stringer bell

I doubt that both Perkins and Morneau would go to the Bucs. The Pirates will probably stick with their All-Star as the closer when both are healthy and they have a great setup guy and probably don't need two. Burton, Fien or Duensing would make some sense. I actually think the Twins should move Fien because he is overperforming while both Burton and Duensing are not.

Pelfrey's improvement and Liriano's career path are examples of "you never know". We are not sure whether Pelf will improve, revert, or plateau. I do believe he can be pretty good and that the Twins need to add pitchers, including some veterans.

Velocity is up, sharpness of the pitches is up, he seems to be able to get deeper into games. I think the Twins should try to re-sign Pelfrey to a reasonable extension.

I have said for a while that Pelfrey has me interested because he does have good velocity. The immediate future for starting pitchers for the Twins (2013-2014) is filled with question marks. If the Twins can ink Pelf for decent money, they should do it. He isn't an ace, but he seems to project in the middle of a competitive rotation.

Ramirez has been on the 7-day DL for almost exactly 60 days. He could be on the 60-day right now, freeing up a spot for Albers, if that is what the Twins want to do. Further, with Thomas' relative success as a backup CF and sometimes corner OF, Ramirez isn't needed on the roster, so he can be DFAed. I doubt anyone would claim him coming off a two month recovery from a concussion and with an underwhelming resume. I thought Albers reached the upper 80s-low 90s, much like Diamond. I suspect he might be another Colabello, able to excel below the major leagues, but not having the tools to advance to the top level. But, like Colabello, he's earned a chance to try.

Beyond everything else, if the Pirates were to implode this year or didn't need Perk as a closer next year, they could trade him for a lot since he is under team control at a nice number for three more years.

I was trying to say the same thing. Given his contract and handedness, Perkins is very valuable.

I don't like seeing Son of Sal in a Twins uni. However, for the balance of the road trip, I guess I can stomach seeing him "play" for the Twins, if it means sitting on the bench. On a related note, I think it is fair to give Colabello more PAs because of his performance in Rochester. I see Bernier is starting today and that slightly irritates me, but it is a day game after a night game yadda yadda yadda.

Well, I'm out too. Encouraged by Gibson. Not encouraged by the offense or situational hitting. Sorry to see Perk blow the save, but it will give the players the chance to steal a win in Anaheim.

Not a good outing for Perk. He'll certainly need tomorrow off, as well. But wins and losses have diminished meaning at this point. I guess worrying about Perkins is like #50 on my worries list.

While Perkins is a 30 y.o. LH closer and Garza is a 29 y.o. RH starter. Perkins is very good to elite while Garza is very good. In terms of value, it is evened up by the contracts. Perkins is signed for two more years, with an option for a third. Garza is in his walk year.

Now, there were some professional at-bats. I wish I could do that--come to think of it, I think I could!

Got to send Dozier, despite his low %, with Carroll up next.

Florimon with a double. Especially with Mauer out, I hold my breath until the no-hitter is broken up.

Nice ride!

While you are probably right about both Colabello and Bernier, Colabello earned a promotion from his play in Rochester. So far, in limited at bats, I see an Independent League swing with little hope against big league pitching. However, Hunter Pence has made millions and his swing and balance at the plate doesn't look much better.

I don't dispute anthing you said except about having no position. IIRC, Pena was always considered a premium glove at first base, even though he has always had a low batting average.

Ramirez has been on the DL since 5/26, so it has almost been 60 days already. Unless there is a special case because he is on the 7-day concussion DL, placing him on the 60-day will be painless. When he is ready to play, he can be DFAed and almost certainly not lost, since Clete has become the backup outfielder.

TK is refreshing for a while, but I think I would get tired of him after a couple of weeks. I'm tired of Bert's act by now. A rotation of Kelly, Coomer, and Smalley is fine by me. Laudner is terrible.

Is Albers going to get on a plane to the West Coast after his appearance today?

After listening to TK expound on the force play and seeing him talk about the throw from catcher to first, I can tell you J. Thomas believes the devil is in the details.

I'm seeing a 68-73 win season. .500 at home and .400+ on the road. It looks like the team will have a pretty good schedule for August with tougher games in September. September could change depending on who is still in contention and who isn't at that time.

Herrmann has done well with the Twins this year. Masterson is tough, but the Twins have handled him somehow pretty often. I'm not surprised that Gardy moved him down. If the Twins sweep this series it would be a feather in their caps.

I agree that the Tribe isn't that good, but they are close to Detroit, despite their inadequacies.

They can't be very happy to be down in the series 0-2. They've pitched better and hit better than the Twins, but have been brought down by their own bad defense. Probably their best pitcher is going today against a demotion candidate. If the Twins somehow manage to slip by them today, it will be pretty depressing to be a Tribe fan.