Brandon

If we were buyers it looks like we'd have lots of trading chips. at least we have multiple solid to great prospects at all positions except SS and SP.

I thought he was going to be the next comissioner of baseball. He is a logical choice for that job too.

Gardy will be back next year. Doumit gets traded Morneau doesnt players in the minors continue to improve and some even get to gain major league experience, and the Twins could lose around 90 games or so. that should answer most of the 2nd half ?s. The only one left is the one Reuse asked the other day. why dont the Twins take advantage of the international market and sign some players.

You might be able to package 2 relievers together like Deunsing and Burton or Fien for a decent prospect if a contender is really struggling in their pen. As both relievers are solid and controllable beyond next year. But I have not looked around to see who needs 2 or more relievers.

So what happens to the extra players now at Fort Myers.

His last 5 starts he has a 3.74 ERA. I think he's turned the corner from his operation and I bet he ERA during the 2nd half will be closer to 4.00. The question is who will have a higher era at the end of the season Pelfry or Corriea? (not trying to slight Corriea here)

The return would need to be significant as we already have a strong collection of prospects we are short on MI and Starting Pitchers so I think we would want a real good prospect plus a couple of low level prospects with potential. Because you are not just getting Perkins but also getting an invisible 7 million per season as his contract is that team friendly.

Again why make the trade if there is nothing of value coming back? Don't we have 2 more seasons of control before he becomes a FA? we don't need payroll flexibility so there is no incentive to trade based on what I am reading.

keep him. We need other pitchers who are available to pitch before we can trade our starters. the only starter we should be hoping to trade is Kevin Corriea. and that is because of his contract for next season. We are almost out of pitchers to try this season. We have albers then...... Blackburn is rehabbing I wonder if he'll be available in a month. we also have Hendriks, Worely, and Hernandez and Walters we can recycle through again if we have to but do we really want to?

Tonkin is ready to replace someone in the bullpen so if a pitcher is dealt then we have their replacement so it depends on what we get. I would think that Duensing would be the more likely trade candidate as he is likely to cost more and might be more valuable in the trade market. I would think the Twins would want an A ball level prospect that they like in exchange for one of them. I don't have any names to speculate but getting talented A ballers has been a specialty of TR.

Morneau: I'd trade hime for your proposal to the Yanks, his value will rely on more players getting suspended for PED use. it may be more than you think if a contender loses someone important. I would also be ok keeping him and signing a 2 year 14 million with huge incentives to reach past glory. Plouffe: why trade him now when you can trade him later? he'll be just as valuable next year or beyond and is versatile. Perkins: I'd trade him for Boegarts and one of those pitchers but there is not much else I would trade him for several AA pitching prospects that are close to majors.... Though I could be convinced otherwise if i were the GM and the offers were better. I do like the idea of making this team worse to get better draft position next ear and get more prospects this year. THat could set this team up to compete for a long time.

How bout Colabello at DH for the next month while Doumit heals from injury?

Your all wrong. He needs to be resigned. The club is stale not Gardenhire. What is needed is some starting pitching, one more person who can get on base at close to .400 to lead off and a power hitter who can hit HR,s and drive in runs consistantly. That will have a huge impact on the team concept and winning games.

This is the wildcard to the whole trade deadline deals. NY needs a first baseman and Morneau and Moralas (Sea) are the headliners. Boston and maybe Tampa(see above quote) a 3B I will say paying 2-3 million of KC contract next year for a fringe organizations top 30 prospect is no bueno. Why pay 2-3 million when you can get a FA reliever for a million or less? Also with what the Twins have in their rotation right now why would they want to trade KC or Pelfry? There isn't anyone ready to step up in their place. Albers and Hernandez and maybe Hendriks is all we got left in the cupboard until next year...oh and Swarzak. But I do agree that they do not hold much value.

None of the relievers deserve to be demoted at this time so it would have to be that Gibson might get demoted and Swarzak could move to the rotation or someone could be traded but I don't see why anyone would be traded. No one is worth a lot of prospects except Perkins and I don't see Minn trading him now. He's home town, allstar and locked in cheaply for the next few years. Roenecke is arbitration eligible next year, and not worth too much in a trade and no other reliever is eligible for free agency any time soon and they are all inexpensive even if they all make 1 to 2 million next year they are still underpaid for their production. so the basic assumption is that someone is going to the rotation or Tonkin is going back down in a few days.

If the Twins can collect better prospects then they should absolutely throw in money. Also TR is one of the few GM's smart enough to pick up on the idea of getting an A ball player with a higher ceiling when going after prospects. The problem is the Twins don't have much to trade with Willingham out. I doubt they trade Morneau but I could be wrong and Corriea would be a good sell high candidate. Burton is another option but I doubt they trade him either. I don't really see anything else to trade.

Would next offseason be the one to go after Free agents or would the one after be better as next year we will be breaking in May, Meyer, Sano, Pinto, maybe Buxton towards the end of the season. Plus some of our pitching prospects may move up the pecking order and be ready to contribute the following year and we may not need a FA starter at all. Any time would be a good one to go out and get a SS though. Lots of SS options after the 2014 season if no one wants to be a fully competent player there by then... We should save our cash for one of these guys. Asdrubal Cabrera (29) J.J. Hardy (32) Jed Lowrie (31) Hanley Ramirez (31)

I agree that Parmelee needs more playing time no argument here. I think the thing that surprises me about Corriea is that he has an even record and is on pace to throw 200 innings. no one else on our staff is coming close to 200 innings. Do I expect Corriea to sustain his current numbers pace? I do not. Hopefully he gets traded for a prospect or something to a contender. With the conversion from the national league I was expecting numbers just short of what Pelfry has year to date. So to me his current numbers are a huge surprise.

I like that I expect our #19 prospect Eades to be able to compete for a spot in the Twins rotation as a #3 starter upside guy in the next 2 years.....what does that say about our first 18 prospects?

"Surprisingly enough, Correia was one legit starter. We were all wrong there. But relying on Pelfrey was a mistake. He was a great third option. But not a second option." Brock Beachamp. I think Vance Worely was the 2nd pitcher with Pelfry the 3rd one. I think coming into this season we had: Corriea, Worely, Pelfry, Diamond, Hendriks, Dedunno, Walters, Gibson, Hernandez, and one more injured pitcher who used to be real good but too injured. I forgot his name... That's ten starters though I would like another one too as I expected a lot more out of Worely and Diamond. On the plus side this season it looks as though Dedunno is turning into a solid player as he has a 10-8 record the last 2 seasons in 150ish innings. Corriea surprised everyone. One more success story will make it more promising going into next year. Maybe it will be Gibson.....Correia, Dedunno, Gibson, FA (Hughes) Diamond/ Meyer now the rotation would be starting to shape up... Grade C wanted one more solid starting option or atleast one more of them to work out. The bullpen has been lights out... 8 relievers who all had sub 4.00 ERA until a recent slump by 2 pitchers plus how long and how much is Perkins signed for... can't ask for more then that.... A+ The offensive pieces are there but Parmelee hasn't produced and Doumit, Carroll, and Hicks slumped to start the season. and we don't have much in the MI but they seem to have been pretty clutch in making runs score when it counts. So they are an on base guy away from being average run scoring team. Arcia, Hicks, Parmelee, Dozier, and Florimon are getting a chance to develop. B for not getting a backup CF option. Team objectives for this season: 1. Play meaningful games in August not gonna happen unless you mean meaningful tryouts. D 2. loaded with prospects: A+ 3. Acquired useful inexpensive pieces/ prospects for long term: Pressley, Roenecke, Theilbar, Dedunno, May/Meyer, Doumit, Escobar, A 4. The team is not financially hamstrung with bad contracts past this year so we have lots of room to sign a pitcher this offseason. Though this grade is only an A if we take advantage of this. Overall that's an an A- at worst because we didn't have 1 more starter step up and show they could be a number 2/3 starter and no backup plan for Hicks in CF. Everything else is working out in its own way and Hicks has been turning it around as the year progresses.

I put a little stock in wins because sometimes the starting pitcher has to dig a little deeper to get out of a situation where the game can be lost. some pitchers will coast if the game is won and not worry so much about runs as opposed to getting innings.

Walters is like Hernandez, best suited for the 6th starter/ 8th or 9th man in the pen. He can provide a few starts or innings out of the pen but you don't want to gamble that he will work out for a full season. If the Twins had a need in the pen he probably would get a few games there to see if he could work out there. but with 8 relievers all under 4.00 era there are no spots available.

With all of the hitters starting to come up, Arcia, Hicks, Parmelee, with Sano and Rosario close by and Mauer and Plouffe on top of that maybe the Twins will spend a little on the rotation this offseason to get a top of the rotation pitcher if one is available this offseason. If for no other reason than to help Gibson shoulder the load of hope for a decent pitcher to help front the rotation.

So we may get to see what it is like to be on the other side of the Capps / Ramos trade.....Nice. I still don't see us making a trade as I see Perkins being around when we are competitive again.

I can see Gibson being allowed to go 150-160 innings as long as he looks strong. but I don't see him going much beyond that. They will want him to come back stronger next year and make sure they avoid a potential dead arm next year when he is up in Minn.