goulik

The big worry I have is that it seems a major reason for the yo-yo effect has been managers that don't play the young guys. We saw this with Gardy for years and it was a common story during his era. Now Molly just sits them on a bench until the GM demotes them. My last gripe: There really isn't much of a reason to play Suzuki for the rest of the year to be honest. Playing Him at DH? smh. There is NO explanation worth discussing. I wouldn't use him at DH unless every other hitter on the team was injured and we were down to 9.

What a season for this young man and what the heck are they doing with his career? Follow this trail, it gets weird... Last year, Brian was signed by the Twins and assigned to the GCL club June 15 and 22 respectively. He hit 273/414/327 for a 742 OPS and a July 18th promotion to Elizabethton. There he hit 333/414/510 over the remainder of the season. So it came as no surprise to see 23 year old Brian Olson placed on the Cedar Rapids squad in May. All normal except he was a little old for the leagues. 2016 started very well also and as you can see in SD's post above a hot start and a ball off the thumb led to some worry. No worries though, Olson was healthy and was promoted nine days later to Fort Meyers. A one month stint and he was back in CR on June 22nd. July 18th he was promoted back to FM. But why? His CR stats for the year were 211/274/289! He may have started the first couple of weeks hot but he went stone cold in CR. In a very strange move, he was demoted to the GCL Twins Aug. 5 but I have not found an injury report. He spent 3 weeks there and was given only 23 at bats so he must have been hurt but there was not DL time. He hit 217/357/348 for the GCL Twins. August 28th he was sent back to Fort Meyers where we would expect him to finish the season. His final FM line is 250/342/313 so that was better than GCL or CR but not a great line. One that could get him back to FM to start next year. Except he was promoted to Rochester for the last half week of the season. He was only given 3 at bats without a hit so he must have been a defensive need promotion for the last 3-4 games. But if you needed a body in Rochester, why Brian? So on the year he was promoted 4 times and twice demoted (once probably due to injury?) and despite very limited offensive production, he ended in AAA. What a roller coaster ride for this young man. I have to point out some other stats. 2 errors on the season in 204 innings at first. Pretty solid. Only 134 at bats on the whole season combined. He really only was given half a seasons playing time. A combined 216/301/299 slash with a 599 OPS. We didnt have anyone else to move to Rochester for those last few games? I hope Brian can get some consistent playinng time in a healthy 2017 and maybe these numbers will turn around but I think he belongs back in FM to start 2017.

Thanks for the early sneak peak

I'm very happy to hear he's been given this opportunity! Congratulations Mr. Beresford!

Eye popping numbers from Gonsalves. I sure hope we see his debut next year.

Its a government conspiracy. Now that you have pointed it on Social media, your life is in danger. Hopefully you read this before the post is deleted. Destroy your computer, they are tracking you through the Internet. Get all your cash and run! Don't use credit cards until your in South Ameriica. They are tracking those too. Do not try to contact me. Good luck.

After wins they like to prank people that had big performances while they are being interviewed. it's not like they are running onto the field and having a World Series win style dog pile. They aren't going crazy or anything. The on field celebration was reasonable ( smiles and high fives/hand shakes) and the rest is just comraderie. No harm in it.

Many voices have encouraged the Twins to just go ahead and lose so we can get the first pick in the draft. The Common Man has his tongue firmly in his cheek as he campaigns for the Twins to be epically bad but some buy into that philosophy as a good one. I disagree. I want wins now and I don't mind dropping in the draft order. Why don't I care about the draft pick? It's simple really, it will mean some young guys are making progress and there will be hope for the near future. I would rather see that we are actually building something than wait 4-6 years for another rookie debut. I want to see Gibson, Berrios, and Santiago strike out 9+ batters in a game and go 7-8 innings. I want Wimmers, Chargios, O'Rourke, May, Rogers, and the rest of the pen used properly in their respective areas of strength and shutting down games. I want to see Polanco, Kepler, Buxton, Rosario, and Sano look like major leaguers, gain confidence and build something for next year. I want to see hope in these guys. Then there are the veterans. Mauer is going to be here next year. I want to see him driving the ball for doubles and homers, refinding his .300+ BA swing, and being a part of a near future turn around. Dozier is going to be here and I'm enjoying the homers. I want Santana to see all of this and be excited to be ready for next year. Finally, since Molitor is promised to us to be here, I want to see him and the rest of the coaches running this team in a way that gives me hope I won't be watching a garbage team next year. Yeah I want wins now! If all that happened, no one would care who we drafted next year. I don't want to wait for the next Sano, Buxton, Mauer, or Morneau. I want to watch good baseball now and in the near future. I'm done caring about draft position.

This answer makes sense to me even if Seth meant Short instead of shot. The cool thing about lists like this is that everyone has stats they deem worthy or unworthy of consideration (age, k/9, K/BB, innings, WAR) and we all can read, enjoy and learn some things while enjoying a pass time. I ranked him below Hellquist because while giving up 0 walks, he gave up more hits that, to me, more than off set the fewer walks. Just something that stood out to me.

He had Tommy John surgery Spring 2015

I would rank them Hellquist, Anderson, Ynoa, Wells, McGuff. Total number of innings pitched has to come into play with the SSS of short season which makes it hard to push a reliever into the discussion at all. Hats off to McGuff for pushing his way into the conversation. Ynoa would have easily won this for me if not for the last couple games but long term I think he is probably the most Likely to emerge as a top prospect and MLB starter.

Thanks for the report. You did forget to finish typing the AA score though.

I found a lot of their rankings pretty questionable especially when looking at their own stats (like WAR). Why use statistics when your own biased opinion will work just as well to write an article and get clicks?

Found this article: Ranking MLB Catchers worst to first. How many clicks will it take to get to Suzuki? Make a guess before checking. http://baseball-players.pointafter.com/stories/8852/ranking-mlb-catchers-worst-best-2015?utm_medium=cm&utm_source=outbrain&utm_campaign=ao.cm.ob.dt.8852#8-Kurt-Suzuki-Minnesota-Twins

It takes more than one part to make a whole so, Yes. Part of the problem may be the farm system but there are parts of that farm system that are consistently good too. I believe when players get to AA, AAA, and MLB, we should already have a REALLY good handle on who these players are and where they should be playing. I do not understand the moving the pieces around at the higher levels after success at lower levels philosophy that has occurred too much the past few seasons. But that is just my amatuer, never played in the minors or majors view.

Patrick James Light Born March 29, 1991 (25 yrs) in Colts Neck NJ RHP- Reliever Drafted first round Compensation Round (#37 Overall) 2012 by Boston Red Sox (Drafted in 28th round 2009 by Twins, did not sign) Acquired Via Trade for Fernando 8/1/2016 6'5" and 220 lbs After being drafted in 2012, Light spent his first 3 seasons in one of the 3 A level leagues of the Boston farm system. In 2015, He quickly moved through AA and on to Pawtucket in AAA where he began this year. He made his MLB debut for Boston earlier this year on April 26th. After 2 short outings, he was optioned back to Pawtucket until his trade to Minnesota. He was called up his second time on August 21st and is currently pitching out of the Twins Bullpen. Unfortunately, Light has not been Lights out (yet). Despite a 2.37 ERA in AAA this year with 42 K's in 38 innings, Light has given up 12 Runs, 6 Walks, and a hit batter in 8 MLB innings. He has also shown his ability to strike people out, its just usually been a little too late. Despite what we have seen, it is important to see SSS when it is right in front of our eyes. We traded Abad who was performing very well in our bullpen because Boston was offering more talent that just was not MLB ready or reliable enough for a playoff run. The words we have heard too many times lately have to also be used here... We have to be patient. (I know some of you just face palmed but it is sadly true) I believe Light can be a reliable bullpen piece with great cost control for the next several years and into our next playoff run.

I wouldn't consider firing Molitor unless we go on an extended losing streak and it seems like the young guys on the team are nose diving at the end of the season instead of making progress

Patrick Michael Dean Born May 25, 1989 (27 yrs) Waterbury Conn. LHP-Starter 6'1" and 195lbs Selected 3rd Round, 2010 Pat Dean began the year in AAA Rochester where he spent all of last season. In 2015, Dean went 12-11 with a 2.82 ERA. He had 5 complete games and 3 complete game shut outs. He threw 179 innings with 98 K's to 36 walks for a nice k/bb ratio but his K/9 ratio was still suspect. His GO/AO ratio was .77. This year the numbers have not been as pretty as he has spent two stints with the Twins and two with Rochester. To be fair, he was doing quite well until his first call-up. He had a 3.00 ERA despite his 1-3 record. He had a 20/7 K/BB ratio. He got called up! As we all know, Dean has also spent significant time with the Twins this year. He has started 8 games and appeared as a reliever in 5 others. Our memory tells us that it has been a train wreck but actually, his first few games were not that bad. He actually had a 3.43 ERA after his first 4 appearances. He was yanked after allowing 4 runs in 5 innings vs Oakland, again after 4 runs in 4.1 vs Miami but came back for a quality start on June 12th allowing 1 run on 3 hits in 6.1 innings. Then the wheels came off. He gave up 7 runs in 2.1 innings vs the yankees and woke up in Rochester. After getting sent back down, Dean continued to struggle. In Rochester he now has compiled 87 innings and has allowed the same number of home runs and only two fewer runs over all than all of last year in AAA. His AAA ERA is at 5.56 in 16 starts. He has one complete game and a 5-7 record. He has struck out 49 hitters to 19 walks so those ratios are similar to last year but not as good as he began the year. On August 12th Dean was recalled but this time to the bullpen. The results in his second call up have not been any better than the first. His ERA has steadily climbed since May and now sits at 6.75 at the MLB level. This will probably be Dean's last prospect page due to his Twins exposure but it should be noted that he has put up decent numbers before this year. At Twins Daily, many readers want to quickly crucify lesser known prospects especially when things go South in the first year. There is still a chance that he could be a back of the rotation pitcher or innings eating reliever at the MLB level but he needs to make adjustments before he is relegated by FO's across the country as just another Andrew Albers type, AAAA player.

Born Feb. 2nd, 1989 in Nashville Tenn. (27 yrs) LH Starting Pitcher- Rochester Red Wings 6th round draft pick 2010 6'2", 220 lbs Logan Reece Darnell was initially a fast mover in the Twins system. He played in Elizabethton his rookie year. His second season in the organization he hopped right up from low A his first 6 starts, to high A for the meat of the season over 15 starts, to AA for his final 5 starts. He stalled out for 2012 at New Britain with 28 starts, a 308 BA against and a 5.08 ERA. He managed to win 11 to 12 losses and he struck out twice as many as he walked (98-47) but that is only a K/9 rate of around 5 (est). In 2013, he was 6-6 in 15 starts with an ERA of 2.61, K/9 over 7 and BA against down to 263 before finishing the year in Rochester where his ERA jumped to 4.26 in 12 starts and batters teed off at a 292 BA against. In 2014, Darnell got his chance. He put in 115 inning in Rochester with 19 starts but the big news for him was the MLB call up. In 4 starts and 3 relief appearances, Darnell threw only 24 innings giving up 19 earned runsHe struck out almost a batter per inning (22) but the 307 BA against and 5 home runs got him demoted. Despite a 2.78 and 3.53 ERA the last two years and holding Opp. BA to 258 and 260 the past two seasons, he has not been back. Whats ahead: Currently, Logan is on the DL. As a 27 year old, he is nearly done with being considered a prospect. Long term, I think he is a future bullpen option at best but who knows until he really gets a shot. 28 of 35 appearances in 2015 were out of the bullpen as were 3 of his MLB appearances. He looked awful when he started for the Twins in 2014 but he has done poorly with each of the last 3 promotions. 2 of them he kept getting chances and turned out to be half decent. 4 starts isnt much of an audition. Too bad he's hurt. I would have rather auditioned Darnell (or Wheeler) than watch Albers try again.

At $25,000 per player Annual salary and assuming 150 minor league players, every team would pay 3.75 million in minor league salaries... That doesn't sound that out of line and that would be more than triple what most of them are making. Considering the dollars thrown around at the MLB level, why is this so outrageous?

I suspect a tongue in the cheek and a wink were missing from this post...

I agree that he needs to be given a shot and this lost season may be the best time to bring him up. Worst case are scenario, he sees he needs to work on some things in AAA to start next year. The good news is, Palka and Granite are gonna be nipping at the heels. Competition is a good thing.

Then you move on from Grossman...

Actually, I think he just did. Seth said he would like to see both of them stay up and work through it. I think what Seth has done here is what is missing in much of the Internet world. He has disagreed while not being disagreeable. He can reasonably see both sides of the arguments and disagree without arguing. I like that approach. I have seen lots of posts including a whole thread questioning why certain players have not been demoted. Today those same players were demoted. Some of us disagree with parts of this move. There is no reason any of us should be disrespectful about it. Albers? I disagree with the move despite his numbers this year. Rather see Gonsalves or Wheeler. Duffey to the minors? I prefer bullpen. Berrios? He's lost. Maybe it will be more than a week in the minors if he can help them to the playoffs. Wimmers? Yes, he finally made it!

Wish granted. Now what will we end up with instead? When is Gonsalves supposed to start next? If it's tonight, is he up next?