More Promotions

The Beloit Snappers promoted three more players to Ft. Myers today, with no word yet on any players being demoted to make room -- it will be interesting to see what Ft. Myers has to do to juggle the influx of 4 players in 2 days that they've taken on -- but I'm guessing we'll see a lot more movement throughout the organization in the next few days as people get shuffled around. What's most perplexing about the promotions announced today, however, is that Jeff Manship once again was not amongst those getting the bump. Here are the names and a few thoughts on their promotions:

Danny Valencia - 3B
This move makes a lot of sense -- Valencia was hitting .302/.874 in 242 AB's for the Snappers, with 11 HR's and 35 RBI's. On the downside, he struck out 54 times already in Beloit, which is a pretty high K rate. Nevertheless, he was playing well, leading the team in average and HR's, and he's getting promoted to Ft. Myers, where nobody has been able to hit this year and where he'll be getting most of his playing time at the expense of Juan Portes, who is hitting just .249 on the season. All around, a solid decision to promote him.

Brian Dinkelman - 2B
While his numbers aren't as gaudy as Valencia's, Dinkelman has also put together a solid season for the Snappers to this point with a .283 BA, .861 OPS, 7 HR's, 10 SB's, and 48 runs scored all in 240 AB's -- and he's made just 5 errors on the season. His main competition for playing time in Ft. Myers will be Steve Tolleson, who, like Portes, is hitting just .249 on the year. I also can't disagree too substantially with this move.

Johnny Woodard - 1B
I have to admit that I didn't see this one coming. Woodard isn't having a bad season, by any means -- .276/.876/10 HR/31 RBI -- but in 203 AB's he's struck out a whopping 64 times. Guess he's a swing-for-the-fences kind of player. With Whit Robbins (.213 in 202 AB's) and Matt Betsill (.159 in 126 AB's) both stalling out, and with Erik Lis playing well but mostly in the outfield, the Twins obviously felt it was time to make a move with Woodard. I'm not as comfortable with this decision as with the above two -- but, again, with no one playing well at 1B for the Miracle, I can't completely disagree with it, either.

Overall Impact
As I mentioned above, I think this is just the start of a serious realignment throughout the organiztion. The Snappers have just 21 men on their roster right now, which means they're four below the max. I would guess that at least one or two players from the Miracle will be sent down to make room for the recent influx (perhaps the aforementioned Betsill, for instance?). And finally, I still think that Jeff Manship will be promoted sooner rather than later.