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Today, I want to revisit something I wrote in a prior post. The subject (as so many things written by so many people has been) was centered around what the Twins should do with regard to Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton. Maybe you take them aside and say, “Guys, if you’re healthy in April, you’re going to be Minnesota Twins. You may perform like Kennys Vargas or you may look more like Aaron Hicks, but you’re going to stay in Minnesota. You will not be sent back to the minors. From this point forward, you are Major League baseball players. Now get to work and act like it.” The thing is, you can’t wait until spring training to make this decision. It wouldn’t be fair to Trevor Plouffe. If Sano is going to step in as your primary third baseman, Plouffe needs to spend some time this winter learning to play left field. Maybe he and Joe Mauer could learn together. For that matter, I’d tell Sano to go out there and shag some fly balls, too, because I’m not convinced the Twins won’t discover they’re better off defensively with Sano in the outfield and Plouffe at the hot corner. What's that? You say you're one of the five or so people who have read everything I've posted this offseason and you don't recall reading any of that? Well, you're absolutely correct. I offered those recommendations in October - of 2014. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Buxton2015-600x400.jpg Byron Buxton (Photo: SD Buhr) That just demonstrates that I'm never wrong with my ideas, just occasionally ahead of the curve! Eventually, conventional wisdom (and that of the Twins' front office) comes around to my way of thinking. They really should just listen to me in the first place, right? (This article originally appeared at Knuckleballsblog.com) So was I prescient or premature? Based on the reactions I received to these suggestions 14 months ago, most would say I was premature - that it was simply too soon for Sano and Buxton to be plugged into the Twins starting lineup right out of the gate in 2015. Maybe. But, with the benefit of hindsight, I'd say I'd still like to have seen what kind of results the Twins would have had if they had benefited from a full season of Sano-Buxton, rather than half a season of Sano and only enough Buxton to show eventual flashes of his potential at the end of the season. Of course, based on the reactions we see to the Twins trading Aaron Hicks and their statements concerning plans to use Sano in the outfield in 2016, a lot of fans would say I was neither prescient nor premature, but I was simply wrong then and wrong now. I've been critical of front office decisions with some regularity over the past few years (but then, who hasn't?), but I'm on board with both the trade of Hicks to fill a definite need at catcher and the plan to give Sano a look in the outfield. Maybe Hicks will become another Carlos Gomez, emerging as an All-Star performer in another organization's outfield after escaping Minnesota. But, for me, Buxton remains far more likely to become that All-Star outfielder and he's not going to reach that level by spending more time in Rochester. He needs to be told he's the Opening Day centerfielder and neither he nor the Twins should waffle from that decision, even if he opens the year a little slow. He won't disappoint. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/SanoST15-600x400.jpg As a minor leaguer in spring training, Miguel Sano wore no. 24. Will he replace the player currently wearing that jersey with the Twins? (photo: SD Buhr) A lot of people make a big deal of Sano's size, doubting that a guy weighing in at nearly 270 pounds has any business playing the outfield. Ordinarily, I might agree. But Miguel Sano is not your ordinary 270-pound athlete. If he can learn to take at least decent routes to fly balls and, obviously, catch the balls he gets to, I think he'll impress us. Of course, it's not a given that he'll be able to do those things. We have nothing to go on, positive or negative, to judge at this point whether he can do those things. But anyone thinking he'll be another plodding outfielder in the mold of Young, Willingham or Arcia are, I believe, going to be proven wrong. As I wrote a year ago, it wouldn't hurt for Plouffe (and perhaps even Mauer) to shag some fly balls, as well. If it does turn out that Sano simply can't field the position, there will be a need for Plan B. If Byung Ho Park transitions well from Korea to the American League, the Twins are going to need to find another way to keep the bats of both Park and Sano in the lineup every day. It seems unlikely that MLB will grant manager Paul Molitor special dispensation to use two designated hitters. There's a lot of uncertainty in all of this, but there are two things we and the Twins do know - Trevor Plouffe can play a solid third base and Joe Mauer can do the same at first base. We don't know if Sano and Park can do the same. I suspect we'll all know a lot more about who is capable of doing what by June, but for now, I'm okay with what the Twins appear to be planning to do - let the guys who have demonstrated an ability to play infield defense do so and bet on Sano's athleticism being good enough to fill the third outfield spot along with Eddie Rosario and Byron Buxton. General Manager Terry Ryan has a few things left to do this offseason to finalize his roster and if he gets overwhelmed with an offer for Plouffe, he can accept it. However, based on what we're seeing of the third base market, that seems unlikely to happen and he shouldn't give Plouffe away for a handful of magic beans. But I have no problem with him betting on Buxton and Sano making him look smart a year from now. After all, not many people have gone wrong betting on the ability of those two men to do just about anything on a baseball field.

IMO, I don't care if TR reached out to someone. That does nothing. Signing someone is all that matters. My wife doesn't give me credit for reaching out to the garage, she gives me credit when I actually clean it.

Most pitchers will perform better as a reliever...this isn't a good argument on why he should be taken out of the rotation.

Prediction: Rosario > Hicks over the next three seasons.

A few weeks ago, we posted a Q&A with GCL outfielder Rowan Ebersohn. Today, we are fortunate to have a Q&A with the Twins other South African player. When Callan Pearce signed with the Twins in July of 2013 as a 17-year-old he was very raw. In reality, the now-20-year-old remains raw and yet he is very talented. First, Pearce is a very good athlete. He is 6-3 and 190 pounds. He is fast, and quick off the mound. He also has a fastball that sits in the low-90s, touching 93 at times. He’s working on his control. He’s working on his secondary pitches. He has a long way to go.However, as you read the below interview, you can see how hard he’s working. You can see how much this opportunity means to him and his family. You can read his humility. With that, enjoy the following Q&A with Callan Pearce: --------------------------------------------------------- Seth Stohs (SS): Tell us a little about your youth baseball in South Africa. Did you play Little League or other formal baseball leagues? Callan Pearce (CP): South Africa unfortunately doesn't have the structures to those in The USA or to that of Europe therefore we didn't necessarily have a little league system up and running, we moreso had formal leagues in which we played. I played for my local club at home in Durban and traveled to a national tournament yearly to play against the other respective States or " provinces" as we call them. Other than that tournament we played local teams within my Hometown. SS: MLB has a camp in Cape Town that you attended. What is that atmosphere? Is it games, or skills, or a little of everything? CP: We recently had the MLB African Academy in Cape Town. It was and always is incredible returning to that camp whether it be as player or coach. The camp is over the duration of 10 days and looks to give players within the African continent an opportunity to learn the fundamentals and skills to take back to their respective countries/provinces to take African Baseball to a level that can help us compete at a higher level in the coming years. The atmosphere was great. It was a great experience. I loved it! SS: Growing up, who were some of your role models in the game of baseball? CP: We didn't necessarily have the opportunity to watch loads of baseball growing up as they only televised a game every now and then here in South Africa. However I loved watching Roy Halladay pitch. I used to love watching him! SS: Growing up, did you participate in other sports besides baseball? CP: Growing up I played cricket,field hockey, softball and outside of school, I play a little social golf with family and friends when I had free time. SS: As an amateur, how much contact did you have with MLB teams, and what was it that caused you to decide to sign with the Twins? CP: Around the age of 14, there were a couple teams looking at me and following my progress. I was fortunate enough to sign with the Twins from there. The Twins scouts that spoke with me were really great people, really accommodating and easy to communicate with. They were really approachable and that made my decision so much easier. Something just felt right going the Twins route. SS: What was the adjustment like for you last spring moving from South Africa to Florida? What were the biggest challenges? CP: I had to make loads of adjustments this last season, being my first spring training and second extended spring. Here in South Africa we are not accustomed to playing baseball every day. We would train twice a week and play a game on a Sunday. During spring, you have to grind every day. It was a lot more throwing than I was used to. However, it was a great challenge, and I loved every moment of the new experience! The heat in Florida is somewhat like my hometown, so it wasn't too bad in that regard. The biggest challenges I faced would have to be the amount of baseball I played. It was a lot more than I normally got to play which was great but also a little shock to the system! SS: What was the highlight of your 2015 season in the Twins organization? CP: The highlights of my season would have to be the numerous walk-offs our GCL team had at the beginning of the season. It was so exciting to be a part those moments! I loved it! SS: What type of pitcher do you think you are and can be? What are your keys to success on the mound? CP: It's hard to say what kind of pitcher I am. I'm still trying to figure that out myself. I'm still learning more about what I can do with the ball. I'm still developing as a pitcher so I feel only time will tell what kind of pitcher I will be. I'm not overpowering, nor is my stuff by any means great. I feel like right now my work ethic is just my best trait. .Hopefully 2016 will give me more of an idea as to the kind of pitcher I am. SS: Have you played in any international tournaments in a South Africa uniform? If so, what’s it like to play for your country? CP: Yet to represent my country in an international tournament. However, we are playing in the WBC Qualifiers in February in Sydney, Australia, and I'm hoping I will get that that opportunity then. SS: Away from baseball, what do you enjoy doing in your free time? CP: I enjoy any sort of friend and family time I can get. I'm hardly home throughout the year, so I love any time with them. I enjoy playing golf when I get the chance! SS: Are there certain areas of your game or preparation that you’d like to focus on during the offseason, looking to 2016? CP: The areas I'm working on for my 2016 season are just to get really strong and powerful. That's currently what I'm working on. I've got a couple innings in the league back home just to work on a few things so I'm excited for what 2016 will bring! SS: What are some of your goals for the 2016 season? Are there certain statistics that you will focus on? CP: I have many goals for 2016. First and foremost, to stay healthy, and then thereafter, I would like to earn myself a promotion to a higher level. I'm putting in loads of work for that, so it would be nice to tick that box. I have some personal goals I would like to achieve, but I'm hoping that what I'm doing now will take care of those goals. SS: What would it mean to you and your family to be able to reach the major leagues and put that uniform on for the first time? CP: I give up loads of family time for baseball. When I come home after season I have to go live in another province where the baseball is stronger so that I can get better. So it would be the greatest feeling for not only me, but my family too, to be able to watch me throw in the big leagues. Sounds lame, but I get teary thinking about it! SS: Are there certain people that you feel helped you get to this point in your career? CP: There are a couple people who have been instrumental in where I am - tough to name them all, but I feel my family have been great in understanding why I have to be away from home so much and their support through the good and bad times has been more than I could ask for! SS: Favorite Baseball Movie? CP: My favourite baseball movie has got to be Moneyball... No doubt! I loved it! ------------------------------------------- Thank you to Callan Pearce for taking time to respond so thoroughly to our questions. Best wishes to him in the 2016 season. Click here to view the article

The team took a major jump last year. Little if any of that jump was due to May being in the rotation half the season. He made a huge impact out of the pen, however. I am one of the few who wonder if his success in either role can be duplicated. I do think his stuff plays much better out of the pen. I think his focus is sharper, his occasional wildness is less destructive, and his velocity and spin are way up. I am fine with keeping him in the pen. I don't like wasting years trying to build for the future, particularly when your team legitimately has some talent. I don't want to waste a year of Sano and Buxton, waste the last years of Mauer, Santana, Hughes and Perkins, and waste the primes of Dozier, Plouffe, and Gibson sifting through young starting pitching when we all know none of them are aces. By the time we've got our 5 guys seasoned to compete, at least one of them will have a major arm injury, and 2 of them will be replaceable 4-5 types, and 3-4 other young arms will be tempting us to move the timetable back another 3 years. Accumulate as much talent as you can. Play to win until the All-Star break and see where you're at then. I believe May in the pen gives us our best chance of winning. By the end of the season, Burdi and Reed may be up, and May could represent an upgrade in the rotation. Sorry if I don't see that as a tragedy.

I looked it up, and the Twins have had a Bud Bloomfield (1964) and a Terry "Bud" Bulling (1977), but never a Buddy. A new era is upon us!

. Signing a STARTING outfielder who knows that Buxton, Rosario, Kepler and Sano are NEXT YEAR'S outfield, is not easy. The Twins would be offering a one year contract to a guy who wants more years, which will be offered to him by another team.

I reached out to my garage but it did not want to sign on to have me clean it. Minnesota is a hard place and many garages don't want to spend their careers here.

sane09 Today, 08:10 AM We have all heard the timeless adage that "you can't have too much pitching". That may be true, but I think the Twins are proving that you CAN have too many pitchers at Spring Training. Twenty-two pitchers on the roster, plus eight non-roster invitees = thirty pitchers in camp looking for bullpen time. If any of you are traveling to watch Twins ST at Fort Myers this spring, you should pack your catcher's mitt. They NEED you! My phone is misbehaving "LIKE"

Full believe Meyer is going to be a key pen cog in 2016, see my "Making the Twins bullpen great" article. He's not include because he made his big league debut last season.

Oh yeah, DUH!

Revere's BA age 23-25= .267, .294, .305 Hicks' BA age 23-25= .192, .215, .256 Revere's worst BA (.267) >> Hicks' best BA (.256) Revere's career BA =.295 Hicks' career BA = .225

The Hicks-Rosario discussion is interesting since they are such different hitters. Hicks is more patient, but despite being the bigger man, he doesn't drive the ball as often. Rosario is spooky aggressive, but I loved the results last year. One thing to remember Hicks was "rushed" to major leagues at 23 years of age. Rosario made his debut at the same age and he missed a half season of development with a suspension. Eddie did a lot more in his age 23 season than Aaron.

I think you forgot about Ervin Santana, unless you know his PED dealer who told you he will be unavailable

Hicks has repeatedly proven an inability to field consistently or hit righties. Rosario is going to have a much longer, much more successful career. Hicks may be lucky to have a job in 4-5 years.

I think Rosario wil have a much better career than Hicks. The latter's hit tool vs. rightys will always be suspect

Actually, I don't even know what I was trying to say. I guess I was trying to say a lot of times we talk about a stat line and seem to reduce these living human beings into abstract mathematical concepts that can be manipulated like stocks on a financial market. (Or numbers on a bottom line) Its nice to see the gifs, and be reminded these are actual people we're talking about. And I probably need that reminder. Due to geographic, financial, and lifestyle choices, 90% of my baseball "consumption" comes via the written (or spoken on radio) word.

I can assure you that the GIFs did not select themselves.

With you, blindeke. Contact is the special skill that is hard to improve. If he learns even mediocre patience, Rosario has great potential

I would add Duffey to the list of regression candidates. I guess I don't expect him to be a front-runner for the Cy Young.

On that note...

Because integrity is important to many people and Girardi could have said much less, if he didn't believe what he was saying.

This thread is really awful to read. I think this trade was and is fine on value, how these two players handle full time roles is what will determine this and there is PLENTY of evidence the guy we dealt can't handle that. Ryan has plenty of flaws but for gods sake some of you are ever satisfied short of a 300m deal. If this trade and Park aren't significant than neither would have a savvy signing of Lowe or another reliever. The bar for some of you is just ridiculous. And this is from someone very upset we didn't sign Lowe and another good reliever the last week, but c'mon.

To be fair, it appeared the door on the catcher market slammed shut approximately 2.3 seconds after it opened. Nobody expected Wieters to accept the QO and Pierzynski resigning with Atlanta that quickly was somewhat surprising. Without the recent Padres acquisition, the door would still be mostly closed and nobody in their right mind would have predicted SD picking up another catcher this offseason. Like or dislike the trade, a GM should not be criticized for attempting to shore up the team's biggest problem at a position of extreme scarcity early in the offseason. If he went and picked up three Blaine Boyers in early November, yeah, you absolutely tear a GM to shreds for that move... But not for picking up a catcher when the position is an organizational problem from top to bottom. There are situations where you sit back and let the market unfold before committing to a player... But that situation rarely involves catcher, especially when the catching situation was as bad as it was for the Twins.

Give it 2-3 years and we shall see how this trade would look. 2 seasons ago the Revere trade looked pretty bad. Not so after last season... Give it time.

people put way too much stock into career numbers on guys who have barely had careers. Your statement here is why I don't get the dislike that so many people have had about this trade (not you specifically Brock). Murphy was an above average catcher in the minors while being young for his age every step of the way. He may not have Hicks upside, but he's a lot closer to reaching his upside and that upside is an above average major league catcher. I am on the fence about this trade, but I don't get the consternation here. He's likely going to be catching for the Twins in some capacity for 5 years providing at worse a league average offense with above average defense on a team that desparately needed an upgrade here.

Sure, but it means the guy has a long way to go to become a productive MLB player. I have huge concerns about Rosario but at least he put up solid power numbers. If he makes contact, it's good contact. Eddie is also a year younger and is a very good, maybe great, defender. Again, I think Bethancourt is a good project player for a rebuilding team. That doesn't fit with what the Twins are trying to do this season and Bethancourt has to stay on the 25 man roster, as he's out of options.

My sentiments as well. On paper, it was a fair trade. Now it's going to take on-field results to determine the winner and loser of the deal (or both could be winners/losers). Not a huge fan of the deal but it's now up to the scouts and players.

Pretty much this. It's only a bad trade if Murphy stinks and Hicks sets the world on fire. (Or if TR just sits on his hands from here on out) I don't really see anything wrong at this time. At the very least, I'd like to see how this plays out for a season (at least half of one) before making some determination.

Bethancourt hit AA as a 20 year old. Murphy hit AA as a 21 year old. You're talking up Bethancourt's .840 AAA OPS while downplaying Murphy's .734 MLB OPS. In essence, you're blaming Murphy for not getting demoted. As a 21 year old, Bethancourt repeated AA. Murphy played part of the season in AA. For all intents and purposes, they put up identical numbers (Bethancourt had a slight advantage in OPS, well within any kind of margin of error). You're acting like Bethancourt is some raw 20 year old and Murphy is 30 years old. Murphy is 25, Bethancourt 24.

Bethancourt MiLB OPS: .694 Murphy MiLB OPS: .733 John HIcks MILB OPS: .734 Bethancourt MLB OPS: .527 Murphy MLB OPS: .685 I'm not saying Murphy will have a better career than Bethancourt but your schtick of railing on every single decision Ryan makes is getting old, Dave. There's a reason Bethancourt was traded for a song. He's a former decent (not great, just decent) prospect who has fallen on hard times. He's still relatively young (but so is Murphy) so there's hope he turns it around but he's a project, not an MLB player you rely on going into the season.

I think Hicks has more upside than Murphy but Hicks is not better than :Rosario and does not have the upside of Buxton, Kepler, Park or Sano. Hicks has done very little at the minor or major league level that says he can hit left handed which makes him a platoon player. IMO a very good platoon player that could have paired with Arcia with excellent results but that probably wasn't going to happen so I am not going to cry over it.

Aaron Hicks had one good month at the plate and hasn't been able to hit otherwise. He was blocking the best prospect in the game and his bat certainly won't play in a corner - where he'd block Sano, Rosario and Kepler. The Twins traded him away for what looks to be a nice solid catcher. Cripes, even Klaw liked the trade. Ryan did a good job.

The Twins have done an excellent job upgrading their defense at catcher, which WAS their worst position at the MLB level. Replacing Hermann, Fryer and Pinto with Murphy, Hicks and Centeno is a HUGE upgrade! John Ryan Murphy “I think he’s improved dramatically as a catcher from the time he was drafted,” Girardi said. “He’s very smart. He works very hard. He’s got an idea what he wants to do. I think it’s a good trade for both teams and I think he’ll be a good big-league catcher.” John Hicks Not only has Hicks hit .312 in 159 minor league games at the Class A level, but he also threw out 54 percent of basestealers last year for high Class A High Desert. That was best in the California League and led all qualified full-season catchers Juan Centeno 2014 PCL Best Defensive Catcher, Las Vegas (Mets) Baseball America

Murphy, Hicks and Centeno, who were added to replace Hermann, Fryer and Pinto, are ALL excellent defensive upgrades at a defense-first position. The Twins did an fine job repairing their weakest position at the MLB level.

I really like Aaron Hicks. Spent at least 20 minutes chatting with him in the locker room on the final weekend. Great kid. But, I still like the trade. Hicks had 6 great weeks in 3 seasons in the big leagues. I hope he does take off in New York. But I still like the trade. Sure, the Twins could have gone out and spent on good backup catchers where you know what you're going to get. But instead, he went aggressive and got a 24-year-old who is a backup because Brian McCann is their catcher. He was available because Gary Sanchez is also about ready. If Murphy can be an average major league catcher, and I think that's very reasonable, he can start and the team can have him for 5 years before free agency. Worst case, he's a solid major league backup. Best case, he's a slightly better than average starting catcher, which has a ton of value. There are several good backup catchers on that list above, but none are terrific by any means.