Tom Froemming

Some others have already mentioned the possibility of the Twins singing Escobar as a free agent, but another thing to keep in mind is these new prospects could be flipped next year for pieces to help the big league club. Or at least their presence in the system could make it more ideal for the front office to trade away other pieces from the system. So no, none of these guys specifically will help the 2019 Twins, but that doesn't mean they can't help next years team in a more indirect way.

Yep, nothing wrong with a college guy being in the MWL during is first full season. Sorry, that comment was more of me trying to pump the breaks a bit on some of the positive reactions in regard to his stats earlier in the comments. He has the most impressive stat line of the trio, but, at least to me, is clearly the undercard in this trade. I doubt I'll consider him much of a prospect until he shows he can do something in the FSL. But also De La Trinidad is going to be 23 this winter and Royce just turned 19.

Wow! I'm surprised they have Maciel that high, not too far back of Akil Baddoo (who they have 11th). Here's a link to their updated list for anybody interested: http://m.mlb.com/prospects/2018?list=min

Just my quick snapshot of the return: Duran is fun. Big fella, sounds like he's been clocked as high as 98 mph and can really spin his curve. Takes advantage of his size with a nice long stride. Overall numbers don't look great but both K/9 (9.9) and K:BB ratio (2.54) look good. Has faced older hitters 84.1 percent of the time. Exactly the type of guy you want to bring into your organization if you're confident in your ability to develop pitching. The jury is obviously still out on whether or not that's a trait you can ascribe to the Falvine era Twins, but I bet their very excited to have gotten their hands on this cat. Maciel has some intrigue as well. He's only 19, but the switch hitter has a nice 16.0 K% and 9.6 BB%. Runs well, has 45 stolen bases in 180 career games. So he's got athleticism and baseball skills. I wonder if the Twins see some physical projection, because if he could add even a little power, he'll shoot up prospect lists. If not, I highly doubt we'll ever see him at Target Field. There's a lot more power than there are piranhas in today's game. De La Trinidad is going to need to go up to Fort Myers. His numbers are good, he's got an advanced approach (48 Ks vs. 45 BBs) so he needs to be challenged. Encouraging to see he's held his own against LHP (.807 OPS). Again, I want to see what he can do in the FSL.

Multiple reports have confirmed that the Twins and Diamondbacks are in agreement on a deal that would send Eduardo Escobar to Arizona. Here's the return: Jhoan Duran, Ernie De La Trinidad and Gabriel Maciel. There has been a lot of debate at the site the past few days about how things should play out as Tuesday's tread deadline approaches. If this deal is indeed finalized, it seems to be a clear indication the direction the team has chosen.News the two sides were close was originally relayed by Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic on Twitter. Jon Heyman of Fancred confirmed there was indeed a deal being finalized. John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 has shared that three Diamondbacks minor leaguers will be headed over, though we're still waiting for names. UPDATE: Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports has the details. The Twins are acquiring right-hander Jhoan Duran and outfielders Ernie De La Trinidad and Gabriel Maciel. Over the past seven seasons, we've watched as Eduardo Escobar has blossomed from a pretty nondescript utility man into an everyday player who's on pace to set the all-time doubles record this year. It's been a fun journey, and I can only speak for myself, but he's a guy who I feel has endeared himself to the fans much more than the average ballplayer. He was less of a professional baseball player who I enjoyed watching and more like a character on my favorite TV show. Always smiling, always having fun, always playing hard. And an entertainer to boot! Arizona is getting a good one. Whether it was his play on the diamond, those great Escobar Name Game videos or him talking about Fogo de Chao in all his postgame interviews (there's one in Scottsdale, I checked), Eduardo will be sorely missed across Twins Territory. According to MLB Pipeline, Maciel ranked No. 11 in Arizona's system and Duran was the Diamondbacks 19th-best prospect. De La Trinidada was not listed among their top 30. In Baseball America's most-recent update of the Arizona rankings, Duran slotted in at No. 10. All three of those players were with Kane County, Arizona's affiliate in the Midwest League (same as the Cedar Rapids Kernels). Here are links to their respective Baseball-Reference pages if you want to scope out their numbers: Jhoan Duran, Gabriel Macial and Ernie De La Trinidad. This is difficult to do in the moment, but if you take your heart out of the equation, you have to recognize that Escobar is exactly the kind of player who it makes sense to deal at the deadline. Not only is he an impending free agent, but he's in the middle of a career year. Escobar's current OPS, .852, is nearly 100 points higher than he's posted in any other season and 130 points higher than his career mark. UPDATE: He's not making it any easier to say goodbye ... The Twins were riding high on the heels of an impressive 2-1 win at Boston last night, but their playoff odds still sat at just 1.6 percent, per FanGraphs. They are seven games back of Cleveland, who recently took measures to build up its biggest weakness. Click here to view the article

Precisely. This is how we base ball.

As for Gibson, I think there's less than a 10 percent chance they trade him. If the hardcore fans are split on that move, just think what the reaction would be like from the casual fans. I'm pretty confident this organization will never do anything that controversial. I'd certainly be listening to offers, which I'm sure the Twins are. The last thing I'd be thinking about right now is trying to sign Gibson to an extension. No need to go there right now, and there are several other players I'd approach about an extension first.

Could be Mejia, he's still on the roster, but I just go with whatever's officially listed on MLB.com (which is still TBD).

HA! This is great! And the hyperdrive never works until that exact moment they need it to kick in.

Up until about 12 months ago, you never really knew what you were going to get out of Kyle Gibson. Who was going to show up? Good Gibby, or bad Gibby? Since, Kyle has been remarkably reliable, until tonight. This was next level. This was Gibson’s transformation in its final form. This was the arrival of Gibby the Great.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Kyle Gibson: 80 Game Score, 8.0 IP, 1 ER, 7 K, 2 BB, 55.8% strikes Multi-hit games: Brian Dozier (2-for-3, R, BB, K) WPA of 0.1 or higher: Gibson .446, Rodney .221 Garver .171 WPA of -0.1 or lower: Escobar -.117, Adrianza -.172 Download attachment: WinChart726.png Let’s go around the horn … First Base Hell of a start by Gibson. This is a Red Sox team he was facing that has the best lineup in baseball and he held them to a single run on four hits over eight innings of work. He threw 120 pitches and racked up seven strikeouts against just two walks. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen726.png AL Central Standings CLE 55-46 MIN 48-53 (-7) DET 44-60 (-12.5) CHW 36-66 (19.5) KC 31-71 (-24.5) Next Three Games Fri at BOS, 6:10 pm CT: Lance Lynn vs. Chris Sale Sat at BOS, 6:10 pm CT: Jake Odorizzi vs. Rick Porcello Sun at BOS, 12:05 pm CT: TBD vs. Nathan Eovaldi Last Three Games MIN 12, TOR 6: More Like Er-win Sweep-tana!!! MIN 5, TOR 0: All-Star, Indeed MIN 8, TOR 3: Twins Cruise Over Toronto Click here to view the article

Am I right!? Ervin Santana made an encouraging 2018 debut as the Twins managed to pull off a sweep at Toronto, scoring six runs in the top of the 11th inning. I spent much of the Royals series wondering aloud on here if the Twins taking a downturn before the deadline may be for the best, but these last three games have been fun. I mean, not really keep the band together fun, but still.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Ervin Santana: 50 Game Score, 5.0 IP, 3 ER, 4 K, 3 BB, 61.9% strikes Bullpen: 6.0 IP, 3 ER, 5 K, 1 BB Lineup: 6-for-17 w/RISP, 12 LOB WPA of 0.1 or higher: Garver .396, Kepler .364, Belisle .289, Duke .140 WPA of -0.1 or lower: Morrison -.143, Hildenberger -.408 Download attachment: WinChart725.png Let’s go around the horn … First Base It’s great to see Ervin back, and his 2018 debut has to be considered a success. After a much longer recovery than expected followed by some concerning reports throughout the early stages of his minor league rehab assignment, Santana didn’t pitch a gem but he gave his team a chance to win. Santana topped out at 91.1 mph, but relied heavily on his offspeed stuff. According to Baseball Savant, only 25 of his 97 pitches were fastballs. He threw 37 changeups and 35 sliders. Last season, Ervin averaged 93.1 mph on his four-seamer and only threw his changeup 10.3 percent of the time. It’ll be really interesting to follow Santana’s pitch usage, but as a veteran who’s had to make plenty of adjustments over his career, one would think he can still be an asset even without his best stuff going. Second Base Trevor Hildenberger’s having a weird year. He gave up three earned runs in an inning of work today, coughing up the lead in the eighth inning in the process. He’s now given up 21 earned runs this season, 11 of which have come in three particularly ugly appearances. But hey, he’s been pretty awesome in those other 44 games. It was all OK, because the Twins were bailed out by ... Matt Belisle? Wait, that can’t be right. OK, so Matty B pitched his way into trouble and then was aided by terrible baserunning by Kendrys Morales, but he did pitch a scoreless ninth inning. And he wasn’t done! Belisle came back out for the 10th, gave up a leadoff single, but again worked a scoreless inning. Just gonna go ahead and pencil Matt Belisle into my projected 2019 Minnesota Twins bullpen right now. Third Base Max Kepler, well ... he had a bad moment. Garver entered this game having hit .308 with an .868 OPS over his previous 30 games. It was also great to see things work out so that Mitch was catching Santana’s first game back. Forming a battery with such a veteran is only going to help Garver’s development behind the plate. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen725.png AL Central Standings CLE 55-46 MIN 47-53 (-7.5) DET 44-60 (-12.5) CHW 36-64 (-18.5) KC 31-70 (-24) Next Three Games Thu at BOS, 6:10 pm CT: Kyle Gibson vs. Brian Johnson Fri at BOS, 6:10 pm CT: Lance Lynn vs. Chris Sale Sat at BOS, 6:10 pm CT: TBD Last Three Games MIN 5, TOR 0: All-Star, Indeed MIN 8, TOR 3: Twins Cruise Over Toronto KC 5, MIN 3: Royals Sweep Twins, Butera Hits Inside-the-Park Homer (Seriously) Click here to view the article

They also signed Kevin Correia and Mike Pelfrey that offseason. I'm not so sure I'd classify that as an attempt at a complete rebuild. The weighted averages for both their hitters and pitchers were right around league average in 2013. The last time this franchise truly committed to a youth movement was 1999. That team sucked, but it was damn fun to watch and that investment in the young talent paid off in the long run. I'm not necessarily saying it's time to burn things to the ground to that level, but it'd be nice to see them really commit to a direction one way or the other.

Parker posted one on Twitter last night.

My only prediction is there will be fewer moves than everyone anticipates. If it was me calling the shots, I'd probably try to move even more than the five guys you've predicted are going to get traded. This organization has never committed to a fire sale/tear down/rebuild, so I'm not going to hold my breath. I'll guess that Duke and Lynn get dealt for very underwhelming returns. Everybody else stays.

Jose Berrios is out to prove his first half was no fluke. Well, this was a good start. Berrios set the tone with seven excellent innings, leading the charge in what was a shutout victory for the Twins. Eduardo Escobar hit yet another double and even added a three-run blast to cap things off.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Jose Berrios: 81 Game Score, 7.0 IP, 0 ER, 9 K, 1 BB, 63.7% strikes Bullpen: 2.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 K, 0 BB Lineup: 3-for-9 w/RISP, 5 LOB WPA of 0.1 or higher: Berrios .451 WPA of -0.1 or lower: Wilson -.176 Download attachment: WinChart724.png Let’s go around the horn … First Base There were a couple things that just gave you the vibe this was going to be the Twins’ day. First, they actually won a replay challenge. In the fifth inning, it appeared Taylor Motter had been picked off. He broke from first, the pitcher threw over there and Motter was called out on the throw over to second. Instead, the call was overturned, as the tag missed. The Twins couldn’t score that inning, but the sixth led off with Joe Mauer sending a pretty routine fly ball out to left field. Teoscar Hernandez just flat out dropped it, Mauer hustled into second and would later score the first run of the ballgame. Nice to see some things break the Twins’ way for a change. Second Base Jose Berrios had a great night. Take a look at this awesome overlay of his changeup and curveball: Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen724.png AL Central Standings CLE 54-46 MIN 46-53 (-7.5) DET 43-60 (-12.5) CHW 36-64 (-18) KC 31-69 (-23) Next Three Games Wed at TOR, 3:07 pm CT: Ervin Santana vs. Sam Gaviglio Thu at BOS, 6:10 pm CT: TBD Fri at BOS, 6:10 pm CT: TBD Last Three Games MIN 8, TOR 3: Twins Cruise Over Toronto KC 5, MIN 3: Royals Sweep Twins, Butera Hits Inside-the-Park Homer (Seriously) KC 4, MIN 2: For Sale Click here to view the article

They sure made this one look easy. It was shades of 2017, as the Twins offense broke out with eight runs through the first five innings of this game, making for a low-stress night at the ballpark. How low-stress? Well, there was a leverage situation so low that Paul Molitor even used Matt Magill! Seriously though, sale or no sale, Twins Territory could use one of these more often.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Adalberto Mejia: 46 Game Score, 5.1 IP, 1 ER, 3 K, 2 BB, 60.8% strikes Bullpen: 3.2 IP, 2 ER, 6 K, 3 BB Lineup: 4-for-14 w/RISP, 6 LOB WPA of 0.1 or higher: Escobar .189, Morrison .168, Mauer .165, Mejia .101 WPA of -0.1 or lower: None Download attachment: WinChart723.png Let’s go around the horn … First Base RUNS! After scoring just 4.26 runs per game in June, the Twins are now averaging 5.74 runs per game so far in July. During that great run the 2017 Twins’ offense went on from August forward, they were averaging 5.86 runs per game. Both Joe Mauer and Mitch Garver had three hits on the night. Logan Morrison hit his 12th home run and drove in three. Max Kepler his his 13th homer, a two-run shot, and made a great catch in center. Eduardo Escobar was 2-for-3 with a triple, a walk and two RBIs. Second Base Adalberto Mejia did his job, but he didn’t exactly have the type of performance that’s going to force the Twins to keep him on the big league roster. He managed to hold the Jays to one run over 5 1/3 innings, but he also gave up eight hits and walked a pair of batters. With Ervin Santana’s return slated for Wednesday, Mejia’s likely going to be headed back to Rochester. Mejia topped out at 95.2 mph and tallied eight swinging strikes, but he only got three strikeouts as Toronto also fouled off 18 pitches and put 21 balls in play. His line would have been worse is the bullpen didn’t clean up the mess he made in the sixth. Speaking of which ... Third Base I don’t think Matt Belisle is going anywhere. The guy has carved out a role, and you know what? He’s been good at it. Coming into this game, Belisle had only allowed one of the 11 runners he’s inherited score. He took over for Mejia tonight with one out and the bases loaded and managed to strand all those runners, meaning he’s only allowed 7.1 percent of his inherited runners to score since he’s joined the Twins. For comparison, Zach Duke has allowed six of his 11 inherited runners to score (54.5 percent) and 13 of the 23 runners Trevor Hildenberger’s inherited have scored (56.5 percent). Home Plate Watching a blowout sure gives you some time to think. Let’s talk about bullpenning vs. having an opener. I think tonight’s game is a good example of some of the issues you can run into when you try and cover an entire game with your bullpen. Relievers, in general, are a little unreliable. If you need to run out five different pitchers over the first six frames, as Toronto did tonight, chances are one of those guys is not going to have his best stuff working. In this case it was Tim Mayza (four earned over 1.1 innings) and Joe Biagini (three runs in an inning). The funny thing was once Jaime Garcia finally got into the game for Toronto he threw three perfect innings. Hmm … maybe he should have started … Anyway, having an “opener” is a bit of a different concept. You have a reliever pitch the first innig and roll right into your traditional “starter” in the second. The Twins are experimenting with it in the minors, which I like, but I’m not so confident that’s a great strategy either. What I’d be interested in seeing a team try is having their starter go through the lineup twice, then have the first guy out of the bullpen take a full turn through the lineup. After that you start mixing and matching in the later innings and using your relievers in shorter bursts. Just a thought. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen723.png AL Central Standings CLE 54-44 MIN 45-53 (-9) DET 42-59 (-13.5) CHW 34-64 (-20) KE 30-68 (24) Next Three Games Tue at TOR, 6:07 pm CT: Jose Berrios vs. Ryan Borucki Wed at TOR, 3:07 pm CT: Ervin Santana vs. Sam Gaviglio Thu at BOS, 7:10 pm CT, TBD Last Three Games KC 5, MIN 3: Royals Sweep Twins, Butera Hits Inside-the-Park Homer (Seriously) KC 4, MIN 2: For Sale KC 6, MIN 5: Maybe It’s Better Off This Way? Click here to view the article

What’s more embarrassing than getting swept by the Royals? Getting swept by the Royals on a Drew Butera three-run inside-the-park home run. I think we’ve hit rock bottom. I mean what could be worse than this? Is Ricky Nolasco going to get signed by the Blue Jays and pitch a perfect game against the Twins next week or something?Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Jake Odorizzi: 72 Game Score, 6.0 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 8 K, 1 BB, 67.0 % strikes Bullpen: 2.0 IP, 3 ER, 0 K, 2 BB Lineup: 1-for-4 w/RISP, 3 LOB WPA of 0.1 or higher: Dozier .107 WPA of -0.1 or lower: Hildenberger -.349 Download attachment: WinChart722.png First Base Before we even get to the game, there is quite a bit of roster news to go over. Logan Morrison was activated from the DL, and as a corresponding move Willians Astudillo was optioned back to Rochester. Morrison started at first base and hit fifth in the Twins order, going 0-for-3 with a run-scoring groundout and a walk. There figure to be plenty more transactions in the coming days, as Adalbero Mejia (who is scheduled to start tomorrow) and Ervin Santana (who’s scheduled to start Wednesday) need to be added to the active roster. Santana will be coming off the 60-day DL, so the Twins will even need to create a spot on the 40-man roster for him. Second Base The Twins have had a very strange year when it comes to replay, and Sunday they had yet another one that left some people scratching their heads. Jake Cave sent a line drive out to left field and Alex Gordon appeared to make a really nice diving catch. The slow-motion replays seemed to tell another story. Here’s the video: Alright fine, we’ll talk some about the game. On the plus side, Jake Odorizzi was really good, giving up just two runs (one earned) on two hits and one walk while striking out eight batters in six innings of work. Max Kepler hit his 12th home run of the season. Also, um … Alan Busenitz pitched a scoreless eighth inning. That’s all I got. The Twins could only muster three hits and racked up 10 strikeouts. Joe Mauer had a particularly rough afternoon, going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. UPDATE: After the conclusion of this game it was announced that Busenitz was being sent back down to Rochester to make room for Mejia. Matt Belisle is bulletproof. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen722.png AL Central Standings CLE 54-43 MIN 44-53 (-10) DET 42-58 (-13.5) CHW 34-63 (-20) KC 30-68 (-24.5) Next Three Games Mon at TOR, 6:07 pm CT: Adalberto Mejia vs. TBD Tue at TOR, 6:07 pm CT: Jose Berrios vs. Ryan Borucki Wed at TOR, 3:07 pm CT: Ervin Santana vs. TBD Click here to view the article

I doubt we'll see many promotions until after the trade deadline. There could be quite a few guys coming and going, so it seems to me like it makes sense to keep things the way they are unitl you know which opportunities open up. So that's just another reason why the next couple weeks should be really fun to follow.

Sounds like everything is gonna be OK.