kab21

The big surprise is Niko at #27. I've been questioning why some are so high on him because his season wasn't really that good. An awesome month followed by 2 bad ones. I would still rank him higher because of his tools but I'm pretty concerned that he's missing the hit tool. I'm interested in the reasoning behind the Polanco comments. He's one of my favorite sleepers right now but I'm trying to stay reserved until he gets to full season ball. Here's the interesting thing for Twins lists this year: RP'ers Seth's list - it seems that the first two made it based on them having a chance to start Bard - 20 Melatokis - 22 Tonkin - 24 Sickel's list Melatokis - 12 Bard - 13 Chargois - 17 Jones - 18 Tonkin - 19 Williams - 23 #23 was the final ranking Obviously they value RP'ers differently and I side more with Seth but I am finding it very difficult to rank the RP'ers this year.

Nobody is giving up on either of them at 3B. It's just silly to say that there is a lot of money wasted if they don't stick at 3B. And it's also silly to complain about too many 3Bman considering the long list of crap that the Twins have had at the position. It would be awesome to have a legitimate prospect blocked by a legitimately good 3Bman. This is absolutely last on my list of issues that the Twins will have in the future.

You move guys to 1B when their defense isn't good enough there. This may or may not happen with Sano but scouts are even less convinced that Harrison will ever play good enough defense at 3B. And if a player moves to 1B and becomes a starter then it's not money wasted at all. A team should be happy anytime a draftee or int'l signee becomes an MLB starter regardless of position.

The Twins haven't tailored a team to fit any stadium because they suck at everything but the minors is stacked with plus defenders in the OF.

The Timmy comp is just silly. RH'ers with fastballs that tail in to righties? 2 secondary offerings that are different from Timmy? Couldn't you comp half of the RH pitching prospects to Timmy using this criteria? As a matter of fact this whole thread is silly. If Berrios is what you say he is then he should ranking in top 25 lists right now. Even you put him at #6 on your 2014 list that doesn't include Hicks, Arcia and Gibson.

Harrison didn't play in 2011 because of different rules regarding drafted players. Most draftees drafted before 2012 didn't sign until Aug 15th and weren't able to play in the minor league season because of it. This was true of almost all 1st rd picks. The new CBA moved the deadline up to July 15th and also encouraged picks to sign earlier. The strange thing is that a lot of people were complaining about the new CBA at the time and missed this HUGE improvement which allows teams to get these players into rk ball a year earlier.

Sano is so raw right now that with better pitch recognition he could lower his K rate significantly as he moves up. I would still take the <.280 BA but with Sano pretty much anything is possible. Including .230... I am also quite high on Gibson. Sometimes I even want to move him above Meyer. He has a good fastball and a great slider so I can understand the #6 placement. As high as I am about Gibson the rank that stands out to me is Rosario at #8. I know that he projects more as a gap/doubles hitter than a classic slugger but his numbers were really, really good last year in Beloit. And there is at least a 50/50 chance that he sticks at 2B especially since this org has OF'ers at all levels.

First off - Chris Colabello is not a prospect. he's 29 already and will be lucky to make it as a bench player. I really don't understand the benefit of a doing a prospect list for the following season. If you think Rosario will be ranked higher after this season then you should also think he is a better prospect now. And imo there is no reason eliminate guys like Hicks, Arcia and Gibson for the sake of doing a 2014 list. Do a 2013 list.

I know that you watch baseball and I think even you realize that a team isn't going to pull an effective starter routinely after throwing 3-4 innings. Plus the alternative is probably Hendriks so it's not like we're diving into the Jason Miller/Mike Smith pile at the beginning of the season.

Bill James is probably the most optimistic projector on the web. Having room for downside doesn't include the chance that Parmelee falls completely flat on his face. Again. Imo the Twins should keep as much pressure off of him (and Plouffe) as possible and keep them behind the Twins big 4 hitters.

Routinely putting 6 innings onto the bullpen would destroy it especially when you have other question marks. I highly doubt that the Twins carry 13 pitchers the whole season. That gives them a bench of Buterrible, a utility IF'er and a 4th OF'er.

It is nice to dream but I think it's unlikely that half of the prospects become average or better players. And I really like the Twins prospects this year. The second biggest factor for the 2015 Twins will be how the FO surrounds these prospects with veterans. There will be tons of money there but it has to be spent and it has to spent wisely. The biggest factor obviously is that the Twins need some of this first wave to turn into average or better players.

I wouldn't consider myself a "I'll believe it when I see it" kinda guy. I would consider myself someone that isn't going to drool over 30 innings of rk ball numbers. you try to concede that point but then go on about Buxton's numbers did not look great. The reason that he is a great prospect is that his scouting reports say that he has Upton (more BJ than Justin) tools and the legitimate potential to be a multiple all-star. That's why he's ranked #1 in both leagues. Of course he could flame out in AA still because he hasn't done much yet. Please elaborate on how Berrios is anything like Lincecum other than he is short. This is the trap that many fall into when they want to hype up a short pitching prospect. Berrios is a very good prospect and he was an excellent value where the Twins got him but his scouting reports and rankings do not come close to matching the hype that you are throwing out there. I haven't seen a name comp attached to Berrios yet but name comps usually look silly 5 years later. What I have seen is that most have attached a mid rotation starter tag to him so dream reasonably.

i think my head exploded reading the last post.

I would not count on Hicks to be an effective leadoff hitter this year nor would I would put him there. If Podsednik is brought in then the Twins are clearly planning on keeping Hicks in AAA. Podsednik fits as a platoon partner with Mastro. His defense in CF will be another reason that our pitchers are crying though. And there isn't any room for 5 OF'ers on the team with 12 pitchers, 3 catchers (1 at DH) and a mess in the IF. The team needs 2 backup IF's although I wish one of them was a better hitting 3Bman. As for Mauer? He gets my vote as a #2 hitter. The team has 4-5 power hitters to put behind him (Morneau, Willy, Doumit, Plouffe and Parmelee) and a few wimpy contact hitters in front of him. The OBP's of these hitters aren't awful but I prefer not to give them extra AB's.

Gibson should get the Medlen treatment where he stays in extended spring training a couple of extra weeks and then goes to Rochester where he can be limited to 3-5 innings/start. That can't be done in the majors and then there's a better chance that he won't need to get shut down in September. This of course can completely change if hendriks completely sucks or other pitchers get injured in spring training and the only other option is sending out the Manship equivalent. I would also like the same done with Hicks. I'm okay with starting the season with Mastro and bringing Hicks up in May. This gives the team an extra year of team control but gets him Super 2. The significant change in the last CBA is that more players now qualify for Super 2 status and the date is probably late June or maybe even July. Of course the date won't be known for a couple of years. I really don't care if players achieve Super 2 status (it's not my money) but team control is important.

If Berrios is even in your 2015 rotation you are way too optimistic. I'm not offended by your optimism but I think that you are setting yourself up disappointment. I also don't others to go overboard on Berrios because they start seeing Kershaw's, Pedro's and Felix's name in the thread. Regardless of what he did in rk ball he is nothing like them. It's pretty unlikely that even Dylan bundy (the best pitching prospect in baseball) even matches what they've done in the majors.

Sano has a good chance at making a case to be promoted to AA next season. He's really good. OTOH I don't really understand why you think Harrison looks like someone that is going to do two levels in a season. His numbers weren't really that good in ETown when you compare him to past players that have been there. The scouts seem to like him putting him in the Twins top ten but all I see is an interesting prospect that is still really young and terrible on defense. I think Harrison will move slowly.

This is a good joke. I really am laughing.

You took what he said as fizzle out? There is a massive difference between being challenged and fizzling out. Basically in this thread you are turning any critical comment about Berrios into the equivalent of 'he sucks'. You've based your super high optimism on 30 innings of rk ball and selectively reading scouting reports. He absolutely dominated those 30 innings but at the end of the day rk ball stats come close to meaningless since there is just a bunch of HS/college non prospects there.

Berrios is one of Sickels favorites yet he didn't even include him in his top 50 pitching prospects. He was also asked about the bolded comment recently and he almost sounded surprised that he had earlier said that. He clarified that comment by toning it down but I can't find it because it's one random comment in a random post from the last couple of months. The important thing when evaluating prospects is to stay grounded in your expectations. I really, really like Berrios and I'm very bullish on him. I even think that it's possible that he dominates the minors. But even if he does you need to consider how many elite prospects that have dominated AA/AAA with awesome scouting reports have struggled to become even #3's in the majors. Right now we're talking about someone that is ranked outside of the top 100 prospects and has thrown a few innings in rookie ball.

Actually it was common for top picks to sign MLB contracts until the last CBA stopped them.

Who is not high on him?

Who is not hi

I agree that it is worth getting excited about but it's a small sample. He was a supplemental pick, he is not ranked in top 100 lists and most scouting reports say he has #3 upside. Kershaw was the #7 pick, ranked about #25 overall and had #1 upside. Berrios is a very good prospect but I am going to wait untilhe has at least played full season ball to suggest that he will dominate and get promoted to FT Myers.