Physics Guy

I assume you meant 2015. Non-pitchers generally don't take 2 years to come back. That is unless you didn't plan on Sano being up at any point this year (prior to the injury).

Exactly what I was thinking when I read it. Now we need Meyer to become a #1 or sign one in the offseason.

The year before Kubel was 50 points higher, when Doumit had a pretty good year. He also has a higher career OPS than Doumit and is a year younger. He's a better OF than Doumit, but then we really don't want him out there very much either. Signing Kubel was a cheap gamble with a potentially nice payout as a 350-400 AB DH against RHP.

This article made me feel significantly better about the Twins' rotation. If nothing else, maybe thinking about baseball is making me forget about the miserable weather outside. http://grantland.com/the-triangle/mlb-warning-phil-hughes-minnesota-twins-new-york-yankees/

I concur. I really would like Plouffe to contribute and not force our hand with Sano. Diamond is destined for the bullpen and DFA. I had high hopes for Parmelee, but at this point it's hard to believe he pans out. I really wish the Twins had just let him play last year to find out. I think I would have rather had him in RF and Willingham at DH instead of Doumit.

For those who are concerned whether the Twins did enough in the offseason: Buster Olney - Insider Access required http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/buster-olney/post?id=5076 Here's what he said about the Twins: 1. Minnesota Twins Games against teams with records of .500 or better in 2013: 31 of their first 40. Home/road: 18 of their first 40 are at home. Notable: My son plays a video game called "Injustice," and I think that lineup of villains is easier than what the Twins will face early in the year. They start out the season with six road games, and then beginning April 18, the Twins will play 25 straight games -- count 'em, 25 -- against teams that either made the playoffs or contended, including the Red Sox, Tigers, Rays and Dodgers. The Twins' new pitching will be tested early. I just hope they can hang in there and not get buried before the middle of May. Are they headed for a 15-25 record out of the chute? I hope not, but the schedulers were certainly not kind.

I think the bottom one has to be Vargas. The K and V look spot on and the last symbol (maybe a G) looks the same, but with different numbers. I would guess he has a different number in big-league camp.

I want Hicks in CF batting 8th. Presley would be the 4th OF (backup CF against good RHP, defensive sub for Willingham). Dozier can leadoff and Mauer #2 until/if Hicks shows he can slide up. I agree that Hicks needs to show he can play this year before Buxton pushes him aside.

Good projection at this point. I think/hope Hicks figures it out and makes the team to start in CF (batting 8th, please) with Pressley as the backup, Mastro in AAA. I have a feeling Worley wasn't completely healthy and will show that last year was a fluke. His two years prior to last were better than Diamond's last two. I think he takes the #5 spot, Diamond in the pen, Pressley given a chance to start in AAA and Deduno on the DL. 25th spot a toss-up between Parmelee and Bartlett. I have a feeling the Twins aren't very confident in Parmelee or they wouldn't have signed Kubel.

I was thinking the same thing in regards to wasted opportunities. Parmelee strikes me as the only player who should have played more to see what we have. Some might argue Gibson should have been up sooner, but his results when he came up don't necessarily support that. I don't see a bunch of guys at AAA who should have been up last year. We had a significant gap in talent for a few years in our minor league system. Failure to shore up that gap in FA is why we have stunk for three years. This is the year we really need to start seeing some help from the minors. When they come up they need to play, like Hicks last year. Give them a significant chance and see if they are ready, not a half dozen at-bats a week. I hope Gardy understands that, because I'm not sure he has always been on board with that in the past.

I said at the end of the season that I wanted Ryan to be proactive and get the pitchers he identified and not wait around for the scraps. I was pleasantly surprised when he did just that. Could he have made some better deals? Possibly. He also could have been left picking up this year's version of Correia and Pelfrey. I did not want to see that happen again, although Correia turned out fine.

Agree completely. I would even guess that ESPN encourages him to do what he does. They obviously like what he does. It is part of his schtick and it attracts different readers than others might. I don't argue that he's a bit arrogant, but I can appreciate some of the snark. If you don't like him, there are plenty of other people to read. I would hazzard to guess that he puts a comment in like that in hopes that it might limit some of those types of questions so that he doesn't have to filter through so many of them.

You beat me to it. I was just thinking of posting the same type of response. Out of context, Law's response seems what Barreiro would call "jacka--ian". I'm sure at least half of his questions were asking why somebody's favorite team's prospect didn't make the list. If he wants a response, give Law something to work with.

His health will play a big part in any improvement the Twins make early in the season. If he is healthy, I suspect he may spend the second half with another team.

Those three above him were all college players who are well over two years older than Stewart. It's not hard to believe they would be ranked higher since they are more likely further in their development.

Kepler in E-town, age 19 269 PA, .297/.387/.539 Vargas in E-town, age 20 191 PA, .322/.377/.489 Harrison in E-town, age 19 (although he is a 3B) 253 PA, .301/.383/.461 Hicks in E-town, age 22 136 PA, .270/.382/.435 Did I ignore last year's stats? Yes, but he was hurt last year, so to compare his A stats is not fair. It is hard to compare Minier since he is still very young and is just starting. He does look like he has some power potential. Hicks had a nice year last year, but was 23 and spent about twice as much time at A as at A+. Vargas was a year older at A. Harrison is a close comparison by age and production, but I doubt they are willing to give up on him as a 3B. This is a big year for Kepler. He needs to stay healthy and show us that his year in E-town was not a fluke. Reports from the AFL were mostly positive. The only reason I can see for downgrading Kepler compared to the others was the fact that he didn't have great numbers last year, but clearly he was hurt. I don't disagree that the others are good prospects, I just think due to his age and relative inexperience that Kepler has the higher upside.

You do realize that Beltre is a borderline Hall of Fame candidate, right? I appreciate the positivity about Sano, but this might be pushing it. Besides his hitting accomplishments, he is a 4 time gold glove winner. Sano has the potential to be better, but I will be more than happy if he is close to Beltre. As for Kepler, who are the better prospects (especially at 1B)? They may get there earlier only because they are a year or two or three older. Whether they can keep Kepler out of the position is another question entirely.

KLaw does not agree. I'm paraphrasing a bit, but today on his chat he basically called him an average pitcher who threw a ton of innings. Not saying I agree, just sharing what I read. Also thought I'd point out that Morris was eligible for election the year before Kirby.

I think Hicks has a 50/50 shot, although I would have liked him to play winter ball. If he does, he should bat #8 until he proves he can handle #1. If I were a betting man: Pressley CF Dozier 2B Mauer 1B Willingham LF Arcia RF Plouffe 3B Kubel DH Pinto C Florimon SS

Nice article Nick. I tried to make some of the same arguments in the Florimon thread. I'm curious to see how others respond. I had forgotten completely about Kubel. Hopefully he provides some insurance in case Parmelee finally proves he can't cut it (which I'm starting to feel is true).

Now we need our first wave of young guys to step up and improve!

How many people here actually thought after last year's offseason the Twins might be considering such things as signing Drew and Garza after already signing Nolasco, Hughes and Pelfrey? It's nice to be discussing this with a hint that the Twins might even be considering it. I realize that a great deal of it has to do with salary that was cleared from last year and the extra $25M from MLB, but it's nice to at least have more hope going in to the upcoming season.

I know this is off topic a bit, but indulge me. I don't get it. fWar for Swisher and Bourn were 2.4 and 2.0 respectively. I saw the number for Swisher and was really doubtful he could be so high. bWar and fWar can have significant differences. Look at this comp: Swisher 634 PA (mostly at 1B), .246/.341/.423 3.8 bWar Morneau 635 PA, .259/.323/.426 2.0 bWar It even looks as though Morneau get penalized more for defense than Swisher although his stats are better at 1B and Swisher was below average in the OF.