beckmt

There are a number of Twins prospects from the upper level of the farm system that will need to produce the spring and summer or risk the chance of being left behind or needing a different orgainization to get to the major leagues in because of the wealth of talent the Twins have coming. 1. Parmelee. He has the best chance of making it and also because of expectations the best chance of failure. His current shelve life is about 1/2 a season, because at that time the Twins will have 2 major decisions to make 1a. What to do with Arcia/Hicks/Benson because one of them is ready to play at the major league level(if not both). 1b. Morneau has come back to close to form and needs to be extended/traded based on Parmelee's output. 2. Benson. Nice ballplayer whose drop in the prospect rankings show how far the Twins farm system has come. If he does not show progress at the major league level this season, he risks being overtaken by Arcia, Hicks, Buxton, Roberts, Kepler for starters as Twins outfielders. My guess on Benson is that he does not make enough contact and is added to a package for more young pitching at midseaon or after the end of the baseball season. 3. Henricks. Liam Henricks has the most upside of any young Twins #4 or #5 starter type. He needs to put it together this year at the major league level or risk the Twins will fill out the starting staff from the pitchers aquired in trades this winter(Myers and May) or some of the other Twin young pitchers (Herman, Wimmers, Deduno,DeVires) to name a few. Once on that slippery slope he will have to prove himself better than the other options the Twins have. That will not be easy. AAA is littered with players who are great at AAA and do not have the stuff to produce at the major league level. 4. Dozier. Brian probably has all of this year to prove he belongs at the major league level. Failure to do so will probably label him as a utility infielder or a AAA player. Twins have Santana, Rosario, and Michael a year or two away. Twins also have the issue that by 2014 or 2015 they will be ready to step up to the next level and contend, so if middle infield spots are not taken, they may be more willing to spend money to bring in a proven player to fill the need. 5. Do not feel that either Floriman or Escobar will be more that a utility player here in two years. That also factors into how Dozier will have to claim a job or find a new home as both of Floriman and Escobar will probably never be high price players, so nice utility fits at a cheap cost.

I feel that this year and possibly next will be the last two years of the middle infield issue. Hope by that time one of two things happen. Both Santana and Rosario are ready and able to contribe or Twins have gotten good enough to pay for a decent middle infielder at SS, because the rest of the team is ready to contend.

Good Idea, Do not think he will be there at #4, but Boris may want the same money as the #1 pick as last year to avoid looking like a fool.

Twins probably do not want to pick up Carroll's option unless they have to. That speaks for the other 3 to get the playing time until they prove they cannot handle the major leagues. Good news is that the farm system is coming, if not next year than 2015 for the middle infield.

Entertaining article. Parmelee is presented just as I expected. Rest is about what I believe. Morneau's future here is tied to how Parmelee produces. Have many reservations on that front. Hope our starting pitching will be resolved by next year, but I have predicted that the Twins will win 72, but if midseason firesale it could be less.

Twins with no pitching and Astro's with no farm system and a bad major league club have the furthest to go. Indians may be good this year with their moves and Cubs have a ways to go, Colorado is a mystery and may need a complete overhall. 4 of these will probably be on the bottom again this year.

Nice to the see the start of games. Do not put much stock into this until the 3rd week and some of the players have played their way back to Rochester or New Britian.

This is about taking the best player available. Do not compromise or mess this up.

Nice story. He will be here at the most thru next year unless he is better than everyone thinks.

Are we forgetting Nate Roberts? He might be the leadoff man/ corner outfielder we need about next year?

Do not know if Molitor is the sucessor, they wanted him out of the way in case things went south. Our Rochester manager might have just as much of a chance. Molitor may have failed at some point in time and also does not have a lot of manager experience, with young players, that may be the factor.

My gut tells me that neither Swarzak or Burnett makes this team, will have Roneicke and Wood in there place. My also have Pressey here. That would be good for the pitching staff. Perez was a surprise, but maybe. Rest of lineup was as expected.

It is sounding like he does not want to be here, unless the Twins grant him a large contract now. Too bad, that is not going to happen, but if Parmalee fails, we may wish they had. Morneau sees a rebuild until about 2015, he wants to be paid and play for a winner. Maybe we need to trade him at the end of spring training if both Parmalee and Arcia have good springs. Hate to see him go.

You can never have enough pitching. Maybe one or two of the low risk chances payoff. If none nothing ventured nothing gained.

Seem to be missing some MI AB's. That would probably drag the numbers down. Or believing the Twins will pick up a middle infielder somewhere along the line. Good job and very interesting though.

It shows the draft is a grab bag. Tigers should have done better in the 2000 era with as many of top 10 picks they had. Twins will be judged by how they do during this number of years with early draft picks. Internation stage will help now with the ceiling caps in place.

Hicks should start in Minnesota if they think he is ready. Benson will probably never make it and why hurt Gardenhire my giving him a player who is not that good. Hicks draws enough walks to have a respectable OBP even if his BA is not great. A extra year of control is only an issue if you are not going to pay Hicks after 6 years. That is a small market team issue not a mid market which the Twins are.

Maybe Boras and Appel want to test the CBA and antitrust in court. They probably could not win on union issues, but on antitrust and lack of ability to move, he might win. Given the issues Boras has had win the new CBA, he may want a smart patsy to take this on.

Twins do not need outfielders at this time. Ist Base or DH are the other options

Benson will have to start or be in Rochester. Think Hicks will be the CF and leadoff hitter. Boggs could be the fourth outfileder for the start. In the end Parmalee is the key as to how this plays out.

I agree on Rosario, he plays a position of need and hopefully we be able to play the position or will go down in the rankings.

Don't forget Nate Roberts, who does nothing but get on base. Would put him in the top 10 until proven otherwise, probably at 10.

Inverted rotation may work to get better matchups, We are dogs in all Detroit matchups.

What happens to Morneau depends on how he does and how Parmalee performs. If Parmalee fails and Morneau has a good start maybe Morneau is extended and Parmalee goes away. This is certainly possible.

Agree with the people who felt the observations were shallow. Twins are going through rebuild without calling it rebuild. This year could be bad, but better times are coming hopefully next year.