MMMordabito

Great article! Berrios establishing himself as firmly in the top three of the ALC would even be great accomplishment. That would mean he's pitching better than one of Giolito, Bieber or Clevinger. Of course, Clevinger might not pitch enough and make it easier to attain.

From BR Pronunciation: \yo-LEASE sha-SEEN\

If Cruz hangs it up after this season or can't work out an extension with the Twins, I would think there would be at least one year where the DH becomes a revolving door. Donaldson could use some days there as he gets older. I haven't heard any gold glove reviews of Kirilloff or Rooker at 1B, so Sano could make sense there just as much as anyone coming up. DH might be Arraez' best postion as well.

Or, they could trade Kirilloff or Larnach at the deadline this year for some playoff pitching. Eddie's value outside of the org doesn't seem too far above some lottery tickets and a bucket of balls. Heck, a lot of fans seem to be devaluing him inside the org. With the Donaldson contract, Sano extension and talk of extending Cruz yet another year, I just don't picture both the #2 and #3 prospects in the long term plan. That doesn't even include a possible Cave breakout under certain circumstances.

Yeah ... It wasn't an apples to apples comparison ... They are both just fruit from north of the border. While I'd like to see Nick's ETA of 2022 end up looking conservative, I think Balazovic will need to dominate AA for at least a couple months while things go very poorly as the rotation comes together at the same time at the big league level for him to get a chance. With that said, if he puts up video game numbers in AA and is being allowed to go deep into games while doing so, I would certainly put him in the rear-view mirror of anyone in the rotation not performing as a playoff team starter should this season.

Nice guide! Just needs a best places to drink beer section

It seems $4 Mill buys you a lot of ranking levels. It's like a pay to play game on my phone. Otherwise, I like these rankings so far. I'm sure Cavaco will be full of helium too, but at least he's only been in the system for part of a year.

Twins replaced Cron, Gibson, Perez, Dyson, Graterol and a pile of cash with Bailey, Donaldson, Maeda, Clippard and Wisler. It's a win now upgrade, IMO. Lotto ticket Hill in the bag as well. There is risk in Graterol turning into something special, but you have to give to get. With the Twins offense, I think 150 innings of Maeda is better play in 2020. I also like that Maeda is comfortable with the swing role. #YarbroughInningsModelFTW

Just to clarify: Were the "Already Debuted" guys able to receive votes? If so, I'd pretty easily pick Randy Dobnak as the most likely to "pull an Arraez".

Dow down 400 points today ... Drink a Corona while you execute a buy order ... Panic always presents opportunity.

Wait ... Wouldn't that make it the Pierzynski trade?

I'd rather they move hitting prospects first. Pittsburgh just traded Marte, so they have an opening in the outfield. A Larnach package for a Musgrove package would be more pallatable to me than moving one of Duran or Balazovic for Gray.

Give him the big league offense and that 2-9 becomes 9-2

My grandfather had one of them, just spelled different ... The ole' Gleaner K

He's obviously had a rough ride so far in his career. 100 IP and a BB% under 12 would be a good start. The FO surely believes in him after swinging a trade when he was down and adding him to the 40 with the less than pretty numbers so far. The Twins need a guy like him or Bailey Ober or Tyler Wells to work out in this mid-level market. Injuries suck.

Is Jose Berrios not an impact starter? Perhaps the title should read "new impact starter". I don't think the Twins are done on the MiLB contract side of things. They are just being patient for the right deal. I count eight starts that will need to be covered for Pineda, and that's with not skipping the fifth starter early to setup the available top three (Berrios, Odorizzi, Bailey) for the first series with Cleveland. That also assumes that none of Dobnak, Smeltzer and Thorpe pitch well enough to be handed the ball every fifth day with any hope of being competitive. Honestly, I think it would be a worst case scenario for the Twins to lose the season on those eight starts and the five that the fifth guy will get in the same time frame. Yes, everything could go completely wrong, but I think the Twins will slug their way to at least 6-7 in those 13 games, even if replacement level pitching is all they get. I'm hopeful that Dobnak will be at least a 4.0 FIP pitcher and the Twins will ink a couple minor league contracts that will combine with Thorpe and Smeltzer to take care of those other starts until Pineda returns. I'm also looking forward to some possible creativity with the use of the young "starters" and the deep pen. They may have said that Graterol would work out of the pen, but they haven't said anything about the length of those appearances. This may be turning into a pet idea of mine, but again I will say, "Go look at Ryan Yarbrough's line." There's more than one way to skin a cat. For me, Hill is just a lottery ticket purchased with someone else's money. Someone could argue that the $3 mill opportunity cost could have been used to nail down getting Walker, but that's just robbing Peter to pay Paul, imo. As far as the available deadline options not costing less than what a trade candidate would cost now, you do have time to evaluate a Dobnak or make sure you aren't the one paying an injured or declining Lester. That has a bit of value.

Only on Twins Daily will you continually read suggestions about trading Eddie Rosario in one place while also constantly reading about acquiring the even more OBP-challenged and slowing Kevin Pillar in another. Bananas.

Probably need a 7th option, because something needs to replace those overpriced, disgusting Soul Bowls they were peddling last year. I was hopeful on that item, but the delivery was terrible. I also wonder if the Boomstick will be back. I don't know how many times I passed by that stand and there were 8-10 laying on the griddle and nobody in line.

Except on Wednesday afternoons, then everyone on the bench will play so we can lose a quick game and get the hell out of there.

The answer to this is probably based on how much the Twins still view Marwin as depth to the middle-infield positions. He only played 27 innings at 2B/SS in 2019. Obviously, the Donaldson signing cuts into innings at the corners where Donaldson and Sano will get the lion's share. Does that mean that Gonzalez moves up the depth chart in the middle infield? I'm not sure. That's where I could see Gordon being affected by it.

They'll need that fifth guy early in the season though. @ Seattle and then probably vs. Oakland, if they want the top three to go vs. Cleveland.

The one thing going for Arraez there is the way they present the players on the ballot. It usually shows something like Batting Average/HR/RBI/SB. Arraez could very well lead the pack in Batting Average. UZR and what not are not presented, so his defense will be hidden to the average jackass.

... and then there were 22. Santiago to the Tigers. Adjustment needed for over/under on 2020 bombas.

I agree that the best players should play, but Baldelli's management style with all the built-in rest probably lends itself to Riverbrian's playing time idea. In a perfect world, it would mean 10 guys with 145 games, instead of 9 with 162 games. Of course, there will be injuries and decline that will change those numbers. Also, the catcher position is going to be it's own animal. I'd bet that the well-rested 10/11 will collectively give you a better outcome, than the superior yet physically drained 9/10.

Astudillo has been fun to watch, but I think his opportunities might be numbered. He's a good player to have come up hot out of the shoot when you go 78-84 and only have one other player in the lineup with a .800+ OPS, but talent progression and talent injection to the lineup kind of render his services unnecessary for the most part. Gonzalez and Adrianza are exponentially better defensive super-subs, so I just don't see the innings or PAs for him.