Credit: Derick E. Hingle-US PRESSWIRE

Last week I reported on the origins of the Pleiss brothers’ Twins prospect challenge. A year into the process, a year that saw eight Twins make their MLB debuts, Eric and I decided to make a change to the prospect challenge.  A quick review of the rules for the prospect challenge, in case any of you here on the Pond want to join: Each person gets to select a position player for each position, three RHP and three LHP. Any player chosen who debuts in MLB within three years of selection will earn one point.  The person with the most points each year is declared the winner.  Last year I picked Scott Diamond as one of my selections, and as a Rule-5 draft pick, he was virtually guaranteed to get called up to the Twins for his MLB debut when theyheaded north out of Ft Myers. To prevent easy pickings like this, and to put more emphasis on projections and predictions we made a very simple, and yet very challenging rule change. Going forward, no prospect who has played above AA is elligible for selection in the prospect challenge.  In addition to the rule change, a year of following prospects and REALLY following the Twins from the top of the organization on down, I learned a lot that I’ll be putting to use for this year’s prospect challenge.   (more…)

July 10, 2011; Phoenix, AZ, USA; World pitcher Liam Hendriks during the 2011 Futures Game at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-US PRESSWIRE

Last year my brother Eric (@ERolfPleiss) and I made a trip down to Ft. Myers to see the Twins play a couple games and get our eyes on some of the up and coming stars of the organization. A couple weeks before the trip we each purchased a copy of Seth Stohs’ (@SethTweets) prospect handbook to help acclimate ourselves with the guys who would be wearing the high numbers at Hammond Stadium. As we worked our way through 170 pages of prospect goodness we each found ourselves drawn to different players and we began exchanging phone calls, e-mails, texts and tweets about who we thought would be the next big thing in Minnesota.

After a few of these discussions we decided the only way to settle the debate was to put our predictions down on paper. The winner would be declared the Pleiss family prospect guru and would be entitled to a case of beer at the losers’ expense. The rules for the first year were pretty simple, each of us would choose a player for each position around the diamond along with three right-handed pitchers and three left-handed pitchers. One point would be scored for each of the chosen players who made their MLB debut within three years. Follow the post after the jump to see which players Eric and I choose with our 2011 selections…

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Actually, that’s a bad idea. Instead, I’ll play Devil’s Advocate in the figurative sense by presenting the negative side of the Willingham signing, just so we don’t all get our hopes too far up.

The first problem with Willingham is that he’s old (in baseball terms). He’ll be 33 years old when he steps to the plate on Opening Day, and by the time his three year contract is complete, he’ll be almost 36. Very few 36 year old outfielders play at a high level. For a team that just lost 99 games to spend major money on an aging player like Willingham is questionable. If the Twins need to rebuild, they won’t want to have millions tied up in over the hill corner outfielders.

There are some signs that age is a concern for Willingham. Last season in Oakland, he hit for a career low .246 average. And his on-base percentage dropped 67 points to a pedestrian .332. The plummeting on-base skills are a big red flag. Willingham has never been a defensive asset (in fact, he had a terrible -10.2 UZR/150 in 2011), so if he can’t get on base the Twins have essentially wasted their money. Also, he strikes out a lot. He went down on strikes 150 times last season. That was by far a career high, but it was the fourth time he’s whiffed 100 or more times in a year. (more…)