Seth Stohs

TRANSACTIONS It was a busy day for transactions in the system. Of course, the big news was that the Twins traded Kendrys Morales to the Seattle Mariners in exchance for right-handed reliever Stephen Pryor. Pryor will report to AAA Rochester. The Twins also DFA'd Matt Guerrier and called up Ryan Pressley. Outfielder Reynaldo Rodriguez was promoted to AAA. Levi Michael was removed from his rehab stint in the GCL and returned to the Ft. Myers Miracle roster. Jorge Polanco was promoted to AA New Britain. However, when Morales was traded, Polanco was promoted to the Minnesota Twins again. Then following games last night, Stephen Gonsalves and Josue Montanez were promoted from Elizabethton to Cedar Rapids. One could speculate that Kohl Stewart will be going on the 7-Day Disabled List after he was scratched from his scheduled start on Thursday. There are likely more moves in the wings, so be sure to keep track on Jeremy's Rosters & Payrolls pages as well as on the minor league reports. Without further ado, here is the Minor League Report for Thursday night: RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 1, Durham 0 (Suspended in the middle of the third inning) Box Score Trevor May returned to the mound, and was able to go just three innings for the second straight start. Of course, that is because of rain. The game was suspended before the bottom of the 4th inning. May didn't allow a run or a hit. He walked two and struck out three. James Beresford went 2-2 with a stolen base in these early innings. Doug Bernier doubled for the 19th time. http://twinsdaily.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=8322&stc=1Photo by Jerry Lai ROCK CATS REVIEW New Britain 7, Portland 1 Box Score What JO Berrios is doing this year is remarkable. In this start, the young righty went seven innings. He gave up just one run on three hits. He walked one and struck out four to record his first AA win. Cole Johnson struck out two in two perfect innings. Kennys Vargas has been hitting a little better lately. In this game, he was a perfect 3-3 with two walks. He hit his 15th double, his 17th home run and drove in four runs. Aaron Hicks went 2-3 with a walk. Brad Boyer was 2-3 with his 13th stolen base. The offense did well against Red Sox top pitching prospect, lefty Henry Owens. He lasted just four innings and gave up five earned runs on five hits and four walks. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 1, Tampa 6 Box Score DJ Baxendale has struggled this year with injury and with consistency. In his previous start, he was terrific. On this night, he gave up six runs on nine hits and a walk over five innings. He struck out five. Alex Muren struck out two and yielded one hit over two innings in his Florida State League debut. Brian Gilbert gave up two hits but no runs in a scoreless eighth. The Miracle were limited to just three hits in this game. Levi Michael returned to the FSL for the first time since fouling a ball off his foot on May 8. Byron Buxton went 0-4, but more important, he was back in the lineup after missing five games after being hit by a pitch on the right wrist. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 1, Bowling Green 2 Box Score The Kernels managed just six hits in this game. Alex Swim went 2-4 with his fifth double. Chad Christensen hit his 18th double. Lewis Thorpe was back on the mound. He gave up two unearned runs over just three innings. He gave up four hits, walked four and struck out three. Chris Mazza struck out four over three, one-hit innings. Hudson Boyd gave up one hit and walked three, but he did not allow a run in his two innings of work. He struck out three. E-TWINS E-NOTES Elizabethton 3, Bluefield 2 Box Score Felix Jorge was solid again on this night. The right-hander gave up two runs on five hits. In six innings, he walked one and struck out eight. Josue Montanez struck out two in his perfect inning. Randy LeBlanc gave up one hit over two scoreless innings to record his second save. He struck out three. Jorge Fernandez led the offense. He went 3-4 and drove in all three runs. Tyler Kuresa was 2-3 with a walk. Trey Vavra doubled for the sixth time. Blake Schmidt went 1-2 with a walk. GCL TWINS TAKES GCL Twins 4, GCL Orioles 3 Box Score It's been a tough season for the GCL Twins, so a win like this one had to feel good. With the game tied going into the bottom of the ninth, leadoff man Manuel Guzman walked. He went to second on a Dubal Baez single. Following an error, Amaurys Minier was intentionally walked. Then, Joel Polanco walked to end the game. Maybe not the most dramatic walk-off win, but this team will take it. Alexis Tapia started. He threw five shutout innings on three hits. He walked two and struck out one. Seth Wagner came on and gave up three runs (two earned) on three hits and a walk in 3.1 innings. He walked one and struck out four. Eduardo del Rosario struck out three over the final 1.2 innings for the win. He gave up only one hit. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – JO Berrios, New Britain Rock Cats Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Kennys Vargas, New Britain Rock Cats FRIDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Indianapolis @ Rochester (6:15 CST) – TBD (was scheduled to be Logan Darnell) Portland @ New Britain (6:05 CST) – TBD Ft. Myers @ Tampa (6:00 CST) – Tim Shibuya Cedar Rapids @ Bowling Green (7:05 CST) - Ryan Eades Elizabethton @ Johnson City (6:00 CST) – TBD GCL Red Sox @ GCL Twins (11:00am CST) – TBD Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the Friday games.

In 2012, Willingham made Ryan look wise. "Hammer" put up career highs in most statistical categories. He hit .260/.366/.524 (.890) with 30 doubles, 35 home runs and 110 RBI. He won his first Silver Slugger Award. Unfortunately, his age started to show in 2013. He played in 111 games and hit just .208/.342/.368 (.709) with 20 doubles and 14 home runs. This year things have been even worse for the now 35 year old player. Just a handful of games into the season, he was hit on the wrist with a pitch and missed over six weeks. In his return, he has hit .212/.358/.412 (.780) in 53 games with five doubles and nine home runs. WHY TRADE HIM Willingham becomes a free agent five days after the completion of the World Series. There is no reason to sign him (or any player at his age) to an extension. If they can acquire even a Grade C type of prospect for him, they should do so as they continue to add potential pieces for the future. Something is better than nothing, which is what they would receive for him if he leaves via free agency at the end of the season. WHY KEEP HIM I've got nothing. Anyone? He can be a solid right-handed bat with power. He hit the game-winning home run last week. That's what he can do. That's also the selling point for why to trade him, hoping he can show that kind of power over the final two months. WHO NEEDS HIM Cleveland and Cincinnati were a couple teams reportedly interested in Willingham when he was a free agent. Seattle has been mentioned as a possible destination for some time as they are looking for offense. Again, those teams would be banking on the possibility of him having a strong final two months. I don't think teams would be willing to give up anything resembling a top prospect for two months of Hammer, but I think he could bring a C and a C- prospect. If so, jump on it! SUMMARY Josh Willingham came to the Twins in 2012 and put up remarkable, career-best numbers for the Twins. That offseason likely was the time to trade him, but it's understandable that they didn't as well. He's a good character guy who has helped out a couple of the Twins other right-handed, young players the last two years on and off the field. Unfortunately, he got hurt in 2013 and struggled, and was hurt again this year. At 35, and really limited defensively, the Twins won't be able to get much return for him. Hopefully they can put him into a good situation on a winning team and play a role in which he can succeed. I believe the odds of Willingham being traded in July are quite high, but certainly in August. I'd put the odds at about 70% by the end of July and maybe 85% by the end of August. YOUR TURN What should the Twins do with Josh Willingham? Sign him to a one-year extension? (Just kidding!) Let him play out his contract and see what happens? Trade him? What do you think?