Sielk

You gotta be kidding me. The Twins have three picks today and there is a commercial break directly before each of them? Do they want to torture Twins fans?

Honestly, that was my first reaction, too. Sigh of relief. Now please don't screw this up.

But I think that scenario was most likely with Green, and he is off the board now. I think it's likelier that the Twins just pick who is left between Lee, Parada and Collier. It will get interesting if more than one of them is there.

Wow, and now the draft is going crazy. Also guarantees one of the "top 7" being there for the Twins, if they want.

True, but the Twins have been quite successful lately turning questionable defensive catchers into at least average ones. I'm not that worried about it, at least not to the point where I would pass on him if he's there at 8.

Glad I could help. Not all teams have the same amount of bonus money available, though. If you have the first pick in every round, the sum of your slot bonuses is way higher than the team picking 30th in every round. That, of course, equals to better prospects for the bad teams. Here is a list of the bonus pools and individual slot amounts, if you're interested.

I'll try to explain... Somewhat similar to, say, football each pick in the MLB draft is assigned a certain signing bonus. But unlike football, a player drafted with that pick doesn't automatically get that signing bonus. Instead the slot amounts of all the picks a team has in the first 10 rounds are added up together and then can be distributed among the drafted players however the team sees fit. Very simplified example: It's important to understand that teams usually negotiate signing bonuses with players before they draft them, not the other way around. So, let's say our team has three picks with the slot values $3M, $2M and $1M, meaning they can spend $6M in signing bonuses total on their draft class. Of course they could just hand it out like that. But maybe don't like the consensus top players for their first pick and draft someone lower on the board who they found out is willing to sign for only $2M. They now have $4M for their other two picks. Meanwhile, there are always some players in every draft who fall because no team is willing to meet their asking price. Often HS players who have the leverage that they can just decline and go to college. Since we "saved" money with our first pick, we now have more left than most other teams, $4M, and can just go to one of those should-have-been first-rounders in the second round and throw first-round money (e.g. $3M) at them. So, to sum up, instead of getting a first and a second, we ended up with a slightly worse first-rounder and another guy that should've been a late first. It's basically baseball's version of a trade down, except that the actual picks are never traded. Like with the Mets, it can work the other way, too. Maybe in my example the team really likes a player expected to go before they pick. So they go to that player and offer him $4M to sign. If that player then communicates to the other team that he won't sign for less than $4M and no one else is willing to give that to him, they might let this player slide right to our team. Of course, that also leaves only $2M for the other picks, meaning that we'll have to use our second-rounder on a player that's not really worthy of a second-round pick but doesn't have better offers from other teams. That scenario would basically be a trade up. I hope that helps a bit? I agree, the MLB draft can be confusing to watch, especially because fans don't know those prenegotiated deals until the players actually sign a month or so later.

I commented something very similar under yesterday's minor league report. To see so much power with a kid that just turned 17 is remarkable. Would be great if the Twins really hit it out of the park with one (or more) of these international signings. But I have to say, this year's class has mostly gotten of to a good start in general. When I glimpsed at the DSL box score last year, there were a lot of kids with an OPS around .500 or .600. This year there are several who are playing really well. I'm also intrigued by Yasser Mercedes who seems to play a pretty good all around game. He hit his first pro homer today. Let's hope it continues!

Great report, as always. What do you know about José Rodríguez? I feel like I notice him in the box score every game. I mean, it's only 23 games in the DSL and you don't want to overreact to that. But he is also one of the younger players of the most recent class (born June 2005, just turned 17) and that's quite a start he has had, especially since so many international players seem to struggle in their first taste of pro ball. In those 23 games he's a decent AVG and OBP and six homers, which seems like remarkable power for a kid that young. K% is also reasonable. Maybe someone to keep an eye on? Meanwhile, at AAA... Is Ronny Henríquez finally turning a corner? That would be such a positive development after he and Balazovic got absolutely destroyed in every start for most of the season so far (and for Balazovic that's still true, unfortunately). Fingers crossed!

It's disappointing to me that some players put themselves before the team's success because they don't want to take a vaccine that millions of people worldwide have taken largely without issues and that many people are actually required to take for their jobs. Kepler's rather tone-deaf statement doesn't make it better. If you aren't getting vaccinated, at least own it instead of making excuses and acting like a victim. On a positive note, I am happy for Ian Hamilton that he finally gets his chance after seemingly every other reliever in St. Paul got a call up before he did. Maybe he can do well enough to show that he can help the Twins this season. He sure has the stuff to do it.

Is that really the case, though? I only did a quick Google search but it seems like vaccination was only a requirement for the Beijing Winter olympics, not the Tokyo Summer Olympics a few months earlier in which Ryan participated.

Luis Arráez might only be five foot whatever and the furthest thing from a traditional first baseman but I have been pretty impressed with some of his picks over there. Now can we please get some insurance runs?

Polanco's defense has always been strangely inconsistent. He's capable of making some great plays from unusual angles and then you see him bobble some relatively easy ones that just seem avoidable. And that was true when he was playing shortstop, too. Luckily, Larnach makes the clutch play. Come on Twins, more hits like that!

Yikes. That call to Haase may have benefited the Twins but I will still say it: robo umps can't come soon enough.

Man, just a horrible day in terms of health for the Twins...

Fingers. Stayed in the game, though, after Michael Salazar checked on him. Hopefully he is okay.

How nice of the Royals to give Royce some additional practice in center field!

You're correct which is why I doubt this is a good sign for Gary's health. ?

After watching him a lot last year, I couldn't agree more. He's a good prospect who does many things well but just isn't a SS. In my opinion, he lacks the necessary arm strength and accuracy to play there, leading to a lot of rushed plays and wild throws. I also don't think the Twins do Austin any favors by forcing him into a position he doesn't look comfortable at. It would be one thing if he was only below average and not considered good enough for the majors. But at this point you hold your breath on every routine grounder and I imagine that has to really mess with his entire game from a mental standpoint. I would prefer it if he could just play outfield and focus on his hitting instead of always having to worry about his defense at short.

Since the Twins are (smartly) limiting his innings I kinda like the idea of using him as an opener or pairing him with Archer who also doesn't give them much length. But only if that doesn't shut the door on him starting again in 2023. I have always been very high on Canterino and I am still convinced that he can't only be a starter but maybe even be that elusive frontline starter the Twins have tried to develop forever. I would hate it if he ended up in the bullpen because of need and never even got a chance to prove himself in the rotation.

Doesn't give the ump an excuse to call these strikes. And who knows if Larnach would have swung at that if the same pitch hadn't been called a strike a pitch earlier.

Trevor Larnach agrees. Man, these were two awful strike calls by the ump.

More signs of life from Alex Kirilloff... ? And it looks like Royce can play 3B just fine!

Looks like we got the good version of Duffey tonight. Thankfully. Duran for the ninth?

With the current balls 2019 seems like a very long time ago.