Seth Stohs

You can view the page at http://www.twinsdaily.com/content.php?533-Thursday-Night-Lights-and-Twins-Minor-League-Weekly

The Twins lost 6-2 to the Blue Jays. Jason Marquis was able to go just four innings. The game was ugly for Twins fans. There were base running errors. There were several defensive errors. There was bad pitching, and bad hitting. Josh Willingham did home for the second straight night. As Gardenhire told the Twin Cities media following the game, “Things happened out there that really don’t happen in high school.” I guess it’s fair to say that things have to get worse before they get better, but hopefully that means we’ll start seeing the ‘better’ soon! Before getting to the minor league update, a big Happy 19th birthday to Twins and Snappers prospect Miguel Sano. Secondly, before you start reading all the Twins Daily articles, blogs and forums, be sure to download this week’s Twins Minor League Weekly where Seth was joined by Miracle play-by-play man Brice Zimmerman and Snappers utility player AJ Pettersen. Here is a look at the Twins minor league scores and highlights from Thursday: ROCHESTER 6, PAWTUCKET 7 The Red Wings had a get-away, afternoon game in Pawtucket. They even had a 6-5 lead in the 9th, but they managed to suffer a tough loss. Luke French made the start. The lefty went the first six innings and gave up five runs on five hits. He walked three and did not record a strikeout. Esmerling Vasquez came in and gave up only an unearned run on two hits in 1.2 innings. Tyler Robertson came in and got a ground ball, but instead of the final out and a one-run lead, there was an error and the inning continued. Anthony Slama came in and gave up a two-run double for his first blown save of the year. He did strikeout the next batter. Ben Revere led the offense. He was 3-5 with three stolen bases. He is now hitting .309 with six steals for the Red Wings. Pedro Florimon went 2-5 with his second home run in his week with the Twins. Matt Carson (8th), JR Towles (5th) and Clete Thomas (2nd) each hit a double. NEW BRITAIN 3, READING 10 It was another rough start for lefty Logan Darnell, and the Rock Cats took a tough loss. Darnell gave up six runs on seven hits in five innings. He walked three and struck out two. Brett Jacobson gave up four runs on four hits over the next two innings. Bobby Lanigan struck out four over the final two innings. Wilkin Ramirez continues to rake for the Rock Cats. The outfielder went 3-4 with his second home run and second stolen base. Chris Herrmann went 3-5 with his ninth double. Evan Bigley was 1-3 with a walk and his seventh double. The Twins signed 27-year-old infielder Shawn Roof to play in a utility role. With Brian Dozier with the Twins and Pedro Florimon up in Rochester, the Rock Cats only had two middle infielders. James Beresford started at shortstop with Estarlin de Los Santos was at second base. Roof was the 33rd round pick of the Detroit Tigers in 2007. He played in the Tigers organization, up to AAA, through the 2011 season. In 1267 minor league plate appearances, he hit .259/.334/.307 with 35 doubles, eight triples and one home run. He played 121 games at 2B, 102 games at SS and 84 games at 3B. He also spent some time playing left field, right field and first base. FT. MYERS 12, DUNEDIN 11 The Miracle bats were out again on this night, but so were the Dunedin bats. Fortunately the Miracle were able to get enough pitching at the end of the game to come away with the win. Adrian Salcedo had another short start. He recorded just one out. He gave up five runs (1 earned) on two hits and two walks. He left the game with a trainer with what appeared to be a blister. Cole Nelson came in and gave up three runs on five hits and three walks in 2.2 innings. Edgar Ibarra went the next four innings and gave up three runs on four hits and a walk. Bruce Pugh recorded his third save of the year. He struck out two over the final two innings. Oswaldo Arcia had a huge game, and he wasn’t the only Miracle hitter who hit well in this game. The lefty-hitting outfielder went 4-5. He hit his sixth and seventh doubles, his second home run and drove in four runs. Lance Ray was 3-4 with a walk and his eighth and ninth doubles. Danny Ortiz was 3-5. Danny Santana was 2-5 with his third home run. Jairo Perez was 2-5 with his tenth double. Michael Gonzales was 1-3 with two walks and his third home run. BELOIT 6, PEORIA 5 Tim Shibuya started for the Snappers and dropped his ERA to 2.83 with five solid innings. He gave up two runs (1 earned) on four hits. He walked two and struck out two. Bart Carter gave up two runs (1 earned) on two hits in 1.1 innings. Michael Tonkin gave up one run on three hits in two innings. Clinton Dempster came on and got the final batter to strikeout to end the game. Eddie Rosario was 2-5 with his second home run of the year. He drove in three runs. AJ Pettersen was 2-4 with a walk. Rory Rhodes went 1-3 with two walks. Drew Leachman was 1-3 with two walks. Miguel Sano, on the eve of his 19th birthday, added his ninth double. --- Players of the Day for Thursday, May 10, 2012 Hitter of the Day – Oswaldo Arcia [ATTACH=CONFIG]922[/ATTACH] Pitcher of the Day – Bobby Lanigan [ATTACH=CONFIG]923[/ATTACH] --- A Look Ahead – Friday, May 11, 2012 Schedule Rochester @ Syracuse – TBD New Britain vs Reading – RHP David Bromberg Ft. Myers @ Dunedin – RHP Marty Popham Beloit @ Peoria – LHP Jason Wheeler --- 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!

He's yours... He needs to be written about... got his 2nd HR of the season tonight.

These Twins Prospects are now again available for adoption by those who do not already have an adopted prospect, or if your prospect has been promoted to the major leagues. The person who initially adeoped each player can still start a forum for their player if they have not yet been adopted. (It's been 3 weeks since players were adopted, that's long enough.) If I missed a forum started here for any of these players, please let me know. Hudson Boyd - TwinsFaninPhilly Drew Butera - LimestoneBaggy Carlos Gutierrez - JakeE141414 Daniel Ortiz - SouthDakotaTwinsFan Ben Revere - AT4MVP Tyler Robertson - LaserED62 Danny Rams - joeboo_22 Danny Santana - SDTwinsFan Nate Roberts - raindog Brett Jacobson - danoo Jorge Polanco - TRex Cole Nelson - nickpuntoismygod Ray Chang - Coach J Brett Lee - Justin JD Williams - Wachsta Mark Dolenc - TCBurgerGuy

Definitely!! I like it!

Do people still think that the Twins are looking for difference-makers for 2012 at this point? Mastroianni earned the call up. He's playing great. He's playing an exciting brand of baseball... and as Gardy said, "We'll see how he does when he gets here." But they aren't playing for 2012, so I don't get why people worry about these types of moves.

Same with PJ Walters.

I would agree with everything that he said about Mastroianni. I don't think he'll be some great major leaguer, but Terry Ryan saw him there for a week. He's hitting .350 there. He has stolen 10 bases in like 15 games or whatever. Not many others are doing anything in Rochester.

Part of player development is being in the right place for each individual. That doesn't mean pushing them to a place where they are bound to fail. I don't disagree with you on Florimon moving up to Rochester one week earlier than he did. Agreed on DJ Romero, he could maybe move up. But who was Jeff Bailey in the way of last year? Who was Baldwin blocking? Who was Aaron Bates blocking? Compare the Twins AAA roster to all other AAA rosters. The Twins probably have more young players, even prospects there than most. so, oK, minor leagues are not 100% about player development, but it should be 100% about doing what is best for the prospects, and that isn't always going to be pushing them too fast. Who was PJ Walters blocking? Who was Daryl Thompson blocking? Who is Deibinson Romero blocking, since he's the same age as those other guys and could have been a 6-year minor league free agent.

Clearly Valencia has the talent and confidence to succeed in the big leagues. This step backwards is likely/hopefully the thing that can help him figure things out again. Consider this as well... if Valencia spent the whole season with the Twins, he would most likely be a Super 2 and make a bunch of money next year. If he goes down for a month (maybe 5 weeks), something clicks and he turns the career around, the Twins get an extra year of time at near-league minimum.

You can view the page at http://www.twinsdaily.com/content.php?530-Twins-Blue-Jays-Series-Preview

The Twins just finished a three game series against the Angels, and on Thursday night, they will start a four game set at Target Field against the Toronto Blue Jays. To say that the Blue Jays have had the Twins numbers in recent years is a massive understatement. Let’s take a look: [TABLE=align: center] Year W-L RS RA 2011 1-5 14 44 2010 3-6 34 59 2009 3-5 28 44 2008 0-6 19 35 2007 4-6 40 59 2006 2-5 25 32 [/TABLE] In 2011, the Twins were really bad and the Blue Jays were good, but the domination was uncanny. Even in recent years when the Twins have been very good and the Blue Jays were not good, the Jays had the Twins number. The one win the Twins got came in the third game and was 4-3 decision in which Nick Blackburn topped lefty Brett Cecil. Cecil was sent back to AA to start the 2012 season (no, not just because he lost to the Twins). In those six games in 2011, the Blue Jays collected 10 doubles, three triples and 13 home runs against the Twins. Jose Bautista led the way. He had one double and in incredible seven home runs, including three home runs in the final meeting of these teams. Catcher JP Arencibia knocked a double, a triple and three home runs against the Twins. Seemingly every Blue Jays hitter contributed. The Blue Jays enter this series with a 17-14 record while the Twins are at 8-22. Their record is as much about their pitching as it is about their hitting. The Twins are lucky in that they don’t have to face Brandon Morrow, but Henderson Alvarez, Ricky Romero, Kyle Drabek and Drew Hutchinson will get to face Twins hitters. (note – Blue Jays’ player stats are through Tuesday, unless noted) What would you have said if, a little over a month into the season, I told you that the two best hitters for the Blue Jays were Edwin Encarnacion and Kelly Johnson. Encarnacion is hitting .270/.326/.574 with eight doubles, nine homers (10th homer on Wednesday) and 25 RBI. Johnson is hitting .269/.383/.472 with a double, seven homers and 18 RBI. Would you have believed me if I had told you that Jose Bautista would have a sub-700 OPS? Coming into the Twins series, Bautista is hitting just .187/.318/.355 (.673) with three doubles and five home runs. Yet, they have four hitters performing even worse than that! JP Arencibia - .187/.318/.355 (.654) with five doubles and two homers. Colby Rasmus - .206/.274/.363 (.637) with three doubles, two triples and three homers. Yunel Escobar - .248/.275/.309 (.624) with five doubles, one triple and one home run. Adam Lind - .186/.275/.309 (.585) with six doubles and two home runs. The Twins will send Jason Marquis, PJ Walters, Nick Blackburn and Scott Diamond to the mound. The Jays won on Wednesday to break a three-game losing streak. The Twins did a nice job of keeping Albert Pujols cold. Can they do the same with Jose Bautista? Well, that’s why they play the games! [ATTACH=CONFIG]913[/ATTACH]

I'll let TFFA give his opinion too, but I'll answer too. I 100% agree that the minor leagues are all about player development... and I 100% believe that moving Benson down a level was the right thing to do.

You can view the page at http://www.twinsdaily.com/content.php?528-Valencia-Optioned-to-Rochester

Immediately following the Twins loss tonight against the Angels, the team announced that they had optioned 3B Danny Valencia and Designated LHP Matt Maloney for Assignment. The selected the contract of RHP PJ Walters and OF/2B Darin Mastroianni. Valencia has really struggled with the bat and glove throughout the season, and yet the timing here is a little surprising. The hope would be that he is able to figure things out down in Rochester and come back and resume his role as the team's starting 3B. Maloney had a solid spring training, but really has struggled in the season's first five weeks. Mastroianni started the season by struggling for two weeks in New Britain (AA), but he has been hitting nearly .360 through three weeks with AAA Rochester, playing LF and some 2B. He has ten stolen bases with the Red Wings, including stealing home on Monday. He will likely be with the Twins in time to play his former organization, the Toronto Blue Jays. PJ Walters played for the Blue Jays and Cardinals last year and was part of the big July trade between the teams. He has posted a 3-1 record with a 2.70 ERA in AAA. So, the question I have is... who is the Twins starting 3B now? Carroll? Plouffe? What are your thoughts on the moves? [ATTACH=CONFIG]907[/ATTACH]

Shane - If they didn't sign minor league veterans for Rochester, the Twins wouldn't have Jared Burton. Aaron Bates was a pretty good signing. Rene Rivera has been of value. Chris Colabello has been a good sign. Bailey and Lambin were long-time International League All Stars. Bailey had some big league success. Matt Brown had big league time. Wilkin Ramirez was a good signing this year. Where would the Rochester pitching staff be without some minor league veterans? All organizations hvae to sprinkle in some minor league veterans. Bailey was terrible, so was Lambin. If they would hvae been at all good, they probably would have been given a shot with the Twins. Link the 'blog' in the forums. Comments in two places, I guess... but may be more. YHIMH - I just have a hard time believing that a guy with 40 strikeouts in about 120 plate appearances isn't being challenged. I might, as a manager or minor league decision-maker, challenge him to say... hey, if you cut your K-Rate to 25 in your next 120 plate appearances, we'll move you up.

I agree with this.