MWLFan

Welcome to AAA Jason Wheeler! With upheaval on the major league level, a spot starter was needed in Rochester. The Twins tapped Jason to be the guy to pickup the ball for the Red Wings and he responded with a pretty good outing, 5 innings with 2 runs on 5 hits, 2 walks and strikeouts. What a year for Jason, starting in Fort Meyers now on the final level before the Majors. Though probably just a temp job for now it feels real good. Jason had not been dominating AA with just a 4.21 ERA in 6 starts after a putting up a 2.51 in Fort Meyers. We will see where this takes him, probably back to New Britain, but for now let's bask in the bright lights of AAA! Congrats Jason.

The issue is that ESPN has 3 hours of tme to fill. MLB wants to have them pay for for that time. So what do you do with that 3 hours? I believe job 1 is to say thanks for the memories, or nightmares, Chris Berman. Beyond that they tried this bracket thing and it didn' tquite work. But how about multiple brackets? Pitchers, Utility Players, Retired guys. (Thome, McGwire, Bonds, Griffey.) Go WWE Meets the Running Man on it. Think juiced balls and metal bats. Capes, tights, and masks might be much...but maybe not? Get Mean Gene to do interviews where they trash talk each other and smash the Baseball Tonight set to pieces. Bring back A-Rod in a black mask and allow him to hit. It's just TV. Make it a spectacle. Keep them all in a cage in Centerfield and have them run in to fireworks and head pounding music. Tag team it. Put Yankees against Red Sox and the loser has to give up a World Series Trophy to the other. Would it have anything to do with baseball, no. But it doesn't now.

Was there last night and Thorpe looked good. A lot of ground balls and he was really changing speeds with fastballs in the low 90's and the his off speed stuff dropping to the low 70's. For the most part the Clinton hitters were kept guessing and off balance. As Seth pointed out his one bad inning was really extended by a wicked bad hop that was right at Altobelli for a easy out and took a bounce a good 7 feet over his head. Shame as it would have got Thorpe out of the inning with minimal damage. If you have not gotten to Cedar Rapids to catch a game you should go! Great stadium, good food, my 15 year old loves the 1 pound hamburger piled high and our gluten free friends were impressed with the selections they had, also a really nice beer selection and not a bad seat in the house for really good prices. We had seven seats behind home plate for 10 each under the over hang. Gotta love minor league ball.

Yes Had been going to Joes Lodge since I was around 8, Fished Andrusia, Wolf and Cass for over 40 years. Damn I am old.

I will be there tonight with my family and some friends coming down from St. Paul. No tickets yet, but plan to be at the Park around 4:30-5pm. Hopefully the Kernals can get some offense going and Thorpe throws well.

Jason Wheeler had his first AA start on Saturday night. His transition from High A to AA went pretty good, 6.1 innings, 2 runs on 7 hits, 1 walk and 7 strikeouts. Not liking the 7 hits too much, but the Walks and Strike outs are promising that the jump won't be too big of a issue. This is just one game and we need to get more to see before things really focus, but I am feeling positive about his abilities to get AA hitters out.

Jason Wheeler promoted to AA today. I know some are going to be upset it was not Berrios, but Wheeler has earned this spot with his performance the last year and a half in Fort Meyers and deserves the slot with the Rockcats. Berrios will be there and he is only 20. Congrats to Jason on moving one step closer to the dream of the Majors. Good luck in New Britian.

Sad that we are having this conversation again. It is becoming a ritual. That being said. A lot of good viewpoints and passion as always on the Twins Daily site around this. Here is one scenario I will throw out, but there are many others. I call it go young! First I would not touch Hughes. If he could become what was expected of him as a Prospect, odds against it but not out of the realm of possibility, we have a cheap Ace for a few years with Gibson, Meyers and May ready to go asap and Berrios, Stewart and others on the horizon. The adage is you can never have enough good pitching and it is hard to find and devil to replace. So shore up the Bullpen and look for young hitting. That means Willingham, Morales, Suzuki, and yes Dozier are all in play for me. Willingham and Morales are not much of a thought for me. They are luxuries that a last place team does not need. Bring up Danny Ortiz and or Wilkin Ramirez and let them finish of the season with Fuld/Hicks/ Rosario in Center. (Anyone know WTF is up with Buxton, the guy has dropped off the web radar.) Suzuki is one I balk at. Pinto at this point is a liabilty behind the plate that could diminsh the strength of the team, starting pitching. (god that was weird to write.). We have no replacement available at AAA or AA ball. Turner is at A ball but still a couple years away probably. So unless there is a plan I just think it creates a huge hole. Dozier is I think is the greatest opportunity, he might be at his highest value this year. He is old for his service time and the Twins have replacements available coming in Rosario (stop gap if needed this year.) and Jorge Polanco who should go back to 2nd and prep to take over for Dozier in the next couple of years. (Nick Gordon is two steps behind Polanco and starting in E-Town makes me think the Twins see him as a fast mover.) Vargas takes Morales spot, Rosario takes over for Hicks, Ortiz comes in for Willingham, Suzuki stays. Late July the lineup is Santana SS- Rosario- CF, Mauer 1b, Vargas DH, Arcia/Parmalee RF, Plouffe 3b, Suzuki C, Ortiz LF, Escobar 2b. Drop Florimon as fast as you can, bring up Beresford and he and Ramiriz and Fryer are the bench unless you want Pinto to come back up and sit. Hopefully Corriea stays hot and someone wants him, dreaming good thoughts here. Nolasco...5th starter. Deduno, see you in the 6th innings of blowouts Sammy. So July rotation, Hughes, Gibson, May, Meyer, ugh Nolasco. In the pen Perk, Fien, Burton, Deduno, Swarzek and fill in the blanks. 12 man staff- 4 man bench with a Utility guy that can play anywhere in the infield, a couple of outfielders, A guy at SS that can play CF if needed and a CF that can play 2b. Vargas and Parmalee can play 1B. Now the quality of their defensive capabilities is another question. But considering we had Collabello, Kubel and Bartlett roaming, that is a relative term by the way, the outfield this year I would consider this a upgrade. Only one back up catcher for his lame duckness, but I don't see Suzuki or Fyer DHing with this collection of career DH's. Plenty of holes to be punched here I know. (lLike they would promote Vargas and Rosario over Collabello and Hermann.) Maybe some 40 man considerations around some guys, I bet you can find some floatsam in the 40 man if needed. What do you get back? I don't have any clue there. I would expect decent returns from Willingham and Morales, but not someone we would all praise. Dozier, that has potentiel to bring something nice I would hope. But then again I could be fully delusional and living in my Twins rube bubble. Also if you need to throw in a Minor leaguer we do have some assests down there that are touchable. Of course the Twins could go on a 10-0 run like the Royals and make all this part of some thread we will quickly forget. But then again...

Jason Wheeler to AA please! He has spent a year and a half in High A. He has pitched 79 innings, given up 77 hits, 22 earned runs, Struck out 57 and walked 19. His ERA is 2.51. His last 5 starts he has given up 4 earned runs, struck out 34 in 34 innings (including 10 last night), with 20 hits and walking 7. For the season he has given up 2 home runs. Get this guy to New Britain, I know Berrios is the hotter prospect and is pitching lights out too...So maybe New Britain needs to shed a couple of pitchers.

Yesterday the Jason Wheeler turned in 7 innings, gave up 1 run, on 4 hits, Struck out 8 and walked 1. But he got stuck with the loss bringing his record to 5 and 5. For the season 73 innings pitched, 47 strike outs, 17 walks, 72 hits and a 2.47 ERA. How long in Fort Meyers. Will things start to break lose in June with changes to the Twins rotation, dumping one or two of the starters to make room for May and Meyers? Then will changes happen all the way down the line and create a place in New Britain for Wheeler? Guess we will see.

Two stellar starts in a row for Jason Wheeler. 7 innings pitched, no runs, 2 hits, 2 walks and 5K's. Jason has not allowed a run in 16 innings. During that run he has struck out 16 while walking 4 and giving up 4 hits. Over this stretch Jason has been what you would expect from a college pitcher entering a year and a half in the Florida State League, ready to move up to AA. He has had a couple of hiccups during the year, but his overall performance over the last two months is of a pitcher ready to be challenged by the Eastern League. Whether in the rotation or the pen, Jason should be moved up. If he is blocked...could he be part of a trade? Maybe in order to take a Willingham or Suzuki and get a higher ranked prospect or two does a team need a promising lefthander? Just saying.

Jason followed up a couple of clunkers with a good start and a dominating one. Last night Mr. Wheeler was nasty, eight innings with no runs scored, 2 hits, 1 walk and 7 strike outs. Ok. Can't be much better then that. So in 10 starts Jason has given up 6 runs twice (one of these was 5 unearned) and then shut out the other team twice. Right handed hitters are having the best success against the Miracle lefty, hitting .309 off him, while the guys on the left side are only hitting .233. Both homers have been hit by righties. Jason is showing glimpses of what he can do, and hopefully we can see that continue into June.

The rollercoaster is on for Jason Wheeler this year. Last we wrote about Jason he was coming off the best pitching performance of his career. Since then, not so good. May 4th- 5.2 innings, 2 earned runs, 7 hits, 1 walk and 5 Strike outs. May 10th- 6.2 innings, 3 earned runs, 10 hits, 2 walks, 3 strike outs May 17th- 2.2 innings pitched, 4 earned runs, 8 hits, 2 walks and 1 strike out. The numbers pretty much speak for themsleves here. To say that last one was awful probably underplays how Wheeler felt after only 2.2 innings. But now we get to see if he can right the ship and get some consistency down.

Congrats to Jason on his first career Complete Game shutout. On a night the minor league pitchers sent a strong message up the food chain, Jason delivered a 2 hitter at home. The workhorse went 9 innings, struck out 3, walked none and facing just one batter more then the minimum. What a game! In a interview from MILB.com Jason said, "I would say I was just attacking a lot more, even the mentality was just like, 'Here we go. Here it is, my best stuff. Let's see if you can hit it.' And let's go to the next hitter." Jason shared some of the credit with his catcher, Stuart Turner. "My catcher and I were pretty much on the same page all night," Wheeler said. "Those are the best kinds of games when you can just keep going and you're not taking a lot of time between pitches and shaking off the catcher. It was just, I don't know, it was a lot of fun." Turner also threw out one of the guys who got a hit when the Bradenton player tried to advance on a ball in the dirt. At one point Wheeler retired 15 in row and simply controlled the game from the first pitch. "No walks helps, but the key was just really getting after guys with fastballs," he said. "I think I threw 80 percent fastballs or something. So that was really it, just being able to establish the fastball to both sides of the plate early, showing them that I wasn't afraid to go inside. I think that was the key, and that's usually what it is when I have a good outing, is being able to establish that fastball command to both sides of the plate." Jason picked a good time to go into shut down mode with Twins pitching coordinator Eric Rasmussen in the house. This lowered the Big Lefty's ERA to 2.70, brought him to 2 and 1 for the season, and brought his WHIP back down to 1.30 after a couple of substandard games. Hopefully he will build off of this and find a groove. "Probably the best outing of my career," Wheeler said. "I know I had a couple outings in college [at Loyola Marymount] where I threw a complete game. But this is a pretty memorable one, being the first complete-game shutout in pro ball, and it was against better hitters than college guys." As someone who has blogged about your career since meeting you in Beloit, there is no probably about it Jason. That was the best game of your career. Great work!!

4 games into the season and Jason sits at 1 and 1 with a 3.86 ERA, 30 hits, 11 k's and 7 BB's in 21 innings. Not how to get to AA. Two of his starts have gone less then 5 innings. This in a league he is repeating. He goes again tonight. Hopefully we will have a imporved set of numbers to talk to tomorrow.

I watched Polanco at CR last year at both SS and 2nd, I felt that he was much better at 2b then SS. But this is a young guy I was watching and improvements can be made. I saw scrawny James Beresford at Beloit and thought he was a much better SS in the field then Santana, but couldn't get the ball much past the infield grass. Now I see Beresford with extra base hits in AAA. This is why they call it development, just hopefully not regression. I like Polanco a lot and was impressed by his play in CR. Either way middle infleid is not looking so bleak once we get through the Florimon experiment.

Ouch...4.2 innings and 10 hits? This is one of those outings that you need to put behind you if you are Jason and we need to look at his ERA with a large grain of salt. 6 runs on those 10 hits, 1 earned. So Mr. Wheeler still maintains a ERA under 2. Well one good outing and one ugly one. Miracle still won thanks to Tim Shibuya coming in with 2.1 innings of scoreless work and the bats, Adam Walker, Jorge Polanco and Nikko Goodrum in particular.

This is the 3rd year I have been writing about the big lefty from California. Wheeler has steadily moved through the organization from Beloit to Fort Meyers to now...Fort Meyers? Ok I get it. He doesn't throw as hard as the sexy guys, Meyers, Berrios, Stewart etc. All he does is go out every few days and give you 5 to 6 solid innings. He is the very capable Kenny Jay of organization. Maybe, just maybe this year he could be bringing big Sexy Back to the Miracle and beyond. Jason has been working on getting his velocity up as reported by Seth Stohs earlier here on Twins Daily, "Jason Wheeler altered some mechanical things last year with the Miracle and is now throwing harder. He’s certainly one to watch." Jason has always been able to work his sinker well and induced plenty of ground outs while limiting home runs. Has struck out 210 versus walking 103 in 304 innings, so he tends not to hurt himself. And I don't believe he has missed a start due to injury in his pro career, which for a Twins pitcher might be deserving of a award of some kind. Plus he is left handed. He has won 25 games while dropping 10. He has kept his ERA under 4, granted in some fairly pitcher friendly leagues and led the FSL in wins last year. So Jason finds himself back in Fort Meyers. Now I am sure that Fort Meyers in April has a few things going for it compared to New Britian, but I do think the young Mr. Wheeler is deserving of a spot in the Rock Cats rotation fairly soon. All Jason needs to do is show some improvement with the fastball and keep on doing what he has always done, pitch the ball. His first test would be opening day for the Miracle. Final line for Jason, 5.2 innings, 5 hits, 2 walks, 4 K's, and 1 earned run in the victory. (3 of the 4 K's were swinging.) 8 Ground outs vs. 4 in the air. And for the fun of it he picked off former teammate Angel Morales, Angel should know that Jason has a fairly decent move to first. Final score Miracle 5 and Jupiter 1. So good first step towards AA for Jason. He should be starting this week against Charlotte, he needs to keep consistent as the Twins lower minors are looking pretty stacked with arms pushing hard.

Been away from the Computer for a few days so I missed this. But luckily for me no one took the very capable Jason Wheeler, so for the 3rd year I will roll with the big lefty.

We can go around and around on the PED guys. Those who believe that Bonds-Clemen were a Hall of Famers before they decided to up their performance beyond normal human mean. Those folks are right. On the other side what truely set Clemens and Bonds on Olympus from the rest of the humans playing baseball was how they were able to perform at a high level into the "twilights" of their careers. How they defied the ravages of time that a majority of baseball players face in their mid to late 30's and then into their 40's was truely amazing, and the thought it that it may have had a little to do with what they were sticking into their bodies does linger. So people who look at them as tainted in their later, yet quite prolific, years are skeptical of the level of greatness they achieved. McGwire and the others are in a different category for me. Very good, but a bit of one trick ponies in some cases. (Yeah McGwire beat Hrbek for a Gold Glove one time, that doesn't make him a great asset in the field.) So I see validity in both arguements and respect where both groups are coming from and in the end have to side with one. My Ballot. Maddux-Best pitcher of his generation in my mind. (Including pre Roids Clemens.) Glavine Thomas Biggio Raines Piazza *Bagwell *Walker *Trammel * Not all together on board with these guys, but would vote for them. I could go either way. In the end for me it is the Hubris of Clemens and Bonds that holds me back. To take what greatness they already possesed and then doubled down on it to put themselves on such levels out of what looks to me as personal fits of ego. It is one thing to train and work harder to cheat time and baseball history, it is another to find this in a bottle and go beyond the scope of the natural human experience. This is just how I feel, I know that it is contary to others and I am fine with that. On a side note. Is it time to go out into the wilderness and bring Pete Rose back into the fold. Has his punishment been long enough and is it now time to say we may not fully forgive you and you still cannot work in baseball because we don't trust you, but you were one of the greatest to play the game and we want to honor that legacy on the field. I say this as someone who has never been for letting him into the Hall. But could a accomadation be made in his lifetime?

I live in Wisconsin and JJ was under appreciated by the Brewers and the fan base as a whole. I attend quite a few Brewers games and JJ was thought of as a underacheiver and not a intergal part of the future for the Crew once his stats dipped. I don't think of him as being thought of as soft, but not a gamer or they kind of guy that gave 100%. He had some small injuries, some of which he played through, and also that played into that thought pattern among the patrons of the Miller Mausoleum. Was it a fair assesment, no. But fans are not tasked to be fair. And Escobar was ready as has been stated before, so out with old and in with the shiny new SS. What the FO opinion of him, I am not sure. But I think they felt Escobar was the future and not JJ.

Got to love what if scenarios. As such here are some that I will throw out as making players big movers this year. I am going to go with Polanco as my first position player breakout player, for the reason that he may become the 2nd baseman of the future. The Twins have 2 trading chips in Rosario and Dozier and as a 2nd baseman Polanco is better in the field then Rosario with a tad less bat, but also maybe less of a overall headcase then Fast Eddie and could be a better overall hitter then Dozier with less power at this point. Dozier is looking to be a good defensive major leaguer which Polanco may become. So at some point I thnik that one of these guys will be traded or moved to OF in the case of Rosario, meaning that Polanco has a good year in a pitchers league and maybe moved to New Britain at some point. At that point he jumps into the top 5 of a lot of lists. I agree with JimCrikket on a couple of Kernals from last year. Travis Harrison is a player that will not be out worked I think. If it is 3b, 1b, OF or wherever they put him he will put in the time to make himself better. He is on the outside of quite a few top 10 lists and with a good season at the plate and plan to advance at some position he should put himself in the Top 10's of all next year. Can't see him really moving further then Fort Meyers this year, but if the Twins keep him in the IF is it possible to sneak some at bats for the Rock Cats if the bat lives up to expectations? Maybe not, but in December you can through stuff on the wall and see what is sticking in June. I saw about 6 Kernals games this year and Mason Melotakis pitched in 3 of them. I saw ups and downs with Berrios in the game he pitched, a lot more ups then down to be honest and a lot I think had to do with him being a young kid, but Melotakis looks to be a professional on the mound. He could be a fast mover this year. Don't know if he could make it to Rochester, but I would be disappointed if he did not spend July and August in New Britain. Once again a guy whose role needs to be fully defined...is he a starter or a bull pen guy. Last but not least the under appreciated James Beresford. This year he makes it to the majors as the Twins utility player. He will be ripped by some because he has little power in a underwhelming bat, but he is smart, beyond sound defensively and durable. He is the kind of player every manager wants on his bench as he knows he will get everything he has everyday and more. He will also improve his limited skills once he makes it to the majors. Others to watch-Goodrum, Thorpe, Gonsalves, Koch and Turner. The Twins have a opening at catcher now and anyone behind the plate suddenly becomes more interesting to watch.

Seth as always great work. Trying to remember how long I have been reading your stuff. 8 years now? Maybe. Anyways, I have seen just about all these guys play either in Beloit or CR and I always find it interesting and exciting to see your comments on them to compare to mine. Never been a Santana guy, just don't see it. beresford was my SS of choice for the Snappers. I liked Goodrum, he plays pretty fluid for a guy his size and I would think he could stay at Short, plus he has a cannon over there. Next to Buxton the bat that really excited me this year at CR was Polanco. He squared up on everything he hit and laced balls all over the field. I got to see him play short when Goodrum was out and it really made it clear that he is a second baseman in the future. The question I had was is he better then Rosario who I saw a year earlier? I think it is close. Rosario may have more power, but Polanco is better in the field at this level. What a nice place to be with 2nd. Harrison I might put a bit lower, but not much. He has the frame to develop into that big corner bat that could really team with Sano and Vargas (DH) to cause nightmares among pitchers. Hopefully will get a look at Gonsalves this year in CR, maybe Thorpe and Stewart at some point too? Thanks again Seth.

Where has the summer gone...already August and we head into the last lap of the season in the minors. I am back from my time with the Boy Scouts in West Virginia and Northern Wisconsin so I can now check into the progress of Jason Wheeler. Well not a great season so far for Jason, he stands at 8 wins and 4 losses. His ERA is 4.32, WHIP 1.55, 67 k's and 48 walks, the bad guys are hitting .293 against him and his last 10 games have included some clunkers. That being said he again, like last year, is the stalwart, innings eating starter that has taken the ball and gone out for 118 innings this year for the Miracle. We also are seeing the splits that makes you wonder if he can be guy who can take care of lefties. Warning small sample size of 25 innings, here is the Lefty split for Jason. ERA- 2.49, Batting avg against .269, 20 K's and 8 BB's, 2 homeruns of his 14 this year, WHIP 1.31. Can Jason stay as a starter or is he projecting into the bullpen? LOOGY? Long relief? I don't know yet, thoughts from anyone else? But he takes the ball and throws every time he is asked, he gives you 5-6 innings on average. He is also left handed. Now can he move those innings pitched to 6-7? Can he improve against right handers? Jason is intriguing and is flying a bit under the radar. So far I would say it's been a good year for him and for the second year in a row he will be pitching in the playoffs for a good team.

Here is the thing about Rosario. Polanco is at CR right now and scalding the ball and is a middle infielder that is not transtitioning from OF. I have seen both play and it is real close between them as far offensive potential. Does having him make it easier to trade a Rosario or does he become a palatable replacement in the trade market? Now I would trade neither at this time for any of the pitchers mentioned as I don't see what the long term return is for the Twins with pitchers who are aging into low to mid 30's by the time the bulk of the minor leaguers are established in the MLB. Just wondering if the Rosario/Polanco dynamic changes anyones view of trading a middle infielder.