h2oface

This team will need a lot of luck and a lot of upside showing to come out of April above .500. The pen seems a mess to me.... and I really believed it would be addressed as promised. A new cast off in Abad, but I never liked O'Rourke and his 5.00 plus ERA in Rochester, and he seems to have to face far too many righthanded bats when he is put in the game. Tonkin and a fastball that is so straight it is no trouble to hit, and I fear both Fien and Perkins will be on the way down. High hopes for Pressly and the misplaced May, and for Jepson (but not as much as he regresses to his career stats). Santana has found the ball with his bat at the right time. Sano is slumping a bit this last week, and in right field, but I really look forward to seeing what he can do for a full season. Murphy only knows a slump with the Twins so far, yikes. Plouffe, Dozier, Suzuki, seem ready. Mauer seems like the Mauer of the last two years. Happy to see Buxton in center, no matter what happens. Rosario seems ready. Arcia is a total crap-shoot without options. Park looks great and I hope blows us all away. I have no idea why Nunez is still around. Escobar looks ready but not in the form I hope he can continue to perform at. I have high hopes for dreaded Santana and Gibson, but cringe at watching Hughes in April when he has always (except one year in his career) tanked, and doesn't get going, if he does get going, until May. I can't believe we all have to see Nolasco set records on scratching himself on the mound between pitches and hope he doesn't pitch batting practice for the third year in Minnesota, and Milone could surprise, and should keep us in the game 4 out of 7 outings. I really thought I would have higher hopes and the bullpen would have really been addressed, Sano would have been at third, Kepler in the outfield, and Berrios on the starting staff, but it is a long season and a lot can happen. At least Jordan Shafer is not starting in center this year (he was signed by the Dodgers to start pitching in the minors!). I hope we see a lot different team by June, and the march to 90+ wins is picking up momentum. All future and no past. Here we go again.

Perkins, for sure. He just is not committed to aging with grace, and definitely is not doing what is needed to keep the edge. I think he will start busting in......April. I hope the flame throwers take over the pen by mid season. Also...... I would add Casey Fien. I was surprised he was resigned. I would have let him go.

I would hope they are not paralyzed by hope, and really don't foresee the outcome being making the team, but are investing in that chance that sudden injuries might give them the cracked door to squeeze in, and they need to be ready and do well to be that guy out of several that gets to go north with the team. In the end, even if they do the best of all the players in camp, they still will not have a job in the show unless a pre-ordained regular goes down with an injury. It is a bit of a dance..... the "pitch" from the team that they will have a true opportunity to compete and the player convincing themselves to have the bit of hope that encourages them to invest in the hope. It sure seems to waste a lot of at bats that could go to the prospects, though. I have never liked that, and it seems like such a waste. Unfortunately for the team, cases like Kubel and Bartlett (recently) got past the screening process, and were proved so totally misguided and the quick failure after all those precious at bats for prospects were now history. It is too bad that Murphy has not earned his roster spot yet (another 0/3 today and now 2/28 and hitting .071). He is getting it just the same, for reasons I understand, even though Hicks and Centeno both have earned the back up spot). Good thing Suzuki is starting to heat up. A bunch of the guys that got cut and are in minor league camp all played today anyway..... Mastroianni showed today what he brings that others don't..... scoring from first on a double after an infield single with two outs. Arcia doesn't give the team a run there. Also his 4th stolen base of the spring. Also a very good defensive replacement for Sano when the Twins are leading in the bottom of the eighth or ninth.

It seems I am terrible at expressing myself. The flaw? I never said that he should make the team. Not once. Nor did I feel I inferred it. I was empathizing with how I assume he felt. The sentence in the post that you responded to was about the fact that there was no chance for him to make the team, no matter what he did in the short spring training, and that the pitch to the players that there might be, is bogus. I read it back. I can't see how it can be missed, especially with the second post (#31) just after the one you responded to clarifying that. But I will work on my delivery. So sorry I have confused you, and any others that seemed to think I was saying Mastroianni should have made the team. He was always signed for injury depth.

Agreed.... and obviously..... but I was referring to the "opportunity", or in reality, "non-opportunity" that spring training actually provides for many. Mastroianni surely did well - .407/.484/.481 with a .965 OPS - compared to others that got jobs, that is what I refer to. There was really no job for him to ever be competing for. If Spring Training is for new starts, and from this day forward, none of the past stats matter anyway, right? It is what one can do now and from this day forward. Except that is never really true even though that is the pitch. Murphy/Hicks/Centeno is another example. Murphy has to make the team, whether he earned it or not, just because Aaron Hicks was traded for him. Spring has not been kind to the three namer.

Thankful the Quentin experiment is over. Now they can quit wasting at bats on him. He is a total joke anywhere in the field now. Maybe he can get a job starting fights and breaking arms somewhere. Mastroianni must wonder what he has to do to get a job (not that any of the hopefuls really had a shot at making the roster, anyway). Tonkin needs to get a job in Korea or Japan, because he cannot play above AAA ball here. O'Rourke? Too bad not everyone bats left handed for him. The future and the present is the youth. Let's get on with it and stop this tired old vet waiting room gambit. Looking back at some opening day rosters in the last years, it is truly amazing. Why just last year... Jordan Schafer started the year in center field! And for real horror....... check out the 2013 starting rotation! http://www.twinkietown.com/2015/4/3/8339303/2015-twins-opening-day-roster

Maybe so. It is just so hard for myself to talk myself into that and treat it as fact - that being a #1 draft pick has an insignificant value. This year, a #1 draft pick is worth a salary of the $15.8 million qualifying offer for the year, or about 15% of the Twins payroll (just a guess without actually knowing the exact Twins' payroll - but you get the point). I understand that that is a bit of a spin on the qualifying. My mind is often not fair with its internal dialogue. It is harder to quantify what Parmelee and Whimmers and Michaeal were worth as the assigned value didn't start until the 2013 season, but now my mind is even more troubled, since you brought that up. And maybe I just shouldn't think that way, and just throw away the whole idea of worth of a #1 pick that MLB has assigned and evaluates and has raised form $13.3 million to $14.1 million to $15.3 million to the present $15.8 over the last 4 years. This trading from position of strength argument my thought process has even more trouble with - a position so strong that a 3rd baseman is now playing out of position in the show without ever playing the outfield before in his development. I continue to doubt, and have trouble joining the club, that might think the evaluations by Rob Anthony and the Twins front office personnel is absolutely or necessarily something I can take to the bank (Chris Parmelee, Alex Wimmers and Levi Michael, say no more). If the Twins want to see Murphy's potential, I would hope that he gets the majority of games behind the plate and in the lineup sooner than later

Quentin should be toast. Right up there with the Bartlett/Kubel experiment of 2014. I hope it doesn't go as far as the Jason Squared debacle. So Paulson made $250K for less than two years of part time work. Not bad.

“I don’t think he’s reached his peak,” said assistant general manager Rob Antony. “I think he has more potential." I sure hope so. I can't stop myself from thinking that he is what the Twins consider a number one draft pick. After all, he is what the Twins felt was worthy of a trade for their #1 draft pick. Add the investment of years in development for Hicks, and Murphy is what they figure is a comparable and worthy talent to be a fair trade? I sure hope he hasn't reached his peak, and has more potential. I hope further that he actually achieves it.

Hy. What a name. I don't think I have ever heard of another Hy. Good thing there was no random testing program back then. A World Series Vet! Impressive. Thanks for the article.

Dozier is in total denial about the second halves of the seasons. Perhaps he did get in better shape this off season and will be able to perform the whole year. The Twins need him to.

And there it is. Paralyzed by hope. That is the problem exactly. Over and over and over and over again. Failing to have the wisdom and courage to make the decision sooner so the player can develop at the position they can play in the majors while in the minors, as it should be. I can understand when a veteran like Mauer has a position switch after years in the show, but all this failing to identify the prospects while they are prospects is hurting the team. The young players, like Plouffe, become a liability in the field for years (being the acceptable third baseman in the field he is now didn't happen over night, eh?) as they hone skills that could have been honed during the 7 years (ok.... maybe less sometimes) the Twins took to develop them. Identification is a great skill.

Accepting Plouffe as a worthy leader of this team is like accepting the pitching staff. The Ryan collection of league average (where even Mauer now resides) bolstered with hopes of all having a breakout year all at once. Hey.... it could happen.

Ouch! Hey..... It kept Plouffe at third base. There is one rare example. Quentin seems like a lose lose to me, and a loose canon. He can't field, and he is a guy that will pick a useless fight and attack a pitcher. A real chump thing to do (the 8 game suspension for fighting and breaking Greinke's arm seemed light to me). I really thought having him around was a total waste of time and wast of at bats for the younger prospects. His fiasco fielding at first the other day was a joke. http://m.mlb.com/video/v26207091/ladsd-scully-calls-the-dodgerspadres-fracas

I love how it is excused that a MLB pitcher can be lit up because A ball players are "aggressive". It seems to be the company line a couple days in a row to explain the poor performances of our starters that were protected from the MLB grapefruit games. Hughes velocity was fine? I wonder what it was. I guess the low A team borrowed the radar gun for May. I see Nolasco is working a minor league game next? Am I the only one that doesn't quite see how this is better for them and the team? Oh well, it is just ST. Thanks for the article!

Well, I for one, thought it was beneficial to be clarified, because "the franchise" did in fact move, and did not, in fact, become an independent league team as the article said. A totally different franchise has moved to New Britian. As I read it, and before I saw the comments, it was therefore confusing and now not clear to me at all, and contradicting what I was previously aware of. I am happy that it was clarified, as it was all the sudden not clear to me at all, but now it is.

"I envision him being a future starter. I don't know why he can't be a starter in the major leagues," He (Ryan) continued, "He's got the pitches. He's got the strength. He's shown he can do it......" ...... because you don't let him start! Sometimes...... sometimes I wonder if Ryan even hears himself.

I think the original question was about considering a starting staff full of 3-5's "pretty good". I also think think that that KC's bullpen (and defense and offense) was far more the reason they could win a World Series than the starting staff. The Twins' didn't even try to step up the pen..... one might even say they made "a-bad" addition to try to get there.

A rotation made up of self rated 3-5's, and that is a pretty good rotation? I am sure glad my standards and hopes have not been converted by endless mediocrity into talking myself into thinking that a rotation of 3-5s is a pretty good rotation.

Here's to May becoming the Twins' "Wade Davis". At least they aren't jerking him around anymore, which is what they were doing. When the team is constructed with out of position players asked to do something that they were not groomed to do, one can only hope for surprises and that things go better than expected.

Tonkin seems never quite ready, including this Spring Training. I really hate to see him getting the opportunities that could go to others that pitch so much better in their opportunities. Especially with the stable of young arms in the system, and the retreads that Ryan continues to clog the pipeline with that take their opportunities, too. Tonkin should have been hyped and traded long ago, before he has proven to be one that has a best chance of getting paid to his ceiling in Japan or Korea.

Exactly. Well, most of his minor league career, some pretty bad stretches aside. Yup. It sure would be nice for it to show up tout de suite. Exactly.

It sure will be nice when Buxton actually hits...... or walks.... or just gets on base somehow. All those tools they are still in the toolbox.

One at bat short...... milking the prospect status. I hear he is supposed to be good. We will see. I hope that doesn't mean Alex Meyer good. I hear he is supposed to be real good, too.

I like that there is no talk of the sabermatician's favorite prediction... regression. Opps.