Thrylos

I think that they will start pursuing Ryan Howard.

Indeed. After his ridiculous season in 2009 (0.38 ERA, 71 IP, 12 BB, 75 K, 0.789 WHIP). Not sure what happened to him. Played in 2012 at the Yankees organization last and he did pretty well at their pen (1.61 ERA, 56 IP, 16 BB, 61 K, 0.991 WHIP) as a 22 year old at A ball. Not bad, but has not surfaced yet. Wonder what happened to him... Re Pinto and Arcia: Here is a calculations-based list that has Pinto as the Twins' third best hitting prospect in 2008, right after the GCL. And here is a more traditional one from 2010 based on production, watching them in person and scouting comments, which has Arcia at number 9 and Pinto at number 15. (That list had also 16 year olds Sano at 7 and Kepler at 13 without playing a single game in Twins' uniform and was the first time those guys ever appeared at a prospect list ) You are correct, Arcia and Pinto were absent from all derivative prospect lists. But there were there in some lists...

I would not call the writer who compiled that last 2 Twins lists for Baseball America a "know-nothing". He actually has watched most of those players play (unlike Callis and Mayo and the people who compile the fangraphs and bp lists. That's why they all look pretty much the same; they are derivative)

Depends on the kids' youth and high school coaches really. Lots of aggressive coaches have kids throw curves (and full grip curves vs knuckle curves) too young. Those kids (which includes pretty much most Latin American kids) come out with a fastball and a curve/slider (and arm problems.) Change up is a more difficult pitch to master because it has the same arm motion as the fastball just it is a different feel and it is a different pitch for everyone pretty much (thus about 6-7 different change up types.) Meyer just learned it last off-season. Johan Santana, Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson all learned it as adults as well. If you look at the reason why relievers do not make it as starters is that they luck the change up. Most of them have a fastball and a breaking ball. A plus change and a fastball with command and control are two great things to see in a pitching prospect

Gonsalves' FB velocity at high school was 88-92, pretty much the same as in the pros. Occasionally he throws a couple bit higher than that. He cuts the ball a bit too, thus the lower spectrum ones. His change is an out pitch and his curveball is not as horrible as some think. He used to have a slow curve and a slider, both of which were horrible and he dropped them; not sure that this is common knowledge. He now has a faster more compact curve that shows some promise. His biggest issue is mechanics (and consistency/command of his secondary stuff because of that.) He is 20, he will be fine. I'd argue that Walker is ranked high

Yes, but those Twins' systems were not like this. When those guys were 20-some then, they would not make the top 60 now. That was the time when Tyler Robertson was the Twins' top prospect and Swarzak a top 5 prospect Thankfully the cows are fatter now

I'd stick him in the pen ASAP and I suspect that he will be (at least) the set-up guy. Here is the problem with giving him the opportunity to win a starting job: As the starters need to stretch out and pitch longer during Spring, the late inning Relievers need to get accustomed to pitch back to back days during Spring. Those two are different programs. So, if they are going to test him as a starter and he loses the job, the only thing he can do to begin the season is the mop up role. And the more he does that, the less chance he has pitching late innings. Lots of discussion about the Twins' rotation in 2014 and the need for improvement, but arguably the pen was a bigger problem, since the Twins' relievers' FIP was higher than the starters' and ranked worse in the pen rankings than the rotation did in the rotation rankings. And they did zip to address the problem (other than getting rid of Burton.) Pelfrey's stuff will translate well in the pen and the Twins likely need him more in the pen. Have May and Meyer battle for that last rotation spot...

We will be here (hopefully) and shall see re: Buxton vs Polanco vs Sano and shall see re: Turner vs. Minier. And unlike certain places, I did give an explanation for ranking Sano and Polanco over Buxton, vs. saying "someone else thinks he is the best prospect in baseball, thus he should be". And, if you want to argue about or discuss my list (with baseball arguments, not because Callis or Mayo said so, I don't care what they say, they ranked Blackburn as the best Twins' pitching prospect) feel free to do it at the appropriate place and not threadjack this thread. That said, I'd love to hear the argument for Turner over Minier...

What happened to Joe Mauer? Would there be any concern about Joe Mauer if his slash line was .289/.397/.408? Well, it was the second half of the season. He likely was and played hurt for most of the first half. Nothing to worry about. That's what happened to Joe Mauer...

Turner over Minier? And Duffey 16th in this system? Ouch!

That Chattannoga OF/1B/DH seems very congested: Buxton, Rosario, Kepler, Walker, Harrisson, DJ Hicks plus one of the 3 catchers vying for 5 spots which means that one has to sit on a daily basis... My guess: Rosario as the starting CF in Rochester pushing Farris to UT Hard to argue with your list, but I would include Lewin Diaz and Jorge Fernandez for sure. Chistensen, Williams, Beresford, Vavra are not prospects. Williams was at some point, but...

I think that there might be semantic confusion on rumors and wishful thinking and opinions here.

This is a suburban legend, since they finished last in their league only 10 out of their 60 seasons. After the team relocated to MN, they finished last in their league 9 out of their 54 seasons. So the Twins are at the same pace as the Senators

The Twins need to sell high on Dozier. Cannot and should not expend based on a single above average season, otherwise they have not learned from the mistake called Blackburn, Nicholas.

Trying to answer this question, first an illustration of Schafer's career: 2005 (18 years old) Rk-GCL: .203/.256/.352; 3 HR, 12 2B, 3 3B, 13 SB (200 PA) 2006 (19) A: .240/.293/.376; 8 HR, 15 2B, 7 3B, 15 SB (422 PA) 2007 (20) A/A+: .312/.374/.513; 15 HR, 49 2B, 10 3B, 23 SB (626 PA) #25 MLB Prospect per BA 2008 (21) AA: .269/.378/.471; 10 HR, 18 2B, 6 3B, 12 SB (297 PA) #42 MLB Prospect per BA --------- 50 games HGH suspension --------- 2009 (22) AAA: .229/.263/.400; 2 HR, 0 2B, 0 3B, 3 SB (38 PA) 2009 (22) MLB: .202/.313/.287; 2 HR, 8 2B, 0 3B, 2 SB (195 PA) 2010 (23) A/AA/AAA: .201/.268/.255; 1 HR, 10 2B, 1 3B, 12 SB (307 PA) and then downhill from here, traded to the Astros, back to the Braves last season and 4 terrible seasons until he came to the Twins, where he was average. Don't know about you, but I see a whole bunch of red flags here. I was totally surprised that the Twins even offered him arbitration, to tell you the truth. Guys like him are a dime a dozen and I cannot find a season that he was clean and remotely approached league average. Butera on steroids (semi-literally.) Litmus test: a. Can you win with him as your starting Centerfielder? NOPE. b. Would the big boys (Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, etc) have him as their starting CF? NOPE So the Twins should not, unless they do not want to win, or unless they consider themselves second class citizens. One name that is (thankfully) not mentioned: Torii Hunter. That is another NO, and I hope that this manager gets that; the previous one played Parmelee & Cuddaver at CF, so that would had been a risk if Gardy was still around. Doing the same litmus test, Escobar and Santana are also a NO, and Hicks and Rosario are maybe's. AFL notwithstanding (because of Buxton, there) Rosario played mostly Centerfield in 2014. So, I'd have those two battle it out as plan B., because "Maybe" is half-rearending it. But I would really think hard and probably come with a plan A: I'd look around the majors for good defensive Centerfielders who have a year or 2 of contract and can hold the Fort until Godot (sorry, Buxton) arrives and they have been successful and they are what people would think of when they think of a "Major League Centerfielder." And, maybe they are having a performance hickup, so they might come cheap. There is someone who fits all of the above criteria (and he will just be entering his prime and needs a change of scenery big time.) This guy should be the Twins starting Centerfielder in 2015... Plus you get a lead off hitter

I suspect that that 6.5 is decreased as far as Twins' WAR contribution goes, since it includes Revere and his Phillies seasons. a couple of comments: a. Want to see drafting suckiness? Look at the WAR in a Twins' uniform for the Twins first round draft picks from 1961 till Knoblauch (1989). Much less that the aforementioned 6 and change. b. I think that it takes a full 10+ years to judge a draft, so, yeah we can say that Parm sounds like a bust, but Michael? Who knows? c. going back to the data from a. above. Look at the second round. Much better than the first. Frank Viola, Butch Wynegar and Tim Teufel (even Alan Anderson) help. Look at third round: There is a guy named Blyleven, a guy named Castino and a guy named Garvey (who did not sign.). There are more than one rounds in a draft and (despite the dogma) the first round is as important as the rest...

What will it take? In order of importance: Attitude change: play to win every game and hate it when you lose. Do not hang your arms over the dugout railing in the seventh inning, do not go belly up when you play the AL East. Believe that your goal to win every single game and do it. And hate losing. And if you are in a management position make sure that everyone gets it and gives 100% and if they do not get it, get rid of them.Chemistry. It is a team. No teammates thrown under the bus, no players thrown under the bus. Especially the ones who are rookies and need their confidence build up to perform. Coaching and throwing someone under the bus are two different things. Coach, do not blame. If players (and coaches/managers) do not get this, get rid of them.Take the best 25 up North out of Spring Training and play the best 9 most of the time. And then hope for good years, fast starts, etc. Unless you build a winning mentality in the organization, you are not going to win.

Yes and this is a disgusting practice. Griffith made it clear that when the team moved the whole history moved. Now the closed-minded people who are running the Twins have them wear Giants' minor league team uniforms instead of Senator uniforms just because they happened to be located where the Twins are currently located. Like there are no Twins' fans outside of Minnesota or the whole franchise is tied to Minnesota. Pretty arrogant and historically incorrect position IMO, esp. since the franchise has been one of the founding of the AL...

My opinion is that the Twins HOF should begin with Walter Johnson, Goose Goslin and Sam Rice. Even Knoblauch is more deserving for it than Tovar. And if Walter Johnson is not in it, I cannot make any case for anyone else to be in it.

I think that there is technology to tie MLB.tv with individual cable and satellite provider programs to determine blackouts. That would be fair. So the only instance of blackout is if your game is on TV through one of your local providers. I am all for no blackouts whatsoever, but I do see the point of the Sports stations that have paid MLB tons of $ (and signed contracts) for local exclusivity. They just need to determine what exclusivity is better. And they do have the tools. The whole minor leaguer situation is horrible. And, in addition to the commissioner, the MLB players' union is to blame, since a. they do not represent minor leaguers, and b. the less the minor leaguers make, the more $ for the Major Leaguers. $13 * 40 * 52 = $25K should be the absolute minimum for these guys. Not that they cannot afford it. I bet that if the Twins paid every single minor leaguer at least that, they still would pay less than what they paid Blackburn not to play in 2013.

Speaking of order of starters and the assumption that Nolasco will start the third game of the season: Do not bet on it. Hughes, Nolasco and Santana (alphabetically) are equally likely to be the opening day starter as it stands now. And of all 3 Nolasco has been than more often.

I was just looking at those delivery gifs (great job, as usually, btw) and look at the way he finishes with his back leg. He jerks his foot and twists his back big time and my initial thought was that it just cannot be good for his back. Did a bit of research and bingo: Looks like he herniated a disc in 2004, aggravated it in 2011, was DTD with a "stiff back" in 2012, and was in DL with disc issues in 2013. So being healthy in 2014 has allowed him to pitch more. As far as regression goes: There were 2 drivers towards his 2014 success: BB% and HR%. Those were the major outliers from his 2013 raw numbers. If he continues his locating the strike zone (maybe because of the mechanics) that BB% can still be in the ballpark, but the driver for the HRs was his 6.9% HR/FB, which might regress towards the average 10%. On the other hand, Hughes did what he did with a .324 BABIP (thanks to the Twins' Defense) which will hopefully regress itself and cancel the HR/FB regression.

Agreed about Steinbach being dead weight. What I do not agree about is that Herrmann's defense at Catcher was below average. Here. Check out who BA has as the best defensive Catcher in the Twins' organization in their 2013 top 10 prospect list. And Pinto is not that bad. Really. People (including in the Twins' organization) can say what they want to say, but it is not more than an opinion and those vary. Young catchers need to catch to learn (and I think that there is consensus pretty much about this opinion)

The original point is that the guy who finished first more times (i.e MacPhail) was more successful than the guys who never finished first (Hart) or finished first once (Quinn) so he should be ranked higher. Cannot take what matters the most in baseball (Winning) out of the equation. Teams do that to please their fans, because there are 29 losers and only one winner in a season. Sports competition is not Barney feel good. You can of course enjoy the game, but I bet you will enjoy it more when you win... And, yes, if my goal was to finished first, and that was the measurement I was measuring my performance against, I would be unsuccessful.

May I use this in my next job performance review, if I have to? I'd love to hear a logical argument why baseball people should be different than the rest of the world and not be held accountable for not meeting their goals. Being "hard", a "matter of luck" and the such do not count, since there were clubs that actually won a whole bunch of titles, and there are a whole bunch of people who have stretch goals in every day life. Someone did something that eliminated that "luck" factor to succeed in both cases...