Plouffe's Slump, Florimon's Gain?

I want to take a few moments to expand on a topic I touched on yesterday during the recap of the series with Toronto. Yesterday, I mentioned that Trevor Plouffe has been on a cold streak of late that could cost him his place on the roster. Plouffe went a frigid 1-13 through the 4 game series and looked slightly out of place playing 3B in place of the demoted Danny Valencia.

Plouffe’s defense has never been anything but average at best – so the Twins didn’t plug him in at third expecting a gold glove player to develop. What Plouffe does do, or at the very least – should do – is hit well. Plouffe has decent power and has improved his plate discipline. The team clearly expects him to be an offensive improvement over Valencia, who was struggling to hit .200 before his demotion. Right now, Plouffe isn’t meeting those expectations.

Running Out Of Spots

Plouffe was originally expected to play most of this season as the team’s fourth outfielder. With the acquisition of Erik Komatsu and promotion of Darin Mastroianni, the Twins no longer need that fourth outfielder. As such, Plouffe has been converted to a stop-gap solution at third. That position certainly isn’t guaranteed, especially if Plouffe’s numbers continue to linger below Valencia’s. Essentially, Plouffe is quickly running out of positions to play with the Twins. If his bat doesn’t heat up, he could be the next player to be cast from the team.

Options Are Out There

While the Twins don’t have a true 3B prospect in the minors who is major league ready (Sano is still at least a year, if not two, from being ready for the big leagues) they do have other options available.

The mostly likely candidate for “next-man-up” is Pedro Florimon. Florimon is regarded as a defensive player, rather than an offensive player (in fact, his defense is considered to be better than that of recently promoted Brian Dozier) so fans shouldn’t expect him to come up and hit the ball as well as Dozier has, but he could still fit very nicely into the Twins infield.

Dozier could either be shifted to 3B or remain at SS while Florimon takes over at the opposite position. That would allow the Twins to use Alexi Casilla as a super utility infielder, adding much needed depth to the infield. Jamey Carroll would continue to man 2B and Chris Parmelee or Joe Mauer would protect 1B.

On paper, an infield of Mauer, Carroll, Dozier and Florimon may be one of the best defensive infields in baseball. That’s quite an improvement considering this was one of the weakest parts of the team last season.

If Plouffe can’t pick up his numbers during the next two games with Cleveland, I wouldn’t be shocked to see Florimon called up and given a chance at the starting job. So far this season the young call-ups have proven to be great assets for the Twins. At the moment, Scott Diamond is the best pitcher on the roster. PJ Walters may be the second best pitcher (even after 1 start) and Dozier is establishing himself as the future SS. (Not to mention, Mastroianni looks like a solid #4 outfielder). Given that success, the Twins might be more willing to roll the dice on another young call-up.

Odd Man Out

If Florimon comes up, someone has to be sent down. Ideally, I’d like to see Drew Butera returned to the minors – which would allow the Twins to platoon Mauer & Doumit at catcher and would give the fulltime 1B job back to Parmelee. Morneau would be returning from the DL, allowing him to move back into the DH role and giving Doumit the RF gig. That would put the roster as such:

C: Mauer

1B: Parmelee

2B: Carroll

SS: Dozier

3B: Florimon

LF: Willingham

CF: Span

RF: Doumit

DH: Morneau

Bench: Casilla, Mastroianni, Komatsu, Plouffe

I don’t see that happening unfortunately. I believe Ron Gardenhire is entrenched in keeping Butera on the roster as a third catcher – allowing him to flex Mauer at 1B and Doumit between DH and RF. I’m okay with keeping Butera on the roster (did I just type that?) so long as that means both Mauer and Doumit get to start as well. In that situation, the youngster Chris Parmelee would likely be sent to AAA to work on his swing. That would make the roster look like this:

C: Butera

1B: Mauer

2B: Carroll

SS: Dozier

3B: Florimon

LF: Willingham

CF: Span

RF: Doumit

DH: Morneau

Bench: Mastroianni, Komatsu, Plouffe, Casilla

I don’t like this move for two reasons. First, I don’t think Parmelee has gotten a fair shake at keeping the starting 1B job. He’s been bounced between starting and the bench so often he hasn’t had a chance to develop any sort of rhythm. I don’t know how the Twins can expect any player, let alone a young player, to develop any sort of consistency when he isn’t in the lineup.

Secondly, I don’t like Butera taking up a roster spot. The Twins are carrying two very good catchers already and while Butera is a solid defensive catcher, his bat simply does not warrant a roster spot. The team would be better served by keeping Parmelee up and letting him develop rather than allowing Butera to sit behind home plate.

Odds Plouffe Is Off The Roster?

Slim to none. While Plouffe has been frustratingly ineffective in two seasons for the Twins, the team still thinks he has potential. He has the ability to play nearly every position on the field and is always a threat to put a solid charge into the ball while at bat. The thing that is saving Plouffe’s major league spot is the fact that he is out of minor league options. The Twins would have to pass him through waivers to get him to AAA, and I don’t think the team is confident they could do that. 

That Being Said…

Let me start this by saying I like Trevor Plouffe. I think he certainly has the potential to develop into a decent outfielder or a league average 3B with solid offensive numbers. I’ve seen flashes of his offensive ability – when he is seeing the ball, he can drive it with the best hitters in the league. Unfortunately, those flashes seem to come too infrequently to rely on. While the Twins don’t WANT to pass him through waivers, don’t we have to ask if it might be better for both sides if the DID?

If the above scenario comes to fruition and Florimon is promoted to the majors to play 3B that would demote Plouffe to a full time bench option. With Mastroianni and Komatsu on the bench, Plouffe will never see time in the outfield – meaning he’ll only be plugged into the lineup to give Dozier, Florimon or Carroll a game off.

Or he would – if Alexi Casilla wasn’t already on the bench. Of the two, Casilla is clearly the better option to be a utility infielder. That means Plouffe’s job on this roster would be…what? Pinch hitter? Unlikely – there’s little chance for a younger player like Plouffe to develop if he can’t get regular at bats. The Twins aren’t going to let him rot on the bench and then expect him to continue to improve and develop.

In the end, it might be the best option to simply DFA Plouffe. If he makes it through waivers – great. Let him develop in Rochester and hope that he improves his swing and defense at the infield positions. If someone claims him, wish him the best and move on. It may be better for both sides that way.

Twins Take Two

After starting off the 4 game set with Toronto looking as bad as they have all year, the Twins put together a solid 3 games from Friday through Sunday to keep the optimism train alive. (We won't call it running yet - but it still has something in the tank).

The 4 game series was highlighted by Scott Diamond's fantastic outing Sunday afternoon. Once again, Diamond took to the mound when the Twins needed a win and did everything in his power (short of swinging the bat himself) to deliver the 'W'.

Diamond went 7 strong innings, only giving up 5 hits and walking no one, while striking out 4 batters. So far this season, Twins starting pitchers have only gone 7 innings five times - two of those five now belong to Diamond.

Saturday's game, while ending in a disappointing loss for the Twins (2-1), did have the positive benefit of another solid pitching performance - this time from recent call up PJ Walters. Walters through 6 solid innings, holding the Blue Jays to 2 runs and striking out 6. The offense failed to turn scoring opportunities into runs and left a staggering 9 runners on base while going 0-9 with runners in scoring position. Saturday's game was a picture perfect example of the Twins problems this season. When one aspect of this team succeeds, the other disappears. The Blue Jays didn't win that go in so much as the Twins simply lost it.

All in all, a 2-2 split with a good Blue Jays team is something to be happy about. The Twins are finally in the double digit win column at 10-24 and are (surprisingly) only 8 games back of the first place Indians. Cleveland comes into to Target Field on Monday for a quick 2 game series. I'm not expecting much out of the Twins this season, but a good Cleveland series can do a lot to build confidence for this team.


Pavano To Miss Next Start 


UPDATED: Pavano says the injury will not cause him to miss a start. He's still planning to go on Monday night against the Indians.

Reports came out early Sunday morning that Carl Pavano underwent an MRI and discovered some shoulder inflammation over the weekend. This was likely the cause of the bad outing Pavano had on Thursday night. Pavano's velocity was down and his control seemed to be lackluster at best. The Twins didn't comment as the severity of Pavano's injury, but it looks like it will only cause him to miss one start.


Plouffe In Trouble? 

Trevor Plouffe had a great opportunity coming into this series with the Blue Jays. With the demotion of Danny Valencia, Plouffe had a chance to start at 3B and prove to the Twins that he deserved a regular place in the lineup. Sadly, Plouffe did very little with this opportunity, managing to go 1-13 with a double (that ended up being a triple on a throwing error). Plouffe is hitting .140 this season and simply looks overmatched at the plate. Defensively, he's a below average infielder and simply an adequate outfielder.

Plouffe is out of options, so the Twins would have to try to pass him through waivers to send him down to AAA. At this point, it's hard to imagine who would jump on Plouffe with as poorly as he's been playing - so it may be worth the risk for the Twins to send him down. The main concern would obviously be who would fill in at 3B - with the obvious answer being Alexi Casilla for the short term and whoever the team can scrounge up as the long term solution.

The Twins have to be asking themselves if Plouffe is that much better than Casilla and if they wouldn't be better served with another bat from the minors on the roster.

Movers 'n' Shakers

Following last night’s “been there, done that” 6-3 lost, I was at a loss of words. There were no more adjectives, no metaphors or uplifting factoids to share about the Twins. The writing, which was on the wall long ago, was now a bright neon sign. This team stinks. The starters, this time Carl Pavano, have been simply too hittable. The offense squanders scoring opportunities time and time again. Listless and noncompetitive: Your 2012 Minnesota Twins. (Not the best marketing line, but it’s honest)

Then, things got a little bit crazy. Almost immediately following the game, the team announced they were demoting struggling 3B Danny Valencia, designating Matt Maloney (and his bloated era) for assignment. In their place the Twins promoted the hot hitting Darin Mastroianni (not saying I told you so – but SOMEONE called for that move a week ago) and AAA pitcher PJ Walters.

Out of all the moves, the demotion of Valencia comes as the biggest surprise. While it has been no secret that Valencia is not exactly Ron Gardenhire’s favorite player, the Twins didn’t (and still don’t) exactly have another alternative at 3B to replace Valencia. Gardenhire said shortly after the game that Carroll and Casilla will likely split time at 3B for the foreseeable future.

The organization obviously hopes that some at bats in AAA will help Valencia hone his swing and fix whatever is ailing him this season. I seriously doubt that will happen. Any fan who has watched the Twins even for a brief while this season can point out Valencia’s weakness – hitting on the edge of the zone. The entire AL seems to have notes that simply instruct their pitchers to hit the zone low and away and watch Valencia swing himself back to the bench.

At this point, Valencia is a 27 year old, 2 year major league veteran who has over 1,000 at bats. If he had the ability to adjust his swing to address his weakness, it would have happened by now. Pending a complete meltdown at third, I don’t think we’ll be seeing Valencia return to the majors in a Twins uniform.

Liriano Moved To The Bullpen

Demoting Francisco Liriano to the bullpen was a move that was about two starts overdue. Whatever magic Liriano had in spring training has clearly run out and he has only been a shell of his usual self this season. Once again, the organization is hoping that this move will build his confidence to help facilitate a move back to the starting rotation.

I’d have to imagine that, off the record, the Twins front office made this move to simply boost Liriano’s trade value. If he proves to be an adequate bullpen arm he’ll be worth SOMETHING at the trade deadline. This is the last year of his contract and with the way he has been pitching, the Twins clearly don’t have plans to retain him. If they can get a mid-level AA prospect for Liriano by the deadline, I think the Twins would be ecstatic.

Mastroianni Called Up:

I was calling for Mastroianni to get a promotion to the majors a week ago. He’s been putting up great numbers in AAA, has some defensive flexibility and is a great base runner. As the Twins were desperately fishing the waiver wire for a 4^th outfielder, I continued to insist that Mastroianni was the answer to their problems.

I hope the Twins give him a chance to prove himself in the big leagues. (His previous stint in the majors was in 1 game for the Blue Jays. After which, he was promptly returned to the minors).

What IS The Plan Here?

That being said, I’m not exactly sure what the team’s plan is defensively. By my count, they have 7 outfielders on the roster (Willingham, Span, Plouffe, Komatsu, Doumit, Parmelee and Mastroianni) and 4 first basemen (Morneau, Mauer, Parmelee and Mastroianni). They also have 3 catchers (Mauer, Doumit, Butera) and yet, there’s no true third baseman on the team.

Mastroianni wasn’t called up to sit on the bench and he’ll likely get to see time in RF. Parmelee is young and is being done zero good by sitting on the bench. He won’t start consistently, however, as the team wants to keep Mauer in the lineup everyday, meaning he has to play at 1B with some regularity. Doumit’s bat, which has begun to heat up, is also necessary to keep in the lineup.

Meanwhile, newcomer Erik Komatsu has played fairly well and doesn’t deserve to be relegated to the bench fulltime either. Trevor Plouffe has been collecting dust on the bench, unable to build any sort of offensive momentum this season because he can’t even buy an at bat. Simply put, there’s a logjam of players at too many positions – somebody is going to lose.

Speculation:

The Twins could use this move to put Willingham in the DH role for awhile (until Morneau returns) while playing Komatsu in LF and Mastroianni in RF. Defensively, that would make the most sense while still allowing the offense to flow through Willingham, Mauer & Doumit.

A few weeks ago, stories from the Twins beat writers seemed to indicate that Danny Valencia, Luke Hughes, Trevor Plouffe and Alexi Casilla were on thin ice with the team. Since then, we’ve seen Hughes punted from the roster, Valencia demoted, and Casilla relegated to a bench player behind Brian Dozier. With the flush of OFs on the roster, Plouffe has to be concerned that his spot on the team is fading away. He’s not a defensive asset (far from it) and his bat has been poor at best. If he doesn’t start hitting soon, we may be seeing the last of him as well.

Drew Butera is occupying a spot that would be better used for another utility infielder or third baseman. With Mauer and Doumit on the roster, and each one needing to be in the lineup daily, NOT playing either of them at catcher is foolish. Butera’s defense is solid, but it’s no better than Mauer’s and not markedly better than Doumit’s. His bat certainly is worth a spot in the lineup. Holding him on the major league roster as insurance is a wasted spot on the bench.

More Moves On The Way?

It looks like the Twins are in a full blown youth movement now. With Dozier’s great play and Scott Diamond’s fantastic outing, the team seems to be in the “Why not give ‘em a try?” mode of management. If that’s the case, players such as Deolis Guerra, Anthony Slama, Jeff Manship, Pedro Florimon and Ben Revere should keep a bag packed – just in case they get the call up.

Walters To Start This Weekend

PJ Walters, who has been having a solid year in Rochester, will get to start in Francisco Liriano’s spot on Saturday. Walters has a solid 2.70 ERA with a 3-1 record. He’s struck out 25 batters over 33.1 innings and has only walked 6. By all accounts he’s earned a shot at the major league level.

Walter’s also is known as a “soft thrower” who only hits about 88 to 90 on his fastball. He’s the prototypical pitch-to-contact Twins pitcher, meaning he’ll either thrive and die in the majors. If he can’t locate his pitches, chances are his stay in Minnesota will be brief. Given the other options on the roster – the Twins are willing to at least take that risk once.

Diamond Is The Twins' Best Friend

One day after complaining that the 2012 edition of the Minnesota Twins was a noncompetitive baseball team, they put together their best performance of the season and looked every bit the competitive team that fans thought they would be this year.

Newcomer Scott Diamond, who had been shining (I’ll try to avoid Diamond puns as best I can) in AAA this season carried over his momentum to the majors. He put together a strong 7 inning outing, holding the Angels scoreless while striking out 6.

It was the first time this season that the Twins pitching staff held their opponents scoreless. 29 games and that was the first shutout. Yeah, it’s been a long year.

The most impressive aspect of Diamond’s efforts last night was his ability to work out of jams. The early innings saw Diamond in situations that have bitten Twins starters earlier this year (Leadoff singles, early inning walks) Diamond was able to work his way out of each jam, getting Pujols to groundout or Hunter to strikeout.

It’s obviously way too early to declare Diamond a success, but if he can even remotely duplicate last night’s performance on a consistent basis the Twins pitching staff might have its first reliable pitcher.

Not to be outdone, the offense decided to show up last night as well. Brian Dozier proved his call up was a good decision by going 3 for 4 and showing great defensive range. Josh Willingham had a clutch 2 out hit in the first that gave the Twins and early lead and Ryan Doumit promptly tripled said lead with a 2 run home run.

The Twins had the bases loaded twice in last night’s game and failed to get in any runners. This is still an issue for this team, one that will cause them to lose some games (it already has) but if they’re remotely able to get at least some of those clutch hits across, they’re going to start picking up wins they’ve been otherwise leaving behind.

A New Trend:

I don’t want to scare it away, but a new trend has been developing over the past few games. The Twins pitching staff has actually been keeping the team in games. Ranging back to Pavano’s last start against the Mariners, each Twins’ starter has performed admirably, managing to keep the game within range.

Granted, the offense decided to take a week off, rendering these great starts meaningless – but a trend is a trend, even if the results aren’t backing it up all the time.

If (big if) the Twins can get better pitching from their starters, and (big and) their offense can continue to string together some clutch hits like they did in the early season – this team will start to win games.

Are they division contenders? Most likely not, however, stranger things have happened. At the very least, string a couple of wins together in a weak division and hang around. You never know how things will develop as the season progresses.

Pavano takes the mound tonight with a chance to win a series for the Twins for the first time since…well, since they did so against the Angels in Minnesota…a month ago. (You remember? The second series of the season?…Yeah, it’s been awhile). That series is followed by a 4 game set with a scrappy Blue Jay team and a short 2 game series with the division leading Indians.

It’s only one win and they’re still 13 games below .500, but last night’s win might (might) be one of those momentum builders. We can hope, right?

Go Twins!

Noncompetitive Baseball

I haven’t had many posts over the past few days because there hasn’t been much to talk about regarding the Twins. Currently, the Twins are playing noncompetitive baseball. They’re operating on a simple formula, whenever one aspect of the game is working, the opposite aspect fails spectacularly.  

Quick & Painless Recap:  

 Jason Marquis pitched well on Saturday (by Marquis’ standards) holding the Mariners to 2 runs over 6 innings. Unfortunately, the offense only mustered one hit during that entire game. One.  

Sunday saw Ryan Doumit homer twice which could be an early indicator that Doumit’s bat is starting to heat up. Unfortunately, no one was on base in front of Doumit during those at bats. Nick Blackburn, Sunday’s starter, also made sure that Doumit’s efforts were simply window dressing as he quickly buried the Twins in a 0-3 first inning hole in route to a 5 ER, 7 hit outing.  

It’s telling that a 5 inning, 4 ER outing from Francisco Liriano is being dubbed “promising” by Twins writers and reporters. When the supposed ace of your staff is utterly hittable, sporting an ERA around 9.00 and is 0-5, I guess a start where he “only” gives up 4 runs is an improvement.

 Noncompetitive is the perfect adjective for the Twins right now. Ever since they came off a promising east coast trip where they split two with New York and played Tampa Bay tough, this team has been in a tailspin. They gave away two very winnable games against Boston and ended up being swept. They hung around with Kansas City, but did very little in that brief series to build confidence. Now, a 1-5 west coast trip and a game one loss in the current home stand have the Twins at 7-21 with the worst record in baseball.  

Changes Coming?   

I don’t think we’re too far from seeing a full youth movement to Target Field. If this team continues to play uninspired and downright bad baseball, there will likely be some players looking at new opportunities within the Twins’ system.   Batters such as Danny Valencia, Alexi Casilla, Jamey Carroll, Trevor Plouffe and Drew Butera could be likely victims of a shakeup with demotions, designations or trades a very strong possibility for any of them. On the pitching front, Jeff Gray, Mark Maloney, Alex Burnett and Francisco Liriano are all players who could be seeing a shakeup during some point this season.  

At this point, I think fans, reporters (and possibly players) can admit that the 2012 Minnesota Twins are not a good baseball team. However, there are a few things fans can look forward to and stay positive about.  

With a good deal of contracts coming off the books at the end of this season and a strong surge of young players ready to make the move to the big leagues in the next year or two, there is promise on the horizon for Twins fans. The first step in rebuilding is to dump the old bloated contracts from the payroll. Luckily, the following Twins players will be free agents at the end of this season:  

Ryan Doumit – Could possibly be resigned due to lack of depth. However, I think they’ll likely look elsewhere for a cheaper backup.  

Scott Baker – Likely resigned at discount. I believe we’ll see Baker back in ‘13.   Francisco Liriano – At this point, there is no way the Twins bring back Liriano in ’13.  

Carl Pavano – I had originally thought the Twins could resign Pavano next season, but I now think he’ll likely be moved to another team at the trade deadline.  

Jason Marquis – Either moved at the deadline or he walks away at the end of the year. He was signed as a short term fix. It’s highly unlikely he’s back with the Twins next season.  

Matt Capps – Glen Perkins was given his contract with the full intention that he was the team’s future closer. Capps has done little this season that would cement him as a necessary member of this team in the future. The Twins should decline his option and use the money elsewhere.  

Trade Bait:   

These are the players that I could see being shipped to another team by the end of July. (All of the above listed players, excluding Scott Baker, also qualify to be on this list.) 

 Jamey Carroll – Solid defense and he knows how to get on base. For a team that needs shortstop depth in the midst of a playoff push Carroll would be a good fit. If Dozier proves to be as solid as we all hope, Carroll is a luxury the Twins can afford to move.  

Josh Willingham – Twins fans (myself included) love what Willingham has brought to the team so far this season, but his bat could entice a playoff team that needs a little more offensive pop. With the OF depth in the Twins’ organization, it doesn’t make sense to hold on to an aging player.

 Denard Span – I hate (HATE) that these rumors keep popping up, as I believe Span can be a great part of the Twins’ rebuilding efforts. He’s young, a great clubhouse presence and a great defender. However, Span may be the Twins best player at this point in time and would likely warrant the best return (prospect wise) in a trade. I hope this doesn’t happen, but I wouldn’t be shocked to see it happen.

 Justin Morneau – This is, of course, assuming Morneau is healthy for much of May, June and July. If that’s the case (and he continues to post solid offensive numbers) I could see the Twins eating some of his contract to move Morneau. At one point in time, this would be a blasphemous claim – but the reality is setting in. This Twins team isn’t going to compete this year and will be going very young over the next two years. Morneau doesn’t fit that plan. Sending him to New York, Texas or Boston (or to another AL team that could use an extra power hitter) makes sense for everyone involved.  

‘Safe’   

These players are likely part of the Twins rebuilding plans and will be around for years to come.  

Joe Mauer – Face of the franchise, one of the best catchers in baseball. He’s here to stay.  

Chris Parmelee – He’s likely the Twins 1B answer for the foreseeable future. Solid defense, good bat and a reliable instinct, Parmelee is a young player with great potential.  

Alexi Casilla – While he’s not likely to be a future starter, he works well as a utility infielder and provides nice bench depth. He’s not a certainty to be a future Twins player, but I’d wager the odds are in his favor.  

Glen Perkins – Just signed a contract extension and is likely going to be the Twins closer in ’13. Pending a disastrous meltdown in mechanics, he’s here to stay.  

Jared Burton, Scott Diamond, Anthony Swarzak, Liam Hendriks – All young pitchers who will find their way into the starting rotation or the ‘pen.  

Waiting In The Wings  

 I think the following players are on the verge of being called up either during this season or that will certainly be on the major league roster some point next season.  

Aaron Hicks – OF
Joe Benson – OF
Ben Revere – OF
Darin Mastroianni – OF
Miguel Sano – 3B
Pedro Florimon – SS
Kyle Gibson – SP
Alex Wimmers – SP
Lester Oliveros - RP
Deolis Guerra – RP
Anthony Slama – RP
Jeff Manship – RP  

That’s what you’d call a youth movement!    

Simply put, change is likely coming for the Twins this season and it may happen sooner rather than later. There are contracts coming off the books, players playing below the level expected of a major league player (Plouffe, Valencia, Butera, Casilla, the entire pitching staff) and a lot of young players on their way up (Benson, Revere, Sano, Gibson, Wimmers – to name a few). Given their current level of play, maybe change is the best solution for the Twins.

Youth Movement

Late last night, while the Twins were in the process of being held to 1 hit by Felix Hernandez and the Mariners, it was announced that Scott Diamond and Brian Dozier were being called up from AAA Rochester. All I can say to this announcement is "Finally". This team is clearly not a contending club - any thoughts or dreams of them being "in the hunt" in this division were clearly misplaced. As such, why not call up some of the young guys and give them a shot?

On his radio show this morning, Ron Gardenhire said that Dozier will be his everyday starting shortstop and that he'll move other players around as he sees fit. Essentially, that means Carroll will likely get a few days off and then platoon at 2B with Casilla. Likewise, Casilla will probably earn some time off with this move and then play a little 3B to let Danny Valencia have a day or two off.

I've been calling for these moves for almost a week now and it's nice to see the team decide to bring up some of the young players who have been playing well in Rochester. Hopefully, Dozier can come in and hit at or around the .270 he had been batting in AAA. Diamond, who was simply lights out in AAA, will hopefully bring a little more consistency to the 'pen.

A corresponding move for calling up Diamond has not been made, but it's likely that either Jeff Gray or Matt Maloney will be DFA or that Liam Hendriks will simply be sent down to AAA. Dozier corresponding move was to place Justin Morneau on the 15 day DL with a wrist injury. We haven't heard if this injury is in fact worse than was originally reported or if they're simply giving Morneau more time to heal.

Pitching Improvements: 

Over the past few games, the Twins' starting pitchers have finally been able to keep the game under control. Carl Pavano, Jason Marquis and Nick Blackburn have all been able to make good starts, limiting their opponents to a few runs. (Pavano gave up two, Marquis gave up two and Blackburn gave up three. Even Liriano, who was largely ineffective last week, 'only' gave up four.)

Offensive Letdowns 

Unfortunately, this sudden pitching epiphany has come with a complete offensive shutdown. The Twins have been held scoreless in 3 of their last 4 games and have only mustered 9 hits in those 4 games. Not good...

One could argue that facing CJ Wilson, Jared Weaver and Felix Hernandez could be the cause of this sudden offensive disappearance (I tend to lean that way) but it is concerning to see the one part of this team that was consistently effective suddenly grow cold. We'll see over the next few games if this is simply due to amazing pitchers or if the offensive surge early in the year was just a fluke.

Time For Some Tough Love

I strive to keep this blog as a positive place for Twins recaps and analysis. No matter the situation, I try to keep things in perspective and always search for the upside amongst the clouds. Not today. No, today I think it’ll be therapeutic to rip this team a new one (so to speak). After another (4^th this season) sweep, this team needs to make some changes…now. No more Mr. Positive (for today at least), it’s time for some tough love.

Recap:

I’m not even going to waste space recapping a debacle of series – just know this: the Twins were stymied by CJ Wilson in game one, made a valiant comeback but rally killers Sean Burroughs, Justin Morneau and Alexi Casilla couldn’t deliver in crunch time.

Game two saw Francisco Liriano be utterly hittable, giving up 4 runs in what was deemed a ‘good’ outing by reporters. Journeyman Jerome Williams stymied the Twins (there’s a theme here) holding them to only 3 hits and 0 runs.

Game three – Jared Weaver pitched a no hitter. Liam Hendriks, Matt Maloney & Alex Burnett were terrible. That’s all there is to write on that one.

One Small Rant:

I’ve heard a lot of whining and complaining coming from the Twins front office over the past six months about attendance figures and revenue. For 2012, the Twins are average 5,000 fewer fans per game than in previous years and they aren’t sure why.

Allow me to clue you in.

This. Team. Is. Bad. There you go, mystery solved. The 2011 Twins were possibly one of the worst versions this franchise has ever put out on the field (until, perhaps, this season’s team). How did the front office respond? Well, they cut the payroll of course.

Wait…they did what?

That’s right, the team responded to their worst season in a long while by slashing payroll and standing pat during much of the offseason; passing up opportunities to sign better starting pitchers and bullpen help and allowing Jason Kubel and Michael Cuddyer to walk. The also resigned Matt Capps, the face (fairly or unfairly) of the Twins failures last season. Capps is not a fan favorite – we don’t trust him and all we see when he takes the mound is a bad trade.

Perhaps they overspent last year and needed to get payroll down to a reasonable level. (This was their reasoning to knock down the payroll). The front office and owners have to realize the way that approach appears to fans, however. This team lost 99 games – and you cut payroll. From a fan’s perspective, not only are you not trying to improve the team, you’re mailing in the coming season as well. Why would I spend my hard earned money on a ticket to a team you don’t even have faith in?

I wouldn’t. Fans aren’t. There’s no mystery here. It’s a bad team and fans don’t want to watch bad baseball.

A small caveat here in defense of the Twins front office. They are well aware of the talent they have in the minors. They feel that much of that talent is about one year away. Next season, Brain Dozier, Joe Benson and Ben Revere could be everyday starters. The following season, Miguel Sano, Aaron Hicks and Kyle Gibson are likely to be in Minnesota as well. Young players like Darin Mastroianni, Deolis Guerra, Lester Oliveros and Alex Wimmers also have legitimate chances of being everyday starters in the next year or two as well.

Essentially this team is one to two years away from a massive youth movement – and is one to two years away from being competitive once again. That fact, combined with the Tigers big spending spree likely encouraged the Twins to be money wise and simply let this season go where it may – save the free agent dollars for next season. After all, the following arms are free agents next season:

Current Twins players have notes with estimations about what the Twins will do with them. Targets I think the team could be most interested in are bolded.

Scott Baker (Twins have a 9.25MM option, they’ll likely decline. May try to resign at a lower amount, given his injury history)

Cole Hamels

Edwin Jackson

Colby Lewis

Zack Greinke

Francisco Liriano (If he continues pitching like he has been – he’s out)

Carl Pavano (May get a short term offer from the Twins)

Brandon McCarthy

Anibal Sanchez

Joe Saunders

Joel Pineiro

Ryan Dempster

Joe Blanton

Jorge De La Rosa

Zach Duke

Jeff Francis

Kyle Loshe

Jason Marquis (Thanks for being a stopgap starter. So long.)

Shaun Marcum

Jake Peavy

Jake Westbrook

Carlos Zambrano

(There are others, but guys like Dan Haren, Ervin Santana and Fausto Carmona have team options that are likely to get exercised).

So, to put it simply – there are options out there in the coming season. The Twins front office knows this and they know there is little in the way of quality pitching on its way up from the minors. With the expiring contracts and a large free agent market, this team is in place to spend. Why tie up payroll for pitching this season when you knew next season was the year to make all the changes?

While it’s frustrating right now, if the above theory is the one the Twins front office is employing, I can understand the payroll cut. Just don’t complain about bad attendance numbers. You brought this on yourself.

Now, on to fixing this mess.

First And Foremost:

Designate for assignment the following players:

Matt Maloney (Ineffective, erratic, not a quality long reliever)

Clete Thomas (16 strikeouts in his last 19 at bats – he doesn’t have plate discipline, instead he just swings for the fences every time he’s up. There are better options within the Twins system for RF. Let Thomas go)

Jeff Gray (He may have ‘great stuff’ but if it never hits the zone, how is it ‘great’?)

Demote the following players:

Alex Burnett (utterly hittable, showing signs of being the ineffective pitcher he was last season).

Drew Butera (He was clearly called up for depth with Morneau’s possible injury. If Morneau is back, Butera is an extra catcher the team doesn’t need).

Call-up these players:

Anthony Slama (Slama has been effective in AAA this season and is a strikeout reliever. He would fill the roll that Burnett is currently in much more effectively)

 Scott Diamond (With a miniscule ERA and great control, Diamond has been the team’s best starter – at any level – this season. Give him a shot in the big leagues).

Brian Dozier (The team needs middle infield help, Dozier is their best infield prospect – give him a chance).

Joe Benson (Benson deserves a chance in the big leagues after years of doing time in the minors. The team needs an everyday RF who won’t strikeout all the time).

Darin Mastroianni (While Mastroianni has been mainly at 1B in Rochester, he has the ability to cover a few positions – including the outfield. He’s hitting .340 in AAA and has great speed on the bases. As a late game defensive replacement or pinch runner, he has great value. The fact that his bat isn’t horrible is a nice bonus).

Adjust the lineup:

1. Give Carroll some time off, he’s played every game this season. While he’s been great defensively, we cannot expect to keep him to last an entire season as the everyday shortstop.

2. Move Liriano & Hendriks into the bullpen. Liriano is ineffective and tends to leave his pitches up and over the heart of the plate. With an ERA hovering around 10, Liriano clearly is not equipped to be a starter at this point in time. Move him to spot relief (1 to 2 innings at a time) and let him work out his issues. As (if) he gets things under control, move him to long relief and then back to the rotation.

Hendriks has struggled over his past two starts. He has the ability to be a solid starter, but his confidence may be shaken after being obliterated in his last two appearances. Shift him to long relief for now.

3. Promote Diamond to the starting rotation.

4. Promote Duensing to the starting rotation. (Because…SOMEBODY has to start).

New Lineup:

C: Mauer / Doumit

1B: Parmelee / Morneau / Mauer

2B: Casilla / Dozier

SS: Caroll / Dozier

3B: Valencia

LF: Willingham

CF: Span

RF: Benson / Plouffe

DH: Morneau / Doumit / Mauer

Bench: Doumit, Dozier, Plouffe, Mastroianni

Starters:

Pavano

Blackburn

Marquis

Diamond

Duensing

Bullpen: Liriano, Hendriks, Slama, Burton, Swarzak, Perkins, Capps

Are these moves aggressive? You bet. Will the team make these moves? Never in a million years. The Twins are conservative to a fault when it comes to calling up young talent from the lower levels. That being said, it’s very clear that this team, as presently constructed, is the worst in baseball. If Gardenhire wants to keep his job and the team wants to sell July, August & September tickets, they need to compete.

The Twins don’t need to make ALL of these movs, but some of them do need to be made and they need to be made soon.

The Twins have a day off today, followed by 3 games with Seattle. I have no predictions for the series. I just want them to win. I promise I’ll be more positive in the next post. Until then,

Go Twins!