kab21

I would give the Twins a B for the offseason although 2013 looks pretty depressing. The good: Two great trades from a strength that open doors for Parmelee, Hicks and Arcia next season. The Twins did lose some proven talent but they had to find a way to get Hicks and Arcia into the lineup at some point in 2013. Quit crying about Revere and Span. One of those trades brought in a potentially average pitcher that will be cheap for a long time. Some are critical that the Twins haven't been more aggressive in FA but they also didn't overreact and significantly overpay for declining average talent. Pelfrey was a solid pickup The bad: While they didn't overpay they didn't really add any potentially tradeable assets in FA. There have been several RP'ers that signed 2 yr contracts for reasonable amounts. With a deeper pen then guys like Perkins and Burton are easier to trade. Correia is completely unimpressive. No effort was spent looking at MI'ers based on the rumors out there. It seems they are okay with the mess they have. What's left? I'm still hoping that the Twins go hard after either of the two Cubans. You can't divert unspent money into the overslot picks or int'l FA's. The two Cubans however are not subject to those restrictions. Maybe they get a guy like Saunders or Marcum which would add depth to a still shaky rotation.

I'm going to be the pessimist and say that Rosario shows that he is merely a good prospect with moderate upside. He'll be good and could end up as a solid MLB'er.

I think you need to reign in your expectations a little.

This doesn't make the Gio trade look any better but Beane zags when others zigs.

The thing is that Berrrios isn't Kershaw or Felix. If he's dominating at the all star break then he should be promoted. I am expecting him to be good but not great next year.

prospects need time. you don't rush a prospect because of need. Plus the Twins have Gibson, May and Meyer in AA/AAA.

There's also the difference between football and baseball. In football there is a lot of parity and teams rise and fall fast. In baseball a team like the National's is poised for a 5+ year run.

He's saying that including the results in each poll would be helpful to the casual voters.

He is almost for sure going to start in low A and I would give him a <20% chance of moving up. He's good but he's not an elite HS'er or a college pitcher that is going to move fast. And the Twins do have a history of taking it slow with prospects. However if he dominates low A he could get promoted in the 2nd half.

I really don't have a problem with Saunders at 3/21. He's unimpressive but solid. I like this better than Jackson at 52+M or Sanchez at 80+M. The problem that I have is the lack of direction that Ryan took this offseason in FA. He had about 30M that he could have spent in FA. If Saunders is signed for 3/21 then he would have spent 17M this year and committed 35M to 3 pitchers that you hope can have 4-4.50 ERA's. And this trio of contact pitchers is in front of a horrible defense. There's nothing wrong with the dollar or year commitments but it's unimpressive considering that money is available.

This really isn't that confusing. Niko Goodrum should be on the next list. And then there is the issue of all the RP'ers that could sneak into the top 20. I still don't know where to put them.

Your problem is not Spanish punctuation but rather awful punctuation. Everybody makes mistakes typing. I frequently forget words because my typing is slower than my thinking and I'm not a bad typer. Your problem is long, run on sentences separated by 10 commas. If you do use periods then you don't use spaces and capital letters. This is basically the equivalent of my elementary age English students in Taiwan. Or it's like a string of text messages connected by commas. Your spelling is not very good either.

I agree that spending money just to spend money is wrong. Some just like to rant about payroll being lower w/o looking at how the Twins could have actually have spent that money. Where the Twins FO have failed so far this offseason is adding a couple of players on shortish contracts where they wouldn't be blocking a young player. Other than a few exceptions (like the cubans) teams can't divert unspent MLB budgets to int'l FA's or draft picks. Bringing in an average RP'er (like Frasor or several others) adds an asset that can be traded or make it possible to trade Burton and/or Perkins. The Twins weren't even linked to a MI this offseason. I wanted them to get the best pitcher that 3/35 could have bought because the fact is that it's highly unlikely that the Twins even come close to a 100M payroll in the next couple of years. If the pitcher busts then at least the contract is off the books in a couple of years and didn't prevent the Twins from signing anyone. It's also possible that the Twins can trade that pitcher near the end and pick up a prospect. Instead they got Correia and Pelfrey.

The problem that is becoming increasingly obvious is that you know nothing about the players that you are talking about. You are so completely infatuated with Lara's 100 mph fastball that you don't even notice that he completely sucked AND CAN'T EVEN K A BALL HITTERS. there's a reason why EVERY MLB TEAM passed on him AT LEAST ONCE. There are plenty of things to criticize the Twins about but rule 5 picks are not it. I'll certainly take the Twins analysis over the some random guy on the internet that has never seen any of the talked about players EVER play. Here's an example of your analysis that is questionable and show that you don't know what you are talking about:

Diamond won't play due to his offseason surgery. Twins | Scott Diamond won't play in WBC - MLB Hot off the Wire Hendriks is out for the same reason. I wonder if Puerto Rico will need guys like Berrios and Rosario. I remember they took Gutierrez in 2009.

I'm much more concerned that nobody is pushing the MI'ers.

Most statements regarding Rosario are 'if he can stick' and not 'he cannot stick' at 2B. You basically say the same in your top 10. I give him a 50/50 chance of staying there.

It's called being realistic. He's still going to be a very good player.

Silly argument. You have a valid argument for Whitaker but Trammell was no doubt one of the top 4 SS's in the league while he played (counting Larkin). I would put him in before Sosa, Palmeiro, Raines and Bagwell and that's not an argument against those guys. I really like Trammell.

Still not the problem. It's the scheduling where a starter might get 6+ days of rest. Or they need to keep a guy available as a long man and he misses a bullpen session. Or the extra starters that don't get regular starts. In spring training a starter is assigned a specific schedule and it doesn't matter if it's the MLB game, an MiLB game or on the back field he is going to pitch on that day. That schedule is thrown out the window in the WBC.

My concern isn't overusage but rather the change to their spring training schedule when they are still building up strength. And possibly reaching back for that little extra since it's a game that matters.

That was the concern but I think that is largely myth. I still get a little concerned about starting pitchers that get knocked out of their spring training routine.

Does Mark Portugal have a team?