Thank you for laying it out this way. I do see how it's arguable that Julien is at his peak value right now, which is why I would listen on him too. IF you can get a really good pitcher for him, I also really like your idea of Lee at 3b with Lewis moving to 2b (or at least, keeping Lewis on the infield.)

I agree, IMO they should keep him, but if somebody came up with a really sweet deal I have to at least listen, and if it's a good enough offer pull the trigger!

If the Twins can return a pitcher like Gilbert or Kirby by trading Julien in combination with others, do it, providing the others do not cripple the team. i would expect both teams to benefit from such a trade. The important part is how another team views the Twins players. I would think that Julien would flourish hitting behind Julio Rodriguez and in front of Cal Raleigh. Either Rodriguez steals 80 bases or Julien gets a ton of fastballs in the zone; either way pitchers are going to suffer.

Julien has not peaked. He has just scratched the surface of his potential. He is going to improve dramatically as a fielder, but never be close to a Robero Alomar. Julien will be slightly above average like all true Minnesotans. He will only gain strength which is bound to increase his extra base hits. Additionally, if the ABS challenge system ever is adopted his triple slash lines will go up and his k-rate will go down.

The Twins can find at bats for everyone without a trade this year. A trade just seems inevitable due to the surplus of infielders. If  the Twins feel that the team is in stronger position to win with Lewis and Lee than with Lewis and Julien or Lee and Julien, it makes sense to make Julien available for the right price. 

A reason I feel bullish on Julien is because runners on base are opportunities to score runs. Julien is the best we have at that skill and he can hit the snot out of the ball as well. Lee, Julien, Lewis, these are questions.

Miranda was injured and eventually shut down. I would throw out his slump.  Gordon slumped and then shut down due to a broken leg… thats a bigger concern. Julien can be anything that he sets his sights on since he has flashed some incredible talent. No way he has peaked and no way he is traded unless its a substantial over priced buy from a club giving away and ace SP. 

Thank you Theire for bring this us this blog. Being a fan of Julien ,I have followed him for some time. But since AFL I´ve become a bigger fan. I´ve   advocated for his move back to 1B which IMO his natural position , Especially when Kiriloff was hurt, that be called up to play 1B because I believe Julien is the real thing.

To limit this to Miranda, I attribute his slump due to him being overextended at 3B which eventually caused his  shoulder injury. By his stat we see he doesn´t have the arm to play 3B so the idea of putting him back at 3B  doesn´t ring with me.  Up the middle, CF, SS & 2B you need above average range. Julien played only a partial season at 2B on the MLB level yet was stretched due to his average range. If Julien is the primary 2B this coming season, I see him entering a slump & possibly have some injury problems. If they change their minds & return him to 1B I say don´t trade him but if they they are  dead set on keeping him at 2B our next best thing is to trade him. I´m sorry to say.

P.S.- IMO Miranda will make a comeback. Hopefully he'll be so motivated to show it early (normally he's a slow starter) & platoon at 1B. 

8 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

Thank you Theire for bring this us this blog. Being a fan of Julien ,I have followed him for some time. But since AFL I´ve become a bigger fan. I´ve   advocated for his move back to 1B which IMO his natural position , Especially when Kiriloff was hurt, that be called up to play 1B because I believe Julien is the real thing.

To limit this to Miranda, I attribute his slump due to him being overextended at 3B which eventually caused his  shoulder injury. By his stat we see he doesn´t have the arm to play 3B so the idea of putting him back at 3B  doesn´t ring with me.  Up the middle, CF, SS & 2B you need above average range. Julien played only a partial season at 2B on the MLB level yet was stretched due to his average range. If Julien is the primary 2B this coming season, I see him entering a slump & possibly have some injury problems. If they change their minds & return him to 1B I say don´t trade him but if they they are  dead set on keeping him at 2B our next best thing is to trade him. I´m sorry to say.

Part of the issue is how much do we want to count on a guy like Kiriloff who can't stay healthy.

2 hours ago, dxpavelka said:

Part of the issue is how much do we want to count on a guy like Kiriloff who can't stay healthy.

With Paparesta, I'm otimistic that most of our bad luck in injuries will go away if they listen to him.  

The stat that jumps out to me and solidifies the superiority of Julien over Miranda is "CHASE RATE."  Julien has much better strike zone discipline than Miranda leading to more walks (a LOT more walks) and a consistently better OBP.  Julien has equal power to Miranda and is much more athletic as evidenced by the fielding range, arm strength and running metrics.  

I agree with you.  I would NOT be looking to trade Julien either, BUT...There is Brooks Lee waiting in the wings for SS, 2B, 3B.  Lewis could also play any of those and we have a Gold Glove SS (Schobel) in our system as well.  We really need to to come up with a solid, long term solution for our #2 SP spot.  Polanco isn't going to get us that, he'll at best bring in a #4 #5 type.  Someone like Julien or Lee is going to be needed to bring in a big time, young , controllable SP like a Gilbert from Seattle, or a Luzardo or Braxton from Miami.

The Twins FO and talent evaluators will need to come to a definitive determination WHO the Twins 2B of the future is.  Julien?  Or Brooks Lee?  Because to get that long term #2 SP means some combination of Julien/Lee and probably Emmanuel Rodriguez/Matt Wallner is what it's going to take to get it done.  Having Julien at the top of the Twins lineup for many years to come is something I look forward to. 

But PITCHING is what builds a winner in baseball.  It's why the Twins were division champs and finally won a playoff game last season.  To be good to great going forward they need talented pitchers and they need more depth in their farm system.  It's why I always respect Cleveland going into a new season.  

I also don't want to trade Julien, but the team has lots of exciting infielders and I desperately want a young top of the rotation arm. Julien wouldn't be anywhere near my top choice to use to get one, but he'd be in play for me if that's what it took.

It seems like (as per the Twins) Miranda's third base days are over.  At this point, you need to look at him as Kirilloff insurance at first base, and probably nowhere else except DH.  Kirilloff has always seemed limited in the OF, so he is also 1B/DH material, although the two complement each other with one hitting from each side of the plate. 

The "next man up" would appear to be Austin Martin, probably in the OF, but also possibly at 2nd base.  Let's find out where we are with him before we make any rash moves among the young players, unless they can immediately net us a top flight pitcher.  By midseason, we should know how Martin does or doesn't fit into the picture and we'll likely know a lot more about Brooks Lee as well.  If he can come up and play well, then someone is probably the odd man out.  Not sure who that should be.  I'm a big fan of keeping Julien because I think his skill set is a little more unique in today's game on the Twins, but I think when mid-season comes, it will be time to make a decision, either for an in season trade or for a next season trade. 

That doesn't leave us in a good position right now, when we are all dying to trade for a starting pitcher.  Last season has us spoiled.  We've never (in the past 30 years or so) had a starting staff like last season, and may never have that again.  If we had the returning staff of Lopez, Ryan, Ober, Paddack, and Varland in most years, we would think of it as a strength.  It seems likely that Lopez will be very solid.  It also seems plausible that Ober and/or Ryan could take a big step forward.  It seems reasonable that Paddack will be effective in limited innings and Varland could establish himself.  There may be more there than we think right now, although the depth in case of injury isn't really there at all. 

All of this is a long way of saying, maybe we can wait.  Let's not trade Julien, or Martin, or Lee.  Let's make sure we have things well-covered first. 

8 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

With Paparesta, I'm otimistic that most of our bad luck in injuries will go away if they listen to him.  

And yet, Kiriloff only played 88 games last year.  I'm not sure he'd play a hundred and thirty games if Ghandi and the Mayo brothers were the team trainers.

11 minutes ago, dxpavelka said:

And yet, Kiriloff only played 88 games last year.  I'm not sure he'd play a hundred and thirty games if Ghandi and the Mayo brothers were the team trainers.

I said most of the bad luck, his wrist injury did not reoccured & that was the main concern. His shoulder problem came from over doing it from the OF, it's a learning experience to see how he can progress. IMO they'll limit his OF appearences & I wouldn't doubt that Kiriloff will play much more than the 88 games he played last season. Mark my words.

You trade him if you get value in return. He has many years of team control which increases his value.

Just think where the Twins would be now if they didn't trade Arraez for Pablo Lopez. No pitching at all and another player without a true position.

Wouldn't it be incredible if the Twins drafted and developed top - line pitching instead of always having to look at trading important pieces of the lineup? The last pitcher the Twins drafted and developed into a #1, All-star, All MLB pitcher was....?

I was really down on Miranda & had/have little confidence in a bounce back, HOWEVER, to be fair it seems he was hurt longer & more seriously than anyone realized (or I realized) last summer. I can’t protect Kirilloff here every week and not get behind giving Miranda a chance.

Julien is not at his peak trade value! He’s at “the peak” of his career at 24 or 25, whatever he is. He’s getting better & will continue to get better to some ceiling, on defense. Let me throw out this scenario relative to value…….what if he’s hitting .275 & has an OBP of .360 going into July? He is then a proven MLB probable star ……….Martin &/or Lee are ripping the cover off the ball for two months. We have an opportunity to bring up one or both guys that can play infield & trade Julien to a more desperate club in a race, NEW peak!

Does anyone really think he’ll be hitting sub .250 with an OBP of less than .330 by July? If not we didn’t screw up by keeping him.

I don’t have a problem moving the guy with the potential we have coming & the depth we currently have at 2B. Saying he’s at his peak trade value to rationalize trading him is a real stretch.

Julien is the most over rated prospect in a long long time. His range at 2nd is very limited. His ability to turn the double play is limited. Poor footwork and very average arm. And at the plate the league figured out he can't hit a cutter in on his hands. That's why his K's sky rocketed the last 6 weeks. So if you can hoodwink someone into taking him for something of value do it!!

4 hours ago, MGM4706 said:

Julien is the most over rated prospect in a long long time. His range at 2nd is very limited. His ability to turn the double play is limited. Poor footwork and very average arm. And at the plate the league figured out he can't hit a cutter in on his hands. That's why his K's sky rocketed the last 6 weeks. So if you can hoodwink someone into taking him for something of value do it!!

Too bad Houston didn't have that report on Julien.

9 hours ago, MGM4706 said:

Julien is the most over rated prospect in a long long time. His range at 2nd is very limited. His ability to turn the double play is limited. Poor footwork and very average arm. And at the plate the league figured out he can't hit a cutter in on his hands. That's why his K's sky rocketed the last 6 weeks. So if you can hoodwink someone into taking him for something of value do it!!

 .294 .455 .588 1.043 Monsieur Julien's playoff slash line. Monsieur Octobre, oui ou non? 

14 minutes ago, wabene said:

 .294 .455 .588 1.043 Monsieur Julien's playoff slash line. Monsieur Octobre, oui ou non? 

Yeah, the dude loves to hit in October. He lit up the AFL in 2022. Lets trade him so someone else can cheer for him the next 7 years as he rips it up in October. Some guys are just built different. Like they live for the spot light. We have those kind of guys and they are young and controllable. Don’t trade those guys!!

Yeah don't trade Eddie, he's a stone cold killer. 

On 12/19/2023 at 11:03 AM, MGM4706 said:

Julien is the most over rated prospect in a long long time. His range at 2nd is very limited. His ability to turn the double play is limited. Poor footwork and very average arm. And at the plate the league figured out he can't hit a cutter in on his hands. That's why his K's sky rocketed the last 6 weeks. So if you can hoodwink someone into taking him for something of value do it!!

Sounds almost like a scouting report for Arraez besides the offensive part.

On 12/19/2023 at 6:43 AM, Fezig said:

Wouldn't it be incredible if the Twins drafted and developed top - line pitching instead of always having to look at trading important pieces of the lineup? The last pitcher the Twins drafted and developed into a #1, All-star, All MLB pitcher was....?

We have a couple guys close but maybe not close enough in Festa AAA and Raya AA. Paddack can replace Maeda but it will be hard to replace Gray without making a trade for 2024.