Shane Wahl

Precisely!! A lot depends on Santana and Polanco right now. Dozier might bring back some serious assets if he does well and is still so cheap. The Twins are going to get better and won't have these great draft picks anymore. Selling on Hunter, Dozier, and some pitcher might be quite helpful this year.

Great article, Nick. I think Hosmer is going to be very, very good this year. That said, I would not be surprised if they barely got to 80 wins this year. Too many things can happen.

Left-handed pitching is something that is an anomaly in professional sports. Well, it's an anomaly all the way down really to youth sports. When talking about straight up natural facts about one's person without any nurturing, only height for basketball seems to compare to the importance of left-handed pitching in baseball. With that in mind, I thought it would be appropriate to give a full Twins-system view of almost all of the viable left-handed pitchers and what they do across the various levels of the system for the Twins. Twins: There are three guaranteed lefties for the Twins out of the gates in April, and all three of them are in the bullpen. It isn't a totally common thing to have three lefties in a team's bullpen, but when one of them is the closer it changes the bullpen's dynamic. It is still a good idea to have two lefties for situations in innings 6-8. Glen Perkins is an all-star closer. Born 3-2-83, he is in his prime as a closer. Perkins has dominated as a closer or the most part and should be fine for 2015. Brian Duensing will be back with the Twins for some reason. Born 2-22-83, he is a middle reliever who should be a LOOGY. He will be paid $2.7 million to serve as a hopefully adequate MR or setup man. Duensing was good as a reliever in 2013, but that was not the case in 2014. He was quite lucky, with a ERA/FIP discrepancy of 3.31/4.51. He doesn't strike many out and walks way too many. Caleb Thielbar is a middle reliever. Born 1-31-87, he is clinging on to a spot in the Twins bullpen even though he seems to be better than Duensing. His FIP from 2014 was 3.40 and his ERA from 2015 was 3.40! His actual ERA from 2015 was 3.54. This is probably his ceiling. Twins/Rochester: Tommy Milone is likely going to be the fifth starter for the Twins in April. Born 2-16-87, he has the potential to fit quite nicely at the back end of the Twins rotation. He could also be traded. Logan Darnell will need to focus on being a relief pitcher. Born 2-2-89, it seems as though Darnell finally settled in to present himself as a legitimate pitcher. He does not really project to start, however. Time will tell here. Aaron Thompson has come around to have a nice shot at a spot in the short-term for the Twins. Born 2-28-87, he has worked his way into LOOGY contention. Rochester: Ryan O'Rourke had a breakout year. Born 4-30-88, he posted an 11.5 k/9 in AA in 2014. He was absolutely dominant against lefties. He is what the Twins should want as a LOOGY instead of Duensing or Thielbar. Taylor Rogers is ready to compete for the show. Born 12-17-90, his k/9 grew to 7.0 in 2014 upon advancement to AA. He will start and continue to develop his pitches. He probably could move to the bullpen and be the best lefty other than Perkins right now. Jason Wheeler has successfully advanced methodically through the system. Born 10-27-90, he is a poor man's Taylor Rogers, but that still might be good enough. Pat Dean has one shot to save his career and that is to move to the bullpen. Born 5-25-89, he is no longer a good starting option, but could find his groove as a reliever. Chattanooga: Mason Melotakis will be lost for the 2015 due to Tommy John surgery in October. Born 6-28-91, he still has a bright future as a reliever with good velocity. The prospects for starting are dimming. Steven Gruver still has a chance as a reliever. Born 6-30-89, he will need a good year to remain in contention. David Hurlbut had a down year in 2014. Born 11-24-89, he needs to get the strikeouts back up to respectability (career 6.8 K/9 after a low 4.8 in 2014). Brett Lee continues to succeed even though he doesn't really strike anybody out. He does very well with men on base. Born 9-20-90, he will keep getting a look as a starter for now. Corey Williams will return after injury looking to get his career back on track. Born 7-4-90, this is a huge year for Williams to re-insert himself as a top-5 lefty relief prospect in the system. Fort Myers: Mat Batts could be a breakout candidate for 2015. Born 7-6-91, the lefty has a career 9.57 k/bb ratio in 60+ innings. Brandon Bixler can be a strikeout machine. Born 12-31-91, he will need to get command and reduce the walks to succeed. Josue Montanez gained a lot by returning to Cedar Rapids in 2014. Born 1-15-92, he has proved that he should advance to A+ ball, but he needs to keep the walks down. Cedar Rapids: Stephen Gonsalves could move to Fort Myers at some point this season. Born 7-8-94, his velocity could continue to rise as he gets stronger. Lewis Thorpe has shown that he is ready for a full season of pitching, if he is healthy. Born 11-23-95, the Aussie should get more innings progressively over the next few years to build towards a shot at the Show. Randy Rosario will be pitching early in 2015 after undergoing Tommy John surgery last April. Born 5-18-94, he could fly up prospect lists with a solid season in A-ball. Cameron Booser has lights-out potential. Born 5-4-92, he could move quickly through the system. Sam Clay struck out 13.7 batters per 9 innings last year. Born 6-21-93, he also walked 5.3 per 9 as well. GCL/Elizabethon: Onas Farfan is a local guy drafted in the 21st round last year. Born 6-23-93, he will have to work on his command to succeed. Brandon Easton made big improvements in his second professional season. Born 9-21-92, he should be in Elizabethon working as a starter. Michael Theofanopoulos will face stiffer competition in 2015. Born 8-5-92, he should get work both in the rotation and out of the bullpen. Jadison Jimenez has spent the past three season in the DSL and will move forward to the GCL. Born 3-19-94, he has demonstrated consistent improvement. Other potential contributors are Wil Ledezma (AAA), Seth Wagner (GCL), and Reyson Zoquiel (GCL), but they might not perform well enough to remain in the organization. This makes for twenty-seven lefties in the organization. A lot of the best of them are down in Cedar Rapids, but there are some solid pitchers sprinkled up and down.

If I were the owner, I would just give him a nice little bonus for his performance thus far. The spend 2.7 million bucks on Brian Duensing for no reason, why not boost Dozier's salary to 1 million bucks for 2015?

This article doesn't really address the issue in much depth. It's been discussed quite wildly and thoroughly in discussion board threads on a few occasions. If the Twins actually do this right now, they are making a weird mistake.

Everyone really loves Plouffe at Twins Daily! I see a slight regression from last season for him overall, though he might homer a bit more.

Santana is not going to last as a CF. He might not at SS either, but he has a chance there. Schafer is a pretty dangerous bet. Robinson is not a major league player, and probably not even a AAA player right now. It's weird to even mention him in this conversation.

Hicks should and will be the starting CF. He can improve immensely both with BA and SLG. A .250/.370/.370 line is not out of the question. If he can then be a good defensive CF until Buxton arrives, the other options are done.

I saw this site several days ago and got excited. And then . . .

I swear I did not make this list . . .

Sano and Rosario, to me, are the only real locks to do that. Polanco and Buxton might need to get some time in 2016 in AAA (even after appearing in September this year). If the latter two only get September looks, then I think they will start 2016 in AAA. Injuries to Hicks (Buxton) and either Santana or Dozier (Polanco) would change all of that. Strong seasons from Kepler, Michael, and Walker would mean interesting things for 2016 calls up. And in terms of system rankings, the Twins are still going to have the star power at the top for a few years yet (Minier, Diaz, and Gordon; Thorpe, Stewart, and Gonsalves) but perhaps not the depth. I haven't made much attention to other teams graduations this year, but I would think that the time is coming soon where Boston runs a little dry so that it's just the Astros and Cubs still with super strong systems.

Rosario is certainly very likely to be better than Aaron Hicks, overall, in his MLB career. But, that shouldn't mean a very Hicks-like treatment of Rosario by giving him the CF position out of Spring Training! That's a terrible idea. Adding Hunter, I thought, ended the possibility of seeing Rosario for at least three months. I think TR is just saying stuff again.

I will cheat and go with 10 each. If I go with just 6-10 hitters: Kepler, Walker, Minier, Harrison, Michael. If I consider guys much lower, but who could have breakout seasons: Jorge Fernandez, Alex Swim, Rainis Silva (the catching trio), Zach Granite, and Trey Vavra. My 6-10 pitchers: May, Thorpe, Reed, Rogers, Duffey. The breakout potential pitchers: Mat Batts, Aaron Slegers, Brandon Poulson (who knows?), J.T. Chargois, and Todd Van Steensel.

Here is the second half of the new--and I think improved--version of my prospect list. I am listing 25 players plus five honorable mentions. A brief about how the system has really improved: I have been ranking the prospects in the system since 2011 and always paid careful attention to inadequacies at certain positions and even handedness. It is finally the year to announce that the Twins are deep in absolutely everything. But, without further ado: 1. Byron Buxton: CF, 12-18-93 2015 start: Chattanooga. It's time for the top prospect to be healthy and dominate. Easy call for a September call-up at the latest. 2. Miguel Sano: 3B, 5-3-93 2015 start: Chattanooga. Everything should be aligned for a trip to Minnesota by July. 3. Jorge Polanco: SS/2B, 7-5-93 2015 start: Chattanooga. He will be up at some point in 2015 for the Twins. There are decisions that must be made. 4. Eddie Rosario: OF/2B, 9-28-91 2015 start: Chattanooga. Will show up with the Twins by September at the latest. This Chattanooga team is going to be quite interesting to start the season! 5. Nick Gordon: SS, 10-24-95 2015 start: Cedar Rapids. It's time to see the real deal. The Twins need to push him to full season ball. 6. Max Kepler: OF/1B, 2-10-93 2015: Chattanooga. No reason to move him down much on the list. Health is the only real concern, though there are still many things to work out before he is considered a good call-up. 7. Adam Walker: RF, 10-18-91 2015 start: Chattanooga. With Kepler, not ready or the majors yet at all. Power potential is significant. 8. Amaurys Minier: OF/1B, 1-30-96 2015 start: Elizabethon. He's ready to show off the power potential. The Twins will move slow here, but he could be in AA in two years. 9. Travis Harrison: LF/1B, 10-17-92 2015 start: Chattanooga. I have to think he will be primarily a 1B/DH with extra LF duties to keep that option open. 10. Levi Michael: SS/2B, 2-9-91 2015 start: Chattanooga. Michael has arrived, finally, and will be filling out the bottom of a potent Chattanooga lineup. 11. Lewis Diaz: 1B, 11-19-96 2015 start: GCL. Diaz is an offensive powerhouse. He will light up the GCL. 12. Stuart Turner: C, 12-27-91 2015 start: Chattanooga. 2016 Twins roster threat. 13. Max Murphy: OF, 11-17-92 2015 start: Cedar Rapids to begin, but could move to Fort Myers. 14. Niko Goodrum: SS/3B, 2-28-92 2015 start: Fort Myers for a bit. There is no room for him up in Chattanooga anyway. He needs to get everything together at the plate this year. 15. Mitch Garver: C, 1-15-91 2015 start: Fort Myers, but will move up to Chattanooga at some point. 16. Aderlin Mejia: IF, 5-12-92 2015 start: Chattanooga as a utility infielder. But he is strong in that role and should start after some of the top prospects move up. 17. Engelb Vielma: SS, 6-22-94 2015 start: Fort Myers. He is someone to really watch. If he can continue to develop offensively, he will make it to the big leagues without a doubt. 18. Tanner English: CF, 3-11-93 2015 start: Cedar Rapids. Pretty impressive all-around. 19. Zach Larson: OF, 10-8-93 2015 start: Cedar Rapids, but will likely move to Fort Myers as part of a wave of promotions in mid-season. 20. Dalton Hicks: 1B, 4-2-90 2015 start: Chattanooga, but the roster is pretty full there. He could move back and forth between Chattanooga and Rochester during the year. 21. Chad Christensen: Utility, 10-6-90 2015 start: Fort Myers, but will move to Chattanooga as a part of mid-season promotions. 22. Danny Ortiz: OF, 1-5-90 2015 start: Rochester. One of the first guys to be promoted to the Twins in case of injury this year. 23. Tyler Kuresa: 1B, 11-17-92 2015 start: Cedar Rapids. Could explode this year. 24. James Beresford: IF, 1-19-89 2015 start: Rochester. He will be among the first called up for the Twins in case of injury. 25. JD Williams: OF, 11-20-90 2015 start: Fort Myers, though he should move up to Chattanooga after some promotions. He still has excellent speed and can be a very good hitter. Honorable mention: Jorge Fernandez (C, 20), Alex Swim (C, 23), Rainis Silva (C, 18), Zach Granite (CF, 22), Trey Vavra (1B/OF, 23) Others who could have made the list include: Jack Barrie, Jason Kanzler, Pat Kelly, Brian Navarreto, and Rafael Valera. What is most interesting about this is just how dominant AA Chattanooga should be. The breakdown goes like this: Rochester will have a bunch of guys like Reynaldo Rodriguez, Nate Hanson, Chris Herrmann, Eric Fryer, and Dan Rohlfing filling out much of its lineup. James Beresford and Danny Ortiz will be in the top half of that lineup and will be interesting to watch. Rochester is most likely to benefit from a movement from Chattanooga of some top prospects by June or July. If I was the decision maker, I would probably favor a lineup of Beresford (SS)-Herrmann ©-Ortiz (LF)-Rodriguez (DH)-Hanson (1B)-Rohlfing (RF)-Robinson (CF)-Farris (2B)-Bernier (3B). Chattanooga will be full of top prospects. The OF should start Rosario, Buxton, and Walker. The infield will start with Sano, Polanco, Michael, and Hicks. Stuart Turner will be the main catcher (with Matthew Koch too). There will be a rotation between the OF, 1B, and DH that will get Max Kepler in the vast majority of games, but obviously there is Travis Harrison too. Aderlin Mejia will add utility depth. The lineup there might be something like: Buxton (CF)-Polanco (SS)-Sano (3B)-Walker (RF)-Rosario (LF)-Kepler (1B)-Harrison (DH)-Turner ©-Michael (2B). Fort Myers will feature an infield of Goodrum and Vielma on the left side. Garver will be catching and JD Williams will be in the outfield. Alex Swim will catch and get some OF time as well. Kanzler will be all over the OF as well. Cedar Rapids will be stocked. The OF will have Murphy, English, Larson, and Granite. Gordon, Trey Vavra, and Kuresa will be in the infield, as will Pat Kelly. Jorge Fernandez will be catching. Elizabethon will have Minier, Navaretto, and Valera, but will also be adding some top 2015 draft talent. Finally, the GCL Twins will have Diaz and Barrie, which could be explosive. Rainis Silva will be catching and this team will also be getting 2015 draftees and other players from the DSL. In sum, the Twins position player prospect situation is now a lot different than was pre-2014. The system is now top-heavy for the first time in ages (probably the Mauer-Morneau-Cuddyer days). There is both star potential and depth in AA, with mainly only star potential at the lower levels (for now). This concludes the two-part look at Twins prospects. I think there are a lot of names here to follow and readers can try to combine the two lists into one super one if they so desire!

Thanks and I agree that just the presentation makes it easier to see how pitchers match up in the system. This list is really stacked. I was pretty shocked when I was done. Someone like Cameron Booser, for instance, could be a top-10 pitching prospect in the vast majority of systems.

Those of us who watch the minor leagues thoroughly and who like to jabber about prospects should band together to complete a task. This task relates to a pet peeve of mine. I do not really care about the damn average age of players at each level in the minors. Why? Because well over half of them aren't prospects of any kind. What I am calling for is a way to judge the age-level value of a Twins prospect in reference not to the league average but to the league prospect average. There are always older than average players who aren't cutting it and who tilt the average age thing in a skewed way. There is really no way to accurately compile data on other teams' systems in terms of top 40 or 50 prospects. We can get some kind of "objective" view of the top 20 for each team from mlb.com and other places. Maybe the 600 players spread across roughly six leagues is enough here. Jorge Polanco is really young for AA ball. So is Jose Berrios. But what about as compared to actual legitimate contenders in terms of true MLB prospects? Etc. etc. You get the idea here. I just beg for a more accurate way to judge levels based on age and am generally totally sick of simple league average age stuff. Good god.

Anyone care to evaluate my offer of Plouffe, Rosario, Burdi, and Duffey? I think the Nationals would be a bit foolish to pass that up. There are four guys to fill in for needs on that team either immediately or in the near future.

Gonsalves adding any velocity and he ends up being really scary. He is a top 6 or so prospect in 25 MLB organizations. I just don't know about Thorpe. I would hate for it to be an issue with his prep and performance this year and then have surgery in June or July, ruining most of 2016 with it.

Constant progression matters most. The majority of major leaguers didn't "dominate" AAA. However, I always think that thinks should move but not move too quickly. Aaron Hicks had no business doing anything else but starting in AAA in 2013. If a guy is truly dominating AA, then that is one thing (Sano, and to a lesser extent Vargas and Arcia). With pitchers it is different. I just see k/bb rate and innings pitched mattering most. It takes time to work on pitches and develop them well enough so that you have at least three good ones for MLB. Hitters can get away with living on fastballs for a bit longer. I also don't think so much is lost for hitters, at least, taking there lumps on losing teams, as long as they are put lower in the order (big mistake with Hicks). Ultimately, nothing prepares one more for the majors than the majors. The Twins pre-2012 waited too long on many guys. The are now doing it again with regard solely to their pitchers. I am perplexed by the signing of guys who have really no better numbers than organizational guys (Shane Robinson vs. Danny Ortiz, for instance). To me, mediocre veterans on rebuilding teams are the absolute worst unless they provide significant off-field value or in clubhouse value.

Santana at SS, Hicks in CF (with some significant Schaffer platooning). Escobar can get plenty of opportunities playing the three infield positions. Both Dozier and Plouffe can use more rest, anyway. I will say that I don't really understand how last year wasn't spent giving Danny Santana some time in LF to learn it well enough to have another speedy guy out there with a good arm. The option of Santana in LF with Hicks in CF would have been very nice once a week. But anyway, I know that we all love Escobar. Escobar deserves to get some time. He will also be prime trade bait.

Trevor Plouffe, Eddie Rosario, Nick Burdi, and Tyler Duffey.

I am doing something brand new with my prospect list for 2015. I am splitting the list into two parts, one for pitching and one for position players, with each list having 25 prospects and 5 honorable mentions named. These honorable mentions end up being 10 guys in the system to really watch this year for potential breakout seasons. I am providing only bare bones info for each of them because one really ought to check out the Prospect Handbook. The first part will focus in on the pitchers in the system. There is quite the mix here. 1. Jose Berrios: RHS, 5-27-94 2015 start: Chattanooga 2. Alex Meyer: RHS, 1-3-90 2015 start: Ought to be in Twins bullpen, but it looks likely that he will go to Rochester and start for no good reason. 3. Kohl Stewart: RHS, 10-7-94 2015 start: No real reason not to push Stewart to Fort Myers. 4. Nick Burdi: RHR, 1-19-93 2015 start: Chattanooga with some setup and closer duties. 5. Stephen Gonsalves: LHS, 7-8-94 2015 start: Cedar Rapids for half the season. 6. Trevor May: RHS, 9-23-89 2015 start: Looks like Rochester rotation, barring some injuries to Twins pitchers in ST. He suffers from the Santana signing, Ricky Nolasco being around, and the abomination that is Mike Pelfrey's situation. 7. Lewis Thorpe: LHS, 11-23-95 2015 start: either TJ surgery or Cedar Rapids. Might be best to shut him down with surgery early in ST in order to save his 2016 season. He would still be on pace for an early-20s appearance in the big leagues. If he gets through the elbow injury fine without surgery this year . . . wow. 8. Jake Reed: RHR, 9-29-92 2015 start: Closing in Fort Myers for first half of the season. Chattanooga with same role second half, likely. 9. Taylor Rogers: LHS, 12-17-90 2015 start: Rochester rotation without a doubt. 10. Tyler Duffey: RHS, 12-27-90 2015 start: Rochester rotation. 11. Michael Cederoth: RHP, 11-25-92 2015 start: Cedar Rapids rotation, though he should get some bullpen work due to innings limit. 12. Zach Jones: RHR, 12-4-90 2015 start: Setup and closer duties for Chattanooga. 13. Brandon Peterson: RHR, 9-23-91 2015 start: Setup in Chattanooga. 14. John Curtiss: RHP, 4-5-93 2015 start: Cedar Rapids rotation and bullpen. Maybe 100 innings or so. 15. Chih-wei Hu: RHS, 11-4-93 2015 start: Fort Myers rotation and bullpen. Maybe 100 innings or so. 16. Mason Melotakis: LHR, 6-28-91 2015 start: Underwent TJ surgery in October. 2016 in Chattanooga. Full-time bullpen. 17. Adrian Salcedo: RHR, 2-5-91 2015 start: Part of Chattanooga's dominant bullpen to work out some kinks. Then Rochester. 18. Fernando Romero: RHS, 12-24-94 2015 start: Underwent TJ surgery midseason. Maybe get some work in August. 2016 Cedar Rapids rotation. 19. Sam Clay: LHP, 6-21-93 2015 start: Cedar Rapids bullpen with some rotation time after other starters move to Fort Myers. 80 innings or so. 20. Felix Jorge: RHS, 1-2-94 2015 start: Was much higher on this list. Struggled in 2014 and I have to think there is a lurking injury has his velocity dropped significantly. If healthy, Cedar Rapids rotation and 130 innings. 21. Yorman Landa: RHP, 6-11-94 2015 start: Shoulder surgery last June. Should be fine early in the season to return and pitch for Cedar Rapids out of the bullpen and maybe later on in the rotation. 22. Randy Rosario: LHS, 5-18-94 2015 start: TJ surgery in April, so he will be ready early in the season for EST or by mid-season to start for Cedar Rapids. 23. Kuo-hua Lo: RHR, 10-28-92 2015 start: Cedar Rapids bullpen. Could move quickly to Fort Myers. 24. Cameron Booser: LHR, 5-4-92 2015 start: Cedar Rapids bullpen. 25. Ryan O'Rourke: LHR, 4-30-88 2015 start: Rochester bullpen Honorable mention (all "to watch" guys for potential breakouts): Mat Batts (LHS, 23), Aaron Slegers (RHS, 22), Brandon Poulson (RHR, 25), J.T. Chargois (RHR, 24), Todd Van Steensel (RHR, 24) (Note: I am moving to a 25 innings rule for relievers in the big leagues in terms of graduating out of prospect land. Thus, Michael Tonkin, who would be about 19 or 20 on this list, is not included. Lester Oliveros, who would be about 22 or 23, is not included either). With Romero and Melotakis being out for the season, or at least most of it, that leaves 28 pitchers to put somewhere. Disregarding the Twins mistake of ramming the bullpen from the top down by adding Stauffer (and maybe Graham), keeping Pelfrey around instead of ending that terrible relationship, and very likely keeping Duensing, those 28 breakdown into four different teams, in my view. Thus, the Rochester rotation would have No. 2 Meyer, No. 6 May, No. 9 Rogers, and No. 10 Duffey (good news for Rochester through May at least!), and No. 25 O'Rourke would be in the bullpen as a setup man for someone like Tonkin or Oliveros. In Chattanooga, No. 1 Berrios would be leading the rotation. The bullpen would feature No. 4 Burdi, No. 12 Z. Jones, No. 13 Peterson, No. 17 Salcedo and HM Van Steensel (add two lefties and this bullpen is lethal). The Fort Myers rotation would be loaded with No. 3 Stewart, No. 15 Hu, and HMs Batts and Slegers. The Miracle bullpen would have Reed and Chargois at the end, which would prove to be a lights-out combination for as long as they stay down in Fort Myers. Cedar Rapids would have a ridiculous rotation: No. 5 Gonsalves, No. 7 Thorpe (if healthy), No. 11. Cederoth, No. 14. Curtiss, No. 20 Jorge, and No. 22 Rosario. If all six of those guys are healthy, Cedar Rapids will dominate. And that doesn't even mention the bullpen: No. 19 Clay, No. 21. Landa, No. 23 Lo, No. 24 Booser, and HM Poulson. Undoubtedly, there are some players not included in these 30 who might deserve to be listed (Achter, Adam, Bixler, Gibbons, Irby, Mazza, Rodriguez, Steele, Wheeler, C. Williams, Lee, Wimmers, Tapia, and Eades come to mind, and were all under consideration.). I do think that this way of breaking down prospects has its advantages. First, there is no weird comparison of position players and pitchers in terms of ranking on a list. The two are just not the same and have different timetables and expectations. Also, this presents a clear picture of what is going on in the system with regard to pitching. I would claim now that the system is loaded up and down, and with a decent number of lefties thrown in. There are about a dozen pitchers like Darnell, Dean, Summers, and even Shibuya, who would have easily made this list if it were not for what the Twins have been able to do in this terrible losing stretch. I do get frustrated when the Twins don't trust their own system better--if they don't trust their players and their development, then what does that say about the people employed to be in charge of such things in the organization?--and instead add weird free agents like Tim Stauffer, and keep marginally good relievers like Brian Duensing. I would not like to be Michael Tonkin, Lester Oliveros, A.J. Achter, Cole Johnson, or Ryan O'Rourke, five pitchers who all really should be legitimately competing for about three bullpen slots . . . but in reality there are no spots available for them (at most one). And their window of opportunity is really shrinking, especially for the right-handed relievers. I do hope that this provides a good breakdown of the system with regard to pitching. I cannot stress enough the importance of looking deep into the system at any given time. Players jump up and fall down these kinds of lists quickly, so the honorable mention today could be an overall top 200 prospect within a year or two. Another positive that comes from looking deeper into the system is that you gain a greater appreciation for how good these guys really are at baseball even though they might never even reach AA. Share your comments about this list and the pros and cons of splitting the prospect list in this way.

Also, Hermann is still on the 40-man roster, so they do have three catchers. I doubt that Molitor is going to continue the inanity from Gardenhire and Steinbach about Pinto and Herrmann being catchers.

I agree with all of this. I didn't want to say too much about Herrmann given my history of liking him since 2011. I have been very confused about the treatment of the backup catching options. Herrmann and Pinto both caught at Rochester and were obviously good enough to keep catching. And they both really hit there too.

Does anyone look at Terry Steinbach and say "what the hell did you even do here?" For the Twins to almost shut down Pinto as a backup and to shutdown Herrmann as the third guy is quite troubling. Neither one has such bad defense. Pinto is likely below average but he REALLY likes to learn and get better. Herrmann was only slightly below average to begin with. Suzuki is going to return to his worst at the plate. He really fooled the Twins. And, of course, ultimately, his defense is nothing to write home about. He is a good backup. Pinto should be starting and should be made ready to start by now.