The Athletics Top 100

[wabene]

Keith Law has his new top 100 out and the Twins landed 3 in the top 50 and 4 in the top 100. Jenkins 15, Lee 31, ERod 47 and Gabby G at 96. You have to give some credit to a front office that has taken a franchise from the ashes to multiple playoff appearances, breaking the streak and winning a short series. They graduated what could be considered the Twins best performing rookie class of all time, but still took what was considered a middling farm with depth, but missing top talent and added that top shelf talent. Yes the big club still needs pitching, lol.

 

https://theathletic.com/5245693/2024/02/05/top-100-mlb-prospects-2024-keith-law/

[Brock Beauchamp]

28 minutes ago, wabene said:

Keith Law has his new top 100 out and the Twins landed 3 in the top 50 and 4 in the top 100. Jenkins 15, Lee 31, ERod 47 and Gabby G at 96. You have to give some credit to a front office that has taken a franchise from the ashes to multiple playoff appearances, breaking the streak and winning a short series. They graduated what could be considered the Twins best performing rookie class of all time, but still took what was considered a middling farm with depth, but missing top talent and added that top shelf talent. Yes the big club still needs pitching, lol.

https://theathletic.com/5245693/2024/02/05/top-100-mlb-prospects-2024-keith-law/

The front office deserves a lot of credit for a variety of things. I don't think they're perfect but they seem to be doing a pretty damned good job.

With that said, they absolutely lucked into Walker Jenkins in so many freakin' ways.

[wabene]

6 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

The front office deserves a lot of credit for a variety of things. I don't think they're perfect but they seem to be doing a pretty damned good job.

With that said, they absolutely lucked into Walker Jenkins in so many freakin' ways.

Yes they are definitely not perfect! 

This draft was an anomaly due to covid, just stacked with talent so many got well there. But yes they did win the lotto

[tony&rodney]

20 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

With that said, they absolutely lucked into Walker Jenkins in so many freakin' ways.

.... and Brooks Lee.

[Nashvilletwin]

49 minutes ago, wabene said:

Keith Law has his new top 100 out and the Twins landed 3 in the top 50 and 4 in the top 100. Jenkins 15, Lee 31, ERod 47 and Gabby G at 96. You have to give some credit to a front office that has taken a franchise from the ashes to multiple playoff appearances, breaking the streak and winning a short series. They graduated what could be considered the Twins best performing rookie class of all time, but still took what was considered a middling farm with depth, but missing top talent and added that top shelf talent. Yes the big club still needs pitching, lol.

 

https://theathletic.com/5245693/2024/02/05/top-100-mlb-prospects-2024-keith-law/

If those four, plus Raya, Festa and Camargo turn  into solid starters by late 2025, with one or two becoming all star candidates in the future, the Twins will be in a very strong position. The window is open now, but getting bigger over the next several years.

Hats off to the FO for not decimating the pipeline to go all in the near term, but instead keeping our future while building a very competitive (AL Central heavily favored) and entertaining roster for ‘24.

[stringer bell]

1 hour ago, Nashvilletwin said:

If those four, plus Raya, Festa and Camargo turn  into solid starters by late 2025, with one or two becoming all star candidates in the future, the Twins will be in a very strong position. The window is open now, but getting bigger over the next several years.

Hats off to the FO for not decimating the pipeline to go all in the near term, but instead keeping our future while building a very competitive (AL Central heavily favored) and entertaining roster for ‘24.

Maybe I'm missing something, but is there anything to suggest that Camargo is going to be anything but a backup catcher? I know he showed some power last year in AAA, but Andrew Stevenson showed power in St. Paul, too.

[Mike Sixel]

That's a good list. Luck or not, they could have taken other guys there.... This after graduating Lewis, Wallner and Julien.....

[stringer bell]

The position player side of the house looks well stocked with projectable talent and several young players on the cusp of stardom on the big league roster. I am less certain about pitching.

[Doctor Gast]

Twins have a good farm but I personally don't put a lot of stock in Law's evaluations.

[chpettit19]

27 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

Twins have a good farm but I personally don't put a lot of stock in Law's evaluations.

Interesting. Why is that? Do you prefer a different publication over him? We all have different tastes in lists so just curious what you don't put stock in with Law.

[jorgenswest]

3 hours ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

The front office deserves a lot of credit for a variety of things. I don't think they're perfect but they seem to be doing a pretty damned good job.

With that said, they absolutely lucked into Walker Jenkins in so many freakin' ways.

They still had to take him. Many (including TD and Mayo) had them taking Jacob Gonzalez.

[Nashvilletwin]

53 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

Maybe I'm missing something, but is there anything to suggest that Camargo is going to be anything but a backup catcher? I know he showed some power last year in AAA, but Andrew Stevenson showed power in St. Paul, too.

By “starter” I meant capable of 30-40% of starts.  So, yes, a “backup” catcher in the modern MLB and certainly for how the Twins are currently managed is basically a starter.

Camargo is on the 40 and appears to be a better receiver than Stevenson. He’s the “backup” of the future, but a cheap “backup” catcher who can comfortably start and hit with only a little if no drop off from one of the best offensive catchers in the league is pure gold.

[Nashvilletwin]

51 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

The position player side of the house looks well stocked with projectable talent and several young players on the cusp of stardom on the big league roster. I am less certain about pitching.

Check out the top 20 prospect list currently being posted.  It looks like 9 of our top 20 are pitchers.  Now, that doesn’t mean anything about quality per se, but it’s been a while since we’ve seen that depth. Remember, we still have three young potential studs in Ryan, Ober, Varland to go along with Lopez.

The starting pitching pipeline is solid - certainly vs. what we are used to around here.

[Doctor Gast]

44 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

Interesting. Why is that? Do you prefer a different publication over him? We all have different tastes in lists so just curious what you don't put stock in with Law.

He just comes up with some weird stuff sometimes which is hard for me to take him 100% seriously.

[Brock Beauchamp]

3 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

.... and Brooks Lee.

In some ways, yes. But guys fall in almost every draft and they took advantage of it. Whereas with Jenkins, it was a rock solid top five draftees, the Twins lucked out in the lottery, and Jenkins was the only guy out of the five left to draft. It was as close to the decision making itself for you as it can get. 

[wabene]

1 hour ago, stringer bell said:

The position player side of the house looks well stocked with projectable talent and several young players on the cusp of stardom on the big league roster. I am less certain about pitching.

Certainly much is riding on that '22 class of college pitchers they have been developing. This will be a big year watching that unfold in Cedar Rapids and Wichita. Gotta tune in! 

[jmlease1]

1 hour ago, Doctor Gast said:

Twins have a good farm but I personally don't put a lot of stock in Law's evaluations.

He can be a cantankerous jerk, but his evaluations are usually pretty fair and he's upfront about his biases (preferring ceiling, etc). he's also not afraid to swerve from the CW on players, which I respect. He's also pretty much never willing to admit he screwed up, and will double-down and insult people if called on it.

So kind of an ass, but a good prospect evaluator.

[nicksaviking]

3 hours ago, Nashvilletwin said:

If those four, plus Raya, Festa and Camargo turn  into solid starters by late 2025, with one or two becoming all star candidates in the future, the Twins will be in a very strong position. The window is open now, but getting bigger over the next several years.

Hats off to the FO for not decimating the pipeline to go all in the near term, but instead keeping our future while building a very competitive (AL Central heavily favored) and entertaining roster for ‘24.

Yeah, the Twins do as well if not better with the lesser regarded prospects. I'm excited to see many of the non-sexy youngsters.

[bean5302]

3 hours ago, Nashvilletwin said:

If those four, plus Raya, Festa and Camargo turn  into solid starters by late 2025, with one or two becoming all star candidates in the future, the Twins will be in a very strong position. The window is open now, but getting bigger over the next several years.

Hats off to the FO for not decimating the pipeline to go all in the near term, but instead keeping our future while building a very competitive (AL Central heavily favored) and entertaining roster for ‘24.

I think you mean Canterino instead of Carmargo, who catches pitches rather than throwing them, haha.

[Doctor Gast]

9 minutes ago, jmlease1 said:

He can be a cantankerous jerk, but his evaluations are usually pretty fair and he's upfront about his biases (preferring ceiling, etc). he's also not afraid to swerve from the CW on players, which I respect. He's also pretty much never willing to admit he screwed up, and will double-down and insult people if called on it.

So kind of an ass, but a good prospect evaluator.

IDK what you mean by CW, but I have an idea what you mean. I too respect evaluators who don't follow the crowd when they have solid reasons but sometimes IMO his opinions are quirkish, which affects my opinion about his evaluation. 

[Nashvilletwin]

17 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

I think you mean Canterino instead of Carmargo, who catches pitches rather than throwing them, haha.

Nope, I meant Camargo. An above average receiving and hitting backup C who starts 30-40% of games and is getting paid league minimum is gold.

It would be nice if Canterino turned into a bona fade starter as well as Raya and Festa.

[stringer bell]

14 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

IDK what you mean by CW, but I have an idea what you mean. I too respect evaluators who don't follow the crowd when they have solid reasons but sometimes IMO his opinions are quirkish, which affects my opinion about his evaluation. 

Conventional Wisdom?

[Major League Ready]

3 hours ago, stringer bell said:

The position player side of the house looks well stocked with projectable talent and several young players on the cusp of stardom on the big league roster. I am less certain about pitching.

This is a huge year for our pitching pipeline.  Maybe that's true every year but it seems like we have nobody we can be real confident in but several guys with enough talent to be impactful.  Canterino and Prielipp have top of the rotation stuff but can't stay healthy.  Could they finally get over the injury bug.  Festa / Raya / SWR / Lewis / Culpepper and Ohl have shown well in the lower levels but need to show at the higher levels before we can get too excited about them contributing.  Hopefully Bowen earns his place among these promising prospects.

BTW ...   I think Ohl might surprise some people.  

[Fatbat]

6 hours ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

The front office deserves a lot of credit for a variety of things. I don't think they're perfect but they seem to be doing a pretty damned good job.

With that said, they absolutely lucked into Walker Jenkins in so many freakin' ways.

There are a couple FO’s that could/would have gotten cute and skipped over Jenkins at 5. 

[Mike Sixel]

1 hour ago, jmlease1 said:

He can be a cantankerous jerk, but his evaluations are usually pretty fair and he's upfront about his biases (preferring ceiling, etc). he's also not afraid to swerve from the CW on players, which I respect. He's also pretty much never willing to admit he screwed up, and will double-down and insult people if called on it.

So kind of an ass, but a good prospect evaluator.

He literally has an article every year on guys he was wrong on.....so, I have no idea what you are saying. 

[jmlease1]

1 hour ago, Mike Sixel said:

He literally has an article every year on guys he was wrong on.....so, I have no idea what you are saying. 

Well, he had a blowout this year with Twins fans when he listed out their potential starters and had Balazovic in the mix and not Paddack; when people pointed out that Paddack was a starting pitching option (and not in a mean way, either) he proceeded to insult anyone who considers Chris Paddack a starter in spectacularly douchey fashion. (as if Balazovic is?) not the first time he's done that kind of BS, either.

When I mean that he won't admit to being wrong, it partly means "Only KLaw is allowed to criticize KLaw".

[wabene]

1 hour ago, Major League Ready said:

This is a huge year for our pitching pipeline.  Maybe that's true every year but it seems like we have nobody we can be real confident in but several guys with enough talent to be impactful.  Canterino and Prielipp have top of the rotation stuff but can't stay healthy.  Could they finally get over the injury bug.  Festa / Raya / SWR / Lewis / Culpepper and Ohl have shown well in the lower levels but need to show at the higher levels before we can get too excited about them contributing.  Hopefully Bowen earns his place among these promising prospects.

BTW ...   I think Ohl might surprise some people.  

Tom F is going to blow a gasket if people keep forgetting 4th round pick Andrew Morris, lol. 

[Major League Ready]

6 minutes ago, wabene said:

Tom F is going to blow a gasket if people keep forgetting 4th round pick Andrew Morris, lol. 

I knew I was missing someone.