Dream Trade Candidate Yasiel Puig

[DaveW]

Puig has fallen out of favor with Dodgers management and it appears more and more likely that he could be dealt this off-season. Because of this his value will be quite a bit lower than what it would have been previously. The talent is all there, certainly, as a 22 and 23 year old, Puig did nothing short of mash everything thrown his way. There have been questions of his work ethic, attitude and butting heads with Donny Baseball. Perhaps a change of scenery to a team like the Twins with several other young Spanish speaking talented players would be the ideal fit for Puig?

Pros:
Extremely easy to digest contract (owed 6 mil a year until 2020)

Even with his subpar 2015 his career OPS+ is 141

"trade value" is at a low point, perfect time to take the risk and bring him in.

 

Cons:

Potential "attitude issues"

OF isn't the biggest area of need currently.

 

Even with a deep and up and coming OF, the Twins need bats, they finished poor in every hitting category and Puig is exactly the kind of guy who can be a high to middle of the order bat for the next several years.

[Platoon]

Without any regard for his physical talents whatsoever, Puig would seem a perfect fit for the Twins. The Twins, an orginisation whose tolerance for large "outside the box" personalities is probably the most inclusive in all off baseball. :)

[spinowner]

If, and only if, the Dodgers would sell low I might consider him as a bridge for a year if Buxton isn't going to be on the major league roster. The strategy would be to hope he has a good year and flip him for a better return than what we gave to get him. The drawback of having him on the team is that I think he makes Carlos Gomez look like a Rhodes scholar by comparison.

[Otto von Ballpark]

Remember buy low candidate Matt Kemp? He netted the Dodgers a starting catcher.

 

If they don't go far in the playoffs, Mattingly likely gets the boot, not Puig.

[Winston Smith]

The biggest problem is that Duensing is a free agent so who would we trade for him?

 

I like the idea better than resigning Torii.

[sane]

If you stop eating spicy food after 6 PM, these wild dreams will go away.

[DaveW]

Remember buy low candidate Matt Kemp? He netted the Dodgers a starting catcher.

 

If they don't go far in the playoffs, Mattingly likely gets the boot, not Puig.

There were a lot more pieces in that trade, no?

[gunnarthor]

I think his cost is still pretty high. A year ago, they'd never consider trading him. If they did move him, they'd start by asking for Buxton.

[Rosterman]

We could bring back Delmon Young!

 

He's pretty cheap. Cheaper than Torii. And if we don't like him, we can drop him!

 

[King Jack]

Where would he play? And who would we have to give up?

[Otto von Ballpark]

There were a lot more pieces in that trade, no?

Not really. $18 mil cash, I guess.

[DJSim22]

UGH, it's an interesting thought due to his bat, but I really don't like bringing in crummy attitudes to a young team.  He's a better player than Delmon, but just as big of a knucklehead. 

 

As you mentioned, the outfield is not where we really need to focus, a trade for Puig I assume would involve pitching.  Seems a bit counter productive to me, unless the Twins were able to make other moves including an outfielder being moved. 

 

In the end I probably pass.  This board does an outstanding job of talking baseball, especially stats and $$$.  That said, I think the board often disregards the other things in baseball.  Attitude, work ethic, accountability.  Maybe it's the coach in me, but I regard these intangibles as much as I do the stats.

[Platoon]

UGH, it's an interesting thought due to his bat, but I really don't like bringing in crummy attitudes to a young team.  He's a better player than Delmon, but just as big of a knucklehead. 

 

As you mentioned, the outfield is not where we really need to focus, a trade for Puig I assume would involve pitching.  Seems a bit counter productive to me, unless the Twins were able to make other moves including an outfielder being moved. 

 

In the end I probably pass.  This board does an outstanding job of talking baseball, especially stats and $$$.  That said, I think the board often disregards the other things in baseball.  Attitude, work ethic, accountability.  Maybe it's the coach in me, but I regard these intangibles as much as I do the stats.

First off, a lot of comments, mine included are tongue in cheek. And as a former coach, I acknowledge the appreciation of attitude, which by the way comes in many different iterations. But in the bottom of the ninth down one with two outs, attitude don't hit the ball!

[DaveW]

Saying Puig is as big of a knucklehead as Delmon is simply false. Puig never hit an ump with a bat or went on an anti Semitic rant in the middle of Times Square.

 

Fwiw: that one good year delmon had for the twins...you never heard about attitude etc, funny how those things only crop up when a guy is playing poorly.

[HitInAPinch]

 

I think his cost is still pretty high. A year ago, they'd never consider trading him. If they did move him, they'd start by asking for Buxton.

SOLD !

[Hrbowski]

Puig would ruin the Twins, not to mention he isn't all that good, the most over rated player in baseball, and    wouldn't be worth the trade.

[old nurse]

 

There were a lot more pieces in that trade, no?

one report was $32 million. The Padres recieved another outfielder who couldn't hit.

[old nurse]

IDK  Nolasco, Mauer, a half dozen near major leauge prospects Tonkin, Thompson, Achter, O'Rourke, Pinto and maybe a low level prspect or two should get the job done.

[Otto von Ballpark]

one report was $32 million. The Padres recieved another outfielder who couldn't hit.

You are right, $32 mil total, with $18 mil of that due in 2015.

[Thrylos]

The Twins are hurting big time for lefty high OBP hitters and lefty power hitters.  Unless Puig is one of those, no thank you. 

[Hrbowski]

 

The Twins are hurting big time for lefty high OBP hitters and lefty power hitters.  Unless Puig is one of those, no thank you. 

Sign Chris Davis, trade Trevor Plouffe?

[Thrylos]

 

Sign Chris Davis, trade Trevor Plouffe?

 

Heyward.  He will be in age 26 season (5 years younger than Davis, so you can offer 6 years and still get mostly prime seasons) is better and more versatile on the field than Davis (Heyward is a GG RF, Davis is a DH with Vargas-like fielding at 1B) and hits RHPs better than Davis.

 

Trade Plouffe regardless.  Trade Dozier too

[Hrbowski]

 

Heyward.  He will be in age 26 season (5 years younger than Davis, so you can offer 6 years and still get mostly prime seasons) is better and more versatile on the field than Davis (Heyward is a GG RF, Davis is a DH with Vargas-like fielding at 1B) and hits RHPs better than Davis.

 

Trade Plouffe regardless.  Trade Dozier too

Who would play second? James Beresford?

[Thrylos]

 

Who would play second? James Beresford?

 

Levi Michael or Escobar with Polanco at SS...

[jokin]

 

IDK  Nolasco, Mauer, a half dozen near major leauge prospects Tonkin, Thompson, Achter, O'Rourke, Pinto and maybe a low level prspect or two should get the job done.

 

Well, that would accomplish most of the off-season objectives quite nicely:

 

1) Free up $35M next year and $94M total in payroll to go after the top FAs.

2) Open up 1B so that the Twins can upgrade the position from the #31 rank   "achieved" by Mauer this year, to maybe Top Ten. (Refer back to Reason #1- perhaps sign this year's #4 guy- Chris Davis)

3) Free up 6 net roster spaces to retain prospects on the Rule 5 bubble and sign/trade for better players than the 7 being traded to LA. (refer back to Reason # 1- you could sign a bunch of quality FA arms or target Ace Price or SS Ian Desmond)

4) It's possible that you can then flip Puig to a Latin-heavy, Cuban emigre-specific interest area like Miami or Tampa Bay, both teams have lots of prospects and controllable pitchers.

 

I hope you forwarded your idea to Terry!

[jokin]

 

Who would play second? James Beresford?

 

Don't count out Doug Bernier, can't have enough veteran grit.

[diehardtwinsfan]

I might be game for some sort of Puig/Arcia swap given both are OF and out of favor.  I guess the question with Puig is whether or not he just needs to make some minor adjustments or if he's a one hit wonder.

[DaveW]

 

I might be game for some sort of Puig/Arcia swap given both are OF and out of favor.  I guess the question with Puig is whether or not he just needs to make some minor adjustments or if he's a one hit wonder.

One hit wonder? Puig had a 4.1 WAR in 2013 and a 5.3 in 2014. In 2015 (his "bad year" which he played half the time) he still put up a 1.5 WAR

 

Looking at the numbers his K% BB% were pretty close to the same, ditto with his GB vs LD vs FB numbers, his soft% was up a couple percent.

 

However the big thing that sticks out is that his BABIP was down 70 points total, this to me indicates it was a healthy amount of bad luck and thus he is an excellent candidate to bounce back and post a .900+ OPS

 

One other note: He can play all 3 OF positions as well, though you wouldn't want him to be your everyday CF, he could play there if needed for a few games.

 

It would take more than Arcia to get him for sure, but I think the risk is well worth the potential reward, he instantly would become the clubs 2nd best hitter behind Sano IMO.

[DaveW]

 

Heyward.  He will be in age 26 season (5 years younger than Davis, so you can offer 6 years and still get mostly prime seasons) is better and more versatile on the field than Davis (Heyward is a GG RF, Davis is a DH with Vargas-like fielding at 1B) and hits RHPs better than Davis.

 

Trade Plouffe regardless.  Trade Dozier too

Heyward is going to cost 8 years and 180 million or more. Hard. Pass. If you want to spend $180 million on a player, make it an ace.

[HitInAPinch]

 

Levi Michael or Escobar with Polanco at SS...

The Twins have already said that Escobar is the starting SS.  Levi & Polanco battling it out at 2nd.