The Cedar Rapids Kernels passed the midpoint of the first half of their 2015 season over the past weekend, making it an appropriate time to get manager Jake Mauer’s assessment of how their season is progressing. There’s not a lot for the manager to complain loudly about, with his team vying for the second best record in the entire Midwest League. Then again, his guys have consistently remained several games behind Western Division leading Quad Cities in the standings, so there’s certainly room
A year ago, Cedar Rapids Kernels starting pitcher Michael Cederoth was neither a Minnesota Twins prospect, nor was he a starting pitcher. But times change. Cederoth was wrapping up his college career at San Diego State in May of 2014, looking forward to entering the June amateur player draft and getting his professional career started. The 6’ 6” tall pitcher spent his junior season as the team's closer and his 20 saves tied the Aztecs' school record. A year later, he's a starting pitcher in
You might not guess it just to look at him, as he patrols centerfield for the Cedar Rapids Kernels, but there’s a good chance that Tanner English is among the most athletic ballplayers on the roster. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/English15a-600x400.jpg Tanner English (Photo: SD Buhr) Sure, he measures just 5’ 10” tall and is listed at just 160 pounds, but don’t let his size fool you. English has athletic skills. For example, how many of his team mates do you th
It may not be what casual baseball fans want to see, but in most cases and at most levels of professional baseball, the teams with the best pitching win the most games. Sometimes, it really is that simple. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/KernelsAutographs-600x400.jpg (L-R) Zack Larson, Stephen Gonsalves, Zach Granite and CK Irby sign autographs on the field after a Kernels game on April 26 It arguably has been exactly that simple for the Cedar Rapids Kernels over t
It’s pretty hard to imagine this baseball season getting off to a better start, isn’t it? I mean, even the most optimistic of us probably wouldn’t have predicted a .789 winning percentage through the first week of games! This looks like it could be a fun summer of baseball! What’s that? You say the Twins are languishing with a 1-6 record? Who cares? I’m talking about their full-season minor league affiliates! That’s where the action (and literally ALL of the fun) is! The AAA Rochester Red Wi
With Thursday night's announcement that Chris Herrmann would be heading north with the Minnesota Twins, their opening day roster appears to be set. The back up catcher spot was the final unresolved question of the spring. A lot is made of the make up of the Twins' roster as they open the 2015 season, but it really is of just mild interest to me, personally. Yes, I like to see a guy like Herrmann rewarded for his hard work and persistence and JR Graham's story as a Rule 5 pick up earning a sp
I’ve been down here in Fort Myers, Florida, for several days now and I’ve been very slow about posting anything here. My bad. The newly remodeled stadium at the Twins’ complex (now named “Century Link Field”) is very nice. Much wider concourses and a lot of variety of seating options. I’ve seen parts of a couple games at the new place, as well as a game against the Phillies at their Clearwater home. I plan to also see the Twins take on the Orioles up in Sarasota on Sunday. But I’ve spent the
Almost exactly 11 months ago, Mitch Garver arrived in Cedar Rapids to get started on his first full season of professional baseball in the Minnesota Twins organization. This spring, he’s a big league catcher – for now, anyway. Garver, the Twins’ ninth round draft choice in 2013 out of New Mexico, spent all of last season with the Cedar Rapids Kernels, not only playing a leadership role behind the plate but at the plate, as well. He hit .298, led Cedar Rapids with 79 RBI and was voted the Midwe
In case you missed it, there's a new Commissioner of Major League Baseball. I know that, for many fans, that may come as a shock. There are fans that legally enjoy a brew or two at ballgames who have never attended a big league game that wasn't played under rules dictated by Bud Selig. If it's true that, "the exception proves the rule," then that applies to Bud Selig's role in "proving" the Peter Principle. There's no other way to explain that man surviving 22 years as Commissioner of Baseball
A couple days ago, I posted several videos I shot at the Arizona Fall League games I attended last week. Today, you get still pictures. I wish I had had an opportunity to get more pictures of Jones, Adam and Rogers, but I only saw Jones pitch once and chose to shoot a video rather than try to get pictures through the netting, Adam didn't pitch at all in the games I saw and Rogers, of course, is injured and did not pitch. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Salt-River-Fie
Regardless of whether you believe the Minnesota Twins' extended search for new manager was thorough or a sham to cover for what was a foregone conclusion all along, the wait is finally over and Paul Molitor is taking over the manager's office at Target Field. The Twins announced the hiring Monday morning and will hold a press conference at 10:00 am on Tuesday to introduce Molitor as their new manager, though the decision was leaked to the traditional media types in Minneapolis days earlier.
I shot several videos during my trip to Arizona to watch a few AFL games so I thought I would share a few in this post. I saw Eddie Rosario, Max Kepler, Jake Reed and Zach Jones in action during the 3 Salt River games I attended. Enjoy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdIeM0Q4few https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sz2buQsUhg0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKtwmBDr3Ho https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR1nywxVE38 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1L9AUc8AivA https://www.youtube.com/wat
The Salt River Rafters made the trip across to the west side of the Phoenix area to Surprise, Arizona, on Wednesday to take on the Surprise Saguaros and, prior to the game, Twins prospects Max Kepler and Tyler Rogers took the time to answer a few questions. Kepler takes a .289/.385/.422 slash line in to Thursday night's game in Salt River, which is respectable for any hitter in the Arizona Fall League, but is perhaps even more impressive for a 21-year-old with no experience above the Class A l
A year ago, Jake Reed was beginning intrasquad workouts in Eugene, Oregon, as he prepared for his junior year at the University of Oregon. In the subsequent 12 months, the Twins' prospect has seen a lot of the U.S.A. while pitching for the Ducks, then the Twins Rookie level team in Elizabethton, Tennessee, followed by the Cedar Rapids Kernels, and a trip to Fort Myers for instructional league. Now, he's a member of the Salt River Rafters in the Arizona Fall League. Reed was the Twins' fifth ro
Immediately after the Minnesota Twins’ 2014 season ended, General Manager Terry Ryan announced that longtime manager Ron Gardenhire would not be returning to his job in 2015. That was three and a half weeks ago and we still don’t know who will be guiding the Twins on the field next season. But we’re getting closer. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Lovullo-600x420.jpg Torey Lovullo (AP Photo) (This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com) After co
This is Part 2 of 2, concerning the work to be done this week by the Minnesota Twins staff at their "organizational meetings" in Fort Myers this week. Reports have estimated that as many as 100 members of the Twins staff may participate in the meetings this week. That's a lot of people, but then it's a big job. In Part 1, we covered the manager and coaching staffing issues. In Part 2, we look at roster matters at the Major League and minor league levels. As indicated in Part 1, over the co
The Minnesota Twins are holding their annual “organizational meetings” in Fort Myers this week. As newsworthy baseball stories go, that bit of information ranks quite a bit below the MLB postseason games and their seemingly nightly extra-inning games and walk-off finishes. What exactly are the organizational meetings? Well, in Hollywood’s version of Moneyball, you may remember seeing Brad Pitt as Oakland General Manager Billy Beane gathering a few guys around a table in a room and tossing out
It's the offseason, so that means we are already deep in thought and discussion concerning 2015 roster construction for the Minnesota Twins. I reserve the right to change my mind, of course, but my preliminary thought on the subject has resulted in a conclusion I wasn't expecting. Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano should both be Minnesota Twins on Opening Day 2015. True, General Manager Terry Ryan has some time before he has to give much thought to such an un-Twins-like idea. (This article wa
Over a week ago, I wrote about what I would do if I owned the Minnesota Twins, including giving my GM instructions to fire his manager. Obviously, Jim Pohlad not only read my article, but took it to heart because less than a week later, Ron Gardenhire was out as manager of the Twins. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/TRyan2014c.jpg GM Terry Ryan In the days since that announcement, speculation has been rampant concerning who the next manager might be. For his part,
I’ve been a bit out of touch with Twinsville for a couple of weeks as I’ve had some business travel and other non-Twins-related matters to occupy most of my time. I did catch up a bit on my Twins reading in the past day or so, however, and – well – let’s just say I’ve been much more interested in the writing about the Twins than I have been with what’s transpired on the field with the Twins. I read the columns by the Minneapolis Star-Tribune’s baseball writers and columnists recently, in whi
The Minnesota Twins' front office is going to be faced with making some difficult decisions this offseason - decisions they are woefully ill-prepared to make. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/GardenhireBrunansky2012.jpg Ron Gardenhire and Tom Brunansky (photo: Knuckleballs) Many professional sports organizations change their on-field management at least as often as they change accounting firms. It's just part of the way they do business. When you lose more games tha
While the current edition of the Cedar Rapids Kernels have been making their way through the Midwest League playoffs this week, a group of 20 Kernels alumni are on the verge of claiming the first Florida State League championship in franchise history for the Fort Myers Miracle. (Click here for David Dorsey's story on the Miracle's pursuit of a championship) http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Walker1.jpg Adam Brett Walker lines a home run vs Clinton on September 2,
Welcome to life as a minor league manager. The Cedar Rapids Kernels have some of the best pitching in Class A baseball right now. So why isn't Jake Mauer smiling and confident heading in to the MWL playoffs next week? Jim Ecker's report (click to read) following Thursday night's loss to Kane County reflects one of the challenges Mauer and other minor league managers face at this time of year. One night, your team is popping chamgagne corks (or in this case, sparkling cider), celebrating earn
Weekend Wrap Up: Kernels Clinch, Pub Crawl, MLB BlackoutsA lot of stuff has happened over the past few days. Kernels are Playoff bound First, the Cedar Rapids Kernels clinched a Midwest League playoff spot. Whether they did this Saturday or Sunday is a bit hazy, but what's certain is that the Kernels will be playing baseball beyond the scheduled end of the regular season on Labor Day. This makes the Kernels a perfect 2 for 2 qualifying for playoff work since affiliating with the Minnesota
Tuesday night's Cedar Rapids Kernels come-from-behind win over the Quad Cities River Bandits was bittersweet. On the one hand, they tallied three runs in the home half of the eighth inning and put away the Bandits for their eighth straight win. They swept three games in Beloit last week, three more from Peoria in Cedar Rapids over the weekend, and now the first two games of their series with the Bandits. The team also played to near-capacity home crowds on Friday and Saturday night. On the o
I really hold back what I would like to say about then payroll arguments here. The fact that people don't accept the amount taken in dictates the amount going out requires one of two things. Extreme financial ignorance or fanatical bias that prevents the acceptance of something some basic. I did not change the argument. It's the same idiocy over and over. Do you really want to be on the side that suggests revenues does not determine spending capacity?
At this point in the pre-season, I’m just so happy to be seeing games again, I don’t care about the Twins record in 2023. I think they’ll win it all, unrealistically speaking 🙂
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I really hold back what I would like to say about then payroll arguments here. The fact that people don't accept the amount taken in dictates the amount going out requires one of two things. Extreme financial ignorance or fanatical bias that prevents the acceptance of something some basic. I did not change the argument. It's the same idiocy over and over. Do you really want to be on the side that suggests revenues does not determine spending capacity?· 0 replies
