But really, none of those teams really stands out to me as the clearcut winner.  

And then you've got some great prospects like Sowers, Miller, Marte (really turning it around now), Cabrera, Fausto Carmona (one of the best names ever), Shoppach, and so on.

I'm a huge Red Sox fan, but this is a no-brainer to me.

Speaking of which, check this out:  http://www.brains4zombies.com

but they have no true ACE, like Lirano is. Liriano has a golden arm, and if he doesn't blow it nothing will stop him from a HOF type career.

Morneau, mauer, kubel is as good as any trio of young hitters in the game.

.390 avg, 20 hr guy, and kubel who is finding his form as a top prospect now.

Twins young talent, is why they have won like 15 out of their last 16 games.

Once Liriano entered the rotation, bartlett took over at SS, and kubel came back we took off.  Also Mauer hitting .500 past month and Morneau going nuts doesn't hurt.

Twins young talent is carrying them.  I don't think the indians can say the same...

"He's a veteran in experience - yes.  But he's under 30!  I think you have to be at least 30 before you can even be considered "old," and most would consider that to be in your "prime," not "old," but Hafner is definitely not "old."  Between young and old, he's still younger."

Except the whole point of this diary is do discuss young players. Please read titles more carefully in the future.

"No offense, while Morneau may be up at the ML level younger than Hafner, he has not shown Hafner's ability to use the whole field, as indicated by Morneau's lower career Minor League BA of .248, versus Hafner's .293!"

Double check your sources in the future, his minor league BA is .310

"Plus, Hafner has improved greatly since that first partial season in the walk department, the stats of which you quote.  Morneau's walk rates at the ML level have stayed pretty much the same over the last few years."

Morneau's walk rate at his age is better then Hafner's was at the same age.

"Granted, Peralta has struggled in his sophomore season - many other players have struggled in their sophomore seasons also - that doesn't mean Peralta can't come back.  In fact, he's looked much better at the plate lately, batting around .450-.500 over the last 5 games or so because he has started to use the whole field again and not trying to pull everything.

You ignored the point that Kubel hasn't even had one full season in the Majors - Peralta has already done that, and quite an impressive one at that.  Wait until Kubel has an impressive full season before even comparing him to Peralta. :-)"

1. You were the one actually comparing them first. :)
   
2. Kubel has a much higher ceiling then Peralta and it's amazing how well he's hitting considering he missed an entire season!

Fausto Carmona, who's only 22, has this line:

33.1 IP, 36 H, a 4.86 ERA, a 1.38 WHIP, and a .279 BAA; he won't turn 23 until Dec. 2006.

Plus, Carmona has both started and relieved, whereas Crain is only a reliever.  I think Carmona has certainly been better than Crain to this point, and he's about 2.5 years younger than Crain.  Advantage - Carmona."

I'd take Crain, because he has actually had success at the major league level and is just in a little struggle for the first half of this year, while Carmona has had 0 major league success.

"Liriano - I'll grant you him; Adam Miller may be the only one in the Indians' system at this point who can match him (possibly Chuck Lofgren at High-A; he's 20 years old and has struck out 70 in 76 IP) and Miller's having a decent year at AA at this point.  His continued good health is a good sign, along with an increasing strikeout rate (87 K in 89.0 IP) toward his previous levels of over a K/IP."

No one in your farm system will match Liriano. So I hope you're not getting your hopes up with kids in high A who can almost strike out a batter per inning. :(

"As you've already admitted, you're definitely biased towards the Twins when you put "Best Answer" next to the Twins choice.  :-)"

Most people seem to agree with me. :)

"Plus, you only put down Sizemore and Peralta; you forgot Sabathia, Cabrera, Carmona, Sowers, and Gutierrez, as all are under 25.  You put down 4 in your list for the Twins - that shows a little bit of biased behavior as well."

I apologize for forgetting Sabathia (for some reason I though he was older), but I wasn't just listing every player on the team that was 25 or younger. I was trying to limit it to the ones actually having some success. I hope this clears it up for you!

"You certainly could have put Sabathia and either Cabrera or Carmona as two other choices to make it a bit more fair.  Or were you afraid that more people might have chosen the Indians if you listed 4 Indians instead, LOL! :-)"

Not at all. If I wanted to discriminate against a team it would've been the Tigers, since they are actually in the division and playing well. I have nothing against mediocre teams like the Indians. :)
The Twins need some easy wins!

Myth #1: Jesse Crain has lost velocity.

BUSTED: He now throws a 2-seam, not a 4-seam fastball.  He can still throw the 4-seamer 98, but he prefers to work the 2-seamer to induce grounders.

Myth #2: Jesse Crain is having a bad year.

BUSTED: He has perhaps the most ridiculous set of periperal stats of any middle reliever.  If I told you a reliever was striking out 7.79/9, had a 5:1 K:BB ratio, and a 2.52 GB/FB ratio, you'd tell me that he's a rare pitcher who can strike batters out, limit walks, all while inducing grounders at a very high rate.

Myth #3: Jesse Crain had a better year last year.

BUSTED: He has a better K/9, better BB/9, better GB/FB, better K:BB, and better velocity and sink on his pitches.  The only difference?  Nearly 40% of those batted balls went for hits this year, a lot of which was due to the crappy Twins defense.

If you look into Fernando Cabrera's stats, you see a young pitcher who needs to improve his control, and who has a bad GB/FB.  If you look into Jesse Crain's stats, you see a dominant reliever waiting for sample size to even out.

Also, Liriano is better than any pitcher the Indians have and Mauer is better than any hitter the Indians have. I'd take Sizemore and Peralta over Kubel and Morneau though, Sizemore is a monster.

Sizemore (36.7) is 7th in MLB in VORP while Morneau (16.1) is 83rd.

Kazmir is just as much of an ace as Liriano, plus he's younger if I'm not mistaken.

Cantu, Crawford, Baldelli, and Gomes are a better offensive group than any of the other teams mentioned here.
The Twins are the only other option because of Mauer, who is arguably the best at his position.

Here's how I would compare the similar players:

Kazmir = Liriano
Crawford > Kubel
Gomes = Morneau
Shields > Bonser
Cantu > Bartlett
Jackson = Crain
Mauer > Navarro

If minors is included...

Young, Dukes, Upton > Twins Minor League System

So it's nearly even in the majors with the advantage to the Rays including major league ready prospects.

Which AL baseball organization has the best young talent (25 and under) already on the major league team?

I take that to mean current talent, not how good the player is projected to be at some point in the future. And while 25 is arbitrary, its a reasonable point of departure.

Mauer probably isn't going to hit close to .400, but he is still a huge current talent. The question for the Twins is whether Morneau, Liriano and Kubel are really this good. Crain is clearly a solid reliever and Bonser is really still just a prospect. As are Bartlett and Tiffee for that matter, but they are both too old for this discussion. As are Cuddyer, Silva and Santana.

If Tampa Bay calls up Young and Upton this year, my bet is that neither one is an immediate star. They may be in the future, but we are talking about current, not future, production. The world is littered with can't miss prospects who do.

Tampa doesn't really have anyone under 25 who is pitching like Liriano or hitting like Mauer. Right now those two are among the best players of any age in the major leagues.

I don't think Kazmir is pitching as well as Liriano. Or really even close to it. He has pitched more than 5 innings only twice since the start of June. That ia not ace material. By contrast, Liriano is averaging 7 IP in June and has not gone less than 6 since his second start. It may be that Kazmir is just in a slight slump and that the league will catch up to Liriano. But so far Liriano is a couple steps ahead of Kazmir.

they have a lot of hot bats right now, which sort of inflates the true values.

It may be that they are hot. It may also be that some guys who are in their early 20's are finally adjusting to the big leagues. Kubel, Morneau and Mauer are not really doing anything beyond what might have been expected. Mauer has always been one of those young uber-prospects like Griffey and Rodriguez who have the potential to be hall of famers.

Mauer hit .319 in April, .386 in May. He is at .456 for June. If he keeps improving at this rate he will hit over .500 in July. It may be he is having a career year.

nuf said

What about the A's, who's whole team is young talent. In fact, i think 18-25 players are under 30.

Here's talent:

Swisher. Street. Haren. Harden. Crosby. Blanton. And to a lesser extent: Ellis. Dan Johnson.

And then the "veterans": Zito (27), Chavez (28), Duchscherer (28), Milton Bradley (28),Joe Kennedy (27).

And more solid younguns like Brad Halsey, Chad Gaudin, and Kirk Sarloos, none of whicher are older than 27.

I mean, the core of the Á's is a bunch of 2nd and 3rd year players, along with two young veterans. Can they get some credit please?

I think that's better than the Twins. I mean the question is young talent on the major league squad. So basically, the A's have 2 consecutive ROY's, the ERA leader for rookies last year, this years breakout player in Nick Swisher, Dan Johnson, one of the best young pitchers in the game (albeit injured), Dan "the Man" Haren. The A's have a pack of good young players, while the Twins have one of the best young pitchers in the game, that amazingly good catcher, and a 1B on a hot streak (YTBD if this will last).