Hrbek70

Very true, but he still is a good prospect. Age or not, they still have to produce on the field. Second half the season he has been very good. His at bats are usually very good too. Personally, I don't see too many power hitters that don't strike out at a high rate.

Love the futures of Arraez, Wiel and Blankenhorn.

Looking through those names, it surely brings ones expectations into check for this year's batch. Many of those guys couldn't even dominate at AAA, mutch less be effective in the bigs. When Gibson is the best one, you know someone isn't doing a good job somewhere along the line.

So what is Hildengerger's arsenal like? Is he a fire baller or does he effectively mix it up and keep guys guessing? With those numbers he must have 2 devastating pitches that are nearly untouchable

If he keeps this up, it will hard for the Twins to justify keeping him down long enough to not be a Super 2. But knowing the Twins, he wouldn't be up until mid to late June

Kinzler is not Jepsen, Jepsen is not Kinzler

He must like a lot of strike outs. ABW and Palka are K machines that need more work.

(Bold font size 100) NO

What? Read it twice and still trying to get the correlation

I don't think our 4th or 5th OFers are going to make or break us and he is cheap for at least another year. Look at the crap we have had roaming the OF the past few years and I say keep him until Palka forces his way to MSP. Grossman is a better professional hitter than ABW and is about as valuable as Santana too. We need role players on the team that don't think they are stars and IMO Grossman fits this perfectly. Hopefully we have Kepler, Buxton and Rosario manning the OF next March and Grossman can give them a blow 1-2 times a week and get 12-16 ABs a week.

Love Plouffe, but they need to move him before next year. Maybe a team has a 3B go down e next few weeks and they come calling. If Millone is claimed, Twins should tell them he is yours. Enjoy the high WHIP and inconsistencies he brings to the table Torn on Suzuki. Guess we could get him back in free agency, but that rarely happens. Would be nice to free up some playing time for Garver in September. Centeno has done OK as a backup, but his D cannot be counted on.

Is Bencomo just roster filler or is he a legit project? Is he a power pitcher or finesse type of pitcher?

We were there last weekend and had a great time. Great beer options, affordable food and a nice stadium. Scoggins looked like he was all of 5'5" and 135#s. Arraez is the one bat that will play up at least a few levels.

Look at the crap TR brought in during the years we were contending. I have to believe there is at least one GM just as dumb and will take a chance on Nolasco if we pick up at least $10 million. Saving $6 million is better than nothing. As for Santana, the horrible FA market has to play into his worth. When the top FAs have Helluckson and Hill towards the top of the list, you know the pickings are slim. I wouldn't even move him for someone the equivalent of Gonclaves.

Is it time to move Kirriloff up and keep challenging him? Looks like he has nothing to prove in E-town

+1 We had Murphy and Hermann couldn't throw out Prince Fielder in a dream. At the time of the trade we were all happy and I still am. I doubt opposing pitchers spend too much time worrying about Herrman when going over the lineup

The answer depends on the definition of tank. Should they purposely start their worst starters to help them lose? Heck no. Should they give ip on the season and sell off their assets? Heck yes. Suzuki, Kintzler, Abad, Plouffe, Nolasco and Millone need to be moved or DFAd. Bring up some kids that are deserving and offer hope for the future.

We were at the Kernels game and I came away really impressed with Luis Arraez. He is an aggressive hitter and has a very good command of the strike zone. If not for the heavy air, he would have had a HR to right center. He reminds me of Puckett in his early days

Long time lurker here and finally needed to start posting. One of my better Twins memories goes back to 1987. Four HS buddies and I went to Dayton's in Rochester to wait in line for playoff tickets. We arrived around 7pm and the line was already over a block long. We had our sleeping bags, munchies and a cooler of pop. We chatted, played catch and took turns sleeping in the car. Not sure what time tickets went on sale, I'm guessing 9am. The line was really slow to move and we were worried that tickets would be sold out when we got inside. After nearly 3 hours we were feet from the door. Then it happened, with only 5 people in front if us, they said no more as tickets were sold out. We were crushed, but we created lifelong memories that night.

Hiw much did it hurt the pitchers by not having Neil Allen around? Or were we throwing batting practice with him there too? Either way, it is nice to see a resemblance of a pitching staff again. If TR hadn't brought so many bad relievers north, maybe the earlier months would have looked better. IMO it also helps the pitchers when they know they offense will put some runs on the board

Well if Doogie said it, we know it isn't true.

Hoping the Pohlad's saw the other local franchises going in the right direction and finally looked in the mirror. Wonder if the other GMs will try to play hard ball with Antony?

This is why I don't want TR to trade Santana. He isn't an ace, but he is a professional pitcher and gives you more good games than bad. IMO we have had maybe 5 years of having an ace on the staff in my 30 years of following the Twins. I would be happy to just get 5 #3 pitchers to fill out the rotation at some point.

Hoping Kepler ends up a more consistent version of Jay Bruce. Would love to see 30+ HR and an avg north of .280. Twins took their time developing him and it looks to have really paid off. Hope he is a fixture in the OF for the next decade

Thanks for the tops. We are staying at the Doubletree downtown and plan on walking to the stadium, as it sounds like tailgating is out. Will check out the places you guys suggested. Will be going to the games on the 23rd and 24th. Crossing my fingers that Kirilloff is promoted by then, but I doubt it