Thrylos

I don't think that there were many surprises here. For me the biggest surprises in the list of cuts are Pino and Oliveros who I thought might get a change to win a spot, as well as Raley whom I thought that the Twins would want to see more of, because they gave him a 40-man roster spot (which is now in serious jeopardy) I think that (for me) the biggest message from these first cuts was by the one player on the 40-man without MLB experience who was not cut: Danny Santana. Having Santana around means that the Twins are not ready to hand the starting SS job to Florimon, and this is good news, because I think that both Santana and Escobar are better players overall than Florimon. And Santana is older than Arcia and just younger than Pinto and Hicks, so he is not too young to come up North...

Two words: Fransisco Liriano. He is a strikeout pitcher. Andy wanted him to get his sinker going first to set up his slider and that did not work for him. FF a season to Pittsburgh with a hitting coach who told him to do what he needed to do and Liriano throwing 30% sliders with the results we know. These guys make even strikeout pitchers non-strikeout pitchers...

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- Yesterday I speculated about the first cuts of the Spring Training for the Minnesota Twins. This morning the Twins announced these cuts and there were only a couple names I have not mentioned yesterday. After these 16 cuts, the Twins now have 48 players in the major league camp. Here is the full list of the cuts: 40-man roster: Optioned to AAA Rochester Red Wings: LHP Logan Darnell LHP Edgar Ibarra LHP Brooks Raley RHP Trevor May Optioned to AA New Britain Rock Cats: 1B Kennys Vargas Optioned to A+ Fort Myers Miracle: OF Max Kepler SS Jorge Polanco Non-roster invitees: Re-assigned to the Minor League Camp: OF Byron Buxton C Kyle Knudson C Matt Koch RHP Alex Meyer RHP Lester Oliveros RHP Yohan Pino OF Chris Rahl 3B Miguel Sano C Stuart Turner The only surprises that I did not see yesterday, were Oliveros, Pino, Raley and Buxton. I thought that the Twins might want a longer look at the first 3, and even-though Buxton looked over-matched, I thought that they might want him to hang around a bit longer. It made sense to cut another catcher, since they re-assigned more pitchers than I thought. Even more importantly is who did not get cut, especially among players who never played in the majors and are on the 40-man roster. It was not a surprise, but a confirmation that the Twins will not hang the starting SS job to Pedro Florimon, without taking a long look at Danny Santana (and Eduardo Escobar,) both of whom are having a great Spring. Also not a surprise that the Twins let the two Jasons (Bartlett and Kubel) be around a little longer, even though they are definitely not performing. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8244/8607103336_d44c2a4bd1_z.jpg

No (other than the first sentence.) There are several Twins' pitchers who are throwing splitters, including Burton and Pelfrey. A splitter is a changeup and not a fastball The splitter grip can be either like the 4-seamer or the 2-seamer (with the fingers running on the side of the ball) and not touching the seams. On the 2-seamer you have to run your fingers across the seams. 4-seamer like splitter grip (but fingers need to be even further apart) : http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4a/Split-finger_fastball_2.JPG/220px-Split-finger_fastball_2.JPG 2-seamer like splitter grip http://www.thecompletepitcher.com/images/grips/Splitfront.jpg 2-seamer grip. http://probaseballinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/2seamFastball.jpg

Perceptions Ruiz' career minor league numbers: .305/.377/.535, 229HR, 48SB/31CS (13 seasons) (and he hit .272/.332/.488 with 12 HR (and 2 SBs) in 217 MLB ABs) Colabello's career minor and independent league numbers: .315/.389/.522 129HR, 25SB/22CS (9 seasons) So. Their slash lines are pretty much the same and Ruiz has more power and more speed than Colabello. And Ruiz was 30 while Colabello 29 in their first MLB call ups. I'd say they are pretty darn good comparables.

Alright. Can you take that one step further and maybe say that a pitching coach who wants all of his pitchers to throw the sinker first and foremost does not belong in baseball in this day and age?

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- Like most teams the Minnesota Twins will be announcing the first cuts of the major league Spring Training camp very soon. Who will those players be? One group of players who gets cut first are players on the 40-man roster who do not have much likelihood to make the team and were added on the roster for protection's sake. I think that Logan Darnell, Max Kepler, Jorge Polanco and Kennys Vargas will be the four casualties from this category. I think that Trevor May is on the bubble and might be in the first cuts list as well, because he has been pitching primarily in relief (and not that great) and will need to be stretched as a starter and it might be good timing with the minor league games starting the coming Monday. Edgar Ibarra, who has yet to play because of Hepatitis B, is another serious candidate to go to the minor league camp to recuperate. I think that the Twins will want to have a longer look on Danny Santana, Kris Johnson (they are performing really well and with Pedro Florimon yet to play because of his apendectomy and the fifth starter job wide open, there might be real opportunities). I also suspect that the Twins would want a longer look on Brooks Raley because he just has not been around much and they might need to make a decision on his 40-man roster spot. There is not much pressure to cut non-roster invitees (because they do not have to be in the Major League DL, receive ML pay and have their clocks ticking, if there is an injury during camp,) but I suspect that some will be cut as well. Sean Gilmartin would be a good candidate from this group because of the opportunity to get stretched in Minor League games. Also with the reduction in pitchers, the Twins are likely to demote a catcher or two, because they do not need them, with Stuart Turner and Matt Koch being the most likely. Even though Jason Kubel and Jason Bartlett are having a hard time hitting the ball, I suspect that the Twins will give them every opportunity to succeed in Spring Training. This might not be the case for Chris Rahl who sees fellow non-roster outfielder invitees Jermaine Mitchell, Darin Mastroianni and Wilkin Ramirez performing better than him. Here are the latest battle dashboards updated for today's game (and you can find all of the 2014 Spring Training dashboards here) : A reminder of the scoring system: For the pitchers, I quantify using a measurement created by Bill James more than a decade ago called " Game Score". It is calculated as follows: You start with 50 points for each pitcher. Add 1 point for each out. Add 1 point for each strikeout. Subtract 2 points for each hit. Subtract 4 points for each earned run. Subtract 2 points for each unearned run. Subtract 1 point for each walk. There is a point bonus for pitching more than 4 innings as well, adding 2 points for each IP after the 4th, but this is not too applicable here. Game Scored of 49-51 are "average" (yellow), everything higher than 51 "above average" (green), and everything below 49 "below average" (red). For position players, I devised a similar metric that goes like this: Start with 0 points (unlike the pitching Game Score that starts with 50) Add 1 point for each Run, RBI, 2B, SB, BB, and HBP recorded. Add 2.5 for each hit, 3 for each 3B and 4 for each HR. Subtract 1 for each CS and GIDP, subtract 1 for each error, for catchers add 1 for each CS Subtract 0.2 for each SO and 0.5 for each AB. Again, as in the Pitching Battle Dashboard, the Position Player Battle Dashboard is color-coded based on average, above average and below average performances, where: Average is Batting Game Score between 0 and 2 Above average is Batting Game Score higher than 2 Below average is Batting Game Score less than 0 Players on the 40-man roster are in bold. The ones without options are also underlined. Lefty pitchers are in italics. Here is the Dashboard for the Twins' position players: http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3561/13023264433_20ff891743_o.jpg And for the Twins' pitchers: http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2627/13023264663_129d2596d1_o.jpg

I don't know about playoffs (*) or not, but I would not bet against the Twins making the post-season with a revamped rotation, a dedication to younger players (like Hicks, Pinto, Arcia all starting) a better fielding team (which means Mr Willingham, you are slitting DH duties with Mr Parmelee) and hitters hitting up to their potential. If the Fryers and the Presleys and the Bartletts of the world start, then it is a different story... (*) there are not playoffs in baseball other than a potential play in game. On the same line, and totally disappointing, on the MLB Network guide today, Spring Training games were listed as "pre-season" games. That's what happens when football people are dealing with baseball

The Twins said that Polanco will be used as a shortstop going on (and this is great news), so he is not 2B depth unless something happens

The Twins said that Polanco will play full time SS this season. His contact and eye are better than almost all Twins' infielders (save Rosario, maybe.) This is the guy who could be the Twins next great SS, if his fielding holds up. He has made tremendous strides at fielding and it mostly is a range issue at this point.

That was the ghost of Bartlett's past bat. This spring training Bartlett cannot make contact even if the ball were sitting on a tee...

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7415/13011282643_a35ec73fe7_o.jpg

You could say the exact same thing about Randy Ruiz as well... just sayin'

one word: beano

I have no idea why Florimon (his bat is weak, Escobar is much better with the bat and pretty close in fielding if not even better. Gotta start a Free Eduardo Escobar movement one of these days) and Fien (he has an option and has been pitching over his head last season) should be givens. Also Fryer gives this team zero that Pinto or even Herrmann (who has much more versatility) does not. Fryer's 40-man roster spot should be the first or second (paging Mr Raley) that should open. As far as pitching goes, I have this feeling (and maybe because his name has been mentioned in the Philly area, and the Phillies are kinda slated to go with Jeff Manship as their fifth starter - yes THAT Jeff Manship) that Correia (and/or Worley, even though I did not hear anything about him) for that matter will get traded, opening a spot in the rotation for Gibson plus one, which might not be a bad thing. Also, Presley is way far removed from being a lock. He is out of options, but the Twins have many options in addition to him...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/01/09234_233_Rondell_White.jpg/512px-09234_233_Rondell_White.jpg

Interestingly enough, that would had been his first MLB career steal

How about the quote from Buxton that he was just taking a bunch of pitches to get an idea of the strike zone

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- The Twins lost to the Baltimore Orioles' travel squad yesterday in a pretty bad way (11-5.) Here are the Spring Training Battle Dashboards updated after yesterday's game: For position players: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7424/12966868145_25dfce691f.jpg For pitchers http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2214/12966868315_0c1783496e.jpg Scott Diamond's performance, even though collectively awful, and reflected by the lowest Game Score this season, it was a tale of two innings: He pitched a really excellent fifth inning (which actually made me think that he might be a decent choice for the pen potentially, if he does not make the rotation,) and a really really poor sixth inning with balls going all over the place and a hard time throwing strikes. What was the difference? In the fifth inning he pitched fast and had a very fluid delivery. One single fluid non-stop motion. In the sixth inning he was tentative and looked like he was thinking too much about what he was throwing and it was a lot like last season. When Diamond does that, he tends to do this exaggerated pause at the end of his delivery and it is very noticeable with his back leg: The foot hangs up in the air with the cleats facing upwards and his his body parallel to the ground, and he stays there immobile for a full second or two, as the pitch is traveling to the plate and he is watching it hit the glove (or the bat or the dirt) in this position. Like this: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7319/12966869565_cbcb83ec2a_z.jpg It might make a pretty interesting yoga posture, but not good baseball: That pitch is almost in the glove, the delivery should have ended, both feet should be on the ground and he should be ready to field his position. And all those things mentioned in the previous sentence were there for Diamond the previous (successful) inning. I don't think that it is a cause and effect relationship (as if the exaggerated pausing and posturing would cause bad pitches) but a symptom of maybe forcing it up there or thinking too much or trying to be too perfect, instead of just pitching and letting go. He did the same pausing at the end of his delivery all last season. Just another thing to watch this Spring.

Have you seen Presley "play" this spring? Who makes the Twins better: A Hicks on top of his game or Presley on top of his? If they do anything, they need to hand the job to Hicks again and let Presley and Mastro and Ramirez fight it for the last bench spot.

He had some lower back "tightness" in the beginning of ST so they are giving him a bit more of a rest... He has played exactly as many games as Suzuki and Fryer and one less than Herrmann (but Herrmann has played multiple positions)

http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/dd/f1/d7/ddf1d797094c4f3ad10ebe6d1ba778d5.jpg

It was not only Pelfrey who was a rain delay last year (who was actually more that 3 seconds slower than his usual pace of the three previous seasons) and he was not even the pitcher who took the longest between pitches for the Twins (he was second). The whole team was bad. Data here.

I do see Suzuki as a lock to make the 25-man roster, but not as a lock to be the starter. I can definitely see a 50% arrangement with Pinto there to begin the season, and then move to 75-25 in favor of Pinto by season's end. I do not see Presley as a lock to make the 25-man and much more to be the starter. He really has not proven himself in the majors and so far looks really over matched at the plate and his range looks pretty smallish on the field (yesterday he let a fly ball, that was not routine but catchable with better positioning and faster reaction to its trajectory, sail over his head for example.) Bartlett and Kubel look overmatched so far at the plate. Their timing is non-existent. Kubel is practically fighting with Parmelee for a spot here and Parmelee has the edge both on the field and at the plate. Bartlett is so bad, he might just be among the first cuts next week just for mercy's sake.

There is not one online. You can find a list of the players invited in the MLB camp here. All players have their names on their jerseys so you can tell who is who. Occasionally there are lists of minor leaguers at the MiLB locker room area. Oh nine hundred sharp, but there are players out earlier Minor leaguers at the back fields and usually playing games. Major leaguers having batting practice and/or drills on the field next to Hammond. Some guys in the cages under Hammond. Various drills in the backfields like pitchers fielding or infield drills, bunting etc. Enjoy!