Your 2013 Minnesota Twins Season Thread: Spoiler Time........ (66-92) vs Indians

[651akathepaul]

Have a day, Hicks!

 

[jpzx]

What a goddamn day for that kid. Was just listening to 1500 ESPN-Twin Cities before the game and they were discussing Hicks, saying "he would have been sent down by now if they had ANYONE else to replace him (Mastrioanni hurt)".

 

[jpzx]

Morneau is having a great year average wise, but Mauer is out-slugging him. Somehow.

If things go the same way they've been going, we've got to hope Morneau continues to be efficient at the plate, and Willingham picks it up. Both are trade bait when the deadline comes.

A guy that I feel has been getting too much criticism lately just because too many people expect world of help from him: Kyle Gibson.

Many are calling for his promotion, and just based on what we've seen this season, as well the tommy john rehab still ongoing, he's not the savior. And no one should expect that. The savior could be in this draft coming up where we have a Top 4 pick and there are two really solid pitchers. Jonathan Gray from Oklahoma, and the Mark Appel from Stanford, both have ace stuff, wait until then. Or Kris Bryant the big swinging third basemen could be an option to bolster power. Rumor out of Pittsburgh is that they're trying to cut money, and they won't take one of those guys in the Top 3. So we should have a shot.

Either way, go Twins. Lets hope things improve.

 

[651akathepaul]

Damn Mauer. Back-to-back strikeouts in extras.

I really do hope Morneau and Willingham start raking. Morneau's my guy, but if he can show some of that MVP stuff for a month then maybe the Twins can really work a team for some top players.

 

[651akathepaul]

There's that Tom Kelly baseball we know.

Sac bunt and a sac fly.

 

[RyGuy45]

Always good to beat Milwaukee

I don't know about you guys but it's been fun following the Twins top hitting prospects this spring They are still on track, updated stats:

Miguel Sano 3B - Fort Myers (A)
48 G, 177 AB, 43 R, 14 2B, 2 3B, 13 HR, 39 RBI, .345 BA, 24 BB, 53 K, 7 SB, .438 OBP, .667 SLG

Byron Buxton, OF - Cedar Rapids (A)
49 G, 187 AB, 51 R, 11 2B, 5 3B, 7 HR, 39 RBI, .332 BA, 35 BB, 39 K, 23 SB, .436 OBP, .556 SLG

Eddie Rosario, 2B - Fort Myers (A)
42 G, 168 AB, 31 R, 10 2B, 4 3B, 3 HR, 26 RBI, .315 BA, 12 BB, 27 K, 3 SB, .358 OBP, .476 SLG


Keith Law of ESPN also this week updated his Top 25 MLB prospect list for all minor leagues (Profar and Gausman were removed because of promotions)

1. Oscar Taveras
2. Byron Buxton
3. Xander Bogaerts
4. Christian Yelich
5. Francisco Lindor
6. Miguel Sano
7. Wil Myers
8. Taijuan Walker
9. Archie Bradley
10. Addison Russell
11. Dylan Bundy
12. Gerrit Cole
13. Aaron Sanchez
14. Jameson Taillon
15. Zack Wheeler
16. Gary Sanchez
17. Anthony Rendon
18. Mike Zunino
19. Carlos Correa
20. Kyle Zimmer
21. Jorge Soler
22. Gergory Polanco
23. Garin Cecchini
24. Michael Wacha
25. Taylor Guerrieri

 

[jpzx]

Page 2

Yeah Buxton is absolutely raking, and I think they've said the fences in Cedar Rapids or pretty much right where the MLB ones are, so that makes it even more impressive. 23 SBs :x Excited for him the most out of all of them, but he'll most likely be the last to come up. Maybe September 2014 though.

Nice to see a good-hitting second basemen in the organization for a chance. Cheers Mr. Rosario.

Going to the game tonight only to keep two drunken sconnies from buying those seats.

 

[RyGuy45]

JPZ doin his part tonight, always apprectiated

It has been so long since the Twins had a high-end homegrown 2B and they actually moved Rosario from the outfield to 2B just to fast track him more

All I know is Gardenhire (if he's still here) and the Twins better not screw up these prospects when they get to the big leagues.

"Hey Sano, I know you hit 45 HRs last year in AAA ball and have the most power we've had out of a prospect in 40 years but up here we move runners over and we don't just swing away." :x

David Ortiz's Twins comments still give me nightmares.

 

[jpzx]

Yeah, and then Ortiz went to the Red Sox and Grady Little asked him "What the **** are you doing moving runners over? Hit the ball a mile"

 

[651akathepaul]

The Twins completely mishandled Ortiz. Not only was he trying to play small ball, but he hardly ever played! Comparative to how much he got on the field in Boston, it's no wonder his numbers skyrocketed. I always hated that because I thought it was clear that if he played every day then he'd put up huge numbers.

 

[RyGuy45]

Ortiz had felt stifled in Minnesota, an organization that so emphasizes situational hitting that no Twin has hit 30 home runs in a season since 1987. The 6'4" Ortiz was the square peg who ....didn’t fit in the round hole. “They wanted me to stay inside the ball,” Ortiz says, referring to a style in which a lefthanded hitter tries to hit inside pitches to left field. “They were teaching that to everyone. That’s why nobody ever hits home runs there. But when you’re young in the big leagues and the coach tells you to do something and you don’t do it and you get negative results, then you’re f*****. They’re going to sit you down.”

The Twins, Ortiz says, so enthusiastically stressed small-ball tactics such as hitting behind runners that “if you moved the runner over from second base with a groundout, you got high fives in the dugout like you just hit a home run.”

In his first at bat with the Boston Red Sox, while batting cleanup in a spring training game, Ortiz happened to come up with a runner on second base and no outs. “I came in with that little pull, cheap-shot s---,” said Ortiz, explaining his grounder to second base on an outside sinker. “I still had the Minnesota Twins in my system.”

This time there were no high fives waiting for him in the dugout, just manager Grady Little with a word of advice. “Hey,” Little said. “Next time? Bring him in.”

"I always hit a lot of home runs when I was coming up," Ortiz said. "I'd take a big swing and my first (Twins) manager would be screaming at me: 'Hey, hey, hey, what are you doing?' "

"Are you kidding me? You want me to swing like a little girl? I'll swing like a little girl."

Ortiz's first manager was Tom Kelly, who has always explained that the Twins were trying to develop Ortiz into a solid major league hitter first. The implication was that Ortiz would be able to swing a bit more freely after he got the basics down. But Ortiz, a big guy, felt restricted.

"My first exhibition game here (with Boston), I came up with a runner on second and no outs," Ortiz said during that same interview. "I'm thinking, 'I've got to get the runner over.' "

Ortiz took a make-contact swing. When he returned to the Red Sox dugout, then-manager Grady Little was waiting for him.

"Grady said, 'This is not the Twins. You've got to bring that guy in,' '' Ortiz said. "OK, looks like I got a green light."

It also looks like we may have our next David Ortiz sneaking up on us too...

Carloz Gomez last 162 games:

162 G, 534 AB, 90 R, 151 H, 29 2B, 5 3B, 28 HR, 71 RBI, 42 SB

 

[651akathepaul]

Yeah, but Gomez has taken quite some time to develop to what he is. He's on year 7 (almost a full 7 years) and just now budding into a very good player. I can see the reasoning. Still a bummer though.

 

[jpzx]

Deduno.

 

[651akathepaul]

This sweep showed promise.

 

[jpzx]

Eh, I don't know. Milwaukee is horrible We ran into a team that was playing just as bad/worse than us.

Pelfrey (3-5, 3.96 ERA) vs. Iwakuma (5-1, 2.35 ERA) tonight. Twins really went hard after Iwakuma in that blind auction.

 

[651akathepaul]

I meant for some individuals. And I guess by series I meant the entire 4 games versus Milwuakee. It was good to see Hicks show off some power and get a hit in 4 straight and Deduno looked good. Maybe it builds some confidence and momentum.

 

[651akathepaul]

Joe Mauer and his wife are having....twins?

 

[jpzx]

They'll both have more power than their dad by kindergarten.

 

[651akathepaul]

Laying the WOOD!

Diamond pitched well, but almost half of that Mariners lineup are Minor League caliber hitters.

 

[jpzx]

Bonderman 7 earned.

 

[RyGuy45]

saw this today, I mean come on


With one-third of the season gone (54 games) Minnesota Twins relief pitcher Glen Perkins leads all Twins pitchers in strikeouts with 33. He has pitched a total of 20.2 innings.

No Twins starter has even 30 strikeouts on the year, a number 154 MLB pitchers have already surpassed.


Bring on Deduno

 

[kevin cleveland]

That is insane.

 

[jpzx]

Where do you get those stats? Swear you're always bringing things here that cause me to double take.

 

[RyGuy45]

I'm on the internet way too much all day

 

[651akathepaul]

With one-third of the season gone (54 games) Minnesota Twins relief pitcher Glen Perkins leads all Twins pitchers in strikeouts with 33. He has pitched a total of 20.2 innings.

No Twins starter has even 30 strikeouts on the year, a number 154 MLB pitchers have already surpassed.

That's pathetic.