Eephus

Maybe a better comparison than Trout is Torii Hunter. That last trip down to AAA for Hunter produced an OPS of 1.130 over 55 games.

I think Ryan said on the radio a couple weeks ago that Buxton is more or less going to have to destroy AAA for a couple months in order to come back up. He's probably in the destroying mode recently, but I'm guessing he's going to have to pretty much keep it up for all of June. That's fine with me.

Thanks for the artilcle, Nick!

I'm all for trying some vigorous expirementation at this point, but I'd rather see them go in a back to the basics approach (Kepler, Buxton, Polanco -- stress defense, fewer Ks) than a slow-pitch softball (Walker, Palka, more Arcia) approach. Unfortunately, the Twins seem to be lacking baseball IQ in the younster ranks. Some comparisons to the early/mid 80s Twins (Reusse article) are interesting to me. Puckett, Hrbek, Gaetti plus some veterans turned out well. We don't know, but is it reasonable to think that among our 25 man/40 man/upcomers there is a winning team in our near not too distant future? I hope so, but not convinced. What would help convince me is a nucleus of some talented, but also sensisble ballplayers in the near future. And for shi*t's sake, we need some young pitchers to get make the transition from 95+ fastballs to major league credibility pretty doggone soon! Closing rant: 1. The propensity to swing at out of the strike zone curves and sliders is wearing me out. 2. Used to be in the olden days that once or twice a year an experienced minor league pitcher moved up into the big leagues and held his own.

Fine insights in a less than ideal circumstance. Thanks!

I have never heard of Mr. Greenwood. I have heard of Mr. Lein, who has threaded together another seamless recap at Twinsdaily. Great work! Thanks!

Wasn't Trevor May's era horrible in the early going?

In haiku form: Murphy cost first pick Hicks a wash'd-up outfielder Hermann nets Palka.

See that Santana looks to be headed to DL. In the long run, I suggest: trade Milone for whatever they can get for him or long relief. Gibson to long relief (if they can trade Milone) until he can get his mojo back. Duffey to Rochester. Milone will probably still have some good days, but I think we've seen his ceiling and it ain't high enough to be on this team much longer.

I imagine Mr. Ryan is especially interested in seeing Stuart Turner having a really good year.

He will prove he can hit faster fastballs for a few weeks. We'll be excited! Then the pitchers will start mixing it up more and he'll struggle. By mid May we'll be speculating if he should be sent down. Arcia will be factor in all this as he puts up solid numbers in fewer at bats. Park will .go 720 OPS with 17 HRs. He will spend a month in Rochester, but get called back (even though he doesn't seem ready!) when Arcia pulls a bunch of muscles swinging too hard. Park will look pretty good in September and we'll still feel okay with this signing. I hope he rocks the place and has a great year. I really like him.

For how hard he hits the ball (when he hits it), less than 30 homers to me would mean more doubles. Sano (please correct me if I'm wrong...this is a hunch not a data driven comment) seems like a guy whose non homers would tend to be hard hit doubles or hard hits singles more than moon shots that land at the warning track.

Nice article! Fun read.

Buxton's speed (not to take anything away from his other tools) is like a super power that he's still learning to adapt to baseball. I think this is where his injury-pronishness stems from. He's cartoonishly "Roadrunner...beep! beep!" fast, except he's also 6'2" and powerfully built. My guess is he's still 2 or 3 years from finding his stride and becoming one of the best players in the league. What a fun few years it will be to watch him learn to bring all his tools together. And what a great pay-off it will be for us fans when he really hits his stride.

Not sure Rosario vs Kepler is at an apples to apples comparison stage yet because of a one year age difference and growing up in Puerto Rico vs Germany. But if the trends continue in the same direction, I'd prediect Kepler's going to pass Rosario by due to superior OBP. Rosario is fine, solid, etc...but I think needs to take some walks if he's going to be a core starting player on a really good team.

sorry, double post and don't know how to delete one.

Seems to me sure-handedness, average mobility and a good arm describes hundreds of adequate defensive outfielders. Weight...unless or until it hinders mobility doesn't mean much. I liked the article.

Agree. While I know very little about how really ready Park is to hit MLB pitching, it is not hard for me to imagine Arcia, Vargas or Walker crushing it in KBO.

And, probably more on topic, I don't think the problem with Arcia is emotion in the clubhouse. His problem is he's a headcase at the plate. He has a strong tendency to feel "dissed" by any pitch even remotely inside. He responds to this by staring at the pitcher and then swinging his ass off. That's his problem. He needs to chill so he can think straight, not so that he fit in in the clubhouse.

I definitely come down on the side of Sano should be able to play an adequate (and probably better than average) outfield. It's not like he's switching to catcher. He might not be a gold glover, but I think it safe to assume a relatively mobile, adequate third basemen (especially for someone with apparent athleticism of Sano) can effectively field balls to the outfield and get the ball into the infield with some zip on it.

Pretyy safe to say he got all of that one.

Great work. I wish I didn't have a life like you, Parker. Would love to dive this deep into something like this (of course I'd also have to understand hitting as well as you)! If your assessment is accurate and Target Field isn't the best place for him, maybe he's just another asset for the Twins' Tradin' Terry to flip for something more suitable.

Not sure why trading someone is such an urgent matter. If Park and Kepler are in Triple A to start the season, the main reason to trade Plouffe is to get help in the bullpen or catcher. If the Twins could sign a catcher and decent reliever (perhaps a big IF), Plouffe can DH, play 3B and 1B or play right field. If there are no injuries to Buxton, Hicks, Rosario, Sano, Plouffe, Mauer AND Kepler and Park are ready for prime time (and healthy) in May, then someone's really gotta go. That could wait until the May - July to shop the right person. On kind of a side note -- I'm not convinced we can assume Hicks is an every day player. I hope so, but not sold.

Hell, I'll hope for the best. Always nice to see the Twins make a splash....but, couldn't you just move Plouffe to DH and reasonably expect 23-25 HRs? I've always been skeptical of ABW's potential, but how would his stats look in KBO if he played there the next 2 years? I'm glad they did it. Hope like heck it works.

6'3" 190 and 18 years old with that kind of athleticism (nice dunk) -- not too worried about his power numbers at this point.