J-Dog Dungan

I would agree with you, except the Twins already have a lefty set-up man, and we trust him a lot more than we trust Liriano in that spot. He would be good in the bullpen, and, if the Twins keep him there and he thrives, his asking price this coming offseason might drop enough so the Twins could sign him to be another good lefty out of the bullpen.

While Pavano has been a great pitcher with the Twins and has been the innings-eater that they traded for, this might be one of the last years he spends playing in the Majors. If his fastball has dropped in speed (even with the injury) that much, he might start thinking about hanging up the cleats.

what is going on with Benson? His ability to get hits is dropping about as fast as Valencia's did with the parent club.

As I am a true believe in the Moneyball system, I don't see why the Twins would use an early pick to go after this guy. While he seems all right, college pitchers are 4X more likely to make it to the bigs, and the Twins need a guy in the minors who can rise quickly and have a low chance of getting hurt (of course, that is what everyone said about Wimmers and Gibson, but then they got hurt, but still.)

Their main problem the last few years when it comes to hitting is that their ability to drive runners in when they are in scoring position is extremely low. In several years before 2010, the Twins were always among the highest in average with RISP. Now, they have dropped to last (or nearly last) in that category because they keep choking with RISP.

Do the Twins know that he reminds people of Bonsor, and, if so, i wouldn't think that the Twins would want to take a chance on him given what happened with Boof Bonsor 1.

Not only are there several current Twins on the list of "least productive positions" in baseball, there are several former Twins as well.

So true, although there were some epic games in the Metrodome (Game 163 in 2009)

Seems like people are down on him, but probably not enough to make him be drafted later than #10 in the draft

I have to agree with you, Cody. Unlike all expectations, the bullpen has been the biggest bright spot in comparison to last year (except for maybe health), and the Twins (with them DFA'ing Maloney) no longer have any pitchers in their bullpen that have struggled in more than one or two outings. So yes, unfortunately for Guerra, I could see him (unless Liriano completly collapses) having to wait until September to get a chance to prove himself with the big club. For right now, he is gaining great value (not that I want him traded) showing exactly how good he is turning out to be. Has there been any consideration about whether Guerra could take over Capps's job as closer if the Twins don't like how Capps performs this year?

I don't see the Twins sending Span anywhere where they can't get a decent haul for him, and right now, it seems as though the Nationals don't have the correct players healthy enough for the Twins to want to trade their veteran lead-off hitter. If they are going to trade Span, they need to be looking for at least 1+ above-average prospects in return because of what Span is to the Twins: A good lead-off guy, covers a lot of ground, and plays tough, and he has a better arm than Ben Revere. So I don't think the Twins will be giving him up unless they get at least one solid SP and RP prospects.

I am not usually down on the Twins, but putting Liriano into the bullpen looks to be a) an attempt to get his self-confidence back up and hopefully increase his trade value as a lefty bullpen guy or a fringe starter if he can ever get his mental problems worked out.

From the 1st vid, he looked to have fairly good stuff, ranging from 78-94 mph. Where are scouts saying he will go, because he looks like a guy they might use supplemental draft pick on.

I have to disagree; he has been working really hard at getting better at fielding, but improving your fielding isn't the kind of thing that you work on in the Majors, you work on it in AAA. Valencia just needs to spend some time down in AAA with a different hitting and fielding coach that might see something in his swing and the way he fields that Vavra isn't seeing up in the Bigs.

I think that Capps and Liriano go before Span because everyone can use average pitchers out of the bullpen and a back-of-the-rotation starter as a backup, and the Twins right now need to have a good lead-off hitter and table setter.

Surprised that you only had one hope attached to the bullpen, which was the weak spot last year...

You guys seem to be forgetting that the Twins shocked everyone when they got rid of Bill Smith, and right now, Terry Ryan is trying to figure out what pitcher is the best to pick in the draft to try and make up for the disgusting level of talent (or lack therof) in our Minor League system.

When it comes to the Twins, definately the ride. I have been a Twins fan since I could actually figure out what a fan of something was, and I stick to them no matter how bad they are doing. All I need to remember is the epicosity of Game 163 in 2009 and I am good no matter how bad things get (not entirely true; if the Twins lose 110+ games I might have to start at least partly following a NL team to compensate)

I agree with the small sample part, but the small sample has me dreading when exactly the Twins will score thier first win...

Who on your 50 were cut?

Ultima Ratio, Gibson will be returning to MiLB late in July-August and making several starts, and all indications are that he is healing well, with the hope that he makes a push to enter the rotation next year. I, contrary to Ultima Ratio, believe that Baker is the one to worry about, as he is a fairly-good number 2 guy in a rotation if he could ever figure out these arm problems. Marquis, while yes having to adjust is in all appearances healthy

I have to agree with the guys you have here, but I also wouldn't forget about the Twins' compensation round picks in '11, who look like decent players if they recover from their injuries. I also think it a little unlikely that Michael will reach the bigs at 24; that's a good turnaround, even for a first round pick. Also, for the 4th outfielder I would have Span, as his arm is better than Revere's, he might be a tad slower than Revere, and when he is healthy, he is much better at getting on base than Revere.

I don't see any reason for the Twins to trade Span if he plays like he did at the beginning of last year. Now, if they could find someone willing to trade a good pitching prospect or proven late-inning reliever that is also under a very friendly contract, they might take it (honestly, I thought the Twins would have had something trading him to Washington before his value fell when people saw that he was still trying to recover from the concussion he received, but Revere's arm was the one misgiving I had for that deal.) Revere and Bensen are probably both out-of-bounds when it comes to being traded, but Hicks might be traded if he can't prove that he can rise up the ladder with a good year this year.

With 9 pitchers scheduled to pitch tomorrow, what happens if the Twins don't feel like they got a good enough look at some of the pitchers during their inning? I know that they have many times to see each pitcher, but what happens if several of the pitchers that throw tomorrow only throw three pitches in an inning?

The Twins have several highly-touted prospects that are currently climbing through their system. The prospect that is most likely to make his debut this year is Brian Dozier, who is a solid middle infielder who took this year in the Minors and turned it into his breakout season. Unfortunately for the Twins, they have several other highly-touted prospects that are all playing the same positions. For Chris Herrmann, this isn't a problem, as he could finally be Drew Butera's nightmare as he is a catcher who actually has the ability to hit for average. For guys like Miguel Sano and Eddie Rosario, and outfield prospects like Aaron Hicks, Oswaldo Arcia, Joe Benson, and Max Kepler, this prospect crunch might mean that they have to be even better than they already are to get the Twins to play them, as the Twins have a lot of good prospects, but no where to put them. Revere, Willingham, and Span, unless they suffer injuries or decline in their play, look to be the Twins starters in the outfield for the next three years and beyond. In the infield and especially at third base, Sano and Rosario are behind guys like Valencia and, if he has a good spring this year, Burroughs. The twins also have their 2011 1st round draft pick, SS Levi Michael, who is projected to be the Twins' answers to their headaches at short and projected to be a killer pairing with Brian Dozier. This means that the Twins will have to be making decisions in the coming years as to how they give younger players with high upside the Major League experience they need to succeed, while keeping around enough veterans so that they have a leadership role in the team. What moves do you think the Twins will make to give prospects like Sano, Rosario, Hicks, Arcia, Benson and Kepler the playing time they deserve, once they reach the big leagues?