bunsen82

Thats behind a paywall. What does it specifically say. It does appear things came to head that last night.

What is wrong with you? I would take a steady eddie version of Erasmo the rest of the year. Isn't that best case outcome. You have been quite vindictive and unreasonable towards me since the trade deadline. Please stop.

https://www.milb.com/video/taj-bradley-s-seven-strong-innings That version looks useable, with very good control. Bradley is such a confounding player. He does have the ability to be a #2 pitcher. This current version in 2025 is a backend starter. I don't claim to understand stuff+, but its clear his stuff has declined from 2 years ago significantly. 11 SO/9 to 7 this year. 2 BB/9 up to 3.5. He is still throwing 96 mph. So what do we have to work with, a pitcher that has 2 good pitches, even himself admits he needs 3rd and he needs to get his 2 good pitches back to where they were even a year ago. To me that is a significant project. So they tweak him this year, if it doesn't work he immediately slots into the bullpen. For this to pay off you need him to become a #3 or higher starting pitcher or a high end reliever. You have to avoid him flaming out or becoming a backend replaceable starter. Honestly, you gained Jax's arm with 3 more years of controllability and is 6 years younger. Honestly of the 3 pitchers Varland, Jax, Duran. Jax carries the most risk of underperformance. There is a part of me that thinks they traded him because they were worried he was going to implode again. For all his stuff, he just tends to blow up frequently. He gave up a run the other day in his relief effort. Both Jax and Bradley are players that tanked their value this year. Ultimately we each traded an underperforming pitcher and hoping for better results. The difference is we got a starter potentially with 5 years of control and 24 years old. They got a 30 year old reliever with 2 years of control, that they may convert to a starter whose stuff is rated much higher than Bradleys right now. I have waffled multiple times on this trade. This trade by far holds the most risk and reward. There is so much variability in outcomes. Honestly, I have no idea how this one will pan out. I hope he finds himself, regains his confidence and the Twins can help him develop another pitch and he becomes a high end starter. Right now I think I would hedge my bets more that Bradley finds himself either as a starter or reliever, than Jax turns into an elite reliable reliever or a high end starter. I will say, I am ok with the Twins doing more 1 for 1 deals as you are going for players that do have a higher probability of panning out. Bradley has definite potential, can it be realized.

They traded for him to be the next Buxton insurance plan. Right now he is being outplayed by Martin for that spot. Honestly long run, of the 2 players for organizational purposes, Martin re-finding his bat at the MLB level is a much bigger win. I do hope Outman can get out of his funk.

"with Bob Nightengale of the USA Today writing that Minnesota's decision to move Varland for a couple of unspectacular prospects left "Twins players seething and rival GMs dumbfounded." " No offense, I don't know how you can come to this conclusion. Let me start off saying I am the first to say we did Varland dirty, and there was absolutely no reason to trade him unless the goal is to lose in the short term. As to the Varland trade it was by far the best value. I have questions on Roden, but Kendry Rojas - a player just outside the top 100 prospect list and by all accounts a stud pitcher was an excellent addition. On MLB pipeline he steps in at #7 just behind Abel, He had 30 SO in 18 innings in AA. Later we found out that the Blue Jays have been interested in Varland for several years, so there is possibility they move him back to a starter role. To me that seems logical or they see them as a legit closer, otherwise they did end up paying quite a bit for Varland. If Roden shows anything like he has done in AAA this one is win. Calling the Correa trade "shameful." This was the smartest thing the Twins did. You got from under a large contract for $30 million? No offense, that was magnificent. The future of shortstop belongs to Kaelen Culpepper after Lee keeps the seat warm, Having him blocked by Correa who was recently playing like a replacement player was the only prudent move. Correa is a great leader, great teammate. However his bat plays more as a complimentary piece. If you have others that are dangerous he can then hunt for those fastballs. Overall it really doesn't matter if he does perform. On paper we are saving 24 million a year. From what it looks like, this was done at the Pohlad level, so in reality we are really saving the entire contract. The new owners likely didn't want to be tied to the contract. Lee at short has looked very good defensively. If the bat can come alive at all, you have possibility of a really good trade piece or utility player. As to this team, they didn't seem to get the memo. They played more competitive against Cleveland than anything we have seen in the last week from this team. If you are going to do tank job, there are 2 things you want to achieve, one is that the team continues to fight. In an extremely small sample size we are looking good here. 2. Is that you can find some usable parts. For the week we have a couple players trending up. Topa and Sands more than held their own as our new highest leveraged relievers. Martin, other than being out of position defensively, really looks like the bat skills that has always been talked about are legit. Right now I think he has the best bat skills of any player on the team. Lastly Kody Clemens. The guy just fights for everything. He tried to "steal" an on base opportunity by pushing out his elbow and getting hit on the pad. Now that call is rarely, rarely called, but Clemens was not rewarded a free base. He then poked a ball into right field. Then while no one was really paying attention he stole a base. Setting himself to be driven in with a hit, it didn't materialize. He then squeezes in the winning run. Honestly if the bat can just become a little more consistent, I honestly see him as our First Baseman for the future. The difference between him and Julien is, both know this is likely one of their final shots, yet Clemens is fighting tooth and nail for everything, never going to get called out for not hustling, when Julien continues to make the same errors over and over again not running out a triple that could have been the difference maker in the previous game. Lastly Just watch Larnach and Wallner and Lewis get on hot streak and carry this offense LOL. We needed those 3 to perform all year and haven't gotten it. I still have hope for the long term for this organization. And call me a glutton for punishment, but I was actually more interested in watching this team. This current team, still has fight, they are outgunned especially on the bullpen side, but they are not rolling over as of now. For that I can cheer them on. Lastly could Erasmo turn into our version of "steady Eddie." Won't be the same as putting Duran out there, but its looking like Erasmo earned the opportunity to be the new closer.

Looks like the top 20 prospect list needs updated since the trade deadline. Abel has some quality stuff. Now it just needs to transition to the MLB level. Everything is going right for Mendez. That AA lineup is murderers row. Jenkins Culpepper and Mendez lead a really good group of hitters. 2 other notes, I thought another traded pitcher was suppose to start today. Also it appears Diaw was pulled was he injured again?

My personal guess is they think we will have more starter position spots open for next year, or you start moving Matthew’s and Festa to the bullpen. In either case the starter depth will be tested, which is why Bradly and Abel were targeted.

Falvey and the front office knew exactly what they were doing. This was direction from ownership and appears to be to clean the team up financially in the Correa deal, and the new owners want a high draft pick in the next draft and don’t see the team competing for a few years. So you sell off the pieces you can especially the most volatile position in the relievers. Jax, Varland and Stewart were not money saving moves, and the Stewart move was not a value adding move, so the only logical conclusion is there was a bigger goal and strategy. I am more and more resigning myself to the fact Ryan will be traded. He has more value than Duran, Jax and Varland combined. Ober and Lopez don’t carry as much value so maybe we carry them into next year leading our pitching staff. Obers decline in velocity is concerning. As to the players we received it’s the post hype players I am most concerned with. Roden and Bradley carry a lot of value from the trades. Can Rodens bat show up at the mlb level? Can the Twins fix Bradley? Looking at it more and more I think both are less than 50/50 propositions. Outman is also a post hype players but like Julien it seems the book is written on him. 2023 was a long time ago. The Duran trade I continue to like. Abel performance today was really strong. 2 walks and a hit over 5 innings and 60+ pitches. I personally think he is the best pitcher we picked up in all the deals. The real question with new ownership will be is how much will they be willing to spend. If this trade deadline is any indication I don’t think we can anticipate a major improvement. We just tanked our reputation with premium free agents for a year or two. We have enough in the minors I still anticipate putting a decent product on the field, maybe below .500 with a weak bullpen but with a lot more hope than a Rockies situation.

It’s 2 fold, if this is what the front office is going to leave us with then I’m going to call it out and have some fun with it. 2. It will have implications on our draft spot.

1-2 Tonkin did his best effort but Erasmo saved the day. Twins remain with the 6th best odds for the draft.

Honestly he has some decent pitches. Velocity up to 98. Might see the bulk pitching philosophy of minor leagues showing up.

Wow, I actually thought it was a pitchout, but got the strikeout and throw out.

We are short on hitters, specifically LF, RF, SS and 1st at the MLB level. You have Gonzalez, Jenkins and Culpepper that all look like they can fill those holes in the near future, as early as next year. If Keashall is held down you could have as many as 4 players eligible for the rookie of the year and the extra pick next year.

Keashall is young and was pushed up earlier than he should have even though he did well. He hasn’t completed his full 20 day rehab assignment. Personal preference is we want to see some of these fringe players and see if anything is useful. 2 more mentions I didn’t get in earlier, Gabby had a very nice day at AAA. I hope he can string a couple more of these good days together to keep him confident. Houston has had a nice start at A ball. My concern has been the hit tool. If he continues he should move up to A+ shortly. I wonder where Winokur will play as he has primarily played SS.

Walker Jenkins is really starting to get comfortable at AA. That AA lineup is tough. You moved Gonzalez to St. Paul but replaced him with Mendez (3 for 5). If Mendez continues to hit my guess is he will get in our top 20 prospects. Culpepper continued to hit. Quite a day for the prospect lists. Well we will get our first look at a lot of the pitchers we traded for. Abel, Gallagher and Horn start today.

If you have a bottom 2 record you still have a 70% chance at a top 5 pick. Plus there are 4 teams that can’t compete in the lottery that will affect the odds quite a but this year.

I think Ryan is a guarantee in the offseason. Especially if he ends the season strong. I am starting to think we keep Lopez and Ober and see if they can go on a hot streak and get more value. I may be wrong and new management wants to come in and compete right away. I just think the timeline is moved to 2027-2028.

I like Abel and yes other than less control as I said in that post, I think they are pretty close in ability. You seem to think Falvey failed in not getting Painter when the values don’t match up. Even though the Phillies said in no uncertain terms they weren’t not trading him. See I can understand that mlb, organizations, or front offices have different valuations and more information. It doesn’t mean as a fan I can’t make assumptions like thinking Arreaz was criminally underrated and valued. The guy could just hit. As to tanking, it has happened, is currently happening and will happen in the future. You can’t look at the lineup we put out there today and say we put out the best bullpen or lineup we could (we just traded 40% of them). We have a player that almost wins the game on his own the previous day and he sits the bench. We are not trying to win, and from perceptions actually trying to lose. In most cases it’s the general manager giving a coach a roster that has no chance of winning. Sometimes it also includes the coach. as to the draft yes it’s a lottery. Chances are if you are bottom 3 record you will get a top 5 pick. It’s not the same as when Baltimore or Houston did it, but it doesn’t mean teams still won’t do it, even if there are a few more barriers. You can continue to dislike every post of mine, you can call me out personally. Even still I know I may not know everything, but like my hunch on Arreaz I’m pretty sure I am right.

Your shot increases the worse we are. Personally I think we will end up with the 2nd to 3rd worse record of the lottery eligible teams.

0-2 Think I would have rather had Martin pinch hit for Kiersey than pinch run for Julien. Ohl may be useable at this level. Still need to teach the players how to bunt.

We will earn a shot at the #1.

0-1 Martin and Ryan almost single handedly won the game yesterday. Today Martin isn’t starting. Things that make you go ummm. Currently have the 6th best draft odds.

Ask Baltimore or Houston? If it pays off nobody tends to remember and the fans come back in droves. If it doesn’t work, you are definitely in a worse position.

Say what you will on Correa but he was also worth 10 WAR and carried us in post season series win. Correa does not appear to be the same player he was even last year. I wish him well but all in all after paying $30 million we did ok. Go ask the Angels about bad contracts.

Deal with it.