Wednesday

Good morning everybody! It is time to get to our Twins Grades for July. Doesn't seem all that important, but I felt the need to write something productive because many of you who are reading this likely need some distraction from the events in Minneapolis last evening. So, I thought posting my grades, as I would at this point in the month anyway, would be a good way to provide some normalcy.

As we now enter August, it is time to look at back how the Twins players performed in July. Of course, my grades are mine, and you are certainly welcome to agree or disagree. I just think it is interesting to look at the information for what it is, numbers from a small part of the season. I gave grades to 28 players (and three other INC's). I hate to give F's. I really do, but I even gave out another one of those this month. The rest of the grades; six A's, nine B's, four C's and eight D's.

So, let's take a look at the players and see how they did last month. Be sure to make your comments known in the Comments:

(6 Starts, 40.1 Innings, 3-2 with a 4.02 ERA, 5 walks, 27 strikeouts, 0.99 WHIP, 6.0 K/9)

About a month ago, the Twins were at the point where Baker was on a one-more-start status. A month later, his name was not really even mentioned in trade rumors. He has become, arguably, the Twins second best pitch. Baker finally looked like he believed he belonged. To me, that has been his key for two years. Clearly we have now started seeing his selection of pitches. He is keeping the ball down. He looks stronger. Look at the walks to strikeouts. Look at the WHIP. Scott Baker had a tremendous month. Now the key is to put together another one!

(5 Starts, 29.0 Innings, 0-3 with a 4.97 ERA, 10 walks, 20 strikeouts, 1.45 WHIP, 6.2 K/9)

Bonser was better in July than he was in June. Unfortunately, it wasn't very good either. It would be nice to see him average six innings or more per start, and I think that the high number of walks certainly attributes to that. But he was also quite hittable. As you would expect from a young pitcher, consistency is going to take time. Bonser clearly has the stuff to become a solid #4-type pitcher and can certainly help the Twins. He just needs to find a way to throw less pitches per batter.

(5 Games, 4 Starts, 26.1 Innings, 1-2 with a 1.37 ERA, 10 walks, 24 strikeouts, 1.22 WHIP, 8.2 K/9)

"About time" is certainly a response that could be valid. Of course, less than a month ago, many Twins fans wanted Garza dealt because he dared to question the Twins. Some can also argue that waiting this long helped Garza to be ready when he was called up. Wisely, that is what Garza is saying out loud at this time. The 1-2 record is not at all indicative of how well Garza has pitched. He is throwing hard, and he is throwing all of his pitches. Not always consistently, but then he has the gas that makes it possible to still get outs via the strikeouts. In one of the losses, he gave up only an unearned run in a 1-0 loss. He has been everything the Twins could have wanted. The one thing to be a little concerned about, however, is that high number of walks. That number will have to come down for him to remain successful over time.

(5 Starts, 34.0 Innings Pitched, 2-2 with a 3.44 ERA, 7 walks, 36 strikeouts, 0.98 WHIP, 7.2 K/9)

Santana was very good in really all but one of his starts, the four-home run, five inning start at Toronto. That one start certainly hurt his ERA. His strikeouts were lower than usual for him. But you have to love that sub-1.00 WHIP. Maybe our expectations of Johan are set too high. This is a very solid month, but not what you would expect from Santana.

(6 Starts, 37.0 Innings Pitched, 3-3 with a 5.84 ERA. 7 walk, 12 strikeouts, 1.43 WHIP, 2.9 K/9)

Silva threw eight innings over two run ball on the final day of the month. It was a great start. Now look at his numbers for the month and imagine just how horrific they would be if not for that final start. He certainly is no longer the control pitcher that he was in his one good season. As always, he gets very few outs by himself with strikeouts. If there was another Twins player who should not be back in 2008 and will likely give no compensation, it is Silva. I really think that trades should have been considered with him as well while he is fooling people with his league-average like numbers.

(1 Start, 3.2 Innings Pitched, 0-0 with a 12.27 ERA. 2 walk, 2 strikeouts, 2.73 WHIP, 4.9 K/9)

Slowey made just one start in July and it didn't go well for him against the Yankees. Lots of hits. Lots of runs. It wasn't good. he was sent back to Rochester understanding that he had plenty to work on and has pitched very well down there since the demotion.

(Repeat from Last Months to explain my made-up stat) - With the bullpen, I have been struggling with what these typical numbers mean. I think some of the numbers are important, but not all. Inherited Runners affect ERA, but not always in a good way. So ERA is meaningless with this few innings. So, what I did is went through the box scores and game logs of the Twins 27 May games and gave each reliever in each game a plus (for a positive outing) or a minus (for a negative outing). I am going to introduce a stat for this report just called Reliever Efficiency. It is simply a measure of quality relief efforts to total relief efforts. If this formula were to be more publicized, I think it would be good, but I think that there are a lot of variables about what constitutes a quality relief outing. How do Inherited runners affect that? How about a shutout inning with two hits and a walk? (Nathan got a save doing just that in May) Is that a quality outing? How about a guy who, in a game where the Twins got down early provided 4 innings of two run ball to eat up innings? How about recording a save, but giving up two runs? Dennys Reyes is really the guy that made me think about this topic. He had the one game that jumped his ERA to something like 15.00. Because of limited innings, it takes forever for his ERA to drop to a respectable level. But, if he just continues to get the job done when he continues to be asked to, that number comes down eventually. The definition of "Quality Relief Appearance" is up for debate, but for today, I just did this with my opinions. This sounds like a posting all to its own, but that may be for another day, so you'll just have to go with my opinions.

(1 Game, 1.1 Innings Pitched, 0-0 with a 27.00 ERA, 1 walks, 0 strikeouts, 4.50 WHIP, 0.0 K/9)

Cali came up to provide bullpen help before the All-Star break because the Twins had a double-header. The only game he got into was the 20-14 win over the White Sox, and he did not pitch particularly well. But to grade him for the month because of one outing in that type of situation would not be fair to do. Cali has shown that he could be a decent LOOGY if needed. In case you were wondering, I put his Reliever Efficiency at 0% (0/1).

(12 Games, 11.2 Innings Pitched, 0-0, 1.54 ERA, 3 walks, 8 strikeouts, 1.03 WHIP, 6.2 K/9)

Guerrier's Reliever Efficiency was just 58.3% (7-12). His numbers look quite good, so it is surprising that in five of his 12 appearances, he did not do what you would hope in that situation. That is why you just have to look past numbers sometimes, especially for relievers. If you were to look at just the numbers, Guerrier would get an A, but when he only got the job done 7 of 12 times, then the numbers don't tell the whole story. Guerrier has been excellent and proven that he deserves the situations that he is being given.

(13 Games, 13.2 Innings Pitched, 0-1 with a 1.32 ERA, 8 Saves in 8 Chances, 1 walk, 11 strikeouts, 0.66 WHIP, 7.2 K/9)

Joe Nathan's Reliever Efficiency for July was 85% (11-13). It was a very good month for Nathan despite the fact that his strikeout rate was significantly lower than it typically is. He was perfect in save opportunities. His one loss came in an outing in which he pitched a second inning. The WHIP. The Walks to strikeouts. Not much to complain about with the Twins closer.

(14 Games, 11.1 Innings Pitched, 3-1 with a 3.97 ERA, 6 walk, 13 strikeouts, 1.24 WHIP, 10.3 K/9)

Neshek's Reliever Efficiency for the month was 85.7% (12-14). As he has been all year, Neshek was very good. I think he would tell us that the walks are a little high. I'm sure that he isn't happy about the Loss. One outing, he gave up three earned runs in just 1/3 of an inning which is the reason for the higher ERA. A 'down' month for Neshek, but it really was just one bad outing. He remains one of the best relievers in the game.

(6 Games, 10.1 Innings Pitched, 0-0 with a 4.35 ERA, 2 walks, 7 strikeouts, 1.45 WHIP, 6.1 K/9)

Ortiz's role is primarily a long-inning guy in blowouts. I would say that five of the six outings in July were like that. But, put into one close game, he pitched two perfect innings. So, when his Reliever Efficiency for the month was just 3-6 (50%), it says that he wasn't good much of the rest of the month. But again, because of the low-leverage situations, it's not anything to get too excited or concerned about.

Injured. He made one rehab appearance and struggled in one inning before leaving the game feeling soreness. He hasn't pitched since although indications are that he may make another rehab appearance in the near future.

(11 Game, 7.1 Innings Pitched, 1-0 with a 2.45 ERA, 7 walks, 6 strikeouts, 1.77 WHIP, 7.4 K/9)

Reyes's Reliever Efficiency for the month of July was 54.5% (6-11). The main reason for that, and the high WHIP, was those walks. When you've basically walking one batter per inning, that is not a good sign, especially when your purpose is generally to come in and get one or two hitters out. Another non-good month from Reyes, and he's signed for another year. How come they didn't try to trade him away?

(10 Games, 8.0 Innings Pitched, 0-0 with a 12.38 ERA, 6 walks, 9 strikeouts, 2.38 WHIP, 10.1 K/9)

Juan Rincon's 'Reliever Efficiency was 40.0% (4-10). I guess this would be a case where, as bad as the numbers are, he may have pitched even worse. Too many walks. Too many hits. Good strikeout numbers, but how much does that really matter when everything else is this bad? He was so bad that even in a market with a lot of need for relievers, Rincon was so bad he was untradeable.

It is really hard for me to believe that Bartlett hit this poorly in July just because the impression we are given is that he has done very well since moving into the #2 spot. On the season, he has hit very well in the two-spot, but July just wasn't a real strong month for him. Too many strikeouts, not enough walks. However, I do like him in that #2 spot and hope that the team keeps him there.

It's always fun to see a new guy come up to the big leagues for the first time. It was great to see him get line drive singles in his first two at bats. Hopefully the Twins will stick with him as their primary 3B for awhile. He has hit at AA, then he hit at AAA. Let's give him some at bats to see what he can do.

Casilla is the future 2B and the future leadoff hitter. The time is now for him at 2B, and it won't be long before he is entrenched in the leadoff spot too. Sure, it was controversial to get rid of Luis Castillo, but Terry Ryan was absolutely right when he said that there was another alternative in the system able to contribute just as much.

After an absolutely horrible month of June, Castillo rebounded with a very solid July, in what turned out to be his final month with the Twins. In the month, he had a good batting average, a very strong on-base percentage and even added a couple of extra base hits. He also walked more than he struck out. I am sure that these are all things that Omar Minaya saw and likely that is why he was willing to offer the Twins as much as he did in return for Castillo.

The problem in my mind with Cirillo this year has only been his ability to stay healthy and remain in the lineup in back-to-back games. He has not been able to do so and hence, inconsistent at bats mean lack of productivity most of the time. The redeeming quality for the month was his five extra base hits.

Cuddyer missed the last half of the month with an injury that put him on the Disabled List. It is very unfortunate because he was putting together a solid month in terms of batting average and on-base percentage. He hasn't hit for as much power all year as I think we hoped, but the batter's eye may have allowed that to happen more.

Ford was excellent in his limited play in June, and he was really non-good in his limited play in July. 11 strikeouts in 31 plate appearances isn't good. Two of the five hits went for extra bases.

Remember how good Hunter was last August and September, and this April and May and even June? Well, was July a return to reality for Hunter, or just a blip on the radar screen? Again, 11 of his 21 hits went for extra base hits which gives him a very solid slugging percentage. Not a bad month when you look at it that way. Hunter's name really wasn't mentioned this July in trade rumors, unlike a year ago. It will be interesting how August and September go for him this year.

The numbers are ugly, but the sample size is still way too small to make any judgments on. However, I thought Jones showed an ability to see a lot of pitches, an ability to stay down on the ball and still drive the ball to the gaps. There isn't a lot to be made of these numbers.

I keep thinking that Kubel is getting better. You look at that four home runs and the 15 RBI and think it was a pretty solid month. And then you see that he hit just .225 and got on base less than 30% of the time. I am happy to see that he played in nearly all of the games, although a couple of those were just pinch hitting appearances. I think that from purely a technical standpoint, Kubel looks a lot better now than he did earlier in the season. Hopefully it will start showing in his numbers.

(25 Games, 29-95, .305/.394/.411, 5-2B, 1-3B, 1-HR, 16-RBI, 1/1 SB, 14 BB, 14 K)

After a poor June, coming back from injury, Mauer had a very solid month of July. The batting average was back where it should be. He walked as much as he struck out and had a very good Isolated Discipline. Of course, we all want more homers, but I'm not worried about the homers. I would just like to see some doubles.

Sure didn't look good on sliders. Of course, John Lackey has shown the ability to make a lot of hitters look a bit wobbly. McDonald came to the organization earlier in the month for Levale Speigner, and he absolutely earned the promotion to the team. Hopefully he gets another shot because what he is doing at Rochester and has done at AAA the last two seasons shows that he must have some talent.

(27 Games, 35-101, .347/.391/.644, 6-2B, 0-3B, 8-HR, 28-RBI, 1/1 SB, 6 BB, 16 K)

Just look at how identical the numbers of Morneau and Mauer were in June. That is really incredible. Morneau had to miss five games or so near the end of the month due to the collision at the plate with Miguel Olivo and the subsequent bruised lung. In other words, his counting numbers would be a bit higher had he played in those games, which he would have. It's good to have the reigning MVP back, and it will be important for he and Mauer to both show significant improvement starting now.

Another month, another poor month. I really just don't even know what to write about it any more. I realize that his batting average and on base percentage are very similar to Kubel's. However, Punto has zero slugging percentage or hope for future improvement. That is the difference. And, at least in previous months, Punto played good defense and ran the bases well. He didn't do either of those well in July either.

Not enough playing time in July to really grade too much. Redmond plays through a lot of pain, so you know he must be hurting. Played great behind the plate, but the hits just didn't fall as much. Then again, if he had two more hits, he would have hit .280, so not a huge deal. He's just fine.

Hard to judge a guy on 17 at bats. He did well in his limited time and came up with one big homer. It still is curious to me why so many people don't like Luis(!) when in reality, he certainly is not hurting them in any way. He doesn't get enough chances to hurt them. And really, would you want a semi-prospect like Matt Tolbert coming up to get 15-20 at bats in a month?

It was a decent month for Tyner showing that he can be a decent fifth outfielder at the big league level. He doesn't walk much or hit for any power, so both his on-base percentage and slugging percentage are very much dependent upon his batting average. Those numbers don't look so bad with a .302 average. They don't look so good with a .222 line.

So, there are my July Grades for the Minnesota Twins players. I would love to hear you thoughts or comments on any of them. Please feel free to agree or disagree and let me know why. Send me an e-mail.

Alex Gordon took a meat ball from Juan Rincon and drilled a game winning homer in the top of the 10th inning. The Twins got another excellent start, this time from Boof Bonser. Here are some thoughts from the game and on the Twins:

Bonser put together a very quality start. He gave up two runs in seven innings. He gave up seven hits, but I am happy that he walked none! 95 pitches in seven innings. That is another very important improvement for Bonser.
And then Gardy just started over-managing. He brought Pat Neshek in and he got an out and gave up a hit. Then despite the fact that Neshek has pitched great against left-handed hitters this season, Gardy felt the need to bring Dennys Reyes into the game. He threw one pitch and got a fly out. So, then Matt Guerrier comes in and after allowing a game-tying single, gets the final out. Then he is allowed to pitch the full 9th. Why didn't he just have Neshek pitch the whole 8th? And then, Juan Rincon in a tie game? Especially considering we knew that both the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Indians had already lost. Is it bad, or is it sad, that I would rather Ramon Ortiz be brought into the game in that situation.
It was great to see Jason Kubel come up and come through with two big, two out RBI singles. The first was to tie the game in the 4th inning and the second came in the 7th inning.
The Twins/Royals game for this afternoon has been postponed because of the I35W Bridge collapse in Minneapolis. I think that the team/league/city officials made the right decision to play the game last night. All those people were already there and putting more people back on the streets at that time would not have made sense. Things were so new that road/detour plans were not even determined. Playing the game allowed the time for these people to wisely determine their alternate routes. I can understand postponing this afternoon's game because a lot of work needs to be done. But I think that postponing any of the weekend games would be a bit much.
Honestly, I don't have any other thoughts on the Twins game from last night as I did spend a lot of time following the events of the collapse on TV. Those are events that happen in New York, or Washington, or even Chicago. They don't happen in Minneapolis. But I guess it does. And I hate to mention the whole "puts everything in perspective" statement from time to time because we should all know where baseball ranks in comparison to things like life and death. Unfortunately, we have been bombarded with enough needed time for perspective the last few years. But again, it is a game, to be enjoyed by the fans and the players. We need to stop making every pitch so life and death. And yet, that is what gives a lot of us joy... complaining. And now, we wonder why? Perspective is good.

Here are the game reports of their minor league affiliates.

Wednesday SethSpeaks Player of the Day – Wilson Ramos, Beloit Snappers
Wednesday SethSpeaks Pitcher of the Day – Jay Rainville, Ft. Myers Miracle

ROCHESTER REPORT
Wednesday - Red Wings 2, Syracuse 6 – Darnell McDonald had another solid game. He went 2-4 with his 25th double. Jose Morales was 2-4 with an RBI. Doug Deeds went 2-4 with his second triple. Kevin Slowey gave up two runs (1 earned) on four hits over six innings. He walked two and struck out three. Carmen Cali took the loss. He gave up two runs (1 earned) on two hits and a walk in an inning. Jay Sawatski gave up two runs on two hits and a walk in his inning too.

NEW BRITAIN NEWS
Wednesday - Rockcats 0, Erie 5 – Oswaldo Sosa had a very nice start for the Rockcats. In seven innings, he gave up three runs, and just one was earned, on six hits and a walk. He struck out six, but he did take the loss. Jose Mijares came in and in an inning, he walked two but was not charged with a run. Angel Garcia gave up two runs in an inning. Unfortunately, the Rockcats managed just three hits off of Jair Jurrjens. Matt Moses had his 13th double. Drew Butera went 0-3 in his Rockcats debut.

FT MYERS MEMOS
Wednesday - Game 1 - Miracle 1, Dunedin 2 – Jay Rainville struck out nine hitters in six innings. He gave up one run on three hits and two walks. David Shinskie gave up an unearned run in the 7th to take the loss. Steve Tolleson went 2-3 with his 22nd stolen base. Luis Ugueto went 2-3. Dustin Martin batted fourth, played CF and went 1-3 in his first Miracle game.

Wednesday - Game 2 - Miracle 1, Dunedin 3 – Welp, Zach Ward gave up the three runs in his five innings and falls to 2-15. He gave up six hits and two walks. Robert Delaney threw two shutout innings and gave up only one hit. He walked two and struck out four. Brian Dinkelman went 2-4 with his seventh stolen base. Johnny Woodard hit his 2nd triple. Dustin Martin was 0-3 in the game.

BELOIT BITS
Wednesday - Snappers 5, Ft. Wayne 4 (11) – Wilson Ramos went 3-6 with his 13th double His 11th inning triple drove in the game winning run. Eli Tintor went 3-5 with two doubles. Garrett Olson was 2-6 with his 13th double. Alex Burnett started this game and gave up three runs (2 earned) on five hits and three walks in just four innings. Matt Williams went 2.2 shutout innings. Danny Vais gave up a run in 2.1 innings. Aaron Craig then threw two shutout innings and earned his fourth win. Jose Lugo picked up the save by striking out the side in the bottom of the 11th.

E-TWINS REPORT
Wednesday - E-Twins 5, Princeton 3 (10) – Ozzie Lewis continues to hit. In this game, he went 3-5 with his fifth homer and two RBI. Greg Yersich went 3-5 with his 8th and 9th doubles. Rene Tosoni went 2-5. Mike Tarsi gave up just two unearned runs on two hits and a walk in six innings. He struck out three. Brad Tippett improved to 5-0 with three perfect innings. Blair Erickson gave up a run on two hits and a walk, but he picked up his fourth save.

GCL TWINS REPORT
Wednesday - GCL Twins, GCL Red Sox – This game was postponed because of rain.

Do you have any further thoughts on any Twins prospects, minor leaguers, or these summaries? E-mail me, or also feel free to leave comments below.