What developments are you looking forward to in ST?

DiscGolfer · February 29, 2016

Other than the over analyzed Sano to the OF, what will Park do, and Berrios shoud be in the rotation talk what other developments are you looking to see play out as actual games are so close to starting?

Will Rosario be able to improve in his second season or will we see a sophomore slump?

Will Buxton improve his eye at the plate enough to be a valuable hitter?

Will this finally be the season Joe turns is sliding career around and become a useful first baseman?

Thoughts? Looking for different topics other than the dead horses piling up in the room.

gunnarthor · February 29, 2016

I'm really interested to see how everyone in the rotation looks. Can Hughes bounce back? Can Nolasco pitch well enough to get traded during ST or are we stuck with him? Is Duffey legit? I think both Gibson and Santana will be good solid ML pitchers this year but everyone else has some question marks.

On the hitting side, besides Buxton, I'm really interested to see how Kepler performs. Last year during ST it was pretty obvious that Rosario was a "molly guy" and, even though he started in the minors, he was going tobe a fast call up. Does Kepler do that this year? Someone else?

Blackjack · February 29, 2016

I'm curious to see if Arcia can turn it around.

big dog · February 29, 2016

I want to see Murphy show some stick. I want to see DanSan take a walk, sometime during ST. I want to see Arcia running his butt off in the outfield drills.

I want to see a bunch of players working hard and having fun.

Don Walcott · February 29, 2016

I'm interested to see if Arcia progress from 2014 as if 2015 never happened. He could be a real asset for this team.

I think it will be interesting to see if the Molly and Bruno can help with the hitting approaches of several of our regulars: Can Dozier use all fields? Can Rosario take a pitch or two? Can Mauer get more hits early in the count and pull the ball occasionally? Can Sano and Park cut down on strikeouts without sacrificing too much power? Can Buxton make regular and consistent contact?

There is a lot of potential for improvement from this lineup from guys who are already good. If a bunch of little things go right, we could have a great offensive team.

puckstopper1 · February 29, 2016

I'm interested in seeing if the Twins are able to harness the potential of Alex Meyer like Crash Davis did for Nuke Laloosh.

TheLeviathan · February 29, 2016

I'm curious to see if Arcia can turn it around.

Arcia winning a starting job. We need him to.

DiscGolfer · February 29, 2016

How well will Nolasco have to pitch to get any value in return? I don't think we've seen a healthy Nolasco yet so I'm waiting to pass judgement on that move, obviously it hasn't worked out so far. But if he's pitching good enough is he the one to trade then? Last year Pelfrey had a decent enough 1st have but he didn't get moved. I'd be really shocked to see any sort of trade for anyone before June barring some sort of injury causing a major hole for some other team.

I'm not really a believer in Arcia as much as other people are, I hope I'm wrong, but I do want to see him get a chance and provide some pop off the bench. I don't see him winning a starting job but as a 4th OF off the bench, I'd take that.

tobi0040 · February 29, 2016

The quality of Buxton's at bats. And the OF defense.

Halsey Hall · February 29, 2016

Other than the over analyzed Sano to the OF, what will Park do, and Berrios shoud be in the rotation talk what other developments are you looking to see play out as actual games are so close to starting?

Will Rosario be able to improve in his second season or will we see a sophomore slump?

Will Buxton improve his eye at the plate enough to be a valuable hitter?

Will this finally be the season Joe turns is sliding career around and become a useful first baseman?

Thoughts? Looking for different topics other than the dead horses piling up in the room.

Your questions are all for the season, not for spring training.

What I'm really interested in is what they do with Park, and Arcia. Do we really need both? That and what happens to Nolasco.

Halsey Hall · February 29, 2016

I want to see Murphy show some stick. I want to see DanSan take a walk, sometime during ST. I want to see Arcia running his butt off in the outfield drills.

I want to see a bunch of players working hard and having fun.

Murphy will show you some stick. Arcia is running hit butt off and all the players are busting butts while still having fun. DanSan hasn't walked much this spring from station to station.

Loosey · February 29, 2016

I want to see if Kepler looks like he belongs on a Major League roster right out of the gate and if Rosario has to possibly worry about him eventually eating into his playing time in 2016.

diehardtwinsfan · February 29, 2016

In no particular order, I'll be watching Park, Arcia, Buxton, Murphey, and the Milone/May race.

Loosey · February 29, 2016

In no particular order, I'll be watching Park, Arcia, Buxton, Murphey, and the Milone/May race.

Do you really think there will be a race between Milone and May? If Milone misses out on rotation will May be the fall back or do they go to Duffey/Berrios to start and leave May in the 'pen? I would like to see May get another chance to start, it's not like he did anything to be "demoted' to the bullpen.

nicksaviking · February 29, 2016

In no particular order, I'll be watching Park, Arcia, Buxton, Murphey, and the Milone/May race.

I want to see May as well, but I'm really curious how they plan on evaluating him. They said he'll get a shot at the rotation, but if he's lights out can he actually get the job? Or if he's lights out will they say he's too good to take out of the pen?

Dantes929 · February 29, 2016

Milone has the best career ERA of any starter and was a close 2nd to Gibson for the 2015 season. At some point actual on field results should count for something. The way baseball works is the season will start with Hughes, Santana, Gibson, Nolasco, and Milone and everyone will be disappointed that Berrios, Duffey and May aren't in there and bitch about how Milone and Nolasco are in there. Then, Santana and Gibson will stink and then get hurt while Milone and Nolasco have career years. Berrios will be promoted and stink and Duffey will get promoted and contend for Cy Young. Sano will do well in the outfield but stink at the plate and Arcia will stink in the field and mash. Ok, that won't all happen but stuff like that will.

Also some will be smoking hot in ST and slump out of the gate for the season and some will do the opposite.

I am intrigued about Polanco. I never gave up faith in Dozier, even in his first couple of struggling years but am not convinced he can continue to have success if he keeps trying to pull everything. I never thought Mauer needed to change because they seem to pitch to get him to hit into the shift. He should be able to square up balls more often even though some get caught. With Dozier it seems they shift him to pull, but pitch to get him to go the other way and he just won't do it.

Murphy and Meyer will be interesting to watch also.

Thrylos · February 29, 2016

Your questions are all for the season, not for spring training.
What I'm really interested in is what they do with Park, and Arcia. Do we really need both? That and what happens to Nolasco.

Different beasts. And any way you cut it, only Arcia (and The Forgotten Guy) are the only MLB-ready hitters who hit from the left size with power. You need at least one of them in the team, but you are better off with both.

howieramone2 · February 29, 2016

I'm hoping I can get a feel for the pecking order of the power arms in the pen. So much depth, how do they line up out of ST behind the opening day roster?

Thrylos · February 29, 2016

Milone has the best career ERA of any starter

Kinda pointless to argue about ERA, but the above is a false statement, Duffey does.

DocBauer · March 1, 2016

Top things I'm looking at? My list is as long, or longer than its ever been before. But these are probably the biggest ones that come to mind.

Does Arcia look like he belongs and is ready to prove it?

Just how close does Kepler look to being ready?

Now that we got him, just what do we have in Murphy?

Pretty much every LHP in camp not named Milone or Perkins.

Dantes929 · March 1, 2016

Kinda pointless to argue about ERA, but the above is a false statement, Duffey does.

Good catch. Possible one or both are left out when you can certainly argue they should both be in. I know ERA is flawed but so is just about every other stat. Say what you will about parks and defense, Milone still holds opponents to less than 4 earned runs per 9 innings.

jimbo92107 · March 1, 2016

I'd like to see what Arcia's swing looks like, if he is able to crank his hip without pain. I suspect that his hip injury lingered the whole season.

I'd love to see Phil Hughes whip some heaters around 94mph. That would be very reassuring.

I'd like to see Joe Mauer turn on a fastball and hammer it over the right field wall. Then slash a single down the left field line.

Buxton take some walks on outside curves. See him get better leads, show better timing on his breaks from first.

Kepler continue to mash balls to left. See what his fielding looks like. Can he throw somebody out rounding first to second?

I wanna see Rosario look even more clever. Guy's a playah.

Can Sano catch a baseball in the outfield?

How far can Park actually hit a baseball?

Brock Beauchamp · March 1, 2016

Good catch. Possible one or both are left out when you can certainly argue they should both be in. I know ERA is flawed but so is just about every other stat. Say what you will about parks and defense, Milone still holds opponents to less than 4 earned runs per 9 innings.

ERA+ is a much better stat to use if you wish to use ERA and it reinforces your point.

Milone has a better career ERA+ than Gibson, Hughes, and Nolasco. Milone has an identical career ERA+ to Santana.

Mike Sixel · March 1, 2016

Buxton's plate approach......Fangraphs has him as the number 2 defensive CF right now, but if he played 140+ games, he might be number 1 in the calculations (funny, another thread imploded when someone said they didn't like him defensively.......), so, I want to see if his hitting gets him here now, not in April or May.

Bob Sacamento · March 1, 2016

I'd like to see what Arcia's swing looks like, if he is able to crank his hip without pain. I suspect that his hip injury lingered the whole season.

I'd like to see Joe Mauer turn on a fastball and hammer it over the right field wall. Then slash a single down the left field line.

Buxton take some walks on outside curves. See him get better leads, show better timing on his breaks from first.

How far can Park actually hit a baseball?

Yes, Oswaldo's hip lingered for much of the 2015 year and it altered his swing. Here is Arcia's swing so far this spring training

Arcia Video 1 2/12

Arcia Video 2 2/19

Arcia Video 3 2/26

Park can hit the ball very far and very hard, I've seen him hit a 500ft shot this spring already in BP. The question is can he hit a MLB curveball or slider.

Park Video 1 2/12

Park Video 2 2/19

Park Video 3 2/26

Here's Joe Mauer working on turning on that inside fastball in the cage

Sorry only things I have on Buxton so far are:

Buxton Batting Practice 2/26

Buxton Bunting 2/26