glanzer

What do you prefer to see--low-scoring games where pitching and defense dominate, or high-scoring slugfests? Personally I'd much rather be in the crowd for a game with a crazy 15-12 score than a 3-1 game. I've always been of the opinion that great hitting is more exciting than great pitching, although Santana and Liriano nearly had me convinced otherwise in 2006.

You're definitely right, the 2012 Twins are more entertaining, at least. Obviously the DL has barely been used compared to a year ago; simply having players that the average fan has heard of makes for a more interesting product. As terrible as their record is, I still get the feeling that they could potentially win any given game, something I didn't feel last season. Also, aside from that record-setting cold streak with the bats on the West Coast, it seems like they're playing in more high-scoring games which, win or lose, is infinitely more entertaining to me than low-scoring games.

He's doing the same thing this year with the Angels! I have already seen at least two reports where he'd mentioned being open to the possibility of returning to Minnesota as a free agent next year.

Turpen continues to come into ballgames with the expectation to pitch 2 innings. In his four June appearances, he was worked 2 innings in three of them, and 1.2 in the other. In 7.2 innings of work this month, Turpen has put up some respectable numbers: 3 ER, 6 H, 7 K, 5 BB, 1 HR. His season ERA sits at 5.45 and again, most of that goes back to his dreadful May 21 outing when he gave up 6 ER. It's tough to gauge where he's headed. His numbers are very middle-of-the-pack. Just guessing, but a promotion to AAA doesn't seem like it's on the immediate horizon.

I had the same thought... isn't Japan's professional league a step up from AAA in the US? Why not admit it was a failure and get out of the contract and go back to Japan.

I figured it would be a no-brainer that Trevor Plouffe would earn this past week's AL Player of the Week honor, but instead it went to Oakland's Brandon Moss who hit 6 HR and drove in 11 runs. Maybe Plouffe has a better chance at AL Player of the Month as his HRs have been a little more equally spread over the entire month. http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120618&content_id=33510076&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb

With just 4, 5, or 6 teams in a division it can't be all that rare for the standings to go alphabetical on a random day of the season. Nevertheless, good observation.

Slama is most deserving, but I guess he's currently injured.

Wow, awesome trip itinerary. Hope you chronicle your adventures here.

How difficult would it be for Morneau or any player to try switch-hitting at this point in a career? How could Morneau possibly do any worse if he turned around and batted right-handed against lefties?

Gladden's play-by-play calling can be both maddening and delightful at the same time. I remember a specific instance a few years ago when Nick Punto, of all people, homered in Anaheim. Dazzle's monotonous call went like this: "And Punto swings and here's a little pop fly to right, and that's gonna get out of here for a three-run home run." Wha---??? Punto just homered? Come on, let's hear the surprise in your voice! Or how about rethinking the phrasing of "a little pop fly?" As poorly as he often paints the full picture, I find his style funny and enjoyable on a very different level.

Excellent post, I thought that very thing myself during the draft. Who is to say these BA guys are better than an individual team's scouts? I would imagine the first 5-10 picks would be relatively easy for most teams and BA to agree upon, but after that it's ridiculous to think one man's list is the definitive source. If the Twins took someone at #32 that "the board" had going #56, then it should be considered a great pick as both the team and these writers determined this was a player worth using a high draft pick to obtain. The only reason we've come to trust BA or ESPN with these lists is they make them public!

Maybe it really is a comfort thing with the National League for Marquis... Maybe he likes to have the bat in his hand. Not that this start was great or anything.

Hard to single anyone person out deserving all the credit, but things seemed to start improving as soon as Diamond and Walters arrived. Of course the bullpen still deserves the most credit for holding onto some tight leads.

It's not like he's Sergio Santos and flat-out wasn't going to make it in the majors as a position player. He'd have to suffer an injury that kept him from swinging a bat or running to see a conversion to pitching.

I expect them to continue to play poorly against the elite teams and play competitively as they have of late against the weaker teams. Lucky for the Twins, those elite teams are spaced out a bit over their final 106 games rather than that absurd April schedule which will hopefully keep them out of an extended slump.

Wieters, Napoli, and Santana probably make it at catcher ahead of Mauer, so my guess is Willingham. A case could maybe be made for Span if he's hitting .300 by then. I don't think Diamond will get serious consideration... I still don't think anyone outside of Minnesota knows who he is. Dark horse pick would be Burton.

Jonah Hill likely would have stayed on to play Bill Smith.

I have definitely watched on mlb.com the past couple years--at least live segments anyway, if not the whole coverage from TV. I had a dream last night that the Twins went with Correa at #2 and Mitch Brown at #32.

I have been carrying this Twins jersey around since I was a freshman in high school in 1997 to every TwinsFest or other autograph signing event, and have collected quite a few autographs on this beat up jersey. At one time I had been keeping track of who all signed it, but somehow I lost that document. I put together this nice little graphic (should be expandable) and was hoping the TwinsDaily crew would come to the rescue and help me identify the mystery signatures! I have numbered the unknown ones. If you think you recognize one of them, please let me know in this thread.

Obviously I'd rather the team be doing well and be considered a buyer, but there certainly is a good degree of interest in pondering the team's moves as a seller. I'd like to see Doumit and Morneau both stick around here for a long time, but the pitchers mentioned should all be shipped out by the deadline.

Turpen's season numbers just took a serious hit after Monday's implosion vs. Binghampton. Big T gave up six earned runs in just two innings, seeing his season ERA skyrocket to 6.46. He also walked two, doubling his season total to 4, and finally allowed his first home run. The good news is this is one isolated poor outing. Everything up until Monday showed he was nothing short of dominating. It's too bad, most people will look at the stats and see a 6.46 ERA when that certainly doesn't tell the whole story.

Yes, Doumit to the DL with a "pop" of some sort in his calf. Revere being recalled. Doumit hurt himself jumping up to celebrate Duensing's strikeout in the 7th, apparently.

Given the atrocity of the strike calls, four games seems about right to me. Nothing wrong with a player showing some emotion. If he had thrown the helmet right at the ump, sure, 50 games.

Think about it. Hatcher gets fired for his team being 12th in the league in runs scored. By that logic Vavra should probably be fired, imprisoned, and whipped.