tony&rodney

My interest in and past mentions of any possible acquisition of Jordan Lawler is entirely separate from Correa or potential deals with Boston. I'm thinking that Arizona might trade Lawler, a very highly regarded prospect with minimal MLB experience who is coming off of an injured year which makes him a gamble, for Jhoan Duran and Edouard Julien. Arizona wants a LH DH and a relief pitcher. I guess I just believe that there are options to trade. Boston, Milwaukee, Miami, Seattle, and so forth.

Hey, don't shoot. I have been agitating for the Twins to make numerous changes to their roster in an attempt to improve for a couple of months. I do think one must at least acknowledge that there are differing viewpoints and that the end result of this offseason will not be known until next season is complete. I'm not at all content with the current roster. I do understand that moves will be a challenge.

The point of standing pat is where there is disagreement among folks on Twins Daily. Disagreement is actually not a bad thing and the answer doesn't come until next October in any event. I'm not a fan of standing pat but the current roster is competitive in the sense that another 82 win season is certainly reasonable. Of course, everything could fall in line perfectly for an 88-90 win season as well. I don't believe the Twins are a 90-100 loses team though. I guess the frustration for some (me) is the lack of proactive movement. The job of F & S is to find the transactions to improve the team. If they cannot do their jobs, the team needs new people in those positions. Then again (circular) there is the idea that the roster is just fine for 2025. So it goes.

Or maybe you might think about just not opening the browser or reading the articles; it is an option. There are plenty of other sites to visit on the internet to avoid raising your ire. Be happy. Have a good day.

Yes, Jose Iglesias would be a good addition for the Twins. Better sign him soon before the prices rise. Brooks Lee would be just ok, which is not that ok. He fits better at 2B/3B or used in a trade to improve the roster.

This post, more than anything else, serves as a statement to the Twins front office that there are options.

Need to start somewhere. Is that an improvement for the future? Aren't there any other options?

There are around a dozen clubs, including all of the AL Central, that will have a lower payroll than the Twins. Yes, the ownership is not especially committed and open for abuse. However, there are opportunities for changes to improve the roster and have a lower payroll. It seems like Falvey & Sons are frozen at this time. Waiting out the market may make the return on a couple of players expected to be dealt slightly better but other opportunities will be gone. Life after Carlos Correa will occur at some point. The problem is securing a replacement. I would guess that Arizona has very little interest in trading a prospect like Jordan Lawler and Twins fans may be opposed to gambling on an oft-injured young player who has not proven anything yet. Lawler can play shortstop though and thus is worth a call. Correa is important to the Twins if they are to be respectable. The front office seems very content with the roster and shedding a few players will put their budget at ease. That is the easy part. Finding a way to actually repeat an 82 win season will be a challenge without some trades IMHO. F & S, along with many on TD, seem reticent to step into a world of change. Sure, Correa can be traded but there better be a plan or the Twins will fall further than anyone might guess.

So endless loop here, but the Twins cannot trade Vazquez until they have another catcher. You cannot play baseball without a catcher. Unlikely that any team pays all of the Vazquez contract as well. This is another challenge which has solutions if the Twins actually are interested in solving their puzzles.

You may not be familiar with the Metrodome lease, the lawsuit, and final judgment. Leases can stop an MLB team from moving. There are precedents. Now if you are talking about negotiating an end or buying out a lease, that is entirely possible. It happens all the time including with rental agreements for apartments, etc.

Something tells me that Cohen is not going to lose any money on the Soto deal.

The budget is at around $135-137 million now. So subtracting Paddack just brings the Twins to their expected budget. That means that in order to add Profar another $13M needs to come off the rolls. Profar will likely get more money though and moving all of the Vazquez contract seems extremely unlikely plus the Twins must add another catcher before any consideration of dealing Vazquez. In order to clear a ton of money, the Twins would need to move on from Correa and at that point they are going with prospects and no longer looking at adding multi-year players. The trades will cost one way or another.

Great idea. Now the Twins just need to reduce the payroll to accommodate the additions. Dealing Paddack gets the team to budget ($130M) and then it gets creative after that, but it can be done. So to add Poche, Castro will need to go. It's all like a puzzle.

My narrow twist on this is that I see the Twins as a playoff team only if everything goes right and the other AL Central teams do not have good fortune. Perhaps a path towards putting Griffin Jax in the starting rotation is to complete a trade with Milwaukee to acquire Delvin Williams and Jeferson Quero. Would Brooks Lee, one of Willi Castro or Jose Miranda, and a minor league prospect like Cory Lewis be fair? This provides protection for the bullpen at least. I'm still wondering if David Festa really needs so much more time in AAA and it sure seems like Simeon Woods Richardson put his name down for a starting slot with his performance last year. The pitchers could sure use a couple of guys to catch the ball though.

Not sure what all those links had in common or what you were responding to .... but Berrios was traded because the Twins and Berrios could not agree on a long term deal. The Twins wanted a return beyond the draft choice and Toronto obliged by offering Martin and Woods Richardson. I guess you see it as a Kevin Bacon kind of situation. I don't see that but if it works for you, then ok.

I understand that MLB counts Iowa, Wisconsin, the Dakotas, Minnesota, and even parts of Montana as "Twins Territory", which is a little bit humorous. Miami doesn't support baseball and Florida actually doesn't take to either of its two teams. Still, the population and reach/potential in numbers is over 20 million to split between Tampa Bay and Miami. There are more Yankee fans though. So, yes, MLB chooses how to measure the markets but population is not to be ignored. I wonder how much ad revenue the Twins bring in from out of state. FWIW, last summer I found out that my mlb.com account allowed me to watch the Twins while in Missoula but the Twins were blacked out in Billings. Manfredmen draw funny scribbles all across the country.

Appreciate the effort to identify potential relievers. These two are pretty good. The issues remain: poor defense and adjusting salaries to stay below $130 million.

Agree with this statement but we should remember that Miami is a large market club sandwiched between Phillies, Astros, and Blue Jays just above them and Washington D. C., Atlanta, and Boston trailing their market.

Like Yates and Profar. We need to set the ceiling at $130M. The twins start at $137M. Adding $19M with Yates and Profar is $156M. Subtracting CV, WC, and CP is only $23.7M. We need to get down further. Plus Profar will be more and judging from relief pitcher prices, Yates will cost more. Additionally, Vazquez is unlikely to be traded if nobody takes his salary which is unlikely. It is a little like checkers with the jumps needed. I have never been a fan of the Pohlads but the Twins still carry the highest payroll in their division. The only way forward is via trades or roll it all back. The thumbs down and repeated comments tell me that TD wants to roll it back. So it goes. I'm still hopeful.

Corporate world, so Falvey & Sons.

Jax may make a relatively seamless transition from reliever to starter if everything goes perfectly, but where does this place David Festa? Is there a general belief that Festa is not ready for a #4/5 starting slot? Simeon Woods Richardson should have earned a starting role for next year with his performance in 2024. Are there disagreements with SWR as a inked in starting pitcher? Or, is there anticipation that the Twins would trade a starting pitcher?

Tristan Casas has the potential to hit 40 home runs per year. He is also very slow and brutal as a first baseman. The Twins currently have a pile of guys who fit best in the DH slot. I'm hopeful for an improvement in converting balls in play into outs. The Twins should be tough in any discussions about Pablo Lopez. He is good, signed, and projects for around 200 effective innings per year. Boston may get desperate. I'm not keen on any deals for non catching prospects or Abreu. They do have a couple of players worth acquiring in Jarren Duran and Kyle Teel. Lopez and Jeffers for Duran and Teel deal makes some sense. The particulars are open. The Twins could add Castro or something. MLB starting pitching value is going through the roof right now. Falvey & Sons need to keep lines of communication open with teams and consider multiple options. There are opportunities.

Dan Hayes, a fine writer had a really lame article on The Athletic. Basically he said the Twins are effed. I feel that this is a tone I see often on TD as well. Perhaps I'm lost in my own head, but I don't believe the Twins are without a myriad of opportunities. As of today, the Twins have the largest payroll in the AL Central and higher than Milwaukee as well. For some reason we read that the Twins cannot do this, cannot do that. Falvey has stated that he keeps an open mind but also believes the current roster is competitive. I agree that the Twins are competitive as a more or less 78-88 win team. The market has shown a clear value for pitching, strong utility players, and catchers thus far. The Twins cannot get any value for Christian Vazquez and cannot trade either catcher until a deal is finished bringing in a catcher. Despite cries opposed to moving others, there is a strong market and teams who match up well with the Twins for transactions. Perhaps the Mahle, Jorge Lopez, and/or Richards trades have put the front office in fear mode, but that shouldn't be the case. I doubt it is. There are opportunities and the 2025 season could easily be the end for a few executives if the team sells. Sitting on hands with the phone on silent doesn't seem like a plan. I expect several moves because I would not bet a dime on the current Twins team winning more than 88 games next season.

So, Correa ($37M) + Buxton ($15M), but for 15 years. Yikes.

Totally agree that any consideration of a transaction involving Royce Lewis would need to return a controlled solid MLB player. R. Lewis still has a high ceiling and I'm sure there are teams who believe in his value. The only deal I have come up with is very unlikely but may be a safe trade for both teams. I might do a Royce Lewis, Willi Castro, Jose Miranda, and Justin Topa for Bryce Miller and Harry Ford trade.