jokin

Agreed. although I really hope the Twins are envisioning Pelfrey to consider making a serious attempt at a set-up role. Drop the pretense that he can still be a starter.

There were many major league catchers on the move in the offseason, just not so much on the FA market. Based on some of the trades I've seen, the Twins had plenty of spare pieces and prospects to snap up another major league catcher without hindering the long-term plan. They can still trade for Wellington Castillo who appears to be expendable in Chicago. They even could have brought back AJ for a year on the super-cheap as a FA. Regarding Pinto, I wonder how good and thorough the Twins assessment actually was? We all know what Gardy did with him early on, slightly less than 30% playing rate at the position. But people forget that Gardy only put Pinto in the lineup at Catcher for 8 games in his September call-up- almost the exact same playing rate at Catcher. The evidence is that Gardy was allowed to play for the present- and his job- when it comes to the catcher position.

As I wrote at the time of the re-signing- If the Twins were really sold on Suzuki longer-term, after cashing in on him and picking up another propsect or two, they could have easily revisited the FA market for him this offseason. I highly doubt he could have done better than what he ended up signing for with the Twins in July. And Pinto gets his extended look-see. It would have been like having your cake, and eating it too.

The extended organizational roster was/is full of AAAA catchers, plus, more importantly, the last two months of 2014 should have been the time for a thorough evaluation of exactly where Pinto (and to a lesser extent, Herrman) was at, and how he fit into future plans. That burning question now remains on hold for at least another season.

Spot-on post... recollecting... at the point of the Suzuki re-sign, Zuke-lover Gardy, was still being publicly backed by Ryan, and Suzuki was riding high- both on the field and in the media- he was cast as indispensable in his role with the Twins (by and through the usual suspects clamoring to keep him). Ryan seemingly blinked, and ended up opting for PR upside rather than Personnel upgrade.

I'm looking forward to the first test to see if things have actually changed- ie, the first quote from Molitor about "but we only have two catchers... angst! angst!... we might lose the DH for one or two ABs!". I have to think that the slate will finally be wiped clean on that front once and for all. The way Pinto is mashing the ball this winter (and still catching 3/4ths of the time), it would be unfortunate and shortsighted if the Twins couldn't find a way to get Pinto at least 400 PAs to find out for certain if he's definitely ready to take the next step forward in his career.

It amazes not by not as much how many in general, but by how many who should know better after two decades or so in the seats of power.

For the MN Twins organization and their comfort zone for the dollars they've shown they're comfortable to throw around, $6M X 2 is BIG, not simply "cheap insurance." That dollar figure represents the 3rd highest paid position player on the team. Suzuki will likely start out the season playing 70% of the time. I don't know the extent of Molitor's relationship with Suzuki, but with Steinbach gone and Molitor looking for support from around the clubhouse, Suzuki is likely to be relied upon for more game-planning and in-game input than last year, not less. Suszuki isn't going to be insurance of any kind, cheap or expensive, unless and until Pinto can prove that he's the better overall option.

ZiPS really likes Pinto's chances to succeed in 2015 (and they liked him in 2014, as well... both ZiPS and Steamer had him at 2.7 fWAR-- by contrast, Suzuki got a big contract with a 2.0 fWAR season in 2014). In 2015, ZiPS projects Pinto as a 2.1 fWAR player, with Suzuki falling back to earth with a 1.1 fWAR, a dropoff in his offense is coupled with a drop in Zuke's Defensive ranking from 4.0 positive to a projected -4.0 negative (and practically matching Pinto's defensive projection-> -5.0). I was not in any way whatsoever impressed by Pinto behind the plate last year for the Twins, but I thought he looked much more comfortable and capable catching Alex Meyer when I saw him playing for Rochester late last summer, and he's crushing the ball in Winter League while catching a good majority of the time. The big contract for Suzuki is likely going to dictate the "justification" for playing time at the outset of the season, but I'd like to see Molitor make a concerted effort in finding ways in getting Pinto 400+ PAs in 2015.

Barring crippling, Mickey Mantle-like ongoing injury issues, I think you and Thrylos are wildly underestimating Buxton's potential ceiling. On the defensive side, and perhaps it's a semantical misunderstanding, but Buxton's ceiling is not as "a plus defender", in point of fact, he's the epitome of a potential "plus-plus" CFer, and quite possibly could become the best defensive CFer in the majors over the first 10 years of his major league career. Offensively, I also don't get the discounting of the extraordinary season at the plate that Buxton accomplished in 2013. In the FSL, a league for which Buxton was nearly 4 years younger than the average age, he was the only 19 year old player in the FSL with 250+ PAs (in addition, there were only Five 20 Year Olds with 250+ PAs). To further put Buck's performance into perspective, if you scan the hitting lists over the last 5 years, it's hard to find ANY 19 Year Olds in the league with 250+ PAs, let alone in the Top Three in multiple major hitting categories. And don't get me wrong, I love Polanco, but here's the side-by-side comparison of his slash, one year older- at the age of 20, in the same league in 2014: Buxton- .326/.415/.472/.887 wOBA .406 wRC+ 155 (Top 3 in the FSL in every single category except SLG) Polanco- .291/.364/.415/.780 wOBA .359 wRC+ 124 And Polanco will likely not be even a "plus" defender, let alone Buxton's potential to be the best at his position in the game. Assuming that 2014 was a wild, health-related one-off for Buck, there's no reason to think he can't resume where he left off in 2013, and quickly move to claim the wide-open CF spot, possibly as early as July, but likely no later than sometime in the first half of 2016.

Huh? +7.5 and +2.5 are the same adjustment? Beg to differ on the CF/SS comp.

I think there is.... Nick Gordon played for E-Town and was in his first professional season. Minier played for Twins GCL and was in his second professional season.

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/evaluating-the-prospects-minnesota-twins/

Thry's ranking has to be the lowest one out there. http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/prospects/watch/y2014/#list=min

Minor nit to pick... Kepler is in fact, just 21 years old. It was really a tale of two seasons for Kepler in 2014. From the season's outset, through his trip to the DL in June, and struggling for another four weeks upon his return, his slash line was a horrendous .224/.303/.336/(.639), with a K% of 17.9%, an ISO of .112 and wRC+ of 85. From there though, Kepler flipped a switch. In the last two months or so of the regular season in Ft Myers, he slashed .316/.376/.458/(.835), with a marked reduction in K%- 11.0%, and markedly improved ISO- .142, and wRC+- 140. And for an encore, he acquitted himself well against some of the elite arms in the AFL. I'm not willing to say that Kepler has finally "gotten it", but I'm not as worried about the power drop-off, and willing to ascribe it to the FSL effect. But he's really going to have to show more of the same in 2015 in AA, especially what with all of that plate protection around him in the Lookout lineup, or else the "Chattanooga Choo-Choo" of hitting talent is going to leave him left at the station and on the trading block- or expecting platoon/bench bat status in his Twins future.

You might be steaming come 4th week of March. This signing seems to be a statement by Ryan. If Stauffer takes Fien's role, every RHP moves one down in the pecking order. It seems that Ryan sees Tonkin most likely fighting for a back of the pen role. We all saw Tonkin struggle in 2014, now he has to prove he's got his 2013 mojo back.

Who isn't high on Thorpe? The only issue is the elbow, and how much that will slow his progress.

Yep. This is a classic Terry-style upgrade, but maybe just a little higher up in the bargain ban than Burton and Fien were located, And come on, he' a little better than a typical P2C guy when he comes in off of a K/9 over 9.00 year.

The K% doesn't have a lot of correlation to the Petco OF.... and I would wager Terry didn't sign Stauffer @ $2.2M simply to take Swarzak's job. And the fact that he wasn't used as much in high leverage situations in San Diego is more a reflection on their staff and Stouffer's history of injuries. It's pretty safe to surmise.... Stouffer's going to challenge Fien for the set-up role. Tonkin clearly took a step back in 2014, he'll likely be one of the guys challenging for spots in the back of the pen.

Uhhh... 24.5%.... that's Stauffer's K%... there is nothing similar on this staff to that number among any of the RHPs (Fien is the only one close, and he was only at 19.6%). Only LHP Perkins has a better number than that

A bouquet to your missive, Mister Major-domo-Doc... a bubbling Baueresque bravura display of brevity and alliterative bon mots.-

Has anyone given thought that he was looking for this type of situation... and never again wants to endure the shellshock of ever playing again in a major media market meatgrinder?

After this big announcement and the Twins disclosing what they think of Hughes and their intentions, long-term... we now know four more things (at least). 1) Hughes isn't going to be shopped at this year's trading deadline. 2) With three prospects knocking on the major league door, at least two of the current top four SPs are going to be shopped between now and mid-year, 2016. Hughes isn't going to be one of them. (Gibson and Nolasco probably shouldn't put down any serious roots in the community). 3) The Twins continued the staggering of the annual expiration of one of their SP contracts, now out to 2019. 4) From May, Meyer and Berrios, possibly only one could still be around by the end of Hughes' contract.

Barring a complete ST collapse, this scenario is spot on.

But then, how does Torii mentor, and "light a fire" under him if he's a thousand miles away in Rochester? /sarc (I agree, it's likely not going to happen, but Hicks should definitely start out the season in Rochester... a full-time upgrade or a short-term platoon with Schafer and somebody else, would make more sense, let Hicks insinuate himself into the situation of being the "Plan B" solution instead of the "Plan A" disaster he's been the last two seasons).