gunnarthor

He's just a solid pro.

Preller is SD's GM, not Greene's adviser.

Bonus demands are going to complicate this a bit, too. If Preller is going to be the dick that we all know he can be, the Twins won't get any savings out of the first pick and might have to go overslot for Greene. If a college player comes at a discount, they might take that.

It's early but the OF defense looks even better than I thought it'd be and Polanco/Sano don't look horrible.

I agree with 1 and 2 but #3 is probably unlikely. Most players were solid two way players in high school, especially pitchers who are usually a teams best athletes. Obviously, Greene's a bit ahead of all of them but not that far ahead. If you don't play a position for a few years, it's really hard to catch up. Stetson Allie was a first round talent as a pitcher but some teams thought he'd be better with his bat. He pitched for a few years before giving that up to go back to hitting. He's 26 and still in AA. If the Twins draft Greene as a pitcher and in a few years they have to try again as a shortstop, he probably won't make it.

I hope one of the prospect guru's answers a question or two about Rooker. He sounds exciting.

It's pine tar from the pitcher, not the catcher. If you look at the video of Molina, you'll see that pine tar and dirt are left on his chest protector after the ball is taken away. The dirt was there because the ball hit the dirt first and the dirt stuck to the pine tar on the ball.

I think Hughes gets at least four starts

I think I'd be ok with any of Bukauskas, Greene or McKay. It might be interesting if they'd be willing to take Faedo for 6.0m (or less) to save more on the backend. I don't think any of those three guys would take a substantial discount and Greene might actually want to go overslot (thanks, Padres).

Cabbage was the Twins 4th round pick in 2015 and, after Jay and Blankenhorn, the third player who actually signed with the Twins. Cabbage signed for above slot, basically 2/3 round money, and is a left-handed hitter with good athletic ability. Sadly, Cabbage simply struggled last year at Elizabeton. He struck out in nearly 35% of his PA and walked in 10%. His line was .204/.297/.337. He was hurt for a bit. It was a disaster season. He's dropped on many lists, not making mlbpipeline's top 30 Twins. Fangraphs didn't put him in their top 24 either but he did get an honorable mention - "A solid athlete with plenty of physical projection, Cabbage struggled defensively this year and scouts think he might end up moving to first base. It’s obviously going to be harder for the bat to profile there, but he has a chance for an average hit tool and game power." So I think this will be a big year for him. He's a switch hitter and sometimes that takes longer to figure out but I'm not sure how much longer he has if he doesn't show something. He'll repeat at Elizabethton.

Blankenhorn was the Twins 3rd round pick in the 2015 draft. The Twins drafted Jay in the first round, lost a second round pick to sign Santana and then used a supplemental pick to draft Kyle Cody, who did not sign. So, after Jay, Blankenhorn was the Twins next pick, taken #80 overall. Blankenhorn is from Pennsylvania so didn't have the exposure of warm weather players (much like Trey Cabbage and Alex Kiriloff) but impressed before the draft in the showcase circuit. Blankenhorn hit ok after the draft but had a really big season last year and finished the year in Cedar Rapids at only 19 years old. His combined line was .293/.348/.502 with 10 home runs in only 59 games. His big year moved him up on team rankings and mlbpipeline has him #7 on the Twins list. They wrote "Blankenhorn is simply a natural hitter from the left side of the plate. While he's still learning the strike zone and refining his approach, he has tremendous instincts with a very direct swing, one that squares the ball up consistently. As he matures, he should continue to grow into power, with the ceiling to be above average in that department, and left-handed pitching doesn't seem to bother him. Where Blankenhorn profiles best defensively is much more in question. A high school shortstop, Blankenhorn mostly played third during his pro debut, then saw more time at second in 2016. A former standout in football and basketball, Blankenhorn is more athletic than one might think, but he's likely to land at an infield corner or left. The good news is his bat should play in either spot. The Twins are very excited about Blankenhorn's offensive potential, feeling there's more to come as he physically matures. Some see a future Corey Koskie, who had 25 or more homers twice in his Twins career, as a distinct possibility." He'll start the year back in Cedar Rapids where he might play 2b and 3b but is listed as DH on the team roster. Ideally, we see him move up to Ft Myers at the break and continue to show a big bat.

I'll take Blankenhorn and Cabbage but if someone else wants to take them, they can.

I agree that some of this is just in his head. If he can have a 3 hit day, maybe the pressure comes off and he's good to go. Hopefully the White Sox can help him tonight.

What? No way, man. The refs - especially in the SEC - are known for their integrity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpPmmLVwUG0

Yeah, I was surprised. Clearly the dirt on the chest protector got there from the baseball. I was hoping Jason Turbow would address it on his website but he hasn't, at least not yet.

Late to this thread. I think Buxton will be somewhat mediocre in April but figure it out fairly soon and have a solid season with the bat - an OPS around 100+ and all world defense. He's a stud. We'll be fine.

Has anyone watched Stewart pitch in an actual game? Does he get hitters into strike out counts and then have them just roll over on his sinker? Does he get swing and misses earlier in the count?

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/dylan-bundy-made-the-blue-jays-look-silly/ He had a very nice outing against Toronto and it would be nice if he could come back and stay healthy. I agree with the general sentiment that aces are good for baseball and Bundy can absolutely be one.

http://screengrabber.deadspin.com/cardinals-surrender-lead-due-to-yadier-molina-being-ext-1794089040 The headline blames Molina but I'd bet that the pitcher was using a lot of pine tar. If you look at Molina's chest protector before and after, you can see some pine tar after the ball was removed but not before.

Royals Review were a bit upset about some calls today.

Agreed. I don't think Buxton will stay up there much longer but it's a fun lineup to watch. Rosario took a few walks today, Sano is crushing it. My guess is they'll drop Buxton and simply move everyone up one but that would put two lefties (Kepler/Mauer) back to back.

That assumes that WAR is measuring his value correctly. Posnanski has had a couple articles the last few years that suggest 1) teams have internal WAR systems that are better than fangraphs and 2) public WAR data is pretty flimsy.

I predicted he'd be an all-star this year.

Hammel was ok in the NL but horrible in the AL

https://twitter.com/LaVelleNeal/status/849992297186025473/photo/1 Not the best picture nor the best spelling of 'three' but ... Santana in LF, Rosario DHing