Steven Buhr

With news that Doug Bernier has been given a September call-up, rather than Beresford, James' 2014 season has apparently come to an end. His final stats: 130 G 503 AB 65 R 139 H 28 2B 2 3B 2 HR 47 RBI 36 BB 75 K .276/.324/.352 .675 OPS For the 3rd straight offseason, the 25 yr old Aussie will need to make a decision concerning whether to re-sign with the Twins. For the second straight offseason, I'm hoping his agent finds him another organization that's willing to give him a better shot at getting some time in the big leagues. The Twins simply have too many middle infielders above and below Beresford's level to give him much, if any, chance of breaking through. He's coming off his best season, having finally shown an ability to find some gaps with his bat while continuing to play above average defense. Have to think some team can find a place for that.

Sorry, Seth (et al), but I didn't see the question before I went to the ballpark this afternoon. Fortunately (and perhaps a bit scary), I was thinking along the same lines as Seth and asked Jake pretty much this same question before the Kernels game Friday night. Mauer wasn't going to say what exactly the innings limit is for his pitchers, but he did confirm that EST innings are factored in to the limits the team places on the young arms once they are assigned to an affiliate. After the game, Mauer indicated that he's hopeful he'll get the okay from the Twins for Batts to pitch game 2 of the first playoff series on Thursday. Absolutely, the Twins put a priority on development and protecting the arms of their young assets. But innings pitched are just one factor that go in to measuring how much stress has been placed on a guy's arm. I get the sense that there may be a little bit of wiggle room that may allow some the pitchers to contribute something to the playoff efforts. The Kernels players have their exit physicals scheduled for 9 am Saturday morning. The results may well influence who is allowed to do what in the playoff run.

Welcome to life as a minor league manager. The Cedar Rapids Kernels have some of the best pitching in Class A baseball right now. So why isn't Jake Mauer smiling and confident heading in to the MWL playoffs next week? Jim Ecker's report (click to read) following Thursday night's loss to Kane County reflects one of the challenges Mauer and other minor league managers face at this time of year. One night, your team is popping chamgagne corks (or in this case, sparkling cider), celebrating earning a top playoff seed and the next night you're slapped in the face with the cold reality of organizational innings limits on the young arms on your pitching staff. The Twins have generally been using 6-man rotations at their Class A levels to hold their young starters' innings down, theoretically allowing them to get through entire full-season schedules without having to be shut down early. However, for various reasons, the Kernels have not had the luxury of utilizing a 6-man rotation through most of the second half of their season. That appears to be catching up to the team and its manager now, as three young rotation lefties are nearing their organizationally determined innings limits for 2014. Lewis Thorpe, Stephen Gonsalves and Mat Batts have all been major contributors to the Kernels success in the second half of the season. With Kohl Stewart sidelined by two trips to the DL, those three pitchers have been crucial cogs in the machinery that is the Kernels' rotation. Earlier this week, Chih-Wei Hu was tabbed as the likely starting pitcher for Wedneday's game 1 of the 3-game first round series against Burlington. "We're still staying with Hu," Mauer said after Thursday's game. "The other guys we don't know yet. We haven't gotten word from on top (from the Twins). "We're running into some innings issues with the three lefties. We're going to need clearance to figure out who can go and who can't." Thorpe has thrown 67.2 innings this season, all with the Kernels since joining the team during the first week of June. Gonsalves has notched 62 innings, split relatively evenly between Elizabethton and Cedar Rapids. Batts has 58.2 innings under his belt after spending time with the GCL Twins and E'town before joining the Kernels. Of course, all three pitchers did some pitching in extended spring training before starting their official seasons in June. Batts is the scheduled starter against Kane County in Friday night's regular season home finale in Cedar Rapids. Gonsalves and Thorpe are scheduled to start games Saturday and Sunday in Clinton. If the three left-handers are not available to start postseason games, it leaves just Hu and Ryan Eades available among the current rotation members. Stewart is scheduled to throw a bullpen session today (Friday) and could be reactivated over the weekend if that session goes well. Beyond that, it's guesswork. Josue Montanez has filled a swingman role in his career with the Twins organization. Hudson Boyd was stretched out to three innings of work Thursday night. Obviously, priority 1 for the Twins is making sure this stable of promising young arms remain healthy on what is, at best, a precarious route to Target Field. The situation in Cedar Rapids, if nothing else, serves as an answer to the questions that come up during the season from fans wondering why some of the lower level minor league teams use 6-man rotations or why certain pitchers are only throwing 4-5 innings per start. In the meantime, you get the feeling maybe Jake Mauer wouldn't mind seeing Clinton, Iowa, get about three days of torrential rain over the Labor Day weekend. Image courtesy of SD Buhr (photo of Stephen Gonsalves) View full article

Welcome to life as a minor league manager. The Cedar Rapids Kernels have some of the best pitching in Class A baseball right now. So why isn't Jake Mauer smiling and confident heading in to the MWL playoffs next week? Jim Ecker's report (click to read) following Thursday night's loss to Kane County reflects one of the challenges Mauer and other minor league managers face at this time of year. One night, your team is popping chamgagne corks (or in this case, sparkling cider), celebrating earning a top playoff seed and the next night you're slapped in the face with the cold reality of organizational innings limits on the young arms on your pitching staff. The Twins have generally been using 6-man rotations at their Class A levels to hold their young starters' innings down, theoretically allowing them to get through entire full-season schedules without having to be shut down early. However, for various reasons, the Kernels have not had the luxury of utilizing a 6-man rotation through most of the second half of their season. That appears to be catching up to the team and its manager now, as three young rotation lefties are nearing their organizationally determined innings limits for 2014. Lewis Thorpe, Stephen Gonsalves and Mat Batts have all been major contributors to the Kernels' success in the second half of the season. With Kohl Stewart sidelined by two trips to the DL, those three pitchers have been crucial cogs in the machinery that is the Kernels' rotation. Earlier this week, Chih-Wei Hu was tabbed as the likely starting pitcher for Wedneday's game 1 of the 3-game first round series against Burlington. "We're still staying with Hu," Mauer said after Thursday's game. "The other guys we don't know yet. We haven't gotten word from on top (from the Twins). "We're running into some innings issues with the three lefties. We're going to need clearance to figure out who can go and who can't." Thorpe has thrown 67.2 innings this season, all with the Kernels since joining the team during the first week of June. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/P8150251-2-600x449.jpg Stephen Gonsalves Gonsalves has notched 62 innings, split relatively evenly between Elizabethton and Cedar Rapids. Batts has 58.2 innings under his belt after spending time with the GCL Twins and E'town before joining the Kernels. Of course, all three pitchers did some pitching in extended spring training before starting their official seasons in June. Batts is the scheduled starter against Kane County in Friday night's regular season home finale in Cedar Rapids. Gonsalves and Thorpe are scheduled to start games Saturday and Sunday in Clinton. If the three left-handers are not available to start postseason games, it leaves just Hu and Ryan Eades available among the current rotation members. Stewart is scheduled to throw a bullpen session today (Friday) and could be reactivated over the weekend if that session goes well. Beyond that, it's guesswork. Josue Montanez has filled a swingman role in his career with the Twins organization. Hudson Boyd was stretched out to three innings of work Thursday night. Obviously, priority 1 for the Twins is making sure this stable of promising young arms remain healthy on what is, at best, a precarious route to Target Field. The situation in Cedar Rapids, if nothing else, serves as an answer to the questions that come up during the season from fans wondering why some of the low level minor league teams use 6-man rotations or why certain pitchers are only throwing 4-5 innings per start. In the mean time, you get the feeling maybe Jake Mauer wouldn't mind seeing Clinton, Iowa, get about three days of torrential rain over the Labor Day weekend.

That's a good question. It sounded like that might be the case in the channel 2 article, but I haven't heard whether they have extended to AA-AAA.

Nice (short) story on the English classes members of the Kernels are taking during the season. http://www.cbs2iowa.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/voices-diversity-cr-kernels-29498.shtml (I think this may be the 2nd time I posted this, but I have no idea where the first one went.)

Eades threw a nice game Wednesday night in CR as the Kernels clinched the top 2nd half seed for the MWL playoffs. Thought this would be a good place to post a link to a short video from Eades' 4th inning of work against Kane County. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSTsc-f_KF0&feature=player_detailpage

It's a technicality, perhaps, but Kane County would likely take exception to saying CR has clinched the 2nd half Division title, since the Cougars still have a 2 game lead over the Kernels in the standings. But CR did clinch a 1 seed in the playoffs by virtue of having the best record of any team that didn't clinch a spot in the 1st half. Kane County won the first half West title, so they automatically have a 1 seed locked up anyway. Of note, the Gazette's Jeff Johnson reported after the game that manager Jake Mauer said that Chih-Wei Hu would pitch game 1 on Sept 3 and that they are hoping Kohl Stewart will be activated before the end of the regular season.

Sounds like whoever released the full roster didn't get the word that the Twins were reconsidering Burdi.

Every team in baseball wants to stay out of Las Vegas. Heat. No indoor cage or other workout area. Heat. Balls fly out of the park to such a degree that stats are totally meaningless. And then there's the heat. Vegas has relatively new ownership with hopes of funding a new ballpark, but those hopes are not coming to fruition very quickly. The Twins rightfully did not want to move to the PCL at all, I'm sure, and the last place on earth they would voluntarily go is Vegas. Vegas always gets the last MLB affiliation standing when all the other AAA teams get an affiliate. All of that said, I would imagine Ryan's trip to Rochester was primarily to see Meyer and the two organizations took advantage of the timing to do their announcement. Any Twins FO person could stand out on the field and do a ceremony and talk to local media for 10 minutes. In CR, it was Brad Steil, who combined his planned trip to CR in early August with a meeting with the Kernels BOD and signing ceremony. The affiliation thing didn't keep Steil from watching a lot of baseball (and, upon his departure, making some roster moves, as well). As GM, Ryan's much more concerned with who he might want to get to Minnesota in September. I doubt it's a coincidence that his trip to Rochester was scheduled for near the end of August.

Sorry, I did not drive down to the QC game. I don't believe the Kernels pitchers retaliate for every HBP their batters get. That said, if in fact the team believed that one or more of the two HBPs were intentional, then I absolutely believe it would be possible (perhaps even likely) that the Bandit was plunked intentionally. Nobody goes head-hunting, but yeah, I think they would send a message that you can't go gunning at their hitters without consequence.

Unfortunately, for a lot of people, the answer to that question is, "no." He could have another MVP season and, if it didn't include 30 HR, people would still hate on him. It's just how it is.

I wondered the same thing, but according to the story on the Kernels' web site, the voting was by the MWL's managers, which I believe also did the voting for the mid-season ASG selections.

Reports are that Garver has garnered MWL's post-season All-Star honors. He was one of just 3 players from the MWL's Western Division to be so honored. Not bad for a guy who got snubbed by managers when it came time to vote for the mid-year All-Star game participants. Garver is hitting .280/.368/.445 for an .813 OPS and he has thrown out 32% of attempted base stealers.

Weekend Wrap Up: Kernels Clinch, Pub Crawl, MLB BlackoutsA lot of stuff has happened over the past few days. Kernels are Playoff bound First, the Cedar Rapids Kernels clinched a Midwest League playoff spot. Whether they did this Saturday or Sunday is a bit hazy, but what's certain is that the Kernels will be playing baseball beyond the scheduled end of the regular season on Labor Day. This makes the Kernels a perfect 2 for 2 qualifying for playoff work since affiliating with the Minnesota Twins. Going strictly by "magic number," the Kernels qualified for the playoffs on Sunday, when Peoria fell to Clinton. However, as Jim Ecker at MetroSportsReport.com pointed out, tie-breaking criteria favored the Kernels over Peoria, so in fact Cedar Rapids apears to have wrapped up their postseason spot late Saturday night. Most likely, the Kernels will open the playoffs with a best of three series against Burlington. They would host Burlington on September 3 and then travel to Burlington for games 2 and 3 (if necessary) on September 4 and 5, respectively. Unfortunately, I was not in attendance when the Kernels clinched, regardless of whether you consider that to have occurred Saturday or Sunday. "Touch 'em All" Instead, I joined 100 or so Twins fans taking part in the second "Touch 'em All Pub Crawl" sponsored by Twins Daily/Gleeman & the Geek. The "Crawl" involved stopping at several establishments along the Twin Cities' light rail line and ending with attendance at the Twins game Saturday night. It officially started at the Barrio Tequila Bar in St. Paul at noon, but since I was staying out in the southern 'burbs and wanted to eat breakfast downtown at Hell's Kitchen before getting started, I'd already spent at least 90 minutes on the rail before ever getting to the start of the official event over in St. Paul. It was a great time, offering opportunities to renew friendships from prior TwinsDaily events and to meet even more fellow Twins fans for the first time. I'm always surprised how many people at these things have read the stuff I contributed to Knuckleballs and to TwinsDaily. It was a great time with great people, all of whom just happen to be fans of a pretty poor baseball team. Despite that, the only real negative comment I heard was from Star Tribune Twins beat writer, Phil Miller, who thought the Kernels camo jersey I was wearing was ugly. Hey, you can't please everyone, right? And I enjoyed talking to Miller, once we moved away from fashion-related topics. It really was a good time and I appreciate the TwinsDaily guys and Aaron Gleeman going to the effort to put it together. I always enjoy the events they organize. Blackout News Finally, some of you that have been reading Knuckleballs for a while may recall one (or more) of my rants concerning MLB's TV blackout rules. Those rules result in Iowa residents being unable to watch games involving six diferent teams, the Twins, Brewers, Cubs, White Sox, Cardinals and Royals, online via MLB.tv. Late last week, the Star Tribune posted a story quoting MLB's head of online business, Bob Bowman, as saying that baseball is nearing a solution that will allow people to watch their hometown teams online, if they are also subscribers to cable and/or satellite services. That's great for people in Minneapolis that want to watch the Twins on their mobile devices. I'm guessing it's still not good news for Iowans. As crazy as it sounds, what seems most likely to happen is that MLB will broker a deal to allow people who already have access to Twins games via their local cable company to also have access online. Meanwhile, those of us in areas where FSN is not even an option via cable will continue to be blacked out. I do understand the theory. We are supposed to individually get so up in arms over this that we all march on our local Mediacom office and demand that they pay FSN whatever they want for fees to get the regional sports channel added to our Eastern Iowa cable options. That hasn't happened yet, it's not happening now and it won't happen... ever. However, given that MLB and the teams let the regional sports networks set whatever they want as the "home market" geographic footprint (because, after all, those rights fees are pretty much the major thing propping up MLB teams' revenues), it's pretty clear that any relief from the bizarre and antiquated blackout rules for places like Iowa, Las Vegas and North Carolina, which several teams claim as part of their "home market," isn't likely happening either. Instead, what I expect is that we'll see MLB, under their new Commissioner, Rob Manfred, address the online issue for fans who could already watch their favorite teams on TV. Then, they'll claim they've "solved" this problem and ignore the fact that they've solved nothing for the fans in areas like Iowa. Maybe I'm wrong and there will indeed be a solution for the rest of us. But, given the selection of a Commissioner who got the gig basically by promising to be "Bud Light," I'm not expecting anything remotely close to real solutions to any of MLB's biggest challenges. I'd be really happy to be proven wrong, of course. Finally, a few pictures from Saturday's "Touch 'em All Pub Crawl." http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Barrio1.jpg The meeting spot, Barrio Tequila Bar, St. Paul http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Campus-Pizza2.jpg Campus Pizza, which will be on my list for a return if/when I journey up for Hawkeyes/Gophers in the future. Friendly service, good thin crust pizza. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/BarZia1.jpg BarZia in downtown Minneapolis. Met a number of the hard working moderators of TwinsDaily's forum section. I'm not sure what possesses these people to put in the work being moderators, but I'm sure glad they do it. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Masons2.jpg Mason's, near Target Field, was the last stop. Gotta be honest, I wasn't impressed with Mason's this time. TD has used Mason's as a meeting place in prior events and I've always liked it. But this time, some of us got the sense from their people like we were imposing. They closed off two of their seating areas to us, requiring most in our group to stand. Not a big deal, perhaps, but I can tell you it cost them some food orders, not to mention general goodwill, among some of the people I was hanging with. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/TargetField1.jpg The view from our Home Run Porch seats at Target Field were better than what this picture might indicate. First time I've watched a game from these left field seats and it really is not a bad place to watch a game from. (sorry, appears mabe there's some kind of limit as to how many pictures I can post over here, so the last one didn't go through. - SDB)

I saw this comment by Sickels, too. While I like Gosalves a lot, the thing is, in order for him to crack he Top 10, someone has to come off that list and there aren't many guys I woud drop. Sano and Meyer (and maybe even Buxton) could have graduated from prospect status this offseason and make room for guys like Gonsalves and a couple others. But none of the Top 10 graduate (unless perhaps Pinto would). It's going to be tough for guys to move up in the rankings simply because few lose their prospect status and, fortunately, few top guys are having disappointing seasons that warrant significant drops.

As someone who deals with the coaches regularly, I would gladly keep Jake, Tommy and either of the two pitching coaches the Twins have assigned here, Ivan Arteaga or Gary Lucas, for as long as the Twins might see fit to send them to CR. That said, just like players in the system, the coaches would like to do whatever they can to get positioned for a Major League assignment and I understand that. Also, as with players, the chances of the coaches getting assigned to higher levels is largely dependent on what happens with those already at the big league level. As for the AA group, somebody in the organization must feel Jeff Smith is doing something right if they selected him for an Arizona Fall League managing gig last year.

Thank you. I really appreciate it.

Tuesday night's Cedar Rapids Kernels come-from-behind win over the Quad Cities River Bandits was bittersweet. On the one hand, they tallied three runs in the home half of the eighth inning and put away the Bandits for their eighth straight win. They swept three games in Beloit last week, three more from Peoria in Cedar Rapids over the weekend, and now the first two games of their series with the Bandits. The team also played to near-capacity home crowds on Friday and Saturday night. On the other hand, Kohl Stewart, the Twins' first round draft pick in 2013 and a key member of the Kernels' rotation all season long, left the game during the second inning with an as-yet-undetermined ailment. Regardless of the ultimate cause, it's a pretty safe bet Stewart has thrown his last pitch for this Cedar Rapids club in 2014. Stewart was one of the few bright spots for the Kernels during a challenging first half of the season. He notched a 2.44 ERA over the course of a dozen starts prior to the Midwest League's All-Star break in mid June. The Kernels finished sixth among the MWL Western Division's eight teams in the first half race with a 31-39 record, 14 games behind the first half West champion Kane County Cougars and 7.6 games behind second-place Burlington. The Midwest League breaks their schedule in to two halves, with the top two teams in each division, in each half of the season, qualifying for the postseason. The Kernels have certainly taken advantage of the split season arrangement by turning their season around 180 degrees in the second half. With 13 games to play following Tuesday night's win, the Kernels sit one game behind Kane County in the MWL West's second-half standings. Since the Cougars clinched their playoff spot in the first half, however, it doesn't matter how the Kernels fare with them. What matters is that they finish among the top two teams in their Division who have not already qualified in the first half. Going in to Wednesday's series finale with Quad Cities, Cedar Rapids holds a six game lead over third place Wisconsin and a nine game lead over fourth place Peoria. That means their "magic number" for qualifying for the playoffs sits at 5. How did this happen? How did a team go from a 31-39 first-half record to a 36-21 record, so far, in the second half? Certainly, not many fans gave the Kernels much chance of making the playoffs two months ago. Their manager, Jake Mauer, and coaches Tommy Watkins and Ivan Arteaga, gave their thoughts on the subject on Sunday, which was three Kernels wins (and three Peoria losses) ago. "Pitching is probably number 1," said Mauer. "We’ve shaved a whole run off our (team) ERA. Obviously we’re a little different at the back end of the bullpen than we were early on." It hasn't all been improved pitching, however. Mauer also was quick to mention some newcomers to the offense that have contributed. "Some of the additions, obviously Logan Wade and (Alex) Swim have been huge. Max Murphy’s been a good addition," added the manager. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/P8170025-2-600x443.jpg Max Murphy The Kernels have lost some very good players, as well, of course. Several pitchers and position players have earned promotions to high-A Fort Myers, which is what led to the new players arriving in Cedar Rapids. Players coming and going is just part of minor league life. Mauer pointed out another pretty major difference between his club's first and second half fortunes. "We’re keeping guys healthy, like (Mitch) Garver and (Engelb) Vielma and guys like that," observed Mauer. "I think that really is the reason why we’re where we’re at. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/P8170011-2-600x450.jpg Engelb Vielma "We went through a tough stretch there early. It seemed like somebody was going down every week. We’re still missing three of our top arms in our organization who are still down with surgery. Obviously, it gave a good opportunity to get up here to (Mat) Batts and (Chih-Wei) Hu and (Stephen) Gonsalves and (Lewis) Thorpe. They’ve really been holding down the majority of the big innings for us." Watkins, the Kernels hitting coach, echoes many of Mauer's thoughts. "I think we’ve stayed healthy, for the most part. It seemed like every other day we were losing somebody in the first half. But for the most part, outside of some minor bumps and bruises, we’ve been pretty healthy the second half." Watkins also sensed a change in the consistency of the team's performance. "In the beginning, we didn’t click on both sides. One day we would hit, we didn’t pitch. One day we would pitch, we didn’t hit," Watkins added. "Now it seems like we’re getting timely hitting, pitching. The defense is making some plays. "All the pitchers are doing well but we’ve got a few guys at the back end of that bullpen that have been pretty lights-out for us. We give those guys some leads and they’ve been pretty good lately." Watkins has seen a change in the clubhouse, as well as on the field. "I just think the overall confidence right now, the guys are a lot better. The guys are loose, they’re having fun with each other. We came in here the other day, they were doing Kangaroo Court with each other. They’re just having fun right now. They’re winning baseball games, so it’s been a lot of fun." There's little doubt that the biggest change in the Kernels' fortunes in the second half has come on the pitcher's mound. That being the case, it stands to reason that Arteaga, the Kernels pitching coach, would have a great deal of insight in to how those fortunes changed for the better in the season's second half. He summed up the reasons for the improvement in the club's pitching in two words, "Experience and chemistry." "They go hand in hand," he explained. "Early, we went through some growing pains, pitching wise." Arteaga noted that the team lost three highly rated young pitchers in the first half that the organization had been counting on to play big roles for the Kernels. Felix Jorge struggled and was sent back to extended spring training and, ultimately, to Elizabethton. Randy Rosario and Yorman Landa got hurt, ending their seasons. Pitchers that remained in Cedar Rapids also went through some rough patches early. "(Aaron) Slegers had a rough go for about a month," added the coach. "He was working on some stuff. (Ryan) Eades was learning a lot of things about the league and about himself. Our relievers went through some growing pains. We had Hudson Boyd - early, he was very good. He had a rough go for about three or four outings. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/P8170002-2-600x450.jpg Ryan Eades "So everybody’s learning. Like I said when I first got here, it is a process. They get to learn the league. They get to learn the hitters. They get to learn themselves. Work on a different pitch, work on the delivery. Work on some stuff. "It’s growing pains. Kids like Eades, you know, second round pick, he learned a lot this year. And you get a guy like Stewart - first round pick. He learned a lot this year. In the first half, you have a lot of learning to do. A lot of growing pains. "And we didn’t do that bad. Not what we wanted to, but we weren’t that bad." In the second half, though, the pitching went from, "not bad," to very, very good. "Then we got the new boys. We got Thorpe, we got Hu, we had Gonsalves, Batts, Burdi, Reed, Gallant. They brought a different mindset and obviously we’ve been doing very well." Arteaga also agrees with Watkins' observation that the success is reflected off the field as much as on. "I think that the learning, gaining some experience and at the same time, we’re winning. You see a different atmosphere in there ( the clubhouse). It’s a different environment. It’s chemistry. They like each other. They talk to each other. When you get that, which is chemistry, it shows on the field. "They come here every day with effort, with a purpose they have in mind. They know, they can feel the possibility of being in the playoffs - how great that’s going to be for the players to experience that. Some of them in their first year of full season. I hope that they actually embrace the possibility." If the players are excited about postseason possibilities, they aren't alone. Arteaga is right there with them. "Personally, I’m very excited by it because I went through a lot of things this year with these guys. To try to teach the pitchers the fundamentals of baseball, the fundamentals of pitching, pitch sequence, just the growing pains. And just the things you see, to me, it’s very rewarding. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/P8150251-2-600x449.jpg Stephen Gonsalves "I guarantee you that there’s not a better feeling than seeing these guys playing every day and understanding the moment. And going out and playing the way they played Peoria and the way they played on the road (in Beloit)." Of course, winning championships is great. But is winning really important for minor league affiliates? It's important, of course, to the local fans who want to see a winner. But some fans of the Major League affiliate see minor league games as little more than exhibition games, attaching little, if any, value to won-loss record. Arteaga clearly feels winning is important, but not necessarily the most important thing. "We (the Twins organization) have a philosophy. Basically, we want to develop winners. And the only way you can develop winners is by teaching the process, by teaching the fundamentals of baseball. "Now, we are very careful with the amount of innings, the activities that we do. Teaching the game the right way, the Twins way. "But one thing that we don’t do, is to go the extra mile to try to win. We want these guys to win, but I won’t pitch my guys two days in a row. I won’t pitch my guy 125 pitches because I want to win one game. We won’t do that. We have a program. That program works. It’s good. We stick to it. It is our job as coaches to teach these guys how to win. To motivate these guys every day." Make no mistake, though, talking about a playoff run brings a smile to the coach's face. "When you go to the postseason, there’s a difference," Arteaga concluded. "That’s what we want these guys to experience. When it’s only you. There’s nobody else playing, just you playing. (Others) going home. They’re going on American Airlines somewhere. You’re not. You’re still playing. That’s the beauty of postseason. You’re sending somebody else home and you’re playing. So that’s good." Image courtesy of Steve Buhr View full article

I would be shocked if Kernels playoff tickets weren't exactly the same price as regular season tickets. In my experience, minor league playoff tickets are abundantly available, During the season, x number of seats for every game are spoken for by season ticket holders, not that many of which step up for postseason tickets (especially mid week games). The result is plenty of availability of good seats.

Aw shucks thanks. BTW, on Saturday, with the Kernels in Burlington, my venue will be somewhere along the light rail Green Line during TDs pub crawl!

Actually, I think you can remove "almost" from that second paragraph. Asking him to bunt does eliminate doubles or triples. Of course, it "almost" eliminates GIDP, too, which is one reason managers will "almost" always bunt in that situation. I believe he would, indeed, make that choice 100% of the time. While many of us see that as one example of how the game has passed Gardy by and he should be replaced, the thing is, I'd be willing to bet that almost every potential replacement (whether from inside or outside the Twins organization) would do exactly the same thing. There is gradually more open minded thinking seeping in to front offices, but I see far less willingness to set aside long-established conventional "wisdom" among field managers/coaches in the dugouts. If others are seeing more of it, I'd welcome being enlightened.

If you'll indulge a little self-promotion, the aforementioned new article is now posted both at Knuckleballsblog.com and here on TD.