TRex

Did he say he scored from 2nd on the groundout? In actuality, he took 3rd on a groundout by Polanco, and scored on the ABWII groundout. <snip> On an unrelated note, how about Zack Jones? Last night, he retired the side on 10 pitches... ALL strikes! His 13:1 SO:W ratio looks great, and the pitch location via gamecast looks even better! Anybody have any radar readings or know if he is using any secondary pitches?

IMHO, I think it has more to do with, after losing the last 2 years to injury, trying to keep him healthy.

This might be over-thinking it a bit, but since Aiken will not be drafted 'out of high school', does that mean he gets only 3 years before going on the 40-man? Or is the fact that he will still be 18 the important factor?

...so you're saying there is no Strasburg, Appel or Harper at the end of this crap-colored rainbow?

Great analysis! Polanco has been one of my favorite prospects to follow as well.

Did you happen to stay long enough to see the long awaited 100mph Shag-Wa heater? If so, what did you think?

How could you tell... I think Zapruder shot this video!

... and if the team struggles, it could be "Lookout(s) below!"- quee quee quee

Awww... it looks like the 'Fun Bunch' is all grown up! What's next... parting their hair on the right?

How can you impute his motive on this? He is a gregarious young man giving an interview in a language he is not fluent in. How many of us, if asked to comment on our size in Spanish, wouldn't reply with a similar statement? While his size/weight are undeniable, suggesting he has a bad attitude or is unwilling to work on his nutritional habits seems unfounded at this point.

Don't take this the wrong way, Nick, but if you believe the weights on the back of the bubble-gum cards... I've got some land right next to Fort Myers to sell you! Puck was listed at 210 in his final year, and Hrbie at 230! Furthermore, if Panda weighs 245, I'll eat my shirt (well, I spilled a little ketchup on it earlier, so I may eat it anyway)! Jim Thome was brutal in the field and still logged 500 games at 3rd base before moving to 1st/DH. I think we could hold off on the Sano debate until we see him at the major league level (or if his arm strength doesn't return), but I guess it is pretty easy to paint a target on Sano's keester.

If you can provide a single scouting report that indicates he will 'likely': outgrow,not have the arm for,not have the range for,not hit enough forSS, I will understand your position. However, unlike Cuddyer, Plouffe, Dozier, and even Goodrum, I do not see any evaluations that really question any of these points. This is not to say that there weren't discussions of his relative 'goodness' at any of these traits, however ! In my opinion, his down-side is Pedro Florimon. And while that might make some people 'throw up in their mouth' a little bit, I think that is a pretty good floor (certainly better than Plouffe, Dozier or Goodrum). While I don't like to suggest an MiLBer will have a career like a HOFer, I don't mind saying that a prospect projects to have a (some) year(s) similar to a HOF average year (does that make sense?). In that vein, I could definitely see Gordon matching the average year for Barry Larkin, who had a triple slash of .295/.371/.444 with 23D, 4T and 10HR while stealing ~20 bases at an 80% clip. Add in GG-caliber defense, and how can you not be excited.

With that kind of 'needling'... are we sure you are not Torri(e) Hunter?

... especially if additional innings at SS skew his positional perception. He is definitely tradable as a good/great 2nd baseman (and this is from someone high enough on him to have him as his Adopt-A-prospect in 2013). And the Twins have specifically been 'in' on Cueto for a half-dozen years, so I think their contract offer would be more than just 'competitive'.

And at the very least, he will be stretched out for long relief in those early April games where the starters frequently don't make it to the 6th inning.

Say... is this Tuttle a red herring (ala MASH)?

Sounds good to me! I think the fact that the Twins chose to start him (again, at a very difficult position) at High-A in his first full season indicates they are not too worried about how struggles will affect his development. Similarly, I don't think they were worried about calling Jorge Polanco up for a short time in 2014. I would also imagine how he responded to his initial FSL struggles would strengthen the Twins assessment of his mental makeup.

I must be a REALLY slow typist, as Markos beat me by 30 minutes! But anyway... First off, let me STRONGLY state that this is not an anti-Garver post, I am just using his developmental trajectory for comparisons... I will also state that, as we have discussed about ABWII, there is no shame being ranked #17 on a very deep minor league system. However, I don't know why there isn't more love for Stuart Turner. IMHO, I think there is even more excitement for Mitch Garver (which may be born out later in this list), who is a year older and put his numbers up at a lower level. This really befuddles me! I understand that Garver cannot control where he is placed, but his offensive numbers are the main reason people are excited about him. If nothing else, you would think Turner would be the poster-boy for those who are looking for rapid prospect advancement. Here is a player starting his first full season at High-A, in the pitching (and ballpark) friendly FSL. He played excellent defense at the games most demanding position (catcher), and started >70% of his teams games (93 games total or ~4.5 games per week). In comparison, Garver started <50% of his teams' games at catcher (63 games total, or ~2.9 per week). And while the main question about Turner entering the year was whether he would hit enough to make his defensive prowess acceptable, he performed quite well after his slow start, as Seth pointed out. While it might be hard to see how good Turner's post-May 19 .787 OPS is, consider that the top OPS in the FSL was .816 and Jorge Polanco led the non-LF/1B crowd with a .780 OPS. While still not the offensive force that Garver was, Stuart proved much more than adequate. His peripheral numbers (SO rate <20%, W rate >10%, higher OPS with RiSP) also portend future success. He even had several game-winning hits and was awarded the leagues 'offensive player of the week' the final week of the FSL season. I personally think that, given positional bias, his future WAR is likely to be greater than Rosario, Polanco or Garver (because of position uncertainties) and also ABWII (because of the low floor). Like so many of our prospects, this year at AA will be a make or break year (in terms of being a top prospect, anyway)!

While I had a pang of regret when I first read the news, you all have convinced me that I was just being miserly and short-sighted! Upon further reflection, this just feels so much like the Radke extension in 2000 which, the club has repeatedly said, greatly influenced the moral of the young players and the acquisition of free agents. And if Hughes can maintain a 3.52 ERA (and a GB/FB of <0.6) with an outfield including Willingham, Colabello, Parmalee and Arcia; imagine what he can do with some combination of Rosario, Buxton, Hicks and Kepler!

Who ever actually said this? The way I have always seen the situation portrayed is that the Twins management wanted Mientkiewicz at Chattanooga and Smith's response was 'then can I coach closer to home'? Although it may cause apoplexy in some TD readers, this may actually reflect Smith's desire not to have the Rochester job, and thus the Twins hired Quade.

That sounds like a great analysis... I am really looking forward to your next (non-silly) blog!

Isn't it great that Stewart's diabetes has become so much of an afterthought, that it isn't even mentioned in his Bio? I don't recall a single time this season that it became an issue.

Perhaps this is not the correct place for this argument, because I do the correct discussion is just how bad Hunter's defense is. However, what I would like as a companion discussion to the metrics' description of Torii Hunter's 2014 defense as 'league worst' is why they have never recognized that Hunter is an elite defender. For example, shown below are the DWAR numbers for Hunter's career. While Gold Glove awards are subject to much more than defensive prowess (witness my all-time favorite Kirby Puckett's 6 awards), I think Torii passed our own eye-test as elite. In Hunter's 9 Gold Glove seasons his average DWAR was <1 (including marks of 0.2, 0 , -0.1 and -0.2). In contrast, Denard Span's last year year (post concussion) with the Twins earned a 2.4 DWAR, higher than any mark in Hunter's career. I would hope that a career of over 1500 games as a centerfielder would be sufficient to minimize SSS and adequately reflect a players true defensive potential. SEASON DWAR AWARDS 1998 -0.3 1999 0.4 2000 -0.1 2001 2.3 GG 2002 -0.2 GG 2003 1.9 GG 2004 2 GG 2005 1.1 GG 2006 0 GG 2007 0.2 GG 2008 -0.1 GG 2009 1.4 GG/SS 2010 -1.1 2011 0.2 2012 1 2013 -1.5 SS 2014 -2.4

Could you ask Alex whether he calls his nasty breaking ball a slider or knuckle curve?

My ADD must be different, because I liked the longer format... But any prospect talk is better than NO prospect talk.