Minnesota Twins Talk

Judging from the 'reluctance' by the Twins to bring up Parmelee to be an 'utility' (DH/1B/RF) player for the rest of the season; to me signals that the Twins may be ready to deal Morneau in the offseason. Any takers? Who could Morneau go to and for what? Judging from recent trades we could probably expect prospects in the range of C+ to D-... Talk about it.

If the club is looking for incentive for a strong finish, here it is. http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/blog_article/minnesota-verging-on-unwanted-franchise-history/ He notes that they went over .500 in 2006 after dropping below in 1997.

According to the PiPress's John Shipley, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire would welcome the idea of a six-man rotation come September. Said Gardy: Given that the Twins will be holding some auditions for the rotation, I say the more the merrier.

http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/8285687/mlb-future-power-rankings-2012-nos-16-30 Unfortunatley the twins have dropped from 25 to 26. I can't blame them as our farm system is void of pitching. If you could play baseball with 9 outfeilders, we would be number 1 in terms of future ratings.

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/08/21/frustrated-carl-pavano-shut-down-after-new-diagnsosis/ And a nice shot at the Twins Medical Staff on the way out the door.

Twins beat writer for mlb.com Rhett Bollinger just tweeted, "#MNTwins are set to recall Liam Hendriks from Triple-A Rochester. He'll start tomorrow against the A's." Certainly no surprise. It will be fun to see what adjustments he makes over the next 6 weeks.

Can anyone think of a realistic trade for Blackburn involving another player with a bad contract? I would rather see something in return instead if just releasing either during or after spring training.

http://www.1500espn.com/sportswire/Mackey_Scott_Diamond_has_been_good_but_lets_not_get_carried_away081912

There is nothing wrong with taking steroids as long as you are an adult.Roger Clemens didn't hurt anybody. Lots of people were using steroids. Secondly, steroids should not be illegal. Taking steroids is the same as if i created a excercise routine noone else did but made me stronger than others. Steroids are just another way to get stronger.You minnesotans are evil not roger clemens.you are naieve,judgemental rotten people.Note to all of you fargo wannabes ,taking steroids is not wrong as long as you are an adult,and they don't hurt anyone. It's not cheating,it's just another way to get stronger,no different than finding a better excercise routine. I am telling all of yo…

I know he's exceeded the 130 AB limit to qualify as a prospect or a rookie for 2013, but what if the Twins hadn't rushed Parmelee straight from AA at the beginning of 2012 and he had spent the entire year mashing in AAA? Where would he rank in terms of Twins/MLB top prospects? Parmelee's recent 1.136 OPS is very pretty, but how good is it for a 24-year-old first baseman?

Twins announce that they will outright Nick Blackburn and Tsuyoshi Nishioka off the 40-man roster. Since being recalled from Rochester, Blackburn had made six starts only to compile a 0-4 record with an pear-shaped 6.11 ERA while opponents hit .351/.367/.576. The Twins, who had beat the drums that there would be no more "scholarships" for their players, reacted swiftly to Blackburn's struggles and recent quotes which seems to irk the front office. Clearly the Twins were not sold on Blackburn's ability to bounce back. As assistant GM Rob Antony told reporters on Saturday in Seattle: Nishioka, meanwhile, had been hitting .252/.311/.313 in the International League …

http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/166652456.html Joe takes a look at five pitchers we've been talking about a lot on this board: Berrios, Gibson, Hendriks, Fernandez & Vasquez. His description of Fernandez is underwhelming. I'm not sure why he included him with these others.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/blogs/166676076.html Christensen looks at Mauer's 9th inning at-bat last night, the one in which he walked to load the bases, and wonders why he never got the bat off his shoulder in six pitches. I gotta disagree with Joe on this one. I watched that at-bat and I was watching to see if Mauer had anything he could really hit. I concluded that he didn't have anything he could really work with, though one pitch wasn't terrible.

A few weeks ago, the Twins and Lee County FL officials announced a long term extension of the Twins' lease for Hammond Stadium and the Lee County Sports Complex, contingent on agreement on something like $45 million in needed updates for the complex. While there have been some articles lately citing some differences over who might have naming rights to the stadium, it seemed like a deal was never really in doubt. But has that changed this week? The most senior, and arguably most ST-friendly, member of the Lee County Commission, has lost in his party's primary election and his support of stadium deals for MLB teams (the Red Sox got a new complex and the county is negot…

When Carl Pavano was on the Yankees and was injured for years fans dubbed him "American Idle." Pavano has been on the DL since early June due to rotator cuff weakness. I'm guessing the rehabilitation for a weakened shoulder/rotator cuff is to strengthen it via exercises, eventually long toss, and finally pitching off a mound and then minor league rehab assignments. Pavano finally pitched in the minors last Thursday but his fastball could only reach the mid-80's. This got me to wondering: Does it seem like it's taken a long time to get to his minor league rehab pitching assignment? Two months and two weeks. Is he coasting on his guaranteed contract?

I was listening to the game last night on my way home from a wedding (Gladden didn't kill me this time but one of these days I will fall asleep behind the wheel and accidentally crash into, and kill, a family of 6...which is why it's irresponsible at best to allow Gladden near a microphone), and good old G money briefly mentioned some sort of roster action involving Blackburn coming in the next few days.....any idea what he was hinting at?

It sure seems like the Twins have been swept a lot this year. They have been swept 10 times, including 6 times at home. They have also swept 3 series, 2 at home. I don't imagine anyone keeps these kind of records, do they? Sweeps lost: April 0-3 @Bal 0-3 Tex 0-3 Bos May 0-3 @LAA 0-2 Cle 0-3 Det July 0-3 Oak 0-3 @CHW Aug 0-3 TBR 0-3 @Sea Sweeps won: May 2-0 @Det 3-0 Oak July 3-0 Cle

120 down, 42 to go. 50 wins, 70 losses. Worst in the AL. 3 games worse than last year's team at this point. Already more losses than the 2010 squad. Depressing times in Twins Territory. We haven't even hit opening day of the State Fair, and I'm starting to turn my attention to the T-Wolves. (The Wild, sadly, will be locked out, and I don't really want to think about the Vikings.) The 2011 Twins went 10-32 over their final 42. Hopefully we'll see something a lot better than that this year. But perhaps, perversely, it would be better if we didn't. I can't imagine 2 consecutive seasons of sucking that badly in the last 2 months wouldn't result in some pret…

Lately, in the last 5 games, 3B Trevor Plouffe has gone 1 for his last 20 ABs. I'm starting to get concerned about his injury. I remember him saying something along the lines of "It's an injury that won't go away until the offseason, but I'll just have to tough it out through the rest of the season." The question is, what should the Twins do about Plouffe? Have him keep swinging until he finds a rhythm? Put him on the DL? Or should they consider shutting him down for the season? One last question to ask is, who should play 3B if Plouffe is going to miss extended time? Source Article: http://www.twincities.com/twins/ci_21349973/minnesota-twins-trevor-plouffes-play-at-thir…

Okay, we're starting up the picture of the week again. For those of you not in the know, the way it works is this: I post a couple of pictures. You pick a photo you like, quote me on it (so we know which photo you're referencing!) and then add your own caption. I haven't picked a cutoff deadline yet but it will be sometime next week. We'll see how it plays out. Don't like either photo? Then go find your own and caption it. The contest isn't limited to only the photos I choose each week. The best caption is chosen and posted on the forum main page. If you're chosen, you win my eternal gratitude (seven days of it, anyway) and nothing else. This week's subject is…

I couldn't find an easy resource for this. 18 yr olds and younger at time of signing need to be added after five seasons (including the signing year season), 19 yrs old and older after four seasons. Aaron Hicks and probably all high schoolers drafted in 2008 have to be added to the 40. This includes BJ Hermsen, Kolten Wong (oh, wait), and George Springer (oh, wait). Ok, I'm being unfair here. Lots of players don't sign with teams. So Hicks and Hermsen... And college players in 2009: Kyle Gibson, Chris Herrmann, and Dakota Watts (?). Matt Bashore and Billy Bullock and Ben Tootle will not have to be added, unfortunately. Anybody else who we'd be afraid to lose? …

Breaking off a topic in another thread.... Who are your predictions for the team. Rules Each Major League organization is required to provide six players subject to the following requirements: All Triple-A and Double-A players are eligible, provided the players are on at least a Double-A level roster no later than Aug. 1. One player below the Double-A level is allowed per Major League team. One foreign player is allowed, as long as the player does not reside in a country that participates in winter ball, as part of the Caribbean Confederation or the Australian winter league. No players with more than one year of credited Major League service as of August 31 are eligib…

John Shipley of the Pioneer Press wrote an article disclosing the following: http://www.twincities.com/twins/ci_21345979/pearl-jams-eddie-vedder-minnesota-twins-rock?source=most_viewed This is great news and may be the beginning of the end of the Twins misfortunes the last few seasons. Onward to Victory!!!!

http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/166663226.html I can't imagine he would be an asset in the bullpen, and AAA is almost over. What options are there?

to the team/40 man roster between now & start of FA & discuss reasons For me... DFA Blackie & recall Vasquez (takes Nicks 40 man spot) or Henriks now....show fans you are done with Nick & contract wont be a reason. Can be now or end of minor league season/even offseason DFA Jeff Gray & readd to 40 man/recall Anthony Slama. Anthony will be a 6 yr FA, never had a chance & has an option left End of minor league season/Sept 1st Recall...Pedro Hernandez, Deolis Guerra, Hendriks or Vasquez, Arcia, Escobar DFA Nishi & add Aaron Hicks/recall Hicks If Pavano/Walters to be activated/added to 40 man....DFA Perdomo/Manship(6yr FA & out of options r…

I think they're on a pace for about 69 wins. Will they possibly hit 75?

and doesn't looks likely to play today... http://www.twincities.com/twins/ci_21345983/minnesota-twins-denard-span-misses-fifth-straight-game So at the end of today, Span will have been unavailable for a week and still not on the DL. Is he close to returning? Well. That tells us exactly nothing. Here's the thing: if they don't know when he's going to return, then it likely means it's not close and he should be on the DL. And if they know, then tell us. "Doing some thing?" "Moving in the right direction?" "Feeling better?" Really? And here's the other thing: I have delayed starting this thread for a couple days because I know it isn't likely to generate a lot of…

Do nice guys always finish last? It goes without saying that the Twins have experienced success in the last decade or so. Sure, no rings, but 6 division titles in the last 10 years isn't anything to scoff at. As I'm sure all of you remember, however, the Twins always failed to string wins together, losing their last 5 ALDS appearances by a collective (2-15). Ouch. That actually hurt to type. 4 out of the 5 appearances the Twins fell to the Yankees in brutal fashion, again as I'm sure everyone here is aware. The Yankees always seemed to have the Twins number, throttling our poor Twinkies even during the regular season. I'm sure we could all agree the Twins' biggest "neme…

I was just thinking that once his career is over what a great story nishiokas journey to and from the mlb would be (and its kind of sad to say). A celebrity sports superstar in japan gets a big contract with an american baseball team with all the glamour and then his life and career spirals out of control (broken leg, wife leaves, all the public mocking). I just get images in my head of after his last game full of blunders before getting sent down to AAA, of him getting hammered in his hotel and upturning all the furniture in his room. I think im on to something here!

MLB just approved a sale of the San Diego Padres for $800M. The Padres were valued by Forbes this year at $458M, good for 20th in MLB. #14 was your Minnesota Twins at a valuation of $510M. (Here are all the valuations by Forbes.) Are the Twins really worth close to $900M? Just a couple of data points to keep in mind... 1. Pohlad bought the team in 1984 for $40M 2. In 2001, during the whole contraction mess, he was reportedly going to sell them for $150M.