Suggested TWIN'S moves

[soldoncass]

Thome...is definitely one of the most feared hitters we have, not hottest. Great guy to have on the bench for pinch-hitting late. High/ hard pitches get him now, cause his bat speed has slowed down. He struck-out 3 times in one game a week or so ago, against a lefty...not good. His back trouble may be aggravated by all those "SWING and MISSES".

I had planter-fasciitis recently, and I'm amazed he didn't go on DL...sure can't run with it.

[jwmiller33]

NO DEAL...Oswalt would give up 5 runs per game in the AL, that is what we have now.

I think Haren would do better, but he's paid too much, for what he is. Need to look for a young fireballer 96-99 mph, that is on a "going nowhere" team. Fernandez in Seattle, or several in the NL all-star pitchers., for Casilla/ Tolbert, and Kubel, and maybe Hicks. More "room for error" with a fireballer vs the 88-90 guys we have now.

there is absolutely no way the mariners will trade away king felix. they just resigned him to a new deal this past january. $3.5 million signing bonus and salaries of $6.5 million this season, $10 million in 2011, $18.5 million in 2012, $19.5 million in 2013 and $20 million in 2014. Hernandez also will have a limited no-trade clause.

so saying haren is too expensive and then throw king felix's name out there is not very smart, as he is getting paid tons and tons of dollars over the next couple years, A LOT more than haren would require. plus, he is their franchise player and it would take A LOT to trade for him in terms of prospects

[zamboni]

Lets get Prince Fielder since Justin is always injured.

Oh man, the fast food restaurant owners would LOVE that!!!!!

[soldoncass]

Soooooooooooo, if you trade Cuddy......who is going to fill in at first and provide some power against lefties? Kubel is very weak against lefties. His arm is decent...but throwing out Konerko is NOT a good measuring stick. Looked like Konerko had weights around his ankles.....

Young or Kubel are more tradeable than Cuddy, because of age, salary. Young because he is at his PEAK value he has ever been, and Kubel because of his LH bat. Twin's have some young OF prospects with speed coming up that can replace one of them.

[soldoncass]

Haren IS TOO expensive....I didn't know Seattle is over-paying Hernandez that much. According to your #'s Harren will be getting 52 Mil thru 2013....Hernandez will be getting 54 mil through the same time.

Maybe the TWIN's can get Jamie Moyer....go s-l-o-w-e-r-,than s-l-o-w instead of faster.

[jwmiller33]

you guys see Thome's homerun tonight? i'm not saying, i'm just saying

[jwmiller33]

Twins called up Anthony Slama from Rochester today. I said this last week in the Pretty Pretty Please Gardy thread:

The Twins should call up Anthony Slama from AAA and let him take over the close roles. With Gardy's horrible closer managing techniques, he completely took away Raush's biggest asset, which was his durability. So far this year, with Gardy only using our closer in extremely limited roles (like he had always done with Nathan), Raush has logged just 30 innings, while in the past he has been able to average 80 innings/season, which means he appeared in about half of the teams games. He is on pace for like 60 innings, which is diminishing his value because we aren't using his durability anymore, something our bullpen could really use with a bunch of starters lasting only a couple innings into games as of late. Raush has shown he can log serious innings, but now that he is our closer, Gardy refuses to use him in non save situations, like a tie ball game in the 8th or 9th inning when we have already exhausted our best bullpen arms. If we called up Slama, let him take over the closer role, it would be a huge asset to our bullpen by letting Gardy use Raush MUCH more often

I don't want to brag and say I called it, buuuuut I called it. I doubt they will let Slama take over closing duties but with Rauch's last couple outings, I wouldn't be surprised. Welcome to the bigs Anthony Slama! 26 years old and has a 1.80 ERA in 235 career innings. It's about time this guy got his shot

[PierBridge]

Gardy doesn't handle the closer role any differently then any other manager's do other then some extreme circumstances and the stats I have provided in the past has proven this. You guys need to branch out and make your conclusions other then what you see the Yankee's do in the world series with Mariono Rivera...

Not sure if you have been watching or not but Rauch is extremely scary out there at times and is lucky to have blown only 4 saves, easily could be 8 or more with out some serious luck.

Anyway back to Thome I think Gardy expected to use him a lot less actually being he's pretty washed up physically and can barely move at all after being in the league for 20 years. I like his role a lot but he is swinging OK I can see a few more swings coming his way but it's tough to get him in there when he's a one dimensional pull hitter with nothing else to offer other than his off-field stuff like clubhouse leadership and professionalism which is a big asset that goes over-looked by the stats only guys.

Someone mentioned Prince Fielder who's hitting like 239 can you imagine the P'n and moaning we'd hear in here about that.....he'd probably be run out of town.

So Cuddyer who was hitting .275 before yesterdays game would be leading the Indians in hitting or there close. You guys make it seem like he's hitting .061 with all your whining. Cuddy has the same OB percentage as Young ang Kubel at 34 percent is 3rd on the team in extra base hits behind Morneau and one behind Delmond Young and ahead of Mauer. Not to mention 34 walks and multiple defensive positions or other intangibles that a few of you guys can't grasp.

Speaking of Gardy who IMO is doing a masterful job of coaching, actually strike that his BEST job as a manager all things considered with a mess of pitching staff injury after injury a new field along with struggles by his stars players "span, mauer to name a few" along with the high expectations in a game of baseball which is the hardest to be good at consistently with all the variables which also seems to fly over peoples heads in here.

I need some coffee and will be back later with some more P'n and moaning...

Anywhoo great thread and some good opinions in here keep it rolling

[SledNeck]

is being the worst clutch hitter in baseball an intangable?

[PierBridge]

is being the worst clutch hitter in baseball an intangable?

You'll never understand or grasp intangible.

Clutch was the the last 2 months of last year when Cuddy dominated Baseball and you were stuck on the Range pulling your hair out while we all enjoyed the greatest division race and performance in Twins history!

FACT!

[solbes]

Let's make ANY move to aquire new blood in the rotation. Look at Pavano, he was always injured and had some bad seasons before coming here. I don't think we can do much worse than the 3 we have right now (Blackie, Slowey, and Baker). We gotta shake things up some, and I don't think moving Duensing (although a great move) will be near enough to turn things around.

We saw this same thing last year, why did we believe it was going to be different this year?

[bisonthunder]

How bout benching Baker, Slowey, Blackburn and insert Duensing, Manship, and Swarzak or Perkins. Can't be any worse.

For real we need something different out there, trade would be ideal.

PS... Cuddy should stay the remainder of the season... hes too versatile to get rid of at this point.

[Bobby Bass]

During last nights game I was so hoping that Gardy would take a walk out to the bull pen, take a baseball out and ask if anyone can step up and throw the da*m thing! Geeze, you got to win the games that you should and surprise us against some of the teams that are better then you. Big comeback the night before is wasted the next night with a loss. Don't get me wrong I watch the losses along with the wins but I would like to see a few more wins here and wish they would get out of this tailspin. 20 hits last night.....

[soldoncass]

Thome can still hit a mistake pitch. Did you notice it was against a RH pitcher? Didn't do too well against the lefty.

[Harmonica Bear]

I'm not so sure I would call Sunday's comeback win a waste. But..... Yesterdays game sure was Butt-ugly!

The season is full of peaks and valleys, things will get better. This is not a bad baseball team, it's a good baseball team, with players who have been through it before. Things will get better, barring anymore injuries (my token disclaimer).

[Scott K]

I brought up Fielder as a joke! Just because it fit in with everyone elses gripes. I do believe the team needs a good pitcher, it doesnt need to be a #1, or a #2 pitcher, we just need a consistent #3 picture. Right now we have Pavano, he is a good #2 picture, Duensing will find a nice spot in the rotation for the rest of the year. Other then that, we need a good arm that will get us through 7 innings of ball, and give up less then 5 runs. There should be many options out there that can fit that description. Then we dont need to sell our weak farm system to rent a player for a few months.

[mrklean]

i think we need a good old Gardy freak out to get the team going

[soldoncass]

I think everybody on this board expected Slama to be called up soon....especially how Burnett was pitching I think you" calling" Slama to be the closer may be unrealistic though.

I thought Baker pitched decent last night (until the 4th). .....but our defense didn't take away any of their hits either, like Cleveland was from us all night.

[rundrave]

Clutch was the the last 2 months of last year when Cuddy dominated Baseball and you were stuck on the Range pulling your hair out while we all enjoyed the greatest division race and performance in Twins history!

FACT!

why do you keep bringing that up? Your almost as bad as Windy City and World Series rings from a few years ago. Who cares its in the past, and regardless how great Cuddy was down the stretch last year, he cannot be counted on with RISP today.

I want Cuddy to have a great year, but us "Cuddy haters" have every right to be frustrated to see the only time he gets a hit lately (with the exception of Sunday) is when it doesnt matter. Then he CONSISTANTLY fails to do anything when the game is on the line or runners are in scoring position.

this is a team, and Cuddy has been versatile on defense but he continues to dissapoint, and last years run he had does us no good today. It doesnt justify anything, only shows how inconsistant he is at the plate.

[harvey lee]

The Twins need some pitching and one great one.

You all may think I am crazy but, I would trade Mauer for a great starting pitcher. We could get a good one for him. Joe may not catch that many more seasons and we could bring up Ramos to replace him.

Yes, Ramos may not hit the percentage that Mauer does but he would not be that bad. He may also not be sidelined as much as Joe. As far as Joe with Hr's, he is not doing that well so Ramos could more than likely do just as good.

Not let me have it for suggesting to trade Joe.

[Scott K]

Not to many teams would take Joe with his new contract, only the big 3 or 4, and they arent trading a #1 picture for anyone right now!

Plus he has a no trade clause.

[PierBridge]

[SledNeck]

is being the worst clutch hitter in baseball an intangable?

[zamboni]

You're right, Sled. 2 months don't make a career. So before you give Delmon MVP, lets just wait awhile.

[greebs]

Valencia hasn't started since that error (that Morneau likely would have fielded). LNP really screwed up on the bases tonight so you suppose Valencia will get the start tomorrow or will Gardy allow a 4:1 ratio or something like for Punto mistakes before he puts Danny back out there?