mikelink45

Seth, you are the expert for minor league prospects so give us your perspective. With Sano, Kepler, Rosario, Cave, Ward already having MLB time.Considering Kiriloff, Raley, Larnach ahead of him, Wallner, Urbina, Baddoo behind him what is his real chance of making the team in the next two years? Based on his fielding, hitting, and positions doesn't he look more like a trade candidate? I know about late bloomers, but in reality they are not that prolific.

The old saying was draft a college player because they are almost ready to step into the lineup and that is how it should be.

Cleveland wins this without a doubt. They have three ACES. The top three get the most innings and most games. Then Civale and Plutko did great last year. Lets not analyse until we get the results we want. Kluber is not fairly ranked - we do not know where he will be with health and ST, but I would take him. I am upset if Chacin beats out Dobnak - we need at least one of our rookie crop to get some exposure to MLB. Lots of mediocre veterans do not make a staff. I am pleased with our to three (even though they are well below Cleveland) because we have the bats to elevate them and Cleveland has an OF that looks like an AAAA convention.

At 25 he slips in my ratings no matter what is written. The real stars are in the MLB lineups by 22/23. If he is destined to be in AAA again this year the next years rankings will have him at 26. It is time to lump him with a few others and make a trade.

Wow I thought I would be the first to say K's are overrated, but already two posts have beaten my old guy take. I do like K's but I look at a guy like Nolan Ryan - he was so fun and has the Strikeout record that will stand for my lifetime, but he also has the walk record and that will also stand. He has records for low hit games and he also is extremely close to 300 losses - which would be a very exclusive club. Cy Young and Pud Galvin are the only two to cross that line and Nolan is third at 292. Young had a winning pct of 619, and 200 more wins than Nolan. After 22 years and 906 games Young had a whip of 1.13. Ryan had a winning pct of 526 and a whip of 1.247 after 27 years and 807 games. Like Puckstopper I like Whip as a measurement more than K's. I also like innings per start and today's pitchers are not going to match Ryan's 222 complete games. Oh, I forgot to give you the mantra I started by old blogs with - Wins do Matter - especially when you look at the older pitchers or a Verlander today that want the ball for the entire ball game, they take charge of their own games and earn their wins I still like DPs and fielding so a ground ball pitcher is still of value to me.

Here is my take - from an old guy who has seen every financial dispute in Twins history from my fan perspective. If the Twins move now, they can say to Berrios, here is how to make up for that loss in arbitration - sign an extension. You will get security, you will make up for that blip, and we can all move forward together! As to those who keep saying he isn't an Ace - what is your point. This isn't a card game. He is our number one - tell me who is better or even close. That makes him our ace until we can sign one of the over priced free agents. Yes he has some bad stretches - all players do - that is why we have the term slump. But do not undervalue the best pitcher we have and I mean the best. No matter how well Rogers or any other RP throws, the starter is still the most valuable commodity in baseball and a lot of teams would love to have Jose.

We have Raley, Kiriloff and Larnach. I think Rooker is a trade candidate. I hate his strikeouts. If you ask me what he has to work on - its defense first, become a valuable player not a very young DH. Second learn contact. With that much power if he makes contact there will be more home runs. I prefer Seth's rating.

This is quite a development. What happens if he comes back, do we give them someone else? Do we lose Maeda?

I have never been excited by Enlow and I hope I am wrong. There is a message here when he passes Lewis Thorpe and Thorpe was one of the projected arms to fill a hole in the MLB rotation that has suddenly filled without him. Enlow and his curves makes me think of Duffey.

I posted his numbers in another sequence. He got half his WAR in year one of 4, he was replacement level for two years and had a bump last year. His innings would never allow him to wear the Innings Eater T shirt and if his ERA takes the AL bump it will be 4.50. We got league average as far as I can see and our optimism is making him something more. Then there is the question of what he will be at age 34 at the end of the contract. His average for four years is 26 starts and 153 innings per year. I am not disappointed or excited.

Perhaps he should wear the number of the person we hope to acquire next year.

"In 2019, he went 10-8 with a 4.04 ERA. In 153 2/3 innings, he walked 51 and struck out 169 batters." I tried to look up the impact on ERA of going from the NL to the AL. I did not find a lot, but would expect about a 0.5 increase which would make him much less of a #3 pitcher than we would want. I am not upset with this move, but the rookies must be discouraged.

Wander Javier in no way deserves this ranking. I questioned last year, I found the debates all season to be enlightening and I look at his futility and say he has to earn his way back into the top 20. Lewis belongs, but is an even greater disappointment. I keep watching the national ranking top prospects moving to MLB and often shining while Lewis keeps slipping. I hope for a reversal, but I no longer have delusions about him as a star. Overall I have to say I like the previous five better than this five. So thanks for starting some fun controversy.

I am ready for Colina and others that are soon to be on your list to push past Dobnak, Smeltzer, Thorpe, Chacin, and others that will be in camp. I want a young phenom to take a roster spot. I was hoping it would be Graterol but the Twins have already eliminated him.

No. I am not a relief pitcher in the HOF fan. I loved having Nathan on the team, but never felt I was watching a HOF pitcher. The fact is I would remove most of those already in rather than adding more. RP and DH are just not on the same level as SP and players who have to field a position.

The only thing that this list does for me is emphasize the danger in long term contracts for pitchers who have already reached their peaks. No I do not want Price, Archer of Sale. Let their contracts weigh down their current teams and not ours. Pitchers are fragile and they usually get paid after they have reached the point where injury and age are about to take them down. Chris Archer (31) had 0.8 WAR last year, David Price (34) 1.9, Chris Sale (30) 2.3 despite being 6 - 11 with 4.40 ERA . No thanks. I think we have enough this year and if we are courageous about reaching down and taking the younger and more talented players in our own system we will gain more value in the long term. I would have like to see the ages on each pitcher listed because that makes a big difference to me.

Of course we should worry about all the other teams. Injuries and break out seasons can't be predicted so our team and theirs can change dramatically in any season. We gloat about our lineup with good reason, but if we are going to attack the White Sox defense we have to think about our own 2B/SS/1B positions too and if Buxton isn't in CF our OF is not great either. If Cruz or Donaldson goes out with injuries we see a much less dynamic offense. Our starting pitching does not match the White Sox. I hope Berrios makes one more step forward but his August swoons are nerve wracking and Odorizzi is so limited to five innings that the "great" bullpen has to be ready early and then the BP has to be ready for the Baily, Dodnak, Chacin, Smeltzer, Thorpe starts. Pineda has a career track record that does not make me feel confident that he will be the same pitcher that we saw before the suspension. He had a successful year with Seattle at 22 but was then injured and reappeared with the Yankees at 25 and was 5 -5 1.89 ERA (the only year he was under 4. He had three okay years, not great, but useful and then sat out another year with injuries before coming to the Twins and pitching well for half a year before suspension. Three years missed for injuries, 1/2 year for suspension. His arm should be good with all those rest years. Like most of you I do not see the White Sox passing us this year, but I am not as certain about our team this year. Starting pitching still counts.

I am so opposed to an opener. The starting pitcher (I know the name is changed now) comes in as a reliever and has a possible 2 run deficit. They are not geared to this. A SP should want to control the game from the very beginning and not watch another arm of lesser quality go out ahead of them.

Without Berrios the future looks bleak. Pineda and Odorrizi will not continue. Graterol, Balazovic, and Duran need a veteran and who better than Berrios?

I have thought more about this move and if the Twins truly give the rookies a chance to compete and they cannot beat him out I am really disappointed in them. If however the rookies are not given a real chance I am disappointed in the team.

Yuck - I want the young arms. More baggage to throw in front of potential good arms. Why?

If the baseball is changed so there are fewer home runs I would prefer total bases to HR in the comparison. Maybe next year will be the year of the double.

You forgot to mention their coach - I think future HOF manager is fitting for Francona and he deserves it. What is amazing to me is that with all that you wrote about the Indians still have the worst OF in the division and that is usually one of the easiest positions to upgrade. Maybe they see a big uptick in the performance of the guys that they have, but our OF really leaves them behind. The other item that was not covered in this article is defense. On MLB fielding the Twins are 25 and Cleveland is 7 in fielding pct. Not the overall best comparison, but it works here. Defense still matters and I do not know how much Donaldson improved the team in that area.

I don't know, but I love the idea. Has he been working out this winter? How is his weight? More than what he did last year, I think the off season is the key to his success

No matter what the cause, Gonzalez has just this year left on his contract and his career with the Twins. We have Lewis, Gordon, Blankenship coming up and utility is a good place for at least one of them. With Donaldson we now have all the positions plugged in and there is less need for Gonzalez to force his way into the lineup.