Thrylos

There is no way that Colabello is the third baseman, but I will not count him out of the 1B/DH situation, esp. if Morneau gets traded or Parmelee has a slump in ST. Colabello has been invited to the Spring Training with the big club this season.

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- The Twins' General Manager has been on the record many times this offseason indicating that he would like to get someone who will "push" Trevor Plouffe at third base. The Twins' field and front office staff are unhappy with Plouffe's defense in the hot corner. Plouffe has had his moments there, but he is still learning the position. Let us not forget that the powers of being who feel that Plouffe is inadequate defensively are the same who gave starting roles at third base to Brian Buscher and Brendan Harris, who, arguable were worse defenders than Plouffe, plus Buscher has played the position all his life. And that happened in contending Twins' teams. Regardless, for some reason getting another player who can play third base is a priority for Terry Ryan for the Twins to rebound from consecutive 99 and 96 loss season. Who would that player be? There are three internal options: Jamey Carroll, Deibinson Romero and Mark Sobolewski. I have already discussed the last two here. For some reason, it seems that Terry Ryan does not like these options (Only Carroll was invited in Spring Training) and had an offer out to light hitting 33 year old Jack Hannahan whose greatest claim to fame is that he is Minnesotan; he snubbed the Twins and elected to sign a 1 year $2 million dollar contract with the Twins. I suspect that Ryan will not be bringing back Nick Punto or sign Chone Figgins. The pickings out there at the major league level are really slim and all remaining are aging utility players with very weak bats plus Scott Rollen who is old but serviceable mulling retirement or returning to the Reds. But, this would be the team to take 24 HRs away from a RHB (Plouffe) to install a light hitting third baseman. Are there any other possibilities? Looking at the list of the minor league free agents, here are the ones who are still available and at least decent defensively and offensively at third base. I suspect that unless Ryan chooses any of the aforementioned internal options, one of these folks would be it: Shawn Bowman, 29, RHB Audy Ciriaco, 26 RHB Brooks Conrad, 33, SHB Mike Costanzo, 30, LHB Ruben Gotay, 30, SHB Michael Hollimon (re-sign) 31, SHB Kevin Howard, 32, LHB Tug Hulett, 30, LHB Andy LaRoche, 29, RHB Mario Lisson, 29, RHB Matt Mangini, 27, LHB Jimmy Swift, 26, RHB Your guess is good as mine http://www2.pictures.gi.zimbio.com/Florida+Marlins+v+Baltimore+Orioles+K-gk-OWIiA6l.jpg

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- The Twins' General Manager has been on the record many times this offseason indicating that he would like to get someone who will "push" Trevor Plouffe at third base. The Twins' field and front office staff are unhappy with Plouffe's defense in the hot corner. Plouffe has had his moments there, but he is still learning the position. Let us not forget that the powers of being who feel that Plouffe is inadequate defensively are the same who gave starting roles at third base to Brian Buscher and Brendan Harris, who, arguable were worse defenders than Plouffe, plus Buscher has played the position all his life. And that happened in contending Twins' teams. Regardless, for some reason getting another player who can play third base is a priority for Terry Ryan for the Twins to rebound from consecutive 99 and 96 loss season. Who would that player be? There are three internal options: Jamey Carroll, Deibinson Romero and Mark Sobolewski. I have already discussed the last two here. For some reason, it seems that Terry Ryan does not like these options (Only Carroll was invited in Spring Training) and had an offer out to light hitting 33 year old Jack Hannahan whose greatest claim to fame is that he is Minnesotan; he snubbed the Twins and elected to sign a 1 year $2 million dollar contract with the Twins. I suspect that Ryan will not be bringing back Nick Punto or sign Chone Figgins. The pickings out there at the major league level are really slim and all remaining are aging utility players with very weak bats plus Scott Rollen who is old but serviceable mulling retirement or returning to the Reds. But, this would be the team to take 24 HRs away from a RHB (Plouffe) to install a light hitting third baseman. Are there any other possibilities? Looking at the list of the minor league free agents, here are the ones who are still available and at least decent defensively and offensively at third base. I suspect that unless Ryan chooses any of the aforementioned internal options, one of these folks would be it: Shawn Bowman, 29, RHB Audy Ciriaco, 26 RHB Brooks Conrad, 33, SHB Mike Costanzo, 30, LHB Ruben Gotay, 30, SHB Michael Hollimon (re-sign) 31, SHB Kevin Howard, 32, LHB Tug Hulett, 30, LHB Andy LaRoche, 29, RHB Mario Lisson, 29, RHB Matt Mangini, 27, LHB Jimmy Swift, 26, RHB Your guess is good as mine http://www2.pictures.gi.zimbio.com/Florida+Marlins+v+Baltimore+Orioles+K-gk-OWIiA6l.jpg

Good stuff Good to see Burris where you have him. I think that you are probably undervaluing Gibson and May. Based on what I've heard Gibson c. 2012 >> Gibson c. 2010, which will make my ST trip fun this season. I have seen May pitch at Reading in a few occasions and he is the real deal. Getting excited about what the Twins rotation can look like in a couple seasons

Would that be robbing (St) Peter to pay (St) Paul?

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- Here is this week's installment: Kyle Gibson returned to Rochester about a year or so after he was injured there This is a really interesting article (and well researched too) about Baseball announcers favoring certain kind of players. Interesting to see whether there is a follow up about managers following suit. Great read. The New Britain Rock Cats (Twins' AA affiliate) will host the 2013 Eastern League All Star Game. Speaking of, current Rock Cats, Deibinson Romero, Aaron Hicks and Chris Collabelo were named as Eastern League All Stars Congratulations to Candido Pimentel of the Elizabethton Twins to be named player of the year for the Appalachian League. He and fellow E-Twins OF Max Kepler made the All Star team. In addition their trainer Ryan Hedwell was named League Trainer of the Year. SS Aderlin Mejia and OF Jeremias Pineda made it to the Gulf Coast League (rookie) All Start Team The ink on this piece by John Wagner indicating that Liam Hendriks is feeling at home at Rochester, did not dry and the righty was called up by the Twins. I am sure that he did not mind. Interestingly enough, this is how the official International League Home Page looked the day after Hendriks pitched for the Twins (last Thursday) This is an interesting article about what Twins' Jose Berrios and Astros' Carlos Correa are doing for the island of Puerto Rico. Because you probably did not see it here is video of Terry Ryan announcing the extension of the Twins Player Development Contract with Rochester, as well as commentary. And who said that you cannot have fun if you are Twins' minor leaguer in a pennant race? And from the you-cannot-make-it-up department: The NY Yankees acquired a player the Twins cut after Spring Training and changed a couple more franchises before he got there this season, and they added him to their 40-man roster And if you always always wanted to have a TK and Gardy and Ray Miller and Billy Martin Bobblehead, you gotta check this out. Looks like the Twins' owners are diversifying Twins' product of the week is the Minnesota Twins Dog Taghttp://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=biowriters&l=as2&o=1&a=B007ORPEZI. The way this season has been going... The parting shot today is one that is worth more that 1000 words, but also needs some to describe it: Last few days of 2012 Spring Training. Fort Myers, Florida. A workout drill with AAA pitchers, and most of them were cut from the major league club a while before this was taken. There are 6 gentlemen pictured here. All but Brad Thompson (who never recovered from injuries and was released - he is second from the left in the background, right behind the guy who is pitching, btw) made the Twins this season and have contributed in varying degrees. Do you recognize them? And this is somewhat of a lesson that perseverence and not getting disappointed by short term perceived failures is a good thing. The tide can and will change... http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7255/7876436966_2b679cff54_z.jpg

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- Here is this week's installment: Kyle Gibson returned to Rochester about a year or so after he was injured there This is a really interesting article (and well researched too) about Baseball announcers favoring certain kind of players. Interesting to see whether there is a follow up about managers following suit. Great read. The New Britain Rock Cats (Twins' AA affiliate) will host the 2013 Eastern League All Star Game. Speaking of, current Rock Cats, Deibinson Romero, Aaron Hicks and Chris Collabelo were named as Eastern League All Stars Congratulations to Candido Pimentel of the Elizabethton Twins to be named player of the year for the Appalachian League. He and fellow E-Twins OF Max Kepler made the All Star team. In addition their trainer Ryan Hedwell was named League Trainer of the Year. SS Aderlin Mejia and OF Jeremias Pineda made it to the Gulf Coast League (rookie) All Start Team The ink on this piece by John Wagner indicating that Liam Hendriks is feeling at home at Rochester, did not dry and the righty was called up by the Twins. I am sure that he did not mind. Interestingly enough, this is how the official International League Home Page looked the day after Hendriks pitched for the Twins (last Thursday) This is an interesting article about what Twins' Jose Berrios and Astros' Carlos Correa are doing for the island of Puerto Rico. Because you probably did not see it here is video of Terry Ryan announcing the extension of the Twins Player Development Contract with Rochester, as well as commentary. And who said that you cannot have fun if you are Twins' minor leaguer in a pennant race? And from the you-cannot-make-it-up department: The NY Yankees acquired a player the Twins cut after Spring Training and changed a couple more franchises before he got there this season, and they added him to their 40-man roster And if you always always wanted to have a TK and Gardy and Ray Miller and Billy Martin Bobblehead, you gotta check this out. Looks like the Twins' owners are diversifying Twins' product of the week is the Minnesota Twins Dog Taghttp://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=biowriters&l=as2&o=1&a=B007ORPEZI. The way this season has been going... The parting shot today is one that is worth more that 1000 words, but also needs some to describe it: Last few days of 2012 Spring Training. Fort Myers, Florida. A workout drill with AAA pitchers, and most of them were cut from the major league club a while before this was taken. There are 6 gentlemen pictured here. All but Brad Thompson (who never recovered from injuries and was released - he is second from the left in the background, right behind the guy who is pitching, btw) made the Twins this season and have contributed in varying degrees. Do you recognize them? And this is somewhat of a lesson that perseverence and not getting disappointed by short term perceived failures is a good thing. The tide can and will change... http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7255/7876436966_2b679cff54_z.jpg

I don't get it either. Maybe Slama used to play practical jokes on Toby or something. And about the age old "axiom" that some people can strike out AA and AAA hitters but not MLB hitters, all I have to say is that the MLB hitters were AA and AAA hitters at some point. I don't have much faith on the Twins' player evaluators. They dropped the ball way too many times recently.

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- This is the fourth instalment in this series. You can find the older ones here (most recent on top.) Promotions and demotions are listed under the team where the player currently plays (this means promotions to the Minnesota Twins will not be listed here) Here are the transactions in all levels in the Twins organization from August 11th until yesterday August 17th: Rochester Redwings (International League, AAA): 8-24 - Minnesota Twins optioned OF Matt Carson to Rochester Red Wings. 8-23 - LHP Pedro Hernandez was placed on the 7-day disabled list. strained lat muscle 8-23 - RHP Kyle Gibson assigned to Rochester Red Wings from Fort Myers Miracle. 8-20 - Minnesota Twins outrighted RHP Nick Blackburn to Rochester Red Wings. 8-20 - Minnesota Twins outrighted IF Tsuyoshi Nishioka to Rochester Red Wings. New Britain Rock Cats (Eastern League, AA): 8-22 - C Josmil Pinto assigned to New Britain Rock Cats from Fort Myers Miracle. Fort Myers Miracle (Florida State League, A+): 8-18 - Fort Myers Miracle activated LHP Pat Dean from the 7-Day disabled list. 8-18 - Fort Myers Miracle placed 1B Michael Gonzales on the 7-Day disabled list. Strained elbow. Beloit Snappers (Midwest League, A): No Transactions this weeklist. Elizabethton Twins (Appalachian League, Rk+): 8-22 - Elizabethton Twins placed RHP Christian Powell on the temporarily inactive list 8-21 - Elizabethton Twins placed RHP Luke Bard on the 7-Day disabled list. GCL Twins (Gulf Coast League, Rk): No Transactions this week DSL Twins (Dominican Summer League, Foreign Rk): No Transactions this week

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- This is the fourth instalment in this series. You can find the older ones here (most recent on top.) Promotions and demotions are listed under the team where the player currently plays (this means promotions to the Minnesota Twins will not be listed here) Here are the transactions in all levels in the Twins organization from August 11th until yesterday August 17th: Rochester Redwings (International League, AAA): 8-24 - Minnesota Twins optioned OF Matt Carson to Rochester Red Wings. 8-23 - LHP Pedro Hernandez was placed on the 7-day disabled list. strained lat muscle 8-23 - RHP Kyle Gibson assigned to Rochester Red Wings from Fort Myers Miracle. 8-20 - Minnesota Twins outrighted RHP Nick Blackburn to Rochester Red Wings. 8-20 - Minnesota Twins outrighted IF Tsuyoshi Nishioka to Rochester Red Wings. New Britain Rock Cats (Eastern League, AA): 8-22 - C Josmil Pinto assigned to New Britain Rock Cats from Fort Myers Miracle. Fort Myers Miracle (Florida State League, A+): 8-18 - Fort Myers Miracle activated LHP Pat Dean from the 7-Day disabled list. 8-18 - Fort Myers Miracle placed 1B Michael Gonzales on the 7-Day disabled list. Strained elbow. Beloit Snappers (Midwest League, A): No Transactions this weeklist. Elizabethton Twins (Appalachian League, Rk+): 8-22 - Elizabethton Twins placed RHP Christian Powell on the temporarily inactive list 8-21 - Elizabethton Twins placed RHP Luke Bard on the 7-Day disabled list. GCL Twins (Gulf Coast League, Rk): No Transactions this week DSL Twins (Dominican Summer League, Foreign Rk): No Transactions this week

I was thinking exactly the same in some of those hard Doumit swings after that Mauer PA. Let it go. Hammer throw.

I am not a fan of Parmelee playing the outfield. At this point I can see an OF of Willingham/Revere/X/Mastroianni. Let the ones who you add to the 40-man next season (Arcia/Hicks) battle it out. If nothing goes, I am fine with Carson having a shot too. The OF is the least of my worries. If they do not get 2 good starters one way or another, you might as well play Doumit out there. Part of the problem with this team the way it is, is that they have a few DHs (Willingham, Plouff, Doumit, Parmelee) slated to be on the field. And that's ok if you are not going anywhere.

This is pretty good stuff. A few comments: - Span has to go. He has proven that all over again. Sell High. I hope he plays a bit so his off-season value can be as high as the trade deadline value was. - Check the K/9 of Tyler Robertson. They is no way you get rid of the best strikeout pitcher in a team who does not have many. - I have hard time with the Twins signing NL pitchers. For some reason NL pitchers do not translate in AL. (Sanchez and Greinke last couple examples, Marquis, Peavy, the list goes on and on and on...) - I don't mind Baker as a number 2 (if he is healthy) And he is long tossing which is a good thing - This team needs a young ace. Trade whatever you have not named Sano, Arcia, or Rosario (you cannot trade 2012 draft picks) and get him. Even if that means Gibson/Hicks/Span as a package.

I think that Diamond could be a 3rd starter. His numbers this year show that. Law is a scout type. I bet his opinion of Brad Radke was the same (bottom of the rotation starter.) Just some pitcher pitch better than their stuff (ask Mr Maddux) and Diamond (not that am comparing him to that) has been doing it this season. Will he sustain the success? Maybe. But compared to the ones (DickNBert) who are calling him an "Ace", Law is closer to the reality.

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- Here is this week's installment: The biggest recent news from the Minnesota Twins (other than the product on the field) is that they outrighted Nick Blackburn and Tsuyoshi Nishioka off the 40-man roster to Rochester. What does this mean for these two players for 2013 is still unknown, but it will be interesting to see. Speaking of waivers.... One little detail because the rules are somewhat complicated: Blackburn and Nishoka did not get Designated For Assignment, they got outrighted. There are four types of waivers in baseball, all explained really well here (this is a must read and bookmark link) : Trade Waivers, Waivers for the purpose of granting a player his unconditional release (DFA), Outright Waivers and Option Waivers. The first kind is revocable and happen only in August, the other 3 are irrevocable. The difference between DFA and Ouright waivers is that if a veteran (Blackburn is that and Nishioka is not) refuses, in both cases he becomes a free agent, but in a DFA situation the team in on the hook for his contract while in Outright Waivers, if he refuses assignment he loses what is owed to him. You can find all the transactions by the Twins' Minor League affiliates last week here Tom Powers of the Pioneer Press is on a personal quest to find the scout who gave the thumbs up to the Twins to sign Tsuyoshi Nishioka. He also proposed some resolution, but leaves out door number three, which is exactly what the Twins are doing right now: Having discussions with Japanese teams to assume his contract. This is a great interview of Liam Hendriks by Minor League Ball's John Sickels. Hendriks admits that he has changed his delivery mechanics "several times this season", talks about his pitches and ponders why he has been so effective in AAA and not quite so much in the Majors, yet. Miguel Sano was the first draft pick in the Dominican Winter Leagues. He will play for his hometown Esrellas Orientales. The wife of a Twins' player wrote a guest blog here and she keeps her own full time blog here. Lee County Commissioner Ray Judah was defeated in a primary vote (link to a Dave St. Peter tweet). Not certain what that means for the future of the Twins there, since the county approved improvements in the Twins' Spring Training facilities and Hammond Stadium, which made the Twins renew their lease for 30 more years. Not sure whether papers were signed (I suspect so) but this is an intereasting story line to follow... And apparently this article in the Fort Myers paper, indicates that indeed there might be issues because the winner in the primary is lobbying against baseball spending and breaking the lease Picture day for the Twins a week ago and a Matt Capps sighting. Top row to the left number 55. He looks like he gained a few because of the inactivity. Speaking of rehabing (or not) Twins' pitchers on the DL,Carl Pavano's fastball is sitting at mid 80s, which is not very good for the Twins' prospects to get something for him this August or for his prospects to continue playing baseball next season Here is an interesting article about the Twins' A level affiliate Beloit Snappers' pitching coach Gary Lukas. Meanwhile, Beloit is the worse Twins' affiliate as far as attendance goes Another killer article by Tyler Mason on food and major league vs the minors. Here is an interesting article that, among other things, lists what the Twins did when they moved from an air-conditioned environment to Target Field to battle hot and humid days With the Twins looking more and more likely to get another high pick in the 2013 MLB draft, apparently, according to Baseball America the draft is pretty deep in high school Left Hand Pitchers, which is always desirable. One particular Twins' outfielder would not only be happy to move to the infield, it is where he played mostly before he became a pro. Also he was exclusively an infielder his first professional season. It seems that the Twins are looking for help at high places This is great work looking at Twins contracts, projected payrolls, Options of minor league players, rule 5 draft exposure and related topics. Looks like Ron Gardenhire found his next shortstop If you wonder what some major leaguers do during rain delays, check this out. And a certain Twins' player has been claiming falsely that he was his High School's mascot. And, no, it was not Drew Butera who was a professional clown for a while. Twins' product of the week is the Minnesota Twins Therma Base Hoodiehttp://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=biowriters&l=as2&o=1&a=B007V9B8CC. Because Winter Is Cominghttp://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=biowriters&l=as2&o=1&a=B007HJ84ZK The parting shot today brings us to happier times in the Twins' land. Spring training. Last week of March. The team is ready to get up North hopeful for a new season with the slate wiped clean. Tabula Rasa. Rick Anderson is pitching batting practice to a group of Twins' infielders and catchers not in that days' lineup and he is using what it looks like a four-seamer, and not his signature two-seamer, grip. Happy days. This has been a long season. Spring training 2013 is (almost) around the corner. Hope Springs Eternal. Just about 190 days left until Spring Training 2013. Go Twins! http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8431/7797669428_5885b91f9f_c.jpg

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- Here is this week's installment: The biggest recent news from the Minnesota Twins (other than the product on the field) is that they outrighted Nick Blackburn and Tsuyoshi Nishioka off the 40-man roster to Rochester. What does this mean for these two players for 2013 is still unknown, but it will be interesting to see. Speaking of waivers.... One little detail because the rules are somewhat complicated: Blackburn and Nishoka did not get Designated For Assignment, they got outrighted. There are four types of waivers in baseball, all explained really well here (this is a must read and bookmark link) : Trade Waivers, Waivers for the purpose of granting a player his unconditional release (DFA), Outright Waivers and Option Waivers. The first kind is revocable and happen only in August, the other 3 are irrevocable. The difference between DFA and Ouright waivers is that if a veteran (Blackburn is that and Nishioka is not) refuses, in both cases he becomes a free agent, but in a DFA situation the team in on the hook for his contract while in Outright Waivers, if he refuses assignment he loses what is owed to him. You can find all the transactions by the Twins' Minor League affiliates last week here Tom Powers of the Pioneer Press is on a personal quest to find the scout who gave the thumbs up to the Twins to sign Tsuyoshi Nishioka. He also proposed some resolution, but leaves out door number three, which is exactly what the Twins are doing right now: Having discussions with Japanese teams to assume his contract. This is a great interview of Liam Hendriks by Minor League Ball's John Sickels. Hendriks admits that he has changed his delivery mechanics "several times this season", talks about his pitches and ponders why he has been so effective in AAA and not quite so much in the Majors, yet. Miguel Sano was the first draft pick in the Dominican Winter Leagues. He will play for his hometown Esrellas Orientales. The wife of a Twins' player wrote a guest blog here and she keeps her own full time blog here. Lee County Commissioner Ray Judah was defeated in a primary vote (link to a Dave St. Peter tweet). Not certain what that means for the future of the Twins there, since the county approved improvements in the Twins' Spring Training facilities and Hammond Stadium, which made the Twins renew their lease for 30 more years. Not sure whether papers were signed (I suspect so) but this is an intereasting story line to follow... And apparently this article in the Fort Myers paper, indicates that indeed there might be issues because the winner in the primary is lobbying against baseball spending and breaking the lease Picture day for the Twins a week ago and a Matt Capps sighting. Top row to the left number 55. He looks like he gained a few because of the inactivity. Speaking of rehabing (or not) Twins' pitchers on the DL,Carl Pavano's fastball is sitting at mid 80s, which is not very good for the Twins' prospects to get something for him this August or for his prospects to continue playing baseball next season Here is an interesting article about the Twins' A level affiliate Beloit Snappers' pitching coach Gary Lukas. Meanwhile, Beloit is the worse Twins' affiliate as far as attendance goes Another killer article by Tyler Mason on food and major league vs the minors. Here is an interesting article that, among other things, lists what the Twins did when they moved from an air-conditioned environment to Target Field to battle hot and humid days With the Twins looking more and more likely to get another high pick in the 2013 MLB draft, apparently, according to Baseball America the draft is pretty deep in high school Left Hand Pitchers, which is always desirable. One particular Twins' outfielder would not only be happy to move to the infield, it is where he played mostly before he became a pro. Also he was exclusively an infielder his first professional season. It seems that the Twins are looking for help at high places This is great work looking at Twins contracts, projected payrolls, Options of minor league players, rule 5 draft exposure and related topics. Looks like Ron Gardenhire found his next shortstop If you wonder what some major leaguers do during rain delays, check this out. And a certain Twins' player has been claiming falsely that he was his High School's mascot. And, no, it was not Drew Butera who was a professional clown for a while. Twins' product of the week is the Minnesota Twins Therma Base Hoodiehttp://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=biowriters&l=as2&o=1&a=B007V9B8CC. Because Winter Is Cominghttp://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=biowriters&l=as2&o=1&a=B007HJ84ZK The parting shot today brings us to happier times in the Twins' land. Spring training. Last week of March. The team is ready to get up North hopeful for a new season with the slate wiped clean. Tabula Rasa. Rick Anderson is pitching batting practice to a group of Twins' infielders and catchers not in that days' lineup and he is using what it looks like a four-seamer, and not his signature two-seamer, grip. Happy days. This has been a long season. Spring training 2013 is (almost) around the corner. Hope Springs Eternal. Just about 190 days left until Spring Training 2013. Go Twins! http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8431/7797669428_5885b91f9f_c.jpg

Correct. Thanks

Originally Published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- This is the third instalment of this series. You can find the older ones here (most recent on top.) Promotions and demotions are listed under the team where the player currently plays (this means promotions to the Minnesota Twins will not be listed here) Here are the transactions in all levels in the Twins organization from August 11th until yesterday August 17th: Rochester Redwings (International League, AAA): 8/16 - Minnesota Twins optioned RHP Jeff Manship to Rochester Red Wings. 8/16 - Minnesota Twins optioned RHP Louis Perdomo to Rochester Red Wings. 8/15 - Rochester Red Wings activated 2B Tsuyoshi Nishioka. 8/15 - Minnesota Twins optioned SS Brian Dozier to Rochester Red Wings. 8/14 - Rochester Red Wings activated SS Michael Hollimon from the 7-Day disabled list. 8/13 - 2B Tsuyoshi Nishioka optioned to Rochester Red Wings. 8/11 - 3B Trevor Plouffe assigned to Rochester Red Wings(rehab). New Britain Rock Cats (Eastern League, AA): 8/17 - OF Rene Tosoni was outrighted to New Britain Rock Cats (removed from the 40 man roster) 8/16 - New Britain Rock Cats activated LHP Andrew Albers from the 7-Day disabled list. 8/16 - RHP Dave Bromberg assigned to New Britain Rock Cats from Rochester Red Wings 8/14 - RHP Luke French assigned to New Britain Rock Cats from Rochester Red Wings Fort Myers Miracle (Florida State League, A+): 8/16 - RHP Carl Pavano assigned to Fort Myers Miracle (rehab). 8/13 - RHP Kyle Gibson assigned to Fort Myers Miracle from Rochester Red Wings (this might mean that he was officially off the Rochester DL). 8/12 - Fort Myers Miracle placed LHP Pat Dean on the 7-Day disabled list 8/12 - RHP Kyle Gibson assigned to Fort Myers Miracle (rehab) from GCL Twins. Beloit Snappers (Midwest League, A): 8/12 - Beloit Snappers placed RHP Dallas Gallant on the 7-Day disabled list. 8/12 - Beloit Snappers activated RHP Cole Johnson from the 7-Day disabled list. Elizabethton Twins (Appalachian League, Rk+): 8/12 - C Michael Quesada suspended (50 days, tested positive for a banned diet supplement) 8/11 - C Kelly Cross assigned to Elizabethton Twins from GCL Twins. GCL Twins (Gulf Coast League, Rk): 8/12 RHP Carl Pavano assigned to GCL Twins from Fort Myers Miracle. DSL Twins (Dominican Summer League, Foreign Rk): No Transactions this week

Originally Published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- This is the third instalment of this series. You can find the older ones here (most recent on top.) Promotions and demotions are listed under the team where the player currently plays (this means promotions to the Minnesota Twins will not be listed here) Here are the transactions in all levels in the Twins organization from August 11th until yesterday August 17th: Rochester Redwings (International League, AAA): 8/16 - Minnesota Twins optioned RHP Jeff Manship to Rochester Red Wings. 8/16 - Minnesota Twins optioned RHP Louis Perdomo to Rochester Red Wings. 8/15 - Rochester Red Wings activated 2B Tsuyoshi Nishioka. 8/15 - Minnesota Twins optioned SS Brian Dozier to Rochester Red Wings. 8/14 - Rochester Red Wings activated SS Michael Hollimon from the 7-Day disabled list. 8/13 - 2B Tsuyoshi Nishioka optioned to Rochester Red Wings. 8/11 - 3B Trevor Plouffe assigned to Rochester Red Wings(rehab). New Britain Rock Cats (Eastern League, AA): 8/17 - OF Rene Tosoni was outrighted to New Britain Rock Cats (removed from the 40 man roster) 8/16 - New Britain Rock Cats activated LHP Andrew Albers from the 7-Day disabled list. 8/16 - RHP Dave Bromberg assigned to New Britain Rock Cats from Rochester Red Wings 8/14 - RHP Luke French assigned to New Britain Rock Cats from Rochester Red Wings Fort Myers Miracle (Florida State League, A+): 8/16 - RHP Carl Pavano assigned to Fort Myers Miracle (rehab). 8/13 - RHP Kyle Gibson assigned to Fort Myers Miracle from Rochester Red Wings (this might mean that he was officially off the Rochester DL). 8/12 - Fort Myers Miracle placed LHP Pat Dean on the 7-Day disabled list 8/12 - RHP Kyle Gibson assigned to Fort Myers Miracle (rehab) from GCL Twins. Beloit Snappers (Midwest League, A): 8/12 - Beloit Snappers placed RHP Dallas Gallant on the 7-Day disabled list. 8/12 - Beloit Snappers activated RHP Cole Johnson from the 7-Day disabled list. Elizabethton Twins (Appalachian League, Rk+): 8/12 - C Michael Quesada suspended (50 days, tested positive for a banned diet supplement) 8/11 - C Kelly Cross assigned to Elizabethton Twins from GCL Twins. GCL Twins (Gulf Coast League, Rk): 8/12 RHP Carl Pavano assigned to GCL Twins from Fort Myers Miracle. DSL Twins (Dominican Summer League, Foreign Rk): No Transactions this week

Actually Clearwater is drawing about as much as your local CR Kernels who are also towards the bottom of the Midwest League. Same with the South Atlantic (also just an "A" and not a high A league.) Teams there draw better than the FSL. I think that part of it is the demographics in FL. I also think that another part is the darn high temperatures in the summer over there. A few times I was there in July and the heat and humidity make sitting outside for 3 hours for a ball game not a pleasant experience... Spring Training is a different story. The Twins' franchise called Florida home since the late 30s (Orlando until the 90s) and for a good reason... Interesting story. Before that, the Senators' spring training was the ball fields of the University of VA at Charlottesville. Late Feb can be pretty nasty there, so there are interesting pictures of the ballplayers in hand knit wool sweaters with big Ws on them. Good stuff.

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- With the Minnesota Twins about to announce another 2-year extension of their Player Development Contract with the Rochester Red Winds of the AAA International League and only their A-level relationship with the Beloit Snappers of the Midwest League being an unfinished business, I thought that it might be interesting to look at the average draw of the Twins' affiliates in all levels. I am listing ticket sold averages for each Minnesota Twins' affiliate from AAA to Rookie Leagues and also indicate the best and the worse sellers in their leagues (as well as their affiliations.) This does not include yesterday's games. In GCL and DSL games are free, but those teams are included for completeness. The cities (if not included in the name) and the states of the affiliates are also listed. Looks like the Philadelphia Philly affiliates (including the team closest to me Lehigh Valley IronPigs) are leading in ticket sales in every league they are with the Twins. Other than the Miracle and the E-Twins, that perennially are pretty high in sales for their leagues, all other affiliates are close to the middle. Beloit being the only exception and this is part of the reason the Twins are looking to change affiliation. Here are the numbers: Rochester (NY) Red Wings, AAA, International League Average Attendance: 5,710 Rank in League: 9th out of 14 League High: 9,083 Lehigh Valley IronPigs (Phillies) League Low: 3,613 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees New Britain (CT) Rock Cats, AA, Eastern League Average Attendance: 4,933 Rank in League: 6th out of 12 League High: 6,265 Reading Phillies League Low: 2,864 Binghamton Mets Fort Myers (FL) Miracle, high A, Florida State League Average Attendance: 1,792 Rank in League: 5th out of 12 League High: 2,558 Clearwater Threshers (Phillies) League Low: 844 Dunedin Blue Jays Beloit (WI) Snappers, A, Midwest League Average Attendance: 989 Rank in League: 15 out of 16 League high: 8,512 Dayton Dragons (Reds) League low: 862 Burlington Bees (Athletics) Elizabethton (TN) Twins, Rookie, Appalachian League. Average Attendance: 948 Rank in League: 4th out of 10. League High: 1,322 Greeneville Astros League Low: 781 Pulaski Mariners Gulf Coast League (Fort Myers, FL) Twins, Rookie, Gulf Coast League. Average Attendance: no formal attendance/ free games Rank in League: N/A Dominical Summer League (Boca Chica Baseball City, DR) Twins, Rookie, Dominical Summer League. Average Attendance: no formal attendance/ free games Rank in League: N/A http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7053/6873268706_ed1c6493c8_z.jpg

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- With the Minnesota Twins about to announce another 2-year extension of their Player Development Contract with the Rochester Red Winds of the AAA International League and only their A-level relationship with the Beloit Snappers of the Midwest League being an unfinished business, I thought that it might be interesting to look at the average draw of the Twins' affiliates in all levels. I am listing ticket sold averages for each Minnesota Twins' affiliate from AAA to Rookie Leagues and also indicate the best and the worse sellers in their leagues (as well as their affiliations.) This does not include yesterday's games. In GCL and DSL games are free, but those teams are included for completeness. The cities (if not included in the name) and the states of the affiliates are also listed. Looks like the Philadelphia Philly affiliates (including the team closest to me Lehigh Valley IronPigs) are leading in ticket sales in every league they are with the Twins. Other than the Miracle and the E-Twins, that perennially are pretty high in sales for their leagues, all other affiliates are close to the middle. Beloit being the only exception and this is part of the reason the Twins are looking to change affiliation. Here are the numbers: Rochester (NY) Red Wings, AAA, International League Average Attendance: 5,710 Rank in League: 9th out of 14 League High: 9,083 Lehigh Valley IronPigs (Phillies) League Low: 3,613 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees New Britain (CT) Rock Cats, AA, Eastern League Average Attendance: 4,933 Rank in League: 6th out of 12 League High: 6,265 Reading Phillies League Low: 2,864 Binghamton Mets Fort Myers (FL) Miracle, high A, Florida State League Average Attendance: 1,792 Rank in League: 5th out of 12 League High: 2,558 Clearwater Threshers (Phillies) League Low: 844 Dunedin Blue Jays Beloit (WI) Snappers, A, Midwest League Average Attendance: 989 Rank in League: 15 out of 16 League high: 8,512 Dayton Dragons (Reds) League low: 862 Burlington Bees (Athletics) Elizabethton (TN) Twins, Rookie, Appalachian League. Average Attendance: 948 Rank in League: 4th out of 10. League High: 1,322 Greeneville Astros League Low: 781 Pulaski Mariners Gulf Coast League (Fort Myers, FL) Twins, Rookie, Gulf Coast League. Average Attendance: no formal attendance/ free games Rank in League: N/A Dominical Summer League (Boca Chica Baseball City, DR) Twins, Rookie, Dominical Summer League. Average Attendance: no formal attendance/ free games Rank in League: N/A http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7053/6873268706_ed1c6493c8_z.jpg

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch (where the graphics might be bigger and more readable) --- For a while I wanted to take a bit of a formalized look at the Twins' pitching this season to see what we have learned and see what would make sense for the team to do in the future. Also, it has been a while since I took a formalized look at Twins pitching, so it was about time. The metrics I like to use to do this have been some simple things of my own device: Pitching Effectiveness or PE and Expected Pitching Effectiveness or xPE. I fiddled around with PE in 2008 and with xPE in 2009. Here is the reason I devised PE and here is the reason I optimized it to xPE. My main arguments were a. I felt like xFIP and FIP and DICE weigh too much things like home runs (which anyone who watched the home runs by Miquel Cabrera and Delmon Young against the Twins yesterday cannot deny that they are a matter of inches and ballpark and luck and fielding performance from being a long fly ball). Also these formulae are hard to memorize and I wanted something simple I can calculate looking at a stat sheet and also something that you can calculate using splits (e.g. how has Brian Duensing or Glen Perkins been as a starter vs as a reliever); you can find xFIP around, but not in a spit form. So in 2008 I devised PE, which simple takes account three things: Strikeouts, walks and hits. So a pitcher who strikes out more people, walks fewer and gives lesser hits is more likely to succeed than someone who doesn't. And all hits are counted equal because the difference between a single and a triple might be the difference of having Delmon Young or Ben Revere play Left Field or the difference between a fly ball out and a home run might be the difference of having Torii Hunter or Rich Becker playing Center Field. And I use WHIP, K/9 and K/BB to calculate PR. xPE normalizes for BABIP to account for "luck" with hits. And unlike FIP and ERA, these two measures go the opposite directions (higher is better) and have a large variation (0.x to 100+) to allow for granularity in comparisons vs. compressing performance from 0 to 10 or so. Fast-forward to 2010: Matt Swartz and Eric Seidman in a series of 4 articles at Baseball Prospectus (part 1, part 2, part 3 and part 4) introduced the metric of Skill-Interactive Earned Run Average or SIERA. Automatically, I realized that these guys had something (because a lot of their argument of creating this measure were similar to my objections with FIP and xFIP) and the more and more I dug, the more and more I like it. It basically looks at individual ways of pitching skills like inducing ground balls vs fly balls, striking out people, not walking people etc. Which is great. I think that is has become my favorite ERA-like measure (it too is on a ERA scale and lower is better) to look, but it is also a pain to derive (one needs Excel, on the other hand it is available in places like Fangraphs), but good luck try to figure splits like ground balls allowed as a starter vs as a reliever... The formula for posterity's sake is: SIERA = 6.145 – 16.986*(SO/PA) + 11.434*(BB/PA) – 1.858*((GB-FB-PU)/PA) + 7.653*((SO/PA)^2) +/– 6.664*(((GB-FB-PU)/PA)^2) + 10.130*(SO/PA)*((GB-FB-PU)/PA) – 5.195*(BB/PA)*((GB-FB-PU)/PA) So, if it does not fit on a T-shirt (and it doesn't), I still need a quick way of looking at things. In the following table I took aggregate (i.e. Duensing's numbers are both for starting and relieving) Twins pitching numbers from 2012 from Fangraphs, including ERA, FIP, xFIP, SIERA and tRA (another measure I am not going to get into right now), calculated PE and xPE and looked at how all correlate with SIERA, xFIP and ERA: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7137/7794563422_719e7c83fb_z.jpg As I mentioned PE and xPE go on a different direction (bigger number is better) than the others (ERA, FIP, xFIP, tRA and SIERA) so -1 is the best possible correlation factor for those (that would be a perfect match) Happy to say that xPE, xFIP and SIERA correlate really nicely with themselves than with FIP and tRA and they all do not correlate with ERA, which is a good thing. Actually, I can get more into the nitty gritty dirt and say that xPE seems to correlate better with SIERRA in good to average performances and less in the bad performances, but still a .89 vs .91 correlation factor difference with this sample size is not significant. (one of these off-seasons I promise I will play with bigger data samples, but I am keeping this about the Twins and their 2012 pitching....) So how about them Twins? I am looking at splits, so I am using xPE. And I am looking at starters vs. relievers vs. the league averages trying to compare the Twins rotation and pen to those and see if I can make any sense doing this. When I started this 3 and 4 years ago, PE and xPE average for AL starters was around 10 and for AL relievers around 11.5. And here are some ranges and classifications Rotation: xPE 35+ Ace 25-35 #1- #2 Starter 15-25 #2- #3 Starter 10-15 #3 - #4 Starter 7.5-10 #5 Starter Bullpen: xPE 35+ Closer 25-35 Closer-Setup 15-25 Setup- Long Relief 8-15 Long Relief-Mopup The dual classifications indicate positions in Championship-caliber teams vs average teams. So in other words, in a championship team you better have 3 start pitchers with xPE above 15 and 2 with and xPE above 25 and a forth with xPE above 10. Here is the data for the Twins rotation and pen (and for pitchers like Swarzak and Duensing I used their individual splits in each to calculate respective xPEs). Huge surprise (should not be huge but...) : By looking at the AL Averages, either pitching has improved, especially in the pen (where average xPE is 16; vs 12.5 in the rotation) or hitters do not hit the ball as well. A 2.5 point jump in averages for starters and 5 point jump for relievers is huge. And that would be an interesting thing to look during the off-season and might actually make me to adjust the classifications above upwards a bit. Here are the numbers for the Twins rotation: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8292/7794560350_874a17217e_o.jpg and here for the bullpen: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8282/7794560406_8cec4ae7bf.jpg So as far as the rotation goes: The Twins have had 4 number 3 type starters (and not all the time - a lot of Diamond's and De Vries' starts were given to Marquis, Walters and Blackburn) Pavano has been injured and Liriano has ranged from a number one to below replacement. Going forwards the Twins can build on the fact that they have a couple of pitchers who can be number 3 starters in a good team (Diamond and De Vries) and someone who can be a number 5 starter (Hendriks) and seek a couple #1 and #2 starters to make a competitive rotation. Brian Duensing and Anthony Swarzak are better in the pen Something needs to be done with Nick Blackburn As far as the pen goes: The Twins have a core of 3 very good relievers (Robertson, Perkins, Burton) Casey Fien has been a pleasant surprise Adding Duensing and Swarzak completes a nice pen that would need an additional arm (could be a free agent or some September call up to step up) It could be Capps, but his performance is not proportional to the $6.5 million option Alex Burnett, Jeff Gray, Jeff Manship, have not been effective (the jury is still out on Perdomo, Oliveros, Maloney and Waldrop because of the small sample )