Two Trade Proposals to Send Twins Catcher Ryan Jeffers to the San Diego Padres

1 hour ago, In My La Z boy said:

That's silly. 8 catchers played over 135 games last year, and we cannot afford a 10M back up catcher.
Jason Kendall played 15 seasons and AVERAGED 135 games per year. The article was about trading Jeffers which is crazy. Trading Vazquez, as TD has written repeatedly about, isn't about needing another catcher in return, it's about salary relief, and he's not that good anymore obviously.

Playing games as catcher, only Carl Raleigh appeared in 135 games as catcher.  Only 11 catchers started more than 100 games. 

Kendall was 15 years ago. 

5 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

I like your thinking that we need a high-leverage LHRP & SD has a need for a catcher. We need these ideas to brainstorm what we should do. But the trade is a huge overpay. Jeffers has a much higher trade value over Peralta & his high salary even if you include all those promising arms. IMO our greatest need is our catching depth. IMO SD will try to unload Arraez not only because of his salary but like Jeffers, Boras is his agent so they wouldn't be able to afford his extension. So your idea to trade Jeffers has merit. But I'd use Jeffers to lure a trade to obtain a young promising MLB-ready future catcher away from a win-now team. I'd also target a 2nd promising young MLB-ready catcher because we also need a viable 3rd catcher. And soon we'll be w/o Vazquez & Jeffers or worse yet, they extend Jeffers to a ridiculous contract. 

BTW, I'm not a Jeffers hater & I'm not a Julien hater. My opinion on both Jeffers & Julien last year is the same, If the Twins are determined to misplace Julien at 2B (when we had better options there) it's better to trade him when his trade value is high. Last year when the Twins misplaced Jeffers as the primary catcher it was better to trade him because we don't have a long-term future primary catcher who can catch the majority of games, his trade value was very high & it doesn't make sense to extend him to a ridiculous extension or not extend him & let him go for nothing. This year their trade values have dropped considerably but it's still prudent to trade both.

Really! "Last year when the Twins misplaced Jeffers as the primary catcher"  When did that happen? I'm not a big Jeffers fan. But if they trade him. Who's backing up Vasquez? Who's the catcher in 26. You have Vasquez catching 100 plus games and giving the rest to who? Sound tactic there for sure. Cartaya and Vasquez. That will definitely make the Twins Cental champs. Dodgers can afford to move off a guy who is 4th or 5 on their depth chart and he's going to be a prominent piece for Minnesota.

31 minutes ago, Schmoeman5 said:

Really! "Last year when the Twins misplaced Jeffers as the primary catcher"  When did that happen? I'm not a big Jeffers fan. But if they trade him. Who's backing up Vasquez? Who's the catcher in 26. You have Vasquez catching 100 plus games and giving the rest to who? Sound tactic there for sure. Cartaya and Vasquez. That will definitely make the Twins Cental champs. Dodgers can afford to move off a guy who is 4th or 5 on their depth chart and he's going to be a prominent piece for Minnesota.

I'm a Jeffers fan. They announced it at the beginning of the season, Of course, that didn't last long, It quickly became an equal tandem where he started out strong but after some time petered out. I have advocated for the Twins to trade for a promising primary young MLB-ready catcher long before I advocated trading Jeffers. Now after advocating the trade of Jeffer due to the reasons I stated before. Throughout this thread, I've stated that these new acquisitions & Camargo in no way move the needle as far as justifying moving Jeffers. None of them are MLB-ready much less backup.

2 hours ago, In My La Z boy said:

That's silly. 8 catchers played over 135 games last year, and we cannot afford a 10M back up catcher.
Jason Kendall played 15 seasons and AVERAGED 135 games per year. The article was about trading Jeffers which is crazy. Trading Vazquez, as TD has written repeatedly about, isn't about needing another catcher in return, it's about salary relief, and he's not that good anymore obviously.

One catcher caught 135 games last year, one - Cal Raleigh. One caught 131 games - Shea Langeliers.

Jeffers and Vazquez both caught 86 games. Even that will tell one some information on games caught since there are 162 games and 86 + 86 = 172. The games caught are not necessarily complete games caught.  Only 10 catchers caught more than 900 innings last year.

Jason Kendall was indeed an iron man. It is now 2025 though and we are not going to see that again very soon if ever. The demands of catching have changed quite a bit with the vast array of information requiring meetings and discussions well beyond the game of the 20th and early 21st century. I'm not suggesting this is better but it is more complex and involves more time. It is what it is.

Jeffers is traded for a bullpen guy that has a player option after each season for 4 million , I don't see the logic in that and I hope our front office isn't crazy enough to do that trade ...

While we are short handed in the catching department  , I'm not sure if an extension is wise for jeffers  , I just haven't seen enough consistency  year to year ...

Baseball has changed and they now use two catchers for the season  ( if healthy ) to split the equal share of catching for the season ...

Believe it or not their has been alot of great catchers that squatted  140 games a season and hit too , you have to be mentally prepared to do that though ...

15 hours ago, old nurse said:

Playing games as catcher, only Carl Raleigh appeared in 135 games as catcher.  Only 11 catchers started more than 100 games. 

Kendall was 15 years ago. 

Why are we more fragile today? Asking as an old man. Ivan Rodriguez, Yadier Molina, that wasn't that long ago? What's more grueling about catching than when i watched Bench & Fisk do it nearly everyday? Jeffers is a big strong kid. My real point was shedding a $10M back up catcher who doesn't hit very well is a good idea, and it's not a good idea to trade Jeffers. 

21 hours ago, Byrdman said:

I know Twinsdaily readers hate Jeffers but he is part of the core of this team.  

Really?  Doesn't seem like the sentiment I've ever seen here.

Maybe Vasquez and a prospect for Peralta, but we can't move our one and only legit catcher.

2 hours ago, In My La Z boy said:

Why are we more fragile today? Asking as an old man. Ivan Rodriguez, Yadier Molina, that wasn't that long ago? What's more grueling about catching than when i watched Bench & Fisk do it nearly everyday? 

The games are about an hour longer than they were when Bench was catching, or at least they were before the pitch clock was implemented. That's an extra half hour in a squat every night. The playoffs are also 2 weeks longer and teams want to have their best catcher productive for that whole month. Finally, I think the worst players have gotten better so the gap between your beat-up starter and a fresh backup is smaller than it was in the 1970s.

A silly proposal to trade Jeffer for an aging bullpen lefty in Peralta. It doesn’t save them any money, which will drive all FO decisions to make the penurious ownership happy. Even with yesterday’s trade for Dodgers minor league catcher Cataya, that leaves Vasquez as the every day catcher, creating a huge offensive hole in the lineup any time Vasquez is catching. 

3 hours ago, In My La Z boy said:

Why are we more fragile today? Asking as an old man. Ivan Rodriguez, Yadier Molina, that wasn't that long ago? What's more grueling about catching than when i watched Bench & Fisk do it nearly everyday? Jeffers is a big strong kid. My real point was shedding a $10M back up catcher who doesn't hit very well is a good idea, and it's not a good idea to trade Jeffers. 

Good point. Twins all star Earl Battey caught between 131-147 games from 1960-65. Jerry Zimmerman was the no hit, strong defender backup, similar to where Vasquez currently is in his career. Of course lots of things have changed in baseball. Starters used to pitch 240 innings and more, especially with four man rotations. Now they are considered iron men if they pitch 180 innings. 

46 minutes ago, Otaknam said:

Good point. Twins all star Earl Battey caught between 131-147 games from 1960-65. Jerry Zimmerman was the no hit, strong defender backup, similar to where Vasquez currently is in his career. Of course lots of things have changed in baseball. Starters used to pitch 240 innings and more, especially with four man rotations. Now they are considered iron men if they pitch 180 innings. 

But why have lots of things changed? Culture?
We baby children and helicopter Moms are everywhere. Do we now baby players? How the hell did players do what they did 20-30-40-50 yrs ago, but now they just can't? The training & conditioning of today vs training & conditioning of the past? It makes no sense OTHER THAN we're babies and we baby people. 

17 hours ago, chpettit19 said:

I don't know when they announced it, but it was an equal tandem from the very start. He caught games 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21...you get the idea. Vazquez and Jeffers both started exactly 81 games at catcher last year. Jeffers caught 720.1 innings to Vazquez's 719. There was a 4 out difference in catching. It was an equal tandem from the very beginning of the season.

Before the postseason Twins named Jeffers as their postseason starter & in the offseason as their main catcher. I imagine it was only a vote of confidence for Jeffers & probably had no intention of having anything else more than an equal tandem during the regular season. That was the point that I was trying to get across.

Why is it Jeffers can't catch 125 games of 162? The trade that needs to be made is the 32+year old Vasquez. They have 3 catchers in AAA now and it should be time for one of them to be ready. The backup could play in 37 games and replace Jeffers in games that are won or lost early. We all know Rocco is a platooning manager. The Polhad's have given the mandate to trim payroll that went up yesterday.

If I am a prospective bidder I would make clear to the Pohlad’s that I don't want them to make deals sacrificing the 2025 season in order to reduce the budget. Trading Jeffers for a reliever or prospects will weaken the 2025 team.

On 1/9/2025 at 12:57 PM, Charleo said:

The Twins are in "win-now" mode?     If you say so.....

Maybe he meant there in "Win? Now?" mode.

25 minutes ago, David Maro said:

Why is it Jeffers can't catch 125 games of 162? The trade that needs to be made is the 32+year old Vasquez. They have 3 catchers in AAA now and it should be time for one of them to be ready. The backup could play in 37 games and replace Jeffers in games that are won or lost early. We all know Rocco is a platooning manager. The Polhad's have given the mandate to trim payroll that went up yesterday.

Rocco gets bored writing the same things over and over.

1 hour ago, David Maro said:

Why is it Jeffers can't catch 125 games of 162?

He is not good enough.

On 1/9/2025 at 5:32 PM, tony&rodney said:

One catcher caught 135 games last year, one - Cal Raleigh. One caught 131 games - Shea Langeliers.

Jeffers and Vazquez both caught 86 games. Even that will tell one some information on games caught since there are 162 games and 86 + 86 = 172. The games caught are not necessarily complete games caught.  Only 10 catchers caught more than 900 innings last year.

Jason Kendall was indeed an iron man. It is now 2025 though and we are not going to see that again very soon if ever. The demands of catching have changed quite a bit with the vast array of information requiring meetings and discussions well beyond the game of the 20th and early 21st century. I'm not suggesting this is better but it is more complex and involves more time. It is what it is.

 

Stop bringing facts and logic to an emotional argument 

11 hours ago, DJL44 said:

The games are about an hour longer than they were when Bench was catching, or at least they were before the pitch clock was implemented. That's an extra half hour in a squat every night. The playoffs are also 2 weeks longer and teams want to have their best catcher productive for that whole month. Finally, I think the worst players have gotten better so the gap between your beat-up starter and a fresh backup is smaller than it was in the 1970s.

Again... stop bringing logic to an emotional argument.

I'm always interested to hear what others have concocted as possible trades for the Twins.  I will accept the argument that Vasquez is the more likely traded catcher and that Jeffers, with greater value would bring back more.

But in each of these trade proposals the Twins get back far less than the value of Jeffers.  I vote "no" for both trades.  I wouldn't rule out a trade of Jeffers, but the Twins need to get something back far better than a left handed relief pitcher who's locked into a $4 million dollar salary for the next 4 seasons. 

Remember the current regime's philosophy on RP.  They don't pay ANYONE close to $4 million.  Jax and Duran are FAR SUPERIOR to the guy the Padres would be sending us and current ownership would be more likely to trade Jax and Duran before paying THEM $4 million per season. 

While the acquisition of Cartaya is interesting, he's at least a solid season in the minors away from even being considered as a possible catching option.  Too much to fix with him right now.  Any trade of Vasquez/Jeffers needs to have a young catcher coming back or another trade would need to be completed, either before said trade to ensure the 2025 season was covered for the Twins behind the plate.  

On 1/10/2025 at 6:38 AM, In My La Z boy said:

Why are we more fragile today? Asking as an old man. Ivan Rodriguez, Yadier Molina, that wasn't that long ago? What's more grueling about catching than when i watched Bench & Fisk do it nearly everyday? Jeffers is a big strong kid. My real point was shedding a $10M back up catcher who doesn't hit very well is a good idea, and it's not a good idea to trade Jeffers. 

There was an article elsewhere where Kepler talked about how he plaid with an abdominal strain most of the year and how it affected his performance. The game has changed and though you say you have watched it forever you can’t see it. 

Your list of catchers who played 135 games rarely hit 135. They didn’t even make it 120 in half the seasons they played in games started as a catcher. Your memory of what was is faulty 

On 1/11/2025 at 9:46 AM, TopGunn#22 said:

I'm always interested to hear what others have concocted as possible trades for the Twins.  I will accept the argument that Vasquez is the more likely traded catcher and that Jeffers, with greater value would bring back more.

But in each of these trade proposals the Twins get back far less than the value of Jeffers.  I vote "no" for both trades.  I wouldn't rule out a trade of Jeffers, but the Twins need to get something back far better than a left handed relief pitcher who's locked into a $4 million dollar salary for the next 4 seasons. 

Remember the current regime's philosophy on RP.  They don't pay ANYONE close to $4 million.  Jax and Duran are FAR SUPERIOR to the guy the Padres would be sending us and current ownership would be more likely to trade Jax and Duran before paying THEM $4 million per season. 

While the acquisition of Cartaya is interesting, he's at least a solid season in the minors away from even being considered as a possible catching option.  Too much to fix with him right now.  Any trade of Vasquez/Jeffers needs to have a young catcher coming back or another trade would need to be completed, either before said trade to ensure the 2025 season was covered for the Twins behind the plate.  

I’m with you on not trading Jeffers for a lefty reliever who has a $4 million contract for multiple years. Cartaya does have the potential that once made him a top 100 prospect, though his bat hasn’t produced yet. I think the team expects him to be the backup if Vasquez or, heaven forbid, Jefferson is traded instead of Vasquez.