Send Down Saturday

Is it still considered a Red Sox rally when the home team falls apart?

Coach Milt Cuyler calls me his good luck charm. Today, he had a friend down from St. cloud -- she was in town to watch her son play baseball at a tournament at Terry Park -- so he had two good luck charms.

How could we lose? We didn't. But we ended up settling for a 4-4 tie.

Actually, the GCL Rookies got off to a really good start. Jeff Hawes was one of the send downs yesterday so he took the start today for the Twins. He allowed 2 hits, one walk and two strike outs in three innings of work. In fact he struck out both of the first two batters he faced. One of the hits turned into a triple though. Should have been a put out but the winds were again making things difficult in the outfield. I do however need to state that our starting outfield of Richard Sojo, Mark Robinson, and Larry Jones did an excellent job out there, despite adverse conditions.

Meanwhile, on the batting side, short stop William Luque walked to start the game.

Stop right there. I have to rave about William Luque. Not as a short stop but on the basepaths. This kid was just TREMENDOUS once he got on base. He's got to be Paul Molitor's prized pupil. The kid get's walked to first. Then, with Odannys Valdez up to bat, he steals second. Just sweet and clean, it was so fast the opposing catcher never even got the throw off. Scott Lucas, a 1st baseman who is with the team on a try out agreement, singled and by this time, Luque was on third. I could just imagine him stealing home, but former Gulf Coast University stand out Chris Brown doubled both of them in for a 2-0 lead.

Greg Najac, who was also a victim of "send down Saturday", lined out and then outfielder Richard Sojo struck out to end the first. I think it was Sojo who failed to snag the put out in the first that resulted in Hawes getting charged with a triple, but...

Travis Kalin hit a single in the second, but went nowhere on it. Which brought us back to the top of the order for the third.

Evidently Ramos Linares was not paying attention to Cooper Eddy's first ining, as he walked Luque. Valdez was taken out at first, so I suppose we could say Luque reached second on a fielder's choice. Then Lucas got a nice solid line drive, a single for him, but Luque was over the plate on that one. Good kid, pleasure to watch. Hope we get to see a lot more of Luque.

Brown walked, but Lucas was caught off base at second and tagged out. Najac lined out to end the inning.

Kyle Eldich took over the mound for the fourth and fifth and turned in a really good performance. He only faced six batters and struck out one. He walked T. Bawden, but caught him off base while Dee Williams was at bat, ending the fifth inning. Nice defensive work on that one.

The fourth for the Twins over over quickly. Jones walked to start the fifth but Robinson struck out. While Luque singled to advance Jones, he would later be caught off base, trying to steal again, while Valdez was at bat. Valdez then did his best to keep the inning alive, but couldn't quite get to first before the ball did.

Alex Garcia came out to pitch for the Twins in the sixth and seventh. He would ultimate face 10 batters, allowing four hits, including a double which the outfield failed to catch, struck out one, and hit Torres (Sorry, I don't have first names on most of the Red Sox guys) in the sixth. I should note on the double that we had changed over the outfield by that point, putting in Simon Fletcher and Ricky Prady in for Robinson and Sojo.

Leonard found is way home on a sac-fly to Bawden in the seventh, putting the hated Red Sox on the board.

Lucas walked to start the sixth for the Twins, but was taken out at second as Najac reached first on a fielder's choice. Dean hit a long single, putting Najac on third. Prady struck out, but Najac was able to come home on Joe Arabella's bat to give us four. We'd need four.

In the seventh, catcher Kris Lankford walked to start and Jones singled, Fletch flew out, but Juan Delgado would reach on a fielder's choice, as they took Lankford out. Wesley Conner struck out to end the inning.

Jose Castillo came out on the mound for the Twins in the eighth. E. Linsres singled to start the inning, but Castillo induced Pritz to hit into a double play. Mareno would double though for the Sox as the outfielders failed to make the put out. Torres hit a high pop up at the plate and rookie catcher Kris Lankford made an absolutely great catch behind the plate to take him out on the foul. This catch was only second to Ricky Prady's put out in the sixth, when he ran straight into the fence, but still managed to hang on to the ball to foul Williams out.

Lucas, Dean, and Prady all hit in the eigth, but both Dean and Prady reached on fielder's choices as first one, than the other was taken out. Najac's strike out would provide the second out for the Twins, before the Sox caught Prady at second on Joe Abellera's at bat to end the inning.

Jeff Shoenbachler took over for the ninth but this is when the outfield fell apart. Two balls that should have been put outs turned into a double and a triple, and Arambarris and Bawden singled for the Sox. In the end, Shoey gave up three runs, all earned, to tie the game at four.

The Twins declined to bat in the ninth, settling for the tie, as the game was running longer than either of the Single A games.

While the Twins ran through most of their roster in batting, the Sox brought only a limited number of players. It will be a similar situation tomorrow at the Rex Sox facility as the as Twins teams will have a limited roster and Red Sox will have more of their players bat.

I told Najac I didn't want to see him back in Gulf Coast. Nothing personal. He laughed and said he was going to Elizabethton.

Pitcher Joe Gault was working as the second referee for the game, as we only got one. They do actually give us two during regular season. Luke Thwaites served as ball boy. Need I say, these were two of the pitchers I really wanted to see and the pitched yesterday while I was watching Beloit get slaughtered. Grumble.

Today turned out to be probably the hottest day we've seen so far this season, with even a touch of hummidity. Of course, this was NOTHING compared to what we go through in July and August. That's why it always amazes me that some of these kids repeat the Gulf Coast League level. If you've been through hell once, why would you EVER want to repeat it?

Okay, the big news as "Send Down Saturday". Nick Blackburn dropped from Rochester to Fort Myers. I like Blackie, I won't mind having him back. Both Millers, Jason and Colby, joined the AA team as did Justin Olsen and catcher Jose Morales. Of interest, Levale Speigner remains with the AAA group. Danny Matienzo, Jake Mauer, Matt Scanlon and James Tomlin all found themselves on the AA roster as well.

Catcher Kyle Geiger, third baseman Omar Burgos, and outfielder Scott Whitrock all joined the Fort Myers group as did pitchers Josh Gray, Adam Harben, Glen Perkins, Jay Sawatski, and Errol Simonitsch. Nick Webb was cut from camp.

Pitchers Robbie Hebert, J.P. Martinz, Even Meek, and Alex Smit were all send down to Beloit. Johnny Lynch was cut, Justin Jones and Billy Mauer were added to the DL as were Matt Fox and Frank Mata who had been with the Beloit work group.

Interestingly enough, only catcher Korey Feiner and outfielder Burt Landon were dropped from the High A fielding roster. Ramiro Chamizo, who is in camp as a try out was moved from outfielder to 3rd base at the High A level, however.

I covered a few of the low A send downs in the main body of the story, but I'll be updating the Spring Training Roster shortly for those that are interesed.

Evidently pitchers Armano Garino and Ryan Gehring were also cut from Minor League Camp.

I did give Geiger a hard time about being sent down but also noted we were happy to see him. I told him there were girls weeping in the stands last year after they'd found out he'd been send down. "Oh, they were not," he said. Honestly, they were. Especially after they found out they'd given his number to someone else. Of course, after I got to watch Elvis Corporan catch a game, I was ready to start weeping as well. I'm surprised the pitching staff didn't break down in tears over that one.

I did watch Geiger and the rest of the High A group take some practice at the hands of coach Jeff Carter. Brutal. Mommas, don't let your babies grow up to be catchers!

I'm moving to Rainville!

Turle soup on a Sunday afternoon

Anything and everything good you have ever heard about Jay Rainville is true. He has speed and accuracy. He looks very comfortable on the mound.

I figured this all out in one warm up session, standing just behind Eli Tintor at the fence and getting a catcher's eye view. In fact, Eli was having a bit of difficult catching the left inside strikes, but Gary Lucas told Rainville to keep throwing them as Eli could adjust in a few minutes.

Wow! The game only confirmed all this as he opened up with a strike and retired his side in short order, allowing one single and striking out two.

In the second he did allow a single, the following batter reached when Deacon Burns went to catch an outfield fly, tripped and lost the ball. However, most of what he allowed were easy outs. Nine batters, two innings, three strike outs and no walks. In fact he was never once behind in his counts. Great kid. Can't rave enough about him.

My only regret is they only let him pitch two innings.

I had honestly approached this game with open optimism because we had Trevor Plouffe and the Pirates didn't have Neal Walker. However, I forget to factor in the pitching. Or maybe I did factor in the pitching but who would have guessed?

In any case it was a VERY bad Snapper slaughter as Beloit went down 7-2 to Hickory.

While I am still VERY excited by my first glimpse of Jay Rainville (did I mention what a great pitcher he is?), I was disappointed in the that I did not get to see the highly touted Plouffe play outfield. He did play as designated hitter, however. He did a very good job DHing, but I wanted to see if their was anything...um well, Hanley Ramirez-ish about him. I guess that answer will have to wait for another day.

I did however see some VERY good first basework by Johnny woodard and some really good third basework by David Winfree and a wonderful outfield catch by my friend with the blinky phone, Tarrence Patterson.

But okay, now that I've told you all of this, you're wondering how we got slaughtered. WHAT could possibly have happened that Beloit gave up seven runs?

I guess we should start at the beginning. Luke Hughes singled to open, and then Trevor Plouffe was walked. Woodard reached on an infielder's choice as they took Hughes out at third. Winfree flew out and Pickerel ground out.

And Rainville threw very well. Very, very well. Juan Portes was our starting short stop. He flew out to start the bottom of the second inning. Burns tried to follow but it went close to the fence. Very close to the fence. The outfielder had it, and then he didn't have it and it went over the fence. The umpire ruled it a home run and Deacon took a trot around third to home (as he'd already raced to second). A little odd, but okay, we'll take it.

Patterson hit for a single and reached second on a wild pitch. But Tintor and Jilmer Arratia both flew out to end the inning. I seem to recall the lesson on keeping the ball on the ground from rookie league last year? And these were both rookie league guys.



In any case, David Shinskie took the mound. He pitched last year for Elizabethton with a 4.17 average. He allowed a single on his first pitch. The second batter reached on a catching error to Tintor who bobbled the ball. It was one of those groaner plays. However, it was nothing compared to what happened next.

I want to interrupt this narrative for a while. EVery morning I show up at the park and watch practice. I've been coming in a little late, like round 10 instead of 9, but you know...10 is pretty early for a 1:00 game. And I watch the guys practice and every day it's the same thing. 3-1 drills, and 4-1 drills, "I got it, I got it, I got it", "Take it, take it, take it", "Check home." Jeff Schoenbachler injected a little humor into the drill this morning when he overran the ball -- "I got it, I got it, I got it, I don't got it."

Every morning we do this. Even though training camp has only been open nine days now, Shinskie did pitch for Elizabethton last year and ran these drill, day in an day out in Elizabethton. After all, practice makes perfect.

The batter lays down a bunt and Eli yells "Bunt!" and Shinskie yells "I got it, I got it." Then he tried to get it and fell flat on his face. Tint got there as fast as he could, but by then, the bunt had turned into a double. I hope this is the only time in my life I ever see a double-bunt again unless it's for our team.

We need to work harder on these drills. Obviously, all the practice isn't make perfect.

Shinskie went back, shame-faced to the mound with Pirates up 2-1 and while he was physically okay, it took him a while to recover his composer. The bunter would evenutally score before he finally manage to retire the side with a final strike out. (Ah, no rolling of the innings today, because that was a very long one!)

And it was very cruel to Shinskie to put him after the wonderful pitching of Jay Rainville to start the game.

Plouffe got a single in the third. Besides being 3-0 with a run and a walk in the game, he's going to be heart-throb by the time he makes it to Fort Myers. The local teens will be estatic.



Now, if you've been counting batters on your hands, you might have noticed we were using a ten man rotation with Arratia being the other DH. This happens sometimes in minor league spring training games. After all, the games don't count except maybe for bragging rights, so they do all sorts of weird things. This applies to extended spring training games as well. Except the umps aren't usually as good. We had to Eastern League blues today, the same ones that worked yesterday, but we had to question a few of their calls today.

Also, Portes came out of the game this inning and rookie short-stop Yancarlos Ortiz replaced him. In any case, Plouffe had the only hit in the inning, so we were back to Shinskie on the mound.

He looked a little better this inning, giving up a shakey double to start off. He then struck out the next batter, allowed a ground out, and struck out the final batter to retire the side. Not bad. Good actually. One can almost forgive the previous inning. Almost. But not quite.

Nothing exciting happened in the bottom of the fourth. Three up, three down.

This brought in Hiroyuki Iida to start the fifth. Joe Vavra walked by a little bit later and said "Is that other guy warmed up? Then take this one out." Joe Vavra is my hero. Hiroyuki gave up three runs, all earned. But at least he did not fall flat on his face.

The "other guy" was Danny Vais and he allowed the first batter he faced to hit into a double play. One guy scored (left on base by Iida), but we got two outs. The next guy was a simple enough ground out. I thanked Vavra. He said "It wasn't his fault", whatever that means.

We went three up, three down in the bottom of the fifth. Eli struck out but he did run the pitch count to six before he did it.

Vais stayed in for the sixth and was three up, three down, including a foul out that was handled well by first baseman Javier Lopez who replaced Woodard in the line up. The other changes in the line up included Greg Najac in at catcher, and Dwyane White replacing Jeremy Pickrel at right.

Hughes flew out, followed by Plouffe, who singled. He moved to third on Lopez's single (fast kid!) and then scored when D-White also singled. Winfree stuck out in between those two plays. Ortiz lined out to end the inning.

Mike Rogers, a.k.a. "Rock" and a.k.a. Maroon Hummer, came in next. We all know that Rock's got it going on and he did in the seventh, although he did walk one. For the remaineder of the game, the only hitting we got was Plouffe and Lopez, both with singles in the bottom of the eighth. So I'm going to skip the hitting from now on as it lacked...something.

Okay, I must now admit that I had to take a restroom break. I could not hold out any longer. If I had held out, I could have gotten Aaron to take over the scoring for me the following inning (which he hates) but...how was I to know he was going to come and see me? He likes watching those major league games. (Thanks again for the water!)

So I missed a batter or two. I got back in time to see Rock walk a batter. The next guy hit into a double, and then the guy came home on a sac-fly. Maybe I should have staying in the bathroom longer?

He got the next two guys out on damage control to finish off the inning.

Adam Hawes finished the game and allowed a double, but the guy was stranded, so, not big deal there.

Tim Lahey and Jose Leger batting in the ninth and hit nothing worth even running for.

And did I mention that Jay Rainville pitched great?

Rookie Report: Kris Langford, who pitched last year for Elizabethton returned this year as a catcher. He says he likes it a lot. Travis Kalin was nailed during live batting practice today but was okay after several minutes and returned to the cage. It was scarey though as he went down pretty hard and didn't move for a several minutes. Pitcher Tim Henkenjohann, who is listed on the DL, was participating in drills today. Brandon McConnell, Armando Gabino and Luke Thwaites all pitched for live batting practice. I will get to watch the rookies live next Saturday against the BoSox. Yippee!

Send downs: On Saturday, the Twins optioned Boof Bonser and J.D. Durbin to Rochester. The Twins also reassigned pitcher Trey Hodges to minor league camp. Durbin did not go on the road with the Red Wings today but was at training camp.

Of Note: Both Matt Moses and Brock Peterson looked good in the batting cages today. There was one scarey moment when a ball hit Moses in the foot later on, but he seemed okay after a moment of discomfort.

GCL Notes: It appears that I will be seeing quite a bit of the Reds this year as they are the weekend opponent for this year's Gulf Coast League Season. This means I will have to keep track of the Reds' boys as well as Aaron will want to know about it (despite the fact that he claims the baby Reds aren't the real Reds).

Now Scheduled: An updated minor league spring training schedule is available at the Gulf Coast League Twins site. This replaces the one released by Rochester as there are some changes to the original schedule. Beloit will face Fort Myers in a scrimmage tomorrow. "How come there are guys are always so much bigger than out guys?" I dunno, growth spurt?

A Lost Cause

I made the game out at 6-0 although Josh Gray assures me it was 7-0. But somewhere between the first and second innings I lost Kyle Phillips.

I'm blaming this on the rookies although they really had nothing to do with it. But they were all grinning at me earlier. This made me nervous. I think they think I'm going to take them home and feed them. They have the wrong girl. Honestly, they do.

In any case, Adam Harben took the start for the Rock Cats and walked the first batter. The second one hit straight up the middle allowing short stop Jesus Merchan to turn a beauty of a double play. He induced the third batter to ground out, making it a quick inning.

Ben Pattee opened up with a strike out for the Cats, but the catcher dropped the ball. Unfortunately, the ball didn't go far and he was quickly tagged out. Merchan came in and hit for a double. Doug Deeds struck out, and then Luis Jimenez, who was playing first base, and Kyle Phillips were both walked.

The umpires then "rolled" the inning. This is common in minor league spring training games but is one of those things that drives me nuts. In any case, you start the next inning with all of your players where you left them, so...

Back to Harben, who walked one and allowed one single, with one outfield fly (Ron Perodine with a tremendous put out on that one by the way) and a ground out. The single was up the middle and Pattee got the guy he walked out on second.

And this was when I lost Kyle. We started the bottom of the second with bases loaded. Omar Burgos walked, but I don't recall anyone coming in. Perodine hit a beauty double, and Merchan and Jimenez came in. Omar was tagged out at third, but Ronnie was safe on second.

So what happened to Kyle? Remember, the line up was Jesus on the third, Luis on second and Kyle at first when they started the inning and I saw Jesus and Luis run across the base and I never saw a walk come in. And yes, I'm positive it was Jesus because once you've seen Jesus you will never, ever mix him up for any other player.

In any case Alex Rodriguez and Andy Daigle struck out to end the inning.

I don't know where Jiminez came from, but he's much better on first than Danny Matienzo was for the Miracle last season. Matienzo is up in the Rochester work group. I'll put the work group schedule up on line later today.

Daigle caught in the Gulf Coast League last year. Big kid, big bat. He just sort of showed up one day, I assume he was a free agent signing.

The third allowed me to have a look at Glen Perkins for the first time. He looks small on the mound and would have fit in better with the grinning rookies. He pitched for damage control, walked one in the inning and did not srike out anyone. I was not overly impressed.

The Cats came in for the third with Pattee, Merchan and Deeds all hitting singles to load the bases again. Then Jiminez came up to bat and ripped one yard. Grand Slam. Don't know Jimenez came from but I hope he sticks around. Phillips hit a single, followed by another single by Burgos. Phillips was out at second on that single and then umpires rolled the inning again.

Back to Perkins. His first batter took an outfield fly but then he changed something. He started throwing fast balls and THAT was impressive. He was getting some good movement on the ball and just firing over the plate. He retired the reminder of the order quickly.

Daigle get's called over by Stan Cliburn after the inning. "Andy," he says, "When you get two quick strikes like that ALWAYS call for the fast ball again. ALWAYS." Andy assures Mr. Cliburn he understands and promises never call for anything other than a fast ball again.

Perodine lined out and Romero struck out before Daigle hit a single to get on base. It was short lived though as Pattee hit to second and it was an easy out on Daigle.

Next up was a pitcher named Jan Granado. Big guy. I rather liked him a lot, but he was allowing too many outfield flies. In fact, I though one was a gonner but Romero got it over by the fence. Those are going to hurt him eventually, especially in the shorter Eastern League parks.

Hitting wise the rest of the game was not really interesting. Merchan and Phillips had singles in the fifth, Romero in the sixth and Phillips in the eighth. Perodine also reached in the eighth on an infielding error.

The batting order was changed up after the fifth with Kyle Geiger replacing Daigle behind the plate, Felix Molina in for Pattee at second, Sam Taylor in for Merchan at short and Brent Tamburrino in for Burgos at third. Tambo made a great play in the ninth to end the game, his only at bat resulted in an outfield fly.

On the pitching end of things Brian Wolfe returned to mound (welcome back Wolfey!) following surgery last season and put in a good performance for his first outing including make a great play on a infield pop up just off the mound.

Wolfe was followed by Nick Web in the eighth, who put in a fairly good performance but struggled a bit, allowing two singles. He had one strike out. John Thomas took the mound for the ninth, got two quick outs, including a strike out, but then had trouble find the last out. It ended with a clean hit to second that Felix Molina picked off in mid-air. Nice catch!

Yes the Orioles had names. I likely won't see these guys ever again, so I generally don't keep track of them, in part because while I can get a Twins roster, I can't get an Orioles one. No one was really that impressive anyway, or I would have made a note of it.

Travis Bowyer wandered over after the fifth when they were changing the line up to see what was going on. He's pitching tomorrow in Bradenton. I'm thinking I'm going to watch the Snappers at Lee County Sportsplex tomorrow. He tried to dazzle me with silly baseball tricks despite the fact that he dazzles me anyway and knows it. I don't care, I'm still not going to Bradenton tomorrow.

I called Josh Gray over after the game -- he was serving as ball boy as he pitched in the Rock Cats 2-1 win the day before. I explained the situtation in the second and asked him what happened to Kyle. He looked confused for a minute and then said, "Oh no, they walked one in." No way. Jesus came in over the plate on the double with right Luis on his heels. I'm very clear on this and I'm very clear on Omar getting tagged out at third and I never saw Kyle.

He's lost. I hope he's not lost for good.

"Roll overs" are common in spring training. Basically if the inning is taking too long, they just roll it over to the next. Travis assured me of this. But I've never lost a player before...

Mr. Gault complimented me on my cooking. Now this really confused me until he said of the the rookie pitchers had been over my house and I'd cooked dinner and...they must have me mixed up with someone. Michelle maybe. But not me. Besides, the rookie that was grinning at me the hardest, Brandon McConnell according to the roster, I've never laid eyes on before in my life. I'm not cooking for the rookies. If they're really nice I might give them free Subway coupons.

The report on Trent Oltjen is good but it will take some time to heal up. His eye is fine, there should be not permanant damage.

Garrett Guzman has a broke clavical that he suffered in an automobile accident. The only player listed on the DL is one Tim Henkenjohann, a rookie. Suspiciously missing off the roster is Kaulana Kuhaulua. I did not notice that until after I talked to Jose. Jose did say there were no other serious injuries (whatever that means).

The new "Twins" wall is not just for decoration. It was being used for workouts today. I found that interesting but it does explain what the "golfing green" on the west side is for. No, they're not using it for putting. Believe me!

Second Thoughts

I'd like to believe the answer at second base is Luis. I'm just not sure which one.

While the Twins seem dedicated to Luis Rivas at second, big toenails not withstanding, he didn't exactly fill me with a great deal of confidence last season.

I don't care if his little imaginary friend is dead. Little imaginary friends have a weird way of popping up after you think they've gone.

So I'm still not exactly comfortable with Rivas on second.

Oh sure, the name of Michael "Cuddy Bear" Cuddyer has been batted about on blogs here and there as moving from third to second. It might happen. Terry Tiffee might yet become a major leaguer this year. I certainly wouldn't weep if that occured.

For whatever reason, the Twins aren't really comfortable with Rivas' understudy, Luis Rodriguez. He got a look in training camp and was sent down to play with the Red Wings again. He needs to work on this defense some, he needs to improve a bit at the plate as well.

Still he remains the top prospect at second even if the Twins aren't yacking about him all of the time. (Which does concern me a little.)

Alex Prieto also put in some time at second for the Wings, but the .249 batting average is not exactly making him the talk of the town.

Honestly, Rodriguez understudy is Luis Maza. Maza started out as a short stop and struggled a bit there. He was moved to second and flurished. Very athletic and very competative, he can grab a ball and shut down a play in nothing flat.

He spent nine games with Rochester, but honestly, the stat that most impressed was 62 consecutive errorless games at the AA level. And he can swing a stick too, going .311 with the Rock Cats in 492 at bats with 66 RBI's and 12 yarders.

Never a horse that tore up the turf getting to the top, Maza's improvement has been slow and steady and has hinged on his tireless work ethic. He will need to work his way up to the next level but there's no reason he couldn't work himself into the Major League line up in a few years. (Note: he also has "my" Aaron's endorsement, which, yes, does mean a lot to me.

Tommy Watkins and Jake Mauer, two utility players I've mentioned in both the short stop and 3rd base essays are also available to play second. Watkins is a better second baseman than a short stop but he does try to excel at any position he plays.

On the home front here in Fort Myers, Felix Molina managed to turn into a pretty solid second baseman by the end of the season. He's likely to repeat in Fort Myers and there seems to be no current movement at second base, but I won't be disappointed to see "Mo" back. No, don't call him "The Cat" even if he seems cat quick at times. He hates his first name. But he does have a magical bag of tricks that he dips into from time to time.

Ben Pattee and Dusty Goman, who I've covered in previous posts also filled in a second.

One infielder I have missed though in my other posts is Brent Tamburrino. Tambo was one of the two Aussie players that went to the Olympics (the other being OF Trent Oltjen). Much like Watkins and Mauer before him, Tambo is a utility player and plays well enough at any position he's assigned.

He came up as a mid-season call up in 2003. At the end of the season though he managed to break his wrist. He then started the 2004 season on the DL after he dislocated his shoulder sliding into home base during a game in Australia.

The current question for Tambo is if he can regain the power he has lost through injuries. His stock has fallen a bit with the Twins as his power dropped off, so it will be interesting to see what the new season brings for him.

Pattee was doing second base duty in Quad Cities until he got called up. He'd been sharing though with another Australian, Paul Rutgers who got the bulk of the starts.

I liked Rutgers in the Gulf Coast League a couple of years ago when he was second in batting and hits and was named to the Post Season All Star Team. Rutgers production dropped off though with the Swing, as he was only hitting .202 in 77 games. (Note, a fall off in production is not unexpected, but this one was kind of steep.)

I would like to see him move up, but I believe he'll be repeating at the Low A level, at least to start the season.

Luke Hughes and switch hitting Matt Tolbert split second base duties in Elizabethton. Hughes I've watched play before and he's adequate but I've never been really enthused with him. Ended up batting .284 with 19 RBI's and 3 homers.

The problem is he was sort of eclipsed by Tolbert, who was drafted in the sixteenth round as a short stop out of the University of Missippi. He rather lost short to Ploufe, but performed well enough, hitting .308. Both may be candidates for promtion to the single A level, but I'd be surprised if Tolbert didn't start with the Snappers.

I've not got to evaluate him live yet, but I hope to have that opportunity this weekend.

In the Gulf Coast League second base belong to Odannys Valdez. He took the most of the starts there, 46 out of the sixty game schedule. I'm not exactly sure where we got him from, but he put in a solid rookie season, hitting first or second in the order and batting .252. He needs to put some power on his swing though, as he ground out quite a bit.

His understudy was Mike Lysaught, another Australian who played a couple of other positions as well. Rather unfortunately, his bat doomes him to another year in the Gulf Coast League.

Quick Notes:

Aaron Gleeman is featured in a blogging article in Major League Baseball 2005. They talk about his "Free Johan Santana" campaign.

SethSpeaks is the subject of an interview with the Perham Enterprise Bulletin. Where do they come up with the names for these newspapers anyway?

The rather large white building under construction across Plantation from the Twins Training Facility is going to be a high school. "Just what we need," one of the Gulf Coast League parent's quipped. "More distractions for the kids!"

Minor League pitching prospect Pat Neshek has been blogging about training camp and complaining about the "Weight Room". He has the name wrong. It's the "Wait Room". That's why they're still waiting for weights! Also, don't let him fool you. It hasn't even hit 90 yet, let alone 95! Whimp!

Minor Matters

I just want to muse a bit on the way the minor leagues work because it always seem to me that some fans just don't understand the system.

I recall making a comment last season about the lack of quality talent at some locations on the field and and the response was "Well, can't we trade them for better players?"

Obviously, the fan in question was not really knowledgable about baseball in the first place as how many times do you get to trade off poor players for really good ones?

The other item that set me off on this track was that John made a comment on how um...understocked shall we say?...the minor league system was in some positions and that it surprised him.

It doesn't really surprise me, but you have to understand how the minors work. So let's kind of start at the beginning.

Most -- although not all -- players come into the system via the draft. Trades play a part as well, as do free agent signings. But the draft is still the largest supplier of players.

In any baseball system, because you have more pitchers than any of the other players on the field, the draft will be pitcher heavy. But with the Twins, the focus has been on pitching, sometime to the exclusion of everything else.

For example, some teams will just draft the best available player when their turn comes up. The Twins on the other hand look for not just good player, but players that they believe will be willing to sign with them. After that they focus on pitching. They also like to take local boys from either Minnesota or Florida if they can get them.

This is especially true after the first round. This is why the Mauer vs. Prior arguement has always lacked merrit. Joe Mauer was willing to sign with the Twins and he was a local boy and a very talented player. Prior was never really an option for the Twins.

Glen Perkins is another example of a perfect draft pick for the Twins. He's a pitcher, he signed and he's a local Minnesota boy.

If the Twins draft heavy on the pitcher's end, they will then try to fill in the fielding positions through free agent signings in Australia and the Latin American countries.

Generally speaking, players drafted out of high school are assigned to the Gulf Coast League, players drafted out of College are assigned to Elizabethton for their first "short" year.

If a player is exceptional he might be promoted to Betsy part way through the season, but it's not a standard practice.

All prospects are graded and receive a report card. Basically it's the same numerical scale that the scouts use (which I am too lazy to look up right now) that rates a player from all-around altheletism to mechanics to their attitude. The high the number, the higher the ranking, with the largest number possible (it's like a six or an eight) means the player has Major League skill that ability.

After their first "short" year with the Twins, player report to minor league training camp the following year. If they are still going to play in a "short" season league, say repeating at the Gulf Coast League or progressing from Gulf Coast to Appalachian League, they will participate in what is refered to as "extended spring training" or what I also know as "spring instructional league".

Played in Fort Myers and pretty much with the same opponents as the GCL, and starting anywhere from 11 AM to 1 PM, and being a glutton for punishment, I try to make as many of these games as I can. (This ended up with me watching three baseball games in one day. With Terry Ryan. Who sat next to me. Eak!)

Generally speaking, a player must be recommended for advancement by seven different coaches. It's based on their report card with some subjective adjustment for special circumstances.

In the Rookie League, be it GCL or Appy, the player are out to make a good impression with their coaches, so they tend to swing at any old thing that comes their way. However, part of the training they recieve is to be more selective in their batting.

As a result, batting averages tend to fall a bit once they get to the Single A level. Both Low A and High A are known as "pitchers" leagues, in part because the players are adjusting to selective batting and in part due to other factors including the MLB sized facilities in the Florida State League and Florida's hot and humid air.

(Just a side note, there is a phenomina that happens to pitchers entering the Gulf Coast League. Basically they lose 3 to 5 mph off their pitches. No one is really quite sure why this happens but generally fatigue, playing under afternoon games and the hot, humid air of Florida in the late summer, are all considered to be factors. Yes, the pitchers get it back, but the drop off in speed is not unusual.)

The change in batting style really is necessary however, as the fielding gets better and even if the batter weren't being more selective, there'd be a drop off in batting average as the some of the garbage runs that the prospects got in the rookie leagues would be outs at the Single A level.
Some, but not all, of the prospects at this level will also play fall ball in what is called the Fall Instructional League. This is similar to the Spring Instructional League with the games in the middle of the day and the opponents being limited to the Red, Red Sox and Pirates.

Generally speaking, you can expect a pick up in a prospect's batting average once they hit the AA league. You should see a noticable improvement towards the end of a prospects Single A stint. Sometimes that doesn't happen.

James Tomlin, for example, hit.303 in 2003 with the Miracle. He was promoted to the Rock Cats and hit .216 and was often frustrated at the plate. I honestly cannot offer an explaination on this one. Perhaps he needed to make an adjustment to the a higher level of pitching? Whatever the case, "J.T." is a tremedously gifted player, but he's going to have to rediscover his batting prowness if he's ever going to be a major league prospect in the outfield.

However, the jump from a "pitcher's league" at Single A to a "hitters league" in Double AA, helped a lot by the shorter parks the prospects play in, also helps explain why guys like Jason Kubel suddenly appear out of no where on the so called "radar". Kubel has been their all along. He was an All-Star in 2003 in the Florida State League and might have won the Home Run Derby if it hadn't have been rained out that year. But most didn't catch on to him until his 2004 season in AA and AAA.

Now up until you hit AA there's no such thing as signing a free agent to help shore up a position. That's why winning at the Single A level is probably the hardest thing a field manager can do. Additionally virtually every move a field manager makes is watched over by the major league club. If they don't like your line up for the night (and you have to phone it in before the game) they'll change it. If you make a substitution (and you have to call in after the game with a report), it's going to be questioned. Winning is not as important as making sure that certain prospects get playing time.

Needless to say, as a minor league fan at the Single A (Advanced) level, this can all be very um...frustrating. Especially if the team is NOT putting up winning numbers.

Oh sure, we try to make the best of bad situations, like sitting over the dugout and putting our rally caps on and doing rally chants as the Miracle got thumped 17 to nothing by the Tampa Yanks, but you know...we tried. We did our part as fans.

At the AA level, the field managers can request that the Twins sign a certain player for a certain postion on your team. Doesn't mean they'll do it, but you can at least ask, an option you don't have as a field manager at the Single A level. And yes, the Twins still scrutinze your line ups and ask questions about player substitutions. But it's not so tough.

And it's not so much teaching either. At the Single A level you have to be 75% teacher and 25% coach. By the time a player makes AA, he's pretty much set in his ways. You can make some adjustments, but it's hard to correct major problems.

Example: I had asked Jose Marzan about Jake Mauer's batting stance. He said - this being Single A High - all you could do was try to adjust it. You can't change it any more. The player is set in his ways. As a result, Jake may always drag around the tag of "No Power Mauer".

At the AAA you can finally do your own line ups. You can suggest trades, you can ask for free agents to be signed. Basically, by the AAA level, you're playing competative baseball. Up until then, you playing developmental baseball.

I'm not going to get into the AA verse AAA issue for callups. Frankly the Twins use a AAA system for promotions verses a AA call up system which some other teams use. Yes I'm sure they retire some prospect to the AAA (Marsters for example) until their tenure is up, but on the whole, being in Triple A means you are still as much of a prospect as if you are in Double A. Or maybe even more so.

Notes: Some players get to skip levels because they are good. Some players get to skip levels because they are expendable.

I hate to malign my buddy Bryan Kennedy, but Kennedy was promoted to Rochester in 2003 after a short stint with the Miracle. The reason, Greg Blum was proving to be more reliable behind the plate for the Miracle who were headed for the playoffs.

The Red Wings were out of the playoffs, so it didn't matter.

Granted, a lot more happened after that in terms of roster moves, but that's the "short" version.
And finally... The worst thing about being a minor league fan is having to welcome some guys back when you really wish they would be elsewhere. And yes, sometimes that second year will "do" it for them (Luis Maza for example has become a good prospect for the Twins), but sometimes You'd really like to see their backsides and hope that the incoming players prove better.

And of course it's the players that you'd most like to see the backsides off that most often show their front sides on your field again.