Seth Stohs

According to Darren Wolfson (via Twitter), as of this morning, the Twins had still not been notified that they had own the bid. Tonight, Jeremy Nygaard tweeted that he's hearing (not sure where) that the Rangers may have won the bid at $1.5 million.

Allen has been a pitching coach for most of the last 20-25 years. I think it's fair to say he's "run a staff before." Pitching coach in the minors isn't (or shouldn't be) any different than at any other level.

To be fair, I've used "Sources close to..." before too, and it's because the Twins aren't ready or just haven't said anything. It's nerve-wracking after you put yourself out there until the team confirms. But, speaking only for myself, I've never "broken" any news without being really, really confident in my source. And frankly, if you tell anyone publicly who your sources are, you'll lose those sources in a hurry. Reputation matters. That said, when I wrote up this article, I was sure to credit the Strib for being the ones to break it. 1.) They deserve the credit in this case (Berardino in 96% of other cases), and 2.) if it turns out untrue, people know where it came from.

When did the Twins have guys that finished guys off consistently? Santana (who was a Rule 5) and Liriano (who was a throw-in in a trade). Pretty sure Anderson loved having them pitching in his staff. Pitching coaches, simply, need to work with what they've got.

I don't think anyone is coaching people to give up 0-2 hits.. Throwing strikes is the most important thing a pitcher can do. I'll never disagree with that. Strikeouts are great, but big league hitters are good.

The Star Tribune is reporting that the Minnesota Twins will select Neil Allen as their next pitching coach. Last week, we learned that the Twins search for a pitching coach had narrowed to just two: Carl Willis and Neil Allen. On Saturday night, the Star Tribune beat writers reported that the team had selected Neil Allen as Paul Molitor's pitching coach.The 56-year-old Allen played for five big league teams from 1979 to 1989. He went a combined 58-70 with 75 saves in the big leagues. Following his career, he quickly became a pitching coach in independent leagues. He coached in the Blue Jays system starting in 1996. In 2000, he moved to the Yankees where he was a pitching coach through 2006, with the exception of 2005, when he was the big league bullpen coach with the Yankees. Since 2007, he has been a pitching coach with the Rays AAA team where he has worked with many of the young hurlers who proved ready for the Rays. Though he has never been a big league pitching coach, he has been a coach for over two decades. Many thought that the Twins would select a pitching coach with big league experience, though it certainly wasn't necessary. One thing many fans were looking for was an outside voice, someone from outside the organization. Allen has no association with the Twins, and really little interaction with Molitor. Gene Glynn was a scout for several seasons with the Rays, so maybe that's a connection? Molitor's coaching staff is nearly complete. Tom Brunansky was quickly named the hitting coach. Soon after, they announced that Gene Glynn (3B coach) and Rudy Hernandez (assistant hitting coach) were named. Last week, a report surfaced that Eddie Guardado would be named the bullpen coach, though at this time that has not been confirmed. With the reported addition of Allen as pitching coach, the open coaching spots appear to be bench coach and first base coach. What are your thoughts? Click here to view the article

I agree. Definitely appreciate Steve doing these each week.

And Berrios in 2016... Theyre doing the right things for sure. And having people like Gibson and Meyer and Hughes in the mix certainly helps.

There is no downside to that. With the Twins having lost so many games in the last four years, we all want change, whether it's free agents or prospects. But each kid is different. Like you said, some are more mature than others. Different flaws have to be handled differently too.

He just got 95-96 on the inside part of the plate and crushed it. Don't have to worry about staying back on that.

I don't get the comparison... They're two separate players with their own flaws and features.

In the DWL, they play to win. They don't care about development (as much) there. So, that's probably why he's at 2B. We'd also have to see who the team's SS is. As for Thorpe, he's still rehabbing in Ft. Myers, though separate sources tell me that he's feeling really good. I highly doubt he'll pitch in the ABL.

Thursday morning, RHP Alex Meyer joined 3B Miguel Sano, OF Eddie Rosario and LHP Jason Wheeler as the Minnesota Twins newest members of their 40-man roster. On Thursday night, he joined the Twins Hangouts podcast to talk about the honor, his 2014 season, subbing in the classroom for Jeremy, and much more. (Download on iTunes)We found out on Thursday morning that the quartet was added to the 40-man roster, but he actually got a call from Terry Ryan about a week earlier. His mom answered the phone at his home in Indiana, and screamed excitedly to Alex, “Hey, Terry Ryan’s on the phone. Get over here. He’s asking for you!” Alex understands that when Mr. Ryan calls, you go to the phone! Ryan told him he was going to be added to the roster. “I was hoping that’s what he was going to tell me. I didn’t know what else it was going to be.” Despite the fact that he was a “given” to be added to the roster, it is a big deal for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, being on the 40-man roster makes it much easier for a player to be promoted to the big leagues. Secondly, even if he were to return to the minor leagues to start the 2015 season, his pay will jump noticeably, though not as much as it will jump when he does get to the big leagues. Although he wasn’t called up in 2014, he was very happy with his season. Meyer said, “It was a good year this year. I had a blast. I was with a great group of guys. Some really good pitchers came through here that I was able to watch. For me, it was a great experience.” He highlighted one of the new Twins coaches as part of the reason he enjoyed his season so much. “Being able to be around Gene Glynn, who obviously was recently promoted to the big league club, was awesome. He’s a guy who, I think we’ll reap benefits from just… I’ve never played for somebody as knowledgeable as he is. He just sees things in a different way than other guys. He’s one of the most intelligent people in life that I’ve been around. I learned a lot from him. I was really fortunate to be able to play for Gene for a full year, and for Marty Mason.” There’s no question where Meyer wants to play in 2015, but he also has a strong grasp on what his situation was in 2014. He did miss two months in 2013 with a shoulder injury. “My goal was like anybody else’s in minor league baseball. You want to get to the big leagues. Obviously that didn’t happen this year which is OK because the Twins were pretty adamant on my making sure I finished the season whole and stayed healthy.” He left his final start after just one inning which concerned a lot of people. However, Meyer isn’t at all concerned about his shoulder. “Yeah, I went out my last start. It was unfortunate, I had a little shoulder tightness and couldn’t get loose that night. That stinks because we were in the middle of a really good playoff push too. You know what, I’ve been able to do everything I wanted to do in the offseason in regards to weightlifting, trying to prepare my body to get ready for next year. Really, that’s the only thing I can judge off of right now. I’m pretty confident. Everything feels good. My strength feels good. I have a peace of mind knowing that I’m going into camp, I’m going to be 100% and ready to go, trying to earn a spot in the rotation.” Some have suggested, including the Twins Daily Offseason Handbook’s blueprint, that maybe Meyer start the season in the Twins bullpen. It is a career path that the Twins chose for the likes of Johan Santana and Francisco Liriano. So what does Meyer think of that possibility? “If I can have half the career that Liriano or Johan Santana had, I don’t think I’ll be too upset about that. In all seriousness, I trust our coaching staff and our front office and what their decisions are. If they want me to go to the bullpen, and they think it would benefit the big league club, then absolutely, I’d be all for it. Like anybody else, my dream is to play in the major league level. They’re better at evaluating that than I am. That’s why they do it. If they think I’d be most successful out of the bullpen, well, there’s a lot of guys who make great careers out of it, I’d have no problem with that at all.” He continued, “We have some good starters coming in, and you never know what the front office is going to do this offseason in regard to that also. So, I’m up for whatever. I just want to do whatever I can to help that team win.” Meyer is fully aware of the Twins history, and he enjoyed watching the team in the last decade. He wants to be part of the group that turns around this stretch of four straight losing seasons. “There’s a lot of guys who have had a lot of success here before, going back to the early 2000s and the mid-2000s. I remember watching them. I’ve never played at the major league level, but I can imagine when you’re on the field with guys like Joe Mauer, who you’ve seen do it all, you can’t help but want to help those guys out, even if that’s coming out of the bullpen. I’d absolutely be all for that.” When asked what traits he would look for in a pitching coach, Meyer provided an interesting insight. Sure, it’s about mechanical and physical things, but it’s much more too. “For me, personally, I think it’s really good to have a guy who’s there for me mentally because not every guy is going to be Clayton Kershaw. Eventually you’re going to go through a streak of three or four or five games where things aren’t going to go well. I had a couple of times like that this year. I went through a stretch there in the season when I couldn’t get through the third inning for three straight games. I was really, really struggling. Marty Mason was there for me, almost laughing, saying ‘This isn’t a big deal. You’re going to get through this. You’re just going through a funk.’” Meyer was asked about several other topics. He talked a bit about what it’s like, from a player’s perspective, to be represented by Scott Boras. He talked more about what he’s doing in the offseason. There were a lot of topics, and Jeremy even asked if he would want to come up to Wisconsin and sub at his school. Asked about his goals for the 2015 season, Meyer said he’s going to just see what happens. “Every year I’ve set goals, and this year I won’t. I want to let them come to me. I don’t want to set any expectations because you never know what can happen. I’m just going to go out there, wherever they send me whether it’s Minnesota, Rochester, or in Cedar Rapids. I just want to go out there and pitch as well as I can, continue to get better as a pitcher, and whenever the big league calls, you want to make sure you’re ready. I just want to go out there and throws as well as I can. I just hope I can help the team sometime during the year whether it’s from Game 1 in April or whenever that time would be. ” Having covered the Twins via blog for the last twelve seasons, I feel safe in saying that Alex Meyer will NOT start the 2015 season in Cedar Rapids. Click here to view the article

Yikes on the audio for me.. but oh well... it's Alex Meyer. I think it was a fun interview. Thank you for the questions and feel free to leave your comments.

November 20, 2014, Wheeler was added to the Twins 40 man roster.

In the nine spot, an OBP like he did last year, even without hitting much, would be nice!

Twins Daily would like to thank Steve Lien for giving us weekly updates of the Arizona Fall League. Today, I wanted to provide Twins Daily readers an update on what is happening in the other winter leagues.Venezuela Winter League Aaron Hicks decided to spend a couple of weeks in Venezuela, even pushing back his wedding. He played in 16 games and went 11-50. He hit .220/.381/.280 (.661) with a home run. He walked 13 times and struck out just 11 times. He stole three bases. He was released from his contract and returned home. Oswaldo Arcia started the season late and has now played in 12 games. He has 15 hits in 45 at-bats and is hitting .333/.392/.689 (1.081). He has hit four doubles and four home runs while driving in nine runs. He has walked five times and struck out nine times. Eduardo Escobar also started late, but he has played in 13 games so far. He is 14-56 with three doubles, two home runs and eight RBI. He’s hitting .250/.283/.411 (.694). He has walked just twice and struck out 14 times. He has stolen five bases. Josmil Pinto has played in just one game and gone 0-3. GCL player Dubal Baez has gone 2-5 in limited playing time. Lefty Ryan O’Rourke has been used as a LOOGY in Venezuela. He has been credited with 6.2 innings of work over 12 games. He has given up five hits, walked three and struck out seven. Opponents are hitting just .208 off of him. Youngster Alexis Tapia has worked 4.1 innings over three games. He allowed six hits, walked two and struck out three. Puerto Rico Winter League Kennys Vargas was told he didn’t have to play this winter, but he wanted to. He has played in 14 games and has gone 13-45. He is hitting .289/.414/.533 (.947) with two doubles, three homers and ten RBI. As impressive, he’s walked ten times and struck out eight. Outfielder Danny Ortiz has also played in 14 games. In 61 at bats, he his .246/.246/.426 (.672) with five doubles, two home runs and 11 RBI. He has never been a fan of walking. He has no walks to go with 17 strikeouts. Dereck Rodriguez has pitched in two innings over two appearances. He has given up three runs on four hits. He’s walked none and struck out one. Dominican Winter League Chris Parmelee will be playing in the DWL until December 4. In the 16 games he has played, he is 17-63 with three doubles, a homer and six RBI. He is hitting .270/.343/.365 (.708). He has seven walks to go with 19 strikeouts. Jeremias Pineda has 21 plate appearances over 15 games played. He is 5-18, hitting .278/.381/.333 (.714) with a double. He has walked three times and struck out eight. Jorge Polanco just started playing this weekend. I think it’s safe to say he got off to a good start. He went 4-5 in his first game and followed it up by going 4-5 in the second game as well. Lefty Pat Dean has made two starts and gone a combined seven innings. He’s given up nine hits, walked five and struck out six. Australian Baseball League Logan Wade had played in 12 games and gone 11-42. He has hit .262/.295/.548 (.843) with three doubles, three homers and eight RBI. He has also walked ten times and struck out eight times. Josh Guyer has pitched just once and it didn’t go well. He gave up three runs on three hits and two walks and recorded just one out. Todd Van Steensel gave up one run on three hits in his one inning. He walked none and struck out three. We will post an update on the goings-on in the Winter Leagues every couple of weeks. Please feel free to ask questions. Click here to view the article

Minor League Deal... Absolutely! He was pretty good, and he's still young. Like some others, he's a good reclamation project. My concern is that when a guy is hurt every year, he's hurt every year. There is some upside considering his youth.

Why would Thielbar be on thin ice? All he's done is get the job done for the last two seasons. And, he's cheap for 2-3 more years.

Seeing the Zack Duke (3 year, $15 million) contract, the Twins should strongly consider Gilmartin, Wheeler and Ryan O'Rourke.

Yes, he does... I had a big list and apparently forgot to type some of the names. Thank you!

Yes, Brett Lee should be on this list. He's eligible. And thank you, I have now added him.