PseudoSABR

How to motivate an aloof, but talented individual is hardly a new problem, though it's never had a ready-made solution. That said, Hicks' demeanor makes my skin scrawl; send the guy down and hopefully he can stop winging it. For my part, the Twins have been more than forgiving; Hicks' play and poise speak on his behalf.

In the very least, it appears that Morales should have significant trade value. His bat really does extend the lineup; this offense is really encouraging.

Whatever Kendrys was doing seemed to keep his bat warm.

His rate stats certainly are encouraging but he's 40th in the AL in innings-pitched, right behind Correia. So he might be pitching top-20 innings, but he's not pitching enough of them, in my opinion, to be regarded as a top-20 guy.

AAA is a development league. It's pretty clear that Pinto isn't ready to catch at the ML-level everyday. Again, do those skills he needs to be successful necessarily need to be developed at the ML-level or can they be developed at AAA? If it was his bat that needed exposure, I'd be with you that exposure to ML pitching would help, but that his deficiencies are defensive, what he needs is games behind the plate, not exposure to elite competition.

Are you just ignoring how patient the Twins have been with the likes of Dozier and Plouffe and even Hicks? Pinto's specific case of development has more to do with Pinto's own skillset and Suzuki's success than it does with any organizational philosophy. The whole "Gardy's next target" (or "here the Twins go hating on a young player again") angle seems particularly cynical and not particularly based in fact.

That's what AAA is for. Given that the Twins just signed Morales, we're no longer in a total rebuild mode, where you can give up games to develop players.

The question is are you willing to lose games while Pinto figures out how to catch? He hasn't been good behind the plate. The truth is he's been outplayed by Suzuki (probably offensively, and definitely defensively), that's pretty much the end of it. The team isn't going to bench a more productive player in hopes a second, younger player can become more productive.

TR said in Sunday's broadcast that he was beginning to take swings and throwing...

The chucklehouse that his the dbacks, it might just happen. They value veteran moxie more than the Twins.

Cahill is just 1 - 6 with of 5.66, but his FIP/xFIP is right at career norms, and his BABIP is 100 points above career norms. He's walking an extra better per inning but his strikeouts are way up. His contract calls for another eight million this year, twelve and half next, and options after that. I wonder if the Dbacks would be willing to eat some salary, if we took him off their hands. mlbtraderumors fangraphs

That's a pretty good lineup.

I agree. Gibson's struggles last year should help temper our expectations, but we know what we have in Correia, and the Deduno experiment isn't getting any better.

Terry Ryan quipped, "Why Not Us?" to a question that had not (yet) been posed; exasperated at his own to need to anticipate such a question, one could hear his sardonic wit smacking in his mouth. For many of us, not-competing was something of a forgone conclusion--and the signing of Morales, and the idea of competing, seemed surprising and a bit strange. Let's take a look at what some national and local writers think about the Twins chances. Christina Karl thinks the the line up should be improved, though she has some doubts that the Twins rotation will hold up. Karl doesn't account for May and Meyer, and if the Twins are interested in being bold, there's probably two spots that will need filling soon. Tom Powers agrees the rotation needs fixing and the time for halfmeasures and holding back prospects is over. I know which two I would pick. Jack Moore from the thoughtful and entertaining Sports on Earth likes the moves and genuinely sees the Twins as being competitive. While Moore could see the Twins sending Pinto down to develop, he'd prefer to handle it another way. Again, the only lingering question is what better serves Pinto's future, consistent time at AAA (he hasn't thrown out a runner this year), or inconsistent time at both catcher and DH. The always hospitable Patrick Reusse suggests the move makes sense either way so we all should probably stop complaining. While the whining bothers me too, I'm not sure bemoaning complaint is effective rhetoric. Judd Zulgad emphasizes the abstract qualities the addition of Morales brings the team and the fanbase. I think he's right. I'm not sure that signing Morales makes the Twins a contender, rather, it unequivocally shows that the Twins will take financial risk for even small competitive gains. Which should relieve both players and fans. The signing of Morales is bittersweet for me, as I find myself pining for Sano and Buxton all the more, and left wondering how aggressive they might have been with their promotion. So are the Twins really going to be competitive? And if not, will we be able to sell Morales, Suzuki, and Willingham at the deadline? I worry we'll tread water just enough to avoid making trades, but not enough to really compete.

You did see that Danny Santana is DHing today?

Well, Hammer and Correia were the only likely veterans to be traded; and I'm not sure either would have fetched much value. That Willingham doesn't have a viable replacement doesn't bode well for him being traded. As for Morales, I'm really curious about the terms; the contract may extend past this year.

Wonder how long this was in the works? Since the Arcia and Hammer injury?

Wow.

Well, it's clear you've done your homework. So you can probably answer the following questions with similar assurance: 1) What percentage of the minor leaguers' have received substantial (plus 100k) signing bonuses? More over, the career of an average minor leaguer results in how many years? And if we pro-rate that bonus over those years and combine it with their paid wage do we indeed get that living wage? 2) Do you discount the local benefit of more living wages within local communities? Why burden local families when empty apartments and homes could be filled on a consistent basis, year after year? (And more whatever consumer benefit each individual adds.) That's straight liquid dollars in often struggling communities. 3) Do you think the notions of labor shortage\surplus change when there's industry wide collusion (there's only competition for top level talent (the signing bonus babies), it takes so many more players to field a team, for whom there is no bonus)? Do you think the union favors contracts that pay a great deal to a few or spreading wealth to as many players as possible? Which method makes more social economic sense, and which makes specific individuals (agents, elite players, owners, executives) more money? 4) If the economic conditions dictate that another human being must live with a host family to pursue a career in ticketed entertainment (baseball, or such), is such entertainment (or wage) ethical in a civilized society?

I think there's far too much vocal disappointment with how much velocity we added to the minor league pitching corp. Again, this is a club that drafted relief pitchers for their ground ball rates not but a few years ago. Sure it's more exciting to draft a half-dozen high school projectable arms, but it's hardly a foregone conclusion that doing so is the better strategy. Honestly, there's plenty to be excited about in the arms the Twins have drafted.

I'm not sure that it's savvy, and I'm not trying to sell you. The strategy is unconventional, so naturally the evidence legitimizing such tactics would be scant. For a team mired in conventional thinking to go so hard after velocity with atypical tactics, I think, demonstrates an evolution in that team's thinking; and beliefs about player development. I honestly don't know enough about this particular draft to judge whether the tactics are exploiting a market inefficiency or not, but I like conviction and a the renewed approach by the Twins, and I like the unrelenting acquisition of power arms.

Right. Let's hope they are using international development better than we generally think they are.

Curtiss could have been a third-round pick out of a Texas high school in 2011 had he been willing to turn pro, but he was set on becoming a Longhorn. The most highly regarded arm in a deep Texas recruiting class, he had Tommy John surgery after his freshman season and missed all of 2013, when he also had a rib removed to alleviate thoracic outlet syndrome. He has come back strong as a closer as a redshirt sophomore this spring and should return to starting again in 2015. Curtiss has regained the velocity on his fastball, which sits at 92-94 mph and peaks at 96, and he uses his 6-foot-5 frame to throw his heater on a steep downhill plane. He still can run his slider up into the 80s, though it can get slurvy and he battles his command with it. Pitchers who have their elbows reconstructed often need time to get back their consistency and command of their secondary pitches, so his slider should get better. Because he's working in relief, Curtiss hasn't found much need for a changeup, which will require plenty of work when he joins the rotation. A potential No. 2 or 3 starter if everything comes together, he's also highly intelligent and graduated from Texas in three years with a double major in English and history. Via MLB -- Callis loves the pick, says this guy is a starter, number 88 on Callis' top 100.

Their strategy doesn't seem particularly safe to me, there's clearly risk (in terms of what they aren't drafting and in these players becoming more than spare bullpen parts). I look forward to what they have to say about their strategy and the individual players. If they are truly exploiting a market inefficiency, than it's absolutely the right move, even if unconventional and unbalanced.

Clearly, the Twins believe the current market is greatly undervaluing college-relief-power arms. The consistency seems to demonstrate conviction. I wonder if the Twins put emphasis on pitchers who have thrown limited innings. Wasn't the health of guys like Chargois, Bard, Melotakis already in question? This year's guys have been fairly healthy from my cursory research. I'm not sure their thinking will work out, but I like the conviction towards velocity and counter-market strategies. Hopefully they learned with the last group of college bullpen guys, and have a better development plan and selected better guys.