Twins’ Wilfredo Tovar Tests Positive For COVID-19
Infielder Wilfredo Tovar has tested positive for the coronavirus, Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey told reporters (including MLB.com’s Do-Hyoung Park and Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune). Tovar was included on Minnesota’s 60-man player pool but was training at the minor league site in St. Paul. Tovar initially tested negative on the intake tests at the beginning of camp, but then had a positive result on a subsequent test.
There aren’t any other known cases in camp, as Miller writes that “contact tracing has produced no other positives among the squad.” Tovar himself is asymptomatic, and will go through the mandatory procedures (two-week quarantine period, no symptoms developed, then two negative test results) before being allowed to return to camp.
Of the four other Twins players with positive COVID-19 tests on their record, Falvey said that Miguel Sano, Willians Astudillo, and Nick Gordon are all still in quarantine. Right-hander Edwar Colina, however, has tested negative twice and is on pace to join the team in Minneapolis at some point this week.
Tovar inked a minor league contract with the Twins during the winter, looking to get another taste of the big leagues after returning to the Show in 2019. Tovar appeared in nine games with the Mets in 2013-14 and didn’t make it back to the majors until last season, when he played in 31 games (with a .492 OPS over 88 PA) with the Angels. In between those two big league stints, Tovar played for the Twins’ Triple-A club in 2016, and also spent time in the Cardinals’ farm system in 2017 and 2018. Tovar was likely no more than a depth option anyway for Minnesota, though this two-week absence will erase any chance he had of making the Opening Day roster.
Willians Astudillo, Miguel Sano, Two Other Twins Test Positive For COVID-19
July 4: The Twins have revealed that Miguel Sano was the fourth player to have tested positive for the coronavirus, as reported by Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. As of yesterday, we were aware that Astudillo, Gordon, and Colina were among those who had received positive test results. Evidently, Sano is the fourth player who will be barred from participating in team activities until recording two negative tests. It’s worth mentioning that two other Twins, Cody Stashak and Byron Buxton, will also be absent from camp, but not for health-related reasons; both are on paternity leave.
July 3: Twins utilityman Willians Astudillo has tested positive for COVID-19, the Twins announced today. Dan Hayes of The Athletic was among those covering the news on Twitter.
Fortunately, it does not appear as if Astudillo has had a worrying reaction to the disease to this point. He’s said to be symptom-free at the moment.
The Twins reported three other players that have active coronavirus infections. Edwar Colina and Nick Gordon are among them, having previously tested positive. Both are in the 60-man player pool; Gordon is on the 40-man. Neither player has to this point debuted in the majors.
It would certainly be unfortunate should the Twins open the season without Astudillo. He’s one of the game’s most offbeat players — and not only because of his barrel-chested figure and high-energy approach to the game. Astudillo is not just bemusing but also legitimately interesting as a player, owing to his blend of positional versatility (including catcher, his primary position) and unusual proclivity to put the ball in play (career 2.3% walk rate, 3.7% strikeout rate). Though he was not as effective last season as in his brief 2018 debut, Astudillo was and is expected to be an important part of the Minnesota roster this year.
Amateur Draft Signings: 7/1/20
We’ll round up most of today’s draft signings in this post…
- The D-backs agreed to an $800K signing bonus with third-rounder Liam Norris, per MLB.com’s Jim Callis. That checks in north of the $658K slot value associated with Norris’ No. 90 overall selection. A high school southpaw out of North Carolina, Norris had been committed to the University of North Carolina but will instead turn pro. Baseball America ranked Norris 143rd in the class, noting that his stuff ticked up early in the 2020 season after fading late in the 2019 campaign. His fastball velocity and curve both impressed scouts, but the season stoppage didn’t allow them the opportunity to see whether the 6’4″, 215-pound lefty could maintain those gains over a full season. Callis and the team at MLB.com ranked Norris 122nd in the draft, also praising his fastball/curveball combo but expressing command concerns.
- The Twins have formally signed fifth-rounder Kala’i Rosario, tweets Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com. Darren Wolfson of SKOR North Radio and 5 Eyewitness News tweets that Rosario received a $270K bonus, which lands shy of his $330K slot value. An outfielder from Hawaii, Rosario was ranked No. 88 on Baseball America’s Top 500 list. BA touts his plus-plus raw power, noting that some scouts even grade it at an 80. Despite his huge power, he’s not a major strikeout risk at the moment and can hit the ball the other way. At 6’1″ and 205 pounds already, most expect Rosario to move from center field to left field at some point. Between Rosario and first-round pick Aaron Sabato, the Twins added some considerable right-handed pop to their minor league ranks. With today’s agreement, the Twins have agreed to terms with their entire draft class.
Nelson Cruz Discusses Future Plans
Wednesday is Twins designated hitter Nelson Cruz‘s 40th birthday, but that doesn’t mean the six-time All-Star is closing in on retirement. On the contrary, Cruz suggested to Phil Miller of the Star Tribune that he still has enough gas in the tank to play beyond the 2020 campaign.
“I don’t see it [soon],” Cruz said of calling it quits sometime soon, and he went on to state that “my body is in good shape, and I’m doing everything I can to keep it that way. Why would I retire?”
Indeed, based on the eye-popping offensive numbers he has put up over the past few seasons, Cruz doesn’t look like someone who’s anywhere near the finish line. Cruz was a force with the Mariners from 2015-18 over 2,558-plate appearance tenure in which he slashed .284/.362/.546 (147 wRC+) with 163 home runs, and he only got better a year ago.
Owing to his age and his inability to factor in as a defender, Cruz didn’t secure a multiyear guarantee in free agency after his time in Seattle ended. He instead inked a one-year, $14.3MM deal with the Twins, though that contract did come with a $12MM club option for 2020. The Twins exercised it this past offseason, which was a no-brainer in light of the production Cruz posted in Year 1 in Minnesota. While Cruz only played in 120 games, his fewest since 2013, he still managed to amass 41 home runs across 521 PA and slash .311/.392/.639 – good for a personal-high wRC+ of 163. His HR total played a major role in the Twins setting a single-season record with 307.
Although Cruz is seemingly dead set on playing past 2020, that doesn’t mean he’ll continue to don a Twins uniform. Cruz is a pending free agent, and if he turns in another banner year and the National League keeps the DH going forward, he could encounter a robust market for someone his age. The Twins have shown interest in extending Cruz, though, so perhaps those talks will pick back up now that the league has lifted its freeze on transactions.
Twins Alter Coaching Staff Due To COVID-19 Concerns
Twins bullpen coach Bob McClure and Major League coach Bill Evers will be sidelined for the 2020 season due to health and safety concerns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. It’s the team’s decision and came after physical exams that factored both age and preexisting conditions into consideration, per Neal. Both the 68-year-old McClure and the 66-year-old Evers will still be paid. The Twins have since confirmed the pair’s omission from the coaching staff. McClure and Evers could contribute in other ways, taking on advisory roles in the front office, according to Neal.
This would’ve been the first season for McClure with the Twins. Minnesota lost bullpen coach Jeremy Hefner to the Mets over the winter and named McClure, a former pitching coach with the Phillies, Red Sox, Royals and Marlins, as his successor. McClure had previously worked as a senior advisor with the Twins, focusing on pitching development, so it sounds as though he may instead handle a role more similar to the one he filled over the past two years.
Neal wrote this morning that minor league pitching coordinator Pete Maki was “in line” to replace McClure as the bullpen coach for the 2020 season, and he has now indeed been announced in that role. Minnesota hired Maki prior to the 2018 season after he’d spent a decade in the college coaching ranks — including stops as pitching coach at Columbia and Duke.
Evers was returning to the Twins’ staff for a second season. It’s no surprise that he joined the ranks alongside manager Rocco Baldelli, as the pair has a long history together in the Rays organization. Evers was Baldelli’s bench coach back in 2006-07, and he spent nine years as the Rays’ minor league field coordinator while Baldelli was rising through the coaching ranks in Tampa Bay. There’s no direct replacement for Evers listed, although the Twins’ coaching staff does now list 21-year MLB veteran LaTroy Hawkins as a special instructor. He’d previously been working as an advisor to the front office under president of baseball ops Derek Falvey and GM Thad Levine.
Twins Announce Initial Player Pool
The Twins on Monday announced their initial player pool for the 2020 season. Player pools can contain up to 60 players, and only players in a team’s pool will be eligible to participate in summer training camp or regular/postseason games. Teams are free to change the makeup of the pools as they see fit, but once a team’s pool reaches 60 players, a player must be removed (released, traded, waived, etc.) in order to make a new addition. That player becomes ineligible to return to that same team in 2020.
Not all players within a team’s pool are ticketed for MLB playing time, of course. Most teams will include well-regarded but still far-off prospects as a means of getting them training reps with no intention of running them onto a major league diamond this season. A comprehensive review of 2020’s unique set of rules can be found here.
Here are the 59 players in the Twins’ initial pool (* indicates player not on 40-man roster; ^ indicates restricted list)…
Right-Handed Pitchers
- Jorge Alcala
- Homer Bailey
- Jose Berrios
- Jhoulys Chacin*
- Dakota Chalmers
- Tyler Clippard
- Edwar Colina*
- Randy Dobnak
- Tyler Duffey
- Jhoan Duran
- Ryan Garton*
- Cory Gearrin*
- Zack Littell
- Kenta Maeda
- Trevor May
- Jake Odorizzi
- Michael Pineda^
- Sean Poppen
- Fernando Romero^
- Sergio Romo
- Cody Stashak
- Matt Wisler
Left-Handed Pitchers
Catchers
Infielders
- Ehire Adrianza
- Luis Arraez
- Travis Blankenhorn
- Josh Donaldson
- Marwin Gonzalez
- Nick Gordon
- Royce Lewis*
- Drew Maggi*
- Jack Reinheimer*
- Jorge Polanco
- Miguel Sano
- Wilfredo Tovar*
- Zander Wiel*
Outfielders
- Lane Adams*
- Byron Buxton
- Jake Cave
- Gilberto Celestino
- Max Kepler
- Alex Kirilloff*
- Trevor Larnach*
- Brent Rooker*
- Eddie Rosario
- LaMonte Wade Jr.
Designated Hitter
Note: Pineda has 39 games remaining on a reduced 60-game PED suspension. That penalty must be served in full and is not prorated. Romero, meanwhile, is on the restricted list due to ongoing visa issues that make it unclear when he’ll be able to report. So while the team listed 59 players, the Twins technically have three open spots in their 60-man pool.
MLB Suspends Four Minor League Players
MLB announced today that it has suspended four minor league players in violation of the league’s Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.
- Reds right-handed pitcher Vladimir Gutierrez has been suspended for 80 games after testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance. The 24-year-old Gutierrez played all of the 2019 season at Triple-A, starting 27 games and notching a 6.04 ERA while striking out 117 batters in 137 innings. Gutierrez received a $4.75MM signing bonus from Cincinnati after defecting from Cuba during the 2016-2017 offseason.
- Two Dodgers pitchers have also been suspended: Juan Idrogo and Reza Aleaziz have received suspensions of 72 games and 50 games, respectively. Idrogo signed with the Dodgers during last summer’s international signing period, spending the summer in the Dominican Summer League. Aleaziz, 24, reached High-A ball last year after the Dodgers made him a 28th-round selection in 2018.
- Twins infielder Jose Rosario will also receive a 50-game suspension after testing positive for a drug of abuse. Rosario, 18, played last year, his pro debut, with the Twins affiliate in the Dominican Summer League. He posted a stellar .422 OBP in his first foray in affiliated ball.
Quick Hits: Schedule, Twins, A’s, Minor League Pay
The Nationals and Yankees are tentatively scheduled to play on July 23, according to Joel Sherman and Andrew Marchand of the New York Post, which would make for a big Max Scherzer vs. Gerrit Cole pitching matchup to highlight Opening Day. It might still be at least a week or two before the 2020 schedule is officially finalized, however, as the league is still considering a number of factors, chief among them coronavirus outbreaks around the United States. “Better, the league believes, to take its time, see how the [COVID-19] testing of personnel goes this week and the preferences expressed in feedback from clubs,” Sherman and Marchand write. “So the current schedule can change drastically and, if it does, the union will have to provide its blessing again.”
More from around baseball…
- Tomorrow is the deadline for teams to submit their initial 60-man player pool, and details are already beginning to emerge about which players may or may not be included. The Twins‘ taxi squad will include top prospects Royce Lewis, Alex Kirilloff, and Brent Rooker, SKOR North’s Darren Wolfson tweets. Caleb Thielbar, who rejoined Minnesota on a minors contract last winter, is also expected to be on taxi squad duty.
- The Athletics will initially split their player pool into two groups, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports, with much of the big league roster training in Oakland and the taxi squad potentially training in nearby Stockton — the home of the Athletics’ Class-A affiliate — if a deal can be finalized with Stockton city officials. Offseason minor league signings Ryan Goins, Carlos Perez, Jordan Weems, and Lucas Luetge will all be in Oakland, while taxi squad players include such notable prospects as Tyler Soderstrom, Daulton Jefferies, Nick Allen, Dustin Fowler and (as per MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez) Robert Puason.
- Slusser also provides updates on some Athletics players who were battling injuries during the spring but are now on track to be ready for Opening Day. A.J. Puk “has been throwing bullpen sessions for months” following a shoulder strain in the spring, and looks to be ready to begin the season in Oakland’s rotation. Right-hander Daniel Mengden is also ready to be part of the pitching mix after recovering from arthroscopic elbow surgery in February. After being sidelined with an intercostal strain during Spring Training, Stephen Piscotty said he is now “100 percent with no limitations.”
- The Rays and Rangers are the latest teams to commit to paying their minor leaguers through the end of July, as respectively reported by Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times and Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Minor leaguers in each organization will continue to receive their $400 weekly stipends for at least another month.
Quick Hits: Exhibition Games, 60-Man, Scouting, D-backs, Dodgers, Twins
There has been some question as to whether the second version of spring training will include any games, but that’s no longer the case. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that Major League Baseball has told teams they’ll allow them to schedule up to three exhibition contests apiece before the regular season starts July 23-24. The best case is to have exhibition opponents located in close proximity to one another. However, if a team isn’t near any potential opponents, it can schedule a game(s) versus the first club it will play in the regular season in the days leading up to their opener, according to Rosenthal.
- Jayson Stark of The Athletic passes along some more information on the 2020 campaign (Twitter links: 1, 2). For one, once a team removes a player from its 60-man player pool, the club won’t be able to bring him back. However, a player will still be able to go back and forth between the major league roster and the taxi squad if a team keeps him in its 60-man group. Also, opposing scouts will not be allowed to attend taxi squad workouts or intrasquad games, relays Stark, who adds that it’s up in the air whether MLB will permit in-person scouting at all this year – including during the playoffs.
- It’s already known that one Diamondbacks player has recently tested positive for the coronavirus. He’s not the only member of the organization to do so, though, as Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic writes that “several” of the organization’s minor leaguers and one minor league coach have tested positive over the past week. All of the positives came out of the club’s spring training facility in Salt River, Ariz., but each of those individuals were and are asymptomatic.
- The coronavirus has also affected the Dodgers and Twins of late. President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman told Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register and other reporters Thursday that members of the Dodgers organization have tested positive, but nobody had “symptoms that were problematic.” Meanwhile, Twins president of baseball ops said (via Phil Miller of the Star Tribune) that “a few” of their players and minor leaguers have tested positive in recent days, though none of those individuals were in Minneapolis or the team’s spring training facility in Fort Myers, Fla., at the time.
Twins Sign First-Rounder Aaron Sabato
5:20pm: Minnesota has announced the signing.
3:50pm: The Twins will sign their first-round pick, first baseman Aaron Sabato, according to Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com. He’ll make $2.75MM, which is a bit more than the $2.57MM slot value of the 27th choice.
Sabato’s coming off a two-year run at North Carolina, where he batted .332/.459/.698 with 25 home runs in 368 plate appearances over parts of two seasons. The 21-year-old has earned some comparisons to Mets 2019 NL Rookie of the Year winner Pete Alonso, Mayo notes.
High-profile prospect outlets such as MLB.com, Baseball America, ESPN, The Athletic and FanGraphs ranked Sabato in the high 30s or low 40s in this year’s class. FanGraphs called Sabato a “bat-only prospect,” though BA wrote that he has the raw power to rival Spencer Torkelson, whom the Tigers drafted first overall.