Twin-powered prospects ready to go

Sidney Ponson was finally sent packing for his home in Fort Lauderdale. We need to tread carefully here because the home office calls the same town home, and Ponson has been known to scrap ... but ... Thank you, the powers that be!

Good riddance.

Now, if you could only do something about Ramon Ortiz, who couldn't make it out of one inning Tuesday (seven hits, a walk and six runs), and Scott Baker, the reported favorite to be called up to replace Ponson on Saturday.

Nothing against Baker if you're in a deep league, especially AL-only formats, but he had a 6.39 ERA and a 1.564 WHIP last year. He's just not Fantasy-sexy (ew, that sounds dirty).

And he sure ain't no Kevin Slowey or Matt Garza.

The Twins gave the back end of their rotation to a pair of veterans in Ponson and Ortiz and it took them much longer than us to realize they just are not the answers. Slowey and Garza will be. Take those elite pitching prospect fliers now, if you have room (reasons to be explained).

Newspapers in Minneapolis and Rochester, the locale of the Twins Triple-A club, have suggested Baker will be Ponson's rotation replacement because he has the most big-league experience and they want to give him one more chance to prove himself in the big leagues. But Ponson (2-5, 6.93) and Ortiz (3-4, 4.89) should have shown them, experience is overrated.

In the hunt for the next big thing in Fantasy, it's all about potential. That is something Slowey (4-2, 1.46 in Triple-A) and Garza (2-2, 3.75) ooze. Baker (3-2, 3.16) not as much.

We are not just being arbitrary in our opinions here either. The court of public opinion agrees.

Baker is owned in just 2 percent of CBS SportsLine's Fantasy leagues. Slowey trumps him with 7 percent ownership, while Garza is well ahead of both at 26 percent. Among the trio in our most-scouted players scouting tool, Garza is the most-viewed, too, at No. 237 on the time of this writing Thursday. Slowey ranks 384th; Baker 410th. (That's among all players in baseball).

The owners are obviously taking in more than just numbers, which Slowey has dominated.

The 23-year-old has unmatched command in Triple-A right now, walking just three batters in almost 50 innings pitched (un-Boof Bonser-like). He has struck out a Bonser-like 44 batters, though, and batters are hitting only .176 off him.

An excerpt from our Twins team report from The Sports Xchange on Thursday: "Manager Ron Gardenhire huddled with his pitching coach, Rick Anderson, immediately after the Twins' sixth loss in seven games [Thursday], and the Minnesota brain trust immediately settled upon a prescription for the team's mediocre-at-best starting pitching: Strikes. 'We're just not attacking the zone enough,' Gardenhire said. 'Carlos (Silva) threw 46 fastballs, 45 changeups, some number like that. That's not attacking enough for us -- we normally attack the strike zone pretty good. All of our pitchers, we're dancing a little bit too much around the zone.' "

We'll say it again with Slowey: 44 Ks and just three walks in 49 1/3 innings pitched.

You want someone to pound the zone? He's their man, even if Baker is getting the call Saturday.

Baker himself does have an impressive .219 batting-average-against, and just four walks in 42 2/3 innings to go with his 41 strikeouts. But we've seen him already and the devil you know isn't worse than the devil you don't ...

Sure, Baker might have been a consistent presence for the Red Wings, but even Garza is the flamethrower who was able to prove capable down the stretch last year for the defending AL Central champion Twins. He struggled against top competition, but what rookie pitcher hasn't?

If you throw out one bad start May 7 in Triple-A, Garza has not allowed more than two earned runs. His ERA would be 2.25. Garza has the best fastball -- mid-90s -- of the trio and 41 strikeouts in 36 innings to his credit.

We dis on Baker, 25, and hype Slowey and Garza, despite the newspaper reports, because we:

1. Don't see Baker as a threat to either of these potential Fantasy gems long term.
2. Don't see Ortiz being able to hold down a rotation spot for much longer either.

Jump on the bandwagon now -- a Twins starter is intriguing in most Fantasy leagues, especially when Joe Mauer (quadriceps) returns from the DL. And join us in watching Ortiz implode before our eyes.

On the verge

Here are some of our favorite prospects who are in the minor leagues and are worth tracking closely (stats through May 16):

Rookie watch

Here are the top rookies in Fantasy to date (stats through May 16):

Baby talk

Todd Bergeth: We had quite a kerfuffle this week over Garrett Jones of the Twins for crying out loud! He never appeared either on your transactions list under the MLB tab, or on the MLB.com transactions list. He still has not appeared anywhere I've looked on the web. We can't FAAB players while they are in the minor leagues, they must be "officially" called up by the Sunday transaction report. What's the deal?

Emack: That is strange. We had the news the Twins would call up Jones on Sunday, but the official transaction wasn't recorded until Tuesday, May 15. It is on the MLB.com transactions page on that date. Jones should be open for bidding this upcoming Sunday, but he might not stick around if he doesn't hit before then.

Brian: I have Alex Gordon currently, but would consider dropping him for Ryan Braun when he is called up. Who is the better keeper prospect?

Emack: Gordon is the best rookie/prospect in baseball not named Daisuke Matsuzaka or Delmon Young. OK, so perhaps Tim Lincecum can be considered ahead of Gordon now, too. But Gordon is still better than Braun long term in our view. We're waiting for him to come around, more patiently than most.

Adam: I am in Tom Candiotti's Knucklehead League and was wondering if you could add Clay Bucholtz to the list of free agents. Please advise if I should send this to a different e-mail address in the future -- it is intended for Erick Mack, who said in a prior column to e-mail him to get prospects added to the waiver list.

Emack: Clay Buchholz, Boston Red Sox pitching prospect, is already in our system. Check your spelling. Also, you spelled Eric wrong, too, Knucklehead.

Joshua Marshall, Baton Rouge, La.: I don't want to sound the alarm since the season is still young, but are Delmon Young and Alex Gordon really ready mentally for the majors? What are the odds they get sent down to Triple-A? So far they've been a Fantasy liability.

Emack: Young is just in a temporary slump. He has a long, long leash. Gordon is more disconcerting, but he will get until the All-Star break, we say.

You can e-mail Emack your Fantasy Baseball questions to DMFantasyBaseball@cbs.com. Be sure to put Attn: Prospects Report in the subject field. Please include your full name, hometown and state. Be aware, due to the large volume of submissions received, we do not guarantee personal responses to all questions.