Brandon

The big difference between the Orioles in a smaller market and the Twins is all of the sports teams we have here. Baltimore has an NFL and MLB team. I can’t think of an NBA or NHL or college or WNBA or minor league team. The Twin Cities has all of them which eats into available revenue. San Diego payroll went up after the Chargers left town. Just consider the other factors when comparing markets.

Rich Hill is getting interest from teams in contention as is. And the other starting pitcher we could sign is Cole Irvin who was released from Baltimore after the trade deadline. Not much but I figure if Ryan goes down for a while then we need an option. Otherwise it’s between Dobnak and Varland.

With Joe Ryan getting injured we can always turn to Rich Hill who is available. I don't know what it would take to sign him, but I doubt much.

The offense mostly consists of 4 players and 5 ? Marks nightly. If one of the 4 slumps or gets injured they are in trouble offensively. I’m surprised they didn’t try harder for an OF at the deadline. I’m glad they are doing well.

We have 4 starters who are at least a number 3 level starter and a wild card in Festa. I think with a dominant bullpen we can over come the lack of ace status pitchers. We also have a good deep offense. If healthy they can cover for runs given up too. The playoffs are a sprint and we have a team that is pretty well built to succeed there. The team just needs to decide to win no matter what.

I like giving DieKman A shot. Irwin can start in AAA with Festa showing much better after his bulk innings and bulk runs given up in his first two starts. But we may need another starts yet with Woods-Richardson reaching a new high in innings could be tiring down the stretch. I see nothing wrong with more depth. You can never have too much depth. on a side note Gordon was also let go by Florida. Could we get him back in AAA for utility depth?

I think KC got better with acquiring Lorenzen. He solidifies their starting rotation. But they did not address the elephant in the room as far as they are concerned. Their offense is terrible. They needed to get 2 above average hitters to help the 4 who are carrying the load. Cleveland got Lane Thomas who is a solid 4th OF but not a difference maker. They could use a better hitter and a starting pitcher or two. Looking over their roster, I’m surprised they made it this far. Their bullpen is saving their team and their 3 big hitters Naylor, Kwan, and Ramirez. I forgot who else they acquired at the deadline but overall, I feel the division is there for the Twins taking if they want it bad enough.

Since the Twins started the season 7-13 they have gone 56-35 a 101 win pace or .620 win percentage.

I would like to see Severino get a call up. Probably Keirsey too.

So he has 90 pitches thrown though 4. I say give him 15 pitches or so for the win otherwise he’s yanked in 5th. I would like to see him get the W. Because he seems to get left out of decisions often when we win.

Jake Diekman has just been released by the Mets and could be had. We all wanted a lefty reliever. Could the Twins get him turned around and effective again in time for the playoffs? He had a 2.18 ERA for the Rays last year. So he can be good. his K rate is 11.3 per 9 innings his control is out of whack is all. The cost is pro-rated league minimum so that is not going to be a problem. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2024/08/mets-designate-jake-diekman-for-assignment.html

I agree that a good lefthander would be nice, but the Twins retained or readdressed their depth and signed Santana and a few relievers. It’s nice to see the Woods-Richardson develop into that 4th starter and it looks like Festa, or Paddack, or Mathew’s or Dobnak could be that 5th starter. I like we have options that all deserve a chance. Also Varland but I think it’s time to either move to the pen or in a trade..

The Royals didn’t promote a Wallner level hitter though. I think he is a much more exciting addition. Festa has had 2 good appearances in a row after the first two where he gave up runs but still pitched 5 innings to save the pen some. We have better internal reinforcements than anyone as we also have the return of Odyssey… Randy Dobnak.

Lorenzen is probably who the Twins should have targeted but Kansas City big need is their offense not rotation. They have 4 decent above average hitters and rest terrible. Cleveland added depth Seattle is the only one who added a difference maker. When I saw that the Pads gave up their 2 best prospect for Tanner Scott, that’s when I became glad we stood pat on the trade deadline.

See also Angels and their owner. He buys expensive players then has no depth and they tank every year when an injury or slump or both occur.

I didn’t see too many top of the rotation starters get moved. I didn’t see too many difference makers get moved either at the deadline. As far as getting a starter, I would rather keep with what we have in house unless we went out and got Flaherty or Crochet or a top of the rotation pitcher. as far as getting a left handed reliever is concerned, it depends on how much you think it will affect the outcome of the games. I would have liked to see us get a good lefty or a stabilizer in the pen but I do think we have in house options and we will be fine come playoffs time. All in all, I don’t think this is the year to make trades at the deadline and that is 👌 ok. The sky isn’t falling and we are still in a good spot in the standings and are competitive. While Cleveland and Kansas City made moves, I don’t think they made enough of a dent to knock us down any further.

Yankees Reportedly "Backed Out" Of Jack Flaherty Trade Following Medical Review - MLB Trade Rumors here is the article. They did get burned on the Montas trade a few years back.

The Yankees had a trade lined up for him and backed out over medicals. I think that had a lot to do with his final trade value. Also I want to point out to everyone, I didn't really see that many difference makers traded at the deadline. Most of the trades were for depth or to plug a hole. So I am less disappointed the Twins didn't do much yesterday. in addition to that Festa now has 2 good appearances in a row and could end up being the starter we need and we still have Dobnak and Varland and Zebby Mathews now as depth.

Even still when their revenue was higher the payroll was higher thus I hope more people go to games to get more revenue and thus more payroll. I’m fine with entrepreneurs making money. No one works for free. But I want Falvey and Levine to have more resources.

is this right?

I think it’s a good article as it’s dumpster diving which is the point and coming out with low cost stuff that is useful like finding an old table someone is throwing out but works great in the home office or garage.

I agree with you. But we are a mid market team. We are the smallest market with all major sports franchises. Hockey, NBA, NFL and MBL. Plus we have WNBA and we did have an independent baseball league and AAA team and college. That’s what makes us a small to middle market team not the size of our market. but like I said I agree with you and I don’t like it but I also understand what they are doing too. I think not giving a million or two is petty but it is what it is. And it’s really frustrating.

To answer some of the posts in this thread. I’m not sure we need to trade for a starting pitcher. I think we are fine heading into the playoffs. The concern is more along the lines of having enough quality pitching to make it through the season. Right now the Twins hold the 2nd spot of three in the Wild card standings. Kansas City, Boston, Seattle/ Houston are all reasonably close to Minnesota in the standings. It only takes 2 of them to go on a tear to Knock us out of the playoffs. Tampa Bay is on the fringe of being a part of this too. So do we need another starter to help fend off the challengers or can we do this internally with Festa and Mathews and. Varland and possibly Dobnak? I’ll leave that up to Falvey to decide. With the way our pen is shaping up for the playoffs if Varland will just make the switch we will be very competitive there if our offense shows up. As far as the budget is concerned, I think the Twins pushed their chips in last year when they were able to repivot and sign Correa. I am not happy about the budget constraints this year but atleast it’s consistent with how the Twins operate. No one should be too surprised by this. Also while I don’t like the cuts, I am glad we knew it was coming to reset expectations upfront even if it hurt ticket sales. They let everyone know the budget was being cut before you bought your season tickets. That is integrity. I still don’t like it but I get to live with it as a fan of the team. Falvey and Levine have done a great job keeping us competitive with what they have to work with. I imagine if the Twins were on pace to draw 200,000 more fans then last year instead of losing fans this year they might’ve given a small amount like 2-4 million to play with. But with attendance dropping they probably think the risk of adding to payroll is not worth it.

As far as acquiring a starting pitcher you have to decide is this worth it. There would be a possible 11 starts left in the regular season. Will the new pitcher be an ace and have 8 quality starts or be mid rotation for 6-7 quality starts and compare that to how many quality starts can we get from Dobnak/ Festa/ Mathew’s/ Varland/ Paddack/ Woods-Richardson. From there you have to look at the cost. What’s it worth to have 2-4 more quality starts? Do we pull the trigger on the cost? if we can get 4 we should absolutely try to find a way. 1-2 depends on how likely you think we will be caught in the standings if we don’t. if we could get Kickuchi for a package of Dobnak, Severino, and another 15-25 ranked prospect, I would be fine with that. Maybe Schobel …. I wonder what it would cost to get Flaherty in a trade?

I think at this point Falvey has done enough to earn another contract if he hasn’t received one yet. Pitchers are coming up through the system. Mathew’s, Festa, woods-Richardson, Ober, Lewis, Culpepper, Varland, are either up/ about ready/ or on the way. There are others too. And they’ve figured out depth is the 🔑 key for the team in the regular season as Him and Levine have been good at finding a 6th starter who can be competitive and building a deep bench on the cheap and having a deep lineup of atleast slightly above average players.