Blog Comments

Hopefully Harden is a go. Without him to start the season, the starting pitching could have a long year. Hendricks will probably have to open in the rotation, but this should be his last chance. If he cannot cut it, he should be gone.

Ummm... Brent Gates and Terry Tiffee were both better than Hughes... But I do agree that neither of those guys are really competition for Plouffe other than as bodies who will also take ground balls. (and Hughes is better than Romero or Sobolewski, for what that's worth!)

Nice write up, Jeremy!

I think they're still looking... and, ultimately, I do think they'll add someone. I fear, though, it's not gonna be anyone worthwhile.

I am certainly looking forward to this years Prospect Handbook. But when Terry Ryan suggested that Deibinson Romero or Mark Sobolewski would push Trevor Plouffe I had to laugh. These guys are not even in Luke Hughes realm. They remind me at best of Larry Wolfe, Brent Gates and Terry Tiffee. If these are the players to push Plouffe, he has no worries about losing his job. If Terry Ryan is serious, he should take a long look at Freddie Sanchez. Otherwise the competition he intends to use as a push to Trevor is a joke.

Good insight, always nice to read articles like this.

I think they pick up a new SS before they sign a third pitcher, and I also think he won't be much better than the dreck we're sorting through already.

Yeah, spent a brief amount of time with the Twins 2004.

Didn't the Twins draft Ryan Rowland-Smith in the Rule 5 draft a few years ago?

I think the OF situation is more a product of the numbers. There are seven legitimate outfielders on the roster already, plus Parmelee and Herrmann. Add to that the year-round-trade-Span speculation, is-it-time-to-move-Willingham talk and trying to figure it all out becomes messy. I'll put Mastro's name in pencil as the 4th OF. Ben Revere's name is the only name in pen... and I don't even want to guess at what position.

Burnett appears to be short of Super-2 status, he's still young (only a couple months older than Tyler Robertson and two years YOUNGER than Kyle Waldrop) and has an option left. I think his spot in the organization is safe.

De Vries is interesting. His stuff obviously isn't scary, but his peripherals were more similar to Scott Diamond's than anyone else. His WHIP was lower, his K/BB was higher. He did allow more home runs, but was really still (re)adjusting to a starting role. With that being said, now that teams have seen him, he might get drilled. He did regress as the season progressed, but he's a guy who threw 157 innings. He threw 148 in 2007 and hadn't thrown more than 91 since 2009. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I think he did enough to at least get a chance to win a rotation spot and if he doesn't, head to Rochester and anchor that rotation.

I would also add Alex Burnett to a non tendered list as well as De Vries to the list. But try and resign both. Club needs a makeover and I would clear the room for some pickups and trades in the offseason. I do not think that either of the two above should be on the roster of a better than .500 club.

I'm surprised that you think Mastroianni is a possibility for being removed from the 40 man. I thought he did more than enough to put his name in PEN as the team's 4th OF next year.

Good stuff though! It lays out the situation quite well.

You're probably right. With Manship limited (if he's able to pitch at all) for the Chicago series, there really isn't a long guy in the 'pen. Perdomo could probably go three, if needed... but he was shaky (at best) last night. Like you said, Gardy can mix and match, but should that really be necessary on a 13-man staff?

Guerra has only pitched once (for two innings) since coming back, but he would have at least offered the Twins an arm for the White Sox series (and Blackburn is pitching, so the bullpen will need to be used!).

I believe Manship will take over Swarzak's spot in the short term. Duensing will be the 5th starter and the Rochester Shuttle will continue. Bullpen has not been overworked with Cleveland to this point, so Gardy will have mix and match till Wednesday.

I'm confused by the Manship promotion unless he becomes a starter. He threw 105 pitches on Friday night, so he's be unavailable until Wednesday, most likely. Good thing the bullpen has been used so little the last couple of days, because Manship isn't going to be able to help out there anytime soon.

I get that he's on his final audition. But so is Guerra... only we haven't seen him at all.

Good overall comments. Yes, both can weather another season in the minors if need be.

Interesting that the Twins brought up Manship instead of Hendriks.

Be interesting to see who the Twins call up in September to olster an overworked bullpen - Oliveros, Waldrop and Guerra...and now Hendriks and Hernandez. That's it, unless they rid themselves of Blackburn, Pavano and Capps somehow. I;'m not sure if P.J. Walters will be back or stay on the 40-man once the season ends.

Who else could the Twins conceivably add for a looksee if roster spots open?

Escobar is a stopgap backup...but has youth going for him. I mean, we want Holliman, Florimon, Dinkelman, Chang, or Roof as a back-up infielder instead, assuming the Twins part with Janey Carroll (I bet that still happens in the next few days) and don't resign Casilla.

Great report. The Valencia possibility is an interesting one. In the defense of the Dodgers trade of Santana for Blake, Baseball America had ranked Santana the Dodger organization number 25 prospect entering the season. He was having a great half season in the hitting rich California League, but reports of the trade at the time did not portray him as a top prospect in baseball.

Let's hope the Twins can find a gem like Santana hidden deep in the list of an organization's prospects.

Thing about Sano is that he has a good arm, so f If they decide that 3rd isn't the spot for him I think they have to move him to Right Field and see if he could manage RF every day before considering to move him to 1st.

The penalty would be the 75% tax on the overage. They have up to a $618,400 cushion, yes... but that cushion would cost them $1,082,217.50. I don't think the Twins are going to push it.

There was a senior drafted this year in the 4th round (I believe...) who took a bonus in between 5K and 10K. The comment he made afterwards was that he'll always be a 4th round pick and no one will remember his signing bonus. Mazzilli could do something like that.

I think, for the sake of the Twitter discussion I saw today, we should compare Mazzilli to Dan Uggla... and Luke Hughes.

The cap shouldn't be an issue, since they will save at least a decent amount with the Buxton slot and are allowed to go 5% over without penalty (around $600,000).

Mazzilli can't make any more money by going back to college, since seniors have minimal leverage; plus, he was passed over so many times in a weak draft- how different will it be next year? But maybe he is enjoying his time at UConn enough to make up for it.

thanks. I did not know that

Mazzilli reminds me a lot of someone the Twins let go: Luke Hughes