caninatl04

Polanco? Real: average glove, average bat. Average bat used to play as a SS, but not anymore. I concur he is a future 2B, utility player especially given the strength of the position in the high minors. Rosario? Pretender. Good to very good glove and arm, fair bat. Kepler? Real. A future staple in RF and hitting 6th or 7th. Buxton? Well, there's the (literally) multi-million dollar question.

Another piece of Chicago trivia: due to its financial markets background, it is NOT a coincidence that two of their teams are named the Bears and the Bulls.

The original thread has been lost. As I understand it, the scenario is: It's the trading deadline and The twins are a little over .500 I think we all agree that absent those parameters, no trade makes sense. But, under that scenario, might (emphasis on might) a trade make sense? The Twins minor league is VERY strong at middle infielders and (lower down) future CFs. Indeed, one could argue that there is a bit of a traffic jam at middle infield in the minors. It is at least a little possible that the Twins could get a rental # 3 pitcher for Vielma, a CF prospect and maybe one of the many, many power relievers.

When is Park off the DL?

A chip on red and a chip on black? A roulette wheel also has a zero and a 00.

Thanks for the trio of articles. Thoughtful and well researched. It gives hope to the 2021 Twins!

Sorry for sounding so dismal, but I look at the entire 2017 season as extended spring training for 2018. Under this prism, think of the current bullpen as place holders until, and not before, prospects are ready.

When is the national TV contract (which expires in 2021) renegotiated? Maybe ESPN's "problems" will expand to other sports carriers and TV revenues remain flat (or even fall). By the way, check out an excellent summary of TV revenues at: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/estimated-tv-revenues-for-all-30-mlb-teams/ Its a dismal read unless one lives in SoCal.

Two independent questions: How big is the difference between HS and college talent? As big as the difference between say A and AA or A and AAA? I'm not equating HS to A, just concerned about the difference.The twins have a first round supplemental and a 2/1 pick (35 and 37?). Does that affect the discussion about paying over / under slot?

Is there an issue of Berrios and service time? Might the Twins delay his promotion in order to keep him under team control for another year?

There may be method to the madness of keeping Pek on the roster (as opposed to taking a medical exemption). Assume the Wolves want to trade some of their younger pieces for an established "star". Of the four major sports, basketball is the only one where, salary cap considerations aside, the salaries of the traded players have to (roughly) match. So, (and just as an example-- I'm not necessarily advocating this), if the Wolves wanted to trade, say, Wiggins or LaVine or Dunn or some other young, promising star with a low current contract number (essentially, anyone on the roster except Ricky Rubio), for an established star with a high contract number, then the Wolves need to add something to make the salaries "match". Enter Pek. Add his contract number, and many more young-for-established trades "work". Pek's new team can then use the medical exemption.

How about our 6th overall this year, our 1st rounder next year, LaVine and Pek (see other post) for Jimmy Butler?

It was my impression that a 13 pitcher roster would be temporary and was a preemptive move to cover a weak starting rotation. Sooner or later, a move will have to be made to reduce the staff to 12. Two questions: who goes down and who comes up? Note: I am limiting this discussion to a pitcher-to-hitter substitution. I will leave discussions of Berrios for Meija / Gibson or, say, Reginatto for (D.) Santana for other posts. Sent down? Taylor Rogers has the highest WHIP among relievers. Tonkin has only 2 appearances. Breslow has only pitched 1.2 innings. I list the last two of these not because of their quality, but because, it seems that so far, they have been the least needed. Brought up? Catcher (I know many are clamoring for Mitch-- I will leave the debate of three catchers to those posts) Any 1 of three 1B (Park, Paulsen, Vargas)? This will allow Mauer to rest for, oh, the next 300 games or so (until his contract expires-- although he is playing 1B at a Gold Glove level)) Palka? He could play RF. My guess would be Tonkin down and Park up. Your thoughts?

As of this morning, (4/17), there are seven position players at Rochester with slash lines at or above .290/.360/.550/.900. (Very) Small sample size, but its nice to know.

So, in short, you want to pair KAT with his identical twin. "a stretch 4 type that is fairly quick and can shoot from the outside." Sounds like the Big KAT

Interesting, but not for Josh Jackson. And any trade involving Andrew Wiggins would have to involve Toronto.

You're crazy. Well, you DID dare me. I, like most of us on this forum, really, really want Rubio to be a two-way star. He did have one good month. Sorry, but I don't think he really wants to be in Minnesota, and I don't think the Wolves can contend for anything where, unlike many teams where the crowd gets excited when their PG has a wide open 3-pointer late in the game, the Wolves fans have a pained reaction.

He will get stronger, but he will never be a rim-protecting BIG man. Why do people not like the idea of KAT being the best 4 in the league with the 5 reserved for defense?

Two words Tim Duncan

Great article. It shows great depth of thought and gives us lots to think of. Jokingly, the article could be entitled "Twins 2019-2020 Roster" If I had only a little criticism, it would be that Palka's strikeout rate would not help a team that already strikes out a lot. Again, thank you for a thoughtful piece.

There are several very fundamental questions that need to be answered before we can even think about the above. Here are a handful: Is Kat a "5" or a "4"? I think his body type plays much better as a Tim(my!) Duncan 4 and could have equally stellar career. If a "4" then the team needs a large Eastern European 7' 2" 320 pounder. Yes, we have a well-paid one on the roster (Pek), but apparently one needs feet to play this game. Is Wiggins a "3" or a "2"? His much vaunted defense has not (yet?) materialized. Maybe a switch to smaller "2"'s would help. And if he is moved to "2" Although Zach LaVine's offense may make him a next generation "human highlight reel" (with respect to Dominique Wilkens), just about every advanced metric suggests his (complete) lack of defense makes him a net liability. Had he not been injured he would have made a perfect trading chip. Might he be a third guard on the depth chart? Might he be a mid-season trade chip? Will Tibs put up with another poor defender? Chris Dunn? I mean, Chris Dunn? I would have though that he would get a lot of floor time once the playoff dream vanished. Maybe Rubio's extended time was valuable to prove that his March performance was an outlier and not a trend (see also: "Buxton, Byron, September 2016 versus April 2017"). For me, one of the biggest disappointment was Cole Aldrich. I know he was hired to be a "poor man's" Hassan Whiteside, but it turns out the figurative "man" was really, really poor. Like, Alabama poor.From 20,000 feet, a good team need 8 players. Three stars and five "good" players. Ideally, these three stars would be distributed as one 4 or 5, one wing and one (point) guard. Of course there are exceptions, but this is a good distribution to start. The next five would be distributed as: two 4 or 5's,two wings anda second point guard. The next five on the roster would be one per position and, from all analyses, would not make more than 1 or 2 games a year difference. Of the 8 key players, the Wolves have: 1 star in the "4 or 5" Check! 1 star wing Check! 1 star (point) guard gulp Next five: •two 4 or 5's, 1 out of two with Deng •two wings 1 out of two with LaVine •a second point guard. check! Actually, more than one "second point guard" So, of these eight key players, the Wolves have five. Under my scenario, their shopping list has three items: Border-line all star point guard, Starter quality "5" (if Kat moved to "4") 3 and D wing.Thoughts?

From Baseball America: According to industry sources, the Twins are considering nine players for the No. 1 pick, starting with Greene and McKay. The other seven: college righthanders J.B. Bukauskas (North Carolina), Alex Faedo (Florida) and Kyle Wright (Vanderbilt), Vanderbilt outfielder Jeren Kendall, Virginia first baseman Pavin Smith and prep outfielders Austin Beck (Lexington, N.C.) and Royce Lewis (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.). Read more at http://www.baseballamerica.com/draft/2017-top-100-mlb-draft-prospects/#2FvdrRWKH7FtRLjz.99

Thank you. And now I have a reference.

Why the switches with Mientkiewicz and Mauer? Should these be considered promotions / demotions or are managers assigned based on relative strengths / weaknesses of the clubs?