stringer bell

I can't remember a Twins trade where they picked up the salary of the guy traded. Of course, they are in better position to do so now, but I don't think it will happen.

Parmelee has had an opportunity and he just hasn't hit enough to merit consistent playing time. We see good at-bats and good stretches of a few games, and then several games of soft outs mixed with lot of strikeouts. It is obvious that Chris has worked hard on his defense and I think that kept him in the majors longer. I imagine he'll get at least one more chance, but he is running out of opportunities.

Same lineup for the Twins and I believe also the same for the Tribe. I actually like Plouffe hitting second. I hope Colabello gets going. edit: I see Reynolds is starting, so I guess the Native Americans made some changes.

After a Doumit trade, four guys for three positions--Catcher, DH, 1B (actually RF could figure in as well) Pinto ©, Mauer (C-1B), Colabello (DH-1B) and Parm (1B-RF). Everybody but Mauer would play 75% of the time.

Cuddy and Kubel played out their contracts and left. Going back a bit further, so did Torii. Is that what you want? Or, do you want the Twins to retain Morneau for more years? IMHO, keeping Morneau for any more than half of his current salary is throwing good money after bad.

We all were expecting it, but the Twins made it official on their web site. Colabello is back with the Twins and the 25-man roster is full.

I've been on the Pinto bandwagon for the long ride this season. He certainly isn't getting the publicity he might if the Twins didn't have Sano and Buxton. A promotion to Rochester has to happen and seeing some big league time makes sense to me. Trade Doumit and ride with Josmil!

Nice article Nick. I've said from the beginning that judging this season will be on the development of players who will be here when the team gets good again. Now that the Twins have acknowledged they are in sell mode, it makes sense that the team look to the future by adding players who might or will help, no matter what the record is for the balance of the season.

With no Twins game since Sunday, all the trade speculation is getting pretty old. It is time for more games! When Pelf shuts down the Indians (or not) and Mauer lines three hits, we can talk about something. Let's hope the Twins can end their "Friday jinx" tomorrow.

I kind of agree with BJB, in that other teams might want some (many) non-40 man Twins prospects. The orginal idea of trading several guys with no options and on the 40-man is "pie in the sky" IMHO. Good teams generally aren't going to have room to take on 3-4 spots on either the 25 or 40-man rosters and few are lacking so much talent that they would want 3 or 4 guys at the deadline.

I saw Fien in ST of '12 and was impressed. Not at all surprised when he was recalled sometime in midseason. He's been very good since. That said, if he can bring back a haul, he's not young and he does have extreme fly ball tendencies.

Tough to think that Buxton would advance so quickly to AA. He's going to be great, but Ft. Myers is his level for the rest of the season.

We've mined this subject extensively. The only guy who would guarantee someone with some degree of readiness and high upside would be Perkins. Throwing together some kind of package is nearly impossible. Buyers should have little room on their rosters for a group of players, they likely would need only one or two players. I expect the Twins to move two or three guys. I doubt Twins fans will be excited by the take unless Perkins leaves.

I can't get over all the love expressed for Beresford. He is powerless and has good but not game-changing speed. He is having a good season, but his OPS is still only .735. I would think his ceiling is a backup middle infielder, and I don't think he'll reach that. Escobar has similar skills, but has demonstrated some pop with the bat and has over a year's worth of big league experience.

I don't trust defensive metrics at all, but for my money Florimon has been very good. He's made a few too many errors on routine plays and early in the season, he threw at lot of sinkers to first base. He has good range and a powerful arm. Combined with Dozier at second, they give the Twins as good a middle of the infield defense as they have had in some time. For all the talk about Rosario, perhaps the Twins could stick with Dozier/Florimon and get a pitcher for Rosario. If Dozier's performance since late May isn't a mirage and Florimon can hold his own, it would be great to have a cheap, relatively young, defense-oriented double play combo.

Sad to say, but right now Clete is a better player than Arcia. Perhaps it will take a week, perhaps two, but Arcia will start hitting again and when he does he'll be back. Parmelee also isn't hitting and hence isn't good at baseball right now. He needs to hit and have a place to play. Escobar needs the at-bats. He's still a young player and has spent most of the last two years watching major league baseball. My timetable: Arcia for Herrmann by the end of July. Parmelee when a trade is completed for Morneau or Doumit (or both) and Escobar returns in 22 days, giving the Twins another year of team control over their utility infielder.

The difference defensively has been dramatic. Considering how little 2B Brian had played in the minors, he has been excellent there while he was well below average as a shortstop. I suspect that Dozier took his bad at-bats with him and also was feeling the pressure of impending demotion. Dozier's OPS is moving toward .700 and for an 8th place hitter (as he should be) that would be fine. As far as moving to short, Dozier seems to have enough range and arm to be average or a bit better, but not as good as he's been at second. It would depend on how much better Dozier's offense is than Florimon's.

Doumit will spend a lot of time in RF for the next two weeks, and when it's not him, it will be Herrmann. Colabello will be DHing quite a bit and maybe giving Morneau a day or two off at first.

When Herrmann was promoted earlier, Dan Rohlfing went to Rochester. Rohlfing, like Herrmann, is a guy who can play other positions. It is probably time for Pinto to move to AAA. He has been one of the top five hitters in the Eastern League by almost any measure.

Unless something changes, Colabello and Herrmann profile as role players. Herrmann hasn't gotten it done at Rochester and in very limited at-bats in Minnesota, Colabello hasn't hit. Sure, Colabello needs an audition after his raking in AAA, but I don't think it will be as extensive as a young player like Parmelee or Arcia will get. It would be great if Colabello starts hitting like he has in Triple A, but I'm not holding my breath.

Herrmann is pretty capable in the outfield. With three catchers, they can put Doumit in right and replace him late in games. Colabello has played the OF less than either Doumit or Herrmann, so I guess we'll see him as DH quite a bit. I hope to see Parm and Arcia back in Minnesota before the month is over.

Service time on the demoted players: Escobar needs 22 days in the minors to be under team control for a seventh year. Parmelee had 132 days going in '13, it would take about a month for him to lose Super2 status and Arcia will be under team control for a seventh year. Again, he will need about a month in Rochester to avoid Super2.

That was also reported on the radio postgame show. Speculation is that Colabello will be added after the AAA All-Star game on Wednesday.

Winnah! The ump negated a wonderful play by Dozier, but Perkins had more than enough to retire nearly starless Yanks.

I agree. The reason why the Twins aren't ready to jump to 90 wins because they don't have close to enough pitching. Even if all of their top position prospects pan out, the Twins need to add good pitchers in the rotation and replace the probable losses of bullpen arms.