silverslugger

Last 30 days stats for Twins starters: P.J. Walters 3.23. ERA, 1.60 WHIP, 18 K's in 30.2 innings Sam Deduno 3.26 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, 15 k's in 30.1 innings Kevin Correia 5.14 ERA, 1.57 WHIP, 20 k's in 28 innings Mike Pelfrey 5.47 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, 17 k's in 26.1 innings Scott Diamond 6.68 ERA, 1.71 WHIP, 15 k's in 31 innings Well, at least their consistent???!!!

There you go again Parker! Letting good old fashioned facts get in the way of opinions and scouting, or shall we say, bias. Free KG!!!

Agree. The question is, just how high is that trade value and is it worth keeping Doumit on the roster as the backup catcher if he's going to constantly take at bats away from Parmelee. This is one area where Ryan can certainly dictate how Gardy fills out his everyday lineup. We definitely seem to have a backup Doumit waiting in the wings in Herrmann.

The obvious and biggest issue with this suggestion is that Gardy has probably fallen in love with Dozier's defense at 2b. I have to admit, it's been admirable. Problem is, at the plate he's beyond atrocious! I'm just not sure Plouffe could get it done at 2b to please either Gardy or Ryan. He looks like a statue at third!

Didn't Barreiro accuse the Twins of as much when they broadcast the Cedar Rapids Kernels/Byron Buxton show game on FSN last Monday? I really enjoyed the broadcast, was at the game, and think the Twins need to do more of this. Let's see a Fort Myers game or New Britain game on FSN soon! However, let's not do it at the risk of becoming the Royals. Or, are we already there. Say it ain't so Joe!

Parmelee should be getting every at bat possible versus right handed pitching. I can see sitting him some against tough lefies or pinch-hitting for him against a lefty late in the game. Trouble is, who is right-handed on the bench that you would pinch-hit for him. Doumit, if you trust his glove in right in late innings and IF you still had someone else to trot out to right in the VERY unlikely event that he had to replace Mauer behind the plate. Doumits trade value is what it is. He's an established major leaguer. The 150 or so at bats he'll get this year in May and June prior to the deadline really won't really change his trade value at all.

Kane County observations. Rock Shoulders, what a name! He'll have to really impress to live up to that name. The Kane County pitcher looked good toward the beginning, Pierce Johnson. The program said he was a 1st round pick last year and listed him at 6'3". My brother and I were both surprised thinking he was one of the smaller players between the two teams. Melotakis certainly looked larger on the mound. Dan Vogelbach, the #3 batter for Kane County can certainly rake. However, he's listed at 6'0" and 250 and already slotted as the DH. That's certainly not a future in the National League. Finally, Albert Almora was the Kane County centerfielder and another 2012 1st rounder according to the program. He was a nice player with some tools and some pop in his bat but still didn't look anything like the talent Buxton shows. Of course, I'm not prejudiced at all:p

Observations from the game today: I was at the game and sitting front row right behind the Kernels dugout. I used to live in CR but have now lived in Des Moines for the past 5 years. Sure wish this affiliation would've started much sooner. The Kernels do televise some of their home games on a local cable outlet, I've watched bits and pieces of another one against Kane County about three weeks ago. The presentation is brutal compared to what we're used to from the MLB feeds. There were cameras today behind home plate, in center field, and up both baselines. Players: Buxton is in a league by himself talent-wise, nuff said. I think Polanco could be a heck of a 2b for us in about 3 or 4 years. So, what to do with Rosario? Does Polanco play SS well enough to stick? Melotakis was dealing today, very nice. Was this his best start of the season so far? I always read the boxes for the minor league affiliates on Milb, but haven't see any other Kernels games other than the aforementioned. Dalton Hicks is a REALLY big boy, listed at 6'5 and 250. I'd say Adam Brett Walker is our third most likely position player behind Buck and Polanco to make the show. Finally, the Kernels built a new park about 10 years ago and it's a very nice upgrade. Not a bad seat in the house. You can really get up close and personal compared to the average seat at a MLB game. Plenty of good/standard ballpark food to be had at the park as well. Tickets at the gate anywhere from $8 to $12 bucks. In short, go if you have a chance. You won't regret it.

Warning: You are about to read the opinions of a lifelong baseball/Twins fan with absolutely no statistical evidence to back up those opinions. Proceed at your own risk. To me, Joe seems to have made a conscious effort this year to drive the ball more by increasing his swing speed. In other words, he's trying to crush the ball. Bad result; the swing is not as compact this year which is leading to more strike outs. Good result; the weak grounders we saw so much of last year have been considerably fewer.

I think it's important to note that the Kyle Allen "signing" is not a signing at all but rather a verbal commitment. No player is allowed to "sign" with a college until the first Wednesday in February. Until then there have been and will be many verbals that will change often. Verballing in college football is getting crazy, some guys verbal to 3 and 4 schools before actually signing on signing day. Plus, great schools usually get a 4 or 5 star qb in every class.

Dozier isn't even worthy of holding Casilla's jockstrap considering his numbers so far this year, and I'm no Casilla fan. With that said, I do agree that there is nothing left to evaluate concerning him at the AAA level. Question is, how long is this rope? He's at around 500 major league at bats and they haven't been pretty.

What is he, T. Ryan, going to do about it? What are you suggesting? What if the streak does reach 12 or 15 or 18 games? I'll tell you what he's done about it during the first 9. He sent down Hernandez and Worley and he called up Deduno and Walters. I'll tell you what he did about it over the offseason. He changed out 4/5's of the rotation and managed to make it WORSE! What will he do at 12? I dunno, perhaps call up Gibson? Will that help? Not sure. I'll tell you what we won't see and shouldn't see. We won't and shouldn't see anybody currently playing in Fort Myers anytime this season. We won't and shouldn't see anybody playing in New Britain prior to September.

I like your confidence in the 2016 team, but wonder if it isn't a bit misguided. Alot of decisions will have to be made between now and then to fill out a successful 25 man roster. Also, the reality is, most teams rely on more like 3--35 players to get through a season. I'm not certain I see this organization making the right decisions to round out the roster over the next 4 years.

Seth, I appreciate your insight and your certainly closer and more informed when it comes to management than most on this site. I'd like to have confidence levels that high, but it's becoming more and more difficult for me over time. Name me the last starting pitcher developed by this organization who has had a sustained run of success for the Twins? I have very little confidence in this organizations ability to develop pitching at this point.

Purely based on all the positive reviews/comments about his effectiveness with our minor leaguers over the past two years. I agree, those results aren't showing up for the Twins so far this season.

So your confident Gardy and Anderson won't hurt and will most likely help our pitching prospects such as Gibson, Meyer, and May? I wish I had that confidence. I'm much more confident in our minor league hitters fulfilling their promise, especially with Bruno as the batting coach.

I consider 88 wins a successful season. It may or may not get you a division championship depending on the year. It may or may not get you into the playoffs. It got the Twins into the playoffs in '87 and from their we all know the outcome. What percent confident are you in the following management to do their part to get the Twins to 88 wins by the end of the 2016 season? Ryan? Gardenhire? Anderson? I'd put my current confidence levels in those people at: Ryan 50% Gardenhire 20% Anderson 10% At the end of last season I would've put those confidence levels at: Ryan 80% Gardenhire 40% Anderson 30% I've lost alot of confidence over the off-season and the first six weeks of the season.

You beat me to it Snepp, couldn't agree more. Our starters are facing their best batters and not throwing as many secondary pitches/off speed stuff as they try to establish and keep the pitch count down. Also, by the fifth these same pitchers are facing these same batters third time through and the batters have seen everything they have to offer which is, unfortunately in our case, not much.

What are Andy's methods? As I recall, back when the Twins were decent he was known as a guy who wanted pitchers to throw strikes and avoid walks. It sure seems like the Twins as an organization are turning from that philosophy, albeit slowly. Also, it seems most pitchers who have credited someone in the organization for assistance or a turnaround have credited Cuellar, not Andy. Is it a coincidence that Cuellar is in the big league clubhouse this season?

I don't know which 9 games your talking about and I'm not a Gardy apologist so I'm not necessarily arguing against your point. However, these starting pitchers have already put our bullpen in a big bind over the last two weeks with their far less than stellar performances. I'm just glad I can DVR the games and watch them on FF. It's embarrassing watching our SP's perform in comparison to those on other teams. They are constantly in 1-0, 2-0, 3-1, 3-2 counts. How many times have we seen our SP with a pitch count approaching 100 and nowhere near out of the 5th inning?

What are the totals for Twins/Visitors at TF and Twins/home team away from TF? What site would have this info most readily available? I did just a bit of looking at stats on yahoo a few days ago and it seemed the Twins had scored more runs than their BA/OBP/Slugging would warrant. I do remember seeing a recent (within the past week?) graphic on tv suggesting the Twins were one of the best teams so far at hitting with men in scoring position. That seems a bit ironic to me because it just seems that each time I see the bases loaded the Twins hitters seem to crap out. Thanks in advance.

I think we're all forgetting one major factor, economics! At the end of the day there are two and only two goals for any mlb franchise, winning the world series and attracting fans. This thread has focused mainly on whether Gibson deserves to be up based on the first goal, winning. I'd argue that the second goal, attracting fans, is even more important than the first. From that perspective, I think the Twins organization is very close to the need for change. Simply put, we as fans seen enough of Hernandez, Pelfrey, and Worley to make many of us less desirous of going to the ballpark, tuning in the radio, or turning on the tv. We, as fans, would like to see the continuation of the development of our future right here in Minnesota. It may soon very much be economically advantageous to have Kyle Gibson pitching for the Minnesota Twins.

I'm no scout and I don't pretend to be one. But... When I watch Worley and Hernandez pitch my thought process is, "They don't have any stuff and I'm not seeing any results." I'm having a real hard time figuring out how Worley had such good results his rookie season for Philly. He's obviously not pitching the same way now. Also, I'm glad we traded Liriano because 1/2 of that trade return looks mlb viable at this point and it's not Pedro. When I watch Pelfrey pitch my thought process is, "He's got some stuff, but he's terribly inconsistent and there's no results." I can't wait for these three to be replaced by Gibson, Deduno, DeVries or whoever else. A frustrated Twins fan even more frustrated with what the FO/Ownership tell us is a starting rotation.

Once again, the laws of economics rule. You get what you pay for. Period. End of story. Thank you Pohlads and Terry Ryan

As far as the Twins philosophy and what they are teaching in the minors... In the Eastern League (12 teams) the New Britain staff is currently 7th in strikeouts and 8th in walks. In the Florida State League (12 teams) the Fort Myers Miracle staff is currently 11th in strikeouts and 1st in walks. In the Midwest League (16 teams) the Cedar Rapids Kernels staff is currently 6th in strikouts and 8th in walks. Not much one can glean from that data other than that the Fort Myers results most closely approximate what is going on with the Twins staff.