Tom Froemming

The top six affiliates in the Twins’ minor league system combined to score a grand total of just nine runs Saturday night. On the bright side, there was still a multi-home run game from Jaylin Davis, a walk-off homer from Mark Contreras and a dominant pitching performance from Andro Cutura.TRANSACTIONS Aaron Slegers began his rehab assignment with Rochester. The Red Wings also added recent waiver claim Johnny Field to the roster and placed LaMonte Wade on the DL with a right hamstring strain. RED WINGS REPORT Pawtucket 8, Rochester 1 Box Score SP: Aaron Slegers (1.2 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 2 K) HR: None Multi-hit games: Willians Astudillo (2-for-4) Not a real encouraging first time back out for Slegers, who last pitched on July 10. Kohl Stewart was the innings eater for Rochester, as he went 5 2/3 innings out of the bullpen. Stewart gave up four runs on eight hits and a pair of walks while striking out two. Johnny Field was 1-for-4 with a stolen base in his debut in the Twins’ system. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Mississippi 6, Chattanooga 2 Box Score SP: Anthony Marzi (1.2 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 0 K) HR: Jaylin Davis 2 (4) Multi-hit games: Jaylin Davis (3-for-4, 2 HR, 2B, 2 RBI, 2 R) Anthony Marzi started this game and was piggy-backed by Omar Bencomo, who struck out seven batters over 5 1/3 innings. Devin Smeltzer, part of the Brian Dozier trade, made his first appearance in the Twins system. He faced five batters and the Braves recorded a run-scoring single, added another run on an error and a two-run double while Smeltzer was on the mound. All the offense for Chattanooga came from Jaylin Davis. MIRACLE MATTERS Fort Myers 1, Florida 0 Box Score W: Adam Bray (2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K) SP: Andro Cutura (7.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 K) HR: Mark Contreras (7) Multi-hit games: Aaron Whitefield (2-for-2, BB, 2 SB) This game was tied 0-0 heading into the bottom of the ninth, but Mark Contreras finished it with a two-out walk-off homer. Let’s call this a Florida State League special. The two teams combined for one run on five hits. KERNELS NUGGETS Beloit 5, Cedar Rapids 3 Box Score SP: Jordan Balazovic (6.0 IP, 8 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 7 K) HR: None Multi-hit games: Akil Baddoo (2-for-4, 3B, 2 R), Ryan Jeffers (2-for-3, 2B, BB, RBI, R) Five of Cedar Rapids’ eight hits went for extra bases, but the Kernels could only tally three runs. Jordan Balazovic gave up two home runs, the first time anybody has taken him deep in seven starts. Jared Finkel threw three scoreless innings out of the bullpen and racked up four strikeouts. E-TWINS E-NOTES Pulaski 1, Elizabethton 0 Box Score SP: Austin Schulfer (4.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K) HR: None Multi-hit games: Trevor Casanova (3-for-4), Trevor Larnach (2-for3, BB) Huh, well I guess you can have an FSL special in the Appy League too. Much like the Miracle game tonight, this one was tied 0-0 going into the bottom of the ninth. Unfortunately, the Yankees walked off E-Town. After Austin Schulfer started things with four shutout innings, Carlos Suniaga followed suit with four scoreless frames of his own. Luis Gil, who the Twins traded for Jake Cave, struck out seven batters over five two-hit innings. GCL TWINS TAKES GCL Red Sox 4, GCL Twins 2 Box Score SP: Landon Leach (4.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K) HR: None Multi-hit games: None Estamy Urena delivered a two-run double, but that was all the offense the Twins could muster. Only one of the four runs the pitching staff gave up was earned, as the Twins’ defense committed five errors. STARS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day: Andro Cutura, Fort Myers Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day: Jaylin Davis, Chattanooga TOP PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed 1. Royce Lewis (FM): 0-for-4, K 2. Alex Kirilloff (FM): Did not play. 3. Brusdar Graterol (FM): Did not pitch. 4. Nick Gordon (ROC): 1-for-4, K 5. Stephen Gonsalves (ROC): Did not pitch. 6. Trevor Larnach (ET): 2-for-3, BB 7. Brent Rooker (CHAT): 1-for-4, 2B 8. Akil Baddoo (CR): 2-for-4. 3B, 2 R 9. Wander Javier: Out of for the season 10. Zack Littell (ROC): Did not pitch. 11. Blayne Enlow (CR): Did not pitch. 12. LaMonte Wade (ROC): Did not play. 13. Travis Blankenhorn (FM): 1-for-4 14. Lewis Thorpe (CHAT): Did not pitch. 15. Ben Rortvedt (FM): 0-for-4, K 16. Yunior Severino (ET): 0-for-4, K 17. Lewin Diaz (FM): Out with injury. 18. Ryan Jeffers (CR): 2-for-3, 2B, BB, RBI, R 19. Jacob Pearson (CR): Did not play. 20. Luis Arraez (CHAT): 1-for-4, 2B SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester at Pawtuckett, 12:35 pm CT: Fernando Romero Chattanooga vs. Mississippi, 1:15 pm CT: Sean Poppen Fort Myers vs. Florida, 3:00 pm CT: Bryan Sammons Cedar Rapids vs. Beliot, 2:05 pm CT: Jhoan Duran Elizabethton at Pulaski, 6:00 pm CT: TBD GCL Twins: Off Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the games. Click here to view the article

It was a highlight evening at Target Field Saturday night. Johan Santana was enshrined into the Twins Hall of Fame, Jose Berrios had a strong performance and the lineup flexed its muscles en route to victory.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Jose Berrios: 66 Game Score, 7.0 IP, 2 ER, 6 K, 3 BB, 66.0% strikes Home Runs: Eddie Rosario (20), Max Kepler (14), Logan Morrison (15) Multi-Hit Games: Max Kepler (3-for-3, HR, BB), Logan Morrison (2-for-4, HR) WPA of 0.1 or higher: Kepler .318, Berrios .166 WPA of -0.1 or lower: None. Download attachment: WinChart84.png Berrios ran into some control issues in the third inning. He walked three of the first four batters he faced that frame, then surrendered a two-run single to Alex Gordon. That was the only blip on the evening, as Jose went on to give up just those two runs over seven innings. It had to have been pretty cool for Berrios to have the opportunity to perform with Cy-tana in the building, and he stepped up to the occasion. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen84.png Next Three Games Sun vs. KC, 1:10 pm CT: Ervin Santana vs. Danny Duffy Mon at CLE, 6:10 pm CT: Kyle Gibson vs. Trevor Bauer Tue at CLE, 6:10 pm CT: Adalberto Mejia vs. Carlos Carrasco Last Three Games MIN 6, KC 4: Long Day at the Office CLE 2, MIN 0: Carrasco Stars in Dominant Performance CLE 6, MIN 2: Deadline Day Ends in Defeat Click here to view the article

Updated. I cannot believe this game wasn't just called off.

Apparently, it was critical that this Twins-Royals matchup be played to a full nine innings. Despite this, Mother Nature did her best to disrupt things. But the umpiring crew and (I assume) both managers decided the show must go on. Two rain delays caused this game to be completed more than five hours and 40 minutes after it started. Somebody needs to give the grounds crew an award.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Jake Odorizzi: 42 Game Score, 3.1 IP, 2 ER, 2 K, 0 BB, 68.1% strikes Multi-Hit Games: Eddie Rosario (2-for-5), Jorge Polanco (2-for-5, 2B), Miguel Sano (2-for-4, 2B) WPA of 0.1 or higher: Cave .142, Polanco .136, Sano .114 WPA of -0.1 or lower: Garver -.115, Moya -.142 Download attachment: WinChart83update.png The Twins jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second inning thanks to a Miguel Sano two-run double and Joe Mauer RBI single. Salvador Perez destroyed a two-run homer in the third, and not too long after that the first storm rolled through. The first rain delay stopped the game in the fourth inning and caused a break of about 90 minutes, so Twins starter Jake Odorizzi’s night was done. Gabriel Moya took over once play resumed and eventually coughed up the lead, but the bats stormed back (sorry) to tie it up on a Logan Forsythe RBI groundout and a bases-loaded walk from Jake Cave. Trevor May took over in the sixth and was bringing heat. He was consistently hitting 95 mph on his four seamer and touched 90 mph with the slider. He struck out three of the four batters he faced. The Twins tacked on another run in the sixth thanks to a Jorge Polanco double that plated Eddie Rosario from first base. Then came the second rain delay. The grounds crew struggled to get the main tarp all the way over the diamond and had to pull in a second tarp to get the job done. After the rain had stopped, the crew basically had to put the entire playing surface back together. Countless bags of diamond dust were applied to the infield and all the warning tracks. Water on the grass had to be swept into the drainage vents under the field. The base lines and batter's box had to be redrawn. I didn't think there was a snowball's chance in Phoenix this game was going to pick back up again, but those glorious grounds crew members made it happen. Why it was so necessary in a game between two of the worst teams in the American League, I'm not so sure. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen83update.png Next Three Games Sat vs. KC, 6:10 pm CT: Jose Berrios vs. Burch Smith Sun vs. KC, 1:10 pm CT: Ervin Santana vs. Danny Duffy Mon at CLE, 6:10 pm CT: TBD Last Three Games CLE 2, MIN 0: Carrasco Stars in Dominant Performance CLE 6, MIN 2: Deadline Day Ends in Defeat MIN 5, CLE 4: Awesome Sauce! Click here to view the article

Jake Depue of 1500ESPN has relayed via Twitter that Wade was removed for "precautionary reasons."

I have no information, just speculation, but it certainly seems like a LaMonte Wade promotion may be happening. Is it possible the Twins have already worked out a waiver trade? Maybe a LoMo or Grossman deal? Forsythe DFA? Or who knows, maybe Wade just got sick from all those Garbage Plates they've been feeding the guys in Rochester

I love FanGraphs, Kiley and Eric are great, but I cannot endorse their prospect rankings. I don't know if they're using old grades still or what, but there's some weird stuff going on there. I had Wiel in my top 40. He's been a consistent performer throughout the minors, but age, position and lack of big power is going to keep him from shooting up lists. A .385 OBP works no matter who you are or what you play, but that's mostly supported by a .378 BABIP right now. I think for him to really get some love there's going to need to be more power, but he's among my favorite players in the system. I have no idea if it'll translate at the higher levels, but the dude is just a good baseball player.

Zander Wiel had a big night, leading the Chattanooga lineup to an impressive output in support of Lewis Thorpe. Also, Willians Astudillo hit his 10th home run for the Red Wings and Ryan Jeffers had another multi-hit game for Cedar Rapids. Come check out the rest of Thursday’s edition of the Minor League Report.Welcome to an impromptu speed round edition of the Minor League Report. Hold onto your hats! TRANSACTIONS -Ryan Walker and Paco Rodriguez were released from Chattanooga to make room for Luke Raley and Devin Smeltzer. -Tom Hackimer was placed back on the 7-Day DL and Dylan Stowell was promoted from the GCL to the Miracle to fill his spot on the roster. RED WINGS REPORT Scranton/WB 6, Rochester 2 Box Score SP: Chase De Jong (3.2 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 4 K) HR: Willians Astudillo (10) Multi-hit games: Willians Astudillo (2-for-4, 2B, HR) CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 12, Mississippi 3 Box Score W: Lewis Thorpe (5.2 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 7 K) HR: None Multi-hit games: Zander Wiel (3-for-5, 2 2B, 4 RBI, R), Luis Arraez (3-for-5, 2 R), Brent Rooker (2-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI, R), Mitchell Kranson (2-for-4, BB, RBI), Brian Navarreto (2-for-4, 2B, BB, 2 R) MIRACLE MATTERS Fort Myers - POSTPONED KERNELS NUGGETS Peoria 3, Cedar Rapids 2 Box Score SP: Randy Dobnak (5.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 2 K) HR: None. Multi-hit games: Ryan Jeffers (2-for-4, RBI) E-TWINS E-NOTES Game 1: Johnson City 5, Elizabethton 3 (7 innings) Box Score SP: Tyler Palm (4.0 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 6 K) HR: Trevor Casanova (2) Multi-hit games: Alex Robles (2-for-3) Game 2: Suspended after two innings due to rain. GCL TWINS TAKES GCL Twins - OFF STARS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day: Lewis Thorpe, Chattanooga Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day: Zander Wiel, Chattanooga TOP PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed 1. Royce Lewis (FM): Did not play. 2. Alex Kirilloff (FM): Did not play, 3. Brusdar Graterol (FM): Did not pitch. 4. Nick Gordon (ROC): 0-for-4, 2 K 5. Stephen Gonsalves (ROC): Did not pitch. 6. Trevor Larnach (ET): 1-fr-3, 2B, RBI 7. Brent Rooker (CHAT): 2-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI, R, 2 K 8. Akil Baddoo (CR): 0-for-3, RBI 9. Wander Javier: Out of for the season 10. Zack Littell (ROC): Did not pitch. 11. Blayne Enlow (CR): Did not pitch. 12. LaMonte Wade (ROC): 0-for-1 (Exited in the third inning) 13. Travis Blankenhorn (FM): Did not play. 14. Lewis Thorpe (CHAT): 5.2 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 7 K 15. Ben Rortvedt (FM): Did not play. 16. Yunior Severino (ET): Did not play. 17. Lewin Diaz (FM): Out with an injury. 18. Ryan Jeffers (CR): 2-for-4, RBI 19. Jacob Pearson (CR): Did not play. 20. Luis Arraez (CHAT): 3-for-5, 2 R FRIDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester at Pawtuckett, 6:05 pm CT: TBD Chattanooga vs. Mississippi, 6:05 pm CT: Dietrich Enns Fort Myers vs. Florida, 6:00 pm CT: Jovani Moran Cedar Rapids at Peoria, 7:00 pm CT: Blayne Enlow Elizabethton at Pulaski, 6:00 pm CT: TBD GCL Twins vs. GCL Red Sox, 11:00 am CT: TBD Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the games. Click here to view the article

That's a popular story, but according to the guy who designed the logo it's not true.

Nah, it's all good. I was just glad somebody noticed

First off, here was the basic methodology: A=Excellent, loved the trade, better than I would've guessed. B=Very solid, liked it, a strong return. C=Meh, it's OK, but not real impressive. D=Substandard, should have done better. F=Bad trade, terrible, definitely not a deal I would've made. And I didn't want to fool around with +/- grades, just those five options. What were your expectations there? Should they have, for instance, simply kept Dozier? I thought they should have done better in that trade, but that doesn't necessarily mean I'm saying they should have kept Dozier. It's tough to answer this without more information. Did they think there was a less than 50% chance they could trade him this month? Was there no way they were going to extend him a qualifying offer? Then, no, you definitely do not keep Dozier. Would keeping him him around any longer create issues in the clubhouse? Then, no, you definitely don't keep Dozier. The Twins did not save any money or add anything of particular value in my mind to the system. Raley is putting up numbers in Double A, but corner guys are a dime a dozen. Logan Morrison hit 38 home runs in the big leagues last season and could barely find a job. Devin Smeltzer is also in Double A and could develop into a lefty specialist, but the Twins landed Zack Duke for $2.15 million this offseason. I'm not saying Raley or Smeltzer are never going to make it or they don't have any value, but I am saying guys of their type of profile are not difficult to find. Every team has them, every team is willing to part with them. As far as guys currently in the Twins' system, that duo kinda reminds me of slightly better versions of Zander Wiel and Bryan Sammons. If that's the deal for Dozier, fine, but then there should be no reason you also need to take on salary relief in the form of Forsythe. If the only options are Dozier leaves at the end of the season or you make this deal, of course you pull the trigger. But those shouldn't have been the only options. ... it's their job to ship out pretty much everyone on a 1 year deal for value ... Everyone else pretty much needed to go ... Even when you're selling, you still need to make sure you're going to get good value. I think a big problem was the minute they traded Escobar the Twins' leverage in any trade discussions decreased. I think it would have made a lot more sense to trade Dozier first, since he was the less-valued asset. Escobar was going to be a really attractive piece to a lot of teams whether or not they knew for sure the Twins were selling. So again, this is my bottom line, end of the day feeling about the deadline as a whole: Not exactly Ivy League material, but in my eyes they get a solid passing grade for what was a difficult trade deadline to navigate for them.

Minor league park factors/league hitting environments is a kind of murky subject, but it seems like it's generally accepted that the Texas League, where Raley was, is a good place to hit. Rooker has an .865 OPS and has homered every 22 PAs in a league where the averages are .710 and 47.2, respectively. Raley had an .822 OPS and went deep every 25.6 PAs in a league where the averages were .743 and 42.4. Still, you're absolutely right, their overall numbers aren't all that different from each other. One big difference is Rooker has been getting better, and has a .939 OPS over the last 90 days, while Raley has cooled off, posting an .801 OPS over the last 90 days. In that same time frame, Rooker has a 15.7 K-BB% (26.2-10.5) while Raley is at 18.9 (23.8-4.9). Was the Texas League starting to figure out Raley? Another huge difference is their batted-ball profile. Rooker's GB:FB ratio is 0.79 and Raley's is 1.44. This very well could have been a reason the Twins targeted Raley, however, as maybe they think a slight adjustment in his swing could help unleash even more power. Defensively, I think Raley is as likely to play center field as Rooker is, though it's much more likely Raley will be a serviceable corner outfielder.

Hey, he can still be a favorite. Some of my favorite guys in the Twins system are players who aren't even in my own personal top 50 prospects list. That's the fun part of following the system really closely, you get a bunch more guys to root for. There's a lot to like about this guy still. First off: Ernie. Not sure I even have to go on. While he was taken with the 562nd overall pick, he did get a $100,000 signing bonus from Arizona. It's not very common college guys outside of the top 10 rounds get that kind of money, so Arizona must have seen something they really liked and it's possible other teams liked him, but weren't confident they could get him to sign for less. He was a junior, so he could have elected to go back to school.

Pretty cool to see Amsterdam native Donny Breek get a mention. Lots more info on him here.

I'm not a big fan of their rankings, some of those are real eyebrow raisers. I love Blankenhorn, but him over Rooker? Sands, Rijo, Moya and Seltzer over Thorpe? Anyway, they must be certain Alcala ends up in the bullpen. The new MLB Pipeline org rankings have Alcala 11th, Celestino 14th, Maciel 17th, Raley 19th and Duran 23rd. So everybody's got these guys sorted out a little differently.

Not me. If they cut him today that doesn't change my grade at all, they still have to pay him that money. The only thing that might change my evaluation is if they were able to deal Forsythe this month, which is highly unlikely. Speaking of which, if anybody is curious about how waiver trades work, I wrote a primer for MLB Daily Dish back in 2012 that I believe is still accurate today. One of the things I've always found interesting is that any player not on the 40-man roster can still be dealt with no restrictions this month.

Thank you for your input, Dean Stohs. I'm a tougher grader than you are, but I don't think our end conclusions are too far off at all. Yes. The issue is they're going to have to pay Forsythe something like $3 million no matter what. He had an 81 OPS+ in 650 PAs with the Dodgers. Yuck. Again, his inclusion in that deal lowered its value. Part of the benefit of dealing Dozier should have been salary relief. Yes! I was hoping you'd see this. I saw your comment and thought "that's a damn good idea" but I've been in and out of so many pages on here lately I forgot who suggested it. Thank you.

What a whirlwind of a week it’s been. Now that the dust has settled on the trade deadline, let’s take a look at which affiliate each of these new pieces is headed to, try to rank the new prospects and hand out individual grades for each of the five deals Derek Falvey & Co. made.All right, first thing’s first, here’s where all the players the Twins acquired are headed: Minnesota: Logan Forsythe Rochester: Chase De Jong, Tyler Austin. Chattanooga: Devin Smeltzer, Luke Raley, Jorge Alcala (on the DL) Fort Myers: Ryan Costello, Ernie De La Trinidad Cedar Rapids: Jhoan Duran, Gabriel Maciel Elizabethton: Luis Rijo, Gilberto Celestino So who are the best prospects the Twins acquired? Well 10 of the 12 guys the Twins added (everyone but Forsythe and Austin) still qualify for prospect status. I’m still getting up to speed on a lot of these guys, especially the ones acquired this week, so I’ll defer to another source. Baseball America published a fun list today. They ranked all the prospects dealt at the deadline, and the order they had the new guys in made a lot of sense to me. -Jorge Alcala -Gilberto Celestino -Jhoan Duran -Luke Raley -Chase De Jong -Luis Rijo -Devin Smeltzer -Gabriel Maciel -Ryan Costello -Ernie De La Trinidad Personally, I’d strongly consider putting Celestino on top. I also might put Rijo and Maciel above De Jong. Anyway, BA has capsules written up on those top three guys, and it’s just kind of interesting to see where they have them listed among all the prospects on the move. But, I’m going to make you click the link to go check out the rest of that stuff if you’re interested. All right, so let’s take a look at each trade individually. On each of these, I’m going to provide the link to the Twins Daily article published when the deals broke and also link to the Baseball Prospectus Transaction Analysis piece for each. Friend of the site Aaron Gleeman and the rest of the staff at B-Pro did an excellent job at breaking down each piece of each of these trades, so again, I’ll tip my cap to another outlet and encourage you to check those out. The grades though, those will be all me. Any grade disputes must be taken up with the Dean Friday, July 27 Twins give: Eduardo Escobar Twins get: OF Ernie De La Trinidad, RHP Jhoan Duran, OF Gabriel Maciel Additional info: Twins Daily | Baseball Prospectus Tom’s grade: B Escobar was my favorite Twins player, but it just made too much sense to trade him away. It’s encouraging to hear the Twins approached him about an extension prior to shipping him off, and here’s hoping they engage with his camp again once he becomes a free agent. Eduardo was having a career year and will hit free agency at the end of the season, so it was difficult to envision the Twins netting a huge haul. I think Duran is a nice add, and he already made a great first impression, throwing seven no-hit innings in his Cedar Rapids debut. It sounds to me like he has a better chance at reaching the majors as a starter than Alcala does, though he doesn’t have quite as high of a ceiling. Maciel will skyrocket up prospect lists if he ever develops power. He’s a switch hitter who’s billed as a legit center fielder with elite speed, so even if the power never arrives he could be a fourth outfielder. De La Trinidad was a college draftee taken in the 19th round last year. His upside seems limited, but hitters hit. He’s got a career .874 OPS so far in the minors, so that at least makes him an intriguing throw-in. Friday, July 27 Twins give: Ryan Pressly Twins get: RHP Jorge Alcala, OF Gilberto Celestino Additional info: Twins Daily | Baseball Prospectus Tom’s grade: A I love this deal. Pressly was the only player they moved who was going to still be under team control next season, but in parting with him, they acquired what I consider to be the two most valuable pieces among the dozen players that were acquired. Yes, Alcala was immediately placed on the DL with a right trap strain, but I think it’s a good sign that happened before he threw a single pitch in the Twins’ org. That suggests two things to me: 1) The Twins’ staff was able to uncover something in Alcala’s medicals and is getting out in front of this issue, and 2) I’d be willing to bet they used that information to leverage this deal with Houston. Celestino signed out of the Dominican Republic for a big bonus and he's living up to that billing so far. Not many guys put up the kind of numbers he was in the New York Penn League. He was fourth in batting average, sixth in OBP, seventh in slugging and was 14-for-14 on stolen base attempts in the NYPL. Pressly throws absolute filth and was having a strong season, but bullpen arms are so unpredictable and I feel like there are a lot of different ways the Twins could replace a guy like Pressly. Monday, July 30 Twins give: Zach Duke Twins get: RHP Chase De Jong, 1B/3B Ryan Costello Additional info: Twins Daily | Baseball Prospectus Tom’s grade: C To Twins fans, Duke may not seem like much of a prize, but he is among the best left-handed specialists in baseball. Duke has faced 425 left-handed hitters since the start of the 2014 season, and southpaws have hit just .214/.286/.316 off him. Since he was on an expiring contract, Duke was never going to fetch anything similar to the Pressly haul, and I’m not real impressed with what the Twins netted from Seattle. De Jong might be an interesting candidate to stick in the bullpen and see what happens, but it’s very difficult to see him ever working his way into the picture here as a starter. Maybe Costello is going to make me eat my words someday, but he was a 31st-round pick last year. Despite that underwhelming pedigree, he certainly deserves respect for putting up some of the better power numbers in the Midwest League this season. Again, hitters hit. Monday, July 30 Twins give: Lance Lynn Twins get: Tyler Austin, Luis Rijo Additional info: Twins Daily | Baseball Prospectus Tom’s grade: A I love this deal too, but for very different reasons than the Pressly trade. I just didn’t think Lynn had this kind of value. He fits the profile of exactly the type of pitcher a contending team should be looking to replace. Don’t get me wrong, he did really turn things around from May forward, but in my opinion he’s a second-division big league pitcher even at his best. Maybe the Yankees are onto something in using him in long relief, I don’t know. It’s worth noting that the Twins are paying half of Lynn’s salary, but this is still a really good return in my eyes. Tyler Austin could be a platoon 1B/RF/DH right now. The contact issues are a concern, but he crushes lefties and Target Field has been a pretty kind environment for right-handed power hitters. Honestly, if this was Lynn for Luis Rijo straight up I would have been impressed. Rijo has an insane 8.36 K:BB ratio in 125 ⅓ innings over his minor league career. He also tops out at 93 mph, so it’s not like it’s all just smoke and mirrors. And on top of all that, Lynn’s departure from the team opened up a spot for Adalberto Mejia to get a much-deserved chance in the rotation. Win, win, win, it’s looking all good here to me. Tuesday, July 31 Twins give: Brian Dozier Twins get: 2B Logan Forsythe, OF/1B Luke Raley, LHP Devin Smeltzer Additional info: Twins Daily | Baseball Prospectus Tom’s grade: D I’m certain this was the best deal the Twins could get on July 31, less than an hour before the deadline. What I’m not certain of is if that was the best time to deal him. You never know how these things work out, and both Ian Kinsler and Jonathan Schoop entering the trade market late had to have complicated things, but I suspect the Twins could have gotten a better package if they had made the deal earlier, or may have even been able to find a better waiver trade partner this month. Of course, there was always the option to keep Dozier and extend a qualifying offer to him. Maybe he would have accepted, but I’m of the mind that there’s really no such thing as a bad one-year deal. Why did I think this was the Twins’ worst trade? Mainly because of who they were forced to take back. Logan Forsythe, the only major leaguer the Twins acquired in all these deals, actually has extreme negative trade value. This seems to defy logic, but the business of baseball is funny. His inclusion basically made this deal cash neutral. There was probably never going to be a deal with the Dodgers that didn’t have to include Forsythe, since they’re trying to avoid luxury tax penalties, but that’s exactly why you don’t make a deal with them in the first place. I typically don’t care much what happens to the Pohlad’s money (did you see how I just suggested they give Dozier $18 million?), but you’ve still got to acknowledge that money is an asset to a baseball team. If you get rid of Dozier, I think you need to find a way to get rid of that money too. If Forsythe’s not in this trade, I give it at least a C, maybe even a B. Heck, if I just look at this deal in a vacuum, which is what I originally did yesterday, I might give it a C. But when you zoom out and look at the big picture of what happened across baseball leading up to and on deadline day, it definitely feels like the Twins may have hurt their odds at maximizing a return. Tough thing for me to say from the outside looking in, but that’s how I feel. Raley is putting up really good numbers in Double A, but he’s already 24 and it’s just really hard to break into the bigs as a corner outfield/first base type. On the plus side, Raley also sounds like the type of guy in terms of makeup who goes out and proves idiots like me wrong, so I’m excited to see how this plays out. Smeltzer is left-handed, that’s always a plus. He’s also relatively close to the majors (he’s spent all year in Double A) and his strikeout numbers saw a boost when he recently shifted to the bullpen. However, it sounds like he has a fairly straight, fairly slow fastball, so … All right, so there’s my report card. The front office comes away with a 2.8 GPA. Not exactly Ivy League material, but in my eyes they get a solid passing grade for what was a difficult trade deadline to navigate for them. Maybe they also deserve some extra credit for the non-move they made by keeping Kyle Gibson. So now it’s your turn, how would you grade the Twins’ trade deadline? 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Let's just say weekday afternoons are road games for me. I'm definitely not saying I would ever write about the Twins at my day job. Nope, not me ... would never do it. Company man, am I. But it is more difficult for me to do certain things under these circumstances. I thought about plugging it in now, but they're off tomorrow anyway so I got working on a trade deadline roundup/ranking the new prospects/grading each deal article instead. Should have that up tonight.

An often-repeated take on the site this season has been that Cleveland isn’t that great of a team. While that may be true, they do have some special players. Their stars are good enough to beat you almost on their own. One day after Jose Ramirez showcased his skills with the bat, Carlos Carrasco dominated the Twins on the mound. He struck out 10 batters over 7 1/3 scoreless innings, holding the Twins to five hits in the process.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Adalberto Mejia: 64 Game Score, 5.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 K, 3 BB, 60.8% strikes Multi-Hit Games: Jorge Polanco (2-for-4) WPA of 0.1 or higher: Mejia .291 WPA of -0.1 or lower: Garver -.133, Rosario -.137, Morrison -.139, Forsythe -.246 Download attachment: chart.png Mike Berardino reported that new Twin Logan Forsythe was working on one hour of sleep. Sounds like a great choice as a pinch hitter in the highest-leverage situation of the game today, huh? With the Twins trailing 1-0 in the eighth, Robbie Grossman drew a 10-pitch walk to put runners at first and second with one out. Forsythe took two strikes, then hit the third pitch from Brad Hand 100.3 mph. Unfortunately, it was a bullet on the ground to Francisco Lindor, who started an inning-ending double play. The only real scoring chance the Twins had other than that inning was when Joe Mauer hit a two-out triple in the sixth. Cleveland’s first run came on a well-executed play on the bases. With runners at the corners and one out in the sixth, Ramirez broke for second. Mitch Garver fired down to get him out, thanks to an impressive tag by Ehire Adrianza, but Rajai Davis took off for home on the throw and beat the relay back to Garver. Cleveland’s second run came in large part due to an error on Jorge Polanco. AL Central Standings CLE 59-48 MIN 49-58 (-10) DET 47-62 (-13) CHW 37-69 (-21.5) KC 33-73 (-25.5) Next Three Games Thu: Off Fri vs. KC, 7:10 pm CT: Jake Odorizzi vs. Heath Fillmyer Sat vs. KC, 6:10 pm CT: Jose Berrios vs. Burch Smith Sun vs. KC, 1:10 pm CT: Ervin Santana vs. TBD Last Three Games CLE 6, MIN 2: Deadline Day Ends in Defeat MIN 5, CLE 4: Awesome Sauce! BOS 3, MIN 0: Fenway Free Fall Continues Click here to view the article