Monkeypaws

I always enjoyed seeing the lists of youngest players by league - you get a real feel for who is truly elite on those. Kind of like this one, except not confined to opening day: http://www.baseballamerica.com/majors/whos-the-youngest-in-each-league-opening-day-2014/

Then there is the poster child for rushed prospects, Eddie Bane: straight from ASU to the bigs at 21, out of major league ball by 24.

Nice - takes some of the pressure off Hughes. Sure looks better than a rotation where Diamond, Correia, and Pelfrey are your top 3.

Actually, after hearing his press conference, in spite of my previous rah rah post, my next question is, why do I bother with pro sports? Really, I'm a grown man. The better part of me calls me on the absurdity of it all.

Okay, some of you take your baseball and the Twins WAAAYYY to seriously IMHO. Torii chose to come back to the Twins. Reportedly he left money and/or years on the table, to come back to the Twins, losers of 90 games a season since forever. Yeah he's older, not even good a fielder any more, probably won't hit as well, I don't care, and I don't care about the Pohlad fortune; they can afford it. What has had me smiling all day is a great Twin chose to come back here and try to help rebuild the specialness of a team that had it in spades back in the day, that "played the game the right way." Souhan's story about Puckett opening his wallet to a young Hunter, that's what has been missing, real star-power AND personality that can influence young guys to work harder and have fun too. No way are the Twins worse off having this guy back in the fold. Somewhat off-topic, but the Edmonton Oilers are proof you can have all the glorious prospects in the world, but without the proper mentorship, they founder. I am hoping Hicks and Arcia will be the first beneficiaries of this, then Buxton. I think of it as an add to the coaching staff as well. Anyhoo, baseball is a pleasure and pastime, and getting back one of my favorite Twins ever is more a cause of celebration than despair. Please take this as it is intended, but there is an emotional side to the game that gets lost in stats and advanced stats and uber-advanced stats. Feel good stories should be enjoyed even if the numbers don't add up.

I think next season will be boom or, if not bust, at least meh for Trevor. To give him a big deal now would be a heckuva risk imo. He's been improving, like a prospect and former 1st rounder should. I'd love to see him make the Twins regret not doing a big deal this off-season, and just take it to the next level. The Twins can afford to err conservatively at this point, and reap the rewards of a successful 1st rounder who developed into a star later. Sure they might save money signing him now, but if they wait a year and he explodes, they still have a star under team control. Dammit, that's why Target Field was built, so we wouldn't have to penny pinch the stars in our own fold. I think the nibblenuts mentality has to change; the dough is there. If after the next season Plouffe has peaked or declined, cut the cord; he still seems on the upswing, so I'd go with the flow. Same with Dozier. This isn't like the NHL where you have a salary cap in effect. There is no moving target here, except an owners willingness to put a winning product on the field. As for selling high, I don't believe in selling productive big leaguers for prospects unless the team is in a winning mode and the heir apparent is MLB ready. There, I'm done.

Trying to make all pitchers conform to a single philosophy sounds like a bad idea. I'd like a coach to try to maximize the strengths of the individuals, even if it involves two entirely different approaches with two different pitchers. It's like trying to make David Ortiz hit the ball to the opposite field.

I guess Ryan can't win.... Twins dont have much for lefties; this guy moves near the top of the class.

His suspension is a big red flag for me - is this the behavior of someone "battling his tail off" to be the best ball player he can be? Nope. Floating on talent isn't a characteristic upon which to build a great MLB career.

Could end up being an expensive dice roll.

I am a proponent of depth. Escobar is a perfect guy to keep around because he is versatile, can fill in as a spot starter, pinch hitter, late inning defensive replacement, or even long-term injury replacement, and he can do this at numerous positions as well, including some important ones like SS. He can help prevent the middle-left side of the Twins infield from looking like their outfield last season.

Love see him teach the screwball to our pitchers

Nice work Seth - this just goes to show how complex the life of a baseball executive can be. Hermsen is a good case; lingering results of injury? washed-up? Hate to give up on a 24 year old who has shown promise. It is interesting how many guys choose to re-up with the Twins. It is a fundamentally good organization IMO.

Speed at the top and bottom of the lineup, with power in the middle. I still like situational ball too - KC has pulled all my strings this off-season as a fan. Also, a bench that has something to offer other than mediocrity: elite speed for pinch running. power for pinch hitting, leather for defensive replacement. A bench of guys that are basically not as good as your starters is kind of useless. No offense to Hermann, Nunez, Parmalee, but really, why?

I vote for hybrid: •top of the order filler with speedy platesetters like Buxton, Dozier. •middle of the order with mix of power, average, and even a wee bit of speed like Sano, Arcia, perhaps one day Walker. •bottom with some power and a speedy 9 guy who isn't an embarrassment. Pretty classic lineup really. The Twins will hopefully put that together for me.

Nice one VeryWellThen - your name almost sounds like a Monty Python reference.

If the Twins want an advanced stats guy they should name Perkins player-manager.

I like Oswaldo a lot - he is very fan-friendly, he as an elite tool in power, and he projects well given his minor league numbers. Too often he was put in the role of the guy who has to do it, and as our lineup gets better, so will he. Even the presence of Kennys Vargas improved his performance markedly, to the point he almost overtook Dozier for HR lead on the team. 23 years old, and some good learning experience and 34 HR MLB homers in his pocket. He is a total stud imo. BTW, he is 5 months older than Adam Brett Walker. We are just scratching the surface with Oswaldo.

11-14 looking pretty strong!

The Twins should emulate the Wild, not the Royals - TR needs to sell Jon Lester on the future of the team by pimping the prospects and the future, much as Chuck Fletcher did when he lured Parise and Suter to the Wild. Imagine a rotation going forward with the phantom twins, the rumored linchpins of the Santana trades that didn't happen, Lester and Hughes.

Yep - Gardy is a big man - he has my respect.

I guess he'll have to change his name to Gardenfire. No hard feelings Gardy, but it was time.

And what opposing GM is gonna go for that? "Hmm, if there's anything I like better than average/bad players, it's lots of them."

Couldn't say it any better. Agree - 2011 was a face plant, 2012 and 2013 were denial. 2014 the Twins finally embraced the rebuild, and even then is was somewhat reluctantly. So we've only really been rebuilding for a year or so.

Who would have predicted after that first Target Field start that those 3 walks would be close to 1/3 of his walks for the entire season! Or that the 2 in the first inning would be 1/8 of his future season total. Crazy numbers for Mr. Hughes.