kab21

I'm not really concerned about a RP'er going. A starter is an entirely different matter but the Twins don't have any good ones so that isn't a factor.

You can't really use the hittrackeronline website to project guys that will hit more HR's the following year. If you wanted to do that then you would need to have a data set of 'just misses'. You can do a different analysis to project Willingham's 2013 HR's Games played - 2013 was a career high for an often injured player that turns 34 next month. Fewer games = fewer HR's HR/FB - 21.2% was a career high by a fair amount so for the same reason as looking at the hittrackeronline data you would expect a regression. He has always played in pitchers parks so that hurts his career HR/FB rates but I would still expect a regression there. One interesting thing about looking at the hittrackeronline data. Many have said that Willingham was successful at Target Field because he was more of a pull hitter than Cuddyer. Willy actually hit his HR's mostly to LC and CF just like Cuddyer. Plouffe was a definite pull hitter though last year.

Rosario is just behind the Hicks/Arcia/Meyer tier and in a tier by himself (or possibly with Gibson). If I thought for sure that he was sticking at 2B then he might move ahead of that trio.

Meyer, Hicks and Arcia are pretty much tied at #3 for me.

Yeah the problem with Burnett is that his K rate has plummetted and is approaching Blackburn levels. Fien is the guy that intrigues me the most. He has a history of K'ing guys in the minors so it's possible that he could be a solid 7th inning guy. Right now I see a solid 8th/9th and a bunch of long relievers and mop up men in everyone's lists.

I could see the Twins possibly making this kind of move in 2014 or 2015 as some actual young talent starts to arrive and hopefully become avg or better MLB'ers. Next season I'm not sure how they could top 75 wins even if several miracles occur. Most likely the Twins land another top 5 pick (hopefully for the last time).

Sano will make room at whatever position or level he is ready for or needs to be moved to. I think 2014 will make the Twins decision on whether or not he will stick at 3B since they will have seen him play well over 200 games at the hot corner in full season ball. They should have a pretty good idea if it will work out. I'm alright planning on a full season in Ft Myers but having the flexibility to promote him if it's time. The bigger issue is how do you determine if it's time to promote him. He destroyed the midwest league in April but cooled off in May/June. Cooled off is defined by a .775ish OPS... However he was batting .220 and striking out almost 30% of the time. His final two months were probably his most impressive though since he cut his K rate to 22% and cut down on his errors in the field. Very encouraging signs going forward. My call is that 2013 is better and the board basically goes ballistic with promote him rants. The Twins finally relent in late July and promote him.

I was hoping someone would take the initiative. Great job Dave. In future polls you should include a write in slot which the voter would obviously have to post in the thread.

Goodrum was drafted with raw tools (impressive ones) and nobody had any idea if he would develop into a solid fielder or a solid hitter. Early speculation was that the defense wouldn't really develop and the Twins could fall back on just letting him loose in CF. After 2 Appy league seasons there is more confidence but I'm guessing that in July fetch was still reading last season's scouting report. I like Polanco more overall but it was Goodrum that was the SS in ETown so that should say something about his skills since Polanco is a pretty good fielder.

If you take team strengths and weaknesses into account then they were brilliant. Ryan traded exactly what the Twins have a surplus of for exactly what the Twins need the most. I hope that he can make a similar trade of Willingham this season and potentially pick up another nice prospect or two by trading some of the guys like Morneau, Doumit, Perkins or Burton. The main point however is that I now have hope for 2014/2015. That kind of defines a pretty good offseason even if I'm disappointed by their FA moves.

Really. Before this offseason I was pretty down on 2013/2014/2015 but they made 2 brilliant trades and added 3 good, young arms to the org. It's also looking more likely that the Twins will have to draft a college arm in the draft because there are several of them that are likely the BPA. 2013 doesn't look that great but at least I am more optimistic about the future now and that's why it gets a B. A 'B' means that it could have been better though.

This has actually been a pretty good offseason. I'll give it a B w/o doing a thorough analysis (could be B+ or B-). My biggest disappointments are that the Twins didn't go out and get the best pitcher that 3/30-3/35 could buy and they didn't try real hard on any of the RP'ers/MI'ers available on 1-2 yr deals. It's always nice to have potential trade chips while making the team a little better.

Oakland always seems competitive to those that don't actually have time to pay attention to the rest of the MLB. It wasn't long ago that some were suggesting that Beane had lost his touch. Their farm system actually doesn't produce that much talent (hardly any tbh). Beane has done a great job by taking the castoffs from other teams while making great trades acquiring near MLB ready prospects. 2011 - 74 wins 2010 - 81 wins 2009 - 75 wins 2008 - 75 wins 2007 - 76 wins

Did you really think about that before you typed it or do you just like to irrationally spout off? I cannot even imagine the complaining that you would do if the Twins traded their entire team away like the Marlins. Especially since the Marlins did it solely to cut payroll and didn't receive the best prospects back. Loria wasn't responsible for the Marlins WS wins and overall this is a really weak argument. No team regardless of how 'all in' they go have a better than 25% chance at winning the WS in a postseason. The Marlins got lucky.

let's summarize this thread. The Twins FO failed because they didn't get a pair of hard throwing RP'ers that have been terrible in A ball, their original teams didn't believe in them and EVERY TEAM in the majors passed on them. You're making an awesome argument so far. I'm still waiting for you to say why you think Pressly was a bad pick. As of right now you're just some random guy on the internet that is spouting off with very little substance. The Twins might make some questionable choices but they have done well in the past with Rule 5, NRI's and DFA's. You've only shown that you have no idea what you are talking about. Do you really want the Twins to be more like the Marlins? Do you know why the Marlins are loading their team up with Rule 5 players? It's because they traded their entire team away and are likely to start with a <20M payroll (if they trade Nolasco). They NEED a bunch of castoffs just to field a team and they are terrible aside from Stanton.

it's strange, I think I dislike every Cuban in the MLB but now I have 2.

It's like you aren't even aware that the Twins picked up a rule 5 pick and an excellent NRI this offseason. Since you seem to be second guessing the Twins I would like to know what you think about Pressley and his potential? And why are you smarter than the Twins about obscure minor leaguers?

Josh Fields was an excellent pick. Of course he was #1 so he wasn't available for the Twins.

Who says that they were better? Some guy on an internet forum? It wasn't so long ago that BS made a HORRIBLE mistake trading Bullock for a completely unimpressive Rule 5 pick. The Twins have made a lot of misses in Rule 5 but pretty much every pick is a miss so I'm not going to lose sleep over it. My only disappointment is about not willing to put any money into a halfway decent FA. Rule 5's, DFA's, NRI's are a complete crapshoot.

Morneau never had much trade value despite the spin that several tried to do. Hopefully he starts out hot and the Twins can get a decent prospect at the deadline. And then he Aguilera's it and resigns with the Twins for a couple more years.

Imo the only critical thing coming out of this offseason is that they made a mediocre attempt at improving in 2013 and have concentrated their efforts on 2014/2015. It's frustrating for sure but it's the reality of being a terrible team that had very few young players in its core. Complaining about DFA pickups and rule 5 is silly.

Or they are ranked roughly where they should be. There is no doubt imo that the Cards, M's, Rangers and Rays have a better systems. I still disagree about the ranking of the Marlins though.

This was from before the Bauer/Myers/D'Arnaud trades. After those trades the Rays and DBacks certainly switch spots while I might have been too high on the Royals (w/ Myers) based on previous strength and the Jays gutted their system. I can understand why the Red Sox are rated high but I'm not as high on the Marlins still but Fernandez and yelich is enough to carry them to the 3rd ranking. Here are Callis's rankings from the latest Ask BA

As obnoxious as Top Gun is this is correct. The good thing is the Twins have a lot of hitting prospects and they should form a strong core even if several disappoint. The key will be building some sort of rotation and making a few well timed splurges into FA to go around those prospects. They'll also need a few of those players to become well above average players.

Yes... I had a list of guys that I thought might drop to me: Dahl - taken too early Fried Russell Wacha Seager but I decided to take a chance on Puig