gunnarthor

I'd vote for Hendriks or Worley above everyone else. I still think Worley can be an effective ML pitcher and I'd like to see what we have with Hendriks. Maybe he doesn't have the stuff to start but I'd like to see him get another 10+ starts this year at the ML level.

It's probably not a big problem. Dozier is probably setting himself up pretty well for having second base next year but, if Rosario develops as we hope, he won't stand in his way. I think Dozier could be a nice UI type, too. Or, in a perfect world, Dozier could turn in two consecutive 3+ WAR seasons and might have a bit of trade value since he'd still be in his arbitration years. And, of course, as good a prospect as Rosario is, he could still flame out. In any event, give Dozier credit for becoming a really solid MLer. He's probably somewhere in the 10-15 range of best second basemen in baseball right now.

I really hope the Twins move Perkins now. His value can't get higher.

I believe Phil Hughes is probably the best available. A few others - Baker, Santana, Marcum, Kazmir etc. It's a pretty bad class. http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2012/02/2014-mlb-free-agents.html

Agreed (although I was ok with him on the opening day roster). He's making improvements and he's made some nice catches too. He'll be ok in the long run.

Marcum started the year on the DL which would have really screwed up our April, and has been worth -0.5 WAR since then while pitching in the NL. Saunders is having a Correa like season. I liked Dempster but not sure I would have given him his 3rd year. Still, I don't see how those 3 would have made us much, if any, better.

Generally, he's done pretty well. We forget how bad our offense and bullpen were when he came back. Willingham, Carroll, Doumit were solid additions. Fien and Burton helped improve the pen. He signed Perkins to a really nice team friendly deal. I liked his trades and his drafts. He hasn't made any bad moves that would hurt the team in the long run. Payroll is a different issue. There seems to be two general schools of thought on this. 1) The team is rebuilding so it doesn't really matter what payroll is now and Ryan should increase payroll as the team gets closer to competing. I share this view. 2) Payroll should be around 100m at least and the Twins (either Ryan or Pohlads) are screwing over the fans by not investing completely in the club after the taxpayers helped fund Target Field. I understand this view and put more blame on Pohlads than Ryan.

If 4 of his hits were walks instead, his walk rate would be around 13% which is what is was at A ball. Rate stats are not that consistent over 35 at bats.

Well, Arcia fields well enough that maybe we should start hoping he's our future DH. Kepler might become a first baseman. Obviously, the Twins have traded from strength before and probably will again.

That's a 16 yr old kid? Good grief. I like that he plays in a wood bat league. What was his signing bonus? http://www.power-showcase.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/NETHERLANDS-VERKERK-9398-BAT-7TH.jpg

If nothing else, I think that's the first time I've ever seen someone criticize Gardy for waiting for the three run homer and not for playing small ball.

Baseball Prospectus | Prospects Will Break Your Heart: Scouting Notes: New Britain vs. Reading Nice write up. Very exciting. Rest behind paywall. Notes: I’ll be writing a full scouting report on Sano this week at BP, but I’ll drop a few notes here as a tease. First of all, Sano is one of the best players I’ve ever seen in person. I was able to watch numerous batting practices, pre-game fielding drills, and live game action, so the sample might be small but it offers ample sustenance. Sano is a legit five-tool talent, which goes against several reports that you might be reading online. He’s a gifted physical specimen, with mature size and strength, but the body isn’t as high maintenance as I expected and his overall athleticism was above average. On several occasions, Sano showed a burst of speed down the line and on the turn that resembled an NFL tight end, a graceful out route from a 6’4”, 250-lb. beast of a man. I clocked him at ~4.17 from home to first on a ball he rolled over to the left side, which is absolutely flying for a man of his measurements. The power is extreme and it made me question my religious beliefs, but the biggest discovery of the trip was Sano’s skill at the hot corner, a position that many (if not most) assumed would not be his home at the highest level. Sano is going to play third base in the majors, and he has a chance to be above average at some point in the future. He is still raw and error prone, as I saw him step back on a ball and let it chew him up. But the leather is better than people realize, and with more repetition, he will refine that tool to major-league quality. Sano is at his best coming in on the ball, as he has a feel for fielding and making a quick glove-to-hand transition. He can flash the leather to the backhand as well, showing off a few highlight reel plays that saw him react quickly to the arm side, backhand the ball from the ground, spring to his feet, and fire a 70-grade missile to the first baseman for the out. He has the chops. He just needs refinement. The hit tool is his biggest weakness and I doubt he hits for average at the highest level, but he has good bat control for his size and swing leverage, and he understands the difference between a ball and a strike. The end game for Sano is probably .265 with some on-base ability (fear/recognition), and power that could play to its potential, which means 35-plus bombs year after year. Given that fact that he will be a competent (if not better) third baseman, his profile could make him one of the most dangerous and valuable players in the game.

Not a lot of water to throw on this one. Most top prospects that fail (Francour, Young) for instance are b/c they fail to control the strike zone. That seems to be a real strength for Buxton. (It's also a reason I've always been a big Hicks fan). Barring injury, Buxton should be a really good player. That doesn't mean he'll put up a 10 WAR rookie season. And the scouts that are talking about him aren't just talking about stats, they are looking at his approach as well. I think the hitting tool is the most important and the scouts are already comparing it to Mauer, Pujols and Prince Fielder. A CFer that hits like Mauer (even if the power never shows up) would be amazing.

1 v. 3 is a tough question but when you throw in that the Twins also got Berrios and Walker, I think I like the Twins haul quite a bit better than the Astros haul.

He'd do fine. His power is real and he'd just have someone throwing him meatballs. Unless the situation got to him, he'd hit a ton of them.

They don't throw that in the NL.

John, I understand your problems and it's your website so arbitrariness is fine. But it is a problem. I've been posting on here over a year without any issues and then I got banned twice in one month. The first time was after I literally cut n pasted a post from 6 months earlier onto a new thread and the second time was after I had discussed things and cleared it with a different moderator but then I was banned by another moderator. In this thread drjim's post seemed perfectly fine to the majority of people and a moderator was flat out insulting to those who put up the question. Tis chaotic. So arbitrariness is fine but you shouldn't be surprised when people feel confused. I would also point out that TD has fun little icons that are almost inevitably insulting if used. and :shoot: I'm trying to ignore most posts now and just hang out in the minor league section which generally has good discussions and good insights from Seth and Jeremy.

I don't know anything about this guy so I'm assuming he's a legit potential front line starter who can pitch in the majors next year. With that said, I'm actually going to agree with Mike Wants Wins and say the Twins should try to get him. Unlike Sanchez, for instance, he'd be in his prime seasons at the same time Sano et al are ready to contribute. 4 or 5 years and 60m is doable. A potential rotation with him, Meyer, May, Worley, Gibson would go nicely with our future lineups.

What rebuttal? I'm honestly trying to figure out where the limits are. Frankly your last sentence seems to be more insulting than anything drjim posted and it was directed at a poster.

I'll say 8-10 but a final record of 71-91 seems about right.

If the Rangers' Cruz gets suspended, then Willingham might be a real nice fit in Texas. IIRC, they have an over abundance of pitching prospects.

"Not exactly a shock Gleeman would do that." violates TD policy? It's not an attack on another poster but rather an attack on the credibility of a twins based writer. I assume all attacks on Souhan being a hack are off limits, too? Or Reusse being negative?

But it's not players of Polanco and Kepler's abilities that are being exposed to the rule v draft.

I'd disagree with that. Both of those guys have enough upside that a team like Houston, Miami or Seattle could get away with stashing them on their ML roster for a year (like we did w/Santana).

Agreed. Minier could be a special guy. I forgot about him. Eades officially signed today. I think he's clearly a top 10 guy now. The last 3 spots in the top 10 are fairly open but fun to think about. But I think May has earned one of them.