The twins farm system

by ianmader on Sep 19, 2008 5:48 PM EDT

Has anyone else noticed how players not brought up in the twins farm system tend not to do so well with the big club. Free agent pickups and trades usually tend not to work out so well with us. Our most consistent hitters (Mauer, Morneau, Span, Kubel, Casilla, Buscher) all spent time in our minor league system. I can't think of a call up this year who hasn't hit .300+ after coming up.
The trades/free agents we picked up last off season were quite disapointing. Mike Lamb, failure. Craig Monroe, Failure. Everett hasn't been all bad, but ultimately disapointing. Delmon Young has been pretty good but not when you need him to be. Brendan Harris, he hasn't played much lately.
And now finally, Gomez. If it weren't for that long slump, he'd probably still be somewhere in the .270 range, which is completely acceptable. I really do think spending some time rochester would do wonders to his game. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem as though that is feasible as they don't want to devastate him or something.

The twins farm system is very good. They teach them how they want the game to be played from the get go. Once they reach the big leagues they are 110% ready and prove it instantly.

Bottom line is, if I was the Twins GM. I would only trade for prospects and get the Twins name changed to the MInnesota Red Wings.

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I'll have to disagree with that

It’s true that in recent years, free agent pickups by the Twins have generally failed miserably, but that is mainly because we can’t afford any of the good ones. Just because the front office hasn’t been good at evaluating free agents, we can’t conclude that the Twins’ farm system is exceptional.

Yes, most of the core of the lineup has been brought up through our own farm system, but that has more to do with the team’s payroll than anything else.

If Gomez had batted .270 this year, he would still have been one of the very worst regulars in the league with his .300 OBP. The same problem applies to Delmon, who hasn’t showed anything near the power numbers that most of us expected.

by PhoenixV on Sep 19, 2008 7:33 PM EDT reply actions

Yes, and besides

there’s a selective memory going on in this diary. Joe Nathan has done pretty well for the Twins, as has Mike Redmond. Shannon Stewart helped out quite a bit, as did (most of the time) Carlos Silva, none of whom spent time in the Twins minors.

Most of the free agents signed by the Twins don’t do well because they aren’t very good.

by Eric in Madison on Sep 19, 2008 8:44 PM EDT up reply actions

Huh?

Blackburn, Perkins, Casilla, Span, Buscher, Macri, Ruiz. All have outperformed expectations.

"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot

by cmathewson on Sep 20, 2008 12:09 AM EDT reply actions

Sorry

I read this wrong. In my hast, I missed a not in there. My bad. Anyway, I agree with the general premise that the Twins should primarily look within. But they should not exclude outside help. They should just resist the temptation to dip the ladle into the bottom of the barrel, as they have done since the mid-90s. It never works.

"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot

by cmathewson on Sep 20, 2008 1:24 AM EDT reply actions