Wax Kepler

Garver wouldn't be pissed. Nor would anyone else who stands to get more playing time.

If I can replace a 1.000 OPS with a .900 OPS for less than a tenth of the cost, I don't know why it's so outlandish to trade Cruz mid season, if other guys are crushing and there aren't enough at bats to go around and they're sitting on the bench or waiting in the minors. I'm not a big fan of spending a lot on a DH only 40 year old if you have a bunch of twenty something sluggers itching for at bats.

I don't get it, we signed him last year. If anything it would show the organization believes in their young bats.

I see this is not popular, but keep in mind that the premise is that Garver proves himself by crushing again in 2020, we've added Grandal and love him behind the plate, we still have Cruz but have NOT passed the deadline. If another team is looking add some power to their lineup, I do not consider Cruz untouchable. Especially when I start thinking of all the potential names that could get at bats in the DH spot, starting with Garver. I don't think Sano is a good 1B, maybe his future is at DH with some ability to back up 3B. Our position players need a break every once in a while, so Kepler, Polanco and Buxton come to mind (Buxton was good offensively last season, we had a lopsided win percentage in games Buxton played in. Before Sano hit his grand slam, Buxton was the only one who had one for much of the season.) There are guys coming up in the system I think could be exciting at the plate, like Kiriloff, Rooker, Larnach and would be way cheaper and just need spot to open up in the lineup. DH is the easiest position to find good players for. So flipping easy, IMO. It may be that trading Cruz adds value to the team simply by get out of the way of all the other talented bats in the organization. Plus maybe you could get a promising bullpen prospect.

If the Twins could get Dozier to sign for dirt cheap...

Wha? Who am I suggesting we sign then trade? You know we already have Cruz. We don't need to sign him.

I disagree with that. Grandal is a better backstop than Garver. Cruz's skill set might be redundant if Garver/Sano slug like they did last year. If we're paying $12 million for redundancy it wouldn't take much in return for me to want to trade him, I'd take a potential bullpen arm even if wasn't major league ready yet.

When someone signs Encarnacion he won't be available. Not sure if you're suggesting Encarnacion will be a free agent all the way to next year's deadline, but another team might be looking for a power bat at some point during the season. I agree with your assessment about his presence but how much longer does Sano need mentoring? We could into spring training and the season with Cruz and still trade him before the deadline. Then you still have him around the clubhouse much of the year.

I agree he might not bring much back in value, it might only be minor league arm. My point is we're paying him $12 million and his spot could easily be filled, and with the guys we have on the team and coming up in the system, there might not be much dropoff in production if at all out of the DH. I also agree that he had a positive veteran presence, but this team is more experienced now and how long do we need Cruz holding Sano's hand? I would love it if Baldelli would give 1B reps to Garver, but I haven't seen anything from management that gives me hope that will happen.

Mitch Garver had a tremendous home run rate in 2019. If he is anything close in 2020 to the hitter he was in 2019, the Twins' have a special power hitter with years of team control. His production last season would look great even if you had him as your DH instead of catcher. The talent at catcher coming up in the farm system looks promising but is probably a year or two from knocking at the door to the majors. If Garver were to be unavailable, a replacement would be needed. They could resign Castro, but they could upgrade with Grandal. In this scenario, I would split time evenly between Garver and Grandal over the first half of the season. That would help preserve the two catchers over the course of 162 games and hopefully more. If Garver slugs close to what he did this last season, I'm open to trading Nelson Cruz, give the starting spot at catcher to Grandal with Garver picking up spot starts and taking over as the main DH. I like Nelson Cruz but the Twins have got to one of the top teams in number of guys who could justify a start at DH. Sano, Kepler, Polanco, and even Buxton could benefit from a night off in the field and still keep the bat in the lineup. Nothing against Cruz, but he adds no positional value while the guys I just mentioned could pick up those DH at bats and have a good possibility having close to or the same production Cruz did. So, if the lineup proves last year was not a fluke and we're loaded with so many potent bats again in 2020 that they're sitting on the bench every time they get a night off because Cruz is hogging the DH spot, would you look to trade him and open up the DH spot to our stable of sluggers, possibly including names like Alex Kiriloff or Brent Rooker (both of whom have experience at 1B)? What do you think of this proposal? Sound off in the comment section.

If you're going to spend 200+ at least get Cole or Strasburg. Leave Sano at third, forget Rendon, forget Betts, put Kiriloff at first and give Garver some starts there too cuz I like the Grandal signing very much (and the Ryu signing). Use the money you didn't spend on Rendon and Betts on blowing away any reservations either Cole or Strasburg have to coming to Minnesota. You play with the idea of going over $200 mil and don't land either of the big guns?! Turrible! Skip Rendon and Betts and overpay Strasburg or Cole. $40+ million a year? Welcome to Minnesota!!

I like that it's only one year. We need arms badly and Odorizzi is a good start. I like him but we need to try to improve the rotation at the top. We need to spend our money and/or tradeable prospects on top of the rotation guys that would precede Odorizzi in the rotation. Same for Berrios. If Berrios is our ace, than we should still be looking for an ace. We were desperate to fill out the rotation this year with only Berrios coming back, so this is great news. But now we need to add to the top of the rotation making everyone better. Cole and Strasburg may prefer other destinations to Minnesota, so then we have to go hard after Wheeler and Ryu, get one of those guys hopefully, or even better both. Hamels doesn't have a QO and wouldn't cost a draft pick. Same for Ryu. Here's a rotation with 3 FAs (4 if Odorizzi included) but only one draft pick lost: Wheeler, Berrios, Odorizzi, Ryu, Hamels. It's going to cost more than $52 million, but Wheeler and Ryu would be on multi year deals and put us in good position when Odorizzi leaves next off season.

Hyun-jin Ryu would be a nice get considering we wouldn't have to give up a draft pick, if we can pry him away from the Dodgers. Cole Hamels didn't get a QO either. Those two to go with one of Cole, Strasburg, or Wheeler, if you gonna lose a draft pick, do it on one of these three. I think Bumgarner might get caught up in the same situation as Keuchel and Kimbrel last off season. Maybe teams think better of him but giving up a pick is going to hurt his stock, along with considering his age and diminishing talent. I wonder who will be free agents until after the draft this year.

I think Zander Wiel is a better option over CJ Cron mainly because of the money. He looks ready to go, he's won multiple awards in the system. What more do you want, he's RIPENED? Time to harvest!

I never hear anything about Zander Wiel. Looks like he's ready to take over at first. How's his defense? I think we should move on from Cron. A few other things for 2020: Keep Sano at third. Let's look him there another season, at least. Arraez takes over for Schoop at 2B and becomes lead off hitter. Infeild: Sano, Polanco, Arraez, Wiel. Trade Rosario for a minor league pitcher with some upside. Be nice to get a major league arm for Eddie, but, lol, yea right, get real. We need an ace in the #1 spot. Berrios isn't that guy but would benefit greatly I believe from a big splash free agent ace in front of him to take the pressure off. That's how you add to your rotation- at the top. Then you improve every spot in the rotation. I think Berrios thrives in the #2 spot. Try to woo Gerrit Cole, or Strasburg if he opts out. QO Odorizzi, and possibly leverage a multi-year deal out of it. Give Garver reps a first. See if he works out there to get his bat in the lineup when he's not catching. I like we picked up the option year on Cruz, but I don't care if he's just as good next year, that's the last year I'd pay him to be my DH. He adds no positional value, he'll be 41 after, and we'll have more than enough bats to fill that spot in 2021, all with more positional value. I'm dreaming of a DH platoon with Sano and Garver especially, but also Polanco, Kepler and even Buxton and Arraez for a day off in the field. In the future, Kiriloff, Rooker. That helps get more at bats for all those guys as well as the guys who fill their positions like Wade, Gonzalez. Adrianza and Castro if we resign them. Gordon? Wade better than Cave? In plate discipline, by way far. What about Nick Gordon? Could he provide better defense than Arraez? Could either one make the other tradeable? Which one? Or do they together make Adrianza expendable? I like Adrianza backing up middle infield but not outfield or 1B. Twins like him and respect him, making him temporary manager for the last regular season game. But thats money that could go toward the rotation.