tony&rodney

Good luck Tony O. Thank you for the fine post.

Yes, both Joe Mauer and Buster Posey belong in the Baseball Hall of Fame. They dominated their position more than players such as Derek Jeter and many others ruled over their spots for their careers. I don't even think it should be close or a long discussion either; Mauer and Posey were clearly outstanding catchers for a significant time Catching cannot be compared to any other position in value. The rigors of the position and the enormous toll on the body are intense. Anyone who has caught one hundred games in a year can attest to the damage. The standards for longevity clearly are separate for a catcher. Yadier Molina has had a miraculous career and will also likely go into the Baseball Hall of Fame at some point. As amazing as Molina has been, both Mauer and Posey rank above him in lists of the great catchers. Jay Jaffe, who writes for Fangraphs, has a number of articles on Mauer and one on Posey just this week. The Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins and the New York/San Francisco Giants franchises have been around for a long, long time. Mauer and Posey stand on top in those histories at their position. The fans were extremely lucky to have been witnesses to their careers.

This is, to a degree, why I have pushed a trade or two to bring in pitching. A player brought in via trade will cost less payroll, although there may be a dear price to pay in players shifted to the other team. Oakland would like a leadoff batter and some bullpen help. I hope to overwhelm them in order to get the pitcher the Twins need. Two trades may reduce the excess in the Twins system more than many are comfortable with, but it also further reduces the payroll as opposed to signing multiple free agents and in turn it allows our valued prospects time to grow and develop. There will be plenty of innings for prospects in 2022. I cannot imagine that Falvey will sign or trade for 4 or 5 experienced starting pitchers. Buxton's future as a Twin is a matter that needs to be decided by Falvey, hopefully soon. Maybe it already has been decided. The Twins would not be crazy to allow Byron to play next season as a Twin. If there is a trade proposed that is valuable for the Twins and pessimism is high regarding Buxton returning, the team will act on offers at any time. The proposals using BTV numbers are absurd and if that is what GMs are thinking, then the Twins should just keep him no matter what. I want Buxton as much as anyone but Martin, Lewis, or Celestino should be ready as reasonable option by 2023. My best guess is that the CBA will hold up transactions. I hope it doesn't and it would be best for the teams, players, and fans if the CBA did not cause inaction from now until January or later.

This would be rare. I wonder if a team would allow the Twins to negotiate with a player with only one year left and attempt to gain additional years before completing a trade. It does happen from time to time and that may be one avenue to pursue. It can't hurt to ask. Oakland doesn't seem interested in extending their expensive players, so this may be a rational route.

I'm not sure if the idea is silly. Wallner crushes the ball but projects as a DH mostly with decent possibilities in RF. Canterino and Enlow are solid prospects but appear to be behind a slew of other prospects and the Twins may make trades to bring in others as well. I wouldn't make this trade because i would use these players plus others to shoot higher, Frankie Montas. That may be silly too. In any event the Twins need some pitchers and all ideas need to be considered.

This was a surprise to me. I get that the Reds needed to trim costs but Miley was pretty good last year. Is it possible there was an injury that looked worse than we knew? He did miss some time late in the season and didn't finish strong. The Reds are confusing.

Miley would have been good as would Gray. This is a interesting post. I prefer to dangle Larnach and Jeffers to Miami and Arraez plus others to Oakland, but Falvey has options this year. We shall see...

You are correct and i do not worry at all about how people rank a team's prospects. I cannot find the quote (sorry), but a Marlins official specifically stated that Perez is their most highly thought of prospect, one they will keep. Either way, I love the suggestion by Mahlke and have wanted the Twins to take a chance on a trade with the Marlins for two years. Alcatara was my goal, but I'm good to shift to other pitchers. Any one or better two of Meyer, Perez, or Cabrera would look good at Target Field.

Yes, and likely why a repeat of Simmons is not palatable.

.... to your reply - I agree. It does seem like the $130 million budgets are hoping to contend if things go well. Even $140 million might make a roster thin without some really good trades. Without pitching, adding an expensive outfielder may not be worth it and Twins fans appear to bank on Lewis, Martin, Larnach, and others to step up.

Seth, thank you for these interviews. You did a really good job of making your young guest comfortable and kept your discussion friendly and appropriate in time. The players are sure to love the exposure. Simeon Woods-Richardson was a hoot; loved it.

Agree, except BA and the Marlins have him as their number one prospect. I thought about how the Marlins might part with Perez but the Twins don't have enough to get him. Meyer is possibly available for Jeffers and Larnach. Excellent job by Andrew Mahlke to make the suggestion.

Read Jay Jaffe's article on fangraphs.com Congratulations to Buster Posey on a fabulous career. i watched the news conference and he talked about the rigors of catching very briefly. Buster really was the heart of the Giants team and is a fine human. It did remind me of Joe Mauer. Although Posey went out on top on a 107 win team in perhaps the most terrific division race ever, you will see that Jaffe still has Mauer ahead of Posey. We were lucky to have Mauer and lucky to be able to watch Posey on mlb.com.

Sad. Done.

The explanations are solid and you also do a fine job of telling us how this plays out going forward. Rodon is a beast if he can stay healthy and I believe he will. My only concern is how Buxton will manage to cover the outfield with Larnach and Rooker watching. Embree is an interesting add; good.

Same. I used Galvis in a plan, rather unenthusiastically. If Lewis is healed, which has been reported already, perhaps he can learn on the job. If he is not a shortstop, then we need to pivot sharply. Galvis, Inglesias, Mondesi, DeJong and so forth all have some appeal but are not lighting us up. Why not Lewis? The comparison to Baddoo has merit: talent, injury, inexperience and lack of dominance at lower levels, and worries about hurting their psyche. CF versus SS is different to be sure, but an interesting thought.

The payroll above $140 million open some options - like your ideas.

This is a decent one year option perhaps. Miley is a solid pitcher. The Reds may want more, but I don't have any idea what they want right now. My focus in trades has been to overpay for arms that still have a few years left before free agency. The CBA really needs to be worked out before 2022 or baseball will be in a pickle.

Nearly every plan mentioned thus far is a retool, not a rebuild. You seem to focus on a 2-3 year path and this may be what Falvey has planned as well. The conversations on TD are mostly aimed for just 2022 at @$120-135 million as a budget, but do consider that the rosters are reasonable going past next year as well. I have yet to see a plan that goes all in for just 2022, largely because we are constricted from a budget of $170 million or so. Your stance is fine but pushes a new direction. Most of us actually like most of the Twins players and prospects but I, for one, believe there is too much redundancy and also would like to see an improvement in defense and speed (athleticism). Thus, some people would advocate for trades for pitchers who still have 2-4 years left of contract control, according to the current CBA ( a potential boondoggle). Ryan and Ober are ok and Winder, Duran, Balozavic should also see some time at the MLB level next season. I like the prospects but they are not as highly ranked nationally as some other organizations' young pitchers (Detroit, KC). We would be very pleased to get 50-75 starts from our group and I advocate to use some of these guys in relief initially. This leaves nearly 100 starts to fill. A free agent, maybe two could be signed. Trades seem a reasonable course of action as well.

Stroman makes the most sense because of his durability and athleticism at 5/$20 million, but the Twins may be reluctant to go that high and it is likely another team is willing to go considerably higher. Rodon or Syndergaard are risky and would likely cost our Round 2 draft pick in addition to a pile of cash. The Twins are in a tough place and will lose 90 or more games with a rotation of FA, Pineda/Cobb, Dobnak, Ryan, and Ober. This, in turn, may cost any chance of signing Buxton - who knows. At that point we are developing starters at the MLB level and going into a rebuilding phase. This may be one idea. I'm not sure what tolerance Minnesota fans have for another rebuild. That leaves trading, if the Twins plan on a season of competitive baseball. Risks need to be taken in trades and a few teams stand out as fair partners for possible trades: Miami, Oakland, and Milwaukee. There are other opportunities as well. The targets should be pitchers who have three years or more left before free agency and these trades will costs the Twins some prospects and current roster players. Falvey does seem risk adverse but he will look to avenues where there is a solid chance for improving the on field baseball team for 2022. Cobb or Pineda are solid choices to add as #4 starters and may even be pushed as #3 starters with two really good pitchers both above and below them.

Trades will need to be explored and that includes probes on Buxton if a contract cannot be worked out. An alternative is to keep Buxton and sign Starling Marte. Now the Twins have insurance and .... back to the post of who plays in the outfield ... an outfield of Marte, Buxton, and Kepler. I love good defense.

Tom, I like the work you do both with your videos and writing about the Twins and thank you. Alex Cobb may have a few good years left in him, but he is almost a #4 pitcher, similar to Michael Pineda. Perhaps the Twins can live with a bottom of the rotation pitcher sitting in the middle, but I will pass unless it is for less than $8 million. There are several trade opportunities out there and other free agents that would look better in a Twins uniform. Falvey has an interesting few months ahead of him.

The Twins and Cardinals don't seem to match up. It seems like the goal was to use BTV to find a good starting pitcher, thus the LA for JF swap idea. As such I think the trade idea was sound. BTV has very limited usefulness. It is worth a look for comparison sake. I'm a Twins fan and there is no way that the Cardinals accept that trade, although it sure would be sweet for the Twins.

Correction - Rosario and Soler.

Congratulations to Eddie rosario and to Jorge Solar. The year started rough for them. BTW, the home plate umpire in Game 6 tonight has been spectacular. No way an electronic umpire is as good as this guy is tonight.