kab21

If you want Manaea to be there at #4 it's not bad news...

I was distressed when checking the low A boxscore. I didn't recognize one player in Beloit's lineup. Frankly i didn't even have a clue who these guys were. Cedar Rapids, cedar rapids, cedar rapids. Buxton led off the game with a HR of Michael Ynoa. That name should sound familiar because he was 2008's int'l FA prize (one year prior to Sano). He was 6'6" and already throwing in the low to mid 90's. Fast forward 5 yrs and he is just making it to low A ball due to a mix of injuries and ineffectiveness.

I really don't understand the floriman love in the org but this is a situation where the Twins have 4 utility IF'ers on the roster and 2 of them need to start. Please Dozier become more than a utility IF'er. It would be so nice to have one spot filled with a halfway decent player.

And Hendriks feels the need to outdo the first 3 starters and lower the overall K/9 to 2.78.

Harvey was the better choice for this season but Bundy could be awesome also.

Not when you have a shutdown arm in Butera on the roster. C'mon everyone knows that it will happen.

Can you imagine a bullpen of Hicks and Plouffe? I know there is at least one former poster that thinks Plouffe should be in the bullpen.

I am extremely confident that one of Mauer/Morneau/Doumit/Willy will be injured or traded by midseason and Arcia will be up. This is not a Parmelee vs Arcia issue imo.

Vargas going deep for Ft Myers. He is very high on my intrigued list. He had an awesome 40+ games last year but it was just 40+ games for a 22 yr old in low A. He could fly up my personal list if he has a strong season in A/AA this year.

We of course know that that pitching can't be acquired in trades because the Twins don't do that. Wait a second... They traded two OF'ers this offseason for 3 pitchers. We know that the Twins aren't active in Latin America. Wait a second... The Twins have signed Sano (maybe a 3Bman), Polanco and Minier for big money in the last 4-5 yrs attempting to address MI/3B. Yes, if the two players are really close then they should go for the pitcher. The problem is that Meadows, Frazier and Humphries appear to be closer to Appel and Gray than the pitchers below Manaea. Imo right now Manaea could be the key to the draft but he's still only the 3rd pitcher while the Twins pick 4th.

Start drafting for needs and you will get top 20 talent with top 5 picks. If there is a deserving pitcher then he should be drafted but if you reach for a pitcher then you won't be getting top end pitching.

The problem with buying sports as individual channels is that they are the most expensive channels. The prices on the linked chart would be significantly higher if they weren't bundled. I think they say as high as $20 for just ESPN. ESPN, Sports and Your Cable Bill - Peter Kafka - Media - AllThingsD Regarding pt 2 - It's like he went looking for numbers that supported his argument. I think the WS viewership chart is misleading in showing the reduced interest in baseball. In the same period MLB attendance has doubled despite ticket prices that are borderline ridiculous. I'm not sure how the fall out from ARod's contract has affected FA's. The only reason that there weren't any huge contract this offseason was that Greinke was the well above average player in FA and he managed to get 160+M. The M's just signed Felix to the biggest pitching contract ever. The offseason before Pujols and fielder received huge contracts while Votto got a massive extension. There is huge money being spent by clubs and I expect salaries to jump significantly in the next 3-4 years.

I'm okay with the Twins going with Meadows, Bryant and maybe Frazier if Appel and Gray are gone. There are a couple of pitchers that can get into that mix but I still contend that high draft picks are about getting difference makers instead of just filling holes.

These are positive, uplifting numbers. I think we need to put a different spin on the numbers. Twins starters have a collective 2.95 K/9. That is dead last in the majors and is nearly half of the 2012 K/9 of 5.53. Twins starters were also dead last in K/9 last year.

These issues have been known for some time. I think many put Manaea into front of the rotation anchor tier based on him magically solving these by draft time. Imo Manaea continues to be the same prospect that he was a couple of months ago. He has good upside but isn't a sure thing. Appel has seemingly pulled away from the competition and Gray has moved into the spot that Manaea was put into. The Twins look like they will be in a tough spot in the draft. I don't have a problem with drafting a HS'er if he's the best talent and good top 5 overall picks don't take 6 yrs. The key is to pick a good top 5 pick and not the Beckhams, Tates or Bushes but that's the risk with HS'ers.

The Twins need to find out if he can hit this year and if he is an answer to 1B if Morneau leaves. It's unfortunate that means that he will be playing in RF a lot but I'm confident that it will only be half of a season. I also think your proposed handling of the situation is exactly what many of have complained about in the past with Gardy. Young players have ended up in his doghouse and subsequently received sporadic playing time for several seasons. And then they broke out once given consistent playing time. Let Parmelee have a couple of months so we can get a good luck at what his potential is instead of putting him into the no-man's land on Gardy's bench.

Jose Fernandez you are mine. Sale, Harvey and Fernandez. Now I can compete with Billy buck and Mike R.

It's not really that. I think he has a 2012 Matt Moore season where he struggles a little with control but there are signs of awesomeness to come. I traded Sano and Arcia for Harvey in my dynasty and I am a little too enamored about him but it will take one more season for him to really break out. For the second guessers about the trade it's a pts league and pitching carries your team. Especially aces.

I have the same team except I have Wainwright instead of Harvey. I really wanted to pick Harvey but I think he will struggle a little and probably won't go over 200IP.

Slowey was always a decent pitcher. If he's healthy again he could have a nice season in the NL in a pitcher's park (I think the new park is still a pitcher's park).

My description of Hudler to a co-worker a couple of weeks ago, 'He sounds like Otto from the Simpsons and I can easily picture him in the booth in board shorts, flip flops and bleached surfer hair. Other things in the booth are his surfboard and a bag of weed'. I can't believe that he is now on TV. I remember watching quite a bit mlbtv a few years ago and the Royals team was one of the driest teams in the MLB. They were so boring.

I have not talked about revere at all although others have. I would definitely rather have Hicks. there is absolutely no doubt about that. BA is not a worthless stat. It is the biggest part of both OBP and SLG. Based on his K rate and his okay (but not great) power I see him as a .260's hitter and I think .230's or .240's is likely his rookie season. why does BA continue to be relevant? here is how I come up with my OBP and SLG projections. A 10% BB rate (top 50 in the entire MLB) will give someone about a .075 isoD. OBP = BA + isoD. .260+.075 = .335 OBP. How much power will he hit for? I think he's a .125-.150 isoP hitter. SLG = BA + isoP = .260 + .140 (middle of the range) = .400. that results in an OPS of .735. Knock his BA into the .230's for his first season and he loses 60 pts off of his OPS. I also he'll be in the .100-.120's for isoP this season since it takes awhile for a young player to peak powerwise and that further reduces his OPS into the mid to high .600's. I think there are some people that need to adjust their expectations of Hicks this season and for his career.

I will take the start that Verlander, Strasburg and Darvish are off to although Kershaw was the other tempting #1. He was kind of awesome...

BA on K's is .000. If you K a lot then you it's hard to have a good BA. The exception would be big power hitters that hit a lot of HR's (BA = 1.000) or the lucky few that can maintain a .340+ BAPIP. I'm not ready to consider Hicks one of those lucky few yet. If he K's in 20-25% of his PA's then it's going to be difficult to post a .260 BA. that's just how the numbers work and as a young rookie I think it's likely that he K's more often this year in the majors than last year in the minors.

I think you are pulling numbers out of thin air. There are no batters that hit .000/.000/.000 so you can't just say 20-30% above the projections. I'm not even sure that you understand how those projections work or just how good of a prospect one has to put up a .750 OPS season as a rookie. Hicks has elite defense but compared to other hitters he hasn't had an elite bat in the minors. He's young and he has a bright future but expectations are too high this early.