gunnarthor

It's also worth pointing out that not all religions oppose gay marriage. When I was doing legal work in PA, the local Quaker and Mennonite Churches recognized same sex marriages and it was the government that didn't recognize them.

I like your predictions - I don't think Buxton will be POY but he certainly could be. Agree on Benson, sadly. 5 more 1) May gets a Sept call up and Meyer dominates AA and is Twins pitcher of the year 2) All Twins farm teams finish above .500 except AAA 3) Berrios finishes at A+ 4) Arcia will be up within two months 5) Kepler is the break out player in prospect world and ends up in BA's top 50 next year.

They specifically said that if Appel/Gray were off the board. No one has suggeseted by passing Appel this year. We've been throught this a 100 times, the national consensus is that Buxton was ahead of Appel and Gausman. His high ranking by BA is the highest debut for a Twin since Mauer, a decade ago. It was a good pick. If the top 3 guys are gone, the Twins should take the highest rated guy on their draft board. In this draft, it'll still probably be a pitcher. But if 1-3 are pitchers and 4-8 are the GA kids, SD 3 bagger/slugger and the catching prodigy, it doesn't make sense to reach down for the 9th best player. BPA isn't absolute in that a lot of different places will have them viewed differently. KLaw revealed last year that he knew one team had Appel rated #7 on their draft board and reported that the Twins had Buxton #1, Appel #2 and Zimmer ahead of Gausman. But nearly all teams grab who they perceive as BPA when they pick, especially at the top of the draft. As the draft goes, the difference between players is minimal so the team might take position into account. For example, the Twins probably didn't have much difference between Gallo and Berrios at 33 last year but went with the pitcher. In a weak draft, there might not be much difference between #4 and #9 and in a good draft there might be a ton of difference. A few times teams have famously made non BPA picks - either to save money elsewhere (Pirates drafted Sanchez in 09 to save money to sign intl prospect Sano) or loved the risk of the fast ball (Bal took Hobgood in 09 b/c they wanted a RH fireballer to grow with their LH one).

Pelfrey's health is a nice surprise. Fans wanted Marcum and Baker but both of them opened the season on their teams 15 day (Marcum) and 60 day DL (Baker). If we had those two instead of Pelfrey and Correia, and with Diamond and Deduno's injury, our rotation would've been Worley, Hendriks, De Vries, Walters and Duensing? Hernandez? Not saying Pelfrey/Correia are going to be even good but if they can stay reasonably healthy and let Gibson, May, Meyer etc get experience before being called up, that'll help a lot.

Both Gibson and May going today. And it would be nice to see if Boyd makes significant improvement.

The only record I can find, from 2002, on baseball reference for the Twins would be Santana's K/9 at 11.38. Minnesota Twins Top 10 Pitching Leaders - Baseball-Reference.com

No, Nathan had 47 saves in 09.

I had Hicks last year and would like to take May this year, I guess.

Yeah, I had no idea who he was. So, let's hope.

I loved the novels and the show. The casting has been nearly pitch perfect. Ygritte is, um, wow. The show has had to simplify a lot of things - Robb Stark's second army is missing and his wife is inaccurate, Dany's overseas adventures as a few examples - but it gets the tone and atmosphere perfectly. The conversations between Varys and Littlefinger in the first season were great.

I'm not sure if it's been written elsewhere but I'm honestly a little surprised that Meyer is starting at AA. He only had 7 starts at high A last year. I thought the Twins would keep Ft Myers for a handful of starts until the weather got better in NB. It's a nice surprise though.

Tonkin could also be a quick call to the majors. I have to say, for an organization big on OF prospects, this doesn't seem to be a great OF at AA.

I'm just hoping they fall in love with one of those GA bats and leave the college pitchers alone. Although, I'm coming around to taking Bryant if the first three picks are arms.

Too early to get down on Hicks and Verlander makes a lot of people look bad. I was impressed by his walk. He didn't let the strikeouts get in his head too much. If he's struggling in a month, they'll send him down and then .... yeah, probably Mastro. Yikes. I like Hicks a lot. I know he'll stuggle but long term, I think he'll be better than Span for us.

Hopefully a few more pitchers start throwing great stuff together. I can't see anyway a potential ace drops to 4 right now.

Baseball Prospectus | Prospects Will Break Your Heart: 2013 Organizational Rankings Twins ranked #4 behind St Louis, Texas and San Diego. Suggests breakout candidates for next year are Berrios and Romy Jimenez.

I think the Twins will be surprisingly competitive for the first half or so based - say 37-41 - based on strong play from the middle order bats and some decent (compared to last year) starting pitching. But they'll be stuck far behind the Tigers. Ryan will then trade Willingham and Morneau and the Twins will have a horrible second half when some of those pitchers get hurt/struggle - something like 30-54 - and finish 67-95. On the plus side, they play September with an outfield of Benson/Hicks/Arcia who all do enough to make fans excited about next year. May also gets a Sept callup. They draft a college arm #4 which helps the fan base, too.

Aw, c'mon. That was great. Funny mascots? Check. Pretty lady on bike? Check. Super cheesy song? Check and check.

I like that Pressly made the team. Nice to see a rule V pick work out again for us.

No problem with this. He earned it. If he struggles, he gets sent to AAA and delays the clock anyway.

Yeah, if Appel was the only pitcher off the board, I'd be thrilled.

IIRC, the Astros drafted him to catch but moved him to 3B. The new regime came in and put him back behind the plate so he's been yanked around a bit. I think it's an ok move. At this point, he probably doesn't make the majors but it gives us some more catching depth and who knows, a former first rounder isn't a bad risk.

Probably A+. I don't think the Twins like to skip levels very often. They could send him to AA, I suppose, since they sent him to AFL and he's old. I don't think he gets a call up. He's put up good numbers but scouts aren't impressed with him. He could become the hitting version of Slama for Twins fans.

Yes, and remained healthy. Although Maestro's had a nice ST, too.

I think the team should give it to Hicks, even if I think he'll be over-matched a bit. They announced that it was an open competition and he's clearly outplayed Benson and Maestro. He's earned it for now. If he struggles, he gets sent to AAA and his service time clock stops.