DocBauer

Nice pick! (And nice prediction) Tall, big frame, excellent velocity. Definately some stuff to work on, but a lot of tools and potential to work with.

Really happy with this pick. Three different LISP options, all three with risks, and all three with seemingly legit front of the rotation stuff. There is also real need for a quality LHSP with some real stuff. If starting doesn't work out, we have a top port side relief prospect. You need those too. Especially in a draft that doesn't appear overwhelming, this is a great choice with a real fall back option.

Despite the points you bring up negatively, such as pitch framing, the crux if your article is Suzuki shouldn't hit 5th. He's no Harper. And I agree. But as the starting catcher, calling a game, taking charge, making his pitchers feel comfortable, blocking the plate, I like Zuke and appreciate him and respect him. I think it's disingenuous to say the Twins pitchers respect him simply because he is a veteran. He had a well respected reputation long before he joined the Twins. Offensively, not being an easy out, stroking a few XB hits at the BOTTOM if the order is not so bad. If Herrmann could ever hit as he has in the minors, I think he could be an asset, and people would climb off his back. I have to say, over the years, when I've watched games with him behind the plate, I've been impressed with the job he's done. I have a hard time calling for him to be replaced. And yet, I still think Pinto belongs in the majors. In fact, he was hitting in the spring when he was farmed out, and never should have been sent out in my opinion. He should be up. He can be a real asset with the bat as a catcher and DH, possibly as a dangerous PH. But until someone gives him the chance...as they did to close out the 2013 season rather impressively...he's never going to do anything.

Were I in charge and could have a few things fall my way, my draft strategy would be as follows: 1:as previously mentioned, the biggest potential payoff at #6, even with risk involved. 2: with no second round pick this year, and reports that the Twins will be judicious with the number of signings they make, you have the flexibility to add powerful, talented arms...(without passing on a BPA position ally speaking in any given round)...and know that you have the financial capability to over spend by slot to sign them. 3: in the first 10 rounds, I'm looking for the top catching prospect I can find. I might even be seriously tempted to select him a round higher than my board says. I think Turner and Garver are very interesting and solid prospects. But if you look at the depth of the Twins system, there are legit, big time prospects on the mound, in the pen, and all across the OF and even the INF, but there is a lack of a TOP catching prospect that makes you think "can't miss".

i would agree with Aiken except for one thing; health risk. I have said multiple times this is the absolutely perfect time for th Twins to make an unconventional move and just grab the guy with the biggest upside, that potential star player. Preferably a high end LHSP, probably the hardest thing to find in baseball. My problem/concern with Aiken is not is TJ surgery, it's all the rumors that something isn't right with his arm, may never be, one day he will simply self combust on the mound, etc. And after all the reports I've read, I'm still not certain I fully understand his injury situation. Allard and Jay are probably my two picks. There is risk with both. But there also seems to be legit top of the rotation type of potential from both of them.

Understood. Some power may still come. But I think just about anyone would love to have an honest to goodness catcher who could hit .290-.300 at the bottom of their order. Or at worst, come off their bench. The ability to hit better than most, especially at a position not known for hitting, is still a nice ability.

But tip of the cap to Meyer who is embracing his situation and is making the most of it. Whether this turns out to be permanent of the right move to regain his motion and confidence, he's doing something with the opportunity. The odds of make the majors are huge. And between competition and his injury history, I cant image what Wimmer's odds are at this point. But a tip of the cap to him for sticking with it and making a comeback that I'm not sure any of us could see or predict. He still has a long way to go, and seems to be battling some consistency issues, but it's really nice to see him do well. Best of luck to Go Go Gonsalves tonight! Walker........WOW.

Swim continues to intrigue me. Plays OF and 1B, has tremendous hit tool, obviously, and can even steal a base or two? Man, if he can only catch...

Look, I'd love Santana to produce like last season and move Dozier down somewhere. Right now, he isn't. I'd also love to bring P olanco up, slide him in at SS, hit somewhere at the top of the lineup, juggle the order, and not look back. But I think its kind of premature to look to a AS SS as our lineup savior. The lineup, right now, is the best it can probably be. Think Hunter at 3 and Mauer at 2 is better? I can see that. But you cant just bash Mauer, say move him, without having a logical stepping stone process. And, I kind of understand the Vargas move to get untracked, but I still maintain he never should have been sent down. Not only was he starting to turn it around, but he's a completely different breed of an option in the 5 hole than anyone else.

Just got done reading about Swim in the prospect handbook again. Anyone have a good read on his defense and game calling behind the plate? I read kind of a mixed bag, and it sure seems like he plays as much or more OF and 1B as he does catcher. It's great that he's athletic and has some potential versatility. But if he can legitimately call a game and be solid behind the plate, with that potential hit tool, wow, what a bottom of the order contributor.

HUGE potential logjam in the OF corners, DH and 1B as Kwak reminds us. Someone pleased emind me again, when is Mauer's contract up? Isn't 2017 his last year? I have always been a Mauer fan and supporter. I'm puzzled, frustrated and happy for his 2015 campaign thus far. He's not hitting like he should be, like I expected him to, but he's been CLUTCH and playing a very nice 1B. But while I think he has life left, can play, and might even surprise us yet again this season, and the next couple, I have to believe when his contract is up.....so is his career. At least as a Twin. (Unless he suddenly moves behind the plate again late in his career-doubtful) Walker, Harrison and Kepler may get cups of coffee, but more than likely, each is a year away. Meaning they are ready, or ready sometimes during Mauer's last season. The timing may not be all that bad. Of courses,if I'm mistaken about '17, then we are in much more of a jam than Im thinking.

I can easily see Kepler as our future 1B and part time corner OF. He'd be a much better than average athlete for a 1B which would be outstanding in regard to being on the bases and such.

I'd be in full favor of Jay were he available at 6. As previously stated, I believe this is the perfect time for the Twins to pick the ONE pitcher, preferably LH, that has the highest upside in the draft and take their shot. We dont have a second round pick to "back up" our first rounder. And I'm ok with that. But we are probably done with top 10 picks for a while too. Jay, Alien, whoever...just take that pitcher with the biggest payoff and trust your scouts and coaches. I just hope that one guy van also be LH.

Not saying yes or no, but I assume you are talking about a continuous 6 day rotation vs each pitcher missing a turn every 5th week?

Never had anything against Pelfrey personally. Always heard he was a good guy and teammate. And I respect the hell out of guys who want to play and genuinely want to earn their paycheck. But the entire mantra of "but when healthy...and look what he did during this stretch..." was simply turning in to "look at the history and track record." I was...oh, not excited, but curious...as to what he could maybe do out of the pen for us. Slow delivery, high hard and straight might work for an inning or two. That is simply not what we are seeing out of him. If I didn't know better, I'd swear there was an invasion of the body snatchers going on. That first pitch on the top of the page is what an 88 MPH knuckle ball would look like if you could throw such a thing. I don't recall names, but I am reminded of 20 years or so ago when Pitching coach Roger Craig had great success teaching the split finger and changing some careers. I don't know if this is Allen tweaking Pelfrey's delivery, approach or head, or if Pelfrey is just growing in experience, (learning hard lessons to be sure) and now fully healthy and feeling great he's tossing hard and care-free. I sure am enjoying it though. I'm almost excited when I see his name listed as the starting pitcher.

Lookouts need to play a triple-header

Forget the depth of the Twins OF situation in regard to the draft...in general terms. And forget any of the several talented OF's in A ball or lower specifically. Just at the ML, AAA and AA levels we have Arcia, Hicks, Rosario, Ortiz, Walker, Buxton, Harrison and Kepler. That's 8 guys not including any trades or FA signings to build the OF with. (Or positions switches) Even if you dismiss Ortiz as any sort of top prospect, a solid 4th OF type, that leaves 7 legitimately talented prospects to work with. I believe in taking the most talented player available. Guys wash out. Guys get traded. A HS OF could take 5 years to be ML ready, even if he's very talented, and things could change for a variety of reasons by the time that 5 year mark comes up. But in a draft that is this convoluted and ambiguous, and then/now considering the organizational OF depth, I just wouldn't take an OF unless I was just totally certain he was not only the best player available, but the BPA by a large margin. There is no Mauer-type prospect at C this year, or close, unfortunately. For while I feel the Twins have some interesting catching prospects in the system, it's probably the one spot, organizationally, where we don't have that top prospect we can really feel good about or seemingly count on. With the organization flush with upwardly mobile talent, the parent club not untalented and seemingly turning a corner, perhaps a year early in some's opinion, the Twins should NOT be in the top 5 again in regard to the draft, or even the top 10, for some time again. So while best overall talent selection theory exists, I feel the team should be taking a shot this year on best overall "projectable" talent. In other words there may be someone, maybe a pitcher, maybe a position player, that reports say is an after 10 pick...but...has projectability that carries some risk of failure...but has legit top of the line potential. This is a year where the Twins shouldn't make the safe talent pick, but the talent pick with the highest potential reward.

What's the old expression? "There are lies, damned lies, and there are statistics." For the sake of this umpteenth discussion, we could easily change that to; "there are statistics, damned statistics and lies." I don't have a problem with measurement, statistics or any sort of comparison. But I find it odd just how many different stats, measurables and comps have been created for baseball. My goodness, if you just put in the research, you could come up with a hitting statistic for Mauer, on weekdays, not raining, facing RH's with runners on base, less than 2 outs, against pitchers with at least 2 vowels in their last name. Hell, there probably is already! "You know, Mauer was clutch on Tuesdays and Thursday's against all the Smith's and Johnson's of the world, but don't EVER let him face a pitcher on Wednesday or Friday who has 3 vowels in his name. He's .25 below league average with runners on and no outs and the sun shining with the temperature above 55 with those guys on the hill." I mean, it gets ridiculous. If you think a stat is relevant, great. RBI is a great example. Overblown? Irrelevant? Tell that to the manager and the team trying to score more than the other guys. Someone hits lead off and #2 in a lineup. Why? To get on base and help set up RBI opportunities for the next guys to bat. Why does Plouffe hit #4 for the Twins? Because he's good at collecting RBI there. And he's better at it than other guys who DON'T hit there. If they were better, then they'd hit there instead of Plouffe. Are there multiple factors that can influence RBI opportunity and thus also RBI production? Absolutely. But to arbitrarily dismiss a statistic because it isn't perfect or old school is kind of ridiculous. We're never all going to agree on this stuff, but minds need to be open both ways.

Going to have to disagree here somewhat. First, the rotation is the best it's been in years, with room to be better. The verdict is not yet in on Nolasco's Twins career, but it wasn't a bad move at the time. He has 2 more years after this, but most of the guys in this list won't be ready for a year plus, so the timing, or management,isn't really all that bad. Really, only Hughes and Santana are locked in long term. There is no real commitment to Milone, Pelfrey is gone after the year, and it's possible Nolasco could be traded, even if it is partially a salary drop.

Were Thorpe healthy he'd obviously be on this list, putting us one name short of a top 10. Who would you add to the list to complete that list of 10?

(heavy sigh) Thorpe

I had picked Kepler to be my pick to click last year. Looks like I was a year early. But considering his youth, who cares missing the target by a year. Always been a believer and been expecting something to click. Scouting reports have always intrigued, along with reports of attitude and work ethic. I remember my father seeing him at ST year before last, and just talking about how smooth and athletic he looked in his movements. I seriously doubt his future is in CF. Despite depth of OF talent in the system starting to come to fruition, he could find himself owning one of the corner OF spots. But I keep seeing him as the Twins next 1B while backing up in the OF. Darin Erstad anyone?

I don't know who will end up doing what, ultimately. But then again, neither does anyone else. But I am going to deliberately take the other side of the fence on this one. Turner was voted the top defensive college catcher in the country. All evidence and scouting reports indicate this was well warranted. At the end of the day, defense and game calling are still the primary job responsibilities of a catcher. (Bob Boone anyone?) But Turner has shown some hit ability, some development possibilities, and some power potential. He started very slow in'14 before finishing the last 3/4 of his season actually hitting well. Suddenly his slow start this year has him as a bum? Garver was the runner up to Turner for the Johnny Bench award. His play last season, and various scouting reports, have him as no defensive slouch, and in college and the pros he's been a better hitter. Hell of a year last year. Again, a slow start early this season and suddenly he's lousy? Swim was a JB nominee, but to be honest, I don't know much about his defensive prowess as his short time with the organization has lead to comments about his hitting and OF play last season. I'd like to know more. Seems he has little power at this point, but he appears to have a major hit tool. Combine that with defense and any kind of pop that develops at all and WOW. Kind of hard to comment don teenage catchers at the rookie and low A level...so I wont. Except to say reports are there is some talent there to work with and mold. And unless you have a Mauer, you are probably talking a couple-few years to even know what you might have. So I'm not so sure the cupboard is bare at all. Talk to me at the end of the season, and not knocking on the door at the 1/4 point.

Let me be clear, I've seen very little of Sano at 3B. I'm sure there are many posters here who have seen him at least enough to form a fair and educated opinion. Most of what I know comes from what I read, near, and a few innings played here and there. But from all of that, here is what I know, or think I know: He can play 3B. His biggest problem is simply slowing things down and finding consistency. He's a good enough athlete and has a very big arm to handle the job. He will NOT play as good of a 3B, when he comes up, as Plouffe does now. But then again, Plouder didn't play this good of a 3B when he came up either. Neither did Koskie. Neither did Gaettit. Neither did half the quality 3B I've seen in my lifetime. I'm sorry, but you want a gold glove rookie 3B, look for a team with a bad hitting former SS at the hot corner. It takes time. Moving Sano off 3B now, due to some preconceived notion he can't play the spot, or will somehow rise quicker to HOF status by being an OF or 1B is misguided and short sided. His offense will play anywhere. It plays even better, with even greater impact, when he sticks at third. Plouffe is a very nice and under appreciated player despite some of the limited buzz around him the past few months. He could be of great value to a team, including the Twins. If Kepler doesn't become the next Twins 1B, Plouffe could. If the OF Doesnt become too crowded too quickly, I am a believer he is a good enough athlete, with a strong arm, that he could be an OK OF. While I don't know if "super sub" is realistic, he could, in fact, possibly play almost every day at a corner INF or OF spot or DH. He's valuable to the Twins now, and in the near future, at least, whether as a player or a trade option. But I think the entire "move Sano because he's a big frame guy with some errors and we're afraid he can't play 3B as well as we'd like as a rookie and we want to catapult him to ML stardom as quickly as we can so a position move should make that happen" mentality has got to be put in check.

Count me impressed by what Milone has done since his demotion. It's way too easy to simply say an experienced ML pitcher should dominate like that. Rehab starts or not, we've seen it doesn't just happen like that. He's working hard to prove a point and I comend him greatly for that! However, today, right now, I say don't promote him. Sucks for him, but I just don't think he's a reliever. And despite his Rochester success, there is just no justifiable reason to promote him at this time over any of the other Twins starters. Hughes is Hughes, quality, and like last year, starting a bit slow but seems to be rounding and gaining momentum. Talent and contract, you aren't messing around with him. Gibson is young, talented, has a bright future, is doing well despite also rounding, and no way he comes out. Nor should he. May? No way! The kid was ONE pitch away the other day from a 1run 7 IP performance. It was still a high quality start, the Twins still won, he pitched well, has outstanding ability and potential, seems to keep working and improving, and you shoot yourself in the foot with a shotgun if you pull him for any reason other than a bad, bad slump. The past couple of games, Nolasco hasn't made it through the 6th, but he's SO a ton without BB, won, flashed, and is owed money and time contractually. He's also owed patience due to injury. His OK career is that, solid and OK, not bad, and he shouldn't be dismissed. I still maintain the best case scenario is for a healthy Nolasco to produce and be traded at some point. That leaves Pelfrey. His career biography would state things like; injured, inconsistent, poor peripherals, disappointing. But he's healthy NOW and pitching well NOW. Is he really fully healthy, strong and developing? Or is he on a "flash" cycle? Odds and history say the latter. But who knows. And if you're riding a nag who is outperforming thoroughbreds, you don't put the horse down or send it to the glue factory just because it's a nag. You ride it as far as you can. I still believe Pelfrey will falter, is a better fit in the pen, can re-invent himself in the pen potentially, and carve out a nice niche worth real $. But for now, I don't know why you'd pull him for Milone. Besides, we're going to be overcrowded when July rolls around and Santana shows up. And that isn't even counting Meyer getting on track, Berrios continuing to heat up, or any other of the solid upper milb pitchers looking like they deserve a shot.