zakprior

It annoys me that teams/organisations think like this. The fact is: we have to pay $25M to Ricky over the next 2 years. I now don't care about that $25m as it has gone, we have to pay it, it's a sunk cost. So, as far as I see it, we want to maximise his value. I'd say that'll happen in the pen! I don't care what Ricky says or thinks, he's getting paid a lot of money he'll do as asked or come to a mutual agreement to void the contract (which he obviously won't do). I don't see why we'd start him just because of what we are paying him. That should now be irrelevant. The way it should be looked at: we have an entire organisation at our level of payroll, no matter who plays where and who is being paid what, let's maximise wins with these players.

I think the six man rotation only works if you have a load of starters that go deep into the game leaving little work for the 7 relievers. Then doing a six man works because each of those players who go deep into games gets an extra day of rest, works out pretty well. Santana did it a few times but the twins starters typically don't work really late into the game. Thus straining the bullpen and giving extra rest to starters who typically don't throw that much. Overall I'd say it's a no for the twins. I know this is all agent chatter, but if he were to refuse to go to the 'pen, any legal action that could happen and get the Twins off the hook for the remaining $25m?

I totally disagree with the idea that a 90 loss ,team of prospects, doesn't need a dominant closer like we know Glen can and will be. I would in fact argue the opposite, when bringing prospects through I think it is a great position of safety to have a good closer. You can say to the younger guys, go out there and win it in 8, because the 9th is Glen's and we will be totally safe. If we were to allow the closer spot to be taken by someone more inexperienced who is more likely to give up the save, it will not give particularly good team moral, making those new prospects think that they don't have a chance to win. Where as with a dominant closer like Glen, they will know they can win. Not to mention, if we get rid of players like Glen, then we contribute to the team that continues to lose 90 games. He is a piece worthy of a winning team. The fact that he is signed through 2018 means he needs to stay around to be on the next winning Twins team. The Twins need him and he needs/wants the Twins.

This is what happened.

Having Fuld to lead off is not a great idea. Just don't see the same production continuing. Ideal situation is this line up with a resurgent Hicks at the top of the line up upon his return. Maybe, just maybe and I mean maybe if Suzuki continues to hit as he has, he could head to the top of the line up? Ultimately with an OBP around .350 Dozier remains an excellent lead off guy, his ability to hit a HR just allows us to get going quickly. Maybe an Ian Kinsler types from his time in Texas.

At this moment in time Kohl Stewart has made four starts in Cedar Rapids. All of which are yielding slow improvement. His first game he gave up 2 ER in 5 IP. The next he gave up 3 ER in 4 IP. Following that he have up his first loss of the season by giving up 2 ER in 5 IP. His best start of the year came in his last start. Against Clinton he went for 6 innings giving up 1 run, it was however not earned. Overall Kohl has a good 3.15 ERA in a total of 20IP. What has been disappointing are his strikeout totals, only accumulating 13 so far. Although in his latest start he did K6 in 6IP. So hopefully a slow start with more K's to come. Walks so far have been excellent with only 4 on the year, 1 in each outing. While his average that he is giving up is down at .164. As such the signs have been there that he should be able to push his ERA down a little bit and his K's up to show the high upside that he has as a prospect. What seems to be coming out of the Twins at the moment is that Kohl will be staying at Low A all year unless he starts absolutely dominating the batters in the Midwest League. Chances are that at the age of 19 this is nothing but a good thing. Although if the quality from the latest outing continues I would consider him to go up for the last couple of months to Ft Myers to see how he handles it.

With his OBP as it is I feel he can fit the role of lead off hitter with the players currently on the Twins roster. If he can keep the walks up and hit a bit more he could end up pushing the OBP to roughly .340 which is close to his Minor League line. In that case he would be a good lead off hitter, not elite, but good enough for now. Ultimately by 2016 i'm sure the Twins would like a line up of Hicks, Buxton, Mauer and Sano. As such if those prospects are all able to play an an average level in the majors Dozier will likely be pushed back to later in the line up. Has the potential to be scary when you add in Arcia and Pinto. Defensively Dozier requires a place in the team as he has been excellent. If he can keep up the 20 home run level power he will be worth a place in the team until he becomes a free agent.

Personally I quite like this look at May. What it means is that he in a 30 start season with the twins he might give up 2 or 3 games in which he gives up a ton of runs, whilst that inflates his ERA it means in 27 games he will be competitive. As such, three almost guaranteed loses, but 27 games in which the team is given an excellent chance to win. I would take that.

Kohl Stewart is a right hander who was drafted by the Twins with the 4th pick in the 1st round of the 2013 amateur draft. He was drafted out of St. Pius X High School in Houston, TX, where he has also received a scholarship to attend Texas A+M as a Quarterback in Football. He choose to sign for the Twins for a £4,544,400. He stands at 6’ 3” and weighs anywhere between 190lbs and 210lbs dependent on which reports you read. He is considered, by most prospect rankings, to be the Twins second best pitching prospect after Alex Meyer. Stewart’s pitching repertoire is based around his fastball which comfortably sits in the mid 90s and can hit the upper 90s. His best pitch, however, is considered to be his slider, often quoted as being a “wipeout” pitch. He also has a changeup, a curveball and has been playing around with a sinker. These pitches have not been as effective as the other two at this point, but the Twins will look to expand on these to ensure he is able to remain a starter and not head to the bullpen. With these pitches Stewart has the potential to be a special player at big league level, there is of course a long way to go though. His ability to play both Baseball and Football show both his intellect and athleticism. Following his entrance to the Twins’ farm system in 2013 he played for both Rookie League affiliates. He started with the Gulf Coast Twins playing in 6 games, starting 3 with a 1.69 ERA striking out 16 in this time. He moved up toward the end of the year to start one game in Elizabethton completing 4 innings giving up 0 runs while striking out 8. Overall in 2013 through 20 innings. Stewart did not allow a home run while walking 4 batters. To start 2014 Stewart has been sent to low Class A playing for the Cedar Rapids Kernels, where he will have the chance to start. Apologies about this being a tad late. I have missed Stewart’s two starts, but following this I will update after each start. I will update about these first two starts soon.

Kohl Stewart!

The umpires themselves don't want it.

Suzuki hitting that will give him at least 2 months of batting 2nd. Gardy will be suggesting when he is batting .150 "he showed us on opening day that he can hit".

Pretty good start. Might as well crack another beer open.

Great shout ChiTown. Just cracked open a bottle of Grolsch. Although it is currently 8.30pm where I am, so kind of acceptable. Also watching the Cubs Pirates game, Liriano was excellent until the 6th. Painful to watch if Nolasco doesn't pitch well today.

Arizona Diamondbacks - 80.5 - Over Atlanta Braves - 87.5 - Under Baltimore Orioles - 80.5 - Over Boston Red Sox - 87.5 - Over Chicago Cubs - - 69.5 - Over Chicago White Sox - 75.5 - Under Cincinnati Reds - 84.5 - Over Cleveland Indians - 80.5 - Over Colorado Rockies - 76.5 - Over Detroit Tigers - 89.5 - Over Houston Astros - 62.5 - Under Kansas City Royals - 81.5 - Under Los Angeles Angels - 86.5 - Over Los Angeles Dodgers - 92.5 - Under Miami Marlins - 69.5 - Over Milwaukee Brewers - 79.5 - Under Minnesota Twins - 70.5 - Over New York Mets - 73.5 - Over New York Yankees - 86.5 - Over Oakland Athletics - 88.5 - Over Philadelphia Phillies - 76.5 - Over Pittsburgh Pirates - 83.5 - Over San Diego Padres - 78.5 - Under San Francisco Giants - 86.5 - Under Seattle Mariners - 81.5 - Under St. Louis Cardinals - 90.5 - Over Tampa Bay Rays - 88.5 - Over Texas Rangers - 86.5 - Over Toronto Blue Jays - 79.5 - Under Washington Nationals - 88.5 - Over Tie breaker: The two AL WC teams will be: Tampa Bay and Oakland Tie breaker 2: The two NL WC teams will be: Cincinnati and Pittsburgh