goulik

I completely get this response and tend to agree but Granite has forced his way up and now we need to make room for him possibly permanently. If he proves he can hit MLB pitching, Trading Rosario is one option and the other is trading Grossman. With our need for so many pitchers in the BP, we cannot afford 5 outfielders can we?

Kinzler: Some of TRs dumpster dives worked and that's why all GMs do it... (And, yes I know the ratio of those that work vs don't work is a bad ratio but ALL GMs do it)

Call him up while he's hot!

Are you from Chicago or a Communist?

He's in the minors on a minor league contract?

There has not been much to report lately but there is a pinned thread at the top of the minor league forum

Exactly. Don't stay stuck on the problem and complain about what's wrong or just complain about other people's solutions because they are not good enough, look at what can be done! What are the best short term and long term options. Do we have a better option than Mejia? No? Then let's let the rookie develop and accept the ups and downs of a rookie pitcher and hope he becomes a solid number three and dream that maybe he could even be a two. Do we have a better solution than Buxton in center? No? Then let's accept that he's not hitting well, enjoy the defense and chaos when he does get on base and hope he figures out how to hit MLB pitching over time like he did at every other level. Is Santiago the best we got to pitch fourth? Yep... Ok, hopefully down the road we can move him down to fifth in the rotation. Come on Gibson, you can do it!! Can't we just make a trade? Not without a trading partner and as we learned last winter with Dozier, how we value people and what we on TD think are fair trades don't always jive with opposing GMs opinions of our players worth. We will learn more in three weeks. I will be surprised if any trades happen with our club before then.

There are two ways of examining and critiquing things in life. You can look at problems and talk about what should not be done or you can look at things and examine how you can make things better. One way of looking at things finds lots of problems that need fixing. The other way looks at how to improve things whether there are problems or not. When I was young, I was told to focus not on the problems but to focus on the solutions. Problems can wear you down and make you feel bad about things. Solutions give you hope and help you make the world a better place. I was told "Don't focus on the negative, focus on the positives and how to make it better." This mindset has helped me a lot in life. It helps keep my motivation and morale up as I face obstacles. It has also made me someone others come to when they have problems. I don't get down on them for their mistakes but I help them see ways of improving the situation in the short term and in the long term. I have found I just don't like being around the problem oriented people because they just drag my morale down. I spend all this time helping them find solutions and they never move on to solving problems because they are just mired in their own negativity. When it comes to fandom, I see no point in focusing on the problems of a team. All teams have problems and the probability of my team winning in any given season is 1 out of approximately 30 (depending on the league) I enjoy baseball because you can watch the process of trying to build a team through all the minor leagues. I become a fan of the players and enjoy watching them play. any time my team wins more than it loses is a good year because I got to watch more wins than losses. Having said that, I also like to examine the solutions that could lead to a World Series. Is the solution from within or from outside. Do we have enough depth at a position to trade for needs and are there other teams with depth and needs that are the opposite of us so as to facilitate that trade? That is always hard to find. I see no reason to rag on players or management. Focusing on weaknesses doesnt help. But are there improvements out there and how do we realistically get ahold of those improvements. I have enjoyed the off season moves of the wolves and wild recently and hope the Vikings have shored up that O-Line. What are the viable solutions for the Twins? Unfortunately, as badly as we want a trade now, the other teams are not going to move before the end of the month without being blown away. Do we mortgage the future for a 500 team this year or do we let the slow build finish its evolution with an eye for next year. Everyone is sick of waiting for next year but hey, were not losing 100, were not losing 90, there is a chance we wont lose 80...Im enjoying the process, the wins, Sano hitting bombs, Buxton chasing down fly balls, Berrios turning into what we hoped and the dream that Mejia might be better than we hoped for out of last years trade. Im enjoying some of the solutions we have already found and I am hoping to see a couple more by the end of the month.

Wow Jorge! Didn't see that one as a real possibility yet. Hope it goes well!!

Very enjoyable article

"I was just trying to stay on fastballs," Rooker said. "I feel like that's how my approach was throughout college. Teams were giving me fastballs and I don't want to miss them. I want to make the team prove to me that they can throw off-speed pitches for strikes before I start to respect that pitch and stay on fastballs as much as I can and try to put my best swings on them." I think he just told opposing pitchers how to beat him...

Isn't the oldest 24/Vadim? Seems this GCL squad has more than usual older players... Is that true or my misperception? In any case, thank you for the run down,

Its also possible that some of the help has already arrived in the forms of Busenitz and Hildenberg. These rookie bullpen arms may have some ups and downs but they may show long term success with some good coaching, managerial usage, and some patience.

Wade has continued in his cold streak. Over the last 10 games, he is 9 for 35 for a 257 BA. He has added 7 more walks during that time but his only extra base hit since the last update was a double and his season slash has dropped to 270/405/369 for a 774 OPS. I was hoping he would continue to tear things up and get a midseason promotion to Rochester but it looks like he may need the full season in AA. Going just by stats, it appears pitchers have made an adjustment and now he needs to make a corresponding adjustment and take his game to the next level (literally) I still have faith that he will get it done.

Who? Where is he from and when did we sign him? First year DSL? (Oh, and you forgot the 2017...Chicago is gonna come after you now...)

Unfortunately after 30 games and 110 AAA at bats the slash line remains similar to my last post...236/267/273 for a 540 OPS. At Chattanooga his final line was 286/362/328 for a 690 OPS and his career OPS is 634 so he never has been nor should we ever expect him to be more than a really good defensive SS. Evidence file B: he has 9 doubles, no triples, no home runs, 2 Stolen bases and 6 Caught stealing. But it is All about the defense. See the video on this minor league report if you don't believe me: http://twinsdaily.com/topic/26484-article-twins-minor-league-report-623-albanese-kendrick-lead-e-twins-to-walkoff-win/ That is crazy deep and incredibly accurate for how he threw that. I like how the umpire punches him out like he was enjoying what he had just seen as well. Really, it wasn't even that close a play but it should have been a hit. Didn't see it? Go see it, its good... Defensively, Vielma has been exclusively a SS at Rochester after splitting his time with Gordon between 2B and SS the first 30 some games of this year.

29 signed which is a very high number... Sign that Falvine are clearing MiLB chaff? Doubt any HS kids will be signed... This may be our final list. Just add $ signs behind the names listed.

Scoreless inning in his debut... Nice start!

Palacios has been called up to High A after hitting 320/362/544 with a 907 OPS. He has hit 13 doubles, 6 triples, and 11 Home Runs. He walked only 12 times and struck out 46. Defensively, he played all 586 innings at SS. He committed 10 errors so far this year for a 961 FPCT I expect that he will go through an adjustment period in FM.

Barnes 450,000Contreras 10,000 Sammons 10,000 Faucher 10,000 All listed as signed http://m.mlb.com/news/article/237042574/2017-draft-signing-and-bonus-tracker/

Lets get real. We came into the season looking at Santana, Santiago, Hughes, May, Gibson as the starting rotation with Berrios and Mejia in the minors. In case of emergency we had Wheeler who put up decent numbers for a couple years at AAA but didnt project well, and Gonsalves hopefully would be ready by mid-season. None of that counted AAAA filler we have also thrown at the wall. From that list, we lost May all season, Gonsalves lost time and development, Santiago and Hughes also went down injured and Gibson was so bad we sent him down for a while. Really? You're calling the FO inept because they threw Turley out there when he had been tearing it up in AAA for us? I would a lot rather give him three rips at it then see the likes of pitchers like Wilk anymore. I guess now we will send him down and Heston is next? Hopefully Santiago is ready to come back and we dont have to see that yet...

Of all the DFA'd by other club signings this year, this one is the best... That doesn't say a whole lot but it's not Wilk...

If I were you, I would make threats less of a habit... Seriously though, I wonder if a short wake up call might help. Does he have options? If so, maybe a brief trip to Rochester would tell him how important it is to keep your head in the game. The kid is 25. He still has time to learn. I would much rather have an intelligent, experienced, wiser Rosario on our team than going the likes of Go Go Gomez or Aaron Hicks. I love Granite as a fourth outfielder but I would like more power from left than Granite has long term. Short term for a wake up call... I'm down with that

First, let me say that I weighted this with what I consider likliehood of contributing at the MLB level EVER so the farther from the majors, the lower they drop on this ranking vs talent/potential as the second, not the first factor. I also placed a lot of weight on current health and performance so my list may really look whacked out and is likely to get hammered but I dont care. GORDON ROMERO (Beats Gonsalves by health) GONSALVES LEWIS WADE ROOKER BUSENITZ R. ROSARIO PALKA KIRRILOFF (Right behind Wade if he had been healthy...maybe even in front) GRANITE (Closeness to majors and uique base stealing skills a big deal here) PALACIOS ENLOW HILDENBERGER DIAZ JAVIER If I redo this in an hour, I would probably change a lot...Past Gordon, I dont think there is cant miss talent. Too many really talented people in the low minors that may fizzle like we have seen too many times (Stewart, Jay, Harrison) and role players in the high minors that will probably make it but not perenial all stars. Romero has the best potential to blow us away in the near term but he has not quite done that yet for me.

Harrison has 5 hits and 10 walks in his last 45 plate appearances for a 143 BA over that span dropping his overall BA to 183 on the year. His OPS has dropped to 555. The kid has lost it and I think it's time the franchise cut bait and see if someone else can save his career cuz it has flatlined in Chattanooga. It's the time of year when promotions start and I'm predicting Harrison will make room for one of those promotions