bean5302

I'd expect Teel to be the starter out of the gate for Chicago. It's not like that team has anything to lose. Not sure why the 2nd best catcher WAR last year gets the lowest score, but sure. Honestly, it's way too hard to judge what the Twins are bringing to the table. It's possible Willi Castro is the starting 3B next year. Just don't know.

Headrick would be near the top of my list as well. I'd say Jair Camargo is probably more likely a DFA candidate than Gasper or Cartaya.

Did I not state that? Yes. Yes I did.

Where's your data, bud? Oh... don't have any. Nevermind.

Kepler will finish his career in the top 5% of MLB players all time at somewhere in that 25-30 career WAR range. He's in the top 20 of position players to ever wear a Twins jersey. Asking where it went wrong seems pretty crazy.

Anything after #20 is PTBNL area. Technically worth keeping an eye on, but no expectations. Camargo doesn't appear as a top 30 org for MLB in recent years, but he did squeak in at #22 for Fangraphs. He wasn't even worth a TLDR. He wasn't on TD's recent top 30s, either from my memory. He's scouted as weak defensively, and even at age 24, he couldn't hold his own at AAA in 317 plate appearances. .212/.290/.403 was good for a wRC+ of 84. Plenty of pop, but nothing else. On the plus side for Camargo, he had a nice Dominican Winter League performance .323/.359/.495 OPS .853 in a SSS of 109 PA.

If a player makes MLB, that's how soon they make it. Not sure why you want to bring the guys who don't make it at all into this conversation? Internet searches will return various studies on the subject https://community.fangraphs.com/time-from-draft-until-majors/ or you can just look at the current Twins' roster, etc. Jeffers 2yrs Miranda 6yrs Lee 2yrs Correa 3yrs Lewis 5yrs Larnach 3yrs Buxton 3yrs Wallner 3yrs Vazquez 6yrs Julien 4yrs Castro 6yrs signed at age 16 (like Emma) This will be Emma's 5th year in the minors, and he was signed in 2019. International signings are more difficult to predict. Regardless, Emma has certainly not moved quickly through the Twins system. Maybe you think it's common for players to burn multiple options before making their debut? When it comes to international prospect signings, let's just look at last year's All Star Roster. 40% of them debuted faster than Emma, but if Emma doesn't have any hiccups (or the Twins are absolutely desperate), and he makes it this year, he'll be in that 40-70% range so I'm probably just being too harsh. It's not fair to call it slow, but it's certainly not fast, either. Juan Soto a19, Yordan Alvarez a22, Jose Ramirez a20, Salvador Perez a21, Isaac Paredes a21, Willi Castro a22, Anthony Santander a22, Wilson Contrares a24, Teoscar Hernandez a23, Jurickson Profar a19, Luis Arraez a22, Elly De La Cruz a21, Heliot Ramos a22, Marcell Ozuna a22.

Camargo is MiLB roster filler. He was only tendered because of the extreme risk of caused by the Twins' desperate catching situation. Cartaya is regarded as a solid defensive catcher, and he's is still 23 so a full write off is a bit aggressive. Since he plays catcher, he doesn't need to hit well to hold a backup spot down, and at age 22 last year, he was solid in AA. .236/.354/.379 OPS .733 wRC+ 111, though it came with a .327 BABIP. Once promoted to AAA, Cartaya's numbers dropped off badly, but the BABIP being at .262 suggests there may have been some bad luck involved, especially considering the high line drive rate. Then again, way too many pop ups. It's worth noting his K rate actually tightened slightly going from AA (29%) to AAA (27%). His mixed AA/AAA stats wind up at .221/.323/.363 OPS .686 wRC+ 85. Not sure if the Twins will be able to improve something. The O-Swing and Z-Swing rates are good, but the contact rate on the O-Swing is poor so it's possible Cartaya needs a swing adjustment to keep his bat flatter through the strike zone. I don't agree with labeling Gasper as a Kyle Farmer level catching asset since he was originally a catcher in college and has continued to play there primarily. I remember when Mitch Garver was written off only to put in some effort to turn himself into an average backstop. Gasper's biggest issue is going to be whether or not he can learn to swing the bat occasionally, which are issues Larnach and Julien have both struggled with. Gasper isn't going to get a lot of opportunity given his age and spurious status as a prospect. Gasper is comparable to DaShawn Keirsey, Jr. here in prospect status land. Christian Vazquez is not an MLB caliber catcher. Not sure how much worse people think the Twins' depth options could really be here...

Then there will be another 3,650 articles (10 per day) hating on billionaires on this site to wade through, haha.

Typically, high school draft picks make MLB between 3-4 years after drafting. Typically, college draft picks make MLB between 2-3 years after drafting. Top draft picks and elite prospects generally knock a year off that. I'm not going to agree with you.

How I read this: Jeremy Zoll is better at PR than Joe Pohlad. We've all seen Falvey can't define or follow a budget. This just reads like more incompetence to me. I do not care about the budget. I care whether or not the front office finds a "creative" way to make the team better.

You think it's a reach to 100% guarantee the Twins would have won the World Series if they had signed a 36 year old Morneau coming off back to back disappointing seasons? A bigger reach is thinking I was serious and my comment wasn't tongue in cheek hyberbole.

Sept '67 Jim Kaat - 7-0, 1 Blown Save (Twins lost to Horlan's White Sox), 9 Games, 65.2 IP, 1.51 ERA, 1 Shutout Joe Horlen - 6-2, 0 Blown Saves, 8 Games, 64.1 IP, 0.84 ERA, 3 Shutouts Horlen was better than Kaat. Twins were better than White Sox despite losing back to back games to Chicago when Kaat took the mound and blew a save on the 16th, the day after Horlan beat the Twins on the 15th.

Yes, I do seem to be the only one concerned that Walker Jenkins' stats and performance don't justify the hype around him. I compared Jenkins to his peers (all 19 of them) in a different thread. Guys who became elite at the MLB level were mostly already torching AA at Jenkins' age, but Jenkins is sandwiched between 10. Wil Myers, 11. Byron Buxton, just above 13. Carlos Correa and 14. Addison Russell. Jenkins is going to make MLB. There's no question about that. Whether he'll become Wil Myers or Jarred Kelenick remains to be seen. For what's it's worth, I was dead wrong on Royce Lewis being overrated. Re: Rodriguez. When a guy is burning options years before he gets to the big show, he's moving slow. Age doesn't matter. Years of professional baseball experience matters. Rodriguez is moving slow.

Be our guest Be our guest Put our service to the test Tie your napkin round your neck, cherie And we provide the rest... I might, lol, but I also might not

The Twins rank 22nd in Bleacher Report currently because Festa, Matthews & Lee all graduated. If the rankings were adjusted to arbitrarily include Twins players who have lost rookie status, our farm would rank further down because a lot of other prospect players were actually good at baseball while playing at the MLB level, unlike Lee and Matthews who were both awful. When a "prospect" is lights out at the MLB level long enough to lose rookie status, but then put back onto a "prospect" list, we'd see the entire top 50 feature only players at the MLB level. It's fine everybody is so high on Walker Jenkins because it really doesn't matter, but he doesn't grade out especially well results-wise vs. future successful peer results at the same age and at A+ or higher. Jenkins is kind of in the middle of a 50/50 boom/bust group. Emmanuel Rodriguez has made Byron Buxton look like he's made of iron all while advancing very slowly through the MiLB system and producing results which come with plenty of red flags. Rodriguez already burned an option last year, and I can't imagine he won't burn a second option this year before he sees the diamond in a regular season game. Luke Keaschall is the last of the Twins top 100's, and he was borderline last year. It wouldn't surprise me if he fell off the top 100 list before spring. After Keaschall, our farm is filled with B and C grade prospects. It's not as if they couldn't rise up fast (look at Matthews last year), just that they're not going to be expected to do as well as top prospects.

Should create a public google sheets people can update!

Correct. Ronny Henriquez is pretty fringe so losing him is no biggie. Of course, I'm more concerned about Paddack blocking Twins wins from happening.

Kaat was the 3rd best pitcher in the Twins' rotation in 1967. That said, he did have a great September, but even so, Joe Horlan was better in Sept that year, and there were other pitchers who got better results that month, too.

Agree wholeheartedly with @DJL44 Twins dump payroll, a player they really don't want on the roster, and get semi-reliable protection against Miranda flopping. The Twins have zero 1B depth beyond a 29 year old MiLB journeyman named Mickey Gasper. I suppose Edouard Julien could be considered for a 1B role, too, but last year wasn't exactly inspiring.

It's going to be EASY for an MLB team to move now since the Athletics have already done it. All the teams which have been waiting for the opportunity are going to push this issue. It's been over 20 years since an MLB franchise has moved, and communities have become complacent. It's about competitive environments. Whether or not individual people or even their representatives feel like billionaire sports franchise owners should receive new stadiums or whatever. Sports teams DO NOT OWN THE STADIUMS. That is by design. Otherwise, teams would have to pay for new stadiums themselves. Instead, government entities own the stadiums and those government entities lease the stadiums to professional sports franchises. This is the case for the vast majority of the 4 major sports franchises in the United States. That also means any metropolitan area who wants a sports team just needs to be willing to build a state of the art stadium and woo one of the franchises who have a lease on an obsolete or aging stadium which is winding down. In this way, metropolitan areas compete for stadiums/sports franchises, and whatever metro wants a stadium bad enough, will get a new team as owners pursue the best return on their investment (which is what every single one of us who shops at Wal Mart instead of some fancy local boutique do). So if that new metro is willing to make more concessions than the current metro, the team will be gone.

Nope. The stadium was not owned by the Athletics. Like almost all MLB stadiums (and most major sports stadiums across the country), the stadium is owned by a local government entity and leased to the sports franchise. Only one of the major stadiums in the metro is owned by the team. Allianz Field - Minnesota United Xcel Energy Center - the City of St. Paul Target Center - the City of Minneapolis Target Field - the Minnesota Ballpark Authority US Bank Stadium - Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority In other recent news about the specific issue which you're speaking about, the Milwaukee Brewers were just threating to potentially move due to the breach of the lease agreement by the owner, the Southeast Wisconsin Professional Baseball Park District who was failing to contribute sufficient funding to keep the stadium up.

Sorry, read this too fast, but comparing free agency to extensions Buxton signed an extension while he was under team control.

Nah, Buxton will produce his 2-3 WAR in 80 games. He won't hurt the Twins making the playoffs, but he won't help, either. He's an easy strikeout when it counts, too.

Morneau's 2010 was potentially fueled by some luck which would have had him regressing as well. Through his prime 4 years prior, Morneau's BABIP was .297. In 2010 it was .385, though there are some underlying metrics which suggest Morneau was already turning a corner to be better at the plate. Hi BB rate had steadily increased, maxing out at the 14.4% in 2010 as pitchers grew to fear him. He was hitting more line drives, and dramatically fewer ground balls, he was squaring up and hitting balls harder than ever so more of Morneau's fly balls were leaving the park. Previous 4 years vs. 2010 Prev = 18.7% LD, 41.4% GB, 35.8% FB, 4.1% Pop Ups, 14.8% HR/FB, 34.1% Hard Hit 2010 = 22.0% LD, 33.1% GB, 40.7% FB, 4.2% Pop Ups, 17.0% HR/FB, 45.3% Hard Hit He really may have hit another gear at age 29, but what's not remembered very well in the article is Morneau was still an above average MLB hitter after his rough return year at age 30 in 2011. For 2012-2016, Morneau posted a .281/.337/.446 OPS .783 wRC+ 108 line, providing a line all of us would have happily seen in the Twins' lineup last year. He just wasn't an MVP candidate anymore. Even at age 35 with the White Sox, Morneau put up a .261/.303/.429 OPS .732 wRC+ 95 line in a very short season as he didn't sign until June 9! In 2015, Morneau dealt with a neck sprain and concussion issues, but he was also struggling with a tendon in his elbow before the end of the year. The approach to rest it over the winter didn't pan out and after another MRI he pursued on his own, Morneau went under the knife to correct the issue too late to make it back for the start of the year. I remember being baffled Morneau didn't garner more interest in 2016. MLBTR had Morneau at the back end of their top 50 MLB free agents at 1yr $8MM, but there were apparently no suitors. Ultimately, Morneau signed with the White Sox for a pitiful 1yr and $1MM on June 9th out of what looked like desperation when Morneau was pretty much all set the play, but wasn't committed. After the dreadful 2016 Twins' season, I had hoped the Twins could reunite with Morneau, but the Twins didn't pull the trigger despite reports of mutual interest and positive comments from then manager, Paul Molitor. Who knows if Morneau would have provided any boost to what was an incredibly successful 2017 club, a club which deployed Robbie Grossman as the primary DH, I might add. Would a reunion with Morneau have led to a 2017 World Series Title? Of course. It was guaranteed, but the "Twins fans can't have nice things!" Derek Falvey proclaimed.