Shane Wahl

Jim: Check out Carroll's defensive statistics from last year. At third, second, and short he was above average. It is a fair point to make that there is no way he will be as good next year as last year, true. But he is solid at the position and has surprising range. Florimon would make plays that Carroll could not . . . but the opposite is true as well. Riverbrian: Colabello appears to have been fairly bad at 3B. That is why I labelled him an emergency 3B in the case of Plouffe and Carroll somehow being out in-game at some point. It's probably similar to how Mastroianni would technically be an emergency second baseman as well. That's still worth having. My reason for wanting him on the roster is that I really don't see anyone else currently in the organization who is going to provide a bench bat as potentially good as is, and he is certainly peaking right now in his prime. It isn't as though he needs seasoning in AAA. It is also a great story, but having a RH bat on the bench would be nice for a change. Lee: yeah, I understand that the Twins likely won't agree with me. I honestly do think that this is their mistake (haha!). That said, I see no way in hell that they will not have a backup OF for Mastroianni and everybody else. Boggs is most likely the guy, but Ramirez would be my pick. It doesn't really matter as long as it is one of them. Hicks and Arcia in June if they are doing well in AAA. No, zero, none, zilch, etc. reason not to do that. That is why I like guys already here to be the placeholder instead of signing another player. Eventually I would also hope that the pitching staff drops to 11 pitchers to add one more player. I am fairly certain that it will be Butera over Herrmann. I see no reason to do that though. Of course I also would have promoted Herrmann to AAA by July last year. If they are waiting on "seasoning" in AAA for him . . . how dumb. He is not likely to be any kind of star and maybe not even a regular on a good team. But that doesn't mean that Drew Butera should be on the roster instead. Herrmann is a legitimate *batter* if not a *hitter* necessarily. And he might be able to be a super utility man if given the proper attention. Like an NBA role-player . . . Benson was hurt last year and the team certainly put pressure on him with that 2011 September callup without any time at AAA (DUMB). He needs to be at AAA and be playing every day. I don't think Pelfrey can even be ready. Wasn't his surgery in May? To be ready by April, he's got to be getting ready in February and March. I don't think it would be wise to push him. There is absolutely no reason to do so. Let him come back a bit later to protect against further injury.

There is strangely now much more uncertainty about the 2013 roster than there was for 2012. A little over a month ago it seemed like things were clear-cut. There was a 50/50 chance that Span would be traded, but otherwise it looked like much of the 25-man roster was pretty clear. In the past few weeks, the Twins have traded Span (for prospect Alex Meyer), traded Ben Revere for Vance Worley (and prospect Trevor May), signed Kevin Correia, Mike Pelfrey and Rich Harden, and selected Ryan Pressly in the rule 5 draft. This a four-person shakeup of the roster, but the loss of Span and Revere creates further question marks. There are then three big areas of doubt for the roster, and in rather tragic-comic fashion they are starting pitching, the outfield, and middle infield. Starting rotation Scott Diamond and Vance Worley are clear locks at the top of the rotation. Whether or not they should be at the top of any rotation is another matter, but a charitable view is that one could legitimately hold down the second spot and the other a third spot on a competitive team. We can all wait and see if the Twins add Shaun Marcum to make the front three fully legitimate. After those two, it would seem obvious that Kevin Correia and Mike Pelfrey are next in line, given that they are making $4.5 and $4 million in 2013, respectively. Since Nick Blackburn is making $5.5 million as well, that might mean that Nick rounds out the rotation. That's an expensive 3-5 part of the rotation given that they would all seem to be 5th or spot starters. Aside from this, Liam Hendriks would seem to be next in line since he is the only prospect totally ready. He struggled mightily in 2012, but he was substantially better in the last two months. He is also someone who is smart about pitching and has good enough stuff to adapt adequately. Then there is the most recent addition, Rich Harden, who is a walking injury and is coming off rotator cuff surgery. If healthy for 100 innings this year, Harden should be pretty valuable. After Harden, it is a mess of pitchers: Cole DeVries, Sam Deduno, and PJ Walters, who all served time with the Twins in 2012. The first two were decent enough as fifth starters, and Walters showed glimpses of that capability as well. Then there is Kyle Gibson, who is going to be facing limited innings. He is very likely going to be limited to the 140-150 range. It doesn't make sense to start the season with him as a starter in that case. The Twins may base their decision around the $14 million given to their fifth starters and start the season with those pitchers at 3-5 in the rotation. Attrition might hit one of them and Hendriks does not return to AAA but rather to the Twins. Attrition could hit two of them and Hendriks and Harden/Deduno/DeVries/Walters are a part of the starting five. What the Twins should not resort to is bringing Brian Duensing or Anthony Swarzak into the rotation. Duensing is very valuable as a lefty specialist out of the bullpen, and Swarzak is bad as a starter and marginally adequate as a long reliever. The Twins may be signing Freddy Garcia in the next few days. Nothing really changes above, except added frustration at wasting money on 5th-starter ceiling pitchers. The Outfield Josh Willingham is the lock in left field barring any sudden trade in the remainder of the offseason. And I think it is a good idea to not trade him yet, as his power numbers shouldn't fall off too much in 2013 and his trade value goes up, especially around the deadline. Darin Mastroianni and Chris Parmelee may round out the starting OF and this means a below-average OF defensively which is a stark contrast from the 2012 team. However, Mastroianni was the 4th OF, and if he starts the Twins would need to add somebody to serve in that bench role. Aaron Hicks is drawing attention as a potential CF instead of Mastroianni and he deserves this attention. He has been ready defensively for MLB for a few years and his bat is developing. He is still young and could obviously use AAA seasoning. Joe Benson would have been an obvious choice for this CF position, but the 2012 season was a debacle for the talented prospect. He dealt with an injury and needs time at Rochester to get it together. An overlooked possibility is for the Twins to start Mastroianni at CF and simply call-up Wilkin Ramirez to be the 4th OF. Ramirez didn't play any CF in 2012, but played there a bit in 2011 and a lot in 2010 when he split time between the minor league AAA Atlanta and Detroit affiliates. This would mean not spending money on a washed-up veteran and rewarding a minor league player who was very successful in 2012. In 396 plate appearances for Rochester last year, Ramirez's line was .276/.316/.451. While he obviously strikes out too much (97) and walks too little (18), he has significant power (15 homers and 18 doubles). He is Darin Mastroianni minus a bit of defensive range and speed, but with more power. Brandon Boggs is another likely possibility as he has experience in all three OF positions and also posted a .767 OPS in AAA last year. He is Wilkin Ramirez with better plate discipline and less power. It would interesting to see if the Twins goes this route and see how Hicks, Benson, and Oswaldo Arcia do in AAA to begin the season, at least until June. Middle Infield The Twins experimented with their middle infield in 2012. Jamey Carroll was above average defensively at short but started the season struggling at the plate. Alexi Casilla was above average at second base, but was bad at the plate and is gone, signing with Baltimore. The Twins then made a series of bad decisions regarding prospect Brian Dozier. They called him up even though he was not successful in limited time at Rochester. He started out of the gates well enough, demonstrating some pop and good fundamentals in the field. But then he crashed. The Twins stuck with him for several weeks after he started to stink for some reason and never bothered to move him over to second base and Carroll back to shortstop. Eventually he was demoted and Pedro Florimon was given a chance at shortstop. The Twins mysteriously didn't bring Dozier back in September. He could have played second base during that time. I think the Twins really should have tried out all possible combinations of middle infield alignment between Florimon, Dozier, Carroll, and Eduardo Escobar. Unfortunately it was almost completely Florimon-Carroll, with Escobar filling in some at second base. Florimon was flashy at shortstop but made a number of errors on routine plays. His bat was also pretty bad, adding to the offensive woes the middle infield went through in 2012. Looking forward to 2013, it would seem like the same four players are going to be in contention, with only three likely to make the roster. Jamey Carroll surprised people with his above average play at SS and I believe he should return to that position. This is also due to the fact that the Twins needs somebody besides Mauer at the top of their lineup to get on base and Carroll had a strong second half of the 2012 season. I would give second base to Dozier who definitely is going to be a better offensive performer than Florimon. If Dozier can improve defensively at an easier position this might also help his performance at the plate. I would have Florimon take over the utility infielder role and keep Escobar at Rochester to try to develop some kind of offense. Odds and Ends Other things I would like to see the Twins do include giving the long relief role to Rule 5 draft pick Ryan Pressly and sending Anthony Swarzak off in some trade for a low-A hard thrower. Swarzak is competent and some teams might consider him as a starter. Pressly is nothing special but he just turned 24 and is over two years younger than Scott Diamond (not to mention three years younger than Swarzak). It isn't as though the Twins are without long relievers from the mess of 5th-6th starters they have right now in the system in case Pressly is terrible. He might be worth the very low risk and may improve for 2014. I also would like the Twins to give up on the Drew Butera era and add Chris Herrmann to the roster. Herrmann is not a great prospect, but rather a good one and that works as a catcher. Furthermore, he can also play the corner outfield positions and would serve as the 5th outfielder. He isn't going to be a starting catcher anyway, so the "playing every day" mantra doesn't really apply. His adequate defense and great plate discipline make him much more deserving of a roster spot than that one other guy. Finally, there is one bench spot left and I would like to see what Chris Colabello can do. There isn't much time to wait and see with him in AAA. I would understand if the Twins went with Escobar to start the season to see Colabello hit in Rochester, but he is getting old, is peaking, and has power. His 2012 performance in AA coupled with his complete dominance of the Mexican Winter League earns him this reward. And . . . it makes for a good story and someone interesting to watch in 2013. The Roster Jamey Carroll, SS (RH) Joe Mauer, C (LH) Josh Willingham, LF (RH) Justin Morneau, 1B (LH) Trevor Plouffe, 3B (RH) Ryan Doumit, DH (SH) Chris Parmelee, RF (LH) Brian Dozier, 2B (RH) Darin Mastroianni, CF (RH) Wilkin Ramirez OF (RH)/Brandon Boggs OF (SH), Pedro Florimon MI (SH), Chris Herrmann C/LF/RF (LH), Chris Colabello​ 1B/emergency 3B (RH) Scott Diamond (LH) Vance Worley (RH) Kevin Correia (RH) Liam Hendriks (RH) Rich Harden (RH)* Ryan Pressly (LR-RH) Tyler Robertson (MR-LH) Anthony Slama (!!!!) (MR-RH) ** Casey Fien (MR-RH) Brian Duensing (MI-LH) Jared Burton (SU-RH) Glen Perkins (LH-CL) * Pelfrey is likely not ready to start the season. Harden could lose to any number of other pitchers, of course. But if he's healthy that is very good. ** It's Slama's time, and Alex Burnett has one option year left. Burnett needs to work on things and should do it in Rochester in high-leverage setup situations. So this concludes a very updated blueprint that is more in touch with reality. The Twins are going to face some trade opportunities and prospects knocking on the door in 2013 so this season is definitely going to be a work-in-progress and the 25-man roster will look very different at the end of the season.

There is strangely now much more uncertainty about the 2013 roster than there was for 2012. A little over a month ago it seemed like things were clear-cut. There was a 50/50 chance that Span would be traded, but otherwise it looked like much of the 25-man roster was pretty clear. In the past few weeks, the Twins have traded Span (for prospect Alex Meyer), traded Ben Revere for Vance Worley (and prospect Trevor May), signed Kevin Correia, Mike Pelfrey and Rich Harden, and selected Ryan Pressly in the rule 5 draft. This a four-person shakeup of the roster, but the loss of Span and Revere creates further question marks. There are then three big areas of doubt for the roster, and in rather tragic-comic fashion they are starting pitching, the outfield, and middle infield. Starting rotation Scott Diamond and Vance Worley are clear locks at the top of the rotation. Whether or not they should be at the top of any rotation is another matter, but a charitable view is that one could legitimately hold down the second spot and the other a third spot on a competitive team. We can all wait and see if the Twins add Shaun Marcum to make the front three fully legitimate. After those two, it would seem obvious that Kevin Correia and Mike Pelfrey are next in line, given that they are making $4.5 and $4 million in 2013, respectively. Since Nick Blackburn is making $5.5 million as well, that might mean that Nick rounds out the rotation. That's an expensive 3-5 part of the rotation given that they would all seem to be 5th or spot starters. Aside from this, Liam Hendriks would seem to be next in line since he is the only prospect totally ready. He struggled mightily in 2012, but he was substantially better in the last two months. He is also someone who is smart about pitching and has good enough stuff to adapt adequately. Then there is the most recent addition, Rich Harden, who is a walking injury and is coming off rotator cuff surgery. If healthy for 100 innings this year, Harden should be pretty valuable. After Harden, it is a mess of pitchers: Cole DeVries, Sam Deduno, and PJ Walters, who all served time with the Twins in 2012. The first two were decent enough as fifth starters, and Walters showed glimpses of that capability as well. Then there is Kyle Gibson, who is going to be facing limited innings. He is very likely going to be limited to the 140-150 range. It doesn't make sense to start the season with him as a starter in that case. The Twins may base their decision around the $14 million given to their fifth starters and start the season with those pitchers at 3-5 in the rotation. Attrition might hit one of them and Hendriks does not return to AAA but rather to the Twins. Attrition could hit two of them and Hendriks and Harden/Deduno/DeVries/Walters are a part of the starting five. What the Twins should not resort to is bringing Brian Duensing or Anthony Swarzak into the rotation. Duensing is very valuable as a lefty specialist out of the bullpen, and Swarzak is bad as a starter and marginally adequate as a long reliever. The Twins may be signing Freddy Garcia in the next few days. Nothing really changes above, except added frustration at wasting money on 5th-starter ceiling pitchers. The Outfield Josh Willingham is the lock in left field barring any sudden trade in the remainder of the offseason. And I think it is a good idea to not trade him yet, as his power numbers shouldn't fall off too much in 2013 and his trade value goes up, especially around the deadline. Darin Mastroianni and Chris Parmelee may round out the starting OF and this means a below-average OF defensively which is a stark contrast from the 2012 team. However, Mastroianni was the 4th OF, and if he starts the Twins would need to add somebody to serve in that bench role. Aaron Hicks is drawing attention as a potential CF instead of Mastroianni and he deserves this attention. He has been ready defensively for MLB for a few years and his bat is developing. He is still young and could obviously use AAA seasoning. Joe Benson would have been an obvious choice for this CF position, but the 2012 season was a debacle for the talented prospect. He dealt with an injury and needs time at Rochester to get it together. An overlooked possibility is for the Twins to start Mastroianni at CF and simply call-up Wilkin Ramirez to be the 4th OF. Ramirez didn't play any CF in 2012, but played there a bit in 2011 and a lot in 2010 when he split time between the minor league AAA Atlanta and Detroit affiliates. This would mean not spending money on a washed-up veteran and rewarding a minor league player who was very successful in 2012. In 396 plate appearances for Rochester last year, Ramirez's line was .276/.316/.451. While he obviously strikes out too much (97) and walks too little (18), he has significant power (15 homers and 18 doubles). He is Darin Mastroianni minus a bit of defensive range and speed, but with more power. Brandon Boggs is another likely possibility as he has experience in all three OF positions and also posted a .767 OPS in AAA last year. He is Wilkin Ramirez with better plate discipline and less power. It would interesting to see if the Twins goes this route and see how Hicks, Benson, and Oswaldo Arcia do in AAA to begin the season, at least until June. Middle Infield The Twins experimented with their middle infield in 2012. Jamey Carroll was above average defensively at short but started the season struggling at the plate. Alexi Casilla was above average at second base, but was bad at the plate and is gone, signing with Baltimore. The Twins then made a series of bad decisions regarding prospect Brian Dozier. They called him up even though he was not successful in limited time at Rochester. He started out of the gates well enough, demonstrating some pop and good fundamentals in the field. But then he crashed. The Twins stuck with him for several weeks after he started to stink for some reason and never bothered to move him over to second base and Carroll back to shortstop. Eventually he was demoted and Pedro Florimon was given a chance at shortstop. The Twins mysteriously didn't bring Dozier back in September. He could have played second base during that time. I think the Twins really should have tried out all possible combinations of middle infield alignment between Florimon, Dozier, Carroll, and Eduardo Escobar. Unfortunately it was almost completely Florimon-Carroll, with Escobar filling in some at second base. Florimon was flashy at shortstop but made a number of errors on routine plays. His bat was also pretty bad, adding to the offensive woes the middle infield went through in 2012. Looking forward to 2013, it would seem like the same four players are going to be in contention, with only three likely to make the roster. Jamey Carroll surprised people with his above average play at SS and I believe he should return to that position. This is also due to the fact that the Twins needs somebody besides Mauer at the top of their lineup to get on base and Carroll had a strong second half of the 2012 season. I would give second base to Dozier who definitely is going to be a better offensive performer than Florimon. If Dozier can improve defensively at an easier position this might also help his performance at the plate. I would have Florimon take over the utility infielder role and keep Escobar at Rochester to try to develop some kind of offense. Odds and Ends Other things I would like to see the Twins do include giving the long relief role to Rule 5 draft pick Ryan Pressly and sending Anthony Swarzak off in some trade for a low-A hard thrower. Swarzak is competent and some teams might consider him as a starter. Pressly is nothing special but he just turned 24 and is over two years younger than Scott Diamond (not to mention three years younger than Swarzak). It isn't as though the Twins are without long relievers from the mess of 5th-6th starters they have right now in the system in case Pressly is terrible. He might be worth the very low risk and may improve for 2014. I also would like the Twins to give up on the Drew Butera era and add Chris Herrmann to the roster. Herrmann is not a great prospect, but rather a good one and that works as a catcher. Furthermore, he can also play the corner outfield positions and would serve as the 5th outfielder. He isn't going to be a starting catcher anyway, so the "playing every day" mantra doesn't really apply. His adequate defense and great plate discipline make him much more deserving of a roster spot than that one other guy. Finally, there is one bench spot left and I would like to see what Chris Colabello can do. There isn't much time to wait and see with him in AAA. I would understand if the Twins went with Escobar to start the season to see Colabello hit in Rochester, but he is getting old, is peaking, and has power. His 2012 performance in AA coupled with his complete dominance of the Mexican Winter League earns him this reward. And . . . it makes for a good story and someone interesting to watch in 2013. The Roster Jamey Carroll, SS (RH) Joe Mauer, C (LH) Josh Willingham, LF (RH) Justin Morneau, 1B (LH) Trevor Plouffe, 3B (RH) Ryan Doumit, DH (SH) Chris Parmelee, RF (LH) Brian Dozier, 2B (RH) Darin Mastroianni, CF (RH) Wilkin Ramirez OF (RH)/Brandon Boggs OF (SH), Pedro Florimon MI (SH), Chris Herrmann C/LF/RF (LH), Chris Colabello​ 1B/emergency 3B (RH) Scott Diamond (LH) Vance Worley (RH) Kevin Correia (RH) Liam Hendriks (RH) Rich Harden (RH)* Ryan Pressly (LR-RH) Tyler Robertson (MR-LH) Anthony Slama (!!!!) (MR-RH) ** Casey Fien (MR-RH) Brian Duensing (MI-LH) Jared Burton (SU-RH) Glen Perkins (LH-CL) * Pelfrey is likely not ready to start the season. Harden could lose to any number of other pitchers, of course. But if he's healthy that is very good. ** It's Slama's time, and Alex Burnett has one option year left. Burnett needs to work on things and should do it in Rochester in high-leverage setup situations. So this concludes a very updated blueprint that is more in touch with reality. The Twins are going to face some trade opportunities and prospects knocking on the door in 2013 so this season is definitely going to be a work-in-progress and the 25-man roster will look very different at the end of the season.

Hell it isn't even clear to me that the Twins shouldn't start the season with him as their backup 1B,, RH bench bat, and emergency 3B. He is old--and in his prime right now--as a prospect. The Twins need to load their bench with the top producing players if they want to actually be legit in 2013. My views is that Wilkin Ramirez, Pedro Florimon, Chris Herrmann, and Chris Colabello should make up the bench at the start of the season. Seems so obvious to me.

Wow. Just wow.

I think Sano will be at Fort Myers all year and Buxton at Cedar Rapids all year. I don't think Buxton is going to catch up to him and will likely be a year behind. That means the earliest date of arrival with be Sept. 2014 and Sept. 2015, respectively. Most likely it will be June 2015 and June 2016, respectively.

Yes, thank you jay for pointing that out.

I think an average of 1 is the current situation if those five were involved (Correia and Pelfrey may combine for 1). Marcum could be worth 2.5 and maybe Hendriks/Gibson can produce 2. That way the 10 WAR might be reachable.

Adding Jurrjens would make me feel better about not signing anyone legitimate this offseason.

2015 mid-season: Buxton CF Hicks RF Mauer C Sano 1B Kepler LF Arcia DH Rosario 2B Goodrum 3B???? Polanco SS????? With Walker, Herrmann, Santana, and Pinto on the bench Harrison, Rodriguez, and so forth close. Something like that seems plausible. And rather amazing. Some of those guys are obviously involved sooner and with some veterans the team by 2014 should be very good offensively. And with the Span and Revere trades, the pitching is going to be substantially better. That said, given this minimum salary talent coming up, why on earth don't they spend the damn money to get legitimate pitchers right the hell now?

Oh, and about all things Rosario. Eddie as a second baseman is a hugely important thing to consider. As an outfielder he is impressive but nothing special given the Twins depth there. At second he changes everything. Randy probably should have made it. It just gets crazy deciding on these guys at certain point. Again this is a good thing. Last year I STRUGGLED to make a list past 30-40. This year it was very easy and guys were left out. I don't think the Twins are getting enough credit for their draft picks over the past two years.

Good comments/questions. I certainly did forget Pressly, but MLB.com is just atrocious. They have him above Kepler. Pressly belongs in that 35-60 mess somewhere. I am not going to demote Michael significantly after just one season. I tend to like guys with high isolated discipline because that can translate well moving forward. And I don't care that much that he is likely a second baseman and not a shortstop. Why care about that in *this* organization that has big struggles developing at both MI positions. With regard to Slama, it just seems ridiculous to put him anywhere. His case completely mystifies me, so I didn't put him at 20-25 like I was going to do. I did go high on Hicks and Arcia for that reason of being much closer than Buxton. Gibson is coming back from an injury though, so that is the main reason I have trepidation about putting him higher. May might be low, but I couldn't justify figuring out who to drop. Kepler? The upside there is ridiculously high. Berrios was totally dominant this year. But the most important thing to take away from this list is that no. 10 last year was Dozier or so. The Twins top 20 is vastly improved over last year's top 20, and not just because of additions in Meyer and May. Jorge Polanco could be put in the top 20 as well, but I was just cautious about that. Cedar Rapids is going to be the most interesting team to watch in the system this year. By far. I mean it is ridiculous: Buxton, Kepler, Walker, Polanco, Goodrum, Berrios, Bard, et al.

In part this gives others a list of players to make a smaller list from! I keep relievers down a little lower than many others might.

This is under the assumption that no more prospects are going to be added to the system before the beginning of the 2013 season. So here are the top 60 prospects in the Twins organization: 1. Miguel Sano 2. Aaron Hicks 3. Oswaldo Arcia 4. Byron Buxton 5. Alex Meyer 6. Eddie Rosario 7. Jose Berrios 8. Kyle Gibson 9. Max Kepler 10. Trevor May 11. Joe Benson 12. Travis Harrison 13. Chris Herrmann 14. Nate Roberts 15. Adam Walker 16. Kennys Vargas 17. Niko Goodrum 18. Adrian Salcedo 19. Hudson Boyd 20. Matt Hauser 21. Josh Burris 22. Danny Santana 23. BJ Hermsen 24. Alex Wimmers 25. Levi Michael 26. Dereck Rodriguez 27. Jason Wheeler 28. Jorge Polanco 29. Tom Stuifbergen 30. Mason Melotakis 31. Luke Bard 32. Danny Ortiz 33. Michael Tonkin 34. Angel Mata 35. J.T. Chargois 36. Madison Boer 37. Matthew Summers 38. D.J. Baxendale 39. Manuel Soliman 40. Angel Morales 41. A.J. Achter 42. Corey Williams 43. J.D. Williams 44. Lester Oliveros 45. Josmil Pinto 46. Bruce Pugh 47. Chris Colabello 48. Dakota Watts 49. Tyler Duffey 50. James Beresford 51. Tim Shibuya 52. Deolis Guerra 53. Pat Dean 54. Taylor Rogers 55. Pedro Hernandez 56. Romy Jimenez 57. Tyler Jones 58. Logan Darnell 59. Matt Koch 60. Bobby Lanigan Once I got to 35 it became a mess of pitchers. There are about 10-12 pitchers who should differentiate themselves in 2013.

This is under the assumption that no more prospects are going to be added to the system before the beginning of the 2013 season. So here are the top 60 prospects in the Twins organization: 1. Miguel Sano 2. Aaron Hicks 3. Oswaldo Arcia 4. Byron Buxton 5. Alex Meyer 6. Eddie Rosario 7. Jose Berrios 8. Kyle Gibson 9. Max Kepler 10. Trevor May 11. Joe Benson 12. Travis Harrison 13. Chris Herrmann 14. Nate Roberts 15. Adam Walker 16. Kennys Vargas 17. Niko Goodrum 18. Adrian Salcedo 19. Hudson Boyd 20. Matt Hauser 21. Josh Burris 22. Danny Santana 23. BJ Hermsen 24. Alex Wimmers 25. Levi Michael 26. Dereck Rodriguez 27. Jason Wheeler 28. Jorge Polanco 29. Tom Stuifbergen 30. Mason Melotakis 31. Luke Bard 32. Danny Ortiz 33. Michael Tonkin 34. Angel Mata 35. J.T. Chargois 36. Madison Boer 37. Matthew Summers 38. D.J. Baxendale 39. Manuel Soliman 40. Angel Morales 41. A.J. Achter 42. Corey Williams 43. J.D. Williams 44. Lester Oliveros 45. Josmil Pinto 46. Bruce Pugh 47. Chris Colabello 48. Dakota Watts 49. Tyler Duffey 50. James Beresford 51. Tim Shibuya 52. Deolis Guerra 53. Pat Dean 54. Taylor Rogers 55. Pedro Hernandez 56. Romy Jimenez 57. Tyler Jones 58. Logan Darnell 59. Matt Koch 60. Bobby Lanigan Once I got to 35 it became a mess of pitchers. There are about 10-12 pitchers who should differentiate themselves in 2013.

I agree completely. There are some doubters out there, however, so maybe a more extended case is necessary.

I am sure Hicks WILL play center, but he might end up being best in RF if Benson can get it together later in the year.

Let's hope it works or else Jamey Carroll will be up there (Gardy would never move Mauer there, no matter how much sense it would make).

While the defensive metrics might lead to exaggerated figures, I agree generally with the basic point that Doumit caught too many games last year. That's the problem when you have non-MLB players on your roster like Drew Butera. That is why I was bullish on Herrmann last year to get promoted and play in AAA. That is why I would like the Twins to either go with Herrmann or spend 1-2 million on somebody other than Butera (this would only really amount to around a $1 million difference in salary).

Good article. Some terrifying possibilities out there (Liriano and Butera back with the Twins, Casilla and Valencia playing in MLB anywhere). I know the Mauer trade isn't happening, but again, I would love to see that guy play in that park. Good god.

Some things seem clear about last season: Even though I am very much over Alexi Casilla, he should have played SS. After Brian Dozier started to play bad defense, he should have moved to 2B and Jamey Carroll should have gone back to SS where he was above average anyway.

If only Max Kepler were a shortstop. Actually, the big hope down the line that far has got to be Niko Goodrum. In the immediate future, filling in the rest of the lineup with productive hitters is going to be needed. I would not have thought that James Beresford would be the starting shortstop for the Twins, even though I always liked him. But I would not be surprised if it happened in 2014.

Like the pretenders and imitators of the real Slim Shady, the Twins appear to have a preposterous situation at the SS position throughout the organization. Here, I discuss the 15 top shortstops in the organization with regard to their current output and future potential. Initially, the term "shortstop" will designate those players in the organization with significant playing time at the position in 2012 (Eduardo Escobar's 10 games at the position is the low point in terms of playing time at SS). The "big" 15 are: Jamey Carroll, Brian Dozier, Pedro Florimon, Eduardo Escobar, James Beresford, Estarlin De Los Santos, Daniel Santana, Levi Michael, Tyler Grimes, Stephen Wickens, Adam Bryant, Adam Pettersen, Niko Goodrum, Jorge Polanco, Aderlin Mejia. These players have accumulated 650 games played at SS this season and 559 games at other positions (predominantly 2B, then 3B). So the "shortstops" here have actually played the position for 53.8% of the games. Included in this are the games played by De Los Santos (55) and Bryant (20), but those two players cannot be a part of the future for the Twins with Bryant's .580 OPS as a 23-year-old at Beloit, and De Los Santos' .552 OPS as a 25-year-old. Removing those games makes it about 50/50 in terms of shortstop playing time vs. playing time at other positions. But this ratio could be offset by true shortstops coupled with true second basemen, etc., right? Not really, as Brian Dozier's 83 games and Tyler Grimes' 77 games are second and third respectively in games played at shortstop behind Danny Santana. But Santana isn't even a good fit at SS, but is much better at 2B. In all three cases, it would appear that the better fit is 2B instead of SS. What on earth is going to happen at shortstop outside of adding free agents? The best cases may be Florimon and Beresford, but I have no high hopes for the offensive production in the future for those two players. Maybe that will not matter, as the Twins offense outside of SS may improve dramatically. Otherwise, it would appear that the Twins are going to be hoping for Niko Goodrum to stay at short and develop offensively. There is a major failure by this organization at securing this position. They had a chance with the FA J.J. Hardy, but they sought help elsewhere (nowhere). I am comfortable with Florimon backed by Carroll for 2013, but the outlook is fairly bleak beyond this season. The hope (for the future) for 2013 is going to lie in James Beresford's offensive production, Danny Santana's ability to field the postion, and Niko Goodrum's progress at the position across the board.

Like the pretenders and imitators of the real Slim Shady, the Twins appear to have a preposterous situation at the SS position throughout the organization. Here, I discuss the 15 top shortstops in the organization with regard to their current output and future potential. Initially, the term "shortstop" will designate those players in the organization with significant playing time at the position in 2012 (Eduardo Escobar's 10 games at the position is the low point in terms of playing time at SS). The "big" 15 are: Jamey Carroll, Brian Dozier, Pedro Florimon, Eduardo Escobar, James Beresford, Estarlin De Los Santos, Daniel Santana, Levi Michael, Tyler Grimes, Stephen Wickens, Adam Bryant, Adam Pettersen, Niko Goodrum, Jorge Polanco, Aderlin Mejia. These players have accumulated 650 games played at SS this season and 559 games at other positions (predominantly 2B, then 3B). So the "shortstops" here have actually played the position for 53.8% of the games. Included in this are the games played by De Los Santos (55) and Bryant (20), but those two players cannot be a part of the future for the Twins with Bryant's .580 OPS as a 23-year-old at Beloit, and De Los Santos' .552 OPS as a 25-year-old. Removing those games makes it about 50/50 in terms of shortstop playing time vs. playing time at other positions. But this ratio could be offset by true shortstops coupled with true second basemen, etc., right? Not really, as Brian Dozier's 83 games and Tyler Grimes' 77 games are second and third respectively in games played at shortstop behind Danny Santana. But Santana isn't even a good fit at SS, but is much better at 2B. In all three cases, it would appear that the better fit is 2B instead of SS. What on earth is going to happen at shortstop outside of adding free agents? The best cases may be Florimon and Beresford, but I have no high hopes for the offensive production in the future for those two players. Maybe that will not matter, as the Twins offense outside of SS may improve dramatically. Otherwise, it would appear that the Twins are going to be hoping for Niko Goodrum to stay at short and develop offensively. There is a major failure by this organization at securing this position. They had a chance with the FA J.J. Hardy, but they sought help elsewhere (nowhere). I am comfortable with Florimon backed by Carroll for 2013, but the outlook is fairly bleak beyond this season. The hope (for the future) for 2013 is going to lie in James Beresford's offensive production, Danny Santana's ability to field the postion, and Niko Goodrum's progress at the position across the board.

I really want to know the amount of cleaning Aaron did before the podcast, especially if he knew that there was going to be video.