stringer bell

Now, where were we? Yeah, that's right, our ace is on the mound. Game over.

Hey, Tigers. Your catchers are all banged up. The Twins have a guy......

Oh, Correia has gone south all right!

I see the Cubbies are delayed. In my neck of the woods, we had a torrential downpour and 20 miles away, I could have been playing golf if I didn't have to go to work. Anyway, I hope you don't (didn't) get swept away by a downpour!

Verlander....Vincible?

It looks like the magic has worn off for Mr. Albers.

No problem for the SuperCanuck!

Hmmmm. Pitching to Miggy with a RISP and an open base? Especially a soft-tossing lefty.

And..............we're tied.

It was over after two hitters!

The car!

Serious thought. Given the Twins lineup, even though Verlander is very quick to the plate, you have to send guys with speed when they reach. The catcher didn't appear to be quick in throwing and didn't seem to have a particularly strong arm.

L Love the new avatar but miss the old one.

I should have put quotation marks around "Hermsen", but that was the name listed. I hope they change it, but I didn't cut and paste because no game thread was started.

Arcia is 22 years old. Give him a year or two to work on his defense. He has the requisite speed and arm to be a decent corner OF and has made a few nice plays mixed in with the clunkers.

Colabello should play a minimum amount at first base and less in the outfield. The jury is out whether he'll be able to hit major league pitching although his at-bats yesterday offered very little encouragement. Today's lineup features (according to mlb.com) BJ Hermsen catching, Doug Bernier at short, Clete Thomas in center, Doumit in right and Wilken Ramirez in left. I'm sure Verlander is shaking in his boots and Cleveland fans are wondering if the Twins are trying to throw the race (if there is one) to the Tigers. I am sick of no-future talents taking ABs. End of rant!

You pretty much say what I've been trying to say for weeks. Retaining Morneau locks him in as a starter and in the middle of the order and shortly after the season starts he can't be traded without his consent. My favorite player on the Twins was Michael Cuddyer. I hated to see him go, but it was best for both the Twins (although they could have used his bat this year) and the player. This is a similar situation, I think.

Morneau wasn't claimed on waivers because no one (NO ONE) wanted to take on $3.5M for 1+ month for a player who is, at best, a marginal upgrade from what their team was using at first base. History says the Twins will not eat salary to make a trade, so IMHO the issue is money. I have been of the opinion that the Twins should trade Morneau for a 40-man roster spot and the trade partner taking on his salary. I don't know if any team has offered even that much.

Alternatives to Morneau include Colabello, Parmelee and Mauer. I happen to believe that if Mauer played catcher less, he would hit more. While Mauer is still a fine catcher, his hitting is vital to this team going forward and I suspect he would be as good a defender as Morneau relatively soon. I think that Parmelee still has a chance to be a big league regular and that Colabello has shown just enough as a Twin to get a longer look. I'm ready for the Twins and Morneau to part ways and wish Justin well.

Where's (Os)waldo?

I think Diamond should come back, too. I do wonder what the Twins will do to keep Rochester comparitively stocked to make a run in the International League playoffs.

While other teams seem much more willing to eat salary, I can't recall the Twins ever doing it, at least on the scale of $3M. My guess is that the return offered for eating salary isn't much anyway. While Morneau has said he wants to return, if he gets a similar offer to what the Twins offer from a team with a chance next year, it won't surprise me at all to see him in another uniform next year.

September 1 is just around the corner (less than two weeks). The Twins are out of playoff contention and no trades will be made after September 1, so the team should call up anyone who interests them for the future on that date. However, for the first time in years, Rochester has a chance to make the International League playoffs. Normally, just about everyone on the 40-man roster would be recalled if they were going good or at least okay. That would include Hicks, Mastroianni, Escobar, Colabello, Tonkin, Hendriks, Diamond, Parmelee, and Hernandez (if he is healthy). With the Red Wings knocking on the door, I suppose most of these guys will stay in Rochester until they are eliminated. I expect one or two pitchers to fill the starting rotation for the Twins, other than that all hands on deck for the Red Wings.

The command has been the surprising thing for me. Gibson has walked a high number of guys, but beyond that seems to be going 2-0, 3-1 to just about every batter. At Rochester, he threw a lot of strikes and got a lot of ground balls. I figured, at worst, he could come up and be a (good) Silva-Blackburn type who didn't miss many bats, but generated a goodly number of grounders. At best, I was thinking about good pitchers who generate a high percentage of grounders, but still get their 7+ Ks per nine innings. It just hasn't happened this year.

That seems to be the state of the game these days. Durable, effective starters are at a premium and cost big money. The Twins haven't "struck gold" on anyone in their organization and certainly haven't spent the money to bring in a guy who could reasonably be expected to throw a lot of innings and have an ERA at or under 3.5. I haven't given up hope long term on many of the guys listed, but the path seems to be full of bumps and pitfalls.