nicksaviking

Matt Bush has been called up from AA and is joining the Rangers 25-man roster. For those who don't know, or perhaps more aptly, don't remember, he was the much maligned High School shortstop, picked first overall in 2004 by San Diego. The pick was panned from the start as the Padres picked the hometown kid who played a premium position and passed up a perceived can't-miss ace in Justin Verlander, who made it well known that he was going to sign for big bucks. Due to the similarities, the top of this draft drew all kinds of comparisons to 2001 when the Twins more successfully took hometown kid Joe Mauer, who played a premium position, over the more heralded "can't-miss ace" Mark Prior. Well things didn't work out so well for Bush or the Padres. He couldn't hit, he couldn't field and he didn't develop any power or speed. What he did develop was an alcohol and drug problem. The Padres kicked him to the curb, and likely thinking of the team's past failure to get the best out of Josh Hamilton, Tampa Bay picked him up and stuck him on the mound. That was a short lived union however as he was arrested and jailed for 51 months after nearly killing a motorcyclist which according to reports may or may not have been his third car accident of the day. Out of prison, Bush was picked up this past year by Texas, who continued on with Tampa's pitching experiment. Well it appears as though it worked. In Double A he has a 9.5 K/9, 2.1 BB/9 and a 2.61 ERA. Of course this is only in 17 innings pitched. Of this crazy story, it was that last part that struck me the most, the guy has been in prison for over four years, has thrown only 17 innings this year and was basically a shortstop before hitting the big house, yet the Rangers have already called him up to the majors. Eat your heart out JT Chargois. I have no idea if Matt Bush is contrite, humble or a changed man, if he is, I'm sorry for this next part, because all I can picture after reading this story is a Ranger's player asking him where he played last season. His response would be of course: http://images1.houstonpress.com/imager/u/original/6716749/charlie_sheen_r102610_thumb_200x151.jpg "California Penal."

Luis Arraez looks like he might be an unheralded and underrated exciting prospect. He's the youngest player on the team by almost a year and he's hitting everything with a really nice 9/11 BB/SO ratio. And the fact that he just turned 19 and he's at full season ball already probably says a lot about what the Twins think of him. The Twins normally keep international signings like him in short season leagues.

Nice analysis. It looks like the off day allowed for some really quality research sessions yesterday.

I would not be comfortable with Anthony as GM, but it wouldn't be because of an interview he gave a half decade ago. As amatures in this field, everyone on this site probably has exponentially increased our knowledge of baseball staristics than we did five years ago. Stating someone who is paid to work in a MLB front office hasn't improved in this area when armchair amatures have is ridiculous.

I disagree, I think at best Twins Daily was 50/50 about going outside the organization for a new manager and it was probably much, much higher. But I also don't think they were insistent on hiring a guy with no experience. I think they might have been insistent on Molitor, but I don't think that had anything to do with his lack of managerial time.

I guess if I had to make an argument against it, it would be that there hasn't been a good catcher drafted since 2008. I think the position is a lost cause, the best ballplayers don't want to play it any more.

I'm not saying it's right, but as we've seen how the young guys are used, clearly the folks in the MLB dugout are quite resistant to being used for developmental instruction, it seems they would prefer that done on the farm. I'd guess the Twins didn't want Buxton to "work on" anything at the MLB level as they feel that should be done at the subordinating affiliates, and the big club should be all about the Wins and Losses. I don't at all agree with this considering the record, but that's what it looks like to me.

Not to derail the thread, but I'd be curious to know if Andy McPhail would have had interest in returning and becoming president of the Twins instead of the Phillies had he had the choice.

I though from hearing some of the reports over the past year or so, his slider was suspect. But again, that just means someone reporting this intel is wrong. I hope it's a good pitch, he's not going anywhere without it.

He threw all of 40 innings and faced all of 153 batters his senior year of HS. If we assume he averaged about four pitches per batter faced, and if we assume he threw his slider 25% of the time, which he probably didn't because 95% of HS kids will get themselves out on a simple 94 MPH heater, that would mean he threw only about 150 sliders. Sure, the Twins could have messed something up, but I'd say it's much more likely that the scouting reports didn't have enough to make a solid assessment.

Sorry, but as far as Im concerned Anthony had his audition when he put an opening day 25-man together that included a no longer physically capable Jason Kubel and Jason Bartlett as an outfielder. That spoke volumes about his take on the "old boys club" atmosphere. I'm not opposed to second chances, but I am in this case. He and Ryan are good, honest and loyal men, but that doesn't qualify them to be a GM. In fact, if we based it on the rest of the business world, those qualities might be antithetical to winning.

I agree and it makes tons of sense as technology has evolved. What kind of scouting reports did the FSL have twenty years ago? College players weren't watching tape, HS kids weren't specialized to the point of only focusing on one sport. Sports medicine, weight training and nutrition have all drastically improved. Things that were once only available to the pros are now available to everyone. The younger players have a huge head start on their historical counterparts and it should be taken advantage of by all teams.

I guess my feeling is that if the goal is to be competitive in 2017 (and 2018 and 2019) the guys in the minors shouldn't have to be better than the vets at this moment. Polanco's on base skills may be essential in the future so if he cuts into Plouffe's or Dozier's ABs, you just have to suck it up and and sit more than they like. Same with Chargois. Tonkin and Pressly have a chance to contribute the next couple of years, but I'd call up Chargois now and start funneling Jepsen's and Kintzler's innings his way. I know it's cold, I know there are a lot of Twins lifers in the dugout, and it's hard to replace fan favorites, but at this point there is nothing left to lose, the veterans are not winning games for this club so they are not contributing to attendance if that is the concern. All this losing is good for one thing and one thing only, evaluating the young guys to see who has what it takes to get back to relevance.

Somebody up there really didn't want Mauer to lead off.

Well we still haven't put him on the mound yet. I want to see that rumored high 90's heater.

I think the complaint being made is that there weren't "trades" last year, there was one trade. If Ryan was going to shore up the bullpen to the point where it made a difference, that's one thing, but only getting Kevin Jepsen certainly wasn't going to do the trick alone. So, if you're only going to make one trade, which isn't going to accomplish enough to matter, why make a trade at all?

I didn't like the trade last year because Jepsen wasn't very good in TB and looked to be on the decline. That was an incorrect read, at least last year. But this is exactly right, it was just more half-measures. This team just cannot commit to anything, whether it's going for it at the trade deadline or committing to a full rebuild, they hedge their bets every single time and it's beyond frustrating. They have clearly resolved to get harder throwing pitchers in the draft and trade, but then are hesitant to promote them or put them in key spots. They commit to increasing the payroll, but only by getting multiple average players, not a couple of really good players. They replace most of the field staff, but they do it mostly with other organizational guys. Come on, get off the fence and stop being so wishy-washy.

I'm not making assumptions, you made a blanket statement about how the young players act entitled. If hitting poorly is proof of entitlement, than mark Suzuki, Plouffe and Dozier as entitled as well, and as much as most of us would like a new catcher, Kurt Suzuki appears to be nothing short of the ultimate professional and team player.

Well that's because Kelly never would have let them play, he did not like young players. What kind of evidence have you seen that says the young players act entitled? Arcia, Buxton, Polanco, Kepler, Santana, Duffey, Meyer and May have all been humbled by multiple demotions to the minors, pen or bench. This just sounds like an assumption based on our perception of Millennials. The only person we as fans can even presume to guess has an entitled attitude is Ricky Nolasco who through his agent made a stink about the prospects of him being moved to the pen.

I'm going to be disappointed if Polanco is riding pine for the Twins, he has more than earned an extended look with the team.

I'm not in to throwing at guys, but if I were, I'd do it again right now.

Too many men on the field,five run penalty on the White Sox.

They're letting wives in the dugout now?

He still only swung and missed at one pitch in high school. Also he had that blue ox I believe.

I agree that they were way too late to do the rebuild, they should have started the youth movement after 2010, I know they won the division, but there were a lot of us who said the end was at hand after that season. Still, just because they were late with the youth movement and turning over the vets, they still need to do it. I also don't think the team was anywhere near close to a contender last year, the whole season seemed like a mirage, even when they were winning. Record-wise sure, just not ready to compete. I'm good getting vets once we know what we need, but they have to flush out the system first. We still don't know which of these young guys are going to be capable players, in my view that has to happen first or we're just blindly guessing, trying to fill future holes. Will we need bullpen help in 2017-18? We're not going to know until we see what Burdi, Chargois, Melotakis and Rogers can do. Does the rotation need another stable veteran? Who knows, we haven't seen nearly enough of Meyer, Berrios and Duffey and May is still banished to the pen. Will we need a catcher? Well uh, yeah, that's a given, go find a catcher if one is available.