Seth Stohs

Winter just does not want to go away. Much of the state of Minnesota woke up to cold and even snow on Wednesday. The weather has been difficult around the country. New Britain was weathered out. The Minnesota Twins game on Wednesday night against the Blue Jays was postponed. They will play their regularly scheduled game at 12:10 on Thursday and then the makeup game at 6:10. When there is a doubleheader, teams are able to add a 26th player. The Twins will promote the recently acquired Eduardo Nunez. In his week with Rochester, he has played shortstop, third base, right field and DH. Here is a look at what happened in the Twins farm system on Wednesday: [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] . RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 6, Pawtucket 7 Box Score I think it’s fair to say that things have not gone terribly well for Scott Diamond in 2014. He lost the fifth starter ‘battle’ to Kyle Gibson and was DFA'ed. He went unclaimed. He agreed to pitch for Rochester. And then the season started. His first two starts were bad. In his third start, he went four innings and was charged with seven earned runs on 11 hits. He walked two and struck out four. His ERA in three starts is now 15.00. Fortunately, the Red Wings got five shutout innings from their bullpen. Deolis Guerra gave up two hits and a walk over two scoreless innings. Matt Hoffman gave up three hits and got five outs. Ryan Pressly gave up one hit over the final 1.1 innings. The Red Wings hitters attempted to come back but ended up just short. Wilkin Ramiez went 3-4 with a walk and a double. Dan Rohlfing went 3-5 with a double and two RBI. Eduardo Nunez went 2-5 and stole a base. Eric Farris also had two hits. ROCK CATS REVIEW New Britain, New Hampshire This game was postponed due to poor weather conditions. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 6, Charlotte 5 Box Score Down 4-2 after seven innings on Wednesday morning, the Miracle put up four runs in the top of the eighth frame and held on for a 6-5 win. Max Kepler led the way, going 2-4 with a triple. Adam Walker had a double and drove in two runs. Travis Harrison is now hitting .310 after going 2-4 and driving in the game-tying run in the 8th. Jonathan Murphy gave the Miracle a 6-4 lead with a two-run single. AJ Pettersen also went 2-4 in the game. Tyler Duffey was charged with four runs on nine hits and two walks in 4.1 innings. He struck out two. Steven Gruver settled things down. The lefty gave up two hits and a walk but no runs over 2.2 innings in relief. Brian Gilbert recorded his second save. He gave up a run in the eighth that cut the lead to one, but pitched a scoreless ninth inning. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 2, South Bend 4 Box Score Ethan Mildren made his first start for the Kernels. The 2013 draft pick gave up two runs on six hits. In five innings, he struck out five without walking a batter. Yorman Landa came on and was charged with two runs on five hits in two innings. He struck out two and also hit a batter. Alex Muren walked one over two scoreless innings. The Kernels had just seven hits in the game. Jason Kanzler had a triple. Engelb Vielma and Zack Larson each doubles. It was Larson’s seventh double already. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Steven Gruver, Ft. Myers Miracle Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Dan Rohlfing, Rochester Red Wings THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Pawtucket @ Rochester (Doubleheader: 12:05 CST) – Logan Darnell, Yohan Pino (Listen) Portland @ New Britain (5:35 CST) – DJ Baxendale (Listen) St. Lucie @ Ft. Myers (6:05 CST) – Brett Lee (Listen) West Michigan @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 CST) – Randy Rosario (Listen) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the Wednesday games.

You’ve heard of the Mendoza Line. Named after Mario Mendoza, a shortstop for the Pirates, Mariners and Rangers in the 1970s and early 1980s. He was a career .215 hitter. To this day, when a hitter has a batting average hovering around .200, it is known as the “Mendoza Line.” In his era, that wasn’t good, but shortstop did not become an offensive position until the mid-1990s. So today, I have to ask one question for Twins Daily readers to consider. What is the “Limbo Line” as it relates to offense from a shortstop? How Low Can They (the offensive numbers) Go?[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] No one is going to dispute the importance of the shortstop position defensively. The shortstop is the leader of the infield. It is important for a good defensive shortstop to have great range, going left or right. It is important for a good defensive shortstop to have a strong, accurate arm, particularly to make the long throw from the 5.5 hole. He must make the routine plays. The Twins shortstop, Pedro Florimon, is among baseball’s best on defense. OFFENSIVE NUMBERS However, although defense is immensely important for a shortstop, offense is also part of the game. It is the part that Pedro Florimon has not been able to do well. In his minor league career, he hit .249/.321/.354 (.675) over seven seasons. In AA, his OPS was .678. At the AAA level, he posted an OPS of .652. So when Florimon hit .221/.281/.330 (.611) in his first full season last year with the Twins, it is what should have been expected. The fact that he added nine home runs and 15 stolen bases was respectable, though certainly not as good as his 70 OPS+ would indicate. Florimon is obviously off to a bad start in the first two weeks of 2014. Through 35 plate appearances in 11 games, he enters Tuesday’s game hitting just .067/.176/.067 (.243) with just two hits. Of course, being extremely worked up about his .067 batting average is akin to getting really excited about the possibility of a hitter with a .450 batting average at this point in the season becoming the first player since Ted Williams over 70 years ago to hit .400. The sample is just too small. How much of that is due to missing about a month of spring training after his emergency appendectomy? There is no way to know that. Over the final two weeks of spring training, Florimon was playing daily, and as the season started, he was at 100% What is realistic to expect is that 2014 should be a little bit better than 2013. Nothing dramatic. Maybe an OPS above .630. What is the batting average, on base percentage of OPS line that you would find acceptable as it relates to Pedro Florimon at the shortstop position? DEFENDING DEFENSE As a reminder, Pedro Florimon’s defense is among the best in baseball. Any look at the 2013 defensive metrics will back that up. Looking at Baseball-Reference, Florimon’s defensive WAR was 2.2. That was second among all shortstops to the Braves’ Andrelton Simmons and his remarkable 5.4. Florimon’s 5.29 Range Factor per Nine led MLB, ahead of Simmons who came in at 4.92. One of the most important things about Florimon has been his ability to not take his struggles at the plate into the field. If you don’t want to buy the defensive metrics, Florimon certainly passed the eye test. He has the range in both directions and comes in on the slow rollers well. He has a very strong arm. Finally, when you consider the pitchers on the Twins staff, middle infield defense becomes pretty valuable. Phil Hughes has struck out a batter per inning through his first two starts. However, none of the five starters classifies as a strikeout pitcher. They will all likely give up a hit per inning. The ball will be put in play and defense does matter. SUMMARY I have been a proponent of Pedro Florimon through the offseason because of the defense. For me, the “Limbo Line” with Florimon is probably an OPS about where he was in 2013. Maybe a .610-.620 OPS. I’d love to see a .250 batting average or a .300 on-base percentage. I don’t think either of those is realistic. Danny Santana is at AAA. He’s hitting about .250 this young season. He is not ready, but he could be a possibility by September or more likely mid-2015. Last week, the Twins acquired Eduardo Nunez from the Yankees. Although he is more of a utility player, he could work his way from #2 utility man to starting shortstop at some point this season. His defense at shortstop is statistically horrific, but he could post a .700 OPS. Jorge Polanco is getting a chance to play shortstop consistently at the start of the 2014 season. He has six errors in 10 games. He is hitting very well. He has a long ways to go. So, for you, what is the value of great defense? I’m curious what your thoughts are for where the Limbo Line should be for the Twins shortstop. In your opinion, how low can Pedro Florimon’s batting average, on-base percentage or OPS go?

For the third straight game, the Minnesota Twins got a quality start, and for the third straight game, they got a win. Still, it took some late-inning dramatics, but the team goes into a Monday off-day with a .500 record (6-6). Raise your hand if you saw that coming. Just 150 games to go! The four minor league affiliates played afternoon games. They also went .500 on the day. Two affiliates won, two lost. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] So, why follow the Twins Minor League affiliates? Well, there are many reasons, however, here is a big one. Two weeks into the season and we have already seen the Twins make a half-dozen transactions. The Twins are not afraid to call people up, so get to know them early! Monday, the Twins have a day off but all four Twins affiliates will be in action. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 2, Lehigh Valley 3 Box Score Kris Johnson gave up two runs in the first inning and another in the second before settling down. Those would be the only runs the IronPigs scored, but on this day it was enough for a win. Johnson went five innings. He gave up the three runs on five hits and a walk while striking out two. Deolis Guerra gave up just one hit over the next two innings. AJ Achter made his first appearance with the Red Wings this year. He had a walk and a strikeout in a scoreless inning. Eric Farris went 2-3 in the game. Wilkin Ramirez went 2-4. Dan Rohlfing added a double and an RBI. Clete Thomas went 2-2 with two walks and a double for Lehigh Valley. The loss ended a six game winning streak for the Red Wings. Deibinson Romero extended his hitting streak to eight games. ROCK CATS REVIEW New Britain 6, Portland 3 Box Score This was just a good game for the Rock Cats. They didn’t have a big inning. Instead, they scored in five of the nine innings. They got good pitching as well and came away with their fourth win of the year. Nate Hanson led the way. He went 3-5 with two doubles (5 on season) and two RBI. Danny Ortiz was also 2-5 with his third double and he also stole two bases. Reynaldo Rodriguez hit his third and fourth doubles in five at-bats. Corey Wimberly had two hits. He added a stolen base. Sean Gilmartin recorded his first win in the Twins organization. The lefty gave up two runs (1 earned) on four hits in six innings. He walked two and struck out three. Cole Johnson came in and gave up one run on one hit and a walk in 1.2 innings. He struck out two. Ryan O’Rourke struck out the one batter he was asked to face. Lester Oliveros got his second save with another 1-2-3 ninth inning. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 4, St. Lucie 5 Box Score The Miracle drove across the state of Florida on Friday with a 6-1 record. After falling to the Mets for the third straight game on Sunday, they are now 6-4. Things just started out on the wrong foot for Mason Melotakis. He gave up three runs in the first, two in the third and another in the fourth. In all, he gave up six runs (4 earned) on eight hits in four innings. He walked three and struck out four. Two more Jorge Polanco errors created the two unearned runs. He now has six errors in the team’s ten games. David Hurlbut came on in the fifth inning and gave up two hits and a walk in three shutout innings. Madison Boer gave up one hit in his inning. Like last Sunday, it took some time for the Miracle bats to get a hit. In the sixth inning, Jorge Polanco singled to left for the team’s first hit. Later in the same inning, Michael Gonzales drove him in with a single of his own. Those were the team’s lone hits in the game. The second run scored that inning on an error. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 6, Lansing 2 Box Score Felix Jorge made the start for the Kernels on Sunday. He gave up two runs on three hits in five innings. He walked one and struck out three. Yorman Landa came in and gave up one hit in a scoreless inning. Alex Muren then gave up one hit in two shutout innings. Christian Powell ended the game with a perfect inning. Zack Larson got things going in the first inning with an RBI double, his sixth double of the year. He later added an RBI single and also stole a base. Chad Christensen was also 2-4 with his first triple. Bryan Haar went 1-3 with a walk and his third home run. It was a series sweep for the Kernels on the road. They return home for a six-game series in which they will play games Monday through Saturday. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Sean Gilmartin, New Britain Rock Cats Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Nate Hanson, New Britain Rock Cats MONDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Pawtucket @ Rochester (6:05 CST) – Trevor May (Listen) New Britain @ New Hampshire (5:35 CST) – Pat Dean (Listen) Ft. Myers @ Charlotte (5:30 CST) – Alex Wimmers (Listen) South Bend @ Cedar Rapids (1:05 CST) – Aaron Slegers (Listen) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the Sunday games. A quick reminder: Thanks to the Twins win over the Royals on Sunday, it means that on Monday you can get 50% off a Large or Extra Large pizza when you use the “TWINSWIN” promotion code at PapaJohns.com.