halfchest

That's my question too. He actually played the bulk of his games there prior to last year. Figured the first half they wanted to keep Santana there. Not sure why he wasn't getting reps there second half at Rochester.

What do people think Beresford's chances of getting a shot at SS for the Twins? I see he barely played there last year. I'm thinking partially because he was playing with Santana at AA. I can't remember who was playing SS for Rochester second half last year that would have blocked him though. Prior to last year though he played 2/3 of his games there. Either way, he's been hitting pretty well for the last year or so and has a .345 career OBP. I don't expect him to set the world on fire but if he's capable defensively, I'd like to see him at least get the proverbial "cup of coffee."

Also just glanced at Fall league stats, he had a 3/1 K/BB rate in 14 innings in the AFL, that's also encouraging. Still early but hopefully he's figured something out control wise.

I don't have time to do the legwork but one way to get around this would be to take the two best and the two worst games out to see how he did. That's pretty common practice in statistical measures to get rid of outliers. Either way, encouraging first start for May and would love to see him show better control this year like he did in his first start.

This one just stung because it was the bullpen that gave the game up and that's probably our strongest part of the team. Don't blame Plouffe either, he didn't put that guy on 3rd base to begin with. You give Perk the ball with a 2 run lead, you feel pretty damn good about it. It just didn't work out.

What's with all the positivity. The Twins suck so quit trying to put lipstick on a pig! Actually I'm hopeful this year is what I wanted from last year. I wanted to see some youth show up and really progress. Arcia had some nice stretches and overall was encouraging, Dozier turned it around and showed he could be a nice role player at the least, then we got the fun Pinto run in September. I was really hoping for more out of Gibson and Hicks as well as a glimpse of Meyer and/or May in the big leagues. Hopeful this year we get to see some improvement from these guys that figure to be a part of the long term future. The other guy I really want to see just be average is Plouffe. He's young enough and now with Sano's injury 3B might be a bigger need than we had previously thought. At the least Plouffe will be manning the hot corner for the next two years. I'm doubtful that Sano starts above AA next year after missing a year of competition.

I was a bit surprised to see Mr. Rosario still sitting there when I glanced at the adopt a prospect thread today. Just a bit though as I can see the boredom behind a guy that is going to be sitting for nearly the first two months. However, with my tardiness I decided I couldn't pass up a top 5-10 prospect and will just be a bit bored I suppose. Eddie was suspended 50 games for a drug of abuse this offseason meaning it is his second offense. There have been conflicting reports out, probably due in some small part to the language barrier as it was first broken by Spanish news sources out of Puerto Rico. The one story that minimizes the concern with this suspension is the one stating he took a pain killer that he had previously been prescribed without permission. Sounded like an honest mistake by that account and hopefully is the truth. However, for it to be a 50 game suspension this would have to be his second offense if I understand correctly. Which makes one less inclined to believe it was an honest mistake. Either way, he's a very good prospect who has been almost like the Robin to Miguel Sano's batman. He's shown power, on base, average, and speed throughout his minor league run. His numbers dropped a bit as he adjusted to AA and the hope is he would start this year there and show an ability to improve. He's a top 100 prospect on most lists and a top 5 - 10 on most Twins prospect lists. Hopefully this suspension is a small blip and he'll come out healthy and firing on all cylinders at AA the end of May. I'll post some more specifics regarding prospect rankings and any updates on the suspension as they come available. A quick google search shows there hasn't been much substantial news in relation to the suspension since Jan 4th.

nevermind I apparently can't read. Eddie Rosarios

J. O. Berrios

I just turned the radio back on. Why did they pull Florimon? Injury?

Hicks has a minor league average of .269 and only batted over .300 once in rookie ball. I'll be happy if he can hit the .269, especially after last year. The 20 dingers is more of a possibility but again, he's never hit more than 13 in a year. That said, he's young and guys do often develop more power as they age but the batting average likely won't be near .300 at least not for a full season. If it does and he maintains his current IsoD, well then he's got OBP of .400 which would be amazing I'll settle for a .265/.355/.400 line from him. If he can do that consistently and play solid defense he'll be a very good CF and even solid corner OF for us for years.

I know I've read that somewhere that discipline is a better sign than something like batting average and translates better as well. So a prospect is more likely to replicate discipline than a high batting average. I don't have a source I just know I've read that in the past and it's one reason I'm hopeful for Hicks. Arcia doesn't have the discipline that Hicks has shown in the minors either. Both of those guys had their first taste last year so this will tell a lot about them in the next few months. Hopefully Arcia avoids striking out 20 times in a row again or whatever that horrid streak he went on last year. I'll see if I can find something that backs up IsoD and how it translates to MLB numbers.

Me and a buddy were just discussing how odd it was that Hicks was as bad as he was last year. One thing that has been pretty consistent for him is IsoD and I also understand this generally translates very well up the chain. If he can get anywhere near his career IsoD of .112 in the minors he will be just fine in a corner position. An all star? no, but a very solid contributor for years. If you add in the fact he should be a top defender in a corner spot and provide backup CF flexibility, allowing for an all bat no field corner guy as your 4th OF, he could be very useful. I'm a huge fan of having a guy in the corner that can handle CF so you don't need a pressley/Tyner/etc. type on your bench.

I was in the send him down to AAA camp at the beginning of the spring. I'm more than ok with this plan. I'm hopeful that taking the winter off helped him clear his head and work on the fundamentals of his game. Hopefully its a case of him figuring out the difference between AA and MLB pitchers and now he has a better idea how to adjust and get rid of the holes in his swing. I liked watching him defensively and given the reports of his defense from the minors I'm confident he can be an above average to top ten centerfielder and eventually a top 5 defensive corner guy. He just will need the bat to back it up. Hoping for a September 2014 outfield of Arcia, Hicks, and Buxton.

Gotta hope he falls through, give him some time in Rochester and hope he gets one more shot in a Twins uniform sometime this summer.

I still can't fault the Twins for trading for him. Guy looked like a solid mid rotation pitcher plus you're getting a guy in May that has big upside/power pitcher. I don't think anyone saw this coming from Vanimal. He just hasn't done anything since putting on a Twins uniform. Hopefully they can send him down to Rochester and he gets one more shot at figuring it all out. If not though, I'm fine with the Twins moving on and giving the #5 spot to Deduno for now. On a positive note . . . knocking on wood as I type, the Twins other starting pitchers have been decent and healthy so far.

I think the issue as others have stated is that he's not good enough to play SS, only 2B. Otherwise, I would totally agree with you.

Really? Is that what the Twins think or what you think? I can see the Twins maybe trusting Diamond more but if they both have good springs, Worley has the better track record overall and I hope they go with him. However that leaves us with five righties I suppose.

It is really curious that at least ONE guy didn't put Pinto on their list. Strange

If there is one guy I want to succeed it's hughes. #1 is because of his pedigree. He has had the stuff, he's shown it for stints but never fully put it together. As has been noted he was hurt by pitching in Yankee stadium as well. Which brings me to #2 how great would it be that we snagged a Yankee free agent and then he puts it together for us and becomes a solid #2-3 type pitcher for the next 3 years. I'm not super confident he can do that but more than any of our other acquisitions this past year he's the one I'm cheering for. Hopefully going back to his curve will help that become reality.

This makes more sense than my explanation. I think Nishioka was only signed to 3 years and would have been a free agent afterwards rather than still under team control. Sadly we never had to worry about those later years.

I don't fully understand this but I feel like some international guys that are MLB ready or close have signed deals that state they will not be offered arbitration following the deal. I could be wrong but I think in these situations they can put it in the contract. So the 6 year service clock would apply normally unless they sign a contract specifically stating it's for 4 years no matter what type of thing. So after 4 years no matter service time he is a free agent.

I'll be surprised if Hicks doesn't stay in AAA at least until May/June. That said I'll be surprised if he's not up by July. It's not like he's learned all he can there, in fact I would argue he has a lot to learn there. He dominated AA but has very little AAA experience. Hopefully it will do him some good to get a little success there and he can come up with a bit more confidence.

Quite unusual. Not to say it's never been done before, I would bet there is a couple teams every year that get 6-8 prospects. I've always been happy with 4 or more. That means we're at least slightly above average in my mind. Simple math 100/30 = 3 1/3. So I figure if we can hit that four mark that's a good sign. Doubling that? Well that's great. The only guys I think that play enough to graduate from this list are Sano and Meyer. Buxton and Rosario could be close but I think they keep Buxton down until at least September unless he's tearing it up and we're contending. Same for Rosario but mostly due to the suspension. Oh and I guess Pinto, I keep forgetting he is still a prospect.

The Twins did ramp up the payroll that first year in Target Field and was above what they had budgeted if I remember correctly. That said, I don't know if they're saving money in the coffers for later years or not. Publicly they say they're willing to spend. Hopefully they mean it and when some of these guys do make it they do what the Braves have been doing this offseason.