Spencer Steer and Christian Encarnacion-Strand Could Haunt the Twins For a Long Time

[Matthew Taylor]

At the 2022 trade deadline the Minnesota Twins traded for starting pitcher Tyler Mahle. While Mahle’s elbow injury threw water on the blockbuster deal, the stellar play from two of the prospects the Twins traded away will be what could haunt them for years to come.

Image courtesy of Ray Acevedo-USA TODAY Sports

While the Minnesota Twins paid a steep price when they traded for Tyler Mahle (three top-20 prospects), most considered the deal to be a good one as the Twins avoided trading away any of their top-five prospects in the deal. After all, there’s nothing more haunting for a fan base (or a front office) than trading away a future star and watching that player do damage for years on another team.

Unfortunately for the Twins, not only did the Mahle Era in Minnesota go completely sideways, but it’s looking like two of the prospects that the Twins gave up in the trade could be guys who do damage on another team for years to come.

Spencer Steer was the prized prospect that was traded away to the Cincinnati Reds in the Mahle deal. At the time of the trade, Steer was the sixth ranked prospect in Twins Daily’s prospect ranking as he was performing well at Triple-A at the time and was extremely close to the Majors.

Steer got his feet wet in the big leagues late last season, but didn’t knock anyone’s socks off with a meager .632 OPS in 28 games to end the 2022 season. The 2023 season has been a completely different story for the right-hander. Through 50 games, Spencer Steer is slashing .288/.353/.485 with seven home runs and 26 RBI. Steer’s 23 extra base hits and .838 OPS would be first and second, respectively, on the Twins this season.

Perhaps the most impressive part of Steer’s offensive numbers is that he had a slow start to the year. Through May 2, Steer had a .699 OPS. Since then, over his last 23 games, Steer has posted a .984 OPS with 14 extra base hits. While Steer’s defense certainly leaves more to be desired, his offensive arrow is pointing upward, and he is certainly someone that the Twins could be kicking themselves for trading away for a long time.

The next highest-rated prospect that the Twins traded away for Mahle last July was corner infielder/designated hitter, Christian Encarnacion-Strand. At the time of the deal, Encarnacion-Strand was Twins Daily’s 16th ranked prospect. His bat was always a strength, but his limited defensive abilities hampered his ability to climb higher up the prospect ranks.

While Encarnacion-Strand is still likely headed for a career at first base or designated hitter, his numbers at the plate in Triple-A this season have lessened the concerns about his defensive future and instead heightened the excitement about his future at the plate.

In 31 games with the Louisville Bats, Encarnacion-Strand is slashing .341/.387/.710 with 13 home runs and 32 RBI. His 1.097 OPS leads all active minor leaguers and his call-up to the big leagues appears to be imminent. CES certainly needs to work on his eye at the plate, as his 39/9 K/BB ratio is less than ideal, but Encarnacion-Strand is mashing at the plate right now unlike any other player in the minors and, similar to Steer, is looking like a guy that could haunt the Minnesota Twins for years to come.

How do you think that Steer and Encarnacion-Strand’s careers will play out in Cincinnati? Do you think these players will haunt the Twins? Leave a comment below and start the conversation!

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[weitz41]

Man, there's a lot to pick apart here. Don't get me wrong because of the injuries to Mahle its low hanging fruit to say the Twins FO screwed up.  I get it..but hindsight is 20/20 and you can probably say that about maybe 60% or more of all deadline trades. Ask the White Sox about the Tatis trade...

There's to many examples' similar to the Mahle trade to just pour gas on it for the sake of I want a bigger fire.

Juan Nunez from the Jorge Lopez trade could end up as a Cy Young winner as well.

To get to the nitty gritty of it IMO. Steer had at minimum Miranda and likely Lewis in line before him. CES would have Kirilloff, at least Gallo and probably Salano ahead of him. So, they gave up the third option for 2 positions for a decent chance at maybe their third best starter. I doubt many (if any) teams would pass on that. Ghosts of Christmas past or not.

[chpettit19]

The determining factor, to me, on them haunting the Twins is what Miranda, Kirilloff, Buxton, Lewis, Julien, and Lee do over the next 6+ years. Steer is down to 1B/3B/DH. CES is down to 1B/DH. The Twins took a calculated risk that some combination of the 6 guys I named earlier would be a better overall combination at 1B/3B/DH for the Twins. Or at least that a combination of them at those positions, plus Mahle in the rotation for a year and a half, would be as good as Steer, CES, and Hajjar for 6+ years.

CES has to be Nelson Cruz to be a truly haunting player. I would bet against that happening, but you never really know. That's the game you play when making trades. If Buxton is a fulltime, or most-time, DH over the next 6 years CES didn't really have a place to play here. To me, the bigger thing haunting the Twins in that scenario is Buxton being a DH.

Steer has already been pushed down to having most of his time at 1B now. The bar to clear offensively for being a "haunting" player there is awfully high. I would bet against that happening as well, but he's looked good for the last month. 

Both of their defensive limitations lessen the likelihood that they're truly haunting losses. But Steer's current batting line sure would look nice in the Twins lineup right now. I wouldn't replace Lewis or Kirilloff with him, though.

[awmonahan]

I was always more concerned about Encarnacion-Strand. His batting numbers were starting to look scary last year, and this year he has been killing it. It is hard to find hitters that can perform like he has. I wish him luck, but will be sad if it translates to the majors. 

[jkcarew]

Yeah, it’s still more about Mahle than it is about what we gave up, IMO. Time and CES could change my opinion.

Right now the trade looks better if Miranda had been one of the highly-regarded right-handed infield bats we had given up…that’s true. But that too could change.

[twinstalker]

Steer and CES are exactly what they were supposed to be at the levels they are at now (not sure where CES goes from here, but likely at least MLB competent at plate).  So we traded that for an injured pitcher, a guy who had been injured, got shelved again before the deal, and was able to make three decent starts to fool a team only looking at the bare surface.  This isn't the worst of it.  Wait until Pablo Lopez crumbles similarly.  Pitchers with shoulder problems rarely are both good and stay healthy.  It's no wonder Falvey is looking for a lesser college hitters to play sooner than a legit #1 HS player.  He's traded away hitting for injured pitchers, and his end might be soon.

[roger]

Don’t like using the word “haunting.”  To haunt the Twins they would need to have been traded to a team we play a lot, say the Sox or Guardians, and continually get big hits leading to losses.  At least that’s how I look at it.

Don’t get me wrong, we gave up a ton and will get little in return.  But the trade made sense the day it was made.  The good news is that several above have pointed out that both hitters would be blocked with the Twins.  Suppose you could counter that by saying they would get more if traded today.  Perhaps much more?

[mikelink45]

I was sorry to see them go - Mahle's health record was a red flag.  Now I root for them to succeed in their new roles and I think the Reds will be really pleased. Look at Mahle's history.  What made us think he was a star?

017	22	CIN	NL	1	2	.333	2.70	4	4	0	0	0	0	20.0	19	6	6	0	11	1	14	4	0	1	92	168	4.01	1.500	8.6	0.0	5.0	6.3	1.27
2018	23	CIN	NL	7	9	.438	4.98	23	23	0	0	0	0	112.0	125	68	62	22	53	7	110	3	0	1	507	84	5.25	1.589	10.0	1.8	4.3	8.8	2.08
2019	24	CIN	NL	3	12	.200	5.14	25	25	0	0	0	0	129.2	136	82	74	25	34	0	129	6	1	2	556	91	4.66	1.311	9.4	1.7	2.4	9.0	3.79
2020	25	CIN	NL	2	2	.500	3.59	10	9	0	0	0	0	47.2	34	21	19	6	21	0	60	4	1	2	201	137	3.88	1.154	6.4	1.1	4.0	11.3	2.86
2021	26	CIN	NL	13	6	.684	3.75	33	33	0	0	0	0	180.0	158	78	75	24	64	0	210	10	0	4	759	125	3.80	1.233	7.9	1.2	3.2	10.5	3.28
2022	27	TOT	MLB	6	8	.429	4.40	23	23	0	0	0	0	120.2	104	61	59	16	43	0	126	2	1	3	503	100	3.87	1.218	7.8	1.2	3.2	9.4	2.93
2022	27	CIN	NL	5	7	.417	4.40	19	19	0	0	0	0	104.1	91	53	51	12	39	0	114	2	1	3	440	102	3.60	1.246	7.8	1.0	3.4	9.8	2.92

[jmlease1]

51 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

The determining factor, to me, on them haunting the Twins is what Miranda, Kirilloff, Buxton, Lewis, Julien, and Lee do over the next 6+ years. Steer is down to 1B/3B/DH. CES is down to 1B/DH. The Twins took a calculated risk that some combination of the 6 guys I named earlier would be a better overall combination at 1B/3B/DH for the Twins. Or at least that a combination of them at those positions, plus Mahle in the rotation for a year and a half, would be as good as Steer, CES, and Hajjar for 6+ years.

CES has to be Nelson Cruz to be a truly haunting player. I would bet against that happening, but you never really know. That's the game you play when making trades. If Buxton is a fulltime, or most-time, DH over the next 6 years CES didn't really have a place to play here. To me, the bigger thing haunting the Twins in that scenario is Buxton being a DH.

Steer has already been pushed down to having most of his time at 1B now. The bar to clear offensively for being a "haunting" player there is awfully high. I would bet against that happening as well, but he's looked good for the last month. 

Both of their defensive limitations lessen the likelihood that they're truly haunting losses. But Steer's current batting line sure would look nice in the Twins lineup right now. I wouldn't replace Lewis or Kirilloff with him, though.

I think this is right. We'll see if Steer really can hit enough consistently to stick at 1B; he loses a fair amount of value if he can't play 3B. But it's also possible that he's only over there because they don't have anyone else at 1B right now. Without Votto it's pretty thin at 1B for Cincy.

CES was the player I least wanted to lose because I thought his bat might be special, but you never know how guys like him are going to go when they get to MLB. He's looking like a bad 1B or a DH, so I think chpettit19 is right: he's going to have to hit a LOT in order to make us be "haunted" by him. let's see if he can hit MLB sliders before we decide he's the next David Ortiz.

They rolled the dice on Tyler Mahle being healthy enough to stabilize the rotation last season and be a real contributor this year and crapped out. It's a mark against the front office in their ledger (and maybe they learned a lesson about how some players can't be trusted to tell you the truth about their health?) but I don't think they were wrong in the evaluations of Steer, CES, or Hajjar and how much prospect capital they gave up. 

If the expectation is that we never trade away any prospect that could be good, or even really good, but still expect the front office to bring back real talent in trades, then we have an expectations problem as well. there was a non-zero part of this board that wanted to deal Royce Lewis for pitching last year, and Brooks Lee's name has been thrown around too.

[LastOnePicked]

Yes, it's almost as if this organization is either terrible at prospect development or staggeringly bad at talent evaluation, particularly when making trade or Rule 5 decisions. Looking forward to the Yennier Cano/Tyler Wells article next.

 

[chpettit19]

11 minutes ago, jmlease1 said:

I think this is right. We'll see if Steer really can hit enough consistently to stick at 1B; he loses a fair amount of value if he can't play 3B. But it's also possible that he's only over there because they don't have anyone else at 1B right now. Without Votto it's pretty thin at 1B for Cincy.

CES was the player I least wanted to lose because I thought his bat might be special, but you never know how guys like him are going to go when they get to MLB. He's looking like a bad 1B or a DH, so I think chpettit19 is right: he's going to have to hit a LOT in order to make us be "haunted" by him. let's see if he can hit MLB sliders before we decide he's the next David Ortiz.

They rolled the dice on Tyler Mahle being healthy enough to stabilize the rotation last season and be a real contributor this year and crapped out. It's a mark against the front office in their ledger (and maybe they learned a lesson about how some players can't be trusted to tell you the truth about their health?) but I don't think they were wrong in the evaluations of Steer, CES, or Hajjar and how much prospect capital they gave up. 

If the expectation is that we never trade away any prospect that could be good, or even really good, but still expect the front office to bring back real talent in trades, then we have an expectations problem as well. there was a non-zero part of this board that wanted to deal Royce Lewis for pitching last year, and Brooks Lee's name has been thrown around too.

I agree part of why he's at 1B now may certainly just be roster needs, but they have a number of much better fielders coming up behind him pretty quick, and I'd guess the odds are that he is destined for far more 1B than anywhere else in the IF when the rest of this prospect wave hits.

We'll see how it all turns out. Long ways to go in their careers. That trade definitely isn't going to be a win, though. 

[Nashvilletwin]

I think some of my esteemed fellow posters are missing the point.  The issue is not necessarily that we traded Steer and CES (yes, they theoretically had several other players in front of them and also may be defensively limited/challenged), but, rather, what we received in return. Which, btw, is nothing, nada, zip, jack diddly squat. Two legitimate major league prospects were given away for nothing.

Again, hindsight is 20/20, but the signs were there and, as pointed out above, the talent was not so great.

It gets worse. The trade was not only an ill-advised dice roll, but also, even more ominously, likely led to our need to trade Arraez.  

Why is no one ever held accountable for these debacles? 

[Eris]

This has a chance to go down as the worst trade in franchise history which was the Delmon Young for Bartlett and Garza, which was about -20 war. Steer and CES should be able to put up 10 WAR or so each.  I am glad for Steer that he is making the most of his opportunity.
 

What makes the trade a failure is the Mahle did not contribute down the stretch last year.

https://puckettspond.com/2020/06/01/minnesota-twins-ranking-10-worst-trades/

[Schmoeman5]

1 hour ago, chpettit19 said:

The determining factor, to me, on them haunting the Twins is what Miranda, Kirilloff, Buxton, Lewis, Julien, and Lee do over the next 6+ years. Steer is down to 1B/3B/DH. CES is down to 1B/DH. The Twins took a calculated risk that some combination of the 6 guys I named earlier would be a better overall combination at 1B/3B/DH for the Twins. Or at least that a combination of them at those positions, plus Mahle in the rotation for a year and a half, would be as good as Steer, CES, and Hajjar for 6+ years.

CES has to be Nelson Cruz to be a truly haunting player. I would bet against that happening, but you never really know. That's the game you play when making trades. If Buxton is a fulltime, or most-time, DH over the next 6 years CES didn't really have a place to play here. To me, the bigger thing haunting the Twins in that scenario is Buxton being a DH.

Steer has already been pushed down to having most of his time at 1B now. The bar to clear offensively for being a "haunting" player there is awfully high. I would bet against that happening as well, but he's looked good for the last month. 

Both of their defensive limitations lessen the likelihood that they're truly haunting losses. But Steer's current batting line sure would look nice in the Twins lineup right now. I wouldn't replace Lewis or Kirilloff with him, though.

You mention Steer and CES defensive limitations and yet you want to see what Miranda and Julien do over the course of the next 6 years. Both of them are limited defensively as well. In fact with Buxton as DH where do you see Miranda playing with Lewis manning 3rd and Kiriloff at 1st. 

[chpettit19]

16 hours ago, Schmoeman5 said:

You mention Steer and CES defensive limitations and yet you want to see what Miranda and Julien do over the course of the next 6 years. Both of them are limited defensively as well. In fact with Buxton as DH where do you see Miranda playing with Lewis manning 3rd and Kiriloff at 1st. 

I never said Miranda and/or Julien didn't have defensive limitations, just said they're part of a group of players who can cover the same positions that Steer and CES do. I expect to see Miranda on the bench most of the time in that situation. I'm really confused by your point. The Twins had 8 guys (the 6 I named, plus Steer and CES) who could all play a role in covering the 3 positions in question. The Twins were willing to trade 2 of the 8. Thus the comparison I care about moving forward is how those 2 work out compared to how the 6 they didn't trade work out. Don't see the controversy there.

[Mortimerkenny21]

Or maybe it won't haunt, trades happen non-stop. Can't live in past. Not going to worry about "oh but what if?"

[Riverbrian]

2 hours ago, Nashvilletwin said:

I think some of my esteemed fellow posters are missing the point.  The issue is not necessarily that we traded Steer and CES (yes, they theoretically had several other players in front of them and also may be defensively limited/challenged), but, rather, what we received in return. Which, btw, is nothing, nada, zip, jack diddly squat. Two legitimate major league prospects were given away for nothing.

Again, hindsight is 20/20, but the signs were there and, as pointed out above, the talent was not so great.

It gets worse. The trade was not only an ill-advised dice roll, but also, even more ominously, likely led to our need to trade Arraez.  

Why is no one ever held accountable for these debacles? 

No matter what happens going forward with Steer and E-Strand.

We lost this trade.

Mahle will most likely never pitch in a Twins uniform again and if he does pitch in a Twins uniform... he will have to be signed as a free agent which is something we could have done if he was still with the Reds. 

We lost this trade... There is no debate on this.  

My question would be this:

I often hear fans saying things like the signs were there.

What signs? What signs could you possibly have that the front office wouldn't have?  

Why is it so easy to assume that a front office would make a deal like this knowing that there are signs that he would only throw 42 innings before needing Tommy John right before he hits free agency? 

Does that sound like something a 13 year old would do? I don't think a 13 year old would do that... so why is it so easy to assume, that a professional highly paid front office would do that.    

If the guy who runs a 3 pump convenience store in a small town in Idaho is aware of the signs... Why wouldn't the front office be aware of the signs. 

[ashbury]

43 minutes ago, jmlease1 said:

I think this is right. We'll see if Steer really can hit enough consistently to stick at 1B; he loses a fair amount of value if he can't play 3B. But it's also possible that he's only over there because they don't have anyone else at 1B right now. Without Votto it's pretty thin at 1B for Cincy.

I've posted my Ultimate SSS observation from a game at Oakland before, but when I watched Steer playing first base what I noticed was a lack of nimbleness, and hand-eye coordination.  I don't see him being an asset at any defensive position on the diamond, merely "adequate".  With that as a baseline, the bar is set pretty high for his bat to cause regret.

The package we traded was a good idea.  Mahle being the choice of target is what made it a below-par gamble for a trade.  And I still don't have a good answer for who else I would have targeted at the trade deadline give that we were in first place at the time; "nobody, or some lower target and hang on to our best trade chips for the offseason," is about the closest I can come.

[Riverbrian]

10 minutes ago, ashbury said:

I've posted my Ultimate SSS observation from a game at Oakland before, but when I watched Steer playing first base what I noticed was a lack of nimbleness, and hand-eye coordination.  I don't see him being an asset at any defensive position on the diamond, merely "adequate".  With that as a baseline, the bar is set pretty high for his bat to cause regret.

The package we traded was a good idea.  Mahle being the choice of target is what made it a below-par gamble for a trade.  And I still don't have a good answer for who else I would have targeted at the trade deadline give that we were in first place at the time; "nobody, or some lower target and hang on to our best trade chips for the offseason," is about the closest I can come.

Agreed... You always have to consider that it takes two to tango. 

Trade deadlines would have to be chaotic with everyone in the market for starting pitching. They liked Mahle, chances are other teams like Mahle as well. Now you got to pay the price it costs to acquire Mahle. 

This price won't even matter if the Reds like the prospects that the Rays are offering. 

The front office just can't walk into trade deadline chaos like a supermarket and simply pull macaroni and cheese off the shelf and put in the basket. 

 

[ashbury]

9 minutes ago, Riverbrian said:

If the guy who runs a 3 pump convenience store in a small town in Idaho is aware of the signs... Why wouldn't the front office be aware of the signs. 

Mahle's career IL resume was pretty clean... until one month before the trade. "Strained right shoulder."  I find shoulders scarier than elbows for pitchers.  Past history at that point means less than the here-and-now.

We won't get an answer, but your question needs to be turned around and also presented to the FO, as to why they felt a guy 10 days and 2 starts removed from a shoulder strain, severe enough to warrant a "quick" 20-day stay on the injured list, was a good gamble when spending two of our best trade chips.  I don't think it's fair to place all the burden on us fans.

[Riverbrian]

2 minutes ago, ashbury said:

Mahle's career IL resume was pretty clean... until one month before the trade. "Strained right shoulder."  I find shoulders scarier than elbows for pitchers.  Past history at that point means less than the here-and-now.

We won't get an answer, but your question needs to be turned around and also presented to the FO, as to why they felt a guy 10 days and 2 starts removed from a shoulder strain, severe enough to warrant a "quick" 20-day stay on the injured list, was a good gamble when spending two of our best trade chips.  I don't think it's fair to place all the burden on us fans.

I knew a guy named Brent... He was a pretty scary guy and he has done some pretty scary things but once I got to know him. He wasn't that scary to me.

Shoulders also scare me but perhaps I just need to get to know them better. I assume that the front office has people who have spent some time with shoulders. Dinner, Movie, fishing trips... you know... hanging out with shoulders type thing. 

I was sleeping during med school but a strained right shoulder typically doesn't need Tommy John surgery. So... are we talking about two separate injuries or one big one that spread to his elbow. 

You can turn that question around and present it to the front office... they might give you all the details... they might not but I think it's incredibly unfair to suggest that they rolled through a stop sign right in front of all those police officers that they have to answer to. 

If your 13 year old ran that stop sign... you'd sit down with him/her and say... did ya think you were going to get away with that with all those cops around?

Why do we just assume that front offices are that naïve? 

 

[ashbury]

[Squirrel]

29 minutes ago, ashbury said:

I've posted my Ultimate SSS observation from a game at Oakland before, but when I watched Steer playing first base what I noticed was a lack of nimbleness, and hand-eye coordination.  I don't see him being an asset at any defensive position on the diamond, merely "adequate".  With that as a baseline, the bar is set pretty high for his bat to cause regret.

The package we traded was a good idea.  Mahle being the choice of target is what made it a below-par gamble for a trade.  And I still don't have a good answer for who else I would have targeted at the trade deadline give that we were in first place at the time; "nobody, or some lower target and hang on to our best trade chips for the offseason," is about the closest I can come.

Yeah, this is where I do it. And you don't. And we'd be in the same place ... damned if we did, damned if we didn't.

[ashbury]

1 minute ago, Squirrel said:

Yeah, this is where I do it. And you don't. And we'd be in the same place ... damned if we did, damned if we didn't.

It's true.  Because I fully acknowledge that I would get roasted by the press for not doing something meaningful at the deadline.  Even if my paycheck is signed by a Pohlad and not by the press, you do have to take that into account.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Kudos to Nash Walker and Stringer Bell who proposed Miranda over Steer as a possible trade candidate at this time last season  https://twinsdaily.com/news-rumors/minnesota-twins/is-josé-miranda-a-deadline-trade-candidate-r12506/ @Nash Walker @stringer bell 

It seems really clear to me that Miranda just needed some run at DH and an occasional day off. Miranda was in a bad state and in my opinion is was just plain wrong to continue sending him out to third base during his plate struggles, day after day. We talk about people, managers, whoever, who have a feel for the game, and people who don't. I think what Miranda needed was a pat on the shoulder, not punishment. A couple days in the dugout to observe and clear his mind. AAA is not the place for that. He's not a lost cause. He will be back at some point.

Oh yeah, Mahle. 

 

[jmlease1]

45 minutes ago, ashbury said:

Mahle's career IL resume was pretty clean... until one month before the trade. "Strained right shoulder."  I find shoulders scarier than elbows for pitchers.  Past history at that point means less than the here-and-now.

We won't get an answer, but your question needs to be turned around and also presented to the FO, as to why they felt a guy 10 days and 2 starts removed from a shoulder strain, severe enough to warrant a "quick" 20-day stay on the injured list, was a good gamble when spending two of our best trade chips.  I don't think it's fair to place all the burden on us fans.

I'd argue pretty strongly that these were not our best trade chips, but our most tradable chips. It stinks that we didn't end up getting the value for them that we did when we dealt Petty for Gray, but that's the risk.

[Jocko87]

1 hour ago, Mortimerkenny21 said:

Or maybe it won't haunt, trades happen non-stop. Can't live in past. Not going to worry about "oh but what if?"

Yup, even if it does “haunt” it will at least have the benefit of producing several more articles like this over the years. 

Do the Tampa Bay Rays have a message board lamenting that dang Joe Ryan trade?  Serious question, if not, room for expansion!

But no worries, we will have new series of trades to lament coming around soon.  

It’s not great that Mahle is injured but it is good that they are leveraging areas of strength to get pitching. They are, on purpose, acquiring pitchers with question marks as a measured risk. 

The players they sent away last year, and I expect this year, are bat only prospects and players for the most part. Julien and Miranda should not be too comfy in July if they can’t find an outfield glove. It’s a shock because it’s not the traditional Twins way but get used to it. 

[ashbury]

1 hour ago, jmlease1 said:

I'd argue pretty strongly that these were not our best trade chips, but our most tradable chips. It stinks that we didn't end up getting the value for them that we did when we dealt Petty for Gray, but that's the risk.

Maybe it's just a matter of semantics, but by "best trade chips" I did not mean "best prospects".  My approach is probably pretty conventional: rate all your prospects, pick out your keepers (perhaps with balance as to positions they play), listen to offers on the rest, and the ones who attract interest are your best trade chips.  Steer and Encarnacion-Strand struck me as not having a clear defensive spot and you can only roster so many DHs, so at the time they made the most sense to trade for something of value. Thus, "best".  Did you mean something else?

Yes it does stink to not get what we thought we were getting.  Because we can't go and do those trades repeatedly.  I'm about to start repeating myself though, so this is where I expect to stop.

[Riverbrian]

2 hours ago, Hosken Bombo Disco said:

Kudos to Nash Walker and Stringer Bell who proposed Miranda over Steer as a possible trade candidate at this time last season  https://twinsdaily.com/news-rumors/minnesota-twins/is-josé-miranda-a-deadline-trade-candidate-r12506/ @Nash Walker @stringer bell 

 

2 hours ago, Jocko87 said:

 Do the Tampa Bay Rays have a message board lamenting that dang Joe Ryan trade?  Serious question, if not, room for expansion!

This allows me to dredge up one of my favorite points. 

The margins are razor thin. The difference between Miranda and Steer is probably miniscule. Front offices have to to walk up to the window and place their bets on near coin flips. They are not choosing between Ronald Acuna and Ronald McDonald where the difference is obvious. These are young players that are capable of being major league players and also capable of working in a car wash in two years.  

Any illusion that any front office for any of the 30 teams have these razor thin decisions perfected down to a science is incredibly impossible. Every front office makes mistakes on these coin flips and they make them often. 

Does anyone think the Rays trade Joe Ryan for a DH rental if the Rays knew what Joe Ryan would be doing in 2022 and 2023. I think its safe to assume that they don't make that trade, they probably offer Brandon McKay instead who was rated higher in the system at the time of the trade. 

If the Twins knew what Ryan was going to become when trading Cruz to the Rays do you think they needed Strotman added to the deal? They would have agreed to Ryan and called the commissioner before they got off the phone with the Rays.  

Front offices know that they are going to make mistakes. How often do they make mistakes. Often... they are easy to find for all 30 teams. Just pull up any roster at random and look at who is doing what and ask yourself... was that the plan?  

Angels - I don't believe the plan was to sign David Fletcher to a 5 year deal only to send him to Salt Lake City so they could call up a SS who was drafted last year. 

Astros - Abreu? 

A's - They didn't start the season with Rooker penciled into a starting position? They didn't plan for what he did? They took a flyer to fill out the worst roster in baseball. 

Jays - Do the they trade for Berrios if they had the chance to do it over? Are the Twins still insisting on Martin if they still do? 

Braves - Michael Harris was the greatest thing on earth last year. I have to believe that his current .526 OPS was not the plan. 

Brewers - They did not pursue a 2B in the off-season. Do they still just hand the job to Turang or did they make a mistake? 

Cardinals... Do you think they sign Wilson Contreres to that contract knowing his OPS would be .663 in June and that he would have to be removed from the catcher position for a spell.   

Cubs... Isn't it possible that they break camp with Morel if they knew what he was going to do. Is it possible that Mancini or Hosmer isn't necessary if they break camp with Morel. 

I'm going alphabetically and I'll stop now but there are ton of mistakes being made in the baseball world far away from 1 Twins Way.

The Margins are thin... these decisions are hard. Mistakes are inevitable... it's what you do after is what is important. 

[tony&rodney]

I don't care ..... it's in the past. Falvey gonna do whatever he wants to do. 

Never liked Mahle even when he was ok with the Reds. Just not the guy for winning against good teams. Still supported the trade for pitching, and yes, I still love the trade for Pablo Lopez.

Who would trade one of Kirilloff, Lee, or Lewis for Steer and CES? 

That said, I always tried to catch as many CES at bats last season as possible. He does hit the ball really hard.

Final thought is haunted houses are pretty lame.