Steve Lein

I still see a lot to like in Stewart. Most of it is pointed out in this article. If you go game-by-game with him last year, there are a bunch of strong performances (10 of 16 starts were of the 'quality' variety - only allowed more than 3 runs in 3 of his AA starts). There is an obvious lack of K's and too many walks while in AA, but a drop in K's when moving up to there happens to a lot of guys. Same thing happened to Felix Jorge. With Falvey being the pitching guy, Stewart is the one guy I'm looking forward to seeing if they can turn into something more than what he's shown. The stuff is still there, lets see if they can get him to harness it now.

Me too : http://twinsdaily.com/_/minnesota-twins-news/minnesota-twins-minor-leagues/color-me-and-joe-mauer-impressed-r2962

It has been awesome to be a part of, Seth. Very much appreciate all the opportunities to help that are given to me. And I'll get you to spell my name right eventually! Haha.

I have zero interest in seeing Gonsalves back at AA, and Romero in Fort Myers to start the year. If that's where they're starting them, I hope they move quick. It will be good to see Lewis Thorpe throwing again! Besides that, I'm really interested in seeing the difference between the Falvey and Ryan regimes in how they handle pitching promotions and advancement through the system.

He's always been the high guy on him I think, but Jose De Leon at #8.

Where are you from (be as specific as you are comfortable): From a little west of the Twin Cities just outside the 'suburbs,' confident in saying it's the longest town name in Minnesota. My drivers license refers to it as "NYA." Spent my college years in Fargo, ND. Go Bison! What is your age (or age range, if you prefer): 33 How long have you been a Twins fan? Since as long as I can remember. The Twins being in two World Series when you're a kid will do that to you. Kirby was my hero. Played 2B and wore #11 because of Chuck Knoblauch. I have yet to forgive my parents for refusing to take me to the WS game they went to in '91 (pretty sure they didn't have a ticket for me, but that's just details...). What have a couple of your best Twins memories been? Being at Game 163. The 2 World Series. "We'll see you tomorrow night!" Meeting Miguel Sano and getting his autograph thanks to Tommy Watkins at Spring Training. Going to Spring Training 5 straight years (will be my 2nd year in a row not going this year, and now I'm depressed...). The Soul Patrol. Seeing Byron Buxton's first major league hit in person in St. Louis. Who have some of your favorite players been? The answer is Kirby Puckett. There really is no other answer, but also Chuck Knoblauch, Brad Radke, Johan Santana, Shane Mack, Torii Hunter. As I've evolved since I began blogging back about 2005, I'm a much bigger fan of prospects while they are prospects than anyone on the MLB team. Max Kepler has been my favorite to follow coming up. How long have you been reading Twins Daily (or were you following some writers before Twins Daily)? Since the beginning. Seth and I go back pretty far and he was gracious enough to point readers to my work that was elsewhere at the time, and to invite me to contribute to his own topics before TD existed. Even (finger quotes) autographed (/finger quotes) my name in one of his prospect handbooks when I advised a fellow fan (and fellow Twins Daily-er) that I had written something that was in it while at ST one year. Fairly certain I struck out Parker in Town Ball once. Pretty sure my team lost that game, though. Have also known Nick and John from well before TD's inception through blogging and other means. I am 'infamous' to John because of my GF, after a TD-event, telling a guy with a knife outside the bar "If you're going to stab someone, stab me!!!" (The confusion tactic worked...) What brings you back to Twins Daily? How often do you stop by the site? I am a contributor to the site, and stop by every day. It is my coffee.

When did they renovate? Hadn't heard that. I remember hearing the Twins pulled their support of a new renovation last year, but not anything about a renovation/re-configuring happening in the years prior. Edit: And I see Thrylos has answered that already.

Higher than me on Diaz, but not far off in this system. For a 'power-hitting' prospect, it's good to see a .310 average. But I would also point out that Eddie Rosario hit .337 with 21 HR's in that league. Being a more well-rounded hitter is good, but needs to show the "game-power" that is mentioned as lacking in the article before he's in the top 10 for me.

Not sure how a Buckner type play is even remotely similar to what I'm discussing. He didn't make the play on a live ball. As far as I'm concerned, and what I'm arguing, is an intentional walk doesn't need to be, or should be, a live play. There is no major league baseball skill involved for what happens. Now, this intentional walk thing doesn't really affect pace of play in an overall sense. It does in the instances it happens and in that moment of a game. But as others have stated you're shaving off like a minute, and not anything significant to the overall measurements of pace. I have long wanted them to crack down on batters stepping out of the box. That would help a lot I think.

Yeah, I was inferring that Market and Stadium apply to those things.

More. Bigger Market. Better Stadium. $1.6BIL seems like an incredibly high number for the Marlins, though. Doesn't line up with Forbes as Mike mentions.

It was in the first game of spring training, not practice His arm was hurt before that, did the rest and rehab thing, then aggravated it with the tear on that play. It's definitely less common for position players across baseball, but the Twins currently do have another 3B-man who had tommy john surgery. His name is Paul Molitor.

I recall them signing him to play outfield. He played primarily 1B before he became a pro. Has played 1B quite a bit throughout the minors, including his trip to the AFL where that's basically all he played (were taking it easy on his arm at the time, I believe). I've said this before, but I wouldn't doubt it's actually his best defensive position (That doesn't mean he's worth more there defensively than what he's capable of in the OF).

Reminds me of the "courtesy-runner" rule in Town Ball we had. Any time the catcher got on base you could bring in another player to run for him. Let him get in the dugout and get ready to catch the next inning. Runner was not a substitution. Also had "re-entry" rules. Often used it to take a player out so he could get ready to pitch the next inning.

I actually think the argument you're using here aids my own. What is the point of these 65-70 MPH "lobs" in a "skill" sense of the game? I don't see it.

I look at it as an "integrity of the game" thing. Is it really in the best interest of the game for a team to lose, or win, a game because of these instances? I would emphatically say no.

I'm on board with the intentional walk. It's purpose is to put a guy on base, and is not a "skill" in any sense of the game of baseball. It doesn't really affect pace-of-play as they're saying, but I don't believe there is a point to making the pitcher throw the pitches. If your argument is you don't get to see the weird instances like the above anymore, I'm being honest when I say that's an extremely piss-poor argument against it. If it's only in the rookie-leagues, I don't have an issue with the extra-inning runner on 2B rule. Pretty sure that is a rule in amateur tournaments quite often. I don't believe it has any place in full-season minors or the MLB, though.

Crossing my fingers on Burdi. I have been adamant that I thought he'd be their next closer when Perkins was done since they drafted him. He had the most electric stuff in the Twins organization since Liriano. Disappointed he didn't get the ST invite if he's healthy, but makes sense if he's working with a new arm-slot.

As much as people like to obsess about how Mauer hasn't been the same guy as he used to be, he's still pretty firmly one of their best 9 position players as a hitter. Does he need to play less and/or be part of a platoon at 1B? I think so. But that's a far cry from DFA-ing him. Absolutely zero reason for that.

I liked the signing as it was going a different route, but this idea was also my caveat to it. It didn't fully make sense from a roster standpoint unless Plouffe was gone, at a minimum. That never happened so they pidgeon-holed themselves out of the gate and things just got worse from there.

If anybody's going to turn into the first right-handed HS pitcher taken at #1 overall, it might be Greene based on what else I see in this draft. But, if there is further advancement shown from any of the college guys (which I would say is likely), I'd wager that changes. Interesting nugget I've found reading up on him: He has Minnesota Twins ties...sort of. Aaron Hicks was one of the mentors/coaches at a youth baseball academy he went too.

Like I said, the coaches didn't need, or you could add want, him to start. They wanted him to finish games and utilize him more often than once a series. I'll give you a scenario: In a weekend series, you need three starters. Maybe the ace on Friday goes 7 innings. Next guy on Saturday throws 5. Sunday's guy throws 6. (Not an uncommon type of thing for Illionois starters in 2015) On Friday you brought in Jay for 2 innings and he closed the door in a close game. On Saturday he gets a day of rest because maybe your team didn't need him one way or the other. On Sunday, after the starter you bring in Jay for the final 3 innings and he preserved or picked up the win again. This isn't how it would always happen obviously, but in this theoretical series Jay has now impacted 2 games, and thrown 5 innings. Your starters threw 5, 6, and 7 each. Is it that far-fetched to say Jay did just as much as any of the starters in that series? (BTW - this type of scenario did happen for him in 2015). There was even a game Jay threw 4 innings to finish it and pick up the win after the starter threw the first 5. (I keep remembering more and more of my research as I think about it ) Point with all this, even though they used Jay as a closer/reliever, HOW they used him is not even remotely typical for such a label. It's partly why many viewed him as being capable of starting as a pro.

My thoughts exactly. That is not a prohibitive price. I dislike this move. A lot.

This is not a bad signing...But there's nothing to get excited about here either.