Who: Kyle Gibson

Position: RHP

How Acquired: 2009 Draft, 1st round (22nd overall)

Highest Level Reached in 2009: N/A

Kyle Gibson was ranked as high as a top 5 selection in last year’s draft by Baseball America before a stress reaction in his forearm sidelined him and caused him to plummet to the 22nd pick. Credit the Twins for doing the medical diligence on Gibson and taking a risk with the 22nd pick, which is right where you should be taking risks in a draft.

Gibson, when healthy profiles as probably a #2 starter. He uses mostly a two seamer and has a couple good breaking balls. On a recent Baseball America podcast, Jim Callis said (and I’m paraphrasing) that he’d take Gibson over Rangers prospect Tanner Scheppers because Gibson has two offspeed pitches that were among the best in the recent draft. Because of his height and frame, Gibson is able to create angles really well. It will be interesting to see if his stuff keeps playing up throughout his professional career, or if it stagnates.

I have Gibson 5 in my rankings because of two things. 1. The injury risk (granted elbows are better than shoulders) and 2. lack of ceiling. A #2 pitcher is very valuable, but Gibson might only have the pure stuff to be a #3. We shall see.

source: Yardbarker

The Twins defeated the Orioles 5-0 today thanks to the work of Kevin Slowey and newly rich Nick Blackburn. Slowey threw three scoreless innings, which were followed by three scoreless by Blackburn. Each pitcher struck out two and walked one.

At the plate the Twins were led by Michael Cuddyer, who went 2 for 3 with 2 RBI. Ben Revere, who you will eventually see in my prospect rankings, went 3-5 with a triple.

Brian Matusz got the loss for Baltimore, tossing 2.2 innings, giving up 2 runs on 3 hits. Although he did strikeout 6 hitters.

The Twins are back at it tomorrow vs. St Louis.

Later today I’ll unveil my next prospect.

Nick Blackburn pitches vs. the Mariners last year. via Yardbarker

The Twins have announced that they have inked RHP Nick Blackburn to a 4 year contract worth 14 million dollars. This includes an 8 million option for 2014.

Blackburn has really beat the odds to become a solid major league pitcher. A former Twins #1 prospect from Baseball America, Blackburn has put up ERAs of 4.05 and 4.03 the last two years.

He has done this despite FIPs of 4.40 and 4.37 the pas two years, mainly because Blackburn doesn’t strike anyone out (career 4.43 K/9). Fortunately, Blackburn doesn’t walk anyone either, and with an improved infield defense, Blackburn should be better this year. Fangraphs did a post last year on how Blackburn doesn’t miss many bats, but then again, that’s probably a big reason why he has been able to pitch 398 innings over the past two years.

In any event, it’s nice to see the Twins front office starting to pay the money to keep their young players around.

Although the Twins lost 9-3, there were some good signs in today’s spring training game. Francisco Liriano went two innings, giving up 1 hit and walking 1, but striking out 3 batters.

Ben Revere got his first start of the Spring, and the prospect went 0-4 with 2 strikeouts.

Danny Valencia went 1-1 with an RBI and a run scored.

The big news however was Joe Nathan. The closer left in the 3rd with tightness in his elbow. If you remember, Nathan had surgery after the year last year on that same elbow. The trade Nathan tribe (of which I am a member) certainly will be crowing today, although this isn’t a very good reason to be doing so.

The Twins have split squad action tomorrow.

Next stop: World Series! Hey, what do you mean that’s not how it works? Well, in any event it’s hard not to be happy with the way the Twins started the game. After Denard Span led off with a single, Orlando Hudson and Joe Mauer had back to back walks, followed by Justin Morneau’s first AB of the year. All he did was smash a 2 run double. Cuddyer followed with a single, Delmon with a sac fly and badda boom it was 4-0.

Carl Pavano threw 2 innings of scoreless ball, though he did give up a hit and walk two. Jon Rauch, Matt Guerrier and Clay Condrey all followed with hitless innings. Rob Delaney then gave up 2 hits, though he got 2 strikeouts. Anthony Slama, Alex Burnett and Deolis Guerra finished it off.

Michael Cuddyer was the hitting star, going 2 for 2. Wilson Ramos went 0-2, while Chris Parmelee was 1-2. Those were the only two real prospects to step to the plate in the game.

The Twins take on the Red Sox one more time tomorrow as Francisco Liriano makes his spring debut.

Who: David Bromberg

Position: RHP

How Acquired: 2005 draft, 32nd round.

Highest Level Reached in 2009: A+

Bromberg was a draft and follow by the Twins under the old draft system. Fun fact: as a high schooler, a lot of scouts preferred him as a slugging first baseman rather than as a pitcher. The Twins didn’t, and hey they were right!

In 2008 Bromberg, despite an ERA over 4, led the minor leagues in strikeouts with 177. In 2009 he had a 2.70 ERA at Fort Meyers, although that was largely due to his .295 BABIP. In reality, his FIP was the highest of his minor league career last year.

Although Bromberg struggled in 2008 with his secondary stuff, a couple drills such as the towel drill helped him to see he was short arming the ball. The result was a strong second part of the season that included a 13 K effort against Burlington.

In 2009 Bromberg was named the Twins minor league pitcher of the year. For the 3rd straight season he led his league in strikeouts. He only has around a 90 mph fastball, and his generally low groundball rate could spell many more extra base hits in the future. However, he is 6′5″ and has room to grow into his prototypical pitchers frame, suggesting some more miles per hour could be added to his fastball.

The fact that a 32nd round pick appears on the verge of making the bigs is in itself unlikely, but the fact that he is the 6th ranked prospect in a system with top end talent such as the Twins’s is downright amazing.

Although the Twins lost their first game of 2010 to the Red Sox, it was good just to get back on the field.

Nick Blackburn started and went 2 innings, giving up 1 hit. He didn’t walk or strike out a hitter.

Kevin Slowey came on next and threw 2 innings, giving up an early hit and striking out 2. He threw from the stretch quite a bit and reportedly looked comfortable. That’s the best news I take out of this game. A healthy Slowey is the key to go from fighting for the division title, to fighting for the AL Pennant.

Pat Neshek also looked good coming back from injury, throwing a scoreless inning with a strikeout. He could bolster an already deep bullpen.

Jason Kubel was the offensive star. He was 1-1 with a walk, and drove in the team’s lone run. Denard Span, Michael Cuddyer and Luke Hughes got the other Twins hits.

Dustin Pedroia and Josh Reddick were each 2-3 for the Sox.

In this article from Boston.com is a little tidbit that should the Red Sox part ways with Mike Lowell, he could be on his way to Minnesota. Would Lowell be a good fit?

First of all, Lowell is a much better hitter than either Nick Punto or Brendan Harris, the likely third basemen. He’s been above average with the bat every year of his career, save for 2005. He has had back to back wOBAs in the .340s, so he is definitely a good option, even if he doesn’t walk much. But really, seeing as he would likely be the 7 hitter, that’s pretty damn good.

Defensively, Lowell is definitely not as good as Nick Punto. Punto is somewhere around a +10 at third base, whereas Lowell is probably going to be close to average. However, Lowell has probably a 15 run advantage at the plate, so net net that is a win.

Lowell has had some injury problems, and likely wouldn’t be good for more than 120 games or so I would guess, whereas Punto has never been bitten too terribly by the injury bug. If Lowell gets hurt, Punto can slide right into 3B and you shift that positions value from offense to defense.

Lowell’s contract is very steep, but assuming Boston eats a large portion of it for a guy like Kyle Waldrop (just off the top of my head), I think the Twins can get it done, and I think they should get it done as it is becoming more and more evident everyday that Danny Valencia will never ever ever ever be the guy.