Shane Wahl

I would like to get the full story on Williams' health this season. Something just doesn't seem right. Of course the bizarre demotion at the beginning of the year didn't help. Hopefully he gets some respect and starts at Fort Myers next year.

Ortiz is holding steady with a .718 OPS, though it is a 122 point drop from his AA output this season, in almost the exact same number of plate appearances. He is hot to start August, so hopefully he ends the season strong and can get a solid look next spring.

whoa. I am 50 minutes away . . .

Hicks must get some MLB time in September again.

At this point, I agree it's too late to move him. Should have happened earlier. I think it really is a mistake to get all bent out of shape about his walk rate and strikeout rate right now, especially in Fort Myers. He should have been moved to New Britain three or so weeks ago. I would have rather had him spend extended time in AA then spend even this much time in A+.

Haha. Nice article. It's interesting that he hasn't fallen to earth yet. One would have expected it by now if it was going to happen.

Santana has to eventually move back to SS, so a roster with Santana, Plouffe, Escobar, and Nunez seems like a bit of overkill.

Great stuff! I agree with this pretty much completely.

Download attachment: Willingham.jpg This is the time when people often make wild trade speculations. I've tried not to do that here, but rather propose who could be traded and what is a realistic return. The Twins can do very well here if they are willing to be sellers. The Twins are going to have to make key decisions about who to keep and what they can get for 2014 and beyond. In what follows, I lay out moves that could be made for the short- and long-term as the Twins try to figure out their future. I am starting with position players as these guys should be first on the trading block.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] The big four are: --Josh Willingham (rationale: Arcia) --Justin Morneau (rationale: stopgaps in Colabello and Parmelee; could be re-signed anyway) --Trevor Plouffe (rationale: don't want to part ways, but Sano sticking at third or a stopgap player to fill in here makes Plouffe a tradable asset) --Ryan Doumit (rationale: Herrmann and Pinto) Relevant playoff contenders with low OPS at these positions: --3B: New York Yankees (.615), Pittsburgh Pirates (.638) --1B: New York Yankees (.696), Tampa Bay Rays (.800, but falling rapidly) --C: Cincinnati Reds (.617), Baltimore Orioles (.634), New York Yankees (.640) --LF: New York Yankees (.660) --DH: Tampa Bay Rays (.682), Baltimore Orioles (.700), New York Yankees (.709). Clearly, the Yankees have holes all over as they deal with a number of injuries and some quickly fading stopgap players. The Orioles and Rays also appear twice. Finally, two National teams make the list, but I am going to remove the Reds from consideration of Ryan Doumit, because his value comes from his ability to catch, hit and fill in as the designated hitter. Some potential pairings include: Willingham-Yankees Plouffe-Pirates, Yankees Doumit-Orioles, Yankees Morneau-Rays, Orioles, Yankees I realize that "top prospects" as in top 100 or even top 200 are going to be off-limits in exchange for these guys. But, as someone who analyzes the Twins' system and has a "Top 60" list, I find often find quite a bit of value in players on individual team lists who rank from 11-30. Any such list will be volatile. Here are five guys from each of the four teams above who are not on many teams' top ten lists and often fall between 12 and 20 or lower. For comparison's sake, in the Twins system this would mean players like Danny Santana, Tyler Duffey, Matt Hauser, Nate Roberts, Niko Goodrum, Danny Ortiz and the like. New York Yankees: Nik Turley, LHP, starter, 23 (AA/AAA this year) 2013 AA: 4.90 ERA, 64.1 innings, 71/33 K/BB (AAA: 1.50, 1, 6.0, 4/3) In the Twins system: likely headed to New Britain Bryan Mitchell, LHP, starter, 22 (A+) 2013 A+: 4.74, 76.0, 62/34 Twins system: likely headed to Fort Myers Dan Camarena, LHP, starter, 20 (A) 2013 A: 6.34, 49.2, 36/13 Twins system: likely headed to Cedar Rapids Jose Ramirez, RHP, starter, 23 (AA/AAA) 2013 AA: 2.76, 42.1 50/15 (AAA: 4.50, 4.0 5/4) Twins system: likely headed to Rochester Nick Goody, RHP, reliever, 21 (A+) 2013 A+: 3.00, 3.0 3/2. 2012 A: 1.09, 24.2, 40/7) Twins system: likely headed to Fort Myers Baltimore Orioles: Tim Berry, LHP, starter, 22 (A+) 2013 A+: 4.54, 69.1, 66/17 Twins system: likely headed to Fort Myers Zach Davies, RHP, starter, 20 (A+) 2013 A+: 3.63, 74.1, 58/19 Twins system: likely headed to Fort Myers. Devin Jones, RHP, starter, 22 (AA) 2013 AA: 4.84, 67.0, 58/20 Twins system: likely headed to Fort Myers Josh Hader, LHP, starter, 19 (A) 2013 A: 1.94, 60.1, 56/30 Twins system: likely head to Cedar Rapids. Torsten Boss, LH, 3B, 22 (A) 2013 A: 221, .251/.333/.405 (.738), 11/2/5, 23/49, 2-3 Twins system: likely headed to Cedar Rapids. Tampa Bay Rays: Tyler Goeddel, RH, 3B/SS, 20 (A) 2013 A: 239, .252/.345/.398 (.743), 6/6/4, 28/41, 13-17 Twins system: likely head to Cedar Rapids Brandon Martin, RH, SS, 19 (A) 2013 A: 50, .244/.280/.422 (.702), 2/0/2, 2/10, 0-1 Twins system: likely headed to Cedar Rapids Felipe Rivero, LH, starter, 21, (A+) 2013 A+: 3.28, 61.1, 53/24 Twins system: likely headed to Fort Myers Jeff Ames, RHP, starter, 22 (A) 2013 A: 2.47, 58.1 42/10 Twins system: likely headed to Fort Myers Jake Hager, SS, 20 (A+) 2013 A+: 242, .290/.344/.353, 10/2/0, 18/36, 9-16 Twins system: likely headed to Fort Myers. Pittsburgh Pirates: Vic Black, RHP, reliever, 25 (AAA) 2013 AAA: 2.62, 24.0, 33/11 Twins system: likely headed to Rochester Nick Kingham, RHP, starter, 21 (A+/AA) 2013 A+: 3.09, 70, 75/14 Twins system: likely headed to New Britain Adrian Sampson, RHP, starter, 21 (A+) 2013 A+: 5.56, 66.1, 37/12 (2012 numbers in A ball included a 9.3/9 K rate) Twins system: likely headed to Fort Myers Max Moroff, SH, SS, 20 (A) 2013 A: 248, .228/.350/.351 (.701), 9/1/5, 39/40, 4-9 Twins system: likely headed to Cedar Rapids Alex Dickerson, LH, 1B/RF, 23 (AA) 2013 AA: 216, .238/.285/.417 (.702) 17/2/5, 13/51, 3-5 Twins system: likely headed to New Britain There are 20 players of varying worth and perfomance, but I think the Twins should mostly focus on pitching. As general manager would I trade all four? Likely, yes. A good return would be a couple starting pitchers, one reliever, and one infielder. I think this review casts some reality over the trade outlook for these Twins players and that reality is not bleak by any means. Click here to view the article

uh, Josmil Pinto.

This isn't going to go well. They had better trade Pinto, then, because what the hell are they going to actually do with him now? This is terrible.

Well if you are talking about both of them, then I think they could get Shane Greene (SP) or Ramon Flores (OF).

This is an excellent trade and I am happy for Vargas.

He shouldn't have been in A+. He was deserving of a AA spot at the beginning of last year! He is an injured AAA player, basically. Releasing him is absurd.

Fien has good value and there are clear replacements for him, and the same goes for Duensing.

What was his injury situation? Good god. Release this kind of talent? What a bizarre move. If he is injured again, let him sit. The guy shouldn't have been wasting time in A ball anyway, obviously. Roberts, healthy, could likely contend for an MLB spot.

I had not seen that the Twins, ridiculously, released Nate Roberts. What the hell? If he cannot run at all, OK, but why not just keep the guy around if he is injured again and let him rest. He should have been in AA anyway, so I just don't get this nonsense. What a joke. Anyway, the Twins should probably send Kvasnicka to the AFL instead.

Why actually release him? Can he actually not run?

Aforementioned players off the 40-man: Kevin Correia (traded, somehow) Jared Burton (released) Brian Duensing (traded) Samuel Deduno (traded) Yohan Pino (traded) Anthony Swarzak (traded or released) Eric Fryer (released) Sam Fuld (released) Josh Willingham (traded) Kurt Suzuki (traded) Kris Johnson (traded) Pedro Florimon (released) This makes plenty of room.

It is now time to start thinking about proper roster movements in considering the Twins in 2015 and how to best position the team for an actual productive season next year. This involves September call-ups and Arizona Fall League decisions. I submit the following: 1. Josmil Pinto and Chris Herrmann should be back up with the team. Both have now smacked AAA pitching. Hopefully for Eric Fryer's sake, the Twins will have traded Suzuki by this time. Otherwise, there is just no reason to have him around. 2. Kennys Vargas up for a tryout. Vargas is still going to need some more minor league seasoning, but he is on the 40-man, has great power, and deserves a nice paycheck. 3. James Beresford added to 40-man and called up. The Twins have about a dozen guys on the 40-man to be removed via trade or designation. Beresford provides good infield depth. 4. Aaron Hicks back in the house. Hopefully, Hicks is promoted to AAA in August and then comes up for the Twins in September. The time in AA was the boost he needed. The overall talent is enormous. He is getting his slugging back now and needs another taste of the big leagues. 5. A.J. Achter, Deolis Guerra, Michael Tonkin, and Lester Oliveros. These guys need to come up and get a chance to show themselves. It would be nice to have traded Fien, Duensing, and Swarzak by September first. Add in Jared Burton's necessary departure and there is the room here. 6. Trevor May and Alex Meyer. Good lord. May needs to be starting for the Twins now and Meyer can probably ease in in September in a relief role for awhile. 7. AFL: send Byron Buxton, Nate Roberts, Levi Michael, Cole Johnson, Tyler Duffey, and Mason Melotakis. One of those guys is a guaranteed player, the other five need more testing.

You can call this a rant if you want to do so. 1. Kurt Suzuki to the Orioles for either Zach Davies or Brandon Kline. 2. Josh Willingham to either the Orioles (with Hudson Boydesque pitcher) for Parker Bridwell OR to the Mariners with Tyler Duffeyesque pitcher for Tyler Marlette. 3. Casey Fien to Los Angeles Dodgers for Darnell Sweeney. Throw in Aderlin Mejiaesque prospect if need be (Levi Michael, Jason Kanzler). Three legit trades to be made to really add nice depth to the minor league system. Simple, really.

May and Pinto to the Twins, immediately.

The news that Willingham likely will not be traded until after the trade deadline puts a damper on any quick promotion for Ortiz. If I were running things, I would add him to the 40 man in September after Rochester is done and give him some time as the 4th OF. Of course I also would have traded Willingham by now. Ortiz has not been spectacular yet at AAA, but he is doing fine. I would envision his 2015 as a year where he makes it or starts to break it (it wouldn't be over for him if he struggled in AAA next year, but it would be close). I still view Ortiz as OF support for some combo of Buxton, Hicks, Arcia, and Rosario. I really hope that the Twins just stop with this inane adding of marginal OFs from outside the organization. I have never understood it instead of giving your own a chance. Evan Bigley and Garrett Jones probably wonder that too.

.669 OPS in 266 plate appearances at Fort Myers. Mejia is still holding his own and walking more than he is striking out. He also has 14 steals on the year. Mejia seems to be due for advancement at the start of 2015 to New Britain to play some kind of utility role.