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Here’s my Twins 2022 roster. Like Nick’s plan, there are moving parts where Donaldson DHs a decent amount and Miranda plays 3B, 1B, DH. Kirilloff takes over for Max Kepler in RF. Kepler just hasn’t been able to change from an ineffective pull first approach. I see Kirilloff as a hitter who can use more of the field and still blossom into a very fine hitter. Hopefully the second-half Sano shows up next year. I’m optimistic about that. I chose Iglesias as the SS for good D and his .271 average, much better than Simmons but for the same price. I chose Mark Canha for LF, liking his prior 26, 17, and 16 HR seasons. And last year walking 77 times, stealing 12/14 bases, scoring 93 runs. Even with a .231 average, he had a .358 OBP. In any case, he should be much better than Cave, Larnach in 2021. Like Nick I’m signing Byron Buxton with an escalating deal and incentives. I’m banking on Jose Miranda to log 500-550 ABs. I like the Saint’s Mark Contreras as the 4th OF with Jimmy Kerrigan as an alternative at AAA. For the rotation, I’m signing Robbie Ray as the ace with Danny Duffy as the #2 starter. That’s a significant part of my 142.1 million dollar payroll. I think Jim Pohlad will go for that. If they can’t get Ray, then Syndergaard and Verlander are other ace options. I’m bringing back the steady Michael Pineda, his 9-8 record and 3.62 ERA. Both sides want a reunion, so it’s just a great fit. Ober and Ryan start as #4 and #5 starter. I’m one who thinks Charlie Barnes will eventually be a solid major league pitcher but maybe not next year. Cole Sands could be another guy getting some starts for the Twins. Duran has a lot to prove. He would be a bonus. I filled out the BP with some of the most talented AAA relievers and Ralph Garza Jr. who did a good job. Alcala’s continued growth will be a big and important factor. I really like Nick Gordon and hope Rocco steals with Buxton, Canha and Gordon so the offense is more balanced. Celestino also provides depth and could easily be up with the inevitable injuries. I like Kerrigan’s 19 HR and 10/12 SB. I also want to emphasize that I do think that once Rooker gets the requisite amount of ABs at the ML level, he should hit 30 HR with a .240 -.270 average. So, he’s in play also depending on injuries.

The 2020 Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook will be now available. By clicking here, you can order the paperback version of the PDF/E-Book version at Lulu.com. In addition, the promo code ONEFIVE will get you 15% off of all print books you order on Lulu.com (promo code is good through Thursday). In this link, you'll see previous Twins Prospect Handbooks are available.With the completion and availability of the 2020 Twins Prospect Handbook, I have now written and self-published a dozen Twins Prospect Handbooks. I think back to the first one, which I think I wrote up and published within about two or three weeks, and laugh. Since then, I truly believe that the handbooks have continued to get better and much more detailed, and that’s thanks to a lot of people. As much as I know that I enjoy researching and learning about the players, it is a ton of work. But I enjoy having the conversations with a variety of people inside and outside of the organization. I enjoy watching video. I enjoy reading other opinions. I enjoy going to Ft. Myers each spring and spending time watching minor league practice and games. I also enjoy getting down to Cedar Rapids for some games. However, ultimately, I also truly believe in that paragraph that I wrote in that 2008 prospect handbook and have included in every single Twins Prospect Handbook since then, including this year’s. Minor league baseball players are doing all the same work that the big leaguers do. They are just doing it with far less fanfare, smaller per diems, less luxurious travel and hotel arrangements, and noticeably lighter wallets due to pay checks with far fewer zeroes. These players deserve to be recognized too. It’s about the players. They deserve the recognition. They work hard. Sometimes that means a big league career, and sometimes it means peaking in A-ball. Tom Froemming wrote an article for this year’s Prospect Handbook about why it’s important to get to know more than just a team’s Top or Top 20, or even Top 40, prospects. A quick glimpse back at the Twins 2019 season reminds us that Luis Arraez asn’t a Top 10 Twins prospect just 12 months ago. Cody Stashak was recognized for his transition to the bullpen in 2018, he he didn’t rank as a Top 50 prospect. Randy Dobnak wasn’t a Top 50 prospect. Geez, how many Twins Top 100 prospect rankings would he have made one year ago. Which prospects will surprise and advance in 2020? Which top prospects will? The Twins system is currently really strong. There are four to six Twins prospects that are Top 100 guys nationally. There are a few others that are probably close to that level. And there is a ton of depth of players that have the ability to, if opportunity arises, be big league players. That makes the writing and researching and all the time well worth it! So, here is a quick look at what you will find if you order a copy of the 2020 Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook (which will again be available in paperback and as a PDF). THE COVER Finn Pearson, who has volunteered to do a lot of really good graphic work for Twins Daily the last couple of years, did a very nice job on the cover again this year. (He did last year’s too.) We talked about it and decided that baby blue was the way to go after the Twins announced they were bringing back those ‘80s uniforms in 2020. And, well, Pensacola sure had a lot of high-quality pitching prospects in 2019, didn’t they? Here are three of them; Jhoan Duran, Jordan Balazovic and Brusdar Graterol. THE AUTHORS Seth Stohs - As mentioned above, this is my 12th annual Twins Prospect Handbook. Hard to believe. I wrote the Twins Daily Minor League Award winner articles, and a few other articles. Tom Froemming - This is Tom’s third Prospect Handbook. He wrote an article about how Twins fans need to look beyond the top 20 Twins prospects. We saw in 2019 that several players who did not come into the season as top prospects or even potential call-ups not only got called up, but contributed to the AL Central championship run. CONTRIBUTING WRITERS RT Rybak - The former mayor of Minneapolis contributed a great poem for the Twins Daily Offseason Handbook, and he was kind enough to also contribute a fantastic poem to the 2020 Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook too. It’s titled, “All who Wander Javier,” and I know you’ll really enjoy it. . Steve Buhr - Steve wrote a fantastic article discussing the controversy going on between MLB and Minor League Baseball. He tries to see both sides of the story, and tries to answer what it might all mean. Ted Schwerzler - As he has done in recent years, Ted contributed an article in which he predicts which Twins prospects will make their debuts with the Twins in 2020 and when. Nash Walker - He has been contributing articles at Twins Daily recently, and he wrote an article on Jhoan Duran for the handbook. THE PROFILES We like to call the prospect profiles the meat and potatoes of the Prospect Handbook. There are about 170 profiles of Twins minor leaguers in the book. For those that have purchased Prospect Handbooks in the past, you have an idea of what the profiles look like and the information in each. For those of you who have not purchased previous Prospect Handbooks, well, you can buy previous Prospect Handbooks here. Ha! However, we wanted to include a profile here just to give you an idea of what you are getting. Here is a quick snip of a player profile. The header information includes height, weight, how they were acquired and their 2019 statistics. The 2019 Recaps were written by Tom Froemming and they, well, recap the player’s 2019 season. I (Seth) wrote up the Background and the Scouting Report sections. The Background covers their amateur days and previous seasons. The Scouting Report provides, well, a scouting report on the player. We also included a Forecast for ‘20 in which we try to give a good idea of where each player could spend the 2020 season. We have pictures of a lot of the players in the bios. I wish we had all, but we definitely want to thank all the photographers that were willing to let us use their photos. We used a lot of my photos, but I also want to thank Steve Buhr for his great photos from Cedar Rapids, Ft. Myers and the GCL Twins. The Elizabethton Twins photos came from Nicholas Badders or Kassi Butcher. So there you have it. The 2020 Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook is coming very soon. Keep checking back to Twins Daily and we will let you know when it is available and how you can order it. It’s something that Tom and I are really proud of. It just keeps getting bigger and better, and we hope that you will enjoy it too! Click here to view the article

We are happy to announce that Tom Froemming has agreed to become Twins Daily’s first editor. The whole community already knows Tom from his extensive Twins Daily writing which included last year’s great game recap series. We hope you’ll all congratulate him as he works with both established and new writers to keep Twins Daily’s front page the pride of Twins junkies.The decision to formally establish this role was a result of concerns we expressed in a story back on December 26th. To help ensure the long term viability of Twins Daily, we understand that we both need to formalize some of our part-time roles and to reach out to and compensate new writers. Tom will be doing both and we are planning additional announcements and activities to strengthen our community soon. We’re thrilled Tom agreed to take on this responsibility. He’s talented, organized, creative, tireless and incredibly passionate. He’s exactly the writer for which Twins Daily was established. But he’s certainly not alone in that regard; just look at the names on our front page, our blogs and our forums. You’ll find many others who help the community thrive and would’ve made great candidates. Maybe you’re one of them? If you would like to try writing for Twins Daily, we encourage you to set up a blog and reach out to Tom. We compensate each independent writer for all gross revenues the views from their stories generate. They will also get help editing and honing their writing, both from other writers and from the community. And of course, you get to reach the thousands of Twins fans who stop by Twins Daily each day. We are determined to continue to grow Twins Daily and expose new voices and great writing to as many passionate Twins fans as we can reach. We think Tom will be an important part of that, and we think you will be too. I hope you’ll join us in rallying around Tom in his new role and continuing to support Twins Daily, Gratefully, Brock, Seth, Nick, Parker & John Click here to view the article