Twins Fan From Afar

[TABLE=class: tr-caption-container] http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cWcmRxG78IM/T419D60ZDDI/AAAAAAAAAR4/w4wxuQuuC1s/s1600/Liriano.bmp [TD=class: tr-caption]Is tonight the night where Liriano puts it together?? [/TD] [/TABLE] [Originally published at Twins Fan From Afar] CC Sabathia is down. In two starts this season, he has 0 decisions. In 12 innings pitched, he's given up 16 hits, 9 earned runs, 2 home runs and 5 walks, while striking out 15. His ERA in this brief stretch is 6.75. Clearly, he's looking to rebound against the Twins tonight, and for good reason: in his last 9 starts against Minnesota (including the postseason), Sabathia is 8-0 with a 1.72 ERA. So, although the Twins have the momentum going into tonight -- thanks to great games by Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Alexi Casilla, and a solid outing by Carl Pavano -- Sabathia has the momentum in the historical sense. Tonight's game, featuring lefties Sabathia and Francisco Liriano, could be very good, or it could be rough: both are capable of shutting down offenses, but both have been very hittable thus far. As I wrote last year, I think it is possible for this team to have success off of Sabathia. I still would love to see a couple bunts (for base hits) in the first few innings tonight. Between Sabathia's bulk, and the fact that neither Alex Rodriguez nor Mark Teixeira is fleet of foot, bunting would be a great way to upset Sabathia early on. Anything that gets him off of his routine is a positive, in my book. Second, Liriano needs to bust a few Yankee hitters inside. Last night, Pavano pitched well, but you could see the Yankees waiting for those pitches that were on the outer half of the plate, without any fear that Pavano would instead go inside and upstairs to "give them a different view of the ball," so to speak. Liriano, with better velocity than Pavano, can do just that. It could be a great game tonight, like a 2-1 or 3-2 contest, if Liriano and Sabathia are both "on." Judging from past performances this season, though, my guess is that one or both are going to struggle. Hopefully it's Sabathia. Finally, I want to formally thank ESPN's SportsCenter for their wonderful coverage of last night's Twins-Yankees game. This game featured, among other things, a gigantic Justin Morneau home run to the deepest part of Yankee Stadium, 3 hits from Joe Mauer, including hard-hit doubles down both lines, and a solid RBI single in the first inning by Josh Willingham to give the Twins an early lead. Of all those plays, SportsCenter's coverage after the game showed one of the Mauer doubles (and Alexi Casilla's nice play up the middle). They spent most of the time -- like 80% -- focusing on Derek Jeter's leadoff 351 ft. home run, Curtis Granderson's shot immediately thereafter, and -- get this -- a Jeter infield single. An infield single. A meaningless infield single in a game the Yankees lost by a considerable margin. I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but seriously: we have Morneau trying to come back, against some pretty significant odds, to resurrect what was once a great career, and they don't even show his home run. We have Willingham, who has hit in every single game this season, and they don't show the line drive that he ripped to open up the scoring for the Twins. And there were a handful of other plays during the game that constituted Twins highlights in my opinion, but were, of course, left on the cutting room floor. I'm very, very glad I got to see Jeter leg out that single to shortstop. Thanks, as always, ESPN, for the fair and balanced coverage. And I really, really look forward to watching the Red Sox-Rangers on ESPN's Wednesday night baseball, and the Yankees-Red Sox on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball.

Colabello is 28 years old. From 2005 through 2011 he played for the Worcester Tornados (in Massachusetts). They are actually part of the Canadian-American Association independent league. So this is his first year in affiliated baseball, as far as I can tell. And he's doing well. Too old to be a top prospect? Probably. Fun to watch? Yes. From what I saw in person (last week), Turpen had good velocity. I think he got it up to 92, and that's when it was about 43 degrees out. I'll let you know what I see from him this weekend.

[Originally published at Twins Fan From Afar] The New Britain Rock Cats defeated the Portland Sea Dogs tonight 10-5. Despite the lopsided score, this game actually took 11 innings to produce a winner. The sides were knotted at 5 runs until the Rock Cats exploded for 5 runs in the 11th inning, and then shut down the Sea Dogs in the home half to secure the victory. For all the runs tonight, New Britain only accumulated 9 hits (they also walked 5 times). Big producers tonight included shortstop Pedro Florimon, who hit his first home run of the year, and drove in 2 runs. Chris Colabello had the most important hit of the night: a 3 run game-tying home run (his second of the season) in the top of the ninth inning with two outs. On the evening, Colabello also had a double and a 4th RBI. Quite a night for the first baseman! Right fielder Evan Bigley had 3 singles and a walk tonight, in 4 at-bats, and also scored 2 runs, pushing his batting average to .311. Deibinson Romero, Estarlin De Los Santos and James Beresford also had hits for the Rock Cats. New Britain sent 10 men to the plate in the decisive 11th inning. Lefty Andrew Albers got the start for New Britain, lasting 5 innings, and giving up 8 hits, 4 earned runs, and striking out 4 while issuing no free passes. The bullpen, however, was better. Although reliever Brett Jacobson gave up a run in one inning of work, Blake Martin pitched a scoreless 7th, and Luis Perdomo and Daniel Turpen each pitched 2 scoreless innings, with Turpen picking up the win in extras. Aaron Hicks was hitless tonight, but did have an outfield assist, nailing a Sea Dogs runner at third base. Martin (on a pickoff) and Florimon each committed their first errors of the season. This is now the 5th consecutive win for the Rock Cats, pushing their impressive record to 9-3. They are also undefeated on the road, which is good for any team looking to gain confidence early in the season. They'll be back in action tomorrow night -- same time, same channel.

[Originally published at Twins Fan From Afar] The New Britain Rock Cats defeated the Portland Sea Dogs tonight 10-5. Despite the lopsided score, this game actually took 11 innings to produce a winner. The sides were knotted at 5 runs until the Rock Cats exploded for 5 runs in the 11th inning, and then shut down the Sea Dogs in the home half to secure the victory. For all the runs tonight, New Britain only accumulated 9 hits (they also walked 5 times). Big producers tonight included shortstop Pedro Florimon, who hit his first home run of the year, and drove in 2 runs. Chris Colabello had the most important hit of the night: a 3 run game-tying home run (his second of the season) in the top of the ninth inning with two outs. On the evening, Colabello also had a double and a 4th RBI. Quite a night for the first baseman! Right fielder Evan Bigley had 3 singles and a walk tonight, in 4 at-bats, and also scored 2 runs, pushing his batting average to .311. Deibinson Romero, Estarlin De Los Santos and James Beresford also had hits for the Rock Cats. New Britain sent 10 men to the plate in the decisive 11th inning. Lefty Andrew Albers got the start for New Britain, lasting 5 innings, and giving up 8 hits, 4 earned runs, and striking out 4 while issuing no free passes. The bullpen, however, was better. Although reliever Brett Jacobson gave up a run in one inning of work, Blake Martin pitched a scoreless 7th, and Luis Perdomo and Daniel Turpen each pitched 2 scoreless innings, with Turpen picking up the win in extras. Aaron Hicks was hitless tonight, but did have an outfield assist, nailing a Sea Dogs runner at third base. Martin (on a pickoff) and Florimon each committed their first errors of the season. This is now the 5th consecutive win for the Rock Cats, pushing their impressive record to 9-3. They are also undefeated on the road, which is good for any team looking to gain confidence early in the season. They'll be back in action tomorrow night -- same time, same channel.

[TABLE=class: tr-caption-container] http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-njEaGw6EBSc/T4wRlmQ4KMI/AAAAAAAAARw/QHMTMEvuiWk/s320/6212306479_978e55b761_o.jpg [TD=class: tr-caption]This beautiful photo, taken by former Twin Michael Cuddyer, illustrates the main concern for the Twins organization: empty seats [/TD] [/TABLE] [Originally published at Twins Fan From Afar] The White Sox officially announced that they were rebuilding last December, when they traded pitcher Sergio Santos to the Toronto Blue Jays for a pitching prospect. At that time, General Manager Kenny Williams said, "It is the start of a rebuilding. You guys know I have not used that word in 12 years. It's the start of a rebuilding now." It's sort of rare for a front office to officially admit that a team is rebuilding, and you can see why -- there is a stigma attached to the word "rebuilding." Most often, it's very obvious from actions, rather than words, that a team is rebuilding. They will never admit it, but it's more than clear. It's embarrassing, in any personal or professional endeavor, to admit that your Plan A, and perhaps Plan B and Plan C, didn't work. You have to go back to the drawing board completely, and it's going to cost you. With respect to Major League Baseball, it's going to cost you ticket sales, and everything that comes with putting people in your seats: concession and liquor revenue; merchandise revenue; parking revenue; and probably the ability to attract top talent to your team. The list goes on, I'm sure. Over the end of last season, and into the off-season, it seemed like the Twins were re-tooling -- or reloading, rather than rebuilding: a guy that left, like Michael Cuddyer, for instance, was replaced with a comparable, yet somewhat cheaper alternative, like Josh Willingham. Through these efforts, the Twins went into 2012 fielding a seemingly competitive team (not World Series competitive; just competitive in the sense they could win 81 games), but also reduced payroll. In the end, you definitely would not have called last offseason one of rebuilding. And then the last 10 days happened. Scott Baker is done for this season without throwing a pitch, and his career as a Twin might be over. Nick Blackburn has been injured, though he is scheduled to pitch this week -- I'm not holding my breath there. Already, two of the most veteran arms are suspect. This doesn't take into account Francisco Liriano, who certainly is not pitching like it's a contract year. Offensively, Jamey Carroll has been mostly dreadful. Couldn't Brian Dozier do the job for less? He'll probably be given a shot next month, so we'll find out. Josh Willingham, great at the plate, has shown that he'd be better suited for designated hitter. This isn't just supposed to be a laundry list of complaints about my favorite team. I'm listing them to illustrate the massive holes that this team has -- even with a $100 million payroll. The word "rebuilding" is loaded. When a GM utters that word, there's no going back. You are bound to lose ticket sales. At Target Field, commencing only its third year, an official period of rebuilding probably was not an option. But here's a question for you this morning: would the money the Twins would lose in, say, 2012 and 2013 by officially rebuilding, be less than or greater than the money they could stand to lose in the future, say, 2014-2016, if their failure now to officially rebuild and sell off tradeable contracts comes back to bite them in the form of 5 or 6 sustained years of non-winning teams, versus just 2 or 3? Long-winded question, I know. I don't know the answer, but I think it's worth discussing. Right now, that's my worry. Yes, there are some great prospects coming up. We should be excited by guys like Miguel Sano and Alex Wimmers. But they -- especially Sano -- are some time away from arriving. If the Twins continue the subpar play into May, and then June, I'm hoping that we see some major moves for the long-term health of this organization. That's tough to say for the fan in me that likes each of these players for different reasons, but the Twins might have an opportunity to do what they failed to do at the deadline last year -- move competitive players for decent prospects. If that's the case -- and for the record I hope this team gets going and puts posts like this to rest -- I hope that the front office acts this time around. Act for fans of the Twins organization; act for 2014 and beyond.

[TABLE=class: tr-caption-container] http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-njEaGw6EBSc/T4wRlmQ4KMI/AAAAAAAAARw/QHMTMEvuiWk/s320/6212306479_978e55b761_o.jpg [TD=class: tr-caption]This beautiful photo, taken by former Twin Michael Cuddyer, illustrates the main concern for the Twins organization: empty seats [/TD] [/TABLE] [Originally published at Twins Fan From Afar] The White Sox officially announced that they were rebuilding last December, when they traded pitcher Sergio Santos to the Toronto Blue Jays for a pitching prospect. At that time, General Manager Kenny Williams said, "It is the start of a rebuilding. You guys know I have not used that word in 12 years. It's the start of a rebuilding now." It's sort of rare for a front office to officially admit that a team is rebuilding, and you can see why -- there is a stigma attached to the word "rebuilding." Most often, it's very obvious from actions, rather than words, that a team is rebuilding. They will never admit it, but it's more than clear. It's embarrassing, in any personal or professional endeavor, to admit that your Plan A, and perhaps Plan B and Plan C, didn't work. You have to go back to the drawing board completely, and it's going to cost you. With respect to Major League Baseball, it's going to cost you ticket sales, and everything that comes with putting people in your seats: concession and liquor revenue; merchandise revenue; parking revenue; and probably the ability to attract top talent to your team. The list goes on, I'm sure. Over the end of last season, and into the off-season, it seemed like the Twins were re-tooling -- or reloading, rather than rebuilding: a guy that left, like Michael Cuddyer, for instance, was replaced with a comparable, yet somewhat cheaper alternative, like Josh Willingham. Through these efforts, the Twins went into 2012 fielding a seemingly competitive team (not World Series competitive; just competitive in the sense they could win 81 games), but also reduced payroll. In the end, you definitely would not have called last offseason one of rebuilding. And then the last 10 days happened. Scott Baker is done for this season without throwing a pitch, and his career as a Twin might be over. Nick Blackburn has been injured, though he is scheduled to pitch this week -- I'm not holding my breath there. Already, two of the most veteran arms are suspect. This doesn't take into account Francisco Liriano, who certainly is not pitching like it's a contract year. Offensively, Jamey Carroll has been mostly dreadful. Couldn't Brian Dozier do the job for less? He'll probably be given a shot next month, so we'll find out. Josh Willingham, great at the plate, has shown that he'd be better suited for designated hitter. This isn't just supposed to be a laundry list of complaints about my favorite team. I'm listing them to illustrate the massive holes that this team has -- even with a $100 million payroll. The word "rebuilding" is loaded. When a GM utters that word, there's no going back. You are bound to lose ticket sales. At Target Field, commencing only its third year, an official period of rebuilding probably was not an option. But here's a question for you this morning: would the money the Twins would lose in, say, 2012 and 2013 by officially rebuilding, be less than or greater than the money they could stand to lose in the future, say, 2014-2016, if their failure now to officially rebuild and sell off tradeable contracts comes back to bite them in the form of 5 or 6 sustained years of non-winning teams, versus just 2 or 3? Long-winded question, I know. I don't know the answer, but I think it's worth discussing. Right now, that's my worry. Yes, there are some great prospects coming up. We should be excited by guys like Miguel Sano and Alex Wimmers. But they -- especially Sano -- are some time away from arriving. If the Twins continue the subpar play into May, and then June, I'm hoping that we see some major moves for the long-term health of this organization. That's tough to say for the fan in me that likes each of these players for different reasons, but the Twins might have an opportunity to do what they failed to do at the deadline last year -- move competitive players for decent prospects. If that's the case -- and for the record I hope this team gets going and puts posts like this to rest -- I hope that the front office acts this time around. Act for fans of the Twins organization; act for 2014 and beyond.

[Originally published at Twins Fan From Afar] I think 4 games in a row constitutes a winning streak. If that's not the case, well too bad! The final score today was 3-0 New Britain, and the Rock Cats, in the midst of their first road trip, are now 8-3. The Sunday Rock Cats-Fisher Cats matinee at New Hampshire was essentially a pitcher's duel for much of the game. New Britain starter Lucas French tossed 7 scoreless innings (92 pitches) for the Rock Cats, allowing only 2 hits, and walking 3 and notching 3 strikeouts along the way. He improved to 2-0 on the young season, and his ERA stands at a tidy 0.96. New Britain's offense came from an Evan Bigley RBI single (he had two hits on the day), a Chris Herrmann solo home run (his first of the season), and a Nathan Hanson sacrifice fly. Herrmann, especially, is in the middle of an important season -- I'm viewing him as Joe Mauer's potential back-up catcher for 2013. Also notching hits for the Rock Cats were Mark Dolenc, Chris Colabello, Deibinson Romero (who committed the only error for New Britain), and Pedro Florimon, who had 2 hits. Aaron Hicks was hitless, batting as a lefty, but his batting average is still a solid .297. The other good story today was the Rock Cats bullpen. After almost giving the game back yesterday, it was much better today. Deolis Guerra pitched a scoreless 8th inning to get the hold, and Lester Oliveros struck out one in the 9th to get the save. New Britain's pitching staff only gave up 3 hits all day, striking out 4 and walking 3. The road trip continues tomorrow, as they travel to Portland, Maine to face the Red Sox AA affiliate, the Sea Dogs.

[Originally published at Twins Fan From Afar] I think 4 games in a row constitutes a winning streak. If that's not the case, well too bad! The final score today was 3-0 New Britain, and the Rock Cats, in the midst of their first road trip, are now 8-3. The Sunday Rock Cats-Fisher Cats matinee at New Hampshire was essentially a pitcher's duel for much of the game. New Britain starter Lucas French tossed 7 scoreless innings (92 pitches) for the Rock Cats, allowing only 2 hits, and walking 3 and notching 3 strikeouts along the way. He improved to 2-0 on the young season, and his ERA stands at a tidy 0.96. New Britain's offense came from an Evan Bigley RBI single (he had two hits on the day), a Chris Herrmann solo home run (his first of the season), and a Nathan Hanson sacrifice fly. Herrmann, especially, is in the middle of an important season -- I'm viewing him as Joe Mauer's potential back-up catcher for 2013. Also notching hits for the Rock Cats were Mark Dolenc, Chris Colabello, Deibinson Romero (who committed the only error for New Britain), and Pedro Florimon, who had 2 hits. Aaron Hicks was hitless, batting as a lefty, but his batting average is still a solid .297. The other good story today was the Rock Cats bullpen. After almost giving the game back yesterday, it was much better today. Deolis Guerra pitched a scoreless 8th inning to get the hold, and Lester Oliveros struck out one in the 9th to get the save. New Britain's pitching staff only gave up 3 hits all day, striking out 4 and walking 3. The road trip continues tomorrow, as they travel to Portland, Maine to face the Red Sox AA affiliate, the Sea Dogs.

[TABLE=class: tr-caption-container] [TD=align: center]http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NI0Dw6sl4l8/T4jKo5yLyoI/AAAAAAAAARY/-ijibrI5F04/s320/download+(4).jpg [/TD] [TD=class: tr-caption, align: center]My stock minor league picture until I make it to another Rock Cats game next week [/TD] [/TABLE] [Originally published at Twins Fan From Afar] Just a quick note tonight. The Rock Cats continued their good play, beating the New Hampshire Fisher Cats 6-1 in convincing fashion. Importantly, they played error-free baseball. Notables: Starter Steve Hirshfeld went 5 innings, striking out 4 and giving up only 2 hits. He walked 2 along the way. Luis Perdomo pitched 2 innings, giving up the only New Hampshire run, but struck out 2. Lester Oliveros and Daniel Turpen both pitched scoreless innings. On offense, first baseman Chris Colabello had both a double and a home run in three at-bats, with 4 RBIs. If you're looking for a player of the game, it's definitely him! Catcher Chris Herrmann was 3-for-5 with 2 doubles, and Aaron Hicks was 1-for-3 with a double and a walk. Hicks and Herrmann each had a stolen base, also. In my opinion, Herrrmann, a returning Rock Cat, has got to be the front-runner for the Mauer back-up in 2013. Rock Cats fans, we're looking at a good team here. A good mix of power, speed and pitching. This team is 5-3 going into Saturday's action, and hopefully they can keep it going.

[TABLE=class: tr-caption-container] [TD=align: center]http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NI0Dw6sl4l8/T4jKo5yLyoI/AAAAAAAAARY/-ijibrI5F04/s320/download+(4).jpg [/TD] [TD=class: tr-caption, align: center]My stock minor league picture until I make it to another Rock Cats game next week [/TD] [/TABLE] [Originally published at Twins Fan From Afar] Just a quick note tonight. The Rock Cats continued their good play, beating the New Hampshire Fisher Cats 6-1 in convincing fashion. Importantly, they played error-free baseball. Notables: Starter Steve Hirshfeld went 5 innings, striking out 4 and giving up only 2 hits. He walked 2 along the way. Luis Perdomo pitched 2 innings, giving up the only New Hampshire run, but struck out 2. Lester Oliveros and Daniel Turpen both pitched scoreless innings. On offense, first baseman Chris Colabello had both a double and a home run in three at-bats, with 4 RBIs. If you're looking for a player of the game, it's definitely him! Catcher Chris Herrmann was 3-for-5 with 2 doubles, and Aaron Hicks was 1-for-3 with a double and a walk. Hicks and Herrmann each had a stolen base, also. In my opinion, Herrrmann, a returning Rock Cat, has got to be the front-runner for the Mauer back-up in 2013. Rock Cats fans, we're looking at a good team here. A good mix of power, speed and pitching. This team is 5-3 going into Saturday's action, and hopefully they can keep it going.

Good catch, Seth.

[Originally published at Twins Fan From Afar] [TABLE=class: tr-caption-container] http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-P5vo20JSwUE/T4gjOXN7EYI/AAAAAAAAARQ/tVKHsUbz_PE/s320/Gibson.bmp [TD=class: tr-caption]Twins fans are wondering when, and if, Kyle Gibson will become part of the Twins' rotation [/TD] [/TABLE] This season, the Twins are shelling out $28.25 million on their intended starting pitching staff. Here's the breakdown: Scott Baker (will not pitch an inning this season): $6.5 million Nick Blackburn: $4.75 million Francisco Liriano: $5.5 million Carl Pavano: $8.5 million Jason Marquis: $3 million As you can see, it adds up pretty fast, and no one player is making close to league minimum. Also, a few of these contracts aren't particularly good. Pavano is overpaid for what he produces (aside from the fact that he will probably pitch 200 innings this season), and I believe that the Twins could have done better for $3 million than Marquis, or could, at this point, just give the spot to a young guy. It's no surprise that there will be massive turnover in this rotation over the next couple seasons. In fact, none of these guys is under contract for 2014. It seems as if Baker's time in Minnesota is likely over, unless he wants to come back to the Twins at a lower amount than the $9.5 million 2013 team option that will most certainly be declined. I guess that's a possibility. For right now, though, let's just assume, for what I'm about to propose, that Baker is out of the scenario. Additionally, the Twins hold an $8 million option on Nick Blackburn for 2014. For right now, I'll assume that they decline that option. Unless Blackburn can extended his perennial April and May success into the hot summer months, it's a lot of money to spend on a pitcher that can't consistently deliver quality starts. The entire landscape of the Twins -- or at least many aspects of it -- could be very different in 2014. Justin Morneau might not be with the team, although I hope that's not the case. Denard Span could be traded as early as this season, especially if he remains healthy and it appears that Joe Benson is ready to take over in center field as part of a rebuild. Danny Valencia's job could have been usurped by Miguel Sano. And it's almost a foregone conclusion that Brian Dozier will be playing shortstop for the foreseeable future. In all, that sounds to me like the potential for a lot of contracts in 2014 that are close to league minimum, which is good news for the budget conscious Twins. In my mind, some of that extra money saved in position player salaries would be well spend on pitching. Here's what I propose to get this team's pitching back on track for 2014. And I can do it for roughly the same amount: 1) Major Free Agent Signing. I'm targeting Zack Greinke, specifically. I wrote last week for Through the Fence Baseball on why we should try to get him. The common refrain is that the Twins need a pitcher that can miss bats, and Greinke might be our most attainable shot. Is he an ace? Perhaps. Perhaps not. It depends on your definition. But if he signed in Minnesota, he would instantly become our best starting pitcher since Johan Santana. With pitching payroll coming off the books, and with Greinke becoming a free agent after this season, I say the Twins go after him. $18 million/season. 2) Kyle Gibson. Admittedly there is no longer certainty as to whether we will ever see the pitcher that he once was on the path to becoming. He's out until late this summer recovering from Tommy John surgery. But he was so close beforehand. Aaron Gleeman still has Gibson as the #7 Twins prospect, incidentally. Perhaps he will not become the #2 starter that we dreamed about, but there is still a good chance that Gibson will be a solid starter for years to come in Minnesota. And, importantly, he'll be making close to league minimum. $500,000 (I'm ballparking a little here. Depending on when any of these rookies come up, they will get raises, so it could be a little more than that.). 3) Alex Wimmers. He's on the fast track. Yes, he's not nearly as close to The Show as Gibson is, but by promoting him to AA this season after only 40 innings in Ft. Myers, the Twins have indicated in no uncertain terms that Wimmers, if productive, will quickly climb the ladder. If he's successful this season, there's a chance that he could crack the Twins rotation at some point in 2013. $500,000. 4) Liam Hendriks. It sounds like Hendriks will get a lot of experience in 2012 now that Baker is shelved. He's making $480,000 this season. Let's assume that he's successful and put him, for the sake of argument, at $1.5 million in 2014. These four pitchers put us at roughly $20.5 million. Let's round up just for budgeting purposes, and call it $22 million. We have some money left over for the 5th pitcher, so let's use it! 5) Solid veteran free agent signing, or Francisco Liriano. Don't laugh. I still hold out hope that Liriano can get his head under control. Don't get me wrong -- these first two starts were pretty awful -- but he looked so good just two weeks ago. Can the Twins get him for 8$ million a season in a deal before he hits free agency? Do they even want to? Would they be crazy to? Or, are they looking for him to throw well so they can trade him? Yes, the signs point to Liriano not being with the Twins next season, but it's an option. If the Twins don't go that route, that leaves them about $8 million to sign a pitcher. That money should get you a solid, middle of the rotation guy. So, for around $30 million, we're set for 2014, in my mind, anyway. These young pitchers salaries' will escalate, so it will not be a $30 million rotation for the long-term (although they would be under team control for a few more years, so the raises would be reasonable). And don't forget that the Twins hopefully will draft a pitcher with the second overall selection in the 2012 amateur draft. Maybe this guy will be MLB ready by 2015? And, I'm sure I have forgotten about another prospect or two, such as Adrian Salcedo, that could crack the rotation in another few years. I recognize that writing a list like this is speculative in nature. There's a chance that neither Wimmers nor Gibson ever throw a pitch at Target Field. But there's also a good chance that they realize their potential. For all the rotten luck the Twins have had (Baker's injury, Liriano's Tommy John surgery and subsequent inconsistent performance, and Blackburn not living up to his contract), it's about time that a few things go in the Twins favor. So there you have it. 2012 doesn't look like Minnesota's season to win it all, and there are still some contracts on the book in 2013 (Jamey Carroll, Tsuyoshi Nishioka, even Morneau because his future is so tentative) that may prevent the Twins from making a big move, but they should definitely court Greinke and try to build a young rotation around him.

[Originally published at Twins Fan From Afar] [TABLE=class: tr-caption-container] http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-P5vo20JSwUE/T4gjOXN7EYI/AAAAAAAAARQ/tVKHsUbz_PE/s320/Gibson.bmp [TD=class: tr-caption]Twins fans are wondering when, and if, Kyle Gibson will become part of the Twins' rotation [/TD] [/TABLE] This season, the Twins are shelling out $28.25 million on their intended starting pitching staff. Here's the breakdown: Scott Baker (will not pitch an inning this season): $6.5 million Nick Blackburn: $4.75 million Francisco Liriano: $5.5 million Carl Pavano: $8.5 million Jason Marquis: $3 million As you can see, it adds up pretty fast, and no one player is making close to league minimum. Also, a few of these contracts aren't particularly good. Pavano is overpaid for what he produces (aside from the fact that he will probably pitch 200 innings this season), and I believe that the Twins could have done better for $3 million than Marquis, or could, at this point, just give the spot to a young guy. It's no surprise that there will be massive turnover in this rotation over the next couple seasons. In fact, none of these guys is under contract for 2014. It seems as if Baker's time in Minnesota is likely over, unless he wants to come back to the Twins at a lower amount than the $9.5 million 2013 team option that will most certainly be declined. I guess that's a possibility. For right now, though, let's just assume, for what I'm about to propose, that Baker is out of the scenario. Additionally, the Twins hold an $8 million option on Nick Blackburn for 2014. For right now, I'll assume that they decline that option. Unless Blackburn can extended his perennial April and May success into the hot summer months, it's a lot of money to spend on a pitcher that can't consistently deliver quality starts. The entire landscape of the Twins -- or at least many aspects of it -- could be very different in 2014. Justin Morneau might not be with the team, although I hope that's not the case. Denard Span could be traded as early as this season, especially if he remains healthy and it appears that Joe Benson is ready to take over in center field as part of a rebuild. Danny Valencia's job could have been usurped by Miguel Sano. And it's almost a foregone conclusion that Brian Dozier will be playing shortstop for the foreseeable future. In all, that sounds to me like the potential for a lot of contracts in 2014 that are close to league minimum, which is good news for the budget conscious Twins. In my mind, some of that extra money saved in position player salaries would be well spend on pitching. Here's what I propose to get this team's pitching back on track for 2014. And I can do it for roughly the same amount: 1) Major Free Agent Signing. I'm targeting Zack Greinke, specifically. I wrote last week for Through the Fence Baseball on why we should try to get him. The common refrain is that the Twins need a pitcher that can miss bats, and Greinke might be our most attainable shot. Is he an ace? Perhaps. Perhaps not. It depends on your definition. But if he signed in Minnesota, he would instantly become our best starting pitcher since Johan Santana. With pitching payroll coming off the books, and with Greinke becoming a free agent after this season, I say the Twins go after him. $18 million/season. 2) Kyle Gibson. Admittedly there is no longer certainty as to whether we will ever see the pitcher that he once was on the path to becoming. He's out until late this summer recovering from Tommy John surgery. But he was so close beforehand. Aaron Gleeman still has Gibson as the #7 Twins prospect, incidentally. Perhaps he will not become the #2 starter that we dreamed about, but there is still a good chance that Gibson will be a solid starter for years to come in Minnesota. And, importantly, he'll be making close to league minimum. $500,000 (I'm ballparking a little here. Depending on when any of these rookies come up, they will get raises, so it could be a little more than that.). 3) Alex Wimmers. He's on the fast track. Yes, he's not nearly as close to The Show as Gibson is, but by promoting him to AA this season after only 40 innings in Ft. Myers, the Twins have indicated in no uncertain terms that Wimmers, if productive, will quickly climb the ladder. If he's successful this season, there's a chance that he could crack the Twins rotation at some point in 2013. $500,000. 4) Liam Hendriks. It sounds like Hendriks will get a lot of experience in 2012 now that Baker is shelved. He's making $480,000 this season. Let's assume that he's successful and put him, for the sake of argument, at $1.5 million in 2014. These four pitchers put us at roughly $20.5 million. Let's round up just for budgeting purposes, and call it $22 million. We have some money left over for the 5th pitcher, so let's use it! 5) Solid veteran free agent signing, or Francisco Liriano. Don't laugh. I still hold out hope that Liriano can get his head under control. Don't get me wrong -- these first two starts were pretty awful -- but he looked so good just two weeks ago. Can the Twins get him for 8$ million a season in a deal before he hits free agency? Do they even want to? Would they be crazy to? Or, are they looking for him to throw well so they can trade him? Yes, the signs point to Liriano not being with the Twins next season, but it's an option. If the Twins don't go that route, that leaves them about $8 million to sign a pitcher. That money should get you a solid, middle of the rotation guy. So, for around $30 million, we're set for 2014, in my mind, anyway. These young pitchers salaries' will escalate, so it will not be a $30 million rotation for the long-term (although they would be under team control for a few more years, so the raises would be reasonable). And don't forget that the Twins hopefully will draft a pitcher with the second overall selection in the 2012 amateur draft. Maybe this guy will be MLB ready by 2015? And, I'm sure I have forgotten about another prospect or two, such as Adrian Salcedo, that could crack the rotation in another few years. I recognize that writing a list like this is speculative in nature. There's a chance that neither Wimmers nor Gibson ever throw a pitch at Target Field. But there's also a good chance that they realize their potential. For all the rotten luck the Twins have had (Baker's injury, Liriano's Tommy John surgery and subsequent inconsistent performance, and Blackburn not living up to his contract), it's about time that a few things go in the Twins favor. So there you have it. 2012 doesn't look like Minnesota's season to win it all, and there are still some contracts on the book in 2013 (Jamey Carroll, Tsuyoshi Nishioka, even Morneau because his future is so tentative) that may prevent the Twins from making a big move, but they should definitely court Greinke and try to build a young rotation around him.

Love it. Great post. Although it's not on point, I'm hearing John Candy's soliloquy from Planes, Trains and Automobiles running in the background.

He may have filled out a little, but I don't recall thinking he was bulky by any means.

Rock Cats close out the victory, win 5-3. Hicks, 2-for-3 with a HR and a double, 2 RBIs. Now batting .308. Deibinson Romero, 2-for-4 with a double and 3 RBIs. Evan Bigley, Chris Colabello and James Beresford also with hits. No errors.

Hicks is heating up. Home run and a double thus far tonight. http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=t538&t=g_box&gid=2012_04_12_nbraax_nhmaax_1

Hicks is heating up. Home run and a double thus far tonight. http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=t538&t=g_box&gid=2012_04_12_nbraax_nhmaax_1

I love the hand-written board. Very authentic and old-school. No tweeting of the lineups in New Britain! Thanks for the encouragement, too!

 [TABLE=class: tr-caption-container] http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yamyJ_LSBtg/T4bUbOz-62I/AAAAAAAAARI/IePkdnSf9Bo/s320/lineup.bmp [TD=class: tr-caption]How lineups are posted in New Britain -- on a large posterboard when you walk in the stadium. Gotta love it! [/TD] [/TABLE] [Originally published at Twins Fan From Afar] Yesterday morning, the Rock Cats played at 10:35 a.m., eastern time. That's right, as many of you in Minnesota were settling into your workday routine, so were the Rock Cats. These weekday early morning games are interesting. In fact, looking at the season schedule, it looks like the team will play several morning games throughout the season. I'll have to check one of these games out eventually! Going into tonight's game, the Rock Cats are 4-3, after losing yesterday to the Harrisburg Senators in the finale of their 3-game series. This was the Rock Cats' second loss in a row. They lost 8-4, but Aaron Hicks came through with another extra base hit -- a double -- and was 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI. Although it was great that Hicks had another extra base hit (he had homered in both of the previous two games), yesterday's double was encouraging because Hicks was batting left-handed, the side of the plate where he needs to gain consistency. By my math, Hicks has 5 hits in his last 3 games. After starting out just 1-for-12, Hicks has hit in 5 of his last 11 at-bats, so that's great news. Small sample size, yes, but Hicks is showing that his promotion was deserved. In fact, after batting .083 just a few days ago, Hicks is up to respectable .261. And I can tell you from watching both the first game of the season, where Hicks was hitless and appeared nervous, and from watching Monday night when he had 2 hits, including a massive opposite field home run, that he is more relaxed at the plate. The second player I wanted to mention this morning is third baseman Deibinson Romero. He doesn't come up on prospect lists much any more. But I've attended two games, and have enjoyed watching Romero hit. He's not a typical prospect -- he'll turn 26 at the end of this season -- so I'm not sure what his future holds. From his career numbers, it's clear that Romero started off as a decent prospect, but saw his hitting stats drop once he hit High A baseball in Ft. Myers. This will be his second season in New Britain. He played 121 games there last year, batting 256/.327/.411. Already, however, he has two errors this season at third base, after having committed twenty at that position last season, so his defense may be an issue. Still, though, he's batting an even .333 with 8 hits early on, 4 of them doubles, and has 3 RBIs in the last two games. I'm not suggesting here that Romero is set to take Danny Valencia's job or anything, just that he has performed well at the plate this season, which for Romero would be a prerequisite to a promotion to Rochester. I like rooting for an underdog. Romero might see consensus #1 prospect Miguel Sano pass him by next season, and he might never play a single inning at Target Field, but perhaps this is his year to put things together? Tonight, the Rock Cats begin a 7 game road trip in New Hampshire against the Fisher Cats, AA affiliate of the Blue Jays. It's probably about a 3 hour bus ride from New Britain (just so you guys reading this stuff have an idea of the distance these players are traveling). After 4 games there, they will drive just a couple hours to play the Portland Sea Dogs, the AA affiliate of the Red Sox. Then it's back home for 7 games against those same two teams. All in all, the Rock Cats are in a stretch of 17 games in 17 days. Thankfully, their bus trips don't seem too lengthy. I'll probably hit up next Thursday night's game against New Hampshire, so you can expect game coverage from that, too.

 [TABLE=class: tr-caption-container] http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yamyJ_LSBtg/T4bUbOz-62I/AAAAAAAAARI/IePkdnSf9Bo/s320/lineup.bmp [TD=class: tr-caption]How lineups are posted in New Britain -- on a large posterboard when you walk in the stadium. Gotta love it! [/TD] [/TABLE] [Originally published at Twins Fan From Afar] Yesterday morning, the Rock Cats played at 10:35 a.m., eastern time. That's right, as many of you in Minnesota were settling into your workday routine, so were the Rock Cats. These weekday early morning games are interesting. In fact, looking at the season schedule, it looks like the team will play several morning games throughout the season. I'll have to check one of these games out eventually! Going into tonight's game, the Rock Cats are 4-3, after losing yesterday to the Harrisburg Senators in the finale of their 3-game series. This was the Rock Cats' second loss in a row. They lost 8-4, but Aaron Hicks came through with another extra base hit -- a double -- and was 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI. Although it was great that Hicks had another extra base hit (he had homered in both of the previous two games), yesterday's double was encouraging because Hicks was batting left-handed, the side of the plate where he needs to gain consistency. By my math, Hicks has 5 hits in his last 3 games. After starting out just 1-for-12, Hicks has hit in 5 of his last 11 at-bats, so that's great news. Small sample size, yes, but Hicks is showing that his promotion was deserved. In fact, after batting .083 just a few days ago, Hicks is up to respectable .261. And I can tell you from watching both the first game of the season, where Hicks was hitless and appeared nervous, and from watching Monday night when he had 2 hits, including a massive opposite field home run, that he is more relaxed at the plate. The second player I wanted to mention this morning is third baseman Deibinson Romero. He doesn't come up on prospect lists much any more. But I've attended two games, and have enjoyed watching Romero hit. He's not a typical prospect -- he'll turn 26 at the end of this season -- so I'm not sure what his future holds. From his career numbers, it's clear that Romero started off as a decent prospect, but saw his hitting stats drop once he hit High A baseball in Ft. Myers. This will be his second season in New Britain. He played 121 games there last year, batting 256/.327/.411. Already, however, he has two errors this season at third base, after having committed twenty at that position last season, so his defense may be an issue. Still, though, he's batting an even .333 with 8 hits early on, 4 of them doubles, and has 3 RBIs in the last two games. I'm not suggesting here that Romero is set to take Danny Valencia's job or anything, just that he has performed well at the plate this season, which for Romero would be a prerequisite to a promotion to Rochester. I like rooting for an underdog. Romero might see consensus #1 prospect Miguel Sano pass him by next season, and he might never play a single inning at Target Field, but perhaps this is his year to put things together? Tonight, the Rock Cats begin a 7 game road trip in New Hampshire against the Fisher Cats, AA affiliate of the Blue Jays. It's probably about a 3 hour bus ride from New Britain (just so you guys reading this stuff have an idea of the distance these players are traveling). After 4 games there, they will drive just a couple hours to play the Portland Sea Dogs, the AA affiliate of the Red Sox. Then it's back home for 7 games against those same two teams. All in all, the Rock Cats are in a stretch of 17 games in 17 days. Thankfully, their bus trips don't seem too lengthy. I'll probably hit up next Thursday night's game against New Hampshire, so you can expect game coverage from that, too.

[Originally posted at Twins Fan From Afar] [TABLE=class: tr-caption-container] [TD=align: center]http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E4vSyn5fI_E/T4YUuZseCvI/AAAAAAAAARA/SF1qSwePFd0/s1600/scott.jpg[/TD] [TD=class: tr-caption, align: center]Will this man-child ever throw for the Twins again?[/TD] [/TABLE] There's no good news report today, as it was just announced that our best righty, Scott Baker, will miss the entire season as a result of elbow surgery. This is bad news, make no mistake. When he's on, Baker is the second best pitcher in the rotation. Before injuries sidelined him in 2011, he was having arguably an all-star season, and he's one of just a few Twins pitchers that can consistently get hitters to swing and miss. Also, he seems like a nice guy. I met him last year, and he was nothing but polite. But tonight, in a rare Twins Fan From Afar evening post, I'm going to present the silver lining on the Baker news. Here it goes: 1. The Twins won't have a tough decision to make on his 2013 option. It's for $9.5 million, and I'd be really, really surprised if they picked it up. Sure, this isn't Tommy John surgery, but with Baker's lengthy injury history, it would be a significant risk to take, for a traditionally risk-averse organization. Roughly speaking, $9.5 million is 10 percent of this team's payroll. It's the equivalent of a starting position player, or approximately half the salary of an "ace," however you define that term. In other words, there are things the Twins can do with that payroll space. 2. I'm not going to give you some line like "this gives another guy an opportunity to step up and show he belongs." If "he" belonged, he'd already be up here, because our pitching depth is not at all, well, deep. What will happen, though, is that the Twins will lose more games this season. Sure, that's no fun in 2012, but this team wasn't going to make the playoffs, anyway. If you are a sub-.500 team, the more games you lose, the better your draft position. This injury, unfortunate as it may be, probably bumped the Twins up a few slots in the 2013 draft. If moving up a few slots is the difference between drafting the next Justin Verlander -- or even the next Scott Baker -- and missing that selection, it's not insignificant. 3. This makes it more likely that Francisco Liriano stays. Not sure if that is good or bad, but it would be nice to have a veteran starter not named Carl Pavano or Jason Marquis next season. To me, it had seemed, until today, like the Twins would either attempt to keep one of Liriano or Baker, or neither -- but not both. Now, they either will attempt to sign Liriano, or let him walk. Either way, they won't have to think about paying their two most senior pitchers around $10 million each. 4. If Baker does come back to Minnesota, it will be for cheaper. Let's assume Baker does want to stay loyal to Minnesota. He can come back on a 1-year deal and try to re-establish value, and then hit free agency in 2014. What better place to build good pitching stats than Target Field? If not, perhaps Kyle Gibson will be ready to take a spot in 2013? In closing, I'm in no way suggesting that today was a good day in Twins Territory. We lost a good guy -- definitely our first or second best Twins pitcher. That's bad news, and I hope Baker recovers quickly. But if you view this news in the larger context of the 2014-2018 Twins -- who could be very good -- perhaps there is a sliver of good news hidden in there.

[Originally posted at Twins Fan From Afar] [TABLE=class: tr-caption-container] [TD=align: center]http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E4vSyn5fI_E/T4YUuZseCvI/AAAAAAAAARA/SF1qSwePFd0/s1600/scott.jpg[/TD] [TD=class: tr-caption, align: center]Will this man-child ever throw for the Twins again?[/TD] [/TABLE] There's no good news report today, as it was just announced that our best righty, Scott Baker, will miss the entire season as a result of elbow surgery. This is bad news, make no mistake. When he's on, Baker is the second best pitcher in the rotation. Before injuries sidelined him in 2011, he was having arguably an all-star season, and he's one of just a few Twins pitchers that can consistently get hitters to swing and miss. Also, he seems like a nice guy. I met him last year, and he was nothing but polite. But tonight, in a rare Twins Fan From Afar evening post, I'm going to present the silver lining on the Baker news. Here it goes: 1. The Twins won't have a tough decision to make on his 2013 option. It's for $9.5 million, and I'd be really, really surprised if they picked it up. Sure, this isn't Tommy John surgery, but with Baker's lengthy injury history, it would be a significant risk to take, for a traditionally risk-averse organization. Roughly speaking, $9.5 million is 10 percent of this team's payroll. It's the equivalent of a starting position player, or approximately half the salary of an "ace," however you define that term. In other words, there are things the Twins can do with that payroll space. 2. I'm not going to give you some line like "this gives another guy an opportunity to step up and show he belongs." If "he" belonged, he'd already be up here, because our pitching depth is not at all, well, deep. What will happen, though, is that the Twins will lose more games this season. Sure, that's no fun in 2012, but this team wasn't going to make the playoffs, anyway. If you are a sub-.500 team, the more games you lose, the better your draft position. This injury, unfortunate as it may be, probably bumped the Twins up a few slots in the 2013 draft. If moving up a few slots is the difference between drafting the next Justin Verlander -- or even the next Scott Baker -- and missing that selection, it's not insignificant. 3. This makes it more likely that Francisco Liriano stays. Not sure if that is good or bad, but it would be nice to have a veteran starter not named Carl Pavano or Jason Marquis next season. To me, it had seemed, until today, like the Twins would either attempt to keep one of Liriano or Baker, or neither -- but not both. Now, they either will attempt to sign Liriano, or let him walk. Either way, they won't have to think about paying their two most senior pitchers around $10 million each. 4. If Baker does come back to Minnesota, it will be for cheaper. Let's assume Baker does want to stay loyal to Minnesota. He can come back on a 1-year deal and try to re-establish value, and then hit free agency in 2014. What better place to build good pitching stats than Target Field? If not, perhaps Kyle Gibson will be ready to take a spot in 2013? In closing, I'm in no way suggesting that today was a good day in Twins Territory. We lost a good guy -- definitely our first or second best Twins pitcher. That's bad news, and I hope Baker recovers quickly. But if you view this news in the larger context of the 2014-2018 Twins -- who could be very good -- perhaps there is a sliver of good news hidden in there.

Per La Velle. http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/blogs/147047085.html This doesn't sound good. I'll hope for the best, but it's tough to imagine a press conference with Terry Ryan sitting next to Baker, and Baker saying "I'm 100% ready for action!"