stringer bell

Hammer is the more pure power hitter between him and Morneau and is better suited to his home park. It also will be a contract year for Willingham next year, so if there is anything in the tank, he should produce next year. I kind of like having a pure RH power guy between Mauer and Arcia next year with Sano poised to take that role in 2014. All of that said, I thought the Twins should have moved two of Doumit/Morneau/Willingham either last offseason or at the trading deadline. Waiting proved to be disastrous because all three fell off (Morneau didn't really take off) in the first half of the season and they had practically no value at the deadline.

I'm fine with waiting for a couple of the top prospects in baseball to become cornerstones of the position players. However, the continual roulette of a starting rotation needs to be fixed. I was hoping the Twins would have three guys written in ink for 2014 and that simply isn't true. I hope they sign a good free agent (Hughes or better), trade for somebody else (comparable to acquiring Vanimal though that didn't work out), and see what happens with the corps of middle rotation guys. In reality, they had several guys who had succeeded for at least a half season (Diamond, Worley), plus guys who had pedigrees (Hendriks--minor league domination in '12, Gibson) and none of them have succeeded this year.

Yes, add Gibson to the rotation, subtract J. Santana and add maybe a Vargas or Hughes. Morneau gone, Mauer at first and Pinto catching. Herrmann is the 25th guy, playing outfield and catching occasionally. The Dozier/Rosario second base situation will be interesting. I am a pretty big fan of Dozier and really think he's more of a natural 2B than Eddie. However, I think both guys might be fixtures when one is moved to another position.

Red Wings trailing again. I believe a loss knocks them out of the last playoff position. If the Twins have anyone they want to see that is playing in Rochester, they may not have to wait long.

Just shows what will happen with replay. From one angle it sure looked like Florimon tagged him on the shoulder, but the second view showed Pedro missed him with a great slide by Swisher.

Honestly, I have seen better-played Little League games. Tons of Ks, tons of walks, tons of misplays.

Horrible, just horrible. BTW, I'm sick of the announcers clamoring for a bunt with a runner on second and no outs and I'm really sick of hearing how inexperienced the Twins' position players are.

The Tribe doesn't deserve to win this game, for sure. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see them (the Twins) not score after all the charity Cleveland has provided.

For one thing, I'd rather see Parmelee at first or in the outfield. Colabello is pretty brutal at either position.

Pelfrey just keeps nibbling and nibbling. I don't know if it would be different if the score was different, but man it is annoying. The thing is that Cleveland isn't making good contact that often, but he keeps putting guys on. Well, he got through the fifth, but he won't/can't go deep after throwing so many pitches.

Kipnis and Santana have owned the Twins this year. Asdrubal and Swisher have been owned. Interesting how that goes.

Uhh, I don't think Dick even knows the f-bomb. Isn't he the guy who wouldn't use the word "hell" in reading a promo?

Indians are playing fundamentally flawed baseball. They probably have enough talent going against the rag-tag Twins' lineup to overcome it. That is basically why I have a hard time getting worked up over a single mistake by a Twins' pitcher in a lost season and/or blaming the manager.

Cuddy's my all-time favorite player. However, his OPS+ in Colorado is less than the Hammer. I would trade Cuddyer for Willingham in a second, but Cuddy makes $3.5M more than Willingham.

Willie Wilson wouldn't have scored on that fly to right. Kipnis could have caught that ball facing the infield.

I've been saying for a while that Colabello should get some at-bats because of the way he mashed at Rochester. However, his big league plate appearances mostly have screamed "AAAA". If he doesn't hit in 200 PAs or so, let him go. Beyond that, I've been griping every time I see Clete, Wilkin, Bernier etc. up that they have to find better than that.

Twins can't take advantage. Fire Gardenhire?

Indians botch a rundown. Fire Francona?

I agree with Joel's sentiment, but I don't totally agree on Hendriks. At 24, I think he deserves another look before being cast aside. This year in Rochester, Hendriks pitched injured at least part of the year. He had a few outstanding starts as of late. I, too, am sick of seeing Bernier (starting today), Thomas, Ramirez, and to a lesser extent Doumit. At the rate Rochester is going lately, we may see any call-ups the day after Labor Day. I would hope that it is guys who have a chance of being useful going forward.

Dozier has been outstanding at second. He deserves to be considered IMHO. I would presume that Pedroia will win and if he doesn't, Robbie Cano will get the award, mostly because they are well known and good offensive players. We all know that Gold Gloves are a crock, but Dozier has played a great defensive second base.

I checked the usual suspects for homers by a Twins second baseman. Bernie Allen hit 12 in his rookie year (1962), Rod Carew hit 13 as a 2B in 1975. Chuck Knoblauch hit 13 in '96, Todd Walker hit 12 in 1998, and the current single season home run leader as a second baseman is Tim Tuefel with 14 in 1984.

I've seen several outings like this from Hendriks. I thought he threw a number of good pitches, but the Tribe wailed on his mistakes. Cleveland seemed very comfortable and confident when batting against Hendriks. I don't know if he has to change speeds more, or work in and out more, but when he hit his spots, he was fine.

I guess I'm not worried about Arcia hitting eventually, but I am concerned about bad habits. Too many of his ABs have been poor, where he let the pitcher beat him and he need lots of reps in the OF. I don't doubt he can be a capable corner OF, but he needs work out there, as well.

Kirby was also much, much better in his home park: .344 BA, .909 OPS at home--.291 BA, .761 OPS on the road.

Not much more to report on Rohlfing--his slash numbers remain marginal at New Britain: .338/.318/.655 and he is catching quite a bit.