Jham

Also, Santana has a ton of doubters with some basis given his BABIP last year. Personally, I think they both pass the eye test as major league hitters, they swing hard, and are not intimidated which are signs that they see the ball well. Not only is it possible that Boxton or Rosario will be up this summer, it is also possible that Polanco (who is starting to fill out and look like a serious player with HR ability) could be up NEXT summer. We're not good enough to keep one of better players on the bench in favor of one of our worst.

Again, this seems more based on perception or potential than anything. Molitor hasn't managed one regular season game yet. I'm not so much saying we have a culture of losing, so much as saying human nature plays a role. Santana is a perfect example of someone who works hard and is earning his chance. Same with Escobar. Hicks? Schaeffer? Blue-chippers with a history of failure and more failure? Hicks and Schaeffer both seem to be working hard now that their livlihood and playing time is at risk. So hopefully they'll push each other (and Buxton/Rosario will push them both). I would expect there may well be a change of Santana to short and Buxton/Rosario to center at some point THIS year. I guess I just don't see the point in fielding a worse team to begin the season when all the teams are tied in the standings with the assumption that we'll be out of it by June just to get Santana more reps at short in April and May, when we have the rest of the season, all off-season, and Polanco and Gordon not all that far off. Then again, when we're 12 out of it in June and Escobar is batting .234 I'll probably say you were right.

I am fine with building, just not perpetual rebuilding. I just don't think it's a good model to play guys based on "what ifs" or strictly potential if you've got suitable proven options available. I think a lack of competition at the position mixed with losing a lot of games is dangerous combination regarding development of young players. I think our player development has been stunted by a lack of hard work and competition more than a lack of experience at the big-league level. When guys are competing for spots, they play harder, and work harder, and subsequently win more. Players are motivated by winning, money, and playing time. The more of those factors you take out, the less motivated your players are going to be. That means stunted prospect development, and vets with bad contracts and low trade value.

Why play hard in 2015 if we're committed to 2016/2017? Some guys might not be around then. Do you think Plouffe and Dozier will be as good then as now? Perkins? Mauer? I think we've seen the damage of perpetually rebuilding. I firmly believe the team needs to learn to compete, to play with pressure, and to win. If Meyer can't out-compete Milone, how can he best Sale or Verlander in a big series? As for Santana, I promise he'd get plenty of reps at short. I would expect Rosario or Buxton to force their way in by midseason. I also don't think it's automatic that Santana has a better career than Escobar. Shouldn't we be sure about which one's actually better vs. has more potential?

I have been an advocate of Rosario in center from the first! Mientkiewicz (the old school house rock commercial still helps me spell his name) said that he was major league ready and that his bat was the best in our farm system (including Buxton and Sano). He was able to watch him day in and day out while managing him. Molitor seems to love the kid. Others more knowledgeable than me on this blog seem to think it's a given that he's sent down though.

I compared to 91 because of the last to first angle. Morris had a career year. Erickson emerged. Knoblauch was rookie of the year. Mack had a career year. Chili Davis was an animal as a switch hitting DH. It would be interesting to go position by position with that team actually... The 87 team won fewer games, but had a Cy winner Viola, and a HOFer in Blylevin at the front of the rotation along with Gaetti, Hrbek, Puckett, Smallie, and Gagne all in their respective primes.

I still feel that a team with Santana in center and Escobar at short beats a team with Santana at short and Hicks/Schaefer/Robinson in center, but apparently that ship has sailed. Seems to me that for all the people who thought Moliter was not a FO "yes-man" he's going with the line-up the front office asked for (that Gardy fought before his firing). May got started late this spring. Meyer was on an innings limit last year and ended his season early. I do not think it would be the end of the world to have them each start in AAA. I'm much more concerned with the two of them finishing the year with the team than starting it. I for one, am not ready to give up on this team being able to compete in this division. We went worst to first in 1991 with a team not necessarily more talented than this team (going into that year). I don't think it's helpful to decide before a season that we are in "rebuild mode" after several prior years of rebuilding. We developed Plouffe, Dozier, Escobar, and Gibson, all of whom should be in their primes. Mauer may already be on the decline. We've let young players like Hicks, Santana, and Arcia take their lumps for a season and sifted out the Parmalees, Florimons, Hendriks, and Bensons. It's time for this team to start winning.

Cool article. Easy kid to roof for. His delivery reminds me a little bit of Pedro Martinez, my favorite pitcher ever. High leg kick, deceptive 3/4 delivery with zip that seems to rise on the hitter, and some serious off speed. He can't generate downward plane at his size, but he can bring the heat to generate rare upward plane! http://m.twins.mlb.com/min/video/v40540183/umgmin-berrios-strikes-out-four-over-two-innings/?affiliateId=clubMEGAMENU

P.S., I would also start Meyer out in the Pen, as I believe it is more important for him to find success against Major League hitters than find consistency against AAA hitters at this point. Also, if by chance we do compete, we can perhaps use him in any number of valuable team-first roles without (hopefully) having to worry about innings limits or fatigue for a pennant run. Wait, did I just say pennant run? Disregard this entire post.

We have 2 claims. 1) That the Twins bullpen was above league average until 2/3rds of the way through the season. And 2) that the Twins bullpen sucked in all regards all year. I recall having the impression that the pen was wearing down by the end of the year (Perkins getting shut down, etc.) but do not know if this sentiment is supported by the statistics. I suppose now, it would be difficult to check?

What a beautifully nuanced game our national pass-time is that we can have such meaningful discussions as to the merit of moving Mauer up or down 1 spot in the batting order, or the advantages and disadvantages of bunting against the shift. With empirical data to back it up, no less. Regarding the latter, I consider bunting an extremely situational play. In essence, each the scenarios that play out during the course of the game will almost certainly change the cost/benefit ratio of the bunt. Two players referenced in this thread, David Ortiz and Carlos Gomez could not be different in terms of foot speed. It would be folly to rely on a metric that did not take this into account. Also, the point of the game, may alter your approach as may a hundred other factors. If Ortiz is up in the bottom of the ninth in a tie game with 2 outs, and he can drop down a bunt and get a free runner, do you take it? Might depend who's pitching, who's fielding, who is on the bench to pinch run, who is on deck, who might pinch hit, whether you have an advantage in extra innings, who they have left in the pen, who is due up for your opponent, the relative success of Ortiz and the next hitter against the current pitcher and the one warming in the pen, and a thousand more things that might have an effect on the outcome... Now do the same thing for Gomez. Now for Mauer. Baseball is awesome. Opening day can't come soon enough.

I remember going to a game last season against Cleveland where we shifted against Carlos Santana. He laid one down for a walking single. Later that game, he crushed one over the limestone. There's a couple ways to beat the shift!

I mean, that's sort of my point. Puckett hit home runs. Mauer is a contact hitter... I'm not bemoaning the lack of power or disagreeing with your reason why he led the team in double plays last year. I'm just wondering if 3rd is the best spot to bat him considering he is a contact hitter. I'm concerned that he may have gotten lucky to have only hit into 12 dp's considering his spray chart shows a lot of balls on the ground, particularly toward 2nd. http://www.fangraphs.com/spraycharts.aspx?playerid=1857&position=C&type=battedball We were 7th in baseball in runs scored last year. Mauer drove in only 55 of those. I think its fair to wonder if batting Mauer third helps the team. I also think it's fair to say that his skill set would make him an unusual lead off hitter or 2nd place hitter. We all have theories about why Joe declined last year. We all have an opinion on whether he'll bounce back. I'd prefer to see Joe bat 2nd behind Santanta. I'm not going to throw a fit if he bats 3rd if its because Moliter thinks he will bounce back. However, if he has another year like last, I think we would be wasting Joe's talents by not moving him up in the order.

12 is not a ridiculous amount of GIDP's, although it did lead the team. So perhaps some truth on both sides. I think the issue some have regarding the GIDP's is the lack of slugging to compensate. If it is as Brock suggests a meeting of contact and opportunity, you'd expect more RBI's which is a similar meeting of contact and opportunity. At the same time, Mauer's K rate took another big jump last year which probably held back both the RBI and GIDP's. Bottom line, striking out and hitting into double plays is not a super great attribute for a player whose typical upside in those situations is a hard hit single or walk. Look back at the Mauer thread from a month ago which shows his spray chart and decline in SLG% along with his increase in K% and tell me that's not a bit disconcerting. Don't over think it. Santana first, then Mauer, Dozier, etc. I do not automatically believe he will go back to his MVP level, although a post-fatherhood bounce back is somewhat likely in my opinion, although it's really more of a theory. I don't think the Sabrs track a "first child/ short term re-evaluation of priorities" metric.

Hasn't Mauer said he doesn't like guys strying to steal when he's batting? I thought I read or heard that somewhere. Other than that, I always liked Mauer hitting second. He does hit into a ton of double plays due to his inability to lift the ball to the right side. Also the bunt seems to have left his game despite the fact that the 3rd baseman plays shortstop for many of his at bats and he's demonstrated exquisite bat control while bunting earlier in his career. So Mauer will have to get used to guys running in front of him, because I'd be sending guys with Mauer up constantly. I guess I also think Mauer's struggles last season were indicative of larger issues in his game (loss of bat speed). That said, he had just fathered Twins, he was coming off a concussion, and his team was lousy. I couldn't blame him if baseball was 3rd on his priority list last year. When his kids start getting a case of the 2's, the grind of a 162 game season might not seem so bad after all. So I guess I'll be optimistic for a bounce back.

Recent Strib article points to Molitor wanting him in Center and Mientkiwitcz saying he's MLB ready now. www.startribune.com/sports/twins/292542471.html It would not shock me to see Rosario break with the big club with Hicks to AAA. However, given the March Masher's (Hicks) success in spring training, I think think it's more likely we see him until June so we can delay that all important service clock.

If Sano isn't at least an average 3B for part of his career I will be a bit disappointed. This kid came to us a power-hitting shortstop. He climbed to 2 in the prospect rankings because he had a chance to be a top-level third baseman with his athleticism and arm. From what I've heard (never seen him play) he has consistency issues but has the ability to make the spectacular play. You don't give up on that.

What does that say about his bad starts? I will take past performance over spring training flashes every single day. The first four starters have somewhat proven track records and thus deserve their spots in the rotation. Of the rest, clearly Milone has the most proven track record, though he was awful last season. Some have suggested a fall off in ability, loss of velocity, or possible health concern for his struggles. I would guess we're overreacting to what appears to be an aberration and that a bounce back season from Milone is probably one of the safer bets of the team's question marks, assuming health. To me, May showed serious nerves early on that gradually improved. He also had a fantastic season as a whole last year. For that reason, I would expect an improvement from May as well. He's right there. Depth is not a bad thing. The last time we made the playoffs we had 6 pitchers post double digit wins. This staff actually looks considerably better than that staff, btw. I think the worst thing we can do is "hand" someone the job based solely on potential or solely on salary. Hopefully we have a lot of tough decisions and heated forum debates because they all pitch so well.

Interesting piece from http://rotoscouting.com/alex-meyer-scouting-report-2014/ Don't know a ton about the scout, but at least he'd watched him at two points in his career. He projects him as a potentially elite level closer. Nothing wrong with that, btw.

I wonder if we are putting to much pressure on this kid to be the next staff ace. Maybe we should just let him develop instead. I'm not sure we're doing him many favors by comparing him to all-time greats like Randy Johnson. Aside from being left-handed, Johnson was one of the most durable pitchers of his generation. He generated easy speed. His herky jerky mechanics hid an incredibly smooth 3/4ths delivery making his velocity even more deceptive. His release point was basically directly at a left-hander's head. I've never seen Meyer throw, but I'm not sure I've read that he has any of those qualities. Not too many starting pitchers can get by on fastball, slider. I'd start him out in the pen, and hope for Papplebon upside. Otherwise he'll probably need to develop a plus change-up or cutter. Major league hitters don't swing at garbage, and can time up any amount of heat by their 2nd trip through, if not within their first at bat. Given his durability issues, it seems bringing him out of the pen is a no-brainer, at least at first. I'm trying to think of a fair comparison for Meyer as a right-handed starter with a 2.5 pitch assortment, and I really have a hard time coming up with one...

That's my point. The past 4 years have not provided open competitions. Guys were handed spots they hadn't earned (Hicks, Pelfrey, Guerrier). If Pelfrey is somehow the best pitcher and wins the spot, he could make the team better both present and future. I'm sure he'd be a positive influence on any young pitchers that got called up. He could actually prove to be a tradeable commodity or allow us to move another pitcher for more talent. We can argue about whether a player would develop faster due to pressure to improve and competition or facing major league hitters, but I think its the latter mentality that ultimately depleted the organizations talent to begin with.

This.

Man, the season hasn't even started, spring training hasn't even started for that matter, and we're already talking developing players? How about the best player plays. If we're 20 games back at the All Star break again, then let's give some younger guys a shot. But I do not think we do anyone any favors by simply handing guys jobs based on "potential" which sometimes means we haven't seen them fail yet. Actually, Milone is a great example of this. Pretty much this whole forum loved the trade acquiring Milone last summer and praised TR for landing a big fish on light tackle, even though it left us with a pretty messed up Center Field situation. Milone represented "potential" in that we hadn't seen him fail yet. Maybe he'll fail again, and May or Meyer will step up. But giving guys jobs that haven't earned them is a bad idea. It fosters a losing attitude. It tells the team that the front office doesn't care if it wins or doesn't think they can win. It tells players that hard work, effort, and skill matter less than age, so why bother trying? And it tells prospects, eg Aaron Hicks that they don't have to be better than the next guy in line to play which both sets them up for failure and stunts development and work ethic. Basically, giving the 5th spot to May or Meyer just because their perceived ceilings are higher than other options makes just as little sense as giving the 5th spot to Pelfrey or Milone just because we are paying them more. Let's break camp with the mentality that we can compete and win. Necessarily this means we need competitors and winners. Let's see a fierce competition for the 5th spot, and may the best pitcher win. Which I suspect is either Milone or May, btw.

Actually, I'd take ANY of his road ERA/FIPs for the Twins 5th starter this season. I'm sold. Milone's job to lose.

There are 5 Cy Young award winners on that list. Comparing Alex Meyer to that list because of similar BB/9 seems a little narrow. I would guess more separates Meyer from those others than just the Twins management. Like others have said, it probably isn't the walk totals that have held him back so much as the arm problems and occasional seriously labored outing (which seemed to always come when there was talk of a promotion). We kicked and screamed for Gibson, May, Albers, and Slama while the scouts told us they weren't major league ready or simply weren't major leaguers. We are all anxious to see what we have in Meyer, but let's make sure we get the best Meyer possible.