Thrylos

Alex Faedo is a lot like Jacob deGrom as far as stuff goes. Matter of fact for their respectable ages, he might be ahead of where deGrom was. (Here is a comparison of their NCAA numbers)

Yes. Very similar stuff and velocities...

Agreed re: Hughes. However, since Santiago is on an arbitration-agreed contract that is not guaranteed before the Twins break camp, they can cut him in March and pay only 25% of what he was to be owed ($2M) for the year and call it a day

None of the pitchers who were drafted behind him cracked the top 100 this season either. Carlson Fulmer did last year, but so did Jay... Really the BA top 100 is not a predictor of future performance. Ask Delmon Young

Can he pitch? Realistically, the Twins have been fairly aggressive in the IFA market as far as position players go. The pitchers they have been after were not "top targets".

I don't know about the "Twins Daily", but I always liked Nolasco

If his name was not Alex Faedo, but Jacob deGrom, what would you think? Would you draft Jacob deGrom over Greene?

Berrios had his chance. 14 of them last season. And he sucked: 8.02 ERA, 6.20 FIP, 1.869 WHIP Worse than Santiago Worse than Gibson Worse than Hughes Worse than Dean Worse than Albers Worse than Nolasco Worse than Duffey Worse than Milone If Berrios who pitched worse than all of those, and apparently is not interested in staying with the Twins to fight for a spot in their rotation, deserves a spot, why any of the others (eg. Gibson, Hughes, Santiago) who pitched better than him, and are actually pitching for the Twins this Spring, should not? How about Duffey? How about Mejia? Berrios is not a major league ready pitcher, and as a matter of fact, he is not one of the 5 best starters for the Twins right now. Some day he will be. Hopefully before the season ends.

Jay has had only 2 professional seasons and only one as a starter. 2.84 ERA and 68 K in 69-2/3 innings is not that bad in his first season as a starter at Fort Myers, is it? Then he ran out of gas in 14 IP in AA. I would not put him in the same sentence as Stewart, and give him another season or 2. By then, he should be knocking on the Twins door

Right on the button. (other than not mentioning Antony's stupid move of getting rid of their second best starter and their highest ceiling pitching prospect for Hector Santiago, and he had to pay to get it done...)

May was on the record today saying that he will be working on throwing his changeup on any count in his next outing. So he should be included in the A group

His contract is not guaranteed until camp breaks, so the Twins have options as far as Santiago goes. He is their only lefty in the rotation. Mejia might change the landscape a bit here...

The writing is on the wall: Only 5 pitchers have been starting for the Twins this Spring and that is the rotation, pending something unforeseen, like Hughes not being ready or Santiago falling apart. Based on what Molitor has said, likely 6th in the depth chart is Mejia and Duffey might fight for a spot in the pen (Molitor liked his 96 mph fastball as a reliever.) Will be interesting to see who will be starting in Santiago's spot now that he is away. Just a few data points from the way the Twins are doing things this Spring and what they are saying.

I think that the Twins will go with Gimenez. This list is not what I would do, but trying to predict what the Twins will do, and the 2 things are different. eg. if it were up to me, there is no place for Danny Santana in this roster, unless something happens to Escobar. I think that at this point, the Twins see Gimenez ahead of Murphy. That's all

Agreed. The advantage of someone like Goodrum over Santana and Escobar is that he can play all positions other than P or C. He can play 1B and 3B (ok the other 2 can "play" 3B, but not that great.)

Gimenez (career 899 innings there all pro levels) and Kepler (career 665.3 innings there all pro levels) as is. For comparison, Mauer had only 141 career innings at 1B before he started playing there full time. And Sano needs to learn to play 3B and Polanco needs to learn to play SS. I would not move them from there, other to DH to rest them as necessary.

Hughes was on the record saying that he was not throwing at 100% and will not be throwing at 100% for 2 more outings. I'd wait until his third outing to start getting worried about his velocity, but if he is indeed throwing 87 and 88 at 80%-90% efford, color me happy Re: success with lower fastball velocities: In his 20-4 2.26 ERA, 2002 season with the RedSox, Pedro Martinez's fastball averaged 90.5 mph. In his 16-6, 2.62 ERA, 2002 season with the Braves, Greg Maduxx's fastball averaged 85.8 mph. Not everyone is Pedro and Maddux. For example, even Johan Santana had a hard time being as good as he was when his velocity dropped the last couple years of his career. Different pitchers pitch different ways, and even the greatest sometimes have a hard time reinventing themselves when they lose velocity. FWIW: Other than 2004 Radke was not that effective when his FB average dropped under 90 mph. He was an innings eater with 4.30ish ERA and 4.50ish FIP

To give a little context on Tim Shannon: Career NCAA numbers: 28 G, 14 GS, 80 IP, 93 H, 24 BB, 39 K, 1.46 WHIP, 2.7 BB/9, 4.4 K/9, 6.64 ERA

Still plenty of Spring left I have been surprised by Gimenez. At this point it seems that Garver will play at AAA because he really has not started a single game. JR Murphy is hitting worse than Gimenez. It really is between these 2 it seems and Gimenez is ahead. Don't know about Santana yet, he still has to beat a lot of people. Niko Goodrum is a dark horse in this battle as well. But Santana seems that he has matured at this point

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ------ Ten days ago, before Spring Training games started, I took a preliminary cut at the potential Twins' 40-man roster. My view was that they Twins at this point will value veteran clubhouse presence and defense. I also suspected that participating at the WBC was a negative That 25-man roster was: Starting Pitchers (5) Ervin Santana Kyle Gibson Phil Hughes Trevor May Ryan Vogelsong Relievers (7) Brandon Kintzler Ryan Pressly J.T. Chargois Matt Belisle Craig Breslow (*) Justin Haley Hector Santiago (*) Catchers (2) Jason Castro (*) Chris Gimenez Infielders (6) Joe Mauer (*) Brian Dozier Jorge Polanco (#) Miguel Sano Eduardo Escobar (#) Ehire Adrianza (#) Outfielders (5) Byron Buxton Max Kepler (*) Robbie Grossman (#) Drew Stubbs J.B. Shuck (*) What have we seen in these 10 games or so: Pitchers: I think that Ryan Vogelsong has not really appeared as ready as I thought, and his position is likely going to be taken by Hector Santiago who likely did enough in his game against the Nationals to step up one step in the depth charts. Still to determine whether or not Phil Hughes will be ready, but for the time being, I assume that he will be. I also assume that the Twins will need at least a longer look at Justin Haley. With Santiago going to the rotation, another left-handed arm is needed for the pen and Taylor Rogers is likely on top of those charts. Dark horse: Nick Tepesch who has been pitching very well. So the Twins projected 25-man roster looks like this as far as pitching is concerned: Starting Pitchers (5) Ervin Santana Kyle Gibson Phil Hughes Trevor May Hector Santiago (*) Relievers (7) Brandon Kintzler Ryan Pressly J.T. Chargois Matt Belisle Craig Breslow (*) Taylor Rogers (*) Justin Haley Position Players: As far as catching goes, I think that Chris Gimenez further solidified his position as the back up by playing at 1B and LF as well as a C, being Trevor May's personal catcher and is hitting .500 so far. As far as infielders go, the only difference is that Ehire Adrianza just cannot hit and at this point I do not see him have a position. As far as outfielders go, I think that Eddie Rosario, WBC and all, has solidified a position on the 25-man roster, hitting .375 and playing solid defense. J.B. Shuck has not done so and it is taken off the list. The last spot of the 25-man roster could either go to 1B/DH like Matt Hague and ByungHo Park, both of whom are on fire; however I think that Danny Santana who has been playing all over the field and has not hurt himself with the bat (.972 OPS) has this spot for the time being. So the Twins' 25-man roster looks like this as far as hitting is concerned: Catchers (2) Jason Castro (*) Chris Gimenez Infielders (5) Joe Mauer (*) Brian Dozier Jorge Polanco (#) Miguel Sano Eduardo Escobar (#) Outfielders (5) Byron Buxton Max Kepler (*) Eddie Rosario (*) Robbie Grossman (#) Drew Stubbs 25th man (1) Danny Santana (#) The third version of the potential roster the week after next, while watching the Twins playing at Fort Myers.

Career numbers: 4 seasons: 40 G, 8 GS, 99 IP, 116 H, 30 BB, 58 K, 1.47 WHIP, 2.7 BB/9, 5.3 K/9, 4.73 ERA

Sure. He says. I suspect that he would be happy to take a walk to help the team win once in a while, then. No? 2016. With 2 strikes (and this includes 2-2 and 3-2 counts) : .209/.259/.355 21 walks, 138 strikeouts

Plenty in this write up, including this:

Because he will be a pain in the neck to deal with, if he insists that he should lead off, and the Twins will be better off without him and his selfishness. Time to teach the young players that this is a team game...

The Twins need to get rid of Dozier yesterday...