Jham

All are. Doesn't mean it's not a useful tool! Thanks for posting.

Cool article. Wish we could see the fps for each player in the list to see what sort of gaps there are. Interesting that Dozier is so low despite his success running.

That's why the bunt last inning is a bad play at that stage: 2 runs was not likely to win anyway. Maybe if it were the 9th. Play for more runs at that point. Especially since we've all seen Polanco bunt, or try to...

Good God Sano...

Rally caps...

Wow, Target Field... you are awful... can we please replant the spruce trees in center field and ends the curse? Please?

No joke, if Giminez can pile up some innings this year, he's a pretty valuable back up catcher.

Ehhh, fashionable to claim that, but they won 91 games in '88 but just missed the playoffs pre-wild card. Less flukey than people think. Young teams can improve rapidly and go further than expected from time to time.

As I've said before, the only players any team would give up a legit pitcher for is Sano, Buxton, or Kepler. All of those guys are apparently untouchable. We also don't want to waste the years we have that core. Our have them succumb to the malaise of losing. Bundling half the organization's prospects isn't feasible either. All our chips have flamed out, gotten hurt, moved to the pen. The guys I'd dangle for pitching are Kepler, and Gordon. Both appear highly coveted, but unlikely to be all-star caliber players. I'd also shop our draft picks pretty hard while teams have some fresh scoring reports and fear of missing out.

I'm with Cheif here. We're dangerously close to sending the message that losing is acceptable. Player's aren't dumb. They notice that their pay checks come in win or lose. If losses pile up, you can let your frustration pile up, or just accept it. If you want players to go through the motions, instill a culture that suggests that games won't matter for a couple years. Then see how prepared you are for games that matter. Wait... that just happened. We need team leadership. We need guys to make everyone feel uncomfortable. Keep everyone accountable. I also agree with Thrylos in a sense. Brian Dozier may be part of the problem. Plouffe was. Nolasco was. Mauer may be. The players need to hold themselves accountable before we get them help. I think we may need to trade or dfa someone just to send a message to the remaining guys.

Statistically, Buxton is a great defender. He's not an all time great in my mind. He has rather poor field awareness which leads to injuries. He takes some interesting routes and makes some bad reads, then makes up for them with blazing speed. His hands are average. Arm seems strong but not a hose. He's not going to get any faster. It won't be long before he starts slowing down. When his world class speed dips, it does not appear he'll have the instincts and route efficiency to make up for it. Maybe the metrics disagree. That's my eye test. 0-8 on 5 stars also fits my eye test. He's great diving, but awkward leaping, had trouble with timing, and doesn't always catch or catch cleanly when going back. It's nitpicking, but the comparison of Ozzie Smith requires it.

Castro was sitting outside with Kintzler the whole night. Begging him to nibble and fall behind. His ball has crazy run and can bury on the hands of righted. Even just showing that pitch prevents that walkoff home run. Ok pitch, but he threw it 3 times in a row... you can't step out and go with the pitch of you're worried about it boring in on the hands. Poorly called in my mind.

What do we have in Rosario?

Wait, why no mention of Gonsalves outdueling Kopesch? Or were his numbers from a different game?

And Eric Thames is potentially All Star out of the KBO with no posting fee.... Twins are cursed.

I figured that part might get some people, that's why I put the IMO in there! Fangraphs had him projected like this when we drafted him: Hit GamePower RawPower Speed Field Throws Future Value 20 / 55 20 / 50 45 / 50 50 / 50+ 50 / 55 60 / 60 55 Good, not necessarily a star. He started 2 games at 2nd last year compared to 103 at SS. This year he's started 14 at 2nd already with 26 at SS. I haven't seen him play enough to say he can or can't stick at short, but I haven't heard many scouts say that he certainly will. He's hitting well this year, offsetting a career high K% (21% not bad) with career high BB%. His BABIP is 30 points higher despite moving up a level, while his slugging % is 100 points higher (3HR this year compared to 3 all of last year) This is often the way a young prospects grow as hitters. However, I'm still not sure he'll hit enough to be above average. And if he can't stick at short, his value plummets. If his last name were Nishioka instead of Gordon, would people be so high on him? To me, he's an obvious candidate to be overvalued by outside organizations.

Can't like this post enough Chief. Good starting pitching is the hardest thing to find in baseball. Unless you want to pin the hopes of Sano, Buxton, Kep, et al on an expensive reclamation project like Hughes, Nolasco, Santana, or Pelfrey, A trade is the only way to acquire an actual quality arm without having to pay over-the-top prices for more years than you will contend. I'm not saying those aren't good investments, what with insurance and the ability to trade players midway through expensive contracts, but our team doesn't do that. I think the part of Pettit's post that struck the wrong nerve was use of the term ANY PROSPECT in suggesting that the Twins simply hold out and cross our fingers. A good organization will always look to add value and talent. One name left of his list was Kohl Stewart. Twins fans have been nervous about him for 3 years. MLB followers for about 1.5. Now he's not really named among our future pieces. Maybe we missed the opportunity to trade him, maybe someone else thinks they can turn him around. If Stewart never makes it, if Wimmer never makes it, well, it's better to get something rather than nothing, especially with first rounders. Kiriloff is coming off surgery. Jay is by no means a sure thing. Gonsalves has limited upside, and a big reputation. Ditto Nick Gordon and Zack Granite (IMO). We have some pieces. I don't want to get rid of them, but they're not all going to be better than league average players, and some of them will probably be bad or not make it all.

I appreciate the thought out plan, but I don't love the rigidity. Teams should always be looking for ways to increase their talent pool, both in the majors and on the farm. You suggest that you trade from the surplus, but state that you're NEVER depleting your farm system to make a run. What if you have a surplus of minor league talent? What if you find out a guy is a club house distraction or injury risk? Plans are great when things go according to.. er... plan... but they rarely do. A FO has to be dynamic and balanced.

I mean, the Royals lost Wade Davis and Luke Hoschevar to injury and Ventura tragically... I think they may have made additional moves to extend the window if those things don't happen...

Royals won with the same model except traded for pitching instead of buying it. Trading provides lower risk, immediate return, and shorter contracts for less total money. Also, prospects with good numbers and avg results or big tools worth lousy results... actually pretty much all prospects tend to be overrated.

That's what bothered me about the initial sabremetric analysts. They regress a bunch of variables draw correlations, and then suggest causation. The cardinal rule of stats is that correlation doesn't equal causation. Wins are arbitrary, but wins above replacement is measured in.... ERA is an outdated stat, but FIP and xFIP are trying to predict ERA?? We add obp and slugging together like they carry identical value for no particular reason. Pitchers couldn't control contact, but now that they can measure it, they suddenly can. Clutch exists in science and basically everywhere else but the baseball diamond... until they find the right way to measure it. The idea of using science to suggest that things that haven't yet been discovered as proof that those things do not exist is both ironic and annoying. Especially given the snark Bill James and others initially had. That said, the new stats are improving and do make the game easier and more fun to follow.

I think his metamorphosis began a couple years ago. In 2015 he came back from the dl in an important series against the astros and outdueled Dallas kuechel. He had no velocity but gutted his way through. He's gong to have to continue to develop his change up. And his days as a top rotation guy are over, but he isn't expected to be either.

Ftw!

See, we told you the rotation would be different by May. All that angst over Berrios starting in AAA for... wait, did you say "Wilk"?

Right... I forgot that those big market fans and media outlets are so much mite forgiving. Wait... exactly the opposite.