Seth Stohs

Last night in the 8th inning, Denard Span came out of the game because he was feeling dizzy. He wasn’t feeling well. Seeing Darin Mastroianni in the lineup set off a firestorm on Twitter. A night earlier, Trevor Plouffe was abruptly replaced by Brian Dozier as a pinch hitter. The question there was whether he was sick or injured. With Span, there was a far different discussion for one big reason. Rather than thinking that maybe Span wasn’t feeling well in the nearly-100 degree weather, the question jumped to “Has Span been traded?” Was he going to the Yankees, or the Rangers, or the Reds, or the Nationals? What would the Twins be getting in return? The trade deadline is in nine days. Denard Span and Francisco Liriano are the two names most frequently mentioned in trade rumors. The Twins are far out of playoff contention, and that means that they will be (and should be) in sell mode. That means that any veteran on the roster could be dealt, and that it could happen at any time, even during a game. The sad thing is that once people found out that he left the game because he felt dizzy, there were a few who thought, “Great! That will minimize what the Twins can get for Span!” Stay Classy! It’s sometimes important to take a step back at the trade deadline and realize that all these rumors and then any actual trades affect and stress players in ways that go far beyond the baseball field. Span came to the Twins when he signed in August of 2002 as the team’s #1 draft pick (20th overall). He gave up a college football scholarship to play with the Twins. He debuted with the Twins in 2008 and has been the team’s leadoff hitter ever since. Liriano came to the Twins following the 2003 season in one of Terry Ryan’s best trades. Liriano was traded to the Twins, along with Joe Nathan and Boof Bonser, in the AJ Pierzynski trade. He debuted with the Twins in September of 2005. Johan Santana won the AL Cy Young Award in 2006, but for a two month period, Liriano was the best pitcher in baseball. Unfortunately, he tore his UCL and had Tommy John surgery. It took until 2010 for Liriano to regain any semblance of his form. However, 2011 and the first two months of 2012 were very frustrating for the left-hander. However, in the last two months since rejoining the rotation, he has been one of baseball’s pitchers. A year ago, Denard Span was on the Disabled List with his concussion yet he still was involved in several trade rumors. Span did not want to get traded, and he really struggled with the rumors and the process. Although he has seen teammates come and go, Span has been in this organization for a decade. There is a comfort factor. There are relationships with teammates and coaches. Span has developed a great fan following due to his play on the field and his work in the community and his willingness to interact with fans at the ballpark and on Twitter. Although he lives in Tampa during the offseason, Span also nows that part of who he is is a Minnesota Twins. The life of a professional athlete may not be as great as we all assume in a number of ways. Yes, the money and the travel and the fame and those types of things are great. However, when a player is drafted, he has no choice in where he plays. In the minor leagues, players get paid very minimally and travel on busses. Once they hit the big leagues, they have almost no say in their income until they have almost three years of service time. They have no say in where they play for the first six years of their career. If they become a free agent, they finally have the power in saying where they will play based on factors from contract offers made to cities they want to live in. However, until a player has 10-5 rights (10 years of MLB service time, and the past five with the same team), he can be traded at any time whether he wants to be or not. Baseball is a business. It is a business that pays its performers very well. It provides them with many other perks, as well. But I also think that sometimes fans forget that these are people too. People with feelings. Some players outwardly handle rumors better than others. As a Twins fan, I like the fact that Francisco Liriano is saying that he wants to stay with the Twins. I have no problem with Denard Span being affected by the thought of leaving the organization that he has been with for a decade. Don’t get me wrong… It is Terry Ryan’s job as GM to not let that sentiment and emotion go into his decision-making as he is determining what needs to be done for the betterment of the Twins organization. I don’t want Denard Span to be traded either, but I also understand the he is the kind of player that the Twins can actually bring back to the Twins some players that it needs to replenish its farm system and hopefully bring the Twins back to contention more quickly. In the same way, Terry Ryan needs to make a decision regarding Josh Willingham. How much return is enough to make up for the hit the team could take for trading a guy they just signed to a multi-year contract. By all reports, Willingham is a great guy and he and his family have really fit in with the Twins and in the community. Regarding Jamey Carroll, he has to determine the value of freeing up the contract versus what he can bring as a mentor as the Twins infield next year could have Brian Dozier and Pedro Florimon in the middle? Like Span, Glen Perkins has the type of contract (and talent) that could make him very valuable to a contender. However, he is from here. His wife is from here and they live in Minnesota year-round. It would affect a lot of lives to deal Perkins. Yes, that is the business side of it, but the personal side makes it tough to do. Justin Morneau has the kind of contract that would be great to get off the books, $14 million for 2013. Morneau and his wife just had their second baby. She is from Minnesota and they have made Minnesota one of their homes. Morneau has done a lot for the Twins organization over the last 8-9 years, including winning an MVP, hitting a lot of home runs, driving in a bunch of runs, becoming a very good first baseman and much more. Loyalty comes into play when the thought of trading Justin Morneau comes up. The July trade deadline is a lot of fun for fans. It’s fun to read the rumors. It’s fun to think about what prospects the Twins could receive in return for various players. It’s exciting. From a team perspective, they need to do what is right short-term and long-term for the organization. For the players, it has to be difficult from so many standpoints. Loyalty. Being happy and comfortable in an environment. Family and Friends. Winning opportunity. Not the least of which is trying to feel like more than a trade chip to be dealt.

I doubt it. Always have to be careful with Appy League numbers, and especially just on month of Appy League numbers. Also, he's average age-wise for the league, and after missing so much time last year, he just needs to play.

Yes, I think this will happen, probably this year, for sure next.

If you would have asked me two weeks ago to rank the likelihood of the Twins switching affiliate cities, I woudl have said that New Britain was most likely to move, followed by Beloit, then Rochester and then Ft. Myers. I was actually a bit surprised the Twins are staying in New Britain.

I'd still say Benson, but Hicks is playing great, and so is Arcia.

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The Twins lost 7-3 to the Royals. Chris Parmelee was the only Twins hitter with two hits. Parmelee joined the Twins on Saturday because Justin Morneau went on paternity leave that morning and got back to Minnesota in time to see his wife Krista give birth to a son. Congratulations to them. Scott Diamond was not at his best, especially early. He gave up four runs on ten hits in six innings. Sam Deduno will take on Royals newly acquired starter Jeremy Guthrie on Sunday. The winner wins the three game series. Here is a look at the Twins minor league scores and highlights from the Saturday games in the minor leagues. ROCHESTER, DURHAM This game was delayed for over an hour before they finally postponed it. The two teams are scheduled to play a doubleheader on Sunday. NEW BRITAIN 0, HARRISBURG 5 After scoring 13 on Friday, the Rock Cats managed just four hits in this game. Deibinson Romero was 2-3 while Aaron Hicks and James Beresford each singled. Hicks threw out a runner at home. Joe Benson threw out a runner at second base. Logan Darnell started and gave up five runs on eight hits in five innings. He walked two and struck out eight. Daniel Turpen then struck out three in three scoreless innings. He walked to and allowed one hit. FT. MYERS 6, LAKELAND 5 Tom Stuifbergen started and gave four runs on ten hits and a walk in five innings. He struck out three. Clinton Dempster came on and gave up a run on two hits in 1.2 innings. Miguel Munoz struck out two in his inning of work. Michael Tonkin got the final four outs, two of them on strikeouts, for the save. Danny Rams was 1-1 with a walk and a double before he left the game. Jhon Goncalves and Andy Leer each walked twice in the game. BELOIT 2, GREAT LAKES 7 Steven Gruver was moved back into the starting rotation for the Snappers. The lefty gave up three runs on six hits in four innings. He walked none, hit two and struck out three. Tim Atherton then gave up four runs (2 earned) on four hits and a walk in 2.1 innings. Steve Evans came in and struck out five in 2.2 scoreless innings. He gave up two hits and walked two. The Snappers had just five hits. Wang-Wei Lin had two of them. JD Williams walked and hit his second triple. He drove in both runs. Williams, Stephen Wickens and Tyler Grimes each struck out three times. ELIZABETHTON 8, JOHNSON CITY 6 (completion of Thursday game) Romy Jimenez hit over .300 both years that he played in the Dominican Summer League. Last year, he hit over .320 in the GCL but played in just eight games due to injury. Following game one on Saturday, he was hitting .393. He went 2-4 with his 10th double and sixth home run. He also drove in six runs. Jhonthan Arias went 3-4 with his second double and first home run in the game. Candido Pimentel went 2-4 with a walk. Remember that his game started on Thursday and Taylor Rogers started. By waiting to complete the game until Saturday, Rogers was able to continue. In total, he went six innings and gave up one run on three hits. He walked just one and struck out ten. Tyler Herr threw two scoreless innings, and DJ Baxendale pitched a 1-2-3 ninth. ELIZABETHTON 4, JOHNSON CITY 1 Hudson Boyd started this game and gave up just one run on five hits and a walk in five innings. He struck out four. He may have stayed in longer, but there was a rain delay at that point. Corey Kimes came in and walked one in a scoreless inning. Kaleb Merck got the first two outs of the seventh, but he gave up a run and walked two. JT Chargois came in and got the save by getting the final out. Elizabethton had just six hits. No player had more than one. The team scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth. The game-winning RBI was off the bat of Romy Jimenez who singled in Niko Goodrum. Josh Hendricks hit his third double. GCL TWINS 1, GCL RED SOX 5 Kyle Gibson took another step with another inning pitched in this game. The rehabbing right-hander pitched a scoreless inning, giving up only one hit. Minnesotan Austin Malinowski pitched the next three innings. He gave up two runs on seven hits and a walk while striking out two. J.O. Berrios came in and struckout three in three perfect innings. Gerardo Ramirez gave up three runs on three hits in 1.1 innings. Gonzalo Sanudo got the final two outs. The Twins managed just six hits in this game. In his first plate appearance, Joel Licon was hit by a pitch and left the game. He was replaced by Kelvin Ortiz who proceeded to go 3-3 with his fifth double. Aussie infielder Logan Wade went 2-4 with his fourth double. Kelly Cross had the other Twins hit, his first home run. --- Players of the Day for Saturday, July 21, 2012 Hitter of the Day – Romy Jimenez [ATTACH=CONFIG]1621[/ATTACH] Pitcher of the Day – Taylor Rogers [ATTACH=CONFIG]1622[/ATTACH] --- A Look Ahead – Sunday, July 22, 2012 Schedule Rochester @ Durham (DH) – LHP Luke French RHP Jeff Manship New Britain @ Harrisburg – TBD Ft. Myers @ Lakeland – RHP Madison Boer Beloit vs Great Lakes – RHP Tyler Jones Elizabethton @ Kingsport – TBD GCL Twins vs GCL Red Sox – TBD --- 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!

valencia, Nishioka, Parmelee, Oliveros, Waldrop, Hendriks, Benson, Tosoni... outside shot with Arcia/Hicks, and Perdomo.

just that he's still rehabbing.

Congrats to the Morneau family... I like that baseball allows for Paternight Leave. Family should always come first!

Love this! Thank you so much for writing this. I enjoyed reading it and the pictures!!

Gibson pitched again today for the GCL Twins. 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 K.

not a bad deal for a quality #2 starter!!

At this point, players can be adopted by anyone by just starting a thread and continuing to update. Thanks!

A lot of the international players from south and central America that sign at 16 spend a couple of years in the Dominican Summer League where the Twins have an "academy." THey have dorms, feed them, teach them baseball and English, stuff like that. Once the players come to the States, in spring training and in the GCL, they stay at a team hotel pretty much. In Elizabethton, they will typically live with a host family. Occasionally, a few guys will split an apartment, but these guys get paid nothing. In Beloit, most live with host families. Not sure if there are any host families or anything like that once they get to Ft. Myers (although I assume the hotel is still an option?).

I don't mind the philosophy of trying high-quality relievers and trying them as starters. With Gutierrez, he had a mid-90s sinking FB which by itself made him a fringe big league reliever. By having him pitch all those innings as a starter, it gave him the opportunity to develop a second and a third pitch. That was really the key to it. If he develops a second pitch to go with the FB, he can be a really good MLB reliever. If he develops a 3rd quality pitch, he could be a quality MLB starter or a dominant MLB reliever. To me, it's strange that he wasn't able to develop even a second decent pitch in four years. A lot of the big arm, college relievers they picked this year seemingly (or reportedly) already have a second pitch which should put their floors a little higher. I'm intrigued by how it will turn out.

He had his 33rd last night, but I think he's only had maybe two over the last couple of weeks.

I had Rosario ahead of Arcia bfeore the season, and until his injury, I still had him there... It's tough because of how well Arcia has hit. There are some questions about Arcia yet (defense, hitting vs lefties, etc.) but he's also now two levels ahead of Rosario. So, if I actually had to dig and think a lot about it, I could easily flip-flop those.

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The Twins needed a couple of extra innings to earn a 2-1 win in Kansas City against the Royals. It was a terrific game for Darin Mastroianni who hit a solo homer and a triple. Josh Willingham drove in Joe Mauer in the 11th inning with what proved to be the winning run. The two teams will play at 6:00 central time on Saturday. It was a good day for the organization. The teams went 5-2 on the day. Oswaldo Arcia had a huge game, yet it was very difficult to decide who should be the hitter of the day because there were a lot of strong offensive performances. Here is a look at the Twins minor league scores and highlights from the Friday games in the minor leagues. ROCHESTER 4, DURHAM 7 The Red Wings had some players with some good games, but it wasn’t enough and the team lost the first game of a series in Durham. Danny Valencia went 3-5 with his 14th and 15th doubles. Rene Rivera was 3-5 with his eighth double. Tsuyoshi Nishioka was 3-3 with a walk and his 11th double. Clete Thomas went 2-5 with his ninth homer. Brian Dinkelman and Chris Parmelee each doubled. Esmerling Vasquez started and gave up four runs on five hits in five innings. He walked none and struck out seven. Caleb Thielbar came in and threw a scoreless sixth inning. He gave up hits to the first two batters of the seventh inning and was replaced by Kyle Waldrop who allowed both inherited runners to score but nothing more. Brendan Wise game up a run on three hits and a walk in the final inning. NEW BRITAIN 13, HARRISBURG 2 (completion of suspended game) On Thursday nights, but teams scored no runs in the first two innings. The Rock Cats scored four runs in the top of the third, but then the rains came and the game was suspended until Friday. The Rock Cats bats continued from that point on in the game and came away with a decisive victory. Oswaldo Arcia led the way. He was 3-5 with his sixth double, his fourth and fifth Rock Cat home runs and six RBI. Rene Tosoni was 2-5 with his second homer. Chris Herrmann went 1-2 with four walks and his 21st double. Aaron Hicks was 2-4 with two walks and his sixth triple. James Beresford went 2-5. Blake Martin started on Thursday and worked two scoreless frames. When play resumed on Friday, Marty Popham took the mound. The right-hander gave up one run on four hits and a walk in three innings. He struck out four times. Bruce Pugh then gave up one run on one hit over two innings in which he struck out two batters. Edgar Ibarra threw two scoreless innings to end the game. NEW BRITAIN 5, HARRISBURG 4 (regularly scheduled game) The regular game became a seven inning game. BJ Hermsen was on the bump to start. The right-hander gave up four runs (3 earned) on eight hits in six innings. He walked none and struck out three. Dakota Watts came in for the 7th inning and recorded his first save. Dan Rohlfing went 2-3 and scored two runs, one of them in the top of the ninth that proved to be the winning run. Aaron Hicks was 1-4 but drove in three runs. He had a two-run single, and then he drove in Rohlfing with the game-winner. Shawn Roof was 2-3 with his fifth stolen base. Oswaldo Arcia and Joe Benson were each 1-3 with a walk. Benson drove in two runs. FT. MYERS 9, LAKELAND 7 The offense was certainly out in this game. Josmil Pinto led the way. He was 4-5 with his second third base. Lance Ray was 2-5 and hit his 10th homer. Danny Rams went 2-4 with a walk and his fifth double. Kyle Knudson was 2-5 with his seventh double. Angel Morales added a two-run triple, his third three-bagger. Matt Hauser started and gave up four runs on five hits in 5.1 innings. He walked two and struck out four. Nelvin Fuentes gave up a run on three hits in 1.2 innings. AJ Achter was charged with two unearned run on three hits in two innings, but he struck out two and delivered his fourth save. BELOIT 0, LANSING 2 The bats didn’t show up on this night, but David Hurlbut sure did. The left-hander gave up two runs (just one earned) on five hits in eight innings. He walked none and struck out seven. 2012 draftee Zach Jones made his Snappers debut and struck out the side. Drew Leachman had two hits again, the third straight game he has done that. But the Snappers had just five total hits. Nate Roberts walked twice. ELIZABETHTON 8, JOHNSON CITY 6 Down 5-1 going through five innings, the E-Twins bats fought back. They scored three in the six, tied the game at six with two in the seventh and took the lead with two more in the eighth. Adam Walker was 3-4 with his fourth homer and three RBI. DJ Hicks went 3-5. Travis Harrison and Candido Pimentel were each 2-5. Niko Goodrum was 2-5 with his sixth double. Ricardo Arevalo gave up three runs (2 earned) on three hits in four innings. He walked none and struck out six. Josh Burris pitched the fifth inning and gave up two unearned runs. He didn’t give up a hit but walked three and struck out two. Travis Huber made his Twins debut in the sixth frame. The 2012 pick from Nebraska gave up a run on two hits. Andrew Ferreira then made his Twins debut in the seventh frame. He gave up just one hit. Tyler Duffey came in and got the save. He gave up no runs on one hit and one walk which striking out three in two innings. GCL TWINS 10, GCL RED SOX 4 The Twins bats broke out in a big way in this game. John Murphy led the way. The outfielder went 3-4 with his fourth and fifth doubles, three RBI and his 10th stolen base. Jorge Fernandez went 3-4. Logan Wade was 2-4 with his third double. Javier Pimentel was 2-5 with his sixth double. Aderlin Mejia was also 2-5. Bryan Santy was 1-3 with two walks and his first double. Randy Rosario started and gave up one run on two hits in four innings. He walked one and struck out four. Then the Twins second supplemental first round pick this year, Luke Bard, made his professional debut. He gave up two runs on one hit and three walks in one inning. He struck out one. (It will be interesting to see where he goes when he is deemed 100% The Twins could keep him in Ft. Myers, pitching for the Miracle, or he could help the Snappers in their playoff run.) Hung-Yi Chen struck out four over the next two innings. He gave up just one hit. Trent Higginbotham gave up a run on a hit and a walk in two innings. He struck out two. --- Players of the Day for Friday, July 20, 2012 Hitter of the Day – Oswaldo Arcia [ATTACH=CONFIG]1610[/ATTACH] Pitcher of the Day – David Hurlbut [ATTACH=CONFIG]1611[/ATTACH] --- A Look Ahead – Saturday, July 21, 2012 Schedule Rochester @ Durham – LHP Luke French New Britain @ Harrisburg – TBD Ft. Myers @ Lakeland – RHP Tom Stuifbergen Beloit vs Great Lakes – LHP Steven Gruver Elizabethton @ Johnson City – TBD GCL Twins vs GCL Red Sox – TBD --- 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!