nytwinsfan

Blackmon is a career .756 OPS, 3.1 career WAR outfielder with only 3.5 years of control left. And Miguel Sano is Miguel Sano, with 6+ years of control left. Even if you think pretty lowly of Sano, which I don't, you could still get a lot more for him than that in a trade.

Umm, no thanks.

Uggh, DO NOT WANT. This probably also indicates no Buxton anytime soon, because are they really going to sit/send down both Hicks and Rosario? Honestly the positions that need the most upgrade right now are catcher, SS and 1B, not outfield, especially with Buxton and Kepler on the way and Arcia lurking.

I really don't understand why they have him playing 1B. I think that is a huge mistake. He is hitting as well or better than Harrison, and by all accounts, his outfield defense is better than Harrison (and maybe Walker) and his overall value as an outfielders is probably higher than Harrison and Walker (both of whom are legit prospects in their own right and neither of whom I am disparaging). And Mauer is going to be 1B for the next three years, or if he's not, then wow, something bigger and probably really bad is going on. Even if Mauer isn't the 1B for the next three years, just hypothetically, someone like Vargas, Plouffe, or Sano probably will be. So I just don't understand the reason for keeping Kepler at 1B. The only things I can think of are (1) that Kepler's outfield defense is so solid that he doesn't need the reps there as much as Harrison, and could diversify his defensive flexibility by learning how to play infield defense, or more likely (2) given his history of recent injuries they want to reduce the chances of another arm injury on a diving catch, at least until he gets the bat going for a significant period of time. But if it is not (2), which I could buy, then I think the Twins organization is making a mistake by not keeping Kepler as primarily an outfielder.

No, I said Twins commentators who are skeptical of Polanco's ability to play defense at SS (such as Aaron Gleeman, Derek Wetmore -- not some random guy) should reach out to them.

Has anyone (coach, etc.) given any explanation for why the strikeouts are so low? Is it lackluster velocity, movement, pitch selection? I agree it is definitely way too early to give up on him. For sure.

Well, for one, the coaches at Chattanooga, but also scouts, and commentators, national or local, that follow the Lookouts. A number of people on this website have written about Polanco's defense. I can't find the thread where it happened, but I had a long discussion with someone on twins daily who had just seen Polanco play in person and thought his defense had improved immensely, and that many of his errors were mostly about poor decisions (e.g., rushing a throw when there was little chance to get the runner out, etc.). Obviously that is also a small sample size and not a professional scout, so it shouldn't be taken as gospel either. I just find it frustrating that some of the same people who are always talking about how we shouldn't draw conclusions from small sample sizes, are the very same ones concluding that Polanco has no chance to stick at SS based on a very very very small sample size.

So is Polanco going to be able to stick at SS or what? Maybe it is just me, but this seems like the elephant in the room. All these major league commentators who saw Polanco have one bad outing in the field (his first start ever in the majors) seem convinced he won't, but I honestly think their opinion is worthless. They haven't seen him play day in and day out, when he isn't incredibly nervous for his first start ever. I'm not saying he necessarily will stick at SS,and the number of errors he has racked up suggests he has work to do, but the rush to write him off seems way to quick to me. I just wish some of these commentators who focus almost exclusively on the major leagues would talk to some people who have followed Polanco in the minors this year, in order to get a better assessment based on a larger sample size. Moreover, even if Polanco's defense at SS ends up being subpar, are we convinced the loss of value there isn't more than made up by his offensive value? If Escobar regains last year's form, then sure, that makes more sense (I don't have high expectations for Santana). But otherwise, I'm not sure we have a better option. Polanco probably is ideally a plus second baseman, but with Dozier the Twins best hitter for the near (and possibly medium) term, and Polanco's skills generally undervalued by the market in terms of trade value, it isn't clear to me that keeping him at SS in the hopes that his defense will improve to serviceable isn't the best option. I probably could have started a new thread about this topic, but I honestly think this might be the best place for it. If the moderators or site owners disagree, let me know and I can delete and repost as a separate thread.

Sorry, but no way is Gonsalves top 5. Buxton, Sano, Berrios, Jay, and Polanco are all unquestionably ahead of him. I could maybe see an argument for 6, but boy even that is a stretch for me. He has exceeded all expectations, but he throws in the very low 90s, and has dominated low A ball. Does he have potential upside, definitely, and I'm excited, but top 5 just makes no sense.

Sometimes I think Glen Perkins is half of the Twins' analytic department.

With a single and double last night (2 for 4), Sano is now hitting .254/.353/.486 (.839) on the year with a 13.1% BB rate and a 24.4% K rate (his best K rate ever, except for 80 PAs in rookie ball in 2010). Last night was also Sano's first error in the past 8 games, which is the longest stretch he's gone without an error all year. Since May 1st, Sano is hitting .303/.380/.541 (.921). Since June 1st, Sano is hitting .304/.407/.478 (.886), and that despite a nagging hand injury that caused him to miss a few games. In short, Sano is hitting great. The one arguably negative thing on offense is that his power is slightly down, but honestly, power is the one offensive thing no one should be worried about from Sano in the long run.

By hard cap I meant the amount they can't go over (after trades) without the penalty of not being able to sign guys the following year for more than a couple thousand. I guess there is no truly hard cap, as the Red Sox demonstrated this year, but they won't be a big player in the international market until 2017 again.

Very interesting tweet from Darren Wolfson: I read that as Radcliffe suggesting the Twins are seeking (through trade) additional $ above their current approximate $4 million cap, which I think is hard capped at around $6 million. This makes sense, given that Javier Wander is expected to be a $4 million signing, and as many others have noted, the Twins are always interested in signing some lower profile international guys. If you look at the replies to the tweet, Wolfson also says the Twins have other deals currently in place, but that they won't state who those players are.

His current BABIP is .342, while the highest it has ever been in a previous season is .310. He is likely going to regress some. That being said, he still is an intriguing prospect, with tremendous upside.

Sorry, but that BABIP of .303 is NOT correct: http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=sa621791&position=OF It is .342. .303 was 2014. I think that is important to note. The highest he has ever been before in a season is .310. While of course it is possible he improved his contact ability and that could be responsible for the increased BABIP, it is also pretty likely that his numbers are going to regress some.

Sorry, missed it.

More on Jovani Moran, from Baseball America: And here is video of him: I'm not scout, but "lanky, projectible frame" is kind of an understatement. Kid looks skinny as can be, especially his upper body. He looks like he could easily add a couple of MPH on his pitches as he fills out.

I knew it. He looked really young. Exactly, let's hope so.

What is Jovani Moran's age and birthday? He looks really young in the photos I could find, which is good, since that might mean more projection on his 6 foot 1, 165 pound frame.

Those numbers seem a bit high. Where did you get them from?

Why does he draw Alex Gordon comps?

I'd probably go: (1) Buxton (2) Sano (3) Berrios (4) Polanco (5) Jay (6) Meyer (7) Gordon (8) Kepler (9) Stewart (10) Gonsalves (11) Walker (12) Hu (13) Harrison (14) Turner (15) Burdi (16) Cody Probably missing someone(s), but oh well. Rosario no longer a prospect in my book.

This is a great Baseball America list of ten upside talents left for round 3. Hope the Twins take one, or someone else with that kind of upside. Hooper and Matuella (as Seth noted) would probably be pretty hard to sign, but the rest sound really exciting. http://www.baseballamerica.com/draft/2015-draft-best-remaining-prospects-day-two/

This is a great article at Baseball America, about ten great players in the draft still around for Round 3. Most of these would be tough to sign, and some (Hooper) very tough, but I'd love to see the Twins pick one of them in the fifth pick of the 3rd round: http://www.baseballamerica.com/draft/2015-draft-best-remaining-prospects-day-two/ I think I read somewhere that the Twins consider their minor league system relatively "full" and that they didn't plan to take a player in quite a few rounds. Hopefully that will free up a bit of extra cash to sign one or two higher-upside players.

Cody is a good high-upside pick and a nice call by you Jeremy. At 3 I'd like to see HS OFs Alonzo Jones (80-speed) or Demi Orimoloye (raw tool shed) or HS pitchers Mac Marshall or Jacob Nix (Houston's high-upside failed gambles from last year).