bunsen82

Lets clarify my statements - I stated there have been articles on him in the offseason you said only 1. 2 I said most of the griping was after the trade and during the end of season. Here is 3 articles, and there are 3 more that I know have some doozies in it too. I do personally like the ones calling Abel and Bradley poop and another 2 separate references to a bag of magic beans. More than anything I am a facts based guy - I tend to have a really long memory good and bad - and effectively since the trade and in the majority of the articles game threads ect I said this would be a process. I didn't care about last season, I said the offseason and how they looked coming into this season would tell us if the process worked. So its a bit of affirmation on my part, its a bit of gloating and its a bit of also showing that at times we can be too negative as a fan base. I do question your research skills if you couldn't find any of these gems LOL. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Fyi one of the worst offenders was Kirbydome who liked your post LOL. "We're talking about the same Taj Bradley who can't beat out "TBD" in the rotation, correct?" USAcheif 7. Griffin Jax to the Rays — Grade: C– Return: RHP Taj Bradley Bradley was once a hot name, but he’s struggled with a 4.70 ERA over 350+ MLB innings. Jax had 2.5 years of control left and could have drawn more in the offseason. His reported trade request might’ve sped up the timeline to Minnesota’s detriment. Matthew Taylor Griffin Jax to the Rays — Grade: 60 Return: RHP Taj Bradley Another trade that makes a lot of sense (on its own, I'm judging these deals on their own, as a group I don't like them). A RP for a potential SP. But, man, Bradley has struggled some.......but, ya, a RP for a potential SP, I can see how this makes sense. I think 60 might be generous, but I'm in a good mood after listening to KPOP Demon Hunters. - Mike Sixel (pretty fair assessment) 7] JAX: They weren't FORCED to trade Jax simply because he asked. He'd be the closer in 2026. He's still got great stuff and high K numbers and is only 30yo. Bradley wasn't a bad return. But he's been sliding. However, he's also pretty young. Is he a mid rotation starter or a back of the pen arm? I'm going with a C grade even though Bradley's got potential. A 1 for 1 and the loss of Jax AFTER moving Duran keeps my grade down. (DocBauer) 12/2/25 Christie Article - Did the Twins win or lose the 2025 trad deadline RHP Griffin Jax to the Rays for RHP Taj Bradley This was one of a few shockers. Jax had become the steady hand in the bullpen, but the Rays needed stability and offered up Bradley in return. Minnesota immediately moved Bradley into the starting rotation with the hope that a new organization could help him reclaim the command and confidence that made him a premium prospect. If he sticks in the rotation, the upside outweighs the loss of Jax, but that’s a big question at this point. Verdict: Loss If we're doing an evaluation today, instead of say last August, I don't know how anyone can claim the Twins won. I'm fine pinning a big TBD on the fire sale, but just about every one of the players the Twins got back face planted at whatever level they were placed at. Henry Mendez looks like he continued his trajectory, but doesn't just about everyone else look worse now than they did when the Twins acquired them? (Nicksaviking) Bradley had a 6.61 ERA in 6 starts with MN last year. This was after being demoted in TB. Go ahead and dog on Jax if it makes you feel better about the swap, but he was a pretty damn dependable (if not borderline elite) RP the previous 3 seasons. His FIP during the 1sh half with MN was half of what his ERA was, so do with that what you will. Hell, even though his TB tenure got off to a rough start he still posted solid numbers. (Kirbydome89) I hated the Jax trade (brandon) could have been an exciting weekend—almost as exciting as games could be, for a team that has gone in the tank. The Twins won a thriller on Friday, then had the debuts of Mick Abel and Taj Bradley to look forward to. Well, Abel got obliterated yesterday, and today, Bradley was even worse, at least at the start. - Hans birkeland 8/24/25 My takeaway from this weekend is to be weary when a team is willing to trade away a (once) starting pitching prospect. Aggies 7 8/24/25 I was going to use the old "Jack and the magic beans" analogy, but at least the beans in that old tale actually grew into something. Not sure we'll have that luck with either Abel or Bradley. - Lastonepicked 8/24/25 Nothing points to success like going 1-5 against the Athletics and White Sox. Everyone was clamoring to so Abel and Bradley. Well now you have seen them in Twin’s uniform. Glorybound 8/24/25 I am weary of how many times Falvey & Sons struggle to identify talent. Oh well, maybe things change in the future. Why does it seem like a few GM's are excited to discuss Ryan and Lopez with the Twins brain trust this coming offseason? Doesn't it seem like Griffin Jax might have returned a guy like Harry Ford? I guess it gets tough when a team takes 15 minutes to complete a deal. Doesn't leave much time to float other offers or interest. Ton&Rodney 8/24/25 Abel & Bradley 💩💩💩. Twins are great at giving talents away. Hashim 8/24/25 Glad to have a chance to "see what we have" in the 2 gems we got from the fire sale. Woof. DavidHK 8/24/25 Abel struggling is one thing, but this is Bradley's third full year as a starting pitcher in the majors... I really have to wonder if there was a better package on the table for Jax rather than swapping him with a struggling starter straight-up. I understand that Jax isn't having the best year but he had value, and I would have preferred taking the package of several farther away prospects. Maybe they can transition Taj to the pen and make some bullpen magic? Danchat 8/24/25 Disappointing start from Bradley, who doesn't really get the rookie excuses since he's made more than a few MLB appearances. Definitely not what the Twins wanted to see back-to-back from two of their most notable trade deadline acquisitions. CWS are not a good team and Bradley got rocked. 8/25/25 Twins got Joe Ryan for Nelson Cruz. They can identify talent - it just seems that during this teardown they really missed. Unfortunate considering that they dismantled the entire team for what appears to be a bag of magic beans. Brokencompass 8/25/25 Bradley is pushing 70 MLB starts...and was traded for a reliever...by an organization that depends almost solely on deploying young talent. He's a failed prospect. Expecting better from him is...highly optimistic to say the least. USAChief 9/10/25

Thats 4 more articles and I am still in March. Yes articles can discuss multiple prospects rather than just a deep dive on 1 player or prospect. The Majority of the negativity occurred on the trade deadline date, August and September, including his starts, game threads and the post game reviews, the trade grade article and then the Bust article.

Should have done this 2 days ago. Twins have the possibility although slim, of being .500 by the end of the day.

I made a post on the last article with the trade deadline thread - the grade article - and 1 more article on the players traded for were busts. There have been ample articels and threads with negative sentiment towards Bradley.

He has specifically had 3 issues. 1. Declining quality of stuff before this year. His stuff started out elite when he came up was relatively mediocre last year. His stuff his night and day different than last year. 2. Elevated home runs - The stuff is better as noted, the other is he has more pitches than effectively the fast ball. If Teams can no longer tee off on the fastball the home runs will be less 3. Crooked numbers - due to the home run, and the fact he would lose his feel during an inning or confidence he would effectively crack and give up a lot of runs. He would have blow ups about every other start. He has had similar situations pop up this year. A bases load or 2 on, the difference has been 2 fold. I really think going over the scouting reports is having a massive change on his performance. Before he went up throwing a ball where the catcher told him to beyond that he knew nothing else. I can't remember the specific hitter, there was a couple runners on but effectively the hitter couldn't hit an inside pitch. Bradley hit the inside corner on 4 pitches and ended the inning with weak contact. You can still be cautious - but the process has been excellent. The biggest thing is Taj is gaining some confidence.

Yeah but our next 2 pitchers are Ober and Abel.

To be fair Jax has played 16% of the available games with the Rays. He started off horrible last year for them then came on at the end with a positive .3 WAR. He is already a -.8 WAR to start the year. If the Twins were to trade Bradley right now - they would get someone significantly better than Jax 😀.

It is looking though as if we have won 3 trades in a row with Tampa Ryan, Bradley, Orze I was also listening to MLB this morning. Speaking of early returns on trades and small sample sizes. Daniel Susac is 7/8 early in the season and a .5 WAR.

No you aren't imagining anything. Most people trashed the trade in the trade thread, the grade thread (C-) and later articles in the fall. It wasn't until around December where a few more positive articles or posts came out. Now several did acknowledge getting 4 1/2 years of a starting pitcher for 2 1/2 of a reliever seemed like a great deal. Now as I stated last fall - the Rays traded a disgruntled Bradley who they were struggling to communicate with, and the Twins traded a disgruntled Jax. The Rays tried to revamp Bradley last year to primarily fastball, get rid of the splitter ect. The issue is Bradleys arm slot had been dropping, causing a loss in velocity. Add in you just lost the best pitch to pair off the fastball and teams were able to tee off on Bradley. In both cases I think the organizations were as much at fault as the players. In this case Bradley came over and started putting the work in. He still had a few rough starts early. Specifically finding the strike zone with a new arm slot with the fastball and bringing back the splitter. However almost immediately the fastball velocity was up 2-3 mph. He ended the season on an extremely strong note. In late August after several starts the Twins asked him to do scouting reports. Taj complied. So the Twins changed his arm slot higher (increased velocity) - brought back the splitter to have an additional pitch to pair off fastball and produce grounders and a strikeout pitch, and have him do more homework. The difference was, Taj began seeing results. That last start was extremely important because it re-enforced the process was right. He stayed in Minnesota, put on 5-10 lbs of muscle and continued to work on refining his pitches. There is a statement out there that the Twins showed Bradley the science and art of pitching. I think between Ryan and SWR and the pitching staff they were able to show Bradley how to improve his pitches but make them all work together to make him successful. I stated all along if 1 of the pitchers became elite it justified the trade deadline. I still like Abel - its been a rough start - but at this point we have to be absolutely thrilled with what Bradley is giving us.

Need to have more efficient innings that that, struggling to locate any of the offspeed pitches.

Well . . . ours is Abel . . .

Do we know the lineups yet?

I just want to know which thread you were wanting to post this in LOL.

I bet I can guess who this is in reference to. Have to say I 100% agree with you.

Well considering I do tax returns, facebook and stocks and check on the Twins, rather interesting selection. Must be a rotation - WWE and sport watches now LOL.

LOL - The adds on this site - between every post is links to look at older women, throw in a couple Libre ads and a dash of Amcor. Its a well balanced diet.

So we are playing the royals again? Dang I was hoping for another win against the Rays LOL.

We have lots of AAAA pitchers to shuttle back and forth. Ober will likely be our biggest issue moving forward. As long as we can get 5 more innings from the rest I am not drastically concerned. 2 innings from Orze was nice. 2 low leverage innings in Banda and Laweryson were good too. Not all innings are created equal. I don't know if its due to colder temps or not, but Banda has been a bit wild. He hasn't had a horrible inning yet but he had 4 or 5 pitches get away from him yesterday. All in all about as good of a start from pitching as you could have hoped for.

I don't think a 30 year old is going to Wally Pipp anyone. What he might do is create a niche and a role for himself. Maybe he becomes the utility infield for a couple years for us or someone else. For him that is all he is trying to do, trying to fulfill a dream, provide for his family, married in 2023, has 1 child with 1 more on the way. Anyone at SS for us right now is just a placeholder for Culpepper.

He made the team to start the year and this was 1 game and 1 grand slam, but damn does this feel appropriate after re-reading this thread LOL. For a guy that was seriously considering retirement the day before he was announced to the team with a second child due in the next couple of months and he genuinely seems like a great guy- all I can say is I am really happy for him. The game is not easy - and opportunities are fickle. At this point he is making $4,200 for every day he is on the roster. For someone who has been a career minor leaguer this opportunity is very big. For one day he played hero. Keep swinging . . .

Calling it a night guys.

Actually it came out once last fall. He did another interview this spring - basically said he was being stubborn and that he had always pitched without a scouting report. Had been encouraged to do it before and brushed it off. I think the trade helped him grow up a bit.

It just blows my mind Taj had never done a scouting report before coming to the Twins. Tried it his way for a month - then the coaches said no do it my way.

I see you have been reading up LOL

Banda struggling with control