Shane Wahl

Seriously . . . . going outside the organization to replace a pitcher at Fort Myers? What? As though no one at CR could use the promotion? And if there are quality guys like this to sign and bring in at the lower levels, why not do it and shed some of the aging players from CR and FM right now?

I don't understand the fascination that so many people in Twins territory (fans and actual "our team" people employed by the Twins) have with pitchers who strike out a lot of guys also having higher walk rates, and with batters who smack bombs having higher strike out rates. It amazes me. Pitching: would you really rather have a lower K/lower BB pitcher than a higher K/higher BB pitcher given the fact that a walk is one base and a hit is 1-4 bases given up? Hitting: homers vs. strikeouts . . . a homer is one run minimum and a strikeout is one out. There are easy calculations to be made here. The Morales for Pryor trade is an absurdity. I was hoping that Meyer would be brought up and called to the bullpen to get big league time while making his limited innings left count (in two ways). He could still get a couple of starts and then move to the bullpen as MR for right now.

I haven't read many of the posts here. Anyway, this is precisely the kind of player I did not want the Twins to trade for! Like . . . it couldn't be any farther from what I would want . . . someone who is a marginal MLBer, a reliever, and someone who thus obviously has to immediately use a 40-man spot.

Great article, Nick. Back to some hard criticism, as it is needed here.

I like it when guys show dramatic improvement at a level. He posted terrible numbers in 2013. I mean it was really, really bad. Even last year, however, he didn't strike out very much and his BB/K rate this year is very good. He was also drafted in the 11th round last year, so there is that. I do like throwing in a long shot or two in there as well.

This is the second installment breaking down each minor league affiliate for players to watch as the season winds to a close. The GCL has six players worthy of mention: 1. Amaurys Minier, SH, LF/1B, DOB: 1/30/96 2014 statistics: 90 plate appearances, .304/.378/.456, 6 double, 0 triples, 2 homer, 9 walk, 29 strikeouts, 0 steals, 2 times caught stealing. Minier has shown big improvements in his second stint in the GCL. His power is still developing and there are still many improvements to make, but Minier is the biggest bright spot on the GCL roster by far. 2. Alexis Tapia, RHP, DOB: 8/10/95 2014 statistics: 16.2 innings, 2.70 ERA, 17 strikeouts, 1 walk. Tapia's K and BB rates have improved significantly from his 2013 season in the DSL. 3. Rafael Valera, RH, Util, DOB: 8/15/94 2014 statistics: 78 PA, .333/.462/.429 (.890), 4 doubles, 1 triple, 0 homers, 13 walks, 5 strikeouts, 1 stolen base, 1 time caught stealing Significant improvement over his 2013 DSL numbers. Lots of walks. 4. Wilfredy Lirianzo, RHP, DOB: 10/26/94 2014 statistics: 8.2 IP, 1.04 ERA, 13 strikeouts, 5 walks Lirianzo was fantastic in 2013 in the DSL and looks to be continuing to strike batters out in the GCL. He is still very young. 5. Roberto Gonzalez, LH, OF, DOB: 3/14/95 2014 statistics: 39 PA, .270/.308/.351 (.659), 3 doubles, 0 triples, 0 homers, 2 walks, 16 strikeouts, 3 steals, 1 time caught stealing Drafted in the 15th round of this year's draft, Gonzalez is struggling with strikeouts but also could grow into a solid speed-first guy. 6. Nelson Molina, LH, INF, DOB: 4/30/95 2014 statistics: 71 PA, .259/.353/.328 (.681), 0 doubles, 2 triples, 0 homers, 9 walks, 4 strikeouts, 5 steals, 0 times caught stealing Molina was drafted in the 11th round of the 2013 draft and has rebounded from a bad first season in the GCL.

I am generally on board with a full fire sale. Fien and Plouffe could get a good return. Duensing a marginal prospect (same return for Correia). If I could trust that Gardenhire would use Plouffe in a platoon role with Arcia next year, I would view things differently. Otherwise, I would rather just give the spot to Deibinson Romero for the rest of the year and see what happens. The full list of guys I would dangle would be: Suzuki, Willingham, Morales, Correia, Fien, Duensing, Guerrier, Plouffe, Escobar, and Deduno (for 10 AA or below guys to provide more depth to the system, ranging from overall prospect value of 150-1000). I would hope that 3 or 4 would actually be dealt. The Twins likely scenario is 2.

I just hope they get some young arm from A ball or lower instead of any kind of AAAA player. Top hope could be a Aaron Slegers caliber pitcher.

May should be starting after Correia is traded and Meyer should be in the bullpen after either Fien is traded or Burton is dumped.

I think it is good for Hicks to get back to that level and play well. He then gets his baseline reset and can move to AAA to build on it. And then . . . starting CF out of ST 2015!!!

Haha, I know that awful feeling, Jeremy. It has happened to me lots of times, with a wide variety of things I have written. Garver and Murphy are impressive. Murphy cannot stay in E-Town anymore, please!

I like these three trades a lot. The Morales for Marlette trade could certainly happen. I am not sure what the Reds would want to offer for Willingham.

Pinto and Herrmann can hold it down. Trading Suzuki is an obviously choice.

I am working through the minor league system team by team and providing six to ten players to watch for the remainder of the season. I will start here at the bottom in the Dominican Summer League and work all the way through Rochester. This provides a nice mix of known and unknown players to pay attention to for the rest of the dismal 2014 Twins season. My DSL players to watch: 1. Lewin Diaz, 1B, LH, DOB: 11/19/96 2014 statistics: 92 plate appearances, .272/.359/.457 (.815), 6 doubles, 0 triples, 3 homers, 10 walks, 15 strikeouts, 0 steals, 0 times caught stealing. He turns 18 on my 34th birthday. There is some real slugging potential here and he is not striking out at an alarming rate. It will be interesting to see if the organization decides to give him any time in the GCL this year. 2. Jermaine Palacios, 3B, RH, DOB: 7/19/96 2014 statistics: 114 PA, .299/.442/.460 (.902), 6 doubles, 4 triples, 0 homers, 20 walks, 19 strikeouts, 9 steals, 1 time caught stealing. May end up being a second baseman soon. Good speed and patience and he just turned 18. 3. Jadison Jimenez, LH SP, DOB: 3/19/94 2014 statistics: 50 innings pitched, 1.98 ERA, 42 strikeouts, 10 walks. Dramatic improvement over the previous two seasons in the DSL. Seems to be making the proper adjustments and should be someone the Twins move eventually to E-Town (perhaps this time next year). 4. Jorge Andrade, SH, 2B, DOB: 12/7/94 2014 statistics: 123 PA, .343/.423/.524 (.947), 5 doubles, 7 triples, 0 homers, 14 walks, 31 strikeouts, 10 steals, 4 times caught stealing. Third year in the DSL and he has really blossomed. Another player who could be in E-Town one year from today. 5. Luis Arraez, 2B, LH, DOB: 4/9/97 2014 statistics: 118 PA, .330/.419/.390 (.809), 6 doubles, 0 triples, 0 homers, 15 walks, 8 strikeouts, 9 steals, 4 times caught stealing. Absolutely no problem with the DSL as a 17-year-old. Should move through the system. Phenomenal BB/K ratio. 6. Roni Tapia, 3B, RH, DOB: 4/3/97 2014 statistics: 102 PA, .253/.294/.389, 5 doubles, 4 triples, 0 homers, 5 walks, 31 strikeouts, 0 steals, 1 time caught stealing. These six will provide a good foundation for paying attention to the league as it deserves.

It is beyond my comprehension how anything other than a trade happens. There is no other reasonable way to go about this. Suzuki could bring in a Travis Harrison or Max Kepler or Stephen Gonsalves kind of prospect.

Yeah he needs to be promoted to play at an appropriate competition level. He is really dominating.

This is pretty close, I think. I bet Pinto makes it as a catcher. With that, then Vargas can DH: 1. Buxton, CF 2. Mauer, 1B 3. Sano, 3B 4. Vargas, DH 5. Dozier, 2B 6. Arcia, RF 7. Pinto, C 8. Rosario, LF 9. Polanco/Santana SS Bench: Santana/Polanco (Santana providing IF/OF possibilities), Hicks (OF), Herrmann (C/OF), Plouffe (3B/OF) Starters: same Bullpen: Perkins, Burdi, Tonkin, Lefty (probably not Ibarra or Thielbar), Achter, Oliveros, Guerra

Tyler Marlette!

Tomshaw is 25.6 years old in Fort Myers. Not very exciting. Adam Walker can probably get a taste of New Britain in August. The power potential rivals Sano and Vargas.

I honestly don't see the payroll issue as all that relevant for now. The Twins are going to have to turn to the youth, and they are cheap. If there is a fire sale in the next two weeks (I hope!), then I could see the Twins pursuing someone like Rajai Davis to come in and leadoff. But he won't be grossly expensive. Pitching-wise . . . they can probably just try Hughes-Gibson-Meyer-May-Nolasco.

Williams still struggling in low-A. Maybe pushing him to Fort Myers would actually give him more confidence. The treatment of Williams here is rather puzzling.

I would trade Plouffe in a heartbeat now. Maybe a Deibinson Romero trial would make me feel better before doing so.

For what it's worth, Dozier's career WAR is 7.3. Plouffe's is 2.9. Maybe bringing those two together in a conversation doesn't really work?

Well if the option is to platoon him with Arcia after Sano arrives, then fine. We do know that this would require a change of manager, however.

Trevor Plouffe is 28 with a career triple slash of: .241/.304/.411 (.714) in 1685 appearances. There is no disputing the general and total averageness of these statistics. It's not going to get any better for him.