Riverbrian

Once Realmuto signs. Jeffers probably becomes the top legitimate acquisition possibility for any contending team. Jeffers is probably the top catching free agent in next years class. Whoever is talking with Realmuto and doesn't get Realmuto should be interested in Jeffers. The front office seriously needs to consider getting something instead of losing him for nothing. Will Jeffers have the same value at the trade deadline? Maybe... I don't know.

The Twins could consider this sort of thing. I wouldn't want to waste the roster space on the position players side. However... they could absorb it in the bullpen. And they certainly could absorb it financially. Hopefully... Nothing long term. There has to be teams up against the Payroll wall looking to cut 5 million here or 10 million there. The Twins could buy a prospect in theory.

Strictly guessing of course. Scarcity. It tells me that the Mariners wanted a power left handed reliever to go with Munoz and Brash. They must have locked in on Ferrer and the Nationals most likely didn't want to give him up so they had to be enticed. The Nats are building... Ferrer has years of control so the Nats wouldn't want to move him. Unless someone was willing to come along and be locked in on a specific player. Congrats to Paul Toboni. He's new to the job and that's a pretty good deal.

This is the key point. Milwaukee and Cleveland don't do it all at once. This is absolutely uncharted territory. And it's why the Twins can't mess around here. Milwaukee and Cleveland have a head start. They've already been running players through. The Twins need to take 2026 and step on the gas because they have catching up to do. Whatever happens in 2026 happens. Just spend 2026 putting every effort into catching up. Don't waste time. They can turn this thing around faster than most of us imagine. You don't copy Milwaukee and Cleveland because you can't. You need to be an exaggerated version of them in order to stand on the brakes... leaving tire skid marks as they stop completely on the recent history of trying to be a poor version of Philadelphia and the Yankees. Just hit the brakes leaving skid marks and start driving in the correct lane and catch up and leave skid marks as you accelerate in the correct lane. You spend 2026 trying to solely catch up... gain ground and you need to do this unencumbered of any need to acquire a Grichuk type cheaply on a one year deal.

That's a Great idea!!! If I could only figure out how to auto-generate. I wouldn't even need to keep up with the topics.

I'm not sure that letting Jeffers walk and getting nothing in return is a good idea. I'm not sure you send a QO his way.

I'll wait and see. It's a long way to March 26th. Lots of phone calls to decline over the months to come. I'll wait and see... but if they hold to this and they augment with IKF and Josh Bell... If i hear them saying they are looking for right handed bats... I will feel rather hopeless.

I don't care if I agree or disagree. I love this post! I look forward to your 4th post.

The optimism is the willingness to tear up the Twenty Dollars.

The Honda... That's fine but honestly... I was thinking. Winning Record in 2026. I'd do 20 Bucks at 100 to 1 odds. Yeah... that's right... I'll put my money where my mouth is. I like that you've joined the team. You and I will have to put the Carhardts on... heavy coat to face the cold stiff winds here at TD but it's nice to have someone with ya. We have slight disagreement as you noted but the concept is the same. Just make 2026 about finding talent and whatever happens happens but we should be at least a step or two or three closer when the season concludes as we roll into the storm clouds of the labor disagreement. The picture should be clearer... the decisions to make less numerous. Just flood it and assess the result and then flood it again. Pitching: I agree... we can start with what we have right now. Good depth and good potential. Our possible difference: I think they have to trade Joe Ryan. Have to... unless they are just lowballed. His value brings back to much to let that value diminish with his service time ticking or the possibility of injury. Use Joe Ryan to bring back the biggest baddest young player they can get. Someone a step above the guys that we will be flooding into the system hoping for hits on. Someone that Keith Law sings songs about... a guy that other teams don't want to part with. Sweeten the pot if you have to. I'm keeping Lopez... his return may not be worth his value to the club. Outfield: You are exactly right... there is enough on the 40 man already to more than flood the system. Two or three of the current group could come out of those shadows. Some will remain in the shadows. Just don't know who but only Buxton deserves everyday playing time. The rest can fight for it but you give them all the chance to fight for it. Evan Outman... give him until June but you got to give him a chance. We will probably have to trade one or two of them for better 40 man balance. 2B/3B/SS: They need some help here. The depth isn't sufficient to flood. One of the top priorities this off-season needs to be getting Fitzgerald or Kreidler off the 26 man roster. As of right now... one of those two is on the 40 man. We need a young SS that will push Lee so Lee can push Lewis and even Keaschall. We will have Culpepper behind that hopefully and that's when you can say that they are flooding the position group. As of right now... Lee and Lewis are just going to either sink or swim and two years later if any of them sunk... they will just try again. Nope... We shouldn't wait. Get that SS and utilize those 4 players for those 3 spots. 1B: Yeah... we will disagree on this one but I understand what you are saying. Your suggestion is probably the only direction that they can go. The Twins have literally no one for this position. It's beyond words how dry this well is! Especially when you consider that hitters naturally fall down the defensive spectrum to this position. It's a dry well that should be collecting groundwater but bone dry and it's led a yearly one year rental thing that has gone on too long as has no end in sight. I refuse to tolerate the continuation of this. I'd rather they sleep in the bed that they made. Starve if they have to. If you have to trade Joe Ryan to get an young potential aircraft carrier at this position. You do it. Otherwise... Clemens and Julien it is with hope that they can get Sabato, Fedko or Mendez going quickly. In regards to Clemens and Julien... they are both out of options. If you do trade for a 1B. One will have to go to make room. C: Just punt it for the time being - Jeffers needs to be cashed in for more chips. Concentrate on finding offense at the other 8 positions. Bullpen: Good Gravy - Uff Da - It's a project just attack it from all angles. Save the ones who work out and start building. It doesn't have to be the best bullpen baseball but you have to get it to functional.

Now you are closer to the overall problem and the mountain that needs to be climbed. Who are this front office or maybe the manager himself betting on? Duran and Jax are easy calls... they have nasty stuff... However... what about the not so easy calls of the big pile of players in the middle... can they find potential. I'm still pissed about Belisle over Anderson and I haven't forgiven them yet. Did Henriquez click in Miami at age 25 because the Marlins unlocked him or was he potentially already here in Minnesota at age 23 and 24? I don't know the answer to that but Henriquez wasn't a nightmare in his limited appearances with the Twins. They couldn't unlock it? Did they just feel safer with the Okert specialist type player or the Staumont and Jay Jackson's of the world thinking experience was the thing to bet on instead of potential? It's a bad look for a team scraping for talent to watch one come up big just one mere off-season after being let go. Was Ronny the better option all along? I don't know the answer to that but if you want to drag me off the last bit of optimism that I can supply and am trying to supply... that's how you can accomplish it. Can this front office/Manager identify players beyond the obvious Duran Jax type options and let them figure it out. I don't know the answer to that but other teams can and do. This is where my doubt lies. There will be success and failures... maybe even more failures than successes.... probably more failures than success. But, as the season rolls along... players will step up... we can make some deals at the deadline... add to the pile... go through the same... address again in the off-season. We can make progress right now. I have a reason to get up tomorrow morning knowing that. There are a lot of big arm guys out there. Let's find them and run them up the flagpole.

Exactly... We all saw it. The station to station thing that the team didn't have the offensive chops to pull off and from that I saw... there was job security in that approach and that was frustrating. Players laid up instead of laying out. Get some players hungry for a major league career. Have them come out with their hair on fire and let's see exactly who looks good with flames on their head and keep feeding it until you find it.

Not many teams do. But, do we have to have a Jhoan Duran caliber arm? His arm is pretty special. How about a good arm? We can't find that? Ronny Henriquez tossed 79 innings last year struck out 98. 1.10 WHIP. Griffin Jax had a rough first year as a starter and almost immediate success in the bullpen the following year. Is it going to be easy or perfect? I would think not because they completely tore the thing apart at the deadline and have a subsequent long way to go especially once the injuries start happening but bullpens are built in surprising ways and they contain names that nobody has ever talked about.

I'll try but I strongly recommend not betting the house, car, wife and kids on it because they got distance to travel. If you really want to believe this or at least get to where I am. The first thing that you need to do is be comfortable with being uncomfortable with name recognition. Pete Alonso is not coming to save us. The second thing that you need to do is take a hard look at the performance of players on the other 29 teams and take note of the performance of young players. Take note of how they compare to the veterens on the roster. You will find a lot of failure or small sample failure but you will see the success stories and more importantly... You will find a lot of young players who were at least average with room to grow. Players that performed on par with vets that other teams are spending 10 million on. If you look at the Rockies... Hunter Goodman will be noticeable. Even Jordan Beck while not amazing in total didn't kill the club and performed better than McMahon. If you look at the Marlins... you'll see Agustin Ramirez, Jakob Marsee and other with potential. The A's... have tons of young talent. The Red Sox... relied on youth last year and they are not all Keith Law darlings. If the Twins front office and manager commit to just stop attempting to temporarily plug holes with players that won't be back the following year and fully commit to filling the holes longer term by flooding youth through the filter. It's not out of the realm of possibility that we find players with offense and defense that fill some of the holes and this could start to show by the trade deadline. If you find enough talent... you can reassess at the deadline and reassess at the end of the year and maybe the holes have concentrated down to a couple of key spots and then you can fish for bigger free agents strategically and the money will be there because you are doing this with players making the minimum. Whatever happens... happens in 2026. But, Yeah... it can be done. I believe it.

Wow I understand it's limitations. But this is a bit extreme.

Once again... you knock it out of the park. A closer is created by giving someone the closer role. Yes they need to get the job done but Duran was created by giving him the closer role. We didn't need to spend 16 million for a year of Kenley Jansen.

My opinion of course... but I don't think the owners should make a necessary financial investment this off-season. Make the necessary financial investment when they have found some players so they know exactly where to spend that investment. The most hopeless feeling I had the past two years since the death of the RSN money was knowing that the team was out of money. I don't have to look at the books to know they were out of money and they have not been producing offensive farm talent... actually not even trying in my opinion. They signed Ty France to play 1B everyday because they didn't develop even Ty France level talent. Teams don't do that unless they are out of financial wiggle room and they don't believe in their farm. That isn't the case right now. This team can add... payroll is as low as it's been since Falvey arrived... they just shouldn't do it this off-season... other than spend on bullpen because the bullpen was... well you know. They don't need to completely tear this thing down and make this longer. Let 2026 happen... and let's see what the team looks like at the end of the year and then strategically invest in one or two bigger free agents not a pile of little one year guys. They can do this... Will they? That's the million dollar question or the projected 90 million dollar question.

It's hard to feel optimistic given everything that has transpired. I wouldn't even call my statement "Closer than we think" optimism in itself... it's just going to sound optimistic when it is placed next to the general overall feeling that most of us are holding right now. But I believe... at worst... there is nowhere to go but up and at best... if the Twins do this right and put every ounce of energy into finding young offensive talent we can find a decent offensive team with some athleticism from players hungry to prove themselves and it may partially reveal itself by the all-star break if not sooner. I'm simply not afraid of youth. When it comes to doing this right. I'm not afraid of youth but not all of it is going to pan out... some may struggle hard so if the Twins take the approach of running multiple options through. They'll find offensive talent because they will find players who exceed expectation along with some that disappoint and they can adjust accordingly. It's all about the accumulation of talent and the commitment to let it grow. Martin, Roden and Outman are going to let us know and the options behind them are breathing down their necks. We just gotta find the answer for SS and 1B so we can provide sufficient numbers to run through the infield positions and pressure Lewis and Lee so they can't suck the life out of the team with .600 OPS performance. It won't take much to reach the level of the past two years. Offense has been our primary problem, station to station averageness on offense has been our primary problem. We have the chance to do some things on the bases now, we have higher ceilings to utilize and strive for potenially greater than the Ty France plug in's. 23rd in runs scored isn't a high bar to clear. We have the chance now to not only match it but exceed it. I like our starting pitching depth. I know it doesn't excite some but I like the depth and potential of it. I think Matthews, Bradley and Abel are live impressive arms. I think you can even move Ryan and the starting pitching can still keep us in ball games. I have no answer for the bullpen because it was completely destroyed other than saying a bullpen can be built from multiple directions and be functional. It doesn't have to be the best in baseball... it can be average. and the team can survive. However... If you look at the best bullpens in baseball by actual performance. They consist of a lot of "who are these guys". They don't all look like the Padres with names we have heard of. This is where I'd like to see the Twins spend some money and add some converted young starters with some gas and get a couple of trade throw in's and maybe... just maybe... it won't be the Hatch nightmare post deadline. How would the Twins front office do this wrong? Make this take longer and the nagging thought that I worry about? They will do it wrong by continuing the practice of trying to Frankenstein things together. They need to run 26 players full speed at the problem at all times. They will do it wrong by wasting 26 man roster space on specialists thinking that they are a late pinch running guy away from winning ball games instead of running 26 players full speed at the problem. They will do it wrong thinking that they can make a platoon combo out of Roden and Martin to Frankenstein things together because you will just kill the development of both as you continue the practice of strip mining your prospects for parts. The front office can flat out F this up by thinking that they... the front office can fix this with math. Instead of letting the players fix it by demonstrating that they want major league jobs. The front office just needs to go on a talent accumulation quest, flood this thing with options and get out of the way and let the success failure ratio fix it.

This team is closer than almost everybody on TD thinks or feels. If the Twins do this right we could be actually encouraged by the end of the year. I know that many feel I just said the dumbest sentence ever but this team isn't as far off as you think. Of course the off-season isn't over and there is plenty of time to get further away before 2026 starts and a nagging feeling that they won't do it right when the front office really needs to get it right.

@tony&rodney I was just answering the question on why BBTV has a lower trade value. Every contending team should be interested in Byron Buxton. That isn't even worth debate but how much will they pay to get him is the question. Would the Giants trade Bryce Eldridge for him? Buxton would provide instant impact, the Giants have Devers to handle 1B. But, would you give up a 20 year old Eldridge for that instant impact from a guy over 30 who has had basically one season of decent health. If the answer to that is no? Maybe it's a yes... but if the you think the answer is that the Giants wouldn't do that. You have just acknowledged that age and injury risk is a factor because Byron Buxton had the 9th best OPS in baseball last season. If these things are not a factor... the Giants trade Eldridge because they are hoping Eldridge becomes the 9th best OPS in baseball. Once you decide it's a factor... the question becomes how much of a factor... while you are doing that calculation... The 45 million owed on the contract has to factored in. I can't explain the formula that BBTV uses. I'm not even here to defend it. I've read the components of it without specific information on the formula/weighting. So, I can't even say that BBTV is right or wrong because it doesn't matter. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The Phillies and Mets may both decide that Buxton is the perfect addition and nobody else can do what he can do and bid things up while the Giants are watching in disbelief.

Age and Injury Risk.

The Twins won't trade him if it's too low. If he cares about that.

There is no way that I can agree or disagree with you. I simply don't know what Byron thinks or feels. I can only assume and what I assume is this. 1. This may be coming from the Twins telling Byron they would like to consider trades. It may be coming from Byron himself. I assume that I don't know. 2. If he is making an emotional decision. He probably has a smart adviser to bring him down to earth so everything is considered. 10-5 Rights. Chances of Winning, Taxes, Legacy so the decision is rational. 3. I assume that the front office would be somewhat transparent with his agent or him directly. At least as much as they can be. He and his agent will have an idea what is about to happen or at least could happen. We are going this direction... would you like to be a part of our plans? If not, we can have conversations with clubs. 4. It's smart to have options presented to you by not closing the door on anything at all. It's smart to be at least willing to listen to what life would be like for him in the Bronx. 5. If he's going to waive the no-trade clause... he's renegotiating the contract. Not doing that would be... I won't say Stupid... but I'd say not a good move and think stupid in my head. 6. If he is traded... there is no guarantees in life. He could accept a deal to the Mets and watch everything fall apart. If he doesn't get a full trade for the remaining two years. The Mets could trade him to the Pirates. He could get hurt again... He could struggle and watch the Mets trade for Pete Crow Armstrong to replace him. 7. Ergo Propter Hoc. I just don't know but I'm not willing to torture myself with a repeat of 2018. I hope he stays and I certainly don't read anything into this.

I can research it tonight and see if I can come up with examples. Until then... All I can say is that I'm renegotiating and whatever the team is willing to pay will determine if I'm ok with everything I give up. And... I personally believe that he gives up a lot. Beyond his 10-5 status. It would be awesome to be Joe Mauer one club career player. In your scenario... the assumption that he is pissed and just wants out. Well Yeah... He isn't going to let a renegotiation block the exit door. He's gone if the Twins comply and that will depend on the return to the Twins. I've never met Byron before... but I think he's smart or at least has a smart agent who is going to look out for his best interest. I'm certainly not going to relive the 2018 Byron Buxton is gone over service time manipulation wildfire that paralyzed Twins daily.

I believe it is at the conclusion of 2026. According to roster resource his current service time sits at 9.160. He will be over the 10 year mark before the year is out. I'm pretty sure it's why this NTC nuance was negotiated into the contract at this particular juncture. Why would the Twins put it there... because if he waives his no trade rights... the no trade clause lowers trade value. It's basically the Twins saying... well if you waive the NTC to leave... we don't need the full NTC hamstringing a potential trade at the end of a contract when talent is typically waning. And Byron agreed to those terms.