The pecking order right now is fairly well established when it comes to superstar players playing for local sports teams. Adrian Peterson. Joe Mauer. Justin Morneau. Marian Gaborik (kind of, at least when he’s healthy). Then there is the next tier that is already established enough to the point that you could at least consider them stars or close to it. Al Jefferson. Joe Nathan. Kevin Williams. Jared Allen. Mikko Koivu. Eric Decker. Perhaps we missed a couple. Correct us if you think so. (There are certainly very good players that we think are, for whatever reason, missing star power in the eyes of large groups of fans. Guys like Brent Burns, Niklas Backstrom, Antoine Winfield, etc.)

Our question today is this: Of the current (or in the case of college, current or incoming) players in this market who have not yet made the leap into either of those two categories, who are the players you think are the best bet to do so in the next 12 months? Who will jump up and become a “star” player? And more importantly, who do you think will be the next athlete in this market to make the leap into a bona fide top five superstar in the Twin Cities?

We’ll throw out a few names: Francisco Liriano. Kevin Slowey. Denard Span. Carlos Gomez (seriously). Kevin Love. Brent Burns. (College guys are tougher. We’ll leave that to you, though some Gophers men’s basketball players might be in the mix).

In any event: Who ya like?

Fasola-link! What a depression will be like.

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