Five Trades the Minnesota Twins Could Make for a Starting Pitcher

[darin617]

Manoah crashed and burned last season so I can't see why Toronto would sell low on him now.  He could benefit with  change of scenery. But what does Toronto get back for him now? Pretty much nothing I would think. You throw them a potential lottery ticket and hope it works out.

[Cap'n Piranha]

To me, Julien is in another tier of value than Polanco.  At 24, in his first taste of the bigs, he basically outperformed every Polanco season except 2021.  He’s still young, still learning, and still 3 years away from his prime season.  Polanco is a very nice player, and has more than earned the contract he received.  That said, he is now now old(er), not still learning, and 3 years past his prime season.  If someone wants Julien over Polanco, they’ll have to give me a lot more than if the reverse were the case.

[tony&rodney]

9 minutes ago, Cap'n Piranha said:

To me, Julien is in another tier of value than Polanco.  At 24, in his first taste of the bigs, he basically outperformed every Polanco season except 2021.  He’s still young, still learning, and still 3 years away from his prime season.  Polanco is a very nice player, and has more than earned the contract he received.  That said, he is now now old(er), not still learning, and 3 years past his prime season.  If someone wants Julien over Polanco, they’ll have to give me a lot more than if the reverse were the case.

I would like both to be on the team next year. Then again, if the Twins can strengthen their team via trades, do it.

Julien seems to be a polarizing player; some like him and others are down on him. Those who have etched within their brains his early stumbles in the field and/or threw their slippers at the Tv whenever he took a strike may have missed what was a pretty good season from a rather raw and inexperienced player. Julien runs like he is nursing a hamstring injury, which he actually had late in the season.  His haircut and goofy look with the hat are notable. It would be interesting to hear what other organizations think about Julien.

Seems pretty universal that fans are interested in seeing the Twins complete a trade and teams usually try to use areas of depth to acquire needs.

[ashbury]

13 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

Julien seems to be a polarizing player

His skillset exhibits strong polarities.

- He strikes out a lot

+ He walks a lot

- His defense has improved to, ahem, adequate at second base

+ His bat stands out among second basemen

- His BABIP was awfully high in 2023 and will surely come down

+ Some few players maintain a BABIP well above .300, and those skew as Hall of Famers

- He had real problems against major league lefties

+ He didn't exhibit the platoon problem at AAA

So it's little wonder if people can argue the side that they feel is most important, and not see eye to eye with one another.  All in all his youth and his success in the majors have me unwilling to bet against him, and all the negative areas are things that could get better with experience.  For me, he's a keeper.  If you chose to trade him, you could probably get a lot.

[tony&rodney]

2 minutes ago, ashbury said:

His skillset exhibits strong polarities.

- He strikes out a lot

+ He walks a lot

- His defense has improved to, ahem, adequate at second base

+ His bat stands out among second basemen

- His BABIP was awfully high in 2023 and will surely come down

+ Some few players maintain a BABIP well above .300, and those skew as Hall of Famers

- He had real problems against major league lefties

- He didn't exhibit that problem at AAA

So it's little wonder if people can argue the side that they feel is most important, and not see eye to eye with one another.  All in all his youth and his success in the majors have me unwilling to bet against him, and all the negative areas are things that could get better with experience.  For me, he's a keeper.  If you chose to trade him, you could probably get a lot.

Yah, I see all that and agree with you. Actually, I don't know exactly why I feel that Julien will get better and better despite the challenges. I liked watching his at bats as much as I enjoyed watching Luis Arraez hit. They are quite different, but both are a pain in the ass for pitchers. As a former pitcher I see Julien as a pest, one who can also hurt you with the long ball. We never know how the Twins will shake things out or whether a player can meet their potential. It's all part of the fun and frustration.

[harmony55]

On 11/20/2023 at 12:19 PM, Mike Sixel said:

I'm not trading Raya for one year of a pitcher. No way. 

The Seattle deal is the best of these 

The proposed Seattle deal is also the least realistic as the trade evaluator suggests. Any Mariner interest in Jorge Polanco dropped Friday when Seattle traded for Luis Urias, who is four years younger with a higher ceiling (but lower floor).

 

 

 

 

[jorgenswest]

2 hours ago, harmony55 said:

The proposed Seattle deal is also the least realistic as the trade evaluator suggests. Any Mariner interest in Jorge Polanco dropped Friday when Seattle traded for Luis Urias, who is four years younger with a higher ceiling (but lower floor).

… or Farmer. I think Farmer will be difficult to trade.

So many of these deals are multiple players for one. They work in BTV but I think would lose out to other teams offering fewer players at the same value.

[Fatbat]

The blackburn deal is interesting because what do you do with him until someone needs to skip a start? and honestly do we need the #29 or 31 prospect?