Seth Stohs

Whoa! Jeremy Nygaard is in the picture. I think I might even be able to see him and his wife on the field!

... or by his terrific job there last year...

Some people, whose opinions I respect, think that Jorge's struggle in 2014 in Cedar Rapids was an inability to figure out how to pitch in the cold that he had never played in before. He got over that last year. Right now he's in most people's 20-25 range for Twins prospects, so another solid season of starting in Ft. Myers and he could easily move into the 10-15 range. Based on what Jeremy wrote in the article, his velocity is definitely where it would need to be. It's up from where it was a year ago. He's very thin... but he got to 142 innings last year. Can he get to 165 this year? He definitely didn't get much bigger since last season, so we'll likely find out this year. But, Chris Sale is able to throw lots and lots of innings every year, so I think Jorge can do it.

Easily the most consistent pitcher in the Twins farm system last year and a nice star to this season.

WPA can be interesting. For me, it's about what the biggest plays were. In many cases, these Shutdown or Meltdowns might be the same. I think iit speaks to Jeremy's leverage comment/idea. I think it'll be fun to compare this stat to the fangraphs stat and see how they look side-by-side.

I'll add JT. Amazing that he's the name I left out since I think he'll be the first one called up.

2015 was a positive season for the Minnesota Twins. Yet, when the season ended, it was clear that there were needs in the organization that needed to be addressed. Foremost among them was the bullpen. In Parker’s interview for the Twins Daily Offseason Handbook, he asked Terry Ryan, “Where would you prioritize the bullpen in general this offseason?” Ryan responded with, “High.” Parker probed, “Highest priority?” Ryan said, “It’s pretty close up there. Pitching is always the most prioritized area of any team.” That interview was in October. The offseason came and went and the Twins signed exactly zero pitchers to major league contracts, starters or relievers.Granted, the Twins signed MLB veteran lefty reliever Fernando Abad to a minor league contract. There was never really any question that he would make the Opening Day roster. Abad was one of several pitchers signed to minor league deals. Besides Abad, the only pitcher who really had a chance at cracking the Opening Day roster was right-hander Brandon Kintzler, another veteran with several years of big league service time. Dan Runzler and Buddy Boshers were nice stories for spring training, and maybe one of them will perform at AAA and eventually get a promotion back to the big leagues. There were not many bullpen jobs available. Glen Perkins is signed for another year. Kevin Jepsen, after what he did for the Twins after last year’s trade deadline, was coming back, and that’s a good thing. We can debate bringing back Casey Fien, but once he was re-signed, he was a given. Trevor May got some opportunity this spring to start, but we all knew that he would go to the bullpen. Michael Tonkin was out of options. Ricky Nolasco was a possibility for a bullpen spot depending upon spring training performance. Again, there were only one or two jobs to be competed for. In my opinion, I was always comfortable with Twins not wanting to go beyond one year with any relief pitcher for a few reasons. First and foremost, there are very few relievers who are good for multiple years, especially free agent pitchers who are already 31 years old, or older. Most likely, during a two-year contract, the pitcher would be good one of the years. In a three-year contract, you could hope beyond hope that you get two decent years. Of course, we can follow the next three years of Tony Sipp and Antonio Bastardo to see how they pan out. Secondly, the Twins are loaded with relief pitching prospects, guys that we hope are ready sometime in 2016. Guys that we don’t want to see blocked by mediocre veterans. In the same Offseason Handbook Terry Ryan interview, Ryan was asked about the power arms in the system and if they could surface in 2016. He said, “Yeah, we do. I do. I would expect some of those guys to surface this year. I was hoping maybe last year but it was maybe one year premature. Some of those guys had a few struggles, and that’s not a bad thing. Alright, now you know what you’ve gone through. Now you can take a step back. A few of them are out in that Arizona Fall League which is good. I would think that some of those guys are going to surface this year which would be well received here. We can use some of that influx of people. I would like to see some of those relief pitchers there.” In 2016, the following pitchers could come up and contribute to the Minnesota Twins. (Note-That is not saying all of them will, just that they are at a point in their career and development that it is possible) 40-Man Roster Alex Meyer JR Graham JT Chargois Taylor Rogers Ryan O’Rourke Mason Melotakis Pat Dean Non-Roster Nick Burdi Jake Reed Logan Darnell Brandon Peterson Alex Wimmers Now that’s 12 names. Most likely no more than two to four will actually come up in 2016, but by the end of 2017 several more of them will and potentially other names like Luke Bard, Trevor Hildenberger and Yorman Landa will be ready. All of that is well and good, but for a team that expected to compete in 2016, performance matters. And through one week - a very small percentage of the season - the bullpen has been one of the biggest issues contributing to the Twins 0-7 loss. It’s not the only contributing factor. The complete lack of offense and run scoring has pushed the bullpen issues into the spotlight a lot this first week. They have had three one-run losses and two-two run losses. In a couple of the games, the Twins lost leads in the late innings. I’ve always wanted to establish a statistic of sorts to help measure the effectiveness of a relief pitcher. I think it’s fair to say that ERA and even WHIP are not the best statistics to measure the reliability of a reliever. Because relief pitchers generally pitch one, and maybe two, innings once or twice a week, one or two really bad outings can affect how the pitcher’s numbers look for much of the season. To me, I want to know how often a reliever came into a game, into a situation and got the job done. All pitchers are going to have a few clunkers, so I’m going to try something new this year. I’m going to look at each and every appearance by relief pitchers throughout this season and determine whether or not the pitcher did what he was brought in to do. Someone else can name this stat, if it’s worthwhile. Frankly, the reality is that this is subjective. Pitching well or getting the job done can mean different things to different people. For instance, if Trevor May comes in to a situation where there are runners on 1st and 3rd and nobody out and gets out of that inning with just one run scoring, I think he got the job done. If Michael Tonkin comes in with runners on and the Twins already down 8-0 in the 2nd inning, but he leaves the game with the Twins down 11-0 after the fifth or sixth inning, I think he did his job. If Glen Perkins comes in to a game with a 2-run lead and give up just one hit but no runs in the inning, he got the job done. If he comes in to a game with a three-run lead, gives up two runs on three hits and two walks but gets the save, I can’t say that he did his job. So using my opinion, along with box scores and often watching on TV, here are how the members of the 2016 Twins bullpen grade out by this method through the way-too-small-of-a-sample-size of seven games. This stat may be more valuable in six to eight weeks, but here is the introduction: Pitcher Y N Success Glen Perkins 0 2 0.0% Kevin Jepsen 1 2 33.3% Trevor May 0 3 0.0% Casey Fien 1 2 33.3% Ryan Pressly 3 1 75.0% Michael Tonkin 0 1 0.0% Fernando Abad 3 0 100.0% Y=Yes, they got the job done. N=No, they didn't Success = percentage Aside from Fernando Abad and Ryan Pressly, it’s been a tough go for the Twins bullpen so far this season. As I would say to everyone after a poor seven-game start to the season, it is a long season, and things will (most likely) normalize over the course of the next couple of months. I don’t know what is good or bad with these percentages. Is 85% good, or is 70% good? I think we can agree from the start that 50% and lower would not qualify as good. The bullpen was said to be a focus in the offseason. Little significant was done to address it in the offseason which has made it a large focus in the team’s slow start. It is certainly something that warrants monitoring throughout the season. Click here to view the article

I slept from like 7:00 - 8:30... Woke up to the end of these games. Should have just gone back to bed. However, three more starts tonight. All three went six innings. So far, Twins minor leaguers have made 18 starts. 17 of them have gone five or more innings. The only one that didn't go 5 innings was Tyler Duffey and that's because he had only gone 4 innings (no runs) before the rains came on Opening Night.

My main point is that if we solely go by age and level, then no player who goes to college has a chance to be a prospect. OK, he turned 22 at the beginning of the year. My bad. How he performs in CR will determine his prospect status more than last year. Consider Max Murphy the year before and how much he dominated in E-Town and then he moved up to CR, and he's back in CR in 2016 after struggling in 2015. I guess my point is that LaMonte Wade is the prospect he is. There are lots of facets to a prospect ranking and one of them is age-to-level. But it's just one part of it. To me, prospect status is more on the other end of this... Luis Arraez is young for CR, so his prospect status is likely to be based on age much more than a college guy in his first full season of pro ball is. Now, if he is still in CR next year at 23, then I'll worry about it. OK, I won't worry about it even a little bit, but the prospect status will be affected.

Ah yes, jumping on one of my biggest minor league pet peeves right away. Ha! I HATE when someone who is in their first full season is considered old for the level if they are in the Midwest League. He's 21. He's where he should be. But to your bigger point, he has definitely shown a tremendous approach at the plate, and a willingness to take walks. He also has a lot of pop. As I wrote in a report a few days ago, talking to Mike Radcliff a bit about Wade, they really like him and note that he doesn't have any great, eye-popping tools, but he doesn't have any real weaknesses and they say his character is off the charts.

He was scheduled to start on Sunday for the Red Wings, with Berrios starting on Saturday. But when they postponed Saturday's game, they kept Berrios as the Home Opener starter and kept the rest of the rotation on schedule by having Meyer work extended pitches out of the bullpen. It really worked out perfectly.

Yup, I missed Escobar... my bad. He's been terrific.

Kind of talking about baseball and the positions and such. Sano's chances of getting hurt aren't significantly different in RF vs 3B...Definitely not life and death stuff.

He had been a little better late in camp, from what I've heard, but not great command yet. I'm not worried... I heard that the game-time temp was 34 and it got up to 37, so I imagine it's somewhat related. I know we all hoped that he would be up in a couple of weeks but until he gets that command back, patience is wise. The strikeouts are nice, a few of them came in really clutch situations.

I know that at least two of them were crushed over the left fielder's head. He's got serious pop in his bat, and he's strong, and he's going to get stronger. I'm definitely not willing to say he can't be a 20-homer hitter guy yet.

Here are a couple of polls I posted on my twitter account. Feel free to vote:

Yup, gotta give Steve the full credit for this one. I would have probably gone with Keaton Steele and his 1 run in 5.2 innings and 12:1 groundout to flyout rate. Berrios was definitely not on. 4 BB and 2 hit batters, but the 9 strikeouts were certainly impressive, especially in the weather!

Regarding Buxton... I think we assumed that we (meaning, the Twins) could be more patient with Buxton's offense because the rest of the offense would be good. Aside from Mauer (and Nunez) no one is hitting, everyone is striking out. Regarding the Sano in outfield injury thing... Danny Santana's at least 80-100 pounds less than Sano. He got hurt. More proof, anyone can get hurt, so there will be injury risk with Sano playing OF, or 3B or DH... so, unless they just keep him on the bench and decide that he isn't going to play at all, he's at risk... as is everyone.

Chargois? To the Twins.

3 games, and 3 batters faced, probably won't do it, but 1.) I think Turner getting to repeat is just what he needed. We'll see how it goes, 2.) I think Chargois is the first reliever called up.

In his first outing, Bard was at 94-96 and hit 97. He's good and finally healthy. Another one of the really good people in the organization. And yes, that is remarkably efficient.

The Twins Almanac is back with a look at this week in Minnesota Twins history. It starts with a big trade, but there are stories of bad weather in the Met Stadium and Metrodome eras and much, much more.April 10, 1982 The Twins traded Roy Smalley and St. Cloud State alumnus, Gary Serum, to the New York Yankees for Ron Davis, Greg Gagne and Paul Boris. Ron Davis, who had been an All-Star in ‘81, was one of the game’s first setup men, combining for a potent 1-2 punch with Hall of Famer, Goose Gossage. Davis still holds the Yankees record for consecutive strikeouts in a single game with 8 on May 4, 1981. Doug Fister established a new American League record for consecutive strikeouts in a game with 9 on September 27th, 2012. The Major League record belongs to Tom Seaver, who K’ed 10 in a row on April 22nd, 1970. Ron Davis was never in all-star form in Minnesota, however. He tied a single season record with 14 blown saves in 1984, a dubious feat which no pitcher has matched since. Four pitchers had blown 14 saves in a season prior to Davis, including Hall of Famers Rollie Fingers (1976) and Bruce Sutter (‘78). Incidentally, Goose Gossage (112), Rollie Fingers (109) and Jeff Reardon (106) have the most blown saves in major league history. Gossage’s six seasons with 10 or more blown saves are most all-time, followed by Fingers and Reardon, each with four seasons of 10 or more. Ron Davis was sent to the Chicago Cubs in August of ‘86 as part of a trade that brought George Frazier to the Twins. Frazier pitched in 54 games for the ‘87 Twins. Davis never saved another game, pitching sparingly in relief for the Cubs, Dodgers and Giants through the end of the ‘88 season. Though Davis was the object of the Twins’ desire at the time, Greg Gagne would obviously emerge as the key figure in this transaction. He didn’t make his major league debut until 1983 and even then only played 12 games between the ‘83 and ‘84 seasons before becoming a fixture at shortstop for the Twins from 1985 to 1992. He was a key component of the Twins’ ‘87 and ‘91 World Series championships. The Twins had originally acquired Roy Smalley in the 1976 trade that sent Bert Blyleven and Danny Thompson to the Texas Rangers. In July of ‘84, the Yankees offloaded Smalley to the White Sox in exchange for players to be named later, one of whom wound up being Doug Drabek, who, after just one season, the Yankees in turn shipped off to Pittsburgh where he would win the 1990 Cy Young Award. The White Sox traded Smalley back to Minnesota in 1985. Smalley retired after the Twins’ 1987 World Series championship season. Gary Serum was born in Fargo, went to high school in Alexandria, MN and pitched at Minnesota State Moorhead and St. Cloud State before being signed as an amateur free agent by the Twins in 1975. He played two and a half major league seasons with the Twins from ‘77 to ‘79. Despite posting a 9-1 record between AA and AAA in the Yankees organization, 1982 was Serum’s final professional season. April 11th It’s the birthday of the inimitable Bob Casey (1925-2005), Twins public address announcer for 44 years. Casey was the only PA announcer in Twins history until his death in 2005. Casey also worked for the Minneapolis Millers, the Lakers and the Vikings. April 11, 1961 The Twins played their first ever regular season game at Yankee Stadium. Harmon Killebrew collected the first hit in Twins history, leading off the 4th with a single to center. Twins pitcher Pedro Ramos and Whitey Ford were locked in a scoreless duel until Bob Allison led off the 7th with a home run, the first in Twins history. The Twins went on to win their first game 6-0 as Ramos pitched a complete game, 3-hit shutout versus the eventual 1961 World Series champs. Ramos held Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris to a combined 1-for-11, with Berra singling in the 1st. Ramos did not allow a base-runner after the 5th inning. Roger Maris would establish a new single season home run record with 61 that year. The Twins would go on to a 5-1 record before playing their first home game in front of a crowd already deep in the throes of pennant fever. They would lose their first game in Bloomington, however, 3-5 to the new Senators, and finish their inaugural season 70-90, good for 7th place in the America League. April 12, 2005 The Twins beat the Tigers 5-4 on a Shannon Stewart walk-off ground rule double off Troy Percival, who had not allowed an earned run versus the Twins in over 40 innings going back to 1995. Torii Hunter drove in Jason Bartlett to tie the game in the bottom of the 8th. April 12, 2010 The Twins beat the Red Sox 5-2 in the first regular season game played at Target Field. Carl Pavano earned the win for the Twins. Jon Lester, the losing pitcher, walked Denard Span to lead off the bottom of the 1st. Orlando Hudson then collected the Twins’ first hit at Target Field. After Mauer and Morneau made the first two outs, Michael Cuddyer collected the new stadium’s first RBI, driving in Span on a single to left. Jason Kubel then drove in Hudson, giving the Twins a 2-0 lead in the 1st. Mauer hit an RBI double in the 2nd, and an RBI single in the 4th. Jason Kubel hit Target Field’s first regular season home run leading off the 7th. Jon Rauch retired Kevin Youkilis, David Ortiz and Adrian Beltre in order for the save. April 13, 1962 In just the second year of major league baseball in Minnesota, the scheduled home opener versus the Los Angeles Angels was cancelled due to six inches of snow. April 14, 1983 The largest April snowstorm in Minneapolis’s history forced the postponement of a game versus the California Angels. The decision to postpone the game was made the night before out of concern that the Angels would not be able to arrive in Minnesota in time. Travel concerns were a moot point, however, as damage from the storm caused the Metrodome roof to collapse about twelve hours after the decision to postpone. The spring storm dumped over 13 inches of snow on the Twin Cities. April 15, 2000 Cal Ripken, jr. became the 24th player to reach 3,000 hits in a 6-4 Orioles win at the Metrodome. Ripken entered the game sitting at 2,997, having collected 1 hit the night before in a wild 10-9 Twins win. Trailing 4-9, the Twins scored 6 runs in the bottom of the 8th before Eddie Guardado earned the save, retiring Ripken for the final out of the game. On this night, Ripken was 2-for-3 when he came up in the 7th in a tie game with 2 out and Albert Belle on third. Hector Carrasco was brought in from the bullpen to face the Iron Man. Catcher Matt LeCroy gave up a passed ball on Carrasco’s first pitch, allowing Belle to score the go-ahead run. Then, on the second pitch of the at-bat, Ripken stroked a line drive single to center, becoming the seventh player in major league history to collect both 400 home runs and 3,000 hits. Former Twin Mike Trombley came on in the bottom of the 9th to earn the save for Baltimore. Noteworthy in retrospect is the fact that Midre Cummings pinch-hit for the number nine batter, Torii Hunter. Ripken was greeted at first after his 3,000th hit by base coach Eddie Murray, who had himself hit his 3,000th hit at the Metrodome in 1995 off of Mike Trombley as a member of the Cleveland Indians. The following season, while playing for Baltimore, Murray became just the third person in major league history with 3,000 hits and 500 home runs. Rafael Palmeiro and Alex Rodriguez have since joined the club. St. Paul Central High School graduate and Golden Gophers legend, Dave Winfield, also collected his 3,000th hit at the Metrodome in 1993. 29 players have collected 3,000 hits in the 146 year history of major league baseball. Three of those reached the milestone at the Metrodome in a period of seven years. It is also noteworthy that of the 29 members of the 3,000 hit club, two (Winfield and Paul Molitor) were born in St. Paul just five years apart. April 15, 2001 In a home game versus the Chicago White Sox, Eric Milton struck out the side in the 1st, including Frank Thomas. Milton went on to strike out 8 of the first 10 batters he faced. He allowed only 2 runs over 7 innings, those coming on a 2-run Thomas homer in the 6th, one of 521 he hit in his career, tied with Ted Williams and Willie McCovey for 19th all-time. LaTroy Hawkins earned the save in the Twins 4-3 victory, their 6th straight, improving to 9-2 on the season. April 16, 1961 In the top of the 1st in game 1 of a doubleheader in Baltimore, Bob Allison hit the first grand slam in Twins history. Baltimore’s Chuck Estrada, who had tied for the league lead with 18 wins the previous season and who would win 15 in 1961, walked three straight to start the game before giving up a home run to the cleanup hitter, Allison. After giving up a double to Jim Lemon, Estrada was pulled, having pitched to just five batters. Relief pitcher John Papa didn’t fare much better, walking home two more Twins runs before Dick Hall, the third pitcher used by Baltimore in the 6-run 1st, came on to get the final out. Bob Allison added a 3-run home run in the 6th, giving him 7 RBIs for the game. The Twins won 10-5. In game 2, the Twins held a 4-2 lead going into the bottom of the 9th. With 1 out and the bases loaded, Baltimore crept within 1 on an RBI groundout. Then, with 2 down, runners on second and third and future-Hall of Fame manager Whitey Herzog pinch-hitting for future-Hall of Fame knuckleballer Hoyt Wilhelm, Twins pitcher Ray Moore unleashed a wild pitch, allowing Baltimore to tie the game 4-4. In the top of the 11th, Zoilo Versalles hit a 2-run home run and Chuck Stobbs slammed the door in the bottom of the inning. For the history of the Minnesota Twins, told one day at a time, like The Twins Almanac on Facebook and follow @TwinsAlmanac on Twitter. For the stories of the Major Leaguers who grew up in Minnesota, like Major Minnesotans on Facebook and follow @MajorMinnesota on Twitter. Click here to view the article

On Saturday, the Twins fell again and are now 0-5, with Ricky Nolasco set to make his first start on Sunday. We’re getting increasingly close to Twins minor league reports becoming the most important part of Twins Daily. Then again, minor league coverage is always fun and exciting from day to day. Even when things are bad in the big leagues, there are three or four more box scores to give us something to get excited about. Of course, now Max Kepler is not going to be appearing on minor league reports, at least for a little while, after today. A couple of relief pitchers provided reason for optimism, and the Lookouts recorded their first win of the season thanks to a huge inning. The Kernels now have a winning streak.Continue reading to find out all that happened in the minor league games on Saturday as we look forward to JO Berrios’s first start of the season on Sunday. TRANSACTIONS With Danny Santana placed on the disabled list after Saturday night’s Twins loss, the Twins called up outfielder Max Kepler from AAA Rochester. For Cedar Rapids, Zack Tillery was placed on the disabled list. RED WINGS REPORT The game was postponed already on Friday afternoon. The Red Wings home opener will now be on Sunday. JO Berrios will start for Rochester opposite former Twins pitcher Anthony Swarzak. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 9, Biloxi 5 Box Score A big inning helped Chattanooga to post their first win of the season on Saturday. Down 2-0 through two innings, the Lookouts offense, woeful to that point in the season, put together a rally to score six runs. Levi Michael got things going with an RBI triple and scored when Engelb Vielma singled him in. Later, Dalton Hicks singled in a run before Joe Maloney doubled in two more runs. Levi Michael led the way. He went 3-4 with the triple and three RBI. Stuart Turner continues his hot start with a 3-5 day. Dalton Hicks, who wasn’t in the original lineup, went 2-4 with a walk. David Hurlbut got the start and worked the first five innings. He gave up three runs (2 earned) on four hits and two walks. He struck out two. Corey Williams came in and got four outs. He gave up no runs on one hit two walks and strike out. He was replaced by Marcus Walden who was charged with two runs on two hits and a walk in 1.2 innings. JT Chargois came on for the ninth inning and struck out the side to give the Lookouts the win. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 5, Bradenton 1 Box Score Lefty Tyler Jay made his first start of the season for the Miracle. The 2015 top pick had some issues with control, but he also showed how dominant he can be. He needed just over 80 pitches to get through five innings. He gave up just one run on three hits. He walked three and hit one batter. He also struck out seven. Jay left after five and was replaced by Todd Van Steensel. He walked three and struck out one over two scoreless and hitless innings. Luke Bard came in and worked the final two innings. He was perfect and struck out three batters to record the Save. The offense didn’t come up with a lot, but they were able to bunch some hits together. They managed six hits and walked four times. TJ White and Alex Swim each had two hits in the game. Nick Gordon and Trey Vavra each had one. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 6, Quad Cities 2 Box Score After playing two games in Cedar Rapids, these teams shifted their match-up to the southwest and played in Davenport, Iowa. The result at the end of the day was the same, a Kernels’ win. Australian Sam Gibbons started and went the first five innings. He gave up one run on five hits and three walks. He struck out four. Logan Lombana came on for his first appearance and worked three innings. He gave up one run on one hit. John Curtiss came in for the ninth. He walked the first batter he faced, but responded by striking out the next three batters. The River Bandits committed three errors that helped two of the runs score. However in the 3rd inning, Rafael Valera hit a two-run triple. In the 6th inning, LaMonte Wade knocked in two runs with a double. Valera also walked twice while Wade walked once. Bryant Hayman was the catcher and played in his first game. He was 1-3 with a walk. Luis Arraez, on his 19th birthday, made his first start, batting ninth and playing second base. He went 1-3 with a walk. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – JT Chargois, Chattanooga Lookouts Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Levi Michael, Chattanooga Lookouts SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Scranton/Wilkes Barre @ Rochester (12:35 CST) - Jose Berrios (vs Swarzak) Chattanooga @ Biloxi (1:10 CST) – RHP Aaron Slegers Ft. Myers @ Bradenton (12:00 CST) – RHP Keaton Steele Cedar Rapids @ Quad Cities (1:15 CST) – LHP Sam Clay Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the Saturday games. Click here to view the article