Steven Buhr

If I recall correctly, New Britain's hitting coach last year was Latino (or at least had a Latino surname and I made a possibily inaccurate assumption), but apparently was moved or let go in the offseason minor league managing/coaching reassignments.

I say put Ozzie Guillen on the Twins coaching staff. If fans aren't going to get to see good baseball, at the very least we deserve to be entertained!

I hadn't seen Reusse's column, Nick, thanks for the link. I think the point of the column is well taken. The Twins have needed more Latin American coaches for years and it is well past time to add one to the Twins' staff. I know a number of us have been writing that for years. My understanding is that Jeff Smith has never been all that popular with a lot of players, regardless of nationality. Even so, if the report of Sano's response to Smith is accurate, there is no rationalizing flat out insubordination. No player... not even a Miguel Sano... can be allowed to be seen as being above being disciplined. You'll lose your entire clubhouse if that's allowed.

I think some of you are also misrepresenting Killebrew. Sure it took him a few seconds to get the wheels turning when he hit a HR. But it took him almost that long to get out of the box when he hit a single!

jokin, I don't think I've indicated anything is "pre-determined," unless nothing that a player does prior to his debut with the Twins counts for anything. If his behavior in this area doesn't change, he's not going to be a guy I have any particular affinity for. If the behavior changes by the time he's a Twin, terrific. I'd love to see that kind of maturity. But based on the three instances that I know of in roughly the past 12 months' time, I wouldn't bet money on it. It doesn't mean I won't cheer him on. Hell, I cheered for AJ when he was a Twin and that's just one example of many players I didn't particularly like, but had no qualms about rooting for when they wore a Twins uniform. Guess I never realized that was an extreme position.

nick, all I've personally observed is the HR pimping and the immediate fallout from that last year when he not only pimped the HR, but got in the catcher's face when he dared to express displeasure with Sano having done so. I also wrote about how he was patiently signing autographs for fans before the game, on the road, too... so I'm not saying he's some kind of "bad person." There's a time and place for celebrating a HR and I don't even have a particular issue with a little excessive celebrating. A pitcher knocks you down and you get up and take him yard? Yeah... take as long as you friggin like to get around the bases. Make the SOB stand and watch you circle for 10 minutes for all I care. Better yet, win an important game with that HR or at least put your team ahead in that game, then a little bit of pride showing as you circle is just fine with me. Win a World Series game with a HR and, hell, I'll come down on the field and stand next to you and we'll watch that ball sail together before you start trotting! But dude, your team was behind when you came up and they're still behind when you reach home plate? Pimping that is doing nothing but saying, "hey everyone look at how great I am. I hit a meaningless HR off a pitcher who nobody will ever remember in a minor league game, but damn I'm good!" Are we really saying that causing a blip closer to the midpoint of a WPA chart for a AA game is grounds for showboating now? Not for me. And I'm just not a big fan of players, regardless of talent, who appear to be more about personal glory than winning games.

roger, Sano did pimp a HR in Cedar Rapids last year and it resulted in some players getting in one anothers' faces a bit. Words were particularly exchanged between the Kernels catcher and Sano (though I wouldn't bet money either one really understood what the other was saying, given the language barrier involved). But there was no brawl, as such. jokin, since you chided TFIP for "liking" my post, I guess you're suggesting my view is among those "extremes." Guess we'll agree to disagree. I don't think it's extreme to say that, from what I've seen of him so far, I don't much care for the way Sano behaves in this area and since I see no evidence of it being likely to change, he probably won't be a player I have any particular affection for outside of whatever value he may bring statistically. nicksaviking, I do take issue with your last paragraph. First of all, as has been pointed out, this is not a case of "an" overconfident HR celebration. It's not a single incident, it's the most recent in a number of similar such demonstrations. Those multiple incidents... or even just a single incident, for that matter... would certainly be "evidence" of an attitude problem. Not proof, perhaps, but one's behavior is certainly evidence of one's attitude.

I really don't think Sano will ever learn this particular lesson. He did the same thing with Beloit, he did the same thing with Ft Myers, and now he's doing it with New Britain. And people still don't want the Twins to do anything about it? Whatever. Good luck ever being able to treat him like anything but a prima donna if you wait 'til he's in Minnesota to even try. Going all the way back to the 16 yr old Sano in the documentary, he's come off as "me first" kid. Given his background, that's not surprising, but I don't have to like that he hasn't grown out of that yet and doesn't appear likely to. I do think it's unfortunate for the fans who aren't getting to see his talent on the field while he's benched and if it costs his team some wins, his team mates pay an unfair price, too. Maybe sitting him a game and then dropping his butt to #9 in the order for a week or more would be as effective and still let fans see him hit. His ego might smart just as much from that as it would from a benching. Either way, I'm not confident he'll ever learn this particular "lesson" and one day someone will put one in his ear. I'm a Twins fan and I hope to be able to watch Sano's talent on display in a Twins uniform for a long time. But I don't have to "like" every Twins player, regardless of their talent. I'm a big Byron Buxton fan, but I am starting to think I may never really like Sano beyond simply for what he can accomplish statistically for my particular favorite team.

I like Walker a lot and I think he has a chance to be a very good Major League ballplayer, but I am not ready to put him in the elite prospect category yet, either. I think he has a very high ceiling, but it may be harder and take longer to reach that ceiling than a lot of people seem to think it will. At this point in his career (note the emphasis), he's mostly a very good "mistake hitter." He will absolutely punish anything you foolishly throw on the inside part of the plate. That's not a career-killer. A lot of MLB players have made very good livings as "mistake hitters." (Michael Cuddyer, for one.) But for Walker to become elite, he's going to have to improve his plate discipline and get better at handling pitches on the outer half of the plate. As I pointed out over in his "adopt a prospect" thread, 14 of his 22 home runs this year have come off MWL Eastern Division pitchers. Teams only play one 3-game series a year against each of the 8 teams in the opposite division, so Walker has 14 home runs in 24 cross-division games and 8 in the 76 games vs Western Division teams... teams and pitchers likely to see Walker several times, as opposed to one 3-game series. If you want to say Walker's numbers are comparable to Sano, fine. But they are even closer to Mike Gonzales' numbers (BA, OPS, K-rate, BB-rate) from his 2011 season in Beloit, except Gonzales walked about twice as frequently as Walker does. I'm not down on Walker. In fact, I think his defense in the OF has improved. Early on, I almost cringed when a ball went in his directlion. His routes are better now. He's a fun player to watch, but I simply don't think elevating him to elite prospect status at this point is very realistic.

You can probably add Brett Lee in CR to your list. He threw less than 50 innings for Elizabethton last year and he's now over 90 for the Kernels in his first year as a full time starting pitcher. The 6 man rotation has helped limit innings for Lee and Melotakis in CR, but they both could be inching up on some sort of limit. They've been the two most reliably consistent starters for the Kernels, so it would be nice to do whatever must be done to make sure they've still got some innings in the tank for the playoffs in September.

FYI, Oliva will be signing autographs Friday night on the stadium concourse until 6:10. Gates open at 5:30 (5:00 for season ticket holders).

My point wasn't to suggest Walker's numbers are purely due to facing pitchers only 1 time, but merely to point out that, given a criteria Twins officials have stated they consider a factor in regard to promotions, it could be part of the reason he's still in CR. (Though lack of an opening in the FtM OF is certainly a greater factor.) I'm not going back to see how all of those Eastern Div prospects are actually performing, but pre-season prospect status obviously does not mean the guy has been unhittable this season (as demonstrated by a couple of Kernels' pitching prospects). Any pitcher who thinks he can get a fastball past Walker on the inside part of the plate is eventually going to find out he's very wrong. One thing we've seen this season is that the more times a pitcher faces Walker, the more breaking balls the guy tends to throw him.

Just something to bear in mind with regard to Walker's numbers: Back when Buxton was off to his hot start, some in the Twins organization cautioned that you need to wait to see how a hitter does against opponents after they've seen him a few times. Their pitchers will adjust and the scouts wanted to see what adjustments Buxton would make when that happened. The reason I mention this is that, of Walker's 22 home runs, 14 of them have come in the 24 games the Kernels played against teams in the MWL Eastern Division... teams the Kernels only face for one 3-game series each during the season. Only 8 of Walker's HRs have come during the 75 games against Western Division opponents that the Kernels face frequently. I'm not suggesting Walker's power is any kind of fluke. He's a legit talent. But this may be a factor in why he's still in Cedar Rapids.

You can view the page at http://twinsdaily.com/content.php?r=2119-Kernels-roster-changes-but-results-don-t

Thank you. There certainly are a core of very talented players that have been around since the beginning of the season. I suspect, however, that the promotions are not over. Being a Twins fan in Cedar Rapids is certainly interesting. You want to see talented players stay with the Kernels as long as possible, but you also want to see that talent rewarded with promotion.

I agree that it's wise to keep a close eye on the pitchers and be cautious about increasing their workload too extremely from one season to the next. But I've never understood why the only pitches/innings that matter when people do these statistical comparisons are those thrown during the season. Did these guys play winter ball anywhere? Fall Instructs? What was their workout regimen in the off season? The guys in CR have two bullpen sessions between starts instead of one (because of the 6 man rotation). Don't those pitches count? Are these guys going to pitch anywhere this coming offseason? The only thing I know for certain is that I've been told one major reason for the 6 man rotation in CR is to better assure the pitchers can get through the entire season without having to be pulled from the rotation and put in the bullpen to keep their innings from getting too high.

With just 40 games remaining in their regular season schedule, now seems like a good time to step back and take a look at the state of the Cedar Rapids Kernels. It's almost laughable to even question whether or not the affiliation switch from the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim to the Minnesota Twins has been good for Cedar Rapids. Of course it has, by pretty much every measurement. The Kernels have already qualified for the Midwest League postseason by virtue of their second place finish in the first half of the season and fan interest is up. Attendance is up some, but even more telling, the fans who show up for games are enthusiastically engaged in what's happening on the field. That has not always been the case at Veterans Memorial Stadium the past few years. It certainly didn't hurt that one of the Twins' top prospects, Byron Buxton, got off to such an incredible start this spring. He drew fan and media interest from well beyond the local community. But even after the inevitable promotion of Buxton to the Twins' Class high-A affiliate at Fort Myers in June, the Kernels have continued to win games. That may come as a surprise to those so blinded by Buxton's aura that they didn't notice the Kernels roster included a number of other very talented players. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Murphy5-600x409.jpg Jonathan Murphy Of course, Buxton isn't the only Kernels player the Twins have rewarded with a bump up in playing level. The Kernels have seen about a dozen players, in total, promoted to Fort Myers already this season. The Twins, as an organization, have a reputation for being conservative with their promotions. They historically have preferred to see most players spend at least an entire season, if not more, at most minor league levels. No doubt, Kernels officials were hoping that trend would continue. In past seasons, the Angels seemingly couldn't wait to promote players as soon as they demonstrated any level of productivity in a Kernels uniform. Among position players, Buxton was the only key offensive contributor to be lost to promotion until J.D. Williams and Dalton Hicks were bumped up to Fort Myers about a week ago. It's not easy to replace players found in the top 10 of most Midwest League offensive statistical categories like Williams (on-base percentage, OPS), Hicks (home runs, RBI, slugging pct., OPS) and Buxton (almost everything), but players brought in to Cedar Rapids by the Twins to replace the departing hitters have done well. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Kepler11.jpg Max Kepler Max Kepler joined the Kernels once he completed rehabilitating his injured elbow in Fort Myers. He arrived four days before Buxton was promoted and he has hit for a .263 average. Thirteen of his 31 hits have been for extra bases. Jonathan Murphy is hitting .333 in the 17 games he's played since his arrival at the beginning of July and Joel Licon has performed well in a utility infielder role since he joined the team in early June. It's too early to know for certain how well Mike Gonzales will fill in for the departed Hicks, but the big first baseman has four hits in his first eight at-bats as a Kernel. Gonzales hit .289 and stroked 15 home runs for the Beloit Snappers in 2011. He missed much of his 2012 season in Fort Myers and after starting this season again with the Miracle, a wrist injury has sidelined him for the past several weeks. On the pitching front, the Kernels lost Taylor Rogers before most fans even got to know him. He made three unimpressive starts for the Kernels before being moved on to Fort Myers. Jose Berrios, a supplemental first round draft pick in the 2012 First Year Player Draft and one of the top pitching prospects in the Twins organization, essentially took Rogers' spot in the Kernels rotation. The subsequent promotion of Tyler Duffey in early June left a much more significant hole at the top of the Kernels' rotation. Duffey carried a 2.78 ERA and a 0.943 WHIP through nine starts when he left Cedar Rapids. Josue Montanez initially worked from the Kernels bullpen after his promotion to Cedar Rapids in June, but has shown some potential since joining the rotation about a month ago. Perhaps even more critically, the Kernels have seen four important members of their bullpen earn promotions. Matt Tomshaw and Manuel Soliman had contributed a total of 59 innings of work over a combined 30 appearances before they were promoted. Last week, the Twins elevated Steve Gruver and Tyler Jones, who had combined to provide a formidable left-right relief combination late in games. Reliever Alex Muren has been relatively effective since arriving from extended spring training in early May, and the early returns from more recent additions Madison Boer, Dallas Gallant and Tim Shibuya are encouraging. But the bottom line in baseball is all about wins and losses. The Kernels were 44-28, for a .611 winning percentage, with Buxton on the roster. Since his promotion four games in to the second half schedule, the Kernels are 17-9 (.654) and they are leading the MWL West Division by three games over first half champion Beloit. It's certainly too soon to know what effect losing the four players promoted a week ago will have on the team's fortunes. However, the Kernels have won five of the first six games played (all on the road) since Hicks, Williams, Jones and Gruver got their well-deserved promotions. On Tuesday, the first member of the Twins' draft class of 2013 was promoted to Cedar Rapids when seventh round pick Brian Gilbert was added to the Kernels' roster. Roster turnover is just a fact of life in minor league baseball. When the local team starts out winning a lot of games, it's probably because a lot of players are performing very well and players that perform very well deserve promotions to the next level in the organization. One way to measure the strength of an organization is to look at how a minor league team performs after a number of their best players are promoted. If the new players perform well and the team continues winning, that's a very good sign. So far, that's what we're seeing in Cedar Rapids. That bodes well, this season, for the Kernels and for the Twins in the long run. SD Buhr covers the Cedar Rapids Kernels for MetroSportsReport.com. His alter-ego, Jim Crikket, opines about the Twins and Kernels at Knuckleballsblog.com.

With just 40 games remaining in their regular season schedule, now seems like a good time to step back and take a look at the state of the Cedar Rapids Kernels. It's almost laughable to even question whether or not the affiliation switch from the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim to the Minnesota Twins has been good for Cedar Rapids. Of course it has, by pretty much every measurement. The Kernels have already qualified for the Midwest League postseason by virtue of their second place finish in the first half of the season and fan interest is up. Attendance is up some, but even more telling, the fans who show up for games are enthusiastically engaged in what's happening on the field. That has not always been the case at Veterans Memorial Stadium the past few years. It certainly didn't hurt that one of the Twins' top prospects, Byron Buxton, got off to such an incredible start this spring. He drew fan and media interest from well beyond the local community. But even after the inevitable promotion of Buxton to the Twins' Class high-A affiliate at Fort Myers in June, the Kernels have continued to win games. That may come as a surprise to those so blinded by Buxton's aura that they didn't notice the Kernels roster included a number of other very talented players. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Murphy5-600x409.jpg Jonathan Murphy Of course, Buxton isn't the only Kernels player the Twins have rewarded with a bump up in playing level. The Kernels have seen about a dozen players, in total, promoted to Fort Myers already this season. The Twins, as an organization, have a reputation for being conservative with their promotions. They historically have preferred to see most players spend at least an entire season, if not more, at most minor league levels. No doubt, Kernels officials were hoping that trend would continue. In past seasons, the Angels seemingly couldn't wait to promote players as soon as they demonstrated any level of productivity in a Kernels uniform. Among position players, Buxton was the only key offensive contributor to be lost to promotion until J.D. Williams and Dalton Hicks were bumped up to Fort Myers about a week ago. It's not easy to replace players found in the top 10 of most Midwest League offensive statistical categories like Williams (on-base percentage, OPS), Hicks (home runs, RBI, slugging pct., OPS) and Buxton (almost everything), but players brought in to Cedar Rapids by the Twins to replace the departing hitters have done well. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Kepler11.jpg Max Kepler Max Kepler joined the Kernels once he completed rehabilitating his injured elbow in Fort Myers. He arrived four days before Buxton was promoted and he has hit for a .263 average. Thirteen of his 31 hits have been for extra bases. Jonathan Murphy is hitting .333 in the 17 games he's played since his arrival at the beginning of July and Joel Licon has performed well in a utility infielder role since he joined the team in early June. It's too early to know for certain how well Mike Gonzales will fill in for the departed Hicks, but the big first baseman has four hits in his first eight at-bats as a Kernel. Gonzales hit .289 and stroked 15 home runs for the Beloit Snappers in 2011. He missed much of his 2012 season in Fort Myers and after starting this season again with the Miracle, a wrist injury has sidelined him for the past several weeks. On the pitching front, the Kernels lost Taylor Rogers before most fans even got to know him. He made three unimpressive starts for the Kernels before being moved on to Fort Myers. Jose Berrios, a supplemental first round draft pick in the 2012 First Year Player Draft and one of the top pitching prospects in the Twins organization, essentially took Rogers' spot in the Kernels rotation. The subsequent promotion of Tyler Duffey in early June left a much more significant hole at the top of the Kernels' rotation. Duffey carried a 2.78 ERA and a 0.943 WHIP through nine starts when he left Cedar Rapids. Josue Montanez initially worked from the Kernels bullpen after his promotion to Cedar Rapids in June, but has shown some potential since joining the rotation about a month ago. Perhaps even more critically, the Kernels have seen four important members of their bullpen earn promotions. Matt Tomshaw and Manuel Soliman had contributed a total of 59 innings of work over a combined 30 appearances before they were promoted. Last week, the Twins elevated Steve Gruver and Tyler Jones, who had combined to provide a formidable left-right relief combination late in games. Reliever Alex Muren has been relatively effective since arriving from extended spring training in early May, and the early returns from more recent additions Madison Boer, Dallas Gallant and Tim Shibuya are encouraging. But the bottom line in baseball is all about wins and losses. The Kernels were 44-28, for a .611 winning percentage, with Buxton on the roster. Since his promotion four games in to the second half schedule, the Kernels are 17-9 (.654) and they are leading the MWL West Division by three games over first half champion Beloit. It's certainly too soon to know what effect losing the four players promoted a week ago will have on the team's fortunes. However, the Kernels have won five of the first six games played (all on the road) since Hicks, Williams, Jones and Gruver got their well-deserved promotions. On Tuesday, the first member of the Twins' draft class of 2013 was promoted to Cedar Rapids when seventh round pick Brian Gilbert was added to the Kernels' roster. Roster turnover is just a fact of life in minor league baseball. When the local team starts out winning a lot of games, it's probably because a lot of players are performing very well and players that perform very well deserve promotions to the next level in the organization. One way to measure the strength of an organization is to look at how a minor league team performs after a number of their best players are promoted. If the new players perform well and the team continues winning, that's a very good sign. So far, that's what we're seeing in Cedar Rapids. That bodes well, this season, for the Kernels and for the Twins in the long run. SD Buhr covers the Cedar Rapids Kernels for MetroSportsReport.com. His alter-ego, Jim Crikket, opines about the Twins and Kernels at Knuckleballsblog.com.

I have no idea why Beresford isn't getting any time at SS, but he's really not been on the bench all that much lately when you consider how many middle infielders the Red Wings are carrying on their roster. (Also keep in mind, the Red Wings had no games during the All Star Break on July 15-17.) Consider, in the past ten Rochester games, Beresford has played 6, Olmeda 5, Farris 1 (though he's played some OF too). Bernier played 4 games before being promoted to Minnesota and Escobar has played 4 since coming down to Rochester, so if you count them as one guy, they have a combined 8 games in the Red Wings last 10. Escobar and, now, Bernier are both on the Twins' 40 man roster and the organization is going to have to make a decision in the off-season concerning whether they stay there. It's not really surprising to me that they'd be making sure those two guys are in the line up almost every day they are in a Red Wings uniform. Olmeda had been playing some 3B, but Deibinson Romero is out there pretty much every game now as the Twins look at whether he should given an opportunity to compete with Plouffe (and Sano?) in 2014. Beresford just needs to keep doing what he's doing... hitting for average, getting on base and playing excellent defense... for the rest of the season. Then, he'll either get added to the Twins' 40-man roster or he can find another organization that might give him a better opportunity to play in the Big Leagues. With the season he's had, I don't think he'd have any trouble at all getting offers. At this point, with just over a month left in the minor league regular season, I'm not too concerned about Beresford sitting out every third game or so. My guess is that the Twins already have a pretty good idea what they have in him as a player and probably are already about 90% sure what they're going to do with James after the season is over, one way or the other. Beresford can now just relax, have fun, play hard when he's in the line up, and try to help Rochester make a playoff run.

[COLOR=#0000ff]You say yes, I say no[/COLOR] [COLOR=#0000ff]You say stop and I say go go go, oh no[/COLOR] [COLOR=#0000ff]You say goodbye and I say hello[/COLOR] [COLOR=#0000ff]Hello hello[/COLOR] [COLOR=#0000ff]I don’t know why you say goodbye, I say hello [/COLOR] This is the time of year when, like it or not, there’s a lot of discussion going on about who will or will not be wearing a Twins uniform a week or two… or a month or two… from now. The reality is, when your favorite Major League Baseball team is not a contender in July, there will almost certainly be changes made. Maybe you’ll see a managerial change. You will see player changes. Fans will be saying “hello” to some new faces… and they’ll be saying “good-bye” to some favorite familiar faces. That’s baseball, especially when your team is in the middle of its third consecutive losing season. [COLOR=#0000ff][I](This article was originally posted at [/I][/COLOR][I][URL="http://knuckleballsblog.com"][COLOR=#b22222]Knuckleballsblog.com[/COLOR][/URL][/I][COLOR=#0000ff][I])[/I][/COLOR] Let’s try to make a few predictions concerning who we’ll be saying “good-bye” to. [IMG]http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/GardenhireBrunansky2012.jpg[/IMG] Ron Gardenhire and Tom Brunansky The easiest off-season prediction to make related to the Twins was that manager Ron Gardenhire’s job status would be a hot topic by the end of July. Gardenhire’s Twins have lost almost 100 games in each of the past two seasons and it seems almost inevitable that the total will be at least 90 losses in 2013. That was predictable. Since the losing season was predictable, so was Gardenhire’s hot seat. Of course, the reason the losing season was predictable is that the roster General Manager Terry Ryan and the rest of the front office assembled for Gardenhire before the season started was underwhelming. I’ve never been overly impressed with Gardenhire’s game management philosophies, but I also believe that the job of a manager is a lot more about managing the clubhouse than managing individual games. A manager is only as good as the players he’s given to work with and I think pretty much everyone, including his boss, now knows Gardenhire was dealt a pretty lousy hand this season. If the manager has lost the clubhouse… if the players have tuned him out and no longer respect his voice… then he should be replaced. I’ve not heard nor read any indication that such is the case, however. Given that, I not only expect Gardenhire to remain the Twins manager through the end of this season, but also to be brought back for 2014 and beyond. There are plenty of other possible changes to the Twins worthy of discussion that are far more likely to take place, however. This time of year, trades are at the top of the list of discussion topics. [URL="http://knuckleballsblog.com/2010/09/13/twins-history-lesson-september-13-19/olympus-digital-camera-116/"][IMG]http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/TerryRyan-251x300.jpg[/IMG][/URL] Terry Ryan A year ago, [URL="http://knuckleballsblog.com/2012/07/17/whos-going-to-be-dealt-first/"][COLOR=#b50131]I published my list of top five most likely Twins to be dealt[/COLOR][/URL] before the end of August. At that time, the list was, in order from first to fifth, Franicisco Liriano, Denard Span, Danny Valencia, Alexi Casilla and Josh Willingham. In a poll we attached to that article, our readers agreed with my top three choices, but felt Matt Capps was more likely to be traded during the season than Casilla and Willingham. In fact, almost nobody agreed with me on Willingham being a trade target. In the end, the Twins had almost nobody that anyone really wanted to trade for a year ago. Liriano and Valencia were traded during the season, Span was dealt in the off-season and Casilla parted after the season, as well. The Twins are sellers this year, once again, but is Ryan likely to see any greater interest among his fellow GMs than he did a year ago? I’m not sure Ryan will trade more than just a couple players, again, but the level of interest… and thus the ultimate return for those players… should be greater this season. Here’s my list of the five Twins players most likely to be wearing another team’s uniform by the end of August this year: [LIST=1] [*][B]Justin Morneau[/B]: He’s in the last year of his contract with Minnesota and there reportedly are teams calling about him. He’s not going to bring the return he would have if he were his old home run hitting self, but if the Twins will pay a chunk of his remaining salary (and there’s absolutely no reason they shouldn’t), there are contenders that may be willing to give up a prospect with some talent. If they end up just giving Morneau away as a salary dump, Twins fans should justifiably be enraged. [*][B]Jared Burton[/B]: He’s had a few struggles and hasn’t been as reliable as he was a year ago, but there are a lot of teams that could use relief pitching and Burton is likely drawing interest. [*][B]Ryan Doumit[/B]: The Twins like his versatility. Other teams will like that, too. [*][B]Glen Perkins[/B]: If it were me, I wouldn’t trade Perkins unless someone agreed to way overpay for a “proven closer.” Unfortunately for the Twins, most teams (other than the Twins themselves, historically) are not inclined to overpay for a proven closer. If you want an indication of whether Terry Ryan believes the Twins can contend next year or whether it will be at least 2015, watch what he does with Perkins. If he’s traded, it may indicate Ryan expects the All-Star Game to be the biggest Target Field highlight of 2014. [*][B]Trevor Plouffe[/B]: Is Terry Ryan ready to anoint Miguel Sano as the Twins’ starting third baseman beginning in 2014? If so, Trevor Plouffe could be dealt. [/LIST] Others: Could Kevin Correia or Mike Pelfrey be traded? Maybe, but I think not. Pelfrey is pitching better and if that continues he may have some value, but he’s making little enough that if he isn’t dealt in July, he could be “blocked” by teams claiming him to prevent a waiver trade in August. I also could see the Twins extend Pelfrey for another season before this summer is over. I think Ryan feels vindicated by Correia’s season and intends to keep him for the second year of his contract. What do you think? Who do you think will no longer be wearing a Twins uniform by the end of August? Because I have no idea how to embed a poll here at TwinsDaily, you're going to have to [URL="http://knuckleballsblog.com/2013/07/23/hello-good-bye-poll/"][COLOR=#b22222]click here to head over to our blog at Knuckleballs [/COLOR][/URL]to share your views in the poll. We’ll add Ron Gardenhire to the list to choose from in the poll so if you really believe he’s likely to be axed this summer, you can reflect that in your choices. [I][COLOR=#0000cd]SD Buhr covers the Cedar Rapids Kernels for [/COLOR][/I][URL="http://metrosportsreport.com/"][COLOR=#b22222][I]MetroSportsReport.com[/I][/COLOR][/URL][COLOR=#0000cd][I]. His alter-ego, Jim Crikket, opines about the Twins and Kernels at [/I][/COLOR][URL="http://knuckleballsblog.com/"][COLOR=#b22222][I]Knuckleballsblog.com[/I][/COLOR][/URL][COLOR=#0000cd][I]. [/I][/COLOR] View full article

You say yes, I say no You say stop and I say go go go, oh no You say goodbye and I say hello Hello hello I don’t know why you say goodbye, I say hello This is the time of year when, like it or not, there’s a lot of discussion going on about who will or will not be wearing a Twins uniform a week or two… or a month or two… from now. The reality is, when your favorite Major League Baseball team is not a contender in July, there will almost certainly be changes made. Maybe you’ll see a managerial change. You will see player changes. Fans will be saying “hello” to some new faces… and they’ll be saying “good-bye” to some favorite familiar faces. That’s baseball, especially when your team is in the middle of its third consecutive losing season. (This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com) Let’s try to make a few predictions concerning who we’ll be saying “good-bye” to. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/GardenhireBrunansky2012.jpg Ron Gardenhire and Tom Brunansky The easiest off-season prediction to make relative to the Twins was that manager Ron Gardenhire’s job status would be a hot topic by the end of July. Gardenhire’s Twins have lost almost 100 games in each of the past two seasons and it would seem almost inevitable that the total will be at least 90 losses in 2013. That was predictable. Since the losing season was predictable, so was Gardenhire’s hot seat. Of course, the reason the losing season was predictable is that the roster that General Manager Terry Ryan and the rest of the front office assembled for Gardenhire before the season started was underwhelming. I’ve never been overly impressed with Gardenhire’s game management philosophies, but I also believe that the job of a manager is a lot more about managing the clubhouse than managing individual games. A manager is only as good as the players he’s given to work with and I think pretty much everyone, including his boss, now knows Gardenhire was dealt a pretty lousy hand this season. If the manager has lost the clubhouse… if the players have tuned him out and no longer respect his voice… then he should be replaced. I’ve not heard nor read any indication that such is the case, however. Given that, I not only expect Gardenhire to remain the Twins manager through the end of this season, but also to be brought back for 2014 and beyond. There are plenty of other possible changes to the Twins worthy of discussion that are far more likely to take place, however. This time of year, trades are at the top of the list of discussion topics. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/TerryRyan-251x300.jpg Terry Ryan A year ago, I published my list of top five most likely Twins to be dealt before the end of August. At that time, the list was, in order from first to fifth, Franicisco Liriano, Denard Span, Danny Valencia, Alexi Casilla and Josh Willingham. In a poll we attached to that article, our readers agreed with my top three choices, but felt Matt Capps was more likely to be traded during the season than Casilla and Willingham. In fact, almost nobody agreed with me on Willingham being a trade target. In the end, the Twins had almost nobody that anyone really wanted to trade for a year ago. Liriano and Valencia were traded during the season, Span was dealt in the off-season and Casilla parted after the season, as well. The Twins are sellers this year, once again, but is Ryan likely to see any greater interest among his fellow GMs than he did a year ago? I’m not sure Ryan will trade more than just a couple of players, again, but the level of interest… and thus the ultimate return for those players… should be greater this season. Here’s my list of the five Twins players most likely to be wearing another team’s uniform by the end of August this year: Justin Morneau: He’s in the last year of his contract with Minnesota and there reportedly are teams calling about him. He’s not going to bring the return he would have if he were his old home run hitting self, but if the Twins will pay a chunk of his remaining salary (and there’s absolutely no reason they shouldn’t), there are contenders that may be willing to give up a prospect with some talent. If they end up just giving Morneau away as a salary dump, Twins fans should justifiably be enraged. Jared Burton: He’s had a few struggles and hasn’t been as reliable as he was a year ago, but there are a lot of teams that could use relief pitching and Burton is likely drawing interest. Ryan Doumit: The Twins like his versatility. Other teams will like that, too. Glen Perkins: If it were me, I wouldn’t trade Perkins unless someone agreed to way overpay for a “proven closer.” Unfortunately for the Twins, most teams (other than the Twins themselves, historically) are not inclined to overpay for a proven closer. If you want an indication of whether Terry Ryan believes the Twins can contend next year or whether it will be at least 2015, watch what he does with Perkins. If he’s traded, it may indicate Ryan expects the All-Star Game to be the biggest Target Field highlight of 2014. Trevor Plouffe: Is Terry Ryan ready to annoint Miguel Sano as the Twins’ starting third baseman beginning in 2014? If so, Trevor Plouffe could be dealt. Others: Could Kevin Correia or Mike Pelfrey be traded? Maybe, but I think not. Pelfrey is pitching better and if that continues, he may have some value, but he’s making little enough that if he isn’t dealt in July, he could be “blocked” by teams claiming him to prevent a waiver trade in August. I also could see the Twins extend Pelfrey for another season before this summer is over. I think Ryan feels vindicated by Correia’s season and intends to keep him for the second year of his contract. What do you think? Who do you think will no longer be wearing a Twins uniform by the end of August? Because I have no idea how to imbed a poll here at TwinsDaily, you're going to have to click here to head over to our blog at Knuckleballs to share your views in the poll. We’ll add Ron Gardenhire to the list to choose from in the poll so if you really believe he’s likely to be axed this summer, you can reflect that in your choices. SD Buhr covers the Cedar Rapids Kernels for MetroSportsReport.com. His alter-ego, Jim Crikket, opines about the Twins and Kernels at Knuckleballsblog.com.

You say yes, I say no You say stop and I say go go go, oh no You say goodbye and I say hello Hello hello I don’t know why you say goodbye, I say hello This is the time of year when, like it or not, there’s a lot of discussion going on about who will or will not be wearing a Twins uniform a week or two… or a month or two… from now. The reality is, when your favorite Major League Baseball team is not a contender in July, there will almost certainly be changes made. Maybe you’ll see a managerial change. You will see player changes. Fans will be saying “hello” to some new faces… and they’ll be saying “good-bye” to some favorite familiar faces. That’s baseball, especially when your team is in the middle of its third consecutive losing season. (This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com) Let’s try to make a few predictions concerning who we’ll be saying “good-bye” to. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/GardenhireBrunansky2012.jpg Ron Gardenhire and Tom Brunansky The easiest off-season prediction to make relative to the Twins was that manager Ron Gardenhire’s job status would be a hot topic by the end of July. Gardenhire’s Twins have lost almost 100 games in each of the past two seasons and it would seem almost inevitable that the total will be at least 90 losses in 2013. That was predictable. Since the losing season was predictable, so was Gardenhire’s hot seat. Of course, the reason the losing season was predictable is that the roster that General Manager Terry Ryan and the rest of the front office assembled for Gardenhire before the season started was underwhelming. I’ve never been overly impressed with Gardenhire’s game management philosophies, but I also believe that the job of a manager is a lot more about managing the clubhouse than managing individual games. A manager is only as good as the players he’s given to work with and I think pretty much everyone, including his boss, now knows Gardenhire was dealt a pretty lousy hand this season. If the manager has lost the clubhouse… if the players have tuned him out and no longer respect his voice… then he should be replaced. I’ve not heard nor read any indication that such is the case, however. Given that, I not only expect Gardenhire to remain the Twins manager through the end of this season, but also to be brought back for 2014 and beyond. There are plenty of other possible changes to the Twins worthy of discussion that are far more likely to take place, however. This time of year, trades are at the top of the list of discussion topics. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/TerryRyan-251x300.jpg Terry Ryan A year ago, I published my list of top five most likely Twins to be dealt before the end of August. At that time, the list was, in order from first to fifth, Franicisco Liriano, Denard Span, Danny Valencia, Alexi Casilla and Josh Willingham. In a poll we attached to that article, our readers agreed with my top three choices, but felt Matt Capps was more likely to be traded during the season than Casilla and Willingham. In fact, almost nobody agreed with me on Willingham being a trade target. In the end, the Twins had almost nobody that anyone really wanted to trade for a year ago. Liriano and Valencia were traded during the season, Span was dealt in the off-season and Casilla parted after the season, as well. The Twins are sellers this year, once again, but is Ryan likely to see any greater interest among his fellow GMs than he did a year ago? I’m not sure Ryan will trade more than just a couple of players, again, but the level of interest… and thus the ultimate return for those players… should be greater this season. Here’s my list of the five Twins players most likely to be wearing another team’s uniform by the end of August this year: Justin Morneau: He’s in the last year of his contract with Minnesota and there reportedly are teams calling about him. He’s not going to bring the return he would have if he were his old home run hitting self, but if the Twins will pay a chunk of his remaining salary (and there’s absolutely no reason they shouldn’t), there are contenders that may be willing to give up a prospect with some talent. If they end up just giving Morneau away as a salary dump, Twins fans should justifiably be enraged. Jared Burton: He’s had a few struggles and hasn’t been as reliable as he was a year ago, but there are a lot of teams that could use relief pitching and Burton is likely drawing interest. Ryan Doumit: The Twins like his versatility. Other teams will like that, too. Glen Perkins: If it were me, I wouldn’t trade Perkins unless someone agreed to way overpay for a “proven closer.” Unfortunately for the Twins, most teams (other than the Twins themselves, historically) are not inclined to overpay for a proven closer. If you want an indication of whether Terry Ryan believes the Twins can contend next year or whether it will be at least 2015, watch what he does with Perkins. If he’s traded, it may indicate Ryan expects the All-Star Game to be the biggest Target Field highlight of 2014. Trevor Plouffe: Is Terry Ryan ready to annoint Miguel Sano as the Twins’ starting third baseman beginning in 2014? If so, Trevor Plouffe could be dealt. Others: Could Kevin Correia or Mike Pelfrey be traded? Maybe, but I think not. Pelfrey is pitching better and if that continues, he may have some value, but he’s making little enough that if he isn’t dealt in July, he could be “blocked” by teams claiming him to prevent a waiver trade in August. I also could see the Twins extend Pelfrey for another season before this summer is over. I think Ryan feels vindicated by Correia’s season and intends to keep him for the second year of his contract. What do you think? Who do you think will no longer be wearing a Twins uniform by the end of August? Because I have no idea how to imbed a poll here at TwinsDaily, you're going to have to click here to head over to our blog at Knuckleballs to share your views in the poll. We’ll add Ron Gardenhire to the list to choose from in the poll so if you really believe he’s likely to be axed this summer, you can reflect that in your choices. SD Buhr covers the Cedar Rapids Kernels for MetroSportsReport.com. His alter-ego, Jim Crikket, opines about the Twins and Kernels at Knuckleballsblog.com.

This is what happens when the Kernels go out to the Eastern Division on a road trip and I get distracted with having some semblance of a life away from the ballpark. I miss stuff. The Kernels added Mike Gonzales to their roster Saturday. He's DHing for the Kernels today. Gonzales has been rehabbing with the GCL team. I have one very distinct memory of Gonzales when he was with Beloit a couple of years ago. At a game in Cedar Rapids, Gonzales hit one of the longest home runs I had seen, at that point, clearing the top of the RF foul pole by a fair amount. Obviously, Gonzales has some ground to make up if he's going to remain in the Twins organization, but for the moment, his is a power bat that the Kernels can use after losing Hicks and Williams to the Miracle.