Seth Stohs

He's finally healthy, and he's pitching very well.

A long road to the big leagues finally led Alex Wimmers to the big leagues. On Thursday afternoon, he got The Call. On Friday night in Toronto he struck out two in a perfect first big league innings. It’s a good reminder for all of the Twins minor leaguers not to give up on their dreams as long as they can hang on. Byron Buxton kept a streak alive. Alex Kirilloff broke out of his first pro slump. There was a grand slam, and a walk-off home run. And there was a lot of strong starting pitching. It was a full, exciting day throughout the Twins minor league system. Continue reading for all the details.RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 7, Scranton/Wilkes Barre 1 Box Score Adalberto Mejia may be shut down, but if Friday was his final start, he went out with a good one. The left-hander acquired from the Giants for Eduardo Nunez gave up just one run in seven innings. He allowed seven hits, walked none and struck out five. Neil Ramirez worked the final two innings and gave up just one hit. He struck out four. Byron Buxton got things going in a big way. He went 2-5 and hit a three-run homer. It was his tenth homer for the Red Wings this season. It was also his third straight game with a home run. (Should I mention he also struck out three times?) Wilfredo Tovar went 3-4. Leonardo Reginnato - who was named to Brazil’s WBC-Qualifier team on Friday - went 2-4 with his second Red Wings double. Mitch Garver went 2-4, and Adam Brett Walker went 2-5. Kennys Vargas added his 15th double. The Red Wings are now 75-59 and in third place in the division. However they are 3.5 games back of Lehigh Valley for the one wild card spot up for grabs. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 4, Jacksonville 2 Box Score Felix Jorge put together arguably his best start since joining the Lookouts. The right-hander went seven innings and gave up just two runs on six hits. He walked none and struck out three. Luke Bard gave up one hit in a scoreless eighth inning. He struck out one. Zack Jones recorded his second save and dropped his ERA to 1.80 with a one-hit, scoreless ninth frame. Niko Goodrum went 2-5 with his seventh double. Stuart Turner went 2-4. Edgar Corcino and Engelb Vielma each went 1-3 with a walk. Vielma was also hit by a pitch. So was Travis Harrison who was 1-2 with a walk. Before the game, the team announced that Mason Melotakis came off of the disabled list. To make room, OF Shannon Wilkerson was released. The Lookouts are now 69-61 overall. They are 33-25 in the second half, 2.0 games behind Montgomery, and 2.5 games behind Jackson. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 3, Jupiter 4 Box Score Dereck Rodriguez has become an innings-eater with the Miracle. On this night, he gave up four runs (three earned) on nine hits in seven innings. He walked none and struck out just one. John Curtiss worked a perfect eighth inning. Tanner English led the offense by going 3-4. Joe Maloney added his 16th double. Trey Vavra and Alex Perez each had an RBI single. The Miracle are now 66-64 overall. In the second half, they are 32-29, two games behind Jupiter and 1.5 games behind St. Lucie in the FSL South Division. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 9, Clinton 5 Box Score The Kernels had a terrific night with the bats, but Tyler Beardsley recorded his first Midwest League win. He gave up two runs on four hits over six innings. He struck out three and did not issue a walk. Zander Wiel went 3-5 with his 15th home run. Travis Blankenhorn was 3-5 with his fifth Kernels double. Jaylin Davis went 3-4 with a walk and his sixth home run. JJ Fernandez was 2-5 with his 25th double. Overall, the Kernels are 73-57. In the 2nd half, they are 37-24 which is six games behind Clinton. However, since Clinton also won the first half, the Kernels have a five game lead over Burlington for a second-half playoff berth. Their magic number to clinch a playoff spot is five. UPDATE - Please read SD Buhr's comment below for the Kernels actual playoff scenario... I forgot the Midwest League's playoff rules. E-TWINS E-NOTES Elizabethton 7, Burlington 6 Box Score Mitchell Kranson was the Twins ninth-round pick this June out of California. On Friday night, he sent E-Twins fans home happy. He led off the bottom of the ninth with his fourth home run, a walk-off, to give the E-Twins the win. Alex Kiriloff kept the Twins close early in the game. He had a two-run triple (his first pro triple), and a two-run homer (his seventh homer). Shane Carrier went 2-4 in the game. Miguel De Jesus worked the first four innings. He gave up two runs on six hits. He walked two and struck out three. Hector Lujan gave up three runs on five hits over the next 3.1 innings. He struck out two. Patrick McGuff got the final two outs of the eighth inning. He gave up a run in the ninth which tied the game at six and set up the Kranson heroics. GCL TWINS TAKES GCL Twins 5, GCL Reds 4 Box Score Sometimes all a team needs is one big inning, and that’s what happened for the Twins on Friday afternoon. A five-run, seventh inning was enough to give them the win. The big hit came off the bat of Lean Marrero. Following a bases-loaded walk by Aaron Whitefield, Marrero hit his second homer of the year. The grand slam gave the Twins a lead they were able to hang on to. Jorge Munoz went 2-3 with a walk. Zach Featherstone was also 2-3 with a walk and his fifth double. Jordan Balazovic was on the mound for the Twins. He gave up only an unearned run over the first five innings. He gave up four hits, walked one and struck out one. Callan Pearce gave up three runs (two earned) on four hits and a walk in 1.1 innings. Onas Farfan came on and struck out three over 2.2 scoreless, hitless innings. He did hit one batter. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Adalberto Mejia, Rochester Red Wings Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Jaylin Davis, Cedar Rapids Kernels SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester @ Scranton/Wilkes Barre (6:05 CST) - LHP Nick Greenwood Mississippi @ Chattanooga (6:15 CST) - LHP Stephen Gonsalves Ft. Myers @ Jupiter (4:30 CST) - LHP Sam Clay Cedar Rapids @ Clinton (6:30 CST) – RHP Sam Gibbons Elizabethton @ Greeneville (5:00 CST) - TBD GCL Twins @ GCL Red Sox - LHP Taylor Clemensia Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Friday's games. Click here to view the article

I'm certain they kept track of all of the innings he threw for 6-7 weeks in Extended Spring Training. He likely went 3-4 innings 7-8 times, so that's another 30ish innings which really puts him at about 120 innings this year. Also, in reality, Romero is going to miss one, maybe two starts.

According to a tweet by Ken Rosenthal, the Minnesota Twins are looking to hire a president of baseball operations type. That person would then be in charge of hiring a new general manager and other front office types. This has become the trend in the last decade or so throughout baseball, and it would seem to be a good direction for the Twins to go as well.Here is the tweet from Rosenthal: This is a direction that Nick presented back in May, even before the announcement that GM Terry Ryan had been fired. He wrote that he believes current Twins president Dave St. Peter does his job well as it is currently laid out, but adds that the duties associated with that title are changing across the majors. Nick wrote: St. Peter would likely remain in his current role of running the Twins business, but this new president of baseball operations would be more involved in roster construction and such. Few names have been mentioned as potential candidates over the last month or so. Ben Cherington appears to be a favorite. Darren Wolfson has reported that he is very much interested. The Twins hired a search firm, Korn Ferry, to conduct their search and make recommendations. A new president of baseball operations would likely come in and evaluate current Twins front office personnel, including interim GM Rob Antony, along with outside options to determine the new general manager and other front office posts. Presumably, the Twins will want to hire a president of baseball operations by the end of the season so that person could get his or her staff in place. They would certainly want to have new staff in place by organizational meetings (which could be pushed back). Click here to view the article

It totally has his best interests in mind. He's 27 and gets to pitch in the big leagues for a month. Pitching at the big league level gives the new front office more data points to determine whether to keep him on the 40-man or let him become a minor league free agent. And, who comes up is probably less important than Berrios and Duffey not making big league starts right now.

Twins made it official a bit ago: https://twitter.com/Twins_morsecode/status/769198392333504512

I hve a lot of thoughts on Garver. Do I think he's been mis-handled? No. In fact, if I were asked whether he or Turner have been mis-handled, I'd say Turner. Here are a few random thoughts on the subject: - Garver was a senior sign. While they obviously really liked him, the fact they could sign him for WAY below slot because he had no leverage is an unfortunate reality of the current slotting system. - Pushing Turner straight to Ft. Myers wasn't really fair to him. While he is great behind teh plate, his offense wasn't ready for the Florida State League. And then they pushed him right to AA the next year. (oh wait, the Twins move prospects too slowly...) - Garver wasn't as highly regarded and went to the Midwest League. He missed time twice that season with concussions. (the 2nd was right at the end of the season) - Garver's come a LONG way defensively. While pitchers have always enjoyed working with him, there were some mechanical things that simply had to be worked on. Evaluators have finally started saying into this season are just now saying that he can be a major league catcher defensively. (Which is good and I would argue a very good positive for the system) - Keeping them on separate teams made some sense earlier, but obviously Garver needed to move up to AA this year, and obviously Turner needed to stay there. Both are still thought of as potential big leaguers and needed to play. Mientkiewicz did a nice job of getting them both time behind the plate. Garver earned his playing time at DH and 1B because of his bat. Also, having him able to play a second position can be valuable. - I still don't know that the Twins (or scouts/evaluators) see Garver as a full-time catcher in the big leagues. I think if he can catch half of the Twins games next year, that would be great! If he earns more playing time, he'll get it.

I often wonder the same thing... I assume other team's fans think their front office, even if they're generally considered good, do nothing right.

There is no question whatsoever that Romero's ceiling is the highest...

While I didn't like so many voices in Berrios's ear, sending him down made the world of sense. It's hard to blame Molitor for them optioning Berrios. I was hoping he wouldn't have to, but he was lost, control was terrible. Making him do that every fifth day was doing him no good.

It's been a long journey, full of ups and downs for Alex Wimmers. However, on Thursday afternoon, he finally got the call he had long been waiting for. "Alex Wimmers, you're heading to the big leagues! Congratulations!" Following the Twins loss to the Tigers on Thursday afternoon at Target Field, they announced that Jose Berrios and Tyler Duffey had been optioned to Rochester. The club announced that lefty Andrew Albers was called up and another pitcher would be promoted before Friday's game. Twins Daily has learned that player is Alex Wimmers. In June of 2010, the Minnesota Twins selected the two-time Big 10 Pitcher of the Year with the 21st overall pick out of Ohio State. There was reason to believe, and many scouts around baseball concurred, that he could be a quick-riser, nearly MLB ready. He began his professional career later that summer by allowing one run in 15.2 innings (5 BB, 23 K) for the Ft. Myers Miracle. He headed into that 2011 season with an opportunity to move quickly, as Kyle Gibson had in 2010. But that's when things went off track.Wimmers showed up to minor league spring training in 2011, but something clearly wasn't right. He wasn't able to throw strikes, at all. In his first start, Wimmers walked the first six batters he faced before being removed from the game. He was essentially shut down, sent to extended spring training, and started from scratch. He came back in mid-July, working out of the Miracle bullpen. The problem appeared to be corrected. He ended the season with two starts. In his final start, he threw a seven-inning no-hitter for the Miracle. Again, hope was high. Wimmers was set to start the 2012 season in AA New Britain. He made his first start, and then he didn't start again that year. In fact, he lost his season, and the 2013 season, to Tommy John surgery. He returned to the Miracle to start the 2014 season. He primarily pitched out of the bullpen, though he made some starts. He struggled. In 2015, he moved up to AA Chattanooga to start the season. He struggled in 18 starts, but he ended the season posting a 2.91 ERA in 12 relief appearances. The bullpen is where he has pitched through the 2016 season. He posted a 6.43 ERA in six games (7 IP) for Chattanooga to start the season but was promoted to Rochester. He struggled for about a week, but since the end of May, he has really taken to the bullpen job. He's worked two innings a handful of times, but for the most part, he's pitched one inning at a time. And manager Mike Quade isn't afraid to use him late in games. Wimmers has responded well. In fact, he's recorded 11 saves in 12 save opportunities with the Red Wings. IN 49.2 innings, he's walked 24, but he's struck out 50. And after pitching an inning to complete another Red Wings win in Norfolk on Thursday afternoon, Wimmers got The Call he'd dreamed about. I'd imagine that Wimmers got off the phone, and after likely loud cheers from his teammates, he had to have spent a few moments reminiscing about the long trek that the minor league career has taken. I'm sure he thought about those low points. I'm guessing he thought about the times when he certainly wondered what he would do next. Every minor leaguer likely experiences that discussion in their minds, but then imagine the pride he and his family must have upon receiving that phone call. The 27-year-old became a father for the first time earlier this summer. I would imagine that that event, as well as his wedding day, were great moments of pride for Alex Wimmers and his family. I would imagine that today, August 25th, 2016, is another day that the Wimmers family will never forget. While it's disappointing for Twins fans that Berrios and Duffey needed to be sent back to Rochester, there can't be a single Twins fan that doesn't feel really good for Alex Wimmers getting that phone call. Even more important, Wimmers isn't just getting The Call, he has earned this opportunity. Click here to view the article

It's still way too early to give up on him because of his ground ball tendencies, but there's no doubt that the K-rate continues to be a concern, and the walk rate continues to increase. I expect him to spend all of 2017 in Chattanooga, and I think that's just fine since he doesn't even need to be added to the 40-man roster until after the 2017 season. There's absolutely no reason to rush him at all. They knew he was a talent, but a project, when the selected him...

He went 0-9 over a two-game stretch once... Ha!! He hasn't gone cold for too long at any point this season. At the end of April, he went 0-10 over three games. He typically has an 0-fer and backs it up with a multi-hit game. Turner is definitely not one to give up one.

Minor League seasons are coming to an end quickly. Next Thursday marks the final regular season games for the two Twins short season teams. The full season seasons come to an end on Labor Day, though the final Miracle game is on the Sunday before Labor Day. Playoff spots are still up for grabs for the Twins affiliates. Also over the next week, we’ll start hearing about September call-ups, but we’ll also hear more about which players will represent the Twins in the Arizona Fall League.On that note, the Red Wings played plenty of bonus baseball. The Lookouts had a big offensive night. The Miracle and the Kernels each got great pitching performances. One of the top 2016 draft choices had his best game as a pro. It was a full day, six games in the Twins farm system. Read on for the entire minor league report. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 2, Norfolk 3 (13 innings) Box Score There was bonus baseball down in Norfolk on Wednesday. Byron Buxton’s eighth home run gave the Red Wings a 2-0 lead in the third inning. Unfortunately, that was it for the Rochester run-scoring. Kennys Vargas walked twice. Wilfredo Tovar and Adam Brett Walker each had a single and a walk. David Hurlbut continues to impress in his AAA starts. On this night he gave up two runs (1 earned) on eight hits and a walk over seven innings. He struck out four and dropped his ERA to 2.70. Neil Ramirez threw a scoreless eighth inning. Alan Busenitz gave up two hits and walked two over two scoreless innings. Edward Mujica gave up two hits over two scoreless innings. Jake Reed got the 13th inning. He gave up a run on two hits and a hit batter to take the loss with one out in the bottom of the inning. Norfolk’s left fielder, LJ Hoes, worked a scoreless top of the 13th inning and recorded the win in the game. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 9, Jacksonville 3 Box Score Kohl Stewart improved to 8-6 with the Lookouts with another quality start. A look into the numbers and you have to wonder how. Stewart went six innings and gave up three runs on seven hits. He walked five and struck out just two. His ERA with Chattanooga is now just 3.14. Brandon Peterson struck out two over two scoreless innings. Luke Bard worked a 1-2-3 ninth inning. Stuart Turner led the strong Lookouts offensive attack. He went 4-5 with his 22nd double, his sixth home run and two RBI. Zack Granite went 3-5. He stole two bases and now has 50 on the season. Edgar Corcino went 2-5. He had a bases-clearing triple in the team’s five-run seventh inning. Levi Michael went 2-4 with his second homer of the year. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 1, Palm Beach 0 Box Score Mad Money Miles Nordgren recently returned to the Miracle, and on Wednesday he put together his best start yet and recorded his first Florida State League win. Nordgren gave up just one hit over six shutout innings. He walked one and struck out two. Cam Booser got two outs in the seventh inning, but he walked three to load the bases. Nick Anderson got the final out of the seventh and worked two more scoreless innings to record his seventh save of the season. He gave up three hits, walked none and struck out three. The Miracle had just four hits in the game. Their run scored when AJ Murray doubled home Daniel Kihle. It was Murray’s tenth Miracle double. Murray went 2-4 in the game. Alex Perez walked twice. Check out this defensive play by Center Fielder Tanner English. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 3, Quad Cities 0 Box Score The Kernels got a terrific pitching performance, giving up just two hits in the shutout. 2016 draft pick Sean Poppen went the first four innings. He gave up just one hit, walked three and struck out five. Michael Cederoth came on and went the next three innings. He gave up one hit, walked one and struck out five. He improved to 4-0 with a 2.76 ERA. Tom Hackimer hit a batter over two scoreless innings to pick up his fourth save with the Kernels. Rainis Silva went 2-3 with his second double and an RBI. Travis Blankenhorn hit his fourth double since joining the Kernels. Luis Arraez hit his 28th double of the season. E-TWINS E-NOTES Elizabethton 3, Burlington 8 Box Score The Twins fell behind early and weren’t able to put together enough offense for a comeback. Alex Schik started. He gave up six runs (five earned) on five hits (including two home runs) and four walks. He struck out five in his five innings. Alex Robinson came on and gave up two runs on one hit, three walks and two hit batters in 1.1 innings. All four outs came via strikeout. Quin Grogan gave up just a walk over 2.2 scoreless innings finish things out. He struck out three. Ben Rortvedt had his best game in an Elizabethton uniform. He went 3-3 with a walk. Shane Carrier went 2-4 with his 14th double and second triple. Amaurys Minier and Caleb Hamilton each hit their seventh double. Ariel Montesino added his fourth double. GCL TWINS TAKES GCL Twins 1, GCL Orioles 14 Box Score Minnesota-Duluth’s Bo Hellquist was back on the mound on Wednesday. He gave up two runs (one earned) on three hits, two walks and a hit batter in five innings. He struck out six. Safe to say that this wasn’t the best performance for right-hander Daniel Martinez. He gave up eight runs on seven hits and a walk. He recorded just one out. Onas Farfan hit a batter but got the final two outs of the inning. Mat Jones came on and gave up four runs on two hits and two walks. He got just two outs, both came on strikeouts. Matz Schutte walked one and got four outs. Jorge Munoz went 2-2 with two doubles his 11th and 12th of the season. Lean Marrero went 2-3. They combined for four of the team’s five hits on the day. For the Orioles, Brian Duensing threw one inning in his rehab outing. He gave up one hit, no runs and walked one. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Miles Nordgren, Ft. Myers Miracle Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Stuart Turner, Chattanooga Lookouts THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester @ Norfolk (11:05 am CST) - RHP Omar Bencomo Chattanooga @ Jacksonville (6:05 CST) - RHP Ryan Eades Palm Beach @ Ft. Myers (6:05 CST) - RHP Fernando Romero Quad Cities @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 CST) – LHP Lachlan Wells Burlington @ Elizabethton (6:00 CST) - RHP Jose Martinez GCL Orioles @ GCL Twins - TBD Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Wednesday's games. Click here to view the article

Paul Molitor told assembled reporters at Target Field before Wednesday night's game that 1B/DH Byungho Park will have season-ending wrist surgery on Thursday morning.In a July 7th Rochester Red Wings game against Lehigh Valley, the IronPigs announcers mentioned that they overheard Red Wings personnel talking about Park's wrist injury. He had not played for a few days, and they overheard a comment that Park had been having the wrist issues most of the season. He came back and had a nice stretch, but then he slumped mightily and was recently placed on the DL with the a wrist problem. Mike Berardino learned that Park had spent time with Twins team doctors in the Twins Cities in the last couple of days. And now the news that he is having surgery. According to the beat writer reports, he is expected to rehab for a month before heading home to Korea for the offseason. According to Berardino, Park will have surgery "to repair subluxation of tendon in back of his hand.... Different area than right wrist tendinitis before." This situation is a bit reminiscent of the Chris Colabello situations in 2014. Colabello was hurt early in the season and chose not to tell the Twins about it because he wanted to keep playing. Even when he was optioned to Rochester, he never used it as an excuse. Similarly, Park said nothing about his wrist injury until well after the injury happened. Likely, he wanted to play and prove himself as a big leaguer. Likely, it may have hurt his wrist even more. While surgery is never a good thing, it is possible that his struggles with the bat for some long stretches may have been caused by pain in his wrist and hand.To what degree it affected his overall stat line, we can't know, but it certainly played a part. Click here to view the article

Exactly. They needed arms and did so at the expense of a hitter. I'm sure they had a nice message for Vargas. I'm sure he'll be up on September 1st, or 5th at the latest.

And it was like 1 a.m. when I had to publish the article, so... HA!

That's probably something that is true as well. I think Kevin Garnett went through some of that with the Wolves. Garnett was often unselfish to a perceived fault. Garnett chose to trust his teammates to take and make a better shot than he was going to get. It wasn't until he was part of a championship and more competitive teams that people better understood how great he really was, not only himself for his teammates. Different game, of course, but I think it's the same with Mauer. Could he have expanded his strike zone and swung at more balls in RBI situations? Sure, and maybe a few times it would have resulted in runs. More often, it would have resulted in a bad at bat. Instead, he looked in the on-deck circle and noticed Morneau or Cuddyer or Sano and said, but if I get on base, then that guy can knock in the run and me too and at the end of the day, we have even more runs.

To be fair... the compensation in the game of baseball is more than a bit different in the last 15 years than it was when Killebrew and Carew played for Calvin Griffith. And it's much different now than when Puckett and Hrbek played. In fact, at one time, Kirby Puckett was the highest paid player in baseball (for a few days, I believe). Mauer wasn't. So, the compensation is what it is, and dependent upon era.