stringer bell

The Twins started playing better baseball sometime during their previous road trip. They lost two of three to a good KC club and then were shut out 2-0 by King Felix. I believe it was after Hernandez blanked the Twins that Molitor made some lineup changes. Hunter had been moved to #2 which freed Dozier to hit cleanup. BD looked lost there, Santana had drawn zero walks and was hovering near the Mendoza line and Trevor Plouffe was, at the time, easily the hottest hitter on the team. Let's look at those moves, shall we? Hunter: Torii was moved to second in the order after about a week at cleanup. His bat warmed immediately, but in the past week or so, he has been on fire. Overall as the #2 hitter, Torii has posted a .379/.584/.963 slash line in almost 100 plate appearances. Santana: After having an outstanding run as the Twins' leadoff guy in 2014, Danny was having a hard time getting it going this year. Santana has posted only a .235 OBP (and batting average) in the #1 slot in the lineup. He has slumped a bit, as of late, but still has posted an improved .333/.429/.762 in the #9 hole. Plouffe: Trevor was the fourth guy to log multiple games as the cleanup hitter. The Twins started with Hunter, tried Vargas for a couple games and moved on to Dozier, before elevating Dozier to lead off and moving Plouffe to #4. As I noted earlier, Plouffe was the hottest hitter on the club when the move was made. As the cleanup guy, he has done just fine--slashing .367/.462/.829. Since being moved to the cleanup spot, Plouffe has been very consistent, reaching base in every game and slamming three homers accumulating 14 RBI. Dozier: Brian did well as the Twins' lead off guy last year, and was slotted there after being displaced by Hunter at #2 and then struggling as the cleanup hitter for about a week. Some have thought he isn't a very good fit as a lead off guy. I think he is excellent in that role. Dozier hasn't hit for a big average, but he gets on base. When he does reach, Dozier is the club's best base runner. Dozier also sees more pitches than any other player on the team. He does strike out a lot, but also draws a lot of walks. Dozier's slash line in the #1 hole: .360/.538/.898. I would imagine that improvement was due anyway, but it seems that Molitor made sound lineup changes at the right time and put the right people in the proper spots, at least for now. Until the offense cools, I would imagine that the four guys listed will stay in the spots where they have been productive.

17-13 is nice, but the story of the season hasn't yet been written. The Twins have managed to undo a dreadful start and have shown that they can score runs. I still think they are overachieving, both in the runs scored and runs allowed. Most supporting stats don't match up such as OBP, Slugging, OPS, Strikeouts for and against, WHIP, and OPS against. I believe the supporting numbers would come more in line if the Twins keep winning. If those numbers don't improve, I doubt the wins will continue.

Plouffe's improvement into a well-rounded player gives me hope for many current Twins. He is a far better hitter and fielder than he was a few short years ago.

I predicted the Twins would win 85 games. At first, that looked pretty silly and I still believe it will take a lot of good fortune for the Twins to win that many games. However, I think they have enough talent to be relevant for the entire season. Somebody has to say this. Right now, if the season ended today, the Twins would be the second wild card and have the eighth best record in baseball. They have outscored their opponents by 13 runs and have run-scoring and run-prevention numbers in the top half of the league. Hard to sustain? Yes. Impossible? No.

Super 2 is about money. the Twins have enough money to sign a couple of #3 starters for eight figures per year. They can afford to pay Buxton extra as a Super 2. I say that if he stays where he is or his numbers get better by Memorial Day, he is a Minnesota Twin by June 1.

Molitor mentioned more than once that he liked the way Rosario hung in against LH pitching. It wouldn't surprise me at all to see Eddie R in left field today or tomorrow, maybe even both.

Every prospect is not like every other prospect. I think the handling of Hicks is trying to undo what has been done. Is it the right move? I think so, but I don't know for sure. I like what Rosario brings to the table and think that he will hit and field well enough to be a regular corner outfielder. I don't believe Hicks will ever hit that well. Because of those opinions, I think this is the right move, especially given that it is likely that if Rosario struggles, he will be back in Rochester before Memorial Day. Hicks is getting squeezed, no doubt. The Twins have their top prospect who plays the same position raking behind him, while in front of him a utility guy is handling platoon duty in center quite well. Even the left handed half of the platoon is showing some signs of life.

Very interesting piece. A catcher call-up would have meant an expanded role for Herrmann. I'd rather see Rosario. Hope he gets three hits tomorrow.

It got a little too exciting! It does make the victory sweeter.

Schafer with a pretty nice game. I will have more to say after the game.

Things are normalizing. Both Vargas and Schafer have climbed above the Mendoza Line. Escobar is next.

This is the decision I wanted, but I didn't think would come. I think Rosario will be pretty good hitting toward the bottom of the order. He will be an improvement in the field over anyone but Shane Robinson. If he hits, he moves to center when Arcia returns (I think).

The discussion here about recalling Buxton is actually about three different factors: 1) "Burning an option". Buxton is currently not on the 40-man. If he were recalled and then sent to the minors, it would be one of his option years. I doubt this would even be a thought at this time. I believe the thought is that Buxton will be promoted when he is ready and when he gets here, he will be the Twins center fielder for 6+ years at least. 2) "A year of control". Nope. We've already passed the threshold for any player coming up from the minors getting a full year of service. Kris Bryant was recalled after that deadline so that the Cubs could get almost seven full seasons out of him before he could be eligible to be a free agent. 3) Year of cost control. Yes, if Buxton were recalled before the All-Star break, it is possible that he would be eligible to be a "Super 2" and making him arbitration eligible after less than three full seasons. This would make every contract he signs with the Twins more expensive. It wouldn't effect how long Buxton was h If a prospect with this pedigree is ready, he should be recalled. After seeing Buxton in the spring and watching his number in Chattanooga, I thought he wouldn't be ready 'til September at the earliest. His numbers have improved dramatically and maybe the rust is off. I hope so.

Agree with the sentiments of Chief and JB. All moves should be ones that not only help now, but build a more solid team down the road. As I've said from spring training on, it isn't out of the question that the Twins will contend in 2015, but the odds are against it. Luck tends to even out, and I have thought for a while that the club has had more than their share of bad luck. The Twins were lucky to play Chicago at exactly the right time. Perhaps more of that is in their future. I am still hoping for meaningful games throughout the season.

Did you get wet, Halsey? It's raining felines and canines here in Zumbrota right now, ruining my plans to get 18 in after the Twins game.

I haven't given up on Pelf being a good starter. However, there are factors that say it is unlikely that he is going to be an ace. I don't expect Pelfrey to ever put together two starts as solid as he put up against the Royals and the Tigers. Top end, IMHO, is middle-of-the-rotation. It is worth noting he had and 8-1 GB/FB ratio. If he keeps that up, he's got a chance.

I like something about all of the candidates for demotion. IMHO, it looks like May is on the cusp of being successful, Pelfrey might have found something that works for him and Gibson needs to mix his pitches better to get some swings and misses. Milone hasn't had a real good start since his first one, but has kept the team in the game until Monday's short start. I would prefer the team send Milone down and keep him stretched out. I don't want to see a soft-tossing lefty in the 'pen.

Exactly, Mike. If you want to win the game against the setup guy, probably it would be best to go with a guy with power (Arcia, Vargas) even though they are scuffling. The Twins had the catcher (slow runner) on first and two outs. Escobar and the next guy (Schafer, now hitting .190) would most likely need to get hits to tie the game. In summary, there weren't a lot of good options, but a home run hitter would have a slugger's chance of handing the ball to Perkins with a lead in the ninth.

OK, I know "the book" says you play for a tie at home, but I don't like the idea of bunting Santana in the ninth. First of all Schafer is a real threat to steal second by himself. Secondly, if he doesn't go, it gives Santana a big hole to shoot through and Soria's attention would be divided between home and first. I really would have liked to see both speedsters get on to start that inning. Putting the game on the shoulders of Dozier and Hunter isn't really wise, since neither are hitting that red-hot this spring. Regarding pinch-hitting Escobar, I think we should give him some credit for last year and a small amount for the way he hit in spring training. In addition, Shane Robinson isn't a .350 hitter. I haven't liked the way Escobar has been swinging since the season started and three or four ABs isn't enough information to base a decision for pinch-hitting.

Nice to see Buxton get a couple of hits, including a long ball. A couple days off might have been what he needed. However, 16 runs allowed is terrible, wow! Polanco hit a homer, but had two errors according to the box score. I guess that is a wash. I continue to view Polanco as stretched at short. He has the range, I think, but when I saw him play in Cedar Rapids, it didn't look like a plus arm from the shortstop hole.

Just couldn't get the king off his throne.

The girl on the horse is pretty and all, but I'd prefer Rob Lowe. That came out so wrong. I meant that Lowe's Direct TV commercials were funnier.

Why do I feel a 6-4-3 coming?

Move Plouffe to cleanup, Dozier to #6

Nice, Trevor.