drjim

I don't think anyone is making that argument, or it is at best a really minor component of it. In individual games Meyer should be just as good as the filler they are throwing out there. This issue is easily solved by sticking him in the bullpen to close the season.

I want him the major league bullpen. He will hit his innings cap pretty soon, putting him in the bullpen, at 2 innings at a time, would extend him all season. I'm not 100% sure why the Twins aren't willing to do that.

Because these are the options: http://www.baseballprospectus.com/compensation/cots/league-info/potential-free-agents-for-2015/

I would target OF and SP as well. I would probably go somewhat light on OF, only looking for a 1 or perhaps 2 year deal. Can get a decent bat, but probably nothing super inspiring. SP is different. I think they have to go big or don't bother. No need to sign another #4 type, plenty of those in the organization already.

I don't follow. I'm talking solely about Meyer. I'm not overly concerned about the guys the Twins run out to buy development time.

Perhaps. But also possible to acknowledge that the options the previous two years were just that bad. Hard to draw firm conclusions one way or the other in three year samples. But we can know it is within him to spend something. He did guarantee around $90 mil in new money last offseason.

Yes. When someone is out cold 10 minutes I think a concussion is the best case scenario.

Wow this sucks.

But there are better ways. And pitching while fatigued is often correlated with injury. The idea of AAA vs. majors is about stress that the innings put on. Majors is all about winning, in AAA they can manage innings/pitch counts easier, and allow for pitchers to get pulled in situations (such as a high pitch count inning) they wouldn't in the majors.

The other point on the Marlins is watch them closely next year. Riding young arms is a recipe for injuries and regression the next year. Aren't you much more interested in a good Meyer next year and going forward instead of trying to push innings this year in an already lost season?

If Meyer makes it as long as Verlander or Arroyo before getting hurt that should be considered a big win. Just because pitchers get hurt doesn't mean you should be reckless. Entering the year Meyer had one injury plagued season above Class A. He needed to build up innings before he could be sent into a major league rotation. I would like Meyer in the bullpen, but there is still wisdom in the approach the Twins are taking in trying to protect him, even if it is frustrating.

I thought he would make sense as a future trade candidate, but let's not pretend he had a ton of value last year that was lost. He was a second or (more likely) third piece for a good player.

Do you have links? I'm skeptical it is a league wide trend.

In talent, absolutely, I have never argued otherwise. And I also want him up in the bullpen yesterday. But he won't be able to hold up the entire season next year starting in the rotation on day one. I personally would have him finish the season in the pen to get his feet wet and then start the season as the sixth starter so he can spend most of the season in the rotation.

Don't the actions of Ryan the very next offseason cast doubt (at the least) on your assumptions? I will admit it is hard to debate a hypothetical of whether or not Ryan would sign pitchers that didn't actually exist. But evidence shows that when decent pitchers were available he actually did sign a couple of them.

When Meyer doesn't start the season in the rotation it will be primarily because of innings concerns. Hasn't built up enough innings this year to answer the bell from day one. Darn good 6th starter though.

Miami is actually an interesting comparison. The age of the offense a month ago was very comparable to the offense the Twins rolled out (Twins are now younger after dumping Morales and Willingham). The main difference is the Marlins young players performed and younger arms emerged. And Stanton. And to repeat again, Stanton.

Will depend on preferences of individual list makers - some will keep him at #1, some will drop him. Probably #2 (behind Bryant of the Cubs), which says as much about the season Bryant had as it does anything about Buxton.

This is a good way to put a point I was trying to make earlier. That what we are seeing now is the fruit of many moves that were made leading up to this point. There was a need to rebuild the depth within the organization (especially pitching) while also scrambling to have a representative team. Depth seems to be rebuilt and the team is stabilized (if not exactly good yet), and no moves can be strategic and supplement a team that should be on the upswing over the next couple of seasons. Rebuilds suck no matter how you go about it and there really is no good way to sell it. I think they tried to balance a necessary rebuild without having the major league team collapse. I think it is safe to say they failed in that goal, so I imagine if they could do it over they would perhaps rebuild a little more strenuously, but I'm not sure the difference would have been that huge. Looking back, the one thing they could have done better, in my opinion, is to try to sign a few more veterans/reclamation guys on one year deals with the idea of flipping them at the deadline to add a little bit more depth in the minors. The cost of that might have been a few more losses, but when you are already in the mid 90s it probably doesn't make much of a difference. In the grand scheme, this is probably a small quibble. The key is they haven't added any terrible contracts, they have more or less spent their cap in drafts/international fa, they have traded some veterans who have no future with the club, and they have overhauled a farm system that was in mediocre to poor shape. Even if they didn't out and out say it, this has been a pretty successful rebuild to date. This offseason allows a chance to really build upon this transition and set them up well going forward.

I'll take May (barely) in that profile, but thanks for providing the statistical comparison. Definitely a worthwhile arm to add to the system and a very solid return for 50 games of Willingham.

Relievers? Kepler? Turner?

I would see that day as the fruit of many of the moves that had happened leading up to it. Ryan had to rebuild the depth of the organization before he could get to this point. Part of this was plugging holes with mediocre vets to buy time for the development of the prospects. Now they have reached a point where they can move on from the scramble of just being able to field a representative team to now being a little bit more strategic in their moves and setting things up to be competitive in the not to distant future.

He could certainly be a near everyday player on a good team right now, would probably bat lower in the order to protect him a little. He is still under two years of service time and was one of the ten youngest regulars in baseball at the start of the season. There is certainly time to improve. Talent is there, just needs to close some of the holes in his plate coverage.

This is actually the second year with a significant wave of prospect graduations, with a couple more years to follow.

Rasmus and Markakis are certainly better but will take pretty significant contracts to sign (in years). If I'm the Twins I would much rather sign a one or possibly two year deal to maintain flexibility going forward as they shake out the emerging prospects. I'm not very big on the sentimentality nonsense the Twins did earlier in the year, but I could make an exception for Hunter.