One that got away

The Twins had an opportunity to extend their lead, but didn't take advantage of it. Putting the eighth-inning problems concisely:

• Sergio Romo is probably not the best right-hander in the pen to face a lefty with power and
• Jorge Polanco is in a fielding slump at shortstop.

Winnable games get away sometimes. They always hurt. They particularly hurt in a pennant race.

Two interesting developments regarding minor league bullpen possibilities on Wednesday.

First, the Twins lost Ryan Eades to the Baltimore Orioles on waivers. Eades had a brief callup earlier in the season, pitching in two games. He had 3.2 scoreless innings but had six baserunners.

This is a good development for the right-hander; he's got a lot more opportunity with the Birds, who have a team ERA of 5.91 and have gone through 36 pitchers this year. (Some of them are position players, but still ...)

Selling off Eades opens a spot on the Twins 40-man roster, which would allow them to add somebody on waivers or to bring up somebody who isn't on the 40 already.

The odds are against a useful piece hitting outright waivers. The odds are even more against a useful actually reaching the Twins, who do have the fourth-best record in baseball despite all the wailing and gnashing of teeth. So the more likely benefit from the Eades move is to create a route for a not-on-the-40 player to come to the Twins.

Which brings us to the other development: Brusdar Graterol, generally considered the Twins' top pitching prospect, made his first relief appearance since 2017 (his first season in the states), picking up the save for Double-A Pensacola and reportedly hitting 102 on the radar gun.

I'm personally skeptical of the notion that the 20-year-old will get a September role. That he pitched in relief isn't surprising despite his lack of such use. He's missed much of the season with injury, and they weren't going to have him trying to goe five innings (or more) fresh off the injured list.

But I get why outside observers might anticipate such a move. The Twins bullpen lacks power arms, and Graterol is certainly a power arm. Since he has just 12 games pitched on his 2019 stat line, the Twins don't need to shut him down to avoid overuse.

Understood but still unfair

The Twins announced a roster move shortly before their win Thursday afternoon:

Roster Moves: #MNTwins recall Romero from Triple-A, option Eades to Triple-A. pic.twitter.com/84ZC7NVvhp

— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) June 13, 2019

Ryan Eades had pitched twice for the big league club, a total of 3.2 innings with no runs allowed. He wasn't nearly as effective as a 0.00 ERA would suggest, but he had done nothing to get booted off the roster.

He got the ax because:

• Blake Parker is struggling;
• Taylor Rogers has been hampered by a sore back; and
• the Twins wanted a fresh arm in the bullpen, and Eades, who faced seven hitters on Wednesday in large part because Parker couldn't record an out, was the obvious choice to go.

Eades never figured to be on the roster long term anyway. Still, he did his job, Parker didn't do his, and it's Eades who pays for Parker's struggles. Understandable, but unfair.

Fernando Romero, who replaced Eades on the roster, faced four hitters in the eighth inning Thursday with a big lead and retired none of them. Matt Magill wound up pitching two innings to mop it up. So expect another bullpen shuffle today, with Romero returning to Triple A.

If that happens, at least Romero's demotion will be justified by his recent performance.

Thoughts from the weekend

The Twins went 6-4 on their just-completed road trip. That record matched my expectation in total, although in a different shape. I figured a split with the Rays and taking two-of-three in both Cleveland and Detroit.

A 6-4 road trip is quite acceptable, even if it feels like they gave away one of the games in Cleveland and even if it feels as if a quality team should never lose to the Tigers.

Now the schedule gets a bit easier, with home series against the Mariners and Royals before an intriguing series with the Red Sox. Boston isn't playing up to last year's level -- which was a very high level indeed -- but we're a week away from that matchup.

---

Roster moves since I last posted: Devin Smeltzer was returned to Triple A Friday, with Michael Pineda coming off the injured list and allowing his customary three runs (albeit in just five innings rather than his usual six).

And the slumping Willians Astudillo was optioned out Saturday, with Ryan Eades giving the Twins an eighth bullpen arm and making his major league debut later that day. Here's what I wrote about him in 2014 after seeing him in Cedar Rapids.

What I actually remember of him on that trip came the next day, when he and other Kernels pitchers were supposed to be charting pitches behind home plate. There was a pop-up corn-on-the-cob stand on the concourse, and Eades spent a good part of the game chowing down on the roasted corn. (So did I; it was good stuff.)

I'm not thrilled with Astudillo's demotion, but I have to admit that

he hasn't hit since returning from his injured list and
Ehire Adrianza has.

Add in the reality that Adrianza is out of options, and it was a pretty easy call; if you have to go to 13 pitchers -- and I still hate conceding that -- Astudillo had to be the one cut.

---

Best wishes to David Ortiz, shot in the back Sunday in his native Dominican Republic. As I write this, he is reportedly out of surgery and his life not in jeopardy.

I don't want to call that good news, though. Nothing good about this event at all.

More minor stuff

Less than a week before pitchers and catchers report, dozens of free agents remain on the market, and the Twins are still filling out their spring training list.

Over the weekend they announced two veteran names as minor league free agents and released a list of 20 invitees:

The #MNTwins have released their full list of 20 NRIs to Spring Training.

Lucas Duda and Adam Rosales are among the more notable names on the list. pic.twitter.com/WPTyxonQXY

— Do-Hyoung Park (@dohyoungpark) February 9, 2019

Let's start with Lucas Duda and Adam Rosales, two players with resumes if not much else.

Rosales is a odd duck: He's never been a regular but he's been able to hang around the majors 11 seasons. To be sure, some of those 11 seasons are only partial, but still -- it is rare for a utility guy such as Rosales to last into his mid 30s. He typically doesn't stick around long (five seasons with Oakland, in two stints with two midseason trades invoved) and isn't much of a hitter. He has played more than a thousand innings each at second, third and short, and even had more than 500 at first.

I prefer Ehrie Adrianaza or Ronald Torreyes as  the backup middle infielder. Rosales apparently has a March 19 opt-out, so he may suspect that the odds of him making the opening day roster are slim.

Duda is a left-handed first baseman. His strong suit, other than a name that lends itself to parodies of "Camptown Races," is power.  He occasionally homers but doesn't do much else for you. Other than hitting lefty, he's pretty much the opposite of the retired Joe Mauer, who didn't homer frequently but did everything else well. I don't much care for first basemen in the Duda mold. I assume he too has an opt-out, and I hope he uses it.

A few other not-so-random observations about the NRI list:

* Tim Collins is a little lefty reliever who had four seasons of promise in the Kansas City bullpen when the Royals were building up to their two World Series appearances. Then he got hurt and disappeared for three seasons. He LOOGY'd for Washington last year -- 35 appearances, 22.2 innings -- and had the kind of strikeout rate he had in the K.C. days but also gave up too many homers. The Twins have plenty of lefty relief candidates, and I'm not sure that Collins is truly in the mix, but he's still only 29.

* Wilin Rosario, whose signing gave me momentary panic a week ago, is NOT an invitee. There are catchers I'm completely unfamiliar with on the list in Wynston Sawyer and Tomas Telis, and presumably Rosario is well down the depth chart. (The Twins may be more interested in him as a first baseman/DH than as a catcher.)

* Brent Rooker, who I regard as the first baseman in waiting, is an NRI -- and listed as an outfielder.

* Chase De Jong, designated for assignment to make room for Martin Perez on the 40, cleared waivers and is an invitee. I'm not high on De Jong, but I'd rather see the Twins pitch him than Perez.

* Ryan Eades, a second-round draft pick in 2013 whose minor league record does not make me eager to see him in Target Field, is an invitee as well. 

The first cuts

The Twins on Monday shipped out half a pitching staff -- all them prospects who had no realistic chance at theopening day roster.

Optioned out: Felix Jose, Mason Melotakis, Fernando Romero and Randy Rosario.

Reassigned to minor league camp: Stephen Gonsalves and Aaron Slegers.

The difference being that the first four are on the 40-man roster, and the latter two were non-roster invitees.

Before the news of Trevor May's elbow injury led me to change plans, I had figured to write the Monday print column (which didn't see print on Monday after all) on "the pitchers who aren't there" -- two starting pitcher prospects who were taken above Gonsalves and Slegers in the same draft but clearly at this point aren't regarded well enough to merit big league camp time.

Kohl Stewart was the fourth overall pick in the 2013 draft. Gonsalves -- like Stewart a high schooler, unlike Stewart a left-hander -- went in the fourth round. He almost certainly would have gone higher but for a suspension that wiped out his senior season. Stewart's ERAs last year (split between High A and Double A) aren't bad, but his strikeout rates have been unimpressive, and particularly so in his 16 starts for Chattanooga.

Ryan Eades was the Twins' second round pick in 2013, a right hander out of LSU. Slegers, another college righty (Indiana) went in the fifth round. Last year Eades racked up a 4.61 ERA in Chattanooga. Slegers, at the same level, had a 3.41 ERA and more than 30 more innings.

Four pitchers taken in the first five rounds that year by the Twins, and the latter pair are looking better than the first two.

Minor league trip: Ryan Eades

Ryan Eades follows through on
a pitch Wednesday in
Cedar Rapids. (Photo by
Linda Vanderwerf)

I am spending a few days in Iowa taking a look at the Cedar Rapids Kernels, the Twins Midwest League (low A) affiliate.

The 2014 Kernels are not a strong team, certainly nowhere as good as the 2013 edition was. The true prospects in the lineup are scarce to nonexistent. (I base this on the lack of high-round draft picks and guys who got write-ups in the preseason prospect books.)

The talent is in the pitching staff, and those pitchers are not getting much support.

A case in point would be the hurler I saw Wednesday night, Ryan Eades.

Eades was Minnesota's second-round pick last year, a right-handed pitcher out of Louisiana State. On Wednesday he went five innings, allowing six hits and five runs, all earned.

I promise, he pitched better than that line. He struck out nine men and walked just one (the last batter he faced). Two of the hits were bunt singles. The first three runs scored when the Cedar Rapids center fielder made an ill-advised dive for a single; it got by him and went to the wall for an inside-the-park home run. The other two runs scored after Eades left the game.

Nine strikeouts in five innings is pretty impressive. He entered the game with a K-rate of 7.5 strikeouts per nine innings, so this was far above his usual performance. Eades throws with some velocity, and got several of the strikeouts with off-speed pitches located around the knees.

On the bad side: He didn't get off the mound well for defense, which might have been part of the problem on those bunt singles, and I didn't like his body language when his third baseman booted a grounder. There were two bases stolen on him, both easily, and it wasn't for lack of effort on holding the runners. Lots of pickoff throws, plenty of slide steps, but he couldn't stop the runners.

Eades took the loss in a 5-2 game. He's 5-9 with an ERA of 6.54, which is pretty ugly. What I saw in this one game says he's better than that.

The missing names

Ryan Eades pitched collegiately for LSU.

Baseball America's ranking of the Top 30 -- really, 32 -- Twins prospects is notable in a sense for the names not there.

Ryan Eades, for example. He was the Twins second-round draft pick last June. The third-round pick, catcher Stuart Turner, is in the book at No. 30. The fourth round pick, left-handed pitcher Stephen Gonsalves, is in the book at No. 13. But Eades isn't.

With J.T. Chargois listed as the 31st prospect in the bonus supplement and Sean Gilmartin ranked among the Atlanta Braves prospects, there are at least 17 pitching prospects Baseball America ranks above Eades, including a half dozen age 20 or younger.

When it comes to pitching prospects, the more the merrier; they have a frighteningly high attrition rate. It's just .. odd ... to see a second-rounder not listed in the Top 32. But this hardly means Eades is not a prospect after fewer than 16 professional innings.

I'm not sure the same can be said for a pair of first round picks whose careers have floundered.

Right-handed pitcher Alex Wimmers, who the Twins took with the 21st overall pick in 2010, threw just 15 innings last year. Infielder Levi Michael, another collegian (30th overall in 2011) has hit just .239 in 211 games in High A and played himself from shortstop to second base.

Neither is in the Handbook. Neither should be. It's not certain (yet) that these were busted picks, but it sure looks that way.

In case anybody thinks I should be mentioning Kyle Gibson in this context, Gibson "graduated" from prospect status last year with 51 major league innings. Gibson is in that awkward space somewhere between "prospect" and "established big leaguer." He's got a better chance than Wimmers or Michael to justify his first-round pick, but he'll never be good enough to justify (in retrospect) being drafted ahead of Mike Trout.

Notes, quotes and comment

Aaron Slegers pitches in the College World Series. The
Twins fifth-round pick is 6-foot-10.

With the College World Series over, the Twins this week have largely wrapped up their draft signings.

Pitchers Ryan Eades (LSU, second round) and Aaron Slegers (Indiana, fifth round) signed shortly after their teams were eliminated in Omaha. Two other Indiana players drafted by the Twins, third baseman Dustin DeMuth (eighth round) and pitcher Ryan Halstead (26th round) have declared their intention to stay in school, but that may be a negotiating ploy.

The signing deadline is July 12.

---

What an ugly doubleheader Friday between the Tribe and the White Sox. The first game was 19-10 Cleveland, with the two teams combing for more than 400 pitches total — 112 just to get the first nine outs. The White Sox alone threw 230 pitches in that game, the highest team total for nine innings in the pitch count era.

In the two games, the Indians had 28 runs and 33 hits, the Sox 18 runs and 26 hits. Cleveland pitcher Trevor Bauer, a prime prospect disposed of by Arizona during the offseason largely because the D-backs had tried of dealing with him, was so bizarre in his awful start (he pitched from the stretch throughout, even with no one on, and still paid no attention to the baserunners) that it was seriously suggested that the Tribe would send him back to A ball rather than Triple A.

Of course, things were already hideous on the South Side.  I'll talk more in Sunday's Pic of the Week post about the incredible dropped popup of Tuesday. In Hawk Harrelson's words: "You have got to be bleeping me."

On a different level of "you have got to be bleeping me," White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko reportedly had SIX pain-killer injections in his back the other day. Six. I'm no medico, but that sort of thing scares me.

---

Miguel Sano hit a pair of home runs Friday night for New Britain; that gives him six since he moved up to Double A.

He started off slow when he hit Double A less than three weeks ago, and his batting average there is still only .236, but six dingers in 67 plate appearances (plus a double and two triples) ain't bad. It adds up to a .655 slugging percentage after 17 games.

Feeling a draft: Rounds one and two

Ryan Eades of LSU was the Twins second round selection
Thursday. He's represented by Scott Boras.

The Twins, like most organizations, have certain patterns in the amateur draft. The Twins generally use their high picks on high school position players -- particularly outfielders -- or college pitchers.

On Thursday, they broke that pattern with their first round pick for the second time in three years by taking Kohl Stewart, a high school pitcher. (In 2011 they took a college shortstop, Levi Michael.)

Stewart's selection has been expected literally for weeks; the Twins had long been seen around baseball as locked in on him. He's a 6-foot-3 righthander who was also a prime quarterback recruit who had signed with Texas A&M. But there's not likely to be any real difficulty getting Stewart to abandon pigskin for hardball. This is a high-risk, high-reward selection, but the risk is not in signability.

Stewart is, as an 18-year-old, less mature and refined than the two college pitchers (Mark Appel and Jonathan Gray) who went 1.1 and 1.3 Thursday evening. But he's also regarded as more athletic than either and with a ceiling no lower than the elder two.

A high school pitcher is generally riskier than a collegian, and the high school pitchers taken in the first round have at best a checkered history. Guys who throw with high velocity in their teens tend to get hurt. Stewart's physical risk is perhaps heightened by his Type 1 diabetes.

As for his stuff: He's described as having a mid-90s fastball, a slider in the mid 80s that he uses as his out pitch, and a changeup that the Twins say is his best secondary pitch. He also has a curve ball that still needs some development but is definitely distinct from his slider (many young pitchers trying to throw both wind up with two mediocre "slurves"). He's working on a hard sinker, which suggests that the fastball is a four-seamer. Durability within games is said to be an issue, which, again, is no surprise.

Command is also an issue, but as Keith Law said on Twitter, if he had plus command right now, he'd have been the No.1 overall pick, which no high school right-hander has ever been.

In the second round, the Twins reverted to type and took a college pitcher with the 43rd overall pick: Ryan Eades, a right-hander from Louisiana State. He had labrum surgery as a high-schooler. He's 8-1, 2.81 this year for LSU, 77 strikeouts and 30 walks in 96 innings, with super-regional play coming up this weekend against Oklahoma.

Presumably the Twins are confident the shoulder issue that turned him into a first baseman for his senior year in high school is no longer a factor. His fast ball is clocked in the low 90s and his best pitch is said to be his curve. To become an effective major league starter, he'll need a third pitch (probably a change up).

Between his slender frame (6-3, 198), his injury history and his limited repertoire, I suspect Eades may wind up in the bullpen. But the Twins will certainly try him as a starter first.

Rounds 3 through 10 are today; Rounds 11 through 40 are Saturday.