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Jim Crikket

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Blog Entries posted by Jim Crikket

  1. Jim Crikket
    There seemed to be much consternation in some corners of the Twins blogosphere the last couple of days as the final roster decisions became evident.
     
    Alex Presley began spring training as a competitor for the Twins centerfield job. He leaves spring training a member of the Astros after Houston claimed him from the Twins on waivers.
     
    Lefty pitcher Scott Diamond and 1B/OF Chris Parmelee had inside lanes on roster spots entering camp, but neither made much of an impression on the Twins. In fact, they obviously didn’t make much of an impression on anyone else, either, since both players cleared waivers. Both are now members of the Rochester Red Wings (AAA).
     
    Saturday, catcher Dan Rohlfing was sent to Rochester, as well, in a move that was generally expected.
     
    (This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com)
     
    It’s hard to make an argument that any of the players who didn’t stick with the Twins were unfairly deprived of their roster spots. In fact, almost immediately upon learning he’d been passed over in favor of Kyle Gibson for the fifth spot in the Twins rotation, Diamond told reporters he agreed with the Twins’ decision.
     
    No, none of these players really impressed, so that’s not where the disagreements come from.
     
    The problem many fans seem to have is with regard to a couple of players that DID make the Twins Opening Day roster; veterans Jason Kubel and Jason Bartlett.
     
    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Bartletta2014-600x445.jpg
    Jason Bartlett
     
    The argument is that neither Jason put up spring training numbers that were any better than other, younger, players who were let go.
     
    That’s a valid point. Kubel hit just .196 this spring and yet, remarkably, outhit Bartlett by over 100 points. Still, both were officially added to the Twins roster on Saturday.
     
    I would agree with those who claim they didn’t “earn” their roster spots, but I’m not getting worked up over it because, frankly, nobody else earned those roster spots, either.
     
    It’s not a case of Bartlett and Kubel being handed spots while young players who are likely to be significant parts of the next generation of competitive Twins teams are being blocked from getting valuable Major League experience. Diamond and Parmelee could yet become serviceable MLB players, but when you project the lineups/rotations of the next great Twins teams, neither are likely to be listed.
     
    Likewise, while Presley certainly could contribute as a spare outfielder capable of playing some centerfield, losing him is not debilitating. By mid 2014, if the Twins decide another guy capable of playing CF would be nice to have, they’ll still have Darin Mastroianni around somewhere to call on. But, honestly, you know the Twins front office is silently hoping the next CF that joins the big league club is Byron Buxton.
     
    The Twins candidly stated that Bartlett and Kubel are on the roster because nobody proved they were clearly better than those two guys, they have significant Major League experience with winning ballclubs, and it was clearly felt that the young players with the Twins could benefit from seeing how that kind of veteran conducts himself on and off the field.
     
    That roster decisions are made based on such “intangibles” rubs some fans the wrong way. I understand that. But in the absence of tangible advantages demonstrated by someone else, I have no issue with going the route that provides some veteran leadership. And if having a couple more familiar names on the roster gives casual fans more reason to attend a game or two early in the season, too, that’s fine.
     
    The young players that showed that they deserved to stick with the team to open the season are on the squad. Kyle Gibson, Sam Deduno, Josmil Pinto, Oswaldo Arcia and Aaron Hicks may all be part of the next great Twins teams and all of them earned their roster spots. If any of them had been held back to make room for Bartlett and Kubel, I’d have been disappointed.
     
    But that’s not what happened.
     
    So with the last two roster spots, the Twins decided to keep a couple of guys who have more past than futures on the field, yet provide a clubhouse presence that the organization thinks might be helpful in developing the aforementioned young players instead of a couple other guys who likely don’t have significant futures, either. I honestly can’t argue with that logic.
     
    The critics point out that Ron Gardenhire may be relying on Bartlett to fill in as the fourth outfielder, despite having no outfield experience at any professional level. That’s a fair point, too. But I watched Bartlett play a few games in the outfield in Florida and I have to say he looked like he knew what he was doing out there. Enough so, anyway, for me not to get too worked up over the fact that he might see a little time out there occasionally.
     
    Now, if you want to argue that Bartlett and Kubel are getting roster spots that woulda-coulda-shoulda gone to other players from outside the organization that would have provided more punch to what is clearly looking like another punchless Twins offense, I heartily agree. But the decision to bypass other external options was made weeks and months ago and I see that as a separate set of decisions than what we’re talking about here.
     
    From what I’ve seen of the Twins pitching this spring, I think the rotation will be considerably improved over last year’s disaster. But the offense remains offensive and, at some point, I think the front office is going to realize they could have… and should have… done more to shore it up during the offseason.
     
    But fretting over whether Bartlett and Kubel should have made the team over Presley and Parmelee? That’s the very definition of Much Ado About Nothing.
     
    - JC
  2. Jim Crikket
    I haven't written much lately. Honestly, I haven't even read much lately. Not about baseball, anyway. There just isn't much going on that I'm particularly interested in. Sure, spring training has started, but they haven't even started playing spring training games, yet, so there just isn't much going on to capture my interest.
     
    I'm pretty sure I'll get more interested when the Grapefruit League games get underway. I guarantee I'll be more than casually interested a month from now when I'll be actually on site at the Twins' training complex in Fort Myers.
     
    However, for the past couple of weeks, it's been really hard for anything baseball-related to capture my interest; difficult, but not impossible.
     
    The story that broke a couple of weeks ago about three former minor league ballplayers filing suit against MLB, the office of the Commissioner, Commissioner Bug Selig and the three MLB organizations that owned their rights interests me.
     
    (This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com)
     
    There were several stories written about the filing, but if you didn't happen to see any of them, this article from BleacherReport was one of the more thorough articles and former ballplayer (and author) Dirk Hayhurst had a pretty blunt take on the topic, as well.
     
    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/JusticeBaseball400.jpg
     
    I know it's hard for some of us to even fathom how guys who have the talent to play a game we love at a professional level... who have the opportunity to live a dream that so many of us can only imagine getting to live... could possibly not only complain about their working conditions, but even have the gall to file a lawsuit over those conditions.
     
    It's a cliché you hear often. “I loved baseball so much, I'd have played for free.” Given that so many fans feel that way, it's pretty tough for us to empathize with these players who dare to clog our court system with a lawsuit that seemingly has little chance of success.
     
    But saying you would have played the game for free and actually doing it for nearly exactly that amount of compensation are two very different things.
     
    The attention fans play to their favorite team's minor league organization seems to grow every season. Even so, the percentage of baseball fans who give minor leaguers even a casual thought during the summer is pretty small.
     
    Those that do follow the minor leagues focus most of their attention on the early round draft picks and the big money international free agent signings. Those players get signing bonuses in the millions of dollars, so it would be pretty easy for us to just assume that most minor league ballplayers are pretty comfortable financially.
     
    But we would be wrong.
     
    Yes, if you're among the first 50 or so players selected in the annual first year player draft, you're likely to pocket a signing bonus upwards of a million dollars. But that's not even the full first two rounds of a draft that goes on for a total of 40 rounds.
     
    It's pretty safe to say that most minor league ballplayers are not concerned about who is watching over their investment portfolios. Their “portfolio” can be stashed in to the trunk or back seat of a car they hope will keep running for another year.
     
    Last year, the first year minor league player salary was $1,150 a month and that's only for the handful of months during the year that they're actually playing minor league baseball. That's also before taxes, before food and housing costs. A player reaching AAA might double that salary. Whoopee, huh?
     
    Just to be clear, it's not the local minor league organization that pays the players, it's the parent MLB organization that is responsible for minor league payrolls. In fact, some minor league clubs (including the Twins' Class A affiliate in Cedar Rapids) arrange host families for players to live with to eliminate the cost of housing during their time with the local ballclub. But not every player across the country has that option.
     
    The players probably should splurge on some insurance, too, because they pretty much have no protection if they happen to incur an injury that precludes them from working. Good thing their work doesn't often result in that kind of injury, right?
     
    Obviously, they need to get other jobs during the offseason. Of course, for some of them, there is no offseason. Their teams want them playing winter baseball somewhere. They want them to show up for offseason workouts, “fanfests” and other events. At the very least, they have to work out daily to make sure they're ready to compete for a roster spot in spring training (which, by the way, they don't get paid for, either).
     
    It takes a pretty understanding employer to hire a guy that has that many demands on his time and will just be leaving in a few months, anyway. But I'm sure there are plenty of those jobs available.
     
    “But wait,” you say. “Don't those professional baseball players have a union?”
     
    Yes and no. For minor leaguers, it's mostly no and they'd be better off if it was totally no.
     
    There is a union; the Major League Baseball Players Association. However, the MLBPA's sole use for minor leaguers appears to be to screw them over any time they can do so as a part of trade-offs to get something better for Major League players.
     
    See, the MLBPA limits its membership to Major League ballplayers. But, for reasons that nobody has ever been able to explain to me in any way that makes sense, the MLBPA is allowed, as part of the collective bargaining process, to negotiate the compensation and working conditions of minor league players, as well.
     
    Isn't that convenient?
     
    So, if the MLBPA can get a little bit more for the millionaires it represents by allowing teams to implement lower bonus allowances for new draft picks or control their minor leaguers an extra year before they are entitled to free agency, no problem.
     
    Even the drug testing program is uneven, at best. For example, once you're on a Big League roster, you can test positive for pot regularly and chances are nobody will ever know, because there are no real consequences. If you're a minor leaguer when you test positive twice, however, plan on sitting out a couple of months' worth of games... without even that meager minor league paycheck to buy those Pringles chips you have to live on.
     
    But if conditions are so bad, why have minor leaguers never unionized?
     
    The obvious reason is that minor league players all dream of being Major League players and doing anything to antagonize the people who decide which players will and won't become big leaguers is probably not a wise career move. And if players with U.S. high school and college educations fear challenging baseball's power, how likely is it that even younger men (boys, really) from impoverished regions of Latin America will do so?
     
    No, since even the Major League players that endured the same conditions on their way to the big leagues have long ago decided they have no interest in making life the least bit easier for the younger players coming up behind them to challenge for their jobs, there's almost no chance of minor leaguers ever benefiting from collective bargaining. The best they can hope for is for the courts to determine that they should at least not keep getting screwed over by someone else's collective bargaining.
     
    I'm not a labor lawyer (or a lawyer of any kind, for that matter), so I won't opine about the chances of success for the plaintiff ballplayers in the suit they've filed in a Northern California court.
     
    They claim teams are violating federal and state employment laws. I would imagine that players often work more than 50 hours a week and they are not paid overtime. At many minor league levels, the players are arguably being paid less than minimum wage on an hourly basis.
     
    Logically, I think most of us know that these players are being exploited unfairly. We know the system is wrong. But the people who would benefit from righting that wrong have no power to change things and the people who do have that power benefit the most from keeping the status quo. And unless MLB concludes it is in their own financial best interests to make changes, changes may not happen for a very long time, if ever.
     
    Things could be worse for these young men, though.
     
    What if remarkable athletes like these players got paid nothing at all? What if they weren't even allowed to accept help from host families and other fans? What if they weren't allowed to work other jobs to make ends meet?
     
    Those are silly questions, of course. If all of those things were true, these players wouldn't be working under the rules of minor league professional baseball.
     
    They'd be working under the rules of the NCAA.
     
    But that's another rant... and another legal matter(or matters)... for another day.
     
    Of course, given the rediculous NCAA restrictions college ballplayers lived under, maybe it's understandable if they think getting $5-6,000 a year to play minor league baseball is a good deal.
     
    It doesn't make it right, though.
     
    - JC
  3. Jim Crikket
    I know, you’re tired of talking about Alex Rodriguez and his war with Bud Selig and Major League Baseball over his use of Performance Enhancing Drugs.
     
    Me, too.
     
    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/nuke2.jpg
     
    Still, we all knew we were going to have to go through another bombardment of stories about the subject whenever the arbitration system played itself out and a final decision (and I use that term loosely, because I’m not all that convinced this decision is “final”) was announced concerning ARod’s suspension for using PEDs.
     
    (This article first appeared at Knuckleballsblog.com)
     
    That decision came down over the weekend and the tie-breaking member of the panel ruled that a reduction from the MLB-imposed 211 game suspension would be reduced to 162 games. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that baseball plays 162-game seasons.
     
    As I read and heard the details of the decision, I couldn’t generate even a little bit of enthusiasm for it. Even the promotional spots during CBS’ NFL Playoff game Sunday afternoon for the big “60 Minutes” interview of ARod’s one-time PED supplier, Tony Bosch, couldn’t get me to care about what any of the parties had to say. I wasn’t even going to watch the interviews that CBS magically had conducted, edited and prepared for airing the same weekend as the announcement of the arbitrator’s ruling.
     
    I channel surfed a bit after the football game ended, but I found nothing I really felt like watching. So I watched “60 Minutes.” After the half-hour segment in which Bosch, Bud Selig, Selig’s likely heir as MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred and ARod’s attorney Joseph Tacopina all got face time, I came away with one thought on the whole thing.
     
    Nuke ‘em all.
     
    I don’t believe any of them. Every one of them is lying or, at best, not revealing the entire truth.
     
    Bosch is the embodiment of sleaze.
     
    Selig did nothing to change my feelings about him. I thought he was a sanctimonious, incompetent ass before and his small bit of camera time on the show reinforced that view. Manfred is nothing more than a Selig lap dog.
     
    Tacopina has a job to do, I know. If serial killers are entitled to the best legal representation they can afford, then certainly a baseball player who finds himself on the opposite side of the Commissioner of Baseball deserves the same. But he still came across as a slimy lawyer representing an even slimier client.
     
    CBS and their interviewer, Scott Pelley, couldn’t have possibly created a more one-sided piece than what they ended up airing. I grew up watching Mike Wallace and others on “60 Minutes” play hardball with interview subjects. Bosch, Selig and Manfred got slow-pitch Nerf balls.
     
    What a joke.
     
    Some media are saying there were no winners in this debacle – that it made everyone look bad. I disagree. There was a winner. The New York Yankees escaped the “60 Minutes” segment without so much as seeing anyone have to answer a question over their obvious motives for wanting Rodriguez to be assessed the longest possible suspension.
     
    But, as everyone who is not a Yankees fan knows, any time the Yankees win at anything, everyone else loses (at least everyone else who isn’t in the business of making money from the Yankees winning a lot of baseball games).
     
    In fact, the Yankees are having one helluva party right now.
     
    With Rodriguez’’s suspension, they’re off the hook for the $25 million salary he was due for the 2014 season. That means they can either spend that money on someone who, unlike Rodriguez, is actually still good at baseball or they can use the savings to meet their stated goal of remaining below the league’s luxury tax limit for payroll this year.
     
    There’s a bit of speculation over how the team might manage to keep the player out of their Spring Training camp without violating the terms of the player agreement negotiated with the MLBPA, but here’s a point I haven’t seen mentioned in the media: If the Yankees manage to qualify for the postseason, I don’t think there’s any reason they couldn’t activate Rodriguez at that point.
     
    Would they want the pariah in their clubhouse and in their dugout?
     
    Don’t kid yourself. If there’s anything the Yankees organization wants more than to rid themselves of as much as possible of the stupid contract Rodriguez was handed by George Steinbrenner on his way to his everlasting resting place, that thing is winning another World Series. If they believe Rodriguez can help them get that with his bat in the postseason, they may posture and moan about it, probably telling the world that they’re only doing it because they “have to” for legal reasons, but then they’ll suit him up.
     
    [NOTE: A review of the actual arbitrator decision, now made public as an exhibit in Rodriguez's lawsuit against MLB and the MLBPA, clarifies that his suspension is for the entire 2014 regular season AND the 2014 post-season. - JC]
     
    As Ed Thoma at Baseball Outsider reminded us in his piece on Monday, this isn’t the first time the Yankees have attempted to escape responsibility for a badly thought out long-term contract. In 1990, Commissioner Fay Vincent banned George Steinbrenner from baseball for life* after an investigation revealed that the Yankees’ owner paid a sleazeball informant to provide dirt on Dave Winfield in the hope that it would provide sufficient grounds to void his contract.
     
    * As it turned out, “for life,” in this case, turned out to be a bit over two years, after which Vincent gave in and lifted the ban. Too bad Pete Rose couldn’t have had the same kind of “lifetime” ban. Even more so, it’s too bad Steinbrenner didn’t have the same kind of “lifetime” ban that Rose has had enforced upon him.
     
    So one Commissioner banned a Yankees owner for life for paying a scumbag for dirt on a player, in an attempt to void the player’s contract.
     
    Now, over 20 years later, a different Commissioner pays a different scumbag for dirt on a player, in an attempt to suspend that player for a full season of games, far more than anything called for under the terms of the current negotiated drug plan with the players’ union. In doing so, the Commissioner gets the Yankees off the hook for $25 million of salary owed to the player otherwise.
     
    But I’m sure that’s just a very happy coincidence for the Yankees.
     
    I agree with Thoma’s conclusion. The lesson here is that, if you want to get off the hook for your stupid decisions and get out of a contract, you don’t take action yourself – you get the Commissioner’s office to do it for you.
     
    Don’t get me wrong. I don’t feel at all sorry for Rodriguez. He made his bed and he can lie in it. He’s about as unlikeable a player as there has probably ever been in baseball (and in a game that’s given us Ty Cobb and Barry Bonds, that’s saying something).
     
    But this action by MLB sets a dangerous precedent and the next player they decide to go after with another “the ends justify the means” vendetta may not be someone as universally despised as Rodriguez. Now, when that happens, they will have precedent on their side and it will be challenging, at best, for the player or the union to do much about it.
     
    In addition, as John Paul Morosi pointed out on Monday, Selig’s actions seem to have turned the players and their union from allies in his war against PED use in to adversaries again. While clean players and the MLBPA have been on board with tougher testing and attempts to clean up the game, they certainly are not going to stand by and let the Commissioner unilaterally blow past the penalties called for in the negotiated agreement. Frankly, nor should they.
     
    Morosi speculates – and I think he’s right – that Selig’s actions, by turning the relationship with the Players Association in to something much more adversarial in nature, pose a risk to future labor peace.
     
    Those who have stood up most often to defend the overall record of Bud Selig’s reign as Commissioner have consistently pointed out that he has overseen a long period of relative stability in labor relations. In many minds, the labor relations peace alone is more important than his failures (including, perhaps most damning, the way he and the rest of the league turned a blind eye to PED use in the first place).
     
    It would be ironic if one of his last, and most dramatic, actions as Commissioner turns out to undo whatever previous good he may have done in the labor relations area.
     
    Anyway, you can tell me you hate Alex Rodriguez; or you can tell me you hate Tony Bosch; or you can tell me you hate the lawyers involved; or you can tell me you hate the Yankees; or you can tell me you hate Bud Selig
     
    I’ll agree with you.
     
    - JC
  4. Jim Crikket
    In the aftermath of the HOF voting today, a lot has been written about how broken the voting system is, to the point where some even suggest voting should be turned over to the fans.
     
    I posted the following in the comment section of the "Jacque Jones" forum thread, but then realized it got to "blog post length," so I'm re-posting it as such.
     
    I think fan voting is a lousy idea. I don't think anyone wants to hold up the AllStar Game voting process as one to replicate.
     
    I think the following, relatively simple changes could go a long way toward fixing most of the problems:
     
    1. Allow electronic media writers to gain membership in the BBWAA. "Print journalists" are just as much "electronic media" writers as those who they are excluding from their little club. To maintain an antiquated belief that they are somehow more knowledgeable than those writers who don't happen to have their work printed in ink on paper is absurd. How many organizations do you know who go to such lengths to keep new people out of their group? And if the BBWAA won't do this, the HOF should set up their own voter eligibility criteria, apart from BBWAA membership, where knowledgeable writers of print and electronic media outlets are included.
     
    I would not include independent, self-employed electronic media among eligible those eligible to vote. The common blogger shouldn't have a vote no matter how long s/he has been blogging. I don't think it's unreasonable to require that an employer of some kind feels your work covering baseball is of sufficient value to pay you to do it on a regular basis in order to be considered for voting privileges.
     
    2. The 10 year requirement for voter eligibility is fine. But balance that out by having voting privileges end once a writer has gone some period without being employed in a job that requires a significant about of baseball coverage. There is no reason at all that HOF voting should be a lifetime right. I understand that you want some voters who actually saw much, if not all, of the players careers that are on the ballot. A rule of thumb might be, once you've NOT been writing about baseball for as long as you DID write about baseball, your voting credentials are of questionable value.
     
    3. The identities of eligible voters and their ballots are made public, as are the names of eligible voters who did not cast a ballot. Nobody can force anyone to defend their ballot choices, but the need for a "secret ballot" has long been overcome by a need for transparency. Voters hiding behind anonymity so they can stick it to players they don't like or make a "statement" with their ballot is a practice that should no longer be tolerated.
     
    Many voters allow the BBWAA to make their ballots public. Not surprisingly, the vast majority of those ballots are at least defensible. The goofball ballots often seem to come from writers who do not give permission to BBWAA to make their ballots public. I doubt that's a coincidence.
     
    That's it. End the silliness about having voting be the exclusive privilege of "print journalists," limit tenure of voters to a period equal to twice the years they actually held paid positions covering baseball that got them their voting privileges in the first place, and make public all votes (and lack thereof).
     
    Notice I didn't suggest allowing voters to list more than 10 players on their ballot nor that the HOF come up with standards for PED user votes. I see those arguments as being BBWAA voters wanting a convenient way to fix a problem they have caused themselves. Fix the these three things and the other stuff will take care of itself eventually.
  5. Jim Crikket
    It’s time. There are only a couple days left before Hall of Fame ballots are due in. Yes, those holy guardians of all that is right and just in baseball (voting members of the Baseball Writers Association of America) must soon stop writing about how hard it is to perform their duties as HoF voters and just vote, already.
     
    As I’ve written several times, I don’t believe the writers have any business sitting in judgment of anyone else’s morality. If they would just vote based on players’ achievements, fine. But as arbiters of others’ morality, they have no business being judges and jury.
     
    I’ve also been clear that my own criteria for voting would go beyond just statistical evaluation (though obviously, stats are a big part of the equation). As I’ve written before, it’s the Hall of FAME. So tell me what these players accomplished during their careers that stood out, that was remarkable, that made an impression on baseball in their era, that made memories, that fans of that era and beyond still talk about and recognize, that made the player famous or added to the general level of fame bestowed upon the game of baseball itself.
     
    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Baseball-Hall-Of-Fame.jpg
     
    (This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com)
     
    With no player garnering the necessary 75% support a year ago and a sizable number of excellent players being added to the ballot for the first time this year, a number of writers with voting privileges have continued to complain about being limited to only listing 10 players on their ballots. To which I say, “Shut up. If you and your fellow writer friends would quit being so damn holier-than-thou, or if MLB would show some balls and act as the morality police for the game instead of expecting writers, of all people, to do so, you wouldn’t be having this problem. On top of that, you get all sanctimonious over who should even be allowed to get in to your little writers association club and then you whine about how hard it is to do the one mildly important thing that membership entitles you to do.”
     
    I feel better getting that off my chest.
     
    Don’t get me wrong. I love baseball writers. OK, not really love, but I like them a lot. Enough that I pretend to be one sometimes.
     
    I think, by and large, baseball writers do a great job in every respect during the year EXCEPT when it comes to Hall of Fame voting. In this one area, the hand-wringing, judgmental crap that many (not all) writers shove down our throats just drives me nuts to read.
     
    So, yes, it’s a tough job to come up with just 10 players to vote for this year, but the BBWAA has done it to themselves.
     
    With that, here’s what my ballot would look like if I were doing the voting.
    A year ago, I said there were five players that should either be in the Hall or you shouldn’t have a Hall. Now that list is at six. In addition to Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro and Mark McGwire, I would add first-timer Greg Maddux.
     
    Yes, that list includes five PED users. When we are told that their sins, like those of Pete Rose’s, make them ineligible for enshrinement, I’ll stop including them on my ballot. But if they are on the ballot, they get my vote. I’m the last person you want to have casting judgment over someone else’s morality. Unlike most of the real voters, at least I’m willing to admit it.
     
    Andrew Walter, over at his Twins Fan From Afar blog wondered whether he would have taken PEDs if it would have made it possible for him to succeed as a professional baseball player. I think that’s something most BBWAA voters should ponder honestly, if that’s possible. I have no problem answering that question. I absolutely would have if I knew I could afford it, that it wouldn’t kill me immediately to do so, and if I’d have been relatively certain I could do it without penalty.
     
    I know I would have, because I did, to a degree.
     
    In Iowa, the high school baseball season is a summer season, which means most of the season takes place after school is out. For a senior, that means after you’ve already graduated. The summer after my senior year of high school, I worked construction 10 hours a day, five days a week, to make money for college. I took off work early on game days, but I certainly wasn’t well-rested for games. I took speed to get through those games. I know most BBWAA voters don’t count amphetamines as PEDs (or most of the 1960s and 1970s stars enshrined wouldn’t be there), but trust me, I was taking those pills to enhance my performance.
     
    I couldn’t afford the kind of PEDs Bonds and others took and wouldn’t have known what they were in 1974. But I took what I could afford, in amounts I felt were safe and knowing there was almost no chance of being caught. In other words, I did exactly what the 1990s-era juicers did.
     
    Anyway, those guys are on my list and will stay there until they aren’t eligible any more or until players I deem better at playing baseball push them off. That leaves just four spots on my ballot to fill.
     
    The next tier for me a year ago was Jeff Bagwell and Mike Piazza. I still think they are a cut above guys like Craig Biggio, Tim Raines and Alan Trammell. I think Frank Thomas joins them on their level, however. So the next three names on my ballot are Bagwell, Piazza and Thomas.
     
    That leaves one spot left and I’m going to skip over several guys that I admittedly feel are more worthy for enshrinement and write Jack Morris’ name down.
     
    I understand if you disagree. If your criteria is all about numbers, Morris’ career arguably doesn’t measure up to Biggio, Raines, Trammell, Glavine, and maybe even Curt Schilling, Mike Mussina and Edgar Martinez. I’m sure a few other guys could make a better case statistically than Morris, too.
     
    In most years, I would probably pick one of those guys over Morris, too; but not this year.
     
    This is Morris’ final year on the ballot and given the criteria for consideration that I have shared in the third paragraph of this article, I would vote for Morris with an absolutely clear conscience. He wasn’t the best pitcher in baseball over any period, long or short. But on a few very big stages, he was magnificent. He gave baseball fans moments that will live for as long as anyone who witnessed them remains alive. There should be a place for a pitcher like that in the Hall of Fame and there would be a place for him on my ballot in this, his final (and likely unsuccessful) year of eligibility.
     
    When all of the ballots are finally counted, I think two first-timers, Greg Maddux and Frank Thomas, will be elected.
     
    Maddux is a shoe-in. He’s one of those guys who should be unanimous, but won’t be because some voting members of the BBWAA actually died a few years ago and nobody noticed or they just really suck at this HoF voting thing.
     
    Thomas will be a closer call because there will be more voters who won’t list him on their ballots either because they don’t feel his career warrants a “first ballot” HoF election or because they discount him due to primarily being a designated hitter and, for whatever reason, some writers seem to think that means he wasn’t a “real ballplayer.” But I think enough writers will feel awkward enough about not voting for half a dozen of the best players ever due to their PED ties that they’ll be unable to resist voting for perhaps the best supposedly clean slugger on the ballot.
     
    It’s a huge ballot this year, filled with a lot of very good ballplayers. If you’ve got a favorite or two that you want to speak up for, feel free to make a case in the comment section.
     
    - JC

    P.S Something like 5-10 minutes after I posted this article, the writer I probably have the most respect for in the entire business, Joe Posnanski, Tweeted a link to his post entitled "Time For a Hall of Fame Stand," where he suggests that the HoF itself should take a firm stand on the PED issue. Click here and go read it.
  6. Jim Crikket
    There’s a lot of chatter on this here interweb thingy lately concerning what Twins General Manager Terry Ryan’s next moves will be and should be. He came out of the gate fast this offseason, immediately setting out to shore up – if not completely rebuild – the Twins’ starting pitching rotation by signing free agents Ricky Nolasco, Phil Hughes and Mike Pelfrey.
     
    But there’s still more than a little doubt as to whether this is truly a new Terry Ryan, willing to spend Pohlad money to make the Twins more competitive (or at least more watchable) immediately. There seems to be two schools of thought concerning what Ryan is likely to do next.
     
    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/ZebraChangesStripes.jpg
    Can Terry Ryan change his stripes?
     
    First, there’s still some smoke out there indicating Ryan is not done shopping for starting pitching. The top tier of free agent starters haven’t really fallen in to place yet while the world waits to hear whether Masahiro Tanaka will be posted by his Japanese team. Would Ryan make a play for Matt Garza, Bronson Arroyo or even Tanaka, himself? There are at least a few people out there who think he might.
     
    The more prevalent thought, however, seems to be that Ryan is done shopping for starting pitching and is shifting his focus toward addressing what was a pretty anemic offense in 2013. He swung and missed at the top catching free agents, but may still be kicking the tires on backups, especially now that Ryan Doumit has been shipped to Atlanta to make room for Pelfrey on the 40-man roster.
     
    (NOTE: After this article was originally published at Knuckleballsblog.com, the Twins signed catcher Kurt Suzuki to a one year deal for $2.75 million.)
    Ryan has added a pair of former Twins, Jason Bartlett and Jason Kubel, on minor league contracts with invitations to the big club’s spring training. But, as people far smarter than I am have been pointing out, no combination of the Prodigal Jasons and a new backup catcher is going to result in significantly improved run production for the Twins.
     
    The good folks at MLBTradeRumors.com pointed out recently that, of their “Top 50 free agents” list going in to the offseason, only five position players remain unsigned. That list includes Stephen Drew, Shin-Soo Choo, Nelson Cruz, Kendrys Morales and Raul Ibanez.
     
    A while back, there was some buzz that the Twins were one of the teams that agent Scott Boras was talking to about Drew. I’m not sure which surprised me more, that the Twins were actually considering signing a player that would cost them a draft pick as compensation (Drew rejected the Red Sox’ Qualifying Offer) or that Terry Ryan apparently sat down in the same room with Scott Boras.
     
    Certainly, the Twins have had Boras clients in their organization (and still do). But Boras has clients and then he has CLIENTS. Players like Drew are Boras CLIENTS – the kind that Boras uses every bit of leverage he can find to pull every last nickel and every last year out of a team to sign.
     
    From what I’ve read among the Twins blogosphere and twittersphere, it’s hard enough for most Twins fans to believe Ryan would allow a draft pick – even a second rounder – to be pried from his hands in order to sign a free agent, but to give up that pick for a free agent represented by Scott Boras is just not something fans can get their heads around.
     
    If you’re one of those fans, that’s okay. I understand. I do. But you might want to stop reading at this point, because if you can’t grasp that concept, what I’m going to propose next could make your head explode.
     
    If I were Terry Ryan, I wouldn’t sign one of those five remaining “Top 50” MLBTR prospects. I wouldn’t sign one of the free agents that would cost me a draft pick. I wouldn’t sign one of Scott Boras’ CLIENTS.
     
    I’d sign two.
     
    First, I would absolutely sign Stephen Drew. He’s okay defensively and he’d be an offensive upgrade at one of the very few positions that the Twins could logically expect to upgrade at this point, given that third base and centerfield will be getting upgraded with top prospects Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton soon enough that it is likely impossible to attract strong free agents at those positions.
     
    If you or Terry Ryan have concerns over losing that second round draft pick, I suggest you glance over the list of recent second rounders that Andrew Bryz-Gornia assembled over at Twinkie Town earlier this week. Or you could just take my word for the fact that giving up a second round pick for multiple current years of Stephen Drew is a no-brainer.
     
    And, once I had a deal with Boras for Drew, I’d tell him I want Kendrys Morales, too.
     
    Morales makes sense for the Twins.
     
    Trust me, it feels as peculiar for me to say that as it does for you to hear it. But it’s true.
     
    Morales turned down Seattle’s Qualifying Offer, as Drew did Boston’s. But if Drew is worth coughing up a second round pick, then the third round pick that Morales would cost the Twins is barely worth mentioning.
     
    Morales was the Mariners’ primary designated hitter, but also filled in at first base occasionally. He’s a switch hitter with better results on the right side, which is something the Twins could make use of.
     
    Certainly, you could make the argument that the Twins already have a relatively crowded DH corps with Kubel, Chris Parmelee and Chris Colabello already on board. But, seriously, those are exactly the types of players the Twins should be looking to improve upon. Having their presence keep you from signing a Morales is even more absurd than letting the presence of Bartlett, Pedro Florimon and Eduardo Escobar keep you from adding Drew. A guy like Florimon at least has some defensive value to consider, which is more than you can say for Kubel, Parmelee and Colabello.
     
    But even if Ryan could be convinced that the two draft picks are worth giving up for Drew and Morales, could he find the money to pay what Scott Boras would extort from the Twins to sign them?
     
    Heck, that’s the easy part.
     
    After jettisoning Doumit’s salary commitment, my back-of-the-napkin math estimates the Twins are on the hook for about $80 million for 2014 (and that assumes that Kubel makes the team and gets the roster bonus that’s part of his minor league agreement with the Twins). So, as things stand, even after adding multi-million dollar deals for Nolasco, Hughes and Pelfrey, the Twins are still a couple million dollars BELOW their 2013 Opening Day payroll. (With Suzuki's signing, the Twins appear to be almost exactly at the 2013 Opening Day level.)
     
    The Twins, by pretty much any reasonable estimate, operated a year ago well below their often self-stated goal of spending just over 50% of revenues on Major League payroll. They, like every other MLB team, are benefiting from new TV money that is estimated to be in the neighborhood of $25 million per team.
     
    Conservatively – VERY conservatively – the Twins should be able to absorb a $110 million payroll in 2014 without so much as breaking a sweat concerning whether they will end up spending more than 50% of their revenues on payroll. Remember, that new national TV money comes with zero additional expenses to offset it. If the Twins took in $200 million in revenue a year ago (again a conservative estimate), those revenue projections just went up to $225 million.
     
    That’s all a long way of saying that, yes, Terry Ryan can afford to add the $25-28 million in annual salary it may take to get Drew and Morales on board. From that point, you’re just talking about how many years and who has what options, etc.
     
    But, would Drew and Morales actually sign on to join one of the worst MLB teams to take the field in 2013?
     
    I grant that neither of them, nor Boras, certainly, had joining the Twins in mind when they rejected their old team’s Qualifying Offer. But times change.
     
    Who else will give enough money to either of these two players to make rejecting those Qualifying Offers a good decision? The list of teams with enough payroll flexibility to afford one of them is short. When you cross off those teams that have no need for a shortstop or a designated hitter (no matter what Boras claims, I can’t see any NL team paying Morales to actually field a defensive position every day), the list all but disappears.
     
    The Red Sox and Mariners, the players’ former teams which would not have to give up draft pick compensation to re-sign them, have recently added new talent at the players’ positions, quite possibly eliminating chances for return engagements.
     
    The Yankees could use Morales, if not for the fact that they already have a boatload of over-the-hill position players that they’ll almost certainly need to rotate through the DH spot. The other free-spending clubs (the Dodgers, Rangers, Angels, Phillies, Tigers, Giants) look to me to be pretty set at Drew’s and Morales’ positions.
     
    From where I sit, Terry Ryan and Scott Boras need one another.
     
    Ryan’s Twins represent the kind of “surprise” team that Boras loves to pull out of his hat to prove how smart he is and that, when he tells a player he’s going to get paid, he gets paid.
     
    Boras and his clients can provide Terry Ryan with what are realistically perhaps the only two true offensive upgrades that match his needs and will prove, once and for all, that he and his bosses are done sitting and waiting for “someday” to come.
     
    Tell me this line up wouldn’t score runs:
     

    Presley CF
    Dozier 2B
    Mauer 1B
    Morales DH
    Drew SS
    Willingham LF
    Arcia/Kubel RF
    Pinto/Suzuki C
    Plouffe 3B

    And now, with just a couple of adjustments later in the year or by 2015:
     

    Buxton CF
    Dozier 2B
    Mauer 1B
    Sano 3B
    Morales DH
    Drew SS
    Rosario LF
    Arcia/Kubel RF
    Pinto C

    If you like Hicks in there somewhere to provide more OF defense, OK. Certainly, we could debate who should hit where in that line up. But the point is, that is a line up that suddenly looks very different than what the Twins trotted out there every day in 2013.
     
    And it still wouldn’t project the Twins to be above the middle third of MLB team payroll on Opening Day (which is about where they rightfully should be), nor would it hamstring them from making future moves. In a worst case scenario, Drew and Morales are likely to be marketable assets, assuming Boras doesn’t talk the Twins in to full no-trade clauses.
     
    Of course, none of this is likely to happen.
     
    I expect Boras to let things play out for Drew and Morales, much like he did for Kyle Lohse a year ago before matching him up with the Brewers shortly before spring training camps opened up.
     
    In the mean time, maybe Terry Ryan will find creative ways to improve the Twins’ offense.
     
    But if February rolls around and it still looks like the Twins are counting on Jason Kubel to provide their improved offense and Scott Boras is still looking for face-saving options for these two CLIENTS, then Ryan and Boras need to get back in a room together.
     
    Of course, I’d prefer they do so right now.
     
    - JC
  7. Jim Crikket
    I typically take a little business trip to the Tampa/St. Petersburg FL area in December and did so last week.
     
    After years of hearing about how interesting baseball’s Winter Meetings are, this year I found myself within reasonable driving distance of those Meetings when they officially opened up. That being the case, I decided I would check the situation out for myself.
     
    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/dolphinresort-600x400.jpg
    The Dolphin half of the Swan & Dolphin Resort
     
    (This article first appeared at Knuckleballsblog.com)
     
    I had heard about all the players, agents, front office staff and media folks rubbing elbows and making deals in the hotel lobbies and bars at these Meetings. That sounded very interesting. It also sounded very unbelievable, to me.
     
    I’ve been to more “national conferences” in my life than I care to remember, much less count, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned by attending all those conferences it’s that absolutely nothing noteworthy gets done in the lobbies and bars (well, nothing noteworthy that pertains to the business at hand, anyway). So, it was hard for me to imagine that anything noteworthy would be going on in the public areas of the Swan & Dolphin Resort on Disney’s Boardwalk either.
     
    But I drove up anyway, just in case I was wrong.
     
    I wasn’t wrong.
     
    I had an enjoyable enough evening. I had a meeting. In fact, you could say I had a couple of “meetings,” but only if you stretched the definition of “meeting” to include having a beverage with some of the Kernels’ staff after their Affiliates Dinner with the Twins. Though, honestly, that’s a meeting I could have had at the Stadium Lounge in Cedar Rapids just as easily.
     
    But the people-watching at the Stadium Lounge wouldn’t be nearly as entertaining as at the Dolphin’s lobby. It was absolutely packed with, from what I could gather, hundreds of 20-somethings in suits who I believe were trying their damnedest to find work in the baseball industry somewhere. The competition for whatever jobs are available must be intense.
     
    I couldn’t help but feel they might have a better chance of standing out and eventually landing a gig if they’d simply start a blog.
     
    Or maybe not.
     
    Anyway, upon my return to the great white north, it occurred to me that, after a similar business trip to Florida a year ago, I posted some thoughts I had concerning the way the Twins’ 2012-13 offseason was shaping up at the time. If that was a good time for mid-offseason reflection a year ago, it probably is now, as well.
     
    A year ago, I wasn’t feeling terribly impressed with the roster reconstruction work Twins General Manager Terry Ryan was doing. While he had added some future pitching, in return for his top two Major League centerfielders, the only additions to his 2013 rotation he’d acquired had been Vance Worley and Kevin Correia.
     
    My take on Correia wasn’t really negative (I wrote, “he could well be better than most of the in-house options the team has,” and added that, “My problem at this point isn’t with signing Correia, it’s with NOT signing other… better… pitchers.”). I think, even with the benefit of 20-20 hindsight, I’d stand by that opinion now.
     
    Last year’s top starting pitching free agent, Zack Greinke, had signed by this time, as had Anibal Sanchez, Ryan Dempster and others of that ilk, pretty much establishing what the market rates were for starting pitching. This season, the market has been slower to set as pitchers such as Matt Garza wait for the Masahiro Tanaka drama to play out.
     
    But, unlike a year ago, Ryan has already made a legitimate effort to improve his team. Ricky Nolasco and Phil Hughes aren’t aces, but they are starting pitchers who have been good at times in their careers and there are reasonable cases to be made that they have upsides that could make them valuable additions to the Twins rotation. There were various reports linking both pitchers to multiple teams, but Ryan was aggressive and got them on board before the Winter Meetings.
     
    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Pelfrey1.jpg
    Mike Pelfrey warms up in the bullpen before his 2013 rehab start in CR
     
    The re-signing of Mike Pelfrey has widely been panned by fans, but I’m OK with it. I feel much the way I did about the Correia signing a year ago. The Twins probably overpaid with a two-year deal, but I think he could be better than almost every other in-house option. And since, unlike Correia a year ago, Pelfrey is not the best free agent pitcher signed by the Twins, I’ll give Ryan the benefit of the doubt. If the Twins saw something in Pelfrey toward the end of 2013 that makes them believe he’ll be better in 2014, I’ll trust their judgment for now.
     
    I suspect that we’ll be seeing the Twins trade Sam Deduno, however. He, along with Worley and lefty Scott Diamond, are out of options, so the Twins are likely going to have to part with at least one of them. Deduno, it seems to me, is the only one of the group with any trade value at all right now. That would leave Diamond and Worley left to fight for the final rotation spot, with the loser perhaps getting the long-relief role in the bullpen to start the season.
     
    I won’t be surprised if Ryan makes another splash in the free agent market, however. It sounds like he’s continuing to at least stay in touch with the agents for Garza and Bronson Arroyo. I’m not sure that would change the dynamic significantly, though. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Correia traded if Garza or Arroyo is signed. It would be worth it, to me, if it’s Garza that’s added. I’d be less enthused with Arroyo because it almost feels like you’d just be adding another Correia, but paying more and committing for more years.
     
    What’s more important, to me, is that the Twins add some offense before camp opens. I’m just less optimistic that it will happen.
     
    There simply aren’t logical options, now that the offensive-minded veteran catchers are pretty much off the market.
     
    Joe Mauer and Brian Dozier are locked in on the right side of the Twins infield.
     
    Trevor Plouffe is going to hold down third base until Miguel Sano arrives.
     
    Josh Willingham has no trade value at this point, so he’s likely to be the primary left fielder.
     
    Oswaldo Arcia should open in right field unless the Twins think he needs more AAA time. Even if so, it’s unlikely any replacement would be a significant offensive improvement over Arcia.
     
    That really leaves just center field and shortstop as possible positions where an offensive upgrade would be feasible. The Twins have been linked to Stephen Drew and I think that idea has some merit.
     
    In center field, however, it’s hard for me to imagine any free agent signing with the Twins, knowing that the top prospect in all of baseball is due to arrive within a year or two, at most, to claim that position.
     
    In any event, as the folks at MLBTradeRumors.com point out, there simply aren’t many position players with impact potential still on the free agent market. Just five of the position players originally listed on MLBTR’s “Top 50 free agents” remain on the market. They are Drew, Shin-Soo Choo, Nelson Cruz, Kendrys Morales and Raul Ibanez. Unless the Twins make a run at Drew, it’s hard to imagine any of those guys wearing a Twins uniform in 2014.
     
    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/KubelBench.jpg
    Will Jason Kubel find some old magic in 2014?
     
    Maybe the Twins will catch lightning in a bottle and get a boost from one of their returning Jasons (Bartlett and Kubel), but I think the best shot at significant offensive improvement might be if Sano gets off to a hot start and earns a mid-year promotion. Likewise, while it would be unreasonable to expect, it’s fun to consider what could happen if Byron Buxton gets off to a start at AA similar to what he showed a year ago during his time in Cedar Rapids.
     
    Still, there’s a lot of conjecture going on about just how much improved the Twins could be if the roster stands more or less as it currently is constituted. I don’t think it’s post-season competitive yet, but I’m a lot more hopeful than I was a year ago.
     
    Was the Twins rotation so bad that the addition of Nolasco and Hughes could result in as many as 10 more wins for the Twins? I think so.
     
    It’s not that I think those two pitchers will be solely responsible for 10 additional wins, but I could see them accounting for, say, one additional win per month between them from April through August. If the Twins are healthy (read that as saying “if Mauer is healthy”) and not just going through the motions in September while providing cannon fodder for every team on their late-season schedule, I don’t think it’s outside the realm of possibility that they add a handful of wins to their 8-20 September record from 2013.
     
    I don’t think Terry Ryan is done making deals that he believes will improve the 2014 roster. Considering that and considering the pitching upgrades already made, I don’t think expecting an improvement of 10 games over 2013 is unrealistic.
     
    That’s not enough to get this team to “good,” but it would signal that things are once again moving in the right direction.
     
    - JC
  8. Jim Crikket
    It has been a weird offseason for the Twins, hasn’t it?
     
    I’m not complaining. mind you. It’s refreshing to see General Manager Terry Ryan being aggressive in the free agent market to address the team’s starting pitching needs. Signing Ricky Nolasco to a four-year contract with a fifth year vesting option was more than a little out of character for the Twins.Adding Phil Hughes on a three-year deal two days later was almost downright giggle inducing.
     
    (This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com)
     
     
    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/TerryRyan.jpg
    Terry Ryan (Photo:Jim Crikket/Knuckleballs)
     
    I mean, not only did Ryan go sign a couple of guys that were clearly in demand elsewhere, but the organization obviously looked beyond just wins, losses and ERA in determining who to target. That’s just not normal for this front office.
     
    But the thing is, Ryan’s apparently not even close to being done with his offseason shopping. Based on media reports, Ryan has also been actively looking to upgrade his roster at other positions, most notably at catcher and in the outfield. And despite a number of assumptions to the contrary, he’s also apparently not done trying to land starting pitcher Bronson Arroyo.
     
    Like most Twins fans, I would imagine, my first reaction to all of this activity has been, “Great! It’s about time!” But, at the risk of looking a gift horse in the mouth, my second reaction has been to wonder why this is happening all of a sudden.
     
    I suppose, if you were inclined to take the comments made by the Twins ownership and front office management at face value, none of this should surprise us. I think owner Jim Pohlad, team president Dave St. Peter and GM Terry Ryan have all pretty consistently told any reporter inclined to ask that they were not happy with recent results on the field and they understood that the roster had to be improved.
     
    But after three consecutive 95+ loss seasons, they’d have sounded pretty out of touch with reality to say anything else. They all said pretty similar stuff a year ago and, probably, a year before that.
     
    So, again you ask yourself, why has the approach apparently changed so dramatically this offseason?
     
    Obviously, I wouldn’t be writing this if I didn’t have some theories to share.
     
    New MLB Media Money
     
    The Twins, like every MLB team, have a big chunk of new annual national media rights money coming in starting this year. Reports estimate it at $25 million per club, though the MLB offices have tried to downplay that a bit by pointing out that, while the new overall money divided by the number of teams might be $25 million, part of the money is retained by Major League Baseball itself. I guess to pay for Bud Selig’s platinum parachute, maybe.
     
    Regardless, it’s a bunch of new money and it’s essentially “found money” because it doesn’t come with a nickel’s worth of corresponding expenses. In theory, it could (and arguably should) be dedicated wholly to improving the talent being put on the field at the Major League and minor league levels. That is to say, there’s no reason that only half the money should go to payroll, which is the portion of revenues that the Twins have claimed in the past that they earmark for payroll.
     
    The bottom line is that, between the new money, the $40 million or so of payroll space the Twins would have had even without the new money and the lack of any significant long term commitments for anyone not named Joe Mauer, money honestly is no object for the Twins this offseason. That’s a concept that is almost impossible for most Twins fans to grasp, but it’s true.
     
    The 2014 All-Star Game
     
    During the fourth season in their new stadium, the Twins hosted the MLB All-Star game. They put on a good show, but the game itself was not all that exciting and the Twins, in the midst of yet another generally poor season and sitting 11 games out of first place at the break, had only the minimum allowable one reserve player named to the American League roster.
     
    No, I didn’t slip in to my DeLorean and zap in to the future for that information. Rather, that’s a recap of the 1985 All-Star Game that the Twins hosted at the HHH Metrodome.
     
    I don’t think Jim Pohlad likes the fact that most Twins fans in Minnesota (and a few of us in Iowa and the Dakotas, too) wonder why, with that beautiful taxpayer-funded ballpark, he won’t spend the money necessary to put a decent team on the field to watch. If that’s true, he’s probably even less enthralled with the idea of every baseball fan in America asking the same question during All-Star week next July.
     
    If the Twins are going to suck in 2014 – and they certainly may – I don’t think Pohlad will let it be because he’s seen as having pocketed all of the new stadium and national media revenues, rather than spending some of that money on real Major League ballplayers.
     
    Peer Pressure
     
    When you own a Major League baseball team, you run with a pretty fast – if somewhat conservative – crowd. And I’m not talking about your fellow owners.
     
    Your peer group includes owners and CEOs of other big time businesses and, while I certainly have no personal experience to back this up, I have to imagine that such a peer group tends to keep score.
     
    If you can run your baseball organization at a good profit, see your organizational value (which is reported on annually in business magazines such as Forbes) climb and do it all while making customers/fans happy by winning consistently, your fellow local billionaires are going to look on you, personally, as a winner.
     
    But if you, say, lose 95+ games a season for, I don’t know, maybe three years in a row and you see attendance start to dwindle and your fans are all talking about how cheap you are now that they have paid for your new stadium, those peers (some of which are probably paying premium prices to advertise at your stadium) may start to ask some of the same questions your fans are asking. Like, for example, “do you really need TWO AAA teams, one in Rochester NY and one here in Minnesota?” That’s embarrassing.
     
    So…
     
    Looking back at a number of interviews with the benefit of 20-20 hindsight, I think there are two quotes, one each from Pohlad and Ryan, that give pretty good clues as to what’s gotten in to the Twins.
     
    The first, from the owner, I included in an earlier post. In an interview with Adam Platt of Twins Cities Business, Pohlad acknowledged that roster changes were needed and that improvements would necessitate spending money on free agents. He finished with, “I’m not encouraging him (Ryan) to wait.”
     
    Was that just an owner saying what he thought fans wanted to hear? Was it a not-so-veiled statement that, if money wasn’t spent, it wasn’t because he told his GM he couldn’t spend it? Or was it a hint that perhaps he had given his GM direct instructions to, “use the damn ladder to get out of that hole,” and spend some money to put real ballplayers on the field?
     
    We don’t know.
     
    We do know, however, that about a week or two later, Nolasco and Hughes had deals with the Twins.
     
    This past Monday, Terry Ryan was quoted by Star-Tribune beat reporter LaVelle E. Neal III as saying the following concerning the Twins’ own homegrown talent: “If they take a step forward, they will answer some of our problems and questions. A step backwards is going to be concerning not only for us but for their careers. We have given opportunities to guys here the last two years. And it hasn’t gone so well. So now we may have to look out for ourselves here a little bit more.” (Emphasis added)
     
    I found that quote to be about as interesting as anything the Twins GM has uttered publicly in years.
     
    The Twins – and Terry Ryan specifically – have been famously adherent to a process of building from within. They focus on the draft and international signings. They work hard to develop players and promote them deliberately through the minor leagues. When those players are ready, they use them as their primary source of talent to replace players that have aged and/or been judged too expensive to retain. That’s all part of the Twins Way.
     
    Ryan’s quote is a shot across the bow of Chris Parmelee, Kyle Gibson, Aaron Hicks, Trevor Plouffe and any other young player who might be inclined to think that, having survived several years of development in the Twins organization, they now are enetitled to roster spots with the Twins. And just in case any of those players didn’t grasp the meaning of Ryan’s statement, they can now ask Liam Hendriks, who has been Designated for Assignment, for an interpretation.
     
    Why is Terry Ryan talking to free agent catchers and free agent outfielders when he has Josmil Pinto, Chris Herrmann, Aaron Hicks and Oswaldo Arcia?
     
    Ryan answered that question pretty clearly, in another part of Neal’s posting Monday.


    “We have all kinds of areas that could be upgraded,” Ryan said. “We’ve got people where, if I told you the positions you would say, ‘Well, this guy is going to be there.’ But some of those guys we need to take a step forward. We can always upgrade any spot anywhere. So if something came to our attention and it looks like an upgrade, we should probably pursue it.”
     
    When Ryan said, “we may have to look out for ourselves,” I’m not sure if he was referring to the Twins, generally, or to himself.
     
    But I wouldn’t be feeling too comfortable if I were any player on the Twins 40-man roster not named Mauer or Perkins, because I think Terry Ryan means what he’s saying right now.
     
    And I like that.
     
    - JC
  9. Jim Crikket
    A guy falls in to an eight foot deep hole while at work. His boss comes along and the guy says, “hey boss can you get me out of here?”
     
    The boss says, “Things are pretty tight around here so we can’t afford to buy a ladder, but we have this old shovel sitting around. I’ll throw it down and you can dig yourself out.”
     
    It takes a long time, but after a lot of trial and error (sometimes even digging in the wrong place and making the hole deeper) our guy manages to dig himself out of the hole. And of course, he’s damn proud of himself for that accomplishment. It certainly wasn’t easy. He's recognized far and wide for his perseverance.
     
    The boss is so impressed that, not long after, the guy gets a promotion. And, while everyone thinks it’s a bit odd, the guy never goes anywhere without that old shovel.
     
    (This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com)
     
    A couple of years later, company revenues have grown significantly but, alas, holes still happen and one day the guy’s replacement in his old job falls into another eight foot hole. Sure enough, our guy is the first person to walk by and he hears, “Hey, can you get me out of here?”
     
    Still holding on to that old shovel, the guy jumps down in to the hole, too.
     
    “What the hell, man? Why didn’t you just reach down and pull me out?”
     
    “Don’t worry,” our guy answers, “I’ve been down here before and I know how to dig us out.”
     
    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/HoleLadder.gif
     
    After a couple hours of digging, the boss comes by. He looks down in to the hole and shakes his head. “Hold on a minute, guys, we can afford a ladder now. I’ll be right back.” He walks in to a nearby hardware store and returns a few minutes later with an extension ladder and lowers it in to the hole.
     
    The new guy climbs up the ladder and walks away.
     
    But our guy looks distrustfully at the ladder and keeps on digging.
     
    A couple of days later, the boss walks by the hole again and, to his surprise, the guy is still down there digging, only now the hole is 12 feet deep. The boss kind of shakes his head and laughs, but when customers question why the hole is getting deeper, he just tells them this guy has done this before and knows what he’s doing.
     
    Days later, a crowd has gathered and they’re all exasperatedly trying to tell the guy that all he has to do is extend the ladder and climb out. Pretty soon, a reporter shows up and asks the guy why he won’t use the ladder.
     
    "We've got a lot different revenue streams now,” says the guy, “but if you've got to try to get out using a ladder, you're probably going to fall. It just doesn't work."
     
    Soon after, the boss walks by again and he doesn’t seem as amused now. These people gathered around are all potential customers and the guy in the hole is making him and his company look foolish or like they’re too cheap to give the guy the right tools to get out of the hole.
     
    The reporter asks the boss to comment on the guy digging in the hole and the boss replies, "We have to acknowledge we probably have to use that ladder to get out of that hole. Our guy is committed to using the ladder. He can speak for himself, but I believe he's enthusiastic about doing that."
     
    Of course, the guy continues to dig.
     
    Eventually, the crowd turns angry because the hole just keeps getting bigger and the police have to clear the area until the only people left are the guy in the hole and his boss.
     
    When he's certain nobody but the guy in the hole can hear what he says, the boss looks down in to the hole and says firmly, “Enough with the digging. Use the damn ladder to get out of that hole. Now!”
     
    Of course, since there was nobody else around to hear it, we can't be 100% positive that’s what the boss finally said.
     
    But I sure hope it is.
     
    - JC
     
     
    ~You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant~
  10. Jim Crikket

    The Twins Way

    By Jim Crikket,

    How many times have we heard someone say, “The Twins need to get back to emphasizing the Twins Way?” Or, perhaps just as often we hear, “the Twins need to forget about the Twins Way crap… it doesn’t work.” Either way, “The Twins Way” has become a cliché and a pretty tired one, at that.
     
    But what is The Twins Way? We have some vague idea that it’s about playing good defense, running the bases intelligently, moving runners effectively and, yes, “pitching to contact” (how’s that for using one tired cliché to define another one?).
     
    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/TwinsWay.jpg
     
    But I think it goes much, much deeper than all of that. I think The Twins Way is a philosophy – a culture that is imbedded at every level of the organization.
     
    It is a culture that has led to a fair amount of success for the Twins over the years, as a Major League Baseball team and as a privately owned and operated for-profit business.
     
    It’s also a culture that has driven many Twins fans to such a level of frustration that they’re almost incapable of having any discussion about the ballclub that doesn’t include a loud cry to get rid of the ownership, the front office executives, the manager, the coaches or, quite often, all of the above.
     
    Of course, taking issue with how those in authority run things is almost as ingrained in American culture as baseball, itself. On the other hand, whether the subject is government, business or sports, those with no clue about how to actually run something are often the most vocal critics of those who do.
     
    But if we’re going to have a dialogue about the pros and cons of The Twins Way, I think we should get our arms around what that actually means, so at least we all know what we’re talking about when we hear the term used or, heaven forbid, use the term ourselves.
     
    (This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com.)
     
    In my mind, The Twins Way starts with the concept of getting the best possible efforts and results out of whatever level of talent specific players might possess. The 1987 World Champion Twins. The “piranhas.” Brad Radke and Nick Punto.
     
    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Ryan_Santana.jpg
    Terry Ryan discusses the “Twins way” with a minor leaguer during spring training in 2010. The player quickly tucked his jersey back in his pants.
     
    There is absolutely nothing wrong with this concept. It’s what every organization SHOULD strive to achieve, isn’t it?
     
    And if you have a baseball team filled with overachieving mid-level talent, you can occasionally catch lightning in a bottle and accomplish great things. When that happens, the entire community and fan base rightfully takes great pride in the accomplishment.
     
    Sometimes, however, it causes those in charge to conclude that catching that lightning is something that can be repeated consistently or, even worse, that what’s been accomplished is not due to something as random as lightning strikes, but was actually accomplished by intentionally identifying potential new piranhas or the “next Brad Radke.”
     
    In fairness, this aspect of The Twins Way has its roots in necessity. Going back to the near-contraction days, the Carl Pohlad-owned Twins had to find inexpensive ways to compete with the rich clubs. They weren’t going to get Roger Clemens, so they needed to figure out how to win with Radke-types.
     
    Scouts looked for a certain sort of “make-up” in high school and college players, not to mention minor leaguers. “Toolsy” position players and “pitch to contact” pitchers with good “make-up” were perhaps deemed more affordable, short term and long term, than top-tier talents who would not only be more costly to sign initially, but would be more likely to bolt for major market teams as soon as they could escape their serfdom with the Twins.
     
    Shopping the free agent market meant picking through the bargain bins once the teams with real money to spend signed all the best available talent. There was never enough money in the coffers to retain the Twins’ own free agents, much less pay for those hitting the market from other organizations.
     
    The move to the Target Field was supposed to change things and, in many ways, it has. I’ve had the opportunity to talk to some of the people running the show and they are smart people. They know baseball and they know they need to put a better product on the field. To their credit, they’ve made some of the necessary cultural changes.
     
    Starting with the draft and international signings, the Twins have begun to spend money. The Twins outbid the Pirates for Dominican Miguel Sano and they’ve used the early draft picks that come with having really bad seasons to select what are arguably the best athletes available, such as Byron Buxton, rather than use “sign-ability” as a code word for spending as little as possible on new talent.
     
    They re-signed the players they deemed the most critical to retain from among their own group of free agents, including a significant extension for Justin Morneau and an eight-year contract for Joe Mauer at $23 million per year.
     
    They’ve dipped their toes in the mid-range levels of free agency, signing players like Josh Willingham and Kevin Correia to multi-year contracts at mid-seven digit levels annually.
     
    As the Twins complete a third consecutive season in which they’re likely to lose at least 90 games, it may not seem like it but The Twins Way is changing.
     
    They’re still teaching the importance of fundamentals at the lower levels of the minor leagues, but they’re teaching those fundamentals to, on balance, a group of ballplayers with more pure talent than used to be the case. In time, we should see these talented players working just as hard as the piranhas did and winning more games, as a result.
     
    As I see it, there’s really one remaining major cultural paradigm within the organization that needs to change and it’s probably the most difficult change for the organization to make. It has to do with being prepared to spend significant money on top-tier free agents from other organizations, even if it means having to risk paying more for their talents than your best judgment tells you they are worth.
     
    Not doing so won’t prevent the Twins from eventually becoming competitive again. Three years from now (maybe even two, if everything falls right), the talent in their minor league pipeline could well have the Twins competing for an AL Central Division title again.
     
    But if they show their historical patience, how many fans will still be showing up at Target Field by then? It’s a lot harder to get fans to come back than it is to keep them, but you need to be willing to give them a reason to keep showing up.
     
    It doesn’t take a baseball genius to figure out what the Twins need to improve significantly next season. It will require the same thing everyone knew it would take a year ago… and the year before that. It will take better starting pitching – much better starting pitching.
     
    Adding the kind of pitching required won’t be easy. They’ll have to outbid teams that have had more recent success for one or more of the best available free agent arms and/or they’ll need to let go of some of their highly coveted young prospects to get pitching help via trade. Either way, they’ll need to be willing to spend money, perhaps a lot of it.
     
    If they add nobody of significance to their roster, they’ll start 2014 with a payroll just slightly more than half of what they had committed to their Opening Day roster in 2011, so there’s no argument to be made that money isn’t available.
     
    The only remaining question is whether General Manager Terry Ryan and others running the organization are prepared to let go of the last remaining tie to the old culture and spend that money.
     
    In his excellent article at TwinsDaily.com, Nick Nelson laid out a number of reasons Twins fans should be optimistic that Ryan will do exactly that.
     
    I hope he’s right. I want so badly to believe he’s right.
     
    But after expecting more aggressive moves the past two winters and being left thoroughly disappointed, I just can’t convince myself to believe it until I see it.
     
    - JC
     
    I opine about the Twins and Kernels regularly at Knuckleballsblog.com while my alter ego, SD Buhr covers the Kernels for MetroSportsReport.com.
    ~You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant~
     
  11. Jim Crikket
    Kernels fans and Twins fans, alike, can’t help but be excited about the number of highly rated prospects included in the initial Cedar Rapids roster this season.
    Of the 25 active members of the Kernels’ Opening Day roster, 14 of them received signing bonuses in excess of $100,000 when they signed their names to their first contract with the Twins organization. Altogether, those 14 players signed on for over $12 million in signing bonus money. Three current players received $1 million or more to sign.
    (This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com.)
    With all of that high-ceiling talent, it’s certainly understandable for fans to be excited, not only for the likely fortunes of the Kernels this season, but for the future of the parent Minnesota Twins a couple of years from now. Fans will get a look at one of those million-dollar players, Hudson Boyd, when he takes the mound Friday night in his first start of the season for the Kernels. He reportedly got $1 million from the Twins.
    Boyd’s counterpart, Beloit Snappers starting pitcher Michael Ynoa, provides a couterbalance for fans, however. His story serves as a reminder that, in the end, large signing bonuses and a player’s desire and work ethic provide no guarantee of a mercurial rise through the organization and a trip to the Big Leagues.
    Ynoa was signed, as a 16-year-old, with the Oakland Athletics organization for a then-club record $4.25 million in 2008 out of the Dominican Republic. He was widely regarded as one of the top Latin-American prospects that year.
    Since inking his deal, Ynoa has thrown a total of just under 40 innings for A’s affiliates. To say he’s had injury issues is a considerable understatement.
    He missed his first year with the A’s organization with a strained elbow. He made three starts in 2010 before being shut down and undergoing Tommy John surgery, which essentially cost him his 2011 season. He threw about 30 innings in 2012. His start to the 2013 Spring Training was delayed by a case of Chicken Pox.
    The Athletics organization certainly has not given up on right-hander. He reportedly continues to throw hard, but his inactivity has resulted in some understandable control issues. The team added him to their 40-man roster this past offseason, rather than risk losing him in Major League Baseball’s Rule 5 draft, in which players with several years of minor league experience can be drafted by other organizations if they are not yet on their team’s 40-man roster.
    Ynoa’s status as a top-level Major League prospect has been eliminated by his health issues. But the A’s appear to believe he can still eventually contribute at the Major League level if he can start harnessing his velocity and find some control. Of course, staying healthy would help, too.
    In the mean time, Ynoa serves as a cautionary tale for those fans that might look in to the Kernels dugout and assume that all of that high-ceiling talent already have their tickets to Target Field punched. Even with their impressive talent, getting to put on a Major League uniform will require skill, dedication… and a fair amount of luck.
  12. Jim Crikket
    We’ve moved one important step closer to having baseball in Cedar Rapids… the players have arrived!
     
    The 2013 Kernels roster arrived at Eastern Iowa Airport shortly before noon Tuesday. It’s pretty safe to say the weather was just a bit cooler than it was when they took off from Fort Myers.
    (This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com.)
     
    Manager Jake Mauer said the trip went well, though he did mention that there was a long line at the security check in Fort Myers and a couple of the players got to the departure gate without a lot of extra time to spare. All things considered, though, when you’re trying to get a couple dozen guys shepherded on to an airplane, a couple of close calls isn’t the worst thing that could happen.
     
    The team was being taken to dinner in the Amana Colonies, near Cedar Rapids, Tuesday evening and fans will have their first opportunity to meet the new Kernels Wednesday evening at the club’s “Meet the Kernels” event.
     
    Weather permitting, the team will get in a public workout on the field afterward.
     
    Thursday night, the official Opening Day game will see the Kernels hosting the Beloit Snappers at 6:35. For a number of the Kernels, who wore Beloit uniforms last season when the Snappers were the Twins’ Midwest League affiliate, it’s likely to feel just a little peculiar wearing a Kernels uniform and facing a squad of Oakland Athletics prospects in Beloit uniforms.
     
    I’ll leave you with a few pictures of the Kernels’ arrival, as well as a peek “behind the scenes” at the players’ new home for the summer, Veterans Memorial Stadium in Cedar Rapids.
     
    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/KernelsArrival2.jpg
    Players claiming their bags at the airport
     
     
    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/KernelsArrival3.jpg
    Loading the bags on the bus
     
     
    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/PlayersEntrance.jpg
    Players entrance to the ballpark
     
    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/PlayersEntrance1.jpg
    Sign above the Players Entrance features several former Twins who have played for Cedar Rapids over the years: John Roseboro, Alexi Casilla, Chili Davis, and Phil Roof
     
    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/HomeClubhouse1.jpg
    The Kernels clubhouse
     
    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/HomeWeightRoom3.jpg
    The Kernels Weight Room
     
    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/IndoorCage.jpg
    Indoor Batting Cage
     
    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/FamilyRoom.jpg
    There’s a waiting room for players’ families where they can watch the game on the TV and wait for the players to get dressed after games
  13. Jim Crikket
    It’s Opening Day!
     
    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/openingday2013-600x375.jpg
     
    Alas, we still haven’t elected a President with the balls to do the right thing and make Opening Day a legal Federal Holiday and mandate that everyone who doesn’t work in a sports bar must be given the day off (and those who do work in sports bars must be paid double-time just for putting up with the rest of us who would spend our entire day drinking beer and watching baseball at said sports bars).
     
    (This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com)
     
    Yes, I’m aware that the season officially opened Sunday night in Houston, but I ignored that game completely (and, from what I hear, so did the Rangers, apparently).
     
    Opening Day is supposed to be all about promise and hope. But if you read the stuff being written about our Minnesota Twins (and you must, or you wouldn’t be reading this), there isn’t much promise or hope for the Twins in 2013. Everyone… and I mean that in a very literal sense… is picking the Twins to finish dead last in the American League Central Division again this season. I haven’t seen a prognostication that foresees anything else.
     
    It’s understandable. Almost everyone… fans and so-called “experts” in the industry, alike… has been underwhelmed by the moves made by the Twins’ front office this offseason, except as those moves pertain to the Twins’ fortunes two or three years down the road. But for 2013, the consensus is that the team did not do enough to rebuild last season’s attrocious pitching staff to make any significant move toward contention this summer.
     
    It’s hard to disagree. I won’t recite all the criticisms that have been lobbed at General Manager Terry Ryan, but suffice to say that, while he certainly has different pitchers in his team’s rotation and bullpen this year, there is little belief outside of the Twins organization itself that the Twins pitching is significantly improved.
     
    And maybe that’s a good thing.
     
    You get a sense, listening to those inside the organization… players, their manager, certainly their GM and others inside the front office… that they DO believe they are a much better team this season. They believe they can contend with the rest of the Division, including the Tigers.
     
    The players aren’t buying that Ryan’s offseason marching orders were to slash payroll and re-load for 2015 and beyond, leaving manager Ron Gardenhire to twist in the wind and take the fall when the inevitable 2013 collapse occurs.
     
    Nor should the players buy in to that.
     
    I hope they greet the season with an Us vs. Them attitude. Like the Indians team that Lou Brown managed in the film, Major League, they should be set on giving all of us naysayers a “big ol’ ****burger to eat.”
     
    As fans, we have every right to be disappointed in the team’s performance on the field the past two years and their front office’s performance this offseaston. As players, they have every right to be disappointed in their fans for not believing in them. It’s how it should be.
     
    We’ve all talked at times about how the Twins lack leadership… even lack character. Well, this season, we’ll see just what kind of character this team has. This season will challenge their character and even their manhood. They’re going to get knocked down a few times, but will they get back up and punch back?
     
    After two gawdawful seasons, Twins fans are dying for something to root for. I know I am.
     
    I don’t need a World Series Championship to get me cheering this team on. I don’t even need one of those Division Pennants that everyone was saying a couple of years ago wasn’t enough anymore.
     
    I just need to see some fight in this team. Show me you don’t give a damn whether I or anyone else thinks you can win. Show me you believe in yourselves and your team mates and your manager. Show me you’re a professional who won’t stop swinging until the final bell rings.
     
    If this year’s Twins can do that, I’ll be right there with them cheering them on, all season long. And I don’t think I’ll be alone.
     
    - JC
  14. Jim Crikket
    You may not have realized it by looking out your window at the new snow Monday morning, but the Twins’ Opening Day is just two weeks from yesterday. That means it’s probably time to start taking a more serious look at how the team is rounding in to shape in Fort Myers.
     
    This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com.
    Although Spring Training has officially been in gear for about a month, it’s usually pretty pointless to pay a lot of attention to individual performances during the first couple of weeks of Grapefruit League games. Veteran hitters are just shaking the rust off and working on specific things, such as hitting to this or that specific field or hitting particular pitches. Established pitchers use each early outing as an opportunity to refine deliveries or work on specific pitches. Results are of secondary concern.
     
    But as the team gets down to it’s final dozen games or so, the hitters start wanting more plate appearances in the games and the pitchers start using all their pitches as they focus more on getting outs. We should also see with some level of certainty how the starting pitching spots are firming up as the Twins adjust their rotation so that they have pitchers lined up they way they want to open the season. Their final 10 Spring Training games will start this Thursday against the Yankees.
     
    It’s a good thing, too, that we can conveniently discount performances up to this point, because a lot of those performances have been less than awe-inspring thus far. If you were inclined to predict the season’s outcome based on the first few weeks of Spring Training results, it would be pretty difficult to find cause to believe the 2013 Twins will be much better than last season’s version.
     
    While it’s encouraging to see Justin Morneau looking like his former MVP-level self and Aaron Hicks looking like a legitimate Major League centerfielder in the making, every fan has known all along that it’s the pitching rotation that had to improve significantly if the Twins are to have a chance to show significantly improved results this summer and there hasn’t been too much to get excited about in that area yet.
     
    With Scott Diamond certain to start the season on the Disabled List, there are two rotation spots up for grabs among several of the Twins’ young arms. Kyle Gibson was expected to contend for a spot, but he’s already been sent across the parking lot to minor league camp, so he’ll be starting his season in Rochester. Liam Hendriks is another contender, but he’s struggled in most of his appearances. Hitters have averaged .295 against him and have hit him up four home runs in his 15 innings of work. His WHIP is a lackluster 1.40.
     
    But here’s the kicker… Hendriks arguably has had a better spring, statistically speaking, than any of the three “locks” for Twins rotation spots, Vance Worley, Kevin Correia and Mike Pelfrey. Those three haven’t been as prone to giving up gopher balls as Hendriks, but through the past weekend, hitters are batting better than .300 against each of them and Worley’s 1.83 WHIP is the best of the trio.
     
    On the other hand, if you want to look for encouraging signs for the Twins among their starting pitching corps, you can take a look in the direction of Cole DeVries. DeVries has only thrown 10 innings in his three starts, but he’s not giving up many hits (.121 batting average against), has not given up any home runs, has a tidy little 0.70 WHIP and, if you’re in to small sample size ERAs, he’s sporting a 0.90 in that category, too. Of course, “small sample size” caveats apply to all stat lines at this point.
     
    Another rotation candidate that’s been at least moderately impressive is a guy who has only thrown one inning for the Twins this spring, Samuel Deduno. While he hasn’t been in camp for the past couple of weeks, Deduno has been getting work in the rotation for the Dominican Republic’s entry in the World Baseball Classic, where he’s had some success. In fact, he was the starting (and winning) pitcher for the Dominicans in their victory over Team USA last week.
     
    Because Deduno is not on the Twins’ 40-man roster at this point, the team would have to make a roster move to keep him when they move north to start the season. Since they hope to have Diamond available by mid-April, it’s quite possible they’ll only need their initial fifth starter for one game before Diamond is activated. That being the case, Hendriks should still be considered the leading candidate for that spot.
     
    So here’s what the rotation seems to be setting up to look like, to my eyes:
     
    Opening Day starter: Vance Worley (started Sunday, will likely start again Friday and have his last Spring Training Start Wednesday, March 27… five days before Opening Day)
     
    #2 starter: Kevin Correia (starting today, leaving remaining starts March 23 and 28)
     
    #3 starter: Mike Pelfrey
     
    #4 starter Cole DeVries
     
    #5 starter: Liam Hendriks (may only be needed for one start, March 7, before Diamond is activated in mid-April)
     
    That’s all pure speculation on my part, of course. The point is merely that, with two weeks remaining before the scheduled Opening Day, now is when these pitchers need to start showing me something more than they have already… something to make me believe they’ll make up a better rotation than the disaster we saw on the mound last season.
     
    - JC
  15. Jim Crikket
    One of the people I follow on Twitter (I don’t recall who) called it “Baseball’s saddest day.” That’s probably an overstatement, but not by much. To put it bluntly, for baseball fans of my generation, Saturday sucked rocks.
     
    In one calendar day, we lost two giants of the game. First came the news that we lost the man I always felt was the greatest manager of his time, Earl Weaver. Incredibly, a few hours later, came word that Stan Musial had also passed. Weaver was 82 when he passed away of a heart attack during an Orioles’ “Fantasy Cruise,” and Musial passed away at his home at the age of 92.
     
    I’ve read a few of the articles written in the past 24 hours about Musial and Weaver, but for my money, as always, the best came from Joe Posnanski. If you read nothing else about these two legends, read Posnanski’s articles by clicking here (for Musial) and here (for Weaver). As per usual, I’ll be stealing a bit from Poz in this article.
     
    I’m not sure I could come up with two more different men to represent the game we love together as they approach St. Peter’s heavenly gates. Stan “the Man” will arrive playing “Take Me Out To The Ballgame” on his harmonica and be ushered straight through with a smile. Weaver, baseball’s self-described “sorest loser” will probably need to argue his way in. And that’s how it should be.
     
    Musial is someone that Twins fans should be able to relate to. He’s the Cardinals’ version of our own Harmon Killebrew. I don’t think you could find a person who ever met either man who would have anything bad to say about him. He was a gentleman, a professional. You treated him with respect because of what he accomplished on the field and he treated you with respect because that’s just how he treated everyone.
     
    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/MusialGettyImages.jpg
    Stan Musial (Photo: Getty Images)
     
    How do Cardinal fans feel about him? They don’t just have a statue of Musial outside Busch Stadium in St. Louis… they have two of them.
     
    They called him Stan “The Man” Musial. The nickname supposedly was given by a sportswriter after a game during one of Musial’s many amazing hitting streaks. The story goes that as Musial went to the plate, the fans started chanting, “here comes the Man.” Well, we all know how home town fans can do that kind of thing for their heroes, right? But here’s the thing… the Cardinals were playing in Brooklyn at the time.
     
    But why shouldn’t he have been appreciated outside of St. Louis? After all, he treated fans on the road to 1,815 hits in his career… exactly the same number that he hit before his home fans in St. Louis.
     
    His statistical accomplishments are simply amazing. They say he held so many batting records that they wouldn’t all fit on his Hall of Fame plaque. Seven batting titles. And, since batting average has fallen out of favor these days as a measurement of offensive productivity, he also led the National League in on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS at least six times each during his career.
     
    And you could probably safely assume he would have done so one more year had he not missed the entire 1945 season while serving in the military during World War II. (Imagine, for a moment, if Joe Mauer had missed a season or two in his prime while doing tours of duty in Iraq or Afghanistan. There’s a reason they call it “the Greatest Generation.”)
     
    I was not a National League fan as a kid, so I wasn’t as familiar with the NL stars as I was those in the Americal League. After all, I got to actually see Mickey Mantle, Al Kaline, Frank Howard and Brooks & Frank Robinson face off with Harmon Killebrew and Tony Oliva at the Met. I never saw Willie Mays or Hank Aaron play in person. Nor did I have the honor of seeing Musial play baseball in person.
     
    But when you look at his numbers and you listen to people who did see him play… and those who were blessed to actually spend time with him… you know he was special. He was, after all, the Man.
     
    I don’t think anyone would even pretend that Earl Weaver was as universally beloved as Stan Musial. Not anywhere outside of Baltimore, anyway.
     
    But Musial’s greatness as a player was, to me, matched by Weaver’s greatness as a manager. It’s a cliché to say someone was, “ahead of his time,” but Weaver certainly was.
     
    It’s disappointing to me that most of today’s fans probably just think of Earl Weaver as some kind of maniacal cartoon character of a manager, throwing tantrums and arguing with umpires. Then again, that’s an image Weaver certainly created for himself. But he was so much more than that.
     
    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/WeaverOrioles.jpg
     
    He saw things in players that others didn’t. The best example is probably Cal Ripken. Ripken primarily played third base coming up through the minor leagues. He was, after all, 6’4” tall and infielders that size played at the corners. But Weaver moved the rookie to shortstop where he successfully stayed for a very, very long time.
     
    As Posnanski points out brilliantly, Weaver could have managed for Billy Beane’s Oakland A’s (at least for a little while). Weaver loved walks and believed outs were precious and therefore hated bunts. He figured out what a player did best and then utilized him in ways that took advantage of those strengths. Just as importantly, he avoided using a player in situations he was unlikely to succeed in. He was among the first to embrace the use of a radar gun for pitchers, but he was less concerned about the MPH of their fastball than he was about making sure their change ups were at least 10 MPH slower.
     
    He didn’t over-manage. He said more than once that he believed it was the manager’s job to argue with umpires because he was the person the team could most easily do without during a game. Once the line up was set, he left it to his players to play the game and decide the outcome.
     
    And his teams won a LOT of baseball games. His Orioles teams finished first or second 13 times in the 15 years he managed the Orioles between 1968 and 1982 and went to the World Series four times in that stretch. (Weaver did return for a short time to manage the Orioles in the mid 1980s, but I, along with most Orioles fans I know, choose to conveniently disregard that time.)
     
    In fact, I blame Weaver and his 1969 and 1970 Orioles for keeping what I consider the best Minnesota Twins teams in the franchise’s history from reaching the World Series. Killebrew, Oliva, Carew and the rest fell in the AL Championship Series both years to Weaver’s teams. In fact, Weaver’s Orioles swept the Twins both years.
     
    Yet I always liked Weaver. I think it probably has a lot to do with seeing a lot of Weaver in my father (and vice versa), who was a high school baseball coach during the 1960s. Whenever I watched Weaver manage a game, my mind’s eye saw my dad.
     
    I get that many others never held Weaver with that kind of affection. His own players generally didn’t care for him. He pushed them hard. He rubbed them the wrong way. He treated umpires… and others… with a total lack of respect, at times. I know all that. I don’t care.
     
    He once told a reporter, “On my tombstone, just write, ‘the sorest loser who ever lived.’” I suppose it would be appropriate to honor that request. But I hope they find room on that tombstone for one more word. “Winner.”
     
    Yes, Saturday was a sad day for baseball fans in St. Louis and Baltimore, but just as sad for baseball fans everywhere. Musial and Weaver, each in their own starkly different ways, epitomized the game of baseball as it should be played and managed.
     
    We like to say the game should be played “the right way.” These two men demonstrated as well as anyone that there is no single “right way” to play the game of baseball… and that’s what makes it great.
     
    Thank you Stan and Earl. We’ll never forget you.
     
    - JC
  16. Jim Crikket
    We’ve worked our way around the horn in the first three Parts of this series, covering the catchers, corner infielders and middle infielders that could possibly put on a Kernels uniform in Cedar Rapids this summer. In Part 4 of our series, we’ll check out a number of outfielders that could take the field for Cedar Rapids at some point during 2013.
     
    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/KernelsTwins-300x168.jpg
    (Image: Kernels.com)
     
    Obviously, we can’t know this early exactly who will come north to Iowa out of Spring Training to start the season, but regardless of which of these prospects starts the season in Cedar Rapids, the Kernels outfield should be flat-out loaded! A number of the organization’s top prospects played at Elizabethton in 2012 and most of them should find their way to Cedar Rapids either to start the season or by some time midway through the summer.
     
    JaDamion (J.D.) Williams – Age 22 – Bats: Both/Throws: Right
     
    2012: Beloit (Class A – MWL)
     
    [TABLE]


    G
    PA[TD=width: 38]BA[/TD]
    [TD=width: 41]OPS[/TD]
    [TD=width: 26]K[/TD]
    [TD=width: 31]BB[/TD]
    [TD=width: 28]2B[/TD]
    [TD=width: 28]3B[/TD]
    [TD=width: 31]HR[/TD]



    97
    407
    .234
    .651
    115
    39
    16
    2
    6
    [/TABLE]

    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/WilliamsAug2012-225x300.jpg
    JD Williams
     
    Williams was drafted out of his Tampa FL high school by the Twins in the 10th round of the 2010 amateur draft. JD signed in time to get 37 games in with the GCL Twins in 2010, but struggled at the plate. He had considerably more success in his sophomore year of professional baseball, hitting .324 for Elizabethton in 2011. His productivity dipped some in his first year of full-season ball at Beloit in 2012, but he did finally show some of the speed the Twins expected him to have on the basepaths. He stole 23 bases in 32 attempts during the season at Beloit, but just think of how many he could have stolen if he hadn’t struck out 115 times.
     
    Williams spent considerable time in all three outfield positions during 2012, including 23 games in centerfield. He also threw out seven runners on the bases.
     
    At the end of the 2012 season, I would have almost guaranteed JD would open 2013 with the Kernels and I think he could probably use some extra time at the Class A level. But with the Twins trading Denard Span and Ben Revere, the bottleneck of outfielders in the organization could open up enough to allow him to open the year at high-A Fort Myers, along with most of the rest of his fellow Snappers team mates from last season.

    Max Kepler – Age 19 – Bats: L/Throws: L
     
    2012: Elizabethton (Rookie – Appy)
     
    [TABLE]


    G
    PA[TD=width: 38]BA[/TD]
    [TD=width: 41]OPS[/TD]
    [TD=width: 26]K[/TD]
    [TD=width: 31]BB[/TD]
    [TD=width: 28]2B[/TD]
    [TD=width: 28]3B[/TD]
    [TD=width: 31]HR[/TD]



    59
    269
    .297
    .925
    33
    27
    16
    5
    10
    [/TABLE]

    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/KeplerButeraST2012-222x300.jpg
    Max Kepler
     
    In 2009, the Twins gave the 6’4″ German the largest signing bonus paid to a European baseball player, at the time. He moved to Fort Myers and finished school at the high school that neighbors the Twins training facility in that city. In three seasons of rookie league ball, Kepler has steadily progressed, showing the kind of athletic prowess one might expect from the son of European ballet dancers.
     
    The 6’4″ outfielder will just turn 20 before this season and has grown in to his body since arriving in the US. In 2012, his second season at Elizabethton, he made real progress in almost every aspect of his game, adding 35 points to his batting average and a whopping 211 points to his OPS, most of that a result of showing significantly more power. After hitting just one home run in his first two years of professional ball, combined, Kepler jacked 10 of them in 2012.
     
    But Max isn’t just big, he’s got speed as well (he stole seven bases without being caught stealing even once) and a strong arm. He played 67 games in centerfield for Elizabethton last year and 23 games in a corner outfield spot, mostly left field.
     
    Kepler was appearing in most offseason “top 10″ lists of Twins prospects before the Span and Revere trades added a couple of highly rated minor league pitchers to the organization, but he easily remains a consensus top 15 Twins prospect heading in to 2013. Even after those trades, I’ve ranked Kepler 9th on my list.

    Romy Jimenez – Age 21 – Bats R/Throws R
     
    2012: Elizabethton (Rookie – Appy)
     
    [TABLE]


    G
    PA[TD=width: 38]BA[/TD]
    [TD=width: 41]OPS[/TD]
    [TD=width: 26]K[/TD]
    [TD=width: 31]BB[/TD]
    [TD=width: 28]2B[/TD]
    [TD=width: 28]3B[/TD]
    [TD=width: 31]HR[/TD]



    35
    139
    .347
    1.108
    25
    19
    12
    1
    8
    [/TABLE]
    Jiminez was signed in 2009 out of the Dominican Republic and started his professional career with two very good seasons in the Dominican Summer League. An injury limited him to just eight games with the GCL Twins in 2011, but he came back very strong in 2012.
     
    Romy won’t turn 22 until several weeks in to what should be his first experience on a full-season roster in Cedar Rapids. He has certainly shown the ability to hit and hit with power, but I’m curious about the fact that he didn’t steal a single base in 2012 (and only attempted one) at Elizabethton, although he stole 24 bases in 34 attempts in his two Dominican seasons.
     
    Like Kepler, the 6’2″ Jimenez saw time in all three outfield spots during 2012, though most of his time was spent in left field.

    Adam Walker – Age 21 – Bats: R/Throws: R
     
    2012: Elizabethton (Rookie – Appy)
     
    [TABLE]


    G
    PA[TD=width: 38]BA[/TD]
    [TD=width: 41]OPS[/TD]
    [TD=width: 26]K[/TD]
    [TD=width: 31]BB[/TD]
    [TD=width: 28]2B[/TD]
    [TD=width: 28]3B[/TD]
    [TD=width: 31]HR[/TD]



    58
    254
    .250
    .805
    76
    19
    7
    4
    14
    [/TABLE]
    The 6’4″, 225 pound, Walker was drafted by the Twins in the 3rd round of the 2012 amateur draft and after signing quickly, he was assigned to Elizabethton in time to get 58 games in. His batting average in his first professional season won’t raise eyebrows and his .310 on-base percentage could stand to improve. He certatainly needs to cut that strikeout rate down considerably. But look at those extra-base hits! Seven doubles, four triples and 14 home runs in just 58 games. That would project to 20 doubles, seven triples and close to 40 home runs over a 162 game Major League schedule.
     
    Walker exclusively played right field for E’town and he made a few errors out there, but he also threw out half a dozen baserunners. He also stole four bases on the season, without being caught stealing even once.
     
    The Twins obviously saw a potential power hitter in Walker when they drafted him out of Jacksonville University and he gave them no reason to question that in his first professional experience. If he can slash those Ks in Cedar Rapids, while maintaining anything even close to his 2012 power numbers, Adam could climb up the organizational ladder quickly.
     
    That’s four potential outfielders and, if Candido Pimentel, who we covered with the middle infielders, starts the season in Cedar Rapds, that would give Kernels manager Jake Mauer a full contingent of players to move in and out of his outfield.
     
    But wait! We haven’t even mentioned the outfielder who managed to garner Baseball America’s “top prospect” award in BOTH the Gulf Coast League and the Appalachian League in 2012. Of course, that would be…

    Byron Buxton – Age 19 – Bats: R/Throws: R
     
    2012: Fort Myers (Rookie – GCL) and Elizabethton (Rookie – Appy)
     
    [TABLE]


    G
    PA[TD=width: 38]BA[/TD]
    [TD=width: 41]OPS[/TD]
    [TD=width: 26]K[/TD]
    [TD=width: 31]BB[/TD]
    [TD=width: 28]2B[/TD]
    [TD=width: 28]3B[/TD]
    [TD=width: 31]HR[/TD]



    48
    189
    .248
    .792
    41
    19
    10
    4
    5
    [/TABLE]
    The only benefit to having the second worst record in Major League Baseball in 2011 was that it earned the Twins the right to the second overall draft pick in the 2012 amateur draft. The Twins used that pick to select Buxton out of his Georgia high school and less than a year later, he’s generally considered either the 1st or 2nd ranked prospect in the Twins organization (he tops my list).
     
    Buxton played 27 games with the GCL Twins before moving up to Elizabethton to finish the season. While his .216 batting average win the GCL wasn’t flashy, he actually had more extra-base hits (11, including 4 HRs) than singles (8). Think about that for a moment. His Appy stats were much more “normal” looking, but he still had eight XBHs among his 22 hits overall at that level.
    There is probably little doubt that Buxton could compete at the Class A level, but given his age (he’ll be 19 all season long) and the outfield talent that got more experience in Elizabethton a year ago, Byron will quite likely stick around extended spring training to start the season and may play a few weeks in E’town again. I’ll be surprised, however, if he isn’t in Cedar Rapids for most of the second half of the MWL season and if JD Williams does open the year at high-A Fort Myers, Buxton could come to Cedar Rapids in April, too.
     
    Whenever you do get to see him play in Cedar Rapids, Kernels fans, pay attention. Once he reaches Minnesota, Buxton could be the Twins center fielder for many years to come.
     
    There are a couple more outfielders that at least warrant a mention, since you never know when injuries and promotions will result in players getting promoted from one of the rookie league teams. If that happens, look for Kelvin Ortiz, Jeremias Pineda or Dereck Rodriguez to find themselves in Kernels uniforms.
     
    Ortiz, a 21-year-old Dominican has played two seasons in the Dominican Summer League and two seasons with the GCL Twins while compiling just a .221 batting average and perhaps even less impressive stats, otherwise.
     
    Pineda, also from the Dominican Republic, is 22 and came over to the Twins from the Red Sox organization in the Danny Valencia trade last summer. The move didn’t exactly agree with him, however, as he hit just .237 while putting up a .640 OPS with the GCL Twins after putting up .421 BA and .981 OPS numbers for the GCL Red Sox before the trade.
     
    Rodriguez, 20, was drafted by the Twins in the 6th round of the 2011 amateur draft. He struggled considerably with the GCL Twins after signing in 2011, but improved a great deal last year while repeating that level. He hit .263 with a .783 OPS with a bit of power.
     
    Kernels fans should enjoy watching their outfielders this season. Some of them have much better than average chances of playing Major League Baseball in the future.
     
    Next: Starting Pitchers
     
    - JC
  17. Jim Crikket
    What a great night for baseball fans in Eastern Iowa!
     
    In celebration of the new affiliation agreement between the Twins and the Cedar Rapids Kernels, the organizations combined to put on a terrific event Thursday night.
     
    Every winter, the Kernels put on a Hot Stove banquet with proceeds going to their own charitable foundation. The event combines dinner, a silent auction and induction of the new Cedar Rapids Baseball Hall of Fame members. Tonight’s event, however, also included a local stop by the Twins Caravan.
     
    (This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com.)
    The combination brought out a record crowed for the Hot Stove event. The banquet sold out and standing room only tickets were sold at a discount to give even more Twins fans an opportunity to attend the Caravan.
     
    Media members (including this humble blogger) were invited to come in starting at 4:30 to interview some of the participants. I had a chance to visit a bit with Twins pitching prospect, BJ Hermsen. He will be heading to the Twin Cities next week where he’ll receive his Twins Minor League Pitcher of the Year award and then attend TwinsFest. Not long after, he’ll be on the road to Fort Myers for his first Major League Spring Training.
     
    I asked whether Hermsen has any sense of where he’ll start the 2013 season (he doesn’t) and talked a bit about the offseason training work he’s been doing. He was asked by another person if he was going to be speaking during the Caravan portion of the program and he indicated he didn’t think so (he was wrong… emcee Dick Bremer had a number of questions for Hermsen during the program).
     
    Ron Gardenhire and Terry Steinbach also were made available for interviews with the media, as was new Kernels manager Jake Mauer. Naturally, the local media had questions for Gardy that alluded to the new Cedar Rapids affiliation and he was appropriately complimentary in his responses.
     
    Gardenhire did bring up the fact that his managerial debut was with Kenosha in the Midwest League in 1988 and that his team had their “butts beaten” by Cedar Rapids in the playoffs to end that season.
     
    The Hall of Fame induction was sandwiched between dinner and the formal part of the Caravan program. The CR Hall inducted former players Trevor Hoffman and Casey Kotchman, along with longtime Kernels groundskeeper Jim Curran and Pat Harmon, one of the people credited with bringing minor league ball back to Cedar Rapids in the 1940s. But the highlight, for me, of the ceremony was the induction of former Cedar Rapids manager Alex Monchak.
     
     
    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Alex_Monchak1940-206x300.jpg
    Alex Monchak
     
    I’m sure most of you have no idea who Monchak is, but this man epitomizes the career baseball man. He had a cup of coffee with the Phillies, but his career was interrupted by World War II. While he never returned to the Big Leagues as a player, that didn’t stop him from spending the rest of his life teaching others to play the game the right way.
     
    He was inducted in to the CR HoF specifically for managing the 1958 Cedar Rapids Braves to the Three-I League championship, but after leaving our little town, he spent about a decade as a scout and almost 20 years as a coach on manager Chuck Tanner’s staffs with the White Sox, A’s, Pirates and Braves. In fact, he was a coach on the Pirates’ Championship team that also included pitcher Bert Blyleven.
     
    Hoffman and Kotchman had other commitments that kept them from attending the event, but Monchak, who will be 96 years old in March, was in attendance to accept his award and address the crowd.
     
    Dick Bremer did a professional job of emceeing the Caravan program. It’s no small task, I’m sure, to do that job in a way that comes across as fresh to every crowd, despite the fact that they’ve been essentially going through the process multiple times per day for about a week. Bremer did sports for the local CBS affiliate in Cedar Rapids before moving on to Minnesota, so he was able to blend in some anecdotes from his days here.
     
    Everyone on the dais did a good job of fielding the questions Bremer has no-doubt asked them several times over the past week, as well as a number from the crowd. Obviously, Gardy got the lion’s share of the questions from fans and he handled them with his typical combination of optimism and humor.
     
    Of course, there are causes for concern from Twins fans after the past two seasons, but this event was all about generating interest and enthusiasm among the fan bases of the Twins and Kernels, as well as celebrating the upcoming inaugural season of this relationship. Based on the attendance and enthusiastic support from the crowd, it was an overwhelming success at doing just that.
     
    I’ll wrap up this post with a few pictures from the evening. – JC
     
     
    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/KernelsHotStoveSetup.jpg
    The CR Marriott Ballroom set up and ready for a big crowd
     
    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Gardenhire1.jpg
    Ron Gardenhire with what passes as the media hoard in Cedar Rapids (including a voice recorder held by a local blogger who shall remain nameless)
     
    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Steinbach.jpg
    New Twins bench coach Terry Steinbach prepares for a TV interview
     
    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/MauerGardenhire.jpg
    Kernels Manager Jake Mauer has a chat with Gardy before the event gets started
     
    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/DozierDais.jpg
    The Twins Caravan dais in Cedar Rapids was shared by (from L to R): Manager Ron Gardenhire, Twins Director of Minor League Operations Brad Steil, Infielder Brian Dozier, Broadcaster Dick Bremer, Bench Coach Terry Steinbach, Kernels Manager Jake Mauer, Minor League Pitcher of the Year B.J. Hermsen
     
    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/AutographLine2.jpg
    The autograph line: TC Bear, Jake Mauer, Ron Gardenhire, Brian Dozier, Terry Steinbach, B.J. Hermsen
  18. Jim Crikket
    This is the last of this six-part series examining the players in the Twins organization that likely will spend part of the upcoming summer in Cedar Rapids during the Kernels first year as the Twins Class A Midwest League affiliate.
     
    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/KernelsTwins-300x168.jpg
    (Image: Kernels.com)
     
    In the first five parts, we've covered all of the position players and the pitchers most likely to fill starting pitching roles. We wrap things up now by looking at a rather lengthy list of relief pitchers.
     
    (This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com.)
     
    In the 2012 amateur draft, the Twins had 15 picks in the first 12 rounds and they used nine of those picks to select college age relief pitchers. As a result, the organization starts 2013 with a lot of guys who have one year of rookie league level experience, but who are about 22 years old and therefore really need to get moving up the full season organizational ladder. That means a lot
    of the descriptions below will sound pretty similar.
     
    The draft class of 2012 should be joined by some pretty talented pitchers that have already been in the organization a couple of years and, together, they should make the Kernels bullpen pretty darn good this season.
    Luke Bard – Age 22 – Throws Right
     
    2012: Fort Myers (Rookie – GCL) and Elizabethton (Rookie – Appy)
     
    [TABLE=class: mceItemTable]

    [TD=align: left]G
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]GS
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]ERA
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]IP
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]WHIP
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 34, align: left]K
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 38, align: left]H/9
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 57, align: left]K/9
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 42, align: left]BB/9
    [/TD]


    [TD=align: right]7
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]1
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]3.86
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]7.0
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]1.714
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]7
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]6.4
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]9.0
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]9.0
    [/TD]

    [/TABLE]
     
    Bard, the brother of Red Sox pitcher Daniel Bard, was chosen by the Twins as a Supplemental 1st round pick (42nd pick overall) out of Georgia Tech. Like a number of others on this list, Bard was a relief pitcher in college who very possibly will get some opportunities to start in the Twins organization. Bard was a late signee and had a minor injury or two during the year. As a result, he got very little work in at the professional level in 2012, though he did make a handful of appearances at both Rookie League levels and actually pitched better at Elizabethton than he did during his time with the GCL Twins.
     
    If the Twins do want to see what he can do as a starting pitcher, I could see them working with him on the transition in extended spring training and then getting a few starts at Elizabethton in June. He reportedly throws his fastball in the mid 90s, has a strong slider and decent change up, as well. If they're as good as reported, he'll be up with the Kernels in 2013, either in their bullpen or their rotation.
    If you haven't already, you should check out Seth Stohs' interview with Bard
    Mason Melotakis – Age 21 – Throws Left
     
    2012: Elizabethton (Rookie – Appy) and Beloit (Class A – MWL)
     
    [TABLE=class: mceItemTable]

    [TD=align: left]G
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]GS
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]ERA
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]IP
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]WHIP
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 34, align: left]K
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 38, align: left]H/9
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 57, align: left]K/9
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 42, align: left]BB/9
    [/TD]


    [TD=align: right]20
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right][/TD]
    [TD=align: right]1.88
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]24.0
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]0.958
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]34
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]6.4
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]12.8
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]2.2
    [/TD]

    [/TABLE]

    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/MelotakisAug2012b-225x300.jpg
    Mason Melotakis
    Melotakis was a 2nd round pick in 2012 out of Northwestern State University of Louisiana. He made 20 appearances (all in relief) for Elizabethton and Beloit, combined. Melotakis pretty much cut right through hitters at both levels of competition, though hitters had more success making contact off of him in Beloit.
     
    Melotakis could justifiably start the season in Fort Myers, based on the way he dominated hitters at both Rookie and Class A levels in 2012. At the same time, he didn't spend enough time in Class A to be 100% positive he's ready to face high-A hitters.
     
    If Melotakis does start the season with the Kernels, don't expect him to be in town too long. I would guess he'll be on a fast track with the organization, as long as he continues to dominate the way he has so far.
    J.T. Chargois – Age 22 – Throws Right
     
    2012: Elizabethton (Rookie – Appy)
     
    [TABLE=class: mceItemTable]

    [TD=align: left]G
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]GS
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]ERA
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]IP
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]WHIP
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 34, align: left]K
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 38, align: left]H/9
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 57, align: left]K/9
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 42, align: left]BB/9
    [/TD]


    [TD=align: right]12
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right][/TD]
    [TD=align: right]1.69
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]16.0
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]0.938
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]22
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]5.6
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]12.4
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]2.8
    [/TD]

    [/TABLE]
    Chargois was also a 2nd round pick of the Twins in the 2012 draft, coming out of Rice University. JT hits the mid 90s with his fastball and has a good slider to go with it.
     
    Chargois was too much for Rookie league hitters to handle and while he could probably be held in extended spring training, I'd expect him to come north with Cedar Rapids unless there simply isn't room for him on the roster. He has a lot of potential and I just think the Twins will want to challenge him with Midwest League hitting to see whether he could move up the ladder sooner rather than later.
    Zack Jones – Age 22 – Throws Right
     
    2012: Elizabethton (Rookie – Appy) and Beloit (Class A – MWL)
     
    [TABLE=class: mceItemTable]

    [TD=align: left]G
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]GS
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]ERA
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]IP
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]WHIP
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 34, align: left]K
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 38, align: left]H/9
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 57, align: left]K/9
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 42, align: left]BB/9
    [/TD]


    [TD=align: right]18
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right][/TD]
    [TD=align: right]2.25
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]20.0
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]1.100
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]34
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]5.0
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]15.3
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]5.0
    [/TD]

    [/TABLE]

    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/JonesZAug2012a-300x222.jpg
    Zack Jones
    The Twins used their 4th round pick in the 2012 to draft Jones out of San Jose State University. At just 6'1”, Zack is not as big as many of the other relief pitchers the team drafted, but his stature doesn't prevent him from hitting the upper 90s with his fastball.
     
    Jones stayed in Elizabethton only long enough to pitch six innings and he left town with a perfect 0.00 ERA. The Midwest League was more challenging, in terms of giving up runs, but his strikeout rate actually increased at the higher level, where he struck out 16.1 hitters per nine innings. He does walk a few hitters, but if he can work on the control, Jones could fly up the organizational ladder. In fact, it wouldn't be surprising if the Twins decided he showed enough in Beloit to warrant starting 2013 at high-A in Fort Myers.
    Tyler Duffey – Age 22 – Throws Right
     
    2012: Elizabethton (Rookie – Appy)
     
    [TABLE=class: mceItemTable]

    [TD=align: left]G
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]GS
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]ERA
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]IP
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]WHIP
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 34, align: left]K
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 38, align: left]H/9
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 57, align: left]K/9
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 42, align: left]BB/9
    [/TD]


    [TD=align: right]12
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right][/TD]
    [TD=align: right]1.42
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]19.0
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]0.632
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]27
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]4.7
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]12.8
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]0.9
    [/TD]

    [/TABLE]
    Duffey was drafted by the Twins in the 5th round of the 2012 draft out of Rice University. Unlike many of the other relief pitchers drafted in the 2012 class, Duffey did not pitch at both Rookie league levels after signing. He went directly to Elizabethton and got all of his regular season work with them. His numbers were impressive and he was rewarded with a call-up to Beloit for their postseason series with Clinton. In fact, Duffey was credited with the W in the Snappers sole victory in that series.
     
    Tyler demonstrated terrific control, walking just two hitters over the course of his 19 innings of work. On the other hand, he struck out 27 hitters. Of course, as a college-age draftee, he was older than many of the hitters he faced, but it's hard to ignore those K/BB stats, no matter the level. I'm looking forward to seeing if Duffey can duplicate that performance in Cedar Rapids this summer.
     
    Christian Powell – Age 21 – Throws Right
     
    2012: Elizabethton (Rookie – Appy)
     
    [TABLE=class: mceItemTable]

    [TD=align: left]G
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]GS
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]ERA
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]IP
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]WHIP
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 34, align: left]K
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 38, align: left]H/9
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 57, align: left]K/9
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 42, align: left]BB/9
    [/TD]


    [TD=align: right]10
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right][/TD]
    [TD=align: right]5.74
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]15.2
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]1.596
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]20
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]10.3
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]11.5
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]4.0
    [/TD]

    [/TABLE]
    The Twins selected the 6'5” Powell in the 8th round of the 2012 draft out of the College of Charlston and he made just 10 relief appearances for Elizabethton during the summer. Powell had limited success, giving up more than a hit per inning and not demonstrating terrific control. Christian did demonstrate his ability to miss bats, however, as he struck out 20 hitters in just 15.2 innings of work.
     
    Powell could be held back in extended spring training, rather than coming north with the Kernels and could well start his season back in Elizabethton in June, but I'd guess he's likely to make a Kernels debut before the end of the season.
    D.J. Baxendale – Age 22 – Throws Right
     
    2012: Elizabethton (Rookie – Appy) and Beloit (Class A – MWL)
     
    [TABLE=class: mceItemTable]

    [TD=align: left]G
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]GS
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]ERA
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]IP
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]WHIP
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 34, align: left]K
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 38, align: left]H/9
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 57, align: left]K/9
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 42, align: left]BB/9
    [/TD]


    [TD=align: right]17
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right][/TD]
    [TD=align: right]0.96
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]18.2
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]0.804
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]31
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]6.3
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]14.9
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]1.0
    [/TD]

    [/TABLE]
    Baxendale was drafted in the 10th round of the 2012 amateur draft out of the University of Arkansas and worked his way through two levels of the Twins system after signing his contract. He clearly outclassed the competition in Elizabethton, striking out more than two hitters per inning in his six appearances there. He gave up exactly one hit before being promoted to Beloit.
     
    DJ pitched well with the Snappers, also, but hitters did make more consistent contact off him. In fact, Baxendale gave up more than a hit per inning while pitching for the Snappers. He continued to strike out a lot of hitters, however. He only walked one batter while in Beloit, which is one more batter than he allowed to hit a home run off him.
     
    It's possible the Twins could have him jump straight to high-A ball to start 2013 in Fort Myers, but he only pitched 18.2 innings total after signing with the Twins last season, so I would think he would start the year in Cedar Rapids. It's also quite possible the Twins might consider seeing if Baxendale might be a candidate to convert to a starting pitcher and, if so, it would seem doing so in Class A would make the most sense.
    Dallas Gallant – Age 23 – Throws Right
     
    2012: Elizabethton (Rookie – Appy) and Beloit (Class A – MWL)
     
    [TABLE=class: mceItemTable]

    [TD=align: left]G
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]GS
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]ERA
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]IP
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]WHIP
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 34, align: left]K
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 38, align: left]H/9
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 57, align: left]K/9
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 42, align: left]BB/9
    [/TD]


    [TD=align: right]14
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right][/TD]
    [TD=align: right]1.62
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]16.2
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]1.020
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]22
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]4.9
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]11.9
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]4.3
    [/TD]

    [/TABLE]
    Gallant was selected by the Twins in the 23rd round of the 2010 draft out of Sam Houston State University and was sent to Elizabethton to finish out the summer of 2010 after signing. He pitched well in his handful of games there, striking out 15 batters in 13.1 innings. 2011 was a lost season to Dallas as he underwent Tommy John surgery that spring.
     
    As you would expect, the Twins started Gallant off slowly in 2012, keeping him
    in extended spring training and giving him five appearances with Elizabethton, where he was fairly dominant (as a 23-year-old pitcher should be), before promoting him to Beloit for the rest of the summer. He also pitched well for the Snappers, striking out almost 12 batters per nine innings, but walked a few hitters, as well.
     
    I hesitated to include Gallant on this list. Given the bottleneck of younger pitchers behind him, it just seems to me that he's likely to start the season at high-A Fort Myers. He turns 24 years old later in January, so he's a bit older than the other pitchers on this list, but given the year lost to injury and the Twins' methodical approach to advancement, he certainly could at least start the season with the Kernels.
    Joshua Burris – Age 21 – Throws Right
     
    2012: Elizabethton (Rookie – Appy)
     
    [TABLE=class: mceItemTable]

    [TD=align: left]G
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]GS
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]ERA
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]IP
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]WHIP
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 34, align: left]K
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 38, align: left]H/9
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 57, align: left]K/9
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 42, align: left]BB/9
    [/TD]


    [TD=align: right]18
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right][/TD]
    [TD=align: right]1.75
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]36.0
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]1.250
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]40
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]6.0
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]10.0
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]5.2
    [/TD]

    [/TABLE]
    Considering that the Twins drafted Burris out of LSU-Eunice in the 17th round back in 2011, he's actually relatively young and will be just 21 throughout the 2013 season. He didn't sign in time to get any innings in the summer he was drafted, but averaged two innings per relief appearance for Elizabethton in 2012.
     
    Josh's name can be found in many Twins top prospects lists as he's demonstrated both a solid mid 90s fastball and an effective curve. Like many of his peers at this level, he's had no trouble striking out Rookie level hitters, but has also walked a few, too. Since he was routinely used for multiple innings last season, there is speculation that Burris could be considered for a switch to a starting pitcher role at some point this season.
    Chris Mazza – Age 23 – Throws Right
     
    2012: Fort Myers (Rookie – GCL) and Elizabethton (Rookie – Appy)
     
    [TABLE=class: mceItemTable]

    [TD=align: left]G
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]GS
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]ERA
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]IP
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]WHIP
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 34, align: left]K
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 38, align: left]H/9
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 57, align: left]K/9
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 42, align: left]BB/9
    [/TD]


    [TD=align: right]18
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right][/TD]
    [TD=align: right]2.05
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]30.2
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]0.946
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]28
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]7.9
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]8.2
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]0.6
    [/TD]

    [/TABLE]
    Mazza didn't sign soon enough following being drafted by the Twins in the 27th round of the 2011 draft to get any work in that summer, but he did pitch at both Rookie league levels in 2012. At 6'4” and just 175 pounds, Mazza has plenty of room to grow in to his frame, but he did get off to a good start in his first professional season.
     
    Chris split his innings almost equally between the GCL Twins and Elizabethton, with similar results. He did give up more runs at Elizabethton, but most importantly he maintained his outstanding strikeout/walk ratio (13.00 K/BB at FtM and 15.00 K/BB at E'town). Mazza has excellent control and misses bats and that's a combination that will move him up the ladder with the Twins.
     
    There are other pitchers that will likely spend time in Cedar Rapids this summer, though it's hard to say right now what role(s) they may fill on the Kernels' pitching staff.
    Brett Lee is 22 and was drafted in the 10th round in 2011. He threw 43.2 innings for Elizabethton in 2012 over 16 games. Four of his 16 appearances were starts. He struck out 48 hitters and walked 12.
    Andrew Ferreira is a 22 year-old lefty the Twins drafted in the 32nd round last year out of Harvard. He struck out 13 hitters and walked seven in his 10 innings of work for Elizabethton in 2012.
    Kaleb Merck is also 22 and was drafted out of TCU by the Twins one round after Ferreira last year. Merck struck out 28 hitters in his 24.1 innings at Elizabethton. Obviously, both pitchers could easily spend time in Cedar Rapids this summer.
     
    The 2013 Kernels bullpen should be a real strength and could easily include several future Big League pitchers. Some of these guys could be on fast tracks through the organization, however, so don't be too surprised if they're promoted relatively quickly.
     
    That's a wrap for this series. I hope you've enjoyed reading about these young men and that you join me in looking forward to the 2013 season of the Cedar Rapids Kernels!
     
    If you missed any of the first five parts of the series, you can click back via the links below:
     

    Part 1 - catchers
    Part 2 - corner infielders
    Part 3 - middle infielders
    Part 4 - outfielders
    Part 5 - starting pitchers

    - JC
  19. Jim Crikket
    It’s no secret that the Minnesota Twins have issues these days with regard to their starting pitching rotation, but is there any hope for the future? The Twins acquired a couple of legitimate starting pitching prospects in trades this offseason, which bodes well for New Britain’s 2013 rotation, but what about here in Cedar Rapids?
     
    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/KernelsTwins-300x168.jpg
    (Image: Kernels.com)
     
    After checking out the position players likely to spend time with the 2013 Kernels in Parts 1 through 4 of this series, in Part 5 we’ll take a look at a number of pitchers that Kernels fans are likely to see in the team’s starting rotation during 2013.
     
    (This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com)
     
    One of the challenges in projecting starting pitching vs. bullpen pitching is that, at this level, organizations tend to ask many of their pitchers to spend time in both roles. Nobody really knows for sure which pitchers have a Big League future as a starter and which will eventually find a role in the bullpen. In addition, the Twins will want to limit the number of innings many of their pitching prospects put on their arms during each minor league season. One way to accomplish that is to have even those pitchers clearly earmarked for rotation roles spend a chunk of each minor league season in the pen.
     
    For our purposes, we’ll try to identify a number of pitchers that the Twins clearly are looking at developing as starting pitchers and then, in Part 6, we’ll include those that appear most likely to have futures working in relief.

    David Hurlbut – Age 23 – Throws Left
     
    2012: Beloit (Class A – MWL)
     
    [TABLE]

    [TD=align: left]G[/TD]
    [TD=align: left]GS[/TD]
    [TD=width: 40, align: left]ERA[/TD]
    [TD=width: 41, align: left]IP[/TD]
    [TD=width: 47, align: left]WHIP[/TD]
    [TD=width: 31, align: left]K[/TD]
    [TD=width: 38, align: left]H/9[/TD]
    [TD=width: 33, align: left]K/9[/TD]
    [TD=width: 42, align: left]BB/9[/TD]


    [TD=align: right]25[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]15[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]2.76[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]111.0[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]1.171[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]85[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]8.5[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]6.9[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]2.0[/TD]

    [/TABLE]
    The Twins liked Hurlbut so much, they drafted him twice! Originally picked by the Twins as a junior college pitcher in the 35th round of the 2009 draft, Hurlbut chose to go to Cal State – Fullerton rather than sign with the Twins at that time. In 2011, the Twins used their 28th round pick to choose Hurlbut again and the lefty threw 66 innings in Elizabethton after signing that summer.
     
    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Hurlbut12b-225x300.jpg
    David Hurlbut
     
    Hurlbut is one example of where the Twins have drafted a college relief pitcher and given him an opportunity to start. He pitched a full season at Beloit in 2012, racking up 111 innings in 25 games, 15 of them as a starter. He doesn’t have overpowering velocity, but his numbers at Beloit improved considerably over his Appy League season. His ERA dropped to 2.76 and his WHIP to 1.171, largely due to allowing almost three fewer hits per nine innings, compared to his Rookie level season.
     
    So after a respectable year at Beloit, why wouldn’t the Twins promote David to Fort Myers in 2013? That’s a fair question and they may well do exactly that. This is simply one of those situations where it looks to me like the rotation in Fort Myers may be pretty crowded to start the year and Hurlbut may be the odd man out for a while. Of course, he could also start out in the Fort Myers bullpen. Even if he does start in CR, he certainly should be one of the first pitchers moved up when pitching spots open up for with the Miracle.

    Tyler Jones – Age 23 – Throws Right
     
    2012: Beloit (Class A – MWL)
     
    [TABLE]

    [TD=align: left]G[/TD]
    [TD=align: left]GS[/TD]
    [TD=width: 40, align: left]ERA[/TD]
    [TD=width: 41, align: left]IP[/TD]
    [TD=width: 47, align: left]WHIP[/TD]
    [TD=width: 31, align: left]K[/TD]
    [TD=width: 38, align: left]H/9[/TD]
    [TD=width: 33, align: left]K/9[/TD]
    [TD=width: 42, align: left]BB/9[/TD]


    [TD=align: right]18[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]16[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]4.67[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]86.2[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]1.442[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]102[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]9.3[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]10.6[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]3.6[/TD]

    [/TABLE]
    Jones was drafted by the Twins in the 11th round of the 2011 draft out of LSU in time to get just four appearances in for Elizabethton that summer. It’s probably just as well he didn’t get more work in because his seven innings there did not go well at all. He spent the entire season in 2012 at Beloit, where things went much better, but there’s still much room for improvement.
     
    One thing Tyler continues to do is rack up a good number of strikeouts. That’s the good news. Unfortunately, he also gave up better than a hit per inning of work and it wouldn’t hurt for him to figure out how to cut his walks a little, too. Jones throws two different fastballs and can touch the mid-90s, but reports are that his other pitches need to improve.
     
    It’s possible that Jones could open the season in Fort Myers, but I doubt it. It would be tough to say he demonstrated the ability to consistently get outs in the MWL last year and the Twins should have no shortage of rotation options at the high-A level that are more advanced than Jones at this point. If he does start the season in CR, however, don’t expect him to stick around all summer. He’s got the talent to move up quickly if he can cut down on the baserunners he allows.

    Taylor Rogers – Age 22 – Throws Left
     
    2012: Elizabethton (Rookie – Appy) and Beloit (Class A – MWL)
     
    [TABLE]

    [TD=align: left]G[/TD]
    [TD=align: left]GS[/TD]
    [TD=width: 40, align: left]ERA[/TD]
    [TD=width: 41, align: left]IP[/TD]
    [TD=width: 47, align: left]WHIP[/TD]
    [TD=width: 31, align: left]K[/TD]
    [TD=width: 38, align: left]H/9[/TD]
    [TD=width: 33, align: left]K/9[/TD]
    [TD=width: 42, align: left]BB/9[/TD]


    [TD=align: right]15[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]10[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]2.27[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]63.1[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]1.105[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]74[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]7.5[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]10.5[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]2.4[/TD]

    [/TABLE]

    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/RogersAug2012-225x300.jpg
    Taylor Rogers
     
    Rogers was picked up by the Twins in the 11th round of 2012′s amateur draft out of the University of Kentucky and pitched his way through two levels in his first partial year of professional baseball. Rogers dominated hitters in six starts (covering 30 innings) at Elizabethton, striking out 11.7 hitters per nine innings. He continued to pitch well for Beloit, though, as you’d expect, hitters had more success against him at the higher level. Still, he continued to strike out more than a hitter per inning with Beloit.
     
    Rogers isn’t overpowering with his fastball, but he’s obviously doing something right. The jury is probably still out on whether he’ll end up as a starter or reliever, but as long as his secondary pitches continue to be effective, you have to imagine the Twins will continue giving him opportunities to prove he belongs in future rotations.

    Tim Shibuya – Age 23 – Throws Right
     
    2012: Beloit (Class A – MWL)
     
    [TABLE]

    [TD=align: left]G[/TD]
    [TD=align: left]GS[/TD]
    [TD=width: 40, align: left]ERA[/TD]
    [TD=width: 41, align: left]IP[/TD]
    [TD=width: 47, align: left]WHIP[/TD]
    [TD=width: 31, align: left]K[/TD]
    [TD=width: 38, align: left]H/9[/TD]
    [TD=width: 33, align: left]K/9[/TD]
    [TD=width: 42, align: left]BB/9[/TD]


    [TD=align: right]17[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]15[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]5.59[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]74.0[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]1.392[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]56[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]10.7[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]6.8[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]1.8[/TD]

    [/TABLE]

    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/ShibuyaJune2012a1-224x300.jpg
    Tim Shibuya
     
    Shibuya will be starting his third season in the Twins organization after being drafted in the 23rd round of the 2011 draft out of the University of California, San Diego. He has dealt with some injuries in both of his professional seasons, so it will be interesting to see if he can stay healthy all summer and, if so, what kind of numbers he can put up.
     
    Shibuya seemed to run a little hot and cold in 2012. He had some very good outings, but too many that weren’t so good. In the end, over 74 innings of work, he racked up a pretty ugly 5.59 ERA and gave up 10.7 hits per nine innings. He had much better numbers in 2011 at Elizabethton, so he’s demonstrated some talent, but at 23, he’ll need to step up his game a bit in 2013. Staying healthy all season would be a good start.

    Hudson Boyd – Age 20 – Throws Right
     
    2012: Elizabethton (Rookie – Appy)
     
    [TABLE]

    [TD=align: left]G[/TD]
    [TD=align: left]GS[/TD]
    [TD=width: 40, align: left]ERA[/TD]
    [TD=width: 41, align: left]IP[/TD]
    [TD=width: 47, align: left]WHIP[/TD]
    [TD=width: 31, align: left]K[/TD]
    [TD=width: 38, align: left]H/9[/TD]
    [TD=width: 33, align: left]K/9[/TD]
    [TD=width: 42, align: left]BB/9[/TD]


    [TD=align: right]13[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]13[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]2.95[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]58.0[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]1.483[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]36[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]9.8[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]5.6[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]3.6[/TD]

    [/TABLE]
    Boyd was a Supplemental 1st round pick (55th overall) by the Twins in the 2011 draft out of his Fort Myers FL high school, but didn’t sign with the Twins until just before the deadline that summer. As a result, 2012 was his first year of professional baseball. Rather than starting his career in his hometown with the GCL Twins, the big rightie went to Elizabethton after extended spring training.
     
    Hudson didn’t exactly set the league on fire last summer and part of me thinks it wouldn’t be a terrible idea for the Twins to hold him back a bit and promote him to Cedar Rapids later. For a guy who reportedly has a high-90s fastball, he certainly didn’t miss all that many bats in E’town. His K/9 rate needs to be higher and he should not be giving up more than a hit per inning. Still, he didn’t give up all that many runs, so he’s doing something right.
     
    The Twins historically push their top pitching prospects up the organizational ladder faster than they do their hitters. That being the case, I suspect we’ll see Hudson with the Kernels to start the season. Since he threw just 58 innings in 2012, he’s one of the guys we could see spend time both as a starter and in the bullpen during the course of the season. In fact, it’s quite possible he’ll project as a closer as he moves higher up the ladder.
     
    Even after his mediocre first season, he’s still ranked among the Twins top 25 prospects on most such lists. That and his velocity should make him a fun pitcher for Kernels fans to watch.

    Jose (J.O.) Berrios – Age 18 – Throws Right
     
    2012: Fort Myers (Rookie – GCL) and Elizabethton (Rookie – Appy)
     
    [TABLE]

    [TD=align: left]G[/TD]
    [TD=align: left]GS[/TD]
    [TD=width: 40, align: left]ERA[/TD]
    [TD=width: 41, align: left]IP[/TD]
    [TD=width: 47, align: left]WHIP[/TD]
    [TD=width: 31, align: left]K[/TD]
    [TD=width: 38, align: left]H/9[/TD]
    [TD=width: 33, align: left]K/9[/TD]
    [TD=width: 42, align: left]BB/9[/TD]


    [TD=align: right]11[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]4[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]1.17[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]30.2[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]0.620[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]49[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]4.4[/TD]
    [TD=align: left]14.41.2[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]1.2[/TD]

    [/TABLE]
    Berrios’ name appears very high on a number of Twins Top Prospects lists, as you’d expect for a pitcher drafted with a Supplemental 1st round pick in 2012 (32nd overall). JO was drafted out of his high school in Puerto Rico and spent most of the summer with the GCL Twins. He did, however, earn a promotion to Elizabethton toward the end of the year, where he got three starts in to help E’town finish off their championship season.
     
    Berrios only started in half of his 14 appearances during the season, however, and as a result he only pitched a total of 30.2 innings. The 18-year-old struck out an amazing 14.4 hitters per nine innings (exceeding 14/9 at both levels) and barely walked more than one batter per nine innings. It’s hard to imagine the Twins pushing him too aggressively this season, so nobody will be surprised if he stays behind in extended spring training and perhaps even heads back to Elizabethton when they start their season in June. At the same time, if he pitches anything like he did last year, there’s little doubt he’ll be wearing a Kernels uniform before the end of the season.
     
    Berrios is a legitimate top-of-the-rotation prospect… something the Twins have very few of in their organization. He won’t turn 19 until May, so the Twins won’t risk overworking the young man’s arm, but I also don’t see them hesitating to promote him to the next level as soon as he shows he can dominate hitters where he’s at. Enjoy him when you get to watch him, Kernels fans. He’s got a chance to be very special.

    Angel Mata – Age 20 – Throws Right
     
    2012: Elizabethton (Rookie – Appy)
     
    [TABLE]

    [TD=align: left]G[/TD]
    [TD=align: left]GS[/TD]
    [TD=width: 40, align: left]ERA[/TD]
    [TD=width: 41, align: left]IP[/TD]
    [TD=width: 47, align: left]WHIP[/TD]
    [TD=width: 31, align: left]K[/TD]
    [TD=width: 38, align: left]H/9[/TD]
    [TD=width: 33, align: left]K/9[/TD]
    [TD=width: 42, align: left]BB/9[/TD]


    [TD=align: right]13[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]13[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]3.38[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]53.1[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]1.219[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]55[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]5.2[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]9.3[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]5.7[/TD]

    [/TABLE]
    After signing with the Twins as a teenager out of his native Venezuela, Mata spent 2010 in the Dominican Summer League and 2011 with the GCL Twins. At Elizabethton in 2012, he gave up slightly fewer hits per nine innings than he had been previously and even increased his strikeout rate by a full 2 Ks per 9. On the other hand, his walk rate also rose and, at 5.7 per nine innings, that’s a potential concern.
     
    At just 20 years old, however, Mata has time to work on his control and the Twins organization can certainly use all the pitchers capable of missing bats that it can get. Mata has been almost exclusively used as a starting pitcher, thus far, but assuming he opens the season in Cedar Rapids, 2013 will be his first year of “full season” baseball. It will be interesting to see if the Twins limit his innings somewhat by having him spend at least part of the year working out of the bullpen.
     
    That’s just seven names and we all know there will be more starting pitchers toeing the rubber for the Kernels in 2013. Some of the others will be covered in Part 6 when we look at guys that profile primarily as relievers. In addition, the following two pitchers are likely to get looks in Cedar Rapids this season, perhaps even to start the year.

    Ricardo Arevalo was signed out of Venezuela in 2009. In three Rookie level seasons, he’s continued to rack up a lot of strikeouts (9.2 K/9 in 2012), but has also given up too many walks. Ricardo will be 22 years old by Opening Day and will probably need to show the organization some progress in the control department this year in Cedar Rapids.
     
    I’m not sure how much of the US Hein Robb has seen during his three summers in Rookie level ball for the Twins organization, but the South Africa native has certainly seen a lot of the world. He played for South Africa’s entry in the World Baseball Classic as a 16-year-old and has continued to be active in international competition. The Twins signed the lefty in 2008 and he put up a 3.73 ERA for Elizabethton in 2012, starting eight games out of 13 appearances and striking out a respectable 8.3 hitters per nine innings.
     
    Quite a list, isn’t it? There’s definitely pitching talent at this level in the Twins organization and we’ll see a lot of it this summer.
     
    Next: We wrap up this series with a look at those pitchers most likely to spend most of their time pitching in relief for the Kernels in 2013.
     
    - JC
  20. Jim Crikket
    We’ve worked our way around the horn in the first three Parts of this series, covering the catchers, corner infielders and middle infielders that could possibly put on a Kernels uniform in Cedar Rapids this summer. In Part 4 of our series, we’ll check out a number of outfielders that could take the field for Cedar Rapids at some point during 2013.
     
     
    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/KernelsTwins-300x168.jpg
    (Image: Kernels.com)
     
     
     
    Obviously, we can’t know this early exactly who will come north to Iowa out of Spring Training to start the season, but regardless of which of these prospects starts the season in Cedar Rapids, the Kernels outfield should be flat-out loaded! A number of the organization’s top prospects played at Elizabethton in 2012 and most of them should find their way to Cedar Rapids either to start the season or by some time midway through the summer.
     
    JaDamion (J.D.) Williams – Age 22 – Bats: Both/Throws: Right
    2012: Beloit (Class A – MWL)
    [TABLE]

    [TD=width: 26]G[/TD]
    [TD=width: 34]PA[/TD]
    [TD=width: 38]BA[/TD]
    [TD=width: 41]OPS[/TD]
    [TD=width: 26]K[/TD]
    [TD=width: 31]BB[/TD]
    [TD=width: 28]2B[/TD]
    [TD=width: 28]3B[/TD]
    [TD=width: 31]HR[/TD]



    97
    407
    .234
    .651
    115
    39
    16
    2
    6
    [/TABLE]
    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/WilliamsAug2012-225x300.jpgJD Williams
     
    Williams was drafted out of his Tampa FL high school by the Twins in the 10th round of the 2010 amateur draft. JD signed in time to get 37 games in with the GCL Twins in 2010, but struggled at the plate. He had considerably more success in his sophomore year of professional baseball, hitting .324 for Elizabethton in 2011. His productivity dipped some in his first year of full-season ball at Beloit in 2012, but he did finally show some of the speed the Twins expected him to have on the basepaths. He stole 23 bases in 32 attempts during the season at Beloit, but just think of how many he could have stolen if he hadn’t struck out 115 times.
    Williams spent considerable time in all three outfield positions during 2012, including 23 games in centerfield. He also threw out seven runners on the bases.
    At the end of the 2012 season, I would have almost guaranteed JD would open 2013 with the Kernels and I think he could probably use some extra time at the Class A level. But with the Twins trading Denard Span and Ben Revere, the bottleneck of outfielders in the organization could open up enough to allow him to open the year at high-A Fort Myers, along with most of the rest of his fellow Snappers team mates from last season.
    Max Kepler – Age 19 – Bats: L/Throws: L
    2012: Elizabethton (Rookie – Appy)
    [TABLE]

    [TD=width: 26]G[/TD]
    [TD=width: 34]PA[/TD]
    [TD=width: 38]BA[/TD]
    [TD=width: 41]OPS[/TD]
    [TD=width: 26]K[/TD]
    [TD=width: 31]BB[/TD]
    [TD=width: 28]2B[/TD]
    [TD=width: 28]3B[/TD]
    [TD=width: 31]HR[/TD]



    59
    269
    .297
    .925
    33
    27
    16
    5
    10
    [/TABLE]
    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/KeplerButeraST2012-222x300.jpgMax Kepler
     
    In 2009, the Twins gave the 6’4″ German the largest signing bonus paid to a European baseball player, at the time. He moved to Fort Myers and finished school at the high school that neighbors the Twins training facility in that city. In three seasons of rookie league ball, Kepler has steadily progressed, showing the kind of athletic prowess one might expect from the son of European ballet dancers.
    The 6’4″ outfielder will just turn 20 before this season and has grown in to his body since arriving in the US. In 2012, his second season at Elizabethton, he made real progress in almost every aspect of his game, adding 35 points to his batting average and a whopping 211 points to his OPS, most of that a result of showing significantly more power. After hitting just one home run in his first two years of professional ball, combined, Kepler jacked 10 of them in 2012.
    But Max isn’t just big, he’s got speed as well (he stole seven bases without being caught stealing even once) and a strong arm. He played 67 games in centerfield for Elizabethton last year and 23 games in a corner outfield spot, mostly left field.
    Kepler was appearing in most offseason “top 10″ lists of Twins prospects before the Span and Revere trades added a couple of highly rated minor league pitchers to the organization, but he easily remains a consensus top 15 Twins prospect heading in to 2013. Even after those trades, I’ve ranked Kepler 9th on my list.
    Romy Jimenez – Age 21 – Bats R/Throws R
    2012: Elizabethton (Rookie – Appy)
    [TABLE]

    [TD=width: 26]G[/TD]
    [TD=width: 34]PA[/TD]
    [TD=width: 38]BA[/TD]
    [TD=width: 41]OPS[/TD]
    [TD=width: 26]K[/TD]
    [TD=width: 31]BB[/TD]
    [TD=width: 28]2B[/TD]
    [TD=width: 28]3B[/TD]
    [TD=width: 31]HR[/TD]



    35
    139
    .347
    1.108
    25
    19
    12
    1
    8
    [/TABLE]
    Jiminez was signed in 2009 out of the Dominican Republic and started his professional career with two very good seasons in the Dominican Summer League. An injury limited him to just eight games with the GCL Twins in 2011, but he came back very strong in 2012.
    Romy won’t turn 22 until several weeks in to what should be his first experience on a full-season roster in Cedar Rapids. He has certainly shown the ability to hit and hit with power, but I’m curious about the fact that he didn’t steal a single base in 2012 (and only attempted one) at Elizabethton, although he stole 24 bases in 34 attempts in his two Dominican seasons.
    Like Kepler, the 6’2″ Jimenez saw time in all three outfield spots during 2012, though most of his time was spent in left field.
    Adam Walker – Age 21 – Bats: R/Throws: R
    2012: Elizabethton (Rookie – Appy)
    [TABLE]

    [TD=width: 26]G[/TD]
    [TD=width: 34]PA[/TD]
    [TD=width: 38]BA[/TD]
    [TD=width: 41]OPS[/TD]
    [TD=width: 26]K[/TD]
    [TD=width: 31]BB[/TD]
    [TD=width: 28]2B[/TD]
    [TD=width: 28]3B[/TD]
    [TD=width: 31]HR[/TD]



    58
    254
    .250
    .805
    76
    19
    7
    4
    14
    [/TABLE]
    The 6’4″, 225 pound, Walker was drafted by the Twins in the 3rd round of the 2012 amateur draft and after signing quickly, he was assigned to Elizabethton in time to get 58 games in. His batting average in his first professional season won’t raise eyebrows and his .310 on-base percentage could stand to improve. He certatainly needs to cut that strikeout rate down considerably. But look at those extra-base hits! Seven doubles, four triples and 14 home runs in just 58 games. That would project to 20 doubles, seven triples and close to 40 home runs over a 162 game Major League schedule.
    Walker exclusively played right field for E’town and he made a few errors out there, but he also threw out half a dozen baserunners. He also stole four bases on the season, without being caught stealing even once.
    The Twins obviously saw a potential power hitter in Walker when they drafted him out of Jacksonville University and he gave them no reason to question that in his first professional experience. If he can slash those Ks in Cedar Rapids, while maintaining anything even close to his 2012 power numbers, Adam could climb up the organizational ladder quickly.
    That’s four potential outfielders and, if Candido Pimentel, who we covered with the middle infielders, starts the season in Cedar Rapds, that would give Kernels manager Jake Mauer a full contingent of players to move in and out of his outfield.
    But wait! We haven’t even mentioned the outfielder who managed to garner Baseball America’s “top prospect” award in BOTH the Gulf Coast League and the Appalachian League in 2012. Of course, that would be…
    Byron Buxton – Age 19 – Bats: R/Throws: R
    2012: Fort Myers (Rookie – GCL) and Elizabethton (Rookie – Appy)
    [TABLE]

    [TD=width: 26]G[/TD]
    [TD=width: 34]PA[/TD]
    [TD=width: 38]BA[/TD]
    [TD=width: 41]OPS[/TD]
    [TD=width: 26]K[/TD]
    [TD=width: 31]BB[/TD]
    [TD=width: 28]2B[/TD]
    [TD=width: 28]3B[/TD]
    [TD=width: 31]HR[/TD]



    48
    189
    .248
    .792
    41
    19
    10
    4
    5
    [/TABLE]
    The only benefit to having the second worst record in Major League Baseball in 2011 was that it earned the Twins the right to the second overall draft pick in the 2012 amateur draft. The Twins used that pick to select Buxton out of his Georgia high school and less than a year later, he’s generally considered either the 1st or 2nd ranked prospect in the Twins organization (he tops my list).
    Buxton played 27 games with the GCL Twins before moving up to Elizabethton to finish the season. While his .216 batting average win the GCL wasn’t flashy, he actually had more extra-base hits (11, including 4 HRs) than singles (8). Think about that for a moment. His Appy stats were much more “normal” looking, but he still had eight XBHs among his 22 hits overall at that level.
    There is probably little doubt that Buxton could compete at the Class A level, but given his age (he’ll be 19 all season long) and the outfield talent that got more experience in Elizabethton a year ago, Byron will quite likely stick around extended spring training to start the season and may play a few weeks in E’town again. I’ll be surprised, however, if he isn’t in Cedar Rapids for most of the second half of the MWL season and if JD Williams does open the year at high-A Fort Myers, Buxton could come to Cedar Rapids in April, too.
    Whenever you do get to see him play in Cedar Rapids, Kernels fans, pay attention. Once he reaches Minnesota, Buxton could be the Twins center fielder for many years to come.
    There are a couple more outfielders that at least warrant a mention, since you never know when injuries and promotions will result in players getting promoted from one of the rookie league teams. If that happens, look for Kelvin Ortiz, Jeremias Pineda or Dereck Rodriguez to find themselves in Kernels uniforms.
    Ortiz, a 21-year-old Dominican has played two seasons in the Dominican Summer League and two seasons with the GCL Twins while compiling just a .221 batting average and perhaps even less impressive stats, otherwise.
    Pineda, also from the Dominican Republic, is 22 and came over to the Twins from the Red Sox organization in the Danny Valencia trade last summer. The move didn’t exactly agree with him, however, as he hit just .237 while putting up a .640 OPS with the GCL Twins after putting up .421 BA and .981 OPS numbers for the GCL Red Sox before the trade.
    Rodriguez, 20, was drafted by the Twins in the 6th round of the 2011 amateur draft. He struggled considerably with the GCL Twins after signing in 2011, but improved a great deal last year while repeating that level. He hit .263 with a .783 OPS with a bit of power.
    Kernels fans should enjoy watching their outfielders this season. Some of them have much better than average chances of playing Major League Baseball in the future.
    Next: Starting Pitchers
    - JC
  21. Jim Crikket
    In preparation for the first season of the new affiliation between the Twins and my hometown Cedar Rapids Kernels, I’ve embarked on a series of “get to know them” posts. The intention is to give my fellow Kernels fans a little bit of information about the Twins prospects we may be seeing in Kernels uniforms over the course of the summer, understanding full well that it’s impossible to know exactly who will fill the Kernels’ roster several months before Opening Day.
     
    (This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com.)
     
    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/KernelsTwins-300x168.jpg
    (Image: Kernels.com)
     
    In Part 1 of the series, I looked at catchers and in Part 2, I covered corner infielders. In this post, we’ll look at middle infielders that could spend all or part of their summer in Cedar Rapids.
     
    While I had a little trouble identifying corner infielders likely to wear Kernels uniforms in 2013, I had almost exactly the opposite problem when I looked over the list of potential middle infielders. If anything, I found too many guys who could see time in Cedar Rapids this season.
    Adam (A.J.) Pettersen – Age 24 – Bats R/Throws R
     
    2012: Beloit (Class A – MWL)
     
    [TABLE]

    [TD=align: left]G[/TD]
    [TD=align: left]PA[/TD]
    [TD=width: 38, align: left]BA[/TD]
    [TD=width: 41, align: left]OPS[/TD]
    [TD=width: 26, align: left]K[/TD]
    [TD=width: 31, align: left]BB[/TD]
    [TD=width: 28, align: left]2B[/TD]
    [TD=width: 28, align: left]3B[/TD]
    [TD=width: 31, align: left]HR[/TD]


    [TD=align: right]93[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]368[/TD]
    [TD=align: right].248[/TD]
    [TD=align: right].632[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]53[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]28[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]13[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]2[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]2[/TD]

    [/TABLE]

    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/PettersenJune2012a-300x226.jpg
    AJ Pettersen
     
    My first thought was that Pettersen should move up to high-A Fort Myers to start the season and I still think that’s the most likely scenario. However, when I started to look at all of the other middle infielders who could/should play at the high-A level, it occurred to me that, depending on what happens with all of those guys, there simply may not be room for Pettersen with the Miracle.
     
    AJ was drafted in the 25th round of the 2011 draft out of the University of Minnesota and after just a few games with Elizabethton at the end of the 2011 season, Pettersen spent the entire 2012 season in Beloit. He was the epitome of a “utility player” with the Snappers, playing 2B, 3B, SS, LF and DH. In fact, he even pitched an inning. His offensive stat line would indicate to me that spending a few more weeks at Class A while he waits for things to shake out a bit in the middle infield further up the organizational ladder wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world for Pettersen (though I suspect he might not agree).
     
    If Pettersen does start the season in Cedar Rapids, get to know him quickly because his versatility and experience could make him among the first position players promoted to Fort Myers during the season.
    Stephen Wickens – Age 23 – Bats R/Throws R
     
    2012: Beloit (Class A – MWL) and Elizabethton (Rookie – Appy)
     
    [TABLE]

    [TD=align: left]G[/TD]
    [TD=align: left]PA[/TD]
    [TD=width: 38, align: left]BA[/TD]
    [TD=width: 41, align: left]OPS[/TD]
    [TD=width: 26, align: left]K[/TD]
    [TD=width: 31, align: left]BB[/TD]
    [TD=width: 28, align: left]2B[/TD]
    [TD=width: 28, align: left]3B[/TD]
    [TD=width: 31, align: left]HR[/TD]


    [TD=align: right]59[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]252[/TD]
    [TD=align: right].307[/TD]
    [TD=align: right].841[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]32[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]34[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]12[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]2[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]2[/TD]

    [/TABLE]
    Wickens was drafted a few rounds behind Pettersen in the 2011 amateur draft out of Florida Gulf Coast University and will turn 24 years old before Opening Day. Unlike Pettersen, Wickens stayed behind in extended spring training to start the 2012 season and played 10 games with Elizabethton before getting a promotion to Beloit. While in E’town, Wickens hit .424 and put up a 1.106 OPS (small sample size warning).
     
    Wickens found the MWL to be more of a challenge, though he still hit .286 at that level and got on base at a .411 clip while serving as the Snappers’ primary shortstop through the second half of their season. He made 11 errors in 159 chances at that position. He also played several games at second base.
    If Wickens impresses early, his age would also make him a candidate for promotion by mid year.
    Niko Goodrum – Age 20 – Bats: Both/Throws R
     
    2012: Elizabethton (Rookie – Appy)
     
    [TABLE]

    [TD=align: left]G[/TD]
    [TD=align: left]PA[/TD]
    [TD=width: 38, align: left]BA[/TD]
    [TD=width: 41, align: left]OPS[/TD]
    [TD=width: 26, align: left]K[/TD]
    [TD=width: 31, align: left]BB[/TD]
    [TD=width: 28, align: left]2B[/TD]
    [TD=width: 28, align: left]3B[/TD]
    [TD=width: 31, align: left]HR[/TD]


    [TD=align: right]58[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]269[/TD]
    [TD=align: right].242[/TD]
    [TD=align: right].768[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]56[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]38[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]12[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]8[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]4[/TD]

    [/TABLE]
    Goodrum was the Twins’ 2nd round draft choice in 2010 out of his Georgia high school. He got time in the GCL the summer he was drafted and has spent the past two seasons with Elizabethton. His batting average dipped a bit this past season, compared to 2011, but he apparently found more gaps as he increased his extra-base hits across the board. He also increased his number of walks, though he continued to strike out as often as he hit safely, which is something to work on.
     
    At 6’3″, there’s been some question whether shortstop will ultimately remain Niko’s primary position, but he played 50 games at that position in 2012, as opposed to just 7 at third base, so the Twins appear to be giving him every chance to stick at shortstop. He cut his errors at short almost in half, compared to 2011, so there seems to be every reason for the Twins to keep sending him out to that position.
     
    Many Twins fans already talk about Goodrum potentially being one shortstop in the organization with a chance of providing some long term stability at that position for the Twins in the future. That kind of optimism is evident as Goodrum’s name appears high on most published “Top Twins Prospects” lists for 2013. That makes him certainly a player for Kernels fans to watch closely during his time in Cedar Rapids.
    Jorge Polanco – Age 19 – Bats: Both/Throws: R
     
    2012: Elizabethton (Rookie – Appy)
     
    [TABLE]

    [TD=align: left]G[/TD]
    [TD=align: left]PA[/TD]
    [TD=width: 38, align: left]BA[/TD]
    [TD=width: 41, align: left]OPS[/TD]
    [TD=width: 26, align: left]K[/TD]
    [TD=width: 31, align: left]BB[/TD]
    [TD=width: 28, align: left]2B[/TD]
    [TD=width: 28, align: left]3B[/TD]
    [TD=width: 31, align: left]HR[/TD]


    [TD=align: right]51[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]204[/TD]
    [TD=align: right].318[/TD]
    [TD=align: right].903[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]26[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]20[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]15[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]2[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]5[/TD]

    [/TABLE]
    Polanco was signed to a $700,000 bonus as a Dominican 16 year old back in 2009. He played several games in the Dominican Summer League in 2010 before moving up to the GCL Twins to finish the year. By then, he was already projected to be a top-tier defensive infielder that could also contribute offensively. He repeated the GCL in 2011 and then moved up to Elizabethton for 2012. Jorge showed steady improvement in his offensive game during his first couple of professional seasons, but really took a major leap offensively in 2012 as he showed some power for the first time.
     
    Polanco played 35 games at shortstop and 15 at second base for Elizabethton, committing just eight errors in 233 chances. That’s not bad at all, especially considering that he’s reported to have excellent range and therefore gets to a lot of balls lesser infielders won’t.
    Candido Pimentel – Age 22 – Bats: Both/Throws: R
     
    2012: Elizabethton (Rookie – Appy)
     
    [TABLE]

    [TD=align: left]G[/TD]
    [TD=align: left]PA[/TD]
    [TD=width: 38, align: left]BA[/TD]
    [TD=width: 41, align: left]OPS[/TD]
    [TD=width: 26, align: left]K[/TD]
    [TD=width: 31, align: left]BB[/TD]
    [TD=width: 28, align: left]2B[/TD]
    [TD=width: 28, align: left]3B[/TD]
    [TD=width: 31, align: left]HR[/TD]


    [TD=align: right]56[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]247[/TD]
    [TD=align: right].330[/TD]
    [TD=align: right].824[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]42[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]26[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]10[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]3[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]1[/TD]

    [/TABLE]
    Pimentel was signed as a free agent outfielder out of the Dominican Republic. He played in the Dominican Summer League in 2009, for the GCL Twins in 2010 and 2011 and for Elizabethon in the Appalachian League last summer. After being exclusively an outfielder for his first three years with the Twins organization, Pimentel actually played a few more games at second base for E’town than he did in the outfield.
     
    That kind of flexibility could serve Pimentel well in Cedar Rapids, especially since learning the new position didn’t seem to negatively impact his bat skills. In fact, after seeing his offensive stats dip in 2011, he turned things around again a bit in 2012. In addition to hitting .330, Pimentel got on base at a .405 pace. That’s important, because once he gets on base, he’s a threat to steal. He also found more gap power in 2012.
     
    It certainly looks like the players listed above will be more than enough to adequately handle the middle infield for the Kernels in 2012, especially if Pettersen does start the season in Cedar Rapids.
     
    The one other name that I believe bears mentioning is probably Aderlin Mejia. I covered Mejia in Part 2 when we looked at corner infielders and because the Twins organization appears to be a bit deeper at this level in the middle infield, I would imagine that if Mejia finds himself in Cedar Rapids at some point in 2013, it would be primarily at third base. That said, if a need for middle infield help does arise later in the season, Mejia could just as easily get a call to fill that role, too.
     
    Next week, we’re going to look at the outfielders and pitchers… I think we’ll really like what we see!
     
    - JC
  22. Jim Crikket
    In preparation for the first season of the new affiliation between the Twins and my hometown Cedar Rapids Kernels, I’ve embarked on a series of “get to know them” posts. The intention is to give my fellow Kernels fans a little bit of information about the Twins prospects we may be seeing in Kernels uniforms over the course of the summer, understanding full well that it’s impossible to know exactly who will fill the Kernels’ roster several months before Opening Day.
     
    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/KernelsTwins-300x168.jpg
    (Image: Kernels.com)
     
    In Part 1 of the series, I looked at the catchers that are likely to spend time in Cedar Rapids, as well as a few that could find their way here if things fall their way. In this post, we’ll look at corner infielders.
     
    (This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com.)
    A year ago, the Twins’ Class A team in Beloit had a couple of their biggest power-hitting prospects covering the corner infield positions in Miguel Sano and Kennys Vargas. The Kernels won’t have the organization’s top prospect playing third base for them in 2012, as Beloit did, but there are certainly some similarities between the Snappers’ corner infielders and those that are likely to be manning those positions in Cedar Rapids this summer.
    Rory Rhodes – Age 21 – Bats R/Throws R
     
    2012: Beloit (Class A – MWL) and Elizabethton (Rookie – Appy)
     
    [TABLE]

    [TD=align: left]G
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]PA
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]BA
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]OPS
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]K
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]BB
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 28, align: left]2B
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 28, align: left]3B
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 31, align: left]HR
    [/TD]


    [TD=align: right]70
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]291
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right].236
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right].697
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]75
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]27
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]11
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]2
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]8
    [/TD]

    [/TABLE]

    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Rhodes2012a-224x300.jpg
    Rory Rhodes
     
    As Twins fans well know, and as Kernels fans are likely to discover, the Twins have historically had quite a pipeline of players coming up through their system out of Australia. Rory Rhodes is yet another member of the fraternity from “down under.”
     
    While still just 21 years old entering the season, 2012 was the fourth year the Brisbane native played in the Twins minor league organization. Rory started the year with Beloit and struggled offensively, hitting less than .200 in his 26 games with the Snappers. (I did personally see him hit a HR in Cedar Rapids against the Kernels that went about as far as I’ve seen one hit to LF in recent years, however.) He fared better once back with E’town, but still struck out more than he and the Twins would like.
     
    Rhodes started his career with the Twins as a third baseman, but was moved across the diamond after a rotator cuff injury a couple of years ago. He did play several games in the outfield in 2012, however. At 6′ 7″ and 200+ pounds, it won’t be hard for Kernels fans to spot the Aussie, wherever he may be positioned on the field.
    Travis Harrison – Age 20 – Bats R/Throws R
     
    2012: Elizabethton (Rookie – Appy)
     
    [TABLE]

    [TD=align: left]G
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]PA
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]BA
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]OPS
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]K
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]BB
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 28, align: left]2B
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 28, align: left]3B
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 31, align: left]HR
    [/TD]


    [TD=align: right]60
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]253
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right].301
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right].845
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]51
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]24
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]12
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]4
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]5
    [/TD]

    [/TABLE]
    The Twins used the supplemental first round draft pick they acquired by letting Orlando Hudson walk away as a free agent to draft Harrison with the 50th overall pick of the 2011 amateur draft. He held out until just before the 2011 signing deadline when he signed for just over $1 million, but the late signing meant he didn’t get any games in with any Twins affiliate in 2011.
     
    Travis spent 2012 with Elizabethton, where he put up plenty of offense with 21 extra-base hits, including five home runs. However, Harrison also committed 24 errors at third base in 143 chances covering 59 games at the position. By comparison, Sano committed 42 errors in 361 chances at the position for Beloit. In other words, for the second consecutive season, the Twins will apparently be looking at their Class A affiliate to determine if one of their most promising offensive prospects can learn to play a passable third base.
     
    Regardless of his defensive skills, however, Harrison is likely to be the Kernels infielder with the most promise. He appears to be a consensus “top 15″ prospect in the Twins organization among those who publish such ratings and had even been listed among the top 10 Twins prospects prior to the Denard Span and Ben Revere trades that brough a couple of highly regarded starting pitching prospects in to the Twins organization.
    D. J. Hicks – Age 22 – Bats L/Throws R
     
    2012: Elizabethton (Rookie – Appy)
     
    [TABLE]

    [TD=align: left]G
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]PA
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]BA
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]OPS
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]K
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: left]BB
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 28, align: left]2B
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 28, align: left]3B
    [/TD]
    [TD=width: 31, align: left]HR
    [/TD]


    [TD=align: right]31
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]136
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right].270
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right].817
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]37
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]19
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right]7
    [/TD]
    [TD=align: right][/TD]
    [TD=align: right]4
    [/TD]

    [/TABLE]
    Hicks, who was drafted in the 17th round in 2012 out of the University of Central Florida, signed with the Twins in time to get half a season in with Elizabethton. Hicks split his time between 1B and DH with E’town, but apparently held his own on defense, committing just two errors in his 20 games at first base. He will need to make better contact, however, as he had six more strikeouts (37) than he had hits (31) on the season.
     
    If the Kernels happen to host their traditional “get to know the Kernels” event two days before the April 4 season opener and Hicks is a member of their roster, the event could double as a birthday bash for the big first baseman, who will turn 23 years old on April 2.
     
    It’s challenging to identify other corner infielders in the organization that could find their way to Cedar Rapids in 2013. It seems that, in all likelihood, the three guys listed above will get the lion’s share of innings at 1B, 3B and DH, with the odd outfielder or middle infielder taking a turn at 1B or 3B when manager Jake Mauer needs someone to fill in at one of the corners.
     
    However, injuries and promotions often mean players get opportunities to move up that they might not otherwise get. With that in mind, let’s at least take a look at some guys that could be called on… and called up… if necessary.
    Aderlin Mejia was signed out of the Dominican Republic in 2010 and played his first year of professional baseball in the Dominican Summer League. He’s spent the past two seasons with the GCL Twins (though he did get a a few opportunities to move across the Fort Myers complex and suit up for the high-A Fort Myers Miracle in 2012). Aderlin hit well in 2012, with a .313 batting average and a .767 OPS. Perhaps most encouraging is that he struck out just 15 times in over 200 plate appearances. Mejia should perhaps be considered more likely to fill a middle infielder role, given that he played only 21 games at 3B last year and 27 in the middle infield, but if the Kernels need a 3B due to promotions or injuries, Mejia looks as likely to be a call-up option as anyone.
    Bryan Haar and Joel Licon almost look like identical bookends as potential first and third basemen, respectively.
     
    Haar was drafted by the Twins in the 34th round of the 2012 draft out of the University of San Diego. Licon was chosen nine rounds earlier than Haar out of Orance Coast College. Both signed in time to get a fair number of games in with the GCL Twins, where both put up identical .250 batting averages. Both struggled to make contact, with Haar racking up two fewer Ks than he had hits and Licon striking out two more times than he hit safely.
     
    Haar is strictly a first baseman and is already 23 years old, while Licon turned 22 in December and moved around a bit, playing 10 games in the outfield, 12 games in the middle infield and 22 games at 3B (in addition to 7 games at DH). While both are almost certainly going to be held back in extended spring training and start their years with one of the short-season rookie league teams, it’s possible either could be called on in Cedar Rapids if injuries and/or promotions leave the Kernels in need of a corner infielder later in the year.
     
    Finally, one of the more intriguing young (emphasis on young) corner infield prospects in the Twins organization is Javier Pimentel. Pimentel was signed, for over half a million dollars in bonus money, as a shortstop out of the Dominican Republic in 2010. After splitting 2011 between the Dominican Summer League and the Twins GCL team, Javier spent all of 2012 in the GCL at age 18, splitting his time mostly at 1B and 3B. His stat line was, to be frank, really bad. He didn’t hit. He didn’t walk. He struck out a lot. But if you assume the scouts who liked him enough to recommend that kind of bonus saw something in him that projects in to a Big League ballplayer, maybe we just need to be patient until he grows in to his frame and figures the game out. Then again, Javier was signed the same week in 2010 that the Twins signed Tsuyoshi Nishioka, so maybe their scouts just had one very bad week that year. It’s all but impossible for Pimentel to see Cedar Rapids this season, but for now, let’s just remember the name.
     
    While the Twins do have a history of drafting college age corner infielders, it’s pretty unlikely that they would send a brand new draftee to Class A the same summer he’s drafted, so we shouldn’t look for much corner infield help from the 2013 draft at least until the 2014 season.
     
    Next: Part 3 – Middle Infielders
     
    - JC
  23. Jim Crikket
    Almost two weeks ago, I posted my take on this year’s Baseball Hall of Fame ballot. I listed the 10 players I would have voted for and then I predicted that none of the players on this year’s ballot would garner the necessary 75% support to be elected to the Hall by the actual voting members of the BBWAA this year.
     
    Wednesday afternoon at 1 pm CT, we will find out if I was right.
     
    (This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com.)
     
    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Baseball-Hall-Of-Fame.jpg
     
    I thought, at the time I wrote my piece, that my prediction that nobody would be elected this year would be a “fringe” prediction. I’d seen some people predict Biggio would be a first ballot HOFer and others thought Piazza might have a shot or that Morris might finally get elected.
     
    But since I posted my opinion, I’ve noticed that a lot of people… including a significant number of voting members of the BBWAA… are likewise predicting that nobody will be elected. What’s getting a lot of attention, in light of those predictions, is the anticipated public reaction, should the BBWAA voters indeed throw a shutout.
     
    I guess that hasn’t happened in something like 15 years or more, so I suppose it is a bigger deal than I thought it would be. But really, I can’t believe people should be all that surprised, considering the combination of:
     

    An unusually large ballot.
    A significant number of big name players eligible for the first time, almost all of which carry the yoke of suspected or confirmed PED usage.
    Few carry-over players from last year that have slam-dunk HOF credentials, even absent PED suspicions.

    The bottom line is that if you want to try to make a case for NOT voting for them, you could do so for every player on the ballot, without even having to resort to the silly, “I won’t vote for anyone his first year of eligbility,” thing. That being the case, why should anyone be surprised if more than 25% of the voters do, in fact, choose to make a case for not voting for each player?
     
    Some people, though, think the result would be a travesty. Other than the Hall, itself, which could see attendance at the annual induction ceremony dwindle to an all-time low, since none of the inductees by the Veterans Committee are even still alive (should be a short ceremony, eh?), I’m not sure why anyone should really mind.
     
    I’ve read articles making the case that a shutout would indicate the process is broken… that the voters must be allowed to vote for more than 10 players. I disagree. If anything, I think it indicates that the process is working the way the Hall has always seemed to want it to work. They’ve liked that it’s a tough admission ticket in to that club.
     
    As I’ve written in the past, I don’t like the idea that many voting members of the BBWAA have chosen to designate themselves as the morality policy for potential HOF ballplayers. I just don’t think that they, as a group, are in any way morally superior to the players they’re sitting in judgment of.
     
    But, unless the rules change would be to clarify to voters that they must not hold suspected PED use against a player and instead must vote purely on his talent between the lines, changing the rules won't stop voters from exercising their right to stick it to Barry Bonds.
     
    No, letting the voters vote for more players will just make it easier for the borderline players to get elected. It would also make it much easier to get the 5% necessary to stay on the ballot for another year. Over time, I think we’d see ballots with 50-60 names on it. Is that really what they want? I hope not.
     
    Look, I believe Jack Morris is worthy. I believe Tim Raines is, too. I also am aware that with the high quality players scheduled to be added to the ballot in the next couple of years, it could very well mean those and other players I think are worthy will not ultimately be elected. That’s unfortunate.
     
    It’s also the way it’s supposed to work.
     
    The nervous nellies who would have us believe that we’ll have more years, in the future, where nobody is elected than we have when the writers do elect someone are just plain over-reacting. I know… sports writers over-reacting… hard to believe, isn’t it? But the rules changes being advocated would, I believe, be an over-reaction that would make the decision to give the league that wins the All-Star Game the home field advantage in the World Series seem thoughtfully well-measured, by comparison.
     
    Next year, we’ll see Greg Maddux, Frank Thomas and Tom Glavine added to the ballot. If we go through the process with those guys eligible, not to mention holdovers like Morris, Raines, Biggio and Piazza, and we still don’t see anyone elected, I’ll be shocked. Not gonna happen. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised to see three players elected in next year’s class.
     
    If the Hall did change the rules to allow voters to vote for, say, 15 players, you might see twice that many elected… maybe more. I’m a “big Hall” guy, but even I have limits and I don’t want to see Baseball’s HOF start to look like the NFL’s, where half a dozen or more players get elected every year.
     
    But that’s exactly what is likely to happen if you let voters check 15 boxes. How many writers would NOT consider Maddux, Thomas and Glavine among the 15 most worthy players? How many would take advantage of the relaxed standard to vote for Morris, Raines, McGriff, Martinez, or any of the other borderline players?
     
    Relaxing the voting rules to allow voters to put a check mark beside more than 10 players would be a stupid thing to do and I’m pretty confident the decision makers at the Hall of Fame will refrain from doing that.
     
    We should thank them for their restraint… and thank God that Bud Selig isn’t in charge of making the rules for the HOF.
     
    - JC
  24. Jim Crikket
    Since we’ve officially turned the calendar to 2013, it means Spring Training gets underway in just a few weeks and before you know it, we’ll be getting ready for Opening Day!
     
    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/KernelsTwins-300x168.jpg
    (Image: Kernels.com)
     
    With this being the first year of the new Class A affiliation between the Twins and my hometown Cedar Rapids Kernels, I’m looking forward to the opportunity to bring more Kernels-centric writing to Knuckleballs and I figure there’s no time like the present to get started.
     
    (This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com.)
     
    Over the coming days (or perhaps weeks), I’m going to try to introduce most, if not all, of the players that we may expect to see wearing Kernels uniforms this summer. Granted, there’s no way of knowing with any certainty who we’ll actually find on the Kernels’ roster to open the season, but we can certainly make some educated guesses… and if I run out of those, I’ll just pull a few wild names out of thin air and talk about those players, too!
     
    The Opening Day roster will be limited to 25 players, but we’ll have no such limits here! It took almost no time at all for me to throw together a list of about 35 players in the Twins organization that look to me like reasonable bets to spend some time in Cedar Rapids this summer. Some will start the year in extended spring training and perhaps spend time with one of the Twins’ rookie league teams before, hopefully, getting promoted to Cedar Rapids. Others may open the season a rung higher on the organizational ladder with the High-A Fort Myers Miracle and miss out on being a Kernel altogether. But I’m relatively confident that most of the players we include in this series will wear a Kernels uniform at some point during the upcoming season.
     
    For the benefit of those Kernels fans who are less familiar with the Twins organization, we should probably explain that the Twins have two “rookie level” short-season teams below the Class A Kernels. The lowest level is the Fort Myers team in the Gulf Coast League and the next level up is Elizabethton TN in the Appalachian League. Those Kernels who earn a promotion out of Cedar Rapids will find themselves with the Fort Myers Miracle in the “high-A” Florida State League.
     
    Let’s kick off this series by looking at a group of catchers that Kernels fans might want to get to know. To my mind, the most likely catching options for Cedar Rapids to start the season would come from the trio of Jhonatan Arias, Tyler Grimes and Jairo Rodriguez. Here’s just a bit about them:

    Jairo Rodriguez - Age 24 – Bats R/Throws R
     
    2012: Beloit (Class A – MWL)
     
    [TABLE]

    [TD=align: left]G[/TD]
    [TD=align: left]PA[/TD]
    [TD=align: left]BA[/TD]
    [TD=width: 41, align: left]OPS[/TD]
    [TD=width: 26, align: left]K[/TD]
    [TD=width: 31, align: left]BB[/TD]
    [TD=width: 28, align: left]2B[/TD]
    [TD=width: 28, align: left]3B[/TD]
    [TD=width: 31, align: left]HR[/TD]


    [TD=align: right]64[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]243[/TD]
    [TD=align: right].265[/TD]
    [TD=align: right].678[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]40[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]18[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]12[/TD]
    [TD=align: right] 0[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]2[/TD]

    [/TABLE]

    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Rodriguez12a.jpg
    Jairo Rodriguez
     
    Outside of just six games at DH, Jairo made the rest of his starts behind the plate in 2012. He threw out 24 of 66 runners attempting to steal for a very respectable 36% throw-out rate.
     
    Rodriguez was signed by the Twins out of Venezuela and spent his first three seasons in summer leagues in Venezuela and the Dominican Republic. He spent 2010 and 2011 playing in US rookie leagues and the full 2012 season at Beloit. At 24 years old, Rodriguez would be older than most players in the Midwest League, so even if Rodriguez starts the year in Cedar Rapids, I could see the Twins pushing him up to Fort Myers at the first opportunity, assuming he performs at acceptable levels.

    Tyler Grimes – Age 22 – Bats R/Throws R
     
    2012: Beloit (Class A – MWL)
     
    [TABLE]

    [TD=align: left]G[/TD]
    [TD=align: left]PA[/TD]
    [TD=align: left]BA[/TD]
    [TD=width: 41, align: left]OPS[/TD]
    [TD=width: 26, align: left]K[/TD]
    [TD=width: 31, align: left]BB[/TD]
    [TD=width: 28, align: left]2B[/TD]
    [TD=width: 28, align: left]3B[/TD]
    [TD=width: 31, align: left]HR[/TD]


    [TD=align: right]105[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]381[/TD]
    [TD=align: right].202[/TD]
    [TD=align: right].653[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]99[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]43[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]17[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]3[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]7[/TD]

    [/TABLE]

    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/GrimesJune2012z-225x300.jpg
    Tyler Grimes
     
    Grimes made 77 appearances at shortstop and 18 at second base (plus 1 at 3B and 7 as DH) in 2012.
     
    Grimes was drafted by the Twins in the 5th round of the 2011 amateur draft out of Wichita State. He has not hit the ball real well in roughly a season and a half at Beloit, though at least he has shown a little power.
     
    After the 2012 season, he spent time at the the Fall Instructional League learning the catcher position. Grimes could open the season with the Kernels, repeating Class A, or potentially be held back in extended spring training to work more on his catching skills with the Twins instructional staff in Fort Myers before starting his season. It will be very interesting to see how the catching experiment works out for Tyler.

    Jhonatan Arias – Age 23 – Bats R/Throws R
     
    2012: Elizabethton (Rookie – Appy League)
     
    [TABLE]

    [TD=align: left]G[/TD]
    [TD=align: left]PA[/TD]
    [TD=align: left]BA[/TD]
    [TD=width: 41, align: left]OPS[/TD]
    [TD=width: 26, align: left]K[/TD]
    [TD=width: 31, align: left]BB[/TD]
    [TD=width: 28, align: left]2B[/TD]
    [TD=width: 28, align: left]3B[/TD]
    [TD=width: 31, align: left]HR[/TD]


    [TD=align: right]30[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]113[/TD]
    [TD=align: right].301[/TD]
    [TD=align: right].728[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]15[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]7[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]6[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]0[/TD]
    [TD=align: right]1[/TD]

    [/TABLE]
    Jhonatan got in just 27 games behind the dish in 2012, but he threw out 11 of 30 attempted base stealers for a 37% rate. Of the three catchers I see as most likely to spend significant time in Cedar Rapids, he appears to have the most promising offensive skills.
     
    Arias was signed out of the Dominican Republic and spent 2007 and 2008 playing in the Dominican Summer League. In 2009 he played for the Gulf Coast League Twins and in 2010 he moved up to Elizabethton. In 2011, he split time between E’town and Beloit, but struggled at the plate in his time with the Snappers. During the 2011 Fall Instructional League, Arias reportedly was tried out on the pitching mound, but he spent 2012 in Elizabethton back behind the plate.
     
    If I had to bet, I’d expect the majority of the Kernels’ catching duties in 2013 will be shared by some combination of these three players, but there are a few younger catchers who spent time with one or both of the short-season teams in 2012 and could end up in Cedar Rapids at some point this season.
     
    If the Twins do decide to bring in younger catchers, look to see Bo Altobelli, Kelly Cross and/or Bryan Santy.
     
    Altobelli, who turns 22 in February, was drafted in the 21st round last June out of Texas Tech and signed with the Twins in time to get 18 games in behind the plate in Elizabethton. He hit just .230 and threw out just one of the 15 baserunners who attempted to steal against him.
     
    Cross will turn 21 during Spring Training. He was drafted in the 26th round out of his Texas high school in 2010. He signed his contract just before the signing deadline and caught three games for the GCL Twins that summer. He also spent most of the past two seasons with the same GCL team. He caught just eight games for Elizabethton last season. He hasn’t seemed to figure out what to do with a bat in his hands, yet, hitting just .167 in his GCL and Appy games combined during 2012, but he did throw out an impressive 47% of attempted base stealers (15 of 32).
     
    Santy played just 19 games for the GCL Twins in 2012 after the 22 year old was drafted in the 30th round out of the University of Washington. He not only threw out seven of the 16 runners who attempted to steal off him, but he also hit .296 and got on base at a .418 clip. Those are offensive numbers you won’t see in many other young Twins catching prospects. Of course, Santy was older than most of the pitchers he was likely facing in the GCL, which has me wondering whether the Twins might consider pushing him up a couple of levels over the course of 2013. If so, we might see him in CR.
     
    Finally, there are two other catching prospects that I would consider long-shots to see in a Kernels uniform this season.
     
    The Twins drafted Jorge Fernandez in the 7th round of the amateur draft last year, but Fernandez was drafted out of the International Baseball Academy in Puerto Rico and will just turn 19 in March. He caught 30 games for the GCL Twins last year with moderate success. I suspect he’ll spend all of 2013 in rookie leagues at either Fort Myers or Elizabethton, but I suppose there’s an outside chance he could find his way to Cedar Rapids late in the year.
     
    One other catcher, Michael Quesada, contributed a bit at Elizabethton in 2012. Quesada was a low round draft pick in 2010 but as he was signed out of junior college, he’s older than Cross. Like some others on this list, Quesada has struggled a bit at the plate, but has had some success throwing out runners. Quesada, however, was suspended in August after failing a drug test, so he will start the season completing the remainder of a 50-game suspension. Unfortunately, since he was on the Elizabethton roster when he tested positive, the suspension doesn’t pick back up again until E’town’s short-season schedule resumes in June, so it will be August before he can suit up for any affiliate.
     
    In my view, the Twins could stand to upgrade their catching at the low-minors level and I would not be disappointed to see them draft a college catcher or two in the top 10-15 rounds of the June amateur draft. With the accelerated signing period, I suppose that could result in Cedar Rapids seeing such a 2013 draftee behind the plate before the end of the season, but it’s not very likely.
     
    Next up: Part 2: Corner infielders.
     
    - JC
  25. Jim Crikket
    Yesterday, I asked readers to endure a recitation of my childhood memories as I looked back at the most exciting Twins season in my memory, 1967. It was Rod Carew’s Rookie of the Year season and, while the Twins ultimately lost out to the Red Sox for the AL pennant, it was followed shortly by a couple of very successful seasons in 1969 and 1970 when Carew helped lead the Twins to the first two AL West Division championships.
     
    (This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com. Part 1 of the series can be found by clicking here.)
    Today, I’m going to discuss lessons that I believe should be learned from the years that followed those incredible seasons.
     
    While Carew would never again reach the postseason with the Twins (and would never play in a World Series for anyone), he did have several more pretty amazing years with the Twins. He won six more batting titles to go with the one he won under Billy Martin in 1969. He won an MVP award in 1977, when he put up a 1.019 OPS (long before we knew what OPS was) for a 4th place team.
     
    http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Metropolitan-Stadium_1972+StevenRSwanson.jpg A sparce crowd at Metropolitan Stadium in 1972 (Photo: Steven R. Swanson)
     
    I missed most of that, though.
     
    By the mid 1970s, I had pretty much tuned the Twins out. I wasn’t the only one, apparently. By 1974, the Twins were averaging just over 8,000 fans for their home games.
     
    Twins owner Calvin Griffith could have gone one of two directions at that point. He had a couple of legitimate stars on his team, Carew and pitcher Bert Blyleven, both in the prime of their careers. He could have chosen to build a better team around them over the next couple of years and make an effort to compete. Charley Finley was starting to disassemble his powerhouse Athletics and the Seitz decision would soon set Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally free of their contracts and open the door to free agency. Griffith’s other option was to trade away Carew, Blyleven and anyone else who might command real money soon and attempt to rebuild his team with young (and inexpensive) prospects. Obviously, Griffith being Griffith, the latter was the only option with any chance of happening.
     
    But what if Griffith had been willing and able to invest, rather than divest? Would the team have improved and brought fans back to the Met? Would the Twins then have been in a better position to command a new stadium of their own rather than being forced to share the Metrodome with the Vikings?
     
    There’s no way to know, of course. What we can and do know, however, is that a lot of fans lost interest in the Twins during the mid to late 1970s. I was one of them.
     
    As I think back through my 52 years of Twinsfandom, that era is probably the stretch when I was the least interested in what was going on with the Twins. I can only distinctly remember three trips to the Twin Cities to watch baseball from the time I graduated from high school in 1974 through the rest of the decade. I think about how many more times I would have watched two future Hall of Famers play baseball if only the owner had shown some kind of commitment to winning. It wasn’t until guys like Puckett, Gaetti, Hrbek and Brunansky developed in to a talented core in Minnesota in the mid 1980s that I got interested enough again to regularly drive up to the Twin Cities for games.
     
    I believe that the people running the Twins now are flirting dangerously with the possibility of history repeating itself.
     
    Those who advocate for the idea of blowing up the roster and rebuilding gradually with the highly touted group of prospects in the organization seem to think that letting the Twins continue to lose close to 100 games over the next year or two is a necessity. We’re told that, if we’re patient, the team will be much improved and be ready to compete by 2014 or 2015.
     
    But do we really believe that Miguel Sano, Kyle Gibson, Eddie Rosario, Alex Meyer and Byron Buxton are going to be ready to win… not just contribute… at the Major League level by then? Maybe Griffith was planning on first round picks like Rick Sofield, Paul Croft and Lenny Faedo being ready to lead the Twins back in to contention by the late 70s, too. Instead, the Twins continued to play in front of more empty seats than filled seats at Met Stadium for several more years and continued to spiral deeper in to oblivion until they won only 60 games in 1982. Even the move to a new indoor stadium couldn’t significantly rebuild the fan base at that point.
     
    What if we’re wrong about the next wave of uber-prospects being ready to seriously compete in the Big Leagues by 2015? What if it takes them longer? What if, like with Hrbek, Gaetti and Viola, this group loses big chunks of games for a few years even after they arrive in Minnesota and it’s 2019 or 2020… or later… before they reach their potential? That’s not exactly unlikely, is it?
     
    The past two years have seemed hellish to Twins fans, but how many people will be watching Twins games at Target Field if the Twins go the better part of a decade or more during which coming even close to a .500 record is unlikely? How many will even be watching on television?
     
    I wish I had watched Rod Carew play baseball more than a handful of times in the 1970s. How many young fans will grow old regretting not showing up to watch Joe Mauer play baseball in his prime because the team wouldn’t put enough talent around him to make a trip to the ballpark worthwhile? How long will it take to get those fans interested again?
     
    Some people will tell us that Griffith had no other choice than the one he made… the advent of free agency was a paradigm shift that he could neither foresee nor afford financially to adapt to. That may be true. I have no way of knowing. But the advent of free agency clearly made owning and operating a competitive Major League Baseball team difficult for all but the wealthiest owners.
     
    Today, I believe Major League Baseball is quite possibly nearing another era of potentially dramatic change in how the business is run. I don’t think any of us can predict, with any certainty, the state of television five years from now. It’s quite possible that it will be significantly different than it is today. The billion dollar media rights deals that large market teams are signing could create even more significant chasms between the “haves” and “have nots” in baseball than the eras of free agency and new stadiums did.
     
    And what happens when cable operators and their subscribers (and potentially even the government) step up and refuse to allow continuance of an environment where subscribers must pay dramatically higher rates for cable television, driven almost solely by the cost of carrying sports programming? If that bubble bursts before teams in middle markets, like Minnesota, get their turn at the trough, the resulting competitive imbalance could last for a generation.
     
    Those issues will have to be addressed by whoever baseball decides will succeed Bud Selig as Commissioner. But in the mean time, the people running the Twins have to be making long term plans for the continued financial viability of their franchise. They probably genuinely believed that a new stadium would allow them to field consistently competitive teams a few years ago when they were lobbying for public financing, but clearly Target Field no longer guarantees anything. MLB’s financial model appears to be taking another dramatic turn and a nice stadium is no longer enough to assure long term solvency, much less competitiveness.
     
    As a result, I believe that the deeper the Twins allow this competitive hole they’re in to get, the greater the risk that we’ll see another 1970s-like loss of interest by the fan base that will simply perpetuate the problem.
     
    I see it as imperative for the Twins to invest enough money in their roster to be competitive EVERY year if they’re going to remain a viable organization in to the future. They must keep fans coming to the ballpark and they absolutely need to make the team valuable enough to cash in on other media revenue streams sooner, rather than later. Doing otherwise risks dooming the franchise to being non-competitive until such time that large market teams finally agree to a more equitable business model… and we know that won’t happen any time soon.
     
    Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe the next crop of kids coming up will hit the ground running and immediately capture the imagination and interest of Twins fans far and wide, leading to the next great golden era of Twins baseball, which will lead to vast riches for the Twins owners and secure the franchise’s future for generations to come.
     
    I just think the odds of that happening are long… too long for the Twins front office to bet the organization’s future on it.
     
    I was 14 years old when Rod Carew’s 1970 Twins won the AL West Division and I turned 31 before my favorite team gave me something to cheer about again in 1987. I hope it won’t be 2027 before kids who cheered on Joe Mauer’s 2010 Central Division Champions get to feel that excitement again.
     
    - JC
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