Bill Brown69

Top of my head but Zack Grienke was't an ACE last year so ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, I would define an ACE as the top 10 pitchers in baseball each year with a select few being on that list multiple times. For those I would use HOF to define them!

For some reason there seems to be a roller coaster of emotion on the first 20% of a long season. These are mostly young kids and consistency is not going to define your play in your first few seasons. No Santana isn't going to keep pitching to a sub 2 ERA nor will Santiago keep pitching to a 2.78 ERA but Berrios nor Mejia will pitch as bad as before, and they will both get plenty of starts this year. That leaves it up to Hughes to keep his arm attached to his body and the bullpen to keep getting overworked and live on who they are until the young guys get off the DL and are ready. As a whole the pitching staff should be much better than last year but are still pretenders. Hitting wise, neither catcher will hit .250, we knew that. Mauer is who he is. I expect him to raise his average and walk totals some, but nowhere close to the good ole days. Dozier will go on a tear for a while sometime. How long will determine if this is another 40 HR year or a 25 HR year. Hopefully his ankle doesn't bother his base running and he scores 100. Polanco will have his ups and downs. With 359 career at bats he is maybe starting his Sophomore slump. Hopefully he can get it out of the way before the season ends and be close to who he will be for next year. Sano wont have an OPS of 1070 or hit .300 but he is legit and a huge threat. All of the outfielders have less than 900 career at bats. If you react to every series, get ready for a large and twisty roller coaster. They all have the tools to be at least very productive, if not All Stars. I am ready for the Vargas train to roll but he only has just over 500 At bats. Grossman has just over 1000, so he is only just getting established as a hitter. Overall the team is pretenders, but in a good way. I still think 82 wins. 76 if things break poorly and who knows what a little luck,,,,,86? 88? Regardless this is a fun team to follow right now. There will be frustrating moments but stay calm and enjoy the ride.

Not only standing up but slowing down as he approached 3rd. Buck has 4 of the 10 fastest times in the stat cast era!

Like I said, I don't care anything about the lack of payroll up till now or soon, but KEEP SOME OF THESE GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Pick who you like, earn your salary and pay them to spend 10 years with the Twins!!!!!!!!!!!!

I heard a report that Sano wants to be the first $50 million per year player in baseball. I think Harper will beat him to it though. I have stated before that I didn't care 1 bit about the last 2-3 years of low payroll IF they use it later to keep a nucleus of good players. As a fan I am demanding that at least 4 of what had been ranked as the top farm system in baseball play at least 10 years with the Twins. Every player has question marks (even Sano, weight and elbow) BUT there are people making a lot of money to evaluate talent and get it right. For some reason the Puckett and Mauer contracts have made a lot of people think that it never works for us. BS! If you never take a chance you never get anywhere other than close/coulda/shoulda! I would make Jeremy's offer to Kepler. Sano would get an offer for much more, way much more. I would also consider a couple others, but within reason. Polanco, Rosario and maybe even Buxton but I do realize there is no way to keep the whole band together.

My thoughts OF defense- assuming this trio stays here for 3+ years they will be the bar to measure all others by. IF- you have a legit Gold Glover in Mauer and a "looks good in live" from Dozier. Sano has the arm to equal out mistakes.. Polànco's arm is suspect but so was this Ozzie Smith kid!! Give me a catcher and this D looks top 5.

After all the hand wringing and gnashing of teeth we are on pace to go 162-0. No, not going to happen but neither was the sky falling last week. Remember last year opening day saw us use 5 pitchers? Early season rainouts are common in the midwest and the questions regarding 4 of the starters being able to pitch even some semblance of deep are legit. 13 pitchers for now but if we can average 5 2/3 for the next 4 guys and then,,,,,,,,,,,, Vargas healthy??? Lots of questions but it will play itself out and the roster will change before May. I am convinced the starters will be on a shorter leash this year both because of the new office and because right now either Duffey or Berrios could be inserted in the rotation which is better than almost any #5 guy we have had in years. One of Vargas or Park will be on the team early but they had better perform because we finally have people in AAA that will be. I think the days of speedy light hitting 4th OF or utility IF being a DH 40-50 games a year are over. Batting order wise there was much of the same but it made sense to me. Regulars all play on opening day. This is what we have until we get down to 12 pitchers. Against righty starters I would expect 1 of the bottom 3 to trade with the DH spot. When either of Park or Vargas is up then put Mauer @ 5 and either DH or Sano at 4. We could have a very poor rotation and still win 75 games like a lot of posters predicted. A half decent rotation means meaningful baseball through August.

My rose colored glasses work a little extra when I look at Kepler but here goes. 590AB .283/.333/.495 31 2B/ 20 HR/ 20 steals and in the surprise stat of the year because he is hitting 2nd he scores 109 runs to lead the team.

While I agree that Joe shouldn't play much against lefty starters I don't know how you can sit Kepler, Rosario and Joe so I predict he plays more than most of the posters think. My ideal lineup has Joe batting 5th to split Sano and Park who are interchangeable depending on who is hot. With that in mind and my rose colored (March) glasses on,,, 535PA .287BA /23 2B/ 12HR/115 BB/ 79RBI/ 94Runs Logic for that, pitching to Mauer with a strikeout prone hitter behind him with a runner on 2nd and 2 out is stupid so Joe takes a ton of walks. That leads to a .439 OB% If he is on base that much he will score. Career high in walks, 2nd highest OB%, tied for second highest in Runs and TD posters will be all over him for lack of RBI from the 5 hole!

I don't mind the lineup much. In the other thread I had Park/Sano as 4&6 interchangeable with Mauer as the 5 hitter just to break up the strikeout prone righties and with Mauer's OB% the 6 hole guy should get ample opportunities to hit a 2 run homer. The only other thing I had different was catcher at 7 just to put all the base cloggers in 1 bunch.

The #4 hitter leads of the second inning 33% of the time. The #3 hitter is AB with nobody on 50% of the time in the first inning. That is why I had Polonco and Rosario batting 8 and 9. No matter where you are most of your RBIs come from the guys hitting before you getting on and preferably standing on 2nd.

But the most revealent because it was last year.

I would like to agree but if Grossman plays OF against lefties to sit either Kepler or Rosario then you end up with EE as DH if Park moves to first. I tried to make a stab at it but I think it might change every couple weeks based on performance among several. That being said, the lineup I would have against the first righty with the right to change Dozier Kepler Buxton Park Mauer Sano Castro Polonco Rosario Park and Sano are likely to switch early in the season when Sano starts hitting. Kepler and Rosario are interchangeable. Castro is there with the idea that Polonco and/or Rosario can get on base for Dozier's later AB's. If he hits with runners on Dozier and Buxton switch. IMHO this team should score. There are always more runs scored than RBI so when you project somebody to have 100 RBI you have to be able to project someone to score at lest 100. I can see 4 guys in this lineup that if batting 1 or 2 could score 100. Dozier has, Buxton, Polonco and also Kepler could if he can keep himself in the lineup against lefties. With this lineup I could also see Park, Sano and Dozier having 100 RBI.

First thing with Dozier is baseball is not played in a vacuum. He just flat out hits better and strikes out less with nobody on base.

Everyone get ready for this. Berrios an whoever loses from the Duffy/Mejia battle will pitch as far apart in the rotation as possible and the first call will likely be determined by who is closest to stay on their normal schedule. And that is the way it should be assuming they are comparable performance wise.

I do agree, they need someone to fill this kind of role. I'd just prefer it be someone you can move to the minors if/when needed. If it becomes an issue just let Haley go back to Boston and it really didn't cost you much. However that is the key. If he pitches 25 innings early with a 4.8 era in mop and we need somebody to replace him then replace him and let him walk. Don't look at the cost in $$$ but just tell yourself that pitcher xyz that you did't have to abuse that way doesn't need TJ. Sometimes you really just need to focus on how much you can lose in a day, not what you make.

Biggest trouble with Mauer in the 2 hole is he seems to be a guy that is bothered by somebody trying to steal. I have seen more crappy swings from him in those situations that every other AB combined in his career. It is almost like when the runner takes off there is a switch in his head that forces him to swing. The biggest problem is he is such a good hitter that he does make contact and fouls off a lot of pitches that would have been balls and that he would have never swung at otherwise.

Sorry Brock but I think pitching staff/ hitters for the home team can sway the park factor by a ton. Put Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz in Target field and see what happens. Or maybe put Bonds, Willingham, Dozier and Joeybats all on their best years and see what that turns it into. Sometimes a team comes together with monster pitching and not a lot of O and then "its a pitchers park" but if the home team has no pitching but a couple guys who can/will try to homer to get back in the game then "its a hitters park"

Can I vote like I will in November and pick none of the above? JT is the only closer in the bunch and has massive upside but I really think he should be 8th inning guy next year so flip a coin and see how it falls and hope for the best.

I can go either way on this. Not a huge fan of trading just to be "in the game" i.e. Synd for RA Dickey but I will give him the pass for being in the AL East and having to compete there. Most on here won't like this but give me a 10 year run of division titles and I will take my chance on winning it all a time or 2. Don't forget the Braves only won 1. A World Series title is hard but I would way rather win enough for every game to be meaningful than be a Marlins fan even with their 2 titles. I won't be in the room for the interview so,,,,,,, I guess that all I will be able to offer is the 20/20 hindsight!!!!!

Best day to be a Twins fan in 5 years at least.

The D is nothing special in the infield. I would agree that Mauer is our best infielder. I would rate Plouffe next(not as good as last season) and the rest at average or below. I think our outfield has a lot of potential with time. I wouldn't mess with that. There are some on the Twins that never learned to make good plays look routine. They make good plays look spectacular and never make anything over a good play.

I have not watched a single game the Colts have played since the "suck for Luck" thing and I in no way believe that the players were any part of that. Play the best you have and see what happens. If the players tank GET RID OF THEM!!!!!