bean5302

I could definitely see him taking a deal for Korea or Japan where Sano might earn $1-2MM per year if he doesn't receive an MLB offer. Top salaries in Korea are about $2MM and Japan about $4MM. Sano will almost certainly have to take an MLB deal at league minimum or close to it, if he even gets an MLB contract, which I doubt he will. There's just no reason to risk an MLB contract for a player who has 1 year in the past 5 where he was well worth a roster spot.

That sucks for him. I'm sure he was really hoping to get some playing time and perform well to showcase himself so he might get an MLB contract next year.

The Yankees look like World Series favorites and they went for it. Their current elite rotation isn't under control much longer. Cole - 6yrs Montas - 1yr German - 2yrs Severino - 1yr Tallion - 0yrs Cortes - 3yrs

Falvey definitely did well regardless of the prospect rank source. He addressed needs, targeted secondary market options who still had a lot of value, and obviously got teams to buy high on potential.

Top 3 weaknesses in regard to what? Making the playoffs? Advancing in the playoffs? I think the Twins have a pretty good shot at the playoffs right now. The roster is pretty solidly constructed. It's not a great team, but it's a good one without a lot of weaknesses, to be honest. Just "good" across the board. There is a big problem looming, though, and that's continuing depth due to a lot of injuries. Kepler's playing with a broken toe... When Kirilloff gets added, the Twins will have 11 players on the 60 day IL and some of those names would have been pretty dang important. 1 to 5 scale, 5 being excellent, 4 great, 3 good, 2 adequate, 1 poor. SP1 - Gray (4) SP2 - Mahle (3) - I am not nearly as bullish on Mahle as many SP3 - Ryan (2) SP4 - Bundy (2) SP5 - Archer (1) Sum = 2.4 avg. BP1 - Lopez (5) BP2 - Duran (4) BP3 - Fulmer (4) BP4 - Thielbar (3) BP5 - Jax (3) BP6 - Megill (3) BP7 - Pagan (1) BP8 - Sands (1) Sum = 3.0 avg. C - Sanchez (2) 1B - Arraez (4) 2B - Polanco (4) 3B - Urshela (2) SS - Correa (4) LF - Cave (2) CF - Buxton (5) RF - Kepler (3) DH - Miranda (3) Sum = 3.33 avg. UO - Gordon (3) UO - Celestino (1) UI - Beckham (2) C2 - Leon (1) Sum = 1.75 avg. The depth at St. Paul is actually pretty solid, surprisingly. Catcher being the lone black hole. If the Twins need an outfielder, easy to call on Contreras. Infielder? Palacios. Rotation? Smeltzer and Sanchez. Relief pitcher? Henriquez. Nothing I'd want to count on as an every day player replacement, really, but honestly nobody I believe would be worse than a scrub level guy, either. Once you get past the surface, though, it's a chasm of question marks, duct tape and super glue. As far as playoffs... there's nobody in the rotation I have faith in as a #1-2 guy leading the way right now. Gray's been pretty rough lately (4.91 ERA, 4.47 FIP, 4.66 xFIP, 7.67 K/9, 3.99 BB/9 over his last 6 starts) and I want to see Mahle pitch a few games for the Twins before I anoint him an Ace as some of the community have. I think the Twins are solid everywhere else. Unfortunately, when it comes to the playoffs, the teams aren't just solid, they're great. Compared to other playoff teams, I think the Twins are a little weaker.

Not sure why people mention "athleticism" with Wallner. He's been scouted as being a butcher in the field, but with a great arm. Maybe Wallner is improving in the field, too, but that's hard to judge without watching him and having better and more reliable metrics at the MLB level.

It doesn't ignore the graduates and it doesn't ignore the trades. I talked about them. Guess you didn't read that far...

An abundance of shortstop prospects is never a problem, lol. Noah Miller is holding his own with a wRC+ 96 and he's 2 years younger than Lee. Lee would probably be expected to move up faster than Miller, but every prospect needs to prove their mettle.

The good 'ol eye/memory test, eh? He's at 38.6% hard hit and 9.6% barrel rate over the time span Statcast-wise. Average EV isn't great at 87.6mph, but he's also smoked a few balls with a 100mph blast off the bat in more than 1/2 the games he's played. Correa's not been elite over his past 28 games, but he's been a lot better than a .190 BABIP. He's been unlucky. Over a relatively short time span, it happens, and I expect he'll rebound yet again before having another slump, before having another hot streak, and so on and so on. It doesn't matter because Correa is definitely opting out at the end of the year unless he's seriously injured.

It's not about where Medina is ranked for us, it's about where Medina would be ranked on a good farm system today. Fangraphs does not devalue for being in the low minors. They have Brooks Lee at #23 overall and he's in Rookie Ball. They've consistently ranked Royce Lewis as a top prospect from when he was in the low minors. It's possible prospects pan out when they aren't expected to pan out, the same way a player who was once written off can have a massive rebound. I do mention the Twins farm system rankings I expect are based on the prospects doing exactly the same as they've done so far this year. Anything could change. Balazovic could re-emerge. Austin Martin could come back and go on an absolute tear. Brayan Medina has some potential, but he hasn't been able to fool hitters in Rookie Ball so far with a non-elite strikeout rate and a very poor walk rate. With a 4.48 FIP in Rookie Ball, that's just not going to get it done on a good farm system's top 10. I don't expect he's going to remain on the Twins' top 10, either.

Wallner is .308/.400/.577 for an OPS of .977 in August (last 6 games) after being ice cold in his first 10 games in AAA so his numbers are quickly correcting at this point. It's not like his number suggested he was overmatched. He wasn't striking out much and he was walking a fair bit since he was promoted. The sample sizes are too small to take anything from his time there. Aside from that, no, Wallner is probably not the next guy up. Not till September when rosters expand because he's not on the 40 man.

So you're saying Kirby Puckett is currently a top prospect?

Might have to do with the .190 BABIP from July 1st to now...

I hope Rod tells him to catch balls below Arraez's knees sometime soon. Seeing every ball at shin height pop back out of his glove at 1B is kinda painful to watch.

What are we betting? It's conceivable a team could sign Sano to an MLB minimum (or near minimum) contract in the hopes he produces and they're able to flip him for a mid level prospect at the deadline. Considering how short their leash was with Sano, and the roster crunch, it's unbelievable to me the Twins didn't shop him as hard as they could, even throwing in cash to for his salary and clearly nobody in baseball was biting. All 30 teams in MLB wanted to sign him back in 2009. Not sure what that has to do with Miguel Sano 13 years later.

I suppose it's possible for the Twins to decline his option and sign him to a MiLB contract with an invite to Spring Training... that's the only way Sano is at Twins Spring Training. Actually, Sano will not get an MLB contract with anybody, I don't expect. In any case, yes, Sano's MLB career has been wildly successful from the viewpoint of 2009 international signing to where he got to today. Prospects don't pan out all that often.

Nick Gordon, forever labeled as utility player. Sitting at 1.3 bWAR in 259 plate appearances. Those aren't utility player numbers, folks. Gordon's pretty much a dead pull hitter, but he's been able to avoid having the shift utterly kill his numbers so far. Not sure how long that's sustainable, but right now, Gordon is producing at an every day player level greater than Max Kepler.

Gordon is top 11% of the league in expected slugging percentage, hard hit and exit velocity. Statcast actually says Gordon has been pretty unlucky this year as well. I keep expecting he's peaked, but watching him play, he's driving balls with authority. If Gordon ever figures out how to take a couple pitches, he could be a very dangerous bat. Crazy.

It's what Sanchez has done his entire career and it's what is expected of starting catchers in MLB. Sanchez is going through a rough period. Hopefully, luck will swing back his way and he'll get the numbers back up. His track record suggests it's just a matter of time.

Defense this series has been terrible, for both teams. The overturned call was ridiculous, but the Twins weren't able to get any runs across the plate until very late in the game, despite the Blue Jays fielding poorly.

Not exactly. They didn't plan on putting Gordon on the 40 man until he forced the issue when an injury granted him regular playing time at the MLB level. Gordon put them into a situation where they almost had to roster him. Gordon changed their perspective and forced their hand through his efforts. The front office corrected their mistake in time. They don't get credit for fixing the mistake they made.

Seriously dude? Gordon owns a wRC+103 against lefties this year. While it's not expected Gordon is a great play against lefties, all we've got are small sample sizes. This front office nearly screwed the pooch with Gordon. They consistently undervalued him and were intent on writing him off. They played him sporadically giving him long periods on the bench or with minimal playing time last year which is just about the worst thing you can do with a rookie. Not to mention Gordon was destined to finish the year in AAA and be non-tendered at the end of last year when an injury essentially forced Gordon to get regular MLB playing time. The front office nearly gets the exact same credit for Gordon as they get with Tyler Wells. Nick Gordon has done it almost on his own, despite the front office.

That's because of small sample sizes. Smeltzer's xFIP is consistently bad against everybody. He's a AAAA guy, to be honest.

From last month. He wants to start if he can. I don't blame him since a top starter makes 3x as much and gets contracts 2x as long as a top reliever... https://www.twincities.com/2022/07/07/twins-usage-of-star-rookie-pitcher-jhoan-duran-shows-eye-toward-bigger-picture/

Basically... Read the article, the comments... then comment. Pretty much everything you're commenting about has been addressed in one fashion or another.