twinstalker

The sad thing is that there will always be a solid segment of the population that wants to believe that natural variation/noise in their favor is actually truth. Mastroianni has batted well in the minor as a much older player, much like Dozier. However... Dozier has done it as a pretty good middle infielder. Mastroianni has played a grand total of seven minor league games at 2B after his first season (five years). DM's hitting at the high minors, after posting a .390 obp as a 24 yr old in AA in 2010 (Dozier-like), has actually be mediocre since, or worse if you adjust his .276/.358/.389 for playing in Las Vegas, the easiest park to hit in. Even this year his minor league numbers were .283/.341/.345. How people expect this guy to be even that good at the MLB level is beyond me. Because he hustles and had a good game? The Twins will try to hype anything and everything they can, so I imagine a lot of people get influenced by TV and such. He wasn't good enough to play 2B in the Toronto minor league system, he hasn't hit well enough to deserve anything Yet people are crossing their fingers and hoping for a miracle. When an older non-top prospect destroys AAA for a period of time, such as the recent examples of Span (2008), Plouffe (2011), and Parmelee (2012), then he's ready for a true shot at MLB. Or when an age-appropriate player proves he can hit AAA decently (hopefully Hicks next year), then he deserves a true shot.

It would be interesting to know what the idea behind Nishioka is, or whether it's just a "we're out of it, and we feel bad for Nishi" type move. With Mastroeanni (sp) able to play 2nd, they don't really need an infielder.

Officially the Twins traded Mulvey for Rauch, but in reality giving up Gomez and Mulvey were as much about Bill Smith trying to fool the MN public that he was getting something ultimately for Santana. Hardy and Rauch were contracts their teams wanted to get rid of, no one wanted to take them on...except for Bill Smith, who was trying to twist perception.

As long as it doesn't hamper any positive moves, and as long as the Twins are willing to get rid of him at any time, this is okay. Get Revere the AAA time he needs. Unfortunately, the Twins, as usual, cannot be counted on for understanding this, and we already have our first indication they might think a 28 yr old with mediocre minor league stats is actually viable: I'm sure Gardy recalls the one homer and two triples Thomas has hit against the Twins. The same way he recalled how difficult it was for Joe Mauer to hit Dusty Hughes. Revere gets to play everyday for now. Hopefully that's all this is about.

I can think of three off the top of my head...Baker, Mauer, Morneau. No three guys are more ready to celebrate a division win after already celebrating clinching a playoff spot. %2006%

Ideal Scenario: Wimmers will start 2012 back at Fort Myers. Assuming he has regained his control he should end the season in AA New Britain. I would say that's the realistic scenario. I wouldn't expect Wimmers to spend much time at A+. He's likely going to stay only until it warms up in New Britain. The hoped for scenario wuld be that he spends a couple months both places and ends up at Rochester.

Baseball America is seriously downtrending on Appel. They don't like his strikeout rate for a college pitcher...and isn't that what we're really looking for? OTOH, they're really high on Zimmers from USF. Just because someone once used "Verlander" in a sentence with "Appel" and "potential," I'm not convinced he's the guy. It does seem like the Twins are going to take a power pitcher, though. The safer (and also necessary due to one of the worst trades in Twins history) pick might be Mike Zunino, C, Florida.