diehardtwinsfan

If you are talking this season and right now, personally I'd shut him down and send him home. Long term though, I think this is a risk that you have to take unless Mauer himself is forcing it. Mauer represents a huge competitive advantage at C that is largely gone at 1B. Giving him reps over there to get him more plate appearances is one thing, but a full switch when he's still a productive catcher is another thing alltogether.

Tanking it? No. I don't see the value in that. Playing prospects who need experience at the expense of vets who can get an extra win or two, yes absolutely. Being overly cautious when your star catcher gets a concussion, yes absolutely. Trading off Morneau, yes absolutely. Those will add losses to the column. I think Dave is save from his 95 loss bet, but I would much prefer they finish with a top 5 pick again this season.

I honestly don't understand the "decision" that needs to be made here. Mauer's value as a catcher is immensely higher than that of Mauer as a 1B. There are plenty of FA guys who will sign reasonably priced deals to OPS .800 at 1B, and finding that production at catcher is rare. I agree if Pinto is forcing the issue, that you can think about it, but as much as I like Pinto, expecting him to put up anything close to the HOF numbers Mauer has put up at C to date is unreasonable. I'm all for keeping his bat in the lineup more and giving him reps at DH, 1B, 3B, or anywhere else he can play competent defense, but moving him for the sake of moving him when his production continues to remain very good strikes me as poor planning. Mauer should stay at C for as long as possible through the next wave. His value as a catcher is much much much higher.

With the aquisition of Presley, I'd say it's a given that Hicks will start in Rochester.

I didn't mean it to come across as inflamatory. My apologies. My point is that some guys take longer to develop than others. Just because a guy fails in his first attempts in the majors doesn't mean he will be a failure as a player. I point to the minor league numbers because they demonstrate potential. It's the same reason why I think the Twins were foolish not to run Parmelee out there every day. Some guys just take a bit longer, and on a rebuilding team they need time. As I stated, I don't get your consternation here. Presley is a marginal prospect with some upside. He may amount to nothing, but he's hardly a bad get. He's also about as close to ML ready as can be. The same is with Welker (though we aren't sure if Welker is the guy or not, that's a different issue). Morneau was hardly going to net much else, and I'm fairly skeptical that picking up his salary would have dramatically improved the return. I doubt it would have netted Kingman or some of other names we discussed.

Some guys take longer to develop. This isn't rocket science. Chris Davis is a real good example of this. Dozier may very well turn out to be another one. It happens. No one is saying that Presley is the next coming of Kirby Puckett, but I think you can reasonably conclude that he's a marginal prospect with some decent upside. He will have a little over a year to prove he can hang at this level. If he does, the Twins now have another centerfielder to trade (if Hicks can get back on track). I don't see what the consternation is here.

Baxendale is becoming a tease. 9 Ks so far for the day.

Tonkin and Parmelee personally.

I suspect part of the struggle isn't as much as ML hangover as it is "work on X" (whatever that may be). They could tell Hicks to go down to Rochester and only swing at breaking pitches. Who knows. That's part of the equation too.

Permanently? Probably not. For the beginning of 2014, I don't see the problem. KC will likely be traded, and I honestly expect failure from at least one of Deduno or Worley. If they both do well, I could see someone getting flipped if Meyer, May, and Darnel are beating down Rochester. Obviously, I'm dreaming a bit on Tanaka. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a Phil Hughes type guy too or even someone less, I'm just holding out some (ir)rational hope.

To answer the question you posted, yes it's realistic to expect to contend in 2015/16. I think the issue at hand is going to be "how". There's a couple things that the study didn't account for, and somewhat curious about how it plays out: 1) Repeat prospects (i.e., how did the guy do that made the list for several years). 2) Prospects that don't make the list. (i.e., can some one not on the list become a very good player). Keep in mind that most teams don't have stars 1-9 in the order. They have one or two stars, several above average players, and a lot of competent/average guys. I think what this study says more than anything else, is that some of our guys will fail. The question becomes which ones, and how are they made up for? If the Twins don't go out and spend some cash in FA, you'll likely see some of our contending teams from the early part of last decade: good but flawed. Good but flawed teams CAN contend.

I think doubles could show up, but 24 HR is a lot. He has power, but I think he's going to be more of the 15-20 HR power over his career, but he should do it with a high average. Though I've noticed as he's moved up the ladder that the power seems to be the last thing that comes back.

There's got to be a lot. He can hit low 90s which is certainly on par with a number of major league starters. The big thing I'd guess would be an issue is that he's not going to get as much downward plane on his pitches. That doesn't mean it's impossible for him to have a major league career. Once of Lincicum's biggest knocks was his 5' 11" frame, and he ended up with a couple of Cy Young awards. I'd also note, he's 19. While not common, he could still grown a couple of inches. Mauer did that.

Keep in mind, that was 2011. That was Bill Smith. I was right there with you in 2011, and so was pretty much everyone on BYTO. We all saw that this team sucked and that trading Kubel, Cuddy, and Nathan would have been worth it. Though keep in mind that we picked up Berrios and Bard as compensation picks, and given the season Nathan had to date, I'm so certain he was going to net much of anything. Would either of these guys netted better prospects? That's a fair question I think.

Alex, it misses things like context. As I pointed out with Ryan and DSP, but I'm pretty sure much of this was said before the Span and Revere trades, and like I said previously, what exactly should they said? "Were' going to suck?". If you want a real good example of what I'm trying to get at, look at every other Torri Hunter quote. He told every media stop on his FA tour that he'd love to play there. And after he signed, he made statements about wanting to end his career in MN while in other areas bashing their management. Context is a big key, and as I said earlier, I think it does a disservice to the person to simply grab a quote and use that to extrapolate what they are actually thinking and trying to do. Some of these issues are fairly complex. Markets also change and I think we can all agree that Ryan and company were not expecting the FA market to play out the way it did. That factors into things like this too. I see your point about grabbing someone's quote, but there's a lot of context that goes unspoken and there's a lot of context from after that point that gets ignored. Another good example would be Greinke. Do you really think he would have signed here if the Twins offered him 1M more (let's pretend that the Dodgers wouldn't match it)? I know what he said, but I somehow doubt it, especially given that the first few years of his deal would have been anchoring a very bad team. They would have had to significantly overpay to get him, and I honestly think the Dodgers will be regretting that deal about midway through it. I suspect in that context he would have said he left money on the table to play for the Dodgers. I wasn't anymore thrilled about Ryan's free agent moves than the rest of us, but it was pretty obvious by the end of free agency that the Twins were approaching this as a rebuild. Going back and grabbing one guy's quote at the beginning of free agency doesn't change this. It's quite simply a goal vs. how it played out. I'm not a fan of how it played out, but this is a rebuild. Next year will be one too (though I think the results will ultimately look much better).

It was the right choice, even if the return was Welker and Presley. I'm not sure what value Morneau had, he went unclaimed through waivers. Last year I was hoping he would continue his push from last summer and be looking more like his former self. He could have netted a guy like Kingman had that been the case... but he didn't. I like the return (if it's Welker) because both of these guys have succeeded in AAA and have a greater than 0 chance of actually being decent role players for the next wave. Ryan has done a good job assembling bullpen talent, so I'd say there's a reasonable but not great chance that Welker turns into a late inning shut down reliever. Not the best return, but I'm not going to cry over it. I'd also say there's a very reasonable chance that Morneau returns to Minnesota next year as a DH keeping Doumit on the bench much more.

Who's predicting stardom? He's a marginal prospect with a potential of upside during his prime years. Given that Hicks clearly needs more time, Presley will get this year and probably all of next to show if his AAA numbers last year were fluky or real. If he fails, he's our fourth OF of the future, and compared to the 4th OF guys we trotted out in our good years, he'd be a pretty solid upgrade.

One piece is a bit of dream here, but the rest isn't. C - Mauer 1B - Parmelee 2B - Dozier SS - Florimon 3B - Plouffe RF - Arcia CF - Pressley LF - Willingham DH - Doumit BN - Escobar, Colabello, Clete ... SP - Tanaka, Gibson, Worley, Correia, Deduno RP - Perkins, Burton, Tonkin, Fein ... Mgr - Molitor Trade candidates for the offseason are Doumit, Willingham, and Correia. I don't see a whole lot of market on any of those guys this offseason to be honest. All will be on 1 year deals, and I fully expect them to be moved if they are having a decent year in 2014 to make room for next wave guys. Perkins is a wild card here, as I could see someone giving Ryan a deal too good to be true, but I'm not expecting it. Pinto will be up permanently once Doumit is gone. Buxton will likely replace Willingham, and I could see him going straight from AA on that one, though I suspect he'll earn a promotion to AAA in short order. Correia will likely be replaced by one of Darnel, Meyer, or May. Worley and Deduno might find themselves in a similar position should they struggle. Hicks will likely be forced to earn his next promotion. Pressley has shown some ability in the past, so I think he's going to get a full season in 2014 to prove it. If he struggles, he gets moved if Hicks forces things. If they are both doing well, he's a trade candidate. In my dream world, we get Abreau too, but I think that's a bigger dream than Tanaka. I left the remaining BN/RP spots blank for now. There may be an FA signing to fill those roles or we could see more of what we've seen.

It's baseball, the best spot out there. That alone is a good reason to watch, and in a sick sort of way, watching them secure a higher draft pick (hopefully top 4) in a very deep draft would be kind of nice too.

I think you leave Rosario up the middle. OF is pretty crowded as it is with Hicks, Buxton, and Arcia the likely starters for most of the second half of the decade. Pressley is likely more the 4th OF but he's going to get a shot in the near future to earn it as well. I'm not sure how Rosario fits into that. I think it's more likely that he gets lots of time as a 2B/DH than him moving back to the OF. I also think it's more likely that Dozier switches back to short if he can prove that his bat is for real.

First off, his minor league OPS last year was .867. His OBP was almost .400. Citing major league numbers here is a bit unreasonable. He's played parts of 4 seasons in the majors with limited PT and has struggled. That doesn't make him worthless. The one thing he'll get in Minnesota this season and next is a full time job to prove himself. Second, I just read about the PTBNL last night, but it seems to me that the PTBNL is a part of a group that has been agreed on that the Pittsburg GM gets to decide. Unless Duke Welker is now wearing a Red Wings uniform, the PTBNL hasn't been named yet.

Gardy will not be renewed. Wouldn't be surprised at all if Anderson and Vavra are on their way out too.

I'll toss in another one to consider. Stolmy Pimentel.

Couple of things: 1) Alex Pressley does play CF and posted a .867 OPS in Indianapolis last year. Given his age, I'd hardly call him a great prospect, but what I think can be safely said is that he's likely going to be the opening day CF in MN next year, and Hicks will be in Rochester. This isn't a bad move, as there is some upside with Pressley, so he could potentially be flipped if he has a good year next year. I got to seem him play one game last year, he did quite well. 2) Another 40 man guy to keep an eye on is Stolmy Pimentel. That's personally who I'd like. He's out of options next season, so I could see the Pirates sending him here if they don't feel there's a spot in the rotation for him in 2014. I saw him pitch a few weeks ago. He's got some control issues, but was still hitting 95 late into the game. This might not be a bad get for Minnesota.

The funny thing, if I remember right, is that Ryan said they would be competitive, but somehow that's evolved into division contenders. As well, if memory serves me again, that was also before he traded Revere and Span. I also remember him saying on occasions that competing next season would be tough. To your point, I think you are spot on about Correia too. On a separate note, and not related to John's post, I personally tend to get tired of people grabbing one quote and trying to use to summarize everything about what someone's goals/motives will be. It just strikes me as incredibly ignorant in many cases and really does a disservice to the person in question. There's so much more out there when it comes to things like running a team, promoting a minor leaguer, or where a free agent may sign. We all do it, myself included sometimes, but I really think this is a practice we should all try to stop.