First Series of the Season is up for Grabs in the Rubber Game!
The Minnesota Twins got a taste of what the Chicago White Sox offense could bring yesterday as they were beat 10-3 after the bullpen got roughed up for 9 runs & 5 home runs in 4 innings so they’ll need to win the rubber game today to stay above .500 and to regain 1st place in the division, which was deadlocked with all 5 teams having a record of 1-1.
But…does the White Sox winning 10-3 mean they are in this thing until the end in the 2nd game of the season? Or does it mean they won a game? How ‘bout we give it at least a week or two before we anoint any team who had a losing record last season to this season’s playoffs even though there are now 16 playoff spots this season.
The White Sox have a great lineup with some good young players but if they’re young, they will undoubtedly go through some struggles like pretty much every player who’s played the game before them. Is the pitching where they will struggle and will it happen as they move down their rotation like today, for example? The Twins send RHP Kenta Maeda to the mound and the White Sox send RHP Reynaldo Lopez to the mound. Lopez’ lowest WHIP (Walks & Hits per Inning Pitched) in any of his 5 MLB seasons is 1.27 while Maeda’s highest WHIP in any of his 5 MLB seasons is 1.26. Lopez’ career ERA is 4.74 in 465.0 innings while Maeda’s is 3.86 in 594.0 innings. Now, Maeda is 32 & Lopez is 26 so there’s a big difference there but they are both in the 3rd spot in their team’s rotation.
Alright, let’s see what happened in today’s game.
The first inning started out well for the White Sox as they got 2 groundouts even if the 2nd one had to be overturned by replay but it all went downhill quickly for them. Jorge Polanco walked. Nelson Cruz then doubled down the left field line to advance Polanco to 3rd. Eddie Rosario then walked to load the bases to bring up Jake Cave in a big spot.
2 pitches later it was 4-0 thanks to a Jack Cave Grand Slam to left field and to make it worse for the White Sox, LF Eloy Jimenez hit the wall hard and awkwardly as he was tracking the ball. He ended up coming out of the game in the 2nd inning because of an “injured head” according to the report. Then, more great news for the Sox as starting pitcher Reynaldo Lopez threw a pitch and cringed in pain and he had to be taken out of the game, later said to be because of an “injured shoulder.”
Luis Arraez singled but Marwin Gonzalez then struck out to end the inning. That meant RHP Kenta Maeda was coming to the mound to make his Minnesota Twins Debut and he did not disappoint. He allowed just 2 hits and no walks in the first 4 innings while striking out 6.
The Twins meanwhile, were putting up more runs. They loaded the bases again in the 2nd inning behind a hit by pitch (Alex Avila), a walk (Josh Donaldson) and a Jorge Polanco single. That brought up Nelson Cruz and he hit another double. This one went down the right field line and it cleared the bases for a 7-0 Twins lead but they weren’t done yet. Eddie Rosario knocked in Cruz with a double of his own and Luis Arraez added another run with an RBI-single to left field. 9-0 Twins.
The Twins added another run in the 4th on Nelson Cruz’s 2nd HR of the season to center field. 10-0 Twins.
The White Sox showed a little life in their bats and got to Kenta Maeda in the bottom of the 5th inning when Adam Engel led off the inning with his 2nd double of the game and then Luis Robert hit a home run on the very next pitch, both hits coming on changeups in almost identical spots. 10-2 Twins.
The Twins put 3 more runs on the board in the top of the 8th on Nelson Cruz’ 2nd HR of the game. This one was a 3-run shot that went down the left field line and scored Donaldson (walk) and Polanco (single). 13-0 Twins.
Marwin Gonzalez added his 1st HR of the season in the top of the 9th.
The Twins bullpen did okay again. It was LHP Lewis Thorpe (2.2 innings) and RHP Matt Wisler (1.1 innings), who had thrown 24 pitches on Saturday but it was a 12-run game and the Twins needed to relieve Thorpe. Wisler struggled a little, allowing 2 walks and 1 hit but he struck out 4 so every player he got out was with the strikeout. Thorpe gave up a hit and 2 walks and didn’t strike out anyone but he also didn’t allow any damage so they both might need some work or just the time to get the rust off.
The Twins have tomorrow off then have their Home Opener on Tuesday at 7:10pm on Tuesday with RHP Homer Bailey getting the ball against the St. Louis Cardinals who will have RHP Carlos Martinez on the mound. Here’s the rest of the series scheduled starters:
Twins LHP Rich Hill vs RHP Miles Mikolas – 7:10pm on Fox Sports North
We’re in the 4th week of July and we just saw the first Minnesota Twins of the season last night as the Twins traveled to Chicago for a 3-game series against their American League Central rival, the Chicago White Sox.
No matter what day it is on the calendar, if it’s Opening Day, it’s a good day because it means Baseball is Back! This season could be a lot more fun for Twins fans because these Minnesota Twins have a chance to do something special. They won 101 games in 2019 and, after breaking the record for most home runs by a team in a single season (307), they arguably got better by adding 3B Josh Donaldson to the lineup. That moved 3B Miguel Sano to 1st base. They also added some starting pitching by trading for Los Angeles Dodgers RHP Kenta Maeda and signing Free Agents LHP Rich Hill and RHP Homer Bailey. They also added another piece to the bullpen by signing RHP Tyler Clippard. They also added a new backup catcher in C Alex Avila after Jason Castro signed with the Los Angeles Angels as a free agent.
So…a few additions but the core and the majority of the Minnesota Twins stayed the same and that’s a good thing. RHP Jose Berrios takes the mound for Opening Day and here’s the lineup for Game 1:
RF Max Kepler 3B Josh Donaldson SS Jorge Polanco DH Nelson Cruz LF Eddie Rosario C Mitch Garver CF Jake Cave 1B Miguel Sano 2B Luis Arraez
That lineup is pretty amazing. We’ll see how teams try to get around it through the next 9 and a half weeks. It won’t be easy but it will be fun to watch as we found out in the first game.
The Twins have had a more aggressive mentality at the plate since signing Nelson Cruz and since having Rocco Baldelli as their manager. That means they are always ready to hit no matter what the count or how many pitches have been thrown in the game or, as we found out last night, the season.
On the very first pitch of the very first game, Max Kepler launched the first HR of the season into the right field seats and Here…We…GO!
MAX-A-MILLIAN!!!!
YEAH, BABY!!!
One Pitch, One Run as Max Kepler hits the #MNTwins 1st HR of the season on the 1st pitch of the season!!!
Josh Donaldson earned a walk in his first at-bat as a Twin then Jorge Polanco grounded out to short in a play that probably should’ve turned 2 but White Sox 2B Leury Garcia couldn’t make the exchange to his throwing hand after catching the ball and stepping on 2nd base. Nelson Cruz singled and a Wild Pitch advanced Cruz & Polanco to 2nd & 3rd. Eddie Rosario walked, which got a lot of attention because, well, that’s not what we usually see from Rosie but, if you watched the game, it was an easily earned walk as White Sox starter RHP Lucas Giolito was struggling with his command early. Eddie does want to walk more or, maybe a better way to say it, he wants to swing at more strikes this season. We know he wants to swing, right? Like Joaquin Phoenix in the movie Signs, “Felt wrong not to swing.”
Mitch Garver then hit a sacrifice fly to the right field line that scored Polanco and advanced both runners up a base. CF Jake Cave hit the next pitch for a 2-run single and the Twins were up 4-0 and it looked like this might be a blowout before the Twins even take the field. Miguel Sano struck out to end the inning on a tough changeup low & inside after 2 fastballs.
So, the White Sox not turning that double play ends up turning into 3 runs for the Twins. Ouch!
Here’s the Chicago White Sox lineup and they have done well rebuilding this team, at least from the hitting side. The pitching…well, we’ll find out, right? They think they can compete for the American League Central division title right now.
SS Tim Anderson 3B Yoan Moncada 1B Jose Abreu C Yasmani Grandal DH Edwin Encarnacion LF Eloy Jimenez CF Luis Robert RF Nicky Delmonico 2B Leury Garcia
Jose Berrios took the mound and we’ve come to expect great things from “our Ace” and this was no different. He’s expected great things from himself for a long time. Now, it’s just going out and doing it.
Tim Anderson hit a single to the left side that went off of Josh Donaldson’s glove and into left field. Yoan Moncada followed with a check swing double down the left field line so runners on 2nd & 3rd with no outs. Jose Abreu battled through his at-bat to earn an RBI groundout to 2nd then Yasmani Grandal grounded out and Edwin Encarnacion lined out to end the inning. 4-1 Twins.
Luis Arraez grounded out to first to leadoff the 2nd inning and up came Max Kepler again. This at-bat started differently but had the same end result as his first at-bat, a home run to right center field. It took 8 pitches and Max had to foul off 4 pitches before getting another fastball he liked. Giolito’s reaction was a little…”not again.” He then got 2 outs on 3 pitches to end the top of the 2nd. 5-1 Twins.
2 singles led off the bottom of the 2nd then the Twins turned a double play so a runner at 3rd. Then a walk and an RBI-single from Tim Anderson meant 2 on for Yoan Moncada and he absolutely crushed a fastball that was basically the same pitch, same location as the pitch before that he backed off of like he thought it was going to hit him and this game was tied at 5!
We have ourselves a ballgame!
Only 1 hit, an Eloy Jimenez double, but no runs in the 3rd inning.
The top of the 4th went single (Cave), groudout (Sano-Cave out at 2nd), single (Arraez-Sano to 2nd), popout (Kepler), walk (Donaldson-bases loaded), pitching change to RHP Evan Marshall, 2-run single by Polanco that he blooped to center field by just trying to make contact, walk (Cruz), groundout (Rosario.) 7-5 Twins.
Berrios got the Sox out in order in the bottom of the 4th and after the Twins went down on 3 strikeouts in the 5th, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli activated his bullpen by bringing in fireballer RHP Trevor May. He struck out one and walked one in a scoreless inning.
RHP Tyler Clippard made his Twins debut in the bottom of the 6th and he walked the first batter he faced but struck out Luis Robert (1st MLB strikeout for the young outfielder) then got 2 popouts for another good inning for the Twins bullpen.
The Twins led off the top of the 7th with 3 straight singles that scored 1 run. Garver then walked to load the bases but both Jake Cave & Miguel Sano struck out* to bring up Luis Arraez in a big spot & you might not want any other hitter up in a big spot then Luis because you know he’s going to take a great at-bat every time he comes to the plate and probably even better in a spot like this. He came through with a 2-run single to right field to make it 10-5 Twins. *Sano’s strikeout was on a low pitch that wasn’t a strike. Credit to Grandal for the frame job on that one.
The Twins bullpen took over from there as RHP Tyler Duffer & RHP Cody Stashak pitched the last 3 innings allowing just a single and a double while striking out 5, (Duffey-2 in 1.0, Stashak-3 in 2.0.)
The Twins bullpen pitched 5 innings allowing just those 2 hits while walking 2 and striking out 7!
Tomorrow’s game starts at 1:10pm and Twins RHP Randy Dobnak against White Sox (& former Astro) LHP Dallas Keuchel.
Dobnak is starting so the Twins can move LHP Rich Hill back to his 5th rotation spot according to what we’ve heard. Does that mean Rich Hill is starting on Opening Day on Tuesday at Target Field? Kenta Maeda is listed for tomorrow’s game. Are they skipping Homer Bailey or is Bailey the 5th starter and Odorizzi will then pitch on July 31st when his spot comes up again in the rotation?
Is this the Year the Twins breakthrough with some Postseason success?
We’re living in crazy times! Crazy Times Indeed! 5+ months ago if anyone told you we’d be self-isolating and wearing masks when we leave the house and there would be no sports for months and when they come back, they’ll be played with no fans in the stands, you would have looked at me like they were nuts but… here we are & that is what’s happening.
A season that had to be halted because of COVID-19 has now been trimmed from 162 games down to just 60 games that will be played over 66 days. Strangely enough, the 2019 Twins schedule’s last 60 games were also played over a span of 66 days and those Twins went 39-21 over that span to clinch the American League Central while breaking the record for most home runs by a team in a single season with 307.
Elevator Pitch
It’s been the call from fans for a long time, the Twins need pitching. They don’t have time to wait for prospects from trades or their recent drafts so the best way to get it quickly was going to have to be to go through free agency. Unfortunately, that’s also the most expensive way. Twins Chief Baseball Officer Derek Falvey and General Manager Thad Levine made multiple offers to the best free agent pitchers but it wasn’t enough. A couple of the top pitchers had already narrowed down their choices making it a long shot, if not an impossibility to land them.
Hills & Baileys
Once the Twins found out they weren’t going to get any of the top tier free agent pitchers, they acted quickly to add LHP Rich Hill & RHP Homer Bailey to 1-year deals after already having re-signed RHPs Jake Odorizzi to his 1-year/$17.8M qualifying offer and Michael Pineda to a 2-year/$20M contract knowing he still had 39 games to serve of his 60-game suspension.
A lot of fans looked at this as them getting the leftovers after not ponying up enough money to get who they wanted. I look at it as having a target of what you want to spend and/or what the top guys are worth and not going over that. If you have to go the way of Free Agency to fix your team, you better be sure about who you’re signing. None of the top free agent pitchers were no-brainers to be signed as an Ace pitcher.* They all had their faults whether that be age, injury, great pitching history or some combination of the three.
The Back End
The Twins bullpen was sneaky good last year. This year, they won’t sneak up on anyone but that shouldn’t matter. They actually improved the bullpen a little as well. They brought back RHP Sergio Romo which is both good and entertaining but they also added RHP Tyler Clippard, who is another good veteran arm that only makes this bullpen stronger.
The young core of this bullpen is still very strong with LHP Taylor Rogers likely still getting most of the closing duties but he could always come in to get the Twins out of a jam if needed. RHP Tyler Duffey will look to keep building on a career season in 2019 where he saw his stuff excel with some help from the Twins and pitching coach Wes Johnson.
Then there’s still RHPs Trevor May, Zack Littell, Cody Stashak and they claimed RHP Matt Wisler off waivers from the Seattle Mariners in late October. They like what Wisler brings with his slider as it’s one of the best sliders in the game. The problem has been his other pitches aren’t that great but if Johnson can get some more velocity out of his fastball and then pair it with that slider, the Twins could have another nice piece in their bullpen.
The Twins also signed LHP Caleb Thielbar for another option from the left side and have a couple prospects to keep an eye on in the bullpen in RHPs Dakota Chalmers and Jorge Alcala.
All in all, the Twins bullpen is now a strength and it should get better as the majority of them (all but 3) are still under 30 years of age.
Rain Down On Thee
Not signing a big free agent did have the nay-saying Twins fans saying they would never land a big free agent but low and behold on January 21st, the Weather showed a big Rain storm coming in to the Twins Cities. 3B Josh Donaldson and the Twins agreed to a 4-year/$92M contract with a team option for a 5th year with an $8M buyout. The Bringer of Rain will play the hot corner for the Minnesota Twins in the four-seeable future!
At 34 years old, 4 years might seem like a risk but if JD helps the Twins win, the money won’t matter and this is a team that’s ready to win now with a bunch of prospects who are close to ready. Prospects are what help you weather the storm (pun intended) of your team’s payroll.
The Twins Maeda Trade
The Twins still needed help on the mound so they went to the trade route and found a taker in the Los Angeles Dodgers. It took a long time to finalize the trade. It was initially part of a 3-team trade between the Dodgers, the Boston Red Sox and the Twins but some snags hit as the Red Sox were a little gun shy about acquiring Twins right-handed relief pitching prospect Brusdar Graterol so the Dodgers just tweaked the trade to get Graterol (and OF Luke Raley & Future Considerations) from the Twins for RHP Kenta Maeda, C Jair Camargo and $10M in cash (assumed to be 2020-2022 salary + trade bonus.)
The Twins added a nice starting pitcher with a career ERA under 4.00 (3.92 as a starting pitcher) who also strikes out more than 1 batter per inning (9.6 SO9 (Strikeouts/9 IP)) and has a WHIP under 1.2 (1.163) in 546.2 innings. That’s a nice piece to go with RHPs Jose Berrios & Jake Odorizzi and they still have Hill, Bailey, RHP Randy Dobnak, LHP Lewis Thorpe, RHP Michael Pineda for the last 21 games and at least one decent prospect in RHP Jhoan Duran but maybe more with RHP Sean Poppen.
Can Records Survive a BoomStick in Rain & Sano while Covered in GarvSauce?
Yes because there are only 60 games but the Twins lineup is probably better than last season. They added Josh Donaldson to a team that hit the most Home Runs in a single season! He basically replaces C.J. Cron’s bat in the lineup & Jonathan Schoop’s bat was taken over by Luis Arraez during last season. Yeah, that’s better!
Miguel Sano is moving to first and he’s set to hit 8th in the lineup! MIGUEL SANO IS HITTING 8TH!!! Just look at this lineup…& their 2019 stats:
How do opposing pitchers get through this?
This is after having the 2nd best offense in the whole league last season behind only the New York Yankees.
For the Love of the Glove
The Twins have been getting better everywhere since Derek Falvey & Thad Levine took over control of the organization. Their defense wasn’t ever really terrible but it needed improvement. Adding gold-glove caliber defense at 3rd base and moving Sano to first should help the infield. Jorge Polanco is getting a little better every season. Luis Arraez had a below average season defensively but has better numbers at the minor-league level so it could be a small sample size as he was all over the field last season then settled into 2B after taking over for Jonathan Schoop.
The outfield is very good defensively even though Eddie Rosario is getting worse by the season. He has the ability to be very good defensively and his arm usually has him among the leaders in outfield assists but he also is usually among the leaders in errors for left fielders. Buxton & Kepler are top notch defenders.
Behind the plate, Mitch Garver improved a lot defensively last season and newly signed backup catcher Alex Avila is your typical backup who is very good defensively.
Marathons Do Have Sprints at the End
We mentioned above that this season’s 60 games will take place over 66 days and that is exactly the same number of days the Twins had to play the last 60 games of the 2019 season. The Twins learned how to win when it counted last season so this shouldn’t be anything new to them.
When those last 60 games began on Friday, July 26th, the Twins were up 2 games on the Cleveland Indians in the division. 2 weeks later, the division was tied after Cleveland won the first 2 games of a 4-game series at Target Field. The Twins won the 3rd game then Cleveland won again and the American League Central was tied with just 44 games to go. The Twins went 30-14 the rest of the way including a huge sweep of a double-header to begin a 3-game series in Cleveland where the Twins had to use their bullpen for the entirety of both games. That put them up 5.5 games and they never looked back, going 10-4 to finish the season and claim the division title.
Reigning American League Manager of the Year, Rocco Baldelli, will keep doing what he did last season to keep this team rested and in the right frame of mind. This is a great team that learned how good they can be in 2019 and now they have a chance to do something special in Year 2 with the added bat, defense and attitude of one Josh Donaldson who should only help them win more games.
It won’t be easy as Cleveland still has the pitching and a decent team and the Chicago White Sox have an up & coming young team with a bunch of good players but in the end, the Twins should come out on top.
Every season, you try to get better and the Twins have done that so now it’s time to go out there and prove it! We believe the Twins will win their 2nd consecutive Division Title and do some damage in the postseason for the first time in a long time.
The Minnesota Twins begin a new era of being perennial championship contenders on Friday in Chicago against the Chicago White Sox!
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You might be saying Rule 5 Draft? What does that even mean? It’s called the Rule 5 Draft supposedly because of where it is in the rulebook. The simplest way to explain it, though, is it’s a draft to allow other teams to select players they believe are ready for a shot to play in the Majors if their current team either doesn’t believe they are ready and/or doesn’t have a spot for him on their 40-man roster or at that position (commonly known as a player who’s blocked.)
The 40-Man Roster is used for that reason, also. Teams add the players/pitchers who have shown they could make the majors in the next 1-3 years so they can keep them under team control for the next 3-6 seasons. Some players are added because they’ve quickly risen to that point in their careers where they are close to taking that Major step while others are added to protect them and keep them in the organization.
As soon as a player is added to the 40-Man Roster, their options begin. Options, each player has 3 option years, gives the team the ability to call up a player to the major league roster and then send him back down to the minors without having to worry about losing that player to another team. Once the option years are used up, a player has to clear waivers when being sent down to the minors. Options last until they are all used or until the player becomes a free agent. For example, players like Eddie Rosario (1), Jose Berrios (1) and Taylor Rogers (2) still have options available because they weren’t sent down to the minors after coming up in one or two of their seasons with the Twins.
There are other rules that come with a Rule 5 Draft pick. It costs a team $100,000 to pick a player. They have to have a spot available on their 40-Man Roster and they have to stay on that team’s 25-man roster for the entire next season. They can’t be optioned to the minors. They can try to send the pick through waivers but any team that claims him assumes the same Rule 5 Draft roster responsibilities. If they clear waivers, the player has to be offered back to their original team for $50,000. If they chose to take him back, they can send him to the minors or they can let the player go to the minors for the other team if they don’t want the player back.
Kind of crazy, huh? There are also some situations where an injured player can stay with the club who picked them. They have to be on the Major League team’s Injured List for a certain amount of days, though.
DECISIONS The Minnesota Twins currently have 32 players on their 40-Man Roster but they have 25 prospects who are eligible for the Rule 5 Draft. Those 25 players consist of 6 infielders (including 1 catcher), 3 outfielders and 16 pitchers, 7 of whom are listed as starting pitchers and 9 listed as relievers according to Fangraphs RosterResource Depth Chart.
The Minnesota Twins 40-Man Roster before the November 20th Deadline to add Rule 5 Draft Eligible players.
You might be thinking it’s crazy they can only select 7-8 players from a list of 25 prospects but there are a lot of players who are still in the low minors that are easy decisions to not add to the 40-Man Roster. If a prospect has yet to reach AA, it’s hard to believe a team will take a risk on having him on their Major League roster for an entire season.
Today, we’re going to look at the players, the hitters/fielders which consists of 6 infielders & 3 outfielders, to see if any of them are worth adding to the 40-Man Roster in order to guarantee they stay in the organization and do not get selected in the Rule 5 Draft on December 12th
First let’s look at what the Minnesota Twins already have on their roster for infielders, outfielders and designated hitters.
INFIELDERS (INCLUDING CATCHERS & DESIGNATED HITTERS) # Pos Name B/T Ht Wt DOB 18 C Mitch Garver R/R 6’1” 220 1/15/91 64 C Willians Astudillo R/R 5’9” 225 10/14/91 24 1B C.J. Cron R/R 6’4” 235 1/5/90 2 2B Luis Arraez L/R 5’10”177 4/9/97 11 SS Jorge Polanco S/R 5’11” 200 7/5/93 22 3B Miguel Sano R/R 6’4” 272 5/11/93 23 DH Nelson Cruz R/R 6’2” 230 7/1/80 13 Util Ehire Adrianza S/R 6’1” 195 8/21/89 9 Util Marwin Gonzalez S/R 6’1” 205 3/14/89 1 2B/SS Nick Gordon L/R 6’0” 160 10/24/95
OUTFIELDERS # Pos Name B/T Ht Wt DOB 20 LF Eddie Rosario L/R 6’1” 180 9/28/91 25 CF Byron Buxton R/R 6’2” 190 12/18/93 26 RF Max Kepler L/L 6’4” 220 2/10/93 60 OF Jake Cave L/L 6’0” 220 12/4/92 30 OF LaMonte Wade Jr. L/L 6’1” 205 1/1/94
As you can see, they’re pretty much set at every position so there isn’t a need at any position. Even if you aren’t in favor of tendering 1B C.J. Cron (and his $7.7M predicted arbitration salary), they can fill 1st base with Ehire Adrianza, Marwin Gonzalez or by moving Miguel Sano from 3rd base. The Twins have said they aren’t planning to move Miguel from 3rd base so that’s not happening, yet.
DECISIONS, DECISIONS Let’s see what non-pitchers the Twins have to make decisions on in the next 2+ days.
Pos Name B/T Ht Wt DOB LEVEL C/3B Caleb Hamilton R/R 6’0” 185 2/5/95 AAA (11 gms) 1B/LF Zander Wiel R/R 6’3” 220 1/11/93 AAA (126 gms) 2B/LF/3B Travis Blankenhorn L/R 6’2” 228 8/31/96 AA (93 gms) 3B Brian Schales R/R 6’1’ 170 2/13/96 AAA (17 gms*) 2B/SS Yeltsin Encarnacion S/R 5’11” 170 6/28/98 AAA (3 gms**) SS Wander Javier R/R 6’1” 165 12/29/98 Low-A LF/RF/1B Luke Raley L/R 6’4” 235 9/19/94 AAA (33 gms*) OF Gilberto Celestino R/L 6’0” 170 2/13/99 A+ (8 gms) OF Trey Cabbage L/R 6’3” 204 5/3/97 A+ (81 gms) *Injury-Shortened Season? **Encarnacion played most of ‘19 in single-A
C/1B/3B Caleb Hamilton – In his 4 seasons since being drafted in 2016, he’s yet to hit for an average higher than .226. He looks alright defensively but is a team going to have him as their backup catcher all season? Doubtful. Unprotected
1B/OF Zander Wiel – He is intriguing because he had a really good season in Rochester this season. He only hit .254 for an average but he had an on-base percentage of .320 and, this is what we like about him, he slugged .514! He was 119-for-469 and 69 of those 119 hits (58%) were extra-base hits (XBH). He hit 40 doubles, 5 triples and 24 home runs in 126 games, 108 of them at 1B. He also walked 40 times but struck out 158 times but he was hitting the ball hard while playing very good at 1B most of the time. A lot of people will say the ball made a big difference in his power production but he still had to hit the ball and he was obviously hitting it hard. Protect Him
There’s also a great article from MiLB.com where they go position by position across each team’s system honoring the players who had the best seasons. Here’s what they said about him and “they” is Twins Director of Player Development, Alex Hassan:
“Zander has had to fight and earn everything that’s come his way,” Hassan said. “He wasn’t a high-round pick, but he’s scrapped. He’s done it through his hard work and his production on the field. He came into the year looking to do more damage at the plate, being a corner guy, playing first base and some left field. He was trying to add some power to his game and worked hard on that in the offseason. He was a force in our lineup at Triple-A and [manager] Joel Skinner relied on him and felt comfortable when he would come up to the plate. He took a step forward this year, and he’s going to continue to have to earn those opportunities, carve out his path.”
2B/OF/3B Travis Blankenhorn – Travis played all of 2018 at the High-A level with the Fort Myers Miracle. He had a pretty good season but only hit .231 with an OBP (On-Base %) of .299 so the Twins had him begin 2019 back in Fort Myers but he only needed 15 games to get promoted to AA and he kept going. From the Twins Director of Player Development:
“I think if you ask Travis, he didn’t have his best year in 2018,” Hassan said. “This year, he took a step forward. First of all, he cut down his strikeouts, put the ball in play more often. He attributed that to some of his lower-half mechanics, like the way he loads onto his back leg. He felt like he got a more stable base underneath him and that helped him see the ball more consistently. In turn, it helped him make more frequent, solid contact. He took a step forward with the bat and played some third base, some games in the outfield. The defensive pieces continue to be an area of focus. Travis has put in the work, continues to grind to get better.”
That’s developing players by the Twins. The player definitely deserves a lot of credit also and he’s not done. Protect Him
3B Brian Schales – He only played in 52 games over 3 levels. We assume he had some injuries. His MiLB Player Page shows him being put on the 7-day injured list by the Twins AA-Affiliate, the Pensacola Blue Wahoos on April 25th. It doesn’t say what the injury is. He was also placed on the temporary inactive list by the AAA Rochester Red Wings on July 23rd. Basically, a terrible year so he needs more time and it’s hard to believe he won’t get it. Unprotected
2B/SS Yeltsin Encarnacion – Encarnacion, huh? Not that Encarnacion and at 5’11”, probably never going to be like Edwin. He still has some talent but there’s really no reason to protect him because he hasn’t shown enough of it yet. He was at single-A all season, played 3 games at Rochester ???
SS Wander Javier – International signing who got a club-record $4M has yet to show why mostly because of health so would the protect him even though he’s 20-years-old and still in Low-A Ball? It seems unlikely because it’s hard to believe a team would pick him and try to stash him on their 26-man roster for a full season but…he’s a shortstop that is supposed to have a good bat so…we could see this going either way. Bubble
LF/RF/1B Luke Raley – Obtained in the Brian Dozier trade (along with LHP Devin Smeltzer), Luke had a rough year due to injury but it started out well and, eventually ended well as he was invited to the Arizona Fall League and, even though it took some time, he started to hit. He’s a big kid with a big bat but is there a spot for him as an outfielder. Doesn’t matter. Protect Him
OF Gilberto Celestino – He was an honorable mention in MiLB.com’s Twins Prospects of the Year for Outfielders: Twins No. 20 prospect Gilberto Celestino totaled 10 homers, 54 RBIs and 58 runs scored in 125 games, mostly with Cedar Rapids. He batted .277/.349/.410 and swiped 14 bases. He’s great defensively & has speed. He only played 8 games at High-A Fort Myers but he started to show some comfort with the bat. Would a team be willing to take a single-A player for their 26-Man Roster? Are the Twins willing to expose him to give them that chance? Protect Him
OF Trey Cabbage – Also an Honorable Mention from MiLB.com:Trey Cabbage began the season with Cedar Rapids (18 games), his third straight year with the Kernels. He was promoted to Fort Myers (81 games) and finished with 15 homers, a .447 slugging percentage, 53 RBIs and 57 runs scored — all career highs. There just isn’t enough room for him, unfortunately, but he should get through without being taken. Unprotected
So, with the 40-Man Roster at 32 and the Twins needing to add at least 2 pitchers & 1 catcher, that leaves 5 spots available but there are players the Twins could drop off the 40-Man like RHPs Ryne Harper & Trevor Hildenberger and they could go with Willians Astudillo as their backup catcher (but they probably won’t.) That would open up 3 more spots taking it from 5 to 8.
We said we’d protect Zander Wiel, Travis Blankenhorn, Luke Raley & Gilberto Celestino and Wander Javier is on the bubble. That’s 4 spots which would leave 4 spots for the pitchers.
Who could the Minnesota Twins target in a trade to help the starting rotation?
The Minnesota Twins will pursue “impact pitching” this offseason, according to Chief Baseball Officer Derek Falvey. They probably start with Free Agency but the top target, current Houston Astro RHP Gerrit Cole, could fetch $40M plus because he has lights out stuff, is the best pitcher in the game right now and he’s 29-years-old. In the 2019 regular season, he had a record of 20-5 in 212.2 innings and allowed 142 hits, 59 earned runs & 29 home runs while walking 48 and striking out 326 batters. That comes out to an opponent’s batting average of .186, an ERA of 2.50 and a WHIP of 0.89. *ERA=Earned Run Average; WHIP=Walks + Hits per Inning Pitched
The Houston Astros acquired Gerrit Cole from the Pittsburgh Pirates on January 13th, 2018 for RHP Michael Feliz, LF Jason Martin, 3B Colin Moran & RHP Joe Musgrove. Feliz, Moran & Musgrove played the majority of both 2018 & 2019 in the majors and Martin made his Major League Debut this season on April 6th so the Pirates wanted Major League or close to Major League-ready players. Right now, that doesn’t look like a great deal by a long shot.
They had an ace and they traded him away for…well, as it looks right now, none of those players will become what Gerrit Cole has become. Could he have become the same Gerrit Cole in Pittsburgh? There’s really no way to tell but obviously, the Houston Astros know how to develop pitchers and knew exactly what to do with Cole.
The Minnesota Twins are headed in that direction. We just haven’t seen the results from it, yet. It feels like they are close, though. Their pitching prospects are developing very well with a lot of them reaching the AA (Top 30 Twins Prospects RHPs Brusdar Graterol, Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, Jorge Alcala, & Cole Sands) in 2019 and Graterol, Jax & Alcala got to AAA and, of course, Twins fans saw Graterol and Alcala pitch at the end of the season although, it was out of the bullpen instead of starting. We’ll guess they’ll be moved back to the rotation for now but that’s really still up in the air.
The bottom line is the Astros saw an opportunity to get an ace and they were somehow able to do it without giving up any of their top prospects. Then they were able to help him develop into the best pitcher in the game and, honestly, it’s weird that they’d want to let him go but maybe they’ll be in the running. They would probably have to move RHP Zack Greinke to do that since it’s hard to believe they’d trade RHP Justin Verlander and both of them will combine to make $68.4M (Verlander $33M, Greinke $35.4M) next season in the last years of their contracts.
So, we thought we’d check every Major League Baseball team’s roster to see if there is an opportunity for the Twins to find “impact pitching” to bolster their starting rotation. Here’s what we came up with.
We did go through every team but there are some teams who didn’t really appear to have anything the Twins would be looking for or the pitchers the Twins would be interested in would likely be unavailable. We put a “?” if we didn’t find anything worthwhile from those teams.
Keep in mind, we were just jotting down names so there may be some pitchers who don’t necessarily qualify as impact pitchers but we are also thinking the Twins & pitching coach Wes Johnson can help them improve to become or get back to being impact pitchers. That doesn’t necessarily mean they would develop into an ace, either.
Read the notes after the list to see who we favor the Twins pursuing via a trade.
Arizona Diamondbacks (Age)
RHP Robbie Ray (28)
Atlanta Braves
RHP Julio Teheran (28)
$12M club option with $1M buyout
Baltimore Orioles
RHP Dylan Bundy (26)
Boston Red Sox
LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (26)
Chicago Cubs
RHP Kyle Hendricks (29)
RHP Yu Darvish (33)
can opt out of 4-year, $81M remaining on contract
Chicago White Sox
RHP Ivan Nova (32)
Cincinnati Reds
RHP Luis Castillo (25)
Hard to believe the Twins could pry him away from Cincinnatti
RHP Anthony Desclafani (29)
Cleveland Indians
?
Colorado Rockies
RHP Jon Gray (27)
Detroit Tigers
LHP Matthew Boyd (28)
LHP Daniel Norris (28)
Houston Astros
LHP Framber Valdez (25)
RHP Josh James (26)
RHP Zach Greinke (35)
1 Year Left at $35M+
RHP Aaron Sanchez
Injured?
Kansas City Royals
RHP Jacob Junis (26)
LHP Danny Duffy (30)
Los Angeles Angels
LHP Andrew Heaney (28)
Los Angeles Dodgers
LHP Hyun-Jin Ryu (32)
LHP Clayton Kershaw (31)
Would a change of scenery help here? Has he lost some of his pitches? Can Wes Johnson help him get that back?
RHP Ross Stripling (29)
Miami Marlins
LHP Caleb Smith (27)
RHP Trevor Richards (26)
Milwaukee Brewers
RHP Chase Anderson (31)?
New York Mets
LHP Steven Matz (28)
RHP Marcus Stroman (28)
Is he available?
New York Yankees
?
Oakland Athletics
?
Philadelphia Phillies
RHP Jake Arrieta (33)
Can opt out of 1-year, $20M remaining on contract; Club can exercise 2-year, $40M option
RHP Vince Velazquez (27)
RHP Nick Pivetta (26)
RHP Jerad Eickhoff (28)
Pittsburgh Pirates
RHP Joe Musgrove (26)
RHP Trevor Williams (27)
RHP Chris Archer (30)
$9M club option with $1.75M buyout
Intriguing because he was very impactful in Tampa Bay
RHP Jameson Taillon (27)
Cancer so will he pitch? Only 7 starts
San Diego Padres
LHP Joey Lucchesi (26)
RHP Dinelson Lamet (26)
San Francisco Giants
RHP Jeff Samardzija (34)
RHP Derick Rodriquez (27)
Former Twins Draft Pick
Seattle Mariners
LHP Marco Gonzalez (27)
RHP Mike Leake (31)
St. Louis Cardinals
?
Tampa Bay Rays
?
Texas Rangers
RHP Mike Minor (31)
Toronto Blue Jays
?
Washington Nationals
?
The ultimate goal is to get a pitcher who has yet to turn 30 with some team control left. After going through this list a few times, there are only a few names that stand out and will also likely be available. The best of them is RHP Robbie Ray from the Arizona Diamondbacks. He’s still just 28 and has shown the ability and the arsenal to be a top of the rotation pitcher. We’d follow with Atlanta Braves RHP Julio Teheran and we’re intrigued by Philadelphia Phillies RHP Vince Velazquez & Pittsburgh Pirates RHP Chris Archer.
What would the Twins have to give up to acquire a Robbie Ray or the top pitcher available on the trade market? It’s hard to say because we saw above that the Pirates didn’t acquire any of the Astros top prospects so how do we know other than looking at where the team looks to be at right now. For instance, Arizona sold Greinke but they also acquired some MLB pitchers so are they in between rebuilding and tweaking?
