"like butterflies with hiccups"
The weather in Minnesota this weekend is EXACTLY why we say that summer begins on Memorial Day weekend. I means that anyone who CAN is spending this day outside somewhere.. I just hope that everyone remembers what tomorrow is about.. and maybe watch some baseball too.
I’m out for an early bday dinner with the in-laws so I may not make it back in time for first pitch and if some one else puts out the lineups, you’re really golden! ******** I’m not sure if I’ll be here during the game, but I at least got the lineups posted. Sounds like the Twins will be getting Willingham and Arcia back when they return to Minnesota, so things should get interesting with roster moves soon. – JC
| Minnesota | @ | San Francisco |
| Dozier, 2B | Pagan, CF | |
| Mauer, 1B | Pence, RF | |
| Plouffe, 3B | Posey, C | |
| Parmelee, RF | Sandoval, 3B | |
| Pinto, C | Morse, LF | |
| Kubel, LF | Colvin, LF | |
| Escobar, E, SS | Hicks, 2B | |
| Hicks, CF | Crawford, B, SS | |
| Deduno, P | Vogelsong, P |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
| Minnesota | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| San Francisco | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | x | 2 | 5 | 2 |
I didn’t see or hear the game, but this appears to be another one of those nights when the pitching was good, the hitting not so much. Nice to see Pinto go yard, though. – JC
More west coast interleague play.. I shouldn’t complain because the boys seem to be doing ok with that but yeah, any bets on whether I can stay awake the whole game? At least it’s Friday.
| Minnesota | @ | San Francisco |
| Dozier, 2B | Pagan, CF | |
| Mauer, 1B | Pence, RF | |
| Plouffe, 3B | Posey, 1B | |
| Parmelee, RF | Sandoval, 3B | |
| Suzuki, K, C | Morse, LF | |
| Kubel, LF | Sanchez, H, C | |
| Escobar, E, SS | Crawford, B, SS | |
| Hicks, CF | Hicks, 2B | |
| Gibson, P | Lincecum, P |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
| Minnesota | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 1 |
| San Francisco | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | x | 6 | 6 | 0 |
I hate to admit that this result was pretty predictable after the first inning actually… Sadly… but it was a good night to be stuck in the kitchen making party hor d’ouvres and mini cheesecake bites. Gotta love baby showers!
But let’s hope tomorrow fares a little better for baseball.
The Twins are TWO GAMES ABOVE FIVE HUNDRED! That must mean that Gardy is a magician, I don’t know how else to explain in. You can download the new Talk to Contact (@TalkToContact) episode via iTunes or click here you can download the new episode, and if you want to add the show to your non-iTunes podcast player, this is the RSS Feed.
This week we discuss the Twins shift to six-man rotations in Cedar Rapids and Fort Myers, Dozier’s chances of being a 40/40 guy (and a related tangent about Jose Canseco in 1988), what the Twins will do when Mike Pelfrey, Oswaldo Arcia, and Josh Willingham are healthy, and a change in the Twins’ mentality.
We pick a pitcher and hitter of the week, and talk about Minor Leaguer Zack Granite when we go down on the pond.
This week we were lucky to be joined by Fox Sports One’s Gabe Kapler. Kap, as he is affectionately known, is a 12 year MLB veteran, and hosts a couple of shows on FS1, including Fox Sports Live and MLB Whip Around. He talks about his path to the majors, and weighs in on batter perparation and making adjustments to pitchers, a couple of topics very close at hand for Twins Aaron Hicks and Chris Colabello.
We ran long on Twins news this week, so we had to cut the Beer and Around the League segments, but do not fret, we will be back next week at full strength.
Thanks for listening!
Does this game start earlier tonight? It appears so.
Regardless, here are tonight’s lineups.
| Minnesota | San Diego | |
| Dozier, 2B | Cabrera, E, SS | |
| Mauer, 1B | Smith, S, LF | |
| Plouffe, 3B | Headley, 3B | |
| Parmelee, RF | Alonso, 1B | |
| Suzuki, K, C | Gyorko, 2B | |
| Kubel, LF | Venable, RF | |
| Escobar, E, SS | Maybin, CF | |
| Hicks, CF | Rivera, R, C | |
| Hughes, P, P | Ross, T, P |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
| Minnesota | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| San Diego | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 1 |
Hey this winning thing is kind of fun, isn’t it? Sure, 80% of Twins fans don’t really find out about the win until the following day when it all takes place after normal people head to bed, but it’s still a W.
Only 4 hits for the Twins, so it’s tough to find a lot of offensive heroes, but Chris Parmelee’s RBI single in the 6th got the Twins on the board and Trevor Plouffe had half the team’s hits, including a HR for an insurance run in the 8th.
But BOD honors go to Phil Hughes, who contributed another excellent start. 7 innings.of shutout moundwork, 7 hits, no walks and 7 Ks. Nice.
And in honor of this achievement taking place in a National League park where Hughes had to borrow a helmet and bat three times, we have a picture I took proving he actually got some practice using the bat during spring training in March.
ah… the ever so draining west coast road trip… Hope no one has to be anywhere in the morning this week… oh you do? Pretty sure those of us actually make it to the end of these games will be solely responsible for keeping Caribou in business.
Of course, this is also interleague play!! Wonder if we’ll actually get to see any of our pitchers bat…
| Minnesota | San Diego | |
| Dozier, 2B | Denorfia, RF | |
| Mauer, 1B | Cabrera, E, SS | |
| Plouffe, 3B | Smith, S, LF | |
| Parmelee, RF | Headley, 3B | |
| Suzuki, K, C | Venable, CF | |
| Kubel, LF | Gyorko, 2B | |
| Escobar, E, SS | Alonso, 1B | |
| Hicks, CF | Grandal, C | |
| Correia, P | Kennedy, P |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
| Minnesota | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 0 |
| San Diego | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 0 |
Lots of interesting performances for the Twins, including Kurt Suzuki’s inside the park home run that left the park.
But Jared Burton entered the game with 2 on and no outs and kept both runners exactly where they were when he took the mound. That was impressive. And he is our BOD.
I’m traveling for work the first half of this week, so I won’t really have an opportunity to write a regular weekly update on the Cedar Rapids Kernels. Perhaps it’s just as well, though, because the Twins’ Midwest League affiliate did not have a real good week.
The Kernels dropped from the second spot in the MWL Western Division standings all the way to the cellar, as they endured an eight-game losing streak.
That losing streak ended Sunday in Burlington, however. Cedar Rapids topped the Bees 7-6. As a bonus, the win lifted the Kernels out of the MWL West basement.
Since I don’t have anything exciting to write about this week, I thought the least I could do is provide a few pictures of the game on Sunday. I had hoped to take more, but it turns out there are very few spots where you can take pictures at the Burlington ballpark that aren’t behind netting.
Some of the photos are a bit blurry. I hoped they just looked blurry on Sunday because I was having a few beers at the game, but no, they’re still a little blurry.
Kurt Suzuki is out producing the expectations of even the most optimistic Twins fan. He’s 30 years old and coming in to 2014 had a career line of .253/.309/.375, and even that is rosy considering what he’s done the past two seasons, .234/.282/.332 (for reference, Talk to Contact favorite, Drew “Boat Anchor” Butera, is hitting .231/.300/.385 in 2014). So the Twins bought low on a guy and brought him in with the hopes that he could help out Josmil Pinto, and because Suzuki is seen as a good “clubhouse guy.”
Through his first 34 games of the year, Suzuki is hitting .332/.388/.430. He has an OBP north of .380 against both left and right handed pitchers. The Twins like what he’s doing with the bat so much they have stuck him in the lineup four times as the starting designated hitter.
Maybe just a hot start, right? He’s actually been better in May than he was in March and April. He started hot, and now he is getting hotter. Over his entire career, Suzuki has played better in the first month of the year than any other month, exactly what you might expect from a catcher that the Oakland Athletics ran out as their everyday catcher at least 117 times for five straight years (he caught his fewest games since his rookie season last year, 93).
Kurt Suzuki is doing all of this on a one-year, $2.75 million dollar contract. the Twins bought low and now they are in a great position to turn Suzuki into some surplus value via trade. Or, because he is only 30 years old, the Twins might consider signing him to a modest contract extension, just as they did with Ryan Doumit.*
*Ryan Doumit hit .275/.320/.461 in 2012 in his first year (age 31 season) with the Twins. The Twins extended him for two additional years with an extra $7 million dollars in late June 2012, making his total deal with the Twins three years/$10 million. With Doumit, the Twins were basically getting output from Doumit in line with his career numbers, so there was a little less risk, but in two of the three seasons prior to coming to Minnesota, Doumit either hit poorly or was injured (or both), so they were able to sign (what looks like now) such a team friendly deal. The Twins ultimately flipped Doumit to Atlanta** following a poor 2013 season which saw Doumit struggle at the plate and with concussion issues. He’s hitting .200/.217/.222 for the Braves.
**The Twins received LHP Sean Gilmartin in return for Doumit, a former first round draft pick (2011), who is currently performing well at AA New Britain (3-2, 3.63 ERA 39.2 IP, 12 BB, 37K) and if the Twins raid the AAA roster for pitching prospects Trevor May and Alex Meyer this summer, Gilmartin should be one of the logical selections to move up to AAA, where he pitched for parts of 2012 and 2013 in the Braves Org.
I would guess that the Twins do not expect Kurt Suzuki to continue avoiding outs in almost 40% of his plate appearances, but ZiPS projects the 30 year old catcher to produce as a MLB regular the rest of the way. Combined with with he’s already done in 2014, he’ll end up with a nice 2014 line. If Suzuki keeps up his current pace into the All-Star break, or even just keeps his line to something like .300/.350/.400, which would represent some fairly significant regression over the next month plus, there will be a handful of teams calling Terry Ryan/Rob Antony looking to acquire the veteran catcher for a post season run. Because the Twins have Josmil Pinto (even with his raw defensive skills), and because they are not in a win-now situation, the Twins could feel relatively comfortable flipping Suzuki.
In a trade scenario, the Twins would probably hope to fetch an intriguing Minor League player, as well as some MLB outfield depth, maybe a fourth outfielder capabale of playing center field and aleviating some of the Twins’ current outfield issues (especially if Sam Fuld experiences setbacks returning from the concussion disabled list). Of course, what the Twins ultimately receive for Suzuki will depend on who their trading partner is, and where the Twins think they can add the most value.
If the Twins look to extend Suzuki, I think that something similar to the Ryan Doumit deal is realistic, but with a slightly higher annual value. I would not be surprised if he received two additional years for $10 million dollars, bringing his total package in Minnesota to three years and just under $13 million. He’s younger than Doumit, and he is a much more complete player, providing value on both sides of the ball.
If I am the Twins, I would attempt to extend Suzuki. The extension would not keep the Twins from trading Suzuki in a year or two, and if Josmil Pinto cannot live up to the hype from his 2013 call up when he hit .342/.398/.566, then the Twins have some hope of a bridge to the arrival of their next young catcher (who might be 2013 third-rounder Stuart Turner). If the Twins can make the extension team friendly then there is not a lot of risk in a deal like that, but if Suzuki and his agent (MVP Sports Group) are looking for a larger deal coming off of a big 2014, then the Twins should feel comfortable walking away.
What would you do?
Honestly, it doesn’t get much more perfect in Minnesota for baseball than today. It’s just stunning out there… (so much so that I’ll be out working in the yard listening to the game rather than watching on TV indoors.. We’ve had way too few days like this and the plants are WAY behind schedule)
Today, we match up against King Felix. While his crown may have a touch of tarnish on it this season, he is certainly nothing to sneeze at and can really bring it to the mound. Nolasco is going to have to focus his skills to match – no half-assing it today – because the offense has their own job to do today and shouldn’t have to be there to cover his backside if he gives up anything extra in the run department.
But that being said, we have shown that our offense can match theirs so far this series which given our record doesn’t say much for them but is still fact. We can do this and win or lose, for every fan in Target Field, this will be a fantastic day of baseball.
| Seattle | @ | Minnesota |
| Jones, J, CF | Dozier, 2B | |
| Saunders, M, RF | Mauer, 1B | |
| Cano, 2B | Plouffe, DH | |
| Hart, DH | Parmelee, RF | |
| Smoak, 1B | Suzuki, K, C | |
| Seager, 3B | Kubel, LF | |
| Ackley, LF | Escobar, E, 3B | |
| Zunino, C | Hicks, CF | |
| Miller, B, SS | Santana, D, SS | |
| Hernandez, F, P | Nolasco, P |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
| Seattle | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 11 | 0 |
| Minnesota | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 0 |
Ok, so we didn’t win today precisely because we let too many Mariners get on base and couldn’t touch the King for more than we gave up… That is how that works with him quite often. We still won the series AND the home-stand so that’s better than I really have any reason to hope for this series – the truth hurts.
Twins announced after the game that they are sending Tonkin back down to AAA and bringing Chris Herrmann back up in preparation for the road trip and NL play. Yeah, we’re going to need the extra bat.
Ok, Seattle is getting some seriously lucky and beautiful baseball weather. I wish I could be at Target Field right now – or tomorrow. But I’m not even going to be able to see the game (choir concert) so I need you guys to cheer them for me.
Much like opposing batters, I never really know what to expect from a Deduno start.. let’s hope it’s moving all over every where – just always within Pinto’s grasp.
| Seattle | @ | Minnesota |
| Jones, J, RF | Dozier, 2B | |
| Saunders, M, CF | Mauer, 1B | |
| Cano, 2B | Plouffe, 3B | |
| Hart, DH | Suzuki, K, DH | |
| Seager, 3B | Pinto, C | |
| Smoak, 1B | Colabello, RF | |
| Ackley, LF | Nunez, LF | |
| Zunino, C | Hicks, CF | |
| Miller, B, SS | Escobar, E, SS | |
| Elias, P | Deduno, P |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
| Seattle | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 0 |
| Minnesota | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | x | 4 | 6 | 1 |
“I love winning man….I love winning it’s like…..better than losing.”
Nuke LaLoosh got that right, didn’t he?
It’s not like the Twins did a whole lot of stuff right in this game. Just 6 hits. Some iffy set-up relief pitching. But they WON and that puts them above .500 at the latest point in the season since 2010 (that’s the last time the Twins were actually, you know… good).
Sam Deduno did well. Threw a lot of pitches early, but that wasn’t 100% his fault and he made up for it with a very quick 5th inning.
But Brian Dozier won this thing with a 3-run HR in to the flower pots in right field in the 5th inning and for that, he gets his second straight BOD. In fact, I think I’ll use the same picture of Dozier that I used yesterday and I’ll keep using it as long as he keeps winning games with home runs (not that I’m superstitious or anything, but you don’t mess with a winning streak, right?) – JC
