Here Come the First-Rounders

[Dodecahedron]

 

I haven’t seen it mentioned on this thread but Nick Gordon has been dealing with gastrointestinal issues for awhile. I believe this contributes to his inability to put on weight and his tendency for late in the season fading performance. Also likely explains why COVID-19 sidelined him most of last year as one of the symptoms is of Covid is gut inflammation. I can’t remember his medical condition but it may be Crohn’s disease. I am happy for Nick Gordon that he got the call and hope he does well.

https://www.bemidjipioneer.com/sports/baseball/6925813-After-more-health-issues-Twins-prospect-Nick-Gordon-‘thankful’-to-be-back-on-field

 

Ah, that's too bad. Doctors seem particularly bad at alleviating that sort of thing. 

 

I was 50 years old before a doctor decided to prescribe Bentyl, which slows down gut muscles. Problem solved, but that's a lot of years of unnecessary suffering while being prescribed pointless fiber supplements.

[Dodecahedron]

Regarding the St. Paul Saints hat, I would certainly make a big deal about it had there been a link to it instead of just a picture. I don't see the hat on the team store.

[Heinie Manush]

 

Not that it should matter, but does calling up Kiriloff affect the service time "issue"?

 

Do they get the extra year of control by calling him up today?

I'm going to side with the FO on this issue.  I firmly believe that this service time "loophole" will go away fn the coming CBA and i believe that Fal/vine knows this.

[gunnarthor]

It'll be fun to see both of them get a shot. Hope they both excel for us.

[Otto von Ballpark]

All the moves are official now.

 

Added to the 26-man roster today:

Kirilloff

Gordon

Tzu-Wei Lin (also added to 40-man roster)

 

Placed on the 10-day IL:

Sano

 

Sent to alternate site:

Blankenhorn

Telis (also removed from 40-man roster)

[Dodecahedron]

So the story is ...

 

For all the blustering we did over Kiriloff not being called up on day 1, all we had to do was wait 21 days for the service time rule to kick in.

 

A good lesson on only pushing the panic button as a last resort.

[ashbury]

I'm not sure what to make of Gordon, but I'm hoping he's at least a good defensive backup.

Prepare for another shocker.

 

[MNT1996]

I'm surprised Larnach hasn't been added to the 40 man yet. He looked like a more developed hitter than Kirilloff during ST

[Shaitan]

Tough break for Blankenhorn. On the other hand, he was assigned to AA out of Spring Training, which doesn't scream that they have confidence in his readiness.

[chpettit19]

 

I'm surprised Larnach hasn't been added to the 40 man yet. He looked like a more developed hitter than Kirilloff during ST

They won't add Larnach until they've gone through all the guys already on the roster. Not going to risk losing someone on waivers until they know they don't need/want them or feel Larnach is ready to come up and stick. Which could be real soon if Cave keeps doing what he's doing and Larnach is looking good in St Paul and the team keeps losing. But no reason to add him until he's replacing someone on the big league squad.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

Tough break for Blankenhorn. On the other hand, he was assigned to AA out of Spring Training, which doesn't scream that they have confidence in his readiness.

I haven't seen anything about players being sent to particular minor league levels yet, since no minor league season has started -- all of the official transactions just say the generic "alternate training site."

 

If you still see Blankenhorn's name on a AA roster or something, it might be because that was the last minor league level he played at in 2019. That's not uncommon.

 

After his 125 wRC+ at AA in 2019, I'd be surprised if they ultimately sent him back to that level to begin 2021, whenever the minor league season gets underway.

[jimbo92107]

Trick for Gordon is to be silky smooth in the field, then at least look competent at the plate, like he has a plan and tries to execute. 

 

Just the opposite for Kirilloff. He needs to look really good at the plate, and then at least serviceable in the field. 

 

Meanwhile, I really hope the Twins are ready to play musical chairs with the bullpen. Colome is making opponents very happy. Maybe invent an injury for him and bring up Duran. 

[sampleSizeOfOne]

 

Prepare for another shocker.
 

What does Wichita State have to do with this?

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

Prepare for another shocker.
 

 

 

What does Wichita State have to do with this?

 

The Twins are signing Mike Pelfrey again?

[KirbyDome89]

 

To be fair there's no reason to believe that he'd have been called up today had the Twins not been short multiple corner OFs and their 1B. It is entirely possible he still would have been called up and this was their plan all along, but this isn't exactly them saying "now he's ready and he's replacing 'player x'."

 

Cave isn't a great player, but I don't think anyone could have honestly expected him to be this incredibly bad. Kepler is out. Garlick is out. Sano is out. The timing certainly doesn't make the optics look good and gives the impression the Twins were planning to manipulate service time from the jump, but that's ignoring a lot of other variables.

I believe the "ready," comment was sardonic. We've heard for the last few weeks that AK isn't ready because ST stats I guess suddenly matter. Despite that the Twins brought Kirilloff up for a doubleheader with BOS when there were 5 other position players that could've started in LF. Coincidently, the call up happened to not affect his service time, as he was the 27th man. Unsurprisingly he was sent back down immediately following those games. LF has been a black hole. Neither Cave nor Garlick has looked even semi capable. What other variables am I missing?

 

Service time manipulation is less of an indictment than saying this FO prefers to watch a LF that features Cave striking out 50% of the time and Garlick proving he's a AAAA guy. 

[ashbury]

The Twins are signing Mike Pelfrey again?

I clicked Like because there isn't an I Hate You button.

 

[Shaitan]

 

I haven't seen anything about players being sent to particular minor league levels yet, since no minor league season has started -- all of the official transactions just say the generic "alternate training site."

 

If you still see Blankenhorn's name on a AA roster or something, it might be because that was the last minor league level he played at in 2019. That's not uncommon.

 

After his 125 wRC+ at AA in 2019, I'd be surprised if they ultimately sent him back to that level to begin 2021, whenever the minor league season gets underway.

I swear I read that when he was among the final cuts in mid March (because it surprised me at the time), but google isn't backing it up. 

 

I guess it's just my old age.

[Mike Sixel]

 

Prepare for another shocker.
 

 

I said HOPE.....but, ya.