Thrylos

Sexually suggestive? According to your link, he was just telling him that "he stinks", using other words. No idea what is sexually suggestive about that. Umpires are just a bit too entitled, especially when they do "stink" in doing their job. Sometimes people forget who pays the bills...

yes he does. Back in the day (2011 I think, confirmed here) Baseball America ranked him as the best fielding infielder prospect in the organization. His arm did not get weaker at 23 vs 18... That's from an unbiased source. Take it or leave it My personal bias is that he should be given the opportunity to be the Twins SS of the future, because he is better than any other middle infielder in the organization with the stick and has good instincts, good hands and strong arm. He just needs confidence and concentration that he will not get if they bounce him around.

Because that determination came from the same "brain"trust that thought that made sense to put Sano at the outfield to begin the season. Trust their judgement about the ability of Twins' players to play positions, with a huge grain of salt. Hopefully that will all resolve with the new Front Office this off-season...

23 year old Jorge Alfaro (mainly) who is playing at AA and came from Texas in the Cole Hamels trade, and multiple times top-100 prospect. I bet they want to sell high on Rupp, after his only good season (last season he had a .675 OPS, the one before .484 in the majors and .555 in my hometown AAA team). Not sure that he will be an upgrade over JR Murphy or, especially over Mitch Garver who is hitting .276/.354/.452 in AA. If it were up to me, I'd break camp in 2017 with Garver and Murphy as the 2 Twins' catchers and take it from there.

So you think that an 100-loss team is a C and a SP away from competing? The Twins need a plan. Ramos might fit it, he may not. If the plan is to rebuild and compete in 2019 (when Mauer is not around) then Ramos does not fit the plan

Good stuff. DJ Baxendale's July in Rochester was also remarkable (11 G, 1.64 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 11 IP, 9 H, 3 BB, 11 K) and should probably be included in the list

In other words, you are really sick of being a Catfish Hunter...

Let's revisit this in 2-3 years...

Just out of curiosity (and I am not picking on you, by any means.) Have you ever watched Alex Meyer pitch other than his grand total of 3 games with the Twins? Just because of that "biased" thing...

To get a player with some potential for a guy who would not be with the Twins next season, is a plus. On the other hand, here is a comparison you might find interesting: Pat Light's career AAA numbers: 6.0 BB and 10.0 K/9 (51 games) Jim Hoey's: 5.4 BB and 9.3 K/9 (120 games)

The deal is effectively Alan Busenitz for Alex Meyer. (I really don't care about the mediocre starter swap/salary relief.) Could I ever like this deal? No way. Meyer was really messed up with the Twins and maybe did not have a chance to achieve his potential. On the other hand, my hope was that the 2017 Twins after the regime change would have broken camp with Meyer on top of their rotation, because he is the only guy in the organization with ace potential and because I have seen him pitch at that level. Now if the Twins new GM goes out in the off-season and trades for an ace (like one in the top 10-20 names in this list), I might change my mind.

Another data point: Baseball America had him as the Twins' best fielding SS 3-4 years ago...

Thank you. Lots of suburban legends and fantasies are floating about Jorge Polanco's fielding for some reason...

Dozier is blocking better players and there definitely be someone to offer more than that, based on his HRs. The Twins' have to start selling high. Dozier (and pretty much all veterans in this team) have been part of the problem. Time to go, so there might be a solution. Identical player to Plouffe pretty much, and he should go for the same reasons.

How hard is it to believe that for this organization? Seriously. And, yes, there are bigger problems to worry about and hopefully Pohlad is planning to fix them.

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ----The Twins acquired LHP Adalberto Mejia, from the San Fransisco Giants, in exchange for Eduardo Núñez. Núñez came to the Twins from the Yankees for Miguel Sulbaran who came to the Twins from the Dodgers for Drew Butura who came from the Mets for Louis Castillo who came from the Marlins for RHPs Scott Tyler the Twins 2001 2nd round draft pick and Travis Bowyer the Twins 1999 20th round draft pick. Mejia was signed as international free agent from the Dominican Republic by the Giants in 2011. Mejia last played for the Giants in AAA Sacramento River Cats (Pacific Coast League,) and was invited to their 2016 MLB camp for his first time. He is on the Twins' 40-man roster, and likely September callup. Mejia was born on 6/20/1993 in Bonao, Dominican Republic and was a late bloomer signing by the Giants as an eighteen year old. That season in the Dominican Summer League he impressed, starting 13 games for 76 innings with 71 K (8.4 K/9) and only 8 BB, with a 0.868 WHIP, 1.42 ERA and 1.75 FIP. This was enough for him to skip the Giants' US-based Rookie leagues, jumping right on full season A in 2012, playing for the Augusta GreenJackets of the Southern Atlantic League. He participated in 30 games, among them 14 starts. His final numbers for that season were: 106.7 IP with 79 K (6.7 K/9) 21 BB (1.8 BB/9), with a 1.341 WHIP, 3.97 ERA and 3.29 FIP. He started the season in the pen, with limited success and moved into the rotation in June, where he found success, finishing the season with a 6-3 record, 3.00 ERA and 1.13 WHIP, post All Star break. The next season he moved up to the San Jose Giants of the High A California League. He started 16 games (87 IP) with 89 K (9.2 K/9) and 23 BB (2.4 BB/9) for a 3.31 ERA, 4.20 FIP and 1.126 WHIP. He miss 48 games that season in May and June with shoulder issues, but came back okay. He was called to AAA Fresno to start a single game (5 IP, 5 H, 2 HR, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K) and participated in the Arizona Fall League playing in 7 games, 3 as a starter for 8.47 ERA, 1.529 WHIP, 7.4 K/9 and 4.2 BB/9 in 17 innings. In 2014 he moved up to AA Richmond Flying Squirrels (Eastern League) where he started 21 games and relieved in one, pitching 108 innings with 82 K (6.8 K/9) and 31 BB (2.6 BB/9), for a 1.389 WHIP, 4.67 ERA and 3.78 FIP. He went to the DL three times for 6 days with a leg bruise after a ball hit him in April and for 8- and 12-days in July with finger blisters. His weight that season went up to 240 lbs (he is 6'3") and needed to be reduced. Unfortunately he took a banned weight loss supplement that contained stimulants and tested positive, receiving a 50 day suspension, very much like current Twins' DH/1B Kennys Vargas. He repeated AA in 2015 after he served his suspension. He appeared in 12 games (9 GS), pitching 51.3 innings with 38 K (6.7 K/9) and 18 BB (3.2 BB/9), for a 1.091 WHIP, 2.45 ERA and 3.41 FIP. Despite the nice performance, he needed innings so he returned to the AFL (7 GS, 31 IP , 1.258 WHIP, 3.48 ERA, 7.5 K/9, 4.1 K/BB) and also appeared in the Dominican Winter League (playing for the Gigantes, coinsidentally: 5 GS, 18.3 IP , 1.091 WHIP, 3.44 ERA, 7.9 K/9, 1.5 K/BB). After he was invited to his first MLB spring training as part of the Giants' 40-man roster, he was caught in the numbers games and started against at AA Richmond where he excelled after he trimmed down this season (11 GS, 65 IP , 0.985 WHIP, 1.94 ERA, 8.0 K/9, 2.2 K/BB) forcing his promotion to AAA in his age 23 season (he was 22 at the time.) His numbers (7 GS, 40.7 IP , 1.303 WHIP, 4.20 ERA, 9.5 K/9, 2.4 K/BB) are fairly impressive, especially for the Pacific Coast League. He has an above average to borderline plus fastball that has increased in velocity this season, sitting at 92-94 and touching 95 as a starter. Average to above average command and improving and the pitch is projecting to be plus pitch in the near future. Natural cutting action on the pitch. His slider is his best pitch. Siting at 83-84 mph and up to 86. Nice biting motion, great command and above average control. This is a pitch that he throws anywhere on the count, pretty much like current Twins' starter Tyler Duffey does with his curve ball. He also throws a changeup that is an average to above average pitch that can improve. Nice fluid mechanics. Weight is a consideration for him, and it currently is under control, listed at 195 lbs. His ceiling is that of a number 3 starter, but he has a high floor. His floor is of a 8th inning reliever. He held lefties to a .216/.273/.275 slash line and had 11.3 K/9 against them, which is pretty impressive for the PCL. Mejia was listed as the 5th best Giants' prospect by Baseball America and 7th best by MLB.com. He would be among the top 10 in my Twins' list if I had to do this list now, but likely he will be called up in September and that will disqualify him. Very good return for the Twins.

Shortstop. Might actually be the best option for shortstop the Twins have right now on the roster. No way he should play third (he is 5'11" with cleats, and has not play it that much.) He will be an improvement with the glove at SS over Nunez and is young enough to master the position. He is a better fielder than Sanatana and has great instinct. This is like asking what position should Buxton play...

Not only bunting. I just looked at his July numbers. He had a .335 OBP. And had 11 hits, 8 of which were singles, 2 doubles plus 5 walks. So 15 SB opportunities. Guess what? He tried to steal twice and was thrown out once. Pretty ridiculous with that speed. What would Rickey do? (and Buxton has Rickey speed and at least Rickey intellect.) Something is wrong here big time.

The thing here is that, unlike the Twins, lots of teams trade their prospects who get developed by other teams, which is the equalizing factor in this situation...

I get these points. But about half of the teams that drafted below the Twins from 2008-11, actually did better than the Twins. There was an interesting similar comment arguing that the teams that drafted higher in each draft (like the Nats early) are favorites. So I looked at the top 5 or so individual WAR contributions from each of the early drafts vs. overall draft pick and looked like that: 5 (or so) Highest WARs in draft by drafted position: 2008: 5 (31.6), 135 (18.3), 117 (17.5), 16 (15.2), 96 (14.2) 2009: 25 (44.4), 246 (27.4), 82 (21.9), 63 (18.3), 1 (18.3), 59 (18.0) 2010: 13 (29.4), 3 (22.3), 1 (21.5), 70 (19.2), 23 (12), 272 (11.5) 2011: 172 (13.1), 14 (13.1), 18 (10.3), 11 (9.6), 1 (9.4), 6, (9.1), Funny enough no number 1 pick has the highest draft. As far as the second point goes, this really is part of the drafting strategy and should weigh in the evaluation. The Twins chose to take preps who will take 5 years or so to develop vs. College players who are ready in 2-3. It was a choice and it hurt them. And it is fine to do that if you are willing to fill the gaps with free agents in between, which is not what the TR & Co Twins do Fun thing to speculate: Would the 2015 Twins that nearly missed a post-season berth be there if they chose Wacha over Buxton in 2012?

As the Minnesota Twins are evaluating their front office, I would like to take the opportunity to evaluate the performance of certain parts of their front office for which there might be appropriate objective evaluation criteria. Deron Johnson, the Twins scouting director since 2008, has been primarily responsible for the Rule 4 amateur draft. There is a feeling that the Twins do not draft and develop players well. But drafting and developing are two different things. It's hard to evaluate drafting departments without comparing them to the rest of the league. How has Johnson done against the league? As the Minnesota Twins are evaluating their front office, I would like to take the opportunity to evaluate the performance of certain parts of their front office for which there might be appropriate objective evaluation criteria. Deron Johnson, the Twins scouting director since 2008, has been primarily responsible for the Rule 4 amateur draft. There is a feeling that the Twins do not draft and develop players well. But drafting and developing are two different things. It's hard to evaluate drafting departments without comparing them to the rest of the league. How has Johnson done against the league? ----------- Here is the data: I looked at the overall WAR for each team for each draft for all players selected by that team in the first 10 rounds of that draft. Calculated the average WAR for each draft and the better teams are indicated with green. The teams are listed alphabetically and the Twins are bolded. Averages in yellow indicate small sample size, because simply not enough players made it to the bigs in the last few seasons to make any conclusions, but the ones who made it, count to the total team WAR numbers. Long story short: During the time that Johnson has been in charge of the Twins draft the Twins did better than only six other teams in the league: The Red Sox, Yankees, Phillies and the Rangers and Dodgers who all are willing to open their wallets and buy players drafted and developed by others and, surprisingly, the Rays, who are more than willing to sell everyone high to restock their system with players that other teams drafted to develop. The Twins do neither, so that it a pretty big problem. By this criteria, Deron Johnson has been performing way below average, and D students should go home... Few notes: This is pretty interesting data about where the Twins can look to stock their front office. Surprisingly, the Diamondbacks', Padres', Jays', White Sox', and Nationals' systems might be good sources of scouting talent to replace at least Deron and some of his scouts. If it were not for 2009 where Dozier and Gibson account for most of the Twins' WAR, the numbers would be really pathetic. If you look at teams like the White Sox that have had the fourth best draft WAR in the period and really nothing to show for it in the majors, you can make easy conclusions about problems with their development and management systems. Yes, there are up and downs in most teams, but with the Twins, other than 2009, it has been mostly downs, and the other teams have done something about it (replacing under-performing front office pieces.) Will the Twins do the same? Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch View full article

This is pretty much a 2 month audition for Antony. His job should be on the line. If he succeeds, he has his old job back; if he sits on his rear end or fails miserably, he should follow his old boss. Nothing too complicated.

Miller or Gibson what? And Miller who? Lite?

Got to add Baxendale to the list. Very similar situation with Rogers, but he is doing it in AAA instead of the majors. Would not be surprised if he is with the Twins before anyone mentioned here not named Chargois