Article: The Scouting Skinny: Brendan McKay

[Mr. Brooks]

So if the front office doesn't pick the guy we want we get to get upset now. If they do pick the guy we want but he busts we get to get upset later?

 

Seems like the only way they get a pass is if they pick the guy we want and it's the right decision.

No, not that at all.

I'm saying we shouldn't get upset if they don't pick who we want now, because we don't have the same data and expertise that they have.

I think we should judge them based on their results. I don't think that is unfair at all given that their job is literally to scout and research and identify who the best player is going to be - and they are paid handsomely to do so.

 

As a rube, sure I have an opinion on who I want them to take (Greene), but that is a completely uneducated opinion and I won't be upset on draft day if they take someone else.

[yarnivek1972]

At some point the "blame" of a top prospect busting out lies more on the player development staff and less on scouts. Every scout and GM knows who has the best talent/skills now. Getting those abilities to translate from prep or college to MLB is the job of minor league coaches and staff.

[Bark's Lounge]

 

There will be pitchforks if they pick the wrong guy, that's why I propose everyone here picks their preferred player and lists him in their signature. We will then have Brock lock that feature so it will be stamped on our posts until the end of time (or the end of the internet, whichever comes first). Then upon the draft and every day henceforth if our player was not selected by the Twins and he is better than the guy the Twins did select, we may denounce the team for their inferior draft acumen.

 

Everyone who picked an inferior player must keep their trap shut about the draft.

Brilliant!!!

[Mr. Brooks]

At some point the "blame" of a top prospect busting out lies more on the player development staff and less on scouts. Every scout and GM knows who has the best talent/skills now. Getting those abilities to translate from prep or college to MLB is the job of minor league coaches and staff.

And the GM hires the development staff - as well as the scouts.

So it doesn't matter whose "fault" it is, to me, the buck stops with the GM- or whatever a given team calls their top boss.

[yarnivek1972]

And the GM hires the development staff - as well as the scouts.

So it doesn't matter whose "fault" it is, to me, the buck stops with the GM- or whatever a given team calls their top boss.

Falvey and Levine really haven't had a chance yet to weed the minor league garden. I suspect there will be many changes this offseason. The previous regime failed to hold the development staff accountable IMO. Too much country club attitude. Seriously, AAA pitchjng coach Stu Cliburn was hired by Andy MacPhail. Cliburn has literally coached almost every pitcher that has come up the ladder since he started in 1993. One notable exception is Brad Radke. It just happened that Radke advanced in the system a year ahead of Cliburn. Many have noted that he was one of the last solid career pitchers drafted and developed by the Twins. A lot of people probably would have noticed the timing coincided with Cliburn's hiring a long time ago. I am sure he's a wonderful person, but that isn't what he is paid for. He's paid to develop pitchers.

 

Why am I picking on him? Well, his longevity for one. Second, his now infamous quote regarding Jose Berrios, something like "I don't know why he was so good in AAA and so bad in MLB." Dude, you are PAID to know why and then try to fix it. Could Cliburn have been playing coy to protect Berrios? Sure. But Molitor hasn't been shy about giving a specific reason.

[Mike Sixel]

 

There will be pitchforks if they pick the wrong guy, that's why I propose everyone here picks their preferred player and lists him in their signature. We will then have Brock lock that feature so it will be stamped on our posts until the end of time (or the end of the internet, whichever comes first). Then upon the draft and every day henceforth if our player was not selected by the Twins and he is better than the guy the Twins did select, we may denounce the team for their inferior draft acumen.

 

Everyone who picked an inferior player must keep their trap shut about the draft.

 

so, next year when the world ends, I'm good to complain?

[Mike Sixel]

 

So if the front office doesn't pick the guy we want we get to get upset now. If they do pick the guy we want but he busts we get to get upset later?

Seems like the only way they get a pass is if they pick the guy we want and it's the right decision.

 

the internets, dude, the internets....

[nicksaviking]

 

so, next year when the world ends, I'm good to complain?

 

No because it's going to end with the last out of game 7 of the World Series when Hunter Greene of the Twins blows a heater by some poor Cub with such velocity that it splits the planet in two.

 

Going out on top baby!

 

Bummer we'll miss the parade though.