Thrylos

Seth, at that point Kelly was asking him (in jest) whether he was playing short or second and he was replying to the question... I do not see Hermsen (and esp. Romero in Beloit) either. I think that he will start at Fort Myers and maybe move up to New Britain the second half (has been a pattern for him the last couple seasons). But yesterday was the first time I saw him pitch live (I usually don't get to see Twins' prospects until they come out East) and he just did not have it... maybe a bad day.

Thanks guys. Seth, I took 4-5 additional pictures of Baker at that point of the delivery (right after he released the ball) and he does have the same expression in all. I interpreted it as pain, but I have not seen pictures of him right after he releases the ball before. LimestoneBaggy. I am using a Nikon dSLR with a 300mm lens for most of these pictures

This post was originally posted in its entirety at The Tenth Inning Stretch. Because of the image limitations I can only post some of it. To see the whole post with Action Photos of Twins' prospects including 2 Round 1 draft picks, please go here ----- Today the big boys were playing the Orioles in Sarasota. So were the AAA, AA and A+ squads and the only action at the Lee County Sports Complex was the Beloit Snappers hosting the Orioles A league squad at field number 3 and several other players, most of them rookies, practicing and scrimmaging in field 1. The Beloit game was a treat in many respects. First and foremost was that TK was the manager and it was interesting to watch TK manage a game from a dugout, even though this game was an A level Spring Training Game. http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6236/7022468581_dc614d78de_b.jpg A lot of interesting names in this game, and if one assumes that they all will start in Beloit, the Snappers' fans will be in for a treat. Here is the lineup: 2B AJ Petersen 3B Nick Lockwood RF Max Kepler 1B DJ Romero (a surprise to play at that level) CF Romy Jimenez (another surprise to see at the level, the other way from Romero) SS Tyler Grimes DH Drew Leachman C Matt Koch LF Wang-Wei Lee JD Williams, Nate Roberts and Miquel Sano were around and did not play and Micheal Quesada entered later as a Catcher. http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6046/7022468617_ae7f3d3f96_b.jpg Interesting to see Tom Kelly around young players at that level, especially for the ones of us who knew how he was with rookies as a major league manager later in his career. Lots of yelling encouraging stuff from the dugout, lots of playing and teasing with them (esp. Sano, more on that later) and in general good good feeling. I am certain that these players had a blast. http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6039/7022468657_633d4413b8_b.jpg BJ Hermsen was the starter and he lasted about 3 innings. Hermsen is 22, played last season in Beloit and a little bit at Fort Myers, and he seems to be repeating Beloit. He was somewhat disappointing, having issues with his control and walking a lot of baby Orioles. I was really expecting a somewhat more polished pitcher than what I saw today. Maybe it is just a matter of time. http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6105/7022468633_45f6016281_b.jpg Second pitcher in was Steve Gruver (LHP) the 2011 7th Round pick who actually pitched 3 innings (and looks like he is stressed to be a starter in 2012.) He was very effective, a quick worker and he missed a few bats. I think that he has the potential to surprise in 2012. http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6042/7022468673_56a94255b7_b.jpg Another pitcher I haven't seen play (other than that awful video from Vandy where he broke his kneecap on the mount and made the play) is Corey Williams, the Twins' 3rd round pick in 2011. This guy can be really special for the organization. He has a heavy singing FB with a lot of movement, that sits around 91-92 (had to move and go to the scouting table to look his velocity, because his staff is THAT good) a good curve in the low mid 70s and he is playing with a change. His sinker/cutter is his bread and butter and he both missed bats and induced ground balls. And he is a leftie. He will probably be the closer for Beloit but I can see him make it all the way up to New Britain this season, he is just this good. Alternatively, he might be stressed to be a starter in 2013 or so, if he has the endurance. But this kid is special. http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7055/6876365912_50ccb11473_b.jpg Speaking of Special Kids. Sano did not play today for some reason. I overheard that he might be DHing tomorrow, so he might be fighting something or another. But he sat there absorbed in the game, very talkative with TK and his teammates and even brought water to the umpires at some point. The remaining post, including photos (16 total) of Miquel Sano, Hudson Boyd, Travis Harrison, Max Kepler and other Twins' prospects because of image limitations here continues at The Tenth Inning Stretch.

This post was originally posted in its entirety at The Tenth Inning Stretch. Because of the image limitations I can only post some of it. To see the whole post with Action Photos of Twins' prospects including 2 Round 1 draft picks, please go here ----- Today the big boys were playing the Orioles in Sarasota. So were the AAA, AA and A+ squads and the only action at the Lee County Sports Complex was the Beloit Snappers hosting the Orioles A league squad at field number 3 and several other players, most of them rookies, practicing and scrimmaging in field 1. The Beloit game was a treat in many respects. First and foremost was that TK was the manager and it was interesting to watch TK manage a game from a dugout, even though this game was an A level Spring Training Game. http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6236/7022468581_dc614d78de_b.jpg A lot of interesting names in this game, and if one assumes that they all will start in Beloit, the Snappers' fans will be in for a treat. Here is the lineup: 2B AJ Petersen 3B Nick Lockwood RF Max Kepler 1B DJ Romero (a surprise to play at that level) CF Romy Jimenez (another surprise to see at the level, the other way from Romero) SS Tyler Grimes DH Drew Leachman C Matt Koch LF Wang-Wei Lee JD Williams, Nate Roberts and Miquel Sano were around and did not play and Micheal Quesada entered later as a Catcher. http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6046/7022468617_ae7f3d3f96_b.jpg Interesting to see Tom Kelly around young players at that level, especially for the ones of us who knew how he was with rookies as a major league manager later in his career. Lots of yelling encouraging stuff from the dugout, lots of playing and teasing with them (esp. Sano, more on that later) and in general good good feeling. I am certain that these players had a blast. http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6039/7022468657_633d4413b8_b.jpg BJ Hermsen was the starter and he lasted about 3 innings. Hermsen is 22, played last season in Beloit and a little bit at Fort Myers, and he seems to be repeating Beloit. He was somewhat disappointing, having issues with his control and walking a lot of baby Orioles. I was really expecting a somewhat more polished pitcher than what I saw today. Maybe it is just a matter of time. http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6105/7022468633_45f6016281_b.jpg Second pitcher in was Steve Gruver (LHP) the 2011 7th Round pick who actually pitched 3 innings (and looks like he is stressed to be a starter in 2012.) He was very effective, a quick worker and he missed a few bats. I think that he has the potential to surprise in 2012. http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6042/7022468673_56a94255b7_b.jpg Another pitcher I haven't seen play (other than that awful video from Vandy where he broke his kneecap on the mount and made the play) is Corey Williams, the Twins' 3rd round pick in 2011. This guy can be really special for the organization. He has a heavy singing FB with a lot of movement, that sits around 91-92 (had to move and go to the scouting table to look his velocity, because his staff is THAT good) a good curve in the low mid 70s and he is playing with a change. His sinker/cutter is his bread and butter and he both missed bats and induced ground balls. And he is a leftie. He will probably be the closer for Beloit but I can see him make it all the way up to New Britain this season, he is just this good. Alternatively, he might be stressed to be a starter in 2013 or so, if he has the endurance. But this kid is special. http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7055/6876365912_50ccb11473_b.jpg Speaking of Special Kids. Sano did not play today for some reason. I overheard that he might be DHing tomorrow, so he might be fighting something or another. But he sat there absorbed in the game, very talkative with TK and his teammates and even brought water to the umpires at some point. The remaining post, including photos (16 total) of Miquel Sano, Hudson Boyd, Travis Harrison, Max Kepler and other Twins' prospects because of image limitations here continues at The Tenth Inning Stretch.

Originally posted at The Tenth Inning Stretch ----- Here is this week's installment (also heavily influenced by Spring Training and brought to you from Fort Myers) : Please Check here later tonight for my report from Fort Myers today. Sure to please with a lot of photos, including: watching Tom Kelly manage a real live game, Twins' number one prospect Miguel Sano, a preview of Beloit next season and a couple of Twins' pitching prospects who are flying way under the radar. Will be posted here later tonight Good luck to Dan Osterbrock, Mike Tarsi, Kane Holbrooks, Blayne Weller, Spencer Steedley, Matt Schuld, Matt Bashore, Chris Cates, Steve Pearce, Dustin Martin, Ben Tootle, Tyler Koelling, Jason Bulger, Roy Larson, Deinys Suarez and Derek Christensen who were released by the Twins' organization last Thursday. I really do not understand how they could release Dan Osterbrock (he was ranked my top Twins' pitching prospect in 2008) but after they released Pedro Guerra earlier this year, I can believe that everything is possible... It sounds like Ron Gardenhire (and not Terry Ryan) will make the decision on whether they will carry 3 catchers. And with the one who had the best spring, Rene Rivera, cut today, sounds like another futile season of Drew Butera going North. Looks like, in addition to Capps, Perkins and Duensing, Swarzak and Maloney made the Twins' pen and Burton is pretty close to a lock as of yesterday (per Anthony on the Radio) Apparently Drew Butera is an annoying roommate, maybe because he is doing this without cleaning up; while a certain other Twins' player should be careful when what he is tweeting could be taken with a couple meanings and one of them pretty bad. Visitors to the Texas Rangers' ballpark will be able to feast on a new culinary hubris: The Champion Dog. Allegedly, this mess features a 1 lb hot dog in a 2-feet-long bun topped with sauteed onions, cheese and chili. All for just $26. Bucket or air sickness bag comes extra. This is an interesting development. Still in the idea box, but I think that it has the potential to chance how Latin American amateurs are looked at by the MLB teams. Meanwhile, here is a collection of Nishioka-themed Haikus. Wonder whether there are any original Haikus written in Japan about his demotion The Do you know your Twins? challenge is still open. And I am not sure that there are any winners yet, so feel free to participate Continuing the Twins' product of the week feature. Because there are so many out there and some of them are, well... interesting. This weeks' winner is: MLB Minnesota Twins Protoasthttp://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=biowriters&l=as2&o=1&a=B003C0BI10 You know those slices of toast that have the images of famous people and fetch a million dollars on ebay? A slice of toast with the Twins' logo is more fun. The parting shot today is of the get to know them variety. I am sure that even the most seasoned Twins' fans and the biggest Twins' Minor Leagues aficionados will not recognize the player pictured. He is one of the new Twins' Minor League free agents, Catcher Billy Killian. This is his age 26 season and has bounced in the Padres', Rangers', White Sox' and Orioles' systems (up to AA) before he played for the Frontier League Evansville Otters the past two seasons. On Sunday I saw him play with the Fort Myers and Beloit kids in their inter-squad game and was nothing short of impressive (of course he is much older.) Just another good story and a player to keep your eye on in the Twins' minors. http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7280/6874872364_823db449c9_b.jpg

Originally posted at The Tenth Inning Stretch ----- Here is this week's installment (also heavily influenced by Spring Training and brought to you from Fort Myers) : Please Check here later tonight for my report from Fort Myers today. Sure to please with a lot of photos, including: watching Tom Kelly manage a real live game, Twins' number one prospect Miguel Sano, a preview of Beloit next season and a couple of Twins' pitching prospects who are flying way under the radar. Will be posted here later tonight Good luck to Dan Osterbrock, Mike Tarsi, Kane Holbrooks, Blayne Weller, Spencer Steedley, Matt Schuld, Matt Bashore, Chris Cates, Steve Pearce, Dustin Martin, Ben Tootle, Tyler Koelling, Jason Bulger, Roy Larson, Deinys Suarez and Derek Christensen who were released by the Twins' organization last Thursday. I really do not understand how they could release Dan Osterbrock (he was ranked my top Twins' pitching prospect in 2008) but after they released Pedro Guerra earlier this year, I can believe that everything is possible... It sounds like Ron Gardenhire (and not Terry Ryan) will make the decision on whether they will carry 3 catchers. And with the one who had the best spring, Rene Rivera, cut today, sounds like another futile season of Drew Butera going North. Looks like, in addition to Capps, Perkins and Duensing, Swarzak and Maloney made the Twins' pen and Burton is pretty close to a lock as of yesterday (per Anthony on the Radio) Apparently Drew Butera is an annoying roommate, maybe because he is doing this without cleaning up; while a certain other Twins' player should be careful when what he is tweeting could be taken with a couple meanings and one of them pretty bad. Visitors to the Texas Rangers' ballpark will be able to feast on a new culinary hubris: The Champion Dog. Allegedly, this mess features a 1 lb hot dog in a 2-feet-long bun topped with sauteed onions, cheese and chili. All for just $26. Bucket or air sickness bag comes extra. This is an interesting development. Still in the idea box, but I think that it has the potential to chance how Latin American amateurs are looked at by the MLB teams. Meanwhile, here is a collection of Nishioka-themed Haikus. Wonder whether there are any original Haikus written in Japan about his demotion The Do you know your Twins? challenge is still open. And I am not sure that there are any winners yet, so feel free to participate Continuing the Twins' product of the week feature. Because there are so many out there and some of them are, well... interesting. This weeks' winner is: MLB Minnesota Twins Protoasthttp://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=biowriters&l=as2&o=1&a=B003C0BI10 You know those slices of toast that have the images of famous people and fetch a million dollars on ebay? A slice of toast with the Twins' logo is more fun. The parting shot today is of the get to know them variety. I am sure that even the most seasoned Twins' fans and the biggest Twins' Minor Leagues aficionados will not recognize the player pictured. He is one of the new Twins' Minor League free agents, Catcher Billy Killian. This is his age 26 season and has bounced in the Padres', Rangers', White Sox' and Orioles' systems (up to AA) before he played for the Frontier League Evansville Otters the past two seasons. On Sunday I saw him play with the Fort Myers and Beloit kids in their inter-squad game and was nothing short of impressive (of course he is much older.) Just another good story and a player to keep your eye on in the Twins' minors. http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7280/6874872364_823db449c9_b.jpg

Today the Twins met with the Tampa Bay Rays at Hammond Stadium. This was the first time that Scott Baker would pitch after his recent bout with elbow right elbow tendonitis, so it was supposed to be an interesting day. Before I got there, I checked out the practice fields where the Twins' middle infielder bench-type players (Luke Hughes, Mike Hollimon, Pedro Florimon, Brian Dozier) were taking BP. Andy was tossing and he looks like he still got it: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7270/6873268548_97daa423d0_o.jpg Further into the Minor League Complex, Tom Kelly, Jake Mauer and Paul Molitor were conducting infield drills. Levi Michael, Adam Bryant, Andy Leer, Eddie Rosario and Jairo Perez were among the participants. Will they all be Beloit-bound? Who knows, but it is a good possibility... http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7072/7019374597_da936e602e_b.jpg Brunansky was throwing BP for the Rochester team and the New Britain and Fort Myers teams were not around, which makes me think that they were traveling today. Bruno can be an interesting trivia questions answer: name a former Twins' player who rights left-handed but bats and throws right-handed. Not many of them: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7107/7019394103_5e487cc4e5_b.jpg About time for the big game. http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7053/6873268706_ed1c6493c8_b.jpg And if anyone asks you: "How many Miracle Workers does it take to water down the infield," you now know the answer: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7116/7019374709_8db04df5ae_b.jpg Baker was the big story of the game. How he is going to come back from the rest and the limited activity because of the tendonitis. The short answer is that it did not look too good. His fast ball was between 85-87 with an occasional 88 and one 89. Was pretty encouraging to see those numbers rise before the 2 HRs and seven earned runs. Here is a shot of Baker pitching earlier this afternoon: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7139/7019394157_befd730f52_b.jpg He just looks like he is in pain. Which is very unfortunate for the Twins. Meanwhile, the Twins are have a plan B in place and this is Liam Hendriks who pitched 4 innings today and is lined up to take Baker's spot in the rotation for the Home opener if necessary: Because of the image limitation here (and I have about 15 in the post) please continue reading the post at The Tenth Inning Stretch

Today the Twins met with the Tampa Bay Rays at Hammond Stadium. This was the first time that Scott Baker would pitch after his recent bout with elbow right elbow tendonitis, so it was supposed to be an interesting day. Before I got there, I checked out the practice fields where the Twins' middle infielder bench-type players (Luke Hughes, Mike Hollimon, Pedro Florimon, Brian Dozier) were taking BP. Andy was tossing and he looks like he still got it: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7270/6873268548_97daa423d0_o.jpg Further into the Minor League Complex, Tom Kelly, Jake Mauer and Paul Molitor were conducting infield drills. Levi Michael, Adam Bryant, Andy Leer, Eddie Rosario and Jairo Perez were among the participants. Will they all be Beloit-bound? Who knows, but it is a good possibility... http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7072/7019374597_da936e602e_b.jpg Brunansky was throwing BP for the Rochester team and the New Britain and Fort Myers teams were not around, which makes me think that they were traveling today. Bruno can be an interesting trivia questions answer: name a former Twins' player who rights left-handed but bats and throws right-handed. Not many of them: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7107/7019394103_5e487cc4e5_b.jpg About time for the big game. http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7053/6873268706_ed1c6493c8_b.jpg And if anyone asks you: "How many Miracle Workers does it take to water down the infield," you now know the answer: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7116/7019374709_8db04df5ae_b.jpg Baker was the big story of the game. How he is going to come back from the rest and the limited activity because of the tendonitis. The short answer is that it did not look too good. His fast ball was between 85-87 with an occasional 88 and one 89. Was pretty encouraging to see those numbers rise before the 2 HRs and seven earned runs. Here is a shot of Baker pitching earlier this afternoon: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7139/7019394157_befd730f52_b.jpg He just looks like he is in pain. Which is very unfortunate for the Twins. Meanwhile, the Twins are have a plan B in place and this is Liam Hendriks who pitched 4 innings today and is lined up to take Baker's spot in the rotation for the Home opener if necessary: Because of the image limitation here (and I have about 15 in the post) please continue reading the post at The Tenth Inning Stretch

Originally posted at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- This is the latest update of the Twins' Bench Battle and the Bullpen Battle Dashboards, to track player performance to date this spring. Brought to you from Fort Myers FL. Performances include those in the last two games vs the Rays yesterday and the Cardinals earlier this afternoon. You can read the basic premise behind the Bench Battle Dashboard here and behind the Bullpen Battle Dashboard here. At this point, there are 11 position players fighting for 3 bench sports and 9 pitchers fighting for 3 bullpen spots. I will be updating them daily and post daily updates. Players who were assigned to the minor league camp were removed from the dashboards but kept in the rankings, denoted by "(MILB)". One thing I am doing differently from now on (Because if I kept the old way these would be very hard to read and very small) is to not denote performance on a particular day (and use DNP if someone did not play) but list them sequentially. An advantage of this way of listing is to see which players played more, which means that the Twins are interested enough to have many looks. Because it is getting close to the season and the pitching staff has been somewhat of a concern, I am listing the performances of the pitchers who are "locks" to make the team, but do not include them in the rankings. Here is what the Bench Battle Dashboard looks like today: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7107/7015426431_f75cba2b83_c.jpg Here is what the Bullpen Battle Dashboard looks like today: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7198/7015426475_2b53e23f14_c.jpg Here is the ranking of the position player combatants today (based on position) : Catchers: J.R. Towles 2.3 ----- Rene Rivera 1.4 Drew Butera 0.74 Daniel Rohlfing 0.67 (MILB) Danny Lehmann 0.28 (MILB) Chris Herrmann 0.1 (MILB) ---- Danny Rams -0.98 (MILB) Infielders: Luke Hughes 3.9 Chris Parmelee 3.2 ---- Mike Hollimon 1.8 Aaron Bates 1.3 (MILB) Sean Burroughs 1.2 Ray Chang 1.1 (MILB) Brian Dozier 0.88 Brian Dinkelman 0.69 Tsuyoshi Nishioka 0.84 (MILB) Pedro Florimon 0.05 ---- Steve Pearce -0.31 (MILB) Outfielders: ---- Joe Benson 1.7 Wilkin Ramirez 0.43 (MILB) Matt Carson 0.29 (MILB) ---- Darin Mastroianni -0.01 (MILB) Rene Tosoni -0.07 (MILB) Oswaldo Arcia -0.33 (MILB) Here is the ranking of pitcher combatants today: Matt Maloney 55.2 P.J. Walters 54.3 (MILB) Liam Hendriks 53.2 Casey Fien 52.7 Jared Burton 51.7 Carlos Gutierrez 51.3 (MILB) Luis Perdomo 51.3 (MILB) Kyle Waldrop 51.2 --- Esmerling Vasquez 51 (MILB) Daryl Thompson 50.8 (MILB) Lester Oliveros 50.3 (MILB) Samuel Deduno 50.2 (MILB) Aaron Thompson 50 (MILB) Tyler Robertson 49.7 (MIL Scott Diamond 49 (MILB) --- Jeff Manship 48.6 Jeff Gray 48.4 Phil Dumatrait 46.2 (MILB) Brendan Wise 46.2 Alex Burnett 45.8 Deolis Guerra 42 (MILB) Jason Bulger 38.3 (MILB) Terry Doyle 31.3 (MiLB - returned to White Sox) As always you can find all Spring Training coverage at The Tenth Inning Stretch here.

Originally posted at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- This is the latest update of the Twins' Bench Battle and the Bullpen Battle Dashboards, to track player performance to date this spring. Brought to you from Fort Myers FL. Performances include those in the last two games vs the Rays yesterday and the Cardinals earlier this afternoon. You can read the basic premise behind the Bench Battle Dashboard here and behind the Bullpen Battle Dashboard here. At this point, there are 11 position players fighting for 3 bench sports and 9 pitchers fighting for 3 bullpen spots. I will be updating them daily and post daily updates. Players who were assigned to the minor league camp were removed from the dashboards but kept in the rankings, denoted by "(MILB)". One thing I am doing differently from now on (Because if I kept the old way these would be very hard to read and very small) is to not denote performance on a particular day (and use DNP if someone did not play) but list them sequentially. An advantage of this way of listing is to see which players played more, which means that the Twins are interested enough to have many looks. Because it is getting close to the season and the pitching staff has been somewhat of a concern, I am listing the performances of the pitchers who are "locks" to make the team, but do not include them in the rankings. Here is what the Bench Battle Dashboard looks like today: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7107/7015426431_f75cba2b83_c.jpg Here is what the Bullpen Battle Dashboard looks like today: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7198/7015426475_2b53e23f14_c.jpg Here is the ranking of the position player combatants today (based on position) : Catchers: J.R. Towles 2.3 ----- Rene Rivera 1.4 Drew Butera 0.74 Daniel Rohlfing 0.67 (MILB) Danny Lehmann 0.28 (MILB) Chris Herrmann 0.1 (MILB) ---- Danny Rams -0.98 (MILB) Infielders: Luke Hughes 3.9 Chris Parmelee 3.2 ---- Mike Hollimon 1.8 Aaron Bates 1.3 (MILB) Sean Burroughs 1.2 Ray Chang 1.1 (MILB) Brian Dozier 0.88 Brian Dinkelman 0.69 Tsuyoshi Nishioka 0.84 (MILB) Pedro Florimon 0.05 ---- Steve Pearce -0.31 (MILB) Outfielders: ---- Joe Benson 1.7 Wilkin Ramirez 0.43 (MILB) Matt Carson 0.29 (MILB) ---- Darin Mastroianni -0.01 (MILB) Rene Tosoni -0.07 (MILB) Oswaldo Arcia -0.33 (MILB) Here is the ranking of pitcher combatants today: Matt Maloney 55.2 P.J. Walters 54.3 (MILB) Liam Hendriks 53.2 Casey Fien 52.7 Jared Burton 51.7 Carlos Gutierrez 51.3 (MILB) Luis Perdomo 51.3 (MILB) Kyle Waldrop 51.2 --- Esmerling Vasquez 51 (MILB) Daryl Thompson 50.8 (MILB) Lester Oliveros 50.3 (MILB) Samuel Deduno 50.2 (MILB) Aaron Thompson 50 (MILB) Tyler Robertson 49.7 (MIL Scott Diamond 49 (MILB) --- Jeff Manship 48.6 Jeff Gray 48.4 Phil Dumatrait 46.2 (MILB) Brendan Wise 46.2 Alex Burnett 45.8 Deolis Guerra 42 (MILB) Jason Bulger 38.3 (MILB) Terry Doyle 31.3 (MiLB - returned to White Sox) As always you can find all Spring Training coverage at The Tenth Inning Stretch here.

Seth, it looks like Morneau will be the DH, but the Twins took looks at Doumit and Hughes at 1B today. So I think the Parmelee talk is a bit premature. Another 10 games to play or so left. We'll see. Again, if Parmelee means no Butera I am so good with it

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- This is the latest update of the Twins' Bench Battle and the Bullpen Battle Dashboards, to track player performance to date this spring. Performances include those in the last game vs the Yankees earlier this afternoon. You can read the basic premise behind the Bench Battle Dashboard here and behind the Bullpen Battle Dashboard here. At this point, there are 11 position players fighting for 3 bench sports and 9 pitchers fighting for 3 bullpen spots. I will be updating them daily and post daily updates. Caveat: I am flying to Fort Myers and traveling pretty much the whole day tomorrow, so expect the next update after Sunday's game. Players who were assigned to the minor league camp were removed from the dashboards but kept in the rankings, denoted by "(MILB)". One thing I am doing differently from now on (Because if I kept the old way these would be very hard to read and very small) is to not denote performance on a particular day (and use DNP if someone did not play) but list them sequentially. An advantage of this way of listing is to see which players played more, which means that the Twins are interested enough tohave many looks. Because it is getting close to the season and the pitching staff has been somewhat of a concern, I am listing the performances of the pitchers who are "locks" to make the team, but do not include them in the rankings. Here is what the Bench Battle Dashboard looks like today: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7111/7009187371_ccfd0f4068_c.jpg Here is what the Bullpen Battle Dashboard looks like today: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7256/7009187323_4785a29977_o.jpg Here is the ranking of the position player combatants today (based on position) : Catchers: ----- Rene Rivera 2.0 J.R. Towles 0.76 Daniel Rohlfing 0.67 (MILB) Drew Butera 0.41 Danny Lehmann 0.28 (MILB) Chris Herrmann 0.1 (MILB) ---- Danny Rams -0.98 (MILB) Infielders: Chris Parmelee 3.1 Mike Hollimon 2.0 ---- Luke Hughes 1.9 Aaron Bates 1.3 (MILB) Sean Burroughs 1.3 Ray Chang 1.1 (MILB) Brian Dozier 0.78 Brian Dinkelman 0.77 Tsuyoshi Nishioka 0.84 (MILB) Pedro Florimon 0.28 ---- Steve Pearce -0.31 (MILB) Outfielders: Joe Benson 2.3 ---- Wilkin Ramirez 0.43 (MILB) Matt Carson 0.29 (MILB) ---- Darin Mastroianni -0.01 (MILB) Rene Tosoni -0.07 (MILB) Oswaldo Arcia -0.33 (MILB) Here is the ranking of pitcher combatants today: Matt Maloney 54.8 P.J. Walters 54.3 (MILB) Casey Fien 53.2 Liam Hendriks 53.2 Jared Burton 51.7 Carlos Gutierrez 51.3 (MILB) Luis Perdomo 51.3 (MILB) Kyle Waldrop 51.2 --- Esmerling Vasquez 51 (MILB) Daryl Thompson 50.8 (MILB) Lester Oliveros 50.3 (MILB) Samuel Deduno 50.2 (MILB) Aaron Thompson 50 (MILB) Tyler Robertson 49.7 (MILB) Jeff Gray 49.5 Scott Diamond 49 (MILB) --- Jeff Manship 48.6 Brendan Wise 47.6 Phil Dumatrait 46.2 (MILB) Alex Burnett 45.8 Deolis Guerra 42 (MILB) Jason Bulger 38.3 (MILB) Terry Doyle 31.3 (MiLB - returned to White Sox) As always you can find all Spring Training coverage at The Tenth Inning Stretch here.

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- This is the latest update of the Twins' Bench Battle and the Bullpen Battle Dashboards, to track player performance to date this spring. Performances include those in the last game vs the Yankees earlier this afternoon. You can read the basic premise behind the Bench Battle Dashboard here and behind the Bullpen Battle Dashboard here. At this point, there are 11 position players fighting for 3 bench sports and 9 pitchers fighting for 3 bullpen spots. I will be updating them daily and post daily updates. Caveat: I am flying to Fort Myers and traveling pretty much the whole day tomorrow, so expect the next update after Sunday's game. Players who were assigned to the minor league camp were removed from the dashboards but kept in the rankings, denoted by "(MILB)". One thing I am doing differently from now on (Because if I kept the old way these would be very hard to read and very small) is to not denote performance on a particular day (and use DNP if someone did not play) but list them sequentially. An advantage of this way of listing is to see which players played more, which means that the Twins are interested enough tohave many looks. Because it is getting close to the season and the pitching staff has been somewhat of a concern, I am listing the performances of the pitchers who are "locks" to make the team, but do not include them in the rankings. Here is what the Bench Battle Dashboard looks like today: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7111/7009187371_ccfd0f4068_c.jpg Here is what the Bullpen Battle Dashboard looks like today: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7256/7009187323_4785a29977_o.jpg Here is the ranking of the position player combatants today (based on position) : Catchers: ----- Rene Rivera 2.0 J.R. Towles 0.76 Daniel Rohlfing 0.67 (MILB) Drew Butera 0.41 Danny Lehmann 0.28 (MILB) Chris Herrmann 0.1 (MILB) ---- Danny Rams -0.98 (MILB) Infielders: Chris Parmelee 3.1 Mike Hollimon 2.0 ---- Luke Hughes 1.9 Aaron Bates 1.3 (MILB) Sean Burroughs 1.3 Ray Chang 1.1 (MILB) Brian Dozier 0.78 Brian Dinkelman 0.77 Tsuyoshi Nishioka 0.84 (MILB) Pedro Florimon 0.28 ---- Steve Pearce -0.31 (MILB) Outfielders: Joe Benson 2.3 ---- Wilkin Ramirez 0.43 (MILB) Matt Carson 0.29 (MILB) ---- Darin Mastroianni -0.01 (MILB) Rene Tosoni -0.07 (MILB) Oswaldo Arcia -0.33 (MILB) Here is the ranking of pitcher combatants today: Matt Maloney 54.8 P.J. Walters 54.3 (MILB) Casey Fien 53.2 Liam Hendriks 53.2 Jared Burton 51.7 Carlos Gutierrez 51.3 (MILB) Luis Perdomo 51.3 (MILB) Kyle Waldrop 51.2 --- Esmerling Vasquez 51 (MILB) Daryl Thompson 50.8 (MILB) Lester Oliveros 50.3 (MILB) Samuel Deduno 50.2 (MILB) Aaron Thompson 50 (MILB) Tyler Robertson 49.7 (MILB) Jeff Gray 49.5 Scott Diamond 49 (MILB) --- Jeff Manship 48.6 Brendan Wise 47.6 Phil Dumatrait 46.2 (MILB) Alex Burnett 45.8 Deolis Guerra 42 (MILB) Jason Bulger 38.3 (MILB) Terry Doyle 31.3 (MiLB - returned to White Sox) As always you can find all Spring Training coverage at The Tenth Inning Stretch here.

Crain is out indefinitely... Sergio Santos should be in the equation as well... better closer than Nathan this season. Fuentes also. Can probably use a 7 man pen too

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- Because a lot of write-ups and reports from the beat writers about the Twins' Spring Training performance are mentioning how someone is "hitting", using only their batting averages (70s anyone?), I felt that it might be a good idea to rank all the Twins' hitters based on Spring Training OPS (which is a tad more meaningful.) Players denoted with "MILB" have been assigned to the Twins Minor League Camp. Clearly some players are having great performances, while other are struggling. We all know who there are. Also, in this ranking, a couple of cuts seem very curiously premature. Here is the list: Hollimon 1.246 Parmelee 1.011 Valencia .923 Benson .884 Chang .883 (MILB) Bates .879 (MILB) Rivera .871 Hughes .867 Casilla .816 Span .783 Revere .778 Dozier .761 Mauer .746 Doumit .733 Dinkelman .714 Burroughs .713 Willingham .710 Towles .705 Plouffe .654 Butera .636 Nishioka .589 (MILB) Florimon .508 Ramirez .481 (MILB) Carroll .477 Carson .448 (MILB) Mastroianni .445 (MILB) Rohlfing .400 (MILB) Herrman .333 (MILB) Pierce .310 (MILB) Tosoni .289 (MILB) Lehmann .286 (MILB) Morneau .258 Arcia .222 (MILB) Rams .000 (MILB)

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- Because a lot of write-ups and reports from the beat writers about the Twins' Spring Training performance are mentioning how someone is "hitting", using only their batting averages (70s anyone?), I felt that it might be a good idea to rank all the Twins' hitters based on Spring Training OPS (which is a tad more meaningful.) Players denoted with "MILB" have been assigned to the Twins Minor League Camp. Clearly some players are having great performances, while other are struggling. We all know who there are. Also, in this ranking, a couple of cuts seem very curiously premature. Here is the list: Hollimon 1.246 Parmelee 1.011 Valencia .923 Benson .884 Chang .883 (MILB) Bates .879 (MILB) Rivera .871 Hughes .867 Casilla .816 Span .783 Revere .778 Dozier .761 Mauer .746 Doumit .733 Dinkelman .714 Burroughs .713 Willingham .710 Towles .705 Plouffe .654 Butera .636 Nishioka .589 (MILB) Florimon .508 Ramirez .481 (MILB) Carroll .477 Carson .448 (MILB) Mastroianni .445 (MILB) Rohlfing .400 (MILB) Herrman .333 (MILB) Pierce .310 (MILB) Tosoni .289 (MILB) Lehmann .286 (MILB) Morneau .258 Arcia .222 (MILB) Rams .000 (MILB)

Originally posted at The Tenth Inning Stretch ----- This is the latest update of the Twins' Bench Battle and the Bullpen Battle Dashboards, to track player performance to date this spring. Performances include those in the last game vs the Orioles earlier this afternoon. You can read the basic premise behind the Bench Battle Dashboard here and behind the Bullpen Battle Dashboard here. At this point, there are 11 position players fighting for 3 bench sports and 9 pitchers fighting for 3 bullpen spots. I will be updating them daily and post daily updates. Players who were assigned to the minor league camp today are indicated with "MILB" and are italized in the dashboards. Players cut earlier, were removed from the dashboards but kept in the rankings, denoted by "(MILB)". One thing I am doing differently from now on (Because if I kept the old way these would be very hard to read and very small) is to not denote performance on a particular day (and use DNP if someone did not play) but list them sequentially. An advantage of this way of listing is to see which players played more, which means that the Twins are interested enough to have many looks. As a bonus, because it is getting close to the season and the pitching staff has been somewhat of a concern, I am listing the performances of the pitchers who are "locks" to make the team, but do not include them in the rankings. Here is what the Bench Battle Dashboard looks like today: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7092/7006709419_f20aa2f645_c.jpg Here is what the Bullpen Battle Dashboard looks like today: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7222/6860595000_314d833d1a_o.jpg Here is the ranking of the position player combatants today (based on position) : Catchers: ----- Rene Rivera 2.0 J.R. Towles 0.76 Drew Butera 0.73 Daniel Rohlfing 0.67 (MILB) Danny Lehmann 0.28 (MILB) Chris Herrmann 0.1 (MILB) ---- Danny Rams -0.98 (MILB) Infielders: Chris Parmelee 3.4 Mike Hollimon 2.3 Luke Hughes 2.1 ---- Aaron Bates 1.3 (MILB) Ray Chang 1.1 (MILB) Brian Dozier 1.0 Sean Burroughs 0.85 Brian Dinkelman 0.76 Tsuyoshi Nishioka 0.84 (MILB) Pedro Florimon 0.46 ---- Steve Pearce -0.31 (MILB) Outfielders: Joe Benson 2.5 ---- Wilkin Ramirez 0.43 (MILB) Matt Carson 0.29 (MILB) ---- Darin Mastroianni -0.01 (MILB) Rene Tosoni -0.07 (MILB) Oswaldo Arcia -0.33 (MILB) Here is the ranking of pitcher combatants today: Matt Maloney 54.8 P.J. Walters 54.3 (MILB) Casey Fien 53.2 Liam Hendriks 53.2 Jeff Manship 52.5 Jared Burton 51.7 Carlos Gutierrez 51.3 (MILB) Luis Perdomo 51.3 (MILB) --- Esmerling Vasquez 51 (MILB) Daryl Thompson 50.8 (MILB) Kyle Waldrop 50.8 Lester Oliveros 50.3 (MILB) Samuel Deduno 50.2 (MILB) Aaron Thompson 50 (MILB) Tyler Robertson 49.7 (MILB) Jeff Gray 49.5 Scott Diamond 49 (MILB) --- Brendan Wise 47.6 Phil Dumatrait 46.2 (MILB) Alex Burnett 45.8 Deolis Guerra 42 (MILB) Jason Bulger 38.3 (MILB) Terry Doyle 31.3 (MiLB - returned to White Sox) As always you can find all Spring Training coverage at The Tenth Inning Stretch here.

Originally posted at The Tenth Inning Stretch ----- This is the latest update of the Twins' Bench Battle and the Bullpen Battle Dashboards, to track player performance to date this spring. Performances include those in the last game vs the Orioles earlier this afternoon. You can read the basic premise behind the Bench Battle Dashboard here and behind the Bullpen Battle Dashboard here. At this point, there are 11 position players fighting for 3 bench sports and 9 pitchers fighting for 3 bullpen spots. I will be updating them daily and post daily updates. Players who were assigned to the minor league camp today are indicated with "MILB" and are italized in the dashboards. Players cut earlier, were removed from the dashboards but kept in the rankings, denoted by "(MILB)". One thing I am doing differently from now on (Because if I kept the old way these would be very hard to read and very small) is to not denote performance on a particular day (and use DNP if someone did not play) but list them sequentially. An advantage of this way of listing is to see which players played more, which means that the Twins are interested enough to have many looks. As a bonus, because it is getting close to the season and the pitching staff has been somewhat of a concern, I am listing the performances of the pitchers who are "locks" to make the team, but do not include them in the rankings. Here is what the Bench Battle Dashboard looks like today: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7092/7006709419_f20aa2f645_c.jpg Here is what the Bullpen Battle Dashboard looks like today: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7222/6860595000_314d833d1a_o.jpg Here is the ranking of the position player combatants today (based on position) : Catchers: ----- Rene Rivera 2.0 J.R. Towles 0.76 Drew Butera 0.73 Daniel Rohlfing 0.67 (MILB) Danny Lehmann 0.28 (MILB) Chris Herrmann 0.1 (MILB) ---- Danny Rams -0.98 (MILB) Infielders: Chris Parmelee 3.4 Mike Hollimon 2.3 Luke Hughes 2.1 ---- Aaron Bates 1.3 (MILB) Ray Chang 1.1 (MILB) Brian Dozier 1.0 Sean Burroughs 0.85 Brian Dinkelman 0.76 Tsuyoshi Nishioka 0.84 (MILB) Pedro Florimon 0.46 ---- Steve Pearce -0.31 (MILB) Outfielders: Joe Benson 2.5 ---- Wilkin Ramirez 0.43 (MILB) Matt Carson 0.29 (MILB) ---- Darin Mastroianni -0.01 (MILB) Rene Tosoni -0.07 (MILB) Oswaldo Arcia -0.33 (MILB) Here is the ranking of pitcher combatants today: Matt Maloney 54.8 P.J. Walters 54.3 (MILB) Casey Fien 53.2 Liam Hendriks 53.2 Jeff Manship 52.5 Jared Burton 51.7 Carlos Gutierrez 51.3 (MILB) Luis Perdomo 51.3 (MILB) --- Esmerling Vasquez 51 (MILB) Daryl Thompson 50.8 (MILB) Kyle Waldrop 50.8 Lester Oliveros 50.3 (MILB) Samuel Deduno 50.2 (MILB) Aaron Thompson 50 (MILB) Tyler Robertson 49.7 (MILB) Jeff Gray 49.5 Scott Diamond 49 (MILB) --- Brendan Wise 47.6 Phil Dumatrait 46.2 (MILB) Alex Burnett 45.8 Deolis Guerra 42 (MILB) Jason Bulger 38.3 (MILB) Terry Doyle 31.3 (MiLB - returned to White Sox) As always you can find all Spring Training coverage at The Tenth Inning Stretch here.

"Players like Luke Hughes, Alex Burnett, Drew Butera, and Jeff Manship have been in the league long enough to evaluate" Other than Butera, I beg to disagree. Hughes and Manship only spent parts of 2 seasons and been plagued with injuries and Burnett is 24 and really needs to develop yet. If a player is in his prime, then you can evaluate.

exactly what Parker said: Add up the salaries of those 2 squads

Interesting stuff... I'd probably put Harrison in the 1B/DH mix as well (maybe 3B also). Really hard to tell about the rotation though... Salcedo should probably be included as well and who knows who will come out of nowhere in 3 years...

Originally posted at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- This is the latest update of the Twins' Bench Battle and the Bullpen Battle Dashboards, to track player performance to date this spring. Performances include those in the last game vs the Tigers earlier this afternoon. You can read the basic premise behind the Bench Battle Dashboard here and behind the Bullpen Battle Dashboard here. At this point, there are 14 position players fighting for 3 bench sports and 11 pitchers fighting for 3 bullpen spots. I will be updating them daily and post daily updates. Players who were assigned to the minor league camp were removed from the dashboards but kept in the rankings, denoted by "(MILB)". One thing I am doing differently from now on (Because if I kept the old way these would be very hard to read and very small) is to not denote performance on a particular day (and use DNP if someone did not play) but list them sequentially. An advantage of this way of listing is to see which players played more, which means that the Twins are interested enough to have many looks. As a bonus, because it is getting close to the seasons and the pitching staff has been somewhat of a concern, I am listing the performances of the pitchers who are "locks" to make the team, but do not include them in the rankings. Here is what the Bench Battle Dashboard looks like today: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7097/7003849219_3083f58d05_b.jpg Here is what the Bullpen Battle Dashboard looks like today: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7060/7003849213_cb4c8f2d18_o.jpg Here is the ranking of the position player combatants today (based on position) : Catchers: ----- Rene Rivera 2.5 J.R. Towles 0.97 Drew Butera 0.73 Daniel Rohlfing 0.67 (MILB) Danny Lehmann 0.28 Chris Herrmann 0.1 (MILB) ---- Danny Rams -0.98 (MILB) Infielders: Chris Parmelee 3.6 Luke Hughes 2.5 Mike Hollimon 2.2 ---- Aaron Bates 1.3 (MILB) Sean Burroughs 1.1 Ray Chang 1.1 Brian Dozier 1.1 Brian Dinkelman 0.76 Tsuyoshi Nishioka 0.84 (MILB) Pedro Florimon 0.55 ---- Steve Pearce -0.31 (MILB) Outfielders: Joe Benson 2.8 ---- Wilkin Ramirez 0.43 (MILB) Matt Carson 0.29 ---- Darin Mastroianni -0.01 (MILB) Rene Tosoni -0.07 (MILB) Oswaldo Arcia -0.33 (MILB) Here is the ranking of pitcher combatants today: Matt Maloney 54.8 P.J. Walters 54.3 (MILB) Casey Fien 53.2 Jeff Manship 52.5 Liam Hendriks 52.4 Jared Burton 51.7 Carlos Gutierrez 51.3 (MILB) Luis Perdomo 51.3 (MILB) --- Esmerling Vasquez 51 (MILB) Daryl Thompson 50.8 (MILB) Kyle Waldrop 50.8 Lester Oliveros 50.3 (MILB) Samuel Deduno 50.2 Aaron Thompson 50 (MILB) Tyler Robertson 49.7 (MILB) Jeff Gray 49.5 Scott Diamond 49 (MILB) --- Brendan Wise 47.8 Phil Dumatrait 46.2 Alex Burnett 45.8 Deolis Guerra 42 (MILB) Jason Bulger 38.3 (MILB) Terry Doyle 31.3 (MiLB - returned to White Sox) As always you can find all Spring Training coverage at The Tenth Inning Stretch here.

Originally posted at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- This is the latest update of the Twins' Bench Battle and the Bullpen Battle Dashboards, to track player performance to date this spring. Performances include those in the last game vs the Tigers earlier this afternoon. You can read the basic premise behind the Bench Battle Dashboard here and behind the Bullpen Battle Dashboard here. At this point, there are 14 position players fighting for 3 bench sports and 11 pitchers fighting for 3 bullpen spots. I will be updating them daily and post daily updates. Players who were assigned to the minor league camp were removed from the dashboards but kept in the rankings, denoted by "(MILB)". One thing I am doing differently from now on (Because if I kept the old way these would be very hard to read and very small) is to not denote performance on a particular day (and use DNP if someone did not play) but list them sequentially. An advantage of this way of listing is to see which players played more, which means that the Twins are interested enough to have many looks. As a bonus, because it is getting close to the seasons and the pitching staff has been somewhat of a concern, I am listing the performances of the pitchers who are "locks" to make the team, but do not include them in the rankings. Here is what the Bench Battle Dashboard looks like today: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7097/7003849219_3083f58d05_b.jpg Here is what the Bullpen Battle Dashboard looks like today: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7060/7003849213_cb4c8f2d18_o.jpg Here is the ranking of the position player combatants today (based on position) : Catchers: ----- Rene Rivera 2.5 J.R. Towles 0.97 Drew Butera 0.73 Daniel Rohlfing 0.67 (MILB) Danny Lehmann 0.28 Chris Herrmann 0.1 (MILB) ---- Danny Rams -0.98 (MILB) Infielders: Chris Parmelee 3.6 Luke Hughes 2.5 Mike Hollimon 2.2 ---- Aaron Bates 1.3 (MILB) Sean Burroughs 1.1 Ray Chang 1.1 Brian Dozier 1.1 Brian Dinkelman 0.76 Tsuyoshi Nishioka 0.84 (MILB) Pedro Florimon 0.55 ---- Steve Pearce -0.31 (MILB) Outfielders: Joe Benson 2.8 ---- Wilkin Ramirez 0.43 (MILB) Matt Carson 0.29 ---- Darin Mastroianni -0.01 (MILB) Rene Tosoni -0.07 (MILB) Oswaldo Arcia -0.33 (MILB) Here is the ranking of pitcher combatants today: Matt Maloney 54.8 P.J. Walters 54.3 (MILB) Casey Fien 53.2 Jeff Manship 52.5 Liam Hendriks 52.4 Jared Burton 51.7 Carlos Gutierrez 51.3 (MILB) Luis Perdomo 51.3 (MILB) --- Esmerling Vasquez 51 (MILB) Daryl Thompson 50.8 (MILB) Kyle Waldrop 50.8 Lester Oliveros 50.3 (MILB) Samuel Deduno 50.2 Aaron Thompson 50 (MILB) Tyler Robertson 49.7 (MILB) Jeff Gray 49.5 Scott Diamond 49 (MILB) --- Brendan Wise 47.8 Phil Dumatrait 46.2 Alex Burnett 45.8 Deolis Guerra 42 (MILB) Jason Bulger 38.3 (MILB) Terry Doyle 31.3 (MiLB - returned to White Sox) As always you can find all Spring Training coverage at The Tenth Inning Stretch here.

Yes, Butera should be in Rochester (or traded). Actually, Rivera so far is ahead of both Butera and Towles, plus Liriano seems to do well when Rivera catches him. If they take 3 catchers he should be the one who comes north.