bear333

The Twins have an ace in Hughes, Gibson is starting to look like our number two guy, You have to call Correia a number five guy and Nolasco has been pitching like a number four. So what we need is to swap out Deduno for a number three, which we probably have in AAA, just a matter of which one. All the Twins need to do is make a decision.

Either way he is not going to get another shot with the Twins.

I'm starting to believe that they may actually keep Hicks up for his defense, now that the rest of the order is getting stronger. Parmelee is back to his old tricks. Maybe he is destined to remain a really good AAA player.

Deduno is no good in the pen and does not belong there. What he needs to do is to lower his pitch count so that he can consistently pitch six innings. Correia is the one to move out for Meyer or May.

I say keep whoever is contributing that means both Nunez and Santana and out with Kubel.

Thankfully, the Twins acquired Hughes and Nolasco this year, allowing them to be patient with their starting pitching prospects. Unlike last year, where they would call up any body that might work. This could bode well for pitchers like Mays, who won't be rushed now.

This statement makes sense to me. To think that Molitor is not ambitious is not logical. This isn't a hobby and he isn't going through the motions. He's working it. But he does have affection for this organization. I have to think he would choose a Manager position if offered, but not with just any team, and I believe he would prefer that team to be the Twins.

Convert Santana to a center fielder.

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who sees it that way.

Exactly!

I like that. Give Santana a shot a center, why not? I feel Hicks needs to stay down for the rest of the season. They can give him another look next spring.

I think he is one of the most exciting Twins in the entire organization and I really hope he can make himself valuable enough to keep. I will add Deduno to that list. Here is another question for everyone: Are the Twins gearing up to try Santana in center field on a regular basis?

The Twins had a much better April then any of us were predicting at the start of the season. We need to hold tight with the hitters that got us here. They need to stop screwing around and bring Arcia back up and start Escobar at SS. Add that to Mauer back in the lineup and the fact that the starters are looking better and better and I see a formula for some good baseball and a chance to be at .500 in early June. That would be a great position from which to tweek the lineup for a run at second place in the division.

Under, the hitters will cool off (to an extent) while the starting pitching improves a bit, but not enough to make the differecnce to above .500. Then in June, they start the path to above .500 play as the schedule and weather improves for them.

The chances that they will replace, even one of their starters in June, is slim, at best. If they do, it will be just one. If they don't think Meyer is ready, they would probably stretch out Deduno and add him. Any major change in the starters would probably not happen till the end of summer and only then, if things were out of control.

The easy solution is to have northern teams start out the season playing in the south or on the coast. Why is that so hard for MLB to figure out?

What bad teams do is find ways to loose. The Twins are a bad team that is poorly managed. It will be a long season for Twins fans,

Is it my imagination or does this lineup lack leadership, enthusiasm and cohesion? Also, will that mean another 96 losses this year?

As soon as Sano went down I thought they should have moved Mauer to 3rd. That would have allowed Colabello to play first. As it is looking though, Plouffe may have a good year. I would rather watch Deduno pitch than any other starter the twins have. But Gardenhire freaks out over the walks. Thankfully, Deduno was kept. If someone falters or is injured he should be plugged in to replace them. Regarding the Twins in general, I have this to say:Based on what we have seen this spring, despite the improved pitching, I predict the Twins win 3 games in April and 6 games in May. At which point they bring in some players that can hit - and start to look a little better than last year. Right now, they look worse.

I'm just not buying Bartlett, especially since Escobar has earned the backup spot, in my opinion. I prefer Mastroianni over Presley and Colabello over Parmelee and Gibson and Deduno over Diamond, though, so I like today's moves. I would like to see Diamond choose Rochester and continue to work on his stuff, you never know, he might come around and he is a lefty. The Red Wings are looking pretty good right now. It is not just the three top prospects that could help us soon, there are several good players there.

One thing we know for sure is that as long as Gardy is manager there will be several people out of position every game. Not just on the field but also in the batting order. This seems to give the manager some sort of piece of mind. All I've ever thought about that philosophy is that there are players that NEVER get comfortable under him and that NEVER reach their full potential. Another thing, not using the DH spot the way it was intended is ludicrous. Remember the year that Winfield played at that spot? Now that worked. We need one of those guys real bad like. The Twins were still considering spending the money for one more starting pitcher this winter. I don't understand why they didn't bring in a DH bat for a season. Instead they are holding with Willingham who can't play left and now can't hit. I may not be going to a game till 2015.

2B Dozier1B Mauer DH Willingham RF Arcia 3B Sano CF Presley C Herrman LF Thomas SS Florimon Bench Escobar Mastroanni Collabello Pinto