Article: Twins Option Alex Meyer To Triple-A

[Nick Nelson]

The Minnesota Twins announced just before Friday's game against Pittsburgh Pirates that they have optioned right-hander Alex Meyer to Class-AAA Rochester.Meyer has struggled with his control this spring, issuing seven walks in 5 2/3 innings over three Grapefruit League appearances. That included an erratic outing at Port Charlotte on Thursday in which Meyer issued four walks over two innings.

 

Earlier this week the Twins announced that they have moved Tim Stauffer to a relief role, so Meyer is the second contender for that fifth rotation spot to be officially taken out of the running. That leaves Tommy Milone, Mike Pelfrey and Trevor May.

 

Look for more on this move, including quotes from Terry Ryan, in our daily recap later this afternoon.

 

Click here to view the article

[diehardtwinsfan]

I know a lot of people around here don't like it, but walking 4.4/9 in AAA is going to be a lot worse in MLB. I think he's up at some point this year, but I'm not too worked up about letting him spend time in the minors. He needs to start, period. He's already not where you'd like from a work load standpoint given his injury history. Long term, this is probably for the best.

[gunnarthor]

Darn it.  i really wanted him in the 5th starter spot.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Bummer. Not yet I guess.

[Mike Sixel]

Still waiting any positive return from the trades.......disappointed he couldn't throw strikes.

[jimmer]

There is zero surprise in this decision.

[Platoon]

He was by default in 4th place. In no particular order above him:

 

May. Some previous MLB experience, and more control.

Milone. Same as May, with more experience and LH

Pelfrey. Bigger contract, given a pass because of injuries, and the need to justify

trading for him.

 

He really did nothing to change the pecking order, and in essence remained in 4th place. I watched him yesterday, it was painful. It's hard to understand how you can miss the strike zone by that amount, with that much experience. I have been very critical of the Twins reticence to bring up players, but as far as I know the strike zone is more or less in the same place all over. You have to get close enough to it to make a batter make a choice.

[jimmer]

 

He was by default in 4th place. In no particular order above him: May. Some previous MLB experience, and more control. Milone. Same as May, with more experience and LH Pelfrey. Bigger contract, given a pass because of injuries, and the need to justify trading for him. He really did nothing to change the pecking order, and in essence remained in 4th place. I watched him yesterday, it was painful. It's hard to understand how you can miss the strike zone by that amount, with that much experience. I have been very critical of the Twins reticence to bring up players, but as far as I know the strike zone is more or less in the same place all over. You have to get close enough to it to make a batter make a choice.

Yeah, makes one wonder why people have such issues when a good chunk of scouts say he's more than likely going to end up a reliever and not a hot shot front-line pitcher. 

[jokin]

 

Still waiting any positive return from the trades.......disappointed he couldn't throw strikes.

 

There is zero surprise in this decision.

 

As Platoon just noted, Meyer hasn't been this wild over a 3 game stretch since he's been with the Twins.  Although I'm pretty sure it was pre-ordained that Meyer had been offered little chance of getting the #5 spot.  I hope Nick asks in-depth questions on the demotion....

 

1) Is there a lingering shoulder issue?

2) Is there a new mechanical issue they can't sort out?

3) Is Meyer having trouble adapting to the new pitching coach?

4) Is there an issue with Meyer's agent and the athlete's expectations of where he should be?

 

Edited March 20, 2015 by jokin

[jokin]

Rhett Bollinger got an early story onto MNTwins.com, complete with a load of reassurances, and some more trepidations around the dreaded walk ratio.  I would like to get some further input from Neal Allen, on his health, his mechanics and some more specifics on how he grades each of Meyer's pitches (relative to all of the good pitchers he's worked with on the Rays):

 

 

 

Meyer, ranked as the No. 30 overall prospect in baseball, made three Grapefruit League appearances, posting a 1.59 ERA, but he walked seven batters in 5 2/3 innings and admitted on Friday that he's suffering from issues with his mechanics. 
"He's behind quite a few guys, so that was a piece," Twins general manager Terry Ryan said. "We want to make sure we get him consistent work, so we're going to send him over. Hopefully, we can get him to settle it down. Yesterday, I was pleased to see him do some damage control, because that could've gotten out of whack. It's obvious he can strike people out, but now it's a matter of not getting into so much trouble."
Meyer, 25, did show some positives against Tampa Bay after loading the bases, as he was able to get out of the jam after a sacrifice fly and a pair of strikeouts. Meyer has the stuff to be a frontline starter with a fastball that can reach 100 mph and a solid curveball to go along with a developing changeup, but he has trouble harnessing it.

"I think we can fix that," Ryan said. "His mechanics were sped up and he got into some trouble, but he got out of the trouble like he can do. He has pitches he can use to get himself out of trouble."
Meyer, who is one of the tallest pitchers in baseball at 6-foot-9, had a 3.52 ERA in 27 starts with Rochester last year, striking out 153 batters in 130 1/3 innings. But he also walked 64, issuing 4.4 walks per nine innings, which would've been the second-worst mark in the Majors last year. So the Twins remain hopeful he can refine his command at Triple-A before making his highly anticipated big league debut.
"With those types of pitches, it's hard to argue against him," Ryan said. "But we all know there are guys where it takes a little more time than others, and he's one of them. Mechanically, he's a big man with a lot of moving parts. I don't want to harp on that too much, though, because he's a pretty good athlete for his size."

 

Edited March 20, 2015 by jokin

[ken]

Not surprising based on the offseason moves, but disappointing.  If really the worst case, with Milone and Pelfrey pitching just well enough not to make changes but not really good to improve the team. 

 

The Meyer situation is like Gibson a couple years ago.  Ryan didn't want to bring him up because he was inconsistent.  Then last year he was very inconsistent but he still performed better than Nolasco and as good as Santana (who if they had signed would have pushed Gibson to AAA).  I think the year of experience is very valuable for Gibson and will help the teams future. 

 

The sooner they promote Meyers and let him work at the major league level, the better off the teams future will be, but looks like the Twins still are in love with the worst staff in the division.

[Mike Sixel]

While I liked Ken's post.......I didn't agree with the last part. 

[diehardtwinsfan]

yeah, I do agree with others that given the Ks and the weak contact, a higher walk rate won't kill him, but he's got to have more command than that. It's one thing to miss your spot by a couple inches, but when it's obvious, you'll put runners on and encourage more hitters to be patient. I think this was for the best. I do think he'll have a good career, but unfortunately, he needs more time. I think we forget that he's only been in the minors for 3 seasons. If he's pitching well in June, he's probably first on the callup list when someone goes down.

[Mike Sixel]

he's 25. I don't think anyone is forgetting anything about his age. How many Elite starters haven't appeared in the majors by their 25th birthday? I have no idea, but I'm guessing not many (and, yup, some have, that's not really the point, you don't bet on the exceptions).

[jokin]

 

 

 

The sooner they promote Meyers and let him work at the major league level, the better off the teams future will be, but looks like the Twins still are in love with the worst staff in the division.

 

While I liked Ken's post.......I didn't agree with the last part. 

 

How so?  Adding the "s" on to the end of Meyer?    Actually, I like pretty much all of Ken's post.

 

The Twins may have upgraded on paper with the addition of Santana, and maturation of Gibson, that still leaves "I don't want to be here" Nolasco, continued struggles from whomever the #5 SP is, plus Hughes may regress some.... it seems likely they will still be "the worst staff in the division."  And that the Twins love and prefer their vet pitchers and their mystery AAAA pitchers over legit prospects, if it's a close call.

Edited March 20, 2015 by jokin

[Mike Sixel]

Funny, I read "worst staff in baseball"......so, ya, I guess I agree with it all. My bad.

[jimmer]

 

Funny, I read "worst staff in baseball"......so, ya, I guess I agree with it all. My bad.

With a better defense, our pitching staff wouldn't look the worse.  It'd still be bad, but I think it's more accurate to say our defense is worse than our pitching when comparing to other teams' pitching and defense.

Edited March 20, 2015 by jimmer

[jokin]

 

With a better defense, our pitching staff wouldn't look the worse.  It'd still be bad, but I think it's more accurate to say our defense is worse than our pitching when comparing to other teams' pitching and defense.

 

 

The OF defense is a train wreck, no doubt.  

 

But-

 

Check those team K rates- 16.2%- ranked 30th.  Team SIERA and xFIP are ranked 29th. K/BB is 27th (the Giants finished 8th in K/BB with about the same BB% as the Twins).

 

Still a long, long way to go.

Edited March 20, 2015 by jokin

[jimmer]

 

.  Team FIP and xFIP are ranked 29th. K/BB is 27th (the Giants finished 8th in K/BB with about the same BB%).

 

Still a long, long way to go.

Seemed they were just talking rotation, but according to Fangraphs team FIP was 26th and rotation was FIP was 24th.

 

Our defense was even worse, which is hard to accept and makes this offseason harder to stomach since it not only wasn't improved, it was potentially made worse.

Edited March 20, 2015 by jimmer

[Paul Pleiss]

I want to see him be effectively wild with the big league ball club. And if it doesn't work, well, there's always the pen. and if that doesn't work... well there's always AAA.

[jokin]

 

Seemed they were just talking rotation, but team FIP was 26th and rotation was FIP was 24th.

 

Our defense was even worse, which is hard to grasp and makes this offseason harder to stomach since it not only wasn't improved, it was potentially made worse.

 

Team SIERA and xFIP were 29 and I was just throwing the whole mess into the pile (I corrected on stating it was FIP).  

 

No doubt, lots of work to do, starters, pen and defense.  And very likely, the worst staff in the ALC in 2015.

Edited March 20, 2015 by jokin

[curt1965]

I was hoping one of the young guys would be in the picture to go north with the big boys, but realistically, who would deserve to? Certainly not Meyer at this point. May has been sick and is behind also. I might be crazy, but the first guy I would call up at the first sign of distress would be Barrios! He might not be 100% ready, but he has a lot of intangibles going for him. He's a bulldog, seems very tough mentally, highly dedicated, and obviously motivated to succeed. I sometimes wonder if the bad experience of bringing up Hicks before he was ready has caused the front office to proceed cautiously. Just wonder how everything will play out around May 15 if the current staff is as horrible as last year's.

[Thrylos]

Meyer is 25.  Here is a comparable (mechanics' wise) pitcher's age 25 season:

 

160.7 IP, 4.82 ERA, 4.05 FIP, 96 BB, 130 K, 1.512 WHIP.

His age 26 season:

219.7 IP, 3.65 ERA, 4.29 FIP, 120 BB, 194 K, 1.338 WHIP.

 

couple of questions?

 

a. would you stay or would you go?

b. do you know who that guy is?

[jokin]

 

Meyer is 25.  Here is a comparable (mechanics' wise) pitcher's age 25 season:

 

160.7 IP, 4.82 ERA, 4.05 FIP, 96 BB, 130 K, 1.512 WHIP.

His age 26 season:

219.7 IP, 3.65 ERA, 4.29 FIP, 120 BB, 194 K, 1.338 WHIP.

 

couple of questions?

 

a. would you stay or would you go?

b. do you know who that guy is?

 

I know, of course, of whom your speak.  The Twins won't go near putting someone out with those potential numbers, because of the BB/9 and K/BB.

Edited March 20, 2015 by jokin

[jimmer]

 

I know, of course, of whom your speak.  The Twins won't go near putting someone out with those potential numbers, because of the BB/9 and K/BB.

Why not, that guy is an inner circle HOFer :-)

[jokin]

 

I was hoping one of the young guys would be in the picture to go north with the big boys, but realistically, who would deserve to? Certainly not Meyer at this point. May has been sick and is behind also. I might be crazy, but the first guy I would call up at the first sign of distress would be Barrios! He might not be 100% ready, but he has a lot of intangibles going for him. He's a bulldog, seems very tough mentally, highly dedicated, and obviously motivated to succeed. I sometimes wonder if the bad experience of bringing up Hicks before he was ready has caused the front office to proceed cautiously. Just wonder how everything will play out around May 15 if the current staff is as horrible as last year's.

 

Curt-  Check out Nick's latest article.  The Twins have seemingly moved on from the issue being strictly a matter of "consistency".    Molitor, perhaps somewhat impressed with Berrios' ST performance and all-around presence, called out Meyer a little bit, and challenged him to put on his Big Boy Boots.  Let's see if Meyer responds to the challenge.

 

I still fear that he'll still have to somehow pass both Pelfrey and May on the depth chart to get a May 15 shot.

Edited March 20, 2015 by jokin

[jorgenswest]

I know a lot of people around here don't like it, but walking 4.4/9 in AAA is going to be a lot worse in MLB. I think he's up at some point this year, but I'm not too worked up about letting him spend time in the minors. He needs to start, period. He's already not where you'd like from a work load standpoint given his injury history. Long term, this is probably for the best.

It didn't get worse for these guys. Poor walk rates didn't stop their clubs from bringing them up to the majors.

 

http://twinsdaily.com/blog/36/entry-6339-alex-meyer-and-aaa-walk-rates/

[jokin]

 

It didn't get worse for these guys. Poor walk rates didn't stop their clubs from bringing them up to the majors.

http://twinsdaily.com/blog/36/entry-6339-alex-meyer-and-aaa-walk-rates/

 

Just to add to your list and since he's been discussed today, Randy Johnson was 4.9 BB/9 in AAA, 8.1 BB/9 in AA.

[h2oface]

If the Twins don't want to give Meyer a shot, I hear he can be traded for a pretty darn good major league center fielder. Do the Twins need a center fielder?

[Kwak]

They traded Denard Span for this?