Soon it will be time to actually get serious about next year (imagine being a Cubs fan). Maybe a title like Dr. StrangeGlove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb of the 2012 Twins Season would be most appropriate here. An early blueprint for 2013: Trade Justin Morneau (Oakland, Texas, Tampa Bay would seem to be potential teams for this trade) for pitching prospects (hopefully at least one in AA or AAA) or even an arbitration-eligible pitcher. Maybe include paying for half o
Here are a bunch of players who could see a promotion in the second half. I certainly do not think all of them will and there are likely a few others who will be promoted, but it is my intention to point out some strong performances, even in limited time in some cases. A few of them are likely very soon (Rhodes, Roberts, Atherton, Bromberg) and many others are most likely early August moves if they happen at all. DSL to GCL: Adonis Pacheco, OF Ernesto Ciprian, OF Junior Subero, SP Javier Va
While 60 is a big number, there are still guys left off this list who are worth watching. Here are my top 60 Twins prospects following the 2012 draft: Note: Liam Hendriks, Brian Dozier, Chris Parmelee, and Rene Tosoni would have appeared on this list, but I am cutting their prospect status off. 1. Miguel Sano (1, 2) 2. Eddie Rosario (4, 19) 3. Oswaldo Arcia (3, 10) 4. Byron Buxton (NR) 5. Aaron Hicks (2, 1) 6. Liam Hendriks (5, 7) 7. Jose Berrios (N
Championship: Purdue 6, Indiana 5 A nearly-empty stadium in Columbus is not the usual setting for a Purdue-IU matchup. Usually the rivalry brings out the best (or worst) of the schools' respective fans in packed stadiums and arenas. The two teams made up for the lack of fan frenzy with a ninth inning brawl around third base, of all places. After Field of Twins draft-endorsed catcher Kevin Plawecki's second homer of the tournament and 7th of the season put Purdue up 5-4 in the 8th inning, In
Game one: Michigan State def. Nebraska 10-9 Game two: Ohio State def. Penn State 12-5 Game three: Nebraska eliminated Penn State 12-3 Game four: Indiana def. Michigan State 6-4 Game five: Purdue def. Ohio State 5-4 Game-by-game player notables: In game one, Tony Bucciferro was very good, giving up only one earned run in 8 innings. In game two, Jaron Long struggled for Ohio State, only going three innings. In game three, Michael Pritchard went 2-for-6 to continue a very strong tournament for
Here is an update on my top 50 prospects list from February. I will actually construct a new list soon. 1. Miguel Sano (2): Confirming the unanimous #1 ranking. Will go through some ups and downs this year and strikes out a lot, but his ceiling keeps getting higher. Ranking status: stays at the top. 2. Aaron Hicks (1): Some scoffed at keeping Hicks so high. This season is a mixed bag of good and not-so-good for Hicks (as is true of many New Britain players, see throughout). His OPS is basica
Because there has to be something positive to talk about, and in part as a lead-in to going through my top 50 prospects heading into the year, there are a number of players of interest to look at instead of looking at Carl Pavano, Jason Marquis, and Nick Blackburn starts. Here are 6 stories at each currently-playing level (and one extra): At Rochester: 1. Ben Revere is hitting well again, and while he is not drawing walks, it is interesting to see that batting average rise above .320. I still
I waited almost a full month to update the status of my "prospects to watch." I actually wish I could attribute the lag to laziness, but I was waiting for some of these guys to turn it around so that I would look smarter. It didn't really work out that well, but there is some progress: BELOIT: JD Williams, OF (Age: 21.6, SH): 111 PA, .222/.306/.313 (.619), 7/1/0, 11/34, 8/10. Williams is exciting and he is slowly hitting better as the year goes on. End of Year: Should finish 2012 in Beloit.
Well, about three weeks after I called for it, Francisco Liriano is moving to the bullpen. Plenty of people like this move and yet they and others would seem to prefer Liriano be used only in a mop-up role or anything staying away from "high-leverage" situations. First, there must be some way for the 2012 Presidential candidates to work "high-leverage" into the political overused meme/slogan world like "change" and "family values" and "job creators." We know what these terms mean, but not who
The Twins will start making their second round of minor league moves in the next few weeks leading up to the draft and the beginning of the short season. Here are some moves that should be made sooner than later: ROCHESTER Release: Joe Thurston and Clete Thomas (neither one is worth keeping around, stealing plate appearances from players who are either prospects or who could be fill-ins for the Twins in a pinch). I am tired of keeping around such players for no good reason. Why don't they sig
Current Big Ten standings: (Conference record, overall record) 1. Purdue 12-3, 31-6 2. Michigan State 7-5, 26-13 Minnesota 7-5, 23-19 4. Nebraska 8-7, 26-15 5. Penn State 6-6, 18-21 6. Indiana 6-6, 18-22 7. Ohio State 7-8, 22-18 8. Illinois 5-7, 22-17 Iowa 5-7, 16-19 10. Michigan 4-8, 17-24 11. Northwestern 5-10, 13-23 Standings summary: There are only 4 teams in the conference that could be called good. Purdue is well ahead of the pack. Top 5 Big Ten draft prospects: 1. Kevin Plawecki,
This has been a few years in the making, and until now I have been completely against it because his value as a starter seemed so immense when he was on, but now it is time to move Francisco Liriano to the bullpen. Here are the reasons: 1. Aside from 2010, he has been marginally good to pretty bad as a starter for the past 4+ seasons. 2. Starters who move to the bullpen generally throw harder given that they are amped up for one or two innings as opposed to 6-9. 3. Given 2, a 94-95 mph fast
Earlier this spring I listed 10 mid-lower tier prospects to watch this year as I expected breakout seasons from each of them. This is an update on eight of them (Nate Roberts is on the DL and Angel Mata is in extended spring training) as well as an introduction to two more players off to strong starts this season. BELOIT: JD Williams, OF (Age: 21.5, SH): Williams is off to a slow start with the bat, but is still getting on base. Stats: 26 AB, .115/.324/.154, 1 2B, 0 3B, 0 HR, 7 BB, 8 K, 3 SB
This week I will focus on the in-conference games, discussing each series, and how some draft prospects performed. Minnesota vs. Northwestern: The Gophers swept the Wildcats 2-1, 2-1, and 6-0 in the weekend series. Friday's game featured the dominance of pitcher T.J. Oakes, who gave up 1 run in 8 1/3 innings pitched. He struck out 7 without giving up a walk. In the second game of the series, D.J. Snelten picked up where Oakes left off. Snelten went 7 2/3 innings, giving up only one run while st
Everyone knows to follow the progress of Miguel Sano, Eddie Rosario, Oswaldo Arcia, Levi Michael, Hudson Boyd, Madison Boer and other top 20-25 prospects in the Twins system. There are many others, however, who with strong seasons could jump up into that top 20 range. Here are 10 of them (and thanks to Seth Stohs for roster information): JD Williams, OF (Age: 21.4, SH): Williams will start with Beloit this year after a fantastic showing at Elizabethon. Three words: Dude is fast. Last year's li
Is it really too much to ask for? That is, it seems odd to sign a bunch of older AAAA type players who have some significant MLB experience to keep at Rochester while hoping on prospects and young players who aren't even AAA players yet to play with the Twins at the start of 2012. And with the news that Willingham can't make a simple transition to RF as a veteran professional baseball player, I am lumping in Ben Revere here even though he is no longer a prospect. Let's look at the candidate
There are few Twins prospects who frustrate Twins fans as much as Aaron Hicks. He was extremely highly regarded when he was drafted and he has not performed at the level he was expected to, even at a young age. But upon examining Hicks in more detail, it seems clear that people need to hold off on the criticism--he's about right where he needs to be and there is a recent precedent for a breakout career. Aaron Hicks: switch hitter, 6'2", 185, DOB: 10/2/89 (Age: 22.5) Aaron Hick minor league st
Twins fans who have a curiosity about how things are "down on the farm" may look at top 10 prospect lists or maybe merely look at those players who are September call-ups and judge the state of the Twins system accordingly. Seth Stohs does more than enough to provide fans with a wealth of information about minor leaguers, but I thought that I would take things a step further and look at the movement of players, by position, on some select prospect lists for 2011-2012. This does a number of thi
Twins fans who have a curiosity about how things are "down on the farm" may look at top 10 prospect lists or maybe merely look at those players who are September call-ups and judge the state of the Twins system accordingly. Seth Stohs does more than enough to provide fans with a wealth of information about minor leaguers, but I thought that I would take things a step further and look at the movement of players, by position, on some select prospect lists for 2011-2012. This does a number of thi
I really hold back what I would like to say about then payroll arguments here. The fact that people don't accept the amount taken in dictates the amount going out requires one of two things. Extreme financial ignorance or fanatical bias that prevents the acceptance of something some basic. I did not change the argument. It's the same idiocy over and over. Do you really want to be on the side that suggests revenues does not determine spending capacity?
At this point in the pre-season, I’m just so happy to be seeing games again, I don’t care about the Twins record in 2023. I think they’ll win it all, unrealistically speaking 🙂
I really hold back what I would like to say about then payroll arguments here. The fact that people don't accept the amount taken in dictates the amount going out requires one of two things. Extreme financial ignorance or fanatical bias that prevents the acceptance of something some basic. I did not change the argument. It's the same idiocy over and over. Do you really want to be on the side that suggests revenues does not determine spending capacity?· 0 replies
