Jeff P

Thanks for sharing, always extra good to see a neutral party come away impressed. I hope Berrios is promoted after their all star break.

If the All Star teams were truly just chosen on current year performance, then he would have a great argument that Perkins should be in no matter what. To say that Perkins is top 5 muddies the waters a bit because of the longevity question. The other point is that there are a lot of great closers so somewhat like defining an "ace" it gets tough to draw the line. Among the list above there are a bunch of guys who I think are pretty close.

Well for me it is good timing, I am going to the game tomorrow with some business associates from out of town and was going to be reviewing the options as they wanted to eat at the game.

So could someone explain why they think Appel will sign for something way over slot? He has so little leverage. I am not saying you low ball the guy but I would not pay over slot and no way I pay over 5% over slot. I just can't see him passing on the money to go play independent ball or wherever. And if he does you still get a high pick the next year, but if you go over you screw the rest of this year's draft (by picking a bunch of guys you can sign below slot) or you miss out on next year's draft by forfeiting a pick. All for a guy with so little leverage! It makes no sense.

There has been a lot of discussion about Hicks and team control, what about Arcia? In other words, if he does stay up without going back down to the minors, would he have spent enough time at Rochester this year so that the Twins get an extra year of team control?

Good luck guys! Hopefully by the end of the season you will need to go to New Britain to follow Miguel.

I want Appel but if it means taking a bunch cheap options in later rounds then I would pass. There are too many good prospects to effectively put so many eggs in one basket. I would rather play it straight up and take a chance that he won't sign for near slot. Worst case is we get #5 next year in what is supposed to be a deeper draft.

370K but i am not sure if counted toward the prior year since they signed him in Jan 2012. Twins Sign Silva... No, Not THAT Silva - Twinkie Town In any case, it does bring up a good point: the Twins will have a large international cap this year compared to most teams. People tend to focus on the major league salaries but to me there is no excuse for them to have much extra cap room. An extra 1-1.5M does not buy much at the major league level but it can be 2-3 extra good prospects. Jeff

The Yankees are a logical team to trade with but it seems too good to be true that we would get as much or more for Willingham as we got for Span. I think a good prospect at lower levels would be more realistic (on the level of a Max Kepler). I would rather have that than another 5th starter.

Yea that was a fun read, thanks for sharing. "Griffith did make a trade to show his fans he was trying, but it was inconsequential: he acquired Second Baseman Cesar Tovar from the Cincinnati Reds for Pitcher Gerry Arrigo." It was inconsequential for 1965 but Cesar Tovar turned out to be a pretty good player for the Twins.

Thanks for putting this together, it should be interesting to see the changes as the season develops. I am in the camp of taking the BPA, but if it is basically a tossup then you go with need or at least go with a player at a premium position. I am sure it will be hard to take a HS CF this year after taking Buxton last year, but if Meadows (for instance) is your guy, I think they should still take him. Hopefully a pitcher emerges from the pack and there are four high ranking pitchers this year so Minnesota is guaranteed one of them.

I hope they spend their full allotment again in 2013. My understanding is that our cap will be higher this year due to the W-L record in 2012. Some fans have been very disappointed in the lack of major league FA signings, but to me the international area is the key. For relatively little money, they could really help themselves long term.

Thanks for the info on the 40 man Jeremy, very helpful.

For those interested, milb.com had a nice article on Max last week. Excerpt: Kepler was offered a tennis scholarship at the Steffi Graf Foundation at 7, but after competing intensely for three years, decided he preferred team sports to one-on-one competitions. When he stopped serving as a youth goalkeeper for Hertha Berlin at 11, baseball took center stage. With conflicting game schedules, Kepler had to choose one or the other. "I played a little bit of everything. I just loved being active," said Kepler. "I wasn't the kind of kid that stayed at home. I just loved being outside, throwing balls, hitting balls. I picked up motions pretty easily. Passport Prospects: Max Kepler | MiLB.com News | The Official Site of Minor League Baseball When does he need to be added to the 40 man? I thought it was after 2014. Jeff

I agree with what you are saying and I am not as upset about the lack of high end FA signings as many Twins fans are, but logical next step is that the Twins should not sign anyone next year either. Most of the guys you list will either be making their debut in 2014 or will need to be given a chance to learn from their experiences in 2013. It seems like next year is a more important year to let guys play and see what they can do. Maybe the lack of FA signings won't be so bad because at least then many of the top prospects will be in MN, part of the frustration as a fan is that even though the bases have been cleared, realistically we won't see a bunch of these guys until later in the year or not at all. Again I understand why, but let's face it, this is going to be a tough year for the fans who are paying big money to watch a bad team with a bunch of guys who won't be here in two years.