Physics Guy

Thanks for the update Seth!

Plouffe's greatest value to the team is that he gives them above average performance at little cost. I agree, you keep him around until you have better options or you have to start paying him above his production level. He needs to take another step up if he wants a big payday when he becomes a FA. He would need to either get his BA up above .270 or get the SLG back towards .450.

I for one was happy to see Escobar break out this year. I am somewhat skeptical of him improving on what he did this year and actually believe he is more likely to regress a bit. A small regression still makes him an above average middle IF. My personal preference is to use him as the "10th starter" with Santana at SS for next year and Hicks in CF. If Hicks doesn't take hold of CF then maybe we put Santana back in CF as a placeholder until Buxton makes it up. As a 10th starter we can sit him against the better LHP. Whatever the Twins decide to do, Escobar has made himself into a valuable member of the team.

Nice article, Nick. I think our IF defense should be at least solid if not above average. I don't see a weakness at any spot. As talked about throughout the early offseason, the major weakness is in the OF. As much as I like Arcia's bat, I think he becomes a trade piece in the near future. He seems destined to be a DH on a team with too many DH candidates. Hicks proving he can hit in the bigs along with Buxton making it to the bigs would certainly help improve the OF defense.

So you are saying Escobar deserves to play over Plouffe? You will have a hard time convincing me of that one.

There was a comment on SD Buhr thread about Sano and Buxton that might be appropriate to throw in here. Might Buxton already be able to give you Bourjos production? I would contend that we wait a month or two to give Buxton a few AA at-bats and go with Hicks/Schaefer in the meantime.

How about halfway in between? .777 OPS

I'll take Plouffe 2014 and be happy.

You are talking about three pretty good young pitchers. Teams don't just unload those guys cheaply. Plouffe could be the top player in the package, but I would think it would take a couple of pretty good prospects besides.

Put me in the camp of making both of them prove they are healthy and ready to contribute. AFL and winter ball will help, but I'd still like to see them spend some time in the minors next season to get their feet wet. Plouffe is fine at 3B, so we don't need to rush Sano. I say play Hicks in CF (maybe play Schaefer against the best RHP). It gives us a couple of months to see if Hicks has turned the corner and can be the LF/RF when Buxton comes up. You can't completely disregard the service time argument. While the Twins should lock up Sano and Buxton well before they hit FA, it does allow them to do so a year later. For a cost-conscious team like the Twins, that can be important. That said, Terry Ryan hasn't seemed too concerned about that in the past.

I wouldn't be opposed to this, but they need to show they are close to ready in Spring Training. I'd prefer they give Plouffe 3B and Hicks CF to start the season. Once Sano and Buxton prove they are healthy and get their feet under them I wouldn't be opposed to bringing them up.

What two complete years with LAA? He didn't break 200 PA other than 2011. It's pretty hard to gauge his batting record without more data. Was he playing only when he had good matchups? His .692 career OPS is pretty good for a defensive CF, but it would mean more if he had two or three full seasons worth of AB's.

Unless Gibson can increase his K rate, I'm not sure he can become elite. He needs to develop an offspeed pitch he can get K's with. Radke struck out guys at a higher rate earlier in his career at a time when guys didn't strike out much. Being that he is already 27, I'm not sure how much upside he has from here. He can be a solid #3, with #2 upside if he can develop an "out" pitch.

I personally will be OK with .500 next year if we continue to develop our young players. Would 85 wins be nice? Of couse, but I'm not expecting it. I want Arcia, Santana, Vargas and Hicks to prove they can be big league regulars. I want Meyer and Sano to show they belong next year. I want Buxton to be ready to contribute in 2016 and perhaps get a late season callup.

I think it might be wise for the Twins to explore both Sano and Plouffe in the OF this year. There are still doubts that Sano can stick at 3B, so why not try him in RF a bit. Plouffe has worked to become a solid 3B. I really want nothing to do with trading Plouffe until we are sure Sano can play 3B at a reasonable level. If Plouffe or Sano appear to be satisfactory in RF, I say we could do a Sano/Arcia platoon. Plouffe appears to have improved his splits to the point where he is not a liability against RHP. Sit Sano against the best RHP and Arcia against the better LHP. Plouffe or Sano could play RF when Arcia sits. Depending on whether Vargas maintains his level from this year, there may also be AB's at DH. That being said, I doubt this would come into play until June at the earliest with Sano missing the entire season. He needs to play winter ball and show he is ready coming into Spring Training.

This is the main reason I want the Twins to either sign a top three FA or trade for a SP better than Hughes (Gonzalez, Latos, etc.) Meyer should be ready for the starting rotation next year, but make him earn the spot. Hold Terry to his word that Nolasco isn't assured of a spot in the rotation just because of his contract. Why not put Meyer in the bullpen if there isn't room? Worked well in St. Louis with Wainright, Wacha and Lynn. A player like Shields/Gonzalez would improve the top 2 (Hughes and Shields/Gonzo vs Hughes and Gibson) and also strengthens the bottom 3 by pushing Gibson down. Shields/Gonzalez Hughes Gibson Nolasco/Mays/Meyer Mays/Meyer Notice I left off Pelfrey. He needs to, at best, fill Swarzak's role.

Agree completely. I honestly would be fine with either, just hope they try to add a pitcher to the rotation that is better than what they have.

My preference is to go after one of the pitchers from Washington or Cincinnatti. I think that means Gio Gonzalez or Matt Latos. Of those two, I would prefer Gonzalez. His salary structure would fit well with the Twins, but I suspect he would cost us a bunch of prospects. Would a package of Polanco, Rosario and Gonsalves be enough? Would you be willing to give that up. I would still rather they go after Lester/Scherzer/Shields in FA than give up prospects. I'm not sure Ryan is willing to pay what it take to get one of those three. The three years Gio has left would be more palatable financially, but would cost a handful of prospects.

Iwakuma has a $7M option that the Mariners would be crazy not to pick up.

While I can't see any possibility of this happening, Stanton is absolutely the kind of player you trade a ton of prospects for. Sano, Arcia, and a couple of guys in the 10-20 range for prospects would be fine by me. You are trading two POTENTIAL 30+ HR guys for Stanton, but Stanton IS a 35+ HR guy who plays good defense. I wouldn't want to trade Meyer, but with the shoulder problems he has been having I'm not sure it would be a deal-breaker for me.

Sorry guys, but teams with deep pockets don't trade guys who are top 10 OPS guys at their position. Kemp was #7 for all MLB OF's who qualified for the batting title. Crawford and Ethier on the other hand could probably be had for cheap.

Kennedy had a grand total of about 60 IP for the Yankees. He established himself in AZ.

Can't blame him, but the exclamation points were a bit much. Not good PR with your team. Also wouldn't be hard to see that he wishes he was with the Dodgers since they are in the playoffs.

Agree completely. I said essentially the same in another thread. Trading Dozier to make room for Rosario or Polanco is akin to trading Span & Revere so Hicks can play OF. How did that work? Make the minor league guys come up and perform before you trade away good players. It especially doesn't make sense while Dozier is cheap. When he starts getting expensive in arbitration the maybe you think about it.

I would argue that it affected the time it will take to reach his potential as a SS. The sooner he gets there the better. Again, I understand why they did it, but it needs to stop unless they absoultely don't have an option in CF next year. Agree completely with the end of your last sentence.