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Brusdar Graterol Shoulder Impingement Q&A
Heezy1323
 
 
Heralded Twins prospect Brusdar Graterol was recently shut down and placed on the IL for ‘shoulder impingement’. This is concerning given how promising a start to the 2019 season Graterol has had and what it could mean for his future.
 
So what is ‘shoulder impingement’? And when might it need surgery? Let’s see what we can figure out:
 
[Disclaimer: I am not a team physician for the Twins. I have not treated or examined any Twins players. The information I am using is only that which is publicly available. My goal with these posts is to provide some education to TD readers around general injuries that are peculiar to baseball players.]
 
 
Question 1: What is shoulder impingement?
Shoulder impingement is a sort of catch-all term that can be used to mean a number of different things depending on the specifics of the situation. It Is a term that is often used in application to patients who have pain in their shoulders, often without any specific structural damage or a particular injury. Most frequently, people have pain in their shoulder area that gets worse when working above chest level. It is often treated with physical therapy, activity modification, oral medication and occasional cortisone injections. It is uncommon for these patients to require surgery, but it is sometimes needed after the preceding treatments have failed to provide adequate relief. Some also refer to this condition as shoulder bursitis. It involves irritation of the rotator cuff and the bursa, which lies between the rotator cuff tendons and a part of the bone of the shoulder blade (called the acromion). You may have friends or family members who have been told they have ‘impingement’- this is a fairly commonly used diagnosis. More specifically, this condition is referred to as ‘external impingement’.
 


 
Shoulder impingement in pitchers, however, often means something entirely different than what is described above. Whereas external impingement occurs between the rotator cuff and the acromion (outside of the ball and socket joint of the shoulder), pitchers more commonly have problems with what is called ‘internal impingement’. This occurs specifically in overhead athletes because of the tremendous motion that is necessary to hurl a baseball 90+ mph accurately. During the course of throwing, the arm is cocked back, placing it in an awkward position. In this position, part of the rotator cuff can get pinched between the bone of the ball and the bone of the socket (also often including pinching of the labrum). This may not seem like a big deal, but over time this repetitive motion can begin to take its toll. Experts agree that some changes/damage to the structures of the shoulder are likely normal and adaptive in pitchers rather than problematic. In some cases, however, these structural changes progress down the spectrum and become an issue- causing pain, lack of velocity and/or control and fatigue of the shoulder.
 


 
There is not perfect agreement amongst experts about why exactly these athletes begin to have pain in some cases. Regardless, it is likely a very complex combination of factors ranging from subtle changes in mechanics to core strength to gradual loosening of shoulder ligaments over time (and many others). Each individual case is likely different, and treatment needs to be tailored to the specifics of the athlete.
 
 
Question 2: How/when did this injury occur?
Typically, this is not an injury that results from a single trauma (though theoretically it can happen that way). It is much more typical for this to be the result of an accumulation of ‘microtraumas’ over a long period of time.
 
Question 3: Does this injury always need surgery?
No. As mentioned above, painful shoulder impingement in throwers is likely related to a complex set of factors. Because of this, treating any ONE thing with a surgery is somewhat unlikely to be effective. As a result, treatment is almost always begun by trying to calm down inflamed tissues. This typically involves rest from throwing. It may also involve oral medications and in some instances, cortisone injections. There is some discussion around PRP and so-called ‘stem cell’ injections (what orthopedists refer to as Bone Marrow Aspirate Concentrate or BMAC) for these types of problems, though this is not yet something I would consider standard of care.
During this time, the athlete is also likely to undergo physical therapy to work on improving some of the other factors mentioned above- core strength, range of motion, rotator cuff strength, etc.
As the pain and inflammation improve, the athlete is likely re-examined by trainers and physicians. This can take anywhere from a week or two to several weeks depending on the case. When things have improved sufficiently, the athlete is likely to begin an interval throwing program, which involves progressively more aggressive throwing sessions. Once they have completed this, they would likely return to the mound and begin throwing from there. Once appropriate progress has been made (and of course presuming no setbacks are encountered), they are likely cleared to return to play.
The success of non-surgical treatment for these types of problems is all over the map in the literature. There are ranges from percents in the teens to 70%+. Again, it likely depends on a large number of factors which makes prognosticating nearly impossible.
 
 
Question 4: How do we tell which cases of impingement need surgery and which do not?
This can be among the most difficult decisions to make when dealing with pitchers. One of the problematic elements is that surgery to treat this problem is comparatively not very successful. As noted above, in general there are likely a number of different structural abnormalities in the shoulder that are in play with this injury. Some of them are adaptive and are considered ‘normally abnormal’ for pitchers. Others are problematic. Separating these two is something about which even experts readily disagree.
It is difficult (and perhaps foolish in this setting) to quote surgery success rates, but in general they are not the best. There is a reason behind the old saying that for pitchers “If it’s the elbow, call the surgeon. If it’s the shoulder, call the preacher.”
 
 
Question 5: What is done during surgery?
This is widely variable depending on the specific structures that are injured, and (quite honestly) the particular views of the operating surgeon. I was recently watching a lecture on just this subject that featured a panel of a number of the preeminent North American surgeons that treat these problems. The differences of opinion and differences in strategy between surgeons were substantial. Yet another reason to make significant efforts to make non-surgical treatment successful.
 
 
Question 6: How concerning is this for Graterol?
This is hard to know from the information available. As stated earlier, the term ‘impingement’ can mean a wide variety of things- some more concerning than others. One of the positives in this case would seem to be that Graterol was pitching very effectively quite recently. Thus, this doesn’t seem to be something that has been festering for months. Hopefully that means they’ve ‘caught it early’ and can get things back on track sooner than later. I would imagine he will be out for a few weeks at least, but I would be surprised if he required any surgery in the near future.
Overall, many pitchers have occasional blips on the radar with things like this that are improved with rest and rehab and don’t recur in the future. Predicting the future is difficult for anything- and this type of issue especially- but hopefully Graterol can get back on the mound throwing gas soon.
 
 
Go Twins!

Jon Morosi of MLB Network reports in the last 24 hours the Twins have shown an interest in Craig Kimbrell. Anyone got any additional info about this exciting rumor?

We, as fans, have an interesting relationship between the franchises we support and ourselves. The bottom line of why we support these teams is usually because we enjoy doing so (although it seems like some Twins “fans” on Twitter don’t enjoy anything that has to do with them, but that’s another story). And this vested interest in the team leads us to want our franchise to acquire the best talent available in order to possibly win the championship at the end of the season. But, there are parameters set up by the team that we also must accept in the form of payroll. We understand the limitations which are laid out to us and then theorize events that can occur within them because our teams have shown us what the limits are. In MLB, not all franchise is created equal as there are consistent patterns of spending among the teams which split them up into either “big markets” who can land the big free agents and “small markets” who have to settle for less.
 
Now, let me get one thing clear, I am not whining about if this system is unfair as I personally believe it really is not much of a problem. Nor am I damning the teams such as the Twins who operate under stricter rules than others because I also understand that payroll is correlated to profit and this is a business after all. Teams who spend more generally have a better chance of making the playoffs but there is little to no correlation between spending and actually winning the championship. To put it simply, it’s pretty much just dumb blind luck whether or not a team wins the World Series once they make the playoffs. No, instead I want to comment on the fascinating position fans find themselves in when it comes to theorizing roster moves and creating scenarios in their mind with a certain limit that they must consider.
 
It’s easy for us to disconnect ourselves from the money that the players we root for are making, we don’t see the total in terms of “how much is that player making” as much as we see it in “how will how much that player is making affect the teams ability to make moves”. We squabble over how many millions can we reasonably offer to a free agent along with coming to terms with the fact that teams will keep MLB ready prospects down in the minors in order to keep them around for cheaper for longer. Hell, we just saw this happen with Byron Buxton when the Twins didn’t call him up when rosters expanded party because it would give the Twins an extra year of team control. Of course, the decision required more nuance than that, but the end result was that Buxton will now be stifled in the amount of money he will be making in the future because of the limits set up the team. In a perfect world, he would have been called up in September because it would not matter that the Twins would be forced to pay him more money sooner because it would not be an issue to do so, they could offer him whatever 6 year contract he pleased and both sides would go frolic in a garden somewhere, but that isn’t the baseball world we live in.
 
I rationalized this decision, like most others did, with the reasoning I laid out before, but in doing so I sided with the team and owner who is worth billions of dollars instead of the player worth a fraction of a fraction of that. And now, that doesn’t sit right with me. Along with this, I think of the numerous players who were non-tendered because their arbitration totals were probably going to be higher than how much their teams thought they were worth and those players were cut to save a few bucks. This would be fine if the teams spent more on free agents in return but this hasn’t been the case for a lot of teams as it seems some franchises aren’t aware that they are allowed to sign players right now. There’s also that statement that follows every question about whether a team should sign a player: “sure, as long as he’s cheap”.
 
The easy response is that these players, while worth way less than their owners, will still end up making far more money than any of us will and it becomes hard to feel bad for a player who ends up making only 3 million dollars instead of 4 million dollars because the difference is negligible for us. But again, we’re looking at their salary from the point of view of someone who has a vested interest in them making as little money as possible in order for our favorite team to have more flexibility for future acquisitions.
 
At the end of the day, should teams really be this concerned with cutting miniscule costs in the name of efficiency? Should how much money C.J. Cron is making affect whether or not the Rays DFA him? And should we be infuriated when Andrew McCutchen signs for 5 million dollars more than we think he’s worth? I don’t believe so, but hey, it isn’t my money.

I have been thoroughly following the Twins minor league farm system for about 2 years now. However, this is the first year that I am analyzing the players and writing blog entries about them. To me, this seemed like a fun and interesting way to view the best players in the Twins farm system and assemble the 2018 Twins MiLB Dream Team!
 
25 Man Roster
Pitchers-
SP Stephen Gonsalves
SP Lewis Thorpe
SP Zack Littell
SP Blayne Enlow
SP Landon Leach
SP/RE Fernando Romero
RE Tyler Jay
RE Brustar Graterol
RE John Curtiss
Catchers-
Ben Rortvedt
Brian Navarreto
David Banuelos
Infield-
1B Brent Rooker
1B Lewin Diaz
MIF Wander Javier
MIF Royce Lewis
MIF Jose Miranda
MIF Nick Gordon
3B Andrew Bechtold
3B Travis Blankenhorn
Outfield-
OF Alex Kirilloff
OF Akil Baddoo
OF Jacob Pearson
OF Max Murphy
OF LeMonte Wade
 
The Lineup
Gordon 2B
Lewis SS
Kirilloff RF
Rooker 1B
Wade LF
Blankenhorn 3B
Rorverdt C
Baddoo CF
Gonsalves P
 
The way I put the pitching staff together is by comparing the pitchers W-L ratio, ERA, SO, and how consistent they have been in past seasons. I put the position players together by comparing the AVG, OBP, SLG and SO to other players from their positions. I did take into consideration how many years the player has been playing in the MiLB. I am very convinced that this lineup will be the most effective because this teams .270/.356/.428 slash line is very impressive for the average age of the players in the lineup being only 22. The pitching staff has a total of 1,971 SO in there MiLB career, with a .280 ERA and this staff limits opposing hitters to a .217 AVG. If there is any players I forgot or any questions that you would like to ask me, then comment down below or email me at tjmac242004@gmail.com.

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch
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This is the next segment in the 2018 Twins top 60 prospect list. You can find the introductory segment that discusses qualifications to be on this list and presents the players who were on the 2017 list but are not in this list here. You can find the list of the previous rankings here: 56-60, 55-51, 46-50 , 41-45, 36-40, 31-35, 26-30, 21-25, 16-20, 11-15, 6-10. You can find all segments in this series here.
Here are players 6-10 in reverse order with their 2017 ranking in parenthesis. Players not in the 2017 top 60 list are indicated by (--)
 
 
5. Fernardo Romero (4)
DOB: 12/24/1994; Age: 22
Positions: RHP
Bats: R, Throws: R
Height: 6'0", Weight: 215 lbs
Acquired: International Free Agent
Professional Experience: 6; Highest level: AA (2017)
ETA: 2018
 
Fernando Romero was singed by the Twins as an International Free Agent from the Dominican Republic for on November 4th, 2011 with a $260K bonus. The San Juan de la Maguana native spending his age 17 2012 season in the Dominican Summer League where he pitched in 14 games, 6 starts, for 31 innings, striking out 27 (7.8 K/9, 20.2 K%), walking 14 (4.1 BB/9, 9.7 K-BB%), with a 4.94 ERA, 3.05 FIP, and 1.29 WHIP (.289 BABIP). He made the jump to the Gulf Coast League in 2013. He pitched in 12 games (6 GS) for 45 innings to a 1.60 ERA (2.44 FIP) and 1.00 WHIP (.271 BABIP) and had 47 strikeouts (9.4 K/9, 26 K%) and 13 walks (2.6 BB/9, 18.8 K-BB%.) After only 4 games in single A Cedar Rapids in 2014 he required Tommy John surgery, missing the rest of 2014 and the whole 2015 season. Last season he returned to Cedar Rapids where he started 5 games (28 IP) had 25 K (8.0 K/9, 24.3 K%) and 5 BB (1.6 BB/9, 19.4 K-BB%) with a 1.93 ERA, 2.33 FIP, and 0.82 WHIP (.250 BABIP). He moved to high A Fort Myers late in June where he started 11 games (62-1/3 IP) had 65 K (9.4 K/9, 26.9 K%) and 10 BB (1.4 BB/9, 22.7 K-BB%) with a 1.88 ERA, 2.00 FIP, and 0.93 WHIP (.288 BABIP), improving on his already great Cedar Rapids performance. Last season he pitched in 24 games (23 starts) at AA Chattanooga for a career high 125 innings. He had a 3.53 ERA, 2.93 FIP, 8.6 K/9, 3.2 BB/9, 22 K%, 13.8 K-BB%, and 1.35 WHIP (.328) BABIP. He was shut down in early August due to shoulder impingement. Previously he had a 5 inning limit on his last 5 starts because of the arm. His numbers are deflated because of 8 August starts that he pitched hurt, where he got a 8.38 ERA, 1.86 WHIP and allowed a .372 OBA.
 
Romero has a plus plus fastball that sits at 95-97 mph and has a nasty sinking movement, a plus plus slider that sits 88-92 mph and a close to plus now changeup. After his surgery, Romero came in better shape and he improved his command and control by leaps and bounds, pounding the strike zone and cutting down on walks. His stuff can already play in a major league pen, but Romero has top of the rotation potential and the Twins will explore that. Romero was added to the Twins' 40-man roster the November of 2016, so he will appear in the Twins' Spring Training camp. The shoulder is not much of a concern, and he has a chance to make the team out of Spring Training.
 
Likely 2018 path: Depending on health and on transactions, fighting for a spot in the Twins' rotation. Likely in the majors in 2018, barring injuries, trades etc.
 
 
4. Brent Rooker (--)
DOB: 11/1/1994; Age: 23
Positions: 1B/LF
Bats: R, Throws: R
Height: 6'3", Weight: 215 lbs
Acquired: Drafted in the 1s Round of 2017
Professional Experience: 1; Highest level: A+ (2017)
ETA: 2018
 
Brent Rooker (whose first name is Terry) was drafted by the Twins in the supplemental 1st Round of the 2017 draft as a Junior from Mississippi State. The Germantown, TN native, tore up the Southeast NCCA Conferance last season hitting: .387/.495/.810 with 23 HR (and 18/23 SB) in 248 AB (10.78 AB/HR.) He had 48 walks and struck out 58 times. As a pro he moved to Elizabethton, where he did not loose a beat with the wooden bat, hitting .282/.364/.588 with a .413 wOBA and 145 wRC+ in 99 PA in 22 games. That was enough for a promotion all the way to A+ Fort Myers where, in a league that usually bats come to die, he improved upon his E-town production hitting .280/.364/.552 with a .415 wOBA and 166 wRC+ in 40 games and 162 PA, as a 22 year old, about a full year younger than the average player. And this was the first time he hit with a wooden bat. Rooker played mostly LF at both Elizabethton and Fort Myers, with 11 games at 1B in Florida. His throwing arm does not play outside those two positions, but he is a capable defender in both positions. Strikeouts have been a issue in the pros (21.2% at Elizabethton and 29% at Fort Myers,) but playing a full season and further adjusting with the wood, will help him improve. A player with a great work ethic and makeup, Rooker will be a leader for every team he plays. My impression is that the Twins will fast track him as the heir-apparent to Joe Mauer at first base, thus the aggressive ETA estimate. If he continues to hit at that rate, he might force the Twins' hand ahead of time, since they can use a power RHB in the majors right now.
 
Likely 2018 path: Starting 1B/LF at Chattanooga with potential promotion to the majors based on necessity or a September cup of coffee with the Twins.
 
3. Brusdar Graterol (13)
DOB: 8/26/1998; Age: 18
Positions: RHP
Bats: R, Throws: R
Height: 6'1", Weight: 180 lbs
Acquired: International Free Agent signing 2014
Professional Experience: 2; Highest level: ELZ (2017)
ETA: 2020
 
This is the third time that Brusdar Graterol has been in this list and every season he has made serious leaps. He was ranked 28th in my 2016 list well before the National media and most of the local media even knew him from Adam. Graterol was signed by the Twins as an international free agent from the Venezuela on August 29, 2014, three days after his 16th birthday, for $150,000. The Calobozo native made only 4 career starts in the DSL before he required Tommy John surgery and moved statewide the summer of 2015. His numbers in those 4 games, as a 16 year old, fully 3 years younger than the league, were video-game like: 11 IP, 17 K, 13.9 K/9, 36.2 K%, 1 BB, 0.8 BB/9, 34 K-BB%, 2.45 ERA, 1.19 FIP, 1.18 WHIP (.444 BABIP.) He returned from the surgery well, adding considerable muscle to his frame and surprised everyone when he added several miles per hour to his fastball when he hit the mount. In 2017 he started the season in the GCL where he pitched 19-1/3 innings in 5 games (2 starts) with a 1.40 ERA, 2.86 FIP, 9.8 K/9, 1.9 BB/9, 29.2 K%, 23.6 K-BB%, and 0.72 WHIP (.205 BABIP). He moved to Elizabethton mid-season where he started in 5 games (20-2/3 IP) with a 3.92 ERA, 3.66 FIP, 10.5 K/9, 3.9 BB/9, 28.2 K%, 17.7 K-BB%, and a 1.21 WHIP (.300 BABIP.)
 
Graterol is throwing his plus to plus plus fastball at 96-98 mph deep into the games and he can dial it up to triple digits if necessary, supplementing it with a crisp slurve at the 85-87 mph range and a changeup that has improved the last season, but he still needs to command better. He is throwing from a 3/4 delivery that causes deception. Graterol is one of the few pitchers in the Twins' organization with top of the rotation stuff, and his ceiling is higher than any other pitcher in the organization, but he still needs work on command and control, esp. with his secondary offering. The 40 innings he pitched last season were Graterol's career high and he will need to be stretched, potentially slowly because of the elbow.
 
Likely 2018 path: At the Cedar Rapids rotation, potentially after some EST, depending on how the Twins feel about his elbow and the temperatures in the Midwest in April.
 
 
Note: The next two players are very close, and I could have ranked either at the top spot.
 
 
2. Wander Javier (1) SS, 2020
DOB: 12/29/1998; Age: 19
Positions: SS
Bats: R, Throws: R
Height: 6'1", Weight: 165 lbs
Acquired: International Free Agent 7/2/2015
Professional Experience:2; Highest level: ELZ (2017)
ETA: 2020
 
Wander Javier was signed by the Twins as an International Free Agent from the Dominican Republic last summer and had yet to play a single professional game, before this season. His $4 million signing bonus topped what the Twins gave Miguel Sano, and any other amateur player ever for signing with them other than Joe Mauer, Kohl Stewart and Byron Buxton. Javier started his pro career last season in the DSL with a bang, playing in 9 games (30 PA), hitting .308/.400/.654 (199 wRC+, .498 wOBA), with 13.3 BB% and 16.7 K% in a league dominated by pitching, as a 17 year old, before he was shut down with a hamstring injury. In 2017 he moved to Elizabethton where he hit .299/.383/.471 with a .390 wOBA and 131 wRC+, in a league where the average player was 2.5 years older. His K% increased to 27.2%, which is more of a data point, than even a slight concern at this point of his career.
 
Javier has the highest upside of any position player in the Twins' organization; his tool-set is similar to Byron Buxton's at that age, but with more power and less speed. At this point, he has 5 above average or better tools, with his arm, and power at above average and fielding, contact and speed approaching plus. Great work ethic, he gives 100% even at drills at Fort Myers and back field spectators are always impressed by his tendency to try to win all race drills. Unlike Miguel Sano who was also signed as shortstop, Javier projects to stay in the position as a professional. He has very smooth hands and confident footwork and body control. Power will come as he fills in. He had an .172 IsoP at 6-1/165 lbs, which will shoot up as he bulks up.
 
Likely 2018 path: Starting SS at Cedar Rapids.
 
 
1. Royce Lewis (--)
DOB: 12/29/1998; Age: 18
Positions: SS/OF
Bats: R, Throws: R
Height: 6'2", Weight: 188 lbs
Acquired: Drafted in the 1st round (1st overall) in 2017
Professional Experience: 1; Highest level: N/A
ETA: 2020
 
Royce Lewis was taken first overall by the Twins in the 2017 draft from J. Serra High School in San Juan Capistrano, CA. The Aliso Viejo, CA, native started his professional career in the GCL. There he hit .271/.390/.414 with a .391 wOBA and 136 wRC+ with 11.9 BB% and 10.7 K% in 36 games and 159 PA. He moved for the final 18 games of the season (80 PA) all the way to Cedar Rapids where he hit .296/.363/.394 with a .348 wOBA and 117 wRC+, and had 7.5 BB% and 20 K%. All that in a league in which the average player was 3.2 years older.
 
Lewis is a five tool player, with his contact, power, and arm slightly trailing the other 2 tools that are plus, with his speed being close to plus plus. Already at 6-2/188 as an 18 year old, he might have to shift position from shortstop to centerfield, or even potentially to third base, a position he played early in High School, if he grows more. His make up, affect, personality, and, workout ethic is off the charts. The Twins have a great to have difficult decision in where to play Lewis and Javier, if they want to keep both as everyday shortstops in full-season leagues. Lewis, who is about half a year younger, has been at a higher level, and I expect him to stay this way as long as he stays at SS. As I indicated earlier Lewis and Javier are very close and either can be ranked as number one at this point. Javier's ceiling is a bit higher with the bat and he is the better shortstop, but Lewis' speed, charisma, and the fact that was notched ahead of Javier by the Twins, give him the nod in these rankings. But they are close.
 
Likely 2018 path: Starting SS at Fort Myers, unless the Twins are willing to have Lewis and Javier play in other positions; in this case, they will both be at Cedar Rapids.
 
 
Next: Summary 1-60 and Organizational Overview

This offseason has been nothing short of unprecedented. It started with the 23-year-old sensation Shohei Ohtani deciding to leave Japan for the MLB, two years before he was eligible to sign without the International Free Agency restrictions. Then it was followed up with two months of absolute standstill for many of the top free agents. So, how could this season’s free agent market potentially cause Yu Darvish to sign for a lot less money than the six years and $160MM that MLB Trade Rumors had originally predicted? Let’s take a look.
 
In years past, the available marquee free agents were almost exclusively signed by the richest teams in baseball. In fact, 9 of the 20 richest contracts in MLB history were signed by either the Yankees, Dodgers or Red Sox. However, as MLB front offices are starting to get smarter, they are starting to learn that these big time free agent contracts are almost never worth it in the long run. As a result, teams are starting to shift their focus towards lower tier free agents that they can sign to short term, and more reasonably priced contracts, like relievers.
 
Another factor that will cause Darvish’s value to drop is the luxury-tax system. While MLB does not have salary cap like many other U.S. sports leagues do, they do have a luxury-tax that disincentivizes teams from spending frivolous amounts of money on free agents. As teams go further and further above the luxury-tax threshold, and as the number of years they spend above the threshold increases, so to does the amount that the teams are taxed. This is causing many of the top spending teams, who have spent the last few years above the luxury-tax threshold, to want to cut back on spending and get below it in 2018. As a result, these teams are choosing to take a pass on players like Darvish.
 
Major League Baseball has seen a stretch of extreme parity over the past half-decade, with 26 of the 30 teams having made a playoff appearance since 2011, along with traditional bottom dwellers, like the Royals, becoming World Series contenders. However, over the past year or two, the MLB has seen a real shift from a league filled with parity, to apparent “super teams” atop each division. The reasons for this are many, and I won’t go into details why in this post. So how does all of this impact Yu Darvish? Well, I have already touched on why many of the teams at the top aren’t looking to add Darvish, but now with this power separation, many teams are opting to go with a rebuilding strategy as opposed to signing free agents. This takes even more teams out of the running, that might have otherwise made a run at competing in 2018, and thus looking to sign Darvish.
 
So, who does this all leave that would be interested in signing Darvish? Well, it was reported that Yu Darvish has narrowed his list of teams down to six. These teams are the Rangers, Cubs, Dodgers, Astros, Yankees and of course the Twins.
 
Let’s look at the five other teams remaining that are competing with the Twins for Yu Darvish’s services. Saturday night, the Astros made a trade to acquire Pirates starter Gerrit Cole. With this move, it all but fills out the Astros’ rotation with Dallas Keuchel, Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole and Lance McCullers Jr. as their 1-4, followed by quality starters in Brad Peacock, Charlie Morton and Collin McHugh competing for the 5th spot. This all but takes them out of the running for Yu Darvish.
 
Additionally, the Dodgers and Yankees are teams that are looking to stay below the $197MM luxury-tax threshold in 2018. As it stands, their projected 2018 salaries are $191MM and $172MM respectively. This means that signing Darvish will put the Dodgers well beyond the luxury-tax, and limits the Yankees to less than $25MM in average annual value (AAV) on Darvish’s contract in order to stay below. Doing so would leave the Yankees with no margin to play with if they need to sign or trade for another player throughout the season, which means they are probably out unless his value drops down below $20MM in AAV. The Rangers are also a team that have said that they are looking to cut payroll in 2018. While their motives to do so might not be luxury-tax related, their desire to do so makes it hard to see Darvish making a reunion with the team that originally signed him out of Japan in 2012.
 
This just leaves the Chicago Cubs, who are looking to replace 2015 NL Cy Young Award winner Jake Arrieta. The Cubs have also expressed an interest in staying below the luxury-tax, but given their roughly $30MM in space to work with, and the fact that they were below the luxury-tax in 2017, their incentives to stay below aren’t as great as the Dodgers and Yankees are. This most likely makes the Cubs the greatest competition that the Twins have for Darvish. While the Cubs could easily get into a bidding war with the Twins, and push his salary closer to the $30MM AAV range, I don’t see them doing so for a couple of reasons. The first is this would leave them with little to no room to work with in 2018 for any other additions if they wish to stay below the luxury-tax. The second, is they have shown interest in a potential reunion with Arrieta. If the price for Darvish gets too high, they could easily put their focus on bringing back Arrieta.
 
With all of that being said, this is great news for the Twins. Not only does it increase their chances of actually signing Yu Darvish, but they might be able to do so without having to break the bank. There is also a slight chance that they might be able to land Darvish on a five-year deal as opposed to a six or seven-year deal. This would be great for the Twins, as he would come off of the Twins books after his age 35 season. In the end, I see Darvish signing either a five or six-year deal, in the $115MM-$135MM range, a far cry from the six years and $160MM that was originally projected.

If you're a Minnesota Twins fan, you're probably already well aware of the allegations that independent photographer Betsy Bissen went public via Twitter a couple days ago with her #MeToo experience involving Twins star Miguel Sano. I won't go into all the details but you can easily find them with a quick browser search.
 
(This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com)
 
http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/metoo-300x169.jpg
 
In a nutshell, Betsy's account is that, following an autograph session at a memorabilia store in 2015, Sano forcibly attempted to pull her into a restroom. The struggle, from which she ultimately extricated herself, lasted several terrifying minutes.
 
Over the past few weeks and months, we've seen victim after victim of male abuse of power/position come to light, most predominantly in the Hollywood, political and corporate environments. However, to my limited knowledge, this is perhaps the first allegation against a major league professional athlete, at least since the #MeToo movement came to prominence.
 
Given the historically misogynistic world of professional sports, the only surprising thing is that it took this long for experiences such as Betsy's to become public. Her allegation may or may not have been the first involving a MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL player, but I think we can be pretty certain it won't be the last.
 
MLB is beginning an investigation into the allegations regarding Sano, as is their responsibility and duty, apparently, under the current Collective Bargaining Agreement with the MLB Players Association. It is proper, I know, for those who know neither Sano nor Bissen personally, to decide they want to hold off on judgement until MLB does it's investigation thing.
 
Most of us who know Betsy at all (I consider myself her friend, though we are not what either of us, I'm sure, would consider to be close friends) are not generally feeling compelled to wait out an investigation before expressing our unequivocal support for her.
 
In fact, since she went public, she has received what would at least be considered public corroborative support from various parties who have, in the past, been at least somewhat familiar with Mr. Sano's treatment of women in manners not inconsistent with what Betsy described.
 
One person, Mike Holmdahl, recounted via Twitter that he had observed Sano making a female usher in Chattanooga uncomfortable during Sano's playing days with the Lookouts earlier in the same season that the event involving Bissen took place. That person was told by a senior usher there that they were so aware of Sano's activities with regard to female ushers that they had made an effort to avoid posting females near the home dugout. (You can find Holmdahl's full recounting as part of Brandon Warne's excellent piece at Zone Coverage.)
 
Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports wrote that he had been told by, "five people, including teammates, ex-teammates and confidants, with whom he has spent time," that they characterized Sano as someone who, "saw the pursuit of women as sport," One of them called Sano "a ticking time bomb."
 
Jeff Goldklang, a member of the ownership group that currently owns the St. Paul Saints (for whom Bissen does some photography work) and previously owned the Twins' class high-A Ft. Myers Miracle related via Twitter that, "I've seen enough of both people to have absolutely no doubts in this story's veracity. I've personally seen Sano act inappropriately towards a woman- while in uniform, no less."
 
In fact, given these statements of at least partial corroboration, it does lead one to wonder what the Twins' front office knew about Sano's issues with women and when they knew it. But that's a question for another day and, if the MLB and the media do their jobs, we'll possibly get some answers some day.
 
All of this is just by way of saying that it would appear that Betsy Bissen is worthy of the support that her friends and many others are giving her.
 
But I'm not writing this to say I support her. She deserves more than that.
 
I'm writing to say, "Thank you," to Betsy for having the courage to speak out, knowing that the result would not be 100% supportive - that there would be a significant - and very vocal - segment of the population of Twins Territory who would demonize her for speaking out (conveniently hiding behind anonymous social media pseudonyms in most cases, of course}.
 
I will admit that Betsy's public allegations made me uncomfortable, just as the whole #MeToo movement has made me uncomfortable. But you know what? It's SUPPOSED to make me uncomfortable.
 
It's supposed to make me take stock of my own views and treatment of women - past, present and, in particular, future. And it has done just that.
 
I'm a 61 year old man. And while I certainly have never behaved toward any woman the way that Betsy related that Sano behaved toward her, I'm absolutely certain my words and actions toward women at various points in my life would not stand up to the spotlight that #MeToo is shining on us today.
 
I'm not naive enough to think #MeToo and people like Betsy Bissen are going to quickly and dramatically change the way we view and treat women in our society, especially, perhaps, in an era where our country has elected an openly misogynist President, sending a signal to a considerable segment of our population that it's OK to behave similarly toward our wives, girlfriends, sisters, daughters and granddaughters.
 
In fact, I doubt we'll see the kind of change that is needed take hold fully during my lifetime.
 
But, thanks to people like Betsy and others possessing similar courage, I have hope that my two grandsons (ages 2 and 4) will grow up in a world where they don't even question whether it's appropriate to treat girls and women with respect and, frankly, just common decency.
 
More importantly yet, I have hope that my not-quite-yet born granddaughter will grow up in such a world.
 
I have hope that she will grow up knowing that, if she aspires to be a sports photographer (or an actress or a political aide or a corporate executive), she shouldn't have to accept that being subject to what Betsy Bissen went through (or much worse) is considered just the price of admission into her chosen profession or avocation.
 
So, on behalf of my granddaughter and myself, let me just say it.
 
Thank you, Betsy.

This was an article/idea that I wrote back originally back in 2013. I've updated it to include the changes MLB have already implemented, like removing the significance of the All-Star in the World Series Home Field Advantage.
 
Back in 2013, I had been listening to the baseball commentators, reading ESPN, SI and MLB.com about the uneven schedules pertaining to having inter-league play everyday and how people don't seem to like it. Personally, I am not a fan of the inter-league play and would prefer having a balanced schedule between the leagues.
 
Here is my proposed adjustment to the current league structure: I'm a big fan of having the pitcher hit for themselves (it makes the managers actually manage the game) but lets get real, it's time for the universal DH in both leagues.
 
Here is my realignment of the divisions: 6 divisions of 5 teams is moved to 4 divisions of 8 teams. The alignment of teams would increase geographic rivalries (to a certain extent), hopefully making travel to opposing ballparks more appealing, increase attendance, decrease team travel and increasing bottom lines (since this is what the owners want in the end).
 
The Divisions:
 
"American League"
 
North: Minnesota Twins, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers, Milwaukee Brewers, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians and Colorado Rockies
 
West: San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, LA Dodgers, Anaheim Angels, Oakland A's, Arizona Diamondbacks, Seattle Mariners, and Vancouver BC (Proposed new team)
 
"National League"
 
South: Miami Marlins, Atlanta Braves, Texas Rangers, Houston Astros, Kansas City Royals, St. Louis Cardinals, San Juan, Puerto Rico (Tampa Bay moves), and San Antonio, TX (Proposed new team)
 
East: Boston Red Sox, Philadelphia Phillies, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Washington Nationals, Baltimore Orioles, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Toronto Blue Jays
 
This alignment also expands the coverage of baseball more into Canada, which has a big baseball following, along with adding a team in Puerto Rico, a baseball rich area.
 
I chose San Juan, Vancouver and San Antonio because of the the size of their markets and location need within the proposed league. These locations are all currently larger than the following MLB Markets: Milwaukee, Cleveland, Kansas City, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.
 
The Playoffs:
 
Playoffs would include the Top 2 teams from each division. The #1 (home) team (North) would play the opposing divisions #2 (away) team (West) and visa versa in a 5-game series (this would be the current "Wild Card Round").
 
The winners of their respective series would move onto the "AL or NL Championship Series Round." This series would include a 7-game series with teams playing for the American or National League Pennant along with a trip to the World Series.
 
The World Series would remain the same, a 7-game series, as it currently is stands. With the team with the best overall regular season record determining the home-field advantage.
 
This would be a big shake up to the current format of baseball but I believe this would have its advantages that fans, players and owners would enjoy. I understand that it currently eliminates the 2nd wild card team but lets not water down the playoffs with additional teams.
 
In regards on how this proposed realignment would affect the Twins, I would say that it would not be in the best interest for them. Soley based on the 2017 results, this is where the Twins would have ended up to finish the season...not in the playoffs:
 
Cleveland Indians - 102 Wins
Chicago Cubs - 92 Wins
Colorado Rockies - 87 Wins
Milwaukee Brewers - 86 Wins
Minnesota Twins - 85 Wins
Cincinnati Reds - 68 Wins
Chicago White Sox - 67 Wins
Detroit Tigers - 64 Wins
 
When we look at the payrolls for each of these organizations (Numbers from 2017 Opening Day) - we continue to fall towards the middle of the pack. Interesting to note that the team with the largest payroll also had the worst record in 2017. If the Twins were to raise their annual payroll to about $125 Million - would that help us climb this proposed standing?
 
Detroit Tigers - $199 Million
Chicago Cubs - $172 Million
Colorado Rockies - $130 Million
Cleveland Indians - $124 Million
Minnesota Twins - $108 Million
Chicago White Sox - $99 Million
Cincinnati Reds - $93 Million
Milwaukee Brewers - $63 Million
 
The idea was to create discussion and have a little fun with hypotheticals. Would be interesting to see how the addition of the DH to the former national league teams would affect their overall record and if that would be a positive or negative to the Twins playoff hopes.
 
Any thoughts or ideas to add?

I really didn’t think I needed to write this article. I really didn’t think I’d let the awful commentary on social media get to me. I figured it would die down after a few days. I was wrong. Very wrong. For having signed two notable named Asian players, Twins Territory (and what I hope is a very vocal minority[see what I did there?]) sure is up-in-arms about potentially signing two more.
 
With the news of the Twins actively pursuing both Yu Darvish (who comes with his own set of health concerns) and Shohei Ohtani (a young Japanese phenom who can pitch and hit), there seems to be a few comments on every article or Twitter comment thread about the fears of signing another Asian ballplayer.
 
For being one of the largest continents on the planet (even encompassing parts of Russia), Asia is made up of 48 different countries. Some of the bigger countries of note are China, Russia, India, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and South Korea. Huh. There are a lot of countries in Asia where the people who reside there sure don’t look alike. In fact, they don’t even speak the same language or share a government.
 
But for Twins fans, it’s been an almost daily occurrence where some Rube (see: casually racist social media user) has made a comment about not taking a chance on another Asian ballplayer since Tsuyoshi Nishioka and ByungHo Park didn’t pan out in the major leagues.
 
Injuries aside, and the fact that they “look alike” (which they don’t at all, unless you just see a tan skinned person with black hair who comes from the same continent and assume they’re from the exact same place), the Twins have the potential to sign a possible once-in-a-lifetime player in Shohei Ohtani, and a 4-time All Star in Yu Darvish. Improvements to the one part of the team Twins fans have complained about improving for almost a decade: pitching.
 
I jumped ahead though. Let’s go back to Nishioka and Park. Nishioka is a Japanese baseball player who plays in the Nippon Professional Baseball Organization, based in Japan. Byung-Ho Park is a Korean baseball player who plays in the Korean Baseball Organization, based in Korea. While those two countries are relatively close to each other, they are not the same.
 
Neither are the Caucasian, Latino, and African ballplayers that have come through the Twins’ organization over the years, in much larger quantities too. Some Twins fans are now basing their choice to not pursue Ohtani specifically, based on the fact Nishioka and Park didn’t work out. Seems like an incredibly small sample size to base your opinion on, and it also comes off as racist. I don’t see these same people crying wolf that the Twins shouldn’t have chased after Royce Lewis, Hunter Greene, or Brendan McKay based on the fact that former Caucasian and African-American players didn’t pan out. If it didn’t matter then, why should it matter where Ohtani comes from?
 
The Twins have an opportunity to sign a superstar ballplayer to join an already impressive young core of talent from the across the planet. Take a look at the Twins’ 25-man roster this season and see what countries all of the players that helped contribute to a postseason berth for the first time since 2010 call home. After you’ve done that, find it in yourself to consciously stop using the “Nishioka and Park” argument against signing Ohtani. If you’re incapable of doing so because you can’t figure out how to say you don’t trust an unproven player with no MiLB or MLB experience (there, I figured it out for you!), then maybe you should keep your awful opinions to yourself.
 
And no, we don’t all look alike.
 
– Panda Pete (South Korean)

Read this story in full on Zone Coverage here.
 
It’s a play as old as the game itself, and maybe that’s because the DH didn’t always exist. It’s the bunt, a time-honored tradition that is being phased out of the game more and more every year.
 
Fangraphs has sacrifice bunt totals dating back to 1895, and according to their database, the 925 sacrifice bunts laid down by teams in 2017 was the second-lowest figure in MLB history. Only the 1900 season (806 bunts) featured fewer, and there were only eight teams back then.
 
So yeah, the bunt is dying a slow death.
 
At a glance, the Twins were in the middle of the pack as far as bunts were concerned, checking in 17th among 30 MLB teams with 26 sacrifices in 2017. That’s a deceptive number, though; flip the dial to only AL teams, and only two teams -- the White Sox and Rangers -- bunted more often than the Twins.
 
That’s more problematic. Subtracting NL teams -- yay, pitchers hitting! -- from that figure shows how much more the Twins were devoted to bunting than their junior circuit contemporaries.
 
To frame up how different the game is bunts-wise, consider this:
 
Twins bunts as a percentage of MLB on the whole: 2.8 percent (one team = 3.3 percent of MLB)
Twins bunts as a percentage of AL on the whole: 9.6 percent (one team = 6.7 percent of AL)
 
As you can see, bunting is severely shifted toward the NL, and the Twins are well above the average mark of their AL contemporaries.
 
The White Sox offense was absolutely dreadful in 2017, scoring 109 fewer runs than the Twins while the team lost more games than every team in the AL but the Detroit Tigers. The Rangers were in the thick of the race for much of the season despite Adrian Beltre missing time due to injury and a patchwork rotation, and scored just 16 fewer runs than the Twins while winning 78 games to Minnesota’s 85.
 
So maybe everything said in this space will also apply to the Rangers -- we’ll see.
 
Here’s one thing that stands out, and it is glaring: no team bunted more than the Twins did with their No. 3 hitters. In fact, according to Baseball Reference, the Twins bunted five times with their third hitter. The rest of the league combined bunted six times with their No. 3 guy -- and no team did so more than once.
 
And according to Parker Hageman of Twins Daily, none of those bunts led to runs. Blech.
 
So what’s the big deal? It’s just giving up an out to move up a base. Doesn’t it make it more likely the team scores a run? Doesn’t it lead to more scoring? Aren’t those basically asking the same question?

It’s sunny and very, very warm as the Twins begin the second part of their home-and-home series with the Padres. The Twins split the first half of the series on Aug. 1-2 with Jhoulys Chacin outdueling Jose Berrios in the first game and Ervin Santana beating Luis Perdomo in the second game.
 
This time, it’ll be the red-hot Kyle Gibson (5.19 ERA, 4.86 FIP in 135.1 innings) getting ready to take on left-hander Travis Wood (6.00 ERA, 5.29 FIP in 81 innings between Kansas City and San Diego).
 
More on that in a bit.
 
There was a new face in the Twins clubhouse before the game, as left-handed reliever Gabriel Moya has joined the team after a strong stretch run with the Southern League co-champion Chattanooga Lookouts.
 
To make room for Moya on the 40-man roster, the Twins designated infielder Engelb Vielma for assignment.
Moya was very excited in the clubhouse, and smiled when the name Jeff Bajenaru was brought up. “Oh yeah, he’s been my pitching coach for three years in the minors,” Moya said. It was Bajenaru who tweeted that on Monday that Moya called him crying to tell him he was headed to Target Field.
 
Please click through to Zone Coverage here to read this article in full!

Some comments made by Twins center fielder Byron Buxton during the road trip to Fenway Park last week sent the blogosphere/Twittersphere into a tizzy. Buxton, who has hit just .209/.283/.303 this season coming into Thursday night’s game against the Orioles, told Jake Depue of 1500ESPN that he had scorned the leg kick he used to start the season in order to put the ball in play more — including more balls hit on the ground.
 
“[The goal is] putting the ball in play more,” Buxton told Depue. “Putting it on the ground more to get it out of the air. With the leg kick I was more fly ball oriented. It didn’t give me a chance to get on base. Now putting it on the ground I at least have the chance of beating it out or them rushing the throw and making an error.”
 
It’s not hard to read what Buxton said and be immediately discouraged. There’s a reason why the catchphrase among hitters is “Elevate and celebrate.” It’s not exactly earth-shattering science, either; hit the ball on the ground, and you limit yourself to singles and lots of outs. Hit it in the air, and you’re open to not only singles, but extra-base hits of all shapes and sizes.
 
So to hear what Buxton said and not immediately think that he was moving away from his strength and ceiling for the false security of the “safety” of his speed is totally understandable.
 
But according to hitting coach James Rowson, the fears are also unfounded.
 
Make no mistake about it: the Twins are in no way trying to get Buxton to be a slap-happy, beat-it-into-the-ground-and-beat-the-throw kind of hitter.
 
“Absolutely not,” Rowson said of the seemingly prevalent thought that the Twins wanted Buxton to hit the ball into the ground and use his speed as his primary offensive weapon. “Absolutely not. Here’s the deal: I clearly do not want Byron Buxton to hit the ball on the ground and run. (laughs) That is not in the plan. Without a doubt, he’s has a chance to be a dynamic player in this league for years to come and he has the ability to drive the baseball.”
 
Rowson added that he was encouraged by Buxton’s progress even as recently as Thursday night, as the youngster absolutely peppered some balls on the way to a 2-for-4 night — his second multi-hit game in a row and third over his last six games.
 
“Just last night he hit three balls over 100 mph, which shows you that he’s hitting baseballs hard in the last few days,” Rowson said. “It’s starting to come along. No, the goal is not to hit balls on the ground. The goal is going to be to use the whole field and hit balls hard.”
 
Please click through to read the rest of this article here on ZoneCoverage.com.

Today the big league club was on the road, and I did not follow them, returning to my haunts at CenturyLink Sports Complex.
 
It was a bit of an abbreviated day on the back fields for me, as I didn't arrive until 11, and the players had already departed for their lunchtime break because the games were slated for noon. And then that noon start meant the game was over well before 3:00. Fellow TD moderator ChiTownTwinsFan joined me to watch the Cedar Rapids single-A squad (or at least the momentary roster bearing that designation - with Gentleman Tommy Watkins guiding them) play their counterparts from the Baltimore Orioles farm system. There was a high-A Fort Myers squad playing their game 30 or 40 yards to the west, but I never got around to even taking a look-see.
 
I failed to do my homework, and discovered as I strolled in that Stephen Gonsalves (no single-A player now, of course) was warming up and slated to start, making this to my knowledge his first "official" action since being sidelined with a bum shoulder March 8. I heard scuttlebutt as the game started that he would pitch only one inning, and that's exactly what played out. He struck out the first two batters, gave up a sharp double to right field, then got another strikeout for the third out. Some people call that striking out the side; I don't, sorry. But it was a satisfactory inning, I'm sure, and if he doesn't report pain then it will have been a very good start indeed.
 
Here, take a look at this photo: does anyone know what this grip is, with Stephen's pinky flared up like he's drinking tea with the Queen? Looks kind of like a circle change or a palm ball, but is the pinky important to that or not? It wasn't evident to me in real-time, but I did notice when I looked through the photos after dropping the film off at Walgreens and picking up the prints.*
 

 

 
The game moved fast, not solely because of the lack of TV advertising, but because it was a low-scoring affair until the very end. The Twins broke through in the bottom of the first inning with a run, and it stayed 1-0 until they tacked on an insurance run in the 8th. Unfortunately, they should have bought more insurance: 22-year old relief prospect Logan Lombana coughed up three or four runs in the top of the ninth, after beginning with two quiet putouts.
 
Three or four, you say? Yeah. A few years ago, I learned a new notation, when keeping a scoresheet of a game: "WW". Ever heard of that one? Have I mentioned it before? It stands for: Wasn't Watching. Well, there were several of those in my scoresheet today. I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to keep the lineups straight, which meant that several times I looked at the field and asked "how'd he get on base?" and not every time did someone within earshot admit to knowing. I now know that in a Spring game, you can't even assume there will be 9-man batting orders. Unless I suddenly forgot how to count, I believe both teams cycled through 10 batters in this game. Even "better" for record-keeping, in that climactic ninth inning, I swear Baltimore skipped a batter. This way lies Madness! If I simply overlooked him, then he was part of the two-out parade on the bases and it's four runs; otherwise, three. We lost either 4-2 or 3-2, so either way no extra innings needed to be played (or, more probably, dispensed with because, you know, "Spring Training").
 
Yesterday I just jotted down impressions of the game I watched. I'm not sure my scoresheet today gives me any better picture of this one.
 
OK, here is something I am sure about: Ben Rortvedt is the real deal on defense. He gunned down two would-be base stealers. I'm too lazy a photographer to wait long enough to capture a shot of that, but here he is in typical posture to receive a strike - looks like good form, also making life easy for Blue behind him, to this untrained observer.
 

 
Contrast that with this somewhat less graceful and confident stance by Orioles counterpart Ronald Soto (sorry to pick on you, Ron, especially because it's not quite an apples-to-apples comparison):
 

 
On top of that, I would also venture to say Ben has the "good face" that old-school scouting mavens such as Terry Ryan prize:
 

 
As for other impressions of our young Twins: outfielders Aaron Whitefield and Casey Scoggins both showed good speed on the bases and in the field. I'm sorry to report that T.J. White bollixed a couple of plays at third base, although he did do well going back on a popup (and he did drive in that run in the first inning). On the pitching side of the ledger, Eduardo del Rosario (not to be mistaken for a similarly-named outfielder in the Twins' employ) pitched innings 2 through 6 and gave up a few baserunners but nothing too serious, as the shutout continued. Domenick Carlini wriggled out of trouble after allowing two baserunners to start the seventh, and Alex Robinson pitched a clean eighth. As mentioned, Lombana pitched an untidy ninth, unable to secure that final out quickly and allowing five (or six?) baserunners before he could finally shut the door. One overall impression was that Gentleman Tommy in the dugout had all the pitchers focusing on holding every second-base runner (which involves the catcher, of course).
 
As the game drew to a close, a few fans in the small grandstand were discussing housing arrangements for the Cedar Rapids players this summer. A relative of Caleb Hamilton, who plays infield, was collecting some phone numbers from CR folks in attendance who are involved in the hosting program. Very cool networking, although it's unfortunate if the players and families feel in the dark about what to expect, since the team goes through the same process every year and the players are the ones who are new at it.
 
As usual, the area cleared quickly once the game was over, with the fans shuffling to their cars and the visiting players walking briskly to their buses. The Twins players headed over to their training complex building. And me, I headed to Rib City nearby, for a belated lunch.
 
* Just kidding - I embraced the digital revolution in photography a few weeks or months ago, I forget exactly when.

Greetings from sunny Florida! I'm lucky enough to be in Ft Myers for a week during Spring Training.
 
Today I spent the day mainly on the back fields, watching the minor league prospects. Normally I call these reports Hammond Notes (I must have been under the impression everyone remembers Hammond Organs when I thunk up that one), but Hammond is strictly speaking the major league field here, and it would be clunky to title today's entry CenturyLink Sports Complex Notes. The photo here is of all the dummies watching the major leaguers take batting practice - they don't know what they are missing!
 
I arrived at the crack of dawn, namely 9:30 am, in time to see the players begin their warmup calisthenics. It being the day of a major league game, CenturyLink Sports Complex was charging $10 for parking. Note to anyone intending to follow a plan like mine: in-and-out privileges are not included when you pay to park, and there is no food service outside the main ballpark so bring a lunch (there is a water fountain by the bathroom at the center of the back fields) or else prepare to pay twice for parking - plus it's hard driving out when they're letting everyone else in. Tomorrow and Thursday are away games, so I can get in for free unless I am misremembering protocol.
 

 
The day's drills were enjoyable to watch, and not especially stressful looking for the players either. Pitchers worked on fielding comebackers on Field 5. While nobody embarrassed himself, and there were a few good snags of the balls coming out of the repurposed pitching machine, I didn't spot any budding shortstops in the group either. Here's Lewis Thorpe giving it a try - notice how he keeps the meat hand (AKA moneymaker) safely out of the way. Notice also my skillful use of the camera's autofocus, bringing into crisp view the mesh of the decorative yet functional chain link fence.
 

 
Later, on Field 3, a group of players practiced specialized situations, such as the pitcher covering third on an extra-base hit by a lefthanded pull-hitter against an extreme shift (seriously). It seemed to me there was a lot of dead time in this, where the coach in charge would stop to talk to a small group of players, and the others, far out of earshot, would just be standing around. Maybe this is optimal - I'm not a coach or anything. During this idle time, I spotted catchers Dan Rohlfing, Karim Kevin**** Garcia, and one I wasn't able to deduce even using my vast sleuthing skills, practicing the art of tossing a baseball into the air and catching it in the mesh of their mask. I am confident this important skill will be the deciding factor in Game 7 of the World Series, some year very soon. It's the new Framing.
 

 
Closer to game time, I ventured again to the front of the CenturyLink Sports Complex and met up briefly with ChiTownTwinsFan, who was attending the major league game with family. We'll share a game or three later this week with others who are arriving.
 
After a spartan lunch (which, did I mention, I thought to bring) and a nap resting my eyes while lying down on the metal bleachers in the shade for 5 minutes, 10 minutes tops, I watched the two games against Tampa Bay Rays prospects, which began around 1 pm. Nominal AAA and AA squads were represented, and in the AAA game both teams used 40-man pitchers as their starters. I should tell you at the outset that I switched attention between the two games and did not keep an actual scoresheet for either one, and moreover I have no idea who "won" either contest - I merely took notes of what I thought to be interesting.
 
Matt Belisle went a couple of innings for the Twins and pitched pretty well.
 

 
He was aided by a very fine shoestring catch by Zach Granite in center on the first pitch. Pro tip: call him Granny, like some of his teammates and/or coaches do. Niko Goodrum, playing shortstop, also contributed a nice play in the first, to his right on a ball just out of third baseman's reach - I wrote the latter's name down as Ganache but I can't locate such a player now at my computer. Later on in the AAA game, there was a very nice play by Engelb Vielma at second base, coming in on the ball and making it look easy, to get the batter by a step. All in all, the defense looked good, every time my attention was focused on Field 3.
 
Two-year major-league veteran Matt Andriese of the Rays didn't fare as well. As I said, I didn't keep a scoresheet, but my impression was that he gave up lots of base hits and plenty of runs. In the first, Goodrum doubled to right field (in this game he was making good contact each time I looked), Dan Palka followed with a two-strike opposite field RBI single to left that I overheard someone on the bench call a "nice piece of hitting", and then Mitch Garver followed with a homer to left center.
 

 
On Field 4, the Twins also had a major league reliever serve as starter. I didn't see a lot of Kintzler's work, but a comment from a fellow fan led me to think he wasn't especially effective. I guess we'll all form our own opinions from that tidbit, according to our individual prejudices.
 
Edgar Corcino botched a flyball in left field, and someone brought him a pair of sunglasses in time for the next pitch - oops, Kangaroo Kourt fine, shall we say? Fernando Romero pitched next, and I thought he got cuffed about quite a bit. However toward the end of his first inning he started throwing heat more visibly, and the results improved. But then, he dropped a comebacker to the mound. (I don't recall whether he was in the group practicing that in the morning.) They ended the inning early after that, which sometimes is the custom on the minor league fields, and I thought that meant he was done for the day, but he pitched the next inning, and again was effective. Maybe the Rays had batted around, and the ground rules say that's enough - hey, let the other kids have a turn, willya?
 
Back on Field 3, I saw Vielma have a rough day at the plate, which of course has been the question mark about him as a high-end prospect we want him to become. He's one of the guys I wanted to scrutinze at the plate on this visit, and I am encouraged compared to my expectations that he might swing like Pedro Florimon. No, he "has a notion up there" at the plate - he's not clueless. But, he's also a bit overmatched, particularly on pitches in the upper half of the strike zone, as he tends to swing right through them with disturbing frequency, at least on this day. Being unable to hit certain strikes would not be a good thing in the majors. (He'll also chase, on pitches higher than that, but that seems more correctable.) At least, I didn't see Buxton's Syndrome, namely being unable to recognize off-speed pitches in the dirt, so that's a mild positive. I hope his batting coach can teach him to figure out a few things this year - maybe this ugly photo will help.
 

 
Turning back to the AA game, Randy Rosario showed a good fastball but only so-so control.
 

 
John Curtiss, by contrast, looked very much in control of his good fastball, and seems poised to build at AA upon his successful 2016.
 

 
Minor league free agent utility player (OF, 3B) Tom Belza really got ahold of a pitch late in the game for a 3-run jack. He's not a guy with stellar power numbers in the past, but if he's ready to put things together maybe he can get his cup of coffee or perhaps even a little more - he's someone I'll keep an eye on just for fun, now that he has forced me to pay attention to him. On the other hand, shortly after his homer, he got spun around fielding a hot smash at third base, costing him just enough time to fail to retire the batter, so my snap assessment is he'll remain a longshot.
 
In the AAA game, relief prospect Trevor Hildenberger made easy work of the Rays batters in the final inning. He has what looks like nasty stuff from a variety of angles.
 
In the AA game (are you getting whiplash yet? that's my intention, as it mimics the fun of watching two games on adjacent fields), Nick Gordon got a ground rule* double to left, followed by a long double to center by recent minor league signing Josh Romanski - another promising event today for a long-shot athlete in his prime. You Never Know. Here's Gordon, probably not on the pitch he doubled on.
 

 
An interesting sidelight, at least for me: at the end of his inning of work, Rays prospect pitcher Jairo Munoz came off the field cursing, presumably at himself for the hits against him. Longtime Rays coach R.C. Lichtenstein, who was monitoring the game outside the fence, made a beeline toward the entrance to the dugout. Being a nosy type of person, I trailed him and listened in. He didn't castigate the pitcher for the outburst and instead gave him a pep talk, focusing on some good things that happened on the mound and what he might do differently. I had noticed this coach the last time I was in Ft Myers - he seems like a really good asset to the team, although of course I have little insight into what truly separates one coach from another.
 
Speaking of coaches, Rick ("Brother of David") Eckstein was there in a Twins uniform. I had not noticed the news of his being added. If he were not in uniform, you would never guess he was anything but "just some guy". I bet he gets that a lot. **
 
Anyway, Nick Burdi finished up the AA game, and while I didn't see any real magic, he had a good inning. In the bottom of that inning, Levi Michael got hit in the ribs by a pitch, and he yelped as soon as the ball touched him. Me, it takes several seconds before I know whether I'm hurt. But he was OK, at least to the extent of being able to run the bases normally.
 
WIth the AA game completed, I turned back for the finish of the AAA game. Kyle Winkler closed out the game for the Rays, and though he's a little long in the tooth (26) for a prospect, I was fooled into thinking he might be something better, because he mowed down Palka and then ended the game by making Garver fail to check his swing.
 
Here is a Rays trainer inflicting rotator-cuff damage on a prospect who missed curfew. When will the hazing of rookies cease? The padded table looked comfy, though, and I considered asking whether he accepted walk-ins for theraputic massage.
 

 
After the game, I watched Granite Granny stop to sign an autograph for possibly the politest kid I ever met. And then I saw the Rays' Andrew Velazquez sign for a Rays fan, causing me to wonder if he is a big-time prospect. Um, nope, at least not according to Sickels - guess the kid just had a personal rooting interest.
 
And with that, I'm off to sample the culinary delicacies that Ft Myers is famous for. Wait, what? Is that a thing?***
 
*I know that a ball that bounces over the fence isn't technically part of the ground rules, it's just a baseball rule. It's what we call it, OK?
 
** His brother was a major league veteran - a fringe star even - and like his brother, Rick is way way short.
 
*** Pinchers Crab Shack turned out to have pretty good grouper.
 
**** H/T to Seth Stohs for the correction

I'm going to my second annual spring training trip to Ft. Myers Feb 24, 2017 (opening day night game with the Rays)through the Nationals Sunday afternoon game Feb. 26, 2017. I will be at practice Saturday morning and Sunday morning. I'm hoping a ball will land just outside the fence near where I am standing. I'll pick up the ball and throw it back to a Twins player who is standing far away in the outfield. Neil Allen will see me throw a perfect strike to the distant player. Allen will yell at me: "Hey kid, nice throw. Come over here a minute. I want to talk to you. Have you pitched much in your career?" I'll say: "I pitcher some in high school and tried out for the UNC freshman team, but didn't make it." He'll say: "I like your style. Let's go talk to Mr. Falvey." And the rest will be history. I can just see it now. I would enjoy meeting any Twins Daily members who may be there these times. I'll be the old guy ,in jeans with a Twins shirt, sunglasses, a Twins hat, a glove with Harmon Killebrew's autograph on it, standing outside the fence waiting for a ball to come over.

I love the non-insane idea of a lineup that looks like this:
 
Buxton
Mauer
Dozier
Kepler
Sano
Vargas
Polanco
Rosario
Garver/Murphy
 
Backup catcher, Escobar, Park, and Palka/Walker on the bench.
 
Santana
May
Berrios
Gibson
Santiago
 
Pressly
O'Rourke
Hughes
Tonkin
Rogers
Duffey
X
 
I am really not sure about the bullpen. Perkins might be done. Kintzler cannot be trusted. May has said for two years that the bullpen role creates injury problems.

In the wake of the Twins acquiring Hector Santiago from the Angels, some have questioned how big of an upgrade he'll be over Ricky Nolasco, mainly pointing to Nolasco's vastly superior numbers in terms of FIP (fielding independent pitching). While the peripheral stats may be in Nolasco's favor, they don't tell the whole story.
 
The biggest divide between these two players is how they bear down when things start to not go in their favor. If you take a look into how each pitcher performs with runners on, it's clear that while Nolasco crumbles, Santiago shines
 
Career FIP vs. ERA
Santiago: 4.63 FIP, 3.68 ERA (0.95 worse)
Nolasco: 3.85 FIP, 4.58 ERA (0.73 better)
 
So you can see that both pitchers have been FIP busters, with Santiago looking a great deal worse than the ERA he has pitched to. These kinds of gaps are abnormal for veteran pitchers. Just for reference, Ervin Santana's FIP and ERA are only off by a difference of 0.11 over his career (4.24 FIP, 4.13 ERA).
 
FIP is a great indicator of pitcher performance because it only looks at home runs, walks, hit batsmen and strikeouts. As the name would indicate, any plays in which defense is a factor are not taken into account. Another thing FIP doesn't take into account, however, is game situation. Obviously, it's better to not allow batters to reach safely, but Santiago has limited damage with runners on at an elite level. Even just skimming the surface it's easy to see this is where Santiago gains a considerable amount of value over Nolasco.
 
Career with men on base
Santiago: .216/.322/.336 (.658 OPS)
Nolasco: .294/.345/.448 (.793)
 
Career with RISP
Santiago: .184/.300/.271 (.571)
Nolasco: .287/.347/.437 (.784)
 
Career with 2 outs and RISP
Santiago: .173/.310/.248 (.558)
Nolasco: .264/.355/.397 (.752)
 
To put some perspective on just how excellent those numbers are for Santiago, Johan Santana was only slightly better over his career with men on base (.647 OPS) but not nearly as good with RISP (.623) or with RISP and two outs (.606).
 
Santiago's greatest weakness is walks, and looking at his excellent July it's a wonder how he managed to put up such great results with how many free passes he issued. But, while he did walk 21 batters, in the following at bat opponents went just 1-for-18 with eight strikeouts and two walks (for those of you tallying things up at home, he was pulled for a reliever after one of those walks). That is a small sample, but it shows a slice of how effective Santiago can be at stepping up, wiggling out of jams and neutralizing the walks.
 
There are people who don't believe in the concept of clutch, or even pitchers adjusting their approach based on game situation (pitching to the score for example). But after over 650 career innings, it seems like a stretch to look at Santiago's excellent track record in adverse situations and just say he's just been lucky. He clearly is unfazed by the pressure of pitching with men on base.
 
Hector Santiago plays with fire but rarely gets burned. If he can continue to demonstrate this skill, he should also continue to outperform Ricky Nolasco with ease.

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch
----The Twins acquired LHP Adalberto Mejia, from the San Fransisco Giants, in exchange for Eduardo Núñez. Núñez came to the Twins from the Yankees for Miguel Sulbaran who came to the Twins from the Dodgers for Drew Butura who came from the Mets for Louis Castillo who came from the Marlins for RHPs Scott Tyler the Twins 2001 2nd round draft pick and Travis Bowyer the Twins 1999 20th round draft pick.
 
Mejia was signed as international free agent from the Dominican Republic by the Giants in 2011. Mejia last played for the Giants in AAA Sacramento River Cats (Pacific Coast League,) and was invited to their 2016 MLB camp for his first time. He is on the Twins' 40-man roster, and likely September callup.
 
Mejia was born on 6/20/1993 in Bonao, Dominican Republic and was a late bloomer signing by the Giants as an eighteen year old. That season in the Dominican Summer League he impressed, starting 13 games for 76 innings with 71 K (8.4 K/9) and only 8 BB, with a 0.868 WHIP, 1.42 ERA and 1.75 FIP. This was enough for him to skip the Giants' US-based Rookie leagues, jumping right on full season A in 2012, playing for the Augusta GreenJackets of the Southern Atlantic League. He participated in 30 games, among them 14 starts. His final numbers for that season were: 106.7 IP with 79 K (6.7 K/9) 21 BB (1.8 BB/9), with a 1.341 WHIP, 3.97 ERA and 3.29 FIP. He started the season in the pen, with limited success and moved into the rotation in June, where he found success, finishing the season with a 6-3 record, 3.00 ERA and 1.13 WHIP, post All Star break.
 
The next season he moved up to the San Jose Giants of the High A California League. He started 16 games (87 IP) with 89 K (9.2 K/9) and 23 BB (2.4 BB/9) for a 3.31 ERA, 4.20 FIP and 1.126 WHIP. He miss 48 games that season in May and June with shoulder issues, but came back okay. He was called to AAA Fresno to start a single game (5 IP, 5 H, 2 HR, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K) and participated in the Arizona Fall League playing in 7 games, 3 as a starter for 8.47 ERA, 1.529 WHIP, 7.4 K/9 and 4.2 BB/9 in 17 innings. In 2014 he moved up to AA Richmond Flying Squirrels (Eastern League) where he started 21 games and relieved in one, pitching 108 innings with 82 K (6.8 K/9) and 31 BB (2.6 BB/9), for a 1.389 WHIP, 4.67 ERA and 3.78 FIP. He went to the DL three times for 6 days with a leg bruise after a ball hit him in April and for 8- and 12-days in July with finger blisters. His weight that season went up to 240 lbs (he is 6'3") and needed to be reduced. Unfortunately he took a banned weight loss supplement that contained stimulants and tested positive, receiving a 50 day suspension, very much like current Twins' DH/1B Kennys Vargas.
 
He repeated AA in 2015 after he served his suspension. He appeared in 12 games (9 GS), pitching 51.3 innings with 38 K (6.7 K/9) and 18 BB (3.2 BB/9), for a 1.091 WHIP, 2.45 ERA and 3.41 FIP. Despite the nice performance, he needed innings so he returned to the AFL (7 GS, 31 IP , 1.258 WHIP, 3.48 ERA, 7.5 K/9, 4.1 K/BB) and also appeared in the Dominican Winter League (playing for the Gigantes, coinsidentally: 5 GS, 18.3 IP , 1.091 WHIP, 3.44 ERA, 7.9 K/9, 1.5 K/BB). After he was invited to his first MLB spring training as part of the Giants' 40-man roster, he was caught in the numbers games and started against at AA Richmond where he excelled after he trimmed down this season (11 GS, 65 IP , 0.985 WHIP, 1.94 ERA, 8.0 K/9, 2.2 K/BB) forcing his promotion to AAA in his age 23 season (he was 22 at the time.) His numbers (7 GS, 40.7 IP , 1.303 WHIP, 4.20 ERA, 9.5 K/9, 2.4 K/BB) are fairly impressive, especially for the Pacific Coast League.
 
He has an above average to borderline plus fastball that has increased in velocity this season, sitting at 92-94 and touching 95 as a starter. Average to above average command and improving and the pitch is projecting to be plus pitch in the near future. Natural cutting action on the pitch. His slider is his best pitch. Siting at 83-84 mph and up to 86. Nice biting motion, great command and above average control. This is a pitch that he throws anywhere on the count, pretty much like current Twins' starter Tyler Duffey does with his curve ball. He also throws a changeup that is an average to above average pitch that can improve. Nice fluid mechanics.
 
Weight is a consideration for him, and it currently is under control, listed at 195 lbs. His ceiling is that of a number 3 starter, but he has a high floor. His floor is of a 8th inning reliever. He held lefties to a .216/.273/.275 slash line and had 11.3 K/9 against them, which is pretty impressive for the PCL.
 
Mejia was listed as the 5th best Giants' prospect by Baseball America and 7th best by MLB.com. He would be among the top 10 in my Twins' list if I had to do this list now, but likely he will be called up in September and that will disqualify him. Very good return for the Twins.
 

The Minnesota Twins have been out of the playoff race since the first two weeks of the season and may be in position to trade some assets to contenders. I don’t think the Twins will be major sellers, but if the opportunity arises to trade a productive player who may not be in the long-term plans, the team will take a look into that. Here, I will give you my top five players who could be dealt by the Twins:
 
 
5. Fernando Abad, RP
 
Abad has been lights out coming out of the Twins bullpen this year. The 30-year-old relief pitcher has pitched 22.2 innings so far and has an ERA of just 0.79. Since he is 30, I doubt he has much of a future with the Twins and he just signed a minor league contract this past offseason. A team that is in desperate use of a relief pitcher could come calling for Abad. I don’t think he is a likely trade candidate, but if the right deal presents itself, I would hope Terry Ryan would listen. Minnesota needs bullpen help in the worst way, but Abad is not in the Twins future plans. I doubt the Twins would be able to get a good prospect for him, but it is better to trade him now than lose him for nothing.
 
4. Brian Dozier, 2B
 
Dozier is another one I do not see moving, but I would definitely make him available. The one negative is that he is having a rough year. He is hitting just .230 with seven homers and 25 RBI. However, he has hit better of late, having registered a hit in all but one game this month and is hitting a robust .350 in the month. If he gets his average to between .250 and .260 and has 13-15 homers before the deadline, he could be a valuable commodity to a team needs middle infield help. Also, the Twins are unsure if Jorge Polanco can be the every day shortstop as he commits too many errors. They might experiment with him at second base when he gets back up to the majors. Polanco’s bat is ready for the big leagues, but he needs work in the field.
 
3. Trevor Plouffe, 3B
 
The Miguel Sano in right field experiment is an absolute disaster. I am not going to blame his injury on playing right field, but he makes the most routine plays look difficult. He just looks lost out there. He does not belong there. He should be playing third base like he had all throughout the minors. The only reason he is not at third right now is because Plouffe is there. Like Dozier, he has struggled this season. The California product is batting .239 with just four long balls and 16 RBI. A trade of Plouffe would allow Sano to come and play third and Eddie Rosario can play right field. With his contract of north of $7 million and having such little production, I doubt he will garner much attention in the trade market without the Twins willing to eat much of his salary.
 
 
2. Ervin Santana, SP
 
Like the previous two, Santana has been a disaster this year. Santana is 1-6 with an ERA of near 5. For any player, let alone a pitcher who was supposed to be the ace of the staff, that is unacceptable. It will be tough to unload a pitcher with those stats, especially one with a contract as high as his is. I doubt Santana will be moved because of what I just mentioned, but the Twins should be open to dealing him. He is not as bad as his statistics show, though. It is just a matter of time before he turns it around and is respectable again.
 
 
1. Eduardo Nunez, SS
 
There is not one player on the Twins who has more trade value right now than Nunez. He may be the All-Star representative for the team. According to MLB.com’s stats, Nunez is second in baseball among shortstops with a .327 batting average. His homers, slugging percentage, OPS and on base percentage are all in the top five as well among shortstops. Quite simply, he has been one of the best shortstops in the league this season. Nunez may never have more trade value than he has right now and a lot of teams would like a middle infielder like Eduardo on their team. I think he is the most likely to be traded and I do believe that he would fetch the most in return.

So this season has certainly de-escalated quickly, hasn’t it Twins fans?
 
Ask any group of Twins fans what went wrong and you’ll get a wide variety of responses. Of course, there’s no shortage of I-told-you-so’s going around out there, either. Haters gonna hate and nothing makes haters happier than when things go badly and they can loudly proclaim how smart they were to hate in the first place.
 
http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Facepalm-600x351.png
 
The thing is, I don’t think anyone is (or at least they shouldn’t be) shocked by what’s happening with the Twins. Was an 8-20 start “expected”? No, not by most of us. But I’m more disappointed than surprised and I would imagine that I’m not alone in feeling that way
 
​(This article was originanally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com)
 
General Manager Terry Ryan clearly made the decision during the offseason that 2016 was going to be the year he would push the first wave of young potential stars into the big league fray. He wasn't interested in adding any free agent that might block a significant young talent. His only big move was the addition of Korean slugger Byung Ho Park and that particular move is looking very good.
 
To appreciate why Ryan was relatively passive during the offseason, you have to start with the understanding that, all along, 2016 was going to be another season in the longer rebuilding process. I think most of us recognized that.
It would be the first full season of big league ball for Miguel Sano, Eddie Rosario and Tyler Duffey.
 
It would, hopefully, be a near-full season of Byron Buxton and Jose Berrios.
http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Sano16d-600x400.jpg
Miguel Sano

We would also likely see significant Major League playing time for several more building blocks for what, at some point, could be the next great Twins team. That group might include Max Kepler, Jorge Polanco, Alex Meyer and perhaps several other highly touted bullpen arms.
 
That’s a lot of youth and it’s probably unrealistic to expect all of those guys to perform well enough to propel the club into serious contention for a postseason spot.
 
Still, the Twins came real close to nabbing a wild card spot last year, so was it really unrealistic to expect them to improve the following season? Maybe, maybe not.
 
It’s not unrealistic to believe it’s POSSIBLE to improve on their prior season’s results, but you could argue that it was unrealistic to EXPECT so many young players to step up in one season, without any of them finding themselves overmatched, at least temporarily, by Major League competition.
 
Many of the challenges we foresaw occurring this season have become reality.
 
The Twins strike out a lot. Only the Astros and Blue Jays hitters have K’d more than the Twins so far in 2016. We knew this would happen and there was no shortage of warnings uttered before the season that it could be disastrous.
 
Miguel Sano has been a bad outfielder. We knew he wouldn’t win any gold gloves out there, but I’m not sure he’s been any worse than anyone would have expected. He’s actually shown some of his athleticism at times, even while also clearly not being confident that he can field the position well.
 
The hope was that Byron Buxton’s presence in center field would somewhat minimize the damage done while Sano learns right field on the fly. Then Buxton failed to get on track with the bat and had to be sat down and, eventually, demoted.
 
That problem was exacerbated by Eddie Rosario’s significant regression at the plate. While Oswaldo Arcia’s bat has perhaps made up for Rosario’s poor start, that also left the Twins with the prospect of having Arcia and Sano constitute two-thirds of the defensive outfield. That’s not optimal, by any means.
 
Yet, to me, if the worst problems this team had were on the offensive side, I wouldn’t be too worried.
 
They aren’t ripping through opposing pitchers, but there’s enough good stuff going on (Joe Mauer, Byung Ho Park, Sano, Arcia and surprising production from Eduardo Nunez and Danny Santana) that there would be time to get guys like Dozier, Buxton and Rosario on track (or replaced) and still have a very nice season.
Alas, the bats aren’t the worst problems.
http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Gibson2016a-600x400.jpg
Kyle Gibson

The worst problems are exactly where they have been for years – on the pitchers’ mound.
 
We were uneasy about the bullpen going in. Maybe – MAYBE – Glen Perkins, Kevin Jepsen and Trevor May would hold down the back end of the bullpen, but starting the season with essentially the same mediocre (or worse) middle and long relief from a year ago was scary.
 
Then Perkins went on the Disabled List and Jepsen has been ineffective. Newcomer Fernando Abad and Michael Tonkin have looked good, but they’ve seemed to largely be used in situations where the Twins have already fallen behind, virtually wasting their effectiveness.
 
Ryan Pressly and Casey Fien have been awful and Ryan O’Rourke, since being promoted, hasn’t fared any better.
 
I’ve read comments that the starting pitching has been better than some expected. I don’t understand that at all.
 
Yes, we’re all very pleasantly surprised that Ricky Nolasco has made the decision to hand him the fifth rotation spot look extremely wise and Ervin Santana hasn’t been awful most of the time, but outside of that, I just don’t see why anyone thinks the starting pitching has been anything but a train wreck.
 
Phil Hughes and Kyle Gibson have been awful and Tommy Milone has been bad enough that he was the guy who eventually lost his rotation spot.
 
There’s some potential for improvement, perhaps. Jose Berrios has shown the filthy stuff he has in his two starts and, if he’s given time to settle into a routine, he could quickly become an effective big league starting pitcher. Tyler Duffey will never be confused with Berrios in terms of his stuff or velocity, but Duffey still looks better than at least 60% of the guys who opened the season in the Twins’ rotation.
 
The conclusion I’ve drawn from this is that “fixing” the Twins right now isn’t that complicated – or at least it doesn’t have to be.
 
I wouldn’t touch the offense right now. Let things play out a while and do what you have to do to get guys like Buxton, Kepler and Polanco raking in Rochester so they’re ready to come back up in a month or two and stick.
 
If you insist on making some kind of change, fine. Bring up catcher Juan Centeno from Rochester. At this point, I wouldn’t even care whether it was John Ryan Murphy or Kurt Suzuki that you replaced. Neither of them should figure in the long term plans for the Twins, anyway, and it might be time to promote either Stuart Turner or Mitch Garver from Chattanooga up to Rochester so they can both get regular innings behind the plate.
 
While you don’t want to read too much into one month of work, I don’t think there’s much risk in replacing Pressly, Fien and O’Rourke in the bullpen. I’d see what J.T. Chargois and Buddy Boshers have to offer.
http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Chargois16a-429x600.jpg
J.T. Chargois

My rotation, for now, would be Nolasco, Santana, Hughes, Berrios and Duffey. The stint on the DL that Gibson is doing gives the Twins some time to get good looks at Berrios and Duffey. I like continuing to see Meyer start at Rochester, until he proves once and for all that he’s best suited for bullpen work.
 
If Hughes doesn’t get it together, the Twins will need to figure out what “injury” he has and let him work through that while on the DL for a while, too.
 
The limited roster changes I’ve described would be a good start, but it shouldn’t be the end of the transition.
 
If the club is still wallowing toward the bottom of the standings a month from now (which seems almost certain at this point), it will be time to start dealing away those players who have some market value and likely aren’t part of the next generation of competitive Twins teams.
 
There’s no longer a reason to try to blend young players into a veteran clubhouse. Frankly, many of the young players coming up have won at Elizabethton, Cedar Rapids, Ft. Myers and Chattanooga over the past four years and they’re probably more equipped to create a “winning clubhouse atmosphere” at Target Field than the Twins’ veterans are.
 
I am not going to hold out much hope that the Twins will recover from their disastrous start to fight their way back into contention for even a wild card spot, but that doesn’t mean the season is over or that there shouldn’t/couldn’t be something well worth watching over the rest of the season.
 
It may not always be pretty and there will certainly be plenty for the haters to hate on, but it doesn’t have to be boring or meaningless – unless the front office allows it to become so.

After a season in which the Minnesota Twins surprised many around baseball, 2016 presents a whole new opportunity for Paul Molitor and his squad. Now no longer toting the weight of multiple 90 loss seasons, Minnesota looks to expand upon its near playoff performance from a season ago. I have contended often that in 2016, the Twins remain the AL Central team most capable of finishing first just as well as last in the division.
 
Despite having talked about plenty of narratives this offseason here at Off The Baggy, I recently had the opportunity to speak with Twin Cities baseball mind Phil Mackey. He can be heard weekday mornings on 1500 ESPN Radio doing the Mackey and Judd show. While the topics on their show range across all Minnesota sports, Mackey's wheelhouse in no doubt on the diamond, and he's one of the best in the business when it comes to breaking down the Twins.
Set up in a question and answer format, Phil fielded a handful of thoughts on the 2016 Minnesota Twins, and offered his perspectives and outcomes for each. Take a look:
 
Off The Baggy: A season ago the Twins were one of baseball's surprise teams. Needing to push the needle further this season, what is the key factor that makes that happen?
 
Phil Mackey: They need two things, in general: A better bullpen and more top-end talent on the roster. Byron Buxton, Miguel Sano and J.O. Berrios could solve the “top-end talent” part of the equation. The bullpen remains to be seen. I love Glen Perkins, and he’s been an awesome contributor to our radio show every week, but can he stay healthy in August and September? Can Kevin Jepsen repeat his performance from last year? I feel pretty good about Jepsen-May-Perkins, if healthy, but the Twins will need guys to really step up and lock down innings 5-7.
 
OTB: After going into 2015 with a bullpen that should have caused worry, do you feel the same about the 2016 situation or see it as improved?
 
PM: I think I just answered this question in the previous question, which fits in line with my overachieving personality… The most important thing is for Twins relievers to miss more bats. If I recall, the Twins’ bullpen has allowed more contact that just about any ‘pen in the league over the past couple seasons, which isn’t ideal when we’re talking about holding leads and preventing baserunners from scoring.
 
OTB: It was pretty apparent Danny Santana seemed ripe for regression last season. What player seems like the most likely to regress in 2016 and why?
 
PM: Eddie Rosario seems like the obvious answer here, just considering the enormous gap between his strikeout and walk rates… but I’m going to go with Kevin Jepsen. Last year was a career season for him, and I highly doubt that he’ll be able to repeat it. Sort of like Devan Dubnyk with the Wild. Not repeatable. But we’ll see.
 
OTB: I know you're a big sabermetrics guy. Give me the over/under on some numbers for Eddie Rosario in 2016: 14.0% Swinging Strike, 8 Defensive Runs, Saved 2.0 fWAR
 
PM: Under on the swinging strike rate… Over on the DRS… Over on the WAR. I think the demise of Eddie Rosario is vastly overstated. He’s a sharp dude with great instincts (do you like those scouting terms in the middle of your saber question?), and I think he’ll find ways to adjust and adapt.
Of course, I just jinxed him. And now he’ll be terrible.
 
OTB: There should be no shortage of power in the Twins lineup this season, and the club should have a realistic shot at the 200 plateau. Who hits the most longballs for the Twins, and how many does Byung Ho Park tally?
 
PM: If Miguel Sano stays healthy, he’ll lead the team with 30-something. I’ll say 36. With Byung Ho, I honestly have no idea. Nothing would surprise me. If he plays every day, and if you set the over/under at 19.5, I’d probably take the over. But it’s possible morph into more of a platoon bat (with Arcia potentially on the roster), which could reduce his total. Byung Ho has plenty of pop, but can he adjust to MLB location and secondary pitches?
 
Which leads me to a mini-rant… Everyone is so fixated on whether Byung Ho can hit “a major league fastball.” That’s not the issue. I don’t care if every pitch is 100 mph – every professional hitter will square it up if he KNOWS it’s coming. Where MLB pitchers differ most from guys in the KBO, the minors and other inferior organizations is A.) location and B.) command of secondary pitches.
/rant
 
OTB: Out of options, and seemingly running out of time, what are your thoughts on Oswaldo Arcia? Is he another potential David Ortiz, or a roster casualty that you're ok losing on waivers?
 
PM: I think it would be a huge mistake to let him walk for nothing. Oswaldo Arcia will hit 20 or 30 home runs for somebody in 2016 if given enough plate appearances. Not to mention, he already has a track record of destroying right-handed pitching. He’s David Ortiz Light. Or Diet David Ortiz.
 
OTB: In the rotation, the Twins top three pitchers all have a strong chance to be pretty good this season. Which of the following do you see as the most realistic outcome? Hughes has a bounce back year, Santana pitches like he finished 2015, or Kyle Gibson emerges as the Minnesota ace?
 
PM: In order of how likely…
1.) Hughes bounces back
2.) Santana pitches like he did in second half
3.) Gibson emerges as the ace
 
In fact, the Twins’ rotation actually has a lot more upside than people are giving credit. Santana and Hughes have both been able to anchor rotations for long stretches in recent years (when they’re ON), and Berrios could fit that bill too. Now, will ALL of them be lights-out at the same time? Unlikely. But there’s upside.
 
OTB: Wrapping up the conversation, the Twins should have three realistic rookie of the year candidates. Who do you see making the strongest push between Park, Buxton, and Berrios?
 
PM: Byron Buxton has the best shot. He’ll start at a premium position and will play every day, immediately. And he doesn’t need to be great at the plate to make a huge impact. If he plays top-notch defense, steals bases and does marginal damage at the plate, he’ll be in the mix. I think his worst-case projection is B.J. Upton.
 
There you have it, Phil might have started to agree with me on Rosario, but I really like the suggestion of Jepsen being a name to cause some pause. I think the Twins bullpen has the chance to be better than we saw a season ago, although I'm not sure strikeouts will improve a vast amount. Regardless of where the numbers fall across different positional groups on this roster, there's no arguing that the 2016 version of the Minnesota Twins has the most intrigue of any team in recent memory.
 
For more from Off The Baggy, click here. Follow @tlschwerz

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch
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Another day without a Twins' home game and I decided to state at the back fields of Lee County Sports Complex to watch Ricky Nolasco pitch with the Twins' AAA team against the Red Sox' AAA team, instead of making the trip across I-75 to Jet Blue Park to watch the MLB Twins and Tyler Duffey face the MLB Sox. Despite what the Twins are saying, and not only because they are starting the same day these days, it is pretty clear that Tommy Milone is guaranteed a position in the rotation and the last spot will be a potential battle between Nolasco and Duffey.
 
Nolasco pitched for 4 innings in Field 3 today. He threw four pitches, a 90-92 Fastball, a 73-77 mph Curveball, an 82-84 mph Slider and a 80-82 mph split finger change. All in all, Nolasco's appearance today was much better than that by Hughes yesterday. As with Hughes, Kurt Suzuki was Nolasco's catcher. Last week I wrote an in depth analysis of Nolasco's performance and among other things, I included an analysis of his pitches and results. And it was spot on based on my observations today: His curveball was totally filthy and induced both looking and swinging strikes and strikeouts and weak grounders. His split finger change is a pretty much awful pitch. Very little command and when it was in the strike zone did not fare well. This pitch, as per my previous recommendation, should never see the light of day or artificial day in a major league ballpark again. His fastball was better as the game went on with more command in the later than the earlier innings and he broke at least a couple bats with it. Definitely his breaking stuff is his out pitches and it is plus to plus plus. The problem is that he needs the good fastball so that major league hitters do not avoid his breaking balls and waiting for the fastball (or the horrible split finger.) If he throws his slider and curveball about 50%+ of the time, he has a good possibility for a come back season, depending on the day his fastball is having. Overall it was a very good performance over the eyes of a couple of scouts (Rangers & Padres) and Terry Ryan and the Twins' media dignitaries:
 
Prognostication: based on his Spring Performances, his stuff and his career record, unless traded, Ricky Nolasco will be the Twins' fifth starter over Tyler Duffey who had another hard start today.
 
A few more observations from Field Three today:
 
I was looking forward to see the Twins' number 18 prospect for 2016, Daniel Palka for the first time live as a Twin. He hit a no-doubter home run in the first evening to the warehouse behind right Centerfield in his first plate appearance and then hit another long ball to far right for a foul in his second PA before eventually grounded out to first in a footrace. I like what I saw from him in a limited action. I think that he will turn into a useful player for the Twins and will bring in some left handed power they really lack...
 
Speaking of left handed power, DJ Hicks, hit a very long home run, right about where Palka hit his. Really good to see him finally healthy and swinging the bat, since the Twins need that left hand power.
 
Speaking of power, the Twins' number 19 prospect for 2016, Adam Brett Walker, hit two very long home runs in fastballs in the middle of plate and struck out in 3 breaking balls in the dirt in his other plate appearance. If someone teaches Walker to recognize the spin of the breaking ball and keep the bat on his shoulder when he sees it, will be doing him and the Twins a great service.
 
Niko Goodrum, the Twins' number 37 prospect for 2016, who came a bit bigger this Spring showed much better plate recognition taking two walks in his first two plate appearances, but was thrown out stealing after the first, in a situation that would have been an easy SB for him last season, and made an error bobbling a ball at SS. OF is his position and hopefully this will be where he will play when the middle infield cuts from the MLB camp trickle down to the minors.
 
After today's cuts, here are the players left who are competing for 7 spots in the Twins' pen:
 
Glen Perkins
Kevin Jepsen
Trevor May
Casey Fien
Ryan O'Rourke
JR Graham
Ryan Pressly
Mike Tonkin
 
Logan Darnell
Taylor Rogers
Fernando Abad
Buddy Boshers
Dan Runzler
 
Brandon Kintzler
Nolasco or Duffey
 
The first 8 (maybe with the exception of Pressly) were part of the 2015 bullpen that was one of the worst bullpens (maybe THE Worst, depending on how you are counting) in the league; one of the group of the next 5 lefties will replace Brian Duensing and one of the next two might replace Blaine Boyer.
 
Unless the Twins decide to get Duffey a pen roll (which is unlikely since they will like him to start in Rochester,) this pen is spiting image of the 2015 pen that was as effective as spitting in the wind...
 
This is by no means good news for the Twins...

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch
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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.
 
Phil Hughes labored for 5 innings with 78 pitches, including a 28 pitch second inning, in which the defense behind him failed to convert 3 straight forward double play opportunities. He thew 55 of those pitches in strikes and commanded the ball pretty well, inducing mostly weak ground balls, a couple of fly balls and a couple of strikeouts. His fastball was at 89-91, with one at 92, his cutter 86-91, changeup 81-84 and curve 77-79 mph. These numbers were close to his 2015 velocity averages (90.7 for the FB, and 87.8 for the cutter.) All in all it was a "getting his work in" type of session for Hughes, who by no means cruised against high A competition.
 
Across the field, Kevin Jepsen had a better game, of what I could catch with my peripheral vision, but Oswaldo Arcia stole the show there, hitting a home run close to the major league practice field, under the watching eyes of scouts from the Cubs, Padres, Athletics and another team. The same Rangers' scout who was there yesterday was the single scout scouting Hughes and the Twins' A+ team.
 

 
Additional impressions from the A team field:
 
Amaurys Minier, the Twins' number 15 prospect for 2016, played First Base, coming off an injury plague season in Elizabethton. His swing seems more compact that it did last season and he legged out a single in a not very hard hit ball at the SS and had another opposite field single at an outside corner ball with full count. Also went from first to third with ease on a ball hit to Right Field. His speed and running has been improved, since Minier has been pretty much a non-factor in the base paths his whole career. He made a couple of good fielding plays at first base, moving easily both to his left and to his right and made secure and on the spot underhand throws to the pitcher to get the outs.
 
Jermaine Palacios, the Twins' number 8 prospect for 2016, played Short Stop at that game. He seems not to have gained a pound last off-season, but his fielding, which has been for a good reason, was fine. He made several routine plays at shortstop and did not look tentative making them, but he was not really challenged. In the couple of plate appearances I followed, he showed quick wrists and good contact capabilities.
 
I saw a single plate appearance by Travis Blackenhorn, the Twins' number 38 prospect for 2016. He has the capability of making contact since he saw several balls and fouled a lot of them. He went with the ball and was able to move it to the opposite field. Would need work to start making productive contact, but the basics are there. He did not look tentative at all and went around his business like he owned the box. Reminded me a bit of a young(er) Max Kepler.
 
22 year old lefty Sam Clay, pitched 4 innings in that contest. He featured an 89-91 mph fastball with good movement in both planes and a low 80s slider and change up. The slider is above average at this point and has the potential of being a plus pitch, but his control with all of his pitches is all over the place. If he learns how to command and control them, the former 4th round draft pick of 2014, will be someone to watch for. But he is still a work in progress. He looks like a good defender, defending a tough bunt towards his throwing arm side flawlessly.
 
25 year old Tyler Stirewalt, a righty who was drafted by the Twins in the 21st round of the 2013 draft and lost all of 2014 and part of 2015 to injuries, also pitched in that game. He threw a 90-92 mph fastball and a 77-79 slurve. Many command and control issues as well, but there is potential there. However being 25 and never pitching above Rookie ball, might mean that there might not be time to realize that potential.
 
A couple of snippets from the other field:
 
Max Murphy, the Twins 9th Round pick in 2014, a Minnesotan from Robbinsdale looked like a man on a mission. This is his age 23 season and he really looks bulked up and much stronger. He legged out a triple in a long hit at the CF over the defenders' heads and scored in the subsequent play by tagging up after a shallow ball at the RF. After an excellent 2014, he did not do much last season in Cedar Rapids, but definitely someone to pay attention to this season.
 
Felix Jorge, the Twins' number 20 prospect for 2016 pitched 2 innings for the high A team. I had a chance to watch one of them. His sinker was from 91-93 with good heavy action and his changeup was in the low 70s and it was pretty much lethal as usual. Seemed to have good control with the fastball, which has been questionable in spots. The big question mark around Jorge is weather he will have the stamina to be a started, which will likely take more than a season to answer.
 
Regretted not seeing Nick Gordon and Lamond Wade who were injured as well as Trevor May who threw after I departed.
 
Tomorrow Ricky Nolasco will be starting in the back fields, while the Twins will be playing the Red Sox at the Jet Blue Stadium and I will be there to give you the action on the field by him, as well as by the scouts on the bleachers.

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch
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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 proved me happy with that ranking. He pitched for a full 4 innings and featured 4 pitches: a 93-94 mph FB that topped at 96, an 85-86 mph slider, an 81-83 mph change up and a 77-80 mph curve. This is a very effective pitch mix for him. He has a short arm delivery and hides the ball well. He commands all pitches well and his fastball is definitely his out pitch; sets it up beautifully with the slider and the change up. He throws his curve low and outside the strike zone to make hitters chase it; and they do. At this level. One of the questions about Jay has been the ability to be a started as far as endurance goes. Today he was not frugal with his pitches, which is something that he would have to learn as he matures as a professional.
 
His Catcher was 25 year old Joe Maloney who the Twins signed as a minor league free agent after an MVP season in the Canadian-American Association Independent League Rockland Boulders. Maloney's problem is that he is not a very good catcher and he showed that today, having a throw sail over the head of the second baseman on a steal attempt and two passed balls. The second passed ball bounced off Maloney's glove to the home plate umpire's hand to his cup, incapacitating the umpire. Twins' legend Tom Kelly had to call balls and strikes behind the pitcher for the next half inning before a replacement umpire relieved him:
 

 
Another new minor league free agent on display today was Keury De La Cruz. The 24 year old outfielder has one of the longest swings I have seen with an extremely violent back swing. After his first PA, I mumbled that someone will get hurt here, and in the 5th inning, it happened to get the Baltimore catcher's head with that backswing. Some serious coaching needs to happen here. De La Cruz provided a bit of a comic relief sliding feet first about 2 feet to the left of where a routine fly ball fell in the second inning. Will not be surprised in the Twins bite the bullet and cut him soon.
 
The Twins signed 27 year old RHP Omar Belcomo from the American Association Independent League where he last played for the Wichita Lugnuts, to make 3 starts for the Fort Myers Miracle at the end of their season. Belcomo last played affiliated ball in 2011 for the Tampa Bay Rays single A team at Bowling Green. He is an interesting player to keep an eye on, as he is a poor man's Sam Deduno. He has two pitches: A fastball that goes from 86 to 91, which he can absolutely not command and goes all over the place, including the head of a Baltimore hitter in his second inning of work. His second pitch is a 77-81 mph change up that actually is an above average to a plus pitch, and a pitch that he seems to be able to control.
 
Raul Fernandez was another of the minor league free agents the Twins signed last off-season. The 25 year old RHP Dominican was converted from Catcher to Pitcher by the Rockies after his first DSL season and spent last season in the White Sox' AA team. Long arm motion with 92-93 mph FB with late pop, an 88 mph cutter/2-seamer and a low 80s change up. Very good ability to mix them and throw them all for strikes and good command. He seemed to confuse batters.
 
Brian Gilbert seems to get his fastball up a couple ticks, consistently hitting 94 and 95 with a couple of 96 mph. He complemented that with an 85-86 mph slider. Seemed to be effectively wild, but it is the start of the Spring Training. Just 23, drafted by the Twins in the 7th round in 2013; keep your eye open for him.
 
Yorman Landa was the last pitcher for the AA Twins, fresh from the MLB side of Spring Training. I last saw him pitch a couple seasons ago and he is a different pitcher. He supplemented his excellent high 80s low 90s 2-seamer with a 4-seamer that sit at 93-95 and popped up to 96, but is straight with inconsistent command and control. Straight FBs at 95 and 96 will get hit hard by good AA hitters and that is what happened to him today. His 78-81 mph curve was good. He did not throw a change up today. Definite potential there, but he needs work.
 
Something to keep in mind: Today watching the Twins' AA pitchers was a Texas Rangers' (who train in AZ) scout. Not sure that anything is going on, but he was there.
 
Fast forward a few hrs to the Twins' MLB game at Hammond Stadium against the Red Sox.
 
Kyle Gibson was the starter, and he had things really working for him, including his best pitch, a slider, purely made of filth, dancing at 84-86 mph and striking out Red Sox who were either looking at it with open eyes or swinging and missing wildly. That today was a FranKKKKKKKKKKKKKie Liriano slider in his prime, Ladies and Gentlemen. Four seamer 92-95, two seamer high 80s, and a changeup at 79-81 was the rest of Gibson's repertoire tonight. Gibson was in mid-season form.
 
Another player who was in mid-season form was Miguel Sano, who punished a Bucholtz breaking ball deeply off the Centerfield wall for a double, and even more importantly made a solid catch in RF and threw a pea that would had thrown the tagging runner out at third if Trevor Plouffe did not bobble the ball.
 
Back to pitching. One of the greatest mysteries this spring has been Glen Perkins' velocity, so I charted all of his pitches. Here they are:
 
FB 90, FB 89, FB 91, FB 86, FB 89, SL 78, FB 91, FB 88, SL 78, SL 79, SL 81, FL 89, FB 89, FB 90, SL 81, FB 89.
 
86-91 mph FB and 78-81 mph SL. This is a good 5-6 mph off where Perkins need to be to be effective. Nevertheless this should be raising more Red Flags to the Twins' brass than there are outside the Kremlin...
 
Have a few more notes from today, but for the sake of brevity, I will include them in one of the future writeups

Wednesday's storms brought sunny skies, cool temps (low 60's) and strong winds to Ft. Myers.
Got to Hammond a little later than usual (bad traffic) and pitchers were already into bullpen
sessions. The first 5 pitchers I watched were Hughes, May, O'Rourke, Abad, and a lefty Pat
Dean. As in other years Hughes' control is terrific and Abad is a big lefty, 6-1, 220 lbs. Neil
Allen, Eddie G., and Latroy Hawkins were behind the mounds watching. The next 5 were
Gibson, Jepsen, Brandon Kintzler (AAA Brewers) and 2 leftys Logan Darnell, and Mason
Melotakis. Jepsen stopped a few times to talk with Eddie and asked his catcher about his
pitches (perhaps working on a new pitch).
I headed to the main field where the catchers were batting. Brunansky was watching Suzuki
closely and talking with him in between rounds. Suzuki and J.R. Murphy are always together,
talking, even when they are in the outfield shagging.
I saw Dozier for the first time (he spent a long time signing autographs and taking pictures with
fans). He is not a very big guy; it's amazing how much power he has.
It's interesting to see how many fans are here with back packs and duffle bags full of things that
they want players to sign. A lot of the coaches signed today (they usually don"t). Joe Mauer
was with Dozier and spent a lot of time signing, also. I didn't see it, but they said Mauer was
batting with sunglasses on, but wasn't too impressive. It was cloudy on Tuesday and he didn't
wear any.
A guy came up to me and asked if Rod Carew was there yet. I said that Oliva had said,he wouldn't be coming for a couple of days. The guy said he was a big Carew fan and I noticed he was wearing a faded Carew jersey. So naturally I had to tell him my Carew bunting lesson
story. He loved it! Later,