Steven Buhr

Pretty sure that it's routine for teams to assign players who open the season on the DL to the roster of the level for which they last played the season before. In Kepler's case, that's Fort Myers. Wouldn't surprise me at all if he's even physically on-site in Chattanooga if it's anticipated that he'll be activated shortly.

Hey now! That picture is cut from the "staff holiday picture" at the time I was a "real" sportswriter for the Webster City (IA) Daily Freeman-Journal! And I just like to remember when I had hair on the top of my head.

The schedule is a little odd in that the Lookouts only play half a dozen home games in April. It's going to be May before Chatt fans really get to know these guys (they do have a ton of home games in May, including home weekend series on 4 of 5 weekends in May). I think the Southern League is one of the few (if not the only one) leagues above the A levels that do a split season. I do like the split for minor league teams because of the high roster turnover. I also really like the Southern League's practice of scheduling pretty much all 5-game series. Would think that would give you a really good feel for how you match up with each opponent. You face 5 starters every series and I would guess the players don't mind spending perhaps a few less hours on buses (unless a lot of games are commuter series games). Seriously thinking one of those weekends in May would be a really good time to make that 11 hour drive to Chattanooga.

Seth's rationale, above, is pretty much in line with the way it was explained to me in the past by some in the Twins organization. Simply put, being a starter means the guy will throw more pitches in live game situations and there is no better way to accelerate development than throwing more pitches in game situations.That's when most learning takes place and no amount of side/bullpen sessions can replicate that. If a guy actually adapts well and becomes a MLB-level starting pitcher, great. If he's moved to a reliever role (as most will), then he's a reliever with far more in-game pitches thrown than he would be if he'd been a RP in the low minors.

Don't wait too long before getting your butt to CR Sunday, Seth. That "Sunday night" game is scheduled to start at 4.

Thanks, everyone, for reading the post and for your comments. I guess the Santana suspension gives me the equivalent of a "free space" on a BINGO card, right? He should be back in the rotation by mid July, so there's one automatic change to the Opening Day roster, right? Frankly, if the loss of Santana makes the Twins spiral in to non-contention come sooner, then I think it just makes it more likely that we see a number of the younger guys by mid-season. Of course, I could be wrong. Time will tell. Thanks again for taking the time to offer your comments.

You are correct, Shane. I'm not sure why I tend to overlook Peterson, because he, as well as Zack Jones (and probably others) certainly deserve mention with Burdi and Reed. I do believe, however, that Read will be at AA well before July and, quite possibly to begin the season. Platoon, even with a potential, "illusion of success," I think almost any of the players mentioned would be promoted if their play demands it. Even in that scenario, the FO would be looking to improve and I think they would welcome the chance to do so from within, rather than having to give up talent in trades. I realize it would be un-Twinslike, but the Twins have not had an abundance of riches like this at the high minors level in a very long time.

With Thursday night's announcement that Chris Herrmann would be heading north with the Minnesota Twins, their opening day roster appears to be set. The back up catcher spot was the final unresolved question of the spring. A lot is made of the make up of the Twins' roster as they open the 2015 season, but it really is of just mild interest to me, personally. Yes, I like to see a guy like Herrmann rewarded for his hard work and persistence and JR Graham's story as a Rule 5 pick up earning a spot in the bullpen is compelling. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/HerrmannST15-600x400.jpg Chris Herrmann (photo: SD Buhr) But I'm a lot more curious, already, as to what the Twins roster will look like come mid to late July than I am concerning what it looks like when they travel to Detroit to open the season. And I suspect there will be at least a 33% turnover in the roster by the end of July. (This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com) That would be eight or nine spots on the 25-man roster that would be held down by someone not making the trip north out of spring training with the Twins - and I think that sounds about right. In fact, I could see the turnover being more than that. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/GrahamST15-600x400.jpg JR Graham (photo: SD Buhr) I'm not making that prediction based purely on an expectation that the Twins will be clearly en route to a fifth straight 90+ loss season and find themselves in sell-off mode. In fact, I'm probably more optimistic about the Twins' chances of remaining competitive beyond the All-Star break than I've been in a couple of years. I think that, if they stay healthy, this line up will score plenty of runs and I think a lot of people are underestimating how improved the starting rotation may be with the addition of Ervin Santana and a healthier Ricky Nolasco. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/MayST15a-600x400.jpg Trevor May (photo: SD Buhr) My belief in the likelihood of significant turnover comes not so much from a lack of confidence in the team as initially constituted (though I do worry about that bullpen), but from a sense that there are simply so many talented young players at the higher levels of the organization minor leagues that are almost certain to force their way on to the Twins roster by mid-season. To start with, if Josmil Pinto is healthy and still in the Twins organization, I have little doubt he'll be wearing a Twins uniform by July. Beyond that, does anyone not believe that Alex Meyer, Trevor May, Nick Burdi and Jake Reed will be pitching for the Twins by mid-year if they come out of the gate strong in their respective minor league assignments? Those are four pitchers that you could make an argument for putting on the roster right now. You might even be tempted to put Jose Berrios on that list, though I suspect he may be held down on the farm at least until later in the season. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/BerriosOliva-600x400.jpg Jose Berrios and Tony Oliva (photo: SD Buhr) Even if any/all of those arms fail to impress during the season's first half, that doesn't mean that all of the arms that are making up the Twins' opening day pitching staff are likely to have performed well enough to keep their jobs. This pitching staff (especially among the relief corps), as initially constituted, is simply not strong enough to avoid the need for a significant make-over, whether via promotions or trades (or, perhaps most likely, some combination thereof). And we haven't even mentioned the organization's consensus top pair of prospects, Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton. If they manage to shake off the rust that resulted from lost seasons a summer ago (and which clearly still existed during spring training), I expect they will both be Minnesota Twins by mid season. They could easily be joined by Eddie Rosario and, of course, nobody would be at all surprised to see Aaron Hicks rejoin the big league club. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/SanoST15-600x400.jpg Miguel Sano (photo: SD Buhr) In addition to the prospects that have become familiar to much of the Twins' fan base, the AA Chattanooga Lookouts' everyday line up is going to be literally full of players that are only a hot start and the ability to play a defensive position of need away from being called up. What it all means is that the Twins roster in July, August and September should include far more players that are likely to be part of the next generation of Twins capable of contending for future postseasons than the roster we are discussing in April. It's not easy being patient, but most of these young players will benefit from getting a little more minor league seasoning. The good news is that we are no longer talking about it being several years before we see these promising prospects at Target Field, but, hopefully, merely several weeks.

The more I see and hear about current Twins relievers, the more confident I am that Burdi and Reed will be Minnesota Twins sooner than I expected (and much sooner than the Twins FO would likely prefer).

Have not seen him pitch. Spoke to him briefly and he said he feels like he's having a good spring.

I’ve been down here in Fort Myers, Florida, for several days now and I’ve been very slow about posting anything here. My bad. The newly remodeled stadium at the Twins’ complex (now named “Century Link Field”) is very nice. Much wider concourses and a lot of variety of seating options. I’ve seen parts of a couple games at the new place, as well as a game against the Phillies at their Clearwater home. I plan to also see the Twins take on the Orioles up in Sarasota on Sunday.But I’ve spent the lion’s share of my time over on the back fields watching the minor leaguers, in particular the two Class-A groups. One of them made up of guys who were Cedar Rapids Kernels last year and are likely to play for the Fort Myers Miracle this season, the other made up of players likely ticketed to start this season in Cedar Rapids. I’ve taken quite a few pictures and maybe I’ll work at getting them downloaded and posted at Knuckleballsblog.com once I get back to Cedar Rapids next week. For now, I’m going to share three separate articles I wrote for MetroSportsReport.com in Cedar Rapids. Since I don’t have space concerns here, I’m just going to combine them all in this one blog post. Enjoy. Stephen Gonsalves Will Have a New Pitch When He Returns to Cedar Rapids Ask Minnesota Twins pitching prospect Stephen Gonsalves about his offseason and the first thing he may mention is his vacation to Australia with fellow Twins pitching prospects Lewis Thorpe and Sam Gibbons. “It was Sam’s 21st birthday so we made a little vacation out of it,” Gonsalves explained on Friday, while watching his Cedar Rapids Kernels teammates take on a group of Tampa Bay Rays Class-A prospects. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/GonsalvesST15c-600x399.jpg Stephen Gonsalves But hanging out with Aussies Thorpe and Gibbons down-under for a couple of weeks was just one small part of Gonsalves’ winter. The 20-year-old lefty starting pitcher played a crucial role in the playoff drive the Kernels put together during the second half of the 2014 season. He notched a 3.19 ERA while striking out 44 batters in just 36.2 innings of work over eight starts with Cedar Rapids. Some young pitchers might have felt satisfied with those numbers and focused their offseason workouts on simply adding some muscle or improving their conditioning, but not Gonsalves. The young Californian combined a 90 mph fastball with an effective slow curve and an equally effective change up to solidify his ranking as a consensus top 20 prospect within the Twins’ organization heading in to 2015. Rather than being satisfied with that, Gonsalves went home after participating in fall instructional league and went to work on broadening his arsenal of pitching weapons. “Right after instructs, I went home and started working out that next week,” Gonsalves said. “Home” for Gonsalves is San Diego, California, and he wasn’t working out alone there. He worked out with a couple of other well-credentialed pitchers with San Diego ties. “I was able to work out with Stephen Strasburg this whole offseason, got to pick his brain a lot,” Gonsalves recalled. “James Shields was there, also. So I got to mix in a lot with those guys and kind of pick their brains the entire offseason. Helped me out a little mechanically on the hill, also.” Strasburg and Shields were both rotation leaders for major league postseason participants last year, Strasburg with the Washington Nationals and Shields with the Kansas City Royals. Shields inked a new deal as a free agent this offseason with the San Diego Padres. “I was working on a slider,” said Gonsalves. “That’s what Shields is known for, his slider, so I got to work with him for about a month just specifically on that pitch for a while. It’s coming along nicely. The Twins are starting to like it.” So far this spring, the results seem to be positive. He’s been in Ft. Myers since March 1, well before the minor leaguers began playing games. He’s made three solid appearances, building up his pitch count and getting ready to head north to Cedar Rapids when camp breaks the first full week of April. Gonsalves acknowledged that he’s likely to be one of just a small number of 2014 Kernels returning to open the new campaign in Cedar Rapids, but he’s looking forward to opening the year with the new crew of Kernels. “We’re going to have a whole new team, pretty much, (but) we’re going to have a good little squad together. It’s going to be fun. We’re going to be a little scrappy team.” Chad Christensen Hoping His Time Playing Before Hometown Fans is Over Almost a year ago, Cedar Rapids Washington grad Chad Christensen got the word he would be making his full-season pro baseball debut with his hometown club, the Cedar Rapids Kernels. This spring, the Minnesota Twins farm hand is hoping to avoid a return trip to Cedar Rapids. You can’t blame a guy for preferring a promotion up the Twins’ minor league ladder over another summer living at home. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/P3250300-600x450.jpg Chad Christensen & Jason Kanzler going through early morning stretching exercises In fact, hitting .272 for the Kernels last season,Christensen left Cedar Rapids, just like his Kernels teammates. “I went back to Lincoln and lived there,” Christensen explained. “A lot of guys that are in pro ball are back there so we kind of work out together and use the (University of Nebraska) facilities and everything. That’s where I was doing my workouts. “I came home (to Cedar Rapids) for a couple of weeks before I came here (Fort Myers). I got down here a little early, February 23rd, to get outside, get out of the cold and get back to baseball.” With about two weeks of spring training left, his ultimate assignment is primarily just speculation. At this point, every player in camp is hoping for a promotion and, for Christensen, that would mean a spot on the roster of the Twins’ class High-A affiliate, the Fort Myers Miracle. “I’m not positive,” Christensen said, when asked about whether he’d heard anything about where he would open the 2015 season. “I would think probably down here (in Fort Myers). But I’m just playing, it’s not up to me. I’m just trying to play every day and stay healthy and get back in the swing of things.” For Christensen, playing every day last summer meant spending time playing all around the diamond defensively for the Kernels. Christensen played all over the outfield, but also logged 90 games at first base. He also played 27 games at third base for Elizabethton in 2013. Versatility is a benefit for players trying to get noticed in a professional baseball organization and Christensen will be continuing to demonstrate his willingness and ability to move around the field. During spring training, however, it’s clear the Twins are wanting to see him in the outfield as much as possible. “I’ve been playing all outfield – all three outfield spots,”said Christensen. “Obviously, if I’m needed to go in to the infield again, I can go in the infield, but I’ve been in the outfield down here, so far.” An assignment with the Miracle would keep Christensen with a lot of last summer’s Kernels. Of the thirty or so players currently listed on the Miracle’s spring training roster, over 25 spent time in Cedar Rapids last season. Christensen likes the idea of sticking with that group. “Yeah, we have a good group. Guys come ready to go every day, that’s what makes it fun,” said Christensen. “We’re looking forward to getting the season going.” Christensen isn’t the only one ready to get the season rolling. Kernels hitting coach Tommy Watkins indicated he is more than ready to head to Cedar Rapids. “This is like Groundhog Day,” Watkins said, alluding to the day-after-day repetitive nature of the spring training routine. Christensen indicated the players are starting to feel the same way. “Yeah, we’re starting to get kind of anxious this time of year.” Jake Mauer Hopes to Have His Roster Set Soon In less than two weeks, Cedar Rapids Kernels manager Jake Mauer will be bringing a fresh crop of 25 ballplayers north from their spring training home in Fort Myers, Florida. The exact constitution of that roster, however, is still somewhat of a work in progress. Mauer said he’d like to get things finalized soon, however. “Ideally we’d like to have who we’re going to take to Cedar Rapids that last week of spring training,” Mauer explained on Thursday, just before his squad took on a Class A group of Boston Red Sox prospects. “You can do different things and put in different signs, things we’re going to use throughout the year. Make sure we get all the kinks out before we start up there at Kane County (where the Kernels open their season on April 9).” Mauer will be entering his third season as manager of the Kernels. In fact, among all of the Twins organization’s full-season teams, he’s the only manager assigned to the same club he led a year ago. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/P3260219-600x450.jpg Jake Mauer and Tommy Watkins with early morning instructions The Twins hired Hall of Famer Paul Molitor to manage the big league team this season and former Chicago Cubs manager Mike Quade is taking over the AAA Rochester Red Wings. Jeff Smith and Doug Mientkiewicz swapped their assignments this year, with Mientkiewicz managing AA Chattanooga and Smith taking over high-A Fort Myers. Mauer indicated, though, that he wasn’t surprised to be assigned to Cedar Rapids again. “No, I wouldn’t say surprised,” he said. “Obviously, Cedar Rapids is a pretty good fit for me on a personal level, family-wise. Professional-wise, baseball is baseball, wherever you’re at and at the level I’m at, I really enjoy being around the young guys and teaching every day.” Kernels fans may recognize the team’s manager this season, but they are going to want to pick up a program early on their first trip to the ballpark and study it closely, because they aren’t likely to see many familiar names or faces among the 2015 Kernels players Starting pitchers Stephen Gonsalves and Mat Batts are looking likely to return to start their new season with the Kernels and both have been, “throwing it well,” according to their manager. John Curtiss, who joined the Kernels to make a start during their playoff run a year ago, is also likely to start his summer with the Kernels. “As far as those starters, folks in CR have seen those guys a little bit, but our bullpen is going to be pretty much all new guys from what it looks like,” Mauer said. “As far as position players, I don’t think we’ll have too many guys that were there last year. Maybe a few guys that were there for a portion of the year, we may get back,” he added. Outfielders Zack Larson and Max Murphy are the only position players with time in a Kernels uniform who have been assigned to the most recent Kernels spring training working group. Mauer was quick to point out that the roster is not set, however. “It will depend with, obviously Molitor running the big league club, who he likes, who he wants to keep.” The parent Twins are still about 10 players over their opening day roster limit, so as the big club makes further cuts, there could be additions and/or subtractions from the current group of prospective Kernels. Once the season gets underway, Mauer indicated he felt the team may be relying on their starting pitching early on. “I think we’ll have some starting pitchers with a little bit of experience that I think we’ll lean on, especially early in the year. They’ll need to go out there and set the tone.” Offensively, the Kernels are going to be relying on a lot of players with little or no experience above rookie-level short season ball at Elizabethton last season. “We’re still trying to kind of get to know these guys a little bit,” Mauer said, of his position players. “As far as team speed, I don’t know if we’re going to have a lot of it. We’re going to have some guys that put up decent numbers in E’Town. Obviously, we all know it’s different going in to the Midwest League, facing a little different caliber of pitching.” A number of players are having strong springs, but Mauer was philosophical about his expectations for the Kernels once they leave the mid-80 degree temperatures of Fort Myers behind and head north. “We may go through some growing pains, but hopefully it’ll all shake out. We’ll see how we react when it’s thirty degrees out.” Click here to view the article

I’ve been down here in Fort Myers, Florida, for several days now and I’ve been very slow about posting anything here. My bad. The newly remodeled stadium at the Twins’ complex (now named “Century Link Field”) is very nice. Much wider concourses and a lot of variety of seating options. I’ve seen parts of a couple games at the new place, as well as a game against the Phillies at their Clearwater home. I plan to also see the Twins take on the Orioles up in Sarasota on Sunday. But I’ve spent the lion’s share of my time over on the back fields watching the minor leaguers, in particular the two Class A groups. One of them made up of guys who were Cedar Rapids Kernels last year and are likely to play for the Fort Myers Miracle this season, the other made up of players likely ticketed to start this season in Cedar Rapids. I’ve taken quite a few pictures and maybe I’ll work at getting them downloaded and posted at Knuckleballsblog.com once I get back to Cedar Rapids next week. For now, I’m going to share three separate articles I wrote for MetroSportsReport.com in Cedar Rapids. Since I don’t have space concerns here, I’m just going to combine them all in this one blog post. Enjoy. Gonsalves Will Have a New Pitch When He Returns to Cedar Rapids Ask Minnesota Twins pitching prospect Stephen Gonsalves about his offseason and the first thing he may mention is his vacation to Australia with fellow Twins pitching prospects Lewis Thorpe and Sam Gibbons. “It was Sam’s 21st birthday so we made a little vacation out of it,” Gonsalves explained on Friday, while watching his Cedar Rapids Kernels teammates take on a group of Tampa Bay Rays Class A prospects. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/GonsalvesST15c-600x399.jpg Stephen Gonsalves But hanging out with Aussies Thorpe and Gibbons down-under for a couple of weeks was just one small part of Gonsalves’ winter. The 20-year-old lefty starting pitcher played a crucial role in the playoff drive the Kernels put together during the second half of the 2014 season. He notched a 3.19 Earned Run Average while striking out 44 batters in just 36.2 innings of work over eight starts with Cedar Rapids. Some young pitchers might have felt satisfied with those numbers and focused their offseason workouts on simply adding some muscle or improving their conditioning, but not Gonsalves. The young Californian combined a 90 mph fastball with an effective slow curve and an equally effective change up to solidify his ranking as a consensus top 20 prospect within the Twins’ organization heading in to 2015. Rather than being satisfied with that, Gonsalves went home after participating in fall instructional league and went to work on broadening his arsenal of pitching weapons. “Right after instructs, I went home and started working out that next week,” Gonsalves said. “Home” for Gonsalves is San Diego, California, and he wasn’t working out alone there. He worked out with a couple of other well-credentialed pitchers with San Diego ties. “I was able to work out with Stephen Strasburg this whole offseason, got to pick his brain a lot,” Gonsalves recalled. “James Shields was there, also. So I got to mix in a lot with those guys and kind of pick their brains the entire offseason. Helped me out a little mechanically on the hill, also.” Strasburg and Shields were both rotation leaders for Major League postseason participants last year, Strasburg with the Washington Nationals and Shields with the Kansas City Royals. Shields inked a new deal as a free agent this offseason with the San Diego Padres. “I was working on a slider,” said Gonsalves. “That’s what Shields is known for, his slider, so I got to work with him for about a month just specifically on that pitch for a while. It’s coming along nicely. The Twins are starting to like it.” So far this spring, the results seem to be positive. He’s been in Ft. Myers since March 1, well before the minor leaguers began playing games. He’s made three solid appearances, building up his pitch count and getting ready to head north to Cedar Rapids when camp breaks the first full week of April. Gonsalves acknowledged that he’s likely to be one of just a small number of 2014 Kernels returning to open the new campaign in Cedar Rapids, but he’s looking forward to opening the year with the new crew of Kernels. “We’re going to have a whole new team, pretty much, (but) we’re going to have a good little squad together. It’s going to be fun. We’re going to be a little scrappy team.” Chad Christensen Hoping His Time Playing Before Hometown Fans is Over Almost a year ago, Cedar Rapids Washington grad Chad Christensen got the word he would be making his full-season pro baseball debut with his hometown club, the Cedar Rapids Kernels. This spring, the Minnesota Twins farm hand is hoping to avoid a return trip to Cedar Rapids. You can’t blame a guy for preferring a promotion up the Twins’ minor league ladder over another summer living at home. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/P3250300-600x450.jpg Chad Christensen & Jason Kanzler going through early morning stretching exercises In fact, hitting .272 for the Kernels last season,Christensen left Cedar Rapids, just like his Kernels teammates. “I went back to Lincoln and lived there,” Christensen explained. “A lot of guys that are in pro ball are back there so we kind ofwork out together and use the (University of Nebraska) facilities andeverything. That’s where I was doing my workouts. “I came home (to Cedar Rapids) for a couple of weeks before I came here (Fort Myers). I got down here a little early, February 23rd, to get outside, get out of the cold and get back to baseball.” With about two weeks of spring training left, his ultimate assignment is primarily just speculation, at this point, but every player in camp is hoping for a promotion and, for Christensen, that would mean a spot on the roster of the Twins’ class high-A affiliate, the Fort Myers Miracle. “I’m not positive,” Christensen said, when asked about whether he’d heard anything about where he would open the 2015 season. “I would think probably down here (in Fort Myers). But I’m just playing, it’s not up tome. I’m just trying to play every day and stay healthy and get back in the swing of things.” For Christensen, playing every day last summer meant spending time playing all around the diamond defensively for the Kernels. Christensen played all over the outfield, but also logged 90 games at firstbase. He also played 27 games at third base for Elizabethton in 2013. Versatility is a benefit for players trying to get noticed in a professional baseball organization and Christensen will be continuing to demonstrate his willingness and ability to move around the field. During spring training, however, it’s clear the Twins are wanting to see him in the outfield as much as possible. “I’ve been playing all outfield – all three outfield spots,”said Christensen. “Obviously, if I’m needed to go in to the infield again, Ican go in the infield, but I’ve been in the outfield down here, so far.” An assignment with the Miracle would keep Christensen with alot of last summer’s Kernels. Of the thirty or so players currently listed onthe Miracle’s spring training roster, over 25 spent time in Cedar Rapids last season. Christensen likes the idea of sticking with that group. “Yeah, we have a good group. Guys come ready to go every day, that’s what makes it fun,” said Christensen. “We’re looking forward to getting the season going.” Christensen isn’t the only one ready to get the season rolling. Kernels hitting coach Tommy Watkins indicated he is more than ready to head to Cedar Rapids. “This is like Groundhog Day,” Watkins said, alluding to the day-after-day repetitive nature of the spring training routine. Christensen indicated the players are starting to feel the same way. “Yeah, we’re starting to get kind of anxious this time of year.” Jake Mauer Hopes to Have His Roster Set Soon In less than two weeks, Cedar Rapids Kernels manager Jake Mauer will be bringing a fresh crop of 25 ballplayers north from their spring training home in Fort Myers, Florida. The exact constitution of that roster, however, is still somewhat of work in progress. Mauer said he’d like to get things finalized soon, however. “Ideally we’d like to have who we’re going to take to Cedar Rapids that last week of spring training,” Mauer explained on Thursday, just before his squad took on a Class A group of Boston Red Sox prospects. “You can do different things and put in different signs, things we’re going to use throughout the year. Make sure we get all the kinks out before we start up there at Kane County (where the Kernels open their season on April 9).” Mauer will be entering his third season as manager of the Kernels. In fact, among all of the Twins organization’s full-season teams, he’s the only manager assigned to the same club he led a year ago. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/P3260219-600x450.jpg Jake Mauer and Tommy Watkins with early morning instructions The Twins hired Hall of Famer Paul Molitor to manage the big league team this season and former Chicago Cubs manager Mike Quade is taking over the AAA Rochester Red Wings. Jeff Smith and Doug Mientkiewicz swapped their assignments this year, with Mientkiewicz managing AA Chattanooga and Smith taking over high-A Fort Myers. Mauer indicated, though, that he wasn’t surprised to be assigned to Cedar Rapids again. “No, I wouldn’t say surprised,” he said. “Obviously, Cedar Rapids is a pretty good fit for me on a personal level, family-wise. Professional-wise, baseball is baseball, wherever you’re at and at the level I’m at, I really enjoy being around the young guys and teaching every day.” Kernels fans may recognize the team’s manager this season, but they are going to want to pick up a program early on their first trip to the ballpark and study it closely, because they aren’t likely to see many familiar names or faces among the 2015 Kernels players Starting pitchers Stephen Gonsalves and Mat Batts are looking likely to return to start their new season with the Kernels and both have been, “throwing it well,” according to their manager. John Curtiss, who joined the Kernels to make a start during their playoff run a year ago, is also likely to start his summer with the Kernels. “As far as those starters, folks in CR have seen those guys a little bit, but our bullpen is going to be pretty much all new guys from what it looks like,” Mauer said. “As far as position players, I don’t think we’ll have too many guys that were there last year. Maybe a few guys that were there for a portion of the year, we may get back,” he added. Outfielders Zack Larson and Max Murphy are the only position players with time in a Kernels uniform who have been assigned to the most recent Kernels spring training working group. Mauer was quick to point out that the roster is not set, however. “It will depend with, obviously Molitor running the big league club, who he likes, who he wants to keep.” The parent Twins are still about 10 players over their opening day roster limit, so as the big club makes further cuts, there could be additions and/or subtractions from the current group of prospective Kernels. Once the season gets underway, Mauer indicated he felt the team may be relying on their starting pitching early on. “I think we’ll have some starting pitchers with a little bit of experience that I think we’ll lean on, especially early in the year. They’ll need to go out there and set the tone.” Offensively, the Kernels are going to be relying on a lot of players with little or no experience above rookie-level short season ball at Elizabethton last season. “We’re still trying to kind of get to know these guys a little bit,” Mauer said, of his position players. “As far as team speed, I don’t know if we’re going to have a lot of it. We’re going to have some guys that put up decent numbers in E’Town. Obviously, we all know it’s different going in to the Midwest League, facing a little different caliber of pitching.” A number of players are having strong springs, but Mauer was philosophical about his expectations for the Kernels once they leave the mid-80 degree temperatures of Fort Myers behind and head north. “We may go through some growing pains, but hopefully it’ll all shake out. We’ll see how we react when it’s thirty degrees out.”

Great article John. They had the beer shakes last spring, too, so Im looking forward to renewing that acquaintance. Hope to see you around the facility this week.

Not sure where I read it, but I'm pretty sure I saw that, at least once the season starts, the high-A Miracle players aren't eligible to stay at the academy, other than maybe the first couple days after they get to Ft Myers following a promotion. Not sure what the reasoning is behind that, if it's true. Maybe between GCL and EST players, it's full?

Thank you, TD guys, for promoting this to article status. Bonus material for those who read the comment section, I asked Mitch about the fact that it seems like he and Stuart Turner are almost always mentioned together in news articles and whether that has any effect on their relationship in ST. Really liked his response: "I don’t think it’s something that we really think about. He’s my roommate right now and there’s nothing other than we’re co-workers right now. It’s hard for us to really compete when we don’t hold our own destiny. We don’t control where we go or what team we’re placed with or what bullpen we catch or what situations we’re placed in. That’s all out of our control. The only thing we can control is what we do when we’re in a situation. With that being said, we’re not competing against each other, we’re competing against baseball. I think we both understand that we’re not really competing against each other, we’re competing against the game."

Almost exactly 11 months ago, Mitch Garver arrived in Cedar Rapids to get started on his first full season of professional baseball in the Minnesota Twins organization. This spring, he’s a big league catcher – for now, anyway.Garver, the Twins’ ninth round draft choice in 2013 out of New Mexico, spent all of last season with the Cedar Rapids Kernels, not only playing a leadership role behind the plate but at the plate, as well. He hit .298, led Cedar Rapids with 79 RBI and was voted the Midwest League’s post-season all-star catcher. Garver reported to the Twins’ spring training facility in Fort Myers, Florida, with the other Twins major league pitchers and catchers in February and he’s been putting on a big league uniform every day since. Major League teams invite a limited number of their minor league catchers to big league camp every spring in order to have enough catchers to handle catching duties for all of the pitchers that need to work out their kinks during the first four weeks or so of spring training. Garver got one of those coveted invitations to big league camp this year. (Tyler Grimes, who caught for the 2013 Kernels, also is getting a taste of big league life with the Twins this spring.) On Friday, Garver talked about his experience this spring in the Minnesota Twins’ major league camp. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Mitch-Garver.jpeg After Garver and the Kernels wrapped up their 2014 season back in September, he spent a little time in Minnesota and Florida getting checked out physically, including a CT scan due to late season concussion issues. “No issues there, everything came back clean,” Garver assured. “It was just an experience for me to make sure everything was OK. I got to see Target Field and everything around there. They wanted to make sure I was healthy enough to go back to Albuquerque to work out, so I was in Fort Myers (fall instructional league) for a month to kind of iron some things out.” Garver split the next couple of months between time with his fiancé in Corvallis, Oregon, and with his family in New Mexico. It was while in New Mexico that he woke up one morning, about a week before Christmas, to find he had a missed call on his phone. “It was at like eight or nine in the morning and I didn’t know what the number was,” Garver recalled. “So I called it back.” It was a good decision. The call turned out to have been from Twins General Manager Terry Ryan. “He asked me how my health was and made sure everything was good with my hips and with my brain and everything. I told him I was doing great, having a great offseason. Then he invited me to spring training.” That’s major league spring training, with the big league Twins. “It was really exciting. Very cool,” added Garver. Garver has been in camp since February 20 and, as you might expect, walking in to a big league clubhouse as a player for the first time was special. “It’s very different because you walk in and you find your locker and you turn around and there’s five clubhouse guys behind you. Five clubbies, asking you if there’s anything you need, anything they can do for you at that moment in time. You’re just being bombarded with love, it seems like. It’s a cool experience. It’s just fun to be here.” He’s not just there for the cool experience, of course. Garver is there to work. He’s rooming with fellow Twins catching prospect Stuart Turner at the new baseball academy that the Twins have built on-site at their complex in Fort Myers.and, according to Garver, their days get off to a pretty early start. “I wake up at 6:30, we leave the academy about 6:40 and get over to the field. I like to get there a little bit early. They have breakfast for us over there in the new, renovated locker room and kitchen. And the weight room is right there as well. Sometimes you work out in the morning, sometimes you go hit in the morning or you do both. “And then team meetings around 9:00. After that, we head out to different fields and do PFPs (pitchers’ fielding practice), bullpens, live batting practice, baserunning, bunt defense. There’s a defensive station every day. So either we’re catching bullpens or we’re doing something catching-related. For that particular day, it could be blocking or the next day it could be catching pop flies or anything like that. But most of the time, it’s bullpens and we get all of our work in during the bullpens. “When it’s all said and done, it’s probably around 1:00 or 2:00 in the afternoon and you go have lunch and then you call it a day.” The time Garver and other young players get on the field with major league players and coaching staff is valuable, of course, but it’s not the only aspect his first big league spring training that Garver is taking advantage of. “It’s nice to get to know these guys (the major leaguers). You kind of want to get associated with them and learn what kind of people they are off the field, because you already know what they can do on the field. It’s fun to talk with them and converse about different things, finding out where people are from and all of these different stories they have, baseball related or not. “Torii Hunter has some really different stories about everything. It’s fun to listen to him talk. It’s just a good experience overall.” The experience also has made Garver even more aware of just how close he could be to realizing his dreams of being a major league ballplayer. “It’s surreal. You’re playing with superstars and if you put it in perspective, you’re not that far off,” Garver observed. “Just a hop, skip and a jump away from being in the big leagues, whatever level you’re at.” Garver got his first taste of big league game experience on Thursday night, as a pinch hitter, in the Twins first spring training game. It was memorable on multiple levels for Garver. “I was sitting in the dugout (Thursday) night and we were playing the Boston Red Sox. People that I’ve only ever seen on TV, or only ever imagined playing against are in the other dugout,” he recounted. “And in the other dugout is one of my best friends from Albuquerque, Blake Swihart. He’s one of the best catching prospects in the game and it’s just surreal seeing him over there. Then he’s catching when I’m batting and I’m facing a big leaguer (Boston reliever Matt Barnes). It’s kind of weird to think about it, but it’s right there in front of me. I’ve just gotta go get it.” As exciting as the experience has been and continues to be, Garver is realistic and knows his time in the major league clubhouse is going to come to an end (for this season, anyway) shortly. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Garver2014b.jpg Minor leaguers begin reporting to spring training in a few days and eventually Garver will be joining them at the minor league complex across the parking lot from the Twins’ big league facility. Garver is OK with that. “Yeah, it’s coming. I know it is. Everybody knows it is. I think the 15th will be our last day and the 16th is the day we’re sent back. “But you know what, that’s fine with me,” said Garver, in a tone of voice that certainly sounded genuine. “I’ve come, I’ve seen, I’ve learned a lot of things thus far. And I think being sent down to the minor leagues is going to be a good thing because I’ll get to play every day. I can prepare myself for the season, as opposed to helping major leaguers prepare for their season, because I’m just kind of helping out right now.” Asked whether he’d like to add a couple of points to his batting average in 2015, to get it up to the magic .300 mark, Garver laughed and said that was, indeed, one his goals. But then that’s not new. “I want to hit .300, I want to make the All-Star team and I want to have the most RBIs on the team. There you go. Those are my goals. The same as last year and the year before.” Click here to view the article

I'm not smart enough to know why his offense improved, but I imagine it's not really surprising that a guy might struggle in his first half-season of pro ball. I can just say that he does expect a lot from himself offensively. Your mention of Turner reminds me I did talk to him about how the two of them seem to connected in just about every media story that mentions either of them. I asked him about the dynamic between the two of them. It didn't really fit in to the article, but here's his response: "I don’t think it’s something that we really think about. He’s my roommate right now and there’s nothing other than we’re co-workers right now. It’s hard for us to really compete when we don’t hold our own destiny. We don’t control where we go or what team we’re placed with or what bullpen we catch or what situations we’re placed in. That’s all out of our control. The only thing we can control is what we do when we’re in a situation. With that being said, we’re not competing against each other, we’re competing against baseball. I think we both understand that we’re not really competing against each other, we’re competing against the game." Was pretty much a perfect response, imo. For the record, I think both guys still have plenty of potential to be good major league catchers, both offensively and behind the plate.

Almost exactly 11 months ago, Mitch Garver arrived in Cedar Rapids to get started on his first full season of professional baseball in the Minnesota Twins organization. This spring, he’s a big league catcher – for now, anyway. Garver, the Twins’ ninth round draft choice in 2013 out of New Mexico, spent all of last season with the Cedar Rapids Kernels, not only playing a leadership role behind the plate but at the plate, as well. He hit .298, led Cedar Rapids with 79 RBI and was voted the Midwest League’s post-season all-star catcher. Garver reported to the Twins’ spring training facility in Fort Myers, Florida, with the other Twins major league pitchers and catchers in February and he’s been putting on a big league uniform every day since. (This article was originally published at Knuckelballsblog.com.) Major League teams invite a limited number of their minor league catchers to big league camp every spring in order to have enough catchers to handle catching duties for all of the pitchers that need to work out their kinks during the first four weeks or so of spring training and Garver got one of those coveted invitations to big league camp this year. (Tyler Grimes, who caught for the 2013 Kernels, also is getting a taste of big league life with the Twins this spring.) On Friday, Garver talked about his experience this spring in the Minnesota Twins’ major league camp. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Mitch-Garver.jpeg Mitch Garver (photo: Minnesota Twins) After Garver and the Kernels wrapped up their 2014 season back in September, he spent a little time in Minnesota and Florida getting checked out physically, including a CT scan due to late season concussion issues. “No issues there, everything came back clean,” Garver assured. “It was just an experience for me to make sure everything was OK. I got to see Target Field and everything around there. They wanted to make sure I was healthy enough to go back to Albuquerque to work out, so I was in (fall instructional league in Fort Myers) for a month to kind of iron some things out.” Garver split the next couple of months between time with his fiancé in Corvallis, Oregon, and with his family in New Mexico. It was while in New Mexico that he woke up one morning, about a week before Christmas, to find he had a missed call on his phone. “It was at like eight or nine in the morning and I didn’t know what the number was,” Garver recalled. “So I called it back.” It was a good decision. The call turned out to have been from Twins General Manager Terry Ryan. “He asked me how my health was and made sure everything was good with my hips and with my brain and everything. I told him I was doing great, having a great offseason. Then he invited me to spring training.” That’s major league spring training, with the big league Twins. “It was really exciting. Very cool,” added Garver. Garver has been in camp since February 20 and, as you might expect, walking in to a big league clubhouse as a player for the first time was special. “It’s very different because you walk in and you find your locker and you turn around and there’s five clubhouse guys behind you. Five clubbies, asking you if there’s anything you need, anything they can do for you at that moment in time. You’re just being bombarded with love, it seems like. It’s a cool experience. It’s just fun to be here.” He’s not just there for the cool experience, of course. Garver is there to work. He’s rooming with fellow Twins catching prospect Stuart Turner at the new baseball academy that the Twins have built on-site at their complex in Fort Myers.and, according to Garver, their days get off to a pretty early start. “I wake up at 6:30, we leave the academy about 6:40 and get over to the field. I like to get there a little bit early. They have breakfast for us over there in the new, renovated locker room and kitchen. And the weight room is right there as well. Sometimes you work out in the morning, sometimes you go hit in the morning or you do both. “And then team meetings around 9:00. After that, we head out to different fields and do PFPs (pitchers’ fielding practice), bullpens, live batting practice, baserunning, bunt defense. There’s a defensive station every day. So either we’re catching bullpens or we’re doing something catching-related. For that particular day, it could be blocking or the next day it could be catching pop flies or anything like that. But most of the time, it’s bullpens and we get all of our work in during the bullpens. “When it’s all said and done, it’s probably around 1:00 or 2:00 in the afternoon and you go have lunch and then you call it a day.” The time Garver and other young players get on the field with major league players and coaching staff is valuable, of course, but it’s not the only aspect his first big league spring training that Garver is taking advantage of. “It’s nice to get to know these guys (the major leaguers). You kind of want to get associated with them and learn what kind of people they are off the field, because you already know what they can do on the field. It’s fun to talk with them and converse about different things, finding out where people are from and all of these different stories they have, baseball related or not. “Torii Hunter has some really different stories about everything. It’s fun to listen to him talk. It’s just a good experience overall.” The experience also has made Garver even more aware of just how close he could be to realizing his dreams of being a major league ballplayer. “It’s surreal. You’re playing with superstars and if you put it in perspective, you’re not that far off,” Garver observed. “Just a hop, skip and a jump away from being in the big leagues, whatever level you’re at.” Garver got his first taste of big league game experience on Thursday night, as a pinch hitter, in the Twins first spring training game. It was memorable on multiple levels for Garver. “I was sitting in the dugout (Thursday) night and we were playing the Boston Red Sox. People that I’ve only ever seen on TV, or only ever imagined playing against are in the other dugout,” he recounted. “And in the other dugout is one of my best friends from Albuquerque, Blake Swihart. He’s one of the best catching prospects in the game and it’s just surreal seeing him over there. Then he’s catching when I’m batting and I’m facing a big leaguer (Boston reliever Matt Barnes). It’s kind of weird to think about it, but it’s right there in front of me. I’ve just gotta go get it.” As exciting as the experience has been and continues to be, Garver is realistic and knows his time in the major league clubhouse is going to come to an end (for this season, anyway) shortly. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Garver2014b.jpg Mitch Garver as a Kernel Minor leaguers begin reporting to spring training in a few days and eventually Garver will be joining them at the minor league complex across the parking lot from the Twins’ big league facility. Garver is OK with that. “Yeah, it’s coming. I know it is. Everybody knows it is. I think the 15th will be our last day and the 16th is the day we’re sent back. “But you know what, that’s fine with me,” said Garver, in a tone of voice that certainly sounded genuine. “I’ve come, I’ve seen, I’ve learned a lot of things thus far. And I think being sent down to the minor leagues is going to be a good thing because I’ll get to play every day. I can prepare myself for the season, as opposed to helping major leaguers prepare for their season, because I’m just kind of helping out right now.” Asked whether he’d like to add a couple of points to his batting average in 2015, to get it up to the magic .300 mark, Garver laughed and said that was, indeed, one his goals. But then that’s not new. “I want to hit .300, I want to make the All-Star team and I want to have the most RBIs on the team. There you go. Those are my goals. The same as last year and the year before.”

I'm not a huge Hunter fan and I wasn't thrilled with the signing (though I also wasn't as vocally opposed as many others), I see it as a little bit of a gamble, but one perhaps worth taking. The early reports out of ST concerning the more social atmosphere in the Twins' clubhouse are encouraging. How much of that is Hunter and how much of it is Ervin Santana and/or Paul Molitor & the new coaching staff? I don't know... I suspect it's a bit of all of them. It's apparent that a pretty stale environment had set in under the prior management team and the existing team "leaders." It's certainly debateable how much this kind of environment change can affect wins and losses, but I do think fans sense when a team is having fun together playing baseball... and when they aren't. That sense can spread to the fanbase. Will Buxton and Sano ever play an inning in the field with Hunter in a regular season game? I don't know. But they are sharing a clubhouse and a field with him now. And even if fans drawn to TF this year to see Hunter don't also get to see Sano or Buxton, many will get their first looks at Arcia, Santana, Meyer, May and others. And by the second half of the season, probably more... maybe even Sano/Buxton. Like Nick, I was surprised by the fan reaction to KG's return. The Twins won't sell SRO tickets for Hunter's encore with the Twins, but they don't need that level of fan interest to make their investment pay off in the long run.

The height (or lack thereof) is primarily a disadvantage for pitchers who throw a flat fastball and sliders with relatively little break. All of the workout videos, etc., are great theater for the fans and demonstrate Berrios' commitment to being the best athlete he can be, but the most important factor to his elevated prospect status, imo, is his improved movement on his pitches. Significant movement is what will counter his lack of physical height, just as Santana's changeup helped make his height a non-factor. I'm a big fan of both Berrios and Stewart, but, like jokin, I have Meyer still ranked higher than both, simply because I believe he has similar upside potential and he's closer than the two younger guys to being in a position to start realizing that potential. It's the image of these three pitchers all reaching their potential, while serving in the same future Twins rotation, that can make even the most jaded of Twins fans feel just a little giddy.

But isn't this pretty much the same argument that opponents of a legal minimum wage have made for decades? If an employer can adequately fill its staff with people willing to work for low wages, why shouldn't they be allowed to do so? I'm a registered Republican and even I don't believe that. There are a lot of businesses that, due to location or other perceived perks, would have no trouble filling their staffs with 16-22 year olds, even without paying minimum wages. I guess I just don't believe that means they should be allowed to do so. Let me put it this way... Let's say I open a business on a popular beach in Florida. I have no shortage of college kids trying to land work with me (especially if I bring in a bunch of impoverished kids from Latin America to supplement my domestic work force). I implement a compensation plan that calls for wages below legally mandated miniumum wage levels and even 10-11 hour work days much of the time, but, in return for agreeing to work for illegally low wages, I agree to hold a lottery where I put the names of every employee who has worked for me for four or more years in to a hat and draw one name to pay $500,000. Win or lose, if you're still employed the next year, your name goes in to the hat again. (Of course, any time I want to, I can simply fire you.) Does that gimmick entitle me to avoid compliance with minimum wage laws, even if I have no problem finding more than enough kids to run my business? After all, nobody is forcing them to choose to work for me.

Suggest you also look at each minor league team's roster and look at how many players were drafted in the top 10 rounds (which are the only rounds where the slot value is over $100K signing bonus). After the "advisor" gets his cut and taxes take roughly 40% of what's left of that bonus (lump sum bonuses have taxes withheld at the highest tax rate), only a very small percentage of players have much with which to "supplement" their monthly salary. As for earning more money in the offseason, that argument is even less convincing than when people try to argue teachers aren't underpaid because they can get summer jobs. What do you suppose the "offseason" consists of? While they may only get paid for five months (a little longer if they get to attend fall instructional league, where they do, I believe, receive some modest additional pay, but I'm not sure on that), their offseason is far shorter than what you would get simply by measuring the time from their last game in the fall to the first game they get paid for the following spring. (They are not paid for spring training, for example.) As far as the minor league season not being as "grueling" as a MLB season, I think most players would beg to differ, since minor leaguers get fewer off-days in their schedule. I'm also pretty sure MLBers don't sit through 250-500 mile bus rides. And, actually, most minor leaguers prefer those bus trips over the daily 150-200 miles they spend on buses for "commuter road games" where teams don't even stay over night, but make the round trip for each game. What kind of offseason jobs do you suppose guys can get when they each also have expectations of an offseason workout plan laid out for them by the parent organization. I know a number of minor leaguers who essentially provide hitting/pitching instruction to young players in the offseason. Not exactly big money in that. Sorry, but imo there is absolutely no justifiable excuse for paying professional ballplayers less than legal minimum wages. The guy you buy your hot dog from in the concession is likely making a better hourly wage than the players on the field. Maybe minor league organizations should start "passing the hat" through the crowd during the 7th inning stretch so fans can throw a few bucks worth of "tip money" to players having a good game at that point!

I've never understood the organization's near-total disregard for the Senators era of their history. Makes no sense at all.