench and that was Suzuki getting a day off from catching.

Twins top prospect Byron Buxton has 11 triples in 42 games this year. Here is video from earlier this year. He is the blur running to third base

the Twins are .500 against the AL Central (14-14), .778 against everyone else (7-2)

QUOTE (flavum @ May 9, 2015 -> 12:09 PM) Right on time to face the Sox in 10-11 days if he makes it that far. I dont think he is making it that far. He was pretty awful today.

Depending on the outcome of KC-DET, Cleveland could be 8.5 games out of first and 8 games below .500 and is the low mark in the overall AL standings.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 8, 2015 -> 07:53 AM) Btw, Kyle Gibson owns the Royals and is pedestrian against the rest of the AL. I know wins and losses are not the end-all-be-all stat, but Gibson's ERA splits between "win" and "loss" are amazing in Wins 18-0 ERA 1.42 in Losses 0-18 ERA 10.47 in No Dec. (11games) 0-0 ERA 3.36

The Twins are 3 games above .500 for the first time since 2010. Thats insane.

Cleveland is off to a terrible start. They are at an AL low 6 wins. The lowly Twins have 8.

Im sure you guys discussed it in your game thread last night, but Yordano Ventura is a clown. Im all for showing some emotion and flair on the ball field, but he went over the line to straight up taunting.

Cleveland scored only 8 runs all series against Minnesota, and have only scored 35 in 11 games. Woof.

Even though they held Cleveland at bay last night, this years Twins bullpen is awful and maybe worse than their starting pitchers (outside of Perkins and Fien).

I dont think Ryan has had trouble adjusting. He is fixing a broken farm system that started under his old watch and really dried up under Bill Smith (serious, go look up the Twins 1st round draft picks Before Buxton, it has not been productive). Smith did some good things like be more aggressive in the International market, but the Johan Santana trade (he was in a bad position with Santana poised to break the bank with a contract) and the bad drafting really set the franchise back. Recent comments during the Torii Hunter signing is a bit worrying. Asked about why did they sign Hunter despite all the advanced numbers saying he is a terrible fielder, Ryan said (paraphrasing) we've seen him play, we know what he can do. Molitior seems to have a bit of an open mind about advanced stats and say he plans on using advantages. But since he has never managed, its a wait and see thing for me. Molitor has said that he plans on playing Danny Santana at SS. I am excited about Vargas. The sound the ball makes coming off his bat is different. Its "that sound", you know what I mean? But he kind of hit a wall after Labor Day. I honestly dont know what he is going to be. Being the next Ortiz is probably reaching too high of a ceiling.

Its Hughes Nolasco Gibson Ervin Santana then some sort of combination of Mike Pelfrey ($5 mil contract ugh. But I think he would be an awesome bullpen arm in the Wade Davis mold. But I think he doesnt want to go that route)/Trevor May (again, probabl better suited for bullpen)/ Alex Meyer/Trevor Milone (traded from A's last year)/Jose Berrios (the Twins denied his request to pitch in winter ball to rest up his arm)/ another FA signing/spring training surprise like a Mark Hamburger. While Nolasco is probably better than what his stats show (he was hurt most of the year, and got no help from a pathetic defense), he is probably suited to play in the National League and I think if any team gave the Twins a fair or even slightly below fair deal, they would unload him in a heartbeat.

There is 0% chance Nolasco is a Twin in 2019. Or 2018. I bet he gets traded before Aug 1

QUOTE (greg775 @ Nov 20, 2014 -> 10:55 PM) I think the Sox blew it not getting involved with Billy Butler...... Honestly, I thought the White Sox would sign him .

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Nov 17, 2014 -> 11:58 PM) Must be frustrating to see Morneau had the kind of season he had for Colorado (finally), but there's no way they could keep paying him with those expectations (performing at near MVP level like five or six years ago). Nah, Im pretty happy for him. At least he gets to go out playing at a halfway decent level (caveat being one concussion away from being done) And turns out it trading Morneau made room for Mauer playing first.

Thats a lot of money to a player who has gotten a lot of concussions.

Wow, that is amazing.

no. you guys can have him back =p

Im about 75% sure its going to be Molitor. He was pegged to take over for Tom Kelly back in 2001, but the contraction issue made take the Twins job not the surest thing. He's been a roving instructor for many years before coming back to the bench this year (was a coach under the Kelly regime). He is "one of us" (Minnesota love their own). Also as caulfield said a couple posts ago, Molitor has a brilliant baseball mind. Just thinking about it, I think the short list is (in order of likeliness): Molitor Mientkiewicz Outsider Steinbach (probably going to end up in Arizona) Jake Mauer (Cedar Rapids manager and Joe Mauer's brother)