Friday, April 11, 2008
Where Are They?
The Twins game against the White Sox last night was rained out. It was actually postponed early yesterday afternoon which is nice. It would allow the Twins to travel to Kansas City earlier. Of course, it doesn't sound like the weather in Kansas City will exactly be nice.
For today, I thought I would take a look at my preseason Twins Top 50 prospects list and update it to let you know where all 50 or 52 players begin the 2008 season. As you can see on the left of this screen, I have updated the Prospect Watch. Ben Revere was one of the players chosen by you to have in the Prospect Watch, but since he is in Extended Spring Training, I will wait until either the Elizabethton season begins or he is called up to Beloit to put his stats on there. Click here to see what I said about each player back in mid-February. If you have any questions about any of the minor leaguers, please feel free to ask them in the Comments and I will try to answer them.
Top 10
(Carlos Gomez) - OF - Minnesota Twins CF.
1 - Deolis Guerra - RHP - Ft. Myers Miracle starting rotation
2- Tyler Robertson - LHP - Ft. Myers Miracle starting rotation
3 - Anthony Swarzak - RHP - New Britain Rockcats starting rotation
4 - Kevin Mulvey - RHP - Rochester Red Wings starting rotation
5 - Trevor Plouffe - SS - New Britain Rockcats starting shortstop
6 - Ben Revere - OF - Extended Spring Training
7 - Phil Humber - RHP - Rochester Red Wings starting rotation
(Glen Perkins) - LHP - Rochester Red Wings pitcher (made one start and one relief appearance so far)
8 - Jeff Manship - RHP - Ft. Myers Miracle starting rotation
9 - Joe Benson - OF - Beloit Snappers starting CF
10 - Brian Duensing - LHP - Rochester Red Wings starting rotation
11-20
11 - Danny Valencia - 3B - Ft. Myers Miracle starting 3B.
12 - Alex Burnett - RHP - Ft. Myers Miracle starting rotation
13 - Oswaldo Sosa - RHP - New Britain Rockcats starting rotation
14 - Wilson Ramos - C - Ft. Myers Miracle primary catcher
15 - Chris Parmelee - OF/1B - Beloit Snappers starting RF or 1B
16 - Jason Pridie - OF - Rochester Red Wings starting OF (CF now that Span has been called up)
17 - Erik Lis - OF/1B - New Britain Rockcats DH
18 - Deibinson Romero - 3B - Beloit Snappers starting 3B
19 - Nick Blackburn - RHP - Minnesota Twins starting rotation
20 - Jay Rainville - RHP - New Britain Rockcats starting rotation
21-30
21 - Brock Peterson - 1B - New Britain Rockcats starting 1B.
22 - David Bromberg - RHP - Beloit Snappers starting rotation
23 - Mike McCardell - RHP - Beloit Snappers starting rotation
24 - Ryan Mullins - LHP - New Britain Rockcats starting rotation
25 - Yohan Pino - RHP - New Britain Rockcats bullpen
26 - David Winfree - 3B - New Britain Rockcats starting RF
27 - Dustin Martin - OF - New Britain Rockcats starting OF
28 - Juan Portes - IF/OF - Ft. Myers Miracle starting LF
29 - Rene Tosoni - OF - Ft. Myers Miracle starting RF
30 - Brian Dinkelman - 2B - Ft. Myers Miracle starting 2B
31-40
31 - Kyle Waldrop - RHP - In Ft. Myers yet, resting and rehabbing his elbow.
32 - Denard Span - OF - started season as starting CF in Rochester, called up to Minnesota Twins, playing RF
33 - Ozzie Lewis - OF - Beloit Snappers starting LF
34 - Brandon Roberts - OF - New Britain Rockcats starting OF
35 - Danny Rams - C - Extended Spring Training
36 - Michael Tarsi - LHP - Beloit Snappers starting rotation
37 - Jose Mijares - LHP - Injured in a Venezuelan car crash.
38 - Angel Morales - OF - Extended Spring Training
39 - Matt Tolbert - IF - Minnesota Twins utility infielder
40 - Dan Berlind - RHP - Beloit Snappers starting rotation
41-50
41 - Cole DeVries - RHP - Ft. Myers starting rotation... now that Liriano moved up.
42 - Estarlin de los Santos - SS - Injured, out a couple more weeks, will likely go to Beloit.
43 - Jose Morales - C - Rochester Red Wings primary catcher
44 - Brad Tippett - RHP - Extended Spring Training
45 - Robert Delaney - RHP - Ft. Myers Miracle closer.
46 - Matt Macri - 3B - Rochester Red Wings starting 3B.
47 - Brian Buscher - 3B/PH - Rochester Red Wings starting DH, 1B.
48 - Drew Butera - C - New Britain Rockcats primary catcher.
49 - Zach Ward - RHP - New Britain Rockcats bullpen
50 - Armando Gabino - RHP - New Britain Rockcats bullpen
Warrant Watching - The Next 20: Rene Leveret (EST), Matt Moses (New Britain OF), Reggie Williams (EST), Eli Tintor (suspended list), Danny Santiesteban (FM OF), Whit Robbins (FM DH), Garrett Olson (BEL IF), Steven Tolleson (NB IF), Michael Allen (EST), Danny Lehmann (BEL C), Ben Petsch (BEL IF/OF), Loek Van Mil (BEL RP), Juan Richardson (EST), Jeanfred Brito (EST), Yangervis Solarte (EST), Nick Papasan (EST), Brian Bass (MIN Bullpen), Bobby Korecky (ROCH Closer), Julio DePaula (ROCH BP), Luke Hughes (NB 3B).
Twins Thoughts (Twins/White
Sox Rained Out, Going to KC)
No Game, but that may be a great thing as several Twins players are still being affected by the flu. The pitching situation is actually helped out as well as now the Twins don't have to make a determination on Kevin Slowey for a few more days. The unfortunate thing is that, had the Twins known that Slowey would not pitch for this long, it would have made sense to put him on the Disabled List and get another player back up, either a pitcher or an extra bat.
Cleveland signed Fausto Carmona to a long contract. He will be guaranteed four years and $15 million and the team will have three option years meaning that it could be a seven year deal worth $48 million. That's creative. The 3rd place finisher in the 2007 NL Rookie of the Year voting, Arizona CF Chris Young, signed a long-term deal earlier this week. Troy Tulowitski finished second in that vote and he signed a long-term deal this offseason. I know that the Brewers have had talks with NL Rookie of the Year Ryan Braun about a long-term deal as well. My question is if the Twins have done any creative thinking like this in the offseason or even now. Delmon Young should be locked up. The time to lock up Jason Kubel is now! I know people think I'm crazy, but I would lock up Francisco Liriano and Pat Neshek too. With risk, there is reward, and in many cases, a big savings long-term.
Red Wings Report (Rochester 0, Norfolk 3)
Philip Humber fell to 0-2 with a 5.00 ERA although he did not pitch poorly. He gave up two runs on four hits over five innings. He walked one and struck out two.
Julio DePaula gave up one run on three hits and a walk in two innings. Bobby Korecky pitched a perfect eighth inning.
Randy Ruiz went 2-4 with a triple. Alexi Casilla went 0-2 with two walks and his third stolen base. Matt Macri hit his third double.
Miracle Matters (Ft. Myers 2, Clearwater 0)
Just think, in one week, Deolis Guerra will turn 19 years old. He made another start last night and went five shutout innings. He gave up three hits. He also walked five hitters, something that isn't a positive, to be sure. He struck out two.
Matt Fox got the win as he threw two scoreless innings, giving up just one hit and one walk. Rob Delaney picked up his third save with two more scoreless innings.
Whit Robbins led the offense. He was 1-3 with a walk and a two run homer that was all the scoring the game would see.
Snappers Snapshot (Beloit 5, Peoria 6)
Heading into the bottom of the ninth with a three run lead, closer Blair Erickson gave up a three run homer to Marquez Smith. The next batter, Josh Donaldson, then hit a walk off homer.
Mike McCardell started and went the first 5.1 innings. He gave up an unearned run on five hits. He walked two and struck out six.
Dominique Rodgers went 1.2 scoreless relief innings. Then Matt Williams gave up an unearned run in the 8th inning.
Steve Singleton, Garrett Olson, Ozzie Lewis and Ramon Santana each went 2-4 in the game. Singleton drove in two runs. Santana and Olson each had a stolen base.
Joe Benson was 0-2 with three walks and two strikeouts in the game. He also stole two bases.
Other Notes/Links
The Baseball Analysts reviews the 2001 MLB Draft. The Twins did well!
Funny how all kinds of Jason Kubel Believers are coming out of the woodwork!
Sounds like the weather throughout Minnesota will be very questionable today, so please be very careful. I'm not sure how much I will get posted over the weekend, but be sure to check it out and add to the Comments. Have a great weekend!