kab21

The starting pitchers that you want to trade are suspects also. Trading suspects gets suspects in return. It's also really hard to combine spare parts to get aces. Every time one of these trades are conceived please evaluate as if the Twins were getting the spare parts.

I think Rubio can work if you have a 4 that can shoot outside to go along with 2 wings that can score. w/o the outside shooting I'm not sure the interior of the offense really opens up.

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.

Good thing we sold high on Ortiz. Really dodged a bullet there. I was hopeful that Kendrys would be fine despite missing spring training and the first 2+ months of the season but he never shook off the rust last year. It was a solid move that only cost the team money.

Minor leagues is minor leagues. I doubt anyone in Taiwan will know about it. I doubt anyone in Taiwan knows about Hu yet. Pretty exciting for me.

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 thought Miller (sat in many different places) felt like you were boxed in despite the open roof but I thought Safeco (one game) opened up nicely since it is sunk (IIRC) and you get a nice view of the cityscape. Of course where one sits is important as far as the ballpark experience. I just didn't understand how it ranked with other deplorable stadiums.

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.

Safeco - not understanding Chief's comment Target Field Comerica - really nice all around park with exactly 1 nice block surrounding and then everything that Bert said was true Miller - took in maybe 10 games from 2000ish-2005ish Wrigley - cool history but not as great for actually watching baseball but things could have changed as Ben points out Metrodome and County Stadium - neither were any good

I can't wait for the pendulum to swing back after Hunter has a down month. The player opinions on here currently seem to change fast.

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.

Can DAngelo Russell be that point guard? Lavine is intriguing but raw.

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.

Except you used one month of WAR numerous times to show that Suzuki was one of the worst catchers in baseball. It's not what you do.

I am using career stats.

Are you reinforcing the weakness of the list?

The best case for this rotation is that there should be fewer games where the Twins are down 3-4 early in the game. But this still isn't a good rotation. Pelfrey and Gibson have 5 K/9 career rates. This is usually a 4-4.50 ERA pitcher in the best case. Nolasco on the other hand has never pitched as well as his stats and that was when he was healthy. I'm not optimistic for a <4 ERA. Mays is kind of a wild card but I wouldn't expect <4 in his first season. Hughes should be much better than he has pitched but overall I see a lot of mediocre but at least that's an improvement from previous seasons.

I had no idea there was such a huge market for guys like Walker, Harrison and Kepler. How can the Twins trade 4 out of 6 of these top 20 (team) prospects that don't profile as MLB starters? Most likely they are going to have to ride it out and see which of these guys make it and which don't (most of them).

I really do not understand Harrison. I have seen the power and how does that kind of power only hit 3HR's. That is what still makes him interesting since he has good plate discipline. In a way he's almost like Parmelee was in the upper minors and Walker is almost like Parmelee in the low minors. I would choose Walker because he is actually doing it but I just can't see how that K rate (and the OBP) translate to the majors. Usually those two get worse when promoted.

Good take on Dieng. Perhaps I'm too high on him. I'm not sure I buy the wing logjam problem though. Are Muhammad or Lavine really answers as starters. They seem to be role players. If there is a chance to draft a possible all-star then there isn't a problem. Unfortunately most of the team is made up of role players that are in starting roles.

I really don't understand this worry about having too many pitchers for 2016. That is a weak list on the proven quality side of the equation and injuries frequently happen. I'm still at the point where the Twins don't have enough GOOD pitching. Berrios is standing out compared to Stewart and Meyer. They have tantalizing potential and have been similarly ranked but Berrios has the better combination of interesting stuff (even if it is crazy awesome) and being able to use it effectively (this is perhaps an understatement).

I have never understood why Martin has to be gone. He is the only true 3 pt threat on the entire team. Lavine and Wiggins can hit a 3. Ideally Martin becomes that instant offense 6th man that plays 15-20 minutes but this team is practically devoid of shooters and Martin is the only one.

Hicks being called up really doesn't affect Arcia at all. If Hicks sticks then he will the CF (at least until Buxton comes up). The Arcia, Rosario and Hunter (also Vargas) situation is exactly the same as it was before. Of course the Rosario promotion was called temporary when he was called up and he hasn't really changed anything about that yet. He hasn't been bad but neither has he been great. He shouldn't be demoted now but when Arcia returns he likely will unless another injury comes up.

I think we might be jumping the gun a little by planning out 30-40M/yr contracts for Buxton. Those types of contracts will be given to the most elite of the elite players. Right now it should be considered a moderate success if Buxton turned into an early career BJ Upton. He was worth 3-5 WAR/yr as a Ray. Yes, Buxton has the chance to be Michael Trout but many of these elite prospects never reach that potential.

Then you have been very quiet about it when nearly everyone else was insisting that he should be in the MLB rotation out of spring training.