The guys you've mentioned are of a higher caliber than our young guys.  And Rosario, Gonzales and Cave aren't going to net you much in a trade.  I'd be happy to be proven wrong, but a lot of these guys (Lewis for example) aren't close to ready.

Too early for most of those. But what about Rooker?

The guys you've mentioned are of a higher caliber than our young guys.  And Rosario, Gonzales and Cave aren't going to net you much in a trade.  I'd be happy to be proven wrong, but a lot of these guys (Lewis for example) aren't close to ready.

Never know until we try, what did they say about the recent 19 and 20 years olds that are now stars?

Too early for most of those. But what about Rooker?

Rooker has been ready for a year, but what about Raley?

Lets have a spring battle for first base and 4th outfielder. We have seemingly 4 good prospects to try at these 2 positions, who may be better than anyone we can sign or trade for. Our own rookies aren't always the worst options.  The same with the 4th & 5th starter position.

Rooker, Raley, and even younger - let us see what they can do. Gonzalez, Garver, etc. are there to back them up. With the solid core the Twins have in their lineup it is ok to trot out a rookie.

I think we will only compete for championships if we can develop our own starting pitching like Cleveland does. Signing one free agent starter would not have made the Twins a world series winner. I think you are correct we need to start playing the rookies. 

Never know until we try, what did they say about the recent 19 and 20 years olds that are now stars?

Those on your list?  Mostly that they were can't miss.  Those guys were all more highly regarded than Lewis or Kiriloff  or the others

I think we will only compete for championships if we can develop our own starting pitching like Cleveland does. Signing one free agent starter would not have made the Twins a world series winner. I think you are correct we need to start playing the rookies. 

Pretty much this. We're going to have to become a pitching factory. Fortunately, I think we're making some significant strides toward that goal.

I love playing Rookies if they can hit.  A hate playing Rookies when they make base-running mistakes or throw to the wrong base. 

If I was a high impact starting pitcher and looked at the Twins defense,  I'd probably find somewhere else to play (all things being equal).

Play the Rookies ? Give them a try, if they seem mature enough to handle it, otherwise let them continue to learn in the minors.  After all, there must be a reason they've done it that way all these years. 

I don't know... it's not quite what I want to do but it is what we should do. I don't think we need to trade Rosie, Cave, and Marwin though to get Boyd. We might want to give the rookies a little chance, and then if they don't do well enough, we let them keep learning. That's what the minor leagues are for. Not every rookie is Arraez.

Players debut young all the time, but they're often for teams that aren't going to put them into roles where it will significantly hurt them if they don't flourish. We're coming off 101 wins and the teams around us like the White Sox have gotten aggressive in trying to challenge us. Our front office doesn't want to risk running rookies out there and costing us the division because of it, they would get spitroasted by the fans and baseball officials because it's a gamble you quite simply don't have to make. 

There's also something to be said about the difference between guys being ready and just rushing them through the system. Maybe guys like Kirilloff could hit at the major league level because of his skillset. Lewis for example doesn't look even close to the majors though. He had a pretty bad year and some believe his entire swing will need to be retooled to hit in the majors. Trusting him at a premier position and seeing him fail would be a huge mistake.

I'm also not really sure where the idea of trading Marwin got started. He's the opposite of a problem for this team and his numbers don't match up to the value he provides by being able to move around. Trading away a swiss army knife position player and throwing caution to the wind in favor of a minor leaguer would be a huge mistake. Of the group of Larnach, Kirilloff, Rooker and Lewis, if 3 of them become at least league average that would be an enormous win. That's the nature of prospects, you can't rely on them until they actually do it.

Nah, if you play the rookies you have to pay them sooner AND you can't sell the future anymore. By keeping them down there's always the hope that they will be the answer.

Players debut young all the time, but they're often for teams that aren't going to put them into roles where it will significantly hurt them if they don't flourish. We're coming off 101 wins and the teams around us like the White Sox have gotten aggressive in trying to challenge us. Our front office doesn't want to risk running rookies out there and costing us the division because of it, they would get spitroasted by the fans and baseball officials because it's a gamble you quite simply don't have to make. 

 

There's also something to be said about the difference between guys being ready and just rushing them through the system. Maybe guys like Kirilloff could hit at the major league level because of his skillset. Lewis for example doesn't look even close to the majors though. He had a pretty bad year and some believe his entire swing will need to be retooled to hit in the majors. Trusting him at a premier position and seeing him fail would be a huge mistake.

 

I'm also not really sure where the idea of trading Marwin got started. He's the opposite of a problem for this team and his numbers don't match up to the value he provides by being able to move around. Trading away a swiss army knife position player and throwing caution to the wind in favor of a minor leaguer would be a huge mistake. Of the group of Larnach, Kirilloff, Rooker and Lewis, if 3 of them become at least league average that would be an enormous win. That's the nature of prospects, you can't rely on them until they actually do it.

Good post, but Soto and Acuna both came up to teams that were going for league championships.  They were considered missing pieces for good teams regardless of age. 

I love playing Rookies if they can hit.  A hate playing Rookies when they make base-running mistakes or throw to the wrong base. 

If I was a high impact starting pitcher and looked at the Twins defense,  I'd probably find somewhere else to play (all things being equal).

Play the Rookies ? Give them a try, if they seem mature enough to handle it, otherwise let them continue to learn in the minors.  After all, there must be a reason they've done it that way all these years. 

I think the reason is money - a rookie starting his clock and not succeeding right away scares teams  That is why the White Sox extended a rookie that they are going to play this year even though he has still not been to MLB.

Those on your list?  Mostly that they were can't miss.  Those guys were all more highly regarded than Lewis or Kiriloff  or the others

I am not sure of that - when I look at prospect lists our guys are quite high and have been for a few years now.

Nah, if you play the rookies you have to pay them sooner AND you can't sell the future anymore. By keeping them down there's always the hope that they will be the answer.

This is why teams are developing new strategies like extending before they even begin to insure control beyond six years.  Now we are looking at Buxton and Berrios and Sano and wondering if we will be able to keep them because no extensions have been made - perhaps a very big mistake.

Interesting take. I am all for "open" competition in an organization. In Spring training and throughout the season. Younger players should be given a chance for promotion at each level and when they've shown their ability at AA or above try to get them there opportunity at the ML level ASAP. The FO has to manage the roster appropriately so that has to be considered, but getting the information on each prospects ability at the ML level is very valuable.

With that said once they arrive they need to earn PT and outperform whomever is ahead of them. No one should be given PT without earning - Rookie or Veteran. Players like Acuna and Soto got their opportunity and ran with it.

We have a crowded OF right now, but there are opportunities for PT there as was proven last season, why trade for fill in players instead of giving young players an opportunity. Ryan Lamarre is a good example we could have brought up a young guy or two to help in the OF when we had to play Arraez out of position and go get Lamarre. This year we'd have ML data on a couple of our OF prospects. When the opportunity is there get those prospects experience so we can start to see what they can become.