gunnarthor

Yeah, and you don't know the other to be true yet you keep posting it, on and on and on. We don't know what Hammer's value was but the "experts" at mlbtraderumors or baseballpropsectus (I forget which) said it was Sean Gilmartin. We don't know what Plouffe's value was but the market we did see showed it wasn't much. Considering how much griping this place has made over losing Hu, Benson, Reed and ABW, I very much doubt this board would have supported dumping a ML regular for Sean Gilmartin or some other AAAA type. If you think the Twins should have traded Hughes and Hammer and Suzuki etc, you should have threads right now saying the Twins should be trading Castro and Santana and Dozier etc.

http://m.cubs.mlb.com/news/article/230091760/cubs-cardinals-talk-slide-interference-call/ Cubs were upset about a call on Ian Happ's slide into second. The pitcher's throw was pretty bad making a double play impossible but Happ over slid the base so a double play was called anyway, with no throw. A few pretty good quotes in there. "There was nothing malicious about [Happ's] slide," Cubs starter Jon Lester said. "He slid three inches past the bag, and they got a double play. The rule was meant to be for guys making dirty slides, sliding late, taking guys out. There was nothing wrong with that slide whatsoever." Cubs manager Maddon was more upset - "I have no idea why these rules are a part of our game," Maddon said. "That had a tremendous impact on today's game, where outs are rewarded based on a fabricated rule. It's created under the umbrella of safety. You slide directly over the bag and you're called out where there's no chance for the runner to be thrown out at first, and there was nothing egregiously dangerous on the part of our runner. "Don't give me hyperbole and office-created rules about reaching the bag. When you're sliding, and you have momentum, you keep going. There was no malicious intent whatsoever. "The rule does not belong in the game. I'm not blaming the umpires. I cannot disagree more with the spirit of the rule." Maddon also raised a pretty good point - Happ's slide was safe although he went off the bag while the Cardinals managed to put a very hard slide into the Cubs earlier that was 'legal' under the rules but was clearly more dangerous to the shortstop on the play. Video of that slide is in the article, too. My guess is that since this is a game in May, it doesn't matter, even if it is Cubs/Cards. But if this call was made in the playoffs, it would be a much bigger issue. Eventually, I think the umps need to have discretion on these types of plays where a double play is likely not possible or the interference was minimal. Happ's a rookie (he hit a home run earlier!) but he'll learn how to bust up a throw without going off the bag. But having a zero tolerance policy is silly.

There was never a market for Willingham. Even after his first season with us, nothing was available. Adams or Parks, I forget which, said the best you could get for Hammer was a minor league starter with back-end upside and specifically mentioned Sean Gilmartin. And no market developed for either Suzuki or Plouffe although both were rumored to be available. The Twins have had three (at best) key trade chips - Span, Perkins and Dozier. (Santana might move into that list this year).

Yeah, I don't mind either McKay or Wright. Take the one that'll sign for the lower bonus.

They didn't chase many bad pitches. He had a lot of strikes in the zone - both swinging and called. There really isn't anything to complain about in this start. He was fantastic.

Really nice outing. Couldn't have asked for more. Very excited to have him up here.

I think the thought process on Harvey is 1) he needs a change of scenery 2) nothing in NY matters anymore 3) Not sure if Niel Allen is the guy to fix him 4) If Gibson is the cost, I'd do it 5) if it's more, I wouldn't.

Wow, Wade has a really small strike zone

I think, if it's money laundering, they need to keep some kind of money trail or the people holding the evidence don't know it's evidence. If someone was getting $ routinely sent to them through a super pac, for example, I think the pac would retain records of money coming in and out even if it didn't know the purpose. But I'm just guessing.

http://www.twinkietown.com/2017/5/12/15629014/minnesota-twins-mlb-young-hitters-are-finally-mashing-the-ball-miguel-sano-byron-buxton-max-kepler Nice article.

New mock up at mlbpipeline http://m.mlb.com/news/article/229743034/jim-callis-mock-projection-2017-mlb-draft/ They have the Twins taking McKay "Most clubs expect the Twins to take McKay, the best two-way prospect in more than four decades, rather than make Greene the first prep righty selected No. 1 overall. Whether they'll take McKay as a first baseman or lefty starter, or even let him try to do both for a while, is unclear." He doesn't think Carlson will fall out of the first round but does have both Clarke and Romreo falling out of the first round.

I imagine he continues to say that the Twins held him back and his break out at 27 had nothing to do with PED use.

I think that's what the FO was worried about. ML hitters won't chase and he'll be in bad counts and/or walk a lot of guys.

I'm really excited to see how a guy like Castro can help Berrios. Not just with pitch framing but keeping him settled and calm. I wish his first start wasn't against Cleveland, though. That's a pretty good team.

Yeah, I know Burdi missed a season but he is 24. I think the Twins should strongly consider bringing him to the majors to see what he has.

The Comey one is interesting. Is Trump admitting that the White House was taping conversations they had with Comey? Are their listening devices in the Oval Office? Because it doesn't make sense if Trump doesn't know what is on a tape, does it? I'm so confused by this guy.

If they take Greene, I certainly want a college arm at 35/37. What I'm hoping for is something like McKay followed by Romero and/or Clarke and/or getting one top 20 player to drop to 37 for $. I think we could get a high upside HS pitcher with McKay and Romero, I'd be thrilled.

Just saw this on Deadspin http://deadspin.com/another-kevin-kiermaier-misplay-leads-to-another-little-1795138965 Kiermaier is not having a nice start to the season.

Unreal. You'd think a handler or someone would have expected those questions and tried to explain to Trump what not to say.

Callis inbox - http://m.mlb.com/news/article/229630538/pipeline-inbox-mlb-draft-prospects-on-rise/?topicid=151437456 Has a few things. First, he thinks Romero would have gone pretty high in the draft but is now likely to fall to a team with multiple early picks. (hey, that's us!). He mentions that Wright has pitched himself into the conversation for 1/1 but still thinks the Twins are leaning McKay (which is what a lot of reporting has said).

No, I wasn't trying to compare McKay to Nola or Wacha (although if those drafts were redone today, both would go much higher). McKay is a top 3 guy (at a minimum) which is way ahead of any of those other "control" guys.

He wasn't really a stuff guy. An old write up on him - "They took one such pitcher in the supplemental round, Lance Lynn. Lynn, a college right-hander out of Ole Miss, throws a sinking fastball, a change-up and a decent slider. He relies heavily on his fastball and change, along with a bulldog mentality that allows his less than dominating stuff to play up. For what it's worth, Lynn does have excellent mechanics, as well as a large, solid frame that should bode well for his future durability. Still, he profiles as no more than a third or fourth pitcher, in a system that's already well stocked with similar players. Still, he is a consistent performer who takes the ball every time out, which does have good value." Danny Hultzen was the guy I was trying to remember that is a scary comp for McKay in that they are both high floor, lefties etc. Yeah, that would suck.

Sure, but command/control also referred to Garza, Slowey, Baker, Blackburn, Perkins, Duensing, Swarzak, Radke, Silva, Berrios and Gonsalves. And stuff also included Durbin, Bullock, Hunt, Bashore, Boyd, etc. (And guys like Garza and McKay have both. It's not like McKay's stuff is bad. He's arguably the #3 pitcher in the draft just based on stuff. Plus he's a lefty. Plus he's got great command/control. Plus he should be quick to the majors. Plus makeup.). And if you just want to look at recent drafts, stuff got Kolek, Zimmer, Tate, Aiken, Fried, Appel, Groome etc drafted. And we've seen command/control guys fall in the draft and look pretty good in hindsight. (Nola, Finnigan, Wacha, Lynn every pitcher ever drafted by the Cardinals.)

Relax. Gibson was a top 10 talent going into the season before TJ but the other two weren't. McKay is better than all three. I'm not sure if I want him as a pitcher or a hitter but as a prospect he'll be better than Berrios. While his stuff might not be quite as good as Wright's stuff his command/control is a lot better making him a safer bet.

Another mock draft. https://www.perfectgame.org/Articles/View.aspx?article=13754 They have us nabbing Clarke Schmidt at 35. Schmidt is South Carolina's pitcher who just had TJ surgery so is likely to fall out of the first round. mlbpipeline has him at 48 but perfectgame has him higher and the rankings are not static. So he might have moved up a bit.