bean5302

@Ted Schwerzler just to note, Levine DID pursue the Red Sox opportunity, but the Red Sox quickly eliminated him. He didn't get a 2nd round interview. https://www.masslive.com/redsox/2023/10/red-sox-baseball-ops-search-narrows-as-twins-gm-eliminated-from-mix.html That aside, the Pohlads have really screwed fans this year. I mean, yeah. What can you say? While I don't think the Twins' ownership is bottom 5, they certainly were this year. Right there with the White Sox, Angels, Rockies, Marlins. Their moves reek of incompetence and poor business management skills. There are some commenters who still defend the Pohlads cutting payroll, and I was fine with the cut during the offseason. I believe, and still do, there was sufficient payroll to build a team without the glaring weakness (ace) we currently have. Falvey decided to add depth, depth and more depth. His prerogative. That said, it's wholly inappropriate for ownership to kneecap the GM in the playoff scenario we're currently facing. 1. Reduction of payroll after a positive operating income last year. 2. Keeping Dave St. Peter in charge when he's failed year after year after year to understand his market and improve attendance, in essence, blaming the fans for not attending rather than holding failed management accountable. 3. Reckless and damaging public statements from ownership and executive leadership. ("Right size" 'She'll rock the dress' "surprised and disappointed we haven't drawn better", "we're not in the market for those players", "you see that with the... Orioles...") 4. A complete about-face on how the Twins are planning to operate. Shifting from mid-market to small market while having just entered into big, long term contracts which make such a shift virtually impossible. 5. Increasing ticket prices, understanding the product had enhanced value, but failing to invest after asking fans to improve investment. 6. Throwing their popular broadcasters under the bus like Bremer and Provus. 7. Doubling down with Diamond Sports for a TV deal and the absolute disaster which unfolded as a result. 7. Failing to take responsibility for business decisions which led to decreased fan attendance and knee capping the front office to make needed improvements at the deadline. The Pohlads do not understand what they're doing. It's clear they've chosen the wrong voice "Joe" to lead the team through such an unstable course, and they've completely misjudged the fanbase's attitude.

Okay so why didn't the Twins get Flaherty? He went for the equivalent of Schobel and De Andrade. I think fans, especially fans who invested in the team for a season ticket package like myself, deserve to be ticked off. We put our money into the team. Now, obviously everything will be forgiven if the Twins win the World Series, but if they don't... even if they make it and watch a winnable game go south with a guy like Ober or Woods Richardson coughing up rough start vs. Flaherty who pitches excellent, there will be the what if. What if the ownership of the Twins was better?

...that's what you got from my post? That's certainly not the point I'm attempting to make or a point I consider valid. Remember back in 2011 when the Twins were expected to make the playoffs? How'd that turn out? The Twins were favorites after 2010. They were expected to be perennial contenders. They had can't miss prospects like on this list https://www.minorleagueball.com/2009/10/19/1091423/top-20-minnesota-twins-prospects Not one of those prospects truly panned out as expected in the near future. Gibson was the only one of them who made a significant contribution for the Twins before 2015, but he was far from the ace the Twins were hoping for. Miguel Sano was the only other MLB regular starter who came out of our top 20. Teams who horde prospects are almost universally known as "rebuilding." They typically rock out to 90 loss seasons, and when the door opens, they spend money, trade prospects and go for a title. Baltimore is putting their money where their mouth is. Kansas City is putting their money where their mouth is. Pittsburgh refused to trade away assets. Even pathetic, perennially cash strapped, lowly Cleveland acquired talent at the deadline.

4.56 FIP. Festa's giving up like 3HR/9 right now. He's not punching any October tickets like that, but the last two starts produced solid results, even if the metrics weren't outstanding.

That's all great... except what was proposed is Dobnak will guaranteed wind up with this hypothetical mystery interested MLB team if they want him for $1MM. Hard to do that in your solution to the problem, there. The only way it can happen is the Twins release Dobnak. I should have put that into point 4.

Gleeman thinks the Twins will cut payroll even further this offseason. If ownership is unwilling to even make a minor salary pick up to grab Flaherty when the team is poised for the playoffs, I wouldn't hold my breath on what they'll do in the offseason. Even Cleveland was more in at the deadline than Minnesota. By the way, the AL Central is winnable this year. The Royals are building. The Tigers are building. There's no guarantee the Twins are even in a position to be .500 next year. A couple injuries, and we're cooked.

1. Dobnak isn't in the minors. 2. $750k left on the books for 2024 ($2.25MM). 3. $3MM in 2025. Are you talking about the sum of two years' salary? I honestly don't know where you're going with this. Are you assuming 1. the Twins will DFA Dobnak when he has 3 options remaining, and that 2. Dobnak will then clear waivers, and that 3. after he clears waivers only 1 team in MLB would be willing to offer Dobnak even a MiLB contract so 4. that one hypothetical team who wants Dobnak is guaranteed to get him at league minimum? I'd say there are a lot of ifs, some less and some more plausible than others.

Agreed. I don't expect to be a season ticket holder next year. I need to "right size" my attendance.

From MLBTR If the Pohlads want to be more like the Rays and Orioles, maybe they should consider both of those teams have made significant moves and the Orioles have been tied to big names at this deadline. This trade was a nothingburger. I don't have anything against Richards, but I really don't see how he makes our bullpen better. Just call up Varland and put him where he belongs. In the bullpen.

Ummmmm... why?

Glad to see Dobnak get another opportunity. He's certainly earned a look based on his performance in AAA. I could see the Twins keeping him or trying to free up some cash by DFA'ing him to see if another team grabs his contract.

Exactly. Nobody thinks the Tigers will trade Skubal, but if the Twins did trade for him, Jenkins is the only piece they have which is valuable enough to start the conversation.

So you're saying it's not possible for the Tigers to acquire an ace, say like Corbin Burnes or Blake Snell in this offseason free agency? It's not honestly debatable the Tigers are looking to compete immediately, I don't think.

Don't agree Baltimore has rotation issues. They have a pretty solid playoff rotation even as of today. ERA/FIP 1) Corbin Burnes 2.45/3.48 2) Grayson Rodriguez 3.82/3.63 3) Albert Suarez 3.62/3.69 4) Zach Eflin 4.11/3.63 5) Kremer 4.20/4.88. Word is they're in on Flaherty hard, too. If they land Flaherty, that rotation is likely going to be a real force to be reckoned with.

Because the Tigers want to remain relevant immediately. They're not in rebuild mode. They'd trade Skubal if blown away, not because they want to. They're building and aiming for the playoffs, even potentially this year. They want guys they can use now or next year. Jenkins probably isn't that desirable as a headliner because he's so far away. Ober = 30ish, Jenkins = 60ish, Festa = 12ish, Keaschall = 20ish. = 122 total, and typically, you have to overpay when combining multiple pieces to trade for a single piece.

Even Jenkins would barely get the ball rolling for Skubal. Baseballtradevalues. Jenkins is about 60. Skubal is 104. Skubal is one of the most valuable players in all MLB. He's basically what Chris Sale was when he was traded to Boston. Ober + Jenkins + Festa + Keaschall would likely get it done.

Brooks Lee's bat has been on par with Kyle Farmer's, and he's the only guy who is or is likely to be on the 26 man from your list. If you're aiming for .500 baseball for the next 5 years, keep all your prospects. If you're aiming for playoff relevance for the next year or two, you move them in the right scenario.

Adam Plutko is a 32 year old MLB journeyman who came back after washing out of MLB in 2021. Plutko pitched very well in Korea from 2022-2023, giving him a MiLB opportunity back here in the states. I'm not sure he'll stick in baseball or not. He might be serviceable as a spot starter, but I don't think he'd get anything better than a MiLB contract around the league. He's been better than his prime in some ways (walks), but he lost some K rate he had back with Cleveland in the minors.

In the interest of technical accuracy, I will assume you are correct. I'm not even going to look it up though, since I don't think there is a single team in baseball worried about a $1MM buyout, LOL.

I think it's clear the Twins have a need for a bullpen arm at this point. Not because of the results, but because Stewart is down 2mph so you have to think something isn't right there or question how reliable he'll be as a quality BP arm down the stretch. I was hoping Varland and Stewart could provide the the Twins with the quality front of the bullpen options, but Stewart doesn't look like that guy right now, and the Twins have kept Varland in the rotation far too long in St. Paul.

Definitely agree. Woods Richardson really does look the part of a quality MLB rotation arm. Whether that's a #3 or #5, it doesn't matter because it's still a huge huge win vs. what was expected of him after last year.

I just don't like Kikuchi much so I wouldn't give up much for him. I don't think he's going to be better than Lopez, Ryan or even Ober so what I'd give up for the guy isn't much.

Similar deal would probably be Cory Lewis + Yunior Severino + Deshawn Kiersey. Quite a bit to part with for a Kikuchi rental IMHO.

Pretty concerning about Brock Stewart. Looks like he's down about 2mph and it's showing in his results. Seems like Woods Richardson might just be getting a correction to his 3.27 ERA / 3.56 FIP to be more in line with his 4.18 SIERA and 4.22 xFIP entering the game.

Yep, I was wrong on this one. I was looking at 2023 as if it were 2024.