Minor League Report...August 29, 2009

Although they didn't flirt with another 30 win week, the organization had an excellent week at 25-18.  Elizabethton again led the way at 6-1 with only Beloit below .500 with two wins and four losses.

There were several awards this week.  Brandon Roberts was named the Eastern League Player of the Week while teammates Anthony Slama (Relief Pitcher) and Brian Dinkelman (Utility Player) were both named Eastern League All-Stars.  Rochester shortstop Trevor Plouffe was named to Team USA in this fall's World Cup.  Pitchers Tom Stuifbergen and Loek Van Mil were named to the Dutch Team with Luke Hughes, Brad Tippett, Liam Hendriks and James Beresford all named to the Australian Team.  Seth Stohs is reporting that Red Wing first baseman Justin Huber may also be on the Aussie Team.  The Twins made their seven assignments to the Arizona Fall League (AFL).  Playing in Mesa this fall will be pitchers Alex Burnett, Michael McCardell, Spencer Steedley and Steve Hirschfield.  Also assigned to the AFL are Steve Singleton, Rene Tosoni and Chris Parmalee.  

The New Britain Rock Cats activated Juan Portes while Matt Moses was placed on the DL and is in the Twin Cities for a medical evaluation.  Alejandro Machado moved up to New Britain on a rehab assignment while the Red Wings activated Jose Lugo. 

The Twins made a series of moves within the last twenty four hours as General Manager Bill Smith appears to be doing anything he can to strengthen their pitching staff as they enter the final month of the season.  They completed a trade yesterday for Arizona reliever John Rauch for a PTBNL.  This may be a good move as Rauch is a solid reliever who is 30 years old and under contract for 2010 with a team option for 2011.  This is the type of move that the Twins failed to make this past off season.  Philip Humber was outrighted to Rochester (he accepted the assignment) which opened a spot on the 40 and 25 man rosters for Rauch.  It was also reported that they acquired 38 year old lefty Ron Mahay from the Royals.  It appears this was done off waivers with the only cost being that the Twins will pay the pro-rata share of Mahay's 2009 salary.  Armando Gabino was optioned to Rochester to open a spot on the 25-man roster for Mahay, however, it has not been reported what move will be made to create a spot on the 40-man roster.  The Twins also recalled Jose Morales and placed Joe Crede on the 15-day disabled list.   

In another development last evening, the Twins announced that the PTBNL in the Carl Pavano acquisition was Yohan Pino.  After another great AAA start on Monday when he pitched 8.0 innings with 4 hits, 1 run and 5K/1BB, Pino moves on in what had been described at the time as a salary dump by the Indians.  Pino has been one of the most successful pitchers in the organization (46-19 record and 2.83ERA coming into this season, with a 2.82ERA at Rochester this year) since being signed as a free agent out of Venezuela in 2004.  Mr. Smith recently stated that the player going to the Indians would not be a upper level prospect.  Unfortunately, it appears that Mr. Smith is doing anything he can to help this team for a playoff run that certainly will be an uphill battle.  I usually don't fill this space with a lot of opinions, however, I believe that there is a high probability that this will be another move by Mr. Smith that will come back to haunt the Twins over the coming years....much like his first trade with Tampa Bay.  It remains to be seen who the PTBNL will be that we are sending to Arizona, however, if the Pino trade is an indication I am fearful that we may be saddened when we learn all the details?  Hopefully, I will be proven wrong.   

Rochester Red Wings (4-3, 65-68, 3rd place, -9.0 games)

The Wings hopes for the playoffs are over as they now work to finish with a winning season.  The top starting performance this week was Wednesday when R. A. Dickey pitched a complete game 2 hit shutout with 8K/1BB as the Wings beat Lehigh Valley, 4-0.  The next best start was Monday's start by Yohan Pino in their 2-1 win over Norfolk.  Aussie first baseman Justin Huber hit his 20th home run in last night's 8-7 loss to Buffalo. 

Anthony Slama has not allowed a run in six of his seven appearances and has picked up 9K/4BB in 8.0 innings.  He did allow 5 earned runs in his third appearance, giving him a 5.63ERA.  Although it doesn't appear that Danny Valencia will be called up prior to September 1st, he has made adjustments to AAA pitching and is now hitting .301/.322/.465 with a .300 Average in his last ten games.  Matt Tolbert is likely to be added to the roster when the Red Wing season is over.  Tolbert is hitting .321/.350/.473 in 131 at bats since being sent back to Rochester in July. 

New Britain Rock Cats (AA) (3-3, 66-64, 2nd place, -11.0 games)

The Rock Cats dropped a three game series against the division leading Connecticut Defenders who they now trail by 11.0 games.  The good news is that they have a 3.0 game lead on third place Trenton.  With nine of their remaining twelve games against Trenton, the chances of their holding on to second place and a spot in the playoffs will be decided on the field in head-to-head competition.

AFL bound Michael McCardell made two excellent starts this week.  He beat Reading last Saturday, 3-2, when he pitched 7.0 innings with 6 hits, 1 run and 2K/0BB.  McCardell didn't have a lot of support in Thursday's 3-1 loss to the Defenders when he pitched 5.1 innings with 6 hits, 3 runs and 3K/1BB.  Ryan Mullins scattered 12 hits in 6.1 innings in Monday's 6-3 win.  Mullins has fought his way back to even his record at 10-10 with a 4.01ERA as he has a 4-2 record and 2.13ERA in 8 games since the all-star break. 

Wilson Ramos again active and hitting .298/.328/.415 in 171 at bats.  There hasn't been a lot of mention of center fielder Brandon Roberts this season as he has been very steady in his return from missing almost all of 2008.  Roberts is hitting .291/.356/.372 in 382 at bats with 18 doubles, 62 runs scored, 20 stolen bases and only 2 errors.  Rene Tosoni is hitting .272/.361/.459 with 24 doubles, 15 home runs and 70 RBI.  What is also of interest is that he has 11 outfield assists.      

Ft. Myers Miracle (Hi-A) (3-3, 34-27, 1st place, +3.0 games)

After winning the first half of the season, it appears the Miracle are also on their way to a second half championship.  Will they take that final step they were unable to take last year and win the FSL championship?

The Miracle is a team that has everything...great starting pitching, a solid bullpen, speed, power and the top hitting team in the FSL at .266/.342/.371.  The Miracle also have the top pitching staff with a 3.12ERA with Palm Beach second best at a distant 3.93ERA.  Ben Revere is the league's leading hitter at .309/.369/.368.  Revere has the third most runs scored (70) and stolen bases (43).  Steve Hirschfield has the leagues second best ERA (2.28) with David Bromberg fourth best at 2.64.  Bromberg is tied for the leagues third most wins (12), one behind the co-leaders.  Bromberg also leads the league with 133 strikeouts in 143.1 innings, 10 more than his nearest challenger.  Hirschfield is tied for the second best WHIP (1.08), with the league leader at 1.06.  Bromberg is eighth best at 1.22.

Beloit Snappers (A) (2-4, 25-35, 7th place, -12.0 games)

Although they have played better the second half, the Snappers have to be looking forward to the off season.  Brad Tippett continues to be sharp, yet, was the loser Sunday, 3-2, when he pitched 6.0 innings with 6 hits, 3 runs and 5K/2BB.  Tippett has a 8-7 record, 3.16ERA and 100K/24BB in 134.0 innings and has been the one pitcher that would give the Snappers a chance for a win every fifth day all season.  Winston Marquez is a young lefty who has shown brief periods of excellence surrounded by long periods on the DL.  Since his recent promotion, Marquez has appeared in 6 games (13.0 innings) with a 2.77ERA and 22K/5BB.   

Top prospect Angel Morales has his average up to .265/.326/.447 with a team high 12 home runs and 56 RBI in 351 at bats.  Morales has also stolen 16 bases in 22 attempts with 20 doubles and 4 triples.  After hitting .219/.290/.383 in 196 pre all-star at bats, Morales is hitting .323/.371/.529 in 155 post all-star at bats.  Top prospect Aaron Hicks is also having a better August, hitting .274/.343/.379 with 2 home runs.

Elizabethton Twins (Rookie) (6-1, 44-20, 1st place, +10.0 games)

With four games remaining in the regular season, the Twins are looking forward to another match up with the Danville Braves in a best of three game championship series beginning next Wednesday.  The Twins recently dropped two of three to the Braves with only Edgar Ibarra getting a win.  Look for the Twins to tweak their rotation to get their top starters ready for what could be their fourth Appy League championship in five years with all five played against the Braves. 

The Twins have the league's second best average (.282) with Danville third (.274).  The Twins lead the league with 77 home runs compared to only 31 by the Braves.  The Twins also lead the league with 412 runs scored in 64 games while the Braves have scored 334.  Danville has the league's best pitching staff with a 2.93ERA while the Twins are fourth with a 3.86ERA.  The Twins staff does lead the league with 568 strikeouts (Danville has 543), however, the Braves have an amazing team 1.17WHIP. 

Tom Stuifbergen had one of the teams best starts last night, pitching 6.0 shutout innings with 6 hits and 6K/0BB.  Stuifbergen has a 5-2 record, 3.28ERA and 69K/6BB in 79.2 innings with his ERA ranked as the eleventh best in the league.  Stuifbergen has the second most strikeouts while teammate Angelo Sanchez has the fourth most (60) in 56.1 innings. 

Recent eighth round pick Brian Dozier is the league's leading hitter at .365/.428/.448 with Josmil Pinto sixth best at .326/.382/.596.  Josmil Pinto leads the league with 12 home runs while teammate Tobias Streich is tied for second with 10.  Pinto has the second most RBI, 53, while Michael Gonzalez has the fourth most, 42.

GCL Twins (3-3, 33-21, 1st place, +4.5 games)

The Twins have clinched their second consecutive South Division championship.  After play this weekend, they head to a one game playoff Monday (a game they lost last season) with the winner advancing.

The Twins had the league's seventh best hitting stats at .242/.316/.348.  They won however with the league's best pitching staff with a 2.44ERA compared with the second best Marlins at 2.65.  Their staff had the fourth most strikeouts (442 in 469.0 innings) with a league best WHIP...an amazing 1.05. 

Blayne Weller led the league with a 1.02ERA and 0.91WHIP with 46K/6BB in 53.0 innings.  B.J. Hermsen had a 6-2 record with a league fourth best 1.35ERA and league best 0.68WHIP.  Adrian Salcedo had the league's sixth best 1.46ERA with a 1.02WHIP and league's third most strikeouts (58) in 61.2 innings.  Michael Tonkin had the second most strikeouts in the league (60) in 54.2 innings to go with a 3.62ERA and 1.17WHIP.  With its wonderful starting rotation, the teams top pitcher this season very well may have been their Russian closer, Andrei Lobanov, who has a 0.82ERA, 0.68WHIP, 2-1 record, 7 saves and unheard of 35K/1BB in 15 games (22.0 innings). 

DSL Twins 

The Twins completed their season with a 46-23 record, one half game behind the division champion Yankees-2. 

The Twins went on to defeat the Yankees-2 this week, winning two of three in the first round of the DSL playoffs.  The Twins lost the first game, 4-3, behind Pedro Guerra who was named this week as the DSL Co-Pitcher of the Year.  Guerra finished his regular season with a 7-0 record and 0.38ERA, 0.79WHIP and 75K/12BB in 71.0 innings.  The Twins won game two, 3-1, with Cesar Ciurcina pitching 5.0 innings with 3 hits, 1 unearned run and 6K/1BB.  Manuel Soliman was the winner in the deciding third game, 4-3, when he pitched 3.0 shutout innings of relief with only 1 hit and 5K/0BB. 

The Twins moved on to another three game series against the Rangers-2.  Orlando Villaroel was the winner Thursday, 2-0, when he pitched 6.0 shutout innings with 5 hits and 4K/1BB.  Pedro Guerra made his second start of the playoffs yesterday, pitching 6.0 innings with 5 hits, 2 runs and 3K/0BB as the Twins beat the Rangers-2, 5-3 to win the second round playoff series, 2-0. 

The Twins now move on to a best of five championshp series against the Giants who were the league's best team this season with a 52-19 record.  The Twins had the league's second best pitching staff with a 2.48ERA while the Giants were third best at 2.66.  Will the Twins top starters rise to the challenge and take home the DSL championship?  Pedro Guerra was the league's best pitcher.  Cesar Cirucina tied for the best record (9-2), had the eighth best ERA (1.39), best WHIP (0.69) and at nearly a year younger than Guerra just may be the best pitcher on the DSL Twins staff.  Game One is under way as I write with the Twins three wins away from a championship.

Player of the Week

Liam Hendriks began his season with the Australian Team in the WBC.  He will now join Team Australia again for the World Cup.  Hendriks remained in EST before making three starts for Elizabethton where he had a 2-0 record with a 3.71ERA in 17.0 innings with 13K/1BB.  Hendriks was promoted to Beloit in early July where he has started 10 games.  Hendriks, who has been one of the bright starts in what has been a disappointing season for the Snappers, has a 3-4 record, 3.16ERA, 1.26WHIP and 59K/14BB in 62.2 innings.

Hendriks got the Snappers week off to a bright start by pitching 7.0 shutout innings with only 1 hit and 5K/1BB in a 4-0 win over Kane County.  The Snappers again beat Kane County, 9-1, on Thursday behind Hendriks who pitched 6.0 shutout innings with 1 hit and 6K/1BB.  For the week, Hendriks pitched 13.0 shutout innings with only 2 hits and 11K/2BB. 

Hendriks should get one more start for Beloit before moving on to a bigger stage to end what has been a very fulfilling year for a young man who has a very bright future in the Twins organization.