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gunnarthor

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Everything posted by gunnarthor

  1. Well, you can also go by history. In any event, I think we both want Meyer and let's hope that happens. We still have a few weeks for trades, injuries and bad play to come into effect.
  2. I get what your complaining about and I want Meyer on the opening day roster, too. But I think your larger point - that the Twins aren't promoting young arms isn't particularly fair. Until last year, they didn't really have any young arms that were worth promoting. And May, despite posting a 50 ERA+ and large negative WAR got more starts than Pelfrey or Milone and 6th most on the team. Certainly, Ryan has created a number of very young rotations in his time, so it's a bit of a stretch to suggest, as some have, that he doesn't understand getting pitchers up quickly.
  3. http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2015/03/phils-willing-to-eat-about-50mm-of-howards-salary.html So, Howard is owed 60m but the Phillies will eat 50 of that, so basically, Howard is available for 2 years at 5m each year. But, obviously, the Phillies, with one of the worst farm systems in baseball, want real young talent back for him. The Twins are also on Howard's no trade list so that would have to be worked out. I would guess that the Phillies would want something like Rosario, Thorpe or Polanco - not a top 100 prospect but someone kind of close. Howard was awful last year - .223/.310/.380 line and actually hit a little better against lefties than righties. But only two years ago, he killed RH pitching - .302/.357/.522 and his power, even at 35, is fantastic. So a team could bet on him being part of a DH platoon at 5m/year. I don't think he's a great fit in MN - anymore than I do Carter. But at 5m/year, he could be a bench bat and a fall back if Vargas struggles, sort of like Thome in 2010 (although Thome was a bettter bet). I think if the Twins were in a better position where they might be pushing for 90 wins instead of 80, he makes a bit more sense as a bench piece. But I'd probably rather see what Vargas and Pinto can do and have Rosario and Hunter move around if need be.
  4. Seth, What is EST like? How much time a week to players put into baseball? Do they have jobs on the side? I assume they play scrimmaged games?
  5. Part if probably due to methodology. Of the 30 Twins listed, it would be tough to call Mauer, Morneau, Cuddy, Ortiz, Milton, Hunter, Tapani, Knobby, Guzman, Hawkins, Valentin busts but at least 5 of them would be under this analysis. And both Callis (at BA) and Sickels (at minorleagueball) have pointed out that they've gotten better at making top 100 lists. Maybe Johnny Ard doens't make a top 100 list today and a guy like AJ or Koskie or Radke or Santana or Baker or Dougie Baseball or Jacque Jones does.
  6. I wouldn't read too much into it right now.
  7. I honestly can't see how anyone can say that. First of all, we do have a GM who has done this before. It's not like Ryan doesn't know how to rebuild a team with prospects. Cripes, he's already on record saying he thinks both Sano and Buxton will debut this season. I'm always amazed at how upset people get on here about events that haven't happened. Hunter is not blocking anyone right now and if it ends up that he is, the Twins will do something about it.
  8. Maybe, but the Twins go with Vets thing is old and overblown. And they had the same issue last year and went with the rookie over three vets.
  9. His "over the hill" bat was still better than a lot of other Twins last year.
  10. I think the following positions are pretty much locked up either for current guys or the Twins won't do something to block it for the future - 1B (Mauer), 2B (Dozier), 3B (Sano/Plouffe), CF (? until Buxton), LF (Arcia). They probably have enough MI prospects to somehow hold down shortstop. I think Vargas at DH is the weakest link for this year, he could be a AAAA guy like Klaw thinks. If he can't hit at this level, then we have some depth behind him but no big bat to take over. Maybe Hunter moves to DH and Schafer/Rosario goes to the corner? Bats are really tough to get right now. And they don't really have a catcher of the future either. So, I guess if they wanted to package Meyer to the Mets for Pawlecki, the Mets would probably have to listen.
  11. I don't think anyone doubts that prospects don't always pan out, although there's probably a pretty big difference between Swarzak (#100 prospect 2006) and Meyer or Joe Benson (#100, 2011) and Buxton. But you're also ignoring the prospects that make it that didn't make any top 100 lists. The Twins revival in the early 2000s was mostly made up of prospects that were never ranked in any top 100 lists. Koskie, AJ, Jones, Dougie Baseball, Mays, Radke, Santana etc. Even Hunter only made the top 100 one year (and it was at 79). The 2014 Twins got some pretty good play out of some prospects that weren't rated - Dozier, Santana, Vargas, Plouffe. And they have some nice highly regarded prospects coming up to support them. Nothing wrong with looking forward to it.
  12. Yeah, me too.
  13. http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2015/03/teams-in-need-of-offense-monitoring-astros.html With Gattis' trade and young prospect Singleton needing ML time, Astros 1B/DH Chris Carter could be available. Carter has pretty impressive pop - he was second in home runs last year and has hit 65 the last two years. And RH power bats might play up in TF. But he also hits .220 with low on-base skills and has led the league in strike outs (in fact, he might have set the single season record). He has four years of team control left. Astros need talent so would probably listen to offers for him but would probably want something similar to the package they put together for Gattis. (Folty #79 on mlb's list but unranked on others + Rio Ruiz and Andrew Thruman - both Folty and Ruiz have high upside sleeper potential. Thurman is blah). A similar package prospect-wise for the Twins (and just for comparison, not saying they should do it) would be something like Thorpe, Polanco and Rogers.
  14. Sabean hasn't been loved by a lot of the smart sites. He's gotten a bit more love the last couple years but he's been flogged pretty good by Klaw, fangraphs, etc
  15. I have to say, I didn't think Rosario had much of a chance to make the team out of ST but I'm starting to think I'm wrong. It'll be interesting to watch Rosario/Schafer/Hicks fill in CF until Buxton is ready.
  16. Ouch. Mets stud Zach Wheeler tore his UCL so will have to get TJ surgery. Wheeler has a ton of potential and is only 25 so this hurts a lot. He hadn't had a break out season yet but he and a healthy Matt Harvey could have really made an exciting Mets rotation. Now it looks like they'll use Dillon Gee to replace him. Maybe they'd want Pelfrey back. http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2015/03/zack-wheeler-has-torn-elbow-ligament-tommy-john-likely.html
  17. I think Vargas gets first crack at DH but if he fails, than either Hunter or Arcia probably gets moved there.
  18. Also, I probably should have posted this in minor league forum, not other baseball. Could someone fix that?
  19. http://www.minorleagueball.com/2015/3/16/8215045/top-175-mlb-prospects-for-2015-john-sickels Sickels at minorleague ball has put together his top 175. His rankings aren't quite as Twins friendly as others Buxton - 6 Sano - 22 Berrios - 44 Meyer - 47 Gordon - 90 Stewart - 105 May - 151 Polanco - 169 In the picture, meaning he could make an argument for them in the 175-200 range - Burdi, Gonsalves, Harrison, Rosario and Thorpe
  20. Not really surprising, most players want to stick around. We'll see how he does this year.
  21. That's true. And a few of those types of trades to happen but not as many as you think - White Sox traded a quantity of crap for one year of Shark, Reds got Latos but did give up some stuff but nothing that looked like it would haunt them. But the general rule of these trades seems to be cost controlled guys - not bad contracts. So maybe Escobar, Gibson and another top 10 prospect could return a guy with potential top talent down the road. Frankly, I think the Twins have the pieces to make some big trades if they wanted to. Dozier, Plouffe and Gibson could all be moved. Would the Mets trade top catching prospect Plaweki (who is blocked by D'Arnaud) for Gibson, Escobar and Thorpe? (They might be pitching rich and prefer bats, I'm not sure). The Twins could decide to go with Plouffe and move Sano for a huge haul. I think the Nats would probably give up anyone not named Gioltio for Dozier, since second base is their only hole and he's cost controlled for another 4 years. But the Twins don't need to make those kind of trades right now. They can wait and see where they need the help while the Buxton/Sano nucleus is forming. I think Plouffe gets traded eventually to make way for Sano. Hopefully he's hitting .270/.340/.450 at the trade deadline and brings back a strong haul.
  22. In fairness to the Twins, a lot of experts never thought Plouffe and Dozier would be good MLers. Klaw called Plouffe a AAAA guy and Dozier was a joke to a lot of smart people (including a few here). (Of course, Klaw also said Parm was a AAAA player, too). So maybe Santana or Escobar can be a good ML shortstop. Unless some team gives them an insane deal - say the Nats offered Cole or Taylor - keep Escobar for the depth.
  23. One outing so far - 2ip, 9 batters, 4k, 1bb, 2h, 1r. I think he missed a week with the flu or something.
  24. Yep, I agree with both points. Nolasco is either in the rotation or traded.
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