stringer bell

I don't think Trevor can win me back now. The power is too sporadic and nothing else is quality. I don't despise Plouffe, and I think he could be a productive player, but I don't think it is going to happen with the Twins.

Not to me, because of the Mastro play and the Plouffe play. Also a bit miffed that Florimon overslid the bag. Liam gets a "W" and the Twins defeat Yu Darvish, not bad, but the little things do bother me.

Not to excuse Plouffe, but that was a terrific throw by the Rangers center fielder.

Are you talking about 2015 or 2016?

David Wells, Catfish Hunter, Jared Weaver...Yu Darvish?

Honestly, I think that Dozier IS the MVP if Mauer doesn't return this year.

Willingham stays. There is your DH/LF for 2014. I have said it a couple times, but Willingham will be in a contract year, presumably healthy, and mostly hitting between Mauer and Arcia. I expect a good year from him, closer to 2012 than 2013. If the Twins don't contend next year (close to a lock), he could be a good trade chip at the trade deadline.

Thank you Shane Wahl for taking the right position and saving me making a bunch of posts. Despite Aaron Hick's relatively tender age, he has been switch hitting his entire professional career. He has a pattern of hitting better right handed, but I believe the die is cast. I suspect part of his relative success vs. left handers is that lefties tend to throw fast balls and changeups to right handers. Hicks has demonstrated "trouble with the curve" and probably has faced less of them vs. lefties. If Hicks were to try to hit exclusively RH, I think the best he could hope for is platoon play and platoon play for a RH hitter means that basically he would be a bench player. Probably the #1 component in hitting success is confidence. If Hicks went all RH all the time at the insistence of the club, would he be a more confident hitter? I doubt it.

Wilkin Ramirez' season is probably over and the same is likely true for Samuel Deduno. Ramirez has a fractured left tibia and Deduno has a sore shoulder. Ramirez was replaced by Darrin Mastoianni, while the nominal replacement for Deduno is lefty Pedro Hernandez. If Rochester doesn't make the playoffs, someone on their team and on the 40-man roster can take Deduno's spot in the rotation (De Vries or Diamond).

Beyond the "patience" mantra, I am wondering about some specifics from the front office and field staff. I question how well they relate to the young guys, particularly the Hispanic players, and I think they need a better plan in dealing with prospects when they break in to the majors (e.g. Hicks and Arcia). The front office is culpable in going with limited pitchers (command and control, pitch to contact) and position players. They have been slow to delve into advanced stats and have been slow to go along with the power bat/power arm combo for a winning team. Further, I question whether the Twins have been prudent in valuing their assets and free agent assets.

That is a fine column. It pretty much summarizes how I feel about Justin. It is time for him to go.

Next year Willingham figures to bounce back. He will be in his walk year and presumably healthy. If he's hitting between Arcia and Mauer, he could see a lot of good pitches to hit.

De Vries with a great outing. Possible starter for Deduno? Tonkin roughed up and the Red Wings with another gut wrenching loss. Meyer danced around six singles in four scoreless innings (no walks, six Ks).

Lots of candidates for the starting rotation. I think Gibson and Worley are good candidates for bounceback seasons. I would like to see the Twins sign Johnson and maybe Vargas. I think they should replace Morneau with Morales (more of a DH, but I like Mauer playing a lot of first) and Morales has negligible platoon splits. Casey Fien and Roenicke should probably be gone (hopefully the Twins could get something for Casey), Hicks needs to win back center field (I think he will) and Parmelee will need to re-establish himself as a big leaguer, probably starting as a bench player.

I haven't seen a lot of Red Sox games, but when I have, Pedroia has been a standout. I simply don't trust defensive metrics, but they also say he is the "head of the class". Dozier has been great in the field and a bright spot in an increasingly dark season. I am glad he's stepped up.

My patience with Plouffe is about gone. He is a totally different player, but he reminds me of Casilla. He'll frustrate you to the nth degree and then do something good for a couple of days. In Alexi's case, he would hit a little bit and steal bases and play great defense. In Plouffe's case, it is power.

From what I've seen and read, Romero is Danny Valencia without the attitude and the juicing friends. That is probably just as good, but no better, than Plouffe, with no real hope of being anything more than (the dreaded) replacement level.

I haven't paid close attention to the Twins for the past couple of weeks. I was on the road last (long) weekend and have played golf in the warm weather every night. I caught part of the game yesterday and followed along as the Twins were swept today. My frustration level with the product on the field has reached new highs. I checked out the numbers for all of the players and besides the disabled Mauer, no one is an even average hitter for their position. Yesterday was a sloppy defensive game and I understand there were mistakes in the field on Tuesday as well. We've known all year that the pitching staff is subpar, but I thought the offense and defense would improve this year. It hasn't. Right now this team is as bad as either of the two 90+ loss teams that preceded it. My solution? Fire everybody. Gardy--gone. "Andy"--pink slip. Steiny and Bruno--you're gone too. Vavra and Ullger--part of the current regime--out the door. The architect of this mess (Terry Ryan)--retired or fired. The time for patience and continuity is over. Of the 25 guys on the roster right now, no more than a couple will be playing for the team when they are relevant again. Sweep the floor clean and start over. Besides this, high-quality guys might want to take over as GM or field manager because the farm system is loaded. I am sick of seeing non-competitive lineups and efforts in the last third of the season and tired of counting my team out by the 4th of July, if not sooner. While most of the guys I am calling to be fired are good baseball guys, and I don't think it is all the fault of any one person, it is time to quit trying to tweak the "Twins way" and going a new direction. I also won't mind seeing major shakeups of the "talent" on the field. Go young, with a small sprinkling of veterans, trade away or DFA the chaff and get started on becoming a dominant team in this decade instead of looking back at the competitiveness of the last one. If the one star (Mauer) isn't happy with this, ask him to waive his no-trade contract and get a real haul for him.

Maybe this belongs in "Fun With Numbers", but anyway...KC's record outside of games with Minnesota (53-60), Minnesota's record outside of games with KC (53-59)!

Tell us more about your day ChiTown! It is far more interesting than this baseball team. What are you filing, is there some special dust, dirt or grime that you are vacuuming or is it run of the mill Chicago dirt? What type of bathroom floor do you have--linoleum, tile, etc?

OK, I'm kicking him when he's down (slumping), but Morneau is hitting .259 with a .315 OBP. You can't have a regular at first base with those numbers. See ya' Justin. I hope your next stop is more successful.

Well, the Royals scored their three and seemed to put it on cruise. I hope that bites them in the butt, but I doubt it. Worst news for KC-after today they are done playing the Twins.

Really, I don't think it is Bruno so much as bringing in players who K a lot. The Twins two CFs have combined for about 160 strikeouts. Parmelee and Arcia over 150, Florimon is at 90, Dozier is over 90. Carroll had over 500 PAs last year and I doubt he K'd 70 times. Span and Revere were regulars who didn't fan much. Add in bit player like Colabello and probably a full season of swings and misses from Plouffe and that is most of the reason for the increase. Strikeouts are way up all over MLB and the Twins don't get to face their own staff, which would slow the "K Train".

I haven't checked Twins stats lately, but reading and hearing about them breaking the team strikeout record in August, I thought I 'd take a look. With Mauer sidelined, Gardenhire is putting out brutal lineups. They have strikeout machines in several positions and nobody who is above average. Morneau, Arcia, Willingham and Dozier sit between .700 and .750 in OPS, Plouffe, Herrmann, Ramirez, and Doumit check in between .650 and .700 and anybody else is even below that. If they 500 at bats, everybody would strike out over 100 times, including Mauer. Colabello, Thomas, and Arcia strike out on over a third of their at-bats and several guys aren't far behind that. I see Dozier just homered, tying the all-time 2B record for homers in a single season. Good for him.

At this point, no, no, a thousand times no. If Hicks were hitting from his "strong" side 75% of the time and he had to piece together at-bats occasionally facing the same handed pitcher, it might be different. Also, if he was forfeiting batting right handed which costs a number of infield hits for a fast guy, it also might be something to consider. Further Hicks has been switch hitting exclusively for six or seven years. It would take years to catch up again. Hicks' history has been to struggle early and then catch up and the left side catches up last. I still have confidence that Hicks will be a good ballplayer and contributor when the Twins are good again and if he is, it will be as a switch hitter. Break is over. More to say later.