Ben Noble

Jay, Gonsalves, Thorpe, Stewart, Hu off the top of my head. All still a couple years away at least and a majority likely won't pan out, but I'm optimistic that we'll be having the same conversation a couple years from now about who to jettison to find room for young pitchers knocking on the door in the minors.

Put Santana in the bullpen for a week and run through the rotation we have a couple more times before making a decision. If it comes down to it, I'd rather keep May stretched out in the Rochester rotation than stashed in the Twins' 'pen.

I don't think there is a logjam in the starting rotation. As the Twins have shown over the past few seasons, a contending team needs at least six MLB-quality starters under team control, and I don't want to see one more AAAA pitcher make a start for the Twins. Not this season. Or next. Or for awhile. We don't have six or seven or eight starters right now, we have five: Hughes, Pelfrey, Gibson, May and Milone. Nolasco is on the DL, that's nothing unusual for him, and he's had, to put it lightly, periods of ineffectiveness when he has been healthy. Santana is suspended and has yet to pitch in a game this year; he'll need minor league starts to work his way back to being MLB game ready, and even once he does that, we don't know how effective he'll be after time off and without the aid of PEDs. I'm a big fan of Berrios but, while he's pitched well, he is not knocking the door off the hinges at AA. I'm not enamored with either Duffey or Darnell or any of the other AAA starters. Oh, and Meyer is a reliever now, at least for the time being; remember when we were all so concerned about blocking Meyer from the rotation? So right now we have five starters, and I'd argue that we're actually thin at the position, at least for the next few weeks. I'm going to go ahead and literally knock on wood with one hand while I type with the other, but what happens if last season turns out to be a career year for Hughes, this turns out to be a career half-season for Pelfrey, Gibson's tightrope-walking blows up, May's control issues resurface or Milone becomes as easily to hit as his 'stuff' would indicate? I think it's reasonable for any one of these five things to happen. And a major injury could strike any of these guys at any time which, at least right now, would likely mean a AAAA player starting games for the Twins. No thanks. All of that being said, if Santana comes back strong, Nolasco comes back okay and the rest of the starters at the very least maintain, I still think you'd have to get a Ramos-type deal to move Pelfrey at this point, and even then you'd probably have to package him with a prospect. But that's a lot of 'ifs.'

With Buxton up, I wonder if the plan is for Goodrum to be the (semi) regular CF for Chattanooga. It's just one game, but I would have assumed Kepler in CF with Walker and Harrison in the corners. I was pretty high on Goodrum as a SS a couple of years ago, but at this point his ceiling is starting to look like a utility player with speed.

Once Buxton is up, I could see Hicks eventually sliding into a platoon role with Arcia or another player of his ilk. I'm kinda cherry-picking my stats here, but Hicks has a career OPS of nearly .800 vs LH starters and his defense in an OF corner would be nice to sub in for Arcia late in games where we have a lead. Sure, there are more RH starters in the league so Hicks would be the de facto 4th OF, but he could give the other two OF a day off here and there and come in as a PR, too. Fourth OF isn't what I hoped Hicks would end up as, but I think our view of what a 4th OF can be for a team has been skewed due to the paucity of talent the Twins have trotted out in that role over the past few seasons. While there's certainly a chance he could still develop into something more, Hicks does definitely have some holes in his game at this point...but the skills that he does have should still make him a valuable player to have on the bench of a legitimately competitive team.

That plan didn't work out too well in 2008/2009

Second game in a row with Rosario batting fifth...I like him there a lot more than Suzuki.

Aaron Hicks has looked like a completely different player in the field and as a hitter from the left side of the plate, and I'm proud of him for facing adversity and changing his approach. When he mashed that home run on Wednesday, I yelled so loud that my dog went and hid under the bed.

Jorge Polanco - 100%

Nolasco's career hitting line in 25 plate appearances vs. the Bucs is .381/.409/.429 (.838). No wonder Vargas got sent down.

Yes, by 'bring off the bench,' I mean as a backup, a pinch hitter who has the potential to knock one out at any time. It's a nice luxury to have, and not for the Sanos and Arcias and Vargases, but for whoever the offensively-challenged players are on future Twins rosters. Wouldn't it be nice to have a bat like Walker's to step into the box late in a game for whoever 2017's version of Shane Robinson is? Obviously I'm planning on Buxton in CF by then, but who knows, maybe we'll be starting a defense-first C or SS in a couple of years. I definitely hope Walker develops into more than a backup, and he has the potential to be something special, but more prospects than not fail to realize their ceiling. I think somewhere between Walker's floor and ceiling is a solid backup/PH.

I like Harrison a lot, but I'd have to go with Walker if I were forced to keep just one in the system. I don't think we've had a legit power bat to bring off the bench since Thome, and I think Walker could end up being that guy.

It's hard to have empathy or root for a dude who comes off as a complete toolbag but, in the spirit of some truly gorgeous weather in Minneapolis this morning, I'll point out that Nolasco has allowed just two walks total in his last two starts, has yet to allow a HR this season and hasn't given up a run in the first inning since early September of last season. None of this is particularly impressive by any means, but I'm feeling unreasonably optimistic this morning: when Santana comes back from his suspension, Nolasco will go back to his given name and transform himself into Carlos Nolasco, league-average and grossly-overpaid middle reliever.

I think it's safe to say that he's exceptionally fast. Game-changing fast, even. I'm not qualified to hand out silver and bronze medals, etc.

I really like that McDaniel brings up Buxton unprompted in response to a question regarding speed grades...and arguably one of the fastest players ever. I didn't read the entire chat, so maybe Kiley's praise of Buxton in his response was in-context, but McDaniel tends to be pretty damn pessimistic when it comes to prospect ceilings...which I appreciate, btws. Good stuff, good question, great explanation by Kiley.

Or Tomaso Milone.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_606w/WashingtonPost/Content/Production/Blogs/nationals-journal/Images/Mets_Nationals_Baseball_0b0ab.jpg?uuid=tA2rLtszEeCliX1CsIC5kgProbably.

C Pinto/Suzuki 1B Mauer/Vargas 2B Dozier/Escobar 3B Sano/Escobar SS Polanco/Santana LF Arcia/Santana CF Rosario/Santana RF Hicks/Arcia DH Vargas/Arcia UTIL Santana INF Escobar C Suzuki PR/OF Schafer SP Meyer SP Hughes SP May SP Santana SP Nolasco CL Perkins RP Burdi RP Oliveros RP Tonkin RP Graham RP Jones RP Milone Gibson and Plouffe traded, Buxton and Berrios knocking.

If Herrmann could play some 3B, I think versatility would give him a very real chance to beat out Nunez as the 25th man. Assuming he spends a good chunk of the season in AAA, I really do hope they work Herrmann in some at the hot corner if Sano is in AA/MLB or has a DH/off day in Rochester.

I haven't looked, but would assume a quick google search would come up with plenty, both in agreement and saying otherwise...there are a lot of people out there writing about baseball these days, which is a good thing. But, at least for me, it all comes down to how much trust you put in the source. I trust James and his track record, but not a lot of blind faith in anything published over a quarter century ago; there's a lot to take away from that article (and thank you for the read!) but it's definitely dated and era-specific.

The article you're referencing was published in September of 1982 and, while I sincerely appreciate, acknowledge and respect early SABR work, statistical analysis has come a long way over the past quarter century...and I kinda suspect that James, an intelligent and relatively humble man, would at the very least qualify some of the assertions he came to 33 years ago. The use and effectiveness (in context) of stolen bases has changed over the past 33 years as the game has evolved...and devolved, if you want to call it that, and then gone back again...a couple times over, back and forth, across leagues and individual team dynamics. My only real concern (and hope, and trust) is that Molitor & co will be forward-looking and dynamic when it comes to the running game and the top of the order; I want the Twins to be ahead of the curve for once as baseball continues to evolve.

Man, Joe Vavra really does do it all. I wasn't opposed to Vavra as the bench coach, but was wondering who on Molitor's staff was going to work with catchers after Davis was hired for 1B. Vavra's apparently the guy.

I shouldn't have bothered with the imho caveat, but I do love Rickey almost as much as Rickey loves Rickey. I wrote, "I'd be stoked if Buxton came anywhere close to resembling Henderson"; are you taking issue with my not using the first person plural?

I'm also hoping that Buxton becomes more than a (stereotypical) leadoff hitter...but when the power comes, I'm also optimistic that the Twins will have the right players hitting behind him to keep Buxton at the top of the order. Rickey Henderson started off as a leadoff hitter and stayed there when the power came, and Buxton has that ceiling...then again, Henderson's Oakland and Yankees lineups were pretty deep, so they could afford to keep him #1. Henderson's one of the GOATS imho, particularly as a leadoff hitter, so I'd be stoked if Buxton came anywhere close to resembling Henderson...you know, without referring to himself in the third-person.

I'm really intrigued by Huascar Ynoa and look forward to tracking his stats in the DSL this summer. I know that with players that young it's all about development and hard stats are of far less concern...but it's still fun to follow the stats! The problem is that I have absolutely no reference point for how I should read into DSL pitching numbers. So here's my question: does the DSL tend to play as a hitters' league, a pitchers' league, or neutral? Thanks!