News & Notes

There’s a collection of news and notes worth covering on the Minnesota Twins as they enter what feels like the 50^th series this year against the Tigers (seriously, we haven’t even seen Houston, Oakland, New York, Tampa Bay, Toronto and we’ve barely played the White Sox and Indians – but the Tigers? We’ve played the Tigers 13 times! This schedule is weird.)

Minor Movements Have Major Implications:

This week Miguel Sano, Eddie Rosario and Angel Morales were promoted from Fort Myers to New Britain. Sano and Rosario were playing well above their level and were expected to get the call, Morales, however, was a bit of a surprise.

Morales, a 24 year old CF, has been part of the Twins’ system since 2007. He’s put up good but not great numbers in each level he’s reached, but was promoted on the strength of a .297/.364/.525 triple slash this season with The Miracle. Morales strikes out a lot, 28% in his minor league career, but he has decent speed and slightly above average power. He’s not likely to make a big league impact, but he’s worth keeping an eye on to see if he’ll flourish at the higher level.

Sano and Rosario’s promotions mean bigger things for the Twins this year than many fans may realize. If Sano and/or Rosario can make the jump to AA and keep swinging they way they have been this year, they may line themselves up for a late September call-up to the Twins. It wouldn’t be entirely unheard of for the Twins to bring up two hot hitters from AA in the last month of the season just to see where their top talent is. Each would likely begin 2014 in AAA (I think the Twins have learned a lesson with Aaron Hicks, plus service time is an issue worth addressing for these young future stars) but they would be a phone call away from the big leagues. For Twins fans who have endured these past three losing seasons, that’s something big to look forward to.

Starting Pitching Turnaround

Kevin Correia didn’t have his best stuff last night against the Philies. The right hander gave up and early first inning run and allowed runners to get into scoring position in each inning he pitched. It looked like Correia was going to get an early hook and the Twins would have to rely on the bullpen for most of the game. Funny thing, though, just like Mike Pelfrey the night prior, Kevin Correia managed to keep the Phillies off the board. He pitched 5 innings, throwing 112 pitches and yielding 8 hits, 1 walk and getting 6 strikeouts.

Correia’s outing, despite being less than stellar, was the next in a series of great starts from the Twins’ starters. You have to go back to Scott Diamond’s start Sunday against the Nationals to find the last Twins’ pitcher to get the hook before pitching a full 6 innings. You’d have to go back to May 31^st to find the next outing in which a pitcher didn’t last at least 6 innings (Pelfrey went 5.1 versus the Mariners). In between the Twins got 10 quality starts and posted a 6-4 record.

They’re obviously not setting the AL Central on fire, but that small sample size helps prove the point we as fans have been bemoaning all along. All it takes is a quality start from the guy on the mound. Give us that much and we have a fighting chance. (Extrapolated across an entire season, a win percentage of 60% means the team SHOULD win about 97 games – obviously that’s not the most accurate method of forecasting wins, but it proves the larger point. With good outings from your starters, you’re more likely to hang around and win a game. More starts like this and the Twins should start seeing their win totals climb.)

Roster Decisions Coming

Trevor Plouffe is reportedly healthy and has been rehabbing in Rochester over the past three games. Apparently the team wants to keep him in Rochester over the weekend to make sure he’s fully healthy (also, he hasn’t played in a game for nearly three weeks, a little ball at the lower level should help him adjust). When Plouffe does come back (I’d wager Tuesday against the White Sox) the Twins will have some roster decisions to make.

Clete Thomas isn’t going anywhere while Aaron Hicks is hurt, Oswaldo Arcia is likely here to stay and Chris Herrmann allows Gardy to play Ryan Doumit all over the field without fear of injury to Joe Mauer, so he’s likely safe as well. That leaves Chris Parmelee, Caleb Thielbar, and Eduardo Escobar as likely demotion candidates.

Parmelee isn’t getting playing time with Doumit and Arcia needing at bats and may be better served by being sent to Rochester. However, the team seems adamant that he has nothing left to prove at AAA, so he might not be the one to move even if it makes sense.

Thielbar has been lights out in the bullpen this season, not allowing an earned run so far in 10.2 innings pitched. He’s struck out 1 batter per inning and looks to be the lefty reliever the Twins desperately need. With the starters pitching better, the Twins don’t need a 13 man bullpen, meaning despite his dominance, Thielbar may be the casualty of Plouffe’s return.

Out of all the options, I’d vote for Eduardo Escobar. With Plouffe’s return, Jamey Carroll can return to bench play, being available to fill in for Dozier or Plouffe on occasion. Florimon has proven to be more than capable of playing everyday at shortstop, but Carroll can fill in there as well. Escobar’s bat has cooled significantly from the start of the season and his defense is not as good as Carroll’s, Florimon’s or Dozier’s (and he might not be as good as Plouffe at third) which, in my opinion, makes him the easiest piece to send down.

Vance Woley Looks Bad

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I don’t think Vance Worley is healthy. In 10 starts with the Twins, Worley had a 7.21 ERA and a 1.993 WHIP while only collecting 25 strike outs. This is not the pitcher Worley had been over his first two seasons with the Phillies. For his career, Worley had averaged about 1 strike out per inning, a WHIP of 1.2 and an ERA of 3.20. Clearly, something was wrong. The Twins thought it was something mechanical and sent Worley to AAA in hopes of him working it out. Instead, Worley has looked (somehow) even worse. In 4 starts with Rochester, Worley is 1-3 with a 4.74 ERA. Over his last three starts, Worley is 0-3 with an ERA over 8. Something is wrong with the right hander and I hope the Twins discover the issue and shut him down sooner rather than later.

Kernels Claim Playoff Spot

The Cedar Rapids Kernels, the Twins’ new low A affiliate, claimed a first half playoff spot this week with a defeat of the Quad Cities River Bandits on Thursday. While they’re still locked in a battle with Beloit for the top seed in the playoffs, the Kernels can be proud of what they’ve achieved in the first half of the season. On the strength of Byron Buxton, JO Berrios, Adam Walker, Tyler Duffey, Dalton Hicks, Travis Harrison, Jorge Polanco and Niko Goodrum the Kernels have posted one of the best records in the Midwest League and have given Twins fans many good reasons to be excited about the future.

When the first half of the season draws to a close on Sunday night, I’d expect the Twins to make a series of moves. With an influx of talent coming in from the draft, some Gulf Coast League and extended spring training players are likely to be bumped to Cedar Rapids while the new signees step in to the summer leagues. And, with little to nothing left to prove in low A ball, Byron Buxton, Adam Walker, Dalton Hicks and Jorge Polanco will all likely be promoted to Fort Myers.

JO Berrios needs more seasoning (he’s only 19) and Travis Harrison should work on reducing his errors – that’s what keeps them off my promotion list, but the rest have all shown they’re ready for the next level. For Buxton, a quick promotion means he could be on his way up the system faster than most prospects. It’s not unfathomable that he would end the year in AA if he continues to crush the ball like he has in Cedar Rapids. That could put him in AAA by early to mid 2014 and in Minnesota by September of that year.

Looking Ahead

The Twins begin a three game series against the Tigers tonight where they manage to avoid both Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer. The Tigers offense is something to fear, however, and they will put the Twins’ recent streak of solid starts to the test. If the Twins can come out of this series with 3 quality starts and 2 wins, I think we as fans should be quite pleased.