Minnesota Twins Talk

I think it's reasonable to assume the Twins will try to go back down to 12 pitchers after the All-Star break, although that may largely depend on how fast our injured guys get back in shape and how Deduno and De Vries do this weekend. So assuming Capps, Walters, and Duensing are good to go and Pavano is not going to be back until at least August (a pretty safe bet), what changes would you make to the roster? I'd like to see them bring Walters back into the rotation, and keep Deduno and De Vries there for now. Let's figure out if these three guys have what it takes to either be a part of the rotation in the future, or at least build up some trade value so they a…

Was at the Mariners game last night and it struck me that they might be the perfect partner for the Twins when it comes to trading Span. Obviously the Mariners are out of the race at this point, but it doesn't mean they aren't aggresively looking for long term bats. They have an abundance of pitching in the majors and minors, but have one of the worst offenses I have seen in quite some time. They have been linked to aggresively pursuing Billy Butler lately but the price the Royals want is rather high, what are the odds we can match up with a team like Seattle for a trade?

Except for his DL time (wrist), Morneau has been an everyday player and since he returned from the DL, he has mostly held down first base. The problem is productivity. He is hitting .238 with a .737 OPS, fine for a middle infielder, not so much for a first baseman. He has batted behind two guys with .400 OBPs and has driven in a grand total of 35 runs. He has been Delmon-like in his selectivity and has homered once since May 26. Morneau has a big paycheck ($15 M) and will make the same amount next year. I give him all the props in the world for coming back after the concussion issues, but Morneau seems to me to be standing in the way of the rebuilding of the Twi…

per Rhett Bollinger....Deduno to start Saturday vs TEX.

Comparing this year's Twins with last year, last year, the Twins had 0 out of 4 when it comes to fielding a winning team. Starting pitching: terrible. Defense: mediocre on a good day. Bullpen: awful. Offense: offensive. This year the Twins arguably have three out of the 4 elements that make up a winning team. Starting pitching: Terrible, but with a couple of bright spots. Defense: acceptable to good. Bullpen: Very good. Offense: good to very good. Considering the above, what pieces can be moved and not be missed? With the current state of the roster and no help available in Rochester to replace position players, I tend to think the Twins don't make a trade unless it…

The Wild made a splash in free agency, the Vikes aren't afraid to spend $. Will the twins follow the lead and sign some big name FAs this winter?

I am hoping that the Twins will at least be able to get some kind of value back for these two players, the first with almost certainly no future (aside from that platoon thing involving Mor . . . ) with the Twins, and the second with likely no future with the Twins. Only a team desperate due to lack of production at 3B or 2B is likely going to bother (aside from those teams with an extra roster spot for a pinch-hitter vs. lefties in the playoffs or a pinch-runner late in games in the playoffs). The Nationals have problems at 3B and 2B, with Ryan Zimmerman struggling and Danny Espinosa being terrible. Valencia or Casilla would only be motivation for these starters to ge…

Sorry if this was posted elsewhere. Given the prospect that DFAd Brian Fuentes might become available at virtually no cost, what would be the downside in signing him if he were to fall into the Twins laps?

He has a horrid .578 OPS and is leading the AL with 11 errors despite not even BEING with the team on opening day. Dozier hasn't spent an entire season at triple A and that's what he should be doing now. A retread like Casilla or someone with no potential like Ray Chang could play just as mediocre for the Twins in the meantime while Dozier develops.

In his show today, after talking with Rick Anderson, Paul Allen hinted about two things going on with the Twins pitching staff. The first was that Hendriks had made his last start with the major league team for a bit, and that played out today when he was demoted and De Vries was called up. But the second was that Pavano is still not throwing yet and that the Twins are very disappointed by that. This is apparently taking longer to recover from than they had hoped. To review... 6/4 - Pavano was put on DL 6/15 - we heard the shoulder was getting stronger 6/24 - Joe C reported that Pavano would begin a throwing program "this week" 6/27 - Joe C reports he's playing l…

Drew Butera as a reliever. Tommy John surgery. Nick Punto's head first slides. Bert's birthday countdown. The Wave in stadiums.

After tonight's game, the Twins will have played exactly half of their games. Projecting numbers for a full season is easy, just double what they have after tonight's game. At the start of the season, I thought this year's Twins would compare favorably with last year's edition. I thought they would 1) score more runs 2) play better defense and be more fundamentally sound 3) and get an improved performance from the bullpen. All of this has panned out, however they are still on track for more than 90 losses. The culpirt is the starting rotation, which has suffered injury and ineffectiveness from all of the projected starters and a couple of the prospective replacement…

Chris Parmelee has had 112 plate appearances with the Twins (.190/.277/.290) and 60 plate appearances in Rochester (.375/.500/.708). Sean Burroughs: 18 plate appearances with the Twins (too small of a sample to post numbers) and 175 plate appearances in Rochester (.288/.333/.362). Yes, Burroughs has come to the plate 21 more times this year than Parmelee. I just cannot understand this kind of treatment of a prospect who obviously could have used 200+ plate appearances in Rochester this year so far. And Burroughs is just the main LH option. Matt Carson would be another player to compare Parmelee to.

I hate to post this because I would have to say he is the classiest guy with the biggest heart but is it time to slide Justin Morneau to bat 7th or so in the lineup? You never heard Justin complain and ask to come out of games because of his injuries over the years unlike some "other guy we all know". I wonder if Justin would be better served taking off games to keep his concussion relapses from coming back.

1) Trevor Plouffe. While there are some soft spots in his season (strikeouts, L-R splits, hitting in RBI situations) he has become a monster, punishing lefties and finding the seats with regularity. The combination of Plouffe and Willingham has given the Twins righthanded power for the first time in ages. Plouffe also has played more than acceptably as a third basemen, filling the chasm left by Danny Valencia's failure. 2) Scott Diamond. Eleven starts has not been a full season, but Diamond has been good in most of them, and not bad in the others. Diamond has had enough stuff to get batters out and has excelled at throwing strikes, fielding his position and limiting ba…

As per Twins website, Cole DeVries has been recalled from Rochester and Liam Hendriks has been optioned back to Triple-A. As if it makes any difference.

Rocketpig- Any update on the dead pool thread? Yesterday was the first time in a long time I had to learn about a celebrity death from somewhere other than my favorite Twins forum.

According to MLB Trade Rumors, the Twins signed 16-year-old left-hander Lewis Thorpe from Australia. Some scouts consider him the top amateur available in Australia this year. The Twins gave him a $500K bonus.

I say no. Baker's club option is for $9.25 million. Coming off of surgery, he probably won't be that effective ( see Joe Nathan) and will probably bolt anyways (again see Joe Nathan). Use the money elsewhere and let the kids start or spend money on other starters. While our starting staff is thin, I dont want see to Blackburn or Baker starting again next year. Agree or disagree?

Going into tonights game Ben Revere and Delmon Young had an identical slugging percentage -.383. How's that working out for you Detroit?

Joe is now 5th in the AL in batting and 1st in OBP. He is also 2nd among all catchers in BA, 2B, OBP, and OPS (thanks to the currently godlike Carlos Ruiz). He is 3rd in walks and... wait for it... AB! C'mon haters, bring it on!

His body language just looks bad right now. I think he should at least be moved down in the order so that Plouffe can maybe start hitting home runs with guys on base. Do you expect Morneau to show slight signs of improvement this year and next or will he stay about the same and call it quits after this season?

They are now percentage points ahead of the Seattle Mariners. Party time! [TABLE=class: stats_table data_grid, width: 700] [TH=class: dg-team_short, align: left]East[/TH] [TH=class: dg-w, align: left]W[/TH] [TH=class: dg-l, align: left]L[/TH] [TH=class: dg-pct, align: left]PCT[/TH] [TH=class: dg-gb, align: left]GB[/TH] [TH=class: dg-last_ten, align: left]L10[/TH] [TH=class: dg-streak, align: left]STRK[/TH] [TH=class: dg-home, align: left]HOME[/TH] [TH=class: dg-away, align: left]ROAD[/TH] [TH=class: dg-last_game, align: left]LAST GAME[/TH] [TH=class: dg-next_game, align: left]NEXT GAME[/TH] [TD=class: dg-team_short]NY Yankees[/TD] [TD=class: dg-w]48[/TD] [TD=class:…

[TABLE] [TD=width: 112]Batting[/TD] [TD=width: 39]G [/TD] [TD=width: 39]AB [/TD] [TD=width: 39]R [/TD] [TD=width: 39]H [/TD] [TD=width: 39]2B [/TD] [TD=width: 39]3B [/TD] [TD=width: 39]HR [/TD] [TD=width: 39]RBI [/TD] [TD=width: 39]BB [/TD] [TD=width: 39]K [/TD] [TD=width: 39]SB [/TD] [TD=width: 39]CS [/TD] [TD=width: 39]AVG [/TD] [TD=width: 39]OBP [/TD] [TD=width: 39]SLG [/TD] [TD=width: 39]OPS[/TD] Danny Valencia 27 100 9 19 5 1 1 11 2 23 0 1 .190 .204 .290 .494 Chris Parmelee 37 100 8 19 …

Looks like the Brewers will not be signing Greinke long term. I am of the opinion that Greinke would not do well in a big market. Instead of minor league prospects, could the Twins offer up Span and Parmalee in a package for Greinke? Span is very affordable and Milwaukee needs to replace Prince. Obviously, we can only do this if we can sign Greinke to a long term deal. Are teams still allowed to negotiate an extension before a trade?

Would you trade Morneau for Garrett Gould?

Willingham ranks #2 among all MLB hitters in WPA right now. Only Votto has impacted his team more positively than Willingham so far this year. http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=y&type=3&season=2012&month=0&season1=2012&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&players=0

Willingham is, IMHO, pretty clearly the Twins MVP this season. He's also 3rd in the majors in WPA - he has had an impact far greater than his already impressive statistics. On the other hand, there are a lot of good outfielders in the AL. So I'll ask... was Willingham not being named to the ASG an injustice?

Trevor Plouffe's low number of RBI's from his 18 homeruns brings to mind a similar performance from another young right-handed Twins batter who wore #24 - Tom Brunansky. In 1982, Brunansky hit 20 homeruns while only driving in 46 - which at the time I thought was an interesting stat. Brunansky batted third most of that year behind #9 hitter Lenny Faedo, leadoff hitter Bobby Mitchell and #2 hitter Ron Washington, none of whom got on base with great frequency. Bruno also was followed by Hrbek, Gaetti, and Ward in the batting order who cleaned up their opportunties nicely, all driving in 80-90 runs. (While Brunansky's is the season that immediately springs to mind for hig…

Mid season, Twins - should they be sellers or buyers? Here is something to consider: In the past 28 games (June, and 1 in July) - the Twins are 15-13, are 3rd in MLB in hits, 8th in OBP, 14th in SLG, and 9th in OPS. They are 8.5 games out of the lead in the miserable AL Central. Now - if you ignore 2011, and focus only on 2012, especially the past 28 games, - -- is this a team that should be unloading?