kab21

I like #3 but I don't think they have needs to be filled (let the youngsters play) or valuable pieces to trade. They could sell an extra starter like Pelfrey or Milone but Milone was traded last year for Sam Fuld and his up and down season since then hasn't increased his trade value. Pelfrey's trade value is lower. The rest of the starters should stay put. They should be looking for a solid 7th/8th inning RP'er and use somebody in the 20-30th prospect range to do it. The could make a Sal Butera-esque trade also but this is such a small transaction that it doesn't really count.

But what does accomplish that a hard(er) spending cap and the disaparity in available pool money doesn't? Talk about punishing good teams with 50-75 players being off the board before they pick. Why not increase the bonus pool size between the non playoff teams and the playoff teams?

But it is no different than the int'l bonus pools (assuming 5 teams don't blow through their cap). There is a limited amount of money in both the domestic draft and int'l FA. Isn't the current MLB draft a combo of spending pools and draft picks?

Actually the only problem with the current system is that it greatly benefits teams to completely blow through the cap because the penalties aren't stiff enough. If they make the penalties stiff enough then this is better than the draft. One nice thing that I like is that teams can trade pool money to others (like trading a draft pick). They are also free to choose to blow it all on one guy or spread it out if they have several sleepers targeted. It is kind of dumb that MLB teams can't draft a player that they really like because they pick #5 and #50 but the player gets picked in the 30's.

Sorry, I exaggerated since I remembered more 500K price tags for 200-300K guys like Barrie but they have been signing alot of 200-300K guys and it seems like they have done a pretty good job picking them. One thing that is very strange (and frustrating) about the Twins is that they took an unusual path signing Sano, Kepler and Polanco in one offseason and then they cut back until 2012 when teams had bonus pools. At that point they started spending more (pretty much their entire bonus pool). I know the discussion was about 1 - 4M prospect vs 5 - 800K prospects but is there really a difference between a 200-300K prospects and 500-800K prospects? Can they really be dismissed as cheaper guys? 2013 - Diaz 1.4M, Tapia 550K, Martinez 340K, Molina 300K, Barrie 250K, Balbuena 175K, Gomez 150K, Herrera 135K, Verkerk ? 2012 - Minier 1.4M, Thorpe 500K, Hu 220K, Silva 175K, Tovar 100K, Quezada 150K 2011 - Gonzalez 650K , Silva 370K, Perez 300K, Romero 260K, Jorge 330K That is 5 interesting prospects that have recently ranked in the top 25 (on someone's list) out of two years of signings. I am certainly not going to complain about these cheaper guys.

this is a misreprensentation. They have been signing one guy for 1-1.5M each year and at least a couple of guys in the 500+ range. They haven't been spending their 4+M yearly int'l bonus pool mostly on cheaper guys. They have been spending it on one reasonably priced top 30 guy (Minier, Diaz for example) and then a pile of 500-800K guys.

I am surprised but Vargas continues to struggle and the Twins need a legitimate bat to DH. Maybe Sano is ready although I would have liked for him to get one more month in the minors.

Castro is good but I am not trading a player of Sano's potential for a Castro level player. Sano might bust but I will take that risk.

For this season there is no doubt that you keep as a RP. Stretching someone out after an entire college baseball season (earlier start) sounds like a bad idea. Next spring you stretch him out to be a starter. Would the Twins actually go against convention and call Jay up in august? This now gives them at least 3 hard throwing potentially dominant RP'ers to call up with Meyer (supposedly moving back to the rotation) and Burdi being the other two.

I'm okay with this pick. Not because jay is awesome but I'm also underwhelmed by the other options. Jay is at least intriguing based on stuff. It could be worse. they could have taken a quick to the majors pitcher with mediocre stuff.

I'm on board with this if the Twins scouts really like him. The only question is that there doesn't seem to a lot of conviction that he is a top 6 guy. The downside is that the Twins lose a year of development time by waiting. One interesting aspect of the draft slotting is that it is actually a benefit to consolidate your picks into one draft. For example the Twins would be in an outstanding position with the #7 and #20 (estimate). They would be the team that could take the guy that dropped due to signability (Manaea for example) and make it work with the extra 5% and possibly take a few underslot picks in rds 4-10.

I'm not sure what to think of it. How many 6th or 8th rd'ers really contribute? Of course some do but not many. But my point was that signing Rodon wasn't as simple as just using the +5% allowable overage. Money came from elsewhere. The area where it becomes a bigger issue is that the Twins wouldn't be able to go overslot in rds 2-4 for a guy like Gonsalves that dropped.

My concern with TJ is with the high number of repeat TJ surgeries. This is a new trend in the last couple of years. I think the upside is high enough with the other picks that it isn't necessary to pick Aiken.

They used other ways to come up with more money to sign Rodon. They basically threw away their 6th and 8th rd picks to come up with an extra 400K that went to Rodon. Perhaps that is a good strategy but that's what I was talking about by having to go underslot later in the draft.

Rodon got 700K more than slot though. The White Sox had to pick at least one underslot player in the rest of the draft.

I think Cameron is signable for the Twins but it will definitely mean that they can't go overslot in rds 2-4 and likely mean that they need to consider underslot picks at one or more picks in rds 2-10. That's a stiff price to pay. I like the interesting possibility of the Astros banking enough money to draft Cameron later. Intriguing but I think he will get picked. It is hard for a prospect to sit out a year and re-enter in what is likely a stronger class.

Is it worth mentioning that the Twins frequently have infielders playing all over the place as they come up in the minors? Plouffe played 25 games at 3B in 2006 and 43 games at 3B in 2008. He was always primarily a SS but he did actually play other positions like many infielders do in the Twins system. It's stange that Plouffe's biggest problem at SS seems to have fixed itself. He wasn't rangy but neither was JJ Hardy. Plouffe's biggest problem was that he couldn't hit the 1Bman consistently. He was all over the place. Perhaps 3B is perfect since range is less important and he gets the ball sooner with a little more time and doesn't need to rush his throws.

Perhaps Plouffe has to be my new favorite player (don't currently have one) to replace Cuddyer.

Strawman arguments. Nobody and I mean nobody says Sano needs to become an elite level fielder. I think he is several years away from the possibility (not certainty) of playing defense anywhere near Plouffe. In some ways it compares to Harper and Myers. Both were catchers and would have had to stay in the minors at least another 2 years (guess) for their defense to be acceptable but probably still poor. Instead they moved positions and were fasttracked. Sano's bat should be ready sometime between 9/2015 and 6/2016. I'm not willing to wait an additional 2 years (guess) for adequate but below average defense or put up with one of the worst fielders in the majors for a couple of years.

I see the Twins Miguel being several seasons ahead of the Marlins/Tigers Miguel in the 'we can't have this guy at 3B' talk. MCab only played 2 full seasons at 3B (30+ games 2 other seasons) for the Marlins at age 23/24. It seemed like more but Lowell was the 3Bman for the 1st 2.5 seasons and in some ways is the Twins' Plouffe. The Tigers only played Cabrera at 3B because they went all in on offense with VMart and Prince with zero other options at 3B. It's not a move that they wanted to make but roster construction necessitated it.

What? Players go through slumps all of the time. He wasn't going to be as hot as he was but this slump doesn't change much. I don't think Miguel's approach needs to change. He just needs time. I'm hoping that he improves his pitch recognition and as that happens the K's come down a litttle. Nobody should expect him not to K a lot though but as long as 30 HR's and a lot of BB's come with those K's I'm okay.

They will make room for Buxton when he's ready. They might keep him down an extra 2-3 months instead of rushing him but an ordinary player won't block Buxton.

I don't think it's wrong but I do think it's pointless. Perhaps they have a specific coach they want Correa working with. Perhaps they have too many MI's in AA and are short in AAA. Perhaps they want Correa to hit in the PCL. There can be reasons but I don't see a lot of benefit from playing at AA/AAA in the first half of the season and then getting promoted vs playing half a season at AA and then getting promoted.

There is no reason to promote Buxton to AAA in the first half of the season. The difference between AA and AAA isn't that great and it's a good thing for Buxton to develop the camaraderie with the juggernaut of prospects in Chattanooga. At mid season it's a possibility.

I'm not sure what the problem is. Hicks is the only CF'er. I think it would be considered a major victory if Hicks was a .700 OPS hitter. If he is doing that then the Twins won't feel as much pressure to promote him but a .700 OPS hitter isn't going to stand in Buxton's way when it's time to come up.