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They are at 8-4 since the beginning of the White Sox series. In those games, they are 5-3 against .500 or better teams that either are or could be playoff contenders. It may not be the most fun way to watch our team win baseball games...it would be much more fun to watch them score 8 runs a game. But if they’ve won 5 of 8 against playoff contenders without their offense clicking I think that’s room for optimism if anything, because I too agree that things will get better offensively. Their starters have started pitching competitively and their bullpen has somehow managed to hang onto a lot of narrow leads. Let’s go twins!

I was pretty impressed with matt magill tonight. First time ive watched him pitch. But if he is our “blow-out and mop-up guy” and pitches like that, thats a pretty good weapon. Many other plusses from the game tonight...we beat a good team, not just the white sox, rosario continues to be on fire, and Romero looks awesome! Figured id just call out the guy most likely to be the unsung hero of the game.

I would be happy with that deal for Sano. I'd like to lock him up through his age 31 season, so that would mean buying out another two years on top of what you threw out. I think the twins should do 20-25 million a year for those free agent years. This would likely put the Twins north of 100 million, but for what will likely end up being the prime of Sano's career, it could end up being a bargain.

Just saw the lineups. Its Buxton, Escobar, Dozier, Plouffe, Rosario, Hunter, Nunez, Suzuki, Robinson. Come on. This is suppose to be a defining series against a good team and no Sano or Mauer in the lineup? I understand they need rest, and Mauer is not that great right now, but at least lets alternate their days off!

This is more out of curiosity than thinking you have an answer. But if we cut him, would another team pick him up? Also, if we moved Sano to 1st, would we extend Plouffe to be our long-term third baseman? Cause I don't really see any promising options coming through the minors.

Yet another opportunity to play Sano at third, and Molitor for some reason can't seem to play him there. I guess we need to justify paying Nunez? Or is it more that we have no one else worthy of being a major league DH? Our other options would have been Robinson or Fryer...and nobody wants to see that. Still, I'd rather see Sano at third and Nunez at DH.

I'm not absolutely sure about that. I'd like to see Sano play at third some more before destining him to be a lifelong DH, but he'll have value wherever he plays. Do they keep Plouffe around long term then? If not who else do they have for third?

IMO Graham has been surprisingly solid in his role. At 7.2 K/9, he is sadly one of the better strikeout pitchers in our pen. I think he can continue as a productive long reliever and occasional 7th inning guy. If someone else steps up and proves he can be more effective, I'm all for that. Until then, I'm happy with Graham in that role. To address the outfield situation I think they view Torii next year as more of a DH than an outfielder. I would hope they give Sano time to improve at third much like they did Plouffe, mainly for the reason of they have way too much depth in the outfield to convert a third baseman to play there. I think Arcia will be their primary 4th outfielder and occasional DH, and hope he gets some chances to pinch hit. I would then predict he is traded by the deadline, and Kepler is with the team by mid year. I think ABW makes an appearance at some point as well when Torii can no longer catch up to a fastball and takes over as DH. I could see him having an impact similar to Kennys Vargas' impact in 2014 toward the end of the year. Speaking of Vargas...much to my dismay I think the twins give up on him and ship him somewhere in a trade and then watch him develop into a slightly less powerful Adam Dunn/Ryan Howard type of a player.

The one big off-season move that I think will happen is that Trevor Plouffe gets traded. As much as I love him, and many twins fans do, I do not think he fits long-term, or is in their long-term plans. I'd love to see him stick around, but our corner infield spots are just too crowded. I think eventually they move Sano over to first, but I doubt they do that before 2019 due to one Joe Mauer locked in financially through the 2018 season. So here is what I would like to see done with Plouffe who is a productive MLB third baseman and controllable through two more years. The twins must address the situation at catcher, and I would think they should be able to get a valuable catcher via trade for Plouffe and maybe one minor league player. If I had my way about it, I would go shopping for a catcher out on the west coast. The Giants have Andrew Susac pinned down behind Buster Posey, but I would imagine they move Posey in the next year or two out from behind the plate, and would like to keep Susac in line for the starting job when that happens. Also it does not appear that they have a pressing need at third base. The team that might have a use for a veteran third baseman/first baseman for a couple of years is the San Diego Padres. While their situation is not a dire one, Plouffe could serve them well. I think a straight up trade Plouffer for Derek Norris trade would be great. He is young and has team control for several years. He is good on defense and holds his own with the bat. If they won't trade straight up, then maybe adding in a mid level reliever prospect would do the trick. The one other move that could shore up the catching job would be to bring in Matt Wieters who will be a free agent this off season. This could allow us to use Plouffe as trade material for a top-flight relief pitcher to shore up our bullpen...a Darren O'day or Jake Mcgee type of guy, not another Kevin Jepsen. This is less likely, as the Twins are pretty reluctant to go get big name players on the free agent market, but I'd be happy if they could land him. If they were able to land Wieters, they'd probably need to free up some salary space for him, and I would hope they could find some team in desperate need of a 4th or 5th starter who they could dump Nolasco and his 12 or 13 million on for basically just a salary dump and maybe a couple young low-level prospects with maybe a bit of an upside. Would mostly be looking just to free up his salary for someone who will help us compete. I might prefer the first move for Norris, as Wieters has struggled with injuries the last couple years. Either way, I think catcher is the position of biggest need heading into next season and the Twins must find a way to upgrade. Next up will be the bullpen. I think one top flight reliever would do the trick. A dominant Wade Davis, Darren O'day, Mark Melancon type to lock down the eighth inning. I don't know how we get that, as most teams don't have guys like that to spare...unless your the royals. But Trevor Plouffe trade to a team in need of a solid defensive third baseman might get it done. Maybe Arcia or Vargas or Santana can rebuild enough value through the rest of this season and maybe the AFL that they could be packaged for a good reliever. O'day and Bud Norris are also free agents this winter along with several other good relief pitchers, so maybe we make a splash in free agency here if we don't have the trade chips in place because we used Plouffe for a catcher. Anyway, I view those as the two most important positions to upgrade in the off season. I think there are a number of other positions that could be upgraded as well. A lot of people will plead for a shortstop, but I personally think we need to give Polanco more of a shot. Two games twice a year are not enough to prove whether you belong or not. You'll also see Hunters name in the roster below. Regardless of your opinion on whether or not the twins should extend him another year, I think they will. I think they really value his leadership, and they will still be a really young team. My guess is he'll be an occasional DH, fourth outfielder, and bench bat with some pop. Here is what I would like the 25 man roster will look like to start the year in 2016. C- Derek Norris 1B- Joe Mauer 2B- Brian Dozier SS- Jorge Polanco 3B- Miguel Sano RF- Aaron Hicks CF- Byron Buxton LF-Eddie Rosario DH- Hunter vs lefties, Arcia vs. righties. Bench Arcia Escobar Suzuki Nunez Starters- In no particular order Hughes Santana Gibson May Berrios Relievers Graham Pressley Jepsen Perkins Best LH option in system Best RH option in system- Not sure at this point who these two would be. Oliveros, Achter, Burdi, Jay, Duffy, Rogers...kind of a toss-up at this point. top flight reliever via trade or free agency So what are your thoughts on the moves the twins should make this off season, and what their roster will look like to start 2016

I may be old fashioned, but I think all the new defensive metrics make a decent fielder look a lot worse than he really is. According to new defensive metrics, Derek Jeter wasn't a great shortstop, but we've all seen him play, and would all agree, he was pretty good. All that to say, Escobar has proven he is the best option we have right now. He made some good plays last night, has proven that he can hit the ball to the gaps, and can do it in high pressure situations. http://goo.gl/YZAQqs He is a league average shortstop...lets be happy with that and appreciate that he is significantly better than Santana right now. At this point, I'd be happy with a league average shortstop for the next three years until Gordon is ready. If Polanco pans out, great...I'd love his bat. If not, we've still got a league average shortstop right here on our roster.

I agree times 10. Tulo is has been a great player, and probably will continue to be above average as a shortstop wherever he ends up...when hes healthy. But with Nick Gordon and Jorge Polanco on their way, there is simply not room for that contract. Spend that money to lock up Sano this off-season, and Buxton next year. We already have enough aging veterans blocking our prospects, lets not do it again. Lets learn a thing or two from the tigers...old guys only last so long, and if you spend everything to get them, when they fizzle out, your left with nothing, not even a farm system.

I hope to see him again. Not sure if he'll be the right fielder of the future for them, but I think he needs a shot to prove if he should stay while we get a better look at some of our other prospects and how they develop. If nothing else, hopefully he can build some good trade value by getting some playing time.

With eight MLB at-bats under his belt, its not fair to say we've seen what Miguel Sano is made of yet. He is hitting .375 with a double, an RBI, a run scored and a .500 slugging percentage. Those look pretty good, but his 50% strikeout rate does not. All that is simply to say that he has not shown us enough to judge from his stats what kind of a player he is going to be. I have noticed several things from him though aside from his stats about the way he plays the game, and they make me feel pretty optimistic about his chances of being here for good. 1. He is not afraid to hit MLB pitching. We saw Byron Buxton debut several weeks ago and he looked positively over matched against big league pitchers. Even though Miguel Sano has struck out 4 times in 8 at-bats, I don't think he has looked over-matched in a single one of them. He has the look of a guy who knows he can hit at this level and hit off these pitchers. As much as I hate to say it, Buxton looked overwhelmed and over-matched. The three fastballs that Guthrie threw by Sano late in the game was simply an instance of an eager young batter in an RBI situation late in an important game, and a savvy veteran taking advantage of that. I don't think pitchers will be buzzing three fastballs by Sano for very long. He barely missed all three of them, and had he connected, the twins would have won that game 4-2. 2. He is surprisingly athletic for such a big guy. Sano's first major league hit was an infield hit to a good shortstop. He beat it out with no room to spare, and looked good doing it. Vargas would have been out by three steps on that ball. His second hit of the night last night was a rocket that he stung over the head of Alex Gordon. Again, had that been Vargas, you have to believe he would have been thrown out as Sano barely beat the tag. And he also had a clean, athletic, injury-free slide that looked really good for 6'4" and 260 pounds. I'm looking forward to seeing how he plays third, as he looks to me to have too much athleticism to spend his career as a DH. For now, though, I'm just happy with him in the lineup. 3. He does not plan on going anywhere anytime soon. The way Sano has played, and the confidence he has shown look like a player who thinks, and intends to prove that he belongs here at the big league level. We have seen with Danny Santana, that confidence is key, and Sano looks like he has it. So what are your thoughts? Do you expect Sano to stay in Minnesota for the rest of the year? If so, why? And if not, why not?

My point was that by playing these guys this year, it will prepare them better for next year. Why not get the rookie jitters out the=is year, so they can all be a more polished and experienced bunch next year. After all, it seems most of those guys are MLB ready, or close to it.

I've posted it several times in different blogs or comments over the last couple of weeks, but as much as I'd love to think the twins can compete this year, I don't think they are going to. However, I do think that the Twins can win 80-82 games, and at least be fun to watch, and the recent surge of minor league talent flooding the big league team has kept me very interested in the big league team despite a losing month of June. I've watched the major league debut's of Eddie Rosario, Byron Buxton, Alex Meyer and look forward to watching Miguel Sano hit a 430 foot bomb tonight against the Royals. My opinion is that the twins FO is doing things right, and I hope and pray that they don't trade away any valuable future prospects this month in an attempt to win 4 or 5 more games. I strongly believe that we have the talent to be a .500 team within our organization, and I hope that the front office believes that as well, and sees that trying to please the fan base by making the playoffs is not worth sacrificing any of our potential future stars. I think I speak for most of the twins fan base in saying that what would make me more happy than getting to the playoffs and then losing in 3 games...or maybe even 1, would be to finish around .500 and continue to see glimpses of who we will be next year, and for years to come. With this in mind, what would you like the 25-man roster to look like by years end? Below I have put the current roster on top and my ideal roster underneath. Below that I have put down what I would like our lineup and starting rotation as well as our bullpen to look like down the stretch in August and September. Catchers Kurt Suzuki Chris Hermann Infielders Brian Dozier Joe Mauer Trevor Plouffe Eduardo Escobar Eduardo Nunez Danny Santana Miguel Sano Outfielders Torii hunter Eddie Rosario Shane Robinson Pitchers Phil Hughes Kyle Gibson Mike Pelfrey Tommy Milone Trevor May Blaine Boyer Aaron Thompson Ryan Pressley Glen Perkins Alex Meyer JR Graham Casey Fien Brian Duensing Catchers Kurt Suzuki Chris Hermann Infielders Brian Dozier Joe Mauer Jorge Polanco Trevor Plouffe Miguel Sano Eduardo Escobar Eduardo Nunez Outfielders Byron Buxton Eddie Rosario Torii Hunter Oswaldo Arcia or Max Kepler...(whoever the twins see as ready, and part of their future) Pitchers Phil Hughes Ervin Santana Kyle Gibson Trevor May JO Berrios Alex Meyer J R Graham Taylor Rogers Blaine Boyer Casey Fien Logan Darnell (if the twins want a 3rd lefty in their bullpen) otherwise AJ Achter or Tyler Duffey Glen Perkins Ideal Starting rotation: Hughes, Santana, Gibson, May and Berrios. We'd have Alex Meyer for a spot start if needed and trusted, or Milone in AAA. Long relievers: Meyer and Graham. Either of these guys could be used in higher leverage situations if they prove capable over the next few weeks/months. Mid relievers: Meyer, Graham, Rogers, Boyer and either Darnell/Achter/Duffey Setup relievers: Fien and possibly Boyer and Darnell/Achter/Duffey And we all know who the closer is. Ideal starting lineup Buxton CF Dozier 2B Mauer 1B (if Mauer continues to progress. If not, swap him with Rosario, but you need a lefty here) Sano DH Plouffe 3B Rosario LF Hunter RF (Arcia every 3rd or 4th day) Polanco SS Suzuki C That would be an exciting lineup and pitching staff...one that would keep me watching through September.

Also, Santana did not develop his devastating change up until 2002 when the twins sent him down to the minors to work on it.

Just to clarify, I wasn't trying to compare styles. I was more trying to compare numbers and minor league/early career success levels. Here are some of their minor league numbers...Meyer's are to date including the rough start to this year. Santana left/Meyer right. 68 games, 60 starts/82 games, 76 starts 350.2 IP/387.2 IP 350 hits/338 hits 357 strikeouts/448 strikeouts 3.4 BB per 9 IP/4.0 BB per 9 IP 4.70 ERA/3.48 ERA 1.372 WHIP/1.313 WHIP Those are just a couple. We see that Meyer has actually had a significantly higher level of success in the minors than Santana did. Probably why Santana ended up being a rule 5 pick. However, my point was, I think its far too early to count Meyer out, and in fact its time for him to have a shot out of Minnesota's bullpen. And every MN fan knows that those bullpen numbers that he's posted over the past couple weeks, even if they doubled would be welcomed in the big league pen as he continues to develop. And to reiterate my point further using the Santana example, by putting him in the pen does not necessarily destine him to a career long reliever.

Johan Santana pitched in 30 games (5 starts) in 2000. He gave up 102 hits in 86 innings, while walking batters to a tune of 5.7/9 innings pitched, and managed an awful 6.49 ERA. Over the course of the next four years he split time between fill-in starts when needed due to injury, and bullpen work. In 2003, his last year before becoming a full-time starter (and winning a CY Young award) He had worked his numbers down to 127 hits in 156 innings, a 3.07 ERA, and 2.7 BB/9. We all know what happened after that. Santana was 21 years old in 2000 when he came up with the twins, and they stuck with him through his struggles and let him figure it out in the bullpen. Meyer is now 25 years old...I say bring him up before we waste any more years of his potential. It took Santana four years of pitching at the big league level to figure it out. His last effective year was his age 31 season. If we are comparing apples with apples, and Meyer follows the path of Santana (not saying they are the same pitcher, but their numbers and styles look similar to me) than as we stand right now, Meyer will be 29 by the time he fully hits his stride, with just 3 effective years in front of him. I say call him up, and don't waste anymore time. And in the mean-time we have an option in our bullpen besides Perk who can actually strike someone out!

There have been dozens of threads on TD over the last 10 days about whether the twins should be buyers or sellers. Whether they should make a trade to attempt a push towards October this year, or maintain the long-term trajectory and hold to the rebuilding strategy the FO seems to be holding to. My question and thought is, is there a possibility we could do both? I've seen people calling for catching help, and I've seen people calling for bullpen help. Those seem to be the two main positions of need. I would add that we need DH and shortstop upgrades as well. My question is, how can the twins attempt to be relevant this year, while not sacrificing the hopes of building a long-term competitive team? I will attempt to answer my own question with as few words as possible...which doesn't come easily to me. I think the first step IMO is to call up Sano, Polanco and a combination of one or two of the following relief arms that the organization deems to be the most ready. Achter, Oliveros, Meyer or Burdi. My reasoning is Sano may not bat to his future potential this year, but he is advanced enough that its not going to hurt him, and he will be significantly better than what we are getting currently out of the DH position, even if he can only manage to bat .250/.300/.475 with 15 home runs over the rest of the year. My thought is DH him 3-4 days a week, then give Mauer off a day or two a week, and slide Plouffe to first so that Sano can continue to get reps at third to see if he can stick there. Play Polanco at short. His bat is advanced enough that he deserves a shot, and will upgrade the position offensively from Escobar/Nunez. Don't get me wrong, I like Escobar and think he's a great utility infielder, but would prefer Polancos bat. I think he at least deserves a shot to prove whether or not he should stay at short, and why not let him prove that in Minnesota, where the fans can watch him hit. As far as the bullpen help goes, sub one or two of those previously mentioned guys out for Duensing for sure and then maybe another for one of the other rarely used relievers. I still have not addressed the catcher issue, and don't know realistically if that can/will be addressed this season. However, by inserting Sano and Polanco into the lineup you can then bat Suzuki/Hermann in the number 8 or 9 spot and they will be much less of a liability than they are batting 5th or 6th. Again, I don't think anyone expects the twins to win the world series this year. While that would be nice, its just not going to happen short of a couple dozen miracles. However, I don't think that its out of the realm of possibility for the twins to play .500 ball the rest of the way and end up with 85 wins and a shot at a hard-fought division title, or maybe within reach of a wild-card spot. If nothing else, they would be relevant and fans would stay interested. They don't need jaw-dropping changes, just slight improvements, and by getting a little more production offensively from the DH and short stop and removing the bullpen liabilities while adding some guys in there that can actually be of some help, I think we would make ourselves better this year, while not jeopardizing, and in fact continuing to develop talent for the years to come.

You might be right above moving Dozier, maybe his numbers would fall off a bit batting second or third. I would imagine pitchers would start pitching him differently if he were batting more often with men on base, and with his extreme pull tendencies, that may prove detrimental to him...good point. Good point with Vargas as well. If he continues to struggle I think its time to give Arcia another shot. Bring him up and play him 3 or 4 games a week, platooning between left and DH. I don't think its time to give up on him quite yet, and if nothing else, it would give him a chance to build some trade value.

I am new to Twins Daily, and this is my first blog posting on here. With the most recent news of the Twins calling up Byron Buxton, I figured what better time to write my first blog post. I, like all other die-hard Twins fans have suffered through four long years of extremely disappointing and hard to watch baseball. While I don't view him as the fix-all savior for this team, I do believe he is going to be a key fixture in a very potent lineup for years to come, and am pretty pumped and optimistic about this move by the Twins FO. My question is this year, what impact will he have? How much better will the Twins be with him playing center and in the lineup every day? Here's my stab at answering that question. And while I may be an optimistic fan, I don't think I'm too far off base. I think the Twins need to have Buxton play every day as their lead-off man. While Brian Dozier has been solid there, I am a firm believer that your team leader in home runs should not be your lead-off man. Dozier has been the most consistent hitter in the Twins lineup, but is only 4th on the team in RBI. You've got to think that if he had been hitting second or third, that he'd be competing for first in RBI. I'd also love to see him start hitting some 2 and 3 run home runs instead of all those solo shots. Not to fault Molitor in any way, Dozier has been the most consistent table setter, and they really have had no other options...up until now, that is. Joe Mauers' struggles have been well documented, but the one thing he has done well is hit with runners in scoring position. So having Buxton and Dozier batting in front of him, makes me optimistic that we can hopefully see more of those situations in which Joe seems to thrive. We may not see him hit .325 again, but if we can at least consistently get guys on in front of him and watch him drive in 90-100 runners, it makes that $23 million salary a little more palatable. Plouffe is not anyone's dream clean-up hitter, but he is consistent enough for now until its Miguel Sano's time to shine. And he seems to be climbing out of his slump ever so slightly over the past couple of games.Personally, I really like Plouffe, but my guess is the Twins deal him at the end of July for a pitcher or a catcher if they're still contending...or for couple of prospects if they've fallen off the map. I would expect that would be the time Sano gets his call. That leaves you with Torii batting fifth, instead of second, which makes me much more comfortable. Betting sixth, you've got Kennys Vargas. This might be the biggest improvement in my opinion. I heard on the broadcast today that Vargas is hitting below .200 when batting 4th or 5th. But he is batting right around .350 when batting 6th or 7th. By having Buxton in the lineup, now the Twins can bat Vargas in a less high-pressure spot, allow him to get comfortable, and then down the road they can consider sliding him back up in the lineup where his (hopeful) power will play better. You've then got Rosario batting seventh, Suzuki eighth, and E2 batting ninth. To me, that's all of a sudden a lineup that doesn't make you want to shut the game off after the number 5 batter hits. Anyway, just my two cents. Statistically wise, not quite sure what line Buxton puts up this year, but I'd be happy with him leading off the rest of the year and putting up a line around .280/.350/.450 and stealing 10-15 bases. His defense I think, will make the Twins significantly better. Personally I'd love to see Hicks stick around as the 4th outfielder, splitting time with Torii Hunter in right. I think his defense is good enough to earn him that platoon role (with the exception of last nights disaster he's been pretty good). An outfield of Hicks/Hunter, Buxton and Rosario seems better than anything we've seen so far this year. After this afternoon I'd be just fine with never seeing E2 in the outfield again, and hopefully this move makes that possible. Anyway, please chime in with thoughts on how you expect Byron Buxton to contribute to, and better this team.