Twins trade rumors

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

I guess we will just have to disagree.  Most (all) prospect rankings have Hu far below those other guys.  And it's because those rankings are doing more than looking at his stat line.  The pitcher that Hu most reminds me of is Liam Hendriks.  Both are short, RH pitchers.  Both had great control which helped them dominate the minors.  Both had fantastic strike out, walk and HR numbers.  Hendriks made the majors at 22 but failed to make it as a starter b/c he didn't have the stuff to play up in the majors.  He has since bounced around the league, playing for four teams and becoming a bullpen arm.  Stewart, Gonsalves, Jay are all better prospects.

 

Your argument is exactly the trap described in Moneyball. One of the themes was that scouting was fallible, and worse, scouts can fall in love and project qualities and expectations onto prospects that prospects can't live up to. Which is not to bash scouts at all. It's up to the GM to synthesize all the information they provide.

 

Using stat lines is a terrible way to evaluate talent, but it's less terrible than all the other ways. Maybe the Twins have pitch level or StatCast type of data on all these guys, but if they do, they are certainly not exploiting it like Beane exploited OBP for a while. Why are Stewart, Gonsalves, and Jay all better prospects than Hu? I can't be sure, but it's probably because some old school scouts with radar guns said so, and then it gets repeated and amplified over and over. There is probably not much separating the chances of Gonsalves, Jay or Hu making it to the show as starters for a brief Slowey type of career, and certainly very little in the basic stat lines separate them, at least not yet, and since Kohl Stewart can't miss bats as well (going by strikeout totals), he should probably lag behind the other three on any ranking list. Stewart has good "stuff" but so does Meyer. And we all hope it finally clicks for one of them.

[Bark's Lounge]

 

I don't care about the price of chopped meat. Clear 25-man space, give young guys a look, and give the next GM the flexibility to sign free agents best for the new system.

Then give the players away and/or eat the salary, dump it. I have no problem with that. Chopped meat... ha, ha, ha. We are dealing with Buddig lunch meats here. Chopped meat sounds a lot better.

[old nurse]

 

Your argument is exactly the trap described in Moneyball. One of the themes was that scouting was fallible, and worse, scouts can fall in love and project qualities and expectations onto prospects that prospects can't live up to. Which is not to bash scouts at all. It's up to the GM to synthesize all the information they provide.

Using stat lines is a terrible way to evaluate talent, but it's less terrible than all the other ways. Maybe the Twins have pitch level or StatCast type of data on all these guys, but if they do, they are certainly not exploiting it like Beane exploited OBP for a while. Why are Stewart, Gonsalves, and Jay all better prospects than Hu? I can't be sure, but it's probably because some old school scouts with radar guns said so, and then it gets repeated and amplified over and over. There is probably not much separating the chances of Gonsalves, Jay or Hu making it to the show as starters for a brief Slowey type of career, and certainly very little in the basic stat lines separate them, at least not yet, and since Kohl Stewart can't miss bats as well (going by strikeout totals), he should probably lag behind the other three on any ranking list. Stewart has good "stuff" but so does Meyer. And we all hope it finally clicks for one of them.

I think Hu became a better prospect in the eyes of many of these people because Ryan traded him. Stats versus stuff. The inabilities of a Meyer to break on through can be contrasted by the last 2 seasons of Milone who might have a AAA ERA the last 2 seasons under 1 and you are probably well aware of MLB outings.

[gunnarthor]

 

Way too little, way too late. The Twins ended up with the 8th best record out of 15 teams. Not good.

Well, you are just wrong.  And it's easy to check.  The Twins finished with the 7th best record in the AL.  They finished three games out of the wild card.  I'm not sure why you keep slamming last season or misstating simple facts but it gets pretty annoying.

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/AL/2015.shtml

 

[DaveW]

Well, you are just wrong. And it's easy to check. The Twins finished with the 7th best record in the AL. They finished three games out of the wild card. I'm not sure why you keep slamming last season or misstating simple facts but it gets pretty annoying.

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/AL/2015.shtml

Sorry 7th out of 15th, that still isn't very good, it's literally just slightly above average. Slight above average should never be the "goal"

 

Finishing 3 games out of the playoffs in a league where 33% of the teams now make the playoffs isn't some big achievement IMO.

 

If they never would have signed hunter or Pelfeey and used that money for a couple good RP or Nelson Cruz there is a very good shot they would have made the playoffs.

 

Instead we get no playoffs, and a 2016 team that is the worst in baseball. Fun times!