Monkeypaws

Walker is 6 months younger than Arcia - push push push!

I'd rather see them in their own park actually Love the minor league experience, and the prices.

At the least, the Twins current big contracts will expire before the future studs will demand the big bucks.

i saw him at Target field with his sons last year - friendly guy.

I saw this morsel in their discussion of Andrus's contract: Dozier sprang immediately to mind.

Hopefully this will fill that beautiful stadium of theirs this season. Padres are a team I've always had a soft spot for. Love San Diego too.

In the article it says Rogers arsenal sits in the upper 80s. Who's right?

Compared to an overall bust rate of what, 99%?

I see the Twins and White Sox moving back to the top in the next few seasons - it'll be like old times. Didin't realize the Royals made it to the WS with 89 regular season wins.

I was gonna start my own optimism thread Doc. It was going to read something like, "Anyone else feel optimistic about the upcoming season?" Glad I waited

Looking at a possible starting lineup for this coming season, and hoping for improvement from youth, and no regression from vets, and the overall offensive potential with a manager that seems willing to play to strengths, I can feel somewhat optimistic, espcially and Santan and Nolasco deliver: Batting order: 1. Danny Santana - CF: I think he should stay in CF until someone better can play there, or move him to SS at least. Are hicks and Schaffer better than Escobar? At this point, no way. 2. Brian Dozier - 2B: No surprise here. 3. Joe Mauer - 1B: Here’s hoping for a big bounce back year. His average season would keep the juice flowing at the top of the lineup. 4. Trevor Plouffe - 3B: Not the hot pick here, but looking at his run production last season, and the desire to set up a righty lefty swine in the middle of the lineup, this is where he goes. If he can continue to improve his plate discipline, and average, he could fill this role quite well. 5. Kennys Vargas - DH: Love having a switch hitting DH with big time power, especially in the 5 hole. Of course I hope he builds on last season’s performance. 6. Torii Hunter - LF: I’m not sure if Torii was signed to play right or left field, but I like Oswaldo too much in RF to change that. Here’s another tough out in the middle of the lineup with some pop. I debated flip flopping him for Plouffe in the clean-up slot, and that could change, but I like this configuration better at the moment. 7. Oswaldo Arcia - RF: Possible in the 5 hole as well - I like him in the 7 spot, hella power deep into the batting order. If his average climbs, the 5 spot is his. 8.Kurt Suzuki - C: Having this guy hit 8 is a luxury: over .700 ops, rarely whiffs, keeps the rally going. 9. Eduardo Escobar - SS: Pretty underrated on these boards from all the Santana to SS talk on these boards. Good defense AND offense from your #9 hitting shortstop, sign me up! I could see some of those big numbers like 20, 16, 13, 12 runs of last season on good nights.

I would roll with Santana in CF and Escobar at SS. Worked pretty well last season, and both are young guys who could improve incrementally this season.

Nice effort, and fun read. Did you really flip coins on the starters?

Cool - 16th all time in pitching appearances?! Amazing. 36 appearances this season would move him into the top 10. Not bad for a 7th round pick out of Gary Indiana.

Nice to see a different perspective - thnks

Right on John!

If he hits some homers next season on something other than high inside fastballs, I'd say sign him up. Otherwise, if the scouts have him figured out, he becomes a good fielding light hitting middle infielder.

What is about Quade that you folks like?

Having Hughes and Santana at the front of the rotation going forward looks good to me, better than what we've had in a good while. If they and Nolasco or Gibson can put in 200+ innings each, our bullpen would probably be better off as well. A slightly better Gibson would be huge: he did have a winning record at 13-12 and did throw almost 180 innings.

They caught fire at the right time last season - it happens. Otherwise they've been pretty ineffective at all levels - wouldn't be surprised if they wait another 20 some years for a ALCS.

I always enjoyed seeing the lists of youngest players by league - you get a real feel for who is truly elite on those. Kind of like this one, except not confined to opening day: http://www.baseballamerica.com/majors/whos-the-youngest-in-each-league-opening-day-2014/

Then there is the poster child for rushed prospects, Eddie Bane: straight from ASU to the bigs at 21, out of major league ball by 24.

Place your bets now folks - lots of money to be made this season

Parmelee and Plouffe were to be the PP boys to Mauer and Morneau's MM boys. Guess that isn't gonna happen.

Could it be a case of the scouting taking a while to catch up to a guy with limited stuff? Like with Diamond. Or Albers.