bunsen82

Clemens is a 12th 13th man on the roster. A power option that actual seems to do well when used as a pinch hitter plus provides defensive versatility. He is usable as a 1st base fill in. In my opinion you need to find a better option for 1st base with Clemens as insurance with the possibility of further improvements.

Ryan will be traded if they get a significant offer. SP - next year will be Lopez, Ober, Matthews, Bradley and Abel SWR and Festa are your AAA depth pieces. You keep Lopez as the experienced starter to help show Matthews, Bradley and Abel what it takes to succeed at the MLB level. This gives you youth and experience. Ryan is tricky - my opinion is he will not do as well in a transition year, is worth more on the trade market. Ryan now has a trade surplus value 52.

@Matthew Taylor This is why I was surprised at claiming so many players were bust after a few games. Both Mick Abel and Taj Bradley ended on a strong note. Was the ERA great no, did they get wins no, However it appears for Abel it does appear he was able to stop tipping his pitches judging by his Phillies game. That alone is a massive improvement. For Bradley - its a multi level re-tool. Adjusting his arm slot for better stuff, re-implementing the splitter and working on and adding a slider. The other thing is teaching him the process to be a professional pitcher. Doing the homework, putting in the extra work and improving his work ethic. It is tough to get by just on talent at the MLB level and that is what he had been trying to do. Ultimately the Rays gave up on Bradley because he was unwilling to make adjustments or improve the work ethic. For the Twins based on initial results it is very promising and he appears willing to adjust. It does raise a few questions of long term viability, but the arm talent on both Abel and Bradley is undeniable. Abel bookended his season with 2 great performances that show his potential. The middle was rough. Abel when he has control (and not tipping pitches) has the stuff to rack up a lot of strikeouts. Same with Bradley. For both the goal is lowering the Whip a bit more which minimizes the damage when they inevitably give up some home runs. They are both work in progresses, with the offseason to continue to refine the progress they have made. In either case, as I have stated I was not worried about a handful of starts at the end of the season. I wanted to see improvement, and see if their quality of stuff was improving. Both made improvements in the last month and showed the upside they both have. 1 or both could both fail, or both could end up being #2 or #3 pitchers for the Twins. All in all if 1 of those 2 could reach their potential it would make the trade deadline worth it - ignoring the return of the rest of the players.

With that the season and the post trade deadline tank are finished. We ended with the 2nd highest odds in the draft at 22% of the first pick, 60% of top 3 and virtually assured of a top 5 pick.

As I said earlier he is a significant project at this point. He has had significant injury and poor results and a lack of effort (also gaining too much weight) for several years. He had a hit a higher level but he is our version of Julien. Yes there may still be something there but I don't see too many people clamoring to keep or pay Julien a lot of money. Doesn't appear to be a big deal either way. The issue may also be trying to keep him on the 40 man. Yes we have lots of cuts available, we will have lots of players that need to be added. Initial before the trade deadline I didn't think we would have an issue, after the trade deadline it will be difficult along with filling out the roster.

29 teams are not going to get a parade. We are not going into the abyss. As of now we have two high end SP. Abel, Bradley Matthew’s Festa and SWR give the team a lot of quality options with high ceilings. We have some really good hitters coming up the season which is something we need. This sell off will open up the window again in 2027.

Deadheat again between the Pirates and Twins.

We should know today if anyone made a claim on him.

Personally I would guess the Twins would only be willing to pay for 1 of Maton or Williams, and I could definitely see the Twins bringing back a player like Stewart if he is dfa'd or resigning Coloumbe. I see 2 FA or trades at minimum to solidify the bullpen.

https://www.mlb.com/twins/video/taj-bradley-s-nine-strikeouts-x4204 Its seems many wanted to throw out Bradley's improvements after a bad start. The issue with Bradley was his quality of pitches had become average to below average prior to the trade. The Rays had tried to tweak Bradley and the results were bad arm angles, poor stuff, less utilization of the splitter and affectively a pitcher and an organization that were no longer on the same page. Beyond just the improvements that he has begun to implement on the mound, he also stated 2 weeks ago that he is just starting to implement utilizing pitching reports and starting to do the homework necessary to be a good pitcher. Bradley had flown through the minors purely on his stuff. Its become apparent in the past he merely needed to show up to achieve success in the minors. The issue is at this level you not only need the skills but in most cases you need to put in the mental work to be successful. No different than the struggles Kyler Murray had early on in his career. So we are now seeing a player whose pitches are improving in quality (significantly), arm slot is improving, and he is putting in more preparation work before the game. Its not by happenstance he had an extremely strong outing last night - 9 strikeouts. The upside on a very good Bradley is a #2 or better type pitcher. Its why I have always said to take the end of the season with a grain of salt for both Bradley and Abel because the Twins would be implementing quite a few changes and more during the offseason. Go look at the pitches, not only is the location on most of the strikeouts very good, you can tell he has several of the hitters just completely guessing. He was in complete control during that outing. His confidence had to be sky high and was a great stepping board for continuing to improve in the offseason. Now I still do have some concerns on Bradley on whether he is willing to continually put in the effort. I am hoping this is a reset and I am very impressed with what I have seen so far, but I think we could see some bad habits pop up in the future again, effort is generally a personal trait that is engrained and is difficult to incorporate into a normal routine. Call it a character flaw, or being young, I truly hope he has turned the corner on this front. Its also a reason why I if I was in charge of the Twins I would keep one of Ryan or Lopez for next season if not both. Both are high character, strong students of the game that can show the young players a good routine to be successful in the future. Personally I really do think Lopez has the mental makeup to be the best leader of the pitching staff even if we are paying him a higher salary. I really hope the Twins are not short sighted enough to not realize the value of having a veteran leadership presence on the staff.

I would currently plan to spend around $12 - $15 million to significantly upgrade the bullpen. The highest upside players for a reasonable cost right now are Phil Maton and Devin Williams. They have more experience than anyone else we have. Devin Williams needs a new home to get comfortable and away from the bright lights of New York. Worst case they become nice trade chips at the deadline. Best case is we have a bullpen that could be solid to very good if both perform well.

In 1 month they only overtook 3 teams. In either case currently the 2nd best odds in the draft. With 4 games to go for both the Twins and Pirates. If the standings remain as the current status, they will have a 22% chance at the #1 pick in the draft and a 60% chance at a top 3 pick. They are virtually assured of a top 5 pick.

Keaschall with a possible surgery of a thumb is not a good outcome for playing out the end of the season. Hopefully just a sprain and inflamation goes down and fine for next year. Taj Bradley still has some very good stuff. The issue has been the crooked innings, and they have come either early in games or towards the end of his outing. Going back to the splitter and regaining that feeling seems to be a good strategy for him. I truly think it confidence and I do think the Rays went away what had made Bradley successful coming up. No different than what we did to Austin Martin. I understand always wanting to tinker and making someone better, but Martin was never going to be a home run hitter, and Bradley has had success by getting strikeouts and creating weak contact. The version the Rays created this year had less strikeouts and harder contact. Mick Abel had an ok outing last time around. I hope he can end on a high note. Draft implications. The Twins have the 4th worst record currently with the Pirates winning 2 in a row. That will result in the 2nd best odds in the draft behind the White Sox if the standings hold with 4 games remaining.

The elite hitters in the system had really really good offensive performances. From Keaschall, to Jenkins, Culpepper and Gonzalez. You expect some prospects to fail. Rodriguez was good when healthy but the health is still a question mark. Overall we have to be very pleased with the performance. I do think Gonzalez deserves the award. For his age and increasing of levels that is about as perfect of a season as we could of expected out of him.

His biggest issue right now is lack of velocity. Similar to Ober and previously SWR. Low 90's fastballs just don't cut it at the mlb level. Can the Twins help him regain velocity. That is one thing the Twins have done well. Manoah is also someone the Twins have previously had interest in. It would be a 2 million dollar gamble though for his 2026 salary. Is that something the Twins are willing spend? I don't know. 50/50 is my guess.

Canterino is my darkhorse for the bullpen next year assuming somehow he can become healthy like Stewart did. If Rhys Hoskins is an option - meaning they have dollars to spend, I see no reason they don't spend some on the bullpen. Topa is likely back at 2 million in my opinion. FA closer, Sands, Topa, Funderburk, FA, Canterino, Adams (better stuff than Ohl), whoever they want to transition from starters (this is a guess on anyones part at this point).

Yes quality starting pitching is the hardest thing to find and thus acquire. Several posts above had said we should not trade Joe Ryan because of that. The issue is we have 2 years of Joe Ryan. The trades we made at the trade deadline were not for 2025. They were for 2026 and moving forward. Having stomach reflex because of a few bad outings while trying to teach new pitches, pitch sequence ect doesn't seem very useful to me. The 2 main players who should make an impact on the 2026 team are Bradley and Abel. Bradley appears to be close but continues to have really bad inning in several of his outings. Bradley still appears to be a solid piece to our 2026 rotation. Abel - is a question mark. Elite performance at AAA now - with poor outings at the MLB level. However he is a player known to improve over the offseason and perform better at the higher level of competition he previously struggled at. Outman is a flyer and not a big piece moving forward. Roden has potential but is most likely a player that will flame out. Tait, Rojas, Gallagher, Mendez, Jimenez, Gallagher, Horn, and Villoria. Both Gallagher and Horn have had flashes. Mendez looks like he has a legit MLB bat. Jimenez could be a true diamond in the rough. A high OBP and a sudden surge in power. He made a massive leap from the FCL to A ball and actually performed better. Tait has a very good swing with legit power. Almost all of the prospects are a work in progress. Some will inevitable flame out, but overall I still like the return. We can moan about losses - there have been ample articles going after that. However I still stand by the real reason for the trade deadline deals, as much from the prospects received was to get better draft position for the 2026 draft . We are currently in a dead heat with the pirates for the 2nd best odds which would have 22.27% chance of the #1 pick and a 60% chance of a top 3 pick in what currently is viewed as a strong draft class . The Pirates finish out with the Reds and the Braves while we have the Rangers and the Phillies. If both play out the season strong I would say by pure odds the Pirates will likely win an extra game or two than the Twins based on their competition. So is losing 5-10-15 more games in 2025 due to running with a depleted bullpen and starting several players who are AAAA players at best going to matter much in 2026 or moving forward. The only real implication is trying to rebuild a bullpen. I think the real goal is to have a good bullpen in 2027. I do think we will have a much better lineup than what we have been putting out for the last 2 months of the season. The bigger issue I see is will the team turn on the switch and suddenly be competitive and win games, when it seems the coach and front office has cut off their ability to win games at the end of the season. That one is difficult. Team chemistry and individual confidence is not something you can just turn off and on and Joe Ryan is key example. I think this deadline has really effected him. So with that being said I do think trading Ryan is likely in our best interest moving forward due to 1 I don't think Joe does well being on a team that is not competing and has low morale, 2 we likely won't be competing in the next 2 years for a World Series. So with more teams competing I do think we will get a pretty good deal. Most likely Joe's value will be twice that of Duran's which is interesting. They have seemed to prefer getting elite players and taking their chances which I do agree with, but finding a partner that has the elite players and is willing to trade them will be difficult. Overall I am still not thrilled we did what we did even if I can rationalize it. Most likely it will help us win more games and help the organization in the future, but it has been pretty painful and demoralizing as a fanbase and organization. We will see if the front office and team can truly flip the switch (and whether they have been given the financial resources) to truly compete in 2026. I will still be a fan of my favorite team, but I am starting to think I may start finding a 2nd team to root for as well as we do have a fork in the road, where things could go very well for the organization in the next decade, or the team becomes perpetual losers due to financial ramifications and prospects not panning out. As they say there is always next year . . . .

I honestly wish they would have given Pereda more opportunity in August. Pereda appears to be working himself into the backup catcher role. Performed very well in AAA. In an extremely small sample size has done well in MLB for the Twins. He has shown much more than someone like Gasper. I see very little warts or things I dislike with his profile. Solid defensive catcher with what has been an above average bat at AAA. If the bat begins to translate maybe just maybe we have a twist in fate of Rooker.

After 200 negative articles on the Twins since the deadline . . . the authors here seem to have gone bust.

Amick is under the radar? He was a second round draft pick and our current #17 prospect? He is doing well better than expected but he is not under the radar. He was a 30ish ranked prospect that dropped due to hit tool and defense and both look much better than anticipated.

You never asked about pitching in the previous post. You asked about the future infield and I just answered your question. So changing the subject to bullpen you have 2 different methods. 1. pick up a cheap FA or 2 and gradually start running through players pitching prospects and DFA's and try to build it up like we did the last 1. The second is, if the goal is to compete in 2026, and the goal was really to just get a high draft pick. You sign 1 high end reliever to 1 year deal, 1 decent reliever to a 1-2 year deal, and then use prospect capital to trade for another. You could be looking at $20-$25 million in salary to add to the bullpen. Something we have never done before and doesn't match up with the current picture but isn't much more than we were going to pay for the arms next year.

Short stop Culpepper, 2nd Keaschall, 3rd Lewis/Lee/Amick 1st FA???/Clemens/Sabato/Mendez/Amick Catcher - Short term we were gifted with getting Pereda Long run - Tait/Jimenez/Diaw That is a lot of options and possibilities. Plus should have a damn good draft this year to add to it. I am still more concerned with Pitching even though we have a lot of high ceiling arms.

Last I checked we have the #2 farm system. But think what you want. Everything is a negative in some peoples eyes. We will see soon if these kids can handle the bright lights or not.

I have to laugh. Another article about the payroll woes of the Twins. I agree I would have loved to see Sonny Gray resigned. I still think value wise it was smarter to let him go. That was a career year and you got a draft pick back. As a transaction you traded Petty for 2 years of Sonny Gray (2.4 and 5.6 WAR respectively) and a draft pick - Debarge (#12 prospect in Twins loaded system). Gray has a 4.45 ERA and a 1 WAR this year. I would argue the Twins made a good decision to not resign him. But thats me.

They have not do that in single draft. I am all for bringing up the shortfalls of ownership, front office and management. This is makes no sense what you are suggesting.