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2016 Twins Spring Training Coverage from Fort Myers. 3/17: The action was at the back fields

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ----   Today, for the second start in a row, the Twins chose not to pitch Phil Hughes against the Orioles (a team they open the season with 3 games in Baltimore.) Instead Hughes pitched 5 innings in the back fields with the Twins' A+ team against the Rays' A+ squad. Curt Suzuki was there to catch him. Next door with the A squad, Kevin Jepsen pitched the first inning and Oswaldo Arcia had 3 plate appearances as a DH against the Rays' A team.
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2016 Twins Spring Training Coverage from Fort Myers. Day 1: The Doubleheader

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ----------   Today the Twins had a 7:05 PM game hosting the Boston Red Sox. At 1PM the Twins' AAA and AA teams hosted the equivalent of the Orioles'. I spent the afternoon watching the Twins AA team, before moved to Hammond Stadium in the evening for the nightcap.   I was delighted to see that Tyler Jay was the starter for the AA game. Jay was ranked as the Twins' number 2 prospect in my off-season 2016 rankings and I have to say that he prove
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In depth analysis of Ricky Nolasco's performance, his stuff, root causes and a view in the future

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- Ricky Nolasco's performance with the Minnesota Twins has been a disappointment. He was signed into a large 4-year contract after the 2013 season to be the Twins' Ace, a destiny he has yet to fulfill. There has been discussion this Spring that despite that contract, Nolasco would have to earn a position in the 2016 Twins' rotation, and hints that at this point, he might be outside, looking in. A couple of days ago, there were indications
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Sixty-one Major League Free Agents are Unsigned and there are Four who can Help the Twins

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---   While the Twins blogosphere, fan sites, and sportswriters are being focusing on the fact that Joe Mauer, has been having issues with his vision, which is totally expected after a concussion and should not be news, there are 61 major league free agents who are unsigned. This does not include the unsigned minor league free agents.     Here is a like of those sixty one free agents as of today, broken down alphabetically and loosely be position
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2016 Twins offseason top 40 prospects: Summary and Meta Analysis

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---   I am trying something new this year. Instead of summarizing the top 40 Twins' prospects list, I am doing some actual analysis as well, which I believe might be telling for the system.   This is the last segment in this series. You can find the introductory segment in this series, including my criteria for eligibility to be a prospect and the list of the 2015 top 40 players who graduated as prospects or are not in the system, here. Here i
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2016 Twins off-season top 40 prospects list: 16-20

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ----   You can find the introductory segment in this series, including my criteria for eligibility to be a prospect and the list of the 2015 top 40 players who graduated as prospects or are not in the system, here. Here is my 2015 Twins off-season top 40 prospects list (summary of 1-40) for reference.   You can find players 36-40 here, players 31-35 here, players 26-30 here, and players 21-25 here.   20 Felix Jorge RHP (29) DOB: 1/2/1994; Age:
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2016 Twins off-season top 40 prospects list: 21-25

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ----   You can find the introductory segment in this series, including my criteria for eligibility to be a prospect and the list of the 2015 top 40 players who graduated as prospects or are not in the system, here. Here is my 2015 Twins off-season top 40 prospects list (summary of 1-40) for reference.   You can find players 36-40 here, players 31-35 here and players 26-30 here.     25. Ryan Eades RHP (30) DOB: 12/15/1991; Age: 24 Positions:RHP
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2016 Twins off-season top 40 prospects list: 26-30

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ----   You can find the introductory segment in this series, including my criteria for eligibility to be a prospect and the list of the 2015 top 40 players who graduated as prospects or are not in the system, here. Here is my 2015 Twins off-season top 40 prospects list (summary of 1-40) for reference.   This is the third countdown segment of the 2016 off-season Top 40 Twins' prospect. You can find players 36-40 here and players 31-35 here .  
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2016 Twins off-season top 40 prospects list: 31-35

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ----   You can find the introductory segment in this series, including my criteria for eligibility to be a prospect and the list of the 2015 top 40 players who graduated as prospects or are not in the system, here. Here is my 2015 Twins off-season top 40 prospects list (summary of 1-40) for reference.   This is the second countdown segment of the 2016 off-season Top 40 Twins' prospect. You can find the first segment, players 36-40 here.     3
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2016 Twins off-season top 40 prospects list: 36-40

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ----   You can find the introductory segment in this series, including my criteria for eligibility to be a prospect and the list of the 2015 top 40 players who graduated as prospects or are not in the system, here. Here is my 2015 Twins off-season top 40 prospects list (summary of 1-40) for reference.   Without further ado, here is the 2016 countdown of prospects, with their ranking in the 2015 list in parenthesis :   40. Emmanuel Morel (--) D
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The Twins Sign a Centerfielder

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ------   After the Twins traded Aaron Hicks to the New York Yankees for JR Murphy, there was an assumption that Byron Buxton was de facto handed the Centerfield job to start the season. For the ones who have seen Buxton's close personal battles with breaking balls, this was not a welcome sign. Additionally, Eddie Rosario, has played Centerfield for most of his career, and there was some talk that Danny Santana, who has no business playing the O
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Assessing the Twins' Risks in the 2015 Rule 5 Draft: Analyzing Each of their 40 Eligible Unprotected Players

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ------     The Twins announced that they have added LHP Taylor Rogers, RHP JT Chargois, OF Adam Brett Walker, LHP Randy Rosario, RHP Yorman Landa, LHP Pat Dean, and LHP Mason Melotakis to their 40-man roster. This leaves 41 players unprotected. Here is a list of each of the unprotected players along with an risk analysis with the possibility that each player will get selected by another team:   RHP Jose Abreu Age: 23 Height: 5' 11" Weight: 170
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Dan Runzler, one of the Twins' free agent signees is a dark horse for the bullpen

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ----   Earlier this week, and lost among winning the rights to negotiate with Buyng Ho Park, trading Chris Herrmann for Daniel Palka, and Aaron Hicks for John Ryan Murphy, the Twins signed LHP Dan Ruzler to a Minor League Contract. I broke the news here, but did not have much time for analysis, since the other events happened, so here it is.   The transaction seems pretty unremarkable, reading something like this: The Twins have signed LHP Dan
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I might like the Twins trade of Aaron Hicks to the Yankees for John Ryan Murphy, under one condition

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch -----   The Twins have been very busy so far this off-season, making moves that netted them Daniel Palka, Dan Runzler, the ability to exclusively negotiate with Byung Ho Park, and today they traded OF Aaron Hicks to the Yankees for back up Catcher John Ryan Murphy. There has been a lot written about this trade already, so I will not really get into details that you can read (if you not already have) elsewhere, but just want to analyze its potentia
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Minnesota Twins 2015 Season Post Mortem

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- postmortem noun medical : an examination of a dead body to find out the cause of death : a discussion or analysis of something (such as an event) after it has ended (Thanks to Merriam-Webster)   The Twins' season ended a full two weeks ago, in arguably their only meaningless game this season, and enough time has past to be able to look at what happened in 2015, without the disappointment of not making it to the post-season, even though they w
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Terry Ryan said that the Twins will do nothing in the deadline. Why are you upset?

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch -------   After the trading deadline passed and with the Twins' having the league's worst record in the last couple of months and their lead for the first and then the second wild-card position was getting smaller and smaller, there was hope that Terry Ryan will do something to improve the team in the 3 biggest positions of need, shortstop, catcher and the bullpen.   But he did nothing, other than trading the teams' 18th and 25th prospects (and th
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Three trades the Minnesota Twins need to make right now: Part III

In the first part of this series, I suggested that the Twins trade Danny Santana, Mike Tonkin and Jake Reed to the Oakland Athletics for Ben Zorbrist and Tyler Clippard; and to promote Jorge Polanco as their starting shortstop. In the second part of this series, I suggested that the Twins trade Tommy Milone and Jason Wheeler to the Phillies for C Carlos Ruiz and LHP Jake Diekman and move Trevor May back to their rotation. With these 2 trades, they would address their deficiencies at Catcher a
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Three trades the Minnesota Twins need to make right now: Part II

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---   Yesterday, in the first part of this series, I suggested that the Twins trade Danny Santana, Mike Tonkin and Jake Reed to the Oakland Athletics for Ben Zorbrist and Tyler Clippard; and to promote Jorge Polanco as their starting shortstop. This will address the shortstop and right hand set up positions. They Twins would need to address their Catcher deficiency and they need another lefty in the pen to complement Brian Duensing, who has been u
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Three trades the Minnesota Twins need to make right now: Part I

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ----   A couple days after the All Star game, the Twins find themselves nine games above .500, and in the midst of a competing season. The fact that the Twins are competing, might be a surprise to some, but from what I have seen in Spring Training, this team had all the making of a competing team, and I even compared it to the 1987 team. Like the 1987 team, which would not have won if not addressing them, the 2015 Twins have some glaring weaknesse
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The Twins 2015 Opening Day Roster is Practically Set; No surprises but 40-man work.

Originally published at The Minnesota Twins, have announced several cuts, trimming down their Spring Training roster to 31. They announced that Jordan Schafer won the starting Centerfielder job, with Shane Robertson, backing him up and platooning against LHPs. They also announced that Mike Pelfrey will be in the bullpen and the 5th starter will be Tommy Milone. Aaron Hicks, Eddie Rosario, Trevor May and Mark Hamburger were cut as a result. Also, it was announced that Danny Santana will be the st
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Spring Training Redux: How will the Twins do in 2015? Here is my prediction.

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch -----   After my visit to Fort Myers was said and done about a year ago, I gave my prediction about how the Twins will do in 2014 and the main reasoning behind it. You can find that here (and, yes, I did predict that they will finish 70-92, but that's not something to be happy about.) During this Spring Training, I took a risk: I suggested that the Twins can actually compete, if they do three things: Fix their bullpen, fix their outfield, and fix
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Twins Spring Training Report from Fort Myers: 3/23/15: The Day the Skies Opened

Originally posted at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- Today the Twins were playing against the Philadelphia Phillies at Clearwater, so it was a back field day at Fort Myers, to have a better look at the Twins' prospects. Blustery and overcast day, which rained up in Clearwater enough to delay the Twins-Phillies start time and later in Fort Myers to wash everything out in the back fields at around the 8th inning.   But there was some great action: At field three, the AAA players were playing agai
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Twins Spring Training Report from Fort Myers: 3/21/15: A Tale of Two Starters

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ----The Twins has a couple split squad games today, against the Rays at Port Charlotte and at the Hammond Stadium against the Orioles. Here are my notes from the home game:   After Alex Meyers' demotion yesterday, there are only 3 pitchers left in the battle for the 5th rotation spot: Mike Pelfrey, Tommy Milone and Trevor May. The last 2 started the respective games today, with Milone taking the node for the home game. While May ended up pitching
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Twins Spring Training Report from Fort Myers: 3/20/15: Where are the fastballs?

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ------------- Today the Minnesota Twins hosted the Pittsburgh Pirates at Hammond Stadium. As usual, before the game I trotted by the minor league fields that today were hosting a celebrity from the baseball world:     A dad watching his kid pitch a bullpen:     And then walk with him after he was done:     Interesting enough, not many fans had an idea of who the dad was. And he was about as humble as a baseball superstar as I have seen. He
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Twins Spring Training Report from Fort Myers: 3/19/15 Perk and the Prospects

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch -----   Today the Minnesota Twins played against the Rays at Fort Charlotte, which meant minor league side by side double-header action of Rochester and Chattanooga against the Red Sox' AAA and AA squads at fields 4 and 5 of the Complex.   The much anticipated moment today was the return of Glen Perkins who got the first inning with the AAA club against the PawSox. Based on reports from people who were at Fort Charlotte, he did not feel any pa
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