Who Will Be the Highest Ranked Free Agent Signed By the Twins?

[MeleMouth]

1 hour ago, nicksaviking said:

Agree that finding the right cast-offs pays off frequently, under Terry Ryan in particular. But for this organization, turning the fringy starters to relievers has had an extremely high success rate since about the time they did it with Perkins.

But the one path that does not appear to have much success, is going big on multiple free agents. It's just hard to predict how even a good reliever will fare on a new team with a new manager in a new ballpark and a new clubhouse. And then when you tie a big contract to him, the team is loathe to remove him from a high leverage role if he underperforms. I'd be Ok with perhaps one. With the understanding that if necessary, the team will pull the plug before too much damage is done.

Since 2006, the top four Twins relievers by saves were converted starters - Nathan, Perkins, Duran, Rogers.

Those four, plus Jax, also a converted starter, have the most fWAR. Many other top relievers had been starters, from Duensing to May to Pressly to Duffey to Varland.

So converting a starter has been a good path.

However, all paths should be considered. Note that Nathan had already been a reliever for a couple of when acquired by the Twins, and that Duran and Rogers were relievers for the entirety of their Twins careers. 

And none of it matters if the team can't help the former starter figure out to succeed as a reliever.

[Cris E]

Well they did start doing things differently in 2026. 

 - Guys changed to new positions.  They didn't add a new position, they left the old one and stayed at the new one. Revolutionary.  EDIT: And this was mostly due to a material dissatisfaction with the defense on the field. That's also new. 

 - Guys got a look and were gone if they didn't make the grade.  Wallner was a favorite with a multi-year track record and was essentially cut in May. SWR is gone, Martin was set aside for the kids, Fedko is gone, along with Outman, Arcia, Topa, Orze and a host of other anonymous pitchers. 

 - Pitchers got to stay in longer. Far fewer bullpen/opener games. Everyone got to close if their mom brought treats. 

 - Far fewer IL trips, which sounds good until you realize I'm not pleased with this.  Several guys were allowed to hang around and chew up innings and ABs when they should have been sat down or sent down to figure stuff out or get well. Buxton and Lewis were the worst, but there were many others.  Morris was sucking the chrome off trailer hitches for a month in there, mid-Aug to mid-Sept.

So things are different.  It's not shown up in team building much yet, but let's see how things go. If Tom P is still on his hot yoga high when the free agent season opens we might see some stuff. 

[nicksaviking]

24 minutes ago, MeleMouth said:

Since 2006, the top four Twins relievers by saves were converted starters - Nathan, Perkins, Duran, Rogers.

Those four, plus Jax, also a converted starter, have the most fWAR. Many other top relievers had been starters, from Duensing to May to Pressly to Duffey to Varland.

So converting a starter has been a good path.

However, all paths should be considered. Note that Nathan had already been a reliever for a couple of when acquired by the Twins, and that Duran and Rogers were relievers for the entirety of their Twins careers. 

And none of it matters if the team can't help the former starter figure out to succeed as a reliever.

But Duran and Rogers were starters until immediately before their promotion. 

Converting them has been one of the good things the front office has done. It just takes time as they almost all struggle initially. The only guys who hit the ground running were Duran and Rogers. And I don't think that's a coincidence; they got the good news/bad news routine. You're no longer a starter, BUT, congratulations, you're getting called up!

Meanwhile the other guys were all converted mid-season or in the spring when they not only had to transition physically, but deal with the negative feelings about no longer being a starter. We know Perkins, May and Jax held resentment initially. Surely others did too. Kevin Slowey basically quit when he was told. 

[MeleMouth]

24 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

But Duran and Rogers were starters until immediately before their promotion. 

Converting them has been one of the good things the front office has done. It just takes time as they almost all struggle initially. The only guys who hit the ground running were Duran and Rogers. And I don't think that's a coincidence; they got the good news/bad news routine. You're no longer a starter, BUT, congratulations, you're getting called up!

Meanwhile the other guys were all converted mid-season or in the spring when they not only had to transition physically, but deal with the negative feelings about no longer being a starter. We know Perkins, May and Jax held resentment initially. Surely others did too. Kevin Slowey basically quit when he was told. 

I think we're having two different conversations. I don't disagree with anything you said in this comment or much of your past ones, but I'm not sure of the point you're making. Is it that converting starters to relievers should be what the Twins do in 2027?

Because I'm agreeing that is a good path to look at. I'm also saying that other paths should be considered and that recent history shows that, regardless of path, confidence should be low that current Twins management will do a good job of identifying or retaining the correct relievers.

[HerbieFan]

5 hours ago, nicksaviking said:

Yup. And the thrifty Brewers and Rays are likely also going to want to spend now, and those spots look more attractive.

So I would rather NOT spend a ton of money in free agency if the team is only going to spend it on whatever random low-level free agents are willing to come here. I'm way more interested in trades. Particularly for another top of the rotation arm.

Have agreed for a long time on trades being the way to go.

[jkcarew]

If there was ever a go-big or go home off-season, this is it. You’re not “close”. Either go for a top needle-mover for the middle of the lineup, or resign yourself to using the season to see what you have with all the ready/near ready prospects. If they spectacularly overachieve, you have the deadline.

Exception…you have to have another competent catcher.

And YES to using trades from organizational glut (high minors and MLB) of middle infielders and left-handed hitting outfielders to at least partially address current MLB holes at C, RP, SP, and/or to upgrade the infield corners, etc.

[SE23]

2 hours ago, HerbieFan said:

Have agreed for a long time on trades being the way to go.

Certainly. Provided you have valuable assets to offer in trade. We might need to acquire some valuable assets first.

[Riverbrian]

10 hours ago, SE23 said:

Certainly. Provided you have valuable assets to offer in trade. We might need to acquire some valuable assets first.

I'm not sure why you got a thumps down on this post. You are right. The Twins need to create value. 

The Brewers have an impressive list of players rostered in 2026 that came from the trees of the Burnes, Williams, Hader trades.

Create value and trade it. The Twins struggle to create it. 

[bean5302]

22 hours ago, Cris E said:

Both are OBP guys with limited power and poor defensive chops leading to a battle to find a defensive position.  Luke has been healthier and shown more power. Luis has only been defensively average once in his career, and since it didn't happen until his age 29 season I'm not confident it's a new baseline that he can be counted on to maintain.  OTOH he seems to have stayed healthy since leaving the Twins, which was a huge knock on him early in his career. But there are far better ways to spend $20m than a slower, weaker Luke Keashall (that also could end up blocking the real Luke Keaschall at 1B or DH.) 

Arraez was one of the best 2B in baseball last year at +12 OAA. Presumably because he changed his approach to fielding in order to maximize the lousy OAA metric. Players are beginning to talk about how OAA is making negative impacts on teams. Other than the severely flawed OAA metric, Arraez has graded out as an average-ish fielder at 2B.

Side note TwinsDaily continuing to use British English for spell check is annoying AF.

 

 

[Mike Sixel]

3 hours ago, Riverbrian said:

I'm not sure why you got a thumps down on this post. You are right. The Twins need to create value. 

The Brewers have an impressive list of players rostered in 2026 that came from the trees of the Burnes, Williams, Hader trades.

Create value and trade it. The Twins struggle to create it. 

Because they have valuable players in the minors to trade if they want. The implication they have no valuable players is ludicrous. They also have valuable MLB players they can trade is they want.