Leaderboard

Wow, I wish I hadn't sprung for that Scott Atchison jersey...

I think we have many more chances to give Vargas before we give up on him. See Hicks, Perkins, and dozier

I went to the triple A all star game. Beresford hit the ball hard twice. If the wind wasn't blowing across from right his ball would have gotten out. Would have been his first of the year. That being said the ball should have been caught. The right fielder Peter O'Brien looked very good at the plate but he needs to be a DH. Made another error later in the game that they did call an error. Rogers changes speeds well as he pitched between 74-88 mph. Does not seem to me to have the stuff for a MLB starter. He does remind me of Mark Buerhle so that would be very good if he can have half his success. Achter got my wife's favorite player Cheslor (first name) to pop out and win me a side bet so I have a new favorite minor league reliever- Achter.

Aaron Hicks is only 25. Entering the All-Star break he has yet to have his 700th plate appearance and he’s played in just over 180 games. And yet, he’s already dropped switch-hitting for a brief time period, has been called out by former manager Ron Gardenhire and assistant general manager Rob Antony for showing up to the ballpark and not knowing who the starting pitcher was that day, and after not making the team out of spring training this year the Star Tribune reported that he might not get another shot.“We probably haven’t seen the last of Aaron Hicks,” wrote LaVelle E. Neal, who has covered the Twins since 1998, “but the Twins’ expectations have fallen so far for the 14th overall pick from 2008 that his future could end up as a fourth outfielder.” Hicks ended up resurfacing with the Twins, getting a call-up in mid-May that lasted until he went on the disabled list in mid-June. Since returning from injury on July 7, he’s hitting .323 with two doubles, one triple, two home runs and seven RBIs in 10 games. With Byron Buxton on the DL, he is the team’s starting center fielder, already has a Willie Mays-esque catch and is starting to show everyone why he was a first-round selection in 2008. “I feel good at the plate,” he says, simply. “I’m just trying to make solid contact and drive some balls into the gap.” He struggles to articulate exactly what is behind the turnaround. It is not as though he got traded or changed positions. Hicks added a leg kick, which has improved his timing and power, but it’s not all mechanical when it comes to big league production. “Up until this level, it’s physical,” Double-A manager Doug Mientkiewicz told the Star Tribune in June. “Past this level, it’s mental.” “Our whole ordeal here is you have to prepare today as if you’re gonna be in Minnesota tomorrow, so you don’t want to have to all of a sudden change your routine and change your preparation,” says Triple-A hitting coach Tim Doherty, a person Hicks credits with turning his career around. “He learned how to do that. He learned how to study film, and he learned how to get his routine in, his work in, prior to learning how to take care of his body day-in and day-out. “As far as his talents go, at some point in time the word ‘raw’ is gonna have to come off. You can’t have raw ability your entire career,” he continues. “You go up to the big leagues, and the first time you don’t know what to expect, you don’t know what they’re doing, so you gotta learn. … Seek out the veteran players: They’ll talk to you, they’re gonna help you, and they’re there and they’re a veteran because they listen and they learn. When players do that, like Hicksy’s been doing now, that’s huge.” Torii Hunter has been a major influence on him in the Twins clubhouse. The nearly 40-year-old outfielder has helped Hicks with everything from workouts to diet to routine. “He’s always picking my brain,” says Hunter, who came up with the Twins as a center fielder at the turn of the century and had his fair share of call-ups and demotions before establishing himself as a major leaguer. “He reminds me of myself, that’s what I did with Kirby and Paul Molitor when I was younger and they were older.” Hicks has always had talent: It’s why he was drafted in the first round, it’s why the Twins felt comfortable trading away Denard Span and Ben Revere in the same summer, and it’s why he was able to reach the majors at age 23. “Hicks is one of the most athletic outfielders in the high school ranks and perhaps in the (2008) draft class,” read one scouting report on him. “He’s got a ton of tools, but will he learn how to use them? Someone is sure to take that chance.” “I definitely think that this guy, if he puts it together and gets his mind right, it’s gonna be special,” echoes Hunter. “[it’s] knowing when you step on the field you have the most athletic ability on the field. It’s like an inner-cockiness: You don’t speak it, you just go out and do it and try to prove it and tell yourself, ‘Hey, you’re better than everybody on this field.’” The Twins ultimately took a chance on Hicks, of course, and they’ve given him ample opportunity to make the most of his ability since calling him up two years ago. Looking back on it, Twins general manager Terry Ryan admits that his promotion was premature, because while he made his fair share of spectacular plays in the outfield, he finished his rookie year with a .192/.259/.338 line in 81 games and wasn’t much better at the plate in his sophomore season (.215/.341/.274). “If somebody’s concerned about Hicks not getting a chance, I’ve got to talk to them,” says Ryan, elevating his voice. “If you’re talking about Hicks, you’re talking about the wrong guy. He’s had a lot of chances and he’s doing something with it here recently, but we’ve been criticized to the extreme about [his] chances.” Throughout the process the Twins had to strike a delicate balance, allowing Hicks — or any prospect — enough leeway to fight through his struggles without giving him a sense of entitlement. “We try to make sure they get every opportunity,” says Ryan of his young players. “Aaron’s had a lot of chances. It’s his turn. It’s time to step up, and he’s done a nice job here.” Twins hitting coach Tom Brunansky says the biggest difference between now and a year ago, when Hicks was muddled and briefly dropped switch-hitting, is his maturity level. “He feels confident, you can tell,” Brunansky says. “He doesn’t get frustrated, to where if it’s a bad at-bat … he can put that aside a little bit, we can get good conversations about what the next at-bat’s gonna do, and he’s moved on. “We can call it growth, we can call it maturity — whatever it is, whatever terminology you want to use for it, it’s nice to see, because the talent and skill set of that kid is good.” “I think it all came down to being able to do what I needed to do to become the player that I want to be, and it’s kind of just — I tried something new. I tried leg-kicking, and it’s been working out good for my timing and hitting in the big leagues,” says Hicks, who worked on the technique with Brunansky in spring training. “A lot of it just came with time: Being up here and having to deal with the grind and having to deal with failure so much. I mean, it’s all about just going out there and trying to have fun and learn, and learn as fast as possible to be able to have success.” “All of that, and all of the curves that these guys go through with the ups and downs from the injuries and that type of thing, that all builds on all their mentalities,” says Doherty. “It makes them stronger, it makes them understand that when you take that away from them, they realize how hungry they need to be to get back with their teammates and start competing and try to win their division, and then try to win the pennant, and then try to win the World Series.” Doherty says that Hicks told him, “I should be in center field. I should be helping those guys win,” when he was in Triple-A during his rehab stint, which brings up another aspect of Hicks’ development: He’s on a winning team for the first time in his major league career. So while he wasn’t traded, he did experience a change of scenery this season. “Does it matter? It makes it a whole lot easier. Absolutely,” says Doherty. “You’re going to a team that’s competing and trying to catch the Royals and right in the playoff hunt. Yeah, that makes it easier. But it doesn’t make it easier as a player: You still have to compete, regardless of if you’re in first place or last place.” “He has that winning spirit, we’re winning, and he’s a part of winning right now,” says Hunter. “This last week, this last week or so, he’s shown all the ability that the Twins thought he had drafting him in the first round. This is what he’s capable of doing, and if he can do this consistently — you’re gonna have your rough times, that’s the way it goes — if he can bounce back every time, and make adjustments like he’s doing, he’s gonna be playing major league baseball for a long time. “He’s only 25.” This article was originally posted on the Cold Omaha section of 105 The Ticket. Tom Schreier writes for 105 The Ticket’s Cold Omaha. Tune in to The Wake Up Call every Sunday at 8:00 am to hear the crew break down the week in Minnesota sports. Click here to view the article

I need to step in here... Vargas not running out a double play was purely speculation. If it is also fact, it does not make him an attitude-issue guy. It's a mistake and a correctable mistake. Who knows? He may have been hustling so much and popped his hamstring lunging to 1B. We don't know (unless it's been reported somewhere). I've never been real high on Vargas, but his performance last year, power potential and the fact that he's not 25 yet means he should be given some time and patience.

One of my favorite people to follow on twitter for baseball news and analysis is Jay Jaffe of Sports Illustrated. He used to write for Baseball Prospectus and while there he developed the metric Jaffe War Score System. The baseball fan’s favorite website, Baseball Reference, explains Jaffe’s metric. “JAWS measures a player’s Hall of Fame worthiness by comparing him to the players at his position who are already enshrined, using advanced metrics to account for the wide variations in offensive levels that have occurred throughout the game’s history”. For shortstops, the highest WAR (131.0) and a JAWS (98.2) rating goes to Honus Wagner. The second highest WAR is Alex Rodriguez with WAR (117.8) and a JAWS (64.2). Omar Vizquel is ranked 30th with 45.3 WAR and a 36.0 JAWS. Former Twin Christian Guzman is ranked 157th with a WAR of 12.5 and a 16.2 JAWS. For a more advanced breakdown click here. Jaffe's metric is important because it objectively quantifies a flawed Hall of Fame voting and election system. But he understands how JAWS explains a polarizing topic among Twins fans, former catcher and current Twins first basemen, Joseph Patrick Mauer. He absolutely nailed the Hall of Fame analysis this year. I was lucky enough to pick his brain for a couple Questions and Answers. Q. From what you told me previously it was not a straight career path from graphic design work. How did you get your start as a writer? A. Long before I wrote about baseball, I wrote about music - the local scene and cool indie stuff - for good clean fun, the weekly entertainment magazine of the Brown Daily Herald. An internship at a music magazine called Boston Rock led me to the revelation that I could make far more money learning to use the page layout software (Pagemaker) than writing, and that sent me down a decade-and-a-half long road into graphic design. Most of the design work that I did was centered around textbooks and children's books; the pinnacle of my career was as the Creative Director on the World Almanac For Kids from 2002-2004. All of that work was for print, I didn't have any experience doing web design. At some point in early 2001, I decided I wanted to start a baseball blog and learn a bit of design to fancy it up. That experiment became FutilityInfielder.com, which survives in some half-neglected form today, because the paying gigs take up my time and I'm no longer current with my HTML/web design knowledge. Q. Was there a certain moment that you caught the writing bug? A. I can't really pinpoint what started me to writing about music but what got me into writing about baseball was arguments with my friends over the state of the Yankees in the late '90s, and then discussions on Baseball Primer (now Baseball Think Factory) and Baseball Prospectus, as well as the columns of Rob Neyer at ESPN. I was an early convert to Bill James back when his Baseball Abstracts were hits in the early 1980s, and it was very cool to see his concepts being updated and applied - I previously had little idea of where to find other baseball nerds. Q. What is one thing that most do not know about you professionally? A. That I not only had a previous career in graphic design but that I have a biology degree (see http://www.asbmb.org...es/AnalyzeThis/). Also that my wife's yellow laborador, Pearl, writes some of my columns (try to guess which ones!) Q. What advice do you have for aspiring writers? A. Writing is a muscle and needs to be strengthened via regular repetition. Write every day, even if it's not for publication. That's the only way you're ever going to find your voice. Q. How did you become involved with Baseball Prospectus? A. At Futility Infielder I had done two annual reviews of the BBWAA Hall of Fame ballot (2002 and 2003) that got a lot of traffic. BP asked me if I'd like to write something for them on the 2004 ballot - what came out of it were my first two contributions and a forerunner to the system that became JAWS. Q.Why do you think writers for Baseball Prospectus and other online websites are hired by Major League front offices? What exactly are they looking for in these writers and or sabermatricians? A. They're not looking for great stylists of prose, they want people with skills in quantitative analysis and the ability to manage large sets of data. They want the ones with the ability to pick out the signal from the noise when it comes to pitching or defensive data or college stats, stuff like that. Q. Currently, Mauer is tied for 3rd with Albert Pujols with a career batting average of .3156, among active players. 1. Miguel Cabrera (13,32) .3213 R 2. Ichiro Suzuki (15,41) .3165 L 3. Joe Mauer (12,32) .3156 L 4. Albert Pujols (15,35) .3156 R After starting off his career with 3 batting titles as a catcher, Joe Mauer’s Hall Fame stock seems to have fallen. Mauer moved to first base because of the concussions he suffered, the need to keep his bat in the lineup daily, and the need to increase his career longevity. How did that position change affect his chances of getting into the Hall of Fame? A. Mauer had already established himself as one of the best-hitting catchers in history, had done so much that his place in Cooperstown is justified. Via my JAWS system, he already surpasses the peak value (best seven seasons) of the average Hall of Fame catcher by a substantial margin. Even if he winds up playing more games at first base than catcher, he's never going to be identified as a first baseman — a similar situation as Ernie Banks. The problem for him is that it appears he's headed towards a long dénouement, 3 1/2 more seasons of being a light-hitting first baseman who's nowhere near worth what he's being paid. Voters tend to hold that stuff against candidates, sometimes to an unreasonable degree. Q. But what does he need to accomplish statistically to increase his chances of getting into Cooperstown? Having already surpassed the 10 years needed for eligibility, the one thing that he really needs to do is get to 2,000 hits. No position player whose MLB career crossed into the post-1960 expansion era has gotten in with fewer than that. Otherwise worthy candidates like Dick Allen and Bobby Grich can't get in despite strong resumes and stellar advanced metrics, and the same will be true for Jim Edmonds when he becomes eligible this winter. Mauer's at 1,622 at this writing, so he should be able to surpass that by the time his contract ends following the 2018 season. He'll be just 35 then; it remains to be seen if he's got anything that keeps him around. Q. Do you have book coming out soon? What is in the works besides Sports Illustrated? A I'm working on a book called The Cooperstown Casebook, to be published by Thomas Dunne, a division of St. Martin's Press. It's about my work with JAWS and the role of sabermetrics in choosing who goes into the Hall of Fame. It's tentatively due for Fall 2016, and when I say tentatively... Other than that, I do the occasional TV appearance on MLB Network's MLB Now and ESPN's The Olbermannn Show, and once in a while I write at Futility Infielder, though it's usually about beer, not baseball. Click here to view the article

Two more days until the Twins get back in action on Friday. Most affiliates were back on the field on Wednesday, with the exception being the Red Wings. The Triple-A All-Star Game was held on Wednesday night. Lots of moves on Wednesday: The Lookouts released both 1B Mike Gonzales and RP Scott Atchison. While Atchison didn’t have an opt-out in his contract, he didn’t expect to still be in the minors, so he asked for and was granted his release. The Miracle received C Brett Doe from the Kernels. The Kernels activated P Chris Mazza and P Yorman Landa, put C Jorge Fernandez on the DL and received 1B Tyler Kuresa from E-Town. P Carlos Aponte and 16-year-old P Brusdar Graterol were both promoted from the DSL to the GCL. Fernandez will miss the rest of the season after breaking his hand punching a wall according to Kernels beat writer Jeff Johnson.RED WINGS REPORT Rochester off day AAA All-Star Game Box Score Rochester had three representatives play for the International League All-Stars. James Beresford started at second base and batted second. He nearly homered in his first at-bat, but instead settled for a triple and scored the game’s first run. He got another hit and finished 2-3. Taylor Rogers pitched the fourth inning and allowed a walk in a scoreless frame. A.J. Achter retired the one batter he faced and, because of the IL All-Stars comeback, earned the win. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 6, Biloxi 5 (11 innings) Box Score The Lookouts gave up a bunch of runs early, but came back in a back-and-forth game that ended after 11 innings. Alex Wimmers allowed three first-inning runs (on two home runs), but that was it over his five innings. He allowed eight hits and a walk. He struck out two. After D.J. Johnson pitched a scoreless sixth, Brandon Peterson allowed two runs in two innings of work. Jake Reed followed with two innings of scoreless ball to earn the win. J.T. Chargois closed it out for the save in the 11th inning. The Lookouts scored three runs in the third inning. It started with a throwing error that allowed Levi Michael to reach base. He advanced on a Shannon Wilkerson single and scored on a Stephen Wickens double. After Travis Harrison walked, Kennys Vargas came to the plate with the bases loaded. An error by the third baseman allowed Wilkerson to score. Marcus Knecht had a two-out single that scored Wickens, but Harrison was thrown out at home to the end the inning. Vargas was replaced by Niko Goodrum in the fifth inning after grounding into a double play. Smart money is not on a promotion, but instead on Big Spoon not running it out and feeling Dougie Baseball’s wrath. Chattanooga added another run in the seventh on a solo home run by Levi Michael. Their fifth run came in the eighth inning when Niko Goodrum singled, stole second then stole third and then scored on a ABW2 sac fly. That’s how you #manufactureruns. There was a weird moment in the 10th inning when a power surge knocked out a bank of lights, caused the radio broadcast to go out for a few innings and the entire stadium to flicker. The umpires and managers decided to play on. In the 11th, Goodrum again reached base on a walk and advanced on a Walker fly ball. This time, though, he was be thrown out at 3rd base when Knecht hit it to the shortstop. Knecht advanced to third on a Stuart Turner single and scored the eventual winning run on a passed ball. Chattanooga, which has already qualified for the playoffs, is currently in last place in the Southern League North and is 5-13 after Wednesday night’s win. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 1, Brevard County 3 Box Score Chih-Wei Hu pitched six one-run innings, allowing seven hits while striking out three. He gave way to the bullpen in a tie game. Zach Jones, making his first high-A appearance after being activated and sent down by Chattanooga, struck out one in a scoreless seventh inning. Tyler Jay got his first professional decision. But it wasn’t what he wanted. And it wasn’t pretty. He gave up three hits and walked a batter. Two runs crossed the plate and Jay’s ERA has risen to 8.10. It was 77 degrees at today’s game, so let’s blame it on the heat. He’s a cold-weather guy… Alex Swim, professional hitter, went 3-4 with a double. He accounted for half of the team’s hits. Zach Granite drove in the team’s only run. Fort Myers is 12-8 in the second half, one game behind Palm Beach, but in a three-way tie for second place. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 5, Burlington 2 Box Score The Kernels got strong efforts from their pitching staff and the offense was able to muster enough juice late in the game to improve to 12-8 in the second half of the season. Felix Jorge wasn’t his best, but was still plenty good enough. His four walks were a season high. In fact, he had only walked three batters once in his previous 14 starts. He three strikeouts matched his second lowest output of the season. His three hits allowed in six innings, though, were enough to keep Cedar Rapids in a good position to win Wednesday’s ball game. Jorge gave way to Yorman Landa. Landa was making his first appearance back with the Kernels after rehabbing a lat strain with the GCL affiliate. He struck out the side in the seventh, touching 98 mph on the gun. Michael Theofanopoulos and Trevor Hildenberger held Burlington scoreless over the final two frames. Hildenberger now sports a fancy 0.82 ERA, 0.64 WHIP and a 12.06 K/9. Know of any teams that could use bullpen help? Offensively, Rafael Valera was the star. He drove in Edgar Corcino in the first inning and then drove in two more runs in the seventh inning. He finished 4-4 with three RBI. Nick Gordon had two hits, a stolen base and an RBI. He extended his hitting streak to 14 games. Corcino added two hits, two runs and a stolen base. E-TOWN E-NOTES Elizabethton 4, Danville 3 Box Score The E-Twins were able to come back from an early deficit to reach .500 again, 20 games into the season. Despite giving up eight hits, starter Alexis Tapia was able to get through five innings surrendering only three runs (two earned). He walked one and only struck out two. It was enough to get the E-Twins to the strong bullpen trio of Tyler Stirewalt (one hit, two walks and a strikeout in 1.1 innings), C.K. Irby (strikeout in 1.2 perfect innings) and Kuo Hua Lo (hit and strikeout in the final inning) and give the team a chance to win. E-Town was able to come back in the third and fourth innings before taking their first lead in the fifth inning. Danville tied it up in the bottom of the fifth and Elizabethton scored the winning run in the top of the ninth. In the third, a LaMonte Wade single drove in Kamran Young who had tripled. In the fourth, A.J Murray led the inning off with a walk. He advanced on a Rainis Silva single before scoring on a wild pitch. Manuel Guzman scored the go-ahead run in the fifth after reaching base on a single. He advanced to third on a Young single and came home on Wade’s sacrifice fly. LaMonte Wade drove in Guzman again in the ninth with a double after Guzman walked to lead off the inning. The same two teams play again tomorrow night. GCL TWINS TAKES GCL Twins vs GCL Rays Postponed The 12-8 Gulf Coast League affiliate had their game postponed until tomorrow due to rain. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Felix Jorge, Cedar Rapids Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Rafael Valera, Cedar Rapids THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester vs Lehigh Valley (6:05 CST) – TBA Chattanooga at Biloxi (7:10 CST) – LHP Brett Lee Ft. Myers at Brevard County (5:35 CST) – RHP Ryan Eades Cedar Rapids vs Burlington (6:35 CST) – RHP Ethan Mildren Elizabethton at Danville (6:00 CST) - RHP Miles Nordgren GCL Twins vs GCL Rays (9:00 CST, Game 1) - TBA GCL Twins vs GCL Rays (Game 2) - TBA Feel free to leave any questions or comments below! Click here to view the article

This Twins team isn't a flash in the pan, but it lacks the depth and experience to make a serious stab at a title. Once again, don't sell the farm before the harvest. There are waves of good players and pitchers arriving within the next two years. Let this birth happen naturally, don't force it. Least of all, we don't want some expensive short-term rental relief pitchers that won't be around when the full harvest is done. This has a chance to become a powerhouse team for a decade. Let the young players make their entrance and learn to play together. It's going to be a long, enjoyable ride.

Just curious... How has Torii Hunter, "been every bit the defensive liability he was imagined to be?" I don't understand this at all. I've probably watched 90% of the games this season and he has made many of the same catches the average outfielder would make. He's made 4 errors, has a .971 fielding % and has 2 outfield assists. If you're going to post don't just put your opinion in the article and actually use facts. You lose all credibility when you just post your opinion. The Twins don't have to trade for bullpen help... They could go down to AAA and pull up some pitchers who have pitched very well this season. In 18 appearances this season Taylor Rogers has a 3.19 ERA and a1.27 WHIP. Has 115.2 IP, 2 complete games and only 30 BB compared to 82 K's. Tyler Duffy has a 2.24 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP. Has 64.1 IP, 1 CG, 1 shutout, and 17 BB to 50 K's. Instead of just throwing prospects around they should bring up the wave of talent they still have down in the minor leagues.

I often wonder what Mauer's legacy would be if the ump had correctly called a fair ball in Yankees Stadium.

I am all for getting some bullpen help, but not at the expense of any future pieces. I am not a fan of trading away people like Vargas or arcia, or anyone else with more value. This team is not a World Series contender and I can't help but think "Ramos" if we trade some of the future for something out farm system is supposedly loaded with. What is happening with Jay? I know he is being groomed for starting , but can he help us for the stretch run?

I would just confirm that the "slow" scoreboard MPH readings hit 96 mph more than once on Landa's pitches, which would put him at about 98. And he was consistently within a couple mph of those readings. Pretty impressive. JJ was up in the pressbox with the TrackMan guy next to him, so he had access to fully accurate data and you can trust the 98 mph reading he Tweeted.

In order for Mauer to hit .300 this year - given that he has played in all but one game, and presuming he will play in all but one game the remainder of the way - he will have to hit .336 the rest of the way. That would be some accomplishment. I say "Go Joe!" because that kind of hitting in the middle of the the order would put the Twins over the top. But can he do it? Given all the defensive shifting and his increased propensity to strike out? I doubt it very very very very much.

On the radio, and he said it before Sano got off to his great start. I'm guessing his source(s) on the Twins being so down on Vargas are from the inside and that there's more to that May demotion and his time in AAA (why bounced all the way down to AA?) that hasn't been made public. Granted, they may have wanted to keep him separated from Arcia, but it didn't sound like Neal was just making something up out of whole cloth. It appears that the onus is now on Vargas to make something happen, only now he's behind both Sano and Arcia on the DH depth chart, and he's currently treading water in Chattanooga, at best.

Mauer still has a lot of baseball left in him. My guess is that he goes on a hot streak this season. I feel his triple slash will look pretty much the way we expected it to by the end of the season.

If I remember right, Dozier's home runs dropped off last year in the 2nd half. Pretty tough to maintain this pace.

Dozier is having a great year, no doubt. Much of the Twins hopes lie with him, so if he goes south, there's a good chance the team isn't making the playoffs. However, I have to disagree with the "Batting Average" comment within the premise of the article. Trout (287) was the last MVP with a BA less than 300 since Don Baylor in '79 (296). We can argue about the merits of the BA stat, but it does matter to the voters. If he continues at this pace, though, he will certainly be in the discussion. More importantly, that means the Twins are probably talking playoffs!

If the Twins are in it until the end, and if Dozier keeps on this pace, there is no way he isn't part of the MVP discussion. Well, no way he shouldn't be. But when was the last time an MVP went to someone not on a playoff-bound team? For Dozier to be in the discussion, I think the Twins have to be there.

Short memories on Vargas? He wasn't much of a prospect. He was called up last year in an emergency. I think the short memory is of his success last year being a bit of a fluke, personally.

"Chih-Wei Hu pitched six one-run innings" I read this as Hu giving up a run every inning for six innings. Had to read it twice.

I wouldn't jump to that... more ready for GCL, maybe... But this is very aggressive. Very, very few 16-year-olds play in the GCL. In fact, only players born between July 1 and August 25th (or whenever the GCL season ends) are even capable of playing in that league at age 16.

Look at me... not even satisfied with a 98mph anymore ! Do you think they will try to stretch him out a bit and use him as a starter again next year?

I watched the pre-game show of the All-Star Game with my sons, and the first few innings. They had lots of highlights from the first half, yet literally the only Twins clip was of Torii throwing a temper tantrum. I can't believe they didn't show the Hicks' Willie Mays catch-even though he was actually there. It got me thinking that it would be nice to see the Twins get back to more than an afterthought. It made me think it would be nice to see Sano and Buxton, and Mauer again as All-Stars. Hicks could turn into an "it takes a while for it all to click" type player...a player with raw talent, high draft pedigree, but early career struggles. Brian Dozier, Trevor Plouffe, Glen Perkins...Aaron Hicks? Not all above average players excel immediately.

It would be interesting to know what happened with Vargas. I have heard rumblings he did/said something while at AAA. Its surprising because he came off as a guy with a good head on his shoulders. But right now the speculation is his attitude is souring. Unless something changes he could be a DFA candidate.

One hell of a post Tom! Thank you! Always felt, no matter how much I admired, liked or approved of TR as a GM or person, track record or not, that he simply counted on/promoted Hicks too soon based on hope, potential, and Hunter similarities. He absolutely blew CF the past few seasons. But it seems to me we are watching Hicks grow up right before our eyes as a young man and a baseball player. I could see it in ST with the new leg kick. Even when he didn't necessarily hit right away after his promotion this season, you could see a different spine when he left the batter's box...one way or another. And you could see it in the way he played defense. And the defense, previously slandered the past couple of seasons, sometimes deservedly so, has been very good to outstanding. Seems to keep getting better. Three potentials here; none of them poor. He's either a solid, quality all around corner OF who provides great defense and backup CF ability. (Or potential starting CF to let Buxton be less fatigued or injury risk in RF??) Or a top overall 4th OF with multiple ways to jelly the team. Or a potentially top trade prospect. Really, really like what we're seeing out of Hicks these days.

Perkins will blow a save in the NFC ALCS to lose the series. All Minnesota fans will remember is that one blown save.