Seth Stohs

The Big Picture The defending World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals are currently 47-45, 4.5 games behind both the Cincinnati Reds and the Pittsburgh Pirates. They are also 4.5 games behind those two teams in the Wild Card race, but just three games back of the Atlanta Braves and 1.5 games behind the Dodgers for the second Wild Card. The team traditionally is not afraid to make a splash at the trade deadline. Last year, it was a deadline deal that is often credited for propelling the team to the playoffs late in the season. They won’t be afraid to pull the trigger on another deal this July. Carlos Beltran is playing like an MVP. Matt Holliday and Lance Berkman continue to rake. David Freese became a household name in the playoffs last year and has broken out for real this season. This is a good, deep team that frankly, should not be outside of the current playoff picture looking in. Why They Will Trade With the Twins The Cardinals are blessed with one of baseball’s best offenses. Their pitching is pretty middle-of-the-pack, and their bullpen could use some proven, quality arms. The Red Birds are 12th in baseball with a 3.89 ERA, 15th in WHIP at 1.31, and 22nd in opponent batting average, at .260. Their starters have generally been just find, providing the team with 55 Quality Starts, which ranks sixth in the game. Adam Wainright (7-10, 4.42, 1.29), Kyle Lohse (9-2, 2.80, 1.10), Lance Lynn (11-4, 3.27, 1.21), and Jake Westbrook (7-8, 3.82, 1.33) make up four-fifths of the starting rotation. Jaime Garcia is most likely out until at least mid-August. He had an elbow injury in May and is now out with a shoulder injury. Just last week, ace Chris Carpenter had shoulder surgery and is out for the year. Joe Kelly has stepped in and is 1-2 with a 2.75 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP, but I am certain that the Cardinals would be on the lookout for an impact starter. In fact, they are rumored to be kicking the tires on Mariners LHP Jason Vargas. Considering that several of the other big name pitchers who are likely on the trade block are from the NL Central (Ryan Dempster and Matt Garza of the Cubs, and Zach Greinke and Shawn Marcum of the Brewers), it certainly helps make a case for the Cardinals and Twins having some in-depth conversations surrounding lefty Francisco Liriano. Liriano has been pitching as well as anyone in baseball of late. He could also balance out their rotation a little bit by giving them a left-handed starting pitcher. The Cardinals bullpen after Jason Motte and righty Mitchell Boggs is kind of a mess. If the Twins are willing to deal the likes of Glen Perkins or Jared Burton, they could get back quite a haul at this time. That said, someone like Casey Fien, who has come up recently as a minor league veteran and pitched very well and shown a lot of life on his pitches, might be someone of interest in a much more minor deal. Why They Won't Trade With the Twins Tom Brunansky for Tommy Herr. OK, that deal was horrible, but it was made 24 years ago, so I think we should be able to move past it by now. The Cardinals offense is very strong. They rank 2nd in MLB in batting average (.274), 2nd in on-base percentage (.340), 7th in slugging percentage (.478) and 5th in runs scored. With Matt Holliday and Carlos Beltran playing the corner outfield spots, and John Joy posting an OBP around .360, they are one team that doesn’t need to go after an outfielder. The only players among their regulars that are currently posting sub-.700 OPS are 2B Daniel Descalso and All Star SS Rafael Furcal (.699). Frankly, the Twins don’t have a better option for them at that position. Conclusion The Cardinals are used to being in the playoffs and the teams they are chasing may not have better teams on paper. This team may just need to infuse one piece to go on a run. They may also see the Joey Votto injury and think that now is the time to go for it. They will never say it, but I’m sure that Mike Matheny and his ball players would love to get back to the playoffs and show that they can do it without manager Tony LaRussa or all-time great Albert Pujols. ~~~ Possible Trade Targets Shelby Miller - RHP The assumption would be (and probably still should be) that Miller is not available in pretty much any trade. The 21-year-old right-hander has a fastball that sits in the mid-to-high 90s with good movement. He also throws a curveball and a changeup. He entered the season as Baseball America’s #8 prospect in baseball. He is now pitching in AAA (in the Pacific Coast League). For the first time, he is struggling. He is 4-8 with a 5.79 ERA and a 1.66 WHIP. He’s given up 91 hits and walked 46 in 82.1 innings. However, he has still struck out 94 batters. Carlos Martinez - RHP Martinez is on the upward moving track. He is a right-hander with a fastball that sits in the mid-90s and frequently hits 100 on the gun. His curveball and his changeup are works-in-progress and their development will determine whether he is a high-end starter or a high-leverage late-inning reliever. He began the year at Hi-A where he made seven starts, and now he is at AA where he is 2-2 after six starts. Tyrell Jenkins - RHP Jenkins was the 50th overall pick in the 2010 draft out of high school. He throws in the low 90s and touches 95-96 mph despite being just 20 and very skinny. In other words, there is room for growth and velocity. He throws a breaking ball and he is working on a changeup. At Quad Cities this year, he is 2-3 with a 5.12 ERA in 13 starts. He has 54 strikeouts (and 28 walks) in 58 innings. (Note – These top three prospects would not have been in the discussion had Francisco Liriano not been so incredible over the past two-and-a-half months. Now, I think it’s fair to at least start negotiations with some of these names. Jenkins’ name has been rumored in the Jason Vargas talks, so excuse me for being hopeful! At least I didn’t bring up 20 year old OF Oscar Taveras who hit .386 in the MWL last year and jumped to AA this year where he’s posting a .971 OPS.) Trevor Rosenthal - RHP Rosenthal was a 21st round pick of the Cardinals in 2009 out of a small community college in Kansas. He throws 90-95 with a lot of sink and a strong slider. A changeup will be big for him as a change-of-pace pitch. At AA this year, he is 8-6 with a 2.78 ERA in 17 games. He is striking out 7.9 per nine innings. Last year in Low-A, he struck out 9.9 per nine. Kolten Wong – 2B The Twins drafted Wong in the mid-rounds out of high school, but he chose to go to the University of Hawaii. It panned out for him as, well, 1.) he got to hang out in Hawaii for 3 years playing baseball, and 2.) he played well enough that he jumped into the middle of the first round last year. The 21-year-old is currently hitting .298/.372/.419 (.791) in 84 games at AA. Please add your thoughts and trade ideas (and other names the Twins could pursue) in the comments below!

Ha Ha!! now that's awesome!

Correct, he had like 3-4 different injuries that he affected him. So, he did not participate in Instructional League. That's another reaosn he probably should have started in Beloit.

According to Matt Eddy of Baseball America, the Twins have released RHP Brett Jacobson. He certainly had some moments the last couple of years, showing he might be OK... but recently, he completely lost the strike zone. Obviously people know that Jacobson and Jim Hoey (who the Twins lost on waivers last fall to Toronto) from Baltimore for JJ Hardy. Last year, this would have been news since no one could get past Hardy. This year, Hardy is back to normal, so I assume this is just minor news at this point.

Carson deserves it, but I'd say that Benson would be the guy called up.

That is correct!

Danny Lehmann promoted to Rochester.

Boer - I think most people think he'll be a terrific reliever, and wisely, the Twins are giving him the opportunity as a starter, and he has shown glimpses. I think he was promoted from Beloit to Ft. Myers solely based on need early in the year. He has not done well there. That doesn't make him a bad prospect. Levi Michael - I have never been high on since I started reading reports on him. For some reason Baseball America, Keith Law and other experts ranked him between 20-25 in terms of top players for last year's draft. The Twins got him at 30, so most would htink that's good value based on the experts. Like I said, I didn't like it. And, in retrospect, after being hurt and missing so much time last year, the right thing may have been to send him to Beloit to start this season. But, he is young for the college kids drafted in his class, so I guess there should be hope. Certainly shouldn't give up on him yet. Goodrum, like Max Kepler, is incredibly talented, but incredibly raw. Of the two, I certainly thought that Goodrum could have moved up. I thought he'd move up before the ET season started. I can't answer that question other than to say, with Sano, Grimes and Rosario as starters in Beloit, Goodrum wouldn't have played a lot. Plus, it's not like he's destroying the Appy League yet this year. We have a thread in the forums on 2nd half promotions and there have been a ton of them. Maybe not the big, exciting names, but there have been a lot. Matt Summers was just promoted from Beloit to Ft. Myers. Not thta Wheeler hasn't been good (although he struggled for about 6 straight starts around the all star break, but Summers has been arguably the best pitcher in teh farm system not named Hendriks. Santana posted a sub-.300 OBP the last year and a half in Beloit. He still refuses to walk. He's got a nice BA, and I really like him as a prospect, but he is where he should be. Melotakis just moved up to Beloit, along with Zach Jones. Chargois was on the DL to start the season. Baxendale was in the CWS. The Twins (And many teams) choose to be cautious with college pitchers after they sign, and I agree with that. Let them adjust to the bus rides and being a professional and all of that while protecting arms that typically get abused during the college season. ITs' the right thing to do. Also, there is still another 7 weeks of the season, so they may moved them. If not, doesn't hurt their long-term growth in the least. Because they could? Some guys were willing to sign below slot, and that's smart of the Twins to let them do that. They tried to sign Mazzilli and likely offered him a little more than slot to get him to sign. They drafted several players with big upsides later in the draft, and we know they tried to sign them with some of the excess, but they stayed true to their plans to go to college. Also, more important than the money, they signed their top 10 picks and signed the ones they needed to.

We knew Matt Capps was going on the DL. Now we know the other half of the transaction. RHP Nick Blackburn, who pitched well and ate innings in his two AAA starts since his demotion, will return to the Twins. Most likely Blackburn would replace Brian Duensing in the starting rotation with Duensing returning to the bullpen. With Deduno's rough start tonight, it will be interesting to see if he remains in the rotation, maybe goes to the bullpen of if they would DFA him (can't imagine anyone would claim him so he should be able to go back to Rochester). Jeff Manship started in Rochester and pitched well again giving up two runs in six innings.

fHe was also horrible at AAA as well. Getting rid of Humber was fine.

This is a great point. I don't think a lot of people realize how few pitchers turn into #2s much less #1s. It's like some in here expect the Twins to get a 1 or 2 with every pick. Gibson and Wimmers were good picks. We can play the hindsight game as much as people want... means nothing. What good is that discussion?

Is a future #3, maybe #2, a low ceiling pitcher?

Imagine how upset Twins fans would have been if the team had taken Trout over Gibson that year.... And, Wimmers was an easy pick at that time as well, deemed by many experts the starting pitcher closest to the big leagues. Injuries happen.

I guess I'm not sure... However, Summers has been, by far, the Snappers best pitcher the last 2+ months, so it makes sense for him to move as a starter. Dempster's been pretty good as well, and frankly, he was in Ft. Myers the 2nd half of last year too, so he should move up.

Matt Summers and Clinton Dempster promoted from Rochester to Ft. Myers. Mason Melotakis and Zack Jones promoted from Elizabethton to Beloit.

Thanks! I'd love to hear what others who have seen the movie thought about it too.

Here is a nice story on the former Twins backup catcher who last year managed in the Midwest League and this year manages in the Florida State League. Dunedin is playing in Ft. Myers against the Miracle and News Press's David Dorsey caught up with him in this story. http://www.news-press.com/article/20120717/SPORTS/307170017/0/COLUMNISTS16/Former-Twins-catcher-Mike-Redmond-back-town?odyssey=nav|head If ever Ron Gardenhire decides to resign, Mike Redmond would be high on my list to replace him.

You can view the page at http://www.twinsdaily.com/content.php?805-Review-of-Ballplayer-Pelotero

On Sunday, one of the directors of the documentary Ballplayer: Pelotero came to the Twins Daily forums and after letting us know where the movie could be viewed, answered several questions from readers. I’ve read so much about the film, watched trailers and eagerly anticipated being able to see it. I didn’t know how I would be able to view it since I don’t live in a metro area. Thankfully, it is available through several sources right now. Some cable providers have made it available as On Demand. It can currently be seen at St. Anthony Main Theatre in Minneapolis and other select theaters around the country. It is also available on iTunes, which is how I watched it. [ATTACH=CONFIG]1578[/ATTACH] Obviously the key draw to this documentary for Twins fans is the fact that one of its main ‘characters’ is Twins top prospect Miguel Sano who is referred to as Miguel Angel (his middle name) throughout the movie. It’s an interesting look at his life and the pressure on him even as a 15 year old. But, it also is a nice glimpse into his personality. It is understandable why his nickname is “Bocaton” (translated to “Big Mouth”). He is a fun-loving kid with the world of talent. Fred Guerrero, the Twins scout in the Dominican, also has several quotes in the movie, early in the process and even after he signed. It was also an open look at how the recruitment process affected him and his entire family. He had to go through rigorous and very personal tests in an attempt to prove his age to MLB, teams and more. [ATTACH=CONFIG]1577[/ATTACH] The movie certainly points to the Pirates scout (Rene Gayo) who did whatever was necessary to get Sano to sign with him, including some very non-ethical maneuvers. As the director commented in our forum, “Rene Gayo and the Pittsburgh Pirates were able to scare off many other teams because of unfounded concerns about Miguel's age. The Twins did a very brave thing by stepping up and signing him. And hopefully they will be rewarded for it for years to come. Fred Guerrero the DR scouting director is a really great guy and knew from day one that this kid was special.” Did you know that 20% of all players in the big leagues and the minor leagues come from The Dominican Republic, a country with just 2% of the population of the United States? Most of those players sign for very small bonuses that are important for their families. Many are just represented by their mentor/ trainer/ coach at various academies. However, a player like Sano also had his own agent. Sano grew up very poor, in very humble surroundings. His agent moved him and his family and extended family into a nicer area of town. Jean Carlos Batista is the other 16 year old whose trek is documented in the film. The switch-hitting shortstop hoped to receive a signing bonus of $1.5 to $1.8 million. He was offered significantly less than that after going to several tryout camps. But later on, Batista’s mom admitted to his trainer and coach Astin Jacobo that he was actually a year older than he claimed. When Jean was ten, his parents found a way to “change” his age, and they ran with it. See how that admission affected his eventual signing bonus as well as his relationship with his trainer. One of the trainers made the comment that kids come to their academies when they are as young as 13 or 14. He compared it to a harvest in which they plant seeds, put in time and energy and at the end of the day (when a player signs), they sell it. Trainers generally get a percentage (As much as 35%) of signing bonuses. This is a documentary. It’s not Major League, so you won’t be laughing the whole time (although there are some funny moments). It’s not The Natural or Field of Dreams where everything is wonderful or even mystical at the end of the day. It is, in a way, baseball’s version of Hoop Dreams, the excellent documentary of two young basketball players as they worked from middle school to high school. In my mind, it’s a great movie for Twins fans as we get a glimpse of a young Miguel Sano and all he endured to get signed. It’s a great movie for all baseball fans as it captures what it is like to be a kid in the Dominican Republic and how much effort goes into getting signed, and how much it means for their families for the kids to be signed. I definitely recommend viewing Ballplayer: Pelotero if you have the chance! I'm not going to pretend to be a movie critic and know how to analyze greatness in a movie, particularly in a documentary. One way I determine whether or not I really liked a movie is how I feel when the movie comes to an end. At the end of this movie, I wanted it to keep going. I wanted to know what happened next. Obviously as Twins fans, we know how Miguel Sano is doing on the field, but what's going on off-the-field too and how has he adapted to playing and living in America? Well, you'll be happy to know that the same cast has occasionally been following Sano through his minor league time the last couple of years and do plan on another documentary following his career (hopefully) to the big leagues! Learn much more about the characters and the movie at the Official Ballplayer: Pelotero website.

I assume he has options left? Otherwise, there just isn't room for him on the big league roster, in my opinion. I guess they could send down Mastroianni and Lillibridge can be that 4th OF and the 6th infielder. I'd say, unless they trade Casilla or Carroll in the next two days, I'd pass.

Not sure, but as a 19 year old, I'm sure it's not too high yet. They'll monitor his innings. I'm sure they have documented how many innings and pitches he threw in Extended Spring Training games too.

Benson back to AA, Evan Bigley to Rochester.

Yeah, that New Britain offense should be fun to watch, with Hicks, Benson and Arcia, and Tosoni will likely be back there soon. And, Beloit lost. I corrected the score above. THank you!