Seth Stohs

I'm like 99.9% sure they have a plan for Albers... Let him eat some innings this season because he's got a rubber arm. Maybe make some starts if needed, but mostly be able to be a long reliever, provide some innings so they can take care of the arms that they have hopes for in 2022. He'll be DFAd at season's end, and hopefully they can sign him to another minor league deal for next year. But no, they aren't going to plan on him being in the rotation.

Just some general notes based on the comments: 1.) No Triple-A playoffs this year, so that's not an issue. 2.) Only 28-man rosters in September though, so they can't just call up too many. 3.) There is no reason to call up anyone that doesn't have to be added to the 40-man roster this offseason (Cano, Woods-Richardson). 4.) Balazovic is exciting, but he's young and needs innings... He's right where he should be right now. He's shown a lot of promise, and he's had his struggles. He's only in his first option year, so there is zero reason to rush him this year. 5.) I think there is a plan in place and that is to take care of the arms that they see being part of the future while giving opportunities to guys who are probably borderline prospects to see what they can do. Ober, Barnes and Jax all fit into the category. Ober looks to have some good potential. Jax has certainly been impressive at times. Barnes is still in question as he's had less opportunities. And note... I have no idea why Ian Gibaut was called up, other than they needed an arm or two.

Should this be the expected result of the missed minor league season? There was an expectation of injury, especially for pitchers, but also for muscle injuries for position players.

It's an absolutely ridiculous tweet. Makes no sense. Viola has no idea. He's had nothing to do wit with the organization for like 30 years. He's been whining about the Twins since they hired someone else to be their pitching coach (clearly a good decision). So what he says doesn't confirm anything. What's his purpose in the tweet? Who is he upset at? Falvey because he didn't hire him? Not baseball people? Falvey has been around the game for a long time. Played in college, scouted, worked in a variety of front office roles. Levine was the assistant GM of a couple of World Series teams in Texas. He's also been in a variety of roles. Rocco Baldelli has done pretty much everything in the game over the past 20+ years. The team has won. This year, the pitching and the injuries just became too much. The previous front office hadn't won for a long time either. The player development at that time was a big question mark. And, frankly, Viola was part of the 1987 and 1988 teams that won, but he was also part of the 1982-1986 teams that lost a lot of games with 'baseball people."

No playoffs in Triple-A this year...

Because he pitched last night in Toledo... and they're going to take care of his arm. They wouldn't want him to pitch 5 innings on back-to-back days. <sarcasm>

Zero concerns about Larnach...

On Wednesday afternoon, I did my regular weekly Twins Talk segment with Dave Overlund on WJON radio in St. Cloud. Instead of talking more about a struggling Twins team, we had a really fun time doing a Twins Fantasy Draft. I'd love to hear your thoughts on our teams. Who would win? Click the link in the tweet below and you can listen to the segment. For this draft, we selected the following: SP, SP, SP, RP, RP, C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, OF, OF, OF, DH It's always so much fun looking back at the history of the Twins. 60+ seasons. So many great players. Hall of Famers. Twins Hall of Famers. All Stars. Find out who we selected for our teams and let us know what you think. I think I'll go with this lineup: Rod Carew 2B Joe Mauer C Kirby Puckett CF Tony Oliva RF Kent Hrbek 1B Bob Allison LF Justin Morneau DH Corey Koskie 3B Roy Smalley SS Jim Kaat SP

Let's find out. I'm not saying that Jax is 100% going to be a big-league starting pitcher, but five starts isn't enough to know. 10 starts isn't either.

But what??? I think we all agree he's likely not a top ace-like starter, but he's been pretty solid in his debut... He's exactly the type of pitcher who should continue to make starts.

Based on his 2021, it'd be hard to say he can't become an everyday player with continued development.

I just scrolled down to the comments to quote that... Love that line... And Smalley looks like such a tough guy!

I mean, yes, it was probably a 2 1/2 hour drive, but that's not terribly far. I mean, when he went to southern California as a free agent, that was definitely a long ways!!

Steer is solid at 3B and SS, but most would say he can be an everyday 2B. Martin's split his time between CF and SS.

Correct. Martin isn't getting called up. I would be surprised if anyone who doesn't need to be added to the 40-man roster this offseason gets added. That included Martin, Cano, etc. With no Triple-A playoffs this year, that isn't a deterrent, but only a 28-man roster makes it tougher to add too many.

No Triple-A playoffs this year.

I'm guilty of this too, but I just haven't factored in the Florida State League effect on the Mighty Mussels this year. It absolutely still has a huge impact on players numbers. You can hit a ball squarely there and it might go nowhere. We all know that, but for whatever reason, this year I haven't considered it as much. Not sure if it's the affiliation changes or what. So yeah, I almost think that Sabato could take off by not playing in Florida. That said, contact is going to be the key for him. Can he catch up to fastballs? Can he make adjustments? How did the electronic strike zone effect players in Low-A? Also, will be nice for him to just start over with a new team, new stats, maybe not having the batting average that starts with a 1 for awhile will help.

I can't think of any reason to be concerned about win-loss records at any of the levels, for sure not in the FCL and DSL. Too many variables. Guys don't play every day. Catchers play half-games usually. Players often are just going through pro ball. Stats for players don't matter much in those lower levels... wins-losses mean far less.

He's been crushing the ball. He's 28. Time to move him up. That's all.

It's hard to believe that nearly four months of the minor league season are complete. And now there is just over a month to go. There have been several promotions of late. Several of the 2021 draft picks are making their professional debuts or their organizational debuts. Find out which teams are doing well, and which players are leading the way. Be sure to read Nick’s Twins Week in Review from yesterday, and then jump into the minor league week. Before we get started, let’s check out the FCL Twins game and the transactions from Monday. TRANSACTIONS There were several announced transactions on Monday’s minor league off day, and don’t be surprised if there are more tomorrow. OF BJ Boyd was promoted from Wichita to St. Paul. 1B Aaron Sabato was promoted from Ft. Myers to Cedar Rapids. IF Christian Encarnacion-Strand, the Twins 4th round pick in the July draft, was assigned to Ft. Myers. IF Jake Rucker, the Twins 7th round pick in the July draft, was assigned to Ft. Myers. C Kole McKinnon returns to Ft. Myers after rehabbing in the FCL. OF Max Smith (Cedar Rapids) was released . C Allante Hall (FCL Twins) was released. RHP Hector Andrade (DSL Twins) was released. FCL Twins Talk FCL Twins 5, FCL Orioles 6 Box Score This game was shortened to seven innings due to the rains. Jackson Hicks made the start. He was charged with four runs on three hits and a walk over three innings. He struck out four batters. Ricardo Velez went the next two innings and gave up two runs on five hits. He struck out three batters. Cole Bellair struck out four batters over the final two innings. He didn’t give up a hit or issue a walk. Carlos Aguiar went 2-for-2 with a walk and his fourth home run. Emmanuel Rodriguez added his sixth homer of the season, and he threw out a runner trying to advance to third base. Kala’i Rosario had a two-run single. Noah Miller went 1-for-4. Zander Wiel went 1-for-3, and Gabe Snyder went 0-for-2 with a walk, as the first basemen continued their rehab on Monday. With that, let’s look at Week 16 in the Twins minor leagues: RESULTS Triple-A: St. Paul Saints: Week (5-2, hosting Iowa), overall (53-43) Double-A: Wichita Wind Surge: Week (5-1 @ Springfield), overall (57-39) High-A: Cedar Rapids Kernels: Week (4-2, hosting Wisconsin), overall (53-43) Low-A: Ft. Myers Mighty Mussels: Week (3-3 @ Dunedin), overall (47-44) Complex League FCL Twins: Week (3-3), overall (12-25) IN CASE YOU MISSED IT Here are the week’s Twins minor league-related articles. Twins Minor League Week in Review: Wind Surge Power TD Top Twins Prospect Rankings (Post Draft and Trade Deadline): Recap Hard Lessons Learned in Trevor Larnach’s Rookie Campaign Tuesday: We Will, We Will, Walk-Off You Scouting Twins Prospects: RHP Ben Gross Wednesday: Affiliates Blast Off Thursday: Oh, ho, ho, it’s Maggi(c)! Joe Ryan and Byron Buxton Highlight an Eventful Night at CHS Field Friday: Ryan Dazzles in Saints Debut Saturday: You Have the Right to be a Hitting Machine Miranda: 3 Ways to Get Him to Minneapolis Sunday: Wichita Bats Surge, Buck Go Boom Highlights We will start with the Twins choices for the organizational hitter and pitcher of the week, and then mention several other Twins prospects who had good Week 16 performances Twins Player of the Week: BJ “Bossman” Boyd, Wichita Wind Surge After spending seven seasons in the Oakland A’s organization, reaching Triple-A in 2018 at 24, BJ Boyd decided to go a different direction. In 2019, he headed to college and played football. He played well enough that he was getting several calls from Division I schools. Then the pandemic hit. This spring, he was sitting at home when the Twins called. He signed and was sent to Double-A Wichita in late May. He has been incredible since. In 66 games, the outfielder has hit .313/.369/.543 (.912) with 12 doubles, 15 homers and 60 RBI for the Wind Surge. And on Tuesday, he will return to Triple-A after earning his promotion. Twins Pitcher of the Week: Joe Ryan, St. Paul Saints He was a strong starting pitcher for the Tampa Bay Rays. Then he headed to Tokyo to pitch for Team USA. That’s where he found out he had been traded to the Twins in the Nelson Cruz trade. He responded by going 2-0 and helping Team USA to a silver medal at the Olympics! Then he came back, packed up, came to Minnesota and threw a couple of bullpens before making his first start in the Twins organization on Friday night in St. Paul. I think it’s fair to say that it went well. He struck out the first six batters he faced and nine batters in four innings. He gave up just one run, on a solo homer. Ryan was the Rays seventh-round pick in 2018 out of Cal State-Stanislaus. He appeared in Baseball America’s Top 100 prospect rankings after he led minor league baseball with 183 strikeouts in 2019. That season, between two levels of A ball and Double-A, he went 9-4 with a 1.96 ERA and a 0.84 WHIP. Before heading to Japan, he pitched in 12 games for Triple-A Durham and was 4-3 with a 3.63 ERA and 0.79 WHIP. In 57 innings, he had 10 walks and 75 strikeouts. Other Strong Performances this Week St. Paul Saints Drew Maggi continues to have a strong showing in 2021. Last week, he played in five games and hit .357/.526/.571 (1.098) with a homer and five RBI. He also stole three bases. Gilberto Celestino played in all six games and hit .294/.478/.588 (1.066) with two doubles and a homer. He also walked six times with just four strikeouts. Tomas Telis also played all six games. He hit .440/.462/.600 (1.062) with a double and a homer. Jimmy Kerrigan played in just three games but hit .364 with a homer. Ian Hamilton worked 5 1/3 innings over three games last week. He went 1-0 with a save. He gave up no runs on one hit. He walked one and struck out seven. Yennier Cano tossed 3 1/3 scoreless and hitless innings. He walked three and struck out four. Chris Nunn struck out four batters over 3 1/3 scoreless innings. Ryan Mason struck out six batters over 3 1/3 scoreless innings. Wichita Wind Surge Leobaldo Cabrera played in five games. He hit just .263 (5-for-19), but he hit a double and three homers, and drove in nine runs. He posted a 1.164 OPS. Spencer Steer played in just four of the games. He hit .389/.450/.667 (1.117) with two doubles and a homer. Tyler Beck gave up five hits and two walks over six scoreless innings. He struck out six batters. Jordan Balazovic struck out six batters over six shutout frames. More impressive that he didn’t give up any runs when he also gave up four hits and five walks. Jordan Gore recorded a Save and worked 2 2/3 scoreless, hitless innings. Cedar Rapids Kernels Michael Helman continued to show some surprising, and impressive power. Last week, he hit .261/.393/.783 (1.175) with four home runs. He also walked five times and stole two bases. Edouard Julien had a nice week. He hit .412/.615/.529 (1.145) with two doubles and nine walks. He also stole two bags. Matt Wallner played five games and hit .350/.458/.650 (1.108) with three doubles and a homer. No extra base hits, but Wander Javier hit .350 (7-for-20). Sawyer Gipson-Long made one start. In six innings, he gave up only an unearned run on three hits. He walked one and struck out eight. Louie Varland became the first Kernels starter to record an out in the 7th inning when he tossed seven full innings. He gave up one run on six hits. He struck out six batters without a walk. Ben Gross worked five innings and gave up two runs (1 earned) on two hits. He walked three and struck out six batters. Denny Bentley made his first two High-A appearances. He gave up two hits over four scoreless innings. He struck out five batters without issuing a walk. Zach Featherstone struck out six batters over 3 1/3 hitless innings. He walked one. Ryan Shreve struck out eight batters over 3 2/3 scoreless innings. He gave up four hits and walked none. Ft. Myers Might Mussels Jesus Feliz has really come on of late. In six games last week, he hit .333/.481/.762 (1.243) with three home runs. He also walked five times and stole two bases. Patrick Winkel has a strong first full professional week. The catcher played four games and hit .400/.526/.600 (1.126) with a homer and four walks. Steven Cruz had a terrific week. He worked five innings over two outings. He gave up just an unearned run on two hits and a walk. He also struck out ten batters. Randy Dobnak’s rehab appearance was three perfect innings with five strikeouts. Casey Legumina gave up one run over four innings. He struck out seven batters. Juan Pichardo pitched twice and gave up one run over four hits in four innings. He struck out eight batters. FCL Twins Luis Gomez went 5-for-9 (.556) with three doubles in his four games. Carlos Aguiar went 5-for-13 (.385) with three homers and six RBI. Rubel Cespedes went 2-for-9 (.222) over three games this week, but both hits were home runs. Wander Valdez played in five games. He hit .333/.412/.600 (1.012) with a double and a home run. Kala’i Rosario hit .368 with two doubles, a homer and seven RBI. Wilker Reyes went 1-0. He gave up five hits but no runs over five scoreless innings. Giovahnney German threw four hitless, scoreless innings. He struck out three batters. (although he did walk six batters). Malik Barrington recorded a save in his professional debut. He gave up one hit over three scoreless innings. He struck out six batters. Lowlights We are talking about small samples for these six-game weeks, so it’s important not to make any big decisions or develop a full impression on a player from this small size. It’s just a reminder of the fact that baseball is hard, and all players have good and bad stretches. St. Paul Saints Ben Rortvedt has certainly had some moments since returning to the Saints. This past week, he went 1-for-13 (.077) with five strikeouts. Sherman Johnson went 1-for-10 (.100), and Drew Stankiewicz went 2-for 16 (.125), though he did have four walks and a homer. Robinson Leyer gave up five runs (4 earned) on four hits and two walks over two innings. Nick Vincent got DFAd by the Twins and then gave up five runs (4 earned) on four hits (2 homers) and a walk in 2 2/3 innings. Wichita Wind Surge Ernie de la Trinidad went 2-for-13 (.154) in his three games. Jermaine Palacios played all six games and went 3-for-19 (.158), though he had two doubles. Chris Vallimont made two starts last week. He gave up ten earned runs on ten hits (4 homers) and six walks in just nine innings. Cedar Rapids Kernels Gabriel Maciel played in four games and went 2-for-14 (.143). Seth Gray went 3-for-20 (.150) over five games. He did have a double and a homer and six RBI. Andrew Cabezas gave up six runs on six hits over 2 1/3 innings in his start. Tyler Watson gave up six runs on eight hits and a walk over 2 2/3 innings. Ft. Myers Might Mussels Will Holland played in five games and went 0-for-17. Misael Urbina went 3-for-24 (.125) over six games. Trending Storyline Here is a quick look at how Twins minor leaguers rank against all minor leaguers. Jose Miranda: Batting Average (.342, 5th), Slugging Percentage (.590, 10th), OPS (.995, 8th), Hits (135, 1st), Home Runs (25, 3rd), RBI (72, 11th), Runs (79, 2nd) Extra Base Hits (48, 8th), Total Bases (233, 1st). BJ Boyd: Batting Average (.319, 16th), Trey Cabbage: Home Runs (23, 10th), RBI (71, 15th) Spencer Steer: Home Runs (22, 18th), Runs (70, 17th), Austin Martin: On-Base Percentage (.429, 15th), Hit By Pitch (22, 3rd), Wander Javier: Triples (10, 2nd), Edouard Julien: Walks (90, 1st), Runs (75, 6th), Stolen Bases: (31, 19th), Number of Pitches (1820, 1st)... Aaron Sabato: Walks (73, 5th), Yunior Severino: Doubles (27, 13th), Ben Gross: ERA (3.16, 8th), WHIP (1.19, 18th), Winning Percentage (.833, 3rd), Drew Strotman: Winning Percentage (.700, 13th), PROSPECT SUMMARY This Prospect Summary shows our updated Twins Top 20 Prospect Rankings. #1 - Royce Lewis (Wichita) - Out for Season (torn ACL) #2 - Austin Martin (Wichita) - 17 games, .262/.444/.377 (.821) with 4 doubles, 1 home run, 10 RBI, 12 BB, 13 K. #3 - Jordan Balazovic (Wichita) – 15 GS, 71.0 IP, 70 H, 29 BB, 78 K, 3.42 ERA, 1.39 WHIP #4 - Simeon Woods-Richardson (Wichita) - Has not pitched since the Olympics. #5 - Jhoan Duran (St. Paul) – 5 G, 4 GS, 16.0 IP, 16 H, 13 BB, 22 K, 5.06 ERA, 1.81 WHIP (on IL with a right forearm strain) #6 - Jose Miranda (St. Paul) – 95 games, .342/.405/.590 (.995) with 23 doubles, 25 homers, 72 RBI, 36 BB, 58 K #7 - Joe Ryan (St. Paul) - 1 GS, 4.0 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 9 K, 2.25 ERA, 0.50 WHIP #8 - Matt Canterino (Cedar Rapids) – 5 GS, 21.0 IP, 10 H, 4 BB, 43 K, 0.86 ERA, 0.67 WHIP #9 - Chase Petty (Complex) - Has yet to pitch. #10 - Keoni Cavaco (Ft. Myers) – 54 games, .247/.305/.321 (.626) with 6 doubles, 2 triples, 2 homers, 23 RBI, 17 BB, 78 K, 5 SB #11 - Josh Winder (St. Paul) - 14 GS, 72.0 IP, 55 H, 13 BB, 80 K, 2.63 ERA, 0.94 WHIP #12 - Matt Wallner (Cedar Rapids) – 44 games, .277/.354/.549 (.903) with 10 doubles, 2 triples, 11 homers, 35 RBI, 17 BB, 65 K. #13 - Gilberto Celestino (St. Paul) – Wichita (21 games, .250/.344/.381 (.725) with 5 doubles, 2 homers. 11 BB, 24 K), St. Paul (18 games, .281/.395/.531 (.926) with 4 doubles, 4 homers, 15 RBI, 11 BB, 15 K), Minnesota (22 games, .140/.183/.298 (.482) with 3 BB, 13 K) #14 - Drew Strotman (St. Paul) - 5 GS, 24.0 IP, 28 H, 10 BB, 18 K, 5.63 ERA, 1.58 WHIP. #15 - Noah Miller (FCL Twins) - 5 games, .222/.286/.222 (.508) with 2 BB, 8 K #16 - Brent Rooker (St. Paul) – St. Paul (58 games, .239/.368/.566 (.934) with 8 doubles, 1 triple, 19 homers, 37 BB, 74 K), Minnesota (32 games, .200/.273/.408 (.681) with 7 doubles, 6 homers, 10 RBI, 8 BB, 41 K) #17 - Blayne Enlow (Cedar Rapids) – 3 GS, 14.2 IP, 13 H, 6 BB, 23 K, 1.84 ERA, 1.30 WHIP (underwent Tommy John surgery on June 9th) #18 - Misael Urbina (Ft. Myers) – 82 games, .190/.289/.294 (583) with 9 doubles, 4 triples, 5 homer, 49 RBI, 41 BB, 65 K, 12 SB) #19 - Cole Sands (Wichita) – 14 G, 13 GS, 55.1 IP, 41 H, 24BB, 75 K, 2.93 ERA, 1.18 WHIP #20 - Spencer Steer (Wichita) - 87 games, .262/.363/.515 (.878) with 14 doubles, 2 triples, 22 homers, 53 RBI, 46 BB, 78 K) LOOKING AHEAD Bradenton @ Ft. Myers: (Matt Mullenbach, TBD, TBD, TBD, TBD, TBD): Cedar Rapids @ Beloit:(Louie Varland, Tyler Watson, Sawyer Gipson-Long, Cody Laweryson, Ben Gross, Louie Varland) Tulsa @ Wichita: (Austin Schulfer, Cole Sands, Jordan Balazovic, TBD, TBD, Austin Schulfer) St. Paul @ Toledo: (Beau Burrows, Joe Ryan, TBD, TBD, Drew Strotman, Beau Burrows): Feel free to ask any questions you like. View full article

No, it'll be 30 days of service time (or however many days here is up). He just needs to be added to the 40-man roster. When he's called up, he won't be optioned this year, so he'll go into spring training next year with 3 option years remaining and 30ish days of service time.

No, it's about playing time.

Because he hasn't played in a game in 2 months... get some ABs under his belt before being thrown into big league games.

Because of that, he was going to get a few bullpen first. I would guess next week.