tony&rodney

Matz is hopeful to fill in the back of a rotation. Ober, Paddack, and Varland are better right now. Matz is an interesting gamble if he wasn't going to make more than $2-5M, but he doesn't work with his salary. The Twins would be nuts to trade for Polanco for a relatively insignificant return. Polanco should lead the Twins into 2024 if he isn't part of a major trade that make the team better.

He wasn't at all frustrated by the Twins. I'll keep it short - he loved pitching for the Minnesota Twins. The Twins do not sign free agent pitchers to expensive contracts.

Catching is demanding. Think of it as if a starting pitcher pitched every third day and that is a bad example. The physical demands are cumulative. Catchers are really underrated. Dusty Baker caught a ton of flak for continually using Martin Maldonado over others in past years and over Diaz this past year. Now Houston wants to bring back Maldonado. Do people really believe that Baker was just stubborn and used Maldonado against all other advice and numerical arguments. I'm pretty certain why Baker kept rolling the old guy out there - it was the voices of his coaches and the pitchers. Baker was an outfielder and he most certainly deferred to his pitching coach and the pitchers on who to use behind the plate. Joe Mauer was a terrific defensive catcher, not that much different than Molina. We don't need to split hairs on Molina, Mauer, and Posey. If three outfielders and infielders from 2000-2020 can get into the H of Fame, so can three catchers. Terry Ryan once stated that Joe Mauer would have made the All Star team as a 19 year old if they had moved him off of catcher. The Twins had an incredible run of success, despite not winning playoff games, during Mauer's career. Mauer belongs on the ballot on the first ballot.

You are in charge of a team that needs pitching. Will you trade your best pitcher when you are desperately looking to add to your pitching staff? Would you trade Pablo Lopez for Juan Soto? The Angels and Pirates would have to be incompetent to trade pitching or declare a total rebuild.

Yes, but those picks are worth much less than a guy like Brooks Lee. I do think this is a worthwhile addition to seal a close deal. Teams will primarily be looking for players that can play now. Also, teams that are already seeking to add pitchers are not listening on their guys.

Some of these guys may benefit from a change of scenery. Balazovic is not long for the roster due to his lack of options. I would think that Winder, Headrick, and Woods Richardson have some interest from other teams as depth or change of scenery pitchers.

Don't bet your house on the Twins over the Tigers. Keep it small.

Atlanta was unlikely to go 3/$75M and so St. Louis always seemed like the landing spot for Sonny Gray. Thank you Sonny for the fun. We shall miss him. The price for pitching is really high. Gray could have reached 4/$100M if he was open to every option out there. The Twins don't play in that arena of big contracts for pitchers. At least not to this point in time. As far as finding a replacement via trade, it is the same conversation regarding which top young prospect and current young player on the 26 person roster are you and the Twins willing to trade. Lewis and Lee are almost certainly the first two names that other teams mention.

I hear you. Consider that Kepler has only a year left on his contract, the return from a trade is iffy, the Twins are hurting for outfielders, and that Max has always been, including his worst seasons, pretty much average using OPS+. Put another way - what would you give up if you were trading for Kepler (specific to team and player)? If the Twins can be a better team through some transaction, I'm not opposed to any trades. Max Kepler has been the definition of a solid regular in every year with the Twins. People expected him to be a superstar and never accepted average from him.. His half year of excellence in 2023 was even greeted with suspicion. I'm not sure what folks or you expect. While we can see Emmanuel Rodriguez as a player who could reach or surpass the level put up by Kepler, he isn't likely to be ready yet. I like Wallner quite a bit, but he still has some major holes in his game to fix. This is where the Twins are with Kepler right now. He and Polanco are the most underrated Twins in several decades.

Anyone bemoaning the past would benefit from looking to the present and thinking of how past decisions will influence your ideas that in turn create a difference in the future. Keep your ideas in the present looking forward with knowledge gained from the past as a guide. Nobody can reverse what already happened. The manner in which Twins fans complained about Joe Mauer still shows up in comments on national articles, painting Twins fans as dimwitted and bereft of baseball knowledge. This just surfaced recently when all of the articles came out on the Hall of Fame voting this year, a ballot that includes Joe Mauer. Don't be that person.

No surprise at all on 3/$75M. Sonny could have reached $100 million total if he had been open to all teams across the entire country. The price for starting pitching is high. No way should the Twins even consider trading guys like Festa or Raya in this marketplace.

Last season I called for playing time early and often for Julien and Wallner. They were quite raw and the gnashing and gnawing of teeth early on was opposed to these two. My only point here is that I like to see a few rookies get playing time sometimes, but also understand there will be ugly growing pains. Correa, Solano, Kepler, Taylor, Castro, and Farmer were the only Twins to appear in 120 or more games last season. Veterans are almost always a key part of a winning team. Solano and Taylor are now gone. It is quite a gamble/stretch to believe that Wallner, Larnach, or Gordon will easily surpass much less equal the play of Kepler as a corner outfielder. Can it happen? Yes, of course. The team budget is unknown but stated as being more in line with income or fancy words to that effect. We just saw Kenta Maeda sign for roughly 2/$24 million. There is about $120 million already accounted for and it seems like $130 million is close to a ceiling or even high. This is important because it means that adding guys for $15-30 per year on multi-year deals is unlikely. Trading Vazquez may happen but it would be very surprising if it cleared up any more than $5 million. Kepler going creates a hole that is going to be tough to fill. Who is available at that price? The Twins seem to be in a bit of a pickle as far as adding players. Guys like Hoskins, Turner, and Gurriel Jr. will be costly. Giolito may command up to $20 million. Falvey is scrounging the rosters for ideas where the Twins can exchange low cost players from their roster for players who fill a niche for Minnesota. Maybe, just maybe Miami would be a partner for some of our younger guys who need an opportunity, but Miami won't add much salary. Most everyone doubts that Falvey will swing big using the best of our young players and prospects. The July trading deadline may bring a future chance to bolster the roster. We shall see. Few teams across baseball will listen to bulk or veterans additions in return for good pitchers when their own teams suffer a scarcity of arms. Thus, teams like PIT, LAA, CIN, and others are unlikely trading partners. Somehow it seems like deals will be with guys like Larnach, Sands, and Winder. The hot stove is cold now. Hey, next week all of the big heads get together for cocktails and who knows what?

Please explain how anyone can undo the past. We might as well bemoan coming in second in an attempt to sign Juan Soto or re-examine why the Twins drafted (? - Gibson) instead of Mike Trout and on and on. There are always options to move forward.

I don't think anyone should dispute your point, although there have been some weak offers put forth. Remember that the Twins traded a batting champion just last year. The question is whether the Twins feel another trade of that magnitude is worth the risk. Pitchers are always one injury away from disaster, much more often than position players. Is Lewis off the table?

You missed the main point. While many people, including myself, have hoped the Twins might sign a top free agent this has never happened. FWIW, rocket science is just higher level math and physics; not that hard.

That price tag is fairly well set at $25 million per year or up to $43 million per year on a short term contract. Savings of $10 million from trading Max Kepler would not be enough to sign a #4/5 guy hoping for a rebound. What is your basis for your thinking to add "an Ace type pitcher?" I mean, many of us on Twins Daily like the idea, but there is not a single precedent of the Twins signing a top free agent pitcher.

Im not understanding why a team that is not rebuilding and desperately needs starting pitchers would trade one of their best starting pitching guys? Maybe if the Twins offered Lewis and Jenkins, which would be even more difficult to understand.

Yikes. I hope no one here jumps to a conclusion that Seattle is focused on Polanco. The Mariners will want the best player they can acquire for the return they are willing to offer. Seattle has a ton of options other than Polanco. Perhaps the poster saw this as a fit and titled it a little aggressively. No real foul. Enthusiasm? It does seem (to Twins fan who want to add pitching) that Seattle and Minnesota are a fair match but their front offices have to have those conversations and find a mutual agreement. Robbie Ray gets an extra $1 M if traded and is also due $73 M over the next three years. He should be available half way through 2024. I would be less surprised to see the Twins sign Yamamoto. However, we should all remember .... anything can happen or never say never.

Anything is possible, almost any player available, if a team is willing to send a pile of people in return. One thing I wonder for nearly every suggested acquisition is how the other team views their team. Can the Angels (insert any team here) part with Sandoval (insert player name)? Another obstacle is money. Or is it? If it is problematic, then signing a free agent that requires big numbers, such as Snell, Montgomery, Yamamoto, or Bellinger is out, Trades that return high priced players is then also difficult to unlikely, such as Juan Soto or Robbie Ray among others. The challenges are real. Who are the Twins willing to part with among their prospects and young players? We have discussed trading all of Polanco, Kepler, Vazquez, and Farmer. Some have suggested trading Buxton and Correa who have full no trade clauses in their contracts. Even Caleb Thielbar has had his name put out to save some money. So whenever I read about a thought of acquiring a guy like Sandaval I'm intrigued by the possibilities as well as the odds and cost.

I guess I'm responding to/thinking about the idea of trading Vazquez and paying half his salary in the process, only to need another backup which means another $4-5 M in salary. That is a bit of a merry-go-round. Catching is hard to put in place. I look for options all the time. I was all in on paying way too much for J. T. Realmuto, which wasn't going to happen - that was understandable. I was hot for Gabriel Morena and proposed a ridiculous package of Twins for him, which was likely too rich for a rookie. And now if we look to move away from the steady Vazquez, there could be real problems. I do wonder if the offensively challenged catchers, such as Maldonado and Hedges aren't fair choices until one runs into something better through accident or a trade or a draft choice. That in turn makes me question whether it might be a decent idea to see what can be acquired for sending out Ryan Jeffers. Then ... i think it might be best to stand pat at catcher. These are ideas to throw around.

Gary Sanchez is the leading free agent catcher. Catching is so much more valuable than the print clippings they receive. If Vazquez gets traded, who gets signed? Austin Hedges for $4 M? The Twins used two catchers at the MLB level last year. I wonder how often a team gets through an entire season with only two catchers?

Thank you for the work on developing ideas for trades. The suggestions for acquiring Dylan Carlson, Jo Adell, and Mickey Moniak are all reasonable. The first two are not options from my side.

There are so many unknowns, which is a topic I have posted before. What does Seattle want? A number of people have pointedly stated that neither Gilbert nor Kirby would be available in any trade. This may be so, but again we just don't know. Last offseason MLB was surprised that the AL batting champion was available. We have all been surprised by some of the trades we see. I'm keeping an open mind on the possibilities.

De ja vu on the Max Kepler conversations .... not that this is a bad thing. We have all been here before. The entire range of options have been laid out and commented on in a reasonable enough fashion. I'm guessing all of these ideas have been floated within the roundtable led by Falvey as well, both last offseason and in the present. Kepler may have had a couple of down seasons before his resurgence in the last half season, but I would caution anyone against making judgments on his character or work ethic. Athletes do not come with light switches or dimmers. The path of preparation is not similar for any two people and the adjustments needed on a constant basis diverge along many avenues. Suffice it to say that if anyone could just follow the formula, everyone would do it and superstars would abound. There are more than a few stars who were good but nothing extraordinary as high school athletes and exceptional fellows who stood out once upon a time only to crash and burn. The Twins spent much bigger than guessed last year and the turnabout has presented challenges of where to adjust in order to field a similarly strong team in 2024. Performances, as best shown by Kepler's 2023 season, are not static and the current roster is fully capable of making forward strides next season with minimal help from outside. Due to the financial situation and past practice I have a difficult time envisioning the Twins signing a Snell/Montgomery/Yamamoto. The demand for pitching may have pushed Giolito, Severino, and even Wacha beyond the Twins pockets. I wonder if a 3/$49 million contract for Lourdes Gurriel Jr is enough and/or possible to help the offense? I wonder if Miami can be a source (Cabrera)? I wonder what combination of players might interest the Mariners? I'm fine with any combination of trades that makes the Twins a better team next year and beyond. Last year I naively proposed sending Arraez and three other to Miami for Pablo Lopez, which only tells me that I do not know the value of the players. While I have looked over BTV, I would suggest they are even further off than many ideas on Twins Daily. Kepler looks good in rightfield and unless a team comes forward I;m looking forward to Max at his very best in 2024. Who knows, perhaps he has finally found his peace and is ready to be a star.

Pitchers struggle when there isn't a catcher. Maybe consider the pitchers when thinking about Vazquez.