Steven Buhr

Believe Alex Muren would be the 6th.

I agree and I think this entire discussion is about who the best option is at SS for the next 1-2 years, because I don't think many of the names here should be counted on to be a major league shortstop on a long-term basis. They just haven't shown the glove for it. If you want someone who "leads with their defense," keep an eye on Engelb Vielma. I know it sounds like hyperbole, but Vielma is the best shortstop I've seen on a professional infield at any level in a while. Defensively, he could play SS for a Major League team today. He's that smooth, that strong and that consistent. He was only 19 when he started the season in CR (only because Ryan Walker, expected to start the year as Class A SS, got hurt in ST) and for several very cold weeks, he looked totally lost at the plate (hitting .187 in April). That is no longer the case. He's been very productive at the plate and, since he just turned 20 in June, I expect him to only get stronger. Nick Gordon is coming up behind him on the organization ladder and I'm anxious to watch Gordon next summer, but I would not bet against Vielma. There's a lot of us talking about how strong the CR pitching has been, but I'd guarantee you that having Vielma at SS behind them is aiding their stats (and, not coincidentally, the team's W-L record).

"Close to fruition" of a rebuilt rotation may be stronger than I'd agree to, but it's certainly an improvement over where things stood a year ago. Hughes still looks like a strong addition, even if not a legit #1 starter. I believe Nolasco will be much improved next year if he gets/stays healthy. I'd say those are two potential #2 starters, which is 2 more than the Twins have had going in to any offseason in a while. In fact, you could make a case for Gibson being a stronger holdover than almost any other pitcher for the past couple years. Still, I don't think the rotation will reach "fruition" until you're seeing Meyer and Berrios among the 5 and that's perhaps another year away. A rotation headlined by healthy Hughes-Nolasco-Gibson, combined with two of the young arms on the doorstep, should be enough to get to .500 in 2015, however, if there's any improvement at all on offense.

We must not read the same comments. I haven't seen much evidence of commenters being "far too easy" on management. I bet if you polled people here, 9 of 10 would want Gardy gone by next year, if not immediately. Probably 8 of 10 would predict a change. About half would probably express a desire for a change in GM and, even among those who wouldn't argue for a change, there's no shortage of comments critical of Terry Ryan's decisions. I would agree that there's more balance in comments concerning management than you'd see in Strib comment sections, for example, but I don't think that's bad. Comments in the minor league section tend to be less critical of Ryan than those in the major league board, probably because Ryan has done a better job of restocking the minor league organization than he has of putting a competitive team together at Target Field. The money thing and the Pohlads gets plenty of mention, I think, during the offseason when the roster is being assembled for the following year. Once the roster is set, however, the payroll issue is kind of moot. I also think it's natural for payroll to drop during a rebuild, especially a rebuild being overseen by Terry Ryan. It's quite possible that Jim Pohlad would be fine with spending more money to be competitive, but that's just not how Ryan builds a team. EDIT: I would also add that the relative lack of organization bashing you see among comments at TD is in part due to the moderators having this pesky rule about keeping comments on topic and thus preventing every article/post from turning in to a "fire everyone" bashing.

Really an interesting discussion, guys. I'm not sure the Twins really need to keep a spot open this year. Do we really think they're going to be active on the waiver wire/free agent market this offseason? I don't. They won't (or shouldn't) be dipping their toes in the mediocre FA SP market again. Is there any other position that we think they're likely to try to fill with a legit front line starter? Outfield, maybe I could see if it weren't for the fact that they have young OFs knocking on the door that I think they're more likely to give spots to. On the off chance they did find themselves in a position to sign a true #1 SP (for example), they can always simply drop their 40th roster player. Guess my point is that I just don't see it likely that they'll be in the market this offseason to add players much, if any, more promising than the guys they'd be risking by leaving off the 40 man. Finally, a question: Are there players you think could be surprise additions? I was surprised somewhat that Kepler and Polanco were added after low-A seasons last offseason. I don't see that happening this year, but I'm curious what others think.

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 (1) "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."

I think that is quite possibly what's happened in this case. There's some speculation within the organization that JD wasn't really quite right yet when he came to CR, but that he really just wanted to get out of extended spring training. If they suspected that might be the case at the time, I could see the team applying the thinking you're referring to. If he's still not 100%, don't make it tougher for him by making him compete at a higher level, too. Then, he just kept tweaking the leg in CR and has had trouble getting and staying healthy. The important thing is to get him healthy and back on track so he can show what he can do and resume his path up the ladder.

Hu is 2 yrs older than Thorpe and a year older than Stewart, but he's a very mature 20 year old. Maybe it's the international ball he's played or something else, but he doesn't seem to be phased much by anything that happens on a MWL field. Where guys start a season is dependent on more than just their own talent. The organization has to stack pitchers in a manner that assures they will get regular work, so whether he (or anyone else) starts 2015 in Ft Myers or not depends somewhat on who else the Twins have that needs to be in that rotation (and AA and AAA). The Kernels are stacked right now with awfully good pitching. An improving (imo) Ryan Eades and Mat Batts are probably CR's 5th & 6th starters. The top 4 are Stewart, Thorpe, Gonsalves and Hu. Right now, I think you'd have to put Hu at the top of that list, not because the others are doing anything disappointing at all, but simply because he has been that effective. Will be interesting to see how Stewart fares tonight in his 2nd start back from the DL. Guessing he'll be on a somewhat shorter pitch count again, with maybe Batts piggybacking with him (as Hu did last week in Beloit).

Hu does throw low 90s anyway with the fastball, so he's no soft-tosser. But he's got like five pitches (at least) and everything he throws has movement. He's still just 20 years old and has plenty of room to grow, yet, so adding another couple ticks wouldn't be out of the question. Sometimes, though, adding velo means the fastball straightens out and he wouldn't want to see that, imo. His English is a work in progress, but he's clearly making an effort with the language. Jeff Johnson and I were able to interview him after last night's game and while we had to "interpret" a bit of what he said, he was able to communicate his thoughts to us in a way we could understand. I heard a while ago that he's supposedly sitting in on the English classes the Latino players take while they're here, which must be real interesting. We were interviewing him in a little hall between the players' locker area in the clubhouse and just outside the coaches' room where Tommy and Ivan are. While we were talking to Hu about the work he and Ivan Arteaga have been doing, Ivan stuck his head out of the door and just flashed his big smile. As Seth said, Arteaga is an excellent communicator. I'm working on a piece, which should be up on Knuckleballs and TD in the next day or so, which discusses the Kernels turnaround from a poor first half to, at this point, a near-certain playoff spot in the second half. All 3 coaches shared their thoughts on what went in to turning things around and Arteaga, as is often the case, went in to considerable depth with his response. As for what Arteaga's future is with the Twins organization, I've almost given up trying to figure out what the front office thinks about things like that, but absent a Kernels collapse in the next 2 weeks, this will be the 3rd straight season the team he was coaching makes the playoffs. Must be doing something right.

Jake told Jeff Johnson and I in his postgame interview that Ivan Arteaga has a new name for Hu.... Hu-dini. I like it. Think it could stick. The kid is unflappable.

Williams sat out much of the time Joe Mauer was in the CR line up, but has played in 6 of the last 7 Kernels games that corresponds to their current 7-game winning streak. Williams has hit .353 in that stretch, with 3 triples and a HR. The 3 triples have come in the last 4 games he's played. It's pretty clear from speaking with both Jake Mauer and Williams himself that his knee has been an issue for much of the season. The good news, though, is that he says he's feeling much better now... and the results on the field are showing it.

Been kind of expecting it for a bit, but outfielder Zack Larson is back up in Cedar Rapids. The Gazette's Jeff Johnson and I were doing our postgame interview with Jake Mauer after Sunday's game and Larson stuck his head in Mauer's office. Sounds like Josue Montanez will go on the DL with a shoulder issue, which is certainly convenient considering the Kernels had 14 pitchers and 11 position players on their 25 man roster and really needed some outfield help. Larson was hitting .292 through 32 games with CR before going on the DL with a hammy. He had been getting close to returning a few weeks ago when he tweaked it again while rehabbing in Florida.

An inning of video for each, Lewis Thorpe's 3rd inning (I think) and then Jake Reed's 9th with the 3 Ks.

Some video of Gonsalves on Friday night. One inning of work. The quality is even less than my normal substandard levels since I wasn't in my normal seats behind home plate and had to deal with a lot of folks moving up and down the aisle.

The money issue is a non-issue at this point and probably will remain so through 2018. The Twins lucked out in that regard, I suppose, if you consider it "luck" to have gone in to such a tailspin that it was wholly unnecessary to spend a bunch of money to retain other star-level players. As a result, even with the $23 mil going to Mauer every year, there's more than adequate money in the budget to add quality free agents and pay up and coming young talent. The problem, I believe, for many of us is that Mauer got his payday after what was really the only season he showed decent power. The "power tool" has been missing from his arsenal ever since (and yes, moving to Target Field certainly impacted that & that was not his "fault"). Even without the power tool, Mauer has been a heck of a hitter... until this season. If he bounces back and becomes a consistent .300+ hitter next year and beyond, I'll be satisfied. That said, I do think the time may be coming when some difficult decisions will need to be made concerning his defensive position. If Vargas and, eventually, Sano, turn out to be legit corner infielders, Mauer may have to be asked to change positions again, this time to a corner OF spot.

Sorry for not seeing the Q sooner. Frankly, the recurrence of the sound ads has resulted in me checking TD far less often during the day since I used to keep the window open pretty much all the time and now I close it out after each visit and do far less "browsing" of the comment sections. There's no radar gun readings posted on the scoreboard in Beloit, so I don't know what any of the pitchers were getting for velo. Almost all of Batts' Ks were of the swinging variety. In fact, he could have had a couple more called Ks, I think, if the umpires's strike zone hadn't been a bit tight on the outside corner (which was the case for both starting pitchers, I thought). While I wasn't taking notes on his pitch mix, my recollection is that most of those swinging 3rd strikes were off-speed pitches of one type or another.

No, thankfully I wasn't that close. Just heard about it from some folks I was talking to in the final innings of the game.

Peoria @ Beloit (6:35 CST) – Lewis Thorpe Beloit? sheesh!

Yeah the Kate Hudson ad at the top right is annoying as hell. It just keeps repeating.

Video of Batts' 6th and final inning vs Beloit, just FYI

For your viewing pleasure: First, 4 spearate videos of Kohl Stewart's 4 innings of work this week vs Beloit in his first start coming off the DL, followed by a video of Mat Batts' 6th inning in Beloit the following night. (Looks like a couple of these successfully imbedded, the others you'll have to just click the link to view)

Yeah, I seem to keep getting the Lysol ad with sound, even though I've clicked 'mute'. I sent you an email with a screenshot last night, Brock. Hadn't been having the issue for quite a while until this week, again.

Here's my admittedly non-expert observation of Ryan Eades now vs the Ryan Eades we saw most of the first half of the season. He's been prone to giving up too many hits and too many walks all season, so he has work to do in those areas next year. But whereas, earlier in the year, he would get in a jam and then often go on and give up a big inning, more recently, he seems to be bearing down in those jam situations and minimizing the damage - keeping his team in the game. I like the apparent change in mentality. Of course, it would be nice not to get in to jams in the first place, but in the silver lining department, perhaps developing a little bit of a bulldog mentality in those situations will serve him well in the future.

Quesada may have hit the ball as hard as anyone else with the Kernels last night. He hit line shots directly at the SS and the 3B, and added a warning track blast to deep LCF that the CF ran down. All 3 were right on the screws. Just one of those days.

I think expecting any young player to give less than 100% in a game situation is unrealistic, at best. 90% of these guys are wishing on a wing and a prayer to make the big leagues. You think any of them will dial it back when their best (if not only) shot at the Show is to prove to their organization how hard they're willing to work and play? You're also not going to have "non-prospects" going all out and "prospects" taking it easy. Finally, I don't believe you can expect a kid to spend 3-5 years playing at 95% effort and then, when they get to the big leagues, see them dial it back up to a level they haven't been producing at in the minors. In sports, accidents happen, unfortunately. You can't take extreme measures to mitigate risk without significantly changing the result on the field.