Twins Swap Jovani Morán for Mickey Gasper, Acquiring An Underwhelming Last-Minute X-Mas Gift

[Guest]

Mr. O"Halloran?  Mr. Falvey on line 2....

Derek!  Get our card?

Sorry, no, been tidying up for due diligence, just no time.  Wondered what if you might be interested in taking back CV...

Weellllll now, let me think.  Off the top of my head I think you're going to have to take Gasper off our hands first, maybe for an under-the-radar LHRP that just needs some good coaching...

Ok, Brian, let me just bend over a bit more...

[stringer bell]

Fangraphs says Gasper has three options remaining. With his versatility and being a switch hitter, I’d be surprised if he doesn’t get a chance with the major league team at some point in 2025. 

[Mike Sixel]

Some of the complaining and emotions seem way over the top for this level move. Not one team wanted Moran in the recent draft. They dealt him for a switch hitter that might catch better than Carmago, who they clearly don't trust. I'm utterly perplexed at many of the comments and their anger, angst, or hmmmmm, can't think of either A word. 

[Hubie29]

43 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

Some of the complaining and emotions seem way over the top for this level move. Not one team wanted Moran in the recent draft. They dealt him for a switch hitter that might catch better than Carmago, who they clearly don't trust. I'm utterly perplexed at many of the comments and their anger, angst, or hmmmmm, can't think of either A word. 

I think it's just Twins fans are tired of the same "nothing" trades or acquisitions year after year. I think we are all waiting for the day we can make some real, difference maker moves. It's an emotional release i guess. 

[stringer bell]

54 minutes ago, Hubie29 said:

I think it's just Twins fans are tired of the same "nothing" trades or acquisitions year after year. I think we are all waiting for the day we can make some real, difference maker moves. It's an emotional release i guess. 

Like signing Correa or Josh Donaldson? Or trading for Pablo López? 

I hate that there is (apparently) a firm cap on payroll, but what the FO can do is driven by not adding, but reducing payroll. 

Getting fair value for any player who can be traded is a tough lift. The Twins are waiting, but their potential trade partners are waiting too, knowing that the Twins have to make cost-saving moves. 

[Hubie29]

16 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

Like signing Correa or Josh Donaldson? Or trading for Pablo López? 

I hate that there is (apparently) a firm cap on payroll, but what the FO can do is driven by not adding, but reducing payroll. 

Getting fair value for any player who can be traded is a tough lift. The Twins are waiting, but their potential trade partners are waiting too, knowing that the Twins have to make cost-saving moves. 

You are correct on the 3 players, and man that was exciting when they did that! It was actually shocking. But that's not the norm, which you also alluded to. It will be nice when that's more the norm than the exception. Plus, Donaldson was what 5 years ago? Had to give an all- star to get Lopez. Correa was an exciting FA move. 

[sweetmusicviola16]

I take it Falvey and Zoll are not going to give us a Boxing Day gift this year?

[sweetmusicviola16]

9 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

We are on Page 3 of comments on a nothing trade. Falvey & Sons may have been purposely done putting this roster together last offseason. We are stooges just goofing around having a little fun in our spare time with an entertainment that helps us avoid the continuing tragedies in our world. Thank you Twins Daily. 

Yep, sometimes real life is just diaharea.

[Mike Sixel]

3 hours ago, Hubie29 said:

I think it's just Twins fans are tired of the same "nothing" trades or acquisitions year after year. I think we are all waiting for the day we can make some real, difference maker moves. It's an emotional release i guess. 

Except that's not what it's been. Unless trading for Lopez wasn't a difference? They've signed Correa twice. This tells us nothing about the future at all. 

[Hubie29]

1 hour ago, Mike Sixel said:

Except that's not what it's been. Unless trading for Lopez wasn't a difference? They've signed Correa twice. This tells us nothing about the future at all. 

I'll give you the Correa signing. That was an unbelievable unexpected signing. Very exciting. That's what we need more of. I am waiting for the day that might be a normal off season move. I can't give you the Lopez acq., that was a trade of an all star to get him. 

[Craig Arko]

I think this is actually about having insurance in case they get an offer involving Vazquez that they like.

[Mike Sixel]

1 hour ago, Hubie29 said:

I'll give you the Correa signing. That was an unbelievable unexpected signing. Very exciting. That's what we need more of. I am waiting for the day that might be a normal off season move. I can't give you the Lopez acq., that was a trade of an all star to get him. 

That's not normal for more than like five teams, maybe three. I don't know why anyone would expect that. 

[Doctor Gast]

On 12/25/2024 at 10:44 AM, old nurse said:

I think yu have a section for that called just for fun. Not front page news 

Primary of what Tom has done is writing a report on a Twins' transaction. Just because he was very creatively amusing in doing so doesn't subtract from that. FO could use some creativity to makes some significant trades. BTW "Just For Fun" makes front page news. If you want to change that, I wouldn't oppose. But that should be another topic.

[Doctor Gast]

Thank you Tom for bringing amusement while reporting on a mundane & depressing offseason. I miss your regular insights & interaction on TD. I never miss an episode of TFTwins on Youtube. Moran  & Gasper are promising prospects, with no disrespect isn't the Christmas gift we were expecting. BTW BOS liked their gift. But they have already got a bunch of really nice gifts. But thanks Falvey anyway.

[old nurse]

2 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

Primary of what Tom has done is writing a report on a Twins' transaction. Just because he was very creatively amusing in doing so doesn't subtract from that. FO could use some creativity to makes some significant trades. BTW "Just For Fun" makes front page news. If you want to change that, I wouldn't oppose. But that should be another topic.

Yes, some fans need to have trades for the sake of trades. It becomes a new person to mock, hate or cheer for. The people then can lament for years how great the player traded was while complaining about the replacements 

[USAFChief]

14 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

That's not normal for more than like five teams, maybe three. I don't know why anyone would expect that. 

Only 3 MLB teams address needs with quality free agents??

 

MLB needs to address salary caps and floors, and do better to level out revenues, sure, but c'mon. The Twins could sign some free agents 

 

 

[stringer bell]

Let’s see, if we accept the $130M limit on payroll, what can the Twins do to improve the team and also contend in 2025?

It seems to me that any move has a lot of risk and much less than an even chance of paying off.  There is one “bad” contract (Vázquez), one “fair” contract where the pitcher could be superfluous (Paddack) and a couple of players with injury histories who might be tradable at a discount. There’s about $12M to cut.

Last year, the Twins traded Polanco for two injury risk pitchers who got them about three innings and the $$ to acquire Carlos Santana. They also got Margot in a minor league infielder exchange and got him for reduced salary. Margot didn’t even play up to the discounted salary. I would count both of those trades as acquiring distressed assets. On balance they didn’t work. 
 

What other trade can they make? 

[Hubie29]

37 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

Only 3 MLB teams address needs with quality free agents??

 

MLB needs to address salary caps and floors, and do better level out revenues, sure, but c'mon. The Twins could sign some free agents 

 

 

Great comment Chief. That's what I was getting at in my original post but I didn't want to respond.  Sometimes it's just best to let comments go. I wasn't referring to 700M dollar FA.  But c'mon, how about a few 15M to 20M a year FA. Hell, at this point I would settle for less. 

[sweetmusicviola16]

8 minutes ago, Hubie29 said:

Great comment Chief. That's what I was getting at in my original post but I didn't want to respond.  Sometimes it's just best to let comments go. I wasn't referring to 700M dollar FA.  But c'mon, how about a few 15M to 20M a year FA. Hell, at this point I would settle for less. 

Like Detroit signing Gleybar Torres this morning? That's a good solid addition by Detroit to address  some weakness. No it's not superstar move. But he at least is an attempt to make Detroit better. I don't think any of us are expecting a top5 signing every year. Royals have added. Tigers have added. Cleveland has shuffled some pieces around. CWS has made moves that could change their future. Twins have drafted a rule 5 pitcher who has pitched 40 innings above A ball. But we're left with "the Twins would have made the post season if they hadn't collapsed at the end. Hope we've learned from that." The '84 Twins collapsed at the end too and it took them 2 full seasons to recover. And it took the additions of Reardon, Berenguer, Gladden, Blyleven,  Newman, etc to become a real contender.

[Hubie29]

2 minutes ago, sweetmusicviola16 said:

Like Detroit signing Gleybar Torres this morning? That's a good solid addition by Detroit to address  some weakness. No it's not superstar move. But he at least is an attempt to make Detroit better. I don't think any of us are expecting a top5 signing every year. Royals have added. Tigers have added. Cleveland has shuffled some pieces around. CWS has made moves that could change their future. Twins have drafted a rule 5 pitcher who has pitched 40 innings above A ball. But we're left with "the Twins would have made the post season if they hadn't collapsed at the end. Hope we've learned from that." The '84 Twins collapsed at the end too and it took them 2 full seasons to recover. And it took the additions of Reardon, Berenguer, Gladden, Blyleven,  Newman, etc to become a real contender.

Can't say it any better than this.  But this is what it is until new owners. 

[Mike Sixel]

2 hours ago, USAFChief said:

Only 3 MLB teams address needs with quality free agents??

 

MLB needs to address salary caps and floors, and do better to level out revenues, sure, but c'mon. The Twins could sign some free agents 

 

 

Every year. The post said every year sign a guy like Correa. 

[Linus]

2 hours ago, stringer bell said:

Let’s see, if we accept the $130M limit on payroll, what can the Twins do to improve the team and also contend in 2025?

It seems to me that any move has a lot of risk and much less than an even chance of paying off.  There is one “bad” contract (Vázquez), one “fair” contract where the pitcher could be superfluous (Paddack) and a couple of players with injury histories who might be tradable at a discount. There’s about $12M to cut.

Last year, the Twins traded Polanco for two injury risk pitchers who got them about three innings and the $$ to acquire Carlos Santana. They also got Margot in a minor league infielder exchange and got him for reduced salary. Margot didn’t even play up to the discounted salary. I would count both of those trades as acquiring distressed assets. On balance they didn’t work. 
 

What other trade can they make? 

One I hope they would consider is to use prospects and / or Larnach to trade for a cost controlled right handed hitting outfielder that doesn’t need to be platooned and can catch a batted ball. Don’t know if this player exists. 

[sweetmusicviola16]

16 minutes ago, Linus said:

One I hope they would consider is to use prospects and / or Larnach to trade for a cost controlled right handed hitting outfielder that doesn’t need to be platooned and can catch a batted ball. Don’t know if this player exists. 

Prospects aren't just for storing away in a cache, Use them to acquire already talent too. Even though the Mahle trade didn't workout that is a decent example.

[stringer bell]

30 minutes ago, Linus said:

One I hope they would consider is to use prospects and / or Larnach to trade for a cost controlled right handed hitting outfielder that doesn’t need to be platooned and can catch a batted ball. Don’t know if this player exists. 

Where  is the reduced payroll in that? Honestly, I expect less than the anticipated 1.95M to attend home games and if they want to balance the books this year, paring more money will be happening. Maybe the answer is Royce Lewis becoming what he teased us with in October of ‘23 or maybe Emma or Walker Jenkins.

Until and unless the team is sold, it seems this is reality. The Twins are trying really hard to make me a Vikings fan. 

[Linus]

26 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

Where  is the reduced payroll in that? Honestly, I expect less than the anticipated 1.95M to attend home games and if they want to balance the books this year, paring more money will be happening. Maybe the answer is Royce Lewis becoming what he teased us with in October of ‘23 or maybe Emma or Walker Jenkins.

Until and unless the team is sold, it seems this is reality. The Twins are trying really hard to make me a Vikings fan. 

Yea I wasn’t making the suggestion with payroll in mind. If they made a trade like this and let Miranda play first we could largely forget all the platoon stuff. I am hoping they will be allowing the current payroll. I would be happy enough if that was our off season 

[Major League Ready]

16 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

That's not normal for more than like five teams, maybe three. I don't know why anyone would expect that. 

You are absolutely right but we should not be surprised when fans expect their team to pull off big deals nearly every year.  It's kind of the nature of fandom.  Among the teams in the bottom half of revenue, trading away very good players or just letting them go to free agency is far more common.  

I would add the guy I think of as the biggest deal maker among modest revenue teams in Dipoto and the Mariners have been the definition of mediocre.  They have exactly two 90-win seasons in the last 20 years and not one season over 90 wins.  

[Rod Carews Birthday]

4 hours ago, sweetmusicviola16 said:

Like Detroit signing Gleybar Torres this morning? That's a good solid addition by Detroit to address  some weakness. No it's not superstar move. But he at least is an attempt to make Detroit better. I don't think any of us are expecting a top5 signing every year. Royals have added. Tigers have added. Cleveland has shuffled some pieces around. CWS has made moves that could change their future. Twins have drafted a rule 5 pitcher who has pitched 40 innings above A ball. But we're left with "the Twins would have made the post season if they hadn't collapsed at the end. Hope we've learned from that." The '84 Twins collapsed at the end too and it took them 2 full seasons to recover. And it took the additions of Reardon, Berenguer, Gladden, Blyleven,  Newman, etc to become a real contender.

Agreed on the '84 Twins turning into the '87 and '91 Twins.  None of those additions were amazing players though.  They were certainly contributors, but none of them were players who could carry the team on their backs.  I would argue that most of the improvement came from guys like Hrbek, Gaetti, and Puckett getting better and carrying the team on their performance.  My hope is that guys like Wallner, ERod, and Jenkins can do a similar thing for this latest group.  With Correa, Buxton, and Lopez already in the fold, the potential is certainly there. 

[DocBauer]

On 12/26/2024 at 7:39 PM, Craig Arko said:

I think this is actually about having insurance in case they get an offer involving Vazquez that they like.

With respect, he's got 114 appearances at catcher in MILB and 108 games started there. Meanwhile, he's got 188 appearances at 1B and 179 games started there.

I think he's as much, or more, of a 1B depth option as he is a catcher depth option. Not saying that's exciting, lol, but I think 1B is as much of the equation or more.

[Major League Ready]

On 12/27/2024 at 10:42 AM, sweetmusicviola16 said:

Like Detroit signing Gleybar Torres this morning? That's a good solid addition by Detroit to address  some weakness. No it's not superstar move. But he at least is an attempt to make Detroit better. I don't think any of us are expecting a top5 signing every year. Royals have added. Tigers have added. Cleveland has shuffled some pieces around. CWS has made moves that could change their future. Twins have drafted a rule 5 pitcher who has pitched 40 innings above A ball. But we're left with "the Twins would have made the post season if they hadn't collapsed at the end. Hope we've learned from that." The '84 Twins collapsed at the end too and it took them 2 full seasons to recover. And it took the additions of Reardon, Berenguer, Gladden, Blyleven,  Newman, etc to become a real contender.

I think you might be overlooking a crucial difference between Detroit and Minnesota.  The Tigers were below $100M in projected payroll before the addition of Torres and are now projected to spend $107M on payroll.  

[mrtwinsfan]

On 12/24/2024 at 7:15 PM, sweetmusicviola16 said:

Mickey Mantle

Mickey Lolich

Mickey Tettleton

Mickey Rivers

Mickey Hatcher

Mickey Gasper

 

Mickeys Diner