diehardtwinsfan

Buxton is at least 4 years out. Though you should add Benson to this list... Not quite ready to write him off just yet. Yes, OF looks very nice. If Revere continues this, he's going to be a very nice trade piece when Hicks is ready to go. I'm still loving an OF of Arcia/Hicks/Benson... well above average at the plate and in the field.

For some reaosn I thought this was wrong, but it's a good question... I don't know.

5 guys in the top 100? Seems a bit optimistic given that not all of those guys even made Sickles top 120 (though I wonder if Hicks would be on there had he done it a bit later). I just have a tough time ranking any tools guy that high when there's 1) no data to work with and 2) he's so far down. If he was a college prospect who has excelled against tougher competition, I could buy it, but the kid is fresh out of highschool playing and put up gaudy HS stats against pretty weak competition. As such, I fail to see how Buxton is a top 20-30 prospect (even though in this area I do think that's where a lot of people will grade him). If he blows up the GCL, I'd be willing to rethink that, but otherwise, he's probably the fifth prospect in this list, and you could argue 6th depending on what you think of Benson. Likewise, I fail to see the heavy on experience side of things when all of these guys have had success being far younger than the average person in their leagues. It isn't as if Hicks is 27 and raking in AA or that Rosario only has 1 tool. With the exception of Sano, they all have 5 tools (though Sano's power tool more than makes up for his lack of speed). Yes Buxtons tools may be better, but they are also much less polished.

given the lack of starting options, I wonder if the Twins will approach Perk about starting next year. I wouldn't expect a 96 MPH fastball, but if he can keep it in the low 90s and still notch some Ks, Perk could be a decent starter.

did something happen in the Texas series that everyone thinks Dozier is spiraling? He was hitting quite well in Detroit. This is his rookie year, he's not a super prospect by any means.... meaning he's going to take some lumps. This is when you let the kid play and see what he can do without the pressure of knowing that if he makes a mistake he will be on the plane back to Rochester. The question is not Casilla vs. Dozier. It should be Casilla vs. Carrol at 2nd. Honestly, I don't get the big deal. Like others said, the guy has had a ridiculous number of chances including getting the position handed to him in the offseason only for him to blow it. Next year, he's going to cost what Carrol does as well, which essentially makes him overpriced. He's going to be let go and will sign a 1/1M prove it contract with some other team to be a backup or have a chance to compete for a starting job. The only chance of that not happening is if we can convince a team like Detroit to part with a C+ prospect, as he would be a fairly modest upgrade to their situation, and I doubt playing him every day will effect that... I'd add that playing him every day could also destroy what little value he has.

1 good start doesn't right the wrongs... Blackburn won't fetch a bucket of warm spit right now, and as such he's going to be a Twin next year. My biggest fear is that they will count on him performing.

Just looking through his stats, something is up... He's kind of a Dr. Jeckyl/Mr. Hyde with batters faced and hits allowed as he's had some very good seasons where he's lead the league in hits allowed. His stats this year are not horrible, but not as good as in the past, though he's coming off of a season where he threw 250 innings (a career high by a lot). He's also expensive as someone else pointed out. The Rays may be able to take advantage of a weak pitching market to get someone to overpay, but I'm not sure he's going to reel in a top propsect, much in the same way that Liriano will not either.

hope so!

Nope, new CBA. The Marlins would have to offer him arb of 1/12.5 and then they'd get a pick right in front of the Twins, but the Twins would keep their pick.

I think there are some problems with this. I agree the circumstancial evidence is there, though in Joes case, the jump occurred as he was going into his prime, which is not terribly unusual (see Plouffe, Trevor or Bautista, Tony). That said, MLB has been testing for PEDs, and if there are PEDs that can do what they did to Mauer, then why in the world was Ryan Braun ever caught? Every hitter in baseball would be on those. The other big thing is that Mauer played the next season in Target Field. The Metrodome was very friendly to the type of hitter Joe is and many of the HRs it recorded were warning track fly balls in TF or doubles in the gap/off the wall. I cannot give you an explanation for this, as the dimensions are fairly similar, but again the stats speak for themselves. Mauer was also in very good health in 2009. He had that going for him in 2010 as well, but has not had it hte last couple of years. Even though he's put up fairly respectable numbers, he doesn't seem quite himself. Not sure why that is. I do think that another part of it is that hte league has figured him out... why he doens't adjust is beyond me. During the Tiger series, the Tigers announcers made a big deal that Mauer was one of the top 5 in the league in not swinging at the first pitch (doing so less than 10% of the time), and so pitchers would grove a batting practice fastball in on him. He was always behind in the count. Mauer hasn't adjusted to this, and I'd add neither has Gardy... When Revere was on with 2 outs and Mauer was at the plate, I'd think Gardy would take advantage of this and call a hit and run... but nope.

as bad as the central is, they'd need their starters to suddenly look like good starters and for Morneau to hit like he did in May. Though that said, they should be selling.

leave him in the pen... unless he develops a pitch that he can use effectively against righties, he should be a reliever/occasional spot starter.

I know I'll get flamed for this, but no way Buxton rankes ahead of Hicks, Rosario, and Arcia.... could argue Benson too, though I'll give you that since he's had a horrible season. I'd add Koch to the HM list as well.

while it's nice to see him back, let's temper things a bit... 1 inning against rookie league competition where his fastball velo looked good.... he still has a long long long way to go.

wonder if they have another Oliveros type prospect to give up for him... he'd be a nice upgrade over what they have right now.

I think this means we agree.... I wouldn't force it unless Valencia does, but I'm quite willing to do it if Danny steps it up.

Then why on earth did he spend so much time there? I'm not saying he's going to be a plus defender, but up until his chance in MLB, all the reports said average. But don't tell me that he's not a huge asset in the middle if he can put up circa 2000-2005 Jeff Kent like numbers up the middle, as that what he's done for the last month and a half. My point is that if (and that's a big if) Valencia were able to recapture some form and be a league avg 3B, then moving Plouffe back into the middle makes a ton of sense. If not, you can delay that until Sano's ready, at which point Plouffe is going to be pretty expensive unless the team locks him down.

as a Sept callup, this is quite possible. Gives the staff a chance to look at him a bit.

I'm with you. Revere is playing well enough that we could get something decent for Span, but if Revere is here in 2014, he's a fourth OF. When these guys are ready, Revere either gets traded (if he has value) or he settles into being one of the better 4th OFs in the game. Arcia, I should note, was a CF up until recently too, so it isn't as though he's a Cuddy type runner out there.

huh? So because he had Tommy John, his 2006 season doesn't count? Apparently someone forgot to expunge the 121 innings, 144k, the 2.61 ERA, and the 12-3 record. Look, I'm not on the defender or attacker bandwagon. But let's not pretend that there isn't a mighty nice ceiling. I agree with you in that the odds of him hitting that ceiling are not too good and that the 12.5M would be better off spent elsewhere. But I do think that if the Twins cannot get something decent for him at the deadline that they would be much better off seeing if he can ride this hot streak into Sept and parlaying that into a big enough deal that they can offer him arb...

I don't think he got lucky in 2006 and 2010, and the numbers he put up both years were pretty good. I wouldn't call it blind hope... There's a legitimate reason for hope. I agree that in the mean time he's been absolutely terrible and that 12.5M is a pretty signficant gamble for a team that needs 2 or 3 starters and has 21M to spend, as such, I'd trade him if you can get something decent for him... though like others said, if all you have is a Rene Tosoni type prospect, then you may as well hold on to the guy and see if he pitches himself into a multi-year contract where you can offer him arb and he rejects it.

I have a tough time believing that Plouffe made it all the way through the minor league system killing spectators on the 1B line. I suspect his problems had a lot to do with nerves and adjustments on both sides of the game. I have no problems letting him play out the year at 3rd, but if the bat is legit, it would be wise to move him back to the middle knowing that he's figured out the offensive side of the game.... Not to mention that huge positional advantage that moving Trevor back to the MI brings. I agree that it's dependent on Valencia figuring enough out to come back and play league average 3B, but it's well worth it if he can.

Casilla is also arb eligible for the 2nd time now... He's not cheap anymore, and this team cannot get him cheaply. He isn't going to be around much longer.

and what incentive does Baker have to working it out now as opposed to waiting till FA?

he's the next to get the Kevin Slowey treatment.