More International Interest

Twins scouts were in Mexico yesterday, according to Darren Wolfson, to see Cuban prospects Aledmys Diaz and Dariel Alvarez.  Diaz, a 22 year old shortstop, is "known for his ability to hit for power and average", and "is considered an average runner with an above-average arm" writes Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com.  Sanchez says Alvarez can play all three outfield positions and owns an above-average arm.  There's no word yet on how the two prospects looked, but the Twins history of international scouting and signing makes this significant.  Most recently they have brought in players like Miguel Sano, Liam Hendriks, Tsuyoshi Nishioka, Luke Hughes, and Oswaldo Arcia.

Zoilo Versalles, 1965

The 1965 AL Champion Twins roster included four players hailing from Cuba: Tony Oliva, Zoilo Versalles, Camilo Pascual, and Sandy Valdespino.  There are currently 24 players from Cuba in the big leagues, the biggest names being Alexei Ramirez, Yunel Escobar, Aroldis Chapman, Yuniesky Betancourt, and last season's runner-up Rookie of the Year Yoenis Cespedes.

The Twins have somewhat of a need at both the shortstop and outfield positions right now, especially with the trades of Denard Span and Ben Revere this winter.  However, Diaz projects to be the most major league ready of the two prospects, while outfielder Alvarez would debut in another year or two.  Knowing Aaron Hicks improved last season to the point where he is only a year or less away, and prospects like Byron Buxton and Arcia fill future needs; I doubt the Twins showed as much interest in Alvarez as they did Diaz.  With the lack of depth in the middle infield right now, Diaz would fill a much bigger need as a long term solution up the middle.

With a suspected $10M to $15M left in the budget, we assume the Twins are still in the market for one more starting pitcher.  Kevin Correia, Mike Pelfrey, and Vance Worley will definitely help shore up a rotation that includes Scott Diamond, possibly Brian Duensing, and a hopeful debut of Kyle Gibson.  Although more intriguing than the 2012 rotation, Pelfrey and Gibson's health remain a concern.  Correia's ability to pitch in the American League is an unknown as well.  We should see in the next few weeks one more signing to add a little extra depth to the staff, so how much cash that would leave to sign a shortstop like Diaz or another middle infielder of value is a mystery.

If scouts liked what they saw yesterday, the addition of a player like Diaz sure would be interesting.  As I've talked about before, a roster that features Brian Dozier, Pedro Florimon, Jamey Carroll, and Eduardo Escobar as the only real options up the middle isn't too promising from what we've seen.  The farm system includes few prospects that could be part the future for the Twins.  Eddie Rosario had a solid season in Single A ball last season as a 20-year old playing second base.  Daniel Santana is the potential shortstop of the future, but he played last season at age 21 in High A Fort Myers.  Both are more than likely another year or two away at the very least.

If the Twins front office truly is serious about not giving up on 2013, a splash signing like Diaz - again, assuming he's a solid player - sure would give Twins fans a little more confidence and hope for 2013 and beyond.  There's never a guarantee with any prospect, and international prospects are even more of a high risk/high reward opportunity.  Who knows how much of a chance the Twins have of signing Diaz, and who knows how that would even turn out?  For every Zoilo Versalles, there's and handful of less than successful players like George Lauzerique.

Follow Twins Rubes on Twitter @twinsrubes.

Is Nick Punto a "Winner"?

The following is dedicated specifically to baakre's mother-in-law, a.k.a. Nick Punto's #1 Fan.  Having taken the winter off from even thinking much about the Twins after last season's 99-loss performance; I am just now getting around to racking my brain to figure out what happened between 2010 and 2011.  This morning, the solution came to me: the Twins lost Nick Punto!  Could it be?  Is Punto a "winner"?  Was he a significant piece of this roster for all those years and all those Central Division titles, so much so that it caused a first-to-worst debacle?  Let me see if I can prove this idea true...or even close.

The Book on Jamey Carroll

Newcomers are always a little intriguing around this time of the year - especially after a disappointing season like 2011.  This year Josh Willingham, Joel Zumaya, Ryan Doumit, Jason Marquis, and Jamey Carroll bear the newcomer flag into Target Field.  With the shortstop position being such a desperate need after the fail that was Tsuyoshi Nishioka last season, Carroll is the one the Twins chose to jump out of the free agent pile and save the day this spring.  Not knowing a whole lot about our new shortstop, I decided to dive in and see who exactly we are getting to shore up the 2012 middle infield.

The Case For Nishi

My wife and I went to the Twins/Sox game on Friday night (thanks Carlos Quentin for ruining the day) - it was my wife's first game at Target Field!  Buerhle was on the hill for the White Sox, so naturally we were driving out of the parking ramp 2.5 hours after the first pitch.  As usual we sat one row in front of the father/son or grandfather/son who knew everything about baseball.  You know who I'm talking about.  It was the grandpa/dad who was there to teach this 15 year old everything there was to know about baseball because he had seen in all in his lifetime.  Normally this isn't a big deal to me, but this guy 2nd guessed everything!  The guy hated everything that was Twins baseball - Butera squared too early on a sacrifice bunt, Gardy didn't put Perkins in in the 4th inning, Valencia didn't do anything right.  What a good way to ruin the Target Field experience for everyone around them.

Twins Fever at a Mid-Season High

It has been a long time since I have been able to sit down and put my thoughts together on the Twins. I have been encouraged with their play over the last 5 weeks. The Twins are 24-11 since June 1st and have made up 10 games in the standings, (although they've only made up 4.5 games on Detroit over that span). Strangely enough, this stretch included a six-game losing streak. I'm not exactly sure what happened there. Anyway, the run to the 2011 pennant is in full swing.

The following list of things has me very excited about the final 73 games of the season:

• The starting pitching has been getting deeper into games. Pavano and Baker have now raised their season average above 6.5 innings per start. Swarzak has saved the team in the spot starts he has made. Duensing and Liriano have both thrown complete game shutouts, and although Blackburn has really struggled in his last 3 starts, the Twins still managed to win 2 of them.
• The innings logged by the starters has reduced the amount that the bullpen needs to be relied upon. My feeling on the bullpen this year can be summed up with "Less Is More." Yet, I still feel pretty good about the bullpen getting through 3 innings if needed.
• The Twins have been clutch at the plate which has led to an increase in run production. Prior to June 2, the Twins averaged 3.5 runs per game, since June 2 their runs per game average has increased to 4.5. The team has to be clutch when they don't hit it out of the park.
• Casilla, Nishioka, and Revere have been making terrific plays in the field. Although the Twins are low in the fielding rankings and still have trouble at times completing double plays, they are now making plays that they didn't make earlier in the season. Revere has outstanding range, and Casilla and Nishioka seem to be figuring out how to work together now that they have switched between shortstop and second base.

The next 11 games out of the All-Star break are against Kansas City, Detroit and Cleveland. The Twins need to continue the climb again the division and really put the pressure on the division leaders as the season stretches into August and September. Chicago and Detroit have proven in the past that they have the ability to crumble down the stretch. Cleveland has been ravaged by injuries so much in the past that they haven't been in this situation since 2007. Most people thought they would have folded by now and they haven't, so I believe they will be around until the end.

6.5 games out of the lead at the All-Star break is not too much for this team to overcome. The Twins have done it in the past and can do it again. Sometimes it has taken 163 games, but the Twins will not give up until the final out has been made.

Sunday Sermons

The Twins are 81 games into the season - the half way point - and we are stuck at 35 wins, 9 games behind the Central Division leading Cleveland Indians.  Not to beat a dead horse, but how are the Indians still leading this division?  Wait, the fact that the Indians are still leading the division is the biggest thing that continues to give me hope that this division is still in reach.  An extremely young team leads the division, and 2 teams notorious for 2nd half collapses are the other obstacles in our way.  There are a few frustrations I have, apart from the revolving door at the DL, that need to be addressed this 2nd half.

I'm trying not to act on just emotion from last night here when I suggest the possibility of giving Glen Perkins a little more responsibility out of that bullpen.  This makes sense in my head for a number of reasons.  Matt Capps, although he has the closer experience, has struggled greatly this year.  Capps has 13 saves, but has blown 6 saves already!  Capps has a 4.67 ERA, and has been the opposite of dominating the way you would like to see a closer do so.  To me, Glen Perkins has the mental make-up to be the guy in these pressure situations.  The guy looks like he doesn't even know that he's playing in the big leagues.  If you watch him run around during batting practice, you would wonder if he is the bat boy with his child-like attitude.  Nothing seems to rile this guy up.  In 29.1 innings so far, Perk has yet to give up a home run, and seems to have more movement on his fastball than Capps, making it difficult for guys like Nyjer Morgan to get the barrel on the ball.  I like the Capps pounds the strike zone and rarely walks anyone (4 walks so far), but man do I get nervous when he takes the hill!

Here's another question: Why does it seem so impossible for the Twins to steal any bases?  It was beyond frustrating last night to see Nishioka and Repko (and Hughes if you want to include the broken double steal) get thrown out - by a mile - by a catcher in Lucroy who had only thrown out 4 baserunners all year before that.  Stealing bases is definitely not all about just pure speed.  There is a skill to it, and it takes work to get really good at it.  If it was only about speed, I think Nishioka, Span, Repko, Casilla, and Revere would have no problem taking bags at will.  There is a young man in Fargo right now by the name of Maury Wills that has a little experience stealing bases (104 SB in 1964, led NL in SB 6 straight years from 1960-65).  I wonder what it would take to get him out of the F-M Redhawks radio booth and down to Target Field to work with some of these guys every day to learn how to better read pitchers, get better jumps, and successfully put a little more pressure on defenses.  We have the team speed to do it, but none of these guys seem like natural base stealers.

Let me leave you with this: Joe Mauer has a 7 game hitting streak going right now.  Our lineup consisting of Repko, Butera, Nishioka and Company broke out for 14 hits last night despite the loss.  If Blackburn leads us to a win this afternoon, that will give us 7 series wins out of 9 since the beginning of June.  We've been playing much better baseball, and we have 15 of our next 19 games at Target Field - 16 of those games against our 4 division rivals.  The Twins are playing as good of baseball as they have all year (I know, not saying much) and July will be the month to make another push toward .500 and the Central division lead.

Congratulations, Michael Cuddyer, on your first All-Star selection.  As much as even Twins fans are going to question this selection, Cuddy definitely deserves it - even as a lifetime achievement award.  Good work Cuddy!

Hope Is More Fun Than Logic

I read this comment ("Hope is more fun than logic.") from a reader of a Star Tribune article this morning, and it made me understand why it's so fun to be a baseball fan - specifically a Twins fan.  I love football, but the reason I love baseball even more is that every day is a new day.  If the Vikings lose, it ruins my week.  If the Twins lose, I have only hours to dwell on the loss before the next game.  The fact that the season is 162 gives the baseball fan a reason to think that anything is possible.  Logic makes everything black and white and eliminates possibilities, dreams, and a reason to be a fan.  Hope is fun and is the reason a baseball fan watches their last place team play every night, trying to figure out what would need to happen to still win the division.