tony&rodney

Route?

Oh, the Dodgers are interested. However, the price? It is down.

Damn. Jax's trade value just plummeted.

Exactly. Perhaps someone needs to tell Milwaukee (Corbin Burnes, Devin Williams) about that rule.

Just a friendly reminder .... Gleybar Torres was the price for 2 months of Aroldis Chapman. Torres, as a shortstop, was higher rated than any player prospect currently in baseball including Roman Anthony. The Cubs will never regret that trade. Duran and Jax are available for 3 playoff seasons. We don't really have any idea what a team will decide. Philly is in a tough spot. they need a few players and especially a closer. The price should be high. There are possibilities. When I watch the Twins I see a slow, defensively challenged team that runs the bases poorly but has decent pitching. My opinion is that the Twins have the pieces in place to win 81 games, plus or minus 5, year after year going forward. I guess I'm hoping for more, which might be greed on my part. In order to take the next steps the Twins need better talent.

Gleybar Torres (top rated SS / better than Roman Anthony) for 2 months of Aroldis Chapman. Philly is the team that should be most interested. The price should be at least 2 top 100 prospects.

Good job of explaining your byline (TD name).

Few people want to trade Ryan, but many people are open to a transaction that actually holds hope for improving the team. So folks are guessing, just like those who write the articles. One also must consider that we have no idea how other teams view the players or whether a potential reasonable deal cannot be completed because of cautious GMs/POBOs. Is there a player you see as a fair trade for Ryan?

Not enough for Ryan. The Cubs might match up on one or more expiring contracts but not for Ryan. Philadelphia or West Sacramento? Maybe.

Agree with your post. Valuations are all over the place. On another point/guess/ wonder - Would the Athletics entertain a Ryan for Kurtz trade? Not enough? Add Soto? Or more likely Kurtz is just not available?

Do you think the Brewers would do a Lee - Quero deal?

Can't really disagree, but as I pointed out earlier it seems very unlikely that Falvey would trade a big chip for R/A/A+ players no matter their prospect listing. Get the best return possible is my take. i Think Philly has the bodies.

Just a reminder of Gleybar Torres for Aroldis Chapman. Torres was top 5 in every ranking and has proved his worth. The Cubs will never regret that trade ... flags fly forever. Chapman was on an expiring contract. We won't know until we know but the Twins hold the cards. Look at it this way. Would you trade Walker Jenkins if you believed the return brought your team a World Series Pennant?

Great comments and a wide array of views. While I see some real promise in plucking a few future stars from the Dodgers system, I do not believe the Twins will accept a pile of prospects below AA from any team. I think the Twins want players who are close or could be used this year despite inexperience. The last two games highlighted the holes in the Dodgers bullpen. The Twins hold a couple of excellent relievers in Duran and Jax. The Dodgers are among the top hitting teams in MLB. Every team looking to add Duran or Jax watched them pitch last night. There should be some really solid offers. From the Dodgers, I'm requiring all of Dalton Rushing, Emmet Sheehan, and River Ryan. I prefer to keep Duran over Jax. I also would require a pile from Philadelphia. Any transactions could be expanded to include players like Bader and Castro (and even Coulombe and Paddack) for further additions from the trading partner. Philadelphia would seem to be a prime team to want several Twins players. I wouldn't rule out a trade with Seattle or Milwaukee. We will have to live with whatever Falvey decides. On the one hand there were positive trades for Gray, Duran, Lopez, and Ryan (others?), but we don't want to hear about that other hand.

Kaelen Culpepper looks like he is setting up pitchers at times. That is probably not true but he sure looks for his pitch and puts a great swing on it. Fun to watch.

If the Dodgers want Duran or Jax, the price went up after the last two nights. Has anyone else felt the Twins seemed more in tune and playing harder versus the Dodgers than what we witnessed against Colorado and Pittsburgh?

Does the inning change if Smith is called out on the check swing. Seemed clear that Smith went, even though we all know there is no clear standard on checked swings. Sticking with the consistent calls from earlier in the game, Smith is out. I'm not second guessing Baldelli on this one. Festa looked strong and he knew that Woods Richardson is usually limited to five innings. The mistake in Monday night's game was holding Lewis at third base on a ground ball single to right field. Running the bases has been an issue and I'm not clear on the third base coach.

I have only watched Caissie a dozen times but I'm not as high on him as the lists. I'm not listening to the Cubs if Ryan's name is involved. The Cubs have a pile of really good prospects who fall short of the standard required if the names of Duran or Ryan are included. The players on expiring contracts may be where the Twins and Cubs get together. Caissis's name will not be among the returns for those guys because his value remains high.

Sometimes people get real excited by a draft pick .... like Jeremy has about Young. I see this as a good thing. My viewpoint of Young and Winokur is positive because both of these guys are athletic. The Twins have drafted too many slow, defensively challenged players in high rounds. Additionally, both Young and Winokur are baseball players. That's a win. Jeremy gets a little ahead of himself when he puts Young above Winokur .... at this time. Every player has a learning curve when they enter professional baseball and we have watched Winokur on his progression in the past couple of years. He is a really exciting prospect with a pile of learning still in front of him. I'm totally pumped that the Twins drafted Quentin Young and look forward to watching him play. I will have zero problems elevating him above others among Twins prospects but first the Twins need to sign him to a contract and then Young needs to play a full season of minor league baseball.

Ok. You do a good job of stating your opinion. How many times have you watched play (games, PA, not videos or stats)? I'm just curious.

Easy to see how people agree with Brock, but I'm agreeing with you - I'm either keeping Duran or requiring an unexpected haul. There is likely to be a split down the middle on Jax or Duran. I saw something about Philly acquiring both of Jax and Duran. Not seeing that. Philly needs a closer more than any other team. They need to overpay. Will they? Who knows. If both of Jax and Duran suddenly receive huge offers, I'm listening for sure. The Twins love both of those guys but sub .500 teams should not be holding on to relief pitchers if their demands are met. I agree with Brock that Coulombe should be traded. He must have a decent market and the return should be solid. I'm not sure whether teams feel confident in Stewart. I wouldn't give him away. He should return more than Coulombe but less than Jax or duran. The demand from other teams is unknown interms of their willingness to part with significant prospects from AAA/AA. Everyone may say Painter is untouchable but Philly needs to find a closer or their postseason run could be short.

What should the Twins do? Something.

The umpire was a little shaky last night but it was pretty equal. The call that hurt was the check swing not called a swing (he went). Smith hit a home run on the next pitch. The ABS challenge system flaws would have definitely been exposed last night. Both teams would have won a number of challenges to the point the umpire was getting embarrassed and a little pissed off. Eventually, one or both teams run out of challenges and now the bad calls are made in the critical late innings with no recourse. Manfred likes the drama of challenges shown on the big screens in the stadium. It is b.s. thinking which is all Manfred is capable of. There are two easy fixes. If the ABS is accurate, use it on every pitch. It is easy, the results are immediate which saves time, and everyone gets the results they desire. If people want the umpires calling balls and strikes, fine tune the monetary rewards for excellence behind the plate while retraining or demoting those umpires who cannot meet a high standard. The umpire last night would be called for retraining and be demoted if his subsequent games had similarly poor results. With high pay and financial rewards umpiring excellence would become really good. I think we already see very good umpire performances on most days. The challenge system is a very, very poor choice. And yet, because it sucks and because Manfred needs people to know his name, I think the worst choice is what MLB will adopt. (As an aside, did you all read about the suggestion for home run derby to decide games after the 10th inning. I am going to suggest a race from home base to home base around the bases or a throwing contest to see who can throw the ball the furthest to decide the games. Of maybe a game of hacky sack to go for the W.)

De Paula can be a middle of the order bat, for sure. He is also a slow-footed DH. The Twins have a serious problem with team speed and defense. Harmon Killebrew was surrounded by fast, sure-handed defenders on those greatest of Twins teams a million years ago. If the Twins didn't have a football size number of those guys already in the organization, De Paula might be interesting. In any event, it is highly unlikely that the Twins will trade Duran or Jax for a player who is still several years away. Falvey will want a player or players who can wear a Twins uniform now (so AAA/AA or MLB currently).

All mention of Rooker needs to acknowledge that the Twins had Nelson Cruz and then Luis Arraez ahead of him. So should the Twins have cut Cruz at the beginning of 2019? Arraez later? Maybe a few people are confused by how many DH's are allowed in the game at one time. This is an ongoing problem FWIW. The Twins have too many DH's on their roster and even in their organization. Great for Rooker that he is making a good salary after three teams gave up on him. With the preponderance of DH players on the roster that same scenario could happen again and maybe even soon. So what? Maybe the larger lesson is that the Twins need to morph away from DH players. Then they won't suffer some fans worst fears when they trade or release one of the many guys fighting for that one position who gets a chance and succeeds elsewhere.