jokin

Pretty good summation. I'm at a loss how anyone can think otherwise this offseason.

Bold statement, hard to state that with the "certainty" you're utilizing. (I do go along wit h the part about next year, though).

I thought it was pretty well-established that Nick has the chops to definitely stick at SS?

Someone brought up Sano's hammy issue as a potential impediment to the Twins just handing the position to him. Does anyone know if this has hamstring-thing has ever been an issue previous to 2015 with him?

I'm not arguing with you on this point. I myself questioned the jump in Navarreto's ranking upthread and pointed out how far ahead Perez was of Navarreto at the same age. Should guys that project as backup catchers ever be in an organization's Top 20? Frankly, the Twins probably should have looked more seriously into converting Butera when they had him, and they should seriusly think about converting Navarreto now.

But what if that's all there is? In terms of prospects. I'm kind-of with mikelink45 to this point in the rankings. Not too much to get excited about here, even most of the lotto tickets, between 16-50 on this list. Lots of guys moving backwards, most only projecting as bench/back-up/utility MLB players or low-leverage RPs- but as mikelin45 also hinted at- How much should we expect from this group, anyway?, and, How good really is the Twins farm system in terms of prospect depth beyond the 6 or 7 Top 100 types?

Salvador Perez would disagree with that conclusion.

If he can't make a splashy trade at the major league level, how about finally considering trading one of our top prospects for someone else's top prospects? For example, What would you think of looking for an up and coming full-package catcher through this route, such as trying to put together a trade with the central elements being say Stephen Gonsalves for either Wilson Contreras or Reese McGuire?

Unfortunately, Turner hasn't shown to this point that he can even hit half a lick. Fortunately, a glimpse of hope did spring up over the last 50 games this year- (including the playoff games)- Turner slashed .269/.384/.340/(.724), with a 114 wRC+... plus a really stellar 14.7% BB/16.2% K ratio. I suspect the Twins will push hardest for acquiring a veteran catcher via FA or trade, giving Turner a chance to perform well enough in Rochester, and very importantly, get regular everday reps both at, and behind, the plate while getting to know all of his pitchers in game situations. And then, if all goes according to the best-case scenario- look to claim a spot from one of the veterans in July.

Regarding Felix Jorge, I'm also puzzled that two qualified rankers can come to such widely divergent perspectives within a one-year time span. Mayo had Jorge at #11 in his 2014 list- for 2015, he's not even in his Twins Top 30. Seth sees the same results and moves Jorge up from #19 to #16. Any rationale for these two diametrically opposed conclusions?

Yep. I'd like to hear more of Seth's rationale for this placement of Navaretto in the top 20. MLB.com doesn't even have him in their Twins Top 30. Are there MiLB coaches or Twins management sources pushing this idea? What stood out in what Navarretto accomplishments in 2015 that Jonathan Mayo, et al, missed? And mentioning a Perez comp in way of support of Navarretto's anointment to the top 20 is a little dangerous, even if it's only iterated in relating their catching abilities. Salvi was OPSing at .732, in High A at age 20 (nearly 3 years younger than league average), vs. Navaretto's .537 OPS at A level (1.4 years younger than league average). Seems more like the ceiling of a future defensively good-to-strong back-up catcher, not the floor. Hope to be proven wrong on this.

For the record, I think we all respect his decision. His article makes it sound like he got his taste and he's had enough. He seems particularly wary about the perils of continuing on and ending up being defined in his life as a baseball pitcher rather than a full human being who happened to be good at throwing a baseball. Not one thing wrong with that kind of thinking. But are we "way over-thinking it"? I'm not so sure about that. When I first saw Seth's blip, it said Batts took a job for a Lexington newspaper. I thought about that, and still said to myself, "not a good enough trade-off'- I actually thought it meant he took a job in Lexington, KY. Combined statistical area population of 707,271 and home of University of Kentucky sports. This is a growing area, almost booming, both in the city and the region. By all accounts in Indeed and Glassdoor, the Lexington Herald-Leader is the premier media outlet in the region... but the starting salary for a news assistant is just $19,000, for a cub reporter- merely in the low-to-mid-$20s, the median salary for all reporters at the paper- which includes all of the 30+ year ink-stained wretches- is $44,438. The prestigious paper has a daily circulation of 75,000 and a Sunday circulation of 97,000. And yet, they're still laying off, buying out long-time writers and downsizing the paper. But wait a minute... Mat didn't take a job at that reputable newspaper. He got a job at the Lexington Dispatch in North Carolina. Lexington, NC has a population of 18,993. The population of the city DROPPED by 5% between the 2000 and 2010 censuses. It's the county seat of Davidson County, population- 163,420. It gets worse. The paper is only published Tuesday-Saturday. No Sunday or Monday editions- dropped years ago- which makes it kind-of hard to get caught up locally on your first-hand weekend sports recaps. The circulation of the newspaper is 6,892. I couldn't find any job postings at the paper, the most I could find was that seasoned full-time reporters were estimated to be making between $23,000-30,000- which would imply that starting out, Mat would likely make less than that, perhaps only $1500/month. Still pretty hard for a newlywed couple to live on. I did read his article, it was a very good read. (One dangling preposition- "to".) He does seem like a much deeper guy than the average jock athlete. Probably easily likable, as well. Perhaps his Father-In-Law owns the paper- or he is on an accelerated career track. But, based on what we know, I still question his decision to prematurely pull the plug on his baseball career- clearly his new career choice offers a lot of uncertainty- maybe as much or more as continuing to pursue his baseball career. Besides a sketchy chance for ever receiving rewarding renumeration- the shaky industry he wants to work in means he stands the strong chance to lose not only his job at a moment's notice, but also his health and pension benefits at any time. Whereas, as a potential major league baseball player in say, maybe 2-3 years down the road, even for just one season, he stood the chance for earning lifetime health care coverage and a very lucrative pension. Having said that, I certainly hold him no ill well on his decision, and hopefully like Seth and all Twins fans, wish him nothing but the best.

Seth, have you had a chance to see him in action much? I haven't bothered to find video yet, but those pictures that Bob Sacramento published... looks like an absolute stud, athletically speaking. Is there a reasonable chance that he can stick at SS, or is he likely to grow out of the position?

Or could belong here too, on his own thread, since we're considering reasons for, and the validity of, why this young Twins prospect did something practically unprecedented, being the rarest of baseball commodities- an up-and-coming LHP prospect- and then deciding to retire, seemingly right out of the blue.

That's the kind of serious pruning that would shake things up nicely, but the majority of the names you mention are more than likely to be retained.

You have an interesting story. Somewhat coincidentally, I have a friend whose child is a piano prodigy, but also a math genius. He loves them both, it's difficult at this point to say which he prefers. He is currently enrolled at a premier college in the Chicago area (care to guess which one?). Both the music school and the math department are trying to convince him to emphasize his focus in their respective disciplines. His current solution is to disregard their pressures, and double major in music and engineering. I respect your decision, but why leave one aspect of your talent on the table? Especially if it's more likely to set you up for life, or at the very least, much more likely to pay the bills? By doing so you are positioning yourself to grant you the freedom to pursue the other passions in your life without altering your lifestyle. What if this college kid I mentioned, or Mat Batts, or you, would have had/will have a severe family crisis, a major medical malady, a life-altering accident? If you already build up your bank account and investment portfolio by the time you're 30, you help put the rest of your life on the glide path you sought out at the time you made your initial decision.

Or maybe not. I'd shoot for the best way to try to have it all, financially and personally, Delayed Need Gratification and such. I had another college teammate. A very good athlete, but more of a late-bloomer-type, not a lot of self-confidence growing up. Although he was the 4th or 5th option, he was NCAA playoff MVP in his senior year. Instead of taking a chance on a big contract playing overseas (he was drafted by the NBA but didn't make the cut), he used his degree in chemistry (he really liked science!) and became a successful pharmaceutical rep. To this day, despite all of his success, he came to often wonder what might have been had he continued his athletic career to the professional level. I try not to rub it in and mention to him that he probably left at least a couple million tax-free dollars on the table (clear and above his good salary with the major drug company), that properly invested would now be worth 2-4 times that much. He could have built his own personal chemistry lab from his small fortune, with money left over.

I had a college teammate who wasn't quite good enough to play in the States, and after he got his business degree he took the great risk to leave his friends and family behind, and go into a very uncertain situation, with a huge language barrier, and play professionally overseas. When he retired a few years later, he was set for life financially (I know first-hand, I managed his portfolio). You won't find a happier guy today, a great family, a nice home, and he's doing a job he really loves (just for a lot less money than he made in Europe).

In dollars and "sense", it's highly illogical and demonstrably not the best decision for himself long-term... To be blunt, there isn't much future in newspaper reporting- given his highly unique skill-set, he's essentially making a poor utilitarian decision.

Most Americans like and aspire to having a nice place to live, with multiple easily accessible life-enhancing conveniences and diversions, plus in a safe environment, and achieving all of the above through ideally doing the thing you love to do most. Since there's no such thing as a perfect world, there are no guarantees that you will achieve all of these things, especially if you discount the thing you're most talented in and that also offers the greatest potential material reward. Put simply, after a self-assessment and a transactional analysis of one's set of talents and interests, one can best achieve all of those goals above (including the part about working the first job to lay the groundwork for the "job you really love") by making the commitment to hard/smart work- I don't see how setting goals-> hard work-> achievement is the #1 "problem with America." In addition, I would like to see your data on Americans being "generally less happy" at their jobs relative to happiness quotients around the world. This CNBC article cites a survey of 120,000 workers from around the world, with nearly 50% of the participants expressing very low job satisfaction rates.

He may have thought it through, but he didn't reach the most logical conclusion.

Not sure that anyone has implied anything "sinister" here- unless you mean than AJs speculation that a Twins pitching coach might have sat him down and told him his path to the majors was blocked. All I'm saying is that coming to the conclusion he came to must have more of a story behind it than what is currently public. I get that someone might just wake up one morning and decide he's had enough, but logically if he were to think it through... putting in a few extra years into his late 20s doing something he's clearly already good at, and that continues to put him in potentially high demand with a very rare and unique skillset... all in exchange for possibly a big 7-figure net payday soon down the road- certainly would have helped to set himself up better for the "other things in life" that were more interesting to him.

And your post is an appropriate time to note, that of the Twins' three Goliath-sized pitching prospects- Alex Meyer still has the time and the best stuff on his side to still really get it together and take off. After seeing him pitch first-hand in AAA in mid-summer, 2014, no one can convince me otherwise that at the time, Meyer was more than ready for a July 1 or so MLB promotion along with Trevor May.

"Yes" or "Hopefully" to everything said above. For now, more of the same old, same old tonight from ABW2- 2-5 with the aforementioned power outburst and 3 Ks (overall, 6 Ks in 14 PAs so far. Meanwhile, Garver does well at the plate yet again, going 2-5, giving the Scottsdale team a 7-14 performance from the bottom 3 in their power-packed batting order (Walker- 7th, Giants #2-ranked prospect & 2013 1st round pick, 20YO SS, Christian Arroyo going 3-4- 8th, and Garver- 9th). I'm liking the friendly catcher battle. Jake Reed makes his 2015 AFL debut and sparkles, going 1.1 IP with 0 ER, 1 H., 1 K, 12 strikes in 17 pitches. Perhaps something to build on after his nightmare season. Hildenberger continues to impress with 1 scoreless IP and 1 H surrendered.

Yup. After initially being disappointed about this year's AFL group, I've somewhat reconsidered and I've now come to the conclusion that at least 4 of the individual storylines have become more compelling. Going up against the best in a pretty exclusive All Star league magnifies each PA. First off, it is significant that Nick Burdi achieved success after getting into his first AFL game on Friday- after pretty much a complete breakdown of his command and control in 2015. His previous league "debut" appearances have seen him so amped up that it quickly led to self-destruction- it seems that because of his occasional heightened emotional states, he might be his own worst enemy at times I thought it was important to note that he had a perfect inning with pinpoint control, against the best overall competition he's faced thus far. The Twins' two-catcher-prospect drama is a story that writes itself. It easily becomes a nice little daily horse race to find out who goes into next spring as the favorite to become the Twins' MiLB top backstop. ABW2- has there ever been a more controversial and intriguing minor league prospect more talked about than him since David Ortiz? And now he's earned a chance to really show what he's got vs. a coterie of the best young MiLB arms. Can he more than hold his own while lowering his K-rate, and also while increasing his productivity? The results will give a little indication for how highly he will be regarded going into 2016, presumably starting out in the Rochester OF.