Twins Report from Fort Myers: March 27th edition

Today the big boys were playing the Orioles in Sarasota. So were the AAA, AA and A+ squads and the only action at the Lee County Sports Complex was the Beloit Snappers hosting the Orioles A league squad at field number 3 and several other players, most of them rookies, practicing and scrimmaging in field 1.

The Beloit game was a treat in many respects. First and foremost was that TK was the manager and it was interesting to watch TK manage a game from a dugout, even though this game was an A level Spring Training Game.



A lot of interesting names in this game, and if one assumes that they all will start in Beloit, the Snappers' fans will be in for a treat. Here is the lineup:


2B AJ Petersen
3B Nick Lockwood
RF Max Kepler
1B DJ Romero (a surprise to play at that level)
CF Romy Jimenez (another surprise to see at the level, the other way from Romero)
SS Tyler Grimes
DH Drew Leachman
C Matt Koch
LF Wang-Wei Lee

JD Williams, Nate Roberts and Miquel Sano were around and did not play and Micheal Quesada entered later as a Catcher.



Interesting to see Tom Kelly around young players at that level, especially for the ones of us who knew how he was with rookies as a major league manager later in his career. Lots of yelling encouraging stuff from the dugout, lots of playing and teasing with them (esp. Sano, more on that later) and in general good good feeling. I am certain that these players had a blast.



BJ Hermsen was the starter and he lasted about 3 innings. Hermsen is 22, played last season in Beloit and a little bit at Fort Myers, and he seems to be repeating Beloit. He was somewhat disappointing, having issues with his control and walking a lot of baby Orioles. I was really expecting a somewhat more polished pitcher than what I saw today. Maybe it is just a matter of time.



Second pitcher in was Steve Gruver (LHP) the 2011 7th Round pick who actually pitched 3 innings (and looks like he is stressed to be a starter in 2012.) He was very effective, a quick worker and he missed a few bats. I think that he has the potential to surprise in 2012.



Another pitcher I haven't seen play (other than that awful video from Vandy where he broke his kneecap on the mount and made the play) is Corey Williams, the Twins' 3rd round pick in 2011. This guy can be really special for the organization. He has a heavy singing FB with a lot of movement, that sits around 91-92 (had to move and go to the scouting table to look his velocity, because his staff is THAT good) a good curve in the low mid 70s and he is playing with a change. His sinker/cutter is his bread and butter and he both missed bats and induced ground balls. And he is a leftie. He will probably be the closer for Beloit but I can see him make it all the way up to New Britain this season, he is just this good. Alternatively, he might be stressed to be a starter in 2013 or so, if he has the endurance. But this kid is special.



Speaking of Special Kids. Sano did not play today for some reason. I overheard that he might be DHing tomorrow, so he might be fighting something or another. But he sat there absorbed in the game, very talkative with TK and his teammates and even brought water to the umpires at some point.






How about some swings from the game?

Max Kepler:



Drew Leachman:


AJ Pettersen:


Romy Jimenez:


And if you are keeping score at home:


Here are a couple of action shots from the other field of 2011 high draft picks. Some of their first action shots in Twins' uniforms:
Hudson Boyd 55th overall:


Looks a lot like Joba Chamberlain, both in statute, looks and the way he pitches.

Travis Harrison 50th overall:



Both were selected from high school so they have some ways to go.

Tomorrow I will be watching the Twins-Phillies game at Fort Myers as well as other action before the game on the fields of the Lee County Complex.

Random Tuesday Twins Thoughts and Tidbits

Here is this week's installment (also heavily influenced by Spring Training and brought to you from Fort Myers) :

• Please Check here later tonight for my report from Fort Myers today. Sure to please with a lot of photos, including: watching Tom Kelly manage a real live game, Twins' number one prospect Miguel Sano, a preview of Beloit next season and a couple of Twins' pitching prospects who are flying way under the radar. Will be posted here later tonight


• Good luck to Dan Osterbrock, Mike Tarsi, Kane Holbrooks, Blayne Weller, Spencer Steedley, Matt Schuld, Matt Bashore, Chris Cates, Steve Pearce, Dustin Martin, Ben Tootle, Tyler Koelling, Jason Bulger, Roy Larson, Deinys Suarez and Derek Christensen who were released by the Twins' organization last Thursday. I really do not understand how they could release Dan Osterbrock (he was ranked my top Twins' pitching prospect in 2008) but after they released Pedro Guerra earlier this year, I can believe that everything is possible...


• It sounds like Ron Gardenhire (and not Terry Ryan) will make the decision on whether they will carry 3 catchers. And with the one who had the best spring, Rene Rivera, cut today, sounds like another futile season of Drew Butera going North.


• Looks like, in addition to Capps, Perkins and Duensing, Swarzak and Maloney made the Twins' pen and Burton is pretty close to a lock as of yesterday (per Anthony on the Radio)


• Apparently Drew Butera is an annoying roommate, maybe because he is doing this without cleaning up; while a certain other Twins' player should be careful when what he is tweeting could be taken with a couple meanings and one of them pretty bad.


• Visitors to the Texas Rangers' ballpark will be able to feast on a new culinary hubris: The Champion Dog. Allegedly, this mess features a 1 lb hot dog in a 2-feet-long bun topped with sauteed onions, cheese and chili. All for just $26. Bucket or air sickness bag comes extra.


• This is an interesting development. Still in the idea box, but I think that it has the potential to chance how Latin American amateurs are looked at by the MLB teams.


• Meanwhile, here is a collection of Nishioka-themed Haikus. Wonder whether there are any original Haikus written in Japan about his demotion


• The Do you know your Twins? challenge is still open. And I am not sure that there are any winners yet, so feel free to participate


• Continuing the Twins' product of the week feature. Because there are so many out there and some of them are, well... interesting. This weeks' winner is: MLB Minnesota Twins Protoast You know those slices of toast that have the images of famous people and fetch a million dollars on ebay? A slice of toast with the Twins' logo is more fun.
  

The parting shot today is of the get to know them variety. I am sure that even the most seasoned Twins' fans and the biggest Twins' Minor Leagues aficionados will not recognize the player pictured. He is one of the new Twins' Minor League free agents, Catcher Billy Killian. This is his age 26 season and has bounced in the Padres', Rangers', White Sox' and Orioles' systems (up to AA) before he played for the Frontier League Evansville Otters the past two seasons. On Sunday I saw him play with the Fort Myers and Beloit kids in their inter-squad game and was nothing short of impressive (of course he is much older.) Just another good story and a player to keep your eye on in the Twins' minors.

Report from Fort Myers. March 26th edition

Today the Twins met with the Tampa Bay Rays at Hammond Stadium. This was the first time that Scott Baker would pitch after his recent bout with right elbow tendonitis, so it was supposed to be an interesting day.

Before I got there, I checked out the practice fields where the Twins' middle infielder bench-type players (Luke Hughes, Mike Hollimon, Pedro Florimon, Brian Dozier) were taking BP. Andy was tossing and he looks like he still got it:



Further into the Minor League Complex, Tom Kelly, Jake Mauer and Paul Molitor were conducting infield drills. Levi Michael, Adam Bryant, Andy Leer, Eddie Rosario and Jairo Perez were among the participants. Will they all be Beloit-bound? Who knows, but it is a good possibility...



Brunansky was throwing BP for the Rochester team and the New Britain and Fort Myers teams were not around, which makes me think that they were traveling today. Bruno can be an interesting trivia questions answer: name a former Twins' player who rights left-handed but bats and throws right-handed. Not many of them:




About time for the big game.



And if anyone asks you: "How many Miracle Workers does it take to water down the infield?", you now know the answer:



Baker was the big story of the game. How he is going to come back from the rest and the limited activity because of the tendonitis. The short answer is that it did not look too good. His fast ball was between 85-87 with an occasional 88 and one 89. Was pretty encouraging to see those numbers rise before the 2 HRs and seven earned runs. Here is a shot of Baker pitching earlier this afternoon:



He just looks like he is in pain. Which is very unfortunate for the Twins. Meanwhile, the Twins have a plan B in place and this is Liam Hendriks who pitched 4 innings today and is lined up to take Baker's spot in the rotation for the Home opener if necessary:



Liam Hendriks hit a few pitches up at 92 and 93 miles per hour, usually his fastball standing in the mid 80s. Good mix of change up and breaking stuff (some of them at low 70s) and was a tad squeezed by the home plate umpire. Jeff Manship came in for Scott Baker's relief and did ok. His velocity was up at 89:



Casey Fien finished the game with an unspectacular performance:



As far as the sticks went, Ryan Doumit hit an impressive Home Run over the one mile post at Left Field:



Mauer had a big hit:



So did Morneau:



(aren't they like Twins with their swings?)

Casilla was pretty impressive defensively:



And this is something that you do not see every day, so enjoy it while it lasts: Drew Butera on second on a dropped fly ball:



All on in all it was a great day. Live baseball on an open air field. In March. Cannot ask for much more.

Report from Fort Myers: March 25th edition

First day in the Twins' Spring Training Camp today. The big team was away to Juniper (but looking at the box score of that game, looks like a lot of the players just took the day off.) Two of them, Alexi Casilla and Jamey Carroll did not, but they played for the Rock Cats and Red Wings, respectively, in the Twins' inter-squad AAA/AA game that started at noon local time.

The Red Wings, in addition to Carroll, had a lot of the recently demoted players from the Twins' camp. Bates 1B, Nishioki 2B, Cheng SS, Pearce 3B, Carson RF, Mastroianni CF and Dustin Martin (the only one not in the Twins' camp) LF. Diamond was the SP and Lehmann the Catcher. A couple of interesting things about Nishioka: Just the fact that he is playing at second base, makes me think that Dozier will be a lock at SS for Rochester. Also, before the game he spent time (at least an hour, based on the time I walked to the Complex) taking grounders with TK and Eddie Rosario among others. Nishi took grounders at SS, Rosario at 2B. Also, interesting to see the role of Ryo when Nishi is in Rochester. For this game, Ryo was a glorified bat boy.



At the dugout Carroll and Nishioka were having an interesting conversation (through Ryo.) Carroll repeatedly tapped the side of his own head and was telling Nishi that he has to play smart. Scott Diamond started for the Red Wings and he was pretty much average and had problems finding the plate. A few bright spots as far as performances went:

Alex Wimmers:



I did not have radar readings, but Wimmers pitched for 4 innings (for the Rock Cats) and pitched very well. Not much problem commanding and controlling which is good news for Twins' fans.

Also very interesting to see Angel Morales playing for the Rock Cats. Casilla was playing for them at that game and he seemed to be very encouraging to the kid.

Bromberg:



and Slama:



also pitched for the Red Wings, but their best pitcher was Tyler Robertson who pitched in relief of Scott Diamond.

Lexi Casilla is locked in this Spring. He mad solid contract as a RHB and he is there 100%, which is great for him. I really expect a breakthrough season for him.

Surprise of the day? This guy:



Twins' 17th round pick in 2011. He was pitching on the field behind me, the sound of the ball to the glove made me look, and his next pitch made me leave the AA-AAA game and go where the Rookie ball players were playing. He will be a good one. Low 90s fastball with good movement and a great curve.

Spring training is always fun. Especially when you are a kid and you get a Hall of Famer to sign a ball for you:

Updated Combined Twins Bench and Bullpen Battle Dashboard; 3/25/12

This is the latest update of the Twins' Bench Battle and the Bullpen Battle Dashboards, to track player performance to date this spring. Brought to you from Fort Myers FL. Performances include those in the last two games vs the Rays yesterday and the Cardinals earlier this afternoon. You can read the basic premise behind the Bench Battle Dashboard here and behind the Bullpen Battle Dashboard here. At this point, there are 11 position players fighting for 3 bench sports and 9 pitchers fighting for 3 bullpen spots.

I will be updating them daily and post daily updates. Players who were assigned to the minor league camp were removed from the dashboards but kept in the rankings, denoted by "(MILB)". One thing I am doing differently from now on (Because if I kept the old way these would be very hard to read and very small) is to not denote performance on a particular day (and use DNP if someone did not play) but list them sequentially. An advantage of this way of listing is to see which players played more, which means that the Twins are interested enough to have many looks. Because it is getting close to the season and the pitching staff has been somewhat of a concern, I am listing the performances of the pitchers who are "locks" to make the team, but do not include them in the rankings.

Here is what the Bench Battle Dashboard looks like today:

Here is what the Bullpen Battle Dashboard looks like today:

Here is the ranking of the position player combatants today (based on position) :

Catchers:

J.R. Towles 2.3
-----
Rene Rivera 1.4
Drew Butera 0.74
Daniel Rohlfing 0.67 (MILB)
Danny Lehmann 0.28 (MILB)
Chris Herrmann 0.1 (MILB)
----
Danny Rams -0.98 (MILB)

Infielders:

Luke Hughes 3.9
Chris Parmelee 3.2


----
Mike Hollimon 1.8
Aaron Bates 1.3 (MILB)
Sean Burroughs 1.2
Ray Chang 1.1 (MILB)
Brian Dozier 0.88
Brian Dinkelman 0.69
Tsuyoshi Nishioka 0.84 (MILB)
Pedro Florimon 0.05
----
Steve Pearce -0.31 (MILB)


Outfielders:


----
Joe Benson 1.7
Wilkin Ramirez 0.43 (MILB)
Matt Carson 0.29 (MILB)
----
Darin Mastroianni -0.01 (MILB)
Rene Tosoni -0.07 (MILB)
Oswaldo Arcia -0.33 (MILB)

Here is the ranking of pitcher combatants today:

Matt Maloney 55.2
P.J. Walters 54.3 (MILB)
Liam Hendriks 53.2
Casey Fien 52.7
Jared Burton 51.7
Carlos Gutierrez 51.3 (MILB)
Luis Perdomo 51.3 (MILB)
Kyle Waldrop 51.2
---
Esmerling Vasquez 51 (MILB)
Daryl Thompson 50.8 (MILB)
Lester Oliveros 50.3 (MILB)
Samuel Deduno 50.2 (MILB)
Aaron Thompson 50 (MILB)
Tyler Robertson 49.7 (MIL
Scott Diamond 49 (MILB)
---
Jeff Manship 48.6
Jeff Gray 48.4
Phil Dumatrait 46.2 (MILB)
Brendan Wise 46.2
Alex Burnett 45.8
Deolis Guerra 42 (MILB)
Jason Bulger 38.3 (MILB)
Terry Doyle 31.3 (MiLB - returned to White Sox)




As always you can find all Spring Training coverage at The Tenth Inning Stretch here.

Updated Combined Twins Bench and Bullpen Battle Dashboard; 3/23/12

This is the latest update of the Twins' Bench Battle and the Bullpen Battle Dashboards, to track player performance to date this spring. Performances include those in the last game vs the Yankees earlier this afternoon. You can read the basic premise behind the Bench Battle Dashboard here and behind the Bullpen Battle Dashboard here. At this point, there are 11 position players fighting for 3 bench sports and 9 pitchers fighting for 3 bullpen spots.

I will be updating them daily and post daily updates. Caveat: I am flying to Fort Myers and traveling pretty much the whole day tomorrow, so expect the next update after Sunday's game. Players who were assigned to the minor league camp were removed from the dashboards but kept in the rankings, denoted by "(MILB)". One thing I am doing differently from now on (Because if I kept the old way these would be very hard to read and very small) is to not denote performance on a particular day (and use DNP if someone did not play) but list them sequentially. An advantage of this way of listing is to see which players played more, which means that the Twins are interested enough to have many looks. Because it is getting close to the season and the pitching staff has been somewhat of a concern, I am listing the performances of the pitchers who are "locks" to make the team, but do not include them in the rankings.

Here is what the Bench Battle Dashboard looks like today:

Here is what the Bullpen Battle Dashboard looks like today:

Here is the ranking of the position player combatants today (based on position) :

Catchers:

-----
Rene Rivera 2.0
J.R. Towles 0.76
Daniel Rohlfing 0.67 (MILB)
Drew Butera 0.41
Danny Lehmann 0.28 (MILB)
Chris Herrmann 0.1 (MILB)
----
Danny Rams -0.98 (MILB)

Infielders:

Chris Parmelee 3.1
Mike Hollimon 2.0

----
Luke Hughes 1.9
Aaron Bates 1.3 (MILB)
Sean Burroughs 1.3
Ray Chang 1.1 (MILB)
Brian Dozier 0.78
Brian Dinkelman 0.77
Tsuyoshi Nishioka 0.84 (MILB)
Pedro Florimon 0.28
----
Steve Pearce -0.31 (MILB)


Outfielders:

Joe Benson 2.3
----
Wilkin Ramirez 0.43 (MILB)
Matt Carson 0.29 (MILB)
----
Darin Mastroianni -0.01 (MILB)
Rene Tosoni -0.07 (MILB)
Oswaldo Arcia -0.33 (MILB)

Here is the ranking of pitcher combatants today:

Matt Maloney 54.8
P.J. Walters 54.3 (MILB)
Casey Fien 53.2
Liam Hendriks 53.2
Jared Burton 51.7
Carlos Gutierrez 51.3 (MILB)
Luis Perdomo 51.3 (MILB)
Kyle Waldrop 51.2
---
Esmerling Vasquez 51 (MILB)
Daryl Thompson 50.8 (MILB)
Lester Oliveros 50.3 (MILB)
Samuel Deduno 50.2 (MILB)
Aaron Thompson 50 (MILB)
Tyler Robertson 49.7 (MILB)
Jeff Gray 49.5
Scott Diamond 49 (MILB)
---
Jeff Manship 48.6
Brendan Wise 47.6
Phil Dumatrait 46.2 (MILB)
Alex Burnett 45.8
Deolis Guerra 42 (MILB)
Jason Bulger 38.3 (MILB)
Terry Doyle 31.3 (MiLB - returned to White Sox)




As always you can find all Spring Training coverage at The Tenth Inning Stretch here.

Ranking the Twins hitters by Spring Training OPS

Because a lot of write-ups and reports from the beat writers about the Twins' Spring Training performance are mentioning how someone is "hitting", using only their batting averages (70s anyone?), I felt that it might be a good idea to rank all the Twins' hitters based on Spring Training OPS (which is a tad more meaningful.) Players denoted with "MILB" have been assigned to the Twins Minor League Camp. Clearly some players are having great performances, while other are struggling. We all know who there are. Also, in this ranking, a couple of cuts seem very curiously premature. Here is the list:

Hollimon 1.246
Parmelee 1.011
Valencia .923
Benson .884
Chang .883 (MILB)
Bates .879 (MILB)
Rivera .871
Hughes .867
Casilla .816
Span .783
Revere .778
Dozier .761
Mauer .746
Doumit .733
Dinkelman .714
Burroughs .713
Willingham .710
Towles .705
Plouffe .654
Butera .636
Nishioka .589 (MILB)
Florimon .508
Ramirez .481 (MILB)
Carroll .477
Carson .448 (MILB)
Mastroianni .445 (MILB)
Rohlfing .400 (MILB)
Herrman .333 (MILB)
Pierce .310 (MILB)
Tosoni .289 (MILB)
Lehmann .286 (MILB)
Morneau .258
Arcia .222 (MILB)
Rams .000 (MILB)

Updated Combined Twins Bench and Bullpen Battle Dashboard; 3/22/12

This is the latest update of the Twins' Bench Battle and the Bullpen Battle Dashboards, to track player performance to date this spring. Performances include those in the last game vs the Orioles earlier this afternoon. You can read the basic premise behind the Bench Battle Dashboard here and behind the Bullpen Battle Dashboard here. At this point, there are 11 position players fighting for 3 bench sports and 9 pitchers fighting for 3 bullpen spots.

I will be updating them daily and post daily updates. Players who were assigned to the minor league camp today are indicated with "MILB" and are italized in the dashboards. Players cut earlier, were removed from the dashboards but kept in the rankings, denoted by "(MILB)". One thing I am doing differently from now on (Because if I kept the old way these would be very hard to read and very small) is to not denote performance on a particular day (and use DNP if someone did not play) but list them sequentially. An advantage of this way of listing is to see which players played more, which means that the Twins are interested enough to have many looks. As a bonus, because it is getting close to the season and the pitching staff has been somewhat of a concern, I am listing the performances of the pitchers who are "locks" to make the team, but do not include them in the rankings.

Here is what the Bench Battle Dashboard looks like today:

Here is what the Bullpen Battle Dashboard looks like today:

Here is the ranking of the position player combatants today (based on position) :

Catchers:

-----
Rene Rivera 2.0
J.R. Towles 0.76
Drew Butera 0.73
Daniel Rohlfing 0.67 (MILB)
Danny Lehmann 0.28 (MILB)
Chris Herrmann 0.1 (MILB)
----
Danny Rams -0.98 (MILB)

Infielders:

Chris Parmelee 3.4
Mike Hollimon 2.3
Luke Hughes 2.1
----
Aaron Bates 1.3 (MILB)

Ray Chang 1.1 (MILB)
Brian Dozier 1.0
Sean Burroughs 0.85
Brian Dinkelman 0.76
Tsuyoshi Nishioka 0.84 (MILB)
Pedro Florimon 0.46
----
Steve Pearce -0.31 (MILB)


Outfielders:

Joe Benson 2.5
----
Wilkin Ramirez 0.43 (MILB)
Matt Carson 0.29 (MILB)
----
Darin Mastroianni -0.01 (MILB)
Rene Tosoni -0.07 (MILB)
Oswaldo Arcia -0.33 (MILB)

Here is the ranking of pitcher combatants today:

Matt Maloney 54.8
P.J. Walters 54.3 (MILB)
Casey Fien 53.2
Liam Hendriks 53.2
Jeff Manship 52.5
Jared Burton 51.7
Carlos Gutierrez 51.3 (MILB)
Luis Perdomo 51.3 (MILB)
---
Esmerling Vasquez 51 (MILB)
Daryl Thompson 50.8 (MILB)
Kyle Waldrop 50.8
Lester Oliveros 50.3 (MILB)
Samuel Deduno 50.2 (MILB)
Aaron Thompson 50 (MILB)
Tyler Robertson 49.7 (MILB)
Jeff Gray 49.5
Scott Diamond 49 (MILB)
---

Brendan Wise 47.6
Phil Dumatrait 46.2 (MILB)
Alex Burnett 45.8
Deolis Guerra 42 (MILB)
Jason Bulger 38.3 (MILB)
Terry Doyle 31.3 (MiLB - returned to White Sox)




As always you can find all Spring Training coverage at The Tenth Inning Stretch here.

Updated Combined Twins Bench and Bullpen Battle Dashboard; 3/21/12

This is the latest update of the Twins' Bench Battle and the Bullpen Battle Dashboards, to track player performance to date this spring. Performances include those in the last game vs the Tigers earlier this afternoon. You can read the basic premise behind the Bench Battle Dashboard here and behind the Bullpen Battle Dashboard here. At this point, there are 14 position players fighting for 3 bench sports and 11 pitchers fighting for 3 bullpen spots.

I will be updating them daily and post daily updates. Players who were assigned to the minor league camp were removed from the dashboards but kept in the rankings, denoted by "(MILB)". One thing I am doing differently from now on (Because if I kept the old way these would be very hard to read and very small) is to not denote performance on a particular day (and use DNP if someone did not play) but list them sequentially. An advantage of this way of listing is to see which players played more, which means that the Twins are interested enough to have many looks. As a bonus, because it is getting close to the seasons and the pitching staff has been somewhat of a concern, I am listing the performances of the pitchers who are "locks" to make the team, but do not include them in the rankings.

Here is what the Bench Battle Dashboard looks like today:

Here is what the Bullpen Battle Dashboard looks like today:

Here is the ranking of the position player combatants today (based on position) :

Catchers:

-----
Rene Rivera 2.5
J.R. Towles 0.97
Drew Butera 0.73
Daniel Rohlfing 0.67 (MILB)
Danny Lehmann 0.28
Chris Herrmann 0.1 (MILB)
----
Danny Rams -0.98 (MILB)

Infielders:

Chris Parmelee 3.6
Luke Hughes 2.5
Mike Hollimon 2.2
----
Aaron Bates 1.3 (MILB)
Sean Burroughs 1.1
Ray Chang 1.1
Brian Dozier 1.1
Brian Dinkelman 0.76
Tsuyoshi Nishioka 0.84 (MILB)
Pedro Florimon 0.55
----
Steve Pearce -0.31 (MILB)


Outfielders:

Joe Benson 2.8
----
Wilkin Ramirez 0.43 (MILB)
Matt Carson 0.29
----
Darin Mastroianni -0.01 (MILB)
Rene Tosoni -0.07 (MILB)
Oswaldo Arcia -0.33 (MILB)

Here is the ranking of pitcher combatants today:

Matt Maloney 54.8
P.J. Walters 54.3 (MILB)
Casey Fien 53.2
Jeff Manship 52.5
Liam Hendriks 52.4
Jared Burton 51.7
Carlos Gutierrez 51.3 (MILB)
Luis Perdomo 51.3 (MILB)
---
Esmerling Vasquez 51 (MILB)
Daryl Thompson 50.8 (MILB)
Kyle Waldrop 50.8
Lester Oliveros 50.3 (MILB)
Samuel Deduno 50.2
Aaron Thompson 50 (MILB)
Tyler Robertson 49.7 (MILB)
Jeff Gray 49.5
Scott Diamond 49 (MILB)
---

Brendan Wise 47.8
Phil Dumatrait 46.2
Alex Burnett 45.8
Deolis Guerra 42 (MILB)
Jason Bulger 38.3 (MILB)
Terry Doyle 31.3 (MiLB - returned to White Sox)




As always you can find all Spring Training coverage at The Tenth Inning Stretch here.

Can the Twins' "new" utility infielder be an old one?

We have heard rumors that the Twins might be shopping "outside the organization" for a utility infielder after the demotion of Nishioka.

These rumors have just started a couple days ago, and are fairly interesting. If I had to venture a guess, the Twins will not have to search far to find a utility infielder and the "new" utility infielder would not even need to move far to join the Twins' camp in Spring Training. The writing in the wall is almost getting clear:

Looking across the street in the other Fort Myers' spring training team, it looks like Mike Avila, Jose Inglesias and Pedro Ciriaco are ahead of our old friend Nick Punto for the 3 Red Sox vacancies of starting short stop and potential bench spots.

Is there a reunion of the Twins with Nick Punto in the cards? Only time will tell, but I do not discount the possibility...

Random Tuesday Twins Thoughts and Tidbits

Here is this week's installment (also heavily influenced by Spring Training) :

• I am on my way to Fort Myers this weekend. There will be in situ coverage of the Twins major league and minor league camps, as well as games all next week from there. So make sure that you check here early and often. This will also give me a chance to update my Fort Myers Spring Training Guide for next season. I am also planning on a few surprises, but those will have to wait. I will be tweeting a lot during the games and as I get news about the Twins, so feel free to follow me on twitter @thrylos98 or come back here and see my latest Twins tweets at the left hand side of the page.


• By now we all know about the second round of the Twins' cuts, and I suspect sending Nishioka to Rochester was a bitter pill to swallow, but the right decision. This opens the door for someone like Mike Hollimon to win a roster spot. At this point, the Twins might want to take Nishioka off the 40-man roster as well. If he gets claimed, he does, if he does not, nothing lost and a spot gained... I also suspect that there might be a trade or 2 before the rosters get finalized.


• Speaking of Nishioka, I sure hope that the Rochester Red Wings are now paying his translator instead of the Twins. They can afford him with all the income they are getting by the Yankees and by selling Yankee paraphernalia in their web site.


• Speaking of the cuts... the one that I kinda find unreasonable at this point is Aaron Bates. He has been outperforming a lot of people, and it is a shame he was cut, while Matt Carson, Brian Dinkelman and Danny Lehmann are still around.


• This is a killer video of the Twins' Spring Training. A MUST watch.


• Twins' LHP pitching prospect Ryan O'Rourke, blogged about his first days in the Twins' minor league camp in Fort Myers. So does fellow pitching prospect Dakota Watts.


• At least certain Twins' players enjoyed St. Patric's day. Can you identify the one not identified? Hint: all 3 of them were in Rochester for at least parts of last season, and 2 of them were cut yesterday. Meanwhile another Twins' player, was at least thinking of sporting the Jose Reyes look (before haircut).


• I would not "panic about Justin Morneau" (and I do not "panic"), but I might be a tad concerned about Jason Marquis and Carl Pavano at this point. A quote by Marquis from that ESPN1500 link with the Morneau story: "I worked in my slider and today was the first day I used it. I wouldn't say excessively, but I felt like it was where I needed it to be. So I was pretty excited about it." All I have to say is that I am glad to see that he is pretty excited about the outcome...


• Meanwhile, both Cleveland and Kansas City lost their closers for a while and the White Sox have traded theirs a while ago... On the other hand the Royals' Broxton is having a nice Spring Training. Additionally, the new Tigers' third baseman, loves to stop line drives with his face.


• If you live around the Twin Cities area and have a taste for Twins' minor league ball, make sure that you check out Territory Train. I think that they follow the major league team around too.


• It started yesterday, but I think that since the Do you know your Twins? challenge has been a hit, and since I have lots of Twins' memorabilia to give away, I may continue doing that. At least on a monthly basis


• Continuing the Twins' product of the week feature. Because there are so many out there and some of them are, well... interesting. But this one, I ordered one for myself. This weeks' winner is: MLB Minnesota Twins Classic Baseball Bracelet
  

The parting shot today is of dearly departed (to Rochester) Tsuyoshi Nishioka in full Chiba Lotte Marines regalia. I hope he returns to the performance he had then, via Rochester, soon.

Contest: do you know your Twins? Game-used bat reward

Here are the members of the Minnesota Twins' Hall of Fame:

Harmon Killebrew
Rod Carew
Tony Oliva
Kent Hrbek
Kirby Puckett
Calvin Griffith
Herb Carneal
Jim Kaat
Bert Blyleven
Tom Kelly
Bob Allison
Bob Casey
Earl Battey
Frank Viola
Carl Pohlad
Zoilo Versalles
Gary Gaetti
Jim Rantz
Rick Aguilera
Brad Radke
George Brophy
Jim Perry
Greg Gagne
Camilo Pascual

Here is the challenge: Find the one who is different than the others. That's the game. I'll let it run until I return from Fort Myers early April. The first person who will guess who is different that the others and why, will win a game used bat of a Twins' first round pick.

And you have to guess in the comments section here.

Shoot :)

the winner will be announced early April

Updated Combined Twins Bench and Bullpen Battle Dashboard, and a bonus; 3/19/12

This is the latest update of the Twins' Bench Battle and the Bullpen Battle Dashboards, to track player performance to date this spring. Performances include those in the last game vs the Red Sox earlier this afternoon. You can read the basic premise behind the Bench Battle Dashboard here and behind the Bullpen Battle Dashboard here.

I will be updating them daily and post daily updates. Players who were assigned to the minor league camp were removed from the dashboards but kept in the rankings, denoted by "(MILB)". Also, I have denoted today's cuts the same way as well. One thing I am doing differently from now on (Because if I kept the old way these would be very hard to read and very small) is to not denote performance on a particular day (and use DNP if someone did not play or MILB if they were assigned to the minors) but list them sequentially. An advantage of this way of listing is to see which players played more, which means that the Twins are interested enough to have many looks. As a bonus, because it is getting close to the seasons and the pitching staff has been somewhat of a concern, I am listing the performances of the pitchers who are "locks" to make the team, but do not include them in the rankings.

Here is what the Bench Battle Dashboard looks like today:

Here is what the Bullpen Battle Dashboard looks like today:

Here is the ranking of the position player combatants today (based on position) :

Catchers:

-----
Rene Rivera 2.5
Drew Butera 1.0
J.R. Towles 0.97
Daniel Rohlfing 0.67 (MILB)
Danny Lehmann 0.28
Chris Herrmann 0.1 (MILB)
----
Danny Rams -0.98 (MILB)

Infielders:

Chris Parmelee 3.2
Mike Hollimon 2.5
----
Aaron Bates 1.3 (MILB)
Ray Chang 1.3
Luke Hughes 1.3
Sean Burroughs 1.1
Brian Dozier 1.1
Brian Dinkelman 0.89
Tsuyoshi Nishioka 0.84 (MILB)
Pedro Florimon 0.63
----
Steve Pearce -0.31 (MILB)


Outfielders:

Joe Benson 2.2
----
Wilkin Ramirez 0.43 (MILB)
Matt Carson 0.37
----
Darin Mastroianni -0.01 (MILB)
Rene Tosoni -0.07 (MILB)
Oswaldo Arcia -0.33 (MILB)

Here is the ranking of pitcher combatants today:

Matt Maloney 54.6
Liam Hendriks 54.5
P.J. Walters 54.3 (MILB)
Casey Fien 53.6
Jeff Manship 52.5
Samuel Deduno 52.3
Jared Burton 51.7
Carlos Gutierrez 51.3 (MILB)
Luis Perdomo 51.3 (MILB)
---
Esmerling Vasquez 51 (MILB)
Daryl Thompson 50.8 (MILB)
Kyle Waldrop 50.8
Lester Oliveros 50.3 (MILB)
Aaron Thompson 50 (MILB)
Tyler Robertson 49.7 (MILB)
Scott Diamond 49 (MILB)
---
Jeff Gray 48.3
Brendan Wise 47.8
Phil Dumatrait 46.2
Alex Burnett 45.8
Deolis Guerra 42 (MILB)
Jason Bulger 38.3 (MILB)
Terry Doyle 31.3




As always you can find all Spring Training coverage at The Tenth Inning Stretch here.

Updated Combined Twins Bench and Bullpen Battle Dashboard; 3/18/12

This is the latest update of the Twins' Bench Battle and the Bullpen Battle Dashboards, to track player performance to date this spring. Performances include those in the last two games vs the Marlins yesterday and vs the Pirates earlier this afternoon. You can read the basic premise behind the Bench Battle Dashboard here and behind the Bullpen Battle Dashboard here. I will be updating them daily and post daily updates. Players who were assigned to the minor league camp were removed from the dashboards but kept in the rankings, denoted by "(MILB)".

Here is what the Bench Battle Dashboard looks like today:

Here is what the Bullpen Battle Dashboard looks like today:

Here is the ranking of the position player combatants today (based on position) :

Catchers:

-----
Rene Rivera 2.5
J.R. Towles 1,1
Drew Butera 1.0
Daniel Rohlfing 0.67
Danny Lehmann 0.28
Chris Herrmann 0.1
----
Danny Rams -0.98 (MILB)

Infielders:

Chris Parmelee 3.0
Mike Hollimon 2.5
----
Aaron Bates 1.3
Ray Chang 1.3
Brian Dozier 1.3
Luke Hughes 1.3
Brian Dinkelman 0.93
Tsuyoshi Nishioka 0.84
Sean Burroughs 0.78
Pedro Florimon 0.55
----
Steve Pearce -0.31 (MILB)


Outfielders:

Joe Benson 1.9
----
Wilkin Ramirez 0.43
Matt Carson 0.02
----
Darin Mastroianni -0.01 (MILB)
Rene Tosoni -0.07
Oswaldo Arcia -0.33 (MILB)

Here is the ranking of pitcher combatants today:

Liam Hendriks 54.5
Matt Maloney 54.3
P.J. Walters 54.3
Casey Fien 53
Jeff Manship 52.8
Kyle Waldrop 52
Jared Burton 51.4
Carlos Gutierrez 51.3
Luis Perdomo 51.3
---
Esmerling Vasquez 51
Daryl Thompson 50.8
Samuel Deduno 50.5
Lester Oliveros 50.3 (MILB)
Aaron Thompson 50 (MILB)
Tyler Robertson 49.7 (MILB)
Scott Diamond 49 (MILB)
---
Brendan Wise 47.8
Jeff Gray 46.5
Phil Dumatrait 46.2
Deolis Guerra 42 (MILB)
Alex Burnett 41.3
Jason Bulger 38.3
Terry Doyle 31.3




As always you can find all Spring Training coverage at The Tenth Inning Stretch here.