Morales traded to Seattle

[iTwins]

My only problem with the trade is that Pryor is another reclamation project taking up a spot on the 40-man roster. I realize that there are plenty of other players that can be removed from the 40-man, but I'm wondering when that process starts. If not now, when? Other posters have said it was good to bring up Polanco and not a pitcher, but if the roster spot had become available, they could have brought up Meyer if they thought he was ready, and ended the Pino/Johnson revolving door.

 

I suppose Seattle insisted that TR take someone on their 40-man to clear space for Morales, so maybe this is all moot. Just hoping that we start opening up some roster spots soon.

 

Technically, they still do have an open 40 man spot after Guerrier's DFA / release. Pryor fills in the spot Morales vacated, (which, I agree, isn't ideal) but at least there's still one spot open. So, the Twins still do have the ability to bring up Meyer at a moment's notice.

[SheboyganBrats]

Thanks. I had forgotten about Guerrier. (Oh, how could that ever happen.) Then I think it's time to bring up Meyer, unless the pitch count limit or some other issue that I'm unaware of is keeping him in AAA. But, this is for another thread.

[Otto von Ballpark]

I suppose Seattle insisted that TR take someone on their 40-man to clear space for Morales, so maybe this is all moot.

 

Pretty sure that's the case.

 

Assuming Meyer takes Guerrier's spot, they should be pretty much set until the offseason, unless they want to open an additional spot to audition a reliever (Achter, Guerra, Oliveros) or Gilmartin. And they will need to clear someone from the mostly-out-of-options MLB staff to do that anyway (until September, I suppose). Otherwise, virtually all of the worthwhile promotion candidates are already on the 40-man (or are too far away from MLB to matter at this point).

 

The winter roster decisions will be interesting for sure -- lots of Rule 5 eligible guys.

[jorgenswest]

I guess I prefer the lottery ticket. Pryor will either get it together and be a good reliever or more likely he won't be in the majors. I don't think he is a typical AAAA guy.

[Shane Wahl]

I haven't read many of the posts here. Anyway, this is precisely the kind of player I did not want the Twins to trade for! Like . . . it couldn't be any farther from what I would want . . . someone who is a marginal MLBer, a reliever, and someone who thus obviously has to immediately use a 40-man spot.

[Mike Sixel]

Agree with Shane, but also agree the Mariners may have insisted on a guy on the 40. Meh. They rolled an expensive die, and lost. At least they tried.

[drjim]

I haven't read many of the posts here. Anyway, this is precisely the kind of player I did not want the Twins to trade for! Like . . . it couldn't be any farther from what I would want . . . someone who is a marginal MLBer, a reliever, and someone who thus obviously has to immediately use a 40-man spot.

 

Would you rather they DFA him instead? That is the value of Morales right now.

[70charger]

Would you rather they DFA him instead? That is the value of Morales right now.

 

I'd rather trade him for Miguel Cabrera and have Detroit eat half his salary.

 

Duh.

[Dr. Evil]

Would you rather they DFA him instead? That is the value of Morales right now.

I politely disagree. Kendrys is a slugger.

[70charger]

I politely disagree. Kendrys is a slugger.

With a sub-.600 OPS and on a short term rental contract, this was all that was really realistic.

 

Frankly it is probably mostly a salary dump. It's attached to low probability lottery ticket, but still mostly a salary dump.

[diehardtwinsfan]

I think the plan all along was to trade Morales if the Twins couldn't get into the thick of the things.  I'm guessing Morales was fine with that too.  Not sure I'd all it a salary dump as much a I'd call it getting a potential impact player or prospect.

[whydidnt]

I agree (and hope) that it was their plan to deal him if they weren't contending all along. However, the question we don't know is what kind of prospect could they have gotten if they agreed to eat some or all of the salary? The Sox just got the Giants #2 & #7 (preseason) prospects for an under performing Jake Peavy, but picked up some of his remaining salary. Now Morales' value is nowhere near Peavy's but I'm sure the Sox got a lot more by agreeing to cover the $. It seems that this year, money is one asset the Twins have, it would have been nice to see them try to leverage that into a more promising player, if they could. Think of it as "buying" a prospect, if you will, but when you are $15 million under budget for season, why not?

[drjim]

I agree (and hope) that it was their plan to deal him if they weren't contending all along. However, the question we don't know is what kind of prospect could they have gotten if they agreed to eat some or all of the salary? The Sox just got the Giants #2 & #7 (preseason) prospects for an under performing Jake Peavy, but picked up some of his remaining salary. Now Morales' value is nowhere near Peavy's but I'm sure the Sox got a lot more by agreeing to cover the $. It seems that this year, money is one asset the Twins have, it would have been nice to see them try to leverage that into a more promising player, if they could. Think of it as "buying" a prospect, if you will, but when you are $15 million under budget for season, why not?

 

This is the key sentence.

[whydidnt]

This is the key sentence.

Not sure I follow. Are you implying that the Twins would not have gotten more than Pryor if they had agreed to cover Morales' remaining salary? Don't forget that Peavy has been a below average starting pitcher this year. The Twins would not have been able to match what the Giants gave up, but I do think they could have gotten more by agreeing to cover the salary. I guess how much more is up for debate, but as far as I'm concerned with the Twins this year, the cost is irrelevant. They need to figure out how to get better.

[drjim]

Not sure I follow. Are you implying that the Twins would not have gotten more than Pryor if they had agreed to cover Morales' remaining salary? Don't forget that Peavy has been a below average starting pitcher this year. The Twins would not have been able to match what the Giants gave up, but I do think they could have gotten more by agreeing to cover the salary. I guess how much more is up for debate, but as far as I'm concerned with the Twins this year, the cost is irrelevant. They need to figure out how to get better.

 

I don't think they would have gotten anything for a sub .600 OPS DH. Salary relief struck me as a miracle.

 

Peavy is not great, but he still has value, especially to a NL team.

 

I just don't see the comparison here.

[Mr. Brooks]

I don't think they would have gotten anything for a sub .600 OPS DH. Salary relief struck me as a miracle.

 

Peavy is not great, but he still has value, especially to a NL team.

 

I just don't see the comparison here.

 

Because likely not every team thinks he's going to continue to OPS below .600. 

Teams pay for what a player is going to do going forward, not entirely what they have done previously. 

 

If teams were paying based on this year's results only, we'd be moving Suzuki for an elite package of prospects right about now. 

[drjim]

Because likely not every team thinks he's going to continue to OPS below .600. 

Teams pay for what a player is going to do going forward, not entirely what they have done previously. 

 

If teams were paying based on this year's results only, we'd be moving Suzuki for an elite package of prospects right about now. 

 

I think the Twins pretty much got paid for what teams do expect Morales to do going forward.

 

And while Suzuki is good, he is not elite right now when considering defense. But he would still bring back a decent prospect or two.

[whydidnt]

I don't think they would have gotten anything for a sub .600 OPS DH. Salary relief struck me as a miracle.

 

Peavy is not great, but he still has value, especially to a NL team.

 

I just don't see the comparison here.

Well, now I think you're just being stubborn. The Twins couldn't have gotten any more from the Mariners, who are at their payroll max already, by agreeing to cover his salary? I guess we will just disagree on this one then. The comparison isn't between Peavy and Morales, it's between Morales and zero salary relief and Morales and significant salary relief.

[jorgenswest]

The Mariners know the value of a prospect.

 

If they trade a younger prospect not on the 40, they also have to DFA someone like Pryor. They end up losing two guys.

 

While I don't agree with all of Ryan's move, I do trust him to try to get a better prospect by offering to pick up a contract. That might work when the value of the contract is 10 million plus or has multiple years. The commitment to Morales was minimal and even a maxed out team like the Mariners can take him on.