The Minnesota Twins Should Explore Trading Jhoan Durán This Offseason

[tony&rodney]

52 minutes ago, Beast said:

Now we should trade away a $3M bullpen arm for financial reasons?

Good grief.  Just shut this thing down.  It’s radioactive from ownership all the way down to the media/fan base.

Maybe you trade him to get ahead of his arm expiration date (which may already be here).  But, finances entering the conversation is asinine.

 

I don't believe most people are looking at Duran's salary but rather at the possibilities that he or anyone else could be moved in a trade to improve the team. At least that is the way I see it.

However, it would be sad if the team considered Duran, Jax, Ryan, Ober, Jeffers, or Castro as expensive. I just don't think that is the view.

[chpettit19]

The Twins should explore trading everyone this offseason. Not in a "blow it up" kind of way, but in a "we're not good enough and we need to make changes" kind of way. Running it back minus the current free agents wouldn't be good enough. They don't have any money to sign legitimate veteran help. So either they go into next year happy to finish 3rd or 4th in the division around .500 again or they look to get creative in moving pieces around. Duran is a reasonable enough piece to look at moving if he can bring back help in another area and they think Paddack and Varland in the pen could cover for him no longer being there.

[mrcharlie]

11 hours ago, Karbo said:

If they would trade him, which I don't believe they will, he should bring in a haul. Problem with that is they will then probably need to pay more than 3 mil. I don't see too many teams giving up top, ready for the majors type players that would still be on rookie price contracts.

Not.  He is the most overrated player on this squad.  He can bring us depth but no one of impact right off.

[Doctor Gast]

12 hours ago, Minderbinder said:

These let's-trade articles....  A guy's metrics slip a hair and we should explore a trade?  We're supposed to sell-high, not low, when a team could get more in return.  Explore a trade?  For whom?  [cue the comments on how many angels on the head of a pin] And then watch Duran become the next Clase for somebody else who figures out how to tweak him back to 2023 form?  How 'bout, "let's coach him up"?  

You trade Duran only if you think you won't compete. Tanner was traded at the deadline for a bunch of prospects because MIA was not competing. I agree with Mindbinder you don't trade Duran at a discount when he slipped a bit, We need him especially because IMO he'll come back to help fill out the top of the BP. IMO our BP isn't that great w/o him.

[FargoFanMan]

Well, when it comes to bullpens I believe you need as many high caliber arms as possible hoping 2-3 can be absolutely lights out.  Although he hasn’t been himself he’s still elite. You need those guys and his salary isn’t exorbitant. Unless you’re getting 3 high end ready for MLB prospects how in the world could you entertain trading this guy. Maybe he fetches a kings ransom. If that’s the case then you do it. You don’t make this move for salary relief. That’s what Vazquez and Paddack are for. Not this guy.

[Maybe Next Year]

Duran never knew what his role was this year - 9th inning, 7th inning, 8th inning? Baldelli is the absolute worst manager in MLB when it comes to effective management of a pitching staff. Don’t get rid of Duran, get rid of Baldelli and hire somebody to manage who has a clue. 

[dxpavelka]

17 hours ago, Minderbinder said:

These let's-trade articles....  A guy's metrics slip a hair and we should explore a trade?  We're supposed to sell-high, not low, when a team could get more in return.  Explore a trade?  For whom?  [cue the comments on how many angels on the head of a pin] And then watch Duran become the next Clase for somebody else who figures out how to tweak him back to 2023 form?  How 'bout, "let's coach him up"?  

Fresh off an article on this very site about three former Twins relievers achieving post-season success this very post-season.  Touche

[Doctor Wu]

22 hours ago, Trov said:

Every player should be explored for the right deal.  I mean if a team is willing to toss a ton of good prospects for him sure it would be worth trading him.  However, there is little need to do it right now he is still under control for a couple seasons.  He is on a bit of a down year, and hopefully he bounces back next year.  You can never have too much good pitching.  

I also would never count Brock Stewert in as a reliable guy.  He had a good short stretch with us, but between injuries he has not bee good at times too. He does not have some long term history of being good either. Too often people see a hot stretch of a pen arm as something to count on for years. 

Good point, Stewart and Topa are both potentially good pieces in the bullpen, but their injury histories put them in the unreliable/who-knows-what category. 

[Doctor Wu]

11 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

You trade Duran only if you think you won't compete.

That pretty much sums it up for me. If we are looking at some sort of rebuild or can't hope to compete next season, then trade him definitely. But otherwise, he's an asset to keep. 

[Stew]

No and no and hell no. He came off injury and had a so so year. Mark my words. He will be relief pitcher of the year next year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Guest]

On 10/16/2024 at 8:13 AM, tony&rodney said:

Twins Daily exists to put out stories concerning the Twins. Thus it makes perfect sense that a series of articles explores specific players and the possibility of trading them. A series of articles also looks at prospects from time to time along with other ideas. These articles are not demands, just food for thought.

If one does not believe that any changes should occur with the roster, that is a preference. There is nothing wrong with that position, but just ignore these articles if that is your position. I cannot understand why anyone would disparage an article that is just forwarding a thought.

Does Duran have value to another team? I would argue yes. He also has value to the Twins. A trade would work if the right name(s) returns. Arizona comes to mind as does Boston.

One thing seems clear to me - if the Twins roll out the same roster next season we can all expect a similar end result.

I worked for a very successful fellow who never hesitated to sell a business if someone else valued that business higher than he did.  He'd mark his businesses to market weekly.  As applied to Duran and this article, my point wasn't that the Twins shouldn't listen if another team inquired about Duran (the Dodgers did in August), but that Duran regressed a tad this year thus making it likely the league would look at buying Duran at a bargain.  Who knows, but Duran's long-term value is, I'd argue, pretty high and 2024 was a bit of an aberration.

My laughter with these should-we-trade articles is that of course the Twins should mark their players to market, and of course they should listen when the phone rings.  But unless we're talking a specific a, b and c for d, then the article is all about how many angels are on the head of a pin.