Thrylos

[I]Originally published at [URL="http://tenthinningstretch.blogspot.com/2013/07/from-aj-to-dj-to-eddie-but-no-sano-rock.html"]The Tenth Inning Stretch[/URL][/I] ----- Despite the current drama within the Twins' organization with their future star third baseman, which is getting to be about as bad as that of the Yankees with their former star third baseman, and unsure whether the unanimous number three prospect in baseball would play, I made the forty five minute trip to Reading (think of "ready" when pronouncing it, not " 'riting" and " 'rithmetic") to watch the Rock Cats face the Phillies' AA team, the Reading Fighting Phils. The major attraction in my book was starter [B]DJ Baxendale[/B] (whom [URL="http://tenthinningstretch.blogspot.com/2013/03/random-spring-training-thoughts-from_24.html"]I last watched live in Spring Training making the unanimous number one prospect in baseball look like a fool[/URL], striking out on three pitches.) Baxendale was a different pitcher tonight. Not sure whether it had to do with his recent three week stint in the disabled list, but his fastball was down a couple notches to 88-90 mph and he had a hard time controlling it the way he did in the spring. This game was almost rained out, but when he pitched the weather was not a factor. His curveball in low the 70's was his best pitch and he showed great command, throwing it for strikes and intentionally throwing it in the dirt. His low 80's change-up did have movement, but for some reason he wasn't throwing it much. I did not see any sliders. His main arsenal was the curve and he threw it a lot. So he did not have his best stuff out there, but despite that he looked very poised. I checked him on the centerfield camera a couple times and the way he pitches reminds me of Brad Radke, but substitute curve for change-up. Very similar fluid mechanics with good follow through and easy motion. In addition to not being 100% he was unlucky: [B]Nate Hanson[/B] let a couple catchable balls go through at third (one for a double) and [B]Jordan Paraz[/B] let a catchable ball fly sail over his head in short center. These accounted for three runs. Add a Reading batter who got "hit" on the toe, but didn't try to get out of the way and a two run error on [B]Dan Rohlfing[/B] and you get the rest of the picture. [B]Eddie Rosario[/B] was impressive. He might be the second player who will make it to the bigs from this bunch. Excellent speed and very good feet and an even cutting motion at second. He is owning the position. Add a batting average around .320 (he was batting third) and he might be on his way soon. I have seen him hit and I knew he could hit, but color me very impressed with his glove at second. For sure he will rise on the lists as soon as the national writers see him play. He changed his number from 2 to 13. This was what he was wearing today. Rumors that he did it in support of Jerry White, are unsubstantiated. [B]Josmil Pinto[/B] likely will be the first guy up from this squad, maybe as soon as September, or earlier, trading deadline deals willing. Since last spring, he has gained a good 20 pounds of solid muscle and looks pretty dominant out there. He was the DH tonight. I did not have much chance to see [B]Danny Santana [/B]and [B]Danny Ortiz[/B] play live, but they are both solid with the bat. Santana is very fast as well and he flashes a nice glove at short. Definitely a possibility at short with the big club. [B]Evan Bigley[/B] seems to slowly be getting back from his injury, which is a shame because he was close to becoming a mainstay in Rochester in a season the big club is very thin in outfielders. Journeymen [B]Reynaldo Rodriguez[/B] and [B]Jordan Paraz, [/B]neither of who have any future with the Twins were at first ([B]Kennys Vargas [/B]anyone?) and center. [B]Nate Hanson[/B],26 years old[B],[/B] was plainly disappointing with the glove today. I think this might be the end of the road for him. [B]Dan Rohlfing[/B] has had a puzzling season. After a great spring, he has had a very miserable summer both at the plate and on the field. [B]Blake Martin[/B] was better than I remember, with a fastball in the 90's and a variety of off-speed stuff. Might have some future as a "crafty lefty", but he is 27 and the organization is full of this type of pitcher. [B]AJ Pettersen[/B] sat, as did [B]Angel Morales[/B] and [B]Miguel Sano[/B]. I am not going to get into the Sano drama in this piece. Morales and Sano shared first base coaching duties. I took a whole bunch of pictures, but will put them up later, because it is getting late here on the east coast. But I am leaving you with the following parting shot: [CENTER] [URL="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3811/9382321846_18764053ef_c.jpg"][IMG]http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3811/9382321846_18764053ef_c.jpg[/IMG][/URL][/CENTER] Thunder came and the skies opened at the top of the seventh inning while the score was 2-8. I did not stay any longer. View full article

Few tidbits from the Rock Cats game today: Sano did not play (this is old news) but was on the field at third during BP and infield drills. He was sitting on the bench talking with the starting pitchers who did not pitch today other than one inning that he relieved Angel Morales from first base coach duties. As far as I observed in the ballpark it was business as usual. No moping. If this whole drama was not out and about, nobody would know that Sano is being "punished". FYI.

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ----- Despite the current drama within the Twins' organization with their future star third baseman, which is getting to be about as bad as that of the Yankees with their former star third baseman, and unsure whether the unanimous number three prospect in baseball will play, I made the forty five minute trip to Reading (think of "ready" when pronouncing it, not "righting" and "rithmetic") to watch the Rock Cats face the Phillies' AA team, the Reading Fighting Phils. The major attraction in my book was DJ Baxendale starting (whom I last watched live in Spring Training making the unanimous number one prospect in baseball look like a fool, striking out in three pitches.) Baxendale was different tonight. Not sure whether it had to do with his recent three week stint in the disabled list, but his fastball was down a couple notches to 88-90 mph and he had a hard time command it, the way he did in the spring. This game was almost rained out, but when he pitched the weather was not a factor. His curveball in low 70s was his best pitch and he showed great command throwing for strikes and intentionally throwing it at the dirt. Low 80s change up did have movement, but for some reason he was not throwing much of it. I did not see any sliders. His main arsenal was the curve today and he threw it a lot. So he did not have his best stuff out there, but he looked very poised pitching despite that. I checked him on the centerfield camera a couple times and the way he pitches reminds me of Brad Radke, but substitute curve for change up. Very similar fluid mechanics with good follow through and easy motion. In addition to not being 100% he was unlucky: Nate Hanson let a couple of catchable balls go through at third (one for a double) and Jordan Paraz let a catchable ball fly over his head in short center. These were good for 3 runs. Add a Reading batter who got "hit" on the toe, but did not try to get out of the way and a two run error on Dan Rohlfing and you get the rest of the picture. Eddie Rosario was impressive. He might be the second player who will make it in the bigs from this bunch. Excellent speed and very good feet and even cutting motion at second. He is owning the position. Add a batting average around .320 (he was batting third) and he might be on his way soon. I have seen him hit and I know that he can hit, but color me very impressed with his glove at second. For sure he will rise on the lists as soon as the national writers see him play. He changed his number from 2 to 13. This was what he was wearing today. Rumors that he did it in support of Jerry White, are unsubstantiated. Josmil Pinto likely will be the first guy up from this squad, maybe as soon as September, or earlier, trading deadline deals willing. Since last Spring, he gained a good 20 pounds of solid muscle and looks pretty dominant out there. He was the DH tonight. I did not have much change to see Danny Santana and Danny Ortiz play live, but they are both solid with the bat. Santana is very fast as well and he flashes a nice glove at short. Definitely a possibility at short with the big club. Evan Bigley seems to slowly get back from his injury, which is a shame because he was close to becoming a mainstay in Rochester in a season that the big club is very thin in outfielders. Journeymen Reynaldo Rodriguez and Jordan Paraz, neither of who have any future with the Twins were at first (Kennys Vargas anyone?) and center. Nate Hanson was plainly disappointing with the glove today and he is 26. I think that this might be the end of the road for him. Dan Rohlfing has had a puzzling season. After a great Spring, he has a very miserable summer both at the plate and on the field. Blake Martin was better than I remember, with a fastball in the 90s and a variety of off-speed stuff. Might have some future as a "crafty lefty", but he is 27 and the organization is full of these type of pitchers. AJ Pettersen did not play. So did Angel Morales and Miguel Sano. I am not going to get into the Sano drama in this piece. Morales and Sano shared first base coach duty. I took a whole bunch of pictures, but will put them up later, because it is getting late here on the east coast. But I am leaving you with the following parting shot: http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3811/9382321846_18764053ef_c.jpg The skies opened at the top of the seventh inning with thunder while the score was 2-8. I did not stay any longer.

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ----- Despite the current drama within the Twins' organization with their future star third baseman, which is getting to be about as bad as that of the Yankees with their former star third baseman, and unsure whether the unanimous number three prospect in baseball will play, I made the forty five minute trip to Reading (think of "ready" when pronouncing it, not "righting" and "rithmetic") to watch the Rock Cats face the Phillies' AA team, the Reading Fighting Phils. The major attraction in my book was DJ Baxendale starting (whom I last watched live in Spring Training making the unanimous number one prospect in baseball look like a fool, striking out in three pitches.) Baxendale was different tonight. Not sure whether it had to do with his recent three week stint in the disabled list, but his fastball was down a couple notches to 88-90 mph and he had a hard time command it, the way he did in the spring. This game was almost rained out, but when he pitched the weather was not a factor. His curveball in low 70s was his best pitch and he showed great command throwing for strikes and intentionally throwing it at the dirt. Low 80s change up did have movement, but for some reason he was not throwing much of it. I did not see any sliders. His main arsenal was the curve today and he threw it a lot. So he did not have his best stuff out there, but he looked very poised pitching despite that. I checked him on the centerfield camera a couple times and the way he pitches reminds me of Brad Radke, but substitute curve for change up. Very similar fluid mechanics with good follow through and easy motion. In addition to not being 100% he was unlucky: Nate Hanson let a couple of catchable balls go through at third (one for a double) and Jordan Paraz let a catchable ball fly over his head in short center. These were good for 3 runs. Add a Reading batter who got "hit" on the toe, but did not try to get out of the way and a two run error on Dan Rohlfing and you get the rest of the picture. Eddie Rosario was impressive. He might be the second player who will make it in the bigs from this bunch. Excellent speed and very good feet and even cutting motion at second. He is owning the position. Add a batting average around .320 (he was batting third) and he might be on his way soon. I have seen him hit and I know that he can hit, but color me very impressed with his glove at second. For sure he will rise on the lists as soon as the national writers see him play. He changed his number from 2 to 13. This was what he was wearing today. Rumors that he did it in support of Jerry White, are unsubstantiated. Josmil Pinto likely will be the first guy up from this squad, maybe as soon as September, or earlier, trading deadline deals willing. Since last Spring, he gained a good 20 pounds of solid muscle and looks pretty dominant out there. He was the DH tonight. I did not have much change to see Danny Santana and Danny Ortiz play live, but they are both solid with the bat. Santana is very fast as well and he flashes a nice glove at short. Definitely a possibility at short with the big club. Evan Bigley seems to slowly get back from his injury, which is a shame because he was close to becoming a mainstay in Rochester in a season that the big club is very thin in outfielders. Journeymen Reynaldo Rodriguez and Jordan Paraz, neither of who have any future with the Twins were at first (Kennys Vargas anyone?) and center. Nate Hanson was plainly disappointing with the glove today and he is 26. I think that this might be the end of the road for him. Dan Rohlfing has had a puzzling season. After a great Spring, he has a very miserable summer both at the plate and on the field. Blake Martin was better than I remember, with a fastball in the 90s and a variety of off-speed stuff. Might have some future as a "crafty lefty", but he is 27 and the organization is full of these type of pitchers. AJ Pettersen did not play. So did Angel Morales and Miguel Sano. I am not going to get into the Sano drama in this piece. Morales and Sano shared first base coach duty. I took a whole bunch of pictures, but will put them up later, because it is getting late here on the east coast. But I am leaving you with the following parting shot: http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3811/9382321846_18764053ef_c.jpg The skies opened at the top of the seventh inning with thunder while the score was 2-8. I did not stay any longer.

Actually I have rethought it, and by far the best deadline trade (and would had paid dividents for the Twins, if Ryan did not screw up downstream; imagine a legit DH added to the Cy Young and MVP team) was Hollins for Arias. Hands down. But I suspect that TR would not like to visit that territory...

The point is that Thome was not traded (in a trade you get something in return). He was given away. I have no problem with trading Thome for something. But he did not...

Well, bottom line of this article is that TR cannot make a decent deadline trade; but to be fair I'd put his Reed for Lawton and his Steward for Kielty trades up there. These 2 helped the Twins, but not his other deadline trades... Letting Thome go to just go, was pathetic too.

Phils not Phillies Changed their nickname from Reading Phillies to Reading Fighting Phils this off-season. And an ostrich as their maskot. Crazy things. I am going to the game tonight so Sano better be there Regardless, Baxendale is pitching so that would be a treat. Will have a write up after the game; also will try to gauge the situation in the Rock Cats' dugout... At this point Jeff Smith is cutting his nose to spite his face. 8 Ls in a row, survey says that Smith will go the Nieto way, if the Rock Cats do not improve this season...

Because there were not mentioned, here are a couple more facts about this: - The pitcher was the ex-Rock Cat Bobby Lanigan. The same Bobby Lanigan who have had several altercations with Miguel Sano in New Britain including some in public and on record (and I am not sure that this is not part of the reason that Lanigan is an ex-Twin) So there was bad blood and Sano "spoke on the field" and he wanted to make an emphasis. - There is a 7 game losing streak there. Seven. This weighs on a lot of people including the coach and the players. Some not so factual things: - Look at this celebration and look at the "Lambeau Leap" and ask yourselves which is more excessive. - Look at what Sano did and remind yourselves of what Randy Moss did at Green Bay at that play off game. Ask yourselves which is more excessive. And if you are a Vikings' fan, ask yourselves whether that was not one of the all time Vikings highlights for you. Different strokes for different folks. And nothing is black and white.

This is old news. The days the Twins had an interpreter for a single Japanese player and nobody to communicate to the young promising Latinos (other than Jerry with broken Spanish) they was an outcry by some, but the Twins were "winning"... Now the bandwagon is getting fuller...

This is garbage. (Especially since I will be seeing the Rock Cats at Reading this Saturday. Totally mad at Molitor if he does not play.) The "Twins way" resulted in 99+96+9? , about time to appreciate players who show some emotion instead of players (and managers and general managers) who are ok with losing and go about their (losing) business as if nothing matters. Total garbage.

Makes sense, but a word of caution: Not everybody responds to an increase in innings (stretch) the same way. Lots of it has to do with the prep work these guys did in the off-season, the way they take care of themselves, the shape they are and their genetics. Cookie cutter approaches rarely work. Individual assessments needed.

Bud Norris would be a step above Diamond and Worley. Kinda (good) Pelfrey like. The Twins do not need these kind of pitchers at this point. If they are going to trade prospects, they better go after someone with an 1-2 upside (in a contender) instead of adding to their collection of mediocre pitchers

I am ok with not trading Morneau if they do not get any real prospects and agree to an extension for next season with a contract like they gave Thome (because this is what he is worth right now) with additional incentives if he finds his lost power. But he will not sign for that. It is a 2 way street. The Twins cannot afford to overpay for the ghost of Morneau's past; someone will. Morneau will take it. So it not the Twins' fault all the way. They got to trade him...

And comparing Walker to a steroids cheater and a druggie does not do him any favors...

"Shakeup"? And "huge"? Gee... Read the title and I was thinking that a bunch of players were cut or something. Instead some got well-deserved promotions. This is the SOP in the minors, not a "shakeup"

I think that the Twins would be crazy not to do this....

The Twins got to sell high. And remember where he was 3 years ago. Very possible that another failed starter will step up to be a closer for the Twins. They got to do it, especially if someone is willing to overpay...

suck is too much for public. Agreed. He could say that "they need to work out the kinks" or something like that, other than offering a phony excuse (they need swings - that's up to him to give them those.) That's my issue here. Lies. I think that going to Rochester will be better for them in the long run. The only funkiness in this is that it leaves the Twins with only 2 real OFs: Hicks and Thomas. So LF will be a rotation of Thomas and Herrmann and RF of Doumit and Colabello.

That is BS of an excuse. He can go out and say that they suck, because they do, and they need to get their act together. He can play them every day at LF and RF, with Thomas on the bench and Doumit as the DH. But not that "they need at bats". Well deserved for Bernier btw and I think that the Twins fans will like what they see. Hard nosed player in the Punto mold who would be fine coming off the bench.

and last

Walters got the boot. Worley (and Albers and Hernandez) Hendriks (like DeVries, remember him?) has been hurt or ineffective when not hurt Blackburn is a lost cause Meyer is still out and not sure when he will be pitching again. I think that the Twins will take it easy with him

The only thing missing in this train of thought is that Duensing's FB averages 92 and peaks at 94ish. Also his FIP has been around 3 this season. Just unlucky (BABIP around .370). Thielbar and Hernandez average under 90 with their FB and their peaks are at just about 90. Cannot replace him. Need another lefty who can throw heat out there. If all Ryan can get is a warm body, fo'getaboutit.

Your list is more recent including this season's additions, but I went over this topic here last season in depth, looking at things such as WHIP & ERA as well and not only K/9. Conclusion of course is the same So it might be interesting reading