Physics Guy

Could you be a little more condescending? I'm not sure that comments like that really fit YOUR comment policy. I would expect more from a site administrator. As for what you can and can't do on a field, we are not talking rocket science here. It takes two seconds to move. At least one of the coaches on the bench has responsibility for defensive alignment. If I'm not mistaken, the bunt occurred on the first pitch. There would be plenty of time to communicate to him that it was a possible bunt situation. A simple "watch the bunt" is all that would be needed. Now if he moved after the alignment was set, you are correct, that is hard to do anything about. Of course, that wasn't part of the discussion before your post. My question is, why are they worrying about the veteran 1B rather than the 3B who has much less experience?

As a coach, I agree with Mike. If that happened to my team, I would be just as upset at myself for not anticipating that and moving Plouffe. There are at least five coaches in the dugout and one of them should catch that. I doubt this is the first time Kipnis has done this and it should be in the scouting report. It is incumbent on Plouffe to know the situation also, especially with a left handed batter. Gardy needs to stop pointing fingers in the press. This is getting old. Edit: Kipnis has 10 bunt hits in 2+ years, so this should not be surprising.

Gomez was clearly rushed to the majors. His first year with the Twins he was 21, 2 years younger than Hicks. Hicks is a more polished player than Gomez was and he is struggling. If Gomez had spent his first two years in the minors while Span patrolled CF, Gomez might be in CF now and Hicks in AAA. Many players don't debut until they are 24 or 25. I don't fault the Twins for moving on, but I do think they should have handled him differently at the beginning. It seems to me part of him being in MLB was to save face for the trade. They needed to show they got something for Santana.

Joe Nathan+Escobar+Hernandez > Pierzynski

But now you do know that you shouldn't. Don't feel bad, it's pretty amazing how many phrases like that have bad connotations that people are unaware of. Well done ashburyjohn.

Thanks guys. I should have known to check Knuckleballs.

I'm hoping there are enough people here that have either made the trek down to Cedar Rapids, or live there, to help me out. We are traveling to Chicago over Father's Day weekend and my wife has graciously agreed to make a side trip through Cedar Rapids. I also have two young baseball-playing boys (10 and 7) who will be making the trip. Mostly, I am looking for recommendations for hotel accommodations. We are looking for something that is clean, has a pool and possibly serves a continental breakfast. Any other recommendations for the day would be greatly appreciated also. It looks like there are two major pockets of hotels, one north of the stadium on 380 and the other south of the stadium. Is either location preferred?

Hitting with two strikes is what makes Joe a great hitter. He has a great OBP because he is able to draw walks by taking more pitches. Do I wish he didn't take as many pitches? Sure, but the number of pitches he takes does help to wear down the pitcher. His average is consistently in the .300's because his two-strike BA doesn't drag him down. The way he is hitting with two strikes this year is unbelievable. As for Pierre and Suzuki, it's pretty clear why they are on the list. They are both good contact hitters, with low K rates. With two strikes they put the ball in play and use their speed to get infield hits. I would hazard to guess that they, in their younger days, were amongst the leaders in IF hits.

I've been around HS baseball for 25 years and this has by far been the worst season in Minnesota during that time. Our HS team has not practiced outside yet. Usually by April 1 we could start being outside regularly, with occasional days where we would be pushed indoors. I quit coaching a couple years back and feel very sorry for those still involved. Once their season starts it's going to be a nightmare. On a related note, my son gets to go to the afternoon game tomorrow as a reward for being a School Patrol. I told him to pack his snow pants!

Agreed. Given that he's a converted SS, he makes the plays coming forward very well. I'm a little surprised he's having trouble to his left, but maybe that was part of the issue he had as a SS (besides the throwing part). Correct me if I'm wrong, but he had trouble as a SS when he had to rush his throw. He seems to have no such problem on the bunts/slow rollers when he has to rush his throw. IMO his issues stem from a lack of experience. He shows signs that he can make tough plays, but just needs to find consistency. I still believe he will turn out to be at minimum a league average defensive 3B. That would be more than acceptable if he has an OPS of .800 with a league average of .740 last year.

Nice summary, Seth. The Twins are using Carroll exactly the way they should given the makeup of the roster. With all three of the young(er) guys on the roster, they should receive the majority of the time. Until Florimon or Dozier prove they shouldn't be starting, Gardy is doing exactly what he should, IMO. If one falters, I would think Escobar gets the next shot although I wouldn't blame Gardy for going with Carroll.

Because everything has to be based on research? He did say, "I guess...."

Come on guys, three walks in his last five AB and no K. That's a little improvement. He's even laying off some of the two strike breaking balls. Hopefully Dozier will hit like he did last night and allow Hicks to work it out at the bottom of the order.

Just did the same and found two teams, Cle and Sea, that have 11 man pitching staffs. ChiWS have 13.

Nice article Seth. Good summary of the most enjoyable game to watch thus far. I have to say, I was a little nervous when KC gave up a home run to Bourjos and then later to Harris. Who would have guessed those would be the only runs allowed? As an aside, we get that you don't like Florimon. Maybe it's just me, but it seems like you take a shot at him every chance you get. It's not like he's been an utter failure thus far. FanGraphs has him at 0.4 WAR thus far. Give the guy a chance.

Sorry, I meant he was unavailable last time.

KLaw said as much in his last chat: [h=6]Klaw (1:15 PM) [/h] When the promotion was aggressive to begin with, then the leash should be shorter. But I'd never give a kid an OD job unless I was prepared to ride out a bad start for at least a month. The same applies to Brandon Maurer, who couldn't get anything down the other night, especially that slider that was so sharp in March (and last year).

My feeling is that #1 it was about pitch count. KC had 84 through 7 the previous game and 101 yesterday. At 84, it's reasonable that he can get through the 8th and be around 100. I doubt Gardy allows him (or any pitcher) much past that right now. The fact that Burton was unavailable probably has something to do with it also, but we don't need to get back into that discussion.

Hicks had a nice PH appearance last night. Drew a walk, stole 2B and went to 3B on pitch that got away from C. Baby steps! My guess is that Ramirez is affraid to take all three days and that the Twins will want to keep Arcia, so he hustled back from paternity leave.

Here are some of the FA pitchers we talked about this offseason: Joe Saunders - 17.1 IP, 2/3 Quality starts, 2.08 ERA, 1.33 WHIP Kevin Correia - 21.1 IP, 3 quality starts, 2.95 ERA, 1.22 WHIP Edwin Jackson - 16.1 IP, 3 non-quality starts, 6.06 ERA, 1.59 WHIP Brandon McCarthy - 11.2 IP, 2 non-quality starts, 7.71 ERA, 1.80 WHIP Joe Blanton - 3 non-quality starts, 8.59 ERA, 2.05 WHIP Scott Baker - 60 day DL Shawn Marcum - 15 Day DL, may pitch by end of April So far so good. Ryan looks like a genius thus far, but as alluded to by others, most of these guys are pitching to past history. Blanton, Jackson and McCarthy are not fast starters, Correia and Saunders are. We don't need Correia to be this good, he just needs to not fall apart. 6 IP per start and an ERA in the 4.00 - 4.50 would be a vast improvement over what we had last year. If he can give us Nick Blackburn circa '08 - '09 I would be happy.

I would concur. I find that the vast majority of the people who I agree with on this thread are those that I don't normally and just the opposite for those that think its a joke to even discuss it. I find it refreshing to be on the other side of the fence this time. Not everything the FO does is right, nor is is everything they do wrong. Doesn't it sometimes feel as though the forum is much like "debates" between the Republicans and Democrats? I did a quick search and came across an article in USA Today (albeit from 2005). 15 teams opened the gates with at least 25 minutes on home team BP left, sometimes up to an hour. I forgot that the Twins open two hours early on the weekends, so maybe we can watch part of it. I'd be curious what the stats on this are currently, but I'm guessing it would take way too long to figure out. When I started this thread it was a quick reaction to the Strib article. I had no idea the discussion would go on this long and we've probably beat this one to death. Hopefully, the Twins come up with a well thought out solution.

Mauer is on pace for 20! Bert said Guthrie beat Lloyd Gavin and the White Sox last time out. Dohhhh!

By the way, where do you find the info?

Considering the number of "prospects" down there, that seems rather asinine. I hope there is more to this than it appears.

Glad to see they came to their senses. Now if only we could get them to open up early for Twins BP a few times a year.