gil4

I'd say it's still too early to tell. If he gets a mid-season promotion to AA (I think that's a good possibility) and continues to hit, that would start to tip the scales in his favor. He might wear down as the season progresses because this will be his first full season, if he stays healthy and completes the season. A lot of people have compared him to David Ortiz, and to make an impact he might have to hit like Oritiz because he isn't likely to buy a lot of leeway with his glove. Ortiz at age 22 spent most of the year with the Twins and had an OPS over 800. At age 23 he was sent to AAA and tore up the PCL (315/.412/.590/1.002) before making back to the majors to stay. Vargas is a bit behind the timeline, but has a chance to catch up. He might have a window of opprtunity if Morneau leaves and the Twins don't fill the vacancy very well If he finishes the year in AA and he continues to hit, he could realistically split next year between AA and AAA with a September call-up and a vacant position to compete for. I think he gets there, maybe not at the Ortiz level, but I think he will be a useful MLB regular.

The only affiliate I have seen play is New Britain, and that was almost 5 years ago om he road (in Norwich, CT, against the Cnnecticut Defenders). I would say the Cedar Rapids promotions of hitting home runs and winning games are the best.

Vargas continues to move his numbers in the right direction. He has now played more games this season than in any previous season. [TABLE] BA OBP SLG OPS G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO Last 7 days .278 .417 .556 .972 6 18 2 5 2 0 1 6 4 3 Thru May 23 .273 .358 .509 .868 45 161 23 44 12 1 8 33 20 36 [/TABLE]

I'm done using this thread. All future updates will be at the new one I started in the correct location: http://twinsdaily.com/adopt-prospect-2013/6776-kennys-vargas.html#post115693

Apparently I managed to start my original thread in the wrong forum, so I'm going to start a new one. The old on is at this link if you really want to see the updates; all future updates will be on this new thread. http://twinsdaily.com/twins-minor-league-talk/6318-kennys-vargas.html Original intro: Kennys Vargas (adopt-a-prospect) Born: Aug. 1, 1990, Canovanas, Puerto Rico High School: Luis Hernaiz Veronne HS, Canovanas, P.R. Ht.: 6-5 Wt.: 215 (allegedly) Bats: B Throws: R Acquired: Undrafted Free Agent First of all, Kennys Vargas is a big dude. In this photo, the “little guy” on the right is Miguel Sano, and there aren’t too many people who can make Sano look small. I’m not sure where the listed weight of 215 came from, but I’m not buying it. (Maybe it was his birth weight.) Vargas’ status as a prospect is solely due to his ability to hit for power. Entering his age 22 season, he has yet to play more than 44 games in a year, so it’s difficult to gauge exactly what he will be. His defense is suspect at first and he has served a 50 game suspension for violating the substance abuse policy (for taking an unapproved weight loss supplement.) But in the limited time we have seen him, he has put up some pretty impressive numbers. Time isn’t on his side and 2013 will likely be a sink-or-swim year for him. He will need to show that he can put up the big numbers over a full season and can’t afford many more missteps if he is to remain a prospect. Prospect rankings: Seth Stohs: #12 BA: #29 Gleeman: #30 TwinkieTown: Not ranked Stats coming into the year: [TABLE=class: cms_table, width: 91%] Year Team League G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS 2009 TWI GCL 35 109 12 28 7 [/TD] 3 18 17 34 2 .257 .369 .404 .773 2010 TWI GCL 39 142 24 46 15 1 3 26 13 40 1 .324 .388 .507 .895 2011 ELZ APP 44 174 27 56 11 6 33 15 50 .322 .377 .489 .865 2012 BEL MID 41 154 22 49 10 1 11 36 28 41 [TD] [/TABLE]

It might be the only reasonable argument, but it is VERY reasonable. Do you think we could pick up another AAAA pitch-to-contact non-prospect for him (or do we have them all already)?

That and whether or not the guy's girlfriend is hot.

I didn't know Worley still had optiions left. It doesn't solve the problem, but at least the paperwork is easier.

Punto was a decent player who tended to have good years followed by horrible years. He wasn't the problem. Gardenhire and Ryan/Smith were the problems for casting him as a starter (instead of a very good utility player) and and for overpaying for him. When he left, he signed a contract that made him a good value, and if the Twins could have signed him to the same contract (and convinced Gardy to give him 250-300 plate appearances) (which would have meant finding someone better to start) they should have. Of course, with the Nishi debacle he would have ended up starting again, which would have been painful for all sides (although not as painful as watching Nishi.)

For those on a low budget, I have found that one can normally find a lower price on the ESPN Mag subscription than on Insider.

You do realize that Colabello is only 6 months younger than Joe Mauer, don't you? He might be a semi-useful player right now, but generally when we talk prospect we're talking about someone with projected future development. I'd love to see him get a shot like Seth's old teammate Chris Coste, and maybe he can hit enough to hang around for a little bit. Coste had the advantage of being a catcher, so he didn't have to hit as much to keep a job (although it seems to me he did pretty well.) Colabello has only played 2 games in the OF this year, so he appears to be limited to 1B/DH, which puts him behind Morneau and Mauer at 1B (and Parmelee, althogh that is becoming less of an obstacle every day) and Doumit, Mauer, Willingham, and Arcia at DH. If he gets a chance (and that's no guarantee, although it looks likely that he will get the call at some point) he had better come out hitting, because he probably is only going to get one shot, and he will be on a short leash.

Vargas continues to recover from the slow start. [TABLE=width: 87] Dates AVG OBP SLG OPS G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS 3-11 May .323 .436 .581 1.017 9 31 6 10 2 0 2 7 7 9 [/TD] Season .276 .350 .504 .854 34 127 17 35 9 1 6 22 14 31 [TD] [/TABLE]

The Angels did MLB a big favor by coming back to win that game, because that protest would have been upheld, and they would have had to replay the game from that point. I was shocked an umpire at any level didn't now that rule. As a player in little league I knew that rule. As for the botched replay review, I know there is a tendency to see what you are expecting to see. I don't know what angles they saw or the quality of hte pictures they saw, but I would question their ablility to make calls in real time if they can't get them right after multiple views in slow-mo. But it's still a judgement call, and if they start fining guys for missing judgement calls nobody will be able to afford to umpire.

Let's go ahead and side-track it. Radke also had an awesome TV commercial early in his career.

They didn't win it all, but they were special. I became a Twins fan around 1972, so I experienced '72-'86 and '93-'99. Those '04-06 teams were fun to watch, especially when Santana and Liriano were piching.

You must end up behind different little old ladies than I do. I'm always amazed at how hard that task can be. I haven't seen much to indicate the Twins are any better at it, and even if they are, they often have the wrong items in the cart.

They were the two best players on a contending team. Both won MVP awards (although I didn't think Morneau should have.) They are the kind of players that good teams build around. The problem was not that they built around them. The problem was they didn't build. The Hardy trade/Nishi deal was a killer. There was no reason to expect Nishi to be that bad, but he was a risk, and there was also no reason to believe he would be better than the known quantity already in hand. Instead of fixing real problems, Bill Smith was busy gambling with areas of strength. It probably wouldn't have mattered much because the pitching fell apart so badly and so quickly that making all the right moves probably wouldn't have put them back into contention. I believe Mauer still is capable of being the best player on a contender when healthy, which is not as often as we'd like but still fairly often. Morneau just hasn't been the same since the injury, although he has always run hot and cold. I would really love to see one more extended hot streak this year. A lot of things would have to fall into place, but there are pieces there that could still make this year interesting. They are right arount .500. Hicks is hitting .120 - that could improve. Arcia could hit more. Morneau could get hot. Mauer hasn't hit like he can for most of the season. Worly could pitch better. Pelfrey might be getting over his surgery and starting to pitch better. Plouffe could start to hit again. When a team plays .500 ball with as many things going wrong as the Twins have had, there is hope for improvement. Of course, Correia will probably turn back into a pumpkin and the likely improvement from the other guys only takes them from horrible to adequate. It would still be nice to stay in contention and then start plugging in some of the super prospects next year.

Now he has. 4-4 with 2 doubles tonight.

Vargas got off to a slow start. After 11 games, he had an ugly .188/.250/.375/.625 line. On April 17th, after 3 straight 0-4 games, he wasn't in the starting lineup for the first time this year. He entered the game as a pinch-hitter and singled, which was the start of a 9-game hitting streak. He hasn't had any huge games yet - two hits is the most he has had in one game - but it appears that, after a short adjustment to A+, he is putting up number that are in line with what he has done the past few years. The big thing he needs to do this year is to put up the same kind of numbers over a full season. Barring injury, he will reach his career high for games played later this month. (Game 44 is May 21st.) (Small sample size caveats apply to anything he has done this season, and really to his whole career.) He has been around long enough to start collecting nicknames: Baby Papi, Little Papi, and Big Spoon are three that Seth mentioned. He does look a lot like David Ortiz, although I would think seeing him step into the right-hand batters box would diminish that a bit. Through Apr 16 [TABLE=width: 65%] Team AVG OBP SLG OPS G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO FTM .188 .250 .375 .625 11 48 4 9 3 [/TD][TD]2 6 3 12 [/TABLE] Apr 17 - May 2 [TABLE=width: 65%] Team AVG OBP SLG OPS G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO FTM .333 .384 .583 .967 14 96 7 16 7 1 4 15 7 22 [/TABLE]

It sounds like the Twins won the trade just by the damage Liriano did to the White Sox. Anything positive Escobar and Hernandez do will just add to that.

Not a McCarver fan, but that quote is awesome.

I think the critics said it was a worse signing than the Marquis one. The contracts (1 yr/$3M vs. 2/$10M) were the main factors. Correia doesn't have to pitch worse than Marquis to make it a worse signing. At the price, an ERA over 5 would get him there. If he keeps hanging sliders like the one Beltre missed, he will get there.

Gave him his present on Thursday and Friday. Took it back on Saturday and Sunday.

"We get one of these after each Correia start..." I hope we keep the tradition up for the rest of this year and all of the next. When KC collects his Cy Young award(s) I will be the happiest wrong person in the world (except maybe Chief.) I know that's not the standard even those who supported the deal are expecting, but even the realist optimistic projections are no sure thing even now. It's fairly common for pitchers who suddenly flip the switch on to just as suddenly flip it back off again. it's fun watching a team that isn't constantly down 6-0 in the 4th, which is what the previous 2 years seemed like.. I hope it continues.