Trade deadline day thread

[S Bart]

2 hours ago, bunsen82 said:

I went through the trades, surprisingly the values line up with the Twins ahead on every trade but Stewart for Outman and the trade with the Cubs. Stewart must be damaged goods and or the Twins have an infinity for Outman. Boy did we end up with a variety, young players to old players, helium players to fully deflated balloons.  All in all I think the return is ok to above average which is more than I could say this afternoon. 
 

I mentioned it before but more than anything these trades appear to me to be tanking for the draft lottery. My guess is we will have a sale, we will be in a good position, and the Twins will get the first or second pick in what should be a loaded draft.  The value of a first or second pick for a player like a Skenes is franchise altering. The easiest way to tank and later rebuild is to trade away your bullpen.  Falvey has punted on the bullpen until the last 2 years, I think his view is it’s a luxury. You can rebuild a pen overtime by constantly running through retreads and finding a Stewart,  offering a cheap contract like Coloumbe, or transitioning failed starter prospects like Duran, Jax Varland and Sands. 
Ultimately we can rebuild the bullpen, but it’ll take 2 years to build it organically.  Or you can rebuild through trades and free agent. 
 

So with that being said, we still have a very good rotation. We have some decent positional players. Trading Correa was additional through subtraction.  We have some decent lot of solid prospects in the minors. I still think best case is we are competitive again in 2027 and most likely 2028.  That means we are likely trading Ryan, Ober and Lopez in the offseason or next years trade deadline.  
 

I was for a reset, but the Varland, Jax and Stewart trades seemed mean spirited. It was no longer about getting excess value, it was about saving money and ensuring we lose. We keep those 3 with Sand and we can still win a lot of games.  
 

I will continue to watch, just as I did in the mid 90’s.  See who is improving, who still is struggling with second third or fourth shot.  I am still a Twins fan for life, but damn today was rougher than I anticipated. 

 

This is a good posting. I will also continue to be a fan and am in my 60th year...BUT...I have no intention to return to watch a game in person or purchase Twins merchandise UNTIL there is a sale of the team as well as a shake-up with the manager and FO. It was more than being "mean spirited" as you put it to dump 5 relievers as well as $ being a core rationale. Yes, it is a business, Although, it is my belief that customer service by an owner means that you care about the fans which was not the case with the TV package in 2024, Joe Pohlad's comments at the end of last year and much more. Perhaps I am just old school. I hope that I see Falvey or one of the Pohlads on the street or at the mall. This old codger will give them an earful.

[S Bart]

18 minutes ago, knothole61 said:

Bart, I keep Varland, Jax, and Castro.

Jax, as a 7th inning or at times set-up guy still has real value despite his tendency to melt in high-leverage situations. Varland, and his contract absolutely should have remained a Twin: what a head scratcher that trade was! And, although Castro has been in a batting funk and, especially in the OF is a bit of a Dr. Strangeglove character, it's hard to give up a player who is so capable as a plug-in utility man and who also has decent speed and can get hot at times at the plate. Castro's versatility will be hard to replace.  

Goodbye Bader: you were an excellent pick up for as long as it lasted, but you were never slated to be a Twin for long. He's an excellent fielder and occasional clutch hitter, but I must say that I've seldom seem a major leaguer swing from his heels at pitches so damn far out of the zone. He is an odd and flamboyant man and I will miss his eccentricity and crop-dusted cap, yet I've not quite forgotten his failure to snag what seemed to be a catchable ball off the bat of Freddie Freeman that would have secured a truly epic win over the vaunted Dodgers. Lefties hitting oppo can impart some awful spin on the ball, and maybe that was the reason for Bader's miss, yet it remains a stark and unfortunate memory for me from the several month long "Bader Era" in Minnesota.

Good luck in Philly Tots. Incidentally, the Twins may never again have a player whose first name was also the last name of two U.S. presidents...how about that fans?   

Good posting..without Bader, there is no backup for Buxton and his injuries. 

[BiggestRoccoFan]

I am thinking the entire Minnesota Twins thread should be moved to the Twins Minor League Talk thread since that is about what we are now. 

[BiggestRoccoFan]

7 hours ago, Peter said:

This is exciting time in twins history!!! Young blood was needed and this is only the beginning !!!! I’m beyond excited what the future will bring for Twins baseball!!! Let’s go!!!!

Try the most embarrassing day in Twins history.

We are the laughing stock of MLB right now.

When you are seeing fans of other teams saying we are having open try out's at Target Field tomorrow it's not exactly a good look Petey.

[Watersmack]

Very excited to see how the Mickey Gasper Era plays out. I have canceled my October travel plans. Get out your wax lips!

[notoriousgod71]

I cancelled my September KC trip. Perhaps I'll go when KC hosts Toronto.

[Patzky]

5 hours ago, Watersmack said:

Very excited to see how the Mickey Gasper Era plays out. I have canceled my October travel plans. Get out your wax lips!

Mario suspender day September 38th.

[RIP BYTO]

The guy I feel for is Buxton, he's got to almost feel like he was demoted to AAA with half the team gone.

[Parfigliano]

2 hours ago, RIP BYTO said:

The guy I feel for is Buxton, he's got to almost feel like he was demoted to AAA with half the team gone.

I completely understand if he tells his agent he wants out.

[Twodogs]

16 hours ago, bunsen82 said:

The Correa albatross contract is gone. Farm system is good and you basically have fresh slate. Varland could have been a key piece. I know the Twins prior to the last 2 years could care less about relievers but it feels like we gave Jax and Stewart away. 

I mean, but they still owe 33 million dollars on that contract and they don't have anything for it.  So now they are paying Correa 33 million dollars to play for Houston.  Plus the Twins got nobody in return?

 

So you're looking to buy a house for 1 million dollars.  Yard is 100% artificial turf.  But it comes with a 100,000 dollar bill for solar panels which you must pay 33 thousand dollars per year for the next 3 years.  You balk at the solar panel thing.  So the owner trades the solar panels to another home owner for his Gardner.  The other home owner gets the 100,000 solar panels for 66,000 minus his Gardner.  Now you are re offered the house for 1 million dollars.  They tell you that you now only owe 33 thousand for the solar panels and now you have a Gardner.  You're like, my yard is artificial turf?  That's ok, you can cut the Gardner but now you are out from underneath that solar panel contract?  I don't know if that sounds a lot better to me?  

 

Now had they actually got someone for Correa, like a AA or AAA SS or pitching prospect then I'd be more on board with this.  But right now the Twins are paying 33 million dollars so that Houston can better.  I mean this just looks stupid.  Now I could also see making this move if they had Fransisco Lindor sitting behind him and he's being blocked by Correa, but the Twins don't have that problem either.  So looks really weird to me.  Falvey's next job might be in Houston?

[DJL44]

6 minutes ago, Twodogs said:

I mean, but they still owe 33 million dollars on that contract and they don't have anything for it.  So now they are paying Correa 33 million dollars to play for Houston.  Plus the Twins got nobody in return?

So you're looking to buy a house for 1 million dollars.  Yard is 100% artificial turf.  But it comes with a 100,000 dollar bill for solar panels which you must pay 33 thousand dollars per year for the next 3 years.  You balk at the solar panel thing.  So the owner trades the solar panels to another home owner for his Gardner.  The other home owner gets the 100,000 solar panels for 66,000 minus his Gardner.  Now you are re offered the house for 1 million dollars.  They tell you that you now only owe 33 thousand for the solar panels and now you have a Gardner.  You're like, my yard is artificial turf?  That's ok, you can cut the Gardner but now you are out from underneath that solar panel contract?  I don't know if that sounds a lot better to me?  

A better analogy. You purchased a home for $108M but forgot to insure it and it burned to the ground. The lot is worth $30M. Some rich guy from Houston offers to buy it for $75M. Do you tell him no?

[Twodogs]

34 minutes ago, Parfigliano said:

I completely understand if he tells his agent he wants out.

Maybe Falvey can find someone to take Buxton off of their hands for half of his contract??  Then the Twins would only owe half of Buxton's salary?

[Twodogs]

8 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

A better analogy. You purchased a home for $108M but forgot to insure it and it burned to the ground. The lot is worth $30M. Some rich guy from Houston offers to buy it for $75M. Do you tell him no?

The original statement was, if I was interested in buying the Twins for like a billion dollars or whatever they are being sold for.  After yesterday, I'm not sure I'm still interested in buying the Twins anymore.  Your analogy works in the fact that last week I might have been interested in buying the Twins but not now after you burned them to the ground.  I mean as a prospective owner, I need faces for advertising, I need to be able to put people in the seats to make my investment profitable.  Right now if I buy the team, I no longer have one of the faces of the franchise but I have to cut him a check for 33 million still.  Your looking at Correa as the house, I'm looking at Correa as one of the parts of the house.

 

Again, had the Twins received something for him as far as a half assed decent prospect I'd be much better with it.  But they essentially got no one.  Also the Twins really don't have a replacement for him at the major league level.  

[DJL44]

6 minutes ago, Twodogs said:

Your looking at Correa as the house, I'm looking at Correa as one of the parts of the house.

I don't think a potential new owner cares at all about the people living in the house, just like people purchasing a large business don't usually care about who works there.

[Watersmack]

16 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

A better analogy. You purchased a home for $108M but forgot to insure it and it burned to the ground. The lot is worth $30M. Some rich guy from Houston offers to buy it for $75M. Do you tell him no?

What if the lot has bad feet?

[bunsen82]

22 minutes ago, Twodogs said:

I mean, but they still owe 33 million dollars on that contract and they don't have anything for it.  So now they are paying Correa 33 million dollars to play for Houston.  Plus the Twins got nobody in return?

 

So you're looking to buy a house for 1 million dollars.  Yard is 100% artificial turf.  But it comes with a 100,000 dollar bill for solar panels which you must pay 33 thousand dollars per year for the next 3 years.  You balk at the solar panel thing.  So the owner trades the solar panels to another home owner for his Gardner.  The other home owner gets the 100,000 solar panels for 66,000 minus his Gardner.  Now you are re offered the house for 1 million dollars.  They tell you that you now only owe 33 thousand for the solar panels and now you have a Gardner.  You're like, my yard is artificial turf?  That's ok, you can cut the Gardner but now you are out from underneath that solar panel contract?  I don't know if that sounds a lot better to me?  

 

Now had they actually got someone for Correa, like a AA or AAA SS or pitching prospect then I'd be more on board with this.  But right now the Twins are paying 33 million dollars so that Houston can better.  I mean this just looks stupid.  Now I could also see making this move if they had Fransisco Lindor sitting behind him and he's being blocked by Correa, but the Twins don't have that problem either.  So looks really weird to me.  Falvey's next job might be in Houston?

They ate a bad contract - likely for the sale.  Needed to get that contract off the books,  basically all on Pohlads to make the financials make more sense.  I would have thought let Correa continue to play Short and see if he could have rebound year - I personally think he will.   There was no value in Correa, you aren't getting a prospect, wow look how much his value has fallen in 4 years.  100 million for 3 years,  that is still valuing Correa as a 2 WAR player per a year for the next 3 years.  If he is below replacement level,  then eating the contract was the best thing to do.  

[bunsen82]

4 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

I don't think a potential new owner cares at all about the people living in the house, just like people purchasing a large business don't usually care about who works there.

LOL - the new owners looked at the house and told the current owners to fix it,  otherwise it was a no go.  This was all about the money to fix the problem and who was going to be responsible for fixing it.    It came down that the Pohlads had to eat it - hence why he was the one doing the deal.  It also tells me this had been in the works for a while.  

[bunsen82]

Byron Buxton and Joe Ryan are the highest valued assets remaining.   Byron has stated he wants to stay,  Joe Ryan I would assume is the most likely to be traded in the offseason.  

[Twodogs]

27 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

I don't think a potential new owner cares at all about the people living in the house, just like people purchasing a large business don't usually care about who works there.

But they probably care somewhat about how the business performs.  If the business is struggling to get people to come to their business they will probably offer less than if a business is constantly full of people and interest.  I mean these things can affect what someone will offer for the team. 

 

I remember having an argument last year when it came out that the Pohlads were trying to sell the team.  I said this could take awhile, especially if the Pohlads are looking for some specific number that they have to have in order to sell.  It was at the time when the Twins said they were lowering payroll.  I said prospective buyers want a healthy product that they are buying if they are going to pay a premium.  If you have a product that is unhealthy or needs work then you probably have to sell at a discount.  I don't remember who it was, but they said the Twins would be sold within a couple of months if you look at the other teams that have gone up for sale.  I said those other teams either sold at a discount or they were already a good team.  He argued and argued with me, and eventually I just said yep your right and here the Twins are a year later still not sold.  So we can continue to trade jobs with analogies, but my take is if the product isn't very good, then the price must go down.  If they are trying to keep the price up, Kelly Blue book price, (cars) then the vehicle must be performing well.  That's not the case here.  

[Twodogs]

38 minutes ago, bunsen82 said:

LOL - the new owners looked at the house and told the current owners to fix it,  otherwise it was a no go.  This was all about the money to fix the problem and who was going to be responsible for fixing it.    It came down that the Pohlads had to eat it - hence why he was the one doing the deal.  It also tells me this had been in the works for a while.  

Ok, Correa in a vacuum might do that.  But how does trading Varland, a guy who is cheap and has 5 more years of control fix the house?  I mean all of this took place together not in separate situations.  I'm thinking whoever was offering to buy the Twins are gone.  Now the Pohlads know they won't be selling so they are going to go all Florida Marlins on us.  I'm thinking the potential buyers are gone and the Pohlads said we want payroll down to 80 mil or some stupid number.  I mean this could be the case?

[Battle ur tail off]

Twins aren't worth much as a franchise as compared to some others in my opinion.

After the last 2 years they are worth even less. Their owner has killed any fan interest with the way he talks, acts and by not having them accessible on TV.

Selling these guys off doesn't make them any more attractive to a buyer IMO. My thoughts are this was done in order to reduce expenses for the Pohlads and nothing else. They have done a really terrible job these last 2 years. I don't know if I've seen someone run a business into the ground so fast. It is literally like it was done on purpose. Crazy...

[bunsen82]

Just now, Twodogs said:

Ok, Correa in a vacuum might do that.  But how does trading Varland, a guy who is cheap and has 5 more years of control fix the house?  I mean all of this took place together not in separate situations.  I'm thinking whoever was offering to buy the Twins are gone.  Now the Pohlads know they won't be selling so they are going to go all Florida Marlins on us.  I'm thinking the potential buyers are gone and the Pohlads said we want payroll down to 80 mil or some stupid number.  I mean this could be the case?

Varland, Stewart Jax were all about destroying our ability to win the next 2 months,  extracting values from the most volatile positions relievers while receiving some value back.  

I didn't think I would say this but Bradley for Jax has the potential to be a great trade for both teams.  Bradley is a backend arm with the potential to be very very good.  Again he is only 24 and hasn't performed terribly.  He is currently rated as our 4th best asset.   You rebuild his value,  you either have a core piece of the rotation, or another trade piece.  he doesn't fit in a full tank mode firesale though.   Still haven't quite figured this one out yet.  

[jaimedude]

Twins even traded or gave Johan Duran entrance videos and song to Phillies to use. 🤮

[Fatbat]

1 minute ago, jaimedude said:

Twins even traded or gave Johan Duran entrance videos and song to Phillies to use. 🤮

You do realize that Duran and the twins tech guys collaborated on that. He was involved from the get go so he owns the rights to his entrance video no matter where he plays. Its not like the twins were going to Durans song compilation/video when closer X came into a Twins game. 

[Mike Sixel]

22 minutes ago, Fatbat said:

You do realize that Duran and the twins tech guys collaborated on that. He was involved from the get go so he owns the rights to his entrance video no matter where he plays. Its not like the twins were going to Durans song compilation/video when closer X came into a Twins game. 

I'm pretty sure that wasn't a fully serious post.

[ashbury]

On 8/1/2025 at 10:23 AM, Watersmack said:

What if the lot has bad feet?

The lot probably has a yard.  Not feet.

[nicksaviking]

20 hours ago, jaimedude said:

Twins even traded or gave Johan Duran entrance videos and song to Phillies to use. 🤮

Dang dude, I think you cracked the code! The Pohlad’s probably copyrighted the video. Not only did they get salary relief by trading Duran and the rest of the relievers, now they can get residuals form the Phillies, Jays, Rays, Rangers and Dodgers by sending their entrance videos along with them! 
 

Such a smart move!

[Parfigliano]

22 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

Dang dude, I think you cracked the code! The Pohlad’s probably copyrighted the video. Not only did they get salary relief by trading Duran and the rest of the relievers, now they can get residuals form the Phillies, Jays, Rays, Rangers and Dodgers by sending their entrance videos along with them! 
 

Such a smart move!

Those billions don't just pop out of thin air 

[RpR]

On 7/31/2025 at 3:55 PM, Peter said:

No you can’t!!! This year is done but we still must support our twins no matter what!!! It will be 3-4 years but this had to be done going forward!!! We got top prospects ready to step up!!! No expectations whatsoever!!! This is better! Let’s see how the kids do!!!

Garbage in, garbage out.

[Louie]

So the Phillies gave up two dudes for one of the best closers in the game.  Two "top" prospects consisting of a catcher in High A hitting .251 and some pitcher.  Since when did hitting 250 in the minor leagues make you a great prospect. I don't care if he throws out everybody stealing, batting 250 in the minors is like taking your sister to prom.  What an absolute false!