Mr. Brooks

Ah, Gotcha. I thought Seth was ranking the position players, didnt notice that he is in fact ranking "hitters".

Defense and baserunning matter too. Gordon has been worth 12.4 WAR the last 2 years, and was worth 5.7 WAR last year. Willingham has been worth 5.4 WAR the last 2 years, and was worth 3.6 WAR last year.

67-95.

Fair enough.

Then what is the reason? If you are going to dismiss my reason as "bull", then at least give your reason. What would be the reason to avoid BSC competition in the non conference schedule?

His babip was also 43 points above his career norm in July, and 35 points above his career norm in August. His line drive% actually went down, and his GB% went up (which is not good for a slugger) so he hit more ground balls, but an unusually high amount of them found their way through. I'm not saying he wasnt better in July and August, but I think a closer look at the numbers shows they probably werent the monster months that an initial glance may suggest they were.

See my added 2nd paragraph.

Sure, but I'm just asking how he's coming up with these rankings, as in, what is his formula? Because if you are ranking Justin ahead of Konerko, it can only be based on gut instinct, or faith, or something like that. You wont find any statistical projection or algorithm that puts Justin ahead of Konerko. And if that is the case, that is fine too, but then that changes these rankings should be viewed, IMO. And also, I'm not so sure I'm convinced that Justin showed as much "improvement" in the 2nd half, as people think he did. He OPS'd 40 points higher in the 2nd half sure, but his SLG actually was the same (actually went down a point), and in fact his isolated power went DOWN an alarming 44 points. Its his AVG that went up, which was buoyed by a 51 point spike in babip. His 2nd half babip was 21 points higher than his career norm. So, if I had to look at it objectively, I'd say he improved a little in the second half, but not nearly as much as a brief glance at his overall line would suggest.

I've heard Vargas name mentioned a couple of times on this site. I don't think anyone is keeping anything warm for Vargas. He's a fringe prospect at best. I've never seen him on any top 10 Twins prospects list, and rarely even seen him in a top 20 list. He's more like a 25 to 30 range. Not saying those guys will never make it, but its an extreme long shot, and for sure they shouldnt be counted on. As for Sano, I'm finding myself moving into the camp that thinks they should just move him to 1B and get it over with. I keep hearing that his bat is seriously close to MLB ready, like later this year, or opening day 2014. I say, just make the move and get him up here if his bat really is that close.

I agree with most of the rankings, but I don't know how you come up with Morneau ahead of Konerko? Konerko has doubled up on Morneau in WAR over the last 3 years, and Bill James is projecting Konerko to OPS about 55 points higher than Morneau this year. Konerko is also a model of consistency and durability.

True, but aside from Mauer, most of our MLB talent will be gone by the time the 'specs are up and truly contributing.

Okay, but if that is going to be his mantra in FA, then he doesnt get to use it as an excuse. He can't have it both ways.

Oh, I agree. I'm not advocating for doing that, just pointing out that there are ways to trade those guys without having to call up prospects too soon. As far as the last paragraph, the Marlins and Astros system's are just as loaded as ours, so the comment that they could be bad for years should apply equally to us.

But why? What is the harm in playing UNC? You might lose? Why is he so afraid to lose a non conference game? There is only one answer to that, its that he thinks going 2-6 in the Big 10 and "earning" a meaningless bowl bid is some kind of accomplishment. It's not. It's an embarrassment to college football, IMO, that a team can go 2-6 in their conference and make a bowl game. And being a good guy, and being accountable and all that is great, but none of that matters if you don't win. He's not a volunteer coach of a PeeWee team, he's being paid millions of dollars. Again, I'm going to give him his fair chance. But so far, I've yet to talk to anyone who can give me a single convincing MEASURABLE reason why he's doing a good job. I'm not talking about his attitude, or his accountability or anything like that. I'm talking about something on the field, or on the recruiting trail. I understand that rating recruits is a murky science at best, but seeing the worst ranked recruiting class back to back years is worrisome.

I do as well, but then again I don't think you need to. But, if it turns out I am wrong, and FA's really don't want to come here, then what other choice do you have, but to overpay? You can't just throw up your hands and say, "well I guess we just can't get any FA's then, poor us...." If THE ONLY way to get any FA's to come here is to overpay a little bit, then I guess that is what you have to do, I don't really see any other choice.

No, but you can sign AAAA washouts to fill the required positions for the league minimum until the prospects are ready, a la Houston and Miami this year.

For me, (and I'm not even "down" on him, more "not sold on him") I just get a little nervous that there is a reason why Philly was so quick to give up on him so soon. The Phillies are not a small market team, they could have signed Michael Bourn and gotten a rich man's Revere without giving up anything more than money, which is not an issue for them. When I look at Worley's 2011 season, I see a fair amount of good luck in those numbers (and to be fair, I also see a fair amount of bad luck in his 2012 numbers). All in all, I just don't think we know enough about him to really know what to expect, and like I said before, it makes me a little nervous that the Phillies were so quick to give up on him, especially when they have Halladay and Lee nearing the twighlight of their careers. That said, I was excited when I heard his name in the trade, and I still am. I just think it's perfectly reasonable to have a healthy amount of doubt about him until we see how the season goes.

The problem is that he keeps insisting he's not rebuilding. If he's not rebuilding, he shouldn't be sitting on that money. If he IS rebuilding, he shouldn't be signing guys like Correai and Pelfrey. The easy answer is to claim that he is rebuilding, but doesn't want to admit it, which is probably true, BUT: 1) If that is true, then why is he toe'ing both sides of the line, with his actions? Why sign Correai for 2 years? 2) Why would they be so afraid to admit they are rebuilding? I don't understand why there would/should be any stigma around that word. I think it is something they could embrace. I think the fans proved in the early 2000s that they will embrace a rebuilding team, so I don't understand the fear of admitting it. I even think, the way he's going about this could backfire. If he keeps telling casual fans that we are not rebuilding, we are going to compete, what is the reaction going to be when we lose ~90 games again? I think they would actually do better in the season ticket sales if they embraced a rebuild, rather then setting the bar high and disappointing for a 3rd consecutive year. I still think its more than likely he is rebuilding, but doesn't want to admit it, but the small percent chance that he honestly doesnt think he is rebuilding, is a somewhat alarming thought. If sitting on $30 million, and running out this roster REALLY is TR's idea of building a competitive team, then I'm afraid he's lost it, and is wholly incompetent for the job.

Reading the reply from the guy named "Corey" makes me very happy than I'm not on twitter. What did he even mean by that "fantasy baseball" comment? One tweet is all I needed from that guy to see that he is just one of those guys who thinks anyone who dares criticize any aspect of the Twins is an idiot who doesn't know anything, and should never question the holyness of the Twins operation.

I was excited about Kill, but he lost me with this idea that scheduling 4 cupcakes so that you only need 2 big ten wins to make a meaningless bowl game is somehow an achievement. It makes me question how high he's really aiming. Paying UNC to go away is an embarrassment, IMO. They are not even a very good football program, they are a basketball school. I'm not sure I wan't a head coach that is so afraid to play UNC, that he'd rather pay money to NOT play them. I'm still going to give him a chance, and I hope he's on to something, rather than ON something, but I'm no longer excited about it like I was when he was hired.

I think it's probably because so much of our top talent is so far away, and the further away a prospect is from the majors, the higher his expected bust rate is. Among the teams above us: 1)Cards: Can't argue with this no matter how the rankings are compiled. IMO, the Cards have better talent, AND a really nice balance of MLB ready vs. raw talent. Shelby Miller should be a solid #2/fringe #1 (I'd call him a rich man's Kyle Gibson), and will be in the rotation this year, Oscar Taveras is going to be a stud, and even though it's crowded, they will find room for him by June or so. They call Carlos Martinez "little Pedro" for a reason. I can't wait to see if he pans out or not, because he'll be fun to watch if he does. Trevor Rosenthal will be starting the year in BP, but thats only because they don't have room for him in the rotation. I think he has better stuff than Miller, he just needs his changeup to come along a little bit. Kolten Wong is the complete package, and should be playing 2B by August. Matt Adams would probably be up now if there were room for him. Then you have some more raw talent in Jenkins and Wacha. Man they are loaded. 2) M's: I can see why they are ranked high, although I think personally I like the talent in our system a little better. But what the M's do have is a whole bunch of mlb ready or near mlb ready pitching. Walker, Hultzen, Paxton, Pryor, Capps. Then they have some nice up the middle prospects to in Zunino, Franklin and Miller.( And Franklin will be up this year at some point.) 3) Rangers: Our system has more depth, but its hard to argue here, just because of the mlb ready talent the Rangers have at the top. Profar is the #1 prospect in baseball, and he's ready now. So is Olt. The problem is they don't really have a spot for either of them. After these 2 the Rangers have about 5 or 6 really intriguing, raw prospects. 4) Rays: Here is where I start to question a little bit. Yes they have Myers, but I have my doubts about whether he should be ranked as high as he is. I'm not sure he can carry that K rate into the majors and have the same success. Behind him they have a few mlb ready, or close pitchers, but none who really have front of the rotation stuff (except maybe Archer). Overall though, I'd take our top 12 over their top 12 and wouldnt think twice about it. 5) Marlins: I can't really argue here, though I'd say it's pretty dang close to a toss up with ours. What they do have though is really nice balance. Front of the rotation ace? Check (Jose Fernandez) Potential .300/20/20 CF'er? Check (Yelich) 5 tool'er with the range to play CF, the arm to play RF if needed, and the bat to play anywhere? Check (Marisnick) A couple of mid rotation lefty starters who should move really quickly through the minors? Check (Nicolino and Heaney) A SS who could win a whole shelf full of gold gloves? Check (Hechevarria) 6) Red Sox: No way. This is bogus ranking, IMO, and is driven by 1 elite prospect (Bogaerts) and a couple more really good prospects (Bradley and Barnes). The rest of their system is nothing special, IMO, and belongs near the top half of the middle of the pack (13th, 14th range). Although, the elite guy that they have is REALLY f'ing good. This Bogaerts kid can really hit, wow. 7) Pirates: Okay, this is where they lose me. I kinda was thinking that MLB close was weighted really heavy, but aside from Gerrit Cole, all the best prospects in the Pirates system are not that close, and they are not as good as ours. I mean, I like Taillon, Hanson, Polanco, and Bell, but I don't think they are ahead of Sano, Buxton, Hicks, Arcia and Meyer. 8) Dbacks: The Dbacks are loaded with a bunch of MLB ready pitching talent. So much of it in fact, that they didn't mind trading Bauer away. They also have some nice bats in the system too, in Gregorious, Davidson, and Eaton. But I'm not putting them ahead of us. Skaggs and Bradley are really nice arms, but Bradley is a long ways away from the majors, and I like our top 10 way more than I like theirs. 9) I won't argue this, and I would move the Astros up past a few of these teams. I'm really high on Singleton, Correa, Springer, and Cosart. The Astros have some really nice pieces in place.

If Gardy loses his job after this year, I can't help but feel bad for him. It's not really that I think he's a great manager or anything, I'm kind of neutral on that subject. I think he's a very capable manager, but I don't think he's a great manager. But, the rosters he's been handed the last 2 years are garbage, and I really don't understand how any kind of progress can be expected from his squad this year. I like the pieces we have for 2015 and beyond, but I fail to see how we've improved as a whole for 2013. I see places we've improved, but I see other places we've gotten worse.

If you think guys, in mass, are turning down money and/or years for those reasons, we'll just have to agree to disagree, which is cool. And TR said that Correia turned down money elsewhere to sign here. I'm not sure I believe it, but if true, that kind of goes counter to your opinion that FA pitchers are avoiding signing here. I'm sure there have been guys who turned down slightly more money for some of those reasons, but I think, as a general rule, that if a guy gets an offer that blows the rest of them away, he's going to take it no matter which team it's from.

Where/when did Ryan say that? The reason I ask, is because what I heard him say (I believe in a Mackey interview?), was that he WONT give the money away. As in, they won't pay a guy more than he's worth, just because they have extra money to spend.