Doctor Gast

Prospects! Are we in a retool or a rebuild? It doesn't make sense to rebuild, so why do we want redundant prospects? We need young MLB-ready players to shore up weak areas, to fuel our rebrand after Falvey is gone. Social media & teams want to give us their prospects, but I sure don't want them. IMO, Twins are stupid to take them.

Tigers are swooning, like the Twins did last year. Twins need to do what the Tigers did last season. Shore up the rotation & catching & go for it. Get the players fired up. Where's the fire?

Me too. I was listening to a LAD deadline discussion. LAD didn't want to be involved in the deadline at all, to begin the season. But their BP has been very disappointing so they're looking for some help. But they're not going to make a big splash as some of us thought they might. 2 top names were Stewart & Coulombe, not Jax or Duran. Like I've been saying all this time, I'm not interested in lotto tickets. I'd be interested in LAD's 3rd catcher Hunter Feducci & promising young MLB LHP Justin Wrobleski as the base & maybe a wild card low-level pitching prospect (LHP Jakob Wright). They could bolster our catching & rotation right now.

De Vries is too far away, MIL will never trade Jesus Made, LAD isn't going to make a big splash & OF is our strongest & deepest position for years. Why keep bloating our system with redundant prospects? Falvey has wasted 2 years. of our open window, Why keep kicking the can down the road with redundant prospects? We are fragile at catching & SPs (even more if we trade Ryan). IMO, our best chance to get anywhere is with this core. The core isn't the problem; it's Falvey & Co. How about if we trade our management for MIL's? If we have the chance to switch out our management next season, we have to try to keep our core together.

I was all fired up, hoping the Twins would wake up & go on a tear & put some of this trade talk behind us. But no, completely dead, like they have given up. Poor defense & terrible clutch hitting.

Good one.

I really enjoy listening to interviews with intelligent baseball people who know what they are talking about instead of scripted BS from people that have no idea.

I feel the Twins are going for a run. Still believe we need to shore up the rotation.

Yeah, Castro is a pretty good player. Many teams need a 3Bman, if Suarez won't be available, Castro could be one of the better ones available. We could have teams bid him up. Many teams need cOFers. Many teams need a super utility player who can play SS or CF in a pinch. LAD has highly valued such players. What I've heard is they aren't going to make a big splash & they are interested in Coloumbe & Steward; package them with Castro could swing an impact trade. Castro has been one of the few steady offensive forces this season. If Falvey finally does something to shore up the rotation so they don't fall apart at the end, we have a chance & we need Castro to do so.

Absolutely not. Social media wants to take the heat off Falvey by trying to persuade the public that the team's problem is the core. The Twins have floundered since Lopez went down almost 2 months ago. Falvey have done nothing to shore up the rotation. Finally, shore up the rotation we can still compete. The core isn't the problem, it's Falvey & Co. Social media is giving us lotto tickets (prospects) for these players. No way! Our window is open now! We need young MLB-ready impact players now, not wait for the lotto tickets to see if they can develop these lotto tickets years from now. I don't trust Falvey to know what this team needs,

Great, we've been flat but look for an old M hats turn around. I'm excited. Better stop the selling. Long overdue, I'm not being facetious. Hold onto your new old M caps, because we are in for a ride. I feel it. Now we need the pinstripes, we haven't went to an ALC w/o them

We really needed Pressly in '19, the BP was burned out, like almost always.

Thanks Sweetmusic

Where do you get that I'm going by hindsight? It's not hindsight, when the time I suggested to trade him was right after the '23 season (when he was worth something & teams were checking in on him), many thought I was crazy. You can check TD back then. If Those who are regular TD members should be able to back me up. I am saying now it's too late, so where do you get that I think someone will give anything for him?

You have a good point. Probably not. Although I wouldn't actively shop them but if a team needing a 1B/2B/ 3Bman & would want them thrown in a deal, I'd say fine because they shouldn't or won't get a shot in MN. For their sake, I'd say yes. Unfortunately, Miranda needs a change of scenery.

I did, don't trade them. Then I commented on the idea & why.

What some people think what creative is, is crazy. Trading Miranda, Julien or Martin is stupid & sad. Stupid because you won't get anything for them. Julien should have been traded when he was worth something. Sad because they had a lot of promise but were mismanaged. Miranda wasn't given the opportunity he deserved at 1B to keep him healthy & prosperous; now he's broken. Martin forced at SS, then have him learn CF & LF at the MLB level. MN needs someone fixed at 2B to stabilize the 2B/SS teamwork with Correa. Having a new 2Bman every game does nothing for the continuity there. 2B is Martin's best position & he's the best glove there. Put him there & keep him there. Put Keaschall at 1B/DH until he's 100%. There I said it, go ahead & smash the thumbs down icon.

I've had my eye on Baldwin for a while; he's great. But ATL is not going to give him up. He's now their #1 catcher. There was talk of them trading Sean Murphy, but I've heard now that ATL isn't interested. CWS has 2 outstanding rookie catchers, Oscar Quero & Teel. They've stated they are open to trading one of them to diversify their rebuild. CWS won't trade with MN, but if we pull off a trade like NYY did with us. When MN traded Garver to TX for Falefa & MN turned around & NYY got their target Falefa. If a team wants Jax, Duran or Wallner have them acquire one those CWS catcher, secretly. Then include that catcher in a trade. A young impact MLB-ready catchers are hard to come by so any way we can obtain one we have to do it.

I agree that we are pretty deep in the OF, so trading Larnach would make sense. But I don't blame the core for our problems. But I don't count Larnach as part of the core. I agree that we have to shake up this team & change our identity of slow big bats. We need better defense, better baserunners & clutch hitters, that's who we should focus on. We can get more for Wallner, so I'd target him 1st & even package him up with an expiring contract to maximize their value . But all this trade talk with no objective is fruitless. Trade just for trade's sake will do us no good. If there is no avenue of a young impact MLB-ready catcher, that is where our priority should be at, 2nd impact MLB-ready pitching. Our window is still open once we change management.

Great idea to get a MLB player, Vanimal. I agree that it seems that PIT has problems developing positional players (they used to have problems developing pitchers). But they seem not to have any problems developing catchers. Endy Rodriguez skyrocketed through their system defensively & offensively. SF gave up on Joey Bart, PIT picked him up & became one of their best players. Great rationale, but IMO, if PIT can't do anything with him, I'd steer clear.

Thanks, Twinstalker. I was a big supporter of Falvine. Falvey was hired because he was part of the CLE pitching pipeline. IMO, after 9 yrs., he has established a pitching pipeline (though some may debate that), as fragile as it is. That's where his expertise is at, I give him credit for that. But everywhere else, he has no clue. There has been a lot of mystery in whose responsibility lies between Levine, Baldelli & himself. But I believe that Levine was more responsible for the other half, which was not pitching-related. After '19 "bomba squad" success, Falvey was lauded & glorified as the one responsible, then it seemed that it all went to his head. He took over more & more of the control. As the head, he copied the NYY model of HRs are everything & forget about everything else. He thinks analytics solves everything, with no understanding or feel for the game. Instead of promoting the good coaches we had to secure their employment, he let them go. And hired & promoted coaches with his mindset or at least don't question him. I'm sorry that I'm so pessimistic about Falvey's ability to fill our needs via trade. But I see areas that are fragile that are not being shored up, & past history of trying to fill those needs via trade has not worked out. Granted some good transactions have fallen into his lap. Falvey is lucky that the pitching hasn't unraveled completely but still fragile. INF has gotten better internally in spite of his early insistence of playing Julien at 2B, but still needs improvement. Plus, Jeffers & Vazquez have remained remarkably healthy; otherwise, we'd be competing with CO for the worst team in baseball. On top of that, Falvey loves prospects. In '23, our window was open; Falvey has squandered the last 2 yrs.. That window is closing. Trading Jax or Duran will further compromise our situation of competing in the future. If we trade either of them, we have to make sure we shore up our fragile areas, NOW, not 2 or more years down the road. Lotto tickets (prospects) or redundant players won't do it. Forgive me if I think that if other FOs would offer Falvey, prospects & redundant players that look good on paper, Falvey would be deeply tempted to take it. Then we just as well as tear the whole thing down & jam pack our system with redundant prospects.

There are some catchers that are out there. I have doubts about them sticking at catcher, but Rushing isn't one of them. He's a leader & handles pitchers well for being a rookie. He's blocked behind Will Smith at catcher but because of his bat; he can play 1B but is blocked there so they try him in the OF but catcher is his primary position. IMO, a RH hitting cOFer to platoon with our deep LH hitting cOFers isn't a priority.

I want only young impact MLB-ready players that fill our needs, so that means catcher & SP. That means no lotto tickets or redundant players. I'm afraid that Falvey doesn't know what we really need so he'll go with what looks good on paper. Heaven help us!

I don't trust this FO to pull off a significant trade, especially with LAD. Absolutely not with NYY, Our window is still open, so. Absolutely no lotto tickets, I don't care if they are high. Twins need to trade for young, impactful, MLB-ready players that fit our needs, no redundant players. If LAD agrees with Rushing & Ferris, I'd be very happy. But I doubt they would. That's the only one. CWS said that they are open to trading one of their outstanding rookie catchers (O Quero or Teel) to diversify their rebuild. There are very few high-caliber young catchers out there. If any team can land either we can secure a trade, Much like what we did when we traded Garver for Falefa & then turn around & trade him to NYY to complete our trade with NYY. My requirements are rigid; if no team can meet them. Then no deal. No trade is better than a bad trade.

You can blame the owners for not knowing how to run a baseball team. But that's why they hire people to do it. If they can't do the job, you fire them. That's why I blame the Pohlads for hiring Falvey & being too stupid to fire him, let alone promote him. Falvey, through his minions, has blamed injuries for the team's shortcomings. But a good FO sees where the team is fragile & shores it up, plus has the health properly managed where no player is overextended by playing injured, etc. Another one is, it's the coach's fault. His favorite is the hitting coach. It was Popovich's fault, not his hitting philosophy. Popovich was so bad that he was quickly grabbed by TOR & now they are hitting like crazy, when last year the couldn't hit a lick. IMO, the coaches are bad. They let go of good coaches like Tanner Swanson (catcher coach, who many Twins catchers sing his praises) & James Rowson, who work individually with the hitters, and also many sing his praises. Yet promotes those who should be fired, coaches who adhere to his analytics & ignore the fundamentals. IMO, Twins are not being properly developed, coached & managed like a team like MIL. You can blame the coaches, but who hires the coaches & sets the philosophy? Pohlads aren't giving me enough money. As has been said before, the Twins' salary is normally higher than other teams in our market size. The problem is how the money is allocated. If the focus was on developing our players properly, giving them every opportunity to advance, raise their value so when you have a surplus, you can have good trade value on them. You can trade to fill holes instead of going to FA, But there are no trades out there (I've heard that for years), but other team seems to find more complicated trades. The problems are whoever shall seek shall find, if you don't look & initiate trades, they won't happen. If you sit back & wait for other FOs to seek you out, normally they don't work out, unless they are very desperate. The other is that if you hug prospects, you don't trade them even if they offer you a sweetheart deal. If all fails, blame the core. This core, despite everything, did well in '23. All we had to do was build off it. That has not been done. For the excuses that have been discussed, the core went through subtraction without properly compensating. Fragile areas have not been shored up. Another area I'd like to discuss is player evaluation. Evaluation that is strictly analytical, ignoring underlying & physical conditions, when trading for players. Often showcasing players they obtain, no matter what, to the detriment of the team as well as positioning player where they don't belong, based on their bat not their glove, IMO, a good leader will say with confidence the buck stops here. There are a lot of people you can blame but IMO, it all boils down to Falvey.