Seth Stohs

Rochester now makes Quade official...

He's from Florida. His wife and son are in Florida. If he's not in the big leagues, he wants to be in Florida with his family. The Twins likely wanted him to work with a couple of the guys that passed through Chattanooga the last couple of years and he agreed, but he wants to be in Florida.

Based on Berardino's tweet, Nope.

My personal opinion, and I've written/tweeted it many times, is that Jake Mauer is the best manager in the entire system, so having him move up to AA will be good. He's got the people skills, likes discipline, players love him, and he's always thinking well ahead in the game.

Chattanooga makes the Jake Mauer manager announcement official: Mike Berardino had tweeted that he's heard that Mike Quade will remain at Rochester with Mauer taking over in Chattanooga while Doug Mientkiewicz goes back to Ft. Myers. Mauer's been the only confirmed to this point. I'm pretty sure I know who the Cedar Rapids manager will be. Also, some hitting coaches will change spots since Jim Dwyer is out in Ft. Myers.

It'll trickle out over the next couple of days, and we'll fill in the below as we find out officially. ROCHESTER Manager - Mike Quade (same) Hitting Coach - Chad Allen (same) Pitching Coach - Stu Cliburn (same) CHATTANOOGA Manager - Jake Mauer (up from Cedar Rapids) Hitting Coach - Javier Valentin (up from GCL) Pitching Coach - Ivan Arteaga (same) FT. MYERS Manager - Doug Mientkiewicz (returns from Chattanooga) Hitting Coach - Steve Singleton (per Berardino article. Move up from GCL) Pitching Coach - Henry Bonilla CEDAR RAPIDS Manager - Tommy Watkins (first managerial opportunity. Many years hitting coach) Hitting Coach - Brian Dinkelman (same) Pitching Coach - JP Martinez (same) ELIZABETHTON Manager - Ray Smith (24th year) Hitting Coach - Jeff Reed (16th year) Pitching Coach - Luis Ramirez (3rd year) GCL TWINS Manager - Ramon Borrego Hitting Coach - Toby Gardenhire (per Mike Berardino), Jose Marzan (also remains the Latin American Operations Coordinator) Pitching Coach - Cibney Bello and Virgil Vazquez

they definitely all deserve to be recognized!

That is funny!

On Wednesday morning at 8 a.m. central, you will be able to order the 2017 Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook ($15.99) in paperback or pdf form ($10.99 and available immediately upon purchase). Cody Christie, Jeremy Nygaard and I are really excited about the book being available, and not only because it has been a busy three month process to complete it. We’re really proud of the book and hope that you’ll enjoy it. Image courtesy of Linwood Ferguson image of Stephen Gonsalves (Brock Beauchamp worked on the cover) On Wednesday morning at 8 a.m. central, you will be able to order the 2017 Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook ($15.99) in paperback or pdf form ($10.99 and available immediately upon purchase). Cody Christie, Jeremy Nygaard and I are really excited about the book being available, and not only because it has been a busy three month process to complete it. We’re really proud of the book and hope that you’ll enjoy it. This year’s Twins Prospect Handbook is comprised of over 130 pages of Twins minor league content. If you can believe it, this is the ninth annual Twins Prospect Handbook. When the minor league season ended, we handed out our minor league awards. We’ve got some in-depth, get-to-know-’em stories on the Twins Daily Hitter of the Year (Daniel Palka), Starting Pitcher of the Year (Stephen Gonsalves), and Relief Pitcher of the Year (Trevor Hildenberger). Some Twins Daily contributing writers also contributed to the book. Steve Buhr, Ted Schwerzler and Tom Froemming each wrote an article that was included in the book. Of course, the proverbial meat and potatoes of the Prospect Handbook… the profiles. This year, we profiled over 160 Minnesota Twins minor leaguers from Rochester to the GCL. If they have prospect status, they’re profiled. Jeremy took care of the format again this year, and it looks great. He put together the information on each player such as how they were acquired, 2016 stats, when they are Rule 5 eligible and when they can become a minor league free agent. Cody covered the 2016 Recap, taking a deep dive into the statistics of the players’ seasons. He goes beyond the basic stats. Finally, background and scouting reports are covered by me, Seth. They come from talking to a lot of people as well as personal observation from Ft. Myers during spring training and Cedar Rapids from May. It’s really a lot of information on each player. All of that leads to our individual Top 30s. Not to give away too much, but Cody, Jeremy and I all have different #1 Twins prospects heading into the season. It also shows our historic Top 30s. Yes, we don’t mind admitting when we’re wrong, though we prefer to note when we were right. Back for a second straight year is a fun discussion between the three of us, using all of the information from before (and a crystal ball) to guess who might be the Twins #1 prospect at this time next year. We also are very excited that this book has many, many more pictures than last year. There aren’t even a handful of players that do not have profile pictures. The articles have images. Speaking of images, we need to thank Linwood Ferguson who take a lot of pictures of Ft. Myers Miracle games. It’s a labor of love. Jeremy, Cody and I don’t make much money on this, but we still believe that the Twins minor leaguers deserve recognition for the work they do. That’s been a staple of all nine handbooks and will continue to be going forward. We certainly want to thank all of you for your support of this project which is the culmination of all of the minor league coverage you get throughout the year here at Twins Daily! (Note - if you follow Seth, Jeremy and Cody on Twitter, there may be some information available before official release about ordering your paperback copies a little early.) View full article

Lifesaver...

Not offended at all... Definitely more John Candy/Chris Farley than Buddy Holly!

Could they also find a way to get a third team involved to add another prospect. What if they were able to trade a veteran (not a core type) for a package of 2-3 B-/C+ prospects and spin them to the Twins (obviously knowing the specifics of such a deal). Those sanctions on the Dodgers (not being able to spend more than $300K on any signing) is a HUGE thing. Makes me very glad that the Twins were wise enough not to do that. I like the idea of including some IFA dollars.

There is a nice story in the Fayette News about Niko Goodrum. Talks a lot about his time spent in Venezuela and the challenges it presented to him. The pitching was challenging. The language barrier presented a challenge. But it was something else that was the biggest challenge. http://fayette-news.com/no-offseason-goodrum-shines-in-venezuela-in-bid-for-the-show/

As 2015 came to an end, optimism reigned among Twins fans. The team was coming off of an 83-win season, their first winning season since 2010. Miguel Sano had come up and finished third in Rookie of the Year voting. Paul Molitor was considered a Manager of the Year candidate. Things were looking positive. The playoffs seemed a realistic hope. As we head into 2017, the feeling among Twins fans is much different. The team won just 59 games in 2016. The playoffs appear far off again. Image courtesy of Kim Klement, USA Today As 2015 came to an end, optimism reigned among Twins fans. The team was coming off of an 83-win season, their first winning season since 2010. Miguel Sano had come up and finished third in Rookie of the Year voting. Paul Molitor was considered a Manager of the Year candidate. Things were looking positive. The playoffs seemed a realistic hope. As we head into 2017, the feeling among Twins fans is much different. The team won just 59 games in 2016. The playoffs appear far off again. As we take a look back at the 2016 season there are a lot of memories and storylines, both positive and negative. Today we reflect on the Minnesota Twins of 2016. At the end of 2015, the Twins won the rights to acquire Byungho Park. He was going to help provide additional power to the lineup maybe even making up for some of the offense the team might be losing with Torii Hunter's retirement. Park hit some homers, but by July 1st, he was sent to Rochester where he hit more homers, until he needed surgery for his wrist. Spring taining was deemed successful. The team generally played well, and they went into the season relatively healthy. (Here are the Twins Daily Reports from the Fort.) And then… they started the season by losing their first nine games. On May 13, the team was 8-26. On May 24, they were 11-34. On August 17, the team was 49-71. However bad that record still is, there was a 75-game stretch where they went 38-37. That was the team that we all expected, a .500 team or slightly better. Unfortunately, they ended the season by going 10-32 over their final 42 games. 59-103. The worst record in Minnesota Twins history, “besting” the 1982 Twins team that went 60-102. And because of it Terry Ryan was fired in mid-July, after 30 years in the organization. Rob Antony was appointed the interim GM and left in charge with an important trade deadline looming. Eduardo Nunez came into the season expected to be the team’s utility player, able to play four to six positions. When Eduardo Escobar was injured in the season’s first few weeks, Nunez took over at shortstop and played tremendously. He didn’t give up the job. In 91 games for the Twins, he hit .296/.325/.439 (.764) with 15 doubles and 12 home runs. He also had 27 stolen bases which led the league at the time of his trade. Nunez earned his spot on the American League All-Star team. Rob Antony turned the veteran utility infielder into left-hander Adalberto Mejia who had just been ranked #91 in Baseball America’s Midseason Top 100 prospects. On August 1, Antony traded veteran lefty Fernando Abad - who had been signed to a minor league contract and pitched well for the Twins - to the Red Sox in exchange for hard-throwing 25-year-old Pat Light. Light was awful in his brief big league time, but he has the velocity to make him intriguing, a nice lottery ticket. Later that day, Antony surprised many by dealing Ricky Nolasco and Alex Meyer to the Los Angeles Angels in exchange for Hector Santiago and Alan Busenitz. Twins fans were shocked that he was able to find a taker for Nolasco, sending him home to California,where he pitched OK for the Angels. Santiago struggled through his first four starts with the Twins, but settled in after that. DEBUTS Several Twins players made their Major league debuts in 2016: Byungho Park - April 4th Taylor Rogers - April 11th Jose Berrios - April 27th Pat Dean - May 11th JT Chargois - June 11th Adalberto Mejia - August 20th Alex Wimmers - August 26th James Beresford - September 10th THE GOOD Even in a 103-loss season, there were some positives. Brian Dozier’s season was remarkable, one of the best in Twins history. His 42 homers were the most by any Twins player not named Harmon Killebrew. He set the record for most homers for an American League second baseman. Despite hitting just .185 in late May, he was amazing the remainder of the season. It was a remarkable turnaround. Ervin Santana had a good season. Minor League SigningsBrandon Kintzler came up at the end of April and pitched very well. With the injuries, especially Perkins', he became the team’s closer and saved 17 games. While most fans wanted the Twins to pony up for lefties like Tony Sipp or Antonio Bastardo, the Twins signed Fernando Abad to a minor league deal and during his time with the Twins, he pitched very well. When the Twins signed Buddy Boshers, we assumed there was little chance he would surface with the Twins. He ended up spending about half the season with the Twins and pitched well, with about two exceptions. Juan Centeno was brought in for catcher depth, but when John Ryan Murphy tanked early in the season, Centeno came up and hit pretty well. He's not a good defensive catcher, but he did provide some offense. Robbie Grossman was signed the day after he opted out of his minor league deal with Cleveland. He spent one day in Rochester before coming up. His approach at the plate, patience and ability to crush left-handed pitching made him a valuable piece for the Twins. His defense… not so good. [*]Max Kepler and Brian Dozier each had a three-homer game. [*]The Twins added OF Torii Hunter and broadcaster John Gordon to the Twins Hall of Fame. The ceremonies were in August. THE BAD Let’s be honest, there was a lot of bad, and I’m sure I’m only catching a small part of it. Kevin Jepsen was so good for the Twins after they acquired him at the July 2015 trade deadline from Tampa. He pretty much couldn’t get anyone out in 2016 for the Twins. He was DFAd by July. Chih-Wei Hu, the pitcher the Twins sent to Tampa in the deal, has become one of the Rays top prospects. Casey Fien came back and was DFAd by the end of April. The Dodgers claimed him. He spent time in their bullpen. He recently signed an MLB contract with the Mariners. The Twins 2014 Rule 5 pick, JR Graham, came to spring training 2016 down about 40 pounds, but it didn’t help him on the mound. He struggled in AAA and came up out of desperation. He made one appearance and the Twins DFAd him. He was claimed by the Yankees. Kyle Gibson posted a 5.07 ERA on the season. That was second-best among Twins starters with more than 58 innings. Miguel Sano in right field. I don’t blame the Twins for trying it, for asking Sano to work at it. It wasn’t an unrealistic hope. It went badly, and hopefully has come to an end. In addition, his injuries cost him the opportunity to show whether or not he can play third base. Remember the David Murphy situation? The Twins signed him in mid-April and asked him to spend two weeks in Rochester at which point they would call him up. They made room for him by designating catcher John Hicks. Hicks was claimed by the Tigers, which (of course) isn’t a big deal at all. But when Murphy decided that he didn’t want to play anymore and went home to his family, it didn’t look good. THE INJURIES There certainly were some injuries throughout the season. Yes, every team deals with injuries through the season, but the Twins were hit hard. Less than a week into the season, Danny Santana went on the DL. It was his first of three trips to the DL. Ten days - and two blown saves - into the season, Glen Perkins went on the DL. He stayed on it the whole year and ended up having major shoulder surgery. Trevor Plouffe went on the DL on April 19, July 4 and September 10th. On April 26, Kyle Gibson and Ervin Santana both went on the DL. Santana missed just two weeks. Gibson missed six weeks. Eduardo Escobar went on the DL on May 8th. Miguel Sano went to the DL on June 1st for about a month. Phil Hughes and Trevor May went on the DL on June 10th. Hughes didn’t pitch again during the season and ended up having thoracic outlet syndrome surgery. For May, it was his first of three trips to the DL. There were more DL trips, like Darin Mastroianni and Tommy Milone. TWINS DAILY AWARDS Minor League Hitter of the Year - Daniel Palka Minor League Starting Pitcher of the Year - Stephen Gonsalves Minor League Relief Pitcher of the Year - Trevor Hildenberger Short-Season Hitter of the Year - Lewin Diaz Short-Season Pitcher of the Year - Huascar Ynoa Twins Most Improved - Brian Dozier Twins Best Rookie - Max Kepler Twins Pitcher of the Year - Ervin Santana Twins Most Valuable Player - Brian Dozier NEW REGIME On October 3rd, the Twins were given the OK to announce that they had hired Derek Falvey as the Chief Baseball Officer of the Twins. He would not report to duty for his job until Cleveland’s playoff run came to an end, which it didn’t until after Game 7 of the World Series. On November 3rd, the Twins announced that Rangers assistant GM Thad Levine was taking over as the Twins General Manager. The two have said all the right things but they know they have their work cut out for them. Rob Antony remains as the Twins assistant GM. Most of the rest of the current front office also remains and will likely be evaluated by Falvey over the next nine or ten months. How will they handle the expectations that are changing? How will they adapt to the thinking of Falvey? It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Terry Ryan joined the Phillies as a special assignments scout. Bill Smith was also told he will not be back with the organization. The organization also announced that Deron Johnson had been promoted to Senior Adviser of the Scouting Department. Also, Sean Johnson was promoted to Director of Scouting. In late November, the Twins announced the former players, Michael Cuddyer, LaTroy Hawkins and Torii Hunter were coming back as special assistants in the Baseball Operations department. They will be involved in all aspects of the organization, on field and off the field. SINCE THEN… The Twins front office has stayed busy since the new guys took over. They immediately went to the GM meetings and have taken a lot of time to learn the way things have worked for the Twins in the past, as well as everything they can learn about every player in the organization. They added six players to their 40-man roster. That was after non-tendering Trevor Plouffe, DFAing Adam Brett Walker, and releasing Yorman Landa. The six players added to the roster were pitchers Fernando Romero and Felix Jorge, catcher Mitch Garver, infielder Engelb Vielma and outfielders Daniel Palka and Zack Granite. The Twins targeted former Astros catcher Jason Castro, and they got him. They signed the defensive-minded backstop to a three year, $24.5 million contract. While he won’t hit, the theory behind the signing is that his pitch-framing efforts will directly help improve the team’s pitching. We woke up on December 10th to the news that Yorman Landa had passed away in an auto accident in Venezuela. Last week, Bravos de Margarita honored him by retiring his number. In November, it was announced that hitting coach Tom Brunansky and first base Coach Butch Davis would not be back in 2017. The rest of the coaching staff remained. In early December, it was announced that James Rowson would be the new hitting coach. Then in late December, it was announced that Miracle manager Jeff Smith would become the Twins new first base coach. Jeff Pickler was also added to the MLB coaching staff. He will also be the team’s coordinator for MLB development. So there is your way-too-long 2016 Minnesota Twins Year in Review. Is it possible I left anything out? View full article

I'll start it out. As you know (maybe), I started blogging in May of 2003, so I'm a veteran at this blogging thing. I grew up in Perham (MN) in west Central Minnesota. I went to Concordia College in Moorhead and played ball there for two years. I worked in the Sports Information Office four years. Played in a few amateur state tournaments. I was 8 years old when Kirby Puckett made his MLB debut, so he was definitely my favorite player. I was also a huge Chuck Knoblauch fan as well. Jacque Jones was my favorite from the past playoff group. I really haven't had favorite players for the last decade or more. I think getting to know so many minor leaguers and big leaguers, it's been different. It's a different relationship. I'm now a fan of the people moreso than the player, if that distinction makes sense. I have an 8-5 job here in Warroad, where I've lived for almost 20 years. I have a 10-year-old daughter. I enjoy writing about the minor leaguers, getting to know them, doing Q&As, and seeing some of them reach the big leagues. I am a fan of the Twins, so it's way more fun to see the Twins do well. Your turn... share what you're comfortable sharing. And again, welcome any newcomers!

As 2016 comes to an end and we all look forward to 2017, I thought it would be good to put out a thread to get to know each other a little bit. Obviously we all are strong, passionate Twins fans, but we're obviously more than that. We obviously want people to respect each other and sometimes remembering that we're all people, with feelings and families and more. I also want those that are new to Twins Daily in the last year to leave a quick comment as well, especially if you've been more of a lurker who just likes to read the articles and take in what others are doing . I'd be looking for the following, and you can use this as a template. Where are you from (be as specific as you are comfortable): What is your age (or age range, if you prefer): How long have you been a Twins fan? What have a couple of your best Twins memories been? Who have some of your favorite players been? How long have you been reading Twins Daily (or were you following some writers before Twins Daily)? What brings you back to Twins Daily? How often do you stop by the site? Share whatever you like.

I would love to see the Braves get involved since they have so much high-end pitching prospect talent.

If you're on twitter, be sure to take this poll:

Per Baseball America, the Twins have signed RHP Henry Centeno and 3B Dan Gamache. https://twitter.com/SethTweets/status/814860125932556288

Per Steve Adams, the Twins are bringing back lefty Nick Greenwood on a minor league deal.

Joe Nelson from GoMN.com wrote a fun article highlighting the Top 10 performances by Minnesota athletes in 2016. Two Twins made the list, but it's an interesting list. Add your own or discuss the ones Joe included: http://www.gomn.com/news/the-10-best-single-game-performances-by-minnesota-athletes-in-2016/

How about "feel-good" story of the year?

Yes, 2016 was a year that included 103 losses, but it wasn’t all bad. There were a lot of positives during the season as well. As the year comes to an end, and we are fully thinking about 2017 and beyond, today we take one more look back at the 2016 Minnesota Twins season. There were debuts, and there were milestones, plenty of them. Today we’ll take a look back and remember some of them. Image courtesy of Jordan Johnson, USA Today Yes, 2016 was a year that included 103 losses, but it wasn’t all bad. There were a lot of positives during the season as well. As the year comes to an end, and we are fully thinking about 2017 and beyond, today we take one more look back at the 2016 Minnesota Twins season. There were debuts, and there were milestones, plenty of them. Today we’ll take a look back and remember some of them. As you watch, review and remember these great Twins moments (and individuals' moments), consider your favorite Twins moments in 2016 on the field. Share yours in the comments below. BRIAN DOZIER What a season 2016 was for the Twins second baseman. After struggling mightily through the season’s first two months, Dozier was baseball’s best hitter the final four months of the season. On September 5th, he had his first three-home run game of his career. Against the Royals, he hit a home run into the first deck, the second deck and the third deck to become the first Twins player not named Harmon Killebrew to surpass 35 home runs in a season. One week later, Dozier took a high fastball in Detroit and launched a home run to left field, just beyond a leaping Justin Upton to join the 40-home run club. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Fswv0jvuc0 MAX KEPLER On the final day of the 2015 season, Max Kepler singled off of Johnny Cueto to record his first major league hit. He began 2016 in Rochester, but he wasn’t there for long. He was called up within a week of the start of the 2016 season. He played rarely for three weeks before being sent back to Rochester. When he came back up, he took off. On June 12 at Target Field, Kepler came up with runners on second and third and nobody out in the 10th inning of a tie game against the Red Sox. On an 0-2 pitch, he crushed a 98-mph fastball to dead center for his first home run in the big leagues. What a moment, as the blast also was his first walk-off for the Twins. It was on August 1st that Kepler really had his coming out party. In Cleveland, he had his first three-home run game. The first two came off of Danny Salazar. He had six RBIs in the game. JORGE POLANCO Polanco had a couple of cups of coffee in 2014 and 2015. In 2016, he finally got more opportunities to get consistent playing time. He responded well. On May 15 in Cleveland, Polanco came to the plate to face righty Trevor Bauer. On a 2-2 pitch, Polanco knocked his first major league home run to give the Twins a 3-0 lead in the seventh inning. JUAN CENTENO Like Polanco, Centeno had been up to the big leagues a couple of times the previous two seasons. On May 14 in Cleveland, the Twins were down 1-0 to Corey Kluber. With a runner on base Centeno launched his first MLB homer to put the Twins into the lead. Centeno went on to hit three more homers the rest of the season. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkQQjprquYg JAMES BERESFORD It was the story of the year for the Minnesota Twins. Beresford, who had signed with the Twins in 2005, was called up to the Twins for September. Just a couple of days later, his parents flew in to Minneapolis from Australia to surprise their son. It was 24-hours worth of travel, and with the help of long-time friend Brian Dozier, the Twins were able to surprise Beresford before the game. Little did they know that the next night, their son made their MLB debut, at third base for the Twins. He made a couple of nice defensive plays, and later in the game, he came through with his first MLB hit. JOSE BERRIOS There is one more first major league hit that we’ll bring to you today. In mid-September, the Twins made a trip to New York to play the Mets. It was an interesting pitching matchup with Berrios facing 42-year-old Bartolo Colon. In his first at-bat as a big leaguer, Berrios singled to right field. It was also the Twins first hit of the game. However, it wasn’t the hitting of Berrios that had Twins fans most excited. His debut was anticipated and many hoped it would have happened a year earlier, but Berrios was up before May. Just 21 at the time, Berrios struck out five in his MLB debut, though he didn’t complete five innings. His first strikeout was Jason Kipnis, the second batter he faced. TAYLOR ROGERS Within the first week of the season, Glen Perkins went on the disabled list and Rogers was called up. On April 14, Rogers made his major league debut. He faced three White Sox batters and got two of them out. A couple of days later, he pitched two innings in relief of Ricky Nolasco. He gave up a couple of runs, but he also recorded his first two strikeouts. The first was JP Martinez. Rogers was a key part of the Twins bullpen as the season went on. He’ll be an even more important piece as we move forward. He has the ability to be really dominant against left-handed batters as he showed in this early July game against the Rangers when he struck out the side, facing three left-handers. PAT DEAN Many were surprised when the Twins added Pat Dean to the 40-man roster in November of 2015. In early May, the Twins needed another pitcher and Dean was summoned from Rochester. He made his debut in Baltimore against the Orioles, coming in to the game to replace Phil Hughes in a big deficit. He struck out three in 2.2 innings, including Joey Rickard for his first strikeout. JT CHARGOIS JT Chargois’ MLB debut in June didn’t go as he would have hoped (5 ER in ⅔ of an inning), but by September, he was showing his potential to dominate hitters in the late innings. Check out his slider on this big strikeout in the 12th inning of a September 10th game against Cleveland. Chargois’ first strikeout came in his first game back from Rochester. It was Tony Kemp. ADALBERTO MEJIA Mejia came to the Twins organization in the Eduardo Nunez trade in late June. The left-hander was in Baseball America’s Top 100 midseason prospects. On August 10th, the Twins were desperate for arms. Mejia was called up to work in relief. He replaced Hector Santiago with the Twins already down 8-0 in the 5th inning against the Royals. Mejia gave up two runs on five hits and a walk in 2.2 innings. He didn’t record a strikeout, but he did make this play on a hard-hit ball back at him. ALEX WIMMERS As good as the story was when James Beresford was called up for September, the Alex Wimmers story was very good too. Wimmers was the top pick of the Twins in 2010 out of Ohio State. He overcame the yips and Tommy John surgery, and in late August, he earned the promotion to the big leagues. On August 26th, he came in for his MLB debut against the Blue Jays with the Twins down 15-7. He got a ground out which was followed by strikeouts of Justin Smoak and Ezequiel Carrera. In a season full of disappointments and losses, what were some of your favorite moments? View full article