Twins Daily 2019 Top Prospects: 16-20

A great set up man, followed by a better catcher, followed by another good RP.....moves aren't in a vacuum. Your question seems to be: should we care they don't add one more good player, if one more good player won't help them win it all.

 

IMO, we should care if they have good players, and are always adding more good players. Maybe in 3 years these guys will matter. In the meantime, the FO decided not to sign FA RPs, and I'm guessing we'll see 3-4 guys throw negative WAR innings, all of which Pressley could have absorbed. 

We don't add good players because we don't know if we are going to be good or not. If we find the answer to that question is we actually were good then we don't add because the price that the other team wants is too high. Or we don't know if that player will make us that much better. 

We are only given excuse after excuse for reasons why not to get better. The sad part is many fans are willing to accept those excuses as valid and not hold the org accountable and give it a free pass time after time.

They could use a good RP this year, on a team projected to win 82-84 games. When do they play for the present? Take their worst relievers, and replace those innings with Pressley...

Good point.  Technically if they were willing to spend a little money they could have replaced his production via Free Agency.  Unfortunately I don't think the arms they added are as good as what they lost in Pressley.  So they didn't have to lose present opportunity if they didn't want to.

Good point.  Technically if they were willing to spend a little money they could have replaced his production via Free Agency.  Unfortunately I don't think the arms they added are as good as what they lost in Pressley.  So they didn't have to lose present opportunity if they didn't want to.

Right now the replacement for Pressley would be Blake Parker. Parker is not even close to the pitcher that Pressley is.

Again, no excuse for not having taken advantage of this seasons RP market. Parker would have been a fine 3rd piece to add, but not our top add up until now.

A great set up man, followed by a better catcher, followed by another good RP.....moves aren't in a vacuum. Your question seems to be: should we care they don't add one more good player, if one more good player won't help them win it all.

 

IMO, we should care if they have good players, and are always adding more good players. Maybe in 3 years these guys will matter. In the meantime, the FO decided not to sign FA RPs, and I'm guessing we'll see 3-4 guys throw negative WAR innings, all of which Pressley could have absorbed. 

In a season where our lineup is relying heavily on multiple breakout seasons I would rather trade that year of Pressly but that's just me.  I'm not saying we had to dump him, just that we were right to take a good deal like this if it came along.

I take it you're also taking the strides Pressly took with Houston as what we are missing out on in 2019.  Not sure how much of that is Houston's coaching.  If we are looking to replace the 3.40 ERA (4.70 in 2017) it is a much less daunting replacement.  Blake Parker could be argued for that.

Parker should be replacing the guys behind Pressley......they need 7-8 RPs. IMO, of course.

Replacing an entire bullpen seems like a stretch.  I wanted 2-3 but giving a spot to Romero and/or Mejia fills my expectations. 

Dan Hayes just said he thinks we might see the Twins enter the Kimbrel sweepstakes but that is mostly speculation and I highly doubt it.

Some Rankings:

 

Celestino: Seth (13th), Nick (15th), Tom (19th), Cody (19th)

Littell: Seth (18th), Nick (NR), Tom (11th), Cody (14th)

Wade: Seth (21), Nick (17), Tom (21), Cody (20)

Alcala: Seth (19), Nick (18), Tom (17), Cody (26)

Miranda: Seth (16), Nick (NA), Tom (16), Cody (24)

 

Note - Tom,, Cody and my Top 50s are in the Twins Prospect Handbook. 

Thanks Seth.  My mind had wandered and I forgot which thread I was in.  And I say that knowing I was one who helped dump gasoline on the Pressley angle.

Some Rankings:

 

Celestino: Seth (13th), Nick (15th), Tom (19th), Cody (19th)

Littell: Seth (18th), Nick (NR), Tom (11th), Cody (14th)

Wade: Seth (21), Nick (17), Tom (21), Cody (20)

Alcala: Seth (19), Nick (18), Tom (17), Cody (26)

Miranda: Seth (16), Nick (NA), Tom (16), Cody (24)

 

Note - Tom,, Cody and my Top 50s are in the Twins Prospect Handbook. 

Interesting - obviously Cody has a lot of surprises in his list since two players would not be in the top 20 and two are barely in.

But I was most interested in the wide spread over Littell.  I have had the feeling that he is AAAA and is a tease for the team.  When I see 18, NR, 11, 14 it would seem that he is a mystery for your group as well.

Interesting - obviously Cody has a lot of surprises in his list since two players would not be in the top 20 and two are barely in.

 

But I was most interested in the wide spread over Littell.  I have had the feeling that he is AAAA and is a tease for the team.  When I see 18, NR, 11, 14 it would seem that he is a mystery for your group as well.

Littell is the one guy imo who isn't in the top20. That's not to say that he is disregarded as a prospect but that others have passed him by in intrigue and potential.

Interesting - obviously Cody has a lot of surprises in his list since two players would not be in the top 20 and two are barely in.

 

But I was most interested in the wide spread over Littell.  I have had the feeling that he is AAAA and is a tease for the team.  When I see 18, NR, 11, 14 it would seem that he is a mystery for your group as well.

Littel looks that way to me too, AAAA, but then you look at his age and some good results/numbers maybe he's got a chance.

Interesting - obviously Cody has a lot of surprises in his list since two players would not be in the top 20 and two are barely in.

Cody leaving the door open for a top-15 Lewin Diaz ranking.

Again.

Right now, today, I'd rather have Pressly and Escobar, and have them extended. I really liked/like both of them and feel we'd be better off with both of them. But I also get the realities of building the entire organization, the depth, and offers that were too good to pass up. And the more I read about the returns, the more I like them.

Depth is awesome for building, and for competition. But at some point, that depth also means opportunity for trades. I hope this FO will take advantage of that going forward.

What impresses me about this list is how many really nice looking young ballplayers are in the honorable mention area, or not mentioned even there. Between what is on the roster now, and what will be arriving over this season and next, I admit to being pretty excited.

I was very discouraged by Littell's initial appearances in the majors, but honestly watched very little Twins baseball in September.  Did his curve improve at all against major leaguers?  He seemed incapable of getting whiffs with it in his first few appearances, but I know his numbers improved some in September.

 

I can't see him ever having success in the majors without a better secondary.  Gonsalves, for example, I could see having success throwing a higher rate of secondaries, but I think hitters will continue to sit on either Littell's fastball or curveball and the results won't be pretty for him.

I haven't watched much of Littell, so it wouldn't be very fair for me to comment on his potential, despite reports or milb numbers. But what I did see was a guy who just looked nervous, rushed, and wasn't ready yet. I remember one game where he was brought in from the pen with the bases loaded and lost the game. I want to say he walked in the winning run, but not sure i remember correctly.

Hopefully he can embrace his 2018 experience and learn from it and build on it.

this list is just showing how lower end the Twins farm system was after the 4 - 5 players graduated from it over the past 4 years.  And very little pitching has come out of the system.  Hopefully that will change over time.