bulldozier14

Palacios was pulled early from the Kernals game- anyone know why?

I know Granite is on a hot streak, but does he have any sustained success in the minors that would indicate he'll be a good player in the majors? Even after the last few games his OPS is only .800 this year and .777 in AAA, which is well above is minors career OPS of only .713. Not sure he'll hit enough to be a corner outfielder. Palacios looks like the real deal. He is only 20 and already dominating low A as a shortstop with legitimate pop in his bat. It looks like last year was a fluke and he was playing injured. If he can stay at short his upside is impressive and he should start getting attention on top 100 lists.

Yeah my main point is that ideally a guys OPS would be more than basically double his average, no matter how limited he is as a hitter. I know he has had a decent walk rate in the minors in previous years, but his current average is not sustainable so hopefully he can get on base at a higher clip going forward.

Also doesn't have a walk and only one XBH, so his OPS is still pretty underwhelming...

This is more about Buxton's future than fighting for a wildcard spot with no pitching and inconsistent offense.

It's a pitcher's league because of the big parks. That has nothing to do with Gonsalves' strikeout numbers, but probably has a bit to do with his very low ERA.

Yeah the Vargas move confuses me. His season has been slump-starts to hit-sent down- called up- slump- starts to hit- interleague play- sent down. They've sent him down at the oddest times, and he has nothing left to prove at any level in the minors. He needs consistent at bats with the Twins.

3-5 with a double and a bomb tonight. If Buxton was ready, Sano is ready. Sano has a lot more games and success in the upper minors under his belt than Buxton did. The obvious issue is need, and the roster is pretty crowded at the corner infielder and DH spots. I honestly don't know what to do with him pressing the issue. They might have to do something with Plouffe- I wish there was a trade for a decent young catcher they could pull off. I also think they'll have to bring Kepler up, he is showing phenomenal discipline and hit skills at AA. What a pair of prospects they signed in 2009.

Why are they not batting Buxton first again...?

Oh man, I was not really disregarding his hitting there. He is having an impressive season, but he is striking out at an incredible rate in AA. That won't get any better in the majors- it's not hard to see him striking out 40% of the time or more in the pros. Even Adam Dunn can't touch that, and Dunn walked a lot more. It's hard to see a guy with Walker's peripherals succeeding. Maybe he develops better plate discipline, but he is going to have too many at bats where he does nothing positive if he doesn't. He's also a couple of years older than Sano, which is important to factor in when you're comparing the two.

Yeah, he reminds me of Joaquin Phoenix's character in Signs, who absolutely crushed home runs but struck out way too much to be a ball player.

I doubt that, he only threw 41 in the 3 innings with 1 walk and 1 hit. Definitely not good...

Whoa! Awesome!

Gonsalves has now struck out 8 of 9.

Definitely thought Hicks was going to catch that.

'Nooga isn't playing so I forgot to check the scoreboard. Usually have him pegged...what a stud.

...my goodness.

He was just starting to crush with the Twins and doesn't really have much to prove in AAA at this point. I think the fact that we are actually playing well forced it, but I would have much rather had him work through stuff up here.

So Vargas has two bombs tonight so far...good thing we sent him down to get straightened out. I like what the Twins have been doing, but I had to question that one. Hopefully it was just to get him at bats every day temporarily.

Suzuki is straight up bad at anything but blocking pitches in the dirt. It's incredible that this has kept him afloat, but I'd much rather see what Pinto has if we are going to be throwing out a dud on defense anyway. Suzuki is probably a lot better at calling/ controlling the game as well, which likely factors into things.

Who's watching Hu? What's he throwing? I'm going to watch the game later, but I'm just following the gamecast for now.

Why doesn't Milone have a spot in a rotation somewhere? His career MLB ERA is right around 4, and that includes a year at 3.74 and half a year at 3.55. He's only 28 and seems like he should be a middle of the rotation guy, not in AAA.

Sano has a 14.1 BB%. That is absolutely elite and would be his second highest number he's posted as a minor leaguer.

Any reason he hasn't played since the 6th?

Was definitely wondering about his velocity during the game...that radar gun was out of wack- I wish we had our own broadcasts for the Lookouts. Thanks for clearing that up.