nicksaviking

Good stuff, but no way would the Twins let Bergman or any other player start in AA. Nearly everyone starts in Rookie ball, even the guys who were facing better talent in the SEC regularly. Maybe they get aggressive and let a guy play Low A. Maybe.

I think you're overestimating the front office if you think they'd use OPS to evaluate a hitter. If that .700 OPS comes with a .265 avg, a .340 OBP and passable defense, I don't think the front office bumps Hicks, even if Buxton is lighting it up.

The Twins would have to eat his contract. Anyone who picked him up after he cleared waivers and refused an assignment would mearly have to pay him the pro rated league minimum salary for the rest of the season. I'm happy Milone is pitching well in AAA, maybe it will fool another club who needs a starter. It's not fooling me though and I hope it's not fooling the front office either. There are plenty of things Milone will be able to accomplish in AAA that he cannot at the MLB level. Making terrible Tiger farmhands swing and miss at an 85 MPH fastball seems to be one of them.

I'm sure most folks here agree. My hypothetical is supposing what the front office will do. I don't think they make room for him if all the current roadblocks are playing well (and winning).

If Hunter continues to hit, and whatever combinaiton of Hicks/Arcia/Vargas/Rosario show that they belong, then what? In the hypothetical situation where injuries and production are not an issue for Hunter and the kids, does the club promote Buxton even if he's tearing it up in the minors?

I would think there is going to be some regression, but the AL Central offenses aren't very impressive. Chicago and Cleveland have issues and KC is playing over their head. A team BB% of 5.7% is second worst in baseball along with their team BABIP of .322 kind of implies they are due for regression as well. I'd guess the Twins pitching will start looking like we expect them to, but the results might be different simply because the competition isn't great. Oh, but the strikeouts are still a huge problem.

Great post, but I think many people are overlooking all the giant Catch-22s this team is about to walk into. Yes, many of the prospects are turning it on, but so are many of the players at the MLB level and now the club is winning. I can't imagine anyone thinks this club can actually contend with the unimpressive stable of starters they currently have, or with Robinson in center, but will the team really replace these guys if it's currently working? Will the Twins really call up Sano and reposition Trevor Plouffe who is a better defender at 3rd? Even if Polanco ends up playing better than Dozier and Santana, can the club find the guts bench one of them if they are both adequate and the team is .500? I think this club is so starved for winning, they'll sacrifice future development for a shot at a wild card bid, even if it's a long shot.

Pelfrey just turned 31. He's definately a candidate for a four year extension from this club.

A statistically averse old school manager? I don't see a fit for him in this era of baseball. Unless the Twins fire Molitor that is.

That's my horse too. My second horse may be pulling a Houston: lowballing a prep player so he doesn't sign and getting the 7th pick in 2016 instead.

Hey layoff, it was only his first error of the year! Previously his defense was perfect!

Yeah, it's funny Biston doesn't have that one thing. When we was there, we were told to get a cannoli. Eh nothing special. If beer counts, The Sam Adams brewery gets a thumbs up from me. Lots of free samples.

Everyone. And since women are unable to play, it makes them insanely jealous. That's my working theory anyhow.

No, but that's percisely the type of behavior my wife is trying to curb. You get busted asking a stranger if he wants to play Ghostusters one time!

My wife doesn't allow me to lick strange women nor pee next to strange men.

I don't want to see a single Twin in DR Winter League next year. The front office should already be figuring out how to break it to the young guys.

Arcia is too young to platoon. If there are attitude or behavioral issues, a team imposed suspension or benching could be considered, though not if the issues are arrogance or over-confidence.

Agreed. Smith was largely known as a bean counter so it's doubtful he actually made any moves without thurough consultation. It would be interesting to find out who was involved in all those decisions. While Ryan had retired, he was still consulting with the team. For all we know, the good, the bad and the ugly may have all still been in part influenced even by Ryan himself.

Dalton Hicks and I have a Cinderella story to finish.

While this is on Santana, there doesn't seem to be any supporting evidence that any team other than the Twins were willing to give this guy more than a one year deal, and the Twins of course tried to sign him up for three+ years twice. I'd guess the other clubs were rightfully suspicious about his consistancy, age or his UCL, but for all we know, other clubs had doping suspicions, especially his former clubs who knew him much better. There's one thing that I've been thinking about today. I think it's pretty well understood that Ryan is well respected in the league, regardless if fans here think he should be replaced. I'd bet that normally GMs may warn other GMs they like about particular players, however, in this case Ryan probably would have been kept out of the loop. The Braves made a QO clearly to only get a draft pick as they made no further attempt to re-sign him, so John Hart wasn't going to be giving anyone a heads-up and Dayton Moore probably would feel compelled to keep his mouth shut so a division rival would be hurt by the consequences. And of course judging by how he handled himself with the Josh Hamilton situation, Jerry DiPoto has no friends and is a world class scumbag.

Well let's just hope if contracts become voidable, teams would handle themselves as classy as the Angels are now with the Josh Hamilton situation.

Well they already all claim they don't know how it got in their system so the excuses would be the same.

You're not really going to start insisting on reasonable doubt? Did another club benefit from Santana last year? The Braves are under budget and were needing pitching going into the off season. The probably made no effort to sign him because they knew.

Ryan can't be blamed for Santana taking steroids, but he can be blamed for signing a 32 year old pitcher with a torn UCL to a four year deal. It's not just armchair fans who were critical of the move, most pundits nationally couldn't figure out why a team on the verge of promoting its young talent would do that to the roster.

The Braves should not be benefitting from a draft pick when they were the team benefitting from Santana's cheating.