Top 20 Minnesota Twins Assets of 2022: Part 2 (11-15)

Good group but the pitchers rank above the hitters. 

1 hour ago, mikelink45 said:

Good group but the pitchers rank above the hitters. 

You forgot the words "I think that" after the "but".  It's an opinion, not a fact.

Unless the Twins are making a serious run at it at the trade deadline, I don’t think the FO will trade anyone who might be an important cog in a new multi year window they think will open in 2023. That includes Arraez IMHO.
 

If Miranda and the younger outfield assets (Martin, Larnach, Celestino and, yes, Lewis (although we all hope he can be a SS)) are developing nicely, then JD and MK will be the most likely players to be moved before the deadline. 

3 hours ago, terrydactyls said:

You forgot the words "I think that" after the "but".  It's an opinion, not a fact.

Are you sure of that?

The write up on Arraez surprises me and I'm going to bite. Count me among the group that believes he should be higher, possibly as high as 4, no lower than 7.

I know it is not about trade value, but the simulator has Arraez ranked as the Twins most valuable player. While #1 seems high, #11 seems low.

He and Donaldson are the only reliable on base guys in the lineup. He may not have a position in the field, but he has a spot in the lineup on lockdown. That has more value than others that will appear in this top 10 list.

Arraez is one of my favorite current Twins, as I'm more of an on base guy vs slugging. Anyone know what his knee issues are? Is degenerative joint issues or is it that he has had ligament issues over the years. 

This is why I think Arraez should be the centerpiece of a trade to acquire a SP.  He's got tremendous bat to ball skills and positional versatility that would be attractive to any ballclub.  That includes teams who view themselves as competitive now and those that may be going thru a rebuild (like the A's).  But with Miranda, Martin, Lewis, Celestino and Gordon and with Polanco firmly entrenched at 2B, there is certainly redundancy with Arraez.  Plus, Rocco refuses to put him at the top of the order and leave him there so I will continue to advocate moving him for pitching and replacing him with Miranda who has more pop in his bat.  

Thanks, Nick, love this series.

Count me among those who love Arraez and what he brings to the Twins.  My question, does his playing left field increase the wear on his knees?  Would he have less, or more, knee problems if he stayed in the infield and as DH part of the time?

I guess not seeing him pitch at all last year and the risk, in my eyes, of more serious elbow problems would have Duran lower on this list.  Or perhaps not even on it.  Hope I am wrong.  AS for Larnach, I just don't know what to expect.  The start to his big league career was so exciting, until it wasn't.

Larnach is too high for me.  I get he may have been rushed, but his biggest issue was lack of adjusting to the league adjusting to him.  Once teams scouted him they pitched him different and he never adjusted.  We will see what he does this year, but baseball is about adjustments and failing to do it over the season will not go well. 

Really a great series. Thanks Nick.

These all seem pretty reasonable to me. If someone really insisted on putting Arraez ahead of Larnach I probably wouldn't get too upset about it, but these all seem pretty close. I'm a fan of Larnach and it can take some adjusting when you get to the big leagues especially for more of a power hitter, and it wouldn't surprise me if once Larnach got off track he was just kind of spinning and really needed a reset. (I don't think he was fully healthy towards the end of the season either) The talent is there. Arraez is more accomplished and has proven his ability to control the strike zone and get on base, but he really isn't much of a defensive player and doesn't hit without enough power to be very comfortable as a full-time DH. (that said, I think the Twins have enough power elsewhere that I wouldn't be opposed to him getting lots of DH time to save on those knees, but if DH is your best position you need to hit a LOT to make up for adding no value anywhere else)

Miranda looks like the heir apparent to Donaldson at 3B to me. He's not as strong defensively, but we've seen that guys can really improve at 3B at the MLB level (Koskie was shaky early on and quickly became an asset and Plouffe was basically a butcher out there for a while but became more than adequate) and I love his hit tool. Very excited to see what he can do.

Both pitchers need innings, but they're very talented. I'd hate for Duran to end up in the bullpen any time soon. Can't wait to see Balazovic. But I'd be happier if they were battling to be the first call up for injury/ineffectiveness or so outstanding at spring training that you can't keep them out of the rotation, as opposed to them contending for the 4th spot...both probably need some polishing and innings at AAA.

5 hours ago, Trov said:

Larnach is too high for me.  I get he may have been rushed, but his biggest issue was lack of adjusting to the league adjusting to him.  Once teams scouted him they pitched him different and he never adjusted.  We will see what he does this year, but baseball is about adjustments and failing to do it over the season will not go well. 

This. 

Once he got to the big leagues and the worlds best scouts picked him apart, he really struggled to make the adjustment when that gameplan was executed by the worlds best pitchers. That's fine. That happens to many rookies. That is not what is concerning.

What is concerning is that when he went to AAA and that same master gameplan against him was used, but by vastly inferior pitchers, he still couldn't make the adjustment. Celestino is a great example of the kind of turnaround you expect to see from a top prospect. Laurnach did not do that.

Hopefully it was an undisclosed injury. Because if he struggled that much to make an approach or mechanical change against AAA pitching, he is essentially a poor man's version of Miguel Sano and will not last long at The Show.

I think Larnach's defense is his weakness. That concerns me. 

18 hours ago, Nick Nelson said:

I mean, he played all of 10 games after returning to Triple-A. He did have an injury, and it wasn't undisclosed: he mentioned being bothered by a foot injury for much of the summer, and one wonders if this played a role in the team shutting him down for all of September (ostensibly due to a hand contusion).

One year ago Larnach was a top 100 prospect in baseball according to Baseball America, MLB.com and Baseball Prospectus (top 40 according to BA!). I understand why folks are down on him, but ranking him any lower than 12th on this list would feel like a major overreaction to me.

Good info. I didn't know all that. Admittedly, my daily fandom waned a little bit in the last month or so as I started following the races MLB wide more closely instead.

That does change my perception and certainly negates the concern I mentioned.