Joe A. Preusser

I kinda like that Buxton is scuffling a little bit with his .227. A little adversity is necessary to realize true greatness potential. Not that I don't love that he's been dominant at every other point so far...

Could be mechanical after his elbow thing last offseason. Or it could be the league caught up with him after last year's ASB. Or it could be mental. Let me know if any of this is helping.

Pop has made an excellent point. We have paid Morneau quite a bit of money to be hurt (not his fault) and produce far less then has been expected. Morneau is rich, richer than Eskimos as Homer Simpson would put it. If I were him I might accept a much lower multi-year deal because 1) I want to be a MN Twin. 2) I don't need the money. 3) I just got paid a bunch to sit out a lot (again, not his fault). Somewhere in the ballpark of 3 years/7-8 mil per sounds about right. Maybe this is wishful thinking, but Morney strikes me as the kind of guy who would think along these lines.

Nice summation, I would agree with most or all of your conclusions. Parm and Doz have been nice surprises in the field, but I did expect more by now from both of their bats. Floriman has shown he could be a starting SS option for a playoff team.

I think this article makes an excellent point. When you have had success in the past you expect to win in the present and future. When you expect, or visualize, a result, you are much closer to actualizing it. This is basic human nature 101. I believe our minor league success will continue up to the majors just like it did in the late 90s. When those assets start having major league success, the FO will assess any glaring holes and, then we will fill those holes in free agency. That is the correct, ficsally responsibile way to build a championship caliber baseball team. Not throwing money at a dartboard on the wall every offseason and seeing what sticks.

Only shell out big money if it is going to be for the piece(s) that complete(s) your team. There will be pitchers of similar calibur available almost every year, so it makes sense to wait until we are acutally in that position.

I also am not in love with the way the "closers" are used in today's game. When did it start? Eckersly? I think it takes away some of the creativity and options from managers, but if I'm being honest, they all do it because it works most of the time.

Just seeing the name "Adam Johnson" in writing again has turned my blood cold. It sure looks like the moral here is to go hard after international players, right?

I think a better way to look at Hicks is to completely throw out the first part of the season, say, until he was moved down in the order. This I think would give us a more accurate picture of what type of hitter he will be.

Nice article, interesting correlation. I have to say, I am shocked that the best QS% of any team was just 60%. I would have thought it be closer to 80%, but apparently I have not been paying close enough attention.

I found myself thinking yesterday about how awesome it would be to do ths professionally for an MBL team. Just sit around and tinker with numbers and equations all day and predict he next superstars for the sport. I could think of worse jobs!

Nice job, you obviously put a lot of time and effort into this. Here are a few possible caveats I noticed: 1) Your numerical breakdown of the minor leagues is way oversimplified. All Rookie Leagues: 1 A: 2 A+: 3 AA: 4 AAA: 5 MLB: 6 I would be inclined to give these numbers more thought, as much of your calculations are based on them. For instance, the jump from A to AA is considered by many to be the most dificult. You also have the gap between rookie ball to high A+ at 2, where the gap from AAA to MLB is 1. I have always considered (right or wrong) that high A+ was just a crystalization of the best talent in rookie and A, so that gap seems high. I would bet the guys and gals on here can give you a much more comprehensive set of reasoning on how to evaluate the various levels. 2) This is an easy, quick fix. Your level number should be a weighted average, based on exact time spent in either level. 3) It would be easy to add an "age coefficient" to your calculations in order to take this into account. Not saying you should, but you mentioned Cole's age, so I'd suggest at least considering it if you think it fits into your analysis. On the whole, an enjoyable read. Thanks for your effort!

Admittedly, I do not know a great deal about this man, but his career stat line does not immediately inspire "upgrade with stick" thoughts. ~.250 career AVG, less than .300 OBP, no pop whatsoever, good glove. Sounds a lot like some of our current options, does it not?