gunnarthor

You thought Hunter's comments about West "being late for dinner or a concert" were out of line. Interesting.

I hadn't even noticed this but MLB will not be investigating the leaks in this case (which were almost certainly from the Angels). http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/04/09/major-league-baseball-will-not-look-into-the-angels-conduct-in-the-josh-hamilton-case/

I sure hope May learned to pitch with runners on.

This got a lot worse. Angels are claiming Hamilton violated their contract by relapsing. But it's not about the money. “It’s not about money, nothing about money,” Moreno said. The CBA and JDA seem to suggest that the Angels can't do that. The MLB player's union released this statement: "“The MLBPA emphatically denies Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno’s assertions from earlier today that the Angels had requested and received the approval of the Union to insert language into Josh Hamilton’s contract that would supersede the provisions of the Joint Drug Agreement and/or the Basic Agreement. To the contrary, the collectively bargained provisions of the JDA and the Basic Agreement supersede all other player contract provisions and explicitly prevent Clubs from exactly the type of action Mr. Moreno alluded to in his press comments today.”" Hamilton is owed 90m over the next three seasons and his contract pushes the Angels close to, or over, the luxury tax. Basically, they are desperate to get rid of him.

http://thebaseballcodes.com/2015/04/10/boys-will-be-boys-but-this-takes-things-to-a-whole-new-level/ Must have been a horrible moment for the fans. They were probably enjoying the game and then that happened ... I can just see a dad not telling his son that baseball isn't safe to watch anymore. "Son, sometimes, in a baseball game, players swear at each other. I'm sorry you had to see that. You'll never have to watch baseball again." "But Dad, doesn't that happen in every sport?" "It's not the same son, baseball isn't supposed to be physical." "But that wasn't physical, was it?" "It could have been, if the pitcher had missed by another 6 inches. It was darn near attempted murder." "Wow." "These baseball players are acting like spoiled children. I can't believe their immaturity. Throwing gum. We should ask for our money back." "Is any retaliation permissible, dad?" "Only for actual rule violations, son." "Isn't that hypocritical?" "Go to you room."

Yeah, god point. Berrios actually played at three levels last year and was invited to big league camp. The Twins know what they have. But sure nice seeing a nice debut from him.

Good, I like May. I predicted he would lead the team in strikeouts this year. Hopefully he has a big year for us.

He just apologized on air.

http://deadspin.com/feisty-bert-blyleven-trashes-detroit-1696839176# For mocking Detroit.

Not many. Winfield (UofMN), Eddie Collins? Eddie Murray? Yount? Biggio? Boggs? Crap, I'm done.

Just listed prominent pitchers who debuted under Ryan's watch (95-07, 12-now) and their ages. You had suggested that we all know Ryan doesn't promote pitching prospects so it was probably a good thing to put a bit of that into perspective.

These pitchers were up at 21 - Santana, Liriano 22 - Lohse, Milton, Radke, Garza 23 - Mays, Baker, Slowey 24- Boof, May 25 - Perkins, Gibson 26 - Blackburn

This is hilarious. Apparently, people working for the TV station don't have spell check. http://deadspin.com/local-cubs-broadcast-intro-is-just-a-disaster-1696736658#

I don't believe so. If he gets surgery then insurance should kick in (if they have insurance on him) for whatever terms they had. I think for Nathan insurance covered up to half his years salary but I might be misremembering.

Not sure I like benching Arcia against a RH pitcher.

Good grief. Well, Trevor May or Alex Meyer? May wasn't stretched out but Meyer was pretty wild.

Harrison was a Twins supplemental first round pick in 2011 (50th overall) out of a California HS. At the time, his bat was considered one of the stronger HS bats in the draft although there were questions about his ability to stick at third base. Last year the Twins moved him off of third and put him in left field for good. He had a solid debut season but a slightly disappointing sophomore campaign (.253/.366/.416 and 125 strike outs). Going into last season, the concern was that his strike outs would increase as he moved into the pitching friendly Fl St league (A+ ball). Instead, Harrison did a pretty good job limiting his strike outs - his strike out % fell from 23% to 16% while his walk rates remained fairly similar at about 12%. But his power dropped off - he only hit 3 HRs and he slugged .365. But the power can come back. Harrison will start the season in Chattanooga on a pretty loaded team. He should be their starting LFer. At 22, Harrison still has time to develop the power. If he can keep his strike out and walk rates similar to last year, he's an underrated prospect. Best case scenario is that he could develop into an everyday LFer with good on-base skills, maybe something like .260/.360/.430. Fangraphs ranked him the teams #18 prospect. McDaniel saw a potential bench bat/platoon bat with good make up. Sickels ranked him the teams #14 prospect. He gave him a B- grade and likes him as a break out guy "Not scientific, but my intuition is that he will get the home runs back in 2015, maintain the OBP, and take a large step forward." MLB.com rankes him the teams #18 prospect. "Harrison has enough bat to be an everyday corner outfielder at the big league level. Now all he has to do is go out and play like it." They note that he isn't likely to be a great defender in left field. So this seems like a big year for Harrison, who will be added to the 40 man roster after the season. I think he has a big breakout season in him. His plate discipline is a huge plus for him - outside of injuries it's what derails most hitters. He just needs some at-bats and ideally we'll see the power return. I think he'll have a big year and make some top 100 lists next season.

Travis Harrison

Is it this thread we use or the pinned one?

That's true. The Astros were looking for a starting third baseman and a pitcher. Maybe Plouffe/Milone or Escobar/Milone got it done. I don't think I would have done that trade. (And for all the griping about Hunter's defense, Fowler graded out just as bad or worse in center).

There are tons of examples. Teams don't block guys like Buxton. The Twins were never going to go out and get someone to be anything more than a placeholder. If they had somebody in house playing well (like Plouffe at third) fine. And there wasn't a lot on the market - mlbtraderumors lists only a few true CFers signed on their FA tracker - Span (option year), Rasmus (1yr/8m Houston), Gwynn (minor league) and Nyjer Morgan (Korea). Other guys like Sizemore (1y/2m) have moved off the position. So their options were trade for a place holder or go with Hicks/Schafer and some waiver claims (Robinson). That was the right thing to do.

Happens all the time, esp with top prospects. Hoyer traded Vilanueva to make way for Bryant. Ryan traded AJ to make way for Mauer. Rays changed their infield for Longoria. Nats made room for Harper. Angels made room for Trout. Sure, sometimes GMs let things bottleneck. Rangers let Profar sit on the bench for a few years. Dodger moved Ethier to the bench for Pederson and traded Kemp. Phillies kept Howard in the minors for years. (Seattle did the same to Edgar).

Ryan has already said he expects Buxton up this year, as have many prospect watchers. But assume he wasn't. What was the alternative? Rasmus? There weren't a lot of solid CF options on a one year deal out there. And the Twins don't have any pitchers who have dominated AAA for years but I do wish one of Meyer or May were in the rotation. But they will be soon enough.

MLB released the draft slot amounts. Twins first round pick is worth 3,889,500. They lost their second round pick to get Santana (ouch) and the corresponding amount to go with it, just under 1.3m.

Sure. Teams tend not to try and block top prospects. I suppose they could have tried to sign Rasmus or some other place holder but at a certain point, it doesn't matter who is holding it down until he gets here.