Seth Stohs

It was a terrific night for the Twins and their fans on Thursday. Joe Mauer notched hit #2000 of his career, and Jose Berrios was fantastic in a Twins 4-0 win over the White Sox. It was also a fun night in the Twins minor league system. The Red Wings needed 14 innings to record their first win of the year. Stephen Gonsalves made the start for the Lookouts. The Miracle got a strong start, and a powerful prospect had a powerful game. And, the Kernels just keep on rolling.Keep reading to find out much more on the night in the Twins minor league system. TRANSACTIONS The Miracle announced following their Thursday night game that lefty Alex Robinson has been placed on the disabled list. A corresponding move will need to be made on Friday. The Kernels announced that RHP Randy Dobnak has been placed on the 7-day DL. RHP Derek Molina has been promoted from extended spring training to take his place. If the Twins play on Friday, they will have to make a roster move to add a starting pitcher. That would mean they’d need to option someone to Rochester. If the Twins are ‘weathered’ out on Friday, they could skip the fifth starter spot again. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 7, Gwinnett 6 (14 innings) Box Score Minor league baseball announced before the season that they were making changes to the rules in extra innings under the “Pace of Play” category. Each inning after the ninth, teams start with a runner on second base. These teams did a lot of that as they went 14 innings. Both teams scored a run in the 10th and 13th frames, but the Red Wings scored two runs in the 14th inning - off of outfielder Jeff Decker - and Tyler Duffey came on to record the save for the Red Wings first win of the season. Myles Jaye started for the Red Wings and went the first 5.2 innings. He gave up three runs on seven hits. He struck out just one, but he walked no one. Matt Magill got the next four outs. John Curtiss struck out four in his two perfect innings. Nick Anderson gave up an unearned run over his two extra innings innings. He gave up one hit, walked three and struck out one. Alan Busenitz worked the 12th and 13th innings. He gave up an unearned run on one hit and three walks. He struck out one. Tyler Duffey gave up an unearned run in the 14th, but he struck out three batters to record the save. An interesting note, in a couple of the extra innings, the Red Wings manager had the pitcher intentionally walk the leadoff batter of the inning to set up a first and second situation. It worked the first two times. Offensively, Jake Cave led the way with a 4-for-6 game. He also walked and provided the final RBI. Gregorio Petit went 2-for-5 with a walk. Nick Buss and Willians Astudillo each went 2-for-6. Zack Granite walked three times. Jermaine Curtis provided a sacrifice fly in the top of the 14th to give the Red Wings the lead. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 0, Pensacola 3 Box Score The Lookouts drop to 4-3 on the season after a tough loss in northern Florida. Brent Rooker got the night off. For the second straight night and the second time this season, Nick Gordon started at second base. Rooker and LaMonte Wade both had the night off. Stephen Gonsalves made the start for the Lookouts. The southpaw went four shutout innings. He gave up three hits, walked three and struck out five. He left the game with 71 pitches. Sam Clay came on and threw a scoreless fifth frame. However, he got two outs in the sixth inning before leaving .He was charged with two runs. Ryne Harper came on and gave up a hit to score Clay’s runners and another of his own. He struck out two over 1.1 innings. Omar Bencomo pitched a scoreless inning MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 8, Florida 2 Box Score Tyler Wells and Lewin Diaz helped get the Miracle off to a fast start tonight, and the team added on to improve to 5-3 on the young season. The 6-8 Wells started the game by throwing four perfect innings, 12 up, 12 down. He lost the perfect game, no-hitter and shutout to the first batter of the fifth inning on a solo home run, but he completed five innings to record his first win of the year. He walked one and struck out eight. Lewin Diaz knocked a long, two-run home run in the second innings, his first of the year. The next inning, he added another RBI on his second double of the season. Jimmy Kerrigan went 2-for-3 with a walk and was hit by a pitch. Mitchell Kranson was 1-for-3 with two walks and his second double. Nelson Molina and Caleb Hamilton were both 1-for-3 with a walk. Cody Stashak replaced Wells and threw two scoreless innings. He gave up just one hit and struck out two. Max Cordy gave up one run on two hits over the final two innings. He struck out three. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 9, Peoria 5 Box Score The Kernels fell behind early, but the bats warmed up and Toby Gardenhire improved to 6-0 as a manager of the Kernels. Nick Brown started for the Kernels. The right-hander went 4.2 innings and was charged with four runs on six hits. He walked four and struck out three. Kevin Marnon came on and held Peoria to just one run on three hits over the next 2.1 innings. He walked one and struck out five. Jared Finkel pitched two scoreless innings to end the game. Down 4-0, Royce Lewis came to the plate in the sixth inning and knocked a ball well over the wall in left centerfield. An inning later, Akil Baddoo came up with two on base. He drilled a ball off the wall in center field for a triple to give the Kernels their first lead of the game. After seven innings the game was tied at 5, but the Kernels scored the final four runs of the game. Mark Contreras made another diving catch in the outfield, and he went 3-for-3 with a walk and his second double. Alex Kirilloff also went 2-for-5 and knocked his second double. After going 1-for-12 in his first three games this season, he has gone 7-for-15 in his last three games and is hitting .296 on the season. Lewis and Baddoo were each 2-for-5. STARS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Hitter of the Day: Lewin Diaz, Ft. Myers Miracle Twins Daily Pitcher of the Day: Tyler Wells, Ft. Myers Miracle TOP PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed: #1 - Royce Lewis (Cedar Rapids) - 2-5, HR (1), 3 RBI #3 - Nick Gordon (Chattanooga) - 0-4 #4 - Stephen Gonsalves (Chattanooga) - 4.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 5 K #5 - Alex Kirilloff (Cedar Rapids) - 2-5, 2B (2) #10 - Akil Baddoo (Cedar Rapids) - 2-5, 3B (1), 2 RBI, SB (3) #13 - Lewin Diaz (Ft. Myers) - 2-4, 2B (2), HR (1), 3 RBI FRIDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester @ Gwinnett (6:05 CST) - LHP Adalberto Mejia Chattanooga @ Pensacola (6:35 CST) - RHP Randy LeBlanc Tampa @ Ft. Myers (6:00) - LHP Charlie Barnes Clinton @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 CST) - LHP Bryan Sammons Please feel free to ask any questions about Thursday’s games, or ask any questions you may have. Click here to view the article

Yeah, I hope that i didn't in any way imply that i think this means they'll win 97 games this season. I was just interesting to me that 6-4 is probably way better than we assume.

Tom Kelly used to always talk about playing 60 games before making many moves because only then do you really start seeing what you've got. I do like that leverage data as it shows Molitor's current confidence level in guys. It will be interesting to see how that changes. You all may be right. I thought that Hildenberger as at 7/7 also, but when I looked at the game log yesterday, I thought it showed runners on 2nd and 3rd (even though my memory of watching it was bases loaded). Well, then I just looked at it again, and it does show bases loaded. Should have trusted my gut. Will be interesting to see how patient they are with him. I would put almost zero stock in 10 games. I did think there are some interesting trends worth watching, but I probably woudln't make any huge statement. I also believe that the weather is a factor. You/They don't want to use it as an excuse because both sides are experiencing it. But it is a factor. It will be nice to see, ,hopefully starting next week in Puerto Rico, how good weather effects the pitchers and specifically their control/command.

I'm a Gonsalves fan. I''m not an Enns fan. But making anything from anyone's first start of the year in these conditions isn't really fair. I know that's not what you're doing.

An NFL regular season involved 16 games played. An MLB season includes 162 games played. The Twins have now played ten games, or about 1/16th of their schedule, the equivalent of one NFL game. If it was an NFL schedule, the Twins - with their 6-4 record - would get a Win for the first game of the season. While 6-4 may not seem real exciting, if the team were to go 6-4 for all 16 ten-game samples, they would be on pace to go 97-65 on the season. Today, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at some of the trends that we’ve seen in the Twins pitching staff through the season’s first ten games.The Starting Pitchers We all got pretty excited about the Twins starting rotation after the season’s first series in Baltimore. Why? Well, the three Twins starters went a combined 21 innings without giving up a run. In fact, they gave up just four hits, walked eight and struck out 19 batters. Odorizzi threw six scoreless. Kyle Gibson threw six no-hit innings. Jose Berrios threw a complete game shutout on Easter. However, since that series, it has been a challenge for the Twins starters. While I do think it is fair to ‘credit’ the cold weather conditions for some of the struggles of the pitching staff, including the starters, there could be more to it. In the past seven games, Twins starters have given up 21 runs (1 unearned) in 32.2 innings. They’ve give up 36 hits, walked 23 and struck out 32. First 3 Games: 21.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 8 BB, 7 K, 0.00 ERA, 0.19 WHIP, 3.4 BB/9, 8.1 K/9Last 7 Games: 32.2 IP, 36 H, 20 ER, 23 BB, 32K, 5.51 ERA, 1.81 WHIP, 6.3 BB/9, 8.8 K/9While the first three starts all provided at least six innings, only one start since has been even that long. Jake Odorizzi’s Tuesday start against the Astros was six innings. Just one of the other six innings went five innings (Lynn’s 5.0 IP start on Monday). Twins starters averaged seven innings per start over the first three games. Since then, they have averaged just 4 ⅔ innings per game. That is significant because, simply, it means that the bullpen will be used more, will be taxed more. The Bullpen It’s always interesting to start seeing the trends of pitcher usage by the manager and pitching coach. Five of the last seven starts have gone less than five innings. Who did Molitor go to first? Molitor has had to go to a relief pitcher in the fifth inning in five of the last seven games. I think that the below chart is quite interesting and clearly illustrates a number of things, including the manager’s confidence. Reliever Pitched In 5th inning: Taylor Rogers (3), Gabriel Moya (1), Trevor Hildenberger (1) 6th inning: Trevor Hildenberger (4), Taylor Rogers (2), Gabriel Moya (1) 7th inning: Zach Duke (4), Ryan Pressly (4), Addison Reed (2), Trevor Hildenberger (2) 8th inning: Addison Reed (6), Ryan Pressly (1), Trevor Hildenberger (1), Zach Duke (1) 9th inning: Fernando Rodney (4), Addison Reed (1), Ryan Pressly (1), Gabriel Moya (1), Tyler Kinley (1), 10th inning: Trevor Hildenberger (1), Fernando Rodney (1) 11th inning: Fernando Rodney (1) While Taylor Rogers spent the first half of 2017 being one of the most reliable bullpen arms in the league versus lefties or righties, his second half struggles have pushed him back into early-inning relief duties to start the season. Gabriel Moya got a couple of those games as well, and now Trevor Hildenberger has found himself working in those earlier situations after struggling in more crucial moments. It’s clear, when the Twins are close and late, Addison Reed is going to get the ball, unless he has strep throat, of course. He has been terrific so far. Paul Molitor has shown remarkable confidence in lefty Zach Duke early in the season as well. While his lefty-righty splits were not pronounced in 2017, Molitor has decided to use him often in situations where he will face multiple right-handers. Doesn’t seem like an ideal situation, but he has generally come through to this point. Ryan Pressly’s early success has kept him getting late-inning and close situations as well. At this point, Gabriel Moya and Tyler Kinley are only used in games that are not close. The Fernando Rodney Experience has been just that, an experience. While Joe Nathan did his lip quiver thing to relax, Fernando Rodney keeps fans and teammates on their toes. While he’s certainly got the fastball and the changeup to be effective, his control and command have not been great. He’s given up a couple of big hits. He’s in no danger of losing his job at this point, however, so just get yourself prepared for some late-inning intrigue when he comes into the games. The pitcher of most concern through the small sample size of ten games to start the season remains Trevor Hildenberger. He was arguably the Twins most reliable bullpen arm in the second half last season, so much so that the manager used him very often. In reality, the manager is still using him often this season. He’s already thrown seven innings in six appearances. His ERA is just 3.86 and his WHIP is just 1.29. Neither number is good, but it certainly doesn’t tell the story of his struggles so far. The below listing will let you know what his problem has been. Inherited Runners/Inherited Runners Scored Addison Reed (5/0) Fernando Rodney (3/0) Taylor Rogers (2/0) Zach Duke (2/0) Gabriel Moya (1/0) Trevor Hildenberger (6/6) That’s right. There have been three games in which Hildenberger has come in mid-inning with runners on base. He’s come into a situation with one runner on base, and that guy scored. He’s come into a game with two runners on base, and both of them scored. And, he came into a bases loaded situation, and all three scored. It’s not quite time to be concerned about Hildenberger, yet. Well, you can be concerned if you want, and it’s understandable. Spring training numbers don’t matter because they are often working on things. But the trends we saw in spring with Hildenberger, not throwing strikes and giving up home runs, have continued into the first ten days of the season. He’s fallen behind batters, and hitters have been ready when he does throw strikes. An adjustment will likely have to be made by Hildenberger (and his catchers). The Rochester Red Wings have played just two games so far this season because of weather. Tyler Duffey’s first outing of the year was three hitless innings. The other relievers who might be considered for early-season call up, like John Curtiss, Jake Reed and Alan Busenitz, have all worked just once so far this season. The Offense The Twins are going to score runs this year. Like last year, they will likely be a Top 4 team in the American League in runs scored. Through ten games, the Twins have averaged 4.7 points per game. Only twice have they scored fewer than four runs. They scored just two on Opening Day in Baltimore, and they were shut out on Monday night by Justin Verlander. Joe Mauer is on fire to start the season. He’s hitting .387 and has been on base 52.5% of the time. His OPS is 1.041. Max Kepler’s OPS is next in line at 1.020. He’s hitting .280 and getting on base just under 40% of the time. He’s got three home runs after hitting two on Wednesday including a walk-off. As impressive as that has been so far, he has five walks to go with six strikeouts and appears to have a much better approach. Brian Dozier is the third player with an OPS over 1.000. He’s hitting .293 with a .396 OBP and four early-season home runs. Despite a nearly 50% strikeout rate, Miguel Sano has a .925 OPS. Simply put, when Sano puts the ball in play, good things tend to happen. On the other side of the situation, Byron Buxton is again off to a slow start. He’s hitting just .184/.205/.237 with two doubles and two stolen bases. Logan Morrison really struggled early. However, in this Astros series, even on Monday night when he didn’t have a hit, he took very good at-bats against Verlander. Each plate appearance he saw several pitches and just missed several others, fouling them straight back. In his first two at-bats on Tuesday against lefty Dallas Keuchel, he hit the ball 110+ mph. He was finally squaring up the ball. He lined out in his first at bat on Wednesday too before adding a hit. So while he’s still hitting just .097 (3-31), it does appear that he’s turning a corner. Hopefully he will warm up soon, along with the temperatures of these Twins games. With a 6-4 record, the Twins would get a W in their 1/16th season mark, their first game of what would be the NFL schedule. Hopefully they can continue to perform. Click here to view the article

Every month, we present the Hitter, Starting Pitcher and Relief PItcher of the month awards for Twins Daily. We mention the top 5 or 6 players, prospects or not, and we generally will include several Honorable Mentions. Maybe we could do an update on the Top 20s within that. We'll see.

Not ever Miracle player or E-Twins player or Lookouts player or Red Wings player does. In fact, most don't. The Kernels have a great set up for the players. Much better than when they were in Beloit. But that's unusual. Van Steensel's' one of few who isn't afraid to say what most of them are thinking. It''s not even complaining as much as letting fans know the reality. They're professional ballplayers and yet it's anything but luxurious. They get paid almost nothing. They do take buses. (Though I do think that the Red Wings occasionally will fly from a place like Gwinnett or Norfolk, etc. when needed)

I haven't seen him on any Top 20s. He's in some Top 30s.

I'm guessing we all now know who just might start for the Twins on Friday night. Of course, weather may also factor into that. They aren't going to want to activate Hughes from his rehab stint if he's not going to pitch Friday and they can go back to their rotation on Saturday. So, they may have Mejia up here for just in case.

Stewart may be the first guy to go past 70. In spring training, they go to 90 pitches in their second-to-last start, and then they drop it down to like 40-50 in their final start so they're ready to go. It's clear there is a strategy. I think the weather could be a factor too. Gonsalves was taken out at 66 pitches with a no-hitter, but it was also like 32 degrees.

Way too early to know that. He's not bad at 3B or 2B. He's still working on both and has a ways to go, but I don't think they're hiding him... and you wouldn't hide a guy at either of those two positions.

I'm not smart enough to know how to do that. ha!

They were... that changed some when Brad Steil took over for Jim Rantz,, and I'll need more of a sample size before I make any comments on Jeremy Zoll's strategies.

I mean, the season is like 8 games old, did we not expect Cleveland to be at the top of the stack?

If a lefty giving up a double to a talent like Carlos Correa is going to be a big deal, he's got no chance...

I'll take Eddie Rosario every day of the week... Plays hard. He's aggressive. Over-aggressive at time, but incredibly talented. He's also the type of guy who will respond well after a bad game. Yeah, the Defense was shaky, but we all know that he's generally a pretty strong left fielder. Offensively, yeah, he'll be over aggressive, but sometimes that is a benefit. He's a lot like a great closer. Bad game/blown save, come back the next day and do something. Of course, tomorrow that would be against Dallas Keuchel, so it's possible that he's out of the lineup with LaMarre in left. I'll take trying really, really hard and being aggressive any day of the week.

The comments in this forum are the strangest I think I've ever read. Ha! I can't tell how much of this is sarcastic. I'm hoping it's pretty much all sarcastic... right?

His velo has never been the problem. Chattanooga doesn't have milb.tv, so we can dig, but no real great, easy way to find out the rest. Let's just call it a really strong start. Good to see the strikeouts. He's obviously not going to strike out 9 in 5 every time, but it would be nice to see him at 7.5 K/9 or more.

There are a lot of talented players outside the Top 20 Twins prospects, several of them will make it to the big leagues. Kohl Stewart will probably be one of them.

Weather has won the day, but on Monday night all four Minnesota Twins affiliates (and the Minnesota Twins too) played their regularly scheduled games. Game-time temperatures were between 35 and 40 at Target Field and in Rochester and in Peoria, Illinois, where the Kernels played their first road game. Fortunately the weather in Tennessee warmed up a bit for Monday, and well, it’s always plenty warm in Ft. Myers. Check out how the four Twins affiliates did on Monday. There were some strong offensive, defensive and pitching performances.Well, on the fifth day, all four Twins affiliates and the big league club played their games. The Red Wings, after having their first three games weathered out, finally played their opener. I’m sure they’re looking forward to a southern road trip starting on Thursday. The Lookouts finished out a five-game series against Birmingham. The Miracle took on Florida, and a hitter stayed hot. The Kernels made their first road trip and found a way to win a close ball game. After reading tonight’s report, be sure to add your comments and questions in the forum. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 1, Syracuse 2 Box Score Before the games began, the Red Wings announced that their three weathered-out games against Buffalo will be made up as parts of doubleheaders on May 25, May 27 and August 28. Aaron Slegers woke up Friday, Saturday and Sunday thinking he might be making his first start of the season. It wasn’t until Monday that it actually happened. However, Slegers proved ready for the Opening Day challenge. The right-hander went the first six innings. He gave up just one run on five hits and a walk. He struck out just one. 49 of his 66 pitches were strikes. Veteran Edwin Jackson got the start for Syracuse. In 3+ innings, the Red Wings worked him for six walks, but they managed just one run. Tyler Duffey came on in relief of Slegers. He was perfect in the seventh and eighth innings. He got the first out of the ninth inning, but a three-base error and a sacrifice fly meant that the Red Wings were down 2-1 going into the bottom of the ninth. They got two runners on base but were unable to push a run across the plate. Kennys Vargas went 1-for-2 with three walks in the game. Gregorio Petit went 2-for-4 in the game. Petit also played some impressive defense at shortstop. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 5, Birmingham 2 Box Score The Lookouts finished out their five-game series against Birmingham on Monday night. Kohl Stewart took the mound against former Twins minor leaguer Matthew Tomshaw. The left-hander was charged with five runs (three earned) on nine hits over just 3.1 innings before exiting the game. Stewart, on the other hand, was fantastic. The former #1 draft pick worked the first five innings for the Lookouts. He gave up one run on three hits. He walked none and struck out nine batters. He got five ground ball outs, all of which could be described as slow rollers. The lone run came on a single, a slow roller that advanced the runner to second base. Stewart then threw two wild pitches to allow the run to score. Ryan Eades came on and gave up one run over the next two innings. He gave up two hits, but he walked none and struck out three. Williams Ramirez came on and in 1.2 scoreless innings, walked three and struck out three. Ryne Harper had to come on for the final out. He recorded a strikeout to end the game and record his second save. He’s faced four batters and struck out all four this season. The Lookouts got their runs early. Brent Rooker came into the game 1-for-14, but he had singles in his first three at-bats. Like Rooker, LaMonte Wade went 3-for-4 in the game. Zander Wiel and TJ White each went 2-for-4. White hit his first double and stole his first base. The team improved to 3-2 on the season. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 6, Florida 4 Box Score It always sounds strange to say that Ft. Myers is playing against Florida, but we’ll have to get used to that over the next few days as the Twins affiliate takes on the Florida State League affiliate of the Atlanta Braves. On this night, the Twins minor leaguers faced Ian Anderson, one of the talented young Braves starting pitcher prospects. Travis Blankenhorn is off to a fantastic start this season. On this night, he had a single, his fifth double and his first triple. On the season, he now has nine hits. He’s got five doubles, a triple, a homer and two singles. Jimmy Kerrigan was a nice signing out of the independent leagues a year ago. He went 2-for-3 with a walk and his first home run of the year. Clark Beeker made the start. He was the Twins Daily all-star right-handed pitcher in 2017. In his first Miracle start of the season, he went five innings. He gave up two runs on four hits. He walked one and struck out five. Cody Stashak came on in relief. In his two innings, he gave up two runs on just one hit. He walked two and struck out three. With the lead back, Alex Robinson came on for the final two innings. He walked one, hit one and struck out four batters to record his second save of the season. The Miracle moved back over .500 at 3-2 with the win. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 3, Peoria 1 Box Score The weather was still cold in Peoria, but the Kernels made their first road trip of the year and came out of it with a win. Blayne Enlow made his first start of the year. The right-hander got off to an interesting start. He got the first two batters that he faced out. But the next three hitters had singles to load the bases. Enlow was helped by a diving catch by right fielder Mark Contreras who caught a sinking liner to end that threat. In the second inning, Contreras made a leaping catch at the wall to save at least one run. But Enlow started with four scoreless innings. In the fifth inning, he left the game with one out and runners on first and third. Tall left-hander Kevin Marnon came on and gave up a sacrifice fly to give Peoria a 1-0 lead (run charged to Enlow). But Marnon finished the fifth inning, as well as the sixth and seventh frames and gave up just one hit and one walk. Side-winding Jared Finkel came on for the final two innings. He gave up three hits, but no runs, to record his first save of the season. The Kernels responded to the fifth inning run allowed by scoring a couple in the top of the sixth inning. With runners on second and third, Ben Rortvedt singled through the left side of the infield to drive in two runs and give the Kernels the lead. Rortvedt went 2-for-4 in the game. Mark Contreras did more than make great plays on defense. He went 2-for-4 with his first double of the season. He drove in an insurance run in the ninth inning as well. Third baseman Andrew Bechtold is now hitting .600 on the season after going 3-for-4 in this game. Ben Rodriguez also added his first double of the year. The Kernels remain undefeated at 3-0. STARS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Hitter of the Day: Travis Blankenhorn, Ft. Myers Miracle Twins Daily Pitcher of the Day: Kohl Stewart, Chattanooga Lookouts TOP PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed: #1 - Royce Lewis (Cedar Rapids) - 0-4, 1 K #3 - Nick Gordon (Chattanooga) - 0-5, RBI, K #5 - Alex Kirilloff (Cedar Rapids) - 0-4 #7 - Brent Rooker (Chattanooga) - 3-4, RBI #8 - Blayne Enlow (Cedar Rapids) - 4.1 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K #10 - Akil Baddoo (Cedar Rapids) - 1-4, BB, 3 K #13 - Lewin Diaz (Ft. Myers) - 0-4, K #14 - LaMonte Wade (Chattanooga) - 3-4, #16 - Ben Rortvedt (Cedar Rapids) - 2-4, 2 RBI #17 - Travis Blankenhorn (Ft. Myers) - 3-4, 2B (5), 3B (1), K TUESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Syracuse @ Rochester (4:35 CST) - LHP Adalberto Mejia Chattanooga - Travel Day Florida @ Ft. Myers (6:00) - RHP Sean Poppen Cedar Rapids @ Peoria (11:00 am CST) - LHP Tyler Watson Please feel free to ask any questions about Monday’s games, or ask any questions you may have. Click here to view the article

And neither of those things would have stopped them from still taking Kinley, or any other Rule 5 pick.

Last point... I was "upset" about losing Bard and then picking Kinley at that time. But, at that time (late November), I think we all assumed that the offseason would take a much different route than it did. Obviously they intended to add veteran bullpen arms. They did. Obviously they decided to focus their 40-man roster spots on starting pitchers and they protected three starting pitchers and no relievers. I'm perplexed with those two takes why they would then take a similar, though not as good, reliever with their own Rule 5 pick, but they did. I also think let's not judge too much on anyone's MLB debut. There are nerves. There was cold weather. Other factors. I mean, if we're going to give up on a guy after their MLB debuts, then why are we still high on Trevor May. Let''s give Kinley some time. Maybe he'll be OK. Maybe he'll stink. I know which one I think will happen, but maybe he can become a solid 6th inning guy, and if that's the case, it's a very successful Rule 5 pick regardless of the other situations surrounding it.