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bird

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Everything posted by bird

  1. bird
    Once you spend it, it ain't yours.
  2. bird
    Yeah, and they could get day-of-the-week underpants.
  3. bird
    I agree, but it would be an interesting exercise to look at a BA list from five years ago and see how many of those prospects are Top 100 type prospects compared against the other international signees who are.
  4. bird
    This is a wonderful explanation and answer to mike's question. It makes zero sense to make comparisons when the paths of the prospects are so different. It's convenient to the argument to compare say, Buxton's "struggles" to Correia and then draw a conclusion. Let's not mention elite prospects on other teams who struggle, guys like Soler. Let's not mention Eddie Rosario as a Twins success. Let's not mention that Bryant and Corria are elite prospects and Vargas and Danny Santana are not. Let's simply draw a false blanket conclusion that other teams' elite prospects are good out of the blocks and the Twin's "elite prospects" are not.
  5. bird
    One of the theories being floated out there is that they want to give Chad Allen a crack at him. Not substantiated, but the thought was that they want to see if he responds better to him than he has to the Rochester guy and to Bruno.
  6. bird
    Reusse mentioned this afternoon that someonee with the Twins suggested people hold their horses a bit regarding Kepler, that he's not ready quite yet for the big show.
  7. bird
    You might very well be right that these guys don't change the game for us in their first few months. But it shouldn't be some unexpected buzzkill if they don't. And let's be clear: all the shouting and hype we've been hearing about these prospects is coming from the industry. You have not been witnessing a whole bunch of chest-thumping going on from the Twins. They've been admirably constrained in talking about these guys.
  8. bird
    Why does there have to be "blame"? How about looking at causes? In what way is Vargas detached from whatever has caused his poor performance? Every player must overcome some less than ideal circumstances. This is all up to Vargas. He's got a terrific system of support and world-class coaching.
  9. bird
    A preemptive comment here: only two of the 23 names mentioned here as the worst of them all were selected within the past decade. And both of those were from seven drafts ago.
  10. bird
    Appeal for humility perhaps?
  11. bird
    Which is why we have to keep reminding ourselves how few players drafted after about the first 25 or so ever make it to the majors. And why it's a numbers game when you're trying to shore up a weakness via the farm system.
  12. bird
    Yeah, I think he dropped because of injury problems. He's finally back and pitching lights out, but he may be a good gamble that doesn't turn out. We have to keep reminding ourselves how very very few of these round 3-10 guys ever pan out.
  13. bird
    So, you want them to call up Burdi and Reed from AA? Come on now.
  14. bird
    Until Burdi and Tonkin and Jones and Reed, or any of the other candidates are contributing, this complaint will resurface at the slightest prompting. The next recurring complaint can't come soon enough for me.
  15. bird
    I suppose one could turn this around and say good decisions on draft day is probably a significant factor as to why we now have one of the very best talent pipelines in all of baseball. Maybe it's not moronic. Maybe it's not ingenious. Maybe it's simply one way to solve a problem that had developed. The system is full of power arms. How do we find fault with that? Only time will tell. A virtual majority of the pitchers we're talking about have spent huge blocks of time recovering from injuries. Tonkin, Achter, Burdi, Jones, Reed, Melotakis, Chargois, Cedaroth, Booser, Peterson, Corey Williams, Luke Bard...and Seth will add a half-dozen new names to the list. You could't find anyone in the industry that wouldn't describe this pool of prospects using superlatives.
  16. bird
    Well, I hope you're available for a call, since the 40 Twins scouts that watched Jay pitch lack a full understanding of when the average fireballer hits his peak velocity. Amazing.
  17. bird
    A function of some horribly bad injury luck. Corey Williams, Luke Bard, JT Chargois, Mason Melotakis, Yorman Landa, Randy Rosario...
  18. bird
    Unfortunately, it really seems like the "best" five players went off the board before the Twins selected Jay. This is a good lesson for those who somehow think that the Twins should be better at this stuff than other teams. It's just not realistic to think that any organization will limit their scouting investment on these early-round prospects. They're ALL going to be good at this stuff. And thorough. The Twins apparently did not miss a single game Jay pitched in this season, for heaven's sake
  19. bird
    I don't fully understand the concern, and here's why: a vast majority of college starters who ever make the majors do so as relievers, because they fail to develop effective secondary pitches, right? It usually isn't about stamina and arm strength, but about having a mix that works through a turn of the lineup or two. So, If the scouts believe in a prospect's ability to develop pitches, why is it such a huge stretch to think a guy like Duffy or Jay can gain the necessary stamina and arm strength to succeed as a starter. Body type? Tate is 6'2", Jay 6'1", right?
  20. bird
    Almost every expert in the Milky Way Galaxy viewed Jay as one of the ten best prospects in this draft. I think I saw a report that said he hit 96 on a FB late in today's game, and scouts say he held his velo into the 6th inning on the occasions he was stretched out this year. It appears your concerns about his velo are brushed aside by some of the scouts. What should NOT be brushed aside are that several scouts are saying he has a chance to develop three 60 pitches, and that he's also shown a change that's above average. He was thought to be one of the two or three best pitchers in this draft, and it's important to note that many pros think the chances that the others (Tate and Fulmer) end up in the pen might be higher than that of Jay's.
  21. bird
    I think they've tried to balance this out somewhat by emphasizing position players with their international signings over the past couple years. We should see some hitting talent emerge and maybe even trickle into A ball later this year, certainly next. Guys like Diaz, Minier, Guzman, etc. And I wouldn't be surprised to see them skew things by a few picks toward position players in this draft.
  22. bird
    I agree wholeheartedly. It's a good thing the Twins have consistently hit on their first round picks now for a decade or so.
  23. bird
    The key to a minor league system is the elite talents, for sure. I'm going to disagree with you, as I think the Twins have both quality and remarkable quantities of promising pitching prospects. I'd say a fair definition of what "elite" means might be prospects earning a spot on a Top 100 list. The Twins have nine such prospects, and five of those are pitchers. In addition to this, Keith Law and John Sickles, among others, have commented about the fact that the system is loaded with pitching prospects, citing both the quality and depth in the system. No one has lowered their rating on Stewart or Meyer, and I'd be less quick to discount them. And you could balance out any sentiments you might have about those two by mentioning the likely rise in the stock of Hu, Gonsalves, and May, who were NOT on anyone's Top 100 list, but certainly will be in the future. May will graduate though.
  24. bird
    While I agree with this, they were doing pretty well before those two call ups, and most of the credit on offense goes to Plouffe, Dozier, and Hunter. Escobar and Mauer, and now Hicks and Rosario, are making for a more balanced threat. And I especially think the plus defense they're providing could be absolutely huge.
  25. bird
    To me, the second most encouraging aspect of all this is that Arcia, Vargas, Santana, Buxton, Sano, Hicks, Rosario, Polanco, and Pinto have not been in any way responsible for the impressive offensive showing we're seeing. Some of these guys may never emerge as above-average position players, but think about it, this is a full lineup worth of prospects at the cusp. And I didn't mention a few guys at AA having nice years in Kepler, Harrison, and Walker. The first most encouraging thing is that the real strength of our minor league system, according to most pundits, is pitching.
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