Twins Minor League Report (8/5): Romero Rocks, Lookouts Roll

The Twins rotation next year looks like it will have a lot of competition with Berrios, Romero, Gibson and Odorizzi. Potential starters: Santana (Depending if they pick up his option or just resign him), Pineda, Mejia, Gonsalves and Littell. Then you have Lewis Thorpe who should be moving up to AAA and Brusdar Gaterol in AA. This is very exciting!!

I love ya, Ervin, but I think Romero needs your rotation spot. He needs to learn how to beat MLB hitting and I'm not sure he'll be able to learn that in AAA. Twins rookie starters seem to need to take their lumps before they take off.

Jose Miranda was promoted to Ft. Myers.

Michael Helman from E-Town to Cedar Rapids. 

Will be interesting to see how Miranda fits into the 2B/3B rotation down at the Fort.

Already have Costello, Blankenhorn, Perez and even Caleb Hamilton   at times manning   either the hot corner or second base,  

At least Blankenhorn can play all over - 3B, 2B, LF, DH.  Costello can play some first base as well as 3B. 

Bottom line  - if Miranda is going to get promoted it would be ideal for him to play most days.

Starting to wonder if the Twins might need to get Bryan Sammons back to Rapids.  Has really struggled in his three starts to the tune of a 12.50 ERA.  Tyler Watson had some issues also after his promotion to the Miracle and was eventually sent back to the Kernels.

Sammons was pitching so well in the Midwest League too, so I'm kind of surprised that he would get knocked around like this.  At least to this point.

Great stuff as always, love catching up on our future Twins.  Road-tripping it to Cedar Rapids today to catch their 12:05 game and excited to see Ryan Jeffers and the Kernels.

See that Romero has now pitched the same # of innings as last year, 125.  Great seeing yesterday's type of performance this late in his season.  Expect he will be back with the Twins by September, at the latest.  

Great seeing Arraez with another multi-hit game.  He has a five game hitting streak with 3 of the 5 multi-hit games.  Has also hit safely in 9 of his last 10.  Looks like he is back hitting like the player we know and at a new level.  

I doubt Miranda is going to sit much at Fort Myers.  He has about four weeks left to react to this new level of pitching.  Hopefully, there will also be a playoff run for him to experience.

I looked at the game log to see what happened with Moran and the 3 runs.  I've actually been doing that more to try and get context.  Seemed like a pretty dominant game.  Gave up a run somehow somewhere, and then I think a single and a walk or HBP in the top of the 7th and got pulled; the runs scored later.  Pretty much what was said above.  Just elaborating slightly.  Nice game.

With all of the speedy OF types the FO has acquired in the last year--Pearson, Cave, Celestino, Masiel, it seems like they were watching Buxton's defense thinking "this is great, but dangerous. We need more of those guys."

Good to see a decent game from Gordon .... He needs to build on that and really pick it up the rest of the month.  Arraez looks to be making a run at being the Twins top MIF prospect (at least on the offensive side), so hopefully that pushes Gordon to improve.

I would be interested in the odds of the following keystone combos a year from now:

1) Polanco/Gordon

2) Polanco/Arraez

3) Polanco/Other 

#3 probably has the best odds until you plug an actual name in there.

EDIT:  I should qualify "Twins top MIF prospect" as who will be ready first.  I don't want to imply that I think Arraez is a better prospect than Lewis.

I would hope Miranda gets a chance to stick at 3B at FM.

Good to see a decent game from Gordon .... He needs to build on that and really pick it up the rest of the month.  Arraez looks to be making a run at being the Twins top MIF prospect (at least on the offensive side), so hopefully that pushes Gordon to improve.

 

I would be interested in the odds of the following keystone combos a year from now:

 

1) Polanco/Gordon

2) Polanco/Arraez

3) Polanco/Other 

 

#3 probably has the best odds until you plug an actual name in there.

A year from now I want to see Polanco/Escobar.  Then Polanco/Arraez when Esco is playing 3B.  Two years from now, Lewis/Polanco.

I looked at the game log to see what happened with Moran and the 3 runs.  I've actually been doing that more to try and get context.  Seemed like a pretty dominant game.  Gave up a run somehow somewhere, and then I think a single and a walk or HBP in the top of the 7th and got pulled; the runs scored later.  Pretty much what was said above.  Just elaborating slightly.  Nice game.

 

With all of the speedy OF types the FO has acquired in the last year--Pearson, Cave, Celestino, Masiel, it seems like they were watching Buxton's defense thinking "this is great, but dangerous. We need more of those guys."

Did you mean Duran?

A year from now I want to see Polanco/Escobar.  Then Polanco/Arraez when Esco is playing 3B.  Two years from now, Lewis/Polanco.

This offseason I hope the Twins sign Escobar to a 3 / 4 year deal, which would take him through his age 32 / 33 season. He could easily be the Twins 2nd Basemen for the next 2 - 3 seasons until Royce Lewis is ready for SS and he pushes Polanco to 2nd. After that he could just be a utility player at that point.

This offseason I hope the Twins sign Escobar to a 3 / 4 year deal, which would take him through his age 32 / 33 season. He could easily be the Twins 2nd Basemen for the next 2 - 3 seasons until Royce Lewis is ready for SS and he pushes Polanco to 2nd. After that he could just be a utility player at that point.

I think we need a different term to describe Escobar as a utility player the last few years with the Twins.  When I think of utility player, I think of someone who can play multiple positions.  Someone who is a backup at all of those positions, maybe starting a few weeks at a time when player X is on the DL.

Yes, Escobar seems to play several positions...three infield positions quite well.  But he isn't a backup, rather a starter.  Its just we don't know when he will be starting where...2B, SS, 3B, DH?  When you think of utility player, that doesn't describe him.  Maybe super utility player?  Is there some other term?

Did you mean Duran?

Yes! Moran is no slouch either. Seems like he is a lot like Alcala. But Duran is who I was talking about.

I think we need a different term to describe Escobar as a utility player the last few years with the Twins.  When I think of utility player, I think of someone who can play multiple positions.  Someone who is a backup at all of those positions, maybe starting a few weeks at a time when player X is on the DL.

 

Yes, Escobar seems to play several positions...three infield positions quite well.  But he isn't a backup, rather a starter.  Its just we don't know when he will be starting where...2B, SS, 3B, DH?  When you think of utility player, that doesn't describe him.  Maybe super utility player?  Is there some other term?

A super utility player typically describes a player who can play multiple positions both in the infield and outfield.

I love ya, Ervin, but I think Romero needs your rotation spot. He needs to learn how to beat MLB hitting and I'm not sure he'll be able to learn that in AAA. Twins rookie starters seem to need to take their lumps before they take off.

What if old Erv finds that extra couple mph before the end of the season? If he's topping out at 95 or more, that would make him pretty effective for the upcoming season. We can already see that Santana's command is still good.