News and Notes from the Twins Spring Training: 3/11/17

This is the latest report of the happenings in the Twins' Spring training.   The previous one is here, and can find all 2017 Twins Spring Training related posts here.  I will be describing events of interesting in the Twins' camp as well as happenings with former Twins.  For two weeks, starting the coming week, these reports will be live from Fort Myers and will be indicated in the title.

• Ervin Santana labored a bit on Thursday against Team Colombia pitching 4 innings, walking one, striking out 3, allowing 4 hits including one HR and 2 ERs. Nick Tepesch, Ryan O'Rourke, and Michael Tonkin each had yet another unsteady appearance, while Brandon Kintlzer and Tyler Rogers were exceptional.  I just cannot see Tonkin and O'Rourke making the team at this point, which will potentially free two 40-man roster spots.
• 27 year old UT Bengie Gonzalez who was signed as a minor league free agent and played his highest level at AA, has really opened some eyes this spring and put himself in the competition for a bench spot.
• Molitor thinks that Twins prospect Nick Gordon "does not have a plus arm at SS".  Gordon came in Saturday against Boston and played second base.
• The Twins have hired Jeremy Hefner (a former Mets' RHP) as an advanced scout.  This is his reaction.
• This Friday visiting the Marlins, Tyler Duffey pitched 3 innings, allowing 3 hits and one ER, striking out one hitter and lowering his ERA to 6.75 this spring.  He was followed by Adalberto Mejia who spread 2 hits and 2 walks in 3 innings striking out one hitter and lowering his ERA to 1.35 this Spring.  Justin Haley followed with two innings, allowing one hit, one walk, hit a batter and struck out two, lowering his ERA to 4.05.  One of these pitchers are likely to challenge Hector Santiago (12.27 ERA and 2.45 WHIP) for a position in the Twins rotation, if the latter's play with Team Puerto Rico in the WBC puts him behind as far as readiness go.  The Marlins game was Santiago's turn in the rotation.
• ByungHo Park,  J.R. Murphy, and Dan Rohlfing each homered against Miami off Wei-Yin Chen; Park's was his team leading 3rd HR this Spring.
• Sad news this spring:  RHP Trevor May who seemed to hold by himself this Spring and finally earn a rotation spot has been diagnosed with a torn UCL and will be out for the season.  He suffered the injury at arguably his most impressive outing of the Spring Training, against Team USA.   The current rotation situation has Duffey, Mejia, Haley, Santiago, Tepesch, Jose Berrios and Ryan Vogelsong, competing for 2 spots.
• Kyle Gibson had a solid outing on Saturday against the Red Sox, a game the Twins won 13-0.  He pitched 5 innings, allowed 4 hits and a walk and struck out 4.  13 of his 15 outs were ground outs. His Spring ERA is 2.19.  The Twins' bats were on fire that game with every starter but Brian Dozier (who walked and scored as the lead off hitter), had at least one hit, with Miquel Sano having a triple and a single and Jorge Polanco two doubles.

News and Notes from the Twins Spring Training: 3/9/17

This is the latest report of the happenings in the Twins' Spring training.   The previous one is here, and can find all 2017 Twins Spring Training related posts here.  I will be describing events of interesting in the Twins' camp as well as happenings with former Twins.  For two weeks these reports will be live from Fort Myers and will be indicated in the title.

• Twins 2B Brian Dozier has left camp on Monday to attend his grandmother's funeral
• There was not an official game on Tuesday, so projected starter Phil Hughes threw 4 innings in the back fields to take his turn, in the first full day of Minor League workouts.  He was primarily working on his changeup, but he was observed to hit 91 mph with his fastball, which is an encouraging sign.   He also plucked Travis Harrison on the hand.
• It looks like the first round of the Twins' cuts will happen next week, on March 13, and LHP Mason Melotakis who has not appeared in a game yet, will likely be part of it.
• Former Twins  IF Tyler Ladendorf has signed a minor league contract with the White Sox
• Against team USA on Wednesday night the Twins used a lineup that could be their opening day lineup:  Buxton CF, Mauer 1B, Dozier 2B, Sano 3B, Kepler RF, Park DH, Grossman LF, Castro C, Polanco SS.  Kennys Vargas and Eddie Rosario, both with Team Puerto Rico might have the spots in DH and LF respectively in opening day.
• Twins LHP Stephen Gonsalves was scratched from pitching against Team USA on Wednesday night because of a sore shoulder that has been bothering him since the AFL.
• Trevor May apparently had butterflies against the level of competition in Team USA that has 18 All-Stars, allowing 2 quick hits and a wild pitch followed by a 2-run double, before getting a couple of ground outs, before striking out Giancarlo Stanton with 3 fastballs.  He has an easier second inning that should have been faster had the home plate umpire given him a clear looking Strike 3 on Andrew McCutchen.  He struck out Nolan Aronado in the third, allowing only an infield single in that inning.  In the fourth he got two outs before he walked McCutchen and reached his pitch limit.  Easily the best appearance of a Twins' SP this Spring based on competition.
• The Team USA used relievers Luke Gregerson and Andrew Miller for the first 2 innings.  Gregerson was lights out, but Max Kepler got a double off Miller and ByungHo Park walked.  Lots of called strikes against Miller and pretty frustrating to see the plate umpire having a different strike zone for Miller than for May.  Jake McGee came in to face Jason Castro who got an RBI single against the lefty, followed by Jorge Polanco who tied the game with an infield single and chased the Colorado closer out of the game. DJ Baxendale, on loan to team USA, got Byron Buxton to pop up and end the inning
• Speaking of, Buxton has been playing much more shallow centerfield this Spring and his speed allows him to get into deeper balls, while allowing him to catch shallower balls.  This will be interesting to see during the season.
• Ryan Pressly made Daniel Murphy look like a fool striking him out in 3 pitches, then got Christian Yelich out with 2 pitches,  and got Alex Bregman to fly out in 1 pitch.  I would not be surprised if the is the Twins' closer sooner than later.
• Craig Breslow finished the game for the Twins, pitching 2 innings facing lefties and righties and not allowing a run.  He got the save, but most importantly, I just cannot see how he does not make this Twins team.  
• Alex Kirilloff, had his Tommy John surgery and looks successful.
• Former Twins' OF Antoan Richardson has officially retired.
• It looks like Reds' Rule 5 draft pick from the Twins, C Stuart Turner, has pretty high possibility of making the Reds' 25-man roster and not returning to the Twins' minors.

News and Notes from the Twins Spring Training: 3/6/17

This is the latest report of the happenings in the Twins' Spring training.   The previous one is here, and can find all 2017 Twins Spring Training related posts here.  I will be describing events of interesting in the Twins' camp as well as happenings with former Twins.  For two weeks these reports will be live from Fort Myers and will be indicated in the title.

• With the minor league Spring Training just around the corner, the Twins have announced the signings of LHP Jonny Drozd, and UT Shane Kennedy.   Drozd is a 25 year old 6'7", 200 lbs lefty reliever who made it to A+ Tampa in the Yankees organization.  Kennedy is a 25 year old who graduate from Clemson in 2015, was not drafted and played for the Southern Illinois Miners of the Frontier (Independent) League last season.
• Trevor May pitched well on Saturday at Clearwater against the Phillies.  He allowed only one hit and had 2 strikeouts in 2-1/3 innings.  Jose Berrios, in his last appearance with the Twins before he moves on to WBC pitched 2 innings allowing 3 hits and 2 walks and struck out 4.  Still an improvement but the command is not there.   Hosting the Jays on Saturday Ervin Santana was in form, pitching three innings, spreading 5 hits, allowing a walk, but no run as striking out 1.   Ryan Vogelson and Adalberto Mejia pitched 1-1/3 innings each.  Mejia allowed no hits and had a strikeout, but Vogelson allowed an earned run in 2 hits and a walk.  Craig Breslow was perfect, striking out the only player he faced.
• Twins' manager Paul Molitor, said that unless someone "gets derailed", Santana, Kyle Gibson, Phil Hughes, and Hector Santiago will be in the Twins' rotation.   Phil Hughes has yet to throw at 100%, while Hector Santiago is very derailable at this point.   Molitor also indicated that he liked what he has seen from Mejia.
• Santiago had an improved second start against the Nationals at West Palm Beach on Sunday, which actually looks really good on paper: 2-2/3 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 5 K.  However Santiago almost gave a 3R HR that was blown foul in the 3rd, and then managed loading the bases before striking out the next hitter.  Clearly an improvement over last time's performance in the 0-19 loss against Tampa, but still not great.   Tyler Duffey pitched two scoreless innings allowing just one hit, touching 96 mph with his fastball, and Justin Haley pitched 1-1/3 innings, allowing 3 hits, 2 runs and striking out one.  Definitely is on the bubble right now.
• Eddie Rosario went 2/3 in his last game before joining Team Puerto Rico for the WBC, getting his Spring Batting Average up to .375 and solidifying a major league job.  1B Kenny Vargas, who is in the same situation, had no hits, two walks and a strikeout, bringing his batting average for the Spring at .077. Eduardo Escobar has his first hit of the Spring in the same game.   1B Matt Hague hit the first pitch he saw to the bleachers for a two-run HR, increasing his batting average to .462, and had a great play with the glove getting the last out of the 8th inning, putting himself in the conversation for a bench position with the Twins.
• In the Twins at Nationals game Plate Umpire David Rackley was injured by a foul tip off Daniel Palka's bat in the 8th and had to leave the game.
• How do teams feel about their players who are competing for a spot (like the Twins' Jose Berrios, Hector Santiago, Kennys Vargas and Eddie Rosario) and leaving Spring Training to join their teams in the WBC?  Most of the teams are silent, but Boston Red Sox manager John Farrell had this to say regarding former Twins' LHP Fernando Abad, who put himself in this position: "In those positions of competing for a spot, you'd like to think that a guy's going to be here to make that mark here. He's aware of his status on the roster competing for a spot. When he returns, it's constant evaluating that's going on."  I suspect the same applies to the aforementioned Twins, without needed saying.

Predicting the Twins 25-man Roster - version 2.0

Ten days ago, before Spring Training games started, I took a preliminary cut at the potential Twins' 40-man roster. My view was that they Twins at this point will value veteran clubhouse presence and defense.  I also suspected that participating at the WBC was a negative

That 25-man roster was:

Starting Pitchers (5)
Ervin Santana
Kyle Gibson
Phil Hughes
Trevor May
Ryan Vogelsong

Relievers (7)
Brandon Kintzler
Ryan Pressly
J.T. Chargois
Matt Belisle
Craig Breslow (*)
Justin Haley
Hector Santiago (*)

Catchers (2)
Jason Castro (*)
Chris Gimenez

Infielders (6)
Joe Mauer (*)
Brian Dozier
Jorge Polanco (#)
Miguel Sano
Eduardo Escobar (#)
Ehire Adrianza (#)

Outfielders (5)
Byron Buxton
Max Kepler (*)
Robbie Grossman  (#)
Drew Stubbs
J.B. Shuck (*)

What have we seen in these 10 games or so:

Pitchers: 

I think that Ryan Vogelsong has not really appeared as ready as I thought, and his position is likely going to be taken by Hector Santiago who likely did enough in his game against the Nationals to step up one step in the depth charts.  Still to determine whether or not Phil Hughes will be ready, but for the time being, I assume that he will be.  I also assume that the Twins will need at least a longer look at Justin Haley.  With Santiago going to the rotation, another left-handed arm is needed for the pen and Taylor Rogers is likely on top of those charts.  Dark horse:  Nick Tepesch who has been pitching very well. So the Twins projected 25-man roster looks like this as far as pitching is concerned: 


Starting Pitchers (5)
Ervin Santana
Kyle Gibson
Phil Hughes
Trevor May
Hector Santiago (*)

Relievers (7)
Brandon Kintzler
Ryan Pressly
J.T. Chargois
Matt Belisle
Craig Breslow (*)
Taylor Rogers (*)
Justin Haley


Position Players:

As far as catching goes, I think that Chris Gimenez further solidified his position as the back up by playing at 1B and LF as well as a C, being Trevor May's personal catcher and is hitting .500 so far.  As far as infielders go, the only difference is that Ehire Adrianza just cannot hit and at this point I do not see him have a position.  As far as outfielders go, I think that Eddie Rosario, WBC and all, has solidified a position on the 25-man roster, hitting .375 and playing solid defense.  J.B. Shuck has not done so and it is taken off the list.  The last spot of the 25-man roster could either go to 1B/DH like Matt Hague and ByungHo Park, both of whom are on fire; however I think that Danny Santana who has been playing all over the field and has not hurt himself with the bat (.972 OPS) has this spot for the time being.    So the Twins' 25-man roster looks like this as far as hitting is concerned:

Catchers (2)
Jason Castro (*)
Chris Gimenez

Infielders (5)
Joe Mauer (*)
Brian Dozier
Jorge Polanco (#)
Miguel Sano
Eduardo Escobar (#)

Outfielders (5)
Byron Buxton
Max Kepler (*)
Eddie Rosario (*)
Robbie Grossman  (#)
Drew Stubbs

25th man (1)
Danny Santana (#)

The third version of the potential roster the week after next, while watching the Twins playing at Fort Myers.