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1. Reusse has been a Twins fan since 1961. He's covered them. He knows a lot about baseball. He respects the opinions of the Twin's field staff. He's talking from a large base of knowledge. He's seen the players in action personally. Anyone who thinks Reusse is clueless, badsmerf, is clearly talking out of his ignorant ass. 2. badsmerf, you claim teams "usually" stagger players' arrival to the big leagues. What's your source? Find me a single piece of support. That will help me determine exactly which orifice you're talking out of on this one. 3. Dozier is the only player you believe arrived in the majors too soon of all the players that have been on the 25 man roster lately? Here are some other players who struggled when they first arrived: Parmelee, Plouffe, Hendriks, Perkins, Burnett. But let's go the other direction. Give me a list of all the players who just killed it when they first arrived, which might indicate they were left wallowing in the minors by the overly conservative Twins. That was the point, and so you pulled Dozier out of one of your orifices apparently to refute it? I might have to send you off to a corner to sit with Puck.

I appreciate the cordial, friendly response, badsmerf. Very classy. And Puck, I welcome conversations with anyone, but our last one was not healthy.

Under, mainly because KC and Cleveland are underrated. And partly because of their lack of depth and therefore the ability to overcome injuries.

Reusse gave us his assessment of what he views as very special prospects after his lengthy visit to Ft. Myers. His timetable sure seems aggressive, but I'll accept his assessment of these players over that of the current beat writers and certainly over the assessments of any of us. What makes anyone think that the Twins will concern themselves with some sort of "arb schedule" when determining when any of these prospects are promoted? The liklihood is they follow the same "conservative" route most Twins prospects have, and are promoted when they're ready, or perhaps a bit too early based on a desperate need. The Twin's 25-man roster contains more players who were promoted BEFORE they were ready than players who were held back by an overly conservative approach.

Of course, Gardy will also be envious.

I don't trust ANY rotation to stay healthy, so I'll take the under. They lose one starter to a career-threatening injury, and a second is lost for 15 starts. A third has a dissappointing year. The Tigers look with envy at the Twin's AA rotation of Deduno, Gibson, Hendriks, Walters, and Blackburn, wishing they had just one starter at AAA as good as any of those guys. Tongue in cheek here.

Statistics don't tell us much about the probability of Morneau having a good year, but the eye test does. He looks completely different than he did last spring. Making him a qualifying offer of roughly $13M is intriguing. The risk is minimal for the Twins. Maybe he says yes and then gives you only $5M of value. Or he walks and fetches you a high draft choice. It puts the Twins in a good position: if they don't get overwhelmed by a trade deadline offer for either Parmelee or Morneau, they can sit tight.

No!!! Danny Lehmann sent down??? What a mistake!!

Correct. I think May ranked in the high 60's with BA at the beginning of last year. His stock has fallen to the point that none of the major publications view him as a "notable" prospect, so it was hardly a surprise to see him excluded from yet another list here in 2013.

If talent was evenly distributed among the 30 teams, each would have five prospects. The Twins have nine. The rest of the AL Central division had a combined total of 12. The Twins had six prospects ranked before either Chicago or Detroit placed even one prospect. Rosario, our #7 guy, ranked about even with Chicago's #1 guy. Detroit's 3 prospects will all graduate from the rankings this year. The Twins will likely graduate 3 of their 9.

May is not a notable prospect. Not a single source- Baseball Prospectus, BA, KLaw, MLB, Seedlings, Bullpen Banter-has May listed among their top 150.

I can't get too excited about the ceilings of Pinto and Herrmann, and hope the Twins replace Doumit with a FA catcher when the time comes. Vargas and Goodrum strike me as boom or bust, and if we go 1 for 2 with those two, that would be a bonus. I think we have been given solid evidence that we should be very excited about the others.

Teflon, I love your description of Gardy's loopy logic on Butera. The Butera decision is Gardy at his worst. I agree that the Twins will probably have to go outside the organization for a catcher in a year or so. This means I agreed with jokin, who probably spit his coffee on his keyboard.

Great post, Teflon. Thanks!

Chances are pretty good that Hermsen has been pitching with discomfort all spring.

Let's test our mettle as a prospective GMs. I'll go with Worley over Baker, Pelfrey over Liriano, and Correia over Pavano. See you in September.

Not at all sure what your point is, mike. Gleeman just did a nice analysis about why the Twin's system improved so dramatically in one year's time. Last year's picks are a big part of the vault in rankings (Buxton, Berrios), but not all of it. The continued progress of Hicks, Gibson, Arcia, Rosario, and Sano were huge. As was Ryan's pickup of Meyer and May. Yes, the low minors are rich in talent, mike. Less than a year ago, you described the upper minors as having "no" talent. A quick inventory bebunks that: Plouffe, Parmelee, Hicks, Hendriks, Gibson, Dozier. You're still short-changing it, don't you think? Prospects that will start the year in AAA or AA include Arcia, Benson, Herrmann, May, Wimmers, Santana, Pinto, Tonkin... The improvement in the farm system is the result of stellar results from the organization for a number of years now. Obviously, if one's standards are that anything less than producing an ace and Mike Trout represents failure, and that a high relative ranking is meaningless, then there's no argument.

Don't you think their lineup is underrated? Most of these guys-Hosmer, Moustakis, et al, should get better. They've had bad luck with pitching prospects, but still have a couple real studs coming up. The law of averages favors the over for KC.

Denard who?

I did read what he said Chief. And your right, he IS more diplomatic. Bu I'm not the n being obtuse here. We can disagree and still understand each others point of view, and even respect it. I have very carefully considered your views, Chief. And Pseudo's too. 1. You think you were sold a bill of goods. Most on here agree. I get it that Ryan said he intended to bring in more than one quality starter. The Twins haven't broken a promise. Ryan simply fell short of his and our expectations. They never promised you they'd outbid for players on the free market because of Target Field. What they DID promise was that the stadium would make it easier to retain their own players. What they DID promise is that they'd invest more in their own system. They have NOT broken any promises. They just haven't lived up to your hopes and expectations. 2. TheTwins, and Jim Pohlad specifically, has said the team will spend about half of revenues on payroll, on average. No one promised to spend 51% of revenus each and every year. You may think they owe you an accounting of this. They don't. Payroll dollars have NOT been diverted to pay stadium costs That's a false statement. You can be miffed, but you're not entitled to a single thing you're not getting just because it's what you want and expect. I'm not the one who's obtuse here, my brothers. Hell, if I go to the BMW dealer, I expect him to sell me a damn car. If he oversells a bit, I'm not going to be morally outraged. I get it. Ryan oversold. It was not smart. And I get that it looks real bad that payroll is down 20%. I get the outrage. I'm not defending that decision. But I'm not outraged. They have been beefing up the farm system for awhile. They just signed two of the top 25 international prospects. They said they were going to buid from within for the most part, and we're beginning to see the goods. Maybe, when the time comes to extend a few of these guys, they'll open up the coffers and spend MORE than 51% for awhile. You are welcome to conclude, right here and now, that this will never happen, or that Pohlad's a lying, cheating SOB, or whatever. Knock yourself out.

You didn't answer a single one of my questions. Since I can't read your mind, I remain confused by it.

Help me out, snepps. Was this attacking an argument?

Chief, I'm confused. So, they're paying their agreed-to contribution, right? And out of their own revenue stream, not someone else's, right? I mean, you're certainly not arguing that the stadium revenue, or any other revenue stream, belongs to anyone but the Twins, right? Why do you believe that the stadium revenue is something other than their own revenue? And if it IS their revenue, why do you care if that's the stream they use to pay their obligation? Now, I totally get the point you and others make that the Twins aren't giving us the product they ought to give us. I partially agree that they're short-changing us in the short-term on the quality of the product. Where, in the bargain "we" made with the Pohlads, was it promised they would pay their contribution from some other bucket than from their operations? Maybe I'm missing something, Chief, but I don't believe I'm entitled to a better product because of some bargain or promise. I AM entitled to not buy the product if it's crappy or too expensive. And I have chosen to avoid Target Field, sadly, because it pisses me off that MOST of our community can't afford the product. Why? Because Kevin Correia and his ilk deserve $5M, because the Twins and MLB are greedy, and because fans greedily demand that their team jack up their payroll so teams end up paying lightweights like Delmon Young $5 freakin' million dollars. So, why do we let ourselves off the hook for this whole economic abomination and slap the bullseye on Pohlad? Because we can, I suppose.

Especially when you lack the capacity to understand the context of the post and therefore apply ridiculous "mere logic", LaBombo. And when your heart is ice cold.

As a matter of fact, I do know a number of them, nick. I've never benefitted financially from having known any member of three generations of Pohlads that I've met, but yes, I know a part of the stories of a few of them, and I've personally witnessed impressive displays of personal generousity and charity. I've been exposed to their business practices too. And while the reviews, including my own, aren't perfect, they get very high grades overall out there for fair treatment of employees and for their ethics. If you cared to research this, you'll find this to be the most commonly-held opinion by people who have actual experience and knowledge of these things. But my objection isn't personal. It's about unfair vitriol. Directed at ANYONE. You're guilty of that, nick. Happens your hatred is towards Carl for whatever reasons. And this notion that a kid who's exposed to whatever environment is to be pre-judged? That's an insipid form of prejudice. Does a poor kid get the same treatment from you?