It is now time to start thinking about proper roster movements in considering the Twins in 2015 and how to best position the team for an actual productive season next year. This involves September call-ups and Arizona Fall League decisions. I submit the following: 1. Josmil Pinto and Chris Herrmann should be back up with the team. Both have now smacked AAA pitching. Hopefully for Eric Fryer's sake, the Twins will have traded Suzuki by this time. Otherwise, there is just no reason to have him a
I contend that there is no reason to keep certain players who are blocking prospects in the minor league system. I cannot imagine that minor league attendance is really driven by aging players. From Rochester: Chris Rahl Eric Farris Doug Bernier Mark Hamburger Aaron Thompson (potential add-on trade bait) Kris Johnson (I know, but the future? potential add-on trade bait) To Rochester, given these 6 moves: Kennys Vargas Aaron Hicks Eddie Rosario Ryan O'Rourke Cole Johnson Jim Fuller
In the remainder of the season, I would like to see the following: 1. The Twins trade Kurt Suzuki for a top 150 prospect, Josh Willingham for a top 300 prospect, Casey Fien for a top 500 prospect, Eduardo Escobar for a top 700 prospect, Kevin Correia for a top 1000 prospect, and Brian Duensing for a top 1000 prospect. 2. I would *really* like for the first three of those to happen. 3. Jared Burton gone and Alex Meyer called up to the bullpen. 4. Trevor May called up to start. 5. Josmil
This is the second installment breaking down each minor league affiliate for players to watch as the season winds to a close. The GCL has six players worthy of mention: 1. Amaurys Minier, SH, LF/1B, DOB: 1/30/96 2014 statistics: 90 plate appearances, .304/.378/.456, 6 double, 0 triples, 2 homer, 9 walk, 29 strikeouts, 0 steals, 2 times caught stealing. Minier has shown big improvements in his second stint in the GCL. His power is still developing and there are still many improvements to ma
I am working through the minor league system team by team and providing six to ten players to watch for the remainder of the season. I will start here at the bottom in the Dominican Summer League and work all the way through Rochester. This provides a nice mix of known and unknown players to pay attention to for the rest of the dismal 2014 Twins season. My DSL players to watch: 1. Lewin Diaz, 1B, LH, DOB: 11/19/96 2014 statistics: 92 plate appearances, .272/.359/.457 (.815), 6 doubles, 0 t
My post 2014 draft list of the top 70 prospects in the Twins organization: 1. Byron Buxton 2. Miguel Sano 3. Alex Meyer 4. Jose Berrios 5. Kohl Stewart 6. Eddie Rosario 7. Jorge Polanco 8. Kennys Vargas 9. Nick Gordon 10. Danny Santana 11. Trevor May 12. Stephen Gonsalves 13. Nick Burdi 14. Travis Harrison 15. Lewis Thorpe 16. Adam Walker 17. Max Kepler 18. Sean Gilmartin 19. Fernando Romero 20. Michael Cederoth 21. Michael Tonkin 22. A.J. Achter 23. Zach Jones 24. Niko Goodrum 25. Yorman
Here are some possible promotions throughout the minor league system. This is not meant as an actual prediction or plan, but I am simply laying out the possibilities. From Cedar Rapids to Fort Myers: J.D. Williams (OF) Jason Kanzler (CF) Mitch Garver (C, 1B) Chad Christensen (OF, 1B) Ivory Thomas (OF) Kohl Stewart (RHS) Todd Van Steensel (RHR) Hudson Boyd (RHR) Jared Wilson (RHR) (release John Murphy) From Fort Myers to New Britain: Levi Michael (2B/SS) Jorge Polanco (2B/SS) Dalton
Here is my updated prospect list given the recent trade, releases, and injuries. This will be the last time Josmil Pinto appears on my prospect list. In two years he has moved from 50 to 5. This is yet another justification for building out long prospect lists like this. 1. Byron Buxton 2. Miguel Sano 3. Alex Meyer 4. Kohl Stewart 5. Josmil Pinto 6. J.O. Berrios 7. Eddie Rosario 8. Jorge Polanco 9. Stephen Gonsalves 10. Max Kepler 11. Trevor May 12. Lewis Thorpe 13. Adam Walker 14
This concludes the countdown part of this list. I will provide a summary discussion with the full list in the final installment of this prospect countdown. 10. Max Kepler, LH, LF/1B, DOB: 2-12-93 2013 statistics: 263 plate appearances, .237/.312/.424 (.736/.778), 11 doubles, 3 triples, 9 homers, 24 walks,, 43 strikeouts, 2 stolen bases, and zero times caught stealing. Kepler is not ready for MLB right now, but he will be a fast-riser in the system. 9. Stephen Gonsalves 8. Jorge Polanco
I am continuing my countdown of the top 65 (now 66) prospects in the Twins system. Newly acquired Sean Gilmartin makes an appearance. This is not for effect, this really is where I think he belongs on the Twins prospect list. (new) 21. Sean Gilmartin, LHS, DOB: 5-8-90 2013 Rk/A/AAA (AAA statistics): 91 innings pitched, 5.74 ERA, 65 strikeouts/33 walks (7.0/2.3 career K/BB) Gilmartin was acquired in a trade for Ryan Doumit, and it is another successful move by Terry Ryan in this offseason.
30. Aderlin Mejia, SS/2B/Util, SH, DOB: 5/12/92 2013 A+: 328 plate appearances, .308/.359/.349 (.708, .664 career), 10 doubles, 1 triple, 0 homers, 26 walks, 30 strikeouts, 14 stolen bases, 10 times caught stealing Mejia has been fortunate to be in the right place (Fort Myers) at the right time when that team suddenly needs a player due to injury. Mejia ran with the opportunity this year at Fort Myers, even though he basically jumped from the GCL. That's a big jump, but Mejia still produced as
This continues my prospect countdown. This is quite an interesting mix of players, for Minier to D. Romero, and the inclusion of Nate Roberts and Adrian Salcedo. 40. Amaurys Minier, 3B, SH, DOB: 1/30/96 2013 GCL: 119 PA, .214/.252/.455 (.707), 5 doubles, 2 triples, 6 homers, 6 walks, 29 strikeouts, 1 stolen base, 1 time caught stealing There should be a fair amount of excitement surrounding Minier as he put up these numbers in the GCL before his 18th birthday. The slugging is impressive, s
Continuing my top 65 prospects. Here are 50-41: 50. Jason Wheeler, LHS, DOB: 10/27/90 2013 A+: 143.1, 3.70, 91/58 (6.2/3.0) Wheeler walked more and struck out fewer in fewer innings at Fort Myers than his 2012 effort in Beloit. He has logged 300 innings in the past two seasons with a 3.57 ERA. I have to imagine he is heading back to Fort Myers to improve his K/BB rate in 2014. 49. Dan Rohlfing, C/corner OF, RH, DOB: 2/12/89 2013 AA/AAA (combined stats): 432, .267/.352/.341 (.693) (.650),
I have scrapped my earlier project of going by YOB. Why? Well, it took long enough to do . . . for things to slightly change in my mind here and there, so that the numbers were going to be messed up. Making a prospect list always involves weighing a bunch of different factors: floor/ceiling, durability, progress through the system, starter vs. reliever, positional versatility, etc. So it had changed enough for me to just go back to the old-fashioned way of constructing such a list. One thing
1. Byron Buxton 2. Miguel Sano 3. Alex Meyer 4. Eddie Rosario 5. Kohl Stewart 6. J.O. Berrios 7. Max Kepler 8. Josmil Pinto 9. Jorge Polanco 10. Stephen Gonsalves 11. Trevor May 12. Travis Harrison 13. Adam Walker 14. Jorge Felix 15. Lewis Thorpe 16. Danny Santana 17. Kennys Vargas 18. Michael Tonkin 19. Dalton Hicks 20. Zach Jones 21. Miguel Sulbaran 22. D.J. Baxendale 23. Niko Goodrum 24. Tyler Duffey 25. Randy Rosario 26. A.J. Achter 27. Yorman Landa 28. J.D. Williams 29. Dakota Watts 30. Ade
I will proceed in two parts. The first one is a realistic prediction for how the Twins might navigate in this offseason. The second is what I think I might do if I were actually the GM. First scenario: Trade Ryan Doumit to the Texas Rangers for RH SP Nick Martinez. Justification: unless the Rangers strike gold and land McCann, resign AJ, Soto, Murphy, and Cruz, and refrain from trading anyone else, it looks like a cheap DH/C/RF option with a potentially good enough bat might be something the
There are only eight players born in 1991 who make my top 80 list, but the range is from a player in AA who could be a Twin at some point in 2014 and two guys who could return to rookie ball at the beginning of the season. 4. Eddie Rosario, 2B, RH, DOB: 9/28/91 2013 A+/AA (combined stats): 544 plate appearances, .302/.350/.460 (.810) (.867 career), 32 doubles, 8 triples, 10 homers, 38 walks, 96 strikeouts, 10 stolen bases, 10 times caught stealing. Rosario dominated the FSL and earned the
Before jumping into 1990's class, I have to add in a player born in 1988 who I mistakenly skipped over. 50. Lester Oliveros, RHR, DOB: 5/28/88 AAA, but 2013 GCL: 6.1 IP, 8 strikeouts, 3 walks. Oliveros is making his way back from injury but is still a promising reliever. He should be off to AAA to start 2014 with a chance to make it again with the Twins soon. Now, getting on with it. There are 13 players born in 1990 who make it on my top 80 Twins prospects list. 1990 (13): 16. Da
There are 20 players born in 1989 who make my end of 2013 Twins prospect list. I remember the very day that one of them was born, Michael Tonkin, because he was born on my ninth birthday and I remember it well. The 1989 bunch range from AAA/MLB players in Tonkin and Josmil Pinto down to current low-A pitchers, Tim Shibuya and Madison Boer. 1989 (20): 10. Josmil Pinto, C, RH, DOB: 3/31/89 2013 AA/AAA/MIN (AA/AAA stats): 528 plate appearances, .309/.400/.482 (.882) (.790 career), 32-1-15, 66 w
As the minor league seasons wind down and the trading period is over for the season, I have established my new Twins prospect list heading into the offseason. While I will post the full list at the end of this series, I decided to take a different approach and list the players not in rank order, but in year of birth order. Within each calendar year I then order players by level in the system, not by actual birthdate. The period goes from 1986 to 1996, which was an interesting fact alone. Orga
This is the time when people often make some wild trade speculations. I try not to do that here, but to propose who could be traded and what is realistic to get in return. The Twins can do very well here if they are willing to be sellers. The Twins are going to have to make some key decisions about who to keep and what they can get for 2014 and beyond. In what follows, I lay out some moves that could be made for the short and long term as the Twins try to figure out 2014 and the future. I am s
In the 2011 season, the New Britain Rock Cats featured a dynamic lineup for the second half of the season which consisted primarily of Brian Dozier (SS), Chris Herrmann (C/LF), Chris Parmelee (1B/RF), Joe Benson (CF), and Yangervis Solarte (2B/LF). None of these five would see any AAA time in 2011 and only Parmelee and Benson saw September action with the Twins. After the season, the Twins committed to Brian Dozier going forward and Yangervis Solarte left as a minor league free agent, signing wi
In judging my ability to note appropriate "minor" minor leaguers to watch, the first update must address the fundamental question: are these guys still worthy of keeping an eye on. I think the answer for each is yes, though I am starting to be concerned about a couple of these guys. With that, here is the update: Dereck Rodriguez (EST, E-Town or CR): Dereck is likely going to be in E-Town as soon as that season starts. J.D. Williams (CR): J.D. is in a slump at the moment but he has had a str
Here is my updated prospect list as the Twins head into the draft. I do this in order to provide context for my post-draft list. The post-draft list will be in detail (pre-season ranking in parentheses). 1. Byron Buxton (4) 2. Miguel Sano (1) 3. Oswaldo Arcia (3) 4. Kyle Gibson (8) 5. Alex Meyer (5) 6. Eddie Rosario (6) 7. Jose Berrios (7) 8. Jorge Polanco (28) 9. Trevor May (10) 10. Max Kepler (9) 11. Travis Harrison (12) 12. D.J. Baxendale (38) 13. Adam Walker (15) 14. Kennys Vargas (16) 15.
Second base is a problem area for the Twins and has been since Luis Castillo. Here's a look at the state of the system from top to bottom, in detail: Minnesota: Brian Dozier: RH, DOB: 5-15-87. STATS: .205/.250/.279 (.529), 2/2/1, 8-29, 3-3. I was a fan of Brian Dozier up until May of this year. I worry about his ability to be a competent player in the major leagues at this point. His defense at second is good, but he is abysmal at the plate. His walk/strikeout rate is just inexcusable. I
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 🙂
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
