Seth Stohs

I mean, with two outs, to score you have to get a hit... Aren't the odds of that generally going to be about 1 in 4 or maybe 3 in 10? Striking out with a runner on 3rd and less than 2 outs hurts a lot... getting out with two outs doesn't bother me.

I mean, a lot of the college pitchers drafted were starters in college and can be stretched out. They have 35-man rosters, so they'll be fine.

With Eduardo Del Rosario promoted to Ft. Myers today (likely taking the spot of Cody Stashak)... I'd guess Charlie Barnes would be the one to move up to Cedar Rapids.

From Brainerd, went to St. Cloud State for three years, then Mayville State. Was drafted by the Brewers, but never offered a deal. Went indy leagues. Twins signed him and he's dominated three levels now. He throws mid-90s. That's the main thing. But he's got a slider too.

Tonkin has a bigger fastball, and a better slider. He "looks" more like a prospect.

If Molitor told the ump Belisle for Rosario, and yet the ump doesn't notice that Pressly is coming in that Polanco and not Rosario is coming out... something weird happened. No one appears to be innocent in this. Guilt can go all around.

All we have to go on is Molitor's word, and I have no reason to believe he's making something up. We haven't heard from the ump or the league. We haven't heard any audio from that conversation. Until we know what was said specifically. It was just such an obvious double-switch that it's hard to understand how it went so strange.

He's a 19th round pick from Coastal Carolina... so sure, they could move him up to Cedar Rapids and he'd probably be alright.

Rucinski is 28. Spent some time with the Angels in 2014 and 2015. Was in AAA for the Cubs in 2016. Got a little time with the Twins this year. Obviuosly he's a solid AAA pitcher who could be OK in the big leagues in the right role and given some time/patience.

No surprise to read Molitor bashers using this as ammunition. I wish the umpire had to talk about what happened. WE got the confused explanation from Roberts, and I thought a pretty clear explanation from Molitor. I thought the umpires handled it horribly.

While I generally agree that the team hasn't been great in those situations, the inning you reference (When Berrios and Dozier struck out), Zack Granite came through with a two-out RBI single.

For the first time since late April, the Minnesota Twins are a game below .500 (49-50). In one of the longest games in major league history (OK, not really, it just seemed like it), the Dodgers post a second win against the Twins. Dodgers starting pitcher Kenta Maeda took about a month-and-a-half between pitches. Then in the sixth inning, one of the strangest 20+ minute delays in my lifetime kept the game going even longer. On Wednesday, the Twins will attempt to avoid being swept by putting Ervin Santana on the mound.Before the game even started, things were a bit strange for the Twins. Less than an hour before game time, Miguel Sano was scratched from the lineup due to his aggravated wrist (from Monday night’s hit-by-pitch). He got x-rays, and they were negative, which of course is positive. Eduardo Escobar was going to hit sixth and play shortstop. Instead, he moved to third base and batted cleanup. Jorge Polanco played shortstop. That was the easy lineup construction situation of this game. Win Expectancy (via fangraphs) Jose Berrios started for the Twins and he was solid early. He began the game with three shutout innings. He used his fastball at a variety of speeds, from 92 to 97. He also had a very sharp curveball again, as evidenced by this 1st-inning pitch to Corey Seager: Of course, Roberts kept saying Escobar, which was wrong, and probably adds to the confusion. After the 20+ minute delay, Pressly served up three straight hits to give the Dodgers two additional runs of offense. They didn’t need it, but it gave them the final 6-2 win. AL Central Cleveland won late on an Edwin Encarnacion grand slam. Earlier in the evening, the Royals topped the Tigers. The White Sox lost to the Cubs. The Twins came into their Tuesday night game at Dodgers Stadium with a .500 record and… … Cleveland 52-45 .536 --- Kansas City 52-47 .525 1.0 TWINS 49-50 .495 4.0 Detroit 45-54 .455 7.0 Chicago 39-58 .402 8.0 Bullpen Usage Trevor Hildenberger, Ryan Pressly and Alan Busenitz worked out of the Twins bullpen on Tuesday night. Here is a look at which relievers may be available on Wednesday night. What’s Next? The Twins and Dodgers will finish their three-game series on Wednesday night (9:10 central time). It will be Ervin Santana (1-0, 5.40 ERA) facing right-hander Brock Stewart (0-0, 0.00 ERA). Ervin Santana is coming off his worst start of the season. On Friday night, the All- Star gave up five runs and needed 95 pitches in just 3.1 innings against the Tigers. He gave up two homers in the game as well. In his one July start before the All-Star Game, he gave up two runs in nine innings. In his first post-All Star Game start, he gave up just two runs in six innings, but he walked five. Santana will look to get the Twins back on track. Lefty Alex Wood, who is 11-1 so far this season for the Dodgers, was scheduled to start on Wednesday. Instead, right-hander Brock Stewart will make his first start for the Dodgers this season. He has worked 13 innings over six appearances this season out of the bullpen. Last year, he made seven appearances, including five starts for the big league club. Stewart was a name mentioned in the offseason when there were approximately 13.2 million Brian Dozier-to-the-Dodgers rumors. Click here to view the article

Curtiss moved up three levels in about 15 months... Not sure that's exactly slow.

Alex Robinson is definitely the prospect of the two. No question about it. But what made him so successful in Cedar Rapids this year was his ability to generally throw strikes (at 96-99)... The night you saw, he walked three batters. In his three Miracle appearances before that night, he had 0 walks and 10 strikeouts in 5 innings. Now he's got 3 walks and 12 strikeouts in 6 innings. It's the danger of small sample size.

I thought Grossman was out. Despite what was said on the telecast, I thought he was tagged in the forearm before he hit the plate... Or, at least for me, I didn't see anything conclusive to overturn it.

There is zero reason to worry about Thorpe. One bad outing after a bunch of good ones. Velos look good. He's fine. I don't think the Haley decision really does much for Gonsalves/Romero's timeline I don't think Graterol's promotion is based on others.

A lot has changed in a week. The Twins made a trade. And the Twins have fallen in the races for the American League Central and for the wild card. The team is now at 49-49, a .500 record for the first time in months. They are 3 ½ games back of Cleveland now, and two games behind second-place Kansas City. They are also two games back of Kansas City for the second Wild Card spot. The Rays are in between, one game ahead of the Twins. The team is not out of it, but man, by the end of this week, they could go from buyer to seller.After reviewing which players may be available in trades from the NL Westand NL Central, today, we want to review the NL Eastern Division. STANDINGS Washington Nationals 59-38 Atlanta Braves 47-50 12.0 GB New York Mets 45-51 13.5 GB Miami Marlins 45-52 14.0 GB Philadelphia Phillies 34-62 24.5 GB So, I think it’s safe to say that the Nationals will win the division. In the wild card, the Chicago Cubs are five games behind the second wild card team. Then the Pirates are 7.5 games back. Atlanta is tied with St. Louis, 8.5 games back of a wild card berth. The Mets are 10 games back, and the Marlins are 10.5 games back. THE BUYERS Clearly the Nationals are, or at least were, buyers. Last week, they acquired some bullpen help, trading for RHP Ryan Madson and LHP Sean Doolittle from the A’s. Do they have other needs? Will they remain busy? The Nationals may need some outfielders as they have several on the disabled list right now. Also, Stephen Strasburg left his start this weekend, so they may be in need of more starting pitching, even if Strasburg is OK. THE SELLERS The division is interesting. Clearly there is going to be just one team that will make the playoffs from the NL East. The other teams all appear to be looking to sell at least to some level, but there are a couple of teams that seem to think they’re not too far off and may buy at the same time. The Braves It took about four days to go from “Close” to “Complete,” but the Twins and Atlanta worked out a deal that sent the Twins lefty Jaime Garcia and catcher Anthony Recker in exchange for Twins RHP prospect Huascar Ynoa. Garcia is a rental player, so Atlanta was happy to deal him for a young, high-ceiling pitching prospect like Ynoa who is years off. It’s a strategy they’ve used in recent years. But once in a while, we read a rumor that says that Atlanta is also a serious candidate for acquiring Sonny Gray. While it may not make sense for a sub-.500 team, the Braves do have a whole bunch of young pitching prospects that Oakland should be looking for. There could be a match, though many teams will be going after Gray. It’s strange to hear that they may have interest in Gray while at the same time there continue to be rumors that they could listen on Julio Teheran. They could get a huge return for Teheran, similar to what they would have to give up for Gray. Maybe there is a three-team possibility there somewhere. 42-year-old R.A. Dickey could be a possibility to be traded. The return wouldn’t be large, but they could get something from a team wanting an innings-eater at the back of their rotation. Closer Joe Johnson has had another strong season. He’s owed a miniscule $4.5 million in 2018. Old friend Kurt Suzuki is having a nice season for Atlanta as well. He could be a backup catcher for some team. Brandon Phillips is on the last year of his long-term deal. He’s got the no-trade clause but he was willing to give that up to go to Atlanta to start the season. The Mets The Mets have quite a few position players who could be dealt at the deadline. The biggest name is probably Jay Bruce who has 25 home runs. Also, Curtis Granderson, who has lost playing time this year, could interest some teams as a bench bat, part-time DH and clubhouse leader. Finally, Lucas Duda is having a strong season again after a couple of tough ones. He makes too much sense to go to the Yankees. All three are free agents at the end of the year. Asdrubal Cabrera is likely to be traded. He has an option for 2018 and has now played all of the infield positions. On the mound, reliever Addison Reed should draw some interest from a variety of teams. He also is a free agent at season’s end. So is left-hander Jerry Blevins. The Marlins There sure are a lot of denials being tossed around between the Yankees and the Marlins as it relates to Giancarlo Stanton. It’s a long-short that anything would happen, but it is the Yankees, so you never know. AJ Ramos, the Marlins closer, could be dealt. And after they received four prospects in exchange for David Phelps, they are right to expect a huge haul for Ramos. Dan Straily another pitcher who will warrant a lot of attention. He’s controllable for a few years yet and the journeyman is having a decent year for the Marlins. Edison Volquez has thrown a no-hitter this year, and he’s spent time on the disabled list too. He’s a veteran who has pitched in the playoffs in recent years, so he’ll draw some interest as well. The Phillies The Phillies seemed to think that they might compete in 2017. In short… No. They are arguably the worst team in baseball, and they should be looking to sell off veterans and start over. Of course, then we read that they are interested in acquiring Dee Gordon from the Marlins. So, they clearly aren’t looking at a big rebuild. Pat Neshek is the most likely Phillies player to be traded. The reliever has a 1.12 ERA this season, and he’s a free agent at the end of the year. They shouldn’t get a huge return for him, and yet because so many teams are interested, they’ll get a nice haul. Joaquin Benoit is a couple of notches below Neshek in the pecking order, but he’s another reliever who could be dealt. The team also has Howie Kendrick who is hitting .353 and playing a variety of positions. Daniel Nava is also having a solid season and isn’t making much money. A playoff team could use his bat off the bench. SUMMARY Well, the Twins have already made a trade with a team in the NL East, the Braves. Could they possibly make another deal in that division? Obviously I think the Twins focus at this point will be bullpen help. There are a few names to watch. Pat Neshek is the most obvious, but it’s possible they could be in on the likes of AJ Ramos or Joaquin Benoit. Click here to view the article

Yesterday, we wrote a bit about how well Aaron Slegers has pitched in his last seven or eight starts. For his last two starts, he was named the International League’s Pitcher of the Week. The major news on Monday, of course, was the Twins officially acquiring Jaime Garcia and Anthony Recker for Huascar Ynoa. But there was much more to the day including the decision to send back their Rule 5 pick. There are likely to be more transactions following the Monday night Twins game in Los Angeles, so we’ll update those below.Also, the E-Twins had another huge offensive inning. Brent Rooker had another solid showing. There was a #ParkBang. A Kernels reliever has a pretty impressive streak going. And, a second 2017 shortstop draft pick is playing well in the GCL. Find out everything and more that happened happened in the Twins system on Monday. Let’s start with the transactions of the day: It happened about four days after it was deemed “close,” but the Twins did officially acquire lefty Jaime Garcia from Atlanta, along with catcher Anthony Recker, in exchange for Elizabethton starting pitcher Huascar Ynoa.To make room, Rule 5 RHP Justin Haley was outrighted and sent back to the Boston Red Sox.RED WINGS REPORTRochester 1, Indianapolis 4 Box Score Niko Turley was on the mound for the Red Wings on Monday, and things didn’t go well. In 4.1 innings, he gave up four runs on six hits. He walked three and struck out three… and, well, this happened too. DJ Baxendale gave up a hit and walked two over 1.2 scoreless innings. Alex Wimmers struck out four over two perfect innings. Byungho Park led the Red Wings offense. He went 3-4 and launched his seventh home run. Matt Hague went 2-4 with his 19th double. Engelb Vielma added his seventh double. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga Box Score The Lookouts had an off day on the schedule. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 3, Tampa 7 Box Score Lewis Thorpe had his first real rough start since his return from missing two seasons. The lefty went just 3.2 innings and was charged with five runs (three earned) on four hits. He walked three and struck out two. He also hit one batter, threw two wild pitches and had a balk. Mike Theofanopoulos struck out two in 2.1 perfect innings. Alex Robinson walked three and struck out one in a scoreless inning. Andrew Vasquez gave up two unearned runs on four hits over two innings. He struck out two. Sean Miller led the offense. He went 3-4 with his 14th double. Brent Rooker went 1-2 with two walks and his first Miracle double. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 1, Lansing 3 Box Score The Kernels won the season series against Lansing even though they fell in the finale on Monday afternoon. Anthony Marzi made the start and went the first seven innings. He gave up three runs, though just one was earned. He gave up six hits, walked none and struck out none. Colton Davis came in and did what he’s done all year… put up a zero. From Jeff Johnson’s article in The Gazette, “Davis has not allowed an earned run in his last 22 appearances out of the bullpen and given up only one run, period, in that span of 31 1/3 innings. The last time a team nicked him was way back on May 10.” He did need a little bit of help though. With a runner on second, Davis gave up a single to center. Aaron Whitefield charged the ball and came up throwing. He gunned down the base runner at home by at least five feet. Hector Lujan worked a scoreless ninth inning. The offense managed just one run. Whitefield and Christian Cavaness each went 1-3 with a walk. E-TWINS E-NOTES Elizabethton 15, Pulaski 4 Box Score For the third time in a week, the E-Twins put together a huge, late-inning inning. In this one, they scored eight runs in the ninth inning. Jose Miranda went 4-5 with his sixth homer. He scored three runs and drove in three runs. TJ Dixon was 3-5 with his first pro home runs. He stole his third base. Ariel Montesino went 2-3 with two walks. Shane Carrier had two hits. Wander Javier walked twice and hit his seventh double. Carson had three RBI and his seventh double. JJ Robinson added his fifth home run. Ryley Widell made his second appearance. He gave up one run on two hits over 3.2 innings of work. He struck out three without issuing a walk. Moises Gomez gave up three runs on four hits in the final 5.1 innings. He walked four, but he struck out nine. GCL TWINS TAKES GCL Twins 3, GCL Orioles 5 Box Score Jordan Balazovic started for the GCL Twins on Monday. The right-hander from Canada gave up five runs (four earned) on seven hits in 5.2 innings. He walked one and struck out one. Juan Mojica walked two, but got four outs without being charged with a run. Amilcar Cruz came on and threw two shutout innings. Ricky De La Torre is now hitting .288 after going 2-3 with a walk. Darling Cuestro was also 2-3 with a walk in the game. Kidany Salva went 2-4 with his first double of the season. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Alex Wimmers, Rochester Red Wings Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Jose Miranda, Elizabethton Twins TUESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester @ Indianapolis (6:05 CST) - TBD Birmingham @ Chattanooga (6:15 CST) - LHP Stephen Gonsalves Ft. Myers @ Lakeland (5:30 CST) - RHP Cody Stashak Cedar Rapids - No Game Scheduled Elizabethton @ Pulaski (6:00 CST) - TBD GCL Twins @ GCL Orioles (11:00am CST) - TBD Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Monday’s games. Click here to view the article

Ynoa was my midseason #20 Twins prospect (http://twinsdaily.com/articles.html/_/minnesota-twins-news/minnesota-twins-minor-leagues/part-3-seths-midseason-top-40-prospects-16-20-r5644)... I think he's got a pretty high ceiling, but it's the kind of deal that makes sense for a rental. Atlanta gets a high upside guy who is probably 4-5 years away. The Twins get a guy who should help them this year. Recker only makes sense to me if Garver comes up to be the #3 catcher, #2 first baseman, #3 DH, #1 pinch hitter, #5 OF.

He coached in the GCL last year. Since he retired, he's coached some in junior college and such.

By the way... Alan Busenitz recalled to take Craig Breslow's spot.