Deadline Day: Where Things Stand for the Minnesota Twins

[Nashvilletwin]

1 hour ago, TheLeviathan said:

We aren't going to get a perfect comp.  What it says to me is that Jeffers would not have meaningless value.

The Red Sox just paid through the nose for Rutschman.

I wonder if the Bosox would’ve taken Jeffers for just their single top pitching prospect.  That would’ve been a great deal for us - a consensus top #50 overall prospect for Jeffers.

Besides, with the lockout pending, the extra year of control in 2027 is not worth as much as in the past. See Joe Ryan…..sadly.

[Western SD Fan]

I'm curious on how the QO will work for Jeffers this offseason.  It was reported that he would decline any QO that was offered to him.  The players hate the QO and I would guess many of the owners hate it as well, especially the ones who have to pay the QO tax.  My opinion is that the QO does not survive the next CBA.  The QO must be offered and rejected prior to the end of the current CBA (Dec 1st).

If the QO really doesn't survive the CBA, has Jeffers's value really went up because he is expected to refuse the QO?  How would they account for this if the QO doesn't survive the new CBA?  Would there be a transition offseason?  That has been a missing piece on where I think Jeffers's value ultimately lands.

[Patzky]

Dang, Heliot Ramos was a guy I was hoping we'd key in on.

[TheLeviathan]

2 hours ago, ashbury said:

We have Jeffers now, so no, hanging on to him for two more months isn't the answer to adding 10k.

It's going to take a decade of good faith by ownership to salvage this market.  Jeffers is just a tiny piece at the moment.  You know the phrase AITA?  If the Twins trade Jeffers now, they're the A.  If they keep him and he walks at season's end, he's the A.  Simple as that.

You and I will disagree about the value of the prospects Jeffers' two months would bring in return, versus the goodwill to the local fan base.  Indeed, it depends on whether another team is desperate enough to offer enough to change the calculus - something like what Boston just traded could probably be spun positively to Twins fans.

Joe Pohlad and Dave St Peter set the franchise back several years in their path back to relevance in their market, with their ham-handed PR in the 2023-24 timeframe.  To fix that may require doing things that don't strictly optimize the flow of prospect capital.

Ownership and the FO have to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time.

We mostly agree.  The Twins self-inflicted this problem.  They should be able to do both things at the same time.  We need more signs of good faith.  But from where I sit we have two points of difference: 

1) I think the AITA thing is wrong.  Fans will absolutely blame the Pohlads for being too cheap to match what he gets on the market.  I don't think the ire is directed at Jeffers in that situation.  The Pohlads are the bad guys in any scenario excepting resigning...hence my question

2) I just don't think the decision on Jeffers is a needle mover.  I think winning is far more important.  If the market showed poor returns for catchers I'd probably rescind my complaint, but given what Boston just gave to Baltimore I feel much more strongly that assets like that to build a winner matter more than 2 months of Jeffers.  Even from an optics point of view.

[umterp23]

Hoffman from Toronto?

[umterp23]

Hoffman for 3 prospects: Dasani hill, John Klein and dameury Peña… $12.666M next year in salary

[ashbury]

20 minutes ago, umterp23 said:

Hoffman for 3 prospects: Dasani hill, John Klein and dameury Peña… $12.666M next year in salary

Some of that salary will be covered by the Jays.

[bean5302]

So the Twins are going to run what the brung with a couple bullpen upgrades. Guess Prielipp is in for the playoff rotation 😅

[USAFChief]

6 hours ago, USAFChief said:

I doubt the Twins trade away anything from the current 26 man roster. Rightly or wrongly, I'd be shocked if they dealt Jeffers.

I think they add 1 relief pitcher, of little importance. 

 

Three words too many.

Edited yesterday at 11:09 PM by USAFChief

[ashbury]

47 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

Three words too many.

[tony&rodney]

The Twins Cities is not the market for baseball that it is for football, hockey, or basketball. The series in Seattle drew over 126,500 and the Mariners were and are behind the Twins in the standings. The Rockies drew about 112,000 customers to see the Kansas City Royals. The San Diego Padres draw almost twice as many fans as the Twins. 

We can point fingers all day long but Target Field is a fabulous venue for baseball and the fans are not showing up in numbers to indicate large interest in baseball in the Twin Cities. Winning is the only thing that brings fans to the games for Minnesota baseball. I'm thinking there are people who may know the Pohlads own the Twins and stay away but I'm also betting about three million people in the metro area don't care who owns the team. 

While I can appreciate that the Twins front office and Tom Pohlad seem to be in a bit of a pickle here regarding the popularity of the team, I would suggest that building a winning team comes with some cold-hearted decision-making at a difficult time. That isn't easy and I, for one, have some empathy for those making the calls. It is, however, their jobs.

For me, the bottom line, the 2026 Twins team is unbalanced and needed more than the admirable in season position shifts done by Shelton and his staff. I'm not sure when these changes/trades should have been done and maybe they get completed this coming November. Money is not the key missing ingredient. A balanced talented roster is the missing piece. Perhaps Walker Jenkins and others arrive and thrive to help the club. There is still plenty of baseball left to play in the 2026 season and we can hope for series wins, maybe even a notable winning streak.

[stringer bell]

I'd call the post-deadline bullpen functional at least and maybe a bit better. The Twins added Minter's salary for this year and Kremer and Hoffman's for next year. It's not exactly a spending spree, but a reversal of immediate past practice. For some reason, that kind of under the radar spending seems more legitimate to me.

There is no question in my mind that adding Kremer, Minter and Hoffman makes this a better pitching staff. The offense is basically unchanged and they will have to figure out what to do with three catchers longer term. Not optimum. Also, I wonder what the role for Rojas will be going forward. I understand he can go multiple innings, but generally a team doesn't want a top prospect to take a long relief role and counting Rojas they have four lefties in the 'pen.

For the Twins to have a chance to make postseason, they need to get the offense rolling again. There were signs in Seattle against a really good pitching staff. They also need the starters to bounce back and be consistent. Unless there is an injury, the only prospect I see coming up to Culpepper and he needs to be playing well. IMHO, it is defensible to keep Jenkins at AAA because he hasn't set the world on fire and it would mismanage the 40 man to add him if he's only going to be up until Buxton is back, especially in light of the probable work stoppage next spring.

[h2oface]

Well, all in all, a pretty boring buyer. 
 

[mnfireman]

5 minutes ago, h2oface said:

Well, all in all, a pretty boring buyer. 
 

Shored up the BP for the stretch run that they were not supposed a part of anyway, didn't lose any of the top prospects that should fuel the next contending window. Looks alright to me...  

[Coach Wheels]

21 hours ago, Patzky said:

Gotta be Jenkins internally, right?

Yes