With a flurry of moves in the last week or so (Slama, Blackburn, Capps, etc.) I thought it could be beneficial to take a quick look at the state of the bullpen.

As of now the Twins are carrying 7 relievers (5 RHP and 2 LHP) and have an AL best 3.19 Bullpen ERA (The Padres have the best bullpen, 2.76). Now lets take a look at bunch, alphabetical you say? OK, why not.

Mind the jump

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Now that the full season leagues are transitioning into All-star mode and the short season leagues are in full swing, i am antsy to see what people think of prospects, rising and falling. That said, here is my mid-season Minnesota Twins top 10 prospects and attempt at analysis:

1. Miguel Sano- Reports (via Kevin Goldstein)  out the DSL match the production (.344/.463/.547 in 78 PA's), his potential is incredible and he could potentially be a fast riser.

2. Aaron Hicks- Very close second, showing good discipline (.113 IsoD) and power potential (26 XBH out of 69 hits) (.254/.367/.390).

3. Kyle Gibson- 82-28 K/BB, 2.72 GO/FO ratio, 2.97 ERA in 16 starts and Easter League All-star. Although there is certainly room to improve, he has had a great first year in the system.

4. Wilson Ramos- hasn't taken off this year in AAA, but his track record is hard to argue with.

5. Angel Morales- Crushed Midwest League pitching, and is holding his own as a 20 year old in Hi-A. Shows good discipline, power, speed and the contact skills are coming around. He seems to be good at everything, but not spectacular at any one thing, should be very interesting to watch him develop.

6. Adrian Salcedo- Absolutely dominating the Appy league, and held his own in Hi-A with 16-8 K/BB and 1.42 GO/AO ratio. Exciting to see what he might do in the next couple years.

7. Ben Revere- Boringly consistent, will hit for average, get on base and steal bases, but the power and poor arm keep the potential upside to Denard Span in my mind, but I think there is also a high floor.

8. Joe Benson- Twins minor league leader in Homers (15) has done much more than just that, hitting 19 2Bs and 5 3Bs between A+ and AA (39 XBH out of 72 hits), also showing great plate discipline and according to all reports, is a very athletic fielder. Benson has the potential to make this ranking look low by the end of the year.

9. Deolis Guerra- We have been waiting a long time to see some results out of all his potential, and we finally have a glimpse. He has pitched very well between AA and AAA as a 21 year-old, showing good control and consistency, averaging more than 6 IP per start.

10.  Max Kepler- I love the upside and has a few hits in the GCL as a 16 (!) year old, I can't wait to hear some reports on him.

What do you think about these rankings? Obviously they mean nothing, and I am no authority on the subject, but who did I leave out? who did I overrate?

I hesitated to put Alex Wimmers in there yet because he hasn't signed and hasn't pitched at all in the pros, although if he was signed I would slide him ahead of Salcedo at six (thoughts?),

Also what prospects that may not be top 10 have been pleasant suprises (Hendriks, Rosario, Slama, others?)

What do you say?

I just want to sum up the night so I can get my head around tonight.

The Wolves went into the night with Ryan Gomes and five picks, three first round and two in the second.

They came out of the draft with Wes Johnson, Martell Webster (and his contract), Lazar Hayward (?), and a few things called Bjelica, Prestes and N'diaye.

I'm no great basketball mind, but I see zero franchise players and at most 1.5 players who could be in a championship rotation. But that is not so much my problem, I just don't see much method to the madness.

And lastly, a look at our current depth chart (tentative)

PG- Flynn, Sessions, That's decent, not a weakness but not a strength.

SG- Corey Brewer, Ellington, Seems like a weakness

SF- Wes Johnson, Martell Webster, Lazar Hayward, a group DX describes as "T'Wolves pick up three small forwards who can't create their own shot in Wes Johnson, Martell Webster and Lazar Hayward. Makes no sense"

PF- Al Jeff, K-Love, Won't stay like this for long right?

C- Milicic (?), Hollins, N'diaye?- Weakness

This better not be the team in October, PLEASE GOD

Joseph DelGrippo (?) of Bleacher Report has an article up http://bleacherreport.com/articles/410673-cliff-lee-traded-to-the-minnesota-twins-but-injured-player-kills-deal?utm_source=newsletter that says a deal between the Twins and M's was done last week but fell through when Wilson Ramos got hurt, and will be completed when he is healthy again. The interesting part to me was that the Twins were giving up was Ramos, Duensing and "a low level outfield prospect". Now, first of all, let me say that I don't lend a ton of credibility to DelGrippo (?). With that said, it's interesting. Some highlights of the article:

My favorite part: "Yankees be damned!"

Now on to details:

"Speaking with someone familiar with the situation (and verifying the initial conversation), the Twins traded for Cliff Lee last week, but the deal fell through. The primary player going to the Seattle Mariners, catcher Wilson Ramos , suffered a strained oblique during Saturday's game. Ramos is expected to miss seven to ten days .

Ramos was not yet placed on the seven-day minor league disabled list, keeping the trade possible. Unless the Commissioner's office signs off on the deal, players on the disabled list are usually ineligible to be traded. There must be an understanding that both teams know that player is on the disabled list.

The deal included Ramos, a Twins Major League-ready pitcher (believed to be left-handed reliever Brian Duensing ), and a low level minor league outfielder. The Mariners might be including a low level player, too.

Once Ramos gets clearance to play baseball again, this trade will again be made."

And this completely out of place line "Dontrelle Willis walked seven hitters in only two-plus innings last night."

What say you?

There's been a lot of speculation on a possible Cliff Lee trade, and the Twins (my hometown 9) have been linked to it. Over at Twinkie Town, there has been some excitement on the rumors and speculation about what prospects Seattle would demand in return. The Twins are supposedly interested in adding Lee and have some money to play with from the Joe Nathan insurance.

However, we do realize that Lee won't come easy, not only is he a relatively cheap ace for half a season but will almost definitely net two early draft choices as a Type A free agent. If I were the Twins I would offer one of our young starters (Blackburn, Slowey) along with a good prospect (Wilson Ramos or Ben Revere) and type B or C prospect (Jeff Manship  or Rob Delaney).

And so, I get to the point. What do you think that the Mariners would ask in return for Lee? 

The Twins pitching staff currently has been the second best in the American League (according ERA, admittedly not perfect). Thats pretty exciting, especially considering 4 of the 5 are young pitchers.

In no particular order

1. Scott Baker, 28, signed through 2012

2. Francisco Liriano, 26, Under team control for a couple more years.

3. Nick Blackburn, 28, signed through 2013 with an option for 2014

4. Kevin Slowey, 25, Under team control for 3 years (i think)

So it seems that they are all here to stay, however, as you all know, there is some great talent in the high minors that could challenge their spots.

Between Kyle Gibson, David Bromberg, Deolis Guerra and whoever im missing, thats at least three guys that are projected front to middle rotation guys who will be ready in the next couple years.

And of course we can't forget about Perkins, Duensing and THE ManShip.

Anyway, where do you see the rotation going in the next year or two?

Not a single thread for the opening day on the farm? I think not!

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I don't know if this even qualifies as 'news' but it brightened my day a bit after hearing about Nathan. But...

Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus has the Twins as #6 in his organizational prospect rankings. I am pretty sure that Keith Law and Baseball America had them in the low to mid teens. Goldstein calls Aaron Hicks and Miguel Sano "two of the toolsiest young talents around". And, "The mound group makes up for star quality with impressive depth, as many of the pitchers at least have big-league numbers on their scouting reports." So that is good and he predicts them to stay around the top organizations for a few years to come.

Cleveland is ranked #3 because of Santana and insane depth, Kansas City is 10, Detroit is 14 and the White Sox are 27.

http://baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=10183

http://www.minnesota.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=863&tid=138802339&mid=138802339&sid=935&style=2

Horton began his coaching career with the Gophers as a graduate assistant and eventually.

He went on to suck as a head coach with UNLV, including a winless season in 1998.

Then Horton went to Wisconsin as a QB coach, coaching Brooks Bollinger, Jim Sorgi and John Stocco.

He then moved to St. Louis and Detroit as assistant coaches.

Horton is now our offensive coordinator

Thoughts?

Adam Rubin of the NY Daily News writes the Billy Wagner is possibly available for trade. (http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/2009/08/07/2009-08-07_mets_could_be_willing_to_deal_or_waive_billy_wagner_before_he_returns_from_tommy.html) Wagner is on the road to recovery from Tommy John surgery a year ago. In his first appearence since the sugery, Wagner had a 1-2-3 inning with 2 K's for the Mets hi-A affaliate. The article says that the Mets would even consider waiving him if they can't trade him. Besides being often injured, he has been very effective the last few years (and many years before that) posting ERA's in the low to mid 2's.

Wagner is owed about $ 2.75 million for the rest of this year and has a $8 million team option or $1 million buyout for next year.

Wagner could add much needed bullpen help and take a load off of Guerrier and Mijares.

Is he worth a flier?