Tom Froemming

Oh yeah, you're right. Huh, that link is to the AFL official offshoot from MLB.com, but they must not be keeping that updated.

Here's a link to the AFL roster rules. Sounds like the main constraints are a player must have less than one year of MLB service time and teams can only send one player from below Double-A.

Excited to see Gordon on this list. Should be good experience for him to be facing a bunch of Triple-A and Double-A pitchers.

This what the Twins are saying, but take a look at the history of guys who've had TOS. It's not pretty. I hope he can come back, but if I was in the Twins front office there's no way I'd be banking on it.

Santana's age worries me. We've seen some really great pitchers completely break down without much warning. It would be crushing to see another missed opportunity like Josh Willingham in 2012. But can you imagine this team without Ervin? Ick. I guess I'd keep him to start next year, but if things go south again you trade him and Dozier at the deadline and let the new GM start to really put his stamp on the organization.

I think your guy would be Chaim Bloom, Rays assistant GM. He's been working for them in various roles since 2005.

Personally I feel there's a big difference between game situations and practice drills/meetings/one-on-one instruction with coaches. In my mind this is especially true when it comes to things like game calling and managing pitchers' personalities. If it's the Twins' strategy to have catchers split time on the farm, I'd imagine they are in the minority, even when it comes to fringe prospects. Tucker Barnhart was a 10th round pick and he caught over 90 games on three separate occasions in the minors. Judging by Seth's opinion, which I view in high regard, maybe I'm crazy. But I just think it's so strange that if Garver's biggest question was always his defense they wouldn't be having him catch as much as reasonably possible.

I'm sure fans of other teams would react similarly if their squad lost 90 games five times in six years.

Touche

I had considered this, but my thought was if he had lingering or consistent concussion symptoms they would have completely shut him down again, or at least kept him from catching for an extended time. But you are correct, it is certainly possible.

It has already been an interesting year in terms of how the Twins have deployed their players defensively. From Miguel Sano moving all over the place, to Jorge Polanco going from no reps as a shortstop in the minors to the everyday guy there on the big club, there have been some decisions that have been worthy of questioning.Well, the questioning seems to be never-ending during a down season, and I'd like to pile on and add Mitch Garver's usage to the list of head-scratchers in the organization. If the Twins believe Garver can be a starting catcher, they sure have a funny way of showing it. While in Chattanooga, fellow 2013 draftee Stuart Turner held a slight advantage over Garver in terms of reps behind the plate. Since his promotion, Garver holds a slight playing time advantage over John Ryan Murphy, but it's only eight starts vs. seven. Overall, Garver has played 107 games this year but has caught in just 54 of those contests. This is nothing new. In 2014, on his way to being named Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Year, Garver caught 63 of his 120 games. Last year, the split was less extreme at 77 games caught and 127 total games. With just 12 games left in the Red Wings' season, when it's all said and done, Garver will have caught right around 200 games over the past three seasons. Sounds like a decent amount until you compare him to other backstops. A few of the most recent catchers to establish themselves as big league regulars are Philadelphia's Cameron Rupp, Miami's J.T. Realmuto and Cincinnati's Tucker Barnhart. Over their final three full years in the minors, each of them totaled over 280 games caught. Even prized Yankee prospect Gary Sanchez, who has always been more highly regarded for his bat, eclipsed 90 games caught in three separate MiLB seasons. It seems these days you can't have a discussion about catching without also talking about concussions. It's worth noting Garver has been placed on the DL twice for concussions, once in June of '14 and again this May. There is no such thing as a concussion that isn't a serious injury, but in both cases Garver was able to get back in the gear in a matter of weeks, so those injuries can't account for the lost reps behind the plate. Garver has kept his bat in the lineup by playing first base or DH, but his skills at the plate have never been questioned as much as his ability to play behind it (but we'll get to more on that later). With that being the case, you'd think the team would go out of its way to have Garver catching as much as possible. Not buying the playing time being an issue? Okay, then let's go into the "Free Mitch Garver" portion of the discussion. Garver was called up to Rochester on Aug. 9, but what took so long? There's a valid argument to be made that Garver should already be on the big league club. I understand that Turner was drafted ahead of Garver and started his career a level ahead. It's also valid to point out that the team invested resources into Murphy, who is on the 40-man roster, and they want to give him every opportunity to play his way out of his season-long slump. But why has Garver remained so low on the catching totem pole when his performance has been stellar and he's actually older than both Murphy and Turner? At 25-years-old, I'm not sure if Garver can really even be called a prospect anymore. It's time to see what he can do, no matter what that means to Murphy, Turner, or even Kurt Suzuki or Juan Centeno. Garver had a down year in 2015, but followed it up with an impressive showing in the Arizona Fall League. He had posted an above average OPS for the Southern League each month this season, ending his time in Chattanooga with a .257/.334/.417 slash line. Combine that with an excellent start in Rochester (.364/.404/.455) and you have a guy who has trended up for around 12 months now, and the glove work is catching up with his offense. On Sunday's pregame radio broadcast, interim GM Rob Antony went out of his way to compliment the strides Garver has made with the mitt, and the numbers back it up. The University of New Mexico product has also thrown out an impressive 50% of base stealers this season and has received positive reviews on his pitch framing ability. So ... if the bat was never in question and the numbers show he's been a phenomenal defensive catcher this season, then what gives? I suppose it's entirely possible the front offices does not, in fact, view Garver as an everyday catcher. The way he's been used over his career certainly makes you wonder. Click here to view the article

Been working on this for a few weeks and think I finally figured him out ... Kohl Stewart's a witch. Only way to explain it. Seriously though, you'd almost rather see him get shelled every once in awhile so he'd be forced to adjust. But with the results he's getting, why would he change anything?

Thanks for adding that, you're right there isn't any incentive for them to avoid adding him on the 40 man next week. They're going to have to do it this fall anyway.

It has already been an interesting year in terms of how the Twins have deployed their players defensively. From Miguel Sano moving all over the place, to Jorge Polanco going from no reps a shortstop in the minors to the everyday guy there on the big club, there have been some decisions that have been worthy of questioning. Well, the questioning seems to be never ending during a down season, and I'd like to pile on and add Mitch Garver's usage on to the list of head scratchers in the organization. If the Twins believe Garver can be a starting catcher, they sure have a funny way of showing it. While in Chatanooga, fellow 2013 draftee Stuart Turner held a slight advantage over Garver in terms of reps behind the plate. Since his promotion, Garver holds a slight playing time advantage over John Ryan Murphy, but it's only eight starts vs. seven. Overall, Garver has played 107 games this year but has caught in just 54 of those contests. This is nothing new. In 2014, on his way to being named Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Year, Garver caught 63 of his 120 games. Last year, the split was less extreme at 77 games caught and 127 total games. With just 12 games left in the Red Wings' season, when it's all said and done Garver will have caught right around 200 games over the past three seasons. Sounds like a decent amount until you compare him to other backstops. A few of the most recent catchers to establish themselves as big league regulars are Philadelphia's Cameron Rupp, Miami's J.T. Realmuto and Cincinnati's Tucker Barnhart. Over their final three full years in the minors, each of them totaled over 280 games caught. Even prized Yankee prospect Gary Sanchez, who has always been more highly regarded for his bat, eclipsed 90 games caught in three separate MiLB seasons. It seems these days you can't have a discussion about catching without also talking about concussions, especially in concern to the Twins. It's worth noting Garver has been placed on the DL twice for concussions, once in June of '14 and again this May. There is no such thing as a concussion that isn't a serious injury, but in both cases Garver was able to get back in the gear in a matter of weeks, so those injuries can't account for the lost reps behind the plate. Garver has kept his bat in the lineup by playing first base or DH, but his skills at the plate have never been questioned as much as his ability play behind it (but we'll get to more on that later). With that being the case, you'd think the team would go out of its way to have Garver catching as much as possible. Not buying the playing time being an issue? Okay, then let's go into the "Free Mitch Garver" portion of the discussion. Garver was called up to Rochester on Aug. 9, but what took so long? There's a valid argument to be made that Garver should already be on the big league club. I understand that Turner was drafted ahead of Garver and started his career a level ahead. It's also valid to point out that the team invested resources into Murphy, who is on the 40-man roster, and they want to give him every opportunity to play his way out of his season-long slump. But why has Garver remained so low on the catching totem pole when his performance has been stellar and he's actually older than both Murphy and Turner? At 25-years-old, I'm not sure if Garver can really even be called a prospect anymore. It's time to see what he can do, no matter what that means to Murphy, Turner, or even Kurt Suzuki or Juan Centeno. Garver had a down year in 2015, but followed it up with an impressive showing in the Arizona Fall League. He had posted an above average OPS for the Southern League each month this season, ending his time in Chattanooga with a .257/.334/.417 slash line. Combine that with an excellent start in Rochester (.364/.404/.455) and you have a guy who has trended up for around 12 months now, and the glove work is catching up with his offense. On Sunday's pregame radio broadcast, interim GM Rob Antony went out of his way to compliment the strides Garver has made with the mitt, and the numbers back it up. The University of New Mexico product has also thrown out an impressive 50% of base stealers this season and has received positive reviews on his pitch framing ability. So ... if the bat was never in question and the numbers show he's been a phenomenal defensive catcher this season, then what gives? I suppose it's entirely possible the front offices does not, in fact, view Garver as an everyday catcher. The way he's been used over his career certainly makes you wonder.

I can't see the Ramos reunion happening, somebody's going to throw a crazy amount of money at that guy, but you never know. I believe the new GM will want to completely blow things up and start over, but ownership will be hesitant to do so. This may be pretty close to the 2017 Opening Day roster, but if things start off poorly again I'd expect a massive fire sale at the trade deadline.

Vargas being optioned?

Gotta give Stewart credit for his run prevention and pitching successfully as a 21-year-old in his first shot in Double A, but how long can he keep this up? Over his last 10 starts he has 32 Ks and 29 walks over 61 1/3 innings. Somehow he's still managed a 2.49 ERA over that stretch. How does that work?

Not that this has been a factor for other guys, but Palka does only have 38 games at Triple A. He's also striking out 36% of his PAs at Rochester. Still a legit question though since his other numbers are outstanding.

This seems to be the most likely way Escobar makes it back off the bench at this point.

Tough to argue against any of these points, so I won't And for the record, Eduardo is one of my faves. Gotta root for a guy who continually defies the odds and really seems to enjoy himself at the ballpark. But you can't deny that after appearing to turn the corner in terms of his approach at the plate, Escobar has been a big disappointment. Since the team burned through Polanco's option years they have a lot of incentive to try and find him a spot. It's just a terrible time for Eduardo to be performing poorly.

Really? I believe he's expected to start throwing again sometime next month and the club expects him to be ready for the start of Spring Training.

Jeremy did a nice write up on the arbitration eligible guys and estimated Escobar to earn between $3-4 million. That's not crippling by any means, but if the Pohlads are motivated to cut payroll they may not be inclined to commit that to a utility guy/insurance policy. If I remember correctly, Hughes, Perkins and Dozier are all getting salary increases next season. Throw in the other arb raises and things may get tight, even with Suzuki coming off the books and the savings from the Ricky Nolasco trade. Of course, there's the possibility the payroll increases next season, but I'm not gonna hold my breath.

Thanks for reading. This has now been published on the front page, hopefully the discussion will continue there.

Quick update: Polanco is starting at short again tonight, so that's eight of the past 11 games.