Thrylos

This was originally posted at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- Here is this week's installment (also heavily influenced by Spring Training) : Today is Spring Training Reporting day for the Twins' minor leaguers. You can find the full MiLB Spring Training Schedule here. And if you wonder what the Twins' minor leaguers feel about the off-season and Spring Training, you should read this article by Twins LHP prospect Tony Davis, this by fellow LHP prospect Ryan O'Rourke, this by RHP prospect Dakota Watts, and this from AJ Petersen, Twins' middle infield prospect, who are all reporting at the Lee County Sports Complex today Joel Zumaya will have Tommy John surgery with Dr Andrews. The Twins will pay for the surgery. He will try for a comeback next season, but will be a free agent, and I hope that the Twins get first dibs to sign him back. Still not clear whether they will keep him in the 60 day DL all season (and pay and extra $450K,) or release him. He has not been officially released. Weird concurrence number one on Sunday when the Twins had split squad games against Boston and Tampa Bay: Both Rene Rivera and Drew Butera got out at the same time to finish the inning in their respective games. Weird concurrence number 2: the Tampa Bay and the Boston pitchers struck out the Twins 'side at the same time in both of their respective games. Weird concurrence number three: When Chris Parmelee hit his home run in the Rays' game, Luke Hughes missed one by two feet (knocked down by the wind) at the Boston game. You cannot make that stuff up. A former Twins' player has been unsuccessful in reaching Justin Morneau. Also, a Twins' hopeful, 1B Aaron Bates, started to blog at the Twins Daily site. Two former Twins are very vocal against Target Field. This is what one of them looks in his new uniform. Meanwhile, we learned that Joe Mauer has become an action figure; whereas Ryan Doumit showed a strong OF arm We also learned that Drew Butera has another career lined up if Baseball is not in his future. Twins' player tweet of the week goes to Ben Revere (again) with this one. This one from an ESPN analyst, should be posted on the walls of the Twins' clubhouse. Word of the Week is maladroit, as in "Jason Bulger's performance against the Red Sox (4 walks, a grand slam and a hit) was maladroit". Jason Marquis's second inning against the Red Sox last night was one of those, too. --- Please go to the original post, if you would like to see the parting shot of the week, a video featuring Joe Mauer and Ron Garenhire. Not sure how to embed video here.

This was originally posted at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- Here is this week's installment (also heavily influenced by Spring Training) : Today is Spring Training Reporting day for the Twins' minor leaguers. You can find the full MiLB Spring Training Schedule here. And if you wonder what the Twins' minor leaguers feel about the off-season and Spring Training, you should read this article by Twins LHP prospect Tony Davis, this by fellow LHP prospect Ryan O'Rourke, this by RHP prospect Dakota Watts, and this from AJ Petersen, Twins' middle infield prospect, who are all reporting at the Lee County Sports Complex today Joel Zumaya will have Tommy John surgery with Dr Andrews. The Twins will pay for the surgery. He will try for a comeback next season, but will be a free agent, and I hope that the Twins get first dibs to sign him back. Still not clear whether they will keep him in the 60 day DL all season (and pay and extra $450K,) or release him. He has not been officially released. Weird concurrence number one on Sunday when the Twins had split squad games against Boston and Tampa Bay: Both Rene Rivera and Drew Butera got out at the same time to finish the inning in their respective games. Weird concurrence number 2: the Tampa Bay and the Boston pitchers struck out the Twins 'side at the same time in both of their respective games. Weird concurrence number three: When Chris Parmelee hit his home run in the Rays' game, Luke Hughes missed one by two feet (knocked down by the wind) at the Boston game. You cannot make that stuff up. A former Twins' player has been unsuccessful in reaching Justin Morneau. Also, a Twins' hopeful, 1B Aaron Bates, started to blog at the Twins Daily site. Two former Twins are very vocal against Target Field. This is what one of them looks in his new uniform. Meanwhile, we learned that Joe Mauer has become an action figure; whereas Ryan Doumit showed a strong OF arm We also learned that Drew Butera has another career lined up if Baseball is not in his future. Twins' player tweet of the week goes to Ben Revere (again) with this one. This one from an ESPN analyst, should be posted on the walls of the Twins' clubhouse. Word of the Week is maladroit, as in "Jason Bulger's performance against the Red Sox (4 walks, a grand slam and a hit) was maladroit". Jason Marquis's second inning against the Red Sox last night was one of those, too. --- Please go to the original post, if you would like to see the parting shot of the week, a video featuring Joe Mauer and Ron Garenhire. Not sure how to embed video here.

DOUgh-mitt. No pun intented.

Yes he does

Here is the BoSox lineup: 1. Jose Iglesias, SS 2. Ryan Sweeney, RF 3. Kevin Youkilis, 3B 4. David Ortiz, 1B 5. Darnell McDonald, DH 6. Josh Kroeger, LF, 7. Kelly Shoppach, C 8. Nick Punto, 2B 9. Jason Repko, CF RHP Clay Buchholz And that is not a typo: Dave Ortiz 1B

Rhet Bollinger reports that "Jerry White is in the hospital overnight to get checked out for stomach and chest tightness." Hope all is alright with him. Please post any updates

Trying to guess who the Twins will take in the 2012 draft, right now, is akin to trying to guess who the Vikings will take in the 2013 draft, right now. There is a full season of ball to be played between now and the draft (both of those drafts btw) and a lot of things may and will change for sure. I will probably wait until at least late May to even think about predicting the draft.

Part of the game. And it matters to any hitter especially the good ones. The bad ones (see: Butera, Andrew Edward) cannot hit even if they know what's coming.

Looks like lots of the guys who pitched on the B-game last Thursday minus Baker, Blackburn and Bulger, plus Marquis and Gray. Gutierrez really needs to get his act together in this one. Punto and Repko starting for the BoSox Had to double-check, but we will see history made in this game: This is Ryan Doumit's 1st ever start at LF in the pro-level. Never played left in his career. And has been a pro since 1999. Not sure about high school....

Revere is 23 years old. He still has some learning to do and complete his game. I really never understood the frustration of some fans with younger players who have yet to reach their peak. Here are some numbers just for fun: Ben Revere's age 23 season: .267/.310/.309 (.619 OPS) Carlos Gomez' age 23 season: .229/.287/.337 (.623 OPS) Delmon Young's age 23 season: .284/.308/.425 (.733 OPS) Kirby Puckett's age 24 (was in the minors for his age 23 season: ) .296/.320/.336 (.655 OPS) Gomez with similar numbers and better defence than Revere was rushed out of town. Ditto Delmon Young but his was in an injury-ladden season a season and a half later, following a .298/.333/.493 age 24 season, in which he single handedly pretty much carried the team to the post-season after Morneau's injury. Kirby because the Twins' fans darling, but that was in an era in which people were more patient regarding young hitters.

This has been previously published at The Tenth Inning Stretch. I have highligheted the four questions the Twins need to answer this Spring Training previously. With a couple weeks in the books in Spring Training, the Twins so far have played 4 games (3 official and a "B" game that does not count in the standings or in the players' statistics officially) so there are hints of light for some of those. The starting outfield: All indications seem that the Twins will go with Span at Center Field and Willingham at right field, whereas there will be a platoon of Ben Revere and Trevor Plouffe at left. This will happen, unless one of the two left fielders will have either a very impressive or very unimpressive season, which will result in bench relegation (or in Revere's case because, unlike Plouffe, he has options, in a trip to Rochester.) Another issue that needs to be resolved is how Willingham's defense is at RF. If he has problems and becomes the starting left fielder, the mix will need to be re-looked and Doumit also added to the equation. So far Willingham did not have problems in the single game he played on the field, and both Plouffe and Revere have been performing well with the bat (even though Revere has a gaffe on the base paths against Boston the other day. Also, Denard Span seems to be better as far as his concussion goes, since he had a couple of mishaps, including french-kissing the chain link fence at Center Field to save a home run, and he reportedly had no concussion issues. He also got two hits against the Rays The bench. As I speculated previously, Luke Hughes and Trevor Plouffe are virtual locks, since they are out of options, and this will likely leave 2 additional spots. If indeed there are 3 catchers in the roster, JR Towles (with an RBI single in the B game and a two-run home run against Tampa Bay, in three plate appearances) and Rene Rivera (with a runner thrown out and a single in two plate appearances, moved ahead of Drew Butera who has not reached base yet in 5 plate appearances this spring. Chris Herrmann has an RBI single in his only plate appearance, but he likely is not considered for the major league roster. From the other position players fighting for a spot, Aaron Bates and Chris Parmelee each hit a 2-run home run (Bates in the B game and Parmelee against Tampa Bay) and Mastroianni has been pretty efficient with a hit, a walk and a stolen base in three plate appearances. Burroughs is 2 for 4 (a double) with two walks, but participated with Nishioka in a very bad fielding play against Boston yesterday. Nishioka has 2 hits, including a triple, in 8 trips, so is still working on his swing. Brian Dozier, a fans' darling, who I do not think that has any chances to make the team, at least in April, went hitless in 2 trips against Boston yesterday and had an RBI single in theB game. The bullpen. I have previously introduced and analyzed the combatants for 3 spots here. Jason Bulger has put himself in a hole with a very bad (4BB, a single and a grand slam, a third of an inning) performance against Boston, which followed surrendering a run in the B game. I think that it will be very hard to crawl out of that hole. Carlos Gutierrez had an almost equally bad performance in the B game, getting 2 outs and surrendering 3 walks and a double for 2 runs. Phil Dumatrait allowed 2 runs in 2 hits and a walk against Boston. Jeff Manship, Brandon Wise, Deolis Guerra, Matt Maloney (he struck out the side vs Tampa), Alex Burnett, Aaron Thompson, Esmerling Vasquez, Kyle Waldrop and Jared Burton pitched a scoreless inning each. Terry Doyle and PJ Walters pitched 2 scoreless innings each. Despite allowing a run in a solo home run, who was the only time a batter reached against him, Luis Perdomo had an impressive performance against Tampa Bay, striking out 2 batters. At this point, Bulger, Gutierrez and Doumatrait seem to be behind the pack, whereas Maloney (if they carry 3 lefties in the pen), Doyle, Perdomo, Burton and Waldrop seem to be ahead of the pack. There still are a lot of games ahead, but the first cuts will be very soon, since the Minor League Camp is opening tomorrow As always, you can find all the Spring Training news and analysis on my site here.

This has been previously published at The Tenth Inning Stretch. I have highligheted the four questions the Twins need to answer this Spring Training previously. With a couple weeks in the books in Spring Training, the Twins so far have played 4 games (3 official and a "B" game that does not count in the standings or in the players' statistics officially) so there are hints of light for some of those. The starting outfield: All indications seem that the Twins will go with Span at Center Field and Willingham at right field, whereas there will be a platoon of Ben Revere and Trevor Plouffe at left. This will happen, unless one of the two left fielders will have either a very impressive or very unimpressive season, which will result in bench relegation (or in Revere's case because, unlike Plouffe, he has options, in a trip to Rochester.) Another issue that needs to be resolved is how Willingham's defense is at RF. If he has problems and becomes the starting left fielder, the mix will need to be re-looked and Doumit also added to the equation. So far Willingham did not have problems in the single game he played on the field, and both Plouffe and Revere have been performing well with the bat (even though Revere has a gaffe on the base paths against Boston the other day. Also, Denard Span seems to be better as far as his concussion goes, since he had a couple of mishaps, including french-kissing the chain link fence at Center Field to save a home run, and he reportedly had no concussion issues. He also got two hits against the Rays The bench. As I speculated previously, Luke Hughes and Trevor Plouffe are virtual locks, since they are out of options, and this will likely leave 2 additional spots. If indeed there are 3 catchers in the roster, JR Towles (with an RBI single in the B game and a two-run home run against Tampa Bay, in three plate appearances) and Rene Rivera (with a runner thrown out and a single in two plate appearances, moved ahead of Drew Butera who has not reached base yet in 5 plate appearances this spring. Chris Herrmann has an RBI single in his only plate appearance, but he likely is not considered for the major league roster. From the other position players fighting for a spot, Aaron Bates and Chris Parmelee each hit a 2-run home run (Bates in the B game and Parmelee against Tampa Bay) and Mastroianni has been pretty efficient with a hit, a walk and a stolen base in three plate appearances. Burroughs is 2 for 4 (a double) with two walks, but participated with Nishioka in a very bad fielding play against Boston yesterday. Nishioka has 2 hits, including a triple, in 8 trips, so is still working on his swing. Brian Dozier, a fans' darling, who I do not think that has any chances to make the team, at least in April, went hitless in 2 trips against Boston yesterday and had an RBI single in theB game. The bullpen. I have previously introduced and analyzed the combatants for 3 spots here. Jason Bulger has put himself in a hole with a very bad (4BB, a single and a grand slam, a third of an inning) performance against Boston, which followed surrendering a run in the B game. I think that it will be very hard to crawl out of that hole. Carlos Gutierrez had an almost equally bad performance in the B game, getting 2 outs and surrendering 3 walks and a double for 2 runs. Phil Dumatrait allowed 2 runs in 2 hits and a walk against Boston. Jeff Manship, Brandon Wise, Deolis Guerra, Matt Maloney (he struck out the side vs Tampa), Alex Burnett, Aaron Thompson, Esmerling Vasquez, Kyle Waldrop and Jared Burton pitched a scoreless inning each. Terry Doyle and PJ Walters pitched 2 scoreless innings each. Despite allowing a run in a solo home run, who was the only time a batter reached against him, Luis Perdomo had an impressive performance against Tampa Bay, striking out 2 batters. At this point, Bulger, Gutierrez and Doumatrait seem to be behind the pack, whereas Maloney (if they carry 3 lefties in the pen), Doyle, Perdomo, Burton and Waldrop seem to be ahead of the pack. There still are a lot of games ahead, but the first cuts will be very soon, since the Minor League Camp is opening tomorrow As always, you can find all the Spring Training news and analysis on my site here.

Forgot about Burroughs... he will be the 3B in Rochester

If Bates does not make the team (and I hope he does) he can be the 1B/DH in Rochester, alternating with Parmelee. He did that several times last season when Jeff Baily was with the Red Wings, with Baily being the main 1B. Pearce can play OF some and some 3B. Not sure who the 3B in Rochester will be at this point, maybe Chang, but still it will be a revolving door there

Because with the hard caps on the slots, any pitcher would be nuts to bypass the money that comes from the second overall pick and risk injury in college. That simple.

Absolutely... that's why WHIP, K/9 and K/BB is a better measurement of performance. And so far those numbers for Bulger are pretty awful too: 9 WHIP, 0 K/9 and 0/4 K/BB. If he pitches 8.1 perfect innings and strikes out 5, those numbers will be 1.0 WHIP 5 K/9 and 1.25 K/BB what (other than the K/BB) range from very good (WHIP) to barely acceptable (K/9). So he has a long long road in front of him...

Yeah I meant Bulger For some reason I will keep confusing these two

So you think that the But-era will end by the Twins throwing in (the) Towles?

Would be interesting to see if Burton had locations issues in the bullpens before the game. There has been no word about that from the scribes down there...

The local (Philly) news say that Thome will play a couple days on the field a week max. And Ryan Howard had a setback and his return is delayed even more

He will be lucky to get a third outing if he repeats this one. Too many pitchers in camp to be patient with the underperformers.

No kidding. He would need a big shovel to dig himself out of this one...

Bulger looking really good today... 4 walks and a grand slam

Looks like Chang has a concussion unfortunately

Bulger walks the side so far... and still going