Live Twins Chat from Noon to One – NOW!

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Fan Frustration

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Live Twins Chat at Noon Central Time, to sign up for a reminder, participate in the chat or read the transcrip later, Click Here.

I read a lot of comments from Twins fans at this time of the year, and they vary. Some are frustrated because the Twins don’t go out and sign big name free agents. Some are frustrated because the Twins are not involved in as many rumors as other teams. Some Twins fans see Placido Polanco signing with the Phillies and wonder why the Twins were never really involved in any rumors involving him. Marco Scutaro is apparently signing with the Red Sox and fans are frustrated that he was never mentioned. Some want to see the Twins sign a Type A free agent and forfeit a draft pick and over pay in dollars and years for players that have already seen their best years. And there are some fans who are frustrated by lack of information on negotiations with Joe Mauer. With the Winter Meetings set for next week in Indianapolis, I thought it appropriate to blog on some of these topics.

What are the Winter Meetings about for the fans? Well, as happens every year, there are a few free agent signings made right before the meetings. That gets fans’ hopes up that there will be a lot of moves made, specifically by their team. The Winter Meetings mean that baseball fans will go to www.MLBTradeRumors.com and hit refresh about every five minutes throughout the whole week. At the meetings, GMs, agents, some players and the media walk around a hotel lobby, hold meetings and talk baseball. In general, all it takes for a rumor to start is for an agent to mention a team name, or a GM to mention a player’s name. It gets onto a blog or a sports report, and it flies around the country in a hurry. If you aren’t already on Twitter, you may want to sign up now (and follow @SethTweets)! It is a fun time for fans to dream.

Twins fans know a couple of things going into the meetings. The Twins front office will hold meetings with agents and other teams. They will talk about years and dollars regarding a bunch of players. We will also hear a few rumors. But compared to other teams, the Twins will appear relatively quiet. Why? Because the Twins don’t talk. They don’t give out their plans. They don’t really address any rumors. Fans, that is a good, smart thing!

A lot of Twins fans are not happy about that. As much as I want the Twins in the news and hear a lot of names rumored to be coming to the Twins, I am perfectly fine with not knowing anything. Why should the Twins brass give away their plans and their trade secrets? Generally speaking, the Twins do things quietly, behind the scenes. Do you remember reading rumors about the Twins and Rays talking about Matt Garza and Delmon Young before that trade was made? Very little.

The worst right now is all of the talk about Joe Mauer. As I wrote the other day, the biggest non-story was the alleged deadline for a deal, which Mauer texted to LaVelle E Neal was not true. Honestly, I don’t care if it is reported that the two sides have had general conversation about a deal, are heavily negotiating, or are yet to start negotiations. All I care about is that the two sides are talking. They don’t need to negotiate through the media. What good does that do? One day, we will just hear about a press conference and we will find out that Joe Mauer has signed an extension. I don’t care if it happens by Christmas, at the onset of Spring Training, on Opening Day, or my prediction, January 26^th. The Twins are very quiet and confidential. Joe Mauer is very quiet and confidential. Maybe stressing would be better for me, but I’ve got enough other stuff to stress about than to worry about some stuff that I have no control over. I’m pretty sure that there is nothing that I could tell Bill Smith about Joe Mauer and why he should remain a Twin that he hasn’t already thought about.

I love all the rumors. But it is also something that we have to take with a grain of salt. I mean, maybe Orlando Cabrera is marketing himself as a 2^nd base option. He shouldn’t be, and I think we are all smart enough to know that the Twins aren’t bringing him back. I am certain that the Twins and Marlins have and will have discussions on potential deals. But the Twins aren’t going to get Dan Uggla and a potential top of the rotation starter like Josh Johnson or Ricky Nolasco. We all know that. I’d love to see the Twins go after either of those pitchers though! So as you’re reading through MLBTradeRumors.com, you can sift through those rumors and  know that some just aren’t going to happen, and some may make sense.

I fully believe that the Twins will remain active throughout the offseason.  They already added a new starting shortstop. Often times, very little happens at the Winter Meetings, but having all of those people there, in one place, encourages thinking, and thinking outside the box, and things can happen later because of it.

On Monday, I’ll jot down the things that I believe the Twins need to work on the rest of the offseason, starting with the Winter Meetings.  

This is the fun time of the year. It’s so early in the offseason, that I’m not ready to be excited by names like Carl Pavano, Jarrod Washburn or Placido Polanco. If I am going to hear rumors, I want to hear about guys like Josh Johnson, Felipe Lopez or Matt Cain.

So, you can certainly use the comments section to talk Twins, Twins rumors, deals made by other teams with players you thought the Twins should go after, or whatever you want to talk about. It should be a fun and interesting week!

• Be sure to head over to Twinkie Town and vote on the Twinkie Town Top Prospect list. Right now, you can vote for the Twins top prospect. By late afternoon on Friday, a winner will be determined and the vote for #2 will start right away. Roger D and I are going to be trying to put that together.  

Alright, that is it for now. Be sure to check out the SethSpeaks.net Twins Chat at noon today.  Are there any other Twins topics of note? If so, Send me an e-mail, or leave your Comments here.

NFL “Expert” Picks – Week 13

Alright, I’m a little late in posting these, but if you want to see our panel’s Week 13 Picks, click here.

Twins Tidbits

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Plenty of rumors to follow, but nothing to really report, so here are just a few notes… Please remember to stop by later to see our NFL “Expert” Pick panel’s Week 13 Picks.

• Yesterday afternoon, Kelly Thesier tweeted that Brian Buscher had signed a minor league contract with the Cleveland Indians. He was disappointing in 2009. However, he played so infrequently, that expecting much of anything would not be fair. I thought in 2008, he was solid. He doesn’t take a ton of walks, but he does seem to take pitches and put together solid at bats. No matter how you look at it, to get a guy to contribute in three big league seasons in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft is incredible.
• Cleveland also signed Luis Rodriguez to a minor league deal. I was always a fan of Luis(!). As you can see, he is the one player in Twins history to get the one-name name recognition, including an exclamation point! Although he was never top 30 of 40 prospect, I liked that he was just solid throughout his minor league career. He always walked as often or more than he struck out. He hit doubles. He then spent 2005-2007 as a utility player with the Twins. Over that time, he hit a combined .243/.316/.323. He has been in San Diego the last two years, getting time as their starting shortstop a couple of times. In 2008, he hit a respectable .287/..326/.351. In 2009, however, he fell to .202/.319/.260. However, in those two years with the Padres, he walked 50 times while striking out just 36 times. He isn’t a terrific athlete for an infielder, and he isn’t quick. On defense, his range was well below average. But I’m not going to apologize for being a fan of Luis(!).
• The Twins made the decision late Tuesday night to offer arbitration to Carl Pavano, a move that was the easy and right choice. The Twins will want a veteran starter in 2010. Pavano is that. The Twins have some wiggle room in spending. So, if Pavano decides to accept arbitration, the two sides will submit their numbers and determine how much he will be paid in 2010. I can’t imagine he would get the rumored $10 million, but I think $7-8 million would make sense. Although I’m not a huge fan of bringing back Pavano, the one year deal means that it won’t hurt the Twins over the long haul. If he declines arbitration and signs elsewhere, the Twins will get a valuable supplemental first round draft pick
• As I mentioned yesterday, there seems to be quite a bit of confusion on Danny Valencia and Winter ball. Valencia is going to Puerto Rico, but he will be playing for Mayaguez, not Ponce. Also, he will be heading down there on December 10^th.
• When I mentioned the other day that Joe Mauer’s decision to sign with IMG for off-field representation, I said it was a non-story. But Marty Andrade told me I was wrong saying “it means his autograph is about to get really scarce and probably increase in value 50% over the next few years.” 
• Twins Target posted his #9 Twins Prospect.

Alright, that is it for today. Are there any other Twins topics of note? If so, Send me an e-mail, or leave your Comments here.

Weekly Twins Podcast Live at 9 Tonight!

Join us for the SethSpeaks.net Weekly Minnesota Twins Podcast live at 9:00 central time tonight (Tuesday). Call in with you questions or comments, or leave questions in the chat room. Tune in at www.BlogTalkRadio.com/SethSpeaks NOW!

Twins Notes

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The Winter Meetings will be starting next week, but that doesn’t stop transactions from happening. Friend of SethSpeaks, Chris Coste has signed with the New York Mets. (Hat tip to Parker from Over The Baggy) Although it’s not a major league contract, he has been promised a spot on the 40 man roster.

• Mark Potash of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote an article asking what could have been if Joe Mauer was a Cub. In other words, what would have happened if the Twins had drafted Mark Prior instead of Mauer in 2001. Well, great article in theory, but I believe that if the Twins had taken Prior, the Cubs would have taken Georgia Tech 3B Mark Teixeira. I do believe that the Tampa Bay Devil Rays would have taken Mauer with the #3 pick instead of RHP Dewon Brazelton. \
• Andrew Kneeland is working on his Top 15 Twins prospects for The Bleacher Report. Here are his choices for #15, #14 and #13. And here is his choice for the Twins #12 Prospect. Hot off the presses, here is his choice for #11.
• Twinkie Baseball just finished up its Top 50 Twins Prospects list by selecting Miguel Jean as the team’s #1 prospect.
• Danny Valencia told me that he is heading to Puerto Rico on December 10^th to play Winter Ball for almost a month. The team seems to feel it is necessary for him to go to winter ball to compete in the spring. I’m not certain that I agree, but it is extra at bats. In her mailbag posting yesterday, Kelly Thesier wrote, “The organization believes that Danny Valencia will be the team’s future third baseman, but, right now, the feeling is that he still needs a little more time to develop at Triple-A Rochester.” It is good to read that first sentence.
• Lisa Winston of mlb.com always does a terrific job on minor league projects. Here is her update on the Twins minor league system.
• Jesse Spector of the NY Daily News blogged yesterday about TBS firing Chip Carey, speaking of his horrible call on a Nick Punto line out to left field. He used the instance to show all of the players in the decade who have has sub-.300 slugging percentages with 400 or more plate appearances. Punto is one of three players to have done it twice. But he also says that Punto made up for it in another way. What was it? Check out the article here.
• Is Minnesota going to be able to keep Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau? Unlikely – Peter Gammons.
• Is Minnesota going to be able to keep Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau? Of course. Absolutely. No question. – Seth. Who are you going to believe?
• Non-Story of the Day – Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports writes that Joe Mauer has set a deadline for signing an extension. Like every other free-agent-to-be, the deadline is Opening Day 2010. But that isn’t news. Everyone says that. It means nothing. Nobody wants to negotiate during the season. It will likely be done by late January, in my opinion. I may be weird, and I may be proven wrong, but I believe the odds of Joe Mauer being with the Twins on Opening Day 2011 are about 99.95%
• OK, bigger non-story of the day – Joe Mauer signed on with IMG to represent him and “support his off-field business.”  That last phrase is the big thing. It’s just off-field stuff. He may be in some more commercials and other endorsements. Good for him. I think it’s great that he’ll likely get a lot more national exposure. Now, if he was switching representation for on-field business, meaning going away from Ron Shapiro as his agent, I would be much more concerned.

That’s it for today. The plan is to have a SethSpeaks.net Weekly Minnesota Twins podcast tonight at 9:00, so be sure to check back about that. Anything else going on with the Twins that you would like to discuss? If so, Send me an e-mail, or leave your Comments here.

Twins Notes, and Week 12 NFL “Expert” Picks

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Here are the Week 12 picks from our Expert Panel! The Week 11 winner was Andrew Kneeland, so congratulations to him. Travis Aune is now tied with Dan Slowey in the overall standings through Week 11. There are eight people within three games of the leaders. Should be an interesting final weeks. If you want to see the overall standings and more, click here. Before we get to our Week 12 picks, here are a few other quick notes to get you through the Thanksgiving weekend.

• I hosted a very informal SethSpeaks.net Weekly Minnesota Twins podcast last night. It was about 35 minutes of me talking Twins. There appeared to be some issue with the system so it could not be heard. But you can hear the podcast here.
• The first place you need to go is to Over the Baggy where Parker has linked to many Joe Mauer MVP articles.
• The 40 man roster was set last week, Granny Baseball takes a look a potential 25 man roster.
• Pat Neshek threw his final bullpen until spring training. He got to face Nick Freitas and 16 year old Max Kepler Tuesday. He said he added another mile per hour to his fastball and felt good about his slider. But sure to check out a few more interesting tidbits at Pat Neshek’s blog.
• Check out which three Twins were named Top 10 Dominican Summer League prospects according to Minor League Baseball Prospects.
• Again, you can follow me and SethSpeaks.net at Facebook, Twitter (@SethTweets), and probably other places too.  

WEEK 12 Picks

For our picks for the 12^th week of the season, click here.

Roger’s 2009 Twins Minor League All Stars

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Over at Twinkie Town, our friend Roger Dehring does a tremendous job keeping Twins fans updated on the Twins minor league system. Every Saturday, he produces his Weekly Twins Minor League Update. Recently, he provided a top ten list of Twins minor leaguers by position. He has developed a formula that looks at all Twins minor leaguers, and how they perform. The formula is complex but it involves a point system using several statistics and comparing them to an average number. He also factors in several other things including age and level of competition.  He has been using and tweaking his formula for a couple of years. It is not a prospect list, it shows actual performance. Anyway, about this time each of the last several years, Roger has posted his annual Twins minor league all-star team here. So, I am happy to welcome today’s guest writer, Roger Dehring.

Here are Roger’s 2009 Minnesota Twins Minor League All Stars:

            This year’s edition of the Twins organization all-star team follows.  This year’s team is comprised of those players who had the best seasons at their respective positions, regardless of level of play.  This team also includes at least one player from all of the Twins minor league clubs. 

The starting nine for 2009:

            Ben Revere-CF           Ft. Myers Miracle                             

            Brian Dinkelman-2B   New Britain Rock Cats

            Wilson Ramos-C         New Britain Rock Cats

            Chris Parmelee-1B      Ft. Myers Miracle

            Danny Valencia-3B    Rochester Red Wings

            Rene Tosoni-RF          New Britain Rock Cats

            Erik Lis-DH                New Britain Rock Cats

            Angel Morales-LF       Beloit Snappers

Trevor Plouffe-SS       Rochester Red Wings

The lead-off hitter is also the Organization’s Player of the Year, Ben Revere.  After flirting with a .400 Average for much of the 2008 season at Beloit, Revere had an excellent follow up season for the Miracle, missing the FSL Batting Crown by only .002 as he finished his season hitting .311/.372/.369 in 466 at bats with the league’s most hits (145), third most runs scored (75), third most steals (45 in 62 attempts) and fourth best OBP (.372).  Revere took more walks (40) than he had strikeouts (34) and reports indicate that he has improved defensively.  Look for Ben to move up to New Britain next spring with a trip to Minnesota in his future sometime late in 2011.

Our second baseman, Brian Dinkelman, had a special year for the New Britain Rock Cats.  Dinkelman was an Eastern League All-Star who had the league’s eighth best average (.296) with the fifth best on base percentage (.383).  Dinkelman led the Rock Cats with 38 doubles, which was also the second most doubles in the league.  Dinkelman surprised local fans with his productivity with 8 home runs and 65 RBI.  Some have questioned his range, however, seven errors in 129 games is a clear indication that he has a solid glove defensively. 

Perhaps the top prospect in the organization is our number three hitter, catcher Wilson Ramos.  After being named last winter’s Caribbean League Championship Series MVP, Ramos got off to a tremendous start before going on the disabled list with a broken finger which was followed by a leg injury that would cost him much of his season.  Ramos is again tearing up his winter league where he is hitting near a .400 Average with 6 home runs early in the VWL season.  Ramos led the Rock Cats in hitting at .317/.341/.454 in 205 at bats with 4 home runs and 29 RBI.  Perhaps the best defensive catcher in the organization, other than Joe Mauer, Ramos has everything one would expect to become a future major league star.  All that remains is the question of when his major league career will begin?

The cleanup hitter was considered the best high school power hitter in the draft when the Twins made Chris Parmelee their first round pick in 2006.  Although Parmelee has played a lot of right field the past few years, he split his time between right field and first base this season at Ft. Myers.  He also has played exclusively at first base this fall in the AFL, thus, I have him in the lineup as our first baseman.  Parmelee was one of the most productive hitters in this season’s pitcher friendly Florida State League.  He finished his season with 16 home runs, which were the third most in the league with a league second best 73 RBI.  He is a young man who draws a lot of walks, 63, which enabled him to just miss being in the league’s top ten on base percentages (.359) while his .441 Slugging percentage was seventh best in the league.   

The third baseman is a player we have all heard a lot about the past year or so, Danny Valencia.  After beginning his season back at New Britain this past spring, Valencia was on fire immediately following his promotion to AAA when he hit .360/.372/.573 in his first 19 games.  Valencia went on to finish his AAA season by hitting .286/.305/.466 in 269 at bats for the Red Wings.  Much has been written the past six months about whether or not Valencia is ready for the big show and whether or not he is the heir apparent for the Twins third base job perhaps as early as next spring.  There have been questions about his defense, his hitting at Rochester the last half of the season and why a young man who normally took a reasonable number of walks only walked 7 times in 71 games in AAA.  We won’t know what type of major league player Valencia will be until he arrives in Minnesota; however, we do know that he had an excellent season last year at New Britain and Rochester.  If he isn’t ready for the Twins third base job this spring, he must be very, very close.

The right fielder is a young man who made the jump to AA last year after playing only 44 games beyond rookie ball.  Rene Tosoni first came to our attention in 2007 when he hit .301/.407/.428 for Elizabethton in his first year of professional ball.  This past season, Tosoni, was the lone Twins representative in the Future’s All-Star game, was one of the top hitters for Team Canada in the World Cup and is now representing the Twins in the Arizona Fall League.  As could be expected for someone with such little experience, Tosoni struggled at New Britain for his first couple of months, however, had an excellent second half to finish with .271/.360/.454 in 425 at bats with 15 home runs (tied for eleventh most in league) and the league’s eighth best 71 RBI.  Seth recently reported from personal observations that Tosoni is an excellent defensive outfielder who can play all three positions.  He also reported that he needs to work on his at bats against lefties.  It is likely however, that someone with such limited experience should be able to continue to improve his game as he works his way up to the Twins.

The designated hitter is a young man the Twins drafted in the ninth round of the 2005 draft out of the University of Evansville.  Erik Lis has been one of the organization’s best hitters every year since his rookie season at Elizabethton.  This season was no exception as Lis was one of the Eastern League’s better hitters, finishing with a league seventh best 17 home runs, tenth most RBI (69), and twelfth most doubles (29).  Lis, who struggled with an injury the last few weeks of the season, had the league’s sixth best slugging percentage (.462) to go with a .283 Average and .353 OBP.  With Justin Huber moving on to Japan, the door should be open for Erik to move up to Rochester next spring where he will again be one of the better hitters in the league.

The left fielder is a young man who may have as much upside potential as any player in the organization, Angel Morales.  Although Morales can also play center field, he played mostly corner outfield positions with the Snappers after Aaron Hicks joined the team.  A very young man who won’t turn 20 until later this month, Morales is another young player who struggled during his first six weeks of the season.  He also adjusted and was one of the leagues better players during the second half.  Although limited to only 376 at bats by an injury that he battled during much of June, Morales was amongst the top fifteen home run hitters (13) with a team high 62 RBI.  Morales finished his season hitting .266/.329/.455 with 19 stolen bases in 25 attempts.  What may be most important for a young man who struck out nearly 40% of his at bats in 2008, he lowered his strikeout rate to 27.7%.  People who have seen him play have said that the ball explodes off his bat.  There is no question that he is a very raw talent, but his future is as bright as any in the organization.   

Shortstop Trevor Plouffe has always been very young for his league since the Twins drafted him in the first round of the 2004 draft.  This past season was no exception as Plouffe didn’t turn 23 until mid-season even though it was his second season at AAA.  None of his numbers stand out, yet, he had a very solid season hitting .260/.313/.407 in 430 at bats with 23 doubles, 5 triples, 10 home runs and 60 RBI.  Plouffe finished his year playing for Team USA in the World Cup where he had an excellent tournament playing with many of the best players from throughout America.  Although he continues to make what may be considered too many errors, people who watch him defensively say he is above average.    

The Reserves:

            Josmil Pinto-C Elizabethton Twins

            Brock Peterson-1B      Rochester Red Wings

            Steven Singleton-2B   New Britain Rock Cats

            Brian Dozier-SS          Elizabethton Twins

            Wander Guillen-3B     DSL Twins

            Oswaldo Arcia-LF      GCL Twins

            Aaron Hicks-CF          Beloit Snappers

            David Winfree-RF      Rochester Red Wings

Justin Huber-DH         Rochester Red Wings 

            The reserves are led by two members of the Division Champion Elizabethton Twins, designated hitter,  Josmil Pinto and shortstop Brian Dozier.  Pinto was the fifth best hitter in the Appy League with a .332 Average and the league’s best slugging percentage, .610.  Pinto also led the league with 13 home runs and had the league’s second most RBI, 55.  Brian Dozier stepped into the lineup when Tyler Ladendorf was promoted to Beloit.  Dozier, a 2009 draft pick, finished with the league’s second best average and on base percentage, .353/.417.

The Rochester Red Wings placed three reserves on this year’s team, right fielder David Winfree, first baseman Brock Peterson and designated hitter Justin Huber.  Although Peterson’s 316 at bats were a few short of the number needed to qualify for the league titles, his .304 Average and .376 OBP would both have been ninth best.  He also was the Rock Cats top hitter if one doesn’t include Jose Morales who spent about half his year in Minnesota.  David Winfree also had a special rookie season, hitting .273/.317/.460 with 14 home runs, 61 RBI and a team best 31 doubles.  Huber, who recently left the Twins organization for Japan, led the Red Wings with 22 home runs and 76 RBI while hitting .273/.356/.482 in 440 at bats. 

The Beloit Snappers are represented by center fielder Aaron Hicks.  Hicks began his season in EST before joining the Snappers where he hit a respectable .251/.353/.382 in his first season of A ball.  Hicks is considered a “5” tool player also stole 10 bases in 18 attempts with nearly as many walks (40) as strikeouts (55).  Hicks was honored recently when Baseball America named him the Midwest League’s Top Prospect.

The second baseman is Steven Singleton, who began his year in Ft. Myers before a mid-season promotion to New Britain.  Singleton hit .269/.329/.424 in 297 at bats at Ft. Myers.  As is not often the case, Singleton’s numbers soared when he arrived in New Britain where he hit .291/.319/.418 in 158 at bats.

One of this year’s best new players in the six team system was GCL Twins left fielder Oswaldo Arcia.  Arcia hit .275/.337/.455 in 167 at bats with a team best 11 doubles.  He had a team high 5 home runs which also was ninth best in the league.  Arcia, who didn’t turn 18 until this past May, stole 8 bases in 8 attempts.

The last reserve is third baseman Wander Guillen.  Guillen joined the DSL Twins in July when he was sixteen years old, then proceeded to lead the team in hitting at .336/.443/.409 in 110 at bats.  Although he didn’t have enough at bats to qualify, his .336 Average was the fourth best in the league while his .443 OBP tied teammate Romy Trinidad for fifth best in the league.       

The Starting Rotation:                      

            David Bromberg         Ft. Myers Miracle

Steven Hirschfield      Ft. Myers Miracle

Anthony Swarzak       Rochester Red Wings

B.J. Hermsen               GCL Twins

Adrian Salcedo           GCL Twins

            While at Beloit, David Bromberg led all of minor league baseball in strikeouts in 2008 with 177 in 150.0 innings.  This season Bromberg moved up to Ft. Myers where he led the Florida State League with 148 strikeouts in 153.1 innings.  Bromberg was named the FSL Pitcher of the Year and the Twins organization Pitcher of the Year while winning the second most games in the league, 13-4.  Bromberg finished his award winning season with a league fourth best 2.70 ERA and ninth best WHIP of 1.23.      

            Stephen Hirschfield began his season in the Ft. Myers bullpen before moving to the starting rotation when several starters moved up to New Britain.  Hirschfield joined Bromberg as one of the best starters in the FSL, where he had a 7-7 record with the league’s second best ERA (2.23) and best WHIP (1.03).  Hirschfield, who struck out 86 while walking only 31 in 117.0 innings, pitched so well that he earned an assignment to the Arizona Fall League.

            Twins fans are familiar with the third starter, Rochester’s Anthony Swarzak.  Swarzak had a 4-5 record for the Red Wings with a 3.28 ERA and 45 strikeouts with only 21 walks in 79.2 innings.  Considering that he allowed 10 earned runs in 8.1 innings in the two starts following his return to Rochester from the Twins and it is easy to see how dominant he was this season for the Wings.  Swarzak made 12 starts for the Twins, finishing with a 3-7 record, 6.25 ERA and 34K/20BB in 59.0 innings.   

            The fourth starting pitcher is one of two all-star starters from the GCL Twins, B. J. Hermsen.  Pitching in his first season of professional ball following his signing after the Iowa high school season last summer, Hermsen was as good as any pitcher in the Gulf Coast League.  Hermsen finished his season with a 6-2 record, the league’s third best ERA (1.35) and best WHIP (0.68).  Hermsen had 42 strikeouts in 52.1 innings while allowing only 4 walks. 

            The fifth starter is another young pitcher from the GCL Twins, Adrian Salcedo.  Salcedo also was one of the top pitchers in the league, finishing with a 3-2 record and the league’s seventh best ERA (1.46), fifth most innings (61.2), third most strikeouts (58) and eighth best WHIP (1.02).  What is most remarkable, however, is that Salcedo allowed only THREE walks or one walk every 20.4 innings or 0.44 walks per 9 innings pitched. 

The Bullpen:

Closer – Alex Burnett

Short Relief – Andrei Lobanov

            Short Relief – Anthony Slama

            Relief – Joe Testa

            Relief – Matt Tone

            Relief – Kyle Waldrop

            Relief – Zach See 

            The Closer is this year’s top rated pitcher, Alex Burnett.  Burnett had been a starter prior to this year including 2008 when he had an 8-6 record with a 3.76 ERA for the Ft. Myers Miracle.  In last fall’s Instructional League, the Twins began the process of converting Burnett to a short reliever.  He began this year back at Ft. Myers where he appeared in 18 games (22.2 innings) with a  2-1 record, 4 saves, 1.99 ERA, 0.93 WHIP and 26K/7BB.  That performance earned Burnett a mid-season promotion to New Britain.  Whereas many pitchers hit a wall when promoted to AA, Burnett flourished.  His numbers were as good if not better than at Ft. Myers, appearing in 40 games (55.1 innings) with a 1-2 record, 9 saves, 1.79 ERA, 0.99 WHIP and 52K/19BB.  I ranked Burnett as the top pitcher in the organization this year and indications are that he is now on the fast track to Minnesota.

            The left handed short reliever is a young man from Moscow, Russia who pitched for the GCL Twins this season.  Andrey Lobanov, 19, appeared in 15 games (22.0 innings) for the Twins with a 2-1 record, 7 saves, 0.82 ERA, 0.68 WHIP and 35 strikeouts (1.59 strikeouts per inning) with a Dominance Ratio of 2.333.  Perhaps more astonishing however, is the fact that Lobanov walked only 1 batter this season…or 0.41 walks per nine innings pitched.  Can Lobanov continue to dominate hitters as he moves up through the organization, only time will tell.  If he can, this young lefty may be special!

            The right handed short reliever is a young man we should see in Minnesota sometime next year, Anthony Slama.  Following a 2008 season when he was the Twins Relief Pitcher of the Year, Slama repeated that performance this year.  He began his season in New Britain where he appeared in 51 games (65.1 innings) with a 4-2 record, 2.48 ERA, 1.19 WHIP and 93K/32BB.  Slama moved up to Rochester late in the year where he appeared in 11 games (15.2 innings) with a 0-2 record, 3.45 ERA and 19K/8BB.  Slama again led the organization this year with 29 saves while his 25 saves at New Britain led the Eastern league. 

            Joe Testa is a long reliever who had about as good of a season as any pitcher in the organization.  Testa began this year at Beloit where he was the Snappers lone all-star, appearing in 25 games (45.2 innings) with a 0-2 record, 2.56 ERA and 63K/23BB.  Testa moved up to Ft. Myers following the all-star break, where he appeared in 21 games (37.0 innings) with a 5-0 record, 1 save, 1.22 ERA, 1.27 WHIP and 53K/18BB.  Testa finished his season with an excellent 1.208 Dominance Ratio which was higher than any pitcher in the organization not playing rookie ball.

            Matt Tone was a fourteenth round pick in this year’s draft.  The left handed Tone was assigned to the Elizabethton Twins where he was as good as any reliever in the Appy League.  Tone compiled a 4-1 record in 16 appearances with 1 save, a 1.31 ERA, 1.05 WHIP and 45K/23BB in 34.1 innings.

            Kyle Waldrop, who was one of the twins first round picks in 2004, had been one of the organization’s top starting prospects as he rapidly moved through the organization.  That all ended last year when he spent the entire season on the disabled list following shoulder surgery.  Waldrop returned this season working out of the bullpen at Ft. Myers and later in New Britain.  While in New Britain, Waldrop was one of the best relievers in the league.  He finished this season with the Rock Cats with a 2-3 record in 31 games (55.2 innings) with a  1.46 ERA and 30K/18BB.  Earlier, he appeared in 20 games for the Miracle with a 3-2 record, 3.09 ERA and 20K/7BB in 35.0 innings.  Perhaps his biggest achievement this season however, was staying healthy and pitching better throughout the year.

            The last reliever is Zach See who was signed as a non drafted free-agent this past winter.  See was another young reliever who had an incredible year with the GCL Twins this year.  He appeared in 13 games with a 2-0 record, 2 saves, a 0.69 ERA, 1.00 WHIP and 34K/10BB in 26.0 innings.     

 

There you have it. Roger’s 2009 Minnesota Twins Minor League All Star team. What are your thoughts? If so, Send me an e-mail, or leave your Comments here.

Live Twins Chat at 12:30 Today

I will be taking your Twins-related questions from 12:30-1:30 this afternoon. I will open up the chat room 15-20 minutes early so you can get your questions in. We can talk about The MVP (the award will be announced at 1:00), the 40 man roster, free agents, trades, rumors, or anything.

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Mauer for MVP?

also available at www.SethSpeaks.net -

Do I think that Joe Mauer should win the American League MVP award today when it is announced at 1:00 central time today? Of course I do. I mean, he had one of the most historic seasons in baseball history even if you forget the disclaimer that he did it as a catcher. I also have to admit to being 100% biased in that opinion. It is an opinion that is shared by many people around the baseball community. However, will it be the opinion of enough of the 32 baseball writers that actually get to submit a vote for the award? We shall find out this afternoon.

Again, I am completely biased, so I thought it would be good to put together a smorgasbord of numbers to determine if we, as Twins fans, are completely accurate in our opinion that Mauer should be the easy choice. In writing that, I do fully acknowledge the concept that the definition of “value” is not and should not be 100% about the numbers. I fully believe that the Most Valuable Player is not the same thing as the Most Outstanding Player, although it can. I 100% believe that no one statistic should be used to determine value. I think that there is value in defense and that value should be a factor into the vote. That said, I still have not found a defensive stat that I believe shows that, although UZR (and the UZR family of stats) are probably the closest we have at this point. I believe that it is the League MVP, a measure of how much more value you had over all players, not just players at your position in your league. I believe that an MVP candidate should be from a team that competed most of the year for a playoff spot, but I don’t think that making the playoffs should be mandatory. In other words, if the Twins had lost Game 163 and not made the playoffs, would that have lessened what Joe Mauer did? Or, because Miguel Cabrera and the Tigers lost to the Twins, I don’t believe his case is lessened. That said, I have no problem with a voter dropping Cabrera’s value ranking following his late-season binge drinking and arrest on domestic dispute charges. Finally, I believe that this is an annual award, not a lifetime achievement award. So many in the media want Derek Jeter to win, almost as a Lifetime Achievement Award. No. First, that diminishes just how great a season he had in 2009, and second, that isn’t what this award is. He will get his Lifetime Achievement when he becomes a first-ballot, inner-circle Hall of Fame recognition.

I have become one of those fans/bloggers who finds less and less meaning in these postseason awards. I get more annoyed with people bashing Derek Jeter because he is loved by the media. I get annoyed by everyone who says that there is a certain number that is more important than another. I get annoyed by the stats-crowd that wants to throw a bunch of advanced metrics in your face and tell you how to think. But I also get annoyed by the people who, like I am becoming, find almost no meaning in the awards. The reality is that when a player is considered for the Hall of Fame, things like MVPs and Cy Youngs seem to matter. Ask Bert Blyleven. So, we can’t really say it means nothing.

So, what I want to do today is just throw a bunch of things out there for your own consideration. I want to look at the basic statistics, the raw numbers, because I do think that they matter. But it would be silly to simply overlook any of the advanced statistics when they can tell us something. So, let’s start with the basic statistics:

Player	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	G	2B	HR	RBI
Joe Mauer	0.365	0.444	0.587	1.031	138	30	28	96
Mark Teixeira	0.292	0.383	0.565	0.948	156	43	39	122
Derek Jeter	0.334	0.406	0.465	0.871	153	27	18	66
Miguel Cabrera	0.324	0.396	0.547	0.943	160	34	34	103
Kendry Morales	0.306	0.355	0.569	0.924	152	43	34	108
Ben Zobrist	0.297	0.405	0.543	0.948	152	28	27	91

Joe Mauer became the first player in a long time to win the True Triple Crown (BA, OBP, SLG). His rate numbers make him the leading candidate. But if you look at the raw numbers, you can see why many believe that Mark Teixeira is a very strong candidate. The others have been mentioned and have put up great numbers in their own right. Derek Jeter and Ben Zobrist don’t necessarily look like candidates by these numbers, but when you consider they are middle infielders, those numbers are much more impressive, as you will see below.

Player	RC	RC27	WPA	WAR	Dollars	VORP	WARP
Joe Mauer	128.0	9.85	3.64	8.2	$36.8	91.0	9.00
Mark Teixeira	128.6	7.73	3.58	5.1	$23.2	54.7	5.80
Derek Jeter	120.0	7.20	1.41	7.4	$33.4	72.8	5.70
Miguel Cabrera	122.5	7.55	1.59	5.4	$24.3	57.1	5.10
Kendry Morales	106.0	6.77	2.42	4.2	$18.8	39.8	4.00
Ben Zobrist	111.2	8.12	4.10	8.6	$38.5	61.0	7.60

Runs Created and Runs Created per 27 again are numbers attempting to show value, and the RC27 does so by looking at it as a rate. Ben Zobrist shows up quite prevalently when looking at these stats. First, he led the way in Win Probability Added, which measures each situation in a ball game and each player’s plate appearances has an effect on the game, depending upon the situation (Score, base runners, outs, etc.). Also, since he spent a lot of time at 2B, his value compared to other second basemen (WAR = Wins Above Replacement from FanGraphs.com, VORP, WARP, etc.). Of course, Derek Jeter’s value increases because he is a SS and Joe Mauer ranks highly as a catcher. My intent in showing these more advanced metrics isn’t to convince you to buy into them. I don’t necessarily buy into them. And, as you can see from FanGraphs.com’s WAR and Baseball Prospectus’s WARP, you can take different numbers with the same goal in mind and come out with different results.

Hey, if you only look at the basic stat lines, you will find a ton of players who are deserving of consideration. Guys like Kevin Youklis, Jason Bay, Jason Bartlett and even Michael Cuddyer put up stat lines that are very impressive. But in order to separate and distinguish, it can be quite helpful to look a little deeper.

• The Case For Joe Mauer – Lead the AL in Batting Average, On Base Percentage, Slugging Percentage, OPS. Played catcher which is not only the most demanding position to play, it increases his value above replacement players. He played very good defense. He led an (at times) make-shift starting rotation, and he played well down the stretch for a team that came from far back to win the AL Central.
• The Case for Mark Teixeira – The best player on the best team that money could buy in baseball. He led the American League in home runs and RBI, traditional stats that the baseball writers put much value in. He played 1B, but he was a Gold Glove winner.
• The Case for Derek Jeter – Put together one of his best seasons, all-around. He won another Gold Glove Award. Fans voted him the Hank Aaron Award winner, which is meant to go to the top hitter in the league (which is a bit silly). All those fun intangibles.
• The Case for Miguel Cabrera – His numbers are remarkably similar to Teixeira, although his defense improved, it’s nowhere near as good as Teixeira.
• The Case for Kendry Morales – His numbers were terrific too.
• The Case for Ben Zobrist – He played a lot of 2B, which means that his terrific offensive numbers were compared against average 2B, so his replacement player statistics are terrific. He also played all three outfield positions, all four infield positions, DH and PH for the Rays.
• The Case Against Joe Mauer – First and Foremost, Mark Teixeira had a tremendous season. Second, Mauer did miss an entire month of games. Fortunately for him, it was the first month. Remember in 2008, Carlos Quentin was an AL MVP favorite until he missed the final month of the season with injury?
• The Case Against Mark Teixeira – He was terrific, but the Yankees team as it was comprised in 2009 probably still would have won a ton of games without him. His numbers were great, but how much better were they than those of fellow AL 1B such as Morales, Cabrera, Justin Morneau (had he stayed healthy), Carlos Pena and others?
• The Case Against Derek Jeter, Kendry Morales, Miguel Cabrera and Ben Zobrist – All had tremendous seasons, and they should not be minimized, but simply put, this should be a two player race.

The winner will be announced at 1:00 central time, and I’m sure Twins fans will be waiting on pins and needles. I know it’s not a big deal, but it is still pretty cool to have an MVP on your roster… In 2010, the Twins will have two, regardless of what is announced! If Teixeira wins, Twins fans and stat heads alike will be outraged, but take a closer look, it may not (and probably shouldn’t be) the blowout that we all hope that it is.

What are your thoughts? If so, Send me an e-mail, or leave your Comments here.