Get Ready for More 2021 Twins Debuts

Let's hope that all of the injuries around the league create an opportunity to trade our FA SPs well in advance of the deadline.  Trades this time of year are somewhat unusual but this is an unusual year with all of the injuries.  That would accelerate the process.  It would be interesting to know how the FDO office sees the various prospects in terms of readiness.

Gordon....Gordon...GORDON!

For the Love of Lombardozzi play him (almost) every day at MLB level. We need to know what we have so  as not to lose something good, or feel good about losing something not worth keeping.

PLEASE FO......figure it out!

Not adverse to playing Rooker at MLB level the rest of the way too (though I strongly suspect he is in the "feel good about losing something not worth keeping" category but would like to be proven wrong!)

Yes - play the rookies.  Find out what the future holds.  We have seen the regression in key players on the roster - time to see what else we have. 

Nicely put Ted.  I'd have to agree with the whole list.  Ready to see these guys come up and play.  Don't even care about how well they do... just want them to get some time to contribute and adjust to the majors.

Duran should be up at some point the 2nd half of the season. As a SP, PERIOD.  Even if the Twins SOMEHOW go on a June tear, let him start. Hell, if the team did go on a tear, he might be part of the reason.

Winder needs to be up to AAA SOON! ML promotion is somewhat debatable, but let it ride.

Canterino, IMO, should have started the season at Wichita. There is value in protecting his arm due to IP, but only because he missed 2020 and not because of his college use. We are beyond that now after sitting most of last year.

I can absolutely see Sands and Enlow at St Paul the second half of the year as well. Maybe not a potential ML debut that Duran should have, maybe Winder, but them closer and ready.

Balazovic is frustrating only because of his late start. DON'T blow it by over burdening him, but don't be afraid to at least give him a couple weeks at AAA if he's healthy and doing what he can do.

Promote Miranda soon. 

The Twins invested heavily on INF a couple years ago and we are generally seeing very positive results so far. Promote them soon.

You can't be afraid of prospects playing well after a lost year. You need to adjust timeliness.  Get Julian and Steer and others up to the level they deserve to be at.

There is a lot to like with what is happening at the milb level right now. Please don't be passive. 

As far as other promotions go, it seems like the best three (healthy) hitters in our minor league system all play second base: Miranda, Steer, and Julien. Moving each of them up a level makes sense since they can fill the hole left by the other.

7 hours ago, Seth Stohs said:

My thoughts on the guy's mentioned: 

Duran: If he stays healthy, throws strikes and has that second (and preferably third) pitch, he'll be up in another month. Odds: About 95% or higher. 

Canterino: Should he have started in Wichita? Maybe, but I have no problem with him starting in Cedar Rapids. There's no rush. He'll be up there soon, and he'll likely end the year St. Paul. Odds: about 20% 

Balazovic: Let's see how he does in Wichita. Again, he's young. He's on his first option. No rush at all. No need to push him if he's not ready. Odds: 50/50

Winder: I'd say 3-4 more starts like he's had and he could move up to St. Paul, but again, no rush to get him to the big leagues. Can definitely see him in the big leagues this year sometime, but he's an arm to be cautious. Maybe keep him starting in the minors. Odds: 50/50. 

Sands: He can move up to St. Paul if he keeps improving, but after Winder. And St. Paul has others, so I think it's more important for all of these pitchers to just keep getting innings. I'm not worried about whether it's with the Wind Surge, Saints  or later Twins. 40-man add after the season if he pitches well all year.  Odds: 10%

Miranda: This one will be about opportunity. Donaldson's not going anywhere. Sano will likely stick around. Kiriloff isn't going anywhere. I think Gordon needs an opportunity. Polanco's not going anywhere. Arraez is still around. Miranda needs to just keep playing every day. He now has a total of 4-5 weeks in Double-A, so no rush to move him up because he's not going to the big leagues any time soon. Also, we saw with the Celestino situation just how quickly a guy can get from AA to AAA to the big leagues. Keep him playing every day. Add him to the 40-man roster after the season. Odds: 10-20%

Maeda isn't going anywhere. Berrios, I'd still guess it's unlikely he gets traded. Pineda, Shoemaker and Happ could all be dealt. Dobnak should keep starting. We think Duran will probably move up there. Ober's on the 40, so he should get more opportunities. Barnes and Jax aren't on the 40-man roster, so they might want to add them and see what they can do. 

Looking by position other than pitchers (because there are a bunch just mentioned above). 

Catcher: Garver, Jeffers, Rortvedt. 

Infield: Donaldson, Sano, Kirilloff, Polanco, Simmons, Arraez, Gordon. 

Outfield: Larnach, Celestino, Kirilloff, with Buxton, Kepler, Arraez, Rooker and Garlick. 

My point is just that there is a 26-man roster limit and a lot of those spots are spoken for, until they're not (trade, release)... and the fact that they can't add unlimited players in September, the number of debuts will be down. 

Man, this is long... Sorry. 

Well said Seth. 

Few teams would want to throw in the towel on the season in early June, but leaders of the Twins need to be realists. Injuries have created space for young players to get playing time in the field. Soon it will likely be prudent to push Happ and Shoemaker aside for starts by the likes of Duran, Canterino, Winder et al.

If Twins do not have a winning June, time to trade any expiring contract and play any prospect to see if they have anything for next season.  The amount of injuries this year is a little crazy, and I am sure some players had been playing through some issues in hopes of helping the team.  I am not sure why this has happened so much this year.  Does the team need to look at training staff change up? 

I would hope we would take a look at Palacios at AAA. Relievers Cano & Moran should be promoted to see how they do against better competition. 

It would be frustrating to continue to add to the list of relievers that we simply gave away such as Nick Anderson, Curtiss, Chargois, Littell, etc.  It stands in stark contrast to the “has beens” such as Colome, Robles, Minaya, Waddell, Law, etc. that populate our bullpen annually.  We somehow seem to have roster space as well as perceive (imagine) some upside for these type of reclamation projects.  
 

It would be refreshing to see the organization actually vet more of their own young relievers.  They would be cheap, controllable, and still have some upside projection.  It can’t be worse than the annual squander of $10-$12mm on retreads to try to fill out a bullpen that has become a winter tradition with this front office.

7 minutes ago, Wizard11 said:

I would hope we would take a look at Palacios at AAA. Relievers Cano & Moran should be promoted to see how they do against better competition. 

It would be frustrating to continue to add to the list of relievers that we simply gave away such as Nick Anderson, Curtiss, Chargois, Littell, etc.  It stands in stark contrast to the “has beens” such as Colome, Robles, Minaya, Waddell, Law, etc. that populate our bullpen annually.  We somehow seem to have roster space as well as perceive (imagine) some upside for these reclamation projects.  
 

It would be refreshing to see the organization actually vet more of their own young relievers.  They would be cheap, controllable, and still have some upside projection.  It can’t be worse than the annual squander of $10-$12mm on retreads to try to fill out a bullpen that has become a winter tradition with this front office.

Every team retreads BP arms.  The biggest squander of dollars has been high-end relievers.  They fail more often than they succeed.  They money is better spent elsewhere or even on 3 or 4 guys instead of one.  I also don't understand where you are coming from on guys we cut other than Anderson.  Guys like Littell / Chargois / Curtiss are not even remotely the answer to our BP issues.

I am offering to ph for SanO. Minimum wage would be all I ask for.

1 hour ago, Major League Ready said:

Every team retreads BP arms.  The biggest squander of dollars has been high-end relievers.  They fail more often than they succeed.  They money is better spent elsewhere or even on 3 or 4 guys instead of one.  I also don't understand where you are coming from on guys we cut other than Anderson.  Guys like Littell / Chargois / Curtiss are not even remotely the answer to our BP issues.

I'd take the Wells kid from Baltimore who shut us down for 3 innings the other night. He belonged to us last year. 

1 minute ago, In My La Z boy said:

I'd take the Wells kid from Baltimore who shut us down for 3 innings the other night. He belonged to us last year. 

I was just thinking the same thing.  It looked like he could spot his fastball and we have a lot of guys that do not have adequate command.  I don't like the way the 40 man was managed.  I can't blame them for Baddoo because I too did not believe someone would take him.  However, I did not believe Thorpe or Smeltzer were ML pitchers.

32 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

How many of these pitchers are on innings limits and a high risk to get shut down by September? I’d like to see some aggressive moves for bullpen arms since they are always the king of SSS. But others like Balazovic, Winder, etc. who are expected to be starters? That may be too aggressive to push them on higher levels and innings. 

With the minor league season starting a month late and most starters going 5/6 innings and in the 80 pitch range, I doubt there will be many/any innings limits in September.

As for the bullpen, I wonder if we could see Yennier Cano and Jovani Moran get chances late in the season.

Some have mentioned a "winning June."  I feel that ship might have already sailed with 3 loses (to the Orioles and Royals) to open the month and the Yankees and Astros on the horizon.

That coupled with all the injuries and they way they played the first two months this season leaves for little optimism that June will be any different.

I hope I'm wrong...

This season will hurt the Twins just based upon the fact that there is no roster expansion to 40 when September rolls around. That is usually a decent time to give some of these prospects their "cup of coffee". Especially if we are going to have a season like the current one that we have. 

41 minutes ago, mac098 said:

This season will hurt the Twins just based upon the fact that there is no roster expansion to 40 when September rolls around. That is usually a decent time to give some of these prospects their "cup of coffee". Especially if we are going to have a season like the current one that we have. 

I don't see this as being much of an issue.  They will gain 2 rosters spots in September.  More importantly, we should see several trade deadline deals that will make room to audition prospects.  I hope the SP prospects are showing well enough by late July that we have 3 spots in the rotation occupied by prospects and another couple guys in the BP.

14 hours ago, Seth Stohs said:

My thoughts on the guy's mentioned: 

Duran: If he stays healthy, throws strikes and has that second (and preferably third) pitch, he'll be up in another month. Odds: About 95% or higher. 

Canterino: Should he have started in Wichita? Maybe, but I have no problem with him starting in Cedar Rapids. There's no rush. He'll be up there soon, and he'll likely end the year St. Paul. Odds: about 20% 

Balazovic: Let's see how he does in Wichita. Again, he's young. He's on his first option. No rush at all. No need to push him if he's not ready. Odds: 50/50

Winder: I'd say 3-4 more starts like he's had and he could move up to St. Paul, but again, no rush to get him to the big leagues. Can definitely see him in the big leagues this year sometime, but he's an arm to be cautious. Maybe keep him starting in the minors. Odds: 50/50. 

Sands: He can move up to St. Paul if he keeps improving, but after Winder. And St. Paul has others, so I think it's more important for all of these pitchers to just keep getting innings. I'm not worried about whether it's with the Wind Surge, Saints  or later Twins. 40-man add after the season if he pitches well all year.  Odds: 10%

Miranda: This one will be about opportunity. Donaldson's not going anywhere. Sano will likely stick around. Kiriloff isn't going anywhere. I think Gordon needs an opportunity. Polanco's not going anywhere. Arraez is still around. Miranda needs to just keep playing every day. He now has a total of 4-5 weeks in Double-A, so no rush to move him up because he's not going to the big leagues any time soon. Also, we saw with the Celestino situation just how quickly a guy can get from AA to AAA to the big leagues. Keep him playing every day. Add him to the 40-man roster after the season. Odds: 10-20%

Maeda isn't going anywhere. Berrios, I'd still guess it's unlikely he gets traded. Pineda, Shoemaker and Happ could all be dealt. Dobnak should keep starting. We think Duran will probably move up there. Ober's on the 40, so he should get more opportunities. Barnes and Jax aren't on the 40-man roster, so they might want to add them and see what they can do. 

Looking by position other than pitchers (because there are a bunch just mentioned above). 

Catcher: Garver, Jeffers, Rortvedt. 

Infield: Donaldson, Sano, Kirilloff, Polanco, Simmons, Arraez, Gordon. 

Outfield: Larnach, Celestino, Kirilloff, with Buxton, Kepler, Arraez, Rooker and Garlick. 

My point is just that there is a 26-man roster limit and a lot of those spots are spoken for, until they're not (trade, release)... and the fact that they can't add unlimited players in September, the number of debuts will be down. 

Man, this is long... Sorry. 

Seth, I heard an interview when Jax was named MilB pitcher of the week that suggested his velocity has ticked up.  They went on to say the increased difference between his FB and secondary pitches has made those pitches more effective.  Do you suspect he is going to be on the radar for promotion?  One other question... Which top prospects are showing the most consistent command?

This is not rocket science....

Our offense is fine.. 5th in the AL in Runs scored.. that is not the issue. 

We have given up 300 runs ... the most in the AL and 2nd worse overall. 

Overhauling the offense is not the issue. We need to improve our pitching. We have some very good prospects.. let's see if they can help.. 

No reason to wait. Let's let the youngster's grow up... It's time.