Seth Stohs

As happens every three years, Major League Baseball's Spring Training gets interrupted by the World Baseball Classic. Some teams had to qualify in the fall of 2012 but by March, 2013 teams comprised of players from 16 countries participated. In 2013, the Minnesota Twins were very well represented in the WBC. Several players contributed with very impressive performances, and several helped unexpected teams advance in the tournament. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Let's start with the teams that advanced to the final, championship round of the WBC. The Dominican Republic beat Netherlands in one semi-final game while Puerto Rico beat two-time WBC defending champion, Japan. In the championship game, the Dominican Republic was victorious. One of the heroes of that Dominican Republic team was none other than the Twins' Sam Deduno. He went 2-0 in his three starts in the tournament. He was the winning pitcher in the championship game. In 13 WBC innings, he gave up 11 hits, walked five and struck out 17, working his curveball as his strikeout pitch and showing exuberance that was fun to watch. Download attachment: Samuel Deduno DRWBC.jpg Two young Twins' prospects competed for the Puerto Rico team. In an outfield that had Angel Pagan in center and Alex Rios in right, Eddie Rosario split time in left field with veteran Jesus Feliciano. Rosario played very well last winter in the Puerto Rican Winter League, then went 3-14 in the tournament with a double. Also on the roster was youngster JO Berrios, working out of the bullpen. He did strike out Robinson Cano, but he did give up four runs in his two innings over two games. Netherlands was the surprise WBC team in the 2009 Classic. This time around, they didn't surprise teams, but they still got to the finals. Tom Stuifbergen had been a hero for the team in '09, but he struggled in 2013: in three games, he gave up eight earned runs in 6.1 innings. Shairon Martis gave up four earned runs in seven innings over two games. Team USA created a lot of discussion and controversy. While the top players from many other countries were playing for their homeland, many of the top players from the US said "No". However, two Twins' All-Stars represented the Twins and the Stars and Stripes. Joe Mauer, the teams cleanup hitter, caught a couple games and was the team's DH in the other games. He came through by going 9-21, hitting .429/.538/.619 (1.158) with two doubles and a triple. Glen Perkins was named to the bullpen by manager Joe Torre. He pitched in just two games and two innings. He gave up two earned runs on two walks and three hits while striking out two. The surprise team of the 2013 WBC was the from Italy. Most of the players on the roster were qualified due to distant, generational relations. The Twins' Chris Colabello and his parents had lived in Italy for several years. Colabello had played for Team Italy in youth tournaments. In this Classic, he went 6-18 with two homers and seven RBI, hitting .333/.368/.667 (1.035). Drew Butera went just 3-16, but each of his hits was big, including an RBI double and a big home run. Former Twins player Nick Punto hit .421 and posted a 1.003 OPS in the tournament. Australia didn't get out of the first round. Shortstop James Beresford went 2-11 in the round. Finally, the team from Canada also had a first-round exit though Justin Morneau did all he could, though. Morneau went 7-11. He hit .636/.692/.909 (1.601) with three doubles. The only hitter in the tournament who put up more impressive numbers was his teammate, outfielder Michael Saunders. Andrew Albers pitched three innings in one game for the Canadian team and gave up two runs on six hits. He walked none and struck out five. Albers and former Twins outfielder Rene Tosoni were involved in an event that may be the most memorable play of the 2013 WBC. Tosoni was the batter hit by a Jose Leon pitch after third baseman Luis Cruz essentially told him to (following a Chris Robinson bunt). A brawl ensued and there were several ejections, including Tosoni and Albers. The WBC is an interesting topic of discussion for baseball fans. Is there a good time for it? Should the best players play? If you were an owner, would you want your top players playing for their country and risking injury (see the Mark Teixeira situation). It is a good opportunity for some players and teams to get extra recognition. It is fun. It is what it is in terms of importance. And it was a part of 2013 for many players in the Twins' system. Click here to view the article

The Twins and Tigers were rained out on Sunday, so the Twins were able to avoid Justin Verlander. Monday is a scheduled off day before a three-game series at Target Field against the Dodgers where they will see former AL Central nemesis Zach Greinke in Game 1. In the minors, there were a couple of very strong starts. One of the affiliates won on a walk-off, and another used some big extra base hits to mount a huge comeback. On the other hand, one affiliate gave up a late-inning lead. But, one affiliate scored a dozen runs. So, mix and match. Which affiliate did each of these? Read below to find out. Download attachment: Aaron Slegers.jpg RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 3, Pawtucket 2 (10 innings) Box Score Chris Parmelee went 0-3 with three strikeouts. It threatened to end his 11-game hitting streak. However, he singled in the 8th inning to help the Red Wings tie the game and send it to extra innings. In the bottom of the tenth, Parmelee hit a walk-off home run to get the Wings back in the win column after two losses. Logan Darnell was on the mound and again very good. He was charged with two runs (1 earned) on five hits and a walk in 6.1 innings. He struck out six. As he walked to the mound for the seventh inning, he had not yet allowed a run. Yohan Pino came in to replace Darnell. He got the final two outs of the seventh inning and then worked three more scoreless innings. It wasn’t until the 10th inning he even gave up a base runner. He was helped by right fielder Doug Bernier who threw out a runner at the plate that inning. Pino struck out six in this outing. He is now 4-0 with a 1.17 ERA. Parmelee was 2-5 in the game with the big hits. James Beresford was 2-4. ROCK CATS REVIEW New Britain 5, Richmond 7 Box Score The Rock Cats got a great start and got some big hits. Until the bottom of the 8th inning, this was a terrific game in Richmond for the Rock Cats. And then came the eighth inning. Virgil Vasquez started and threw six shutout innings. He gave up three hits, walked one and struck out four. Not bad coming off his previous start when he threw seven three-hit, shutout innings. Ryan O’Rourke came in for the seventh inning and gave up a run while striking out two. The Rock Cats grabbed the lead early. Brandon Waring, who had a nice showing in big league camp this spring but was hitting under .180 coming into this game, hit a first inning double that scored Nate Hanson and Kennys Vargas. The Rock Cats added two more in the fourth inning. Former Gophers Kyle Knudson and AJ Pettersen each had an RBI double. With two outs in the seventh inning, Nate Hanson was hit by a pitch and Vargas singled. Then Waring drove in his third run of the game with a single. The Rock Cats had a 5-1 lead heading into the bottom of the 8th inning. Dan Turpen came in. He gave up a single, a walk, a single and a bases-loaded walk before striking out a batter. He was replaced by Jim Fuller who hit the one batter he faced to make the score 5-3. Cole Johnson came on. He hit the next two batters he faced to tie the score at five. A single then scored two more runs before Johnson got the final two outs. Kennys Vargas was 3-4 with his fourth double. Brandon Waring was 2-5 with his sixth double and three RBI. AJ Pettersen went 2-4 with his first double. Reynaldo Rodriguez hit his seventh double, and Kyle Knudson hit his second double. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 10, Palm Beach 7 Box Score The Miracle had a bit of a miracle on Sunday afternoon. Down 5-0 after just two innings, the team fought back and came away with a great team victory. Alex Wimmers made the start. He went five innings and was charged with seven runs, though just four were earned. He gave up seven hits (2 homers) and walked three. He struck out two. Mason Melotakis came on and gave up two hits (and a hit batter) over two scoreless innings. Madison Boer earned his third save with two perfect innings. Down 7-2 going into the sixth inning, the Miracle put six on the board to take the lead. The inning started with walks to Adam Walker and Mike Gonzales before Niko Goodrum’s single loaded the bases. Max Kepler came to the plate and picked the perfect time for his first home run of the season, a grand slam that cut the lead to 7-6. After a pitching change, Tyler Grimes doubles. Following a Levi Michael walk, Travis Harrison doubled to score Grimes and tie the game. Jorge Polanco came up and hit a sacrifice fly to give the Miracle an 8-7 lead. The Miracle added some insurance in the bottom of the 8th inning when Travis Harrison doubled in Levi Michael and scored on a Jorge Polanco single Harrison was 3-5 with the two doubles, his fifth and sixth on the season. Polanco was 2-4. Levi Michael was 1-2 with three walks. Adam Walker was 0-2 but walked three times. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 12, Clinton 1 Box Score When a team scores 12 runs in a game, you’d think we’d start with a note on the offense. Not in this game. Aaron Slegers started and was terrific. He went seven innings and gave up just one run on six hits. He walked none and struck out eight batters. Todd Van Steensel made his Kernels debut and had a one, two, three inning with two strikeouts. Christian Powell came in for the ninth. He gave up a hit, but he struck out two in a scoreless inning. Chad Christensen went 3-5 with a walk. He stole his sixth base. Zack Larson went 3-5 with his league-leading tenth double and his third stolen base. Ivory Thomas was 2-3 with two walks and his first stolen base and Midwest League home run. Mitch Garver was 2-4 with a walk. Tanner Vavra was 2-5 with his sixth double. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Aaron Slegers, Cedar Rapids Kernels Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Chris Parmelee, Rochester Red Wings MONDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Charlotte @ Rochester (6:05 CST) – Alex Meyer (Listen) New Britain @ Harrisburg (6:00 CST) – Matt Summers (Listen) Bradenton @ Ft. Myers (6:05 CST) – Jason Wheeler (Listen) Kane County @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 CST) – Ryan Eades (Listen) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the Sunday games. Click here to view the article

Sunday is Mother’s Day! (All of you guys, after you’re done reading this, go to the store and pick up some flowers or at least a nice card for your mom) Two years ago before Mother’s Day, Trevor Plouffe donated his hair to Locks of Love in honor of his mother, Diane, who is a breast cancer survivor. Today, Diane Plouffe was kind enough to write for us and give us some insight into what it’s like to be the mother of a Major League Baseball player. Thank You, Diane! -------------------------------------------------------------------- A Mother’s Perspective by Diane Plouffe As a mother, there is nothing more rewarding than seeing your child immersed in their life-long passion, waking up every morning to do something they absolutely love, and have worked so hard for. Although I should be used to it by now, I still get chills whenever I have the opportunity to see Trevor play. It is so surreal that the same little boy I took to tee-ball practice years ago is at the height of his professional career in Major League Baseball. I think back to his childhood baseball games, and I remember standing for seven innings straight with my stomach in knots, riddled with anxiety. I think the only thing that has changed in the past twenty years or so, is that now I have to stand for nine innings instead of seven! After almost ten years, you would think I would get used to my son leaving for months at a time, but honestly, I still cry the same way I did when he left for spring training when he was only eighteen. Our family is very close, and it is not only hard for me to say goodbye to my son, but having to watch my children say goodbye to each other is somehow even more heartbreaking. Despite the trials we face when spread out across the country for work or school, baseball has always been an important part of our family and continues to bring us together, whether it is at the stadium, or at home watching the Twins play on TV. Trevor never ceases to make me proud of the person he has become. Not only is he successful, but he is also a kind, charitable man who stands up for what is important to him. He has always been a big supporter of programs that benefit the troops as well as cancer research. Recently he has become a part of a few different programs that benefit cancer research such as, Stand Up 2 Cancer, and a campaign entitled, Strike Out Cancer. As a cancer survivor myself, I feel it is important that people with a large social media presence and fan base address programs such as these in order to raise awareness and gain support. Although Trevor and many other players are able to use their social media platforms for good, they sometimes receive negative feedback. I’m sure many of them have learned to ignore these harsh remarks. As a mother, you can never get used to seeing these things written about your child. Constructive criticism is welcome, but cruel remarks are unnecessary. However, injuries, strike outs, errors, they are all a part of the game, and I have always felt that is important for me provide positive thoughts and encouraging words at times when I know they may be scarce. Despite the roller coaster of ups and downs my son has faced throughout his career, I am glad that I have been able to be a part of his journey. Here’s to hoping the ups are here to stay and the downs are few and far between. Download attachment: Trevor Plouffe 3 edit.jpg Photo by Betsy Bissen. Click here to view the article

On May 23, 2010, I watched my first Beloit Snappers game - my first minor league game. In it, I saw a solid Brian Dozier play shortstop for the Snappers. After that game, Dozier was promoted to the Ft. Myers Miracle and Danny Santana was called up to the Snappers from Elizabethton. The next night I watched Danny Santana for the first time. Four years later, Santana has been one of the better stories in the 2014 Minnesota Twins season. Despite playing just 23 games in centerfield in his minor league career (and just two games since 2011 in Beloit), he finds himself as the Twins starting centerfielder. I can’t help but wonder what the future might hold for the diminutive speedster. Download attachment: Danny Santana MINNTWIN.jpg Photo by Brad Rempel In 2010, Brian Dozier was 22 and looked polished. Danny Santana was just 19 years old and looked really rough around the edges. In his first Midwest League game, Santana went 1-5, struck out three times and had three errors in the field. And yet, I came away very impressed. Why? It was obvious Santana was anxious in that first game. However, he showed a very quick swing that despite his small stature suggested that he could become more than a slap hitter. On defense, he made a couple of the more remarkable plays that I have seen, plays that should have been on SportsCenter’s Top 10 plays – you know, had there been cameras in Beloit’s stadium. He showed great range and a powerful arm. And yet, he booted a couple routine ground balls. He also had a couple errant throws. He returned to Beloit in 2011 and spent the full season there. In the games I saw, the tools remained clear. He posted a fielding percentage of .924. In 2012, he moved up to Ft. Myers and committed 18 errors for a .950 fielding percentage. Last year, he was in New Britain and had 32 errors and a .946 fielding percentage. Three full seasons later, reports on his defense remain the same. They start with his great range and very strong arm. They always continue with “but he had a tendency to boot several routine plays.” Offensively, it’s hard to look at his minor league track record and get excited about his potential. In seven minor league seasons, he has hit .274/.318/.393 (.711) with 90 doubles, 45 triples and 25 home runs. More important are the numbers he has put up the last couple seasons. In 2012 in Ft. Myers, he hit .286/.329/.410 (.739) with 21 doubles, nine triples and eight home runs. Last season in New Britain, he hit .297/.333/.386 (.719) with 22 doubles, ten triples and two home runs. In those two seasons, he stole 47 bases, but he was caught 24 times (66%). Santana’s minor league track record tells us that he will hit for some average, but he is not going to be a guy who gets on base via the walk often. He will not hit many home runs, but his speed will turn singles into doubles and doubles into triples. Beyond that, he can steal a base though he has a long ways to go to be a good base runner. He is a guy who can score from first on a double. Through his first 25 big league games, he is hitting a remarkable .372/.406/.500 (.906) and has five doubles and two home runs. His Isolated Discipline (.034) is below even his minor league numbers. This is not a surprise. He also has 21 strikeouts in 87 plate appearances. Can Danny Santana be a guy who hits .290/.330/.380 (.710) in the big leagues? If so, and he is able to play solid defense, he can be a very productive major league shortstop. Both these variables – offense and defense – are still question marks. A funny thing happened along the way, however. Suddenly, Danny Santana is the Minnesota Twins' starting centerfield and would appear to be for the foreseeable future. Aaron Hicks has struggled again in a second extended opportunity to take a stranglehold on the centerfield job. Byron Buxton has missed most of the season with his wrist injury. Santana could very well be the team’s starting centerfielder for at least the next calendar year. As many questions as I still have about whether Santana can ever play shortstop well enough defensively, he has generally looked at least adequate defensively in centerfield. His routes aren’t always perfect but his speed has generally been able to make up for it. The plays he struggles with the most have been those where communication comes into play. He and Josh Willingham have nearly run into each other in the left centerfield gap a couple times. We hold our collective breath when Santana charges in on pop ups that the middle infielders are also in pursuit of. Success with those plays takes time and communication, and it would appear Santana is going to get that time. That isn’t to say that Santana should stop taking ground balls at shortstop. Let’s not forget, the centerfielder of the future remains Byron Buxton. Buxton could take over the job as early as next June. Eduardo Escobar has taken over shortstop duties in the last four or five weeks. He has earned it. Can he continue in the role until Buxton takes over center and Santana moves in to the infield? In my opinion, Jorge Polanco won’t debut with the Twins until at least the end of the 2015 season. 2014 top pick Nick Gordon most likely will not be ready for four or five years. In other words, Danny Santana should continue to work at shortstop as well as in the outfield. As the Twins enjoy an off day in Detroit on Thursday, give this topic some thought. What does the future hold for Danny Santana with the Minnesota Twins? What are your predictions for the rest of 2014, and what do you think will happen with him going forward? Click here to view the article

Three weeks ago, as spring training was starting, I posted my first roster projections. In it, I gave percentages for what I felt was likelihood of each player, 40 man roster players and non-roster invitees, making the Opening Day roster. The Minnesota Twins have now played more than a dozen spring games. There have been some injuries. Some players have done well while others have struggled. Of course, the final rosters won’t likely be known for another three weeks, [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] ut it is fun to try to project that Opening Day roster and see how those projections change over the next three weeks. Check out my projections, and let us know what you think. Do you think any of the other players are givens? Which question marks do you think will make it? Go on record in the comments and see how your opinions change from week to week. The players in Red are players that I believe are givens to make the roster (obviously pending injury). Those in black are potentially up for grabs. Catchers: Joe Mauer, Ryan Doumit, Drew Butera Clearly Joe Mauer and Ryan Doumit are givens to not just be on the roster, but to likely be very much in the middle of the lineup. They will likely alternate between catching and DH duties. So, the big question right now appears to be whether or not the Twins will keep Drew Butera as their third catcher or if they will go with just two catchers (who both start)? Will they be able to find an ‘emergency catcher’ to ease the manager’s concerns? If they were to make a move in the coming weeks for a bench bat, then I think that Butera starts the season in Rochester. However, until that happens, I’ll still assume Butera makes the roster. Infielders: Justin Morneau, Brian Dozier, Trevor Plouffe, Pedro Florimon, Jamey Carroll, Eduardo Escobar We know that Justin Morneau and Trevor Plouffe will be the starters at the corners. We know that Jamey Carroll will be on the roster in some role, and that the Twins seem to prefer that be as a utility player that they know they can turn to at any time. To this point, Pedro Florimon (SS) and Brian Dozier (2B) have seemingly done what the Twins had hoped and are clearly the favorites up the middle. Defense does, and really should, matter with a pitching staff that will definitely allow contact, specifically ground ball contact. I would probably put the percent likelihood that Florimon and Dozier are on the roster at nearly 80%, maybe even a little higher, but I’m not quite willing to say they are locks. Likewise, I put the likelihood of Eduard Escobar being on the roster at close to 70% at this point because of his great glove. He was the emergency catcher of the White Sox a year ago, and the Twins would like to see him behind the plate in game situations this spring to make sure they are comfortable with that. If he proves able to do that sufficiently, that percentage goes up even more. Ray Olmedo might be the sleeper as a second utility infielder. Outfielders: Josh Willingham, Aaron Hicks, Chris Parmelee, Darin Mastroianni There are three givens to make the Twins roster in the outfield. Josh Willingham and Chris Parmelee will be the starters in the corners. Darin Mastroianni will be on the roster in some capacity. He was fighting for the starting centerfield job, but his hamstring injury has cost him a week of time to impress. Speaking of impressing, I think it is fair to say that Aaron Hicks has done just that. He has hit five home runs in the last three days. Sure, two of the three he hit on Thursday would not have been homers in most ballparks on most days, but he has been playing well. Frankly, he is the guy that the Twins had hoped would come to camp and earn the job with his play and with his composure. To this point, he has done just that. He has put up numbers and he has shown poise. Will he continue to show those traits over the next three weeks as he will begin to see more big league pitchers? Will the Twins send him to Rochester for a month to gain an extra year of team control? Joe Benson is the third guy in the battle for centerfield, and although he has shown good defense and hit a long home run, he has struggled to make consistent content. Again, there is still time to change this before the season, but right now, Benson’s hope to make the Opening Day roster would be if they go with just two catchers. Then, Benson would be competing with the likes of Chris Colabello, Brandon Boggs, Clete Thomas and Wilkin Ramirez for that spot. Starting Pitchers: Kevin Correia, Vance Worley, Scott Diamond, Mike Pelfrey, Liam Hendriks, Cole De Vries (if Diamond starts season on DL) It’s all about health. If Kevin Correia, Vance Worley and Mike Pelfrey remain healthy, they are givens. Scott Diamond will not pitch in a game for another ten days. Will that be soon enough to have him ready to start two weeks later? I think that’s a big question, though if he isn’t ready, he would be put on the Disabled List. Liam Hendriks seems to be the front runner for that final starting role, if Scott Diamond is ready. If he is not, there are two spots open. One would likely be Hendriks. The other appears to be up for grabs between Kyle Gibson and Cole De Vries. With three weeks to go before the season starts, De Vries likely is in the lead for that spot. That may be the best for Gibson’s long-term success. He can start in Rochester and gradually work innings. If he’s with the Twins, they will want him to be going 6-7 innings right from the start. In Rochester, they can just say, he’s going 4 innings in his first four starts, then go up to five innings for three or four starts. Then maybe a couple of six inning starts. Then a promotion by mid-May with 100 more innings before being shut down. Bullpen: Glen Perkins, Jared Burton, Brian Duensing, Alex Burnett, Casey Fien, Josh Roenicke, Ryan Pressly, (Anthony Swarzak-DL?) The first three spots are set. Glen Perkins is the closer. Jared Burton and Brian Duensing are the set-up men. After that, there is likely not a given. Anthony Swarzak is yet to pitch and could start the season on the Disabled List. He, along with Tim Wood and Josh Roenicke are out of options. Obviously as a Rule 5 selection, Ryan Pressly could be lost if not on the 25 man roster. Burnett didn’t have great peripherals in 2012, but he did get put up a good ERA, so he is closest to being a given despite struggling this spring. Fien was very good with the Twins once he was promoted and has been good this spring. Also remember that Burnett and Fien do have an option remaining. Could that factor in to the roster spots? I’m sure they would love to have another left-hander, but Tyler Robertson and Caleb Thielbar have struggled while Rafael Perez isn’t ready to pitch yet. What are your thoughts? What does your roster look like? View full article

I hate change as well... this will take some time for all of us to adjust to, but I do believe that in time, this will be a positive thing for writers and readers. My only concern this point is that I miss the way the Forum postings were shown on the front page before.

As we spend so much time looking forward to the 2014 draft, which is now just over a week away, it’s also important to take a look back. Today, I want to take a look at what the Twins did just one year ago, in the 2013 MLB Draft. For the second straight year, the Twins had a top four pick. In 2012, the Twins went with a prep outfielder from rural Georgia with the #2 pick. In 2013, the Twins went the high school route again, selecting a right-handed pitcher from Texas. Today, we’ll take a look at what the Texas fire baller and the rest of the forty Minnesota Twins 2013 draft picks have been up to this season. Download attachment: Tanner Vavra.jpg Tanner Vavra photo by Rinaldi Photos Round 1 – Kohl Stewart – Right-Handed Pitcher – High School The Twins used the fourth overall pick on Stewart knowing he had a full-ride football scholarship to be the potential heir-apparent to Johnny Manziel. However, the sides came together quickly on a signing bonus and Stewart reported. In total, he worked 20 innings of rookie league ball in 2013, allowing just 13 hits, walking four and striking out 24. The 19-year-old started the 2014 season with Cedar Rapids and despite being more than two years younger than the average Midwest League hitter, he has posted a 2.93 ERA and a 1.09 WHIP in 43 innings. His innings are wisely being monitored but to this point he has been very successful. Some worry that he is striking out just over six batters per nine innings, but he is not even using his most dominant pitch, a slider that Baseball America called the best in the organization. Round 2 – Ryan Eades – Right-Handed Pitcher – College With the 43rd pick the Twins selected Eades out of Louisiana State. A polished college pitcher at a perennial powerhouse, he was ranked higher than 43 in most experts’ draft rankings. To say he has been disappointing to this point might be an understatement. After posting a 4.60 ERA and 12 walks and 13 strikeouts in 15.2 relief innings last year in Elizabethton, he has struggled in Cedar Rapids this year. To this point, he is 3-6 with a 6.12 ERA and a 1.76 WHIP. In 42.2 innings, he has given up 55 hits and walked 20 batters. He does have 40 strikeouts. Round 3 – Stuart Turner – Catcher – College Turner won the Johnny Bench Award as the top college catcher and he was the first college catcher drafted. He went to Elizabethton but ended the season with a 2-4 performance in one game at AA New Britain. He impressed the Twins brass and received an invitation to big league spring training this year. He is catching about half the time in Ft. Myers this year and doing well behind the plate. His bat is not yet doing much. In 31 games, he is hitting .188/.248/.277 (.525) with six extra base hits. Round 4 – Stephen Gonsalves – Left-Handed Pitcher – High School The southpaw fell in the draft as many believed he did not want to sign and the Twins were able to take him in the fourth round. They went over-slot to sign him and he impressed in his debut. He started with the GCL Twins and in 14.1 innings gave up just one earned run. He moved up to Elizabethton and gave up two runs in 14 innings. In all, he threw 28.1 innings. He walked 11 and struck out 39. He is currently at Extended Spring Training awaiting the Elizabethton season… or a call to pitch in Cedar Rapids. Round 5 – Aaron Slegers – Right-Handed Pitcher – College The 6-10 tall righty was the Big 10 Pitcher of the Year last year. He posted a 0.47 ERA in Elizabethton last year, with two walks and 18 strikeouts in 19 innings. He is in Cedar Rapids this year where he is currently 4-2 with a 5.36 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP. Through his first six start, his ERA was just 2.52. In fact, until his most recent start, his ERA was still just 3.80. However, he has given up 20 earned runs in 14.2 innings over his past three starts. Could just be that “dead-arm phase” that many pitchers go through. Round 6 – Brian Navarreto – Catcher – High School The Twins selected the large catcher out of Arlington Country Dade High School in Jacksonville, Florida. He played in 42 games last summer with the GCL Twins and hit .226/.318/.365 with 10 doubles and three homers. He was incredibly impressive offensively and showed a power bat and arm when I saw him this spring. He will likely go to Elizabethton when their season starts. Round 7 – Brian Gilbert – Right-Handed Pitcher – College The Twins selected Gilbert out of Seton Hall where he was an established closer. He made just five appearances in Elizabethton before moving up to Cedar Rapids last year where he pitched in 13 more games. He began this season with Ft. Myers where he has pitched in 13 games and has four saves. He was on the DL for a week with an illness. He has a 1.77 ERA, but in 20.1 innings, he has 13 walks and 12 strikeouts. Round 8 – Dustin DeMuth – Third Base – College – Did Not Sign The Twins were certain that the third baseman would sign, but in the end, he turned down a $150,000 signing bonus to return to Indiana. He was the top player on the Hoosiers Big 10 Championship team this year. He hit .381/.455/.541 (.956) with 14 doubles and five home runs. Round 9 – Mitch Garver – Catcher – College Garver was the runner up to Turner for the 2013 Johnny Bench Award after his senior season at New Mexico. Although he has slowed in May, he has been one of the better hitters in the organization to this point this season for the Kernels. He is hitting .286/.370/.476 (.846) with 12 doubles, a triple, six homers and 29 RBI. Round 10 – CK Irby – Right-Handed Pitcher – College Irby was drafted out of Samford. He pitched in ten games for Elizabethton though he was limited by soreness. He is still in Extended Spring Training awaiting an opportunity with Cedar Rapids. Round 11 – Nelson Molina – Shortstop – High School Drafted out of Puerto Rico, he struggled in the GCL in his debut season. He hit .110/.178/.119 (.297) in 120 plate appearance. However, at 6-3 and 175 pounds, he has room to grow and is a very good up the middle glove with a very strong arm. He will likely go back to the GCL. Round 12 – Ethan Mildren – Right-Handed Pitcher – College Mildren signed and posted a 1.65 ERA in 16.1 innings at Elizabethton. He began this year at Extended Spring Training but when the Twins dealt Miguel Sulburan for Eduardo Nunez, the Kernels needed a starter. Mildren is 0-3 with a 4.35 ERA and a 1.32 WHIP in 39.1 innings. He has seven walks and 28 strikeouts. Round 13 – Brandon Peterson – Right-Handed Pitcher – College After pitching at Des Moines Area Community College, the Burnsville native went to Wichita State University for a year. After signing he posted a 2.96 ERA with five saves for E-Town. He began this season with Cedar Rapids and pitched in nine games before being promoted to Ft. Myers where he has pitched in five games. Combined, he has posted a 0.92 ERA with a 0.92 WHIP in 19.2 innings. He has 27 strikeouts to just five walks. Round 14 – Zack Granite – Outfielder – College Like Gilbert, Granite was drafted out of Seton Hall. He was Elizabethton’s lone member on the post-season Appalachian League All Star team. He began this season with the Kernels. His speed and on-base skills make him an ideal centerfielder and leadoff hitter. Unfortunately, he played in just four games before suffering an injury and is yet to return. Round 15 – Derrick Penilla – Left-Handed Pitcher – College Penilla signed out of Mount San Antonio College (California) and pitched in 14 games for the GCL Twins. Early this season, Penilla was summoned to Cedar Rapids from EST and has pitched in five games for the Kernels (one start). In 13.1 innings, he has a 5.40 ERA, a 1.50 WHIP and six walks to 18 strikeouts. Round 16 – Brandon Bixler – Left-Handed Pitcher – College After signing with the Twins out of Florida Gulf Coast, Bixler pitched in six games for Elizabethton before being promoted to Cedar Rapids. That’s where he began his 2014 season. In 14 games and 27.1 innings, he has a 1.32 WHIP. He has walked too many (18) and struck out just over a batter per inning (28). Round 17 – Tanner Mendonca – Right-Handed Pitcher – College Mendonca signed out of Cal State – Sacramento last year and reported to Elizabethton where his control problems continued. He posted an 8.49 ERA. In 23.1 innings, he gave up 24 hits and walked an incredible 37 batters. He also struck out 23. He is a hard-thrower who they hope can harness it better. He is still in Extended Spring Training. Round 18 – Ryan Walker – Shortstop – College Walker signed out of the University of Texas, in Arlington. The wiry shortstop has good hands and a strong arm. Unfortunately late in spring training, he broke a finger and missed about the first six weeks. He has returned and has played ten games for the Kernels. Round 19 – Jared Wilson – Right-Handed Pitcher – College Wilson signed with the Twins last summer out of UC-Santa Barbara. The Twins had drafted him in the 35th round a year earlier, but he returned to school. He pitched in ten games for the GCL Twins a year ago, and was promoted from EST to Cedar Rapids two weeks ago. He has pitched seven innings in four contests so far. He has allowed no earned runs on two hits, three walks and has ten punch outs. Round 20 – Jason Kanzler – Outfielder – College Kanzler began the season at Extended Spring, but when Granite was hurt, he was called up. In 34 games (136 AB), he has hit .301/.338/.485 (.823) with four doubles, three triples and five home runs. He is also 7-8 in stolen base attempts. He’s best known for his defense, having won a couple gold gloves in college. Round 21 – Tyler Stirewalt – Right-Handed Pitcher – College Stirewalt was drafted out of Fresno State where he went to play football. He decided to give baseball a try and the Twins took a chance on the hard-thrower. He posted a 0.57 ERA in 15.2 GCL innings last year with 20 strikeouts. He impressed at the Instructional League, clocking a few fastballs at 95 mph. He’s still learning to pitch and the Twins have kept him in Extended Spring Training. Round 22 – Alex Swim – Catcher – College Swim was a nominee for the Johnny Bench Award for his catching prowess at Elon University. He had been drafted after his junior season by the Cardinals but chose to go back for his senior campaign. He played for the GCL Twins last year. This year, he’s in Extended Spring Training waiting for an opportunity. He did spend a game or two with the Ft. Myers Miracle in case they needed a catcher but was quickly returned. Round 23 – Zach Hayden – Right-Handed Pitcher – College Hayden went to the University of South Carolina in Aiken. He pitched in ten games for the GCL Twins last year without giving up a run. In nine innings, he gave up seven hits, walked five, hit two and struck out six. He came to spring training this year out of shape, so the Twins held him back from baseball activities until he was ready to go. He is in Extended Spring Training. Round 24 – Brandon Easton – Left-Handed Pitcher – Junior College He played a lot of first base at Lakeland Community College but the Twins liked him as a left-handed, hard-throwing pitcher. He gave up 25 hits, walked 13 and struck out 11 in 19.1 innings with the GCL Twins last year. He hasn’t pitched much, so he is at Extended Spring Training. Round 25 – Chad Christensen – Outfielder – College The Cedar Rapids native went to the University of Nebraska and this year he gets to play for his hometown Kernels. He played most every position for the Cornhuskers. This year, he has played first base and all three outfield positions for the Kernels. He is hitting .290/.342/.408 (.751) with seven doubles, two triples and three homers. He also is 13-16 in stolen base attempts. Round 26 – Ryan Halstead – Right-Handed Pitcher – College – Did Not Sign Like DeMuth, Halstead returned to Indiana where he was the best closer in school history. Unfortunately for him, after just four games, his season came to an end with a torn ACL. Round 27 – Taylor Blatch – Right-Handed Pitcher – High School – Did Not Sign Just 5-11 and 165 pounds, Blatch throws in the low 90s. He enrolled at Florida State where he pitched in 14 games, making two starts. It’s fair to say that the statistics didn’t look great. In 17.1 innings, he gave up 13 hits, walked 19 and struck out 11. Round 28 – Chris Erwin – Left-Handed Pitcher – High School – Did Not Sign The left-hander went to Kennesaw State where he not only pitched, but he had the opportunity to hit as well. On the mound, he pitched in 15 games and made eight starts. His team is in the NCAA tournament, and to this point he is 3-1 with a 3.16 ERA. In 42.2 innings, he has given up 44 hits, walked 24 and struck out 33. With the bat, he went 7-21. He hit .333/.391/.476 (.867). Round 29 – Logan Shore – Right-Handed Pitcher – High School – Did Not Sign Shore was Mr. Baseball and the Gatorade Player of the Year in Minnesota in 2013 at Coon Rapids High School. As a senior, he went 9-0 with a 0.27 ERA. He was a first or second round talent, but he made it clear he wanted to go to the University of Florida. This year with the Gators, he pitched in 15 games and made 14 starts. He went 7-3 with a 1.99 ERA. In 90.2 innings, he gave up 76 hits, walked 18 and struck out 62. Round 30 – Tanner Vavra – Second Base – College Blind in one eye, Vavra continues to beat the odds. He was a great hitter in his years at Valparaiso. He spent last season at Elizabethton where he hit .246/.358/.284. When he went on the disabled list on May 2, he was hitting .338/.384/.441. Since his return on May 10, he is 4-38 and three of those hits came in one game. Round 31 – AJ Bogucki – Right-Handed Pitcher – High School – Did Not Sign Bogucki was a high-ceiling prep from Pennsylvania. The hard thrower went to the University of North Carolina. He pitched in 12 games and made three starts. He went 1-0 with a 2.38 ERA. In 22.2 innings, he gave up 16 hits, walked 13 and struck out 27 batters. Opponents have hit just .193 against him. Round 32 – Carlos Avila – Shortstop – College Avila was drafted out of Cal State – Dominguez Hills. He hit .206 last year with Elizabethton. He began this season at Extended Spring Training. Earlier this month, he was promoted to Cedar Rapids. He went 3-9 with two walks in three games. However, last week when Engelb Vielma came back from the DL, Avila was released by the organization. Round 33 – Steven Sensley – Outfielder – High School – Did Not Sign Round 34 – Ivory Thomas – Outfielder – College Thomas was also drafted out of Dominguez Hills. He began this season in EST, but was promoted to Cedar Rapids in the first month. In 26 games, he has hit .183/.462/.250 (.712) with a double and a home run. He also stole two bases. Round 35 – Nick Lemoncelli – Left-Handed Pitcher – Junior College – Did Not Sign In 2014, he went to Lewis-Clark State College. He pitched in 11 games and made six starts. He was 2-0 with a 3.68 ERA. In 29.1 innings, he gave up 27 hits, walked 19 and struck out 39. Round 36 – Joseph Greenfield – Right-Handed Pitcher – College – Did Not Sign Greenfield went back to Eastern Illinois. He pitched in 23 games and made nine starts. He went 6-6 with a 5.40 ERA. In 73.1 innings, he gave up 99 hits, walked 36 and struck out 49. Round 37 – Julien Service – Outfielder – Junior College – Did Not Sign Round 38 – Javier Salas – Right-Handed Pitcher – College – Did Not Sign Salas went back for his senior season. He pitched in 13 games, with six starts. He went 4-3 with a 3.04 ERA. In 47.1 innings, he gave up 44 hits, walked 12 and struck out 38. In early March, he made a start against Villanova and threw a perfect game. Round 39 – Seth Wagner – Left-Handed Pitcher – High School The 6-7, 19-year-old signed late and pitched in six games for the GCL Twins last year. He is at Extended Spring Training awaiting the short-seasons. Round 40 – Kelly Starnes – Outfielder – High School – Junior College He went to Cal State – East Bay where he hit .352 with 12 doubles and four home runs. Obviously these players' professional statistics to this point fall into the category of "Small Sample Size," but it is interesting nevertheless to see how their careers have started. Click here to view the article

In the last twenty-four hours, catcher Dan Rohlfing was promoted from Ft. Myers to New Britain. Former Gopher catcher Kyle Knudson was promoted from Beloit to Ft. Myers. Bart Carter was taken off of the Snappers’ Disabled List. As we are approaching the mid-point of the minor league seasons, the Twins typically make several promotions at each level. Many times, the Twins let players who make their league’s all star teams play in those games. Often, players are promoted following the all star games. Today, I wanted to provide some thoughts on several players that I think are worthy of a mid-season promotion.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] ROCHESTER to MINNESOTA? Liam Hendriks – There are the rumors that he will be starting for the Twins at Target Field against the Brewers. As of Monday, he had not heard anything official. But in seven starts since his demotion in late April, he is 5-0 with a 1.94 ERA. In 46.1 innings, he has given up 29 hits, walked 13 and struck out 42. And that includes on game in which he gave up six runs on seven hits and two walks in five innings. In other words, he has been tremendous and has made some adjustments. Lester Oliveros – Deolis Guerra has come back down to earth, and Anthony Slama is now on the Disabled List. Don’t worry about last night’s Oliveros outing, everyone has one of those. He is pitching very well, and if the Twins need a bullpen arm in the near future, he is currently the one to look to. NEW BRITAIN to ROCHESTER? Steve Hirschfeld – Last week, when the Red Wings needed a spot starter, Hirschfeld was the guy. He was sent back down the next day despite throwing 5 shutout innings. On the year, he is 4-4 with a 3.20 ERA. Hirschfeld has been in New Britain since 2010. He’s 26 years old. It’s just time for him to move up. (Then if they need a spot starter, BJ Hermsen who is pitching spectacularly.) FT. MYERS to NEW BRITAIN? Oswaldo Arcia – Finally, a hitter. Arcia has been as hot as any hitter in minor league baseball over the past five to six weeks. Overall, he’s hitting .318/.381/.530 with 15 doubles, three triples and seven home runs. His downfall is that he hasn’t been able to hit left-handed pitching (.591 OPS vs LHP - 1.054 OPS vs RHP). Hey, neither could Jason Kubel, who is a terrific comp for Arcia. Pat Dean – Dean has been the Miracle’s top starter all season. He is 4-3 with a 3.07 ERA in 13 games started. He strikes out (and walks) no one (33 K, 16 BB, in 73.1 IP). I expect him to struggle some in AA, as most college-drafted pitchers do because of it, but I do think he’s ready for that challenge. Ricky Bowen – Signed after the start of the 2011 season, the 24-year-old Bowen has been very good out of the Miracle bullpen. This year, he is 3-2 with a 2.89 ERA and five saves. In 37.1 innings, he has walked 11 and struck out 38. He’s been good, and frankly, he needs to move up. Matt Hauser can be the second reliever to move up, if needed. BELOIT to FT. MYERS? Michael Tonkin – I’ve mentioned this several times of late, but I simply cannot come up with a single reason that Tonkin is no up in Ft. Myers. He’s in his third season in Beloit, and he’s 3-0 with four saves and a 1.50 ERA. In 36 innings, he’s given up 29 hits, walked nine and struck out 44 batters. Generally, I can come up with some reason for holding a guy back. I can’t come up with one for Tonkin, unless poor body language is a reason? Eddie Rosario – As much as I believe that Miguel Sano needs to stay in Beloit, and I think the best thing for Rosario would be to remain in Beloit, if there is a position player in Beloit that could move up if needed, it would be Eddie Rosario. He has areas in which he can continue to improve, but offensively, he is a pretty advanced hitter for a 20 year old. His defense remains a work-in-progress, but he has greatly improved and can continue to work. (I think he could handle it alright, but I think the best thing for him would be to stay in Beloit at least another month.) So there you have it. You’ll want to check back to Twins Daily where we will attempt to keep up with any and all transactions in the Twins system. For instance, from Extended Spring Training, the Twins have released infielder Julio Torres and pitcher Tobias Streich. What do you think? Who should be promoted? Download attachment: Lester Oliveros 2.jpg Click here to view the article

Eric Fryer is one of four catchers on the Minnesota Twins 40 man roster. We know that Kurt Suzuki will be on the Opening Day roster, but who will join him? Will it be the offensive force that Josmil Pinto could be? Will Chris Herrmann’s versatility and athleticism put him in the role? Eric Fryer knows that his defense is what gives him a chance to make the Twins Opening Day roster. I had the chance to talk one-on-one with Fryer last month at Twins Fest and got to learn a lot more about him and about what goes through the mind of a good catcher.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Eric Fryer was born in August of 1985 in Columbus, Ohio. He said, “Columbus is kind of a Cleveland/Cincinnati split, but I was always a Reds fan. My dad liked The Big Red Machine.” And his favorite player? “I liked watching Pete Rose play, just how he always went hard-nosed and just went at it.” Fryer became a star in high school. He attended Reynoldsburg High School where fifteen years earlier another Major Leaguer honed his skills. The player is someone that Fryer has emulated throughout his career. “My favorite athlete was Mike Matheny. He was a catcher. We went to the same high school, same high school coach and everything. Talk about a guy who knows how to run a staff, knows how to block and throw and everything. I liked to watch him play as much as I could. He’s built a lot different than me. He’s a lot bigger than I am. It was cool. I got to see his Hall of Fame induction in our high school, got to meet him a couple of times, so it’s always been cool trying to follow in his footsteps. From the same hometown, getting up to the big leagues. So, I always emulated him growing up.” Matheny had a 13 year major league career and won four Gold Glove awards behind the plate. He was the catcher on two St. Louis Cardinals teams that lost in the World Series. In 2012, he was named the Cardinals manager, and in 2013, he led the team to the World Series where they fell to the Red Sox. Matheny went on to the University of Michigan. Fryer stayed home and played for THE Ohio State University. Following the 2007 college season, Fryer was the 10th round selection of the Milwaukee Brewers. After hitting .335/.407/.506 (.914) in the SALLY League in his first full season, he was traded by the Brewers to the Yankees for left-handed pitcher Chase Wright. In late June of 2009, he was on the move again, this time to the Pirates in exchange for pinch-hitter Eric Hinske. He hit .300/.391/.474 (.865) in 2010. In 2011, he moved up to AA Altoona where he hit .345/.427/.549 (.976) in 37 games. On June 26, he was called up to the big leagues and made his big league debut against the Boston Red Sox. It was an eventful debut. He started, batted eighth, caught James McDonald, and faced Andrew Miller. “I got thrown at in in my big league debut, and I had a collision at home plate with David Ortiz. So that was certainly memorable. He didn’t hit me super hard.” He played in ten games for the Pirates over about five weeks before being sent down to AAA Indianapolis. In 2012, he played in six more games with the Pirates. Following that season, he became a six-year minor league free agent, and the Twins signed him quickly to a minor league deal. He spent the entire minor league season with the Rochester Red Wings, playing for manager Gene Glynn. “For a while, we had like five catchers on the roster at one time. It’s pretty tough to get everyone some playing time, but the communication he had was very good. He let everyone know the plan. Down the stretch, him and (Red Wings pitching coach) Marty Mason, we got together and had a pretty good game plan as we put together a playoff push. They just really showed me how to lead, how I could lead the staff. They trusted my judgment, what I saw. They helped with the running game. For the most part, they gave their input and really encouraged me to do what I believe with the pitchers and it worked out well for us.” When the Red Wings playoff run came to an end, Fryer was one of seven players promoted to the Twins for the remainder of September. The circumstances of his promotion were very similar. As Fryer said, “In 2011 (in Pittsburgh), there were a lot of injuries. I think I was the eighth catcher the Pirates used that year.” He continued, “(It was a) Similar situation here with Joe (Mauer) and Ryan (Doumit) and the concussions. They needed an extra catcher. It was a fresh start for me. I was really excited to go up there.” Fryer played in just six games for the Twins, but hit .385 including his first major league home run, a moment he will never forget, even if it came in a game the Twins would rather forget. “It was pretty cool. I hit it. It is a huge ball park, especially in left center, so I was busting out of the box thinking maybe a double. Then the umpire put his hand up and swirled it. Oh my gosh. I’m not really a home run hitter. It was a huge joy, but I didn’t really know how to act. I think it was 16-2 or 3 at the time, so I had to kind of be cool. Everybody in the dugout was great, smiling. Gardy, after the game, like he does for everybody’s first home run I guess, brought everyone together, tossed the ball to me. So, it was a really cool moment that they made special even though the game is one we want to forget.” Since the offseason, Terry Ryan and others have continued to talk about the positive impression that Fryer has made within the organization. As any of us would, Fryer feels good about that. “I really appreciate that. It’s a big honor. It’s just nice to know that they trust you. Sometimes people worry that the backup catcher, whatever the role is, they’re going to derail it. You want to have a guy who will keep continuity with the staff and with the game plan every time out there. I think last year I showed I can do that. It wasn’t a lot of playing time, but when I went out there, I did some things that they liked. Did some things that the pitchers liked. So hopefully I can move forward and do the same thing.” Fryer is known as a defensive catcher. So, what does that term mean to him? “I think I have a pretty good relationship with pitchers. I think they know that when I’m back there, it doesn’t matter what I’m doing with the bat or anything. It’s me and them. We’re going to get through the game each time. I try to take it seriously, get stretched out, have a game plan. It was nice in AAA, I’ve been there a little bit so I kind of knew hitters, so that was a good part of the game. But, defensively, I think I do a pretty good job holding pitches, catching the low pitch, with balls in the dirt. They’re going to know that I’m going to do my best. Defensively, I’m going to do my best for them.” Fryer is a smart guy and knows that the best way to learn is through playing, but also through watching how others prepare. “I love picking the brains of the older guys. When I was with the Pirates, I got to talk to AJ Burnett and Kevin Correia. It’s just nice seeing those guys, even if you’re not playing, to see how they go about their business, how they prepare for a game, what they look for with hitters. It’s nice to talk to a lot of those guys.” So, how does he put all of that information into action during a game? In 2013, Fryer worked with many of the pitchers that we saw with the Twins. “Communication is big, not only with the pitcher, but the pitching coach and the manager, especially in the minor leagues. All those guys, when they’re going good, they’re attacking hitters. They’re going after hitters. They’re getting ahead. Catching Andrew Albers, some of his complete games, he was Strike 1, 0-1. It’s a big advantage to the pitchers, puts the hitters at a huge disadvantage. I was catching Vance (Worley) when he was rolling down there in AAA too. (Caught Kyle) Gibson a lot. The recipe was pretty much the same. We attack with the fastball, get ahead of guys, and then you can start picking around and do what you want to. Always pitch to their strengths, that’s the biggest thing. Whether it’s not working that day, we’re going to get it going the right direction one way or another. If it doesn’t work, start getting hit around, we go to plan B. I don’t like them to be passive, I want them to be aggressive. Go after hitters. I think that’s been a big recipe of mine, calling pitches.” Fryer is excited about the 2014 season and the signings that the Twins made, adding a couple of guys who have had a lot of success. “You want as many guys with playoff experience coming in here. Build a tradition, build it back up where there’s an expectation of going out there and winning every ball game. The moves that we made, it sounds like we’re moving the right direction.” I asked Fryer about his goals for spring training, and if that included making the Twins Opening Day roster. He said, “I think all of us are planning on making the team, but in the past, I’ve had chances to do that. If you start putting too much pressure on results instead of working to improve every day, then you actually put yourself in a worse situation. So I think going out and approaching it the same way I have each spring, just each day get a little better, build up to the start of the season. Normally that puts me in a pretty good spot. I think all of us -- me, Pinto, Herrmann, whoever else is challenging -- we’re going to approach it the same way.” But Fryer has a good perspective on this game. He fully understands his role as a backup catcher and dives into that headfirst. He is a guy that you can’t help but cheer for. “You never know when it’s going to be your last time in the big leagues. So I just want to do the best I can and play with my hair on fire,” Fryer continued. “Every day, I just try to treat it as a blessing. You never know when it’s going to be done, whether it is injury or they’re just going to tell you you’re not good enough, so go out there and play as hard as you can and enjoy it.” View full article

We don’t know a lot about what will happen at the end of the season, but we do know that the Ft. Myers Miracle will return to the Florida State League playoffs. It came down to the final game, but their win clinched the division and a playoff spot for Doug Mientkiewicz’s crew. Kyle Gibson has done a great job of late at proving those who believed in him right. On Wednesday afternoon in Fenway Park, Gibson threw seven more shutout innings, increasing his streak to 22 consecutive innings. However, it wasn’t enough as the Twins fell 2-1 in ten innings to the Red Sox. Download attachment: baxendale.jpg Let’s check out what happened in the Twins farm system on Wednesday: RED WINGS REPORT Game 1 - Rochester 4, Pawtucket 9 Box Score Sean Gilmartin made his Rochester debut on Tuesday night. He went 3.1 innings and gave up two unearned runs on six hits. He walked none and struck out two. That’s when the rains came and the game was suspended until Wednesday night. Scott Diamond took over on the mound. The lefty went the next 2.1 innings. He gave up one unearned run on three hits. Deolis Guerra came on and was charged with four runs (2 earned) on three hits and recorded just one out. AJ Achter came on and got the next three outs. However, he was uncharacteristically wild. He gave up two runs on four walks and struck out two. Edgar Ibarra threw the final two innings. He didn’t give up a run, though he allowed three hits and walked two. He struck out three. Dan Rohling led the offense. He went 2-3 with a walk and his tenth double. Eric Farris was 2-5 with his 11th double and two RBI. Deibinson Romero doubled for the 18th time. Chris Herrmann hit his second triple. Game 2 - Rochester 1, Pawtucket 4 Box Score Another start for Alex Meyer, and again he was unable to eat many innings due to high pitch counts. He needed 78 pitches just to get through three innings. He gave up no runs on two hits. He walked two and struck out four. Ryan Pressly came in and threw three shutout innings. He gave up a hit, walked one and struck out two. Michael Tonkin came in for the seventh inning. He gave up four runs (3 earned) on three hits, a walk and a hit batter. Aaron Thompson came in and got the final two outs of the inning, but not before walking two batters. There wasn’t much offense for the Red Wings in this one. Wilkin Ramirez went 2-3 with his 16th double. Dan Rohlfing was 1-2 with a walk and his 11th double. ROCK CATS REVIEW New Britain 5, Harrisburg 4 Box Score Down 4-3 after eight innings, the Rock Cats scored two to take the lead. The runs were driven in by Mike Kvasnicka with a bases loaded single. He was 2-3 with two walks. Kennys Vargas went 3-5 with his 13th double. Tony Thomas went 3-4 with a walk and his 13th double. Virgil Vasquez made the start for the Rock Cats. He went 6.2 innings and gave up four runs on eight hits (two home runs) and two walks. Matt Summers came on and got four outs, two on strikeouts. Lester Oliveros struck out two in the ninth for his tenth save of the season. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 5, Bradenton 0 Box Score Doug Mientkiewicz is in his second season as the Miracle manager. For the second straight season, he has led his squad to a first-half title. It took until the final game of the first half, but the Miracle win on Wednesday night means they will be in the playoffs again. A year ago, they clinched with about eight games to go. This year it was a little more difficult. DJ Baxendale made the start for the Miracle. He went six shutout innings. He gave up just four hits, walked none and struck out five. Matt Tomshaw came on in relief and did what he’s done all season: throw up a few zeroes. He threw three scoreless innings for his second save of the year. The game was scoreless until the fifth inning when Stuart Turner stepped to the plate and hit his fourth home run of the season to give the Miracle a 1-0 lead. Turner went 2-3 in the game, adding his eighth double. Stephen Wickens and Lance Ray each went 2-4 with a double. Travis Harrison also had two hits. KERNELS NUGGETS All Star Break. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – DJ Baxendale, Ft. Myers Miracle Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Mike Kvasnicka, New Britain Rock Cats THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Pawtucket @ Rochester (12:05 CST) – Logan Darnell (Listen) New Britain @ Harrisburg (6:00 CST) – TBD (Listen) Ft. Myers @ St. Lucie (5:30 CST) – TBD (Listen) Cedar Rapids @ Kane County (6:30 CST) – Aaron Slegers (Listen) Elizabethton @ Greeneville (6:00 CST) - Stephen Gonsalves Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the Wednesday games. CEDAR RAPIDS / TWINS WEEKEND Consider a trip to Cedar Rapids for the series against Clinton June 27-30. It is their Twins Weekend, and they have several fun events. Check out www.kernels.com for more information or to order tickets. Friday, June 27 Friday Mug Club Drink SpecialAutism Action Jersey Night - fans can bid on jerseys and take players' jerseys home that night.Halfway to Christmas - (Santa, Mrs. Claus and reindeer will be there)Post game fireworksStadium Snow Globe giveaway Saturday, June 28 Twins Night - Rod Carew, Twins organist Sue Nelson and TC Bear will be there.Post game fireworks Sunday, June 29 Post game run the basesAutographs from Kernels on field after the gamePlay bingo for a chance to win Twins tickets Click here to view the article

RIck, Sorry I missed you when we were in Cedar Rapids. I got your message after we got back to Cedar Rapids from the Field of Dreams, unfortunately. Hope all is well. Hu is definitely making people take notice. I know a couple of people were very excited when they were able to sign him.

On Thursday morning, the Twins front office performed one of their most difficult tasks. They informed six minor league players that their dream of playing in the big leagues for the Minnesota Twins was at an end - that they had been released. I'd like to highlight the players released because they all put in some quality time in the Twins organization and deserve to be recognized once more as they exit the organization. Some of them may be able to hook on with another organization. Some may play some independent league baseball. Some may end their baseball dream all together and go another direction. In any case, I certainly wish the best to all of them. Download attachment: DanOsterbrock.jpg [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Dan Osterbrock - He was the Twins 7th round pick out of Cincinnati. He signed quickly and was named the Appalachian League Pitcher of the Year that summer when he went 7-0 with a 3.00 ERA, eight walks and 104 strikeouts in 75 innings. He tossed a no-hitter for the Beloit Snappers in 2010 and was named Midwest League Pitcher of the Week twice in a row before pitching very well in Ft. Myers the rest of that season. He fought arm injuries throughout the 2011 season and hoped to rebound in 2012. Mike Tarsi - The 6-8 left-hander was the Twins 12th round pick in 2007 out of Connecticut. After struggling as a starter in Ft. Myers in 2010, he pitched out of the bullpen in 2011 with a good level of success. He even made a couple of appearances in Rochester when needed. Although he was tall, he did not throw very hard. Kane Holbrooks - He was an All-American at Texas State in 2009 when the Twins drafted him in the 21st round. In 2010, he began the season as the Beloit Snappers closer before moving up to Ft. Myers as a starter. He pitched so well that he ended the season in New Britain where he made a start. He went back to Ft. Myers to start 2011 and although he pitched well in April, he struggled the rest of the season. His season ended early and he came to camp this spring hoping to take a step forward in the eyes of the organization. Blayne Weller - The Twins drafted Weller out of his Key West high school in the 14th round of the 2008 draft. He signed in the last hour before the deadline. He teamed with Adrian Salcedo and BJ Hermsen and pitched great (5-1, 1.58 ERA) in the GCL in 2009. He struggled as a starter in 2010, and last year he struggled in the Beloit bullpen before ending the season making a couple of starts. Matt Schuld - He signed with the Twins after the 2010 season at the University of St. Thomas. He had an incredible career with the Tommies. He pitched well with the GCL Twins upon signing and held his own when he was pushed up to Ft. Myers. Last year, he quickly moved up to the Miracle and pitched well enough to be promoted to New Britain when there was a need. This one surprised me a little because he was a non-drafted free agent who got up to AA within a year of signing. Derek Christensen - This one surprised me more than any of the rest, by a lot. He was the team's 43rd round pick out of junior college in 2010. He debuted with the GCL Twins that year and posted a 0.66 ERA in 13.2 innings. Last year, he spent half of the season in the E-Twins bullpen before moving into their rotation. He went 5-2 with a 2.84 ERA. In 57 innings, he walked 26 and struck out 61. At one point, he threw 19 consecutive scoreless innings as a starter. The 22-year-old throws from a 3/4 angle. I guess I'm just really surprised based on his numbers that he wouldn't at least get an opportunity to start the season in Beloit. Again, each of these pitchers put in some time in the Twins organization, and each of them experienced quite a bit of success. We certainly wish the best for them in whatever their next steps are. Unfortunately, these will not be the last of the minor league releases. Click here to view the article

Congratulations to the Ft. Myers Miracle. They have had a remarkable first half of the season and on Saturday they clinched their first playoff spot since 2009 with a win over Bradenton. Tyler Duffey made his Miracle debut. Tom Stuifbergen made his AA debut in game one of the Rock Cats double-header. With that, check out the details of what happened in the Twins' minor league system on Saturday:[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Rochester Red Wings 1, Toledo Mudhens 8 Box Score Pedro Hernandez was scheduled to start but his back flared up on him. Virgil Vasquez started in his place. The right-hander gave up five runs on six hits (3 home runs) and a walk in four innings. He struck out two. Luis Perdomo came on and gave up two runs (1 earned) on two hits and a walk in 1.2 innings. Blake Martin entered and retired the four batters he faced. Shairon Martis threw a scoreless eigth. Anthony Slama came on and gave up a run on two hits and a walk in his inning. The Red Wings managed just one run despite six hits and five walks. They had no extra base hits. On defense, the team committed three errors. Game 1 - New Britain Rock Cats 11, Bowie Baysox 8 Box Score Tom Stuifbergen was on the mound in game one for the Rock Cats, making his Eastern League debut. To say it didn’t start out well might be an understatement. He gave up seven runs on five hits and two walks… and that was with just one out in the first inning. He got the final two outs of that inning and got six of the next seven that he faced in his three inning debut. He was replaced by BJ Hermsen who gave up three hits but no runs in 1.2 innings. Edgar Ibarra gave up one hit in 1.1 innings; he struck out two. Dan Turpen gave up a run on two hits and a walk in his inning, though he struck out two. Matt Hauser came on and worked two scoreless innings. Kyle Knudson led the way. The Minnesota native went 3-5 with four RBI. Danny Ortiz went 2-4 with a walk and his 18th double. Josmil Pinto hit his 11th home run and drove in two. Game 2 - New Britain Rock Cats 4, Bowie Baysox 6 Box Score Ortiz continued to hit well in the 2nd game. He went 2-3 with his seventh home run and three RBI. Josmil Pinto (13), Reynaldo Rodriguez (17) and Danny Santana (11) each hit a double. Logan Darnell started and went 5.2 innings. He was charged with six runs (3 earned) on eight hits and a walk. He struck out five. Bobby Lanigan gave up an inherited run but got the final out. Ft. Myers Miracle 5, Bradenton Marauders 4 Box Score Congratulations to the Ft. Myers Miracle. They have clinched a playoff spot by virtue of capturing the first-half championship with a 5-4 win on Saturday. The Miracle will be in the playoffs for the first time since 2009. Tyler Duffey started, making his Florida State League debut. He threw five shutout innings before giving up two, two-run homers in the 6th inning. He went 5.2 innings and gave up those four runs (3 earned) on eight hits and a walk. He struck out two. Nelvin Fuentes went 1.1 innings and gave up one hit and one walk. Ryan O’Rourke got his first save. He struck out two in the final two innings. Matt Koch went 2-4 with his seventh double, third home run and two RBI. Kennys Vargas was 2-3 with a walk and his 19th double. Cedar Rapids Kernels 1, Kane County Cougars 15 Box Score It may be fair to say that this is a game that the Kernels would prefer forgetting. Byron Buxton went 3-5. Tyler Grimes was 3-4. The rest of the Kernels' roster managed two hits. Brett Lee started and went four innings. He gave up eight runs on 11 hits (3 homers) and two walks. Kaleb Merck came on for his MWL debut. He gave up four runs on four hits and a walk in two innings. Josue Montanez gave up a hit and a walk in a scoreless inning. Alex Muren gave up a hit in a scoreless inning. Catcher Jhonatan Arias came on for the ninth. He gave up three runs on one hit and three walks. The first place Kernels are now just 1.5 games ahead of Beloit in the Western Division. The top two teams advance to the playoffs. They have a three game lead over Quad Cities for that second spot with eight to play. Please feel free to comment or ask questions below. View full article

While writing an article on the Minnesota Twins upcoming 40-man roster decisions for the Offseason GM Handbook, one name jumped out to me as an obvious choice. This name is one that I had not really thought about previously. Based on the title of this article, that one name is, obviously, Lester Oliveros. Approximately 13 months ago, the hard-throwing right-handed reliever underwent Tommy John surgery. His rehab went pretty well. On July 30th, he made his first appearance in a GCL Twins game. Over the next four weeks, he made a total of six appearances and threw 6.1 innings, all for the GCL squad. He gave up four hits, walked three and struck out eight. Seems strange to add a guy who pitched so little and only in the GCL to the 40-man roster, doesn’t it? But, in my mind, it is an easy choice for several reasons. First, and most important, it comes down to talent. Oliveros has terrific stuff. Reports I got from Ft. Myers were that he was throwing very hard and his stuff was nasty. Before his Tommy John surgery, he threw 95 mph with a good slider. Download attachment: Lester Oliveros.jpg Would he get selected in the Rule 5 draft? Relief pitchers are the most frequent players taken in the Rule 5. They are also the ones who tend to stick with their team. Oliveros has shown the he is very close to big league ready and has already pitched with the Tigers and Twins. With his stuff, there is a good chance he would be taken this year. If he isn’t immediately ready for Opening Day, he could still go on the disabled list. In my mind, he would be quite likely to be selected. Of course, for him to be eligible to be selected in the Rule 5, the Twins would have to sign him to a minor league contract. You see, Oliveros can become a six-year minor league free agent immediately after the World Series unless he and the Twins agree to a contract before then. A year ago, the Twins signed Josmil Pinto right after the World Series (or even just before that) which did not allow him to become a free agent. Then, in November, Pinto was added to the 40-man roster. If the Twins want to keep Oliveros around, they will likely need to sign him very quickly. The other (more likely) option is just to add him to the 40-man roster before the World Series is complete. Another thing that makes this a no-brainer in my mind is that Oliveros has one option year remaining. He was optioned in 2011 and 2012. He did not use an option in 2013 because the Twins removed him from the 40-man roster about this time last year before signing him to a minor league contract. In other words, they don’t have to rush him. They don’t have to have him up all season. They can let him continue to come back at his own pace. The Twins acquired Oliveros, along with (St. Paul Saints pitcher) Cole Nelson, from the Detroit Tigers in August of 2011 in exchange for the new Mr. October, Delmon Young. In my mind, the decision to add Lester Oliveros back to the Twins 40-man roster this offseason is a no-brainer. He’s still just 25. He has terrific stuff and plenty of high-upside bullpen potential. He has an option remaining and can be brought back to 100% at a proper pace. Because he can become a six-year minor league free agent after the completion of the World Series, I expect the Twins will add him to the 40-man roster before then. With so much 40-man roster flexibility, adding Oliveros just makes sense. Click here to view the article

The voting for preseason AL Central catcherand first basemenwill continue for another day, but let's get the discussion going on "Which AL Central Second Baseman will be the best in 2012?" Vote now and comment your rankings. THE CANDIDATES (2011 stats) Minnesota Twins - Alexi Casilla - .260/.322/.368 (.691) with 21-2B, 3-3B, 2-HR, 21 RBI Chicago White Sox - Gordon Beckham - .230/.296/.337 (.633) with 23-2B, 0-3B, 10-HR, 44 RBI Cleveland Indians - Jason Kipnis MLB - .272/.333/.507 (.841) with 9-2B, 1-3B, 7-HR, 19 RBI (MILB - .280/.362/.484 (.846) with 16-2B, 9-3B, 12-HR, 55 RBI) Detroit Tigers - Brandon Inge - .197/.265/.283 (.548) with 10-2B, 2-3B, 3-HR, 23 RBI [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Kansas City Royals - Johnny Giavotella - .247/.273/.376 (.649) with 9-2B, 4-3B, 2-HR, 21 RBI (MILB - .338/.390/.481 (.871) with 34-2B, 2-3B, 9-HR, 72 RBI) SUMMARY Alexi Casilla was so bad in April of 2011 that his numbers don't show that he was pretty solid after May. Of course, he also missed the last two months of the 2011 season because of a hamstring injury. He is still just 27 years old. Gordon Beckham was so bad in 2011 that his sophomore slump didn't look bad at all. He did play in a career-high 150 games as Ozzie Guillen continued to stand by him. He will be 25 years old throughout the season. 35-year-old Brandon Inge was so bad in 2011 that he was designated for assignment and no one claimed him or his contract. He accepted going to AAA and when he came back, he accepted a bench role. In 2012, he will be given an opportunity to play 2B since Miguel Cabrera is moving to 3B. The .846 OPS that Kipnis put up in AAA-Columbus was the lowest he had at any minor league stop since Cleveland made him their 2nd round pick in 2009. He debuted with the Indians and showed a lot of power. He will turn 25 right before the season begins. Giavotella was the Royals 2nd round pick in 2008. He struggled in the lower levels, but has lit up AA in 2010 and AAA in 2011. He debuted with the Royals late last year and played 46 games. Following the season, he had hip surgery. He is already playing in Royals spring training. There is the information, now it is time to vote. Who will be the best second baseman in the AL Central in 2012? My choice? Download attachment: JasonKipnis.jpg Click here to view the article

Earlier this week, I looked at the first-half leader board for the Minnesota Twins' minor league hitters. It gave good insight into which players had the best first half, and maybe who we should be looking for in the second half. Today, I'm going to go over the leader boards in a handful of pitcher statistics to take a look at who has been leading the way in the first half. Download attachment: USATSI_7895046_154617946_lowres.jpg Because with pitchers there are starters and relievers, I had to pick an arbitrary cut-off line for each. Nothing scientific about it, I went with 60 innings pitched for starters and 30 innings pitched for relievers. Just nice, round numbers, but my method cut off a couple of guys who just missed a category. For instance, Red Wings left-hander Aaron Thompson is sitting at 29.2 innings right now. Fair or not, he's not included here. Also, several pitchers spent time both starting and relieving. I went with which category they had more of. For instance, Matt Summers made six starts and has now pitched in 13 games as a reliever, so I counted him among the latter. Tim Shibuya recently was put in the Miracle rotation, but spent most of the first half in the bullpen, so I included him in the relievers. Let's get started with the arbitrary stats that get lots of glory, but as we all know, are dependent on other things: WINS 1.) Yohan Pino - Rochester - 9 2.) JO Berrios - Ft. Myers - 8 2.) Trevor May - Rochester - 8 4.) Sean Gilmartin - New Britain/Rochester - 7 4.) Taylor Rogers - New Britain - 7 4.) Jason Wheeler - Ft. Myers/New Britain - 7 Sure, it's one of 'those' stats, but this is a pretty impressive list of guys who have pitched well this season. SAVES 1.) Lester Oliveros- New Britain - 12 2.) Tyler Jones - Ft. Myers - 9 3.) Hudson Boyd - Cedar Rapids - 6 3.) Todd Van Steensel - Cedar Rapids - 6 3.) Madison Boer - Ft. Myers - 6 Oliveros has pitched great and has now been promoted to Rochester. INNINGS PITCHED 1.) Taylor Rogers - New Britain - 92.1 2.) Jason Wheeler - Ft. Myers/New Britain - 85.1 3.) JO Berrios - Ft. Myers - 83.1 4.) Sean Gilmartin - New Britain/Rochester - 81.0 4.) Pat Dean - New Britain - 81.0 Innings pitched shows that guys are being efficient in their pitches because pitch counts are very closely monitored. It's an underrated stat in that teams are very conscious from year-to-year how many pitches are thrown. To be fair, Trevor May is at 79.2 innings and Tyler Duffey and Kris Johnson are at 79.1 innings. So this is a ranking that could flip-flop from day-to-day depending on who is making a start. ERA (Starters - 60 IP min.) 1.) Yohan Pino - Rochester - 1.92 2.) JO Berrios - Ft. Myers - 2.05 3.) Matt Tomshaw - Ft. Myers - 2.37 4.) Kohl Stewart - Cedar Rapids - 2.53 4.) Jason Wheeler - Ft. Myers/New Britain - 2.53 6.) Kris Johnson - Rochester - 2.72 I added a 6th in this category just because there are so many quality performers. ERA (Relievers - 30 IP min.) 1.) AJ Achter - New Britain/Rochester - 1.47 2.) Brandon Peterson - Cedar Rapids/Ft. Myers - 1.67 3.) Cole Johnson - New Britain - 2.25 4.) Edgar Ibarra - Rochester - 2.36 5.) Tim Shibuya - 2.82 This group has been impressive all season, generally mirroring their career success. WHIP (Starters - 60 IP min.) 1.) Yohan Pino - Rochester - 0.93 2.) JO Berrios - Ft. Myers - 1.06 3.) Matt Tomshaw - Ft. Myers - 1.10 4.) Kohl Stewart - Cedar Rapids - 1.13 4.) Trevor May - Rochester - 1.13 WHIP (Relievers - 30 IP min.) 1.) AJ Achter - Rochester - 0.74 2.) Brandon Peterson - Ft. Myers - 0.96 3.) Cole Johnson - New Britain - 1.00 4.) Tim Shibuya - Ft. Myers - 1.02 4.) Lester Oliveros - New Britain/Rochester - 1.02 I like looking at WHIP, especially for relievers. It's just a look at how many base runners a pitcher has allowed per inning. For a reliever, especially, ERA can be misleading in that you don't consider inherited runners scoring, etc. K/9 (Starters - 60 IP min.) 1.) JO Berrios - Ft. Myers - 10.6 2.) Alex Meyer - Rochester - 10.5 3.) Trevor May - Rochester - 9.2 4.) Yohan Pinto - Rochester - 9.0 5.) Sean Gilmartin - New Britain/Rochester - 8.9 6.) Logan Darnell - Rochester - 8.2 K/9 (Relievers - 30 IP min.) 1.) Brandon Peterson - Cedar Rapids/Ft. Myers - 12.8 2.) Lester Oliveros - New Britain - 10.7 3.) Cole Johnson - New Britain - 10.0 4.) AJ Achter - Rochester - 9.4 5.) Josue Montanez - Cedar Rapids/Elizabethton - 9.1 Obviously we all like strikeouts. They do help predict future success, at least in part. Mainly it marks the quality of "Stuff" and its hit-ability. The Twins do have some guys who can miss some bats, and several of them are in the upper levels. BB/9 (Starters - 60 IP min.) 1.) Matt Tomshaw - Ft. Myers - 1.4 2.) Aaron Slegers - Cedar Rapids - 1.5 3.) Tyler Duffey - Ft. Myers/New Britain - 1.8 4.) Sean Gilmartin - New Britain/Rochester - 2.0 5.) Pat Dean - New Britain - 2.1 6.) Jason Wheeler - Ft. Myers/New Britain - 2.1 BB/9 (Relievers - 30 IP min.) 1.) Tim Shibuya - Ft. Myers - 1.1 2.) Alex Muren - Cedar Rapids - 1.5 3.) Brandon Peterson - Cedar Rapids/Ft. Myers - 1.9 4.) AJ Achter - New Britain/Rochester - 2.7 5.) Cole Johnson - New Britain - 2.8 Focus on control and throwing strikes are obviously very important to the Twins. The Twins have several starters and a couple relievers that really have good control. The question sometimes can be about command within the strike zone, and not being too hittable. But if you look at the K/9 and the BB/9, it's good to see some on both lists. STRIKEOUTS 1.) JO Berrios - Ft. Myers - 98 2.) Alex Meyer - Rochester - 83 3.) Trevor May - Rochester - 81 4.) Sean Gilmartin - New Britain/Rochester - 80 5.) Taylor Rogers - New Britain - 75 Just for fun, I thought we would end with the raw strikeout numbers. It certainly indicates, along with his other numbers, just how good Berrios has been this year. SUMMARY As much as at any time in the past, the Twins do have a handful of starters and relievers who are putting up some hopeful numbers, and it is fun see. How many will be able to maintain their production over the 2nd half? How many will receive 2nd half promotions? How will they adjust to a new league with better competition? Well, we shall find out! Click here to view the article

Download attachment: justinmorneau1.jpg “There comes a point when you can only torture yourself so long.” Those are the words of Justin Morneau (courtesy Phil Mackey of 1500espn on Twitter), uttered just this morning while speaking to reporters for the first time since reporting yesterday to Hammond Stadium in Ft. Myers. Today the Twins will hold their first full squad workout of spring training. Mackey tweeted Morneau’s quotes, “I don’t know if I can be a full, 100 percent go, but I’m going to go out there and participate in everything and take it day by day.” [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]The quotes are pretty straight-forward. Clearly, Morneau is not completely past concussion symptoms (not a surprise, I don't think). To me, it sounds like he is a guy who has decided to just go all-out until he can’t again. It’s like a pitcher with some elbow soreness who decides that he is just going to air-it-out on his bullpen sessions until it either feels better or snaps. There has never been any question about Justin Morneau’s toughness or his willingness to play with pain. It sounds like he has worked hard and is in good shape. But concussions are not something with which one messes around. Morneau has a young family and is just 30 years old. He has, hopefully, another 60 years left on this earth to spend with them, so it is understandable that he wants to be able to enjoy those years. At the same time, Morneau came in on Thursday and took a full round of batting practice. He said he is going to work out with the team today. He sounds like he is feeling good right now, but based on what he has experienced the last couple of years, he doesn’t know how he will feel tomorrow, or next week or sometime next month. Morneau sounds like a man who is ready to take that retirement step should he go through another concussion. And frankly, I don’t blame him at all. Baseball is a great game. We all love the Twins. Morneau was an MVP who led this team through several very good years. We all appreciate that. He has earned enough money already that his family’s needs will be met. I've said throughout the offseason that I thought anything the Twins got from Morneau in 2012 should be considered a bonus, and my opinion doesn't change based on these quotes. I certainly am hopefully he can be close to what he was in his best days. But don’t give up on Justin Morneau and the Twins just yet. Let’s see how this plays out. For now, he’s ready to go, excited for spring and hopeful for another strong season. That’s what Twins fans should hope for. He also clearly has had some very difficult discussions with himself and those close to him and is realistic as well. Click here to view the article

On Saturday night I ventured a guess as to when the optimism (or the better word may have been ‘excitement’) disappeared. As we anticipate this afternoon’s Twins opener in Chicago, I thought it only fair to take a look at several reasons for people to continue watch and enjoying Twins baseball. Yes, there really are several things that are worth watching in 2014. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] If you listened to Sunday morning’s inaugural “This is Twins Territory” on KTWIN with Rod Simons, Lindsay Guentzel and Jack Morris, you heard the 1991 World Series hero remind us of an important tidbit. Prior to that season, the “experts” predicted the Twins would finish in last place, as they had the year before… just like their World Series counterpart from Atlanta had. I think we’d be even more shocked if that happened in 2014, however, “You Never Know” is a big part of the national pastime. I’ll ask you, the Twins Daily readers, to add more to this list of reasons why "You never know". I’m sure there are many. Download attachment: joe mauer usp.jpg Photo by Steve Mitchell The Greatness of Joe Mauer Now that he is out from behind the plate, the goal is for Joe Mauer to be in the lineup most every day, hitting either second or third. More games will mean more plate appearances. The veteran will turn 31 in three weeks. He is continuing to climb his way up the Twins all-time lists. Here are some milestones he could reach in 2014: His 86th hit of the season will be the 1,500th of his career. He is currently in 6th place on the Twins all-time list, 299 behind Harmon Killebrew. His 18th double of the season will give him 300 for his career. His eighth double will move him past Justin Morneau, into fifth place on the all-time Twins list. His 24th double of the year would move him past Rod Carew into fourth place. His 31st double of the year would move him past Kent Hrbek into third place. He would need 48 doubles to pass Tony Oliva for #2 on the all-time list. Sounds like a lot, but he did have 43 doubles in 137 games in 2010. If Joe Mauer were to drive in 100 runs for the first time in his career, he would pass Bob Allison, Torii Hunter and Rod Carew and move into seventh place on the all-time list. When he scores his 26th run of the year, he’ll move past Chuck Knoblauch into 6th place in that category. On his 26th walk, he will move past Bob Allison into third place on the all-time walks list. What Will Aaron Hicks Do? A year ago, Aaron Hicks had a remarkable spring training to win the starting centerfield job. He had a rough 2013 big league debut. He hit just .192 and got on base just 26% of the time. Consider in his minor league career, he got on base at about a 37% clip, something has to give. Hicks bulked up in the offseason. He is very strong and yet has great range and a strong arm in centerfield. So how much improvement can we expect? Alex Presley is no longer with the Twins so there is little or no competition for him. Which of his tools will become big league skills? Will he do enough for the team not to rush Byron Buxton and to tell them that he’s worth keeping around to play one of the corner outfield spots when Buxton does arrive? The Veteran Starters The Twins made a splash when they signed Ricky Nolasco to the biggest free agent contract in team history. Nolasco had spent his entire career in the National League, so how will his adjustment to the American League be? Kevin Correia handled it well last year, performing as well as anyone could have hoped or expected in his first year with the Twins and in the AL. The question with Correia is will he be able to perform as well in 2014? Mike Pelfrey came to the Twins last year and it was his first year in the AL. More important, it was his first year back after Tommy John surgery and he now admits he rushed back too quickly. The Twins brought him back with a two-year contract, and he’ll look to show that he can contribute now that he’s at 100% Finally, just days after signing Nolasco, the Twins signed Phil Hughes. He has to be thrilled getting out of New York and Yankees Stadium’s band box, but he has a lot to prove. The Twins took a chance on the still-young right-hander. Will Hughes be able to eat some innings and keep the ball in the park? It seems I’ve said this a lot the last week or two. This year, the Twins have pitchers who will give up three runs in six innings most times out instead of six runs in three innings. That’s going to be important. When Will We See Alex Meyer? Kyle Gibson won the fifth starter job out of spring training. Sam Deduno pitched well but will be used out of the bullpen. Vance Worley imploded, was DFA'd and then dealt to the Pirates. Scott Diamond was also DFA'd and chose to remain with the team. Diamond or fellow-lefty Kris Johnson are likely first in line to be promoted if there is a need early in the season. Trevor May might also fit into the equation throughout the season. However, how quickly could we see flame-throwing right-hander Alex Meyer? His performance in the Arizona Fall League alleviated concerns about his shoulder, at least for the moment. His four big league pitches, size, intelligence and control make him a potential top-of-the-rotation starter. Arcia and Kubel As Oswaldo Arcia raced through the minor leagues, hitting for both power and average, he was often compared to Jason Kubel. As Jason Kubel was coming up, it was said that he could hit for average like Mauer and hit for power like Morneau. In 2014, with the return of Kubel, the two will be teammates for the first time. Arcia is one of the keys to the 2014 season for the Twins. What kind of player will he be? Will he hit for average? Will he be a power guy with the potential for 30 home run seasons? Can he hit left-handed pitching? If he’s in right field, will his defense look better? Kubel came to the Twins on a minor league contract after a difficult, injury-plagued 2013 season (split between Arizona and Cleveland). In 2012, he hit 30 doubles and 30 home runs while driving in 90 runs for the Diamondbacks. He turns 32 in late May, so he’s not young, but he is not yet old. If healthy, he could provide power in the middle of the Twins lineup. Sure, he may never post an .800 OPS again, but he might still be a very solid contributor. Does Josh Willingham have anything left? In 2012, Willingham put together arguably the best season of his career when he hit .260 with 30 doubles, 35 homers and 110 RBI. In 2013, he was hurt and needed a knee surgery that cost him time and production. While Kubel is just 31 on Opening Day, Willingham will need to show that he’s got anything left in the tank at 35. He is in the last year of his three-year contract. In spring training, his numbers certainly didn’t indicate that there was much left. However, how long have we been preaching how meaningless spring stats are? But can he physically hold up? His 76th hit of the season will give him 1,000 for his career. His 19th home run will give him 200 for his career. Taking the Next Step? Which Brian Dozier will we see in 2014? The one we saw in 2012 and the first two months of 2013, or the one we saw after May of last year who was one of the most productive second basemen in all baseball? Last year, his 18 home runs led the team and was the most for a Twins second baseman in their history. Will he be able to hit that many homers in 2014? More important, will he be able to be more consistent throughout the 2014 season, especially in terms of getting on base. Trevor Plouffe set career-highs in 2013 with a .254 batting average and a .309 on-base percentage. With Miguel Sano out for 2014, Plouffe just needs to remain healthy to get the majority of at bats at the hot corner. He may never have a stretch like he did in June of 2012, but can he show more consistent power production? He got bigger in the offseason, so I am optimistic. The Youth Josmil Pinto, who turns 25 years old today, is on the opening day roster along with Kyle Gibson, Oswaldo Arcia and Aaron Hicks. Michael Tonkin is with the Twins for Opening Day as well as a replacement for Brian Duensing who will be on paternity leave. Although we won’t see Miguel Sano in 2014, it is possible that we do see several top prospects. The odds of seeing Byron Buxton and Eddie Rosario have reduced, but we could still see Meyer, May, and Danny Santana. Matt Hoffman and Lester Oliveros are still 25 while Deolis Guerra is just 24 on Opening Day. Other Reachable Milestones With two wins this season, Ron Gardenhire will reach the 1,000 win total for his career. His career record coming into the season is 998-949. 1,000 wins will tie him for 59th place all the all-time manager list with former Twins player Charlie Manuel. If the Twins can win 67 games this season, he will tie Frank Robinson for 51st place. If Glen Perkins can save 35 games for the Twins in 2014, he will pass Mike Marshall, Ron Perranoski and Al Worthington into 6th place on the Twins all-time saves list. If Ricky Nolasco can win 11 games this year, he will reach 100 career wins.Up here in Northern Minnesota, it’s possible we will be ‘blessed’ with another foot or more of snow on Monday. Happy Opening Day, Minnesota! Beside to help forget about the weather, there is another reason to watch the Twins at 3:00 in Chicago. Did you know that the Twins have never lost a regular season game in March? They are 2-0 all-time on March 31! So… good luck, Chris Sale! You’re going to need it! Click here to view the article

The Twins got off the schneid with a 6-5 win over the Rangers. They end their AL West road trip with two wins in ten games. Ben Revere went 4-4 with a triple. Denard Span had two hits. Cole De Vries started, and after a long rain delay, he returned and was able to go five innings. He left with a 6-2 lead. Jeff Gray came on and before too long, it was 6-5. Casey Fien did a great job in 1.2 innings, striking out three. Jared Burton pitched a scoreless eighth inning, and Glen Perkins was terrific in the ninth for his eighth save. Download attachment: Miguel-Sano-4.jpg Here is a look at the Twins minor league scores and highlights from Sunday: [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] GAME 1 - ROCHESTER 0, BUFFALO 1 Esmerling Vasquez continues to push toward a September call-up. The hard-throwing right-hander gave up one run on six hits in six innings. He walked three and struck out seven to reduce his ERA to 2.78. Of course, since the Red Wings were shutout, Vasquez got the loss. The Red Wings bats managed just three hits in the game. Matt Carson hit two doubles, his 25th and 26th of the year. GAME 2 - ROCHESTER 11, BUFFALO 9 Game 1 was a pitcher’s duel. In Game 2, the bats showed up. The Twins went with a bullpen game. Caleb Thielbar started and went the first three innings. He gave up five runs (2 earned) on three hits. He walked twice and struck out three. Bobby Lanigan improved to 6-1 with a scoreless inning. Luis Perdomo then gave up four runs on five hits and a walk in 1.1 innings. Anthony Slama came in for the final five outs and he gave up no runs on one hit to record his 12th save and drop his ERA to 0.59. Brian Dozier broke out of his slump in a big way. He went 3-3 with a walk, was hit by a pitch and hit his 11th double. Chris Parmelee went 2-3 with two walks and his first triple. Matt Carson was 2-4 with a walk and added his 27th and 28th doubles. He also threw out a runner attempting to advance to third base. Wilkin Ramirez went 2-4 with a walk and his 14th double. NEW BRITAIN 7, NEW HAMPSHIRE 8 The Rock Cats had some big home runs. Chris Colabello drilled a three-run homer to keep the Rock Cats in the game early. Then, in the top of the ninth, down four runs, Oswaldo Arcia came up and hit a grand slam to tie the game. However, in the end, they came up just one run short. Andrew Albers started and gave up four runs on seven hits in five innings. He walked one and struck out two. Matt Hauser gave up two runs on four hits in two innings. Blake Martin went the next inning and gave up one run on one hit. Bruce Pugh came in for the bottom of the ninth. He got two outs, but he gave up the winning run to take the loss. Chris Colabello went 2-5 with his 19th home run and three RBI, putting him at 95 RBI on the year. Aaron Hicks was 3-4 with a walk and his 31st stolen base. Rene Tosoni went 2-5. Deibinson Romero went 2-3 with a walk and his 21st double. Shawn Roof was 2-4. Oswaldo Arcia hit the grand slam, his 8th home run and his four RBI gives him 57 with the Rock Cats. FT. MYERS, PALM BEACH The game was cancelled earlier on Sunday morning due to the inclement weather caused by Tropical Storm Isaac. Their game on Monday has already been postponed. BELOIT 8, CEDAR RAPIDS 9 (13 innings) It was a long afternoon in Cedar Rapids. The game’s start was delayed for a bit, and then 13 innings later, it finally came to an end. Jason Wheeler started and gave up four runs on seven hits in six innings. He walked two and struck out seven. Mason Melotakis came on and got all five batters he faced out, three on strikeouts. Zach Jones and gave up three runs on two hits and three walks in just one inning. He struck out three. Taylor Rogers went 2.1 perfect innings. Tim Atherton went the next 1.2 innings and gave up two runs on two hits and two walks. He struck out two. Miguel Sano had a big day after getting a day off on Saturday. He went 4-6 with a walk, his 27th and 28th doubles, his 27th home run and three RBI (which gives him 97 on the year). He also stole his 8th base. Wang-Wei Lin was 3-5 with his 13th double and ninth stolen base. Kennys Vargas was 2-6 with a walk and his 11th home run. Stephen Wickens went 2-6 with his second home run and seventh stolen base. Nate Roberts went 2-5 with two walks, his 17th double and his 25th stolen base. ELIZABETHTON 6, PULASKI 8 DJ Hicks hit a two-run homer as part of a game-tying four-run ninth for the E-Twins. Unfortunately, Pulaski came back and won in the 9th. The E-Twins had eight players with one hit each. Jorge Polanco was 1-3 with his fifth homer. Byron Buxton hit his fifth double. Hudson Boyd started and gave up four runs (3 earned) on eight hits. In five innings, he walked two and struck out three. Josh Burris gave up two runs on three hits and a walk in his inning. Tyler Duffey came on and struck out three in two scoreless innings. Chris Mazza gave up two runs (1 earned) on three hits and a walk in two innings. --- Players of the Day for Sunday, August 27, 2012 Hitter of the Day – Miguel Sano Download attachment: MiguelSanoMug.jpg Pitcher of the Day – Esmerling Vasquez Download attachment: Esmerling Vasquez.jpg --- A Look Ahead – Monday, August 28, 2012 Schedule Rochester @ Buffalo – RHP Nick Blackburn New Britain @ Trenton – LHP Luke French Ft. Myers @ Bradenton – Game Postponed Beloit @ Cedar Rapids – RHP Tyler Jones Elizabethton vs Princeton – RHP Angel Mata GCL Twins – Season Over --- If you have any questions or comments on the Twins minor league system, players, teams, etc., leave them in the Comments and I’ll try to answer them! Click here to view the article

Download attachment: Pedro Florimon.jpg Last week, Twins Daily got you caught up on how the Twins players were doing in the various Winter Leagues. Obviously the entire seasons are Small Sample Size, so looking at just this week has to be taken for what it is worth. In some cases, there were really good weeks had by certain players. In other cases, they may be in a one-week slump. We’ll take a look at who is hot and who is not in Arizona, Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Australia. Feel free to ask questions and discuss. Also, via Twitter on Monday, infielder Brian Dozier mentioned that he will soon be headed to Venezuela to get some additional at bats.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] ARIZONA FALL LEAGUE Who’s Hot? The answer to this question remains the same as it has been for most of the AFL season. Nate Roberts had another terrific week. He went 8-17 (.471) on the week. Overall, he is still hitting .465/.579/.558 (1.137). He had a 4-5 game and a 2-4 game among the four games that he played. Who’s Not? Caleb Thielbar had an impressive 2012 season at three levels for the Twins, and many believe that he really can be a solid left-handed reliever, but he has really struggled in the AFL. This past week, he pitched twice and gave up four runs on four hits and three walks in 2.2 innings. His season ERA is now at 11.57. Rising Stars Two Twins pitchers were selected to play in the Arizona Fall League’s Rising Stars game. Kyle Gibson started and gave up two runs on three hits and a walk in the game’s first two innings. Michael Tonkin came in to the Rising Stars Game to start the fifth inning. In seven AFL appearances, he is yet to give up a run in nine innings. He had given up just five hits, walked one and struck out six. However, in the AFL “All Star” game, things didn’t go so well. He faced five batters. He gave up three hits, hit a batter and the other reached on an error. All told, he was charged with five runs (4 earned) without recording an out. Others Logan Darnell pitched just once during the past seven days. He gave up one run on two hits and two walks in 0.2 innings. Both outs he recorded came on strikeouts. Evan Bigley went 3-9 on the week. He played in two games and in one of them he went 3-5. He’s hitting .217/.280/.326 on the season. VENEZUELAN WINTER LEAGUE Who’s Hot? Oswaldo Arcia got off to a slow start. However, in the past week, he is 6-15 (.400) with two doubles and a home run. He also walked four times while striking out just three times. That raised his season totals to .250/.321/.438 (.759) in 48 at bats. Angel Mata pitched two more times. He went 2.1 scoreless innings. The 19-year-old now has a 0.87 ERA in 10.1 innings over 7 games. He has given up nine hits, walked four and struck out 12. He started for Elizabethton during the season. Who’s Not? After getting off to a fast start, Aaron Hicks has gone cold. In the last week, he has one hit in 12 at bats (over 5 games). Overall, he is now 11-54 (.204/.306/.296 (.603)). Others Josmil Pinto went 2-7 with two doubles during the week. He’s now 2-11 (.182) on the season. David Bromberg made one start. On Halloween, he gave up six runs on six hits (including two home runs) and three walks in just three innings. He struckout four. He is now 0-1 with a 5.06 ERA and a 1.81 WHIP. Edgar Ibarra also made one start. The lefty gave up two runs (1 earned) on three hits and four walks in five innings. He struck out two. Dakota Watts didn’t pitch for a week and then in the past week, he pitched three times. He gave up no runs on just one hit and three walks in five innings. He struck out just one. Overall in six games, he is 0-1 with a 4.91. In 7.1 innings, he’s given up four runs on three hits and five walks. Eduardo Escobar went 4-14 (.286) during the week. Deolis Guerra pitched two innings over two games. He gave up three runs on four hits and two walks. In four games, he has a 9.82 ERA. In 3.2 innings, he has given up one hit and walked two while striking out three. DOMINICAN WINTER LEAGUE Who’s Hot? A week ago, Pedro Florimon was 4-35 through his first nine games and hitting just .114. In the seven games he played in the last week, he is 11-28 (.393) and has had five multi-hit games. Overall, he is now hitting .237/.328/.254 (14-59) in 16 games overall. Others Drew Butera went 2-8 with a double in four games this week. He’s now hitting .250/.385/.344 with three doubles overall. Wilkin Ramirez went 1-7 with four strikeouts. Luis Perdomo pitched 2.2 innings over two games. He gave up one run on one hit and three walks. Jhonathan Arias made his season debut. He is 0-2 in his at bats. Miguel Sano played in two games this week. He went 1-5. MEXICO WINTER LEAGUE Who’s Hot? In last week’s report, we noted that Chris Colabello had gone 2-28 (.071) over his previous eight games. In the six games he played in the last week, he has gone 9-21 (.429) with two doubles, three home runs and nine RBI. He walked three times and struckout twice. In 19 games overall, he is now hitting .294 with eight doubles, three homes and 15 RBI in 68 at bats. Others Anthony Slama pitched three times in the last week. In 3.1 innings, he has given up three runs on four hits. He walked two and struckout six. AUSTRALIAN BASEBALL LEAGUE The regular season of the ABL got started over this past weekend. Four teams opened their seasons. JD Williams went 2-12 with a walk and three strikeouts. Jacob Younis was 0-3 with an RBI. Tyler Herr pitched a scoreless inning. There is our weekend Winter League Update. Please feel free to ask question and discuss. Click here to view the article

Happy Pitchers and Catchers Report Day! It has been 131 days since the Twins lost a 2-1 decision to the Toronto Blue Jays. It’s been a long offseason, and frankly, rehashing the same offseason transactions and rumors needs to stop. But today down in Ft. Myers, the Twins pitchers and catchers will report and soon after will start officially preparing for the 2013 season. They’ll throw in the bullpen. They’ll do a ton of PFPs (Pitcher’s Fielding Practice). They will also likely do a lot of running. As I did a year ago, we’ll be taking a weekly look at the Twins roster and project who will make the Opening Day roster. Today, we’ll look at the 43 pitchers and catchers who will be reporting and I’ll post a percent likelihood that the player will be on the Twins Opening Day roster. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] CATCHERS Let’s start with the guys behind the plate, the guys who will don the tools of ignorance. I often hear the question, “Why do the Twins need nine catchers at spring training?” Well, when you have 34 pitchers reporting to camp (plus a couple others who will be working out with the team before heading to their WBC teams), you need a lot of catchers for bullpens. 40 MAN ROSTER Joe Mauer (100%), Ryan Doumit (100%), Drew Butera (95%), Chris Herrmann (15%), Josmil Pinto (0.5%) Mauer and Doumit will likely split the catching and DH duties for most of the season. The backup catcher will be Butera, at least most of the season. Herrmann debuted with the Twins in mid-September. If he plays well in Rochester, I can see a scenario in which he takes over as the backup catcher before the end of the season. If Mauer or Doumit were to get hurt, Herrmann would likely get the call to the Twins and take that playing time. NON-ROSTER INVITES Danny Lehmann (0.6%), Eric Fryer (0.4%), Dan Rohlfing (0.3%), Kyle Knudson (0.2%) 0% would mean that there is absolutely no scenario in which the player will be on the Opening Day roster. These guys could make it. They would just likely need every player ahead of them to get hurt. I’ve long been a big supporter of Danny Lehmann. He has earned the respect of pitchers he has caught since joining the organization in 2007. Rohlfing will be participating in his fourth big league camp. Fryer came over from the Pirates as a minor league free agent. Knudson is a Minnesota native getting his first glimpse of big league camp. THE PITCHERS Of course, it is no secret that the Twins had one of the worst pitching staffs in baseball in 2012. The bullpen actually did fairly well which is probably more impressive because the starting staff often forced them to pitch a lot of innings. The starting staff was in the bottom three in MLB. The offseason brought the Twins some young power pitchers that likely won’t be with the team for some time. They have a lot of guys coming back from injury as well. They have a lot of question marks and there is little reason to believe that 2013 will be significantly better than 2012. But, spring training is all about hope and optimism. The Twins will need five or six starters to really step up this season and for the bullpen to be consistent and strong. The Starters 40 Man Roster Scott Diamond (100%), Kevin Correia (100%), Vance Worley (100%), Mike Pelfrey (98%), Liam Hendriks (85%), Kyle Gibson (75%), Cole De Vries (51%), Trevor May (2.9%), Pedro Hernandez (2.4%), BJ Hermsen (0.8%) Correia was signed for two years to be a starter, so he will be in the rotation. Scott Diamond was set to be the Twins Opening Day starter, although recently it was reported that he may not be ready for Opening Day. He had surgery to remove bone chips in his elbow in December. Liam Hendriks had the same surgery in October, and Vance Worley had it in August. Mike Pelfrey may or may not be ready for Opening Day after having Tommy John surgery last April. Kyle Gibson returned from his Tommy John surgery in the second half of last season and pitched well early in the Arizona Fall League. Cole De Vries’ 2012 season ended with broken ribs, but he should be at 100% as spring training begins. Like Worley, May came to the Twins in the Ben Revere deal and will have to improve his control in 2013 to get an opportunity. Hernandez came over in the Francisco Liriano trade after making his big league debut with the White Sox last summer. His season ended with a lat injury. Hermsen was the Twins minor league starting pitcher of the year and pitched very well in New Britain. Non-Roster Invites Sam Deduno (8.5%), PJ Walters (8.5%), Shairon Martis (1.0%), Alex Meyer (0.5%), Nick Blackburn (0.1%) Deduno typically walked too many and didn’t strikeout enough, but he actually pitched well for the Twins in 2012. His percentage is as high as it is due to the chance he could be a back of the bullpen type. Likewise, Walters came up to the Twins in May and pitched well until he was hurt. Martis came to the Twins in a mid-season trade and pitched pretty horribly in AA and AAA. He is on The Netherlands’ WBC roster. Alex Meyer came over in the Denard Span trade. He hasn’t pitched above A-ball yet, so unless he is amazing, his odds of being on the Opening Day big league roster are very low. Blackburn certainly would not be at 0% if he weren’t hurt. The Bullpen 40 Man Roster Glen Perkins (100%), Jared Burton (100%), Brian Duensing (100%), Alex Burnett (90%), Casey Fien (80%), Anthony Swarzak (75%), Josh Roenicke (75%), Tim Wood (75%), Tyler Robertson (49%), Ryan Pressly (35%), Caleb Thielbar (30%), Michael Tonkin (3.0%) Perkins will be the closer, and likely a set-up man on the US WBC team. Burton came to the Twins a year ago as a non-roster invite last year and stayed healthy and made himself a reliable late-inning guy. Brian Duensing needs to stay in the bullpen. He’s terrific against left-handers and not-so-much terrific against right-handers. Alex Burnett has been in the bullpen for the Twins the past three seasons. He hasn’t struckout many, although late last season he did strikeout more. Casey Fien was also a minor league signee. When he got called up, he threw 95 and was very productive. Can he prove that it wasn’t a fluke? Anthony Swarzak is out of options, and his broken ribs should not affect his roster spot. The Twins claimed Roenicke from Colorado where he pitched well last year but like Burnett didn’t strike many out. Tim Wood was the International League’s top relief pitcher in 2012. The Twins signed him to a minor league deal then added him to the 40 man roster. Tyler Robertson had his ups and downs in his rookie season. If the Twins choose to have a third left-hander in their bullpen, Robertson may have the advantage over Minnesota native Caleb Thielbar who pitched well at three levels in 2012. Ryan Pressly is the team’s Rule 5 pick which means he’ll have to be on the Twins roster all of 2013 or offered back to the Red Sox. Michael Tonkin had a terrific season out of the bullpen for Beloit and Ft. Myers last year. Non-Roster Invites Esmerling Vasquez (8.0%), Luis Perdomo (6.0%), Anthony Slama (5.0%), Rich Harden (4.0%), Deolis Guerra (1.0%), Bryan Augenstein (0.2%), Lester Oliveros (0.0%) Vasquez pitched well for the Red Wings last year as a reliever and as a starter and got a chance to start for the Twins late. Luis Perdomo had a very solid year at both AA and AAA, and then struggled late for the Twins. Is there a player that bloggers and blog commenters want to see get an opportunity more than Anthony Slama? Had he not broken his femur on a Miguel Tejada comebacker and missed nearly two months, he likely would have seen plenty of times with the Twins. Some think Harden should start. I personally think that Harden should pitch out of the bullpen and see if he can’t stay healthy for the full year. His opt-out isn’t until the end of July, so the Twins would be wise to work him in slowly considering his missed all of the 2012 season. Deolis Guerra is now out of options, and when the Twins placed him on waivers in November, he cleared. Hopefully he can be healthy and pitch well in Rochester and get another chance. Augenstein was a minor league free agent who signed with the Twins this offseason. He pitched briefly for the Diamondbacks in 2009 and for the Cardinals in 2011. Lester Oliveros had Tommy John surgery in September and may be on a similar recovery plan as Gibson was last year. ROSTER PROJECTION #1 (2/12/13): Catchers: Joe Mauer, Ryan Doumit, Drew Butera Starting Pitchers: Scott Diamond, Kevin Correia, Vance Worley, Mike Pelfrey, Liam Hendriks, Kyle Gibson (Diamond and/or Pelfrey likely starting season on DL) Relief Pitchers: Glen Perkins, Jared Burton, Brian Duensing, Alex Burnett, Casey Fien, Josh Roenicke, Tim Wood (Anthony Swarzak possibly on the DL?) What are your thoughts or projections on the Twins Opening Day roster as Pitchers and Catchers report? View full article

Download attachment: pohlad-ryan-st.peter_1.jpg On Wednesday, the Detroit Tigers signed former Twins outfielder Torii Hunter to a two-year, $26 million contract. On the surface, the Tigers paid a ton for his charisma, leadership and veteran status. Although he had a terrific 2012 season, including the first .300+ batting average season of his career, there is a lot of risk in signing an outfielder who will be 39 years old when the contract ends. That said, my first thought when I heard the news was that it cemented in my mind the need for the Twins to build for 2014 or even 2015. The comment was met with mixed emotions and plenty of comments on both sides.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Was the signing of Torii Hunter that big for the Tigers? No. The Tigers were head-and-shoulders the favorite in the AL Central even before the acquisition of the former Gold Glover. Adding Hunter got me thinking about the Tigers roster again. I think it is safe to say that Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder are really good hitters. Austin Jackson and Hunter will comprise two-thirds of the outfield with Andy Dirks, Brennan Boesch, and young Avisail Garcia. Alex Avila, Jhonny Peralta, and Danny Worth will round out a very strong lineup. Then there is the starting rotation of Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Doug Fister and Rick Porcello is a pretty good starting point. Will they bring back Anibal Sanchez? Their bullpen is stacked even when they let closer Jose Valverde leave via free agency. Will they hand a starting job to Drew Smyly or the closer role to Bruce Rondon? Sure, the wild card could come from the AL Central, but considering the A’s, Angels and Rangers in the AL West, and the five strong teams in the AL East, it seems unlikely. (Yes, about as unlikely as the A’s and O’s being playoff teams in 2012.) So, what does “build for 2015” mean to me? To some, it could be a fire sale like the Marlins did. It doesn’t have to though. Here are some of the things it means for me: FREE AGENCY I completely agree with Terry Ryan that building via free agency is not the best way. That isn’t to say that free agency isn’t important. Of course it is. However, if I’m looking to being a contender in 2015, there is little need to spend a ton of money on older, expensive pitchers like Ryan Dempster. It can mean using the free agent market to acquire two types of players. First, the Twins can sign decent players who can fill a short-term role. If they do it well, they can be traded at the July deadline for more talent. Terry Ryan had success with this strategy in his previous time as GM. He traded signed Dave Hollins to be his primary 3B in 1996, and in August, he traded him to Seattle for David Ortiz. Roberto Kelly was turned into Joe Mays. JC Romero became Alexi Casilla. I also think that the Twins can still build for 2015 by making a big splash in free agency this season. (Not that I think they will, just that they could.) They could go after a big name, top of the rotation starter and give him four or five years. The name? Anibal Sanchez. Why? He is looking for a long-term deal, and he is just 28 years old. Most free agents are 31-32 years old. The best of those get three year deals. As he is just 28, maybe a six year deal would be OK. The risk is certainly higher, but it would be a way of telling the fan base that there is a plan, and Anibal Sanchez is going to help us get there. Of course, Twins fans also have to acknowledge that it takes two sides to make a deal. The Twins can go after Sanchez, but Sanchez would have to be willing to sign with a team that has lost 95 or more games each of the past two seasons. How much would the Twins have to overpay to acquire an impact pitcher like Sanchez? TRADES Beyond the trades mentioned above which generally will bring back low-level prospects, if the Twins are trying to build for 2015, they will likely need to trade some players. In order to bring back the best return, it is important to trade players at peak value rather than holding on to them for too long. The Twins have a few guys that they could consider trading this offseason. It’s hard because they are players that Twins fans know, and they would be traded for players that many fans do not know much about. When the Twins traded Chuck Knoblauch, few Twins fans know much about Eric Milton or Cristian Guzman. When All Star catcher AJ Pierzynski to the Giants, Joe Nathan had one good year as a reliever under his belt, Boof Bonser was a decent prospect, and Francisco Liriano was an injury-prone pitcher in Low A ball. Josh Willingham is coming off of the best season of his career. He could bring back a couple of quality players. Seeing that Torii Hunter got $13 million a year for two years, the market for outfielders is clearly a bit crazy. Willingham’s two years and $14 million (Total) has to look very attractive to teams looking for right-handed power. The same can be said for Denard Span whose contract, when compared to what teams are likely to shell out for Michael Bourn, Shane Victorino and Angel Pagan, is very team-friendly. What has been encouraging is reading rumors about the Twins interest in trading for young pitchers like Trevor Bauer (Diamondbacks), Danny Hultzen (Mariners) and some of the Braves young pitchers like Mike Minor, Randall Delgado and Julio Teheran. The pitchers all have high ceilings and only Minor has anywhere near a full year of big league service time. Those are exactly the types of pitchers the Twins should be feverishly attempting to acquire. PLAYER DEVELOPMENT This is the most important piece to building a team that can compete for years to come. The Twins did a terrific job of player development from about 1999 through about 2007. It was a system that started with several young players coming up together and then a player or two coming up and contributing each year. It started with the Hunter, Jones, Mientkiewicz, Koskie, Guzman, Pierzynski group that we enjoyed so much. Johan Santana came to the team in 2000. They were joined by Michael Cuddyer in 2002, Justin Morneau in 2003, and Joe Mauer and Jesse Crain debuted in 2004. Jason Kubel debuted in 2004 as well, but his knee injury meant that he missed 2005. Scott Baker came up in 2005, and Francisco Liriano came up late that season. Matt Garza and Pat Neshek came up in 2006. The Twins minor league pipeline seemed to have an unending supply of impact players. For whatever reason, that has not been the case in recent years, but there are some players working their way up the Twins system that we can be excited about. Some will be up in 2013, some more in 2014 and guys like Miguel Sano and Eddie Rosario could be up in 2015. The entire goal is to develop and find out which players can be counted on for the second half of 2014 and 2015. It isn’t to rush them to the big leagues, but it is to make sure when they come up, they are ready. The Twins have to find out what they have in Chris Parmelee. They still need to find out what Trevor Plouffe can be. Can Brian Dozier play shortstop, or will he move to second base? Can Pedro Florimon hit at all? Can Chris Herrmann fill the same role for the Twins in the future that Ryan Doumit filled in 2012? Scott Diamond, Liam Hendriks and Kyle Gibson all need to get innings in 2013 to see if they factor into the 2014/2015 planning. Could lefty Pedro Hernandez be this year’s Scott Diamond? Getting Adrian Salcedo and Alex Wimmers healthy for 2014 is important. Does Eduardo Escobar have the tool set to be the Twins utility player for the next half-decade? Those can be answered starting in 2013 and into 2014. In 2014, we should hear about names such as BJ Hermsen, Logan Darnell and maybe Levi Michael. If uber-prospect Miguel Sano were to be exactly on the Joe Mauer path, we would see him in 2014, although 2015 makes more sense for him, Eddie Rosario, and some of those hard-throwing relievers drafted in 2012. Maybe we’ll even see Byron Buxton and J.O. Berrios. In 2016, Max Kepler, Niko Goodrum, Hudson Boyd, Travis Harrison and other names we aren’t even aware of will start appearing. That’s how you build a long-term contender. They have to hit (and get lucky) on their high draft picks, and they have to sign well in the international market as well. If you’re going to rebuild it, they need to do it right. That doesn’t have to mean completely blow it up. It does mean being smart in free agency and in making trades, keeping an eye on the future as much as the present. It is always remembering that player acquisition through the draft and through international signings ill always be crucial, and then it is necessary for those players to develop their potential. I’m a Twins fan, first and foremost. They could lose 100 games in 2013 and I will be right back and cheering for them again in 2014. I would like to understand the thought-process and the plan. That said, the front office shouldn’t be expected to say, “We’re trying to compete in 2015.” They should make some moves and hope they get a little bit lucky and give Twins fans some good baseball in 2013. If I’ve learned anything from the last two seasons, it’s much more fun watching a competitive team all regular season than watching a team that is out of contention by Memorial Day. That said, I also have to be realistic after two such poor seasons. I want hope for the future. I’d like to see improvement in 2013. I’d like to see a team that starts to really play well and come together as a young unit in 2014. And I want to see a team that is contending for the AL Central title in 2015, and 2016, and 2017, and, and… you get my point. Click here to view the article

This afternoon, the Twins made their official spring training debut and they came away with a 7-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays. This got off to an ominous start for the Twins. Starter Carl Pavano gave up a two-run, first inning home run to Matt Joyce. In the bottom of the first, David Price hit Jamey Carroll in the helmet with a fastball. Carroll quickly got to his feet and went to first base. (He said later he was fine. It was a glancing blow.) Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau each struck out looking to end that inning. Pavano pitched a scoreless second inning and then the Twins bullpen gave up just one more run the rest of the way. Here are some of the highlights from the Twins Spring Opener (Feel free to add to the list): [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Denard Span went 2-3, and the time he got out, he stayed down on a tough Price pitch and grounded out.Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau left the game healthy. Mauer drove in a run with a 3rd inning single. Morneau drove in a run with a 5th inning.Ryan Doumit was 1-2 with a walk and a double. Danny Valencia drilled a double to the right centerfield gap.Tsuyoshi Nishioka went 2-3 with a long triple over the right fielder's head.Chris Parmelee went 2-2, although he did have a base running gaffe late in the game.Chris Herrmann came in late and drilled an RBI single.Matt Maloney pitched the 8th inning and struck out the side. My assumption is that Wayne Krivsky was smiling while watching that!Brian Duensing threw two scoreless innings. He was followed by one scoreless inning each from Matt Capps, Glen Perkins, Alex Burnett and Maloney. Anthony Swarzak gave up one run in the 9th inning.Cory Provus made his debut as the Twins play-by-play voice and it's clear he will do a good job.What other observations did you take from the Twins first spring training game? Click here to view the article

It all started on April 4th, and as we roll into the final days of August, it’s coming to a close. The full-season teams typically play their final regular season game on Labor Day. On Thursday, the GCL Twins played their final game of the season, and on Friday night, Elizabethton will be playing its final game. Those two teams will not be in the playoffs. Neither will the New Britain Rock Cats. Cedar Rapids and Ft. Myers both clinched playoff spots in the first half and are ramping up for their playoff runs. The Rochester Red Wings have been playing quite poorly, but are still contending for the final playoffs spot in the International League. It should be an exciting weekend, and thankfully, there will be at least two Twins minor league affiliates who will continue to play in the postseason.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] See what else happened in the Twins farm system on Thursday. Rochester Red Wings 2, Buffalo Bisons 3 Box Score The Red Wings, somehow, are still in contention for a playoff spot despite playing its worst baseball of the season in the last week. Thankfully, Norfolk is playing an equally bad brand of baseball and hasn’t been able to take a clear lead for the International League Wild Card spot. After another tough loss for the Red Wings on Thursday night, they are still just one-half game behind the Tide for that final playoff spot. Cole De Vries started for Rochester and was terrific. He gave up just two hits and a walk in seven shutout innings. He struck out five. However, Michael Tonkin came in for the 8th inning and gave up three runs on three hits and a walk and only recorded two outs. The big blow came off of the bat of former New Britain Rock Cat Luis Jimenez who hit a two-run homer in the inning. Aaron Thompson came on and got the final out via strikeout. The Red Wings had just four hits. Eduardo Escobar hit his third home run, and Aaron Hicks doubled for the second time in his stint with the team. New Britain Rock Cats 4, Trenton Thunder 1 (13 innings) Box Score The night before, the Rock Cats played 12 innings. On Thursday night, these teams played 13 innings. What will happen on Friday night? There wasn’t much scoring in this game as it was just 1-1 until the top of the 13th inning. Angel Morales was hit by a pitch, and Danny Santana bunted him to second. After an intentional walk to Eddie Rosario and another walk to Nate Hanson, Danny Ortiz came through with a bases-clearing double to put the Rock Cats into the lead. Evan Bigley was the lone Rock Cat hitter with more than one hit. He went 2-5 with his eighth double. Download attachment: Danny Ortiz 2.jpg Photo by Rinaldi Photos Alex Meyer made his second Rock Cats start. He gave up six hits, but no walks, in four shutout innings. He struck out six. Dan Turpen came on and gave up one run on two hits and a walk over three innings. He struck out two. Cole Johnson went the next two innings and gave up one hit, one walk and struck out two. Jose Gonzalez gave up one hit and two walks over three scoreless innings to get credited with the Win. Ryan O’Rourke got his second save by throwing up a zero in the bottom of the 13th, despite giving up two hits and a walk. Game 1 - Ft. Myers Miracle 2, Bradenton Marauders 5 Box Score The Miracle sure have been playing a lot of double headers of late. They split on this night. In the first game, David Hurlbut gave up two runs (1 earned) on three hits and a walk in three innings. He struck out four. Steven Gruver came on for the next three innings. He gave up two runs on five hits and a walk, while striking out five. Nelvin Fuentes gave up one run on two hits in his inning of work. He struck out two batters. Mike Kvasnicka led the offense, going 2-3 with a walk and his ninth home run. JD Williams went 2-4. Byron Buxton was 2-4 and stole his 18th base. Game 2 - Ft. Myers Miracle 2, Bradenton Marauders 1 Box Score In the second game, the Miracle sent Jason Wheeler to the mound. The lefty gave up one run on five hits over the first six innings to improve to 9-4 on the season. He walked two and struck out five. Adrian Salcedo recorded his second save by pitching a scoreless inning. He gave up one hits, walked one and struck one out. Cedar Rapids Kernels 5, Kane County Cougars 2 Box Score The Kernels just continue to win games. Brett Lee was starting again after a DL stint and some time in the bullpen. He threw six shutout innings. He gave up three hits, walked one and struck out five. Hudson Boyd came on for two relief innings and did not allow a run. He gave up one hit, walked one and struck out one. Madison Boer was charged with two runs in the 9th. He gave up four hits, but no walks and struck out two. Tyler Grimes has been getting some time at second base late in the season. With Niko Goodrum on the Disabled List, and Jorge Polanco just off the DL, Jake Mauer has wanted to make sure those two are ready for the playoffs. Grimes went 2-4 with his third stolen base. Bo Altobelli went 2-4. Michael Gonzales hit his fourth homer and drove in two runs. Elizabethton Twins 2, Pulaski Mariners 4 Box Score Felix Jorge was back on the mound and seemed to regain his early-season form. He gave up one run on seven hits in 6.2 innings. He walked one and struck out nine. Carson Goldsmith came in and got two outs, but not before giving up two runs on two hits and a walk. Brandon Peterson got the final four outs, though he also gave up one run on one hit and three walks. He struck out two. The E-Twins had just six hits. Zach Granite went 2-4. Bryan Haar homered for the sixth time. Rory Rhodes hit his fourth homer. The E-Twins will play their final game of the season on Friday night. They will not make the playoffs despite a 36-31 record this season. GCL Twins 5, GCL Orioles 2 Box Score The GCL Twins played their final game of the 2013 season. It was a bit of a bullpen game as five pitchers took the mound. Brandon Easton started and gave up one unearned run on four hits and a walk in two innings. Cameron Booser gave up just one hit over two scoreless innings. He struck out two. Damian Defrank was charged with one run on two hits in his inning. Miguel Gonzalez gave up one hit over two innings. He struck out two. Jose Abreu struck out two in two hitless, scoreless innings. Jason Kanzler went 2-5 with his sixth triple and stole his 13th base. Joel Polanco drove in two runs with his sixth double. If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below. Click here to view the article

It took a little longer than usual to get to Cedar Rapids, but it was worth the travel because we were treated to a terrific game on Friday night. We saw the best start at this level from one of the Twins top pitching prospects and we saw some offense, followed by a tight game at the end. The drive took a little longer because of some scary, torrential rainfall we encountered north of Cedar Rapids. We drove out of it about 20 miles north of Cedar Rapids. When we got to the ballpark, the terrific Kernels grounds crew was putting on the tarp and the rains came. This was at 4:30, and it rained hard for an hour, and yet, due to the work of the grounds crew, the game started on time at 6:35. Download attachment: CIMG9034.jpg Lewis Thorpe with his mother, Lynette, after the game. Minutes before the game, I was approached by a kind gentleman who spoke to me with an Australian accent. He introduced himself as Lewis Thorpe’s dad and introduced me to his wife, Lewis’s mom. We had a nice chat. They have been in the States for two weeks and will be here for another week. The couple had intended to fly to Ft. Myers but were forced to change their plans when Lewis was promoted to Cedar Rapids. The Kernels haven’t had a lot of home games of late, so the Thorpes have traveled across the Midwest League. They said they are loyal listeners of the Twins Hangouts podcast and that they listened to it the entire 16-hour flight from Australia to the US. I asked if that was just one episode? They will be around for another week. Thorpe’s mom is really looking forward to celebrating the Fourth of July in the USA. They witnessed their son’s best performance with the Kernels. The line doesn’t look great. Thorpe was charged with three runs on four hits. He walked two and struck out three in 5.1 innings. He got out the first five batters that he faced. Then he gave up a long home run. Starting in the third, he gained control of his curveball and really mixed his three pitches very well. The first strikeout came on a changeup at 82 mph. Then next came on a curveball at 75. The third came on a fastball at 92. Aside from the home run, there wasn’t a lot of hard contract. The second run came when a ground ball took a horrible hop and bounced over the head of first baseman Bo Altobelli. All in all, an impressive showing for the young Australian making his fourth start in the Midwest League. His manager, Jake Mauer, thought he looked much better than he did in his first three starts. “He looked more comfortable than he has, whether it was nerves or trying to fit in or trying to do too much. I thought he trusted his stuff much better tonight. He used his changeup, which is a pretty good pitch. I think he took advantage of their aggressiveness.” His catcher, Alex Swim, agreed, “We got through the lineup once with fastball and changeup, and then we started mixing in curveball/slider. He was on point. Everything was good, sharp.” Thorpe was just happy with a positive result in this start after his first three were rough. “In the first two innings, I wanted to pound the fastball. Then I brought the curveball out in the third inning, and I think that helped me a lot to establish my pitches. Curveball was better. Slider was good, nice and firm down in the strike zone.” He was quick to give credit as well. “It was good. I had a little change in mechanics. (Pitching coach) Ivan (Arteaga) helped me a lot. Everything was working, so it was great.” Thorpe explained that the mechanical change involved his non-throwing arm. The change appears to have increased his velocity and control. According to Arteaga, in his previous starts, his fastball was averaging 89 and touched 90. In this start, he was sitting 92 and touched 94. According to Arteaga, “We actually worked on some stuff the last two weeks, tweaking his mechanics to make sure he can compete. The competition is different than what he has been facing before. The strike zones are tighter, and the hitters are more experienced. He’s an 18 year old kid throwing to kids who are 22, 23, 24. He’s still a work in progress.” He continued, “When he (added his changeup), then he was able to compete and showed everybody what he can do. He’s resilient. He’s smart. He wants to go out and compete, and he really showed today what he’s all about. I’m really happy about that.” Arteaga said he was very pleased with Thorpe’s performance, though he did acknowledge that he will talk to Thorpe about the fact that he threw first-pitch strikes to just eight of the 22 batters he faced. But Mauer hopes this is the start of something bigger for the lefty. “He’s going to be just fine. Hopefully this is something we can continue to build off of.” Arteaga agreed, “I think he did good today. I think he can be better.” Thorpe said that in Extended Spring Training, he was being limited to 65 to 75 pitches. He went over 80 pitches in this game and said it felt good. Though things got interesting late, fellow Australian Todd Van Steensel got the final five outs for his seventh save. Mauer would like to get him more save opportunities. “He’s been really good for us all year. Just trying to get him opportunities when we actually have the lead. He goes out there, and three punch outs. Three of the five outs were strikeouts and we’ll take that any day of the week.” Jon Murphy got the Kernels on the scoreboard in the bottom of the third inning when he launched a solo home run well beyond the fence in left centerfield. In the fourth inning, Chad Christensen singled and advanced to third on a couple wild pitches. He scored on a triple to right center by Jason Kanzler who scored one batter later when Alex Swim singled to left center. In the fifth inning, Bo Altobelli led off with a double. Two outs later, he was on third base and Tanner Vavra drove him in with an infield single. Next, Chad Christensen doubled down the left field line to score the speedy second baseman. He advanced to third on the throw to the plate and then scored the Kernels’ sixth run on a wild pitch. Thorpe was very good. Alex Muren replaced him and was charged with two runs on four hits over two innings. Todd Van Steensel came on and got a strikeout with the bases loaded for the second out of the eight inning. However, on an 0-2 pitch, he threw a 58-foot curveball that got by Alex Swim and cut the Kernels lead to one. One pitch later, he closed out the eighth. He worked a perfect ninth and the Kernels four-game losing streak ended. And for Thorpe, it’s great that his family can be here to see him. “It’s good to have them here. It feels a little bit like home having them here.” KERNELS NUGGETS: I had the chance to catch up with outfielder Zach Granite after the game. The speedster missed over two months with a shoulder injury sustained in the third game of the year. There was an issue with his humerus (which isn’t very funny) and he had shoulder impingement. He told me that he wasn’t able to raise his left (throwing) arm up above his shoulder. He returned to the Kernels recently and said he’s having a blast. He’s still working out some of the rust, but he’s getting there.Mitch Garver is currently on the 7-day disabled list after suffering a concussion. On Thursday, he was catching and the batter foul-tipped a pitch. Garver told me that it hit the facemask squarely, and with enough force that the mask cut his chin and he needed six stitches. He was told that he was on the ground for 60 seconds before getting his bearings. The team immediately took him out. Jake Mauer made the comment earlier that it is a requirement to put him on the disabled list with the concussion. Garver said he is feeling much better and will be able to start working out again on Saturday. Mauer and Garver hope he will need no more than the seven days.Fernando Romero – When we asked Jake Mauer about Fernando Romero, he immediately said that he didn’t think he would pitch again this year. He added that they know he has bone chips in his right elbow, and they suspect it will be more. He is going to travel to Minneapolis and see Dr. John Steubs. He will most certainly have surgery to remove the bone chips, and while in there, the doctor will be able to determine if Tommy John surgery is going to be necessary.Nick Burdi did arrive at the Kernels ballpark on Friday afternoon. Mauer said before the game that he wouldn’t pitch Friday, but there is a chance he could pitch as early as Saturday. Click here to view the article