Physics Guy

If Lewis is on Twitter, somebody needs to send him a link to that poll. Lewis is an idiot. I wish more players would do this and make teams stop playing the shift. I am always disappointed by the lack of bunting ability major leaguers have. When the third baseman is playing shortstop it really shouldn't be that hard to bunt for a base hit.

It benefits you as a fan in that it allows young players a chance to prove themselves in preparation for future years. Trading Correia allows Meyer/May to start for the Twins and get their feet wet, rather than waiting until next year. You are correct in that the players we get for the vets may not ever pan out, but Correia, Willingham, Morales and Suzuki are all potentially gone at the end of the season. If they can get something of value, why not? I don't advocate just dumping them for a bag of balls, but I think Ryan has been able to make trades for good prospects in the lower levels (think Butera for Sulbaran).

I want them to stay competitive, but players who have the ability to help for the next few years need to have priority for playing time. The following players need to be shopped to see what they might get: Willingham, Correia, Morales, Suzuki I would not want to trade Suzuki unless they can get more than a marginal prospect. The first three on that list all have potential replacements ready to go. I would like to see only 12 pitchers on the roster to allow a stronger bench with more options. This means one of Burton, Guerrier, Swarzak or Deduno are traded/released/DFA'd. By August 1: C - Suzuki 1B - Mauer 2B - Dozier SS - Escobar 3B - Plouffe LF - Arcia CF - Santana RF - Parmelee Bench - Fuld, Fryer, Colabello, Nunez, Herrmann I'd actually rather see Hicks in CF and Santana at SS, with Herrmann in AAA. I just don't see that happening. I would like to see Hicks in AAA soon if he keeps hitting (.354 BA in last 15 games). SP - Hughes, Gibson, Nolasco, Meyer, May Bullpen - Perkins, Fien, Duensing, Guerrier/Burton, Thielbar, Deduno, Swarzak

I hate the Yankees, but this sucks. I will be shocked if he doesn't end up having TJ surgery. Barely three months in MLB and he's on the shelf.

Yep, Hicks catches that one.

Great managing there by Gardy. If you are going to pinch run Parmelee, do it right away. After Morales was held at third he just looked like an idiot making the change then. Nobody probably even thinks about it if he leaves Morales in.

Well, it sounds as though the flaw in Nolasco's delivery may have been injury. Anderson may get a pass on this one. It sounds as though Nolasco may have been concealing it also.

This is pretty much where I am at. My tipping point however will be if they can't help Nolasco right the ship. He has a much longer period of sustained quality in the big leagues than Worley.

Yeah, shortly after posting I remembered Hughes. He's turned out pretty well. I agree that Anderson may have had some impact on Santana, but that was a long time ago.

I know this isn't about Worley, but I think it is pertinent to the thread. What about Nolasco? I know we aren't talking about ace material, but how can he stink so bad? Is Anderson looking at film to discern changes from last year? If there are noticeable changes, are they working to correct them? They have invested too much money in him to not get him straightened out. I've felt that Gardy and Anderson were pretty good at their jobs, but unless we start to see some improvement from the team, maybe it's time for a change in scenery. I'm having a hard time remembering the last pitcher the Twins brought in that actually showed marked improvement with the Twins.

Yes, this is absurd. To put it another way, he gets over seven outs per hit.

I'm going to re-post my comment in the Correia thread: Thought I'd revisit this after tonight's start. Correia will most likely make it much longer than most are/were hoping for. Although it's pretty hard to complain about his last 6 starts. 36 IP, 41 H, 4 BB, 20 K, 3.50 ERA and 1.25 WHIP He's not going anywhere unless, A) he puts up several straight stinkers and May forces the Twins' hands or he continues with what he has done the last month and garners something in trade. Edit: Sorry John, your post came in after I started reading the thread.

Thought I'd revisit this after tonight's start. Correia will most likely make it much longer than most are/were hoping for. Although it's pretty hard to complain about his last 6 starts. 36 IP, 41 H, 4 BB, 20 K, 3.50 ERA and 1.25 WHIP He's not going anywhere unless, A) he puts up several straight stinkers and May forces the Twins' hands or he continues with what he has done the last month and garners something in trade.

Just read that Duke Welker had Tommy John surgery. http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2014/06/nl-notes-dodgers-brewers-morales-zimmerman-welker.html While I have doubts that either would be major contributors on the big league club, Johnson is sure helping the Red Wings.

Later in the month I am taking a road trip with some buddies to St Louis and KC. On Friday we plan to watch a Quad Cities River Bandits game at Modern Woodmen Park. It looks like a pretty cool park. Has anybody been there and have any recommendations on seats or things to do following the game?

They need to return to AM, but it needs to be WCCO, not 1500. They weren't much better reception-wise than KTWN.

He didn't crush it quite enough though. Fortunately Nunez came through.

Can I agree with you? Beltre has put together five out of his six best seasons since he turned 30. I'm starting to have a tough time seeing Mauer doing the same.

I think there is maybe some confusion about the original post. Many people seem to be reading that the OP is calling out Arcia to step up (as the title of the thread might indicate). If that is what the OP meant, I would agree with the majority in that it is much too early to call him out. I suspect that what he meant to say was that the Twins need Arcia to step up or hope that he does if they are going to continue maintaining a .500 record.

Well, he probably bought himself another start after tonight.

Love it

Case in point as to why we need to stop all the ripping of Hicks as well.

I had hope that Correia had figured things out after his May 3 outing. He threw 7 innings, 1 ER, 5 H, 0 BB. He had 3 QS out of 6 and really only had one stinker. Now he is up to a 3/8 stinker quotient. I'll be shocked if they don't at least give him two more starts. If the next two are like the last two he needs to be DFA'd. If he can keep them in games up to the Super 2 deadline, keep him until then. I'm with the majority in wanting to see May up. I would like to see Meyer in AAA to continue working on the changeup.

The pitching has been better. BB Ref has them with a 3.92 ERA over the last two weeks, not counting today. There will be improvement at Correia's spot, either by him or May/Meyer. This team already shows more fight than last year's crew.

I've been what some around TD might consider an apologist for the front office in the past. The past few days have been very difficult to stomach, even for me. Thanks for bringing up something positive to think about. By the way, Grantland has a nice article on him right now: http://grantland.com/the-triangle/brian-dozier-minnesota-twins-second-base-star/