tony&rodney

I don't think the Twins trade either straight up (one to one) for the amazing Williams. Reconfigure in another fashion. Getting Williams is remote but i like your thought of adding a really good bullpen arm.

Difficult to know where people are going in this discussion. I wondered how many folks have seen Rosario hit at least a couple of dozen times? I'm fine if this is via milb.com and live is better. If you haven't seen him play in dozens of games, ..... Rosario gets some criticism and he won the league MVP. Noah Miller, who I think could still develop, gets a minor league gold glove and people weigh in that he is the future shortstop for the Twins even if he is just a utility player at Hi-A baseball right now. Either way, I think it is too early to make these judgments. I want to encourage those fans interested in prospects to watch a half dozen minor league games every week to see what is happening down below on the farm. Some of the games are pretty crazy. Forget the stats and watch what these kids can do against their peers.

Shoulder surgery? Pretty much nobody returns from a bum shoulder to once again become a good MLB pitcher. About the only guy that I can remember is Michael Pineda. He had mixed results and did not last long. Perhaps someone else can name other pitchers who had major should surgery and returned as effective MLB pitchers. BTW, this is another reason to stay far away from Mahle. Mahle went down with an elbow last Spring and had Tommy John surgery. Remember though that he was missing games and being pulled due to a bum shoulder injury for several years on and off before his elbow barked.. Serious shoulder injuries are death to pitchers.

I was merely saying that your judgment of Julien as compared with Lee and Lewis was overwhelmingly the opinion of those who write or comment on Twins Daily. I certainly do not mean that as a criticism in any way. My thoughts are that this is totally up in the air and there are different skills presented by each of these players as well as limitations which have yet to be fully unveiled. I think I said, to each his own. My position is that the Twins could benefit from trading for a decent pitcher which MAY include one of these players. More than a few folks have already responded forcefully. One response specifically stated that the floor for Lee was the ceiling for Julien. When I judge upside I'm looking at career achievements. These are impossible to predict. In 1981, Ozzie Smith was traded for Garry Templeton, Smith was seen as someone who would never hit enough despite his glove. Templeton, a superior bat and excellent glove, had had an ugly incident in St. Louis. Change happens. Your belief is well founded and the Twins may agree. It should be interesting to see how this offseason goes and those players develop.

Julien is not going to be a utility player, or 1B, or full time DH. Fair to say, you favor dangling Julien as a player to trade. Maybe you feel he has peaked and has high value that can be combined with another player or two to bring in a strong starting pitcher. Is that close? What is true is that Falvey will need to make those calls.

Tough. So, Lewis gone?

Your assessment of Julien seems to be popular (very) on Twins Daily. I have no idea what Falvey, Baldelli, coaches, and talent scouts feel about Julien. Julien has only been on my screen (via milb.com & Bally) for three years. What sticks out to me is the manner in which Julien controls the pitcher. He has struggled at times, both with the bat and (as so many jump to comment) in the field. This is true. Yet Julien has adjusted and adjusted, constantly. Those lengthy at bats were huge for the Twins this past year. He made the plays in September. His arm still looks wobbly, his footwork cannot be confused with Roberto Alomar, but his lateral movement and concentration to gather himself and read the speed of the game dramatically improved. He has more side to side ability than any of the other options. No, Julien has not become a superior fielder but he has morphed into an average defensive second baseman. He may have peaked offensively as more than a couple dozen on Twins Daily have suggested, but he may be just getting warmed up too. I'm only suggesting that the book is not closed on Julien. I cannot predict the outcome for Julien, Lee, Martin or others. I believe the Twins need a good starting pitcher and that a trade is going to be the best avenue for that end. Selling high is just as likely for any of Lewis, Wallner, Julien, or Lee. That story will unfold in the next few years. Based on the past three years and the steady progress I'm going to choose Julien for second base. To each their own, but if Julien or one of the others in combination with a couple of other players helps to bring in Logan Gilbert, that sure could be a useful exchange.

Totally agree with these sentiments on judgment. The entire steroid era was media driven calls on who was friendly or not to reporters. Bonds and Clemens = grouchy, while Ortiz, McGuire, Soto = fan faves. It is insane that Ortiz is a HOF, but no Bonds. There are some strong trails behind Bauer. Nobody from UCLA has ever had anything but silence or derision for Trevor. Arizona made a decision to trade him and the return was well short of expectation. Cleveland actually was going to release Bauer but Cincy wanted to have him. Finally, if we can believe the report that the Dodgers left Bauer's return to the players to be true, there may be some difficulty with him. According to that article, the players voted unanimously "No". Grain of salt there. I actually have enjoyed Bauer's discussions on baseball videos and he is well spoken and clearly likes baseball. The whole mess the last several years was just sad. I would leave any thoughts on adding Bauer to Falvey and Baldelli. Juan Soto talk is mostly people being judgmental because he has some swagger in his game. I have never seen anything to indicate problems. Soto plays almost every day. A phone call seems warranted. The payroll might restrict the Twins from adding a front line starter or Juan Soto, but there should be paths to adding players. You have proposed some fair trades as have others. Transactions have already been debated so much that the avenues on Twins Daily are exhausted. The Twins lose depth when they trade excellent players from either their veterans or top young guys list. Fill a hole only to expose another position. Any loss of Polanco, Kepler, Vazquez etc. reduces experience, which is generally key for winning teams. Any suggested trade that includes Lewis and Lee lights up the boards with negative reactions. The long term thinking toward Wallner and Julien is unknown. It seems the Twins will need to decide which players to hold and who to push forward as bait for a good starting pitcher. I'm generally done with all that and am just interested to see what happens. In terms of lesser options, I do think that the Twins could easily pry a potentially strong guy from Miami. Edward Cabrera is out of options and has struggled with his control. Of course there is no guarantee that he would be better for the Twins. The Twins would have to overpay (BTV #s) to acquire Cabrera and I'm not sure what that would look like. Maybe two decent guys like Larnach and Winder plus two minor league players that do not need to be put on a 40 person roster. It's a gamble and i would not include top prospects. December should bring some answers because several teams will want to begin organizing their rosters after the Rule 5 Draft. The conversations are a bit like playing musical chairs and I hope the Twins have a chair when the music stops. Like some others, I am not going to get excited with an addition of Archer or Bundy. This might be a year to gamble.

I would like either. But what is the price?

Lee? Supposedly Lee has more value and might return a better pitcher. Or do you believe that Lee is better than Julien?

If the Twins are going to hold prospects and trade veterans, perhaps you could just expand this trade by adding Jovani Moran to Polanco and Kepler and receive just Bryce Miller from the Mariners in return.

The budget may preclude the Twins from partaking in a gamble on upside from pitchers looking to rebound. Archer for $4M with a small boost to $6M when he hits the start or innings bonus is a far cry from $10-17M in hopes of good fortune. The Red Sox and Dodgers have signed these guys for years .... because the money is just popcorn for them. Paxton, Thor.

The best scenario is that the Twins keep Polanco and his production reaches 2019 or 2021 levels. Alas, Jorge has been down in even years. My personal preference may be to keep Polanco .... Maybe he can be a part of a deal to return a pitcher from Seattle. Perhaps the Mariners will not consider trading either Kirby or Gilbert, yet there may be a possibility to add a guy like Bryce Miller. Miller could be a good #3 or strong #4 pitcher. The Twins need to evaluate the future worth of their players and take some positions on the types of players needed to strengthen the roster. Some are already in the system but others might be available from other teams.

Buxton creates a conundrum? Same as it ever was. What do the Twins do? Shake that dice and hope to roll favorably in February or early March.

When Isaid that same thing to myself, I remembered that the Twins have spent for Puckett, Mauer, Donaldson (position players) as opposed to their reluctance to go years and money for pitching. The Pablo Lopez extension gives some hope though.

That is a fun thing to think about. In both the shortened 2022 season and in his truncated 2023 year Lewis did hit .300 at both minor and major league levels. Lewis did this despite hitting .236 at Hi-A and AA in 2019, his only year with more than 500 at bats. I sure hope Royce can maintain an average close to .300 over a full year in 2024.

A budget squeeze affects little, often important, roster additions. I'm thinking that Bader is too costly above $2-4M. The Twins are in a bit of a Catch-22 with Buxton and budget constraints. Martin, Castro, and crew can make life acceptable for CF.

Do the Brewers agree with that trade? I like adding Burnes. Perhaps the Twins could substitute Jovani Moran for Jose Miranda as a sweetener. I think Burnes is guessed for $15+M for next year. Many will rue the loss of Ryan. How does a $125M payroll affect your adding one of Montas, Giolito, or Ryu? I'm wondering if Miami can be convinced that their team would be improved if they agreed to a trade with the Twins. Would Trevor Larnach, Josh Winder or Cole Sands, and Tanner Schobel be an exchange for Edward Cabrera that the Marlins approve? Cabrera is out of options and has struggled with control but he still has "stuff". All of the guys going to Miami could potentially help the Marlins and have options remaining. The Twins could add Farmer to play his role for Miami.

This is the unknown. Right? I mean ... How does a payroll of $125M or less change your team? Can one ignore that the Twins have never signed a top FA SP for market value? While I play around with configuring a 2024 Twins roster, those questions seem inescapable. However, the one thing we do know is that you just never know.

Hoskins would be nice. Turner would be nice. Gurriel Jr. would be nice. A good starting pitcher would be nice. I agree and agree, but if the Twins are going to cut ... it may be better to assume a budget closer to $125 million to leave room for an addition similar to what was added last year with Solano and Castro. $125 changes things. Right?

I saw this rumor earlier today and had a couple of thoughts. First it seemed odd given the report that Kirilloff's surgery was a total success and there was zero damage long term to his shoulder and that after a "normal offseason" Alex would report to Spring Training "100% ready" to do all activities required to play major league baseball. Considering how successful Kirilloff was as a prospect and how he has performed when healthy, it seems like a free agent that cost any money only restricts Kirilloff going forward. It seems that a reserve for Royce Lewis is a higher priority. But, I don't agree with that either. I do believe that someone like Jose Miranda, if he can return fully healthy, is a good complement to AK. I also believe that any of Polanco, Julien, Farmer, Martin, or Lee could also fill in if needed. These assume the worst and I'm not feeling that about Kirilloff. My second thought is that today was a slow news day on the baseball rumors front and that there was a paucity of reasonable rumors that emanated from the now completed GM meetings. So, much ado about nothing. My third thought was that depending on what else actually transpires during the offseason, the Twins might want to sign a guy like Lourdes Gurriel Jr., who is a good outfielder and could play a little first base at times. Lastly, I panicked and thought ... is Joey Gallo coming back?

How does that work? Resign Gray, Maeda, Pagan, Gallo, Taylor, Solano, etc.?

... a little more detail here .... like for who....

Your idea? Write it out and send it in.

I'm only interested in two guys who are reasonable to sign and fit in the Twins new budget: Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Kevin Kiermaier. The Twins are likely to move on from Farmer and sadly, Kepler and Polanco are included in trades.