Jeremy Nygaard

Before tonight's game, I happened to be listening to the radio broadcast on 1500. I'm not sure who the interview was with (Rantz, maybe?) because I only caught the tail end. In a nutshell, the discussion was about how all the players at EST want to get out of Fort Myers and head to Elizabethton. Kepler's name was brought up and the response was that Kepler almost made the trip to Beloit and that he might only be an injury away from heading there anyway. Just thought that was interesting.

But can he put away the sauce like Miggity Cabriggity?

Add Buxton and the lot looks a lot better.

Is than "an awful lot of" or "a lot of awful" outfielders?

I don't think they would "make him a DH", but I think it's entirely possible (and probably wise) to give him a day here and there where all he has to think about is hitting. The run of errors and batting slump seem to coincide. His error total can't go up as a DH. I also think moving to RF or 1B wouldn't help mentally either.

You can view the page at http://twinsdaily.com/content.php?566-(FunDay)-Monday-s-Minor-League-Round-up

What a difference a day makes! A day after getting beaten at all levels; the system did an about-face and took all four games in convincing fashion. Some big-league news: Word came out late afternoon that the Twins are planning to designate Jason Marquis for assignment. Later in the evening it was reported that it wouldn’t happen immediately and that Marquis was with the team in Chicago. How you interpret that all is entirely up to you, but I will offer my two cents: The Twins will most likely be promoting someone to start Thursday’s game and that player will not be called up until Thursday. (Although the plan may be announced before then.) The corresponding roster move with be removing Marquis from the active (and also the 40-man) roster. This also gives the team a couple of additional days to make a final decision on Marquis. All signs point to clearing waivers and being given his unconditional release. Let’s take a spin around the farm: ROCHESTER 10, GWINNETT 1 It what could be the best “on-the-field” news of the last 48 hours, the Red Wings got after former major-league Jair Jurrjens. Big time. They didn’t stop there either. They hammered out 10 runs on 18 hits. Rene Tosoni led the surge going 5-for-5, knocking in two runs, scoring two runs and stealing a base. He improved his average to .177. (Seth pointed out to me that Tosoni came into the game with 6 hits in 57 at-bats this year.) Danny Valencia went 3-for-4, scoring twice and hitting a three-run home run. Every hitter made contributions offensively and I would encourage you to check out the box score here. Jeff Manship channeled his inner-Scott Diamond and went seven innings, allowing only four hits, one run and a walk. He struck out six. Though the plan was to keep Manship in relief, he deserves to stay in the rotation after an outing like this. Esmerling Vasquez finished off the game with two perfect innings, striking out three. Tomorrow’s game will begin at 11:05 am ET and be on MLB Network. NEW BRITAIN 10, BINGHAMTON 7 Joe Benson, not in the lineup again, apparently injured his wrist and was placed on the 7-day DL. The product on the field, on the other hand, played extremely well. Every hitter in the lineup recorded at least a hit and seven of the nine crossed home plate. Chris Herrmann led the charge going 4-for-5 with three runs and a double. As I suggested with the Red Wings game, it’s worth checking out the box score for this game too. Steve Hirschfeld pitched five solid innings, giving up a run on six hits. He walked one and struck out two. Caleb Thielbar pitched two scoreless innings in relief, giving up a hit while striking out two. Daniel Turpen got roughed up in his two innings, to the tune of five hits, six runs, two walks and a strikeout, but it was too little, too late. FT. MYERS 7, CLEARWATER 1 The Miracle got it going early with back-to-back-to-back doubles in the first inning by Jairo Perez, Oswaldo Arcia and Dan Rohlfing and never looked back. Danny Ortiz continued to hit well going 3-for-4 and is now batting .317 over his last ten games. He does, though, continue to struggles to hit lefties at all. Lance Ray had a solo home run in the eighth to hopefully turn his slump around. In addition to Perez’s first inning double, he added a single and two runs batted in. Michael Gonzales had two hits as well. Jhon Garcia pitched a very solid six innings to earn his first win of the year. Garcia allowed four hits, one run and a walk, while striking out three. He also hit a batter. He recorded six outs by flyball, which is at least worth noting, since the wind was blowing out. Edgar Ibarra recorded a three-inning save, allowing only a hit and a walk. He struck out three. While an encouraging outing, this was Ibarra’s first appearance in nearly a month where he didn’t allow a run. BELOIT 4, BURLINGTON 2 Jason Wheeler had another stellar outing. He went a season-high seven innings, allowing eight hits, two runs and a walk. He struck out five. He also recorded twelve outs by groundball to only one on flyball. That’s an impressive feat for a guy that stands 6’ 8”. In 51 IP this year, he has a 36:9 K/BB ratio. While he’ll never project to be a top-of-the-rotation starter, Wheeler might become the definition of “innings-eater”. Michael Tonkin continued his impressive year, striking out five in two innings. The Snapper bats were just good enough to get a win, scoring all four runs in the fifth inning. A.J. Pettersen and Matthew Koch both delivered 2-RBI hits. Wang-Wei Lin had two hits in the nine-hole. Eddie Rosario was 1-for-4 with a stolen base (his ninth). Miguel Sano continued to struggle. He went 0-for-4, with a strikeout. He’s now batting .256. He also had a throwing and fielding error and is up to 14 on the season. We all knew it wouldn’t be easy (or pretty), but I wouldn’t be shocked if he started getting some reps at 1B and DH. --- Players of the Day for Monday, May 21, 2012 Hitter of the Day – Rene Tosoni [ATTACH=CONFIG]1006[/ATTACH] Pitcher of the Day – Jeff Manship [ATTACH=CONFIG]1007[/ATTACH] --- A Look Ahead – Tuesday, May 22, 2012 Schedule Rochester vs Gwinnett – RHP Daryl Thompson (1-4, 4.42) New Britain vs Binghamton – LHP Logan Darnel (4-2, 5.27) Ft. Myers vs Clearwater – RHP Marty Popham (3-1, 4.91) Beloit – OFF DAY --- Happy 6th birthday tomorrow to my daughter Marin! If you have any questions on the Twins minor league system, players, teams, etc., leave them in the Comments and we’ll try to answer them! Comments also welcome.

An updated story on the saga of one Jairo Beras.

If it is a smokescreen, it's completely unnecessary. They can't trade their pick and if the only team ahead of them likes the same guy they do, it's not gonna do any good. The Twins were in on Wimmers a few years ago and it wasn't any secret. At the end of the day, the Twins could do worse than taking Buxton.

You can view the page at http://twinsdaily.com/content.php?562-Sunday-No-Fun-Day-for-Twins-Organization

Yesterday was one of the better days the Twins organization has experienced in the last year. They followed that up with a day that ranks somewhere near the bottom. The Twins, attempting to sweep the Brewers in Milwaukee for the first time in over thirty years, fell flat on their face, mostly thanks to the right arm of Jason Marquis. While Mauer collecting four hits and Butera impressing in a relief appearance were both silver linings, many of us are left wondering: What is the next (or correct) step to take with Marquis? Suffice it to say that not only is Marquis’ rotation spot in jeopardy, but so is his roster spot… and, to be honest, his future as a major league baseball player. Unfortunately, the farm system experienced an equally dismal day. A quick spin around Sunday’s action: ROCHESTER 1, GWINNETT 2 Luke French battled through 5 1/3, allowing six hits, two earned runs, a walk and two strikeouts. Lester Oliveros – who was recently promoted after dominating in New Britain– accounted for two outs (one strikeout). Matt Maloney finished the game with three scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out two. It was believed that Maloney would eventually join Rochester’s rotation, so this appears to be the first step of stretching him out. Wilkin Ramirez is gaining a lot of notice as he continues to swing a hot bat after his promotion. After going 2-for-4 with a double today, he has hit safely in all six of his AAA games, including four multi-hit games. Ramirez is still relatively young (26), so as the Twins continue to look towards the future, there is a good chance Ramirez will be given a chance to prove his worth. Danny Valencia, Clete Thomas and Matt Carson each added one hit. NEW BRITAIN 4, READING 10 Brad Thompson made his first Double-A start since 2004 and it was a forgettable one. In 2 1/3 innings, Thompson allowed seven hits, five runs (four earned) without striking out any. Brett Jacobson entered in the third and put up similar numbers – six hits, five runs (three earned) – but lasted 3 1/3 innings and struck out three, walking one. Blake Martin pitched the final 2 1/3 innings, scattering three hits and a walk, but not allowing any runs while striking out one. The bats didn’t offer much support. Deibinson Romero and Evan Bigley each had two hits. A couple of things worth noting: Joe Benson has not played since homering Friday night. No word on injury or otherwise. Aaron Hicks went 1-for-4 with a double and a stolen base, driving in two runs, but was lifted in-between innings after his double. No word on Hicks either. Former Red Wing/Twin Juan Morillo pitched against the Rockcats in relief today. He was up to his old tricks – he struck out one and walked two. He now has eight Ks in eight innings, to go with his seven hits and 23(!) walks. FT. MYERS 2, BREVARD COUNTY 13 Another report; another loss. The Miracle took one on the chin this afternoon to the tune of 13-2. They only managed three hits: doubles by Danny Ortiz and Oswaldo Arcia and an Anderson Hidalgo single. Levi Michael is 3-for-24 (.125) over his last seven games. Lance Ray is 2-for-27 (.074) since being named FSL’s player of the week last week. Angel Morales is 4-for-38 (.105) with 15 Ks over his last ten games. The bats, as they say, have gone cold. Miguel Munoz started and lasted three innings. He gave up six hits, four earned runs, two walks and a strikeout. Cole Nelson relieved him and went 2 2/3 innings, giving up seven hits and five earned runs. He did manage to strike out six batters though. Bruce Pugh allowed two unearned runs in 1 1/3 innings. Ricky Bowen struck out two in a perfect eighth. BELOIT 0, BURLINGTON 12 …and the worst for last. The Snappers were blanked by the Bees and it was gut-wrenching ugly. Tim Shibuya (7 ER, 4.1 IP), David Hurlbut (2 UER, 1.2 IP) and Bart Carter (2 ER, 2 IP) were all bad. The bats were just as bad (if not worse): Miguel Sano (0-4, 3 K) and Eddie Rosario (1-3, 2 K) contributed very little to a 5-hit attack (J.D. Williams had two hits). The Snappers only had one batter reach second base… and that happened in the first inning. And as bad as both the pitching and hitting was, the defense may have been worse! Sano (12), Tyler Grimes (11), Rosario (9) and Drew Leachman (2) all added to their already-high number of errors. --- Players of the Day for Sunday, May 20, 2012 Pitcher of the Day – Matt Maloney [ATTACH=CONFIG]1000[/ATTACH] Hitter of the Day – Aaron Hicks [ATTACH=CONFIG]1001[/ATTACH] (from milb.com) --- A Look Ahead – Monday, May 21, 2012 Schedule Rochester vs Gwinnett – RHP Jeff Manship (3-1, 3.48) New Britain at Reading - RHP Steve Hirschfeld (2-4, 3.28) *assumed, no listed starter Ft. Myers at Brevard County – RHP Jhon Garcia (0-5, 4.01) *assumed, no listed starter Beloit at Burlington – LHP Jason Wheeler (4-1, 2.86) --- If you have any questions on the Twins minor league system, players, teams, etc., leave them in the Comments and we’ll try to answer them! Comments also welcome.

My data stopped matching up with MiLB.com's, so I'll be using their info from here on out... Current stats: 1-1, 3.57. 6 SV. 17.2 IP, 15 H, 9 BB. 20 K. OBA .224. 2.3 GO/FO. vs LHB: 5.40 ERA. 5 IP, 3 ER, 3H, 4 BB, 7 K. .167 OBA. 8-0 GO:FO. VS RHB: 2.84 ERA. 12.2 IP, 4 ER, 12 H, 5 BB, 13 K. .245 OBA. 1.50 GO/FO. Williams is getting most of the save opportunities, but has also started to get longer work in non-save ops. At his worst, he's a very good lefty/lefty match-up. At his best, he's striking out lots of batters - both right- and left-handed.

Without having been able to watch Boer pitch in FM, I would guess he's just not having success throwing his change-up. If that's the case, I would anticipate him being shifted to the bullpen. The hope at the beginning of the year was that he would add that pitch to his fastball and slider allowing him to stick in the rotation. I haven't read/seen anything that called Nishi's HR a no-doubter, the Red Wings website called it a "blast", but that's the most I could find.

Barrett will likely become a RP. I'd prefer a high-ceiling HS pitcher over Brian Johnson - a guy that screams Nick Blackburn, back-of-the-rotation type-guy. I think the system has a lot of guys that project as 4th or 5th starters (at best) and I'd hate to see #32 become another one of those guys.

His brother, Kyle, is the 3B for the Mariners.

You can view the page at http://www.twinsdaily.com/content.php?559-Saturday-s-Minor-League-Round-up

The Twins extended their winning streak to four by beating the Brewers in extra innings today. (#ITSHAPPENING?) Ben Revere and Trevor Plouffe played big parts. Drew Butera finally found a bat that feels right in his hands. But that’s not what we’re here for, so let’s check out the system on this Saturday: ROCHESTER 6, GWINNETT 4 Cole DeVries got something tonight he hadn’t gotten yet this year – run support. DeVries, who picked up his first win, went eight innings, allowing six hits, four runs (all earned) and struck out six, walking none. DeVries had been cruising through eight (facing only one more than the minimum) and came out in an attempt to get the complete game. That stanza started with single, single, triple and then he got the hook. Anthony Slama – and all his mustache power – came in and retired all three batters he faced (allowing his inherited runner to score) to notch his eighth save. Slama’s numbers are absurd: 20 IP, 32 K, 1 ER (0.45 ERA). His walks (12) have always been an issue, but he’s only allowed 11 hits this year! His biggest problem might just be the fact that the big league bullpen has been really good and doesn’t have a need. The bats were also alive, notching 14 hits. Chris Parmelee, finally getting his first taste of AAA this week, went 3-for-5 with a double and a run. Wilkin Ramirez, Danny Valencia and Rene Rivera all had two hits. Pedro Florimon added a triple and – sit down for this – Tsuyoshi Nishioka contributed his first American home run – a 2-run blast in the fourth. NEW BRITAIN 3, READING 2 The Rockcats didn’t earn a run tonight, but they did get a win. Aaron Hicks had a big game going 2-for-4, with a double. His biggest contribution came in the 9th when he stole second with two outs. Getting into scoring position allowed him to score on an error when Mark Dolenc hit a grounder to the third baseman; that run proved to be the game-winner. Chris Herrmann also contributed two hits (one double) and the team’s lone RBI. Andrew Albers was solid through 6 innings, allowing nine hits, but only two runs. He struck out three and walked one. The bullpen combo of Bobby Lanigan, Blake Martin and Luis Perdomo pitched the final three innings. They allowed no hits, struck out two (both Lanigan) and Perdomo got all three of his outs by ground balls. FT. MYERS 2, BREVARD COUNTY 7 I’m not going to sugar-coat the ineptitude of Madison Boer. He didn’t make it out of the fourth (again), but did pitch enough to give up nine hits, seven runs and two walks. In another sign of how bad things are, he didn’t strike out any. At this point, I would be stunned if he made his next scheduled start. The phantom DL or Beloit would be more likely destinations. Jose Gonzalez rebounded nicely after his last outing. He got seven outs – four by strikeout. Matt Hauser allowed two hits and a walk in two innings, striking out two. The bats – especially those of the guys we’d expect (or hope?) to do well: Michael, Arcia and Morales – didn’t do much. Danny Ortiz hit his first home run for the Miracle. Andy Leer (both doubles) and Josmil Pinto had two hits. Lancy Ray also had a double. The trio of Michael, Arcia and Morales went 0-for-12 with 4 Ks. BELOIT 6, BURLINGTON 9 The Snappers lost their second straight (after a six-game winning streak). Miguel Sano continued his tailspin going 0-for-4. He’s now batting .152 over his last ten games. What’s still encouraging is that he’s only struck out five times over that span. The Snappers scored all six runs in the third inning, but no Snapper had more than one hit or one run. Kyle Knudson had a 2-run home run and Jonathan Goncalves added two RBI. Eddie Rosario had a stolen base and Goncalves and Drew Leachman successfully pulled off a double-steal of 2nd and home, respectively. Starting pitcher Steven Gruver left after only one innings (three hits, walk, run), but no word (yet) on why. A.J. Achter, who has been very successful this year, pitched the next four innings. He struck out four while allowing five hits and two runs. The wheels fell off for Ryan O’Rourke. He gave up three hits, two walks and five runs (four earned) over 1 2/3 innings. He did strike out three while earning the blown save/loss. Corey Williams walked two, striking out one, while allowing one unearned run in 1 1/3 innings. --- Players of the Day for Saturday, May 19, 2012 Pitcher of the Day – Cole DeVries [ATTACH=CONFIG]993[/ATTACH] Hitter of the Day – Chris Parmelee [ATTACH=CONFIG]994[/ATTACH] (images from dylanheuer.com) --- A Look Ahead – Sunday, May 20, 2012 Schedule Rochester vs Gwinnett – LHP Luke French (0-0, 6.75) New Britain at Reading - RHP Steve Hirschfeld (2-4, 3.28) Ft. Myers at Brevard County – RHP Jhon Garcia (0-5, 4.01) Beloit at Burlington – RHP Tim Shibuya (2-1, 2.25) --- If you have any questions on the Twins minor league system, players, teams, etc., leave them in the Comments and we’ll try to answer them! Comments also welcome.

$750K is correct. Over $300K less than slot. The draft was on ESPN that year (I believe televised for the first time ever) and when his name was called they literally knew nothing about him besides, "uh... he went a lot higher than expected."

I think we're on the same page - or close - when it comes to pick 32. If the Twins can shave a $.2-.5m off the #2 slot, I think Matt Smoral could definitely be a target. It will hard for the teams in the area he's projected to go - late first round - besides the Red Sox and Brewers to overpay him. Eflin and Weickel could be targets. If J.O. Berrios is still available, I think he'd be a great get. The other name I'd add there is another UCLA commit - lefty Hunter Virant. Seager has had a lot of late helium, so - although I like him - he'll be off mid-1st. The other thing I have heard a lot of is that teams will take guys they like early - and pay them less -and then wait to see who's on the board later. It's a whole new can of worms - but I wonder if there is anyone that the Twins love so much that they'd consider taking at #2 and only pay $1.5m-$2m with the idea of overpaying HS arms in the sandwich and 2nd rounds. The guy that is always referenced is Ben Revere and what the Twins did with him.