ashbury

The Twins paid $33M for the Astros to take the contract off their hands, and you still believe Correa had actual trade value to some other team?

Cherry pick away 13 wins, and the Twins record is still far better than Colorado's. (And yes, the Twins did lose to them.) It's difficult to absorb just how truly awful the Rockies are. Whenever people say, "it can't get any worse," I just point southwestward from Target Field.

Anthony Slama's old number. Free Noah Davis! 😀

Noah Davis should have never been born.

Players earn too much money. Tell them to stop it. ??? Profit! (We all get lower ticket prices.)

Front offices have to make the hard decisions. Baseball is a business - that's been the lament since pretty much the inception of professionalism in the sport 150 years ago - "those modern players, they don't play for the love of the game like my generation did." It's good once in a while to look at the human side of it, as this article does.

We're sure good at locking in our 12th and 13th man on the position-player roster. Willi Castro was another one. It would be nice if we could have similar success finding year-to-year stability at most of the starting positions. 😀

I also liked Kirilloff being both a starting pitcher and a catcher. Maybe he can do like Bugs Bunny and race back and forth. That's the old peppah!

That abominable short porch in left field will be an inviting target.

I hate when fiction writers pick character names that are just a little too on-the-nose. Wait, this is a sports-news item? 😀

Hope you haven't invested in any crypto currency, because my sources tell me that bitcoin mining dwarfs AI in terms of energy consumption. Of course my source is ChatGPT, so take it for what it's worth. 😀 Back to the topic: how much water and electricity does Derek Falvey waste?

That's a fair point. Especially when I waste further resources correcting its errors trying to get to the actual bottom of something.

I got a thumbs-down for this post for some reason, so you're really not going to like this. I asked ChatGPT and got this (really! 😀) Great question! With all the recent moves and the Twins’ current situation, here’s a strong look at who should be on their 26-man roster for the rest of the 2025 season — balancing competitiveness, player development, and flexibility: Minnesota Twins 2025 Roster (Projected) Starting Rotation (5) Glen Otto (RHP) — Reliable mid-rotation starter Joe Ryan (RHP) — Ace-level starter when healthy Brayan Buelvas (RHP) — Young, promising arm with upside Alex Kirilloff (LHP) — Versatile starter/outfielder option (if fully healthy) Dane Dunning (LHP) — Provides depth and experience Bullpen (7) Taylor Rogers (LHP) — Closer candidate / late-inning specialist Danny Coulombe (LHP) — Lefty specialist acquired via trade A.J. Alexy (RHP) — Emerging middle reliever Trevor Megill (RHP) — Setup and high-leverage innings Mitch Garver (RHP) — Long relief / mop-up role Tyler Duffey (RHP) — Versatile bullpen arm Alec Bobadilla (RHP) — Fresh arm with good upside Catchers (2) Ben Rortvedt — Defensive strength and developing bat Alex Kirilloff — (If not in rotation, serving as backup/outfield utility) Infielders (7) Jose Miranda (3B) — Everyday starter, solid hitter Nick Gordon (SS) — Versatile defender, consistent bat Trevor Larnach (2B/OF) — Flexibility and power potential Luis Arraez (1B) — High contact hitter and table-setter Jorge Polanco (IF) — Veteran leadership and solid production Kyle Garlick (IF/OF) — Bench bat and utility depth Johan Rojas (IF/OF) — Young speedster for pinch-running and defense Outfielders (5) Byron Buxton — Elite defensive centerfielder with power Rocco Peppi — Promising rookie with speed and contact ability Jorge Polanco — If used in a super-utility role (IF/OF) Kyle Garlick — Depth bat Brent Rooker — Power bat off the bench Well, they say that AI can sometimes hallucinate. This seems to be such an instance.

Haha, I just asked ChatGPT whether one should trade Taj Bradley for Griffin Jax. After first sorting out that I didn't mean in a Fantasy league, Chat was unambiguous that the Rays should not make this trade. Paraphrasing, perhaps unfairly, "no front office would [give up Bradley for Jax] straight up." Similar for the Louis Varland deal - unambiguously against it from the Jays' standpoint. Falvey IS ChatGPT, it seems. He is confident we got a pair of steals. 😀 (In other news: ChatGPT is prepared to talk trades. I didn't know that.)

Keep him, DFA him - either way same difference. He's not pitching in the playoffs this season.

What you want are quality starting pitchers who can be workhorses. Not merely "good, twice through the batting order," but guys who might be good enough that, if they breeze through the first and second time through, are still good enough that on the third time through they are still on a par with the fresh arms you might bring from the bullpen. (Especially since, in the 6th inning, you aren't bringing any of your best arms in.) While I understand the desire to win any individual game by playing the analytic odds, I'd also like to see these 5-inning pitchers, which is mainly what the article is about, be given a little more opportunity to demonstrate their ability to go longer if they are doing well though 5 or so. Woods-Richardson on July 8 versus the Cubs would be an example. Only 61 pitches to get through 5 very solid innings - give it a whirl and send him out for another go at it. On one hand you are saving stress on his arm in a 2-0 game (that the hitters managed to break open late) - on the other, let him learn. Zebby on July 25. Six innings, only 81 pitches. Again a tight game. The season is lost (though it took a few more days for them to admit it). Another chance for a learning experience for the young pitcher, and conversely a chance for the staff to learn what he's made of. Festa, June 27. 5.2 innings, 75 pitches. Did he really need rescuing from himself? The downside is maybe he loses a game. The upside, by contrast, is immense, if the young man gains confidence in himself, and the braintrust gains confidence in him. The message I fear that is coming through is, "yes, your results were okay, but your fundamentals were dropping and you were lucky you got as far as you did." That does not build your players into what they might become. I would truly love to know Rocco's and Pete Maki's take on all three of these specific games, plus others. (Well, not enough to invest the time to go back through Rocco's post-game press conference and see what he said at the time. 😀)

The lot probably has a yard. Not feet.

He's an analytics kind of guy? Maybe he has access to the same defensive stats we do, or better, and sees slippage, so he brought it up proactively?

The headline led me to expect bombshell quotes that didn't materialize. Instead we see a businesslike interaction between boss and (well-paid) employee. Speaks well that there was a preference to play 3B yet it never reached our ears until now. I would work for Falvey if he wanted me, and I like Correa's attitude on the job (plus I'll always thank him for those two games in October 2023).

Regular readers here will recall that I enjoy the computer game Out Of The Park. Since it's a game and I'm not hurting anyone, I abuse some of its features without remorse. In particular, there is often no sense of there being 24 hours in a day. So, as GM in the game, my typical style is to do a top-to-bottom assessment of every level of my franchise's farm system and 40-man on the first day of the off-season, then I use the trading interface to sell off every questionable asset that has trade value, in exchange for players who fit my preferences better. All this in one day of game-time. Normally I feel as though a dozen trades in one day is a serious betrayal of reality. Now I feel fine. Even if yesterday was the trade deadline, not the first day after the World Series, I have confirmation that it can be done. What REALLY gave me the OOTP vibe, though, was the Correa deal. Sometimes I do everything I can to move an untradeable contract. Falvey didn't pull out all the stops, such as packaging Carlos with Jhoan for instance, but applying $30M of money this year to free up space for the coming years is a very OOTP kind of thing to do. It happens now and then in real life - Falvey didn't invent anything here - but it still reflects the same mindset as the game. I can't help chuckling. Sometimes we say a player is putting up video-game numbers. Thursday was a video-game day for our GM.

Whatever your asking price, I will undercut it by 10%. It's important to save our betters their money.

Regular readers here will recall that I enjoy the computer game Out Of The Park. Since it's a game and I'm not hurting anyone, I abuse some of its features terribly. In particular, there is often no sense of there being 24 hours in a day. So, as GM in the game, my typical style is to do a top-to-bottom assessment of every level of my franchise's farm system and 40-man on the first day of the off-season, then I use the trading interface to sell off every questionable asset that has trade value, in exchange for players who fit my preferences better. All this in one day of game-time. Normally I feel as though a dozen trades in one day is a serious betrayal of reality. Now I feel fine. Even if yesterday was the trade deadline, not the first day after the World Series, I have confirmation that it can be done. I can't help chuckling. Sometimes we say a player is putting up video-game numbers. Yesterday was a video-game day for our GM.

If there's a plan, you should be able to state it. They should be able to state it. The trade of Varland, under control through 2030 I believe, is out of keeping with simply "sellers at the deadline." The trades of Duran, Jax, and Stewart are collectively out of keeping with retooling for the coming two years. I don't know when the next window of contention is targeted. 2031? Do we just keep developing and trading away?

Not straight up. Too similar to what we have in RF now. Ryan plus Wallner for Anthony plus P?? + P?? + ??? and maybe there's scope for a conversation, but I don't know the Boston system enough to suggest a pitcher a little lesser than Ryan plus another pitcher/prospect plus another lottery pick, to be any more specific than that. But, only a conversation at this point - do we really need an upgrade from Wallner that much, and is that the position on the field where the team would benefit the most? Moving Wallner to 1B is a hypothetical that needs at least some empirical evidence. Otherwise he's a DH and the performance bar is set really high to be full-time DH - can he approach Nelson Cruz levels? So yeah, I say no, but perhaps it's a conversation starter.

You can always find trading partners who will give you a top-100 bat as the headliner for your good pitching. You certainly can make a greater number of trades if you are willing to go that route, but IMO it's lazy. Me, i want arms in return for my arms, and that is much harder to line up. Two of the three proposals listed here are mainly for bats; maybe I listen to the Cubs depending on how my scouts like those two pitchers. As said above, some national writers like to pick the carcass of teams out of favor, and they don't give serious thought to what would actually be good for the team. No, I keep Ryan unless some team is willing to deal value for equivalent value. The trades I like are in the other direction - Arraez for Lopez, Cruz for Ryan, those are the ones I give great credit to the FO for. If the Twins can line up another one like that, then maybe I'd consider dealing Ryan for bats to compensate. Maybe.