Twins Minor League Report (8/4): Larnach Perfect at Plate for Pensacola

A lot of us are hoping Graterol can come back healthy and help the Twins. I'm not sure if that's going to happen. I think the surprise candidate is Edwar Colina. He's like Brusdar Lite. Hard, sinking fastball and good breaking pitch. He might be the one to stoke the bullpen.

Velo?

93-96, I believe - as a starter. Don't know if he has more in the tank for relief.

Here's a video from last year: 

Sorry I put up a Graterol video. See the next comment!

I'll take it. Let's get him up to Rochester for a couple games and see if he can quickly adapt to short relief pen duty. Velo can probably spike up towards 98.

So, I showed you a Brusdar Grateol video. Here's Colina: https://2080baseball.com/draft-prospect-video/edwar-colina/

Took a look at Ober's 6 games since returning from the IL six weeks ago.  Six starts for 30.2 innings, 40 K's and only 5 earned runs.  And 3 of those runs came in his one so-so start when he lasted only 4.1 innings.  So that's 2 earned runs in 26.1 innings in those other five starts.  Could the Twins be so fortunate to have one of these guys actually make it to the big leagues and perform as he did down on the farm?  

You surprised the heck out of me this morning, Seth, with your comment that Larnach will play in the big leagues in 2020.  That's optimistic as heck...I like it.  The bigger question is where, both what position and with what team? 

Could the Twins trade one of their current outfielders not under long-term contract to open a position for Rooker, Raley, Kirilloff, Larnach and others to battle for?  If so, is it this coming winter?  Assuming they extend Rosario and Buxton, I like to think their outfield is set for the next 5+ years.  But do they look at it that way?  

Also great seeing Benninghoff have success on the mound.

Hate to even think it, but most likely to trade Rosario and Buxton.

Why?

Buxton always injured; Rosario showing up without desire.

Lewis can play center, Larnach and Rooker a corner.

Buxton and Rosario would each bring back a good pitcher, sorely needed right now.

Hate to even think it, but most likely to trade Rosario and Buxton.

 

Why?

 

Buxton always injured; Rosario showing up without desire.

 

Lewis can play center, Larnach and Rooker a corner.

 

Buxton and Rosario would each bring back a good pitcher, sorely needed right now.

You could say keep them both, and go after one or more of Cole, Bumgarner, Wheeler, Hamels?

Buxton always injured; Rosario showing up without desire.

Eddie is just being Eddie.  I'd like to see that final step in maturity, but, other than the current Cruz, there isn't another guy that I would want to have the ball or the bat than Eddie with the game on the line.  I'd like to see the micro-tantrums after pop-ups and the sulks after grounders right at infielders on the right side stop, but I know that he is probably upset at himself for letting his team down.

The Buxton situation is the one that concerns me.  If this were the Yankees or the Dodgers, you just pay four starting outfielders.  This isn't the Yankees or Dodgers, so you have to have a Marwin Gonzalez.  My outside the box thinking is to approach Royce Lewis about being the Marwin Gonzalez replacement.  I think he has the makeup for it and he likely has the ability to be a plus defender at many of the positions.  Do that, and you can probably afford to pay Buxton and have a plan B for the yearly IL stints. By the time Lewis' control time is up, Buxton will be 32 or older.  At that point, you can choose one to attempt to keep: an aging Buxton or a Boras-repped Lewis.

Until this year Arraez was not a prospect. Ober could be another one of those players who push the envelope. I love the grit.

The Kiriloff, Larnach,

Rooker issue is fascinating now that they are all ready to move up.

I would move Rosario and let Kiriloff and Larnach battle for left and bench. Rooker loses out in my imagination.

I could totally see the Twins opting to deal Rosario this off-season for a controllable arm - seems like maybe that is why the FO decided to hang onto guys like Larnsach, etc. at this year's trade deadline.

With all the talk of moving Rosario, I must ask one question. 

Is team chemistry the most important factor in this year's success?  Not being in the locker room or dugout, I have no way of knowing.  But it could be.  And there is no question that Rosario is a big part of the chemistry on this team.  Just look at the three outfielders at game's end of a win.  These guys have played together a lot on their way thru the system and all indications are that they really like each other.  

Forget the streaks, both good and bad.  But taking Rosario out of this mix could deflate the Twins like that proverbial birthday balloon when struck with a pin.  Personally, I would work like heck this off season to extend both Rosario and Buxton.

I don't think anyone is (or should be) questioning Rosario's 'desire.' I don't think that's fair.

I don't think any of us know with any real certainty what level of desire Rosario possesses. What we do know is that he has very poor plate discipline which some might be interpreting as lack of desire.  He definitely is not what I would call a "professional hitter."

What we can say for sure is that he is capable of great production in streak but he has never maintained a high level of play.  In the last year ( deadline to deadline) he is 9th on the team in wRC+ and he has an fWAR of 1.3 for that period.  This year he is also 9th in wRC+ (1 point above Buxton & Adrianza).

I don't understand why so many people act as if he is irreplaceable or someone we should extend for that matter. 

I don't think any of us know with any real certainty what level of desire Rosario possesses. What we do know is that he has very poor plate discipline which some might be interpreting as lack of desire.  He definitely is not what I would call a "professional hitter."

 

What we can say for sure is that he is capable of great production in streak but he has never maintained a high level of play.  In the last year ( deadline to deadline) he is 9th on the team in wRC+ and he has an fWAR of 1.3 for that period.  This year he is also 9th in wRC+ (1 point above Buxton & Adrianza).

 

I don't understand why so many people act as if he is irreplaceable or someone we should extend for that matter. 

When selecting last year's deadline to this year, you must take into consideration that he got injured in August last year and played injured for some time.  I don't recall exactly how long, but it seemed like the better part of a month.