Seth Stohs

I don't really believe in Catcher ERA as an indicator of much... but I don't think anyone would question that Castro is the better defensive catcher. That's how he got the 3 year, $24+ million contract, and Gimenez signed on a minor league deal. But that stat does little for me. Way too many other variables go into that. That said, I have obviously been a Garver guy since he was my choice for minor league hitter of the year in 2014 in Cedar Rapids. And now his play, offense and defense have improved to the point where he's ready. For me, instead of continuing to call up Vargas, I'd call up Garver as a #3 catcher/1B/DH/PH guy.

He would certainly have a chance to.

What am I missing here? 0-2 in trades? Was the first one not trading Dozier straight-up for a pitcher in the offseason? Was the second one not making a trade for Garcia because the other team had a change of heart. I'm guessing there have been a whole bunch of other conversations that they've had with other teams that haven't resulted in trades.

The only ratings that matter here are the Twins' and the Braves'... I had him top ten before last year, I think. Ceiling is still very high.

I mean, I'm not a fan of inning-roles as much as situation roles, but it's clear that Rogers is their top set-up man, and he's dominated lefties and righties alike all season. He had a tough outing. That happens even to the best. I don't have a problem with that decision.

I think he'd go to Elizabethton. There's little reason for him to skip. Now, when the GCL season is over, there is a chance he could end the season in Cedar Rapids. Maybe even play in the playoffs for them. The Twins did that with Chris Parmelee and Joe Benson in 2006 (Well, then in Beloit). Rogers can hit 95. In Low A he was hitting 92-93. I don't think Barnes throws quite as hard. I think he can be a starter, but he'll have to be pinpoint. Many examples of those types making it.

So... we're giving up on him after 4 GCL starts? Obviously he, like 96% of GCL players are long shots, but that does seem a little early...

It was a full day of game action throughout the Twins minor league system. Offense wasn’t real strong for many of the teams, but there were some really nice wins. There were a couple of strong pitching performances. There was also a position player who got to pitch, which is always fun. There were a few transactions including hearing part of a trade that will bring the Twins a left-handed starting pitcher. All that and more.Find out everything and more that happened happened in the Twins system on Monday. Let’s start with the transactions of the day: Rochester announced that Michael Kohn has been signed and placed on their disabled list. (Jeremy wrote this in yesterday’s report, but the Red Wings made it official on Thursday night.)The Red Wings also activated infielder Leonardo Reginnato from the DL, and Bengie Gonzalez was released.2016 supplemental second-round pick Akil Baddoo was promoted from the GCL to Elizabethton.Oh, there was also a report you may have read, that the Twins may be close to a deal with Atlanta which would bring lefty Jaime Garcia to Minnesota. Reportedly, it will cost the Twins a yet-to-be-determined prospect, and the Twins may or may not receive a low-level prospect as well.RED WINGS REPORTRochester 3, Toledo 6 Box Score After starting his Red Wings career with 15 scoreless innings, Gee was back on the mound on Thursday night. He gave up five runs on eight hits in six innings. He walked none and struck out five. DJ Baxendale gave up a run on three hits in the seventh. Jake Reed pitched a scoreless eighth inning, and Michael Tonkin struck out two in a scoreless ninth. JB Shuck led the offense. He went 3-4. Byungho Park stayed hot. He went 2-3 with a walk. Niko Goodrum went 2-5 with his fourth triple. Mitch Garver went 1-3 with a walk and he stole his first base of the season. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 4, Mobile 1 Box Score The Lookouts got another nice win and did something difficult. They scored four runs on just three hits. Ryan Walker hit his third home run of the season. Later, they scored on a bases-loaded walk from LaMonte Wade, followed shortly by a Jonathan Rodriguez sacrifice fly. Kohl Stewart started again and improved to 4-4. In five innings, he gave up one run on just one hit. He walked four and struck out three. Of his 70 pitches, only 36 were strikes. Randy Rosario came on and threw two scoreless innings. He gave up three hits. Paul Clemens gave up just one hit in a scoreless eighth inning. Luke Bard recorded his fifth save with a scoreless ninth inning. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 1, Bradenton 4 Box Score Cedar Rapids native Mitch Keller is a pitching prospect in the Pittsburgh Pirates system. On this night, he shut down the Miracle offense. He was charged with an unearned run on one hit over six innings. He walked two and struck out four. The Miracle had just four total hits in the game. Jaylin Davis went 1-3 with a walk. Brent Rooker went 0-3 and is now 0-10 in three games since joining the Miracle. Cody Stashak started for the Miracle. He gave up four runs on seven hits in six innings.He walked two and struck out three. Alex Robinson came in for the final two innings. He gave up two hits, but no runs. He struck out four without issuing a walk. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 0, Great Lakes 10 Box Score It as a rough night for the Kernels which led to one of our favorite things in baseball… Position Player Pitching! Down 9-0 going into the ninth inning, infielder Joe Cronin was brought in to the game to pitch the ninth. How did he do? Well, you’ll just have to read on to find out. Let’s start at the top though. Tyler Beardsley started. He gave up four runs on seven hits in 4.2 innings. He struck out one. Max Cordy worked the next two innings. He gave up two runs (one earned) on two hits. He walked three and struck out five. Ryan Mason was charged with three runs (one earned) on four hits and a walk. That brings us to Cronin. He gave up one run on two hits and a walk in the ninth. He also struck out two. The Kernels offense managed just four hits. Aaron Whitefield went 1-3 with a walk. Caleb Hamilton walked twice. Christian Cavaness hit his tenth double. E-TWINS E-NOTES Elizabethton 7, Bristol 1 Box Score Lefty Charlie Barnes got the start for the E-Twins on Thursday night. He gave up only an unearned run on four hits over five innings to improve to 2-1 and drop his ERA to 1.31 He walked one and struck out four. Nick Brown came on and struck out eight over four, two-hit innings. He didn’t issue any walks and recorded the save. Wander Javier drove in runs early. He had two RBI doubles. He was 2-5 and now has six doubles. Rainis Silva went 3-4 with his first homer. TJ Dixon was also 3-4. Ariel Montesino went 2-4 with a walk. GCL TWINS TAKES GCL Twins 1, GCL Rays 5 Box Score Rains came which cut this game short after just five innings. The Twins had just three hits. Ben Rodriguez drove in Alex Robles with the team’s lone run. Petru Balan started and gave up five runs on eight hits in 4.2 innings. He walked three and struck out four. Juan Mojica came on and recorded the final out of the fifth inning on a strikeout. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Charlie Barnes, Elizabethton Twins Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Rainis Silva, Elizabethton Twins FRIDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Toledo @ Rochester (5:05 CST) - RHP Tim Melville Chattanooga @ Mobile (7:05 CST) - RHP Dereck Rodriguez Tampa @ Ft. Myers (6:05 CST) - RHP Sean Poppen Great Lakes @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 CST) - Evan Sanders Bluefield @ Elizabethton (6:00 CST) - TBD GCL Twins @ GCL Red Sox (11:00am CST) - TBD Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Thursday’s games. Click here to view the article

My favorite one was... "We gave up Yohan Pino for Carl Pavano!"

Update Friday 4:44 - It's now been about 24 hours since Ken Rosenthal first tweeted that the Twins were close to acquiring Jaime Garcia. As things sit right now, Garcia is set to start for Atlanta and the trade talks are on hold as other teams are now involved. This has been very interesting, with several twists and turns. It will be nice to see it resolved, whatever that means. As fans, however, it is nice to know that the Twins front office is being aggressive and pursuing players as buyers at this time. -------------------------------------- Ken Rosenthal was first to report that the Minnesota Twins are close to acquiring veteran LHP Jaime Garcia from the Atlanta Braves. Recently Rhett Bollinger tweeted that the Twins will trade a minor leaguer to the Braves to complete the deal. Jon Heyman has confirmed that it is a one-for-one deal. As of midnight Thursday night/Friday morning, the deal was not complete, but most seem to believe that it will still happen. As the deal becomes final and we learn more about the specifics, we will update this article.The 31-year-old Garcia debuted with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2008. He stayed in that organization through the 2016 season when he was traded. Last offseason, he was traded to Atlanta in exchange for three minor leaguers. In 17 starts and 106 innings, Garcia is 3-7 with a 4.33 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP. He has walked 40 and struck out 81. While the front office has said that it wasn't interested in trading for rentals, Garcia is in the final season of a six year, $50 million deal. He is making $12 million this season. He likely has about $4 million remaining on the deal. Check back for updates. Click here to view the article

I agree with this. I do think he's been much more aggressive. My main thing is that it has to be case-by-case. Prospects get pushed... Rortvedt got pushed hard in his jump to Cedar Rapids... It took 6-8 weeks, but he's done well since then. Now he can keep working the rest of the season and experience some success before again being challenged next year in Ft. Myers.

Buy is trading prospects/young players for veteran players... Sell is trading off your veterans for young players/prospects... I keep it pretty basic. Ha!

I don't know if the Murphy/Garver comments really tell us anything... 1.) Have the Twins drafted a high school catcher in the 1st or 2nd round in the last 10-12 years? Did they have a high school catcher who was ready for the big leagues at 22? While Murphy got time in MLB at 22-24, as a backup to Brian McCann, he is now a part-time catcher in AAA, so was being in MLB best for him during that time? (financially, sure... development-wise, I don't know). Also, Murphy was more of a defensive catcher which is the skill more likely to get you to the big leagues. Garver had more development to do behind the plate coming out of four years of college. He wasn't drafted until he was 22. Was he supposed to come up to the majors right away. I think Garver should be up right now. But so much of it is situational too. The new front office just brought in a guy for 3 years and $24+ million. There is one of a team's two catchers. They decided to bring in a second backup catcher, one they were both familar with as a glue guy to lead, and I think Chris Gimenez has done that. Now, I would have Garver up as a DH/C/1B, maybe even LF, guy now, but they've also (like several other teams) had an 8-man bullpen a bunch of the season, so it's harder to make a 3-man bench. And, if reaching MLB by age 22 is a big thing... the Twins have called up Polanco, Sano, Buxton, Kepler, Berrios, Mejia, Mauer, and going back, guys like Arcia when they were 22 or younger, so to say that the team doesn't do that just isn't accurate at all. People can argue that pitchers are brought along more slowly, and probably have a good point (though again, Berrios was up by 21, Mejia 22, etc.), but that same argument can't be made for hitters, in my opinion...

What if they weren't ready when they were 22-23-24?

I voted Stand Pat when the TD poll came out last weekend. At the time, I wanted to see how the Astros and Yankees and Dodgers series went. The Twins went 3-3 against the Astros and Yankees and are now 1/2 game out of the division lead and the 2nd wild card, so as of today, I'm good with Buying... But that could change against after playing Detroit this weekend... and against after playing in Los Angeles...

Not agreeing or disagreeing, but what about him indicates that he could move up fast?

I'd think they'd start him in Cedar Rapids. He should be doing some hitting soon, and by Instructs, he should be full go. So, by next spring, he should be fine.

Melo just doesn't have the velocity that he did right after his return, but he's been pitching well. It was surprising when he was DFAd, and maybe more surprising that he wasn't claimed. Good deal for the Twins. Park has been pretty good the last 34 games. He's hit .328/.366/.516 (.833) with 10 doubles, two triples and three homers. I can't imagine there'd be any trade value for the 31-year-old, but if they were offered pretty much anything for him, I'm sure they'd take it. And yes, that was Thorpe's longest outing. Previous high was 5.2 innings. But you're right. 80 pitches in 7 innings is very efficient. He has thrown 84 pitches in 5 innings earlier, and a couple of starts ago, he threw 99 pitches in 5.2 innings.

Talked to him last week. He arrived in Ft. Myers last Tuesday (8-9 days ago).

We are less than two weeks away from the July 31 trade deadline. It is still fair to question whether the Twins are going to be buyers or sellers, both or neither at the deadline. They are 3-3 in six games against the Astros (1-2) and Yankees (2-1) and have stayed above .500. They are a half a game behind Cleveland in the American League Central, and they are half a game behind the Yankees for the second wild card spot. So who are the players that might be available in a trade?Over the coming week we’ll take a look which teams are buyers and sellers and who the Twins could look to acquire. We’ll start with the teams in the National League West division. STANDINGS Los Angeles Dodgers - 66-29 Colorado Rockies - 56-41 (11 games back) Arizona Diamondbacks - 54-40 (11.5 games back) San Diego Padres - 40-54 San Francisco Giants - 37-59 As things sit right now, the Rockies and Diamondbacks are the two Wild Card teams. The Cubs are currently five games out of the second Wild Card spot. We know they’ll make some moves, so will Colorado and Arizona be willing to add some players? THE BUYERS If the Twins decide to sell, which would be disappointing as things stand today (but may be different in a week), the Dodgers, Rockies and Diamondbacks could be calling. Brian Dozier, Brandon Kintzler and Ervin Santana will be the primary names tossed around (no surprise). The Dodgers wouldn’t trade Cody Bellinger for Brian Dozier in the offseason. I’m guessing he’s not available at this point either. THE SELLERS As of right now, the Twins should be leaning toward buying, and if that’s the case, the Padres and the Giants are teams that should be looking to sell. I assume that the Twins have already had discussions with the GMs from both teams. So, who could be on the table? The Padres While the Twins front office has indicated that it isn’t as interested in acquiring rental players (guys who will be free agents at the end of the season), those types of players can be had without getting rid of as big of a prospect, so they can’t be completely ignored. The Padres have a few starters who are likely very available. All three are free agents at the end of the season. Clayton Richard (33), who the Twins were said to be at least somewhat interested in before the season, has been terrible. He’s got a 4.75 ERA and a 1.52 WHIP through 19 starts. Jhoulys Chacin (29) has been mediocre. He’s got a 4.33 ERA and a 1.32 WHIP .He’s got 92 strikeouts in 108 innings. Trevor Cahill (29) missed two months earlier in the season, but he’s been pretty good since his return. He’s got a 3.38 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP. In 50.2 innings, he walked 19 and struck out 63. I mean, if you want, you could go after Jered Weaver who has an ERA way over 7 and a WHIP near 1.50. He’s also been on the disabled list. He also throws 82 mph. Of course, the Big Fish of the Padres is Chaska native, left-handed reliever Brad Hand. He was a deserving All-Star this year and he’s controllable for at least another two years beyond 2017. Recently, the Padres made it known that they want and expect a return for Hand similar to what the Phillies got to Ken Giles. That is to say a package of three or four players, including a top prospect or two. The Giants The Giants have probably been the biggest disappointment in baseball this season. They have a top-5 payroll and have been unable to get things rolling at all in 2017. So they would likely love to make some trades and push toward 2018. While there will be some position players, like Denard Span or even Brandon Crawford at the right price, the Twins focus should primarily be pitching. The Giants have pitchers with names, and big contracts. Johnny Cueto’s name has not really surfaced in rumors, but he would cost a team approximately $22 million a year through the 2021 season (and a team option for 2022) along with a haul of prospects. The 31-year-old is 6-7 with a 4.59 ERA and a career-high (by a long shot) 3.2 walks per nine innings. Jeff Samardzija’s name has been discussed in rumors as several teams have inquired about him. He is owed about $19.5 million for the next two seasons. He is 4-11 with a 4.86 ERA this season. While he hasn’t been particularly good for the last three seasons (posting ERA+ of 79, 104 and 85), he does eat a ton of innings. He’s posted over 200 innings four straight years and is on pace to be close to that number again. Speaking of long-term contracts that didn’t work out well, Matt Cain was a top pitcher for the Giants for several years. Then he signed a six-year, $127.5 million contract and has been hurt a majority of the time since. He’s healthy this year, and his 5.49 ERA would be his lowest in three years. However, his 1.67 WHIP makes the 32-year-old pretty Colon-like. He can become a free agent at season’s end. The intriguing name in the Giants rotation might just be Matt Moore. He was one of the top prospects in baseball (he, Mike Trout and Bryce Harper were consensus Top 3 guys) with the Rays. He went 17-4 in 2013. They signed him to a team-friendly deal soon after he debuted. early in 2014, he needed Tommy John surgery and missed most of that season and over half of 2015 as well. Last year, the Rays traded him to the Giants. This year, he is 3-10 with a 5.81 ERA and a 1.64 WHIP. He’s got options for 2018 at $9 million and 2019 at $10 million. So, while he’s been pretty bad this year, he just turned 28 in June. If pro scouts believe that he is healthy and still has some stuff, Moore could be a relatively inexpensive option for two more years. I can’t imagine the prospect-return on any of these guys would be real high due to their contract size and/or performance this year. Evaluators just need to determine what they have left and whether or not they could help the team. Personally, Moore is the only one that is relatively intriguing. As for bullpen arms, the one interesting name might be Sam Dyson. He was good last year, but he began this year just terrible for the Texas Rangers. They let him go, and the Giants signed him. In 15 games, he has an ERA of 2.76 in 16.1 innings in San Francisco. He’s recorded five saves, taking over closer duties since Mark Melancon has been on the DL. Could he be available for cheap? Other Relievers: George Kontos, Cory Gearrin. SUMMARY There is a clear team at the top in the Dodgers who have proven they aren’t afraid to spend money. They have a smart front office that hasn’t been willing to just hand away prospects, but they could be buyers. Both the Diamondbacks and Rockies have been surprises in 2017. If the season ended now, which would be unfortunate for fans, they would both be wild card teams. They may have some interest in acquiring some additional talent at the deadline, particularly bullpen help. Meanwhile, winning teams will be frequently calling the Giants and Padres as those teams have been out of contention for quite some time already. Players are available. There are some big names who will be in the rumors, but the clear choice for best player available from the division is Brad Hand, and the steep asking price illustrates that well. What do you think? Could there be a match with the Twins somewhere in the NL West? Click here to view the article

The E-Twins were down 5-0 after 2 innings, and 7-2 in the 5th inning. A nine-run eighth innings made it a blowout. They did the same thing on Monday when I wrote the report... 0-0 game through 7 innings, they then scored 5 and 8 in the final two innings. They have some talent.

It is because it's consistent and gives context. A guy who is 3 years younger than average and holding his own is likely a better prospect than a guy who is 1 year older than average. We get that... but there are variables, like college/JC/HS draft, where they're from, etc.,