stringer bell

Who has more hits by the end of the Angels series--Arcia or Hicks?

Three hits for Harris tonight--book it!

I see him as a replacement for Doumit, perhaps with less PAs as a DH, but hopefully with better defense. He is showing good power in New Britain and allegedly is improving behind the plate. I was at spring training and he did nothing to stand out while I watched the minor leaguers.

Per Baseballreference.com, Arcia has played 77 games in center field. He's played only 31 in left. I think the eventual destination for Arcia is right, with Parmelee moving to first. I hope he can get a game in as a left fielder because the Hammer would be better served as a DH.

I don't see Hernandez as a bullpen guy. I know at one point, Gardy said "he's gotta start", but I'm sure things can change. I kind of like what he has to offer, although he's not overpowering.

I don't like or hate Hendriks. I know that he is the youngest of the group of candidates, including Deduno, Walters, and De Vries, and the one with the best minor league resume. Hernandez may or may not be a better option than all of them and the Twins kept him instead of Hendriks--I am not going to dispute their decision. I basically agree with Brock's assessment of Liam's major league performance. I think he has enough to be a middle of the rotation guy, but it hasn't happened yet and his performance this year hasn't shown any major improvement. I think he'll get more chances and I hope he steps up.

Mr. Brooks--what do you want Worley to say? Something like "I suck, I've lost all confidence in my ability to get batters out"? From what I heard, he didn't alibi for the weather. Somebody fed him a softball about bloop hits and he agreed with them. I am not impressed with Worley's skill set--to me he's basically Carlos Silva when he wasn't getting ground ball outs--but he competes. Dude needs to make adjustments and if he doesn't "Vanimal" will be a punch line, much like "Nishi". Do give him some credit for the success he has had especially with a home park that turns medium fly balls into three run homers.

Since the Twins won last Sunday to go 4-2, they have lost five consecutive games and fallen to the basement of the AL Central. More to the point, they now have one of the worst run differentials in the AL and their offensive, defensive, and pitching stats are among the worst, as well. There haven't been many positive surprises and there have been disappointments throughout the roster. The #1 disappointment has to be Aaron Hicks, hitting a microscopic .057 with an OPS of .155. Vanimal has had three starts--one satisfactory, one substandard and one dreadful. Florimon has hit a little, but has been poor in the field, being charged with three errors and he should have been charged with one or two more, plus Morneau has saved him a couple more throwing errors. Liam Hendriks hasn't gotten over the hump and was demoted, Pelfrey had one poor start and Twins' lefthanded relievers have yielded two grand slams. The weather has been miserable for the Twins, with little hope for great improvement there for the next week or so. I doubt that there will be many sellouts for the rest of the season. It looks to me like a lot of changes are on the horizon. There is a full 40-man roster with several players not on the roster in line to be recalled--Colabello, Walters, Deduno, Perez, and Harden and perhaps an outfielder--while there is a lineup of pitchers to be tried in the rotation. I predict that Wilken Ramirez will be DFAed within a month, probably Pedro Florimon, as well. The starting rotation should remain unsettled with several equivalent hurlers trying to nail down a spot. Continuing losses likely will mean trades of players who are over 30 and have trade value, but probably not until close to the trading deadline. The Twins' two top farm teams have also been effected by weather, and also aren't winning much with exceptions being Colabello and Arcia at Rochester, and not much encouraging pitching at the top levels. The two A-league teams look stacked. There are a lot of prospects and so far a lot of winning has happened in Cedar Rapids and Fort Myers. It is still very early, but the signs aren't good. Maybe some wins and warmer weather will make the situation look less dire.

Since the Twins won last Sunday to go 4-2, they have lost five consecutive games and fallen to the basement of the AL Central. More to the point, they now have one of the worst run differentials in the AL and their offensive, defensive, and pitching stats are among the worst, as well. There haven't been many positive surprises and there have been disappointments throughout the roster. The #1 disappointment has to be Aaron Hicks, hitting a microscopic .057 with an OPS of .155. Vanimal has had three starts--one satisfactory, one substandard and one dreadful. Florimon has hit a little, but has been poor in the field, being charged with three errors and he should have been charged with one or two more, plus Morneau has saved him a couple more throwing errors. Liam Hendriks hasn't gotten over the hump and was demoted, Pelfrey had one poor start and Twins' lefthanded relievers have yielded two grand slams. The weather has been miserable for the Twins, with little hope for great improvement there for the next week or so. I doubt that there will be many sellouts for the rest of the season. It looks to me like a lot of changes are on the horizon. There is a full 40-man roster with several players not on the roster in line to be recalled--Colabello, Walters, Deduno, Perez, and Harden and perhaps an outfielder--while there is a lineup of pitchers to be tried in the rotation. I predict that Wilken Ramirez will be DFAed within a month, probably Pedro Florimon, as well. The starting rotation should remain unsettled with several equivalent hurlers trying to nail down a spot. Continuing losses likely will mean trades of players who are over 30 and have trade value, but probably not until close to the trading deadline. The Twins' two top farm teams have also been effected by weather, and also aren't winning much with exceptions being Colabello and Arcia at Rochester, and not much encouraging pitching at the top levels. The two A-league teams look stacked. There are a lot of prospects and so far a lot of winning has happened in Cedar Rapids and Fort Myers. It is still very early, but the signs aren't good. Maybe some wins and warmer weather will make the situation look less dire.

Despite the rash of short starts, the bullpen is still in pretty good shape. Probably Roenicke and Fien are out tomorrow, but that leaves Burton, Duensing, Pressly, and Swarzak. The short starts can't keep happening without consequences, but off days and good long relief stints from Roenicke, Swarzak and Hernandez have kept the workload for everybody else in the acceptable range.

Is this a guess or have you seen something? De Vries hasn't pitched since ST and might need a rehab start or two. It looks to me like he might be in on the revolving door that will be the Twins #4 and #5 starters in the first third of the season.

I think Herrmann is the most likely. He is versatile (catcher and OF) and has hit acceptably so far. If Benson is deemed healthy and the Twins don't want to look at a handful of at-bats, perhaps they will promote him for the three games (they would be replacing a RH hitting OF with another RH hitting OF). If Herrmann is moved up, the Twins would have to promote one of their three catchers at New Britain.

I can't say that I'm delighted that Hendriks was sent down, but there aren't a lot of choices. It was either Hendriks or Hernandez and Pedro has thrown the ball pretty well so far. Three spots were guaranteed coming out of spring training--Worley, Pelfrey and Correia--and barring Marquis-like results they will stay in the rotation for at least another month. With Diamond being ready to go, somebody had to be demoted and the choice was Hendriks. Despite an okay outing in KC, Liam didn't get past the fifth, used an inordinate amount of pitches classified as strikes, and couldn't put people away. I think Hendriks still has a chance and probably will get another shot in the not-to-distant future, but the Twins aren't going to abandon Worley or Pelfrey because of one bad outing each.

It looks like Diamond ran out of gas after 4. Maybe next time, he can get to 6. He'll be fine.

Our old friend Alexi got hung out to dry when Cano short-hopped the liner by Machado. It is surprising that similar plays don't happen more often.

We know spring training and other exhibition games mean nothing. Exhibit A--Aaron Hicks. Exhibit B--Kevin Correia.

Scoreless first for Diamond.

I'm hoping for a strong six innings from Diamond. I hope he's ready for both the Mets and the elements.

Ten games in the offense has been poor--the defense poor and the pitching more often poor than good. The Twins are lucky they have won four games. It will get better, but the club may be out of it before it does.

Doesn't sound too bad. In an organization starved for power, it would be nice to have a C/DH who could hit 20 bombs.

Vanimal is very hittable. Unless he can get movement and grounders off his hittable stuff, we might be seeing more games like this. I didn't see the entire appearance, so I guess I didn't see any indication that he wasn't trying to compete.

Pinto with his fourth bomb. Possible replacement for Doumit (PT catcher/PT DH)? Are there any reports on his receiving skills?

That's a fun topic. I "adopt" players every year, usually underdogs of some shape or form. Among my "losers"--Matt Maloney, Alexi Casilla, and Rich Becker. Better results from 2006 vintage Cuddyer, the rookie AJ Pierzynski, Shane Mack, and Scott Leius.

Hendriks stays in the rotation..yes or no?

Hendriks only goes five. One run in five isn't bad, but he really showed the need for an out pitch.