Posts tagged Glen Perkins

159-3 is not so Bad

Apr9th
2012 Written by Eric Pleiss

The Twins were swept out of Baltimore in their first series of the year, three games to zero.  Over those three games the Twins managed just 5 runs, and 15 hits to go along with two errors and 16 strike outs.  As bad as those numbers are, it could have been worse, as the Twins scored late in all three games, with all 5 runs coming in the 8th inning or later.  Eerily similar to 2011, the Twins have found themselves down early, offensively challenged and relying on an inexperienced bullpen.

All of that means that the Twins are going to fight an uphill battle to come out of 2012 with a winning record, but it is only three games.  In2006, the 5th best team in Minnesota’s franchise history, the Twins won 96 games.  That teams started the year just 1-5, and had losing streaks of 3 or more games 8 times.  On May 1 that teams was 9-16 and was just routed 8-2 (giving up 19 hits) by a Mariners team that would go on to lose 86 games.  That team would go on to lose to the Cleveland Indians by a score of 11-0 TWICE and another 18-1 loss at the hands of the Detroit Tigers.  Every team is going to have a couple of bad days.

I am certainly not trying to say that the current version of the Minnesota Twins is going to be 30 games over .500, but I think we can hold on to the doomsday conversations for a couple more weeks, after all, those 3 games represent less than 2% of the 2012 schedule, and three losses are only three losses.

For those fans (and players) that may not remember what it looks like, this is Target Field

There are still a couple of positives to take away from this poor start, and the Twins can build on the things they’re doing well in the home opener later today.

  1.  Justin Morneau continues to hit the ball hard.  He’s hitting .400 with 2 doubles and a walk, and a couple of hard line drives that were hit right at defenders for outs.  Focusing on hitting the ball is working for Morneau, if he continues to hit the ball like this, it will not matter what Parmelee is doing with the bat (assuming he starts hitting better than the .125 he’s showing now).
  2. Brian Duensing has made two appearances out of the bullpen, has yet to give up a run and has recorded 2 strike outs.  With the exception of newcomes Matt Maloney and Jared Burton, the Twins bullpen has yet to give up any runs.  Alex Burnett, Glen Perkins, Brian Duensing,  and Jeff Gray have combined to go 5.1 innings with a 0.00 ERA along with 4 strike outs and just 2 hits.  Granted, Maloney and Burton have been bad, but the bullpen is not as bad as it seems, there are plenty of guys going out there and succeeding.
  3. Josh Willingham has a home run, a double, and an outfield assist, throwing out Nick Markakis at home plate in the season opener.  Willingham has not looked great in left field (two errors on Saturday), and he will have to turn that around going forward, but if the rest of the Twins lineup warms up a little bit, this team is going to have an offensive to help mitigate some of the problems with the starting rotation.
  4. Jamey Carroll appears to be a real shortstop.  He is not going to win any Gold Gloves, and he might not be as fresh after 40 games at short, but for the time being Carroll is making all the plays and getting to all the balls in his area.  Outside of J.J. Hardy‘s injury plagued 2010 season the Twins have struggled to find consistent play from their shortstops for the better part of the last decade.  Carroll might just be keeping the spot warm for Brian Dozier, but as long as he’s here, he’s doing everything that’s been asked of him (except hit, despite being a high On Base Percentage guy he has yet to tally a base hit in three games, and has just one walk).

Five runs in three games will not be the norm for this bunch of ball players, unfortunately five runs in three games to start the season takes off a lot of the opening weekend optimism held by fans.  But hang in there, 159-3 is still within reach.

-ERolfPleiss

Preview/Recap, Twins baseball    , , , , , , , , , ,

Things Ben Revere is Unlikely to Do

Apr2nd
2012 Written by Eric Pleiss

Photo credit: Jim Crikket

Yesterday, during the Twins’ Spring Training loss to the Red Sox at JetBlue Park, Ben Revere threw out a runner at the plate from left field.  Well, kind of.  Jacoby Ellsbury tripled and the ball bounced away from Valencia at third into shallow left field.  Ellsbury, thinking the ball had skipped into an area void of defenders, took off for home.  Revere, racing in from left, scooped up the ball and threw a rocket to home plate, catching Ellsbury by three or four steps.  If you’re scoring at home, that’s an outfield assist.

While Spring Training stats do not count, Revere throwing a runner out, from anywhere, is a note worthy occurrence, given his weak throwing arm and previous performance (3 assists in 2011, and none of those, as far as I can remember, involved throwing a runner out at home plate).

With that in mind, here is a list of things Ben Revere is unlikely to do in 2012:

1. Throw out a Runner at Home Plate. As mentioned above, Revere’s arm is weak (4/100 per Fangraphs), and if he is not playing every day, his chances of even being in the right situation are limited, at best.

2. Hit a home run.  While Revere has shown that he can occasionally hit a home run (or 2), he has never hit a home run in the Major Leagues, and has just 5 home runs in his entire Minor League Career (with a career high of 2 at Single-A Fort Myers).  While Revere might eventually hit a ball over the outfield fence, his speed could allow him to stretch a triple into an inside-the-park home run, thus ending his HR drought.  However, Revere only hit 5 triples in 2011, despite his speed, and might not have enough at bats to even match that total in 2012.

3. Have an on base percentage above .335.  While he will never hit for power, Revere’s Minor League numbers indicate that he has great on base skills, posting a career .385 OPB, though he has never played a full season at AAA.  Revere’s biggest asset is his speed, and as a 4th outfielder, he will have plenty of opportunities to showcase his defensive tools, but for the team to put that speed to use offensively Revere will need to get to first base.  If he is not playing regularly, Revere may struggle to find a rhythm, having never been used consistently as a reserve.  While Revere posted a .310 OBP in 2011, that number was helped significantly by a late season push that saw Revere hit .311/.342/.368 in September and October.  If Revere wants to be the Twins’ leadoff hitter and centerfielder of the future, he’ll need to come close to Denard Span‘s career OBP of .361.

4. Says something interesting on Twitter. While Ben Revere (@BenRevere9) has almost 3 times as many Twitter followers as  fellow Minnesota Twin, Glen Perkins (@Glen_Perkins), he rarely, if ever, says anything noteworthy.  The most exciting thing he’s tweeted in the past 30 days is this.  Really, Ben Revere?  Trading in the Statue of Liberty for Tim Tebow Tebowing?  Meanwhile, Glen Perkins has not only spent Spring Training on a quest to hold and photograph himself holding sharks, he also interacts with fans and other Twitter users on a regular basis.  Definitely worth a follow.

What else might Ben Revere not do in 2012?  Steal 40 bases?  Run a marathon? Eat 50 In and Out burgers?  Who knows!

-ERolfPleiss

General, Offseason, Spring Training    , , ,

Looking for Breakout Seasons

Mar12th
2012 Written by Jim Crikket

By this point, everyone knows the variables that will determine whether the Twins will have a successful 2012 season, right? Mauer, Morneau, Baker and Span have to stay healthy and the bullpen needs to be vastly improved over last year. We know all of that because every beat writer, columnist and blogger has pointed at those issues over and over again since October.

Sure, if the established veterans all return to the level of productivity we’ve come to expect from them, the Twins should avoid the kind of meltdown they suffered through last season. That said, if the team is going to actually contend in 2012, they’re going to need more. They will need breakout seasons from players that have not yet demonstrated that they belong among the American League’s elite names at their positions.

But where can the Twins expect to find those potential breakout seasons?

The typical arc of a professional baseball player’s career is actually more predictable than one might think. Their prime years are pretty much from ages 26 to 32. We all spent a lot of time discussing the back end of that range during the offseason, as we discussed the pros and cons of offering multi-year contracts to Michael Cuddyer, who is just past that “prime” range, and Joe Nathan, who is well past it.

But when you are looking for potential breakout years, it makes more sense to focus on the front end of the range. The Twins are notorious for bringing their minor league prospects along slowly through the organization and, for a club with a reputation for disregarding advanced statistical analysis, it appears that they may have a basis for this particular proclivity. Projecting that most players hit their strides at age 26, I doubt that it’s a coincidence that most Twins prospects aren’t often starting their Major League careers (and their arbitration clocks) until they’re at least 24 years old. The Twins apparently try to time a player’s Big League debut a year or two before they expect him to break out and become a fully productive Major League ballplayer, then get as much of their peak years as possible while they’re still affordable.

Glen Perkins

For example, Cuddyer was getting his first real full-time duty with the Twins at age 25 and had his first OPS above .800 (or first OPS+ season over 100, if you prefer that metric) in his age 27 season. Torii Hunter got a taste of the Big Leagues in the season during which he turned 24, but he really figured it out in 2001, the season he turned 26. More recently, Glen Perkins may have made his debut at age 24, but it wasn’t until last year, in his age 28 season, that he carved out a meaningful role for himself with the Twins.

Armed with this knowledge, who should we be looking at in 2012 as having the potential to have breakout seasons? Here’s a list of possible candidates:

Trevor Plouffe turns 26 years old in June. He’s shown some pop in his bat and, let’s be honest, if he had demonstrated passable defensive abilities, he’d be the Twins regular shortstop right now. If he can play a decent outfield, Plouffe could establish himself this season. But few players really get it all figured out in their first full year of regular time in the Show, so we should probably hold off on establishing those expectations of Trevor quite yet. Maybe next year.

The same would be true of pitchers Anthony Swarzak and Kyle Waldrop. Both will be 26 years old pretty much throughout the upcoming season, but given their relative lack of Major League experience, it’s probably not realistic to expect them to have Glen Perkins-like results already this season.

Luke Hughes

Infielder Luke Hughes is starting his age 27 season and he got a few swings in at the Big League level last year, so we can hope to see him step his game up a little bit. He’s not currently penciled in for a regular starting job, though, so you have to wonder if he’ll get the plate appearances necessary to make significant strides in 2012.

So if those candidates aren’t likely to break out, who will?

First, keep in mind that Denard Span just turned 28 years old a couple of weeks ago, so while he’s arguably already had his breakout season, he’s still on the front side of his peak years. He’s reached the point of being physically mature and has enough experience that he really should no longer be seeing much of anything offensively or defensively for the first time. That being the case, I’d like to see Span take a big step forward with his game this season, assuming he can stay healthy.

Another familiar name on my list of potential breakout seasons is Francisco Liriano. We’ve been waiting for him to have a true breakout season for what seems like forever. Despite having several seasons of Major League experience in the books, Liriano is still just now entering his age 28 season. That’s slightly past our “breakout season” ages, but it’s not too late to see it happen… yet. That said, this is arguably the last year that anyone can make the, “he’s still a young pitcher with potential,” statement, so it’s now or never (at least with the Twins organization) for Frankie.

If it seems like Alexi Casilla has been around forever, too, it’s because he has. He was rushed a bit after being acquired from the Angels for J.C. Romero and his service clock started while he was still just 23 years old. That means he’s just now entering his age 27 season (he turns 28 in July). Casilla has been inconsistent, to say the least. But this season, he’s starting off at what’s arguably his best defensive position, second base, and so far this spring he’s making good contact from his spot at the bottom of the Twins order. The game should finally be slowing down a bit for Lexi and if he can play decent defense while getting on base with regularity, he could play a significant positive role for the Twins in 2012.

Danny Valencia

Finally, the guy with perhaps the greatest potential for having a true breakout season is third baseman Danny Valencia, who will be 27 years old throughout the first five months of the season. Valencia’s had two full years now to adjust to Big League pitching and there’s no reason he shouldn’t take a major step forward in 2012. Everyone seems to project Valencia as hitting in the #7 spot in the Twins lineup and he very well may start the season there, but if he’s still hitting in the bottom third of the order in August, I’ll be disappointed.

So those are my “breakout season” picks… Liriano, Casilla and Valencia (with some additional improvement also from Span). Talk all you want about Mauer, Morneau, Baker and the bullpen, but in my mind, the Twins’ success, or lack thereof, this season is riding just as much on the ability of these players to make significant strides as any other factor. They are hitting their prime years and it’s time for them to show fans what they’re made of.

- JC

Twins baseball    , , , , , , ,

Of DVDs and a BOM

Aug5th
2011 Written by Jim Crikket

First things first. Apparently the Twins entered in to a conspiracy of sorts to prevent our DVD giveaway contest from proclaiming a winner. Almost two full weeks after announcing our contest to give away a set of Twins 1991 Championship Season DVDs to the person who could correctly predict the game in which Joe Nathan would break the team record for saves, he still hasn’t had an opportunity to accomplish that feat.

So, as we indicated in the original contest post, we’ll determine the winner on a random basis from among the 15 readers who entered our contest. Here is how we will go about declaring a winner:

Below is a list of those who entered the contest. Next to each name are two numbers I’ve assigned randomly from numbers 1-15 and 16-30. The winner will be the person assigned the number that is equal to the total runs scored by the Twins and White Sox in the first game of their upcoming series in Minnesota.

AW: 5, 20

Max: 9, 30

Shaun Streich: 15, 28

BobZ: 10, 24

MukMuk: 1, 17

bob miller: 3, 16

mark: 14, 27

lecroy24fan: 7, 23

Trish: 13, 29

Melissa: 12. 21

AW: 2, 19

E: 6, 22

UpperDeck: 4, 25

David: 11, 26

Rick: 8, 18

(If the Twins and Sox get in to a real slugfest and score over 30 runs combined, we’ll just add 30 to the numbers assigned to each entrant above and declare the winner on that basis. I refuse to let the Twins’ ineptitude draw this thing out any further!)

BOYFRIEND OF THE MONTH: JULY

Remember back last month when the Twins didn’t suck? I know… it’s not easy sometimes to remember back that far. But trust me, in July the Twins did win some ballgames and after each victory, our GameChat folks bestowed a Boyfriend of the Day award on the Twins player they felt was most deserving of recognition for their efforts in that particular game. As is our tradition, we then tally up those BOD awards each month and pronounce a lucky Boyfriend of the Month.

This one wasn’t really even close.

Danny Valencia, Brian Duensing, Joe Mauer and Michael Cuddyer each were honored with Boyfriend of the Day awards twice in July but for the first time this season, one player racked up four separate BODs from our GameChat contingent. Glen Perkins has been clutch when  he’s been called on in tight situations. We just wish we could see a few more of those opportunities going forward. But for his outstanding work in July, Glen Perkins is da BOM!

Glen Perkins

Contests, Twins baseball    ,

GameChat – Twins @ Rangers #2, 7:05pm

Jul26th
2011 Written by CapitalBabs

Wow.. I go to ValleyFair for ONE day and look what kind of stuff I miss!! Are you kidding me? Cuddyer finally gets his chance to pitch and I was standing in line for the Wild Thing..  it’s just not right (nor was that score). If, like me, you didn’t get to see Cuddyer pitch, here’s a link to the video – if I can figure out how to embed it, I’ll do it but right now, it’s not letting me: Cuddyer Pitching.

However, the blessing of missing the game last night was that I didn’t witness what was apparently a hell of bad pitching, WORSE fielding and a complete lack of offense.  When I called in for an update, I was informed that the Rangers line looked like a golf score each inning - par, par, birdy, birdy…  Whoever thought of that is a genius but what a horrible concept when it’s the opposing team.

I’m looking forward to seeing CJ Wilson – I really love watching him pitch – but I would REALLY like to see the Twins get to him tonight. We need some offense.

 

Minnesota

@

 Texas
Revere, CF Kinsler, 2B
Casilla, A, 2B Andrus, SS
Cuddyer, 1B Hamilton, LF
Kubel, DH Young, M, DH
Valencia, 3B Cruz, N, RF
Young, D, LF Moreland, 1B
Plouffe, RF Torrealba, C
Nishioka, SS Davis, C, 3B
Butera, C Chavez, En, CF
  Pavano, P   Wilson, C, P
  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Minnesota 0 3 0 0 3 1 0 0 2 9 13 1
Texas 0 2 0 5 1 0 0 0 0 8 13 2

Certainly an exciting game! Things didn’t look so great when Texas put a 5-spot up against Carl Pavano in the 4th inning to take a 7-3 lead. But the offense kept chipping away, with contributions from up and down the batting order, not to mention pinch hitters Jim Thome and Joe Mauer who both came through with pinch hit doubles late in the game. Joe Nathan got the save (which means you need to enter the DVD contest below in a hurry… before Joe gets his next save).

But our BOD tonight is Glen Perkins. Glen entered the game with two men on base and nobody out in the bottom of the 8th inning and sat three straight hitters down without giving up a run, keeping his team within one run. That’s clutch BOD material. – JC

Glen Perkins

GameChat, Twins baseball   

GameChat – Tigers @ Twins #3, 3:10 FOX

Jul23rd
2011 Written by Jim Crikket

So Jason Kubel came back Friday and Scott Baker returns today. It’s about time to end this “can’t beat the Tigers” BS, isn’t it, guys?

Everyone else can beat the kitties so there’s no reason to think the Twins shouldn’t be able to.

Brad Penny’s been pitching well lately for the Tigers even if he hasn’t been getting the Wins to show for it. It’s time for Twins hitters to step up. If  they embarrass themselves today like they did last night, it will be in front of a near-national audience on FOX.

TIGERS

@

 TWINS
Dirks, CF Revere, CF
Boesch, LF Casilla, A, 2B
Ordonez, RF Mauer, C
Cabrera, Mi, 1B Cuddyer, 1B
Martinez, V, DH Kubel, DH
Peralta, Jh, SS Valencia, 3B
Guillen, 2B Young, D, LF
Avila, C Plouffe, RF
Kelly, 3B Nishioka, SS
  _Penny, P   _Baker, S, P
  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Detroit 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 8 1
Minnesota 1 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 x 4 7 0

That wasn’t exactly the offensive breakout game I’ve been hoping for, but we’re going to just enjoy the win, right?

Getting ahead on the scoreboard early was a nice change and Scott Baker looked pretty damn good to me in his first game back from the DL. He only went five innings but they were a really good five shutout innings.

Danny Valencia launched a solo shot and Delmon Young had a nice two-run double. Joe Nathan slammed the door shut and Phil Dumatrait threw a scoreless inning of relief, as well.

Tsuyoshi Nishioka was the only Twins hitter with more than one hit, collecting two singles (though neither figured directly in the scoring). But his biggest contribution was in the field. He ran down three flares in shallow left field, a couple of them very nice plays in critical situations. In addition, Glen Perkins not only pitched a scoreless inning of relief, but struck out Ordonez and Cabrera back-to-back to cap his work. For those performances, Nishi and Perk are our co-BODs today!

Tsuyoshi Nishioka

Glen Perkins

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GameChat, Twins baseball    ,

If The Price Is Right

Jul11th
2011 Written by Jim Crikket

If it’s the All-Star Break, then it must be time for fans to start talking about trades. We are, after all, just past the mid-point of the season and the non-waiver trade deadline is less than three weeks away.

At this point there are three kinds of teams… obvious buyers, obvious sellers and everyone else. The Twins are in that “everyone else” category because they haven’t established themselves as an obvious contender nor have they fallen so far back in the standings that they have virtually no chance of becoming contenders.

So, that means everyone is (or soon will be) posing the question, “Should the Twins Buy or Sell?” To me, the answer is… “Yes, if the price is right.”

What’s that you say, it wasn’t a “yes or no” question? Too bad.

Bill Smith

July trades generally are made between two parties, one a contender and one… well… not. The contender (or “buyer”) has a spot or two to fill to help push them to the top of the standings and/or prepare them to be a stronger playoff team. Their GM has to be willing to do one of two things… or both… (a) give up highly rated prospects or young (read: cheap) MLB-ready players; and/or (b) take on significant salary owed to an established (and often overcompensated) veteran player.

The other party to these trades (the “seller”) has some highly paid veteran players that are either having good seasons or have put up good numbers recently enough that a contending team might be willing to bet they could help put their team over the top this season and that team is looking to restock with young players that will help next season… and for several years to come. They also are likely looking to shed some salary because they recognize attendance is going to be dropping the rest of the season.

I think the Twins, thanks to the very weird season they’ve endured, find themselves in a unique position… they’ve pressed a lot of young players in to Major League action and many of them have performed well enough to demonstrate that they fit the “MLB-ready” criteria that “sellers” are wanting in return for established players. They also find themselves with an abundance of veteran outfielders and pitchers… many of whom will be free agents at the end of this season… that could be attractive to contending “buyers”. Finally, they’re already certain to exceed 3 million in paid attendance, so there’s no need at all to consider shedding salary to be a factor.

Denard Span

It amazes me how many suggestions I’ve read that the Twins trade a Denard Span or a Delmon Young for established relief pitching. That’s absurd on two levels. First, nobody who has top veteran relief pitching to trade is likely to look for expensive veterans in return. They’re going to want young players they can continue to pay the league minimum to for a while. Also, you simply don’t trade players of the quality of Span, Young, Cuddyer, etc., for relief pitching. Ever.  MAYBE you trade your Rene Tosonis and Trevor Plouffes… legitimate prospects (but not future superstars), guys you can (and likely will) find a way to live without in the future… for relief pitchers. The Twins SHOULD be “buyers”… they SHOULD get relief help… and they have enough decent young talent to use for that purpose. There are a lot of decent relievers (meaning better than what the Twins have been trotting out there for middle relief) on the market so it should be a buyer’s market. There’s no need to overpay.

At the same time, the Twins have demonstrated that they can compete without the likes of Delmon Young, Denard Span, and Jason Kubel in the line up. The question is… should they trade away a veteran or two and continue to try to compete without them? If the price is right, sure, why not?

Delmon Young

Of course, you do not just give any of these guys away. Even those who are going to be free agents are likely to be good for compensatory supplemental draft picks if they walk away at the end of the season. But because guys like Ben Revere, Luke Hughes, Anthony Swarzak, and Glen Perkins have demonstrated they can be relied upon to play a role with a contending team, the Twins CAN afford to deal SOME of their veterans and still remain in contention in the AL Central Division. If Twins GM Bill Smith can get real prospects in return for one of his outfielders or one of his pitchers, he should go ahead and do it. Would that mean running a risk in the event the Twins get hit with more injuries? Absolutely… but a GM’s job is to evaluate and take acceptable risks.

But what if the Twins do none of this? What if Smith takes a summer vacation and leaves his phone in the Twin Cities? Can the Twins compete if they do nothing at all?

Well, I still think getting some relief help is important, but otherwise… yeah… the Twins could stand pat and make a serious run the second half of the season… and in to the playoffs. How is that possible?

Justin Morneau

It’s possible because, even if Bill Smith takes that long summer vacation, he will be adding three quality veteran players by the July 30 deadline and another… a former MVP… by the August 30 waiver-deal deadline. Delmon Young has been reactivated and Denard Span sounds like he won’t be far behind. Jason Kubel should be returning not long afterward. Justin Morneau’s recovery seems on target for mid August. Name me a contending team that wouldn’t give a boatload to get four players like that over the next 5 weeks! And Smith doesn’t have to give up a thing.

And here’s the bonus, in my mind… many teams (including past Twins teams) expend so much emotion and energy trying to make the surge necessary to dig out of a deficit in the standings that their tank is empty in September and October. They’re worn out mentally and beat up physically. But most of the Twins top players shouldn’t be feeling worn down. Mauer, Morneau, Young, Kubel, Span… they’ll all be far fresher than most players at that point in the season.

The Twins also have enough starting pitching, with Swarzak, Kevin Slowey and Kyle Gibson (again, we’re assuming the GM makes no deals) ready to step in, that any member of the current rotation who gets as much as a hangnail could be DL’d for 14 days, allowed to get rested up, and come back strong.

This is not the time for Bill Smith to overspend. He doesn’t need… in fact can’t afford… another trade where he gives up a top prospect for a relief pitcher, like the Ramos-for-Capps deal a year ago. He can afford to wait for a trading partner who’s willing to overspend and, if necessary, settle for a moderate deal for middle relief help.

I hope he shows patience because God knows the blogging world is likely to urge otherwise.

- JC

Trade Talk, Twins baseball    , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

GameChat – Twins @ White Sox #4, 1:10 pm

Jul10th
2011 Written by Jim Crikket

Changes are coming.

Heading in to this series, the Twins trailed the White Sox by 3.5 games. As the Twins head in to the AllStar Break after today’s game, they will either trail by Chicago by that same 3.5 games or will have closed to within 1.5 games of third place. No, your goal should never be to reach 3rd place in the standings, but when you’ve spent most of the season in 5th place, I believe you have to focus on catching… and passing… the next team in front of you. You can’t get to 1st place until you’ve moved in to 4th… and 3rd… and 2nd.

Media reports indicate manager Ron Gardenhire has promised roster changes will be made following the game. One of them is obvious… Delmon Young is ready to return and that almost certainly means Rene Tosoni will be returning to Rochester. But what else?

It just seems to me that Trevor Plouffe has done all he can do in Rochester. I’m not sure if he’ll ever be a good defensive player and I’m not convinced he’s really as good with the bat as he’s been in Rochester this year, but it’s time to bring him back up. I don’t think he needs to start on this team, but he’s got to be a more valuable bat off the bench than the Twins’ third catcher, whoever that might be. I suspect it will be Rene Rivera who gets a plane ticket back to AAA.

I won’t be surprised if Chuck James is recalled from Rochester, as well. The question is, which member of the current bullpen will be dropped? Another thing to consider is that Kevin Slowey’s rehabilitation assignment is drawing to a close and a decision will have to be made with regard to his future, as well.

But first things first… let’s beat down the Bitch Sox today and head in to the break on a positive swing!

TWINS

@

 WHITE SOX
Revere, CF Pierre, LF
Casilla, A, 2B Ramirez, Al, SS
Mauer, DH Konerko, 1B
Cuddyer, 1B Dunn, A, DH
Valencia, 3B Quentin, RF
Tosoni, LF Rios, CF
Nishioka, SS Pierzynski, C
Butera, C Beckham, 2B
Repko, LF Teahen, 3B
  _Swarzak, P   _Peavy, P
  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Minnesota 0 0 0 2 3 0 0 0 1 6 13 0
Chi White Sox 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 3 8 0

That’s 3 of 4 from the BitchSox heading in to the break and while it wasn’t the prettiest of wins, any win over AJ and his buddies is a good win!

Good balance on the offensive side today with 13 hits, but only two were for extra bases (2B by Repko, 3B by Casilla). Anthony Swarzak picked up right where he left off the last time he was pressed in to a starting role and threw six very solid innings. Things got a bit hairy after he left the game, but Glen Perkins cleaned up the mess he inherited and then pitched another good inning for 1 2/3 of terrific relief. Matt Capps looked just fine getting the save.

GameChat votes broke right down the middle, so our Boyfriend of the Day honors are shared today by Swarzak and Perkins. Get some rest, boys… the fun really starts after the AllStar Break!

Anthony Swarzak

Glen Perkins

.

GameChat, Twins baseball    ,

GameChat – Tampa Bay @ Minnesota #2, 7:10pm

Jul5th
2011 Written by CapitalBabs

The good news is that we have two players who are most definitely on the mend and feeling better – Span has been taking batting practice and his rehab assignment will begin as soon as he has several good days in a row; Morneau says the pain in his arm that was caused by the pinched nerve is gone! He still has some numbness in his fingers but the doctors say that is normal and should dissipate as he heals.

Sadly, the story is going a little slower for Jason Kubel. He’s still sore and visited the docs up here in MN yesterday. We’re still waiting to see if they find anything more.

As far as tonight’s game, having one win in the series under our belts feels like a great place to start. Let’s hope that Baker can go back out there and have a great outing AND that the weather holds off until the game is done!

 

Tampa Bay

@

 Minnesota
Damon, DH   Revere, CF
Zobrist, 2B   Casilla, A, 2B
Longoria, 3B   Mauer, C
Joyce, RF   Cuddyer, 1B
Upton, B, CF   Thome, DH
Kotchman, 1B   Valencia, 3B
Jaso, C   Tosoni, LF
Fuld, LF   Repko, RF
Johnson, E, SS   Nishioka, SS
  Shields, P     Baker, S, P

 

 

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

R

H

E
Tampa Bay

0

0

0

1

0

0

0

0

1

2

7

1
Minnesota

1

0

2

0

0

0

0

0

x

3

6

2

 

Well the ending was certainly dramatic – Matt Capps couldn’t do the job for the 3rd game in a row - and Glen Perkins ended up getting his 2nd Save in as many opportunities which is pretty darn good for a setup guy. Gardy says that Capps is still the closer but it’s obvious that things aren’t right with him. They are going to close games however they need to while they work on getting Capps back into his previous form.

The start was prety good too – Baker came in strong and Revere & Lexi did their jobs getting on base.. things went well that way. A few weird calls scattered through the game though made things interesting start to finish.

It was the middle where things get a little muddy. Baker ended up having to leave the game after the 5th inning with elbow tenderness. I don’t know about you but I don’t like the sound of that. He’s going to get an MRI tomorrow and I’m just going to hold my breath until we find out what it says. Baker had told them that he could keep pitching but once he said “I felt something in the elbow” they said “hell no” and pulled him so it could be checked out. I can’t begin to say how tired I am of all the injuries though… what is going on?! I think the Twins need to stock up on bubblewrap.

But the story is really about getting the win and how the game ends and the chat went with the importance of that final out given the threat on the bases – so Glen Perkins, you are today’s BOD!

 

GameChat, Twins baseball   

Tough Decisions This Week

Jun12th
2011 Written by Jim Crikket

The Rochester Red Wings must cringe every time the phone rings in their office this season. Almost every player on their roster who’s shown any ability to play the game of baseball this season has been plucked from their clubhouse and given a ticket to Minneapolis (with Kyle Gibson being one obvious exception).

As difficult as it has been for Ron Gardenhire to keep 25 healthy bodies in the Twins clubhouse this season, his job may be getting even tougher this week. The Twins currently have eight players on the Disabled List. What could be worse than that? How about having eight players all ready to come OFF the Disabled List at one time?

Now, if the Twins were still playing like a bad American Legion team, the way they were throughout April and a good chunk of May, this would be no problem. You celebrate the return of all the “real” Twins and happily send Red Wings manager Tom Nieto back the players you’ve borrowed from him. But now, just as virtually every player on your DL is due back in uniform, you’ve got a team of young players who have been winning a lot of games.

Joe Nathan

Kevin Slowey is just starting to throw, so his return isn’t as imminent as the others, but Glen Perkins and Joe Nathan are going to be ready to return to the bullpen in the next week or two. The current bullpen is consistently shutting down opponents (finally)… so who loses their job when Perkins and Nathan return? How confident are you that those two guys will immediately be as effective as the pitchers they replace?

As tough as those choices may be, things only get tougher when you ponder the decisions coming up with regard to the position players. Jason Kubel, Jim Thome, Joe Mauer, Denard Span, and Tsuyoshi Nishioka are all scheduled to come off the DL at roughly the same time.

The decision concerning which catcher departs to make room for Mauer will be tough enough. Drew Butera has been with the team for most of the past two seasons, but Rene Rivera is reportedly out of options [UPDATE 6/15: Latest information is that Rivera is NOT out of options, which makes the rest of this paragraph moot. Butera and Rivera are therefore essentially on even footing], while Butera still has options remaining. That means the team would have to risk sending Rivera through waivers if they want to keep Butera. That said, the Twins will need to clear a 40-man roster spot for Mauer, so they may be willing to take that risk with Rivera. But you have to wonder if the Twins want to face the possibility of Steve Holm being the fallback option if Joe Mauer’s return is short-lived.

Luke Hughes and Matt Tolbert

As tough as that decision may be, it’s nothing compared to how Gardy and GM Bill Smith will go about finding room for the others. Seth Stohs detailed the performances of the current position players over the course of the past 10 games over at SethSpeaks.net and it would be tough for me to find one or two non-catchers that I’d be anxious to pull out of the current line up, never mind more.

I’d love to get Span, Kubel and Thome back. But do you really want to see Ben Revere benched or, even worse, sent back to Rochester? I don’t. During the offseason, I wrote that I wanted to see more speed in the Twins outfield and now that they have it, I don’t want to give it up.

Tsuyoshi Nishioka

The Twins made a three year commitment to Nishioka and it’s very possible that he’ll end up being worth every nickel of the money they’ve sunk in to bringing him over from Japan. But we haven’t seen enough of him to know that for sure. What we do know is that Alexi Casilla, Matt Tolbert and Luke Hughes have all been batting over .300 (with three doubles each) during the recent stretch of success. How comfortable are you with the prospect of plugging in the unproven Nishioka in place of one of those guys?

We’ve poked a bit of fun at the line ups that Gardy’s been turning in, with references to them being “Red Wings” line ups and comments about how they resemble line ups you’d expect to see at spring training road games. But they’re also line ups that have been WINNING and the Twins still have a lot of winning to do if they’re going to dig themselves out of the hole they’re in.

So who’s time with the Twins is drawing to a close?

Brian Dinkelman’s cup of coffee with the big club is probably about over. In fact, don’t be too surprised if he is passed through waivers to make room on the 40-man roster for Nishioka. Rene Tosoni is also a logical candidate to return to Rochester.

So, if we assume Slowey will be headed to Rochester to join their rotation and that Dinkelman, Tosoni and one of the catchers will be departing, that leaves us just three more players to drop to make room for those returning. Two will be pitchers… but which pitchers? Might the Twins be ready to insert Anthony Swarzak in to the rotation and, if so, would Brian Duensing be likely to head down to Rochester so he continues to get regular starts? Of the rest, you could make an argument that Jose Mijares is the most deserving of a free trip to Rochester.

And what about the remaining position player that we must bid farewell to? I don’t see Revere, Hughes, or Tolbert going anywhere. Is it time to give Danny Valencia a wake-up call? Or is it possible that Jason Repko’s run with the Twins might be nearing an end?

These will all be critical… and difficult… decisions. Two players are going to have to pass through waivers and could be claimed by other organizations, so the Twins must choose wisely. The current roster has been making an impressive run and in the process, they’ve closed the gap between themselves and the division leaders. Shaking up the roster at this point is a risk, even given the talent level that’s returning.

As early as a week from now, we may be seeing a line up that includes Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Jim Thome, Jason Kubel, Tsuyoshi Nishioka, and Denard Span. It will certainly look a lot more like the line up that we expected to see when the Twins broke camp in Ft. Myers. Whether that’s a good thing or not remains to be seen.

- JC

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