Minor League Report...December 12, 2009

by roger13 on Dec 12, 2009 7:36 AM EST

Good morning Twins Fans. What an exciting week, with the Winter meetings and Twinkie Town voting on our first Nine Top Prospects.

There were several transactions, both related to the Baseball calendar with Monday being the day by which any player offerred arbitration needed to accept or reject said offer. The only free agent offerred arbitration this year was Carl Pavano, who on Monday accepted. If the Twins and Pavano do not come to an agreement on a contract, they will go to arbitration sometime this winter with the arbitrator picking either the Twins offer or Pavano's request and that will be his compensation in 2010. He would be under contract to the Twins for 2010 only, after which time they would begin all over with where they were at the end of this season. Look for the two sides to work out a deal in the $6,000,000 range with a second year involved by either a Twins option or some type of vesting arrangement.

To make room for Pavano on their 40-man roster, which was full, the Twins designated Boof Bonser for assignment. Many questioned why Bonser versus others? This decision became clearer when LaVelle E. Neal III reported that Bonser turned down a one year contract offer of $550,000 or so. Later this week we learned that Bonser was traded to the Boston Red Sox for a PTBNL, presumably a High A or AA prospect. It was also reported that the decision on who the Twins will receive will happen prior to March 1st.

The Twins selected no one in the major or minor league segments of the Rule V draft. They didn't lose anyone in the major league segment, however, lost two pitchers in the minor league segment of the draft. Gone are promising lefty Winston Marquez and Elizabethton starter, Angelo Sanchez.

Meanwhile in the Dominican Republic, Francisco Liriano made his first start last Saturday for Leones del Escogido, pitching 3.0 innings with 4 hits, 2 runs and 6K/1BB. Liriano made his second start of the winter on Thursday, pitching 3.2 shutout innings with 1 hit and 5K/0BB. Eleven strikeouts in 6.2 innings is an excellent start as Francisco begins to work his way back to be the dominant starter the Twins believe he can be. Alexi Casilla has seen little playing time with Gigante, going 0-5 this week.

Drew Butera began playing this week with Arecibo of the Puerto Rico winter league, going 1-7 in his first few games. Ryan Mullins made two appearances for Mayaguez, allowing 10 hits and 7 runs in 3.0 innings. Nelvin Fuentes continues his excellent pitching for Mayaguez. He made two appearances this week, pitching 2.0 no-hit, shutout innings with 0K/1BB. Mayaguez is also the team that Danny Valencia was scheduled to report to on Thursday.

Philip Humber made two starts for Ponce, pitching 12.2 innings with 11 hits, 5 runs and 5K/4BB. Angel Morales has seen little playing time in the Ponce outfield, which has been manned by Reggie Abercrombie and Prentice Redman, who hit for .271 and .297 Averages, respectively, last year in the AAA Pacific Coast League. Ponce's third regular outfielder is Raul Gonzalez, who is a 36 year old veteran who hit .353 Average in the Mexican League last summer. Former Twin Eduardo Morlan was 7-5 with a 3.99 ERA in 70.0 innings with 62K/30BB in the AA Southern League last summer. Morlan has a 11.12 ERA in his first 5.2 innings this winnter with Criolles de Caguas.

Former Twin favorite, Lew Ford is hitting .252/.358/.360 in 164 at bats with Caribes in the Venezuelan Winter League. One Twin prospect who has seen regular playing time lately with Aragua is Yangervis Solarte, who is hitting .300/.391/.450 in 60 at bats. Dustin Martin hasn't played since Sunday, while Jason Pridie has cooled following his hot start, going 3-16 this week with 3 walks.

Wilson Ramos continues to be one of, if not the best hitter in the league. Ramos was 9-25 this week with 2 doubles, 3 home runs (his 10 home runs are third best in the league), 10 RBI (he now has 45, best in the league), 3 runs scored and 2 walks. Ramos has the fourth best average, eighth best on base percentage and league's best slugging percentage, at .360/.419/.616 in 172 at bats. Ramos, who is playing like someone who has to be one of, if not the best catching prospect in baseball was voted the third best prospect in the organization by Twinkie Town.

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Comments

how this place could have valued Sano over Ramos is beyond me

The prospect list is a joke, your review on Ramos is exactly why. The guy has an OPS over 1000 and plays excellent defense at a premium position to boot. If Mauer is extended, he will fetch a very nice piece at one point…

by diehardtwinsfan on Dec 12, 2009 9:28 AM EST reply actions

There was likely something going on there

I won’t say joke but I will say the #1 prospect voting was very fishy as Sano got a ton of votes in the last hour. I can see Sano in the top 5 but I think it should have gone Hicks Ramos 1 and 2 in any order.

Peyton's good but have you ever heard of Jeff George?

by halfchest on Dec 12, 2009 10:30 AM EST up reply actions

well

every major outlet is going to have Sano over Ramos, so I don’t think it’s too fishy

http://twinkietalk.com
http://thecollegehockeyblog.com

by fetch9 on Dec 12, 2009 12:16 PM EST up reply actions

not to sound insulting

but that says a lot about every major outlet, and not in a good way. Sano has all the tools in the world and has been compared to A-Rod and Miguel Cabrera. That’s awesome, don’t get me wrong, but with absolutely zero professional experience thus far, it means very little. If he blows away the GCL next season at age 16-17, I’d be OK with bumping him up, but let’s put the hype machine aside for a second.

Baring some sort of injury, it’s reasonable to assume that Ramos will be an above average regular and could very well be a perennial all-star (assuming of course he’s either traded or Mauer moves to another position). He hits for average and power as well as provides gold glove defense behind the plate. The only knock on him is that he doesn’t walk as much as he could. There are only a handful of catchers that have a shot at doing something like that over the next decade, and he’s one of them. What else could you possibly ask for in a prospect?

So I’ll reiterate what I’ve said. The prospect list is a joke. Sano has had no results yet, and Hicks did reasonably well at the low levels (though his season in Beloit was not spectacular by any means). Ramos has performed well at every stop, including AA and now winter baseball. He should be this organizations top prospect until someone else actually gives us a solid reason to say otherwise.

by diehardtwinsfan on Dec 12, 2009 2:41 PM EST up reply actions

you can't just evaluate prospects by stats though

Otherwise Ben Revere would be #1 and Angel Morales wouldn’t be around.

Also, as far as the ‘important’ stats go, Ramos doesn’t walk at all and strikes out a lot (although he did cut down on his Ks this year)

http://twinkietalk.com
http://thecollegehockeyblog.com

by fetch9 on Dec 12, 2009 3:01 PM EST up reply actions

We need to slow down a bit on everyone

including Ramos. He does not, and probably will never, provide gold glove defense. He has the possibility of being a good 2 way catcher, which is quite valuable. Let’s not oversell the thing.

by Eric in Madison on Dec 12, 2009 3:11 PM EST up reply actions

What is gold glove defense?

…His arm is as good as anyone I have seen. His stats (continually throwing out over 40% of runners) confirm this. As for blocking pitches, calling the game, etc., we won’t know that until he is up here to see him play. At this point the only thing, most of us at least, know is about his arm…and that is at a gold glove level.

by roger13 on Dec 12, 2009 3:31 PM EST up reply actions

Agree (sort of)

Ramos should have been #1 or at least #2.

The prospect list is more of a “who has more hype” list. But its not a joke, instead its a pulse check of Twins fans.

by clutterheart on Dec 12, 2009 9:45 AM EST reply actions

He was #3

Thats no insult.

by b1 on Dec 12, 2009 10:20 AM EST up reply actions

Ramos

I ranked him #3, behind Hicks and Morales. I put Sano/Jean 8th for now, but as stated, he could move up quickly.

by SethSpeaks on Dec 13, 2009 1:55 AM EST up reply actions

Redo?

Perhaps with some of the initial attention off of the prospect list, a redo of the top 3 or 4 on the list would satisfy many. The voting for Jean was highly controversial after all.

by TwinkieBaseball on Dec 12, 2009 9:50 AM EST reply actions

Are there a lot of you that would like a redo of the top...

…3-4-5 prospects? I have an idea on how it could be done and would be willing to do it. Although, what I have in mind would be a pain the the rear for me. It would reduce any chance for another questionable final. If a lot of you feel that way, let me know here in the comments.

by roger13 on Dec 12, 2009 1:34 PM EST up reply actions

I'd be for it

Thanks for taking the time to do this and also the minor league updates (go Liriano!) Something to look forward every day when I get onto the computer to find out the Twins still haven’t figured out a way to acquire, oh, say, Ryan Zimmerman.

While I don’t really care if a guy I voted for at #8 ends up at #10, there seems to be some catchet(sic?) with being the #1 TwinkieTown prospect, so maybe it would be good to redo the top 3 or 5, depending on the technique. Maybe you could seed the top 8 in a tournament bracket, and vote on each matchup, one at a time?

At any rate, the only unfair thing is that Ramos continues to pad his resume while everyone else is inactive. (Not that he needs to pad it in my book.)

by Han Joelo on Dec 12, 2009 2:08 PM EST up reply actions

good lord, NO!

anyone who has his panties all twisted up because someone on the “TwinkieTown Poll” is #3 instead of # 2, or 1, has something wrong with their own head. Its a friggin poll for the fans and doubles as a way to get to know the players a bit due to the hard woek and thoughtful insights of Roger and Seth and others.

Most of us have never seen ANY of these guys actually play a single inning. If some reader is upset, he/she can start their own blog, post friendly suggestions for who should come up next, and/or shove it up their arse.

by montanatwinsfan on Dec 12, 2009 10:01 PM EST up reply actions

Agreed...

Prospect lists and fun and their purpose is discussion. Who cares if a guy ranked third instead of first.

by SethSpeaks on Dec 13, 2009 1:56 AM EST up reply actions

ONly problem with Ramos

is: How does he prove he is MLB ready?

It’s not like he is going to get a lot of time in the Twins lineup. And catching every day is one of those things that people watch and want to witness first hand before they take the leap on a player. Can he throw? Can he call a good game? HOw does he bounce back from nicks and bruises? That’s why there are so many veteran catchers and so few rookies behind the plate.

So, the Twins have a problem. If they want to trade Ramos, they need to show others that he is valuable and MLB proven. If they don’t want to trade him, how do they use him and keep him developing his potential?

In either case, the guy’s ceiling is literally blocked right now at 6’ 6". And for the monster that Ramos gives every indication of being, that’s just not high enough.

by Old Twins Cap on Dec 12, 2009 2:37 PM EST reply actions

This is a good problem to have

I have three ideas as to what to do with Ramos:

1) Find a team that has a stud player with years left on his contract that fills a weakness for us and trade him to them as the centerpiece of the deal.

2) Find a team with a similarly blocked prospect (preferably a SS prospect) and do a 1 for 1 swap.

3) Keep Ramos and use him to gradually move Mauer over to a less demanding position that still is a defensively premium position (like say 2B or SS).

I’m assuming Mauer is going to be here long term. Obviously, you do nothing with Ramos until the Mauer situation is straightened out. He also is going to need a year in AAA yet, so you still have some time to think about it. The Twins have been weak at 2B and SS for years, and perhaps having Mauer start 80 plus games over there while allowing Ramos to catch 80 games would be good for both of them. I’m not on the move Mauer bandwagon by any means, but if it was something people are serious about, having a guy like Ramos coming up through the system makes it a very easy thing to do. He has options left, so you can even having him reapeating a year of AAA if there is any doubt to him being ready.

Oh, and one other obvious thing, but Mauer hasn’t exactly been the poster boy for health. I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if he loses a month or two to injury over the course of the next 2 years. There’s your opportunity to see what Ramos can do.

by diehardtwinsfan on Dec 12, 2009 2:53 PM EST up reply actions

RE: A re-do of the top prospects.

No. I’m against this. It sets a precedent for us to just re-do the vote because we didn’t like the results. I didn’t vote Sano for #1 either, but most people did. It’s a Twinkie Town vote, and that’s how the community voted.

by Jesse on Dec 12, 2009 2:54 PM EST reply actions

Jesse...

…even though there apparantly was something weird going on? I am not saying I want a re-do, just that there could be a reason for it.

by roger13 on Dec 12, 2009 3:34 PM EST up reply actions

I would say leave it

If someone spammed it, he/she had to do some work to do it. So let it stand forever as a monument to boredom.

- Or maybe Jean’s family in the Dominican got all their pals to vote. If so, good for them.

by clutterheart on Dec 12, 2009 9:52 PM EST up reply actions

Agreed

I don’t want a redo. I didn’t mind how it ended up anyways, I was just getting tired of reading a lot of comments about how Jean shouldn’t be #1.

by TwinkieBaseball on Dec 12, 2009 10:20 PM EST up reply actions

I'd also say leave it

The only evidence we have is the last minute surge of votes for Jean. I’m not aware of any other evidence of cheating in later votes, so probably not worth the trouble to redo it.

"So [Kouzmanoff]’s going to make decent monkey, but he’d be affordable." - Jesse

by what_would_gil_thorp_do on Dec 12, 2009 10:20 PM EST up reply actions

A re-do? Please, no

I’m with Seth and Jesse here. Even though it appeared something fishy was going on, I can live with Jean – Hicks – Ramos at 1-2-3. Is it really worth the work to end up with Hicks-Ramos-Jean? I don’t think so.

Hopefully we’ll all be looking back on this poll in four years, when Jean is our opening day third baseman. At TWENTY YEARS OLD! Can you believe such a thing? Has this ever happened before?

by Adam Peterson on Dec 13, 2009 10:33 AM EST up reply actions

Leave it

If anyone should be pissed, its the Valencia voters. He went from #1 to #6 and he had a good year, was placed on the 40man roster and could be the starting at 3b. You disagree with the poll. Well we all disagree with part of it, that’s the point. Time will tell, right, wrong or other. You make your point and move on. Time will tell.

by b1 on Dec 12, 2009 11:16 PM EST reply actions

Back to reality?

This is the only place Valencia ranked #1 and he’s a good prospect, not a potential all-star like some of the guys ahead of him.

by DJL44 on Dec 13, 2009 10:18 AM EST up reply actions

Agreed

Just proving the point that this Poll is not a be all end all. It’s not comprised from the ones in the know. I like that, its good to see the differert points of view.

by b1 on Dec 13, 2009 1:04 PM EST up reply actions

Ramos

Thanks Roger for the updates, I look forward to them every week. Sounds like a good start for Frankie. Ramos sounds like a machine, hopefully he keeps this up, and more importantly stays healthy.

by Twins win on Dec 12, 2009 11:29 PM EST reply actions

Prior to this year he had been healthy...

…like all catchers I am certain he was beat up at times and may have missed a couple of games. This was the first season he spent considerable time on the DL. And a broken finger is gonna happen for catchers. The hamstring was shortly after he came back. I wonder if being inactive for awhile with the finger contributed to that problem.

by roger13 on Dec 13, 2009 8:26 AM EST up reply actions