Author Archives: Jim Crikket

Minor Leagues: Seeing Stars Before They’re Stars

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Regular readers of our site are probably aware that I’m a Twins fan exiled in Iowa. While I spent 10 years of my youth growing up in Minnesota, I’ve lived almost all of my life since then in Iowa and I currently call Cedar Rapids “home.” In fact, I’ve lived here in Cedar Rapids for pretty much the past 35 years.

When it comes to my baseball fandom, I’m also more than just a Twins fan (and no, I’m not referring to the soft spot I retain for the Baltimore Orioles). I’m also a fan of our local Cedar Rapids minor league ballclub, the Cedar Rapids Kernels.

This is Part 1 of a 2-part series focused on the Kernels. In this post, I’ll review the organization’s history. In Part 2, I’ll share an interview of Kernels General Manager Doug Nelson, who gives us a glimpse behind the scenes in to the inner workings of a minor league ballclub.

Photo: Kernels.com

The Cedar Rapids Baseball Club has a long, rich history dating back as far as 1890. They’ve been the Bunnies, the Rabbits, the Raiders (and Red Raiders) and the Rockets. They’ve also taken the name of their MLB affiliates, including the Indians, Braves, Cardinals, Astros, Giants and Reds. Currently, the Kernels are affiliated with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

John McGraw played professionally here in 1891. Lou Boudreau did likewise in 1938. In fact, if you visit Perfect Game Field at Veterans Stadium in Cedar Rapids, you’ll see “stars” in the concrete of the concourse and “section” signs, both honoring a long list of Big Leaguers that spent time on the ballfield playing for Cedar Rapids. In addition to Boudreau and McGraw, you’ll find Allie Reynolds, Rocky Colavito, John Rosboro, Pedro Borbon, Jerry Reuss, Ted Simmons and Bob Forsch, among many others. You can visit the club’s Hall of Fame, within the souvenir shop at the stadium. There’s also a terrific display of historical old uniforms, press clippings and equipment on the suite level.

The “old” Veterans Memorial Stadium, replaced in 2002 (Photo: ballparkreviews.com)

I’m old, but I haven’t been around long enough to have seen any of those players during their days here, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t seen my share of Major Leaguers on the green grass of Cedar Rapids.

I’ve been attending minor league games here for over 30 years. The first summer I lived in Cedar Rapids, I watched an 18 year old Chili Davis play for the Cedar Rapids Giants. By 1980, they were the Cedar Rapids Reds and a 20 year old Les Straker was on the mound. (Seven years later, Straker would be in the rotation of the 1987 World Champion Minnesota Twins). The Reds organization was actually pretty good to Cedar Rapids. They considered Cedar Rapids their “Advanced Class A” affiliate, so the team was competitive more often than not.

The 1982 Reds were led by Jeff Jones, who hit 42 home runs and batted over .300. Jones jumped all the way to Cincinnati by Opening Day 1983. You may not remember Jones, but you probably are familiar with a couple of his team mates on that ’82 Cedar Rapids team, Eric Davis and Paul O’Neill. Reggie Jefferson spent the following year in Cedar Rapids. Rob Dibble entertained the locals in 1985 and Trevor Hoffman honed his talents while racking up 12 saves for Cedar Rapids in 1991.

Erick Aybar (Photo: Sproutingnews.com)

The team became the Cedar Rapids Kernels in 1993 and hooked up with the Angels the same year. Since then, we’ve seen a 19 year old Bengie Molina in 1994 and part of 1995. John Lackey put up a 2.08 ERA in his five starts as a 21 year old Kernel in 2000. The 2001 Kernels had six members that have gone on to MLB careers of some manner, including Mike Napoli, Bobby Jenks and Joel Peralta. Napoli and Peralta returned to Cedar Rapids in 2002 and were joined by ten other future Big Leaguers, including Joe Saunders, Ervin Santana, Dallas McPherson and Casey Kotchman. 19 year old Erick Aybar hit .308 for the Kernels in 2003, but Alberto Callaspo’s .327 led that team.

In 2004, Howie Kendrick and Brandon Wood were joined for a late season call-up by 19 year old Alexi Casilla. Casilla started 2005 with the Kernels as well, but spent time that year in Class A, AA and AAA within the Angels organization. He would eventually be traded to the Twins for relief pitcher J. C. Romero.

Mark Trumbo (Photo: Sproutingnews.com)

In 2006, Mark Trumbo hit 13 home runs at age 19 for a team led on the mound by another 19 year old, Nick Adenhart, who went 10-2 with a 1.95 ERA. (A memorial sign, honoring the memory of the late Adenhart remains on the outfield wall of the Kernels’ ballpark.) Trumbo returned to Cedar Rapids in 2007 and brought current Angels Hank Conger and Peter Bourjos with him (at least they’re current Angels as I write this… both are being mentioned often in trade rumors lately).

Toward the end of 2009, the Angels promoted a young 17 year old outfielder to the Kernels where he appeared in just five games, but it wouldn’t be until the following year that Mike Trout would really open the eyes of fans in Cedar Rapids with his .362/.454/.526 split in 81 games as an 18 year old.

Just as an aside, fans of minor league teams don’t always have to wait until a young player makes it to the Big Leagues before seeing their names come up on ESPN. For example, the Angels acquired Zack Greinke from the Brewers on Friday in return for three prospects (Jean Segura, John Hellwig and Ariel Pena) and all of them were team mates of Mike Trout’s on the 2010 Kernels. Maybe Greinke will lead the Angels to the World Series this fall or maybe he won’t, but Segura, Hellwig and Pena are all very good ballplayers and at some point I believe the Brewers will be very glad they made that deal.

As you can tell, I’ve seen a few pretty fair ballplayers over the years, but none of them were as impressive, to me, during their days in Cedar Rapids as Trout was.

I may never see talent like that on the field in a Cedar Rapids uniform again… then again, I might. That’s one of the joys of attending the games. Sure, we want the Kernels to win. It’s great to make the playoffs and you certainly enjoy the games more when the locals are at least competitive.

But there’s something that’s just fun about watching young players who are often still just starting out on their professional baseball careers, beginning what every one of them dreams of being a process that will lead them to The Show. They’re playing for the dream (it certainly isn’t for the money they’re getting paid as minor leaguers).

The Kernels’ Player Development Contract with the Angels is up for renewal after this season. There’s some discussion locally about whether the Kernels should renew that agreement or look to partner with a different Major League organization. Obviously, I’d certainly love to see perhaps Max Kepler and Byron Buxton in Kernels uniforms in the near future, but regardless of how the PDC decision goes, I’ll continue to enjoy spending a lot of time at the ballpark watching some very good baseball next summer and, hopefully, for many more summers beyond that.

If you’ve got a minor league team near you, I’m sure you know exactly what I’m talking about because you probably spend as much time at the ballpark as I do, if not more. If there’s a club near you and you aren’t getting out there, what are you waiting for?

– JC

Frankie Joins AJ on the South Side

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Francisco Liriano

Not surprising really that the White Sox released the news before the Twins did so, but regardless, Francisco Liriano is now a Chicago White Sox (Sock?).

In return, the Sox sent two young players who have primarily been minor leaguers, though both have already spent some time in the Big Leagues with the BitchSox.

Lefty pitcher Pedro Hernandez recently made his MLB debut with a four-inning start. He gave up 8 runs (3 homers). I guess his 18.00 ERA is bound to improve, right? The 23 year old Venezuelan has been a starting pitcher pretty much his entire minor league career. He’s got a 3.42 career MiLB ERA and a 1.240 WHIP in his six minor league seasons. In rookie leagues, he was striking out about a hitter per inning, but that rate has dropped as he’s progressed through the levels. Thus far in 2012, with time in AA and AAA, he’s sporting a 5.7 K/9 rate and walking 2.2 hitters per 9 innings. Hernandez is just 5′ 10″, but he weighs in at an even 200 pounds.

The other player coming to the Twins is also a 5′ 10″ 23 year old Venezuelan. However, infielder Eduardo Escobar is just 165 pounds. That’s a good thing, because if he carried Hernandez’ weight, he wouldn’t be “hitting his weight” this season (he’s hit .195 in 32 games for Chicago this season). He has just 99 career plate appearances for Chicago (92 this season). He appears to essentially be a utility infielder, but he’s going to have to learn how to do something with the bat if he’s going to have any kind of career. Escobar has a .270/.315/.351 split in 6 minor league seasons.

I’m sure we’ll learn more about these players in the coming hours and days. Frankly, if Hernandez turns out to be at least a replacement level starting pitcher, then this return is about all I was expecting for Liriano. There’s no doubt in my mind that his implosion in hs last start cost the Twins something in trade value.

Thanks for the memories, Frankie. I wish I could wish you good luck in the future, but given where you’ll be playing, I just can’t bring myself to do so. I do thank you for the good times and I’ll try not to think too much about the bad times.

– JC

 

GameChat – Indians @ Twins #2, 6:10 pm

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Danny Valencia is back up with the Twins, with Trevor Plouffe on the DL and Danny is in the lineup tonight.

I haven’t been paying much attention to my Twitter feed today, so if there’s other news involving the Twins, I’m simply not aware of it.

Let’s see if our guys can put a second straight total effort out on the field tonight. Then again, it’s probably asking a bit much for Deduno to replicate Diamond’s performance from last night.

INDIANS

@

 TWINS
Choo, RF Span, CF
Brantley, CF Revere, RF
Kipnis, 2B Mauer, C
Santana, C, C Willingham, LF
Hafner, DH Morneau, 1B
Damon, LF Doumit, DH
Kotchman, 1B Valencia, 3B
Hannahan, 3B Dozier, SS
Lillibridge, SS Casilla, A, 2B
  _Masterson, P   _Deduno, P
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Cleveland 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 5 4 1
Minnesota 0 0 0 2 3 5 1 1 x 12 12 1

Big time offense from the Twins two nights in a row? I’m not well versed on the Book of Revelation, but I think maybe that’s a sign of the Apocalypse. Better be prepared. Just our luck, right? The Twins finally pull out of the cellar of the AL Central Division and the world comes to an end.

How do you score 12 runs on just the same number of hits? One way to do it is to go 8-12 with runners in scoring position. Four Twins drove in multiple runs. Ben Revere went 3-5 and Josh Willingham blasted his 27th home run of the season. But the offensive star was Alexi Casilla who had a double and a triple, both with runners on base, giving him 4 RBI on the night.

The Twins also got a second consecutive very good pitching performance from their starter as Sam Deduno went seven innings, giving up just one run and two hits while striking out six. If we wanted to pic nits, we might ask him to cut down on the five walks he issued, but we’re certainly not going to complain tonight.

For their efforts, Casilla and Deduno earn co-BOD awards!

Sam Deduno (Photo: John Swol/TwinsTrivia.com)
Alexi Casilla

GameChat – Twins @ White Sox #2, 7:10 pm

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The good news is that Justin Morneau has returned to the team after becoming a daddy again (Chris Parmelee has been returned to Rochester), but the bad news is that Justin apparently woke up with a stiff neck today and he’s just DHing tonight. Can a stint on the DL be far behind?

Speaking of the DL, Trevor Plouffe is neither on the DL nor playing baseball. Let’s just leave it there without comment.

Cole DeVries pitched well his last time out (or at least I think he did… I haven’t really been paying that much attention lately), so let’s hope he can do so again. I really hate losing to the Bitch Sox!

Oh… and it’s National Tequila Day, so I may not be in the chat. 🙂

TWINS

@

 WHITE SOX
Span, CF De Aza, CF
Mastroianni, RF Youkilis, 3B
Mauer, 1B Dunn, A, DH
Willingham, LF Konerko, 1B
Morneau, DH Rios, RF
Doumit, C Ramirez, Al, SS
Dozier, SS Viciedo, LF
Casilla, A, 2B Flowers, C
Carroll, 3B Beckham, 2B
  _De Vries, P   _Quintana, P
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Minnesota 0 0 0 1 0 3 0 0 0 4 8 3
Chi White Sox 1 0 0 0 1 0 4 5 x 11 14 0

You may not have seen it, but a couple of days ago 1500ESPN’s Phil Mackey wrote a story about how the Twins field management may be rethinking their religious devotion to pitch count limits for their starting pitchers. I’ve got news for you, Phil… Gardy was pullin’ your leg.

Cole DeVries was excellent through six innings tonight, giving up just two runs (only one earned) on 7 hits, with four strikeouts and no walks. He was backed by a two-home run night by Josh Willingham and held a 4-2 lead through 6 innings. But… he had thrown 95 pitches and no matter what Gardy says to the media, you KNOW he just can’t change. So… the bullpen comes on in the 7th inning and four relievers cough up… no, make that vomit up… NINE friggin’ runs in two innings to cost DeVries and the Twins the ballgame, 11-4.

I can’t imagine how Gardy and those pitchers can even look DeVries and Willingham in the eyes after that. – JC

Glass Houses of the Big Ten

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This isn’t really the appropriate place for me to publish this article. It’s not about the Twins or baseball at all. But it’s the best outlet I have available to me to utilize to get my opinions out there and on the record, so this is the outlet I’ve chosen. If you’re only interested in what may or may not happen with the Twins and their roster, please scroll down… I’ve written plenty on that subject lately… or you can check out any of the other fine Twins blogs we list over to the right hand column .

But here, today, I’m going to write about the mess at Penn State University.

Workers remove Joe Paterno statue Sunday morning (Photo: AP/Centre Daily Times, Christopher Weddle)

I’m not going to pile on to Penn State. The NCAA’s sanctions, announced Monday morning, are unprecedented and stand as testament enough to the egregiousness of the situation. I’m certainly not going to make excuses for Joe Paterno or anyone else connected with the University. I really have no opinion whatsoever concerning whether Paterno’s statue should have remained standing outside the PSU football stadium.

If, like me, you happen to be a big fan of another Big Ten or other major college football program, I humbly suggest that you consider whether you really want to get too high and mighty on this topic either. I’m afraid many of our houses contain far too much glass for us to be casting stones.

Instead, I’m simply going to suggest that every college president and, for that matter, every college football fan, review the recommendations that were part of the report issued by former FBI director Louis Freeh and his firm concerning their investigation of PSU’s handling of the Jerry Sandusky matter.

I read through the entire Freeh report and I couldn’t help but wonder if the environment at Penn State is really all that different than what exists in many, if not most, colleges and universities with high visibility athletic programs.  This was an environment which allowed for Sandusky to continue preying on boys for more than a decade after initial allegations of his perversions were raised, largely because the values placed on sports… in this case major college football. The power placed in to the hands of a revered coach skewed an entire community’s sense of right and wrong.

The men who allowed Sandusky’s evil to go unreported for so long were not, as far as I can tell, bad men. I’m certain they all knew right from wrong. Strictly from an NCAA rules standpoint, all indications are that Penn State’s President, Athletics Director and Head Football Coach ran clean programs. The assistant coaches performed their jobs well and within the NCAA rules, from all appearances. I believe that if any of these people witnessed or even had knowledge of similar atrocities going on at their local YMCA, they’d have called authorities immediately. But sometimes otherwise good people make really bad decisions and often it’s because the subculture that they’re wrapped up in has been allowed to evolve to the point where the mores within that environment are inconsistent with (if not outright contrary to) the rest of society.

That seems clearly to have been the case at Penn State. Everyone… from the janitors to the President of the University to the Chairman of the Board of Trustees…  believed that the PSU football subculture, and the man leading it, were subject to different rules than everyone else. In fact, that dynamic was so ingrained in the fiber of the entire community that there’s almost no indication whatsoever that anyone even considered for a moment that the decision path they embarked upon was “wrong.”

As I read the report, though, I couldn’t help but wonder if the people at PSU handled this situation so much differently than their peers at other campuses would have.

I’d like to hope the people running the University of Iowa would have immediately stepped up and put an end to anything remotely approaching the crimes Sandusky is guilty of. But don’t ask me to bet a year’s pay on it. I’m just not that sure how the U of I and the Hawkeye faithful would have reacted in similar circumstances to those at Penn State. I wish I was more certain. And the fact that I believe the Hawkeyes, today, run as clean a program as anyone in big-time college sports should tell you about how certain I am that most other schools would have done the right thing.

How can we know? How can we be comfortable trusting the people that run our big-time colleges and universities to prevent anything similar to the mess at Penn State from happening on our favorite campuses?

It’s times like these that I bemoan the state of journalism in this country. There was a time, not all that long ago, when the publication of something like the Freeh Report would be met with a mad scramble of investigative journalists anxious to look in to whether the local big-time college has an environment similar to that which Freeh blamed Penn State for tolerating.

Is the Cedar Rapids Gazette investigating Iowa? Are the Star-Tribune and Pioneer-Press going to battle over who can do the best job of looking in to Goldie Gopher’s closets? What about the Detroit Free Press or the Chicago Tribune or the Columbus Dispatch? In fairness, it’s probably too soon to criticize any of those fine publications for not bothering to ask questions of the local U leaders, but I’m not holding my breath until I read something, either.

Maybe bloggers should take up the challenge. It’s not likely, since most of us exist primarily because we’re among the most rabid fans of whatever sports team(s) we focus on with our blogging. But if we’re collectively at least somewhat responsible for the sorry state of the newspaper industry and investigative journalism, in particular, then maybe we should at least try.

It wouldn’t be too difficult to come up with the questions to ask. The Freeh Report did the research for us. All we have to do is look at Freeh’s recommendations and ask every other college with a big-time athletics program if they’ve already implemented something resembling those recommendations.

Given the state of investigative journalism today, however, I’m not sure it will happen. That said, an investigative journalist in Pennsylvania played a significant role in shining a bright light on Penn State. As you can imagine, the Penn State community did not react positively to that writer’s efforts. Likewise, any journalist with the courage to take on any other major football program can expect to be similarly criticized, if not ostracized.

Who will step up and ask those questions at Iowa… at Minnesota… at Michigan and Wisconsin?

The recommendations in the Freeh report are reasonable. They are, among other things, intended to assure that the kind of influence Joe Paterno had at Penn State is never again allowed to be bestowed on coach. The NCAA has mandated that Penn State accept and implement those recommendations. 

But why stop there?

Why shouldn’t EVERY university with a significant athletics program also be required by the NCAA to adopt the recommendations? If the purpose is to prevent the previous toxic environment at Penn State from ever being repeated there, shouldn’t we also want to prevent it from existing elsewhere? Do we REALLY think Penn State under Joe Paterno was so different than anywhere else?

I wish I believed that, but I don’t. Nor do I believe the NCAA has the backbone to tell Alabama and Ohio State they have to abide by the Freeh recommendations.

The Big Ten is getting a black eye in all of this, too, because PSU is a member of that organization. The conference has long crowed about how it’s more than just an athletic conference… it’s focus is also on higher education. It likes to talk about how its member institutions must meet higher standards than schools in other conferences.

Maybe it’s time to prove it.

Maybe the Big Ten should stand up and say, “Our member institutions will ALL be expected to comply with the recommendations in the Freeh report within two years or face penalties similar to those the NCAA imposed on Penn State.” Now that would get the attention of a few University presidents… and their football coaches.

God willing, we’ll never see another situation on a campus as vile as that which Jerry Sandusky and those who enabled him at Penn State are responsible for. But I’m as certain as I can be that the environment that allowed that situation to occur was not unique to Penn State and, unless someone stands up and demands that other campuses also be reviewed, Penn State will not be the last institution brought to its knees by such an environment.

The NCAA won’t do the right thing and impose Freeh’s recommendations on all programs, but the Big Ten should. And if they won’t, someone should ask Jim Delany and the member presidents to go on the record and explain why not.

– JC

UPDATE: As was predictable and likely appropriate, the Big Ten has added its own additional penalties upon Penn State. The penalties involve censure, lack of eligibility for the Conference Championship game (which was a no-brainer, since they aren’t eligible for bowl play) and loss of their share of bowl revenue for four years. I still believe the BIG presidents should turn their attention to their own glass houses, rather than simply pile on Penn State.

Minor Leagues: Let the Affiliation Dance Begin

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I’ve been much better this season about limiting my posts to 1200-1300 words. This one, however, is a return to the days of much longer tomes. I apologize in advance to those of you with shorter attention spans. – JC

Some who follow the Twins minor league affiliates were at least somewhat surprised this past week when the Twins announced they had renewed their Player Development Contract (PDC) with AA affiliate New Britain CT. The Rock Cats will remain the home of the Twins’ AA players for at least the next two years. PDCs are entered in to for an even number of years, so two years is the shortest contract the two organizations could have agreed upon. I guess you could say the extension isn’t exactly indicative of the two sides making a mutual long term commitment.

The Rock Cats have had a pretty good year, at least compared to their parent organization. Through Saturday, they had a 56-44 record that the Twins themselves should be jealous of and were just 2.5 games behind the Eastern Division leading Trenton Thunder. They also had a 4.5 game lead over the third place Reading Phillies. That’s important to the Rock Cats because the top two teams in each division qualify for the Eastern League playoffs.

Of course, from the perspective of the parent organization (and most of their fans), winning games and making minor league playoffs is of secondary concern. The primary purpose of the minor leagues is to develop talent that can eventually be of use at the Major League level. But if you don’t think winning games plays a role when it comes to renewing PDCs, you clearly do not live in a community with a minor league ballclub. To the owners and management of those minor league teams, who rely almost exclusively on putting butts in the seats in order to make financial ends meet, winning does matter.

To that end, fielding a competitive team in a PDC renewal year is certainly not a bad idea if you want to maintain your relationship with a community. I don’t think it’s at all a coincidence that New Britain has gone from perhaps the most likely Twins affiliate to explore other options to being the first affiliate to sign on for another two-year term within the time it took to put a team on the field capable of being 12 games over .500 as they near the final month of their season.

But the Cats are not the only Twins affiliate with an expiring PDC after this season. The Twins’ agreements are also up with their AAA affiliate in Rochester NY, their Class A-Advanced affiliate in Ft. Myers FL and their Class A affiliate in Beloit WI. It’s pretty safe to say that the Ft. Myers Miracle will be remaining affiliated with the Twins, since they’re a “complex affiliate” that calls the Twins’ Spring Training complex their home, but the other two situations are not nearly as locked down.

The Rochester situation is interesting. The Red Wings and their fans take a lot of pride in their team and they don’t suffer poor results well. And suffer they have, lately. Both in 2010 and 2011, the Wings were downright awful. They were so bad in 2010 that a vocal part of their fan base were upset that the decision makers signed on for another two years with the Twins. Red Wings management were rewarded for their loyalty with a second consecutive 90+ loss season in 2011. Given the lower number of games played in the minor leagues, that’s pretty comparable to two consecutive 99+ loss seasons at the Big League level. (Sound familiar to anyone?)

The Red Wings got off to another poor start in 2012, so you can imagine how local sentiment for dumping the Twins has grown. A recent hot streak had the Red Wings up to a .500 record at 50-50 through Saturday, but they were still in fifth place, 5.5 games behind the North Division leading Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees (who, coincidentally, have been playing many of their “home” games at Rochester’s Frontier Field while their own home stadium undergoes major renovations this summer). They were also five games out of the International League’s Wild Card spot. That may not seem like a lot, but that still left five teams they would have to pass to make the IL playoffs as the Wild Card.

Nonetheless, the Twins have made an effort to field a more competitive team in Rochester this year and they brought in a new manager, Gene Glynn, who’s more popular with the locals. Is it enough to keep the Twins and Red Wings tied together for at least two more years? Maybe. There simply is not usually a lot of movement of affiliations at the AAA level and both parties have to be a little careful about rushing to end the arrangement. Either (or both) could end up finding themselves in even worse situations.

Beloit is a bit of a different situation. Beloit would do cartwheels to retain their PDC affiliation with the Twins. The Snappers are not off to a very good start in the second half of their Midwest League season, but they finished second in the Western Division in the first half, which assures them a spot in the MWL playoffs. (MWL seasons are divided in to two halves, with the division winners and runners-up in each half qualifying for the playoffs.) But on-field success isn’t the main reason Beloit’s anxious to re-up with the Twins.

Beloit, while being the home of MWL executive offices, has what are widely considered the worst facilities in the league. Their stadium has been in need of replacement for years and the organization has simply not been able to get public support to do what’s necessary. Two years ago, plans were pitched for a new facility but, like prior attempts, they were never approved. Some reports now indicate the club may have better luck with a proposal to renovate. Their stadium issues would likely make attracting a new MLB affiliate challenging, so say the least.

But would poor facilities be enough motivation for the Twins to walk away from their eight-year relationship with Beloit? In a word, yes. In fact, the lack of progress on an appropriate stadium were reported to be the reason the Milwaukee Brewers opted to move their MWL affiliation out of Beloit after the 2004 season. Major League teams do, in fact, care about the facilities that their young prospects call home. They want to make sure the fields are maintained in a first rate manner and that clubhouses and training facilities are at least adequate, if not well above that standard.

Unlike the situation with AAA organizations, it’s far more common for Class A organizations to switch affiliations. In fact, reports I’ve seen indicate 12 of the 16 Midwest League teams have expiring PDCs after the 2012 season and Twins senior director of minor league operations Jim Rantz told the Pioneer Press that he expects 8-9 of those teams to actually make changes. I’ll be surprised if the Twins aren’t one of those teams looking for another MWL home.

I’ve made no secret of my wish that the Twins hook up with my local team, the Cedar Rapids Kernels, but there’s no assurance the Kernels will enter the pool of teams open to exploring a new PDC parner. The Kernels have been an Angels affiliate for 20 years and although it’s not unusual for AA and AAA relationships to run that long and even much longer, the Kernels and Angels have the longest running relationship in the Midwest League. While the Kernels haven’t had a bunch of Championship titles to show for the relationship, the Angels have been pretty good about sending most of their top prospects through Cedar Rapids for at least half a season.

Kernels GM Doug Nelson (right) chats with Angels GM Jerry Dipoto at a recent Kernels game

Still, according to the Cedar Rapids Gazette, there’s a growing sentiment among the fan base in Cedar Rapids (and, rumor has it, among some of the club’s governing Board of Directors, which serves as essentially the “owners” of the Kernels) that it’s time for a change. There’s a sense that it would be nice to have an affiliation with one of the midwestern MLB ballclubs, so local fans could better follow the prospects that come through town all the way to the Big Club. Of course, the fact that the Kernels finished 7th out of the eight-team Western Division of the MWL in the first half of the season and have dropped in to the cellar in the second half might have something to do with the fan sentiment, too.

It would make sense from the Twins’ perspective, as well, in the following ways:

  • Cedar Rapids is the closest MWL community to the Twins Cities. No, players do not routinely get called up from Class A to the Twins, so that’s not an issue. But it’s not at all unusual for MWL teams to be used for rehab assignments by their nearby Big League affiliates and front office types do routinely make trips. (In fact, there have been almost annual Terry Ryan sightings in Cedar Rapids, both during his time as a “senior adviser” and as Twins GM.) Though CR isn’t THAT much closer to Target Field than Beloit, if you’ve ever had cause to try to fly between those locations, there’s a significant difference.
  • Veterans Memorial Stadium is just over a decade old. It could no doubt use some remodeling, but it’s a far cry better than what Twins prospects currently call home in Beloit. Not only that, but Perfect Game (the national amateur scouting service) training facilities are about a block away from the stadium and my understanding is that Kernels players have access to PG’s facilities, perhaps as part of the naming rights deal the organizations have (the formal name of the ballpark is “Perfect Game Field at Veterans Memorial Stadium”).
  • All of Iowa is considered part of the Twins home market, yet FSN isn’t carried by the primary cable providers in Eastern Iowa. Nor is there even a radio station in the area that carries Twins broadcasts. The reason is that, while there’s a solid, loyal base of Twins fans in the area, that base is not as large as it could be… or as it should be. A Twins affiliation with the Kernels would almost certainly change this situation as Kernels fans become Twins fans. The Twins would, over time, see far more group sales from this area as fans travel up to see former Kernels at Target Field.

It makes sense for both organizations. So why don’t the Twins and Kernels just sit down and come to an agreement? Well, as is often the case when you’re talking about professional baseball rules, it’s really just not quite that easy.

Under the rules of MLB and Minor League Baseball (MiLB), existing affiliated teams can negotiate extensions any time they’re mutually inclined to do so, just as the Twins and Rock Cats did recently. But if either party to an existing PDC wants to explore other options, they must wait until a specified window of time to declare their desire to explore other options. New PDC agreements can then be negotiated and entered in to beginning September 16 (any private or public statements about possible interest in another affiliate prior to that date earns hefty fines for the clubs deemed guilty of such “tampering”). Clubs have just two weeks to find a new dance partner, however, because agreements need to be executed by September 30. After that date, any MLB or MiLB clubs without an agreement will be matched up and assigned an affiliation by agreement between the MLB Commisioner and the MiLB President. (Honestly, how many of you would want Bud Selig to be deciding who your affiliate would be?)

Nobody wants that to happen, but it’s not all that rare, either. While the Twins would likely have no problem finding a soft landing spot for their Class A affiliation, the AAA situation could be more dicey. Then again, the relatively small number of MLB teams likely to look for a new AAA partner could make the Red Wings’ management group think twice about whether they can really improve their situation or whether they might end up with an even worse result than sticking with the Twins for another couple of years. After all, in theory, some of those Rock Cats that are having a successful season in New Britain this year should find their way to Rochester next season, right?

So the question is whether the good folks who run the Red Wings are willing to take that chance.

Twins GM Terry Ryan during a recent visit to Cedar Rapids

In the end, I’ll guess that Rochester and the Twins extend their agreement for another two years. I’ll also go with my heart, rather than my head, and predict a Twins move to Cedar Rapids for their Class A affiliation. I readily admit that there’s at best a 50-50 chance that the Kernels will end their relationship with the Angles (Angels GM Jerry Dipoto was in CR last week to make a pitch to continue their affiliation) and it’s no sure-thing that the Twins would step in even if the Kernels and Angels divorce. That makes it far less than 50-50 that my wishes come true, but right now I’ll take those odds.

– JC

GameChat – Orioles @ Twins #3, 7:10 pm

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The Twins can clinch a series win over the Orioles with a victory tonight in the 3rd game of the 4 game set. Francisco Liriano goes to the mound for our guys and please excuse me for just hoping he doesn’t do anything to screw up his trade value. I’m not saying I necessarily “want” Terry Ryan to trade Frankie, but I’m convinced it’s probably going to happen. That being the case, you just don’t want to see anything happen that would make it tougher to get something of value in return. Of course, trade value aside, another good performance by Liriano also would improve the Twins’ chances of winning the game, and that would be nice, right?

Speaking of trade possibilities, it’s not too late to let us know who you think is most likely to find his way in to another uniform before the end of the summer. Just scroll down to the next post and cast your vote(s).

If you were hoping to see Jim Thome DH for the Orioles again tonight, you’re out of luck. He’s sitting out against the lefty, Liriano.

ORIOLES

@

 TWINS
Markakis, RF Span, CF
Hardy, SS Revere, RF
Jones, Ad, CF Mauer, DH
Wieters, DH Willingham, LF
Reynolds, Ma, 1B Morneau, 1B
Pearce, LF Plouffe, 3B
Betemit, 3B Dozier, SS
Teagarden, C Butera, C
Tolleson, 2B Carroll, 2B
  _Hunter, T, P   _Liriano, P
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Baltimore 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 5 0
Minnesota 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 8 0

I really didn’t think that first inning home run that Frankie gave up would end up being enough to beat the Twins, but that’s exactly what happened. It’s not that our guys didn’t have opportunities to put more runs on the board because they certainly did. Just couldn’t get the run pushed across when those opportunities presented themselves. Still, Liriano had a good game and so did the bullpen. So it wasn’t a total disaster.

Who’s Going To Be Dealt First?

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Twins General Manager Terry Ryan reportedly told a radio audience over the weekend that nobody is untouchable. Making that clear to every other GM (not to mention everyone in his own clubhouse) is the right thing. It’s not about WHETHER this guy or that guy can be had in a deal, it’s about HOW MUCH the trade partner is willing to offer.

Of course, some players have no-trade clauses in their contracts, such as Joe Mauer (full) and Justin Morneau (limited), but if you were playing for a team as bad as this one, wouldn’t you pretty seriously consider waiving that clause? Yeah… me too.

I suspect other players, such as Josh Willingham and Ryan Doumit, would at least be consulted before being traded. It would not be good for Ryan and the Twins to get a reputation for immediately trading away players that they’ve signed as free agents to reasonable multi-year contracts. You know other teams would use that against you in offseason negotiations with players the Twins might be interested in bringing in (“You can sign with the Twins, but you know they tend to use you as trade bait as soon as their season goes south.”)

The new Collective Bargaining Agreement is going to play a bit of havoc with the trade market, too. Players like Francisco Liriano that are about to be free agents don’t bring a compensation draft pick to the Twins after the year unless the Twins make a “qualifying” offer (about $12.5 million). And if they make that offer and still lose the player, they only get one “sandwich” pick between the first two rounds. Then again, if they trade Liriano, the team getting him can’t even get that sandwich pick since a player has to be on a team’s roster the whole year for that team to get compensation.

Still, you have to believe the Twins are going to deal some players either before the end of the non-waiver period at the end of July or the waiver trade period in August. I still believe most of Twinsville will be disappointed in what Ryan gets in return for his players, but he’s going to make some trades anyway. But who?

With Matt Capps and Carl Pavano both laid up until after the non-waiver trade deadline, their chances of being traded are significantly reduced. That said, it wouldn’t surprise me at all to see either or both change teams via the waiver wire in August.

Here’s my “top 5” players I expect Ryan to be most likely to trade yet this summer:

  1. Francisco Liriano: Frankie’s value will probably not be any higher than it is right now. There are a lot of teams looking for starting pitching help, but there are a lot of better pitchers than Liriano on the market, too. He’s a free agent at the end of the year, so he’s just a rental arm, but I think he’s the most likely player to be traded of those currently on the Twins 40-man roster.
  2. Denard Span: Span would not be a rental player, as he’s still under a reasonable multi-year contract. SI.com recently published an article listing all of the best centerfielders in the Big Leagues right now and Span’s name wasn’t even mentioned. It’s true he isn’t currently considered “elite,” but he’d be an upgrade for a lot of teams and the Twins have current and future replacements in their system that make Span more expendable than any other position player that would be in similar demand.
  3. Danny Valencia: Remember him? Valencia was supposed to claim the Twins 3B job for a few years anyway. Then he stopped hitting. Then Trevor Plouffe started hitting. Then it became “Danny Who?” Valencia hasn’t exactly lit up AAA this summer, but there’s no room for him any more in Minnesota and I think the Twins will find a new home for him while he still has at least a little value.
  4. Alexi Casilla: There are bound to be teams that are looking for middle infield/utility infield help and I just suspect that Lexi is not part of the Twins’ plans for 2013, making him likely to be dealt this summer.
  5. Josh Willingham: I don’t expect Willingham to be traded, but I had to list someone “5th” on a Top 5 list. Maybe it would be a guy like Jared Burton, but I put Willingham here because there’s no doubt he’s going to be the first player that contenders ask about. Just the fact that there will be so much demand means his chances of getting dealt are higher than guys who most teams don’t care about at all.

In reality, I expect three of the top four players listed above to be gone by the end of August.

But what say you? Who do you most expect to see wearing a different uniform before the end of the summer? Let us know in the poll below (like I did, you can choose up to five players).

Which Twins player(s) do you think are most likely to be traded yet this summer? (choose up to 5)

  • Francisco Liriano (24%, 42 Votes)
  • Denard Span (19%, 33 Votes)
  • Danny Valencia (13%, 22 Votes)
  • Matt Capps (10%, 18 Votes)
  • Alexi Casilla (9%, 15 Votes)
  • Carl Pavano (8%, 14 Votes)
  • Justin Morneau (5%, 8 Votes)
  • Jamey Carroll (4%, 7 Votes)
  • Jared Burton (3%, 6 Votes)
  • Ben Revere (2%, 4 Votes)
  • Josh Willingham (1%, 2 Votes)
  • Ryan Doumit (1%, 2 Votes)
  • (other - add comment) (0%, 0 Votes)

Total Voters: 48

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GameChat – A’s @ Twins #3, 1:10 pm

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I’m not going to lie. I’m tired of the losing. More than that, I’m tired of the looking bad while losing. It’s like there are two groups of players… those that have given up and are going through the motions and those that are trying so hard (maybe to impress other teams that might trade for them and thus rescue them from this quagmire and take them in to some semblance of a pennant race?) that they end up tripping over themselves (sometimes quite literally). Oh yeah, there’s a third group… Josh Willingham. Is he a pro or what? I really hope Terry Ryan doesn’t trade him away.

On the positive side, 1500ESPN’s Tom Pelissero Tweeted that Twins President Dave St. Peter has noticed that the Twins pitching sucks. They say the first step to recovery is to admit you have a problem.

ATHLETICS

@

 TWINS
Weeks, 2B Revere, CF
Gomes, J, LF Mastroianni, RF
Reddick, CF Mauer, 1B
Cespedes, DH Willingham, LF
Carter, 1B Morneau, DH
Inge, 3B Plouffe, 3B
Norris, C Doumit, C
Smith, S, RF Dozier, SS
Hicks, SS Casilla, A, 2B
  _Parker, J, P   _Duensing, P
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Oakland 2 4 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 9 13 1
Minnesota 1 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 4 10 0

There’s just nothing encouraging to say about any of the baseball played this weekend by the Twins. No errors today, so I guess that’s a step in the right direction, but that’s not nearly enough to draw positives from. The Twins used SEVEN pitchers in this fiasco and only Tyler Robertson worked a clean inning. They say that at this point in the season, all players can do is play for pride. I sure hope that’s not the case, because if so, there are not many guys on this team showing any pride at all. – JC

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Trading Season Opens: Prepare For Disappointment

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It seems ridiculous at this point to suggest Twins fans need to be prepared for disappointment. We’ve been getting slapped in the face by disappointment for going on two years, after all, and we’re pretty much resigned to this team continuing to disappoint us at least through the rest of this season. A lot of fans are already accepting disappointment as a near-certainty in 2013.

How much more prepared for disappointment do we need to be?

A bit more, I believe, and soon.

Terry Ryan

Our collective eyes and ears are focused on Twins General Manager Terry Ryan, in anticipation of the deals he’s going to make to improve the future rosters of his team. Fans seem prepared, at this point, to part with pretty much anyone in a Twins uniform as they dream of the top prospects Ryan will extract from his fellow GMs in return. After all, if Ryan could get Joe Nathan and Francisco Liriano (not to mention Boof Bonser) for AJ Pierzynski, just imagine the load he should pull in for Denard Span, right?

The Star Tribune put out a good piece a few days ago that gives some insight in to the mind of Terry Ryan. There’s a case to be made that with the extra wild card in each league this year, there should be plenty of interest in the players Ryan has to offer. But while it’s true that there are more teams that consider themselves contenders than there may have been in the past, there are also some factors working against the Twins.

The biggest problem for the Twins is that a lot of contending teams want the same thing they do… good starting pitching. Of course, the difference is that contenders are looking for arms that can help them immediately, while the Twins are happy to take on talent that isn’t quite ready for the big stage yet. Still, top shelf starting pitchers, whatever their age and level, are hoarded like gold by teams these days so it takes some combination of talented front line players and desperation on the part of the trading partner to extract that kind of talent in a trade.

The other thing working against the Twins now is the new collective bargaining agreement. In past years, a team could take on a half-year rental player who is going to be a free agent at the end of the season and, at the very least, the “buying” team might be able to get a draft pick or two in compensation when the player bolts after just a couple of months. Now, not only is it more difficult to get compensation picks, but those picks aren’t available at all unless the player wore your uniform all season.

This means that, for example, if the Twins don’t trade Francisco Liriano, they have to offer him something like $12 million on a one year deal in order to get a compensation pick for him if he turns them down. But if they trade Liriano, his new team doesn’t even have that option. So guys like Liriano and Matt Capps and anyone else not locked up beyond the end of this year are truly just rental players for any team acquiring them. That team is just getting their services for the rest of this season, where in the past they may have received those services PLUS compensation picks. Think about it… how much would YOU give up for 2-3 months of Liriano’s services?

That should temper fans’ expectations for the return that Ryan is likely to get for Liriano and Capps.

Denard Span

It demonstrates why Denard Span and Josh Willingham are likely much better trade chips. For that matter, the contract extension Ryan Doumit recently signed moved him from the “rental player” category and on to the list of players that could return something of more value.

But the Twins can’t just trade away everyone of value on the market. They need to put a team on the field next season and it needs to be a pretty good one.

I agree with Howard Sinker’s view that the Twins can’t just tear this team down and start over. Fans are not going to accept that and they shouldn’t. The everyday line up the Twins put on the field is close to being good enough to compete. What’s missing is exactly what everyone knew was missing last offseason… pitching. Specifically, at the top of the rotation. It should have been addressed last season and it MUST be addressed before Opening Day 2013. Being “penny wise” this off season won’t be “pound foolish”, that foolishness will be measured by the ton.

Since Target Field opened, the Twins have been the hottest ticket in town. For the past year or more, that’s been as much about the Vikings, T’wolves and Wild being less than highly competitive as it has been the quality of the product the Twins put on the field and the remaining luster of their new digs in the Warehouse District.

But that’s about to change. The Wild made blockbuster signings, the Vikings got their new stadium approved and even the Pups look like they may be getting more serious about fielding a real basketball team right next door to Target Field. If Terry Ryan and his bosses don’t want find out just how quickly the Twins can become an afterthought at the bottom of the area’s list of major entertainment options, they need to get this team turned around starting in 2013, not years beyond that.

Francisco Liriano

That process starts now. I believe Francisco Liriano has quite possibly pitched his last game in a Twins uniform. His value will likely not get any higher than it is right now after his 15 K performance Friday night. He won’t bring back anyone likely to be a top of the rotation guy next year, but he should fetch a role player that can improve the roster or a higher pitching prospect that perhaps is still down in the Class A ranks.

I would love to see Denard Span stay a Twin for years to come. I really like the way he goes about the game and he’s a quality individual. But he’s the one guy on this roster that offers the combination of the ability to bring immediate help to the rotation in the form of Big League ready starting pitching AND he plays a role with the team that they arguably have in-house replacements available to step in and play in his absence. Ben Revere can lead off and play centerfield. He’s not Denard Span, but maybe he’s close enough to do the job adequately.

Beyond that, if the Twins can get useful returns for Capps or anyone else not penciled in for a major role in 2013, fine. Just don’t expect to be overjoyed with the return coming back. Willingham and Doumit could get  something of value, but they shouldn’t be dealt unless someone offers an absurdly one-sided deal. Justin Morneau isn’t going to be in great demand unless the Twins agree to eat pretty much all of his remaining contract and honestly, the Twins don’t have a replacement for him yet anyway. All three of these guys fill roles that you would just have to go back on the market to replace over the off season and I guarantee that replacing Willingham’s production and Doumit’s versatility will be more expensive this time.

Of course, if anyone wants any of the remaining pitchers on this roster bad enough to offer anything of real value in return, as unlikely as that may be, TR should probably make the deal before that other GM comes to his senses. There’s nobody on the pitching staff that can’t be replaced. Even Scott Diamond, who’s been incredibly successful, has to be available for the right price. I have a suspicion you might be selling high on him. As much as I like him, I’m still having trouble believing he’s going to maintain this kind of success over time.

Yes, trading season is upon us and it’s almost certain that Terry Ryan is going to be right in the middle of it. Just keep expectations in check. It’s not like he’s the chip leader at the table and the rules have changed enough this year to make everyone just a little less certain about how to play the game.

– JC