Jeremy Nygaard

It doesn't appear that Redmond and Krivsky crossed paths in the Reds organization. If they had, I would think there would be a better chance that the Twins would consider him.

I agree with most of what you are saying. Puig and Diaz are nearly the same age, so Diaz would most likely need a year (plus) in the minors. I think what complicates projections the most is the questioning of Diaz's age and if he's going to be allowed in the MLB, when and if he'll be subjected to the pool limits. (For those wondering why, he has apparently presented himself older than he actually is.)

Based on Cespedas and Puig's contract, plus Diaz's premium defensive position, you're probably looking at six or so years at $7 or $8 million annually. Cespedas' successful year and the international cap omitting Cubans has Diaz in line for a huge payday. I won't be overly disappointed if/when the Twins quit bidding.

Mike Kennedy (@TwinsPRMachine) tweeted a photo of the almost-finished Twins Media Guide/Record & Information Book (which is a must-have if you don't purchase it) and there are a few numbers/players that are visible that weren't previously known: Ray Olmedo - 1 (Nishi left thousands of these jerseys at the ProShop, heavily discounted.) Josh Roenicke - 20 (Dozier switched to #2) Chris Herrmann - 44 (Coach Bruno will wear the #23 that Herrmann wore last year) James Beresford - 85

Within the first two minutes of last night's show, it was obvious that this list isn't Mayo's, but a compilation of '30 scouts and front-office types'. Apparently the list is compiled in a poll-type way, like the basketball polls, and Mayo 'breaks the ties'. Without knowing who exactly has a vote, it would be tough to represent all levels and geographical areas fairly with only 30 'voters'. Name recognition is just as likely to help (see D'arnaud) as a great season. MLB.com would be better off letting Mayo make his own list.

Seattle's got a much better farm system - Walker, Hultzen, Zunino, etc - so I would probably go that route. From what I understand, both have pretty nice ballparks, if you're going to travel there ever.

Looks like #SethsHungover followed #GetSethDrunk.

Non-guaranteed deal with fat clause?

You had me at "lurking".

Using the "Ponder got better after he got married rule", plus knowing that CP and TP are friends, I'm saying Plouffe will be better since he just got married.

January 20 update: Dave St. Peter responded to a Twitter question from "Fanatic Jack" Steal in regards to some uniform questions. Updates include Pelfrey (37) and Harden (47) in addition to Hicks (63), which is somewhat surprising because that has been Joe Benson's number in both Spring Training and the Regular Season. Regardless, when Hicks makes his big league debut, I would expect him to wear a different number (potentially 2, like both his mentors - Span and Revere - will wear this year).

I looked and can't find it now, but there was a big to-do when Matt Wieters was sent down to start the season. I remember reading something that basically said missing arbitration and having free agency pushed back a year cost Wieters somewhere around $20 million over the life of his career. Or in the Orioles case, saved them $20 million over the life of his career. I would guess that Mauer's situation would have been similar.

Some well-known examples of guys who spent time in the minors unnecessarily: Evan Longoria (who fell two days short of a year of service time), David Price (eight days short) and Matt Wieters (who spent two months in the minors to put off arbitration by a year). One example of a player that could have spent two weeks in the minors and had free agency (and a $23 million year) pushed back a year: Joe Mauer.

To get a full year of service time a player needs to spend 172 days out of the 183 days of the season in the big leagues. Those numbers are pretty easy to figure and the trade off - 12 days in the minors or an extra year of team control - is also quite easy to see. Teams and players know well in advance how that is going to shake out and it's really no surprise teams often keep players down to start the year. Avoiding the Super-2 status is much trickier. That's based on the service time of the top percentage of players to miss arbitration, so there is a lot of guesswork involved and you could go through the work and guess wrong. I guess my point is that with Hicks, having not played any AAA, to give him time because he could use it and with Gibson, who is on a limit anyway, to put him on Rochester's DL to start the year. I would call them up when I think they're ready and/or there is a need as long as it's not in the first two weeks of the season. I wouldn't try to time their arbitration clocks, though, because that's less certain.

January 19 update: Brian Duensing reached a deal that will pay him $1.3 this year. (Very near projection.) Team salary was adjusted by $75K, but team is still under $80 million. The Twins also signed RP Patrick Arnold out of an independent league. He's been placed on Fort Myers roster.

There will be this "Butera debate" forever... or until he manages the 2017 Twins to a World Series as a first year manager on his way to becoming the greatest manager of all time. Whichever comes first. The knock on Butera as a manager will be his insistence on keeping a no-hit, "3rd catcher" on his roster because he has a soft spot for them, yet the world will insist its because those guys "have pictures". I can see it all now.

January 17 update: Drew Butera avoided arbitration and signed for 700K. That adjusted projected team salary is still under $80 million. Also of note, the players in the organization that are playing in the WBC are noted (and shaded red). You can find that information on the projected rosters.

Drew Butera and Twins agree to 700K deal. A little more than I thought...

JC- I count 38 guys above who played in Beloit last year. There's been a handful released since last year and probably a half-dozen more who should/could have played there, so 50 probably isn't a stretch. The overall depth is better, yes ... and some if that has to do with the earlier deadline. Regardless, CR should be good.

You can view the page at http://twinsdaily.com/content.php?r=1311-Twins-Notes-The-Right-to-Bear-Arms

After months of writing, editing and revising, we sent the Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook to the printer. It's available here. *** I wanted to take this opportunity to give you a little preview of an interview I was able to do with Twins scout Jack Powell. Powell is the Twins main scout in Georgia and Alabama, so their selection of Byron Buxton with the #2 overall pick in the 2012 draft came much at his recommendation. There was debate here about whether or not the Twins should have considered taking Mark Appel after the Astros passed on him. The Twins have always had an affinity when it came to drafting "toolsy" prep outfielders, so by the sounds of it, Buxton was #1 on their draft board. In addition to discussing a handful of recent addition to the Twins systems, I also asked Mr. Powell about his two most famous finds: Jose Bautista and Matt Moore. Mr. Powell goes into much more depth about Buxton and some of this other recent finds: Niko Goodrum and Luke Bard. He also answers questions about scouting and his scouting career. You may have heard about him playing himself in the movie Trouble With the Curve, so he dished on that too. All in all, Mr. Powell helped us writing the Handbook do what we are striving to do - give the readers as much information as possible about tomorrow's potential Twins. [ATTACH=CONFIG]3052[/ATTACH]

Pretty quiet last couple of weeks in Twinsland. Today the news came that Blackburn is having wrist surgery and will be in a cast for six weeks. That makes his destined for Rochester's Disabled List.

Originally, I planned to post a preview for the Handbook; but that is going to wait until tomorrow. Instead, I decided to go the direction of something that has been bothering me over the last couple of days. Ironically, it has nothing to do with shrinking payroll or lack of top-of-the-rotation starters. It has to do with the quantity of pitchers the Twins are bringing to camp. Though the Twins are bringing a franchise-record 34 pitchers to Major League Spring Training, I feel like they are not bringing enough. In 2010 and 2011, when the bulk of the staff was set, the Twins invited 24 and 26 pitchers to camp, respectively. Last year, coming off their first 90-plus loss season, the Twins invited 33. We could argue about the quality of those 33 - or this year's 34 - but when you have a lot of question marks on the staff, it can't hurt to give as many guys an opportunity as possible. So what gives? Well, a few things: Glen Perkins, who is written in pen as the 2013 closer, will be pitching for Team USA in the WBC. Lester Oliveros got a courtesy invite and will miss the 2013 season after having Tommy John surgery. Vance Worley and Scott Diamond are in ink as 40% of the starting rotation. They also are both coming off minor elbow surgery and should be eased into their workload even slower than normal. Kyle Gibson and Mike Pelfrey, both who figure to make a significant amount of starts this year, are recovering from Tommy John surgery. While Gibson is 100% coming into spring training, his innings will be limited. Pelfrey will not be ready by Opening Day and will be limited in camp before likely starting the year on the Disabled List. Rich Harden has been dealing with injuries for... well, forever. The Twins will need to be cautious with him to avoid having a Zumaya-repeat. Now, today the news came out the Nick Blackburn will be undergoing wrist surgery on Wednesday and be in a cast for six weeks. The likelihood is that he'll start the season on Rochester's Disabled List. So, despite the quantity of pitchers invited, the Twins will be opening camp with 26 pitchers full-go, which, historically, is on par for the teams that are coming off a Division Championship with their roster set, not a team that flirted with 100 losses and has more question marks than an interrogation. [ATTACH=CONFIG]3053[/ATTACH] http://spacestation11.blogspot.com