mattkummer

I think the Twins lack of activity regarding the bullpen at the winter meetings shows that they are fine with their late inning bullpen being May/Jepsen/Perkins (7th/8th/9th). Quite honestly, I'm OK rolling with that to start the year. Yeah, I think finding a situation LH who's better than O'Rourke is a needed add. I'd listen to offers centered around Drew Storen (who's obviously not a lefty), for additional BP help. But if the Twins get him, he's gonna want to close. That OF of Sano/Rosario/Arcia is terrifying from a defensive standpoint. I think Seth is right: if Buxton doesn't make the team out of spring training, they'll go with Danny Santana in CF, Rosario in RF and Sano in LF. Arcia can be a bench bat-- and quite frankly can/should be in rough platoon at DH with Park.

I thought the quote from this doctor was telling, and could explain Mauer's struggles this year. "What's most likely to happen in baseball is a concussion that goes onto post-concussion syndrome," say Dr. Robert Cantu, a sports concussion expert at the Boston University School of Medicine. "The symptoms don't clear up quickly....When you have post-concussion syndrome, when you're still symptomatic and still haven't completely healed, very commonly reaction times are slow [and] your eyes do not track with the same coordination and speed." Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/mlb/news/20140602/justin-morneau-colorado-rockies/#ixzz33aYRAM4F

Good post, Nick. I've wondered the same thing, it's kind of fascinating. My theory-- and it's only that-- is that Joe Mauer is a target for the wild and unrealistic expectations Minnesotans have for their sports teams, because he is truly "one of us". Minnesota is so starved for a championship team (sorry, Lynx), and Joe happens to play on the one team that has won championships in the not too distant past. The heart and soul of those 87 and 91 teams was Kirby Puckett-- and everyone remembers Game 6 against the Braves. Flash forward 20+ years, and you have a guy in his home state, whose athletic exploits have been covered since he was a teenager starring in 3 sports, a guy who debuted at 21 for his hometown team (and got hurt right away), and has always been seen as "the local kid who will lead the Twins back to a championship". And then he signed "the contract", which I quite frankly think a lot of Minnesotans resent as not being very "Minnesotan". I actually think the pressure is GREATER on Joe Mauer playing in Minnesota under that contract, than it would be for him playing for the Red Sox, Yankees, Dodgers, etc. In those places, he's just another highly-paid All-Star on teams with several of them. In Minnesota, he's the kid from St. Paul who's by far the highest-paid player on his hometown team that's lost 90+ games for 3 years in a row. I've wondered if at some point, he'll break and say: "Screw this. I'm sick of taking all the crap for this organization not winning. I'll waive my no-trade clause and go somewhere I can help someone contend without having to carry the neurosis of my hometown's fan base."

Agree, it sounds like they tried to spend. But, it's awfully tough convincing players to come to Minnesota after the last 2 winters we had and the likelihood of playing games outside in the 30's and 40's well into May, when the prospects of being a contender are slim to none. I'm not advocating a return to the Dome (it's torn down after all!), but it may be a factor. Winning cures all.

And by prospects not living up to the hype in "most cases", I think we can safely assume that Sano and Buxton will not be "most cases".

+1000. This is one of the things that has really hurt this Twins team. People can blame Gardy, blame Mauer's injuries, bad/lack of free agent signings. But, I think the Twins, and particularly Terry Ryan's, reluctance to make trades when someone is performing well has been detrimental to this team's overall future. You never know if a promising vet is going to get hurt and never be the same, and prospects have a way of not quite living up to the hype in most cases. Sell high and fleece some desperate team who thinks they need that extra piece to win now.

I attended the Cedar Rapids game in Appleton last night. It was fun to see these guys up close (and I was close-- front row behind the on-deck circle). When you see them-- you realize these are young kids. They are still learning to play the game. Niko Goodrum is a good example of that-- he made a base-running blunder on a short fly ball that led to him getting doubled off. You could tell he had a mental lapse. But my takeaway, that he was eager to learn from it. I saw him talking with Jake Mauer immediately after, and it seemed like a productive, positive conversation. Travis Harrison had a great night-- blasted a homer, hit a double off the wall in center in his next AB. He also made a nice play, bare-handing a bunt to throw a runner out on a close play at first. (Although, I'm told replays showed the ump blew the call). Buxton and Kepler had unremarkable nights. Buxton was 0-4, but he hit the ball hard in his first AB. Kepler, 0-3 with a walk. (For the record, I saw Miguel Sano here last year when he was with Beloit, and he also went 0-4. Maybe it's me). All in all, it was a solid win for the Kernels.

There's your answer. It's Hicks. Gardenhire is already calling him "Hicksie". Clearly, he's already a "Gardy guy".

Is it just me, or is it typical that the Twins would get intimidated by Scott Boras? Yes, he's difficult, and forces clubs to overpay his clients. That's why he's successful, and gets top clients. If the Twins want to play the whole "upper-Midwest-nice" thing, then that's exactly what they'll continue to get as a team.