Saturday, May 26, 2007

I'm liking the youth, and then some...again

by Mark Waters

Kevin Slowey is younger than me, and is completely dominating AAA. I cannot wait until the clause in his contract will expire (this will push back arbitration an extra year) so he can take over for Ortiz...Or Silva if he continues to show his true colors. I'm sure most of you are aware of his 50 strikeouts to 5 walks, .195 opponent batting average, and his almost equal splits between left and right hand batters.
yay

Everyone also knows about Garza and Baker's potential, but I'm wondering about our non-pitchers over in Rochester.

I really don't know anything about these guys, other than reading their stats, but Shortstop/2nd baseman Matt Tolbert is currently hitting .356. He is only hitting .250 against lefties, but about 2 weeks ago he was hitting 60 points lower than that. He has limited power (as if punto/bartlett have more) but he is hitting roughly 100 points higher, and he just turned 25. Talk about long term potential at short, or 2nd, depending on how big of a bust Alexi Casilla is or isn't.

What about Jose Morales at Catcher? In 36 games at Rochester, he is batting .353 - .286 against lefties. He is also very young at 24. He too has limited power, but so does Mike Redmond and Morales is a decade younger. Morales would be perfect for the Twins' future, allowing Mauer to transition to 3rd base or LF without losing too much production behind the plate.

Trent Oeltjen is another 24 year old prospect who is hitting .318 in AAA. Although he's had limited ABs against lefties, he is hitting .294 against them. Due to the absolute lack of production out of Tyner/Kubel, he could make a great subsitution come September.


Here's the part where I start dreaming. I can dream can't I?


This trade proposal makes sense, and is plausable. Trade Perkins, Hunter, Baker/Boof and possibly a draft pick to Texas for Mark Teixeira and Hank Blalock. Tex hits for power and average, and could clear up the DH problem. Being only 27 is also a big plus. Blalock is basically out for the next 3 months recovering from a bizarre rib operation. Because of his significant stint on the DL, his trade value should be relatively cheap.

Texas is in last place, and they realize two things. 1. They need to rebuild. 2. They desperately need young pitching.

I would like to see Santana be resigned, but I do not see Johan AND Hunter being signed. Torii is having an MVP type year, and the Twins need to take advantage of his value while they still can. Now this is fantasy land, but hear me out.

The next 2-3 years:

Starting Rotation:
Santana LHP
Slowey RHP
Liriano LHP
Garza RHP
Boof
or BakerRHP

Position Players:
Morales C
Morneau 1B
Casilla 2B
Tolbert SS
Blalock 3B
Teixeira DH
Mauer LF
Span CF (not so good hitter, but can play D)
Cuddy RF

Hopefully Kubel will figure it out by then, because I still believe that he can be a somewhat productive bat.

That roster gives an excellent balance of hitting for power, hitting for average, and speed on the base paths
Bullpen:
Neshek
Rincon (he's only 28)
Guerrier check out his stats so far, very nice.


Does anybody else have an erection after imagining this roster? I do.

7 comments:

bizmarkie507 said...

Well I basically fucked bres over for posting my entry right after his, and making two posts in one day is a cardinal sin. Yeah I'm a total Noob when it comes to blogs, so I apologize for deleting Foss & soups comments.

As far as twinswin83 said, he thinks this idea is garbage due to the cheapness of Pohlad and TR's refusal to trade young arms. This much is very true, but because the twins are getting a new stadium, this means they get more revenue and will be able to up the payroll a bit. Pohlad isn't broke, he's just been cheap the past 15 years in part because of holding out for a new stadium. Now that he got it, expect him to be a little less frugal.
2nd, Terry Ryan has a history of not trading away young arms for veterans. I'm glad they did not trade Garza for Soriano, because it wouldn't have been worth it. But there are three factors why obtaining Teixeira would be easier. 1. he is 4 years younger than Soriano. 2. He has a smaller salary. 3. I don't believe you have to give up Garza in order to get him.

Another reason why I believe Terry Ryan would actually trade young arms for once, is because the Twinkies have never had this big of a surplus. With my scenario, we would hold on to Santana. Santana, Liriano, Boof, Baker, Perkins, Slowey, and Garza makes 7 SP to fit into a 5 man rotation. Terry Ryan would be foolish not to deal at least one of these guys.


As far as soups post, which involved a trade with Tampa, I remembered liking it. Sorry to both of you for screwing up and deleting your comments. I suck.

TwinsWin83 said...

Wutur you creep, I spent atleast a minute and a half on that post.

tfrezac2002 said...

There will be very little extra money spent until Pohlad is finally dead.

brex said...

I dont think perkins is SP material.

Holmer said...

How about we dont talk about the twins until july.

Anonymous said...

yeah, lets not talk Twins til allstar break.

its pointless to discuss trades that will never happen.

bizmarkie507 said...

Fine, but can we talk about Kubel nailing his first home run tonight? that was pretty sweet.

OH yeahh, I really want to get drunk with a bunch of people and go to a Lynx game this year. I want to join the Simone Augustus fanclub. we could sit almost courtside and spend like 5 dollars for the ticket.

I'm serious. let's do this.