Minnesota Twins Talk

I know there have been rumors swirling around about trading Morneau, but I'm really questioning wether he would be worth the big contract and injury risks for anyone to offer a decent package. Now, if Parmelee got significant playing time, or they sent him back to AAA and he tore it up, I'm thinking someone might consider a "prospect swap" type trade for him. To a team that doesn't have the Twins overwhelming number of left-handed bats, and needs a regular 1b, I think he might be a very valuable asset. Yes, he could be a long term solution at 1b for the Twins, but right now there isn't a spot for him, and it does seem like 1b is one of the easiest positions to …

I don't know if this was the right place to put it but I was just wondering if we have a list of other teams forums.

Somebody brought up in the trade rumors thread the idea of the Twins having a "core" group of untouchables to build upon, and be willing to move everybody else for the right price. So what would your core be? For the sake of discussion, let's limit it to 5 players who are currently under contract with the Twins and could be ready to play in the Majors no later than next spring. Mine would be: Mauer Diamond Willingham Revere Dozier

From the out of left field department. I just noticed that the Current Standings in the AL Central are exactly Alphabetical. CHicago CLeveland DEtroit KAnsas City MInnesota Personally, I have a problem with this and would be prefer if the standings were reverse Alphabetical. Obviously, this will be a heavy discussion topic. Let the discussion begin!!!

Interesting note from the Elias Sports Bureau: [h=3]First Game-ending Rbi For Span[/h]From Elias: Denard Span's RBI single with two outs in the 15th inning drove in the winning run in the Twins 5-4 win over the Brewers on Sunday afternoon. It was the first time that Span has had a game-ending RBI in his career. Entering Sunday's action, Span's 204 career RBI were tied with the Cubs' Ian Stewart for the third most among active players that never had one that ended a game, behind Arizona's Miguel Montero (278) and Detroit's Gerald Laird (208). I just thought that I would share that. I had no idea he had never hit a walk off RBI before yesterday's game.

Is anyone going to Pittsburgh or Cincinnati this week for a little NL Central rivalry action : )? We will be in Cincinnati for the weekend series and I am really looking forward to it. I know the town is supposed to be a little rough around the edges, but it should have some baseball fans, blue collar taverns, and baseball history. Any tips?

Be sure to read John's tremendous article on Jim Thome and his long-awaited arrival in Minnesota, in a Twins uniform. He spent just over a year and a half wearing the Twins pinstripes, and yet, he provided Twins fans with many memorable moments. Often, the question "What was your favorite Player X moment?" is asked when a player of little significance is demoted or released. However, I ask you today, What Was Your Favorite Jim Thome (in a Twins uniform) Moment? Be sure to vote in the attached poll, but there are just six things I came up with off the top of my head. I'm sure you can come up with more. And some of you may even have some personal stories of Thome. Please …

It's nice to see Ben Revere playing really good when given the chance again. But, only 4 walks on the season? I thought he was supposed to work on that when he was sent down. I know he has been a solid player hitting the ball but needs to get the OBP in the .400's.

So now that Hendriks has been brought up, which player in the minors do you all think is going to get his shot next? Granted, a lot of it may depend on injuries, but just for fun let's speculate. My guess is that eventually we'll see Oliveros back up to replace Gray, but I don't expect that until Gray implodes. He bought himself some time with his performance tonight.

Plouffe's surge and Dozier's downfall have me reconsidering what I would most like to see the Twins put out on a daily basis. Here it goes. 1 Revere CF 2 Span LF 3 Mauer C 4 Josh Willingham RF 5 Trevor Plouffe 3B 6 Justin Morneau 1B 7 Ryan Doumit/Chris Parmelee DH Platoon 8 Alexi Casilla 2B 9 Jamey Carroll SS (P Scott Diamond)

I will accept that fact that Ben Revere will not scare any pitchers so they will challenge him, thus he won't walk much. What I cannot accept is his poor bunting skills he has shown so far. I want to say I can recall back to back games when he popped out trying to bunt for a hit. I know this can come back to the fact he doesn't have the power to make pitchers fear him. What I don't understand is with Rod Carew hanging around lately that the Twins haven't begged the HOF'er to try to work with Ben on his bunting. With his speed he could probably beat out alot of them for hits improving his average and setting up RBI chances for the heart of the order.

From Rotoworld, via CBS Sports. This is the first "real" rumor of this kind I had heard: Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com reports that the Blue Jays are "particularly interested" in Justin Morneau, but so far the Twins don't seem interested in trading him. Knobler also notes that teams are wondering whether the Twins would be willing to deal Josh Willingham, but at this point it doesn't appear they're ready to part with either player. Morneau has hit 10 homers and driven in 33 this season, and he holds extra appeal to the Jays because he's Canadian. But, he's also batting just .241 with a .313 OBP, and teams still have his previous concussion issues in the back of their …

Are there any rule IV picks that the twins passed on this year having success or at least sticking with the teams that selected them?

I'm starting to become a Plouffe Believer...a Plou-liever if you will. If he doesn't lead the league in HR's for the whole month, he may end up leading them in walks. Let's just hope he stays healthy. On a related thought, since his sudden outburst of power, how many times do you think he's been targeted by "random" drug testing?

It seems as though this was largely unnoticed and it happened last Wednesday. The former rule 5 pick was released despite having a 2.83 ERA, .199BAA, and a 6-3 record. Doyle also had 71 SOs in 76 Innings. He has a spectacular minor league track record, but the White Sox must not have any intentions of keeping him in their future plans. Should we sign him back?

Morneau's arm soreness complicated this decision, in my opinion.

Dear Trevor, If you read Twins Daily... I want to point out that among a few others... Bark's Lounge and Glunn had your back all along. Personally I thought you could establish yourself as a MLB player if you stopped swinging at crap and you've stopped. However, in all honesty... I wasn't sure if you'd stop and I certainly did not expect this kind of performance under any circumstance. Bark and Glunn they never lost faith and I give them full credit for expressing it in the face of a stiff wind. Trevor... I think you should seek these individuals out and reward them with some of your comp tickets. If you keep this up... There will be a Plouffe section at t…

Who is the Cris Carter of Major League Baseball? A: Trevor Plouffe. All he does is hit bombs!

Yahoo.com's Jeff Passen wrote up a good piece on Justin Morneau's 2012 season, his battle with concussions and how his struggles against same-sided pitchers is haunting him. You wonder if there may be a point where the Twins start to consider a platoon situation when facing southpaws.

Which picks are left to sign for the Twins and how much money do they have left to spend?

In the interest of preliminary disclosures, I am well aware that it's more difficult to get all-star votes if your team is bad, and Joe Mauer plays for an objectively bad team, with a record 11 games below .500 and sitting in last place in a bad division. I also realize that there's probably some lack of knowledge of the fact that Joe Mauer is legitimately back from a poor outing in 2011 - having in played in all but 5 games this year. But is it not insane what is going on with the all-star voting for catcher? Current vote totals (6/14/2012) have Joe Mauer sitting at third, a huge margin behind Mike Napoli in the lead: #1 - Mike Napoli - 1,224,565 #2 - Matt Wie…

I was at the game last night, and Blackburn struggled again - he was lucky to get through 5 and get a win (which shows how useless that statistic actually is). Unfortunately, that has been his tendency the last couple of years. So what do we do about him? Here's a radical idea that I admit up front probably has no chance of happening, but it got me thinking. Let's send him down to Rochester. I know he's making big bucks, but so is Nishi and look where he is (deservedly). And this is the last chance the Twins will have to do it - next year Blackburn will have over 5 years of service time and can't be sent to the minors without his consent. As I understand it, he do…

The Twins are 9-2 in their last 11 games, and have won their last 4 series..' Playin good ball. Will is last? I know some of the teams have been easy.

As per MLB website, PJ Walters has been placed on the 15-day DL effective today, 6/14.

As per Gardenhire, Lester Oliveros will be joining the Twins roster. A corresponding move will be announced after the results of Walters' MRI are known. Gardy did not look happy during the interview. He says there was no advance warning Walters was hurting.

In the spirit of the Jim Souhan thread - and I'm with those who find him boorish - here's the same question about Gladden. Am I the only one who finds his off-the-wall weirdness endearing? I admit that back in the John Gordon days it was a bit of a rudderless ship but now that there's Cory Provus who is so professional it seems like a good dynamic, even if Cory is occasionally left speechless.

Parmelee, who started with the club playing regularly (with Morneau DHing) and was sent down (justifiably) to Rochester, was recalled on June 8th. Since then he has started one game, was a substitute in one more, and sat on the bench the last two. My question is, why is he back up here? Did we bring him up because he had a hot bat? Then why isn't he batting? It raises the question of what exactly the Twins see his future with the club being. If he is seen as a backup to Morneau in case of injury or a return of concussion symptoms, then doesn't it make more sense to keep him in Rochester where he can play every day and keep himself sharp? Or do we see him merely a…

I just read Souhan's recent article, in which he suggests trading Span due to outfield depth. I thought about the fact that it is pretty widely accepted in a lot of places that the Twins have outfield depth, but do they really? I'm not sure what this means exactly in terms of how far beyond 2012 we're looking, but I guess the conclusion I came to is that we have a lot of young outfielders, but true outfield depth, imo, would be a situation where we have multiple outfielders that are fighting for playing time because they are high quality players. They certainly don't have that now, and I also don't see it in the next couple of years. Left field is the only solid…

I've noticed a lot of posters here don't like Jim Souhan. What is it about the guy that rubs you the wrong way?

What are some of your guys trade scenarios that you would like to see happen or see happening this year?