Seth Stohs

People seriously need to get over the Butera/Scholarship thing. Once Butera was promoted, Mauer and Doumit could play every day and Butera played a good role as the backup catcher who rarely played. As for Morneau, I think they would have dealt him last year if they had been offered anything for him. I definitely have no problem with keeping him around long-term if he looks like he can get back to nearly his old self and is willing to sign for less. I love when great players stay on one team their whole career. But the money will be the key. Also, if they don't get offered anything for him, makes no sense. As for Willingham, same thing. He's due $7 million each of the next two years. That's very fair. If other teams don't offer something of value for him, might as well keep a productive middle-of-the-order bat. Also, we all know that RBI are a little over-valued, but as others have said, when there are runners in scoring position, it's a good thing to knock them in.

As always... ha!

First, I don't care if Valencia took something. It doesn't affect my thoughts on him. Second, he was always a great guy to me, great to talk to an such, so I will give him the benefit of the doubt. Third, the Twins have had lots of guys test positive for non-PEDs (recreational drugs) including Swarzak and a couple others. They have also had several who have been suspended for PEDs. Having talked to many people, I truly don't believe that the Twins encourage it in any way. I also believe they have the meetings that tell people what they can and can't do. They also provide them with lists of what can and can't be taken. Anything not included on those lists, they are provided with a number and can call it to find out. The Twins can't do any more than that. Up to the players at this point.

I said on a radio show earlier this week that 75 wins would be a good goal. In my mind ,that would be a pretty solid showing for this team. I'd expect 68-72.

Quite often. In 2011, the Twins sent De Vries. In 2012, they sent Bigley, who they haven't protected twice. One year, they sent Spencer Steedley and Steve Singleton and then didn't add either. It happens quite a bit.

My brother's favorite player when we were young was Steve Lombardozzi, or as a friend say Lardumbozzi. And yes, Molitor was a bench coach for a bit.

Pressly has been a starter until midseason 2012, so I don't know why he would have to be "only a one inning guy."

Nicely done, Nick! I think it's important for people (fans and the Twins and especially Gibson) to be patient. When I talked to Kyle at Twins Fest, we didn't talk much baseball, but I did ask him how he's feeling. You could see in his eyes that he is very excited, excited to get it going and to show he's healthy and to make the team. That's great to see! But I also talked to Mike Radcliff a bit later, and he said Kyle is doing great and where you would hope he would be, but that they are going to have to really work to keep him from trying to do too much throwing. There certainly is a fine line there. As Gardy said in his interview, there will be some limits on him. As much as I like him and would love to see him make the Opening Day roster, what's best for Gibson in the long-term is hopefully all that matters to anyone!

You can view the page at http://twinsdaily.com/content.php?r=1359-Rule-5-PickRyan-Pressly-Looking-for-an-Opportunity

The Twins have had some good success over the years in the Rule 5 draft. Shane Mack became part of the 1991 Minnesota Twins World Series championship team as is one of the more underrated players in Twins history. Garry Wayne had a couple of solid seasons with the Twins as a left-handed reliever. Doug Corbett had a couple of good years and was later dealt to the Angels for Tom Brunansky. Obviously the Twins selection of Jared Camp was terrific because they were immediately able to trade him to the Marlins for one Johan Santana. And two years ago, the team selected Scott Diamond who was arguably their top pitcher in 2012. Will 2012 Rule 5 draft selection Ryan Pressly be able to have an impact on the Twins organization? Well, only time, and spring training success, will tell. Most are aware of the Rule 5 scenario, but just as a reminder, I’ll include the following. A Rule 5 pick (Major League portion) must remain with the big league club throughout the season or be offered back to his previous club. Last year, their Rule 5 pick, Terry Doyle, was returned to the White Sox after a tough spring training. Scott Diamond, chosen the year before, had to be offered back to the Braves. However, Atlanta and Minnesota were able to work out a trade (for RHP Billy Bullock) that allowed the Twins to remove Diamond from their 40 man roster and keep him. [ATTACH=CONFIG]3222[/ATTACH] As they did a year earlier, the Twins selected a right-handed pitcher who performed very well in the Arizona Fall League. Although he posted an ERA of 3.86, in 14 innings he struckout 18 batters and walked just one. Regarding his AFL stint, Pressly remarked, “It went well. I never thought I’d be able to say it, but I threw too many strikes. When I told my dad that, he laughed too. Never thought I’d have that problem. 18 to 1 strikeout to walk ratio, I’ve never had that before. Hopefully it’s going to keep coming along.” Pressly, the 11th round draft pick of the Boston Red Sox in 2007’s Rule 4 draft, had been a starter throughout most of his minor league career. In 2012, he struggled in High-A and AA as a starter and was moved to the bullpen where he began to experience more success. About his move to the bullpen, Pressly sees it as an opportunity. “Obviously I wasn’t throwing as well as I wanted to as a starter, so I thought the change to the bullpen was another opportunity. I want that opportunity. As a reliever, you can go out the next night, so I like the reliever role better.” But it isn’t always easy to make the transition to the bullpen. Pressly said the transition wasn’t too bad. “I picked it up pretty quick. I picked the brains of guys who have been in the bullpen. They just kind of shoved me away. I want to run with it now.” It might be the perfect role for the 6-3 right-hander as he had a tendency to dwell on a bad start for a few days. “The first two days you’re pretty disappointed because you want to go 6, 7, 8 innings. You want to help the bullpen out. I’ve been on both ends of that now, so I know how that feels. Yeah, I would kind of dwell on it a little bit because it would make me mad, more that I didn’t do as well as I could. But now as a reliever, you’ve got to get rid of it the second you’re off the mound.” Pressly added, “As a starter, you have to pace yourself, obviously, but as a reliever, you can come in and reach back and let it go. With my velocity and strikes, I’m just going out and attacking hitters and not holding anything back.” As Jeremy Nygaard wrote about him in the Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook 2013, “Pressly throws three pitches: a low-to-mid-90s fastball, a curveball that sometimes looks like a slider and a deceptive changeup/cutter that is developing into a swing-and-miss pitch.” So, what does he consider his put-away pitch? “Whatever the hitter shows me, I guess. It could be the sliders. It could be the curveball. It could be the fastball. Just kind of depends on how he approaches me.” Pressly may not know all the faces of his new teammates, but he is not unfamiliar with the Twins organization. The Red Sox spring training complex is also in Ft. Myers and the two teams and their minor league teams play frequently. So what is Pressly hoping to learn from working with the few veterans in the Twins bullpen like Glen Perkins and Jared Burton? “You can’t learn anything by talking, so I’m just going to out there and not speak unless spoken to. I want to watch and see what they do. See if it helps me. We’ll see what happens.” As generally no more than two or three Rule 5 guys each year remain with the club that selects him, the odds that Pressley won’t be a member of the Twins bullpen on Opening Day. However, it can happen and has happen, and if not else, Spring Training is about opportunity, and that’s how Ryan Pressly is going to look at it. “When they picked me I was pretty pumped. They have had some success with Rule 5 guys and hopefully I can keep that going. We’ll see what happens this spring.”

Terrible in the eyes of their fans and that NY media!

This list is much more just Mayo's, which is a good thing. I was chatting with him while he was working on it a couple of nights ago. Had some good, fun discussions. JT Chargois will certainly be working out of the bullpen. He hasn't pitched a whole lot and he has potentially two very dominant pitches. That means he could move up quite quickly. The Twins definitely like his arm, as they like all of the guys they took in 2012. Only real surprises on the list are Corey Williams and Ryan Pressly, in my opinion.

There was another thread on this signing (and the Bernier signing as well), but Richardson is similar to Revere but obviously not as good. He played in the Northern League, and he represented Britain in the WBC Qualifiers. As I said in the other thread, my guess is both of these guys are AA depth, but you never know.

Agreed, and I love it. That's what the Yankees have done the last 10-13 years. Sign the big dollar, big name free agents. Then they're good for a couple of years, and then they all get old and the yankees are terrible for awhile.

According to Matt Eddy of Baseball America, the Twins have signed two minor league free agents who have spent time in the big leagues. 32-year-old SS Doug Bernier hit .201 (.560 OPS) last year for Empire Island. He went 0-4 for the Rockies in 2008. 29-year-old OF Antoan Richardson played primarily AA ball last year. In 2011, he went 2-4 for the Braves in 9 games. Speed guy. My guess would be that neither one of them will play in the organization in 2013, but could be utility types.

According to Tweets from Darren Wolfson, he's not certain of the Twins level of interest in Brignac. He wrote that the Astros have called the Twins, but the Twins had not returned the call yet. If it got to waivers, the Astros would likely take him.

Agreed! I'm frankly not certain that Brignac is a better hitter than Florimon, and don't think his offense is any better either.

I was fortunate to see Rosario play 6 games last year. I think 5 of them he was at 2B and the other he was in CF. He absolutely has some of the quickest hands I've seen. I think there are a lot of swing/stance comparisons to Denard Span. Very quick hands, able to wait back, uses the whole field. But at the same time, if he gets a pitch, he will also take a huge cut, trying to hit it 450 feet to right field. I didn't see him connect on any of those, but based on his 2011 season, and hitting quite a few HR in Beloit last year, he will often. I also agree that he has that extra hand movement. He's able to get away with it now, but it will likely need to not be there as he gets older and moves up the system. Defensively, all reports I'd heard about him as a CF in E-Town were that he has very good range (certainly not in the Hicks/Benson/Buxton category though), and I saw a pretty impressive throwing arm, certainly enough to play CF if that were necessary. When I saw him at 2B in early June, he was a statue. Very little range and instinct. But when I saw him play there in early August, he was much improved. Still work to do, but he turned a couple of nice DPs and showed more range. Again, I see no reason to think that he can't continue to improve and become an adequate defensive 2B in time. He certainly is not lacking in confidence, and his performance in the Puerto Rican Winter League has him as a known commodity in his country. He has great potential.

Doubt it. he'd get claimed, so he probably wouldn't have to go there.

According to a Twins source, it's a month from when it happened, so he will likely miss most of February.

Several Twin Cities media are reporting that Anthony Swarzak will miss a month due to two fractured ribs. It happened in a non-baseball activity in January...

Pretty much every year (check out Tyler Duffey's numbers at ET, but not by 17-18 year olds! Rainville, Swarzak and Waldrop were all pretty dominant in their rookie ball season. But Berrios certainly has better stuff than those guys did at the same time.

I think people make far too much out of velocity. yes, you've got Verlander and Sale and guys like that that throw hard. Guys like Sabathia and Cain became more successful as they have lost some of their velocity and mixed in their other pitches. Cliff Lee and Roy Halladay don't hit 93 on the radar very often. it's not about velocity. it's about having movement and three quality pitches. Bashore and Tootle were 'good power arms' who just got hurt. that is more likely to happen when you draft power arms. Bullock, like most power arms, just can't throw strikes. To be fair, Radke was pretty good. Wimmers was always believed to be a #3, and assuming he comes back at 100%, probably still will be. It's not about velocity, it's about location and effectiveness/movement of pitches. Again, Santana didn't throw real, real hard. Don't get me wrong. I love the draft strategy last year, and in 2009 (Gibson, Bashore, Bullock, Tootle). Gibson should be a solid starter, maybe even a solid #2 type in time. There is a certain amount of luck in the draft. There is a reason that generally 1 player from the draft each year actually makes it. If you can get more than one, it's a terrific draft.