bunsen82

That Toronto trade actually looks really good, better if the outfielder pans out. As to the draft There is a massive difference between picking 1-5 than 10-15. The 2026 draft looks very good. This is a mandate likely from the new owners. Pohlads are the ones that did this say what you will. My guess is we have a bottom 3 record once everything is said and done for draft purposes. 4 teams can’t draft in the top 9.

They are tanking for 2 months. This is for the draft. After that we still have questions. Can they build a good enough bullpen in 1 offseason? That’s a difficult task. I’m willing to give the Toronto outfielder the rest of the season before I declare him AAAA.

If the ball is flying better we don’t get to the 10th. Cleveland had 2 fly balls at the fence.

Most of it is Pohlads. Baldellis time is coming to end is my guess. Falvey, I like the draft system he has set up. Even if he goes I hope we keep a lot of he ideas. Falvey followed the boss orders for the last 2 years. My bigger concern is why couldn’t our players hit. This is the question that has to be answered.

For Joe and the fans, we need Joe to do well down the stretch. More than anyone else he holds the most value of any other player that could give us the pieces for another run.

Diaw coming back is big. Dang that top 20 list is strong. Culpepper is having an adjustment to AAA that’s not unexpected. All in all a solid day for the prospects. Diaw, Debarge, Amick, Keashall, Houston Gonzalez Winokur (2rbis). My guess is it was just as much an emotional day for the minors as it was the big league team.

To give any positive thought, the new rules against tanking does not give incentive past 2026 for losing unless we are in a 1990’s stretch. I think we a start turning the corner late 2026 start seeing some hope and 2027 the new management starts supporting the team.

It appears you are still in the 7 stages of grief and still in the anger mode. Go read my posts, even up through trade deadline I said this team not only had a chance to go on a run but to do something special. You needed the bats to get hot. You had a strong bullpen and 3 really good starters when healthy. After the deadline there is no hope for a run. Yesterday’s lineup was more of AAAA audition line. Gasper, Martin, Julien, Roden, Clemens, Wallner. That is not a winning lineup- neither is the bullpen. You know what they didn’t give up. They played hard. They gave themselves a shot. I’ve been watching Martin and thought he was really turning it around. We have all been Twins fans, so we all . know what rough times are like. I always try to understand what the true goal is. Right now it’s to tank for draft capital. That is clear as day. My question still is this just a tank for the rest of 2025 and we rebuild the bullpen, or is this sell off just the beginning? I don’t see how we compete in 2026 either. The nail in that coffin was Varland and Jax. You needed those 2 with sands plus 2-3 more pieces. So my guess is Ryan, Ober and Lopez will be traded soon. Maybe you keep 1 veteran for stability purposes. the 2026 and 2027 drafts look strong. The minors have some really good pieces and we still have Buxton. I still have hope, but my timeline has moved. So fight hard play well, but they are going to lose a lot and we will see what comes from the draft picks.

Tank mode has started off well. Ryan was solid, Martin looked great. Topa and Sands looked Ok. Racked up another loss. For the lottery sitting at 6th best odds. Baltimore, A’s and Pirates all are playing pretty well. The other team we want to get on a hot streak is the Braves. Colorado, National and Angels can’t pick above pick 9 with anti tanking rules.

Barely winning against a largely AAA team isn’t a great accomplishment.

This is a great outcome guys. We have to accept the losses. But we need to find players for next year. Martin looks like he is ready to contribute.

Damn that was close.

Did he seriously try to explain it? You have 2 reasons to trade him, you either think he isn’t good or you want to lose and don’t want him having a positive impact.

My bet is Louie is the one we really miss in a couple years.

LOL I’m a little league coach, I know all the strategies.

You use you best reliever to face their 2, 3, and 4 hitters.

Roden wasn’t the key piece, got a AA pitcher ranked in our top 10 prospects.

Just got done watching a movie, looks like Martin has had a nice night.

You can when the players are traded.

I expect lots of roster moves the next 2 months. LOL Erasmo Ramirez, didn’t realize he was still pitching. Yes we got Outman for Beef Stew.

We are positioning the twins to compete at a higher level, just not in the short term . . . I fixed the grammatical error

Watch it be Matt Mikulski 🤣

Roden could be 1st baseman. Mendez is a bit redundant but has a really good hit tool. It increases the odds we will have OF actually succeed. Or they thought the value was above average and its all going to be flipped again. Trading Stewart for Buxton insurance starts to make a lot more sense. We have traded minor assets each year or spent $3 to $4 million every year. You traded Stewart for about $9 to $12 million worth - the cost it would take to sign a defensive CF. As to Ryan, no one was willing to overpay. Please don't take his value the remainder of this season with the team you will be running out there.

I am not saying the MLB trade calculator is the gospel, but value wise they really didn't do that bad (actually good value on most trades) other than Stewart. I starting to be able to rationalize Outman as Buxton insurance for the next few years. There is a cost to that, so honestly it makes a little more sense. So for 2 years of Jax, Duran, 1/2 year of Coloumbe, 5 years of Varland, Stewart 2 years You got Bradley SP MLB 4 years(upside to be #2, currently back end starter) Abel SP MLB 6 years (mid rotation starter) Tait C A+ (very young, very good bat - looks to make the MLB as of now a lot of variability on how good) Roden OF/1st 5 years (great numbers in AAA struggled in MLB will likely get some run next 2 months) Rojas SP AA (Solid pitching prospect) Outman OF MLB 3 years (Buxton insurance) Garret Horn SP A (Flyer coming off of tommy John) 2 Back end to mid rotation starter possibly #2 potential - a Jake Cave wannabe, possibly our new RF or 1st baseman with real bat potential. a Catcher with a sky high ceiling but is very far away. and 2 pitching prospects. Honestly that is quite a bit of return not only to help the current team or the 2026 team. The ultimately value of trading the entire bullpen will be highly dependent on Bradley, Abel and Tait. Maybe Roden flashes and becomes our Rooker. I think its hard to say much about Rojas or Horn. Its hard to say what these players should have been valued at. Relievers tend to blow up just looking at them. If we had talked at the beginning of this year and I told you we would get a good return on Varland and Coloumbe you likely would have taken it in a heartbeat. RP are so volatile, I think Jax and Duran are both good, I will also say full heartedly, I full expect 1 of them to struggle and not be what they have been in the next 2 years. Varland has been very up and down, doing great this year. I truly think he figured something out, I also wouldn't be surprised if teams start hitting him again. The value is what we got for them, I really don't think there was any better deals out there. We can always rebuild a bullpen. The one we had was very good but it did take us 2-3 years to build. Of all things in baseball, a bullpen is the cheapest and easiest thing to rebuild.

Chpettit, we haven't always been on the same page but I really respect your view, curious to see your views on the next year as I am really struggling with the information we can surmise. 1. The players they traded for do not match up with a total rebuild. You picked up Outman (Buxton replacement, possibly run as a starter to rehab value), Roden (OF/1st Baseman, post hype prospect), Taj Bradley (4 years of control, post hype prospect) appears to be back end starter with potential to be a 2/3. They took players basically to supplement next years starters. 2. They continued to take offers on Ryan. Meaning they either think he is overvalued, or this is a total rebuild and he is your most valuable asset. At that point Lopez and Ober and Jeffers are not safe although I would have no idea who we would have catch. 3. How quickly can you rebuild a legit bullpen, we will have some failed starters to throw at the problem, but I still see this as a 2 year rebuild. Find a couple free agents, blow through the dfa lists. Pitch them until you find something. It still takes time though. I will watch, for no other reason than trying to see which one of the young guys take the bull by the horns and the game starts clicking for them. So with the opportunity who will it be, Martin, Julian, Miranda, Roden, Outman, Abel, Bradley, Matthews??? It will be worth watching. I figure Buxton and Ryan will be getting a lot of rest the remainder of the year, as we tank for better draft capital and see if we can find anything useful out of the mess we have made the remainder of the year.