Seth Stohs

I hope Valencia comes up and does really well. I know what the general theme is about Valencia and what the media portrays him as. However, having talked to him many times and had him on podcasts and do Q&As, I think that he is a very smart, confident, good person. I guess maybe that's a different perspective than others want to have about him based on media or other assumptions, but Valencia is not a bad person and it annoys me that there are people who would hope for failure.

Hendriks has been incredible there. Manship has been very good. And the bullpen continues to be solid, seemingly whoever they put out there. It's all about pitching. And, Clete Thomas's power has been pretty impressive.

I posted that on Twitter... It says a lot about your scouts to find a few guys that can help... but normally if a team has 1-2 minor league free agents that contribute at the big league level, that's a lot... having five means your team is pretty bad. But the strategy in the 6 yr minor league signings did appear to be to pick up some live arms who have had some big league time, but for whatever reason, it didn't click... maybe one thing can happen and one or two of them be good.

Perdomo has been terrific for the Red Wings (And New Britain before that). had big league time with the Padres in 2009 and 2010 (Rule 5 pick). Will be good to see him get a chance. The Twins did a nice job in minor league free agency this past offseason. Perdomo becomes the fifth player signed to play for the Twins.

That is a horrible trade proposal for the Twins. Just wow!

So, Hermsen added a mph or two since last year... hopefully that keeps moving up and he can get to 89! Miguel Sano, Byron Buxton, Eddie Rosario, Aaron Hicks, Oswaldo Arcia... Arcia has been remarkable and I may not be able to move him up beyond #5. Wow! That said, a case could be made for all five of them in any of those spots. The question marks surrounding Sano are the same question marks surrounding Arcia, breaking balls, defense, strikeouts, etc.

Good call on Danny Rams... since he was put on the "DL", he has come back and been much improved. It's good to see because he's a really terrific kid who works hard, and still has a ton of potential.

http://www.twincities.com/twins/ci_21158889/minnesota-twins-farm-pitchers-kyle-gibson-alex-wimmers

You can view the page at http://www.twinsdaily.com/content.php?837-Houston-We-have-a-Problem

Since the start of the 2011 season, the Twins have a recordof103-157. Only the Houston Astros have a worse record in that time (90-170).As the trade deadline approaches, it is striking how active the Astros havebeen in making trades while the Twins have been pretty quiet to this point. Since the beginning of July 2011, the Twins have made thefollowing moves: · August 2011 – Traded Delmon Young to Detroit forRHP Lester Oliveros and LHP Cole Nelson. · August 2011 – Traded Jim Thome to Cleveland forCash. · December 2011 – Traded Kevin Slowey to Coloradofor RHP Daniel Turpen In contrast, here are the trades made by the Astros in thatsame time: · July 2011 – Traded Hunter Pence to Philadelphiafor 1B Jonathan Singleton, RHP Jarred Cosart, RHP Josh Zeid, and OF DomingoSantana · July 2011 – Traded Jeff Keppinger to SanFrancisco for RHP Henry Sosa and RHP Jason Stoffel · July 2011 – Traded Michael Bourn to Atlanta forOF Jordan Schafer, RHP Juan Abreu, RHP Paul Clemens and LHP Brett Oberholtzen · May 2012 – Traded Justin Ruggiano to Miami for CJobduan Morales · July 2012 – Traded Carlos Lee to Miami for 3BMatt Dominguez and LHP Rob Rasmussen · July 2012 – Traded Brandon Lyon, JA Happ andDavid Carpenter to Toronto for Francisco Cordero, Ben Francisco, RHP JoeMusgrove, RHP Asher Wojciechowski, LHP David Rollins, C Carlos Perez, and aPlayer to be Named Later. · July 2012 – Traded Brett Myers to Chicago (WhiteSox) for RHP Matt Heidenreich and LHP Blair Walters · July 2013 – Traded Wandy Rodriguez to Pittsburghfor OF Robbie Grossman, LHP Randy Owens, LHP Colton Cain The Twins have used their high waiver spot to claim thelikes of Pedro Florimon, Clete Thomas and Erik Komatsu. The Astros have usedtheir waiver spot to claim players like Fernando Martinez and Mark Hamburger. The Astros masterfully handled the draft. Instead of takingthe “easy” pick, Mark Appel, they took the top high school bat (according tomany) in Carlos Correa and signed him for well below the suggested slot for thetop pick. That allowed them to sign Lance McCullers, who fell to them in thesupplemental first round. The Astros have pretty much blown up their roster andstarted from scratch. Of the players who were on the Astros Opening Day roster,Jed Lowrie is the player remaining who has the largest contract, at $1.15million. It’s hard to imagine the Twins completely blowing things up,but should they? What is the right thing to do? With needs at many positions atthe big league level and throughout the minor league system, would it be bestto start over and accumulate as much talent as possible? Does it need to happen at the July trade deadline? ForFrancisco Liriano, the answer would seemingly be Yes. However, since JoshWillingham and Denard Span are signed long term, if Terry Ryan doesn’t feel heis getting maximum return, he can keep them and try again this offseason. So what do you think? Will the Twins or the Astros contendin their division first? [ATTACH=CONFIG]1670[/ATTACH]

Since the start of the 2011 season, the Twins have a recordof103-157. Only the Houston Astros have a worse record in that time (90-170).As the trade deadline approaches, it is striking how active the Astros havebeen in making trades while the Twins have been pretty quiet to this point. Since the beginning of July 2011, the Twins have made thefollowing moves: · August 2011 – Traded Delmon Young to Detroit forRHP Lester Oliveros and LHP Cole Nelson. · August 2011 – Traded Jim Thome to Cleveland forCash. · December 2011 – Traded Kevin Slowey to Coloradofor RHP Daniel Turpen In contrast, here are the trades made by the Astros in thatsame time: · July 2011 – Traded Hunter Pence to Philadelphiafor 1B Jonathan Singleton, RHP Jarred Cosart, RHP Josh Zeid, and OF DomingoSantana · July 2011 – Traded Jeff Keppinger to SanFrancisco for RHP Henry Sosa and RHP Jason Stoffel · July 2011 – Traded Michael Bourn to Atlanta forOF Jordan Schafer, RHP Juan Abreu, RHP Paul Clemens and LHP Brett Oberholtzen · May 2012 – Traded Justin Ruggiano to Miami for CJobduan Morales · July 2012 – Traded Carlos Lee to Miami for 3BMatt Dominguez and LHP Rob Rasmussen · July 2012 – Traded Brandon Lyon, JA Happ andDavid Carpenter to Toronto for Francisco Cordero, Ben Francisco, RHP JoeMusgrove, RHP Asher Wojciechowski, LHP David Rollins, C Carlos Perez, and aPlayer to be Named Later. · July 2012 – Traded Brett Myers to Chicago (WhiteSox) for RHP Matt Heidenreich and LHP Blair Walters · July 2013 – Traded Wandy Rodriguez to Pittsburghfor OF Robbie Grossman, LHP Randy Owens, LHP Colton Cain The Twins have used their high waiver spot to claim thelikes of Pedro Florimon, Clete Thomas and Erik Komatsu. The Astros have usedtheir waiver spot to claim players like Fernando Martinez and Mark Hamburger. The Astros masterfully handled the draft. Instead of takingthe “easy” pick, Mark Appel, they took the top high school bat (according tomany) in Carlos Correa and signed him for well below the suggested slot for thetop pick. That allowed them to sign Lance McCullers, who fell to them in thesupplemental first round. The Astros have pretty much blown up their roster andstarted from scratch. Of the players who were on the Astros Opening Day roster,Jed Lowrie is the player remaining who has the largest contract, at $1.15million. It’s hard to imagine the Twins completely blowing things up,but should they? What is the right thing to do? With needs at many positions atthe big league level and throughout the minor league system, would it be bestto start over and accumulate as much talent as possible? Does it need to happen at the July trade deadline? ForFrancisco Liriano, the answer would seemingly be Yes. However, since JoshWillingham and Denard Span are signed long term, if Terry Ryan doesn’t feel heis getting maximum return, he can keep them and try again this offseason. So what do you think? Will the Twins or the Astros contendin their division first? [ATTACH=CONFIG]1670[/ATTACH]

Yeah, I remember blogging about him last year when the TWins signed him to a good-sized bonus. He definitely has some upside. No doubt!

Hicks and Arcia could be September call-up (after a New Britain playoff run, hopefully), but it depends on a few things. Will they call up Benson and/or Tosoni? Will one or two of the outfielders get traded?I'd put the odds at low, but it's exciting that he's playing like this.

That's a fun team to watch. It would be great for them to get to the playoffs as a team and win a round or two or a championship!

not if the rumors surrounding James Shields to the Angels are true.

Batting 2nd and playing 2nd... has a hit already... I assume a couple of GCL games, but then will they send him up to Beloit... or keep him in Ft. Myers? I have to assume Beloit.

This is the one I was wondering about... was Duensing the comp pick, or was Ryan Mullins?

It's official. 6 years, $140 million for Hamels to stay in Philadelphia. EDIT: make that $144 million for 6 years.

I should have written this previously... Salcedo's original injury was elbow-related... this time, he is on the DL with shoulder issues which he likely sustained overcompensating for his elbow. No timeline.

Because I am one, pathetic loser... and it was pretty big news during the offseason.

They haven't really considered it the last two years, and I really don't think the the Twins will consider adding Bigley this offseason either. They already have to add guys like Hicks and Gibson and more. Bigley is up in AAA right now because he wouldn't play ahead of any of the prospects at AA. (Hicks, Arcia, Benson or Tosoni)

He has to be added following the season anyway, so there is a chance. I think he'd have to pitch really well for the Twins to consider the September call up, and even then they might not because they want him to pitch in the Arizona Fall League to get some extra innings. It'll be interesting to see how much they push him. So far, all has gone really well, no set backs. Hopefully that continues. He knew the Strasburg path from a year earlier, and he's been able to stay on that same path.

Ha!! That is 100% a myth... spending big money in free agency is rarely the answer. I'm in a little awe right now that all the Marlins could get for Hanley (and LHP Randy Choate) was Nathan Eovaldi and Scott McGough. Eovaldi was the Dodger's #2 prospect coming into the season, but McGough wasn't in anyone's top 20 Dodgers prospect lists. I get that Hanley has had a down year statistically, and that he can be a big headache and that he's owed a lot of money next year yet... but I guess I thought he'd have more trade value... Kind of makes me wonder if this haul affects what the Twins can get for Span or even Willingham. Their contracts are much more friendly. I think the Twins could do better than this for them... but who knows!?

I'd take that... Granted, there's still a week left before the deadline, so I'm going to hope for even more, but that would be a nice package. And frankly, the Twins need quality, but they also need some quantity too... all three are top 12 or so prospects, so that's pretty good. Especially for a guy who, two months ago, many wanted to just release.