kab21

I still cannot understand why many consider him a leading candidate to be on the MLB roster much less on the 40 man.

Drafting Manaea, Stanek or Appel along with possible improvements from the the A ball and rk ball players can take this system to the top 3 regardless of losing Hicks, Arcia and Gibson.

I agree that Butera will make the roster over Herrmann for no logical reason at all. it will be interesting to see if Hicks and Gibson make the roster. The Twins philosophy on this kind of sets the whole roster. Personally I think Hicks has a good chance to make it but I think Gibson stays behind in favor of Hendriks. However Pelfrey is another wild card coming back from TJ. I don't understand why everyone is putting Swarzak on the team. he's given the Twins 250 bad innings and hasn't looked that good in AAA. Personally I see Swarzak/Burnett/Roenicke on the potential cut list. I also see Pressly making it and possibly Robertson.

Have you looked at Sano? he is a true athlete. The kid is ripped and he's not carrying around any baby fat. He's a big guy (as a teenager) and that isn't going to change no matter how much 'he wants it to change'.

Actually athleticism typically declines with size and age. People are acting like I don't think he should play 3B for the next couple of seasons. I haven't said anything like that. I am simply being realistic about where he is likely to play most of his career.

Nobody Including myself has said that you don't leave Sano at 3B as long as possible. I just don't think anyone understands how unique Sano is since he could easily be 25, in great shape and 260-270 lbs. The body comparisons to ARod and Cabrera are worthless since they were 200 lbs or less at similar ages. Stanton is a good comp though but we don't really how much bigger he will get. I also think Frank Thomas was a good comp since he graduated from Auburn at 240ish lbs but he was older than Sano and was a college football player (tight end I think).

I hope you are thinking about how you cannot post useless stats for people to ponder.

I think it's a case of those speculative FA dollars (extra revenue next year) drying up. Teams were spending like crazy at the beginning but that's leveled off. Part of that is due to a lot of big trades going down where competitive teams added payroll and rebuilding teams cut payroll but then didn't spend that money.

I'm not sure that you really understand how the human body works. His current size is as big as ARod and Cabrera (possibly a little tubbier now) currently are. Both of these players were skinny when they were Sano's age. This is not a conditioning issue. Sano is absolutely ripped right now. The issue is that he is a big kid and it wouldn't be a surprise if he put on 20-30+ more lbs (of muscle) in the next 5 years.

The problem isn't that Sano is big now. The problem is that Sano is the same size as these so-called comparables as a teenager. Perhaps he makes the majors as a 3B but I think he'll be at 1B by his mid to late 20's.

Let him spend the first month in extended spring training strengthening his arm followed by a month in AAA and then call him up. He'll be super 2 but I don't really care about that.

I think part of the Twins plan going forward is to start shedding most of the below average players that have been on the team the last few seasons. Capps at 1M is okay but they should be looking at players outside the org.

A lot of possibilities although most have issues and drawbacks. My sentimental side likes the Expos. I've always like Portland and NC for potential sports teams also. Montreal Vancouver NC TN Portland SLC New Orleans New Jersey Las Vegas A 3rd Texas team OKC Sacramento

1 yr of WAR is nearly useless due to how much the defensive statistics are a factor. multiple years (3+) of WAR are meaningful. If you post useless statistics to make an argument then somebody should let you know.

I'm not sure if you understand the conversation but it doesn't matter if he applied for Mexican, Dominican or Iraqi residency. His birth certificate and every other age verification document is in Cuba and the MLB can't access those. If he is younger than 23 then the Twins are almost certainly out due to already signing Minier unless he waits until the new signing period.

I think you start getting concerned about that when a couple of them actually make it since the bust rate of a prospect is pretty high.

Usually people don't throw out worthless statistics when trying to make a point. Prado is a pretty solid player but for this to be an okay deal then the DBacks have to sign him to an extension.

I don't think you worry about 2018 depth charts when it comes to int'l FA's that haven't played in the US yet. I just hope that he's a top ten Twins prospect in 2 years.

Just to show you how useless one season of WAR is: 2011 JUp - 6.4 Prado - 1.6 Over their careers (same number of games) they have similar WAR stats. The reason that you trade for Upton is that he could put up elite middle of the order numbers. He's so frustrating with that talent. I consider this trade to be 1 yr of Prado (possible extension though), a decent MOR starter prospect and some spare parts. It's pretty clear that AZ had decided to trade Upton (and Bauer) and took the best deal offered.

It would be very disappointing but that's how prospects work. It's pretty obvious that you haven't followed prospects for more than a season or two. 2 years ago someone could have had the same expectations of Salcedo/Gibson/Wimmers. 2 TJ's and an injured arm later we're still waiting and Gibson is just getting back to where he was. A couple of seasons before that Hunt dominated rookie ball and then couldn't find the strike zone in A ball. Gutierrez looked good and Bromberg had a great season in Beloit. None of those guys worked out either. May/Meyer/Gibson is better than those guys but the prospect failure is far higher than you are willing to even consider and it's making your optimism look foolish.

Marcum has something like a 3.60 ERA over the last 4 seasons. He might not be a #1 but he's a strong #2 on a team that hopes to have a couple of #3's in front of a couple of #5's. The biggest reason that Marcum was a good target to sign is that if he's healthy then it's likely that he can be flipped for something pretty good at the deadline. Guys like Saunders, Correia and Pelfrey will barely bring in a prospect. This is the biggest fail of the offseason. they didn't acquire any FA's that will significantly help this season and none of them have any trade value. The only good thing regarding FA is that they didn't blow a ridiculous amount of money on an average, declining player.

MI solved in 3 years. The Twins have Santana, Rosario and Polanco...

It's just as likely that the Twins get zero #3's by 2015. This board has been taken over by those that only see upside in prospects.

Vegas happened. He's back and detoxing currently so maybe there will be a new poll tomorrow.

Here's the issue that I still have. You just projected 7 prospects (including Plouffe) to become average or better players. That is an impossibly high success rate even for top 25 overall prospects. I am really excited about what the Twins have going on in the minors but it will probably take a little more time unless Ryan can have another Willingham/Doumit type offseason (or two of them).