Lazarus

Not a surprise and probably correct. With the number of promotions of top talent, they had to drop. Notice that the Cubs and Astros have dropped out of the top 7 as well. Beyond Berrios, it's hard to pinpoint a "can't miss" pitcher in the upper minors and the "ready now or very soon" position players have either now been promoted or sent back to fix their exposed flaws. There are a couple of guys in the upper minors who will be up by the end of next year and contribute, and many who will get a taste but not grab the opportunity by the throat. Hopefully we can trade a couple of question marks for some immediate help.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Hicks has finally figured it out - his history is that he has struggled with each promotion and needed extra time at each stop. With MLB being a significant step up from AA and AAA, hopefully only three times is needed. As additional prospects start to get here, we will probably see many of them bounce back and forth a little bit. I'm hoping that Hicks represents a full one standard deviation from what the normal time for adjustment will be. It will be interesting to see how long it takes Vargas to make the necessary adjustments to get back up. It seems that they have a longer leash on Santana to adjust while remaining in Minneapolis. I don't think that sending Arcia back down would serve any purpose (other than as a wake-up call to rein in his cockiness). Molitor seems to like Rosario a lot so I think he has a slim chance stick, but I would expect a return to Rochester will happen at some point to fine-tune some things before he's up for good. Finally, I think the Twins will wait a little longer with both Buxton and Sano because I believe that they want to promote them once and make sure they stick the first time (minus one standard deviation).

Now if you can get Parker added onto Jake's staff to help the hitter's with their stride and pitcher's with their release points by using the video...any maybe help them with analyzing the spray charts. Knowledge you don't get in college...

He pitched for the Kernels. Misidentified in the awards section at Lookouts...

History suggests that Ryan usually holds steady for the first 30 games before beginning to release the laggards and promoting prospects - sometimes it goes a little longer than that. The best hope is that our prospects in AAA and AA show consistent strong performance so they can be considered ready for a promotion. The AAAA club is currently unwatchable. Is it too early to be projecting who will go first overall in the June 2016 draft?

Reading this, Granite reminds me of Lenny Dykstra when he played for the Phillies. Takes good at-bats, hustles to pressure the other team, versatile defensively (although the comment that he profiles best in left leads me to believe he has Revere's arm). I see the Ben Revere profile here but I always struggled to like Revere mainly because I considered him a wasted first-round draft pick. Not his fault, I know - but it was just a mental block for me. Granite doesn't have that noose so he comes off as a scrappy underdog, a guy people can root for.

May was at 33 pitches in his last start in FM. How long is his leash in the upcoming start?

Lookouts Outlook was going to be my suggestion but I'm a little bit like the Twins today - just showing up now for the opening series... Hopefully some of the performances can be chalked up to opening night jitters. I will be very interested in seeing who gets off to a good start as I expect a lot of player movements this year.

That is all about 1) having a better bat than many others on the team, and 2) being at least adequate defensively at multiple positions. Point 2 describes most utility guys - for most, point 1 doesn't describe them. Points 1 and 2 do describe Escobar this year, which is why Molitor likely will use him more like Madden used Zobrist. I don't think Zobrist was initially thought of as being a great utility guy any more that Escobar was going into last season - sometimes these guys elevate themselves above the prejudice of the utility position.

Molitor will need to use Escobar like Joe Maddon used Ben Zobrist the last few years - in the line up 5 out of 7 games all over the field. Or everyday when the inevitable injury occurs, or someone plays their way to Rochester. PM has a reputation for being cerebral - I think he can figure this out.

This team is going to go through a LOT of starters and relievers this year. There will be sufficient opportunity for Milone, Pelfry, Nolasco, and the entire bullpen to save their careers or torch them. At least one of the above three starters (and maybe two) will pitch their way out of town in a couple of months. And probably two or three relievers as well. And this prediction doesn't even take into account the inevitable injuries we'll see. At least AAA and AA has more interesting prospects to draw from then we've seen in past years.

It looks to me that the Twins will be a reprisal of the 1970's Minnesota Lumber Company - trying to out-hit/score the damage done by their pitching staff. If this team doesn't come out of the gates hitting a ton, they will be close to 100 losses this season.

First bomb dropped - a lot of pressure on Nolasco now as the #3 starter. No doubt that we will see May and Meyer before mid-season if they do anything in Rochester.

If May and Meyer needed more incentive to get stretched out and on a role in AAA, this should about do it. Delta's stock just went up on the news.

I want to see both Burdi and Reed in AA - if they succeed, I think they'll find space on a Delta flight to MSP. Probably have to connect through Atlanta though...so they'd be up the next day after.