Brandon

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.

They won’t trade for Snell because he has the option of making the team pay him 30 million next season. The Twins already said they want a rental only.

I wrote this earlier thinking our 6th and 7th starters were Varland and Festa with nothing really available after that. If Mathew’s is about ready for a shot and Dobnak is pitching well, I’m more ok with standing pat but still prefer getting a starter at the deadline.

I was ok with trading for Snell until I read this. Ouch, that’s too expensive. Thought the Twins would trade for Paxton at his price it was ideal. But I’m fine with the depth we have to get through the season. Festa, Mathews or Dobnak can get starts the rest of the season. Nick Nelson has been pointing out how good Dobnak has been the last 8 starts or so… I also hope we trade for an upgrade starter too but won’t be upset if we don’t get the shiny new toy. the best trade scenario I can think of would be pitching prospect Culpepper and Severino and maybe Dobnak for Kikuchi. The trades so far seem to be 14 th and 25-30 ranked prospects in their system for a rental. Include Dobnak cause he has some potential and he clears cash.

I sent in a couple of $3.00 bills I hope that helps

I would agree if we were rebuilding but we are trying to win the division still and we are currently behind

I wonder how much revenue the Twins lost this year with the TV contract blowing up on them. And the declining attendance from last year. I’m guessing in the 40-60 million range. The Twins only cut 27 million. Hopefully they are at a point where they won’t have to drop payroll further.

Another good thing about adding Paxton is if Paddack comes back they can just piggyback off of each other to limit each others innings down the stretch. both are nearing highs in innings pitched after years of injuries. so this can be a benefit for both of them.

The Twins need a starting pitcher that doesn't add to payroll that is a rental and good. The Dodgers want a top of the rotation starter and are targeting Crochet with the Whitesox. and have DFA's Paxton THe Dodgers could use a prospect to include in the trade for Crochet and we need salary relief. Whitesox needs many prospects start of a trade proposal: Twins send Theilbar to LA (to balance the cash) and a prospect to Whitesox (not sure which prospect to include just here is the framework to be hashed out below but for now I will go with Schobel or Culpepper the starting pitcher) Whitesox send Crochet to LA LA sends more prospects to Whitesox. and Paxton to the Twins Discuss below and share your thoughts.

You should add a 31 and 32 prospect in case a draft pick who ranks doesn't sign. but It looks like we have a deep farm system. Last year it felt like we graduated/ traded a few too many prospects and depleted somewhat our farm.

Paxton because he is the easiest to make a cash neutral deal on. Kikuchi because he is next on the easiest to make cash neutral list. Eovaldi or Heaney after that.

I just picked a random prospect. It could be anyone in the 20-50 range or 2. I don't get to construct this trade. but since I keep hearing that the Twins need to be cash neutral on a deal. then getting Paxton needs to be a top priority and we can include a better prospect to take the salary of someone else. Dobnak and Winder and Henriquez maybe. I know they want relievers. any of those three can relieve. Though probably not Dobnak.... maybe they prefer a different prospect. Also the Twins could just decide to cut corners on the draft budget ....say spend 250-750 k less than what they can spend. They are already down 600k below their cap. They may decide to not sign Dasan Hill instead of going over slot. now they have the savings to acquire Paxton and keep it cash neutral. I am not advocating this just making an observation as a different avenue of staying cash neutral.

With Preilipp back and pitching again, just need to get Canterino going again. I thought he was a candidate to make the Twins and he hasn't pitched since spring training. Does anyone know why he is out?

If we are able to include Theilbar the deal becomes almost cash neutral. That is why I included him. but we could trade others too. but I am sure if he is being DFA'd there wasn't much interest in him beforehand. Maybe we could include Dobnak and say Severino for Paxton. I am not sure what it would take. But I am just thinking of how to make the deal cash neutral.

It looks like the Dodgers are looking for a reliever. Could we send Theilbar or Staumont for him?

I just came to this site to post about getting Paxton, I think getting him is the smart choice as all three of Paxton, Woods-Richardson and Paddack can take turns getting rest as they get ready for the playoffs. All three would be approaching the most innings they have pitched in the majors in the last 5 years or so. They could swap one to the bullpen or piggyback and have each throw 3 or 4 innings in an appearance to limit innings. I like the salary and the fact we wouldn't have to give up much to get him and we are in another league so LA won't care about sending him to us. I am surprised we didn't have him before the DFA.

I am not saying your wrong. but Farmers overall stats since his season opening slump are pretty good. He still has value. I can see either scenario play out though I think he has established enough value to still be useful to a team who is offloading salary in a trade with us. though is we are trading for Snell, I would expect either Kepler or Velazquez to be included in that kind of deal along with a prospect....

A rebuilding team that gets a better prospect or say the Giants trade Snell and offset some of what’s owed.

With Kyle Farmer, I can see the Twins trying to include him in a trade to get salary off the books. Or replace in coming salary. I doubt they DFA him.

Hopefully the Twins can get a dual deal, 1 with cable and 1 with streaming for totals that get them close to where they were and as a result the Twins boost payroll next year to the 150 million range. That would go a long way to fixing their image I think 🤔

Flaherty in Detroit is an option if the Twins want to go all in this year.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2024/07/twins-trade-rumors-starting-pitchers-rentals.html key names mentioned include Kikuchi (Blue Jays starter). Flaherty, Frankie Montas, Andrew Heaney, Trevor Williams, and a few others. On this list I like Heaney and Flaherty.

I would hate it if the Twins go to the playoffs and get knocked out by Julien hitting a walkoff hit for Boston....