Minnesota Twins Talk

Please join me tonight at 9pm central for another edition of Travistalks Minnesota Sports Weekly and I will be joined this week by Chris Gates of the renowned Vikings website The Daily Norseman. We will be talking the Vikings draft, the stadium timeline, and look forward to the 2012 season. I really hope you will tune in as it should be a really fun show as everytime I have Chris on the show it is a fun show. Here is the link for the show, http://www.blogtalkradio.com/travistalks-minor-league-weekly/2012/06/12/travistalks-minnesota-sports-weekly. Join us tonight at 9pm it should be a blast.

Ok, there are a lot of different things people are throwing out there in regards to contending or rebuilding. There are pieces the Twins need to hang on to and there are piece that need the boot in the worst way. The 3-4 players that should be actively shopped at the deadline are the players that will not be here next year, Pavano, Capps, Doumit and Liriano. Just trade them for whatever you can get!!! We can save the money from their contracts the rest of 2012. As for trading Span, Morneau, and Willingham, C’mon MAN!!! They are the heart of this team and the main reason we are returning to respectable baseball. If you can get a haul for them then by all means, thanks for …

Fien is an offseason minor league contract signing. He has been in the Red Wings bullpen all year and pitched reasonably well. I saw Fien pitch twice in spring training and he was impressive. I think fien would be fine in the Twins bullpen if there were a vacancy, but there are several candidates ahead of/along side him. I'm also wondering if Fien signed a contract whereby he could opt of if not recalled by a certain date. He is not a rookie and has pitched in several organizations.

I know it's never going to happen, but given our fairly consistent success in inter league play and our perennial struggles against the Yankees and other AL powerhouses, how do you think the Twins would fair if we switched leagues? A lot more fights with Brewers fans, but you could also justify converting a guy like Hicks easier if you knew he would actually hit once in a while

I think the general consensus is that if Mauer(or somebody else) doesn't get voted in, Josh Willingham will get selected to represent the Twins in the All Star Game, and deservedly so. However, I think one could make the argument that Scott Diamond could also take that place, assuming we are gonna have just 1 representative. He is 5-1 now with an ERA of just 1.61. His BB/9 is an amazing 0.81. Now I am aware that he only has 7 starts so far this season so for all I know he might not even be eligible, but if Diamond continues to pitch gems(pun intended), then I would have no problem having him represent us in the All Star Game. Did I get too much sun today or does an…

From Joe C at the STrib... http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/158386405.html?source=error If true (and given that the source is the agent, I don't see how it can't be), this means that Buxton would be able to start with the GCL or E Twins when those seasons start, which is great. Also, a great tidbit on Hendriks' start on Saturday, from the extreme groundball/flyball ratio department.

This week's DFA pitcher is Esmil Rogers. The 26 year old has not been successful, but he throws 96 and has a K/9 rate over 9 this year. His ERA would challenge Liriano and Blackburn. Is he worth taking a chance on? Given his arm, the Rockies will probably find a trade partner before he can be claimed on waivers. It will not take a significant prospect. Often it is another player who has played in the majors and struggled like Valencia.

According to MLB Trade Rumors, Jeff Francis has requested and been granted his release from the Reds organization. http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2012/06/reds-release-jeff-francis.html Anyone think he might be worth a shot in the rotation? He's 31, and has put up solid enough numbers in AAA this year. With Pavano's shoulder issues and the enigmatic nature of Liriano, could it hurt to have Francis in the rotation? Or are we talking Jason Marquis 2.0? Discuss....

Which potential free agents will we get comp picks for if we don't trade them? Liriano, pavano, capps doumit. I hope we resign Doumit.

Left-handed pitcher. 27 years old. 11.8 K/9 in parts of four AAA seasons. St. Paul native. Should the Twins consider claiming him? He has options, I believe. That's a lot of Ks... oh, 6.3 BB/9 too. Ick. But, why not??

OK, with last night's performance, I'm starting to ask if it's time to make an adjustment and send Dozier back down for more seasoning. He started off hot, but both his bat and (especially) his fielding have tailed off the past couple of weeks. He's been up here for about a month now, and has 8 errors. He's made some spectacular plays, too, but that doesn't cover not making the ones that should be made. I know there is an argument to be made that he should be given a chance to work this out up here in the bigs. Give him more time to adjust to major league pitching and learning how to field. Given we are not contenders this season, maybe that's OK; losing a few extra ga…

It's been about a month since many members felt the need to blame somebody for the sorry state the Twins were in at the time, this despite the fact we were barely 1 month into the new season. During that time blame was mainly given to pretty much anyone and everyone who wasn't a player, including , Gardy, Terry Ryan, Joe Vavra, Rick Anderson, Bill Smith the entire Pohlad family the removal of the trees in centre field and the quality of beer served in a can. Since that time the Twins have gone 14-12 and while far from being touted as a contender have proved themselves to be a competitive and at times entertaining ball club. So, in the interest of fairness, many have as…

As we all know the Twins start to the season was abysmal. However, as of late the starting pitching has steadied and the offense has shown flashes of scoring in bunches. They are now winning series and are 7-3 in their last 10. So my question is down the stretch which team does everyone expect to see, the early season team that couldn't win a game or the current team that is plodding along winning series putting up a respectable record?

I know this will anger most people but I want to know how long do you give Aaron Hicks to live up to his 5 tool potential before you think about converting him into a pitcher? I have no idea how good of pitcher he was in HS, but I do recall that he supposedly has an upper 90's fastball. Not a choice you want to make but if they clearly think a few years down the road that he will never make the majors as an OF when do you try to convert him?

Interesting, in a "why the hell would you throw that?" sort of way. http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/giving-up-the-count-advantage/ The highlight: [TABLE=width: 250] [TR=bgcolor: #EDF1F3] [TH=align: left]Pitching Team[/TH] [TH=align: center]% HRs 0-2[/TH] [/TR] [TR=bgcolor: #FFFFFF] [TD=align: left]Minnesota Twins[/TD] [TD=align: center]5.9% [/TD] [/TR] [TR=bgcolor: #FFFFFF] [TD=align: left]San Diego Padres[/TD] [TD=align: center]5.1%[/TD] [/TR] [TR=bgcolor: #FFFFFF] [TD=align: left]New York Yankees[/TD] [TD=align: center]5.0% [/TD] [/TR] [TR=bgcolor: #FFFFFF] [TD=align: left]Philadelphia Phillies[/TD] [TD=align: center]4.8%[/TD] [/TR] [TR…

The Twins made a move today sending starter Cole DeVries down to Rochester and recalling the white-hot hitting Chris Parmelee back to the club. After struggling hardcore at the beginning of the year with the Twins, Parmelee was demoted to AAA and has rediscovered his swing. Interestingly, according to FirstInning.com's data, Parmelee's line drive rate was down to 13% but his zone acumen was significantly better as he walked in 12 of his 58 plate appearances while only coaxing six free passes in 92 plate appearances with the Twins. Overall, the left-handed hitting Parmelee has posted a .350/.500/.707 batting line with four home runs and 12 runs batted in. He's certai…

You have to wonder what KC did to Jose Mijares to get him to actually throw strikes and actually strike hitters out. Makes you wonder what a good pitching coach could do to fix a pitcher get out of a funk. Hopefully Twins fans will not have to wait too long...

Another night where Willingham is the DH and Revere is playing RF. Can someone explain this to me at all?

With the Twins taking outfielder Byron Buxton with the #2 overall pick yesterday, the take I took from that is that Span is not long for this team, and that the Twins wanted to draft an outfielder that could take over for him after a few years of Revere in center. By all means, I am not saying that Span isn't a good player or not worth the Twins keeping to build around. But when you are in the stages of rebuilding, you trade away your good players to get good prospects for the future. With my prediction of this meaning that Span will be traded within the next few years, who should the Twins be looking to get a good deal from? In other words, who has the farm system …

Blackie will start Wed...no Manship. According to several twitter sources.

So it should seem that the Twins should now take Mark Appel.

I posted this elsewhere, but thought it was worth general discussion, as well. I've argued that this ridiculous contract has paralyzed the Twins ability to compete until 2018. For #3 hitters, Joe is 6th overall in OBP, but second from the bottom (28th) in slugging percentage, does this sound like the attributes needed of a "typical" batter in the 3-spot? Mauer's Ranking Versus Other No. 3 Hitters Ranked by OPS (Including Contract) 1) Hamilton 402/455/866/1321 $15.25 Mil 2) Kemp 359/446/726/1173 $10.25 3) Wright 400/489/591/1080 $15.25 4) Votto 319/466/543/1059 $11.41 5) Beltran 298/406/653/1058 $13 6) Ortiz 348/412/614/1026 $14.575 7) Braun 306/38…

According to the Pioneer Press's Ben Goessling, because of the rash of recent pitching picks who have suffered injuries, the Twins will be using their medical staff more intricately when evaluating potential selections: This is a good start for the franchise - probably a bit behind the curve compared to other organizations in getting out in front with research, but the right direction nonetheless. Now, if the team really wanted to achieve the Extra 2%, they would have bio-mechanical analysts offering their opinions on the pitcher's mechanics as well.

Not only did every other team change their mind, but even the twins picked 4 guys with lower predraft ratings in front of him. I did read in his last start he had some control issues and gave up some runs with Ryan in attendance, but you can't tell me his draft value dropped by almost double from one bad outing. Was this just a case of inflated draft value that every team saw through, or did something go wrong for Mitch Brown?

Again tonight DeVries had an average start - not terribly bad, but not terribly good either. Once again he battled gamely for 5 innings, keeping the Twins in the game, but ran out of gas in the 6th. Hendriks, on the other hand, pitched 7 solid shutout innings in Rochester and, the previous game he pitched being an exception, has done quite well. Is it time to start thinking about switching them around - bringing Hendriks back up to the bigs and sending DeVries back to Rochester? I know he's a local guy and some are cheering for him because of that, but in all fairness he's only been borderline effective, and a big-league starter has GOT to be able to get beyond the 5…

Michael Bowden was DFA'd again by the Cubs. I am convinced that his issues are coming from the pen. Boston (and how Chicago) have been trying to convert him to a reliever. We are talking for a guy who has a career: 3.27 ERA, 1.155 WHIP, 7.1 K/9 and 2.38 K/BB in 3 AAA seasons. That K/9 would put him on the top 3 in the Twins' organization. He is just 25. Has been on the top 100 BA prospect list 3 times. He just started 2 games in the majors before Boston gave up. He is out of options Here is what I am thinking: with the Twins' rotation in 2013 up for grabs, why not look at the future, sign Bowden, DFA Gray, and have him be in the pen the rest of the season, c…

Honest answers only. 1. In consideration of the state of the Twins at the time. Would you have made the trade for Delmon Young? Try to be honest with removal of hindsight. 2. Once acquired, how would you have handled him. Would he still be a Twin or gone at the first sign if trouble? 3. Do you understand Bill Smiths thinking at the time or is Bill Smith now in the Ron Davis doghouse?

While looking for something else, I ran across on Yahoo's team roster page that Drew Butera is listed among the pitchers. So that I won't think I was just imagining things after they correct it, here is a compressed screen shot:

According to Jon Heyman the Twins are preparing to take Georgia HS OF Byron Buxton at 2 after Houston takes SP Mark Appel at 1. Report is unconfirmed but should not be a surprise. Thoughts?

If the Twins do use the #2 pick for HS OF Byron Buxton will he beat Aaron Hicks to the majors?