Article: Minnesota-bound Prospects for 2013

Unless Hicks bats about .400 in the spring he will start in AAA. Mastrioni should be able to handle the job and who knows if he can do the job that opens up some trade opportunities. It's a long season and Hicks WILL be her just when. Always fun seeing a top prospect until they struggle.

Hicks should start in Minnesota if they think he is ready. Benson will probably never make it and why hurt Gardenhire my giving him a player who is not that good. Hicks draws enough walks to have a respectable OBP even if his BA is not great. A extra year of control is only an issue if you are not going to pay Hicks after 6 years. That is a small market team issue not a mid market which the Twins are.

I'm not arguing that the extra year is not good to have. But it's relatively minor when compared to his development. And, as some have said, it's way to early to be counting arbitration years on a guy who hasn't played an inning at the majors.

If I'm the Twins, I want him working with the major league staff and learning major league pitchers right away, if he doesn't have obvious stuff to work on. A two-month stint at AAA won't hurt him that much (it's not without risks, think Cuddyer), but I believe he'll develop faster at the majors. And that really is the key. The extra year means nothing if he washes out because we didn't handle him right.

I also think the Twins need to get off to a good start, and should take the best guy north for that reason. He's the only lead-off guy of the three vying for the job. If winning is at all important, Hicks is the clear choice.

If one month in AAA is enough to mysteriously ruin his development, then he never stood a chance in the first place.

From Phil Miller's Chat yesterday on StarTrib:

Comment From Shadow of Kirby: What are the chances of Aaron Hicks being ready to play center? Phil Miller: Very good. It's clear the Twins desperately want him to seize the job this spring, to add some excitement and intrigue to the team. That said, if he's not quite ready, sending him to Rochester for 6 weeks means they would control him for an extra season, which wouldn't be bad either.

I think I am going to like Miller. I didn't read the PP when he was there.

Miller has always been my favorite among the TC media.

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Originally Posted by cmathewson

I'm not arguing that the extra year is not good to have. But it's relatively minor when compared to his development. And, as some have said, it's way to early to be counting arbitration years on a guy who hasn't played an inning at the majors.

If I'm the Twins, I want him working with the major league staff and learning major league pitchers right away, if he doesn't have obvious stuff to work on. A two-month stint at AAA won't hurt him that much (it's not without risks, think Cuddyer), but I believe he'll develop faster at the majors. And that really is the key. The extra year means nothing if he washes out because we didn't handle him right.

I also think the Twins need to get off to a good start, and should take the best guy north for that reason. He's the only lead-off guy of the three vying for the job. If winning is at all important, Hicks is the clear choice.

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Winning is not important to the Twins (nor should it be, imo); the offseason moves made that clear. Money, and therefore service time, obviously are.

And it's absurd to think that spending two months at triple A is a bigger risk than skipping a level, especially for a guy who has needed a full season at every level and who until last season has had a consistent, gaping hole in his game.

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Originally Posted by SweetOne69

While I agree with most of you that Hicks should spend some time @ AAA, your argument regarding the extra year of team control is based on the assumption that he spends the entire year with the Twins. He could start the year with Minnesota and show that he isn't ready (like Dozier and Parmelee) and get sent down for a month or two and they would still gain that extra year of control.

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This is exactly right and precisely the reason that if Hicks is the best player in the spring there is no reason to send him out.

If he is good enough to stay the whole year I would assume the team would want to lock him up long before he reaches free agency. If they do this all the machinations to get an extra year of control would have been pointless.

Assumptions make for great long-term plans.

I'm sold.

If either Hicks or Benson are to be future trade bait I supose a month in Rochester is not the end of the world. As spring training has barely started, speculation as to where either will play is just a pasttime. There are no definative indicators either is ready for mlb level competion with a bat.

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If Butera were to get hurt, I would guess the Twins turn to Rivera instead

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Probably a tiny detail in the big picture of things, but Rivera is a Padre. And his divorce from the Twins was not happy last September. Apparently someone from the Twins' brass promised him that he will get recalled in September but he did not (and Herrmann did instead.) At that point some stuff hit the fan... was interesting to follow Rivera's twitter at that time :)

As far as that list goes, I think that Gibson (barring injury) will be with the Twins sometime this season. Also one of Benson/Hicks will have to be (and Benson has just another season before he is out of options I think, so the Twins might want to take a look) And there are probably 4 spots open in the pen now (with Swarzak not ready in April)