gunnarthor

That could be interesting. Houston is apparently not on Rogers either (at least at 2). The Twins could have some nice players drop to them.

I am a little worried about him but the ground balls are for real. I have no idea if this is true but it does seem that Gibson has gotten a lot of hitters to two strikes fairly easily and then gets a weak ground out. Maybe that's his out pitch? Does anyone know what his swing strike % are?

That was my understanding.

From Klaw's chat today - Kirk (The TC) Who do you see the Twins picking #1? Drafts have been much better lately (anything is better than Adam Johnson and David McCarty) - do they keep it up this year? Klaw (1:31 PM) Have heard Kolby Allard's their guy if the medicals check out (and they should, as his injury wasn't that bad) I hadn't even looked much at Allard since he got hurt. Interesting rumor, if nothing else.

I think Hamilton might be my favorite non-Twin right now. He isn't a great player or anything but his speed is awesome. He's hit 15 singles this year and has 13 stolen bases (caught once). He's just exciting to watch.

http://kingsofkauffman.com/2015/05/05/kansas-city-royals-prospect-kyle-zimmer-injured-again/ If anyone remembers the debates about the 2012 draft, they'll remember that three college pitchers were seen as top talents. Most mocks had Appel going #1 to Houston and there were tons of threads on which pitcher the Twins should draft at #2. Instead, Houston took Correa and the Twins took Buxton. While neither has yet to make the majors, it looks like Houston and MN are pretty happy with those picks. Those three pitchers are having growing pains. Appel went #1 a year later to Houston but is struggling in AA this year. The 23 year old is in AA with a 4.57 era and is only striking out 20% of hitters while walking 8.5%. For comparison, Jose Berrios, also in AA, is striking out 30% and walking 8%. Appel will still probably make the majors this year but the idea that he'll be a #1 pitcher is probably gone. Kevin Gausman was nabbed by Baltimore at #4. He's been moved along slowly and is currently in their bullpen after making 20 starts last year. He's expected to be moved into the rotation eventually this year. He's still learning at the ML level but has had some ML success. He's not the next Matt Harvey but he should be a good pitcher. And lastly, Kyle Zimmer went #5 to the Royals. When he's pitched, his numbers have looked pretty good and you can see why he was in consideration for #1 overall. Unfortunately, while rehabbing in EST, he felt more shoulder sourness and won't be coming leaving EST on May 10th as planned. "There is the good news that Zimmer’s shoulder is still structurally sound. However, this is the third shoulder issue that he has had in the past couple of years. While Zimmer still has all the talent and the explosive arsenal, one has to wonder if he will ever be able to be healthy." Pretty bad news for KC, who had a string of high first round picks not really pan out - Crow, Colon, Starling.

I think Shane is right. Ryan has already said he hopes that Buxton will be up this year. He'll be up around mid-season.

OK, he's not quite Billy Hamilton fast but ... from McDaniel's fangraphs chat: 12:31 Comment From Colby in regards to Hamilton and the 90-95, are you saying that the scale goes to 100 or its just an extrapolation due to how fast he is? 12:34 Kiley McDaniel: Extrapolation. The scale is 20-80 and 80 is a number (3.9 to first for a lefty hitter, 6.3 or so in the 60 yard dash) with standard gaps for each grade, so you can obviously figure out what a 90 would be. Buxton has given me a 85-90 run time in a game too. Also, when a hitter jailbreaks (out of the box quickly due to the swing), you’ll get a extra tenth or two off the run time. The Hamilton/Buxton times I’m quoting are normal full swings, because a 60 runner could give you an 80 time on the right play, but that doesn’t really mean anything in the scheme of things or change his run grade.

I think his control problems this year has hurt his value so that teams aren't going to trade the value he had had coming into the season. They'd want to wait to see if he can get his control figured out and be a starting pitcher (in which case, he has no trade value b/c the Twins won't trade him) or if has to go to the bullpen, in which case he no longer has top 25 prospect trade value. That's what I meant when I said his trade value was gone. Sorry I sorta skipped over all that.

On paper, there's nothing wrong with it but after you look a little more, it gets harder to make that kind of trade. First, we are taking our two best prospects off the table. Second, we have big problems with our next three prospects - Meyer has lost his control, Stewart is injured (and some have soured on him), Berrios doesn't have the cieling that those two do. Only Berrios would be traded at peak value. Third, Gordon and Burdi are not eligible to be traded right now, even under the new rule change. They can be traded in June, a year after they signed (although they can be PTBNL now). Fourth, after that, the team has pretty darn good depth with a good number of sleeper prospects - Gonsalves, Hu, Polanco, Kepler, Harrison etc. But none of them are going to be the cornerstone of a trade. So, we'd be looking to move back end top 100 guys (depending on the list) or top prospects with question marks and sleepers for other teams ML players. The number of teams that would make those trades is limited now to rebuilding teams. The win-now teams won't be trading ML starters. I don't think rebuilding teams would have much interest in Meyer, so let's ignore him. Rebuilding teams also won't trade cornerstone players - Tulo, Goldy, Lucroy, Hamels - for lesser pieces (ie, non-Buxton/Sano). So you'd have to aim at solid ML players on rebuilding teams, maybe good players with bad contracts or only a year or two left. Teams like AZ, Mil, Philly, Texas etc.

If Milwaukee took the offer you suggested in the first post, I'd be more than happy to do that trade. But I don't think they'd do it. I think the Twins would have to include one of Sano or Buxton. That doesn't mean I'm right. The Doug Fister trade, for example, was a pretty good trade of crappy prospects for a darn good pitcher. And maybe that happens again. But I doubt Milwaukee's GM could move Lucroy for such a unheralded return.

Wow, that's a heck of a write up on the kid.

Sure, but the cost if you're wrong is huge and the front end deal isn't usually worth it. Fans wanted the Twins to trade Morneau for Ty Wiggington. That would have been a huge disaster. And usually the returns on these trades aren't much - look at the Russell trade. Oakland already regrets that trade. When prospects are traded, they aren't usually getting an all-star/MVP type back. Usually, they are traded for solid starters. It doesn't take many of those trades to burn you. Milwaukee isn't going to give up an all-star, cheap, MVP candidate for low level or questionable prospects. They are going to want a Buxton or Sano. Lesser players - Denard Span - can get good prospects in A+ and those are trades the Twins should look to make but not while they are rebuilding.

If we really wanted to, I think a deal around Sano, Polanco and Burdi would actually get him. I don't think other teams could beat that and the Brewers could dream of his RH power like they had with Braun, plus they'd get a future bullpen piece and a starting second baseman. But I wouldn't do that.

I hope this isn't a reverse jinx thread.

Kielty, Ramos, Tyler, Landendorf not withstanding.

Not really. Last year the smartest GM in baseball parted ways with the #5 prospect in baseball for 1.5 years of Shark and half a year of Hammel. Shields was traded for a package that included the #4 prospect in all of baseball and three more guys, including another top 100 guy and a player a year away from being a top 25 prospect.B None of our guys could touch Myers or Russell as prospects. Berrios is a controversial prospect. Some love him but others think he's a reliever and he doesn't have #1 upside. Gordon is pretty far away yet. Burdi is struggling in AA. Polanco has really played himself up this year but teams could think he's only a second baseman, reducing his value. Other teams could beat that offer.

I hope he makes it just so I can see him throw a palmball.

I think you'd have to give up 2 top 100 guys and 2 more prospects to get him. And since Stewart is hurt, he's out. And the Twins will not move Sano or Buxton for anyone. Meyer's trade value is probably gone. So it would have to be a package around Berrios and Gordon, plus two more guys. Burdi and Polanco? I wouldn't take that if I was Milwaukee. In any event, Lucroy is 29 and on the DL. He could fall of a cliff quick. And he'd be going from NL to AL.

I agree. While obviously it's great watching Sano and Buxton et al, part of the appeal this year has been watching the 11-20 type guys and see which ones might break out and move into the top 10 (or even top 100 lists).

No. As others have noted, his krate and bb rates are pretty good and his babip is unreasonably low. He missed all of last year. It'll take time to shake off his rust as well. Let's wait until the break before we freak out too much.

It's BP's list. He didn't make the Twins top 10 team prospect list so was eligible for this article. It's not perfect - one could easily argue that the Twins #11 prospect is better than Cleveland's #7 prospect but they had to make a line somewhere.

BP had an article on each teams best fringe prospect. "In between the top 300 and the role-20 foot soldiers who populate the minor-league landscape lies a large body of talented but flawed players who, at least in prospecting circles, draw more criticism for their weaknesses than plaudits for their strengths. In some cases, these players are just one developmental obstacle or one grade jump from fulfilling their potential. In the absence of a place on a Top 10 list though, they’re all bound by a sort of mutual anonymity, a group deemed too deficient to contribute significantly at the major-league level, out of sight and out of mind from all but their team’s staunchest and most knowledgeable fans." http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=26253 The Twins pick is Eddie Rosario. The article begins with "Nearly every position player on this list can be described as a max-effort, grinder type, or can claim makeup as one of their best attributes. Neither tag fits Rosario. The 23- year-old Minnesota farmhand missed 50 games last year after testing positive for recreational drugs, and when Rosario did get on the field, he struggled defensively and demonstrated a frustrating lack of improvement in his pitch selection." It's an interesting read.

Hopefully, Eddie plays well. From a million miles away, Rosario seems more confident than Hicks does so maybe he can deal with the failures at the ML better. If so, maybe he won't struggle as much with going 0-4.

You know that was fake, right? That picture has been on the internet for over a year.