Wednesday, July 2, 2008

GCL Twins blank Reds, DSL Twins blank Indians

GCL Twins


GCL Twins 4 at GCL Reds 0

W: A. Curry (1-0, 1.86); L: S. Snowden (2-1, 1.20)
HR: None.

Wow! Deja Vu! Well almost.

Alex Curry worked only 5 innings and allowed 4 hits while striking out seven, but it was still a very impressive outing for the California native, as he lead the GCL Twins to a 4-0 blanking of the GCL Reds.

Shea Snowden would take the start for the Reds and was on the mound at the top of the 4th when Tyler Ladendorf would single with one out on the board, then steal 2nd. Mike Gonzalez would reach on a fielding error by the Reds Cody Puckett, which would also allowed Ladendorf to score. Reggie Williams moved Gonzlez to 3rd with a line drive and Josmil Pinto singled in the Twin's 9th round pick for run #2.

That would be all the Twins would see out of Snowden through, who only allowed 3 hits and a walk while striking out 3.

With Matteo Pizziconi on the mound in the top of the 7th, Brandon Roberts would single, then steal 2nd and then 3rd. Herbert Lara would go into the contest to replace Roberts who seemed intent upon re-injuring himself. Following a ground out to Danny Ortiz, Ladendorf doubled out to right to score Lara.

Lara and Aaron Hicks would take back-to-back singles off Mike Bohana with one out on the board in the top of the 9th. A wild pitch would move the pair, and Ortiz would sacrifice in Lara for the Twins 4th run.

Mauro Schiavoni and Steve Blevins would finish up on the mound for the Twins, with only Blevins allowing a hit.

Ladendorf was 2-for-5 in the game in the clean up position with 1 RBI, the only Twins with a multi-hit game. Roberts, Lara, Hicks, Williams and Pinto each had a single, with Hicks and Williams being one hit wonders of the game.

The Twins host the GCL Red Sox on Wednesday for a noon game at the Lee County Sportsplex.

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Herald Tribune




DSL Twins 6 at DSL Indians 0

W: R. Acosta (5-0, 0.00); L: J. Campos (0-2, 5.03)
HR: None.

Ramon Acosta would work all nine innings of a DSL Twins road game, allowing only 3 hits while fanning 7 to blank the DSL Indians.

Jose Campos took the start for the Indians, and would see Eliel Sierra reach on a fielding error, then move to 2nd on a balk. Jean Carlos Mercedes ground out moved him to third, and Manuel Soliman and Jhonatan Arias both took walks to load the bags. Willy Gil would then get hit by a pitch to force in a run, the only one the Twins would need.

Oswaldo Arcia singled in the top of the fourth, and Sierra doubled him in. Mercedes single sent Sierra to 3rd. Soliman would take a wlak and Arias would pop out before Gil took a walk to force in Sierra for a second run, making the score 3-0.

Danny Santana drew a walk off Alexander Torres to start out the top of the 7th. He moved to second on Juan Blanco's ground out then to 3rd on a Felix Cairo fly ball single. Arcia then singled to score Santana.

The last two runs came in the top of the eighth with Arias and Gil singling, and then Danny Santana doubling them in off Indian's reliever Jose Flores.

Aracia was 2-for-5 with a run and a RBI, the only Twin with multi-hit contest, yet everyone except Blanco and pinch runner Carlos Vasquez, who never saw an at bat, had a hit in the game. Sierra, Soliman and Sanata all had doubles, while Cairo and Mercedes were the one hit wonders.

The Twins host the DSL Yankees 2 for a 10:30 AM Dominican Time game.

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5 comments:

Unknown said...

Dianna,

Thank you for the reports. Always insightful and refreshing. I have a question that you may know the answer to, since you're so close to some of the Twins brass in Minor League. Each year, the Twins take about 50 draftees - but they usually only sign about 20-22. Why can't they sign more than that? Since, the draft is such a crap shoot, why don't they take more risk in signing them, although then probably be more aggressive in releasing them if it doesn't work.

Like for example the Mets can sign so much more (they sign 37 already from 2008), and they only have 6 affiliates too (just like the Twins)...

So, why won't they sign more?

fastclock

Dianna said...

There are a lot of issues involved in signing. Often, a prospect isn't going to want to sign because he'll be multi-sport and prefer football or basketball to baseball.

Of late, and with the new CBA, they will make an offer to the a high school prospect who might be otherwise JuCo bound. If he takes it, fine, if not, fine, they won't pursue it. In the past, a lot of prospects were holding out for more money using the threat of JuCo to drive up their prices, but in many case, it's not worth the money to sign them. You're betting they're going to add 10 MPH on their fast ball or another 20 pounds on their frame and work out and in truth, very few do that.

If they Mets want to throw money away looking for a needle in a haystack, let them. Better to let the kids go to JuCo in my mind, and see if they pan out, since you can always redraft them.

And let's face it, teams like the Mets, Red Sox, Yankees, etc, have the money to throw away. The agents have driven up the price on a lot of these prospects and the Twins just can't afford the asking price. Yes, even in the draft phase, small market teams are penalized by the lack of a salary cap.

Sorry, but the luxery tax thing is just not working out.

Unknown said...

Thanks for the response...

I understand about the disparity in the income between the Twins and the big markets (Boston, NY and NY). Just don't quite get the wide disparity. Have a better idea now, but wonder if I can ask a little bit more...

So, if for example, the Twins can sign lower draft picks for, say, $20,000 per picks; would they actually sign more picks? There are about 12 juco/college unsigned picks, vs. 18 HS picks.

Also, how much is the cost to maintain a minor league player within the organization. Is it a very big amount? Someone said about several millions per person for the duration of the minor-league. That sounds a bit high, isn't it?

Do you think the Twins have a target of how many they can sign per year? (around 20-25)?

TIA

fastclock

Dianna said...

I guess the question is why do you think more is better? It increases the odds, yes, but you have better odds of getting a player to the majors from earlier on in the draft than you do then say getting a 39th rounder into the Majors. Blackburn in s exception, not a rule. I'd rather spend the money on the first 10 rounds than on the last 20 or 25.

That is also the Twins general aim in their draft, getting the picks from the top 10 rounds under contract. That being said of the hold outs for this year, Gutierrez should be signed soon - first Mike said this week, then he said "we hope, he has an agent you know?" I think Hermsen is likely going to college at this point.

In regards to difference in money, while the first 10 rounds are governed by MLB rules - and you can only offer a draftee so much to sign - the following spots or not. So I's not unusual for a team to take a kid in the 11th or 12th round and give them more money than say the kids they sign in the 6th through 10th round. Sometimes this works out. In the case of Brian Kirwan, for example, I'm not sure it will.

Keep in mind that if they've had one year of Junior College, they can always go back for a second, so there's still no rush. I know the Twins offered Johnny Bromberg (David's brother) $50K and Johnny's family felt it was an insult so they turned it down. This time around, his stock has fallen from 32 to 49, and they probably offered him something like $20K and they likely felt that was insulting too. So back he goes.

And from that example, I'm sure you can see that trying to sign later rounders is not a sure thing either.

The actual cost salary wise is fairly minimal however you have to factor in things like food and lodging, per diems and of course medical bills. Still the minor league franchises defer some of the costs, paying for travel and the like. I'm not sure several millions per player over the six year period is reasonable, unless you're factoring in the signing bonuses for higher round picks OR excessive medical bills (Henry Sanchez for example).

Unknown said...

Thanks, Dianna.

I think generally having more picks signed means a higher likelihood that some of them pan out, regardless of where they're drafted (with the conventional wisdom, the earlier rounds offer higher chance, of course).

But at some point, the risk would outweigh the cost - and that's the limit a team would go when drafting.