yarnivek1972

I believe in his first appearance. He came into a tie game. Gave up a hit to Hosmer and walked Brandon Moss - both lefties. I really can't blame Molitor for not using him in high leverage, hell medium leverage, situations since then.

IBB?

Santana probably has to get this out to stay in.

Busenitz warming.

They aren't going to continue to let them tee off much longer.

He's not getting outs. I would have to imagine there is stirring already.

The Twins might have to get the pen up here.

Well, that turned ugly quickly.

Poor camera work. That is usually an easy call and I never even saw the ball on the replay.

One would think that Castro, of all people, should know better than that.

6 pitches.

20 pitches. Not what the Twins need with a double header tomorrow.

Throw a double play ball here.

This exactly. To get, you have to give. I see a lot of posts suggesting we get. Precious few willing to give up enough to get it.

Of course, if you trade Erv you have 4/5 of the rotation to fill unless you feel that Mejia is a sure thing. He'll probably be around, but I don't think he's much more than a 4 or 5 next year.

And, as I ssid, Ervin is in better condition than both of those guys. He also, like they have, reinvented himself a couple years ago. Do I think Ervin can be an all star the next two years? No. Better than average starter? Yes. There's really nothing that suggests an iminent rapid decline. And more to the point, I think he's probably better the next two years than anyone the Twins might be able to trade for or sign as a FA.

Bartolo Colon is 44. CC Sabathia is almost 37. Colon was good through last year. Sabathia has been up and down the last 6 years, but he's done fine the last couple. That's two who are active now. Ervin is in WAY better condition than either of those two.

He's not doing it by blowing people away now. He's doing it with smarts and hitting his spots. 2-3 years probably for sure.

I considered posting this under last night's game wrap, but didn't want to get too far off topic. It's more appropriate here I think. IMO the Twins can't consider themselves legit contenders for anything until they figure out how to win at home. Sure, they have a great road record, but is it sustainable with essentially 2 starting pitchers and a good, but inconsistent offense? I submit no. History agrees. The only MLB team with a better road record is the Astros. Both the Twins and Astros are on pace to win 50 or more road games, which is historically difficult to do. 2010 is as far back as I felt going. No team has win 50 road games since then. Only two teams even won 48. In the last 8 seasons. Good teams strive for 40-45. The flip side as we all know is the Twins terrible record at home. How bad is it? Only 4 MLB teams have sub .500 home records. The Mets, Phillies, Giants and the Twins. Only the Phillies home record is worse than the Twins current mark. The Phillies are well on pace to matching the Twins 103 loss mark of last year. So, let's say the Twins fall back to Earth on the road and end the season with 45 road wins, which would still be spectacular. That would mean going 21-24 the rest of the year on the road. Let's say they also normalize at home to win .525 of home games the rest of the way. That would be 21-19 at home. See the problem? 41 more wins won't get the Twins into the playoffs. No way, no how. Probably need 45-46. At least. So that likely means winning 4 or 5 more home games to go 25-15 or even 26-14 at home the rest of the way. That's a winning percentage of over .600, which is double what they have in the first half. I don't see it happening.

Then I'm confused. How do you expect the Twins to hang with the Yankees? Do you feel the Twins starting pitching depth is as good as the Yankees? The offense isn't close. The bullpen isn't close. The Yankee rotation isn't great, but 3-5 is WAY better than the Twins

The Twins haven't played the Yankees yet. They have a +103 run differential.

Maybe bringing Granite up in place of Vargas and giving Granite some playing time would be beneficial. Perhaps a little more bench time would send the message to Buxton better than being in AAA. The message being you need to perform or you won't play.

I don't like the chances of Fort Myers playing one tonight. Forget two. Going to rain for 2-3 more hours.

Is Ron Coomer still on the payroll? The guy used to own a hitting academy.

Lots of hitters change their swing during their careers. In retrospect, it is obvious that the previous regime was focused more on getting Buxton to the bigs to justify trading away his predecessor in CF. it doesn't seem like they cared if he was actually ready to succeed at the MLB level.