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With the top three all bats, there are 7 exciting pitchers in the top ten. Six of them should arrive by the end of 2023. These kids are fantastic prospects. Could two, or even three turn out to be #2 starters...or better? With the current lineup and those top three bats, should be one heck of a team two years from now.

Great comparison to Radtke, jm. Who wouldn’t love another Radke on this staff.

Great article as usual, Nick. But you missed one highlite in his timeline above, his MVP AFL season in fall, 2019. With meetings every day this week, maybe it’s time to be optimistic that Lewis will be reporting on time with other minor league players. When is that?

I often cringe when I read posts talking about signing X, Y, or Z. Will agree with the above that the two pitchers shouldn't block any of the prospects who are getting so close. As for Story, is this the 1,000th time we have seen this suggestion this winter. To me, it would be the same mistake they made with Donaldson, albeit, Story is a bit younger. As for starting pitching, no problem going into the year with Bundy, Ober, Ryan, Dobnak and either Jax or Thorpe. All have some major league experience and potentially should be fine. Follow that up with a half dozen better prospects who should arrive at some point this year and Maeda returning by late summer and you have a starting rotation that works this year and puts the team in great shape for 2023. With that said, I will be surprised if they don't either sign someone like Pineda or work a trade along the lines of the Odorizzi trade.

Don't know about others, but I am hopeful that the first of Appel's concerns (housing) has been dealt with. We don't know how the teams will handle this, but the news over the winter was that the housing issue would become the obligation of the teams. I expect teams may handle this in different manners. Also don't know whether the MLB teams will do this or dump it onto the local franchises to solve for them, if that is allowed by the new regulations. Personally, whereas other steps have been small, I see this as a HUGE step forward in improving the conditions minor league players live under while working their way up the ladder.

Your friendship and having worked with John. The information about the Twins you bring us daily is more than any of us could expect. Twins Daily may be as important as the team itself in my being a fan of the Twins. Thank you for the hard work you each have put into this and congrats on the success you have gotten, you've earned it.

Interesting comment, Jamie. If you had him at #3, which of the trio of Lewis, Martin and Miranda gets dropped to #4 on your list?

I see him as the Twins pitching prospect with the highest ceiling. Only question will be health and whether or not his body will allow him to achieve it. Should he be ranked higher? Should his health concerns push him a bit lower? Good questions.

Most restaurants serve healthy food. The question is what their customers choose to order and each individuals definition of what healthy is. The point I was making and as usual didn't explain clearly was that teams could work with the chosen restaurants to have them provide meals that are healthy. Wouldn't have to be off their regular menu. If they know they are getting 30 players coming in for breakfast between 8 and 10 a.m. every day, they have a daily menu available to them. Could be done without many of the hurdles related to building kitchens and finding qualified chefs in places like Beloit, WI, Clinton, IA, etc. And yes, Shaitan, I know what the difference is between a cook and a nutritionist as my granddaughter is a dietician and my son employs about 750 chefs.

When I read your headline, Nick, the first thought that came to mind was that nothing has happened this week. They met for a short time last Saturday, then nothing. Good to hear that they are meeting this weekend, but unless there is some major movement on both sides and a big change in attitude, we will know by Monday whether there is any chance of opening day happening as scheduled. Hopefully, the minor league kids will get into camp and MiLB will begin as scheduled the first week of April. Expect the Saints will be a much different team than we expect with lots of AA guys filling in until that dozen or so players on the 40-man are allowed to play. Enjoy your vacation!

Great reading, Nick, thanks. Don't recall seeing the term, "modular pitching staff" anywhere before. Is that your term? Or is it being used around baseball? Whether it is once thru the lineup (2-to-3 innings) or twice (4-5 innings), something like this makes sense. Not certain how the numbers work with limits of 13 pitchers. Is that limitation still in place? Or won't we know until the CBA is signed? Would also think that if you had pairs of pitchers piggy-backed to hopefully get 7 innings, you would still need at least five guys in the bullpen to close out most games. If these pitchers are pitching 3 or 4 innings a game, would they be available every fourth day, rather than every fifth? If they were, you could have 8 of them and 5 traditional relievers to close out games. Can certainly see Duran being effective in this type of role this year. Expect he will begin at St Paul, assuming major league players begin the season anywhere.

Very interesting. I guess Mr. Appel is putting his Stanford education to use clearly presenting his position. We have yet to see the results, but hopefully, his top concern has been dealt with. Giving the players decent quality housing without the strings of a lease to worry about is HUGE. Understand his second point, however, it does have some problems. First, they don't need to hire a couple $12,000/month chefs as quality chef/cooks are available for a lot less, especially in many of those small towns where MiLB is located. But isn't it going to be hard to find someone for five or six months? Maybe that is why he threw out the big dollars. Does it make more sense to arrange for these meals at Restaurant A or B? Thirty players at say $30/day times 15 days (on the road the other half the time) is $13,500 per month. I expect there are restaurants near the ballpark or where they are housed who would be happy providing two set meals a day, a $10 breakfast and $20 linner. It may have to be two different restaurants with one being a breakfast place. The team could monitor the quality and I expect that would be much less expensive than building and staffing kitchens for 15-days/month. It may also be different by location, with the Twins hiring chefs in Fort Myers for the GCL and Miracle at their training complex which is open year-round. Got a feeling, they probably already have done this. The third point is going to be difficult, especially considering that players literally disperse to all corners of the earth following their last game. However, if housing is a done deal, getting the second point would be a huge improvement for these young men as they work their way up that ladder to the big leagues.

Great article reminding us of these two young men we all can be proud to call Minnesota Twins. Polanco quietly has become a superstar. Some believe his bat matured last year because of the move to second. I wonder if it wasn't more because he was finally healthy. Regardless of whether he is at second or shortstop this year, I expect we will continue seeing his bat among the best in the league. If they can figure out a way for Kepler to either hit to the left side of the field or lay down a bunt a couple times a week, he might open up that infield and get his average back to .260 or higher. Add 25-30 balls into the seats with his defense and he would also be one of the better players in the game. Would love to see both young men extended a year or two from now so that Polanco, Kepler and Buxton all play their entire careers for the Twins.

I'm scratching my head and am puzzled by the term, "rostered players." Am I correct that it would not include all MiLB players who are on the injured list? Or not? With four full-season teams and the complex league team, they need at least 130 players to play the games once the short-season league is up and running. If they are limited to a maximum 150, doesn't leave a lot of room for extra players to fill in for injuries, etc. And if the full-season teams have rosters of say, 28, then you are at 142 healthy players...assuming the GCL is at 30. I understand having some limit, but, 150 seems awfully tight and expect it will lead to lots of players being signed during the season to fill gaps in rosters.

I don't know which word is more appropriate, encouraging or exciting. But what an interview. Have always liked his attitude and his class. After reading this, even more now. Can he really be the Twins version of Derek Jeter?

Also my all-time favorite Twin. Recall being at spring training that spring, wondering why it was announced that he had been scratched from today's game. Didn't realize at the time that we had seen his last game the day earlier. His short career and shorter life were more than sad!

I choose to be excited about his potential, rather than to focus on the negative. Someplace in America there is a young man who will pick up a baseball and be so exceptional he will quickly move to the major leagues as the next phenom. Someone like Dwight Gooden, without the baggage. Why can't that someone be Chase Petty? With all the disappointments the Twins have had drafting and developing starting pitching, maybe they are due for some good luck with this pick.

Do we know anything about his 'shoulder injury' that should concern us? Or was it more of a tired shoulder due to his not pitching an inning in 2020? There is no question in my mind that he should be ranked higher than #10. I see him as the best pitching prospect the Twins have, albeit, Canterino and Balazovic may have slightly higher ceilings. But Winder is getting downgraded because of his last few starts at St. Paul where he likely was pitching with whatever was wrong with that shoulder. Watched a lot of his starts at Wichita last year. Also watched many of those by Balazovic. Yes, Balazovic was unhittable, except when he wasn't. Winder was just so bloody consistent that I kept thinking he could become another Brad Radke. Not the same type of pitcher, but similar results. We can hope, can't we?

Won't disagree with much of what you say. However, you almost make it sound as if it is baseball's choice to have more development leagues and cost. The truth is that many players come straight out of college to play with their NBA team. I can't remember the last player to go straight from college to the big leagues, with even the best taking two to three years to arrive. Thus, the games are different. And that was my point, there are significant differences which makes it irrelevant to point out that one pays out 50% and the other 48%.

One has to be careful when comparing the percentage of revenue between sports. Personally, I would think that a 50-50 split seems fair, but I don't know what the real underlying numbers are. But comparing it to basketball isn't relevant. Basketball has little to no development cost, for example, they draft two kids every year and one makes the team. By comparison, baseball teams need to operate an entire minor league system with nearly 200 players (including the DSL), coaching staffs and others involved in development. I don't know how many amateur scouts basketball teams employ, but I recall from some time ago that the Twins had nearly 50 scouts. I would expect the difference in these costs alone would be more than the small percentage of revenue difference between basketball and baseball.

Not certain, but haven't minor league players always (or at least recently) not been paid a salary in spring training? Thought they got lodging and meal money only, although that could have changed.

Yes we should. I’ve been saying that since the day he was drafted. But then I have a soft spot in my heart for everything from the Badger state. want to second what chipettit19 said because it is huge. His brother moved quickly from college to the Indians with all reports indicating Noah is the better player/prospect. That is huge! seems to me he does everything well. Isn’t that what we think of as a good baseball player. Returning to my Badger side, will state that I believe we are gonna see him in a Twins uniform a lot sooner than most expect.

I believe, Ted, you are the one that may be making a less than accurate statement, calling Manfred's statement about profitability a bald-faced lie when comparing it to the stock market. You pulled up someone's text showing a 308% return from the S&P 500 (SPX) compared with team value increasing 564%. I don't know if Manfred referred to the SPX or where the 2002 date came from. I also don't know where the 564% came from, but will assume that as factual because I have no idea how to confirm it. But timing can be everything. Should you change the start date to October 1, 2002, the SPX has increased 498% (885.76 on 10/1/2002 and 4,418.64 at today's close). That is approaching the stated increase in team values. But who says Manfred was talking about the SPX, unless he referenced that. The QQQ, which is an index fund that follows the NASDAQ, was at 36.08 on March 1, 2002 and closed today at 347.06. If my California math is correct, that's a gain of 961.9%, or nearly 2x what team value has increased. And if a basic index can increase by 961% during that 20 year period I suspect a lot sharp financial people, such as baseball owners, could beat that by a substantial amount. So yes, Manfred was correct when he stated that owners could have done better by investing in the stock market. With that said, I don't like most of what Manfred has brought to the game and believe that he, the owner's and MLBPA have all done a terrible job of dealing with getting a new agreement in place. We need them to stop trying to make the other guy look bad and sit down and negotiate a deal that will make baseball a better game for the players, minor league players, staff and communities, other employees of the 30 teams, owners and most of all, us fans.

Question, they got rid of the comp pick which means the team signing a player will not lose a draft pick. Will the team losing said player still get an extra compensation draft pick?

OK, Wallner is from Forest Lake. I know Varland is from someplace around there also. Is it possible they played in the same youth/american legion programs when young? Of this group, am most excited about Miller. Could he be the answer to the annual Twins question of who will be their shortstop? I sure as heck hope so and he can't get to Target Field soon enough.