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P.J. Walters throws his pitches at two speeds: slow and impossibly slow (by Major League standards). In fact, when he’s pitching, the slower pitches are actually his most effective – and his most deceptive. As a non-roster invitee to Spring Training with the Twins, Walters will try to slow pitch his way to a permanent job in the Minnesota organization. The 26 year old righty will wear number 74 on his back as he tosses those slow pitches at Grapefruit League batters.

Walters is an Alabaman who grew up in a city called Dothan, “the Peanut Capital of the World.” He stayed in state for college and attended the University of South Alabama, where he posted a 31-7 record and 404 strikeouts in three years. Walters also played alongside last year’s World Series hero and his own future teammate, David Freese.

In 2006, the Cardinals drafted Walters in the 11th round. Like a lot of the non-roster invitees on this list, Walters was very succesful in his first few years in the minors. In 2007 he pummeled minor league hitters at three different levels: Low A, High A, and AA. In the process   he collected a combined 12-6 record, a 2.55 ERA, and 147 strikeouts in 151.2 innings. Hitters caught up to him in 2008 at AAA, where he had a 4.87 ERA, but he still struck out 122 hitters in as many innings. In fact, Walters has compiled decent strikeout totals at every level; he has 8.5 K/9 for his minor league career, including 8.4 K/9 in parts of four seasons at AAA. Continue reading this post »

The big news from the past week was Prince Fielder signing with the Detroit Tigers (Also, this video which is a serious Video of the Week candidate).  While the Tigers were already the AL Central favorite heading into 2012, even without recently injured Victor Martinez, they still managed to out bid the Washington Nationals and the Texas Rangers for Fielder’s services for the next NINE years at $214 million dollars.  The Fielder signing helps the Tigers right now, and puts them in contention to chase the Yankees/Rangers/Red Sox/Angels/Rays for a World Series championship, but long term the deal may spell trouble in Mo-Town.

The move definitely puts pressure on the Twins to improve their team drastically in the next two years or risk becoming an also-ran in the Central, but Nick Nelson notes that Fielder does not remove all hope for the Twins in 2011.  Ultimately, the Fielder signing changes little for the Twins, as Judd Zulgad notes, as they still need Francisco Liriano to return to dominance and for Scott Baker to remain healthy for an entire season to anchor a pitching staff that includes Carl Pavano (Opening Day starter?!) and Jason Marquis.  Minnesota will also need a couple of new faces in the bullpen to out-perform expectations (as Glen Perkins did in 2011) and if Mauer and Morneau are healthy, the Twins will have a chance to make sure Detroit’s Championship Drive detours through Minneapolis.

And now the links:

The real Winners and Losers of the Prince Fielder deal lists Fielder as both a winner AND a loser.  Sorry, I just cannot find any reason to think a guaranteed contract of $214 million dollars makes you a loser, not no way, not no how.

Even the Gleeman and the Geek Podcast is getting in on the Prince Fielder news, discussing the acquisition at length in their most recent podcast.  This podcast has definitely improved by leaps and bounds, from its debut during the height of the Twins’ downward spiral late in 2011, and is quickly becoming a weekly must-listen in my books.

In addition to the podcast, the Twins Geek, John Bonnes, examines the Hyperbole of Fielder and realistically assesses his value to the Tigers in 2012.

Even without Victor Martinez, the Tigers have themselves a fearsome homerun tandem in Prince Fielder and Miguel Cabrera.  John Swol looks back at Twins history and spot lights their biggest and best home run power combinations (Killebrew is half of the top six power combos!)

Because I know you were hoping for one last Prince Fielder related article, here is the Sweetspot’s David Schoenfield with a position by position breakdown of AL Central player rankings.  Despite my own optimism heading into 2012, Schoenfield does not list the Twins as having the best player at ANY POSITION, (not even Joe Mauer at catcher), and when he adds all the rankings together, he projects the Twins to once again be the doormats of the Central.  Not good, Twins fans.  Continue reading this post »

If you were hoping the Twins would retire Michael Cuddyer‘s number, I have bad news for you. But if you were hoping to see the Twins address the lack of catching depth, I have some good news.

The bad news and the good news are both J.R. Towles. The former Astro was once a top catching prospect, and he will report to camp with the rest of the Twins’ pitchers and catchers on February 18th. Towles will wear Cuddyer’s old #5 in Spring Training games.

Oakland drafted Towles twice: first in the Moneyball draft of 2002, then again in 2003. But it was the Astros who signed him out of Texas’s Collin County Community College after selecting him in round 20 in 2004. His early minor league career is filled with eye-catching stat lines. .346/.436/.549 at A ball in 2005, .317/.382/.525 in 2006, .324/.425/.551 at AA in 2007, and .304/.370/.500 in 2008. He reached double digits in homers in 2006 and 2007. Hitting in the minors has never been a problem for the 27 year old Towles. In fact, his track record of minor league success makes Towles one of the more intriguing non-roster prospects in camp with the Twins this year. Continue reading this post »

Twins executive Wayne Krivsky traded for Daryl Thompson once. Now he’ll finally have a chance to watch Thompson play.
Back in 2006 Krivsky was the General Manager of the Reds, and he pulled the trigger on a massive trade that involved (among others), Thompson, Felipe Lopez, and Brendan Harris. Unfortunately, Krivsky was ousted as Cincinnati GM just a few months before Thompson made his Major League debut.

But now both are with the Minnesota organization: Krivsky as an assistant to Terry Ryan and Thompson as a non-roster pitcher with an invitation to Spring Training. Thompson, a six foot tall, 205 pound right-hander out of La Plata, MD, will wear jersey number 68 in camp.

Thompson has shown some promise in his minor league career, but injuries have delayed his rise to the MLB level. The Expos selected him in the eighth round of the 2003 draft. After some up and down seasons in the Expo/National system, Thompson was putting together a solid 2005 – and then he tore his labrum. That injury cost him the rest of 2005 and a chunk of 2006. After the trade to the Reds, Thompson rose quickly. He pitched at five different levels in 2008 (Rookie League, A Ball, AA, AAA, and MLB). In the minors, he had a 2.70 combined ERA, an 8-4 record, and 99 strikeouts in 126 innings. In the Majors, he had a 6.91 ERA in three starts. The 22 year old looked to have a bright future ahead of him. Unfortunately, more shoulder problems limited him to 22 minor league starts in 2009 and 2010. 2011 was a sort of bounceback season; Thompson made 24 starts between AA and AAA, and he struck out a respectable 8.1 batters per nine innings, but his 4-8 record and 4.26 ERA were less than impressive. Continue reading this post »

In 2009 he had his first opportunity to be an every day player and Denard Span did not disappoint.  He hit .311/.392/.415 and many in the Twins organization thought they had found themselves the lead-off man and center fielder of the future.  In 2010 Span took a step back, posted an OPS almost 130 points lower than 2009, and reached base less than 1/3 of the time, due in part to a drop in his walk totals, despite 30 more plate appearances.  Heading in to 2011 Span was primed to rebound from a disappointing season and anchor a  Twins outfield that included Delmon Young and Michael Cuddyer, but sub-par defenders in the outfield corners.  Unfortunately Span sustained a concussion midway through the season and played just 70 games.  Despite coming back from his concussion down the stretch, Span hit just .132/.179/.245 in the 2nd half of 2011.  Span was not thrilled with his post-concussion statistics but was happy to be back with the ball club and felt that coming back allowed him to head into the offseason on a positive note.  While news regarding Span’s health has been virtually non-existent this winter, I expect Span to return to Ft. Myers healthy and ready to return to his 2009 form.

Bill James doesn’t project Span to come all the way back to his 2009 numbers, but he believes he will be better than he was over either of the past two seasons.  Part of James’ projection is based on a rebound in Spans BABIP numbers back to .322, which is more in line with his previous MLB and MiLB numbers prior to 2010.  This is probably a safe bet if Span is once again healthy and seeing more pitches at the plate, as he has shown himself to be a patient hitter throughout his career.  James also predicts a higher walk rate for Span than he has had in the past couple of years, just shy of 10% at 9.7%.  Not only will this put Span on base more frequently, but if he continues to bat in the lead-off position it likely gives the Twins’ 2-4 hitters an opportunity to see more pitches from the opposing starter in the first inning, helping the Twins to get out to early leads, something they struggled to do in 2011.  While the 8 home runs Span hit in 2009 was probably an anomaly, James projects Span to hit for a little bit of power with 4 home runs, 5 triples, and 16 doubles.  Defensively, Span has improved each of the last three years, despite playing the most demanding outfield position.  If Revere is indeed playing along Span in left field, some of the pressure will be off of Span in center and he should continue to post positive dWAR numbers in 2012 to go along with a rejuvenated offensive game.  Using the Simple WAR Calculator, I project Denard Span to be worth approximately 2.8 WAR, due in part to increased walk numbers, a BABIP back up to .310, and 135 games played.  If Span spends any significant amount of time in left or right field his value will be suppressed, but he still profiles as a 2 WAR player, even as an everyday corner outfielder, despite his lack of power.  Denard Span is signed to a team friendly $3 million dollar contract in 2012, so even if he is worth just a single Win Above Replacement Span is still providing value to the Minnesota Twins.

Like Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau, being healthy is going to be a big part of Denard Span’s value in 2012.  While the Twins are better suited to handle a significant absence from their center fielder, Span’s departure from the line up will put either Ryan Doumit or Trevor Plouffe into every day duty, reducing the team’s ability to cover any potential pitfalls from the M & M boys.

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Previous 2012 Projections can be found here, on Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Alexi Casilla,  Jamey Carroll,  Danny Valencia, and Ben Revere.

Check out Monday’s post over at Yankees Fans Unite, a Yankees blog that is previewing all of the teams in the American League.  Monday was Puckett’s Pond’s turn at YFU.

If you’re interested in more American League previews, check out their whole Interviews series.

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Aaron Thompson made his Major League Debut last year. Called up as an emergency starter for the Pirates, Thompson threw 68 pitches in 4.1 innings, and he did not allow a run in a 2-0 Bucs’ victory. Like most rookies, though, he had trouble maintaining consistent success. He gave up six runs in three September relief outings (though, to be fair, the Pirates were already getting pummeled when Thompson entered those games). Thompson finished his rookie audition with a 7.04 ERA in 7.2 innings pitched.

This year the former top prospect will be in camp with the Twins as a non-roster invitee. He’ll be wearing jersey number 65 for Minnesota.

Thompson is a classic “Crafty Lefty” pitcher. He relies on movement and pitch selection rather than velocity to get hitters out. His fastball averages about 88 mph, and he complements it with an 82 mph change and a slider in the mid 80s. An online Pirates writer described him as “efficient, not dominant,” which puts him in the same category as fellow lefty Brian Duensing on the Twins staff. Duensing will probably pitch out of the bullpen this season, but both he and Thompson were almost exclusively used as starters in the minors. Continue reading this post »

Dan Rohlfing is the youngest non-roster player the Twins invited to Spring Training this year. He was born on February 12, 1989, which means that when he and his fellow catchers report to camp on February 18th, Rohlfing will be just 23 years and six days old.

Rohlfing became a catcher toward the end of his high school career, having previously played third base. Though he was new to the position, his receiving skills impressed the Twins enough that they selected the St. Louis native in the 14th round in 2007. He was just 18 when he made his Rookie League debut that year, so even though the Twins have not rushed his development, he made it to AA last season. He spent three seasons in Rookie League between the Gulf Coast and Elizabethton Twins, jumped to Ft. Myers in 2010, and split between Ft. Myers and New Britain in 2011.

Rohlfing seems to be another defense-first catcher, but his hitting has actually improved as he’s moved up the levels in the minor leagues. His .240 batting average for Ft. Myers in 2010 was a career high, and he set a new one last year with a .260 overall mark. Last year was also the first time Rohlfing received a significant amount of playing time. In his first few campaigns, he never stood in the batter’s box more than 152 times, but he had 370 plate appearances in 2011. Continue reading this post »

There seems to have been some sort of contagious disease among Twins catchers last year, and I’m not talking about Bilateral Leg Weakness. Four men squatted behind the plate at Target Field – Joe Mauer, Drew Butera, Steve Holm, and Rene Rivera – and all four struggled at the plate, putting up numbers well below what they’ve shown themselves to be capable of. Other than Holm, all of them are back with the Twins. As a non-roster invitee, Rivera in particular should be highly-motivated to demonstrate that he’s recovered from Unilateral Bat Weakness.

This is Rivera’s second consecutive invitation to Spring Training with the Twins. Last year after being signed as a minor league free agent, he hit .292 with three doubles in 13 Spring Training appearances. Unfortunately, he was unable to hit that well in the regular season. Rivera earned a call up to the Twins in May and stayed with the team most of the rest of the year, but his .144/.211/.202 slash line and -0.5 WAR were among the ugliest stats on a team that had many contenders.

Rivera is a better hitter than that, though. In his time at AAA in 2011, he hit .268/.325/.450 with an impressive 12 doubles in 166 plate appearances. Obviously it is much more difficult to hit in the Majors than it is at AAA, but there was no reason to expect a .124 point drop in batting average or the complete lack of power (Rivera had only four extra base hits for the Twins). Hitting will never be Rivera’s strong point, but it’s 100% reasonable to think that he would hit much better than his performance from last year if given another chance. The Twins must feel the same way, because they re-signed him. Continue reading this post »