Revisiting Realmuto as a Twins Trade Target

"He must have really not liked something about Minnesota."

 

Perhaps he likes to win. 

His .107 batting average in 92 post season plate appearances and terrible defense last post season say otherwise.

His .107 batting average in 92 post season plate appearances and terrible defense last post season say otherwise.

He intentionally tanked because he hates winning?

I don't know who the Twins could possibly trade for Realmuto.

Besides, "hard hitting catcher" is near the bottom of my list of things to improve on any baseball team. It's pretty much what you work on dead last. Put defense at C until the other positions are taken care of unless a home-grown catcher can hit and play good D too.

I don't think you trade one of your top prospects for a catcher. Every catcher in the league is only 1 pitch away from a concussion. Look what it did to Mauer. He was never the same afterwards. It's just too risky to expect a Realmuto or anyone else to be in your lineup almost every day for the next 2,3,4 or more years and produce like one of the top 3 or 4 prospects in your system could. 

He intentionally tanked because he hates winning?

He certainly hasn't risen to the occasion when games actually count.

Would any player see the Brewers as a much better position than the Twins?  Possibly the best division and on the Brewers who watched all the other division teams make massive improvements while their major signing at the time was Cody Spangelberg.  Every team in this division seems to be one injury away from last place.

I would think 3 years in the ALC would be tempting for a good hitting catcher.  Our only competition is trying to "compete with less."  He could hit against pitchers like James Shields and Ian Kennedy every other day.  He could DH occasionally (less so with Cruz but maybe year 2 and 3 could get him some additional AB).  3 years for a catcher is a great deal these days from the player prospective, Jason Castro was the last catcher to get 3 or more years.

He certainly hasn't risen to the occasion when games actually count.

 

Would any player see the Brewers as a much better position than the Twins? Possibly the best division and on the Brewers who watched all the other division teams make massive improvements while their major signing at the time was Cody Spangelberg. Every team in this division seems to be one injury away from last place.

 

I would think 3 years in the ALC would be tempting for a good hitting catcher. Our only competition is trying to "compete with less." He could hit against pitchers like James Shields and Ian Kennedy every other day. He could DH occasionally (less so with Cruz but maybe year 2 and 3 could get him some additional AB). 3 years for a catcher is a great deal these days from the player prospective, Jason Castro was the last catcher to get 3 or more years.

Any player? I think every single player in baseball would see a team that went to the NLCS as being in a better spot than a team that won 78 games.

I doubt many players spend time looking at prospect rankings and trying to project years down the road. They are looking at who is doing it better right now, and right now the Brewers are way better than the Twins.

In Realmuto trade the Marlins are currently asking for Phillies prospects Sixto Sanchez(#1 in Phillies org, about 20th overall, 100MPH pitcher) and their good young MLB catcher Jorge Alfaro (similar but better track record than Garver) be included in a package, so they probably want 1 or more after that too. 

Kirilloff, Garver and more would be a close comparison.  Subbing Graterol with Kirilloff might get it done but would be a lesser deal than what they want from Phillies package.  I think I would pass.

In the 2000's we were told "don't add better pieces because we are already good and winning divisions". 2011-2018 comes along and we are told that"since we are not good at this time and not in a position to compete don't add good pieces". Now 2019 comes along and we are told"that we need to see what our core has before we can add good pieces".

 

There will forever be an excuse for this team not to add good to great pieces to our mix. The reason behind that excuse has been and remains that we are cheap.

I’m not sure who you think was saying that. I was a regular on a handful of fan boards at the time and nearly everyone was saying go get that one piece to make a push. Before the emergence of Johan, it was to get a bonafide ace. After that, usually a bat. Instead, they added stiffs like Rick Reed and Phil Nevin.

It's moot now. The Twins did not trade for him. Philly did. 

Yeah, seven pages of wasted discussion. Maybe if it would have gone to eight pages .... Damn it!!!

It's moot now. The Twins did not trade for him. Philly did. Now Philly will sign Harper or Machado most likely. Neither move might work out.....but at least they are trying to win. 

 

The fact that the Twins won't sign 25/6 year old generational talents until they are the last piece, well.....

When Harper or Machado has done what Betts or Trout has done you can call them generational talents.

If the Twins trade Kirilloff for a catcher, that is likely to be concussed and will have to be paid in 1 year, I will cancel my MLB season ticket.  Our catching isn't great, but it is OK.  Falvine should be focusing on positions of weakness, Pitching, 1B, 2B and decent depth that can play 3rd.  Cruz is fine, but other than that we signed a bunch of maybes.  No where near the caliber of Realmuto.  

So what Twins prospects compare with the one the Phillies gave up??

The Twins can’t top the pitcher prospect.

The Twins don’t have a 25 year old catcher with promise.

If the Marlins’ priorities were getting the best pitching prospect and young catcher they can find, the Twins can’t win that deal.

Kiriloff, Graterol and Garver is as close as they can get to beating that offer.