Clear Lake Twinsfan

Another lefty that I 'd add to your list is Will Smith. He has experience pitching late in the game which could leave Thielbar as the lefty for the middle innings, a role in which he did so well last year.

I'd like to see Andrew Cabezas land one of the pitcher spots. He may be slightly older than some of the other prospects being considered, but with his transition to a full-time bullpen role this year, his innings limit shouldn't be an issue. If he were to show well in the AFL, he could start next year in St. Paul and potentially be in line for a mid-season call up to the Twins bullpen.

Nice to see Misael Urbina batting leadoff for the FCL Twins yesterday. Hopefully he can get into playing shape quickly and then finish the year strong with the Mighty Mussels. I'd like to see Urbina, Emmanuel Rodriguez, and Kala'i Rosario manning the outfield together in Cedar Rapids next season.

Not to take anything away from Samuel Perez's performance in extra innings, but I think that I'd have to give Pitcher of the Day to Cade Povich. It was his birthday after all.

Glad to hear that Lewis Thorpe's rehab start went well. I hope that he makes it back to St. Paul soon, and then back to the Twins for a good look this season. In this "reset" of a season, he is one of the guys that I think the Twins need to determine if they believe that he can be a contributor next year. Also glad to hear that Royce Lewis' rehab is progressing. Seth, I was wondering if you had any updates on the injury status of the other top prospects. Specifically, do you think that either of Jhoan Duran or Matt Canterino will be back on the mound this season? Might either or both of them be candidates for the Arizona Fall League to make up for the missed time? I"m also curious about Alerick Soularie, last year's second round draft pick. He has been on the IL all season, and I've seen "foot injury" as the description. Any word on whether or not we'll see him on the field over the next couple of months?

Honorable mention pitcher of the day to Cedar Rapids' Tyler Beck who matched Ober's 4 innings pitched with a line of 0 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks and 6 strikeouts.

One unique aspect of the traditional prospect for veteran trade that we typically see at the trade deadline, as I understand the rules for this year, is that only prospects included on the team's 60 player pool are eligible to be traded. I wonder if this might lead to some prospects being included in the pool as potential trade capital.

It seems like a few years ago when Gardy was still the manager that we wouldn't see any of these minor leaguers in a spring training game until later in the month after some players had been sent down and minor league camp had officially opened. However, in recent years we have seen players without an invitation to big league camp appear in games right away. This year I noticed Mooney and Eaves in the box score before I'd even heard that they'd been signed. Does anyone have an idea of how many minor leaguers are already working out? Are these guys "invited" to show up early or is it voluntary? Do they have structured workouts led by minor league coaches? When does minor league camp officially open? Any insight would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Thanks for the update on the minor league camp. I always enjoy spending some time over there. Unfortunately, this year I’m not going to be able to make it down to spring training. I was wondering if you could post a copy of the daily workout groups for those of us not there. Thanks.

Bob, how do the work groups look now after the last round of cuts from Twins camp? Have there been any players released from minor league camp?

Do the Twins receive revenue sharing? My reading of this is that if they do, they would lose their 3rd highest pick. If not, they would lose their second highest pick. In 2018, that is probably a difference of about 15 picks as I believe that they have a Competitive Balance Round B pick (at the end of the second round) next year. In the years in which they receive a Competitive Balance Round A pick (at the end of the first round) the loss of their second highest pick would be a bigger deal (think Brent Rooker type of draft pick). In the current draft structure with assigned slot values to every pick, the loss of the draft pick also affects the total pool available to the team to sign their top ten draft picks. Having a smaller pool could make it more difficult to draft and sign guys for over-slot money. That being said, when you are a playoff team looking to get to the World Series I think that you give up the draft pick when you believe that the free agent that you are signing is the missing piece that will get you there.

While Caleb Hamilton of the Kernels has gotten some recognition for playing all around the field, he has also done well at the plate. Yesterday he had two singles and a walk in four plate appearances. The walk was his 14th of the season, and he only has 70 at bats! While all the small sample size warnings apply (he has appeared in the fewest games and has the fewest at bats of any Kernel's hitter) he currently leads the team with a .419 on base % and a .961 OPS. He is definitely taking advantage of the opportunities that he is being given.

More Miracle transactions from MiLB.com: Lefty Cam Booser has been activated from the disabled listJonny Drozd has been placed on the DL with a right hand fractureCody Stashak has been placed on the DL with a right oblique strainLooks like both the Miracle and the Lookouts have only 24 players active right now, so there could be some additional moves in the next day or two.

It looks like the Twins also released catcher A.J. Murray, also according to MiLB.com. He too had been on the Miracle's DL all season and had yet to appear in a game. If I remember correctly, Seth had Murray listed in the organization's top 5 catching prospects this off season after his breakout start to the season last year at Cedar Rapids.

According to MiLB.com the Twins released Michael Cederoth today. He had been on the Fort Myers DL all season and had yet to pitch in a game this year.

What were the corresponding moves that opened up the spots for Kennedy and Granite to be added to the Miracle roster?

What about Sam Clay? He pitched OK with Cedar Rapids at the start of last year but then struggled when he was promoted to Fort Myers.

My first reaction was why are we signing 32 year old Edward Mujica rather than promoting someone like Zack Jones and giving him a chance to show what he can do at AAA; then I looked more closely at the minor league rosters and noticed how short of pitchers we are right now. Throughout the organization, we are down 9 pitchers from the active rosters in late July. Here is who has gone on the DL during that time: Trevor May 8/10, Buddy Boshers 8/11, Tommy Milone 8/12, Logan Darnell 7/25, Marcus Walden 8/8, Trevor Hildenberger 7/30, Tyler Jay 8/1, Mason Melotakis 8/18, Yorman Landa 7/25, Luke Westfall 8/4, Cody Stashak 8/15, and Colton Davis 8/9. In addition, we released Brian Gilbert on 8/3 and Kuo Ho Lo 8/4, and have traded away Ricky Nolasco and Sean Burnett. (I didn't include Alex Meyer since he was already on the DL at the time that he was traded.) That puts us down 16 active pitchers since 7/25. Coming back from the DL during that time were Aaron Slegers on 7/26 and Luke Westfall on 8/15. Logan Lombana was also reinstated from his suspension on 8/5, and of course we received Adalberto Mejia, Pat Light, Hector Santiago and Alan Busenitz in trades at the deadline. That is seven pitchers added, which leaves us at nine down. Edward Mujica has yet to be added to the Rochester roster so currently Rochester, Chattanooga, and Fort Myers each have less than 25 players on their active rosters. I think that Chattanooga has played short handed almost the entire month of August. Currently we have 11 active pitchers at AAA and AA, 12 at Fort Myers, 13 at Cedar Rapids and Elizabethton, and 15 at the GCL. (Looking back, I see that it is not uncommon for Elizabethton to carry 15 active pitchers.) I guess all of this is just a long way of coming to the conclusion that maybe we do need to sign 32 year old Edward Mujica to finish out the minor league season.

Has Randy Rosario been moved to the bullpen in an effort to control his innings this season or is he now being viewed more as a reliever than a starter?

Actually, Mejia took Polonco's place on the roster. (Rochester went from 12 pitchers to 13.) Light takes Berrios' spot on the roster.

Busenitz is already shown on the Lookouts roster. Jay and Hildenberger have been placed on the DL recently. Light should go to Rochester. They have an open roster spot with Berrios getting promoted. With Mejia joining the starting rotation, Rochester could feature an all lefty rotation.

There are a few surprises for me. Chris Cavaness and Bryant Hayman were both undrafted college kids last year who are making the jump to Cedar Rapids. I thought that Brian Olson (34th round pick last year) might make this roster after hitting well at both rookie levels last year. In the outfield, I thought that Daniel Kihle, Brad Hartong, or Austin Diemer would be ahead of Cavaness. Congrats to both of those guys for earning their roster spots. Even though he didn't hit all that well at Elizabethton last year, I had assumed that Alex Perez would make this roster in the infield ahead of the youngster Arraez. I expected Arraez to jump one level to Elizabethton this year. Randy LeBlanc pitched well out of the bullpen for the Kernels last year before getting a few starts late in the season. I was expecting him to start this year in the Miracle bullpen. I wonder if he is just holding the spot until Romero is ready to go, or if the Twins see him as a starter long term. I also thought that Miles Nordgren would land somewhere on this staff after pitching well at Elizabethton last year.

It's now on the Twins website that Benson was released yesterday.

What happened to Joe Benson? Last week he was listed on the AAA DL, but his name isn't included anywhere this week.

What about Jake McGee with Tampa? There were some rumors about him being available last year at the trade deadline before he got hurt. He is under team control for two more years. Made $3.55 million last year.