Penthang

I am very bullish on the talent in the Twins farm system coming into this year. While you always want more there are some players who I am really excited about and I’m always curious about this breakout guys that nobody really expected. I am also intrigued by young Gardy. I have to say I was a little surprised when the Twins hired him and a little glad as well. I’m going to be curious to see the new front offices new pitching oversight (almost all the pitching coaches are the same as last year with a little shuffleing) does with the development of these intriguing young arms. Also, can they do a better job of keeping them healthy? I second the thought that you might need to get to an early game to see Lewis. Falvey and Co. seem to be a bit more aggressive at moving top talent forward than Ryan was.

I hate to say this, it’s been rattling around in my head for a bit. I think at this point the best thing for the Twins, thier fans, female media, and perhaps Sano himself would be to trade him. With the health and personal issues hanging over his head at the moment his value is not at its peak but at the trade deadline if he has a good first half his value could be considerably improved. At that point the front office should have a good idea of what his actual behavior has been in regards to women and wether he is willing to improve his behavior if the issues floating out there prove true. At the moment Sano is a huge bundle of question marks with so much potential???

Going by the criteria for this list Mauer isn’t here because at the tail end of his contract it is decidedly team unfriendly. It has no surplus value. Rooker would probably be in the 21-25 range I’d guess. I am curious to see where Nick places the top 5. At this point I’d probably put Buxton in the #1 spot and really want to see an extension for him and a couple other before the season starts. At this point I doubt Dozier entertains an extension that would make sense for the team so, sad to say, but if they haven’t put things together by the trade deadline he’s likely to be flipped…which doesn’t stop the Twins from bidding for him on the open market if it doesn’t seem like Gordon is ready.

This was really enjoyable and educational, I’d love to see this as a regular feature. I clicked through and read the other almanac posts you’ve done and enjoyed them as well. Thanks

One thing that I found interesting with Falvey’s reputation as a pitching guy and the Twins issues developing pitchers that only one pitching coach position has been replaced. That position was open because they promoted the pitching coach to a coordinator position and the other coordinator position and senior pitching advisor position were outside hires. Further, other than the one new pitching coach who was an outside hire, the rest are in place from prior to Falvey being hired. On a Jake Mauer note…it was never said, but with the timeing of announcements it felt like the Twins wanted to put him as the manager in Rochester. Anyone have thoughts or real insight?

Darvish is the option I’d prefer them to land but if that doesn’t happen I’d like to see them find an addition through the trade market. The loss of prospects it would take to bring in One if the top tier guys available will be uncomfortable but they have a solid core on the team now and need to have the pitching staff to take advantage of that.

I think that those are the things the Twins need to sign him for equal or even more money if it’s close.

So based on the comment by Falvey that he was he was open minded about the future closer being in the system now I see this as a stopgap. I was rather happy with the bullpen by the end of last season…while there is obviously room for improvement a lot of that coming from the system would be very helpful with dollars used to retain the premium players long term.

If the rumored package is true it may be that the Twins want an extension agreed to before pulling the trigger?

I was interested to see him at 11 on your list. A few days ago when Seth posted his preliminary top 50 list and had him at 26 I was a little disappointed because in my mind I was hoping he was in the teen range…while finding another Mauer is an improbable thing I have hope that Rortvedt can be something close to that combo of great defense and good offensively that is so hard to find in a catcher. From your write up it sounds like he is progressing twords that. Looking forward to seeing what this season has in store for him.

I think Slegers is interesting. I seem to recall a lot of talk with Alex Meyer about how very tall guys tend to develop later ala Randy Johnson. With Slegers consistency of release point that he already seems to have I am curious to see what the new regime pitching staff might be able to get out of him.

I’d like to thank you all. I skim through comments on other sites, often with pain at the volume of negative comments that offer no other value. Here the community has a lot to say and I read most of it with interest. This is directly related to the great job that the mods do of keeping the discussion where it should be. Thank you.

I want to see them add at least one high end starter and back of the pen reliever this offseason, but I think the most important thing they might do this offseason is extending the young core. As for some of the comments about them doing what other front offices would do I’d like to point out that the Yankees had more bonus pool money than the Twins and you haven’t seen there front office do anything with it once they were eliminated from the Otani sweepstakes. I believe that adding the two higher end draft picks from last year who’s bonuses were already paid by giving those team the ability to spend money that they didn’t have plans for was a great move. Between the Yankees, Rangers, Angels, and Mariners I guarantee that a good chunk of bonus pool money will go unspent because there aren’t identified players out there worth spending it on. Still the Twins have some left if they choose to try and resign Marte or try to get one of the remaining Braves prospects. Or maybe they can leverage a prospect from the Rangers? Maybe it’s a little early for some to say they are “Killing it” but I’m ok with that assessment and I look forward to see they’re next move.

I would like to see a Mauer extension…year by year or maybe two, but he should retire as a Twin. As a future hall of fame candidate, he will probably end his career as a role player, but that needs to be with the Twins, it would be a shame if it was anywhere else.

More prospects = more opportunities for someone to be really good. I like this move. While they may not be top 10 prospects in the Twins system right now who knows how they will develop this next season and where they could be this time next year?

I am not a huge fan of this idea but in certain circumstances could see it making sense. If the Twins have already acquired 2 rotation pieces and trading Santana can bring them a closer then yes, I’d go for that. I believe they are targeting Darvish as an incentive for Ohtani and if that gets them both players then great. If they sign Darvish and don’t get Ohtani, then try trading Santana for a younger pitcher with some controllable years they will have to throw in something else. If that something else is one of our top tier pitching prospects then I’d be solidly aigainst it. That would be to high a cost for anyone not the next Kershaw(I’d be ok with that if it was for Kershaw).

I would love to see the twins extend Mauer 1 or 2 years for a reasonable amount and have him splitting time with Rooker soon.

Nope.

If Vargas could play a corner outfield spot this would be a no brainer, without that in his skill set it comes down to a choice between he, Grossman, or a player to be named later. I’d rather the Twins go with a better defender than Grossman as the forth outfielder, preferably someone right handed. I think the Twins should make this Vargases shot. If he’s not getting the job done after 200 PA then find someone on the trade market to DH and let him go. I suspect that they won’t need to do that though, but we will never know if they don’t give him a shot. I have read in several places that 1000 at bats is where a lot of players become proficient, we’ve already invested most of those at bats in him, let’s get him to that mark and see what happens.

While watching Buxton this season was just a joy, I expect it to remain so for years to come. Surely he will slow as he ages. I’d hope we get two more seasons before that happens. But as Jimmer pointed out, experience helps prolong a great athletes window of elite level play. So, while he will inevitably slow as he ages, my hope is that barring injury that Buxton can remain an elite defender from somewhere between ages 29-31 and will probably still be very good after that. Finger crossed.

Personally I’d prefer to see the twins sign one high end rotation arm and fill the rest of the rotation with what they have moving out guys when a better, younger guy is ready. I don’t want to see Gonsalves killing it at AAA for to long before giving him a shot in the majors. As a secondary measure I’m ok with taking a flyer on a minor league deal to a reclamation type low cost to let go when they are surpassed by young guys. Someone like Lackey, however, would demand to high a salleey for the Twins to release him if the young guys are ready to contribute despite how he is performing. I think we do need to find a right handed 4th outfielder who bats right handed. I like Granit a lot but we really need a right handed batter who can field well as our fourth outfielder. That might be best addressed through a trade for someone controllable rather than a free agent one year deal though.

I am fairly sure that experience developing pitching and working with a lower payroll level than the top half of the league is why Falvey got the job. It appears that with The change in minor league pitching coordinators (they said they were going to replace the position with two people) that he is beginning the process. Can this have a major impact on this years Twins? Possibly by mid season. I’d would be happy with a second year of call ups moving the needle for this team. With that said they need some help now, just not help that they need to commit too much money or years to. I don’t think I can handle another Nolasco type result. Hopefully the investment they have made in scouting and analytics can find the right help either through free agency or trade.

The only way I’d want to see one of these guys signed is if it is after Cobb or Lance or a trade for someone in that tier, and only then on a minor league deal. Theoretically they each have some potential to bounce back and contribute but I’d really rather see one of the probable AAA guys succeed into the rotation that one of these guys. We should start the year with some good high potential arms just a step away with a lot more upside than any on this list. As I recall Molitor was quite high on Gonsalves during spring training last year. This has the feel of a Terry Ryan move to me leaving me with the feeling that until someone’s arm falls off the young guys won’t be given a shot.

What I would like to see next year is not Polanco at short. As I don’t see the front office spending any of its free agent money on a shortstop who is anything other than a utility type that leaves Adrianza or another player like him until Gordon is ready. The best defense with the available players would be to move Sano into a platoon With Mauer at first given that he would DH a lot of days, move Dozier to third, Polanco to second, and have Adrianza keep the seat warm at short unless they can find a right now option to package in a trade when they are getting some pitching.

In my opinion if the front office could get this deal done, even upping the FA years so the total value is $66 million that will end up being a steal. Is there risk, of course, but that is how you get the trade off for cost certainty and added value of team friendly FA years. If they can get him to sign this off season I’d do it.