terencemann

The top prospect lists just reinforce my thinking that the new front office has a steep uphill climb. Sure, there are a lot of young players on the MLB roster but, other than Buxton and Sano, none of them have really established the potential to be first division starters that carry a team through the playoffs. The cupboard is getting a little bare and I don't know if the Twins have the players at the MLB level to win the division and they haven't drafted well enough to bring on the next star player or even give them the ammo to trade for what they need in the near future. Just a lot of anxiety on my part about the players at the MLB level and the newest reports on the Twins farm system don't help.

Yes. Please, for the love of God, no more Aaron Hickses skipping AAA based on a month of scrimmages.

This is a really thoughtful article. I enjoy that McDaniel can bring in different references to what he does. It really keeps me going back. He's so thorough...

He's certainly seems like a nice guy but a sub-4 K/9 against 2 walks per 9 innings isn't going to work for long.

I think my problem with Rosario isn't Rosario himself or what the Twins are doing with him from a developmental stand-point. My problem is that the Twins did not acquire a major leauge caliber center fielder for 2015, meaning a guy capable of playing replacement level baseball as the regular center fielder over the course of the season (or a platoon). If you leave a gaping hole in the roster as large as they did, these things are going to happen. Rosario doesn't belong in the majors at this point and that's on the Twins, imo.

The situation in CF is just pretty awful anyway you look at it. If Hunter continues to hit and Arcia comes around, at least they're getting something on the offensive side of the baseball from the outfield.

I'm all for this, for now. Schafer is the kind of player who will get hot for 3 weeks and then you have to waive him just to get the manager to stop using him becuase they won't realize he's still Jordan Schafer.

Mauer's knees might be cooked, too. It might not just be about head injuries. You really don't want to end up with a $20MM player who is just faking it out there.

Schafer put up a .381 wOBA over 146 PAs in the first half of 2013 but it was largely BABIP driven which meant that, when his luck ran out, he was worse than BJ Upton. His speed is a very real part of his game now and he can add value with it but he will need to show me that he can hit well over a long stretch of time before I buy into what he's doing and believe he can make the day-to-day adjustments he needs to be a good hitter. In addition to what might be mechanical adjustments mentioned above, the good news is Schafer has walked as much as he's struck out this month so I'll be curious to see if he can build off that. If he can hit just a little, he'll make for a decent bench guy. That just hasn't been the case for him in his career so far. The problem for the Braves with Schafer was, because of his speed, he could do well for a few weeks and it will buy him playing time with Fredi Gonzalez for a couple months that should have gone to someone else.

Ooops. My bad. In any case, my argument is still that I want to see them continue to drag pitching into the system.

Stewart is so young, I wouldn't worry about blocking him right now. What they need to worry about is finding better pitchers than their current rotation if they want to be a winning team in the next few years. My worry is not that, in the end, the current rotation isn't good enough, it's that this front office is not a good judge of how to spend money on pitching. If this rotation continues to suck all season and they go out and sign another Hughes, I guess I just give up.

I don't know what Dozier would bring back unless he continues to do what he's doing for a couple months but I think trying to sell high on some players is the best bet if the Twins really do want to build a team around guys like Sano/Buxton/Meyer. They still have a lot of holes to fill and it wont' all come from the minors and I don't think they have the resources to plug every hole from free agency. I'd like to see the Twins continue to stuff their minor leagues with as much pitching as possible.

I feel like the only problem with LoMo in Miami was that the team was giving him flack for Twitter at a time when he was performing. That's what caused the personality friction. Since that time, he has been a far less productive player but I don't think the 2 things are connected. If the Twins were to acquire him in order to play the LHB side of a platoon for DH and occasionally an outfield spot with a few starts at 1B, then I can't see why he wouldn't enjoy playing for a team that wants to give him an opportunity to succeed.

I would point out that a lot of those teams, even the ones who have been relevant for a while like the Braves, Cards, and Rays, keep the farm system pumping and don't cling to players after their useful value to the team has expired (at least not by too much). The Braves, Cards and Pirates use free agency and trades to acquire talented players but it's the flexibility their farm systems give them that allows them to do that.

I would be a little surprised to see Rosario and Buxton on the 2014 Twins. Rosario looks like he needs at least another full season in the minors and they probably won't rush Buxton.