Sielk

This is a fun one! Just out of curiosity, who did you trade to the Rays for Glasnow? And how many years and total dollars for Bellinger?

I get what you mean and agree for the most part. But I think one underrated aspect of a trade vs free agency is that you can target younger guys with more upside. If you look at the available starters (aside from Yamamoto), they're mostly on the wrong side of 30 and have maybe a handful of good years left, if you're lucky, before the decline inevitably begins. Meanwhile, the Twins traded for Pablo López in his age-27 season and will have him through his prime. Granted, that trade worked out very well so far and such success may be uncommon, but that's what I find appealing about trading for a SP instead of just spending a boatload of money on someone that might never repeat the performance you paid him that money for.

I certainly wouldn't mind the Twins signing Kiermaier but on the other hand, I'm not sure how much inside information there is in this report. I totally believe that the Twins are interested in him but I could have told you that before reading it. They might be equally interested in Bader or just re-signing Taylor. And it's pretty obvious as well that a pitcher is more likely to come in trade than FA. That said, I look forward to the offseason really starting. Will be interesting to see what the Twins do.

I really enjoyed reading this. As fans we spend so much time obsessing over prospect rankings or writing down our own but rarely do we look back to see how everything turned out. I think we often tend to overvalue the average outcome of a prospect. What we got out of this list isn't bad at all: our current no. 3 prospect (and top 50 globally), a starting catcher, a good corner outfielder in Wallner, one of the best closers in the game and a SS/3B that looks like a superstar, plus a few other players who might still prove to be valuable contributors. And, by the way, let's not forget about Bailey Ober and Édouard Julien who didn't even crack the top 30 list in 2020 but are now as good and as important as anyone that was on it.

I still don't know where this narrative came from in the first place. Sure, they have drafted some college bats. But even before this year's draft four of the current regime's nine first-round picks have been high schoolers. That's basically half of them. How do all the experts look at this and conclude that "the Twins only want college players"?

Walker Jenkins The new kid right into the top spot. I love high upside prospects and he has as much of that as anyone in the system. And at least for now I don't want to entirely dismiss the possibility of him sticking in CF.Brooks Lee Brooks Lee is really making this hard. I know some people think his performance in Wichita hasn't been "spectacular" enough for some reason. But no, I disagree. Maybe his ceiling isn't quite as high as Jenkins', and that's why he ranks second here, but he sure looks like a really good player and future all-star. Even the power is coming along now.Emmanuel Rodriguez After his monster season last year, E-Rod had an uneven first half in 2023. The walks are still there, the homers are still there and unfortunately, so are the strikeouts. But will he hit enough to avoid becoming a classic three-true-outcome hitter? Lately, the results have been more encouraging and the upside of a CF with an amazing bat is still something to dream on. Thus, third it is.Marco Raya I loved Marco Raya pretty much from the moment they drafted him. And while he has faced his fair share of adversity, he has also had consistently good results and now he reached Double-A at age 20. Good, deep arsenal and decent command. Not much missing there and in my opinion, he is the Twins' top pitching prospect at least until Charlee Soto backs up his draft pedigree with actual performance in the minors.Matt Wallner What more can he do to get consistent MLB at-bats? He has been crushing Triple-A and the Majors all season. Maybe the strikeouts are still a little bit of a question mark, but he is also drawing walks and the power is real. I also like his arm in RF. Now he just needs to do it in the Majors. If the Twins let him.Charlee Soto He was on my wish list before the draft and it seems like Falvey read said list. Soto has three absolutely legit pitches and Keith Law mentioned that he might have been a top-10 pick if he was three years older. Sounds like a possible frontline starter to me. If he performs, he might rise a few spots rather quickly.Yasser Mercedes Yes, as mentioned above, I like high-upside prospects and he might be the highest-upside prospect in the Twins organization. A center fielder who hits for average and power, steals a ton of bases and has a great arm, what more do you want. Granted, he has had a bit of a slow start but a. it has been 16 games and b. those were interrupted by injury twice. Together with the adjustment to stateside ball, it's doesn't concern me that much. Plus, he looks like he is starting to figure it out.David Festa The ERA in Double-A looks ugly but he is getting a nice amount of strikeouts and that league is a hitter's paradise. His BABIP is also way above career norms so it looks like he has been unlucky to a certain degree. Still high on him.Tanner Schobel Admittedly, I wasn't a big fan of the pick. But he has flat out hit this year and now got his well-deserved promotion to Double-A. The Twins seem to have a knack for this type of player.Connor Prielipp Man, I want to believe but the second UCL surgery in a row makes it really tough. The upside is still there but it'll be a while until he is back. He remains in the top-10 for now but I have my doubts and he might slide further.Austin Martin Martin is another player that I have still on my list, but with a downward trend. Tough injury luck for him and if he doesn't start hitting better soon, I don't really know what his future is. Which is a shame because right now the Twins could really use a right-handed hitting CF who is better than Taylor.Cory Lewis Interesting arsenal, to say the least. And since his performance has been excellent as well, I am hopeful. Should really be promoted to Double-A Wichita.Kala'i Rosario Just like Schobel, he has flat out hit. I'm not really sure about his defense but he is another prospect that has earned a promotion to Double-A.Danny De Andrade The Florida State League is awful for hitters and while he hasn't lit it up like E-Rod last year, he has held his own. Not bad for a 19-year-old. Certainly a prospect to watch.Noah Miller Continues to make me sad because it's simply not fair to us Twins fans to have a SS prospect with such gorgeous defense and so little hitting. But I love his defense, so I will continue to have him 15th for now. And hope.Luke Keaschall Seems similar to Tanner Schobel and like with Schobel, I wasn't a big fan of the pick. Like Schobel, he will probably prove me wrong.Byron Chourio I think this kid is one of the most underrated prospects in the system. Was an afterthought in the López trade but had a great DSL season last year and a great but injury-interrupted start this year. A switch-hitting center fielder who can hit. Just judging by his usual lineup positions and him frequently playing CF over Yasser Mercedes, it wouldn't surprise me if the Twins are much higher on him than most people realize.Jose Rodriguez Great, impressive power but a slower start this year. I am not sure about his defense in RF, so he will probably have to hit to be a successful MLB player.Simeon Woods Richardson Not great in Triple-A. Hope he turns it around.Bryan Acuna One of the many standout performers in the DSL last year and like the rest of the group, he has had a slow start this year. But he is also very young (still only 17), so it seems appropriate to give him more time.

José Rodríguez is also in this picture, he is the one in the middle, with the 17. Hope this helps! Edit: I also found a newer picture, in the bottom left:

@Brock Beauchamp Really fun new feature, Brock. Works great on my phone. Could you please add CF Byron Chourio? Thanks! Edit: There's another thing that I noticed a while ago. Could you also change the picture of José Rodríguez on the prospect page? Because that's not him. (The kid in the picture is Ledwin Taveras, I believe.)

Maybe not a player I would have chosen but I don't hate the profile. And after the great first two picks I am not too upset with drafting a slightly less exciting college bat. Who knows, maybe he's really good.

Damn, I would have liked Sullivan for the Twins. But there are still a lot of good players left. 😃

Has Falvey taken a look at my wish list? Because I really wanted Charlee Soto to fall to the Twins at 34 and here he is! Absolutely love this pick! The draft couldn't have gone much better so far, in my opinion. I also like that Charlee actually showed up in Seattle. I don't understand why most players don't. If I was a draft prospect, nothing would stop me from going there and having the pick announced on stage and putting on my new team's jersey for the first time.

I know and I love it. 😂

Not very. Note to 2024 self: Just don't bother reading draft rumors at all. 2024 self: *rolls eyes* You know perfectly well that you're gonna read every little rumor you can find...

Houck at 34 would be great. We'll see. I also hope Charlee Soto falls to the Twins. Saw him mocked to the Phillies at 27 approximately a million times. Let's see how accurate that was...

I agree. Specifically, there are a bunch of HS pitchers I really like in the 34 - 49 range. Soto, Knoth, Schoenwetter, Echavarria... But man, I am so relieved they took Jenkins and didn't get cute. I totally needed two minutes or so to calm down after all that stress. 🤣

Don't know if its still relevant to you, but there is also a free live stream on mlb.com.

What's so funny about this is that the Twins will sign this guy once the new international signing period starts in January: https://www.mlb.com/prospects/2023/international/carlos-silva-806991 So they'll definitely get one Carlos, and his last name ist even Silva. ? That said, I hope they also get C4!

The 2022 international class looks absolutely amazing right now. Yasser Mercedes, José Rodríguez, Bryan Acuña, Anderson Nova and Harold Grant who wasn't even mentioned in this article. That's five players who look like they could become legit prospects! Obviously it remains to be seen if those guys can translate their success to the US. But no one could have asked for a better start, that's for sure. I wonder if the Twins will allow some of them to skip the FCL and immediately start playing in Low A next spring? Provided they look the part, of course.

They were for Native American Heritage Night.

A lot of money saving going on today. In a vacuum today's picks would sound rather uninspiring to me but that's the price of going for two highly regarded guys early. I'm really looking forward to what the Twins do tomorrow, though. Seems like they saved money with almost every pick today. I hope they grab one or two of those falling HS pitchers that they could try to sign if they end up having some money left.

Agreed. The longer I watch different shortstops, the more I've come to the conclusion that a strong, accurate arm is really the most important tool for a SS. Sure, good hands and speed help a lot. But a good arm allows you to play deeper and take your time on a play. It can just erase so many deficiencies a SS may otherwise have.

I assume they had to go under slot here to afford Lee and Prielipp. Don't dislike Schobel, even if I'm not excited either. But after nailing the first two picks this is hardly a make-or-break pick anyway.

You gotta be kidding me. The Twins have three picks today and there is a commercial break directly before each of them? Do they want to torture Twins fans?

Honestly, that was my first reaction, too. Sigh of relief. Now please don't screw this up.

But I think that scenario was most likely with Green, and he is off the board now. I think it's likelier that the Twins just pick who is left between Lee, Parada and Collier. It will get interesting if more than one of them is there.