Riverbrian

This was the quote I responded to. To think Jim Pohlad has any working knowledge of how things work with player negotiations is beyond generous. Carl died in 2009. If you are suggesting that over 13 years Jim has managed to not asborb "any working knowledge of player negotiations" is pretty incredible... especially when you consider that the "baseball people" that HE hired are negotiating with not just his money but also that of his brothers he represents as the one in charge of the day to day operations of the franchise. You are suggesting that he has never been asked for budget increase requests by the baseball people that he hired to negotiate with players, nor received explanations, reasoning, justifications for such requests. You are suggesting that he has never been briefed on the results or status of any negotiations over 13 years. If you are not suggesting that he hasn't briefed, updated during his 13 years as the one in charge. Then you can only be suggesting that he is unable to retain anything from the briefings, updates, meetings, casual conversation. The representative of the ownership group. the guy who ultimately fired Terry Ryan and hired Derek Falvey as his "baseball people". The guy who not only has access to the room that you and I don't have access to but actually OWNS the room. He doesn't have working knowledge of how baseball negotiations work? The level of engagement or incompetence that you are painting is beyond any reasonable logic, that it's equal to anyone who claims that Rocco is an idiot when trying to express their frustration. 30 Manager Jobs paying over a million a year and not only have they hired an idiot but they have retained an idiot. I've never met the man... I've listened to him speak during interviews. I don't believe that Rocco is an idiot because the odds of his being an idiot and not only hired but retained are incredibly low and the same goes for the level of aloofness of Jim Pohlad that you are trying to pass along to the rest of us. Any such suggestion is not worthy of space or consideration.

I'm trying to understand the logic in this discussion. If we trade Kepler with a career .232 BA and 1 year left at 8.5M on his contract before a club option at 10m. We could acquire Joey Gallo with a .199 BA for a 1 year deal at 10M to replace him. We hope that Kepler will benefit from the banning of the shift, while we believe that Gallo could benefit from the banning of the shift. It's been my experience in life that treading water doesn't get you very far. One other thing... I've seen a lot of comments about a potential Kepler trade. I assume this sentiment comes from his performance the past two years. If he performed well, we wouldn't be talking about a potential trade. So to recap: We have lots of folks that want to trade Kepler. We also have lots of folks that list Kepler as our 2023 RF and 2nd best outfielder. And... And... We have lots of folks who say OF is not a top priority. ?

I know this statement will be controversial. The Twins do need to prepare for the possibility that they are in contention at the trade deadline. Meaning: They do need to look at the current prospect inventory and factor in today and tomorrow when looking at the trade market.

I fail to understand why Kepler needs to be traded in order to make room for anyone. I struggle to identify any teams out of the 29 choices that would be interested in trading a corner outfielder who followed a season of .211/.306/.413. with a season of .227/.318/.348 with an 8.5 million dollar bill attached. I'm also picking up an implication that Kepler DOES NOT have to vie for at-bats. While Kirilloff, Larnach, Wallner and Gordon do. I guess... I wonder why Kepler does not have to vie for at-bats after two poor seasons at the plate back to back. Why are many absolutely willing to give Kepler an everyday job and look elsewhere for team improvement? I rank a big bopper in the OF as our #1 need this off-season and back to back poor season is why. Kep can keep a job as the guy who plays CF when Buxton is hurt and vies for at-bats when Buxton is healthy. Until he finds whatever he lost from 2019.

In 2018 Alcala was the Astros 7th ranked Prospect Celestino was the Astros 23rd ranked prospect To compare and contrast In 2018 Brusdar Graterol was the Twins 7th Ranked Prospect Luis Arraez was the Twins 23rd Ranked Prospect At the trade deadline... Buyers Buy and Sellers Sell. The Twins were sellers... Is it possible that the Astros met the price on a big ask?

I agree 1000 Percent

IP from Starters in 2022 1. Astros - 950 Innings ERA 2.95 27. Twins - 782.2 Innings ERA 4.11 30. Rays - 753 Innings ERA 3.45 IP from Relievers 1. Rays - 682.2 Innings ERA 3.36 3. Twins - 654.1 Innings ERA 3.84 30. Astros - 495.1 Innings ERA 2.80 The Rays show it can be done. The Twins needed 159 more bullpen innings which is about 20 innings extra per bullpen slot. There is no escape from this bullpen usage when you look at how many starters were dragging the starter ERA down to 4.11. Which Twins starters had an ERA over 4.11? Bundy - 29 Starts Archer - 25 Starts Winder - 11 Starts Mahle - 4 Starts Sanchez - 3 Starts Sands - 3 Starts Gonzalez - 2 Starts 67 Starts made by Starters with an ERA over 4.11 (There's your problem)

The Twins do not need a closer. They need 8 guys they trust to pitch the 9th or any inning. Get Bullpen Serious. Yes it is possible.

You win trades by improving the players that you acquire since almost all trades are near equal value when agreed upon. Houston did a great job of taking Pressly and making him much more than he was with us. That is how you win trades. Houston does a great job of making players better so they win a lot of trades... and... and... games.

Chas McCormick... 21st round draft pick... reached the pinnacle of 21st ranked Astros prospect in 2020. Keith Law never talked about him. Just another of my poster boys for the value of opportunity and letting players playing good keep playing and letting players decide who plays by actual play. Making the catch in front of and against his home town team. His son is named Rolen after Scott Rolen. Back to Bryan Reynolds. Yeah he costs a little more... but the point is and you agree... they are both ridiculously expensive so a decent comp because the years of control match. If I'm spending that Prospect Capitol on a single player. If I'm draining the farm for a single player. I'll take Reynolds over Murphy. But all in all, you and I are not draining the farm for either player. Not many teams these days will drain the farm for any single player and perhaps that's why both are still in Pittsburgh and Oakland.

I'm sorry... I moved off of the big name shock value Ohtani. I'm on to random theoretical outfielder (let's call him John Ashbury) who has an .850 OPS and 51 median value. Or Let's call him Bryan Reynolds... Let's make him an OF with Pittsburgh. Fault - Your Serve - 15 Love

Understood and I'm not in full argument. However... in partial argument. I'd say the gain from .750 to .850 over more games is a greater addition compared to .650 to .750 in less games. Because of the more games/less games thing and because you are making an addition to the theoretical top of the order compared the theoretical middle. More importantly though. In the context of our current Twins, comparing Murphy to an outfielder's bat is absolutely relevant since we have outfielders that would start in RF tomorrow that are producing at the plate similar to Jeffers. So it isn't a .100 point jump in the OF. It's a 200 point jump in the OF for the same price of a .100 point jump at catcher so I''ll get the bigger bat and improvement plus I'll keep my young catcher who hits like most catchers do across the league and hope that he grows with the bat until he is valued at 51 in baseballtradevalues and then I trade him for a package like the A's will receive for Murphy. Your serve. 15 - Love ?

Pohlad is aloof... Rocco is an idiot. These type of statements used to express disappointment over 78-84 record is such a complete waste of time and space.

I understand all of this. The Pirates are also highly unlikely to trade Oneil Cruz even if you paid the price. The comparable value names I listed were for shock value to illustrate the potential cost. Lot's of care free let's go get this Murphy guy posts. The condition of our farm system in the aftermath of such a deal would make me shudder.

I find baseballtradevalues to be very close to accurate when you plug trades that actually happen into it. The Twins have no one in the Sean Murphy value ballpark. Baseballtradevalues has Sean Murphy with a median value of 51.3. Shohei Ohtani has median value of 52. Sean Murphy: 2022 - .250 18 HR's. OPS .759 2021 - .216 17 HR's - OPS .710 Shohei Ohtani: 2022 - .273 34 HR's - OPS .875 2021 - .257 46 HR's - OPS .965 Please look at the offensive numbers of Mr. Murphy - .250 18 HR's and .710. How many outfielders are feeling secure they will keep their jobs with numbers like that. Please don't over pay for catching. Don't ever over pay for catching. For the price you over pay you could acquire a SUPERSTAR. Oneil Cruz would be cheaper to acquire. You get Shane Bieber for that price. I have a better idea... if the catching prices are inflated and they are and they have been for a long time now. A better idea would be to... IDK... Develop your own and then trade that incredible inflated value to someone else. Of course,.. it's hard to build that young catcher into inflated value when you are buying his replacement at the inflated price instead. ?

I want to apologize for getting bugged over the string of pitching articles. Now that it has moved to a string of catching articles... It appears that Twinsdaily is beginning to take us on an off-season tour position by position and that I was being impatient. Carry on

Cool... Hope they sign him. However... If the process goes deep into the off-season, which has been known to happen with Boras. This could really hamstring our pursuit of other free agents due to the clock running out. I assume they would have to hold the necessary funds for the possibility of signing Correa and can't spend it while courting him. Going for it and losing him late in the off-season could leave a 35 million dollar unrealized hole. ?

If it is your plan to DEVELOP Ryan Jeffers into a short side platoon player. Go ahead and severely restrict his experience facing right handed pitchers because Ryan Jeffers future with the club will no longer matter once you make that decision. Starve him of AB's against right handed pitchers and let's see how he does against right handed pitchers in a couple of years when he hasn't been allowed to regularly face them while the Twins are trying to decide if he is worth the Arb Money. Ryan Jeffers will be a free agent in 2027. If you have already decided that he can't and will never hit right-handers. There is no reason to roster him in 2023 because he will have no future value. Just humanely kill him now instead of slowly painfully PURPOSEFULLY putting him to sleep. By releasing him, you will give him a chance to join another organization that will give him an actual chance to become something... while you take that roster spot that you decided to NOT DEVELOP and give the roster spot to someone that you believe might DEVELOP into something. Your choice... you can DEVELOP a roster spot or you can put it to sleep with a pillow. There are only 26 and 40 of them. If you feel that the platoon advantage trumps what I am saying above... go ahead... but let me add that, it is also possible that Omar Narvaez will get hurt in September during a pennant chase and you will need Ryan Jeffers to all of a sudden spring to life against something that you have kept from him. If you decide to sign Narvaez so you can set up a platoon with Jeffers. Please sign another decent lefty swinging catcher that can play in September in case Narvaez gets hurt.

We might as well get used to the young arms. 40 Man roster limitations will make the veteran reclamation project harder to roster as the farm keeps producing more lettuce. This is why I remain optimistic about the direction of the organization. You have 40 spots on the 40 man to work with. At minimum 13 of those spots need to be position players because 13 are required on the 26 man. That leaves 27 spots for potential pitching. Make it 22-23 or 24 spots available because you need young talent that can be called up to perform at IF and OF when injuries occur and we all know they occur. The 40 man is tight and the 26 man roster will most likely not have the space for veteran innings eater types because there are 9 potential starters for consideration on opening day as the roster stands now.

Avoid over paying for catching when resources are limited.

Having the best at any position is supposed to be helpful. Realmuto is good. In the other dugout... The Astros are finding other positions being helpful.

I'll continue to "waste my summer praying in vain... that a savior will rise from these streets". Until then I will "Show a little faith, there's magic in the night". "You ain't a beauty but hey you're alright... and that's alright with me". Gotta listen to the Springer... Even if he plays for the Blue Jays. These two lanes will take us anywhere.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I believe Boras represents Correa, Turner and Bogaerts. So if Boras is playing the Dodgers card with Correa... What Card does he play with Turner?

Josh Hader was on that rumor mill for a while before they eventually shipped him to the Padres. The Brewers didn't want to pay that 13 or so million to Hader in that final Arb year (2023). Woodruff and Burnes are both 2nd year Arbitration in 2023 so... cashing out wouldn't be completely out of character. There is no way that I would do it. I'm supporting that rotation. I'm not selling off for parts.

I haven't heard that chatter. If it is sourced out of the Brewers front office that would be sad news for Brewer Fans. They have that rotation that everybody else is trying to get.